Hot corrosion ofα-SiC ceramics by V2O5 melt

The corrosion behaviour of-SiC in V₂O₅ melt has been investigated at elevated temperatures. The corrosion products on the surface of the specimen are removed using HF. The morphologies are also examined. From the observations of bubble formation in the scale and the temperature dependence of the corrosion rate, a kinetic mechanism is proposed. Based on the consistency of the plotted data with the proposed equation and high values of surface reaction rate constant, a diffusion controlling process has been developed.     

Kaolinite-mullite reaction series: a TEM study

The kaolinite-mullite reaction series in single crystal kaolinite has been characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The exotherm observed at 980° C is attributed to the formation of a spinel phase. Mullite crystallites have also been observed with the spinel phase and both phases have a composition near that of 32 mullite. Subsequent heat treatment leads to the growth of mullite crystallites on the original kaolinite plates with the c-axis perpendicular to the plate.     

Computed tomographic imaging of the coronary arterial tree-use of local tomography

It has been demonstrated previously (see E.L. Ritman and A.A. Bove, in State of the Art in Quantitative Coronary Arteriography, p.67-78, 1986) that coronary artery anatomy can be visualized using high-speed, volume-scanning X-ray CT (computed tomography). In the current study it is demonstrated that local image reconstruction (i.e. the reconstruction kernel is ~2(+) mm long), as distinct from more conventional global image reconstruction (i.e. 200(+) mm kernel length), has the advantage of reducing the need for operator interactive image processing. In addition, the local reconstruction algorithm eliminates the need for recording the X-ray projection data over the full transaxial extent of the thorax because it requires only the X-ray attenuation data over the region of the heart. This latter aspect reduces the dynamic range requirements for the sensors and could reduce total X-ray exposure.     

Effect of silver addition on superconductivity in the Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr1.6Ca2Cu3O10−y system

Silver/superconductor composites containing 0 to 80 vol% silver have been prepared and their properties determined. Optimum heat treatment at sintering temperatures ( 800° C) under low oxygen pressures produces material with high critical current density and improves physical properties. Magnetic susceptibility measurements have been found to be consistent with resistivity results. In order to retain a single high-T _c phase with increasing silver content, decreased oxygen partial pressures are required. Using the normal-state resistivity of these composites, a percolation threshold at a silver volume fraction of 43% was observed, while zero resistivity measurements show that a continuous superconducting network can be obtained with up to 80 vol% silver. The critical current density of 21 vol% silver-doped samples was found to be 1520 A cm^–2 at 77.3 K, compared to 260 A cm^–2 for an undoped sample.     

Concurrent reading while writing revisited

A modification is proposed to Peterson's construction of 1-writern-reader multivalued atomic shared variableusingn+2 multivalued safe variables and some boolean atomic variables. The resulting construction is elegant and is simpler than the original one. K. Vidyasankar received B.E. (Elec. Engg.) from Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, M. Tech. from I.I.T. Kanpur, India, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Waterloo, Canada. He is now an Associate Professor in Computer Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. His research interests include concurrency control and recovery in database systems, concurrency in interprocess communication, design and analysis of algorithms, and graph theory.A prelininary version of this paper, under the title Improving Peterson's Construction of 1-Writern-Reader Multivalued Atomic Register, appears in the Proc. 26th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, September 1988, pp 693–700     

Training for an agricultural discrimination task

Skeleton weed, centaurea juncea, is a declared weed in Western Australia because it competes with grain crops for nutrients and moisture. When it is found during harvesting, mechanised teams search and eradicate it. In an earlier report of field trials (Hartley et al, 1989) it was reported that search teams' detection rate was poor and since search teams had usually never seen skeleton weeds, visual discrimination learning was to be expected and observed during searches. The present study investigated the nature of this discrimination learning in a laboratory by developing a training programme of colour photographic slides of weeds in stubble. Subjects receiving specific training with feedback on their performance compared with those receiving pseudo-training showed a significant improvement in detections. Subsequently the benefit of the programme was validated in a field trial.     

Two-Stage Method for Grouping News with Similar Topics

Programming and Computer Software - This paper is devoted to event detection as part of news stream analysis. An event is regarded as a group of news texts dedicated to one real-world fact or...     

A Stream X-Machine Tool for Modelling and Generating Test Cases for Chronic Diseases Based on State-Counting Approach

Programming and Computer Software - In the biomedical domain, diagrammatical models have been extensively used to describe and understand the behaviour of biological organisms (biological agents)...     

Automated Creation of Cyber-Physical Museum Exhibits Using a Scientific Visualization System on a Chip

Programming and Computer Software - This paper is devoted to automating the development of standalone scientific visualization modules based on systems on chips with custom tangible user...     

An accumulating interpreter for cognitive vision production systems

Knowledge-based recognition and analysis of high dimensional data such as aerial images often has high computational complexity. For most applications time and computational resources such as memory are limited. Therefore approximately correct interpreters with any-time capability are proposed. In this contribution a special software architecture is published, which can handle the administration of complex knowledge-based recognition and analysis in a tractable manner.