Olfactory aposematism

Visual and acoustic cues may serve as aposematic signals that warn predators of poisonous foods. Olfactory aposematism, the use of innocuous odors as warning signals for toxic foods, is another possible means of alerting an animal that a potential food item is unpalatable. Although it has been suggested that olfactory aposematism might be the principle mode of warning utilized by plants in their defense against herbivores, experimental evidence is lacking. This study demonstrates that the opossum,Didelphis virginiana, can utilize an innocuous volatile compound found naturally in a mushroom as a warning signal for a delayed illness caused by mushroom toxin. This supports the contention that characteristic odors of toxic plants may serve a warning function, protecting herbivores from being poisoned and plants from being consumed.     

微生物发酵生产2,3-丁二酮的研究

2,3-丁二酮又称双乙酰,是一种黄色至浅绿色具有强烈奶油香味的重要香料。2,3-丁二酮传统上用合成法生产,我们以农副产品为主要原料,利用选育的高产菌株发酵生产,发酵工艺条件温和,产品风味自然、逼真、安全性高,视同天然产品,符合人们崇尚自然的趋势,可广泛用于食品、日化、饲料香精的生产。     

Alkaline peroxide generation using a novel perforated bipole trickle-bed electrochemical reactor

A novel perforated bipole trickle-bed electrochemical reactor is investigated for the electro-synthesis of alkaline peroxide. The process uses a relatively simple cell configuration in which a single electrolyte flows with oxygen gas in a flow-by graphite felt cathode, sandwiched between a micro-porous diaphragm and a perforated bipolar electrode plate. The graphite felt cathodes are 120 mm high by 25 mm wide and have a thickness of 3.2 mm. The reactor is operated at current densities in the range 1–5 kA m⁻², ca. 800 kPa (abs) pressure and temperature (In/Out) 20–45 °C with one and two-cells. The reactor shows good performance (current efficiency ∼78% at 2 kA m⁻² and a specific energy of 5 kWh per kg of peroxide generated) with peroxide concentrations from 0.02 to 0.15 M in 1 M NaOH.     

Processing of Topological BIM Queries using Boundary Representation Based Methods

Building Information Models (BIM) are comprehensive digital representations of buildings, which provide a large set of information originating from the different disciplines involved in the design, construction and operation processes. Moreover, accessing the data needed for a specific downstream application scenario is a challenging task in large-scale BIM projects. Several researchers recently proposed using formal query languages for specifying the desired information in a concise, well-defined manner. One of the main limitations of the languages introduced so far, however, is the inadequate treatment of geometric information. This is a significant drawback, as buildings are inherently spatial objects and qualitative spatial relationships accordingly play an important role in the analysis and verification of building models. In addition, the filters needed in specific data exchange scenarios for selecting the information required can be built by spatial objects and their relations. The lack of spatial functionality in BIM query languages is filled by the Query Language for Building Information Models (QL4BIM) which provides metric, directional and topological operators for defining filter expressions with qualitative spatial semantics. This paper focuses on the topological operators provided by the language. In particular, it presents a new implementation method based on the boundary representation of the operands which outperforms the previously presented octree-based approaches. The paper discusses the developed algorithms in detail and presents extensive performance tests.     

我国DSD酸行业推行清洁生产工艺的思考

2002年我国DSD酸的产量近2万t,占世界DSD酸总产量的40％,其中出口1.2万t,占世界DSD酸总贸易量的35％。我国DSD酸的现行合成路线仍采用传统的先污染后治理的模式,但也开发了一些清洁生产工艺,包括SO_3磺化、有机溶剂氧化、催化加氢还原等。目前企业采用现有清洁生产工艺工业化生产DSD酸还存在困难,作者建议应加强政策引导,强化管理,依靠科技组织进行示范,同时加强国际合作交流,引进技术。     

Real-time facial animation on mobile devices

We present a performance-based facial animation system capable of running on mobile devices at real-time frame rates. A key component of our system is a novel regression algorithm that accurately infers the facial motion parameters from 2D video frames of an ordinary web camera. Compared with the state-of-the-art facial shape regression algorithm [1], which takes a two-step procedure to track facial animations (i.e., first regressing the 3D positions of facial landmarks, and then computing the head poses and expression coefficients), we directly regress the head poses and expression coefficients. This one-step approach greatly reduces the dimension of the regression target and significantly improves the tracking performance while preserving the tracking accuracy. We further propose to collect the training images of the user under different lighting environments, and make use of the data to learn a user-specific regressor, which can robustly handle lighting changes that frequently occur when using mobile devices.     

