A GPU-based parallel method for evolutionary tree construction

Evolutionary trees are widely applied in various applications to show the inferred evolutionary relationships among species or entities. Neighbor-Joining is one solution for data-intensive and time-consuming evolutionary tree construction, with polynomial time complexity. However, its performance becomes poorer with the growth of massive datasets. Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have brought about new opportunities for these time-consuming applications. Based on its high efficiency, a GPU-based parallel Neighbor-Joining method is proposed, and two efficient parallel mechanisms, data segmentation with asynchronous processing and the minimal chain model with bitonic sort, are put forward to speed up the processing. The experimental results show that an average speedup of 25.1 is achieved and even approximately 30 can be obtained with a sequence dataset ranging from 16,000 to 25,000. Moreover, the proposed parallel mechanisms can be effectively exploited in some other high performance applications.     

Making sky lanterns from polygonal meshes

Releasing sky lanterns is a popular way of celebrating festivals and ceremonies in the Asian countries. This paper presents a computer-aided approach to help novice users to design flyable sky lantern with desired shape. Given a closed up-right 3D model with a user-specified cutting on the bottom, our system optimizes the shape by regularizing the boundary, smoothing the geometry and improving the volume-to-area ratio to make it feasible for flying. The optimized shape is then approximated by a set of developable patches. Next, through a physical analysis step that tests the flying condition and determines the optimal size, the approximated shape is flattened into 2D patches, which can be printed out and glued together to form the airbag. Finally, the user can attach the airbag to a bamboo frame and assemble the fuel cell. We successfully apply our prototype system to design and construct real sky lanterns.     

Impacts of new technologies on media usage and social behaviour in domestic environments

Technological infrastructure at home is changing continuously and is becoming increasingly interconnected. Media devices, including the TV set, provide access to the Internet and offer manifold opportunities to consume media on demand. Additionally, personal devices, such as smartphones, also enable flexible consumption and sharing of media. Questions about how these technologies change the user's media usage and how these changes affect the social structure of a household, however, remain largely unanswered. In order to gain insight into the adoption of new technologies into daily routines, we explored these changes in respect of people's media usage in a qualitative long-term Living Lab study. We will present findings regarding personal routines, flexible integration of new devices into existing practices, influences on households as social systems and related issues in device access and collective use. We will highlight potentials and conflicts regarding device shifts and roles; restrictions in device access; social influences in the living room; and individual changes in media consumption.     

大开口高承载网格加筋壳的设计与工艺

本文采用有限元法计算了承受高轴压和外压作用下的大开口复合材料纵横密加筋壳的稳定性，得出不同铺层角度、不同受力工况下的大开口圆柱壳的临界载荷，并采用1：1试验件进行试验验证，将计算值与实验值进行了比较；对大开口复合材料纵横密加筋壳的缠绕工艺进行了研究，解决了大开口网格加筋壳开口补强的一次成型技术和密筋及开口部分的多丝嘴、无增量、非线性机械化缠绕成型工艺技术。     

Catalytic Degradation of Nitrobenzene and Aniline in Presence of Ozone by Magnesia from Natural Mineral

In this work, magnesia from natural brucite mineral has been used firstly for catalytic degradation of nitrobenzene and aniline in presence of ozone. Compared with single ozonation, the catalytic ozonation accelerated markedly the degradation of nitrobenzene and aniline. The influences of hydroxyl radical scavengers, pH values, and reaction temperatures on degradation were investigated. It was found that the essential of catalysis was the homogeneous catalysis of hydroxyl ions in water, which accelerated the generation of hydroxyl radicals. As a catalyst, magnesia from natural brucite has supplied an economical and feasible choice for catalytic ozonation of nitrobenzene and aniline in industrial wastewater.     

Effects of additives on the electrodeposition of tin from an acidic Sn(II) bath

Additive effects of formaldehyde, propionaldehyde and benzaldehyde on the deposition of tin in acidic solution of tin(II) sulfate have been investigated. The effects of these additives on cathodic polarization and a.c. impedance was measured by galvanostatic or potentiostatic methods, respectively. The reduction products of the aldehyde during the deposition and the diffusion coefficient of Sn(II) in various solutions were also determined.     

两步法合成大粒径丁苯胶乳

研究了聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（MMA）对丁苯（BS）胶乳的附聚作用以增大丁苯胶乳粒径；探讨了无机盐、体系pH值及体系中MMA胶乳与BS胶乳的固含量比（R值）对附聚后丁苯胶乳的粒径及稳定性的影响。结果表明：适当添加无机盐可以稳定胶乳体系，最佳用量（质量分数）为0．1％～0．2％；适当增大体系pH值，可增大胶乳粒径；在附聚过程中，当R值在两个附聚峰附近时，可增大丁苯胶乳的粒径。     

电子陶瓷材料在多芯片组件(MCM)中的应用

论述了电子陶瓷在多芯片组件（MCM）中的应用、性能要求及优点。重，最叙述低温共烧陶瓷基板技术以及A1N陶瓷基板材料的合成与优异性能。     

注射成型薄壁制品的结晶度

简要概述了注射成型过程中的非等温结晶和2种计算结晶度的方法。结果表明，在注射模CAE开发中，用DSC测量是一种比较实用简便的计算结晶度的方法。     

Ink‐eliminated waste paper sludge flour‐filled polypropylene composites with different coupling agent treatments

Ink‐eliminated sludge flour (IESF), waste residue from the recycling treatments of waste paper, was utilized as a new kind of filler to reinforce polypropylene (PP) in this research work. Different coupling agents, including maleated anhydride grafted PP (MAPP), stearic acid (SA), and titanate (NDZ‐101), were used to increase the compatibility between IESF and PP. By using different measurements, the microstructure, morphology, thermal behaviors, and mechanical properties of the IESF/PP composites were investigated in detail. It was found that IESF, as a nucleation agent, not only induced the crystallization orientation of PP but also accelerate the crystallization rate of PP. Just as indicated in the experiments, the presence of IESF has shown the advantages of increasing the dimensional stability, the hardness and the flexural property, and the presence of coupling agents has a favorable effect on the improvement of dimensional stability. Moreover, the coupling agent has minor influence on the mechanical property, even causes some decrease in the impact strength. Among these three coupling agents, MAPP is found to be the best coupling agent for increasing the interfacial adhesion between IESF and PP, and the MAPP addition makes the PP composite possess the quickest crystallization rate and greatest tensile strength. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 513–520, 2003