Modelling of chromatic contrast for retrieval of wallpaper images

Colour remains one of the key factors in presenting an object and, consequently, has been widely applied in retrieval of images based on their visual contents. However, a colour appearance changes with the change of viewing surroundings, the phenomenon that has not been paid attention yet while performing colour‐based image retrieval. To comprehend this effect, in this article, a chromatic contrast model, CAMcc, is developed for the application of retrieval of colour intensive images, cementing the gap that most of existing colour models lack to fill by taking simultaneous colour contrast into account. Subsequently, the model is applied to the retrieval task on a collection of museum wallpapers of colour‐rich images. In comparison with current popular colour models including CIECAM02, HSI and RGB, with respect to both foreground and background colours, CAMcc appears to outperform the others with retrieved results being closer to query images. In addition, CAMcc focuses more on foreground colours, especially by maintaining the balance between both foreground and background colours, while the rest of existing models take on dominant colours that are perceived the most, usually background tones. Significantly, the contribution of the investigation lies in not only the improvement of the accuracy of colour‐based image retrieval but also the development of colour contrast model that warrants an important place in colour and computer vision theory, leading to deciphering the insight of this age‐old topic of chromatic contrast in colour science. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 361–373, 2015     

Simultaneous process optimization and heat integration based on rigorous process simulations

This paper introduces a simultaneous process optimization and heat integration approach, which can be used directly with the rigorous models in process simulators. In this approach, the overall process is optimized utilizing external derivative-free optimizers, which interact directly with the process simulation. The heat integration subproblem is formulated as an LP model and solved simultaneously during optimization of the flowsheet to update the minimum utility and heat exchanger area targets. A piecewise linear approximation for the composite curve is applied to obtain more accurate heat integration results. This paper describes the application of this simultaneous approach for three cases: a recycle process, a separation process and a power plant with carbon capture. Case study results indicate that this simultaneous approach is relatively easy to implement and achieves higher profit and lower operating cost and, in the case of the power plant example, higher net efficiency than the sequential approach.     

聚酯类增塑剂的合成与应用研究进展

综述了国内外聚酯增塑剂的合成及应用的最新研究进展，重点介绍了超支化、生物基、石油基聚酯增塑剂的合成与制备方法以及不同类型聚酯增塑剂在聚氯乙烯(PVC)、淀粉、聚乳酸、聚氨酯弹性体与橡胶制品中的最新应用研究进展；并对聚酯增塑剂未来发展方向做了展望。     

The formation of fibrous structure of polyamide 6 induced by the three-step forming process and its prominent reinforcement in nitrile rubber

Nitrile rubber (NBR) blends with excellent performance have always been a hot research topic in petroleum field. Due to the excellent performance and compatibility of polyamide 6 (PA6), it provides an opportunity for the preparation of high-performance NBR/PA6 blends. In this article, NBR/PA6 blends were prepared by the three-step molding process. Experimentally, it was found that PA6 has a prominent reinforcement effect in NBR matrix. The variation of this mechanical property was investigated from different aspects of the crystal structure, crystallinities, phase morphology, and so on. It can be cleared that the formation of fibrous structure of PA6 phase is the main factor for reinforcement of the polymer blends. Meanwhile, the formation mechanism of the special phase structure induced by the three-step process is deeply expounded and its structural evolution schematic is established. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47472.     

Perception‐aware autonomous mast motion planning for planetary exploration rovers

Highly accurate real‐time localization is of fundamental importance for the safety and efficiency of planetary rovers exploring the surface of Mars. Mars rover operations rely on vision‐based systems to avoid hazards as well as plan safe routes. However, vision‐based systems operate on the assumption that sufficient visual texture is visible in the scene. This poses a challenge for vision‐based navigation on Mars where regions lacking visual texture are prevalent. To overcome this, we make use of the ability of the rover to actively steer the visual sensor to improve fault tolerance and maximize the perception performance. This paper answers the question of where and when to look by presenting a method for predicting the sensor trajectory that maximizes the localization performance of the rover. This is accomplished by an online assessment of possible trajectories using synthetic, future camera views created from previous observations of the scene. The proposed trajectories are quantified and chosen based on the expected localization performance. In this study, we validate the proposed method in field experiments at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Mars Yard. Furthermore, multiple performance metrics are identified and evaluated for reducing the overall runtime of the algorithm. We show how actively steering the perception system increases the localization accuracy compared with traditional fixed‐sensor configurations.     

