Intermediate Streams Research Articles

Organization of Monosynaptic Inputs to the Serotonin and Dopamine Neuromodulatory Systems

Serotonin and dopamine are major neuromodulators. Here, we used a modified rabies virus to identify monosynaptic inputs to serotonin neurons in the dorsal and median raphe (DR and MR). We found that inputs to DR and MR serotonin neurons are spatially shifted in the forebrain, and MR serotonin neurons receive inputs from more medial structures. Then, we compared these data with inputs to dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). We found that DR serotonin neurons receive inputs from a remarkably similar set of areas as VTA dopamine neurons apart from the striatum, which preferentially targets dopamine neurons. Our results suggest three major input streams: a medial stream regulates MR serotonin neurons, an intermediate stream regulates DR serotonin and VTA dopamine neurons, and a lateral stream regulates SNc dopamine neurons. These results provide fundamental organizational principles of afferent control for serotonin and dopamine.

Diffusion-Substitution Mechanism for Color Image Encryption Based on Multiple Chaotic Systems

In this paper, a new color image encryption mechanism based on multiple chaotic systems is proposed. In the proposal, two modules are achieved by mixing the features of horizontally and vertically adjacent pixels with the help of adopted multiple chaotic systems, respectively. Then, substitution/confusion is accomplished by generating an intermediate chaotic key stream image based on the adopted chaotic maps. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is able to manage the trade-offs between the speed performance and security requirements.

Purification of Natural-Uranium Hexafluoride in a Cascade with an Intermediate Product Stream

A scheme is proposed for purification of natural-uranium hexafluoride in an intermediate product stream of a cascade in which low-enrichment uranium is obtained in the main product stream. It is shown that effective purification to remove the isotope 234U can be accomplished in one or two stages with purified stock with the natural 235U concentration or purified depleted uranium obtained in the intermediate product. A diluent for high-enrichment uranium with a several-fold lower separative work compared with its production from depleted wastes from separative production can be produced from these products. In addition, these products make it possible to obtain high-quality low-enrichment uranium with low 234U content.

Architectural Decomposition of Video Decoders by Meansof an Intermediate Data Stream Format

The microprocessor industry trend towards many-core architectures introduced the necessity of devising appropriately scalable applications. While implementing software based video decoding, the main challenges are the optimized partitioning of decoder operations, efficient tracking of dependencies and resource synchronization for multiple parallel units. The same applies for hardware implementations of video decoders where monolithic approaches anticipate scalability of the design and reusability of already implemented core components.In this paper, we propose an intermediate data stream format (Meta Format Stream) which is suited for architectural decomposition of video decoding by replacing the conventional monolithic decoder architecture design with a pipelined structure. The Meta Format is forward-oriented and self contained and multistandard capable, so that processing of Meta Streams is independent of the originating bit stream. Our approach does not require special coding settings and is applicable to accelerated decoding of any standards-compliant bit stream. A H.264/AVC multiprocessing proposal is presented as a case study for the potential our our concept. The case study combines coarse grained frame-level parallel decoding of the bit stream with fine-grained macroblock level parallelism in the image processing stage.The proposed H.264 decoder achieved speedup factors of up to 7.6 on an 8 core machine with 2-way SMT. We are reporting actual decoding speeds of up to 150 frames per second in 2160p-resolution.

A MULTIVARIATE TIME SERIES CLASSIFICATION METHOD FOR STREAMING DATA USING TEMPORAL METAFEATURE ABSTRACTIONS

In this paper we demonstrate a new approach to the classification of multivariate time series streaming data by utilizing a temporal metafeature abstractions method. The technique extracts global features and metafeatures in order to capture the necessary time-lapse information in the streams of data. The features are then used to create a static, intermediate stream representation that includes all the important time-varying information, and is suitable for analysis using the standard supervised data mining techniques. The capability of the new algorithm called MineTool-TS2 was demonstrated through its application to three datasets: UCSD Microgrid energy usage data, a space physics dataset and synthetic data.

