Simulating weld-fusion boundary microstructures in aluminum alloys

A fundamental study of weld-fusion boundary microstructure evolution in aluminum alloys was conducted in an effort to understand equiaxed grain zone formation and fusion boundary nucleation and growth phenomena. In addition to commercial aluminum alloys, experimental Mg-bearing alloys with Zr and Sc additions were studied along with the widely used Cu- and Licontaining alloy 2195-T8. This article describes work conducted to clarify the interrelation among composition, base metal substrate, and temperature as they relate to nucleation and growth phenomena at the fusion boundary. Anastasios D. Kostrivas, a Ph.D. candidate at Ohio State University when this research was conducted, is currently senior project leader in the Materials, Corrosion, Arcs and Surfacing Department, TWI Ltd, Granta Park, UK.     

Exploiting tf-idf in deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Content Based Image Retrieval

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, a novel term frequency-inverse document frequency (tf-idf) based method that utilizes deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) for Content Based...     

Treating any polymer dissolved in water as polymer presenting a draining effect

The statistical segment length of a large number of flexible and rigid polymers dissolved in water is calculated. For these calculations, the constant value of the Flory??s parameter ?? (???=?2.6?×?10²³?cgs) along with its values obtained from an equation proposed for polymers exhibiting a significant draining effect (Colloid Polym Sci 273: 626?C632, 1995) are used. Applying the first approximation for ??, a very low statistical segment length for the polymers dissolved in water is obtained, while in the second case the statistical segment length is almost identical with the values obtained when these polymers are dissolved in an organic solvent. Moreover, we show that there is an optional application of the modified universal calibration of the gel permeation chromatography (J Polym Sci B Polym Phys 41: 707?C710, 2003), only if we use values of ?? obtained via the second approximation for polymers presenting a significant draining effect (Colloid Polym Sci 273: 626?C632, 1995).     

Heat-resistant adhesive resins derived from bismaleimides and bisnadimides containing amide linkages

A novel class of bismaleimides and bisnadimides containing amide linkages in their backbones were synthesized and characterized. The synthesis of these polymer precursors was carried out by reacting a diamine containing amide linkages with maleic/nadic anhydride. They were alternatively prepared by reacting the monomaleamic/monoadiamic acid of an aromatic diamine (1 mol) with terephthaloyl chloride (0.5 mol) and subsequent cyclodehydration. The latter new preparation method circumvented the hydrogeneration necessary in the first method of synthesis. The monomers were characterized by infrared (IR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) of monomers showed that bisnadimide and bismethylnadimide were polymerized at lower temperatures than the corresponding bismaleimide. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in nitrogen and air atmosphere revealed that all polymers were stable up to 321–363°C. Their char yield at 800°C under anaerobic conditions was 49–67%.     

The Menpo Benchmark for Multi-pose 2D and 3D Facial Landmark Localisation and Tracking

International Journal of Computer Vision - In this article, we present the Menpo 2D and Menpo 3D benchmarks, two new datasets for multi-pose 2D and 3D facial landmark localisation and tracking. In...     

A multichannel order-statistic technique for cDNA microarray image processing

This paper introduces an automated image processing procedure capable of processing complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) microarray images. Microarray data is contaminated by noise and suffers from broken edges and visual artifacts. Without the utilization of a filter, subsequent tasks such as spot identification and gene expression determination cannot be completed. By employing, in a unique cascade processing cycle, nonlinear filtering solutions based on robust order statistics, the procedure: 1) removes both background and high-frequency corrupting noise and 2) correctly identifies edges and spots in cDNA microarray data. The proposed solution operates directly on the microarray data, does not rely on explicit data normalization or spot separation preprocessing, and operates in a robust manner without using heuristically determined design parameters. Other routine microarray processing operations such as shape manipulations and grid adjustments can be used in conjunction with the developed solution in the processing pipeline. Experimentation reported in this paper indicates that the proposed solution yields excellent performance by removing noise and enhancing spot location determination.     

