Salivary Conditioning in the Seventeenth Century.

Several recent papers have documented observations of the "psychic" salivary secretion (a fortuitously conditioned reflex)--some as early as 1840--which preceded Pavlov's classical experiments in 1902. This note calls attention to Regnier De Graaf who utilized a "psychic" salivary secretion of a fistulated dog, and reported his findings in a publication dated December 17, 1664. De Graaf's drawing of his fistulated dog is argued to be one of the most interesting documents in the history of psychology, for it has a striking similarity to the numerous drawings of Pavlov's dog made more than 250 years later. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representation of IF-probability on MV-algebras

A probability theory on IF-events has been constructed by Grzegorzewski and Mrówka in [2] and axiomatically characterized by B. Riečan in [6]. More general situation was studied by B. Riečan in [5]. He introduced the IF-probability, which is decomposed onto two probabilities on Lukasiewicz tribe. The aim of this paper is to define the IF-probability and IF-observable on MV-algebras. We show that some known results of [7] can be applied also for these IF-events.     

Neural networks for wood species recognition independent of the colour temperature of light

European Journal of Wood and Wood Products - Most neural networks recognize objects based on their contours, which means that their accuracy is effectively independent of the colour temperature of...     

Development of an iterative procedure with a flow solver for optimizing the yarn speed in a main nozzle of an air jet loom

In this research, a fluid–structure interaction (FSI) framework was established to estimate the velocity of a yarn as it is propelled by the main nozzle. To allow the methodology to be used in an optimization context, the computational time was limited as much as possible. The methodology was first validated on polymer coated yarns to avoid any influence of yarn hairiness. Results from the calculations were compared to experiments and adequate agreement was found without tuning. Subsequently, an extension to hairy yarns was made by representing the hairiness as a wall roughness. The roughness height was determined by matching the simulated to the experimental velocity for a single case. The approach was validated by applying the obtained roughness height to different setups and comparing the simulations to the corresponding experiments. Taking into account some limitations, the methodology can be applied for optimization purposes using either smooth or hairy yarns.     

Towards a global historical emission inventory for selected PCB congeners--a mass balance approach. 2. Emissions

Accurate and complete data on the global atmospheric releases (emissions) of individual PCB congeners are essential to study source-receptor relationships and contamination patterns in remote areas, such as the Arctic. Information on the anthropogenic emissions may also be useful for the interpretation of measured levels and patterns of atmospheric PCBs. This study builds upon an accompanying paper, presenting an estimate of the global historical production and consumption of 22 PCB congeners (Breivik K, Sweetman A, Pacyna JM, Jones KC. Towards a global historical emission inventory for selected PCB congeners--a mass balance approach. 1. Global production and consumption. Sci Total Environ, submitted). Here, a dynamic mass balance model is elaborated, parameterised and applied in an attempt to estimate the historical anthropogenic emissions as a direct result of the widespread usage of PCBs for a period of 70 years. This paper presents details of the mass balance approach, along with a discussion of the major uncertainties. It is shown that the diversity of historical usage, disposal and accidental release pathways makes it an extremely difficult task to bridge the gap between consumption and emissions, resulting in an equally complex and diverse true emission pattern. These results may therefore at best represent order-of-magnitude estimates only and the results in absolute terms should be treated with great caution. In spite of these uncertainties, useful information can still be gained. The results suggest that temperature is an extremely important factor controlling both emission amount as well as the emission pattern of PCBs. In particular, the emissions of the more chlorinated (and persistent) PCB congeners appear to be significantly influenced by (uncontrolled) high-temperature sources. As a consequence, it may prove warranted to undertake further measures to avoid that contaminated materials are subject to elevated temperatures and uncontrolled burning. It is furthermore suggested that efforts should be directed towards a better characterisation and quantification of these potentially important release pathways. In addition, alternative approaches to bridge the gap between consumption and emissions in quantitative terms should be considered in order to improve these estimates.     

Two Methods for Optimal MECG Elimination and FECG Detection from Skin Electrode Signals

Two signal processing techniques for the suppression of the maternal ECG and simultaneously optimal detection of fetal ECG with respect to noise are presented. Both techniques are based on the singular value decomposition of a measurement matrix. Criteria are given in order to evaluate, a priori, electrode locations and sampling schemes for both methods. A fundamental difference with other methods is that the number of linearly independent FECG signals is not constrained to one. One of the presented techniques is a typical offline method. It is well suited for a large number of electrodes and large number of samples, which results in a better signal to noise ratio. The second technique is a typical on-line method. It gives fetal ECG signals within about 1 s, and is adaptive to changes of the transfer (e.g., due to fetal movement). It can be applied with a small number of electrodes (e.g., eight). It is shown that if three of these signals are from thoracic electrodes, the MECG suppression is guaranteed.     

Heavy Metal Adsorption Properties of Marine Algae Durvilliea Potatorum, Ecklonia Radiata and Laminaria Japonica

1 INTRODUCTIONBiosorption of heavy metals using biosorbents derived from suitable biomass is a new tech-nology for the removal and recovery of heavy metals from industrial waste waters.The ad-vantages of the biosorption technology include rapid reduction of dissolved heavy metal ionsconcentration to 10~(-6)and 10~(-9)levels,use of inexpensive and non-hazardous biosorbents,useof existing adsorption process equipment and therefore low operating costs,high uptake ca-pacity and specificity for selective heavy metal removals,and low interference from other     

Development of a transient kinetic model for the CO oxidation by O2 over a Pt/Rh/CeO2/γ-Al2O3 three-way catalyst

A transient kinetic model was developed for the CO oxidation by O₂ over a Pt/Rh/CeO₂/γ-Al₂O₃ three-way catalyst. The experiments which were modelled consisted of periodically switching between a feed stream containing 0.5 mol% CO in helium and a feed stream containing 0.5 mol% O₂ in helium, with a frequency from 0.1 to 0.25 Hz, in the temperature range 393–433 K. These temperatures are representative for cold start conditions. The transient experiments yield information about the reaction mechanism. A transient kinetic model based on elementary reaction steps was developed which describes the experimental data in the above mentioned range of experimental conditions adequately. The kinetic model consists of two monofunctional and one bifunctional contribution. The first monofunctional reaction path comprises competitive adsorption of CO and O₂ on the noble metal surface followed by a surface reaction. The second monofunctional reaction path consists of CO adsorption on an oxygen atom adsorbed on the noble metal surface, followed by a reaction to CO₂. The bifunctional reaction path involves a reaction between CO adsorbed on the noble metal surface and oxygen from ceria at the noble metal/ceria interface. Also, reversible adsorption of carbon dioxide on the support is taken into account. The kinetic parameters, i.e. preexponential factors and activation energies for the different elementary reaction steps, and the oxygen storage capacity were estimated using multi-response non-linear regression analysis of the oxygen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide outlet concentrations.