Mathematical Morphology on the Spherical CIELab Quantale with an Application in Color Image Boundary Detection

Mathematical morphology is a theory with applications in image processing and analysis. This paper presents a quantale-based approach to color morphology based on the CIELab color space in spherical coordinates. The novel morphological operations take into account the perceptual difference between color elements by using a distance-based ordering scheme. Furthermore, the novel approach allows for the use of non-flat structuring elements. An illustrative example reveals that non-flat dilations and erosions may preserve more features of a color image than their corresponding flat operations. Furthermore, the novel non-flat morphological operators yielded promising results on experiments concerning the detection of the boundaries of objects on color images.     

Models and emerging trends of concurrent constraint programming

Concurrent Constraint Programming (CCP) has been used over the last two decades as an elegant and expressive model for concurrent systems. It models systems of agents communicating by posting and querying partial information, represented as constraints over the variables of the system. This covers a vast variety of systems as those arising in biological phenomena, reactive systems, net-centric computing and the advent of social networks and cloud computing. In this paper we survey the main applications, developments and current trends of CCP.     

The contextualization of divergent outlooks in a Greenfield master-planned community: a pathway towards reflexivity

Comprehensive design schemes and specifications have progressively shaped Master-Planned Communities (MPCs). The market largely predetermines these outcomes, with background input from communities. Therefore, this paper endeavours to define the fundamental structures that generate differences between market actors and residents within the North Lakes MPC. This study employs ‘habitus theory’, which is a sociological phenomenon describing the divergence of personal outlooks and expertise. The application of this theory is thus illustrative of the evolution of distinct observations within MPCs. Contemporary studies have under-researched these inherent gaps between communities, authorities, and critics, and these frictions could be exacerbated within restrictive developmental contexts. Epistemic and objectified content analyses collated over many years and sources will uncover the underlying differences between the relevant groups. These analyses will enable the progression of a framework for understanding power relation biases and how reflexivity can enhance current consultative methods.     

Functionalized polyglycidol-CuCl-complexes as catalysts in the oxidative coupling reaction of terminal acetylenes

Summary Novel hyperbranched amino-terminated polyglycidoles have been synthesized and tested as macromolecular ligands in the oxidative coupling reaction of phenylacetylene. Amino-terminated polyglycidoles-CuCl complexes showed to be more effective catalysts than the reference monomeric tertiary amines-CuCl ones, but less effective than the most efficient N,N,N'N'-tetramethylethylenediamine-(TMDA) CuCl complex. The difference in performance of monomeric and hyperbranched ligands is probably due to two factors. The first one is better complexation abilities and the second is the local increase of reagent concentration. Received: 28 April 2001/Revised version: 29 August 2001/Accepted: 5 September 2001     

An improved algorithm for the three‐fluid‐phase VLLE flash calculation

The VLLE flash is important in water and hydrocarbons mixtures, hydrocarbon and CO₂ rich mixtures, and hydrocarbon methane rich mixtures that are encountered in reservoir performance and recovery studies. A robust VLLE flash algorithm is proposed. The equilibrium and mass balance equations are solved as a constrained minimization problem. An inverse barrier function is used to handle the inequality constrains to solve for the phase fractions. It warrants always arriving to the solution. The challenging cases analyzed showed that the initialization procedure proposed, together with successive substitution iteration in the outer loop, is a good method for a stable VLLE flash algorithm, even near critical points. Whenever the result is in the region outside the three‐phase physical domain, the solution suggests that the system has fewer phases. In one of the cases analyzed, a region with three liquid phases was encountered and the algorithm found two different solutions with positive phase fractions. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3081–3093, 2015     

Novel Redox-Dependent Esterase Activity (EC 3.1.1.2) for DJ-1: Implications for Parkinson’s Disease

