Hidden Markov model-based ensemble methods for offline handwritten text line recognition

This paper investigates various ensemble methods for offline handwritten text line recognition. To obtain ensembles of recognisers, we implement bagging, random feature subspace, and language model variation methods. For the combination, the word sequences returned by the individual ensemble members are first aligned. Then a confidence-based voting strategy determines the final word sequence. A number of confidence measures based on normalised likelihoods and alternative candidates are evaluated. Experiments show that the proposed ensemble methods can improve the recognition accuracy over an optimised single reference recogniser.     

Preparation and properties of a new porous ceramic material used in clean energy field

At high temperature, the oxide redox reactions of ceria can split H₂O and CO₂ to produce H₂ and CO, so porous ceria with high temperature resistance and high specific surface area has an important foreground in clean energy applications. In this work, a reticulated porous ceria ceramic material with interconnected porous structure was prepared by the impregnation technique using organic polyurethane sponges as template. The influences of pretreated sponge, dipping time length, pore size and sintering temperature on the porosity and strength of the porous ceria ceramics were systematically studied. With the increasing sintering temperature, the glass phase occurred and led to an increase in strength, but an decrease in porosity. Eventually, we analyzed the relationships between porosity and strength of these porous materials, aiming to provide theoretical and practical references for its application in clean-energy field.     

倾斜型纤维模块对耐火衬里性能的影响

蒸汽过热炉耐火衬里操作时普遍存在缺陷,分析了缺陷产生的原因,并采用倾斜型纤维模块对耐火衬里的整体结构进行了改进设计．通过对传热模型的数值计算,证明此改进设计可行,改进后的结构能够提高过热炉的热效率．     

基于TRIZ冲突矩阵的单目标问题快速求解方法研究

创新设计的重要标志就是在设计过程中解决冲突问题．TRIZ理论是解决;中突问题的有效创新工具．由于TRIZ理论解决冲突问题时需要将实际冲突参数转换为39个通用工程参数之间的矛盾,实际应用中存在一定的困难．本文在分析标准技术冲突求解本质的基础上,针对设计中经常出现的单目标优化问题,借助统计分析和聚类分析技术,提出了基于TRIZ冲突矩阵进行单目标问题创新设计的快速求解方法,给出了该方法进行创新设计的一般流程,最后借助实例验证了这种创新设计方法的可行性．     

A transmission window technique for CAN networks

The Controller Area Network (CAN) has become a de-facto communication protocol in automation systems over the last three decades. Some CAN networks now employ TDMA-based communication in order to help meet real-time constraints. Whilst this form of media access control brings several timeliness benefits, studies have also illustrated negative effects on transmission reliability; duplicated message instances can help to increase this reliability. In this paper a transmission window technique for CAN is proposed. A bounded amount of re-transmission is allowed for each message within this window, which can in many cases provides increased reliability in the presence of errors or bursts of errors. A probabilistic analysis of transmission windows is presented and used to develop a simple algorithm for calculating the optimal window size to achieve a specified statistical guarantee of message delivery. Stochastic simulations along with computational and empirical results are presented which validate the analysis, and indicate that in many circumstances the technique can potentially reduce the amount of bandwidth needed for specified reliability levels when compared to the use of message duplicates. Suggestions are also made to help increase the reliability of message duplications in error burst environments.     

Self-lubricating mechanisms via the in situ formed tribo-film of sintered ceramics with hBN addition in a high humidity environment

Sliding wear tests against monolithic Si₃N₄ and austenitic stainless steel, respectively, were performed on Si₃N₄ ceramic with the addition of hBN solid lubricants. The friction coefficients and wear rates were measured. The wear surface features were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser scanning microscopy (LSM), and the chemical characterization of worn surface was made by Energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results showed that the friction coefficient and the wear rate decreased with the increase of hBN up to 20 vol% at high relative humidity (RH95%). When Si₃N₄-hBN ceramic composites sliding against stainless steel, with further increases in hBN content, the wear rate increased rapidly. The mechanism responsible were determined to be an in-situ formed tribo-chemical film composed of B-O and Si-O compounds between the pin-disc sliding couple. SEM observations showed that a black surface film is formed on the wear surface depending on the hBN content. The surface film associated with small friction coefficient of 0.03 and low wear rate with the magnitude of 10^− 6 mm³/Nm was formed by the releasing and smearing of the tribo-chemical reaction products of hBN and moisture on the wear surface when with 20 vol%hBN content. This tribo-chemical film acted as solid lubricant film between the sliding couple, and thus the couple entered to a state of boundary lubrication. Hence, the friction coefficient and the wear rate were significantly reduced. For Si₃N₄-hBN/stainless steel sliding pair, even at high relative humidity, no tribo-chemical film was observed on samples with 30 vol%hBN content, just because of a large degradation of mechanical properties of the composite with higher hBN content. At low relative humidity (RH25%), the wear mechanism for Si₃N₄-hBN sliding couple was mainly dominated by mechanical wear (abrasive or adhesive wear) due to the absence of tribo-chemical film on the wear surfaces, and higher friction coefficient and wear rate were obtained.     

