A novel user-centered design for personalized video summarization

In the past, several automatic video summarization systems had been proposed to generate video summary. However, a generic video summary that is generated based only on audio, visual and textual saliencies will not satisfy every user. This paper proposes a novel system for generating semantically meaningful personalized video summaries, which are tailored to the individual user's preferences over video semantics. Each video shot is represented using a semantic multinomial which is a vector of posterior semantic concept probabilities. The proposed system stitches video summary based on summary time span and top-ranked shots that are semantically relevant to the user's preferences. The proposed summarization system is evaluated using both quantitative and subjective evaluation metrics. The experimental results on the performance of the proposed video summarization system are encouraging

Jovian vortices and jets

We explore the conditions required for isolated vortices to exist in sheared zonal flows and the stability of the underlying zonal winds. This is done using the standard 2-layer quasigeostrophic model with the lower layer depth becoming infinite; however, this model differs from the usual layer model because the lower layer is not assumed to be motionless but has a steady configuration of alternating zonal flows [1]. Steady state vortices are obtained by a simulated annealing computational method introduced in [2], generalized and applied in [3] in fluid flow, and used in the context of magnetohydrodynamics in [4-6]. Various cases of vortices with a constant potential vorticity anomaly atop zonal winds and the stability of the underlying winds are considered using a mix of computational and analytical techniques

Co-treatment of benzene and toluene vapours in a biofilter: A factorial design approach

[Abstract] Biofiltration has now become an indispensable treatment technique for the removal of low concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from process vent streams. This study involves performance evaluation of a laboratory scale compost based biofilter for the treatment of mixtures of benzene and toluene (BT) vapours. Experiments were conducted as per a statistical design of experiment, the 2k full factorial design, with the initial concentrations of benzene and toluene and the gas flow rate as the independent variables and the elimination capacity (EC) and removal efficiency (RE) as response variables. The maximum EC attained was 31.7 g/m3.h for benzene and 85.9 g/m3.h for toluene, while the total maximum EC at an inlet loading rate (ILR) of 150.2 g/m3.h was 91.2 g/m3.h. It was also observed that while there was mutual inhibition, benzene removal was severely inhibited by the presence of toluene than toluene removal by the presence of benzene. Statistical analysis in the form of analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to determine the main and interaction effects of variables on the RE and EC values. This study establishes the potential application of biofilters to handle mixtures of VOCs effectively through a statistically authentic approach

Stochastic Gene Expression in Single Gene Oscillator Variants

It is infeasible to understand all dynamics in cell, but we can aim to understand the impact of design choices under our control. Here we consider a single gene oscillator as a case study to understand the influence of DNA copy number and repressor choice on the resulting dynamics. We first switch the repressor in the oscillator from the originally published lacI to treRL, a chimeric repressor with a lacI DNA binding domain that is inducible by trehalose. This slightly modified system produces faster and more regular oscillations than the original lacI oscillator. We then compare the treRL oscillator at three different DNA copy numbers. The period and amplitude of oscillations increases as the copy number is decreased. We cannot explain the change in period with differential equation models without changing delays or degradation rates. The correlation and phase coherence between daughter cells after cell division also tend to fall off faster for the lower copy oscillator variants. These results suggest that lower copy number variants of our single gene oscillator produce more synchronized oscillations

Dichloromethane removal using mixed cultures in a biofilter and a modified rotating biological contactor -start up studies

[Abstract] Dichloromethane (DCM) is a widely used organic solvent which is considered to be hazardous air pollutant. Regulatory standards in many countries require its removal from waste gas streams. Biological waste gas treatment is an attractive and environmental-friendly alternative to physicochemical methods. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in waste gases can serve as energy source and/or carbon source for the microbial metabolism. Biofilters and biotrickling filters, the widely used bioreactors, suffer from limitations such as control of operating parameters, pH, humidity and nutrient supply and clogging due to overgrowth of biofilm. To overcome these drawbacks, a modified rotating biological contactor (RBC) has been proposed which can retain the advantages of conventional systems. A conventional RBC system containing 20 acrylic discs 21 cm diameter and 5mm thickness with a disc spacing of 10 mm was modified by adding a leak tight cover and baffles between disks to avoid short circuiting of flow. The biofilm was formed on the discs with inoculum pre acclimatized to DCM at low concentration. The RBC was operated at an inlet concentration of 0.15 – 0.2 g/m3 at a gas flow rate of 0.06 m3/h corresponding to an empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 2.5 min for 38 days resulting in a steady state removal of 84%. The residual DCM concentration in liquid phase was 5ppm and dissolved oxygen level was 3-4 ppm. pH decreased from 7 to 4.5 in the media, which indicated biodegradation and formation of acidic metabolites. The performance of RBC was compared with that of a biofilter packed with a mixture of garden compost and ceramic beads. The biofilter was operated at an inlet concentration of 0.15 – 0.21 g/m3 and at a gas flow rate of 0.06 m3/h corresponding to an empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 1.47 min for 90 days to reach steady state removal efficiency of 88%. Thus RBC system seems to be a potentially alternative to biofilter