Are autostereograms useful for computer graphics and scientific visualization

Autostereograms are images that can be observed as “flat” 2D pictures or as a display of 3D objects without any extra apparatus. More than one million copies of books on this subject have been sold recently, but are autostereograms useful for computer graphics and scientific visualization? This short note provides some assistance for easily designing still and animated autostereograms, and tries to encourage reader involvement in finding new scientific applications.     

Flexibility plot of proteins

The flexibility plot of a protein lies on the observation thatamino acid residues with the highest turn potential, i.e. locatedin highly mobile regions of protein surface, also possess thesmallest volumes as well as the lowest hydrophobicities. Theplot is generated by shifting a five residue window along theprotein sequence and calculating the value of the hydrophobicity–volumeproduct for consecutive quintuplets of amino acid residues.The concomitant occurrence of small volumes and low hydrophobicitiesresults in very deep minima. A threshold value has also beenintroduced in order to discriminate significant minima. To substantiatethe interpretation that the selected minima actually indicatevery flexible segments of a protein (loops, turns, etc.), wehave compared plots obtained for model proteins (lysozyme, myoglobin,ribonuclease, trypsin, thermolysin and T4 lysozyme) with X-raythermal factors profiles available for the same proteins. Whencompared to thermal profiles, the majority of flexible segmentsevidenced by our plots have been found to be in agreement withregions characterized by high thermal factors. Results havealso been discussed in the light of local organization possessedby examined proteins.     

Self-tuning algorithms for high-performance bandpass switched-capacitor /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulators

Switched-capacitor high-frequency bandpass /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulators could suffer from capacitor mismatch, finite opamp dc gain, and finite opamp bandwidth. These problems make the notch frequency and the quality factor of the zeros of the noise transfer function to deviate from their nominal values, strongly affecting the modulator dynamic range (DR). In order to avoid this situation, two sampled-data algorithms have been developed which allow to self-calibrate the bandpass /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ modulators. They use 3500 gate and 0.043 mm/sup 2/ area and consume power only when they are active, while, when the system is on, they are off and do not interfere with standard operation. The validity of the proposal is demonstrated by a silicon prototype in which the proposed solution allows to guarantee a 75-dB DR performance also under worst case conditions. In the particular case, it allows for the recovery of 3 dB in the SNR for the 200-kHz FM band (from 73 to 76 dB).     

A low-power 98-dB multibit audio DAC in a standard 3.3-V 0.35-μmCMOS technology

An oversampled digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is presented. The performance of this device has been achieved with a careful tradeoff with power consumption. A digital ΣΔ modulator has been optimized for the 96-dB target. In the switched-capacitor reconstruction filter (SCF), the input structure is embedded in the feedback loop in order to reduce the output noise. The order of the SCF is three, larger than in competitive solutions, allowing to achieve a lower out-of-band noise. Finally, the differential-to-single-ended converter does not strongly limit the overall DAC channel performance. The device has been realized in a standard 3.3-V CMOS technology. With a 28-mW-per-channel power consumption the dynamic range is 98 dB, while the SNDR peak is 86 dB     

Time-division implementation of digital-network sensitivities

A method is given for implementing digital-network sensitivities in time division with the network output. Extra processing, which takes place between one input sample and the next, is used. The structure to be implemented is obtained by adding to the original network delays smaller than the sampling interval, and cyclically variable multipliers of integer values.     

The measurement method solving the problems of engine output characteristics caused by change in atmospheric conditions on the principle of the theory of optimal temperature range of exhaust system

All high-performance engines are sensitive to changes in external atmospheric conditions, which are immediately reflected in changes in the engine output characteristics. At best only they effect decreasing of the maximum engine power. However, in a more difficult situation, there is the possibility of excessive detonation combustion process during certain changes in atmospheric conditions. The exhaust system temperature significantly affects the maximum output power and the combustion engine characteristics. With increasing temperature of combustion products in the exhaust system there is an overall reduction in maximum power and its transfer to a higher engine speed because of the length of an exhaust manifold is theoretically shorten. Therefore, to achieve the maximum values of output parameters, it is necessary to ensure an optimal temperature value of the combustion products in the exhaust system. This article also provides optimal temperature range of working temperature as well as it presents a theoretical analysis of the impact for atmospheric conditions in this interval. Based on theoretical results there has been developed a measuring method, which allows to regulate the input amount of the fuel mixture supplied to a cylinder during change in atmospheric conditions and its functionality was experimentally verified.     

