Effect of nature of fibrous substrate of composite membranes on their structure,conductive properties,and selectivity

The effect of fibers selected for investigation on the kinetics of synthesis and curing of the polymer matrix has been revealed; structural features of Polikon K materials formed on polyacrylonitrile, polyester, and novolac phenol–formaldehyde fibers have been studied; and the performance characteristics of the materials have been determined.     

Changes in the contents of epidermal growth factor and EGF-like polypeptides in the liver tissue of rats in N-nitrosodiethylamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis

It has been determined that concentration of EGF-like substances in the liver of rats with N-diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis increases and reaches its maximum in tumours (50-150 ng/mg protein). In the regenerating liver the amount of these peptides does not exceed 10 ng/mg protein. High pressure gel-filtration of appropriate extracts has revealed EGF-competing substances with m. w. about 20-30 kD in the liver carcinomas. The presented data confirm that registered EGF-like substances belong to TGF-alpha peptides.     

Mathematical model of pacemaker activity in bursting neurons of snail, Helix pomatia

On the basis of experimental data we have developed a mathematical model of pacemaker activity in bursting neurons of snail Helix pomatia which includes a minimal model of membrane potential oscillation, spike-generating mechanism, voltage- and time-dependent inward calcium current, intracellular calcium ions, [Ca2+]in, their fast buffering and accumulation, stationary voltage-dependent [Ca2+]in-inhibited calcium current. A resulting model of bursting pacemaker activity reproduces all experimental phenomena which were mimicked on the minimal model for membrane potential oscillation including (a) the effect of polarizing current on bursting activity, (b) an increase of input resistance during depolarizing phase, (c) induced hyperpolarization, etc. This model demonstrates adaptation of bursting activity to both the polarizing current and changes in the stationary sodium or potassium conductances. The model also reproduces the behavior of the transmembrane ionic current at membrane potentials clamped in different phases of slow-wave development; the calculated current-voltage relationships of the model neuronal membrane using a slow ramp potential clamp demonstrate hysteresis properties. Relationships between the model of bursting activity and the properties if intact bursting neurons are discussed.     

Explaining Classifications For Individual Instances

We present a method for explaining predictions for individual instances. The presented approach is general and can be used with all classification models that output probabilities. It is based on the decomposition of a model's predictions on individual contributions of each attribute. Our method works for the so-called black box models such as support vector machines, neural networks, and nearest neighbor algorithms, as well as for ensemble methods such as boosting and random forests. We demonstrate that the generated explanations closely follow the learned models and present a visualization technique that shows the utility of our approach and enables the comparison of different prediction methods.     

Effect of charge fractional composition on high-speed steel powder sintering

The fractional composition of gas-atomized high-speed steel R6M5K5 is studied for its effect on the main features of activated sintering of compacts. A mixture consisting of nickel powder and 30% (wt.) boron is used as an activating addition. It is established that a reduction in average particle size increases shrinkage after sintering, but the dependence of compact shrinkage on fractional composition is different for monodispersed and polydispersed compositions. The maximum size of powder particles for polydispersed compositions has little effect on shrinkage, whereas in the case of monodispersed mixtures there is a marked increase in compact density after sintering with a reduction in particle size. There is a marked increase in density providing closed porosity (90–93%) with a sintering temperature of 1200C, whereas in order to achieve a similar density in the mixture without activator the sintering temperature should be at least 1230C.Translated from Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya, No. 10, pp. 15–20, October, 1992.     

Computerized segmentation of whole-body bone scintigrams and its use in automated diagnostics

Bone scintigraphy or whole-body bone scan is one of the most common diagnostic procedures in nuclear medicine used in the last 25 years. Pathological conditions, technically poor image resolution and artefacts necessitate that algorithms use sufficient background knowledge of anatomy and spatial relations of bones in order to work satisfactorily. A robust knowledge based methodology for detecting reference points of the main skeletal regions that is simultaneously applied on anterior and posterior whole-body bone scintigrams is presented. Expert knowledge is represented as a set of parameterized rules which are used to support standard image-processing algorithms. Our study includes 467 consecutive, non-selected scintigrams, which is, to our knowledge the largest number of images ever used in such studies. Automatic analysis of whole-body bone scans using our segmentation algorithm gives more accurate and reliable results than previous studies. Obtained reference points are used for automatic segmentation of the skeleton, which is applied to automatic (machine learning) or manual (expert physicians) diagnostics. Preliminary experiments show that an expert system based on machine learning closely mimics the results of expert physicians.