Model-Based Satellite Image Fusion

A method is proposed for pixel-level satellite image fusion derived directly from a model of the imaging sensor. By design, the proposed method is spectrally consistent. It is argued that the proposed method needs regularization, as is the case for any method for this problem. A framework for pixel neighborhood regularization is presented. This framework enables the formulation of the regularization in a way that corresponds well with our prior assumptions of the image data. The proposed method is validated and compared with other approaches on several data sets. Lastly, the intensity-hue-saturation method is revisited in order to gain additional insight of what implications the spectral consistency has for an image fusion method.     

Opportunities for IP in Communications Beyond 3G

Future communication will be based on TCP/IP as common network and transport layers to provide global connectivity to users and applications. IP is used to provide ubiquitous access across different access networks and exploits the benefits of a common connectivity layer while reducing the cost of operation and maintenance of the network. This paper discusses the opportunities for IP in the evolution towards a future broadband, all-IP mobile communication network. In particular, we argue for three opportunities for the future: Interworking access technologies over IP, IP layer transparency, and the ability to manage complexity.Thomas Toftegaard Nielsen was born on September 26th 1970 in Århus, Denmark. He holds a M.Sc.E.E. (‘95) and a Ph.D. (‘99) degree in mobile radio communications from Aalborg University, Center for PersonKommunikation, Denmark. In 1996, he joined the Danish mobile operator Sonofon, where he was involved in capacity and performance evaluations and enhancements of the frequency hopping GSM BSS system as well as advanced wireless network planning. In 1999 he was appointed senior radio project manager, where he became technically responsible for the GPRS mobile data dimensioning/planning. In 2000 he joined Ericsson Telebit A/S as wireless IP software development manager. Currently he is responsible for Ericsson’s IPv6/IPv4 termination dual-stack used in the Ericsson 2G, 2.5G and 3G terminal platforms, in parts of the Ericsson 2G and 3G access network as well as in the Ericsson MSC and MGW of the 3G core network.Rune Hylsberg Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 12th, 1970. He holds a M.Sc. degree in physics and chemistry (1995) and a Ph.D. degree in physics (1997) from University of Aarhus. In 1996 he guested Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, USA. During this period he conducted research in optoelectronic, terahertz-bandwidth radiation applied to material characterization. In 1997 he joined the R&D unit of the Danish telecommunication operator TDC where he worked on fixed broadband access, with emphasis on ADSL deployment and the characterization of transmission properties of the local loop. In 1999 he joined Ericsson Telebit A/S and started to work on European research projects in the 4th and 5th EU framework programs. He was appointed department manager for a software development unit in year 2000. In this position he was in charge of an IP router development for the radio access network and has since worked with aspects of using IP for wireless communication systems.     

From Inpainting to Active Contours

Background subtraction is an elementary method for detection of foreground objects and their segmentations. Obviously it requires an observation image as well as a background one. In this work we attempt to remove the last requirement by reconstructing the background from the observation image and a guess on the location of the object to be segmented via variational inpainting method. A numerical evaluation of this reconstruction provides a “disocclusion measure” and the correct foreground segmentation region is expected to maximize this measure. This formulation is in fact an optimal control problem, where controls are shapes/regions and states are the corresponding inpaintings. Optimization of the disocclusion measure leads formally to a coupled contour evolution equation, an inpainting equation (the state equation) as well as a linear PDE depending on the inpainting (the adjoint state equation). The contour evolution is implemented in the framework of level sets. Finally, the proposed method is validated on various examples. We focus among others in the segmentation of calcified plaques observed in radiographs from human lumbar aortic regions.     

Survival of hydrogen sulfide oxidizing bacteria on corroded concrete surfaces of sewer systems.

The activity of hydrogen sulfide oxidizing bacteria within corroded concrete from a sewer manhole was investigated. The bacteria were exposed to hydrogen sulfide starvation for up till 18 months, upon which their hydrogen sulfide oxidizing activity was measured. It was tested whether the observed reduction in biological activity was caused by a biological lag phase or by decay of the bacteria. The results showed that the bacterial activity declined with approximately 40% pr. month during the first two months of hydrogen sulfide starvation. After 2-3 months of starvation, the activity stabilized. Even after 6 months of starvation, exposure to hydrogen sulfide for 6 hours a day on three successive days could restore the bacteriological activity to about 80% of the initial activity. After 12 months of starvation, the activity could, however, not be restored, and after 18 months the biological activity approached zero. The long-term survival aspect of concrete corroding bacteria has implications for predicting hydrogen sulfide corrosion in sewer systems subject to irregular hydrogen sulfide loadings, e.g. as they occur in temperate climates where hydrogen sulfide often is a summer-problem only.     

