In situ off-axis electron holography of metal-oxide hetero-interfaces in oxygen atmosphere

Off-axis electron holography has been extended to in situ observations in gas atmospheres. The Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)-Pt hetero-interface was characterized by electron holography at high temperature in a vacuum and in an oxygen atmosphere. Analysis of the phase shift profiles revealed high mobility of anions in the oxide in the vicinity of the interface in the oxygen atmosphere. This would compensate for any increase in the number of oxygen vacancies in YSZ through the metal interface.     

Quantifying 3-D vascular structures in MRA images using hybrid PDE and geometric deformable models

The aim of this paper is to present a hybrid approach to accurate quantification of vascular structures from magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) images using level set methods and deformable geometric models constructed with 3-D Delaunay triangulation. Multiple scale filtering based on the analysis of local intensity structure using the Hessian matrix is used to effectively enhance vessel structures with various diameters. The level set method is then applied to automatically segment vessels enhanced by the filtering with a speed function derived from enhanced MRA images. Since the goal of this paper is to obtain highly accurate vessel borders, suitable for use in fluid flow simulations, in a subsequent step, the vessel surface determined by the level set method is triangulated using 3-D Delaunay triangulation and the resulting surface is used as a parametric deformable model. Energy minimization is then performed within a variational setting with a first-order internal energy; the external energy is derived from 3-D image gradients. Using the proposed method, vessels are accurately segmented from MRA data.     

Mechanical and thermal properties of polypropylene/recycled polyethylene terephthalate/chopped rice husk composites

The various ratios of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) into polypropylene (PP) filled with 40 parts chopped rice husk per hundred part of polymer have been studied. Composites were prepared using a corotating twin screw extruder at temperature zones of 165–215, well below 250°C (rPET mp temperature) and characterized by mechanical and thermal properties. To improve the compatibility between different components, PP grafted with maleic anhydride was added as a coupling agent in all the compositions studied. The results showed that the addition of rPET improved the tensile and flexural modulus and impact strength of the composite while reducing its tensile and flexural strength. The scanning electron microscopy micrographs of samples in the injection direction showed that some particle shaped rPET inside the composites appear as drawn fibrils and some appear as plates. Differential scanning calorimetric studies showed that the addition of rPET particles to the composites decrease the PP crystallization temperatures. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Monitoring the effects of impact damages on modal parameters in carbon fiber entangled sandwich beams

The aim is to study the impact toughness of two types of entangled sandwich materials (heavy and light) with the help of vibration testing. A simple case of symmetrical impacts is studied in this article as no literature is available regarding impact tests on entangled sandwich materials. The variation of modal parameters with two levels of damage (BVID and Damage not apparent on the surface) is studied. Vibration test results show that the light entangled specimens possessing good damping capabilities seem more sensitive to impact damage than the heavy ones. Furthermore, damping is found to be more sensitive to damage than the stiffness variations, so it is reasonable to assume that damping may be used instead of natural frequency as a damage indicator tool for structural health monitoring purposes.     

Solar-assisted smokehouse for the drying of natural rubber on small-scale Indonesian farms

Natural rubber in Indonesia is mainly produced by smallholder farmers and—being the highest foreign currency generating agricultural commodity—is of great importance for the Indonesian economy. Nevertheless, due to the lack of appropriate dryers, more than 80% of the total production has to be sold as low-grade Standard Indonesian Rubber (SIR) for a relatively low price.In order to improve the product quality, a solar-heated rubber sheet dryer was developed. It consists of a flat-plate solar air heater connected to a drying chamber. Part-recirculation of the exhaust air leads to the desired drying air temperature of 45–60°C and results in a significant reduction of the drying time. To enable drying independent of weather conditions, a biomass furnace was incorporated underneath the drying chamber.The tests have shown that during the rainy season, 320 kg of sheets can be uniformly dried to the required moisture content of 0.5% within 5 days. Compared with conventional smokehouses, the firewood consumption could be considerably reduced, from 1.0–1.5 kg per kg dry rubber to 0.3 kg when producing Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS). A further reduction can be expected by optimization of the heating intervals. During favourable weather conditions Air Dried Sheets (ADS) can be produced within 6–7 days without supplemented heat. The quality of the RSS and ADS fulfills the international standards.The simple design of the solar-assisted smokehouse allows local production and—after further improvements—seems to be an economical alternative for farmer groups or nucleus estates.     

