Signal classification and software–hardware implementation of digital filter banks based on field-programmable gate arrays and compute unified device architecture

The paper is devoted to handling wideband monitoring tasks by discrete Fourier transform (DFT) modulated filter banks. Filter bank implementation is considered using CPU (Central Processing Unit) and CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) based on GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). We show that CUDA is more efficient for big signal sets due to low temporal and computational costs. The paper also discusses signal classification in filter bank channels for different signal-to-noise ratios using binary decision trees (with the iterative Adaboost procedure) and neural networks. The total classification error in our experiments does not exceed 10%. The results can be extended and applied to hydroacoustic monitoring tasks.     

Unified equation for calculating the viscosity coefficient of argon,nitrogen, and carbon dioxide

Using the earlier proposed relations for the viscosity coefficient and internal energy of a thermodynamic system, a simple unified few-parameter equation for describing the viscosity coefficient of argon, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide in a wide range of the state parameters has been derived.     

Child’s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation.

When children play, they often do so in very original ways. However, with the responsibilities of adulthood, this playful curiosity is sometimes lost and conventional responses often result. In the present study, 76 undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions before creative performance was assessed in a version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT; E. P. Torrance, 1974). In a control condition, participants wrote about what they would do if school was cancelled for the day. In an experimental condition, the instructions were identical except that participants were to imagine themselves as 7-year-olds in this situation. Individuals imagining themselves as children subsequently produced more original responses on the TTCT. Further results showed that the manipulation was particularly effective among more introverted individuals, who are typically less spontaneous and more inhibited in their daily lives. The results thus establish that there is a benefit in thinking like a child to subsequent creative originality, particularly among introverted individuals. The discussion links the findings to mindset factors, play and spontaneity, and relevant personality processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Designing drugs for transport into the brain

Research findings regarding general self-concept, academic self-concept, and self-awareness in students with learning disabilities have varied, and results are still inconclusive regarding the consistency between students' and teachers' judgments of academic performance. The current study focuses on students' and teachers perceptions of the students' strategy use and performance in nine different academic and organizational domains. Six hundred sixty-three students and their 57 teachers were involved in the study. Findings indicated that the students with learning disabilities considered themselves appropriately strategic and competent in the five domains of reading, writing, spelling, math, and organization. These students also rated their academic performance and organization as average to above-average in seven of nine domains, with the exception of checking and planning their work. Nevertheless, the self-ratings of the students with learning disabilities were still significantly lower than the self-ratings of average achievers in virtually all domains. The second major set of findings revealed a sharp discrepancy between the self-assessments of the students with learning disabilities and their teachers' judgments. Teachers rated the students with learning disabilities as weak in their strategy use and below-average in their performance in all nine academic and organizational domains. Finally, gender differences were not evident in eight of the nine domains. These results have added to the increasing body of literature indicating that students with learning disabilities frequently perceive themselves as capable and effective and often rate themselves as academically stronger than their teachers judge them to be.     

Condensation on curvilinear fins (effect of groove flooding): EMERALD experiment of ESA

Some aspects of the ESA space program EMERALD are presented. A problem of the film type condensation on curvilinear fin is considered with taking into account the essential influence of the capillary forces and non uniform temperature of the fin. Disjoining pressure effect on condensate film flow is studied numerically, because of very thin film of condensate on the fin tip. Value of the groove flooding depth changes significantly the condensate outflow from the condenser. Calculations for water condensation predict a very high value of the heat transfer coefficient, more than 50 kW/m²K, on a quite important part of the surface area and confirm the idea of proposed condenser and Double Capillary Pumped Loop.     

Towards the integration of dark and photo fermentative waste treatment. 1. Hydrogen photoproduction by purple bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus using potential products of starch fermentation

In this study, the H₂-photoproduction capacity of Rhodobacter capsulatus B10 was measured as a function of variations in the nature and concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and other products of dark fermentation. When an equimolar mixture of VFAs was provided, C4 substrates (butyrate and isobutyrate) were not consumed until the C2–C3 substrates (acetate, propionate, and lactate) became unavailable, but in order for the cells to produce H₂ at high rates they could not be exposed to severe growth substrate depletion. Among other possible fermentation products, the highest inhibition was observed by the addition of butanol (50% inhibition at 50 mM). The influence of high concentrations of VFAs, phosphate (used to stabilize the pH during dark fermentation) and some heavy metals (known inhibitors of methanogenesis) was also shown. Based on the results, the conditions of fermentation can be manipulated to avoid the inhibition of subsequent H₂ photoproduction by photosynthetic bacteria.