Computer-aided measurement plan for an impeller on a coordinate measurement machine with a rotating and tilting probe

This paper presents a computer-aided measurement plan (CAMP) for an impeller on a coordinate measurement machine (CMM) with a rotating/tilting probe. The blade surfaces of a machined impeller were measured exactly to secure the machining tolerance and surface finish of the impeller. CMM with a rotating and tilting probe is commonly used for this measurement. However, it is not easy to evaluate all the points on the impeller surfaces due to the time-consuming nature of the CMM measurement. In addition, many points cannot be easily accessed by the CMM probe due to the interference between the probe and the impeller blades. Furthermore, the inherent complexity of the existing teaching operation of a probe using a joystick suggests the necessity of developing a new method for the measurement planning of an impeller. Thus, this paper proposes a CAMP for effectively gauging the inspection points based on the ruled line information of the impeller blade surfaces. The proposed plan partitions the surfaces into several measurement regions based on the ruled lines of a blade surface and the approach vectors of the probe. Finally, a case example for an impeller is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.     

Human tracking and silhouette extraction for human–robot interaction systems

In this study, we propose a new integrated computer vision system designed to track multiple human beings and extract their silhouette with a pan-tilt stereo camera, so that it can assist in gesture and gait recognition in the field of Human–Robot Interaction (HRI). The proposed system consists of three modules: detection, tracking and silhouette extraction. These modules are robust to camera movements, and they work interactively in near real-time. Detection was performed by camera ego-motion compensation and disparity segmentation. For tracking, we present an efficient mean shift-based tracking method in which the tracking objects are characterized as disparity weighted color histograms. The silhouette was obtained by two-step segmentation. A trimap was estimated in advance and then effectively incorporated into the graph-cut framework for fine segmentation. The proposed system was evaluated with respect to ground truth data, and it was shown to detect and track multiple people very well and also produce high-quality silhouettes.

Proteomic analysis of sera of asymptomatic,early‐stage patients with Wilson's disease

Wilson's disease (WD) is characterized by excessive accumulation of intracellular copper in liver and extrahepatic tissues, leading to significant oxidative stress and tissue damage. To date, several diagnostic biomarkers for WD such as serum ceruloplasmin, serum or urine copper levels and copper content in liver have been identified. However, these biomarkers may not be convincing for the diagnosis in some WD patients. To identify additional novel diagnostic biomarkers, we compared the serum protein profiles of asymptomatic childhood WD patients (n=20), without neurologic manifestation or liver cirrhosis, with normal controls (n=13). Fourteen spots, five up‐regulated and nine down‐regulated (>2‐fold), were differentially expressed in WD patients in comparison to normal control on 2‐DE. Among them, three spots were down‐regulated in both male and female WD. MS/MS analysis revealed that the three spots were complement component C3, complement factor B and alpha‐2 macroglobulin. By comparative proteome analysis, complement component C3, complement factor B and alpha‐2 macroglobulin, which are related to oxidative stress and inflammation, turned out to be good candidates for novel diagnostic biomarkers for early stages of WD.     

Creating Atomic Ordering in Electrocatalysis

Catalysis always proceeds in a chaotic fashion. Therefore, identifying the working principles of heterogeneous catalysts is a challenging task. Creating atomic order in heterogeneous catalysts simplifies this task and also offers new opportunities for rationally designing active sites to manipulate catalytic performance. The recent rapid advances in heterogeneous electrocatalysis have led to exciting progress in the construction of atomically ordered materials. Here, the latest progress in electrocatalysts with the periodic atomic arrangement, including intermetallic compounds with long-range order and metal atom-array catalysts with short-range order is summarized. The synthesis principles and the intriguing physical and chemical properties of these electrocatalysts are discussed. Furthermore, the compelling prospects of atomically ordered catalysts in the frontier of catalyst research are outlined.     

Room-Temperature-Processable Highly Reliable Resistive Switching Memory with Reconfigurability for Neuromorphic Computing and Ultrasonic Tissue Classification

Reversible metal-filamentary mechanism has been widely investigated to design an analog resistive switching memory (RSM) for neuromorphic hardware-implementation. However, uncontrollable filament-formation, inducing its reliability issues, has been a fundamental challenge. Here, an analog RSM with 3D ion transport channels that can provide unprecedentedly high reliability and robustness is demonstrated. This architecture is realized by a laser-assisted photo-thermochemical process, compatible with the back-end-of-line process and even applicable to a flexible format. These superior characteristics also lead to the proposal of a practical adaptive learning rule for hardware neural networks that can significantly simplify the voltage pulse application methodology even with high computing accuracy. A neural network, which can perform the biological tissue classification task using the ultrasound signals, is designed, and the simulation results confirm that this practical adaptive learning rule is efficient enough to classify these weak and complicated signals with high accuracy (97%). Furthermore, the proposed RSM can work as a diffusive-memristor at the opposite voltage polarity, exhibiting extremely stable threshold switching characteristics. In this mode, several crucial operations in biological nervous systems, such as Ca²⁺ dynamics and nonlinear integrate-and-fire functions of neurons, are successfully emulated. This reconfigurability is also exceedingly beneficial for decreasing the complexity of systems—requiring both drift- and diffusive-memristors.     

