A semi-autonomous tractor in an intelligent master–slave vehicle system

This paper presents an approach to develop an intelligent master–slave system between agricultural vehicles, which will enable a semi-autonomous agricultural vehicle (slave) to follow a leading tractor (master) with a given lateral and longitudinal offset. In our study not only the follow-up motions but also the site-specific control of the apparatus such as rear and front power lift was considered. In the first part of this paper, the recent research works in the area autonomous farming were discussed and the restrictions of these research works were illustrated. In the second part an approach, to construct a master–slave system between two agricultural vehicles was demonstrated. In the next part, the mathematic modeling of this master–slave system and the simulation results about the control algorithm were demonstrated. Afterwards, the result of a real field test was presented and the safety considerations about such an intelligent vehicle system were made.     

Infrastructure Pricing and Urban Consolidation in Victoria

Fiscal restraint has arguably been the pre-eminent factor shaping metropolitan planning polices in the 1980s. Certainly, some analysts (notably Little and Carter, 1979) have promoted urban consolidation and containment on the basis of a hypothesized positive link between higher average densities in major cities and national economic innovation. But the recurring theme in the official policy literature on consolidation is the need to make better use of existing urban infrastructure in an effort to ‘slow down the rate at which the community needs to find capital for extensions to existing services’ (MMBW, 1981 p.73).     

Gut microbiota: Changes throughout the lifespan from infancy to elderly

Our understanding of the composition and function of the human gut microbiota has improved dramatically in recent years. In this review, major milestones along this path will be reviewed. The methodological developments that underpinned this acceleration of scientific progress are discussed. We review the infant microbiota with special reference to colonization, succession and stabilization events. The healthy adult microbiota is then described, including reference to selected conditions that perturb the microbiota such as antibiotic treatment, bowel dysfunction and obesity. We put special emphasis on the special issues that characterize elderly subjects, including the challenges provided by “inflamm-aging”, with reference to how the microbiota might interact with these processes. Lastly, the elderly intestinal metagenomics project ELDERMET is described, which aims to establish the composition and function of the gut microbiota in several hundred Irish subjects.     

An in vivo ratio control mechanism for phospholipid homeostasis: evidence from lipidomic studies

While it is widely accepted that the lipid composition of eukaryotic membranes is under homeostatic control, the mechanisms through which cells sense lipid composition are still the subject of debate. It has been postulated that membrane curvature elastic energy is the membrane property that is regulated by cells, and that lipid composition is maintained by a ratio control function derived from the concentrations of type II and type 0 lipids, weighted appropriately. We assess this proposal by seeking a signature of ratio control in quantified lipid composition data obtained by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry from over 40 independent asynchronous cell populations. Our approach revealed the existence of a universal ‘pivot’ lipid, which marks the boundary between type 0 lipids and type II lipids, and which is invariant between different cell types or cells grown under different conditions. The presence of such a pivot species is a distinctive signature of the operation in vivo, in human cell lines, of a control function that is consistent with the hypothesis that membrane elastic energy is homeostatically controlled.     

Book review

Biocatalysis in Organic Media Edited by C. Laane, J. Tramper and M.D. Lilly Elsevier, 1987, 426 pages

Large Scale Cell Culture Technology Lydersen, B.K. Hanser Publishers, Munich, 1987, 252 pgs., DM 98.00     

Estimating the time of step change with Poisson CUSUM and EWMA control charts

Knowing when a process has changed would simplify the search for and identification of the special cause. Consequently, having an estimate of the process change point following a control chart signal would be useful to process engineers. Much of the literature on change point models and techniques for statistical process control applications consider processes well modelled by the normal distribution. However, the Poisson distribution is commonly used in industrial quality control applications for modelling attribute-based process quality characteristics (e.g., counts of non-conformities). Some commonly used control charts for monitoring Poisson distributed data are the Poisson cumulative sum (CUSUM) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts. In this paper, we study the effect of changes in the design of the control chart on the performances of the change point estimators offered by these procedures. In particular, we compare root mean square error performances of the change point estimators offered by the Poisson CUSUM and EWMA control charts relative to that achieved by a maximum likelihood estimator for the process change point. Results indicate that the relative performance achieved by each change point estimator is a function of the corresponding control chart design. Relative mean index plots are provided to enable users of these control charts to choose a control chart design and change point estimator combination that will yield robust change point estimation performance across a range of potential change magnitudes.     

2010年FIFA世界杯,南非开普敦体育场

开普敦城市背靠桌山和信号山,西濒大西洋,南临印度洋。城市背山面海迤逦展开,形成独有的城市风貌。绿点体育场作为独立建筑,如同一颗宝石镶嵌在信号山脚下的绿点公园中,与周围的自然环境优雅的融为一体。轻盈的薄膜结构由大面积凹面结构组合而成,形成起伏,流畅的立面。明亮的玻璃纤维编织物外膜使颜色的