Vehicle detection by means of stereo vision-based obstacles features extraction and monocular pattern analysis.

This paper presents a stereo vision system for the detection and distance computation of a preceding vehicle. It is divided in two major steps. Initially, a stereo vision-based algorithm is used to extract relevant three-dimensional (3-D) features in the scene, these features are investigated further in order to select the ones that belong to vertical objects only and not to the road or background. These 3-D vertical features are then used as a starting point for preceding vehicle detection; by using a symmetry operator, a match against a simplified model of a rear vehicle's shape is performed using a monocular vision-based approach that allows the identification of a preceding vehicle. In addition, using the 3-D information previously extracted, an accurate distance computation is performed.     

Thermal and thermoelastic properties of fast extrusion furnace (FEF) carbon black loaded SBR vulcanizates

The effect of FEF carbon black as filler on the thermal capacity c, diffusivity a, and thermal conductivity λ, of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) composites in the temperature range 300–420 K was studied. The filler strongly increases the thermal diffusivity, whilst strongly decreasing the thermal capacity and the thermal conductivity (except at high FEF content ≥80 phr). The influence of the filler on the thermoelastic behaviour of the same composites was also investigated. It was found that the thermoelastic temperature change (ΔT) increased with carbon black concentration as well as the entropy change per unit extension.     

PGRP-LB: An Inside View into the Mechanism of the Amidase Reaction

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are ubiquitous among animals and play pivotal functions in insect immunity. Non-catalytic PGRPs are involved in the activation of immune pathways by binding to the peptidoglycan (PGN), whereas amidase PGRPs are capable of cleaving the PGN into non-immunogenic compounds. Drosophila PGRP-LB belongs to the amidase PGRPs and downregulates the immune deficiency (IMD) pathway by cleaving meso-2,6-diaminopimelic (meso-DAP or DAP)-type PGN. While the recognition process is well analyzed for the non-catalytic PGRPs, little is known about the enzymatic mechanism for the amidase PGRPs, despite their essential function in immune homeostasis. Here, we analyzed the specific activity of different isoforms of Drosophila PGRP-LB towards various PGN substrates to understand their specificity and role in Drosophila immunity. We show that these isoforms have similar activity towards the different compounds. To analyze the mechanism of the amidase activity, we performed site directed mutagenesis and solved the X-ray structures of wild-type Drosophila PGRP-LB and its mutants, with one of these structures presenting a protein complexed with the tracheal cytotoxin (TCT), a muropeptide derived from the PGN. Only the Y78F mutation abolished the PGN cleavage while other mutations reduced the activity solely. Together, our findings suggest the dynamic role of the residue Y78 in the amidase mechanism by nucleophilic attack through a water molecule to the carbonyl group of the amide function destabilized by Zn²⁺.     

The Impact of Metastable Intermolrecular Nanocomposite Particles on Kinetic Decomposition of Heterocyclic Nitramines Using Advanced Solid‐Phase Decomposition Models

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - Surface oxygen of oxide catalyst has low coordination number; they are negatively charged. Surface oxygen can act active site for...     

Removal of Ag(l), Cu(II) and Zn(ll) ions with a supported liquid membrane containing cryptands as carriers

The interface behaviour in the facilitated co-transport of Ag(I), Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions through supported liquid membranes (SLMs) made of a flat-sheet polypropylene membrane support containing cryptands (2.2.2 or 2.2.1) as carriers was studied. The liquid-liquid extraction tests showed a maximum distribution coefficient when the carrier concentration was greaterthan 10⁻⁴M. In transport experiments the transmembrane flux increased with increasing carrier concentration reaching a limiting value at greater than 10⁻³M concentration. The calculation ofthe diffusion coefficients in membranes showed ahigherdiffusivityof2.2.2-metal complexes with respect to 2.2.1-metal complexes for silver ions. A sequence of diffusivity D(Ag+)>D(Cu²⁺)>D(Zn²⁺) was obtained, but carrier 2.2.1 showed a higher selectivity through copper ions. A sequence of diffusivity D(Cu²⁺)>D(Zn²⁺)>D(Ag⁺) was obtained. The diffusivity was significantly higher when using Celgard 2500 support compared to Celgard 2400 or 2402. Variable metal ion concentrations in the feed phase fluxes almost zero, at less than 10⁻² M concentration, were obtained. In the transient state of the transport through the SLM, different molar flow rates at the feed-membrane and membrane-strip interfaces were observed. The selectivity of the interfaces containing 2.2.2 in the separation binary mixtures of ions showed the following separation factors: SF_AgZn = 2.50, SF_AgCu = 1.64, SF_cuZn = 1.42.     

