Use of a dark object concept and support vector machines to automate forest cover change analysis

An automated method was developed for mapping forest cover change using satellite remote sensing data sets. This multi-temporal classification method consists of a training data automation (TDA) procedure and uses the advanced support vector machines (SVM) algorithm. The TDA procedure automatically generates training data using input satellite images and existing land cover products. The derived high quality training data allow the SVM to produce reliable forest cover change products. This approach was tested in 19 study areas selected from major forest biomes across the globe. In each area a forest cover change map was produced using a pair of Landsat images acquired around 1990 and 2000. High resolution IKONOS images and independently developed reference data sets were available for evaluating the derived change products in 7 of those areas. The overall accuracy values were over 90% for 5 areas, and were 89.4% and 89.6% for the remaining two areas. The user's and producer's accuracies of the forest loss class were over 80% for all 7 study areas, demonstrating that this method is especially effective for mapping major disturbances with low commission errors. IKONOS images were also available in the remaining 12 study areas but they were either located in non-forest areas or in forest areas that did not experience forest cover change between 1990 and 2000. For those areas the IKONOS images were used to assist visual interpretation of the Landsat images in assessing the derived change products. This visual assessment revealed that for most of those areas the derived change products likely were as reliable as those in the 7 areas where accuracy assessment was conducted. The results also suggest that images acquired during leaf-off seasons should not be used in forest cover change analysis in areas where deciduous forests exist. Being highly automatic and with demonstrated capability to produce reliable change products, the TDA-SVM method should be especially useful for quantifying forest cover change over large areas.     

Truth-Telling Reservations

We present a mechanism for reservations of bursty resources that is both truthful and robust. It consists of option contracts whose pricing structure induces users to reveal the true likelihoods that they will purchase a given resource. Users are also allowed to adjust their options as their likelihood changes. This scheme helps users save cost and the providers to plan ahead so as to reduce the risk of under-utilization and overbooking. The mechanism extracts revenue similar to that of a monopoly provider practicing temporal pricing discrimination with a user population whose preference distribution is known in advance.     

使用HTTP Tunneling技术实现穿透网络防火墙的通信

近年来,防火墙在网络中得到了广泛的应用.它能够比较有效地防范病毒与黑客的攻击,保护网络的安全.但是也带来了一些不利影响,使一些需要进行网络通信的应用软件系统不能正常工作.介绍一个解决方案,并且重点介绍通过HTTP Tunneling技术使用基于文本的HTTP协议传送二进制数据的方法.     

Computational simulation of Belousov–Zhabotinskii oscillating chemical reaction

The suitability of computational simulation of the Belousov–Zhabotinskii oscillating chemical reaction by differential kinetic methodology for resolving nonlinear multi-component system is demonstrated in this work. According to the Field–KÖrÖs–Noyes mechanism and the Oregonator model, the change of the concentrations of HBrO₂, bromide ion and cerium ion are simulated. The results of computational simulation are consistent with experimental results very well. At the same time, the effect of variables and parameters, especially the rate constant on the oscillation curve, are investigated deeply. A simple method of estimating rate constants is obtained through simulation the concentrations of key components of the system, and then comparison the simulation results with the experimental ones. The reasonable rate constant is also proposed.     

Layered image coding using the DCT pyramid

A block-based subband image coder that exploits the ability to perform decimation in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain to effect a pyramidal data structure is described. The proposed "DCT pyramid" has a distinct feature of improved image rendition properties without the associated blocking artifacts at low bit-rates.     

Infrared target tracking based on proximal robust principal component analysis method

Applied Intelligence - Infrared target tracking plays an important role in both civil and military fields. The main challenges in designing a robust and high-precision tracker for infrared...     

Effect of Sintering Temperature on Magnetic and Electrical Properties of GdBaCo<Subscript>2</Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis><Subscript>5 + <Emphasis Type="Italic">δ</Emphasis></Subscript>

In this study, we report the results of an investigation into the sintering temperature dependence of magnetic and transport properties for GdBaCo₂ O _{5 + δ} synthesized through a sol-gel method. The lowering of sintering temperature leads to the increase of oxygen content and the reduction of grain size. The increase of oxygen content results in the enhancement of magnetic interactions and the weakening of Coulomb repulsion effect, while the reduction of grain size improves the magnetoresistance effect. Metal-insulator transition accompanied with spin-state transition is observed in all samples.     

Epitaxial growth and thermal-conductivity limit of single-crystalline Bi2Se3/In2Se3 superlattices on mica

Nano Research - Thermal transport in superlattices is governed by various phonon-scattering processes. For extracting the phonon-scattering contribution of hetero-interfaces in chalcogenide...     

The interlaminar shear failure characteristics of asphalt pavement coupled heating cables

Nowadays, heating cables are used as heat sources for heating pavements in practical engineering. However, there is a contradiction between the snow melting function and the interlaminar stability of heating pavement. In order to solve the contradiction, the interlaminar failure behavior of asphalt mixture coupled heating cables specimen (AMCS) was researched, through experiments and the finite element method. Under the different conditions of heating cables and rolling times, a series of direct shear tests was performed at the interface of AMCS, to compare the interlaminar stability of three different AMCS. Meanwhile, based on the bilinear cohesive zone model and coulomb friction model a 2D finite element model was established, to simulate this shear failure processes and make up for the limitations of the experiment. According to above test and simulation results, the failure mechanism and the weakest interface in AMCS were found, and the influence of the heating cable’s diameter and embedded spacing on the interlaminar shear strength were found. Then, a modified coulomb theorem model was proposed to predict the shear strength of the AMCS. This research enriches the design theory of the heating pavement and it has great significance for its structural design of heating asphalt pavement.     

A facile synthesis of supported amorphous iron oxide with high performance for Cr(Ⅵ) removal from aqueous solution under visible light irradiation

A series of supported iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by impregnation with Fe(NO_3)_3 supported on TiO_2,followed by low-temperature calcination. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra and BET have been used to characterize the samples. These iron oxide-impregnated TiO_2 were examined for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(Ⅵ). The experiments demonstrated that Cr(Ⅵ) in aqueous solution was more efficiently reduced using Fe_2O_3/TiO_2 heterogeneous photocatalysts than either pure Fe_2O_3 or TiO_2 under visible light irradiation. All TiO_2 supported samples were somewhat active for visible light photoreduction. With an optimal mole ratio of 0.05-Fe/Ti, the highest rate of Cr(Ⅵ) reduction was achieved under the experimental conditions. We also compared the photoreactivity of TiO_2 supported iron oxide samples with that supported on Al_2O_3 and ZrO_2. It can be noted that iron oxide nanoparticles deposited on high surface area supports to increase the solid-liquid contact area renders it considerably more active. Noticeably,iron oxide cluster size and dispersion are important parameters in synthesizing active, supported Iron oxide nanoparticles. In addition, the interaction between iron oxide and TiO_2 was proposed as the source of photoactivity for Cr(Ⅵ) reduction.