Conspicuous Deficiency Research Articles

An improved model for discrete element method simulation of spatial gradient distributions of freeze-thaw-induced damage to sandstone

The investigation into the freeze-thaw (F-T) damage holds paramount theoretical significance in comprehending the mechanisms underlying F-T disasters, predicting catastrophes, and devising engineering protection systems. F-T damage in rock evolves progressively from the surface towards the interior, however, current models exhibit conspicuous deficiencies in simulating such progressive damage. Drawing upon experimental findings concerning the evolution of F-T damage in water-saturated rock, an improved discrete element model (DEM) for rock F-T damage is developed. In this model, thermal conduction model and volume expansion theory are integrated to describe the volumetric expansion characteristics during the freezing of internal pore water, thus effectively simulating the initiation and progression characteristics of frost heave cracks. We validated this model through comparisons with theoretical analyses and experiments, exploring the effects of model parameters. Employing moment tensor, the spatial gradient distribution patterns of F-T damage in water-saturated rock from the vantage point of fracture energy was analyzed. The results reveal that at −20 °C, 20 F-T cycles are requisite for the propagation of damage from the outer layer to the center of the Sichuan sandstone samples. The extent of damage in the outer layer exceeds that of the center, with the maximum fracture energy density of the outer layer being approximately 38.7 times that of the center. This model aptly delineates the progressive development of F-T damage characteristics and holds promise for further applications in identifying and delineating F-T damage zones in cold region rock engineering.

Multi-objective Optimization Design of Low-carbon Modular Building

In recently architectural research, there is a well-documented emphasis on energy-saving design optimization. However, there is a conspicuous deficiency in studies that address multi-objective optimization related to the long-term carbon emissions associated with building lifecycles. In this study, modular buildings in construction sites are taken as the research object, and box-type rooms are taken as the prototypical model. A set of multi-objective optimization methods for architectural design is established by series modeling tools, building performance simulation tools and NSGA-II non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm tools, combined with Python programming tools. This method is to optimize the reduction of carbon emissions, energy consumption and costs throughout the life cycle. The purpose of this investigation is to establish a methodology for assessing and optimizing architectural designs with a primary focus on carbon emissions during the design phase. The goal is to provide architects with practical insights to enhance their designs while simultaneously achieving intelligent, eco-friendly buildings.

Domain adaptation with geometrical preservation and distribution alignment

Domain adaptation aims to learn a robust classifier for the target domain by leveraging knowledge from a different source domain. Existing methods realize the alignment of cross-domain distributions in manifold subspace to reduce the distribution divergence between the two domains. However, there exists a conspicuous deficiency in them, i.e., the exploration of preserving statistical and geometrical properties simultaneously is still under insufficient, which, to some extent, would cause the under adaptation effect. The statistical and geometrical properties play an important role in minimizing the domain discrepancy underlying the joint probability distributions. For better and adequately exploiting the statistical and geometrical properties, we propose a novel feature adaptation method in this paper, called domain adaptation with geometrical preservation and distribution alignment (GPDA). Specifically, GPDA performs graph dual regularization in the nonnegative matrix factorization framework with label constraints, to learn the discriminative and domain-invariant features while preserving both the statistical properties and geometrical structures of the original data, such that the cross-domain difference can be effectively and positively narrowed. Meanwhile, GPDA simultaneously aligns the marginal and conditional probability distributions in the nonnegative matrix factorization framework during the learning of domain-invariant features, to further minimize the domain gap between the source and target domains, which can adequately transfer knowledge from the source domain to the target domain. Extensive experiments on seven benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed GPDA algorithm in cross-domain image classification.

Analysis of the Aedes albopictus C6/36 genome provides insight into cell line utility for viral propagation.

BackgroundThe 50-year-old Aedes albopictus C6/36 cell line is a resource for the detection, amplification, and analysis of mosquito-borne viruses including Zika, dengue, and chikungunya. The cell line is derived from an unknown number of larvae from an unspecified strain of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Toward improved utility of the cell line for research in virus transmission, we present an annotated assembly of the C6/36 genome.ResultsThe C6/36 genome assembly has the largest contig N50 (3.3 Mbp) of any mosquito assembly, presents the sequences of both haplotypes for most of the diploid genome, reveals independent null mutations in both alleles of the Dicer locus, and indicates a male-specific genome. Gene annotation was computed with publicly available mosquito transcript sequences. Gene expression data from cell line RNA sequence identified enrichment of growth-related pathways and conspicuous deficiency in aquaporins and inward rectifier K+ channels. As a test of utility, RNA sequence data from Zika-infected cells were mapped to the C6/36 genome and transcriptome assemblies. Host subtraction reduced the data set by 89%, enabling faster characterization of nonhost reads.ConclusionsThe C6/36 genome sequence and annotation should enable additional uses of the cell line to study arbovirus vector interactions and interventions aimed at restricting the spread of human disease.

