We have assembled extensive information on the cradle-to-gate environmental burdens of 63 metals in their major use forms, and illustrated the interconnectedness of metal production systems. Related cumulative energy use, global warming potential, human health implications and ecosystem damage are estimated by metal life cycle stage (i.e., mining, purification, and refining). For some elements,...

Although there have been numerous studies examining the toxicity and carcinogenicity of nickel compounds in humans and animals, its molecular mechanisms of action are not fully elucidated. In our research, NIH/3T3 cells were exposed to nickel-refining fumes at the concentrations of 0, 6.25, 12.50, 25, 50 and 100 μg/mL for 24 h. Cell viability, cell apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level...

OBJECTIVES To provide a concise and practical guide to the development, modification, and use of behavioral coding schemes for observational data in pediatric psychology. METHODS This article provides a review of relevant literature and experience in developing and refining behavioral coding schemes. RESULTS A step-by-step guide to developing and/or modifying behavioral coding schemes is pr...

To get suitable ladle slag which can avoid slag sticking onto the RH immersion tube during RH refining process of IF steel, the effect of composition on melting point and viscosity of RH refining ladle slag was studied by different additives which is based on CaO. The results of melting point and viscosity testing experiments indicates that, the melting point and viscosity of RH refining ladle ...

Direct methods have made remarkable progress in the computational efficiency of factorization algorithms during the last three decades. The advances in graph theoretic algorithms have not received enough attention from the iterative methods community. For example, we demonstrate how symbolic factorization algorithms from direct methods can accelerate the computation of a factored approximate in...

Conversational case-based reasoning (CBR) shells (e.g., In-ference's CBR Express) are commercially successful tools for supporting the development of help desk and related applications. In contrast to rule-based expert systems, they capture knowledge as cases rather than more problematic rules, and they can be incrementally extended. However , rather than eliminate the knowledge engineering bot...