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We evaluated how beer colour and glass type interact when it comes to forming beer expectations. Following previous research, we predicted that, given that colour is a dominant feature in food and beverage expectations, it would modulate the effects of glass type on beer expectations. One hundred and ninety-five participants from the United Kingdom took part in the experiment, which followed a 6 × 7 within-participants experimental design, with factors glass type (Pilsner, Pint, Tulip, Chalice, Weissbier, and Mug) and colour (yellow, blue, brown, orange, black, red, and green). Our results revealed that whilst colour influenced the expectations-based sensory-discriminative, hedonic, and willingness to pay (WTP) ratings, glass type influenced all variables but intensity and WTP. Importantly, all the variables for which glass type had a main effect were followed by a significant interaction. The results indicate that, the extent to which an extrinsic beer element, namely glass, influences expectations, depends on the associations that people have with colour, an intrinsic beer property closely related to beer type. We discuss the implications of our results for the design of beer expectations.

Snake robots offer considerable potential for endoscopic interventions due to their ability to follow curvilinear paths. Telemanipulation is an open problem due to hyper-redundancy, as input devices only allow a specification of six degrees of freedom. Our work addresses this by presenting a unified telemanipulation strategy which enables follow-the-leader locomotion and reorientation keeping the shape change as small as possible. The basis for this is a novel shape-fitting approach for solving the inverse kinematics in only a few milliseconds. Shape fitting is performed by maximizing the similarity of two curves using Fréchet distance while simultaneously specifying the position and orientation of the end effector. Telemanipulation performance is investigated in a study in which 14 participants controlled a simulated snake robot to locomote into the target area. In a final validation, pivot reorientation within the target area is addressed.© 2023 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.

To test high-voltage (HV) equipment with increasingly complex transients obtained from various power system studies, this article demonstrates a hardware implementation of a medium-voltage (MV) submodule (SM) to be used in a modular multilevel converter (MMC)-based HV arbitrary wave shape generator (AWG). The MV SM is scalable with its own onboard auxiliary power supply (APS), and it is constructed by connecting three full-bridge SMs in series from the commercially available component. The designed MV SM can be operated for a wide voltage range of 0.8-2.7 kV to incorporate different test objects ranging from HV insulation material to MV equipment and generate a wide output range of 0.12-1.2 kV. Considering the hardware nonidealities in the APS, gate driver, and switches, the series operation of three SMs is ensured using an arm energy controller. Based on the current-based model of APS, SM capacitance design criteria are updated for variable-frequency output waveform, and the minimum dc-link voltage is calculated for the proper start-up of this scalable MMC module. Apart from the variable voltage per SM, the HV AWG application poses different conditions, such as a low value of SM capacitance value and the HV dc sources with a current rating of a few tens of milliamperes. Hence, this article proposes exclusive design guidelines for the proper start-up, steady-state, and shutdown operation of the MMC-based AWG. In addition, this article dives deeper analytically into the soft start-up algorithm to understand its working principle and to design the average charging current within the limit for any number of SMs of the arm. In the end, their performance is showcased with a single MV SM per arm, operating at a different voltage (0.8-2.7 kV) and frequency levels (1-600 Hz) and generating different wave shapes, such as triangular, sinusoidal with different harmonics, and pulse waveforms. In addition, the fault ride-through capability is verified for the MMC-based HV AWG, High Voltage Technology Group, DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage, ESP LAB

We evaluated how beer colour and glass type interact when it comes to forming beer expectations. Following previous research, we predicted that, given that colour is a dominant feature in food and beverage expectations, it would modulate the effects of glass type on beer expectations. One hundred and ninety-five participants from the United Kingdom took part in the experiment, which followed a 6 × 7 within-participants experimental design, with factors glass type (Pilsner, Pint, Tulip, Chalice, Weissbier, and Mug) and colour (yellow, blue, brown, orange, black, red, and green). Our results revealed that whilst colour influenced the expectations-based sensory-discriminative, hedonic, and willingness to pay (WTP) ratings, glass type influenced all variables but intensity and WTP. Importantly, all the variables for which glass type had a main effect were followed by a significant interaction. The results indicate that, the extent to which an extrinsic beer element, namely glass, influences expectations, depends on the associations that people have with colour, an intrinsic beer property closely related to beer type. We discuss the implications of our results for the design of beer expectations.

© 2012 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS. We would like to thank Juan Garcia-Bellido for his interesting suggestions and discussions. EC is supported by the MareNostrum project funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) under grant no. AYA2009-13875 C03-02 and MultiDark Consolider project under grant CSD2009 00064. AK acknowledges support by the MICINN's Ramon y Cajal programme as well as the grants AYA 2009-13875-C03 02, AYA2009 12792-C03-03, CSD2009-00064 and CAM S2009/ESP 1496. GY would like to thank the MICINN for financial support under grants AYA 2009-13875-C03 and FPA 2009-08958, and the SyeC Consolider project CSD2007 00050. JBJ is supported by the Ministerio de Educacion under the postdoctoral contract EX2009-0305 and also wishes to acknowledge support from the Norwegian Research Council under the YGGDRASIL programme 2009 2010 and the NILS mobility project grant UCM-EEA-ABEL-03-2010. We also acknowledge support from MICINN (Spain) project numbers FIS 2008-01323, FPA 2008-00592, CAM/UCM 910309 and FIS2011 23000. The simulations used in this work were performed in the MareNostrum supercomputer at Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)., We present the results of a series of cosmological N-body simulations of a vector dark energy (VDE) model, performed using a suitably modified version of the publicly available gadget-2 code. The set-ups of our simulations were calibrated pursuing a twofold aim: (1) to analyse the large scale distribution of massive objects and (2) to determine the properties of halo structure in this different framework. We observe that structure formation is enhanced in VDE, since the mass function at high redshift is boosted up to a factor of 10 with respect to ? cold dark matter ( CDM), possibly alleviating tensions with the observations of massive clusters at high redshifts and early reionization epoch. Significant differences can also be found for the value of the growth factor, which in VDE shows a completely different behaviour, and in the distribution of voids, which in this cosmology are on average smaller and less abundant. We further studied the structure of dark matter haloes more massive than 5 x 1013 h-1 M?, finding that no substantial difference emerges when comparing spin parameter, shape, triaxiality and profiles of structures evolved under different cosmological pictures. Nevertheless, minor differences can be found in the concentrationmass relation and the two-point correlation function, both showing different amplitudes and steeper slopes. Using an additional series of simulations of a ?CDM scenario with the same and s8 used in the VDE cosmology, we have been able to establish whether the modifications induced in the new cosmological picture were due to the particular nature of the dynamical dark energy or a straightforward consequence of the cosmological parameters. On large scales, the dynamical effects of the cosmic vector field can be seen in the peculiar evolution of the cluster number density function with redshift, in the shape of the mass function, in the distribution of voids and on the characteristic form of the growth index (z). On smaller scales, int, Comunidad de Madrid, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Ministerio de Educación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Norwegian Research Council, Depto. de Física Teórica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

