Bayes estimators for reliability measures in geometric distribution model using masked system life test data

This paper presents Bayes estimators for the reliability measures of the individual components in a multi-component systems in the presence of masked system life test data. The life time distributions of the system components are assumed to be geometric with different parameters. Two-sided Bayesian probability intervals of the parameters are also derived. Numerical simulation study is given in order to: (i) explain how one can apply the theoretical results obtained, (ii) study the influence of the sample size and masking level on the accuracy of point estimates.     

Behavioral and subjective effects of D-amphetamine and modafinil in healthy adults.

Modafinil is indicated for the management of excessive daytime sleepiness; however, recent studies have examined a broad range of potential uses. Given that clinical uses of modafinil may be expanding, this study compared modafinil and d-amphetamine effects on subjective and performance measures. Across 11 sessions, 11 healthy adults were tested after oral doses of placebo (5 sessions), modafinil (1.75 mg/kg, 3.50 mg/kg, or 7.00 mg/kg), and d-amphetamine (0.035 mg/kg, 0.070 mg/kg, 0.140 mg/kg) under double-blind, randomized conditions. Assessments of cognitive performance and subjective effects were completed before drug administration, 30 min after drug administration, and at hourly intervals after drug administration for 5 hr. Modafinil increased ratings on the Amphetamine and Morphine Benzedrine Group scales of the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) and increased ratings on the Vigor and Total Positive scales of the Profile of Mood States. d-Amphetamine increased visual analog ratings of feeling stimulated and liking the drug and increased ratings on the Morphine Benzedrine Group scale of the ARCI. Both medications significantly reduced visual analog scale ratings of feeling sleepy, and modafinil decreased ratings on the ARCI Pentobarbital-Chlorpromazine-Alcohol Group scale. Both medications sustained performance that deteriorated across time on the Sternberg Number Recognition Test. Modafinil also enhanced performance rate on the Digit-Symbol Substitution Task above baseline levels and increased response rate on the Repeated Acquisition of Response Sequences Task. These results suggest that modafinil engenders alerting effects and increases performance in healthy non-sleep-deprived individuals comparable with that of d-amphetamine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extracting Electron Densities in N-Type GaAs From Raman Spectra: Theory

In this paper, we present the theory for calculating Raman line shapes as functions of the Fermi energy and finite temperatures in zinc blende, n-type GaAs for donor densities between 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and 10¹⁹ cm⁻³. Compared to other theories, this theory is unique in two respects: 1) the many-body effects are treated self-consistently and 2) the theory is valid at room temperature for arbitrary values of the ratio R = (Q²/α), where Q is the magnitude of the normalized wave vector and α is the normalized frequency used in the Raman measurements. These calculations solve the charge neutrality equation self-consistently for a two-band model of GaAs at 300 K that includes the effects of high carrier concentrations and dopant densities on the perturbed densities of states used to calculate the Fermi energy as a function of temperature. The results are then applied to obtain the carrier concentrations from Fermi energies in the context of line shapes in Raman spectra due to the coupling between longitudinal optical phonons and plasmons. Raman measurements have been proposed as a non-destructive method for wafer acceptance tests of carrier density in semiconductor epilayers. The interpretation of Raman spectra to determine the majority electron density in n-type semiconductors requires an interdisciplinary effort involving experiments, theory, and computer-based simulations and visualizations of the theoretical calculations.     

Data mining of resilience indicators

In recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced several financial setbacks, including speculative attacks in 1998 and the SARS outbreak in 2003. Financial stresses of this nature are unanticipated, and not all of the dangers can be predicted by the examination of market information and macroeconomic indicators. The Early Warning System (EWS) that has been adopted by the International Monetary Fund may not be able to predict future financial crises for all possible scenarios, because shocks come in many different forms. To supplement the EWS, this paper proposes a data mining framework to measure the resilience of an economy. The resilience framework does not predict a crisis, but rather assesses the current state of health of an economy and its ability to withstand a financial shock should one occur. The framework is based on a feedback system consisting of two stages. The first stage assigns a resilience score to each economy based on a fuzzy logic scoring scheme that is built on the ambiguous reasoning of experts. The second stage uses the classification tree approach to estimate thresholds for each economic indicator, and examines the quality of the fuzzy score. The result from the second stage is then passed back to the first stage as feedback. The final result is obtained when the feedback system reaches its equilibrium state. The proposed resilience framework is applied to the external-sector and the public-sector economies of several countries to illustrate its applicability.     

