A novel object tracking algorithm based on compressed sensing and entropy of information

Acknowledgments This research is supported by (1) the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China under Grant no. 20120061110045, (2) the Science and Technology Development Projects of Jilin Province of China under Grant no. 20150204007G X, and (3) the Key Laboratory for Symbol Computation and Knowledge Engineering of the National Education Ministry of China.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Building recognition on subregion’s multi-scale gist feature extraction and corresponding columns information based dimensionality reduction

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Impregnation Of Mwcnt Zno Dual Nanofiller Mixed Matrix Membrane

Membrane filtration for humic acid removal faced challenges in term of fouling caused by solute itself and the bacteria found in the feed stream. There were a lot of studies showed great antifouling and antibacterial properties at the same time. Hence, dual nanofiller polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was synthesized via phase inversion method by blending different ratio zinc oxide (ZnO) and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) into PES dope solution. Prior blending, MWCNT was functionalized using nitric acid to form hydrophilic hydroxyl and carboxylic group on the tube surface for dispersion. The combination of both MWCNT and ZnO was able to produce combined effect improved antifouling and antibacterial synergistic effect that does not require additional reaction or interaction between them. The synergistic effect of both nanofiller on the membrane properties was characterized in term of dope solution viscosity, morphology, surface roughness, membrane pore size and porosity, hydrophilicity, thermal stability and filtration performance. The results reveal that the membrane containing dual nanofiller was porous compared to single filler membrane and neat PES membrane. Furthermore, the increase of FCNT ratio caused the membrane hydrophilicity increased. The addition of both nanofiller was found to increase the dope solution viscosity and reduced the surface roughness of the membrane. As FCNT ratio in the membrane increased, higher permeate flux was recorded. When the nanofiller of the membrane was dominated by FCNT (i.e., ratio more than 0.5), the humic acid (HA) rejection was not affected much even though pore size of the membrane was increased. It was also been found that without photocatalytic reaction, the antibacterial properties contributed by ZnO was antiadhesion effect rather than inhibition of the bacteria. Out of all the fabricated membranes, FZ3 (dual nanofiller membrane produced with 1wt% of equal ratio functionalized MWCNT and ZnO mixture) was able to achieve optimum performance with pure water flux of 89.66 L/m2.h and HA rejection of 93.21%. Judging from its lower fouling resistance and less bacterial adhesion onto the membrane surface, FZ3 was the most antifouling and antibacterial dual nanofiller membrane

Comparative Analysis of Environmental Kuznets Curve in Central and Eastern Europe and South and East Asia

Environmental deterioration has frequently been viewed as a problem that inevitably accompanies economic development and industrialization. However, different economic backgrounds might experience different kinds and levels of environmental deterioration. This study investigated environmental deterioration in two groups of countries with comparable income levels but different economic backgrounds-transitional Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and non-transitional South and East Asian (SEA) countries. This research utilized the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis to explain the relationships among macroeconomic indicators, country categories, and atmospheric concentrations in the CEE and SEA regions. Three research questions and six hypotheses and related sub-hypotheses were answered and tested by way of secondary data from 1990 to 2006, or the most recent data available. All of the data were sourced from the World Development Indicators, published by The World Bank Group; the exception was sulphur dioxin emissions, which came from Stem (2005). Multiple regressions and independent t-test were applied to analyze the data. The findings indicated that differing economic backgrounds undermined environmental quality in CEE and SEA. Transitional economies, CEE, showed an increasing pressure on CO2 emissions but a decreasing pressure on SO2 emissions. Regarding the inverted-U EKC hypothesis, this research showed different results according to different regions. The inverted-U curvilinear EKC hypothesis was supported in CEE region. However, the regressions analysis showed different results in the SEA region. The inverted-U curvilinear relationship between GDP per capita and per capita CO2 emission in SEA was supported, but the inverted-U curvilinear relationship between GDP per capita and per capita SO2 emission was partially supported. Nevertheless, the curvilinear relationships between percentage changes in GDP per capita and percentage changes in emissions, both CO2 and SO2, in SEA region were supported. Other findings in this study suggested that the effects of macroeconomic indicators on per capita emissions and the effects of percentage changes in macroeconomic on percentage changes in per capita emissions, depending on research models, can differ greatly among CEE and SEA regions. This study also suggested areas, involving in more environmental deterioration indicators, explanatory variables, and country characteristics, for future research on the environmental deterioration issue