Inter-Frame Based Interpolation for Top–Bottom Packed Frame of 3D Video

The frame-compatible packing for 3D contents is the feasible approach to archive the compatibility with the existing monocular broadcasting system. To perceive better 3D quality, the packed 3D frames are expanded to the full size at the decoder. In this paper, an interpolation technique enhancing and comparing the quality of enlarged halt vertical left and right stereo video in the top–bottom frame-compatible packing is presented. To this end, the appropriate interpolation modes from fourteen available modes for each row segment, which exploit the correlation between left and right stereoscopic as well as current and adjacent frames of individual view, are estimated at the encoder. Based on the information received from the encoder, at the decoder, the interpolation scheme can select the most appropriate available original data to find the missing values of to-be-discarded row segments. The proposed method outperformed than the state-of-the-art interpolation methods in terms of subjective visualization and numerical PSNRs and SSMI about 11%, with an execution time of about 12% comparisons.

Study on Efficient Fused Deposition Modelling of Thermoplastic Polyurethane Inflatable Wall Features for Airtightness

The thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material is an elastomer that can be used for inflatable products. Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is a widely used additive manufacturing process for TPU material due to the capability of generating complex structures with low cost. However, TPU is soft and thus difficult to be extruded as continuously and uniformly as hard materials such as polylactide by FDM. Inappropriate extruder structure and speed settings can lead to filament buckling problem, resulting in poor material filling quality, long printing time and low printing success rate. This paper aims at improving the FDM printing efficiency of TPU inflatable products by adding lateral support to the filament and finding out the appropriate speed ranges for different wall features and thicknesses. Firstly, a filament guide sheet is designed as being inserted into the gap between the drive gears and the bottom frame of the gear chamber in order to prevent the soft TPU filament from buckling. Secondly, inflatable product wall features are classified into floors, roofs and sidewalls and experiment for finding the relationship between printing speed and airtightness is carried out. In order to verify the proposed solution, wall features are printed and the material fillings obtained under different printing speeds are compared by measuring the airtightness of the wall features. Results show that the proposed filament guide sheet mitigates filament buckling, and the speed range that meets the airtightness requirement can be found for various wall features and thicknesses. In summary, the sealing of the filament feeding channel between the drive gears and the nozzle, as well as the speed optimisation according to product features, are essential for the efficient printing of TPU inflatable products.

Comparative Analysis of the Empirical Seismic Vulnerability of Typical Structures in Multiple Intensity Zones

To study the difference in seismic vulnerability of multiple typical structures in multiple intensity zones, the seismic damage of 7099 buildings of Dujiangyan masonry structure (MS), reinforced concrete structure (RC) and bottom frame seismic wall masonry (BFM) in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China is summarized and analysed. First, a statistical analysis of the data is carried out, the empirical seismic vulnerability matrix and model curves are established by considering the number of storeys, the age and the fortification factors. The vulnerability curves of the cumulative exceeding probability of the empirical seismic damage and the grade of the seismic damage in multiple intensity zones are shown. The mean damage index vulnerability matrix model is proposed and verified using the empirical seismic damage matrix of typical structures.