ALBERT

Beschreibung: Background This study examined the effectiveness of using Physical Activity Consultation (PAC) as an addition to the standard smoking cessation treatment in Malaysia. We explored participants’ experiences in terms of physical activity and smoking abstinence with the combined PAC and smoking cessation intervention. Methods Walk-in smokers from a local smoking cessation clinic volunteered for the 8-week intervention program, while undergoing standard smoking cessation treatment. In Week 1, a facilitator conducted a face-to-face intervention to explore participants’ involvement in physical activity and helped to set physical activity strategies and goals for participants to increase physical activity levels. Participants were provided with follow-up phone calls at Weeks 3 and 6. Participants answered questionnaires that measured smoking withdrawal (Shiffman–Jarvik Withdrawal Scale), cessation self-efficacy (Cessation Self-efficacy Questionnaire), physical activity involvement (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), and mood (Brunel Mood Scale) upon recruitment, at post-intervention and at follow-up 3 months after the intervention ended. Participants also responded to interviews about their experiences with the PAC and smoking cessation treatment at post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Results Seven participants completed the program until follow-up. All were successfully abstinent. Only two participants increased physical activity levels, whereas others maintained their physical activity levels or showed slight decreases. Several themes were identified in this study, including participants’ experiences with withdrawal symptoms, smoking cessation self-efficacy, triggers to smoking cessation, thoughts on standard smoking cessation treatment in Malaysia, physical activity involvement, mood, and thoughts and beliefs on combining smoking cessation and physical activity. Conclusions This study suggests PAC was helpful in maintaining or increasing the overall physical activity levels of participants and could assist with smoking abstinence. Findings showed that all participants who stayed in the program were successfully abstinent. In general, the findings in this study provided promising results for further research on PAC as an adjunct to smoking cessation treatments in Malaysia. Trial registration This intervention is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Trial registration number: ACTRN12616000269437).

Beschreibung: Background Ultrasound-guided cannulation of deep mid-arm veins by a modified Seldinger (US-Seldinger) technique has been demonstrated to yield better puncture success rates and lower postoperative complication rates than direct cannulation of superficial veins near the elbow with a short peripheral cannula and peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) insertion through the cannula (non-US conventional method). Economic factors have been evaluated across different operators (i.e. nurses, radiologists, and general practitioners) and different venous catheter types (i.e. PICCs vs. central venous catheters). However, to our knowledge, data describing the economic evaluation on the aforementioned modified Seldinger technique are lacking. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of US-Seldinger technique (experimental group) compared with that of the non-US conventional method based on direct vein visualization (control group). Results A cohort of 360 subjects were assigned randomly to the experimental and control groups. Cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) analyses indicated that the effectiveness index (EI) for the experimental group was 89.29% (final CER = 3732.75), whereas that for the control group was 59.18% (final CER = 2492.98). Conclusion The US-Seldinger technique was found to be more cost-effective than the non-US conventional method. These findings support the use of the former in place of the traditional latter technique as a routine puncture technique and suggest that the update would improve intravenous therapy treatment for patients needing PICCs. This study should serve as a reference for national healthcare policy. Trial registration ChiCTR-TRC-14004993

Beschreibung: In the current study, an attempt has been made to use water hyacinth plant ( Eichhornia crassipes ) as a raw material for production of bioethanol which is then blended with diesel to obtain biodiesel. To investigate the combustion performance, combustion simulation model was developed and compared with experimental results. Further, the combustion performance of bioethanol–diesel blends in diesel engine was evaluated using response surface methodology technique. Bioethanol extracted from water hyacinth is blended with commercial diesel fuel (BED) in different proportions (volume by volume (v/v)), i.e., 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25BED. This study illustrates the investigation of various compression ratio, loads and fuel injection pressures with different proportion of diesel bioethanol blends. The results show that single-cylinder diesel engine is capable to run up to 25 % bioethanol mixed with diesel by volume. The in-cylinder combustion pressure ( P max ) reduces while increasing bioethanol–diesel ratio. At higher engine loads, compression ratio and fuel injection pressure, bioethanol blends produce higher combustion pressure in comparison with pure diesel fuel. At lower load, compression ratio and fuel injection pressure, ignition delay increases and P max reduces. The 5BED (5 % bioethanol + 95 % diesel) and 10BED (10 % bioethanol + 90 % diesel) gave better combustion performance among all the bioethanol–diesel blends.

Beschreibung: Overheating of permanent magnet (PM) machines has become a major technical challenge as it gives rise to magnet demagnetization, degradation of insulation materials, and loss of motor efficiency. This paper proposes a state-of-the-art cooling system for an axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) machine with the focus on its structural optimization. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with thermal consideration has been shown to be an efficient approach in the literature and is thus employed in this work. Meanwhile, a simplified numerical approach to the AFPM machine with complex configuration in 3D consisting of conduction, forced convection, and conjugate heat transfer is taken as a case study. Different simplification methods (including configuration and working conditions) and two optimized fans for forced convection cooling are designed and installed on the AFPM machine and compared to a natural convection cooling system. The results show that the proposed approach is effective for analyzing the thermal performance of a complex AFPM machine and strikes a balance between reasonable simplification, accuracy, and computational resource.

Beschreibung: The main purpose of the present work is the preparation of green dielectrics by solid-state reaction between two perovskites: CaTiO 3 (CTO) and KMgF 3 (KMF). Calcium titanate and potassium magnesium fluoride powders were previously synthesized, respectively, at 850 °C and 700 °C. Several chemical compositions (1– x ) CTO + x KMF were then prepared and dry-milled. The mixtures were pressed into pellets and sintered in free air at 950 °C for 2 h. The obtained ceramics were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA, DTGA) and dielectric measurements (DE). The XRD study revealed the formation of a fluorinated perovskite solid solution with general formula Ca 1– x K x (Ti 1– x Mg x )O 3–3 x F 3 x (CKTMOF) in the initial composition range 0 ≤  x  ≤ 0.20. The diffraction peaks of CKTMOF oxyfluorides were indexed in an orthorhombic lattice, and no significant change was observed in the unit cell parameters with increasing KMF amount. On the other hand, the addition of KMF to CTO allowed the ceramic’s densification at low temperature. The shrinkage increased from 1.9 % ( x  = 0) to 9.5 % ( x  = 0.20), and the grain’s size of the various ceramics was in the range 0.5–5μm. Several thermal phenomena were detected by DSC and DE. No weight loss and no peak were depicted on the TGA and the DTGA curves over all the temperature range investigated; therefore, the phenomena observed by DSC and DE could be ascribed to phase transitions. These dielectrics could be of interest for the fabrication of class I capacitors; however, the losses have to be improved.

