Atmospheric Argon Free burning Arcs with a Simplified Unified Model Using CFD-Arc Modeling

Free burning arcs, where the work piece acts as an anode, are frequently used for a number of applications. Our investigation is exclusively concerned with a simplified unified model of arcs and their electrodes under steady state conditions at atmospheric pressure. The model is used to make predictions of arc and electrode temperatures and arc voltage for a 200 A arc in argon. The computed temperatures along the axis between the cathode tip and the anode surface compare well the measured data

Spatio-Temporal Pyramid Matching for Sports Videos

In this paper, we address the problem of querying video shots based on content-based matching. Our proposed system automatically partitions a video stream into video shots that maintain continuous movements of objects. Finding video shots of the same category is not an easy task because objects in a video shot change their locations over time. Our spatio-temporal pyramid matching (STPM) is the modified spatial pyramid matching (SPM) [15], which considers temporal information in conjunction with spatial locations to match objects in video shots. In addition, we model the mathematical condition in which temporal information contributes to match video shots. In order to improve the matching performance, dynamic features including movements of objects are considered in addition to static features such as edges of objects. In our experiments, several methods based on different feature sets and matching methods are compared, and our spatio-temporal pyramid matching performed better than existing methods in video matching for sports videos. 1

Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Peripheral Blood Is Independently Associated with Visceral Fat Accumulation in Healthy Young Adults

Aims. Visceral obesity is associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases and it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms. There is growing evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with metabolic disturbances related to visceral obesity. In addition, maintaining mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number is important for preserving mitochondrial function. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between mtDNA copy number and visceral fat in healthy young adults. Methods. A total of 94 healthy young subjects were studied. Biomarkers of metabolic risk factors were assessed along with body composition by computed tomography. mtDNA copy number was measured in peripheral leukocytes using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. Results. The mtDNA copy number correlated with BMI (r=-0.22, P=0.04), waist circumference (r=-0.23, P=0.03), visceral fat area (r=-0.28, P=-0.01), HDL-cholesterol levels (r=0.25, P=0.02), and hs-CRP (r=0.32, P=0.02) after adjusting for age and sex. Both stepwise and nonstepwise multiple regression analyses confirmed that visceral fat area was independently associated with mtDNA copy number (β=-0.33, P<0.01, β=0.32, and P=0.03, resp.). Conclusions. An independent association between mtDNA content and visceral adiposity was identified. These data suggest that mtDNA copy number is a potential predictive marker for metabolic disturbances. Further studies are required to understand the causality and clinical significance of our findings