Fast 3D elastic micro-seismic source location using new GPU features

In this paper, we describe new GPU features and their applications in passive seismic – micro-seismic location. Locating micro-seismic events is quite important in seismic exploration, especially when searching for unconventional oil and gas resources. Different from the traditional ray-based methods, the wave equation method, such as the method we use in our paper, has a remarkable advantage in adapting to low signal-to-noise ratio conditions and does not need a person to select the data. However, because it has a conspicuous deficiency due to its computation cost, these methods are not widely used in industrial fields. To make the method useful, we implement imaging-like wave equation micro-seismic location in a 3D elastic media and use GPU to accelerate our algorithm. We also introduce some new GPU features into the implementation to solve the data transfer and GPU utilization problems. Numerical and field data experiments show that our method can achieve a more than 30% performance improvement in GPU implementation just by using these new features.

A framework for making maintenance decisions for oil and gas drilling and production equipment

There are few scientific maintenance decision-making methods in current maintenance and management of drilling and production equipment (DPE). Conventional methods have some conspicuous deficiencies and shortcomings, for example, unreasonable maintenance methods, surplus or insufficient maintenance, exorbitant maintenance costs and increasing failure frequency, which have caught a great influence to production safety and economic cost in the oil and gas exploitation process. In this study, a framework for making maintenance decisions was presented in order to improve the maintenance and management of the DPE. First, eight evaluation indexes and their scoring criteria were defined to quantify subjective evaluation of importance level of the DPE. Then, a linear weighted mathematical model was presented to calculate importance level value and a weight computing method of each evaluation index was put forward based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). And the subjective effects were eliminated with Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) in the scoring process. Next, maintenance decision-making trees (MDMTs) for the DPE were set up by reference to the logic decision tree of reliability-centred maintenance (RCM). Finally, feasibility of the framework was verified by testing a well control system in Tarim Oilfield. Therefore, the framework for making maintenance decisions can provide reasonable maintenance methods and achieve scientific maintenance and management for the DPE.

Layers of epistasis: genome‐wide regulatory networks and network approaches to genome‐wide association studies

The conceptual foundation of the genome-wide association study (GWAS) has advanced unchecked since its conception. A revision might seem premature as the potential of GWAS has not been fully realized. Multiple technical and practical limitations need to be overcome before GWAS can be fairly criticized. But with the completion of hundreds of studies and a deeper understanding of the genetic architecture of disease, warnings are being raised. The results compiled to date indicate that risk-associated variants lie predominantly in noncoding regions of the genome. Additionally, alternative methodologies are uncovering large and heterogeneous sets of rare variants underlying disease. The fear is that, even in its fulfillment, the current GWAS paradigm might be incapable of dissecting all kinds of phenotypes. In the following text, we review several initiatives that aim to overcome these limitations. The overarching theme of these studies is the inclusion of biological knowledge to both the analysis and interpretation of genotyping data. GWAS is uninformed of biology by design and although there is some virtue in its simplicity, it is also its most conspicuous deficiency. We propose a framework in which to integrate these novel approaches, both empirical and theoretical, in the form of a genome-wide regulatory network (GWRN). By processing experimental data into networks, emerging data types based on chromatin immunoprecipitation are made computationally tractable. This will give GWAS re-analysis efforts the most current and relevant substrates, and root them firmly on our knowledge of human disease.

