Detection and classification of vehicles from omnidirectional videos using multiple silhouettes

To detect and classify vehicles in omnidirectional videos, we propose an approach based on the shape (silhouette) of the moving object obtained by background subtraction. Different from other shape-based classification techniques, we exploit the information available in multiple frames of the video. We investigated two different approaches for this purpose. One is combining silhouettes extracted from a sequence of frames to create an average silhouette, the other is making individual decisions for all frames and use consensus of these decisions. Using multiple frames eliminates most of the wrong decisions which are caused by a poorly extracted silhouette from a single video frame. The vehicle types we classify are motorcycle, car (sedan) and van (minibus). The features extracted from the silhouettes are convexity, elongation, rectangularity and Hu moments. We applied two separate methods of classification. First one is a flowchart-based method that we developed and the second is K-nearest neighbour classification. 60% of the samples in the dataset are used for training. To ensure randomization in the experiments, threefold cross-validation is applied. The results indicate that using multiple silhouettes increases the classification performance.     

Effect of CeO2 addition on densification and microstructure of Al2O3-YSZ composites

Alumina (Al₂O₃) and alumina-yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) composites containing 3 and 5 mass% ceria (CeO₂) were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at temperatures of 1350-1400 °C for 300 s under a pressure of 40 MPa. Densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of the Al₂O₃ based composites were investigated. Fully dense composites with a relative density of approximately 99% were obtained. The grain growth of alumina was inhibited significantly by the addition of 10 vol% zirconia, and formation of elongated CeAl₁₁O₁₈ grains was observed in the ceria containing composites sintered at 1400 °C. Al₂O₃-YSZ composites without CeO₂ had higher hardness than monolithic Al₂O₃ sintered body and the hardness of Al₂O₃-YSZ composites decreased from 20.3 GPa to 18.5 GPa when the content of ZrO₂ increased from 10 to 30 vol%. The fracture toughness of Al₂O₃ increased from 2.8 MPa m^1/2 to 5.6 MPa m^1/2 with the addition of 10 vol% YSZ, and further addition resulted in higher fracture toughness values. The highest value of fracture toughness, 6.2 MPa m^1/2, was achieved with the addition of 30 vol% YSZ.     

Dynamically adaptive real-time disparity estimation hardware using iterative refinement

The computational complexity of disparity estimation algorithms and the need of large size and bandwidth for the external and internal memory make the real-time processing of disparity estimation challenging, especially for High Resolution (HR) images. This paper proposes a hardware-oriented adaptive window size disparity estimation (AWDE) algorithm and its real-time reconfigurable hardware implementation that targets HR video with high quality disparity results. Moreover, an enhanced version of the AWDE implementation that uses iterative refinement (AWDE-IR) is presented. The AWDE and AWDE-IR algorithms dynamically adapt the window size considering the local texture of the image to increase the disparity estimation quality. The proposed reconfigurable hardware architectures of the AWDE and AWDE-IR algorithms enable handling 60 frames per second on a Virtex-5 FPGA at a 1024×768 XGA video resolution for a 128 pixel disparity range.     

Electrolytic pickling of duplex stainless steel

Pickling of duplex stainless steels has proved to be much more difficult than that of standard austenitic grades. Electrolytic pre‐pickling is shown to be a key process towards facilitating the pickling process for material annealed both in the production‐line and in laboratory experiments. The mechanism for the neutral electrolytic process on duplex 2205 and austenitic 316 steels has been examined and the oxide scale found to become thinner as a function of electrolytic pickling time. Spallation or peeling of the oxide induced by gas evolution did not play a decisive role. A maximum of about 20% of the current supplied to the oxidised steel surface goes to dissolution reactions whereas about 80% of the current was consumed in oxygen gas production. This makes the current utilisation very poor, particularly against the background of reports that in indirect electrolytic pickling only about 30% of the total current, supplied to the process, actually goes into the strip. A parametric study was therefore carried out to determine whether adjustment of process variables could improve the current utilisation.     