We show in this paper that the class of compacts that call be isolated non-saddle sets of flows in ANRs is precisely the class of compacta with polyhedral shape. We also prove-reinforcing the essential role played by shape theory in this setting-that the Conley index of a regular isolated non-saddle set is determined, in certain cases, by its shape. We finally introduce and study the notion of dual of a non-saddle set. Examples of compacta related by duality are attractor-repeller pairs. We use the complement theorems in shape theory to prove that the shape of the dual set is determined by the shape of the original non-saddle set., DGESIC, Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

International Conference on Topology and Its Applications, SEP 02-09, 2000, Ohrid, MACEDONIA, The notion of a non-saddle decomposition of a compact ANR is introduced. This notion extends that of a an attractor-repeller pair. Some cohomological properties of non-saddle decompositions are studied. In particular, some inequalities in the spirit of the Morse-Smale equations for attractor-repeller pairs are obtained. These inequalities involve the ranks of the cohomological Conley index and also of a new cohomological invariant introduced here. The notion of a cyclic Morse decomposition is also introduced and it is proved that this kind of decomposition admits filtrations by non-saddle sets. Finally, these filtrations are used to obtain Morse-Smale equations that generalize those of a Morse decomposition., Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

A compact stable attractor K of a continuous flow on a locally compact metric space is shape equivalent to a compact positively invariant neighbourhood P in its basin of attraction, the shape equivalence being induced by the inclusion map. In the present article a simple counterexample is given to show that ∂K is in general not shape equivalent to ∂P , and an inquiry is set afoot as to the circumstances under which ∂K is shape equivalent to or shape dominates ∂P ., DGI, Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI), TRUE, pub

(c) 2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is ermitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works., The influence of a load resistor on the shape of the single event transients was investigated in the LM124 operational amplifier by means of laser tests. These experiments indicated that, as a general rule, load resistors modify the size of the transients. SPICE simulations helped to understand the reasons of this behavior and showed that the distortion is related to the necessity of providing or absorbing current from the load resistor, which forces the amplifier to modify its operation point. Finally, load effects were successfully used to explain the distortion of single event transients in typical feed-back networks and the results were used to explain experimental data reported elsewhere., Depto. de Estructura de la Materia, Física Térmica y Electrónica, Depto. de Química Física, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, Fac. de Ciencias Químicas, TRUE, pub

DGICYT, Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

In this paper, we apply the notion and properties of compactly generated shape to study attractors in topological spaces., DGES, Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

We define a semidynamical system - inspired by some classical dynamical systems studied by Bebutov in function spaces - in the space of approximative maps A(X, Y) between two metric compacta, with a suitable metric. Shape and strong shape morphisms are characterized as invariant subsets of this system. We study their structure and asymptotic properties and use the obtained results to give dynamical characterizations of basic notions in shape theory, like trivial shape, shape domination by polyhedra and internal FANRs., Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

We study the internal structure of the global attractor of a uniformly persistent flow. We show that the restriction of the flow to the global attractor has duality properties which can be expressed in terms of certain attractor-repeller decompositions. We also study some natural Morse decompositions of the flow and calculate their Morse equations. These equations provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of attractors with the shape of S-1 or such that their suspension has spherical shape., Depto. de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

Snake robots offer considerable potential for endoscopic interventions due to their ability to follow curvilinear paths. Telemanipulation is an open problem due to hyper-redundancy, as input devices only allow a specification of six degrees of freedom. Our work addresses this by presenting a unified telemanipulation strategy which enables follow-the-leader locomotion and reorientation keeping the shape change as small as possible. The basis for this is a novel shape-fitting approach for solving the inverse kinematics in only a few milliseconds. Shape fitting is performed by maximizing the similarity of two curves using Fréchet distance while simultaneously specifying the position and orientation of the end effector. Telemanipulation performance is investigated in a study in which 14 participants controlled a simulated snake robot to locomote into the target area. In a final validation, pivot reorientation within the target area is addressed.© 2023 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.

Societal Impact Statement: Citrus are intrinsically connected to human health and culture, preventing human diseases like scurvy and inspiring sacred rituals. Citrus fruits come in a stunning number of different sizes and shapes, ranging from small clementines to oversized pummelos, and fruits display a vast diversity of flavors and aromas. These qualities are key in both traditional and modern medicine and in the production of cleaning and perfume products. By quantifying and modeling overall fruit shape and oil gland distribution, we can gain further insight into citrus development and the impacts of domestication and improvement on multiple characteristics of the fruit. Summary: Citrus come in diverse sizes and shapes, and play a key role in world culture and economy. Citrus oil glands in particular contain essential oils which include plant secondary metabolites associated with flavor and aroma. Capturing and analyzing nuanced information behind the citrus fruit shape and its oil gland distribution provide a morphology-driven path to further our insight into phenotype–genotype interactions. We investigated the shape of citrus fruit of 51 accessions based on 3D X-ray computed tomography (CT) scan reconstructions. Accessions include members of the three ancestral citrus species as well as related genera, and several interspecific hybrids. We digitally separate and compare the size of fruit endocarp, mesocarp, exocarp, and oil gland tissue. Based on the centers of the oil glands, overall fruit shape is approximated with an ellipsoid. Possible oil gland distributions on this ellipsoid surface are explored using directional statistics. There is a strong allometry along fruit tissues; that is, we observe a strong linear relationship between the logarithmic volume of any pair of major tissues. This suggests that the relative growth of fruit tissues with respect to each other follows a power law. We also observe that on average, glands distance themselves from their

The image-based 3D object detection task expects that the predicted 3D bounding box has a “tightness” projection (also referred to as cuboid) to facilitate 2D-based training, which fits the object contour well on the image while remaining reasonable on the 3D space. These requirements bring significant challenges to the annotation. Projecting the Lidar-labeled 3D boxes to the image leads to non-trivial misalignment, while directly drawing a cuboid on the image cannot access the original 3D information. In this work, we propose a learning-based 3D box adaptation approach that automatically adjusts minimum parameters of the 360$^{\circ }$ Lidar 3D bounding box to fit the image appearance of panoramic cameras perfectly. With only a few 2D boxes annotation as guidance during the training phase, our network can produce accurate image-level cuboid annotations with 3D properties from Lidar boxes. We call our method “you only label once”, which means labeling on the point cloud once and automatically adapting to all surrounding cameras. Our refinement balances the accuracy and efficiency well and dramatically reduces the labeling effort for accurate cuboid annotation. Extensive experiments on the public Waymo and NuScenes datasets show that our method can produce human-level cuboid annotation on the image without manual adjustment and can accelerate monocular-3D training tasks. IEEE

