3D Hair sketching for real-time dynamic & key frame animations

Physically based simulation of human hair is a well studied and well known problem. But the “pure” physically based representation of hair (and other animation elements) is not the only concern of the animators, who want to “control” the creation and animation phases of the content. This paper describes a sketch-based tool, with which a user can both create hair models with different styling parameters and produce animations of these created hair models using physically and key frame-based techniques. The model creation and animation production tasks are all performed with direct manipulation techniques in real-time.     

Qualitativ-quantitative Simulation, ein Instrument zur Analyse nichtlinearer Regelkreise

Qualitative-quantitative simulation is one of the most productive and promising research areas in Artificial Intelligence to emerge in recent years. This method provides an elegant way for an exhaustive analysis of uncertain dynamic systems. The application of the qualitative-quantitative simulation is shown in this paper. The important question about the stability of a quanlitatively described dynamical system is solved by a novel analytic method.     

Use of sea water in the flotation of carbonate rich sedimentary phosphate rock

There is an appreciable amount of carbonaceous sedimentary phosphate deposits in the northern Africa and the Middle East which are expected to gain importance in the near future because of the depletion of the deposits in Florida. In many of the regions where phosphate deposits are found there is a shortage of fresh water, and sea is not very far. The use of sea water instead of fresh water in flotation of carbonaceous phosphate rock is successfully demonstrated. Thus an appreciable reduction in the operating cost and an ample amount of saving in the fresh water resources of the region is expected.     

General solution of one-dimensional,time dependent coupled heat flow systems

A new, powerful method of analysis, involving the combined use of finite integral transform and finite element techniques, is presented for the solution of time dependent heat flow systems composed of many one-dimensional elements connected through the nodes. This method leads to an eigenvalue problem which is not of the conventional Sturm-Liouville type. A procedure for the determination of the eigenvalues is described. The solution obtained is in the form of an infinite series and contains quasi-steady and transient terms. The general solution obtained can be applied in the mathematical modelling of many engineering applications such as the determination of the penetration of the daily temperature cycle into buildings, the analysis of heat transfer in array of extended surfaces in compact heat exchangers, and many others.     

Nature-Inspired Meta-Heuristics on Modern GPUs: State of the Art and Brief Survey of Selected Algorithms

Graphic processing units (GPUs) emerged recently as an exciting new hardware environment for a truly parallel implementation and execution of Nature and Bio-inspired Algorithms with excellent price-to-power ratio. In contrast to common multicore CPUs that contain up to tens of independent cores, the GPUs represent a massively parallel single-instruction multiple-data devices that can nowadays reach peak performance of hundreds and thousands of giga floating-point operations per second. Nature and Bio-inspired Algorithms implement parallel optimization strategies in which a single candidate solution, a group of candidate solutions (population), or multiple populations seek for optimal solution or set of solutions of given problem. Genetic algorithms (GA) constitute a family of traditional and very well-known nature-inspired populational meta-heuristic algorithms that have proved its usefulness on a plethora of tasks through the years. Differential evolution (DE) is another efficient populational meta-heuristic algorithm for real-parameter optimization. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) can be seen as nature-inspired multiagent method in which the interaction of simple independent agents yields intelligent collective behavior. Simulated annealing (SA) is global optimization algorithm which combines statistical mechanics and combinatorial optimization with inspiration in metallurgy. This survey provides a brief overview of the latest state-of-the-art research on the design, implementation, and applications of parallel GA, DE, PSO, and SA-based methods on the GPUs.     

In situ esterification of rice bran oil with methanol and ethanol

In situ esterifications of high-acidity rice bran oil with methanol and ethanol and with sulfuric acid as catalyst were investigated. In the esterification with methanol, all free fatty acids (FFA) dissolved in methanol were interesterified within 15 min, and it was possible to obtain nearly pure methyl esters. The amount of methyl esters obtained from a given rice bran was dependent on the FFA content of the rice bran oil. In the esterification with ethanol, it was not possible to obtain pure esters as in methanol esterification, because the solubilities of oil components in ethanol were much higher than those in methanol.     

Influence of Atomizing Gases on the Oxide-Film Morphology and Thickness of Aluminum Powders

Fine powders of aluminum were produced in a pilot-plant, inert-gas atomizerwith a confined-design nozzle, which operated vertically upward. Argonand helium at 1.85 MPa and nitrogen at 1.56 MPa were used as the atomizingagent. The morphology of the powder particles was examined by SEM. Powderswere sieved dry and wet. The Sauter mean diameter of the powders varied from20.70 to 10.25 m depending on the atomizing gas. The distribution ofsizes was bimodal. The mean thickness of oxide on the surface of the powderwas calculated from the total oxygen contents of powder samples (determinedby a Leco analyzer). In addition, ESCA measurements and BET tests werecarried out for surface-oxide thickness and area measurements,respectively. The finest powder produced under helium incorporated thinnersurface-oxide layers than the coarser ones produced under argon andnitrogen. This was due to differences in physical properties (such asdensity, thermal conductivity) and flow properties (such as gasvelocity and relative velocity) of the atomizing gases used, i.e., helium,argon, and nitrogen. The oxide was very irregular in thickness in thecoarse-size range of the Al powders produced under argon and nitrogen. Thiswas presumably because of the high- and low-temperature oxidation ofaluminum droplets during the atomization and subsequent solidification andcooling periods leading to the rough surfaces observed with SEMinvestigation in the present work.     

An architectural counterpoint in Universal Everything: Fluid Bodies exhibition

ABSTRACT

This exhibition review focuses on the quest for weaving boundaries between body-form-space-and material relationship using immersive technologies. Emerging as an architectural counterpoint, Universal Everything: Fluid Bodies exhibition held in Borusan Contemporary focuses on how we perceive the motion and form in relation to it, as well as fusing senses of kinaesthetic and synaesthetic through a data driven and motion-based visual representation. Through these algorithms, the exhibition displays how neuroarchitecture reminds us of the senses of perception. The architectural counterpoint, intention as an interaction and encounter of the body with ‘the machine’ as the ‘voyeur body’ and how this observational dialogue becomes a research methodology in understanding the nature of movement in space through digital tools.     

Absorption of di-linoleoylphosphatidylcholine after oral administration

Essentiale and Lipostabil contain "essential" phospholipids from the soybean, mainly 1,2-dilinoleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (CAS 998-06-1, DLPC) which is considered as the main active ingredient. A single oral dose of d15-DLPC loaded with deuterium 9 times in the choline and 6 times in the linoleic acid of the 1-position was given to volunteers. Sera from 11 blood samples taken within 48 h after application were examined by means of mass spectrometry with regard to d9-choline and d6-linoleic acid in the 1- and 2-position of serum phosphatidylcholines (PC) as well as in the serum triglycerides. d9-choline, i.e. the total of d15-PC and d9-PC, showed maximum values of 5.6% of the total serum PC concentration. Normally, about 1.3% of PC in the human serum is DLPC. Serum 1-linoleoyl-PC was increased by 32-40% after oral application of d15-DLPC. A minor uptake of d6-linoleic acid into the 2-position of serum PC, which is rich in linoleic acid, and into the serum triglycerides was observed with peak values of 2.3% and 6.1%, resp. The uptake of polyunsaturated PC species like DLPC and 1-linoleoyl-PC into the liver after oral application of drugs containing such species in high amounts like "essential" phospholipids with about 50% of DLPC let expect therapeutic effects on membranes into which this special species is incorporated.