Automatic carbon dioxide-methane gas sensor based on the solubility of gases in water.

PubMed

Cadena-Pereda, Raúl O; Rivera-Muñoz, Eric M; Herrera-Ruiz, Gilberto; Gomez-Melendez, Domingo J; Anaya-Rivera, Ely K

2012-01-01

Biogas methane content is a relevant variable in anaerobic digestion processing where knowledge of process kinetics or an early indicator of digester failure is needed. The contribution of this work is the development of a novel, simple and low cost automatic carbon dioxide-methane gas sensor based on the solubility of gases in water as the precursor of a sensor for biogas quality monitoring. The device described in this work was used for determining the composition of binary mixtures, such as carbon dioxide-methane, in the range of 0-100%. The design and implementation of a digital signal processor and control system into a low-cost Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform has permitted the successful application of data acquisition, data distribution and digital data processing, making the construction of a standalone carbon dioxide-methane gas sensor possible.

Automatic Content Analysis; Part I of Scientific Report No. ISR-18, Information Storage and Retrieval...

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY. Dept. of Computer Science.

Four papers are included in Part One of the eighteenth report on Salton's Magical Automatic Retriever of Texts (SMART) project. The first paper: "Content Analysis in Information Retrieval" by S. F. Weiss presents the results of experiments aimed at determining the conditions under which content analysis improves retrieval results as well…

Incorporation of composite defects from ultrasonic NDE into CAD and FE models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bingol, Onur Rauf; Schiefelbein, Bryan; Grandin, Robert J.; Holland, Stephen D.; Krishnamurthy, Adarsh

2017-02-01

Fiber-reinforced composites are widely used in aerospace industry due to their combined properties of high strength and low weight. However, owing to their complex structure, it is difficult to assess the impact of manufacturing defects and service damage on their residual life. While, ultrasonic testing (UT) is the preferred NDE method to identify the presence of defects in composites, there are no reasonable ways to model the damage and evaluate the structural integrity of composites. We have developed an automated framework to incorporate flaws and known composite damage automatically into a finite element analysis (FEA) model of composites, ultimately aiding in accessing the residual life of composites and make informed decisions regarding repairs. The framework can be used to generate a layer-by-layer 3D structural CAD model of the composite laminates replicating their manufacturing process. Outlines of structural defects, such as delaminations, are automatically detected from UT of the laminate and are incorporated into the CAD model between the appropriate layers. In addition, the framework allows for direct structural analysis of the resulting 3D CAD models with defects by automatically applying the appropriate boundary conditions. In this paper, we show a working proof-of-concept for the composite model builder with capabilities of incorporating delaminations between laminate layers and automatically preparing the CAD model for structural analysis using a FEA software.

Application Research of QRCode Barcode in Validation of Express Delivery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhihai; Zeng, Qingliang; Wang, Chenglong; Lu, Qing

The barcode technology has become an important way in the field of information input and identify automatically. With the outstanding features of big storage capacity, secure, rich encoding character set and fast decoding, the two-dimensional(2D) QRcode(Quick Response Barcode) has become an important choice of commerce barcode. The development of wireless communications technology and the popularization and application of mobile device has set the foundation of 2D barcode used in business. In this paper, the characteristics and the compositions of 2D QRcode are described, the secure validation workflows and contents of QRcode in goods express delivery are discussed, the encoding process of QRcode is showed, and the system framework is analyzed and established. At last, the system compositions and functions of each part are discussed.

Investigation of Pleurotus ostreatus pretreatment on switchgrass for ethanol production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slavens, Shelyn Gehle

Fungal pretreatment using the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus on switchgrass for ethanol production was studied. In a small-scale storage study, small switchgrass bales were inoculated with fungal spawn and automatically watered to maintain moisture. Sampled at 25, 53, and 81 d, the switchgrass composition was determined and liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment was conducted. Fungal pretreatment significantly decreased the xylan and lignin content; glucan was not significantly affected by fungal loading. The glucan, xylan, and lignin contents significantly decreased with increased fungal pretreatment time. The effects of the fungal pretreatment were not highly evident after the LHW pretreatment, showing only changes based on sampling time. Although other biological activity within the bales increased cellulose degradation, the fungal pretreatment successfully reduced the switchgrass lignin and hemicellulose contents. In a laboratory-scale nutrient supplementation study, copper, manganese, glucose, or water was added to switchgrass to induce production of ligninolytic enzymes by P. ostreatus. After 40 d, ligninolytic enzyme activities and biomass composition were determined and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) was conducted to determine ethanol yield. Laccase activity was similar for all supplements and manganese peroxidase (MnP) activity was significantly less in copper-treated samples than in the other fungal-inoculated samples. The fungal pretreatment reduced glucan, xylan, and lignin content, while increasing extractable sugars content. The lowest lignin contents occurred in the water-fungal treated samples and produced the greatest ethanol yields. The greatest lignin contents occurred in the copper-fungal treated samples and produced the lowest ethanol yields. Manganese-fungal and glucose-fungal treated samples had similar, intermediate lignin contents and produced similar, intermediate ethanol yields. Ethanol yields from switchgrass were increased significantly by fungal pretreatment.

Handwriting Automaticity: The Search for Performance Thresholds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

2014-01-01

Evidence is accumulating that handwriting has an important role in written composition. In particular, handwriting automaticity appears to relate to success in composition. This relationship has been little explored in British contexts and we currently have little idea of what threshold performance levels might be. In this paper, we report on two…

CASAS: A tool for composing automatically and semantically astrophysical services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Louge, T.; Karray, M. H.; Archimède, B.; Knödlseder, J.

2017-07-01

Multiple astronomical datasets are available through internet and the astrophysical Distributed Computing Infrastructure (DCI) called Virtual Observatory (VO). Some scientific workflow technologies exist for retrieving and combining data from those sources. However selection of relevant services, automation of the workflows composition and the lack of user-friendly platforms remain a concern. This paper presents CASAS, a tool for semantic web services composition in astrophysics. This tool proposes automatic composition of astrophysical web services and brings a semantics-based, automatic composition of workflows. It widens the services choice and eases the use of heterogeneous services. Semantic web services composition relies on ontologies for elaborating the services composition; this work is based on Astrophysical Services ONtology (ASON). ASON had its structure mostly inherited from the VO services capacities. Nevertheless, our approach is not limited to the VO and brings VO plus non-VO services together without the need for premade recipes. CASAS is available for use through a simple web interface.

Automatic Digital Content Generation System for Real-Time Distance Lectures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwatsuki, Masami; Takeuchi, Norio; Kobayashi, Hisato; Yana, Kazuo; Takeda, Hiroshi; Yaginuma, Hisashi; Kiyohara, Hajime; Tokuyasu, Akira

2007-01-01

This article describes a new automatic digital content generation system we have developed. Recently some universities, including Hosei University, have been offering students opportunities to take distance interactive classes over the Internet from overseas. When such distance lectures are delivered in English to Japanese students, there is a…

A Compositional Relevance Model for Adaptive Information Retrieval

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathe, Nathalie; Chen, James; Lu, Henry, Jr. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

There is a growing need for rapid and effective access to information in large electronic documentation systems. Access can be facilitated if information relevant in the current problem solving context can be automatically supplied to the user. This includes information relevant to particular user profiles, tasks being performed, and problems being solved. However most of this knowledge on contextual relevance is not found within the contents of documents, and current hypermedia tools do not provide any easy mechanism to let users add this knowledge to their documents. We propose a compositional relevance network to automatically acquire the context in which previous information was found relevant. The model records information on the relevance of references based on user feedback for specific queries and contexts. It also generalizes such information to derive relevant references for similar queries and contexts. This model lets users filter information by context of relevance, build personalized views of documents over time, and share their views with other users. It also applies to any type of multimedia information. Compared to other approaches, it is less costly and doesn't require any a priori statistical computation, nor an extended training period. It is currently being implemented into the Computer Integrated Documentation system which enables integration of various technical documents in a hypertext framework.

Automatic depth grading tool to successfully adapt stereoscopic 3D content to digital cinema and home viewing environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thébault, Cédric; Doyen, Didier; Routhier, Pierre; Borel, Thierry

2013-03-01

To ensure an immersive, yet comfortable experience, significant work is required during post-production to adapt the stereoscopic 3D (S3D) content to the targeted display and its environment. On the one hand, the content needs to be reconverged using horizontal image translation (HIT) so as to harmonize the depth across the shots. On the other hand, to prevent edge violation, specific re-convergence is required and depending on the viewing conditions floating windows need to be positioned. In order to simplify this time-consuming work we propose a depth grading tool that automatically adapts S3D content to digital cinema or home viewing environments. Based on a disparity map, a stereo point of interest in each shot is automatically evaluated. This point of interest is used for depth matching, i.e. to position the objects of interest of consecutive shots in a same plane so as to reduce visual fatigue. The tool adapts the re-convergence to avoid edge-violation, hyper-convergence and hyper-divergence. Floating windows are also automatically positioned. The method has been tested on various types of S3D content, and the results have been validated by a stereographer.

Do the Contents of Visual Working Memory Automatically Influence Attentional Selection during Visual Search?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodman, Geoffrey F.; Luck, Steven J.

2007-01-01

In many theories of cognition, researchers propose that working memory and perception operate interactively. For example, in previous studies researchers have suggested that sensory inputs matching the contents of working memory will have an automatic advantage in the competition for processing resources. The authors tested this hypothesis by…

Trends of Science Education Research: An Automatic Content Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Yueh-Hsia; Chang, Chun-Yen; Tseng, Yuen-Hsien

2010-01-01

This study used scientometric methods to conduct an automatic content analysis on the development trends of science education research from the published articles in the four journals of "International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Research in Science Education, and Science Education" from 1990 to 2007. The…

Visual mismatch negativity indicates automatic, task-independent detection of artistic image composition in abstract artworks.

PubMed

Menzel, Claudia; Kovács, Gyula; Amado, Catarina; Hayn-Leichsenring, Gregor U; Redies, Christoph

2018-05-06

In complex abstract art, image composition (i.e., the artist's deliberate arrangement of pictorial elements) is an important aesthetic feature. We investigated whether the human brain detects image composition in abstract artworks automatically (i.e., independently of the experimental task). To this aim, we studied whether a group of 20 original artworks elicited a visual mismatch negativity when contrasted with a group of 20 images that were composed of the same pictorial elements as the originals, but in shuffled arrangements, which destroy artistic composition. We used a passive oddball paradigm with parallel electroencephalogram recordings to investigate the detection of image type-specific properties. We observed significant deviant-standard differences for the shuffled and original images, respectively. Furthermore, for both types of images, differences in amplitudes correlated with the behavioral ratings of the images. In conclusion, we show that the human brain can detect composition-related image properties in visual artworks in an automatic fashion. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automatic chemical vapor deposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kennedy, B. W.

1981-01-01

Report reviews chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for processing integrated circuits and describes fully automatic machine for CVD. CVD proceeds at relatively low temperature, allows wide choice of film compositions (including graded or abruptly changing compositions), and deposits uniform films of controllable thickness at fairly high growth rate. Report gives overview of hardware, reactants, and temperature ranges used with CVD machine.

Auspice: Automatic Service Planning in Cloud/Grid Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiu, David; Agrawal, Gagan

Recent scientific advances have fostered a mounting number of services and data sets available for utilization. These resources, though scattered across disparate locations, are often loosely coupled both semantically and operationally. This loosely coupled relationship implies the possibility of linking together operations and data sets to answer queries. This task, generally known as automatic service composition, therefore abstracts the process of complex scientific workflow planning from the user. We have been exploring a metadata-driven approach toward automatic service workflow composition, among other enabling mechanisms, in our system, Auspice: Automatic Service Planning in Cloud/Grid Environments. In this paper, we present a complete overview of our system's unique features and outlooks for future deployment as the Cloud computing paradigm becomes increasingly eminent in enabling scientific computing.

A Model-Based Method for Content Validation of Automatically Generated Test Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Xinxin; Gierl, Mark

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to describe a methodology to recover the item model used to generate multiple-choice test items with a novel graph theory approach. Beginning with the generated test items and working backward to recover the original item model provides a model-based method for validating the content used to automatically generate test…

Using a MaxEnt Classifier for the Automatic Content Scoring of Free-Text Responses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukkarieh, Jana Z.

2011-03-01

Criticisms against multiple-choice item assessments in the USA have prompted researchers and organizations to move towards constructed-response (free-text) items. Constructed-response (CR) items pose many challenges to the education community—one of which is that they are expensive to score by humans. At the same time, there has been widespread movement towards computer-based assessment and hence, assessment organizations are competing to develop automatic content scoring engines for such items types—which we view as a textual entailment task. This paper describes how MaxEnt Modeling is used to help solve the task. MaxEnt has been used in many natural language tasks but this is the first application of the MaxEnt approach to textual entailment and automatic content scoring.

30 CFR 27.23 - Automatic warning device.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... APPROVAL OF MINING PRODUCTS METHANE-MONITORING SYSTEMS Construction and Design Requirements § 27.23... function automatically at a methane content of the mine atmosphere between 1.0 to 1.5 volume percent and at all higher concentrations of methane. (c) It is recommended that the automatic warning device be...

High-content image analysis (HCIA) assay has the highest correlation with direct counting cell suspension compared to the ATP, WST-8 and Alamar blue assays for measurement of cytotoxicity.

PubMed

Tahara, Haruna; Matsuda, Shun; Yamamoto, Yusuke; Yoshizawa, Hiroe; Fujita, Masaharu; Katsuoka, Yasuhiro; Kasahara, Toshihiko

2017-11-01

Various cytotoxicity assays measuring indicators such as enzyme activity, dye uptake, or cellular ATP content are often performed using 96-well microplates. However, recent reports show that cytotoxicity assays such as the ATP assay and MTS assay underestimate cytotoxicity when compounds such as anti-cancer drugs or mutagens induce cell hypertrophy whilst increasing intracellular ATP content. Therefore, we attempted to evaluate the reliability of a high-content image analysis (HCIA) assay to count cell number in a 96-well microplate automatically without using a cell-number indicator. We compared cytotoxicity results of 25 compounds obtained from ATP, WST-8, Alamar blue, and HCIA assays with those directly measured using an automatic cell counter, and repeating individual experiments thrice. The number of compounds showing low correlation in cell viability measured using cytotoxicity assays compared to automatic cell counting (r 2 <0.8, at least 2 of 3 experiments) were follows: ATP assay; 7; WST-8 assay, 2; Alamar blue assay, 3; HCIA cytotoxicity assay, 0. Compounds for which correlation was poor in 3 assays, except the HCIA assay, induced an increase in nuclear and cell size. However, correlation between cell viability measured by automatic cell counter and the HCIA assay was strong regardless of nuclear and cell size. Additionally, correlation coefficients between IC 50 values obtained from automatic cell counter and from cytotoxicity assays were as follows: ATP assay, 0.80; WST-8 assay, 0.84; Alamar blue assay, 0.84; and HCIA assay, 0.98. From the above, we showed that the HCIA cytotoxicity assay produces similar data to the automatic cell counter and is highly accurate in measuring cytotoxicity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Management of natural resources through automatic cartographic inventory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rey, P. A.; Gourinard, Y.; Cambou, F. (Principal Investigator)

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Significant correspondence codes relating ERTS imagery to ground truth from vegetation and geology maps have been established. The use of color equidensity and color composite methods for selecting zones of equal densitometric value on ERTS imagery was perfected. Primary interest of temporal color composite is stressed. A chain of transfer operations from ERTS imagery to the automatic mapping of natural resources was developed.

Automatically Scoring Short Essays for Content. CRESST Report 836

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Deirdre; Mousavi, Hamid; Iseli, Markus R.

2013-01-01

The Common Core assessments emphasize short essay constructed response items over multiple choice items because they are more precise measures of understanding. However, such items are too costly and time consuming to be used in national assessments unless a way is found to score them automatically. Current automatic essay scoring techniques are…

Automatic classification of retinal three-dimensional optical coherence tomography images using principal component analysis network with composite kernels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Leyuan; Wang, Chong; Li, Shutao; Yan, Jun; Chen, Xiangdong; Rabbani, Hossein

2017-11-01

We present an automatic method, termed as the principal component analysis network with composite kernel (PCANet-CK), for the classification of three-dimensional (3-D) retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Specifically, the proposed PCANet-CK method first utilizes the PCANet to automatically learn features from each B-scan of the 3-D retinal OCT images. Then, multiple kernels are separately applied to a set of very important features of the B-scans and these kernels are fused together, which can jointly exploit the correlations among features of the 3-D OCT images. Finally, the fused (composite) kernel is incorporated into an extreme learning machine for the OCT image classification. We tested our proposed algorithm on two real 3-D spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) datasets (of normal subjects and subjects with the macular edema and age-related macular degeneration), which demonstrated its effectiveness.

Algorithm for Automatic Detection, Localization and Characterization of Magnetic Dipole Targets Using the Laser Scalar Gradiometer

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

TECHNICAL REPORT Algorithm for Automatic Detection, Localization and Characterization of Magnetic Dipole Targets Using the Laser Scalar...Automatic Detection, Localization and Characterization of Magnetic Dipole Targets Using the Laser Scalar Gradiometer Leon Vaizer, Jesse Angle, Neil...of Magnetic Dipole Targets Using LSG i June 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

Paediatric Automatic Phonological Analysis Tools (APAT).

PubMed

Saraiva, Daniela; Lousada, Marisa; Hall, Andreia; Jesus, Luis M T

2017-12-01

To develop the pediatric Automatic Phonological Analysis Tools (APAT) and to estimate inter and intrajudge reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity. The APAT were constructed using Excel spreadsheets with formulas. The tools were presented to an expert panel for content validation. The corpus used in the Portuguese standardized test Teste Fonético-Fonológico - ALPE produced by 24 children with phonological delay or phonological disorder was recorded, transcribed, and then inserted into the APAT. Reliability and validity of APAT were analyzed. The APAT present strong inter- and intrajudge reliability (>97%). The content validity was also analyzed (ICC = 0.71), and concurrent validity revealed strong correlations between computerized and manual (traditional) methods. The development of these tools contributes to fill existing gaps in clinical practice and research, since previously there were no valid and reliable tools/instruments for automatic phonological analysis, which allowed the analysis of different corpora.

AUTOMATIC MASS SPECTROMETER

DOEpatents

Hanson, M.L.; Tabor, C.D. Jr.

1961-12-01

A mass spectrometer for analyzing the components of a gas is designed which is capable of continuous automatic operation such as analysis of samples of process gas from a continuous production system where the gas content may be changing. (AEC)

Imaging and Radiography with Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence and Effective-Z (EZ-3D) Determination; SNM Detection Using Prompt Neutrons from Photon Induced Fission

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bertozzi, William; Hasty, Richard; Klimenko, Alexei

Four new technologies have been developed for use in non-intrusive inspection systems to detect nuclear materials, explosives and contraband. Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence (NRF) provides a three dimensional image of the isotopic content of a container. NRF determines the isotopic composition of a region and specifies the isotopic structure of the neighboring regions, thus providing the detailed isotopic composition of any threat. In transmission mode, NRF provides a two dimensional projection of the isotopic content of a container, much as standard X-ray radiography provides for density. The effective-Z method (EZ-3D) uses electromagnetic scattering processes to yield a three-dimensional map of themore » effective-Z and the density in a container. The EZ-3D method allows for a rapid discrimination based on effective Z and mass of materials such as those with high Z, as well as specifying regions of interest for other contraband. The energy spectrum of prompt neutrons from photon induced fission (PNPF) provides a unique identification of the presence of actinides and SNM. These four new technologies can be used independently or together to automatically determine the presence of hazardous materials or contraband. They can also be combined with other technologies to provide added specificity.« less

Effects of social and affective content on exogenous attention as revealed by event-related potentials.

PubMed

Kosonogov, Vladimir; Martinez-Selva, Jose M; Carrillo-Verdejo, Eduvigis; Torrente, Ginesa; Carretié, Luis; Sanchez-Navarro, Juan P

2018-06-18

The social content of affective stimuli has been proposed as having an influence on cognitive processing and behaviour. This research was aimed, therefore, at studying whether automatic exogenous attention demanded by affective pictures was related to their social value. We hypothesised that affective social pictures would capture attention to a greater extent than non-social affective stimuli. For this purpose, we recorded event-related potentials in a sample of 24 participants engaged in a digit categorisation task. Distracters were affective pictures varying in social content, in addition to affective valence and arousal, which appeared in the background during the task. Our data revealed that pictures depicting high social content captured greater automatic attention than other pictures, as reflected by the greater amplitude and shorter latency of anterior P2, and anterior and posterior N2 components of the ERPs. In addition, social content also provoked greater allocation of processing resources as manifested by P3 amplitude, likely related to the high arousal they elicited. These results extend data from previous research by showing the relevance of the social value of the affective stimuli on automatic attentional processing.

A mixture of milk and vegetable lipids in infant formula changes gut digestion, mucosal immunity and microbiota composition in neonatal piglets.

PubMed

Le Huërou-Luron, Isabelle; Bouzerzour, Karima; Ferret-Bernard, Stéphanie; Ménard, Olivia; Le Normand, Laurence; Perrier, Cécile; Le Bourgot, Cindy; Jardin, Julien; Bourlieu, Claire; Carton, Thomas; Le Ruyet, Pascale; Cuinet, Isabelle; Bonhomme, Cécile; Dupont, Didier

2018-03-01

Although composition of infant formula has been significantly improved during the last decade, major differences with the composition and structure of breast milk still remain and might affect nutrient digestion and gut biology. We hypothesized that the incorporation of dairy fat in infant formulas could modify their physiological impacts by making their composition closer to that of human milk. The effect of milk fat and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) fragments in infant formulas on gut digestion, mucosal immunity and microbiota composition was evaluated. Three formulas containing either (1) vegetable lipids stabilized only by proteins (V-P), (2) vegetable lipids stabilized by a mixture of proteins and MFGM fragments (V-M) and (3) a mixture of milk and vegetable lipids stabilized by a mixture of proteins and MFGM fragments (M-M) were automatically distributed to 42 newborn piglets until slaughter at postnatal day (PND) 7 or 28, and compared to a fourth group of sow's suckling piglets (SM) used as a breast-fed reference. At both PND, casein and β-lactoglobulin digestion was reduced in M-M proximal jejunum and ileum contents compared to V-P and V-M ones leading to more numerous β-Cn peptides in M-M contents. The IFNγ cytokine secretion of ConA-stimulated MLN cells from M-M piglets tended to be higher than in V-P ones at PND 7 and PND 28 and was closer to that of SM piglets. No dietary treatment effect was observed on IL-10 MLN cell secretion. Changes in faecal microbiota in M-M piglets resulted in an increase in Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes and a decrease in Firmicutes phyla compared to V-P ones. M-M piglets showed higher abundances of Parabacteroides, Escherichia/Shigella and Klebsiella genus. The incorporation of both milk fat and MFGM fragments in infant formula modifies protein digestion, the dynamic of the immune system maturation and the faecal microbiota composition.

A System for the Semantic Multimodal Analysis of News Audio-Visual Content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mezaris, Vasileios; Gidaros, Spyros; Papadopoulos, GeorgiosTh; Kasper, Walter; Steffen, Jörg; Ordelman, Roeland; Huijbregts, Marijn; de Jong, Franciska; Kompatsiaris, Ioannis; Strintzis, MichaelG

2010-12-01

News-related content is nowadays among the most popular types of content for users in everyday applications. Although the generation and distribution of news content has become commonplace, due to the availability of inexpensive media capturing devices and the development of media sharing services targeting both professional and user-generated news content, the automatic analysis and annotation that is required for supporting intelligent search and delivery of this content remains an open issue. In this paper, a complete architecture for knowledge-assisted multimodal analysis of news-related multimedia content is presented, along with its constituent components. The proposed analysis architecture employs state-of-the-art methods for the analysis of each individual modality (visual, audio, text) separately and proposes a novel fusion technique based on the particular characteristics of news-related content for the combination of the individual modality analysis results. Experimental results on news broadcast video illustrate the usefulness of the proposed techniques in the automatic generation of semantic annotations.

Speckle tracking and speckle content based composite strain imaging for solid and fluid filled lesions.

PubMed

Rabbi, Md Shifat-E; Hasan, Md Kamrul

2017-02-01

Strain imaging though for solid lesions provides an effective way for determining their pathologic condition by displaying the tissue stiffness contrast, for fluid filled lesions such an imaging is yet an open problem. In this paper, we propose a novel speckle content based strain imaging technique for visualization and classification of fluid filled lesions in elastography after automatic identification of the presence of fluid filled lesions. Speckle content based strain, defined as a function of speckle density based on the relationship between strain and speckle density, gives an indirect strain value for fluid filled lesions. To measure the speckle density of the fluid filled lesions, two new criteria based on oscillation count of the windowed radio frequency signal and local variance of the normalized B-mode image are used. An improved speckle tracking technique is also proposed for strain imaging of the solid lesions and background. A wavelet-based integration technique is then proposed for combining the strain images from these two techniques for visualizing both the solid and fluid filled lesions from a common framework. The final output of our algorithm is a high quality composite strain image which can effectively visualize both solid and fluid filled breast lesions in addition to the speckle content of the fluid filled lesions for their discrimination. The performance of our algorithm is evaluated using the in vivo patient data and compared with recently reported techniques. The results show that both the solid and fluid filled lesions can be better visualized using our technique and the fluid filled lesions can be classified with good accuracy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The content of protein and of amino acids in Jerusalem artichoke tubers (Helianthus tuberosus L.) of red variety Rote Zonenkugel.

PubMed

Cieślik, Ewa; Gębusia, Agnieszka; Florkiewicz, Adam; Mickowska, Barbara

2011-01-01

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) is grown primarily for its edible tubers, which were first cultivated by native Americans before the arrival of the Europeans. Unlike most tubers, but in common with other members of the Asteraceae, the tubers store fructans instead of starch. Fructans are non-digestible carbohydrates considered functional food ingredients because they affect body processes in ways that result in better health and in many diseases prevention. However, the Jerusalem artichoke deserves attention not only because of the content of fructans, recent studies also indicate a high protein content, including essential amino acids. The aim of the work was to establish the content of protein and amino acids in Jerusalem artichoke tubers (Helianthus tuberosus L.) of red variety--Rote Zonenkugel. The content of protein was estimated by Dumas method. The amino acids composition was analysed with ion-change chromatography with postcolumn derivatisation and detection of ninhydryn reaction with automatic amino acids analyser. The assessed liophylisate was characterised by high protein content (6.36%) in comparison to chicory (which is the main industrial source of fructans) and to commonly consumed potatoes. There was shown a few times higher content of essential amino acids (also of methionine) in comparison to chicory and potato. The examined essential amino acids were present in very advantagenous proportions. In Jerusalem artichoke tubers of Rote Zonenkugel variety of the high content of protein was established in comparison to other plant sources. The high content was found of amino acids with special stress on essential amino acids (esp. sulphur ones).

Automatic and user-centric approaches to video summary evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taskiran, Cuneyt M.; Bentley, Frank

2007-01-01

Automatic video summarization has become an active research topic in content-based video processing. However, not much emphasis has been placed on developing rigorous summary evaluation methods and developing summarization systems based on a clear understanding of user needs, obtained through user centered design. In this paper we address these two topics and propose an automatic video summary evaluation algorithm adapted from teh text summarization domain.

AdaFF: Adaptive Failure-Handling Framework for Composite Web Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yuna; Lee, Wan Yeon; Kim, Kyong Hoon; Kim, Jong

In this paper, we propose a novel Web service composition framework which dynamically accommodates various failure recovery requirements. In the proposed framework called Adaptive Failure-handling Framework (AdaFF), failure-handling submodules are prepared during the design of a composite service, and some of them are systematically selected and automatically combined with the composite Web service at service instantiation in accordance with the requirement of individual users. In contrast, existing frameworks cannot adapt the failure-handling behaviors to user's requirements. AdaFF rapidly delivers a composite service supporting the requirement-matched failure handling without manual development, and contributes to a flexible composite Web service design in that service architects never care about failure handling or variable requirements of users. For proof of concept, we implement a prototype system of the AdaFF, which automatically generates a composite service instance with Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL) according to the users' requirement specified in XML format and executes the generated instance on the ActiveBPEL engine.

Automatic classification of retinal three-dimensional optical coherence tomography images using principal component analysis network with composite kernels.

PubMed

Fang, Leyuan; Wang, Chong; Li, Shutao; Yan, Jun; Chen, Xiangdong; Rabbani, Hossein

2017-11-01

We present an automatic method, termed as the principal component analysis network with composite kernel (PCANet-CK), for the classification of three-dimensional (3-D) retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Specifically, the proposed PCANet-CK method first utilizes the PCANet to automatically learn features from each B-scan of the 3-D retinal OCT images. Then, multiple kernels are separately applied to a set of very important features of the B-scans and these kernels are fused together, which can jointly exploit the correlations among features of the 3-D OCT images. Finally, the fused (composite) kernel is incorporated into an extreme learning machine for the OCT image classification. We tested our proposed algorithm on two real 3-D spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) datasets (of normal subjects and subjects with the macular edema and age-related macular degeneration), which demonstrated its effectiveness. (2017) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

Automatic Content Recommendation and Aggregation According to SCORM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neves, Daniel Eugênio; Brandão, Wladmir Cardoso; Ishitani, Lucila

2017-01-01

Although widely used, the SCORM metadata model for content aggregation is difficult to be used by educators, content developers and instructional designers. Particularly, the identification of contents related with each other, in large repositories, and their aggregation using metadata as defined in SCORM, has been demanding efforts of computer…

[Relationship between cognitive content and emotions following dilatory behavior: considering the level of trait procrastination].

PubMed

Hayashi, Junichiro

2009-02-01

The present study developed and evaluated the Automatic Thoughts List following Dilatory Behavior (ATL-DB) to explore the mediation hypothesis and the content-specificity hypothesis about the automatic thoughts with trait procrastination and emotions. In Study 1, data from 113 Japanese college students were used to choose 22 items to construct the ATL-DB. Two factors were indentified, I. Criticism of Self and Behavior, II. Difficulty in Achievement. These factors had high degrees of internal consistency and had positive correlations to trait procrastination. In Study 2, the relationships among trait procrastination, the automatic thoughts, depression, and anxiety were examined in 261 college students by using Structural Equation Modeling. The results showed that the influence of trait procrastination on depression was mainly mediated through Criticism of Self and Behavior only, while the influence of trait procrastination to anxiety was mediated through Criticism of Self and Behavior and Difficulty in Achievement. Therefore, the mediation hypothesis was supported and the content-specificity hypothesis was partially supported.

An Architecture for Autonomic Web Service Process Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, Colm; Xue Wang, Ming; Pahl, Claus

Web service composition is a technology that has received considerable attention in the last number of years. Languages and tools to aid in the process of creating composite Web services have been received specific attention. Web service composition is the process of linking single Web services together in order to accomplish more complex tasks. One area of Web service composition that has not received as much attention is the area of dynamic error handling and re-planning, enabling autonomic composition. Given a repository of service descriptions and a task to complete, it is possible for AI planners to automatically create a plan that will achieve this goal. If however a service in the plan is unavailable or erroneous the plan will fail. Motivated by this problem, this paper suggests autonomous re-planning as a means to overcome dynamic problems. Our solution involves automatically recovering from faults and creating a context-dependent alternate plan. We present an architecture that serves as a basis for the central activities autonomous composition, monitoring and fault handling.

Graph-Based Semantic Web Service Composition for Healthcare Data Integration.

PubMed

Arch-Int, Ngamnij; Arch-Int, Somjit; Sonsilphong, Suphachoke; Wanchai, Paweena

2017-01-01

Within the numerous and heterogeneous web services offered through different sources, automatic web services composition is the most convenient method for building complex business processes that permit invocation of multiple existing atomic services. The current solutions in functional web services composition lack autonomous queries of semantic matches within the parameters of web services, which are necessary in the composition of large-scale related services. In this paper, we propose a graph-based Semantic Web Services composition system consisting of two subsystems: management time and run time. The management-time subsystem is responsible for dependency graph preparation in which a dependency graph of related services is generated automatically according to the proposed semantic matchmaking rules. The run-time subsystem is responsible for discovering the potential web services and nonredundant web services composition of a user's query using a graph-based searching algorithm. The proposed approach was applied to healthcare data integration in different health organizations and was evaluated according to two aspects: execution time measurement and correctness measurement.

Graph-Based Semantic Web Service Composition for Healthcare Data Integration

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Within the numerous and heterogeneous web services offered through different sources, automatic web services composition is the most convenient method for building complex business processes that permit invocation of multiple existing atomic services. The current solutions in functional web services composition lack autonomous queries of semantic matches within the parameters of web services, which are necessary in the composition of large-scale related services. In this paper, we propose a graph-based Semantic Web Services composition system consisting of two subsystems: management time and run time. The management-time subsystem is responsible for dependency graph preparation in which a dependency graph of related services is generated automatically according to the proposed semantic matchmaking rules. The run-time subsystem is responsible for discovering the potential web services and nonredundant web services composition of a user's query using a graph-based searching algorithm. The proposed approach was applied to healthcare data integration in different health organizations and was evaluated according to two aspects: execution time measurement and correctness measurement. PMID:29065602

Balanced states of mind in psychopathology and psychological well-being.

PubMed

Wong, Shyh Shin

2010-08-01

The balanced states of mind (BSOM) model proposes that coping with stress and psychological well-being is a function of the BSOM ratio of positive thoughts to the sum of positive and negative thoughts. Based on different BSOM ratios, different BSOM categories are constructed to quantitatively differentiate levels of coping with stress and psychological well-being. The cognitive content-specificity hypothesis states that there are unique themes of semantic content in self-reported automatic thoughts particular to depression or anxiety. This study investigated the BSOM model and its cognitive content-specificity for depression, anxiety, anger, stress, life satisfaction, and happiness, based on negative and positive automatic thoughts. Three hundred and ninety-eight college students from Singapore participated in this study. First, BSOM ratio and positive automatic thoughts were positively correlated with life satisfaction and happiness, and negatively correlated with stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. In contrast, negative automatic thoughts were positively correlated with stress, anxiety, depression, and anger, and negatively correlated with life satisfaction and happiness. Second, levels of psychopathology and psychological well-being were statistically differentiable among the BSOM categories for depression, happiness, perceived stress, and life satisfaction; and less statistically differentiable among the BSOM categories for anxiety and anger, as expected based on the BSOM model and cognitive content-specificity hypothesis. Third, the results were more supportive of the BSOM model for depression, followed by happiness, perceived stress, life satisfaction, anxiety, and anger in terms of percentage of variance accounted for by BSOM categories, as expected based on the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis. Taken together, the results suggested that the more moderately positive thoughts one has (balanced by negative thoughts), the better mental health outcomes one has. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.

A novel automatic quantification method for high-content screening analysis of DNA double strand-break response.

PubMed

Feng, Jingwen; Lin, Jie; Zhang, Pengquan; Yang, Songnan; Sa, Yu; Feng, Yuanming

2017-08-29

High-content screening is commonly used in studies of the DNA damage response. The double-strand break (DSB) is one of the most harmful types of DNA damage lesions. The conventional method used to quantify DSBs is γH2AX foci counting, which requires manual adjustment and preset parameters and is usually regarded as imprecise, time-consuming, poorly reproducible, and inaccurate. Therefore, a robust automatic alternative method is highly desired. In this manuscript, we present a new method for quantifying DSBs which involves automatic image cropping, automatic foci-segmentation and fluorescent intensity measurement. Furthermore, an additional function was added for standardizing the measurement of DSB response inhibition based on co-localization analysis. We tested the method with a well-known inhibitor of DSB response. The new method requires only one preset parameter, which effectively minimizes operator-dependent variations. Compared with conventional methods, the new method detected a higher percentage difference of foci formation between different cells, which can improve measurement accuracy. The effects of the inhibitor on DSB response were successfully quantified with the new method (p = 0.000). The advantages of this method in terms of reliability, automation and simplicity show its potential in quantitative fluorescence imaging studies and high-content screening for compounds and factors involved in DSB response.

Automatic thermographic image defect detection of composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Bin; Liebenberg, Bjorn; Raymont, Jeff; Santospirito, SP

2011-05-01

Detecting defects, and especially reliably measuring defect sizes, are critical objectives in automatic NDT defect detection applications. In this work, the Sentence software is proposed for the analysis of pulsed thermography and near IR images of composite materials. Furthermore, the Sentence software delivers an end-to-end, user friendly platform for engineers to perform complete manual inspections, as well as tools that allow senior engineers to develop inspection templates and profiles, reducing the requisite thermographic skill level of the operating engineer. Finally, the Sentence software can also offer complete independence of operator decisions by the fully automated "Beep on Defect" detection functionality. The end-to-end automatic inspection system includes sub-systems for defining a panel profile, generating an inspection plan, controlling a robot-arm and capturing thermographic images to detect defects. A statistical model has been built to analyze the entire image, evaluate grey-scale ranges, import sentencing criteria and automatically detect impact damage defects. A full width half maximum algorithm has been used to quantify the flaw sizes. The identified defects are imported into the sentencing engine which then sentences (automatically compares analysis results against acceptance criteria) the inspection by comparing the most significant defect or group of defects against the inspection standards.

MPEG-7 based video annotation and browsing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoeynck, Michael; Auweiler, Thorsten; Wellhausen, Jens

2003-11-01

The huge amount of multimedia data produced worldwide requires annotation in order to enable universal content access and to provide content-based search-and-retrieval functionalities. Since manual video annotation can be time consuming, automatic annotation systems are required. We review recent approaches to content-based indexing and annotation of videos for different kind of sports and describe our approach to automatic annotation of equestrian sports videos. We especially concentrate on MPEG-7 based feature extraction and content description, where we apply different visual descriptors for cut detection. Further, we extract the temporal positions of single obstacles on the course by analyzing MPEG-7 edge information. Having determined single shot positions as well as the visual highlights, the information is jointly stored with meta-textual information in an MPEG-7 description scheme. Based on this information, we generate content summaries which can be utilized in a user-interface in order to provide content-based access to the video stream, but further for media browsing on a streaming server.

Body Composition Assessment in Axial CT Images Using FEM-Based Automatic Segmentation of Skeletal Muscle.

PubMed

Popuri, Karteek; Cobzas, Dana; Esfandiari, Nina; Baracos, Vickie; Jägersand, Martin

2016-02-01

The proportions of muscle and fat tissues in the human body, referred to as body composition is a vital measurement for cancer patients. Body composition has been recently linked to patient survival and the onset/recurrence of several types of cancers in numerous cancer research studies. This paper introduces a fully automatic framework for the segmentation of muscle and fat tissues from CT images to estimate body composition. We developed a novel finite element method (FEM) deformable model that incorporates a priori shape information via a statistical deformation model (SDM) within the template-based segmentation framework. The proposed method was validated on 1000 abdominal and 530 thoracic CT images and we obtained very good segmentation results with Jaccard scores in excess of 90% for both the muscle and fat regions.

K-Nearest Neighbors Relevance Annotation Model for Distance Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ke, Xiao; Li, Shaozi; Cao, Donglin

2011-01-01

With the rapid development of Internet technologies, distance education has become a popular educational mode. In this paper, the authors propose an online image automatic annotation distance education system, which could effectively help children learn interrelations between image content and corresponding keywords. Image automatic annotation is…

Invited review: technical solutions for analysis of milk constituents and abnormal milk.

PubMed

Brandt, M; Haeussermann, A; Hartung, E

2010-02-01

Information about constituents of milk and visual alterations can be used for management support in improving mastitis detection, monitoring fertility and reproduction, and adapting individual diets. Numerous sensors that gather this information are either currently available or in development. Nevertheless, there is still a need to adapt these sensors to special requirements of on-farm utilization such as robustness, calibration and maintenance, costs, operating cycle duration, and high sensitivity and specificity. This paper provides an overview of available sensors, ongoing research, and areas of application for analysis of milk constituents. Currently, the recognition of abnormal milk and the control of udder health is achieved mainly by recording electrical conductivity and changes in milk color. Further indicators of inflammation were recently investigated either to satisfy the high specificity necessary for automatic separation of milk or to create reliable alarm lists. Likewise, milk composition, especially fat:protein ratio, milk urea nitrogen content, and concentration of ketone bodies, provides suitable information about energy and protein supply, roughage fraction in the diet, and metabolic imbalances in dairy cows. In this regard, future prospects are to use frequent on-farm measurements of milk constituents for short-term automatic nutritional management. Finally, measuring progesterone concentration in milk helps farmers detect ovulation, pregnancy, and infertility. Monitoring systems for on-farm or on-line analysis of milk composition are mostly based on infrared spectroscopy, optical methods, biosensors, or sensor arrays. Their calibration and maintenance requirements have to be checked thoroughly before they can be regularly implemented on dairy farms. Copyright 2010 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

UMLS content views appropriate for NLP processing of the biomedical literature vs. clinical text.

PubMed

Demner-Fushman, Dina; Mork, James G; Shooshan, Sonya E; Aronson, Alan R

2010-08-01

Identification of medical terms in free text is a first step in such Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks as automatic indexing of biomedical literature and extraction of patients' problem lists from the text of clinical notes. Many tools developed to perform these tasks use biomedical knowledge encoded in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus. We continue our exploration of automatic approaches to creation of subsets (UMLS content views) which can support NLP processing of either the biomedical literature or clinical text. We found that suppression of highly ambiguous terms in the conservative AutoFilter content view can partially replace manual filtering for literature applications, and suppression of two character mappings in the same content view achieves 89.5% precision at 78.6% recall for clinical applications. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A Theory of Term Importance in Automatic Text Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salton, G.; And Others

Most existing automatic content analysis and indexing techniques are based on work frequency characteristics applied largely in an ad hoc manner. Contradictory requirements arise in this connection, in that terms exhibiting high occurrence frequencies in individual documents are often useful for high recall performance (to retrieve many relevant…

Leaching of zinc compound from rubber stoppers into the contents of automatic atropine injectors.

PubMed

Ellin, R I; Kaminskis, A; Zvirblis, P; Sultan, W E; Shutz, M B; Matthews, R

1985-07-01

This report describes how a material within the cartridge of an automatic injector contaminated its contents. On prolonged storage, a formulation that contained atropine produced lethality in mice. The toxic material originated from zinc compounds that were present in the rubber stopper and plunger of the container and that subsequently leached into the formulation. The contents of cartridges that contained greater than or equal to 0.75 mg/mL of solubilized zinc were lethal to at least 20% of the mice tested; those that contained 0.42 mg/mL showed no lethality. The problem resulted from the physicochemical properties of the rubber, not the concentration of zinc used in the vulcanization process.

Image/text automatic indexing and retrieval system using context vector approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qing, Kent P.; Caid, William R.; Ren, Clara Z.; McCabe, Patrick

1995-11-01

Thousands of documents and images are generated daily both on and off line on the information superhighway and other media. Storage technology has improved rapidly to handle these data but indexing this information is becoming very costly. HNC Software Inc. has developed a technology for automatic indexing and retrieval of free text and images. This technique is demonstrated and is based on the concept of `context vectors' which encode a succinct representation of the associated text and features of sub-image. In this paper, we will describe the Automated Librarian System which was designed for free text indexing and the Image Content Addressable Retrieval System (ICARS) which extends the technique from the text domain into the image domain. Both systems have the ability to automatically assign indices for a new document and/or image based on the content similarities in the database. ICARS also has the capability to retrieve images based on similarity of content using index terms, text description, and user-generated images as a query without performing segmentation or object recognition.

Automatic geospatial information Web service composition based on ontology interface matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xianbin; Wu, Qunyong; Wang, Qinmin

2008-10-01

With Web services technology the functions of WebGIS can be presented as a kind of geospatial information service, and helped to overcome the limitation of the information-isolated situation in geospatial information sharing field. Thus Geospatial Information Web service composition, which conglomerates outsourced services working in tandem to offer value-added service, plays the key role in fully taking advantage of geospatial information services. This paper proposes an automatic geospatial information web service composition algorithm that employed the ontology dictionary WordNet to analyze semantic distances among the interfaces. Through making matching between input/output parameters and the semantic meaning of pairs of service interfaces, a geospatial information web service chain can be created from a number of candidate services. A practice of the algorithm is also proposed and the result of it shows the feasibility of this algorithm and the great promise in the emerging demand for geospatial information web service composition.

Cafe: A Generic Configurable Customizable Composite Cloud Application Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mietzner, Ralph; Unger, Tobias; Leymann, Frank

In this paper we present Cafe (Composite Application Framework) an approach to describe configurable composite service-oriented applications and to automatically provision them across different providers. Cafe enables independent software vendors to describe their composite service-oriented applications and the components that are used to assemble them. Components can be internal to the application or external and can be deployed in any of the delivery models present in the cloud. The components are annotated with requirements for the infrastructure they later need to be run on. Providers on the other hand advertise their infrastructure services by describing them as infrastructure capabilities. The separation of software vendors and providers enables end users and providers to follow a best-of-breed strategy by combining arbitrary applications with arbitrary providers. We show how such applications can be automatically provisioned and present an architecture and a prototype that implements the concepts.

Presentation video retrieval using automatically recovered slide and spoken text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooper, Matthew

2013-03-01

Video is becoming a prevalent medium for e-learning. Lecture videos contain text information in both the presentation slides and lecturer's speech. This paper examines the relative utility of automatically recovered text from these sources for lecture video retrieval. To extract the visual information, we automatically detect slides within the videos and apply optical character recognition to obtain their text. Automatic speech recognition is used similarly to extract spoken text from the recorded audio. We perform controlled experiments with manually created ground truth for both the slide and spoken text from more than 60 hours of lecture video. We compare the automatically extracted slide and spoken text in terms of accuracy relative to ground truth, overlap with one another, and utility for video retrieval. Results reveal that automatically recovered slide text and spoken text contain different content with varying error profiles. Experiments demonstrate that automatically extracted slide text enables higher precision video retrieval than automatically recovered spoken text.

Application of MPEG-7 descriptors for content-based indexing of sports videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoeynck, Michael; Auweiler, Thorsten; Ohm, Jens-Rainer

2003-06-01

The amount of multimedia data available worldwide is increasing every day. There is a vital need to annotate multimedia data in order to allow universal content access and to provide content-based search-and-retrieval functionalities. Since supervised video annotation can be time consuming, an automatic solution is appreciated. We review recent approaches to content-based indexing and annotation of videos for different kind of sports, and present our application for the automatic annotation of equestrian sports videos. Thereby, we especially concentrate on MPEG-7 based feature extraction and content description. We apply different visual descriptors for cut detection. Further, we extract the temporal positions of single obstacles on the course by analyzing MPEG-7 edge information and taking specific domain knowledge into account. Having determined single shot positions as well as the visual highlights, the information is jointly stored together with additional textual information in an MPEG-7 description scheme. Using this information, we generate content summaries which can be utilized in a user front-end in order to provide content-based access to the video stream, but further content-based queries and navigation on a video-on-demand streaming server.

Approach of automatic 3D geological mapping: the case of the Kovdor phoscorite-carbonatite complex, NW Russia.

PubMed

Kalashnikov, A O; Ivanyuk, G Yu; Mikhailova, J A; Sokharev, V A

2017-07-31

We have developed an approach for automatic 3D geological mapping based on conversion of chemical composition of rocks to mineral composition by logical computation. It allows to calculate mineral composition based on bulk rock chemistry, interpolate the mineral composition in the same way as chemical composition, and, finally, build a 3D geological model. The approach was developed for the Kovdor phoscorite-carbonatite complex containing the Kovdor baddeleyite-apatite-magnetite deposit. We used 4 bulk rock chemistry analyses - Fe magn , P 2 O 5 , CO 2 and SiO 2 . We used four techniques for prediction of rock types - calculation of normative mineral compositions (norms), multiple regression, artificial neural network and developed by logical evaluation. The two latter became the best. As a result, we distinguished 14 types of phoscorites (forsterite-apatite-magnetite-carbonate rock), carbonatite and host rocks. The results show good convergence with our petrographical studies of the deposit, and recent manually built maps. The proposed approach can be used as a tool of a deposit genesis reconstruction and preliminary geometallurgical modelling.

Personalized professional content recommendation

DOEpatents

Xu, Songhua

2015-10-27

A personalized content recommendation system includes a client interface configured to automatically monitor a user's information data stream transmitted on the Internet. A hybrid contextual behavioral and collaborative personal interest inference engine resident to a non-transient media generates automatic predictions about the interests of individual users of the system. A database server retains the user's personal interest profile based on a plurality of monitored information. The system also includes a server programmed to filter items in an incoming information stream with the personal interest profile and is further programmed to identify only those items of the incoming information stream that substantially match the personal interest profile.

Breaking the Cost Barrier in Automatic Classification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doyle, L. B.

A low-cost automatic classification method is reported that uses computer time in proportion to NlogN, where N is the number of information items and the base is a parameter, some barriers besides cost are treated briefly in the opening section, including types of intellectual resistance to the idea of doing classification by content-word…

Improving the Learning Experience of Business Subjects in Engineering Studies Using Automatic Spreadsheet Correctors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rafart Serra, Maria Assumpció; Bikfalvi, Andrea; Soler Masó, Josep; Prados Carrasco, Ferran; Poch Garcia, Jordi

2017-01-01

The combination of two macro trends, Information and Communication Technologies' (ICT) proliferation and novel approaches in education, has resulted in a series of opportunities with no precedent in terms of content, channels and methods in education. The present contribution aims to describe the experience of using an automatic spreadsheet…

Colour measurement of colostrum for estimation of colostral IgG and colostrum composition in dairy cows.

PubMed

Gross, Josef J; Kessler, Evelyne C; Bruckmaier, Rupert M

2014-11-01

Instruments for on-farm determination of colostrum quality such as refractometers and densimeters are increasingly used in dairy farms. The colour of colostrum is also supposed to reflect its quality. A paler or mature milk-like colour is associated with a lower colostrum value in terms of its general composition compared with a more yellowish and darker colour. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between colour measurement of colostrum using the CIELAB colour space (CIE L*=from white to black, a*=from red to green, b*=from yellow to blue, chroma value G=visual perceived colourfulness) and its composition. Dairy cow colostrum samples (n=117) obtained at 4·7±1·5 h after parturition were analysed for immunoglobulin G (IgG) by ELISA and for fat, protein and lactose by infrared spectroscopy. For colour measurements, a calibrated spectrophotometer was used. At a cut-off value of 50 mg IgG/ml, colour measurement had a sensitivity of 50·0%, a specificity of 49·5%, and a negative predictive value of 87·9%. Colostral IgG concentration was not correlated with the chroma value G, but with relative lightness L*. While milk fat content showed a relationship to the parameters L*, a*, b* and G from the colour measurement, milk protein content was not correlated with a*, but with L*, b*, and G. Lactose concentration in colostrum showed only a relationship with b* and G. In conclusion, parameters of the colour measurement showed clear relationships to colostral IgG, fat, protein and lactose concentration in dairy cows. Implementation of colour measuring devices in automatic milking systems and milking parlours might be a potential instrument to access colostrum quality as well as detecting abnormal milk.

Nebulized water cooling of the canopy affects leaf temperature, berry composition and wine quality of Sauvignon blanc.

PubMed

Paciello, Pericle; Mencarelli, Fabio; Palliotti, Alberto; Ceccantoni, Brunella; Thibon, Cécile; Darriet, Philippe; Pasquini, Massimiliano; Bellincontro, Andrea

2017-03-01

The present paper details a new technique based on spraying nebulized water on vine canopy to counteract the negative impact of the current wave of hot summers with temperatures above 30 °C, which usually determine negative effects on vine yield, grape composition and wine quality. The automatized spraying system was able to maintain air temperature at below 30 °C (the threshold temperature to start spraying) for all of August 2013, when in the canopy of uncooled vines the temperature was as high as 36 °C. The maintenance of temperature below 30 °C reduced leaf stress linked to high temperature and irradiance regimes as highlighted by the decrease of H 2 O 2 content and catalase activity in the leaves. A higher amount of total polyphenols and organic acids and lower sugars characterized the grapes of cooled vines. Wine from these grapes had a higher content of some volatile thiols like 3-sulfanylhexanol (3SH) and 3-sulfanylhexylacetate (3SHA), and lower content of 4-methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one (4MSP). Under conditions of high temperature and irradiance regimes, water nebulization on the vine canopy can represent a valid solution to reduce and/or avoid oxidative stress and associated effects in the leaves, ensure a regular berry ripening and maintain high wine quality. The consumption of water during nebulization was acceptable, being 180 L ha -1 min -1 , which lasted an average of about 1 min to reduce the temperature below the threshold value of 30 °C. A total of 85-90 hL (from 0.8 to 0.9 mm) of water per hectare per day was required. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Quantification of regional fat volume in rat MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sacha, Jaroslaw P.; Cockman, Michael D.; Dufresne, Thomas E.; Trokhan, Darren

2003-05-01

Multiple initiatives in the pharmaceutical and beauty care industries are directed at identifying therapies for weight management. Body composition measurements are critical for such initiatives. Imaging technologies that can be used to measure body composition noninvasively include DXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Unlike other approaches, MRI provides the ability to perform localized measurements of fat distribution. Several factors complicate the automatic delineation of fat regions and quantification of fat volumes. These include motion artifacts, field non-uniformity, brightness and contrast variations, chemical shift misregistration, and ambiguity in delineating anatomical structures. We have developed an approach to deal practically with those challenges. The approach is implemented in a package, the Fat Volume Tool, for automatic detection of fat tissue in MR images of the rat abdomen, including automatic discrimination between abdominal and subcutaneous regions. We suppress motion artifacts using masking based on detection of implicit landmarks in the images. Adaptive object extraction is used to compensate for intensity variations. This approach enables us to perform fat tissue detection and quantification in a fully automated manner. The package can also operate in manual mode, which can be used for verification of the automatic analysis or for performing supervised segmentation. In supervised segmentation, the operator has the ability to interact with the automatic segmentation procedures to touch-up or completely overwrite intermediate segmentation steps. The operator's interventions steer the automatic segmentation steps that follow. This improves the efficiency and quality of the final segmentation. Semi-automatic segmentation tools (interactive region growing, live-wire, etc.) improve both the accuracy and throughput of the operator when working in manual mode. The quality of automatic segmentation has been evaluated by comparing the results of fully automated analysis to manual analysis of the same images. The comparison shows a high degree of correlation that validates the quality of the automatic segmentation approach.

Efficient content-based low-altitude images correlated network and strips reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Haiqing; You, Qi; Chen, Xiaoyong

2017-01-01

The manual intervention method is widely used to reconstruct strips for further aerial triangulation in low-altitude photogrammetry. Clearly the method for fully automatic photogrammetric data processing is not an expected way. In this paper, we explore a content-based approach without manual intervention or external information for strips reconstruction. Feature descriptors in the local spatial patterns are extracted by SIFT to construct vocabulary tree, in which these features are encoded in terms of TF-IDF numerical statistical algorithm to generate new representation for each low-altitude image. Then images correlated network is reconstructed by similarity measure, image matching and geometric graph theory. Finally, strips are reconstructed automatically by tracing straight lines and growing adjacent images gradually. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is highly effective in automatically rearranging strips of lowaltitude images and can provide rough relative orientation for further aerial triangulation.

Active suppression of distractors that match the contents of visual working memory.

PubMed

Sawaki, Risa; Luck, Steven J

2011-08-01

The biased competition theory proposes that items matching the contents of visual working memory will automatically have an advantage in the competition for attention. However, evidence for an automatic effect has been mixed, perhaps because the memory-driven attentional bias can be overcome by top-down suppression. To test this hypothesis, the Pd component of the event-related potential waveform was used as a marker of attentional suppression. While observers maintained a color in working memory, task-irrelevant probe arrays were presented that contained an item matching the color being held in memory. We found that the memory-matching probe elicited a Pd component, indicating that it was being actively suppressed. This result suggests that sensory inputs matching the information being held in visual working memory are automatically detected and generate an "attend-to-me" signal, but this signal can be overridden by an active suppression mechanism to prevent the actual capture of attention.

Visual content highlighting via automatic extraction of embedded captions on MPEG compressed video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeo, Boon-Lock; Liu, Bede

1996-03-01

Embedded captions in TV programs such as news broadcasts, documentaries and coverage of sports events provide important information on the underlying events. In digital video libraries, such captions represent a highly condensed form of key information on the contents of the video. In this paper we propose a scheme to automatically detect the presence of captions embedded in video frames. The proposed method operates on reduced image sequences which are efficiently reconstructed from compressed MPEG video and thus does not require full frame decompression. The detection, extraction and analysis of embedded captions help to capture the highlights of visual contents in video documents for better organization of video, to present succinctly the important messages embedded in the images, and to facilitate browsing, searching and retrieval of relevant clips.

Use of a New "Moodle" Module for Improving the Teaching of a Basic Course on Computer Architecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trenas, M. A.; Ramos, J.; Gutierrez, E. D.; Romero, S.; Corbera, F.

2011-01-01

This paper describes how a new "Moodle" module, called "CTPracticals", is applied to the teaching of the practical content of a basic computer organization course. In the core of the module, an automatic verification engine enables it to process the VHDL designs automatically as they are submitted. Moreover, a straightforward…

Proceeding of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (1st, Roanoke, Virginia, June 24-28, 2001).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY.

Papers in this Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (Roanoke, Virginia, June 24-28, 2001) discuss: automatic genre analysis; text categorization; automated name authority control; automatic event generation; linked active content; designing e-books for legal research; metadata harvesting; mapping the…

Dissociating Working Memory Updating and Automatic Updating: The Reference-Back Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rac-Lubashevsky, Rachel; Kessler, Yoav

2016-01-01

Working memory (WM) updating is a controlled process through which relevant information in the environment is selected to enter the gate to WM and substitute its contents. We suggest that there is also an automatic form of updating, which influences performance in many tasks and is primarily manifested in reaction time sequential effects. The goal…

A New "Moodle" Module Supporting Automatic Verification of VHDL-Based Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gutierrez, Eladio; Trenas, Maria A.; Ramos, Julian; Corbera, Francisco; Romero, Sergio

2010-01-01

This work describes a new "Moodle" module developed to give support to the practical content of a basic computer organization course. This module goes beyond the mere hosting of resources and assignments. It makes use of an automatic checking and verification engine that works on the VHDL designs submitted by the students. The module automatically…

Management of natural resources through automatic cartographic inventory. [France

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rey, P.; Gourinard, Y.; Cambou, F. (Principal Investigator)

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. (1) Accurate recognition of previously known ground features from ERTS-1 imagery has been confirmed and a probable detection range for the major signatures can be given. (2) Unidentified elements, however, must be decoded by means of the equal densitometric value zone method. (3) Determination of these zonings involves an analogical treatment of images using the color equidensity methods (pseudo-color), color composites and especially temporal color composite (repetitive superposition). (4) After this analogical preparation, the digital equidensities can be processed by computer in the four MSS bands, according to a series of transfer operations from imagery and automatic cartography.

