Non-metropolitan Growth Potential of Western Cape Municipalities

This paper provides a brief overview of the relevant post-2000 South African policy for regional (provincial) spatial development within the context of the quantitative findings of a study conducted on the growth potential of non-metropolitan settlements in the Western Cape. The findings are presented at municipal level. Five indices (social needs, economic, physical environment, infrastructure and institutional) and 69 indicators were used to determine development potential and social needs for the 24 local municipalities and three district management areas in the province. The potential indicators for each index were subjected to a factor analysis to select appropriate core indicators for inclusion in the composite indices. Based on their overall performance in the various indices, the municipalities were classified into three categories??high, medium and low. The study results prioritise areas according to their developmental potential and social needs at municipal level.     

Dissolved Silicon and Its Origin in Belgian Beers—A Multivariate Analysis

Beer is a quintessential part of Belgian heritage. We performed a detailed analysis of factors controlling Si content in Belgian beers as a case study to coincide with the 2011 IBiS meeting in Antwerp (Belgium). Beer is one of the richest dietary sources of Si. Three decades of research have yielded evidence of a role for Si in human physiology: it plays an essential role in bone mineral density and reduces the biological availability of aluminium. We analysed 119 Belgian beers: highest dissolved Si concentrations were found in high fermentation, traditionally brewed ales. Concentrations ranged between 214 and 2,071 μmol L^???1. This is probably due to the complexity and length of the brewing procedure: longer, more complicated processing and presence of brewing sediment in the bottle allows more Si to dissolve out of the base products like hop, barley or even rice. As a side effect of fermentation, alcohol content was related to Si content.     

Prevention of Clostridium outgrowth in heated and hermetically sealed meat products by nitrite – a review

This paper discusses several hypotheses regarding the inhibition of Clostridium in cured meat. It focuses on the binding of iron, as there is some evidence that inhibition of Clostridium botulinum outgrowth in nitrite-cured meat products is mainly due to iron binding in such a way that it is no longer available for outgrowth of Clostridium spores. This strong binding also explains the antioxidative properties of nitrite in these products. The binding of iron, in all probability, requires no more than a moderate amount of nitrite which, after binding as nitric oxide to the haem group, is unavailable for reactions leading to N-nitroso compounds either. Other reactions of nitrite, which also could lead to Clostridium inhibition, are not discussed in detail here.     

Minimum weight design of helically and hoop wound toroidal hydrogen storage tanks with variable slippage coefficients

This article determines the optimal winding parameters for helically and hoop overwound toroidal hydrogen storage tanks, based on the application of variable slippage coefficients. First, an optimality condition between helical winding angle and hoop‐to‐helical thickness ratio is derived from the minimum strain energy density criterion. The winding angle distributions are then obtained with the aid of the optimality condition, taking into account the shell thickness variation along the meridional direction. The general criteria for fiber trajectory stability on a torus are presented, and the relationship for the slippage coefficient and the helical winding angle is formulated according to the windability and manufacturability. The helical winding angle and thickness at the equator are considered as design variables, whereas the minimum weight acts as the objective function. A design example with a toroidal hydrogen storage tank is outlined to demonstrate the favorable performance of the present method. The results show that the present method using variable slippage coefficients leads to a better distribution of the fiber stress in the toroidal shell and an efficient utilization of the laminate strength. The obtained winding parameters can thus be regarded as optimal for filament‐wound toroidal hydrogen storage tanks. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Modeling and development of an ANN-based smart pressure sensor in a dynamic environment

In many engineering applications, a capacitive pressure sensor (CPS) is placed in a dynamic environment in which the temperature variation is quite large. Since the response characteristics of a CPS are highly nonlinear and temperature dependent, in such situations, complex signal processing techniques are needed to obtain correct readout of the applied pressure. We have proposed an artificial neural network (ANN)-based smart capacitive pressure sensor, whose response characteristics can be estimated within an accuracy of ±1% error over a wide variation of temperature starting from −50°C to 150°C. This modeling scheme automatically takes care of all the nonidealities, such as, nonlinearity, offset, gain and temperature dependence, of the sensor. A novel idea of automatic collection of temperature information and its feeding into the ANN model is also proposed. In the practical implementation of this scheme, the hardware complexity poses a serious impairment. Since the tanh() functions are needed for implementation in the ANN-based model, to reduce the hardware requirement, we provide a simple scheme for computation of tanh(). Sensitivity analysis of the model with respect to the finite word-length constraint on the final stored weight values, and number of terms used in the implementation of tanh() function, have been carried out. A microcontroller-based implementation scheme for the ANN-based model is also suggested.     

