Ultrasound-associated extraction of seed oil of Korean pine

Experiment on ultrasound- associated extraction of seed oil of Korean pine(Pinus koraiensis) was conducted in Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China. The factorsaffecting extraction yield, such as ultrasonic frequency, extracting temperature, extracting timeand the ratio of material to liquid (ratio of Korean pine seed to absolute alcohol), were analyzedunder specific condition and the optimal extracting parameters were obtained as the ultrasonicfrequency 32 000 Hz, the extracting temperature 80 ℃, the extracting time 50 min, and the ratio ofmaterial to liquid 1: 30. The study demonstrates that ultrasound is a reliable and great efficiencytool for the fast extraction of Korean pine seed oil.

Ultrasonic-associated extraction of water soluble polysaccharides from defatted Korean pine kernel

Experiments of ultrasonic-associated extraction and hot water extraction of water soluble polysaccharides from defatted Korean pine （Pinus koraiensis） were conducted in Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China. The factors affecting extraction yield and content, such as extracting temperature, extracting time, the ratio of water to defatted kernel and concentration of ethanol were analyzed under specific condition. The optimal extracting parameters for ultrasound-associated extraction were determined as the ultrasonic temperature 70℃, the ratio of defatted kernel to water 1：20, the extracting time 40 min, and ethanol concentration 80%. Under such extraction conditions, the yield of water soluble polysaccharide was 3.65% and the average content of polysaccharide was 45.38% in the raw polysaccharides which gained in the experiment. Both extraction yield and content of polysaccharides extracted with ultrasound-associated extraction were higher than that with hot water extraction. The study demonstrates that ultrasound is a reliable and extremely effective tool for the fast extraction of water soluble polysaccharide of Korean pine kernel.

Sonochemical Synthesis of Maleated Rosin

The cycloaddition reaction of rosin and maleic anhydride under ultrasonic irradiation has been investigated. The results show that both isomerization and Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions were accelerated remarkably. The sonochemical reaction reached equilibrium in 5-10 min at 110℃, comparing with regular synthesis of 4-5 h over 180℃.

High-speed corner detection based on fuzzy ID3 decision tree

A high-speed comer detection algorithm based on fuzzy ID3 decision tree was proposed. In the algorithm, the Bresenham circle with 3-pixel radius was used as the test mask, overlapping the candidate comers with the nucleus. Connected pixels on the circle were applied to compare the intensity value with the nucleus, with the membership function used to give the fuzzy result. The pixel with maximum information gain was chosen as the parent node to build a binary decision tree. Thus, the comer detector was derived. The pictures taken in Fengtai Railway Station in Beijing were used to test the method. The experimental results show that when the number of pixels on the test mask is chosen to be 9, best result can be obtained. The comer detector significantly outperforms existing detector in computational efficiency without sacrificing the quality and the method also provides high performance against Poisson noise and Gaussian blur.

Optimization of Ultrasound-assisted Extraction Conditions for Polysaccharides from Pinus tabulaeformis Seed Shells

[Objective] This study aimed to investigate the optimal technological condi- tions for ultrasouqd-assisted extraction of polysaccharides from Pinus tabulaeformis seed shells. [Melhod] Polysaccharides were extracted from P. tabulaeformis seed shells by ultrasound-assisted hot water extraction method and detected by phenol- concentrated sulfuric acid method. The effect of extraction temperature, extraction duration, solid-liquid ratio and extraction frequency on the extraction of polysaccha- rides was investigated using single-factor gradient experiment and the extraction conditions for polysaccharides from P. tabulaeformis seed shells were optimized us- ing L9（34） orthogonal design. [Result] The content of polysaccharides extracted twice at 60 ℃ for 25 min with solid-liquid ratio of 1：3.5 reached the maximum. The re- covery rate （n=-5） ranged from 97.71% to 100.67% and RSD was 1.56%, suggesting high stability. [Conclusion] A simple and efficient method for ultrasound-assisted ex- traction of polysaccharides from P. tabulaeformis seed shells was established in this study, which laid solid foundation for the development and utilization of abandoned pine nut shell resources.