Beschreibung: The paper presents an effective nonlinear adaptive switching non-local filter for the restoration of impulse-corrupted digital images by using distinct impulse detection and correction stages. The correction scheme of the filter adaptively switches between details-preserving non-local mode and signal restoration-based local mode to facilitate high fidelity in the restored image. The non-local filtering operation replaces impulses with a remote pixel that better suits the local image conditions. The algorithm works in this non-local mode only when there are sufficient uncorrupted pixels in the local neighborhood of the corrupted pixel to be replaced. Otherwise, the algorithm replaces impulsive pixels with the median of the uncorrupted pixels from the local neighborhood. Experimental results from various impulse noise levels support the improved performance of the proposed algorithm over other algorithms both subjectively and objectively.

Beschreibung: The aim of this study was to investigate the oxidation behavior of nickel-base superalloys (Inconel 600 and Hastelloy C-22) by the determination of the oxidation rates of alloys at elevated temperatures and at ambient air. The cyclic oxidation method was adapted by heating of alloys periodically in still air at 900, 1000 and \({1100^\circ{\rm C}}\) followed by cooling at ambient temperature. The weight change measurement was recorded during the cyclic oxidation tests. The X-ray diffraction and microstructure study were also used as characterization methods to illustrate the properties of studied alloys and oxide film that formed on the surface of oxidized alloys. Inconel 600 and Hastelloy C-22 showed their ability to develop a uniform protective oxide film. The oxide film that formed on both alloys was chromia oxide Cr 2 O 3 with smaller amount of spinel oxide NiCr 2 O 4 . The results of the weight gain measurements suggest that the oxidation kinetics of both alloys follows the parabolic behavior during the experimental tests. Also both alloys at \({1100^\circ{\rm C}}\) exhibited severe spallation of oxide film with linear decreasing in the weight change measurements. The p-kp model was implemented to describe the subsequent cyclic process of oxide growth and spalling.

Beschreibung: Contaminated high-voltage (HV) insulators in polluted areas may lead to flashovers if they are not cleaned periodically. Flashover often leads to lengthy service outages and thus has a considerable impact on power system reliability. Therefore, an accurate prediction of the contamination level of HV insulators is vital. In this study, a MATLAB-based algorithm for predicting the contamination level is proposed. The algorithm uses the extracted features (in this work, linear algebraic features) from images captured by digital cameras as an input to a neural network. When compared to existing methods reported in the literature, the designed neural network correlates successfully the captured insulator images and the contamination level when tested on unseen insulators.

Beschreibung: In this paper, analytical and simulation models were used to analyze the performance of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier in terms of its pump power, erbium-doped fiber length, overlap factor, erbium ions concentration, and input signal power. The analytical-based analysis was performed using MATLAB software, whereas the simulation-based analysis was performed using Optisystem software. Both the analytical- and simulation-based results agreed well. For example, both confirmed the followings: Maximum gain can be reached at a shorter fiber length as the overlap factor and erbium ions concentration increase; the gain is independent of the pump power at values of erbium-doped fiber lengths ≤10m; that almost equal erbium-doped fiber gains can be obtained as the pump power approaches its highest value and that the gain seems to be equal at low values of input signal powers; however, it starts to saturate as the input signal power increases.

Beschreibung: This paper presents the fabrication process of hybrid Mg/(Al 2 O 3p + SiC p + Gr p ) metal matrix composite on developed gas injection liquid stir casting setup. In this study, the microstructure, grain morphology and the presence of elements in fabricated composite are investigated through high-resolution scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. A gas injection liquid stir magnesium metal matrix composite casting setup has been designed, fabricated and utilized for the purpose. Different sets of experiments have been performed in a controlled environment of argon gas. Different tests have been conducted on the prepared Mg-MMC to investigate its physical and mechanical properties of the prepared MMC. The test results reveal that the micro-hardness of hybrid Mg/(4wt% SiC p + 2wt% Al 2 O 3p + 1wt% Gr p ) MMC is about 1.5 times of the pure Mg-matrix. Tensile strength of fabricated hybrid Mg/(8wt% SiC p + 2wt% Al 2 O 3p + 1wt% Gr p )-MMC has also increased to 1.4 times of pure Mg-matrix. From the results, it is concluded that the developed gas injection stir Mg-MMC casting setup can be effectively utilized for the fabrication of hybrid Mg/(Al 2 O 3p + SiC p + Gr p )-MMC and can be used for many industrial and engineering applications.

Beschreibung: Coal drying is a quite important process from both burning efficiency and granulation perspective. Therefore, coal drying experimentation processes always attract researchers from various fields. Those experiments are quite costly since they require expensive laboratory equipment and considerable labor hour. Even if the costs of experiments are tolerable, often long experiment periods and large number of experimentation will cause serious problems for prompt academic results. During the analysis of experiments, researchers convert the results into graphical form. However, when creating charts, it is observed that some of the results diverge from the others abnormally marking some measurement as outliers. In such cases, experiments should be repeated to eliminate the effects of these abnormalities. Due to high costs and time constraints, repetition of an experiment is not preferable in general. To predict the accurate values for outliers and overcome issues generated by these abnormalities, artificial neural network (ANN) is employed in this study and tolerable deviations and acceptable experimental costs are reached by using ANN.

Beschreibung: The first-order shear deformation theory is used to study the static behavior of a piezoelectric bimorph beam with delamination between its layers. This delamination is taken with several lengths and locations along the beam with different boundary conditions. The results show that the shape of the axial displacement field is not affected by either the length of the debonded zone or the variation in the ambient. However, this shape is deformed when an electrical field is applied.

Beschreibung: Greenhouses are complex and nonlinear systems in which the inside temperature and humidity are deterministic parameters for the optimal growth of the plants. Several control methods have been developed to get an optimized microclimate. Physically both parameters are strongly coupled; hence, this paper proposes a novel fuzzy controlling method considering the temperature and humidity’s coupling effects; the controller is based on a validated greenhouse physical model and an evaluation of the correlation of both parameters. The results show the high performance of the decoupling method and the effectiveness of the fuzzy controller to manage the inside climate while saving energy.

