Technique for validating remote sensing products of water quality

Remote sensing of water quality is initiated as an additional part of the on going activities of the EAGLE2006 project. Within this context intensive in-situ and airborne measurements campaigns were carried out over the Wolderwijd and Veluwemeer natural waters. However, in-situ measurements and image acquisitions were not simultaneous. This poses some constraints on validating air/space-borne remote sensing products of water quality. Nevertheless, the detailed insitu measurements and hydro-optical model simulations provide a bench mark for validating remote sensing products. That is realized through developing a stochastic technique to quantify the uncertainties on the retrieved aquatic inherent optical properties (IOP). The output of the proposed technique is applied to validate remote sensing products of water quality. In this processing phase, simulations of the radiative transfer in the coupled atmosphere-water system are performed to generate spectra at-sensor-level. The upper and the lower boundaries of perturbations, around each recorded spectrum, are then modelled as function of residuals between simulated and measured spectra. The perturbations are parameterized as a function of model approximations/inversion, sensor-noise and atmospheric residual signal. All error sources are treated as being of stochastic nature. Three scenarios are considered: spectrally correlated (i.e. wavelength dependent) perturbations, spectrally uncorrelated perturbations and a mixed scenario of the previous two with equal probability of occurrence. Uncertainties on the retrieved IOP are quantified with the relative contribution of each perturbation component to the total error budget of the IOP. This technique can be used to validate earth observation products of water quality in remote areas where few or no in– situ measurements are available

The dynamics of liquid slugs forced by a syringe pump

Microfluidic processes for chemical synthesis have become popular in recent years. The small scale of the chemical reactions promise greater control over reaction conditions and more timely creation of products. The small scale of microfluidics poses its own set of problems, however. At the microscale, the dominant fluid forces are viscous resistance and surface tension. The effects of viscosity and scale reduce the Reynolds number and make mixing difficult. Much work has been done to control mixing at the microscale. This problem is concerned with a different microfluidic problem: delivering reactants to the site of reaction. A common setup is to attach syringes full of reactant to a reaction chamber by narrow hydrophobic tubing. Using a stepper motor, a controlled dose of liquid may be injected into the tube. The hydrophobosity causes the dose to curve outward on the sides, becoming a "slug" of reactant with air in front and behind. The syringe at the rear is then switched for one full of air, and air pressure is used to drive the slug to the reaction site. If too much pressure is applied, the slug will arrive with a significant back pressure that will be relieved through bubbling in the reaction site. This causes the formation of a foam and is highly undesirable. We present a simple model based on Boyle’s law for the motion of a slug through a tube. We then extend this model for trains of slugs separated by air bubbles. Last, we consider the case of a flooded reaction site, where the forward air bubble must be pushed through the flooding liquid. In conclusion, we have determined the dynamics of a single slug moving towards an empty reaction chamber giving the final equilibrium position of the slug. A phase-plane analysis then determined a condition on the size of the slug needed to ensure that it comes to rest without oscillating about the equilibrium position. The effect of a flooded reaction chamber was then considered. In this case it is impossible to avoid bubbling due to the design of the device. We found that it is possible, however, to reduce the bubbling by minimising the back pressure behind the slug. Finally, the dynamics of multiple slugs with or without a flooded reaction chamber has been investigated

Bitplanes Block Based Lossy Image Compression

Abstract: In a former paper [21], an exact image compression based on bit-planes blocking was proposed. The proposed algorithm uses two bit codes for block representation. The outcome of the encoding process is two streams: Main Bit Stream, MBS and Residual Bit Stream, RBS. The algorithm core is searching for the greatest block of Unicode to encode in main stream and if not found until size of two by two then it will be kept as is in residual stream. In this paper, a lossy version of that algorithm is presented. The change in the base algorithm is in the definition of the unary-code-block is eased to be above certain percent. The percent is varied from plane to another as their contribution to image power varies. The testing of the proposed algorithm shows comparable results. Image degradations seems restorable even for high compression ratios

Phenotypic and genotypic assay for detection of extended spectrum B-lactamases production by Klebsiella pnemoniae isolates in Emam Reza Hospital in Tabriz, Iran.

Objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of K. pneumoniae producing ESBLs, to evaluate the susceptibility of K. pneumoniae producing ESBLs towards non-beta-lactam antibiotics and to study the dominant ESBLs gene in Emam Reza hospital. K. pneumoniae producing ESBLs identified by phenotypic and genotypic methods. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) performed for detection of blaSHV, TEM and CTX-M. The findings showed that 43.69%, 13.59%, 7.77%, 11.65% and 23.3% were from UTI, ICUs, surgery ward, lesion infections and RTI, respectively. The results showed that 43.7% of isolates were ESBLs produces. The findings revealed that 26.7%, 6.7%, 20% and 0% of K.pneumoniae producing ESBLs were resistant to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, cotrimoxazol and imipenem, respectively. Thirty-nine blaSHV, seven blaTEM and seven blaCTX-M identified among K.pneumoniae producing ESBLs. The results reflected in cold month resistant to third generation cephalosporins were more than warm months. Generally, frequency of blaSHV was more than blaCTX-M and blaTEM

Study of the cap structure of (3, 3),(4, 4) and (5, 5)-SWCNTs: Application of the sphere-in-contact model

We have applied the sphere-in-contact model supported by hybrid Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate the cap geometry of the sub-nanometer in dimension (3,3), (4,4) and (5,5) single-wall carbon-nanotubes (SWCNTs). Our approach predicts certain cap-geometries that do not comprise of the commonly known for their stability combination of pentagonal and hexagonal carbon rings but also tetragonal, trigonal and all-pentagonal structures. Based on hybrid-DFT calculations carbon atoms in these new cap geometries have similar stability to carbon found in other fullerene-like capped zig-zag and arm-chair nanotubes (i.e., (5,5), (6,6), (9,0) and (10,0)) that are known to be stable and synthetically accessible. We find that the cap structure of the (3,3)-CNTs is a pointy carbon geometry comprised of six pentagonal rings with a single carbon atom at the tip apex. In this tip geometry the carbon atom at the tip apex does not have the usual sp2 or sp3 geometry but an unusual trigonal pyramidal configuration. DFT calculations of the molecular orbitals and density-of-states of the tip show that this tip structure apart from being stable can be used in scanning probe microscopies such as STM for very high resolution imaging

Chinese visual traditions encountered on Safavid furniture

This paper investigates the design patterns derived from the Chinese tradition of wood-based crafts which were applied on furniture as found in the illustrated books of “The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasb” and “The Shahnama of Firdausi” during the Safavid period. The intimate connections between the Middle East and Asia over the past centuries (1501 to 1722) raised interest in both the handcrafts and decorative design motifs of the two regions. This resulted in the appearance of Chinese decorative motifs in Safavid miniatures which commenced in early Islam when Shah Ismail became a Chinese art appreciator. The Shah’s patronage is explicit through the painters and designers working in the court workshops where the practice of Chinese structural composition and designed patterns are evident with continued production during the following Safavid kings