Automatic Generation of Supervisory Control System Software Using Graph Composition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakata, Hideo; Sano, Tatsuro; Kojima, Taizo; Seo, Kazuo; Uchida, Tomoyuki; Nakamura, Yasuaki

This paper describes the automatic generation of system descriptions for SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems. The proposed method produces various types of data and programs for SCADA systems from equipment definitions using conversion rules. At first, this method makes directed graphs, which represent connections between the equipment, from equipment definitions. System descriptions are generated using the conversion rules, by analyzing these directed graphs, and finding the groups of equipment that involve similar operations. This method can make the conversion rules multi levels by using the composition of graphs, and can reduce the number of rules. The developer can define and manage these rules efficiently.

Assume-Guarantee Abstraction Refinement Meets Hybrid Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bogomolov, Sergiy; Frehse, Goran; Greitschus, Marius; Grosu, Radu; Pasareanu, Corina S.; Podelski, Andreas; Strump, Thomas

2014-01-01

Compositional verification techniques in the assume- guarantee style have been successfully applied to transition systems to efficiently reduce the search space by leveraging the compositional nature of the systems under consideration. We adapt these techniques to the domain of hybrid systems with affine dynamics. To build assumptions we introduce an abstraction based on location merging. We integrate the assume-guarantee style analysis with automatic abstraction refinement. We have implemented our approach in the symbolic hybrid model checker SpaceEx. The evaluation shows its practical potential. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work combining assume-guarantee reasoning with automatic abstraction-refinement in the context of hybrid automata.

"UML Quiz": Automatic Conversion of Web-Based E-Learning Content in Mobile Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von Franqué, Alexander; Tellioglu, Hilda

2014-01-01

Many educational institutions use Learning Management Systems to provide e-learning content to their students. This often includes quizzes that can help students to prepare for exams. However, the content is usually web-optimized and not very usable on mobile devices. In this work a native mobile application ("UML Quiz") that imports…

Supporting the education evidence portal via text mining

PubMed Central

Ananiadou, Sophia; Thompson, Paul; Thomas, James; Mu, Tingting; Oliver, Sandy; Rickinson, Mark; Sasaki, Yutaka; Weissenbacher, Davy; McNaught, John

2010-01-01

The UK Education Evidence Portal (eep) provides a single, searchable, point of access to the contents of the websites of 33 organizations relating to education, with the aim of revolutionizing work practices for the education community. Use of the portal alleviates the need to spend time searching multiple resources to find relevant information. However, the combined content of the websites of interest is still very large (over 500 000 documents and growing). This means that searches using the portal can produce very large numbers of hits. As users often have limited time, they would benefit from enhanced methods of performing searches and viewing results, allowing them to drill down to information of interest more efficiently, without having to sift through potentially long lists of irrelevant documents. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded ASSIST project has produced a prototype web interface to demonstrate the applicability of integrating a number of text-mining tools and methods into the eep, to facilitate an enhanced searching, browsing and document-viewing experience. New features include automatic classification of documents according to a taxonomy, automatic clustering of search results according to similar document content, and automatic identification and highlighting of key terms within documents. PMID:20643679

Automatic information timeliness assessment of diabetes web sites by evidence based medicine.

PubMed

Sağlam, Rahime Belen; Taşkaya Temizel, Tuğba

2014-11-01

Studies on health domain have shown that health websites provide imperfect information and give recommendations which are not up to date with the recent literature even when their last modified dates are quite recent. In this paper, we propose a framework which assesses the timeliness of the content of health websites automatically by evidence based medicine. Our aim is to assess the accordance of website contents with the current literature and information timeliness disregarding the update time stated on the websites. The proposed method is based on automatic term recognition, relevance feedback and information retrieval techniques in order to generate time-aware structured queries. We tested the framework on diabetes health web sites which were archived between 2006 and 2013 by Archive-it using American Diabetes Association's (ADA) guidelines. The results showed that the proposed framework achieves 65% and 77% accuracy in detecting the timeliness of the web content according to years and pre-determined time intervals respectively. Information seekers and web site owners may benefit from the proposed framework in finding relevant and up-to-date diabetes web sites. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The development of the Athens Emotional States Inventory (AESI): collection, validation and automatic processing of emotionally loaded sentences.

PubMed

Chaspari, Theodora; Soldatos, Constantin; Maragos, Petros

2015-01-01

The development of ecologically valid procedures for collecting reliable and unbiased emotional data towards computer interfaces with social and affective intelligence targeting patients with mental disorders. Following its development, presented with, the Athens Emotional States Inventory (AESI) proposes the design, recording and validation of an audiovisual database for five emotional states: anger, fear, joy, sadness and neutral. The items of the AESI consist of sentences each having content indicative of the corresponding emotion. Emotional content was assessed through a survey of 40 young participants with a questionnaire following the Latin square design. The emotional sentences that were correctly identified by 85% of the participants were recorded in a soundproof room with microphones and cameras. A preliminary validation of AESI is performed through automatic emotion recognition experiments from speech. The resulting database contains 696 recorded utterances in Greek language by 20 native speakers and has a total duration of approximately 28 min. Speech classification results yield accuracy up to 75.15% for automatically recognizing the emotions in AESI. These results indicate the usefulness of our approach for collecting emotional data with reliable content, balanced across classes and with reduced environmental variability.

Automated Dispersion and Orientation Analysis for Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Polymer Composites

PubMed Central

Gao, Yi; Li, Zhuo; Lin, Ziyin; Zhu, Liangjia; Tannenbaum, Allen; Bouix, Sylvain; Wong, C.P.

2012-01-01

The properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composites are strongly dependent on the dispersion and orientation of CNTs in the host matrix. Quantification of the dispersion and orientation of CNTs by microstructure observation and image analysis has been demonstrated as a useful way to understand the structure-property relationship of CNT/polymer composites. However, due to the various morphologies and large amount of CNTs in one image, automatic and accurate identification of CNTs has become the bottleneck for dispersion/orientation analysis. To solve this problem, shape identification is performed for each pixel in the filler identification step, so that individual CNT can be exacted from images automatically. The improved filler identification enables more accurate analysis of CNT dispersion and orientation. The obtained dispersion index and orientation index of both synthetic and real images from model compounds correspond well with the observations. Moreover, these indices help to explain the electrical properties of CNT/Silicone composite, which is used as a model compound. This method can also be extended to other polymer composites with high aspect ratio fillers. PMID:23060008

Three-dimensional reconstruction from serial sections in PC-Windows platform by using 3D_Viewer.

PubMed

Xu, Yi-Hua; Lahvis, Garet; Edwards, Harlene; Pitot, Henry C

2004-11-01

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction from serial sections allows identification of objects of interest in 3D and clarifies the relationship among these objects. 3D_Viewer, developed in our laboratory for this purpose, has four major functions: image alignment, movie frame production, movie viewing, and shift-overlay image generation. Color images captured from serial sections were aligned; then the contours of objects of interest were highlighted in a semi-automatic manner. These 2D images were then automatically stacked at different viewing angles, and their composite images on a projected plane were recorded by an image transform-shift-overlay technique. These composition images are used in the object-rotation movie show. The design considerations of the program and the procedures used for 3D reconstruction from serial sections are described. This program, with a digital image-capture system, a semi-automatic contours highlight method, and an automatic image transform-shift-overlay technique, greatly speeds up the reconstruction process. Since images generated by 3D_Viewer are in a general graphic format, data sharing with others is easy. 3D_Viewer is written in MS Visual Basic 6, obtainable from our laboratory on request.

Automatic 1H-NMR Screening of Fatty Acid Composition in Edible Oils

PubMed Central

Castejón, David; Fricke, Pascal; Cambero, María Isabel; Herrera, Antonio

2016-01-01

In this work, we introduce an NMR-based screening method for the fatty acid composition analysis of edible oils. We describe the evaluation and optimization needed for the automated analysis of vegetable oils by low-field NMR to obtain the fatty acid composition (FAC). To achieve this, two scripts, which automatically analyze and interpret the spectral data, were developed. The objective of this work was to drive forward the automated analysis of the FAC by NMR. Due to the fact that this protocol can be carried out at low field and that the complete process from sample preparation to printing the report only takes about 3 min, this approach is promising to become a fundamental technique for high-throughput screening. To demonstrate the applicability of this method, the fatty acid composition of extra virgin olive oils from various Spanish olive varieties (arbequina, cornicabra, hojiblanca, manzanilla, and picual) was determined by 1H-NMR spectroscopy according to this protocol. PMID:26891323

Towards Automatic Classification of Wikipedia Content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szymański, Julian

Wikipedia - the Free Encyclopedia encounters the problem of proper classification of new articles everyday. The process of assignment of articles to categories is performed manually and it is a time consuming task. It requires knowledge about Wikipedia structure, which is beyond typical editor competence, which leads to human-caused mistakes - omitting or wrong assignments of articles to categories. The article presents application of SVM classifier for automatic classification of documents from The Free Encyclopedia. The classifier application has been tested while using two text representations: inter-documents connections (hyperlinks) and word content. The results of the performed experiments evaluated on hand crafted data show that the Wikipedia classification process can be partially automated. The proposed approach can be used for building a decision support system which suggests editors the best categories that fit new content entered to Wikipedia.

Composite Materials for Maxillofacial Prostheses.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-11-01

1(AXILLOFACIAL PROSTHESES; PROSTHETIC MATERIALS: MICROCAPSULES : SOFT FILLERS; ELASTOMER COMPOSITES *ASTRAC7 lCofIflU Ir F*vsda Side It neceOaeen anud...composite systems are elastomeric-shelled, liquid-filled microcapsules . Experiments continued on the interfacial polymerization process, with spherical...sealed, capsules achieved. The diamine bath has been E] improved and an automatic system has been developed for producing the microcapsules . The one

From Biology to Education: Scoring and Clustering Multilingual Text Sequences and Other Sequential. Research Report. ETS RR-12-25

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sukkarieh, Jane Z.; von Davier, Matthias; Yamamoto, Kentaro

2012-01-01

This document describes a solution to a problem in the automatic content scoring of the multilingual character-by-character highlighting item type. This solution is language independent and represents a significant enhancement. This solution not only facilitates automatic scoring but plays an important role in clustering students' responses;…

Machine Beats Experts: Automatic Discovery of Skill Models for Data-Driven Online Course Refinement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matsuda, Noboru; Furukawa, Tadanobu; Bier, Norman; Faloutsos, Christos

2015-01-01

How can we automatically determine which skills must be mastered for the successful completion of an online course? Large-scale online courses (e.g., MOOCs) often contain a broad range of contents frequently intended to be a semester's worth of materials; this breadth often makes it difficult to articulate an accurate set of skills and knowledge…

Supporting Semantic Annotation of Educational Content by Automatic Extraction of Hierarchical Domain Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vrablecová, Petra; Šimko, Marián

2016-01-01

The domain model is an essential part of an adaptive learning system. For each educational course, it involves educational content and semantics, which is also viewed as a form of conceptual metadata about educational content. Due to the size of a domain model, manual domain model creation is a challenging and demanding task for teachers or…

An Automatic Web Service Composition Framework Using QoS-Based Web Service Ranking Algorithm.

PubMed

Mallayya, Deivamani; Ramachandran, Baskaran; Viswanathan, Suganya

2015-01-01

Web service has become the technology of choice for service oriented computing to meet the interoperability demands in web applications. In the Internet era, the exponential addition of web services nominates the "quality of service" as essential parameter in discriminating the web services. In this paper, a user preference based web service ranking (UPWSR) algorithm is proposed to rank web services based on user preferences and QoS aspect of the web service. When the user's request cannot be fulfilled by a single atomic service, several existing services should be composed and delivered as a composition. The proposed framework allows the user to specify the local and global constraints for composite web services which improves flexibility. UPWSR algorithm identifies best fit services for each task in the user request and, by choosing the number of candidate services for each task, reduces the time to generate the composition plans. To tackle the problem of web service composition, QoS aware automatic web service composition (QAWSC) algorithm proposed in this paper is based on the QoS aspects of the web services and user preferences. The proposed framework allows user to provide feedback about the composite service which improves the reputation of the services.

An Automatic Web Service Composition Framework Using QoS-Based Web Service Ranking Algorithm

PubMed Central

Mallayya, Deivamani; Ramachandran, Baskaran; Viswanathan, Suganya

2015-01-01

Web service has become the technology of choice for service oriented computing to meet the interoperability demands in web applications. In the Internet era, the exponential addition of web services nominates the “quality of service” as essential parameter in discriminating the web services. In this paper, a user preference based web service ranking (UPWSR) algorithm is proposed to rank web services based on user preferences and QoS aspect of the web service. When the user's request cannot be fulfilled by a single atomic service, several existing services should be composed and delivered as a composition. The proposed framework allows the user to specify the local and global constraints for composite web services which improves flexibility. UPWSR algorithm identifies best fit services for each task in the user request and, by choosing the number of candidate services for each task, reduces the time to generate the composition plans. To tackle the problem of web service composition, QoS aware automatic web service composition (QAWSC) algorithm proposed in this paper is based on the QoS aspects of the web services and user preferences. The proposed framework allows user to provide feedback about the composite service which improves the reputation of the services. PMID:26504894

Landmark Image Retrieval by Jointing Feature Refinement and Multimodal Classifier Learning.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaoming; Wang, Senzhang; Li, Zhoujun; Ma, Shuai; Xiaoming Zhang; Senzhang Wang; Zhoujun Li; Shuai Ma; Ma, Shuai; Zhang, Xiaoming; Wang, Senzhang; Li, Zhoujun

2018-06-01

Landmark retrieval is to return a set of images with their landmarks similar to those of the query images. Existing studies on landmark retrieval focus on exploiting the geometries of landmarks for visual similarity matches. However, the visual content of social images is of large diversity in many landmarks, and also some images share common patterns over different landmarks. On the other side, it has been observed that social images usually contain multimodal contents, i.e., visual content and text tags, and each landmark has the unique characteristic of both visual content and text content. Therefore, the approaches based on similarity matching may not be effective in this environment. In this paper, we investigate whether the geographical correlation among the visual content and the text content could be exploited for landmark retrieval. In particular, we propose an effective multimodal landmark classification paradigm to leverage the multimodal contents of social image for landmark retrieval, which integrates feature refinement and landmark classifier with multimodal contents by a joint model. The geo-tagged images are automatically labeled for classifier learning. Visual features are refined based on low rank matrix recovery, and multimodal classification combined with group sparse is learned from the automatically labeled images. Finally, candidate images are ranked by combining classification result and semantic consistence measuring between the visual content and text content. Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach as compared to existing methods.

Automated apparatus for producing gradient gels

DOEpatents

Anderson, N.L.

1983-11-10

Apparatus for producing a gradient gel which serves as a standard medium for a two-dimensional analysis of proteins, the gel having a density gradient along its height formed by a variation in gel composition, with the apparatus including first and second pumping means each including a plurality of pumps on a common shaft and driven by a stepping motor capable of providing small incremental changes in pump outputs for the gel ingredients, the motors being controlled, by digital signals from a digital computer, a hollow form or cassette for receiving the gel composition, means for transferring the gel composition including a filler tube extending near the bottom of the cassette, adjustable horizontal and vertical arms for automatically removing and relocating the filler tube in the next cassette, and a digital computer programmed to automatically control the stepping motors, arm movements, and associated sensing operations involving the filling operation.

Automated apparatus for producing gradient gels

DOEpatents

Anderson, Norman L.

1986-01-01

Apparatus for producing a gradient gel which serves as a standard medium for a two-dimensional analysis of proteins, the gel having a density gradient along its height formed by a variation in gel composition, with the apparatus including first and second pumping means each including a plurality of pumps on a common shaft and driven by a stepping motor capable of providing small incremental changes in pump outputs for the gel ingredients, the motors being controlled, by digital signals from a digital computer, a hollow form or cassette for receiving the gel composition, means for transferring the gel composition including a filler tube extending near the bottom of the cassette, adjustable horizontal and vertical arms for automatically removing and relocating the filler tube in the next cassette, and a digital computer programmed to automatically control the stepping motors, arm movements, and associated sensing operations involving the filling operation.

Graphite composite truss welding and cap section forming subsystems. Volume 2: Program results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

The technology required to develop a beam builder which automatically fabricates long, continuous, lightweight, triangular truss members in space from graphite/thermoplastics composite materials is described. Objectives are: (1) continue the development of forming and welding methods for graphite/thermoplastic (GR/TP) composite material; (2) continue GR/TP materials technology development; and (3) fabricate and structurally test a lightweight truss segment.

Active suppression of distractors that match the contents of visual working memory

PubMed Central

Sawaki, Risa; Luck, Steven J.

2011-01-01

The biased competition theory proposes that items matching the contents of visual working memory will automatically have an advantage in the competition for attention. However, evidence for an automatic effect has been mixed, perhaps because the memory-driven attentional bias can be overcome by top-down suppression. To test this hypothesis, the Pd component of the event-related potential waveform was used as a marker of attentional suppression. While observers maintained a color in working memory, task-irrelevant probe arrays were presented that contained an item matching the color being held in memory. We found that the memory-matching probe elicited a Pd component, indicating that it was being actively suppressed. This result suggests that sensory inputs matching the information being held in visual working memory are automatically detected and generate an “attend-to-me” signal, but this signal can be overridden by an active suppression mechanism to prevent the actual capture of attention. PMID:22053147

Automatic portion estimation and visual refinement in mobile dietary assessment

PubMed Central

Woo, Insoo; Otsmo, Karl; Kim, SungYe; Ebert, David S.; Delp, Edward J.; Boushey, Carol J.

2011-01-01

As concern for obesity grows, the need for automated and accurate methods to monitor nutrient intake becomes essential as dietary intake provides a valuable basis for managing dietary imbalance. Moreover, as mobile devices with built-in cameras have become ubiquitous, one potential means of monitoring dietary intake is photographing meals using mobile devices and having an automatic estimate of the nutrient contents returned. One of the challenging problems of the image-based dietary assessment is the accurate estimation of food portion size from a photograph taken with a mobile digital camera. In this work, we describe a method to automatically calculate portion size of a variety of foods through volume estimation using an image. These “portion volumes” utilize camera parameter estimation and model reconstruction to determine the volume of food items, from which nutritional content is then extrapolated. In this paper, we describe our initial results of accuracy evaluation using real and simulated meal images and demonstrate the potential of our approach. PMID:22242198

Automatic portion estimation and visual refinement in mobile dietary assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woo, Insoo; Otsmo, Karl; Kim, SungYe; Ebert, David S.; Delp, Edward J.; Boushey, Carol J.

2010-01-01

As concern for obesity grows, the need for automated and accurate methods to monitor nutrient intake becomes essential as dietary intake provides a valuable basis for managing dietary imbalance. Moreover, as mobile devices with built-in cameras have become ubiquitous, one potential means of monitoring dietary intake is photographing meals using mobile devices and having an automatic estimate of the nutrient contents returned. One of the challenging problems of the image-based dietary assessment is the accurate estimation of food portion size from a photograph taken with a mobile digital camera. In this work, we describe a method to automatically calculate portion size of a variety of foods through volume estimation using an image. These "portion volumes" utilize camera parameter estimation and model reconstruction to determine the volume of food items, from which nutritional content is then extrapolated. In this paper, we describe our initial results of accuracy evaluation using real and simulated meal images and demonstrate the potential of our approach.

Haskell before Haskell: Curry's Contribution to Programming (1946-1950)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Mol, Liesbeth; Bullynck, Maarten; Carlé, Martin

This paper discusses Curry's work on how to implement the problem of inverse interpolation on the ENIAC (1946) and his subsequent work on developing a theory of program composition (1948-1950). It is shown that Curry anticipated automatic programming and that his logical work influenced his composition of programs.

Biodestruction of strongly swelling polymer hydrogels and its effect on the water retention capacity of soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smagin, A. V.; Sadovnikova, N. B.; Smagina, M. V.

2014-06-01

The biodestruction of strongly swelling polymer hydrogels (water adsorbing soil conditioners of the new generation) has been studied at the quantitative level using original mathematical models. In laboratory experiments, a relationship between the hydrogel degradation rate and the temperature has been obtained, and the effect of the biodestruction on the water retention curve of soil compositions with hydrogels (used as an index of their water retention capacity) has been assessed. From the automatic monitoring data of the temperature regime of soils, the potential biodestruction of hydrogels has been predicted for different climatic conditions. The loss of hydrogels during three months of the vegetation period because of destruction can exceed 30% of their initial content in irrigated agriculture under arid climatic conditions and more than 10% under humid climatic conditions. Thus, the biodestruction of hydrogels is one of the most important factors decreasing their efficiency under actual soil conditions.

Streamlining the supply chain.

PubMed

Neumann, Lydon

2003-07-01

Effective management of the supply chain requires attention to: Product management--formulary development and maintenance, compliance, clinical involvement, standardization, and demand-matching. Sourcing and contracting--vendor consolidation, GPO portfolio management, price leveling, content management, and direct contracting Purchasing and payment-cycle--automatic placement, web enablement, centralization, evaluated receipts settlement, and invoice matching Inventory and distribution management--"unofficial" and "official" locations, vendor-managed inventory, automatic replenishment, and freight management.

Parsing Citations in Biomedical Articles Using Conditional Random Fields

PubMed Central

Zhang, Qing; Cao, Yong-Gang; Yu, Hong

2011-01-01

Citations are used ubiquitously in biomedical full-text articles and play an important role for representing both the rhetorical structure and the semantic content of the articles. As a result, text mining systems will significantly benefit from a tool that automatically extracts the content of a citation. In this study, we applied the supervised machine-learning algorithms Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) to automatically parse a citation into its fields (e.g., Author, Title, Journal, and Year). With a subset of html format open-access PubMed Central articles, we report an overall 97.95% F1-score. The citation parser can be accessed at: http://www.cs.uwm.edu/~qing/projects/cithit/index.html. PMID:21419403

Document Exploration and Automatic Knowledge Extraction for Unstructured Biomedical Text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, S.; Totaro, G.; Doshi, N.; Thapar, S.; Mattmann, C. A.; Ramirez, P.

2015-12-01

We describe our work on building a web-browser based document reader with built-in exploration tool and automatic concept extraction of medical entities for biomedical text. Vast amounts of biomedical information are offered in unstructured text form through scientific publications and R&D reports. Utilizing text mining can help us to mine information and extract relevant knowledge from a plethora of biomedical text. The ability to employ such technologies to aid researchers in coping with information overload is greatly desirable. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in automatic biomedical concept extraction [1, 2] and intelligent PDF reader tools with the ability to search on content and find related articles [3]. Such reader tools are typically desktop applications and are limited to specific platforms. Our goal is to provide researchers with a simple tool to aid them in finding, reading, and exploring documents. Thus, we propose a web-based document explorer, which we called Shangri-Docs, which combines a document reader with automatic concept extraction and highlighting of relevant terms. Shangri-Docsalso provides the ability to evaluate a wide variety of document formats (e.g. PDF, Words, PPT, text, etc.) and to exploit the linked nature of the Web and personal content by performing searches on content from public sites (e.g. Wikipedia, PubMed) and private cataloged databases simultaneously. Shangri-Docsutilizes Apache cTAKES (clinical Text Analysis and Knowledge Extraction System) [4] and Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) to automatically identify and highlight terms and concepts, such as specific symptoms, diseases, drugs, and anatomical sites, mentioned in the text. cTAKES was originally designed specially to extract information from clinical medical records. Our investigation leads us to extend the automatic knowledge extraction process of cTAKES for biomedical research domain by improving the ontology guided information extraction process. We will describe our experience and implementation of our system and share lessons learned from our development. We will also discuss ways in which this could be adapted to other science fields. [1] Funk et al., 2014. [2] Kang et al., 2014. [3] Utopia Documents, http://utopiadocs.com [4] Apache cTAKES, http://ctakes.apache.org

Automated Fabrication Technologies for High Performance Polymer Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shuart , M. J.; Johnston, N. J.; Dexter, H. B.; Marchello, J. M.; Grenoble, R. W.

1998-01-01

New fabrication technologies are being exploited for building high graphite-fiber-reinforced composite structure. Stitched fiber preforms and resin film infusion have been successfully demonstrated for large, composite wing structures. Other automatic processes being developed include automated placement of tacky, drapable epoxy towpreg, automated heated head placement of consolidated ribbon/tape, and vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding. These methods have the potential to yield low cost high performance structures by fabricating composite structures to net shape out-of-autoclave.

A "room-temperature" injection molding/particulate leaching approach for fabrication of biodegradable three-dimensional porous scaffolds.

PubMed

Wu, Linbo; Jing, Dianying; Ding, Jiandong

2006-01-01

A "room-temperature" injection molding approach combined with particulate leaching (RTIM/PL) has been, for the first time, developed in this work to fabricate three-dimensional porous scaffolds composed of biodegradable polyesters for tissue engineering. In this approach, a "wet" composite of particulate/polymer/solvent was used in processing, and thus the injection was not performed at melting state. Appropriate viscosity and flowability were facilely obtained at a certain solvent content so that the composite was able to be injected into a mould under low pressure at room temperature, which was very beneficial for avoiding thermal degradation of polyesters. As a demonstration, tubular and ear-shaped porous scaffolds were fabricated from biodegradable poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) by this technology. Porosities of the resulting scaffolds were as high as 94%. The pores were well interconnected. Besides the well-known characteristics of injection molding to be suitable for automatization of a fabrication process with high repeatability and precision, this RTIM/PL approach is much suitable for tailoring highly porous foams with its advantages flexible for shaping complicated scaffolds, free of thermal degradation and high-pressure machine, etc.

Challenges in automatic sorting of construction and demolition waste by hyperspectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollstein, Frank; Cacho, Íñigo; Arnaiz, Sixto; Wohllebe, Markus

2016-05-01

EU-28 countries currently generate 460 Mt/year of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) and the generation rate is expected to reach around 570 Mt/year between 2025 and 2030. There is great potential for recycling C&DW materials since they are massively produced and content valuable resources. But new C&DW is more complex than existing one and there is a need for shifting from traditional recycling approaches to novel recycling solutions. One basic step to achieve this objective is an improvement in (automatic) sorting technology. Hyperspectral Imaging is a promising candidate to support the process. However, the industrial distribution of Hyperspectral Imaging in the C&DW recycling branch is currently insufficiently pronounced due to high investment costs, still insufficient robustness of optical sensor hardware in harsh ambient conditions and, because of the need of sensor fusion, not well-engineered special software methods to perform the (on line) sorting tasks. Thereby frame rates of over 300 Hz are needed for a successful sorting result. Currently the biggest challenges with regard to C&DW detection cover the need of overlapping VIS, NIR and SWIR hyperspectral images in time and space, in particular for selective recognition of contaminated particles. In the study on hand a new approach for hyperspectral imagers is presented by exploiting SWIR hyperspectral information in real time (with 300 Hz). The contribution describes both laboratory results with regard to optical detection of the most important C&DW material composites as well as a development path for an industrial implementation in automatic sorting and separation lines. The main focus is placed on the closure of the two recycling circuits "grey to grey" and "red to red" because of their outstanding potential for sustainability in conservation of construction resources.

Multimodal Excitatory Interfaces with Automatic Content Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williamson, John; Murray-Smith, Roderick

We describe a non-visual interface for displaying data on mobile devices, based around active exploration: devices are shaken, revealing the contents rattling around inside. This combines sample-based contact sonification with event playback vibrotactile feedback for a rich and compelling display which produces an illusion much like balls rattling inside a box. Motion is sensed from accelerometers, directly linking the motions of the user to the feedback they receive in a tightly closed loop. The resulting interface requires no visual attention and can be operated blindly with a single hand: it is reactive rather than disruptive. This interaction style is applied to the display of an SMS inbox. We use language models to extract salient features from text messages automatically. The output of this classification process controls the timbre and physical dynamics of the simulated objects. The interface gives a rapid semantic overview of the contents of an inbox, without compromising privacy or interrupting the user.

All-automatic swimmer tracking system based on an optimized scaled composite JTC technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benarab, D.; Napoléon, T.; Alfalou, A.; Verney, A.; Hellard, P.

2016-04-01

In this paper, an all-automatic optimized JTC based swimmer tracking system is proposed and evaluated on real video database outcome from national and international swimming competitions (French National Championship, Limoges 2015, FINA World Championships, Barcelona 2013 and Kazan 2015). First, we proposed to calibrate the swimming pool using the DLT algorithm (Direct Linear Transformation). DLT calculates the homography matrix given a sufficient set of correspondence points between pixels and metric coordinates: i.e. DLT takes into account the dimensions of the swimming pool and the type of the swim. Once the swimming pool is calibrated, we extract the lane. Then we apply a motion detection approach to detect globally the swimmer in this lane. Next, we apply our optimized Scaled Composite JTC which consists of creating an adapted input plane that contains the predicted region and the head reference image. This latter is generated using a composite filter of fin images chosen from the database. The dimension of this reference will be scaled according to the ratio between the head's dimension and the width of the swimming lane. Finally, applying the proposed approach improves the performances of our previous tracking method by adding a detection module in order to achieve an all-automatic swimmer tracking system.

Social and Collaborative Interactions for Educational Content Enrichment in ULEs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Araújo, Rafael D.; Brant-Ribeiro, Taffarel; Mendonça, Igor E. S.; Mendes, Miller M.; Dorça, Fabiano A.; Cattelan, Renan G.

2017-01-01

This article presents a social and collaborative model for content enrichment in Ubiquitous Learning Environments. Designed as a loosely coupled software architecture, the proposed model was implemented and integrated into the Classroom eXperience, a multimedia capture platform for educational environments. After automatically recording a lecture…

An automatic fuzzy-based multi-temporal brain digital subtraction angiography image fusion algorithm using curvelet transform and content selection strategy.

PubMed

Momeni, Saba; Pourghassem, Hossein

2014-08-01

Recently image fusion has prominent role in medical image processing and is useful to diagnose and treat many diseases. Digital subtraction angiography is one of the most applicable imaging to diagnose brain vascular diseases and radiosurgery of brain. This paper proposes an automatic fuzzy-based multi-temporal fusion algorithm for 2-D digital subtraction angiography images. In this algorithm, for blood vessel map extraction, the valuable frames of brain angiography video are automatically determined to form the digital subtraction angiography images based on a novel definition of vessel dispersion generated by injected contrast material. Our proposed fusion scheme contains different fusion methods for high and low frequency contents based on the coefficient characteristic of wrapping second generation of curvelet transform and a novel content selection strategy. Our proposed content selection strategy is defined based on sample correlation of the curvelet transform coefficients. In our proposed fuzzy-based fusion scheme, the selection of curvelet coefficients are optimized by applying weighted averaging and maximum selection rules for the high frequency coefficients. For low frequency coefficients, the maximum selection rule based on local energy criterion is applied to better visual perception. Our proposed fusion algorithm is evaluated on a perfect brain angiography image dataset consisting of one hundred 2-D internal carotid rotational angiography videos. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed fusion algorithm in comparison with common and basic fusion algorithms.

The roots of stereotype threat: when automatic associations disrupt girls' math performance.

PubMed

Galdi, Silvia; Cadinu, Mara; Tomasetto, Carlo

2014-01-01

Although stereotype awareness is a prerequisite for stereotype threat effects (Steele & Aronson, 1995), research showed girls' deficit under stereotype threat before the emergence of math-gender stereotype awareness, and in the absence of stereotype endorsement. In a study including 240 six-year-old children, this paradox was addressed by testing whether automatic associations trigger stereotype threat in young girls. Whereas no indicators were found that children endorsed the math-gender stereotype, girls, but not boys, showed automatic associations consistent with the stereotype. Moreover, results showed that girls' automatic associations varied as a function of a manipulation regarding the stereotype content. Importantly, girls' math performance decreased in a stereotype-consistent, relative to a stereotype-inconsistent, condition and automatic associations mediated the relation between stereotype threat and performance. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Physical and biochemical properties of airborne flour particles involved in occupational asthma.

PubMed

Laurière, Michel; Gorner, Peter; Bouchez-Mahiout, Isabelle; Wrobel, Richard; Breton, Christine; Fabriès, Jean-François; Choudat, Dominique

2008-11-01

Aerosol particles which deeply penetrate the human airways and which trigger baker's asthma manifestations are known to represent only a part of flour and of airborne particles found in bakeries. They were a major focus of this study. To this end, aerosols were produced from different wheat and rye flours, using an automatic generator designed for bronchial challenge. Particles were characterized for their size distribution, their ability to be deposited in the airways, their protein content, their histological composition and their reactivity with immunoglobulin E (IgE) present in sera from asthmatic bakers. Like dust particles collected in the bakery, the aerosols produced showed increased protein content but decreased IgE reactive protein content when compared to the corresponding bulk flours. The sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of these particles showed a predominance of endosperm gluten proteins. Under scanning electron microscopy, flour particles displayed various tissue fragments with entrapped large A-starch and small B- or C-starch granules, whereas aerosol particles appeared primarily as a mixture of the endosperm intracellular interstitial protein matrix and small B- or C-starch granules free or still associated. These observations showed that aerosols supposed to penetrate deeply the airways, mainly correspond to intracellular fragments of endosperm cells enriched in gluten proteins but with lower amount of allergens belonging to albumins or globulins.

Development of a beam builder for automatic fabrication of large composite space structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bodle, J. G.

1979-01-01

The composite material beam builder which will produce triangular beams from pre-consolidated graphite/glass/thermoplastic composite material through automated mechanical processes is presented, side member storage, feed and positioning, ultrasonic welding, and beam cutoff are formed. Each process lends itself to modular subsystem development. Initial development is concentrated on the key processes for roll forming and ultrasonic welding composite thermoplastic materials. The construction and test of an experimental roll forming machine and ultrasonic welding process control techniques are described.

The content and process of self-stigma in people with mental illness.

PubMed

Chan, Kevin K S; Mak, Winnie W S

2017-01-01

Although many individuals with mental illness may self-concur with the "content" of stigmatizing thoughts at some point in their lives, they may have varying degrees of habitual recurrence of such thoughts, which could exacerbate their experience of self-stigma and perpetuate its damaging effects on their mental health. Although it is important to understand the "process" of how self-stigmatizing thoughts are sustained and perpetuated over time, no research to date has conceptualized and distinguished the habitual process of self-stigma from its cognitive content. Thus, the present study aims to develop and validate a measure of the habitual process of self-stigma-the Self-stigmatizing Thinking's Automaticity and Repetition Scale (STARS). In this study, 189 individuals with mental illness completed the STARS, along with several explicit (self-report) and implicit (response latency) measures of theoretically related constructs. Consistent with theories of mental habit, an exploratory factor analysis of the STARS items identified a 2-factor structure that represents the repetition (4 items) and automaticity (4 items) of self-stigmatization. The reliability of the STARS was supported by a Cronbach's α of .90, and its validity was supported by its significant correlations with theoretical predictors (content of self-stigma, experiential avoidance, and lack of mindfulness), expected outcomes (decreased self-esteem, life satisfaction, and recovery), and the Brief Implicit Association Tests measuring the automatic processing of self-stigmatizing information. With the validation of the STARS, future research can consider both the content and process of self-stigma so that a richer picture of its development, perpetuation, and influence can be captured. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Strength, Fracture Toughness, and Slow Crack Growth of Zirconia/alumina Composites at Elevated Temperature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Sung R.; Bansal, Narottam P.

2003-01-01

Various electrolyte materials for solid oxide fuel cells were fabricated by hot pressing 10 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (10-YSZ) reinforced with two different forms of alumina particulates and platelets each containing 0 to 30 mol% alumina. Flexure strength and fracture toughness of platelet composites were determined as a function of alumina content at 1000 C in air and compared with those of particulate composites determined previously. In general, elevated-temperature strength and fracture toughness of both composite systems increased with increasing alumina content. For a given alumina content, flexure strength of particulate composites was greater than that of platelet composites at higher alumina contents (greater than or equal to 20 mol%), whereas, fracture toughness was greater in platelet composites than in particulate composites, regardless of alumina content. The results of slow crack growth (SCG) testing, determined at 1000 C via dynamic fatigue testing for three different composites including 0 mol% (10-YSZ matrix), 30 mol % particulate and 30 mol% platelet composites, showed that susceptibility to SCG was greatest with SCG parameter n = 6 to 8 for both 0 and 30 mol% particulate composites and was least with n = 33 for the 30 mol% platelet composite.

Effect of Al content on impact resistance behavior of Al-Ti-B4C composite fabricated under air atmosphere.

PubMed

Zhao, Qian; Liang, Yunhong; Zhang, Zhihui; Li, Xiujuan; Ren, Luquan

2016-12-01

Reaction behavior, mechanical property and impact resistance of TiC-TiB 2 /Al composite reacted from Al-Ti-B 4 C system with various Al content via combination method of combustion synthesis and hot pressed sintering under air was investigated. Al content was the key point to the variation of mechanical property and impact resistance. Increasing Al content could increase the density, strength and toughness of the composite. Due to exorbitant ceramic content, 10wt.% and 20wt.% Al-Ti-B 4 C composites exhibited poor molding ability and machinability. Flexural strength, fracture toughness, compressive strength and impact toughness of 30-50wt.% Al-Ti-B 4 C composite were higher than those of Al matrix. The intergranular fracture dispersed and defused impact load and restricted crack extension, enhancing the impact resistance of the composite. The composite with 50wt.% Al content owned highest mechanical properties and impact resistance. The results were useful for the application of TiC-TiB 2 /Al composite in impact resistance field of ceramic reinforced Al matrix composite. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic video shot boundary detection using k-means clustering and improved adaptive dual threshold comparison

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sa, Qila; Wang, Zhihui

2018-03-01

At present, content-based video retrieval (CBVR) is the most mainstream video retrieval method, using the video features of its own to perform automatic identification and retrieval. This method involves a key technology, i.e. shot segmentation. In this paper, the method of automatic video shot boundary detection with K-means clustering and improved adaptive dual threshold comparison is proposed. First, extract the visual features of every frame and divide them into two categories using K-means clustering algorithm, namely, one with significant change and one with no significant change. Then, as to the classification results, utilize the improved adaptive dual threshold comparison method to determine the abrupt as well as gradual shot boundaries.Finally, achieve automatic video shot boundary detection system.

Content-based analysis of news video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Junqing; Zhou, Dongru; Liu, Huayong; Cai, Bo

2001-09-01

In this paper, we present a schema for content-based analysis of broadcast news video. First, we separate commercials from news using audiovisual features. Then, we automatically organize news programs into a content hierarchy at various levels of abstraction via effective integration of video, audio, and text data available from the news programs. Based on these news video structure and content analysis technologies, a TV news video Library is generated, from which users can retrieve definite news story according to their demands.

Proximate composition and caloric content of eight Lake Michigan fishes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rottiers, Donald V.; Tucker, Robert M.

1982-01-01

We measured the proximate composition (percentage lipid, water, fat-free dry material, ash) and caloric content of eight species of Lake Michigan fish: lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), bloater (Coregonus hoyi), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis), and slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus). Except for alewives, proximate composition and caloric content did not differ significantly between males and females. And, for coho salmon, there was no significant difference in composition between fish collected in different years. Lipid and caloric content of lake trout increased directly with age. In all species examined, lipids and caloric contents were significantly lower in small, presumably immature, fish than in larger, older fish. Lipid content of lake trout, lake whitefish, and bloaters (range of means, 16-22%) was nearly 3 times higher than that of coho salmon, sculpins, rainbow smelt, and alewives (range of means, 5.2-7.0%). The mean caloric content ranged from 6.9 to 7.1 kcal/g for species high in lipids and from 5.8 to 6.3 kcal/g for species low in lipids. Although the caloric content of all species varied directly with lipid content and inversely with water content, an increase in lipid content did not always coincide with a proportional increase in caloric content when other components of fish composition were essentially unchanged. This observation suggests that the energy content of fish estimated from the proximate composition by using universal conversion factors may not necessarily be accurate.

intelligentCAPTURE 1.0 Adds Tables of Content to Library Catalogues and Improves Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauer, Manfred; Simedy, Walton

2002-01-01

Describes an online library catalog that was developed for an Austrian scientific library that includes table of contents in addition to the standard bibliographic information in order to increase relevance for searchers. Discusses the technology involved, including OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and automatic indexing techniques; weighted…

Integrating personalized medical test contents with XML and XSL-FO.

PubMed

Toddenroth, Dennis; Dugas, Martin; Frankewitsch, Thomas

2011-03-01

In 2004 the adoption of a modular curriculum at the medical faculty in Muenster led to the introduction of centralized examinations based on multiple-choice questions (MCQs). We report on how organizational challenges of realizing faculty-wide personalized tests were addressed by implementation of a specialized software module to automatically generate test sheets from individual test registrations and MCQ contents. Key steps of the presented method for preparing personalized test sheets are (1) the compilation of relevant item contents and graphical media from a relational database with database queries, (2) the creation of Extensible Markup Language (XML) intermediates, and (3) the transformation into paginated documents. The software module by use of an open source print formatter consistently produced high-quality test sheets, while the blending of vectorized textual contents and pixel graphics resulted in efficient output file sizes. Concomitantly the module permitted an individual randomization of item sequences to prevent illicit collusion. The automatic generation of personalized MCQ test sheets is feasible using freely available open source software libraries, and can be efficiently deployed on a faculty-wide scale.

Analysis of the chemical composition of ultrafine particles from two domestic solid biomass fired room heaters under simulated real-world use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozgen, Senem; Becagli, Silvia; Bernardoni, Vera; Caserini, Stefano; Caruso, Donatella; Corbella, Lorenza; Dell'Acqua, Manuela; Fermo, Paola; Gonzalez, Raquel; Lonati, Giovanni; Signorini, Stefano; Tardivo, Ruggero; Tosi, Elisa; Valli, Gianluigi; Vecchi, Roberta; Marinovich, Marina

2017-02-01

Two common types of wood (beech and fir) were burned in commercial pellet (11.1 kW) and wood (8.2 kW) stoves following a combustion cycle simulating the behavior of a real-world user. Ultrafine particulate matter (UFP, dp < 100 nm) was sampled with three parallel multistage impactors and analyzed for metals, main water soluble ions, anhydrosugars, total carbon, and PAH content. The measurement of the number concentration and size distribution was also performed by a fourth multistage impactor. UFP mass emission factors averaged to 424 mg/kgfuel for all the tested stove and wood type (fir, beech) combinations except for beech log burning in the wood stove (838 mg/kgfuel). Compositional differences were observed for pellets and wood UFP samples, where high TC levels characterize the wood log combustion and potassium salts are dominant in every pellet sample. Crucial aspects determining the UFP composition in the wood stove experiments are critical situations in terms of available oxygen (a lack or an excess of combustion air) and high temperatures. Whereas for the automatically controlled pellets stove local situations (e.g., hindered air-fuel mixing due to heaps of pellets on the burner pot) determine the emission levels and composition. Wood samples contain more potentially carcinogenic PAHs with respect to pellets samples. Some diagnostic ratios related to PAH isomers and anhydrosugars compiled from experimental UFP data in the present study and compared to literature values proposed for the emission source discrimination for atmospheric aerosol, extend the evaluation usually limited to higher particle size fractions also to UFP.

Content-aware automatic cropping for consumer photos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Hao; Tretter, Daniel; Lin, Qian

2013-03-01

Consumer photos are typically authored once, but need to be retargeted for reuse in various situations. These include printing a photo on different size paper, changing the size and aspect ratio of an embedded photo to accommodate the dynamic content layout of web pages or documents, adapting a large photo for browsing on small displays such as mobile phone screens, and improving the aesthetic quality of a photo that was badly composed at the capture time. In this paper, we propose a novel, effective, and comprehensive content-aware automatic cropping (hereafter referred to as "autocrop") method for consumer photos to achieve the above purposes. Our autocrop method combines the state-of-the-art context-aware saliency detection algorithm, which aims to infer the likely intent of the photographer, and the "branch-and-bound" efficient subwindow search optimization technique, which seeks to locate the globally optimal cropping rectangle in a fast manner. Unlike most current autocrop methods, which can only crop a photo into an arbitrary rectangle, our autocrop method can automatically crop a photo into either a rectangle of arbitrary dimensions or a rectangle of the desired aspect ratio specified by the user. The aggressiveness of the cropping operation may be either automatically determined by the method or manually indicated by the user with ease. In addition, our autocrop method is extended to support the cropping of a photo into non-rectangular shapes such as polygons of any number of sides. It may also be potentially extended to return multiple cropping suggestions, which will enable the creation of new photos to enrich the original photo collections. Our experimental results show that the proposed autocrop method in this paper can generate high-quality crops for consumer photos of various types.

Inhibitory mechanism of the matching heuristic in syllogistic reasoning.

PubMed

Tse, Ping Ping; Moreno Ríos, Sergio; García-Madruga, Juan Antonio; Bajo Molina, María Teresa

2014-11-01

A number of heuristic-based hypotheses have been proposed to explain how people solve syllogisms with automatic processes. In particular, the matching heuristic employs the congruency of the quantifiers in a syllogism—by matching the quantifier of the conclusion with those of the two premises. When the heuristic leads to an invalid conclusion, successful solving of these conflict problems requires the inhibition of automatic heuristic processing. Accordingly, if the automatic processing were based on processing the set of quantifiers, no semantic contents would be inhibited. The mental model theory, however, suggests that people reason using mental models, which always involves semantic processing. Therefore, whatever inhibition occurs in the processing implies the inhibition of the semantic contents. We manipulated the validity of the syllogism and the congruency of the quantifier of its conclusion with those of the two premises according to the matching heuristic. A subsequent lexical decision task (LDT) with related words in the conclusion was used to test any inhibition of the semantic contents after each syllogistic evaluation trial. In the LDT, the facilitation effect of semantic priming diminished after correctly solved conflict syllogisms (match-invalid or mismatch-valid), but was intact after no-conflict syllogisms. The results suggest the involvement of an inhibitory mechanism of semantic contents in syllogistic reasoning when there is a conflict between the output of the syntactic heuristic and actual validity. Our results do not support a uniquely syntactic process of syllogistic reasoning but fit with the predictions based on mental model theory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Data sonification and sound visualization.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kaper, H. G.; Tipei, S.; Wiebel, E.

1999-07-01

Sound can help us explore and analyze complex data sets in scientific computing. The authors describe a digital instrument for additive sound synthesis (Diass) and a program to visualize sounds in a virtual reality environment (M4Cave). Both are part of a comprehensive music composition environment that includes additional software for computer-assisted composition and automatic music notation.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Method for Monitoring Water Content in Epoxy Resins and Fiber-Reinforced Composites

PubMed Central

Gagani, Abedin I.; Echtermeyer, Andreas T.

2018-01-01

Monitoring water content and predicting the water-induced drop in strength of fiber-reinforced composites are of great importance for the oil and gas and marine industries. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic methods are broadly available and often used for process and quality control in industrial applications. A benefit of using such spectroscopic methods over the conventional gravimetric analysis is the possibility to deduce the mass of an absolutely dry material and subsequently the true water content, which is an important indicator of water content-dependent properties. The objective of this study is to develop an efficient and detailed method for estimating the water content in epoxy resins and fiber-reinforced composites. In this study, Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was applied to measure the water content of amine-epoxy neat resin. The method was developed and successfully extended to glass fiber-reinforced composite materials. Based on extensive measurements of neat resin and composite samples of varying water content and thickness, regression was performed, and the quantitative absorbance dependence on water content in the material was established. The mass of an absolutely dry resin was identified, and the true water content was obtained. The method was related to the Beer–Lambert law and explained in such terms. A detailed spectroscopic method for measuring water content in resins and fiber-reinforced composites was developed and described. PMID:29641451

Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Method for Monitoring Water Content in Epoxy Resins and Fiber-Reinforced Composites.

PubMed

Krauklis, Andrey E; Gagani, Abedin I; Echtermeyer, Andreas T

2018-04-11

Monitoring water content and predicting the water-induced drop in strength of fiber-reinforced composites are of great importance for the oil and gas and marine industries. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic methods are broadly available and often used for process and quality control in industrial applications. A benefit of using such spectroscopic methods over the conventional gravimetric analysis is the possibility to deduce the mass of an absolutely dry material and subsequently the true water content, which is an important indicator of water content-dependent properties. The objective of this study is to develop an efficient and detailed method for estimating the water content in epoxy resins and fiber-reinforced composites. In this study, Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was applied to measure the water content of amine-epoxy neat resin. The method was developed and successfully extended to glass fiber-reinforced composite materials. Based on extensive measurements of neat resin and composite samples of varying water content and thickness, regression was performed, and the quantitative absorbance dependence on water content in the material was established. The mass of an absolutely dry resin was identified, and the true water content was obtained. The method was related to the Beer-Lambert law and explained in such terms. A detailed spectroscopic method for measuring water content in resins and fiber-reinforced composites was developed and described.

Seamless presentation capture, indexing, and management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilbert, David M.; Cooper, Matthew; Denoue, Laurent; Adcock, John; Billsus, Daniel

2005-10-01

Technology abounds for capturing presentations. However, no simple solution exists that is completely automatic. ProjectorBox is a "zero user interaction" appliance that automatically captures, indexes, and manages presentation multimedia. It operates continuously to record the RGB information sent from presentation devices, such as a presenter's laptop, to display devices, such as a projector. It seamlessly captures high-resolution slide images, text and audio. It requires no operator, specialized software, or changes to current presentation practice. Automatic media analysis is used to detect presentation content and segment presentations. The analysis substantially enhances the web-based user interface for browsing, searching, and exporting captured presentations. ProjectorBox has been in use for over a year in our corporate conference room, and has been deployed in two universities. Our goal is to develop automatic capture services that address both corporate and educational needs.

Linguistically informed digital fingerprints for text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzuner, Özlem

2006-02-01

Digital fingerprinting, watermarking, and tracking technologies have gained importance in the recent years in response to growing problems such as digital copyright infringement. While fingerprints and watermarks can be generated in many different ways, use of natural language processing for these purposes has so far been limited. Measuring similarity of literary works for automatic copyright infringement detection requires identifying and comparing creative expression of content in documents. In this paper, we present a linguistic approach to automatically fingerprinting novels based on their expression of content. We use natural language processing techniques to generate "expression fingerprints". These fingerprints consist of both syntactic and semantic elements of language, i.e., syntactic and semantic elements of expression. Our experiments indicate that syntactic and semantic elements of expression enable accurate identification of novels and their paraphrases, providing a significant improvement over techniques used in text classification literature for automatic copy recognition. We show that these elements of expression can be used to fingerprint, label, or watermark works; they represent features that are essential to the character of works and that remain fairly consistent in the works even when works are paraphrased. These features can be directly extracted from the contents of the works on demand and can be used to recognize works that would not be correctly identified either in the absence of pre-existing labels or by verbatim-copy detectors.

School Fire Protection: Contents Count

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American School and University, 1976

1976-01-01

The heart of a fire protection system is the sprinkler system. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) statistics show that automatic sprinklers dramatically reduce fire damage and loss of life. (Author)

Epigenome-wide association studies without the need for cell-type composition.

PubMed

Zou, James; Lippert, Christoph; Heckerman, David; Aryee, Martin; Listgarten, Jennifer

2014-03-01

In epigenome-wide association studies, cell-type composition often differs between cases and controls, yielding associations that simply tag cell type rather than reveal fundamental biology. Current solutions require actual or estimated cell-type composition--information not easily obtainable for many samples of interest. We propose a method, FaST-LMM-EWASher, that automatically corrects for cell-type composition without the need for explicit knowledge of it, and then validate our method by comparison with the state-of-the-art approach. Corresponding software is available from http://www.microsoft.com/science/.

Predicate Abstraction of ANSI-C Programs using SAT

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-09-23

compositionally and automatically. In Alan J. Hu and Moshe Y. Vardi, editors, Computer-Aided Verification, CAV ’98, volume 1427, pages 319–331, Vancouver...Languages, POPL ’77, pages 238–252, 1977. [14] David W. Currie, Alan J. Hu, Sreeranga Rajan, and Masahira Fujita. Automatic formal verification of dsp...Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), 2(4):564–79, 1980. [19] A. Gupta, Z. Yang, P. Ashar , and A. Gupta. SAT-based image computation with application in

A content-based retrieval of mammographic masses using the curvelet descriptor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narváez, Fabian; Díaz, Gloria; Gómez, Francisco; Romero, Eduardo

2012-03-01

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) that uses content based image retrieval (CBIR) strategies has became an important research area. This paper presents a retrieval strategy that automatically recovers mammography masses from a virtual repository of mammographies. Unlike other approaches, we do not attempt to segment masses but instead we characterize the regions previously selected by an expert. These regions are firstly curvelet transformed and further characterized by approximating the marginal curvelet subband distribution with a generalized gaussian density (GGD). The content based retrieval strategy searches similar regions in a database using the Kullback-Leibler divergence as the similarity measure between distributions. The effectiveness of the proposed descriptor was assessed by comparing the automatically assigned label with a ground truth available in the DDSM database.1 A total of 380 masses with different shapes, sizes and margins were used for evaluation, resulting in a mean average precision rate of 89.3% and recall rate of 75.2% for the retrieval task.

Cosputtering crystal growth of zinc oxide-based composite films: From the effects of doping to phase on photoactivity and gas sensing properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Yuan-Chang; Lee, Chia-Min

2016-10-01

ZnO-In2O3 (InO) composite thin films were grown by radio frequency cosputtering ZnO and InO ceramic targets in this study. The indium content of the composite films was varied from 1.7 at. % to 8.2 at. % by varying the InO sputtering power during cosputtering thin-film growth. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis results show that the high indium content leads to the formation of a separated InO phase in the ZnO matrix. The surface crystallite size and roughness of the ZnO-InO composite films grown here increased with an increasing indium content. Furthermore, under the conditions of a higher indium content and InO sputtering power, the number of crystal defects in the composite films increased, and the optical absorbance edge of the composite films broadened. The photoactivity and ethanol gas sensing response of the ZnO-InO composite films increased as their indium content increased; this finding is highly correlated with the microstructural evolution of ZnO-InO composite films of various indium contents, which is achieved by varying the InO sputtering power during cosputtering.

Reflective and Non-conscious Responses to Exercise Images

PubMed Central

Cope, Kathryn; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Short, Camille E.; Conroy, David E.; Rhodes, Ryan E.; Jackson, Ben; Dimmock, James A.; Rebar, Amanda L.

2018-01-01

Images portraying exercise are commonly used to promote exercise behavior and to measure automatic associations of exercise (e.g., via implicit association tests). The effectiveness of these promotion efforts and the validity of measurement techniques partially rely on the untested assumption that the images being used are perceived by the general public as portrayals of exercise that is pleasant and motivating. The aim of this study was to investigate how content of images impacted people's automatic and reflective evaluations of exercise images. Participants (N = 90) completed a response time categorization task (similar to the implicit association test) to capture how automatically people perceived each image as relevant to Exercise or Not exercise. Participants also self-reported their evaluations of the images using visual analog scales with the anchors: Exercise/Not exercise, Does not motivate me to exercise/Motivates me to exercise, Pleasant/Unpleasant, and Energizing/Deactivating. People tended to more strongly automatically associate images with exercise if the images were of an outdoor setting, presented sport (as opposed to active labor or gym-based) activities, and included young (as opposed to middle-aged) adults. People tended to reflectively find images of young adults more motivating and relevant to exercise than images of older adults. The content of exercise images is an often overlooked source of systematic variability that may impact measurement validity and intervention effectiveness. PMID:29375419

Reflective and Non-conscious Responses to Exercise Images.

PubMed

Cope, Kathryn; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Short, Camille E; Conroy, David E; Rhodes, Ryan E; Jackson, Ben; Dimmock, James A; Rebar, Amanda L

2017-01-01

Images portraying exercise are commonly used to promote exercise behavior and to measure automatic associations of exercise (e.g., via implicit association tests). The effectiveness of these promotion efforts and the validity of measurement techniques partially rely on the untested assumption that the images being used are perceived by the general public as portrayals of exercise that is pleasant and motivating. The aim of this study was to investigate how content of images impacted people's automatic and reflective evaluations of exercise images. Participants ( N = 90) completed a response time categorization task (similar to the implicit association test) to capture how automatically people perceived each image as relevant to Exercise or Not exercise . Participants also self-reported their evaluations of the images using visual analog scales with the anchors: Exercise / Not exercise, Does not motivate me to exercise / Motivates me to exercise, Pleasant / Unpleasant , and Energizing/Deactivating . People tended to more strongly automatically associate images with exercise if the images were of an outdoor setting, presented sport (as opposed to active labor or gym-based) activities, and included young (as opposed to middle-aged) adults. People tended to reflectively find images of young adults more motivating and relevant to exercise than images of older adults. The content of exercise images is an often overlooked source of systematic variability that may impact measurement validity and intervention effectiveness.

Study on the electrical behavior of MWCNTs in GF/Epoxy composites.

PubMed

Yan, Zhao; Lu, Yuan; Yuexin, Duan

2010-08-01

The multi-wall nanotubes (MWCNTs) were divisionalized equably by the fabric of glass in composites. Then the electrical properties such as permittivity, conductance and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE) of MWCNTs in GF/EP composite were studied. The effect of the content and dispersion of MWCNTs were researched in this work. Firstly the permittivity of MWCNTs/GF/EP composites were studied respectively by keeping layers of glass fabric and increasing content of MWCNTs or keeping content of MWCNTs and changing layers of glass fabric in electromagnetic wave band (5.85-18 GHz). Then the conductance of MWCNTs/GF/EP composites with different MWCNTs contents was tested. Furthermore, the EMI SE of composites with different MWCNTs contents in electromagnetic wave band (5.85-18 GHz) were studied. In addition, the morphologies of MWCNTs/GF/EP composites with the different MWCNTs weight percent were observed. The results show that the real part of permittivity of composites can be improved highest up to 75 and the imaginary part increase maximum up to 80. However there is no disciplinarian about effect of layers of glass fabric on dielectric property. The MWCNTs/GF/EP composite can be changed from the insulator to the semiconductor along with increasing the weight percent of MWCNTs. In electromagnetic wave band 5.85-18 GHz, the values of SE are increasing with increasing content of the MWCNTs.

Environmental characterisation of sewage sludge/paper ash-based composites in relation to their possible use in civil engineering.

