Holographic flow visualization

Holographic visualization techniques are presented of the vortex wake of a lifting wing. The motions of tracer particles in vortical flows are described along with the development of a liquid-drop tracer generator. An analysis is presented of the motion of particles of arbitrary density and size in solid body and potential vortex flows

The velocity field near the orifice of a Helmholtz resonator in grazing flow

Measurement of the time-dependent velocities induced inside and outside the opening of acoustically excited, two-dimensional Helmholtz resonator imbedded in a grazing flow are presented. The remarkably clear structure of the perturbation field which evokes a pulsating source and a coherently pulsating vortex-image pair is described. The simple phenomenological "lid-model" which correlates the variation in the components of the acoustic impedance with the velocity of the grazing flow is discussed and extended

Technical Communications of ICLP

Abstract Dynamic programming (DP) on tree decompositions is a well studied approach for solving hard problems efficiently. State-of-the-art implementations usually rely on tables for storing information, and algorithms specify how the tuples are manipulated during traversal of the decomposition. However, a major bottleneck of such table-based algorithms is relatively high memory consumption. The goal of the doctoral thesis herein discussed is to mitigate performance and memory shortcomings of such algorithms. The idea is to replace tables with an efficient data structure that no longer requires to enumerate intermediate results explicitly during the computation. To this end, Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) and related concepts are studied with respect to their applicability in this setting. Besides native support for efficient storage, from a conceptual point of view BDDs give rise to an alternative approach of how DP algorithms are specified. Instead of tuple-based manipulation operations, the algorithms are specified on a logical level, where sets of models can be conjointly updated. The goal of the thesis is to provide a general tool-set for problems that can be solved efficiently via DP on tree decompositions

Clinical and metabolic characteristics of treated hyperlipidemic patients additionally affected by subclinical hyperglycemia

Background Impaired glucose regulation (IGR) and hyperlipidemia (HL) are associated with an increased risk of developing a cardiovascular disease. Hyperlipidemic patients were shown to bear a greater risk for an increased intima media thickness (IMT). However little is known about differences between treated hyperlipidemic patients (HL) with normal (NGR) or impaired (IGR) glucose regulation. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study, involving 96 non-diabetic HL patients with IGR (fasting plasma glucose of 100 mg/dl and <126 mg/dl or/and HbA1c-level of 5.7 and <6.5 %) or with NGR (HbA1c-level of <5.7 % and a fasting glucose <100 mg/dl). We compared metabolic characteristics and the IMT between the two groups. Insulin sensitivity in fasting conditions was described by HOMA-IR and QUICKI. Results HL-IGR patients were older (57.6 10.4 vs. 49.1 8.7, p < 0.001), had higher carotid IMT measurements (IMT average: 0.68 0.14 vs. 0.60 0.09, p = 0.002; IMT right: 0.67 0.15 vs. 0.60 0.10, p = 0.013; IMT left: 0.63 vs. 0.57, p = 0.009), as well as a higher chance to exceed a cut-off value of 0.8 mm or insignificant stenosis within this investigation (OR: 3.9, 95 % CI: 1.15-13.22, p = 0.029) compared to HL-NGR-patients. Furthermore HL-IGR patients were characterised by a higher waist circumference (100.6 10.1 vs. 91.6 13.3, p < 0.001), higher fasting plasma glucose-levels (100.1 10.8 vs. 88.1 6.6, p < 0.001), higher HbA1c concentrations (5.8 0.33 vs. 5.3 0.24, p < 0.001) and C-peptide levels (2.70 vs. 2.10, p = 0.012). Age and CVD status were in general the only two variables which independently explained IMT. Conclusion Our study showed that among patients with treated hyperlipidemia the presence of IGR characterised subjects who were older and had a significantly higher risk for an increased IMT compared with those maintaining NGR. Further studies are necessary to evaluate if this specific subpopulation with IGR can benefit from a more strict multifactorial management and perhaps from an additional early antihyperglycaemic treatment.(VLID)511297

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture / Towards the applicability of biometric wood log traceability using digital log end images

Log traceability in the timber based industries is a basic requirement to fulfil economical, social and legal requirements. This work introduces biometric log recognition using digital log end images and explores the robustness to a set of log end cross-section (CS) variations. In order to investigate longitudinal and surface CS variations three tree logs were sliced and captured in different sessions. A texture feature-based technique well known from fingerprint recognition is adopted to compute and match biometric templates of CS images captured from log ends. In the experimental evaluation insights and constraints on the general applicability and robustness of log end biometrics to identify logs in an industrial application are presented. Results for different identification performance scenarios indicate that the matching procedure which is based on annual ring pattern and shape information is very robust to log length cutting using different cutting tools. The findings of this study are a further step towards the development of a biometric log recognition system.(VLID)223160

