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This study examines the psychometric properties of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) in the context of DSM-5 in a sample of Chinese children. Using re-mapped ADI-R items and algorithms matched to DSM-5 criteria, and administering to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with and without intellectual disability, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and typically developing, it evidenced high sensitivity and specificity. However, similar to DSM-IV algorithm, the DSM-5 algorithms were better at classifying ASD among children with intellectual disability than among those without intellectual disability. With the DSM-5's recognition of the spectrum nature of ASD, the performance of the ADI-R can be improved by having finer gradations in the ADI-R scoring and adding more items on the restricted and repetitve behavior domain.

The capability of modified banana peel (MBP) to adsorb Fe (II) ions from synthetic ion solution has been studied. The acidic and basic solution strongly affected the Fe (II) ions adsorption. The effect of contact time and initial ion concentrations revealed that removal efficiency for 15 mg/L Fe (II) ions above 90 % after 2 hours. The size particles for MBP below 106 μm turned out to be the prefer size due to the highest percentage of ions adsorption. MBP appears to be a promising material to purify wastewater.

The operation of a demand responsive transport service usually considers advanced and real-time requests. Previous studies focused on solution algorithms for routing and scheduling challenges of a pickup and delivery problem with time windows, but the operational issues of the overall system performance under a partially dynamic environment have not been investigated. In this article, we explore the operating efficiency of a dispatching system with a degree of dynamism (i.e. a ratio of dynamic requests). It is found that a dispatching system incurs higher transportation costs and accepts fewer requests when the request arrivals are partially dynamic, as compared to static or fully dynamic scenarios. Operational policies are derived for the dispatcher to avoid the inefficient range of degree of dynamism if future demand can be anticipated.

Dubbed Ice Storm ’98, an extreme weather event characterized by two synoptic systems in succession dropped about 70–100 mm (in terms of water equivalent) of freezing precipitation over southeastern Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northeastern New York during a 6-day period from January 5 to 10 in 1998. Individually, the two synoptic systems were not dramatically more extreme in freezing precipitation than other major freezing rain events (4 since 1961) which occurred in the past over the affected area. Some regions in the target area, however, were impacted more by the second system. Based on an analysis of the 500 hPa vorticity field during the ’98 event, we suggest that the 1997/98 El Nino had a role in creating a flow environment conducive to the rapid formation of the second synoptic system. In contrast, other major freezing rain events in the last 30 years involved only one synoptic system per event lasting no more than 3 days, and producing 20–50 mm of precipitation.

It was demonstrated that liquid phase separation by nucleation and growth (LNG) occurs in undercooled molten Pd40.5Ni40.5P19 for undercoolings ΔT ≤ 60 K (ΔT = Tl − T where Tl is the liquidus and T is the kinetic crystallization temperature), and liquid state spinodal decomposition (LSD) occurs for ΔT ≥ 100. For 60 ≤ ΔT ≤ 100 K, it is the transition regime from LNG to LSD. A ternary phase diagram is introduced to summarize the reactions occurred in undercooled molten Pd40.5Ni40.5P19. Finally, it is suggested that LSD has an important impact on glass-forming ability of metallic alloys.

When molten Pd40.5Ni40.5P19 is undercooled way below its liquidus Tl, liquid state spinodal decomposition is observed. Crystallization of this system is particularly interesting because it has plenty of interfaces. The microstructure of an as-crystallized specimen can be divided into four regions, namely, A: random spinodal; B: aligned and elongated spinodal; C: coarsened spinodal and island structure; and D: rod structure and ternary eutectics. The origin of these different microstructures is discussed.

It was demonstrated that molten Pd40.5Ni40.5P19 undergoes liquid state phase separation in the undercooling regime δT = T1 − T where T1 is the liquidus of Pd40.5Ni40.5P19 and T is the kinetic crystallization temperature. Liquid state phase separation by nucleation and growth takes place for δT ≤ 60 K while that by spinodal decomposition occurs for δT ≥ 100 K. Microstructural analysis of the undercooled specimen obtained in the undercooling regime of 60 ≤ δT ≤ 100 K indicates that it is the transition regime. Finally, it was found that when undercooled molten Pd40.5Ni40.5P19 undergoes liquid state spinodal decomposition, it first decomposes into two liquid networks, which is finally replaced by a system of three liquid networks.

A novel compound, (5-(dimethylamino)-N-(4-ethynylphenyl)-1-naphthalenesulfonamide), was prepared and characterized; it shows dual functional roles as an effective antitumor and a two-photon induced bio-imaging agent.

The global ocean circulation with a seasonal cycle has been simulated with a two-and-a-half layer upper-ocean model. This model was developed for the purpose of coupling to an atmospheric general circulation model for climate studies on decadal time scales. The horizontal resolution is 4° latitude by 5° longitude and is thus not eddy-resolving. Effects of bottom topography are neglected. In the vertical, the model resolves the oceanic mixed layer and the thermocline. A thermodynamic sea-ice model is coupled to the mixed layer. The model is forced at the surface with seasonally varying (a) observed wind stress, (b) heat fluxes, as defined by an atmospheric equilibrium temperature, and (c) Newtonian-type surface salt fluxes. The second layer is coupled to the underlying deep ocean through Newtonian-type diffusive heat and salt fluxes, convective overturning, and mass entrainment in the upwelling regions of the subpolar gyres. The overall global distributions of mixed layer temperature, salinity and thickness are favorably reproduced. Inherent limitations due to coarse horizontal resolution result in large mixed-layer temperature errors near continental boundaries and in weak current systems. Sea ice distributions agree well with observations except in the interiors of the Ross and Weddell Seas. A realistic time rate of change of heat storage is simulated. There is also realistic heat transport from low to high latitudes.