Beschreibung: This paper investigates the implementation and performance limits of conventional and odd-harmonic repetitive controllers used for current control of two-level grid-connected inverter. This research is motivated by the relatively poor performance of classical (PI) controller when utility voltage has high harmonic distortion. Repetitive controllers (RCs) have the ability to track or reject periodic signals. However, their effectiveness is limited severely by the scarce bandwidth of the plant. To address this issue, the relationship between plant bandwidth and the converter’s LCL filter is also investigated. In addition, the effects of variation in parameters of low-pass filter used in RC loop on the performance of the system are studied. Odd-harmonic repetitive controller (ORC) is used to overcome the excessive memory requirement in RC implementation. The performance of RC and ORC is tested for different total harmonic distortion (THD) values of utility voltage. The results show that RC improves steady state error and THD of the output current. Also, RC is found to be robust under variations in output-side inductance.

Beschreibung: In this study, Cu matrix nanocomposites with reinforced CNT particles (0.5–5 wt %) were successfully fabricated by employing flake powder metallurgy with warm-pressing and sintering technology at 950 °C for 2 h. The properties of the composite powders were analyzed using a hall flowmeter for the apparent density, a laser particle size analyzer for the particle size and a scanning electron microscopy for the powder morphology. The green and sintered density, hardness and electrical conductivity of Cu–CNT contact materials were determined utilizing Archimedes method, a hardness analyzer and an electrical conductivity measurement device, respectively. The results showed that both consolidation ability and electrical conductivity of the Cu–CNT nanocomposites decreased by increasing the CNT content. The lowest density was 6.3 and 6.73 g/cm 3 for green and sintered Cu–5wt% CNT nanocomposites, respectively, while the highest density value was 8 and 8.57 g/cm 3 for green and sintered Cu–0.5wt% CNT nanocomposites, respectively. The measured conductivity values were 74.56 IACs for 0.5 wt% CNT- reinforced sintered samples and decreased up to 46.3 for 2 wt% CNT-reinforced sintered samples and then decreased to 5.3 IACs for 5 wt% CNT-reinforced sintered samples.

Beschreibung: Steam injection in heavy oil reservoirs does not only change the fluid properties, but also affects the interfacial tension of aqueous phase/hydrocarbon and the wettability of sand/hydrocarbon systems. Understanding the alteration of those properties is crucial for a successful steam injection, and it is expected to play an important role in heavy oil recovery from sands. However, studies on the measurements of interfacial properties of steam, heavy oil, and sand systems have not been well documented in the literature. This paper describes a new experimental technique and procedure which have been developed for generating steam within a small optical cell at high saturated pressure and temperature conditions. After that, image processing technique was applied to measure the interfacial tension of heavy oil/steam and the contact angle of heavy oil/steam/quartz systems. They have several advantages which are fast, relatively cheap and reliable. They potentially would have a wide range of applications in steam injection such as measuring the rock wettability, examining the effects of steam acidity and steam quality, and optimization for the purposes of prevention and/or reduction in damages to the formation. The experimental results indicate that steam injection has caused the alteration of interfacial properties. Interfacial tension measured in steam/heavy oil systems tends to decrease, while contact angle measured in quartz/heavy oil/steam systems tends to increase at saturated temperature and pressure conditions. As the aging time increases, the quartz’s wettability changes from mixed-wet to more oil-wet.

Beschreibung: A heterogeneous network (HetNet) is one of the core features that have been introduced in the LTE-advanced standardization to meet the predicted requirements for higher data rates and capacity. An integrated picocellular–macrocellular networks is part of such HetNets. Most previous works have concentrated on solving the picocellular–macrocellular networks challenges, including optimal picocell deployment, interference coordination, cell association methods and frequency resource allocations. However, the resource allocation control issue for LTE macrocells integrated with underlying picocells owned by different operators that can allow macrocell user (MU) accommodation has not been investigated deeply. Therefore, this paper proposes and analyzes a new resource allocation control framework called a preemption-based call admission control scheme (PCAC) for integrating independent underlying picocells with macrocell networks. The proposed scheme aims to utilize the resource blocks (RBs) of picocells efficiently to improve MU performance by allowing its MU visitors to utilize unused picocell RBs without any degradation for picocell users. A developed simulation model and a multi-dimensional continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) model are used to model and analyze the proposed PCAC. The analytical model developed considers a limited-size buffer to store MUs, buffer time out and resource reservation. The MU connection-level performance metrics, including dropping and blocking probabilities, are derived and studied. The results indicate that better connection-level parameters for MUs and higher throughputs are achieved by using the proposed PCAC.

Beschreibung: A type of zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramic-lined composite steel pipe was fabricated by using self-propagation high-temperature synthesis and centrifugal casting technique. The microstructure and phase constituents of ZTA ceramic layer were analyzed by means of optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The fracture toughness of ceramic layers and mechanical shock of Al 2 O 3 and ZTA ceramic-lined composite pipes were measured using Vickers indentation microfracture method and the repetitive impacting method. The results show that the phase constituents of ZTA ceramic layer were Al 2 O 3 , FeAl 2 O 4 and t-ZrO 2 phases, and no m-ZrO 2 phase was detected by XRD. Addition of ZrO 2 reduced the width of Al 2 O 3 dendrites and led to formation of a microstructure with fine ZrO 2 particles distributed at boundaries of Al 2 O 3 dendrites. The fracture toughness was increased from 0.56 MPa m 1/2 of Al 2 O 3 ceramic layer to 5.74 MPa m 1/2 of ZTA ceramic layer. The mechanical shock resistance at the center of the ceramic-lined composite pipe was increased from twice to 19 times after addition of ZrO 2 into the Al 2 O 3 matrix.

Beschreibung: This paper presents the development of Holy Quran recitation recognizer. The decoder of recognizer performs sub-word level recognition at phoneme. The paper demonstrates high recognition accuracies achieved by applying incremental refinements to the HMM models of the phonemes during the training stage. The Maximum- likelihood (ML) criterion is first applied for HMMs parameter estimation, which produces average recognition accuracies of up to 83 %. This is followed by discriminative technique of minimum phone error (MPE), which is applied to minimize recognition error at phoneme level. Investigation shows that MPE based acoustic models improve generalization. The results show 3–4 % improvement in recognition accuracies, which are promising when compared with the case of ML approach applied alone.

Beschreibung: Coupling reaction usually refers to the direct C–C bond formation between two carbon fragments. Generally, cross-coupling reactions between nucleophiles and electrophiles have been extensively studied and become the classic model for bond constructions. Another reaction model, bond formation from two nucleophiles through oxidative cross-coupling, has received more and more attention over the past few years. This paper will discuss the concept of oxidative cross-coupling and give an overview of its recent development.