Determination of Branched-Chain Amino Acids in Food Supplements and Human Plasma by a CE-MS/MS Method with Enhanced Resolution

In the presented study, a capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry method combining high separation efficiency and sensitive detection has been developed and validated, for the first time, to quantify branched chain amino acids (valine, isoleucine, leucine) in commercial food and sport supplement samples and human plasma samples. The separations were performed in a bare fused silica capillary. The background electrolyte was composed of 500 mM formic acid with pH 2.0. The plasma sample pretreatment was realized by simple protein precipitation with acetonitrile. Injection of a short zone of highly basic electrolyte before the sample injection and application of the negative pressure on the separation were accompanied by enhanced resolution of the isobaric amino acids—isoleucine and leucine. The developed method was characterized by favorable validation parameters, such as linearity (r² > 0.99), accuracy and precision, the limit of detection, lower limit of quantification, or robustness. These parameters were more than sufficient for the quantification of branched chain amino acids in various samples. The determined concentrations of branched chain amino acids in food and sports supplements were in very good agreement with the content declared by the manufacturer. The investigated concentrations of branched chain amino acids were in the range 294.68–359.24 µM for valine, 91.76–95.67 µM for isoleucine, and 196.78–251.24 µM for leucine. These concentrations fall within the physiological limits. The developed CE-MS/MS method represents a suitable alternative to traditional approaches used in branched chain amino acid quality control and bioanalysis.     

Comparison of ecological footprint for biobased PHA production from animal residues utilizing different energy resources

Realizing a sustainable development of our planet requires a reduction of waste production, harmful emissions, and higher energy efficiency as well as utilization of renewable energy sources. One pathway to this end is the design of sustainable biorefinery concepts. Utilizing waste streams as raw material is gaining great importance in this respect. This reduces environmental burden and may at the same time contribute to economic performance of biorefineries. This paper investigates the utilization of slaughtering waste to produce biodegradable polyesters, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), via bioconversion. PHA are the target product while production of high quality biodiesel along with meat and bone meal (MBM) as by-products improves the economic performance of the process. The paper focuses on ecological comparison of different production scenarios and the effect of geographical location of production plants taking different energy production technologies and resources into account; ecological footprint evaluation using Sustainable Process Index methodology was applied. Keeping in mind that the carbon source for PHA production is produced from waste by energy intensive rendering process, the effect of available energy mixes in different countries becomes significant. Ecological footprint results from the current study show a bandwidth from 372,950 to 956,060 m²/t PHA production, depending on the energy mix used in the process which is compared to 2,508,409 m²/t for low density polyethylene.     

In vitro assessment of tooth color changes due to orthodontic treatment using knowledge discovery methods

Esthetic dentistry imposes several demands on the artistic abilities of the dentist, and knowledge of the underlying scientific principles of tooth color is considered to be essential by Sikri. The supervised classification methods, such as the artificial neural networks, the support vector machines, and also the Bayesian classifier, and the feature selection methods, such as decision trees, genetic algorithms and neural networks, as well as independent component analysis combined with least square support vector machines, were applied successfully in the medical field but were less implemented in the dental analysis domain. This study was conducted on extracted premolars from people who required orthodontic treatment. Data gathering was done using spectrophotometric recordings of tooth color parameters before and after accelerated bleaching, staining, and control procedures on extracted teeth on which was simulated orthodontic treatment. Comparison between data mining techniques and classical statistical interpretation of data was done. The results demonstrated the usefulness of these innovating data assessment techniques in the dental field.