Multi-Wavelength vs. Binary Code Pattern Unwrapping in Fringe Projection Method

Phase extraction, phase unwrapping and phase to height conversion are consecutive steps within the fringe projection method for reconstruction of 3D objects. The procedure of determining discontinuities on the wrapped phase, resolving them and achieving the unwrapped phase is called phase unwrapping. A software system was developed that provides the ability to create many kinds of patterns with a verity of desirable properties suitable for different demands in fringe projection systems. In our previous work, an experimental study was reported based on a multi-wavelength unwrapping approach. In the following work, we implemented a new method called binary code pattern unwrapping that is based on time analysis. A comparison of the two unwrapping approaches in terms of resolution, quality, noise, depth accuracy, and computational cost is provided.     

Combination of non-thermal plasma and heterogeneous catalysis for oxidation of volatile organic compounds: Part 2. Ozone decomposition and deactivation of γ-Al2O3

The role of ozone was studied for two different configurations combining non-thermal plasma (NTP) and heterogeneous catalysis, namely the use of a gas phase plasma with subsequent exposure of the effluent to a catalyst in a packed-bed reactor (post-plasma treatment) and the placement of the catalyst directly in the discharge zone (in-plasma catalysis). Non-porous and porous alumina and silica were deployed as model catalysts. The oxidation of immobilised hydrocarbons, toluene as a volatile organic compound and CO as an inorganic pollutant were studied in both operational modes.

While conversion and selectivity of hydrocarbon oxidation in the case of catalytic post-plasma treatment can be fully explained by the catalytic decomposition of O₃ on γ-Al₂O₃, the conversion processes for in-plasma catalysis are more complex and significant oxidation was also measured for the other three materials (-Al₂O₃, quartz and silica gel). It became obvious that additional synergetic effects can be utilised in the case of in-plasma catalysis due to short-lived species formed in the NTP.

The capability of porous alumina for ozone decomposition was found to be correlated with its activity for oxidation of carbon-containing agents. It could be clearly shown that the reaction product CO₂ poisons the catalytic sites at the γ-Al₂O₃ surface. The catalytic activity for O₃ decomposition can be partially re-established by NTP treatment. However, for practical purposes the additional reaction pathways provided by in-plasma catalytic processes are essential for satisfactory conversion and selectivity.     

户内变电站三维设计应用研究

目前,户内变电站普遍采用二维设计,整个工程设计依靠设计人员的空间想象力和工程制图技能完成三维空间设计,这种方法缺乏对设计质量的有效控制,已难以适应目前各电网公司对设计精细化的需求。户内变电站三维设计具有直观、智能等特点,在适应了复杂的户内变电站设计、不断压缩的设计周期和设计资料的数字化移交等要求的同时,完善了工程设计人员充分表达设计思想的手段,是一种能提高项目质量的助推器,也是实现变电工程全寿命周期管理的有效工具,更是未来变电工程设计的发展趋势。     

基于SkyEye的嵌入式Linux移植仿真技术研究

在嵌入式系统开发中,经常需要硬件开发板来调测软件,不仅操作繁琐,硬件环境不稳定时问题也很难定位;有时还会遇到软件等待硬件调试,延误开发周期的情况。在PC桌面系统下,探讨了一种基于SkyEye虚拟硬件技术的嵌入式平台仿真技术,介绍如何建立仿真基础环境,编译嵌入式Linux内核,制作根文件系统,编译、配置SkyEye,以S3C6410X为目标机处理器,将Linux内核及文件系统移植到基于SkyEye虚拟的ARM体系架构下,为嵌入式系统的研发探索了一种新的途径。