Beschreibung: The altitudinal gradient involves changes of the partial pressures of atmospheric gases such as CO 2 . This omnipresent phenomenon likely represents an evolutionary selective agent. We asked whether high altitude plant species had evolved specific response strategies to cope with high altitude pressure conditions. Plants of the high altitude species Arabis alpina and the low altitude species Arabidopsis thaliana were cultivated in growth chambers with high altitude pressure conditions (corresponding to 3000 m a.s.l.) and low altitude conditions (560 m). In both species, high altitude conditions resulted in the narrowing of stomatal aperture as well as a decrease in leaf area and weight. A. alpina produced significantly more stomata under high altitude conditions compared to low altitude conditions, while A. thaliana did not. Under low altitude conditions, however, stomatal density of A. alpina was smaller compared to A. thaliana . The increase in stomatal density of A. alpina was strongly related to the decrease in the partial pressure of CO 2 under high altitude conditions. Thus, the adaptation of the high altitude plant A. alpina to high altitude pressure conditions does not consist in a genetically fixed elevated stomatal density but in a different response strategy of stomatal development to environmental factors compared to the lowland plant A. thaliana . A. alpina developed stomata largely uncoupled from other environmental factors than CO 2 . The increased stomatal density of A. alpina may ensure an optimal CO 2 supply during the periods of favourable weather conditions for photosynthesis that are relatively rare and short in the alpine life zone.

Beschreibung: The use of enzymes in different industrial sectors increased significantly due to huge industrialization. Different types of protease and amylase are randomly used in industries including food, textile, and paper. For this purpose, purification of extracellular protease and amylase produced by the bacterium, Corynebacterium alkanolyticum ATH3 (Acc. No. JX656749) isolated from the distal intestine of a freshwater fish, Anabas testudineus , was carried out using column chromatography. The specific activity of protease and amylase significantly increased with each step of purification and finally became 93.73 and 88.1 U/mg protein with a purification fold 26.03 and 44.94, respectively. The sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed molecular weight of purified protease and amylase was ∼17 and ∼28 kDa, respectively. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of ∼17 kDa protease and ∼28 kDa amylase from the bacterial strain C . alkanolyticum ATH3. Further, enzyme activity was also evidenced by zymography analysis. The enzymes acted optimally at pH 7.5–8.0 and temperature 35–45  \({^{\circ}{\rm C}}\) , respectively. So, due to cheapest source, these two enzymes are very important for various purposes in industrial sectors.

Beschreibung: In this paper, the exponential synchronization problem of delayed coupled switched neural networks with individual node and network topology switching is investigated. By using the matrix decomposing approach and the switched system comparison principle, several synchronization criteria for such complex dynamical networks are obtained. Firstly, under the assumption that all subnetworks are self-synchronized, a sufficient condition is derived in terms of an algebraic inequality. Then, when some subnetworks are not self-synchronized, based on the maximal dwell time length, the exponential synchronization criteria are given in terms of algebraic inequalities. Finally, examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Beschreibung: The classifications of uncertain data turned into one of the dreary procedures in the data mining domain. The uncertain data have tuples with distinctive probability distribution, which helps to find similar class of tuples. When we consider an uncertain data, the feature vector will not be a single valued but a function. In this paper, we proposed fuzzy entropy and similarity measure to characterize the uncertain data through binary decision tree algorithm. Fuzzy entropy is used to find the best split point for the decision tree to handle the uncertain data. Similarity measure is used to make the better decision for the uncertain data with high accuracy. Initially, fuzzy entropy for each feature vector is calculated to select the best feature vector. Then, best split is selected from the selected feature vector. With the help of trained uncertain data, the binary tree starts to grow. Once the split point is selected, then the constructed decision tree is evaluated by the testing phase of uncertain data. The testing data are subjected to the trained decision tree to obtain the classified data. The experimental analyses are made to evaluate the performance of the proposed FUDT approach. Proposed FUDT algorithm is compared with the existing classification algorithm UDT in terms of accuracy and running time. The experimental analysis finalizes that our FUDT algorithm outperforms the existing UDT algorithm.

Beschreibung: Richardson et al. (Sci Bull, 2015 . doi: 10.1007/s11434-015-0806-z ) suggest that the irreducibly simple climate model described in Monckton of Brenchley et al. (Sci Bull 60:122–135, 2015 . doi: 10.1007/s11434-014-0699-2 ) was not validated against observations, relying instead on synthetic test data based on underestimated global warming, illogical parameter choice and near-instantaneous response at odds with ocean warming and other observations. However, the simple model, informed by its authors’ choice of parameters, usually hindcasts observed temperature change more closely than the general-circulation models, and finds high climate sensitivity implausible. With IPCC’s choice of parameters, the model is further validated in that it duly replicates IPCC’s sensitivity interval. Also, fast climate system response is consistent with near-zero or net-negative temperature feedback. Given the large uncertainties in the initial conditions and evolutionary processes determinative of climate sensitivity, subject to obvious caveats a simple sensitivity-focused model need not, and the present model does not, exhibit significantly less predictive skill than the general-circulation models.

Beschreibung: The urban heat island (UHI) represents one of the most significant human impacts on the earth system. In recent decades, the number of the tourists has a remarkable increase in China and also other regions of the globe. However, it is still unclear whether or to what extent the tourism can affect the UHI. Here, we investigate the role of the tourism for the UHI during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday based on a case study in tropical Sanya City, which attracts many tourists for celebrating the CNY and enjoying the warm climate during the holiday. We find that the UHI effects expressed as daily mean (Δ T mean ), maximum (Δ T max ), and minimum (Δ T min ) surface air temperature differences between urban and nearby non-urban stations averaged over the period of 1995–2004 during the CNY week were 0.48 °C (39 %), 0.66 °C (61 %), and 0.42 °C (26 %) higher than those averaged over the background period (8 weeks including 4 weeks before and 4 weeks after the CNY week), respectively. These changes are all significant at the 99 % confidence level. Our findings highlight previously unidentified impact of the tourism on the UHI based on a case study in Sanya City, Hainan Province of China.

Beschreibung: MicroRNA (miRNA) is a non-coding small RNA composed of 20 to 24 nucleotides that influences plant root development. This study analyzed the miRNA expression in Arabidopsis root tip cells using Illumina sequencing and real-time PCR before (sample 0) and 15 min after (sample 15) a 3-D clinostat rotational treatment was administered. After stimulation was performed, the expression levels of seven miRNA genes, including Arabidopsis miR160, miR161, miR394, miR402, miR403, miR408, and miR823, were significantly upregulated. Illumina sequencing results also revealed two novel miRNAsthat have not been previously reported, The target genes of these miRNAs included pentatricopeptide repeat-containing protein and diadenosine tetraphosphate hydrolase. An overexpression vector of Arabidopsis miR408 was constructed and transferred to Arabidopsis plant. The roots of plants over expressing miR408 exhibited a slower reorientation upon gravistimulation in comparison with those of wild-type. This result indicate that miR408 could play a role in root gravitropic response.

