No-Reference Video Quality Assessment using novel hybrid features and two-stage hybrid regression for score level fusion

This paper presents a novel No-Reference Video Quality Assessment (NR-VQA) model that utilizes proposed 3D steerable wavelet transform-based Natural Video Statistics (NVS) features as well as human perceptual features. Additionally, we proposed a novel two-stage regression scheme that significantly improves the overall performance of quality estimation. In the first stage, transform-based NVS and human perceptual features are separately passed through the proposed hybrid regression scheme: Support Vector Regression (SVR) followed by Polynomial curve fitting. The two visual quality scores predicted from the first stage are then used as features for the similar second stage. This predicts the final quality scores of distorted videos by achieving score level fusion. Extensive experiments were conducted using five authentic and four synthetic distortion databases. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other published state-of-the-art benchmark methods on synthetic distortion databases and is among the top performers on authentic distortion databases. The source code is available at https://github.com/anishVNIT/two-stage-vqa.     

Designing amorphous formulations of polyphenols with naringin by spray-drying for enhanced solubility and permeability

Naringin (NAR), a major flavanone (FVA) glycoside, is a component of food mainly obtained from grapefruit. We used NAR as a food additive to improve the solubility and permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols used as supplements in the food industry. The spray-dried particles (SDPs) of NAR alone show an amorphous state with a glass transition temperature (T_g) at 93.2 °C. SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols, such as flavone (FVO), quercetin (QCT), naringenin (NRG), and resveratrol (RVT) were prepared by adding varying amounts of NAR. All SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols with added NAR were in an amorphous state with a single T_g, but SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols without added NAR showed diffraction peaks derived from each crystal. The SDPs with NAR could keep an amorphous state after storage at a high humidity condition for one month, except for SDPs of RVT/NAR. SDPs with NAR enhanced the solubility of hydrophobic polyphenols, especially NRG solubility, which was enhanced more than 9 times compared to NRG crystal. The enhanced solubility resulted in the increased membrane permeability of NRG. The antioxidant effect of the hydrophobic NRG was also enhanced by the synergetic effect of NAR. The findings demonstrated that NAR could be used as a food additive to enhance the solubility and membrane permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols.     

Training visual attention in a naturalistic visual environment

The efficiency of training visual attention in the central and peripheral visual field was investigated by means of a visual detection task that was performed in a naturalistic visual environment including numerous, time-varying visual distractors. We investigated the minimum number of repetitions of the training required to obtain the top performance and whether intra-day training improved performance as efficiently as inter-day training. Additionally, our research aimed to find out whether exposure to a demanding task such as a microsurgical intervention may cancel out the effects of training.

Results showed that performance in visual attention peaked within three (for tasks in the central visual field) to seven (for tasks in the periphery) days subsequent to training. Intra-day training had no significant effect on performance. When attention training was administered after exposure to stress, improvement of attentional performance was more pronounced than when training was completed before the exposure. Our findings support the implementation of training in situ at work for more efficient results.

Practitioner Summary: Visual attention is important in an increasing number of workplaces, such as with surveillance, inspection, or driving. This study shows that it is possible to train visual attention efficiently within three to seven days. Because our study was executed in a naturalistic environment, training results are more likely to reflect the effects in the real workplace.     

Full Eulerian deformable solid-fluid interaction scheme based on building-cube method for large-scale parallel computing

We propose a full Eulerian incompressible solid-fluid interaction scheme capable of achieving high parallel efficiency and easily generating meshes for complex solid geometries. While good scalability of a full Eulerian solid-fluid interaction formulation has been reported by Sugiyama et al, their analysis was carried out using uniform Cartesian mesh and an artificial compressibility method. Typically, it is more challenging to achieve good scalability for hierarchical Cartesian meshes and a fully incompressible formulation. In addition, the conventional full Eulerian methods require a large computational cost to resolve complex solid geometries due to the usage of uniform Cartesian meshes. In an attempt to overcome the aforementioned issues, we employ the building-cube method, where the computational domain is divided into cubic regions called cubes. Each cube is divided at equal intervals, the same number of cubes is assigned to each core, and the spatial loop processing is executed for each cube. The numerical method is verified by computing five numerical examples. In the weak scaling test, the parallel efficiency at 32768 cores with 32 cores as a reference is 93.6%. In the strong scaling test, the parallel efficiency at 32768 cores with 128 cores as a reference is 70.2%.     

