Thermal Resistance of Vegetable Oils

The thermal resistence of several vegetable oils was investigated in order to assess their suitability to be utilised for cookin

Vision-Based Monitoring of Pedestrian Crossings

This paper presents a vision-based intelligent pedestrian crossing able to derive information on the occupancy status of its zebra crossing. The detection of pedestrians can help enhancing safety for road users who need longer to cross the road. At the same time, it produces savings in traffic delay. A stereo vision approach is adopted: the difference between two bird's eye views of the crossing is analyzed to extract objects rising up from the road plane. Background subtraction is applied to get rid of noise due to small drifts in the calibration and lens distortion. The discrimination between pedestrians and vehicles is performed taking into account their direction of movement

Automatic Calibration of a Urban Video Surveillance System through the Observation of Zebra Crossings

Abstract. In this paper, a method for automatic calibration of a camera stereo pair through the observation of zebra crossing signs is described. It is based on the well-known consideration that it is possible to obtain information about lens distortion and camera orientation by observing how a known pattern appears in the image; moreover, a major advantage of this system is that it does not require any ad-hoc calibration pattern, because it exploits the zebra crossing signs, a pattern usually present in images used for monitoring pedestrians while crossing a road. To achieve this goal, well-known techniques for removing lens distortion and perspective effect are combined with new methods for locating calibration points on the available pattern, and, finally, for evaluating the camera position.

“DETERMINATION OF 1-PHENYLAZO-2-NAPHTHOL (SUDAN I) IN CHILLI POWEDER AND IN CHILLI-CONTAINING FOOD PRODUCTS BY GPC CLEAN-UP AND HPLC WITH LC-MS CONFIRMATION”

A simple and rapid method is reported for the routine determination 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol (Sudan I) in chili powder and in chili-containing food products. The method involved Soxtec extraction from the products followed by high pressure gel permeation chromatographic (GPC) clean up collecting the appropriate fraction. Analysis of this fraction was by HPLC with UV/VIS detection. The limit of detection was 7 µg/Kg and the limit of quantification was 13 µg/Kg. The identity of Sudan I in food products was established by electrospray LC/MS with MS/MS confirmation. From a small survey of 30 retail samples, 11 samples of crushed chili, Italian pasta, chili-snack and vegetable sauce were found to contain levels of Sudan I ranging from 24 to 5591 µg/Kg

Eocene partial melting recorded in peritectic garnets from kyanite-gneiss, Greater Himalayan Sequence, Central Nepal

Anatectic melt inclusions (nanogranites and nanotonalites) have been found in garnet of kyanite-gneiss at the bottom of the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) along the Kali Gandaki valley, central Nepal, c. 1 km structurally above the Main Central Thrust (MCT). In situ U\u2013Th\u2013Pb dating of monazite included in garnets, in the same structural positions as melt inclusions, allowed us to constrain partial melting starting at c. 41\u201336 Ma. Eocene partial melting occurred during prograde metamorphism in the kyanite stability field (Eo-Himalayan event). Sillimanite-bearing mylonitic foliation wraps around garnets showing a top-to-the-SW sense of shear linked to the MCT ductile activity and to the exhumation of the GHS. These findings highlight the occurrence of an older melting event in the GHS during prograde metamorphism in the kyanite stability field before the more diffuse Miocene melting event. The growth of prograde garnet and kyanite at 41\u20136 Ma in the MCT zone, affecting the bottom of the GHS, suggests that inverted metamorphism in the MCT zone and folded isograds in the GHS should be carefully proved with the aid of geochronology, because not all Barrovian minerals grew during the same time span and they grew in different tectonic settings