PubMed

Mladenovič, Ana; Hamler, Sandra; Zupančič, Nina

2017-01-01

The environmental acceptability of geotechnical composites made of treated municipal sewage sludge (SwS) and paper ash (PA) after two different curing periods has been investigated. The mineral composition of such composites, including their content of major oxides, is mainly influenced by the PA. The content of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the initial materials and in the composites varies considerably. In the SwS the Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni and Zn contents are above the legally permitted limits. The PTE content of PA are lower, but still somewhat above the permitted values for Ba and Cu. Mixing these two materials together resulted in a decrease in the PTE, but the Ba, Cu and Zn contents are still too high for agricultural application. However, leachates from composites that had been cured for 28 days are highly alkaline, and the As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb and Zn contents in them are well below the permitted values. The Cu contents (2.4 to 5.4 mg/kg) are above the permitted limit for inert material, but inside the range for non-hazardous material. In a leachate of composite which was prepared with fresh PA and a lower PA to SwS ratio, the Cu content was 1.4 mg/kg, since fresh PA is more reactive and therefore has a higher ability to immobilise Cu. Therefore, such mixtures can be utilised for covers and liners for sanitary landfills.

Evaluation of ultraviolet radiation, ozone and aerosol interactions in the troposphere using automatic differentiation. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carmichael, G.R.; Potra, F.

1998-10-06

A major goal of this research was to quantify the interactions between UVR, ozone and aerosols. One method of quantification was to calculate sensitivity coefficients. A novel aspect of this work was the use of Automatic Differentiation software to calculate the sensitivities. The authors demonstrated the use of ADIFOR for the first time in a dimensional framework. Automatic Differentiation was used to calculate such quantities as: sensitivities of UV-B fluxes to changes in ozone and aerosols in the stratosphere and the troposphere; changes in ozone production/destruction rates to changes in UV-B flux; aerosol properties including loading, scattering properties (including relativemore » humidity effects), and composition (mineral dust, soot, and sulfate aerosol, etc.). The combined radiation/chemistry model offers an important test of the utility of Automatic Differentiation as a tool in atmospheric modeling.« less

Identification of key micro-organisms involved in Douchi fermentation by statistical analysis and their use in an experimental fermentation.

PubMed

Chen, C; Xiang, J Y; Hu, W; Xie, Y B; Wang, T J; Cui, J W; Xu, Y; Liu, Z; Xiang, H; Xie, Q

2015-11-01

To screen and identify safe micro-organisms used during Douchi fermentation, and verify the feasibility of producing high-quality Douchi using these identified micro-organisms. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and automatic amino-acid analyser were used to investigate the microbial diversity and free amino acids (FAAs) content of 10 commercial Douchi samples. The correlations between microbial communities and FAAs were analysed by statistical analysis. Ten strains with significant positive correlation were identified. Then an experiment on Douchi fermentation by identified strains was carried out, and the nutritional composition in Douchi was analysed. Results showed that FAAs and relative content of isoflavone aglycones in verification Douchi samples were generally higher than those in commercial Douchi samples. Our study indicated that fungi, yeasts, Bacillus and lactic acid bacteria were the key players in Douchi fermentation, and with identified probiotic micro-organisms participating in fermentation, a higher quality Douchi product was produced. This is the first report to analyse and confirm the key micro-organisms during Douchi fermentation by statistical analysis. This work proves fermentation micro-organisms to be the key influencing factor of Douchi quality, and demonstrates the feasibility of fermenting Douchi using identified starter micro-organisms. © 2015 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Isotope Ratio Monitoring Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (IRM-GCMS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freeman, K. H.; Ricci, S. A.; Studley, A.; Hayes, J. M.

1989-01-01

On Earth, the C-13 content of organic compounds is depleted by roughly 13 to 23 permil from atmospheric carbon dioxide. This difference is largely due to isotope effects associated with the fixation of inorganic carbon by photosynthetic organisms. If life once existed on Mars, then it is reasonable to expect to observe a similar fractionation. Although the strongly oxidizing conditions on the surface of Mars make preservation of ancient organic material unlikely, carbon-isotope evidence for the existence of life on Mars may still be preserved. Carbon depleted in C-13 could be preserved either in organic compounds within buried sediments, or in carbonate minerals produced by the oxidation of organic material. A technique is introduced for rapid and precise measurement of the C-13 contents of individual organic compounds. A gas chromatograph is coupled to an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer through a combustion interface, enabling on-line isotopic analysis of isolated compounds. The isotope ratios are determined by integration of ion currents over the course of each chromatographic peak. Software incorporates automatic peak determination, corrections for background, and deconvolution of overlapped peaks. Overall performance of the instrument was evaluated by the analysis of a mixture of high purity n-alkanes of know isotopic composition. Isotopic values measured via IRM-GCMS averaged withing 0.55 permil of their conventionally measured values.

Compositional effects on the formation of a calcium phosphate layer and the response of osteoblast-like cells on polymer-bioactive glass composites.

PubMed

Lu, Helen H; Tang, Amy; Oh, Seong Cheol; Spalazzi, Jeffrey P; Dionisio, Kathie

2005-11-01

Biodegradable polymer-ceramic composites are attractive systems for bone tissue engineering applications. These composites have the combined advantages of the component phases, as well as the inherent ease in optimization where desired material properties can be tailored in a well-controlled manner. This study focuses on the optimization of a polylactide-co-glycolide (PLAGA) and 45S5 bioactive glass (BG) composite for bone tissue engineering. The first objective is to examine the effects of composition or overall BG content on the formation of a Ca-P layer on the PLAGA-BG composite. It is expected that with increasing BG content (0%, 10%, 25%, 50% by weight), the required incubation time in a simulated body fluid (SBF) for the composite to form a detectable surface Ca-P layer will decrease. Both the kinetics and the chemistry will be determined using SEM+EDAX, FTIR, and mu-CT methods. Solution phosphorous and calcium concentrations will also be measured. The second objective of the study is to determine the effects of BG content on the maturation of osteoblast-like cells on the PLAGA-BG composite. It is hypothesized that mineralization will increase with increasing BG content, and the composite will support the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts. Specifically, cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralization will be monitored as a function of BG content (0%, 10%, 50% by weight) and culturing time. It was found that the kinetics of Ca-P layer formation and the resulting Ca-P chemistry were dependent on BG content. The response of human osteoblast-like cells to the PLAGA-BG composite was also a function of BG content. The 10% and 25% BG composite supported greater osteoblast growth and differentiation compared to the 50% BG group. The results of this study suggest that there is a threshold BG content which is optimal for osteoblast growth, and the interactions between PLAGA and BG may modulate the kinetics of Ca-P formation and the overall cellular response.

An Automatic and Dynamic Approach for Personalized Recommendation of Learning Objects Considering Students Learning Styles: An Experimental Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorça, Fabiano A.; Araújo, Rafael D.; de Carvalho, Vitor C.; Resende, Daniel T.; Cattelan, Renan G.

2016-01-01

Content personalization in educational systems is an increasing research area. Studies show that students tend to have better performances when the content is customized according to his/her preferences. One important aspect of students particularities is how they prefer to learn. In this context, students learning styles should be considered, due…

Do the Contents of Working Memory Capture Attention? Yes, but Cognitive Control Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Suk Won; Kim, Min-Shik

2009-01-01

There has been a controversy on whether working memory can guide attentional selection. Some researchers have reported that the contents of working memory guide attention automatically in visual search (D. Soto, D. Heinke, G. W. Humphreys, & M. J. Blanco, 2005). On the other hand, G.F. Woodman and S. J. Luck (2007) reported that they could not…

A Comparison of Physiological Signal Analysis Techniques and Classifiers for Automatic Emotional Evaluation of Audiovisual Contents

PubMed Central

Colomer Granero, Adrián; Fuentes-Hurtado, Félix; Naranjo Ornedo, Valery; Guixeres Provinciale, Jaime; Ausín, Jose M.; Alcañiz Raya, Mariano

2016-01-01

This work focuses on finding the most discriminatory or representative features that allow to classify commercials according to negative, neutral and positive effectiveness based on the Ace Score index. For this purpose, an experiment involving forty-seven participants was carried out. In this experiment electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and respiration data were acquired while subjects were watching a 30-min audiovisual content. This content was composed by a submarine documentary and nine commercials (one of them the ad under evaluation). After the signal pre-processing, four sets of features were extracted from the physiological signals using different state-of-the-art metrics. These features computed in time and frequency domains are the inputs to several basic and advanced classifiers. An average of 89.76% of the instances was correctly classified according to the Ace Score index. The best results were obtained by a classifier consisting of a combination between AdaBoost and Random Forest with automatic selection of features. The selected features were those extracted from GSR and HRV signals. These results are promising in the audiovisual content evaluation field by means of physiological signal processing. PMID:27471462

Effectiveness of image features and similarity measures in cluster-based approaches for content-based image retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Hongbo; Al-Jubouri, Hanan; Sellahewa, Harin

2014-05-01

Content-based image retrieval is an automatic process of retrieving images according to image visual contents instead of textual annotations. It has many areas of application from automatic image annotation and archive, image classification and categorization to homeland security and law enforcement. The key issues affecting the performance of such retrieval systems include sensible image features that can effectively capture the right amount of visual contents and suitable similarity measures to find similar and relevant images ranked in a meaningful order. Many different approaches, methods and techniques have been developed as a result of very intensive research in the past two decades. Among many existing approaches, is a cluster-based approach where clustering methods are used to group local feature descriptors into homogeneous regions, and search is conducted by comparing the regions of the query image against those of the stored images. This paper serves as a review of works in this area. The paper will first summarize the existing work reported in the literature and then present the authors' own investigations in this field. The paper intends to highlight not only achievements made by recent research but also challenges and difficulties still remaining in this area.

A Comparison of Physiological Signal Analysis Techniques and Classifiers for Automatic Emotional Evaluation of Audiovisual Contents.

PubMed

Colomer Granero, Adrián; Fuentes-Hurtado, Félix; Naranjo Ornedo, Valery; Guixeres Provinciale, Jaime; Ausín, Jose M; Alcañiz Raya, Mariano

2016-01-01

This work focuses on finding the most discriminatory or representative features that allow to classify commercials according to negative, neutral and positive effectiveness based on the Ace Score index. For this purpose, an experiment involving forty-seven participants was carried out. In this experiment electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and respiration data were acquired while subjects were watching a 30-min audiovisual content. This content was composed by a submarine documentary and nine commercials (one of them the ad under evaluation). After the signal pre-processing, four sets of features were extracted from the physiological signals using different state-of-the-art metrics. These features computed in time and frequency domains are the inputs to several basic and advanced classifiers. An average of 89.76% of the instances was correctly classified according to the Ace Score index. The best results were obtained by a classifier consisting of a combination between AdaBoost and Random Forest with automatic selection of features. The selected features were those extracted from GSR and HRV signals. These results are promising in the audiovisual content evaluation field by means of physiological signal processing.

40 CFR Appendix E to Part 403 - Sampling Procedures

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... done manually or automatically, and discretely or continuously. If discrete sampling is employed, at least 12 aliquots should be composited. Discrete sampling may be flow proportioned either by varying the...

Automatic textual annotation of video news based on semantic visual object extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boujemaa, Nozha; Fleuret, Francois; Gouet, Valerie; Sahbi, Hichem

2003-12-01

In this paper, we present our work for automatic generation of textual metadata based on visual content analysis of video news. We present two methods for semantic object detection and recognition from a cross modal image-text thesaurus. These thesaurus represent a supervised association between models and semantic labels. This paper is concerned with two semantic objects: faces and Tv logos. In the first part, we present our work for efficient face detection and recogniton with automatic name generation. This method allows us also to suggest the textual annotation of shots close-up estimation. On the other hand, we were interested to automatically detect and recognize different Tv logos present on incoming different news from different Tv Channels. This work was done jointly with the French Tv Channel TF1 within the "MediaWorks" project that consists on an hybrid text-image indexing and retrieval plateform for video news.

Automatic processing of spoken dialogue in the home hemodialysis domain.

PubMed

Lacson, Ronilda; Barzilay, Regina

2005-01-01

Spoken medical dialogue is a valuable source of information, and it forms a foundation for diagnosis, prevention and therapeutic management. However, understanding even a perfect transcript of spoken dialogue is challenging for humans because of the lack of structure and the verbosity of dialogues. This work presents a first step towards automatic analysis of spoken medical dialogue. The backbone of our approach is an abstraction of a dialogue into a sequence of semantic categories. This abstraction uncovers structure in informal, verbose conversation between a caregiver and a patient, thereby facilitating automatic processing of dialogue content. Our method induces this structure based on a range of linguistic and contextual features that are integrated in a supervised machine-learning framework. Our model has a classification accuracy of 73%, compared to 33% achieved by a majority baseline (p<0.01). This work demonstrates the feasibility of automatically processing spoken medical dialogue.

Science information systems: Archive, access, and retrieval

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, William J.

1991-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop technology for the automated characterization and interactive retrieval and visualization of very large, complex scientific data sets. Technologies will be developed for the following specific areas: (1) rapidly archiving data sets; (2) automatically characterizing and labeling data in near real-time; (3) providing users with the ability to browse contents of databases efficiently and effectively; (4) providing users with the ability to access and retrieve system independent data sets electronically; and (5) automatically alerting scientists to anomalies detected in data.

Systems and methods for automatically identifying and linking names in digital resources

DOEpatents

Parker, Charles T.; Lyons, Catherine M.; Roston, Gerald P.; Garrity, George M.

2017-06-06

The present invention provides systems and methods for automatically identifying name-like-strings in digital resources, matching these name-like-string against a set of names held in an expertly curated database, and for those name-like-strings found in said database, enhancing the content by associating additional matter with the name, wherein said matter includes information about the names that is held within said database and pointers to other digital resources which include the same name and it synonyms.

Research on Generating Method of Embedded Software Test Document Based on Dynamic Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, MingCheng; Wu, XiangHu; Tao, YongChao; Liu, Ying

2018-03-01

This paper provides a dynamic model-based test document generation method for embedded software that provides automatic generation of two documents: test requirements specification documentation and configuration item test documentation. This method enables dynamic test requirements to be implemented in dynamic models, enabling dynamic test demand tracking to be easily generated; able to automatically generate standardized, standardized test requirements and test documentation, improved document-related content inconsistency and lack of integrity And other issues, improve the efficiency.

Proximate and fatty acid composition and cholesterol content of different cuts of guinea fowl meat as affected by cooking method.

PubMed

Hoffman, Louwrens C; Tlhong, Tumelo M

2012-10-01

Poultry is one of the leading meat products in South Africa, and its nutritional composition can be affected by the cut and cooking method. Limited food composition data are available for typical South African poultry products. This study investigated the effect of different cuts and cooking methods on the proximate and fatty acid composition as well as the cholesterol content of guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) meat. The open-roasting method produced the highest moisture content for all cuts, and the baking bag method the lowest. The baking bag method resulted in the highest protein content. Cooking method had no effect on fat content, although breast had the lowest and thigh the highest fat content. Ash content was highest in the open-roasted drumstick. All cuts, regardless of cooking method, had a favourable polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid (P/S) ratio (>0.4). Their n-6/n-3 ratio was also within the recommended beneficial range (<4:1). Both cooking method and cut affected cholesterol content. Different cuts of guinea fowl vary in proximate and fatty acid composition as well as in cholesterol content, which in turn is affected to varying degrees by cooking method. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

A method for the automatic reconstruction of fetal cardiac signals from magnetocardiographic recordings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mantini, D.; Alleva, G.; Comani, S.

2005-10-01

Fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) allows monitoring the fetal heart function through algorithms able to retrieve the fetal cardiac signal, but no standardized automatic model has become available so far. In this paper, we describe an automatic method that restores the fetal cardiac trace from fMCG recordings by means of a weighted summation of fetal components separated with independent component analysis (ICA) and identified through dedicated algorithms that analyse the frequency content and temporal structure of each source signal. Multichannel fMCG datasets of 66 healthy and 4 arrhythmic fetuses were used to validate the automatic method with respect to a classical procedure requiring the manual classification of fetal components by an expert investigator. ICA was run with input clusters of different dimensions to simulate various MCG systems. Detection rates, true negative and false positive component categorization, QRS amplitude, standard deviation and signal-to-noise ratio of reconstructed fetal signals, and real and per cent QRS differences between paired fetal traces retrieved automatically and manually were calculated to quantify the performances of the automatic method. Its robustness and reliability, particularly evident with the use of large input clusters, might increase the diagnostic role of fMCG during the prenatal period.

Characterizing chaotic melodies in automatic music composition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coca, Andrés E.; Tost, Gerard O.; Zhao, Liang

2010-09-01

In this paper, we initially present an algorithm for automatic composition of melodies using chaotic dynamical systems. Afterward, we characterize chaotic music in a comprehensive way as comprising three perspectives: musical discrimination, dynamical influence on musical features, and musical perception. With respect to the first perspective, the coherence between generated chaotic melodies (continuous as well as discrete chaotic melodies) and a set of classical reference melodies is characterized by statistical descriptors and melodic measures. The significant differences among the three types of melodies are determined by discriminant analysis. Regarding the second perspective, the influence of dynamical features of chaotic attractors, e.g., Lyapunov exponent, Hurst coefficient, and correlation dimension, on melodic features is determined by canonical correlation analysis. The last perspective is related to perception of originality, complexity, and degree of melodiousness (Euler's gradus suavitatis) of chaotic and classical melodies by nonparametric statistical tests.

SAMuS: Service-Oriented Architecture for Multisensor Surveillance in Smart Homes

PubMed Central

Van de Walle, Rik

2014-01-01

The design of a service-oriented architecture for multisensor surveillance in smart homes is presented as an integrated solution enabling automatic deployment, dynamic selection, and composition of sensors. Sensors are implemented as Web-connected devices, with a uniform Web API. RESTdesc is used to describe the sensors and a novel solution is presented to automatically compose Web APIs that can be applied with existing Semantic Web reasoners. We evaluated the solution by building a smart Kinect sensor that is able to dynamically switch between IR and RGB and optimizing person detection by incorporating feedback from pressure sensors, as such demonstrating the collaboration among sensors to enhance detection of complex events. The performance results show that the platform scales for many Web APIs as composition time remains limited to a few hundred milliseconds in almost all cases. PMID:24778579

Old document image segmentation using the autocorrelation function and multiresolution analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehri, Maroua; Gomez-Krämer, Petra; Héroux, Pierre; Mullot, Rémy

2013-01-01

Recent progress in the digitization of heterogeneous collections of ancient documents has rekindled new challenges in information retrieval in digital libraries and document layout analysis. Therefore, in order to control the quality of historical document image digitization and to meet the need of a characterization of their content using intermediate level metadata (between image and document structure), we propose a fast automatic layout segmentation of old document images based on five descriptors. Those descriptors, based on the autocorrelation function, are obtained by multiresolution analysis and used afterwards in a specific clustering method. The method proposed in this article has the advantage that it is performed without any hypothesis on the document structure, either about the document model (physical structure), or the typographical parameters (logical structure). It is also parameter-free since it automatically adapts to the image content. In this paper, firstly, we detail our proposal to characterize the content of old documents by extracting the autocorrelation features in the different areas of a page and at several resolutions. Then, we show that is possible to automatically find the homogeneous regions defined by similar indices of autocorrelation without knowledge about the number of clusters using adapted hierarchical ascendant classification and consensus clustering approaches. To assess our method, we apply our algorithm on 316 old document images, which encompass six centuries (1200-1900) of French history, in order to demonstrate the performance of our proposal in terms of segmentation and characterization of heterogeneous corpus content. Moreover, we define a new evaluation metric, the homogeneity measure, which aims at evaluating the segmentation and characterization accuracy of our methodology. We find a 85% of mean homogeneity accuracy. Those results help to represent a document by a hierarchy of layout structure and content, and to define one or more signatures for each page, on the basis of a hierarchical representation of homogeneous blocks and their topology.

A prototype experiment for cooperative monitoring of nuclear reactors with cubic meter scale antineutrino detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, A.; Allen, M.; Bowden, N.; Brennan, J.; Carr, D. J.; Estrada, J.; Hagmann, C.; Lund, J. C.; Madden, N. W.; Winant, C. D.

2005-09-01

Our Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/Sandia National Laboratories collaboration has deployed a cubic-meter-scale antineutrino detector to demonstrate non-intrusive and automatic monitoring of the power levels and plutonium content of a nuclear reactor. Reactor monitoring of this kind is required for all non-nuclear weapons states under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), and is implemented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Since the antineutrino count rate and energy spectrum depend on the relative yields of fissioning isotopes in the reactor core, changes in isotopic composition can be observed without ever directly accessing the core. Data from a cubic meter scale antineutrino detector, coupled with the well-understood principles that govern the core's evolution in time, can be used to determine whether the reactor is being operated in an illegitimate way. Our group has deployed a detector at the San Onofre reactor site in California to demonstrate this concept. This paper describes the concept and shows preliminary results from 8 months of operation.

Evaluation of elastic properties and study on water absorption behavior of alumina filled jute-epoxy composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santosh, D. N.; Ravikumar, B. N.; Mahesh, B.; Vijayalaxmi, S. P.; Srinivas, Y. V.

2018-04-01

In this paper, the effect of filler content is studied on elastic properties and water absorption behavior for jute epoxy composite. For reinforcement the plain woven jute fabric is used. The bonding system consists of resin-epoxy and Hardener in the ratio 10:1 by weight. Alumina (average grain size of 30 µm) is used as filler. The effect of filler content on elastic properties and water absorption behavior studied by varying the filler content from 5%, 10%, 15% with respect to weight of epoxy. The open mould method used to fabricate the alumina filled jute-epoxy composite laminates. Tests were conducted according to ASTM standards. The evaluation assesment of elastic properties of alumina filled jute-epoxy composite materials have been analyzed by theoretically and experimentally. The speculated values are analyzed with those obtained from experimental to validate the calculated theoretically with rule of mixture procedure. Young's modulus and shear modulus were found to increase with the increase in the filler content upto 10 wt%, beyond which the modulii showed decreasing trend. Poisson's ratio was found to be continuously decreasing with the increase in the alumina filler content of jute-eposy composite. It was clearly observed that unfilled specimen has the highest saturated moisture content and 15% filled specimen has lowest value. As alumina filler content increases resistance to moisture absorption also increases. The water diffusion coefficient of composite was calculated using the diffusion coefficient equation. As filler content increases diffusion co-efficient decreases for alumina filled jute-epoxy composite.

Relative Composition of Fibrous Connective and Fatty/Glandular Tissue in Connective Tissue Grafts Depends on the Harvesting Technique but not the Donor Site of the Hard Palate.

PubMed

Bertl, Kristina; Pifl, Markus; Hirtler, Lena; Rendl, Barbara; Nürnberger, Sylvia; Stavropoulos, Andreas; Ulm, Christian

2015-12-01

Whether the composition of palatal connective tissue grafts (CTGs) varies depending on donor site or harvesting technique in terms of relative amounts of fibrous connective tissue (CT) and fatty/glandular tissue (FGT) is currently unknown and is histologically assessed in the present study. In 10 fresh human cadavers, tissue samples were harvested in the anterior and posterior palate and in areas close to (marginal) and distant from (apical) the mucosal margin. Mucosal thickness, lamina propria thickness (defined as the extent of subepithelial portion of the biopsy containing ≤25% or ≤50% FGT), and proportions of CT and FGT were semi-automatically estimated for the entire mucosa and for CTGs virtually harvested by split-flap (SF) preparation minimum 1 mm deep or after deepithelialization (DE). Palatal mucosal thickness, ranging from 2.35 to 6.89 mm, and histologic composition showed high interindividual variability. Lamina propria thickness (P >0.21) and proportions of CT (P = 0.48) and FGT (P = 0.15) did not differ significantly among the donor sites (anterior, posterior, marginal, apical). However, thicker palatal tissue was associated with higher FGT content (P <0.01) and thinner lamina propria (P ≤0.03). Independent of the donor site, DE-harvested CTG contained a significantly higher proportion of CT and a lower proportion of FGT than an SF-harvested CTG (P <0.04). Despite high interindividual variability in terms of relative tissue composition in the hard palate, DE-harvested CTG contains much larger amounts of CT and much lower amounts of FGT than SF-harvested CTG, irrespective of the harvesting site.

Automatic Content Creation for Games to Train Students Distinguishing Similar Chinese Characters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Kwong-Hung; Leung, Howard; Tang, Jeff K. T.

In learning Chinese, many students often have the problem of mixing up similar characters. This can cause misunderstanding and miscommunication in daily life. It is thus important for students learning the Chinese language to be able to distinguish similar characters and understand their proper usage. In this paper, we propose a game style framework in which the game content in identifying similar Chinese characters in idioms and words is created automatically. Our prior work on analyzing students’ Chinese handwriting can be applied in the similarity measure of Chinese characters. We extend this work by adding the component of radical extraction to speed up the search process. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more accurate and faster in finding more similar Chinese characters compared with the baseline method without considering the radical information.

Automatic system for detecting pornographic images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, Kevin I. C.; Chen, Tung-Shou; Ho, Jun-Der

2002-09-01

Due to the dramatic growth of network and multimedia technology, people can more easily get variant information by using Internet. Unfortunately, it also makes the diffusion of illegal and harmful content much easier. So, it becomes an important topic for the Internet society to protect and safeguard Internet users from these content that may be encountered while surfing on the Net, especially children. Among these content, porno graphs cause more serious harm. Therefore, in this study, we propose an automatic system to detect still colour porno graphs. Starting from this result, we plan to develop an automatic system to search porno graphs or to filter porno graphs. Almost all the porno graphs possess one common characteristic that is the ratio of the size of skin region and non-skin region is high. Based on this characteristic, our system first converts the colour space from RGB colour space to HSV colour space so as to segment all the possible skin-colour regions from scene background. We also apply the texture analysis on the selected skin-colour regions to separate the skin regions from non-skin regions. Then, we try to group the adjacent pixels located in skin regions. If the ratio is over a given threshold, we can tell if the given image is a possible porno graph. Based on our experiment, less than 10% of non-porno graphs are classified as pornography, and over 80% of the most harmful porno graphs are classified correctly.

Automatic sorting of toxicological information into the IUCLID (International Uniform Chemical Information Database) endpoint-categories making use of the semantic search engine Go3R.

PubMed

Sauer, Ursula G; Wächter, Thomas; Hareng, Lars; Wareing, Britta; Langsch, Angelika; Zschunke, Matthias; Alvers, Michael R; Landsiedel, Robert

2014-06-01

The knowledge-based search engine Go3R, www.Go3R.org, has been developed to assist scientists from industry and regulatory authorities in collecting comprehensive toxicological information with a special focus on identifying available alternatives to animal testing. The semantic search paradigm of Go3R makes use of expert knowledge on 3Rs methods and regulatory toxicology, laid down in the ontology, a network of concepts, terms, and synonyms, to recognize the contents of documents. Search results are automatically sorted into a dynamic table of contents presented alongside the list of documents retrieved. This table of contents allows the user to quickly filter the set of documents by topics of interest. Documents containing hazard information are automatically assigned to a user interface following the endpoint-specific IUCLID5 categorization scheme required, e.g. for REACH registration dossiers. For this purpose, complex endpoint-specific search queries were compiled and integrated into the search engine (based upon a gold standard of 310 references that had been assigned manually to the different endpoint categories). Go3R sorts 87% of the references concordantly into the respective IUCLID5 categories. Currently, Go3R searches in the 22 million documents available in the PubMed and TOXNET databases. However, it can be customized to search in other databases including in-house databanks. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic classification for mammogram backgrounds based on bi-rads complexity definition and on a multi content analysis framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Jie; Besnehard, Quentin; Marchessoux, Cédric

2011-03-01

Clinical studies for the validation of new medical imaging devices require hundreds of images. An important step in creating and tuning the study protocol is the classification of images into "difficult" and "easy" cases. This consists of classifying the image based on features like the complexity of the background, the visibility of the disease (lesions). Therefore, an automatic medical background classification tool for mammograms would help for such clinical studies. This classification tool is based on a multi-content analysis framework (MCA) which was firstly developed to recognize image content of computer screen shots. With the implementation of new texture features and a defined breast density scale, the MCA framework is able to automatically classify digital mammograms with a satisfying accuracy. BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting Data System) density scale is used for grouping the mammograms, which standardizes the mammography reporting terminology and assessment and recommendation categories. Selected features are input into a decision tree classification scheme in MCA framework, which is the so called "weak classifier" (any classifier with a global error rate below 50%). With the AdaBoost iteration algorithm, these "weak classifiers" are combined into a "strong classifier" (a classifier with a low global error rate) for classifying one category. The results of classification for one "strong classifier" show the good accuracy with the high true positive rates. For the four categories the results are: TP=90.38%, TN=67.88%, FP=32.12% and FN =9.62%.

[The characteristics of chemical composition of content of unicameral bone cysts depending on their growth stage].

PubMed

Stogov, M V; Luneva, S N; Mitrofanov, A I; Tkachuk, E A

2012-11-01

The article deals with the results of study of chemical composition of solitary cysts and blood serum of 27 patients. The results demonstrated that qualitative composition of f content of unicameral bone cysts is identical to chemical composition of blood serum. The results of analysis of total proteolysis activity and acid phosphatase activity in content of cysts can be used as criteria to determine the stage of cyst growth and to evaluate the effectiveness of applied treatment.

Text Mining to Support Gene Ontology Curation and Vice Versa.

PubMed

Ruch, Patrick

2017-01-01

In this chapter, we explain how text mining can support the curation of molecular biology databases dealing with protein functions. We also show how curated data can play a disruptive role in the developments of text mining methods. We review a decade of efforts to improve the automatic assignment of Gene Ontology (GO) descriptors, the reference ontology for the characterization of genes and gene products. To illustrate the high potential of this approach, we compare the performances of an automatic text categorizer and show a large improvement of +225 % in both precision and recall on benchmarked data. We argue that automatic text categorization functions can ultimately be embedded into a Question-Answering (QA) system to answer questions related to protein functions. Because GO descriptors can be relatively long and specific, traditional QA systems cannot answer such questions. A new type of QA system, so-called Deep QA which uses machine learning methods trained with curated contents, is thus emerging. Finally, future advances of text mining instruments are directly dependent on the availability of high-quality annotated contents at every curation step. Databases workflows must start recording explicitly all the data they curate and ideally also some of the data they do not curate.

Method for automatic measurement of second language speaking proficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, Jared; Balogh, Jennifer

2005-04-01

Spoken language proficiency is intuitively related to effective and efficient communication in spoken interactions. However, it is difficult to derive a reliable estimate of spoken language proficiency by situated elicitation and evaluation of a person's communicative behavior. This paper describes the task structure and scoring logic of a group of fully automatic spoken language proficiency tests (for English, Spanish and Dutch) that are delivered via telephone or Internet. Test items are presented in spoken form and require a spoken response. Each test is automatically-scored and primarily based on short, decontextualized tasks that elicit integrated listening and speaking performances. The tests present several types of tasks to candidates, including sentence repetition, question answering, sentence construction, and story retelling. The spoken responses are scored according to the lexical content of the response and a set of acoustic base measures on segments, words and phrases, which are scaled with IRT methods or parametrically combined to optimize fit to human listener judgments. Most responses are isolated spoken phrases and sentences that are scored according to their linguistic content, their latency, and their fluency and pronunciation. The item development procedures and item norming are described.

Automatic summarization of soccer highlights using audio-visual descriptors.

PubMed

Raventós, A; Quijada, R; Torres, Luis; Tarrés, Francesc

2015-01-01

Automatic summarization generation of sports video content has been object of great interest for many years. Although semantic descriptions techniques have been proposed, many of the approaches still rely on low-level video descriptors that render quite limited results due to the complexity of the problem and to the low capability of the descriptors to represent semantic content. In this paper, a new approach for automatic highlights summarization generation of soccer videos using audio-visual descriptors is presented. The approach is based on the segmentation of the video sequence into shots that will be further analyzed to determine its relevance and interest. Of special interest in the approach is the use of the audio information that provides additional robustness to the overall performance of the summarization system. For every video shot a set of low and mid level audio-visual descriptors are computed and lately adequately combined in order to obtain different relevance measures based on empirical knowledge rules. The final summary is generated by selecting those shots with highest interest according to the specifications of the user and the results of relevance measures. A variety of results are presented with real soccer video sequences that prove the validity of the approach.

A new user-assisted segmentation and tracking technique for an object-based video editing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Hong Y.; Hong, Sung-Hoon; Lee, Mike M.; Choi, Jae-Gark

2004-03-01

This paper presents a semi-automatic segmentation method which can be used to generate video object plane (VOP) for object based coding scheme and multimedia authoring environment. Semi-automatic segmentation can be considered as a user-assisted segmentation technique. A user can initially mark objects of interest around the object boundaries and then the user-guided and selected objects are continuously separated from the unselected areas through time evolution in the image sequences. The proposed segmentation method consists of two processing steps: partially manual intra-frame segmentation and fully automatic inter-frame segmentation. The intra-frame segmentation incorporates user-assistance to define the meaningful complete visual object of interest to be segmentation and decides precise object boundary. The inter-frame segmentation involves boundary and region tracking to obtain temporal coherence of moving object based on the object boundary information of previous frame. The proposed method shows stable efficient results that could be suitable for many digital video applications such as multimedia contents authoring, content based coding and indexing. Based on these results, we have developed objects based video editing system with several convenient editing functions.

Automatic generation of pictorial transcripts of video programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahraray, Behzad; Gibbon, David C.

1995-03-01

An automatic authoring system for the generation of pictorial transcripts of video programs which are accompanied by closed caption information is presented. A number of key frames, each of which represents the visual information in a segment of the video (i.e., a scene), are selected automatically by performing a content-based sampling of the video program. The textual information is recovered from the closed caption signal and is initially segmented based on its implied temporal relationship with the video segments. The text segmentation boundaries are then adjusted, based on lexical analysis and/or caption control information, to account for synchronization errors due to possible delays in the detection of scene boundaries or the transmission of the caption information. The closed caption text is further refined through linguistic processing for conversion to lower- case with correct capitalization. The key frames and the related text generate a compact multimedia presentation of the contents of the video program which lends itself to efficient storage and transmission. This compact representation can be viewed on a computer screen, or used to generate the input to a commercial text processing package to generate a printed version of the program.

[Composition of chicken and quail eggs].

PubMed

Closa, S J; Marchesich, C; Cabrera, M; Morales, J C

1999-06-01

Qualified food composition data on lipids composition are needed to evaluate intakes as a risk factor in the development of heart disease. Proximal composition, cholesterol and fatty acid content of chicken and quail eggs, usually consumed or traded, were analysed. Proximal composition were determined using AOAC (1984) specific techniques; lipids were extracted by a Folch's modified technique and cholesterol and fatty acids were determined by gas chromatography. Results corroborate the stability of eggs composition. Cholesterol content of quail eggs is similar to chicken eggs, but it is almost the half content of data registered in Handbook 8. Differences may be attributed to the analytical methodology used to obtain them. This study provides data obtained with up-date analytical techniques and accessory information useful for food composition tables.

Machine for Automatic Bacteriological Pour Plate Preparation

PubMed Central

Sharpe, A. N.; Biggs, D. R.; Oliver, R. J.

1972-01-01

A fully automatic system for preparing poured plates for bacteriological analyses has been constructed and tested. The machine can make decimal dilutions of bacterial suspensions, dispense measured amounts into petri dishes, add molten agar, mix the dish contents, and label the dishes with sample and dilution numbers at the rate of 2,000 dishes per 8-hr day. In addition, the machine can be programmed to select different media so that plates for different types of bacteriological analysis may be made automatically from the same sample. The machine uses only the components of the media and sterile polystyrene petri dishes; requirements for all other materials, such as sterile pipettes and capped bottles of diluents and agar, are eliminated. Images PMID:4560475

Adaptive evolution of seed oil content in angiosperms: accounting for the global patterns of seed oils.

PubMed

Sanyal, Anushree; Decocq, Guillaume

2016-09-09

Studies of the biogeographic distribution of seed oil content in plants are fundamental to understanding the mechanisms of adaptive evolution in plants as seed oil is the primary energy source needed for germination and establishment of plants. However, seed oil content as an adaptive trait in plants is poorly understood. Here, we examine the adaptive nature of seed oil content in 168 angiosperm families occurring in different biomes across the world. We also explore the role of multiple seed traits like seed oil content and composition in plant adaptation in a phylogenetic and nonphylogenetic context. It was observed that the seed oil content in tropical plants (28.4 %) was significantly higher than the temperate plants (24.6 %). A significant relationship between oil content and latitude was observed in three families Papaveraceae, Sapindaceae and Sapotaceae indicating that selective forces correlated with latitude influence seed oil content. Evaluation of the response of seed oil content and composition to latitude and the correlation between seed oil content and composition showed that multiple seed traits, seed oil content and composition contribute towards plant adaptation. Investigation of the presence or absence of phylogenetic signals across 168 angiosperm families in 62 clades revealed that members of seven clades evolved to have high or low seed oil content independently as they did not share a common evolutionary path. The study provides us an insight into the biogeographical distribution and the adaptive role of seed oil content in plants. The study indicates that multiple seed traits like seed oil content and the fatty acid composition of the seed oils determine the fitness of the plants and validate the adaptive hypothesis that seed oil quantity and quality are crucial to plant adaptation.

Piezoresistive strain sensing of carbon black /silicone composites above percolation threshold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Shuying; Yue, Yujuan; Wang, Xiaoer

2016-12-01

A series of flexible composites with a carbon black (CB) filled silicone rubber matrix were made by an improved process in this work. A low percolation threshold with a mass ratio of 2.99% CB was achieved. The piezoresistive behavior of CB/silicone composites above the critical value, with the mass ratio of carbon black to the silicone rubber ranging from 0.01 to 0.2, was studied. The piezoresistive behavior was different from each other for the composites with different CB contents. But, the composites show an excellent repeatability of piezoresistivity under cyclic compression, no matter with low filler content or with high filler content. The most interesting phenomena were that the plots of gauge factor versus strain of the composites with different CB contents constructed a master curve and the curve could be well fitted by a function. It was showed that the gauge factor of the composites was strain-controlled showing a promising prospect of application.

Using New Media to Reach Broad Audiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gay, P. L.

2008-06-01

The International Year of Astronomy New Media Working Group (IYA NMWG) has a singular mission: To flood the Internet with ways to learn about astronomy, interact with astronomers and astronomy content, and socially network with astronomy. Within each of these areas, we seek to build lasting programs and partnerships that will continue beyond 2009. Our weapon of choice is New Media. It is often easiest to define New Media by what it is not. Television, radio, print and their online redistribution of content are not New Media. Many forms of New Media start as user provided content and content infrastructures that answer that individual's creative whim in a way that is adopted by a broader audience. Classic examples include Blogs and Podcasts. This media is typically distributed through content specific websites and RSS feeds, which allow syndication. RSS aggregators (iTunes has audio and video aggregation abilities) allow subscribers to have content delivered to their computers automatically when they connect to the Internet. RSS technology is also being used in such creative ways as allowing automatically updating Google-maps that show the location of someone with an intelligent GPS system, and in sharing 100 word microblogs from anyone (Twitters) through a single feed. In this poster, we outline how the IYA NMWG plans to use New Media to reach target primary audiences of astronomy enthusiasts, image lovers, and amateur astronomers, as well as secondary audiences, including: science fiction fans, online gamers, and skeptics.

DC conductivity and magnetic properties of piezoelectric-piezomagnetic composite system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hemeda, O. M.; Tawfik, A.; A-Al-Sharif; Amer, M. A.; Kamal, B. M.; El Refaay, D. E.; Bououdina, M.

2012-11-01

A series of composites (1-x) (Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4)+x (BaTiO3), where x=0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% BT content, have been prepared by the standard ceramic technique, then sintered at 1200 °C for 8 h. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the prepared composites consist of two phases, ferrimagnetic and ferroelectric. DC electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, charge carriers concentration and charge carrier mobility have been studied at different temperatures. It was found that the DC electrical conductivity increases with increasing BT content. The values of the thermoelectric power were positive and negative for the composites indicating that there are two conduction mechanisms, hopping and band conduction, respectively. Using the values of DC electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power, the values of charge carrier mobility and the charge carrier concentration were calculated. Magnetic measurements (hysteresis loop and magnetic permeability) show that the magnetization decreases by increasing BT content. M-H loop of pure Ni0.6 Zn0.4 Fe2O4 composite indicates that it is paramagnetic at room temperature and that the magnetization is diluted by increasing the BT content in the composite system. The value of magnetoelectric coefficient for the composites decreases by increasing BT content for all the compositions except for 40% BT content, which may be due to the low resistivity of magnetic phase compared with the BT phase that causes a leakage of induced charges on the piezoelectric phase. Since both ferroelectric and magnetic phases preserve their basic properties in the bulk composite, the present BT-NZF composite are potential candidates for applications as pollution sensors and electromagnetic waves.

Automatic detection of referral patients due to retinal pathologies through data mining.

PubMed

Quellec, Gwenolé; Lamard, Mathieu; Erginay, Ali; Chabouis, Agnès; Massin, Pascale; Cochener, Béatrice; Cazuguel, Guy

2016-04-01

With the increased prevalence of retinal pathologies, automating the detection of these pathologies is becoming more and more relevant. In the past few years, many algorithms have been developed for the automated detection of a specific pathology, typically diabetic retinopathy, using eye fundus photography. No matter how good these algorithms are, we believe many clinicians would not use automatic detection tools focusing on a single pathology and ignoring any other pathology present in the patient's retinas. To solve this issue, an algorithm for characterizing the appearance of abnormal retinas, as well as the appearance of the normal ones, is presented. This algorithm does not focus on individual images: it considers examination records consisting of multiple photographs of each retina, together with contextual information about the patient. Specifically, it relies on data mining in order to learn diagnosis rules from characterizations of fundus examination records. The main novelty is that the content of examination records (images and context) is characterized at multiple levels of spatial and lexical granularity: 1) spatial flexibility is ensured by an adaptive decomposition of composite retinal images into a cascade of regions, 2) lexical granularity is ensured by an adaptive decomposition of the feature space into a cascade of visual words. This multigranular representation allows for great flexibility in automatically characterizing normality and abnormality: it is possible to generate diagnosis rules whose precision and generalization ability can be traded off depending on data availability. A variation on usual data mining algorithms, originally designed to mine static data, is proposed so that contextual and visual data at adaptive granularity levels can be mined. This framework was evaluated in e-ophtha, a dataset of 25,702 examination records from the OPHDIAT screening network, as well as in the publicly-available Messidor dataset. It was successfully applied to the detection of patients that should be referred to an ophthalmologist and also to the specific detection of several pathologies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards parsimony in habit measurement: Testing the convergent and predictive validity of an automaticity subscale of the Self-Report Habit Index

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The twelve-item Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI) is the most popular measure of energy-balance related habits. This measure characterises habit by automatic activation, behavioural frequency, and relevance to self-identity. Previous empirical research suggests that the SRHI may be abbreviated with no losses in reliability or predictive utility. Drawing on recent theorising suggesting that automaticity is the ‘active ingredient’ of habit-behaviour relationships, we tested whether an automaticity-specific SRHI subscale could capture habit-based behaviour patterns in self-report data. Methods A content validity task was undertaken to identify a subset of automaticity indicators within the SRHI. The reliability, convergent validity and predictive validity of the automaticity item subset was subsequently tested in secondary analyses of all previous SRHI applications, identified via systematic review, and in primary analyses of four raw datasets relating to energy‐balance relevant behaviours (inactive travel, active travel, snacking, and alcohol consumption). Results A four-item automaticity subscale (the ‘Self-Report Behavioural Automaticity Index’; ‘SRBAI’) was found to be reliable and sensitive to two hypothesised effects of habit on behaviour: a habit-behaviour correlation, and a moderating effect of habit on the intention-behaviour relationship. Conclusion The SRBAI offers a parsimonious measure that adequately captures habitual behaviour patterns. The SRBAI may be of particular utility in predicting future behaviour and in studies tracking habit formation or disruption. PMID:22935297

Vadose zone monitoring strategies to control water flux dynamics and changes in soil hydraulic properties.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valdes-Abellan, Javier; Jiménez-Martínez, Joaquin; Candela, Lucila

2013-04-01

For monitoring the vadose zone, different strategies can be chosen, depending on the objectives and scale of observation. The effects of non-conventional water use on the vadose zone might produce impacts in porous media which could lead to changes in soil hydraulic properties, among others. Controlling these possible effects requires an accurate monitoring strategy that controls the volumetric water content, θ, and soil pressure, h, along the studied profile. According to the available literature, different monitoring systems have been carried out independently, however less attention has received comparative studies between different techniques. An experimental plot of 9x5 m2 was set with automatic and non-automatic sensors to control θ and h up to 1.5m depth. The non-automatic system consisted of ten Jet Fill tensiometers at 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 cm (Soil Moisture®) and a polycarbonate access tube of 44 mm (i.d) for soil moisture measurements with a TRIME FM TDR portable probe (IMKO®). Vertical installation was carefully performed; measurements with this system were manual, twice a week for θ and three times per week for h. The automatic system composed of five 5TE sensors (Decagon Devices®) installed at 20, 40, 60, 90 and 120 cm for θ measurements and one MPS1 sensor (Decagon Devices®) at 60 cm depth for h. Installation took place laterally in a 40-50 cm length hole bored in a side of a trench that was excavated. All automatic sensors hourly recorded and stored in a data-logger. Boundary conditions were controlled with a volume-meter and with a meteorological station. ET was modelled with Penman-Monteith equation. Soil characterization include bulk density, gravimetric water content, grain size distribution, saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil water retention curves determined following laboratory standards. Soil mineralogy was determined by X-Ray difractometry. Unsaturated soil hydraulic parameters were model-fitted through SWRC-fit code and ROSETTA based on soil textural fractions. Simulation of water flow using automatic and non-automatic date was carried out by HYDRUS-1D independently. A good agreement from collected automatic and non-automatic data and modelled results can be recognized. General trend was captured, except for the outlier values as expected. Slightly differences were found between hydraulic properties obtained from laboratory determinations, and from inverse modelling from the two approaches. Differences up to 14% of flux through the lower boundary were detected between the two strategies According to results, automatic sensors have more resolution and then they're more appropriated to detect subtle changes of soil hydraulic properties. Nevertheless, if the aim of the research is to control the general trend of water dynamics, no significant differences were observed between the two systems.

Crystallization kinetics and thermal resistance of bamboo fiber reinforced biodegradable polymer composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thumsorn, S.; Srisawat, N.; On, J. Wong; Pivsa-Art, S.; Hamada, H.

2014-05-01

Bamboo fiber reinforced biodegradable polymer composites were prepared in this study. Biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was blended with bamboo fiber in a twin screw extruder with varied bamboo content from 20-0wt%. PBS/bamboo fiber composites were fabricated by compression molding process. The effect of bamboo fiber contents on properties of the composites was investigated. Non-isothermal crystallization kinetic study of the composites was investigated based on Avrami equation. The kinetic parameters indicated that bamboo fiber acted as heterogeneous nucleation and enhanced crystallinity of the composites. Bamboo fiber was well dispersed on PBS matrix and good adhered with the matrix. Tensile strength of the composites slightly deceased with adding bamboo fiber. However, tensile modulus and impact strength of the composites increased when increasing bamboo fiber contents. It can be noted that bamboo fiber promoted crystallization and crystallinity of PBS in the composites. Therefore, the composites were better in impact load transferring than neat PBS, which exhibited improving on impact performance of the composites.

Understanding the role of injury/illness sensitivity and anxiety sensitivity in (automatic) pain processing: an examination using the extrinsic affective simon task.

PubMed

Vancleef, Linda M G; Peters, Madelon L; Gilissen, Susan M P; De Jong, Peter J

2007-07-01

Three fundamental fears are assumed to underlie psychopathology: Anxiety Sensitivity (AS), Injury/illness sensitivity (IS), and Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE). Both AS and IS may form risk factors for the development and exacerbation of chronic pain. The current research examines the relation between these fears and automatic threat appraisal for pain-related stimuli. Study 1 (n=48) additionally examined content-specific associations of AS and FNE with the automatic threat appraisal of, respectively, panic and social evaluative cues. Study 2 (n=60) additionally focused on the association of IS and AS with the engagement in health protecting behavior, and the use of health care services. Both studies found evidence for an automatic threat appraisal of aversive stimuli. Study 2 demonstrated a positive association between the automatic threat appraisal for pain-related stimuli and individuals' IS levels. IS was found to be the single best predictor of the tendency to engage in health protecting behavior, whereas AS was the single best predictor of the reported use of health care services. This study contributes to the field of knowledge on putative risk factors for chronic pain. Results demonstrate an automatic threat appraisal toward pain-related stimuli that is related to vulnerability traits for pain. This automatic threat appraisal might initiate relatively spontaneous (nonstrategic) pain-maintaining behavioral responses.

Automatic Control of the Concrete Mixture Homogeneity in Cycling Mixers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anatoly Fedorovich, Tikhonov; Drozdov, Anatoly

2018-03-01

The article describes the factors affecting the concrete mixture quality related to the moisture content of aggregates, since the effectiveness of the concrete mixture production is largely determined by the availability of quality management tools at all stages of the technological process. It is established that the unaccounted moisture of aggregates adversely affects the concrete mixture homogeneity and, accordingly, the strength of building structures. A new control method and the automatic control system of the concrete mixture homogeneity in the technological process of mixing components have been proposed, since the tasks of providing a concrete mixture are performed by the automatic control system of processing kneading-and-mixing machinery with operational automatic control of homogeneity. Theoretical underpinnings of the control of the mixture homogeneity are presented, which are related to a change in the frequency of vibrodynamic vibrations of the mixer body. The structure of the technical means of the automatic control system for regulating the supply of water is determined depending on the change in the concrete mixture homogeneity during the continuous mixing of components. The following technical means for establishing automatic control have been chosen: vibro-acoustic sensors, remote terminal units, electropneumatic control actuators, etc. To identify the quality indicator of automatic control, the system offers a structure flowchart with transfer functions that determine the ACS operation in transient dynamic mode.

Study on preparation and mechanical performance of TPU/nonwoven composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, X. C.; Xi, B. J.

2016-07-01

In order to study the influence of resin content and layer sequence parameters on the mechanical properties of TPU/non-woven composite materials synthesized by moulding pressing technology. The effects of the resin content and layer sequence on composites were discussed. Through experiments and theoretical analysis, it was revealed how resin content, layer sequence impact on mechanical properties of composite. The mechanics properties of TPU/non-woven composite materials are improved. The process is pressure 0.5 MPa, temperature 110 °C and time 120s min. The melting of the TPU infiltrated into the fabric and filled the space between the fibers.

Automatic external filling for the ion source gas bottle of a Van de Graaff accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strivay, D.; Bastin, T.; Dehove, C.; Dumont, P. D.; Marchal, A.; Garnir, H.; Weber, G.

1997-09-01

We describe a fully automatic system we developed to fill, from an external gas bottle, the ion source terminal gas storage bottle of a 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator without depressing the 25 bar insulating gas. The system is based on a programmable automate ordering electropneumatical valves. The only manual operation is the connection of the external gas cylinder. The time needed for a gas change is reduced to typically 15 min (depending on the residual pressure wished for the gas removed from the terminal bottle). To check this system we study the ionic composition of the ion beam delivered by our accelerator after different gas changes. The switching magnet of our accelerator was used to analyse the ionic composition of the accelerated beams in order to verify the degree of elimination of the previous gases in the system.

Fracture behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymer composite

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Avci, A.; Arikan, H.; Akdemir, A

2004-03-01

Chopped strand glass fiber reinforced particle-filled polymer composite beams with varying notch-to-depth ratios and different volume fractions of glass fibers were investigated in Mode I fracture using three-point bending tests. Effects of polyester resin content and glass fiber content on fracture behavior was also studied. Polyester resin contents were used 13.00%%, 14.75%, 16.50%, 18.00% and 19.50%, and glass fiber contents were 1% and 1.5% of the total weight of the polymer composite system. Flexural strength of the polymer composite increases with increase in polyester and fiber content. The critical stress intensity factor was determined by using several methods such asmore » initial notch depth method, compliance method and J-integral method. The values of K{sub IC} obtained from these methods were compared.« less

MedSynDiKATe--design considerations for an ontology-based medical text understanding system.

PubMed Central

Hahn, U.; Romacker, M.; Schulz, S.

2000-01-01

MedSynDiKATe is a natural language processor for automatically acquiring knowledge from medical finding reports. The content of these documents is transferred to formal representation structures which constitute a corresponding text knowledge base. The general system architecture we present integrates requirements from the analysis of single sentences, as well as those of referentially linked sentences forming cohesive texts. The strong demands MedSynDiKATe poses to the availability of expressive knowledge sources are accounted for by two alternative approaches to (semi)automatic ontology engineering. PMID:11079899

DiTour 3.1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pelaia II, Thomas A.

2015-06-30

There is a need for software that allows a tour guide to present different tracks of slides and then return to the default slide show automatically upon completion. A mobile solution is needed for trade shows. DiTour is an iPad/iPhone app that pulls presentation content from a website, stores it on the device and presents it on a connected display. A tour guide can select a track to present and it will automatically return to the default track after a timeout. It offers a mobile solution which is ideal for trade shows.

QBIC project: querying images by content, using color, texture, and shape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niblack, Carlton W.; Barber, Ron; Equitz, Will; Flickner, Myron D.; Glasman, Eduardo H.; Petkovic, Dragutin; Yanker, Peter; Faloutsos, Christos; Taubin, Gabriel

1993-04-01

In the query by image content (QBIC) project we are studying methods to query large on-line image databases using the images' content as the basis of the queries. Examples of the content we use include color, texture, and shape of image objects and regions. Potential applications include medical (`Give me other images that contain a tumor with a texture like this one'), photo-journalism (`Give me images that have blue at the top and red at the bottom'), and many others in art, fashion, cataloging, retailing, and industry. Key issues include derivation and computation of attributes of images and objects that provide useful query functionality, retrieval methods based on similarity as opposed to exact match, query by image example or user drawn image, the user interfaces, query refinement and navigation, high dimensional database indexing, and automatic and semi-automatic database population. We currently have a prototype system written in X/Motif and C running on an RS/6000 that allows a variety of queries, and a test database of over 1000 images and 1000 objects populated from commercially available photo clip art images. In this paper we present the main algorithms for color texture, shape and sketch query that we use, show example query results, and discuss future directions.

New approach for cognitive analysis and understanding of medical patterns and visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogiela, Marek R.; Tadeusiewicz, Ryszard

2003-11-01

This paper presents new opportunities for applying linguistic description of the picture merit content and AI methods to undertake tasks of the automatic understanding of images semantics in intelligent medical information systems. A successful obtaining of the crucial semantic content of the medical image may contribute considerably to the creation of new intelligent multimedia cognitive medical systems. Thanks to the new idea of cognitive resonance between stream of the data extracted from the image using linguistic methods and expectations taken from the representaion of the medical knowledge, it is possible to understand the merit content of the image even if teh form of the image is very different from any known pattern. This article proves that structural techniques of artificial intelligence may be applied in the case of tasks related to automatic classification and machine perception based on semantic pattern content in order to determine the semantic meaning of the patterns. In the paper are described some examples presenting ways of applying such techniques in the creation of cognitive vision systems for selected classes of medical images. On the base of scientific research described in the paper we try to build some new systems for collecting, storing, retrieving and intelligent interpreting selected medical images especially obtained in radiological and MRI examinations.

Development of a hybrid image processing algorithm for automatic evaluation of intramuscular fat content in beef M. longissimus dorsi.

PubMed

Du, Cheng-Jin; Sun, Da-Wen; Jackman, Patrick; Allen, Paul

2008-12-01

An automatic method for estimating the content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in beef M. longissimus dorsi (LD) was developed using a sequence of image processing algorithm. To extract IMF particles within the LD muscle from structural features of intermuscular fat surrounding the muscle, three steps of image processing algorithm were developed, i.e. bilateral filter for noise removal, kernel fuzzy c-means clustering (KFCM) for segmentation, and vector confidence connected and flood fill for IMF extraction. The technique of bilateral filtering was firstly applied to reduce the noise and enhance the contrast of the beef image. KFCM was then used to segment the filtered beef image into lean, fat, and background. The IMF was finally extracted from the original beef image by using the techniques of vector confidence connected and flood filling. The performance of the algorithm developed was verified by correlation analysis between the IMF characteristics and the percentage of chemically extractable IMF content (P<0.05). Five IMF features are very significantly correlated with the fat content (P<0.001), including count densities of middle (CDMiddle) and large (CDLarge) fat particles, area densities of middle and large fat particles, and total fat area per unit LD area. The highest coefficient is 0.852 for CDLarge.

Report of the Fifth Biennial Conference on Chemical Education: Content.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of Chemical Education, 1979

1979-01-01

Two papers are reported on, one dealing with a course on inorganic reaction mechanisms for college seniors, and the other on the set-up necessary to provide students with an automatic potentiometric titration facility. (BB)

Technical data on new engineering products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1985-02-01

New grades of permanently magnetic materials; automatic digital radiolocator; bench winder; analog induction gauge; programmable pulse generator; portable defibrillators; pipe welders; two-component electromagnetic log; sulphur content analyzer; peristaltic pumps; function generators; welding manipulator; and tonsiometer are described.

System compliance dictates the effect of composite filler content on polymerization shrinkage stress.

PubMed

Wang, Zhengzhi; Chiang, Martin Y M

2016-04-01

The effect of filler content in dental restorative composites on the polymerization shrinkage stress (PS) is not straightforward and has caused much debate in the literature. Our objective in this study was to clarify the PS/filler content relationship based on analytical and experimental approaches, so that guidelines for materials comparison in terms of PS and clinical selection of dental composites with various filler content can be provided. Analytically, a simplified model based on linear elasticity was utilized to predict PS as a function of filler content under various compliances of the testing system, a cantilever beam-based instrument used in this study. The predictions were validated by measuring PS of composites synthesized using 50/50 mixtures of two common dimethacrylate resins with a variety of filler contents. Both experiments and predictions indicated that the influence of filler content on the PS highly depended on the compliance of the testing system. Within the clinic-relevant range of compliances and for the specific sample configuration tested, the PS increased with increasing filler content at low compliance of instrument, while increasing the compliance caused the effect of filler content on the PS to gradually diminish. Eventually, at high compliance, the PS inverted and decreased with increasing filler content. This compliance-dependent effect of filler content on PS suggests: (1) for materials comparison in terms of PS, the specific compliance at which the comparison being done should always be reported and (2) clinically, composites with relatively lower filler content could be selected for such cavities with relatively lower compliance (e.g. a Class-I cavity with thick tooth walls or the basal part in a cavity) and vice versa in order to reduce the final PS. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Combination of heterogeneous criteria for the automatic detection of ethical principles on health web sites.

