An efficient BEM for numerical solution of the biharmonic boundary value problem

This paper presents an efficient BEM for solving biharmonic equations. All boundary values including geometries are approximated by the universal high order radial basis function networks (RBFNs) rather than the usual low order interpolations. Numerical results show that the proposed BEM is considerably superior to the linear/quadratic-BEM in terms of both accuracy and convergence rate

Solving high-order partial differential equations with indirect radial basis function networks

This paper reports a new numerical method based on radial basis function networks (RBFNs) for solving high-order partial differential equations (PDEs). The variables and their derivatives in the governing equations are represented by integrated RBFNs. The use of integration in constructing neural networks allows the straightforward implementation of multiple boundary conditions and the accurate approximation of high-order derivatives. The proposed RBFN method is verified successfully through the solution of thin-plate bending and viscous flow problems which are governed by biharmonic equations. For thermally driven cavity flows, the solutions are obtained up to a high Rayleigh number

Mask breathing system for the Apollo command module

Breathing mask for Apollo command module spacecre

Frontiers of parasitology research in the People's Republic of China : infection, diagnosis, protection and surveillance

ABSTRACT: Control and eventual elimination of human parasitic diseases in the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) requires novel approaches, particularly in the areas of diagnostics, mathematical modelling, monitoring, evaluation, surveillance and public health response. A comprehensive effort, involving the collaboration of 188 scientists (<85% from P.R. China) from 48 different institutions and universities (80% from P.R. China), covers this collection of 29 articles published in Parasites & Vectors. The research mainly stems from a research project entitled 'Surveillance and diagnostic tools for major parasitic diseases in P.R. China' (grant no. 2008ZX10004-011) and highlights the frontiers of research in parasitology. The majority of articles in this thematic series deals with the most important parasitic diseases in P.R. China, emphasizing Schistosoma japonicum, Plasmodium vivax and Clonorchis sinensis plus some parasites of emerging importance such as Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Significant achievements have been made through the collaborative research programme in the following three fields: (i) development of control strategies for the national control programme; (ii) updating the surveillance data of parasitic infections both in human and animals; and (iii) improvement of existing, and development of novel, diagnostic tools to detect parasitic infections. The progress is considerable and warrants broad validation efforts. Combined with the development of improved tools for diagnosis and surveillance, integrated and multi-pronged control strategies now pave the way for elimination of parasitic diseases in P.R. China. Experiences and lessons learned can stimulate control and elimination efforts of parasitic diseases in other parts of the world

Bioactive ceramic-reinforced composites for bone augmentation

Biomaterials have been used to repair the human body for millennia, but it is only since the 1970s that man-made composites have been used. Hydroxyapatite (HA)-reinforced polyethylene (PE) is the first of the ‘second-generation’ biomaterials that have been developed to be bioactive rather than bioinert. The mechanical properties have been characterized using quasi-static, fatigue, creep and fracture toughness testing, and these studies have allowed optimization of the production method. The in vitro and in vivo biological properties have been investigated with a range of filler content and have shown that the presence of sufficient bioactive filler leads to a bioactive composite. Finally, the material has been applied clinically, initially in the orbital floor and later in the middle ear. From this initial combination of HA in PE other bioactive ceramic polymer composites have been developed

Classical Coulomb three-body problem in collinear eZe configuration

Classical dynamics of two-electron atom and ions H$^{-}$, He, Li$^{+}$, Be$^{2+}$,... in collinear eZe configuration is investigated. It is revealed that the mass ratio $\xi$ between necleus and electron plays an important role for dynamical behaviour of these systems. With the aid of analytical tool and numeircal computation, it is shown that thanks to large mass ratio $\xi$, classical dynamics of these systems is fully chaotic, probably hyperbolic. Experimental manifestation of this finding is also proposed.Comment: Largely rewritten. 21 pages. All figures are available in http://ace.phys.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sano/3-body/index.htm

Simulation of truncated normal variables

We provide in this paper simulation algorithms for one-sided and two-sided truncated normal distributions. These algorithms are then used to simulate multivariate normal variables with restricted parameter space for any covariance structure.Comment: This 1992 paper appeared in 1995 in Statistics and Computing and the gist of it is contained in Monte Carlo Statistical Methods (2004), but I receive weekly requests for reprints so here it is

The Beagle 2 optical microscope

Introduction to the Beagle2 optical microscope

On the segmentation and classification of hand radiographs

This research is part of a wider project to build predictive models of bone age using hand radiograph images. We examine ways of finding the outline of a hand from an X-ray as the first stage in segmenting the image into constituent bones. We assess a variety of algorithms including contouring, which has not previously been used in this context. We introduce a novel ensemble algorithm for combining outlines using two voting schemes, a likelihood ratio test and dynamic time warping (DTW). Our goal is to minimize the human intervention required, hence we investigate alternative ways of training a classifier to determine whether an outline is in fact correct or not. We evaluate outlining and classification on a set of 1370 images. We conclude that ensembling with DTW improves performance of all outlining algorithms, that the contouring algorithm used with the DTW ensemble performs the best of those assessed, and that the most effective classifier of hand outlines assessed is a random forest applied to outlines transformed into principal components

A population-based approach to background discrimination in particle physics

Background properties in experimental particle physics are typically estimated using control samples corresponding to large numbers of events. This can provide precise knowledge of average background distributions, but typically does not consider the effect of fluctuations in a data set of interest. A novel approach based on mixture model decomposition is presented as a way to estimate the effect of fluctuations on the shapes of probability distributions in a given data set, with a view to improving on the knowledge of background distributions obtained from control samples. Events are treated as heterogeneous populations comprising particles originating from different processes, and individual particles are mapped to a process of interest on a probabilistic basis. The proposed approach makes it possible to extract from the data information about the effect of fluctuations that would otherwise be lost using traditional methods based on high-statistics control samples. A feasibility study on Monte Carlo is presented, together with a comparison with existing techniques. Finally, the prospects for the development of tools for intensive offline analysis of individual events at the Large Hadron Collider are discussed.Comment: Updated according to the version published in J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. Minor changes have been made to the text with respect to the published article with a view to improving readabilit