Supervised learning technique for a mobile robot controller in a visual line tracking task

This article deals with the development of learning methods for an intelligent control system for an autonomous mobile robot. On the basis of visual servoing, an approach to learning the skill of tracking colored guidelines is proposed. This approach utilizes a robust and adaptive image processing method to acquire features of the colored guidelines and convert them into the controller input. The supervised learning procedure and the neural network controller are discussed. The method of obtaining the learning data and training the neural network are described. Experimental results are presented at the end of the article. This work was presented, in part, at the Sixth International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Tokyo, Japan, January 15–17, 2001     

Glass doped with PbS quantum dots for passive Q switching of a 1.54- microm laser

By using a PbS-doped phosphate glass as an intracavity saturable absorber, we achieved passive Q switching of a 1.54-mum Er:Yb:glass laser. We obtained Q-switched pulses with 110-ns duration and 0.2-mJ energy. The saturation intensity at 1.54 mum was estimated to be ~60 kW/cm(2).     

Stabilization and activation of {alpha}-chymotrypsin in water-organic solvent systems by complex formation with oligoamines

Formation of enzyme–oligoamine complexes was suggestedas an approach to obtain biocatalysts with enhanced resistancetowards inactivation in water–organic media. Complex formationresults in broadening (by 20–40% v/v ethanol) of the rangeof cosolvent concentrations where the enzyme retains its catalyticactivity (stabilization effect). At moderate cosolvent concentrations(20–40% v/v) complex formation activates the enzyme (by3–6 times). The magnitude of activation and stabilizationeffects increases with the number of possible electrostaticcontacts between the protein surface and the molecules of oligoamines(OA). Circular dichroism spectra in the far-UV region show thatcomplex formation stabilizes protein conformation and preventsaggregation in water–organic solvent mixtures. Two populationsof the complexes with different thermodynamic stabilities werefound in -chymotrypsin (CT)–OA systems depending on theCT/OA ratio. The average dissociation constants and stoichiometriesof both low- and high-affinity populations of the complexeswere estimated. It appears that it is the low-affinity siteson the CT surface that are responsible for the activation effect.     

Development and evaluation of fast branch-and-bound algorithm for feature matching based on line segments

By extending the previously proposed geometric branch-and-bound algorithm with bounded alignment for point pattern matching, the paper presents the development and evaluation of a new and fast algorithm for image registration based on line segments. Using synthetically generated data sets with randomly distributed line segments and hard test cases with highly symmetric line patterns, as well as real remote sensing images, the developed algorithm is shown to be computationally fast, highly robust, capable of handling severely corrupted data sets with considerable line segment position errors as well as significant fragmented and spurious line segments in the images to be matched.     

Numerical Analysis of Quasioptical Multireflector Antennas in 2-D With the Method of Discrete Singularities: E-Wave Case

Numerical method for modeling the E-polarized wave scattering by electrically large quasioptical two-dimensional (2-D) reflectors is presented. Reflectors are assumed zero-thickness and perfectly electrically conducting. Efficient numerical solution is obtained from the coupled singular integral equations discretized using new quadrature formulas of interpolation type. It has controlled accuracy and deals with small-size matrices. To simulate a small-horn feeding, the incident field is taken as a beam generated by a complex-source-point (CSP) current. Presented numerical results validate empirical rule of -10 dB edge illumination needed to provide the best electromagnetic performance of reflector     

A model of preferential (100) crystal orientation of Si grains grown by aluminium-induced layer-exchange process

The aluminium-induced layer-exchange process allows to grow thin large-grained polycrystalline Si films on foreign substrates. A characteristic feature of these films is the preferential (100) orientation of Si grains, favourable for subsequent epitaxial thickening at low temperatures. In this work, a model based on the preferential nucleation is proposed, which elucidates a possible origin of the preferential (100) orientation and its sensitivity to the preparation and process conditions. The probability of Si nuclei to have respective orientation is attributed to the nucleation barrier, i.e. the critical value of the change of the Gibbs energy during nucleation. The preferential orientation is formed statistically by the nuclei having the lowest nucleation barriers.     