Beschreibung: Prenatal glucocorticoids (GCs) have been used to induce maturation of preterm fetal lungs and prevent the development of respiratory distress syndrome of the premature. Pulmonary surfactant induction has been regarded as the most important effect of prenatal GCs. However, report about the prolonged effects of prenatal GCs on the development of rat lung is of limited. In this study, we tried to investigate the acute and chronic modulation effects of prenatal dexamethasone (DEX) to asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA)/nitric oxide (NO) signal pathway of lung tissue. Pregnant Sprague Dawley rats at gestational day 14–20 were administered i.p. DEX (0.1 mg kg −1 d −1 ). Acute programming effects of prenatal DEX were assessed at postnatal day 7, and long-term programming effects of offspring were assessed at day 120. We found that repetitive prenatal DEX exposure contributes to DNA oxidative damage and alveolar tissue dysplasia. Prenatal DEX treatment decreased ADMA and increased iNOS expression. Prenatal DEX treatment also increased TNF-α transcript expression and decreased HDAC2 protein expression at acute stage. In conclusion, repetitive prenatal DEX has prolonged stress damage effects on lung tissue.

Beschreibung: Fast pyrolysis was used to convert waste biomass into bio-oil, which has a benefit of storage and transportation with the potential as a fossil oil substitute. Pakistani cotton stalk was pyrolyzed in a bench-scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor. The effect of reaction conditions such as temperature and feed size on the bio-oil, char and gas yields was investigated. The optimal pyrolysis temperature for the production of bio-oil was 490 ° C which gave the maximum yield (36 wt%) of product at feed size of 1.0 mm. Bio-oil yield increased with the increase in temperature, while the yield of char decreased. The various properties of bio-oil attained under these pyrolysis conditions were defined. Chemical composition of bio-oil was determined using FTIR and GC–MS analysis, and major chemical compounds were phenols, carboxylic acids, ketones, aldehydes, furans and sugars.

Beschreibung: The Lower Senonian Matulla Formation is well developed in the southern and central Gulf of Suez. It can be subdivided into three depositional units (M1–M3). An obvious unconformity separated the middle unit (M2) from the upper unit (M3). The three units are corresponding to a second-order depositional sequence. This sequence consists of two systems tracts; the lower lowstand systems tract consists of slope fan, followed by a prograding complex. An erosion surface separated the lower from the upper transgressive systems tract. The Matulla Formation is mostly composed of sandstones and pelagic sediment intercalations. Such intercalations show obvious facies change throughout the study area, causing further subdivision of the Matulla Formation into seven rock types (RT1–RT7). The petrophysical reservoir evaluation has been achieved via determination of the effective porosity, permeability, shale content, water saturation and net-pay thickness from the environmentally corrected well log data. It indicates that the Matulla Formation can be considered as a good reservoir quality especially in its lower unit and sometimes in its middle unit as well. The available core data indicate a lithological heterogeneity of the studied Matulla Formation. Lithologically, it can be subdivided into four petrophysical and lithological facies; namely, they are sandstones, ferruginous sandstones, argillaceous sandstones and limestones. The best petrophysical properties were assigned for the ferruginous sandstones with good to excellent porosity, very good to excellent permeability, and poor to fair flow zone indicator.

Beschreibung: The purpose of the present work was to study the potential biotechnological use of Dunaliella species isolated from the solar saltern of Sfax (Tunisia). D. salina was grown in artificial seawater (3.4M NaCl) under a constant temperature (25°C) and light ( \({265 {\mu}{\rm mol} {\rm photons} {\rm m}^{-2} {\rm s}^{-1}}\) ). The maximal cellular density was about \({4.66\times 10^{6} {\rm cells/ml}}\) , and the growth rate ranged between 0.13 and 0.16 doublings/day. Chlorophyll a reached \({52.32 \pm 0.12 {\rm mg/l}}\) in the exponential phase. Protein and carbohydrates content reached maximum values in the lag phase ( \({52.4 \pm 0.2}\) and \({5.7 \pm 0.34\,{\rm mg/l}}\) , respectively). The maximal values of total lipids content were obtained at the decline phase ( \({92 \pm 0.87\,{\rm mg/l}}\) ). In addition, during this study, the analyses of the fatty acids profile have shown the presence of essential fatty acids that accumulate in D. salina during the stress phase.

Beschreibung: This study investigates the variations in the mechanical properties of high-damping rubber bearings HDRBs on the dynamic response of multi-story seismic base-isolated building subjected to bidirectional near-fault ground motions. Variations in the mechanical properties of HDRB due to temperature, aging and scragging recovery are considered. Nonlinear response analyses of a six-story base-isolated building subjected to seven pairs of bidirectional near-fault ground motions with pulse type were conducted using finite element software. The nonlinear force–deformation behavior of isolator is modeled using a bilinear hysteretic curve considering non-deteriorating and deteriorating properties. Results of analyses are compared in terms of bearing displacement, base shear, force–displacement loops, top floor absolute acceleration and story drift. It was observed that the seismic response of base-isolated multi-story building is significantly influenced by the variation in mechanical properties of rubber bearing seismic isolators.

Beschreibung: In this paper, we propose an efficient heterogeneous network (HetNet) architecture with coexisting small cell technology to provide capacity and coverage expanding in 3G and 4G mobile networks. A hierarchical HetNet layout comprises of three layers macro-, metro- and femtocell. The metrocell is employed as an intermediate layer in the integrated femtocellular/macrocellular network, which operates in a complementary fashion, in order to manage the handover traffic between the edge layers. Consequently, the femtocell serves indoor traffic activity of femto users, while metrocell serves the outdoor traffic activities as well as the overflow traffic from femtocells. The overall HetNet is completed with the macrocell overlay layer, which serves only the macro users and the overflowed traffic from the underlay layer. Then, we develop a realistic teletraffic framework in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed HetNet. We show both analytically and by simulation that the proposed HetNet architecture with coexisting small cells is able to offload traffic from traditional macrocellular network in terms of reducing the blocking probability.

