Bayesian and Dempster-Shafer fusion

The Kalman Filter is traditionally viewed as a prediction-correction filtering algorithm. In this work we show that it can be viewed as a Bayesian fusion algorithm and derive it using Bayesian arguments. We begin with an outline of Bayes theory, using it to discuss well-known quantities such as priors, likelihood and posteriors, and we provide the basic Bayesian fusion equation. We derive the Kalman Filter from this equation using a novel method to evaluate the Chapman-Kolmogorov prediction integral. We then use the theory to fuse data from multiple sensors. Vying with this approach is the Dempster-Shafer theory, which deals with measures of “belief”, and is based on the nonclassical idea of “mass” as opposed to probability. Although these two measures look very similar, there are some differences. We point them out through outlining the ideas of the Dempster-Shafer theory and presenting the basic Dempster-Shafer fusion equation. Finally we compare the two methods, and discuss the relative merits and demerits using an illustrative example.     

PMMA tacticity and alumina powder dispersion stability

Summary Sedimentation experiments and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA) analyses have been used to study the effect of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) tacticity on aluminum oxide powder dispersion stability in a common solvent medium. The relative trends from sedimentation densities, and from surface analyses after solvent washing show that (PMMA) adsorption is greatest with isotactic polymer, where isotactic>atactic>syndiotactic adsorption. These results suggest that surface adsorption and hence dispersion stability can be influenced by polymer chain configuration as well as by chain conformation.     

Web-based systems design: a study of contemporary practices and an explanatory framework based on “method-in-action”

This paper reports the findings of a detailed study of Web-based systems design (WBSD) practices in Ireland based on data collected over a 3-year period (2002–2005), the objectives of which were to (1) contribute towards a richer understanding of the current “real-world” context of WBSD by characterising the profile of a typical project (team size, timeframe, nature of requirements, etc.) and identifying the key challenges, constraints, and imperatives (i.e. “mediating factors”) faced by Web-based system designers, and (2) understand how those contextual parameters and mediating factors influence the activity of WBSD as regards the selection and enactment of whatever design practices are therefore engaged (i.e. the use of methods, procedures, etc.). Data was gathered through a survey which yielded 165 usable responses, and later through a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews. Using grounded theory, an explanatory conceptual framework is derived, based on an extension of the “method-in-action” model, the application of which to WBSD has not been previously investigated in depth. It is proposed that this framework of WBSD issues is valuable in a number of ways to educators, researchers, practitioners, and method engineers.     

火电厂实施废水零排放的可行性探讨

对合肥发电厂的用排水现状进行了介绍，并提出了实施废水零排放的可行性方案。     

Equivalent Conditions for Convergence of Splittings of Non-Hermitian Indefinite Matrices

We present some sufficient and necessary conditions for convergent splitting of a non-Hermitian indefinite matrix. Some sufficient conditions to determinate a matrix with a (strongly) dominant symmetric part for a class of boundary value problem are also obtained. These results are applicable to identify the convergence of iterative methods for solving large sparse systems of linear equations.     

Dynamic Bending Strains in Planar Trusses with Pinned or Rigid Joints

The method of reverberation ray matrix is applied to analyze the dynamic behavior of structural members in trusses with pinned joints subjected to suddenly applied force. The results are compared with those in planar trusses with rigid joints. Detailed calculations are made with two types of trusses, a small laboratory model made of slender aluminum bars, and a hypothetical real size Pratt truss made of structural steel. It is found that the maximum dynamic bending strains in the members of both types of trusses are very large, comparable with the dynamic axial strains in the same member. The magnitudes of bending strains in the pinned truss differs little from those in the truss with rigid joints for both types of trusses. Such a large dynamic bending strain in a structure member, which is contradictory to the static behavior of the same truss, could be caused by the inertial force of the mass in structural members of the truss.     

Low cycle fatigue and creep behavior of recrystallized Molybdenum near room termperature

The deformation behavior of pure recrystallized molybdenum under cyclic and static loads was investigated in the temperature range between 30°C and 10O°C, for stress amplitudes between 100 MPa and 250 MPa and for static loads up to 200 MPa. The results show that in spite of the low test temperatures and stress levels the Mo material exhibits considerable plastic strains which depend sensitively on frequenez and small changes in temperature.The activation energy deduced for the static and dynamic deformation is less than 0.98 eV which indicates thermally activated processes, to be explained by a dislocation kink model as described in the literature. The low-temperature fatigue behavior appears strongly influenced by creep-fatigue interaction phenomena.     

Long-term immunity to poliovirus in children immunized with live attenuated and enhanced-potency inactivated trivalent poliovirus vaccines

Eighty-six children who completed immunization with the two trivalent poliovirus vaccines, live attenuated (OPV) and enhanced potency inactivated (EIPV), in one of four schedules (OPV-OPV-OPV, EIPV-EIPV-EIPV, EIPV-OPV-OPV, and EIPV-EIPV-OPV) at 1 year of age were monitored serologically over the subsequent 4 years and challenged with OPV at 5 years of age. Each of the immunization groups exhibited an initial 10- to 100-fold decline in neutralizing antibody to poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 during the first 2 years of follow-up; thereafter antibody titers stabilized. The EIPV-EIPV-OPV group maintained the highest antibody levels throughout the observation period, including the response to OPV challenge at 5 years of age. These data suggest that immunization with OPV, EIPV, and combinations of the two vaccines confers long-term immunity. Optimal systemic immunity was associated with two or more doses of EIPV.