An improved EEMD method based on the adjustable cubic trigonometric cardinal spline interpolation

The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) has recently emerged as an efficient tool to adaptively decompose non-stationary signals for nonlinear systems, which has a wide range of applications such as automatic control, mechanical engineering and medicine and biology. A noise-assisted variant of EMD named ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) have been proposed to alleviate the mode mixing phenomenon. In this paper, we proposed an improved EEMD method, namely cardinal spline interpolation based EEMD (C-EEMD), by optimizing the sifting procedure. Specifically, we employ the adjustable cubic trigonometric cardinal spline interpolation (CTCSI) to accurately represent free curves, other than the original one used in the traditional EEMD. The new interpolation approach can be used to build the mean curve in a more precise way. By virtue of CTCSI, we can therefore obtain the mean value curve from midpoints of the local maxima and minima by just one interpolation operations, which saves almost half the computational cost. Extensive experimental results on synthetic data and real EMI signals clearly demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method, compared to the state-of-the-arts.     

An Algorithm for Connected-Component Labeling, Hole Labeling and Euler Number Computing

Labeling connected components and holes and computing the Euler number in a binary image are necessary for image analysis, pattern recognition, and computer (robot) vision, and are usually made independently of each other in conventional methods. This paper proposes a two-scan algorithm for labeling connected components and holes simultaneously in a binary image by use of the same data structure. With our algorithm, besides labeling, we can also easily calculate the number and the area of connected components and holes, as well as the Euler number. Our method is very simple in principle, and experimental results demonstrate that our method is much more efficient than conventional methods for various kinds of images in cases where both labeling and Euler number computing are necessary.     

Effect of the genistein metabolite on leptin secretion in murine adipocytes in vitro

Soy isoflavonoids have many useful properties. However, they are metabolized in vivo, including in humans. The effect of the metabolism of soy isoflavonoids on their properties is not fully understood. We have isolated the bacterial strain SY8519, which has been shown to metabolize daidzein to O-desmethylangolensin and to produce 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid from genistein. According to chiral HPLC analysis, the 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid obtained from the bacterium was optically active. To determine the absolute stereochemistry of the microbial product, we prepared (S)-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid from (S)-2-phenylpropionic and concluded that the microbial product had an R-configuration by chiral HPLC analysis. We also applied the metabolite to mouse adipocytes and found that 2-HPPA was less effective at reducing leptin secretion than the parent compound genistein. Our results suggested that ‘O-desmethylangolensin-production’ attenuates the effect of soy isoflavonoids by reducing not only the activity of daidzein but also that of genistein.     

Corneal epithelial permeability: Ethnic differences between Asians and non-Asians

PurposeTo ascertain whether a difference in the permeability of the corneal epithelium to fluorescein (P_dc) exists between Asians and non-Asians.MethodsFrom a multi-study database we extracted 632 records of baseline, open-eye P_dc measurements taken on both eyes of 176 subjects. Subjects were awake for a minimum of 4 h before measurement, and were free of ocular disease and central corneal staining. P_dc was transformed by natural logarithm to better approximate normality for statistical tests.ResultsThe mean ln(P_dc) in the Asian group was significantly greater than in the non-Asian group [−2.34 ln(nm/s) vs. −2.58 ln(nm/s); p < 0.001].ConclusionsCompared with non-Asians, Asians exhibited a less negative ln(P_dc), which translates to a higher P_dc and a more permeable corneal epithelium. We speculate that this may be related to anatomic differences responsible for greater eyelid tension in Asians.     

Properties of quantum gain of coding with information criterion by binary linear codes

In quantum information theory, superadditivity in the capacity of a quantum channel occurs as a special property. We present a method of calculating the mutual information analytically for binary linear codes by using square‐root measurement as the decoding process. Many examples of codes showing the existence of superadditivity in capacity have been given in the past, but the scope of the method was not clarified. In the present paper, we show that the method can be applied to any binary linear codes. We also show that the quantum channel capacity is almost fully attained in a finite codeword length by using approximation to simplex code. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 163(4): 48–57, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20646     

Fast connected-component labeling

Labeling of connected components in a binary image is one of the most fundamental operations in pattern recognition: labeling is required whenever a computer needs to recognize objects (connected components) in a binary image. This paper presents a fast two-scan algorithm for labeling of connected components in binary images. We propose an efficient procedure for assigning provisional labels to object pixels and checking label equivalence. Our algorithm is very simple in principle, easy to implement, and suitable for hardware and parallel implementation. We show the correctness of our algorithm, analyze its complexity, and compare it with other labeling algorithms. Experimental results demonstrated that our algorithm is superior to conventional labeling algorithms.     