Removal of cadmium from aqueous solutions using clinoptilolite: influence of pretreatment and regeneration

In this study, Cd removal from aqueous solutions via clinoptilolite was investigated in terms of the effect of pretreatment and regeneration. Four different chemicals (NaCl, KCl, CaCl₂ and HCl) were tested for this purpose. Samples treated by a total of 20 bed volume (BV) of 1 M NaCl solution prepared in tap water with no pH adjustment were found to perform satisfactorily. Five exhaustion and regeneration cycles were then carried out, revealing an increasing Cd removal capacity, coupled with constant Cd elution efficiency in progressing cycles. Furthermore, the change of pH and the presence of exchangeable (Na, K, Ca and Mg) and framework cations (Si and Al) in the aqueous phase were investigated. Subsequently, these were discussed in terms of progressive conversion of clinoptilolite to its homoionic Na-form, and the presence of different Cd removal mechanisms in the system. This study emphasizes the potential of clinoptilolite to be a part of sustainable wastewater treatment technologies, enabling the recovery of both the sorbent and the metal, via demonstration of effective Cd removal and clinoptilolite recovery, besides successful concentration of metal in the regenerant solution.     

The effects of Co/Ce loading ratio and reaction conditions on CDRM performance of CoCe/ZrO2 catalysts

This work mainly aims to establish a link between Co/Ce loading ratio in CoCe/ZrO₂ catalysts and their Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane (CDRM) performance. In this context, catalysts with different Co and Ce loadings were prepared and characterized via BET, XRD, HRTEM-EDX, XPS and Raman, and parametrically tested under different CDRM conditions. Dispersion of Co particles was nonhomogeneous on all samples. For the sample with the highest Co/Ce ratio (10%Co2%Ce/ZrO₂), higher amount of lattice oxygen vacancies and lowest degree of ceria reduction were determined. Raman analysis showed that graphitic carbon coexisted with amorphous carbon on the surface of all spent samples. The extent of side reactions prevailed in determining selectivity. It was expressed that both CoCe synergistic interaction and synchronous contribution of Ce and ZrO₂ were enhanced for the samples having lower Co/Ce ratio. It was confirmed that Ce is only responsible for oxygen transfer but not its formation.     

Lack of an association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in the bovine leptin gene and intramuscular fat in Bos taurus cattle

Leptin contributes to the regulation of adiposity and metabolism, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the leptin gene have been associated with intramuscular fat (IMF) levels in beef. Our objectives were to estimate the frequency of four SNPs in the leptin gene in nine purebred cattle (n = 430), to test for linkage disequilibrium and infer haplotypes, and to determine if individual genotypes or estimated haplotypes were associated with IMF values in crossbred cattle (n = 244). The four SNP loci were found to be in linkage disequilibrium and thus, the frequencies of each of the 16 possible haplotypes were inferred by maximum likelihood. No significant association between any individual SNP and haplotype was found with the divergent IMF values. Our results suggest that these SNPs are not influential on the divergent IMF levels in the crossbred population tested.     

Dispersion of Axisymmetric Longtudinal Waves in a Pre-Strained Imperfectly Bonded Bi-Layered Hollow Cylinder

This paper studies the dispersion of the axisymmetric longitudinal wave propagation in the pre-strained hollow cylinder consisting of two-layers under the shear-spring type imperfectness of the contact conditions between these layers. The investigations are made within the framework of the piecewise homogeneous body model by utilizing the 3D linearized theory of elastic waves in elastic bodies with initial stresses. It is assumed that the layers of the cylinder are made from compressible hyper-elastic materials and their elasticity relations are given through the harmonic potential. The degree of the mentioned imperfectness is estimated by the shear-spring parameter. Numerical results on the influence of this parameter on the behavior of the dispersion curves related to the fundamental mode are presented and discussed. It is established that the considered type imperfectness of the contact conditions causes two branches of the dispersion curve related to the fundamental mode to appear: the first disappears, but the second approaches the dispersion curve obtained for the perfect interface case by decreasing the shear-spring parameter.