Forty years of research in character and document recognition—an industrial perspective

This paper presents an overview on the last 40-years of technical advances in the field of character and document recognition. Representative developments in each decade are described. Then, key technical developments in the specific area of Kanji recognition in Japan are highlighted. The main part of the paper discusses robustness design principles, which have proven to be effective to solve complex problems in postal address recognition. Included are the hypothesis-driven principle, deferred decision/multiple-hypotheses principle, information integration principle, alternative solution principle, and perturbation principle. Finally, future prospects, the ‘long-tail’ phenomena, and promising new applications are discussed.     

Correction to: Development of a behavioral trajectory measurement system (Bucket-ANTAM) for organisms moving in a two-dimensional plane

Artificial Life and Robotics -     

Isolation of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in Saga Medical School Hospital

A recent nationwide increase in beta-lactams-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae has attracted a great deal of attention. We studied the drug sensitivity of S. pneumoniae isolated from various clinical specimens in Saga Medical School Hospital between April 1988 and December 1991. To determine the drug sensitivity of the strains, we used a micro-dilution method and determined the MIC. Drug resistance was evaluated using MIC of ampicillin (ABPC) as a reference MIC, and the results were roughly classified into the following three groups: sensitive (< or = 0.1 microgram/ml), moderately resistant (0.2-3.13 micrograms/ml) and highly resistant (> or = 6.25 micrograms/ml). The isolation frequency was calculated on the basis of one strain from one patient. No strain of S. pneumoniae with high resistance against ABPC was found in 1988 (94 strains of S. pneumoniae were isolated) and 1990 (115 strains isolated), but one such strain (0.8%) was found among 129 strains isolated in 1989, and 2 such strains (2.4%) among 84 strains isolated in 1991. Moderately resistant strains were isolated at the frequencies of 12.8%, 15.5%, 22.6%, and 21.4% respectively, in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991. A sum of the frequencies of "moderately resistant" and "highly resistant" (2.4%) strains was 23.8% in 1991. The frequency of resistant strains is increasing and the intensity of resistance is also being elevated.     

Phase Relations and Volume Changes of Hafnia under High Pressure and High Temperature

Using multi-anvil high-pressure devices and synchrotron radiation, X-ray in situ observations of HfO₂ under high pressure and high temperature have been performed to investigate its phase relations and compression behavior. An orthorhombic phase (orthoI) is stable from 4 to 14.5 GPa below 1250°–1400°C and transforms to a tetragonal phase, which is one of the high-temperature forms of HfO₂, above these temperatures. Another orthorhombic phase (orthoII) with a cotunnite-type structure appears above 14.5 GPa. OrthoII is stable up to 1800°C at 21 GPa. OrthoII is quenchable to ambient conditions. The orthoI-to-orthoII transition is accompanied by ∼8 vol% decrease. The bulk moduli of orthoI and orthoII at room temperature are 220 and 312 GPa, respectively. This low compressibility of orthoII indicates that it is a potential candidate for very hard materials.     

玻璃纤维/大麻纤维增强聚丙烯混杂复合材料的力学性能和断裂特征(英文)

目前在土木工程,建筑,汽车等领域里使用的复合材料中,玻璃纤维是用量最大的增强材料。由于保护地球环境的呼声日趋高涨,天然纤维被期待着代替源于石油而且再利用困难的玻璃纤维,成为绿色复合材料的必要材料之一。本文通过注射成型工艺制作了玻璃短纤维,大麻短纤维以及混杂型纤维增强复合材料,并在拉伸实验中应用两种不同频率的声发射技术检测了拉伸断裂特性。实验发现,随着大麻纤维的加入和混杂复合材料绿色度的增加,复合材料的拉伸弹性模量随之线性增大,而拉伸强度基本保持不变。当大麻纤维的含量超过20wt%的时候,拉伸强度开始降低。在不同频率的声发射实验中,混杂型复合材料的声发射事件的产生都比单一纤维增强型复合材料要来的晚,也就是说,纤维的混杂有助于推迟微裂纹的产生。     

Characterization of alternative plasticizers in poly(vinyl chloride) sheets for blood containers

This study aimed to optimize the ratio of dioctyl 4‐cyclohexene‐1,2‐dicarboxylate (DOTH) and di‐isononyl‐cyclohexane‐1,2‐dicarboxylate (DINCH^®) for use as plasticizers in poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) sheets. We also evaluated the biological safety of DOTH for its potential to be part of a safe PVC‐based blood container. The suppression of hemolysis in mannitol‐adenine‐phosphate / red cell concentrates (MAP/RCC) with DOTH/(DINCH^®‐PVC) sheets and the elution of plasticizers from the sheets increased with higher DOTH compositions. The properties of the PVC sheet containing DOTH and DINCH^® in the ratio of 25:33 parts against PVC 100 parts as a weight were almost identical to the PVC sheet made of di(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate. From a subchronic toxicity test, DOTH did not show any adverse effects on all organs, including the testes, epididymis, liver, and kidneys. The no‐observed‐adverse‐effect level was 300 mg/kg body weight/day in a rat. These results suggest that DOTH/DINCH^® (25:33) is a promising candidate for the replacement of di(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate in blood containers. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 22:520–528, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Size-dependent separation of graphene oxide by deformation of packed-gel in a chromatographic column

ABSTRACT

A deformable gel-packed chromatographic column was used to separate as-synthesized graphite oxide with different sizes. The synthesized gel (56 µm) was deformed by pressure of the fluid flow and the gaps in the gels showed a range of sizes. A suspension of graphene oxide (0.1 g/L, 10 mL) was injected, and graphene oxide in the elution had a size at 0.56 μm and 0.14 μm, whereas in half upper and bottom domain of the gel layer graphene oxide had a size at 33 µm and 2.9 µm, respectively, demonstrating that graphene oxide suspension was separated by size through gel layer.     

Unsteady behavior of leading-edge vortex and diffuser stall in a centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser

The characteristics of a rotating stall of an impeller and diffuser and the evolution of a vortex generated at the diffuser leading-edge (i.e., the leading-edge vortex (LEV)) in a centrifugal compressor were investigated by experiments and numerical analysis. The results of the experiments revealed that both the impeller and diffuser rotating stalls occurred at 55 and 25 Hz during off-design flow operation. For both, stall cells existed only on the shroud side of the flow passages, which is very close to the source location of the LEV. According to the CFD results, the LEV is made up of multiple vortices. The LEV is a combination of a separated vortex near the leading- edge and a longitudinal vortex generated by the extended tip-leakage flow from the impeller. Therefore, the LEV is generated by the accumulation of vorticity caused by the velocity gradient of the impeller discharge flow. In partial-flow operation, the spanwise extent and the position of the LEV origin are temporarily transmuted. The LEV develops with a drop in the velocity in the diffuser passage and forms a significant blockage within the diffuser passage. Therefore, the LEV may be regarded as being one of the causes of a diffuser stall in a centrifugal compressor.