An Ultrasonic Backscatter Instrument for Cancellous Bone Evaluation in Neonates

Ultrasonic backscatter technique has shown promise as a noninvasive cancellous bone assessment tool. A novel ultrasonic backscatter bone diagnostic （UBBD） instrument and an in vivo application for neonatal bone evaluation are introduced in this study. The UBBD provides several advantages, including noninvasiveness, non- ionizing radiation, portability, and simplicity. In this study, the backscatter signal could be measured within 5 s using the UBBD. Ultrasonic backscatter measurements were performed on 467 neonates （268 males and 199 females） at the left calcaneus. The backscatter signal was measured at a central frequency of 3.5 MHz. The delay （-/-1） and duration （7-2） of the backscatter signal of interest （SOl） were varied, and the apparent integrated backscatter （AIB）, frequency slope of apparent backscatter （FSAB）, zero frequency intercept of apparent backscatter （FIAB）, and spectral centroid shift （SCS） were calculated. The results showed that the SOl selection had a direct influence on cancellous bone evaluation. The AIB and FIAB were positively correlated with the gestational age （｜R｜ up to 0.45, P 〈 0.001） when -/-1 was short （〈 8 μS）, while negative correlations （｜R｜ up to 0.56, P 〈 0.001） were commonly observed for T1 〉 10 IJS. Moderate positive correlations （IRI up to 0.45, P 〈 0.001） were observed for FSAB and SCS with gestational age when 71 was long （〉 10 μs）. The 7-2 mainly introduced fluctuations in the observed correlation coefficients. The moderate correlations observed with UBBD demonstrate the feasibility of using the backscatter signal to evaluate neonatal bone status. This study also proposes an explicit standard for in vivo SOl selection and neonatal cancellous bone assessment.

松声

绿色像火焰，在潭柘寺的山上蔓延偶尔堆积，偶尔颤抖，偶尔闪亮。这都是一些松树，各种代号 或者说名字，引来一阵阵的风吹，

《松聲琴韻集》佚存文獻考

方濟川,浙江奉化人,1946年爲紀念其父方松卿與其父好友周枕琴,於二人山寺讀書處籌建'松聲琴韻廬',徵集時賢詩文、題詞,而編成《松聲琴韻集》,收録馬一浮、吴稚暉、沈尹默、謝无量、唐雲、余紹宋等百餘名家詩詞書畫作品,又爲刻立碑,可謂一大'文創'盛事。然時值國共紛争,政權易手,讀書廬舍不及修葺,文集草草自印出版,徵得書、畫原稿散佚,僅流數紙在今拍賣商場出現,碑刻又散失湮没,其衰敗景象可謂極矣。方濟川之子曉陽先生嘗任職臺灣大學,與家父同事,曾題贈《松聲琴韻集》一册,又家藏與文集相關碑刻拓紙十張,想必亦其所贈。今考索《松聲琴韻集》相關文獻,已得大概,庶乎能爲因政權交替而幾乎消失的文化軼事,作出可信的説明。

Frequency-modulated second elements of two-element alarm calls do not enhance discrimination of callers in three Eura- sian ground squirrels

Alarm calls of the European Spermophilus citellus （EGS）, Taurus S. taurensis （TGS） and Anatolian S. xanthoprymnus （AGS） ground squirrels share the same basic structure. They are tonal sounds consisting primarily of two different elements. The first element, often produced without the second element, has limited frequency modulation, while the second element is more frequency modulated. The present study examined whether this frequency-modulated element enhances the individual distinc- tiveness of calls, allowing calls to be ascribed with greater confidence to individual callers of the three species. Cross-validated discriminant function analysis （DFA） based on five acoustic parameters of the first element successfully classified calls to correct individuals （EGS： 90%, TGS： 98%, AGS： 96%）. Cross-validated DFA based on five acoustic parameters of the second element was also successful in classifications （EGS： 88%, TGS： 86%, AGS： 96%）, though discrimination of callers based on parameters of the second versus first element was the same for the AGS, lower for the EGS and significantly lower for the TGS. Cross-validated DFA based on five acoustic parameters of two-element calls also successfully classified calls to correct individu- als （EGS： 93%, TGS： 98%, AGS： 97%）, though did not improve the extent to which calls could be classified to individuals be- yond that based on the ftrst element alone. Thus, the second element does not enhance the individual distinctiveness of calls, but may convey other information such as the location of the caller [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 749-757, 2012].