金属矿山当前面临的主要问题及对策

叙述了为了解我国金属矿山当前面临的突出问题，必须充分依靠科技进步和技术创新，大力提高矿山企业的技术水平，装备水平和管理水平。     

Assessing the role of basic control measures, antivirals and vaccine in curtailing pandemic influenza: scenarios for the US, UK and the Netherlands

An increasing number of avian flu cases in humans, arising primarily from direct contact with poultry, in several regions of the world have prompted the urgency to develop pandemic preparedness plans worldwide. Leading recommendations in these plans include basic public health control measures for minimizing transmission in hospitals and communities, the use of antiviral drugs and vaccination. This paper presents a mathematical model for the evaluation of the pandemic flu preparedness plans of the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands. The model is used to assess single and combined interventions. Using data from the US, we show that hospital and community transmission control measures alone can be highly effective in reducing the impact of a potential flu pandemic. We further show that while the use of antivirals alone could lead to very significant reductions in the burden of a pandemic, the combination of transmission control measures, antivirals and vaccine gives the most 'optimal' result. However, implementing such an optimal strategy at the onset of a pandemic may not be realistic. Thus, it is important to consider other plausible alternatives. An optimal preparedness plan is largely dependent on the availability of resources; hence, it is country-specific. We show that countries with limited antiviral stockpiles should emphasize their use therapeutically (rather than prophylactically). However, countries with large antiviral stockpiles can achieve greater reductions in disease burden by implementing them both prophylactically and therapeutically. This study promotes alternative strategies that may be feasible and attainable for the US, UK and the Netherlands. It emphasizes the role of hospital and community transmission control measures in addition to the timely administration of antiviral treatment in reducing the burden of a flu pandemic. The latter is consistent with the preparedness plans of the UK and the Netherlands. Our results indicate that for low efficacy and coverage levels of antivirals and vaccine, the use of a vaccine leads to the greatest reduction in morbidity and mortality compared with the singular use of antivirals. However, as these efficacy and coverage levels are increased, the use of antivirals is more effective.     

Response Selection in Visual Search: The Influence of Response Compatibility of Nontargets.

The authors used visual search tasks in which components of the classic flanker task (B. A. Eriksen & C. W. Eriksen, 1974) were introduced. In several experiments the authors obtained evidence of parallel search for a target among distractor elements. Therefore, 2-stage models of visual search predict no effect of the identity of those distractors. However, clear compatibility effects of the distractors were obtained: Responses were faster when the distractors were compatible with the response than when they were incompatible. These results show that even in parallel search tasks identity information is extracted from the distractors. In addition, alternative interpretations of the results in terms of the occasional identification of a distractor before or after the target was identified could be ruled out. The results showed that flat search slopes obtained in visual search experiments provide no benchmark for preattentive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

网络技术在中州分公司计量管理工作中的应用探讨

本文通过对中州分公司正在考虑建设的信息网建设实际情况，结合山东分公司、广西分公司取得的经验，对计量管理信息网的应用进行了探讨。     

Category Norms as a Function of Culture and Age: Comparisons of Item Responses to 105 Categories by American and Chinese Adults.

Understanding how aging influences cognition across different cultures has been hindered by a lack of standardized, cross-referenced verbal stimuli. This study introduces a database of such item-level stimuli for both younger and older adults, in China and the United States, and makes 3 distinct contributions. First, the authors specify which item categories generalize across age and/or cultural groups, rigorously quantifying differences among them. Second, they introduce novel, powerful methods to measure between-group differences in freely generated ranked data, the rank-ordered logit model and Hellinger Affinity. Finally, a broad archive of tested, cross-linguistic stimuli is now freely available to researchers: data, similarity measures, and all stimulus materials for 105 categories and 4 culture-by-age groups, comprising over 10,000 fully translated unique item responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A modified rainflow counting method

The rainflow counting method is commonly recognized to be a good cyclic counting method in fatigue life prediction and for testing engineering components and structures. However, it has some shortcomings, which are pointed out in this paper in connection with the analysis of the stress-strain response. A modified rainflow counting method is presented. Case studies show that all the cycles really existing in the stress-strain response that cannot be counted by the rainflow counting method can be counted by the modified rainflow counting method. So it can be said that the modified rainflow counting method is a more reasonable cycling counting method than the traditional rainflow counting method.