Perturbation-Based Eigenvector Updates for On-Line Principal Components Analysis and Canonical Correlation Analysis

Principal components analysis is an important and well-studied subject in statistics and signal processing. Several algorithms for solving this problem exist, and could be mostly grouped into one of the following three approaches: adaptation based on Hebbian updates and deflation, optimization of a second order statistical criterion (like reconstruction error or output variance), and fixed point update rules with deflation. In this study, we propose an alternate approach that avoids deflation and gradient-search techniques. The proposed method is an on-line procedure based on recursively updating the eigenvector and eigenvalue matrices with every new sample such that the estimates approximately track their true values as would be calculated analytically from the current sample estimate of the data covariance matrix. The perturbation technique is theoretically shown to be applicable for recursive canonical correlation analysis, as well. The performance of this algorithm is compared with that of a structurally similar matrix perturbation-based method and also with a few other traditional methods like Sanger’s rule and APEX.

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Area-based quality control of airborne laser scanning 3D models for different land classes using terrestrial laser scanning: sample survey in Houston,USA

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is a remote-sensing technique that provides scale-accurate 3D models consisting of dense point clouds with x, y planimetric coordinates and altitude z. Using ALS, very high-resolution (VHR) digital surface models (DSMs) have been widely used for commercial and scientific applications since the early 1990s. Although there is widespread usage, there has been little comprehensive investigation of quality control for ALS DSMs in the literature, as most studies have been limited to assessing point-based vertical accuracy. This article is dedicated to investigating the quality of ALS DSMs for different land classes using statistical and visual approaches based on absolute and relative vertical accuracy metrics. Rather than a limited number of ground control points (GCP), the model-to-model-based approach is applied and DSMs derived from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds that have around 5 mm absolute and 3 mm relative geolocation accuracy were used as the reference data for comparison. The results demonstrate that in open, grass, and building land classes, the ALS DSMs reached both standard deviation (σ) and normalized median absolute deviation (NMAD) of 3–5 cm after the elimination of any systematic biases. This result sufficiently satisfies the vertical accuracy requirements for 1/1000-scale topographic maps determined by National Digital Elevation Program (NDEP) specifications. In tall vegetation, a higher number of discrepancies larger than 0.5 m exist, reversing the relation between σ and NMAD. These vegetation errors also do not appear to be normally distributed. As an additional investigation, the performance of ALS DEMs under dense high-vegetation areas was assessed. These under-canopy ALS DEMs, created using only classified ground returns, offer both σ and NMAD of 12–14 cm, a performance level that is difficult to achieve under-canopy using photogrammetric techniques.     

Producing NiCrAl alloy by the SHS method for use in thermal spray powder manufacturing

A series of Ni alloys containing 36.15–44.54 wt.% Cr and 2.0–13.50 wt.% Al was synthesized by Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis (SHS) using a mixture of NiO, Cr₂O₃ and Al powders in order to obtain low-cost starting materials for thermal spray powder production. The experiments were carried out with the addition of an excess stoichiometric amount of Al between 0 % and 30 %. Additions of CaO and CaF₂ were also done to remove sulfur from the alloy and to investigate the effect on metal recovery. Thermochemical simulations of the SHS processes were examined with the FactSage program. The products were characterized by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and microhardness techniques.     

Microstructural and morphological characterizations of nanocrystalline Ni–Cu–Fe thin films electrodeposited from electrolytes with different Fe ion concentrations

In the current study, ternary Ni–Cu–Fe thin films have been grown from the electrolytes with different Fe ion concentrations onto indium tin oxide coated glass substrates by galvanostatic electrodeposition at ambient temperature. The microstructural, compositional, and morphological properties have been characterized with respect to Fe ion concentration using X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). EDX results indicated that the Fe content within the films increased and Ni and Cu contents decreased as the Fe ion concentration in the electrolyte was increased. From the XRD analysis, it was observed that the films have two separate, Cu-rich and Ni-rich phases. It was also observed that the phase separation becomes weaker with increasing Fe ion concentration. All of the films have face-centered cubic structure and [111] preferred crystallographic orientation. The texture degree of the Ni-rich (111) phase increased with the Fe ion concentration. SEM and AFM measurements revealed that the surface morphology is considerably affected by the Fe ion concentration. The size of the grains formed on the film surface and the surface roughness decreased as the Fe ion concentration within the electrolyte increased.     

Evaluation of high pressure pretreatment for enhancing the drying rates of carrot,apple, and green bean

Preservation of fresh produce by drying dates back to ancient times and is still an indispensible technique. Conventional drying of fruits and vegetables is often accompanied by changes in color, texture, and taste. Suitable pretreatments can improve the drying process by reducing the drying time, yielding higher-quality products, and energy savings. In this study, two varieties of apples, Amasya and red delicious, green beans and carrots were pretreated with high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) at different pressure–time–temperature combinations (100–300 MPa for 5–45 min at 20 and 35 °C) prior to drying. The drying experiments were carried out by using a hot-air tunnel dryer at different temperatures (27–85 °C) and air velocities of 0.4 and 0.8 m/s with constant external conditions. Improving the drying conditions by increasing the drying temperature generally masked the effect of HHP pretreatment on drying rate. Generally, pressures of more than 100 MPa caused cell permeabilization resulting in higher drying rates. Among 14 models, the modified Page model was found to best explain the drying behaviors and model constants were evaluated accordingly. The Tukey multiple comparison test was applied on characteristic drying times to evaluate the relative effects of different pretreatments and drying conditions.     

Electronically tunable floating inductance simulator

In this letter, a new floating inductance simulator circuit is presented. The proposed structure consists of only one grounded capacitor without any external resistors and two different active elements. The active elements are dual-output current-controlled current conveyor (DO-CCCII) and operational transconductance amplifier (OTA). The proposed inductance simulator can be tuned electronically by changing the biasing current of the DO-CCCIIs or by changing the current of the OTA. Moreover, the circuit does not require any conditions of component matching. It has a good sensitivity performance with respect to tracking errors. As an application, the proposed inductance simulator is used to construct a fourth-order resistively terminated LC band-pass filter. The theoretical analysis is verified by the SPICE simulation results.     

Preparation of N‐doped graphene powders by cyclic voltammetry and a potential application of them: Anode materials of Li‐ion batteries

Nowadays, doped graphenes are attracting much interest in the field of Li‐ion batteries since it shows higher specific capacity than widely used graphite. However, synthesis methods of doped graphenes have secondary processes that requires much energy. In this study, in situ synthesis of N‐doped graphene powders by using of cyclic voltammetric method from starting a graphite rod in nitric acid solution has been discussed for the first time in the literature. The N‐including functional groups such as nitro groups, pyrrolic N, and pyridinic N have been selectively prepared as changing scanned potential ranges in cyclic voltammetry. The electrochemical performance as anode material in Li‐ion batteries has also been covered within this study. N‐doped graphene powders have been characterized by electrochemical, spectroscopic, and microscopic methods. According to the X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman results, N‐doped graphene powders have approximately 16 to 18 graphene rings in their main structure. The electrochemical analysis of graphene powders synthesized at different potential ranges showed that the highest capacity was obtained 438 mAh/g after 10 cycles by using current density of 50 mA/g at N‐GP4. Furthermore, the sample having higher defect size shows better specific capacity. However, the more stable structure due to oxygen content and less defect size improves the rate capabilities, and thus, the results obtained at high current density indicated that the remaining capacity of N‐GP1 was higher than the others.