Study on Cutting Propagation of Toona ciliata Clones

Cutting propagation rhizogenesis of Toona ciliata clone cutting orchard were studied, and the results were as fol ows： Rooting type included both cal us rooting and cortex rooting. About 17 in 22 of clones were dominated by cortex rooting, accounting for the 77% of clones. There were 5 clones which occurred with both cal us rooting and cortex rooting during rooting process. The rooting efficiency index （REI） showed a positive correlation with the rooting rate. Under natural tem-perature condition, keeping moisture and shading, we found that the highest survival rate occurred in early June, September, and October.

Prediction of roadheaders' performance using artificial neural network approaches (MLP and KOSFM)

A pplication o f m echanical excavators is one o f th e m o st com m only used excavation m eth o d s because itcan bring th e p ro ject m ore productivity, accuracy and safety. A m ong th e m echanical excavators, roadhead ers are m echanical m iners w h ich have b een extensively u se d in tu n n elin g , m ining an d civil indu stries. Perform ance pred ictio n is an im p o rta n t issue for successful ro a d h e a d e r application andgenerally deals w ith m achine selection, p ro d u ctio n rate an d b it consu m p tio n . The m ain aim o f thisresearch is to investigate th e c u ttin g p erfo rm an ce （in stan tan eo u s c u ttin g rates （ICRs）） o f m ed iu m -d u tyro ad h ead ers by using artificial neural n etw o rk （ANN） approach. T here are d ifferent categories forANNs, b u t based o n train in g alg o rith m th e re are tw o m ain k in d s： supervised and u n su p erv ised . Them u lti-lay er p ercep tro n （MLP） an d K ohonen self-organizing feature m ap （KSOFM） are th e m o st w idelyused neu ral netw o rk s for supervised an d u n su p erv ised ones, respectively. For gaining this goal, ad atab ase w as prim arily provided from ro ad h e a d e rs＇ p erfo rm an ce an d geom echanical characteristics o frock form ations in tu n n els and d rift galleries in Tabas coal m ine, th e larg est an d th e only fullymech an ized coal m ine in Iran. T hen th e datab ase w as analyzed in o rd e r to yield th e m ost im p o rtan tfactor for ICR by using relatively im p o rta n t factor in w hich G arson eq u atio n w as utilized. The MLPn etw o rk w as train ed by 3 in p u t p ara m e te rs including rock m ass pro p erties, rock quality d esignation（RQD）, in tact rock p ro p erties such as uniaxial com pressive stre n g th （UCS） an d Brazilian ten sile stren g th（BTS）, and o n e o u tp u t p a ra m e te r （ICR）. In o rd e r to have m ore v alidation o n MLP o u tp u ts, KSOFM visualizationw as applied. The m ean square e rro r （MSE） an d regression coefficient （R ） o f MLP w e re found tobe 5.49 an d 0.97, respectively. M oreover, KSOFM n etw o rk has a m ap size o f 8 x 5 and final qu an tizatio nan d topographic erro rs w e re 0.383 an d 0.032, respectively. The results show th a t MLP neural n etw orkshave a strong capability to p red ict an d ev alu ate th e perfo rm an ce o f m ed iu m -d u ty ro ad h ead ers in coalm easu re rocks. Furtherm ore, it is concluded th a t KSOFM neural n etw o rk is an efficient w ay for u n d e rstand in g system beh av io r an d know ledge extraction. Finally, it is indicated th a t UCS has m ore influenceo n ICR b y applying th e b e st train ed MLP n etw o rk w eig h ts in G arson eq u atio n w h ich is also confirm ed byKSOFM.

Evaluation of boring machine performance with special reference to geomechanical characteristics

The duration of tunneling projects mostly depends on the performance of boring machines. The performance of boring machines is a function of advance rate, which depends on the machine characterizations and geomechanical properties of rock mass. There were various theoretical and empirical models for estimating the advance rate. In this paper, after determining the geomechanical properties of rock mass encountered in the Isfahan metro tunnel, the performance of the roadheader and tunnel boring machine （TBM） were then evaluated using various models. The calculation results show that the average instantaneous cutting rate of the roadheader in sandstone and shale are 42.8 and 74.5 m^3/h respectively. However the actual values in practice are 34.2 and 51.3 m^3/h. The operational cutting rate of the roadheader in sandstone and shale are 8.2 and 9.7 m^3/h respectively, but the actual values are 6.5 and 6.7 m^3/h. The penetration rate of the TBM in shale is predicted to be 50-60 mm/round.

Treated Mosquito Nets Help Cut Malaria Rates

据统计,非洲每年有750,000人死于与疟疾有关的疾病。为了改变这种状况,有关人员携带经杀虫剂处理过的蚊帐到非洲去。由于交通不便,研究人员最大的困难是how to get the nets out to the most people.在非洲的研究人员还发现了一个难以理解的现象:…despite extreme poverty and the absence of adequate transportation and communication infrastructures in many African nations, commercial products such as soft drinks, beer and soap do manage to reach even the most remote parts of the continent.最终,研究人员的工作还是获得可喜的进展。

U.S.Rate Cut Causes Reverberations

The United States is still the largest developed economy in the world,and at the same time, China's major export destination.If the U.S. economy slows,China's economic development will be affected for the worse