HYDRAULIC GEOMETRY AND LONGITUDINAL PATTERNS OF HABITAT QUANTITY AND QUALITY FOR RAINBOW TROUT (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

ABSTRACTWe developed predictions of habitat quantity and quality for three life stages of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, across a range of stream sizes characterized by mean annual discharge of 1 to 50 m3 s−1. The physical habitat template was created by nesting a reach‐scale two‐dimensional hydrodynamic model (River2D) within a downstream hydraulic geometry system using published coefficients for low‐gradient and high‐gradient watersheds. This provided both longitudinal and transverse estimates of depth and velocity profiles that, when combined with habitat suitability curves for the life stages, resulted in predictions of habitat quantity (weighted usable area) and habitat quality (the proportion of the stream profile that provided useable habitat) for rainbow trout along the stream continuum. Habitat quantity increased asymptotically for all life history stages but increased more rapidly in the low‐gradient watershed. Habitat quality decreased non‐linearly for young‐of‐the‐year and peaked at intermediate stream sizes for juveniles in both low‐gradient and high‐gradient watersheds. Adult habitat quality peaked in the high‐gradient watershed but increased asymptotically in the low‐gradient watershed, presumably due to lower mean velocities at larger stream sizes. Incorporation of transverse variation in depth and velocity in our physical habitat template provides a more realistic representation of habitat quantity and quality than do earlier assessments based on simple modal estimates of depth and velocity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A new approach to chaotic image encryption based on quantum chaotic system, exploiting color spaces

How to protect the secret information is an important issue in commercial or military application. Attributed to quantum chaotic system that can be characterized by sensitive dependence to initial conditions/parameters, a new color image encryption scheme based on quantum chaotic system is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a new substitution scheme is achieved based on toral automorphism in integer wavelet transform by scrambling only the Y (Luminance) component of low frequency subband. Then two diffusion modules are achieved by mixing the features of horizontally and vertically adjacent pixels with the help of adopted quantum chaotic map. Finally, substitution/confusion is accomplished by generating an intermediate chaotic key stream image with the help of quantum chaotic system. Several security and performance analyses have been provided thoroughly based on several experimental tests and analysis. Brilliant characteristics of the proposed color image encryption approach are enough security and good performance. Through comparison, most of the results are in favor of the proposed scheme.

Securing Message Using Recursive Modulo-2 and Key Rotation Operation (RMRO)

This paper proposes a computationally efficient method for securing information using “SECURING MESSAGE USING RECURSIVE MODULO-2 AND KEY ROTATION OPERATION (RMRO)”. A block of n bits is taken as an input stream, where n varies from 4 to 256, from a continuous stream of bits and the technique operates on it to generate the intermediate encrypted stream. This technique directly involves all the bits of blocks in a boolean operation and a session key. The same operation is performed repeatedly for different block sizes as per the specification of a session key to generate the final encrypted stream. It is a kind of block cipher and symmetric in nature hence, decoding is done following the same procedure. A comparison of the proposed technique with existing and industrially accepted RSA and TDES has also been done in terms of frequency distribution and non homogeneity of source and encrypted files.

Photodegradation of methylmercury in stream ecosystems

Photodegradation is an important sink for highly toxic methylmercury (MeHg) in aquatic ecosystems. Lakes have been extensively studied for MeHg photodegradation, but much less is known about streams, mainly because of the heterogeneity in sunlight availability along stream reaches and because there has been a lack of tools with which to integrate this longitudinal variability. We utilize odd‐mass anomalies of stable Hg isotopes (i.e., Δ199Hg) as a proxy for estimating the relative extent of MeHg photodegradation in streams. In a northern California stream network, levels of MeHg in water and biota increased with increasing stream size in headwater and intermediate streams (drainage areas ranging from 0.6 to 150 km2), but MeHg levels decreased substantially in larger streams (drainage areas up to 1212 km2). In smaller streams, the increase of MeHg levels is attributed to increasing in situ MeHg production and is accompanied by only a small increase in Δ199Hg, indicating that the rate of MeHg photodegradation is low relative to the rate of in situ MeHg production. In larger streams, decreasing MeHg levels coincided with significant increases in Δ199Hg of MeHg (an average increase of 1.5‰ ± 0.5‰, n = 4), indicating that increasing MeHg photodegradation reduced MeHg levels in these wider, more open channels. Our findings clearly indicate that increasing sunlight availability in stream channels substantially increases MeHg photodegradation, which can reduce MeHg contamination in stream food webs.

