Automatic cataloguing of advertisement in magazines

Advertising activities are one of the main aspects of companies. Its global evaluation is an important index, not only within economic sectors, but also for public economic policies. The evaluation of the adverts is carried out by specialised companies, which deliver advertisement expenditure information. Their work consist in an exhaustive collection of adverts (e.g., all adverts from any media), and deliver information (integrated from every media) relevant for their clients. The delivered information can range from statistical data to bear witness of an advertisement campaign. Important quality indicators for the delivered information are the exhaustiveness, the delay of delivering and a correct identification of different versions of an advert. In this article, we present an advanced computer-aided system for collecting and delivering advertising information from magazines and daily press. The system provides computer-aided data validation and exploitation resources. Using computerised document image analysis and image database indexing and retrieval, the system is able to locate an advert in a page, extract relevant quality indicators and search the advert (or similar ones) in a database. This tool is configured as an intranet and offers resources for image data acquisition, storage/retrieval and advert quality indicators extraction, however, the key of the system is the underlying idea of incorporating computer-aided visual information management.The EU has funded the system construction within the program: European Take-up of essential Information Society Technologies, Integrated Machine Vision (EUTIST-IMV), task CV-AdControl. .     

Modified Kostiakov Infiltration Function: Accounting for Initial and Boundary Conditions

The effect of specific initial and boundary conditions is generally not considered when applying the Kostiakov infiltration functions. A methodology is developed to account for changes in water levels and initial soil moisture. First, Richards’ equation is solved numerically to generate a database of one-dimensional infiltration values, with varying initial (water content or pressure head) and boundary (ponding depth) conditions for three contrasting soils. These are then used to calibrate corresponding coefficients for modified Kostiakov models and, by considering linear regressions, to obtain simple correction factors. Results show that the correction factors are not universally valid, and only the correction to the Kostiakov k parameter shows statistically consistent applicability. However, examples demonstrate potentially significant improvement in the accuracy of irrigation models by correcting the Kostiakov equation to account for initial and boundary conditions.     

Sustainable Development and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: A Dynamic and Sustainable View of the Firm

Does the need for sustainable development hinder businesses’ ability to create value? Is a firm’s competitiveness negatively affected by considering that need? After quickly reviewing the main literature contributions on the relationship between business and society, and drawing from resource‐based view of the firm and sustainable development literature, this paper presents a proposal for a dynamic and sustainable view of the firm. It shows how considering the changes introduced into the competitive landscape by sustainable development influences the way in which companies develop their resources, capabilities and activities, fostering the persistence of competitive advantages based on knowledge and innovation.     

GaAs-based modulation-doped quantum-well infrared photodetectors for single- and two-color detection in 3-5 /spl mu/m

Double-barrier quantum-well infrared photodetectors are promising for operation in the midinfrared region. In this paper, we present a series of novel molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown devices based on modulation-doped (MD) AlGaAs-AlAs-GaAs structures that exhibit a remarkable responsivity at zero bias (0.05 A/W) at 4.6 /spl mu/m. Since the photovoltaic properties are strongly dependent on the symmetry of the potential profile, we have systematically varied the position of the dopant in the barriers for a series of single-color detectors. Low-temperature photocurrent spectra and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics (in the dark and under illumination) show that the location of the dopant is a relevant design parameter, due to its role in the photovoltaic behavior (i.e., the presence or absence of zero bias signal). The performance of the MD devices is compared with that of a detector with doping in the center of the well and otherwise the same structure. In particular, the responsivity and detectivity seem to be higher for the MD detectors than for well-doped samples, especially when the dopant is located in the barrier closest to the substrate. Therefore, we have chosen that MD dopant profile when designing and growing, to our knowledge, the first 3-5 /spl mu/m two-color detector, with simultaneous detection at 3.8 and 4.4 /spl mu/m.     

Classification of a bacterial isolate, from pozol, exhibiting antimicrobial activity against several gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, and molds

A bacterial isolate, designated CS93, capable of producing a broad-spectrum antimicrobial compound(s) effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, and molds was isolated from pozol, a fermented maize product. This strain was phenotypically similar to another pozol isolate that was previously designated as Agrobacterium azotophilium by other investigators. By using biochemical, phenotypic, and 16S rRNA sequence analysis, both pozol isolates were identified as members of the genus Bacillus, possibly a variant of Bacillus subtilis. While the antimicrobial compound(s) was initially produced only on a solid medium, parameters were identified for production in broth. The compound(s) was heat stable (121 degrees C for 15 min), exhibited activity over a wide pH range (pH 3 to pH 11), and was inactivated by pronase E. The antimicrobial compound(s) was bactericidal and bacteriolytic against Escherichia coli V517, bacteriostatic against Micrococcus luteus, and fungistatic against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The inhibitory compound(s) could possibly serve as a food biopreservative.     

Understanding the high-temperature deformation

Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 While much of the high-temperature intermetallics research has centered around Ni3Al and other aluminum-based systems, the present study focuses on the Engel-Brewer Ll₂ intermetallic Ir₃Zr, which has a melting temperature approaching that of ceramics (2280 °C). Due to limited material availability, the technique of microindentation was used to study both the temperature and time dependence of strength. Because of the widely held belief that certain mechanical properties of intermetallics scale roughly with temperature, Ir₃Zr was expected to exhibit high strength. The microhardness was observed to vary from 225 MPa at room temperature to 75 MPa at 1400 °C, which is significantly lower than the behavior of Ni₃Al. The activation energy for creep was determined to be 467 kJ/mole, and the stress exponent was found to be 18.2. The ordering energy of this system was calculated to be 0.114 eV. If it can be assumed that high ordering energy correlates to a high antiphase boundary (APB) energy, then the behavior of this system is consistent with a model that predicts highly glissile dislocation cores.     

New type of two-axis magnetometer

A new simple two-axis magnetometer has been developed. based on the superposition of an amorphous ferromagnetic disc over a disc-shaped piezoelectric support. At low frequencies, this device exhibits a sensitivity of ~1.7 μV/μT when the external magnetic field is orthogonal to one of the pick-up coils     

Induction by interleukin-1beta peptide of prostaglandin E2 formation via enhanced prostaglandin H synthase-2 expression in 3T6 fibroblasts

Several synthetic interleukin-1 (IL-1) peptides were tested in vivo for pyrogenic activity and in vivo for their ability to stimulate prostaglandin production. Only the IL-1beta fragment (208-240) enhanced body temperature, although both IL-1beta (208-240) and IL-1alpha (223-250) stimulated prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in vitro. We report here that the IL-1beta fragment (208-240) did not have the capacity to induce arachidonic acid (AA) mobilization by 3T6 fibroblasts. However, this peptide was able to increase the expression of the inducible prostaglandin H synthase isoform (PGHS-2; EC 1.14.99.1.), which is related to its ability to stimulate prostaglandin E2 synthesis.