PubMed

Gaudinat, Arnaud; Grabar, Natalia; Boyer, Célia

2007-10-11

The detection of ethical issues of web sites aims at selection of information helpful to the reader and is an important concern in medical informatics. Indeed, with the ever-increasing volume of online health information, coupled with its uneven reliability and quality, the public should be aware about the quality of information available online. In order to address this issue, we propose methods for the automatic detection of statements related to ethical principles such as those of the HONcode. For the detection of these statements, we combine two kinds of heterogeneous information: content-based categorizations and URL-based categorizations through application of the machine learning algorithms. Our objective is to observe the quality of categorization through URL's for web pages where categorization through content has been proven to be not precise enough. The results obtained indicate that only some of the principles were better processed.

On the automaticity of response inhibition in individuals with alcoholism.

PubMed

Noël, Xavier; Brevers, Damien; Hanak, Catherine; Kornreich, Charles; Verbanck, Paul; Verbruggen, Frederick

2016-06-01

Response inhibition is usually considered a hallmark of executive control. However, recent work indicates that stop performance can become associatively mediated ('automatic') over practice. This study investigated automatic response inhibition in sober and recently detoxified individuals with alcoholism.. We administered to forty recently detoxified alcoholics and forty healthy participants a modified stop-signal task that consisted of a training phase in which a subset of the stimuli was consistently associated with stopping or going, and a test phase in which this mapping was reversed. In the training phase, stop performance improved for the consistent stop stimuli, compared with control stimuli that were not associated with going or stopping. In the test phase, go performance tended to be impaired for old stop stimuli. Combined, these findings support the automatic inhibition hypothesis. Importantly, performance was similar in both groups, which indicates that automatic inhibitory control develops normally in individuals with alcoholism.. This finding is specific to individuals with alcoholism without other psychiatric disorders, which is rather atypical and prevents generalization. Personalized stimuli with a stronger affective content should be used in future studies. These results advance our understanding of behavioral inhibition in individuals with alcoholism. Furthermore, intact automatic inhibitory control may be an important element of successful cognitive remediation of addictive behaviors.. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic attention to emotional stimuli: neural correlates.

PubMed

Carretié, Luis; Hinojosa, José A; Martín-Loeches, Manuel; Mercado, Francisco; Tapia, Manuel

2004-08-01

We investigated the capability of emotional and nonemotional visual stimulation to capture automatic attention, an aspect of the interaction between cognitive and emotional processes that has received scant attention from researchers. Event-related potentials were recorded from 37 subjects using a 60-electrode array, and were submitted to temporal and spatial principal component analyses to detect and quantify the main components, and to source localization software (LORETA) to determine their spatial origin. Stimuli capturing automatic attention were of three types: emotionally positive, emotionally negative, and nonemotional pictures. Results suggest that initially (P1: 105 msec after stimulus), automatic attention is captured by negative pictures, and not by positive or nonemotional ones. Later (P2: 180 msec), automatic attention remains captured by negative pictures, but also by positive ones. Finally (N2: 240 msec), attention is captured only by positive and nonemotional stimuli. Anatomically, this sequence is characterized by decreasing activation of the visual association cortex (VAC) and by the growing involvement, from dorsal to ventral areas, of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Analyses suggest that the ACC and not the VAC is responsible for experimental effects described above. Intensity, latency, and location of neural activity related to automatic attention thus depend clearly on the stimulus emotional content and on its associated biological importance. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effect of biobased fillers nature on biodeterioration of hybrid polyethylene composites by mold fungi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mastalygina, E. E.; Popov, A. A.; Pantyukhov, P. V.

2017-06-01

The paper is devoted to investigation of deterioration of natural fillers and polyethylene composites on their basis (polyethylene/filler=70/30) due to the action of mold fungi. The fillers chemical composition, dimensional parameters and biodegradability have been analyzed as factors exert a considerable impact on composite materials biodeterioration. It has been found that the principal factor determining the biodeterioration of polyethylene/filler composites by mold fungi is chemical composition of a filler and, in turn, its biodegradability. The excess of holocellulose content over lignin content and high protein content in a filler are able to induce biofouling of the polymeric composite materials. The presence of soluble and easy hydrolysed fraction in a filler increases its availability in a polymeric matrix. According to the study results, most effective natural fillers as additives stimulating polyethylene composites biodegradability are milled straw of seed flax and hydrolyzed keratin of bird’s feather.

Prediction of the true digestible amino acid contents from the chemical composition of sorghum grain for poultry.

PubMed

Ebadi, M R; Sedghi, M; Golian, A; Ahmadi, H

2011-10-01

Accurate knowledge of true digestible amino acid (TDAA) contents of feedstuffs is necessary to accurately formulate poultry diets for profitable production. Several experimental approaches that are highly expensive and time consuming have been used to determine available amino acids. Prediction of the nutritive value of a feed ingredient from its chemical composition via regression methodology has been attempted for many years. The artificial neural network (ANN) model is a powerful method that may describe the relationship between digestible amino acid contents and chemical composition. Therefore, multiple linear regressions (MLR) and ANN models were developed for predicting the TDAA contents of sorghum grain based on chemical composition. A precision-fed assay trial using cecectomized roosters was performed to determine the TDAA contents in 48 sorghum samples from 12 sorghum varieties differing in chemical composition. The input variables for both MLR and ANN models were CP, ash, crude fiber, ether extract, and total phenols whereas the output variable was each individual TDAA for every sample. The results of this study revealed that it is possible to satisfactorily estimate the TDAA of sorghum grain through its chemical composition. The chemical composition of sorghum grain seems to highly influence the TDAA contents when considering components such as CP, crude fiber, ether extract, ash and total phenols. It is also possible to estimate the TDAA contents through multiple regression equations with reasonable accuracy depending on composition. However, a more satisfactory prediction may be achieved via ANN for all amino acids. The R(2) values for the ANN model corresponding to testing and training parameters showed a higher accuracy of prediction than equations established by the MLR method. In addition, the current data confirmed that chemical composition, often considered in total amino acid prediction, could be also a useful predictor of true digestible values of selected amino acids for poultry.

StandFood: Standardization of Foods Using a Semi-Automatic System for Classifying and Describing Foods According to FoodEx2

PubMed Central

Eftimov, Tome; Korošec, Peter; Koroušić Seljak, Barbara

2017-01-01

The European Food Safety Authority has developed a standardized food classification and description system called FoodEx2. It uses facets to describe food properties and aspects from various perspectives, making it easier to compare food consumption data from different sources and perform more detailed data analyses. However, both food composition data and food consumption data, which need to be linked, are lacking in FoodEx2 because the process of classification and description has to be manually performed—a process that is laborious and requires good knowledge of the system and also good knowledge of food (composition, processing, marketing, etc.). In this paper, we introduce a semi-automatic system for classifying and describing foods according to FoodEx2, which consists of three parts. The first involves a machine learning approach and classifies foods into four FoodEx2 categories, with two for single foods: raw (r) and derivatives (d), and two for composite foods: simple (s) and aggregated (c). The second uses a natural language processing approach and probability theory to describe foods. The third combines the result from the first and the second part by defining post-processing rules in order to improve the result for the classification part. We tested the system using a set of food items (from Slovenia) manually-coded according to FoodEx2. The new semi-automatic system obtained an accuracy of 89% for the classification part and 79% for the description part, or an overall result of 79% for the whole system. PMID:28587103

StandFood: Standardization of Foods Using a Semi-Automatic System for Classifying and Describing Foods According to FoodEx2.

PubMed

Eftimov, Tome; Korošec, Peter; Koroušić Seljak, Barbara

2017-05-26

The European Food Safety Authority has developed a standardized food classification and description system called FoodEx2. It uses facets to describe food properties and aspects from various perspectives, making it easier to compare food consumption data from different sources and perform more detailed data analyses. However, both food composition data and food consumption data, which need to be linked, are lacking in FoodEx2 because the process of classification and description has to be manually performed-a process that is laborious and requires good knowledge of the system and also good knowledge of food (composition, processing, marketing, etc.). In this paper, we introduce a semi-automatic system for classifying and describing foods according to FoodEx2, which consists of three parts. The first involves a machine learning approach and classifies foods into four FoodEx2 categories, with two for single foods: raw (r) and derivatives (d), and two for composite foods: simple (s) and aggregated (c). The second uses a natural language processing approach and probability theory to describe foods. The third combines the result from the first and the second part by defining post-processing rules in order to improve the result for the classification part. We tested the system using a set of food items (from Slovenia) manually-coded according to FoodEx2. The new semi-automatic system obtained an accuracy of 89% for the classification part and 79% for the description part, or an overall result of 79% for the whole system.

Exploring access to scientific literature using content-based image retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deserno, Thomas M.; Antani, Sameer; Long, Rodney

2007-03-01

The number of articles published in the scientific medical literature is continuously increasing, and Web access to the journals is becoming common. Databases such as SPIE Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, indices such as PubMed, and search engines such as Google provide the user with sophisticated full-text search capabilities. However, information in images and graphs within these articles is entirely disregarded. In this paper, we quantify the potential impact of using content-based image retrieval (CBIR) to access this non-text data. Based on the Journal Citations Report (JCR), the journal Radiology was selected for this study. In 2005, 734 articles were published electronically in this journal. This included 2,587 figures, which yields a rate of 3.52 figures per article. Furthermore, 56.4% of these figures are composed of several individual panels, i.e. the figure combines different images and/or graphs. According to the Image Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (ImageCLEF), the error rate of automatic identification of medical images is about 15%. Therefore, it is expected that, by applying ImageCLEF-like techniques, already 95.5% of articles could be retrieved by means of CBIR. The challenge for CBIR in scientific literature, however, is the use of local texture properties to analyze individual image panels in composite illustrations. Using local features for content-based image representation, 8.81 images per article are available, and the predicted correctness rate may increase to 98.3%. From this study, we conclude that CBIR may have a high impact in medical literature research and suggest that additional research in this area is warranted.

Effect of restricted mobility on RNA content and nucleotide composition and on protein content in motoneurons of spinal cord anterior horns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gorbunova, A. V.

1980-01-01

An investigation into the effect of hypokinesia on the ribonucleic acid (RNA) content, the nucleotide composition, and dynamics of protein content in the motoneuron of the rat spinal cord anterior horns is described. Methodology and findings are presented. The study results showed that the nucleotide composition of the total cellular RNA at all the studied periods of hypokinesia remained unchanged and is characteristic for the cytoplasmic, high polymer ribosomal RNA. This means that with a change in the functional state of the neuron the newly formed RNA of the nerve cell has the same composition of bases as the original RNA that belongs to the ribosomal type.

The effect of fibre content, fibre size and alkali treatment to Charpy impact resistance of Oil Palm fibre reinforced composite material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitri, Muhamad; Mahzan, Shahruddin

2016-11-01

In this research, the effect of fibre content, fibre size and alkali treatment to the impact resistance of the composite material have been investigated, The composite material employs oil palm fibre as the reinforcement material whereas the matrix used for the composite materials are polypropylene. The Oil Palm fibres are prepared for two conditions: alkali treated fibres and untreated fibres. The fibre sizes are varied in three sizes: 5mm, 7mm and 10mm. During the composite material preparation, the fibre contents also have been varied into 3 different percentages: 5%, 7% and 10%. The statistical approach is used to optimise the variation of specimen determined by using Taguchi method. The results were analyzed also by the Taguchi method and shows that the Oil Palm fibre content is significantly affect the impact resistance of the polymer matrix composite. However, the fibre size is moderately affecting the impact resistance, whereas the fibre treatment is insignificant to the impact resistance of the oil palm fibre reinforced polymer matrix composite.

Video document

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, Bob; Lienhart, Rainer W.; Yeo, Boon-Lock

1999-08-01

The metaphor of film and TV permeates the design of software to support video on the PC. Simply transplanting the non- interactive, sequential experience of film to the PC fails to exploit the virtues of the new context. Video ont eh PC should be interactive and non-sequential. This paper experiments with a variety of tools for using video on the PC that exploits the new content of the PC. Some feature are more successful than others. Applications that use these tools are explored, including primarily the home video archive but also streaming video servers on the Internet. The ability to browse, edit, abstract and index large volumes of video content such as home video and corporate video is a problem without appropriate solution in today's market. The current tools available are complex, unfriendly video editors, requiring hours of work to prepare a short home video, far more work that a typical home user can be expected to provide. Our proposed solution treats video like a text document, providing functionality similar to a text editor. Users can browse, interact, edit and compose one or more video sequences with the same ease and convenience as handling text documents. With this level of text-like composition, we call what is normally a sequential medium a 'video document'. An important component of the proposed solution is shot detection, the ability to detect when a short started or stopped. When combined with a spreadsheet of key frames, the host become a grid of pictures that can be manipulated and viewed in the same way that a spreadsheet can be edited. Multiple video documents may be viewed, joined, manipulated, and seamlessly played back. Abstracts of unedited video content can be produce automatically to create novel video content for export to other venues. Edited and raw video content can be published to the net or burned to a CD-ROM with a self-installing viewer for Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0.

Effects of Co contents on the microstructures and properties of the electrodeposited NiCo–Zr composite coatings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cai, Fei; Jiang, Chuanhai, E-mail: chuanhaijiang1963@163.com; Zhao, Yuantao

2015-05-15

Highlights: • The novel NiCo–Zr coatings were prepared by electro-deposition. • Surface morphology, crystal structure, grain size and microstrain were examined. • Texture, residual stress and corrosion resistance were investigated. • Addition of Co increased the hardness and corrosion resistance of the coatings. - Abstract: In this study, the NiCo–Zr composite coatings were prepared from the electrolytes with different Co{sup 2+} concentrations by electrodeposition method. The effects of Co contents on the crystal structure, surface morphology, grain size, microstrain and residual stress were examined by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) andmore » atomic force microscope (AFM). The corrosion resistance of the composite coatings was also examined by the potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance (EIS) measurements. The results revealed that the crystal structures of the coatings were dependent on the Co contents and addition of Co content of 58 wt% resulted in the formation of hexagonal (hcp) Co. The increasing Co contents in the NiCo–Zr composite coatings resulted in the smoother and more compact surface, decreased the grain size and increased the microstrain. The micro-hardness and residual stress also increased with increasing Co contents. The addition of Co increased the corrosion resistance of the NiCo–Zr composite coatings compared with the Ni–Zr coating while the corrosion resistance of the NiCo–Zr composite coatings decreased as the Co contents increased.« less

Study of morphology, chemical, and amino acid composition of red deer meat.

PubMed

Okuskhanova, Eleonora; Assenova, Bahytkul; Rebezov, Maksim; Amirkhanov, Kumarbek; Yessimbekov, Zhanibek; Smolnikova, Farida; Nurgazezova, Almagul; Nurymkhan, Gulnur; Stuart, Marilyne

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate red deer (maral) meat quality based on chemical composition, pH, water-binding capacity (WBC), and amino acid content. Maral meat surface morphology measurements were obtained by scanning electron microscopy. Active acidity (pH) was determined by potentiometry. Samples were analyzed for WBC by exudation of moisture to a filter paper by the application of pressure. Chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat, and ash fractions) was obtained by drying at 150°C and by extraction, using ethylic ether, and ashing at 500-600°C. The amino acid composition was obtained by liquid chromatography. Maral meat, with a pH of 5.85 and an average moisture content of 76.82%, was found to be low in fat (2.26%). Its protein content was 18.71% while its ash content was 2.21%. The amino acid composition showed that lysine (9.85 g/100 g), threonine (5.38 g/100 g), and valine (5.84 g/100 g) predominated in maral meat, while phenylalanine (4.08 g/100 g), methionine (3.29 g/100 g), and tryptophan (0.94 g/100 g) were relatively low in maral meat compared to other meats. The average WBC was found to be 65.82% and WBC was found to inversely correlate with moisture content. Low-fat content, high mineral content, and balanced amino-acid composition qualify maral meat as a worthy dietary and functional food.

Study of morphology, chemical, and amino acid composition of red deer meat

PubMed Central

Okuskhanova, Eleonora; Assenova, Bahytkul; Rebezov, Maksim; Amirkhanov, Kumarbek; Yessimbekov, Zhanibek; Smolnikova, Farida; Nurgazezova, Almagul; Nurymkhan, Gulnur; Stuart, Marilyne

2017-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate red deer (maral) meat quality based on chemical composition, pH, water-binding capacity (WBC), and amino acid content. Materials and Methods: Maral meat surface morphology measurements were obtained by scanning electron microscopy. Active acidity (pH) was determined by potentiometry. Samples were analyzed for WBC by exudation of moisture to a filter paper by the application of pressure. Chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat, and ash fractions) was obtained by drying at 150°C and by extraction, using ethylic ether, and ashing at 500-600°C. The amino acid composition was obtained by liquid chromatography. Results: Maral meat, with a pH of 5.85 and an average moisture content of 76.82%, was found to be low in fat (2.26%). Its protein content was 18.71% while its ash content was 2.21%. The amino acid composition showed that lysine (9.85 g/100 g), threonine (5.38 g/100 g), and valine (5.84 g/100 g) predominated in maral meat, while phenylalanine (4.08 g/100 g), methionine (3.29 g/100 g), and tryptophan (0.94 g/100 g) were relatively low in maral meat compared to other meats. The average WBC was found to be 65.82% and WBC was found to inversely correlate with moisture content. Conclusion: Low-fat content, high mineral content, and balanced amino-acid composition qualify maral meat as a worthy dietary and functional food. PMID:28717313

Designing novel bulk metallic glass composites with a high aluminum content

PubMed Central

Chen, Z. P.; Gao, J. E.; Wu, Y.; Wang, H.; Liu, X. J.; Lu, Z. P.

2013-01-01

The long-standing challenge for forming Al-based BMGs and their matrix composites with a critical size larger than 1 mm have not been answered over the past three decades. In this paper, we reported formation of a series of BMG matrix composites which contain a high Al content up to 55 at.%. These composites can be cast at extraordinarily low cooling rates, compatible with maximum rod diameters of over a centimetre in copper mold casting. Our results indicate that proper additions of transition element Fe which have a positive heat of mixing with the main constituents La and Ce can appreciably improve the formability of the BMG matrix composites by suppressing the precipitation of Al(La,Ce) phase resulted from occurrence of the phase separation. However, the optimum content of Fe addition is strongly dependant on the total amount of the Al content in the Al-(CoCu)-(La,Ce) alloys. PMID:24284800

Designing novel bulk metallic glass composites with a high aluminum content.

PubMed

Chen, Z P; Gao, J E; Wu, Y; Wang, H; Liu, X J; Lu, Z P

2013-11-27

The long-standing challenge for forming Al-based BMGs and their matrix composites with a critical size larger than 1 mm have not been answered over the past three decades. In this paper, we reported formation of a series of BMG matrix composites which contain a high Al content up to 55 at.%. These composites can be cast at extraordinarily low cooling rates, compatible with maximum rod diameters of over a centimetre in copper mold casting. Our results indicate that proper additions of transition element Fe which have a positive heat of mixing with the main constituents La and Ce can appreciably improve the formability of the BMG matrix composites by suppressing the precipitation of Al(La,Ce) phase resulted from occurrence of the phase separation. However, the optimum content of Fe addition is strongly dependant on the total amount of the Al content in the Al-(CoCu)-(La,Ce) alloys.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liuyun, Jiang, E-mail: jlytxg@163.com; Chengdong, Xiong; Lixin, Jiang

Graphical abstract: Effect of n-HA content on the isothermal crystallization, morphology and mechanical property of n-HA/PLGA composites was studied in details. The results showed that the addition of higher content of g-n-HA was favorable to promote the crystallization better in g-n-HA/PLGA composites, but it could also cause more agglomeration in PLGA matrix, as a result of worse mechanical properties, and the addition content of 3 wt% g-n-HA to PLGA matrix was an appropriate proportion, which had the highest bending strength among these g-n-HA/PLGA composites, and it might be potential to be used in biomedical fields in future. Highlights: ► Themore » effect of n-HA content on the n-HA/PLGA composites was studied in detail. ► Isothermal crystallization, microstructure and mechanical property were studied. ► The relation between n-HA content and properties of n-HA/PLGA composite was found. ► An appropriate proportion of n-HA in n-HA/PLGA composite was obtained. - Abstract: A serials of g-n-HA/PLGA composites with surface-modified g-n-HA of 1%, 3%, 6%, 10% and 15% in weight were prepared by solution mixing. The isothermal crystallization, morphology and mechanical property of g-n-HA/PLGA composites were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electromechanical universal tester. The results showed that Avrami equation was suitable for describing the isothermal crystallization process in this system, and the crystallization rate of g-n-HA/PLGA composites containing more than 3 wt% g-n-HA was basically accord with the relational expression of T{sub 110} {sub °C} > T{sub 105°C} > T{sub 115°C} > T{sub 120°C}. Moreover, at the same Tc, crystallization rate was greatly enhanced with the increasing of g-n-HA acting as nucleate. However, the addition of higher content of g-n-HA would cause more agglomeration in PLGA matrix, so that the mechanical properties of g-n-HA/PLGA composites would gradually decrease. In conclusion, the addition of higher content of g-n-HA was favorable to promote the crystallization better in g-n-HA/PLGA composites, but it could also cause more agglomeration in PLGA matrix, result in worse mechanical properties, and the addition content of 3 wt% g-n-HA to PLGA matrix was an appropriate proportion, which had the highest bending strength among these g-n-HA/PLGA composites, and it might be potential to be used in biomedical fields in future.« less

Manufacture and performance of carbon/epoxy 3-D woven composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brandt, J.; Drechsler, K.; Mohamed, Mansour; Gu, PU

1992-01-01

This paper evaluates 3-D orthogonal woven carbon/epoxy composites. Preforms were manufactured on an automatic 3-D weaving machine developed at N.C. State University. Matrix infiltration was conducted at MBB Central Laboratories. Testing was carried out at both locations and the joint results will be reported. The properties investigated include: interlaminar shear strength, compression, compression after impact, bending, tensile and penetration resistance. The 3-D orthogonal woven composites were compared with laminated and other 3-D composites made with preforms having interlock structure. C-scans were used to examine the quality of infiltration and the damage area after impact. The performance of the composites made from the 3-D orthogonal preforms showed superior properties compared to the other composites. The penetration resistance test showed unexpectedly very good performance.

Aligned macroporous TiO2/chitosan/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites for photocatalytic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chao; Zhang, Yan; Zeng, Jing; Zhang, Fuqiang; Zhou, Kechao; Bowen, Chris R.; Zhang, Dou

2017-12-01

In this article ice templating is used to fabricate novel TiO2/chitosan/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites with a highly aligned macroporous structure for photocatalytic applications. The structure of the composites was readily tailored using the composite composition, for example the lamellar pore width decreased from 50-45 to 5-10 μm, while the lamellar thickness increased from 2-3 to 20-25 μm, with an increase of the TiO2 content from 45 to 77 vol%. Lamellar pore channels between the layers exhibited a more uniform distribution when the rGO content was 1.0 wt%. The increase in viscosity of the composites with high TiO2 contents led to the formation of smaller ice crystals and smaller lamellar pore sizes to enable the production of composite structures with improved mechanical strength. The TiO2/chitosan/rGO composites exhibited excellent photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and the photocatalytic efficiency was optimized by control of the active material content and microstructure. The hybrid composites with 1.0 wt% rGO showed a degradation percentage of 97%, which makes these novel TiO2/chitosan/rGO freeze cast structures attractive materials as high performance and high strength substrates for photocatalytic degradation applications.

Automatic selection of localized region-based active contour models using image content analysis applied to brain tumor segmentation.

PubMed

Ilunga-Mbuyamba, Elisee; Avina-Cervantes, Juan Gabriel; Cepeda-Negrete, Jonathan; Ibarra-Manzano, Mario Alberto; Chalopin, Claire

2017-12-01

Brain tumor segmentation is a routine process in a clinical setting and provides useful information for diagnosis and treatment planning. Manual segmentation, performed by physicians or radiologists, is a time-consuming task due to the large quantity of medical data generated presently. Hence, automatic segmentation methods are needed, and several approaches have been introduced in recent years including the Localized Region-based Active Contour Model (LRACM). There are many popular LRACM, but each of them presents strong and weak points. In this paper, the automatic selection of LRACM based on image content and its application on brain tumor segmentation is presented. Thereby, a framework to select one of three LRACM, i.e., Local Gaussian Distribution Fitting (LGDF), localized Chan-Vese (C-V) and Localized Active Contour Model with Background Intensity Compensation (LACM-BIC), is proposed. Twelve visual features are extracted to properly select the method that may process a given input image. The system is based on a supervised approach. Applied specifically to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images, the experiments showed that the proposed system is able to correctly select the suitable LRACM to handle a specific image. Consequently, the selection framework achieves better accuracy performance than the three LRACM separately. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic detection of artifacts in converted S3D video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bokov, Alexander; Vatolin, Dmitriy; Zachesov, Anton; Belous, Alexander; Erofeev, Mikhail

2014-03-01

In this paper we present algorithms for automatically detecting issues specific to converted S3D content. When a depth-image-based rendering approach produces a stereoscopic image, the quality of the result depends on both the depth maps and the warping algorithms. The most common problem with converted S3D video is edge-sharpness mismatch. This artifact may appear owing to depth-map blurriness at semitransparent edges: after warping, the object boundary becomes sharper in one view and blurrier in the other, yielding binocular rivalry. To detect this problem we estimate the disparity map, extract boundaries with noticeable differences, and analyze edge-sharpness correspondence between views. We pay additional attention to cases involving a complex background and large occlusions. Another problem is detection of scenes that lack depth volume: we present algorithms for detecting at scenes and scenes with at foreground objects. To identify these problems we analyze the features of the RGB image as well as uniform areas in the depth map. Testing of our algorithms involved examining 10 Blu-ray 3D releases with converted S3D content, including Clash of the Titans, The Avengers, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The algorithms we present enable improved automatic quality assessment during the production stage.

Extension of an assessment model of ship traffic exhaust emissions for particulate matter and carbon monoxide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalkanen, J.-P.; Johansson, L.; Kukkonen, J.; Brink, A.; Kalli, J.; Stipa, T.

2011-08-01

A method is presented for the evaluation of the exhaust emissions of marine traffic, based on the messages provided by the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which enable the positioning of ship emissions with a high spatial resolution (typically a few metres). The model also takes into account the detailed technical data of each individual vessel. The previously developed model was applicable for evaluating the emissions of NOx, SOx and CO2. This paper addresses a substantial extension of the modelling system, to allow also for the mass-based emissions of particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO). The presented Ship Traffic Emissions Assessment Model (STEAM2) allows for the influences of accurate travel routes and ship speed, engine load, fuel sulphur content, multiengine setups, abatement methods and waves. We address in particular the modeling of the influence on the emissions of both engine load and the sulphur content of the fuel. The presented methodology can be used to evaluate the total PM emissions, and those of organic carbon, elemental carbon, ash and hydrated sulphate. We have evaluated the performance of the extended model against available experimental data on engine power, fuel consumption and the composition-resolved emissions of PM. As example results, the geographical distributions of the emissions of PM and CO are presented for the marine regions surrounding the Danish Straits.

The effects of rainfall partitioning and evapotranspiration on the temporal and spatial variation of soil water content in a Mediterranean agroforestry system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biel, C.; Molina, A.; Aranda, X.; Llorens, P.; Savé, R.

2012-04-01

Tree plantation for wood production has been proposed to mitigate CO2-related climate change. Although these agroforestry systems can contribute to maintain the agriculture in some areas placed between rainfed crops and secondary forests, water scarcity in Mediterranean climate could restrict its growth, and their presence will affect the water balance. Tree plantations management (species, plant density, irrigation, etc), hence, can be used to affect the water balance, resulting in water availability improvement and buffering of the water cycle. Soil water content and meteorological data are widely used in agroforestry systems as indicators of vegetation water use, and consequently to define water management. However, the available information of ecohydrological processes in this kind of ecosystem is scarce. The present work studies how the temporal and spatial variation of soil water content is affected by transpiration and interception loss fluxes in a Mediterranean rainfed plantation of cherry tree (Prunus avium) located in Caldes de Montbui (Northeast of Spain). From May till December 2011, rainfall partitioning, canopy transpiration, soil water content and meteorological parameters were continuously recorded. Rainfall partitioning was measured in 6 trees, with 6 automatic rain recorders for throughfall and 1 automatic rain recorder for stemflow per tree. Transpiration was monitored in 12 nearby trees by means of heat pulse sap flow sensors. Soil water content was also measured at three different depths under selected trees and at two depths between rows without tree cover influence. This work presents the relationships between rainfall partitioning, transpiration and soil water content evolution under the tree canopy. The effect of tree cover on the soil water content dynamics is also analyzed.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Zn-Ni-Al₂O₃ Composite Coatings.

PubMed

Bai, Yang; Wang, Zhenhua; Li, Xiangbo; Huang, Guosheng; Li, Caixia; Li, Yan

2018-05-21

Zn-Ni-Al₂O₃ composite coatings with different Ni contents were fabricated by low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) technology. The effects of the Ni content on the microstructural and mechanical properties of the coatings were investigated. According to X-ray diffraction patterns, the composite coatings were primarily composed of metallic-phase Zn and Ni and ceramic-phase Al₂O₃. The energy-dispersive spectroscopy results show that the Al₂O₃ content of the composite coatings gradually decreased with increasing of Ni content. The cross-sectional morphology revealed thick, dense coatings with a wave-like stacking structure. The process of depositing Zn and Ni particles and Al₂O₃ particles by the LPCS method was examined, and the deposition mechanism was demonstrated to be mechanical interlocking. The bond strength, micro hardness and friction coefficient of the coatings did not obviously change when the Ni content varied. The presence of Al₂O₃ and Ni increased the wear resistance of the composite coatings, which was higher than that of pure Zn coatings, and the wear mechanism was abrasive and adhesive wear.

Processing and Mechanical Properties of Various Zirconia/Alumina Composites for Fuel Cell Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Sung R.; Bansal, Narottam P.

2002-01-01

Various electrolyte materials for solid oxide fuel cells were fabricated by hot pressing 10 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (10-YSZ) reinforced with two different forms of alumina, particulates and platelets, each containing 0 to 30 mol% alumina. Flexure strength and fracture toughness of both particulate and platelet composites at ambient temperature increased with increasing alumina content, reaching a maximum at 30 mot% alumina. For a given alumina content, strength of particulate composites was greater than that of platelet composites, whereas, the difference in fracture toughness between the two composite systems was negligible. No virtual difference in elastic modulus and density was observed for a given alumina content between particulate and platelet composites. Thermal cycling up to 10 cycles between 200 to 1000 C did not show any effect on strength degradation of the 30 mol% platelet composites, indicative of negligible influence of CTE mismatches between YSZ matrix and alumina grains.

Poly-paper: a sustainable material for packaging, based on recycled paper and recyclable with paper.

PubMed

Del Curto, Barbara; Barelli, Nadia; Profaizer, Mauro; Farè, Silvia; Tanzi, Maria Cristina; Cigada, Alberto; Ognibene, Giulia; Recca, Giuseppe; Cicala, Gianluca

2016-11-02

Until now, environmental sustainability issues are almost entirely unsolved for packaging materials. With the final aim of finding materials with a single recycling channel, cellulose fiber/poly(vinyl)alcohol composites were investigated. After extrusion and injection molding, samples of composite with different cellulose fiber content (30%, 50% and 70% w/w) were tested. Tensile mechanical tests exhibited an improvement in composite stiffness when the reinforcement content was increased together with a decrease in composite elongation. Solubility tests performed at room temperature and 45°C showed different behavior depending on the water-resistant film applied on the composite (50% cellulose fiber content). In particular, the uncoated composite showed complete solubility after 2 hours, whereas at the same time point, no solubility occurred when a non-water-soluble varnish was used. The proposed composites, named Poly-paper, appear to warrant further investigation as highly sustainable packaging.

Shared Decisions That Count.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlechty, Phillip C.

1993-01-01

Advocates of participatory leadership, site-based management, and decentralization often assume that changing decision-making group composition will automatically improve the quality of decisions being made. Stakeholder satisfaction does not guarantee quality results. This article offers a framework for moving the decision-making discussion from…

A regression analysis of filler particle content to predict composite wear.

PubMed

Jaarda, M J; Wang, R F; Lang, B R

1997-01-01

It has been hypothesized that composite wear is correlated to filler particle content. There is a paucity of research to substantiate this theory despite numerous projects evaluating the correlation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a linear relationship existed between composite wear and filler particle content of 12 composites. In vivo wear data had been previously collected for the 12 composites and served as basis for this study. Scanning electron microscopy and backscatter electron imaging were combined with digital imaging analysis to develop "profile maps" of the filler particle composition of the composites. These profile maps included eight parameters: (1) total number of filler particles/28742.6 microns2, (2) percent of area occupied by all of the filler particles, (3) mean filler particle size, (4) percent of area occupied by the matrix, (5) percent of area occupied by filler particles, r (radius) 1.0 < or = micron, (6) percent of area occupied by filler particles, r = 1.0 < or = 4.5 microns, (7) percent of area occupied by filler particles, r = 4.5 < or = 10 microns, and (8) percent of area occupied by filler particles, r > 10 microns. Forward stepwise regression analyses were used with composite wear as the dependent variable and the eight parameters as independent variables. The results revealed a linear relationship between composite wear and the filler particle content. A mathematical formula was developed to predict composite wear.

Proximate body composition and energy content of plaice ( Pleuronectes platessa) in relation to the condition factor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costopoulos, C. G.; Fonds, M.

Length, wet weight, dry weight, and the content of lipid, ash and protein of young plaice were determined. The energy content of the fish was estimated by multiplying lipid and protein content by the commonly used calorific equivalents. The data were sorted from low to high condition factor of the fish and grouped according to condition factor (K = 100·W·L -3) into 8 condition groups. Mean values of percentage body composition and energy content were calculated for each condition group. Equations giving the best fit between condition factor and the parameters of body composition and energy content are presented. From the decrease in condition factor in fasting fish the relative losses of lipid and protein energy are calculated. The accuracy of equations for the calculation of energy content of plaice from condition factor is discussed.

Effect of somatic cell count and mastitis pathogens on milk composition in Gyr cows

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Gyr cows are well adapted to tropical conditions, resistant to some tropical diseases and have satisfactory milk production. However, Gyr dairy herds have a high prevalence of subclinical mastitis, which negatively affects their milk yield and composition. The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the effects of seasonality, mammary quarter location (rear x front), mastitis-causing pathogen species, and somatic cell count (SCC) on milk composition in Gyr cows with mammary quarters as the experimental units and (ii) to evaluate the effects of seasonality and somatic cell count (SCC) on milk composition in Gyr cows with cows as the experimental units. A total of 221 lactating Gyr cows from three commercial dairy farms were selected for this study. Individual foremilk quarter samples and composite milk samples were collected once a month over one year from all lactating cows for analysis of SCC, milk composition, and bacteriological culture. Results Subclinical mastitis reduced lactose, nonfat solids and total solids content, but no difference was found in the protein and fat content between infected and uninfected quarters. Seasonality influenced milk composition both in mammary quarters and composite milk samples. Nevertheless, there was no effect of mammary quarter position on milk composition. Mastitis-causing pathogens affected protein, lactose, nonfat solids, and total solids content, but not milk fat content. Somatic cell count levels affected milk composition in both mammary quarters and composite samples of milk. Conclusions Intramammary infections in Gyr cows alter milk composition; however, the degree of change depends on the mastitis-causing pathogen. Somatic cell count is negatively associated with reduced lactose and nonfat solids content in milk. Seasonality significantly affects milk composition, in which the concentration of lactose, fat, protein, nonfat solids and total solids differs between dry and wet seasons in Gyr cows. PMID:23566405

Amino acid composition and antioxidant capacity of Spanish honeys.

PubMed

Pérez, Rosa Ana; Iglesias, María Teresa; Pueyo, Encarnación; Gonzalez, Montserrat; de Lorenzo, Cristina

2007-01-24

The amino acid composition of 53 honey samples from Spain, consisting of 39 floral, 5 honeydew, and 9 blend honeys, has been determined. Physicochemical characteristics, polyphenolic content, amino acid composition, and estimation of the radical scavenging capacity against the stable free radical DPPH of the honey samples were analyzed. The resulting data have been statistically evaluated. The results showed that pH, acidity, net absorbance, electrical conductivity, and total polyphenolic contents of the honeys showed a strong correlation with the radical scavenging capacity. The correlation between the radical scavenging capacity of honey and amino acid contents was high with 18 of the 20 amino acids detected, with correlation values higher than those obtained for polyphenolic content. These results suggest that the amino acid composition of honey is an indicator of the sample's scavenging capacity.

Unraveling the genetic basis of seed tocopherol content and composition in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.).

PubMed

Wang, Xingxing; Zhang, Chunyu; Li, Lingjuan; Fritsche, Steffi; Endrigkeit, Jessica; Zhang, Wenying; Long, Yan; Jung, Christian; Meng, Jinling

2012-01-01

Tocopherols are important antioxidants in vegetable oils; when present as vitamin E, tocopherols are an essential nutrient for humans and livestock. Rapeseed (Brassica napus L, AACC, 2 n = 38) is one of the most important oil crops and a major source of tocopherols. Although the tocopherol biosynthetic pathway has been well elucidated in the model photosynthetic organisms Arabidopsis thaliana and Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, knowledge about the genetic basis of tocopherol biosynthesis in seeds of rapeseed is scant. This project was carried out to dissect the genetic basis of seed tocopherol content and composition in rapeseed through quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection, genome-wide association analysis, and homologous gene mapping. We used a segregating Tapidor × Ningyou7 doubled haploid (TNDH) population, its reconstructed F(2) (RC-F(2)) population, and a panel of 142 rapeseed accessions (association panel). Genetic effects mainly contributed to phenotypic variations in tocopherol content and composition; environmental effects were also identified. Thirty-three unique QTL were detected for tocopherol content and composition in TNDH and RC-F(2) populations. Of these, seven QTL co-localized with candidate sequences associated with tocopherol biosynthesis through in silico and linkage mapping. Several near-isogenic lines carrying introgressions from the parent with higher tocopherol content showed highly increased tocopherol content compared with the recurrent parent. Genome-wide association analysis was performed with 142 B. napus accessions. Sixty-one loci were significantly associated with tocopherol content and composition, 11 of which were localized within the confidence intervals of tocopherol QTL. This joint QTL, candidate gene, and association mapping study sheds light on the genetic basis of seed tocopherol biosynthesis in rapeseed. The sequences presented here may be used for marker-assisted selection of oilseed rape lines with superior tocopherol content and composition.

SU-F-T-352: Development of a Knowledge Based Automatic Lung IMRT Planning Algorithm with Non-Coplanar Beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, W; Wu, Q; Yuan, L

Purpose: To improve the robustness of a knowledge based automatic lung IMRT planning method and to further validate the reliability of this algorithm by utilizing for the planning of clinical cases with non-coplanar beams. Methods: A lung IMRT planning method which automatically determines both plan optimization objectives and beam configurations with non-coplanar beams has been reported previously. A beam efficiency index map is constructed to guide beam angle selection in this algorithm. This index takes into account both the dose contributions from individual beams and the combined effect of multiple beams which is represented by a beam separation score. Wemore » studied the effect of this beam separation score on plan quality and determined the optimal weight for this score.14 clinical plans were re-planned with the knowledge-based algorithm. Significant dosimetric metrics for the PTV and OARs in the automatic plans are compared with those in the clinical plans by the two-sample t-test. In addition, a composite dosimetric quality index was defined to obtain the relationship between the plan quality and the beam separation score. Results: On average, we observed more than 15% reduction on conformity index and homogeneity index for PTV and V{sub 40}, V{sub 60} for heart while an 8% and 3% increase on V{sub 5}, V{sub 20} for lungs, respectively. The variation curve of the composite index as a function of angle spread score shows that 0.6 is the best value for the weight of the beam separation score. Conclusion: Optimal value for beam angle spread score in automatic lung IMRT planning is obtained. With this value, model can result in statistically the “best” achievable plans. This method can potentially improve the quality and planning efficiency for IMRT plans with no-coplanar angles.« less

Automatic pH Control and Soluble and Insoluble Substrate Input for Continuous Culture of Rumen Microorganisms

PubMed Central

Slyter, Leonard L.

1975-01-01

An artifical rumen continuous culture with pH control, automated input of water-soluble and water-insoluble substrates, controlled mixing of contents, and a collection system for gas is described. Images PMID:16350029

Corrosion-induced release of the main alloying constituents of manganese-chromium stainless steels in different media.

PubMed

Herting, Gunilla; Wallinder, Inger Odnevall; Leygraf, Christofer

2008-09-01

The main focus of this paper is the assessment of release rates of chromium, nickel, iron and manganese from manganese-chromium stainless steel grades of low nickel content. The manganese content varied between 9.7 and 1.5 wt% and the corresponding nickel content between 1 and 5 wt%. All grades were exposed to artificial rain and two were immersed in a synthetic body fluid of similar pH but of different composition and exposure conditions. Surface compositional studies were performed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in parallel to correlate the metal release process with changes in surface oxide properties. All grades, independent of media, revealed a time-dependent metal release process with a preferential low release of iron and manganese compared to nickel and chromium while the chromium content of the surface oxide increased slightly. Manganese was detected in the surface oxide of all grades, except the grade of the lowest manganese bulk content. No nickel was observed in the outermost surface oxide. Stainless steel grades of the lowest chromium content (approximately 16 wt%) and highest manganese content (approximately 7-9 wt%), released the highest quantity of alloy constituents in total, and vice versa. No correlation was observed between the release rate of manganese and the alloy composition. Released main alloy constituents were neither proportional to the bulk alloy composition nor to the surface oxide composition.

Preparation and biocompatibility of a chitin nanofiber/gelatin composite film.

PubMed

Ogawa, Yoko; Azuma, Kazuo; Izawa, Hironori; Morimoto, Minoru; Ochi, Kosuke; Osaki, Tomohiro; Ito, Norihiko; Okamoto, Yoshiharu; Saimoto, Hiroyuki; Ifuku, Shinsuke

2017-11-01

The development of chitin-based materials with favorable mechanical properties and biocompatibility is an important research goal owing to the wide-ranging practical applications. In this study, a composite film was prepared using chitin nanofibers and gelatin. The CNF/gelatin composite film was highly viscous and had a fine nanofiber structure. The transmittances indicated high transparency, regardless of nanofiber content. The water content of the CNF/gelatin composite film increased linearly as the gelatin content increased. Although the CNF/gelatin composite film did not induce severe inflammation, it strongly induced fibroblast proliferation, indicating high biocompatibility. Based on these results, the films are suitable for biological applications, e.g., tissue engineering, medicines, and cosmetics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid Cycle Casting of Steel

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

C’, and at temperature T, are Infiltrated by !L amougt of liquid of composition C’., such that ,C, 4 f+.C’L - X. V. 7 average carbon content of the...maximum liquid penetration was 100 mm at an infiltration pressure of 755 kPa. The average casting composition was 0.94 w/o carbon . The segregation at...content* at four casting locations. 2. Results The casting composition ( carbon content) as a function of casting location is given in Table D-IV. The

A fully automatic end-to-end method for content-based image retrieval of CT scans with similar liver lesion annotations.

PubMed

Spanier, A B; Caplan, N; Sosna, J; Acar, B; Joskowicz, L

2018-01-01

The goal of medical content-based image retrieval (M-CBIR) is to assist radiologists in the decision-making process by retrieving medical cases similar to a given image. One of the key interests of radiologists is lesions and their annotations, since the patient treatment depends on the lesion diagnosis. Therefore, a key feature of M-CBIR systems is the retrieval of scans with the most similar lesion annotations. To be of value, M-CBIR systems should be fully automatic to handle large case databases. We present a fully automatic end-to-end method for the retrieval of CT scans with similar liver lesion annotations. The input is a database of abdominal CT scans labeled with liver lesions, a query CT scan, and optionally one radiologist-specified lesion annotation of interest. The output is an ordered list of the database CT scans with the most similar liver lesion annotations. The method starts by automatically segmenting the liver in the scan. It then extracts a histogram-based features vector from the segmented region, learns the features' relative importance, and ranks the database scans according to the relative importance measure. The main advantages of our method are that it fully automates the end-to-end querying process, that it uses simple and efficient techniques that are scalable to large datasets, and that it produces quality retrieval results using an unannotated CT scan. Our experimental results on 9 CT queries on a dataset of 41 volumetric CT scans from the 2014 Image CLEF Liver Annotation Task yield an average retrieval accuracy (Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain index) of 0.77 and 0.84 without/with annotation, respectively. Fully automatic end-to-end retrieval of similar cases based on image information alone, rather that on disease diagnosis, may help radiologists to better diagnose liver lesions.

FRACTIONATING COLUMN PRODUCT COLLECTOR CONTROL

DOEpatents

Paxson, G.D. Jr.

1964-03-10

Means for detecting minute fluid products from a chemical separation column and for advancing a collector tube rack in order to automatically separate and collect successive fractionated products are described. A charge is imposed on the forming drops at the column orifice to create an electric field as the drop falls in the vicinity of a sensing plate. The field is detected by an electrometer tube coupled to the plate causing an output signal to actuate rotation of a collector turntable rack, thereby positioning new collectors under the orifice. The invention provides reliable automatic collection independent of drop size, rate of fall, or chemical composition. (AEC)

The composite sequential clustering technique for analysis of multispectral scanner data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Su, M. Y.

1972-01-01

The clustering technique consists of two parts: (1) a sequential statistical clustering which is essentially a sequential variance analysis, and (2) a generalized K-means clustering. In this composite clustering technique, the output of (1) is a set of initial clusters which are input to (2) for further improvement by an iterative scheme. This unsupervised composite technique was employed for automatic classification of two sets of remote multispectral earth resource observations. The classification accuracy by the unsupervised technique is found to be comparable to that by traditional supervised maximum likelihood classification techniques. The mathematical algorithms for the composite sequential clustering program and a detailed computer program description with job setup are given.

Service composition towards increasing end-user accessibility.

PubMed

Kaklanis, Nikolaos; Votis, Konstantinos; Tzovaras, Dimitrios

2015-01-01

This paper presents the Cloud4all Service Synthesizer Tool, a framework that enables efficient orchestration of accessibility services, as well as their combination into complex forms, providing more advanced functionalities towards increasing the accessibility of end-users with various types of functional limitations. The supported services are described formally within an ontology, enabling, thus, semantic service composition. The proposed service composition approach is based on semantic matching between services specifications on the one hand and user needs/preferences and current context of use on the other hand. The use of automatic composition of accessibility services can significantly enhance end-users' accessibility, especially in cases where assistive solutions are not available in their device.

Thermal behaviour properties and corrosion resistance of organoclay/polyurethane film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurniawan, O.; Soegijono, B.

2018-03-01

Organoclay/polyurethane film composite was prepared by adding organoclay with different content (1, 3, and 5 wt.%) in polyurethane as a matrix. TGA and DSC showed decomposition temperature shifted to a lower point as organoclay content change. FT-IR spectra showed chemical bonding of organoclay and polyurethane as a matrix, which means that the bonding between filler and matrix occured and the composite was stronger but less bonding occur in composite with 5 wt.% organoclay. The corrosion resistance overall increased with the increasing organoclay content. Composite with 5 wt.% organoclay had more thermal stability and corrosion resistance may probably due to exfoliation of organoclay.

Low Pt content direct methanol fuel cell anode catalyst: nanophase PtRuNiZr

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitacre, Jay F. (Inventor); Narayanan, Sekharipuram R. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A method for the preparation of a metallic material having catalytic activity that includes synthesizing a material composition comprising a metal content with a lower Pt content than a binary alloy containing Pt but that displays at least a comparable catalytic activity on a per mole Pt basis as the binary alloy containing Pt; and evaluating a representative sample of the material composition to ensure that the material composition displays a property of at least a comparable catalytic activity on a per mole Pt basis as a representative binary alloy containing Pt. Furthermore, metallic compositions are disclosed that possess substantial resistance to corrosive acids.

A framework for automatic information quality ranking of diabetes websites.

PubMed

Belen Sağlam, Rahime; Taskaya Temizel, Tugba

2015-01-01

Objective: When searching for particular medical information on the internet the challenge lies in distinguishing the websites that are relevant to the topic, and contain accurate information. In this article, we propose a framework that automatically identifies and ranks diabetes websites according to their relevance and information quality based on the website content. Design: The proposed framework ranks diabetes websites according to their content quality, relevance and evidence based medicine. The framework combines information retrieval techniques with a lexical resource based on Sentiwordnet making it possible to work with biased and untrusted websites while, at the same time, ensuring the content relevance. Measurement: The evaluation measurements used were Pearson-correlation, true positives, false positives and accuracy. We tested the framework with a benchmark data set consisting of 55 websites with varying degrees of information quality problems. Results: The proposed framework gives good results that are comparable with the non-automated information quality measuring approaches in the literature. The correlation between the results of the proposed automated framework and ground-truth is 0.68 on an average with p < 0.001 which is greater than the other proposed automated methods in the literature (r score in average is 0.33).

Effect of MoSi2 Content on Dry Sliding Tribological Properties of Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glass Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Longfei; Yang, Jun

2017-12-01

Zr55Cu30Al10Ni5 bulk metallic glass and its composites were prepared by suction casting into a copper mold. The effect of MoSi2 content on the tribological behavior of Zr55Cu30Al10Ni5 BMG was studied by using a high-speed reciprocating friction and wear tester. The results indicate that the friction coefficient and wear resistance of the BMGs can be improved by a certain amount of crystalline phase induced by MoSi2 content from 1 to 3% and deteriorated with MoSi2 content of 4%. The wear mechanism of both the metallic glass and its composite is abrasive wear. The mechanism of crystalline phase-dependent tribological properties of the composite was discussed based on the wear track and mechanical properties in the present work. The wear behavior of Zr55Cu30Al10Ni5 BMG and its composite indicates that a good combination of the toughness and the hardness can make the composite be well wear resistant.

Recycled wind turbine blades as a feedstock for second generation composites.

PubMed

Mamanpush, Seyed Hossein; Li, Hui; Englund, Karl; Tabatabaei, Azadeh Tavousi

2018-06-01

With an increase in renewable wind energy via turbines, an underlying problem of the turbine blade disposal is looming in many areas of the world. These wind turbine blades are predominately a mixture of glass fiber composites (GFCs) and wood and currently have not found an economically viable recycling pathway. This work investigates a series of second generation composites fabricated using recycled wind turbine material and a polyurethane adhesive. The recycled material was first comminuted via a hammer-mill through a range of varying screen sizes, resinated and compressed to a final thickness. The refined particle size, moisture content and resin content were assessed for their influence on the properties of recycled composites. Static bending, internal bond and water sorption properties were obtained for all composites panels. Overall improvement of mechanical properties correlated with increase in resin content, moisture content, and particle size. The current investigation demonstrates that it is feasible and promising to recycle the wind turbine blade to fabricate value-added high-performance composite. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Carbon dioxide adsorption on micro-mesoporous composite materials of ZSM-12/MCM-48 type: The role of the contents of zeolite and functionalized amine

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Santos, S.C.G.; Pedrosa, A.M.Garrido; Souza, M.J.B., E-mail: mjbsufs@gmail.com

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Synthesis of the micro-mesoporous composite materials of ZSM-12/MCM-48 type. • Application of these adsorbents in the carbon dioxide adsorption. • Effects of the contents of zeolite and amino group in the material surface on the CO{sub 2} capture efficiency. - Abstract: In this study ZSM-12/MCM-48 adsorbents have been synthesized at three ZSM-12 content, and also were functionalizated with amine groups by grafting. All the adsorbents synthesized were evaluated for CO{sub 2} capture. The X-ray diffraction analysis of the ZSM-12/MCM-48 composite showed the main characteristic peaks of ZSM-12 and MCM-48, and after the functionalization, the structure of MCM-48 onmore » the composite impregnated was affected due amine presence. For the composites without amine, the ZSM-12 content was the factor determining in the adsorption capacity of CO{sub 2} and for the composites with amine the amount of amine was that influenced in the adsorption capacity.« less

Degradation kinetics of ethylene-octene copolymer/wood flour biocomposites in dependence to filler content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zykova, A. K.; Pantyukhov, P. V.; Monakhova, T. V.; Popov, A. A.

2017-06-01

This article is focused on thermal oxidative degradation and biodegradation in soil of biocomposites based on ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC), filled by wood flour (from 30 to 70% wt.), in dependence to the filler content. The study of oxidative degradation of composites was carried out at two temperatures (80 and 130°C respectively). The induction period and the rates of oxidation were determined. It was concluded that as filler content raises, the induction period increases. It can be explained by the higher specific area of composites in comparison with pure EOC. However, high filled composites (60 and 70 % of the filler) are oxidized with a huge induction period because polyphenols in the filler inhibit the oxidation process. Biodegradation test under laboratory conditions was carried out to investigate the biodegradability of the material. Composites with lower filler content have lower weight loss rate. Small particles are capsulated by polymer and are isolated from moisture and microorganisms. On the other hand, at a high filling of the composite small particles stick together and act as large ones. Such filler agglomerates are connected with each other and allow microorganisms to penetrate into the composite. It was concluded as filler content raises the mass loss increases.

Individual differences in automatic semantic priming.

PubMed

Andrews, Sally; Lo, Steson; Xia, Violet

2017-05-01

This research investigated whether masked semantic priming in a semantic categorization task that required classification of words as animals or nonanimals was modulated by individual differences in lexical proficiency. A sample of 89 skilled readers, assessed on reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling ability, classified target words preceded by brief (50 ms) masked primes that were either congruent or incongruent with the category of the target. Congruent primes were also selected to be either high (e.g., hawk EAGLE, pistol RIFLE) or low (e.g., mole EAGLE, boots RIFLE) in semantic feature overlap with the target. "Overall proficiency," indexed by high performance on both a "semantic composite" measure of reading comprehension and vocabulary and a "spelling composite," was associated with stronger congruence priming from both high and low feature overlap primes for animal exemplars, but only predicted priming from low overlap primes for nonexemplars. Classification of high frequency nonexemplars was also significantly modulated by an independent "spelling-meaning" factor, indexed by the discrepancy between the semantic and spelling composites, because relatively higher scores on the semantic than the spelling composite were associated with stronger semantic priming. These findings show that higher lexical proficiency is associated with stronger evidence of automatic semantic priming and suggest that individual differences in lexical quality modulate the division of labor between orthographic and semantic processing in early lexical retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Controlling the Sn-C bonds content in SnO2@CNTs composite to form in situ pulverized structure for enhanced electrochemical kinetics.

PubMed

Cheng, Yayi; Huang, Jianfeng; Qi, Hui; Cao, Liyun; Luo, Xiaomin; Li, Jiayin; Xu, Zhanwei; Yang, Jun

2017-12-07

The Sn-C bonding content between the SnO 2 and CNTs interface was controlled by the hydrothermal method and subsequent heat treatment. Electrochemical analysis found that the SnO 2 @CNTs with high Sn-C bonding content exhibited much higher capacity contribution from alloying and conversion reaction compared with the low content of Sn-C bonding even after 200 cycles. The high Sn-C bonding content enabled the SnO 2 nanoparticles to stabilize on the CNTs surface, realizing an in situ pulverization process of SnO 2 . The in situ pulverized structure was beneficial to maintain the close electrochemical contact of the working electrode during the long-term cycling and provide ultrafast transfer paths for lithium ions and electrons, which promoted the alloying and conversion reaction kinetics greatly. Therefore, the SnO 2 @CNTs composite with high Sn-C bonding content displayed highly reversible alloying and conversion reaction. It is believed that the composite could be used as a reference for design chemically bonded metal oxide/carbon composite anode materials in lithium-ion batteries.

Influence of the powder mixture composition on the deposition coefficient and the properties of NI+B4C CGDS coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosarev, V. F.; Polukhin, A. A.; Ryashin, N. S.; Fomin, V. M.; Shikalov, V. S.

2017-07-01

The cold gas dynamic spray (CGDS) method used to form composite Ni+B4C coatings from mechanical powder mixture with various content of abrasive components is investigated, and the surface and microstructure of these coatings are considered. An experimental dependence of the deposition coefficient on the abrasive content in the mechanical powder mixture is obtained. The coatings are studied by interference profilometry, optical microscopy, and microindentation methods. The dependence of the bulk and mass B4C content in the sprayed material on the abrasive content in the sprayed powder mixture is obtained. The bulk B4C content in the coating c V ≈ 0.27 is attained. The dependence of the microhardness of composite CGDS coatings on the boron carbide content in them is investigated. The results of this paper demonstrate that the powder mixture composition significantly affects the CGDS coating growth and the properties of these coatings and can be used to control the properties of the CGDS cermet materials.

The Science of and Advanced Technology for Cost-Effective Manufacture of High Precision Engineering Products. Volume 5. Automatic Generation of Process Outlines of Forming and Machining Processes.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-08-01

THE SCIENCE OF AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY FOR COST-EFFECTIVE MANUFACTURE Lfl OF HIGH PRECISION ENGINEERING PRODUCTS N iA6/*N ONR Contract No. 83K0385...ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY FOR1 COST-EFFECTIVE MANUFACTURE OF1’ HIGH PRECISION ENGINEERING PRODUCTS ONR Contract No. 83K0385 Final Report Vol. 5 AUTOMATIC...Ck 53N Drawing #: 03116-6233 Raw Material: Iiz’ 500mm diameter and 3000mm length Ma, rial Alloy steel. high carbon content, quenched to Min 45Rc

Automatic indexing of compound words based on mutual information for Korean text retrieval

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pan Koo Kim; Yoo Kun Cho

In this paper, we present an automatic indexing technique for compound words suitable to an aggulutinative language, specifically Korean. Firstly, we present the construction conditions to compose compound words as indexing terms. Also we present the decomposition rules applicable to consecutive nouns to extract all contents of text. Finally we propose a measure to estimate the usefulness of a term, mutual information, to calculate the degree of word association of compound words, based on the information theoretic notion. By applying this method, our system has raised the precision rate of compound words from 72% to 87%.

Automatically augmenting lifelog events using pervasively generated content from millions of people.

PubMed

Doherty, Aiden R; Smeaton, Alan F

2010-01-01

In sensor research we take advantage of additional contextual sensor information to disambiguate potentially erroneous sensor readings or to make better informed decisions on a single sensor's output. This use of additional information reinforces, validates, semantically enriches, and augments sensed data. Lifelog data is challenging to augment, as it tracks one's life with many images including the places they go, making it non-trivial to find associated sources of information. We investigate realising the goal of pervasive user-generated content based on sensors, by augmenting passive visual lifelogs with "Web 2.0" content collected by millions of other individuals.

