Blotch detection and removal for archive film restoration

Blotch detection and removal is an important issue for archive film restoration. In this work, a two-stage Simplified Ranked Order Difference (SROD) detector that takes local motion changes into consideration has been proposed to increase blotch detection performance. Furthermore a novel pixel-based correction method that determines the new values of blotched pixels from spatio-temporal correlation considering edge information is developed. Experimental results show that the proposed approaches give successful detection and correction performances and outperform previously proposed techniques.     

Effects of using combined essential oils on quality parameters of bio‐yogurt

Present study aims to develop a new type of probiotic yogurt with ginger and chamomile essential oils (EOs) at therapeutic levels (0.2 and 0.4%) by evaluating its some physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics. Probiotic types of yogurt samples and those with 0.4% ginger EO gave the largest counts of viable probiotic bacteria in the rates of 8.32 cfu/g and 8.01 cfu/g, respectively. It gave larger syneresis rate (8.64 mL/25 g) on the first day than the rest of the samples while C1 (only probiotic strain with direct vat set starter culture) sample represented the lowest rate (5.9 mL/25 g) on day 21. Among the samples with various contents, C2 (inoculated probiotic strain with 0.2% essential oil ginger) and C3 (inoculated probiotic strain with 0.4% essential oil ginger) were found to be organoleptically the most acceptable with close scores to that of control.

Practical applications

Antibacterial and antioxidant activities of essential oils have received considerable attention in food preservation. During bio‐yogurt storage, the edible film incorporating ginger and chamomile essential oils showed reducing effect on the microbial growth and extended the shelf‐life of samples.     

A novel dual output universal filter topology using a single current conveyor

In this paper, a new voltage mode universal filter topology is presented. The proposed topology can provide three circuits with all-pass, notch, band-pass, low-pass and high-pass filtering functions employing minimum number of active and passive components, namely a single first generation current conveyor, two resistors and two capacitors. Furthermore, these circuits obtained from general topology have dual outputs that can be used simultaneously. Sensitivities of the pole frequency and quality factor of the filter to the passive components can be made lower than unity in magnitude. Finally, natural frequencies of the presented circuits are independent from non-ideal voltage gain of the active element. Simulations are performed to verify the theoretical results.     

Standardizing interaction design education

The objective of this paper is to which extend the didactic format of studio-based group-work is applicable for creating a common-ground for Interaction Design Education in European Perspective. The current debate on design education shows us a landscape of different initiatives. So far difficulties have arisen in the area of accreditation and validation of interaction design as an educational field. This in contrast to all the EU agreements and strategies. In this paper we will closely look at these difficulties from the perspective of the intensive EU-funded summer-course on Interaction Design with four participating institutes coming from four different EU countries. The course facilitated learning through the usage of the didactic format of studio-based group-work. This approach enabled blended learning and provided a commongroud for intercultural learning through design. A qualitative assessment conducted on the learning format by the 40 multi-cultural group of students and staff provided insightful guidelines into the appreciation and value of the format. The evaluation results showed that the studio-based group-work is an efficient method to overcome cultural differences in design methodology, teamwork and personal skills.     

Highly efficient nonlinear regression for big data with lexicographical splitting

This paper considers the problem of online piecewise linear regression for big data applications. We introduce an algorithm, which sequentially achieves the performance of the best piecewise linear (affine) model with optimal partition of the space of the regressor vectors in an individual sequence manner. To this end, our algorithm constructs a class of \(2^D\) sequential piecewise linear models over a set of partitions of the regressor space and efficiently combines them in the mixture-of-experts setting. We show that the algorithm is highly efficient with computational complexity of only \(O(mD^2)\), where m is the dimension of the regressor vectors. This efficient computational complexity is achieved by efficiently representing all of the \(2^D\) models using a “lexicographical splitting graph.” We analyze the performance of our algorithm without any statistical assumptions, i.e., our results are guaranteed to hold. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm over the well-known data sets in the machine learning literature with computational complexity fraction of the state of the art.     

