Search for Superconductivity in Lithium

We report on the results of a search for superconductivity in Li. We find no evidence for the predicted transition to superconductivity at any temperature down to 5 mK in magnetic fields down to 0.4 T. However, an unexpected Curie–Weiss temperature dependence in the magnetic susceptibility is observed. We discuss the possibility that this signal arises from the Li itself, the possibility that it arises from Kondo behavior, and the implications of the effect for the predicted T_c of Li.     

Disruption and phenotypic analysis of seven ORFs from the left arm of chromosome XV of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We have disrupted seven open reading frames (ORFs) located in the left arm of chromosome XV of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These ORFs, previously discovered by our laboratory during the programme of systematic sequencing of the yeast genome, are YOL152w, YOL151w, YOL149w, YOL130w, YOL128c, YOL125w and YOL124c. In most cases, the short flanking homology (SFH) replacement technique has been used. The mutants were analysed for different phenotypic tests. Disruption of YOL130w (also known as ALR1) produced a lethal phenotype, despite the presence of a highly similar gene in the yeast genome (ALR2/YFL050C). Disruption of YOL149w (also known as DCP1, and encoding an mRNA decapping enzyme) results in lethality in the FY1679 background, although it allows slow growth in the CEN.PK141 background. Disruption of the remaining ORFs did not result in readily detectable phenotypic changes.     

Does increased confidence among novice drivers imply a decrease in safety? The effects of skid training on slippery road accidents

Finnish driver training was renewed in 1990 with the inclusion of a compulsory skid training course in the curriculum. The study evaluated the renewal's effect on accidents in slippery road conditions. A questionnaire was sent by mail to 41000 novice drivers who were randomly selected from the official register of driving licences. It included questions on driving exposure and the accidents the drivers had been involved in during 6-18 months following licensing. The rate of return was 74.7%. Half of the drivers had received their licence in 1989 and had, therefore, not received any skid training. The other half had received their licence in 1990 after the introduction of the skid training course. The results showed no effects of the renewal on slippery road accidents for either male or female drivers. Another questionnaire was sent to 1300 old and new curriculum drivers immediately after licensing and a second time 1/2-1 year later, both with questions about skills, worries and perceived risks regarding driving in slippery conditions. The new curriculum drivers showed higher confidence in their skills and they were less afraid to drive in slippery conditions than the old curriculum drivers. This increase in confidence as a result of skid training is discussed. It is argued that high confidence in one's personal skills does not necessarily imply negative safety. The crucial factor is how these skills are used, and for what purpose.     

Approximating the Advertisement Placement Problem

The advertisement placement problem deals with space and time sharing by advertisements on the Internet. Consider a Web page containing a rectangular display area (e.g., a banner) in which advertisements may appear. The display area can be utilized efficiently by allowing several small ads to appear simultaneously side by side, as well as by cycling through a schedule of ads, allowing different ads to be displayed at different times. A customer wishing to purchase advertising space specifies an ad size and a display count, which is the number of times their ad should appear during each cycle. The scheduler may accept or reject any given advertisement, but must be able to schedule all accepted ads within the given time and space constraints. Each advertisement has a non-negative profit associated with it, and the objective is to schedule a maximum-profit subset of ads. We present a (3 + )-approximation algorithm for the general problem, as well as (2 + )-approximation algorithms for two special cases.     

Financing cleaner production investments—UNEP experience

Cleaner production (CP) can be good business. To address constraints related to financing CP and to look for ways to overcome them, the United Nations Environment Programme, Division of Technology, Industry and Economic (UNEP/DTIE), has been implementing since 1999 a project "Strategies and mechanisms for promoting cleaner production investment in developing countries". The project is coming to an end in February 2003. Through field testing and adaptation and in partnership with experts in industrialised and developing countries and economies in transition, it has generated a series of guides, checklists and training packages. Over 3,000 persons attended the over 100 1- or 2-day courses delivered by national institutions in five demonstration countries. The project has also contributed to making preventive approaches and efficient resource management part of awareness raising and training activities by some development finance institutions and the UNEP Finance Initiatives. Proposals on innovative financing schemes have been made in several workshops for banks and donors in 2002. In addition to the special financing issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production (published in March 2003), articles on links between CP, financing and accounting have been contributed to professional publications.Although the project's demonstration activities have focused on five countries in Africa, Asia and Central America, its conclusions, recommendations and outputs are of direct relevance also to other developing countries and economies in transition. The integration of preventive strategies into investment decision making processes is a challenge both in the industrialised and in developing countries in the region. This paper summarises the lessons learned through the project and presents the recommendations, tools and instruments available for adaptation and use by CP promoters, financial institutions and business schools.     

