Correction to: Automatic stress analysis from facial videos based on deep facial action units recognition

Pattern Analysis and Applications - A correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s10044-021-01012-9     

Hen Egg‐White Lysozyme Crystallisation: Protein Stacking and Structure Stability Enhanced by a Tellurium(VI)‐Centred Polyoxotungstate

As synchrotron radiation becomes more intense, detectors become faster and structure‐solving software becomes more elaborate, obtaining single crystals suitable for data collection is now the bottleneck in macromolecular crystallography. Hence, there is a need for novel and advanced crystallisation agents with the ability to crystallise proteins that are otherwise challenging. Here, an Anderson–Evans‐type polyoxometalate (POM), specifically Na₆[TeW₆O₂₄] ? 22 H₂O (TEW), is employed as a crystallisation additive. Its effects on protein crystallisation are demonstrated with hen egg‐white lysozyme (HEWL), which co‐crystallises with TEW in the vicinity (or within) the liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) region. The X‐ray structure (PDB ID: 4PHI) determination revealed that TEW molecules are part of the crystal lattice, thus demonstrating specific binding to HEWL with electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonds. The negatively charged TEW polyoxotungstate binds to sites with a positive electrostatic potential located between two (or more) symmetry‐related protein chains. Thus, TEW facilitates the formation of protein–protein interfaces of otherwise repulsive surfaces, and thereby the realisation of a stable crystal lattice. In addition to retaining the isomorphicity of the protein structure, the anomalous scattering of the POMs was used for macromolecular phasing. The results suggest that hexatungstotellurate(VI) has great potential as a crystallisation additive to promote both protein crystallisation and structure elucidation.     

Modelling and investigation of clean power wind energy systems by using UPQC

This article presents a new clean power technique for wind energy system based on Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC) with usage of various Artificial Intelligent techniques (AI). Application of AI techniques such as Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic is growing fast in the area of power electronics equipment‐based wind energy system, for instance, UPQC. A novel control scheme is developed by using different AI techniques to mitigate the balancing issues and to control the power–quality problems in UPQC and hence to provide clean power to the grid. The proposed system is composed of shunt active power filter, and the inherent proportional integral (PI) control parameters are tuned with application of PI techniques. A detailed Matlab simulation study is carried out with an application of PI techniques under sag, swell, unbalanced, and harmonic conditions. An exhaustive simulation study is carried out to investigate the application of PI technique‐based controllers and compare its performance with the conventional PI controller with its results explored. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Episodic memory and impairment of an early encoding process in schizophrenia.

Investigations of memory impairment in schizophrenia have frequently revealed a strategic processing deficit at encoding. The authors studied an early encoding process, refreshing (in this case, thinking of a stimulus that has just-previously been presented), and its impact on recognition memory in schizophrenia. Following simultaneous presentation of three words or a single word in the top, middle, or bottom position of the screen, 25 patients with schizophrenia and 25 control participants saw and read a new word (read condition), or a word presented on the previous screen (repeat condition), or saw a dot indicating that they should think of and say the last word to have appeared in that position (refresh condition). Later, on a surprise test, participants were asked to recognize words seen previously and give a Remember, Know, or Guess response according to whether they recognized each on the basis of conscious recollection, familiarity, or guessing. The cognitive operation of refreshing was impaired in schizophrenia: patients were slower on 1-word trials and less accurate on 3-word trials to refresh a word, and their Remember responses did not benefit from refreshing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scene appearance model based on spatial prediction

The appearance of a static scene as sensed by a camera changes considerably as a result of changes in the illumination that falls upon it. Scene appearance modeling is thus necessary for understanding which changes in the appearance of a scene are the result of illumination changes. For any camera, the appearance of the scene is a function of the illumination sources in the scene, the three-dimensional configuration of the objects in the scene and the reflectance properties of all the surfaces in the scene. A scene appearance model is described here as a function of the behavior of static illumination sources, within or beyond the scene, and arbitrary three-dimensional configurations of patches and their reflectance distributions. Based on the suggested model, a spatial prediction technique was developed to predict the appearance of the scene, given a few measurements within it. The scene appearance model and the prediction technique were developed analytically and tested empirically. Two potential applications are briefly explored.     