Local cosine transform — a method for the reduction of the blocking effect in JPEG

This paper presents the local cosine transform (LCT) as a new method for the reduction and smoothing of the blocking effect that appears at low bit rates in image coding algorithms based on the discrete cosine transform (DCT). In particular, the blocking effect appears in the JPEG baseline sequential algorithm.Two types of LCT were developed: LCT-IV is based on the DCT type IV, and LCT-II is based on DCT type II, which is known as the standard DCT. At the encoder side the image is first divided into small blocks of pixels. Both types of LCT have basis functions that overlap adjacent blocks. Prior to the DCT coding algorithm a preprocessing phase in which the image is multiplied by smooth cutoff functions (or bells) that overlap adjacent blocks is applied. This is implemented by folding the overlapping parts of the bells back into the original blocks, and thus it permits the DCT algorithm to operate on the resulting blocks. At the decoder side the inverse LCT is performed by unfolding the samples back to produce the overlapped bells. The purpose of the multiplication by the bell is to reduce the gaps and inaccuracies that may be introduced by the encoder during the quantization step.LCT-IV and LCT-II were applied on images as a preprocessing phase followed by the JPEG baseline sequential compression algorithm. For LCT-IV, the DCT type IV replaced the standard DCT as the kernel of the transform coding. In both cases, for the same low bit rates the blocking effect was smoothed and reduced while the image quality in terms of mean-square error became better. Subjective tests performed on a group of observers also confirm these results. Thus the LCT can be added as an optional step for improving the quality of existing DCT (JPEG) encoders. Advantages over other methods that attempt to reduce the blocking effect due to quantization are also described.     

Improving access to family support organizations: a member survey of the AMI-Quebec Alliance for the Mentally Ill

Family support organizations such as the Quebec Alliance for the Mentally Ill (AMI-Quebec) provide services for mentally ill individuals and their families. Despite possible benefits, there is often a lengthy period between identification of mental illness and involvement of family members with family support organizations. A survey of AMI-Quebec members was undertaken to assess this delay. Of the 186 respondents, 47 percent experienced a delay of more than two years. Only 10 percent were referred to the organization by psychiatrists. The majority would have liked to have become involved with AMI-Quebec earlier. Some approved of more proactive methods of recruitment by AMI-Quebec, such as a telephone call after an initial hospitalization.     

Family planning practices and attitudes among former Soviet new immigrant women in Israel

One hundred young new immigrant women from the former U.S.S.R. now living in Israel answered a detailed semi-open questionnaire regarding their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in fertility and birth control issues. A collective family planning profile of these women is largely in line with that of the urban population of Slavonic U.S.S.R., combining early marriage, early and low fertility, the latter achieved by both abortion and contraception. Most respondents and their partners tried to prevent unwanted pregnancies, usually starting from traditional methods and switching over time to modern ones. An IUD remained most popular contraceptive among parous women, while use of the pill, very rare in the U.S.S.R., has almost doubled upon migration, mostly among younger women. Still, they kept some misleading ideas on the pros and cons of traditional versus modern methods, suggesting lack of adequate information also upon migration. Like their ex-compatriots, our women preferred to solve their birth control problems without external professional involvement. Contrary to the expected, free abortion ideology was not universally advocated by our respondents, and most were fully aware of abortion limitations in Israel. While rationally condemning abortion in both moral and health terms, most respondents still use it, this gap between beliefs and practice being indicative of their readiness to adopt efficient contraception. This switch occurs faster in women actively involved with host society via work or studies. Younger women were found to be more flexible and advanced in their family planning practices than were older ones, while almost no differences were related to education and origin within the U.S.S.R. This exploratory study suggests that any investment into promotion of healthy fertility control practices among new immigrants will be cost-effective in the near future.     

Cinematic‐film protection using metameric blacks

This article presents a new approach for security management in digital cinema applications. Metameric blacks are used as a new try for cinematic‐film protection procedures, which are used in theatre projection systems. The information given by the capturing device in production time decomposes to its base spectra and makes an unacceptable image quality for camcorders by adding a specific metameric black to it. This procedure takes place during the exhibition, and the camcorders take poor quality pictures although the image may not have any changes in its quality for the audience. This try tends to reach the goal of security management during the movie plays and may be a new method to keep the rights of producers against digital theft. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 34, 93–96, 2009.