焦糖色配方的工艺优化

为烹饪中的焦糖色标准化和科学化生产提供科学依据,对焦糖色的最优配方和制作工艺进行了研究。以感官评分为标准,通过单因素试验和响应面试验研究了白砂糖添加量、加热时间、沸水添加量的影响。确定焦糖色最佳制作配方和工艺条件为:白砂糖添加量为153.51 g,加热时间为8.91 min,沸水添加量为99.88 g。经此配方工艺制作的焦糖色感官评分高达98.7,具有焦香味浓郁,色泽呈深黑红棕色且富有光泽等特点。最后,以卤肉为载体,比较焦糖色与常用食品增色剂老抽酱油以及焦糖色和老抽酱油混合物(老抽:焦糖=1:1混合,m/m)对食品色泽参数包括亮度L*值、红度a*值、黄度b*值、彩度c*值的影响。结果表明,三种食品增色剂对卤肉的亮度L*值和黄度b*值和彩度c*值没有显著性差异(p>0.05),对卤肉的红度a*值差异显著(p<0.05),说明焦糖色能够提高卤肉的光泽度和红度,与感官评定结果一致。     

基于深度卷积神经网络的视觉里程计研究

视觉里程计利用视频信息来估计相机运动的位姿参数，实现对智能体的定位。传统视觉里程计方法需要特征提取、特征匹配/跟踪、外点剔除、运动估计、优化等流程，解算非常复杂，因此，提出了基于卷积神经网络的方法来实现端对端的单目视觉里程计。借助卷积神经网络对彩色图片自动学习提取图像帧间变化的全局特征，将用于分类的卷积神经网络转化为帧间时序特征网络，通过三层全连接层输出相机的帧间相对位姿参数。在KITTI数据集上的实验结果表明，提出的Deep-CNN-VO模型可以较准确地估计车辆的运动轨迹，证明了方法的可行性。在简化了复杂模型的基础上，与传统的视觉里程计系统相比，该模型的精度也有所提高。     

乙酰丙酮-目视判读法快速测定白酒中甲醇的含量

目的建立了乙酰丙酮-目视判读法快速测定白酒中甲醇的方法。方法采用乙酰丙酮法,白酒中甲醇经高锰酸钾氧化,草酸还原过量高猛酸钾后,在沸水浴中与乙酰丙酮发生反应,并对分析条件进行了探讨优化,对酒精度影响和干扰因素进行了深入研究并提出了解决办法。结果对优化后的分析条件进行了多个实验室间验证。本快速检验方法灵敏度为100%,特异性为≥94%,假阴性为0%,假阳性率为≤6.0%,相对准确度≥98.5%,满足要求。结论该方法灵敏、准确、快速,适用于白酒中甲醇的含量的现场快速检测。     

舞台灯光对服饰视觉色感的影响研究

在舞台表演中,舞台灯光对人物服饰色彩的视觉体验有很大影响。文章基于光源、布料光谱信息和CIE-1931色度模型,模拟出计算面料色彩推测公式。并选取三种不同色调的LED光源作为舞台灯光,分别对七种面料进行色彩分析,发现深长春花蓝色、中蓝色面料在三种灯光下的色相变化不明显,与太阳光下呈现色彩接近;丁香紫色和兰花紫色面料与灯光色彩倾向一致;金黄色、橙红色和兰花紫色三种颜色在蓝光强烈情况下的色彩视认性更强。最后,结合舞台色彩的视认性和色彩的意象,为舞台服装设计与灯光设计在视觉色感的选择提供帮助。     

Citrate- and glycerol triesters as novel dual-functional dispersants and plasticisers for ceramic processing

Short chained triesters of glycerol and citric acid were systematically investigated as novel dual-functional dispersants and plasticisers for use in ceramic processing. Additional systematic studies on a series of diesters having structural similarities with the citrate and glycerol triesters were performed to further assess the significance of specific functional groups for the stabilisation of suspensions.The overall purpose of this work consists in simplifying the formulation for ceramic processing slurries while at the same time limiting the environmental impact and toxicity. The use of multifunctional additives reduces the risk of unwanted interactions between different components. Additionally, the possible use of one additive in more than one role opens the opportunity for an overall reduction in the number and amount of chemicals and therefore reduction of costs and risks.For the citrate ester candidates, different alkoxy groups were tested as well as the acetylation on the hydroxyl group. The glycerol esters differed by the length of the carboxylic chain.Especially triethyl and tributyl citrate are proposed as promising dual-functional additives for ceramic processing. Specifically, for triethyl citrate the dual-function was finally demonstrated by producing a dense piece of 8YSZ through tape casting and subsequent sintering.     

Novel approach for the development of dietary fibre-anthocyanin enriched functional bread from culinary banana bract

Dietary fibre (DF)-anthocyanin formulation was incorporated in bread to develop anthocyanin rich DF powder (ARDFP) fortified bread. Prior to incorporation of DF-anthocyanin formulation in bread preparation, the cytotoxicity of DF and anthocyanin extracts was assessed. The effect of incorporation of different level of ARDFP with moisture on bread quality characteristics such as specific volume, textural, colour, sensory properties and starch digestibility was studied. The results revealed that extracted DF and anthocyanin of culinary banana bracts were nontoxic towards peripheral blood mononuclear cell and cytotoxic towards HT29 cancerous cell line. Incorporation of 2% ARDFP with 68% moisture was rated as best with higher specific volume (5.50 cm³ g⁻¹), improved textural properties (high springiness and cohesiveness), anthocyanin content (9.08 mg per 100 g), colour characteristics and sensory acceptability next to control. The in vitro digestibility study suggested increased incorporation of ARDFP in bread flour reduced the rate of starch digestibility (0.0035 min⁻¹).