A modified support vector regression: Integrated selection of training subset and model

In recent years, support vector regression (SVR) has become an emerging and popular forecasting technique in the field of machine learning. However, it is subjected to the model selection and learning complexity O(K * N³), especially for a massive data set (N is the size of training dataset, and K is the number of search). How to simultaneously reduce K and N can give us insight and inspiration on designing an effective and accurate selection algorithm. To this end, this paper tries to integrate the selection of training subset and model for SVR, and proposes a nested particle swarm optimization (NPSO) by inheriting the model selection of the existing training subset based SVR (TS-SVR). This nested algorithm is achieved by adaptively and periodically estimating the search region of the optimal parameter setting for TS-SVR. Complex SVR, involving large-scale training data, can be seen as extensions of TS-SVRs, yielding a nested sequence of TS-SVRs with increasing sample size. The uniform design idea is transplanted to the above modeling process, and the convergence for the proposed model is proofed. By using two artificial regression problems, Boston housing and electric load in New South Wales as empirical data, the proposed approach is compared with the standard ones, the APSO-OTS-SVR, and other existing approaches. Empirical results show that the proposed approach not only can select proper training subset and parameter, but also has better generalization performance and fewer processing time.     

Pulse-modulation eddy current probes for imaging of external corrosion in nonmagnetic pipes

Since the nonmagnetic pipe is normally utilized in corrosive and hostile environment, it is prone to the external corrosion which occurs on the outer surface of the pipe and severely undermines the structural integrity and safety. Although Pulsed Eddy Current technique (PEC) is currently preferred for detection and evaluation of subsurface defects in tubular conductors, it is subject to technical drawbacks. In light of this, Pulse-modulation Eddy Current technique (PMEC) is intensively investigated in the paper for enhancement of the evaluation sensitivity to external corrosion and accuracy of corrosion imaging. Closed-form expressions of the PMEC response and its sensitivity to external corrosion in tubular conductors are formulated via the Extended Truncated Region Eigenfunction Expansion (ETREE) modeling. Following simulations for analysis and comparison of field signals and evaluation sensitivities of PMEC and PEC, experiments of PMEC for evaluation and imaging of external corrosion are carried out. Through theoretical and experimental investigation, it has been found that regarding the evaluation and imaging of external corrosion in nonmagnetic pipes, the PMEC-based probe have higher sensitivity and imaging accuracy than that based on PEC. The superiority of PMEC to PEC in inspection of tubular conductors is further identified.     

Structure and properties of TiC/Ti coatings fabricated on NiTi by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition

A titanium carbide (TiC) nanostructured coating and Ti intermediate layer are fabricated on NiTi by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIII&D) to improve the surface properties. The chemical composition and structure are determined by X-ray diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Nano-indentation is used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the thin film and the biological characteristics are assessed by electrochemical measurement and soaking tests in simulated body fluids. Based on the potentiodynamic polarization and Ni release data after the polarization test, the Ti/TiC nanostructure coating has better corrosion resistance compared to the NiTi substrate and there is significantly less Ni ion release from the NiTi substrate into the simulated body fluids than the uncoated NiTi alloy.     

Tailoring the performance of graphene-based supercapacitors using topological defects: A theoretical assessment

Graphene-based materials have been proposed as promising electrodes for electric double layer capacitors. Recently, it has been found that one of the limitations of graphene electrodes is the finite quantum capacitance at low applied voltage. In this work, we investigate the impact of having point-like topological defects in graphene on the electronic structure and quantum capacitance. Our results clearly show that the presence of defects, such as Stone Wales, di-vacancies, and di-interstitials, can substantially enhance the quantum capacitance when compared to pristine graphene, which is found to be due to defect-induced quasi-localized states near the Fermi level. In addition, the charging behavior tends to be asymmetric around the neutrality point. We also discuss the possibility of tuning the electronic structure and capacitance through mixtures of these defects. Our findings suggest that graphene-based electrodes with topological defects may demonstrate noteworthy capacitance but should be carefully selected for use as either the positive or negative electrode.