Incipient Process Research Articles

Anisotropic Structural Relaxation and Its Correlation with the Excess Energy Diffusion in the Incipient Process of Photodissociated MbCO: High-Resolution Analysis via Ensemble Perturbation Method

The effectiveness of the ensemble perturbation method, in which many pairs of perturbed and unperturbed molecular dynamics simulations are executed for the ensemble average, has been demonstrated by calculating the subtle anisotropic structural change of carbonmonoxy myoglobin (MbCO) triggered by ligand photolysis. The results show that Mb largely expands in the direction perpendicular to the heme plane and slightly contracts in the horizontal one. This agrees well with the report in the transient grating experiment. In addition, it is suggested that the expansion contributes strongly to the fast energy-transfer process to the water solvent because it is undergone almost within several picoseconds. The mechanical work done on the solvent by the expansion within 1 ps was thermodynamically estimated to be 4.8 kcal/mol.

Migration Policies and Political Cultures in Europe: A Changing Trend*

This paper discusses the relationships between the migratory policies of the EU countries with more experience of immigration and their national political cultures. It focuses on France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It then looks at Italy, a relatively new country of immigration, which, with 3,000,000 legal immigrants, has become the fourth country of immigration in Europe and the first in the Mediterranean basin. In its final part it highlights the incipient process of ‘communitarisation’ of the immigration policies of EU countries in the last decade. This process, which has already entailed a significant convergence of their migratory policies, is expected to continue after the recent enlargement of the European Union.

Cerivastatin reduces cytokine-induced surface expression of ICAM-1 via increased shedding in human endothelial cells

Activation of endothelial cells is an incipient process in atherogenesis and leads to induction of the cellular adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. Their expression can be induced by cytokines as well as other inflammatory mediators. The effects of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) include mediation of anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of this study was the comparison of cerivastatin and simvastatin-mediated effects on inflammation-induced ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression in human umbilical venous endothelial cells (HUVEC). In HUVEC, TNF-α induced ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 mRNA and surface expression. Co-incubation with cerivastatin, but not simvastatin reduced TNF-α-induced up-regulation of ICAM-1 surface expression whereas both statins reduced VCAM-1 surface expression; all reductions in surface expression correlated with an increase in the soluble forms of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in cell culture supernatants. Mevalonate and nonsteroidal isoprenoids significantly reversed protein expression and shedding. Both statins caused an aggravation of TNF-α-induced ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 mRNA expression which was dependent on RNA synthesis. The statin-mediated increase in ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 mRNA expression correlated with the degradation of IκBa. Nuclear translocation of p65 was not significantly affected by statin-treatment of cytokine-treated cells. We conclude that cerivastatin and simvastatin reduce TNF-α-induced up-regulation of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 surface expression via increased protein shedding mediated by HMG-CoA reductase inhibition and subsequent isoprenoid depletion.

A Comparative Study of CUSUM and EWMA Charts: Detection of Incipient Drifts in a Mutlivariate Framework

This contribution to the field of statistical process control concerns a multivariate control chart in the case of incipient process drifts. The design of this chart is based on the assumption that an a priori knowledge of the process operation states is available. The detection is based on a multimodal T 2 hoteling statistic and a dynamic model of the drift. The generated diagnosis makes possible the anticipation of the direction of the drift (toward a known or unknown operation state). The performances of this chart are compared with the classical T 2 chart using a set of simulated data.

Detection of Single and Dual Incipient Process Faults Using an Improved Artificial Neural Network

Changes in the physicochemical conditions of process unit, even under control, may lead to what are generically referred to as faults. The cognition of causes is very important, because the system can be diagnosed and fault tolerated. In this article, we discuss and propose an artificial neural network that can detect the incipient and gradual faults either individually or mutually. The main feature of the proposed network is including the fault patterns in the input space. The scheme is examined through a sample unit with five probable occurring faults. The simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm can detect both single and two simultaneous faults properly.

