Revisit the Pitot static tubes in the standards

A Pitot tube is a popular device used for the measurements of flow fields. To control the accuracy of the Pitot tube coefficient, the international standard organization (ISO), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) issued guidelines that recommended the shape and working conditions of these devices. However, many Pitot tubes on the market do not follow these guidelines. In the present study, various types of Pitot tubes in the market were tested at the National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) to determine the effects of the geometry and flow characteristics. The results revealed certain limitations in the existing ISO and JIS standards, specifically with regard to the recommended design parameters of the AMCA Pitot tube, the reference coefficient value for the JIS Pitot tube, and the redefinition and limitation of Reynolds numbers pertaining to Pitot tube working conditions.     

Preparation and electrical conductivity of KTaO3-based proton conductor

KTaO₃ and KTa_0.9M_0.1O_3-α (M = Ti, Hf, Zr) were prepared by solid state reaction at 1330 °C for 2 h and characterized by x-ray diffraction. The AC impedance technique was used to analyze the sintered solid electrolytes in 1%H₂/Ar and dry air atmosphere. Among KTa_0.9M_0.1O_3-α (M = Ti, Hf, Zr), KTa_0.9Zr_0.1O_3-α displays the highest conductivity in 1%H₂/Ar atmosphere. The carriers transport numbers of solid electrolytes were measured by concentration cell method. The results show KTa_0.9Zr_0.1O_3-α is a pure proton conductor below 525 °C. Stability tests show that KTa_0.9Zr_0.1O_3-α has good chemical stability against CO₂ and H₂O.     

As the number falls,alternatives to the Hagberg–Perten falling number method: A review

This review examines the application, limitations, and potential alternatives to the Hagberg–Perten falling number (FN) method used in the global wheat industry for detecting the risk of poor end-product quality mainly due to starch degradation by the enzyme α-amylase. By viscometry, the FN test indirectly detects the presence of α-amylase, the primary enzyme that digests starch. Elevated α-amylase results in low FN and damages wheat product quality resulting in cakes that fall, and sticky bread and noodles. Low FN can occur from preharvest sprouting (PHS) and late maturity α-amylase (LMA). Moist or rainy conditions before harvest cause PHS on the mother plant. Continuously cool or fluctuating temperatures during the grain filling stage cause LMA. Due to the expression of additional hydrolytic enzymes, PHS has a stronger negative impact than LMA. Wheat grain with low FN/high α-amylase results in serious losses for farmers, traders, millers, and bakers worldwide. Although blending of low FN grain with sound wheat may be used as a means of moving affected grain through the marketplace, care must be taken to avoid grain lots from falling below contract-specified FN. A large amount of sound wheat can be ruined if mixed with a small amount of sprouted wheat. The FN method is widely employed to detect α-amylase after harvest. However, it has several limitations, including sampling variability, high cost, labor intensiveness, the destructive nature of the test, and an inability to differentiate between LMA and PHS. Faster, cheaper, and more accurate alternatives could improve breeding for resistance to PHS and LMA and could preserve the value of wheat grain by avoiding inadvertent mixing of high- and low-FN grain by enabling testing at more stages of the value stream including at harvest, delivery, transport, storage, and milling. Alternatives to the FN method explored here include the Rapid Visco Analyzer, enzyme assays, immunoassays, near-infrared spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging.     

Unreliable numbers: error and harm induced by bad design can be reduced by better design

Number entry is a ubiquitous activity and is often performed in safety- and mission-critical procedures, such as healthcare, science, finance, aviation and in many other areas. We show that Monte Carlo methods can quickly and easily compare the reliability of different number entry systems. A surprising finding is that many common, widely used systems are defective, and induce unnecessary human error. We show that Monte Carlo methods enable designers to explore the implications of normal and unexpected operator behaviour, and to design systems to be more resilient to use error. We demonstrate novel designs with improved resilience, implying that the common problems identified and the errors they induce are avoidable.     