The Interaction of γ-Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane with Oxidised Aluminium Substrates: The Effect of Drying Temperature

The interaction of γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPS) with oxidised aluminium substrates has been investigated in terms of the effect of the drying, or curing, temperature. Samples treated with aqueous solutions of GPS at concentrations of 1,4 and 8% v/v were cured at 25, 50, 93 and 120°C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) were used to construct adsorption isotherms and determine the thicknesses of the various GPS coatings. A temperature effect induces subtle changes in the structure of the resulting films. The uptake of GPS is increasing with increasing concentration of GPS. The structure of the films changes at a threshold temperature between 50 to 93°C. XPS and ToF-SIMS data both indicate that the interaction of the GPS film on aluminium is different for low and high temperatures drying regimes. Using the Beer-Lambert equation, it was found that increasing the curing temperature leads to the variation of the thickness of silane films. This is interpreted in terms of changes in the crosslink density of the films and in their state of hydration and/or degradation.     

Optical,Structural, Electrical Characterization of (Polyvinyl Alcohol–Carboxymethyl Cellulose-Manganese Dioxide) Nanocomposite Fabricated via Laser Ablation

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/Manganese dioxide (PVA/CMC/MnO₂ NPs) nanocomposite were produced by one-pot laser ablation route. PVA/CMC/MnO₂ NPs nanocomposite were prepared with different content of manganese dioxide nanoparticles. The formation of MnO₂ is confirmed by appearing diffraction peaks at 2θ?=?26.4°, 28.4°, 37.2°, 42.5°, 56.4°, 72.2° according to JCPDS No. 24-0735 which agreed with previous literature. The increasing of laser ablation time causes a change of all bands intensities. All the above conclusions affirmed the formation of Mn–O and their complexation with PVA/CMC blend. The ultraviolet and visible (UV/Vis.) measurements showed enhanced in the optical properties as the ratio of Manganese dioxide nanoparticles enhanced. The absorption edge is changed towards lower photon energy sides when MnO₂ NPs are added to the PVA/CMC. The AC conductivity was enhanced after the addition of MnO₂ NPs. The values of the ε′ and ε? of the synthesized samples increased as the ratio of Manganese dioxide nanoparticles increased, which is attributed to an increase in the current films' ion conduction. The obtained results demonstrate the benefits of using MnO₂ NPs as a filler to improve polymeric systems and suggest it for optical and electrical applications.

     

A pilot scale study of reverse osmosis for the purification of condensate arising from distillery stillage concentration plant

Reverse osmosis (RO) is an interesting process to eliminate small organic solutes (carboxylic acids and alcohols) from distillery condensates before recycling them into the fermentation step. This work investigates the influence of transmembrane pressure, pH and volume reduction factor (VRF) on the efficiency of reverse osmosis treatment of condensate from distillery stillage concentration at pilot scale using three pre-selected membranes (CPA2 and ESPA2 from Hydranautics, BW30 from DOW). Performances were assessed according to permeate flux, solutes rejection and abatement of fermentation inhibition. Transmembrane pressure increase leads to an increase of these three parameters with a plateau for rejections and abatement at 20 bar; however, in order to comply with membranes manufacturer's recommendations and to limit or delay polarization and fouling, it was decided to keep the permeate flux below a value of 30 L h⁻¹ m⁻². This corresponded to a maximum pressure of 10 bar for CPA2 and ESPA2 membranes and 25 bar for BW30 membrane. pH increase leads to a diminution of permeate flux and an increase of carboxylic acids rejection whatever the membrane; nevertheless, no abatement of fermentation inhibition is observed. Increasing VRF provokes a decrease of the permeate flux. Although local rejections are stable, the mean rejection assessed with the raw condensate (feed) and the mean permeate decreases. However, the fermentation inhibition remains under 10% up to a VRF of 8. BW30 membrane exhibits the highest rejections and inhibition abatement. On the basis of the pilot scale results with the BW30 membrane, a preliminary estimation of the membrane area is proposed for an industrial plant with 100 m³ h⁻¹ of condensate flow rate and the optimized parameters (pressure 25 bar, no pH modification, VRF 4 and 8).