Beschreibung: Nanofluids have opened a new arena for researchers in the field of heat transfer with their exceptional heat transfer characteristics. Enhanced thermal conductivity and improved stability are the principal advantages of nanofluids for its applications in heat transfer. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the stability of silver–water nanofluids prepared by dispersing 0.1 % volume fraction of polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated silver nanoparticles in distilled water with and without the addition of surfactants. The surfactants used in the present study are polyvinylpyrrolidone and sodium dodecyl sulfate. The stability of the nanofluids was estimated from sedimentation time, pH value, zeta potential and particle size distribution. Thermal conductivity of the nanofluids was measured by thermal property analyzer. It has been found that the stability of nanofluids is influenced predominantly by the size of the particle and the surfactant characteristics. The stability of nanofluid increases with the decrease in the size of nanoparticles. Also, the stability increases with sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactant as against polyvinylpyrrolidone. However, enhancement in the thermal conductivity is found to be higher with polyvinylpyrrolidone than with sodium dodecyl sulfate.

Beschreibung: Gravitropism in plants is one of the most controversial issues. In the most wildly accepted starch-statolith hypothesis the sedimentation movement of amyloplasts in the gravisensing columella cells primarily triggers the asymmetric distribution of auxin which leads to the differential growth of the plant root. It has been gradually recognized that the inhomogeneous structures in statocytes arising from intracellular components such as cytoskeletons significantly affect the complex movements of amyloplasts and the final gravimorphogenesis. In this letter, we implement a diffusive dynamics measurement and inplanta microrheological analysis of amyloplasts in the wild-type plants and actin cytoskeleton mutants for the first time. We found that the intracellular environment of columella cells exhibits the spatial heterogeneity and the cage-confinement on amyloplasts which is the typically characteristics in colloidal suspensions. By comparing the distinct diffusive dynamics of amyloplasts in different types of plants with the behaviors of colloidal systems in different states, we quantitatively characterized the influence of the actin organization dominated intracellular envoronments on the amyloplast movements. Furthermore, the cage-confinement strength was measured by calculating the spatial fluctuation of local apparent viscosity within the columella cells. Finally, a linear association between the initial mechanical stimulation in the columella cells the subsequent intercellular signal transduction and the final gravity response was observed and a possible gravity sensing mechanism was suggested. It suggests the existence of a potential gravity-sensing mechanism that dictates a linear frustration effect of the actin cytoskeleton on the conversion of the mechanical stimulation of amyloplasts into gravitropic signals.

Beschreibung: Silicon-based electrodes have attracted great attention in the artificial photosynthetic systems that mimic natural photosynthesis and directly convert the solar energy into chemical energy. Despite significant efforts to date, catalytic stability of the silicon photoelectrodes is limited by their poor electrochemical stability. The formation of passivation or protective layers provides a feasible strategy to improve the photocatalytic stability of silicon photoelectrodes. Many candidates including metals, metal oxides, metal silicides and polymers have been explored as the protection layers for silicon photoelectrodes. The present review gives a concise overview of the protected silicon photoanodes for water oxidation with a focus on the relationship between the structural architecture of silicon photoanodes and their photocatalytic activity and stability.

Beschreibung: High strength and high conductivity Cu-based materials are key requirements in high-speed railway and high-field magnet systems. Cu-Fe alloys represent one of the most promising candidates due to the cheapness of Fe compared to Cu-Ag and Cu-Nb alloys. The high strength of Cu-Fe alloys primarily relies on the high density of the Cu/Fe phase interface, which is controlled by the co-deformation of the Cu matrix and Fe phase. In this study, our main attention was focused on the deformation behavior of the Fe phase using different scales. Cu-2.5% Fe-0.2% Cr (in weight) and Cu-6% Fe alloys were cast, annealed, and cold drawn into wires to investigate their microstructure and properties evolution. Cu-6% Fe contains Cu matrix and Fe, which become the primary particles in the micrometer scale after solution treatment. Cu-2.5% Fe-0.2% Cr contains Cu matrix and Fe precipitate particles in a nanometer scale after solution and aging treatment. The Fe primary particles were elongated and evolved into ribbons in a nanometer scale while the Fe precipitate particles were hardly deformed even at a drawing strain of 6. The reason for the unchanging characteristics of Fe precipitate particles is due to the size effect and incoherent phase interface of Cu matrix and Fe precipitate particles. The strength of both Cu-6% Fe and Cu-2.5% Fe-0.2% Cr alloys increases with the increase in the drawing strain. The electrical resistivity of Cu-6% Fe gradually increases and that of Cu-2.5% Fe-0.2% Cr keeps almost constant with the increase in the drawing strain.

Beschreibung: This paper presents a combined dynamic parameter model (DPM) of a high speed train permanent magnet traction system using a dynamic reluctance mesh model and MATLAB Simulink. First, the dynamic reluctance model of the permanent magnet synchronous motor is introduced. Then the combined models of the traction system under i d =0 and maximum torque per ampere control are built. Simulations using both constant parameter models and DPM models are carried out. The speed and torque characteristics are obtained. The results confirm that the DPM model provides higher accuracy without much sacrifice of time consumption or computation resource.

Beschreibung: A new and simple approach is presented to analyze the time effect in the settlement of single pile and the distributions of pile shaft resistance and pile axial force. First, the viscosity of soil is considered by using a linear damper, and the nonlinear elasticity of pile lateral soil and pile end soil are simulated by using a hyperbola model and idealized elastoplastic model, respectively. Then, the settlement of the pile head, shaft resistance, and axial force along the pile are derived by virtue of a wave equation analysis program based on traveling wave decomposition. Based on the solutions, a parametric study has been undertaken to investigate the influences of the parameters of a pile-soil system on the settlement behavior of a single pile. Finally, the calculated results are compared with the measured results to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed approach. Note that the presented solution allows for a good prediction of the settlement behavior of a single pile and can provide a reference for the preliminary design of a pile foundation.

Beschreibung: It is difficult to establish a constitutive model of damage for rock materials due to the complex meso-mechanism of the rock deterioration process. In this paper, by analysis of the damage mechanism, the reason for the existence of a rock damage threshold is explained and we conclude that damaged rock elements of micro scale can still bear stress. The correlation between damaged and undamaged elements is examined in relation to stress distribution. Rocks under different initial conditions can be defined as undamaged materials with different properties, to avoid the issue of the solution of the undamaged condition and to simplify the damage model. On the basis of the Mohr-Coulomb criterion and theories of continuum damage and statistical mechanics, a constitutive model of rock materials affected by the load-bearing capacity of damaged elements under triaxial compression is established. Compared with previous experimental data and theoretical results, we show that this model can reflect the stress-strain relationship of the whole process of rock failure. In particular, the description of the strain softening stage after peak strength is proved to be more reasonable. Programming of the constitutive model applied to stability analysis of the Qingdao subway station is achieved by secondary development of FLAC 3D . The computing results compare very well with field monitoring data, indicating that the constitutive model of damaged rock can reflect the deterioration effect of weathered rock at the site. This constitutive model of rock damage may provide a useful reference for practical application.