A novel bio‐based phthalonitrile resin derived from catechin: synthesis and comparison of curing behavior with petroleum‐based counterpart

The development of bio‐based thermosetting resins with good thermal stability can potentially afford sustainable polymers as replacements for petroleum‐based polymers. We report a practical route to a novel catechin‐based phthalonitrile resin precursor (CA‐Ph), which contains free phenolic hydroxyl groups that result in ‘self‐curing’ at elevated temperatures to afford a thermostable polymer. Comparison of the performance of this CA‐Ph resin with that of a conventional petroleum‐based bisphenol A phthalonitrile resin (BPA‐Ph; containing 5 wt% of the curing agent 4,4′‐diaminodiphenylsulfone) revealed that CA‐Ph exhibits a lower melting point and curing temperature. Cured CA‐Ph resin retains 95% of its weight at 520 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere, which compares favorably with results obtained for BPA‐Ph resin that retains 95% of its weight at a lower temperature of 484 °C. Kinetic results indicated that the curing reactions of both CA‐Ph and BPA‐Ph systems follow an autocatalytic mechanism. These results suggest that catechin is a useful bio‐based feedstock for the preparation of self‐curing and thermally stable phthalonitrile resins for advanced technological applications. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

A scalable architecture for geometric correction of multi-projector display systems

Multi-projector displays allow the realization of large and immersive projection environments by allowing the tiling of projections from multiple projectors. Such tiled displays require real time geometrical warping of the content that is being projected from each projector. This geometrical warping is a computationally intensive operation and is typically applied using high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) that are able to process a defined number of projector channels. Furthermore, this limits the applicability of such multi-projector display systems only to the content that is being generated using desktop based systems. In this paper we propose a platform independent FPGA based scalable hardware architecture for geometric correction of projected content that allows addition of each projector channel at a fractional increase in logic area. The proposed scheme provides real time correction of HD quality video streams and thus enables the use of this technology for embedded and standalone devices.     

Producing fully-lamellar microstructure for wrought beta-gamma TiAl alloys without single α-phase field

Fine-grained fully-lamellar (FL) microstructure is desired for TiAl components to serve as compressor/turbine blades and turbocharger turbine wheels. This study deals with the process and phase transformation to produce FL microstructure for Mo stabilized beta-gamma TiAl alloys without single α-phase field. Unlike the α + γ two-phased TiAl or beta-gamma TiAl with single α-phase field, the wrought multi-phase TiAl–4/6Nb–2Mo–B/Y alloys exhibit special annealing process to obtain FL microstructure. Short-term annealing at temperatures slightly above β-transus is recommended to produce the desired FL microstructure. The related mechanism is to guarantee the sufficient diffusion homogenization of β stabilizers during single β-phase annealing, and further avoid α decomposition by α → γ + β when cooling through α + β + γ phase field. The colony boundary β phase contributes to fine-grained nearly FL microstructure, by retarding the coarsening of the α phase grains.     

Polymer derived ceramic materials from Si,B and MoSiB filler-loaded perhydropolysilazane precursor for oxidation protection

Silica-based coating systems were developed using polymer derived ceramics (PDCs) technology. Ceramic composites on the base of a SiO₂ and SiNO matrix and homogeneously distributed Mo₅SiB₂, SiB₆, Si and B fillers were manufactured. The coating systems have low porosity and provide a high oxidation resistance up to 100 h at 800 °C and 1100 °C in air. The influence of temperature and atmosphere of pyrolysis on the polymer precursor, the volume fraction of filler materials on the chemical composition of compacts as well as their high-temperature oxidation protection was investigated.