Efficient location and allocation strategies for undesirable facilities considering their fundamental properties

The phrase “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) refers to the well-known social phenomena in which residents oppose the construction or location of undesirable facilities near their homes. Examples of such facilities include electric transmission lines, recycling centers and crematoria. Due to the opposition typically encountered in constructing an undesirable facility, the facility planner should understand the nature of the NIMBY phenomena and consider it as a key factor in determining facility location. We examine the characteristics of NIMBY phenomena and suggest two alternative mathematical optimization models with the objective of minimizing the total degree of NIMBY sentiments. Genetic algorithms are proposed to solve our linear and nonlinear integer programs. The results obtained via genetic algorithms for our linear integer programs are compared with those of CPLEX to evaluate their performance. The nonlinear programs are tested with various allocation policies. Sensitivity analysis is conducted about several system parameters.     

Spatiotemporal bag-of-features for early wildfire smoke detection

Wildfire smoke detection is particularly important for early warning systems, because smoke usually rises before flames arise. Therefore, this paper presents an automatic wildfire smoke detection method using computer vision and pattern recognition techniques. First, candidate blocks are identified using key-frame differences and nonparametric smoke color models to detect smoke-colored moving objects. Subsequently, three-dimensional spatiotemporal volumes are built by combining the candidate blocks in the current key-frame with the corresponding blocks in previous frames. A histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) is extracted, and a histogram of oriented optical flow (HOOF) is extracted as a temporal feature based on the fact that the direction of smoke diffusion is upward owing to thermal convection. From spatiotemporal features of training data, a visual codebook and a bag-of-features (BoF) histogram are generated using our proposed weighting scheme. For smoke verification, a random forest classifier is built during the training phase using the BoF histogram. The random forest with the BoF histogram can increase the detection accuracy performance when compared with related methods and allow smoke detection to be carried out in near real time.     

Failure analysis of R-regions of CFRP hat-shaped structure under pull-off load

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - As a kind of typical structure, the hat-shaped structure (HSS) is widely used in carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) aircraft parts. In this work,...     

Pixel‐Structured Scintillator with Polymeric Microstructures for X‐Ray Image Sensors

We introduce a pixel‐structured scintillator realized on a flexible polymeric substrate and demonstrate its feasibility as an X‐ray converter when it is coupled to photosensitive elements. The sample was prepared by filling Gd₂O₂S:Tb scintillation material into a square‐pore‐shape cavity array fabricated with polyethylene. For comparison, a sample with the conventional continuous geometry was also prepared. Although the pixelated geometry showed X‐ray sensitivity of about 58% compared with the conventional geometry, the resolving power was improved by about 70% above a spatial frequency of 3 mm^?1. The spatial frequency at 10% of the modulation‐transfer function was about 6 mm^?1.     

Design and implementation of multicasting for multi-channel multi-interface wireless mesh networks

Multicasting is a useful communication method in wireless mesh networks (WMNs). Many applications in WMNs require efficient and reliable multicast communications, i.e., high delivery ratio with low overhead among a group of recipients. In spite of its significance, little work has been done on providing such multicast service in multi-channel WMNs. Traditional multicast protocols for wireless and multi-hop networks tend to assume that all nodes, each of which is equipped with a single interface, collaborate on the same channel. This single-channel assumption is not always true, as WMNs often provide nodes with multiple interfaces to enhance performance. In multi-channel and multi-interface (MCMI) WMNs, the same multicast data must be sent multiple times by a sender node if its neighboring nodes operate on different channels. In this paper, we try to tackle the challenging issue of how to design a multicast protocol more suitable for MCMI WMNs. Our multicast protocol builds multicast paths while inviting multicast members, and tries to allocate the same channel to neighboring members in a bottom-up manner. By unifying fixed channels of one-hop multicast neighbors, the proposed algorithm can improve the performance such as reducing multicast data transmission overhead and delay, while managing a successful delivery ratio. In order to prove such expectation on the performance, we have implemented and evaluated the proposed solution on the real testbed having the maximum 24 nodes, each of which is equipped with two IEEE 802.11a Atheros WLAN cards.     

