Visualizing for the Non‐Visual: Enabling the Visually Impaired to Use Visualization

The majority of visualizations on the web are still stored as raster images, making them inaccessible to visually impaired users. We propose a deep‐neural‐network‐based approach that automatically recognizes key elements in a visualization, including a visualization type, graphical elements, labels, legends, and most importantly, the original data conveyed in the visualization. We leverage such extracted information to provide visually impaired people with the reading of the extracted information. Based on interviews with visually impaired users, we built a Google Chrome extension designed to work with screen reader software to automatically decode charts on a webpage using our pipeline. We compared the performance of the back‐end algorithm with existing methods and evaluated the utility using qualitative feedback from visually impaired users.     

Combination of vegetable soup and glucan demonstrates synergistic effects on macrophage-mediated immune responses

Vegetable soup (VS), a plant-based functional food, has been used as a traditional folk medicine and is attracting attention for its ability to enhance the immune response. β-Glucan, a well-established and effective immunomodulator, has synergistic effects when used in combination with some bioactive compounds. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the synergistic immunomodulatory effects of the combination of VS and β-glucan on macrophage-mediated immune responses. β-Glucan was demonstrated to synergistically enhance the VS-stimulated immune response, including the production of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and nitric oxide, mainly through the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in macrophages. In addition, this combination has the potential for further development in functional foods with immune-enhancing activity.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-021-00888-x.     

Comparison of total and faecal coliforms as faecal indicator in eutrophicated surface water.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of total coliforms (TC) and faecal coliforms (FC) using a membrane filtration method for precise monitoring of faecal pollution in Korean surface water. The samples were collected in Korea from both main rivers and their tributaries. Presumptive TC * FC were enumerated. The ratios of presumptive FC to TC were not constant, but varied widely, and TC were difficult to enumerate because of overgrowth by background colonies. For FC this was not the case. Seven hundred and three purified strains of presumptive TC * FC and their background colonies were biotyped using API 20E. Among 272 presumptive TC, non-faecal related species, Aeromonas hydrophila dominated (34.6%) and E. coli accounted for only 5.1%. In contrast, E. coli made up 89% of the 209 presumptive FC. Furthermore, of 164 background colonies on Endo Agar LES, 54.9% was A. hydrophila, while background colonies on m-FC Agar were few (58 strains), and despite their atypical colony appearance, most of them were biotyped as enteric bacteria. These results reveal that the detection of FC rather than TC using m-FC Agar is more appropriate for faecal pollution monitoring in eutrophicated surface water located in a temperate region.     

Microscale Patterning of Mesoscopic PZN-PT Single Crystal Films by Crystal ion Slicing and Laser-Induced Etching

Advances in the fabrication of solid-solution single crystal relaxor ferroelectrics have made it possible to produce highly efficient piezoelectric crystals, and have attracted renewed interest in the use of these crystals for a new generation of piezoelectric transducers, actuators and sensors. Of particular interest is their incorporation into micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). In this paper we report on the laser-induced wet chemical etching of lead zinc niobate-lead titanate (PZN-PT) in hydrochloric acid (HCl). Argon-ion laser radiation at power levels up to 4 W is focused to a spot diameter of about 15μm and results in the chemical etching of grooves at patterning speeds up to 5μm/sec. Crystal ion slicing, an ion-implant-based film separation technique, is used in combination with laser etching to form 5 to 10μm-thick patterned and freestanding films for incorporation into micro-electromechanical devices.     

Ethylene polymerization over MgO‐supported zirconocene catalysts

Supported zirconcene catalysts on a new support, MgO, were prepared and tested in ethylene polymerization. Three types of impregnation methods were employed to find an optimum supporting method for MgO. The direct impregnation of Cp₂ZrCl₂ on MgO showed low metal loading and polymerization activity, while the catalyst had a higher metal loading and polymerization activity when MgO was treated with methylaluminoxane (MAO) before supporting. Treatment of MgO with MAO during the supporting step invoked two types of catalytic sites, which was evidenced by the bimodal molecular weight distribution of the polymer products. MgO is considered to have potential as a support for metallocenes.     

Dual command travel times and miniload system throughput with turnover-based storage

We analyze travel times for automated storage/retrieval systems. In particular, we apply our travel time model to turnover-based storage systems and determine the mean and variance of dual command travel times. We present detailed numerical results for selected rack shape factors and ABC inventory profiles. We then investigate the effect of alternative rack configurations on travel time performance measures. We also show how to determine the throughput of miniload systems with turnover-based storage and exponentially distributed pick times.     

Performance analysis of OFDMA uplink systems with symbol timing misalignment

This letter presents our investigation for the effect of symbol timing errors in orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) uplink systems. We express the symbol timing errors between users as the symbol timing misalignments with respect to the desired user. Then, we derive an explicit expression of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a function of the maximum value of the symbol timing misalignments. Analyses and simulation results show that, to achieve an SNR of 20 dB, the maximum value of the symbol timing misalignments must be less than the cyclic prefix duration plus 6.25% of the useful symbol duration. Based on the resulting SNR degradation, we evaluate the SNR gain with guard subcarriers in order to mitigate the effect of the symbol timing misalignments.     

Pyrolysis of Miscanthus Giganteus and wood pellets: TG-FTIR analysis and reaction kinetics

Characterisation of two biomass fuels (pelletised Miscanthus Giganteus and wood) was performed using thermogravimetric analysis with measurement of products by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG-FTIR). Three heating rate profiles were applied (10, 30 and 100 °C/min), with a final temperature of 900 °C. HCN and HNCO were found to be the major N-products, while the NH₃ fraction was detected to a minor extent. Kinetic parameters were obtained from the TG-FTIR results using a model based on parallel first-order reactions with a Gaussian distribution of activation energies. On the basis of the above kinetic analysis and product yields, input files for the functional group-devolatilisation, vaporisation, cross-linking biomass-pyrolysis model were prepared. The fit of model parameters to TG-FTIR product-evolution data was found to be generally good, but the model-predicted yields for some species did not fit experimental data at all heating rates. Further improvements in the model are needed to resolve above difficulty.