Sensory registration and informational persistence.

The view of iconic memory as a precategorical, high-capacity, quickly decaying visible memory has recently come under attack (e.g., M. Coltheart, 1980). Distinctions have been drawn between visible persistence, or the phenomenal trace of an extinguished stimulus, and informational persistence, knowledge about the visual properties of the stimulus. Two alternative conceptions of informational persistence were tested in 3 experiments with 13 university students and the present authors. One conception is that visual information persists in a visual memory that begins at stimulus offset and lasts for 150–300 msec, independently of exposure duration. The 2nd conception is that informational persistence arises from a nonvisual memory that contains spatial coordinates for displayed items along with identity codes for those items. In the experiments, 3?×?3 letter arrays were presented for durations ranging from 50 to 500 msec. A single character mask presented at varying intervals after array offset cued report of an entire row of the array. Comparison of the cued row's masked and unmasked letters revealed that spatially specific visual (i.e., maskable) information persisted after stimulus offset, regardless of exposure duration. This result favors the visual conception of informational persistence. There was also support, however, for the nonvisual conception: Accuracy increased and item intrusion errors decreased as stimulus duration increased. Implications for models of informational persistence and for transsaccadic integration during reading are discussed. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application-Specific Instruction-Set Processor for Retinex-Like Image and Video Processing

This brief presents an application-specific instruction-set processor (ASIP) for real-time Retinex image and video filtering. Design optimizations are addressed at algorithmic and architectural levels, the latter including a dedicated memory structure, an adapted pipeline, bypasses, a custom address generator and special looping structures. Synthesized in CMOS technology, the ASIP stands for its better energy-flexibility tradeoff versus reference ASIC and digital signal processing Retinex implementations.     

Comparison of the efficacy of oxidative processes and flocculation for the removal of colour from Eop effluent.

Up to 30% of the released colour arising from bleached kraft pulp and paper production comes from the alkaline extraction stage. This waste stream can therefore be readily targeted to remove colour at source in mills where improved colour management is required. The efficacy of five advanced oxidative treatment and physico-chemical technologies in removing colour from a typical Eop stage effluent was compared. The most effective oxidative treatment was peroxymonosulphate (79% colour removal in 15 minutes). Ozone and TAML treatments removed 74% and 58% of colour respectively within 30 minutes. In comparison, hydrogen peroxide alone was only able to remove 35% of the colour over 4 hours. Coagulation with polyaluminium chloride achieved 89% colour removal within 5 minutes. However, this treatment produced an undesirable sludge, and may cause toxicity in the treated wastewater. Overall, colour removal ability of the five technologies ranked from highest to lowest was polyaluminium chloride > peroxymonosulfate > ozone > TAML > hydrogen peroxide. Other factors, such as operating costs, feedstock modification and capital infrastructure, also need to be taken into account when selecting the most suitable colour management option.     

Calculation of the effective ionic radii of Al1+ and Al2+, the standard enthalpies of formation of the crystalline oxides Al2O, AlO, and Al3O4, and the enthalpies of their crystal lattices

The sizes of particles (ions and their associations) that participate in processes related to heat and mass transfer and electrotransport in condensed matter, as well as the interaction of the particles, are of importance. The effective radii of the Al¹⁺ and Al²⁺ ions are calculated in accordance with models proposed earlier. The standard enthalpies of formation of the Al₂O, AlO, and Al₃O₄ oxides and their crystal lattices are determined using these effective ionic radii. The coincidence of the parameters that have been calculated using independent models and initial data for different oxides indicates that these models are reliable and can be used for predictions. The calculated data bring the crystal structure parameters and the thermochemical constants of the oxides into agreement. Original Russian Text ? A.G. Ryabukhin, V.E. Roshin, A.V. Roshin, 2007, published in Metally, 2007, No. 2, pp. 11–18.     

Deformability of ShKh15 steel during cold plastic deformation

The effect of anomalous structural constituents in ShKh15 steel on its technological ductility during cold deformation has been studied. Additional high tempering of hot-rolled billets subjected to spheroidizing annealing is shown to remove retained lamellar pearlite and needle carbides, increasing the technological ductility of this ball-bearing steel.     

Heritabilities for Lactation Average of Somatic Cell Counts in First,Second, and Third or Later Parities

Heritabilities were estimated for lactation average log, base 2, somatic cell count from cows with four or more tests in each lactation. Estimates were for first, second, and third or later parities (defined by age at calving) individually and for mixed parities. Estimates were from sire components of variance with numbers of sires and daughters of 406 and 22,140; 337 and 8,659; 311 and 6,122; and 310 and 10,217 for mixed, first, second, and third or later parities, respectively.Both sire and error components of variance increased with parity. Heritabilities were .18, .09, .10, and .29, for mixed, first, second, and third or later parities.     

Evaluating the solar resource: a review of problems resulting from temporal, spatial and angular variations

Accurate assessment of the availability of solar energy at the Earth's surface is hampered by difficulties associated with the variability of solar radiation in space and time and with the angular position in the sky hemisphere. This paper assesses each of these problem areas by highlighting the difficulties and the attempts to offset them. Major emphasis is placed on extrapolation and interpolation procedures, the sensitivity of inclined surfaces to variations in the solar input, numerical models for calculating the irradiance of inclined surfaces and the time scales for which these computations are valid.Finally, the reader is urged to consider the significance of these difficulties in light of both radiation measurement errors and the sensitivity of the application to imprecise determinations of the radiation environment.     

Verbindungstechniken mit hoher leistungsfähigkeit—Stand und entwicklung

Zusammenfassung Generell stellen die Verbindungsbereiche Schwachstellen dar. Zwar k?nnen in gewissen F?llen derartige Schwachstellen umgangen werden. im Vordergrund steht jedoch eine gesicherte Erh?hung der Leistung bekannter Verbindungsarten. Voraussetzung hierfür sind auf die jeweilige Verbindung (und Holzart) ausgerichtete konstruktive L?sungen. H?ufig lassen sich derartige Entwicklungen nicht oder nur unvollst?ndig durch bereits normierte Regeln der Baukunde abdecken. In general jointed areas are considered weak links. Although in certain cases these weak areas may be circumvented, it is important to make efforts towards improving the performance of established joints. Constructive solutions adapted to specific joints (and wood species) are one of the preconditions towards this am. Frequently this kind of development is merely insufficiently or not at all covered by existing standardized regulations in construction technology.

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High performance jointing techniques—State of art and development

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Nach einem Vortrag des Verfassers auf der Dreil?nder-Holztagung 1984 in Augsburg     

Effects of Vacuum Hydration on the Incidence of Splits in Canned Kidney Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Dry red kidney beans were canned using two different pretreatments: soaking for 12 hr at 20°C, and vacuum hydration for 5 min followed by soaking for 2 hr at temperatures from 45-59.1°C. Samples were then packed, processed to commercial sterility, and tested for percentage of split beans after processing. Vacuum hydration pretreatments greatly decreased the incidence and severity of splitting in the canned product and accelerated water uptake while retaining the same moisture content after soaking as the conventional soak treatment. Vacuum-hydrated beans gained less moisture during retorting than conventionally treated samples.