The book and Typhoon Yagi

Typhoon Yagi has, to a large extent, shown the greatly detrimental effect of the climate crisis currently facing the Earth. The death toll in Vietnam only has surpassed most people’s imagination, let alone the devastating impacts caused by the dangerous storm on many provinces under its trajectory. I came to know the book by Professor Vuong Quan Hoang and Dr. Nguyen Minh Hoang in mid-July 2024. However, only when seeing the grave consequences of Typhoon Yagi, could I gradually understand the interconnectedness of phenomena, concepts, and key messages delivered in the title. There are awakening facts and arguments, which await simple-minded readers to explore when witnessing the harsh realities (most of which are likely part of the predicted consequences, no matter how hard to believe). I do not have enough words to recommend the book. But I do believe that it can restore our environmental conscience and make everybody think, perhaps deeply

Numerical Model of Long-Lived Jovian Vortices

A nonlinear numerical model of long-lived Jovian vortices has been constructed. We assume that the measured zonal velocity profile ubar(y) extends into the adiabatic interior, but that the eddies and large oval structures are confined to a shallow stably stratified upper layer. Each vortex is stationary with respect to the shear flow ubar(y) at a critical latitude yc, that is close to the latitude of the vortex center, in agreement with observed flows on Jupiter. Our model differs from the solitary wave model of Maxworthy and Redekopp in that the stratification is not large in our model (the radius of deformation is less than the latitudinal scale of the shear flow), and therefore stationary linear wave solutions, neutral or amplified, do not exist. The solutions obtained are strongly nonlinear in contrast to the solitary wave solutions which are the weakly nonlinear extensions of ultralong linear waves. Both stable and unstable vortices are found in the numerical experiments. When two stable vortices collide, they merge after a short transient phase to form a larger stable vortex. This merging, rather than the non-interaction behavior predicted by the solitary wave theory, is more in agreement with observations of Jovian vortices. We suggest that the long-lived Jovian vortices maintain themselves against dissipation by adsorbing smaller vortices which are produced by convection

Improving Hyperspectral Pixel Classification With Unsupervised Training Data Selection

An unsupervised method for selecting training data is suggested here. The method is tested by applying it to hyperspectral land-use classification. The data set is reduced using an unsupervised band selection method and then clustered with a nonparametric cluster technique. The cluster technique provides centers of the clusters, and those are the samples selected to compose the training set. Both the band selection and the clustering are unsupervised techniques. Afterward, an expert labels those samples, and the rest of unlabeled data can be classified. The inclusion of the selection step, although unsupervised, allows to select automatically the most suitable pixels to build the classifier. This reduces the expert effort because less pixels need to be labeled. However, the classification results are significantly improved in comparison with the results obtained by a random selection of training samples, in particular for very small training sets

Cultural evolution in Vietnam’s early 20th century: a Bayesian networks analysis of Franco-Chinese house designs

The study of cultural evolution has taken on an increasingly interdisciplinary and diverse approach in explicating phenomena of cultural transmission and adoptions. Inspired by this computational movement, this study uses Bayesian networks analysis, combining both the frequentist and the Hamiltonian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach, to investigate the highly representative elements in the cultural evolution of a Vietnamese city’s architecture in the early 20th century. With a focus on the façade design of 68 old houses in Hanoi’s Old Quarter (based on 78 data lines extracted from 248 photos), the study argues that it is plausible to look at the aesthetics, architecture, and designs of the house façade to find traces of cultural evolution in Vietnam, which went through more than six decades of French colonization and centuries of sociocultural influence from China. The in-depth technical analysis, though refuting the presumed model on the probabilistic dependency among the variables, yields several results, the most notable of which is the strong influence of Buddhism over the decorations of the house façade. Particularly, in the top 5 networks with the best Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) scores and p\u3c0.05, the variable for decorations (DC) always has a direct probabilistic dependency on the variable B for Buddhism. The paper then checks the robustness of these models using Hamiltonian MCMC method and find the posterior distributions of the models’ coefficients all satisfy the technical requirement. Finally, this study suggests integrating Bayesian statistics in the social sciences in general and for the study of cultural evolution and architectural transformation in particular

Nova tehnologija proizvodnje magnezijevih traka i limova

A new production technology for magnesium strip, based on twin-roll-casting and strip rolling was developed in Freiberg Germany. By means of this economic method it is possible to produce strips in deep drawing quality with good forming properties in order to satisfy the request for low cost Mg sheets in the automotive and electronic industry. Both, coils as single sheets, were manufactured and rolled to a thickness of 1mm(0,5 mm). The technology of the new process and the properties of the twin-roll-casted material and the final sheets are presented.Nova tehnologija proizvodnje magnezijevih traka i limova. Nova tehnologija proizvodnje magnezijevih traka utemeljena dvostruko-valjanje-lijevanje i valjanje trake je razvijeno u Freibergu-Njemačka. Motri se, ovom ekonomičnom metodom je moguća proizvoditi trake za duboko izvlačenje, sa dobrim plastičnim svojstvima uz zadovoljavajući zahtjev za nisku cijenu Mg trake za automobilsku i elektronsku industriju. Oboje, svitak i pojedinačne trake su poizvedene i valjane do debljine stjenke 1mm(0,5 mm). Prikazuje se tehnologija novog postupka i svojstva dvostrukog valjanog-lijevačkog materijala i završnih traka

Nova tehnologija proizvodnje magnezijevih traka i limova

A new production technology for magnesium strip, based on twin-roll-casting and strip rolling was developed in Freiberg Germany. By means of this economic method it is possible to produce strips in deep drawing quality with good forming properties in order to satisfy the request for low cost Mg sheets in the automotive and electronic industry. Both, coils as single sheets, were manufactured and rolled to a thickness of 1mm(0,5 mm). The technology of the new process and the properties of the twin-roll-casted material and the final sheets are presented.Nova tehnologija proizvodnje magnezijevih traka i limova. Nova tehnologija proizvodnje magnezijevih traka utemeljena dvostruko-valjanje-lijevanje i valjanje trake je razvijeno u Freibergu-Njemačka. Motri se, ovom ekonomičnom metodom je moguća proizvoditi trake za duboko izvlačenje, sa dobrim plastičnim svojstvima uz zadovoljavajući zahtjev za nisku cijenu Mg trake za automobilsku i elektronsku industriju. Oboje, svitak i pojedinačne trake su poizvedene i valjane do debljine stjenke 1mm(0,5 mm). Prikazuje se tehnologija novog postupka i svojstva dvostrukog valjanog-lijevačkog materijala i završnih traka

Isolement d’un mycoplasme du groupe Mycoplasma mycoïdes var. capri à partir d’un lait de mammite chez la Chèvre

A partir du lait de chèvres atteintes d’un mammite contagieuse grave, associée à des arthrites, une souche de mycoplasme est isqlée ; les procédés actuels d’identification permettent, sans doute aucun, de la classer dans un groupe de souches considérées comme représentatives de l’espèce M. mycoides var. capri