Finite element codes for microcomputers—A review

A wide variety of finite element computer programs are currently being used in different fields of engineering. The acceptance of microcomputers in structural analysis and design is becoming more and more popular these days as the price for hardware is decreasing dramatically.New programs specially suitable for the microcomputer environment have been/are under development in many countries. The development started some eight years ago. The main drawbacks of microcomputers in comparison to larger machines are the computing speed, single-task processing and limited storage. Among the main advantages is a user-friendly environment and an inexpensive graphics. Alphanumeric and graphical interactive facilities of microcomputers are now taken for granted. The user need not be a computer expert to take the advantage of this analysis tool.The paper is concerned with a review of programs, general purpose as well as special purpose, developed for microcomputers in different countries. The programs described in the following sections have been extracted from the structural mechanics database MAKEBASE, developed by the author.     

Computer-aided chemistry—II. A spectral database management program for use with microcomputers

A novel, specialized database management program, Spectra Manager, which organizes, manipulates, and plots spectral data, is described. The program, which was developed as a precursor to a database management program that will be used when all the spectral data recorded in a laboratory are stored on a common archival device, was designed specifically to handle 2-dimensional data sets completely graphically on the IBM S9000 laboratory computer. The IBM S9000 computer, which is based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, was selected because (i) high level languages can readily address memory in excess of 1 M byte, (ii) the processor is fast, and (iii) the IBM S9000 has a high resolution, memory-mapped CRT. These features allow the program to provide the scientist with a data processing environment that treats large sets of individual spectra much like numbers are tabulated and manipulated, with simple, spreadsheet-like database management programs. The program, also offers the scientist the novel capability of rapidly scanning through multiple sets of spectral data. Program and data manipulation functions are interactively controlled through on-screen menus and software programmable keys. Run-time monitoring information is displayed in four distinct display windows. Spectral data are input using standard or user-defined formats, and then manipulated with typical spectral processing procedures including: baseline subtraction, digital filter smoothing using a fast Fourier transform, and compilation of spectral overlay plots. The processed data can be output to devices such as a printer, plotter, or disk file. The program monitors each session and stores in a disk file, or prints on a printer, a summary of program activity that can be used as an audit trail.     

Musicians as entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs as musicians?

This study investigates how Swedish musicians in the non‐profit sector accept the “entrepreneur” label for themselves. The background section describes how identity work among “serious” musicians has, historically, made them shun any facet related to money‐making. The qualitative study shows that there is some remaining reluctance. But it is obvious that freelance musicians recognize the need for entrepreneurial skills. A majority of those interviewed regard themselves as “entrepreneurs”, although in most cases it is out of necessity. It seems that the older generations are more hesitant than the younger. I conclude that it would be beneficial if musicians, during their higher education, were introduced to basic entrepreneurial skills.     

The Year 2000 Final Thought — Stupid is as Stupid Does!

Well, here it is, the end of another year and into the new century. In the popular American movie, Forrest Gump, there's a line that is used in the movie when Forrest is asked “are you stupid or something”. He replies, “stupid is as stupid does”, implying that if you do stupid things then you must be stupid. Well, in looking back at the year 2000, many people responsible for preventing computer fraud and for ensuring information protection were certainly stupid.     

Is active sitting as active as we think?

The aim of this study was to compare the biomechanical characteristics of sitting on a stool without a backrest (so as to encourage active sitting), sitting on a conventional office chair and standing in healthy participants. Thirteen healthy participants performed a keyboard-writing task during four (stable and unstable) sitting conditions and standing. Body segment positions and posture, postural sway and muscle activity of neck and trunk muscles were assessed with a motion capture system, a force plate and surface electromyography. The results showed that body segment positions, postural sway and trunk muscle activity were relatively similar for the stools without backrests compared with standing. All sitting conditions showed lower vertical upper body alignment, less anterior pelvic tilt and larger hip angles, compared with standing (p = 0.000). Unexpectedly, the muscle activity levels and total postural sway, sway velocity and sway in M/L and A/P directions were lower (p = 0.000) for the conditions that encouraged active sitting and standing, compared with the conventional office chair conditions.

Practitioner Summary: Thirteen healthy participants performed a keyboard-writing task during different sitting conditions and standing and were analysed regarding posture, postural sway and trunk muscle activity. Surprisingly, less postural sway and less muscle activity were observed during the conditions that encourage active sitting, compared with sitting on a conventional office chair.     

Mind Reading — Neuroimaging as a gaze into the innermost of the psyche

Neuroscience, broadly speaking the endeavor of understanding nerve system functioning and its relation to perception, feeling, thinking, and behavior, is one of the leading fields in contemporary research. However, in order to determine the legal implications of neuroscience it is necessary in the first place to reflect on what it means to carry out an experiment with human subjects, particularly to transfer a finding from a laboratory setting to the real life world of people. This reflection will be done in the first part of this article. In its second part, this article explains basic methodological and experimental issues of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) research, particularly the nature of the data that are generated with this technique which is considered the most important to investigate human brain function nowadays. The concluding section relates these issues to legally salient questions of neuroscience research.     

Microcomputers in public investment planning: Harnessing the potential—the introduction of microcomputers into the central planning division,ministry of finance,government of Meridian*

Abstract

This paper describes a project designed to improve planning procedures, through the introduction of microcomputers into the Central Planning Division, Ministry of Finance, Government of Meridian. The first section places the logic of the computerization project within the context of a wider programme to upgrade skills and methodologies in Meridian, and the paper then discusses the background to the computerization proposal by way of explaining its aims and objectives.

