The influence of viewing distance on subjective impairment assessment

In this paper, the influence of viewing distance on subjective assessment of the impairment in video sequences is investigated. Subjective tests using the double-stimulus impairment scale variant II (DSIS II) method have been conducted at viewing distances of 5H (where H stands for the screen height) and 3H, respectively. Several statistical measures have been used to analyze the influence, including correlations and ANOVA (analysis of variance) tests. The results reveal that there is a very high correlation between the subjective scores, the variances are similar under the two viewing distances, the means of subjective data at these two viewing distances are the same, and there is no interaction between the viewing distance and the other two factors, i.e., the codec system and the source sequence. Throughout the tests, there is no evidence that a closer viewing distance such as 3H will vary the subjective test result statistically significantly.     

An EM‐based adaptive multiple target tracking filter

Tracking targets of interest is one of the major research areas in radar surveillance systems. We formulate the problem as incomplete data estimation and apply EM to the MAP estimate. The resulting filter has a recursive structure analogous to the Kalman filter. The advantage is that the measurement‐update deals with multiple measurements in parallel and the parameter‐update estimates the system parameters on the fly. Experiments tracking separate targets in parallel show that tracking maintenance ratio of the proposed system is better than that of NNF and RMS position error is smaller than that of PDAF. Also, the system parameters are correctly obtained even from incorrect initial values. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel cyclic process using CaSO4/CaS pellets for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur without generating secondary pollutants: Part II. Hydrogen reduction of calcium-sulfate pellets to calcium sulfide

The reduction of calcium sulfate to produce calcium sulfide is a part of the cyclic process for converting sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur that is described in Part I. The kinetics of the hydrogen reduction of nickel-catalyzed calcium-sulfate pellets were investigated using a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) technique at reaction temperatures between 1023 and 1088 K and hydrogen partial pressures between 12.9 and 86.1 kPa. The reactivity of nickel-catalyzed calcium-sulfate pellets was demonstrated by the conversion of 70 pct fresh nickel-catalyzed calcium sulfate to calcium sulfide in 20 minutes at 1073 K under a hydrogen partial pressure of 86.1 kPa. Furthermore, the reactivity remained relatively intact after ten cycles of reactions and regenerations. This observed characteristic of the pellets is important because the solids must be reusable for repeated cycles to avoid generating secondary pollutants. The nucleation and growth rate expression was found to be useful in describing the kinetics of the reaction, which had an activation energy of about 167 kJ/mol (∼40 kcal/mol) in all reaction cycles except for the first regenerated samples that were lower at 146 kJ/mol (35 kcal/mol). The reaction order with respect to hydrogen partial pressure was 0.22 in all cycles with the exception of the first regenerated sample for which it was 0.37.     

An experimental study of carrier heating on channel noise in deep-submicrometer NMOSFETs via body bias

In this paper, RF noise in 0.18-mum NMOSFETs concerning the contribution of carrier heating and hot carrier effect is characterized and analyzed in detail via a novel approach that modulates the channel carrier heating and number of hot carriers using body bias. We confirm qualitatively a negligible role of hot carrier effect on the channel noise in deep-submicrometer MOSFETs. For a device under reverse body bias (V_b), even though the increase in hot carrier population is clearly characterized by dc measurements, the device high-frequency noise is found to be irrelevant to the increase in the channel hot carriers. Experimental results show that the high-frequency noise is slightly reduced with the increase in |V_b|, and can be qualitatively explained by secondary effects such as the suppression of nonequilibrium channel noise and substrate induced noise. The reduction of NF_min and R_n with the increase in |V_b| may provide a possible methodology to finely adjust the device high-frequency noise performance for circuit design     

Direct adaptive control of nonminimum phase systems using integralaction

A direct adaptive control scheme is proposed for nonminimum-phase systems in which controller parameters are estimated from the recursive least-squares algorithm and additional auxiliary parameters are obtained from the proposed polynomial identity. A local convergence is guaranteed without any extra condition. Integral action is incorporated into the adaptive controller to eliminate the steady-state error and to satisfy a condition of the unique solution for the polynomial identity. The control law used in this scheme is based on the set-point-on-I-only proportional-integral-derivative (PID) structure     

Amorphous diffusion bonding of steel pipe and its impact toughness

An iron-based amorphous foil (FeNiCrSiB) was used as an interlayer for the amorphous diffusion bonding of low carbon steel pipes under argon flux. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the joint were analyzed using an electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA), tensile test, bending test and impact test. The results show that the joint microstructure resembles that of the base metal and no precipitates form at the joint. Melting point depressants (B, Si) diffuse far away from the joint and the base metal element is homogenous across the joint. The joint impact toughness is greater than the base metal toughness and the mechanical properties of the joint are similar around the pipe.     

基于移动代理的安全研究

移动代理计算模式较传统的分布式计算模式有明显的优势,而伴随它有诸多安全问题出现,这使得它没有得到十分广泛的应用。本文针对代理自身的安全问题,分析了代理可能受到的攻击,并提出了一个安全方案。     

月桂醇聚氧乙烯醚硝酸酯助燃降污性能的研究

通过柴油发动机台架试验证明 ,月桂醇聚氧乙烯醚硝酸酯用作柴油添加剂 ,既可提高柴油的燃烧性能 ,又可降低排放尾气中的一氧化碳 (CO)、未燃碳氢化合物 (HC)、氮氧化物 (NOx)含量及烟度等多种功能 ,是一种良好的多功能柴油助燃消烟添加剂。     

高柔韧性尼龙1010材料的制备

对尼龙1010/NBR/增塑剂体系进行了系统研究,发现在挤出机中环氧扩链剂可以对尼龙进行扩链反应,且环氧树脂对尼龙1010的扩链反应活性较高,扩链效果比较明显;N-丁基苯磺酰胺是尼龙的良好增塑剂,经增塑、增韧后可以使经扩链后的尼龙1010柔韧性有明显提高.采用SEM和TEM对所制备的材料进行了形貌分析,发现用NBR增韧尼龙,对于不同的基体材料,橡胶粒子的形貌有很大不同,粒子由增韧纯尼龙的椭球形变为在增塑尼龙基体中不规则的形状.