Filtering Relocations on a Delaunay Triangulation

Updating a Delaunay triangulation when its vertices move is a bottleneck in several domains of application. Rebuilding the whole triangulation from scratch is surprisingly a very viable option compared to relocating the vertices. This can be explained by several recent advances in efficient construction of Delaunay triangulations. However, when all points move with a small magnitude, or when only a fraction of the vertices move, rebuilding is no longer the best option. This paper considers the problem of efficiently updating a Delaunay triangulation when its vertices are moving under small perturbations. The main contribution is a set of filters based upon the concept of vertex tolerances. Experiments show that filtering relocations is faster than rebuilding the whole triangulation from scratch under certain conditions.     

Habitation: A Domain-Specific Language for Home Automation

Developers need suitable tools to develop home automation systems while enhancing quality and productivity. One solution is to use domain-specific languages (DSLs) within a model-driven approach. The Habitation DSL provides a powerful visual development environment, including a catalog of reusable functional units and a set of home automation interconnection primitives. The model-driven approach offers mechanisms to automatically generate code to enhance the quality and portability of home automation systems. The result is an Eclipse-based tool whose usability the authors have validated in a case study.     

Automatic diagnosis of mobile communication networks under imprecise parameters

In the last years, self-organization of cellular networks is becoming a crucial aspect of network management due to the increasing complexity of the networks. Automatic fault identification, i.e. diagnosis, is the most difficult task in self-healing. In this paper, a model based on discrete bayesian networks (BNs) is proposed for diagnosis of radio access networks of cellular systems. Normally, inaccuracies are unavoidable in the parameters of the model (interval limits for discretized symptoms and probabilities in the BN). In order to enhance the performance of BNs, a methodology to model the “continuity” in the human reasoning is presented, named smooth bayesian networks (SBNs). SBNs are intended to decrease the sensitivity of diagnosis accuracy to imprecision in the definition of the model parameters. An empirical research campaign has been carried out in a live GSM/GPRS network in order to assess the performance of the proposed techniques. Results have shown that SBNs outperform traditional BNs when there is inaccuracy in the model parameters.     

Protein stabilisation of Chardonnay wine using trisacryl and bentonite: a comparative study

The stabilisation of a Chilean Chardonnay wine by SP-Trisacryl-M and bentonite was investigated, evaluating protein, polyphenol and polysaccharide adsorption, turbidity and wine quality. The wine could be stabilised by adding at least 0.3 kg m⁻³ of bentonite or 12 kg m⁻³ of trisacryl, removing 95% and 76% of the wine proteins, respectively. The protein adsorption data for bentonite and trisacryl were fitted using the Freundlich isotherm. The wine protein adsorption isotherm on trisacryl was unfavourable. Protein removal from Chardonnay by trisacryl in a packed column at continuous operation was about 50% during the first 70 bed volumes (BV) of treated wine and decreased progressively until the end of the treatment (100 BV). The adsorbents showed a higher selectivity for proteins than for polyphenols and polysaccharides. A sensorial panel could not detect statistically significant differences between the bentonite and trisacryl treatments of wine at P  ≤ 0.05.     

Effect of UV‐C radiation on quality of minimally processed spinach leaves

BACKGROUND: The fresh‐cut vegetable industry commonly uses sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) for disinfection. However, certain problems with NaOCl usage have led to the investigation of alternative sanitisation treatments. In this respect, UV‐C radiation could be of interest. RESULTS: The effect of four pre‐packaging UV‐C radiation doses (0, 4.54, 7.94 and 11.35 kJ m^?2) and two storage temperatures (5 and 8 °C) on the quality of minimally processed spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaves was studied over a period of 13 days. UV‐C radiation decreased mesophilic and psychrophilic counts just after its application compared with conventional sanitisation washing (150 mg L^?1 NaOCl). However, UV‐C had no residual effect on microbial growth from 6 to 13 days at 5 and 8 °C. During shelf‐life a slight loss of lightness was found, probably related to superficial tissue damage induced particularly in higher‐UV‐C treated leaves. Total antioxidant activity and polyphenol content decreased gradually throughout storage, being more evident in higher‐UV‐C treated leaves stored at 8 °C. The general trend was to maintain the initial chlorophyll content during shelf‐life. CONCLUSION: Low to moderate UV‐C radiation can be an effective alternative to chlorine for sanitising minimally processed spinach leaves and preserving their quality. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Modeling within the Bayesian framework, the inactivation of pectinesterase in gazpacho by pulsed electric fields

