Experimental and theoretical results of light scattering by aggregates of spheres

We present laboratory microwave scattering measurements for complex amplitude scattering matrices of three aggregates of 2, 8, and 27 identical spheres and compare them with theoretical predictions. Electromagnetic multiparticle-scattering calculations involve the determination of a large number of vector translation coefficients introduced by the addition theorems for vector spherical harmonics. For one of the two classes of vector translation coefficients there is an overall-sign discrepancy between two groups of formulations that exist in the literature. We compare our experimental data with the theoretical results from scattering calculations using the two different sets of formulas for computation of the translation coefficients. This comparison of experiment with theory reveals that Cruzan's original research on the vector addition theorems [Q. Appl. Math. 20, 33-40 (1962)] is correct, although many authors believe that Cruzan's formulation contains an overall-sign error.     

The PenetraCone,a new robust field measurement device for determining the penetrability of cementitious grouts

One of the most crucial parameters for successful grouting is to ensure that the grout can penetrate the necessary apertures. For the most commonly used grout, cementitious grout, the available methods for determining the ability to penetrate apertures involves several measurements with different meshes or similar, which need to be evaluated. However, during the grouting process in the field there is rarely any time for evaluation and the most commonly used field method today stipulates a mesh width through which a certain volume need to pass. This implies that only an indirect measurement of the penetrability is performed. In order to perform direct and fast field measurements of the penetrability, a new, robust measuring device has been developed at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The device is named PenetraCone and the measuring part consists of a gap that is formed between two conical cylinders. The penetrability characteristics are measured by decreasing this gap as grout flows through. The gap is measured using a dial indicator gauge. Initial tests with the PenetraCone show that two characteristic gaps or widths can be evaluated. The width as the grout flow goes from continuous flow to dripping is termed b_filter and when the flow stops completely it is termed b_stop. The parameter b_filter is related to the commencement of clogging or filtration of the cementitious grout. This means that for apertures larger than b_filter the cement passes unrestricted but for narrower apertures filtration will commence. This filtration process will occur in apertures down to b_stop, which indicates the smallest aperture that the cement can pass through and for apertures below b_stop the cement will not penetrate at all. The device is easy to use and the tests show that consistent values are obtained. The accuracy seems good enough for use as a control of the penetrability of cementitious grouts in the field. For use in production, the PenetraCone should be placed on the grouting rig, after the mixer, so that direct measurements can be performed on the grout that will actually be used for grouting. By relating the measured parameters to the penetrability requirements, quick decisions regarding the quality of the grout can be made directly on the grouting rig.     

Estimation of deformation and stiffness of fractures close to tunnels using data from single-hole hydraulic testing and grouting

Sealing of tunnels in fractured rocks is commonly performed by pre- or post-excavation grouting. The grouting boreholes are frequently drilled close to the tunnel wall, an area where rock stresses can be low and fractures can more easily open up during grout pressurization. In this paper we suggest that data from hydraulic testing and grouting can be used to identify grout-induced fracture opening, to estimate fracture stiffness of such fractures, and to evaluate its impact on the grout performance. A conceptual model and a method are presented for estimating fracture stiffness. The method is demonstrated using grouting data from four pre-excavation grouting boreholes at a shallow tunnel (50 m) in Nygård, Sweden, and two post-excavation grouting boreholes at a deep tunnel (450 m) in Äspö HRL, Sweden. The estimated stiffness of intersecting fractures for the boreholes at the shallow Nygård tunnel are low (2–5 GPa/m) and in agreement with literature data from field experiments at other fractured rock sites. Higher stiffness was obtained for the deeper tunnel boreholes at Äspö which is reasonable considering that generally higher rock stresses are expected at greater depths. Our method of identifying and evaluating the properties and impact of deforming fractures might be most applicable when grouting takes place in boreholes adjacent to the tunnel wall, where local stresses might be low and where deforming (opening) fractures may take most of the grout.     

Improved land surface emissivities over agricultural areas using ASTER NDVI

Land surface emissivity retrieval over agricultural regions is important for energy balance estimations, land cover assessment and other related environmental studies. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) produces images of sufficient spatial resolution (from 15 m to 90 m) to be of use in agricultural studies, in which fields of crops are too small to be well-resolved by low resolution sensors. The ASTER project generates land surface emissivity images as a Standard Product (AST05) using the Temperature/Emissivity Separation (TES) algorithm. However, the TES algorithm is prone to scaling errors in estimating emissivities for surfaces with low spectral contrast if the atmospheric correction is inaccurate. This paper shows a comparison between the land surface emissivity estimated with the TES algorithm and from a simple approach using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for five ASTER images (28 June 2000, 15 August 2000, 31 August 2000, 28 April 2001 and 02 August 2001) of the agricultural area of Barrax (Albacete, Spain). The results indicate that differences are < 1% for ASTER band 13 (10.7 μm) and < 1.5% for band 14 (11.3 μm), but > 2% for bands 10 (8.3 μm), 11 (8.6 μm) and 12 (9.1 μm). The emissivities for the five ASTER bands were tested against in situ measurements carried out with the CIMEL CE 312-2 field radiometer, the NDVI method giving root mean square errors (RMSE) < 0.005 over vegetated areas and RMSE < 0.015 over bare soil, and the TES algorithm giving RMSE ∼ 0.01 for vegetated areas but RMSE > 0.03 over bare soil. The errors and inconsistencies for ASTER bands 13 and 14 are within those anticipated for TES, but the greater errors for bands 10-12 suggest the presence of problems related to atmospheric compensation and model assumptions about soil spectra. The NDVI method uses visible/near-infrared data co-acquired with the thermal images to estimate vegetation cover and, hence, provides an independent constraint on emissivity. The success of this approach suggests that it may be useful for daytime images of agricultural or other heavily vegetated areas, in which the TES algorithm has occasional failures.     

Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines: ten years of reviews

The journal and in particular the resource reviews have been running for 10 years. There are a number of activities being planned to celebrate. However it is a good time to revisit our original and updated goals again [(Langdon, Genet Progrm Evolvable Mach 1(1/2):165–169 (2000); Langdon and Gustafson, Genet Program Evolvable Mach 6(2):221–228 (2005)], compare them with what the journal has achieved and make new plans. "Books" section onwards gives up to date statistics on the genetic programming and evolvable hardware literature and electronic resources.     

Open issues in genetic programming

It is approximately 50 years since the first computational experiments were conducted in what has become known today as the field of Genetic Programming (GP), twenty years since John Koza named and popularised the method, and ten years since the first issue appeared of the Genetic Programming & Evolvable Machines journal. In particular, during the past two decades there has been a significant range and volume of development in the theory and application of GP, and in recent years the field has become increasingly applied. There remain a number of significant open issues despite the successful application of GP to a number of challenging real-world problem domains and progress in the development of a theory explaining the behavior and dynamics of GP. These issues must be addressed for GP to realise its full potential and to become a trusted mainstream member of the computational problem solving toolkit. In this paper we outline some of the challenges and open issues that face researchers and practitioners of GP. We hope this overview will stimulate debate, focus the direction of future research to deepen our understanding of GP, and further the development of more powerful problem solving algorithms.     

Effects of heightened motivation on the detection of deception.

1 of 5 cards was selected by each S and 2 minutes association to this card was required. GSR response to the selected card was compared to the responses for nonselected cards in 2 groups of Ss. 1 group was motivated to "deceive the operator and withhold responses." The other group was given no special instruction. The hypothesis that Ss who are motivated to deceive will more frequently produce disproportional large skin resistance responses to critical items as opposed to noncritical items than will Ss who have not been so motivated was upheld. Ss who were motivated to deceive were more successfully detected. In addition detection took place at a much greater than chance level in the motivated group, while in the other group it occurred only at chance levels. The degree of autonomic response to significant stimuli appears to be a function of the motivational state of the S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Engineering stability into Escherichia coli secreted Fabs leads to increased functional expression

The recombinant expression of immunoglobulin domains, Fabs and scFvs in particular, in Escherichia coli can vary significantly from antibody to antibody. We hypothesized that poor Fab expression is often linked to poor intrinsic stability. To investigate this further, we applied a novel approach for stabilizing a poorly expressing anti-tetanus toxoid human Fab with a predisposition for being misfolded and non-functional. Forty-five residues within the Fab were chosen for saturation mutagenesis based on residue frequency analysis and positional entropy calculations. Using automated screening, we determined the approximate midpoint temperature of thermal denaturation (TM) for over 4000 library members with a maximum theoretical diversity of 855 unique mutations. This dataset led to the identification of 11 residue positions, primarily in the Fv region, which when mutated enhanced Fab stability. By combining these mutations, the TM of the Fab was increased to 92 degrees C. Increases in Fab stability correlated with higher expressed Fab yields and higher levels of properly folded and functional protein. The mutations were selected based on their ability to increase the apparent stability of the Fab and therefore the exact mechanism behind the enhanced expression in E.coli remains undefined. The wild-type and two optimized Fabs were converted to an IgG1 format and expressed in mammalian cells. The optimized IgG1 molecules demonstrated identical gains in thermostability compared to the Fabs; however, the expression levels were unaffected suggesting that the eukaryotic secretion system is capable of correcting potential folding issues prevalent in E.coli. Overall, the results have significant implications for the bacterial expression of functional antibody domains as well as for the production of stable, high affinity therapeutic antibodies in mammalian cells.     

Design of multivariable feedback systems with simple unstable plant

This paper proposes a design methodology for distributed linear multivariable feedback systems with simple unstable plants (a simple unstable plant has either first- or second-order unstable poles). The methodology developed provides a global characterization of all realizable compensators which stabilize a given simple unstable plant. A design example is given to show that this methodology can be used to generate, in an appropriate computer-aided design environment, controllers which are optimal with respect to designer-specified criteria. Additionally, it is shown that the nature of the design methodology gives geometric insight into the dynamics of the process whereby an unstable plant is stabilized.     

Intrauterine transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi in dogs

To determine whether intrauterine transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi could exist in dogs, 10 female Beagles were inoculated intradermally with approximately 1,000 B burgdorferi on day 1 of proestrus; inoculation was repeated every 2 weeks during the gestation period. Ten female control Beagles were similarly inoculated with phosphate-buffered saline solution. Prior to the start of the study, all females and 3 males used for breeding were seronegative for B burgdorferi on the basis of results of the indirect fluorescent antibody test and immunoblot (western analysis. Similarly, results of culture of blood for B burgdorferi were negative. All 20 of the females were bred naturally. Blood samples were collected weekly for serologic testing and culture. Blood samples were obtained from live pups on day 1 of life, then weekly until pups were 6 weeks old when they were euthanatized. Tissues were obtained for culture and testing by use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of 10 spirochete-inoculated (SI) females, 8 became infected with B burgdorferi as evidenced by spirochete culture results and/or PCR-detected B burgdorferi DNA in the tissues of females or their pups. Of the 10 SI females, 8 delivered litters (3 to 7 pups) that had at least 1 neonatal or 6-week-old pup with B burgdorferi DNA-positive tissues (by PCR), and spirochetes were cultured from tissues from pups of 2 litters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)