A novel approach for quality control system using sensor fusion of infrared and visual image processing for laser sealing of food containers

This paper presents a new mechatronic approach of using infrared thermography combined with image processing for the quality control of a laser sealing process for food containers. The suggested approach uses an on-line infrared system to assess the heat distribution within the container seal in order to guarantee the integrity of the process. Visual image processing is then used for quality assurance to guarantee optimum sealing. The results described in this paper show examples of the capability of the condition monitoring system to detect faults in the sealing process. The results found indicate that the suggested approach could form an effective quality control and assurance system

'For this I was made': conflict and calling in the role of a woman priest

There has been an increasing focus on ‘work as calling’ in recent years, but relatively few empirical sociological accounts that shed light on the experience of performing calling work. Although callings have generally been referred to as positive and fulfilling to the individual and as beneficial to society, researchers have also suggested there is a ‘dark side’ to calling, and have drawn attention to the potential conflicts and tensions inherent in the pursuit of calling, especially for women. This article explores these themes through the first-hand experiences of one woman who felt called to work as a priest. Her narrative illustrates how callings draw the individual irresistibly towards a particular line of work. It also shows how calling work can be both satisfying individually and beneficial to the wider community but, at the same time, involves sacrifice, compromise and a willingness to defer personal rewards

Polymeric microcapsules with switchable mechanical properties for self-healing concrete: synthesis, characterisation and proof of concept

Microcapsules, with sodium silicate solution as core, were produced using complex coacervation in a double, oil-in-water-in oil, emulsion system. The shell material was a gelatin–acacia gum crosslinked coacervate and the produced microcapsules had diameters ranging from 300 to 700 μm. The shell material designed with switchable mechanical properties. When it is hydrated exhibits soft and ‘rubbery’ behaviour and, when dried, transitions to a stiff and ‘glassy’ material. The microcapsules survived drying and rehydrating cycles and preserved their structural integrity when exposed to highly alkaline solutions that mimic the pH environment of concrete. Microscopy revealed that the shell thickness of the microcapsules varies across their perimeter from 5 to 20 μm. Thermal analysis showed that the produced microcapsules were very stable up to 190 °C. Proof of concept investigation has demonstrated that the microcapsules successfully survive and function when exposed to a cement-based matrix. Observations showed that the microcapsules survive mixing with cement and rupture successfully upon crack formation releasing the encapsulated sodium silicate solution.Financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC—United Kingdom) for this study (Project Ref. EP/K026631/1—‘Materials for Life’) is gratefully acknowledged

SMOS-NEXT: A New Concept for Soil Moisture Retrieval from Passive Interferometric Observations

This book is a collection of 19 articles which reflect the courses given at the Collège de France/Summer school “Reconstruction d'images − Applications astrophysiques“ held in Nice and Fréjus, France, from June 18 to 22, 2012. The articles presented in this volume address emerging concepts and methods that are useful in the complex process of improving our knowledge of the celestial objects, including Earth

Nucleosomes indicate the in vitro radiosensitivity of irradiated bronchoepithelial and lung cancer cells

Nucleosomes, which are typical cell death products, are elevated in the serum of cancer patients and are known to rapidly increase during radiotherapy. As both normal and malignant cells are damaged by irradiation, we investigated to which extent both cell types contribute to the release of nucleosomes. We cultured monolayers of normal bronchoepithelial lung cells (BEAS-2B, n = 18) and epithelial lung cancer cells (EPLC, n = 18), exposed them to various radiation doses (0, 10 and 30 Gy) and observed them for 5 days. Culture medium was changed every 24 h. Subsequently, nucleosomes were determined in the supernatant by the Cell Death Detection-ELISA(plus) ( Roche Diagnostics). Additionally, the cell number was estimated after harvesting the cells in a second preparation. After 5 days, the cell number of BEAS-2B cultures in the irradiated groups (10 Gy: median 0.03 x 10(6) cells/culture, range 0.02-0.08 x 10(6) cells/culture; 30 Gy: median 0.08 x 10(6) cells/culture, range 0.02-0.14 x 10(6) cells/culture) decreased significantly (10 Gy: p = 0.005; 30 Gy p = 0.005; Wilcoxon test) compared to the non-irradiated control group (median 4.81 x 10(6) cells/culture, range 1.50-9.54 x 10(6) cells/culture). Consistently, nucleosomes remained low in the supernatant of nonirradiated BEAS-2B. However, at 10 Gy, BEAS-2B showed a considerably increasing release of nucleosomes, with a maximum at 72 h ( before irradiation: 0.24 x 10(3) arbitrary units, AU, range 0.13-4.09 x 10(3) AU, and after 72 h: 1.94 x 10(3) AU, range 0.11-5.70 x 10(3) AU). At 30 Gy, the release was even stronger, reaching the maximum earlier (at 48 h, 11.09 x 10(3) AU, range 6.89-18.28 x 10(3) AU). In non-irradiated EPLC, nucleosomes constantly increased slightly. At 10 Gy, we observed a considerably higher release of nucleosomes in EPLC, with a maximum at 72 h (before irradiation: 2.79 x 10(3) AU, range 2.42-3.80 x 10(3) AU, and after 72 h: 7.16 x 10(3) AU, range 4.30-16.20 x 10(3) AU), which was more than 3.5 times higher than in BEAS-2B. At 30 Gy, the maximum (6.22 x 10(3) AU, range 5.13-9.71 x 10(3) AU) was observed already after 24 h. These results indicate that normal bronchoepithelial and malignant lung cancer cells contribute to the release of nucleosomes during irradiation in a dose-and time-dependent manner with cancer cells having a stronger impact at low doses. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Long-term exposure to irinotecan reduces cell migration in glioma cells.