Horizon Partitioning of Soil CO2 Sources and their Isotopic Composition (13C) in a Pinus Sylvestris Stand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goffin, S.; Parent, F.; Plain, C.; Maier, M.; Schack-Kirchner, H.; Aubinet, M.; Longdoz, B.

2012-12-01

The overall aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms behind soil CO2 efflux using carbon stable isotopes. The approach combines a soil multilayer analysis and the isotopic tool in an in situ study. The specific goal of this work is to quantify the origin and the determinism of 13CO2 and 12CO2 production processes in the different soil layers using the gradient-efflux approach. To meet this, the work includes an experimental setup and a modeling approach. The experimental set up (see also communication of Parent et al., session B008) comprised a combination of different systems, which were installed in a Scot Pine temperate forest at the Hartheim site (Southwestern Germany). Measurements include (i) half hourly vertical profiles of soil CO2 concentration (using soil CO2 probes), soil water content and temperature; (ii) half hourly soil surface CO2 effluxes (automatic chambers); (iii) half hourly isotopic composition of surface CO2 efflux and soil CO2 concentration profile and (iv) estimation of soil diffusivity through laboratory measurements conducted on soil samples taken at several depths. Using the data collected in the experimental part, we developed and used a diffusive transport model to simulate CO2 (13CO2 and 12CO2) flows inside and out of the soil based on Fick's first law. Given the horizontal homogeneity of soil physical parameters in Hartheim, we treated the soil as a structure consisting of distinctive layers of 5 cm thick and expressed the Fick's first law in a discrete formalism. The diffusion coefficient used in each layer was derived from (i) horizon specific relationships, obtained from laboratory measurements, between soil relative diffusivity and its water content and (ii) the soil water content values measured in situ. The concentration profile was obtained from in situ measurements. So, the main model inputs are the profiles of (i) CO2 (13CO2 and 12CO2) concentration, (ii) soil diffusion coefficient and (iii) soil water content. Once the diffusive fluxes deduced at each layer interface, the CO2 (13CO2 and 12CO2) production profile was calculated using the (discretized) mass balance equation in each layer. The results of the Hartheim measurement campaign will be presented. The CO2 source vertical profile and its link with the root and the Carbon organic content distribution will be showed. The dynamic of CO2 sources and their isotopic signature will be linked to climatic variables such soil temperature and soil water content. For example, we will show that the dynamics of CO2 sources was mainly related to temperature while changing of isotopic signature was more correlated to soil moisture.

Rainfall, Discharge, and Water-Quality Data During Stormwater Monitoring, July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009 - Halawa Stream Drainage Basin and the H-1 Storm Drain, Oahu, Hawaii

USGS Publications Warehouse

Presley, Todd K.; Jamison, Marcael T.J.

2009-01-01

Storm runoff water-quality samples were collected as part of the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation Stormwater Monitoring Program. The program is designed to assess the effects of highway runoff and urban runoff on Halawa Stream, and to assess the effects from the H-1 storm drain on Manoa Stream. For this program, rainfall data were collected at three stations, continuous discharge data at five stations, and water-quality data at six stations, which include the five continuous discharge stations. This report summarizes rainfall, discharge, and water-quality data collected between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009. Within the Halawa Stream drainage area, three storms (October 25 and December 11, 2008, and February 3, 2009) were sampled during July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. A total of 43 environmental samples were collected during these three storms. During the storm of October 25, 2009, 31 samples were collected and analyzed individually for metals only. The other 12 samples from the other two storms were analyzed for some or all of the following analytes: total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, nutrients, chemical oxygen demand, and selected trace metals (cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, and zinc). Additionally, grab samples were analyzed for some or all of the following analytes: oil and grease, total petroleum hydrocarbons, fecal coliform, and biological oxygen demand. Some grab and composite samples were analyzed for only a partial list of these analytes, either because samples could not be delivered to the laboratory in a timely manner, or an insufficient volume of sample was collected by the automatic samplers. Two quality-assurance/quality-control samples were collected after cleaning automatic sampler lines to verify that the sampling lines were not contaminated. Four environmental samples were collected at the H-1 Storm Drain during July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. An oil and grease sample and a composite sample were collected during the storm on November 15, 2008, and two composite samples were collected during the January 11, 2009, storm. All samples at this site were collected using an automatic sampler. Samples were analyzed for some or all of the following analytes: total suspended solids, nutrients, oil and grease, total petroleum hydrocarbons, and selected trace metals (cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc). One qualityassurance/quality-control sample was collected after cleaning automatic sampler lines to verify that the sampling lines were not contaminated. During the storm of January 11, 2009, the two composite samples collected at H-1 Storm Drain were collected about three hours apart. Higher constituent concentrations were detected in the first 2 composite sample relative to the second composite sample, although the average discharge was higher during the period when the second sample was collected.

[Biomass composition of thermotolerant yeasts of the genus Candida under elevated cultivation temperatures].

PubMed

Chistiakova, T I; Dediukhina, E G; Eroshin, V K

1981-01-01

The effect of growth temperature on the content of nucleic acids, the content and composition of protein, and the pool of free amino acids and lipids was studied under the conditions of chemostat cultivation of yeast strains at constant flow rates and pO2. The pool of free amino acids in all of the strains decreased with an increase in the temperature of growth. Changes in the content and composition of other cellular components depending on temperature were determined by individual characteristics of the strains. A linear relationship between the content of biomass components and the temperature of growth was found only in Candida scottii. The temperature of yeast cultivation may be used as a factor regulating the pool of free intracellular amino acids and the fatty acids composition of lipids.

Characteristics of starch-based biodegradable composites reinforced with date palm and flax fibers.

PubMed

Ibrahim, Hamdy; Farag, Mahmoud; Megahed, Hassan; Mehanny, Sherif

2014-01-30

The aim of this work is to study the behavior of completely biodegradable starch-based composites containing date palm fibers in the range from 20 to 80 wt%. Hybrid composites containing date palm and flax fibers, 25 wt% each, were also examined. The composites were preheated and then hot pressed at 5 MPa and 160°C for 30 min. SEM investigation showed strong adhesion between fibers and matrix. Density measurements showed very small void fraction (less than 0.142%) for composites containing up to 50 wt% fiber content. Increasing fiber weight fraction up to 50 wt% increased the composite static tensile and flexural mechanical properties (stiffness and strength). Composite thermal stability, water uptake and biodegradation improved with increasing fiber content. The present work shows that starch-based composites with 50 wt% fibers content have the optimum mechanical properties. The hybrid composite of flax and date palm fibers, 25 wt% each, has good properties and provides a competitive eco-friendly candidate for various applications. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and implementation of an automatic integration system for fibre optic sensors in the braiding process with the objective of online-monitoring of composite structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hufenbach, W.; Gude, M.; Czulak, A.; Kretschmann, Martin

2014-04-01

Increasing economic, political and ecological pressure leads to steadily rising percentage of modern processing and manufacturing processes for fibre reinforced polymers in industrial batch production. Component weights beneath a level achievable by classic construction materials, which lead to a reduced energy and cost balance during product lifetime, justify the higher fabrication costs. However, complex quality control and failure prediction slow down the substitution by composite materials. High-resolution fibre-optic sensors (FOS), due their low diameter, high measuring point density and simple handling, show a high applicability potential for an automated sensor-integration in manufacturing processes, and therefore the online monitoring of composite products manufactured in industrial scale. Integrated sensors can be used to monitor manufacturing processes, part tests as well as the component structure during product life cycle, which simplifies allows quality control during production and the optimization of single manufacturing processes.[1;2] Furthermore, detailed failure analyses lead to a enhanced understanding of failure processes appearing in composite materials. This leads to a lower wastrel number and products of a higher value and longer product life cycle, whereby costs, material and energy are saved. This work shows an automation approach for FOS-integration in the braiding process. For that purpose a braiding wheel has been supplemented with an appliance for automatic sensor application, which has been used to manufacture preforms of high-pressure composite vessels with FOS-networks integrated between the fibre layers. All following manufacturing processes (vacuum infiltration, curing) and component tests (quasi-static pressure test, programmed delamination) were monitored with the help of the integrated sensor networks. Keywords: SHM, high-pressure composite vessel, braiding, automated sensor integration, pressure test, quality control, optic-fibre sensors, Rayleigh, Luna Technologies

Superpixel segmentation and pigment identification of colored relics based on visible spectral image.

PubMed

Li, Junfeng; Wan, Xiaoxia

2018-01-15

To enrich the contents of digital archive and to guide the copy and restoration of colored relics, non-invasive methods for extraction of painting boundary and identification of pigment composition are proposed in this study based on the visible spectral images of colored relics. Superpixel concept is applied for the first time to the field of oversegmentation of visible spectral images and implemented on the visible spectral images of colored relics to extract their painting boundary. Since different pigments are characterized by their own spectrum and the same kind of pigment has the similar geometric profile in spectrum, an automatic identification method is established by comparing the proximity between the geometric profiles of the unknown spectrum from each superpixel and the pre-known spectrum from a deliberately prepared database. The methods are validated using the visible spectral images of the ancient wall paintings in Mogao Grottoes. By the way, the visible spectral images are captured by a multispectral imaging system consisting of two broadband filters and a RGB camera with high spatial resolution. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Zn-Ni-Al2O3 Composite Coatings

PubMed Central

Bai, Yang; Wang, Zhenhua; Li, Xiangbo; Huang, Guosheng; Li, Caixia

2018-01-01

Zn-Ni-Al2O3 composite coatings with different Ni contents were fabricated by low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) technology. The effects of the Ni content on the microstructural and mechanical properties of the coatings were investigated. According to X-ray diffraction patterns, the composite coatings were primarily composed of metallic-phase Zn and Ni and ceramic-phase Al2O3. The energy-dispersive spectroscopy results show that the Al2O3 content of the composite coatings gradually decreased with increasing of Ni content. The cross-sectional morphology revealed thick, dense coatings with a wave-like stacking structure. The process of depositing Zn and Ni particles and Al2O3 particles by the LPCS method was examined, and the deposition mechanism was demonstrated to be mechanical interlocking. The bond strength, micro hardness and friction coefficient of the coatings did not obviously change when the Ni content varied. The presence of Al2O3 and Ni increased the wear resistance of the composite coatings, which was higher than that of pure Zn coatings, and the wear mechanism was abrasive and adhesive wear. PMID:29883391

Electrical treatment of atrial arrhythmias in heart failure patients implanted with a dual defibrillator CRT device. Results from the TRADE-HF study.

PubMed

Botto, Giovanni Luca; Padeletti, Luigi; Covino, Gregorio; Pieragnoli, Paolo; Liccardo, Mattia; Mariconti, Barbara; Favale, Stefano; Molon, Giulio; De Filippo, Paolo; Bolognese, Leonardo; Landolina, Maurizio; Raciti, Giovanni; Boriani, Giuseppe

2017-06-01

Ventricular and atrial arrhythmias commonly occur in heart failure patients and are a significant source of symptoms, morbidity and mortality. Some specific generators referred to as dual defibrillators, Dual CRT-Ds, have the ability to treat atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. TRADE-HF is a prospective two-arm randomized study aimed at assessing the benefits of complete automatic management of atrial arrhythmias in patients implanted with a dual CRT-D. Primary objective of the TRADE-HF study was to document reduction of unplanned hospital admission for cardiac reasons or death for cardiovascular causes or progression to permanent AF, by comparing fully-automatic device driven therapy for atrial tachycardia or fibrillation (AT/AF) to an in-hospital approach for treatment of symptomatic AT/AF. Randomized Patients were followed every 6months for 3years to assess the primary objective. Four-hundred-twenty patients have been enrolled in the study. At the end of the study 30 subjects died for cardiovascular causes, 60 had at least one hospitalization for cardiovascular causes and 14 developed permanent AF. Eighty-seven patients experienced a composite event. Hazard Ratio for device-managed automatic therapy arm compared to traditional was 0.987 (95% CI: 0.684-1.503; p=0.951). The primary endpoint analysis resulted in no difference between the device managed and in-hospital treatment arm. The TRADE-HF study failed to demonstrate a reduction in the composite of unplanned hospitalizations for cardiovascular causes or death for cardiovascular causes or progression to permanent AF using automatic atrial therapy compared to a traditional approach including hospitalization for symptomatic episodes and/or in-hospital treatment of AT/AF. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Turbine Engine Component Analysis: Cantilevered Composite Flat Plate Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-11-01

4/5 element which translates into the ADIN. shell element (Type 7) with thickness correction. PATADI automatically generates midsurface normal vectors...for each node referenced by a shell element. Using thickness correction, the element thickness will be oriented along the midsurface direction. If no

Hard Facts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Richard

1998-01-01

Discusses the selection of floor-care equipment so that the equipment's features and performance attributes can match their intended purposes. Offers tips such as buying only composite-material buckets and wringers, choosing cleaning machines with good maintenance track records, and buying automatic scrubbers that can operate in both large and…

Use of intumescent compounds in fire curtains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nedryshkin, Oleg; Gravit, Marina; Mukhamedzhanova, Olga

2017-10-01

Automatic fire curtains are designed to divide sections of premises and structures into fire compartments for the purpose of localizing a fire, as well as filling openings in fire barriers. If a fire occurs due to a signal from a fire alarm sensor or a signal from a fire station, the blind automatically falls and locates the source of ignition. The paper presents the results of testing nine samples of fire curtains with an applied intumescent composition. Tests were conducted for 60 minutes before loss of sample integrity. The average temperature from the heated side of the sample reached 800 ∼ 1000 ° C. Depending on the sample, the temperature from the unheated side ranged from 70 ° C to 294 ° C. The best result was shown by a sample from a layer of needle-punched heat-insulating material with a thermal conductivity of 0.036 W/(m×K) placed between layers of foil and treated with water-based intumescent composition of silica material.

Automatic Generation of Caricatures with Multiple Expressions Using Transformative Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Wen-Hung; Lai, Chien-An

The proliferation of digital cameras has changed the way we create and share photos. Novel forms of photo composition and reproduction have surfaced in recent years. In this paper, we present an automatic caricature generation system using transformative approaches. By combing facial feature detection, image segmentation and image warping/morphing techniques, the system is able to generate stylized caricature using only one reference image. When more than one reference sample are available, the system can either choose the best fit based on shape matching, or synthesize a composite style using polymorph technique. The system can also produce multiple expressions by controlling a subset of MPEG-4 facial animation parameters (FAP). Finally, to enable flexible manipulation of the synthetic caricature, we also investigate issues such as color quantization and raster-to-vector conversion. A major strength of our method is that the synthesized caricature bears a higher degree of resemblance to the real person than traditional component-based approaches.

[Fat and fatty acids chosen in chocolates content].

PubMed

Tarkowski, Andrzej; Kowalczyk, Magdalena

2007-01-01

The objective of present work was to comparison of fat and chosen fatty acid in chocolates with, approachable on national market. In the investigations on fat and fatty acids content in the milk chocolates, there were used 14 chocolates, divided into 3 groups either without, with supplements and stuffing. Crude fat content in the chocolates was determined on Soxhlet automatic apparatus. The saturated ad nsaturated acids content was determined using gas chromatographic method. Content of fat and fatty cids in chocolates were differentiation. The highest crude fat content was finding in chocolates with tuffing (31.8%) and without supplements (28.9%). The sum of saturated fatty acids content in fat above 62%) was highest and low differentiation in the chocolates without supplements. Among of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids depended from kind of chocolates dominated, palmitic, stearic, oleic and, linoleic acids. Supplements of nut in chocolates had on influence of high oleic and linoleic level

Energy scale of compositional disorder in Ga(AsBi)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shakfa, M. K.; Jandieri, K.; Wiemer, M.; Ludewig, P.; Volz, K.; Stolz, W.; Baranovskii, S. D.; Koch, M.

2015-10-01

We report on a study of compositional disorder in Ga(AsBi) structures. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements on Ga(AsBi)/GaAs heterostructures with different Bi contents are performed. Experimental observations show an essentially non-monotonous dependence of the energy scale of disorder on the Bi content. Our theoretical analysis concludes that this peculiar behavior is a consequence of an essential bowing of the valence band edge as a function of Bi content and of a specific compositional dependence of the hole effective mass in Ga(AsBi) compounds.

Ion microprobe analyses of aluminous lunar glasses - A test of the 'rock type' hypothesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, C., Jr.

1978-01-01

Previous soil survey investigations found that there are natural groupings of glass compositions in lunar soils and that the average major element composition of some of these groupings is the same at widely separated lunar landing sites. This led soil survey enthusiasts to promote the hypothesis that the average composition of glass groupings represents the composition of primary lunar 'rock types'. In this investigation the trace element composition of numerous aluminous glass particles was determined by the ion microprobe method as a test of the above mentioned 'rock type' hypothesis. It was found that within any grouping of aluminous lunar glasses by major element content, there is considerable scatter in the refractory trace element content. In addition, aluminous glasses grouped by major elements were found to have different average trace element contents at different sites (Apollo 15, 16 and Luna 20). This evidence argues that natural groupings in glass compositions are determined by regolith processes and may not represent the composition of primary lunar 'rock types'.

Automatic detection of Parkinson's disease in running speech spoken in three different languages.

PubMed

Orozco-Arroyave, J R; Hönig, F; Arias-Londoño, J D; Vargas-Bonilla, J F; Daqrouq, K; Skodda, S; Rusz, J; Nöth, E

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is the analysis of continuous speech signals of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) considering recordings in different languages (Spanish, German, and Czech). A method for the characterization of the speech signals, based on the automatic segmentation of utterances into voiced and unvoiced frames, is addressed here. The energy content of the unvoiced sounds is modeled using 12 Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients and 25 bands scaled according to the Bark scale. Four speech tasks comprising isolated words, rapid repetition of the syllables /pa/-/ta/-/ka/, sentences, and read texts are evaluated. The method proves to be more accurate than classical approaches in the automatic classification of speech of people with PD and healthy controls. The accuracies range from 85% to 99% depending on the language and the speech task. Cross-language experiments are also performed confirming the robustness and generalization capability of the method, with accuracies ranging from 60% to 99%. This work comprises a step forward for the development of computer aided tools for the automatic assessment of dysarthric speech signals in multiple languages.

Mechanical properties of kenaf bast and core fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishak, M. R.; Leman, Z.; Sapuan, S. M.; Edeerozey, A. M. M.; Othman, I. S.

2010-05-01

Kenaf fibre has high potential to be used for composite reinforcement in biocomposite material. It is made up of an inner woody core and an outer fibrous bark surrounding the core. The aim of this study was to compare the mechanical properties of short kenaf bast and core fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester composites with varying fibre weight fraction i.e. 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%. The compression moulding technique was used to prepare the composite specimens for tensile, flexural and impact tests in accordance to the ASTM D5083, ASTM D790 and ASTM D256 respectively. The overall results showed that the composites reinforced with kenaf bast fibre had higher mechanical properties than kenaf core fibre composites. The results also showed that the optimum fibre content for achieving highest tensile strength for both bast and core fibre composites was 20%wt. It was also observed that the elongation at break for both composites decreased as the fibre content increased. For the flexural strength, the optimum fibre content for both composites was 10%wt while for impact strength, it was at 10%wt and 5%wt for bast and core fibre composites respectively.

Comparison of dissimilarity measures for cluster analysis of X-ray diffraction data from combinatorial libraries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwasaki, Yuma; Kusne, A. Gilad; Takeuchi, Ichiro

2017-12-01

Machine learning techniques have proven invaluable to manage the ever growing volume of materials research data produced as developments continue in high-throughput materials simulation, fabrication, and characterization. In particular, machine learning techniques have been demonstrated for their utility in rapidly and automatically identifying potential composition-phase maps from structural data characterization of composition spread libraries, enabling rapid materials fabrication-structure-property analysis and functional materials discovery. A key issue in development of an automated phase-diagram determination method is the choice of dissimilarity measure, or kernel function. The desired measure reduces the impact of confounding structural data issues on analysis performance. The issues include peak height changes and peak shifting due to lattice constant change as a function of composition. In this work, we investigate the choice of dissimilarity measure in X-ray diffraction-based structure analysis and the choice of measure's performance impact on automatic composition-phase map determination. Nine dissimilarity measures are investigated for their impact in analyzing X-ray diffraction patterns for a Fe-Co-Ni ternary alloy composition spread. The cosine, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Jensen-Shannon divergence measures are shown to provide the best performance in the presence of peak height change and peak shifting (due to lattice constant change) when the magnitude of peak shifting is unknown. With prior knowledge of the maximum peak shifting, dynamic time warping in a normalized constrained mode provides the best performance. This work also serves to demonstrate a strategy for rapid analysis of a large number of X-ray diffraction patterns in general beyond data from combinatorial libraries.

Automatic dispersion, long-term stability of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in high concentration electrolytes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Lan; He, Yi; Luo, Pingya; Zhang, Liyun; Yu, Yalu

2018-02-01

Nanoparticles have been known as the useful materials in working fluids for petroleum industry. But the stabilization of nano-scaled materials in water-based working fluids at high salinities is still a big challenge. In this study, we successfully prepared the anionic polymer/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) composites by covalently wrapping of MWNTs with poly (sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) to improve the stability of MWNTs in high concentration electrolytes. The PSS/MWNTs composites can automatically disperse in salinity up to 15 wt% NaCl and API brines (8 wt% NaCl + 2 wt% CaCl2). Hydrodynamic diameters of composites were measured as a function of ionic strength and API brines by dynamic light scattering (DLS). By varying the concentration of brines, hydrodynamic diameter of PSS/MWNTs composites in brines fluctuated between 545 ± 110 nm for 14 days and 673 ± 171 nm for 30 days. Above results showed that PSS/MWNTs could be well stable in high salts solutions for a long period of time. After wrapped with PSS, the diameters of nanotubes changed from 30 40 to 430 nm, the thickness of wrapped polymer is about 400 nm by analysis of morphologies. The zeta potentials of PSS/MWNTs composites in various salinity of brines kept at approximately - 41 - 52 mV. Therefore, the well dispersion of PSS/MWNTs in high salinity is due to large negative charges of poly (sodium 4-styrenesulfonate), which provide enough electrostatic repulsion and steric repulsion to hinder compression of electric double layer caused by high concentration electrolytes.

Trends of Science Education Research: An Automatic Content Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Yueh-Hsia; Chang, Chun-Yen; Tseng, Yuen-Hsien

2010-08-01

This study used scientometric methods to conduct an automatic content analysis on the development trends of science education research from the published articles in the four journals of International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Research in Science Education, and Science Education from 1990 to 2007. The multi-stage clustering technique was employed to investigate with what topics, to what development trends, and from whose contribution that the journal publications constructed as a science education research field. This study found that the research topic of Conceptual Change & Concept Mapping was the most studied topic, although the number of publications has slightly declined in the 2000's. The studies in the themes of Professional Development, Nature of Science and Socio-Scientific Issues, and Conceptual Chang and Analogy were found to be gaining attention over the years. This study also found that, embedded in the most cited references, the supporting disciplines and theories of science education research are constructivist learning, cognitive psychology, pedagogy, and philosophy of science.

Kinetic buffers.

PubMed

Alibrandi, Giuseppe; Fabbrizzi, Luigi; Licchelli, Maurizio; Puglisi, Antonio

2015-01-12

This paper proposes a new type of molecular device that is able to act as an inverse proton sponge to slowly decrease the pH inside a reaction vessel. This makes the automatic monitoring of the concentration of pH-sensitive systems possible. The device is a composite formed of an alkyl chloride, which kinetically produces acidity, and a buffer that thermodynamically modulates the variation in pH value. Profiles of pH versus time (pH-t plots) have been generated under various experimental conditions by computer simulation, and the device has been tested by carrying out automatic spectrophotometric titrations, without using an autoburette. To underline the wide variety of possible applications, this new system has been used to realize and monitor HCl uptake by a di-copper(II) bistren complex in a single run, in a completely automatic experiment. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Automatic Conflict Detection on Contracts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fenech, Stephen; Pace, Gordon J.; Schneider, Gerardo

Many software applications are based on collaborating, yet competing, agents or virtual organisations exchanging services. Contracts, expressing obligations, permissions and prohibitions of the different actors, can be used to protect the interests of the organisations engaged in such service exchange. However, the potentially dynamic composition of services with different contracts, and the combination of service contracts with local contracts can give rise to unexpected conflicts, exposing the need for automatic techniques for contract analysis. In this paper we look at automatic analysis techniques for contracts written in the contract language mathcal{CL}. We present a trace semantics of mathcal{CL} suitable for conflict analysis, and a decision procedure for detecting conflicts (together with its proof of soundness, completeness and termination). We also discuss its implementation and look into the applications of the contract analysis approach we present. These techniques are applied to a small case study of an airline check-in desk.

Controlled ferrite content improves weldability of corrosion-resistant steel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malin, C. O.

1967-01-01

Corrosion-resistant steel that adds restrictions on chemical composition to ensure sufficient ferrite content decreases the tendency of CRES to develop cracks during welding. The equations restricting composition are based on the Schaeffler constitution diagram.

The volumetric fraction of inorganic particles and the flexural strength of composites for posterior teeth.

PubMed

Adabo, Gelson Luis; dos Santos Cruz, Carlos Alberto; Fonseca, Renata Garcia; Vaz, Luís Geraldo

2003-07-01

To evaluate the content of inorganic particles and the flexural strength of new condensable composites for posterior teeth in comparison to hybrid conventional composites. The determination of the content of inorganic particles was performed by mass weighing of a polymerized composite before and after the elimination of the organic phase. The volumetric particle content was determined by a practical method based on Archimedes' principle, which calculates the volume of the composite and their particles by differential mass measured in the air and in water. The flexural strength of three points was evaluated according to the norm ISO 4049:1988. The results showed the following filler content: Alert, 67.26%; Z-100, 65.27%; Filtek P 60, 62.34%; Ariston pHc, 64.07%; Tetric Ceram, 57.22%; Definite, 54.42%; Solitaire, 47.76%. In the flexural strength test, the materials presented the following decreasing order of resistance: Filtek P 60 (170.02 MPa)>Z-100 (151.34 MPa)>Tetric Ceram (126.14 MPa)=Alert (124.89 MPa)>Ariston pHc (102.00 MPa)=Definite (93.63 MPa)>Solitaire (56.71 MPa). New condensable composites for posterior teeth present a concentration of inorganic particles similar to those of hybrid composites but do not necessarily present higher flexural strength.

An investigation of trends in precious metal and copper content of RAM modules in WEEE: Implications for long term recycling potential.

PubMed

Charles, Rhys Gareth; Douglas, Peter; Hallin, Ingrid Liv; Matthews, Ian; Liversage, Gareth

2017-02-01

Precious metal (PM) and copper content of dynamic-RAM modules placed on the market during 1991-2008 has been analysed by AAS following comminution and acid digestion. Linear regression analysis of compositional data ordered according to sample chronology was used to identify historic temporal trends in module composition resulting from changes in manufacturing practices, and to project future trends for use in more accurate assessment of future recycling potential. DRAM was found to be 'high grade' waste with: stable levels of gold and silver over time; 80% reduction in palladium content during 1991-2008; and 0.23g/module/year increase in copper content with a 75% projected increase from 2008 by 2020. The accuracy of future recycling potential projections for WEEE using current methods based on static compositional data from current devices is questionable due to likely changes in future device composition. The impact on recycling potential projections of waste laptops, smart phones, cell phones and tablets arising in Europe in 2020 resulting from a 75% increase in copper content is considered against existing projections using static compositional data. The results highlight that failing to consider temporal variations in PM content may result in significant discrepancies between projections and future recycling potential. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Effect of fiber content on the thermal conductivity and dielectric constant of hair fiber reinforced epoxy composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad Nanda, Bishnu; Satapathy, Alok

2018-03-01

This paper reports on the dielectric and thermal properties of hair fibers reinforced epoxy composites. Hair is an important part of human body which also offers protection to the human body. It is also viewed as a biological waste which is responsible for creating environmental pollution due to its low decomposition rate. But at the same time it has unique microstructural, mechanical and thermal properties. In the present work, epoxy composites are made by solution casting method with different proportions of short hair fiber (SHF). Effects of fiber content on the thermal conductivity and dielectric constant of epoxy resin are studied. Thermal conductivities of the composites are obtained using a UnithermTM Model 2022 tester. An HIOKI-3532-50 Hi Tester Elsier Analyzer is used for measuring the capacitance of the epoxy-SHF composite, from which dielectric constant (Dk) of the composite are calculated. A reduction in thermal conductivity of the composite is noticed with the increase in wt. % of fiber. The dielectric constant value of the composites also found to be significantly affected by the fiber content.

Baseline tests for arc melter vitrification of INEL buried wastes. Volume II: Baseline test data appendices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oden, L.L.; O`Conner, W.K.; Turner, P.C.

1993-11-19

This report presents field results and raw data from the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID) Arc Melter Vitrification Project Phase 1 baseline test series conducted by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM). The baseline test series was conducted using the electric arc melter facility at the USBM Albany Research Center in Albany, Oregon. Five different surrogate waste feed mixtures were tested that simulated thermally-oxidized, buried, TRU-contaminated, mixed wastes and soils present at the INEL. The USBM Arc Furnace Integrated Waste Processing Test Facility includes a continuous feed system, the arc meltingmore » furnace, an offgas control system, and utilities. The melter is a sealed, 3-phase alternating current (ac) furnace approximately 2 m high and 1.3 m wide. The furnace has a capacity of 1 metric ton of steel and can process as much as 1,500 lb/h of soil-type waste materials. The surrogate feed materials included five mixtures designed to simulate incinerated TRU-contaminated buried waste materials mixed with INEL soil. Process samples, melter system operations data and offgas composition data were obtained during the baseline tests to evaluate the melter performance and meet test objectives. Samples and data gathered during this program included (a) automatically and manually logged melter systems operations data, (b) process samples of slag, metal and fume solids, and (c) offgas composition, temperature, velocity, flowrate, moisture content, particulate loading and metals content. This report consists of 2 volumes: Volume I summarizes the baseline test operations. It includes an executive summary, system and facility description, review of the surrogate waste mixtures, and a description of the baseline test activities, measurements, and sample collection. Volume II contains the raw test data and sample analyses from samples collected during the baseline tests.« less

Baseline tests for arc melter vitrification of INEL buried wastes. Volume 1: Facility description and summary data report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oden, L.L.; O`Connor, W.K.; Turner, P.C.

1993-11-19

This report presents field results and raw data from the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID) Arc Melter Vitrification Project Phase 1 baseline test series conducted by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM). The baseline test series was conducted using the electric arc melter facility at the USBM Albany Research Center in Albany, Oregon. Five different surrogate waste feed mixtures were tested that simulated thermally-oxidized, buried, TRU-contaminated, mixed wastes and soils present at the INEL. The USBM Arc Furnace Integrated Waste Processing Test Facility includes a continuous feed system, the arc meltingmore » furnace, an offgas control system, and utilities. The melter is a sealed, 3-phase alternating current (ac) furnace approximately 2 m high and 1.3 m wide. The furnace has a capacity of 1 metric ton of steel and can process as much as 1,500 lb/h of soil-type waste materials. The surrogate feed materials included five mixtures designed to simulate incinerated TRU-contaminated buried waste materials mixed with INEL soil. Process samples, melter system operations data and offgas composition data were obtained during the baseline tests to evaluate the melter performance and meet test objectives. Samples and data gathered during this program included (a) automatically and manually logged melter systems operations data, (b) process samples of slag, metal and fume solids, and (c) offgas composition, temperature, velocity, flowrate, moisture content, particulate loading and metals content. This report consists of 2 volumes: Volume I summarizes the baseline test operations. It includes an executive summary, system and facility description, review of the surrogate waste mixtures, and a description of the baseline test activities, measurements, and sample collection. Volume II contains the raw test data and sample analyses from samples collected during the baseline tests.« less

Multispectral UV imaging for fast and non-destructive quality control of chemical and physical tablet attributes.

PubMed

Klukkert, Marten; Wu, Jian X; Rantanen, Jukka; Carstensen, Jens M; Rades, Thomas; Leopold, Claudia S

2016-07-30

Monitoring of tablet quality attributes in direct vicinity of the production process requires analytical techniques that allow fast, non-destructive, and accurate tablet characterization. The overall objective of this study was to investigate the applicability of multispectral UV imaging as a reliable, rapid technique for estimation of the tablet API content and tablet hardness, as well as determination of tablet intactness and the tablet surface density profile. One of the aims was to establish an image analysis approach based on multivariate image analysis and pattern recognition to evaluate the potential of UV imaging for automatized quality control of tablets with respect to their intactness and surface density profile. Various tablets of different composition and different quality regarding their API content, radial tensile strength, intactness, and surface density profile were prepared using an eccentric as well as a rotary tablet press at compression pressures from 20MPa up to 410MPa. It was found, that UV imaging can provide both, relevant information on chemical and physical tablet attributes. The tablet API content and radial tensile strength could be estimated by UV imaging combined with partial least squares analysis. Furthermore, an image analysis routine was developed and successfully applied to the UV images that provided qualitative information on physical tablet surface properties such as intactness and surface density profiles, as well as quantitative information on variations in the surface density. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that UV imaging combined with image analysis is an effective and non-destructive method to determine chemical and physical quality attributes of tablets and is a promising approach for (near) real-time monitoring of the tablet compaction process and formulation optimization purposes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Moderators of the Relationship between Implicit and Explicit Evaluation

PubMed Central

Nosek, Brian A.

2005-01-01

Automatic and controlled modes of evaluation sometimes provide conflicting reports of the quality of social objects. This paper presents evidence for four moderators of the relationship between automatic (implicit) and controlled (explicit) evaluations. Implicit and explicit preferences were measured for a variety of object pairs using a large sample. The average correlation was r = .36, and 52 of the 57 object pairs showed a significant positive correlation. Results of multilevel modeling analyses suggested that: (a) implicit and explicit preferences are related, (b) the relationship varies as a function of the objects assessed, and (c) at least four variables moderate the relationship – self-presentation, evaluative strength, dimensionality, and distinctiveness. The variables moderated implicit-explicit correspondence across individuals and accounted for much of the observed variation across content domains. The resulting model of the relationship between automatic and controlled evaluative processes is grounded in personal experience with the targets of evaluation. PMID:16316292

Automatic diet monitoring: a review of computer vision and wearable sensor-based methods.

PubMed

Hassannejad, Hamid; Matrella, Guido; Ciampolini, Paolo; De Munari, Ilaria; Mordonini, Monica; Cagnoni, Stefano

2017-09-01

Food intake and eating habits have a significant impact on people's health. Widespread diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, are directly related to eating habits. Therefore, monitoring diet can be a substantial base for developing methods and services to promote healthy lifestyle and improve personal and national health economy. Studies have demonstrated that manual reporting of food intake is inaccurate and often impractical. Thus, several methods have been proposed to automate the process. This article reviews the most relevant and recent researches on automatic diet monitoring, discussing their strengths and weaknesses. In particular, the article reviews two approaches to this problem, accounting for most of the work in the area. The first approach is based on image analysis and aims at extracting information about food content automatically from food images. The second one relies on wearable sensors and has the detection of eating behaviours as its main goal.

Facilitator control as automatic behavior: A verbal behavior analysis

PubMed Central

Hall, Genae A.

1993-01-01

Several studies of facilitated communication have demonstrated that the facilitators were controlling and directing the typing, although they appeared to be unaware of doing so. Such results shift the focus of analysis to the facilitator's behavior and raise questions regarding the controlling variables for that behavior. This paper analyzes facilitator behavior as an instance of automatic verbal behavior, from the perspective of Skinner's (1957) book Verbal Behavior. Verbal behavior is automatic when the speaker or writer is not stimulated by the behavior at the time of emission, the behavior is not edited, the products of behavior differ from what the person would produce normally, and the behavior is attributed to an outside source. All of these characteristics appear to be present in facilitator behavior. Other variables seem to account for the thematic content of the typed messages. These variables also are discussed. PMID:22477083

Automatic Invocation Linking for Collaborative Web-Based Corpora

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardner, James; Krowne, Aaron; Xiong, Li

Collaborative online encyclopedias or knowledge bases such as Wikipedia and PlanetMath are becoming increasingly popular because of their open access, comprehensive and interlinked content, rapid and continual updates, and community interactivity. To understand a particular concept in these knowledge bases, a reader needs to learn about related and underlying concepts. In this chapter, we introduce the problem of invocation linking for collaborative encyclopedia or knowledge bases, review the state of the art for invocation linking including the popular linking system of Wikipedia, discuss the problems and challenges of automatic linking, and present the NNexus approach, an abstraction and generalization of the automatic linking system used by PlanetMath.org. The chapter emphasizes both research problems and practical design issues through discussion of real world scenarios and hence is suitable for both researchers in web intelligence and practitioners looking to adopt the techniques. Below is a brief outline of the chapter.

Automatic view synthesis by image-domain-warping.

PubMed

Stefanoski, Nikolce; Wang, Oliver; Lang, Manuel; Greisen, Pierre; Heinzle, Simon; Smolic, Aljosa

2013-09-01

Today, stereoscopic 3D (S3D) cinema is already mainstream, and almost all new display devices for the home support S3D content. S3D distribution infrastructure to the home is already established partly in the form of 3D Blu-ray discs, video on demand services, or television channels. The necessity to wear glasses is, however, often considered as an obstacle, which hinders broader acceptance of this technology in the home. Multiviewautostereoscopic displays enable a glasses free perception of S3D content for several observers simultaneously, and support head motion parallax in a limited range. To support multiviewautostereoscopic displays in an already established S3D distribution infrastructure, a synthesis of new views from S3D video is needed. In this paper, a view synthesis method based on image-domain-warping (IDW) is presented that automatically synthesizes new views directly from S3D video and functions completely. IDW relies on an automatic and robust estimation of sparse disparities and image saliency information, and enforces target disparities in synthesized images using an image warping framework. Two configurations of the view synthesizer in the scope of a transmission and view synthesis framework are analyzed and evaluated. A transmission and view synthesis system that uses IDW is recently submitted to MPEG's call for proposals on 3D video technology, where it is ranked among the four best performing proposals.

Semi-automatic object geometry estimation for image personalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Hengzhou; Bala, Raja; Fan, Zhigang; Eschbach, Reiner; Bouman, Charles A.; Allebach, Jan P.

2010-01-01

Digital printing brings about a host of benefits, one of which is the ability to create short runs of variable, customized content. One form of customization that is receiving much attention lately is in photofinishing applications, whereby personalized calendars, greeting cards, and photo books are created by inserting text strings into images. It is particularly interesting to estimate the underlying geometry of the surface and incorporate the text into the image content in an intelligent and natural way. Current solutions either allow fixed text insertion schemes into preprocessed images, or provide manual text insertion tools that are time consuming and aimed only at the high-end graphic designer. It would thus be desirable to provide some level of automation in the image personalization process. We propose a semi-automatic image personalization workflow which includes two scenarios: text insertion and text replacement. In both scenarios, the underlying surfaces are assumed to be planar. A 3-D pinhole camera model is used for rendering text, whose parameters are estimated by analyzing existing structures in the image. Techniques in image processing and computer vison such as the Hough transform, the bilateral filter, and connected component analysis are combined, along with necessary user inputs. In particular, the semi-automatic workflow is implemented as an image personalization tool, which is presented in our companion paper.1 Experimental results including personalized images for both scenarios are shown, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithms.

Effect of nanofiber content on bone regeneration of silk fibroin/poly(ε-caprolactone) nano/microfibrous composite scaffolds

PubMed Central

Kim, Beom Su; Park, Ko Eun; Kim, Min Hee; You, Hyung Keun; Lee, Jun; Park, Won Ho

2015-01-01

The broad application of electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds in tissue engineering is limited by their small pore size, which has a negative influence on cell migration. This disadvantage could be significantly improved through the combination of nano- and microfibrous structure. To accomplish this, different nano/microfibrous scaffolds were produced by hybrid electrospinning, combining solution electrospinning with melt electrospinning, while varying the content of the nanofiber. The morphology of the silk fibroin (SF)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) nano/microfibrous composite scaffolds was investigated with field-emission scanning electron microscopy, while the mechanical and pore properties were assessed by measurement of tensile strength and mercury porosimetry. To assay cell proliferation, cell viability, and infiltration ability, human mesenchymal stem cells were seeded on the SF/PCL nano/microfibrous composite scaffolds. From in vivo tests, it was found that the bone-regenerating ability of SF/PCL nano/microfibrous composite scaffolds was closely associated with the nanofiber content in the composite scaffolds. In conclusion, this approach of controlling the nanofiber content in SF/PCL nano/microfibrous composite scaffolds could be useful in the design of novel scaffolds for tissue engineering. PMID:25624762

Seasonal variation in the Dutch bovine raw milk composition.

PubMed

Heck, J M L; van Valenberg, H J F; Dijkstra, J; van Hooijdonk, A C M

2009-10-01

In this study, we determined the detailed composition of and seasonal variation in Dutch dairy milk. Raw milk samples representative of the complete Dutch milk supply were collected weekly from February 2005 until February 2006. Large seasonal variation exists in the concentrations of the main components and milk fatty acid composition. Milk lactose concentration was rather constant throughout the season. Milk true protein content was somewhat more responsive to season, with the lowest content in June (3.21 g/100 g) and the highest content in December (3.38 g/100 g). Milk fat concentration increased from a minimum of 4.10 g/100 g in June to a maximum of 4.57 g/100 g in January. The largest (up to 2-fold) seasonal changes in the fatty acid composition were found for trans fatty acids, including conjugated linoleic acid. Milk protein composition was rather constant throughout the season. Milk unsaturation indices, which were used as an indication of desaturase activity, were lowest in spring and highest in autumn. Compared with a previous investigation of Dutch dairy milk in 1992, the fatty acid composition of Dutch raw milk has changed considerably, in particular with a higher content of saturated fatty acids in 2005 milk.

Influence of compositions on thermal stability and thermodynamic parameter in Ca-Mg-Cu bulk metallic glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deshmukh, A. A.; Khond, A. A.; Palikundwar, U. A.

2018-05-01

In the present manuscript, influence of compositions on thermal stability (ΔTx) and thermodynamic parameter PHSS of Ca-Mg-Cu bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) is evaluated. The statistical approach of regression analysis is adopted to investigate the compositional variation with ΔTx and PHSS. It is found that calcium (Ca) and copper (Cu) content has goodlinear relationship with ΔTx and PHSS. It is observed that with increase in Ca content, ΔTx and PHSS decreases. On the other hand, increase in Cu content, both ΔTx and PHSS increases. Correlation fit of magnesium (Mg) content with both ΔTx and PHSS is very poor. A graph is also plotted to understand the relationship between ΔTx and PHSS. Result of the relationship between ΔTx and PHSS reveals that the alloy composition having more negative value of PHSS will have more stability. Therefore, compositions with more negative value of PHSS will lead to ease of BMGs formation in Ca-Mg-Cu alloy system and hence more stable it will be. It is expected that these results will be supportive in identifying the compositions having these elements for making BMGs.

Nutrient composition, digestible and metabolizable energy content, and prediction of energy for animal protein by-products in finishing pig diets

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An industry survey and an animal experiment were conducted to evaluate compositional variability and DE and ME content of animal protein by-products, and to generate equations to predict DE and ME content based on chemical analysis. For the 220 samples collected, the greatest concentration of CP was...

In vitro aging behavior of dental composites considering the influence of filler content, storage media and incubation time

PubMed Central

Maletz, Reinhard; Ottl, Peter; Warkentin, Mareike

2018-01-01

Objective Over time dental composites age due to mechanical impacts such as chewing and chemical impacts such as saliva enzymes and food ingredients. For this research, the focus was placed on chemical degradation. The objective of this study was to simulate hydrolysis by using different food simulating liquids and to assess their impact on the mechanical parameter Vickers microhardness (MHV) and the physicochemical parameter contact angle (CA). Methods Specimen of three composites (d = 6 mm, h = 2 mm; n = 435) classified with respect to their filler content (wt%), namely low-filled, medium-filled and highly-filled, were stored for 0, 14, 30, 90 and 180 days in artificial saliva (pH 7), citric acid (pH 3; pH 5), lactic acid (pH 3; pH 5) and ethanol (40%vol; 60%vol) and assessed regarding to MHV and CA. Statistics: Kruskal-Wallis test, stepwise linear regression, bivariate Spearman Rank Correlation (p < 0.05). Results While stored in artificial saliva, acid and ethanol the CA decreased especially for the low- and medium-filled composites. It was shown that rising the filler content caused less surface changes in the CA. Storage in ethanol led to a significant decrease of MHV of all composites. Regression analysis showed that the effect of in vitro aging on MHV was mainly influenced by the composite material and therefore by filler content (R2 = 0.67; p < 0.05). In contrast, the CA is more influenced by incubation time and filler content (R2 = 0.2; p < 0.05) leading to a higher risk of plaque accumulation over time. Significance: In vitro aging showed significant changes on the mechanical and physicochemical properties of dental composites which may shorten their long-term functionality. In conclusion, it can be stated, that the type of composite material, especially rising filler content seems to improve the materials’ resistance against the processes of chemical degradation. PMID:29630621

Sex and age differences in meat composition of Yeso sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis) reared for a short period after capture in the wild.

PubMed

Hayashida, Maki; Souma, Kousaku; Sugo, Kazuki; Araki, Shin-Ichi; Ishizaka, Fumiaki; Ueda, Masami; Kasai, Takamasa; Masuko, Takayoshi

2015-02-01

Yeso sika deer captured in winter around Lake Akan in Hokkaido were reared for 8-10 months at Tokyo University of Agriculture in Abashiri. Six 1-year-old females and males and six 2-year-old or older (adult) females and males were slaughtered and their carcasses were processed. The chemical composition, mineral contents and fatty acid composition of the loin were measured. No marked influence of gender or age was noted in the chemical composition of loin. In the mineral contents, significant differences were noted. The potassium and sulfur contents were lower and the sodium content was higher in adult deer meat (P < 0.05, respectively) and the potassium content was higher in male deer meat (P < 0.05). Arsenic, cadmium or lead were not detected. In the unsaturated fatty acid, a significant interaction was detected (P < 0.05), and it was high in 1-year-old female deer meat and low in 1-year-old male deer meat. Significant gender or age differences were noted only in the mineral contents in the loin of deer reared for a short period after capture. © 2014 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Compositional variations for alpha-galactosides in different species of leguminosae, brassicaceae, and barley: a chemotaxonomic study based on chemometrics and high-performance capillary electrophoresis.

PubMed

Andersen, Keld Ejdrup; Bjergegaard, Charlotte; Møller, Peter; Sørensen, Jens Christian; Sørensen, Hilmer

2005-07-13

The contents of raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) and sucrose in Brassica, Lupinus, Pisum, and Hordeum species were investigated by chemometric principal component analysis (PCA). Hordeum samples contained sucrose and raffinose, and Brassica samples all contained sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose. In addition to these, the Pisum samples contained verbascose and the Lupinus samples also contained ajugose. High stachyose and low ajugose contents were found in Lupinus albus in contrast to Lupinus angustifolius, having low stachyose and high ajugose contents. Lupinus luteus had average stachyose and ajugose contents, whereas large amounts of verbascose were accumulated in these seeds. Lupinus mutabilis had high stachyose and low ajugose contents, similar to the composition in L. albus but showing higher raffinose content. The Brassica samples also showed compositional RFO variations within the species, and subgroup formations were discovered within the investigated Brassica napus varieties. PCA results indicated compositional variations between the investigated genera and within the various species of value as chemotaxonomic defined parameters and as tools in evaluations of authenticity/falsifications when RFO-containing plants are used as, for example, feed and food additives.

Relative biocompatibility of micro-hybrid and nano-hybrid light-activated composite resins.

PubMed

Olabisi Arigbede, Abiodun; Folasade Adeyemi, Bukola; Femi-Akinlosotu, Omowumi

2017-01-01

Background. In vitro studies have revealed a direct association between resin content and cytotoxicity of composite resins; however, implantation studies in this regard are sparse. This study investigates the relationship between filler content of composite resins and biocompatibility. Methods. This research employed twelve 180‒200-gr male Wistar rats, 1 nano-hybrid (Prime-Dent Inc.) and 1 micro-hybrid (Medental Inc.) composite resins containing 74% and 80‒90% filler content, respectively. The samples were assessed on the 2nd, 14th and 90th day of implantation. Four rats were allocated to each day in this experimental study. A section of 1.5mm long cured nano-hybrid and micro-hybrid materials were implanted into the right and left upper and lower limbs of the rats, respectively. Eight samples were generated on each day of observation. Inflammation was graded according to the criteria suggested by Orstavik and Major. Pearson's chi-squared test was employed to determine the relationship between the tissue responses of the two materials. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results . The average grade of inflammation for the nano-hybrid on the 2nd day of implantation was 3.3. The micro-hybrid resin had a score of 3.0 for cellular inflammation. On the 14th day, the micro-hybrid resin also exhibited a lower average grade for cellular inflammation. On the 90th day, the micro-hybrid resin had a higher grade of inflammation (0.9) compared to 0.3 recorded for nano-hybrid. The composite resins with higher filler content elicited a significantly lower grade of inflammation irrespective of the duration (χ=20.000, df=8, P=0.010) while the composite resins with lower filler content elicited a significantly lower inflammatory response on the 90th day (χ=4.000, df=1, P=0.046). Conclusion. The composite resins with higher filler content generally elicited significantly lower grades of inflammation, and the composite resins with lower filler content exhibited significantly lower inflammatory response on the 90th day of implantation.

Relative biocompatibility of micro-hybrid and nano-hybrid light-activated composite resins

PubMed Central

Olabisi Arigbede, Abiodun; Folasade Adeyemi, Bukola; Femi-Akinlosotu, Omowumi

2017-01-01

Background. In vitro studies have revealed a direct association between resin content and cytotoxicity of composite resins; however, implantation studies in this regard are sparse. This study investigates the relationship between filler content of composite resins and biocompatibility. Methods. This research employed twelve 180‒200-gr male Wistar rats, 1 nano-hybrid (Prime-Dent Inc.) and 1 micro-hybrid (Medental Inc.) composite resins containing 74% and 80‒90% filler content, respectively. The samples were assessed on the 2nd, 14th and 90th day of implantation. Four rats were allocated to each day in this experimental study. A section of 1.5mm long cured nano-hybrid and micro-hybrid materials were implanted into the right and left upper and lower limbs of the rats, respectively. Eight samples were generated on each day of observation. Inflammation was graded according to the criteria suggested by Orstavik and Major. Pearson’s chi-squared test was employed to determine the relationship between the tissue responses of the two materials. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results. The average grade of inflammation for the nano-hybrid on the 2nd day of implantation was 3.3. The micro-hybrid resin had a score of 3.0 for cellular inflammation. On the 14th day, the micro-hybrid resin also exhibited a lower average grade for cellular inflammation. On the 90th day, the micro-hybrid resin had a higher grade of inflammation (0.9) compared to 0.3 recorded for nano-hybrid. The composite resins with higher filler content elicited a significantly lower grade of inflammation irrespective of the duration (χ=20.000, df=8, P=0.010) while the composite resins with lower filler content elicited a significantly lower inflammatory response on the 90th day (χ=4.000, df=1, P=0.046). Conclusion. The composite resins with higher filler content generally elicited significantly lower grades of inflammation, and the composite resins with lower filler content exhibited significantly lower inflammatory response on the 90th day of implantation. PMID:28413588

Micro-tomography based Geometry Modeling of Three-Dimensional Braided Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Guodong; Chen, Chenghua; Yuan, Shenggang; Meng, Songhe; Liang, Jun

2018-06-01

A tracking and recognizing algorithm is proposed to automatically generate irregular cross-sections and central path of braid yarn within the 3D braided composites by using sets of high resolution tomography images. Only the initial cross-sections of braid yarns in a tomography image after treatment are required to be calibrated manually as searching cross-section template. The virtual geometry of 3D braided composites including some detailed geometry information, such as the braid yarn squeezing deformation, braid yarn distortion and braid yarn path deviation etc., can be reconstructed. The reconstructed geometry model can reflect the change of braid configurations during solidification process. The geometry configurations and mechanical properties of the braided composites are analyzed by using the reconstructed geometry model.

Smart FRP Composite Sandwich Bridge Decks in Cold Regions

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-07-01

What if every time a bridge on a lonely road got icy, it automatically notified the local DOT to begin ice-control safety measures? What if a bridge could tell someone : every time an overloaded truck hit the decking, or when the trusses under it beg...

Clarification to "Examining Rater Errors in the Assessment of Written Composition with a Many-Faceted Rasch Model."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Englehard, George, Jr.

1996-01-01

Data presented in figure three of the article cited may be misleading in that the automatic scaling procedure used by the computer program that generated the histogram highlighted spikes that would look different with different histogram methods. (SLD)

Unraveling the Genetic Basis of Seed Tocopherol Content and Composition in Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

PubMed Central

Wang, Xingxing; Zhang, Chunyu; Li, Lingjuan; Fritsche, Steffi; Endrigkeit, Jessica; Zhang, Wenying; Long, Yan; Jung, Christian; Meng, Jinling

2012-01-01

Background Tocopherols are important antioxidants in vegetable oils; when present as vitamin E, tocopherols are an essential nutrient for humans and livestock. Rapeseed (Brassica napus L, AACC, 2 n = 38) is one of the most important oil crops and a major source of tocopherols. Although the tocopherol biosynthetic pathway has been well elucidated in the model photosynthetic organisms Arabidopsis thaliana and Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, knowledge about the genetic basis of tocopherol biosynthesis in seeds of rapeseed is scant. This project was carried out to dissect the genetic basis of seed tocopherol content and composition in rapeseed through quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection, genome-wide association analysis, and homologous gene mapping. Methodology/Principal Findings We used a segregating Tapidor × Ningyou7 doubled haploid (TNDH) population, its reconstructed F2 (RC-F2) population, and a panel of 142 rapeseed accessions (association panel). Genetic effects mainly contributed to phenotypic variations in tocopherol content and composition; environmental effects were also identified. Thirty-three unique QTL were detected for tocopherol content and composition in TNDH and RC-F2 populations. Of these, seven QTL co-localized with candidate sequences associated with tocopherol biosynthesis through in silico and linkage mapping. Several near-isogenic lines carrying introgressions from the parent with higher tocopherol content showed highly increased tocopherol content compared with the recurrent parent. Genome-wide association analysis was performed with 142 B. napus accessions. Sixty-one loci were significantly associated with tocopherol content and composition, 11 of which were localized within the confidence intervals of tocopherol QTL. Conclusions/Significance This joint QTL, candidate gene, and association mapping study sheds light on the genetic basis of seed tocopherol biosynthesis in rapeseed. The sequences presented here may be used for marker-assisted selection of oilseed rape lines with superior tocopherol content and composition. PMID:23185526

Climate Influences the Content and Chemical Composition of Foliar Tannins in Green and Senesced Tissues of Quercus rubra

PubMed Central

Top, Sara M.; Preston, Caroline M.; Dukes, Jeffrey S.; Tharayil, Nishanth

2017-01-01

Environmental stresses not only influence production of plant metabolites but could also modify their resorption during leaf senescence. The production-resorption dynamics of polyphenolic tannins, a class of defense compound whose ecological role extends beyond tissue senescence, could amplify the influence of climate on ecosystem processes. We studied the quantity, chemical composition, and tissue-association of tannins in green and freshly-senesced leaves of Quercus rubra exposed to different temperature (Warming and No Warming) and precipitation treatments (Dry, Ambient, Wet) at the Boston-Area Climate Experiment (BACE) in Massachusetts, USA. Climate influenced not only the quantity of tannins, but also their molecular composition and cell-wall associations. Irrespective of climatic treatments, tannin composition in Q. rubra was dominated by condensed tannins (CTs, proanthocyanidins). When exposed to Dry and Ambient*Warm conditions, Q. rubra produced higher quantities of tannins that were less polymerized. In contrast, under favorable conditions (Wet), tannins were produced in lower quantities, but the CTs were more polymerized. Further, even as the overall tissue tannin content declined, the content of hydrolysable tannins (HTs) increased under Wet treatments. The molecular composition of tannins influenced their content in senesced litter. Compared to the green leaves, the content of HTs decreased in senesced leaves across treatments, whereas the CT content was similar between green and senesced leaves in Wet treatments that produced more polymerized tannins. The content of total tannins in senesced leaves was higher in Warming treatments under both dry and ambient precipitation treatments. Our results suggest that, though climate directly influenced the production of tannins in green tissues (and similar patterns were observed in the senesced tissue), the influence of climate on tannin content of senesced tissue was partly mediated by the effect on the chemical composition of tannins. These different climatic impacts on leaves over the course of a growing season may alter forest dynamics, not only in decomposition and nutrient cycling dynamics, but also in herbivory dynamics. PMID:28559896

Review of research and developments in self healing composite materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddy Madara, Sahith; Sarath Raj, N. S.; Pon Selvan, Chithirai, Dr.

2018-04-01

Self-healing materials are artificial or synthetically created substances that have the built-in ability to automatically repair damage to themselves without any external diagnosis of the problem or human intervention. This article presents the current research and developments in self-healing composite materials. A detailed study is conducted on various types of self-healing composites with their self-healing mechanisms. The applications of self-healing materials in various fields including space sector is also discussed. Economics and Future outlooks for self-healing smart materials is highlighted at the end of the article. This research article will be useful to manufacturers, policy makers and researchers widely.

Nutrient status of crop contents of rural scavenging local chickens in Tanzania.

PubMed

Mwalusanya, N A; Katule, A M; Mutayoba, S K; Minga, U M; Mtambo, M M A; Olsen, J E

2002-03-01

1. A total of 144 chickens purchased from peasants in Morogoro, Tanzania were slaughtered, their crops dissected and the contents analysed. The birds consisted of 48 chickens from each of three climatic zones (warm and wet, warm and dry, cool and wet). Seventy-two chickens were slaughtered in each season, that is short rainy and long rainy season. 2. Cereal grains, bran, green forages, insects/worms and kitchen food wastes were the main crop contents and their composition varied significantly with season and climate. 3. The overall mean chemical compositions (g/kg) of the crop contents were: 430.8 +/- 107.78 dry matter (DM), 104.4 +/- 43.47 crude protein (CP), 61.2 +/- 36.48 ether extract (EE), 58.2 +/- 26.29 crude fibre (CF), 125.4 +/- 58-27 ash, 6.3 +/- 5.19 calcium (Ca) and 3.6 +/- 2.41 phosphorus (P). 4. CP, EE, ash and P contents varied significantly (P<0.05) with season but contents of DM, CF and Ca were not significantly different. 5. CP content was significantly higher (P<0.05) in growers than in adults while the reverse was true for Ca content. Other variables did not differ significantly. 6. Significant differences (P<0.05) in chemical composition were observed among the zones in all parameters except for CP content. 7. The study showed that the chemical composition of feeds eaten by rural scavenging chickens was below the nutritional requirements and varied with season, climate and age of birds.