THESPITZERLOCAL VOLUME LEGACY: SURVEY DESCRIPTION AND INFRARED PHOTOMETRY

The survey description and the near-, mid-, and far-infrared flux properties are presented for the 258 galaxies in the Local Volume Legacy (LVL). LVL is a Spitzer Space Telescope legacy program that surveys the local universe out to 11 Mpc, built upon a foundation of ultraviolet, H-alpha, and HST imaging from 11HUGS (11 Mpc H-alpha and Ultraviolet Galaxy Survey) and ANGST (ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury). LVL covers an unbiased, representative, and statistically robust sample of nearby star-forming galaxies, exploiting the highest extragalactic spatial resolution achievable with Spitzer. As a result of its approximately volume-limited nature, LVL augments previous Spitzer observations of present-day galaxies with improved sampling of the low-luminosity galaxy population. The collection of LVL galaxies shows a large spread in mid-infrared colors, likely due to the conspicuous deficiency of 8um PAH emission from low-metallicity, low-luminosity galaxies. Conversely, the far-infrared emission tightly tracks the total infrared emission, with a dispersion in their flux ratio of only 0.1 dex. In terms of the relation between infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio and ultraviolet spectral slope, the LVL sample shows redder colors and/or lower infrared-to-ultraviolet ratios than starburst galaxies, suggesting that reprocessing by dust is less important in the lower mass systems that dominate the LVL sample. Comparisons with theoretical models suggest that the amplitude of deviations from the relation found for starburst galaxies correlates with the age of the stellar populations that dominate the ultraviolet/optical luminosities.

A new approach to Assess Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition by Way of Standardized Exposition of mosses

A standardized method of moss exposition for assessing variations in nitrogen deposition was tested in the western part of Germany. Six pleurocarpous moss species were transplanted to two sites differing in their deposition rates but being comparable as to their climatic conditions. The mosses were exposed in standardized containers over a period of 12 months; the focus of interest was the effect of N deposition on nitrogen content and on (15)N natural abundance (delta(15)N-values). Within the first nine months only trends could be observed. However, after one year all species tested showed significantly higher N concentrations at the highly polluted site. Besides, more negative delta(15)N-values possibly reflecting the higher ammonium input were detected at this site. Surprisingly, most of the plants though being kept in plastic containers without a favourable substratum did not show any conspicuous deficiency symptoms. The potential advantages of a standardized moss exposition for N monitoring purposes are discussed. It is concluded that the method presented here can yield significant results in particular if the number of testing sites is increased.

Building a World Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies: ABSEES, EBSEES, and Beyond

SUMMARY The Web has fundamentally changed librarianship in general and Slavic librarianship in particular. Although the number of Slavic offerings on the Web continues to grow, one conspicuous deficiency is the lack of a comprehensive international bibliography of Slavic and East European studies. Thanks to the Web, it is now technically possible to correct this deficiency. This paper outlines a project to build a comprehensive guide to scholarship in our field through international collaboration over the Web. The paper discusses the history of the American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES) and its European counterparts, and describes a new Web-based workform for creating and submitting bibliographic records from anywhere in the world.

Analytic dimensions of a prescription-medication benefit in medicare

Background Many analysts believe that the lack of coverage for outpatient prescription medications represents a conspicuous deficiency in the Medicare benefits package. Objective This paper uses insurance theory to design and estimate the costs of a Medicare catastrophic-medication outpatient benefit. Results For efficiency and equity purposes, and to accommodate the tradeoff between the cost to the federal government and the insurance value of such a benefit to Medicare enrollees, we favor a benefit that would be means-tested by employing deductibles, coinsurance rates, and catastrophic limits, all of which would be progressively graduated for 7 household income classes. For equity reasons, we propose that the government's share of the medication benefit be financed from the general tax fund, using the progressive income tax. Another source of potential savings within the Medicare program that could pay for a medication benefit would be elimination of fraud, waste, and abuse. Conclusions Because our proposal addresses both the efficiency and equity dimensions of a Medicare outpatient medication benefit, we believe it is worthy of serious consideration by both policymakers and Congress.

High‐Density and High‐Temperature Circumnuclear Molecular Disk in M51

We performed high-resolution (59 × 51)13CO(1-0) imaging observations of the central region (1.5 kpc in radius) of M51 with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array in order to investigate the physical conditions of the circumnuclear dense molecular clouds. The obtained 13CO image looks very similar to the 12CO image in the sense that the emission is distributed along the inner part of the spiral arms, and there is a conspicuous deficiency of emission at the nucleus, in contrast with the centrally peaked HCN image. The intensity ratio of HCN/13CO obtained in the inner 200 pc is higher than 3 and is almost comparable to those in the circumnuclear molecular gas in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068 and in the nuclear region of the prototypical starburst galaxy M82. On the other hand, the 12CO/13CO intensity ratio is ~7 ± 2 in almost all of the central region, with no enhancement in the nuclear region. The obtained HCN/13CO ratio in the nucleus of M51 was used to derive the physical conditions of the dense molecular gas using the large velocity gradient approximation. Assuming the usual abundance ratio and the velocity gradient of HCN and 13CO, the inverted HCN/13CO intensity ratio suggests that the density and the temperature of the circumnuclear molecular gas are as high as 105 cm-3 and greater than 100 K, respectively. As possible origins for these physical conditions, we discuss the interactions between nuclear winds or jets and the interstellar material and compression of interstellar material by supernova driven winds.

