A machine learning approach to two-voice counterpoint composition

Algorithmic composition of musical pieces is one of the most popular areas of computer aided music research. Various attempts have been made successfully in the area of music composition. Artificial intelligence methods have been extensively applied in this area. Representation of musical pieces in a computer-understandable form plays an important role in computer aided music research.This paper presents a neural network-based knowledge representation schema for representing notes, melodies, and time in first species counterpoint pieces. A musical note is composed of pitch and duration in this representation schema. The proposed representation technique was tested using the back-propagation algorithm to generate two-voice counterpoint pieces.     

Quantifying soil erosion with GIS-based RUSLE under different forest management options in Jianchang Forest Farm

Quantitatively estimating soil erosion with an integration of geographic information system (GIS) and the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) under four different exposed soil proportion scenarios caused by forest management practices was studied at Jianchang Forest Farm. The GIS provided means of input data generation required by RUSLE model and allowed a spatial assessment of the erosion hazard over the study area. Four exposed soil proportion scenarios of 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% were tested with the GIS-based RUSLE model to evaluate soil erosion hazard. The predicted soil erosion potentials were classified into five categories in order to provide valuable aids for management planning.     

中红外光谱检测土壤中碳酸盐——什么最重要

碳酸盐检测是土壤科学中的常规检测。在本研究中,用中红外光谱方法对采自奥地利130多个不同的森林区域的大量土壤样品进行评价。评价了有机层中的20条谱带和矿物土壤中15条谱带区域,并且通过模型计算检测了被调查土壤样品中的碳酸盐。对于有机层的所有样品,相关系数都很低（R2=0.68）,可以通过对F（中度分解的有机物）和H（高度腐烂的有机物质）的混合样品进行组分离来增加相关系数。FH层土壤、森林类型土壤、矿质土壤母质的相关系数达到R2=0.92。对于所有0到5和5至10cm的矿质土壤层,相关系数从一开始就很高（R2=0.97）,当隔离一组石灰岩作为母质的10个样品时,相关系数可以增加到R2=0.99。最后,本研究着重介绍了土壤样品的化学多样性对于中红外光谱检测土壤中碳酸盐的影响潜力。     

Dendroclimatic response of Picea jezoensis along an altitudinal gradient in Changbai Mountains

We investigated the effects of climate on Yeddo spruce (Picea jezoensis) radial growth along altitudinal gradients in the subalpine forests of Changbai Mountains using dendroclimatic analyses. Yeddo spruce at its lower and upper distribution limits was more sensitive to the climate. Despite precipitation being generally considered sufficient, we found that precipitation significantly affected Yeddo spruce radial growth. Yeddo spruce at its lower distribution limit was much more affected by precipitation while Yeddo spruce at its upper distribution limit was much more affected by minimum temperature. Yeddo spruce at its medial altitude was affected by sunshine ratio. These results demonstrated that climate affected Yeddo spruce growth differently depending on its altitudinal distributions in the Changbai Mountains. Both temperature and precipitation in the annualization period significantly correlated with Yeddo spruce radial growth. However, warmer signals were not reflected in radial growth trend during the past 20 years because annual total precipitation declined during the same period. It appeared that the climate affected tree rings growth by altering soil moisture availability.

     

Spectroscopic studies of CSA-doped poly[C-hydroxyl-(4-N-dimethylamino)phenyl]dithienylmethine and doping effects on ionic conductivity

Protonation of poly[C-hydroxyl-(4-N-dimethylamino)phenyl]dithienylmethine with (1S)-(+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) induced a structural change on the pendant group of the polymer and resulted in the formation of a cationic quinoid iminium moiety. This chemical transformation changed the polymer from a non-conducting polymer into a semi-conducting polymer with the maximum ionic conductivity of 2 × 10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ at 10 mol% CSA-doping level. The polydithienylmethines doped with various CSA loadings were characterized by UV–vis-NIR, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. An ion-hopping mechanism was suggested as the conduction mechanism for this CSA-doped polymer.     

The physical and mechanical properties of composite cements manufactured with calcareous and clayey Greek diatomite mixtures

The aim of the present study is to test diatomite rocks as alternative pozzolanic materials that could be used for the manufacturing of pozzolanic cements in Greece. The diatomite rocks used occur in Samos Island and in the Elassona, Greece. The Samos diatomites were mainly consisted of calcite and opal-A, whereas the Elassona diatomite consisted of opal-A, clay minerals, feldspars and quartz. As a result, the Samos samples were rich in CaO and SiO₂, while the Elassona ones were rich in SiO₂, Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃. The specific surface of the laboratory-produced cements was high, with the grindability of the Elassona diatomites being lower than that of Samos. The water demand of all blended cements was higher than that of the laboratory produced OPC. The late compressive strength of most diatomite cements studied was improved with respect to the lab OPC.     

