An engraved artifact from Shuidonggou, an Early Late Paleolithic Site in Northwest China

Cognition and symbolic thinking are viewed as important features of modern human behavior.Engraved objects are seen as a hallmark of cognition and symbolism,and even as evidence for language.Accumulated evidences including engraved bones,ochre,ostrich eggshells and stone artifacts were unearthed from Africa,Europe,Levant even Siberia Paleolithic sites.But the archaeological evidence for this,including beads,ornaments,burials,performed objects and engraved objects,is rarely discovered in the Pleistocene of East Asia.The present paper reports an engraved stone object unearthed in the Early Late Paleolithic levels about 30 ka BP at the Shuidonggou site(SDG) in northwestern China.It was unearthed in the 1980’s excavation from Lower culture unit of SDG1 but was identified in 2011 when the first author of this article observed the collection from the 1980’s excavations stored in the Institute of Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region for further detailed lithic analysis.This lithic artifact is the first engraved non-organic object of the Paleolithic period found in China.In order to clarify the details of the incisions and to document the human intentional modifications,we used a KEYENCE VHX-600 Digital Microscope to measure and observe all the incisions in 3-dimensional perspective.Comparing the natural cracks and analyzing many details of the incisions,we argue that incisions on this stone artifact are the result of intentional behaviors by ancient humans.Also,we exclude the possible other causes including animal-induced damages,post-depositional phenomenon and unintentional by-products.Combining all these features,we suggest that the incisions were made by an intentional behavior and were probably of a non-utilitarian character.Because the nature of most other engraved objects in China is debate,we cannot get a clear scenario of the emergence and progress of modern human behavior in North China.But we infer the possible existence of a counting or recording system,or other symbolic behaviors,which reflect considerably evolved cognitive capacities or modern human behavior in the Early Late Paleolithic of East Asia.     

Three-dimensional recon- struction and analysis of structure characteristics on senile plaques of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer‘s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the presence of senile plaques primarily composed of amyloid β in brain. Abnor-mal secretion and aggregation of amyloid β are the key events in pathogenesis of Alzheimer‘s disease. Reduction of amyloid β production and inhibition of amyloid β aggregation to form senile plaques are hopeful strategies for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer‘s disease. In the present study, the silver and immunohistochemical staining methods were applied to discover senile plaques in the hippocampus of Alzheimer‘s disease patients, and then images were processed and three-dimensionally reconstructed by Matlab and AVS software. The structure characteristics of senile plaques were measured through correlation function calculation and fractal dimension by a computer-aided method. Diffuse plaque had no amyloid center, but classic plaque presented compact central core structure; two types of plaques were both of porous structure, but the sizes of their pores were significantly different. Furthermore, there was difference in fractal dimension value between the diffuse plaque and classic plaque in the two staining methods. The comparison of structure characteristics between two types of plaques indicated that they developed independently. Establishment of the methods for reconstructing the three-dimensional structure of senile plaque and analyzing their structure characteristics is helpful for further study on the aggregation mechanism of senile plaque.     

3 D structure parameterization design and modeling for irregular structure of stope bottom

Stope mining design is a very important and complicated task in daily production design and technical management of an underground mine.Based on workface technology and human-computer interaction technology, this study introduces a method of 3D parametric design for the irregular struc-ture of stope bottoms, and focuses on solving technical problems in surface modeling of stope bottom structure.Optimization of the minimum span length algorithm ( MSLA) and the shortest path search algorithm ( SPSA) is conducted to solve the problem of contour-line based instant modeling of stope bottom structures, which makes possible the 3D parametric design for irregular structure of stope bot-tom.Implementation process and relevant methods of the proposed algorithms are also presented. Feasibility and reliability of the proposed modeling method are testified in a case study.In practice, the proposed 3D parameterization design method for irregular structure stope bottom proves to be very helpful to precise 3D parametric design.This method is capable of contributing to improved efficien-cy and precision of stope design, and is worthy of promotion.     

Analysis of Top Chinese Contractors’ Developmental Tracks and Evaluation of Their Strategic Selection of International Construction Markets

The past decade has witnessed a rapid development of the international construction market. This research aims to investigate top Chinese contractors＇ developmental tracks and evaluate their strategic selection of international construction markets over the period from 2001 to 2006, based on the modified Boston Consulting Group Matrix （BCG）. Results from 2001 to 2005 indicate that Asia and Africa, which were ＂question marks＂ markets for top Chinese contractors （abbreviated as TCCs） , have the most potential to become ＂stars＂ markets; other question marks markets such as the Middle East and Europe are found not to be of potential; ＂dogs＂ markets such as the U. S. , Canada and Latin America should be relinquished progressively unless there is renewed growth opportunity over the next two years. Compared to developmental tracks of top contractors from some advanced countries, TCCs＇ investment and development strategy in Africa seems to be sustainable and intensive ; TCCs＇ exit strategy for the Middle East appears deter- mined and swift, while their strategy in Asia seems to be lacking in persistence. Furthermore, the data of 2006 indicates that TCCs improve their performance in Asia and Africa, and Africa has become a ＂stars＂ market for TCCs. This research sheds important lights and insights into the prevailing process of internationalization of TCCs and provides a strategic direction for their selection of international construction market. What is more, this research is also valuable to other Chinese contractors who are seeking the opportunity to enter the international construction markets.     

