Interactions of pendimethalin with organo-montmorillonite complexes

Pendimethalin (PM) is a dinitroaniline herbicide, highly hydrophobic and with a very low solubility in water. It is used for pre-emergence weed control, is usually applied before sowing, and mechanically incorporated into the soil. We tested sorption of PM on montmorillonite and on two different organo-montmorillonites in a mixed water–chloroform environment, to determine the feasibility of developing an environmentally oriented formulation of the herbicide. FTIR measurements show that the interactions of PM with montmorillonite on which difenzoquat (DZ) or mepiquat (MQ) were previously adsorbed are via the nitro and methyl groups of the herbicide. The pre-adsorbed organocations cause a dehydration of the interlayer space, leading to hydrophobicity of the organoclay. Changes in the electrokinetic surface charge of the organoclay, measured using a particle charge detector, confirm these results. The high affinity to PM and the hydrophobic behavior of the used organoclays were also demonstrated in experiments using a mixed chloroform–water environment. The crude clay mineral stayed in the water phase, whereas DZ- and MQ-montmorillonites concentrated in the PM-chloroform phase. Amounts of PM adsorbed to the organoclays using this method were very high (up to 0.65 mol PM kg⁻¹ compound), which suggests a very efficient technology of preparation of herbicide-clay formulations, compared with techniques used in the past for similar herbicide-organoclay compounds. Plant experiments using the organoclay-herbicide formulation with higher amount of active ingredient (based on DZ-clay) demonstrate efficient herbicidal activity with 30% less active ingredient.     

关于生态城市的思考

城市是目前人类的主要居住形式,因此城市应是可居住和可持续的。生态城市是对城市环境的一种新的诠释。这种新的诠释包括两个方面:城市与周围环境的统一、城市本身的景观。这就要求区域规划和城市规划能周全地考虑资源、建造时间上和空间上的桥梁,在城市与周围环境之间、城市内部不同的体系之间建立联接点,创造可持续的人居环境。     

GenUTest: a unit test and mock aspect generation tool

Unit testing plays a major role in the software development process. What started as an ad hoc approach is becoming a common practice among developers. It enables the immediate detection of bugs introduced into a unit whenever code changes occur. Hence, unit tests provide a safety net of regression tests and validation tests which encourage developers to refactor existing code with greater confidence. One of the major corner stones of the agile development approach is unit testing. Agile methods require all software classes to have unit tests that can be executed by an automated unit-testing framework. However, not all software systems have unit tests. When changes to such software are needed, writing unit tests from scratch, which is hard and tedious, might not be cost effective. In this paper we propose a technique which automatically generates unit tests for software that does not have such tests. We have implemented GenUTest, a prototype tool which captures and logs interobject interactions occurring during the execution of Java programs, using the aspect-oriented language AspectJ. These interactions are used to generate JUnit tests. They also serve in generating mock aspects—mock object-like entities, which enable testing units in isolation. The generated JUnit tests and mock aspects are independent of the tool, and can be used by developers to perform unit tests on the software. Comprehensiveness of the unit tests depends on the software execution. We applied GenUTest to several open source projects such as NanoXML and JODE. We present the results, explain the limitations of the tool, and point out direction to future work to improve the code coverage provided by GenUTest and its scalability.     

Reusing semi-specified behavior models in systems analysis and design

As the structural and behavioral complexity of systems has increased, so has interest in reusing modules in early development phases. Developing reusable modules and then weaving them into specific systems has been addressed by many approaches, including plug-and-play software component technologies, aspect-oriented techniques, design patterns, superimposition, and product line techniques. Most of these ideas are expressed in an object-oriented framework, so they reuse behaviors after dividing them into methods that are owned by classes. In this paper, we present a crosscutting reuse approach that applies object-process methodology (OPM). OPM, which unifies system structure and behavior in a single view, supports the notion of a process class that does not belong to and is not encapsulated in an object class, but rather stands alone, capable of getting input objects and producing output objects. The approach features the ability to specify modules generically and concretize them in the target application. This is done in a three-step process: designing generic and target modules, weaving them into the system under development, and refining the combined specification in a way that enables the individual modules to be modified after their reuse. Rules for specifying and combining modules are defined and exemplified, showing the flexibility and benefits of this approach.

Nonchronological video synopsis and indexing

The amount of captured video is growing with the increased numbers of video cameras, especially the increase of millions of surveillance cameras that operate 24 hours a day. Since video browsing and retrieval is time consuming, most captured video is never watched or examined. Video synopsis is an effective tool for browsing and indexing of such a video. It provides a short video representation, while preserving the essential activities of the original video. The activity in the video is condensed into a shorter period by simultaneously showing multiple activities, even when they originally occurred at different times. The synopsis video is also an index into the original video by pointing to the original time of each activity. Video Synopsis can be applied to create a synopsis of an endless video streams, as generated by webcams and by surveillance cameras. It can address queries like "Show in one minute the synopsis of this camera broadcast during the past day'. This process includes two major phases: (i) An online conversion of the endless video stream into a database of objects and activities (rather than frames). (ii) A response phase, generating the video synopsis as a response to the user's query.     

Minimal Aspect Distortion (MAD) Mosaicing of Long Scenes

Long scenes can be imaged by mosaicing multiple images from cameras scanning the scene. We address the case of a video camera scanning a scene while moving in a long path, e.g. scanning a city street from a driving car, or scanning a terrain from a low flying aircraft. A robust approach to this task is presented, which is applied successfully to sequences having thousands of frames even when using a hand-held camera. Examples are given on a few challenging sequences. The proposed system consists of two components: (i) Motion and depth computation. (ii) Mosaic rendering. In the first part a “direct” method is presented for computing motion and dense depth. Robustness of motion computation has been increased by limiting the motion model for the scanning camera. An iterative graph-cuts approach, with planar labels and a flexible similarity measure, allows the computation of a dense depth for the entire sequence. In the second part a new minimal aspect distortion (MAD) mosaicing uses depth to minimize the geometrical distortions of long panoramic images. In addition to MAD mosaicing, interactive visualization using X-Slits is also demonstrated. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation. Video examples and high resolution images can be viewed in .     

Outcome of HIV infected patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

A retrospective analysis of 39 HIV infected patients with ESRD cared for in New Haven from 1987 to June 1992 was performed. All patients had evidence for HIV infection at the start of CAPD therapy. Cumulative technique survival at one and two years was 43% and 27%, respectively. Only eight patients transferred to center dialysis. One and two year patient survival on CAPD was 58% and 54%, respectively. Mortality was higher in patients with advanced infection than in those with asymptomatic HIV infection. Hospitalization rates were also higher in patients with advanced infection. HIV infected patients had higher rates of peritonitis (3.9 episodes/outpatient CAPD year) compared to non-HIV infected patients (1.5 episodes/CAPD year), especially for pseudomonal and fungal infections. Active injection drug use and use of the "straight set" system were associated with increased rates of peritonitis. CAPD deserves consideration as a therapy for HIV infected patients with ESRD.     

Landscape and water in the oases of Egypt's western desert

While natural processes, mainly wind and water erosion, define desert landscapes, human manipulation and use of water play important roles in defining the landscape within desert oases. The role of water in the oases of the Western Desert of Egypt is described, and it is considered how the scarcity of water affects its use. The challenge to the protection of these archetypal landscapes presented by new forms of development is identified.