Energy efficiency of iron-boron-silicon metallic glasses in sulfuric acid solutions

A criterion of the energy efficiency of iron–boron–silicon metallic glasses in sulfuric acid solutions is proposed for the first time. The criterion has been derived based on calculating the limit of the ratio value of the conductivity of a metallic glass in aqueous solution to the conductivity of the metallic glass in air. In other words, the conductivity ratio of a metallic glass in aqueous solution to the conductivity of the metallic glass in air  = 1, was applied to determine the energy efficiency of the metallic glass in the aqueous solution when the conductivity of a metallic glass in air became equal (decreased) to the steady conductivity of the metallic glass in aqueous solution as a function of time of the exposure of the metallic glass to the aqueous solution. This criterion was not only used to determine the energy efficiency of different metallic glasses, but also, the criterion was used to determine the energy efficiency of metallic glasses exposed to a wide range of sulfuric acid concentrations. These conductivity values were determined by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In addition, the criterion can be applied under diverse test conditions with a predetermined period of the operational life of the metallic glasses as functional materials. Furthermore, variations of the energy efficiency of the metallic glasses as a function of the acid concentration and time were produced by fitting the experimental data to a numerical model using a nonlinear regression method. The profiles of the metallic glasses exhibit a less conservative behavior of the energy efficiency than the proposed analytical criterion

РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ В ОБЛАСТИ БИБЛИОТЕЧНОГО ДЕЛА

The issues and current problems of the library business of Belarus are considered. The main directions of the state policy in the field of librarianship are identified.Рассматриваются вопросы и актуальные проблемы развития библиотечной отрасли Белару-си, излагаются основные направления государственной политики в области библиотечного дел

Entropy in the natural time-domain

A surrogate data analysis is presented, which is based on the fluctuations of the ``entropy'' $S$ defined in the natural time-domain [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 68}, 031106, 2003]. This entropy is not a static one as, for example, the Shannon entropy. The analysis is applied to three types of time-series, i.e., seismic electric signals, ``artificial'' noises and electrocardiograms, and ``recognizes'' the non-Markovianity in all these signals. Furthermore, it differentiates the electrocardiograms of healthy humans from those of the sudden cardiac death ones. If $\delta S$ and $\delta S_{shuf}$ denote the standard deviation when calculating the entropy by means of a time-window sweeping through the original data and the ``shuffled'' (randomized) data, respectively, it seems that the ratio $\delta S_{shuf}/\delta S$ plays a key-role. The physical meaning of $\delta S_{shuf}$ is investigated.Comment: Published in Physical Review

A framework for automatic semantic video annotation

The rapidly increasing quantity of publicly available videos has driven research into developing automatic tools for indexing, rating, searching and retrieval. Textual semantic representations, such as tagging, labelling and annotation, are often important factors in the process of indexing any video, because of their user-friendly way of representing the semantics appropriate for search and retrieval. Ideally, this annotation should be inspired by the human cognitive way of perceiving and of describing videos. The difference between the low-level visual contents and the corresponding human perception is referred to as the ‘semantic gap’. Tackling this gap is even harder in the case of unconstrained videos, mainly due to the lack of any previous information about the analyzed video on the one hand, and the huge amount of generic knowledge required on the other. This paper introduces a framework for the Automatic Semantic Annotation of unconstrained videos. The proposed framework utilizes two non-domain-specific layers: low-level visual similarity matching, and an annotation analysis that employs commonsense knowledgebases. Commonsense ontology is created by incorporating multiple-structured semantic relationships. Experiments and black-box tests are carried out on standard video databases for action recognition and video information retrieval. White-box tests examine the performance of the individual intermediate layers of the framework, and the evaluation of the results and the statistical analysis show that integrating visual similarity matching with commonsense semantic relationships provides an effective approach to automated video annotation

Transvaginal ultrasound simulation and its effect on trainee confidence levels: A replacement for initial clinical training?

Introduction: The ScanTrainer transvaginal ultrasound simulator has been developed to facilitate initial training of transvaginal ultrasound skills without patient contact. Due to the intimate nature of the examination and in some cases, limited training opportunities, the need for simulation-based education in ultrasound has gained momentum. Currently, research into the effectiveness of the ScanTrainer is limited. Methods: A mixed method study was conducted in a single institution between October 2011 and January 2012. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling and allocated to the control (clinical training) or experimental (simulation training) group following a pre-test. After 10 hours of their allocated transvaginal ultrasound training method a post-test assessment was conducted and the results statistically analysed. Participants then experienced the alternative method of training and completed questionnaires. The results were used to inform semi-structured interviews for each group. Interview transcripts were interpreted using theme analysis. Results: A small number of doctors completed the study, nine (82%) out of the 11 recruited. The majority of participants (89%) felt that practice on the ScanTrainer can increase confidence prior to attempting a real transvaginal ultrasound scan. Average scores showed that the simulation training group outperformed the clinical training group on overall score and each of the five post-test components. No statistically significant differences were demonstrated for overall score (U = 13, P = 0.556) or the five components (P = 0.190–1). Conclusions: Transvaginal ultrasound training on the ScanTrainer has the potential to replace initial clinical training; however, further larger trials are required to evaluate. Clinically significant outcomes exist if the ScanTrainer training is proven to be more effective than initial clinical training. The ScanTrainer prepares a trainee and builds confidence to progress to clinical scanning, which has the potential to improve the patient experience