Hidden sources of phosphorus: presence of phosphorus-containing additives in processed foods.

PubMed

Lou-Arnal, Luis M; Arnaudas-Casanova, Laura; Caverni-Muñoz, Alberto; Vercet-Tormo, Antonio; Caramelo-Gutiérrez, Rocío; Munguía-Navarro, Paula; Campos-Gutiérrez, Belén; García-Mena, Mercedes; Moragrera, Belén; Moreno-López, Rosario; Bielsa-Gracia, Sara; Cuberes-Izquierdo, Marta

2014-01-01

An increased consumption of processed foods that include phosphorus-containing additives has led us to propose the following working hypothesis: using phosphate-rich additives that can be easily absorbed in processed foods involves a significant increase in phosphorus in the diet, which may be considered as hidden phosphorus since it is not registered in the food composition tables. The quantity of phosphorus contained in 118 processed products was determined by spectrophotometry and the results were contrasted with the food composition tables of the Higher Education Centre of Nutrition and Diet, those of Morandeira and those of the BEDCA (Spanish Food Composition Database) Network. Food processing frequently involves the use of phosphoric additives. The products whose label contains these additives have higher phosphorus content and higher phosphorus-protein ratio. We observed a discrepancy with the food composition tables in terms of the amount of phosphorus determined in a sizeable proportion of the products. The phosphorus content of prepared refrigerated foods hardly appears in the tables. Product labels provide little information on phosphorus content. We observed a discrepancy in phosphorus content in certain foods with respect to the food composition tables. We should educate our patients on reviewing the additives on the labels and on the limitation of processed foods. There must be health policy actions to deal with the problem: companies should analyse the phosphorus content of their products, display the correct information on their labels and incorporate it into the food composition tables. Incentives could be established to prepare food with a low phosphorus content and alternatives to phosphorus-containing additives.

Modification of lignin content and composition in plants

DOEpatents

Ye, Zheng-Hua

2002-01-01

Plants and methods of preparing plants having reduced lignin content and/or altered lignin composition are provided. The activities of caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase and/or caffeic acid O-methyltransferase enzymes in the modified plants are reduced.

Automatic breast density classification using a convolutional neural network architecture search procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fonseca, Pablo; Mendoza, Julio; Wainer, Jacques; Ferrer, Jose; Pinto, Joseph; Guerrero, Jorge; Castaneda, Benjamin

2015-03-01

Breast parenchymal density is considered a strong indicator of breast cancer risk and therefore useful for preventive tasks. Measurement of breast density is often qualitative and requires the subjective judgment of radiologists. Here we explore an automatic breast composition classification workflow based on convolutional neural networks for feature extraction in combination with a support vector machines classifier. This is compared to the assessments of seven experienced radiologists. The experiments yielded an average kappa value of 0.58 when using the mode of the radiologists' classifications as ground truth. Individual radiologist performance against this ground truth yielded kappa values between 0.56 and 0.79.

Genetic architecture of kernel composition in global sorghum germplasm.

PubMed

Rhodes, Davina H; Hoffmann, Leo; Rooney, William L; Herald, Thomas J; Bean, Scott; Boyles, Richard; Brenton, Zachary W; Kresovich, Stephen

2017-01-05

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important cereal crop for dryland areas in the United States and for small-holder farmers in Africa. Natural variation of sorghum grain composition (protein, fat, and starch) between accessions can be used for crop improvement, but the genetic controls are still unresolved. The goals of this study were to quantify natural variation of sorghum grain composition and to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with variation in grain composition concentrations. In this study, we quantified protein, fat, and starch in a global sorghum diversity panel using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Protein content ranged from 8.1 to 18.8%, fat content ranged from 1.0 to 4.3%, and starch content ranged from 61.7 to 71.1%. Durra and bicolor-durra sorghum from Ethiopia and India had the highest protein and fat and the lowest starch content, while kafir sorghum from USA, India, and South Africa had the lowest protein and the highest starch content. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) for sorghum protein, fat, and starch. Previously published RNAseq data was used to identify candidate genes within a GWAS QTL region. A putative alpha-amylase 3 gene, which has previously been shown to be associated with grain composition traits, was identified as a strong candidate for protein and fat variation. We identified promising sources of genetic material for manipulation of grain composition traits, and several loci and candidate genes that may control sorghum grain composition. This survey of grain composition in sorghum germplasm and identification of protein, fat, and starch QTL contributes to our understanding of the genetic basis of natural variation in sorghum grain nutritional traits.

Studies on comonomer compositional distribution of bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)s and thermal characteristics of their factions.

PubMed

Feng, Lidan; Watanabe, Takumi; Wang, Yi; Kichise, Tomoyasu; Fukuchi, Takeshi; Chen, Guo-Qiang; Doi, Yoshiharu; Inoue, Yoshio

2002-01-01

The comonomer-unit compositional distributions have been investigated for bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(3HB-co-3HH)] samples with 3HH unit content of 13.8, 18.0, 22.0, and 54.0 mol %. They were comonomer compositionally fractionated using chloroform/n-heptane mixed solvent at ambient temperature. The fractionation of P(3HB-co-18.0 mol %3HH) and P(3HB-co-22.0 mol % 3HH), which could not be carried out effectively at room temperature, were refractionated at 70 degrees C in the mixed solvent. Fractions with different 3HH unit content in a wide range (from 4.4 to 80.7 mol %) were obtained. By use of these fractions with narrow compositional distribution, the comonomer composition dependence of thermal properties was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The melting point (T(m)) and heat of fusion (DeltaH) decreased as the 3HH unit content increased in the range of low 3HH content (<40 mol %), while they increased as the 3HH unit content increased in the high 3HH content range (>70 mol %). The minimum T(m) and DeltaH values were found to exist at 3HH unit content of about 60 mol %. The glass transition temperature (T(g)) decreased linearly with the increase of 3HH unit content. The values of T(m), DeltaH, and T(g) of P(3HB-co-3HH)s were compared with those of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxypropionate), and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate), and the effects of comonomer types on the thermal properties were revealed.

Setting up Conditions for Negotiation in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Sae Yeol; Bennett, William; Mendez, Claudia Aguirre; Hand, Brian

2010-01-01

When using an argument based inquiry approach like the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach, argumentation between peers and with a teacher will provide great opportunities for students to experience negotiation of meaning in relation to science content. However, students do not automatically engage in dialogue and argumentation with…

Podcasting the Sciences: A Practical Overview

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barsky, Eugene; Lindstrom, Kevin

2008-01-01

University science education has been undergoing great amount of change since the commercialization of the Internet a decade ago. Mobile technologies in science education can encompass more than the proximal teaching and learning environment. Podcasting, for example, allows audio content from user-selected feeds to be automatically downloaded to…

Term-Weighting Approaches in Automatic Text Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salton, Gerard; Buckley, Christopher

1988-01-01

Summarizes the experimental evidence that indicates that text indexing systems based on the assignment of appropriately weighted single terms produce retrieval results superior to those obtained with more elaborate text representations, and provides baseline single term indexing models with which more elaborate content analysis procedures can be…

10 CFR 50.34 - Contents of applications; technical information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., and a program to ensure that the results of these studies are factored into the final design of the... assessment study to determine the optimum automatic depressurization system (ADS) design modifications that... capability for containment purging/venting designed to minimize the purging time consistent with ALARA...

10 CFR 50.34 - Contents of applications; technical information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., and a program to ensure that the results of these studies are factored into the final design of the... assessment study to determine the optimum automatic depressurization system (ADS) design modifications that... capability for containment purging/venting designed to minimize the purging time consistent with ALARA...

Documents Similarity Measurement Using Field Association Terms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atlam, El-Sayed; Fuketa, M.; Morita, K.; Aoe, Jun-ichi

2003-01-01

Discussion of text analysis and information retrieval and measurement of document similarity focuses on a new text manipulation system called FA (field association)-Sim that is useful for retrieving information in large heterogeneous texts and for recognizing content similarity in text excerpts. Discusses recall and precision, automatic indexing…

New Tools to Convert PDF Math Contents into Accessible e-Books Efficiently.

PubMed

Suzuki, Masakazu; Terada, Yugo; Kanahori, Toshihiro; Yamaguchi, Katsuhito

2015-01-01

New features in our math-OCR software to convert PDF math contents into accessible e-books are shown. A method for recognizing PDF is thoroughly improved. In addition, contents in any selected area including math formulas in a PDF file can be cut and pasted into a document in various accessible formats, which is automatically recognized and converted into texts and accessible math formulas through this process. Combining it with our authoring tool for a technical document, one can easily produce accessible e-books in various formats such as DAISY, accessible EPUB3, DAISY-like HTML5, Microsoft Word with math objects and so on. Those contents are useful for various print-disabled students ranging from the blind to the dyslexic.

Prioritization of brain MRI volumes using medical image perception model and tumor region segmentation.

PubMed

Mehmood, Irfan; Ejaz, Naveed; Sajjad, Muhammad; Baik, Sung Wook

2013-10-01

The objective of the present study is to explore prioritization methods in diagnostic imaging modalities to automatically determine the contents of medical images. In this paper, we propose an efficient prioritization of brain MRI. First, the visual perception of the radiologists is adapted to identify salient regions. Then this saliency information is used as an automatic label for accurate segmentation of brain lesion to determine the scientific value of that image. The qualitative and quantitative results prove that the rankings generated by the proposed method are closer to the rankings created by radiologists. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advanced Concepts of Naval Engineering Maintenance Training. Volume 2. Appendix F

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-05-01

maintenance instruction, the Hagan Automatic Boiler Control (ABC) course. These job requirements also included the tasks, skills, and knowledges for all...Pressure 1 3/4 NAVTRAEQÜIPCEN 74-C-0151-1 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME II OF II APPENDIX F Page Hagan Automatic Boiler Controls Systems (FAS) 6...a c a ■* w ■H u 0 M « s? u ’• B n J-riH 3 o c 0 hhO a a o -i •H -I 0 -H 9J ■ a a oi « C -a u <rl « vi) •a - 8 ai >> u u

Effect of lignin on water vapor barrier, mechanical, and structural properties of agar/lignin composite films.

PubMed

Shankar, Shiv; Reddy, Jeevan Prasad; Rhim, Jong-Whan

2015-11-01

Biodegradable composite films were prepared using two renewable resources based biopolymers, agar and lignin alkali. The lignin was used as a reinforcing material and agar as a biopolymer matrix. The effect of lignin concentration (1, 3, 5, and 10wt%) on the performance of the composite films was studied. In addition, the mechanical, water vapor barrier, UV light barrier properties, FE-SEM, and TGA of the films were analyzed. The agar/lignin films exhibited higher mechanical and UV barrier properties along with lower water vapor permeability compared to the neat agar film. The FTIR and SEM results showed the compatibility of lignin with agar polymer. The swelling ratio and moisture content of agar/lignin composite films were decreased with increase in lignin content. The thermostability and char content of agar/lignin composite films increased with increased lignin content. The results suggested that agar/lignin films have a potential to be used as a UV barrier food packaging material for maintaining food safety and extending the shelf-life of the packaged food. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of lipid content and Fatty Acid composition in the edible meat of wild and cultured freshwater and marine fish and shrimps from china.

PubMed

Li, Guipu; Sinclair, Andrew J; Li, Duo

2011-03-09

The lipid content and fatty acid composition in the edible meat of twenty-nine species of wild and cultured freshwater and marine fish and shrimps were investigated. Both the lipid content and fatty acid composition of the species were specified due to their unique food habits and trophic levels. Most of the marine fish demonstrated higher lipid content than the freshwater fish, whereas shrimps had the lowest lipid content. All the marine fish and shrimps had much higher total n-3 PUFA than n-6 PUFA, while most of the freshwater fish and shrimps demonstrated much lower total n-3 PUFA than n-6 PUFA. This may be the biggest difference in fatty acid composition between marine and freshwater species. The cultured freshwater fish demonstrated higher percentages of total PUFA, total n-3 PUFA, and EPA + DHA than the wild freshwater fish. Two freshwater fish, including bighead carp and silver carp, are comparable to the marine fish as sources of n-3 PUFA.

Synthesis, Structure and Antimicrobial Property of Green Composites from Cellulose, Wool, Hair and Chicken Feather

PubMed Central

Tran, Chieu D.; Prosenc, Franja; Franko, Mladen; Benzi, Gerald

2016-01-01

Novel composites between cellulose (CEL) and keratin (KER) from three different sources (wool, hair and chicken feather) were successfully synthesized in a simple one-step process in which butylmethylimidazolium chloride (BMIm+Cl−), an ionic liquid, was used as the sole solvent. The method is green and recyclable because [BMIm+Cl−] used was recovered for reuse. Spectroscopy (FTIR, XRD) and imaging (SEM) results confirm that CEL and KER remain chemically intact and homogeneously distributed in the composites. KER retains some of its secondary structure in the composites. Interestingly, the minor differences in the structure of KER in wool, hair and feather produced pronounced differences in the conformation of their corresponding composites with wool has the highest α-helix content and feather has the lowest content. These results correlate well with mechanical and antimicrobial properties of the composites. Specifically, adding CEL into KER substantially improves mechanical strength of [CEL+KER] composites made from all three different sources, wool, hair and chicken feathers (i.e., [CEL+wool], [CEL+hair] and [CEL+feather]. Since mechanical strength is due to CEL, and CEL has only random structure, [CEL+feather] has, expectedly, the strongest mechanical property because feather has the lowest content of α-helix. Conversely, [CEL+wool] composite has the weakest mechanical strength because wool has the highest α-helix content. All three composites exhibit antibacterial activity against methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The antibacterial property is due not to CEL but to the protein and strongly depends on the type of the keratin, namely, the bactericidal effect is strongest for feather and weakest for wool. These results together with our previous finding that [CEL+KER] composites can control release of drug such as ciprofloxacin clearly indicate that these composites can potentially be used as wound dressing PMID:27474680

Methods of automatic nucleotide-sequence analysis. Multicomponent spectrophotometric analysis of mixtures of nucleic acid components by a least-squares procedure

PubMed Central

Lee, Sheila; McMullen, D.; Brown, G. L.; Stokes, A. R.

1965-01-01

1. A theoretical analysis of the errors in multicomponent spectrophotometric analysis of nucleoside mixtures, by a least-squares procedure, has been made to obtain an expression for the error coefficient, relating the error in calculated concentration to the error in extinction measurements. 2. The error coefficients, which depend only on the `library' of spectra used to fit the experimental curves, have been computed for a number of `libraries' containing the following nucleosides found in s-RNA: adenosine, guanosine, cytidine, uridine, 5-ribosyluracil, 7-methylguanosine, 6-dimethylaminopurine riboside, 6-methylaminopurine riboside and thymine riboside. 3. The error coefficients have been used to determine the best conditions for maximum accuracy in the determination of the compositions of nucleoside mixtures. 4. Experimental determinations of the compositions of nucleoside mixtures have been made and the errors found to be consistent with those predicted by the theoretical analysis. 5. It has been demonstrated that, with certain precautions, the multicomponent spectrophotometric method described is suitable as a basis for automatic nucleotide-composition analysis of oligonucleotides containing nine nucleotides. Used in conjunction with continuous chromatography and flow chemical techniques, this method can be applied to the study of the sequence of s-RNA. PMID:14346087

Mosaic construction, processing, and review of very large electron micrograph composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogt, Robert C., III; Trenkle, John M.; Harmon, Laurel A.

1996-11-01

A system of programs is described for acquisition, mosaicking, cueing and interactive review of large-scale transmission electron micrograph composite images. This work was carried out as part of a final-phase clinical analysis study of a drug for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. MOre than 500 nerve biopsy samples were prepared, digitally imaged, processed, and reviewed. For a given sample, typically 1000 or more 1.5 megabyte frames were acquired, for a total of between 1 and 2 gigabytes of data per sample. These frames were then automatically registered and mosaicked together into a single virtual image composite, which was subsequently used to perform automatic cueing of axons and axon clusters, as well as review and marking by qualified neuroanatomists. Statistics derived from the review process were used to evaluate the efficacy of the drug in promoting regeneration of myelinated nerve fibers. This effort demonstrates a new, entirely digital capability for doing large-scale electron micrograph studies, in which all of the relevant specimen data can be included at high magnification, as opposed to simply taking a random sample of discrete locations. It opens up the possibility of a new era in electron microscopy--one which broadens the scope of questions that this imaging modality can be used to answer.

Bulk composition of the Moon in the context of models for condensation in the solar nebula

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goettel, K. A.

1984-01-01

The FeO content of the Moon is substantially higher than the present FeO content of the Earth's mantle. If the Moon formed by fission from the Earth's mantle, then the conclusion that the Earth's mantle must have been much richer in FeO at the time of fission appears firm. If the Moon formed independently in geocentric orbit, then the FeO contents of the two bodies should be similar, because both would be accreting from the same source of silicate material. Therefore, Earth's mantle at the time of lunar formation probably had an FeO content quite similar to the present FeO content of the Moon. This conclusion, if valid, has profound implications in two areas: (1) the differentiation history of the Earth's mantle and core; and (2) the processes responsible for governing the bulk compositions of the terrestrial planets. If Earth had more FeO than previously thought, then the composition differences between Earth and Mars are less than previously believed. This suggests that condensation temperature and heliocentric distance may have been less important in governing planetary compositions and other mechanisms, including iron/silicate fractionation may have been more important. The implication of this model for the compositions of the Moon and the other terrestrial planets are discussed.

Feasibility of using saltcedar as a filler in injection-molded polyethylene composites

Treesearch

Craig M. Clemons; Nicole M. Stark

2009-01-01

Saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) was investigated for use as a filler in wood–plastic composites (WPCs). The mineral content, water-soluble extractive content, and thermal stability of saltcedar flour were compared with those of a commercial pine wood flour. The wood flours were compounded with plastic, and the viscosities of the composite melts containing the two...

Dynamic mechanical analysis of compatibilizer effect on the mechanical properties of wood flour/high-density polyethylene composites

Treesearch

Mehdi Behzad; Medhi Tajvidi; Ghanbar Ehrahimi; Robert H. Falk

2004-01-01

In this study, effect of MAPE (maleic anhydride polyethylene) as the compatibilizer on the mechanical properties of wood-flour polyethylene composites has been investigated by using Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). Composites were made at 25% and 50% by weight fiber contents and 1% and 2% compatibilizer respectively. Controls were also made at the same fiber contents...

Real-Time Impact Visualization Inspection of Aerospace Composite Structures with Distributed Sensors.

PubMed

Si, Liang; Baier, Horst

2015-07-08

For the future design of smart aerospace structures, the development and application of a reliable, real-time and automatic monitoring and diagnostic technique is essential. Thus, with distributed sensor networks, a real-time automatic structural health monitoring (SHM) technique is designed and investigated to monitor and predict the locations and force magnitudes of unforeseen foreign impacts on composite structures and to estimate in real time mode the structural state when impacts occur. The proposed smart impact visualization inspection (IVI) technique mainly consists of five functional modules, which are the signal data preprocessing (SDP), the forward model generator (FMG), the impact positioning calculator (IPC), the inverse model operator (IMO) and structural state estimator (SSE). With regard to the verification of the practicality of the proposed IVI technique, various structure configurations are considered, which are a normal CFRP panel and another CFRP panel with "orange peel" surfaces and a cutout hole. Additionally, since robustness against several background disturbances is also an essential criterion for practical engineering demands, investigations and experimental tests are carried out under random vibration interfering noise (RVIN) conditions. The accuracy of the predictions for unknown impact events on composite structures using the IVI technique is validated under various structure configurations and under changing environmental conditions. The evaluated errors all fall well within a satisfactory limit range. Furthermore, it is concluded that the IVI technique is applicable for impact monitoring, diagnosis and assessment of aerospace composite structures in complex practical engineering environments.

Real-Time Impact Visualization Inspection of Aerospace Composite Structures with Distributed Sensors

PubMed Central

Si, Liang; Baier, Horst

2015-01-01

For the future design of smart aerospace structures, the development and application of a reliable, real-time and automatic monitoring and diagnostic technique is essential. Thus, with distributed sensor networks, a real-time automatic structural health monitoring (SHM) technique is designed and investigated to monitor and predict the locations and force magnitudes of unforeseen foreign impacts on composite structures and to estimate in real time mode the structural state when impacts occur. The proposed smart impact visualization inspection (IVI) technique mainly consists of five functional modules, which are the signal data preprocessing (SDP), the forward model generator (FMG), the impact positioning calculator (IPC), the inverse model operator (IMO) and structural state estimator (SSE). With regard to the verification of the practicality of the proposed IVI technique, various structure configurations are considered, which are a normal CFRP panel and another CFRP panel with “orange peel” surfaces and a cutout hole. Additionally, since robustness against several background disturbances is also an essential criterion for practical engineering demands, investigations and experimental tests are carried out under random vibration interfering noise (RVIN) conditions. The accuracy of the predictions for unknown impact events on composite structures using the IVI technique is validated under various structure configurations and under changing environmental conditions. The evaluated errors all fall well within a satisfactory limit range. Furthermore, it is concluded that the IVI technique is applicable for impact monitoring, diagnosis and assessment of aerospace composite structures in complex practical engineering environments. PMID:26184196

Visualizing Topic Flow in Students' Essays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Rourke, Stephen T.; Calvo, Rafael A.; McNamara, Danielle S.

2011-01-01

Visualizing how the parts of a document relate to each other and producing automatically generated quality measures that people can understand are means that writers can use to improve the quality of their compositions. This paper presents a novel document visualization technique and a measure of quality based on the average semantic distance…

English Complex Verb Constructions: Identification and Inference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tu, Yuancheng

2012-01-01

The fundamental problem faced by automatic text understanding in Natural Language Processing (NLP) is to identify semantically related pieces of text and integrate them together to compute the meaning of the whole text. However, the principle of compositionality runs into trouble very quickly when real language is examined with its frequent…

Properties of cellulose/Thespesia lampas short fibers bio-composite films.

PubMed

Ashok, B; Reddy, K Obi; Madhukar, K; Cai, J; Zhang, L; Rajulu, A Varada

2015-01-01

Cellulose was dissolved in pre cooled environment friendly solvent (aq.7% sodium hydroxide+12% urea) and regenerated with 5%H2SO4 as coagulation bath. Using cellulose as matrix and alkali treated short natural fibers extracted from the newly identified Thespesia lampas plant as fillers the green composite films were prepared. The films were found to be non toxic. The effect of fiber loading on the tensile properties and thermal stability was studied. The fractographs indicated better interfacial bonding between the fibers and cellulose. The crystallinity of the composite films was found to be lower than the matrix and decreased with increasing fiber content. In spite of better interfacial bonding, the tensile properties of the composites were found to be lower than those of the matrix and decreased with increasing fiber content and this behavior was attributed to the random orientation of the fibers in the composites. The thermal stability of the composite films was higher than the matrix and increased with fiber content. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evolution-based Virtual Content Insertion with Visually Virtual Interactions in Videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chia-Hu; Wu, Ja-Ling

With the development of content-based multimedia analysis, virtual content insertion has been widely used and studied for video enrichment and multimedia advertising. However, how to automatically insert a user-selected virtual content into personal videos in a less-intrusive manner, with an attractive representation, is a challenging problem. In this chapter, we present an evolution-based virtual content insertion system which can insert virtual contents into videos with evolved animations according to predefined behaviors emulating the characteristics of evolutionary biology. The videos are considered not only as carriers of message conveyed by the virtual content but also as the environment in which the lifelike virtual contents live. Thus, the inserted virtual content will be affected by the videos to trigger a series of artificial evolutions and evolve its appearances and behaviors while interacting with video contents. By inserting virtual contents into videos through the system, users can easily create entertaining storylines and turn their personal videos into visually appealing ones. In addition, it would bring a new opportunity to increase the advertising revenue for video assets of the media industry and online video-sharing websites.

Influence of Metal-Coated Graphite Powders on Microstructure and Properties of the Bronze-Matrix/Graphite Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Jian-hua; Li, Pu; Tang, Qi; Zhang, Yan-qing; He, Jian-sheng; He, Ke

2017-02-01

In this study, the bronze-matrix/x-graphite (x = 0, 1, 3 and 5%) composites were fabricated by powder metallurgy route by using Cu-coated graphite, Ni-coated graphite and pure graphite, respectively. The microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosive behaviors of bronze/Cu-coated-graphite (BCG), bronze/Ni-coated-graphite (BNG) and bronze/pure-graphite (BPG) were characterized and investigated. Results show that the Cu-coated and Ni-coated graphite could definitely increase the bonding quality between the bronze matrix and graphite. In general, with the increase in graphite content in bronze-matrix/graphite composites, the friction coefficients, ultimate density and wear rates of BPG, BCG and BNG composites all went down. However, the Vickers microhardness of the BNG composite would increase as the graphite content increased, which was contrary to the BPG and BCG composites. When the graphite content was 3%, the friction coefficient of BNG composite was more stable than that of BCG and BPG composites, indicating that BNG composite had a better tribological performance than the others. Under all the values of applied loads (10, 20, 40 and 60N), the BCG and BNG composites exhibited a lower wear rate than BPG composite. What is more, the existence of nickel in graphite powders could effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the BNG composite.

Additive effects of emotional content and spatial selective attention on electrocortical facilitation.

PubMed

Keil, Andreas; Moratti, Stephan; Sabatinelli, Dean; Bradley, Margaret M; Lang, Peter J

2005-08-01

Affectively arousing visual stimuli have been suggested to automatically attract attentional resources in order to optimize sensory processing. The present study crosses the factors of spatial selective attention and affective content, and examines the relationship between instructed (spatial) and automatic attention to affective stimuli. In addition to response times and error rate, electroencephalographic data from 129 electrodes were recorded during a covert spatial attention task. This task required silent counting of random-dot targets embedded in a 10 Hz flicker of colored pictures presented to both hemifields. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) were obtained to determine amplitude and phase of electrocortical responses to pictures. An increase of ssVEP amplitude was observed as an additive function of spatial attention and emotional content. Statistical parametric mapping of this effect indicated occipito-temporal and parietal cortex activation contralateral to the attended visual hemifield in ssVEP amplitude modulation. This difference was most pronounced during selection of the left visual hemifield, at right temporal electrodes. In line with this finding, phase information revealed accelerated processing of aversive arousing, compared to affectively neutral pictures. The data suggest that affective stimulus properties modulate the spatiotemporal process along the ventral stream, encompassing amplitude amplification and timing changes of posterior and temporal cortex.

Mercury content and petrographic composition in Pennsylvanian coal beds of Indiana, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mastalerz, Maria; Drobniak, A.; Filippelli, G.

2006-01-01

A suite of high volatile bituminous coals of Pennsylvanian age from Indiana has been studied for their mercury (Hg) concentration and relationship between mercury content and maceral and lithotype composition. The coals ranged in Hg content from 0.02 in the Danville Coal Member to 0.31 ppm in the Upper Block Coal Member. Our study indicates that relationships between petrographic composition of coal and mercury content are site specific. This lack of a consistent relationship is explained by the fact that most Hg occurs in pyrite and not in the organic matter itself. Comparison of Hg content in durain/vitrain pairs shows that durain has more frequently a higher Hg content than vitrain, but the difference in frequency is inconsequential and shows no consistent pattern for a single coal bed or a single location. We suggest that increased concentration of Hg in vitrain is related to the presence of epigenetic pyrite in cleats. ?? 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of methyl jasmonate application to grapevine leaves on grape amino acid content.

PubMed

Garde-Cerdán, Teresa; Portu, Javier; López, Rosa; Santamaría, Pilar

2016-07-15

Over the last few years, considerable attention has been paid to the application of elicitors to vineyard. However, research about the effect of elicitors on grape amino acid content is scarce. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of foliar application of methyl jasmonate on must amino acid content. Results revealed that total amino acid content was not modified by the application of methyl jasmonate. However, the individual content of certain amino acids was increased as consequence of methyl jasmonate foliar application, i.e., histidine, serine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine, asparagine, methionine, and lysine. Among them, phenylalanine content was considerably increased; this amino acid is precursor of phenolic and aromatic compounds. In conclusion, foliar application of methyl jasmonate improved must nitrogen composition. This finding suggests that methyl jasmonate treatment might be conducive to obtain wines of higher quality since must amino acid composition could affect the wine volatile composition and the fermentation kinetics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High renewable content sandwich structures based on flax-basalt hybrids and biobased epoxy polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colomina, S.; Boronat, T.; Fenollar, O.; Sánchez-Nacher, L.; Balart, R.

2014-05-01

In the last years, a growing interest in the development of high environmental efficiency materials has been detected and this situation is more accentuated in the field of polymers and polymer composites. In this work, green composite sandwich structures with high renewable content have been developed with core cork materials. The base resin for composites was a biobased epoxy resin derived from epoxidized vegetable oils. Hybrid basalt-flax fabrics have been used as reinforcements for composites and the influence of the stacking sequence has been evaluated in order to optimize the appropriate laminate structure for the sandwich bases. Core cork materials with different thickness have been used to evaluate performance of sandwich structures thus leading to high renewable content composite sandwich structures. Results show that position of basalt fabrics plays a key role in flexural fracture of sandwich structures due to differences in stiffness between flax and basalt fibers.

Thermal conductivity and thermal expansion of graphite fiber/copper matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellis, David L.; Mcdanels, David L.

1991-01-01

The high specific conductivity of graphite fiber/copper matrix (Gr/Cu) composites offers great potential for high heat flux structures operating at elevated temperatures. To determine the feasibility of applying Gr/Cu composites to high heat flux structures, composite plates were fabricated using unidirectional and cross-plied pitch-based P100 graphite fibers in a pure copper matrix. Thermal conductivity of the composites was measured from room temperature to 1073 K, and thermal expansion was measured from room temperature to 1050 K. The longitudinal thermal conductivity, parallel to the fiber direction, was comparable to pure copper. The transverse thermal conductivity, normal to the fiber direction, was less than that of pure copper and decreased with increasing fiber content. The longitudinal thermal expansion decreased with increasing fiber content. The transverse thermal expansion was greater than pure copper and nearly independent of fiber content.

Thermal conductivity and thermal expansion of graphite fiber-reinforced copper matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellis, David L.; Mcdanels, David L.

1993-01-01

The high specific conductivity of graphite fiber/copper matrix (Gr/Cu) composites offers great potential for high heat flux structures operating at elevated temperatures. To determine the feasibility of applying Gr/Cu composites to high heat flux structures, composite plates were fabricated using unidirectional and cross-plied pitch-based P100 graphite fibers in a pure copper matrix. Thermal conductivity of the composites was measured from room temperature to 1073 K, and thermal expansion was measured from room temperature to 1050 K. The longitudinal thermal conductivity, parallel to the fiber direction, was comparable to pure copper. The transverse thermal conductivity, normal to the fiber direction, was less than that of pure copper and decreased with increasing fiber content. The longitudinal thermal expansion decreased with increasing fiber content. The transverse thermal expansion was greater than pure copper and nearly independent of fiber content.

Extension of an assessment model of ship traffic exhaust emissions for particulate matter and carbon monoxide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalkanen, J.-P.; Johansson, L.; Kukkonen, J.; Brink, A.; Kalli, J.; Stipa, T.

2012-03-01

A method is presented for the evaluation of the exhaust emissions of marine traffic, based on the messages provided by the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which enable the positioning of ship emissions with a high spatial resolution (typically a few tens of metres). The model also takes into account the detailed technical data of each individual vessel. The previously developed model was applicable for evaluating the emissions of NOx, SOx and CO2. This paper addresses a substantial extension of the modelling system, to allow also for the mass-based emissions of particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO). The presented Ship Traffic Emissions Assessment Model (STEAM2) allows for the influences of accurate travel routes and ship speed, engine load, fuel sulphur content, multiengine setups, abatement methods and waves. We address in particular the modeling of the influence on the emissions of both engine load and the sulphur content of the fuel. The presented methodology can be used to evaluate the total PM emissions, and those of organic carbon, elemental carbon, ash and hydrated sulphate. We have evaluated the performance of the extended model against available experimental data on engine power, fuel consumption and the composition-resolved emissions of PM. We have also compared the annually averaged emission values with those of the corresponding EMEP inventory, As example results, the geographical distributions of the emissions of PM and CO are presented for the marine regions of the Baltic Sea surrounding the Danish Straits.

Experimental Study on Impact-Induced Reaction Characteristics of PTFE/Ti Composites Enhanced by W Particles.

PubMed

Li, Yan; Wang, Zaicheng; Jiang, Chunlan; Niu, Haohao

2017-02-13

Metal/fluoropolymer composites are a category of energetic structural materials that release energy through exothermic chemical reactions initiated under highly dynamic loadings. In this paper, the chemical reaction mechanism of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)/Ti/W composites is investigated through thermal analysis and composition analysis. These composites undergo exothermic reactions at 510 °C to 600 °C, mainly producing TiF x . The tungsten significantly reduces the reaction heat due to its inertness. In addition, the dynamic compression properties and impact-induced reaction behaviors of PTFE/Ti/W composites with different W content prepared by pressing and sintering are studied using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar and high speed photography. The results show that both the mechanical strength and the reaction degree are significantly improved with the increasing strain rate. Moreover, as W content increases, the mechanical strength is enhanced, but the elasticity/plasticity is decreased. The PTFE/Ti/W composites tend to become more inert with the increasing W content, which is reflected by the reduced reaction degree and the increased reaction threshold for the impact ignition.

Experimental Study on Impact-Induced Reaction Characteristics of PTFE/Ti Composites Enhanced by W Particles

PubMed Central

Li, Yan; Wang, Zaicheng; Jiang, Chunlan; Niu, Haohao

2017-01-01

Metal/fluoropolymer composites are a category of energetic structural materials that release energy through exothermic chemical reactions initiated under highly dynamic loadings. In this paper, the chemical reaction mechanism of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)/Ti/W composites is investigated through thermal analysis and composition analysis. These composites undergo exothermic reactions at 510 °C to 600 °C, mainly producing TiFx. The tungsten significantly reduces the reaction heat due to its inertness. In addition, the dynamic compression properties and impact-induced reaction behaviors of PTFE/Ti/W composites with different W content prepared by pressing and sintering are studied using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar and high speed photography. The results show that both the mechanical strength and the reaction degree are significantly improved with the increasing strain rate. Moreover, as W content increases, the mechanical strength is enhanced, but the elasticity/plasticity is decreased. The PTFE/Ti/W composites tend to become more inert with the increasing W content, which is reflected by the reduced reaction degree and the increased reaction threshold for the impact ignition. PMID:28772534

Fiber Longitudinal Measurements for Predicting White Speck Contents of Dyed Cotton Fabrics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fiber Image Analysis System (FIAS) was developed to provide an automatic method for measuring cotton maturity from fiber snippets or cross-sections . An uncombed cotton bundle is chopped and sprayed on a microscopic slide. The snippets are imaged sequentially on an microscope and measured with custo...

The Semiautomated Test System: A Tool for Standardized Performance Testing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramsey, H. Rudy

For performance tests to be truly standardized, they must be administered in a way that will minimize variation due to operator intervention and errors. Through such technological developments as low-cost digital computers and digital logic modules, automatic test administration without restriction of test content has become possible. A…

Template Authoring Environment for the Automatic Generation of Narrative Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caropreso, Maria Fernanda; Inkpen, Diana; Keshtkar, Fazel; Khan, Shahzad

2012-01-01

Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems can make data accessible in an easily digestible textual form; but using such systems requires sophisticated linguistic and sometimes even programming knowledge. We have designed and implemented an environment for creating and modifying NLG templates that requires no programming knowledge, and can operate…

Methodologies for Crawler Based Web Surveys.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thelwall, Mike

2002-01-01

Describes Web survey methodologies used to study the content of the Web, and discusses search engines and the concept of crawling the Web. Highlights include Web page selection methodologies; obstacles to reliable automatic indexing of Web sites; publicly indexable pages; crawling parameters; and tests for file duplication. (Contains 62…

Irrigation scheduling using soil moisture sensors

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soil moisture sensors were evaluated and used for irrigation scheduling in humid region. Soil moisture sensors were installed in soil at depths of 15cm, 30cm, and 61cm belowground. Soil volumetric water content was automatically measured by the sensors in a time interval of an hour during the crop g...

Fast Spatio-Temporal Data Mining from Large Geophysical Datasets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stolorz, P.; Mesrobian, E.; Muntz, R.; Santos, J. R.; Shek, E.; Yi, J.; Mechoso, C.; Farrara, J.

1995-01-01

Use of the UCLA CONQUEST (CONtent-based Querying in Space and Time) is reviewed for performance of automatic cyclone extraction and detection of spatio-temporal blocking conditions on MPP. CONQUEST is a data analysis environment for knowledge and data mining to aid in high-resolution modeling of climate modeling.

49 CFR 552.14 - Content of petition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... for Expedited Rulemaking To Establish Dynamic Automatic Suppression System Test Procedures for Federal... petitioner shall provide the following information: (a) A set of proposed test procedures for S28.1, S28.2... unbelted occupant positions that are likely to occur during a frontal crash where pre-crash braking occurs...

49 CFR 552.14 - Content of petition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... for Expedited Rulemaking To Establish Dynamic Automatic Suppression System Test Procedures for Federal... petitioner shall provide the following information: (a) A set of proposed test procedures for S28.1, S28.2... unbelted occupant positions that are likely to occur during a frontal crash where pre-crash braking occurs...

49 CFR 552.14 - Content of petition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... for Expedited Rulemaking To Establish Dynamic Automatic Suppression System Test Procedures for Federal... petitioner shall provide the following information: (a) A set of proposed test procedures for S28.1, S28.2... unbelted occupant positions that are likely to occur during a frontal crash where pre-crash braking occurs...

Towards Automatic Threat Recognition

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

York: Bantam. Forschungsinstitut für Kommunikation, Informationsverarbeitung und Ergonomie FGAN Informationstechnik und Führungssysteme KIE Towards...Informationsverarbeitung und Ergonomie FGAN Informationstechnik und Führungssysteme KIE Content Preliminaries about Information Fusion The System Ontology Unification...as Processing Principle Back to the Example Conclusion and Outlook Forschungsinstitut für Kommunikation, Informationsverarbeitung und Ergonomie FGAN

HOW TO LEARN AN UNWRITTEN LANGUAGE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GUDSCHINSKY, SARAH C.

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE ANTHROPOLOGY STUDENT CONFRONTED WITH LEARNING A LANGUAGE IN THE FIELD, THIS BOOK FOCUSES ON ACQUIRING EVERYDAY CONVERSATION RATHER THAN DIFFICULT LINGUISTIC PROBLEMS. THE FORM AND CONTENT ARE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING BASIC PREMISES--(1) LEARNING A LANGUAGE CONSISTS OF DISCOVERING AND CONTROLLING AS AUTOMATIC HABITS THE…

Microstructure, Hardness, and Corrosion Behavior of TiC-Duplex Stainless Steel Composites Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Ying; Zhang, Wei; Sun, Shicheng; Chen, Hua; Ran, Xu

2017-08-01

Duplex stainless steel composites with various weight fractions of TiC particles are prepared by spark plasma sintering. Ferritic 434L and austenitic 316L stainless steel powders are premixed in a 50:50 weight ratio and added with 3-9 wt.% TiC. The compacts are sintered in the solid state under vacuum conditions at 1223 K for 5 min. The effects of TiC content on the microstructure, hardness, and corrosion resistance of duplex stainless steel composites fabricated by powder metallurgy are evaluated. The results indicate that the TiC particulates as reinforcements can be distributed homogeneously in the steel matrix. Densification of sintered composites decreases with increasing TiC content. M23C6 carbide precipitates along grain boundary, and its neighboring Cr-Mo-depleted region is formed in the sintered microstructure, which can be eliminated subsequently with appropriate heat treatment. With the addition of TiC, the hardness of duplex stainless steel fabricated by powder metallurgy can be markedly enhanced despite increased porosity in the composites. However, TiC particles increase the corrosion rate and degrade the passivation capability, particularly for the composite with TiC content higher than 6 wt.%. Weakened metallurgical bonding in the composite with high TiC content provides the preferred sites for pitting nucleation and/or dissolution.

Comparison of the Proximate Composition, Total Carotenoids and Total Polyphenol Content of Nine Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato Varieties Grown in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Alam, Mohammad Khairul; Rana, Ziaul Hasan; Islam, Sheikh Nazrul

2016-09-14

In an attempt to develop the food composition table for Bangladesh, the nutritional composition of nine varieties of orange-fleshed sweet potato was analyzed together with total carotenoids (TCC) and total polyphenol content (TPC). Each variety showed significant variation in different nutrient contents. The quantification of the TCC and TPC was done by spectrophotometric measurement, and the proximate composition was done by the AOAC method. The obtained results showed that total polyphenol content varied from 94.63 to 136.05 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g fresh weight. Among the selected sweet potatoes, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Sweet Potato 7 (SP7) contained the highest, whereas BARI SP6 contained the lowest amount of total polyphenol content. The obtained results also revealed that total carotenoids content ranged from 0.38 to 7.24 mg/100 g fresh weight. BARI SP8 showed the highest total carotenoids content, whereas BARI SP6 showed the lowest. Total carotenoids content was found to be higher in dark orange-colored flesh varieties than their light-colored counterparts. The results of the study indicated that selected sweet potato varieties are rich in protein and carbohydrate, low in fat, high in polyphenol and carotenoids and, thus, could be a good source of dietary antioxidants to prevent free radical damage, which leads to chronic diseases, and also to prevent vitamin A malnutrition.

Comparison of the Proximate Composition, Total Carotenoids and Total Polyphenol Content of Nine Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato Varieties Grown in Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Alam, Mohammad Khairul; Rana, Ziaul Hasan; Islam, Sheikh Nazrul

2016-01-01

In an attempt to develop the food composition table for Bangladesh, the nutritional composition of nine varieties of orange-fleshed sweet potato was analyzed together with total carotenoids (TCC) and total polyphenol content (TPC). Each variety showed significant variation in different nutrient contents. The quantification of the TCC and TPC was done by spectrophotometric measurement, and the proximate composition was done by the AOAC method. The obtained results showed that total polyphenol content varied from 94.63 to 136.05 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g fresh weight. Among the selected sweet potatoes, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Sweet Potato 7 (SP7) contained the highest, whereas BARI SP6 contained the lowest amount of total polyphenol content. The obtained results also revealed that total carotenoids content ranged from 0.38 to 7.24 mg/100 g fresh weight. BARI SP8 showed the highest total carotenoids content, whereas BARI SP6 showed the lowest. Total carotenoids content was found to be higher in dark orange-colored flesh varieties than their light-colored counterparts. The results of the study indicated that selected sweet potato varieties are rich in protein and carbohydrate, low in fat, high in polyphenol and carotenoids and, thus, could be a good source of dietary antioxidants to prevent free radical damage, which leads to chronic diseases, and also to prevent vitamin A malnutrition. PMID:28231159

Impact of Sampling and Cellular Separation on Amino Acid Determinations in Drosophila Hemolymph.

PubMed

Cabay, Marissa R; Harris, Jasmine C; Shippy, Scott A

2018-04-03

The fruit fly is a frequently used model system with a high degree of human disease-related genetic homology. The quantitative chemical analysis of fruit fly tissues and hemolymph uniquely brings chemical signaling and compositional information to fly experimentation. The work here explores the impact of measured chemical content of hemolymph with three aspects of sample collection and preparation. Cellular content of hemolymph was quantitated and removed to determine hemolymph composition changes for seven primary amine analytes. Hemolymph sampling methods were adapted to determine differences in primary amine composition of hemolymph collected from the head, antenna, and abdomen. Also, three types of anesthesia were employed with hemolymph collection to quantitate effects on measured amino acid content. Cell content was found to be 45.4 ± 22.1 cells/nL of hemolymph collected from both adult and larvae flies. Cell-concentrated fractions of adult, but not larvae, hemolymph were found to have higher and more variable amine content. There were amino acid content differences found between all three areas indicating a robust method to characterize chemical markers from specific regions of a fly, and these appear related to physiological activity. Methods of anesthesia have an impact on hemolymph amino acid composition related to overall physiological impact to fly including higher amino acid content variability and oxygen deprivation effects. Together, these analyses identify potential complications with Drosophila hemolymph analysis and opportunities for future studies to relate hemolymph content with model physiological activity.

Estimating soil water content from ground penetrating radar coarse root reflections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X.; Cui, X.; Chen, J.; Li, W.; Cao, X.

2016-12-01

Soil water content (SWC) is an indispensable variable for understanding the organization of natural ecosystems and biodiversity. Especially in semiarid and arid regions, soil moisture is the plants primary source of water and largely determine their strategies for growth and survival, such as root depth, distribution and competition between them. Ground penetrating radar (GPR), a kind of noninvasive geophysical technique, has been regarded as an accurate tool for measuring soil water content at intermediate scale in past decades. For soil water content estimation with surface GPR, fixed antenna offset reflection method has been considered to have potential to obtain average soil water content between land surface and reflectors, and provide high resolution and few measurement time. In this study, 900MHz surface GPR antenna was used to estimate SWC with fixed offset reflection method; plant coarse roots (with diameters greater than 5 mm) were regarded as reflectors; a kind of advanced GPR data interpretation method, HADA (hyperbola automatic detection algorithm), was introduced to automatically obtain average velocity by recognizing coarse root hyperbolic reflection signals on GPR radargrams during estimating SWC. In addition, a formula was deduced to determine interval average SWC between two roots at different depths as well. We examined the performance of proposed method on a dataset simulated under different scenarios. Results showed that HADA could provide a reasonable average velocity to estimate SWC without knowledge of root depth and interval average SWC also be determined. When the proposed method was applied to estimation of SWC on a real-field measurement dataset, a very small soil water content vertical variation gradient about 0.006 with depth was captured as well. Therefore, the proposed method could be used to estimate average soil water content from ground penetrating radar coarse root reflections and obtain interval average SWC between two roots at different depths. It is very promising for measuring root-zone-soil-moisture and mapping soil moisture distribution around a shrub or even in field plot scale.

Evaluation of low-cost aluminum composites for aircraft engine structural applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcdanels, D. L.; Signorelli, R. A.

1983-01-01

Panels of discontinuous SiC composites, with several aluminum matrices, were fabricated and evaluated. Modulus, yield strength and tensile strength results indicated that the properties of composites containing SiC whisker, nodule or particulate reinforcements were similar. The modulus of the composites was controlled by the volume percentage of the SiC reinforcement content, while the strength and ductility were controlled by both the reinforcement content and the matrix alloy. The feasibility of fabricating structural shapes by both wire performs and direct casting was demonstrated for Al2O3/Al composites. The feasibility of fabricating high performance composites into structural shapes by low pressure hot molding was demonstrated for B4C-coated B/Al composites.

40 CFR 79.33 - Motor vehicle diesel fuel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... data may be for such shorter period. (1) Hydrocarbon composition (aromatic content, olefin content, saturate content), with the methods of analysis identified; (2) Polynuclear organic material content, sulfur content, and trace element content, with the methods of analysis identified; (3) Distillation...

Enhancement of electrical conductivity by changing phase morphology for composites consisting of polylactide and poly(ε-caprolactone) filled with acid-oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes.

PubMed

Xu, Zhaohua; Zhang, Yaqiong; Wang, Zhigang; Sun, Ning; Li, Heng

2011-12-01

Composites consisting of polylactide (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) filled with acid-oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNTs) were prepared through melt compounding. Phase morphologies of PLA/PCL/A-MWCNT composites with different contents of filled A-MWCNTs and PCL compositions were mainly observed by scanning electron microscope. The results show that A-MWCNTs are selectively dispersed in the PCL phase, regardingless of PCL phase domain sizes. For PLA/PCL/A-MWCNT composites with fixed PLA/PCL ratio of 95/5, the dispersed PCL phase domain sizes in the PLA matrix decrease even though a small content of A-MWCNTs is added, compared with PLA/PCL blend with the same composition, indicating that A-MWCNTs effectively prevent from coalescence of the dispersed PCL phase domains. With filling of 1.0 wt % A-MWCNTs, an interesting change of electrical conductivity for PLA/PCL/A-MWCNT composites is observed, in which the maximum conductivity is observed for PLA/PCL/A-MWCNT composite with PLA/PCL ratio of 60/40. The result is well-explained by the formed cocontinuous phase morphology and effective A-MWCNT content. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Study on process and characterization of high-temperature resistance polyimide composite

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pan, Ling-Ying; Zhao, Wei-Dong; Liu, Han-Yang

2016-05-18

A novel polyimide composite with upper-use temperature of 420°C was prepared by autoclave process. The thermogravimetic analysis and rheological properties of uncured polyimide resin powders were analyzed. The influences of process parameters and post-treatment process on the properties of composites were also investigated. The morphologies of polyimide composites after shear fracture were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The high-temperature resistance of composite was characterized by dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA). Results showed that the imidization reaction mainly occurred in the temperature range of 100°C~220°C, and the largest weight loss rate appearing at 145°C indicated a drastic imidization reaction occurred.more » The melt viscosity of polyimide resin decreased with increasing the temperature between 220°C ∼305°C, and then increased with the increase of temperature due to the molecular crosslinking reactions. The fiber volume contents and void contents could be effectively controlled by applying the pressure step by step. The fiber volume content was sensitive to the initial pressure (P{sub i}) during the imidization. The second-stage pressure (P{sub 2}) and the temperature for applying the P{sub 2} (T{sub 2}) during the imidization had a great effect on the void content of composite. Good mechanical properties and interfacial adhesion of polyimide composite could obtain by optimized process. The post-treatment process can obviously increase the high-temperature resistance of polyimide composite. The polyimide composite treated at 420°C exhibited good retention of mechanical properties at 420°C and had a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 456°C. The retentions of flexible strength, flexible modulus and short beam shear strength of polyimide composite at 420°C were 65%, 84% and 62% respectively.« less

Prediction of moisture and temperature changes in composites during atmospheric exposure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tompkins, S. S.; Tenney, D. R.; Unnan, J.

1978-01-01

The effects of variations in diffusion coefficients, surface properties of the composite, panel tilt, ground reflection, and geographical location on the moisture concentration profiles and average moisture content of composite laminates were studied analytically. A heat balance which included heat input due to direct and sky diffuse solar radiation, ground reflection, and heat loss due to reradiation and convection was used to determine the temperature of composites during atmospheric exposure. The equilibrium moisture content was assumed proportional to the relative humidity of the air in the boundary layer of the composite. Condensation on the surface was neglected. Histograms of composite temperatures were determined and compared with those for the ambient environment.

[Chemical composition, dietary fiber and mineral content of frequently consumed foods in northwest Mexico].

PubMed

Haro, M I; Caire, G; Sánchez, A; Valencia, M E

1995-06-01

Nutrient composition in foods is very important specially in evaluation of nutritional status in populations. In this study the proximate composition, dietary fiber (DF) and mineral content of 15 frequently consumed foods in Northwest Mexico were determined. The procedures used were AOAC (1984) official methods, chemical-enzymatic method for DF and atomic absorption spectrophometry for minerals. Foods were grouped into cereals, legumes, meat and dairy products, fat was the most variable component in all foods (0,41 to 21,1 g/100 g). Fired beans (Phaseolus vulgaris: variedad pinto) had the highest DF content (9,21 g/100g); as is basis). Sodium among the minerales was also highly variable mainly due to the addition of salt during preparation of foods, except in corn tortillas were salt is not added. In contrast wheat flour tortillas had the highest sodium content of the foods analysed. Fresh white cheese had the highest calcium content (563 mg/100g). The meat group had the highest content of Fe and Zn (2,4-5,4 and 4,2-5,4 mg/100 g respectively). This study has provided information with current analytical techniques of important foods in northwest Mexico that will contribute to food composition tables in Latin America.

Compositional changes in (iso)flavonoids and estrogenic activity of three edible Lupinus species by germination and Rhizopus-elicitation.

PubMed

Aisyah, Siti; Vincken, Jean-Paul; Andini, Silvia; Mardiah, Zahara; Gruppen, Harry

2016-02-01

The effects of germination and elicitation on (iso)flavonoid composition of extracts from three edible lupine species (Lupinus luteus, Lupinus albus, Lupinus angustifolius) were determined by RP-UHPLC-MS(n). The total (iso)flavonoid content of lupine increased over 10-fold upon germination, with the total content and composition of isoflavonoids more affected than those of flavonoids. Glycosylated isoflavones were the most predominant compounds found in lupine seedlings. Lesser amounts of isoflavone aglycones, including prenylated ones, were also accumulated. Elicitation with Rhizopus oryzae, in addition to germination, raised the content of isoflavonoids further: the total content of 2'-hydroxygenistein derivatives was increased considerably, without increasing that of genistein derivatives. Elicitation by fungus triggered prenylation of isoflavonoids, especially of the 2'-hydroxygenistein derivatives. The preferred positions of prenylation differed among the three lupine species. The change in isoflavone composition increased the agonistic activity of the extracts towards the human estrogen receptors, whereas no antagonistic activity was observed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Inorganic Filler Content, Mechanical Properties, and Light Transmission of Bulk-fill Resin Composites.

PubMed

Fronza, B M; Ayres, Apa; Pacheco, R R; Rueggeberg, F A; Dias, Cts; Giannini, M

The aims of this study were to characterize inorganic content (IC), light transmission (LT), biaxial flexural strength (BFS), and flexural modulus (FM) of one conventional (layered) and four bulk-fill composites at different depths. Bulk-fill composites tested were Surefil SDR flow (SDR), Filtek Bulk Fill (FBF), Tetric EvoCeram Bulk Fill (TEC), and EverX Posterior (EXP). Herculite Classic (HER) was used as a control. Energy dispersive x-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize filler particle composition and morphology. The LT through different composite thicknesses (1, 2, 3, and 4 mm) was measured using a laboratory-grade spectral radiometer system (n=5). For the BFS and FM tests, sets of eight stacked composite discs (0.5-mm thick) were prepared simulating bulk filling of a 4-mm-thick increment (n=8). SDR demonstrated larger, irregular particles than those observed in TEC or HER. Filler particles in FBF were spherical, while those in EXP were composed of fiberglass strands. The LT decreased with increased composite thickness for all materials. Bulk-fill composites allowed higher LT than the HER. Furthermore, HER proved to be the unique material, having lower BFS values at deeper regions. SDR, FBF, and TEC bulk-fill composites presented reduced FM with increasing composite depth. The bulk-fill composites investigated exhibited higher LT, independent of different filler content and characteristics. Although an increase in composite thickness reduced LT, the BFS of bulk-fill composites at deeper layers was not compromised.

Using Wild Olives in Breeding Programs: Implications on Oil Quality Composition.

PubMed

León, Lorenzo; de la Rosa, Raúl; Velasco, Leonardo; Belaj, Angjelina

2018-01-01

A wide genetic diversity has been reported for wild olives, which could be particularly interesting for the introgression of some agronomic traits and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses in breeding programs. However, the introgression of some beneficial wild traits may be paralleled by negative effects on some other important agronomic and quality traits. From the quality point of view, virgin olive oil (VOO) from olive cultivars is highly appreciated for its fatty acid composition (high monounsaturated oleic acid content) and the presence of several minor components. However, the composition of VOO from wild origin and its comparison with VOO from olive cultivars has been scarcely studied. In this work, the variability for fruit characters (fruit weight and oil content, OC), fatty acid composition, and minor quality components (squalene, sterols and tocopherols content and composition) was studied in a set of plant materials involving three different origins: wild genotypes ( n = 32), cultivars ( n = 62) and genotypes belonging to cultivar × wild progenies ( n = 62). As expected, values for fruit size and OC in wild olives were lower than those obtained in cultivated materials, with intermediate values for cultivar × wild progenies. Wild olives showed a remarkably higher C16:0 percentage and tocopherol content in comparison to the cultivars. Contrarily, lower C18:1 percentage, squalene and sterol content were found in the wild genotypes, while no clear differences were found among the different plant materials regarding composition of the tocopherol and phytosterol fractions. Some common highly significant correlations among components of the same chemical family were found in all groups of plant materials. However, some other correlations were specific for one of the groups. The results of the study suggested that the use of wild germplasm in olive breeding programs will not have a negative impact on fatty acid composition, tocopherol content, and tocopherol and phytosterol profiles provided that selection for these compounds is conducted from early generations. Important traits such as tocopherol content could be even improved by using wild parents.

Basic failure mechanisms in advanced composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mullin, J. V.; Mazzio, V. F.; Mehan, R. L.

1972-01-01

Failure mechanisms in carbon-epoxy composites are identified as a basis for more reliable prediction of the performance of these materials. The approach involves both the study of local fracture events in model specimens containing small groups of filaments and fractographic examination of high fiber content engineering composites. Emphasis is placed on the correlation of model specimen observations with gross fracture modes. The effects of fiber surface treatment, resin modification and fiber content are studied and acoustic emission methods are applied. Some effort is devoted to analysis of the failure process in composite/metal specimens.

Preparation and Electrochemical Properties of Graphene/Epoxy Resin Composite Coating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Zijun; Zhang, Tianchi; Qiao, Sen; Zhang, Luyihang

2017-11-01

The multilayer graphene powder as filler, epoxy modified silicone resin as film-forming agent, anticorrosion composite coating has been created using sand dispersion method, the electrochemical performance was compared with different content of graphene composite coating and pure epoxy resin coating. The open circuit potential (OCP), potentiodynamic polarization curves (Tafel Plot) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were tested. The test results showed that the anti-corrosion performance of multilayer graphene added has improved greatly, and the content of the 5% best corrosion performance of graphene composite coating.

Project Prospector: Unmanned Exploration and Apollo Support Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1969-01-01

Prior to the establishment of a manned lunar observatory or base, it is essential that a compendium of information be available on the environment, composition, structure, and topography of the moon. In an effort to satisfy this need for improved and detailed information, NASA has undertaken a lunar program which ranges from the utilization of circumlunar flight vehicles, equipped with automatic photographic and radiation measuring equipment which responds to commands from the earth, to actual determination of surface composition and features obtained from unmanned instrumented spacecraft which impact the moon.

An unsupervised classification technique for multispectral remote sensing data.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Su, M. Y.; Cummings, R. E.

1973-01-01

Description of a two-part clustering technique consisting of (a) a sequential statistical clustering, which is essentially a sequential variance analysis, and (b) a generalized K-means clustering. In this composite clustering technique, the output of (a) is a set of initial clusters which are input to (b) for further improvement by an iterative scheme. This unsupervised composite technique was employed for automatic classification of two sets of remote multispectral earth resource observations. The classification accuracy by the unsupervised technique is found to be comparable to that by traditional supervised maximum-likelihood classification techniques.

