A knowledge-based decision support tool to increase the effectiveness of purchased material quality verifications

In response to the worldwide proliferation of fraudulent materials, a prototype knowledge-based decision support tool has been developed to increase the effectiveness of incoming purchased material quality verifications. Traditional quality verification practices, especially those used in government regulated industries, are ineffective against poor quality materials that appear to be authentic. Safety considerations abound as these highly defective materials are used in systems that are critical to public safety. Quality assurance programs in several instances have failed to stop the influx of fraudulent materials. In many cases only physical inspections and tests can guard aginst defective purchased materials. Unfortunately, it is impractical and cost ineffective for most organizations to inspect all purchased materials. This paper describes how knowledge engineering techniques can be applied to assist in solving this problem. By formulating commonly available and diverse industry information, a knowledge based system becomes a tool that allows users to focus quality verification efforts on highly suspect materials.     

High-accuracy flush-and-scan software diagnostic

The software technique presented operates over a wide range of defect modes to quickly and accurately diagnose the failing latch in a defective chain without special circuitry or pattern generation. The high-accuracy flush-and-scan software diagnostic technique localizes scan chain defects. Rather than using special tests or circuits, the flush-and-scan technique records the signatures of failures resulting from normal test patterns, and uses software simulations to locate defects. To identify a defective latch, this technique repeatedly simulates different loads (initializations) until the simulation results match those from the tester     

Clustered defect detection of high quality chips using self-supervised multilayer perceptron

During electrical testing, each die on a wafer must be tested to determine whether it functions as originally designed. When defects, including scratches, stains or localized failed patterns, are clustered on the wafer, the tester may not detect all of the defective dies in the flawed area. A testing factory must assign a few workers to check the wafers and hand-mark the defective dies in the flawed region or close to the flawed region, to ensure that no defective die is present in the final assembly. This work presents an automatic wafer-scale defect cluster identifier that uses a multilayer perceptron to detect the defect cluster and mark all of the defective dies. The proposed identifier is compared with an existing tool used in industry. The experimental results confirm that the proposed algorithm is more effective at identifying defects and outperforms the present approach.     

Simulation Methodology for Crisis Management Support

This paper briefly reviews the classic and more recent literature on crisis simulations. After discussing the essence of simulations, as opposed to scenarios and games, five functions of simulations are highlighted: a research tool; a teaching and training instrument; a planning method; a tool for designing decision support systems; and a personnel selection method. Different design dimensions of educational and research simulations are brought to the fore.     

On the employ of meshless methods in biomechanics

In this paper we analyse the convenience and possible advantages of using meshless methods in numerical simulations in biomechanics. While finite elements have been the universal tool during the last decades to perform such simulations, a recently developed wide family of methods, globally coined as meshless methods, has emerged as an attractive choice for an increasing variety of problems. They present some key advantages such as the absence of a mesh in the traditional sense, particularly important in domains of very complex geometry. These methods are also able to easily handle finite strains and large displacements in a Lagrangian framework due to their relatively less sensitivity to the point distributions. In this work we discuss the use of one of them, the natural element method, in biomechanics. After a brief review of this new approach, such a choice is justified and some examples showing the performance of the method are presented.     

Distance visualization: data exploration on the grid

Our increased ability to model and measure a wide variety of phenomena has left us awash in data. In the immediate future, the authors anticipate collecting data at the rate of terabytes per day from many classes of applications, including simulations running on teraFLOPS-class computers and experimental data produced by increasingly more sensitive and accurate instruments, such as telescopes, microscopes, particle accelerators and satellites. Generating or acquiring data is not an end in itself but a vehicle for obtaining insights. While data analysis and reduction have a role to play, in many situations we achieve understanding only when a human being interprets the data. Visualization has emerged as an important tool for extracting meaning from the large volumes of data that scientific instruments and simulations produce. The authors describe an online system that supports 3D tomographic image reconstruction-and subsequent collaborative analysis-of data from remote scientific instruments     

一种新的基于多小波的图像去噪算法

图像去噪是最基本的图像处理技术,小波分析是目前国际上最新的时间．频率分析工具,是信号去噪的强有力处理工具。通过小波变换可以将交织在一起的混合信号分解成不同频率的块信号。多小波所拥有的对称性、正交性、有限支撑等重要特性弥补了单小波的不足。本文提出了一种新的图像去噪方法,该方法以多小波变换为基础。实验证明,具有很好的去噪效果。     