论携号转网行为的私法规制

以电信用户入网协议为切入点,电信用户的携号转网行为应受到《合同法》《消费者权益保护法》等私法规范的保护与限制。该行为引起的格式条款解释、合同终止、违约责任、损失赔偿等问题,不能仅靠《电信条例》等公法规范来调整。应当积极引导广大消费者用户以私法领域相关规定为依据,转变争议解决思维,拓宽纠纷处理途径,合理选择维权手段,以保护自身合法民事权益,与行业监管部门共同推动电信行业有序发展。     

基于数据运营安全的个人信息保护

个人信息因其自身携带隐私特性,与每个个体息息相关。个人信息保护不当,影响公众权益、企业利益以及社会秩序。在互联网、大数据、5G万物互联的时代,个人信息被广泛收集和使用,必须妥善解决个人信息保护问题,才能保障整个数据产业健康发展。而现有的个人信息保护方法或技术,不足以应对新形势下的保护诉求。基于数据运营安全的个人信息保护,针对当前个人信息保护的新形势和新诉求,提出结合人工智能,通过数据运营安全对结构化、半结构化、非结构化的个人信息流动的保护,涵盖从生产到运维,从采集、传输、存储、处理、分析、共享、销毁全生命周期保护,深入数据运营中内嵌防护,同时与业务解耦,达到保护个人信息安全的目标。     

Assessing students' conceptual understanding using an online three‐tier diagnostic test

When solving a mathematical problem, students who do not have sufficient conceptual understanding may perform poorly and exhibit misconceptions. This study was aimed to examine students' conceptual understanding and significant misconceptions when solving number sense‐related problems. An online three‐tier diagnostic test was administered to 125 fifth‐grade students with varied socio‐economic backgrounds in Hong Kong. Only 14.40% of the students exhibited high performance with high confidence, indicating that these students had a profound conceptual understanding of number sense. In addition, the majority of the students (66.40%) did not demonstrate number sense; these students exhibited several significant misconceptions and could solve the questions only by using a rule‐based method or guessing. Accordingly, most students performed unsatisfactorily on number sense‐related problems. This study is imperative in identifying early predictors and provides information for further compatible interventions in the teaching and learning of number sense in Hong Kong in particular and worldwide in general.     

Modeling and analysis of passive worm propagation in the P2P file-sharing network

A number of worms, named P2P (peer-to-peer) passive worms, have recently surfaced, which propagate in P2P file-sharing networks and have posed heavy threats to these networks. In contrast to the majority of Internet worms, it is by exploiting users’ legitimate activities instead of vulnerabilities of networks in which P2P passive worms propagate. This feature evidently slows down their propagation, which results in them not attracting an adequate amount of attention in literature. Meanwhile, this feature visibly increases the difficulty of detecting them, which makes it very possible for them to become epidemic. In this paper, we propose an analytical model for P2P passive worm propagation by adopting epidemiological approaches so as to identify their behaviors and predict the tendency of their propagation accurately. Compared with a few existing models, dynamic characteristics of P2P networks are taken into account. Based on this proposed model, the sufficient condition for the global stability of the worm free equilibrium is derived by applying epidemiological theories. Large scale simulation experiments have validated both the proposed model and the condition.     

Color preferences for different topics in connection to personal characteristics

Studies on color preferences are dependent on the topic and the relationships with personal characteristics, particularly personality, but these are seldom studied in one population. Therefore a questionnaire was collected from 1095 Dutch people asking for color preferences about different topics and relating them to personal characteristics. Color preferences regarding different topics show different patterns and significant differences were found between gender, age, education and personality such as being technical, being emotional or being a team player. Also, different colors were mentioned when asked for colors that stimulate to be quiet, energetic, and able to focus or creative. Probably, due to unconsciousness of contexts, many people had no color preference, a result that in the literature seldom is mentioned. Blue was the overall favorite color; however, most males chose for blue (25%) while most females had no color preference (18%). Black was the overall favorite color for clothing, mainly chosen by females (40%), while males primarily chose blue (27%). For building interiors subjects preferred white. For moods, subjects preferred white for being quiet or being able to focus, red for being energetic and had no color preference for being creative. It is concluded that color preferences are dependent upon the topic, and personal characteristics. The findings are important for architects, interior designers, fashion designers and product designers to have a basic idea of preferred colors for different objects by different types of people. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 62–71, 2015     

因素空间理论下基点分类算法研究

目前，基于因素空间理论的背景基提取算法计算过程复杂，初始化必须依赖各因素极值，基点数量提取冗余等原因，未能在应用中取得很好效果。为此，结合内点判别法和知识可继承、可扩展的思想，提出一种计算简单、初始化独立、基点数量小的改进的背景基提取算法。然后，利用改进的背景基提取算法构造出一种全新的数据分类算法-基点分类算法，基点分类算法以提取每一类样本的背景基为预测模型，再通过新定义的λ-背景基，优化预测模型。数值实验表明:基点分类算法原理简单、构造难度小、分类模型泛化能力强，预测能力准确率高，同时严格的模型限定区域又能为识别新类别提供新方法。