Allelopathy of Phenolics from Decomposing Stump-Roots in Replant Chinese Fir Woodland

The change of total phenolic content in decomposing Chinese fir stump-roots of different ages in replant woodland and its effects was investigated. The total phenolic contents in stump-roots decreased with increasing stump-root age. The order of total phenolic content in different parts of stump-roots was, root > stump heartwood > stump sapwood. Phenolics released from Chinese fir stump-roots reduced the growth of fir seedlings. The growth of Chinese fir seedlings was negatively correlated with total phenolic content in stump-roots that had been added to the soil. Extracts of Chinese fir stump-roots inhibited fir seed germination. The results, based on paper chromatography and HPLC, revealed that eight phenolic compounds were present in the Chinese fir stump-roots.     

Analytical and comparative testing of EnergyPlus using IEA HVAC BESTEST E100–E200 test suite

The EnergyPlus building energy simulation software has been tested using the IEA HVAC BESTEST E100–E200 series of tests. The volume 1 final report for the International Energy Agency (IEA) solar heating and cooling programme task 22 building energy simulation test and diagnostic method for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment models (HVAC BESTEST) was recently published in January 2002. HVAC BESTEST is a series of steady-state tests for a single-zone DX cooling system. Cases range from dry to wet coil, low to high part load, and low to high temperatures. This published test suite includes three sets of analytical solutions and results from several other simulation programs for comparison.This test suite was initially used to test EnergyPlus beginning with beta versions prior to its official public release, and it is also applied as an ongoing quality assurance test. The application of these tests proved to be very useful in several ways:

• •revealed input model shortcomings, which resulted in new user inputs being added;
• •revealed reporting errors which were fixed;
• •revealed algorithmic errors which were fixed;
• •revealed algorithmic shortcomings which were improved or eliminated through the use of more rigorous calculations for certain components;
• •in later versions, caught newly introduced bugs before public release of updates.

Overall, the application of this test suite has been extremely useful in debugging and verifying the DX cooling algorithms in EnergyPlus. This paper summarizes the difficulties encountered and the benefits gained in applying the tests.     

Prevalence and numbers of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in minced beef and beef burgers from butcher shops and supermarkets in the Republic of Ireland

This study investigated the prevalence and numbers of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in minced beef and beef burgers in supermarkets and butcher shops in the Republic of Ireland. Fifteen samples were collected quarterly from each of 26 counties over a 13-month period. All samples (n=1533) were (1) directly plated on SMAC, and (2) enriched in mTSB with novobiocin, extracted by immunomagnetic separation (IMS), plating onto SMAC-CT agar and finally confirmed by PCR. Overall, E. coli O157:H7 was recovered from 43 samples (2.80%) with counts ranging from <0.52–4.03 log₁₀ cfu g⁻¹. Of the positive samples, 2.70% (32/1183) were purchased from supermarkets and 3.14% (11/350) from butcher shops. Only one product type (fresh unpacked burgers from supermarkets) was negative for E. coli O157:H7. Of the products containing the pathogen, fresh packaged burgers from supermarkets had the highest prevalence of 4.46% (7/157) while fresh unpackaged mince purchased from supermarkets had the lowest prevalence of 2.01% (6/299). Of the 43 isolates recovered, 41 possessed verotoxin-producing genes (vt1 and vt2), E. coli attaching and effacing gene (eaeA), haemolysin gene (hlyA), 60-MDa plasmid or rfb gene cluster that encodes for the biosynthesis of the O-antigen (pO157) and flagellar H7 antigen encoding gene (fliC_h7). The remaining 2/43 isolates contained only one of the verotoxin-producing genes (vt1 or vt2) and all the other genes named.     

Mechatronic solutions for high-speed railway vehicles

This paper presents recent developments in the study of active steering for railway wheels. It demonstrates the potential benefits from this form of active control and studies what could be achieved when modern control techniques are used on the vehicles via mechatronic components. The study is based on a mechanically simplified vehicle and active control strategies for three wheelset/wheel-pair configurations are studied, which are solid axle wheelset, independently rotating wheelset and directly steered wheel pairs. Various mechatronic vehicle configurations are discussed and different control schemes are presented. Two key performance requirements, i.e. the curving performance of the wheelset and ride quality of the vehicle, are assessed for all proposed schemes. Finally, actuation requirement is also investigated.