Nanoparticles and Their Effective Use in the Technology of Highly Concentrated Binding Suspensions (HCBS) and Refractory Castables. Part 2

Properties of sintered preforms based on bauxite HCBS with and without finely dispersed quartz glass are compared. The sintering of preforms based on nanoparticles separated from these suspensions are studied. The incipient sintering process in nanoparticles is 300 – 400°C lower in comparison to HCBS-based materials. The porous structure of ceramic castables of different composition is analyzed and shown to be controlled to a significant extent by nanoparticles contained in them.

Caracterización genética y morfológica de las poblaciones de Cyprinodon dearborni (Atherinomorpha: Cyprinodontidae) en Chacopata y Laguna de los Patos, Venezuela

T wo populations of the fish Cyprinodon dearborni were compared, one from Laguna de Chacopata and the other from Laguna de los Patos, Cumana, Venezuela. The morphometric method of the Box Truss was used; the organisms were photographed with a digital camera. In the images 18 measures were made to each organism, with the MOCHA 1.2 program. The tendencies of morphologic variation among populations were analyzed by main components using STATGRAPHICS 2.0 and SHEAR programs. The first four main components in males and females explained 88% of the total variation. The components two, three and four separate the two populations based on the body form of the animals. For the electrophoretic study, 13 enzymatic systems were analyzed in starch gels. The variation and genetic distance were calculated with the program GENES 2.0. Differences were observed in the systems G6PDH, GPI; ES and GLUD, that which can be used as isoenzimatic markers. Genetic diversity of Chaco- pata (H = 0.086, p= 0.079) was higher than in Laguna de los Patos (H= 0.029; p= 0.028), but both are within the average in populations of fish. The two populations presented a Nei distance of 0.058. The genetic and morphologic differentiation suggests an incipient process of separation whose causes could be the ecological conditions of their habitat, or processes of vicariant speciation.

P/Pd Types Of Override Control Systems

ABSTRACTThe override control provides protective action against abnormal operation and/or incipient process failure. In terms of control theory, it is a logic‐based switching system and, in terms of operation, it is usually activated between the soft constraint and the hard constraint. It is used in all process industries, and most PID control loops are patched with some type of override system. Despite widespread application, little research has been done to analyze override control systems. In this work, the properties of the override control are explored. The stability of the override control is also studied. Counter to intuition, many well‐known override systems may exhibit instability and lead to oscillatory responses as the process approaches constraints. Approaches are proposed for the design of override control systems to ensure inherent safe operation.

Is PCS/3G Auction a Truncated Experience in Uruguay?

Uruguay is carrying out an incipient regulatory reform process in telecommunication sector. The reform stresses on the liberalization of all services but fixed telephone and national long distance, and the creation of a regulatory agency. Privatization of the national utility is not foreseen. The liberalization of the mobile market requires the use of a scarce resource, the spectrum, that limits the number of possible entrants, thus it was decided to regulate the access through an auction. Licences auctions for mobile provoked a revolution in auction theory. Due to the special characteristics of the object to be auctioned, several designs were developed and applied in different countries. Finally, British auction in multiple rounds was adopted as a consensus design. This kind of design is better than others used previously, but it is sensitive to some details that influence too much on the auctioneer results. In this paper we analyze the Uruguayan auction design compared to those used in other countries as well as its implementation details. The auction processes is having important problems related to political issues, the relationship with regional telecommunication markets and economic crisis, rather than the auction design itself. In this paper we discuss the relevance of all this elements in promoting competition in mobile market.

Profession and Identity. The Case of Family Farming in Spain

This article analyzes the possibilities and limits of agrarian professionalization in Spain from the point of view of the opinions and attitudes of the farmers for whom agriculture is their principal activity. The article permits the identification of a hard core of younger farmers with medium to large holdings and with a fruit and vegetable orientation, who identify themselves as professionals or businessmen, and who show a relative fulfillment of the professional ideal. It is, however, an incipient process which runs into all kinds of limitations, not only in attitudes but also in institutions, on one hand relating to the very nature of family farming and, on the other, relating to the absence of an adequate political‐institutional framework.

