Inference and learning in hybrid probabilistic network

This paper proposed a novel hybrid probabilistic network, which is a good tradeoff between the model complexity and learnability in practice. It relaxes the conditional independence assumptions of Naive Bayes while still permitting efficient inference and learning. Experimental studies on a set of natural domains prove its clear advantages with respect to the generalization ability.     

Fabrication of the supersaturated solid solution of carbon in copper by mechanical alloying

Mechanical alloying of powder mixtures of copper and graphite was performed in a high energy ball mill. The as-milled powder was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. These investigations indicated that high energy ball milling could largely extend the solid solubility of carbon in copper and the 4 wt.% C was dissolved in Cu. It was ascribed to the decrease of the grain size and the increase of the lattice strain. Nanostructures, amorphous carbon and lamellar graphite were observed in the as-milled powder after milling for 24 h.     

Effect of C/Ti ratio on the laser ignited self-propagating high-temperature synthesis reaction of Al-Ti-C system for fabricating TiC/Al composites

TiC/Al composite was successfully synthesized utilizing laser ignited self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) of Al-C-Ti system with the different C/Ti molar ratio. When the molar ratio of C to Ti is below 1:1 in the starting materials, in addition to fine TiC particulates, a large amount of Al₃Ti phase was found in the composites; however, when the molar ratio of C to Ti is 1:1 in the starting materials, the Al₃Ti phase was almost completely eliminated and the distribution of TiC particulates generally appeared to be more homogeneous throughout the products synthesized.     

A critical transition state in liquid metals

Temperature dependence of viscosities of liquid Sn, Cu, Pb_38.1Sn_61.9, Pb_44.8Bi_55.2, and Cu_0.7Sn_99.3 has been studied by a torsional oscillation viscometer. During the measurement process, a deviation from the Arrhenius behavior is found when the temperature is lowered to about 60 K higher than the melting point. The abnormal increasing of the viscosity and the activation energy indicates the changes of the elementary melt structure during cooling towards the melting point. The deviation region from Arrhenius viscosity is defined as the transition state. The differential scanning calorimeter experiments also show the existence of the critical transition state in liquid metals near the melting point. The drastic increase of the viscosity in the transition state can be regarded as continuum transition and be presented well by the amended Arrhenius equation which is based on the critical phenomenon.     

The effect of zirconium addition on the microstructure and properties of chopped carbon fiber/carbon composites

Carbon/carbon composites containing zirconium were prepared using chopped carbon fiber, mesophase pitch and Zr powder by the traditional process including molding, carbonization, densification and graphitization. The influence of Zr on the microstructure and properties of the composites were investigated. Results show that Zr can improve the interface bonding, promote more perfect and larger crystallites and enhance the conductive/mechanical properties of the composites. The high in-plane thermal conductivity of 464 W/(m K) and excellent bending strength of 83.6 MPa was obtained for a Zr content of 13.9 wt% at heat treatment temperature(HTT) of 2500 °C. However the conductive/mechanical properties of the composites decrease dramatically for an higher HTT of 3000 °C. SEM micrograph of the fracture surface for the composites shows that lower disorder crystallite arrangement of fiber and carbon matrix come into being in the composites during HTT of 3000 °C, which should be responsible for the low properties. Correlation between the content of Zr and the microstructure and properties are discussed.     

Effect of charge trapping species of cupric ions on the photocatalytic oxidation of resorcinol

The photocatalytic oxidation of resorcinol, a potent endocrine disrupting chemical, in oxygenated aqueous suspensions of pure and cupric ions modified Degussa P25 titanium dioxide has been investigated at pH 3.0 ± 0.5. The initial rate of photocatalytic oxidation of resorcinol increased until an optimum dissolved cupric ions concentration was reached at 1.04 mM. At the optimum concentration of cupric ions, the initial rate of photocatalytic mineralisation and degradation of resorcinol was improved by 400%. The observed beneficial effect of cupric ions on the initial rate of resorcinol oxidation could be attributed to the formation of complex and its participation in the photoredox cyclic reaction.Two of the initial oxidation intermediates detected were 1,2,3-trihydroxybenzene and 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene. These intermediates were formed via hydroxylation of the aromatic ring of resorcinol. Evidences have revealed that 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene interacted strongly with cupric ions forming copper(II)-trihydroxybenzoate complexes that possessed good adsorption onto TiO₂ surface. These dual-effects help to draw the metal ions closer to the photocatalyst surface and subsequently trigger the electron trapping mechanism by cupric ions. As a result, this improved the charge carriers’ separation. Furthermore, in the presence of oxygen, reoxidation of photoreduced cupric ions occurred and this eliminated the possibility of copper photodeposition, while inducing a photoredox cyclic reaction to regenerate copper species that may potentially act as co-catalyst for the oxidation of 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene. In contrast, no obvious complex formation was seen between 1,2,3-trihydroxybenzene and cupric ions. This pointed to an intriguing finding which indicates that the positioning of functional group on benzene ring influences the role of cupric ions.     

Alleviation Effect of Lanthanum on Cadmium Stress in Seedling Hydroponic Culture of Kidney Bean and Corn

Since1970s,rare earths(RE)have been exten-sively used as micro-fertilizers for crops in China.Ithas already been proved that REcani mprove the pro-duction and quality of crops.However,there havebeen a fewinvestigations about using RE as regulatorin pollution ecology.For example,An et al[1]studiedthe effects of O3on wheat growth and the protectiveeffect of RE.Yan and Zhou et al[2,3]discussed theprotective effect of RE on plants under acid rainstress.Jia et al[4]and Hu et al[5]reported th…     

Collocation methods: More efficient procedures for applying collocation

In recent years, new and more effective procedures for applying collocation have been published. This article is devoted to present a revision of this subject and complement its developments. From the general theory two broad approaches are derived, which yield the direct and the indirect TH-collocation methods. The former approach had not been published before, and it is a dual of the indirect approach. In particular, second order differential equations of elliptic type are considered and several orthogonal collocation algorithms are developed for them. In TH-collocation, the approximations on the internal boundary and in the subdomain interiors are completely independent. This yields clear computational advantages that are illustrated through the construction of such algorithms. In the implementations presented, three dimensional problems are included. In passing, single-point-collocation methods that have been the subject of several recent publications are revised.