Target tracking in infrared imagery using weighted composite reference function-based decision fusion.

In this paper, we propose a novel decision fusion algorithm for target tracking in forward-looking infrared image sequences recorded from an airborne platform. An important part of this study is identifying the failure modes in this type of imagery. Our strategy is to prevent these failure modes from developing into tracking failures. The results furnished by competing ego-motion compensation and tracking algorithms are evaluated based on their similarity to a target model constructed using the weighted composite reference function.     

Bioreduction of Hexavalent Chromium in Flow-Through Quartz Sand Columns

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) contamination of soil and groundwater is a major environmental concern for some industrial sites and most of the U.S. Department of Energy sites. Cr(VI) is toxic and fairly mobile in groundwater. Bioreduction of Cr(VI) to less toxic and less mobile Cr(III) is considered to be a feasible option. Among the Cr(VI) reducing bacteria, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 (MR-1) has been shown to be effective in metal reduction under anaerobic conditions. Data on bioreduction of Cr(VI) by MR-1 in a flow-through soil column that better approximates the subsurface condition are not available. The objective of this research project was to study the bioreduction of Cr(VI) by MR-1 in a continuous-flow quartz sand column system. MR-1 was found to be very effective in reducing Cr(VI) to Cr(III) for concentrations ranging from 0.055 mM (2.85?mg/L) to 0.006 mM (0.31?mg/L). The amount of Cr(VI) reduced prior to its breakthrough was found to be inversely proportional to its concentration in the feed due to increased inhibition of microbial activity and a residual reduction of 20–45% of Cr(VI) was observed even after its breakthrough.     

Evaluation of the surface photovoltage method of minority-carrier diffusion-length measurement

The surface photovoltage (SPV) method of semiconductor minority carrier diffusion length measurement is simulated numerically by solving the semiconductor equations under monochromatic illumination. It is shown that the extracted diffusion length is dependent on the SPV level and the initial surface potential. This dependence arises because of carrier generation in the surface space charge region. For the p-type silicon investigated, the extracted diffusion length is found to be within 10% of the actual value even when the assumption of low level injection is violated.     

Heteroassociative multiple-target tracking by fringe-adjusted joint transform correlation

A heteroassociative joint transform correlation (JTC) technique is proposed for recognizing and tracking multiple heteroassociative or dissimilar targets from gray-level image sequences by use of the concept of fringe-adjusted JTC and a multiple-target-detection algorithm. A fringe-adjusted JTC technique is used to ensure quantification of the similarities among several input images while it satisfies the equal-correlation-peak criterion. Tracking is accomplished by retrieval of the target motion information estimated from multiple consecutive image frames. An enhanced version of the fringe-adjusted filter is incorporated into the heteroassociative multiple-target-detection process to optimize the correlation performance. The feasibility of the proposed technique is tested by computer simulation with real infrared image data.     

Biosolids accumulation and biodegradation of domestic wastewater treatment plant sludge by developed liquid state bioconversion process using a batch fermenter

The biosolids accumulation and biodegradation of domestic wastewater treatment plant (DWTP) sludge by filamentous fungi have been investigated in a batch fermenter. The filamentous fungi Aspergillus niger and Penicillium corylophilum isolated from wastewater and DWTP sludge was used to evaluate the treatment performance. The optimized mixed inoculum (A. niger and P. corylophilum) and developed process conditions (co-substrate and its concentration, temperature, initial pH, inoculum size, and aeration and agitation rate) were incorporated to accelerate the DWTP sludge treatment process. The results showed that microbial treatment of higher strength of DWTP sludge (4% w/w of TSS) was highly influenced by the liquid state bioconversion (LSB) process. In developed bioconversion processes, 93.8 g/kg of biosolids was enriched with fungal biomass protein of 30 g/kg. Enrichment of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K) in biosolids was recorded in 6.2% (w/w), 3.1% (w/w) and 0.15% (w/w) from its initial values of 4.8% (w/w), 2.0% (w/w) and 0.08% (w/w) respectively after 10 days of fungal treatment. The biodegradation results revealed that 98.8% of TSS, 98.2% of TDS, 97.3% of turbidity, 80.2% of soluble protein, 98.8% of reducing sugar and 92.7% of COD in treated DWTP sludge supernatant were removed after 8 days of microbial treatment. The specific resistance to filtration (SRF) in treated sludge (1.4x10(12) m/kg) was decreased tremendously by the microbial treatment of DWTP sludge after 6 days of fermentation compared to untreated sample (85x10(12) m/kg).     