The tectonic as theoretical subject was carried on in the nineteenth century in the context of German culture and concerns the relationship between form and construction, focusing on the analysis of the correspondences between the constructive and static needs and the intents addressed to aesthetics. In Barcelona, oppressed by Francoism during the ‘50s and ‘60s, the will to be modern was expressed to a considerable extent through the reinvention of a language characterised by a successful synthesis between modernity and attention to local culture. Therefore the tectonic is an investigative tool that links the culture of Barcelona’s design with the broader koinè of modernity that has made tectonic one of its fundamentals. As in Italo Calvino’s novelist The Castle of crossed destines where different tales intersect, and the tellers are prompted by the symbols of a pack of cards so even in Barcelona the representative strength of Architecture interweaves with theoretical texts about tectonic providing a wider horizon to understand Barcelona architecture in the modern age.

Objective: Transformers, born to remedy the inadequate receptive fields of CNNs, have drawn explosive attention recently. However, the daunting computational complexity of global representation learning, together with rigid window partitioning, hinders their deployment in medical image segmentation. This work aims to address the above two issues in transformers for better medical image segmentation. Methods: We propose a boundary-aware lightweight transformer (BATFormer) that can build cross-scale global interaction with lower computational complexity and generate windows flexibly under the guidance of entropy. Specifically, to fully explore the benefits of transformers in long-range dependency establishment, a cross-scale global transformer (CGT) module is introduced to jointly utilize multiple small-scale feature maps for richer global features with lower computational complexity. Given the importance of shape modeling in medical image segmentation, a boundary-aware local transformer (BLT) module is constructed. Different from rigid window partitioning in vanilla transformers which would produce boundary distortion, BLT adopts an adaptive window partitioning scheme under the guidance of entropy for both computational complexity reduction and shape preservation. Results: BATFormer achieves the best performance in Dice of 92.84 $\%$ , 91.97 $\%$ , 90.26 $\%$ , and 96.30 $\%$ for the average, right ventricle, myocardium, and left ventricle respectively on the ACDC dataset and the best performance in Dice, IoU, and ACC of 90.76 $\%$ , 84.64 $\%$ , and 96.76 $\%$ respectively on the ISIC 2018 dataset. More importantly, BATFormer requires the least amount of model parameters and the lowest computational complexity compared to the state-of-the-art approaches. Conclusion and Significance: Our results demonstrate the necessity of developing customized transformers for efficient and better medical image segmentation. We believe the design of BATFormer is inspiring and exten

Some familiar objects are associated with specific colors, e.g., rubber ducks with yellow. Whether and at what stage neural responses occur to these color associations remain open questions. We recorded frequency-tagged electroencephalogram (EEG) responses to periodic presentations of yellow-associated objects, shown among sequences of non-periodic blue-, red-, and green- associated objects. Both color and grayscale versions of the objects elicited yellow-specific responses, indicating an automatic activation of color knowledge from object shape. Follow-up experiments replicated these effects with green-specific responses, and demonstrated modulated responses for incongruent color/object associations. Importantly, the onset of color-specific responses was as early to grayscale as actually colored stimuli (before 100 ms), the latter additionally eliciting a conventional later response (approximately 140-230 ms) to actual stimulus color. This suggests that the neural representation of familiar objects includes both diagnostic shape and color properties, such that shape can elicit associated color-specific responses before actual color-specific responses occur.

[Resumen] Si llamamos masas activas a las masas arquitectónicas con función portante y masas pasivas a las masas sin función portante –sólo de cierre–, podemos estudiar la relación que se establece entre ambas a lo largo de la historia. Esta sencilla idea resulta útil para abordar un análisis metódico (o un método de análisis) de la incidencia que la estructura ha tenido en la evolución de la forma arquitectónica. En la arquitectura tradicional se produce identificación generalizada entre la masa activa y la masa pasiva. Podemos hablar, por lo tanto, de una arquitectura de masas asociadas. Con la llegada de nuevos materiales, tras la revolución industrial, las posibilidades estructurales cambian. Esto da lugar a la separación entre la masa activa y la masa pasiva, y podemos hablar de una arquitectura de masas disociadas. La disociación entre la masa activa y pasiva posibilita la aparición de un nuevo elemento de composición independiente, que es la propia estructura. Sin embargo, no toda la arquitectura moderna es disociada, mateniéndose la vigencia de la asociación en parte de la producción arquitectónica. Atendiendo a la relación entre la masa activa y pasiva se propone la clasificación de la disociación arquitectónica., [Resumo] Se chamamos masas activas ás masas arquitectónicas con función de carga e masas pasivas ás masas sen función de carga –só de peche–, podemos estudar a relación establecida entre ambas ao longo da historia. Esta idea sinxela é útil para abordar unha análise metódica (ou un método de análise) da incidencia que tivo a estrutura na evolución da forma arquitectónica. Na arquitectura tradicional hai una identificación xeralizada entre a masa activa e a masa pasiva. Podemos falar, pois, dunha arquitectura de masas asociadas. Coa chegada de novos materiais, depois da Revolución Industrial, as posibilidades estruturais cambian. Isto dá lugar á separación entre a masa activa e a masa pasiva, e podemos falar dunha arquitectura de masas disociadas. A disociación entre a masa activa e pasiva permite a aparición dun novo elemento de composición independente, que é a propia estrutura. Porén, non toda a arquitectura moderna é disociada, mantendo a vixencia da asociación en parte da producción arquitectónica. Considerando a relación entre masa activa e pasiva, proponse a clasificación da disociación arquitectónica., [Abstract] If we name active masses to architectural masses with load‐bearing function and passive masses to masses without loadbearing function –only closure–, we can study the relationship between them throughout history. This simple idea is useful to approach a methodical analysis (or an analysis method) of the incidence that the structure has had in the evolution of the architectural form. In traditional architecture there is a general identification between the active mass and the passive mass. We can talk, therefore, about associated masses architecture. With the arrival of new materials, after the Industrial Revolution, the structural possibilities change; this leads to the separation between the active mass and the passive mass, and we can talk about dissociated masses architecture. The dissociation between the active and passive mass enables the appearance of a new independet composition element, which is the structure itself. However, not all modern architecture is dissociated, since in part of contemporary architecture the use of the association is maintained. Considering the relationship between active and passive mass, a classification of architectural dissociation is proposed.