A stochastic evolutionary model for capturing human dynamics

The recent interest in human dynamics has led researchers to investigate the stochastic processes that explain human behaviour in various contexts. Here we propose a generative model to capture the dynamics of survival analysis, traditionally employed in clinical trials and reliability analysis in engineering. We derive a general solution for the model in the form of a product, and then a continuous approximation to the solution via the renewal equation describing age-structured population dynamics. This enables us to model a wide range of survival distributions, according to the choice of the mortality distribution. We provide empirical evidence for the validity of the model from a longitudinal data set of popular search engine queries over 114 months, showing that the survival function of these queries is closely matched by the solution for our model with power-law mortality

Cystic Fibrosis: A New Target for 4-Imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole-1,4-dihydropyridines

The pharmacology of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl(-) channel has attracted significant interest in recent years with the aim to search for rational new therapies for diseases caused by CFTR malfunction. Mutations that abolish the function of CFTR cause the life-threatening genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF). The most common cause of CF is the deletion of phenylalanine 508 (ΔF508) in the CFTR chloride channel. Felodipine, nifedipine, and other antihypertensive 1,4-dihydropyridines (1,4-DHPs) that block L-type Ca(2+) channels are also effective potentiators of CFTR gating, able to correct the defective activity of ΔF508 and other CFTR mutants ( Mol. Pharmacol. 2005 , 68 , 1736 ). For this purpose, we evaluated the ability of the previously and newly synthesized 4-imidazo[2,1-b]thiazoles-1,4-dihydropyridines without vascular activity and inotropic and/or chronotropic cardiac effects ( J. Med. Chem. 2008 , 51 , 1592 ) to enhance the activity of ΔF508-CFTR. Our studies indicate compounds 17, 18, 20, 21, 38, and 39 as 1,4-DHPs with an interesting profile of activity

The need of data harmonization to derive robust empirical relationships between soil conditions and vegetation.

Question: Is it possible to improve the general applicability and significance of empirical relationships between abiotic conditions and vegetation by harmonization of temporal data? Location: The Netherlands. Methods: Three datasets of vegetation, recorded after periods with different meteorological conditions, were used to analyze relationships between soil moisture regime (expressed by the mean spring groundwater level - MSLt calculated for different periods) and vegetation (expressed by the mean indicator value for moisture regime Fm). For each releve, measured groundwater levels were interpolated and extrapolated to daily values for the period 1970-2000 by means of an impulse-response model. Sigmoid regression lines between MSLt and Fm were determined for each of the three datasets and for the combined dataset. Results: A measurement period of three years resulted in significantly different relationships between Fm and MSLt for the three datasets (F-test,/? <0.05>. The three regression lines only coincided for the mean spring groundwater level computed over the period 1970-2000 (AfSLclimate) and thus provided a general applicable relationship. Precipitation surplus prior to vegetation recordings strongly affected the relationships. Conclusions: Harmonization of time series data (1) eliminates biased measurements, (2) results in generally applicable relationships between abiotic and vegetation characteristics and (3) increases the goodness of fit of these relationships. The presented harmonization procedure can be used to optimize many relationships between soil and vegetation characteristics. © IAVS; Opulus Press Uppsala

Empirical Survival Jensen-Shannon Divergence as a Goodness-of-Fit Measure for Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Curve Fitting

The coefficient of determination, known as R2, is commonly used as a goodness-of-fit criterion for fitting linear models. R2 is somewhat controversial when fitting nonlinear models, although it may be generalised on a case-by-case basis to deal with specific models such as the logistic model. Assume we are fitting a parametric distribution to a data set using, say, the maximum likelihood estimation method. A general approach to measure the goodness-of-fit of the fitted parameters, which is advocated herein, is to use a non- parametric measure for comparison between the empirical distribution, comprising the raw data, and the fitted model. In particular, for this purpose we put forward the Survi- val Jensen-Shannon divergence (SJS) and its empirical counterpart (ESJS) as a metric which is bounded, and is a natural generalisation of the Jensen-Shannon divergence. We demonstrate, via a straightforward procedure making use of the ESJS, that it can be used as part of maximum likelihood estimation or curve fitting as a measure of goodness-of-fit, including the construction of a confidence interval for the fitted parametric distribution. Furthermore, we show the validity of the proposed method with simulated data, and three empirical data sets