Occurrence and weight-of-evidence risk assessment of alkyl sulfates, alkyl ethoxysulfates, and linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) in river water and sediments

Alkyl sulfates (AS), alkyl ethoxysulfates (AES) and linear alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS) are all High Production Volume (HPV) and 'down-the-drain' chemicals used globally in detergent and personal care products, resulting in low levels ultimately released to the environment via wastewater effluent. Due to their surfactant properties, they preferentially sorb to sediments. Hence, assessment of their levels and potential perturbations on benthos are of interest. The relative levels of AS/AES decreased with distance from the wastewater treatment plant outfall. However, this was not evident for LAS. Short chained AES and especially AS dominated the homologue distribution for AES. There were no evident patterns in LAS homologue distribution. The overall mean margin of exposure (MoE) for AS/AES and LAS is approximately 40 (range: 3 to 100) suggesting no noteworthy perturbation on biota. The findings in this study are in concordance with previous preliminary hazard screening. Comparative sediment contamination analyses principally based on Chapman and Anderson [Chapman PM, Anderson, J. A decision-making framework for sediment contamination. Integr Environ Assess Mana. 2005; 1: 163-173.] and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RAPID assessment methods [USEPA. Rapid bioassessment protocols for use in wadeable streams and rivers: Periphyton, benthic, macroinvertebrates, and fish. 1999. Second Edition. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, Washington, D.C. EPA 841-B-99-002.] did not reveal significant correlations between the surfactant concentrations and ecological status of the sampling locations. Several Lines of Evidence (LoE) of the Weight-of-Evidence (WoE) lead to the conclusion of low aquatic risk associated to the monitored compounds.     

Oxidative changes during ice storage of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fed different ratios of marine and vegetable feed ingredients

Recently fish meal and oil have increasingly been replaced with proteins and oils from vegetable sources in the diets of farmed salmonids, but the consequences for the oxidative stability of the resulting fish products have not been investigated. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of feeding regime on composition of rainbow trout fillets, as well as on lipid and protein oxidation during storage on ice. Rainbow trout were fed six different diets, which differed in their levels of marine oil and proteins vs. vegetable oil and protein. Fish fillets were characterised by measurement of fatty acid and amino acid composition, primary and secondary lipid oxidation products, astaxanthin and tocopherol content. Protein oxidation was assessed by measuring protein carbonyl content, oxidised amino acids, sulfhydryl groups and immuno-blotting against carbonyl groups. Feeding regimes significantly influenced fatty acid composition. Replacement of fish oil with vegetable oil reduced formation of primary oxidation products, but the effect on secondary oxidation products differed between different types of volatiles. The differences in protein and amino acid composition were not significant, and there were no clear effects of diets on protein oxidation, but data indicated that compounds present in the marine ingredients might have had an effect on protein oxidation.     

Analyzing and evaluating product demand interdependencies

Demand-driven manufacturing is an extremely unstable planning environment compared to forecast-driven manufacturing. This requires preparation and makes knowledge of demand behaviour even more important for planning and control. The basic assumptions of pre-ante allocation based on forecast of independent end-products demand are critical for manufacturing planning and control in general. However, the importance is higher for demand-driven manufacturing than forecast-driven manufacturing. This is due to the sensitivity of demand-driven manufacturing to demand fluctuations, e.g. time and interdependency of demand rates, due to the customer order decoupling point.This paper presents a method to establish time and interdependency of demand rates (the Time- and Interdependent Demand Rate Method), which can improve the planning and control performance as well as the order management performance in a MTO environment. The method is tested on data from two cases. For both cases results and demand planning implications are presented. Use guidelines for the method are also presented along with avenues of further research.     

Simulations of H2O2 concentration profiles in the water surrounding spent nuclear fuel

A simple mathematical model describing the hydrogen peroxide concentration profile in water surrounding a spent nuclear fuel pellet as a function of time has been developed. The water volume is divided into smaller elements, and the processes that affect hydrogen peroxide concentration are applied to each volume element. The model includes production of H₂O₂ from α-radiolysis, surface reaction between H₂O₂ and UO₂ and diffusion. Simulations show that the surface concentration of H₂O₂ increases fairly rapidly and approaches the steady-state concentration. The time to reach steady-state is sufficiently short to be neglected compared to the times of interest when simulating spent fuel dissolution under deep repository conditions. Consequently, the steady-state approach can be used to estimate the rate for radiation-induced spent nuclear fuel dissolution.     

In situ corrosion testing of various nickel alloys at Måbjerg waste incineration plant

The majority of waste in Denmark is disposed via waste to energy (WTE) incineration plants which are fabricated from carbon steel. However, due to the increasing corrosiveness of waste over the years, more corrosion resistant alloys are required. In Denmark, Inconel 625 (UNSN06625) is the weld overlay material currently being used to give improved corrosion resistance. In order to assess the use of alternative nickel alloys, test panels have been manufactured and inserted into Måbjerg waste incineration plant. Inconel 625 as a 50% weld overlay, two layered weld overlay and as a spiral weld overlay was exposed. Other nickel materials exposed were weld overlay Alloy 686, Alloy 50 and Sumitomo Super 625 coextruded tube. Exposure has been undertaken from 2003 to 2009 in the first pass and 2005–2009 in the second pass, and sections have been removed and investigated during this period. The composition of the deposits from the exposed waterwall panels was also analysed each time sections were removed. This paper will compare the various nickel alloys in the two areas and assess the results of the long‐term testing project.