Random forest-based tuberculosis bacteria classification in images of ZN-stained sputum smear samples

In this paper, we present a robust hybrid watermarking method applied to color images for authentication, which presents robustness against several distortions. Due to the different nature of common signal processing and geometrical attacks, two different techniques for embed a same watermark are used in this method. In the first one, the luminance component (Y) information is used to embed the watermark bit sequence into the magnitude of the middle frequencies of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). In the second one, a selected region of 2D histogram composed by blue-difference and red-difference (Cb–Cr) chrominance components is modified according to the watermark bit sequence. The quality of the watermarked image is measured using the following well-known indices peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), visual information fidelity (VIF) and structural similarity index (SSIM). The difference color of the watermarked image is obtained using the normalized color difference (NCD) measure. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides robustness against several geometric distortions, signal processing operations, combined distortions and photo editing. The comparison with the previously reported methods based on different techniques is also provided.     

Optimal temperature control of solar heating systems

Temperature control systems based on solar and wind energy differ in two important ways from existing fossil fuel systems. One is that solar systems, at least active solar systems, all have some kind of energy storage, the other is that the source of energy in a solar and wind energy system is variable and uncontrollable. Because of these added complications and the high capital investment required for solar and wind energy systems, considerably more sophisticated techniques are required for the design of those systems. In this study, a new technique is applied to the optimal control problem of solar heating systems.     

Temperature‐induced surfactant‐ mediated pre‐concentration of uranium assisted by complexation

Cloud‐point extraction (CPE) was used with lipophilic chelating agent to extract uranium(VI) from aqueous solutions. The methodology used is based on the formation of metal complexes soluble in a micellar phase of a non‐ionic surfactant, Triton X‐114. The metal ions complexes are then extracted into the surfactant‐rich phase at a temperature above the cloud‐point temperature. The influence of surfactant concentration on extraction efficiency was studied and the advantage of adding 8‐hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) as lipophilic chelating agent was evidenced. High extraction efficiency was observed, indicating the feasibility of extracting U(VI) using CPE. This study describes a four‐step process—(1) extraction, (2) thermo‐induced phase splitting, (3) back‐extraction and (4) second phase splitting—for the recovery of uranium from water. In our conditions, the extraction yield is quantitative and the concentration factor obtained is superior to 100. After stripping with a diluted nitric acid solution (pH < 1), the system can be recycled through a new four‐step cycle. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Discriminative analysis of lip motion features for speaker identification and speech-reading.

There have been several studies that jointly use audio, lip intensity, and lip geometry information for speaker identification and speech-reading applications. This paper proposes using explicit lip motion information, instead of or in addition to lip intensity and/or geometry information, for speaker identification and speech-reading within a unified feature selection and discrimination analysis framework, and addresses two important issues: 1) Is using explicit lip motion information useful, and, 2) if so, what are the best lip motion features for these two applications? The best lip motion features for speaker identification are considered to be those that result in the highest discrimination of individual speakers in a population, whereas for speech-reading, the best features are those providing the highest phoneme/word/phrase recognition rate. Several lip motion feature candidates have been considered including dense motion features within a bounding box about the lip, lip contour motion features, and combination of these with lip shape features. Furthermore, a novel two-stage, spatial, and temporal discrimination analysis is introduced to select the best lip motion features for speaker identification and speech-reading applications. Experimental results using an hidden-Markov-model-based recognition system indicate that using explicit lip motion information provides additional performance gains in both applications, and lip motion features prove more valuable in the case of speech-reading application.     

Seismic Design of Lifeline Bridge using Hybrid Seismic Isolation

This paper presents the merits of a hybrid seismic isolation system used for the seismic design of a major bridge. The bridge is analyzed for two different arrangements of seismic isolation systems. The first arrangement consists of friction pendulum bearings at all substructure locations; the other incorporates a hybrid system where laminated elastomeric bearings are used at the abutments and friction pendulum bearings at the piers. Analysis results have demonstrated that the hybrid seismic isolation system provided a structure with a fundamental period long enough to attract smaller seismic forces, while controlling the magnitude of isolation bearings displacements. It also provided a more uniform distribution of seismic forces among substructure elements. As a result, higher seismic forces on the piers were reduced, allowing for a more economical design of substructures. The hybrid seismic isolation system helped to control the wind-induced vibrations and reduced the sizes of the isolation bearings.     

Continuous dense‐phase CO2 processing of a coconut water beverage

Effects of dense‐phase CO₂ (DPCD) on microbial, physical, chemical and sensorial quality of coconut water (CW) beverage were evaluated. Pressure during DPCD treatment was not significant in microbial reduction whereas temperature and % CO₂ levels were significant. DPCD‐treated (34.5 MPa, 25 °C, 13% CO₂, 6 min), heat‐pasteurised (74 °C, 15 s) and untreated CW beverages were evaluated during 9 weeks of refrigerated storage (4 °C). Total aerobic bacteria of DPCD and heat‐treated samples decreased whereas that of untreated samples increased to >10⁵ CFU mL^?1 after 9 weeks. DPCD increased titratable acidity but did not change pH (4.20) and °Brix (6.0). Likeability of DPCD‐treated CW was similar to untreated. Heat‐treated samples were less liked (α = 0.05) at the beginning of storage. Off flavour and taste‐difference‐from‐control scores of heated samples were higher than DPCD during the first two weeks. DPCD extended shelf life of acidified, sweetened and carbonated CW over 9 weeks at 4 °C.