An MPEG-7 scheme for semantic content modelling and filtering of digital video

Abstract Part 5 of the MPEG-7 standard specifies Multimedia Description Schemes (MDS); that is, the format multimedia content models should conform to in order to ensure interoperability across multiple platforms and applications. However, the standard does not specify how the content or the associated model may be filtered. This paper proposes an MPEG-7 scheme which can be deployed for digital video content modelling and filtering. The proposed scheme, COSMOS-7, produces rich and multi-faceted semantic content models and supports a content-based filtering approach that only analyses content relating directly to the preferred content requirements of the user. We present details of the scheme, front-end systems used for content modelling and filtering and experiences with a number of users

Coupled TRNSYS-CFD simulations evaluating the performance of PCM plate heat exchangers in an Airport Terminal building displacement conditioning system

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier.This paper reports on the energy performance evaluation of a displacement ventilation (DV) system in an airport departure hall, with a conventional DV diffuser and a diffuser retrofitted with a phase change material storage heat exchanger (PCM-HX). A TRNSYS-CFD quasi-dynamic coupled simulation method was employed for the analysis, whereby TRNSYS® simulates the HVAC and PID control system and ANSYS FLUENT® is used to simulate the airflow inside the airport terminal space. The PCM-HX is also simulated in CFD, and is integrated into the overall model as a secondary coupled component in the TRNSYS interface. Different night charging strategies of the PCM-HX were investigated and compared with the conventional DV diffuser. The results show that: i) the displacement ventilation system is more efficient for cooling than heating a space; ii) the addition of a PCM-HX system reduces the heating energy requirements during the intermediate and summer periods for specific night charging strategies, whereas winter heating energy remains unaffected; iii) the PCM-HX reduces cooling energy requirements, and; iv) maximum energy savings of 34% are possible with the deployment of PCM-HX retrofitted DV diffuser.This work was funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Grant No: EP/H004181/1

The induction of behavioural sensitization is associated with cocaine-induced structural plasticity in the core (but not shell) of the nucleus accumbens

Repeated exposure to cocaine increases the density of dendritic spines on medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens (Acb) and pyramidal cells in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). To determine if this is associated with the development of psychomotor sensitization, rats were given daily i.p. injections of 15 mg/kg of cocaine (or saline) for 8 days, either in their home cage (which failed to induce significant psychomotor sensitization) or in a distinct and relatively novel test cage (which induced robust psychomotor sensitization). Their brains were obtained 2 weeks after the last injection and processed for Golgi–Cox staining. In the Acb core (AcbC) cocaine treatment increased spine density only in the group that developed psychomotor sensitization (i.e. in the Novel but not Home group), and there was a significant positive correlation between the degree of psychomotor sensitization and spine density. In the Acb shell (AcbS) cocaine increased spine density to the same extent in both groups; i.e. independent of psychomotor sensitization. In the mPFC cocaine increased spine density in both groups, but to a significantly greater extent in the Novel group. Furthermore, when rats were treated at Home with a higher dose of cocaine (30 mg/kg), cocaine now induced psychomotor sensitization in this context, and also increased spine density in the AcbC. Thus, the context in which cocaine is experienced influences its ability to reorganize patterns of synaptic connectivity in the Acb and mPFC, and the induction of psychomotor sensitization is associated with structural plasticity in the AcbC and mPFC, but not the AcbS.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73532/1/j.1460-9568.2004.03612.x.pd

Effects of sources and meteorology on particulate matter in the Western Mediterranean Basin: an overview of the DAURE campaign

DAURE (Determination of the Sources of Atmospheric Aerosols in Urban and Rural Environments in the Western Mediterranean) was a multidisciplinary international field campaign aimed at investigating the sources and meteorological controls of particulate matter in the Western Mediterranean Basin (WMB). Measurements were simultaneously performed at an urban-coastal (Barcelona, BCN) and a rural-elevated (Montseny, MSY) site pair in NE Spain during winter and summer. State-of-the-art methods such as 14C analysis, proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry, and high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry were applied for the first time in the WMB as part of DAURE. WMB regional pollution episodes were associated with high concentrations of inorganic and organic species formed during the transport to inland areas and built up at regional scales. Winter pollutants accumulation depended on the degree of regional stagnation of an air mass under anticyclonic conditions and the planetary boundary layer height. In summer, regional recirculation and biogenic secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formation mainly determined the regional pollutant concentrations. The contribution from fossil sources to organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) and hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol concentrations were higher at BCN compared with MSY due to traffic emissions. The relative contribution of nonfossil OC was higher at MSY especially in summer due to biogenic emissions. The fossil OC/EC ratio at MSY was twice the corresponding ratio at BCN indicating that a substantial fraction of fossil OC was due to fossil SOA. In winter, BCN cooking emissions were identified as an important source of modern carbon in primary organic aerosol

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012