Vessel Inspection: A Micro-Aerial Vehicle-based Approach

Vessel maintenance entails periodic visual inspections of the internal and external parts of the hull in order to detect the typical defective situations affecting metallic structures, such as coating breakdown, corrosion, cracks, etc. The main goal of project MINOAS is the automation of the inspection process, currently undertaken by human surveyors, by means of a fleet of robotic agents. This paper overviews an approach to the inspection problem based on an autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) which, as part of this fleet, is in charge of regularly supplying images that can teleport the surveyor from a base station to the areas of the hull to be inspected. The control software approach adopted for the MAV is fully described, with a special emphasis on the self-localization capabilities of the vehicle. Experimental results showing the suitability of the platform to the application are as well reported and discussed.     

HumanTop: a multi-object tracking tabletop

In this paper, a computer vision based interactive multi-touch tabletop system called HumanTop is introduced. HumanTop implements a stereo camera vision subsystem which allows not only an accurate fingertip tracking algorithm but also a precise touch-over-the-working surface detection method. Based on a pair of visible spectra cameras, a novel synchronization circuit makes the camera caption and the image projection independent from each other, providing the minimum basis for the development of computer vision analysis based on visible spectrum cameras without any interference coming from the projector. The assembly of both cameras and the synchronization circuit is not only capable of performing an ad-hoc version of a depth camera, but it also introduces the recognition and tracking of textured planar objects, even when contents are projected over them. On the other hand HumanTop supports the tracking of sheets of paper and ID-code markers. This set of features makes the HumanTop a comprehensive, intuitive and versatile augmented tabletop that provides multitouch interaction with projective augmented reality on any flat surface. As an example to exploit all the capabilities of HumanTop, an educational application has been developed using an augmented book as a launcher to different didactic contents. A pilot study in which 28 fifth graders participated is presented. Results about efficiency, usability/satisfaction and motivation are provided. These results suggest that HumanTop is an interesting platform for the development of educational contents.     

CALIBRATION OF THE METHOD TO MEASURE BUBBLE PROPERTIES IN 2D FLUIDIZED BEDS

The purpose of the present work is to demonstrate the reliability of a digital image processing technique. A CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is used to perform an investigation on the bubble properties of a 2D gas-solid fluidized bed, and the aim of this study is to establish a criterion in order to reject all images that could not be interpreted as bubbles. This may lead to an alteration of the information obtained. The two-dimensional fluidized bed is 20 cm wide and at least 20 cm high, and the field of view of the camera is 12.54 cm wide and 12.99 cm high. In this way, bubbles could be totally or partially placed into this field of view so that a partial image of a bubble could be analyzed as a whole bubble. With this calibration, a geometric decision criterion for the rejection of nonbubble images was developed.     

Appropriate mineral content of desalinated water - theory and drinkers' reaction.

This paper aims to establish appropriate guidelines for the mineral content of potable water produced by desalination. The inadequacy of such specifications has lead to a number of conflicting interpretations of contract documents or to a product which was not optimal from an economic or consumer point of view. An optimal choice under both these constraints can only be made through the evaluation and comparison of feasible alternatives of plant and mineral combinations.The optimal ranges of TDS and the most suitable ionic content of water produced by desalination are indicated in terms of the available general criteria and standards. The composition of the raw product water from a desalination plant depends on the type of plant, and in some plants (e.g. RO plants) it is difficult to achieve an initial composition which can be remineralized to produce optimal blends. The possible courses of action to make these waters more pleasant to drink are discussed and their economic ramifications are explored.To complement the conclusions reached above, a series of taste tests was carried out. Different compositions of remineralized distilled water (i.e. with acidification by CO₂ and addition of CaCO₃, with other salts to produce hardness, and with different quantities of seawater) were compared with tap water and mineral water by a sample of about 200 people in Sydney, Australia. The testers' reactions are analysed and related to the optimal remineralizations discussed above.     

Model-based intelligent user interface adaptation: challenges and future directions

Software and Systems Modeling - Adapting the user interface of a software system to the requirements of the context of use continues to be a major challenge, particularly when users become more...     

Indirect Exciton–Phonon Dynamics in MoS2 Revealed by Ultrafast Electron Diffraction

Transition metal dichalcogenides layered nano-crystals are emerging as promising candidates for next-generation optoelectronic and quantum devices. In such systems, the interaction between excitonic states and atomic vibrations is crucial for many fundamental properties, such as carrier mobilities, quantum coherence loss, and heat dissipation. In particular, to fully exploit their valley-selective excitations, one has to understand the many-body exciton physics of zone-edge states. So far, theoretical and experimental studies have mainly focused on the exciton–phonon dynamics in high-energy direct excitons involving zone-center phonons. Here, ultrafast electron diffraction and ab initio calculations are used to investigate the many-body structural dynamics following nearly- resonant excitation of low-energy indirect excitons in MoS₂. By exploiting the large momentum carried by scattered electrons, the excitation of in-plane K- and Q- phonon modes are identified with 𝑬^′ symmetry as key for the stabilization of indirect excitons generated via near-infrared light at 1.55 eV, and light is shed on the role of phonon anharmonicity and the ensuing structural evolution of the MoS₂ crystal lattice. The results highlight the strong selectivity of phononic excitations directly associated with the specific indirect- exciton nature of the wavelength-dependent electronic transitions triggered in the system.     

A model of checkpoint behavior for applications that have I/O

Due to the increase and complexity of computer systems, reducing the overhead of fault tolerance techniques has become important in recent years. One technique in fault tolerance is checkpointing, which saves a snapshot with the information that has been computed up to a specific moment, suspending the execution of the application, consuming I/O resources and network bandwidth. Characterizing the files that are generated when performing the checkpoint of a parallel application is useful to determine the resources consumed and their impact on the I/O system. It is also important to characterize the application that performs checkpoints, and one of these characteristics is whether the application does I/O. In this paper, we present a model of checkpoint behavior for parallel applications that performs I/O; this depends on the application and on other factors such as the number of processes, the mapping of processes and the type of I/O used. These characteristics will also influence scalability, the resources consumed and their impact on the IO system. Our model describes the behavior of the checkpoint size based on the characteristics of the system and the type (or model) of I/O used, such as the number I/O aggregator processes, the buffering size utilized by the two-phase I/O optimization technique and components of collective file I/O operations. The BT benchmark and FLASH I/O are analyzed under different configurations of aggregator processes and buffer size to explain our approach. The model can be useful when selecting what type of checkpoint configuration is more appropriate according to the applications’ characteristics and resources available. Thus, the user will be able to know how much storage space the checkpoint consumes and how much the application consumes, in order to establish policies that help improve the distribution of resources.

     

Photonic-aware neural networks

Neural Computing and Applications - Photonics-based neural networks promise to outperform electronic counterparts, accelerating neural network computations while reducing power consumption and...     

Learning a generic 3D face model from 2D image databases using incremental Structure-from-Motion

Over the last decade 3D face models have been extensively used in many applications such as face recognition, facial animation and facial expression analysis. 3D Morphable Models (MMs) have become a popular tool to build and fit 3D face models to images. Critical to the success of MMs is the ability to build a generic 3D face model. Major limitations in the MMs building process are: (1) collecting 3D data usually involves the use of expensive laser scans and complex capture setups, (2) the number of available 3D databases is limited, and typically there is a lack of expression variability and (3) finding correspondences and registering the 3D model is a labor intensive and error prone process.