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Abstract: This work presents a framework for video search and retrieval without metadata, based on the sequences of detected events. These sequences encompass time information in the form of interval durations and are the basis of our method. By examining Bernoulli trials we elaborate on the confidence in locating the query clip within the video content. Both the query clip and the video content to be searched are considered as imperfect images of inaccessible reference sources, since some of the events may be miss detected or events may be the outcome of false alarms. Tolerances on the certainty of event presence and placement in time are inherently foreseen. A comparison of event sequences is thus performed between two imperfect images shifted in time by an amount which has to be determined. By counting event mismatches a decision on the presence and location of a query clip within the video content base can be taken. Totally avoiding semantic or content analysis, our approach achieves high speed at the cost of accuracy. It is thus ideally suited for a drastic and very efficient narrowing down of the candidate space. It can be used as a first preselection layer outputting potentially matching candidates for more elaborate but costly content search in the video, audio or even (transcribed) text domain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The LIULIN-3M instrument is a further development of the LIULIN dosimeter-radiometer, used on the MIR space station during the 1988–1994 time period. The LIULIN-3M is designed for continuous monitoring of the radiation environment during the BION-12 satellite flight in 1999. A semiconductor detector with 1 mm thickness and 1 cm2 area is contained in the instrument. Pulse high analysis technique is used to determine the energy losses in the detector. The final data from the instrument are the flux and the dose rate for the exposure time and 256 channels of absorbed dose spectra based on the assumption that the particle flux is normal to the detector. The LIULIN-3M instrument was calibrated by proton fluxes with different energies at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility in June 1997 and had been used for radiation measurements during commercial aircraft flights. The calibration procedure and some flight results are presented in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Thermal carbonization of bis(2-chloroethyl)amine hydrochloride at 260°C in air leads to a new, functional layered carbonaceous material that, although different in structure and composition, shares similar characteristics as the well-known graphite oxide. Specifically, the molecularly derived carbonaceous solid is layered with relatively small lateral dimensions, highly dispersible in water providing clear colloidal sols and possesses ion-exchange properties. The carbonaceous solid strongly fluoresces in the visible, when stimulated with a wide range of excitation wavelengths. Overall, the method presents an alternative synthesis towards molecularly derived layered carbonaceous materials with novel properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Graphite fluoride has been generally considered chemically inert against strong alkalis under ambient conditions. In the present study we demonstrate that treatment of graphite fluoride with eutectic NaOH–KOH mixture at 250°C induces dramatic structural and textural changes in the solid as evidenced by XRD, FT-IR, Raman, UV–vis absorption and fluorescence and microscopy techniques (TEM, AFM). The reaction proceeds in the molten state leading to water-soluble, graphitized carbon particles which unlike graphite fluoride, adopt a variety of morphologies, like platy, tetragonal, triangular, discoid and spherical. The resulting carbon particles are dispersible in water and fluoresce under UV excitation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]