Estimation of the Handwritten Text Skew Based on Binary Moments

Binary moments represent one of the methods for the text skew estimation in binary images. It has been used widely for the skew identification of the printed text. However, the handwritten text consists of text objects, which are characterized with different skews. Hence, the method should be adapted for the handwritten text. This is achieved with the image splitting into separate text objects made by the bounding boxes. Obtained text objects represent the isolated binary objects. The application of the moment-based method to each binary object evaluates their local text skews. Due to the accuracy, estimated skew data can be used as an input to the algorithms for the text line segmentation

Magnetic Properties of Mn-Doped Amorphous SiO2 Matrix

Samples of Mn-doped amorphous SiO2 matrix with manganese concentration 0.7 and 3 at.% have been prepared by a sol-gel method. Transmission electron microscopy analysis has shown that the samples contain agglomerates of amorphous silica particles 10 - 20 nm in size. Two types of Mn-rich particles are dispersed in silica matrix, smaller nanoparticles with dimensions between 3 and 10 nm, and larger crystalline areas consisting of aggregates of the smaller nanoparticles. High-temperature magnetic susceptibility reveals that dominant magnetic phase at higher temperatures is lambda-MnO2. At temperatures below T-C = 43 K strong ferrimagnetism originating from the minor Mn3O4 phase masks the relatively weak magnetism of lambda-MnO2. Magnetic field dependence of the maximum in the zero-field-cooled magnetization for both the samples in the vicinity of 40 K, and a frequency shift of the real component of the AC magnetic susceptibility in the sample with 3 at.% Mn suggest that the magnetic moments of the smaller Mn3O4 nanoparticles with dimensions below 10 nm are subject to thermally activated blocking process just below the Curie temperature T-C. The low-temperature maximum in the zero-field-cooled magnetization observed for both the samples below 10 K indicates possible spin glass freezing of the magnetic moments in the geometrically frustrated Mn sublattice of the lambda-MnO2 crystal structure.12th Annual YUCOMAT Conference, Sep 06-10, 2010, Herceg Novi, Montenegr

Sol-gel as a Method to Tailor the Magnetic Properties of Co1+yAl2-yO4

The magnetic properties of mesoscopic materials are modified by size and surface effects. We present a sol-gel method used to tailor these effects, and illustrate it on Co1+yAl2-yO4 spinel. Nanocomposites made of spinel oxide Co1+yAl2-yO4 particles dispersed in an amorphous SiO2 matrix were synthesized. Samples with various mass fractions -x of Co1+yAl2-yO4 in composite, ranging from predominantly SiO2 (x = 10 wt%) to predominantly spinel (x = 95 wt%), and with various Co concentrations in spinel y were studied. The spinel grain sizes were below 100 nm with a large size distribution, for samples with predominant spinel phase. Those samples showed Curie-Weiss paramagnetic behavior with antiferromagnetically interacting Co ions (theta approximate to -100 K). The grain sizes of spinel stays confined in 100 nm range even in the spinel samples diluted with as low as 5 wt% concentration of amorphous SiO2. For the samples with predominant SiO2 the crystalline nanoparticles are well separated and of size of around 100 nm, but with presence of much smaller spinel nanoparticles of about 10 nm. The magnetic properties of the samples with predominant silica phase showed complex behavior, spin-glass magnetic freezing at the lowest temperatures and lower absolute value of theta and consequently lower exchange constant

Comparison of Hydroxyapatite/Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) and Hydroxyapatite/Polyethyleneimine Composite Scaffolds in Bone Regeneration of Swine Mandibular Critical Size Defects: In Vivo Study

