Relation of SiO maser emission to IR radiation in evolved stars based on the MSX observation

Based on the space MSX observation in bands A(8$\mu$m), C(12$\mu$m), D(15$\mu$m) and E(21$\mu$m), and the ground SiO maser observation of evolved stars by the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in the v=1 and v=2 J=1-0 transitions, the relation between SiO maser emission and mid-IR continuum radiation is analyzed. The relation between SiO maser emission and the IR radiation in the MSX bands A, C, D and E is all clearly correlated. The SiO maser emission can be explained by a radiative pumping mechanism according to its correlation with infrared radiation in the MSX band A.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in ApJ

Grain refinement of DC cast magnesium alloys with intensive melt shearing

A new direct chill (DC) casting process, melt conditioned DC (MC-DC) process, has been developed for the production of high quality billets/slabs of light alloys by application of intensive melt shearing through a rotor-stator high shear device during the DC casting process. The rotor-stator high shear device provides intensive melt shearing to disperse the naturally occurring oxide films, and other inclusions, while creating a microscopic flow pattern to homogenize the temperature and composition fields in the sump. In this paper, we report the grain refining effect of intensive melt shearing in the MC-DC casting processing. Experimental results on DC casting of Mg-alloys with and without intensive melt shearing have demonstrated that the MC-DC casting process can produce magnesium alloy billets with significantly refined microstructure. Such grain refinement in the MC-DC casting process can be attributed to enhanced heterogeneous nucleation by dispersed naturally occurring oxide particles, increased nuclei survival rate in uniform temperature and compositional fields in the sump, and potential contribution from dendrite arm fragmentation

Spatio-Temporal Sentiment Hotspot Detection Using Geotagged Photos

We perform spatio-temporal analysis of public sentiment using geotagged photo collections. We develop a deep learning-based classifier that predicts the emotion conveyed by an image. This allows us to associate sentiment with place. We perform spatial hotspot detection and show that different emotions have distinct spatial distributions that match expectations. We also perform temporal analysis using the capture time of the photos. Our spatio-temporal hotspot detection correctly identifies emerging concentrations of specific emotions and year-by-year analyses of select locations show there are strong temporal correlations between the predicted emotions and known events.Comment: To appear in ACM SIGSPATIAL 201

Single chargino production via gluon-gluon fusion in a supersymmetric theory with an explicit R-parity violation

We studied the production of single chargino$\tilde{\chi}_1^{\pm}$ accompanied by $\mu^{\mp}$ lepton via gluon-gluon fusion at the LHC. The numerical analysis of their production rates is carried out in the mSUGRA scenario with some typical parameter sets. The results show that the cross sections of the $\tilde{\chi}_1^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ productions via gluon-gluon collision are in the order of $1 \sim 10^{2}$ femto barn quantitatively at the CERN LHC, and can be competitive with production mechanism via quark-antiquark annihilation process.Comment: LaTex file, 18 pages, 4 EPS file

Open building and the role of craftsmanship in Ancient China: a historical literature interpretation of construction

The open building, although a new term of architecture that appeared at the end of the 20th century, is not a new concept as far as traditional and has allowed changes and improvements in structure space and function through generations. This paper discusses the relationship between the main building structures, infill elements, and space through examples in ancient China. It then describes the roles of owners, users, and craftsmen via examples from historical records. In studying these examples, this paper concludes that the craftsmen in ancient China are not merely involved in the period of construction but also in the whole period of use. Thus, the relationship between craftsmen and owners or users can continue for generations in some cases. Finally, this paper suggests one possible strategy for the building industry and technology in the context of sustainable development.postprintInternational Conference on Changing Roles: New Roles New Challenges, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 5-9 October 2009. In Proceedings of Changing Roles, 2009, p. 633-64

Public vs private administration of rural health insurance schemes: a comparative study in Zhejiang of China.

: Since 2003, China has experimented in some of the country's counties with the private administration of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), a publicly subsidized health insurance scheme for rural populations. Our study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of private vs public administration in four counties in one of China's most affluent provinces in the initial stage of the NCMS's implementation. The study was undertaken in Ningbo city of Zhejiang province. Out of 10 counties in Ningbo, two counties with private administration for the NCMS (Beilun and Ninghai) were compared with two others counties with public administration (Zhenhai and Fenghua), using the following indicators: (1) proportion of enrollees who were compensated for inpatient care; (2) average reimbursement-expense ratio per episode of inpatient care; (3) overall administration cost; (4) enrollee satisfaction. Data from 2004 to 2006 were collected from the local health authorities, hospitals and the contracted insurance companies, supplemented by a randomized household questionnaire survey covering 176 households and 479 household members. In our sample counties, private administration of the NCMS neither reduced transaction costs, nor improved the benefits of enrollees. Enrollees covered by the publicly administered NCMS were more likely to be satisfied with the insurance scheme than those covered by the privately administered NCMS. Experience in the selected counties suggests that private administration of the NCMS did not deliver the hoped-for results. We conclude that caution needs to be exercised in extending private administration of the NCMS

A micro-electro-mechanical-system-based thermal shear-stress sensor with self-frequency compensation

By applying the micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) fabrication technology, we developed a micro-thermal sensor to measure surface shear stress. The heat transfer from a polysilicon heater depends on the normal velocity gradient and thus provides the surface shear stress. However, the sensitivity of the shear-stress measurements in air is less than desirable due to the low heat capacity of air. A unique feature of this micro-sensor is that the heating element, a film 1 µm thick, is separated from the substrate by a vacuum cavity 2 µm thick. The vacuum cavity prevents the conduction of heat to the substrate and therefore improves the sensitivity by an order of magnitude. Owing to the low thermal inertia of the miniature sensing element, this shear-stress micro-sensor can provide instantaneous measurements of small-scale turbulence. Furthermore, MEMS technology allows us make multiple sensors on a single chip so that we can perform distributed measurements. In this study, we use multiple polysilicon sensor elements to improve the dynamic performance of the sensor itself. It is demonstrated that the frequency-response range of a constant-current sensor can be extended from the order of 100 Hz to 100 kHz