Data mining of resilience indicators

In recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced several financial setbacks, including speculative attacks in 1998 and the SARS outbreak in 2003. Financial stresses of this nature are unanticipated, and not all of the dangers can be predicted by the examination of market information and macroeconomic indicators. The Early Warning System (EWS) that has been adopted by the International Monetary Fund may not be able to predict future financial crises for all possible scenarios, because shocks come in many different forms. To supplement the EWS, this paper proposes a data mining framework to measure the resilience of an economy. The resilience framework does not predict a crisis, but rather assesses the current state of health of an economy and its ability to withstand a financial shock should one occur. The framework is based on a feedback system consisting of two stages. The first stage assigns a resilience score to each economy based on a fuzzy logic scoring scheme that is built on the ambiguous reasoning of experts. The second stage uses the classification tree approach to estimate thresholds for each economic indicator, and examines the quality of the fuzzy score. The result from the second stage is then passed back to the first stage as feedback. The final result is obtained when the feedback system reaches its equilibrium state. The proposed resilience framework is applied to the external-sector and the public-sector economies of several countries to illustrate its applicability.     

High Gd Concentration GaGdN Grown at Low Temperatures

GaGdN layers were grown at temperatures below 300°C by radio-frequency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates. GaGdN samples with high Gd concentration as high as 12.5% were obtained by lowering the growth temperature. X-ray diffraction results showed no obvious secondary phase, which means that the phase separation can be suppressed by the growth at low temperatures. All samples, including those grown at room temperature, showed ferromagnetic characteristics. Photoluminescence emission was observed, though spectra exhibit broad and sharp luminescence bands related to many kinds of defects. It is suggested that electrons coming from defects, especially, nitrogen vacancy, stabilize ferromagnetism, and that the carrier-induced ferromagnetism occurs in the low-temperature-growth GaGdN.     

2D Image Construction from Low Resolution Response of a New Non‐invasive Measurement for Medical Application

This paper presents an application of digital signal processing to data acquired by the radio imaging method (RIM) that was adopted to measure moisture distribution inside the human body. RIM was originally developed for the mining industry; we are applying the method to a biomedical measurement because of its simplicity, economy, and safety. When a two‐dimensional image was constructed from the measured data, the method provided insufficient resolution because the wavelength of the measurement medium, a weak electromagnetic wave in a VHF band, was longer than human tissues. We built and measured a phantom, a model simulating the human body, consisting of two water tanks representing large internal organs. A digital equalizer was applied to the measured values as a weight function, and images were reconstructed that corresponded to the original shape of the two water tanks. As a result, a two‐dimensional image containing two individual peaks corresponding to the original two small water tanks was constructed. The result suggests the method was applicable to biomedical measurement by the assistance of digital signal processing. This technique may be applicable to home‐based medical care and other situations in which safety, simplicity, and economy are important.     

A Family of Far‐Infrared‐Transmitting Glasses in the Ga–Ge–Te System for Space Applications

Conditions of formation of bulk tellurium chalcogenide glasses, containing 70–80 at % Te associated to Ga and Ge are described. The characteristic temperatures are measured: the glass‐transition temperature, T_g, is situated in the range 140–185 °C and the difference T_x – T_g, where T_x is the onset crystallization temperature, is in the range 76–113 °C. Moreover, the optical transmission window is exceptional, ranging from 1.99 μm in the bandgap up to 28 μm in the phonon region. Developed within the framework of requirements for the Darwin mission (a search for and study of extrasolar planets), feasibility of infrared optical fibers formed from these glasses is studied. Drawing experiments are conducted with the glass Ga₂‐Ge₃Te₁₅, which possesses the maximum T_x – T_g, and a first optical fiber is presented.     

新型水力泵排液工艺

酸化或压裂是改造油气层措施中常规的也是最有效的方法之一。问题是酸化或压裂结束后,采取何种工艺及时返排出残酸,减少残液二次沉淀对油层的污染。同时常规TCP(油管传输负压射孔)+DST(地层测试器)二联作测试工艺在遇到低压、低渗等非自喷油层时,要想取准油层产能、压力,收集到有代表性产液样品资料,困难很大。针对以上问题,大港油田钻采院研制了新型水力喷射泵,该泵可与酸化、压裂及射孔+测试等工艺配套使用,在实现一趟施工管柱同时完成几项工作的同时,利用喷射泵深抽、连续强排的技术特点,取得了较好效果。