Application of Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy to highlight the prior austenite grain boundaries revealed by thermal etching

Revealing prior austenite grain boundaries by thermal etching has been demonstrated to be a reliable and fast method compared to chemical etching for microalloyed carbon steels. However, sometimes visualization of the thermally etched prior austenite grain boundaries is hindered by the presence of grain boundaries of other phases (e.g. ferrite and/or pearlite) which are thermally etched during slow cooling from high temperature. This work shows that, under these conditions, the use of Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy under bright field illumination helps to highlight the thermally etched prior austenite grain boundaries.     

Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation Editors Collaborate to Chart School Psychology's Past, Present, and "Futures".

This introduction will briefly describe the special journal issues that will be offered in Psychology in the Schools (PITS), School Psychology issues Review (SPR), School Psychology Quarterly (SPQ), and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (JEPC) on topics related to the conference. For almost a half-century, students in school psychology have investigated the "Boulder" and "Thayer" conferences, studying and exploring our foundation as scientist-practitioners and brooding over the "school" in school psychology. In a notable alliance, SPR and SPQ are publishing the proceedings of the conference jointly. As part of the School Psychology Futures Conference: Special Journal Issues se- series, Psychology in the Schools will publish a special issue entitled: Shortage of ries, School Psychologists in the April 2004 issue. School psychology quarterly will also be sponsoring a special issue addressing the faculty shortage in school psychology and related difficulties. Consultation emerged as a major thread throughout the School Psychology Futures Conference as participants brainstormed problems and solutions to meet the critical issues faced by school professionals as they work towards improving educational and mental health outcomes for children and families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partnering to Chart our Futures: School Psychology Review and School Psychology Quarterly Combined Issue on the Multisite Conference on the Future of School Psychology.

For more than half a century, school psychologists have considered the need for role expansion and revision if they are to meet the poignant needs of children, youth, families, and school personnel. In fact, as previously discussed, school psychology practitioners and trainers have come together for a variety of conferences hoping to transform our training, roles, and practices in schools and society. A number of national initiatives have recently been implemented, including the reauthorization of the individuals with Disabilities Education Act, refinement of the evidence-based Institute of Educational Sciences, and implementation of the ubiquitous No Child Left Behind Act. The collaboration among the major leaders and organizations in school psychology, and what it yielded, was perhaps the most exciting and optimistic aspect of the Futures Conference held in Indianapolis, Indiana, in November 2002. Although the previous conferences at Spring Hill and Olympia represented collaborative efforts among the National Association of School Psychologists laborative (NASP), along with other organizations and supporters, the extensive level of coordination and cooperation required for the Futures Conference appears unparalleled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The lonesome architect

Although the benefits are well-known and undisputed, sharing architectural knowledge is not something architects automatically do. In an attempt to better understand what architects really do and what kind of support they need for sharing knowledge, we have conducted large-scale survey research. The results of our study indicate that architects can be characterized as rather lonesome decision makers who mainly consume, but neglect documenting and actively sharing architectural knowledge. Acknowledging this nature of architects suggests ways to develop more effective support for architectural knowledge sharing.     

Realization and identification of autonomous linear periodically time-varying systems

The subsampling of a linear periodically time-varying system results in a collection of linear time-invariant systems with common poles. This key fact, known as “lifting”, is used in a two-step realization method. The first step is the realization of the time-invariant dynamics (the lifted system). Computationally, this step is a rank-revealing factorization of a block-Hankel matrix. The second step derives a state space representation of the periodic time-varying system. It is shown that no extra computations are required in the second step. The computational complexity of the overall method is therefore equal to the complexity for the realization of the lifted system. A modification of the realization method is proposed, which makes the complexity independent of the parameter variation period. Replacing the rank-revealing factorization in the realization algorithm by structured low-rank approximation yields a maximum likelihood identification method. Existing methods for structured low-rank approximation are used to identify efficiently a linear periodically time-varying system. These methods can deal with missing data.     

Analytical electron microscope study of the dissolution of the Fe3C iron carbide phase (cementite) during a graphitisation anneal of carbon steel

The evolution of microstructure and composition of the Fe₃C iron carbide phase (cementite) during a graphitisation anneal of a quenched, medium carbon steel has been studied by analytical electron microscopy, including energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) imaging. During heat treatment at 680 °C, dissolution of the cementite particles dispersed in the martensitic matrix was completed within a time period of 1.5 h, during which time graphite nodules began to form. However, a non-graphitic carbon-rich amorphous phase was also detected during this heat treatment. It is postulated that these amorphous particles could be an intermediate stage during the overall graphitisation process.     

Silhouette-based multi-sensor smoke detection

Fire is one of the leading hazards affecting everyday life around the world. The sooner the fire is detected, the better the chances are for survival. Today’s fire alarm systems, such as video-based smoke detectors, however, still pose many problems. In order to accomplish more accurate video-based smoke detection and to reduce false alarms, this paper proposes a multi-sensor smoke detector which takes advantage of the different kinds of information represented by visual and thermal imaging sensors. The detector analyzes the silhouette coverage of moving objects in visual and long-wave infrared registered (~aligned) images. The registration is performed using a contour mapping algorithm which detects the rotation, scale and translation between moving objects in the multi-spectral images. The geometric parameters found at this stage are then further used to coarsely map the silhouette images and coverage between them is calculated. Since smoke is invisible in long-wave infrared its silhouette will, contrarily to ordinary moving objects, only be detected in visual images. As such, the coverage of thermal and visual silhouettes will start to decrease in case of smoke. Due to the dynamic character of the smoke, the visual silhouette will also show a high degree of disorder. By focusing on both silhouette behaviors, the system is able to accurately detect the smoke. Experiments on smoke and non-smoke multi-sensor sequences indicate that the automated smoke detection algorithm is able to coarsely map the multi-sensor images. Furthermore, using the low-cost silhouette analysis, a fast warning, with a low number of false alarms, can be given.     

Decoder-driven mode decision in a block-based distributed video codec

Distributed Video Coding (DVC) is a video coding paradigm in which the computational complexity is shifted from the encoder to the decoder. DVC is based on information theoretic results suggesting that, under ideal conditions, the same rate-distortion performance can be achieved as for traditional video codecs. In practice however, there is still a significant performance gap between the two coding architectures. One of the main reasons for this gap is the lack of multiple coding modes in current DVC solutions. In this paper, we propose a block-based distributed video codec that supports three coding modes: Wyner–Ziv, skip, and intra. The mode decision process is entirely decoder-driven. Skip blocks are selected based on the estimated accuracy of the side information. The choice between intra and Wyner–Ziv coding modes is made on a rate-distortion basis, by selecting the coding mode with the lowest rate while assuring equal distortion for both modes. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed block-based architecture has some advantages over classical bitplane-based approaches. Introducing skip and intra coded blocks yields average bitrate gains of up to 33.7% over our basic configuration supporting Wyner–Ziv mode only, and up to 29.7% over the reference bitplane-based DISCOVER codec.