The specific volumes of molten Pd40Ni40P20, Pd77Cu6.5Si16.5, Pd82Si18, and Ni80P20, which are all glass formers, and were measured near the liquidus. It was found that the ratio α/Tg, where α is the thermal expansion coefficient and Tg is the glass transition temperature, remains fairly constant for all these systems. The scaling follows from the fact that with a larger thermal expansion coefficient, the free volume of the molten system would be squeezed out faster resulting in a larger Tg. This scaling behavior also allows us to roughly predict the glass transition temperature of a glass forming system. The glass forming ability can also be predicted by a parameter defined as α/T1.

International audience; Information about regional carbon sources and sinks can be derived from variations in observed atmospheric CO2 concentrations via inverse modelling with atmospheric tracer transport models. A consensus has not yet been reached regarding the size and distribution of regional carbon fluxes obtained using this approach, partly owing to the use of several different atmospheric transport models1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Here we report estimates of surface–atmosphere CO2 fluxes from an intercomparison of atmospheric CO2 inversion models (the TransCom 3 project), which includes 16 transport models and model variants. We find an uptake of CO2 in the southern extratropical ocean less than that estimated from ocean measurements, a result that is not sensitive to transport models or methodological approaches. We also find a northern land carbon sink that is distributed relatively evenly among the continents of the Northern Hemisphere, but these results show some sensitivity to transport differences among models, especially in how they respond to seasonal terrestrial exchange of CO2. Overall, carbon fluxes integrated over latitudinal zones are strongly constrained by observations in the middle to high latitudes. Further significant constraints to our understanding of regional carbon fluxes will therefore require improvements in transport models and expansion of the CO2 observation network within the tropics.

A novel dry manufacturing process is proposed to replace some of the processing steps in the existing wet silver plating process. It involves the combination of high speed laser patterning and ablation techniques on a polymer masked copper leadframe. A Q-switched Ng-YAG laser with high speed scanning mirrors was initially used in this study. The suitable polymer coating for the relevant electroplating bath has been identified by immersion test and scanning electron microscopy. Process parameters such as scanning rate, protection gas, laser powder, beam size, working distance etc., were investigated. The effect of laser ablation and residual heat input upon the microstructure and properties of the metallic substrate were studied. The plating quality after laser patterning was also examined. A transparent organic film about 1.5 micrometers thick was found to be loosely adhered on the copper substrate regardless of the ablation conditions. This film created a major obstacle to the YAG laser ablation process proposed. Excimer laser was used to overcome this problem.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

We describe numerical experiments with a limited domain (15°–67°N, 65° west to east) coarse-resolution two-and-a-half-layer upper ocean model. The model consists of two active variable density layers: a Niiler and Kraus (1977) type mixed layer and a pycnocline layer, which overlays a semipassive deep ocean. The mixed layer is forced with a cosine wind stress and Haney type heat and precipitation-evaporation fluxes, which were derived from zonally averaged climatological (Levitus, 1982) surface temperatures and salinities for the North Atlantic. The second layer is forced from below with (1) Newtonian cooling to climatological temperatures and salinities at the lower boundary, (2) convective adjustment, which occurs whenever the density of the second layer is unstable with respect to climatology, and (3) mass entrainment in areas of strong upwelling, when the deep ocean ventilates through the bottom surface. The sensitivity of this model to changes in its internal (mixed layer) and external (e.g., a Newtonian coupling coefficient) parameters is investigated and compared to the results from a control experiment. We find that the model is not overly sensitive to changes in most of the parameters that were tested, albeit these results may depend to some extent on the choice of the control experiment.

The dial-a-ride service is a form of demand responsive transport that delivers passenger requests from their specified origins to destinations with desired time windows. It is usually used as a mean to provide transport for people who are not able to access a private transportation conveniently, or as a transport policy to encourage share rides and reduce driving. In this study, the authors consider the dynamic problem, which receives real-time requests during the day of operation. In the scheduling of the services, there may exist waiting for vehicles along the route at stops. This paper proposes three waiting strategies, namely, drive first (DF), wait first (WF) and modified dynamic wait (MDW), to allocate this waiting time along the stops by holding the vehicles so as to minimise the cost in accepting future calls. Simulation experiments show that the MDW is superior to DF and WF.

A typical electroplating production line for the deposition of silver pattern on copper leadframes in the semiconductor industry involves twenty to twenty five steps of cleaning, pickling, plating, stripping etc. This complex production process occupies large floor space and has also a number of problems such as difficulty in the production of rubber masks and alignment, generation of toxic fumes, high cost of water consumption and sometimes uncertainty on the cleanliness of the surfaces to be plated. A novel laser patterning process is proposed in this paper which can replace many steps in the existing electroplating line. The proposed process involves the application of high speed laser etching techniques on leadframes which were protected with polymer coating. The desired pattern for silver electroplating is produced by laser ablation of the polymer coating. Excimer laser was found to be most effective for this process as it can expose a pattern of clean copper substrate which can be silver plated successfully. Previous working of Nd:YAG laser ablation showed that 1.06 μm radiation was not suitable for this etching process because a thin organic and transparent film remained on the laser etched region. The effect of excimer pulse frequency and energy density upon the removal rate of the polymer coating was studied.