Mutations the in human DJ-1 (hDJ-1) gene are associated with early-onset autosomal recessive forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). hDJ-1/parkinsonism associated deglycase (PARK7) is a cytoprotective multi-functional protein that contains a conserved cysteine-protease domain. Given that cysteine-proteases can act on both amide and ester substrates, we surmised that hDJ-1 possessed cysteine-mediated esterase activity. To test this hypothesis, hDJ-1 was overexpressed, purified and tested for activity towards 4-nitrophenyl acetate (pNPA) as µmol of pNPA hydrolyzed/min/mg·protein (U/mg protein). hDJ-1 showed maximum reaction velocity esterase activity (V_max = 235.10 ± 12.00 U/mg protein), with a sigmoidal fit (S_0.5 = 0.55 ± 0.040 mM) and apparent positive cooperativity (Hill coefficient of 2.05 ± 0.28). A PD-associated mutant of DJ-1 (M26I) lacked activity. Unlike its protease activity which is inactivated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), esterase activity of hDJ-1 is enhanced upon exposure to low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (<10 µM) and plateaus at elevated concentrations (>100 µM) suggesting that its activity is resistant to oxidative stress. Esterase activity of DJ-1 requires oxidation of catalytic cysteines, as chemically protecting cysteines blocked its activity whereas an oxido-mimetic mutant of DJ-1 (C106D) exhibited robust esterase activity. Molecular docking studies suggest that C106 and L126 within its catalytic site interact with esterase substrates. Overall, our data show that hDJ-1 contains intrinsic redox-sensitive esterase activity that is abolished in a PD-associated mutant form of the hDJ-1 protein.     

Mechanical behavior of cold-water fish gelatin gels crosslinked with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether

In this work, chemical crosslinking with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDGE) is used as strategy to enhance mechanical performance of fish gelatin (FG) gels in order to meet the properties' range of mammalian gelatin physical gels. Joint analysis of free amino groups, swelling ratio, and total soluble material indicates that crosslinking degree increases with increasing FG concentration and it is favored by a 0.2 BDDGE/FG ratio. Increasing crosslinking degree enhances gel indentation strength and shear modulus (μ) while decreases fracture toughness (G_IC). Measured μ and G_IC values lies within the range exhibited by mammalian gelatin physical gels, but the relationship between these parameters is opposite. This is due to the different fracture mechanisms occurring in chemically crosslinked and physical gels.     

Monitoring and analysis of the energy cost of an MBR

Certain regions in the south of Europe are suffering an acute lack of water. One way to solve this hydric deficit is to use membrane bioreactors (MBR) to reuse the treated wastewater in tasks where drinking water is not required, e.g. irrigation. The aim of this research was to monitor physical-chemical (COD, BOD, and TN) and microbiological (EF, TC, and FC) parameters, as well as the energy costs in a Kubota MBR pilot plant located in Southeast Spain for one year, as well as to check the feasibility of the MBR process. The system showed a high robustness providing a fairly constant effluent with a large reduction of the entry pollutants and thus providing a highly reliable operation. High TSS, COD, BOD, NH⁺₄ and TN removal efficiencies up to 97, 94, 95, 98 and 81% respectively where achieved. The removal of the different microbials was quite high, with values in the permeate below 10 colony forming units (CFUs) most of the time. Some problems like blackouts, high temperatures and cleaning processes altered the normal operation lowering the retention of the different compounds and microorganisms. Regarding the energy consumption, two fluxes, 19 and 25 LMH were tested. Assuming a price for the electric supply of 0.0806 €/kW, the prices of the treated water for the two fluxes were 0.49 and 0.39 €/m3 and the total consumptions were 6.06 and 4.88 kWh/m³ for 19 and 25 LMH respectively. Aeration comprised almost 50% of the total energy requirements.     

Determination of the optical depth of a DI diesel spray

The optical depth is responsible of limiting the optical diagnostic using visible wavelength in the sprays. This paper proposes to measure the optical depth directly in a real Diesel spray through line-of-sight laser extinction measurements. This easily reproducible method which does not require expensive or complex optical techniques is detailed and the measurement procedure is presented in this paper. As diesel sprays are mostly optically thick, the measurements in the denser region are not reliable and a fuel concentration model has been used to derive the results to the entire spray. This work provides values of SMD at different distance from the nozzle tip depending on the specific parameters like injection pressure or discharge density. The values extracted from a combined experimental/computational approach have been compared to PDPA measurements under the same testing conditions. The results have shown that the maximum optical depth was higher than 10 and that an increase of the injection pressure led to higher τ values. The SMD values appeared to be below the results measured by the PDPA and the droplet diameter showed to be the main responsible of the optical depth of the jet under the tested conditions.