Reduction Method for Reachability Analysis of Petri Nets

Reachability analysis is an important approach for acquiring Petri net (PN) properties. The reachability tree and the solution of the state equation are two commonly used methods for reachability analysis, but they can result in state explosion and spurious solutions in some cases. As a significant complementary method, the PN reduction technique simplifies the reachability analysis by reducing the net size while preserving the reachability. This paper introduces several useful reduction rules and defines a reduction process for the analysis of reachability which is easy to understand and implement. Some examples are given to explain the method to solve the reachability problem. The analysis shows that the proposed reduction method preserves the visualization feature of PN and can be easily used.     

Concept Lattice Construction through the Composition and Decomposition of Formal Contexts

<正>The purpose of this paper is to study the construction of concept lattice from variable formal contexts.Composition and decomposition theories are proposed for the unraveling of concept lattice from contexts with variable attribute set in the process of information updating.The relationship between the extension sets of the original context and that of its sub-context is analyzed.The composition and decomposition theories are then generalized to the situation involving more than two sub-contexts and the situation with variable attribute set and object set.     

Modernisms and Postmodernisms

The Phrase ＂modernisms and postmodemisms＂ is developed for presenting complexity and mutability exiting within and between Modernism and Postmodemism. This thesis attempts to offer the essentiality of the above-mentioned in terms of the respective definitions, the differences in arguing the concept of ＂tradition＂ and ＂new＂ as well as the terms of ＂epistemology＂ and ＂ontology＂, the non-abrupt developing process between them. By doing so, the materials, such as T. S. Eliot＇s poem ＂The Waste Land＂ and Langston Hughes＇ poem ＂Christ in Alabama＂, Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway： are offered for analysis.     

ACTPred： Activity Prediction in Mobile Social Networks

A current trend for online social networks is to turn mobile.Mobile social networks directly reflect our real social life,and therefore are an important source to analyze and understand the underlying dynamics of human behaviors （activities）.In this paper,we study the problem of activity prediction in mobile social networks.We present a series of observations in two real mobile social networks and then propose a method,ACTPred,based on a dynamic factor-graph model for modeling and predicting users＇ activities.An approximate algorithm based on mean fields is presented to efficiently learn the proposed method.We deploy a real system to collect users＇ mobility behaviors and validate the proposed method on two collected mobile datasets.Experimental results show that the proposed ACTPred model can achieve better performance than baseline methods.     

Spatial and temporal variations of light rain events over China and the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

Based on observed daily precipitation data, monthly gridded radiosonde upper air temperature and sea surface temperature data from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre, monthly surface air temperature from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia and the NCEP/NCAR monthly reanalysis data, this study investigates the spatial and temporal variations of light rain events over China and the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during 1961-2010, and discusses the relationship between the change of light rain events and atmospheric stability, sea surface temperature and atmospheric circulation. The light rain events over East China display a decreasing trend of 3.0%/10 a in summer and winter half years. Over Northwest China, an increasing trend of 4.1%/10 a is found in winter half years, but there is no trend in summer half years. Using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, it is found that the first two principal components of light rain events over the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere show long time scale variations in summer and winter half years. The first EOF modes (EOF1s) for summer and winter half years both depict a long-term increase in light rain events over North America and Southern Europe as well as Northwest China (except in summer half years), and a long-term decrease over most of the Eurasia (Central Europe, Eastern Europe, North Asia and East China). The second EOF mode (EOF2) for summer half year shows that light rain events increase over North America, Southern Europe and South China, but decrease over Eurasia north of 45°N from 1961 to early 1980s, while the trends reverse from late 1980s to 2010. The second EOF mode (EOF2) for winter half years indicates that light rain events increase over North America and South and North China, but decrease over Eurasia north of 40°N from 1961 to early 1980s, while the trends reverse from late 1980s to 2009. Correlation analysis and linear regression analysis suggest that EOF1s may be related to the change in atmospheric static stability associated with global warming, and EOF2s are possibly linked to the AMO.     

