Data-Driven Restoration of Digital Archaeological Pottery with Point Cloud Analysis

International Journal of Computer Vision - The Josefina Ramos de Cox museum in Lima, Peru, decided to digitize hundreds of archaeological pieces from pre-Colombian cultures to support further...     

A reliable measure of footwear upper comfort enabled by an innovative sock equipped with textile pressure sensors

Footwear comfort is essential and pressure distribution on the foot was shown as a relevant objective measurement to assess it. However, asperities on the foot sides, especially the metatarsals and the instep, make its evaluation difficult with available equipment. Thus, a sock equipped with textile pressure sensors was designed. Results from the mechanical tests showed a high linearity of the sensor response under incremental loadings and allowed to determine the regression equation to convert voltage values into pressure measurements. The sensor response was also highly repeatable and the creep under constant loading was low. Pressure measurements on human feet associated with a perception questionnaire exhibited that significant relationships existed between pressure and comfort perceived on the first, the third and the fifth metatarsals and top of the instep.

Practitioner Summary: A sock equipped with textile sensors was validated for measuring the pressure on the foot top, medial and lateral sides to evaluate footwear comfort. This device may be relevant to help individuals with low sensitivity, such as children, elderly or neuropathic, to choose the shoes that fit the best.     

Influence of Sophorolipid Structure on Interfacial Properties of Aqueous-Arabian Light Crude and Related Constituent Emulsions

Sophorolipids (SLs) offer an “environmentally friendly” alternative to chemically produced surfactants currently used in formulations for crude oil extraction, processing, and reclamation. Studies herein describe how sophorolipid structure influences its interfacial properties for environmentally and industrially relevant oil–water systems where the oil phase is Arabian light crude oil, paraffin oil, decane, hexadecane, a 1:1 vol/vol mixture of o-xylene and 1,2-dimethylcyclohexane, or a mixture of paraffin oil, o-xylene, and 1,2-dimethylcyclohexane (synthetic crude oil). SL-hexyl ester (SL-HE) reduces the crude oil–water interfacial tension (IFT) by 57 and 91% at 0.001 and 0.5 mg/mL, respectively. Crude oil displacement tests reveal that SL-ethyl ester (SL-EE) and SL-HE contract a crude oil slick on water to about 20% of its starting volume allowing for easier burning of spilled crude oil on marine surfaces. Water retention and emulsion phase (e.g., o/w vs. w/o) are determined by SL-structure/concentration, oil concentration, and oil composition to understand their performance for crude oil transportation and clean-up. For the first time, w/o emulsions were obtained using SLs and their formation occurred after homogenization when the oil phase consisted of a 1:1 mixture of o-xylene and 1,2-dimethylcyclohexane. Generally, the performance of SL-esters in the above studies was superior to that using Triton X-100, a comparison nonionic surfactant. Hence, SL-esters offer a valuable platform for tuning interfacial properties to optimize surfactant performance.     

Studies on the mechanism of ZSM-5 formation

The nucleation of (Al-free) zeolite precursor gels was studied using X-ray diffraction,²⁹Si FT-NMR, and ion exchange. Results suggest that in ZSM-5 nucleation, the channel intersections are first formed. These clathrate-like units, each containing essentially one TPA⁺ cation, are initially randomly connected, but progressively anneal with rearrangement under the influence of OH^– ions to form the ZSM-5 framework.     

Catalytic hydrotreating of indole,benzothiophene, and benzofuran over Mo2N

The activity of -Mo₂N for heteroatom removal from benzofuran, benzothiophene, and indole has been investigated. -Mo₂N is found to be an effective catalyst in all three cases. The distribution of products observed as a function of temperature suggests that the reaction mechanism is similar for all three reactants. Rapid hydrogenation of the heterocyclic ring is followed by hydrogenolysis of the X-C bond in the saturated ring and release of the heteroatom as XH _n (X = O, S, N). The product formed in the last step of the sequence is ethylbenzene. Hydrogenation of the benzene ring in ethylbenzene is not observed, but evidence is found for hydrogenolysis and dealkylation of the alkyl group.     

Recursive decomposition and bounds of the lattice of Moore co-families

A collection of sets on a ground set U _n (U _n ?=?{1,2,...,n}) closed under intersection and containing U _n is known as a Moore family. The set of Moore families for a fixed n is in bijection with the set of Moore co-families (union-closed families containing the empty set) denoted $\mathbb{M}_n$ . In this paper, we propose a recursive definition of the set of Moore co-families on U _n . Then we apply this decomposition result to compute a lower bound on $|\mathbb M_n|$ as a function of $|\mathbb M_{n-1}|$ , the Dedekind numbers and the binomial coefficients. These results follow the work carried out in [1] to enumerate the number of Moore families on U ₇.     