Design and analysis of override control systems

The override control provides protective action against abnormal operation and/or incipient process failure. In the hierarchy of instrumentation and control, it is often operated between the soft constraint and the hard constraint and, in terms of control theory, it is a logic-based switching system. It is used throughout process industries and most control loops are patched with some type of override systems. Despite wide-spread applications, little research was done to analyze the override control systems. In this work, the properties of override control are explored. The stability of the override control is also studied and it is likely that many well-known level override systems may exhibit instability and consequently generates more problem as process approaching constraint. Methods are proposed to overcome possible stability problems. Approaches are given for the design of reliable override control system and ensuring inherent safe operation. Simulation results are presented to valid the proposed approach.

The leader Programme and the Rise of Rural Development in Spain

In many ways, leader has been a very significant intervention in Spain. Prior to leader, rural development policy was almost completely unknown and, for this reason alone, leader represented a new force in rural affairs. The invitation to form territorial collaborations was also novel and local actors were quick to perceive it as an important political tool with which to tackle both the problems of rural areas and the challenges presented by the new roles being assigned to the rural world. Furthermore, leader has subsequently produced material, local impacts through its ability to generate investment in development projects. The progress of leader has been refracted through the institutional conditions of the politico‐administrative system. Leader has been used as a political power tool by the various levels, leading to confrontations in order to gain control over the programme. Nevertheless, awareness and acceptance of the deeper philosophy behind leader has been gaining ground so that it is increasingly acknowledged as a powerful tool for the promotion of rural development in general and for the animation of local, collective action. It would be inaccurate to describe leader as a ‘great success.’ Rather, it has started an incipient process in which a new democratic and co‐operative culture in rural areas is being created and in which rural entrepreneurs are acquiring an enhanced capacity for decision making.

PRODIAG: A Process-Independent Transient Diagnostic System—I: Theoretical Concepts

A novel first-principles-based diagnostic system called PRODIAG is proposed for on-line detection and identification of faulty components during incipient off-normal process conditions. The concepts of qualitative physics reasoning and function-oriented diagnostics are employed in the design of PRODIAG and result in two unique capabilities not found in other plant-level diagnostic systems. First, PRODIAG is fully portable as it requires only modification of the input files containing the appropriate process schematics information to be able to diagnose single-component failures in different processes/plants. Second, PRODIAG detects unanticipated faults. Hence, it does not require the prespecification and formulation of rules to cover every conceivable fault scenario, and unlike traditional approaches, it is not likely to misdiagnose unforeseen events. PRODIAG’s approach is to map process symptoms into component faults through a three-step mapping procedure with a knowledge base containing three distinct types of information: qualitative macroscopic balance equation rules, functional classification of process components, and the process piping and instrumentation diagram. The concepts introduced in the proposed diagnostic system are described, and an illustrative example shows how they are used in plant-level diagnostics.

An Integrated Neural Network and Expert System Tool for Statistical Process Control

Control charts are a basic means for monitoring the quality characteristics of a manufacturing process to ensure the required quality level. They are used to track product and process variations through graphical representation of the quality variable of interest. A control chart shows the state of control of a process and can exhibit different types of patterns which are indicative of long-term trends in it. This paper describes the integration of an expert system and a neural-network-based pattern recognizer for analysing and interpreting control charts. The expert system has an on-line process monitoring package to detect general out-of-control situations and a diagnosis module to suggest corrective actions. The pattern recognizer is an on-line system comprising two neural networks and an heuristics module designed to identify incipient process abnormalities from control chart patterns. The paper also compares neural networks and expert systems and provides the rationale for the integration process.