Ecological attributes of the benthic community and indices of water quality in urban, rural and preserved environments

INTRODUCTION: Reference streams are pristine streams, untouched or unaltered by man, it being possible to use their environmental characteristics as quality threshold values. Besides the organic impacts measured via water quality biological monitoring programs, it has become necessary to evaluate the relationship between alterations in the landscape of streams and surrounding areas and changes in the structure of the macroinvertebrate community; AIM: The objective of the present study was to correlate the changes in the landscape with the ecological attributes of the community and indices of water quality, and to recommend reference condition values for the integrity of streams in the region of Jundiai (SP); METHODS: The benthic fauna were sampled in three urban streams, three rural streams and three preserved streams during July 2010, using a Surber-type sampler. The characteristics of the landscape were evaluated by means of Diversity of Habitat; the community, analyzed for several biodiversity indices, and; the water quality assessed using the indices River-BCI, BMWP-CETEC (CETEC - Science and Technology Center), ASPT and SOMI (SOMI - Serra dos Órgãos Multimetric Index (Serra dos Órgãos is a mountain range national park in the state of Rio de Janeiro)); RESULTS: The structure and the composition of the communities varied according to the stream and this was reflected in the values of the biological and environmental quality indices. The best conditions were found in preserved streams, intermediate streams and rural streams while the worst conditions were found in the urban streams. The significant Pearson correlations (r > 0.73 and P < 0.05) between the diversity of habitat index and the ecological and water quality index attributes in the streams of Jundiai demonstrated that diversity of habitat may be a good predictor of the environmental characteristics evaluated.

Homogenization of Stiff Plates and Two-Dimensional High-Viscosity Stokes Equations

The paper deals with the homogenization of stiff heterogeneous plates. Assuming that the coefficients are equi-bounded in L 1, we prove that the limit of a sequence of plate equations remains a plate equation which involves a strongly local linear operator acting on the second gradients. This compactness result is based on a div-curl lemma for fourth-order equations. On the other hand, using an intermediate stream function we deduce from the plates case a similar result for high-viscosity Stokes equations in dimension two, so that the nature of the Stokes equation is preserved in the homogenization process. Finally, we show that the L 1-boundedness assumption cannot be relaxed. Indeed, in the case of the Stokes equation the concentration of one very rigid strip on a line induces the appearance of second gradient terms in the limit problem, which violates the compactness result obtained under the L 1-boundedness condition.

Industrial wastewater reuse in petroleum refinery using the WSD for regeneration systems (Portuguese)

Wastewater reuse practices in the industry require an adequate understanding of the characteristics of the manufacture processes, to minimize the water consumption and the generation of effluent. The objective of this work was to apply the WSD method, used to defining the target of minimum process water consumption in a case study of oil refinery, by means of the reuse and recycling operations, including regeneration processes. The importance and influence of the wastewater treatment plant in the regeneration quality, including intermediate process streams, for the reuse and the recycling operations, were evaluated. Furthermore, centralized and distributed treatment flowsheet configurations were tested. Thus, this work presented the solution of a case study with three contaminants in water streams processes, different interconnections approaches, used to illustrate the application of this procedure showing the reduction of water flow rate and total costs compared to the original flowsheet. The scenarios revealed to be greatly promising, and flowsheet configurations were reached with higher than 4 % and 20 % of reduction in the water flow rate consumption and the total costs, respectively. Regarding the ecoefficiency processes, the results demonstrate that the applied technique is successful when the minimum water consumption is the main goal in the industry.

Simultaneous heat exchanger network synthesis for direct and indirect heat transfer inside and between processes

Process plants are typically divided into different process parts having specific processing tasks with possibly different ownership. Heat integration between these processes can increase the energy- and economic efficiency for both the overall plant and the individual processes. In this paper we present a heat exchanger network synthesis MINLP-model that allows simultaneous heat integration directly between streams in the same process and both directly and indirectly between streams in different processes. The indirect heat transfer is accomplished by using intermediate streams. Two examples, one small explanatory one and one from the literature, are optimized. The results verify that the model works logically.

