Action categorization with modified hidden conditional random field

In this paper, we present a method for action categorization with a modified hidden conditional random field (HCRF). Specifically, effective silhouette-based action features are extracted using motion moments and spectrum of chain code. We formulate a modified HCRF (mHCRF) to have a guaranteed global optimum in the modelling of the temporal action dependencies after the HMM pathing stage. Experimental results on action categorization using this model are compared favorably against several existing model-based methods including GMM, SVM, Logistic Regression, HMM, CRF and HCRF.     

An improved new error estimation algorithm for optimal filter lengths for stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation

In this paper, we propose an new error estimate algorithm (NEEA) for stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation (SAEC) that is based on the error estimation algorithm (EEA) in [Nguyen-Ky T, Leis J, Xiang W. An improved error estimate algorithm for stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation system. In: International conference on signal processing and communication systems, ICSPCS’2007, Australia; December 2007]. In the EEA and NEEA, with the minimum error signal fixed, we compute the filter lengths so that the error signal may approximate the minimum error signal. When the echo paths change, the adaptive filter automatically adjusts the filter lengths to the optimum values. We also investigate the difference between the adaptive filter lengths. In contrast with the conclusions in [Khong AWH, Naylor PA. Stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation employing selective-tap adaptive algorithms. IEEE Trans Audio, Speech, Lang Process 2006;14(3):785-96, Gansler T, Benesty J. Stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation and two channel adaptive filtering: an overview. Int J Adapt Control Signal Process 2000;4:565-86, Benesty J, Gansler T. A multichannel acoustic echo canceler double-talk detector based on a normalized cross-correlation matrix. Acoust Echo Noise Control 2002;13(2):95-101, Gansler T, Benesty J. A frequency-domain double-talk detector based on a normalized cross-correlation vector. Signal Process 2001;81:1783-7, Eneroth P, Gay SL, Gansler T, Benesty J. A real-time implementation of a stereophonic acoustic echo canceler. IEEE Trans. Speech Audio Process 2001;9(5):513-23, Gansler T, Benesty J. New insights into the stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation problem and an adaptive nonlinearity solution. IEEE Trans. Speech Audio Process 2002; 10(5):257-67, Benesty J, Gansler T, Morgan DR, Sondhi MM, Gay SL. Advances in network and acoustic echo cancellation. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2001], our simulation results have shown that the filter lengths can be different. Our simulation results also confirm that the NEEA is better than EEA and SM-NLMS algorithm in terms of echo return loss enhancement.     

Modular analysis and modelling of risk scenarios with dependencies

The risk analysis of critical infrastructures such as the electric power supply or telecommunications is complicated by the fact that such infrastructures are mutually dependent. We propose a modular approach to the modelling and analysis of risk scenarios with dependencies. Our approach may be used to deduce the risk level of an overall system from previous risk analyses of its constituent systems. A custom made assumption-guarantee style is put forward as a means to describe risk scenarios with external dependencies. We also define a set of deduction rules facilitating various kinds of reasoning, including the analysis of mutual dependencies between risk scenarios expressed in the assumption-guarantee style.     

A module-based LSB substitution method with lossless secret data compression

All the various data hiding methods can be simply divided into two types: (1) the extracted important data are lossy, (2) the extracted important data are lossless. The proposed method belongs to the second type. In this paper, a module-based substitution method with lossless secret data compression function is used for concealing smoother area of secret image by modifying fewer pixels in the generated stego-image. Compared with the previous data hiding methods that extract lossless data, the generated stego-image by the proposed method is always with better quality, unless the hidden image is with very strong randomness.     

MEMS AC voltage reference for miniaturized instrumentation and metrology

This work explores MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) potentialities to fabricate AC voltage references through mechanical-electrical transduction that could be used for high precision electrical metrology and for applications in miniaturized instrumentation. AC voltage reference ranging from 5 V to 90 V have been designed and fabricated using the same Epitaxial Silicon On Insulator (SOI) surface micromachining process allowing an accurate control of both dimensions and material properties. The measured MEMS AC voltage reference values have been found in a good agreement with CoventorWare calculations. These tests structures have also been used to develop the read-out electronics to drive the MEMS.     

Improving traversability of quadruped walking robots using body movement in 3D rough terrains

This paper presents a study on improving the traversability of a quadruped walking robot in 3D rough terrains. The key idea is to exploit body movement of the robot. The position and orientation of the robot are systematically adjusted and the possibility of finding a valid foothold for the next swing is maximized, which makes the robot have more chances to overcome the rough terrains. In addition, a foothold search algorithm that provides the valid foothold while maintaining a high traversability of the robot, is investigated and a gait selection algorithm is developed to help the robot avoid deadlock situations. To explain the algorithms, new concepts such as reachable area, stable area, potential search direction, and complementary kinematic margin are introduced, and the effectiveness of the algorithms is validated via simulations and experiments.     

PIRF-Nav 2.0: Fast and online incremental appearance-based loop-closure detection in an indoor environment

This paper presents a fast and online incremental solution for an appearance-based loop-closure detection problem in a dynamic indoor environment. Closing the loop in a dynamic environment has been an important topic in robotics for decades. Recently, PIRF-Nav has been reported as being successful in achieving high recall rate at precision 1. However, PIRF-Nav has three main disadvantages: (i) the computational expense of PIRF-Nav is beyond real-time, (ii) it utilizes a large amount of memory in the redundant process of keeping signatures of places, and (iii) it is ill-suited to an indoor environment. These factors hinder the use of PIRF-Nav in a general environment for long-term, high-speed mobile robotic applications. Therefore, this paper proposes two techniques: (i) new modified PIRF extraction that makes the system more suitable for an indoor environment and (ii) new dictionary management that can eliminate redundant searching and conserve memory consumption. The results show that our proposed method can complete tasks up to 12 times faster than PIRF-Nav with only a slight percentage decline in recall. In addition, we collected additional data from a university canteen crowded during lunch time. Even in this crowded indoor environment, our proposed method has better real-time processing performance compared with other methods.     

Nanotextured superhydrophobic micromesh

A superhydrophobic micromesh covered with nanoprotrusions has been introduced and its applicability to a waterproof mobile phone speaker has been evaluated. The nanotextured superhydrophobic micromesh showed excellent water repellency, self-cleaning and waterproofing performances. In a waterproof speaker test using the fabricated nanotextured micromesh, the micromesh did not lose its waterproof function at 2 m water depth and did not form a remnant water film after being removed from the water. The packaged speaker showed almost the same sound quality before and after dipping at a 2 m water depth. These results demonstrate that the superhydrophobic nanotextured micromesh could be directly applicable for various products that need to resist water penetration, yet allow the transmission of gases and sound/light waves.     

Multiple resonances with time delays and enhancement by non-Gaussian noise in Newman-Watts networks of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons

In this paper, we study the effect of time delay on the spiking activity in Newman-Watts small-world networks of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons with non-Gaussian noise, and investigate how the non-Gaussian noise affects the delay-induced behaviors. It was found that, as the delay increases, the neuron spiking intermittently performs the most ordered and synchronized behavior when the delay lengths are integer multiples of the spiking periods, which shows multiple temporal resonances and spatial synchronizations, and reveals that the locking between the delay lengths and the spiking periods might be the mechanism behind the behaviors. It was also found that the delay-optimized spiking behaviors could be enhanced when non-Gaussian noise's deviation from the Gaussian noise is appropriate. These results show that time delay and non-Gaussian noise would cooperate to play more constructive and efficient roles in the information processing of neural networks.