Digital canvas removal in paintings

The periodic structure of the underlying support of paintings on canvas can become quite prominent and disturbing in high resolution digital recordings. In this paper, we construct a new model and method for the digital removal of canvas which is considered as a noise component superimposed on the painting artwork. The high resolution of the images prohibits the efficient application of existing adaptive denoising filters. Hence, a two-step approach is proposed. First a (smoothing) Wiener filter is applied to the complete image. The second step consists of a spatially adaptive extension with low-complexity to obtain a generic digital canvas removal filter.     

Development and evaluation of an intervention to reduce rip current related beach drowning

The objective of this research was to evaluate a campaign to improve beachgoer recognition of calm-looking rip currents, known to contribute to surf drowning. Posters, postcards, and brochures conveying the message “Don’t get sucked in by the rip” were distributed in an intervention area. Beachgoers were interviewed in this and a similar control area one year before and immediately after the intervention (respective response rates: 69.9% and 82.3%), Consenting respondents were sent follow-up questionnaires after approximately 6 months and 55% responded. In the intervention area, 28.8% of post-intervention, and 57.2% of follow-up respondents, had seen our campaign. At post-intervention, intervention respondents demonstrated improvement (relative to baseline) in intentions to swim away from a calm-looking rip, ability and confidence in identifying a rip, intention never to swim at unpatrolled beaches, and responses to being caught in a rip, compared to the control respondents. Similar improvements were observed post-intervention for respondents in the intervention area who had seen our campaign (relative to those who had not), and at 6 month follow-up for intervention respondents (relative to control respondents). The relatively brief print-based campaign was effective in warning beachgoers about calm-looking rips.     

‘A dream of fair ladies’ Mrs Cameron disguised

Abstract

It is a disconcerting pleasure to meet old friends in unexpected settings. Mrs Cameron, whose name will be forever linked with Freshwater and Farringford on the Isle of Wight, spent her youth and early married life in India, returning home only in 1848. So it came about that she happened to be standing on the banks of the River Hooghly at Calcutta in the autumn of 1847, when the steamer carrying a young girl fresh from England let down its anchor. Miss Emily Metcalfe noted with maddening discretion in her journal.     

Carotene Degradation and Isomerization during Thermal Processing: A Review on the Kinetic Aspects

Kinetic models are important tools for process design and optimization to balance desired and undesired reactions taking place in complex food systems during food processing and preservation. This review covers the state of the art on kinetic models available to describe heat-induced conversion of carotenoids, in particular lycopene and β-carotene. First, relevant properties of these carotenoids are discussed. Second, some general aspects of kinetic modeling are introduced, including both empirical single-response modeling and mechanism-based multi-response modeling. The merits of multi-response modeling to simultaneously describe carotene degradation and isomerization are demonstrated. The future challenge in this research field lies in the extension of the current multi-response models to better approach the real reaction pathway and in the integration of kinetic models with mass transfer models in case of reaction in multi-phase food systems.     

Autism-friendly architecture from the outside in and the inside out: an explorative study based on autobiographies of autistic people

Researchers and designers each developed a particular vision on autism-friendly architecture. Because the basis of this vision is not always clear, questions arise about its meaning and value and about how it can be put to use. People with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum are central to these questions, yet risk to disappear from the picture. Refocusing the discourse about autism-friendly architecture on them was the aim of the explorative study reported here. Six autobiographies written by autistic (young) adults were analysed from two different viewpoints. First, concepts from design guidelines concerning autism-friendly architecture were confronted with fragments from these autobiographies. The second part of the analysis started from the autobiographies themselves. This analysis shows that concepts can be interpreted in multiple ways. They can reinforce but also counteract each other, thus asking for critical judgment. An open space is preferred by some autistic people because it affords having an overview, which increases predictability, and distancing oneself from others without being isolated. Others might like this space to be subdivided into several separate spaces, which affords a sense of structure or reduces sensory inputs present in one room. The six autobiographies provide a glimpse of autistic people’s world of experience. Analysing these is a first step in revealing what architecture can actually mean from their point of view. For them, the material environment has a prominent meaning that is, however, not always reducible to design guidelines. It offers them something to hold on to, relate to or structure their reality.     

Topical safety and vasoconstrictive assay-based bioequivalence of a new reformulated mometasone cream

Objectives: A new improved mometasone furoate (Elocon?) cream with an emulsification system that produces a stable emulsion has been developed. In order to register the product in various markets, it was essential to ensure the cream was topically well tolerated and that it was bioequivalent to the reference product.

Methods: Phase I clinical studies were performed to assess the local safety and tolerability upon multiple dosing of this new cream as well as to assess the single-dose bioequivalence relative to the marketed product. Bioequivalence was assessed using a vasoconstrictive assay (VCA) after a dose-duration pilot study was completed with the marketed Elocon cream.

Key findings: The new mometasone cream and its vehicle were nonirritating in healthy subjects during 21-day patch application (MCII <0.025). The positive control was moderately irritating in the same study. The pivotal VCA study enrolled 162 subjects with 105 detectors included in the analysis of bioequivalence. In the 105 detectors, the ratio (×100%) of AUEC values at ED₅₀ for test vs. standard (90% CI) was 112.91% (105.55, 120.87), within the bioequivalence criteria of (80, 125).

Conclusions: These studies supported the registration of reformulated mometasone cream in various markets.     

Active tuned mass damper for damping of offshore wind turbine vibrations

An active tuned mass damper (ATMD) is employed for damping of tower vibrations of fixed offshore wind turbines, where the additional actuator force is controlled using feedback from the tower displacement and the relative velocity of the damper mass. An optimum tuning procedure equivalent to the tuning procedure of the passive tuned mass damper combined with a simple procedure for minimizing the control force is employed for determination of optimum damper parameters and feedback gain values. By time domain simulations conducted in an aeroelastic code, it is demonstrated that the ATMD can be used to further reduce the structural response of the wind turbine compared with the passive tuned mass damper and this without an increase in damper mass. A limiting factor of the design of the ATMD is the displacement of the damper mass, which for the ATMD, increases to compensate for the reduction in mass. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Student perspectives on mentoring in a science outreach project

Abstract

The focus of this paper is an examination of mentorship relationships developed as a result of six students’ participation in a local community science centre sponsored through an NSERC/CRYSTAL project. Each year, a number of students participate in after‐school activities sponsored by the community science centre. Much of this work involves a one‐to‐one approach, with a middle years or high school student working with a professor partner. The professor acts as a mentor to the student, facilitating learning in a manner not always feasible within a school setting with large class sizes. For some students this research may be the basis of a science fair project; for others if is simply a study based on individual interest. Mentored students were interviewed about the nature of that mentorship, with the goal of describing the experience from the students’ perspective. Questions focused on the student's experience of working with a mentor, including how the mentorship relationship was formed, what the importance of the voluntary nature of mentoring was, what the benefits and challenges of working with a mentor were, how the mentorship relationship affected the level of content knowledge the student gained, and what effect the mentoring relationship had on the student's continuing interest in science. The mentorship program offers students the opportunity to work within a developing community of practice.