Precise capture of colors in cultural heritage digitization

A workflow for the color reproduction of digital still images for the purpose of cultural heritage digitization is presented. An analysis was performed to determine the effect of RAW to TIFF transformation; RGB to CIE L*a*b* transformation; white balancing; use of standard color spaces: sRGB, AdobeRGB (1998), ProPhoto RGB, eciRGBv2; custom DCP, and ICC profiles assigning. For the analysis, Color Checker Classic and Digital Color Checker SG targets were used. The precision of the color reproduction was checked against FADGI and Metamorfoze standards. We demonstrate that to obtain high color fidelity reproduction, white balancing and a custom ICC profile are necessary, while DCP profiling could be omitted. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 333–336, 2017     

Novel chain structures in group VI elements

Recent developments in high-pressure methods and advances in X-ray crystallography have led to a new level of understanding of phase diagrams and structures of materials under pressure. Recently discovered phenomena such as complex phases of alkali metals, incommensurate host-guest structures, and incommensurately modulated structures have rendered obsolete our conventional wisdom about the range of structures possible in the elements. Using new in situ diffraction techniques, we have resolved the long-standing problem of the phase-transition sequence of sulphur in its non-metallic state. We demonstrate that it is very different from that previously proposed, with only two phases stable between 1.5 GPa and 83 GPa (the pressure of metallization), and temperatures from 300 K to 1,100 K. The phases have a triangular chain and a squared chain structure. The same squared chain structure is found in the heavier group VI element selenium.     

Processing conditions, morphology and properties of a polycarbonate + a thermotropic polymer liquid crystal blend

We have investigated phase structure – properties relationships of polycarbonate (PC) + a polymer liquid crystal (PLC) blends processed in a twin-screw extruder at several conditions. The PLC is PET/0.82 PHB – a copolyester of poly(ethylene terephtalate) and p -hydroxybenzoic acid. For comparison the blend was additionally extruded in a wide range of shear rates in a capillary rheometer at two different spinning rates and compression-molded. The blend processed in the rheometer exhibits lower values of modulus and tensile strength than the blend extruded due to destruction of the initial orientation and dispersion level gained during extrusion. The orientation of PLC-rich islands increases up to the shear rate of 50–100 s^–1, whereas deformation at higher shear rates exhibits a droplet–breakup phenomenon, confirmed by SEM micrographs. The rheological measurements (oscillation mode) evidence a high shear thinning of the PLC. By contrast, the influence of the deformation rate on the viscosity for PC and the blend is negligible, suggesting also a low interaction level in the interfacial area. This conclusion was confirmed by dynamic mechanical measurements. As expected, our experiments prove that structure and properties of the blend are affected by processing (shear and elongation) conditions. Increasing shear rate leads to elongation of dispersed domains but exceeding critical values can lead to droplet breakup and destruction of created structure. The unique morphology created during extrusion can be destroyed during additional processing (in rheometer). Formation of fibrils is also dependent on additional treatment – spinning speed. Optimized spinning speed can lead to 50% increase in stiffness of the blend. Electronic Publication     

Ribbons

Point clouds are usually represented either globally, as surfaces, or locally, as sets of points with small neighbourhoods. We propose an intermediate representation, called ribbons, which is obtained by partitioning a point cloud into one-dimensional strips. This representation is well suited to the placement of strokes in non-photorealistic rendering, and can be visualized efficiently using quad strips. Methods for performing hatching, cross-hatching, and silhouette renderings are presented. Ribbons also allow for the application of curve-based operations to the point cloud.     

Properties of ultrafine-grained Mg-based composites modified by addition of silver and hydroxyapatite

In this study, hydroxyapatite and silver were added to Mg–1Zn–1Mn–0.3Zr alloy to fabricate ultrafine-grained metal matrix composites. Grain sizes of approximately 85?nm were recorded by atomic force microscopy for the Mg–1Zn–1Mn–0.3Zr–5 wt-% HA–1 wt-% Ag composite. The contact angles in water and simulated body fluid on the ultrafine-grained Mg–1Zn–1Mn–0.3Zr-based composites were determined. Following a hydrofluoric acid treatment, the surface wettability changed from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity. The electrochemical test showed that the corrosion resistance of the fluoride-treated specimens was higher, when compared with the untreated samples. The Mg–1Zn–1Mn–0.3Zr–5 wt-% HA and Mg–1Zn–1Mn–0.3Zr–5?wt-% of HA–1 wt-% Ag composites modified with MgF₂ have a higher degree of biocompatibility, which makes them potential candidates for medical applications     

Reassembled biosynthetic pathway for large-scale carbohydrate synthesis: alpha-Gal epitope producing "superbug"

A metabolic pathway engineered Escherichia coli strain (superbug) containing one plasmid harboring an artificial gene cluster encoding all the five enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of Galalpha l,3Lac through galactose metabolism has been developed. The plasmid contains a lambda promoter, a c1857 repressor gene, an ampicillin resistance gene, and a T7 terminator. Each gene was preceded by a Shine - Dalgarno sequence for ribosome binding. In a reaction catalyzed by the recombinant E. coli strain, Galalpha 1,3Lac trisaccharide accumulated at concentrations of 14.2 mM (7.2 gL(-1)) in a reaction mixture containing galactose, glucose, lactose, and a catalytic amount of uridine 5'-diphosphoglucose. This work demonstrates that large-scale synthesis of complex oligosaccharides can be achieved economically and efficiently through a single, biosynthetic pathway engineered microorganism.