Analysis of Oxygenated Compounds in Hydrotreated Biomass Fast Pyrolysis Oil Distillate Fractions

Three hydrotreated bio-oils with different oxygen contents (8.2, 4.9, and 0.4 w/w) were distilled to produce light, naphtha, jet, diesel, and gas oil boiling range fractions that were characterized for oxygen-containing species by a variety of analytical methods. The bio-oils were originally generated from lignocellulosic biomass in an entrained-flow fast pyrolysis reactor. Analyses included elemental composition, carbon type distribution by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, acid number, gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy, volatile organic acids by liquid chromatography, and carbonyl compounds by 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine derivatization and liquid chromatography. Acid number titrations employed an improved titrant–electrode combination with faster response that allowed the detection of multiple end points in many samples and allowed for acid values attributable to carboxylic acids and to phenols to be distinguished. The results of these analyses showed that the highest oxygen content bio-oil fractions contained oxygen as carboxylic acids, carbonyls, aryl ethers, phenols, and alcohols. Carboxylic acids and carbonyl compounds detected in this sample were concentrated in the light, naphtha, and jet fractions (<260 °C boiling point). The carboxylic acid content of all of the high oxygen content fractions was likely too high for these materials to be considered as fuel blendstocks, although the potential for blending with crude oil or refinery intermediate streams may exist for the diesel and gas oil fractions. The 4.9% oxygen sample contained, almost exclusively, phenolic compounds found to be present throughout the boiling range fractions, which imparted measurable acidity primarily in the light, naphtha, and jet fractions. Additional study is required to understand what levels of the weakly acidic phenols could be tolerated in a refinery feedstock. The diesel and gas oil fractions from this upgraded oil had low acidity but still contained 3–4 wt % oxygen present as phenols that could not be specifically identified. These materials appear to have excellent potential as refinery feedstocks and some potential for blending into finished fuels. Fractions from the lowest oxygen-content oil exhibited some phenolic acidity but generally contained very low levels of oxygen functional groups. These materials would likely be suitable as refinery feedstocks and potentially as fuel blend components. Paraffins, isoparaffins, olefins, naphthenes, and aromatics (PIONA) analysis of the light and naphtha fractions showed benzene contents of 0.5 and 0.4 vol % and predicted (research octane number (RON) + motor octane number (MON))/2 of 63 and 70, respectively.

Identifying the spatial pattern of wood distribution in northeastern North American streams

The spatial distribution of instream wood influences important ecological processes but has proven challenging to describe quantitatively. We present a modified version of a previously described metric used to quantify the spatial extent and pattern of instream wood distribution, then apply this approach in evaluating the distribution of wood habitat in forested northeastern North American streams. This revised metric, a ‘binned neighbor-K analysis’, provides greater resolution in evaluating the presence of aggregated, periodic, or segregated wood distributions in stream ecosystems. We employed this metric in evaluating the distribution of wood within 17 streams in two regions of northeastern North America. Our results indicate that the binned neighbor-K approach more accurately represents the spatial extent at which wood accumulates in streams by identifying recurring intervals in streams within which instream wood is not present and by more accurately quantifying the spatial extent of wood aggregations and periodically repeating occurrences of accumulated wood. We also used this metric to quantify the overall extent of wood ‘organization’ in streams, which revealed similarities and differences in instream wood distribution patterns in the two regions evaluated. Wood distribution patterns in both study regions were generally consistent with our expectations of increased organization at an intermediate stream size (up to 10 m bankfull width), then in larger streams (> 10 m) wood was less organized. These observed patterns result from landscape and ecosystem influences upon wood accumulation and movement in streams.

Experimental and Theoretical Study for Pizometric

In this work an experimental and theoretical study was done to test the effect of upstream, intermediate and down stream sheet piles inclination ,then the optimum case of the uplift pressure reduction was found .The study consisted 12 separated case of these inclined sheet piles with changing the direction of this inclination .Two angles of the inclination were tested 37,67 for each sheet pile .Many of uplift pressure distribution curves under the structure were plotted .Many conclusions for each sheet pile were found also.

