Engineering grain boundary anisotropy to elucidate grain growth behavior in alumina

Current grain growth models have evolved to account for the relationship between grain boundary energy/mobility anisotropy and the five degrees of grain boundary character. However, the role of grain boundary networks on overall growth kinetics remains poorly understood. To experimentally investigate this problem, a highly textured Al₂O₃ was fabricated by colloidal casting in a strong magnetic field to engineer a unique spatial distribution of grain boundary character. Microstructural evolution was quantified and compared to an untextured sample. From this comparison, a prevalence of (0001)/(0001) terminated grain boundaries with anisotropic networks were identified in the textured sample. These boundaries and their networks were found to be driving grain growth at a faster rate than predicted by models. These findings will allow better modelling of grain growth in real systems by experimentally exploring the impact thereon of grain boundary plane anisotropy and relative energy/mobility differences between neighboring boundaries.     

Examination of chemical irritation and textural influence on food preferences in two age cohorts using complex food systems

The changes to the chemical senses of taste and smell that accompany ageing are widely documented, and there has been some evidence that these changes may influence food preferences of the older consumer. However, little is known about the loss of function of the residual senses of texture and chemical irritant perception and how such losses influence food preferences. A consumer panel comprising a young (20–35 years) and an older (>65 years) age cohort was recruited and sensory tests were conducted to determine perceived intensity, preferences and the possibility of cross modal interaction between the sensory modalities of chemical irritation and texture. Liquid, semi-solid and solid food systems were studied to enable comparisons to be drawn. Older consumers were less capable of discriminating between chemical irritation and texture stimuli, indicating loss of sensory function, but there was indication that higher levels of chemical irritation were preferred among older consumers in some texture types.     

Effects of different kind of sesame materials on the physical properties of gomatofu (sesame tofu)

Gomatofu (sesame tofu) is one of the traditional Japanese healthy foods and is representative of all shojin (vegetarian) dishes. Gomatofu, one of the mixed gels consisting of kudzu (arrowroot) starch and sesame, possesses an extremely unusual textural characteristic which is soft, smooth, and springy. The textural properties are greatly influenced by preparation, ingredients and roasting conditions of sesame seeds. Hence there are many kinds of sesame materials which can be used to prepare gomatofu such as white, black, huskless or not and roasted or unroasted sesame materials, in this study, the effects of these materials on the physical properties of gomatofu were studied. The sample of Ra-W prepared with unroasted huskless sesame seed had the least hardness, but mouthfeel of this sample were the highest. The samples of Ro-B and Ro-W prepared with roasted husk (black and white) sesame seed were evaluated to have the best palatability because of their superior springiness. It was clarified that different kinds of sesame materials affected the forming of structure and physical properties of gomatofu, because the chemical components were different from varieties of sesame materials.     

MPEG-4自然视频编码技术

对MPEG－4自然视频编码的关键技术作了详细的分析和阐述。首先介绍MPEG－4频语法结构，并对视频编码的框架概要分析。接着分析了自然视频编码中涉及到的关键技术，包括：VOP的产生；二值和灰度级α平面的编码技术；运动估计和补偿方法；纹理编码；基于对象的时间分级和空间分级；MPEG－4提供的再同步和各种错误掩盖，刷新方法，精 编码技术和零树小波基的静止图像编码技术。指出MPEG－4和MPEG－1，MPEG－2等标准的异同，突出MPEG－4的三个主要特点。最后给出MPEG－4技术在网络视频传输中的应用，并给出测试和分析。     

石油系油浆与煤系闪蒸油的焦化性能——I．热解条件的影响

通过偏光显微镜观察了石油系油浆（LH）与煤系闪蒸油（SN）焦化后所得焦块的光学结构。结果表明，在较宽条件下两种原料单独焦化均得不到取向度高的流线型结构。将两种原料以一定比例混合后先热解丙焦化所得焦块的光学结构明显好于二者混合后直接焦化所得焦块的光学结构，其中LH和SN以3：2的重量比混合后在440℃、1MPa下热解3．5h然后再在530℃、1MPa下焦化8h所得焦块为具有较高取向度的流线型结构，适合于作为针状焦的起始原料。     

Efficient Reflectance and Visibility Approximations for Environment Map Rendering

We present a technique for approximating isotropic BRDFs and precomputed self-occlusion that enables accurate and efficient prefiltered environment map rendering. Our approach uses a nonlinear approximation of the BRDF as a weighted sum of isotropic Gaussian functions. Our representation requires a minimal amount of storage, can accurately represent BRDFs of arbitrary sharpness, and is above all, efficient to render. We precompute visibility due to self-occlusion and store a low-frequency approximation suitable for glossy reflections. We demonstrate our method by fitting our representation to measured BRDF data, yielding high visual quality at real-time frame rates.     

Laplace spectra as fingerprints for image recognition

In the area of image retrieval from data bases and for copyright protection of large image collections there is a growing demand for unique but easily computable fingerprints for images. These fingerprints can be used to quickly identify every image within a larger set of possibly similar images. This paper introduces a novel method to automatically obtain such fingerprints from an image. It is based on a reinterpretation of an image as a Riemannian manifold. This representation is feasible for gray value images and color images. We discuss the use of the spectrum of eigenvalues of different variants of the Laplace operator as a fingerprint and show the usability of this approach in several use cases. Contrary to existing works in this area we do not only use the discrete Laplacian, but also with a particular emphasis the underlying continuous operator. This allows better results in comparing the resulting spectra and deeper insights in the problems arising. We show how the well known discrete Laplacian is related to the continuous Laplace-Beltrami operator. Furthermore, we introduce the new concept of solid height functions to overcome some potential limitations of the method.