Precipitous weakening of quartz at the α–β phase inversion

Crystalline quartz has long been identified as among the weakest of abundant crustal minerals. This weakness is particularly evident around the α–β phase inversion at 573°C, in which Si–O bonds undergo a displacive structural transformation from trigonal to hexagonal symmetry. Here we present data using indentation testing methodologies that highlight the precipitous extent of the transformational weakening. Although the indentations are localized over relatively small specimen contact areas, the data quantify the essential deformation and fracture properties of quartz in a predominantly (but not exclusively) compressive stress field, at temperatures and pressures pertinent to conditions in the earth's crust.     

Chromium evaporation and oxidation characteristics of alumina-forming austenitic stainless steels for balance of plant applications in solid oxide fuel cells

The chromium (Cr) evaporation behavior of several different types of iron (Fe)-based AFA alloys and benchmark Cr₂O₃-forming Fe-based 310 and Ni-based 625 alloys was investigated for 500 h exposures at 800 °C to 900 °C in air with 10% H₂O. The Cr evaporation rates from alumina-forming austenitic (AFA) alloys were ~5 to 35 times lower than that of the Cr₂O₃-forming alloys depending on alloy and temperature. The Cr evaporation behavior was correlated with extensive characterization of the chemistry and microstructure of the oxide scales, which also revealed a degree of quartz tube Si contamination during the test. Long-term oxidation kinetics were also assessed at 800 to 1000 °C for up to 10,000 h in air with 10% H₂O to provide further guidance for SOFC BOP component alloy selection.     

Apparent power-law distributions in animal movements can arise from intraspecific interactions

Lévy flights have gained prominence for analysis of animal movement. In a Lévy flight, step-lengths are drawn from a heavy-tailed distribution such as a power law (PL), and a large number of empirical demonstrations have been published. Others, however, have suggested that animal movement is ill fit by PL distributions or contend a state-switching process better explains apparent Lévy flight movement patterns. We used a mix of direct behavioural observations and GPS tracking to understand step-length patterns in females of two related butterflies. We initially found movement in one species (Euphydryas editha taylori) was best fit by a bounded PL, evidence of a Lévy flight, while the other (Euphydryas phaeton) was best fit by an exponential distribution. Subsequent analyses introduced additional candidate models and used behavioural observations to sort steps based on intraspecific interactions (interactions were rare in E. phaeton but common in E. e. taylori). These analyses showed a mixed-exponential is favoured over the bounded PL for E. e. taylori and that when step-lengths were sorted into states based on the influence of harassing conspecific males, both states were best fit by simple exponential distributions. The direct behavioural observations allowed us to infer the underlying behavioural mechanism is a state-switching process driven by intraspecific interactions rather than a Lévy flight.     

Object-oriented H.263 compatible video coding platform forconferencing applications

This paper describes a prototype video coding platform meant for the conception and testing of multimedia products such as next-generation videophones. The platform is largely based on ITU-T Recommendation H.263, with a number of additional object-oriented quality enhancement features which make it especially well suited for very low bit-rate coding of “head-and-shoulders” video material typical of real-time multimedia applications, video teleconferencing, and video telephony. These features consist of: (1) segmentation into objects of interest, (2) segmentation-based prefiltering, (3) model-assisted rate control, (4) adaptive vector quantization, and finally (5) segmentation-based postfiltering. In the spirit of Recommendation H.263, these enhancements are modular and can be selectively turned on or off, thereby enabling a wide variety of coding modes     

Drug use, violence, and victimization among White American, Mexican American, and American Indian dropouts, students with academic problems, and students in good academic standing.

Problem-prone behaviors of White American, Mexican American, and American Indian high school dropouts, students in good academic standing, and students in poor academic standing were surveyed. Generally, dropouts were most involved with drugs, perpetration of violence, and victimization by violence, students in poor standing were the next most involved, and students in good standing were least involved. Ethnicity did not interact with academic status, suggesting that differences between dropouts and students were similar across ethnic groups. Some ethnicity and gender main effects were found. Findings were related to R. Jessor's (see record 1992-23064-001) theory of problem-prone behaviors, to peer cluster theory, and to intervention design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finding cyclic redundancy check polynomials for multilevel systems

This letter describes a technique for finding cyclic redundancy check polynomials for systems for transmission over symmetric channels which encode information in multiple voltage levels, so that the resulting redundancy check gives good error protection and is efficient to implement. The codes which we construct have a Hamming distance of 3 or 4. We discuss a way to reduce burst error in parallel transmissions and some tricks for efficient implementation of the shift register for these polynomials. We illustrate our techniques by discussing a particular example where the number of levels is 9, but they are applicable in general     

Effect of backward priming on word recognition in single-word and sentence contexts.

Backward priming was investigated under conditions similar to those used in lexical ambiguity research. Ss received prime-target word pairs that were associated either unidirectionally (BABY-STORK) or bidirectionally (BABY-CRY). In Exp 1, targets were presented 500 ms following the onset of visual primes, and Ss made naming or lexical decision responses to the targets. Forward priming was obtained in all conditions, while backward priming occurred only with lexical decision. In Exp 2, primes were presented auditorily, either in isolation or in a sentence. Targets followed the offset of the primes either immediately or after 200 ms. Backward priming occurred with both response tasks, but only when the prime was an isolated word. Backward priming decreased over time with the naming task, but not with lexical decision. These results suggest that the locus of the backward priming effect is different for the 2 response tasks. Results support a context-independent view of lexical access. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)