The Multi-strand Graph for a PTZ Tracker

High-resolution images can be used to resolve matching ambiguities between trajectory fragments (tracklets), which is a key challenge in multiple-target tracking. A pan–tilt–zoom (PTZ) camera, which can pan, tilt and zoom, is a powerful and efficient tool that offers both close-up views and wide area coverage on demand. The wide area enables tracking of many targets, while the close-up view allows individuals to be identified from high-resolution images of their faces. A central component of a PTZ tracking system is a scheduling algorithm that determines which target to zoom in on, particularly when the high-resolution images are also used for tracklet matching. In this paper, we study this scheduling problem from a theoretical perspective. We propose a novel data structure, the Multi-strand Tracking Graph (MSG), which represents the set of tracklets computed by a tracker and the possible associations between them. The MSG allows efficient scheduling as well as resolving of matching ambiguities between tracklets. The main feature of the MSG is the auxiliary data saved in each vertex, which allows efficient computation while avoiding time-consuming graph traversal. Synthetic data simulations are used to evaluate our scheduling algorithm and to demonstrate its superiority over a naïve one.     

多扫频接收方案改善电离层相位失真估计的算法

提出了一种新的多扫频接收方案,以改进对电离层相位路径失真的估计精度。该方案无需对发射端进行改动,只在接收端采用多扫频信号进行混频,即可分离出含有相同的电离层相位路径失真信息的多通道数据。利用多通道数据可获得比单通道数据更好的相位失真估计。通过理论推导和仿真实验,验证了提出方案的有效性。     

An efficient numerical technique for bioheat simulations and its application to computerized cryosurgery planning

As a part of ongoing efforts to develop computerized planning tools for cryosurgery, the current study focuses on developing an efficient numerical technique for bioheat transfer simulations. Our long-term goal is to develop a planning tool for cryosurgery that takes a 3D reconstruction of a target region, and suggests the best cryoprobe layout. Toward that goal, a planning algorithm, termed "force-field analogy," has been recently presented, based on a sequence of bioheat transfer simulations, which are by far the most computationally expensive part of the planning method. The objective in the current study is to develop a finite difference numerical scheme for bioheat transfer simulations, which reduces the overall run time of computerized planning, thereby making it clinically relevant. While the general concept of variable grid size and time intervals is not new, its application to the phase change problem of cryosurgery is the unique contribution of the current study.     

Three-dimensional model of radionuclide dispersion in estuaries and shelf seas

The 3-D model THREETOX was developed for the assessment of contamination in coastal seas and inland water bodies. It includes a high resolution numerical hydrodynamic submodel, a dynamic–thermodynamic ice submodel, and submodels for suspended sediment and pollution transport. The results of two case studies are described. The first case concerns a 2-year simulation of the Chernobyl radionuclide contamination of the Dnieper–Bug estuary to validate the model. In the second case study, simulations were performed for the assessment of the consequences of the possible release of radionuclides from scuttled reactors and containers with liquid radioactive wastes in the Novaya Zemlya fjords and the East Novaya Zemlya Trough of the Kara Sea. The simulated results demonstrated the capability of the THREETOX model to describe a wide spatial and temporal range of radionuclide transport processes in the ocean.     

缺陷药片智能识别与分拣机器人研究

针对药片表面质量检测主要依靠人工肉眼判断、检测效率低和漏检等问题,开展了缺陷药片智能识别定位与分拣机器人技术研究,进行了机器人系统总体设计和结构设计,采用Halcon机器视觉开发平台编写了图像识别与处理软件对缺陷药片进行识别和定位,对机器人进行了正运动学和逆运动学分析,编写了药片位置信息解算软件,通过指令驱动机器人各关节运动对缺陷药片进行准确抓取,实现了缺陷药片的智能化分拣。通过所设计的缩比机器人系统对药片进行分拣,验证了缺陷药片智能识别定位与分拣的功能,该机器人系统具有成本低、工作范围大、智能识别定位准确、通用性好的优势。     

Game-theoretic simulation checking tool

Model checking is one of the most commonly used methods for checking program correctness. In this method, one verifies a program model given by the Kripke structure (labeled transition system) rather than the program itself. The specification is usually given as a temporal logic formula. In many subtasks of model checking, it is necessary to use relations that are defined on the set of program models and preserve the satisfiability of temporal logic formulas. There exist many relations of this kind, which are called simulation relations. In the present paper, we introduce a tool designed to check a wide class of simulation relations between finite models of programs. This tool is based on the simulation checking game-theoretic approach. The tool consists of two components. The first component is the formal language, which allows one to define various simulation relations in terms of an antagonistic two-player game. The second component is a software tool that, given two labeled transition systems and simulation definition, is able to check whether this simulation is satisfied between these labeled transition systems.     