The inactivation of pectinesterase (PE) activity in gazpacho (a Spanish ready-to-use cold vegetable soup) under pulsed electric fields (PEFs) was studied. Samples were exposed to 4 μs monopolar or bipolar square-wave pulses at 5–35 kV cm⁻¹ electric field intensity for up to 1500 μs and 200 Hz (temperature below 40 °C). Inactivation of PE was greater when treatment time and electric field intensity increased, and bipolar pulses were more effective inactivating PE than monopolar ones. Estimation of parameters and quantities involved in the tested models were performed within the Bayesian framework. The kinetic evolution of the enzyme was explained using a 3-parameter biexponential model based on a mechanism involving two irreversible consecutive steps. Rate constant k₁ was not dependent on neither electric field intensity nor pulse polarity. Rate constant k₂ and ratio between the activities of intermediate forms and the native ones of the enzyme Λ were affected by those conditions.     

Polymeric nanocapsules via miniemulsion polymerization using redox initiation

The effect of using a redox initiation system (hydrogen peroxide and ascorbic acid), on the morphology of the nanoparticles formed in methyl methacrylate miniemulsion polymerization reactions with lecithin as surfactant and using high amounts of miglyol 812 or castor oil as costabilizer is compared to the use of a conventional organic phase initiator (2,2′-azo-bis-isobutironitrile). It was observed that with miglyol 812 as co-stabilizer the preferential formation of the nanocapsule morphology was achieved with both evaluated initiation systems when initiator concentrations were chosen in such a way that monomer conversions of 90% were only attained after 30 min of reaction.     

Assessment of odour and H(2)S impact in WWTPs by cryo-condensation

Stability of gaseous samples is a major concern when dealing with odours and airborne pollutants sampling. In terms of odours, the representativeness of the sample can be very seriously compromised, despite the rigorous application of the maximum storage time established by EN-13725. The present paper is focused on the use of the cryo-condensation technique (Cryocore) for time-weighted-average (TWA) sampling in waste water treatment plants (WWTPs), with the aim of comparing the values of TWA odour and H(2)S concentration when using the Cryocore system and other well established sampling methods, such as those described in EN-13725 and passive sampling. The study showed comparable results when comparing all the methodologies tested.     

Does 91% of the world’s population really have “sustainable access to safe drinking water”?

Halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water was a core target of the Millennium Development Goals. This led to an unprecedented effort in the water sector, improving the livelihoods of millions of people. While the goal has officially been accomplished, unsuitable benchmarks have led to overstatement of the results. Indicators overemphasize improved water sources, disregarding the fact that many continue to be contaminated, unreliable or unaffordable. The alleged success needs to be reframed to avoid confusion, prevent investments from being reallocated away from the water sector and obtain more accurate estimates of water access.     

Molecular-dynamics simulation of threshold displacement energies in zircon

Molecular-dynamics simulations were used to examine the displacement threshold energy (E_d) surface for Zr, Si and O in zircon using two different interatomic potentials. For each sublattice, the simulation was repeated from different initial conditions to estimate the uncertainty in the calculated value of E_d. The displacement threshold energies vary considerably with crystallographic direction and sublattice. Based on the present simulations and previous experimental studies, this work recommends E_d values of 75, 75 and 60 eV for Zr, Si and O, respectively, to be used in Monte Carlo simulations of irradiation damage profile in zircon.