Detection of bearing damage by statistic vibration analysis

The condition of bearings, which are essential components in mechanisms, is crucial to safety. The analysis of the bearing vibration signal, which is always contaminated by certain types of noise, is a very important standard for mechanical condition diagnosis of the bearing and mechanical failure phenomenon. In this paper the method of rolling bearing fault detection by statistical analysis of vibration is proposed to filter out Gaussian noise contained in a raw vibration signal. The results of experiments show that the vibration signal can be significantly enhanced by application of the proposed method. Besides, the proposed method is used to analyse real acoustic signals of a bearing with inner race and outer race faults, respectively. The values of attributes are determined according to the degree of the fault. The results confirm that the periods between the transients, which represent bearing fault characteristics, can be successfully detected

Women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa : Individual and family characteristics, with particular emphasis on perfectionism

This study investigated socio-cultural, family and individual factors associated with anorexia and bulimia nervosa, with particular emphasis on dysfunctional perfectionism, and adopting a general social learning perspective. Theories of the development of eating disorders were interwoven with theories of the development of perfectionism. A model was proposed for the development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa via a dysfunctional perfectionism pathway. The 135 participants, aged 18 to 40 years, were women with anorexia nervosa (N=25), bulimia nervosa (N=32), Type 1 diabetes (N= 53, a North Canterbury population-based sample), and healthy women students (N=25). The women with eating disorders were recruited from various treatment centres throughout New Zealand. Participants completed a battery of seven self-report psychometric tests, namely, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), Setting Conditions for Anorexia Nervosa Scale (SCANS), Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and Family Environment Scale (FES). Analysis of Covariance, using the BDI as a covariate, revealed that, in addition to measures concerned with weight, shape and dieting, both anorexia and bulimia nervosa group means were significantly higher than both healthy and diabetes group means for EDI-2 Interpersonal Distrust and Social Insecurity; MPS Concern over Mistakes, Personal Standards, and Parental Criticism; and TPQ Harm A voidance, and significantly different from the healthy group mean for MPS Parental Expectations; SCANS Perfectionism; and PBI Maternal Protection, Maternal Care, and Paternal Care. Correlational analyses confirmed hypothesized moderate or strong associations between some perfectionism measures and other characteristics of women with eating disorders, such as a harm-avoidant temperament, and perceptions of maternal overprotection. Discriminant function analysis revealed seven variables, in combination, that maximally discriminated between eating disordered and non-eating disordered groups: three EDI-2 variables of Drive for Thinness, Ineffectiveness, and Social Insecurity, three MPS subscales of Concern over Mistakes, Personal Standards, and Doubts about Actions, and the BDI. Of the three instruments measuring perfectionism, in this study, only the MPS effectively discriminated between eating disordered and non-eating disordered groups. Findings indicated the importance of controlling for depression when comparing eating disordered groups with other groups, and that dysfunctional perfectionism is largely independent of the mood of the respondent. Findings suggest that the PBI may be limited by cultural sensitivity. Findings led to questioning of the applicability of the EDI-SC to diabetes groups and of the validity of the Novelty Seeking and Reward Dependence Dimensions of the TPQ. In concluding that dysfunctional perfectionism is a key personality characteristic of women with anorexia and bulimia nervosa, it is argued that multidimensional measures of perfectionism provide more insight than unidimensional measures into the dysfunctional facets of perfectionism, and that perfectionism per se is not necessarily problematic. Dysfunctional perfectionism may distinguish psychopathology associated with anorexia and bulimia nervosa from numerous other forms of psychopathology, including depression. Although aetiological factors were not assessed in this study, the MPS and PBI, considered in conjunction with the theoretical literature, may provide insight into the development of dysfunctional perfectionism. This has implications for the treatment and prevention of eating disorders

How robust are future projections of forest landscape dynamics? Insights from a systematic comparison of four forest landscape models

Projections of landscape dynamics are uncertain, partly due to uncertainties in model formulations. However, quantitative comparative analyses of forest landscape models are lacking. We conducted a systematic comparison of all forest landscape models currently applied in temperate European forests (LandClim, TreeMig, LANDIS-II, iLand). We examined the uncertainty of model projections under several future climate, disturbance, and dispersal scenarios, and quantified uncertainties by variance partitioning. While projections under past climate conditions were in good agreement with observations, uncertainty under future climate conditions was high, with between-model biomass differences of up to 200 t ha−1. Disturbances strongly influenced landscape dynamics and contributed substantially to uncertainty in model projections (~25–40% of observed variance). Overall, model differences were the main source of uncertainty, explaining at least 50% of observed variance. We advocate a more rigorous and systematic model evaluation and calibration, and a broader use of ensemble projections to quantify uncertainties in future landscape dynamics

A standard protocol for reporting species distribution models

Species distribution models (SDMs) constitute the most common class of models across ecology, evolution and conservation. The advent of ready-to-use software packages and increasing availability of digital geoinformation have considerably assisted the application of SDMs in the past decade, greatly enabling their broader use for informing conservation and management, and for quantifying impacts from global change. However, models must be fit for purpose, with all important aspects of their development and applications properly considered. Despite the widespread use of SDMs, standardisation and documentation of modelling protocols remain limited, which makes it hard to assess whether development steps are appropriate for end use. To address these issues, we propose a standard protocol for reporting SDMs, with an emphasis on describing how a study's objective is achieved through a series of modeling decisions. We call this the ODMAP (Overview, Data, Model, Assessment and Prediction) protocol, as its components reflect the main steps involved in building SDMs and other empirically-based biodiversity models. The ODMAP protocol serves two main purposes. First, it provides a checklist for authors, detailing key steps for model building and analyses, and thus represents a quick guide and generic workflow for modern SDMs. Second, it introduces a structured format for documenting and communicating the models, ensuring transparency and reproducibility, facilitating peer review and expert evaluation of model quality, as well as meta-analyses. We detail all elements of ODMAP, and explain how it can be used for different model objectives and applications, and how it complements efforts to store associated metadata and define modelling standards. We illustrate its utility by revisiting nine previously published case studies, and provide an interactive web-based application to facilitate its use. We plan to advance ODMAP by encouraging its further refinement and adoption by the scientific community

Inoculação de bactérias diazotróficas e produtividade de genótipos de cana-de-açúcar.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da inoculação de bactérias diazotróficas sobre a produtividade de colmos de cana-de-açúcar

Model-free classification of X-ray scattering signals applied to image segmentation

In most cases, the analysis of small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS, respectively) requires a theoretical model to describe the sample’s scattering, complicating the interpretation of the scattering resulting from complex heterogeneous samples. This is the reason why, in general, the analysis of a large number of scattering patterns, such as are generated by time- resolved and scanning methods, remains challenging. Here, a model-free classification method to separate SAXS/WAXS signals on the basis of their inflection points is introduced and demonstrated. This article focuses on the segmentation of scanning SAXS/WAXS maps for which each pixel corresponds to an azimuthally integrated scattering curve. In such a way, the sample composition distribution can be segmented through signal classification without applying a model or previous sample knowledge. Dimensionality reduction and clustering algorithms are employed to classify SAXS/WAXS signals according to their similarity. The number of clusters, i.e. the main sample regions detected by SAXS/WAXS signal similarity, is automatically estimated. From each cluster, a main representative SAXS/WAXS signal is extracted to uncover the spatial distribution of the mixtures of phases that form the sample. As examples of applications, a mudrock sample and two breast tissue lesions are segmented