Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

About: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a education organization based out in Haifa, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 31714 authors who have published 79377 publications receiving 2603976 citations. The organization is also known as: Technion Israel Institute of Technology & Ṭekhniyon, Makhon ṭekhnologi le-Yiśraʼel.

Improving Tribological Performance of Mechanical Components by Laser Surface Texturing

Abstract: Significant improvement in load capacity, wear resistance, friction coefficient etc. of tribological mechanical components can be obtained by forming regular micro-surface structure in the form of micro-dimples on their surfaces. A feasibility study was performed both theoretically and experimentally using the Laser Surface Texturing (LST) technique to produce the micro-dimples. Each micro-dimple can serve either as a micro-hydrodynamic bearing in cases of full or mixed lubrication or as a micro-reservoir for lubricant in cases of starved lubrication conditions. Theoretical models were developed, and laboratory tests were performed, to investigate the potential of LST in tribological components like mechanical seals, piston rings and thrust bearings. In the entire laboratory tests, friction was substantially reduced with LST compared to the non-textured components.

Stability of quantum motion in chaotic and regular systems

Abstract: The evolution of a quantum state is altered when a small perturbation is added to the Hamiltonian. As time progresses, the overlap of the perturbed and unperturbed states gives an indication of the stability of quantum motion. It is shown that if a quantum system has a classically chaotic analog, this overlap tends to a very small value, with small fluctuations. On the other hand, if the classical analog is regular, the overlap remains appreciable (on a time average) and its fluctuations are much larger.

Blind Haze Separation

Abstract: Outdoor imaging is plagued by poor visibility conditions due to atmospheric scattering, particularly in haze. A major problem is spatially-varying reduction of contrast by stray radiance (airlight), which is scattered by the haze particles towards the camera. Recent computer vision methods have shown that images can be compensated for haze, and even yield a depth map of the scene. A key step in such a scene recovery is subtraction of the airlight. In particular, this can be achieved by analyzing polarization-filtered images. However, the recovery requires parameters of the airlight. These parameters were estimated in past studies by measuring pixels in sky areas. This paper derives an approach for blindly recovering the parameter needed for separating the airlight from the measurements, thus recovering contrast, with neither user interaction nor existence of the sky in the frame. This eases the interaction and conditions needed for image dehazing, which also requires compensation for attenuation. The approach has proved successful in experiments, some of which are shown here.

Human Feeder Layers for Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Abstract: Human embryonic stem (hES) cells hold great promise for future use in various research areas, such as human developmental biology and cell-based therapies. Traditionally, these cells have been cultured on mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder layers, which permit continuous growth in an undifferentiated stage. To use these unique cells in human therapy, an animalfree culture system must be used, which will prevent exposure to mouse retroviruses. Animal-free culture systems for hES cells enjoy three major advantages in the basic culture conditions: 1) the ability to grow these cells under serum-free conditions, 2) maintenance of the cells in an undifferentiated state on Matrigel matrix with 100% MEF-conditioned medium, and 3) the use of either human embryonic fibroblasts or adult fallopian tube epithelial cells as feeder layers. In the present study, we describe an additional animal-free culture system for hES cells, based on a feeder layer derived from foreskin and a serum-free medium. In this culture condition, hES cells maintain all embryonic stem cell features (i.e., pluripotency, immortality, unlimited undifferentiated proliferation capability, and maintenance of normal karyotypes) after prolonged culture of 70 passages (.250 doublings). The major advantage of foreskin feeders is their ability to be continuously cultured for more than 42 passages, thus enabling proper analysis for foreign agents, genetic modification such as antibiotic resistance, and reduction of the enormous workload involved in the continuous preparation of new feeder lines. developmental biology, embryo