Bioconjugated Thymol-Zinc Oxide Nanocomposite as a Selective and Biocompatible Antibacterial Agent against Staphylococcus Species

Owing to the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance among Staphylococcus species, effective and low-risk alternatives to antibiotics are being actively searched. Thymol (THO), the most abundant component of the oil extracted from thyme, can be considered as a natural antibacterial alternative. However, the low antibacterial activity and non-selectivity of THO limit its usage as a universal anti-Staphylococcus agent. Herein, we report the bioconjugation of THO with ZnO nanoparticle (ZO), which resulted in the TZ nanocomposite (NC), as a potent and selective antibacterial agent against Staphylococcus species, particularly S. epidermidis. The cell-free supernatant (CFS) of ATCC 25923 cultures was employed for the production of TZ NC. Successful production of TZ NC was confirmed via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) studies. TZ NC had selective efficacy against Staphylococcus species, with MIC values 2–32-fold lower than THO. The antibacterial mechanisms of TZ NC are proposed to involve membrane rupture, suppression of biofilm formation, and modulation of new cell wall and protein-synthesis-associated cellular pathways. Its biocompatibility against HCT116 cells was also checked. Our findings suggest that the TZ nanocomposite could improve the selectivity and bactericidal activity of THO against target species.     

Improving Lipid Production of Yarrowia lipolytica by the Aldehyde Dehydrogenase-Mediated Furfural Detoxification

Yarrowia lipolytica, the non-conventional yeast capable of high lipogenesis, is a microbial chassis for producing lipid-based biofuels and chemicals from renewable resources such as lignocellulosic biomass. However, the low tolerance of Y. lipolytica against furfural, a major inhibitory furan aldehyde derived from the pretreatment processes of lignocellulosic biomass, has restricted the efficient conversion of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. In this study, the furfural tolerance of Y. lipolytica has been improved by supporting its endogenous detoxification mechanism. Specifically, the endogenous genes encoding the aldehyde dehydrogenase family proteins were overexpressed in Y. lipolytica to support the conversion of furfural to furoic acid. Among them, YALI0E15400p (FALDH2) has shown the highest conversion rate of furfural to furoic acid and resulted in two-fold increased cell growth and lipid production in the presence of 0.4 g/L of furfural. To our knowledge, this is the first report to identify the native furfural detoxification mechanism and increase furfural resistance through rational engineering in Y. lipolytica. Overall, these results will improve the potential of Y. lipolytica to produce lipids and other value-added chemicals from a carbon-neutral feedstock of lignocellulosic biomass.     

Image Resolution Enhancement Using Spatially Invariant Point Spread Function

<正>This paper presents an image resolution enhancement algorithm using spatially invariant point spread function.Point spread function is used to constrain the solution space.This parameter is computed at each iteration step using partially restored image at each iteration,and High pass filter is used to impose the degree of edge smoothness on the solution.The resulting iterative algorithm exhibits the increased PSNR better than Bicubic interpolation approach.     

Nanotube morphology changes for Ti-Zr alloys as Zr content increases

Nanotube morphology changes in Ti-Zr alloys as Zr content increases have been investigated. Ti-Zr (10, 20, 30 and 40 wt.%) alloys were prepared by arc melting and heat treated for 24 h at 1000 °C in an argon atmosphere. TiO₂ nanotubes were formed on the Ti-Zr alloys by anodization in H₃PO₄ containing 0.5 wt.% NaF. Electrochemical experiments were performed using a conventional three-electrode configuration with a platinum counter electrode and a saturated calomel reference electrode. Samples were embedded in epoxy resin, leaving an area of 10 mm² exposed to the electrolyte. Anodization was carried out using a scanning potentiostat, and all experiments were conducted at room temperature. Microstructures of the alloys were examined by optical microscopy (OM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The Ti-Zr alloy microstructures observed by OM and FE-SEM changed from a lamellar structure to a needle-like structure with increasing Zr content. The microstructures also changed from β phase to increasing amounts of α phase as the Zr content increased. The number of large nanotubes formed by anodization decreased, and the number of small nanotubes increased, as the Zr content increased. The mean inner diameter ranged from approximately 150 to 200 nm with a tube-wall thickness of about 20 nm. The interspace between the nanotubes was approximately 60, 70, 100 and 130 nm for Zr contents of 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt.%, respectively.     

Solid‐State Conversion of Single Crystals: The Principle and the State‐of‐the‐Art

Solid‐state conversion of single crystals from polycrystalline materials has the advantages of cost‐effectiveness, chemical homogeneity, and versatility over the conventional melt growth and solution growth methods, particularly for systems with high melting points, incongruent melting, high reactivity (volatility), and phase transformations at high temperature. Nevertheless, for commercial production, this technique has only been successful in a few limited systems, in particular ferroelectric systems. This is mostly because of the difficulty in controlling the microstructure, particularly suppressing grain growth in the polycrystal during its conversion. This article describes the principle and the current status of the solid‐state conversion of single crystals. We first introduce the recently developed principle of microstructural evolution to explain the basis of the microstructure control in polycrystals for solid‐state conversion. We then report recent technical developments in fabricating single crystals by the solid‐state single crystal growth (SSCG) method and their physical properties. The SSCG method is expected to be studied and utilized more widely in fabricating single crystals with complex compositions as a strong alternative to the melt growth and solution growth methods.