The third section focuses on technical issues, and examines the particular virtues of microcomputers in this type of centralized planning division. The hardware, software and training requirements are considered, and the schedule and milestones of this particular project explained. Organizational issues are then examined, from which the sources of many of the problems encountered in this project can be identified. Actual progress to date is described in the light of both technical and organizational issues, and an attempt made to assess the effectiveness of the project as a whole. The paper ends by pointing to some broader conclusions on the potential of microcomputers in development planning and to issues which critically determine the effectiveness of their value in central planning agencies, such as that described here.     

Conformational energy analysis of peptides using microcomputers: Description of PepCAD™ and analysis of N-formyl-N′-methylalanineamide

A computer program (called PepCAD™) was developed for performing conformational analysis of peptides on an Apple Macintosh personal computer. The program takes advantage of the mouse-based user interface and graphics of the Macintosh. PepCAD displays peptide molecules, calculates conformational energies, and performs energy minimization on peptides of up to 10 residues. Written in C, PepCAD supports an interactive mode and a batch processing mode, contains about 17,000 lines of code in 11 modules, and utilizes the ECEPP/2 and MINOP equations and parameters for energy calculation and minimization. Conformational energy minimization was done on N-formyl-N′-methylalanineamide. The number of minima and their relative energies were essentially the same as those of N-acetyl-N′-methylalanineamide.     

Vornoi polyhedra as structure probes in large molecular systems—VII. Channel identification

The use of Voronoi polyhedra as a tool in identifying channels and crypts in atomic assemblies is presented and discussed.     

Inhibition in superior colliculus neurons in a brightness discrimination task?

Simultaneous recordings were collected from between two and four buildup neurons from the left and right superior colliculi in rhesus monkeys in a simple two-choice brightness discrimination task. The monkeys were required to move their eyes to one of two response targets to indicate their decision. Neurons were identified whose receptive fields were centered on the response targets. The functional role of inhibition was examined by conditionalizing firing rate on a high versus low rate in target neurons 90 ms to 30 ms before the saccade and examining the firing rate in both contralateral and ipsilateral neurons. Two models with racing diffusion processes were fit to the behavioral data, and the same analysis was performed on simulated paths in the diffusion processes that have been found to represent firing rate. The results produce converging evidence for the lack of a functional role for inhibition between neural populations corresponding to the two decisions.     

GNU as的移植

汇编器是编译工具链中最贴近芯片的一环。在进行新的芯片设计时，快速开发一个功能强大使用方便的汇编器是保证芯片设计按进度进行的必要条件。移植GNU的汇编器GAS是一个首选的方案。分析了GAS的源程序，指出了移植的关键之处。给出的方法可以更快更好地移植GAS。     

AI-SIMCOG: a simulator for spiking neurons and multiple animats’ behaviours

Designing a biologically inspired neural architecture as a controller for a complete animat or physical robot environment, to test the hypotheses on intelligence or cognition is non-trivial, particularly, if the controller is a network of spiking neurons. As a result, simulators that integrate spike coding and artificial or real-world platforms are scarce. In this paper, we present artificial intelligence simulator of cognition, a software simulator designed to explore the computational power of pulsed coding at the level of small cognitive systems. Our focus is on convivial graphical user interface, real-time operation and multilevel Hebbian synaptic adaptation, accomplished through a set of non-linear dynamic weights and on-line, life-long modulation. Inclusions of transducer and hormone components, intrinsic oscillator and several learning functions in a discrete spiking neural algorithm are distinctive features of the software. Additional features are the easy link between the production of specific neural architectures and an artificial 2D-world simulator, where one or more animats implement an input–output transfer function in real-time, as do robots in the real world. As a result, the simulator code is exportable to a robot’s microprocessor. This realistic neural model is thus amenable to investigate several time related cognitive problems.

Précis: from unstructured keywords as queries to structured databases as answers

Précis queries represent a novel way of accessing data, which combines ideas and techniques from the fields of databases and information retrieval. They are free-form, keyword-based, queries on top of relational databases that generate entire multi-relation databases, which are logical subsets of the original ones. A logical subset contains not only items directly related to the given query keywords but also items implicitly related to them in various ways, with the purpose of providing to the user much greater insight into the original data. In this paper, we lay the foundations for the concept of logical database subsets that are generated from précis queries under a generalized perspective that removes several restrictions of previous work. In particular, we extend the semantics of précis queries considering that they may contain multiple terms combined through the AND, OR, and NOT operators. On the basis of these extended semantics, we define the concept of a logical database subset, we identify the one that is most relevant to a given query, and we provide algorithms for its generation. Finally, we present an extensive set of experimental results that demonstrate the efficiency and benefits of our approach.     

The fashion blog as genre—between user-driven bricolage design and the reproduction of established fashion system

Abstract

Fashion as a phenomenon cannot be understood independently of the visual images and designed presentations that convey the content and forms of fashion. With the breakthrough of the digital media in the 2000s we were introduced to new ways of communicating and staging fashion where the blog in particular has established a new media culture for the distribution and exchange of potential fashion-based self-presentation forms and resulted in new design strategies. In this article, the fashion blog is presented as a specific genre that is characterised by remediating existing genre forms and combining them into new formats, where amateur bricolage approaches are combined with the reproduction of familiar features from the established fashion media. The article presents four types of fashion blogs, each representing a specific design strategy for presenting and interacting with fashion content. In closing, it is argued that the fashion blog as a phenomenon, on the one hand, has placed the ordinary fashion consumer centre stage as a producer of fashion content while also, on the other hand, helping to consolidate established hierarchical and communicative structures in the fashion system.