Conventional medical instruments are not capable of passing through tortuous anatomy as required for natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery due to their rigid shaft designs. Nevertheless, developments in minimally invasive surgery are pushing medical devices to become more dexterous. Amongst devices with controllable flexibility, so-called Follow-The-Leader (FTL) devices possess motion capabilities to pass through confined spaces without interacting with anatomical structures. The goal of this literature study is to provide a comprehensive overview of medical devices with FTL motion. A scientific and patent literature search was performed in five databases (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, IEEExplore, Espacenet). Keywords were used to isolate FTL behavior in devices with medical applications. Ultimately, 35 unique devices were reviewed and categorized. Devices were allocated according to their design strategies to obtain the three fundamental sub-functions of FTL motion: steering, (controlling the leader/end-effector orientation), propagation, (advancing the device along a specific path), and conservation (memorizing the shape of the path taken by the device). A comparative analysis of the devices was carried out, showing the commonly used design choices for each sub-function and the different combinations. The advantages and disadvantages of the design aspects and an overview of their performance were provided. Devices that were initially assessed as ineligible were considered in a possible medical context or presented with FTL potential, broadening the classification. This review could aid in the development of a new generation of FTL devices by providing a comprehensive overview of the current solutions and stimulating the search for new ones., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology

In this article, a deep learning method for the shape sensing of continuum robots based on multicore fiber bragg grating (FBG) fiber is introduced. The proposed method, based on an artificial neural network (ANN), differs from traditional approaches, where accurate shape reconstruction requires a tedious characterization of many characteristic parameters. A further limitation of traditional approaches is that they require either multiple fibers, whose location relative to the centerline must be precisely known (calibrated), or a single multicore fiber whose position typically coincides with the neutral line. The proposed method addresses this limitation and, thus, allows shape sensing based on a single multicore fiber placed off-center. This helps in miniaturizing and leaves the central channel available for other purposes. The proposed approach was compared to a recent state-of-the-art model-based shape sensing approach. A two-degree-of-freedom benchtop fluidics-driven catheter system was built to validate the proposed ANN. The proposed ANN-based shape sensing approach was evaluated on a 40-mm-long steerable continuum robot in both 3-D free-space and 2-D constrained environments, yielding an average shape sensing error of 0.24 and 0.49 mm, respectively. With these results, the superiority of the proposed approach compared to the recent model-based shape sensing method was demonstrated., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology

Extracting foregrounds from complex outdoor backgrounds in the temporal domain presents a significant challenge in object recognition. The primary reason is the changes in luminance observed in the moving foregrounds of video frames and the dynamic background leading to loss of minute changes undergone by foreground objects. This compromises the accuracy of object identification patterns and can lead to misclassifications in detection and recognition. These difficulties hinder the automatic analysis and effective classification of computer vision systems in real-world scenarios, making manual performance costly. Work has been done to address these challenges by employing computational geometry to estimate descriptive features of objects within images. In this thesis, we extend this notion by proposing an approach to estimating shape descriptors (features) in the temporal domain of moving foregrounds by analyzing shape's topological space properties for video processing. To achieve this, we introduce the concept of optical vortex nerves, which will be applied to various moving object videos. By constructing vortex nerves using vertex termed 0-simplices, edges termed 1-simplices, and triangles termed 2-simplices in the foregrounds, we can derive shape-based spatial-temporal descriptor sets for each moving object. Moreover, I then employed the shape descriptor sets for shape matching to assess the descriptive proximity between various vehicles and establish their descriptive nearness (similarity) for recognition. This practical implementation serves as an embodiment of the aforementioned concepts discussed throughout this document.

We propose and implement a geodesic half-Maxwell fish-eye (MFE)-lens antenna. The lens was optimized using an in-house physical optics (PO) code adapted for generalized geodesic lenses. The final antenna design was validated with commercial electromagnetic simulation software. The antenna combines a modulated geodesic half-MFE lens and a transition to a linear flare, which is needed to preserve the linear polarization in the aperture. The antenna prototype, designed to operate in the K-a-band, was manufactured with computer numerical control (CNC) milling and measured in an anechoic chamber. The design provides continuous beam scanning because of a mechanically actuated feed. Promising beam scanning properties are demonstrated in an angular range of +/- 45 degrees with a scan loss below 3 dB, as well as good frequency stability from 26 to 32 GHz. Since the antenna is fully metallic, its radiation efficiency is high (approximately 90%)., QC 20230503

[Resumen] Si llamamos masas activas a las masas arquitectónicas con función portante y masas pasivas a las masas sin función portante –sólo de cierre–, podemos estudiar la relación que se establece entre ambas a lo largo de la historia. Esta sencilla idea resulta útil para abordar un análisis metódico (o un método de análisis) de la incidencia que la estructura ha tenido en la evolución de la forma arquitectónica. En la arquitectura tradicional se produce identificación generalizada entre la masa activa y la masa pasiva. Podemos hablar, por lo tanto, de una arquitectura de masas asociadas. Con la llegada de nuevos materiales, tras la revolución industrial, las posibilidades estructurales cambian. Esto da lugar a la separación entre la masa activa y la masa pasiva, y podemos hablar de una arquitectura de masas disociadas. La disociación entre la masa activa y pasiva posibilita la aparición de un nuevo elemento de composición independiente, que es la propia estructura. Sin embargo, no toda la arquitectura moderna es disociada, mateniéndose la vigencia de la asociación en parte de la producción arquitectónica. Atendiendo a la relación entre la masa activa y pasiva se propone la clasificación de la disociación arquitectónica., [Resumo] Se chamamos masas activas ás masas arquitectónicas con función de carga e masas pasivas ás masas sen función de carga –só de peche–, podemos estudar a relación establecida entre ambas ao longo da historia. Esta idea sinxela é útil para abordar unha análise metódica (ou un método de análise) da incidencia que tivo a estrutura na evolución da forma arquitectónica. Na arquitectura tradicional hai una identificación xeralizada entre a masa activa e a masa pasiva. Podemos falar, pois, dunha arquitectura de masas asociadas. Coa chegada de novos materiais, depois da Revolución Industrial, as posibilidades estruturais cambian. Isto dá lugar á separación entre a masa activa e a masa pasiva, e podemos falar dunha arquitectura de masas disociadas. A disociación entre a masa activa e pasiva permite a aparición dun novo elemento de composición independente, que é a propia estrutura. Porén, non toda a arquitectura moderna é disociada, mantendo a vixencia da asociación en parte da producción arquitectónica. Considerando a relación entre masa activa e pasiva, proponse a clasificación da disociación arquitectónica., [Abstract] If we name active masses to architectural masses with load‐bearing function and passive masses to masses without loadbearing function –only closure–, we can study the relationship between them throughout history. This simple idea is useful to approach a methodical analysis (or an analysis method) of the incidence that the structure has had in the evolution of the architectural form. In traditional architecture there is a general identification between the active mass and the passive mass. We can talk, therefore, about associated masses architecture. With the arrival of new materials, after the Industrial Revolution, the structural possibilities change; this leads to the separation between the active mass and the passive mass, and we can talk about dissociated masses architecture. The dissociation between the active and passive mass enables the appearance of a new independet composition element, which is the structure itself. However, not all modern architecture is dissociated, since in part of contemporary architecture the use of the association is maintained. Considering the relationship between active and passive mass, a classification of architectural dissociation is proposed.