Unsupervised classification of earth resources data.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Su, M. Y.; Jayroe, R. R., Jr.; Cummings, R. E.

1972-01-01

A new clustering technique is presented. It consists of two parts: (a) a sequential statistical clustering which is essentially a sequential variance analysis and (b) a generalized K-means clustering. In this composite clustering technique, the output of (a) is a set of initial clusters which are input to (b) for further improvement by an iterative scheme. This unsupervised composite technique was employed for automatic classification of two sets of remote multispectral earth resource observations. The classification accuracy by the unsupervised technique is found to be comparable to that by existing supervised maximum liklihood classification technique.

Thermal Conductivity of Epoxy Resin Composites Filled with Combustion Synthesized h-BN Particles.

PubMed

Chung, Shyan-Lung; Lin, Jeng-Shung

2016-05-20

The thermal conductivity of epoxy resin composites filled with combustion-synthesized hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) particles was investigated. The mixing of the composite constituents was carried out by either a dry method (involving no use of solvent) for low filler loadings or a solvent method (using acetone as solvent) for higher filler loadings. It was found that surface treatment of the h-BN particles using the silane 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) increases the thermal conductivity of the resultant composites in a lesser amount compared to the values reported by other studies. This was explained by the fact that the combustion synthesized h-BN particles contain less -OH or active sites on the surface, thus adsorbing less amounts of GPTMS. However, the thermal conductivity of the composites filled with the combustion synthesized h-BN was found to be comparable to that with commercially available h-BN reported in other studies. The thermal conductivity of the composites was found to be higher when larger h-BN particles were used. The thermal conductivity was also found to increase with increasing filler content to a maximum and then begin to decrease with further increases in this content. In addition to the effect of higher porosity at higher filler contents, more horizontally oriented h-BN particles formed at higher filler loadings (perhaps due to pressing during formation of the composites) were suggested to be a factor causing this decrease of the thermal conductivity. The measured thermal conductivities were compared to theoretical predictions based on the Nielsen and Lewis theory. The theoretical predictions were found to be lower than the experimental values at low filler contents (< 60 vol %) and became increasing higher than the experimental values at high filler contents (> 60 vol %).

Salt Composition Derived from Veazey Composition by Thermodynamic Modeling and Predicted Composition of Drum Contents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weisbrod, Kirk Ryan; Veirs, Douglas Kirk; Funk, David John

This report describes the derivation of the salt composition from the Veazey salt stream analysis. It also provides an estimate of the proportions of the kitty litter, nitrate salt and neutralizer that was contained in drum 68660. While the actinide content of waste streams was judiciously followed in the 1980s in TA-55, no record of the salt composition could be found. Consequently, a salt waste stream produced from 1992 to 1994 and reported by Gerry Veazey provided the basis for this study. While chemical analysis of the waste stream was highly variable, an average analysis provided input to the Streammore » Analyzer software to calculate a composition for a concentrated solid nitrate salt and liquid waste stream. The calculation predicted the gas / condensed phase compositions as well as solid salt / saturated liquid compositions. The derived composition provides an estimate of the nitrate feedstream to WIPP for which kinetic measurements can be made. The ratio of salt to Swheat in drum 68660 contents was estimated through an overall mass balance on the parent and sibling drums. The RTR video provided independent confirmation concerning the volume of the mixture. The solid salt layer contains the majority of the salt at a ratio with Swheat that potentially could become exothermic.« less

Novel Repair Concept for Composite Materials by Repetitive Geometrical Interlock Elements

PubMed Central

Hufenbach, Werner; Adam, Frank; Heber, Thomas; Weckend, Nico; Bach, Friedrich-Wilhelm; Hassel, Thomas; Zaremba, David

2011-01-01

Material adapted repair technologies for fiber-reinforced polymers with thermosetting matrix systems are currently characterized by requiring major efforts for repair preparation and accomplishment in all industrial areas of application. In order to allow for a uniform distribution of material and geometrical parameters over the repair zone, a novel composite interlock repair concept is introduced, which is based on a repair zone with undercuts prepared by water-jet technology. The presented numerical and experimental sensitivity analyses make a contribution to the systematic development of the interlock repair technology with respect to material and geometrical factors of influence. The results show the ability of the novel concept for a reproducible and automatable composite repair. PMID:28824134

Construction, implementation and testing of an image identification system using computer vision methods for fruit flies with economic importance (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Wang, Jiang-Ning; Chen, Xiao-Lin; Hou, Xin-Wen; Zhou, Li-Bing; Zhu, Chao-Dong; Ji, Li-Qiang

2017-07-01

Many species of Tephritidae are damaging to fruit, which might negatively impact international fruit trade. Automatic or semi-automatic identification of fruit flies are greatly needed for diagnosing causes of damage and quarantine protocols for economically relevant insects. A fruit fly image identification system named AFIS1.0 has been developed using 74 species belonging to six genera, which include the majority of pests in the Tephritidae. The system combines automated image identification and manual verification, balancing operability and accuracy. AFIS1.0 integrates image analysis and expert system into a content-based image retrieval framework. In the the automatic identification module, AFIS1.0 gives candidate identification results. Afterwards users can do manual selection based on comparing unidentified images with a subset of images corresponding to the automatic identification result. The system uses Gabor surface features in automated identification and yielded an overall classification success rate of 87% to the species level by Independent Multi-part Image Automatic Identification Test. The system is useful for users with or without specific expertise on Tephritidae in the task of rapid and effective identification of fruit flies. It makes the application of computer vision technology to fruit fly recognition much closer to production level. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Automatic generation of natural language nursing shift summaries in neonatal intensive care: BT-Nurse.

PubMed

Hunter, James; Freer, Yvonne; Gatt, Albert; Reiter, Ehud; Sripada, Somayajulu; Sykes, Cindy

2012-11-01

Our objective was to determine whether and how a computer system could automatically generate helpful natural language nursing shift summaries solely from an electronic patient record system, in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A system was developed which automatically generates partial NICU shift summaries (for the respiratory and cardiovascular systems), using data-to-text technology. It was evaluated for 2 months in the NICU at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, under supervision. In an on-ward evaluation, a substantial majority of the summaries was found by outgoing and incoming nurses to be understandable (90%), and a majority was found to be accurate (70%), and helpful (59%). The evaluation also served to identify some outstanding issues, especially with regard to extra content the nurses wanted to see in the computer-generated summaries. It is technically possible automatically to generate limited natural language NICU shift summaries from an electronic patient record. However, it proved difficult to handle electronic data that was intended primarily for display to the medical staff, and considerable engineering effort would be required to create a deployable system from our proof-of-concept software. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Antioxidant activity of commercial buckwheat flours and their free and bound phenolic compositions

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Buckwheat flours (Whole, Farinetta, Supreme, and Fancy) were investigated for their compositions, free and bound phenolic contents, antioxidant activities, and flavonoid contents using spectrophotometer and LC-ESI-IT- MS (LC-MS). Farinetta flour contained the highest oil, protein, and free and boun...

Comparison of the chemical compositions and nutritive values of various pumpkin (Cucurbitaceae) species and parts

PubMed Central

Kim, Mi Young; Kim, Eun Jin; Kim, Young-Nam; Choi, Changsun

2012-01-01

Pumpkins have considerable variation in nutrient contents depending on the cultivation environment, species, or part. In this study, the general chemical compositions and some bioactive components, such as tocopherols, carotenoids, and β-sitosterol, were analyzed in three major species of pumpkin (Cucurbitaceae pepo, C. moschata, and C. maxima) grown in Korea and also in three parts (peel, flesh, and seed) of each pumpkin species. C. maxima had significantly more carbohydrate, protein, fat, and fiber than C. pepo or C. moschata (P < 0.05). The moisture content as well as the amino acid and arginine contents in all parts of the pumpkin was highest in C. pepo. The major fatty acids in the seeds were palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids. C. pepo and C. moschata seeds had significantly more γ-tocopherol than C. maxima, whose seeds had the highest β-carotene content. C. pepo seeds had significantly more β-sitosterol than the others. Nutrient compositions differed considerably among the pumpkin species and parts. These results will be useful in updating the nutrient compositions of pumpkin in the Korean food composition database. Additional analyses of various pumpkins grown in different years and in different areas of Korea are needed. PMID:22413037

Analysis of grain elements and identification of best genotypes for Fe and P in Afghan wheat landraces

PubMed Central

Kondou, Youichi; Manickavelu, Alagu; Komatsu, Kenji; Arifi, Mujiburahman; Kawashima, Mika; Ishii, Takayoshi; Hattori, Tomohiro; Iwata, Hiroyoshi; Tsujimoto, Hisashi; Ban, Tomohiro; Matsui, Minami

2016-01-01

This study was carried out with the aim of developing the methodology to determine elemental composition in wheat and identify the best germplasm for further research. Orphan and genetically diverse Afghan wheat landraces were chosen and EDXRF was used to measure the content of some of the elements to establish elemental composition in grains of 266 landraces using 10 reference lines. Four elements, K, Mg, P, and Fe, were measured by standardizing sample preparation. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis using elemental composition data sets indicated that the Fe content has an opposite pattern to the other elements, especially that of K. By systematic analysis the best wheat germplasms for P content and Fe content were identified. In order to compare the sensitivity of EDXRF, the ICP method was also used and the similar results obtained confirmed the EDXRF methodology. The sampling method for measurement using EDXRF was optimized resulting in high-throughput profiling of elemental composition in wheat grains at low cost. Using this method, we have characterized the Afghan wheat landraces and isolated the best genotypes that have high-elemental content and have the potential to be used in crop improvement. PMID:28163583

[The Use of FTIR Coupled with Partial Least Square for Quantitative Analysis of the Main Composition of Bamboo/Polypropylene Composites].

PubMed

Lao, Wan-li; He, Yu-chan; Li, Gai-yun; Zhou, Qun

2016-01-01

The biomass to plastic ratio in wood plastic composites (WPCs) greatly affects the physical and mechanical properties and price. Fast and accurate evaluation of the biomass to plastic ratio is important for the further development of WPCs. Quantitative analysis of the WPC main composition currently relies primarily on thermo-analytical methods. However, these methods have some inherent disadvantages, including time-consuming, high analytical errors and sophisticated, which severely limits the applications of these techniques. Therefore, in this study, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with partial least square (PLS) has been used for rapid prediction of bamboo and polypropylene (PP) content in bamboo/PP composites. The bamboo powders were used as filler after being dried at 105 degrees C for 24 h. PP was used as matrix materials, and some chemical regents were used as additives. Then 42 WPC samples with different ratios of bamboo and PP were prepared by the methods of extrusion. FTIR spectral data of 42 WPC samples were collected by means of KBr pellets technique. The model for bamboo and PP content prediction was developed by PLS-2 and full cross validation. Results of internal cross validation showed that the first derivative spectra in the range of 1 800-800 cm(-1) corrected by standard normal variate (SNV) yielded the optimal model. For both bamboo and PP calibration, the coefficients of determination (R2) were 0.955. The standard errors of calibration (SEC) were 1.872 for bamboo content and 1.848 for PP content, respectively. For both bamboo and PP validation, the R2 values were 0.950. The standard errors of cross validation (SECV) were 1.927 for bamboo content and 1.950 for PP content, respectively. And the ratios of performance to deviation (RPD) were 4.45 for both biomass and PP examinations. The results of external validation showed that the relative prediction deviations for both biomass and PP contents were lower than ± 6%. FTIR combined with PLS can be used for rapid and accurate determination of bamboo and PP content in bamboo/PP composites.

Oil content Monitor/Control system and method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitt, R. F.; Gavin, J. A.; Kempel, F. D.; Waltrick, C. N.

1985-07-01

This patent application discloses an oil content monitor/control unit system which is configured to automatically monitor and control processed effluent from an associated oil/water separator so that if the processed effluent exceeds predetermined in-port or at-sea oil concentration limits, it is either recirculated to an associated oil/water separator via a ship's bilge for additional processing, or diverted to a holding tank for storage. On the other hand, if the oil concentration of the processed effluent is less than determined in-port or at-sea limits, it is discharged overboard.

Cloud-Free Satellite Image Mosaics with Regression Trees and Histogram Matching.

Treesearch

E.H. Helmer; B. Ruefenacht

2005-01-01

Cloud-free optical satellite imagery simplifies remote sensing, but land-cover phenology limits existing solutions to persistent cloudiness to compositing temporally resolute, spatially coarser imagery. Here, a new strategy for developing cloud-free imagery at finer resolution permits simple automatic change detection. The strategy uses regression trees to predict...

Diagnostics for the Analysis of Surface Chemistry Effects on Composite Energetic Material Reactions

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-30

integration time) and a NETZSCH STA 449 Jupiter that will allow for consistency and efficiency with its automatic 20 sample changer. (2) Together these...Purchase of the NETZSCH STA 449 Jupiter (DSC-TGA) to resolve reaction kinetics under equilibrium conditions. Images of this instrumentation are included in

Automatic Segmentation and Quantification of Filamentous Structures in Electron Tomography

PubMed Central

Loss, Leandro A.; Bebis, George; Chang, Hang; Auer, Manfred; Sarkar, Purbasha; Parvin, Bahram

2016-01-01

Electron tomography is a promising technology for imaging ultrastructures at nanoscale resolutions. However, image and quantitative analyses are often hindered by high levels of noise, staining heterogeneity, and material damage either as a result of the electron beam or sample preparation. We have developed and built a framework that allows for automatic segmentation and quantification of filamentous objects in 3D electron tomography. Our approach consists of three steps: (i) local enhancement of filaments by Hessian filtering; (ii) detection and completion (e.g., gap filling) of filamentous structures through tensor voting; and (iii) delineation of the filamentous networks. Our approach allows for quantification of filamentous networks in terms of their compositional and morphological features. We first validate our approach using a set of specifically designed synthetic data. We then apply our segmentation framework to tomograms of plant cell walls that have undergone different chemical treatments for polysaccharide extraction. The subsequent compositional and morphological analyses of the plant cell walls reveal their organizational characteristics and the effects of the different chemical protocols on specific polysaccharides. PMID:28090597

Automatic Segmentation and Quantification of Filamentous Structures in Electron Tomography.

PubMed

Loss, Leandro A; Bebis, George; Chang, Hang; Auer, Manfred; Sarkar, Purbasha; Parvin, Bahram

2012-10-01

Electron tomography is a promising technology for imaging ultrastructures at nanoscale resolutions. However, image and quantitative analyses are often hindered by high levels of noise, staining heterogeneity, and material damage either as a result of the electron beam or sample preparation. We have developed and built a framework that allows for automatic segmentation and quantification of filamentous objects in 3D electron tomography. Our approach consists of three steps: (i) local enhancement of filaments by Hessian filtering; (ii) detection and completion (e.g., gap filling) of filamentous structures through tensor voting; and (iii) delineation of the filamentous networks. Our approach allows for quantification of filamentous networks in terms of their compositional and morphological features. We first validate our approach using a set of specifically designed synthetic data. We then apply our segmentation framework to tomograms of plant cell walls that have undergone different chemical treatments for polysaccharide extraction. The subsequent compositional and morphological analyses of the plant cell walls reveal their organizational characteristics and the effects of the different chemical protocols on specific polysaccharides.

Semantic photo synthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Matthew; Brostow, G. J.; Shotton, J.; Kwatra, V.; Cipolla, R.

2007-02-01

Composite images are synthesized from existing photographs by artists who make concept art, e.g. storyboards for movies or architectural planning. Current techniques allow an artist to fabricate such an image by digitally splicing parts of stock photographs. While these images serve mainly to "quickly" convey how a scene should look, their production is laborious. We propose a technique that allows a person to design a new photograph with substantially less effort. This paper presents a method that generates a composite image when a user types in nouns, such as "boat" and "sand." The artist can optionally design an intended image by specifying other constraints. Our algorithm formulates the constraints as queries to search an automatically annotated image database. The desired photograph, not a collage, is then synthesized using graph-cut optimization, optionally allowing for further user interaction to edit or choose among alternative generated photos. Our results demonstrate our contributions of (1) a method of creating specific images with minimal human effort, and (2) a combined algorithm for automatically building an image library with semantic annotations from any photo collection.

SIMULATING LOCAL DENSE AREAS USING PMMA TO ASSESS AUTOMATIC EXPOSURE CONTROL IN DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY.

PubMed

Bouwman, R W; Binst, J; Dance, D R; Young, K C; Broeders, M J M; den Heeten, G J; Veldkamp, W J H; Bosmans, H; van Engen, R E

2016-06-01

Current digital mammography (DM) X-ray systems are equipped with advanced automatic exposure control (AEC) systems, which determine the exposure factors depending on breast composition. In the supplement of the European guidelines for quality assurance in breast cancer screening and diagnosis, a phantom-based test is included to evaluate the AEC response to local dense areas in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This study evaluates the proposed test in terms of SNR and dose for four DM systems. The glandular fraction represented by the local dense area was assessed by analytic calculations. It was found that the proposed test simulates adipose to fully glandular breast compositions in attenuation. The doses associated with the phantoms were found to match well with the patient dose distribution. In conclusion, after some small adaptations, the test is valuable for the assessment of the AEC performance in terms of both SNR and dose. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Seismo-Geochemical Variations in SW Taiwan: Multi-Parameter Automatic Gas Monitoring Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, T. F.; Fu, C.-C.; Walia, V.; Chen, C.-H.; Chyi, L. L.; Liu, T.-K.; Song, S.-R.; Lee, M.; Lin, C.-W.; Lin, C.-C.

2006-04-01

Gas variations of many mud volcanoes and hot springs distributed along the tectonic sutures in southwestern Taiwan are considered to be sensitive to the earthquake activity. Therefore, a multi-parameter automatic gas station was built on the bank of one of the largest mud-pools at an active fault zone of southwestern Taiwan, for continuous monitoring of CO2, CH4, N2 and H2O, the major constituents of its bubbling gases. During the year round monitoring from October 2001 to October 2002, the gas composition, especially, CH4 and CO2, of the mud pool showed significant variations. Taking the CO2/CH4 ratio as the main indicator, anomalous variations can be recognized from a few days to a few weeks before earthquakes and correlated well with those with a local magnitude >4.0 and local intensities >2. It is concluded that the gas composition in the area is sensitive to the local crustal stress/strain and is worthy to conduct real-time monitoring for the seismo-geochemical precursors.

Content-based TV sports video retrieval using multimodal analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yiqing; Liu, Huayong; Wang, Hongbin; Zhou, Dongru

2003-09-01

In this paper, we propose content-based video retrieval, which is a kind of retrieval by its semantical contents. Because video data is composed of multimodal information streams such as video, auditory and textual streams, we describe a strategy of using multimodal analysis for automatic parsing sports video. The paper first defines the basic structure of sports video database system, and then introduces a new approach that integrates visual stream analysis, speech recognition, speech signal processing and text extraction to realize video retrieval. The experimental results for TV sports video of football games indicate that the multimodal analysis is effective for video retrieval by quickly browsing tree-like video clips or inputting keywords within predefined domain.

Automated measurement of birefringence - Development and experimental evaluation of the techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Voloshin, A. S.; Redner, A. S.

1989-01-01

Traditional photoelasticity has started to lose its appeal since it requires a well-trained specialist to acquire and interpret results. A spectral-contents-analysis approach may help to revive this old, but still useful technique. Light intensity of the beam passed through the stressed specimen contains all the information necessary to automatically extract the value of retardation. This is done by using a photodiode array to investigate the spectral contents of the light beam. Three different techniques to extract the value of retardation from the spectral contents of the light are discussed and evaluated. An experimental system was built which demonstrates the ability to evaluate retardation values in real time.

Analysis of Content Shared in Online Cancer Communities: Systematic Review

PubMed Central

van de Poll-Franse, Lonneke V; Krahmer, Emiel; Verberne, Suzan; Mols, Floortje

2018-01-01

Background The content that cancer patients and their relatives (ie, posters) share in online cancer communities has been researched in various ways. In the past decade, researchers have used automated analysis methods in addition to manual coding methods. Patients, providers, researchers, and health care professionals can learn from experienced patients, provided that their experience is findable. Objective The aim of this study was to systematically review all relevant literature that analyzes user-generated content shared within online cancer communities. We reviewed the quality of available research and the kind of content that posters share with each other on the internet. Methods A computerized literature search was performed via PubMed (MEDLINE), PsycINFO (5 and 4 stars), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ScienceDirect. The last search was conducted in July 2017. Papers were selected if they included the following terms: (cancer patient) and (support group or health communities) and (online or internet). We selected 27 papers and then subjected them to a 14-item quality checklist independently scored by 2 investigators. Results The methodological quality of the selected studies varied: 16 were of high quality and 11 were of adequate quality. Of those 27 studies, 15 were manually coded, 7 automated, and 5 used a combination of methods. The best results can be seen in the papers that combined both analytical methods. The number of analyzed posts ranged from 200 to 1,500,000; the number of analyzed posters ranged from 75 to 90,000. The studies analyzing large numbers of posts mainly related to breast cancer, whereas those analyzing small numbers were related to other types of cancers. A total of 12 studies involved some or entirely automatic analysis of the user-generated content. All the authors referred to two main content categories: informational support and emotional support. In all, 15 studies reported only on the content, 6 studies explicitly reported on content and social aspects, and 6 studies focused on emotional changes. Conclusions In the future, increasing amounts of user-generated content will become available on the internet. The results of content analysis, especially of the larger studies, give detailed insights into patients’ concerns and worries, which can then be used to improve cancer care. To make the results of such analyses as usable as possible, automatic content analysis methods will need to be improved through interdisciplinary collaboration. PMID:29615384

The feasibility study based on e-commerce instructions-focuses on detection and deletion of illegal content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Tianze; Bi, Siyu; Liu, Jiaming

2018-04-01

This essay legally restrains the illegal content based on the e-commerce directive and introduces that the European countries detect and notify illegal content through the instructions of competent authorities, notification of credible flaggers, user reports and technical tools. The illegal content should be deleted through the service terms and transparency report basing on prevent excessive deletions system. At the same time, use filters to detect and filter to against the recurrence of illegal content. By analyzing the advantages of China under the environment of cracking down on illegal content, this essay concludes that the success of China in cracking down on illegal content lies in all-round collaborative management model of countries, governments, enterprises and individuals. At the end of the essay, one is to build a training corpus that can automatically update the ability to identify the illegal content. And it proposes an optimization scheme that establish a complete set of address resolution procedures and classify IP address data according to big data analysis and DNS protection module to prevent hackers from spreading illegal content by tampering with DNS segments.

Production of dioxins and furans for various solid fuels burnt in 25 kW automatic boiler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopan, František; Horák, Jiří; Krpec, Kamil; Kubesa, Petr; Dej, Milan; Laciok, Vendula

2016-06-01

There has been brown coal, black coal and maize straw in a pellet form burnt in an automatic boiler. Production of dibenzodioxins and dibenzofuranes, recomputated through toxicity equivalents, expressed as the emission factor relative to the fuel unit, has differentiated in a range of ca. three orders (0.05 up to 78.9 ng/kg) in dependence on a sort of the used fuel. The measured values have been compared with emission factors used for the emission inventory in the Czech Republic and Poland and with the emission limit applicable for waste incineration plants. The study has proven the influence of chlorine content in fuel on production of dioxins and furanes.

[Progress in the development of insulin pumps and their advanced automatic functions].

PubMed

Prázný, Martin

2015-04-01

Patients with type 1 diabetes are exposed to permanent burden consisting of careful glucose self-monitoring and precise insulin dosage based on measured glucose values, carbohydrates content in the food and both planned and non-planned physical activity. Erroneous insulin dosing causes frequent both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Hypoglycemia is, however, the most clinically significant complication limiting the optimal diabetes control. Automatic features for insulin dosage integrated in insulin pumps are thus very important. Low glucose suspend (LGS) and Predictive Low Glucose Management (PLGM) use glucose sensor values to prevent hypoglycemia, shorten the time spent in hypoglycemic range and present further step forward to fully closed-loop system of insulin treatment.

An automatic indexing method for medical documents.

PubMed Central

Wagner, M. M.

1991-01-01

This paper describes MetaIndex, an automatic indexing program that creates symbolic representations of documents for the purpose of document retrieval. MetaIndex uses a simple transition network parser to recognize a language that is derived from the set of main concepts in the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus (Meta-1). MetaIndex uses a hierarchy of medical concepts, also derived from Meta-1, to represent the content of documents. The goal of this approach is to improve document retrieval performance by better representation of documents. An evaluation method is described, and the performance of MetaIndex on the task of indexing the Slice of Life medical image collection is reported. PMID:1807564

The effect of filler loading and morphology on the mechanical properties of contemporary composites.

PubMed

Kim, Kyo-Han; Ong, Joo L; Okuno, Osamu

2002-06-01

Little information exists regarding the filler morphology and loading of composites with respect to their effects on selected mechanical properties and fracture toughness. The objectives of this study were to: (1) classify commercial composites according to filler morphology, (2) evaluate the influence of filler morphology on filler loading, and (3) evaluate the effect of filler morphology and loading on the hardness, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and fracture toughness of contemporary composites. Field emission scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to classify 3 specimens from each of 14 commercial composites into 4 groups according to filler morphology. The specimens (each 5 x 2.5 x 15 mm) were derived from the fractured remnants after the fracture toughness test. Filler weight content was determined by the standard ash method, and the volume content was calculated using the weight percentage and density of the filler and matrix components. Microhardness was measured with a Vickers hardness tester, and flexural strength and modulus were measured with a universal testing machine. A 3-point bending test (ASTM E-399) was used to determine the fracture toughness of each composite. Data were compared with analysis of variance followed by Duncan's multiple range test, both at the P<.05 level of significance. The composites were classified into 4 categories according to filler morphology: prepolymerized, irregular-shaped, both prepolymerized and irregular-shaped, and round particles. Filler loading was influenced by filler morphology. Composites containing prepolymerized filler particles had the lowest filler content (25% to 51% of filler volume), whereas composites containing round particles had the highest filler content (59% to 60% of filler volume). The mechanical properties of the composites were related to their filler content. Composites with the highest filler by volume exhibited the highest flexural strength (120 to 129 MPa), flexural modulus (12 to 15 GPa), and hardness (101 to 117 VHN). Fracture toughness was also affected by filler volume, but maximum toughness was found at a threshold level of approximately 55% filler volume. Within the limitations of this study, the commercial composites tested could be classified by their filler morphology. This property influenced filler loading. Both filler morphology and filler loading influenced flexural strength, flexural modulus, hardness, and fracture toughness.

Effects of Soil Organic Matter Properties and Microbial Community Composition on Enzyme Activities in Cryoturbated Arctic Soils

PubMed Central

Schnecker, Jörg; Wild, Birgit; Hofhansl, Florian; Eloy Alves, Ricardo J.; Bárta, Jiří; Čapek, Petr; Fuchslueger, Lucia; Gentsch, Norman; Gittel, Antje; Guggenberger, Georg; Hofer, Angelika; Kienzl, Sandra; Knoltsch, Anna; Lashchinskiy, Nikolay; Mikutta, Robert; Šantrůčková, Hana; Shibistova, Olga; Takriti, Mounir; Urich, Tim; Weltin, Georg; Richter, Andreas

2014-01-01

Enzyme-mediated decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) is controlled, amongst other factors, by organic matter properties and by the microbial decomposer community present. Since microbial community composition and SOM properties are often interrelated and both change with soil depth, the drivers of enzymatic decomposition are hard to dissect. We investigated soils from three regions in the Siberian Arctic, where carbon rich topsoil material has been incorporated into the subsoil (cryoturbation). We took advantage of this subduction to test if SOM properties shape microbial community composition, and to identify controls of both on enzyme activities. We found that microbial community composition (estimated by phospholipid fatty acid analysis), was similar in cryoturbated material and in surrounding subsoil, although carbon and nitrogen contents were similar in cryoturbated material and topsoils. This suggests that the microbial community in cryoturbated material was not well adapted to SOM properties. We also measured three potential enzyme activities (cellobiohydrolase, leucine-amino-peptidase and phenoloxidase) and used structural equation models (SEMs) to identify direct and indirect drivers of the three enzyme activities. The models included microbial community composition, carbon and nitrogen contents, clay content, water content, and pH. Models for regular horizons, excluding cryoturbated material, showed that all enzyme activities were mainly controlled by carbon or nitrogen. Microbial community composition had no effect. In contrast, models for cryoturbated material showed that enzyme activities were also related to microbial community composition. The additional control of microbial community composition could have restrained enzyme activities and furthermore decomposition in general. The functional decoupling of SOM properties and microbial community composition might thus be one of the reasons for low decomposition rates and the persistence of 400 Gt carbon stored in cryoturbated material. PMID:24705618

Evaluation of Teacher Candidates Writing Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bagci Ayranci, Bilge; Mete, Filiz

2017-01-01

In this study, 200 volunteer students who were in Faculty of Education printed free essay compositions and the compositions were evaluated by descriptive statistics and content analysis. Content analysis is to interpret similar data within specific contexts and themes. The students were free to choose their own writing topic. The reason for this…

High Temperature VARTM of Phenylethynyl Terminated Imides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghose, Sayata; Watson, Kent A.; Cano, Roberto J.; Britton, Sean M.; Jensen, Brian J.; Connell, John W.; Herring, Helen M.; Linberry, Quentin J.

2009-01-01

LaRC phenylethynyl terminated imide (PETI) resins were processed into composites using high temperature vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). Although initial runs yielded composites with high void content, process modifications reduced voids to <3%. Photomicrographs were taken and void contents and T(sub g)s of the panels were determined.

Assessment of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) butter content and composition throughout fermentations.

PubMed

Servent, Adrien; Boulanger, Renaud; Davrieux, Fabrice; Pinot, Marie-Neige; Tardan, Eric; Forestier-Chiron, Nelly; Hue, Clotilde

2018-05-01

Cocoa fermentation is a crucial step for the development of cocoa aroma and precursors of high quality cocoa and by-products. This bioprocess has been studied for years to understand cocoa chemical changes but some matters concerning changes in fat content remain that are investigated in this work. Changes in the quantity (free and total fat), extractability and composition of cocoa butter were assessed in samples from Madagascar, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. Increases in free fat content were highlighted in samples from each origin thanks to the use of the 'soxtec' solvent method, which preserves the integrity of the butter. A 4.71% increase in free fat was measured in the Ecuadorian samples fermented for 144 h. Conversely, total fat content remained stable throughout fermentation. Protein and polyphenol contents decreases were linked to fat content augmentation by a strong negative interaction. Triglyceride and total and linked fatty acid kinetics (0 to 6 days) of the butter remained statistically stable during fermentation, as did unsaponifiable matter. The origin of fermentation had a predominant and significant impact on composition, revealed by PCA. This work underlines and explains the importance of fermentation process in improving yield of fat that can be extracted while preserving the composition of this cocoa butter. This study highlights an interaction in cocoa unfermented or partially fermented beans. This phenomenon causes butter content retention but is slowly broken after 72 h fermentation. Therefore, fermentation appears to be also necessary to enhance the cocoa butter content extracted from the nibs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facile one-pot synthesis of nickel-incorporated titanium dioxide/graphene oxide composites: Enhancement of photodegradation under visible-irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, Thanh-Truc; Nguyen-Huy, Chinh; Shin, Eun Woo

2016-07-01

Nickel (Ni)-incorporated titanium dioxide (TiO2)/graphene oxide composite photocatalysts were prepared by anchoring the TiO2 and Ni onto the surface of graphene oxide (GO) sheets by a straightforward microwave-assisted, one-pot method for the first time. The as-prepared composite photocatalysts with high Ni content (40-50 wt%) showed good adsorption capacity in the dark and high reaction rate constants under visible illumination while the composite photocatalysts with low Ni content (5-10 wt%) exhibited weak activity. An anatase phase, a small amount of rutile phase and Ni metal were detected using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Raman measurements identified a small fraction of NiTiO3 only at high Ni content. The formation of NiTiO3 and the increase in the specific surface area (SSA) for 40 and 50 wt% Ni-loaded catalysts improved the adsorption capacity and photocatalytic activity upon exposure to visible light, resulting in very effective removal of dye contaminants under visible light irradiation. Increasing the Ni content up to 40 and 50 wt% induced not only a structural change affording high porosity but also a narrowing of the band gap to 2.51 eV. Meanwhile, the presence of GO in the composite photocatalysts inhibited the agglomeration of Ni particles even at high Ni content, resulting in similar Ni particle sizes regardless of the Ni content. At the same time, Ni metal accelerated the reduction of the GO sheets, as evidenced by the Raman data.

Effect of processing method on the mechanical and thermal of Silvergrass/HDPE composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bing; Jin, Yueqiang; Wang, Shuying

2017-05-01

This paper investigates the effect of compression and injection molding methods on properties of Silvergrass-HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) composites, with respect to mechanical behaviors. Maleated polyethylene (MAPE) was added in the composite and improved the mechanical property of the composite. The research founds MAPE can improve the mechanical property because it improved the interfacial compatibility as a coupling agent. When added a content of 8% of MAPE, Silvergrass-HDPE composites made from compression molding shows a better mechanical performance in tensile strength and flexural strength than that made from injection molding, with increasing Silvergrass fiber content from 30% to 50%. However, the WPCs (wood plastics composites) made from injection molding had a lower degree of crystallinity with or without MAPE treatment.

Dynamic mechanical analysis of waste tyre rubber filled brake friction composite materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rathi, Mukesh Kumar; Singh, Tej; Chauhan, Ranchan

2018-05-01

In this research work, the dynamic mechanical properties of waste tyre rubber filled friction composites were studied. Four friction composites with varying amount of waste rubber (0, 4, 8, 12 wt.%) and barium sulphate (38, 42, 46, 50 wt.%) were designed and fabricated as per industrial norms. Dynamic mechanical analysis has been carried out to characterize the storage modulus, loss modulus and damping factor of the fabricated friction composite. Experimental results indicated that storage modulus decreases with increasing waste rubber content up to particular loading (4 wt.%), and after that it increases with further loading. The loss modulus of the composites increases steadily with increasing waste rubber content whereas, damping factor remain maximum for 12 wt.% waste rubber filled friction composites.

Learning with iLife

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Technology & Learning, 2007

2007-01-01

A podcast is audio or visual content that is automatically delivered over a network via free subscription. The advantage podcasts have over traditional oral reports is that students can edit and revise until what they say and how they say it is perfected. iLife applications are ideal for creating podcasts and other digital projects because of…

Mathematical models of water application for a variable rate irrigating hill-seeder

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A variable rate irrigating hill-seeder can adjust water application automatically according to the difference in soil moisture content in the field to alleviate drought and save water. Two key problems to realize variable rate water application are how to determine the right amount of water for the ...

Mathematic models of water application for a variable rate irrigating hill-seeder

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A variable rate irrigating hill-seeder can adjust water application automatically according to the difference in soil moisture content in the field to alleviate drought and save water. Two key problems to realize variable rate water application are how to determine the right amount of water for the ...

Multiple Object Retrieval in Image Databases Using Hierarchical Segmentation Tree

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Wei-Bang

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research is to develop a new visual information analysis, representation, and retrieval framework for automatic discovery of salient objects of user's interest in large-scale image databases. In particular, this dissertation describes a content-based image retrieval framework which supports multiple-object retrieval. The…

Is It Real for All Kids? A Framework for Equitable Assessment Policies for English Language Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaCelle-Peterson, Mark W.; Rivera, Charlene

1994-01-01

Educational reforms will not automatically have the same effects for native English speakers and English language learners (ELLs). Equitable assessment for ELLs must consider equity issues of assessment technologies, provide information on ELLs' developing language abilities and content-area achievement, and be comprehensive, flexible, progress…

Information Storage and Retrieval Scientific Report No. ISR-22.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salton, Gerard

The twenty-second in a series, this report describes research in information organization and retrieval conducted by the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University. The report covers work carried out during the period summer 1972 through summer 1974 and is divided into four parts: indexing theory, automatic content analysis, feedback…

BabeLO--An Extensible Converter of Programming Exercises Formats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Queiros, R.; Leal, J. P.

2013-01-01

In the last two decades, there was a proliferation of programming exercise formats that hinders interoperability in automatic assessment. In the lack of a widely accepted standard, a pragmatic solution is to convert content among the existing formats. BabeLO is a programming exercise converter providing services to a network of heterogeneous…

Adaptable Learning Assistant for Item Bank Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nuntiyagul, Atorn; Naruedomkul, Kanlaya; Cercone, Nick; Wongsawang, Damras

2008-01-01

We present PKIP, an adaptable learning assistant tool for managing question items in item banks. PKIP is not only able to automatically assist educational users to categorize the question items into predefined categories by their contents but also to correctly retrieve the items by specifying the category and/or the difficulty level. PKIP adapts…

Automatic activation of word phonology from print in deep dyslexia.

PubMed

Katz, R B; Lanzoni, S M

1992-11-01

The performance of deep dyslexics in oral reading and other tasks suggests that they are poor at activating the phonology of words and non-words from printed stimuli. As the tasks ordinarily used to test deep dyslexics require controlled processing, it is possible that the phonology of printed words can be better activated on an automatic basis. This study investigated this possibility by testing a deep dyslexic patient on a lexical decision task with pairs of stimuli presented simultaneously. In Experiment 1, which used content words as stimuli, the deep dyslexic, like normal subjects, showed faster reaction times on trials with rhyming, similarly spelled stimuli (e.g. bribe-tribe) than on control trials (consisting of non-rhyming, dissimilarly spelled words), but slower reaction times on trials with non-rhyming, similarly spelled stimuli (e.g. couch-touch). When the experiment was repeated using function words as stimuli, the patient no longer showed a phonological effect. Therefore, the phonological activation of printed content words by deep dyslexics may be better than would be expected on the basis of their oral reading performance.

The Mechanical Properties and Modeling of Creep Behavior of UHMWPE/Nano-HA Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Fan; Gao, Lilan; Gao, Hong; Cui, Yun

2017-09-01

Composites with different levels of hydroxyapatite (HA) content and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) were prepared in this work. Mechanical properties of the composites were examined here, and to evaluate the effect of HA particles on the time-dependent behavior of the pure matrix, the creep and recovery performance of composites at various stress levels were also researched. As expected, the addition of HA influenced the time-dependent response of the UHMWPE and the effect had a strong dependence on the HA content. The creep and recovery strain of the composites significantly decreased with increasing HA content, and tensile properties were also impaired, which was due to the concentration of HA fillers. The mechanism and effect of HA dispersed into the UHMWPE matrix were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, since variations in the adjusted parameters revealed the impact of HA on the creep behavior of the UHMWPE matrix, Findley's model was employed. The results indicated that the analytical model was accurate for the prediction of creep of the pure matrix and its composites.

Computerized method for automatic evaluation of lean body mass from PET/CT: comparison with predictive equations.

PubMed

Chan, Tao

2012-01-01

CT has become an established method for calculating body composition, but it requires data from the whole body, which are not typically obtained in routine PET/CT examinations. A computerized scheme that evaluates whole-body lean body mass (LBM) based on CT data from limited-whole-body coverage was developed. The LBM so obtained was compared with results from conventional predictive equations. LBM can be obtained automatically from limited-whole-body CT data by 3 means: quantification of body composition from CT images in the limited-whole-body scan, based on thresholding of CT attenuation; determination of the range of coverage based on a characteristic trend of changing composition across different levels and pattern recognition of specific features at strategic positions; and estimation of the LBM of the whole body on the basis of a predetermined relationship between proportion of fat mass and extent of coverage. This scheme was validated using 18 whole-body PET/CT examinations truncated at different lengths to emulate limited-whole-body data. LBM was also calculated using predictive equations that had been reported for use in SUV normalization. LBM derived from limited-whole-body data using the proposed method correlated strongly with LBM derived from whole-body CT data, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.991 (shorter coverage) to 0.998 (longer coverage) and SEMs of LBM ranging from 0.14 to 0.33 kg. These were more accurate than results from different predictive equations, which ranged in correlation coefficient from 0.635 to 0.970 and in SEM from 0.64 to 2.40 kg. LBM of the whole body could be automatically estimated from CT data of limited-whole-body coverage typically acquired in PET/CT examinations. This estimation allows more accurate and consistent quantification of metabolic activity of tumors based on LBM-normalized standardized uptake value.

Effect of Harvesting Frequency, Variety and Leaf Maturity on Nutrient Composition, Hydrogen Cyanide Content and Cassava Foliage Yield

PubMed Central

Hue, Khuc Thi; Thanh Van, Do Thi; Ledin, Inger; Wredle, Ewa; Spörndly, Eva

2012-01-01

The experiment studied the effect of harvesting frequencies and varieties on yield, chemical composition and hydrogen cyanide content in cassava foliage. Foliage from three cassava varieties, K94 (very bitter), K98-7 (medium bitter) and a local (sweet), were harvested in three different cutting cycles, at 3, 6 and 9 months; 6 and 9 months and 9 months after planting, in a 2-yr experiment carried out in Hanoi, Vietnam. Increasing the harvesting frequency increased dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) production in cassava foliage. The K94 variety produced higher foliage yields than the other two varieties. Dry matter, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and total tannin content increased with months to the first harvest, whereas CP content decreased. Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) content was lower at the first harvest than at later harvests for all cutting cycles. At subsequent harvests the content of total tannins tended to decline, while HCN content increased (p<0.05). Chemical composition differed somewhat across varieties except for total tannins and ash. Dry matter, NDF, ADF and total tannins were higher in fully matured leaves, while CP and HCN were lower in developing leaves. PMID:25049534

Effect of harvesting frequency, variety and leaf maturity on nutrient composition, hydrogen cyanide content and cassava foliage yield.

PubMed

Hue, Khuc Thi; Thanh Van, Do Thi; Ledin, Inger; Wredle, Ewa; Spörndly, Eva

2012-12-01

The experiment studied the effect of harvesting frequencies and varieties on yield, chemical composition and hydrogen cyanide content in cassava foliage. Foliage from three cassava varieties, K94 (very bitter), K98-7 (medium bitter) and a local (sweet), were harvested in three different cutting cycles, at 3, 6 and 9 months; 6 and 9 months and 9 months after planting, in a 2-yr experiment carried out in Hanoi, Vietnam. Increasing the harvesting frequency increased dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) production in cassava foliage. The K94 variety produced higher foliage yields than the other two varieties. Dry matter, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and total tannin content increased with months to the first harvest, whereas CP content decreased. Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) content was lower at the first harvest than at later harvests for all cutting cycles. At subsequent harvests the content of total tannins tended to decline, while HCN content increased (p<0.05). Chemical composition differed somewhat across varieties except for total tannins and ash. Dry matter, NDF, ADF and total tannins were higher in fully matured leaves, while CP and HCN were lower in developing leaves.

Synthesis, structure and antimicrobial property of green composites from cellulose, wool, hair and chicken feather.

PubMed

Tran, Chieu D; Prosenc, Franja; Franko, Mladen; Benzi, Gerald

2016-10-20

Novel composites between cellulose (CEL) and keratin (KER) from three different sources (wool, hair and chicken feather) were successfully synthesized in a simple one-step process in which butylmethylimidazolium chloride (BMIm(+)Cl(-)), an ionic liquid, was used as the sole solvent. The method is green and recyclable because [BMIm(+)Cl(-)] used was recovered for reuse. Spectroscopy (FTIR, XRD) and imaging (SEM) results confirm that CEL and KER remain chemically intact and homogeneously distributed in the composites. KER retains some of its secondary structure in the composites. Interestingly, the minor differences in the structure of KER in wool, hair and feather produced pronounced differences in the conformation of their corresponding composites with wool has the highest α-helix content and feather has the lowest content. These results correlate well with mechanical and antimicrobial properties of the composites. Specifically, adding CEL into KER substantially improves mechanical strength of [CEL+KER] composites made from all three different sources, wool, hair and chicken feathers i.e., [CEL+wool], [CEL+hair] and [CEL+feather]. Since mechanical strength is due to CEL, and CEL has only random structure, [CEL+feather] has, expectedly, the strongest mechanical property because feather has the lowest content of α-helix. Conversely, [CEL+wool] composite has the weakest mechanical strength because wool has the highest α-helix content. All three composites exhibit antibacterial activity against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The antibacterial property is due not to CEL but to the protein and strongly depends on the type of the keratin, namely, the bactericidal effect is strongest for feather and weakest for wool. These results together with our previous finding that [CEL+KER] composites can control release of drug such as ciprofloxacin clearly indicate that these composites can potentially be used as wound dressing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toward image phylogeny forests: automatically recovering semantically similar image relationships.

PubMed

Dias, Zanoni; Goldenstein, Siome; Rocha, Anderson

2013-09-10

In the past few years, several near-duplicate detection methods appeared in the literature to identify the cohabiting versions of a given document online. Following this trend, there are some initial attempts to go beyond the detection task, and look into the structure of evolution within a set of related images overtime. In this paper, we aim at automatically identify the structure of relationships underlying the images, correctly reconstruct their past history and ancestry information, and group them in distinct trees of processing history. We introduce a new algorithm that automatically handles sets of images comprising different related images, and outputs the phylogeny trees (also known as a forest) associated with them. Image phylogeny algorithms have many applications such as finding the first image within a set posted online (useful for tracking copyright infringement perpetrators), hint at child pornography content creators, and narrowing down a list of suspects for online harassment using photographs. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-view information fusion for automatic BI-RADS description of mammographic masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narvaez, Fabián; Díaz, Gloria; Romero, Eduardo

2011-03-01

Most CBIR-based CAD systems (Content Based Image Retrieval systems for Computer Aided Diagnosis) identify lesions that are eventually relevant. These systems base their analysis upon a single independent view. This article presents a CBIR framework which automatically describes mammographic masses with the BI-RADS lexicon, fusing information from the two mammographic views. After an expert selects a Region of Interest (RoI) at the two views, a CBIR strategy searches similar masses in the database by automatically computing the Mahalanobis distance between shape and texture feature vectors of the mammography. The strategy was assessed in a set of 400 cases, for which the suggested descriptions were compared with the ground truth provided by the data base. Two information fusion strategies were evaluated, allowing a retrieval precision rate of 89.6% in the best scheme. Likewise, the best performance obtained for shape, margin and pathology description, using a ROC methodology, was reported as AUC = 0.86, AUC = 0.72 and AUC = 0.85, respectively.

Word associations contribute to machine learning in automatic scoring of degree of emotional tones in dream reports.

PubMed

Amini, Reza; Sabourin, Catherine; De Koninck, Joseph

2011-12-01

Scientific study of dreams requires the most objective methods to reliably analyze dream content. In this context, artificial intelligence should prove useful for an automatic and non subjective scoring technique. Past research has utilized word search and emotional affiliation methods, to model and automatically match human judges' scoring of dream report's negative emotional tone. The current study added word associations to improve the model's accuracy. Word associations were established using words' frequency of co-occurrence with their defining words as found in a dictionary and an encyclopedia. It was hypothesized that this addition would facilitate the machine learning model and improve its predictability beyond those of previous models. With a sample of 458 dreams, this model demonstrated an improvement in accuracy from 59% to 63% (kappa=.485) on the negative emotional tone scale, and for the first time reached an accuracy of 77% (kappa=.520) on the positive scale. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyphrase based Evaluation of Automatic Text Summarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elghannam, Fatma; El-Shishtawy, Tarek

2015-05-01

The development of methods to deal with the informative contents of the text units in the matching process is a major challenge in automatic summary evaluation systems that use fixed n-gram matching. The limitation causes inaccurate matching between units in a peer and reference summaries. The present study introduces a new Keyphrase based Summary Evaluator KpEval for evaluating automatic summaries. The KpEval relies on the keyphrases since they convey the most important concepts of a text. In the evaluation process, the keyphrases are used in their lemma form as the matching text unit. The system was applied to evaluate different summaries of Arabic multi-document data set presented at TAC2011. The results showed that the new evaluation technique correlates well with the known evaluation systems: Rouge1, Rouge2, RougeSU4, and AutoSummENG MeMoG. KpEval has the strongest correlation with AutoSummENG MeMoG, Pearson and spearman correlation coefficient measures are 0.8840, 0.9667 respectively.

Oscillatory brain dynamics associated with the automatic processing of emotion in words.

PubMed

Wang, Lin; Bastiaansen, Marcel

2014-10-01

This study examines the automaticity of processing the emotional aspects of words, and characterizes the oscillatory brain dynamics that accompany this automatic processing. Participants read emotionally negative, neutral and positive nouns while performing a color detection task in which only perceptual-level analysis was required. Event-related potentials and time frequency representations were computed from the concurrently measured EEG. Negative words elicited a larger P2 and a larger late positivity than positive and neutral words, indicating deeper semantic/evaluative processing of negative words. In addition, sustained alpha power suppressions were found for the emotional compared to neutral words, in the time range from 500 to 1000ms post-stimulus. These results suggest that sustained attention was allocated to the emotional words, whereas the attention allocated to the neutral words was released after an initial analysis. This seems to hold even when the emotional content of the words is task-irrelevant. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Proximate composition and mineral content of two edible species of Cnidoscolus (tree spinach).

PubMed

Kuti, J O; Kuti, H O

1999-01-01

Proximate composition and mineral content of raw and cooked leaves of two edible tree spinach species (Cnidoscolus chayamansa and C. aconitifolius), known locally as 'chaya', were determined and compared with that of a traditional green vegetable, spinach (Spinicia oleraceae). Results of the study indicated that the edible leafy parts of the two chaya species contained significantly (p<0.05) greater amounts of crude protein, crude fiber, Ca, K, Fe, ascorbic acid and beta-carotene than the spinach leaf. However, no significant (p>0.05) differences were found in nutritional composition and mineral content between the chaya species, except minor differences in the relative composition of fatty acids, protein and amino acids. Cooking of chaya leaves slightly reduced nutritional composition of both chaya species. Cooking is essential prior to consumption to inactivate the toxic hydrocyanic glycosides present in chaya leaves. Based on the results of this study, the edible chaya leaves may be good dietary sources of minerals (Ca, K and Fe) and vitamins (ascorbic acid and beta-carotene).

Modeling and Simulation of Voids in Composite Tape Winding Process Based on Domain Superposition Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Bo; Shi, Yaoyao

2017-11-01

The tape winding technology is an effective way to fabricate rotationally composite materials. Nevertheless, some inevitable defects will seriously influence the performance of winding products. One of the crucial ways to identify the quality of fiber-reinforced composite material products is examining its void content. Significant improvement in products' mechanical properties can be achieved by minimizing the void defect. Two methods were applied in this study, finite element analysis and experimental testing, respectively, to investigate the mechanism of how void forming in composite tape winding processing. Based on the theories of interlayer intimate contact and Domain Superposition Technique (DST), a three-dimensional model of prepreg tape void with SolidWorks has been modeled in this paper. Whereafter, ABAQUS simulation software was used to simulate the void content change with pressure and temperature. Finally, a series of experiments were performed to determine the accuracy of the model-based predictions. The results showed that the model is effective for predicting the void content in the composite tape winding process.

[Study on high temperature oxidation of Ni-Cr ceramic alloys. Effects of Cr and Mo].

PubMed

Mizutani, M

1990-03-01

The effects of Cr and Mo addition to Ni-Cr alloys on high temperature oxidation were investigated. The alloys were prepared with the composition of Cr ranging from 5 to 40 wt%. Also 2, 4 and 9 wt% of Mo was added to both Ni-5% Cr and Ni-20% Cr binary alloys. The alloys were heated at 800 degrees C, 900 degrees C and 1000 degrees C for 15 minutes in air, and the weight change after heat treatment was measured by electric automatic balance. The weight change during heating was measured by thermogravimetric measurement (TG). The products after heat treatment were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results are summarized as follows: The Ni-Cr binary alloys were classified into three types of Cr ranging from 5 to 20 wt%, Cr 25% and Cr from 30 wt% to 40 wt% according to the weight gains with oxidation. In the case of the more than 25 wt% Cr content of the Ni-Cr binary alloys, the weight gain was extremely low and the heating temperature effects on the weight change were also small. X-ray diffraction study showed that NiO, NiCr2O4 and Cr2O3 formed on the surface of the Ni-Cr binary alloys whose composition of Cr ranged from 5 to 25 wt%, whereas NiO and NiCr2O4 rarely formed on the Ni-Cr binary alloys whose composition of Cr ranged from 30 to 40 wt%. This suggests that the formation of Cr2O3 prevents the formation of NiO on the alloy with a high Cr content. The weight gain of the Ni-Cr-Mo ternary alloys was smaller than that of the Ni-Cr binary alloys without Mo, and the temperature effects on the weight gain of the Ni-Cr-Mo ternary alloys were different for each Cr content. However, the effect of the amounts of Mo was small. NiO, NiCr2O4, Cr2O3 and MoO2 were identified by X-ray diffraction on the surface of the Ni-Cr-Mo ternary alloys. According to the SEM observation, it seems that NiO was formed at the outermost layer, both NiCr2O4 and Cr2O3 at the inside layer, and MoO2 at the innermost layer. The formation of both NiO and Cr2O3 on the Ni-Cr-Mo ternary alloys was restrained compared with that of the Ni-Cr binary alloys. However, the adhesion of oxides to the Ni-Cr-Mo ternary alloys was lower than that of the Ni-Cr binary alloys.

Soil Types Effect on Grape and Wine Composition in Helan Mountain Area of Ningxia

PubMed Central

Wang, Rui; Sun, Quan; Chang, Qingrui

2015-01-01

Different soil types can significantly affect the composition of wine grapes and the final wine product. In this study, the effects of soil types on the composition of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and wine produced in the Helan Mountains were evaluated. Three different representative soil types—aeolian, sierozem and irrigation silting soil were studied. The compositions of grapes and wines were measured, and in addition, the weights of 100-berry samples were determined. The grapes that grown on the aeolian and sierozem soils matured sooner than those grown on the irrigation silting soil. The highest sugar content, total soluble solids content, sugar to acid ratio and anthocyanin content were found in the grapes that grown on the aeolian soil. The wine produced from this soil had improved chroma and tone and higher-quality phenols. The grapes grown on the sierozem soil had the highest total phenol and tannin contents, which affected the wine composition. The grapes grown on the irrigation silting soil had higher acidities, but the remaining indices were lower. In addition, the grapes grown on the aeolian soil resulted in wines with better chroma and aroma. The sierozem soil was beneficial for the formation of wine tannins and phenols and significantly affected the wine composition. The quality of the grapes from the irrigation silting soil was relatively low, resulting in lower-quality wine. PMID:25706126

Bile acid composition of gallbladder contents in dogs with gallbladder mucocele and biliary sludge.

PubMed

Kakimoto, Toshiaki; Kanemoto, Hideyuki; Fukushima, Kenjiro; Ohno, Koichi; Tsujimoto, Hajime

2017-02-01

OBJECTIVE To examine bile acid composition of gallbladder contents in dogs with gallbladder mucocele and biliary sludge. ANIMALS 18 dogs with gallbladder mucocele (GBM group), 8 dogs with immobile biliary sludge (i-BS group), 17 dogs with mobile biliary sludge (m-BS group), and 14 healthy dogs (control group). PROCEDURES Samples of gallbladder contents were obtained by use of percutaneous ultrasound-guided cholecystocentesis or during cholecystectomy or necropsy. Concentrations of 15 bile acids were determined by use of highperformance liquid chromatography, and a bile acid compositional ratio was calculated for each group. RESULTS Concentrations of most bile acids in the GBM group were significantly lower than those in the control and m-BS groups. Compositional ratio of taurodeoxycholic acid, which is 1 of 3 major bile acids in dogs, was significantly lower in the GBM and i-BS groups, compared with ratios for the control and m-BS groups. The compositional ratio of taurocholic acid was significantly higher and that of taurochenodeoxycholic acid significantly lower in the i-BS group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE In this study, concentrations and fractions of bile acids in gallbladder contents were significantly different in dogs with gallbladder mucocele or immobile biliary sludge, compared with results for healthy control dogs. Studies are needed to determine whether changes in bile acid composition are primary or secondary events of gallbladder abnormalities.

Soil types effect on grape and wine composition in Helan Mountain area of Ningxia.

PubMed

Wang, Rui; Sun, Quan; Chang, Qingrui

2015-01-01

Different soil types can significantly affect the composition of wine grapes and the final wine product. In this study, the effects of soil types on the composition of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and wine produced in the Helan Mountains were evaluated. Three different representative soil types--aeolian, sierozem and irrigation silting soil were studied. The compositions of grapes and wines were measured, and in addition, the weights of 100-berry samples were determined. The grapes that grown on the aeolian and sierozem soils matured sooner than those grown on the irrigation silting soil. The highest sugar content, total soluble solids content, sugar to acid ratio and anthocyanin content were found in the grapes that grown on the aeolian soil. The wine produced from this soil had improved chroma and tone and higher-quality phenols. The grapes grown on the sierozem soil had the highest total phenol and tannin contents, which affected the wine composition. The grapes grown on the irrigation silting soil had higher acidities, but the remaining indices were lower. In addition, the grapes grown on the aeolian soil resulted in wines with better chroma and aroma. The sierozem soil was beneficial for the formation of wine tannins and phenols and significantly affected the wine composition. The quality of the grapes from the irrigation silting soil was relatively low, resulting in lower-quality wine.

Potential of solid waste utilization as source of refuse derived fuel (RDF) energy (case study at temporary solid waste disposal site in West Jakarta)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Indrawati, D.; Lindu, M.; Denita, P.

2018-01-01

This study aims to measure the volume of solid waste generated as well asits density, composition, and characteristics, to analyze the potential of waste in TPS to become RDF materials and to analyze the best composition mixture of RDF materials. The results show that the average of solid waste generation in TPS reaches 40.80 m3/day, with the largest percentage of its share is the organic waste component of 77.9%, while the smallest amount of its share is metal and rubber of 0.1%. The average water content and ash content of solid waste at the TPS is 27.7% and 6.4% respectively, while the average calorific potential value is 728.71 kcal/kg. The results of solid waste characteristics comparison at three TPS indicate thatTPS Tanjung Duren has the greatest waste potential to be processed into RDF materials with a calorific value of 893.73 kcal/kg, water content level of 24.6%, andlow ash content of 6.11%. This research has also shown that the best composition for RDF composite materials is rubber, wood, and textile mixtureexposed to outdoor drying conditions because it produced low water content and low ash content of 10.8% and 9.6%, thus optimizedthe calorific value of 4,372.896 kcal/kg.

[Analysis and utilization value discussion of multiple chemical composition in different tissues of Abelmoschus manihot].