Cardiometabolic Risk in Hyperlipidemic Men and Women

Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate sex specific differences of metabolic and clinical characteristics of treated hyperlipidemic men and women (HL-men and HL-women). Methods. In this study vascular and metabolic characteristics of 35 HL-women and 64 HL-men were assessed. In addition a sex specific analysis of metabolic and nutritional habits of HL-patients with prediabetes (HL-IGR) was done. Results. HL-women were older and had favourable concentrations of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol), triglycerides (TG), and triglyceride/HDL-cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-ratio) but were also shown to have higher concentrations of lipoprotein-a compared to HL-men. HL-men were characterized as having higher levels of liver-specific parameters and body weight as well as being more physically active compared to HL-women. Brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) was higher in HL-women than HL-men, while no differences in metabolic syndrome and glycemic parameters were shown. HL-IGR-women were also older and still had a better profile of sex specific lipid parameters, as well as a lower body weight compared to HL-IGR-men. No differences were seen in vascular parameters such as the intima media thickness (IMT). Conclusion. HL-women were older and had overall more favourable concentrations of lipid parameters and liver enzymes but did not differ regarding vascular morphology and insulin sensitivity compared to HL-men of comparable body mass index (BMI)

Improving CT image analysis of augmented bone with raman spectroscopy

In recent years, bone graft substitutes have been increasingly used in the medical field, for example, in order to promote new bone formation. Microcomputed tomography (-CT) is an image-guided technique used in medicine as well as in materials science, enabling the characterization of biomaterials with high spatial resolution. X-ray-based methods provide density information; however, the question how far conclusions on chemical structures can be inferred from any kind of CT information has not been intensively investigated yet. In the present study, a bone sample consisting of autogenous bone derived cells (ABCs) and bovine bone mineral (BBM) was investigated by -CT and Raman spectroscopic imaging, that is, by two nondestructive imaging methods. Thereby, the image data were compared by means of regression analysis and digital image processing methods. It could be found that 51.8% of the variance of gray level intensities, as a result of -CT, can be described by different Raman spectra of particular interest for bone composition studies by means of a multiple linear regression. With the better description of -CT images by the linear model, a better distinction of different bone components is possible. Therefore, the method shown can be applied to improve CT-image-based bone modeling in the future

Design mining interacting wind turbines

© 2016 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An initial study has recently been presented of surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithms used to design vertical-axis wind turbines wherein candidate prototypes are evaluated under fan-generated wind conditions after being physically instantiated by a 3D printer. Unlike other approaches, such as computational fluid dynamics simulations, no mathematical formulations were used and no model assumptions weremade. This paper extends that work by exploring alternative surrogate modelling and evolutionary techniques. The accuracy of various modelling algorithms used to estimate the fitness of evaluated individuals from the initial experiments is compared. The effect of temporally windowing surrogate model training samples is explored. A surrogateassisted approach based on an enhanced local search is introduced; and alternative coevolution collaboration schemes are examined

On the Impact of Configuration on Abstract Argumentation Automated Reasoning

In this paper we consider the impact of configuration of abstract argumentation reasoners both when using a single solver and choosing combinations of framework representation–solver options; and also when composing portfolios of algorithms. To exemplify the impact of the framework–solver configuration we consider one of the most configurable solvers, namely ArgSemSAT—runner-up of the last competition on computational models of argumentation (ICCMA-15)—for enumerating preferred extensions. We discuss how to configure the representation of the argumentation framework in the input file and show how this coupled framework–solver configuration can have a remarkable impact on performance. As to the impact of configuring differently structured portfolios of abstract argumentation solvers, we consider the solvers submitted to ICCMA-15, which provided the community with a heterogeneous panorama of approaches for handling abstract argumentation frameworks. A superficial reading of the results of ICCMA-15 is that reduction-based systems (either SAT-based or ASP-based) are always the most efficient. Our investigation, concerning the enumeration of stable and preferred extensions, shows that this is not true in full generality and suggests the areas where the relatively under-developed non reduction-based systems should focus more to improve their performance. Moreover, it also highlights that the state-of-the-art solvers are very complementary and can be successfully combined in portfolios