Reconstruction of jaw bone defects present a significant problem because of specific aesthetic and functional requirements. Although widely used, the transplantation of standard autograft and allograft materials is still associated with significant constraints. Composite scaffolds, combining advantages of biodegradable polymers with bioceramics, have potential to overcome limitations of standard grafts. Polyethyleneimine could be an interesting novel biocompatible polymer for scaffold construction due to its biocompatibility and chemical structure. To date, there have been no in vivo studies assessing biological properties of hydroxyapatite bioceramics scaffold modified with polyethyleneimine. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vivo effects of composite scaffolds of hydroxyapatite ceramics and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) and novel polyethyleneimine on bone repair in swine’s mandibular defects, and to compare them to conventional bone allograft (BioOss). Scaffolds were prepared using the method of polymer foam template in three steps. Pigs, 3 months old, were used and defects were made in the canine, premolar, and molar area of their mandibles. Four months following the surgical procedure, the bone was analyzed using radiological, histological, and gene expression techniques. Hydroxyapatite ceramics/polyethyleneimine composite scaffold demonstrated improved biological behavior compared to conventional allograft in treatment of swine’s mandibular defects, in terms of bone density and bone tissue histological characteristics

BacHBerry: BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits

BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits (BacHBerry) was a 3-year project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union that ran between November 2013 and October 2016. The overall aim of the project was to establish a sustainable and economically-feasible strategy for the production of novel high-value phenolic compounds isolated from berry fruits using bacterial platforms. The project aimed at covering all stages of the discovery and pre-commercialization process, including berry collection, screening and characterization of their bioactive components, identification and functional characterization of the corresponding biosynthetic pathways, and construction of Gram-positive bacterial cell factories producing phenolic compounds. Further activities included optimization of polyphenol extraction methods from bacterial cultures, scale-up of production by fermentation up to pilot scale, as well as societal and economic analyses of the processes. This review article summarizes some of the key findings obtained throughout the duration of the project

Estimation of the Fundamental Frequency of the Speech Signal Compressed by MP3 Algorithm

The paper analyzes the estimation of the fundamental frequency from the real speech signal which is obtained by recording the speaker in the real acoustic environment modeled by the MP3 method. The estimation was performed by the Picking-Peaks algorithm with implemented parametric cubic convolution (PCC) interpolation. The efficiency of PCC was tested for Catmull-Rom, Greville, and Greville two- parametric kernel. Depending on MSE, a window that gives optimal results was chosen

Estimation of the Fundamental Frequency of the Speech Signal Compressed by MP3 Algorithm

The paper analyzes the estimation of the fundamental frequency from the real speech signal which is obtained by recording the speaker in the real acoustic environment modeled by the MP3 method. The estimation was performed by the Picking-Peaks algorithm with implemented parametric cubic convolution (PCC) interpolation. The efficiency of PCC was tested for Catmull-Rom, Greville, and Greville two- parametric kernel. Depending on MSE, a window that gives optimal results was chosen

The fourth scientific conference 'Higher education and effective business management - challenges of sustainable regional development'

The First Scientific Conference 'Higher Education and effective business management- challenges of sustainable regional development' was held on 20-21 December, 2006, in Užice, Republic of Serbia. More than 90 papers were presented. The number of authors and coauthors was 150. The Second Scientific Conference 'Economy development and effective business management - challenges of sustainable regional development' - was held upon the initiative of the management of the High Business Technical School of Užice on the occasion of its 30th anniversary It was held on 21-22 January 2007, in Užice, Republic of Serbia. Eighty papers were presented at the Conference. The number of authors and coauthors was 140. After that, the management of the High Business Technical School of Užice decided, for the first time, to organize an International Conference. The first International Conference 'Science and Higher Education in Function of Sustainable Development'. SED 2008 was held on 17-18 September, 2008, in Užice, Serbia. Ninety papers were presented on the Conference. The number of authors and coauthors was 150. The second International Conference 'Science and Higher Education in Function of Sustainable Development'. SED 2009 was held on 14-15 September 2009, in Užice, Serbia. More than 80 papers were presented. The number of authors and co-authors exceeded 100

An approach to the language discrimination in different scripts using adjacent local binary pattern

<p>The paper proposes a language discrimination method of documents. First, each letter is encoded with the certain script type according to its status in baseline area. Such a cipher text is subjected to a feature extraction process. Accordingly, the local binary pattern as well as its expanded version called adjacent local binary pattern are extracted. Because of the difference in the language characteristics, the above analysis shows significant diversity. This type of diversity is a key aspect in the decision-making differentiation of the languages. Proposed method is tested on an example of documents. The experiments give encouraging results.</p