Using a novel petroselinic acid embedded cellulose acetate membrane to mimic plant partitioning and in vivo uptake of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

A new type of composite membrane is introduced to mimic plant uptake of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs). Petroselinic acid (cis-6-octadecenoic acid),the major component of plant lipids, was embedded in the matrix of cellulose acetate polymer to form the petroselinic acid embedded cellulose acetate membrane (PECAM). Accumulation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) naphthalene (Nap), phenanthrene (Phe), pyrene (Pyr), and benz(a)pyrene (Bap) by PECAM was compared with their uptake by plants. The accumulation of Nap, Phe, Pyr, and Bap by PECAM reached equilibrium in 24,48,144, and 192 h, respectively. The petroselinic acid-water partition coefficients (log K(pw), 3.37, 4.90, 5.24, and 6.28 for Nap, Phe, Pyr, and Bap, respectively) were positively correlated with the hydrophobicity of the compounds (R(2) = 0.995) and were almost the same as the lipid-normalized root partition coefficients (log K(lip)) for the corresponding compounds. Their relationship can be expressed as log K(pw) = 0.98 log K(lip). The normalized plant uptake coefficients (log K(u)) obtained by in vivo experiments with a range of plant species (2.92, 4.43, 5.06, and 6.13 on average for Nap, Phe, Pyr, and Bap, respectively) were slightly lower than those of the log K(pw) values for the corresponding compounds, presumably due to their acropetal translocation and biodegradation inside plants. This work suggests that PECAMs can well mimic plant partitioning and in vivo uptake of PAHs and may have good potential as a nonliving accumulator to mimic plant uptake of PAHs and perhaps other HOCs

Face Detection with Effective Feature Extraction

There is an abundant literature on face detection due to its important role in many vision applications. Since Viola and Jones proposed the first real-time AdaBoost based face detector, Haar-like features have been adopted as the method of choice for frontal face detection. In this work, we show that simple features other than Haar-like features can also be applied for training an effective face detector. Since, single feature is not discriminative enough to separate faces from difficult non-faces, we further improve the generalization performance of our simple features by introducing feature co-occurrences. We demonstrate that our proposed features yield a performance improvement compared to Haar-like features. In addition, our findings indicate that features play a crucial role in the ability of the system to generalize.Comment: 7 pages. Conference version published in Asian Conf. Comp. Vision 201

Single image example-based super-resolution using cross-scale patch matching and Markov random field modelling

Example-based super-resolution has become increasingly popular over the last few years for its ability to overcome the limitations of classical multi-frame approach. In this paper we present a new example-based method that uses the input low-resolution image itself as a search space for high-resolution patches by exploiting self-similarity across different resolution scales. Found examples are combined in a high-resolution image by the means of Markov Random Field modelling that forces their global agreement. Additionally, we apply back-projection and steering kernel regression as post-processing techniques. In this way, we are able to produce sharp and artefact-free results that are comparable or better than standard interpolation and state-of-the-art super-resolution techniques

Fire detection in color images using Markov random fields

Automatic video-based fire detection can greatly reduce fire alert delay in large industrial and commercial sites, at a minimal cost, by using the existing CCTV camera network. Most traditional computer vision methods for fire detection model the temporal dynamics of the flames, in conjunction with simple color filtering. An important drawback of these methods is that their performance degrades at lower framerates, and they cannot be applied to still images, limiting their applicability. Also, real-time operation often requires significant computational resources, which may be unfeasible for large camera networks. This paper presents a novel method for fire detection in static images, based on a Markov Random Field but with a novel potential function. The method detects 99.6% of fires in a large collection of test images, while generating less false positives then a state-of-the-art reference method. Additionally, parameters are easily trained on a 12-image training set with minimal user input

Predictive biometrics: A review and analysis of predicting personal characteristics from biometric data

Interest in the exploitation of soft biometrics information has continued to develop over the last decade or so. In comparison with traditional biometrics, which focuses principally on person identification, the idea of soft biometrics processing is to study the utilisation of more general information regarding a system user, which is not necessarily unique. There are increasing indications that this type of data will have great value in providing complementary information for user authentication. However, the authors have also seen a growing interest in broadening the predictive capabilities of biometric data, encompassing both easily definable characteristics such as subject age and, most recently, `higher level' characteristics such as emotional or mental states. This study will present a selective review of the predictive capabilities, in the widest sense, of biometric data processing, providing an analysis of the key issues still adequately to be addressed if this concept of predictive biometrics is to be fully exploited in the future

Properties and Performance of Two Wide Field of View Cherenkov/Fluorescence Telescope Array Prototypes

A wide field of view Cherenkov/fluorescence telescope array is one of the main components of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory project. To serve as Cherenkov and fluorescence detectors, a flexible and mobile design is adopted for easy reconfiguring of the telescope array. Two prototype telescopes have been constructed and successfully run at the site of the ARGO-YBJ experiment in Tibet. The features and performance of the telescopes are presented

Biometrics beyond the visible spectrum: Imaging technologies and applications

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04391-8_20Proceedings of Joint COST 2101 and 2102 International Conference, BioID_MultiComm 2009, Madrid (Spain)Human body images acquired at visible spectrum have inherent restrictions that hinder the performance of person recognition systems built using that kind of information (e.g. scene artefacts under varying illumination conditions). One promising approach for dealing with those limitations is using images acquired beyond the visible spectrum. This paper reviews some of the existing human body imaging technologies working beyond the visible spectrum (X-ray, Infrared, Millimeter and Submillimeter Wave imaging technologies). The benefits and drawbacks of each technology and their biometric applications are presented.This work has been supported by Terasense (CSD2008-00068) Consolider project of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology

The σ\sigma pole in J/ψ→ωπ+π−J/\psi \to \omega \pi^+ \pi^-

Using a sample of 58 million $J/\psi$ events recorded in the BESII detector, the decay $J/\psi \to \omega \pi^+ \pi^-$ is studied. There are conspicuous $\omega f_2(1270)$ and $b_1(1235)\pi$ signals. At low $\pi \pi$ mass, a large broad peak due to the $\sigma$ is observed, and its pole position is determined to be $(541 \pm 39)$ - $i$ $(252 \pm 42)$ MeV from the mean of six analyses. The errors are dominated by the systematic errors.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PL

Measurements of Cabibbo Suppressed Hadronic Decay Fractions of Charmed D0 and D+ Mesons

Using data collected with the BESII detector at $e^{+}e^{-}$ storage ring Beijing Electron Positron Collider, the measurements of relative branching fractions for seven Cabibbo suppressed hadronic weak decays $D^0 \to K^- K^+$, $\pi^+ \pi^-$, $K^- K^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$ and $\pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^-$, $D^+ \to \bar{K^0} K^+$, $K^- K^+ \pi^+$ and $\pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+$ are presented.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

The ARGO-YBJ Experiment Progresses and Future Extension

Gamma ray source detection above 30TeV is an encouraging approach for finding galactic cosmic ray origins. All sky survey for gamma ray sources using wide field of view detector is essential for population accumulation for various types of sources above 100GeV. To target the goals, the ARGO-YBJ experiment has been established. Significant progresses have been made in the experiment. A large air shower detector array in an area of 1km2 is proposed to boost the sensitivity. Hybrid detection with multi-techniques will allow a good discrimination between different types of primary particles, including photons and protons, thus enable an energy spectrum measurement for individual specie. Fluorescence light detector array will extend the spectrum measurement above 100PeV where the second knee is located. An energy scale determined by balloon experiments at 10TeV will be propagated to ultra high energy cosmic ray experiments