PLATYPUS: A code for reaction dynamics of weakly-bound nuclei at near-barrier energies within a classical dynamical model

A self-contained Fortran-90 program based on a three-dimensional classical dynamical reaction model with stochastic breakup is presented, which is a useful tool for quantifying complete and incomplete fusion, and breakup in reactions induced by weakly-bound two-body projectiles near the Coulomb barrier. The code calculates (i) integrated complete and incomplete fusion cross sections and their angular momentum distribution, (ii) the excitation energy distribution of the primary incomplete-fusion products, (iii) the asymptotic angular distribution of the incomplete-fusion products and the surviving breakup fragments, and (iv) breakup observables, such as angle, kinetic energy and relative energy distributions.

Program summary

Program title: PLATYPUSCatalogue identifier: AEIG_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEIG_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 332 342No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 344 124Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Fortran-90Computer: Any Unix/Linux workstation or PC with a Fortran-90 compilerOperating system: Linux or UnixRAM: 10 MBClassification: 16.9, 17.7, 17.8, 17.11Nature of problem: The program calculates a wide range of observables in reactions induced by weakly-bound two-body nuclei near the Coulomb barrier. These include integrated complete and incomplete fusion cross sections and their spin distribution, as well as breakup observables (e.g. the angle, kinetic energy, and relative energy distributions of the fragments).Solution method: All the observables are calculated using a three-dimensional classical dynamical model combined with the Monte Carlo sampling of probability-density distributions. See Refs. [1,2] for further details.Restrictions: The program is suited for a weakly-bound two-body projectile colliding with a stable target. The initial orientation of the segment joining the two breakup fragments is considered to be isotropic.Additional comments: Several source routines from Numerical Recipies, and the Mersenne Twister random number generator package are included to enable independent compilation.Running time: About 75 minutes for input provided, using a PC with 1.5 GHz processor.References:

• [1] 

  A. Diaz-Torres, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 (2007) 152701.

• [2] 

  A. Diaz-Torres, J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 37 (2010) 075109.

     

Multivariate analysis of human behavior data using fuzzy windowing: Example with driver–car–environment system

In most human component system studies performed in simulators, several factors (or independent variables) (at least two, i.e., individual and time) and many variables (or dependent variables) are present. Large and complex databases have to be analyzed. Instead of using rather automatic procedures, this article suggest that, for a very first analysis at least, the human being must be present and he/she must choose a method being adapted to the data, which is different to run a method supposing that the data fit such or such model. This article suggests starting the analysis while keeping both the multifactorial (MF) and multivariate (MV) aspects. To achieve this aim, with the possibility to show nonlinear relationships, a MFMV exploration of the experimental database is performed using the pair (fuzzy space windowing, Multiple Correspondence Analysis). Then may come an inference analysis. This long (due to multiple large graphical views) but rich procedure is illustrated and discussed using a car driving study example.     

High-Aspect-Ratio Nanostructured Surfaces as Biological Metamaterials

Materials patterned with high-aspect-ratio nanostructures have features on similar length scales to cellular components. These surfaces are an extreme topography on the cellular level and have become useful tools for perturbing and sensing the cellular environment. Motivation comes from the ability of high-aspect-ratio nanostructures to deliver cargoes into cells and tissues, access the intracellular environment, and control cell behavior. These structures directly perturb cells' ability to sense and respond to external forces, influencing cell fate, and enabling new mechanistic studies. Through careful design of their nanoscale structure, these systems act as biological metamaterials, eliciting unusual biological responses. While predominantly used to interface eukaryotic cells, there is growing interest in nonanimal and prokaryotic cell interfacing. Both experimental and theoretical studies have attempted to develop a mechanistic understanding for the observed behaviors, predominantly focusing on the cell–nanostructure interface. This review considers how high-aspect-ratio nanostructured surfaces are used to both stimulate and sense biological systems.     

Modeling of Strain Hardening in the Aluminum Alloy AA6061

In this paper, the evolution of work-hardening and dynamic recovery rates vs the flow stress increase (σ ? σ _y ) in Al-Mg-Si alloys is presented. The experimental data have been extracted from stress–strain curves. All curves show an initial very rapid decrease in slope of the σ–ε curve, which is associated with the elastic–plastic transition. After the elastic–plastic transition, there are typically two distinctive behaviors. For underaged alloys, there is an approximately linear decrease of work-hardening rate as (σ ? σ _y ) increases. However, for overaged alloys after elastic–plastic transition, there is a plateau in the work-hardening rate followed by an almost linear decrease. The maximum work-hardening and dynamic recovery rates are found to be dependent on the aging state. In order to investigate these phenomena, a model has been employed to simulate the work-hardening behavior of Al-Mg-Si alloys. The model is based on a modified version of Kocks–Mecking–Estrin (KME) model, in which there are three main components: (1) hardening due to forest dislocations, grain boundaries, and sub-grains; (2) hardening due to the precipitates; and (3) dynamic recovery. The modeling results are discussed and compared with the experimental data.