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Doping and compositing are two universal design strategies used to engineer the electronic state of a material and mitigate its disadvantages. These two strategies are extensively applied to design efficient electrocatalysts for water splitting. Using cobalt oxide (CoO) as a model catalyst, it is proven that the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance can be progressively improved, first by Fe‐doping to form Fe‐CoO solid solution, and further by the addition of CeO2 to produce a Fe‐CoO/CeO2 composite. X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) reveals that distinct electronic interactions are induced by the processes of doping and compositing. Fe‐doping of CoO can break down the structural symmetry, changing the electronic structure of both Co and O species at the surface and decreasing the flat‐band potential (Vfb). In comparison, subsequent compositing of Fe‐CoO with CeO2 induces negligible electronic changes in the Fe‐CoO (as seen in ex situ characterizations), but significantly modifies the oxidative transformations of both Co and Fe under OER conditions. The spectroscopic investigations reveal that Fe‐doping and CeO2 compositing play different roles in modifying the electronic properties of CoO in its pristine state and during OER catalysis, in return, providing useful guidance for the design of more efficient electrocatalysts using these two strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to improve pearl millet's nutritional, functional, and biochemical properties through malting and fermentation. Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MLP) was used as a fortificant. Mixture design was used to find optimal proportions for each component that yielded a high protein and or low saturated fat content. Twelve mixtures with varying ratios of fermented and malted pearl millet flour ranging between 30–65% and MLP between 5–15% were generated through I-Optimal mixture design. The mixtures were wet-cooked, freeze-dried, and analysed for protein and fat content. The data obtained were fitted to a linear mixture model, and the search for the optimum was conducted using Numerical Optimisation for maximising protein and minimising saturated fat. The linear model was suitable for explaining total protein and saturated fat variation with r2 of 0.50 and 0.51, respectively. Increasing MLP increased protein content. Two final formulations, Optimisation Solution 1 (OS1) and Optimisation Solution 2 (OS2), were generated through the optimisation process. Pearl millet's protein content increased by up to 22%, while saturated fat decreased by up to 13%; ash content increased by 75%. Polyphenol content and oxygen radical absorbance capacity increased by 80% and 25%, respectively. Final and peak viscosity were reduced by 90% and 95%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monsoon rain and its year-to-year variability have a profound influence on Africa's socio-economic structure by heavily impacting sectors such as agricultural and energy. This study focuses on major drivers of the east African monsoon during October-November-December (OND) which is the standard time window for the onset of the rainy season, be it unimodal or bimodal. Two drivers viz. Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) both separately indicate very strong positive connections with monsoon (OND) rain not only in the OND season with zero seasonal lag, but the signal is also present even taking IOD and ENSO a season ahead. A compositing approach is applied that can additionally identify strong signals when different combinations of ENSO and IOD phases act as confounding factors. Results of precipitation anomaly suggest that when IOD and ENSO are both on the same phase in July-August-September (JAS), a significant OND rainfall anomaly occurs around the east African sector: A deficit (excess) of OND monsoon rain occurs when both drivers are in a negative (positive) phase during JAS. A location Kibaha in Tanzania, for which station data are available, is considered for a more in-depth analysis. The uncertainty range in cumulative OND rainfall is also reduced to a large degree when IOD and ENSO phases are both negative in JAS. These results can be used for prediction purposes and interestingly, that criterion of IOD and ENSO being of same phase in JAS was again matched in 2022 (both negative) and hence it was possible to deliver early warnings for a deficit in rainfall a season ahead. Techniques to compute the monsoon onset as determined by meteorological services such as the Tanzania Meteorological Authority rely on various thresholds, which may also vary by country. To overcome some of the issues with thresholds-based techniques, other definitions of 'onset' take into account cumulative rainfall amount and such technique has also been tested and compared. In both approaches, late (early) onsets dominate in years when ENSO and IOD are both negative (positive) during JAS. In these cases, it is therefore possible to provide an estimation of cumulative rainfall and onset for OND in terms of average, median value, range and distribution of rainfall one season in advance. Such results have implications for optimizing agricultural, water and energy management, also mitigating possible severe production losses, which would impact the livelihoods of millions of Africans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pearl millet is an underutilised cereal. This study investigated the use of undervalued pearl millet grain in the manufacturing of value-added low sugar crackers that are protein-enhanced by the incorporation of Oyster mushroom. Equal amounts of pearl millet and wheat bread flour were mixed. This mixture was substituted to have 0 % (control), 5, 10 and 15 % Oyster mushroom powder. The moisture, protein, physical characteristics, in vitro starch digestibility of the composite flours and crackers were determined. The 15 % Oyster mushroom incorporation significantly increased the crackers’ protein (8.8 to 10.4 %). The inclusion of 15 % Oyster mushroom significantly reduced the in vitro starch digestibility at 20, 60, 120 min from 16 % to 13 %, 26 % to 23 and 37 % to 31 %, respectively. The 5 % Oyster mushroom incorporated cracker was the most liked (7.1 score on a 9-point hedonic scale). These easy to manufacture shelf-stable crackers, using low and affordable technology, from shelf-stable, low water activity flours can be used to alleviate protein malnutrition especially in the rural areas of developing nations where there is no electricity and refrigeration facilities.