Nonlinear Spline Kernel-based Partial Least Squares Regression Method and Its Application

Inspired by the traditional Wold＇s nonlinear PLS algorithm comprises of NIPALS approach and a spline inner function model, a novel nonlinear partial least squares algorithm based on spline kernel （named SK-PLS ） is proposed for nonlinear modeling in the presence of multicollinearity. Based on the inner-product kernel spanned by the spline basis functions with infinite number of nodes, this method firstly maps the input data into a highdimensional feature space, and then calculates a linear PLS model with reformed NIPALS procedure in the feature space and gives a unified framework of traditional PLS ＂kernel＂ algorithms in consequence. The linear PLS in the feature Space corresponds to a nonlinear PLS in the original input （primal） space. The good approximating property of spline kernel function enhances the generalization ability of the novel model, and two numerical experiments are given to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method.     

The specific contribution of object’s origin on artifacts categorization

Gelman and Bloom found that adults and children＇s object naming was sensitive to how an object was created （man-made or not）, but they did not reveal on which specific level of conceptual system this effect was. Using a free-naming task and a force-choice task, two experiments were conducted to test a hypothesis that this effect was specifically on domain level （＂artifact/non-artifact＂ distinction）, in Experiment 1, participants were asked to name shortly-depicted objects, rate their confidence, and report their reasons for each naming response. Resuits showed that most of the naming responses in ＂man-made＂ condition were in artifact domain, and most in ＂natural＂ condition were in non-artifact domain, although in both conditions names were very divergent on basic level. In Experiment 2, another group of participants were asked to choose one from two names （one in artifact domain and the other in non-artifact domain） to match the same shortly-depicted objects presented in the first experiment. Results of Experiment 1 on domain level were replicated in Experiment 2. These convergent findings supported the hypothesis that the effect of object＇s origin is specifically on domain level of conceptual system of objects. Reasons explicitly reported for naming responses in Experiment 1 suggested that participants might automatically infer objects＇ functions in ＂man-made＂ condition but not in ＂natural＂ condition. Here the function-based hypothesis of artifacts classification is discussed.     

Line shape calculation method for suspension bridge catwalk considering different states of bearing cables

The line-shape of catwalk of long-span suspension bridge is obtained by using the segmental catenary method to carry out the iterative calculation, where all the bearing cables are considered as one cable, and transversal passages and gantry are treated as nodes which divide the catwalk into several segments. The difference of line-shape and force between catwalk bearing cable and gantry bearing cable is not usually considered, but the line-shape of two kinds of cables is actually inconsistent because of the constraints from gantries. Based on the segmental catenary method, considering the different states of bearing cables (DSB calculation method), fine calculation is carried out. This method is applied to the design of a suspension bridge’s catwalk, and is compared with the traditional calculation method. It is obtained that the result is more reasonable and accurate by the coordination calculation method considering different states for two kinds of load-bearing cables, which is worth considering in the process of design and optimization for catwalk.     

Editorial note for the special topic on ＂Nanopore Analysis＂

The concept of nanopore analysis, using the pore-forming protein a-hemolysin to detect individual nucleic acids at a single-molecule level, was first proposed in 1996. Over the past two decades, tremendous progress has been made in the nanopore field, and nanopore analysis has become a label-free and high-throughput method for probing bio- molecules and other analytes with single-molecule sensi- tivity, especially holds the promising for ＂third generation＂ DNA sequencing. However, challenges still remain in the experimental strategies and the design of whole nanopore-based instruments. Here, we proudly present a special topic dedicated to the topic of ＂Nanopore Analysis＂, with 8 reviews/articles providing up to date coverage of the experimental strategies, theoretical calcu- lations and simulations, and instrument design. Reviews and articles on the experimental strategies cover control of DNA partitioning into a nanopore, detection of target DNA, and the advantages of nanopore-based DNA sequencing. The theoretical calculations and simulations discuss the translocation behavior of DNA, and an inte- grated measurement system and data analysis software are presented for instrument design.     

Averaging method of particulate systems and its application to particle-fluid flow in a fluidized bed

A particulate system can be described through the discrete approach at the microscopic level or through the continuum approach at the macroscopic level. It is very significant to develop the method to link the two approaches for the development of models allowing a better understanding of the fundamentals of particulate systems. Several averaging methods have been proposed for this purpose in the past, but they mainly focused on cohesionless particle systems. In this work, a more general averaging method is proposed by extending it for cohesionless particle systems. The application of the method to the particle-fluid flow in a gas fluidized bed is studied. The density, velocity and stress of this flow are examined. A detailed discussion has been conducted to understand the dependence of the averaged variables on sample size.     