Background: Breast symmetry remains a challenging quality to measure. The question arises of how much baseline breast symmetry exists in the female plastic surgical patient population.Material and methods: Several linear dimensional assessments were collected based on a retrospective analysis of objective data of women with natural breasts, who presented for an initial consultation in a plastic surgical clinic and were measured with the 3D Vectra Camera by the company Canfield Scientific Inc., U.S.A. The first 100 cases were extracted from the large database in alphabetical order. The nipple positions were examined, including the following linear dimensions: distances from the jugulum to the nipple, from the nipple to the inframammary fold, and from the nipple to midline. Furthermore, the under-breast widths were obtained. Results: The objective three-dimensional imaging method determined that all patients had some degree of asymmetry. The linear distances from the jugulum and midline to the nipple revealed that the measurements were larger on the left side. However, the nipple to the inframammary fold measurements were roughly the same. In the sample of plastic surgical patients, the average distance between the jugulum and nipple was around 20 cm, the distance between the nipple and inframammary fold was around 6.5 cm, the distance between the nipple and midline was around 10 cm, and the under-breast width was around 13 cm.On average, the jugulum-nipple distance on the right side was 19.9±2.3 cm and 20.1±2.4 cm on the left side. The distance between the nipple and the inframammary fold was 6.4±1.1 cm, revealing a similar distribution on both sides. The mean distance from the nipple to the midline was much larger on the left side of the body at 10.0±1.2 cm than on the right side at 9.4±1.3 cm. The under-breast width on the right side was slightly larger than the left side, with measurements of 13.4±1.8 cm versus 13.2±1.7 cm. Conclusion: Breast dimensions can be des, Hintergrund: Brustsymmetrie bleibt schwierig zu messen. Die Frage stellt sich, wie viel grundlegende Brustsymmetrie in der weiblichen, plastisch-chirurgischen Patientenpopulation existiert. Material und Methode: Basierend auf einer retrospektiven Analyse von objektiven Daten von Frauen mit natürlichen Brüsten, die sich für eine initiale Konsultation in einer plastisch-chirurgischen Klinik vorstellten und die mittels der 3D-Vectra-Kamera der Firma Canfield Scientific Inc., U.S.A., vermessen wurden, wurde eine Reihe von Messdaten linearer Dimensionen gesammelt. Die ersten 100 Fälle wurden aus der umfangreichen Datenbank in alphabetischer Ordnung entnommen. Die Positionen der Brustwarzen wurden unter Einschluss folgender linearer Dimensionen untersucht: die Distanzen vom Jugulum zur Brustwarze, von der Brustwarze zur Unterbrustfalte und von der Brustwarze zur Mittellinie. Außerdem wurden die Brustbasisbreiten festgehalten. Ergebnisse: Die dreidimensionale Bildaufnahmemethode ergab, dass alle Patientinnen einen gewissen Grad an Asymmetrie aufwiesen. Die linearen Abstände vom Jugulum und der Mittellinie zur Brustwarze ergaben, dass die Messwerte auf der linken Seite größer waren. Demgegenüber waren die Messwerte von den Brustwarzen zu den Unterbrustfalten ungefähr ähnlich.In der Gruppe der plastisch-chirurgischen Patientinnen betrug die durchschnittliche Distanz zwischen dem Jugulum und der Brustwarze ca. 20 cm, die Distanz zwischen der Brustwarze und der Unterbrustfalte ca. 6,5 cm, die Distanz zwischen der Brustwarze und der Mittellinie ca. 10 cm, und die Brustbasisbreite ca. 13 cm.Die Distanz zwischen dem Jugulum und der Brustwarze auf der rechten Seite betrug im Durchschnitt 19,9±2,3 cm und 20,1±2,4 cm auf der linken Seite. Die Distanz zwischen der Brustwarze und der Unterbrustfalte betrug 6,4±1,1 cm, mit einer ähnlichen Verteilung auf beiden Seiten. Die mittlere Distanz zwischen der Brustwarze zur Mittellinie ergab sich als deutlich größer auf der linken Seite des Kö

Nerium oleander var. ‘Villa Romaine’, commonly called oleander, is an ornamental shrub that exists in Tunisia in the wild and cultivated form. This plant is frequently propagated and produced in nurseries and used in urban plantings and on roadsides. The effects of nature of the plants (spontaneous or cultivated), climatic conditions (localities), and altitude (from 6 to 447 m) on seed shape, size, and germination of Tunisian populations, were investigated. Seeds were harvested from 23 locations belonging to six bioclimatic stages and distributed from North to South of Tunisia. The seed parameters studied were area, roundness, J index, and germination rate. A significant variation was obtained between populations, categories (cultivated and spontaneous), bioclimatic zones and altitudes. Seeds of cultivated plants were the smaller and showed the higher germination rates, compared with spontaneous populations, which had large seeds and a low germination rate. Climatic conditions and geographical location had an effect on seed morphology; seeds in lower humid were small for both cultivated and spontaneous types, they also showed a low J index value and a high germination rate. On the other hand, in upper Saharan, seeds were large and roundness and germination rate were the lowest. Also, seeds from plants in higher altitudes were the smaller and presented the lower values of the J index compared with those collected from low-altitude sites.

Elevated childhood body mass index (BMI), commonly examined as a “once-only” value, increases the risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in adulthood. Continuous exposure to adiposity during childhood may further increase cancer risk. We examined whether longitudinal childhood BMI trajectories were associated with adult obesity-related cancer and the role of adult-onset T2D in these associations, Background Elevated childhood body mass index (BMI), commonly examined as a "once-only" value, increases the risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in adulthood. Continuous exposure to adiposity during childhood may further increase cancer risk. We examined whether longitudinal childhood BMI trajectories were associated with adult obesity-related cancer and the role of adult-onset T2D in these associations. Methods Five sex-specific latent class BMI trajectories were generated for 301 927 children (149 325 girls) aged 6-15 years from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register. Information on obesity-related cancers and T2D was obtained from national health registers. Incidence rate ratios (IRR), cumulative incidences, and confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Poisson regressions. Results Compared with the average childhood BMI trajectory (containing approximately 40% of individuals), the rate of obesity-related cancer (excluding breast cancer) increased with higher childhood BMI trajectories among women. The highest rates occurred in the overweight (IRR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.38) and obesity (IRR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.53 to 2.08) BMI trajectories. Similar patterns were observed among men. In contrast, women with the obesity childhood BMI trajectory had the lowest rate of pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer (IRR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.43 to 0.80, and IRR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.30 to 0.57, respectively). For all trajectories, the cumulative risk of obesity-related cancer increased with adult-onset T2D. Conclusion Consistent childhood overweight or obesity may increase the rates of adult obesity-related cancer and decrease the rates of breast cancer. Adult-onset T2D conferred additional risk for obesity-related cancer, but the effect did not differ across childhood BMI trajectories.