‘Green’ synthesis and optical properties of silver–chitosan complexes and nanocomposites

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized in a chitosan biopolymer by an in situ ‘green’ chemical procedure, using d-glucose as the reducing agent. The reaction intermediates (silver–chitosan complexes) as well as the obtained nanocomposites were investigated using transmission electron microscopy, UV–vis, FTIR and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The theoretical analysis of the UV–vis absorption of the Ag–chitosan complexes suggested that the significant contribution to the complex spectrum arises from clusters of silver containing 4–9 atoms. The absorption spectrum of the nanocomposite exhibited a strong surface plasmon resonance band at 406 nm. The photoluminescence behavior of the pure chitosan, the silver–chitosan complexes and the nanocomposites were discussed in terms of morphology and silver weight content.     

万桥园

<正>序生命之路——致"万桥园"每座园林都有一个故事。它们是诗,在诉说。我们的园林讲述的是生命的故事,人的生命之路。这条路跌宕起伏,忍辱负重,讲述了忧愁河上的众桥。在这座园林中,生命是一条绵延不绝的蜿蜒小路,更恍如一座迷宫。     

Stability of sulphadimidine during raw fermented sausage preparation: reaction of sulphadimine with nitrite

 Raw fermented sausage was prepared from a dough to which sulphadimidine (SDM), a drug frequently used in animal husbandry, was added. With the aid of thermospray-mass spectroscopy further evidence was obtained that, during preparation, reactions with nitrite added to the dough resulted in the formation of desamino-SDM and 4-hydroxydesamino-SDM. An indication was obtained that traces of chlorodesamino-SDM were present in the brine, but this observation could not be established. Received: 22 March 1999 / Revised version: 10 May 1999     

Theoretical claims necessitate basic research: Reply to Gawronski, Lebel, Peters, and Banse (2009) and Nosek and Greenwald (2009).

The authors of this reply article note that B. Gawronski, E. P. LeBel, K. R. Peters, and R. Banse (see record 2009-05290-002) (a) expressed agreement in their comment with the analysis put forward in the target article (J. De Houwer, S. Teige-Mocigemba, A. Spruyt, & A. Moors) (see record 2009-05290-001) and (b) pointed to a further implication for the way in which the implicitness of a measure should be examined. The current authors note that B. A. Nosek and A. G. Greenwald (see record 2009-05290-003), on the other hand, raised questions in their comment about the definition of the concept “implicit” in the target article, arguing for a fundamentally different approach to measurement that emphasizes not theoretical understanding but usefulness for predicting behavior. In this reply, the current authors respond to these comments and argue that when theoretical claims are made about measures, these claims should be backed up with appropriate evidence. In the absence of basic research, measures and their relation to behavior can only be described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

基于圆环和等强度截面的纤维缠绕环形容器设计与分析

复合材料环形压力容器以其特有的结构形状得到了日益广泛的应用.目前关于纤维缠绕环形容器的研究主要局限于测地线缠绕圆环截面容器.由于环形容器的结构效率取决于它的管截面形状,所以使用圆环截面的环形容器无法实现等强度结构.本文提出了分别使用圆环截面和等强度截面的环形压力容器设计方法,并对二者进行了比较.基于最小应变能准则,得到了缠绕层铺设角和环壳内力间的最优化关系.根据网格理论,考虑截面缠绕层的厚度变化,导出了圆环容器缠绕的最优线型.引入应力比,分析了环壳上纤维的应力分布.描述了等强度经线曲线的一般形状,分析了轴向截荷对等强度曲线形状的影响.计算结果表明当轴向载荷达到一定数值时,等强度曲线能够实现闭合形成环形容器.进一步计算和比较了两种截面形状的环形压力容器在不同相对弯曲半径下的结构质量.研究表明,使用等强度截面设计的环形容器比使用圆环截面的环形容器要轻的多.通过等强度截面设计,环形压力容器的结构性能得到了明显的提高.