Efficient screen-space approach to high-quality multiscale ambient occlusion

We present a new screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) algorithm that improves on the state-of-the-art SSAO methods in both performance and quality. Our method computes ambient occlusion (AO) values at multiple image resolutions and combines them to obtain the final, high-resolution AO value for each image pixel. It produces high-quality AO that includes both high-frequency shadows due to nearby, occluding geometry and low-frequency shadows due to distant geometry. Our approach only needs to use very small sampling kernels at every resolution, thereby achieving high performance without resorting to random sampling. As a consequence, our results do not suffer from noise and excessive blur, which are common of other SSAO methods. Therefore, our method also avoids the expensive, final blur pass commonly used in other SSAO methods. The use of multiple resolutions also helps reduce errors that are caused by SSAO’s inherent lack of visibility checking. Temporal incoherence caused by using coarse resolutions is solved with an optional temporal filtering pass. Our method produces results that are closer to ray-traced solutions than those of any existing SSAO methods, while running at similar or higher frame rates than the fastest ones.     

Preparation of an exponentially rising optical pulse for efficient excitation of single atoms in free space

We report on a simple method to prepare optical pulses with exponentially rising envelope on the time scale of a few ns. The scheme is based on the exponential transfer function of a fast transistor, which generates an exponentially rising envelope that is transferred first on a radio frequency carrier, and then on a coherent cw laser beam with an electro-optical phase modulator. The temporally shaped sideband is then extracted with an optical resonator and can be used to efficiently excite a single (87)Rb atom.     

One-point-plus for 5-DOF localization of vehicle-mounted omnidirectional camera in long-range motion

This paper proposes a method for localization of vehicle using one point plus an edge matching region of monocular vision in wide urban environments. The five degree of freedom (5-DoF) localization estimated by monocular omnidirectional camera improves the planar motion assumption in most of conventional researches. In recent year, the car-like motion model with planar motion is often investigated to reduce the requirements of correspondence until one point. However, in the real application of long-range motion in outdoor scene, the motion may not satisfy this condition. This leads to the inaccurate vehicle localization. In this proposed method, the car-like model is also utilized for 5-DoF localization however the requirements of correspondence are reduced to only one point plus an edge matching region which is much simpler than the conventional 5-point RANSAC. The cumulative errors of visual odometry are excluded by using global positioning system (GPS) correction under equation of maximum likelihood estimation in Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) frame work. The real application in hills and mountainous regions demonstrates the accuracy of vehicle localization using this proposed method.     

Mechanical properties of continuous bamboo fiber-reinforced biobased polyamide 11 composites

This study is devoted to the analysis of the properties of continuous bamboo fiber (BF)-reinforced polyamide 11 (PA 11) composites. The SEM observations highlighted continuity between BFs and the polymeric matrix showing a high density of hydrogen bonds. The comparative calorimetric study of the matrix and its composites showed that the crystallinity of PA 11 was not modified by the presence of bamboo fibers. The physical aging observed in PA 11 is no more observed in composites due to physical interactions between PA 11 and BFs. The mechanical properties were investigated by tensile strength and dynamic mechanical analysis. The introduction of BFs enhanced Young's modulus of the matrix by a factor of 10. The presence of BFs also improved the storage shear modulus G′ over the whole temperature range. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47623.     

Age replacement policy in a random environment using systemability

Preventive maintenance is a group of maintenance policies based on preventive actions in order to predate the failure of a component or a system. Usually, these policies are designed using a series of data related to the studied units. All policies do not consider the effect of the environment where the components or systems operate. In this article, one of the most used policies, the age replacement policy, is also discussed taking into consideration the environmental effects using an innovative concept, introduced by Pham, called systemability. Several numerical examples are carried out in order to illustrate the aim of this work. The importance of environmental factors is also demonstrated thanks to the application to a real case.     

Effect of intumescent compositions on flammable properties of ethylene vinyl acetate and polypropylene

An intumescent flame retardant (IFR) system was prepared by 2 ways. Firstly, bis(2,6,7‐trioxa‐1‐phosphabicyclo[2,2,2]octane‐1‐oxa‐4‐hydroxymethyl) phosphonate methyl (bis‐PM) was synthesized and characterized by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ³¹P NMR, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. This carbonization agent was mixed with melamine (ME), ammonium polyphosphate (APP), and pentaerythritol (PER) to constitute an IFR system. Secondly, an IFR system by reaction was prepared by reaction, and the presence of compositions in product was confirmed by ¹H NMR and Fourier transform infrared. Both of systems enhanced the flammable retardation of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and polypropylene (PP). Flammability and thermal behaviors of IFR‐EVA and IFR‐PP were investigated by vertical burning test (UL‐94 V) and thermogravimetric analysis. Results indicated that the IFR systems performed excellent flame retardancy and antidripping ability for PP. At 30 wt% loading, the optimum flame retardant formulations that are bis‐PM/ME: 4/1, bis‐PM/ME/PER: 3/1/1, APP/ME/PER: 3/1/1, and bis‐PM/ME/PER/APP: 1.5/1.5/1/1 give UL‐94 V‐0 rating. However, V‐0 rating results were only obtained for EVA when systems contain bis‐PM/ME: 4/1 and bis‐PM/ME/PER: 3/1/1. The char yield from decomposition of the IFR‐EVA and IFR‐PP has effects on the flame retardancy and antidripping behaviors of EVA and PP.     

Performance Analysis of Full-Duplex Vehicle-to-Vehicle Relay System over Double-Rayleigh Fading Channels

Mobile Networks and Applications - In this paper, we study the performance of a full-duplex (FD) relay system in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. In this relay communication system, the...     

Self-assembled poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether-grafted gelatin nanogels for efficient delivery of curcumin in cancer treatment

Curcumin (CUR) is a natural active ingredient that attracted much attention for its chemotherapeutic activity against tumors without causing toxicity in healthy cells. However, it has certain limitations for being used in chemotherapy such as low aqueous solubility and hydrolytic instability in the physiological environment. In this study, self-assembled poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether-grafted gelatin (Gel-mPEG) nanogels were fabricated as delivery systems to improve the applicability of CUR in cancer treatment. CUR-loaded Gel-mPEG nanogels exhibited desired size range, relatively colloidal stability, and provided enhanced CUR stability in aqueous solutions. Especially, they showed significant high CUR loading capacity and better anticancer activity than free CUR as compared to previously reported CUR-loaded nanogels according to the best of our knowledge. Moreover, the in vitro release of CUR from the nanogels was controlled and prolonged up to 96 h. These results demonstrated that Gel-mPEG nanogels are the promising modality for the efficient delivery of CUR in cancer treatment. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47544.