Emerging evidence of rhodolith bed complexity and heterogeneity poses a challenge to monitoring strategies and questions about the role of abiotic factors in controlling the observed morphostructural diversity. Mollusk thanatocoenoses quickly respond to environmental conditions, expressing fidelity to biocoenosis and representing, thus, a useful ecological/paleoecological tool to unravel this heterogeneity. In this research, we studied three distinct rhodolith beds from the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), in a range between 40 and 100 m of water depth, together with their mollusk thanatocoenoses, sediment size, and oceanographic conditions. The beds are all heterogeneous and rarely correspond to a specific rhodolith morphotype and shape. On the contrary, the study of the associated thanatocoenoses led to distinguish at least five different assemblages within the known variability of the Coastal detritic (DC) association. DC and deep mud (VP) mollusk species dominate hanatocoenosis A, which is associated with mixed sediment and a low hydrodynamic regime. Thanatocoenosis B corresponds to an assemblage in which DC species mixed with species of adjacent vegetated bottoms in sandy sediment with a medium hydrodynamic. Thanatocoenosis C includes species related to muddy coastal detritic (DE) and offshore detritic (DL) associated with sand and a variable proportion of praline and branch morphotypes. Thanatocoenoses D and E include a wide range of detritic species (DE DC, DL) together with VP and coralligenous (C), associated with exclusive praline and gravelly sand (Thanat. D), or a mixed proportion of branch and praline and mixed sediment (Thanat. E). Our results demonstrate that the study of mollusk thanatocoenoses provides insights into the diversity within and among heterogeneous rhodolith beds. Moreover, rhodoliths, as part of the sediment, create microhabitats suitable for a wide range of mollusk species that contribute to the formation of complex thanatocoenoses.

In this paper, we propose a novel surface completion method to generate plausible shapes and textures for missing regions of 3D models. The missing regions are filled in by minimizing two energy functions for shape and texture, which are both based on similarities between the missing region and the rest of the object; in doing so, we take into account the positive correlation between shape and texture. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method experimentally by applying it to two models., ICIP2011 : 18th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing , Sep 11-14, 2011 , Brussels, Belgium

Surface completion is a technique for filling missing regions in 3D models measured by range scanners and videos. Conventionally, although missing regions were filled with the similar shape in a model, the completion process was fairly inefficient because the whole region in the model was searched for the similar shape. In this paper, the completion is efficiently performed using principal curvatures of local shape. In experiments, the effectiveness of the proposed method is successfully verified with subjective evaluation. In addition, the quantitative evaluation which has not been in the literature is newly performed., ICIP 2009 : 16th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing , Nov 7-10, 2009 , Cairo, Egypt

his paper presents a method for recovering shape and normal of a transparent object from a single viewpoint using a Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera. Our method is built upon the fact that the speed of light varies with the refractive index of the medium and therefore the depth measurement of a transparent object with a ToF camera may be distorted. We show that, from this ToF distortion, the refractive light path can be uniquely determined by estimating a single parameter. We estimate this parameter by introducing a surface normal consistency between the one determined by a light path candidate and the other computed from the corresponding shape. The proposed method is evaluated by both simulation and real-world experiments and shows faithful transparent shape recovery., 2016 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR),27-30 June 2016 ,Las Vegas, NV, USA

This paper proposes a teleoperation interface by which an operator can control a robot from freely configured viewpoints using realistic images of the physical world. The viewpoints generated by the proposed interface provide human operators with intuitive control using a head-mounted display and head tracker, and assist them to grasp the environment surrounding the robot. A state-of-the-art free-viewpoint image generation technique is employed to generate the scene presented to the operator. In addition, an augmented reality technique is used to superimpose a 3D model of the robot onto the generated scenes. Through evaluations under virtual and physical environments, we confirmed that the proposed interface improves the accuracy of teleoperation., IROS 2013 : IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems , Nov 3-7, 2013 , Tokyo, Japan

Reconstruction of shapes and appearances of thin film objects can be applied to many fields such as industrial inspection, biological analysis, and archaeologic research. However, it comes with many challenging issues because the appearances of thin film can change dramatically depending on view and light directions. The appearance is deeply dependent on not only the shapes but also the optical parameters of thin film. In this paper, we propose a novel method to estimate shapes and film thickness. First, we narrow down candidates of zenith angle by degree of polarization and determine it by the intensity of thin film which increases monotonically along the zenith angle. Second, we determine azimuth angle from occluding boundaries. Finally, we estimate the film thickness by comparing a look-up table of color along the thickness and zenith angle with captured images. We experimentally evaluated the accuracy of estimated shapes and appearances and found that our proposed method is effective., 2016 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR),27-30 June 2016,Las Vegas, NV, USA

In mixed reality, especially in augmented virtuality which virtualizes real objects, it is important to estimate object surface reflectance properties to render the objects under arbitrary illumination conditions. Though several methods have been explored to estimate the surface reflectance properties, it is still difficult to estimate surface reflectance parameters faithfully for complex objects which have nonuniform surface reflectance properties and exhibit interreflections. We describe a new method for densely estimating nonuniform surface reflectance properties of real objects constructed of convex and concave surfaces with interreflections. We use registered range and surface color texture images obtained by a laser rangefinder. Experiments show the usefulness of the proposed method., ICCV 2003 : The 9th International Conference on Computer Vision , Oct 13-16, 2003 , Nice, France

This paper describes a new method for detecting moving objects with an omnidirectional camera. The proposed method uses a fixed omnidirectional camera which can acquire images surrounding the camera and a background subtraction technique based on adaptively updating background images. In subtracting the background image from the input image, we consider the oscillation of intensity so that the proposed method can robustly detect moving objects under the condition that there are fluorescent lights and incoming lights from windows. In experiments, moving objects have been successfully detected in indoor environments., ICIP 2003 : International Conference on Image Processing , Sep 14-17, 2003 , Barcelona, Spain