Acoustic scattering at a gap between two orthogonal,semi-infinite barriers: coordinate and spectral equations

The 2-D problem of diffraction by a gap between two orthogonal semi-infinite barriers is considered. The method of reflections is applied and the diffraction problem is reformulated as a propagation problem on a multi-sheet surface. An auxiliary problem, with a single incident wave, is formulated. By applying an embedding formula the auxiliary problem is reduced to that of finding a set of edge Green’s functions for the surface. The edge Green’s functions are proven to satisfy two sets of differential equations: the coordinate equations and the spectral equation. Although too complicated to be solved analytically, these ordinary differential equations offer some advantages over partial differential equations or integral equations.     

Self-organized growth of small arrays of metal nanoislands on the surface of poled ion-exchange glasses

Technical Physics Letters - Self-organized metal nanostructures have been obtained by an original method on the surface of soda–lime glasses. The nanostructures are grown by heat treatment of...     

Temperature‐Dependent Exciton and Trap‐Related Photoluminescence of CdTe Quantum Dots Embedded in a NaCl Matrix: Implication in Thermometry

Temperature‐dependent optical studies of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are fundamentally important for a variety of sensing and imaging applications. The steady‐state and time‐resolved photoluminescence properties of CdTe QDs in the size range from 2.3 to 3.1 nm embedded into a protective matrix of NaCl are studied as a function of temperature from 80 to 360 K. The temperature coefficient is found to be strongly dependent on QD size, with the highest sensitivity obtained for the smallest size of QDs. The emission from solid‐state CdTe QD‐based powders is maintained with high color purity over a wide range of temperatures. Photoluminescence lifetime data suggest that temperature dependence of the intrinsic radiative lifetime in CdTe QDs is rather weak, and it is mostly the temperature‐dependent nonradiative decay of CdTe QDs which is responsible for the thermal quenching of photoluminescence intensity. By virtue of the temperature‐dependent photoluminescence behavior, high color purity, photostability, and high photoluminescence quantum yield (26%–37% in the solid state), CdTe QDs embedded in NaCl matrices are useful solid‐state probes for thermal imaging and sensing over a wide range of temperatures within a number of detection schemes and outstanding sensitivity, such as luminescence thermochromic imaging, ratiometric luminescence, and luminescence lifetime thermal sensing.     

Virus Matryoshka: A Bacteriophage Particle—Guided Molecular Assembly Approach to a Monodisperse Model of the Immature Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Immature human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) is approximately spherical, but is constructed from a hexagonal lattice of the Gag protein. As a hexagonal lattice is necessarily flat, the local symmetry cannot be maintained throughout the structure. This geometrical frustration presumably results in bending stress. In natural particles, the stress is relieved by incorporation of packing defects, but the magnitude of this stress and its significance for the particles is not known. In order to control this stress, we have now assembled the Gag protein on a quasi‐spherical template derived from bacteriophage P22. This template is monodisperse in size and electron‐transparent, enabling the use of cryo‐electron microscopy in structural studies. These templated assemblies are far less polydisperse than any previously described virus‐like particles (and, while constructed according to the same lattice as natural particles, contain almost no packing defects). This system gives us the ability to study the relationship between packing defects, curvature and elastic energy, and thermodynamic stability. As Gag is bound to the P22 template by single‐stranded DNA, treatment of the particles with DNase enabled us to determine the intrinsic radius of curvature of a Gag lattice, unconstrained by DNA or a template. We found that this intrinsic radius is far larger than that of a virion or P22‐templated particle. We conclude that Gag is under elastic strain in a particle; this has important implications for the kinetics of shell growth, the stability of the shell, and the type of defects it will assume as it grows.