Modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions through integrating titrimetric and off-gas measurements-applied to EBPR systems.

An innovative method for modelling biological processes under anaerobic conditions is presented and discussed. The method is based on titrimetric and off-gas measurements. Titrimetric data is recorded as the addition rate of hydroxyl ions or protons that is required to maintain pH in a bioreactor at a constant level. An off-gas analysis arrangement measures, among other things, the transfer rate of carbon dioxide. The integration of these signals results in a continuous signal which is solely related to the biological reactions. When coupled with a mathematical model of the biological reactions, the signal allows a detailed characterisation of these reactions, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Two applications of the method to the enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes are presented and discussed to demonstrate the principle and effectiveness of the method.     

A fuzzy logic rule-based automatic target recognizer

Methods for modeling and managing uncertainty in computer vision systems have received increased attention in recent years. Automatic target recognition is one application area of computer vision where the demands are particularly acute. In this article, fuzzy logic is proposed as a means of handling uncertainty in an expert system structure for automatic target recognition. A new technique for logical inference is described which is well-suited for this type of application. A prototype system has been developed and tested on multisensor and temporal images. the results are compared to a similar expert system which used a numeric uncertainty calculus.     

Electrical conductivity in iodine-doped ethyl cellulose

The electrical conductivity of solution-grown ethyl cellulose (EC) films, 5–30 μm thick, has been studied in the sandwich configuration (metal–EC–metal) as a function of iodine concentration from 0.5 to 5.0 wt% ratio. The studies were conducted in the temperature range 333–383 K, while the field was varied over the range (3.0–5.5) × 10⁴V/cm. Aluminium was used as the lower electrode, while the upper electrode was of Al, Ag, Cu, Au or Sn. Certain transient effects such as a large burst of current immediately after the application of field were observed. An attempt was made to identify the nature of the current by comparing the observed dependence on electric field, electrode material and temperature with the respective characteristic features of the existing theories of electrical conduction. The results show that the electrical conduction follows Ohm's law at lower fields, while at higher fields, space-charge limited current (SCLC) was observed. It was also found that Richardson–Schottky emission was responsible, to some extent, for the transport of charge carriers in the polymer. The conductivity of the films increased on doping with iodine. The dopant molecules are considered to act as additional trapping centes and provide links between the polymer molecules in the amorphous region, thus resulting in the formation of charge transfer complexes.     

A taxonomy for and analysis of multi-person-display ecosystems

Interactive displays are increasingly being distributed in a broad spectrum of everyday life environments: they have very diverse form factors and portability characteristics, support a variety of interaction techniques, and can be used by a variable number of people. The coupling of multiple displays creates an interactive “ecosystem of displays”. Such an ecosystem is suitable for particular social contexts, which in turn generates novel settings for communication and performance and challenges in ownership. This paper aims at providing a design space that can inform the designers of such ecosystems. To this end, we provide a taxonomy that builds on the size of the ecosystem and on the degree of individual engagement as dimensions. We recognize areas where physical constraints imply certain kinds of social engagement, versus other areas where further work on interaction techniques for coupling displays can open new design spaces.     

Prediction of geometric uncertainty effects on Fluid Dynamics by Polynomial Chaos and Fictitious Domain method

In this paper the Tensorial-expanded Chaos Collocation method has been used to solve Fluid Dynamic problems with geometric uncertainties. The main advantage of the Tensorial-expanded Chaos Collocation method is its non-intrusive formulation, so existing deterministic solvers can be used. A Least-Squares Spectral Element Method has been employed for the analysis of the deterministic differential problems obtained by Tensorial-expanded Chaos Collocation. This algorithm exploits a Fictitious Domain approach, so it is particularly suitable to solve differential problems defined on stochastic domains. The great capabilities of the Tensorial-expanded Chaos Collocation method combined to the Fictitious Domain-Least-Squares Spectral Element Method are demonstrated by numerical experiments.     

An experimental study on the applicability of evolutionary algorithms to craniofacial superimposition in forensic identification

Photographic supra-projection is a forensic process that aims to identify a missing person from a photograph and a skull found. One of the crucial tasks throughout all this process is the craniofacial superimposition which tries to find a good fit between a 3D model of the skull and the 2D photo of the face. This photographic supra-projection stage is usually carried out manually by forensic anthropologists. It is thus very time consuming and presents several difficulties. In this paper, we aim to demonstrate that real-coded evolutionary algorithms are suitable approaches to tackle craniofacial superimposition. To do so, we first formulate this complex task in forensic identification as a numerical optimization problem. Then, we adapt three different evolutionary algorithms to solve it: two variants of a real-coded genetic algorithm and the state of the art evolution strategy CMA-ES. We also consider an existing binary-coded genetic algorithm as a baseline. Results on several superimposition problems of real-world identification cases solved by the Physical Anthropology lab at the University of Granada (Spain) are considered to test our proposals.     

Novel algorithm for time division multiple access in broadband ISDN passive optical networks

For shared access to a broadband communication network using the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) a passive optical network (PON) has previously been proposed. A novel algorithm to evaluate the time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol which controls the traffic from the various subscribers towards the shared access equipment (upstream direction) is proposed. It uses counters to estimate the moment of a data packet arrival at the subscriber side. By this ‘look-ahead’ technique no extra upstream channels are needed to initiate the polling by the subscriber. The algorithm guarantees fair access for all subscribers and minimizes the necessary overhead. Both the maximum access delay and overhead may be readily calculated, and the obtained results were supported by numerical simulation. Applicability in the standard broadband network environment has been proved by hardware design simulation.     

A two-wavelength, passively self-injection locked, CW Ti3+:Al2O3 laser

We have demonstrated that passive self-injection control is very effective in a CW Ti³⁺:Al₂O₃ laser to produce high efficiency (η~15%), narrow-line, two-wavelength emission. Light reinjection is achieved with an original high-resolution two-wavelength selector combining an interference wedge and a grazing incidence grating. The device operates outside the main nonselective laser cavity; thus avoiding insertion losses and optical damage problems. A 1.5 W, background free, total output power has been obtained simultaneously at two narrow laser lines (fwhm: 8 pm), independently tunable over 50 mn. The two laser lines can be emitted in a single beam or in two separated beams. Self-injection wavelength control has been demonstrated both for linear and for ring laser cavities. In the latter case, unidirectional behavior is also obtained in the same way. Single-step (5s²S_1/2-5P²P_1/2,3/2 ) and two-step (5s²S_1/2-5p²P_3/2-5d² D_3/2,5/2) excitation of atomic rubidium vapor has been performed with our original laser device     

Convergence of Broadcast and New Telecom Networks

The demand of the new telecom industry for cost efficient provision of mobile multimedia services is faced with the reality of scarce radio resources. The requirement of spectrum efficiency has driven the development of various digital radio technologies that have been optimized for specific services, namely for broadcast or for mobile communication. However, existing and emerging multimedia services exhibit challenging requirements in terms of asymmetry, interactivity, real-time, and multicast communication. This paper describes an IP based multi-radio infrastructure that enables the co-operation of existing radio networks to combine their capabilities to ensure a spectrum efficient provision of high-quality mobile multimedia services. Further the need for a dynamic allocation of spectrum to radio services is motivated. The basic functionality and the architecture of a multi-radio system is outlined, with a special emphasis on the cooperation between different radio systems. Further an evolution path for the convergence of broadcast and new telecom is desribed, starting from today's systems and leading to a fully coordinated system.