Pricing based adaptive scheduling method for bandwidth allocation

In this paper we present a packet scheduling method which guarantees bandwidth of the connection and optimizes revenue of the network service provider. A closed form formula for updating the adaptive weights of a packet scheduler is derived from a revenue-based optimization problem. The weight updating procedure is fast and independent on the assumption of the connections’ statistical behavior. The features of the algorithm are simulated and analyzed with and without a call admission control (CAC) mechanism. We also show in context with the CAC procedure a mechanism for guaranteeing a specified mean bandwidth for different service classes.     

Using computational fluid dynamics to modify a waste-heat boiler design

This article describes the use of a general-purpose computational-fluid-dynamics code for improving and optimizing waste-heat boilers in the Outokumpu flash smelting process. The codes offer opportunities to study the transport phenomena for fluid and particulate flow and heat and mass transfer. The simulation includes gas- and dust-flow behaviors and gas cooling by convection and radiation. The results were used in the boiler modification for increased capacity and higher cooling efficiency. The modified boiler, with its unique design, has been in use at Outokumpu’s Harjavalta copper smelter since June 1995 with excellent performance. For more information, contact Y. Yang, Delft University of Technology, Raw Materials Technology/Applied Earth Sciences, Mijnbouwstraat 120, Delft, 2628 RX, Netherlands; telephone 31-15-278-2542; fax 31-15-278-2836; e-mail Y.Yang@ta.tudelft.nl.     

The Jama Legal Narrative Part I: The JAMA Model and Narrative Interpretation Patterns

For the purposes of starting to tackle, within artificial intelligence (AI), the narrative aspects of legal narratives in a criminal evidence perspective, traditional AI models of narrative understanding can arguably supplement extant models of legal narratives from the scholarly literature of law, jury studies, or the semiotics of law. Not only: the literary (or cinematic) models prominent in a given culture impinge, with their poetic conventions, on the way members of the culture make sense of the world. This shows glaringly in the sample narrative from the Continent-the Jama murder, the inquiry, and the public outcry-we analyse in this paper. Apparently in the same racist crime category as the case of Stephen Lawrence's murder (in Greenwich on 22 April 1993) with the ensuing still current controversy in the UK, the Jama case (some 20 years ago) stood apart because of a very unusual element: the eyewitnesses identifying the suspects were a group of football referees and linesmen eating together at a restaurant, and seeing the sleeping man as he was set ablaze in a public park nearby. Professional background as witnesses-cum-factfinders in a mass sport, and public perceptions of their required characteristics, couldn't but feature prominently in the public perception of the case, even more so as the suspects were released by the magistrate conducting the inquiry. There are sides to this case that involve different expected effects in an inquisitorial criminal procedure system from the Continent, where an investigating magistrate leads the inquiry and prepares the prosecution case, as opposed to trial by jury under the Anglo-American adversarial system. In the JAMA prototype, we tried to approach the given case from the coign of vantage of narrative models from AI.     

Rate dependent compressive response of 2D triaxially braided carbon fiber composites and the effects of resin on the interfacial shear strength

2D triaxially braided carbon fiber composites were subjected to off-axis compression under static and low velocity impact loading. Three types of specimens with axial fiber tows at angles of 30°, 60°, and 75° to the direction of loading were studied under uniaxial compression loading using a modified compression loading fixture that has anti-buckling guides. Static tests were carried out using a hydraulically activated MTS loading frame, while, low velocity impact tests were conducted using a drop tower facility. A three parameter homogenized orthotropic plasticity model was used to characterize the inelastic response and the constants associated with this characterization were determined uniquely. Results from this characterization were subsequently used to analyze the rate dependent interfacial effects in these materials. Two types of composites made from two different resins, but with the same textile architecture were used for this study. The effect of the resin properties on the unusual rate effects exhibited by the composite is seen to be captured well with the three parameter orthotropic plasticity model adopted.