Multiple Condensation filters for road detection and tracking

In this paper, we present a novel and robust road tracking system for vision-based personal navigation. Novelty of the work includes the use of multiple Condensation filters to track the road of arbitrary shape and automatic switching between trackers according to road conditions. The approach allows the road to be represented as a simple hyperbola. It also supports the representation of the road as a sequence of connected arcs/segments so that information from a digital map can be integrated into tracking. The parameters of the hyperbola road model are estimated using multiple vanishing points located in image strips. The road tracking method is robust in dealing with complex road shapes, background clutters, shadows, and road markings. Experiments using real videos demonstrate the robustness of our approach.     

Analysis of pressure-driven electrokinetic flows in hydrophobic microchannels with slip-dependent zeta potential

The present study is an analysis of pressure-driven electrokinetic flows in hydrophobic microchannels with emphasis on the slip effects under coupling of interfacial electric and fluid slippage phenomena. Commonly used linear model with slip-independent zeta potential and the nonlinear model at limiting (high-K) condition with slip-dependent zeta potential are solved analytically. Then, numerical solutions of the electrokinetic flow model with zeta potential varying with slip length are analyzed. Different from the general notion of “the more hydrophobic the channel wall, the higher the flowrate,” the results with slip-independent and slip-dependent zeta potentials both disclose that flowrate becomes insensitive to the wall hydrophobicity or fluid slippage at sufficiently large slip lengths. Boundary slip not only assists fluid motion but also enhances counter-ions transport in EDL and, thus, results in strong streaming potential as well as electrokinetic retardation. With slip-dependent zeta potential considered, flowrate varies non-monotonically with increasing slip length due to competition of the favorable and adverse effects with more complicated interactions. The influence of the slip on the electrokinetic flow is eventually nullified at large slip lengths for balance of the counter effects, and the flowrate becomes insensitive to further hydrophobicity of the microchannel. The occurrence of maximum, minimum, and insensitivity on the flowrate-slip curves can be premature at a higher zeta potential and/or larger electrokinetic separation distance.     

The UK Cleanfeed system — Lessons for the German debate?

As readers of this journal will of course know, the Zugangserschwerungsgesetz has caused considerable and often very profound debate in Germany about the limits of legal and technological interference with the freedom of access to information, culminating in the temporary refusal of the President to sign the law into action. In the UK by contrast, a core aspect of this law, the technical prevention of access to sites hosting illegal content by ISPs, was introduced through the so called “Cleanfeed system” as early as 1996, with little or no public debate, and bypassing by and large all parliamentary procedure and scrutiny. This article has a threefold aim: First, it gives a brief account of the history and implementation of the UK Cleanfeed system1; second, it explains some of its more unusual aspects by putting them into the historical and constitutional context of policing in the UK, and third, it highlights those experiences made with the system that are of direct relevance for the German discussion.     

Fundamental dynamics of flow through carbon nanotube membranes

The flow of a model non-polar liquid through small carbon nanotubes is studied using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. We explain how a membrane of small-diameter nanotubes can transport this liquid faster than a membrane consisting of larger-diameter nanotubes. This effect is shown to be back-pressure dependent, and the reasons for this are explored. The flow through the very smallest nanotubes is shown to depend strongly on the depth of the potential inside, suggesting atomic separation can be based on carbon interaction strength as well as physical size. Finally, we demonstrate how increasing the back-pressure can counter-intuitively result in lower exit velocities from a nanotube. Such studies are crucial for optimisation of nanotube membranes.     

Using jump-diffusion modeling for valuing real options in infrastructure projects

In infrastructure financed projects, in order to attract private investors, host governments often provide some guarantees. This paper develops a value model of minimum revenue guarantee with multiple-exercise real options under the impact of the emergency incident. The model is applied to infrastructure financed projects using the minimum revenue guarantee under simulation. The simulation results indicate that, before quantifying the value of the minimum revenue guarantee, it is necessary to forecast the jump degree and intensity of the emergency incident, as well as prevent and control risks arising from such emergencies. Otherwise, underestimation of the guarantee value will occur and the government will have to bear huge debt in this condition. We also analyze the dependence of the guaranteed value on the minimum guaranteed revenue level, initial revenue and number of exercise rights. For various conditions, the diagrams of the guaranteed value are also presented.     

A novel color image watermarking scheme in nonsampled contourlet-domain

Geometric distortion is known as one of the most difficult attacks to resist, for it can desynchronize the location of the watermark and hence causes incorrect watermark detection. It is a challenging work to design a robust color image watermarking scheme against geometric distortions. Based on the support vector regression (SVR) and nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT), we propose a new color image watermarking algorithm with good visual quality and reasonable resistance toward geometric distortions in this paper. Firstly, the geometrically invariant space is constructed by using color image normalization, and a significant region is obtained from the normalized color image by utilizing the invariant centroid theory. Then, the NSCT is performed on the green channel of the significant region. Finally, the digital watermark is embedded into host color image by modifying the low frequency NSCT coefficients, in which the HVS masking is used to control the watermark embedding strength. In watermark detection, according to the high correlation among different channels of the color image, the digital watermark can be recovered by using SVR technique. Experimental results show that the proposed color image watermarking is not only invisible and robust against common image processing operations such as filtering, noise adding, and JPEG compression etc., but also robust against the geometrical distortions.     

Tuning of multi-loop PI controllers based on gain and phase margin specifications

In this paper, a single-iteration strategy is proposed for the design of a multi-loop PI controller to achieve the desired gain and phase margins for two-input and two-output (TITO) processes. To handle loop interactions, a TITO system is converted into two equivalent single loops with uncertainties drawn from interactions. The maximum uncertainty is estimated for the initial controller design in one loop and single-input and single-output (SISO) controller design is applied. This controller is substituted to other equivalent loop for design, and finally, the first loop controller is refined on knowledge of other loop controller. For SISO controller tuning, a new method is presented to determine the achievable gain and phase margins as well as the relevant controller parameters. Examples are given for illustration and comparison.     

Comparative analysis of a randomized N-policy queue: An improved maximum entropy method

We analyze a single removable and unreliable server in an M/G/1 queueing system operating under the 〈p, N〉-policy. As soon as the system size is greater than N, turn the server on with probability p and leave the server off with probability (1 ? p). All arriving customers demand the first essential service, where only some of them demand the second optional service. He needs a startup time before providing first essential service until there are no customers in the system. The server is subject to break down according to a Poisson process and his repair time obeys a general distribution. In this queueing system, the steady-state probabilities cannot be derived explicitly. Thus, we employ an improved maximum entropy method with several well-known constraints to estimate the probability distributions of system size and the expected waiting time in the system. By a comparative analysis between the exact and approximate results, we may demonstrate that the improved maximum entropy method is accurate enough for practical purpose, and it is a useful method for solving complex queueing systems.