Meta-analysis of linkage data under worst-case conditions: a demonstration using the human OB region

To date, few methods have been developed explicitly for meta-analysis of linkage analyses. Moreover, the methods that have been developed or suggested generally depend on certain ideal situations and have not been widely applied. In this article, we apply standard statistical theory and meta-analytic techniques in novel ways to five published papers discussing the evidence of linkage of body mass index (BMI) to the region of the human genome containing the OB gene. These methods are "inference based," meaning that they allow one to make statements about the statistical significance of the entire body of evidence. As currently developed, they do not allow specific statements to be made about the amount of variance explained by any putative locus or allow precise confidence intervals to be placed around the putative location of a linked locus. By applying these techniques to the literature on linkage in the human OB gene region, we are able to show that the evidence for linkage somewhere in the region is extremely strong (P = 1.5 x 10[-5]).     

Localization algorithm using a virtual label for a mobile robot in indoor and outdoor environments

Scanning laser range sensors provide range data consisting of a set of point measurements. The laser sensor URG-04LX has a distance range of approximately 0.02–4 m and a scanning angle range of 240°. Usually, such an image range is acquired from one viewpoint by “moving” the laser beam using rotating mirrors/prisms. The orientation of the laser beam can easily be measured and converted into the coordinates of the image. This article conducts localization using virtual labels with data about distances in the environment obtained from 2D distance laser sensors. This method puts virtual labels on special features and points which are along the mobile robot’s path. The current location is calculated by combining the virtual label and the range image of the laser range finder.     

Consistent color and detail transfer from multiple source images for video and images

In this paper, we propose a method to jointly transfer the color and detail of multiple source images to a target video or image. Our method is based on a probabilistic segmentation scheme using Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to divide each source image as well as the target video frames or image into soft regions and determine the relevant source regions for each target region. For detail transfer, we first decompose each image as well as the target video frames or image into base and detail components. Then histogram matching is performed for detail components to transfer the detail of matching regions from source images to the target. We propose a unified framework to perform both color and detail transforms in an integrated manner. We also propose a method to maintain consistency for video targets, by enforcing consistent region segmentations for consecutive video frames using GMM-based parameter propagation and adaptive scene change detection. Experimental results demonstrate that our method automatically produces consistent color and detail transferred videos and images from a set of source images.     

Schemes generating entangled states and entanglement swapping between photons and three-level atoms inside optical cavities for quantum communication

We propose quantum information processing schemes based on cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) for quantum communication. First, to generate entangled states (Bell and Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger [GHZ] states) between flying photons and three-level atoms inside optical cavities, we utilize a controlled phase flip (CPF) gate that can be implemented via cavity QED). Subsequently, we present an entanglement swapping scheme that can be realized using single-qubit measurements and CPF gates via optical cavities. These schemes can be directly applied to construct an entanglement channel for a communication system between two users. Consequently, it is possible for the trust center, having quantum nodes, to accomplish the linked channel (entanglement channel) between the two separate long-distance users via the distribution of Bell states and entanglement swapping. Furthermore, in our schemes, the main physical component is the CPF gate between the photons and the three-level atoms in cavity QED, which is feasible in practice. Thus, our schemes can be experimentally realized with current technology.     

Optimization of 3.5-in. HDD spindle motors for OP-vibration performance: theoretical prediction and experimental verification

The purpose of this paper is to optimize OP-vibration performance of 3.5-in. hard disk drive (HDD) spindle motors through theoretical prediction and experimental verification. OP-vibration performance of HDD is closely related to the first rocking vibration of spindle motors because excited frequencies of 3.5-in. HDD from the environment are mostly below 500 Hz and the first rocking vibration is the only resonance in the corresponding frequencies. Therefore, minimizing first rocking vibration leads to improve OP-vibration performance of the spindle motors. In order to minimize the first rocking vibration key parameters of FDB spindle motors were selected from a previous work done by Heo and Shen (Microsyst Technol 11:1204–1213, 2005). Then, the selected parameters have been optimized to minimize the first rocking vibration through a theoretical model developed at University of Washington. Then, experiments with ten prototype FDB spindle motors have been conducted to verify the theoretical results. Each prototype motor has different spindle parameter configurations including bearing coefficients, bearing locations, and center of gravity location, etc. Also, this paper demonstrated that radial measurements of spindle rocking vibration have better correlation with OP-vibration performance than axial measurements through PES measurements. Finally, the optimized design has been manufactured by a motor maker and has also successfully verified the theoretical prediction experimentally.