Abstract: A membrane filtration cell is provided which includes a fluid passageway and a filtration membrane positioned within the passageway, the filtration membrane dividing the fluid passageway into two chambers, a retentate chamber and a permeate chamber. A first electrode is positioned in the retentate chamber and a second electrode is positioned in the permeate chamber, where the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to apply an electric field across the filtration membrane. The membrane filtration cell also includes an acoustic device configured to apply an acoustic field across the retentate chamber, where the synergistic combination of the electric field and the acoustic field prevents fouling on the filtration membrane.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for use in a water treatment system to separate charged compositions from the water stream are provided. An electric filtration cell may include a fluid passageway, a filtration membrane, and a first and second electrode, configured to provide an oscillating electric field across the filtration membrane to separate charged compositions on a first side of the membrane. A water treatment system may be provided to separate charged compositions from a water stream. The water treatment system may include an electromagnetic field (EMF) device to generate an electromagnetic field within a passageway. The water treatment system may further include a filtration membrane and a first electrode and a second electrode, configured to provide an oscillating electric field across the filtration membrane to separate charged compositions. In one embodiment, the system is configured to separate struvite and/or vivianite on a first side of the membrane.

Abstract: A method receives an image from a video. The image is split into a first set of first blocks of a first size and then the first blocks are split into a second set of second blocks of a second size. The method tests a first set of down-sampling patterns for the second set of second blocks in a first block in the set of first blocks to determine if a quality of reconstruction of the down-sampled second blocks meets a threshold associated with the respective first set of down sampling patterns. Second blocks satisfying the threshold are down-sampled using the first set of down-sampling patterns. Also, the method tests a second set of down-sampling patterns for the first block using a second set of down-sampling patterns to select one of the second set of down sampling patterns to use to down-sample second blocks that did not satisfy the threshold.

Abstract: A method receives an image from a video. The image is split into a first set of first blocks of a first size and then the first blocks are split into a second set of second blocks of a second size. The method tests a first set of down-sampling patterns for the second set of second blocks in a first block in the set of first blocks to determine if a quality of reconstruction of the down-sampled second blocks meets a threshold associated with the respective first set of down sampling patterns. Second blocks satisfying the threshold are down-sampled using the first set of down-sampling patterns. Also, the method tests a second set of down-sampling patterns for the first block using a second set of down-sampling patterns to select one of the second set of down sampling patterns to use to down-sample second blocks that did not satisfy the threshold.