In spite of considerable research into the therapies for glioblastoma multiforme this tumour type remains very difficult to treat. As well as having a tendency to be inherently resistant to chemotherapy, glioblastoma multiforme also displays local invasion. Cell line studies have a continued and important role to play in understanding the mechanisms associated with both chemotherapy resistance and invasion. In the current study we have utilized the C6 glioma cell line to investigate the response to long-term, clinically relevant application of topoisomerase I and II inhibitors. Treatment with etoposide resulted in an increase in resistance to this topoisomerase II inhibitor. By contrast, the continuous exposure to a topoisomerase I inhibitor did not result in increased drug resistance, but was associated with a reduction in cell migration. This data supports further investigation of topoisomerase I inhibition as a means to inhibit glioma invasion without the development of parallel chemoresistance

Global-scale comparison of passive (SMOS) and active (ASCAT) satellite based microwave soil moisture retrievals with soil moisture simulations (MERRA-Land)

AbstractGlobal surface soil moisture (SSM) datasets are being produced based on active and passive microwave satellite observations and simulations from land surface models (LSM). This study investigates the consistency of two global satellite-based SSM datasets based on microwave remote sensing observations from the passive Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS; SMOSL3 version 2.5) and the active Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT; version TU-Wien-WARP 5.5) with respect to LSM SSM from the MERRA-Land data product. The relationship between the global-scale SSM products was studied during the 2010–2012 period using (1) a time series statistics (considering both original SSM data and anomalies), (2) a space–time analysis using Hovmöller diagrams, and (3) a triple collocation error model. The SMOSL3 and ASCAT retrievals are consistent with the temporal dynamics of modeled SSM (correlation R>0.70 for original SSM) in the transition zones between wet and dry climates, including the Sahel, the Indian subcontinent, the Great Plains of North America, eastern Australia, and south-eastern Brazil. Over relatively dense vegetation covers, a better consistency with MERRA-Land was obtained with ASCAT than with SMOSL3. However, it was found that ASCAT retrievals exhibit negative correlation versus MERRA-Land in some arid regions (e.g., the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula). In terms of anomalies, SMOSL3 better captures the short term SSM variability of the reference dataset (MERRA-Land) than ASCAT over regions with limited radio frequency interference (RFI) effects (e.g., North America, South America, and Australia). The seasonal and latitudinal variations of SSM are relatively similar for the three products, although the MERRA-Land SSM values are generally higher and their seasonal amplitude is much lower than for SMOSL3 and ASCAT. Both SMOSL3 and ASCAT have relatively comparable triple collocation errors with similar spatial error patterns: (i) lowest errors in arid regions (e.g., Sahara and Arabian Peninsula), due to the very low natural variability of soil moisture in these areas, and Central America, and (ii) highest errors over most of the vegetated regions (e.g., northern Australia, India, central Asia, and South America). However, the ASCAT SSM product is prone to larger random errors in some regions (e.g., north-western Africa, Iran, and southern South Africa). Vegetation density was found to be a key factor to interpret the consistency with MERRA-Land between the two remotely sensed products (SMOSL3 and ASCAT) which provides complementary information on SSM. This study shows that both SMOS and ASCAT have thus a potential for data fusion into long-term data records

Relativistic Aharonov-Casher Phase in Spin One

The Aharonov-Casher (AC) phase is calculated in relativistic wave equations of spin one. The AC phase has previously been calculated from the Dirac-Pauli equation using a gauge-like technique \cite{MK1,MK2}. In the spin-one case, we use Kemmer theory (a Dirac-like particle theory) to calculate the phase in a similar manner. However the vector formalism, the Proca theory, is more widely known and used. In the presence of an electromagnetic field, the two theories are `equivalent' and may be transformed into one another. We adapt these transformations to show that the Kemmer theory results apply to the Proca theory. Then we calculate the Aharonov-Casher phase for spin-one particles directly in the Proca formalism.Comment: 12 page

CDK-dependent nuclear localization of B-Cyclin Clb1 promotes FEAR activation during meiosis I in budding yeast

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) are master regulators of the cell cycle in eukaryotes. CDK activity is regulated by the presence, post-translational modification and spatial localization of its regulatory subunit cyclin. In budding yeast, the B-cyclin Clb1 is phosphorylated and localizes to the nucleus during meiosis I. However the functional significance of Clb1's phosphorylation and nuclear localization and their mutual dependency is unknown. In this paper, we demonstrate that meiosis-specific phosphorylation of Clb1 requires its import to the nucleus but not vice versa. While Clb1 phosphorylation is dependent on activity of both CDK and polo-like kinase Cdc5, its nuclear localization requires CDK but not Cdc5 activity. Furthermore we show that increased nuclear localization of Clb1 during meiosis enhances activation of FEAR (Cdc Fourteen Early Anaphase Release) pathway. We discuss the significance of our results in relation to regulation of exit from meiosis I