PubMed

Liu, Jie; Guo, Sheng; Duan, Jin-Ao; Yan, Hui; Qian, Da-Wei; Tang, Hai-Tao; Tang, Ren-Mao

2016-10-01

This research is to analyze the resourceful chemical composition in different tissues (root, stem, leaf and flower) of Abelmoschus manihot and evaluate their utilizing value. The flavonoids, soluble polysaccharides, cellulose, nucleosides and amino acids in the different tissues of A. manihot were determined by HPLC coupled with UV-Vis spectrophotpmetry, and UPLC-TQ/MS. The flowers are rich in the resourceful chemical compositions of flavonoids which mainly consist of hyperoside, isoquercitrin, cotton-8-O-glucuronide, myricetin, quercetin-3'-O-glucoside, rutin and quercetin. The total content of these flavonoids is 25.450 mg•g-1 in the flowers, while they are trace in the other tissues.Different tissues of A. manihot are rich in soluble polysaccharides and celluloses and the stems have the highest content(19.76%) of soluble polysaccharides, while the roots have the highest content (29.88%) of cellulose. Total of 21 amino acids and 9 nucleosides were detected in this plant, and the flowers have the highest content of amino acids(4.737 mg•g⁻¹), while the leaves have the highest content of nucleosides (1.474 mg•g⁻¹). A. manihot is rich in the resourceful chemical compositions, and its constituents and contents are various in different tissues of this plant.The results provided a scientific basis for the utilization and industrial development of A. manihot plants. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Briquettes of rice husk, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and dried leaves as implementation of wastes recycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hariyanto, Sucipto; Usman, Mohammad Nurdianfajar; Citrasari, Nita

2017-06-01

This research aim is to determine the best briquettes as implementation of wastes recycle based on scoring method, main component composition, compressive strength, caloric value, water content, vollatile content, and ash content, also the suitability with SNI 01-6235-2000. Main component that used are rice husk, 2mm and 6 mm PET, and dried leaves. Composition variation in this research are marked as K1, K2, K3, K4, and K5 with 2 mm PET plastic and K1, K2, K3, K4, and K5 with 6 mm PET plastic. The total weight of the briquettes is 100 g and divided into 90% main components and 10% tapioca as binder. The compressive strength, caloric value, water content, vollatile content, and ash content were tested according to ASTM D 5865-04, ASTM D 3173-03, ASTM D 3175-02, ASTM D 3174-02. The tested results were used to determine the best briquette by scoring method, and the chosen briquettes is K2 with 6 mm PET plastic. The composition is 70% rice husk, 20% 6 mm PET plastic, and 10% dried leaves with the compressive strength, caloric value, water content, vollatile content, and ash content value is 51,55 kg/cm2; 5123 kal/g; 3,049%; 31,823%, dan 12,869%. The suitable value that meet the criteria according to SNI 01-6235-2000 is compressive strength, caloric value, water content, and ash content.

Effects of alloy composition on cyclic flame hot-corrosion attack of cast nickel-base superalloys at 900 deg C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deadmore, D. L.

1984-01-01

The effects of Cr, Al, Ti, Mo, Ta, Nb, and W content on the hot corrosion of nickel base alloys were investigated. The alloys were tested in a Mach 0.3 flame with 0.5 ppmw sodium at a temperature of 900 C. One nondestructive and three destructive tests were conducted. The best corrosion resistance was achieved when the Cr content was 12 wt %. However, some lower-Cr-content alloys ( 10 wt%) exhibited reasonable resistance provided that the Al content alloys ( 10 wt %) exhibited reasonable resistance provided that the Al content was 2.5 wt % and the Ti content was Aa wt %. The effect of W, Ta, Mo, and Nb contents on the hot-corrosion resistance varied depending on the Al and Ti contents. Several commercial alloy compositions were also tested and the corrosion attack was measured. Predicted attack was calculated for these alloys from derived regression equations and was in reasonable agreement with that experimentally measured. The regression equations were derived from measurements made on alloys in a one-quarter replicate of a 2(7) statistical design alloy composition experiment. These regression equations represent a simple linear model and are only a very preliminary analysis of the data needed to provide insights into the experimental method.

Analysis of Compositions and Physical Characteristics of Different Rice From Heilongjiang China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Fenglian; Li, Xinming; Lv, Mingshou; Shi, Yanguo

2018-03-01

Diversity and correlation between composition, texture characteristics and sensory features of twenty kinds of purebred rice from Heilongjiang China were studied. Experimental results showed significant differences in content of fat, amylose and protein, however those differences were not extended to perceived taste evaluation by sensory evaluation. More protein led to lower viscosity but better hardness and springiness, higher amylose content resulted lower taste but higher springiness. Moisture content was significantly negatively correlated with resilience; the content of protein was significantly positively correlated with resilience. The adhesiveness of texture characteristic and the viscosity of taste showed significant positive correlation.

A new strategy to produce low-density polyethylene (LDPE)-based composites simultaneously with high flame retardancy and high mechanical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Liguo; Li, Jianxi; Li, Renjie; Lin, Hongjun; Chen, Jianrong; Liao, Bao-Qiang

2018-04-01

In this study, a new strategy which blends low-density polyethylene (LDPE), magnesium hydroxide (MH) and lauryl acrylate by electron-beam radiation for production of LDPE-based composites with high performance was proposed. It was found that, MH played main roles in flame retardancy but reduced processing flow and mechanical properties of the composites. Meanwhile, melt flow rate (MFR) increased while viscosity of the composites decreased with lauryl acrylate content increased, facilitating LDPE composites processing. Electron beam radiation could prompt crosslinking of lauryl acrylate, which significantly enhanced the mechanical properties of LDPE composites. Meanwhile, lauryl acrylate addition only slightly decreased the flame retardancy, suggesting that LDPE composites could remain high flame retardancy even when lauryl acrylate content was high. The study highly demonstrated the feasibility to produce LDPE-based composites simultaneously with high flame retardancy and high mechanical properties by the blending strategy provided in this study.

Application of nano-TiO2/LDPE composite film on photocatalytic oxidation degradation of dichloromethane.

PubMed

Suwannahong, Kowit; Liengcharernsit, Winai; Sanongraj, Wipada; Kruenate, Jittiporn

2012-09-01

This study focused on the photocatalytic destruction of dichloromethane (DCM) in indoor air using the nano-TiO2/LDPE composite film as an economical photocatalyst. The nano-TiO2 was dispersed in a polyethylene matrix to form composite film. The photocatalytic activity of the nano-TiO2/LDPE composite films was evaluated through the degradation of dichloromethane(DCM) under UV-C irradiance at specific wavelength of 254 nm. The percentage of nano-TiO2 contents varied from 0, 5, and 10% (wt cat./wt LDPE composite film). The results derived from the kinetic model revealed that the photocatalytic rates of 5 and 10 wt.% nano-TiO2/ LDPE composite films follow the first order reaction while the rate of the film without TiO2 followed the zero order reaction. At low concentration of DCM, the rate of photocatalytic degradation of the DCM was slower than that at high DCM concentration. The 10 wt.% of TiO2 content of the nano-TiO2/LDPE composite film yielded the highest degradation efficiency of 78%, followed by the removal efficiency of 55% for the 5 wt.% of TiO2 content of the nano-TiO2/LDPE composite film. In contrast with the composite film containing nano-TiO2, the LDPE film without adding nano-TiO2 expressed the degradation efficiency of 28%.

Mechanical and tribological property of single layer graphene oxide reinforced titanium matrix composite coating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Zengrong; Li, Yue; Fan, Xueliang; Chen, Feng; Xu, Jiale

2018-04-01

Single layer grapheme oxide Nano sheets and Nano titanium powder were dispersed in deionized water by ultrasonic dispersion. Then the mixed solution was pre-coating on AISI4140 substrate. Using laser sintering process to fabricated grapheme oxide and Ti composite coating. Microstructures and composition of the composite coating was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffract meter (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectrum, XRD pattern and SEM results proved that grapheme oxide sheets were dispersed in the composite coating. The composite coating had much higher average Vickers hardness values than that of pure Ti coating. The tribological performance of the composite coatings became better while the suitable GO content was selected. For the 2.5wt. % GO content coating, the friction coefficient was reduced to near 0.1.

Towards climatological study on the characteristics of aerosols in Central Africa and Mediterranean sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benkhalifa, Jamel; Chaabane, Mabrouk

2016-02-01

The atmosphere contains molecules, clouds and aerosols that are sub-millimeter particles having a large variability in size, shape, chemical composition, lifetime and contents. The aerosols concentration depends greatly on the geographical situation, meteorological and environmental conditions, which makes aerosol climatology difficult to assess. Setting up a solar photometer (automatic, autonomous and portable instrument) on a given site allows carrying out the necessary measurements for aerosol characterization. The particle microphysical and optical properties are obtained from photometric measurements. The objective of this study is to analyze the spatial variability of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) in several Mediterranean regions and Central Africa, we considered a set of simultaneous data in the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) from six sites, two of which are located in Central Africa (Banizoumbou and Zinder Airport) and the rest are Mediterranean sites (Barcelona, Malaga, Lampedusa, and Forth Crete). The results have shown that the physical properties of aerosols are closely linked to the climate nature of the studied site. The optical thickness, single scattering albedo and aerosols size distribution can be due to the aging of the dust aerosol as they are transported over the Mediterranean basin.

Decomposition and extraction: a new framework for visual classification.

PubMed

Fang, Yuqiang; Chen, Qiang; Sun, Lin; Dai, Bin; Yan, Shuicheng

2014-08-01

In this paper, we present a novel framework for visual classification based on hierarchical image decomposition and hybrid midlevel feature extraction. Unlike most midlevel feature learning methods, which focus on the process of coding or pooling, we emphasize that the mechanism of image composition also strongly influences the feature extraction. To effectively explore the image content for the feature extraction, we model a multiplicity feature representation mechanism through meaningful hierarchical image decomposition followed by a fusion step. In particularly, we first propose a new hierarchical image decomposition approach in which each image is decomposed into a series of hierarchical semantical components, i.e, the structure and texture images. Then, different feature extraction schemes can be adopted to match the decomposed structure and texture processes in a dissociative manner. Here, two schemes are explored to produce property related feature representations. One is based on a single-stage network over hand-crafted features and the other is based on a multistage network, which can learn features from raw pixels automatically. Finally, those multiple midlevel features are incorporated by solving a multiple kernel learning task. Extensive experiments are conducted on several challenging data sets for visual classification, and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Compositions comprising enhanced graphene oxide structures and related methods

DOEpatents

Kumar, Priyank Vijaya; Bardhan, Neelkanth M.; Belcher, Angela; Grossman, Jeffrey

2016-12-27

Embodiments described herein generally relate to compositions comprising a graphene oxide species. In some embodiments, the compositions advantageously have relatively high oxygen content, even after annealing.

Chemical compositions, free amino acid contents and antioxidant activities of Hanwoo (Bos taurus coreanae) beef by cut

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The objective of this study was to evaluate chemical compositions, free amino acid contents, and antioxidant activities of different cuts of Hanwoo (Bos taurus coreanae) beef. Beef preferences and prices in the Korean market depend on cut. Therefore, comparisons were made between high-preference (gr...

Nutrient Content of Consumed Elementary School Lunches: A Pilot Study from Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosander, Ulla; Rumpunen, Kimmo; Lindmark-Mansson, Helena; Gullberg, Bo; Paulsson, Marie; Holm, Ingvar

2013-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: Purpose was to investigate the nutrient content of Swedish school meals consumed by students in the context of national recommendations regarding food composition and intake. Methods: Composite samples of lunch meals consumed by six students during a five-day period were collected using the double portion method and analyzed…

Total leaf crude protein, amino acid composition and elemental content in the USDA-ARS bamboo germplasm collection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bamboo shoots and leaves are valuable food sources for both humans and livestock. The USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) collections hold 93 bamboo species in 20 genera. Total leaf protein, amino acid composition and elemental content for these important genetic resources had never bee...

Harvesting Intelligence in Multimedia Social Tagging Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannakidou, Eirini; Kaklidou, Foteini; Chatzilari, Elisavet; Kompatsiaris, Ioannis; Vakali, Athena

As more people adopt tagging practices, social tagging systems tend to form rich knowledge repositories that enable the extraction of patterns reflecting the way content semantics is perceived by the web users. This is of particular importance, especially in the case of multimedia content, since the availability of such content in the web is very high and its efficient retrieval using textual annotations or content-based automatically extracted metadata still remains a challenge. It is argued that complementing multimedia analysis techniques with knowledge drawn from web social annotations may facilitate multimedia content management. This chapter focuses on analyzing tagging patterns and combining them with content feature extraction methods, generating, thus, intelligence from multimedia social tagging systems. Emphasis is placed on using all available "tracks" of knowledge, that is tag co-occurrence together with semantic relations among tags and low-level features of the content. Towards this direction, a survey on the theoretical background and the adopted practices for analysis of multimedia social content are presented. A case study from Flickr illustrates the efficiency of the proposed approach.

Frying stability of high oleic sunflower oils as affected by composition of tocopherol isomers and linoleic acid content.

PubMed

Aladedunye, Felix; Przybylski, Roman

2013-12-01

The influence of linoleic acid content and tocopherol isomeric composition on the frying performance of high oleic sunflower oil was evaluated during a 14-day restaurant style frying operation. At equal linoleic acid content, no significant difference was observed between high oleic sunflower oil containing only α-tocopherol and the sample containing a mixture of α-, γ-, and δ-isomers as measured by the amount of total polar components, oligomers, anisidine value, and free fatty acids. On the contrary, at similar tocopherol isomeric composition, high oleic sunflower oil containing lower amount of linoleic acid showed superior frying stability compared to the sample with a higher content of linoleic acid, suggesting that the frying performance of high oleic sunflower oil is dictated primarily by the level of linoleic acid, with the tocopherol isomeric composition of the oil having no significant influence. In all oil samples, the loss of γ-tocopherol was higher than the corresponding loss of α-tocopherol. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Formation of anodic layers on InAs (111)III. Study of the chemical composition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Valisheva, N. A., E-mail: valisheva@thermo.isp.nsc.ru; Tereshchenko, O. E.; Prosvirin, I. P.

2012-04-15

The chemical composition of {approx}20-nm-thick anodic layers grown on InAs (111)III in alkaline and acid electrolytes containing or not containing NH{sub 4}F is studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is shown that the composition of fluorinated layers is controlled by the relation between the concentrations of fluorine and hydroxide ions in the electrolyte and by diffusion processes in the growing layer. Fluorine accumulates at the (anodic layer)/InAs interface. Oxidation of InAs in an acid electrolyte with a low oxygen content and a high NH{sub 4}F content brings about the formation of anodic layers with a high content of fluorine andmore » elemental arsenic and the formation of an oxygen-free InF{sub x}/InAs interface. Fluorinated layers grown in an alkaline electrolyte with a high content of O{sup 2-} and/or OH{sup -} groups contain approximately three times less fluorine and consist of indium and arsenic oxyfluorides. No distinction between the compositions of the layers grown in both types of fluorine-free electrolytes is established.« less

The stable isotope composition of nitrogen and carbon and elemental contents in modern and fossil seabird guano from Northern Chile - Marine sources and diagenetic effects.

PubMed

Lucassen, Friedrich; Pritzkow, Wolfgang; Rosner, Martin; Sepúlveda, Fernando; Vásquez, Paulina; Wilke, Hans; Kasemann, Simone A

2017-01-01

Seabird excrements (guano) have been preserved in the arid climate of Northern Chile since at least the Pliocene. The deposits of marine organic material in coastal areas potentially open a window into the present and past composition of the coastal ocean and its food web. We use the stable isotope composition of nitrogen and carbon as well as element contents to compare the principal prey of the birds, the Peruvian anchovy, with the composition of modern guano. We also investigate the impact of diagenetic changes on the isotopic composition and elemental contents of the pure ornithogenic sediments, starting with modern stratified deposits and extending to fossil guano. Where possible, 14C systematics is used for age information. The nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of the marine prey (Peruvian anchovy) of the birds is complex as it shows strong systematic variations with latitude. The detailed study of a modern profile that represents a few years of guano deposition up to present reveals systematic changes in nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition towards heavier values that increase with age, i.e. depth. Only the uppermost, youngest layers of modern guano show compositional affinity to the prey of the birds. In the profile, the simultaneous loss of nitrogen and carbon occurs by degassing, and non-volatile elements like phosphorous and calcium are passively enriched in the residual guano. Fossil guano deposits are very low in nitrogen and low in carbon contents, and show very heavy nitrogen isotopic compositions. One result of the study is that the use of guano for tracing nitrogen and carbon isotopic and elemental composition in the marine food web of the birds is restricted to fresh material. Despite systematic changes during diagenesis, there is little promise to retrieve reliable values of marine nitrogen and carbon signatures from older guano. However, the changes in isotopic composition from primary marine nitrogen isotopic signatures towards very heavy values generate a compositionally unique material. These compositions trace the presence of guano in natural ecosystems and its use as fertilizer in present and past agriculture.

The stable isotope composition of nitrogen and carbon and elemental contents in modern and fossil seabird guano from Northern Chile – Marine sources and diagenetic effects

PubMed Central

Pritzkow, Wolfgang; Rosner, Martin; Sepúlveda, Fernando; Vásquez, Paulina; Wilke, Hans; Kasemann, Simone A.

2017-01-01

Seabird excrements (guano) have been preserved in the arid climate of Northern Chile since at least the Pliocene. The deposits of marine organic material in coastal areas potentially open a window into the present and past composition of the coastal ocean and its food web. We use the stable isotope composition of nitrogen and carbon as well as element contents to compare the principal prey of the birds, the Peruvian anchovy, with the composition of modern guano. We also investigate the impact of diagenetic changes on the isotopic composition and elemental contents of the pure ornithogenic sediments, starting with modern stratified deposits and extending to fossil guano. Where possible, 14C systematics is used for age information. The nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of the marine prey (Peruvian anchovy) of the birds is complex as it shows strong systematic variations with latitude. The detailed study of a modern profile that represents a few years of guano deposition up to present reveals systematic changes in nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition towards heavier values that increase with age, i.e. depth. Only the uppermost, youngest layers of modern guano show compositional affinity to the prey of the birds. In the profile, the simultaneous loss of nitrogen and carbon occurs by degassing, and non-volatile elements like phosphorous and calcium are passively enriched in the residual guano. Fossil guano deposits are very low in nitrogen and low in carbon contents, and show very heavy nitrogen isotopic compositions. One result of the study is that the use of guano for tracing nitrogen and carbon isotopic and elemental composition in the marine food web of the birds is restricted to fresh material. Despite systematic changes during diagenesis, there is little promise to retrieve reliable values of marine nitrogen and carbon signatures from older guano. However, the changes in isotopic composition from primary marine nitrogen isotopic signatures towards very heavy values generate a compositionally unique material. These compositions trace the presence of guano in natural ecosystems and its use as fertilizer in present and past agriculture. PMID:28594902

Adaptive platform for fluorescence microscopy-based high-content screening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geisbauer, Matthias; Röder, Thorsten; Chen, Yang; Knoll, Alois; Uhl, Rainer

2010-04-01

Fluorescence microscopy has become a widely used tool for the study of medically relevant intra- and intercellular processes. Extracting meaningful information out of a bulk of acquired images is usually performed during a separate post-processing task. Thus capturing raw data results in an unnecessary huge number of images, whereas usually only a few images really show the particular information that is searched for. Here we propose a novel automated high-content microscope system, which enables experiments to be carried out with only a minimum of human interaction. It facilitates a huge speed-increase for cell biology research and its applications compared to the widely performed workflows. Our fluorescence microscopy system can automatically execute application-dependent data processing algorithms during the actual experiment. They are used for image contrast enhancement, cell segmentation and/or cell property evaluation. On-the-fly retrieved information is used to reduce data and concomitantly control the experiment process in real-time. Resulting in a closed loop of perception and action the system can greatly decrease the amount of stored data on one hand and increases the relative valuable data content on the other hand. We demonstrate our approach by addressing the problem of automatically finding cells with a particular combination of labeled receptors and then selectively stimulate them with antagonists or agonists. The results are then compared against the results of traditional, static systems.

Contents and composition of organic matter in subsurface soils affected by land use and soil mineralogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellerbrock, Ruth H.; Kaiser, Michael

2010-05-01

Land use and mineralogy affect the ability of surface as well as subsurface soils to sequester organic carbon and their contribution to mitigate the greenhouse effect. This study aimed to investigate the long-term impact of land use (i.e., arable and forest) and soil mineralogy on contents and composition of soil organic matter (SOM) from subsurface soils. Seven soils different in mineralogy (Albic and Haplic Luvisol, Colluvic and Haplic Regosol, Haplic and Vertic Cambisol, Haplic Stagnosol) were selected within Germany. Soil samples were taken from forest and adjacent arable sites. First, particulate and water soluble organic matter were separated from the subsurface soil samples. From the remaining solid residues the OM(PY) fractions were separated, analyzed for its OC content (OCPY) and characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. For the arable subsurface soils multiple regression analyses indicate significant positive relationships between the soil organic carbon contents and the contents of i) exchangeable Ca and oxalate soluble Fe, and Alox contents. Further for the neutral arable subsurface soils the contents OCPY weighted by its C=O contents were found to be related to the contents of Ca indicating interactions between OM(PY) and Ca cations. For the forest subsurface soils (pH <5) the OCPY contents were positively related with the contents of Na-pyrophosphate soluble Fe and Al. For the acidic forest subsurface soils such findings indicate interactions between OM(PY) and Fe3+ and Al3+ cations. The effects of land use and soil mineralogy on contents and composition of SOM and OM(PY) will be discussed.

Montmorillonite-Alginate Composites as a Drug delivery System: Intercalation and In vitro Release of Diclofenac sodium

PubMed Central

Kevadiya, B. D.; Patel, H. A.; Joshi, G. V.; Abdi, S. H. R.; Bajaj, H. C.

2010-01-01

Diclofenac sodium and alginate was intercalated into montmorillonite to form uniform sized beads by gelation method. The structure and surface morphology of the synthesized composite beads were characterized by powdered X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermo gravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. Diclofenac release kinetics of the composite in simulated intestinal fluid medium (pH 7.4) and effect of montmorillonite content on the in vitro release of diclofenac from diclofenac-montmorillonite-alginate composites bead was investigated by UV/Vis spectrophotometer. Diclofenac encapsulation efficiency in the montmorillonite-alginate composites bead increases with an increase in the montmorillonite content. The control release of diclofenac from diclofenac-montmorillonite-alginate composites beads was observed to be better as compared to diclofenac-alginate beads. PMID:21969745

Damage healing ability of a shape-memory-polymer-based particulate composite with small thermoplastic contents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nji, Jones; Li, Guoqiang

2012-02-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of a shape-memory-polymer (SMP)-based particulate composite to heal structural-length scale damage with small thermoplastic additive contents through a close-then-heal (CTH) self-healing scheme that was introduced in a previous study (Li and Uppu 2010 Comput. Sci. Technol. 70 1419-27). The idea is to achieve reasonable healing efficiencies with minimal sacrifice in structural load capacity. By first closing cracks, the gap between two crack surfaces is narrowed and a lesser amount of thermoplastic particles is required to achieve healing. The particulate composite was fabricated by dispersing copolyester thermoplastic particles in a shape memory polymer matrix. It is found that, for small thermoplastic contents of less than 10%, the CTH scheme followed in this study heals structural-length scale damage in the SMP particulate composite to a meaningful extent and with less sacrifice of structural capacity.

Alumosilicate ceramic proppants based on natural refractory raw materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vakalova, T. V.; Devyashina, L. P.; Burihina, M. A.; Kisner, A. S.; Pashenko, N. V.

2017-12-01

The sintering-strengthening effect of the additions of the highly ferrous bauxite (with Fe2O3 content of 20-25 % in the calcined state) in the compositions with refractory clays was established. It was found that in the temperature range 1350-1500°C the additions of bauxite in amounts of 10-40% have a fluxing effect due to the iron oxide introduced with bauxite in compositions with clay. An increasing the bauxite additive in the amount of 50-70% ensures its strengthening effect by increasing the total content of the mullite of the prismatic habit in the firing products of composites with clay. Preliminary clay and bauxite calcination at 900 °C and an increase in the content of bauxite additive up to 50-70% in compositions with clay allow to produce aluminosilicate proppants with a bulk density of 1.62-1.65 g/cm3 and compressive strength up to 52 MPa.

Music as Active Information Resource for Players in Video Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagorsnick, Marian; Martens, Alke

2015-01-01

In modern video games, music can come in different shapes: it can be developed on a very high compositional level, with sophisticated sound elements like in professional film music; it can be developed on a very coarse level, underlying special situations (like danger or attack); it can also be automatically generated by sound engines. However, in…

A Hierarchical and Contextual Model for Learning and Recognizing Highly Variant Visual Categories

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

neighboring pattern primitives, to create our model. We also present a minimax entropy framework for automatically learning which contextual constraints are...Grammars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.2 Markov Random Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.3 Creating a Contextual...Compositional Boosting. . . . . 119 7.8 Top-down hallucinations of missing objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 7.9 The bottom-up to top-down

Instance-Based Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

answer clustering, composition, and scoring. Moreover, with the effort dedicated to improving monolingual system performance, system parameters are...text collections: document type, manual or automatic annotations (if any), and stylistic and notational differences in technical terms. Monolingual ...forum in which cross language retrieval systems and question answering systems are tested for various Eu- ropean languages. The CLEF QA monolingual task

Integrated approach to multimodal media content analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tong; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

1999-12-01

In this work, we present a system for the automatic segmentation, indexing and retrieval of audiovisual data based on the combination of audio, visual and textural content analysis. The video stream is demultiplexed into audio, image and caption components. Then, a semantic segmentation of the audio signal based on audio content analysis is conducted, and each segment is indexed as one of the basic audio types. The image sequence is segmented into shots based on visual information analysis, and keyframes are extracted from each shot. Meanwhile, keywords are detected from the closed caption. Index tables are designed for both linear and non-linear access to the video. It is shown by experiments that the proposed methods for multimodal media content analysis are effective. And that the integrated framework achieves satisfactory results for video information filtering and retrieval.

Seasonal variation in the biochemical compositions of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities in the southwestern East/Japan Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jo, Naeun; Kang, Jae Joong; Park, Won Gyu; Lee, Bo Ram; Yun, Mi Sun; Lee, Jang Han; Kim, Su Min; Lee, Dasom; Joo, HuiTae; Lee, Jae Hyung; Ahn, So Hyun; Lee, Sang Heon

2017-09-01

The macromolecular composition of phytoplankton communities and the proximate composition of zooplankton communities were measured monthly in the southwestern East/Japan Sea from April to November 2014 in order to identify seasonal changes in, and relationships among, the biochemical compositions in both phytoplankton and zooplankton. The carbohydrate content of phytoplankton was highest in June, whereas the protein content was highest in August and lipids were highest in April. Overall, carbohydrates were dominant (53.2 ± 12.5%) in the macromolecular composition of phytoplankton during the study period. This composition is believed to result from the dominance of diatoms and/or nutrient-depleted conditions. In comparison, the protein level of zooplankton was highest in November, whereas lipids were slightly higher in May than other months. Overall, proteins were the dominant organic compounds (47.9±8.6% DW) in zooplankton communities, whereas lipids were minor components (5.5±0.6% DW). The high protein content of zooplankton might be related to the abundance of copepods, whereas the low lipid content might be due to a relatively high primary production that could provide a sufficient food supply for zooplankton so that they do not require high lipid storage. A significant positive correlation (r=0.971, n=7, p<0.01) was found between the lipid compositions of phytoplankton and zooplankton during our study period with a time lag, which is consistent with the findings from previous studies. More detailed studies on the biochemical composition of phytoplankton and zooplankton are needed to better understand the East/Japan Sea ecosystem's response to the many environmental changes associated with global warming.

Fatty Acid Composition of Muscle, Adipose Tissue and Liver from Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) Living in West Greenland

PubMed Central

Alves, Susana P.; Raundrup, Katrine; Cabo, Ângelo; Bessa, Rui J. B.; Almeida, André M.

2015-01-01

Information about lipid content and fatty acid (FA) composition of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatos) edible tissues is very limited in comparison to other meat sources. Thus, this work aims to present the first in-depth characterization of the FA profile of meat, subcutaneous adipose tissue and liver of muskoxen living in West Greenland. Furthermore, we aim to evaluate the effect of sex in the FA composition of these edible tissues. Samples from muscle (Longissimus dorsi), subcutaneous adipose tissue and liver were collected from female and male muskoxen, which were delivered at the butchery in Kangerlussuaq (West Greenland) during the winter hunting season. The lipid content of muscle, adipose tissue and liver averaged 284, 846 and 173 mg/g of dry tissue, respectively. This large lipid contents confirms that in late winter, when forage availability is scarce, muskoxen from West Greenland still have high fat reserves, demonstrating that they are well adapted to seasonal feed restriction. A detailed characterization of FA and dimethylacetal composition of muskoxen muscle, subcutaneous adipose tissue and liver showed that there are little differences on FA composition between sexes. Nevertheless, the 18:1cis-9 was the most abundant FA in muscle and adipose tissue, reaching 43% of total FA in muscle. The high content of 18:1cis-9 suggests that it can be selectively stored in muskoxen tissues. Regarding the nutritional composition of muskoxen edible tissues, they are not a good source of polyunsaturated FA; however, they may contribute to a higher fat intake. Information about the FA composition of muskoxen meat and liver is scarce, so this work can contribute to the characterization of the nutritional fat properties of muskoxen edible tissues and can be also useful to update food composition databases. PMID:26678792

Modeling the Elastic Modulus of 2D Woven CVI SiC Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morscher, Gregory N.

2006-01-01

The use of fiber, interphase, CVI SiC minicomposites as structural elements for 2D-woven SiC fiber reinforced chemically vapor infiltrated (CVI) SiC matrix composites is demonstrated to be a viable approach to model the elastic modulus of these composite systems when tensile loaded in an orthogonal direction. The 0deg (loading direction) and 90deg (perpendicular to loading direction) oriented minicomposites as well as the open porosity and excess SiC associated with CVI SiC composites were all modeled as parallel elements using simple Rule of Mixtures techniques. Excellent agreement for a variety of 2D woven Hi-Nicalon(TradeMark) fiber-reinforced and Sylramic-iBN reinforced CVI SiC matrix composites that differed in numbers of plies, constituent content, thickness, density, and number of woven tows in either direction (i.e, balanced weaves versus unbalanced weaves) was achieved. It was found that elastic modulus was not only dependent on constituent content, but also the degree to which 90deg minicomposites carried load. This depended on the degree of interaction between 90deg and 0deg minicomposites which was quantified to some extent by composite density. The relationships developed here for elastic modulus only necessitated the knowledge of the fractional contents of fiber, interphase and CVI SiC as well as the tow size and shape. It was concluded that such relationships are fairly robust for orthogonally loaded 2D woven CVI SiC composite system and can be implemented by ceramic matrix composite component modelers and designers for modeling the local stiffness in simple or complex parts fabricated with variable constituent contents.

Improving dielectric properties of BaTiO3/poly(vinylidene fluoride) composites by employing core-shell structured BaTiO3@Poly(methylmethacrylate) and BaTiO3@Poly(trifluoroethyl methacrylate) nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xianhong; Zhao, Sidi; Wang, Fang; Ma, Yuhong; Wang, Li; Chen, Dong; Zhao, Changwen; Yang, Wantai

2017-05-01

Polymer based dielectric composites were fabricated through incorporation of core-shell structured BaTiO3 (BT) nanoparticles into PVDF matrix by means of solution blending. Core-shell structured BT nanoparticles with different shell composition and shell thickness were prepared by grafting methacrylate monomer (MMA or TFEMA) onto the surface of BT nanoparticles via surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The content of the grafted polymer and the micro-morphology of the core-shell structured BT nanoparticles were investigated by thermo gravimetric analyses (TGA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The dielectric properties were measured by broadband dielectric spectroscopy. The results showed that high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss are successfully realized in the polymer based composites. Moreover, the type of the grafted polymer and its content had different effect on the dielectric constant. In detail, the attenuation of dielectric constant was 16.6% for BT@PMMA1/PVDF and 10.7% for BT@PMMA2/PVDF composite in the range of 10 Hz to 100 kHz, in which the grafted content of PMMA was 5.5% and 8.0%, respectively. However, the attenuation of dielectric constant was 5.5% for BT@PTFEMA1/PVDF and 4.0% for BT@PTFEMA2/PVDF composite, in which the grafted content of PTFEMA was 1.5% and 2.0%, respectively. These attractive features of BT@PTFEMA/PVDF composites suggested that dielectric ceramic fillers modified with fluorinated polymer can be used to prepare high performance composites, especially those with low dielectric loss and high dielectric constant.

Chameleon Coatings: Adaptive Surfaces to Reduce Friction and Wear in Extreme Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muratore, C.; Voevodin, A. A.

2009-08-01

Adaptive nanocomposite coating materials that automatically and reversibly adjust their surface composition and morphology via multiple mechanisms are a promising development for the reduction of friction and wear over broad ranges of ambient conditions encountered in aerospace applications, such as cycling of temperature and atmospheric composition. Materials selection for these composites is based on extensive study of interactions occurring between solid lubricants and their surroundings, especially with novel in situ surface characterization techniques used to identify adaptive behavior on size scales ranging from 10-10 to 10-4 m. Recent insights on operative solid-lubricant mechanisms and their dependency upon the ambient environment are reviewed as a basis for a discussion of the state of the art in solid-lubricant materials.

Methods for freeform fabrication of structures

DOEpatents

Kaufman, Stephen G.; Spletzer, Barry L.

2000-01-01

Rapid prototyping methods and apparatuses that produce structures made of continuous-fiber polymer-matrix composites without the use of molds. Instead of using molds, the composite structure is fabricated patch by patch in layers or wraps, using a two- or three-axis stage connected to a rapidly-reconfigurable forming surface, and a robot arm to position the evolving composite structure, which are both programmable devices. Because programmable devices are included, i.e., a robot and a two- or three-axis stage connected to the reconfigurable forming surface, the control program needed to produce a desired shape can be easily modified to automatically generate the desired shape from an electronic model (e.g., using a CAD/CAM system) of the desired (predetermined) shape.

Infrared laser ablation of polymeric nanocomposites: A study of surface structure and plume formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartolucci, S. F.; Miller, M. J.; Warrender, J. M.

2016-12-01

The behavior of carbon nanotube composites subjected to laser pulse heating with a 1070 nm variable pulse duration laser has been studied. Previous work has shown that carbon nanotube composites form a protective network on the surface of a composite, which reduces heat input to the underlying polymer and slows mass loss. In this work, we have studied the interaction between the incident laser and the plume formed above the composite. We have correlated these interactions with features observed in the time-resolved mass loss data and confirmed them with observations using high-speed video of the laser irradiations. Beam interactions were studied as a function of laser irradiance and nanotube content. It is shown that beam-plume interactions occur for the carbon nanotube composites and that the interactions occur at shorter pulse durations for increased nanotube content and laser irradiance. When we eliminate beam-plume interaction through alteration of the sample orientation relative to the incident beam, we are able to elucidate the individual contributions of the carbon nanotube surface network and the plume to the observed decrease in mass loss after laser irradiation. We examine the plume content using microscopy and Raman spectroscopy and show that greater beam absorption occurs when there is a higher graphitic content in the plume.

Properties of indirect composites reinforced with monomer-impregnated glass fiber.

PubMed

Tanoue, Naomi; Sawase, Takashi; Matsumura, Hideo; McCabe, John F

2012-07-01

Sufficient flexural strength is required for long-term clinical use of fixed partial dentures made with fiber-reinforced composite. The flexural strengths of indirect composite materials reinforced with a monomer-preimpregnated glass fiber material were determined to evaluate the compatibility of the composites to glass fiber material. Four types (microhybrid, nanohybrid, microfilled, and minifilled) of indirect composites and a unidirectional long glass fiber material were selected for investigation. The composites were placed on a fiber plate and polymerized in accordance with the respective manufacturer's instructions. Rectangular bar fiber-composite specimens were machined and the flexural strength was calculated. The flexural strength of each indirect composite was also measured. The microfilled composite with the lowest filler content (70 wt%) exhibited the highest increase ratio using the fiber, although its strength without fiber reinforcement was the lowest (62.1 MPa). The fiber-microhybrid specimen demonstrated the highest mean strength (355.9 MPa), although the filler content of the microhybrid composite was comparatively low (73 wt%). The type of composite material should be considered for the selection of an optimal fiber-composite combination.

Composition and structure of calcium aluminosilicate microspheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharonova, O. M.; Oreshkina, N. A.; Zhizhaev, A. M.

2017-06-01

The composition was studied of calcium aluminosilicate microspheres of three morphological types in high-calcium fly ash from combustion of brown coal from the Kansk-Achinsk basin in slag-tap boilers at temperatures from 1400 to 1500°C and sampled in the first field of electrostatic precipitators at the Krasnoyarsk Cogeneration Power Station no. 2 (TETs-2). Gross compositions and the composition of local areas were determined using a scanning electron microscopy technique and an energy-dispersive analysis with full mapping of globules. With a high content of basic oxides O ox (68 to 79 wt %) and a low content of acid oxides K ox (21 to 31 wt %), type 1 microspheres are formed. They consist of heterogeneous areas having a porous structure and crystalline components in which the content of CaO, SiO2, or Al2O3 differs by two to three times and the content of MgO differs by seven times. With a lower content of O ox (55 to 63 wt %) and an elevated content of K ox (37 to 45 wt %), type 2 microspheres are formed. They are more homogeneous in the composition and structure and consist of similar crystalline components. Having a close content of O ox (46 to 53 wt %) and K ox (47 to 54 wt %), type 3 microspheres, which are a dense matter consisting of amorphous substance with submicron- and nanostructure of crystalline components, are formed. The basic precursor in formation of high-calcium aluminosilicate microspheres is calcium from the organomineral matter of coals with various contribution of Mg, Fe, S, or Na from the coal organic matter and Al, Fe, S, or Si in the form of single mineral inclusions in a coal particle. On the basis of the available data, the effect was analyzed of the composition of a CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-FeO system on the melting and viscous properties of the matter in microspheres and formation of globules of different morphology. The results of this analysis will help to find a correlation with properties of microspheres in their use as functional microaggregates in cement or polymeric composite materials, or in the production of ceramic membranes or zeolite sorbents.

Magnetically separable mesoporous Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica catalysts with very low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} content

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Grau-Atienza, A.; Serrano, E.; Linares, N.

2016-05-15

Two magnetically separable Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2} (aerogel and MSU-X) composites with very low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} content (<1 wt%) have been successfully prepared at room temperature by co-condensation of MPTES-functionalized Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoparticles (NPs) with a silicon alkoxide. This procedure yields a homogeneous incorporation of the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs on silica supports, leading to magnetic composites that can be easily recovered using an external magnetic field, despite their very low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs content (ca. 1 wt%). These novel hybrid Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2} materials have been tested for the oxidation reaction of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) withmore » hydrogen peroxide showing an enhancement of the stability of the NPs in the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica aerogel as compared to the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs alone, even after five catalytic cycles, no leaching or agglomeration of the Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2} systems. - Graphical abstract: Novel magnetically separable mesoporous silica-based composites with very low magnetite content. - Highlights: • An innovative way to prepare magnetically separable composites with <1 wt% NPs. • The Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica composites are readily magnetized/demagnetized. • The Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/silica composites can be easily recovered using an external magnetic field. • Excellent catalytic performance and recyclability despite the low Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} NPs content.« less

Growth performance and feed conversion efficiency of three edible mealworm species (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on diets composed of organic by-products.

PubMed

van Broekhoven, Sarah; Oonincx, Dennis G A B; van Huis, Arnold; van Loon, Joop J A

2015-02-01

Insects receive increasing attention as an alternative protein-rich food source for humans. Producing edible insects on diets composed of organic by-products could increase sustainability. In addition, insect growth rate and body composition, and hence nutritional quality, can be altered by diet. Three edible mealworm species Tenebrio molitor L., Zophobas atratus Fab. and Alphitobius diaperinus Panzer were grown on diets composed of organic by-products originating from beer brewing, bread/cookie baking, potato processing and bioethanol production. Experimental diets differed with respect to protein and starch content. Larval growth and survival was monitored. Moreover, effects of dietary composition on feed conversion efficiency and mealworm crude protein and fatty acid profile were assessed. Diet affected mealworm development and feed conversion efficiency such that diets high in yeast-derived protein appear favourable, compared to diets used by commercial breeders, with respect to shortening larval development time, reducing mortality and increasing weight gain. Diet also affected the chemical composition of mealworms. Larval protein content was stable on diets that differed 2-3-fold in protein content, whereas dietary fat did have an effect on larval fat content and fatty acid profile. However, larval fatty acid profile did not necessarily follow the same trend as dietary fatty acid composition. Diets that allowed for fast larval growth and low mortality in this study led to a comparable or less favourable n6/n3 fatty acid ratio compared to control diets used by commercial breeders. In conclusion, the mealworm species used in this study can be grown successfully on diets composed of organic by-products. Diet composition did not influence larval protein content, but did alter larval fat composition to a certain extent. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Response pattern of amino compounds in phloem and xylem of trees to soil drought depends on drought intensity and root symbiosis.

PubMed

Liu, X-P; Gong, C-M; Fan, Y-Y; Eiblmeier, M; Zhao, Z; Han, G; Rennenberg, H

2013-01-01

This study aimed to identify drought-mediated differences in amino nitrogen (N) composition and content of xylem and phloem in trees having different symbiotic N(2)-fixing bacteria. Under controlled water availability, 1-year-old seedlings of Robinia pseudoacacia (nodules with Rhizobium), Hippophae rhamnoides (symbiosis with Frankia) and Buddleja alternifolia (no such root symbiosis) were exposed to control, medium drought and severe drought, corresponding soil water content of 70-75%, 45-50% and 30-35% of field capacity, respectively. Composition and content of amino compounds in xylem sap and phloem exudates were analysed as a measure of N nutrition. Drought strongly reduced biomass accumulation in all species, but amino N content in xylem and phloem remained unaffected only in R. pseudoacacia. In H. rhamnoides and B. alternifolia, amino N in phloem remained constant, but increased in xylem of both species in response to drought. There were differences in composition of amino compounds in xylem and phloem of the three species in response to drought. Proline concentrations in long-distance transport pathways of all three species were very low, below the limit of detection in phloem of H. rhamnoides and in phloem and xylem of B. alternifolia. Apparently, drought-mediated changes in N composition were much more connected with species-specific changes in C:N ratios. Irrespective of soil water content, the two species with root symbioses did not show similar features for the different types of symbiosis, neither in N composition nor in N content. There was no immediate correlation between symbiotic N fixation and drought-mediated changes in amino N in the transport pathways. © 2012 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

Genome-Wide Association Study Singles Out SCD and LEPR as the Two Main Loci Influencing Intramuscular Fat Content and Fatty Acid Composition in Duroc Pigs

PubMed Central

Ros-Freixedes, Roger; Gol, Sofia; Pena, Ramona N.; Tor, Marc; Ibáñez-Escriche, Noelia; Dekkers, Jack C. M.; Estany, Joan

2016-01-01

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content and fatty acid composition affect the organoleptic quality and nutritional value of pork. A genome-wide association study was performed on 138 Duroc pigs genotyped with a 60k SNP chip to detect biologically relevant genomic variants influencing fat content and composition. Despite the limited sample size, the genome-wide association study was powerful enough to detect the association between fatty acid composition and a known haplotypic variant in SCD (SSC14) and to reveal an association of IMF and fatty acid composition in the LEPR region (SSC6). The association of LEPR was later validated with an independent set of 853 pigs using a candidate quantitative trait nucleotide. The SCD gene is responsible for the biosynthesis of oleic acid (C18:1) from stearic acid. This locus affected the stearic to oleic desaturation index (C18:1/C18:0), C18:1, and saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids content. These effects were consistently detected in gluteus medius, longissimus dorsi, and subcutaneous fat. The association of LEPR with fatty acid composition was detected only in muscle and was, at least in part, a consequence of its effect on IMF content, with increased IMF resulting in more SFA, less polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and greater SFA/PUFA ratio. Marker substitution effects estimated with a subset of 65 animals were used to predict the genomic estimated breeding values of 70 animals born 7 years later. Although predictions with the whole SNP chip information were in relatively high correlation with observed SFA, MUFA, and C18:1/C18:0 (0.48–0.60), IMF content and composition were in general better predicted by using only SNPs at the SCD and LEPR loci, in which case the correlation between predicted and observed values was in the range of 0.36 to 0.54 for all traits. Results indicate that markers in the SCD and LEPR genes can be useful to select for optimum fatty acid profiles of pork. PMID:27023885

Growth of Cu2ZnSnSe4 Film under Controllable Se Vapor Composition and Impact of Low Cu Content on Solar Cell Efficiency.

PubMed

Li, Jianjun; Wang, Hongxia; Wu, Li; Chen, Cheng; Zhou, Zhiqiang; Liu, Fangfang; Sun, Yun; Han, Junbo; Zhang, Yi

2016-04-27

It is a challenge to fabricate high quality Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) film with low Cu content (Cu/(Zn + Sn) < 0.8). In this work, the growth mechanisms of CZTSe films under different Se vapor composition are investigated by DC-sputtering and a postselenization approach. The composition of Se vapor has important influence on the compactability of the films and the diffusion of elements in the CZTSe films. By adjusting the composition of Se vapor during the selenization process, an optimized two step selenization process is proposed and highly crystallized CZTSe film with low Cu content (Cu/(Zn + Sn) = 0.75) is obtained. Further study of the effect of Cu content on the morphology and photovoltaic performance of the corresponding CZTSe solar cells has shown that the roughness of the CZTSe absorber film increases when Cu content decreases. As a consequence, the reflection loss of CZTSe solar cells reduces dramatically and the short circuit current density of the cells improve from 34.7 mA/cm(2) for Cu/(Zn + Sn) = 0.88 to 38.5 mA/cm(2) for Cu/(Zn + Sn) = 0.75. In addition, the CZTSe solar cells with low Cu content show longer minority carrier lifetime and higher open circuit voltage than the high Cu content devices. A champion performance CZTSe solar cell with 10.4% efficiency is fabricated with Cu/(Zn + Sn) = 0.75 in the CZTSe film without antireflection coating.

A 3D THz image processing methodology for a fully integrated, semi-automatic and near real-time operational system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brook, A.; Cristofani, E.; Vandewal, M.; Matheis, C.; Jonuscheit, J.; Beigang, R.

2012-05-01

The present study proposes a fully integrated, semi-automatic and near real-time mode-operated image processing methodology developed for Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) THz images with the center frequencies around: 100 GHz and 300 GHz. The quality control of aeronautics composite multi-layered materials and structures using Non-Destructive Testing is the main focus of this work. Image processing is applied on the 3-D images to extract useful information. The data is processed by extracting areas of interest. The detected areas are subjected to image analysis for more particular investigation managed by a spatial model. Finally, the post-processing stage examines and evaluates the spatial accuracy of the extracted information.

Web-Based Essay Critiquing System and EFL Students' Writing: A Quantitative and Qualitative Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Cynthia; Wong, Kelvin C. K.; Cheung, William K.; Lee, Fion S. L.

2009-01-01

The paper first describes a web-based essay critiquing system developed by the authors using latent semantic analysis (LSA), an automatic text analysis technique, to provide students with immediate feedback on content and organisation for revision whenever there is an internet connection. It reports on its effectiveness in enhancing adult EFL…

An Automatic Caption Filtering and Partial Hiding Approach to Improving the English Listening Comprehension of EFL Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Ching-Kun; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chang, Chih-Kai

2014-01-01

Fostering the listening comprehension of English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners has been recognized as an important and challenging issue. Videos have been used as one of the English listening learning resources; however, without effective learning supports, EFL students are likely to encounter difficulties in comprehending the video content,…

GenieTutor: A Computer Assisted Second-Language Learning System Based on Semantic and Grammar Correctness Evaluations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwon, Oh-Woog; Lee, Kiyoung; Kim, Young-Kil; Lee, Yunkeun

2015-01-01

This paper introduces a Dialog-Based Computer-Assisted second-Language Learning (DB-CALL) system using semantic and grammar correctness evaluations and the results of its experiment. While the system dialogues with English learners about a given topic, it automatically evaluates the grammar and content properness of their English utterances, then…

Talk the Talk: Learner-Generated Podcasts as Catalysts for Knowledge Creation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Mark J. W.; McLoughlin, Catherine; Chan, Anthony

2008-01-01

Podcasting allows audio content from one or more user-selected feeds or channels to be automatically downloaded to one's computer as it becomes available, then later transferred to a portable player for consumption at a convenient time and place. It is enjoying phenomenal growth in mainstream society, alongside other Web 2.0 technologies that…

Use of Short Podcasts to Reinforce Learning Outcomes in Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aguiar, Cristina; Carvalho, Ana Amelia; Carvalho, Carla Joana

2009-01-01

Podcasts are audio or video files which can be automatically downloaded to one's computer when the episodes become available, then later transferred to a portable player for listening. The technology thereby enables the user to listen to and/or watch the content anywhere at any time. Formerly popular as radio shows, podcasting was rapidly explored…

Examining the Effect of Academic Procrastination on Achievement Using LMS Data in E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

You, Ji Won

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the effect of academic procrastination on e-learning course achievement. Because all of the interactions among students, instructors, and contents in an e-learning environment were automatically recorded in a learning management system (LMS), procrastination such as the delays in weekly scheduled learning and late…

Automatic Sound Generation for Spherical Objects Hitting Straight Beams Based on Physical Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rauterberg, M.; And Others

Sounds are the result of one or several interactions between one or several objects at a certain place and in a certain environment; the attributes of every interaction influence the generated sound. The following factors influence users in human/computer interaction: the organization of the learning environment, the content of the learning tasks,…

Automatic Guidance of Visual Attention from Verbal Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soto, David; Humphreys, Glyn W.

2007-01-01

Previous studies have shown that visual attention can be captured by stimuli matching the contents of working memory (WM). Here, the authors assessed the nature of the representation that mediates the guidance of visual attention from WM. Observers were presented with either verbal or visual primes (to hold in memory, Experiment 1; to verbalize,…

Video-Based Big Data Analytics in Cyberlearning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Shuangbao; Kelly, William

2017-01-01

In this paper, we present a novel system, inVideo, for video data analytics, and its use in transforming linear videos into interactive learning objects. InVideo is able to analyze video content automatically without the need for initial viewing by a human. Using a highly efficient video indexing engine we developed, the system is able to analyze…

A new biodegradable sisal fiber-starch packing composite with nest structure.

PubMed

Xie, Qi; Li, Fangyi; Li, Jianfeng; Wang, Liming; Li, Yanle; Zhang, Chuanwei; Xu, Jie; Chen, Shuai

2018-06-01

A new completely biodegradable sisal fiber-starch packing composite was proposed. The effects of fiber content and alkaline treatment on the cushioning property of the composites were studied from energy absorption efficiency, cellular microstructure and compatibility between fiber and starch. With increasing fiber content, the nest structure of composites becomes dense first and then loosens, resulting in initial enhancement and subsequent weakening of the cushioning property of the composites. The composite with 4:13 mass ratio of fiber and thermoplastic starch (TPS) exhibit the optimal cushioning property. Alkaline treatment increases the compatibility between sisal fiber and TPS, promotes the formation of dense nest structure, thereby enhances the cushioning property of the composites. After biodegradability tests for 28 days, the weight loss of the composites was 62.36%. It's found that the composites are a promising replacement for expandable polystyrene (EPS) as packing material, especially under large compression load (0.7-6 MPa). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Review on Automatic Mammographic Density and Parenchymal Segmentation

PubMed Central

He, Wenda; Juette, Arne; Denton, Erika R. E.; Oliver, Arnau

2015-01-01

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women. However, the exact cause(s) of breast cancer still remains unknown. Early detection, precise identification of women at risk, and application of appropriate disease prevention measures are by far the most effective way to tackle breast cancer. There are more than 70 common genetic susceptibility factors included in the current non-image-based risk prediction models (e.g., the Gail and the Tyrer-Cuzick models). Image-based risk factors, such as mammographic densities and parenchymal patterns, have been established as biomarkers but have not been fully incorporated in the risk prediction models used for risk stratification in screening and/or measuring responsiveness to preventive approaches. Within computer aided mammography, automatic mammographic tissue segmentation methods have been developed for estimation of breast tissue composition to facilitate mammographic risk assessment. This paper presents a comprehensive review of automatic mammographic tissue segmentation methodologies developed over the past two decades and the evidence for risk assessment/density classification using segmentation. The aim of this review is to analyse how engineering advances have progressed and the impact automatic mammographic tissue segmentation has in a clinical environment, as well as to understand the current research gaps with respect to the incorporation of image-based risk factors in non-image-based risk prediction models. PMID:26171249

Sulfur Content Precision Control Technology for CO2-Shielded Welding Wire Steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaofa, Zhang; Huaqiang, Hao; Youbing, Xiang; Shanxi, Liu

As a kind of impurity and displaying with FeS and MnS form in steel, Sulfur can make the disadvantage effect on the performance of hot-working, welding and corrosion resistance. The high content sulfur in steel can cause the hot brittle phenomenon for the steel. For the welding steel, when the sulfur content is higher, the drawing performance of wire rod become worst and the yield of wire rod decrease. When the sulfur is lower, the automatic wire feeding performance for the gas shielded welding become worst and the weld seam is not smooth. According to the results of welding expert research, 0.010%≤ S≤ 0.020% in CO2-shielded welding wire steel is reasonable.

Automatic loudness control in short-form content for broadcasting.

PubMed

Pires, Leandro da S; Vieira, Maurílio N; Yehia, Hani C

2017-03-01

During the early years of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) loudness calculation standard for sound broadcasting [ITU-R (2006), Rec. BS Series, 1770], the need for additional loudness descriptors to evaluate short-form content, such as commercials and live inserts, was identified. This work proposes a loudness control scheme to prevent loudness jumps, which can bother audiences. It employs short-form content audio detection and dynamic range processing methods for the maximum loudness level criteria. Detection is achieved by combining principal component analysis for dimensionality reduction and support vector machines for binary classification. Subsequent processing is based on short-term loudness integrators and Hilbert transformers. The performance was assessed using quality classification metrics and demonstrated through a loudness control example.

Identification and characterization of 4 missense mutations in brown midrib 12 (Bmr12); the caffeic O-methyltranferase (COMT) of sorghum

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Modifying lignin content and composition are targets to improve bioenergy crops for cellulosic conversion to biofuels. In sorghum and other C4 grasses, the brown midrib mutants have been shown to reduce lignin content and alter its composition. Bmr12 encodes the sorghum caffeic O-methyltransferase...

Moisture determination in composite materials using positron lifetime techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, J. J.; Holt, W. R.; Mock, W., Jr.

1980-01-01

A technique was developed which has the potential of providing information on the moisture content as well as its depth in the specimen. This technique was based on the dependence of positron lifetime on the moisture content of the composite specimen. The positron lifetime technique of moisture determination and the results of the initial studies are described.

Effect of boron and phosphate compounds on physical, mechanical, and fire properties of wood-polypropylene composites

Treesearch

Nadir Ayrilmis; Turgay Akbulut; Turker Dundar; Robert H. White; Fatih Mengeloglu; Umit Buyuksari; Zeki Candan; Erkan Avci

2012-01-01

Physical, mechanical, and fire properties of the injection-molded wood flour/polypropylene composites incorporated with different contents of boron compounds; borax/boric acid and zinc borate, and phosphate compounds; mono and diammonium phosphates were investigated. The effect of the coupling agent content, maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene, on the properties of...

Fractionation of Forest Residues of Douglas-fir for Fermentable Sugar Production by SPORL Pretreatment

Treesearch

Chao Zhang; J.Y. Zhu; Roland Gleisner; John Sessions

2012-01-01

Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forest residues were physically fractionated through sieving. The bark and wood were separated for large-sized fractions (>12.7 mm), and their contents were determined. The chemical compositions of the large fractions were calculated based on the contents and chemical compositions of the bark and wood. The...

Effects of Porosity on Ultrasonic Characteristic Parameters and Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Wen; Liu, Fushun

Voids are inevitable in the fabrication of fiber reinforced composites and have a detrimental impact on mechanical properties of composites. Different void contents were acquired by applying different vacuum bag pressures. Ultrasonic inspection and ablation density method were adopted to measure the ultrasonic characteristic parameters and average porosity, the characterization of voids' distribution, shape and size were carried out through metallographic analysis. Effects of void content on the tensile, flexural and interlaminar shear properties and the ultrasonic characteristic parameters were discussed. The results showed that, as vacuum bag pressure went from -50kPa to -98kPa, the voids content decreased from 4.36 to 0.34, the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient decreased, but the mechanical strengths all increased.

Morphological and biochemical alterations of skeletal muscles from the genetically obese (ob/ob) mouse.

PubMed

Kemp, J G; Blazev, R; Stephenson, D G; Stephenson, G M M

2009-08-01

Knowledge of the morphological and biochemical alterations occurring in skeletal muscles of obese animals is relatively limited, particularly with respect to non-limb muscles and relationship to fibre type. Sternomastoid (SM; fast-twitch), extensor digitorum longus (EDL; fast-twitch), and soleus (SOL; mixed) muscles of ob/ob mouse (18-22 weeks) were examined with respect to size (mass, muscle mass-to-body mass ratio, cross-sectional area (CSA)), fibre CSA, protein content, myosin heavy chain (MHC) content, MHC isoform (MHC(i)) composition, MHC(i)-based fibre type composition, and lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme (LDH(iso)) composition. Compared with (control) muscles from lean mice, all the three muscles from ob/ob mice were smaller in size (by 13-30%), with SM and EDL being the most affected. The CSA of IIB and IIB+IID fibres (the predominant fibre types in SM and EDL muscles) was markedly smaller (by approximately 30%) in ob/ob mice, consistent with differences in muscle size. Total protein content (normalised to muscle mass) was significantly lower in EDL (-9.7%) and SOL (-14.1%) muscles of ob/ob mice, but there were no differences between SM, EDL, and SOL muscles from the two animal groups with respect to MHC content (also normalised to muscle mass). Electrophoretic analyses of MHC(i) composition in whole muscle homogenates and single muscle fibres showed a shift towards slower MHC(i) content, slower MHC(i) containing fibres, and a greater proportion of hybrid fibres in all the three muscles of ob/ob mice, with a shift towards a more aerobic-oxidative phenotype also observed with respect to LDH(iso) composition. This study showed that SM, EDL, and SOL muscles of ob/ob mice display size reductions to an extent that seems to be largely related to fibre type composition, and a shift in fibre type composition that may result from a process of structural remodelling, as suggested by the increased proportion of hybrid fibres in muscles of ob/ob mice.