Behavioural research in telematics.

Discusses telematics, a new field of behavioral research in Canada that has grown with the technical developments in which computers and telecommunications have been combined. Three domains of behavioral research reflect relationships between humans and the technology and use the evidence and methods of different areas of psychology: (1) interface studies address perception and performance questions, (2) dialog studies focus on cognitive processes, and (3) impact studies investigate social relations and how institutions and individuals are affected by telematics. Studies conducted during the past 5 yrs by the Behavioural Research and Evaluation division of the Department of Communications, Government of Canada, are described in each of these 3 domains. Behavioral research in telematics is expected to be an increasingly important activity in which psychologists may play an active part as the technology disseminates. (French abstract) (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linear interpolation in a fuzzy information space

An approach to solving a linear interpolation problem in a fuzzy information space is proposed. Two different schemes of interpolation are outlined: a heuristic one, based on the geometrical interpretation of operations, and an optimization one, based on the expansion principle. The results obtained allow performing fuzzy linear prediction. __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 2, pp. 55–68, March–April 2006.     

Distribution of one of the ascitic fluid antigens of ovarian cancer patients in malignant tumors of the stomach and intestines

The indirect immunofluorescent technique was used to study the distribution of the ascitic fluid antigen (AgD) on histological sections from surgical specimens of gastric and colon tumours from proximal to distal lines of resection. AgD was found in gastric tumours exceptionally in the tumour area and in colon cancer--both in the tumour stroma and in surrounding histologically normal mucosa.     

A method of investigating the kinetics of high-temperature ductility variation of porous solids during sintering under pressure

Conclusions A method is proposed making it possible to study the high-temperature kinetics of the variation of the coefficients of shear ductility of a porous solid and its material during sintering under pressure. An investigation was carried out into the variation of the ductility of copper powder compacts in the temperature range 700–950°C. Experimental data are compared with results obtained on the basis of the theory of diffusion-viscous flow and a general rheological theory of sintering. It has been established that in the initial stage of sintering at 950°C the coefficient of shear ductility of copper increases linearly with time. Under conditions of diffusion-viscous flow of a polycrystalline material, this is due to diffusional grain growth according to a parabolic law. It is shown that experimental values of shear ductility of copper are smaller than values obtained on the basis of the rheological theory of sintering. Values approximating most closely to experimental data have been obtained with a model of an ideal porous solid.Translated from Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya, No. 11(299), pp. 11–17, November, 1987.     

Application of Physical Methods for Reducing Plutonium Hexafluoride

The exploding-wire method, the photochemical method of irradiation with a light flux from a high-pressure mercury lamp, a high-intensity spark discharge, and irradiation by a CO₂ laser are used to reduce plutonium hexafluoride and to separate it from uranium hexafluoride. The dependence of the reduction of plutonium hexafluoride on the wire material, the mass of the reduced product, and the amount of input energy is investigated.It is shown that the methods presented for reducing plutonium hexafluoride and separating it from uranium hexafluoride can be used under static and dynamic conditions for preparative purposes and on a large scale.     

Synthesis, Structure, and Physicochemical Characteristics of Rutherfordite and Tetrasodium Uranyl Tricarbonate

The optimum procedures for synthesis of UO₂CO₃ and Na₄[UO₂(CO₃)₃] were developed. The structures of these compounds and their thermal decomposition were studied by X-ray diffraction, precision IR spectroscopy, and thermography. The standard enthalpy of formation of crystalline Na₄[UO₂(CO₃)₃] at 298.16 K was determined to be -4010.0±8.0 kJ mol^{- 1}.     

Two-tier architecture for unconstrained handwritten character recognition

In this paper, we propose an approach that combines the unsupervised and supervised learning techniques for unconstrained handwritten numeral recognition. This approach uses the Kohonen self-organizing neural network for data classification in the first stage and the learning vector quantization (LVQ) model in the second stage to improve classification accuracy. The combined architecture performs better than the Kohonen self-organizing map alone. In the proposed approach, the collection of centroids at different phases of training plays a vital role in the performance of the recognition system. Four experiments have been conducted and experimental results show that the collection of centroids in the middle of the training gives high performance in terms of speed and accuracy. The systems developed also resolve the confusion between handwritten numerals.