Accurate wavelength measurements of a putative standard for near-infrared diffuse reflection spectrometry

The diffuse reflection (DR) spectrum of a sample consisting of a mixture of rare earth oxides and talc was measured at 2 cm-1 resolution, using five different accessories installed on five different Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectrometers from four manufacturers. Peak positions for 37 peaks were determined using two peak-picking algorithms: center-of-mass and polynomial fitting. The wavenumber of the band center reported by either of these techniques was sensitive to the slope of the baseline, and so the baseline of the spectra was corrected using either a polynomial fit or conversion to the second derivative. Significantly different results were obtained with one combination of spectrometer and accessory than the others. Apparently, the beam path through the interferometer and DR accessory was different for this accessory than for any of the other measurements, causing a severe degradation of the resolution. Spectra measured on this instrument were removed as outliers. For measurements made on FT-NIR spectrometers, it is shown that it is important to check the resolution at which the spectrum has been measured using lines in the vibration-rotation spectrum of atmospheric water vapor and to specify the peak-picking and baseline-correction algorithms that are used to process the measured spectra. The variance between the results given by the four different methods of peak-picking and baseline correction was substantially larger than the variance between the remaining five measurements. Certain bands were found to be more suitable than others for use as wavelength standards. A band at 5943.13 cm-1 (1682.62 nm) was found to be the most stable band between the four methods and the six measurements. A band at 5177.04 cm-1 (1931.61 nm) has the highest precision between different measurements when polynomial baseline correction and polynomial peak-picking algorithms are used.     

Model based development of access policies

In this paper we present a novel approach for the specification of user rights in the context of an object oriented use case driven development process. Basically, we extend the specification of methods by a permission section describing the right of some actor to call the method of an object. Our approach is both role based and context based while allowing for permissions to be specified at a fine-grained data-dependent level. We use first-order logic with a built-in notion of objects and classes (provided with an algebraic semantics) as our syntactic and semantic framework. In the second part of the paper, we demonstrate the application of this approach in a model-based context to generate permissions in distributed peer-to-peer networks.     

Multiple reflow study of ball grid array (BGA) solder joints on Au/Ni metallization

This paper evaluates the shearing behavior of ball grid array (BGA) solder joints on Au/Ni/Cu pads of FR4 substrates after multiple reflow soldering. A new Pb-free solder, Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu–8In (SACI), has been compared with Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu (SAC) and Sn–37Pb (SP) solders, in terms of fracture surfaces, shearing forces and microstructures. Three failure modes, ball cut, a combination of solder shear and solder/pad bond separation, and pad lift, are assessed for the different solders and reflow cycles. It is found that the shearing forces of the SP and SAC solder joints tend to increase slightly with an increase in the number of reflow cycles due to diffusion-induced solid solution strengthening of the bulk solder and augmentation of the shearing area. However, the shearing forces of the SACI solder joints decrease slightly after four cycles of reflow, which is ascribed to the thermal degradation of both the solder/intermetallic compound (IMC) and IMC/Ni interfaces. The SACI solder joints yield the highest strengths, whereas the SP solder joints give the smallest values, irrespective of the number of reflow cycles. Thickening of the interfacial IMC layer and coarsening of the dispersing IMC particles within the bulk solders were also observed. Nevertheless, the variation of shearing forces and IMC thickness with different numbers of reflow cycles was not so significant since the Ni under layer acted as an effective diffusion barrier. In addition, the initially-formed IMC layer retarded the further extensive dissolution of the pad material and its interaction with the solder.     

off-State Degradation in Drain-Extended NMOS Transistors: Interface Damage and Correlation to Dielectric Breakdown

Off-state degradation in drain-extended NMOS transistors is studied. Carefully designed experiments and well-calibrated simulations show that hot carriers, which are generated by impact ionization of surface band-to-band tunneling current, are responsible for interface damage during off-state stress. Classical on-state hot carrier degradation has historically been associated with broken equivSi-H bonds at the interface. In contrast, the off-state degradation in drain-extended devices is shown to be due to broken equivSi-O- bonds. The resultant degradation is universal, which enables a long-term extrapolation of device degradation at operating bias conditions based on short-term stress data. Time evolution of degradation due to broken equivSi-O- bonds and the resultant universal behavior is explained by a bond-dispersion model. Finally, we show that, under off-state stress conditions, the interface damage that is measured by charge-pumping technique is correlated with dielectric breakdown time, as both of them are driven by broken equivSi-O- bonds.     

Linear-Time Algorithms for Hole-free Rectilinear Proportional Contact Graph Representations

In a proportional contact representation of a planar graph, each vertex is represented by a simple polygon with area proportional to a given weight, and edges are represented by adjacencies between the corresponding pairs of polygons. In this paper we first study proportional contact representations that use rectilinear polygons without wasted areas (white space). In this setting, the best known algorithm for proportional contact representation of a maximal planar graph uses 12-sided rectilinear polygons and takes O(nlogn) time. We describe a new algorithm that guarantees 10-sided rectilinear polygons and runs in O(n) time. We also describe a linear-time algorithm for proportional contact representation of planar 3-trees with 8-sided rectilinear polygons and show that this is optimal, as there exist planar 3-trees that require 8-sided polygons. We then show that a maximal outer-planar graph admits a proportional contact representation using rectilinear polygons with 6 sides when the outer-boundary is a rectangle and with 4 sides otherwise. Finally we study maximal series-parallel graphs. Here we show that O(1)-sided rectilinear polygons are not possible unless we allow holes, but 6-sided polygons can be achieved with arbitrarily small holes.