Primal-dual algorithms for total variation based image restoration under Poisson noise Dedicated to Professor Lin Qun on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday

We consider the problem of restoring images corrupted by Poisson noise. Under the framework of maximum a posteriori estimator, the problem can be converted into a minimization problem where the objective function is composed of a Kullback-Leibler(KL)-divergence term for the Poisson noise and a total variation(TV) regularization term. Due to the logarithm function in the KL-divergence term, the non-differentiability of TV term and the positivity constraint on the images, it is not easy to design stable and efficiency algorithm for the problem. Recently, many researchers proposed to solve the problem by alternating direction method of multipliers(ADMM). Since the approach introduces some auxiliary variables and requires the solution of some linear systems, the iterative procedure can be complicated. Here we formulate the problem as two new constrained minimax problems and solve them by Chambolle-Pock's first order primal-dual approach. The convergence of our approach is guaranteed by their theory. Comparing with ADMM approaches, our approach requires about half of the auxiliary variables and is matrix-inversion free. Numerical results show that our proposed algorithms are efficient and outperform the ADMM approach.

Effect of selected signals of interest on ultrasonic backscattering measurement in cancellous bones

This study examined how the signals of interest （SOI） effect on the backscattering measurement numerically based on 3-D finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） method. High resolution microstructure mappings of bovine cancellous bones provided by micro-CT were used as the input geometry for simulations. Backscatter coefficient （BSC）, integrated backscatter coefficient （IBC） and apparent integrated backscatter （AIB） were calculated with changing the start （L1） and duration （L2） of the SOl. The results demonstrated that BSC and IBC decrease as L1 increases, and AIB decreases more rapidly as L1 increases. The backscattering parameters increase with fluctuations as a function of L2 when L2 is less than 6 mm. However, BSC and IBC change little as L2 continues to increase, while AIB slowly decreases as L2 continues to increase. The results showed how the selections of the SOI effect on the backscattering measurement. An explicit standard for SOl selection was proposed in this study and short L1 （about 1.5 mm） and appropriate L2 （6 mm-12 mm） were recommended for the calculations of backscattering parameters.

Who＇s your neighbor？ Acoustic cues to individual identity in red squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus rattle calls

North American red squirrels Tamiasciurus hudsonicus often produce a loud territorial rattle call when conspecifics enter or invade a territory. Previous playback experiments suggest that the territorial rattle call may indicate an invader＇s identity as squirrels responded more intensely to calls played from strangers than to calls played from neighbors. This dear-enemy effect is well known in a variety of bird and mammal species and functions to reduce aggressive interactions between known neighbors. However, although previous experiments on red squirrels suggest some form of individual differentiation and thus recognition, detailed acoustic analysis of potential acoustic cues in rattle calls have not been conducted. If calls function to aid in conspecific identifi- cation in order to mitigate aggressive territorial interactions, we would expect that individual recognition cues would be acoustically represented. Our work provides a detailed analysis of acoustic cues to identity within rattle calls. A total of 225 calls across 32 in- dividual squirrels from Sheep River Provincial Park, Kananaskis, AB, Canada, were analyzed with discriminant function analysis for potential acoustic cues to individual identity. Initial analysis of all individuals revealed a reliable acoustic differentiation across individuals. A more detailed analysis of clusters of neighboring squirrels was performed and results again indicated a statistically significant likelihood that calls were assigned correctly to specific squirrels （55%-75% correctly assigned）; in other words squirrels have distinct voices that should allow for individual identification and discrimination by conspecifics [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 758-764, 2012].

Medical image denoising using simple form of MMSE estimation in Poisson-Gaussian noise model

Poisson-Gaussian noise is the basis of image formation for a great number of imaging systems used in variety of applications, including medical and astronomical imaging. In wavelet domain, the application of Bayesian estimation method with generalized Anscombe transform in Poisson-Gaussian noise reduction algorithm has shown remark- able success over the last decade. The generalized Anscombe transform is exerted to convert the Poisson-Gaussian noise into an additive white Gaussian noise （AWGN）. So, the resulting data can be denoised with any algorithm designed for the removal of AWGN. Here, we present simple form of minimum mean square error （MMSE） estimator for logistic distribution in Poisson-Gaussian noise. The experimental results show that the proposed method yields good denoising results.