Cotton Seed Oil Oxidation Catalysed by Amino Acids and Albumin in Aqueous and Non-Aqueous Media

The oxidation of refined cotton seed oil catalysed by various α-amino acids and albumin have been studied in aqueous and non-aqueous media. Cysteine, phenylalanine and albumin possessed pro-oxidant effect in cotton seed oil in aqueous and non-aqueous media. Serine exhibited pro-oxidant activity in aqueous media and minor anti-oxidant effect in non-aqueous media. The effectiveness of the amino acids on cotton seed oil oxidation was in the following descending order in both aqueous and non-aqueous media: cysteine > phenylalanine > serine. The pro-oxidant effect in aqueous media might be due to the predominant presence of the protonated amino nitrogen. Whilst, amino acid-metal complex might be responsible for the pro-oxidant effect in non-aqueous media.     

Chemical factors affecting soiling and soil release from cotton-containing durable press fabric. VIII. Grafting of polyester/cotton blend fabrics with carboxyl-containing polymer

Fabric samples of polyester/cotton blend were graft copolymerized to different levels (add-ons) with poly(acrylic acid) and poly(methacrylic acid) using the mutual γ-irradiation technique and the Fe²⁺–H₂O₂ redox system, respectively. The copolymers so obtained were given durable press treatments with and without conventional nonionic softener using DMDEU as the crosslinking agent. The susceptibility of the copolymers before and after crosslinking to aqueous and nonaqueous oily soiling and their ability to release the soils were examined. It was found that hydrophilization of the surface of polyester/cotton blend through grafting with the said carboxyl-containing polymers brings about a significant improvement in the resistance of the blend to aqueous and nonaqueous oily soil particularly after crosslinking in presence of nonionic softener. A certain improvement in the ease of oily soil removal could be achieved by grafting. The opposite holds true for aqueous soil release. Soiling and soil release depends on the magnitude and method of grafting, medium of soiling, as well as the formulation of crosslinking treatments. The effect of grafting on some properties of the blend fabric before and after crosslinking was also examined.     

Progress and challenges in sustainability,compatibility, and production of eco-composites: A state-of-art review

Owing to economic and environmental benefits, new generations of materials/commodities follow “from waste to wealth” strategy. Recently, there has been a huge upsurge in research on the development of eco-composites using recycled plastic polymers and agro-residues because the eco-composites satisfy the stringent environment regulations and are cost-effective. Herein, we present a detailed review on the potential use of several types of natural fillers as an efficient reinforcement for recycled plastic polymers. In particular, the characterization of different categories of eco-composites according to their morphological, physical, thermal, and mechanical properties is extensively reviewed and their results are analyzed, compared, and highlighted. Furthermore, a framework to produce functional eco-composites, which includes functionalization of ingredients, critical issues on microstructural parameters, processing, and fabrication methods, is outlined and supported with sufficient data from the literature. Finally, the review outlines the emerging challenges and future prospects of eco-composites to be addressed by interested researchers to bridge the gap between research and commercialization of such a class of material. Overall, the acquired knowledge will guide researchers, scientists, and manufacturers to plan, select, and develop various forms of eco-composites with enhanced properties and optimized production processes.     

Accelerating SPARQL queries by exploiting hash-based locality and adaptive partitioning

State-of-the-art distributed RDF systems partition data across multiple computer nodes (workers). Some systems perform cheap hash partitioning, which may result in expensive query evaluation. Others try to minimize inter-node communication, which requires an expensive data preprocessing phase, leading to a high startup cost. Apriori knowledge of the query workload has also been used to create partitions, which, however, are static and do not adapt to workload changes. In this paper, we propose AdPart, a distributed RDF system, which addresses the shortcomings of previous work. First, AdPart applies lightweight partitioning on the initial data, which distributes triples by hashing on their subjects; this renders its startup overhead low. At the same time, the locality-aware query optimizer of AdPart takes full advantage of the partitioning to (1) support the fully parallel processing of join patterns on subjects and (2) minimize data communication for general queries by applying hash distribution of intermediate results instead of broadcasting, wherever possible. Second, AdPart monitors the data access patterns and dynamically redistributes and replicates the instances of the most frequent ones among workers. As a result, the communication cost for future queries is drastically reduced or even eliminated. To control replication, AdPart implements an eviction policy for the redistributed patterns. Our experiments with synthetic and real data verify that AdPart: (1) starts faster than all existing systems; (2) processes thousands of queries before other systems become online; and (3) gracefully adapts to the query load, being able to evaluate queries on billion-scale RDF data in subseconds.