Histochemistry of Aortic Elastin in Patients With Nonspecific Abdominal Aortic Aneurysmal Disease

Histochemical studies of nine aneurysmal aortas revealed a conspicuous deficiency of iron hematoxylin-reactive elastin in four specimens, in comparison with eight atherosclerotic control specimens. A fibrillar matrix that morphologically resembled elastin was demonstrated in these same specimens under ultraviolet light. The phenomenon of substantial preservation of features of medial architecture suggests that, if the pathogenetic mechanism is enzymatic destruction, the process is highly selective. Comparisons with differences in human fetal vs newborn aortas and in Blotchy mouse vs normal mouse aortas suggest superficial similarities. These latter observations suggest that a hypothesis of maturation arrest might be considered as an alternative to enzymatic destruction. Definitive experiments to test the relative importance of maturation arrest vs enzymatic destruction in the pathogenesis of aneurysmal disease will require further studies.

Mental illness in sibships of two and three.

A conspicuous deficiency of practically all birth order studies is the absence of a general population control group. Instead, a number of statistical methods of estimating the expected number of subjects in each sibling position have been used. These are based upon the assumption that for any given size of sibship there should be equal numbers of subjects in each birth rank. As Price and Hare (1969) have pointed out, there are a number of reasons why such as assumption is incorrect, and therefore why the conclusions based upon it are unreliable. Because, in most studies, only relatively small numbers of patients are available various methods of combining sibships of different sizes are adopted and the sexes of the siblings are ignored. To consider a sibling position irrespective of the size and composition of the sibship in which it occurs is unjustifiable. As birth order effects are relatively slight, large numbers of subjects are required to detect them. Unless a patient sample of several thousand is used the numbers in any sibship size are too small to permit analysis by birth rank. As sibship size is itself a possible variable, and as within each sibship the sexes of the siblings can be distributed in a variety of ways, birth order studies should ideally consider one sibship size at a time and should investigate sibling position by sex of sibling. Unfortunately, in sibships of four or more the numbers of combinations become so great as to render this approach impracticable.

Book Selection: A National Plan for Small Academic Libraries

-ALTHOUGH BUILDING THE COLLECTIONS is one of the most important tasks of librarians, comparatively little attention has been given to this aspect of professional work. The system in current use has been practiced for many years with little systematic scrutiny and with little discussion of possible alternatives. This applies to nearly all academic libraries, but the present article will address itself mainly to problems of the smaller institutions rather than those of the major university libraries. How are books selected for academic libraries? While patterns vary from one extreme to the other, in most institutions both librarians and faculty members participate in building collections. Many problems arise, for while faculty members play a major role in selection, librarians know very well that faculty selection is often of questionable merit. Among the most conspicuous deficiencies are: ( 1) many faculty members are already overburdened with other duties; ( 2) some of them lack acquaintance with the world of books; ( 3) some do not care ( the textbook is enough) ; ( 4) a few suffer from a constitutional inclination toward laziness; ( 5) some select books in their own narrow field of specialization without regard for the needs of students; and ( 6) some believe that only they are capable of selecting. While this list could be extended, these are some of the major shortcomings of

Determinants of Underwriters' Spreads on Tax-Exempt Bond Issues: Comment

The most conspicuous deficiency of my study of underwriting compensation is my failure to examine the determinants of underwriting spreads on tax-exempt bond issues. That deficiency has now been remedied by Richard West. Unfortunately, my study was not published very long before West's and there was little opportunity for him to compare his results and speculation with my own. Although a few of the comments below are critical of West, and I point out some alternative interpretations of his statistical findings, this note should be considered a supplement to, rather than a critique of, West's paper.

The Letter Mark-Out Corrected Test

AN ENORMOUS amount of research has been done to determine the best methods for teaching spelling. Today, however, a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of spelling instruction forces educators to admit that much is yet to be desired. Several authorities are generally agreed that the most conspicuous deficiency of spelling in struction today is to be found in the pupil's method of study and the inadequacy of the teach er's supervision of the pupils' individual work. Regardless of the spelling instruction technique used, loose study habits and a lack of self direction seem to prevail among the average and lower third ability pupils. In the teaching of spelling recent research by Horn has shown that the corrected test alone will contribute from 90 percent to 95 percent of the achievement resulting from the combined effect of the pronunciation exercise, corrected test, and study. In some cases, the corrected test alone is sufficient for mastery or near mastery of the aver age spelling lesson by the upper third of the class.1