树叶房子

现代建筑不再只是规矩方正的盒子,它所呈现出的不仅是建筑自身的功能性,而且被更多的被赋予了表现性和象征性。整个建筑被一系列不规则形状的铜质屋顶笼罩。屋顶的设计既尊重了原始地貌又参考了周围植物的形状。叶子形状的屋顶都是重叠的板,由象征着弯曲树干的管状钢结构支撑,而屋面材料波纹状的褶皱也是参照了海洋的波浪为模板。舒展的"叶脉"支撑出一个双层空间,通透的三维曲面玻璃将它围合,这即是这个树叶房子的组成和特色所在。     

Dense Plasma Injection Experiment at MCX

We present preliminary results of the High Density Plasma Injection Experiment at the Maryland Centrifugal Experiment (MCX). HyperV Technologies Corp. has designed, built, and installed a prototype coaxial gun to drive rotation in MCX. This gun has been designed to avoid the blow-by instability via a combination of electrode shaping and a tailored plasma armature. An array of diagnostics indicates the gun is capable of plasma jets with a mass of 160 μg at 70 km/s with an average plasma density above 10¹⁵ cm⁻³. Preliminary measurements are underway at MCX to understand the penetration of the plasma jet through the MCX magnetic field and the momentum transfer from the jet to the MCX plasma. Data will be presented for a wide range of MCX field parameters, and the prospects for future injection experiments will be evaluated.     

Thermal control of the liquid lithium divertor for NSTX

The liquid lithium divertor (LLD) to be installed in NSTX has four toroidal panels, each a conical section inclined at 22° like the previous graphite divertor tiles. Each LLD panel is a copper plate clad with 0.25 mm of stainless steel (SS) and a surface layer of flame sprayed molybdenum (Mo) that will host lithium deposited from an evaporator. LITER (evaporators) already used in NSTX will be upgraded for the LLD. Each has twelve 500 W cartridge heaters with thermocouples, 16 other thermocouples, and a channel for helium cooling. During LLD experiments, the LLD will be heated so that the lithium is just above its melting temperature. The length of each shot will be preset to prevent excessive evaporation of lithium from the LLD. This duration depends on the heat load and is likely to be in the range of less than a second to several seconds. Careful thermal control of the LLD is important to maximize the shot times and to guide operation of the LLD. This paper describes the layout of the LLD, its expected thermal performance, the control system, and supporting experiments and analysis. A companion paper in this conference, “Physics design requirements for the national spherical torus experiment liquid lithium divertor,” provides other information.     

Aflatoxins in food: occurrence, biosynthesis, effects on organisms, detection, and methods of control

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by species of Aspergilli, specifically Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. These molds are ubiquitous in nature and grow on a variety of substrates, thereby producing aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are of great concern due to their biochemical and biological effects on living organisms. In this article, the occurrence of aflatoxins, their biosynthesis, factors influencing their production, their effects on living organisms, and methods of detection and control in food are reviewed. Future areas of research involving mathematical modeling of factors influencing aflatoxin production and alternative methods of control, such as modified atmosphere packaging, are also discussed.     

Transitions in Chromium

Discontinuous changes of Young’s modulus, internal friction, coefficient of expansion, electrical resistivity, and thermoelectric power are evidence for a transition in chromium near 37°C. Although the X-ray diffraction pattern gives no clue, a difference between the thermal expansivity and the temperature dependence of the lattice parameter suggests a crystallographic change. Young’s modulus data disclosed another transition near—152°C.     

Association of the serotonin transporter gene promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism with biased attention for emotional stimuli.

A deletion polymorphism in the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) has been associated with vulnerability to affective disorders, yet the mechanism by which this gene confers vulnerability remains unclear. Two studies examined associations between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and attentional bias for emotional stimuli among nondepressed adults. Biased attention, attention engagement, and difficulty with attention disengagement were assessed with a spatial cuing task using emotional stimuli. Results from Study 1 (N = 38) indicated that short 5-HTTLPR allele carriers experienced greater difficulty disengaging their attention from sad and happy stimuli compared with long allele homozygotes. Study 2 participants (N = 144) were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism, including single nucleotide polymorphism rs25531 in the long allele of the 5-HTTLPR. Consistent with Study 1, individuals homozygous for the low-expressing 5-HTTLPR alleles (i.e., S and LG) experienced greater difficulty disengaging attention from sad, happy, and fear stimuli than high-expressing 5-HTTLPR homozygotes. Because this association exists in healthy adults, it may represent a susceptibility factor for affective disorders that becomes problematic during stressful life experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and Thermal Stability of the Mixed Product of the Ether‐Soluble Fraction of Bio‐Oil and Bio‐Diesel

The storage and thermal stability of blends of the ether‐soluble fraction of bio‐oil (ES) and bio‐diesel are reported. Fuel properties such as viscosity, water content, acid number and average molecular weight of the ES/bio‐diesel blends were measured before and after aging. Compared to the aging properties of bio‐oil alone, very small changes in water content and viscosity were shown for the blends aged at 80 °C for 180 h. Chemical changes were characterized using gel permeation chromatography, showing a slight increase in the molecular weight over time. Further confirmation of the changes was provided through Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, thermal decomposition analysis using a thermogravimetric analyzer, proton assignment using proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and carbon assignment using carbon nuclear magnetic resonance. Overall, the study indicates that ES/bio‐diesel blends are stable as fuel under the conditions tested in this paper.     

Decentralised decision making in heterogeneous teams using anonymous optimisation

This paper considers the scenario where multiple autonomous agents must cooperate in making decisions to minimise a continuous and differentiable team cost function. A distributed and asynchronous optimisation algorithm is presented which allows each agent to incrementally refine their decisions while intermittently communicating with the rest of the team. A convergence analysis provides quantitative requirements on the frequency agents must communicate that is prescribed by the structure of the decision problem. In general the solution method will require every agent to communicate to and have a model of every other agent in the team. To overcome this, a specific subset of systems, called Partially Separable, is defined. These systems only require each agent to have a combined summary of the rest of the team and allows each agent to communicate locally over an acyclic communication network, greatly increasing the scalability of the system.