Beschreibung: The aero-elastic instability mechanism of a tensioned membrane structure is studied in this paper. The response and wind velocities above two closed-type saddle-shaped tensioned membrane structures, with the same shape but different pretension levels, were measured in uniform flow and analyzed. The results indicate that, for most wind directions, several vibration modes are excited and the amplitude and damping ratio of the roof slowly increase with the on-coming flow velocity. However, for particular wind directions, only one vibration mode is excited, and the amplitude and damping ratio of the vibration mode increase slowly with the on-coming flow velocity. The aero-elastic instability is caused by vortex-induced resonance. On exceeding a certain wind speed, the amplitude of the roof vibration increases sharply and the damping ratio of the vibration mode decreases quickly to near zero; the frequency of the vortex above the roof is locked in by the vibration within a certain wind velocity range; the amplitudes of the roof in these wind directions reach 2–4 times the amplitudes for other wind directions. The reduced critical wind speeds for the aero-elastic instability of saddle-shaped membrane structures at the first two modes are around 0.8–1.0.

Beschreibung: Porous polymers are very suitable materials for the adsorption of organic pollutants due to their abundant pores and organic frameworks in aqueous solution. However, their recovery from treated pollutant is difficult, and thus, their application is limited. A facile strategy to synthesize reusable magnetic porous microspheres (MPMS) of Fe 3 O 4 /poly(methylmethacrylate (MMA)- co -divinylbenzene (DVB)) is described in this paper. The magnetic microspheres were synthesized by suspension copolymerization. MMA was used as a monomer, DVB was used as a crosslinker, and the magnetic fluid was added to the organic phase. The morphology of MPMS was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and other properties were tested by superconducting quantum interference device, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen sorption-desorption techniques. The synthesized MPMS possessed a high specific surface area using toluene as a porogen. It was further found that the ratio of DVB to MMA, the ratio of porogen to monomer, and the type of porogen all affected the specific surface area and the morphology of the microspheres. Furthermore, the microspheres were applied to remove Rhodamine B from its aqueous solution. The results showed that the microspheres possessed good adsorption capacity for Rhodamine B. This result was due to the porous structure, polar groups, and superparamagnetic characteristic of the synthesized microspheres.

Beschreibung: Insulation failure is a crucial failure mode of traction motors. Insulation deteriorates under both fatigue load and shock. This paper focuses on proposing an optimal insulation condition-based maintenance strategy. By combining the information obtained from periodic inspections with historic life information, an integrated model of time-based maintenance and condition-based model is proposed, in which random shocks following Poisson process are also taken into account. In this model we define that insulation has three states: normal state, latent failure state, and functional failure state. Normal state and latent failure state differ in their operating cost, proneness to functional failure, and survival probability under extreme shocks. Preventive maintenance (PM) will be launched if an inspection result exceeds the threshold or if the operating time reaches the critical age. One operating cycle ends as soon as a preventive maintenance or a corrective maintenance is completed. Moreover, an optimization model is established, which takes minimal cost per unit time as the objective, and inspection interval and critical age as the optimization variables. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the analytic results.

Beschreibung: The cobalt phosphate-/cobalt borate-based oxygen-evolving catalysts (OECs) are the important class of earth-abundant electrocatalysts that can operate with high activity for water splitting under benign conditions. This article reports the integration of cobalt phosphate (Co-Pi) and cobalt borate (Co-Bi) OECs with three-dimensional (3D) graphene foam (GF) for the electrocatalytic water oxidation reaction. The GF showed a unique advantage to serve as a highly conductive 3D support with large capacity for anchoring and loading Co-OECs, thereby facilitating mass and charge transfer due to the large amount of active sites provided by the 3D graphene scaffold. As a result, this integrated system of GF and Co-OECs exhibits synergistically enhanced catalytic activity. The overpotential ( η ) of Co-Pi and Co-Bi/graphene catalysts is about 0.390 and 0.315 V in neutral solutions, respectively. Besides, the integrated Co-OECs/graphene catalysts have also exhibited improved and stable oxygen evolution catalytic ability in alkaline solution.

Beschreibung: The detailed structures of the volcanic edifice and plumbing system of the early Permian Tarim flood basalt were investigated by three-dimensional seismic imaging. The images show that the Tarim flood basalt erupted from central volcanoes distributed along major faults. The uppermost magma formed a single lava lobe with a volume of ~0.74 km 3 and an aspect ratio of 50, implying a sheet flow eruption with a high effusion rate. At the subsurface level, all central volcanoes, irrespective of size, had a separate pipe-like feeder vent. Only thirteen dikes were identified at shallow depths of 〈100 m below the lava surface; deeper dikes were even rarer. The pipe-like plumbing system and the paucity of dilational dikes were different from the typical plumbing system of flood basalt provinces on Earth, which are normally buoyancy-controlled dike–sill networks. A gas-driven vigorous eruption can be inferred from the imaged structure, which means that the Tarim flood basalt may have carried and released a large proportion of volcanic gas, similar to some mafic volcaniclastic deposit-bearing continental flood basalt provinces.

Beschreibung: A combined pseudo-homogeneous and fractal geometry model was developed to simulate the process of a integrated technology. The technology was proposed to replace heat pipes and WFGD, which is based on the theory that liquid membrane and droplets grow in size by vapor heterogeneous condensation with they acting as nucleation centers and then the grown droplets are removed efficiently by using integrated diverse combinations of condenser pipes and a highly efficient scrubber. The model has been approached useful for both analyzing results and aiding in design of the technology by conducting a two-dimensional steady-state model by means of infinitesimal analysis, incorporating with the models of whole fine particles absorption efficiency of a regularly arranged liquid membrane and droplets column group, and the models of geometric classifications for liquid and solid based on the fractal dimension identified by different structural of radius of gyration of liquid–solid interface transition zone. The predicted values were also compared with the experimental results, and they are in excellent agreement. The results showed that: When the fractal dimension d f is 0.3, the calculation result is the most closer to actual experiment parameter. The PM 2.5 diffusion volume flux value V w ranges from 22 and 45 mm/s.

