A No-Reference Blocking Artifacts Metric Using Selective Gradient and Plainness Measures

Abstract. This paper presents a novel no-reference blocking artifacts metric us-ing selective gradient and plainness (BAM_SGP) measures for DCT-coded images. A boundary selection criterion is introduced to distinguish the blocking artifacts boundaries from the true-edge boundaries, which ensures that the most potential artifacts boundaries are involved in the measurement. Next, the arti-facts are evaluated by the gradient and plainness measures indicating different aspects of blocking artifacts characteristics. Then these two measures are fused into a metric of blocking artifacts. Compared with some existing metrics, ex-periments on the LIVE database and our own test set show that the proposed metric can keep better consistent with Mean Opinion Score (MOS)

High frequency CMOS amplifier with improved linearity

In this paper, a novel amplifier linearisation technique based on the negative impedance compensation is presented. As demonstrated by using Volterra model, the proposed technique is suitable for linearising amplifiers with low open-loop gain, which is appropriate for RF/microwave applications. A single-chip CMOS amplifier has been designed using the proposed method, and the simulation results show that high gain accuracy (improved by 38%) and high linearity (IMD3 improved by 14 dB, OIP3 improved by 11 dB and adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) improved by 44% for CDMA signal) can be achieved

Superconductivity above 70 K observed in lutetium polyhydrides

The binary polyhydrides of heavy rare earth lutetium that shares a similar valence electron configuration to lanthanum have been experimentally discovered to be superconductive. The lutetium polyhydrides were successfully synthesized at high pressure and high temperature conditions using a diamond anvil cell in combinations with the in-situ high pressure laser heating technique. The resistance measurements as a function of temperature were performed at the same pressure of synthesis in order to study the transitions of superconductivity (SC). The superconducting transition with a maximum onset temperature (Tc) 71 K was observed at pressure of 218 GPa in the experiments. The Tc decreased to 65 K when pressure was at 181 GPa. From the evolution of SC at applied magnetic fields, the upper critical field at zero temperature {\mu}0Hc2(0) was obtained to be ~36 Tesla. The in-situ high pressure X-ray diffraction experiments imply that the high Tc SC should arise from the Lu4H23 phase with Pm-3n symmetry that forms a new type of hydrogen cage framework different from those reported for previous light rare earth polyhydride superconductors

Vortex-induced vibration of a tube array with a large pitch-to-diameter ratio value

To study the vortex-induced vibration behaviors of tube arrays with large pitch-to-diameter ratio values, an experiment has been conducted by testing the responses of an elastically mounted tube in a fixed normal triangular tube array with five rows and a pitch-to-diameter ratio value of 2.5 in a water tunnel subjected to cross-flow. The amplitude curves, power spectral density, and response frequencies were obtained in both in-line and transverse directions through the experiment. The results show that the responses obtained from the in-line direction are quite different from those obtained from the transverse direction. In the in-line vibration, there were two excitation regions, yet in the transverse vibration, there was only one excitation region. Moreover, in the in-line vibration, two obvious prominent peaks can be observed in the power spectral density of the vibration signal. The second prominent peak is a subharmonic peak. The frequency corresponding to the subharmonic peak was nearly twice as high as that corresponding to the first peak. However, in the transverse vibration, only a single broad peak existed in the power spectral density of the vibration signal. The hysteresis and the “lock-in” phenomena appeared in both the in-line and transverse vibrations. The results of study are beneficial for designing and operating devices mounted with large pitch-to-diameter ratio tube arrays, and for further research on the vortex-induced vibration of tube arrays

Effect of a Baffle on Bubble Distribution in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed

In this study, the multi-phase Eulerian–Eulerian two-fluid method (TFM) coupled with the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) was used to investigate the hydrodynamics of particle flows (Geldart Group B) in a lab-scale bubbling fluidized bed. The goal was to improve the bubble flow behavior inside the fluidized bed to improve the distribution of an injected liquid, by increasing the flow of bubbles entering the spray jet cavity and, thus, reduce the formation of wet agglomerates. The effects of a baffle on both the injection level and the whole fluidized bed were studied. Different baffle geometries were also investigated. Adding a fluxtube to a baffle can improve the bubble flows and a long fluxtube works best at redirecting gas bubbles. Baffles tend to smooth out variations in the gas distribution caused by the non-uniform inlet gas distribution. A gas pocket appears under all the baffles

An interface for online coupling capillary electrophoresis to dielectric barrier discharge ionization mass spectrometry

The online combination of capillary electrophoresis (CE) with mass spectrometry (MS) has long been desired for the capability of direct and simultaneous separation and detection with high efficiency, accuracy, and throughput. In this work, a novel CE-MS interface was developed, using dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI). The interface employed a spray tip with a coaxial three-layer structure, into which the CE sample solution, the sheath liquid, and the nebulizing gas were introduced. The spray tip was put between the DBDI outlet and the MS inlet, thus the CE sample solution could be blended with the sheath liquid, then nebulized. The nebulized sample could be ionized by DBDI, and finally analyzed by MS. The key parameters of the interface were optimized. Then, proof-of-concept experiments separating and detecting the mixture of metronidazole and acetaminophen solutions were conducted. The results showed high separation efficiency, low time consumption, high reproducibility, and convenience in operation. In addition, the interface exhibited a high tolerance of non-volatile salts and surfactants, which would be widely used in CE analyses. All of these results demonstrated that the newly developed CE-DBDI-MS interface could be successfully used in CE-MS studies, and could be further utilized in multiple areas involving efficient separation and detection