Mapping urban change in the UK using satellite radar interferometry

A multitemporal sequence of ERS interferometric coherence data acquired between 1993 and 1999 are utilised for automatically mapping urban change within South Wales, UK. Validation of the change map derived from the coherence data is performed using independent, multidate, digital survey data of the city of Cardiff, UK. All major building developments that have occurred within the study area are located. There is evidence to suggest that this approach is generalisable for a wide range of coherence data and to other regions with similar landscapes.     

The International Technology Alliance in Network and Information Sciences

In May 2006, the US Army Research Laboratory and UK Ministry of Defense created the international technology alliance. The consortium of 26 partners including the ARL and MoD offers an open research environment in which leading US and UK companies and universities can collaborate (see table 1). It will also fuse the best aspects of the US Army's Collaborative Technology Alliances and UK MoD's Defense Technology Centers on an international scale. The ITA aims to develop flexible, distributed, and secure decision-making procedures to improve networked coalition operations. Network science is a young discipline we have limited information models and network theories to describe the behavior and scaling of large, complex mobile ad hoc networks.1 moreover, you can't understand a coalition network's performance without understanding its cognitive and sociocultural aspects and physical characteristics. A key ITA goal is to perform basic research in network-centric coalition decision making across four technical areas: network theory, security across a system of systems, sensor information processing and delivery, and distributed coalition planning and decision making, 2. we focus on the last area because this is where intelligent systems will play the biggest role.     

CdTe-CdS solar cells — Production in a new baseline and investigation of material properties

In this paper, we describe our new baseline for CSS-CdTe-CdS solar cells on 10 × 10 cm² substrates. The deposition of the p-n junction and all the following steps were performed at the Institut für Festkörperphysik (IFK) in Jena. Using the new baseline, we are already able to produce solar cells with similar properties as commercial ones. In the batch type process, all manufacturing steps can be investigated separately. We employ Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements to characterise the structure of the bulk materials and interfaces. It is demonstrated that by RBS the front contact becomes accessible for thinned CdTe films. At the back contact, RBS spectra show a tellurium accumulation which is due to etching. This tellurium rich layer is confirmed by XRD with Rietveld refinement. The intermixing at the CdS-CdTe interface caused by the activation step is quantified by a bandgap determination based on EQE measurements. From the bandgap energy of the CdTe_1 − xS_x compound, we calculated the sulphur fraction x at the interface. XRD measurements imply that the activation step induces a (111) texture in CdTe. With regard to an improved manufacturing process, our cells are compared to industrial cells produced by Antec Solar Energy.     

A Region Ensemble for 3-D Face Recognition

In this paper, we introduce a new system for 3D face recognition based on the fusion of results from a committee of regions that have been independently matched. Experimental results demonstrate that using 28 small regions on the face allow for the highest level of 3D face recognition. Score-based fusion is performed on the individual region match scores and experimental results show that the Borda count and consensus voting methods yield higher performance than the standard sum, product, and min fusion rules. In addition, results are reported that demonstrate the robustness of our algorithm by simulating large holes and artifacts in images. To our knowledge, no other work has been published that uses a large number of 3D face regions for high-performance face matching. Rank one recognition rates of 97.2% and verification rates of 93.2% at a 0.1% false accept rate are reported and compared to other methods published on the face recognition grand challenge v2 data set.     

A neuro-fuzzy approach to automatic diagnosis and location of stator inter-turn faults in CSI-fed PM brushless DC motors

The paper presents a neuro-fuzzy-based perspective to the automation of diagnosis and location of stator-winding interturn short circuits in CSI-fed brushless dc motors. Performance of the drive under normal and short-circuit conditions are obtained through classical lumped-parameter network models. Waveforms of the electromagnetic torque and summation of phase voltages are monitored to develop two independent diagnostic algorithms. Diagnostic indices derived from the characteristic waveforms using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) lead to identifying the number of shorted turns. Fault location is achieved through a different set of indices extracted by the short-time Fourier transform (STFT). Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) are trained based on simulation results to automate the diagnostic process. ANFIS testing along with the good agreement between simulated and measured waveforms show the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.     

Diamino telechelic polybutadienes for solventless styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) triblock copolymer formation

High molecular weight, high functionality diamino telechelic polybutadienes (TPBs) were synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of 1,5-cyclooctadiene (COD) in the presence of a chain transfer agent, 1,8-dicyano-4-octene, followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction. Melt coupling of diamino TPB with anhydride-terminated polystyrene (PS-anh) resulted in the formation of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) triblock copolymers; ca. 80% maximum conversion of PS-anh was achieved within 30 s. The results from SAXS, TEM, and rheological measurements of the coupling products confirmed the formation of SBS triblock copolymers having lamellar morphology. A fluorescent-labeled PS-anh was used to study the coupling kinetics by diluting the reactants by the addition of non-functional PS.     

Electronic properties of dehydrogenated nanodiamonds: A first-principles study

First-principles calculations using quantum-mechanical density functional theory (DFT) are carried out to study the geometric structure and electronic properties of dehydrogenated nanodiamonds with diameters varying from 0.8 nm to 1.6 nm. The results show that the electronic properties of dehydrogenated nanodiamond are quite different from those of bulk diamond or hydrogenated nanodiamond. Surface atoms play an important role in the electronic structure, especially the states near the Fermi level, for dehydrogenated nanodiamond. In addition, it has been revealed that the size-dependent feature in the electronic properties for dehydrogenated diamonds is also contributed by the surface effect, in addition to the quantum confinement effect.     

Chromatic induction: Opponent color or complementary color process?

In present convention, chromatic induction (simultaneous and successive contrast) is usually held to be an opponent color process. Fifty years ago, it was an accepted complementary color process. The latter was never disputed yet apparently overlooked, and is here shown to be the more accurate account by inspecting afterimages and published data on simultaneous and successive hue induction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 33, 77–81, 2008     

Pulsating Jet Impingement Heat Transfer Enhancement

This article presents results from a numerical study of pulsating jet impingement heat transfer. The motivation is to seek conditions offering a significant enhancement compared to steady flow impingement drying. The CFD software package FLUENT was used for simulating slot-type pulsating jet impingement flows with confinement. The parameter study included velocity amplitude ratio, mean jet velocity, and pulsation frequency. The distance from nozzle exit to surface was three times the hydraulic diameter of the nozzle. The Reynolds number based on the nozzle hydraulic diameter and jet temperature was 2,460 with a mean jet velocity of 30 m/s, which is the base case of the numerical experiments. Results showed that time-averaged surface heat transfer increased with increasing velocity amplitude for the same mean jet velocity. Large velocity amplitudes helped enhance heat transfer by two mechanisms: high jet velocity during the positive cycle and strong recirculating flows during the negative cycle. For the cases with different mean jet velocities but the same maximum velocity, time-averaged surface heat flux decreased with decreasing mean jet velocity. As for the effects of pulsation frequency, with high-velocity amplitude ratio, time-averaged surface heat fluxes were at the same level regardless of frequency. However, at low-velocity amplitude ratio, high frequency caused stronger recirculating flows resulting in greater heat transfer compared to the cases with a lower frequency.