We propose Factor Matting, an alternative formulation of the video matting problem in terms of counterfactual video synthesis that is better suited for re-composition tasks. The goal of factor matting is to separate the contents of a video into independent components, each representing a counterfactual version of the scene where the contents of other components have been removed. We show that factor matting maps well to a more general Bayesian framing of the matting problem that accounts for complex conditional interactions between layers. Based on this observation, we present a method for solving the factor matting problem that learns augmented patch-based appearance priors to produce useful decompositions even for video with complex cross-layer interactions like splashes, shadows, and reflections. Our method is trained per-video and does not require external training data or any knowledge about the 3D structure of the scene. Through extensive experiments, we show that it is able to produce useful decompositions of scenes with such complex interactions while performing competitively on classical matting tasks as well. We also demonstrate the benefits of our approach on a wide range of downstream video editing tasks. Our project website is at: https://factormatte.github.io/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key advantage of vector graphics over raster graphics is their editability. For example, linear gradients define a spatially varying color fill with a few intuitive parameters, which are ubiquitously supported in standard vector graphics formats and libraries. By layering regions filled with linear gradients, complex appearances can be created. We propose an automatic method to convert a raster image into layered regions of linear gradients. Given an input raster image segmented into regions, our approach decomposes the resulting regions into opaque and semi-transparent linear gradient fills. Our approach is fully automatic (e.g., users do not identify a background as in previous approaches) and exhaustively considers all possible decompositions that satisfy perceptual cues. Experiments on a variety of images demonstrate that our method is robust and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compositing modification strategy overcame the contradiction between the concentration and depth of photochromic centers and effectively enhanced the photochromic and luminescence modulation abilities of KSr 2 Nb 5 O 15 -based ceramics. However, the compositing concentration influences and potential competitive mechanism are unclear. In this work, the influences of Nb 2 O 5 composite concentration on the microstructures and the photochromic and luminescence modulation properties were systematically investigated. The overconcentration generated the aggregation of the second phase, which brought the competitive mechanism during the photochromic reaction and deteriorated the property. Moreover, to further strengthen the anti-counterfeiting ability, the textured composite ceramic was prepared by a template grain growth method. In addition to the grain-oriented microstructures and anisotropic optical properties, an atomic-scale explanation of the anisotropies of the defect distribution around interfaces was given. This work further explores the heterojunction modification mechanism and the atomic-scale origin of anisotropic photochromism and paves the way to develop and modify photochromic ceramics by interface design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing image composites are crucial for a wide range of remote sensing applications, such as multi-decadal time series analysis. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument has provided daily data since the early 1980s at a spatial resolution of 1 km, allowing analyses of climate change-related environmental processes. For monitoring vegetation conditions, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most widely used metric. However, to actually enable such analyses, a consistent NDVI time series over the AVHRR time-span needs to be created. In this context, the aim of this study is to thoroughly assess the effect of different compositing procedures on AVHRR NDVI composites, as no standard procedure has been established. Thirteen different compositing methods have been implemented; daily, decadal, and monthly composites over Europe and Northern Africa have been calculated for the year 2007, and the resulting data sets have been thoroughly evaluated according to six criteria. The median approach was selected as the best-performing compositing algorithm considering all the investigated aspects. However, the combination of the NDVI value and viewing and illumination angles as the criteria for the best-pixel selection proved to be a promising approach, too. The generated NDVI time series, currently ranging from 1981–2018, shows a consistent behavior and close agreement to the standard MODIS NDVI product. The conducted analyses demonstrate the strong influence of compositing procedures on the resulting AVHRR NDVI composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of their rapid response, high sensitivity, and excellent thermal and chemical stabilities, photochromic ceramics have attracted great potential for optical applications in anti-counterfeiting and optical information storage. However, the inferior photochromic contrast restricted the further development of photochromic ceramics. Herein, a novel modification strategy for photochromic behavior is proposed in a KSr 2 Nb 5 O 15 -based system. A new heterojunction band structure was established at the interfaces in ceramics by compositing with transition metal oxides and generated novel transition paths for the excited carriers. After compositing with the Nb 2 O 5 second phase, the photochromic contrast △ R dec was almost doubled by additional color centers from the heterojunction structure. The related mechanism was confirmed by the photochromic behavior, thermoluminescence spectra and band structure features. Moreover, rapid, convenient and reversible laser bleaching behaviors was explored, and a more flexible anti-counterfeiting method was attempted through secondary laser adjustment of the photochromic pattern. This work aims to present a new modification viewpoint into photochromic ceramics by building a heterojunction structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to improve pearl millet’s nutritional, functional, and biochemical properties through malting and fermentation. Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MLP) was used as a fortificant. Mixture design was used to find optimal proportions for each component that yielded a high protein and or low saturated fat content. Twelve mixtures with varying ratios of fermented and malted pearl millet flour ranging between 30–65% and MLP between 5–15% were generated through I-Optimal mixture design. The mixtures were wet-cooked, freeze-dried, and analysed for protein and fat content. The data obtained were fitted to a linear mixture model, and the search for the optimum was conducted using Numerical Optimisation for maximising protein and minimising saturated fat. The linear model was suitable for explaining total protein and saturated fat variation with r2 of 0.50 and 0.51, respectively. Increasing MLP increased protein content. Two final formulations, Optimisation Solution 1 (OS1) and Optimisation Solution 2 (OS2), were generated through the optimisation process. Pearl millet’s protein content increased by up to 22%, while saturated fat decreased by up to 13%; ash content increased by 75%. Polyphenol content and oxygen radical absorbance capacity increased by 80% and 25%, respectively. Final and peak viscosity were reduced by 90% and 95%, respectively.

