A comprehensive appraisal of perceptual visual complexity analysis methods in GUI design

Graphical or Visual User Interface (GUI) is recognized as one of the most important application components for safety critical and business oriented software systems. It is highly advantageous for GUI designers and application developers to analyze the visual complexity of a GUI and predict users’ perception and judgment during the design phase. Although in recent years, various methods have been developed for visual complexity analysis, these have not been widely used due to applicability, practicality and validity issues. In this respect, we have conducted a comprehensive review of studies and methods in visual complexity analysis. After identifying and analyzing 85 research studies, we grouped the visual complexity analysis methods and accordingly a taxonomy is presented. Furthermore, conceptual comparison of the methods is given and gap analysis as well as possible future directions are provided. According to the our findings, major gaps for each visual complexity analysis method may be stated as follows: 1) In metric-model based methods, there is a lack of information about the suitability of the metric-model created for analysis, since the extent to which each metric contributes to visual complexity analysis is still not known exactly. 2) In heuristic- based methods, the extracted rule set is not yet extendable enough beyond the use for specific GUIs. 3) While the visual complexity analysis could be considered as a kind of computer vision task, there exist limited studies that does so. Therefore, generalizable solutions based on machine learning techniques seem to be a promising research direction to develop efficient approaches.     

Assessing Industrial Robot agility through international competitions

Manufacturing and Industrial Robotics have reached a point where to be more useful to small and medium sized manufacturers, the systems must become more agile and must be able to adapt to changes in the environment. This paper describes the process for creating and the lessons learned over multiple years of the Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC) being run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.     

基于VSE的大南湖一矿通风系统现状仿真与评估

为了掌握大南湖一矿通风系统现状,科学评估其安全性、稳定可靠性及合理性,对全矿进行了通风参数精准普查,基于VSE软件对通风系统运行状况进行了仿真与评估。结果表明大南湖一矿通风系统存在部分巷道微风、回风大巷风速偏高、井下通风设施较多、部分角联分支易发生风流转向、矿井通风阻力分布不合理等问题,为系统的优化改造指明了方向。     

Technical note: Genetic groups in single-step single nucleotide polymorphism best linear unbiased predictor

Genetic groups, also called unknown or phantom parents groups, are often used in dairy cattle genetic evaluations to account for selection that cannot be accounted for by known genetic relationships. With the advent of genomic evaluations, the theory of genetic groups was extended to the so-called single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP). In short, genetic groups can be fitted in ssGBLUP through regression effects, or by including them in the pedigree and computing the adequate combined pedigree and genomic relationship matrix. In this study, we applied the so-called Quaas and Pollak transformation to a system of equations for single-step SNP BLUP (ssSNPBLUP), such that genetic groups can thereafter be included in the pedigree. The example in this study showed that including the genetic groups in the pedigree for ssSNPBLUP allowed reduced memory burden and computational costs in comparison to genetic groups fitted as covariates.     

香肠整体营养价值评价与包装正面标签应用研究进展

为促进我国消费者对香肠的合理消费与饮食健康，引导企业生产营养健康的香肠，利用《中国食物成分表》（第1册第2版）的16 种香肠及其营养素数据，构建富含营养素食物（nutrient-rich foods，NRF9.3）模型，评价香肠整体营养价值，并借鉴瑞典的锁孔（Keyhole）标识和英国的多交通灯信号标签进行相应的包装正面（front of package，FOP）标签应用探索。结果表明：除了儿童肠、火腿肠外，14 种香肠的NRF9.3＜0，每100 kcal的推荐性营养素含量均低于限制性营养素，对人体的营养价值较低，适合采用总结指示体系和特定营养素体系的FOP标签进行标示；因此，居民日常应限制香肠摄入，建议对脂肪、盐含量超标的香肠采用红色交通灯信号标签提醒消费者，对NRF9.3＞0的香肠实施单一的健康选择标识推荐消费者选购。     

