Multivariate autoregressive feature extraction and the recognition of multichannel waveforms

It is proposed that the autoregressive coefficient matrices appearing in a multivariate autoregressive model fitting may be used for feature extraction purposes in problems concerning recognition of multichannel waveforms. It is demonstrated how the information contained in the autoregressive parameters may be further compressed by applying the ordinary or a modified Karhunen-Loeve expansion. The feature extraction procedures are illustrated on a large data base of seismic wave traces originating from shallow earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions. The results obtained (using a multivariate Gaussian classification algorithm) suggest that the combined autore-gressive/Karhunen-Loeve method has a considerably larger discrimination potential than the more conventional seismic discriminants.     

The effect of feedback on keying performance

The introduction of new telephone signalling systems and new technologies for telephone keypads has stimulated interest in the effect of providing electronic feedback on keying performance. An experiment using a conventional keypad is reported which shows that electronic auditory feedback had no significant effect on keying speed, accuracy or subject's opinion. A further series of experiments investigating the best type of feedback to improve performance with ‘touch’ keypads is then described. It was found that an electronic tone presented through the telephone earpiece was the best feedback.

Finally, performance with two types of touch keyphones incorporating the optimum form of feedback was compared with performance using a conventional keyphone. It was found that accuracy was significantly greater with the conventional keyphone, although performance with the touch keypads could be improved by electronically removing some of the very short spurious signalling times produced by them.     

The application of force-sensing resistor sensors for measuring forces developed by the human hand

Most attempts to measure forces developed by the human hand have been implemented by placing force sensors on the object of interaction. Other researchers have placed sensors just on the subject's fingertips. In this paper, a system is described that measures forces over the entire hand using thin-film sensors and associated electronics. This system was developed by the authors and is able to obtain force readings from up to 60 thin-film sensors at rates of up to 400 samples/s per sensor. The sensors can be placed anywhere on the palm and/or fingers of the hand. The sensor readings, together with a video stream containing information about hand posture, are logged into a portable computer using a multiplexer, analogue-to-digital converter and software developed for the purpose. The system has been successfully used to measure forces involved in a range of everyday tasks such as driving a vehicle, lifting saucepans and hitting a golf ball. In the latter case, results are compared with those from an instrumented golf club. Future applications include the assessment of hand strength following disease, trauma or surgery, and to enable quantitative ergonomic investigations.     

Thermally compensated temperature sensor capable of highly accurate measurements on surfaces

A thermally compensated temperature sensor capable of highly accurate determination of surface temperatures has been demonstrated. The probe consists of a single crystal Y(3)Al(5)O(12) fiber terminating in a laser-heated Yb(3)Al(5)O(12) phosphor. It has been shown to have a measurement accuracy of approximately 1 degrees C. In principle, this device should work in the proximity as well as the contact mode.     

Modulational Instability of Optical Vortices in Engineered Saturable MediaOA

Propagation of light beams in turbid media such as underwater environments,fog,clouds,or biological tissues finds increasingly important applications in science and technology,including bio-imaging,underwater communication,and free-space communication technologies.While many of these applications traditionally relied on conventional,linearly polarized Gaussian beams,light possesses many degrees of freedom that are still largely unexplored,such as spin angular momentum(SAM) and orbital angular mo...     

痛挽往昔 瞻望来者——巴米扬窟龛考

本文整理出巴米扬山谷遗址群的年代学证据,旨在重现大佛的历史与图像地位。首先介绍了巴米扬山谷遗址群的研究方法和年代阶段,接着讨论玄奘所见所录的大佛的原始配置,最后将三尊佛像放入其原始的图像志语境中去考查,认为涅檗像原应位于38米大佛和55米大佛之间。后者为宝装焰肩佛,其神格应为燃灯佛;38米大佛为释迦佛。而巡礼者所遵循的应是燃灯佛-释迦佛-涅粲佛-弥勒佛的绕拜顺序。     

Effect of Carbon Properties on Melting Behavior of Mold Fluxes for Continuous Casting of Steels

Mold fluxes are synthetic slags used to coverthe liquid steel meniscus during continuous castingof steel.The flux,whichis continuously fed on thesurface of liquid pool during casting,melts first andthenflowsintothe gap between mold wall and solid-ified steel shell.It is well known that the perform-ance of the flux can greatly affect both the castingoperation and product quality.Because of its i mpor-tance,intensiveinvestigations have been performed,and considerable progress has been made[1-6].…     

e-Automation,an architecture for distributed industrial automation systems

Due to the complexity of modern industrial systems, a conventional automation system is not capable of providing sufficient information management and high-level intelligent approaches, as achieving these functionalities requires the support of comprehensive data management and coordination between system devices and heterogenous information. This paper proposes the concept of e-Automation, in which computer networking and distributed intelligence agent technologies are applied to industrial automation systems, and presents a hardware and software architecture that implements this concept. An open infrastructure based on multi-agent systems is employed in the proposed architecture of e-Automation, which aims to allow the implementation of diverse tasks and to permit greater configurability than can be obtained from a traditional system. To evaluate our proposed e-Automation concept, this paper presents a case study of substation information management which adopts the proposed e-Automation architecture in power system domain.     

An integrated research tool for X-ray imaging simulation

This paper presents a software simulation package of the entire X-ray projection radiography process including beam generation, absorber structure and composition, irradiation set up, radiation transport through the absorbing medium, image formation and dose calculation. Phantoms are created as composite objects from geometrical or voxelized primitives and can be subjected to simulated irradiation process. The acquired projection images represent the two-dimensional spatial distribution of the energy absorbed in the detector and are formed at any geometry, taking into account energy spectrum, beam geometry and detector response. This software tool is the evolution of a previously presented system, with new functionalities, user interface and an expanded range of applications. This has been achieved mainly by the use of combinatorial geometry for phantom design and the implementation of a Monte Carlo code for the simulation of the radiation interaction at the absorber and the detector.