Beschreibung: Current neuromodulation techniques such as optogenetics and deep-brain stimulation are transforming basic and translational neuroscience. These two neuromodulation approaches are, however, invasive since surgical implantation of an optical fiber or wire electrode is required. Here, we have invented a non-invasive magnetogenetics that combines the genetic targeting of a magnetoreceptor with remote magnetic stimulation. The non-invasive activation of neurons was achieved by neuronal expression of an exogenous magnetoreceptor, an iron-sulfur cluster assembly protein 1 (Isca1). In HEK-293 cells and cultured hippocampal neurons expressing this magnetoreceptor, application of an external magnetic field resulted in membrane depolarization and calcium influx in a reproducible and reversible manner, as indicated by the ultrasensitive fluorescent calcium indicator GCaMP6s. Moreover, the magnetogenetic control of neuronal activity might be dependent on the direction of the magnetic field and exhibits on-response and off-response patterns for the external magnetic field applied. The activation of this magnetoreceptor can depolarize neurons and elicit trains of action potentials, which can be triggered repetitively with a remote magnetic field in whole-cell patch-clamp recording. In transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans expressing this magnetoreceptor in myo - 3 -specific muscle cells or mec - 4 -specific neurons, application of the external magnetic field triggered muscle contraction and withdrawal behavior of the worms, indicative of magnet-dependent activation of muscle cells and touch receptor neurons, respectively. The advantages of magnetogenetics over optogenetics are its exclusive non-invasive, deep penetration, long-term continuous dosing, unlimited accessibility, spatial uniformity and relative safety. Like optogenetics that has gone through decade-long improvements, magnetogenetics, with continuous modification and maturation, will reshape the current landscape of neuromodulation toolboxes and will have a broad range of applications to basic and translational neuroscience as well as other biological sciences. We envision a new age of magnetogenetics is coming.

Beschreibung: In this paper, two classes of V-band substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bends operating in V-band frequency in the range [58–63 GHz] for the \({90^{\circ}}\) SIW bend with inductive via and in the range [57–68 GHz] for the circular SIW bend and corporate \({1\times4}\) and \({1\times8}\) SIW power dividers that provide equal power split with high isolation in all output ports operating in V-band [45–80 GHz] are presented and studied. The advantages of the SIW technique are its low profile, low cost, mass production, ease of fabrication and full integration with planar circuits. All the SIW bend topologies are optimized and designed to operate in the V-band frequency range. The bends and dividers are analyzed using the two-dimensional finite element method (2D-FEM). The analysis was performed in H-plane using a powerful full-wave method based on the two-dimensional finite element method (2D-FEM) programmed under MATLAB environment. The return losses, transmission coefficients and the field’s distribution are exposed in this paper. To validate our results numerically, a comparison is made and the obtained results are compared with those given by the CST Microwave Studio. It is observed that the simulation computation time is reduced with good accuracy since the discretization was done only in two dimensions.

Beschreibung: The genetic stability and expression efficiency of exogenous genes in transgenic animals are closely related to integration site and copy number. In our laboratory, by transgenic manipulation and subsequent test crosses, we established an “all-fish” growth hormone ( GH ) transgenic common carp family that exhibits fast growth. In this present study, genome walking, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques were applied to identify the integration characteristics of the exogenous grass carp GH gene in the transgenic common carp. The exogenous GH genes, in the form of two complete and one incomplete tandem repeats, were found to have integrated into an AT-rich region near the end of a chromosome pair. We hypothesize that the high efficiency of exogenous GH gene expression might be due to the low copy number in the genome and the AT-rich integration site.

Beschreibung: Knowledge about climate change impacts on species distribution at national scale is critical to biodiversity conservation and design of management programs. Although China is a biodiversity hot spot in the world, potential influence of climate change on Chinese protected birds is rarely studied. Here, we assess the impact of climate change on 108 protected bird species and nature reserves using species distribution modeling at a relatively fine spatial resolution (1 km) for the first time. We found that a large proportion of protected species would have potential suitable habitat shrink and northward range shift by 77–90 km in response to projected future climate change in 2080. Southeastern China would suffer from losing climate suitability, whereas the climate conditions in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and northeastern China were projected to become suitable for more protected species. On average, each protected area in China would experience a decline of suitable climate for 3–4 species by 2080. Climate change will modify which species each protected area will be suitable for. Our results showed that the risk of extinction for Chinese protected birds would be high, even in the moderate climate change scenario. These findings indicate that the management and design of nature reserves in China must take climate change into consideration.

Beschreibung: This paper presents an analysis and critique of Roger Penrose’s epistemological, methodological, and ontological positions. The analysis is relevant not only because Penrose is an influential scientist, but also because of the particular traits of his thought. These traits are directly connected with his background and approach to science: (1) ontological and epistemological realism, (2) mathematical Platonism, (3) emphasis on the continuities of science, (4) epistemological inclusiveness and essential openness of science, (5) the role of common sense, (6) emphasis on the connection between science, ethics, and philosophy. The paper articulates Penrose’s position and criticizes some of its possible shortcomings. It contributes to the perception of science as an open activity, as illustrated in Penrose’s particular approach, and provides an interesting case-study that can contribute to understanding how epistemological and ontological positions are connected with particular scientific practices.

Beschreibung: This paper presents a theory of scientific study which is regarded as a social learning process of (working) scientific knowledge creation, revision, application, monitoring (e.g., confirmation) and dissemination (e.g., publication) with the aim of securing good quality, general, objective, testable and complete scientific knowledge of the domain. The theory stipulates the aim of scientific study that forms the basis of its principles. It also makes seven assumptions about scientific study and defines the major participating entities (i.e., scientists, scientific knowledge and enabling technical knowledge). It extends a recent process model of scientific study into a detailed interaction model as this process model already addresses many issues of philosophy of science. The detailed interaction model of scientific study provides a common template of scientific activities for developing logical (data) models in different scientific disciplines (for physical database implementation), or alternatively for developing (domain) ontologies of different scientific disciplines. Differences between research and scientific studies are discussed, and a possible way to develop a scientific theory of scientific study is described.

Beschreibung: The notion of feedback has been exploited with considerable success in scientific and technological fields as well as in the sciences of man and society. Its use in philosophical, cultural and educational contexts, however, is still rather meagre, even if some notable attempts can be found in the literature. This paper shows that the feedback concept can help learn and understand some classical philosophical theories. In particular, attention focuses on Fichte’s doctrine of science, usually presented in obscure terms following its inventor’s style, and on the vulgate version of Hegel’s dialectic. Also a classic problem of linguistics concerning the meaning of sentences in partially unknown languages is interpreted with the aid of feedback diagrams. Even if the analysis is only qualitative, it is believed that it may serve as a useful tool for thought for both students and researchers.