The Technical Specification and Physical Performance Level of Line Pipes for West-East Gas Pipeline

The west-east gas transmission engineering is an important project attracting domestic and foreign attention. The gas pipeline used in this project is a gas pipeline with the longest distance, largest pipe diameter and highest transmission pressure in the history of petroleum pipeline construction of China. For the construction of top-rank gas pipeline in the world with high standard, high speed and high benefit, the key of specifying production of metallurgical and pipe-making enterprises and ensuring quality performance of the steel and steel pipe is to research and formulate a feasible and satisfactory technical Specification for engineering steel and steel pipe with international level. In this paper the author introduces the establishment of the technical specification for West-East gas pipeline project, and lays emphasis on the analysis and discussion of principle and method determining major technical indexes related to line pipes for West-East gas pipeline. The author also introduces actual material selection of gas pipeline home and abroad, and presents examination and application of the technical specification for West-East gas pipeline.     

A Novel Incremental Mining Algorithm of Frequent Patterns for Web Usage Mining

Because data warehouse is frequently changing, incremental data leads to old knowledge which is mined formerly unavailable. In order to maintain the discovered knowledge and patterns dynamically, this study presents a novel algorithm updating for global frequent patterns-IPARUC. A rapid clustering method is introduced to divide database into n parts in IPARUC firstly, where the data are similar in the same part. Then, the nodes in the tree are adjusted dynamically in inserting process by ＂pruning and laying back＂ to keep the frequency descending order so that they can be shared to approaching optimization. Finally local frequent itemsets mined from each local dataset are merged into global frequent itemsets. The results of experimental study are very encouraging. It is obvious from experiment that IPARUC is more effective and efficient than other two contrastive methods. Furthermore, there is significant application potential to a prototype of Web log Analyzer in web usage mining that can help us to discover useful knowledge effectively, even help managers making decision.     

Segmentation algorithm of complex ore images based on templates transformation and reconstruction

Lots of noises and heterogeneous objects with various sizes coexist in a complex image, such as an ore image; the classical image thresholding method cannot effectively distinguish between ores. To segment ore objects with various sizes simultaneously, two adaptive windows in the image were chosen for each pixel; the gray value of windows was calculated by Otsu’s threshold method. To extract the object skeleton, the definition principle of distance transformation templates was proposed. The ores linked together in a binary image were separated by distance transformation and gray reconstruction. The seed region of each object was picked up from the local maximum gray region of the reconstruction image. Starting from these seed regions, the watershed method was used to segment ore object effectively. The proposed algorithm marks and segments most objects from complex images precisely.     

钢铁冶金过程的可视化与仿真

Steel production involves the transfer and transformation of material and energy at different levels, structures, and scales, and this process incurs substantial information in the material and energy dimensions. Given the black-box feature of iron and steel production processes, process visualization plays an important role and inevitably benefits parameter correction, technical support decision-making, personnel training, and other aspects of the steel metallurgy industry. The technological characteristics of the entire process in the steel industry were analyzed in this study, a visualization technology route based on virtual reality (VR) was built, and the important components of visual simulation system for steel industry and the important technical points needed to realize the system were proposed. On the foundation, a visual simulation model for the process scheduling of the iron and steel enterprise raw materials’ field, slab, and hot rolling processes was built, and a visualization simulation platform of the iron and steel metallurgy plant-wide process, including ironmaking, steelmaking, hot rolling, and cold rolling, was developed. Lastly, the effectiveness of platform was illustrated by practical application.     

Numeration and type synthesis of 3-DOF orthogonal translational parallel manipulators

Low-degree-of-freedom （Low-DOF） parallel manipulators （PMs） have drawn extensive interests, particularly in type synthesis in which two main formal approaches were established by using the reciprocal screw system theory and Lie group theory. This paper aims at numeration and type synthesis of orthogonal translational parallel manipulators （OTPMs） by resorting to an integration of the group- based method and graphical representation of the topology. For this purpose, the concept of Cartesian DOF-characteristic matrix, orig- inated from displacement subgroup and displacement submanifold, is proposed. A new approach based on the combination of the atlas of Cartesian DOF-characteristic matrix and the displacement group-theoretic method is addressed for both exhaustive classification and type synthesis of OTPMs. The proposed approach is prone to construct an orthogonal structure and is easy to realize the complete classification and exhaustive enumeration of this class of low-DOF PMs.     

Interpretation of Fashion Change through the Thoughts of Hong Kong Young Consumers

Fashion changes frequently, on monthly, seasonal to yearly basis. In different periods of time, people tried to use different theories to explain the concept of fashion change. Traditional views including trickle down theory, collective selection theory, mass market theory and subculture leadership theory. From the viewpoint of contemporary thoughts, symbolic interactionist theory of fashion and the power of the fashion industry were discussed and used to examine fashion images prevailing in Hong Kong. Hong Kong young consumers were selected as study samples. Focus group interviews and questionnaire survey were used as qualitative and quantitative method. Results shows that to accept fashion change, status (working or studying) had influence in interpreting fashion images. In addition, male and female students had different opinion on selected statements of the symbolic interactionist theory of fashion but no difference was found between working subjects. Marketing implications are discussed with refere