Failure Prediction of Smeared-Crack Formulations

The smeared-crack approach of strain-softening is a popular engineering concept for the numerical simulation of tensile failure processes in concrete and rock. Despite numerous publications on the equivalent constitutive formulation of cracked solids, very little is known about the predictive value of the smeared-crack approach, particularly when nonproportional load histories are considered. To this end, two failure indicators are examined at the constitutive level in order to assess the predicted failure mode of fixed and rotating crack concepts. The directional stiffness parameter is used to examine singularities of smeared-crack formulations, which signal continuous failure due to material branching. In contrast, the localization indicator is used to examine the formation of weak discontinuities, which precede incipient failure process when the continuum degrades into a discontinuum. In this paper both failure indicators will be used to assess the failure modes of the fixed and rotating crack formulations for two loading scenarios involving pure shear and combined tension with shear.

Evaluation of intellectual and memory function among dementia patients who were intellectually superior

Abstract The number of older individuals in the population continues to steadily increase, yet many neuropsychological measures fail to include adequate normative standards for the elderly. This lack of normative data tends not to be a serious problem for the interpretation of results that clearly and unequivocally suggest cognitive deterioration. However, individuals who were high functioning premorbidly may present with intellectual and memory abilities in the average range or higher despite some deterioration of function. Diagnosing an incipient dementing process in such patients can prove to be difficult. The interpretation of neuropsychological examination results within the average range presently requires drawing conclusions on the basis of a thorough understanding of the differential rates at which various cognitive functions may be expected to decline with normal aging versus dementing processes. The development of more comprehensive normative databases and the elucidation of neuropsychological c...

«Alguna cosa més que la renta-plats?»: Zum «Feminismus» von Katalanismus und Arbeiterbewegung zwischen 1900 und 1930

The term feminism, which was introduced by Catalan women such as Dolors Monserdà, has also been applied to highlight a feature of the anarchist movement in Catalonia. In the sense given to the word today, however, there was no feminism. Neither in the labor movement, nor in the Catalanist movement did anyone ever question the basic determining features of the situation of women. But an attempt was made to modernize this situation, to adjust it to the structural changes of a Catalonia that was developing economically. Thus, in the incipient process of the women's political and trade union organization, women still were participants more than protagonists.

On the Plane Stress to Plane Strain Transition Across the Shear Zone in Metal Cutting

The effects of the stress state transition from plane stress at the workpiece surface to plane strain in the central region of the chip formation zone were studied. A finite element analysis of the incipient chip formation process was performed. The model included heat generation and temperature induced workpiece material property changes. The primary result is that the unique high strain, high strain rate, large free surface characteristics of the metal cutting process can result in qualitatively different deformation behavior across the shear zone. Temperatures are higher in the regions near the surface of the workpiece than in the central region. In extreme cases, this will result in strain hardening behavior in the plain strain regions and thermal softening of the work material near the surface.

The Computerization of Education—Problems of Mass Learning

From too frequent and not always correct use, the valuable idea of computerizing the national economy may be devalued and even buried by phrasemongering. In order that this not happen, it must be recognized (the sooner the better) that the incipient computerization process is not merely a current fad, but a necessary condition for intensive economic development.

Mobility of Labour in High Mountains and the Socio-Economic Integration of Peripheral Areas

This paper discusses the mobility of labour in high mountain areas and examines its significance for the integration of these peripheral regions into the economy and society of the respective country. The interpretation is based on concepts of develop- ment and migration theory, especially on Friedmann's (1966) centre-periphery model, and on the hypothesis of mobility transition by Zelinsky (1971). Both stress the importance of labour migrations in the incipient process of spatial development. The practical application of these models to certain mountain areas, however, reveals their limitations. In the Alps, for example, labour migrations and integration of the periphery started centuries before the beginning of the phase of industrialization, although these processes have been interpreted in both models as transitional. On the other hand, mobilization of labour is a recent phenomenon in the Hindukush, Karakoram, and Western Himalaya. Here it developed as a consequence of the opening of the mountain valleys since the nineteenth century and with rapidly increasing over-population. Finally, four socio-economic types of high mountain regions are proposed. These have different patterns of spatial mobility instead of phase or stage models. The dynamic Type 4 is emphasized; this is characterized by recreational and daily commuting mobility and, contrary to the other three types, by full integration into a national or even international system.