Supervisory target control for hybrid systems

The problem of systematically synthesizing supervisory control laws that satisfy eventuality and efficiency requirements for hybrid systems modelled by hybrid automata is considered. Here, the efficiency requirement is specified by weighting the discrete transitions of the system. The optimization of the efficiency requirement is considered in the min-max sense due to the existence of disturbance inputs. Adopting a game theoretic approach, the high priority eventuality requirement is considered first and the class of controls, in which the low priority efficiency requirement should be optimized, is obtained. Then, a dynamic programming algorithm, which determines the value function of the optimization problem, is derived. A synthesis problem on a simplified batch process plant is considered to illustrate a potential application of the approach.     

Hybrid control synthesis for eventuality specifications using level set methods

This paper is concerned with the extraction of controllers for hybrid systems with respect to eventuality specifications. Given a hybrid system modelled by a hybrid automaton and a target set of states, the objective is to compute the maximal set of initial states together with the hybrid control policy such that all the trajectories of the controlled system reach the target in finite time. Due to the existence of set-valued disturbance inputs, the problem is studied in a game-theoretic framework. Having shown that a least restrictive solution does not exist, we propose a dynamic programming algorithm that computes the maximal initial set and a controller with the desired property. To implement the algorithm, reachable sets of pursuit-evasion differential games need to be computed. For that reason level set methods are employed, where the boundary of the reachable set is characterized as the zero level set of a Hamilton–Jacobi equation. The procedure for the numerical extraction of the controller is presented in detail and examples illustrate the methodology. Finally, to demonstrate the practical character of our results, a control design problem in the benchmark system of the batch evaporator is considered as an eventuality synthesis problem and solved using the proposed methodology.     

Enabling RFID in retail

The past two years have witnessed an explosion of interest in radio-frequency identification and supporting technologies, due primarily to their rapidly expanding use in tracking grocery products through the supply chain. Currently such applications monitor store-keeping units (SKUs) rather than individual goods, as the relatively high cost of RFID deployment and the very low profit margin of supermarket products make item-level tagging impractical. Yet, economic and technical concerns aside, it is easy to envision a supermarket in which each item is tagged with an RFID label and all shopping carts feature RFID readers. The carts could potentially include onboard computers that recognize products placed inside and that display information and promotions retrieved wirelessly from the system back end. RFID-enabled smart phones, which are commercially available today and becoming increasingly popular, could carry out the same function. Item-level deployment of RFID technology would also allow for quick checkout aisles that scan all products at once and thus eliminate queues, which are consistently reported as one of the most negative aspects of supermarket shopping. A simple extension of this system would be to embed RFID devices in consumers' loyalty or frequent-shopper cards to identify individuals. This could expedite system login and charge the shopping cost directly to the customer's account at the point of sale-unless removed at the POS, item-level tags will inevitably follow the consumer home. This scenario undoubtedly raises numerous privacy concerns.     

Challenges and opportunities in renovating public sector information by enabling linked data and analytics

Linked Data has become the current W3C recommended approach for publishing data on the World Wide Web as it is sharable, extensible, and easily re-usable. An ecosystem of linked data hubs in the Public Sector has the potential to offer significant benefits to its consumers (other public offices and ministries, as well as researchers, citizens and SMEs), such as increased accessibility and re-use value of their data through the use of web-scale identifiers and easy interlinking with datasets of other public data providers. The power and flexibility of the schema-defying Linked Data, however, is counterbalanced by inborn factors that diminish the potential for cost-effective and efficient adoption by the Public Sector. The paper analyzes these challenges in view of the current state-of-the-art in linked data technologies and proposes a technical framework that aims to hide the underlying complexity of linked data while maintaining and promoting the interlinking capabilities enabled by the Linked Data Paradigm. The paper presents the innovations behind our proposed solutions as well as their advantages, especially for the non-expert users.