Image processing techniques for wafer defect cluster identification

Electrical testing determines whether each die on a wafer functions as originally designed. But these tests don't detect all the defective dies in clustered defects on the wafer, such as scratches, stains, or localized failed patterns. Although manual checking prevents many defective dies from continuing on to assembly, it does not detect localized failure patterns-caused by the fabrication process-because they are invisible to the naked eye. To solve these problems, we propose an automatic, wafer-scale, defect cluster identifier. This software tool uses a median filter and a clustering approach to detect the defect clusters and to mark all defective dies. Our experimental results verify that the proposed algorithm effectively detects defect clusters, although it introduces an additional 1% yield loss of electrically good dies. More importantly, it makes automated wafer testing feasible for application in the wafer-probing stage     

Computer simplification of formulas in linear systems theory

Currently, the three most popular commercial computer algebra systems are Mathematica, Maple, and MACSYMA. These systems provide a wide variety of symbolic computation facilities for commutative algebra and contain implementations of powerful algorithms in that domain. The Grobner basis algorithm, for example, is an important tool used in computation with commutative algebras and in solving systems of polynomial equations. On the other hand, most of the computation involved in linear control theory is performed on matrices, which do not commute, and Mathematica, Maple, and MACSYMA are weak in the area of noncommutative operations. The paper reports on applications of a powerful tool, a noncommutative version of the Grobner basis algorithm. The commutative version of this algorithm is implemented in most major computer algebra packages. The noncommutative version is relatively new     

Teaching meshes, subdivision and multiresolution techniques

In recent years, geometry processing algorithms that directly operate on polygonal meshes have become an indispensable tool in computer graphics, CAD/CAM applications, numerical simulations, and medical imaging. Because the demand for people that are specialized in these techniques increases steadily the topic is finding its way into the standard curricula of related lectures on computer graphics and geometric modeling and is often the subject of seminars and presentations. In this article we suggest a toolbox to educators who are planning to set up a lecture or talk about geometry processing for a specific audience. For this we propose a set of teaching blocks, each of which covers a specific subtopic. These teaching blocks can be assembled so as to fit different occasions like lectures, courses, seminars and talks and different audiences like students and industrial practitioners. We also provide examples that can be used to deepen the subject matter and give references to the most relevant work.     

A computer-aided ECG diagnostic tool

Jordan lacks companies that provide local medical facilities with products that are of help in daily performed medical procedures. Because of this, the country imports most of these expensive products. Consequently, a local interest in producing such products has emerged and resulted in serious research efforts in this area. The main goal of this paper is to provide local (the north of Jordan) clinics with a computer-aided electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnostic tool in an attempt to reduce time and work demands for busy physicians especially in areas where only one general medicine doctor is employed and a bulk of cases are to be diagnosed. The tool was designed to help in detecting heart defects such as arrhythmias and heart blocks using ECG signal analysis depending on the time-domain representation, the frequency-domain spectrum, and the relationship between them. The application studied here represents a state of the art ECG diagnostic tool that was designed, implemented, and tested in Jordan to serve wide spectrum of population who are from poor families. The results of applying the tool on randomly selected representative sample showed about 99% matching with those results obtained at specialized medical facilities. Costs, ease of interface, and accuracy indicated the usefulness of the tool and its use as an assisting diagnostic tool.     

一种新的基于多小波变换的图像增强方法

小波分析是目前国际上最新的时间频率分析工具，是信号去噪的强有力处理工具．小波变换可以将交织在一起的混合信号分解成不同频率的块信号．多小波所拥有的对称性、正交性、有限支撑等重要特性弥补了单小波的不足．提出了一种新的图像增强方法，该方法以多小波变换为基础，采用多尺度非线性增强技术进行图像增强．实验证明，增强效果良好．     

An integrated restoration methodology based on adaptive failure feature identification

Remanufacturing is an emerging eco-friendly industry because it consumes less energy, cost, and material to manufacture like-new parts with a warranty to match. However, restoration processes are ad-hoc and complex because the "raw" materials for remanufacturing are returned used parts, which exhibit significant uncertainties in failure features involving failure location, failure mode, failure volume, and failure degree. Thus, customized remanufacturing process planning (RPP) and restoration tool paths should be generated to restore the defects for each part. An integrated restoration methodology based on adaptive failure feature identification for remanufacturing is proposed to enable efficient and cost-effective remanufacturing. In this study, an adaptive failure feature identification algorithm is developed to identify the failure features on defective parts quickly. In this stage, the point clouds of the nominal model and defective model are used to extract defective regions through Boolean operations and then calculate the failure volume and degree. Based on the identified failure features, a knowledge reuse algorithm is proposed to retrieve the optimal RPP rapidly through mixed case-based reasoning (CBR) and rule-based reasoning (RBR). Finally, a tool path generation algorithm of hybrid Subtractive Manufacturing (SM) and Additive Manufacturing (AM) for the restoration of identified defects. The proposed methodology is verified by remanufacturing a defective blade with multi-defects and is approved to be flexible and effective.