5 种乳酸菌对库车小白杏发酵液理化性质及感官评价的影响

用戊糖片球菌、罗伊氏乳杆菌、鼠李糖乳杆菌、植物乳杆菌、嗜酸乳杆菌共5?种乳酸菌发酵库车小白杏，通过比较发酵液在发酵过程中的菌浓度、pH值、总可溶性固形物（total soluble solids，TSS）含量、超氧化物歧化酶（superoxide dismutase，SOD）活性等理化特性及发酵结束后的感官评价，筛选出一种或几种适合发酵库车小白杏发酵液的菌株。结果表明，发酵结束后，戊糖片球菌发酵库车小白杏发酵液的SOD活性达到252.63?U/g，活菌数达到8.07（lg（CFU/mL）），TSS含量降至17.1?°Brix，感官总体评价值最佳达到97%。植物乳杆菌发酵的库车小白杏发酵液的SOD活性达到275.87?U/g，感官总体评价几何平均（geometrical mean，GM）值达到88%。嗜酸乳杆菌发酵的库车小白杏发酵液速度最快，活菌数最终达到9.95（lg（CFU/mL）），TSS含量降至16.6?°Brix，但感官总体评价GM值仅为79%。综上所述，戊糖片球菌是最适合发酵库车小白杏的菌种，而植物乳杆菌和嗜酸乳杆菌的适合度仅次于戊糖片球菌。通过比较5?种乳酸菌发酵的库车小白杏发酵液的理化性质和感官评价，可以得出结论，戊糖片球菌最适合发酵库车小白杏。     

Taste matters most: Effects of package design on the dynamics of implicit and explicit product evaluations over repeated in-home consumption

Package design influences consumers’ expectations of a product’s sensory properties and expected healthiness and/or tastiness, and potentially also changes actual product perception during consumption. The robustness of these effects is far from clear, however. This study investigated the influence of package cues signalling either hedonic or healthy product properties on expectations and subsequent product evaluation over repeated consumption.In a between-subjects design, 92 participants evaluated product expectations and taste perceptions of a chocolate-sesame flavoured biscuit with a package emphasizing either its healthy (n = 44) or hedonic (n = 48) aspects, both at a central location (CLT) and during six home use tests (HUT), using both explicit (questionnaires) and implicit (IAT) measures.Package design significantly affected (p < 0.05) consumers’ expectations of the product. They expected the biscuit to be tastier, less attractive and less healthy in the hedonic package condition, and less tasty, more attractive and healthier in the healthy package condition. However, these effects did not transfer to actual product evaluations upon tasting, either blind or tasting in combination with viewing the package during the HUTs. Implicit attitudes did change as a result of repeated exposures, depending on the package consumers were provided with, indicating product-package interactions over time (p < 0.05).In conclusion, package design influences product expectations and associations with its healthiness and attractiveness, which is of relevance in product choice and purchase settings. However, at the stage of (repeated) consumption, intrinsic (sensory) properties become the dominant drivers of products’ sensory and hedonic evaluations, and the impact of package cues seems less potent.     

Evaluation of China's new energy vehicle policy texts with quantitative and qualitative analysis

As one of the strategic emerging industries, the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry receives strong support from the Chinese government. The Chinese government has formulated a large number of policies to promote the development of NEV industry. Evaluating and analyzing the NEV policies are of great significance for improving policy formulation. In this study, we comprehensively analyze 253 NEV policy texts by employing quantitative and qualitative methods. We present the policy instrument types and semantic structure characteristics of policy texts based on the content analysis. The advantages and disadvantages of policy texts are identified by using a quantitative evaluation model. Our results show that the most frequently used policy instrument is regulatory, and the main policy objective is the demand-pull. The policies with higher scores are more comprehensive. Three suggestions are put forward to improve NEV policies.     

Supercritical CO2 extraction of grape seeds oil: scale-up and economic analysis

This work presents a scale-up and feasibility study for the establishment of supercritical CO₂ extraction plants to produce grape seeds oil. The scale-up factors are determined using experimental and modelling results based on seeds from six grape cultivars over 2 harvest years. The purchased cost of the production plant is estimated using ‘the six-tenth rule’ from the cost of a pilot scale unit. The results indicate that, at the current minimum retail selling price of extra virgin grape seeds oil, the proposed project is technically viable and economically feasible with a breakeven point of US$ 7.46 per kg-oil and rate of return on investment of 28%.     

Advanced Friction–Wear Behavior of Organic Brake Pads Using a Newly Developed System

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of an advanced performance system on the tribological behavior of brake pad material using a specially designed brake pad tester system following standard SAE J-661. The tribological behavior and friction and wear characteristics of the organic brake pad samples were evaluated. During braking tests, the samples, in contact with a cast iron disk, were studied at different disc speeds, temperatures, and braking cycles under a constant pressure. In order to understand the friction and wear behavior, the unworn surfaces, worn surfaces, and wear debris were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). Furthermore, the surface characteristics and differences in the wear modes of the brake pad samples were examined. Wear debris was permitted to deform the brake pad surfaces, leading to friction layers and enabling the estimation of the friction behavior of the brake pads. The results showed that the best friction–wear behavior was obtained with lower braking cycles at low speeds and temperature. Thus, the newly developed brake pad tester system proved very effective in evaluating the performance of the brake pad samples.