Development of a cold wire-feed additive layer manufacturing system using shaped metal deposition method

Shaped metal deposition (SMD) method would be an alternative way to traditional manufacturing methods, especially for complex featured and large scale solid parts and it is particularly used for aerospace structural components, manufacturing and repairing of die/molds and middle-sized dense parts. This method is implemented by depositing continuous cold or hot-water melted via welding arc plasma heat. This paper presents the designing, constructing, and controlling of an additive manufacturing system using TIG plus wire based Shaped metal deposition (TW-SMD) method. The aim of the current study is to design and develop an integrated system which is able to reduce time consuming and boring task of deposition process. The developed additive system is capable of producing near net shaped components of sizes not exceed 400 mm in 3 directions directly from CAD drawing. The results showed that the developed system succeeded to produce near net geometries and error-free depositions for various features of SS308LSi components. Additionally, workshop tests have been conducted in order to verify the capability and reliability of the developed AM system.     

Mechanical test and friction-mapping on recycled polypropylene beads using atomic force microscopy

Mechanical tests at sub-micron scales using force microscopy are often used for the characterization of materials. Here we report the mechanical, tribologic, and morphological characterization of recycled polypropylene beads using force spectroscopy and lateral-force microscopy. The compression-elastic moduli calculated using the Hertzian model for polypropylene beads was between 0.448 ± 0.010 and 1.044 ± 0.057 GPa. The grain size analysis revealed a significant correlation between the grain size and measured compression-elastic moduli. Friction-maps of recycled polypropylene beads obtained using lateral-force microscopy were also reported for 25 μm² scanning areas.     

Nanomechanical Characterization of Flowable Dental Restorative Nanocomposite Resins Using AFM

In this study, exploring the possible connections between the structure and the functionality of a dental restoration material on the sub-micrometric scale is aimed, especially by focusing on the elastic mechanical properties of materials. Five flowable dental resin composites were investigated by atomic force microscopy nanoindentation. G-ænial? Universal Flo, Filtek? Ultimate XT, Vertise? Flow, Revolution Formula 2?, and Filtek? Supreme Plus comprising nanofillers have been selected for this study. Young’s modulus was between 12.61?±?0.35?GPa (for G-ænial? Universal Flo) and 11.86?±?0.35?GPa (for Filtek? Supreme Plus), which were quite similar for all commercial flowable resins.     

Improved fiber distribution and mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites by adjusting the mixing sequence

Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) is a class of ultra ductile fiber reinforced cementitious composites, characterized by high ductility and tight crack width control. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber with a diameter of 39 μm and a length of 6-12 mm is often used. Unlike plain concrete and normal fiber reinforced concrete, ECC shows a strain-hardening behavior under tensile load. Apart from the mix design, the fiber distribution is another crucial factor for the mechanical properties of ECC, especially the ductility. In order to obtain a good fiber distribution, the plastic viscosity of the ECC mortar before adding fibers needs to be controlled, for example, by adjusting water-to-powder ratio or chemical admixtures. However, such adjustments have some limitations and may result in poor mechanical properties of ECC. This research explores an innovative approach to improve the fiber distribution by adjusting the mixing sequence. With the standard mixing sequence, fibers are added after all solid and liquid materials are mixed. The undesirable plastic viscosity before the fiber addition may cause poor fiber distribution and results in poor hardened properties. With the adjusted mixing sequence, the mix of solid materials with the liquid material is divided into two steps and the addition of fibers is between the two steps. In this paper, the influence of different water mixing sequences is investigated by comparing the experimental results of the uniaxial tensile test and the fiber distribution analysis. Compared with the standard mixing sequence, the adjusted mixing sequence increases the tensile strain capacity and ultimate tensile strength of ECC and improves the fiber distribution. This concept is further applied in the development of ECC with high volume of sand.