A real‐time encoding and decoding system for nonlinear HDTV editor

A real‐time encoding and decoding system (REDS) for HDTV that can be used for nonlinear HDTV editing in studio has been developed. The intrapicture coding of motion JPEG is implemented and optimized in the REDS so that a high‐quality image can be recovered for the nonlinear editing. The REDS has a parallel architecture with multiple programmable digital signal processors (DSP) and reconfigurable field programmable logic devices (FPLD). The HDTV image is spatially partitioned and concurrently processed by the multiple processors. The programmable DSPs perform the discrete cosine transform and quantization to reduce the spatial redundancy of the HDTV image, whereas the FPLDs perform the variable length coding to reduce the statistical redundancy. In addition, field‐based quantization matrices are developed for HDTV images. The REDS has the programmability and the random accessibility of image frames, the two most important features for a nonlinear HDTV editing system. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 11, 152–157, 2000     

KAIST image computing system (KICS): A parallel architecture for real-time multimedia data processing

An efficient parallel architecture is proposed for high-performance multimedia data processing using multiple multimedia video processors (MVP; TMS320C80), which are fully programmable general digital signal processors (DSP). This paper describes several requirements for a multimedia data processing system and the system architecture of an image computing system called the KAIST Image Computing System (KICS). The performance of the KICS is evaluated in terms of its I/O bandwidth and the execution time for some image processing functions. An application of the KICS to the real-time Moving Picture Expert Group 2 (MPEG-2) encoder is introduced. The programmability and the high-speed data-access capability of the KICS are its most important features as a high-performance system for real-time multimedia data processing.     

Effects of heat treatments on the properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 nanoparticles

Effects of heat treatment in nitrogen or Se atmosphere on the properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) nanoparticles were investigated to extract optimum sintering conditions for fabrication of solar cell applicable CIGS absorber films. In nitrogen atmosphere, as the temperature increases from 100 to 400 °C the intensity of X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks corresponding to the (1 1 2), (2 2 0) and (3 1 2) planes of the chalcopyrite CIGS increases, and the peak positions shift to lower angle regions without any particle growth in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, which is in consistent with the significant In and Ga loss in the EDS data. When the temperature further goes up to 500 °C, parts of CIGS are decomposed and Cu and CuSe₂ phases are observed. From these results, the heat treatment in nitrogen atmosphere is found to have no beneficial effect on the sintering of the particles and only induces loss of In and Ga. On the other hand, heat treatment in Se atmosphere at a substrate temperature of 550 °C with Se vapor evaporated at 250 and 450 °C provided much enhanced growth of the particles, specially up to 500 nm at 450 °C, and increased crystallinity without In or Ga loss, reflecting that Se supply played a critical role in the growth of the CIGS nanoparticles.     

Trajectory estimation of a moving object using Kohonen networks

A novel approach to estimate the real-time moving trajectory of an object is proposed in this article. The objects position is obtained from the image data of a CCD camera, while a state estimator predicts the linear and angular velocities of the moving object. To overcome the uncertainties and noises residing in the input data, a Kalman filter and neural networks are utilized. Since the Kalman filter needs to approximate a nonlinear system into a linear model to estimate the states, there always exist errors as well as uncertainties again. To resolve this problem, neural networks are adopted in this approach which have high adaptability with the memory of the input–output relationship. A Kohonen network (self-organized map) is selected to learn the motion trajectory since it is spatially oriented. The superiority of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through real experiments.This work was presented, in part, at the 9th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 28–30, 2004     

Kombucha tea prevents obese mice from developing hepatic steatosis and liver damage

Food Science and Biotechnology - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with the increased accumulation of hepatocellular lipids. Although Kombucha tea (KT) has emerged as a...     

Slow-Wave Line Coupler With Interdigital Capacitor Loading

In this study, a full-wave-based circuit model of an interdigital capacitor in the form of a coplanar waveguide (CPW) configuration is studied by using numerical thru-reflect-line calibration techniques, which can easily be combined with commercial electromagnetic simulation software. Subsequently, a slow-wave line coupler is proposed and realized for size miniaturization by loading different interdigital capacitors onto a coupled CPW line, which has equal phase velocities for both odd and even modes. An experimental prototype is fabricated, and measured results show a good agreement with simulated ones, thereby demonstrating an excellent performance.     

Machinability of Ti3SiC2 with layered structure synthesized by hot pressing mixture of TiCx and Si powder

Nanolaminate Ti₃SiC₂ was synthesized from a mixture of TiC_x (x = 0.67)/Si powder by hot pressing to increase machinability. Ti₃SiC₂ was synthesized at temperatures of 1360 °C and 1420 °C for 90 min under a pressure of 25 MPa. The X-ray diffraction results showed that while mainly Ti₃SiC₂ with some unreacted TiC_x were detected in the synthesized samples at 1360 °C, no phases except Ti₃SiC₂ phases remained in the synthesized samples at 1420 °C. The cutting resistance of Ti₃SiC₂ was measured in terms of the principle, feed, and thrust forces and was compared with that of middle-carbon steel, SM45C. The values of the principal force of the synthesized Ti₃SiC₂ were lower than those of SM45C. After machining, the roughness of the Ti₃SiC₂ was lower than those of SM45C; however, the damage to the tool bit used for the machining of SM45C was less than the damage to those used for the machining of the Ti₃SiC₂.     

Notch sensitivity of polycarbonate and toughened polycarbonate

Notch sensitivity, the effect of a notch radius on the impact behavior of polycarbonate and rubber‐toughened polycarbonate, is investigated by using a model based on the slip‐lines field theory. Impact strength, determined by the Charpy impact test, was found to increase drastically with an increasing notch radius for pure polycarbonate, whereas the increase of impact strength with increased notch radius was not as extreme for rubber‐toughened polycarbonate. These results indicate that the inclusion of rubber particles reduces notch sensitivity. An examination of fracture surfaces reveals that cracks were initiated by internal crazing at some distance from the notch tip for specimens with blunt notches. For pure polycarbonate, the impact strength is found to have a linear relationship with the square of the notch radius, which is in good agreement with that predicted by the proposed model. However, for rubber‐toughened polycarbonate, the linear relationship broke down as the notch radius increased due to the enhanced toughening effect. The proposed model can be applied to clearly explain the notch sensitivity of ductile polymers which exhibit large plastic yielding around the notch tip. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 3115–3121, 2003