An efficient and accurate technique for the incident-waveexcitations in the FDTD method

An efficient technique to improve the accuracy of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions employing incident-wave excitations is developed. In the separate-field formulation of the FDTD method, any incident wave may be efficiently introduced to the three-dimensional (3-D) computational domain by interpolating from a one-dimensional (1-D) incident-field array (IFA), which is a 1-D FDTD grid simulating the propagation of the incident wave. By considering the FDTD computational domain as a sampled system and the interpolation operation as a decimation process, signal-processing techniques are used to identify and ameliorate the errors due to aliasing. The reduction in the error is demonstrated for various cases. This technique can be used for the excitation of the FDTD grid by any incident wave. A fast technique is used to extract the amplitude and the phase of a sampled sinusoidal signal     

Graph run-length matrices for histopathological image segmentation

The histopathological examination of tissue specimens is essential for cancer diagnosis and grading. However, this examination is subject to a considerable amount of observer variability as it mainly relies on visual interpretation of pathologists. To alleviate this problem, it is very important to develop computational quantitative tools, for which image segmentation constitutes the core step. In this paper, we introduce an effective and robust algorithm for the segmentation of histopathological tissue images. This algorithm incorporates the background knowledge of the tissue organization into segmentation. For this purpose, it quantifies spatial relations of cytological tissue components by constructing a graph and uses this graph to define new texture features for image segmentation. This new texture definition makes use of the idea of gray-level run-length matrices. However, it considers the runs of cytological components on a graph to form a matrix, instead of considering the runs of pixel intensities. Working with colon tissue images, our experiments demonstrate that the texture features extracted from "graph run-length matrices" lead to high segmentation accuracies, also providing a reasonable number of segmented regions. Compared with four other segmentation algorithms, the results show that the proposed algorithm is more effective in histopathological image segmentation.     

Cross-Layer Optimized Rate Adaptation and Scheduling for Multiple-User Wireless Video Streaming

We present a cross-layer optimized video rate adaptation and user scheduling scheme for multi-user wireless video streaming aiming for maximum quality of service (QoS) for each user,, maximum system video throughput, and QoS fairness among users. These objectives are jointly optimized using a multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework that aims to serve the user with the least remaining playback time, highest delivered video seconds per transmission slot and maximum video quality. Experiments with the IS-856 (1timesEV-DO) standard numerology and ITU pedestrian A and vehicular B environments show significant improvements over the state-of- the-art wireless schedulers in terms of user QoS, QoS fairness, and the system throughput.     

Improved prediction methods for scalable predictive animated mesh compression

Animated meshes represented as sequences of static meshes sharing the same connectivity require efficient compression. Among the compression techniques, layered predictive coding methods efficiently encode the animated meshes in a structured way such that the successive reconstruction with an adaptable quality can be performed. The decoding quality heavily depends on how well the prediction is performed in the encoder. Due to this fact, in this paper, three novel prediction structures are proposed and integrated into a state of the art layered predictive coder. The proposed structures are based on weighted spatial prediction with its weighted refinement and angular relations of triangles between current and previous frames. The experimental results show that compared to the state of the art scalable predictive coder, up to 30% bitrate reductions can be achieved with the combination of proposed prediction schemes depending on the content and quantization level.     

Anticonvulsant activity of furanocoumarins and the essential oil obtained from the fruits of Heracleum crenatifolium

The anticonvulsant activity of furanocoumarins, coumarin mixture and the essential oil obtained from the fruits of Heracleum crenatifolium was examined against maximal electroshock (MES)-induced seizures in mice. Bergapten showed significant anticonvulsant activity. The furanocoumarins isolated from the fruits of the plant were identified using thin-layer chromatography, melting points and spectroscopic methods (IR, MS, ¹H NMR) as isobergapten (1), pimpinellin (2), bergapten (3), isopimpinellin (4), sphondin (5) and byak-angelicol (6). The essential oil content of the fruits were found as 5.5%. Twenty-two compounds representing 99.3% of the essential oil obtained from the fruits of H. crenatifolium were determined and the major components were identified as octanol and octyl acetate (3.1% and 88.4% respectively) by GC and GC–MS.     

A theoretical study on hydrodynamics of condensate films over fluted tubes

Hydrodynamic characteristics of liquid films in downward motion on the outer surface of fluted tubes have been investigated theoretically. Velocity distribution, volumetric flow rate and friction factor are calculated from the solution of the equation of motion using bi-polar coordinate system.The results provide sufficient information pertaining to the thickness of the condensate film and its variation, thus enabling the prediction of heat transfer coefficients in desalination.     

Nonenzymic browning during storage of white hard grape pekmez (Zile pekmezi)

Effects of storage period on hydroxymethylfurfural, pH and colour were studied in white hard grape pekmez (Zile pekmezi), a Turkish traditional product. Pekmez samples were stored at 20 °C for 8 months. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences in hydroxymethylfurfural, pH, L, a and b values (P<0.01) based on storage time.     

The effect of soy protein concentrate addition on the physical, chemical, and sensory properties of strawberry flavored ice cream

The effect of soy protein concentrate (0, 1.5, 3, and 4.5%) on the physical, chemical, and sensory properties of strawberry flavored (0, 0.01 and 0.02%) ice cream samples was examined. All samples were analyzed for pH, titratable acidity, total solids, nitrogen, fat, ash, overrun, viscosity, meltdown, Hunter L-, a-, b- values, flavor, body and texture, and appearance. Substituting soy protein concentrate (SPC) in ice cream formula for non-fat dry milk (NFDM) positively influenced the nitrogen content, viscosity values, and melting and appearance properties of the ice cream samples while overrun values and flavor scores were negatively affected. SPC could be incorporated into the ice cream formula in the range of 1.5–3% devoid of significantly diminishing the physical, chemical, and sensory properties.     

Effect of combined application of plant extract and vacuum packaged treatment on the quality of hot smoked rainbow trout

The effect of plant extract (bay leaf, rosemary, black cumin seed and lemon oil) treatment on the shelf life of vacuum-packaged fish was studied. Hot smoked rainbow trout was treated with 1 % plant extracts, and their shelf lives were compared with those of control (only vacuum packaged) samples. Samples were stored at 2 °C and sensory evaluation as well as chemical and microbiological analyses were conducted weekly. The control group was spoiled after four weeks of storage. In contrast the addition of plant extracts decreased microbiological activity. The results obtained from this study showed that the shelf life of hot smoked trout stored in cold storage (+2 °C), as determined by overall acceptability of all data, was 6 weeks for rosemary, black cumin seed, and lemon oil treatment plus vacuum packaged fish and 7 weeks for bay leaf oil treatment plus vacuum packaged smoked fish.