Understanding the Future of Video Coding

Book Reviewed: Iain E.G. Richardson, H.264 and MPEG-4 VideoCompression: Video Coding for Next-GenerationMultimedia, John Wiley & Sons, 2003, $102.00, 206 pp., ISBN 0-470-84837-5.     

A STUDY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CATALYTIC POROUS-WALL THREE-PHASE REACTOR

A theoretical investigation of a catalytic porous-wall reactor in which gaseous and liquid reactants approach each other from opposite sides of the catalyst is undertaken. Equations for the annular liquid-channel are coupled with those for the catalytic wall and solved numerically and analytically using a simplified model. For the model reaction under study, the main design and operation parameters which affect reactor performance are the Thiele modulus, Peclet number, width of the liquid channel and the inlet concentration of the reactant in the liquid phase.

The effect of reactor configuration is peculiar to the cylindrical geometry because the thickness and relative location of the catalytic wall as well as the selection of the liquid and gas channels can influence the reactor performance. Thin-walled catalyst tubes have larger effectiveness factors and as the tube radius approaches that of the reactor, conversion in the reactor increases especially when the liquid is saturated with the gaseous reactant. Concentration of the liquid reactant in the feed has a significant effect if the reactant is depleted at some point inside the catalyst wall. Since the reaction zone width can be adjusted by changing the feed composition, this might have important implications with respect to selectivity.     

CFD simulation of free-surface flow over triangular labyrinth side weir

Side weirs are extensively used in the hydraulic and environmental engineering applications. The modeling of free surface flow over a labyrinth side weir is a sophisticated problem in the hydraulic engineering. The water surface profiles over the triangular labyrinth side weirs were investigated by many of the researchers experimentally and theoretically. In this study, the free surface flow over the triangular labyrinth side weir was modeled by using Volume of Fluids (VOF) method to describe the flow characteristics in subcritical flow conditions. A valid method, Grid Convergence Index (GCI) was used to determine the numerical uncertainty of the simulation results. The simulation results were compared with experimental observations, and good agreements were obtained between the both results.     

Biofuel supply chain optimal design considering economic,environmental, and societal aspects towards sustainability

Biofuel supply chain design plays a critical role in facilitating the large‐scale substitution of biofuel for traditional fossil fuels with a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly manner towards sustainability. This paper proposes a multiobjective optimization model for a 4‐layer biofuel supply chain network using mixed integer nonlinear programming while considering the benefits from economic, environmental, and societal aspects. The model can be used either to optimize an existing biofuel supply chain network or to guide the construction of a new biofuel supply chain network. The profit, the greenhouse gas emissions in transportation, and the market share of biofuel were set as targets for optimization. The selection of the participators at each layer, and the amount of the material flow between each pair of selected supplier and customer located at two adjacent layers were modeled as decision variables. The conventional weighted aggregation method was used to unify 3 objectives after normalization. Particle swarm optimization was used to solve this high‐dimension multiobjective problem to obtain a near optimal solution. A numerical case study based on the state of Missouri in the United States was implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results of the case study illustrate that the benefits in terms of transportation emission, profit, and market share can be achieved simultaneously. Using the equal weights configuration in conventional weighted aggregation as an example, a 21% reduction of the transportation emission, a 33% increase of the profit, and a 2% augmentation of the market share were achieved compared to the benchmark scenario.     

Continuous 3D Multi-Channel Sign Language Production via Progressive Transformers and Mixture Density Networks

International Journal of Computer Vision - Sign languages are multi-channel visual languages, where signers use a continuous 3D space to communicate. Sign language production (SLP), the automatic...     

Zinc Oxide Nanowire Decorated Single‐Use Electrodes for Electrochemical DNA Detection

The surfaces of pencil graphite electrodes (PGEs) were decorated with zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) for the electrochemical detection of nucleic acids. ZnO NWs were synthesized through simple hydrothermal method. PGEs decorated with ZnO NWs (ZnO NW/PGEs) were electrochemically characterized through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) following morphological characterization through transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Enhanced sensor response obtained using ZnO NW/PGEs contrary to the bare PGE (control) samples. Our preliminary results simply reveal the potential of combining ZnO NWs with disposable sensor technology for the electrochemical detection of DNA.     

Capacitor Applications of Nanocomposite Films for Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-co-pyrrole)/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-co-pyrrole)/Copper Oxide

Polypyrrole/multi-walled carbon nanotube, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/multi-walled carbon nanotube and their nanocomposites P(EDOT-co-Py)/multi-walled carbon nanotube and P(EDOT-co-Py)/copper (II) oxide, (CuO) in the initial feed ratio of [EDOT]₀/[Py]₀ = 1/5 were electrosynthesized on glassy carbon electrode by cyclic voltammetric method. Their characterizations were performed by cyclic voltammetric, Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion X-ray analysis, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. To the best of authors’ knowledge, the first report on polypyrrole/multi-walled carbon nanotube, PEDOT/multi-walled carbon nanotube, P(EDOT-co-Py)/multi-walled carbon nanotube and P(EDOT-co-Py)/CuO nanocomposite films were comparatively examined in 0.1 M NaClO₄/CH₃CN and in 0.1 M sodium dodecyl sulfate solutions. The highest specific capacitance for PEDOT/multi-walled carbon nanotube and polypyrrole/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite films were obtained as C_sp = 306 mF × cm^?2 for 3% multi-walled carbon nanotube and C_sp = 804 mF × cm^?2 for 1% multi-walled carbon nanotube, respectively. The highest specific capacitances were obtained as C_sp = 27.40 mF × cm^?2 and C_sp = 26.90 mF × cm^?2 for P(EDOT-co-Py)/multi-walled carbon nanotube includes the wt percent of 1% multi-walled carbon nanotube and P(EDOT-co-Py)/CuO includes the wt percent of 3% CuO, respectively. The C_sp of P(EDOT-co-Py)/CNT composite films were calculated as 9.43 and 11.49 mF × cm^?2 for 3 and 5% multi-walled carbon nanotube, respectively. In addition, The EIS results were simulated with the equivalent circuit model of R_s(C_dl1(R₁(QR₂)))(C_dl2R₃).     

Synthesis and characterization of PMMA composites activated with starch for immobilization of L‐asparaginase

Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)–starch composites were prepared by emulsion polymerization technique for L‐asparaginase (L‐ASNase) immobilization as highly activated support. The hydroxide groups on the prepared composites offer a very simple, mild and firm combination for enzyme immobilization. The pure PMMA and PMMA‐starch composites were characterized as structural, thermal and morphological. PMMA‐starch composites were found to have better thermal stability and more hydrophilic character than pure PMMA. L‐ASNase was immobilized onto PMMA‐starch composites contained the different ratio of starch (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt %). Immobilized L‐ASNase showed better performance as compared to the native enzyme in terms of thermal stability and pH. K_m value of immobilized enzyme decreased approximately eightfold compared with the native enzyme. In addition to, immobilized L‐ASNase was found to retain 60% of activity after 1‐month storage period at 4 °C. Therefore, PMMA‐starch composites can be provided more advantageous in terms of enzymatic affinity, thermal, pH and storage stability as L‐ASNase immobilization matrix. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43421.