Detection and parameters interception of a radar pulse signal based on interrupt driven algorithm

This paper presents the development of a new algorithm for radar pulse signal acquisition and parameters interception. The parameters are measured based on digitizing intermediate frequency input stream and signal storing only on signal presence. In this framework, two activities are implemented. Firstly, the data acquisition and preprocessing activity, which reads incoming data stream, converts it into video signal, refines incoming data by applying predefined double threshold noise gate, and stores radar pulse data upon signal existence. Secondly, the data analysis activity, which measures the processed signal parameters. It includes the measurement of intermediate frequency, pulse width, time of arrival, time of departure, pulse repetition frequency and pulse amplitude. The implemented software consists of three main units connected through different buffers hierarchy. These units are: the input unit, digital signal processing unit, and the human computer interface unit. These units can operate in parallel allowing simple algorithms to be executed concurrently thereby fast radar signal parameters interception. Key words: Radar signal detection, signal identification, radar pulse analysis, data acquisition system, radar signal processing.

FPGA Based Cipher Design & Implementation of Recursive Oriented Block Arithmetic and Substitution Technique (ROBAST)

Proposed FPGA based technique considers a message as a binary string on which ROBAST is applied. A block of n-bits is taken as an input stream, where n ranges from 8 to 256 – bit, then ROBAST is applied in each block to generate intermediate stream, any one intermediate stream is considered as a cipher text. The same operation is performed repeatedly on various block sizes. It is a kind of block cipher and symmetric in nature hence decoding is done in similar manner. This paper also presents an efficient hardware realization of the proposed technique using state-of-the-art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The technique is also coded in C programming language and Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL). Various results and comparisons have been performed against industrially accepted RSA and TDES. A satisfactory results and comparisons are found.

InSb Focal Plane Array Chemical Imaging Enables Assessment of Unit Process Efficiency for Milling Operation

In the dry milling of wheat flour, each unit process (roller mill, purifier, sifter, etc.) produces a mixture with varying amounts of wheat endosperm and non-endosperm byproducts. Chemical images with 82 000 pixels of each intermediate product stream issuing from an individual processing machine are readily analyzed in terms of the relative amount of endosperm and non-endosperm. Approximately three minutes is required to produce an image of each intermediate product stream. Applying partial least squares (PLS) chemometric software to identify individual pixels, which enables calculation of the relative amount of endosperm and non-endosperm, is not a time-limiting factor. When relative flow rates are known for each stream, mass balance can be calculated from each intermediate stream in terms of the product (endosperm content) and the lower value non-endosperm byproduct. Data is presented from a purifier in a commercial flour mill. Intermediate streams collected from a run with optimized operational parameters were compared to those of another run before adjustment. The endosperm (product) mass balance profile for each run enabled assessment of operational efficiency. The devised chemical imaging analysis system would be particularly useful in commissioning of a new mill or to optimize existing wheat milling systems. Also, when raw material differs from that for which previous optimization was established, a new optimization may be in order. The ability to acquire a large number of spectra from a specimen and apply multivariate statistics to identify each pixel and subsequently count pixels accommodates heterogeneity and reports the results from averaging a very large number of individual spectra. A second illustration of the utility of the imaging method is presented centering on streams from the first and second break unit operations at the beginning of the roller mill process.

Changes in mineral concentrations and phosphorus profile during dry-grind processing of corn into ethanol

For determining variation in mineral composition and phosphorus (P) profile among streams of dry-grind ethanol production, samples of ground corn, intermediate streams, and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) were obtained from three commercial plants. Most attributes (dry matter concentrations) increased significantly from corn to cooked slurry but fermentation caused most significant increase in all attributes. During centrifugation, more minerals went into thin stillage than wet grains, making minerals most concentrated in the former. Mineral increase in DDGS over corn was about 3 fold, except for Na, S, Ca, and Fe. The first three had much higher fold of increase, presumably due to exogenous addition. During fermentation, phytate P and inorganic P had 2.54 and 10.37 fold of increase over corn, respectively, while relative to total P, % phytate P decreased and % inorganic P increased significantly. These observations suggest that phytate underwent some degradation, presumably due to activity of yeast phytase.