Fabrication of a spiral microcoil using a 3D-LIGA process

LIGA processes have been developed generally in the 2.5D world. We introduced techniques of 3D X-ray lithography and worm injection molding with a unscrewing release mechanism, and succeeded in the development to three dimensions of LIGA process. We called this technology 3D-LIGA process, and came to be able to fabricate the plastic molded product with a spiral microstructure. Furthermore, we succeeded in the trial production of a spiral microcoil using 3D-LIGA process and metallization technique combining flat and smooth electroplating with a leveling agent and an isotropic chemical etching. The diameter of this microcoil was 0.5 mm and the length was 1 mm. The width of the Cu coil line was 10 μm, and the pitch was 20 μm. Moreover, we measured characteristics of this microcoil as an inductor. The inductance and the quality factor at the frequency of 1 GHz were 91 nH and 5.8, respectively. This is the first time successful fabrication of an electric device with a 3D form like a spiral microcoil using the 3D-LIGA process has been achieved.     

An Improvement of Herbrand＇s Theorem and Its Application to Model Generation Theorem Proving

This paper presents an improvement of Herbrand＇s theorem. We propose a method for specifying a subuniverse of the Herbrand universe of a clause set S for each argument of predicate symbols and function symbols in S. We prove that a clause set S is unsatisfiable if and only if there is a finite unsatisfiable set of ground instances of clauses of S that are derived by only instantiating each variable, which appears as an argument of predicate symbols or function symbols, in S over its corresponding argument＇s sub-universe of the Herbrand universe of S. Because such sub-universes are usually smaller （sometimes considerably） than the Herbrand universe of S, the number of ground instances may decrease considerably in many cases. We present an algorithm for automatically deriving the sub-universes for arguments in a given clause set, and show the correctness of our improvement. Moreover, we introduce an application of our approach to model generation theorem proving for non-range-restricted problems, show the range-restriction transformation algorithm based on our improvement and provide examples on benchmark problems to demonstrate the power of our approach.     

I—SATCHMORE：An Improvement of A—SATCHMORE

This paper presents an improvement of A-SATCHMORE (SATCHMORE with Availability).A-SATCHMORE incorporates relevancy testing and availability checking into SATCHMO to prune away irrelevant forward chaining.However ,considering every consequent atom of those non-Horn clauses being derivable,A-SATCHMORE may suffer from a potential explosion of the search space when some of such consequent atoms are actually underivable.This paper introduces a solution for this problem and shows its correctness.     

Control software with supporting features to enhance the quality of tactile feedback

Tactile displays are devices for cutaneous stimulation to be integrated in haptic feedback systems e.g. in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. In general, there are severely limited in performance due to the necessary small size. In this work, we have developed a control software with the goal to allow simple hardware to present sensible tactile information to the user. For the development and evaluation of the software including various features to improve tactile feedback, a tactile display with twelve servo-driven pins was used. With the pins moving upwards and downwards, height maps can be presented to the user’s finger. The feedback system runs at a frequency of 50 Hz which generates the sensation of a fluid movement. The supporting features include a simulation of shear forces which give the user information on the movement direction of the sensor. A smoothing algorithm was implemented to prevent jerky pin movements. High effort was put in the generation of well distinguishable vibration patterns. These serve to enhance the presentation of the height maps or even allow a second layer of information.In an evaluation series, the control software and the support functions were extensively tested. The users were capable of distinguishing differences in height as low as 0.05 mm or differences in width smaller than the pin spacing. The task to find an invisible object only with the help of different vibration patterns was solved with great success. In a practical test, the users had to pursuit invisible paths standing out from the surroundings for 1 mm and less using the mouse relying only on tactile feedback. The users showed very good performance here with each user finishing every part of the test. This leads to the conclusion that our control software is an appropriate mean to create sensible tactile feedback even with limited hardware.