The interactive walkthrough which enables us to look around a virtualized real world has been widely investigated. The walkthrough system can be applied to simulation, telepresence, and so on. The paper describes a method of interactive walkthrough which takes a real scene and enables us to look around in the virtualized scene. Our method is based on acquiring omnidirectional images at multiple points in the real world by using an omnidirectional camera. The method generates an omnidirectional image at an arbitrary location from captured omnidirectional images, and presents a user a converted view-dependent perspective image. In the experiment, we realized the interactive walkthrough using indoor omnidirectional images and confirmed the feasibility of the method., ICPR 2002 : 16th International Conference on Pattern Recognition , Aug 11-15, 2002 , Quebec, Canada

In annotation overlay applications using augmented reality (AR), view management is widely used for improving readability and intelligibility of the annotations. In order to recognize the visible portions of objects in the user's view, the positions, orientations, and shapes of the objects should be known in the case of conventional view management methods. However, it is difficult for a wearable AR system to obtain the positions, orientations and shapes of objects because the target object is usually moving or non-rigid. In this paper, we propose a view management method to overlay annotations of moving or non-rigid objects for networked wearable AR. The proposed method obtains positions and shapes of target objects via a network in order to estimate the visible portions of the target objects in the user's view. Annotations are located by minimizing penalties related to the overlap of an annotation, occlusion of target objects, length of a line between the annotation and the target object, and distance of the annotation in sequential frames. Through experiments, we have proven that the prototype system can correctly provide each user with annotations on multiple users of wearable AR systems., ICME 2009 : IEEE International Conference on Multimedia & Expo , Jun 28-Jul 3, 2009 , New York, NY, USA

Objective: To examine the association between 3D patellar shape and 1) isolated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based patellofemoral osteoarthritis (PFOA), 2) the morphological features of PFOA, and 3) the clinical symptoms of PFOA. Design: MRI data from 66 women with isolated MRI-based PFOA and 66 age- and BMI-matched healthy women were selected from a cohort study. The patellae were manually segmented from MRI scans and used to create a 3D statistical shape model (SSM) of the patella. Structural abnormalities were semi-standardized scored on MRI using MRI osteoarthritis knee score (MOAKS). Regression analyses were applied to determine the associations between the shape parameters retrieved from the SSM, group status, clinical symptoms, and structural abnormalities. Results: Four shape variants showed a statistically significant (<0.05) association with the group status. The mode responsible for most of the shape variations showed participants with PFOA possess a relatively thicker dorsal bump on the articular part of the patella, compared to patellae of control participants. Three of these variants showed an association with the presence of osteophytes and cartilage loss on the patella. Multiple associations were found between patellar shape and the clinical symptoms of PFOA. Conclusions: Patellar shape is associated with the prevalence of MRI-based PFOA in women. Some shape variants were also associated with clinical symptoms. Interestingly, one particular shape variant associated with the presence of MRI-based PFOA was earlier shown to be associated with structural abnormalities associated with OA in a population aged under 40. This may suggest that patellar shape may be an early detectable risk factor for PFOA., Biomaterials & Tissue Biomechanics

In lithography process, Sub-Resolution Assist Features (SRAFs), as an essential resolution enhancement technique (RET), is applied to improve the pattern fidelity and enlarge the process window. In this paper, we propose a robust constraint-aware SRAF generation method based on continuous transmission mask (CTM). The intensity distribution on the continuous transmission mask is extracted to guide the SRAF generation. The SRAF insertion also honors the design rules, which is formulated as integer programming with quadratic constraints and solved by a fast yet efficient algorithm. A fast probe-based SRAF evolution method is proposed to determine the shapes of SRAFs. The effectiveness and efficiency are demonstrated based on the experimental results. IEEE

Different paradigms can be used to evoke brainwaves. These brainwaves can be interpreted as commands that can be used to control different applications. These frameworks that interpret the brainwaves are called brain-computer interfaces. Steady-state visually evoked potentials is one of these paradigms that uses external stimuli flickering at fixed frequencies to evoke brainwaves. This paradigm is fast to issue, is reliable, and needs no training time of the user. However, to be able to distinguish multiple commands it is important to distinguish between multiple commands reliably. The fundamental metric that determines the signal quality is the signal-to-noise ratio. The signal-to-noise ratio is measured in decibels and is the ratio in power between the signal that is evoked around the stimulus frequency and the power of some baseline, referred to as noise. To extract the power the discrete Fourier transform is calculated from the measured brainwaves. The brainwaves are measured in millivolts over time. These brainwaves can be recorded using implants in the head named intracortical or external, such as electroencephalography. External methods such as electroencephalography are much safer for the user. Important to recognize is that one of the contributing factors to signal-to-noise ratio are the characteristics of the external stimuli displayed. Research is still trying to figure out the exact relationship between stimuli characteristics and signal-to-noise ratio. However, the experiments of previous research lack the context of the gaze of the subjects to explain the electroencephalography recordings. In this research, this is attempted to be solved using eye tracking. Furthermore, there is a research gap in the the scientific field surrounding signal-to-noise ratio and stimuli characteristics as the effect of surrounding stimuli on the measured signal-to-noise ratio of the target stimulus has never been investigated. This research, Dr.ir. Y.B. Eisma was the supervisor of S.T. van Vliet. Using his equipment the brainwaves were recorded at the UMC Amsterdam. https://github.com/SjoerdTimovanVliet/SSVEP_interface_thesis, Mechanical Engineering | Vehicle Engineering | Cognitive Robotics

Soft robots are intrinsically underactuated mechanical systems that operate under uncertainties and disturbances. In these conditions, this letter proposes two versions of PID-like control laws with a saturated integral action for the particularly challenging shape regulation task. The closed-loop system is asymptotically stabilized and matched constant disturbances are rejected using a very reduced amount of system information for control implementation. Stability is assessed on the underactuated dynamic model through the Invariant Set Theorem for two relevant classes of soft robots, i.e., elastically decoupled and elastically dominated soft robots. Extensive simulation results validate the proposed controllers., Learning & Autonomous Control

A novel automatic design method for permanent magnet (PM) motors using a Monte Carlo tree search is presented. The optimal motor structures are determined through a tree search, in which the motors with different numbers of poles, current phase angles, PM configurations, and numbers of PMs are simultaneously considered. At the leaf nodes, parameter and topology optimizations are performed to obtain the optimal material shape and distribution. The proposed method was applied to the optimization of a 24-slot motor. It was shown to be effective in finding the optimal motor structure and geometry to maximize the average torque while considering iron loss. The proposed method can be applied not only to the design of PM motors but also to many types of electric apparatus and other systems.