Semi-automatic, A.I.-specified stereographic scene processing is achieved by extending Blender with ChatGPT. We can generate objects and set scenes in Blender semi-automatically by invoking appropriate text prompts. Stereography techniques include anaglyphy, chromastereoscopy, and side-by-side display using binocular viewing. One can create a similar scene by copying and pasting the prompt used. It cannot always work identically, but it behaves roughly the same. First, we established Skybox and added scene Objects (Camera, Cube, etc.) in 3D view, materials, and animation with prompt. Stereographic images are created semiautomatically and compared across some qualities. The goal of this research is to validate those various stereographic techniques as rendered automatically in Blender.

Food waste is a rich organic matter that can potentially be converted into biogas as a source of renewable energy. The limitation in energy production lies in the presence of volatile fatty acid (VFA) during the anaerobic digestion of food waste due to the high degradation rate. The accumulation of VFA leads to a decrease in pH that exceeds the optimal pH range of 6.8–7.6 for methanogens, thus inhibiting methanogenesis and affecting biogas production. In the present study, a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) and kombucha mixed inoculum and compost was applied as an alternative treatment method to alleviate inhibition. The digestion efficiency was evaluated on pH, total alkalinity (TA), total volatile fatty acid (TVFA), total solid (TS), and volatile solid (VS) throughout the digestion period of 80 days to analyse the stability of the system. The results revealed that SCOBY and kombucha mixed inoculum caused system instability, inducing inhibition at TVFA of 12,874.1 mg/L, while the pH dropped to 5.23. The inhibition in the digestion system with only the SCOBY inoculum occurred at TVFA of 11,908.3 mg/L, and the pH dropped to 5.67. The biogas and methane yield quantified from the mixed inoculum is 8.792E−4 L/L d, comparatively lower than the ethanol pre-fermentation treatment method. These findings indicate that the addition of compost improved the pH, VS, and TVFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We proposed a new image compositing algorithm (MAX-RNB) based on the maximum ratio of Near Infrared (NIR) to Blue band (RNB), and evaluated it together with nine other compositing algorithms: MAX-NDVI (maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), MED-NIR (median NIR band), WELD (conterminous United States Web-Enabled Landsat Data), BAP (Best Available Pixel), PAC (Phenology Adaptive Composite), WPS (Weighted Parametric Scoring), MEDOID (medoid measurement), COSSIM (cosine similarity), and NLCD (National Land Cover Database). Each algorithm was applied to time series of Landsat observations collected within two separate years at six locations around the world, to produce monthly (July 1 ± 15 days), seasonal (July 1 ± 45 days), and annual (July 1 ± 180 days) composite images free of cloud, cloud shadow, and snow/ice. By comparing the composite images to reference Landsat images acquired in the growing season (closest to July 1 within ±15 days) for each year, we evaluated the performance of the algorithms in preserving the spectral and spatial fidelity (hereafter referred to as spectral and spatial evaluation, respectively), as well as land cover classification and land change detection (hereafter referred to as application evaluation). The results demonstrated that no single algorithm outperformed all other algorithms in all the evaluations, but that performance depended on compositing intervals and cloud cover. For monthly composites, the MAX-RNB algorithm generally produced the best results in the spectral and application evaluations. For seasonal composites, the NLCD algorithm produced the best results in the spectral and application evaluations. For annual composites, the PAC algorithm produced the best results in the spectral evaluation and change detection, whereas BAP produced the best results in land cover classification. The BAP algorithm also produced the best results in the spatial evaluation for all the compositing periods. This study provides a comprehensive guidance for selecting the most appropriate image compositing algorithm for different Landsat-based applications. • A new MAX-RNB image compositing algorithm is proposed. • 10 Landsat image compositing algorithms were evaluated. • Visual, spectral, spatial, and application evaluations were performed. • Provided guidance on the selection of different image compositing algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]