This article proposes a novel topology optimization approach for permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) driven by a pulsewidth modulation (PWM) current control system operating in different modes such as maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) and weakening flux controls. The cost function consits of iron and copper losses, which are computed by considering the spatial and time harmonics in the current generated under these conditions. It is demonstrated that the total loss of the optimized model is reduced compared with that of the conventional model in the operating region.

The European hake Merluccius merluccius is the third most valuable species for the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean fisheries. European hake has been rated as overexploited in the Mediterranean, thus careful management is advisable. Mediterranean hake is well-differentiated from Atlantic hake, but sub-population structure within the Mediterranean, and how this structure could be translated into stocks (operative management units), is still an elusive topic. Otolith shape and chemistry (concentration of trace elements) have been systematically used to distinguish fish stocks. Our aim was therefore to assess the discrimination capability (assigning fish to the correct geographical unit) of otolith shape and microchemistry at two geographical scales within the Mediterranean: (1) the official geographical subareas (GSAs), and (2) three larger units previously suggested by genetic markers (i.e., Western Mediterranean, Adriatic with Central Mediterranean, and Eastern Mediterranean). Two complementary analyses were completed because shape is more easily analyzed than chemistry. First, a large sample of juvenile hake (n = 1656) from 40 Mediterranean GSAs subunits was used for shape analysis. Second, a subsample of those fish (n = 154) from 10 GSAs was analyzed for both otolith shape and microchemistry. Irrespective of the type of data (shape and/or chemistry) and geographical scale (GSAs versus the 3-units), between-unit differences were always statistically significant. However, according to the large within-unit variability, discrimination capability was always poor but better at the GSA scale, and even better when both shape and microchemistry were combined. Moreover, unsupervised clustering methods (the number and limits of the units are data-driven and not a priori defined as above) failed to find an optimal structure. Overall, these results are fully compatible with the hypothesis of a continuous gradient, within which discrete spatial units cannot be safely

The famous Hermés scarves, fashion referents, have become luxury works of art for several decades. In this accessory the brand identity is reinforced with a perfect balance of shapes, colors, material and craftsmanship. It is reasonable to question the value of color in these creations, where expert designers and colorists propose novel, aesthetic and harmonious combinations for each model. The Hermés brand demonstrates a novel use of shape, symmetry and color in these iconic accessories that, for decades, have known how to adapt to new fashion trends. The wide variety of models developed shows the great creative wealth of this accessory, whose versatility has made it an iconic and representative fashion object of the luxury house Hermés., Os famosos lenços Hermés, referentes à moda, tornaram-se obras de arte de luxo há várias décadas. Neste acessório, a identidade da marca é reforçada com um equilíbrio perfeito de formas, cores, materiais e artesanato. É razoável questionar o valor da cor nes-tas criações, onde designers e coloristas experientes propõem combinações inovadoras, estéticas e harmoniosas para cada modelo. A marca Hermés demonstra um uso inovador da forma, simetria e cor nestes acessórios icónicos que, durante décadas, souberam adap-tar-se às novas tendências da moda. A grande variedade de modelos desenvolvidos mostra a grande riqueza criativa deste acessório, cuja versatilidade o tornou um objeto de moda icônico e representativo da casa de luxo Hermés., Los famosos pañuelos Hermés, referentes de moda, se han convertido en obras de arte de lujo desde hace varias décadas. En este accesorio se refuerza la identidad de marca con un perfecto equilibrio de las formas, los colores, el material y la confección artesanal. Es razonable cuestionarse el valor del color en estas creaciones, donde expertos diseña-dores y coloristas proponen combinaciones novedosas, estéticas y armoniosas para cada modelo. La marca Hermés demuestra un uso novedoso de la forma, la simetría y el color en estos complementos icónicos que, durante décadas han sabido adaptarse a las nuevas tendencias de la moda. La gran variedad de modelos desarrollados da cuenta de la gran riqueza creativa de este accesorio, cuya versatilidad lo ha convertido en un objeto de moda icónico y representativo de la casa de lujo Hermés.

RNA regulation can be performed by a second targeting RNA molecule, such as in the microRNA regulation mechanism. Selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) probes the structure of RNA molecules and can resolve RNA:protein interactions, but RNA:RNA interactions have not yet been addressed with this technique. Here, we apply SHAPE to investigate RNA-mediated binding processes in RNA:RNA and RNA:RNA-RBP complexes. We use RNA:RNA binding by SHAPE (RABS) to investigate microRNA-34a (miR-34a) binding its mRNA target, the silent information regulator 1 (mSIRT1), both with and without the Argonaute protein, constituting the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). We show that the seed of the mRNA target must be bound to the microRNA loaded into RISC to enable further binding of the compensatory region by RISC, while the naked miR-34a is able to bind the compensatory region without seed interaction. The method presented here provides complementary structural evidence for the commonly performed luciferase-assay-based evaluation of microRNA binding-site efficiency and specificity on the mRNA target site and could therefore be used in conjunction with it. The method can be applied to any nucleic acid-mediated RNA- or RBP-binding process, such as splicing, antisense RNA binding, or regulation by RISC, providing important insight into the targeted RNA structure.

RNA regulation can be performed by a second targeting RNA molecule, such as in the microRNA regulation mechanism. Selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) probes the structure of RNA molecules and can resolve RNA:protein interactions, but RNA:RNA interactions have not yet been addressed with this technique. Here, we apply SHAPE to investigate RNA-mediated binding processes in RNA:RNA and RNA:RNA-RBP complexes. We use RNA:RNA binding by SHAPE (RABS) to investigate microRNA-34a (miR-34a) binding its mRNA target, the silent information regulator 1 (mSIRT1), both with and without the Argonaute protein, constituting the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). We show that the seed of the mRNA target must be bound to the microRNA loaded into RISC to enable further binding of the compensatory region by RISC, while the naked miR-34a is able to bind the compensatory region without seed interaction. The method presented here provides complementary structural evidence for the commonly performed luciferase-assay-based evaluation of microRNA binding-site efficiency and specificity on the mRNA target site and could therefore be used in conjunction with it. The method can be applied to any nucleic acid-mediated RNA- or RBP-binding process, such as splicing, antisense RNA binding, or regulation by RISC, providing important insight into the targeted RNA structure.

Topology optimization (TO) has been formulated as a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problem that can be solved by Digital Annealer (DA) and quantum computers, which can realize massive parallelization. It is shown that the 3-D TO of a permanent magnet (PM), with 600 unknowns, is successfully performed by the DA with the aid of the finite element method (FEM) for field computations. Moreover, it is shown to perform TO of a magnetic core, with 758 unknowns, in such a way that the QUBO and field problems are iteratively solved to determine the optimal solution in which the magnetic field and optimal core structure are self-consistent.