Relative image similarity learning with contextual information for Internet cross-media retrieval

With the fast explosive rate of the amount of image data on the Internet, how to efficiently utilize them in the cross-media scenario becomes an urgent problem. Images are usually accompanied with contextual textual information. These two heterogeneous modalities are mutually reinforcing to make the Internet content more informative. In most cases, visual information can be regarded as an enhanced content of the textual document. To make image-to-image similarity being more consistent with document-to-document similarity, this paper proposes a method to learn image similarities according to the relations of the accompanied textual documents. More specifically, instead of using the static quantitative relations, rank-based learning procedure by employing structural SVM is adopted in this paper, and the ranking structure is established by comparing the relative relations of textual information. The learning results are in more accordance with the human’s recognition. The proposed method in this paper can be used not only for the image-to-image retrieval, but also for cross-modality multimedia, where a query expansion framework is proposed to get more satisfactory results. Extensive experimental evaluations on large scale Internet dataset validate the performance of the proposed methods.     

Preparation and Photoluminescence of Partially Filled ZnO Microtubes Using Block Copolymers

Partially filled ZnO microtubes were synthesized in large scale using block copolymers. The growth mechanism of this unique construction is proposed on the basis of adsorption of block copolymers on {0002} plane of wurtzite ZnO. The photoluminescence property of these unique ZnO microtubes is also studied using a Xe lamp as the excitation source at room temperature. Blue emission band at 425 nm is a much stronger ultraviolet emission band, which is due to laminar structure of ZnO microtubes.     

Hydrodynamic characteristics of a FCC regenerator

The hydrodynamic and gas mixing characteristics have been determined in a FCC regenerator (0.48 m I.D.x3.4 m high) with FCC particles. Solids holdup in the dense bed decreases with increasing gas velocity, but it increases in the freeboard region. The bubble/void fraction increases with an increase along the bed height at a given gas velocity and increases with increasing gas velocity at a constant bed height. Backmixed tracer gas at the wall region is higher than that at the center region of the bed. The gas backmixing coefficient decreases with increasing gas velocity.     

Facile preparation of amphiphilic oxyethylene-oxypropylene block copolymers by selective triazine coupling

A novel synthetic route for preparing high molecular weight poly(oxyalkylene) block copolymers has been developed by using 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine (cyanuric chloride, cc) as the coupling core. The coupling reaction involves the selective substitutions of oligo(oxyalkylene)-amines onto three chlorides of the triazine ring in a stepwise manner at 0, 25 and 130 °C. By judiciously selecting the starting amines and reaction conditions, one can tailor the copolymer structures with different block configurations (tri-block, multi-block, random and alternating block). The prepared copolymers can have a high molecular weight, up to 25,600 g/mol (GPC polydispersity=1.48), and also high thermal stability due to the presence of triazine functionalities. The copolymers with hydrophilic and hydrophobic oligo(oxyalkylene) blocks are of versatile properties in solubility (water soluble or water insoluble) and morphology (crystalline or amorphous). With a specific structure of alternating oligo(oxyethylene)/oligo(oxypropylene) blocks (2000 g/mol each block), the copolymer exhibits the property of self-association. It reduces the interfacial tension of toluene/water as low as 0.5 dyne/cm at the critical micelle concentration of 0.01 wt%.     

Preparation of Titanium Nitride/Alumina Laminate Composites

A preparation route for TiN/Al₂O₃ laminate composites has been described. A water-based process using Al₂O₃ and TiN slurries with solids contents of 40 and 35 vol%, respectively, was used to make TiN and Al₂O₃ tapes. The removal of the binder was monitored by weight-loss measurements in a thermogravimetry unit. Bodies composed of Al₂O₃ and TiN tapes were densified at temperatures of 1400° and 1500°C using the Spark Plasma Sintering^® (SPS) technique. Densities of >98% of the theoretical densities were approached. Crack-free and almost fully densified TiN/Al₂O₃ compacts were prepared by heating the burned-out green bodies to the final sintering temperature (1500°C) at a rate of 100°C/min, and with a holding time of 5–10 min, under a pressure of 75 MPa. The microstructures of the obtained compacts were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Grain sizes in the sintered Al₂O₃ and TiN compacts were similar to those of the precursor powders. Hardness and indentation fracture toughness were measured at room temperature, and the monolithic compacts as well as the laminate composites exhibited anisotropic mechanical behavior; i.e., the cracks propagated much more easily in a direction parallel to the laminas than perpendicular to them.     

A generalized method for correcting instrument spreading in gel permeation chromatography

A general method of chromatogram correction for skewed instrument spreading in gel permeation chromatography is presented. The correction method is so general that there is no restriction on the shape of the spreading function. It admits nonsymmetric, non-Gaussian as well as nonconvolution type. Aspects of solution techniques are discussed and an illustrative example is given to elucidate the method.     

New polyimide–silica organic–inorganic hybrids

A series of polyimide–silica hybrid films with silica contents up to 30 wt % were successfully prepared by the sol‐gel reaction of tetraethoxysiliane in the presence of poly(amic acid) containing pendent hydroxyl groups. The films were yellow and transparent when the silica content was less than 11 wt %. The chemical structure of the films was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and the morphology of the films was investigated by scanning electronic microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and stress–strain tests were used to measure the performance of the films. The results indicate that the glass‐transition temperatures and decomposition temperatures of the hybrid films increased with increasing silica content, whereas the tensile strength had a maximum with the variety of silica contents. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 2210–2214, 2003     

A parallel image encryption method based on compressive sensing

Recently, compressive sensing-based encryption methods which combine sampling, compression and encryption together have been proposed. However, since the quantized measurement data obtained from linear dimension reduction projection directly serve as the encrypted image, the existing compressive sensing-based encryption methods fail to resist against the chosen-plaintext attack. To enhance the security, a block cipher structure consisting of scrambling, mixing, S-box and chaotic lattice XOR is designed to further encrypt the quantized measurement data. In particular, the proposed method works efficiently in the parallel computing environment. Moreover, a communication unit exchanges data among the multiple processors without collision. This collision-free property is equivalent to optimal diffusion. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed encryption method not only achieves the remarkable confusion, diffusion and sensitivity but also outperforms the existing parallel image encryption methods with respect to the compressibility and the encryption speed.     

高职院校特色专业监控体系建设研究

近年来,高职院校都比较注重特色专业的建设。其中,特色专业建设的监控体系也受到了高职院校的重视,并取得了一定的效果,同时,也给其他院校提供了有价值的参考和借鉴。但由于在认识水平、管理水平和教学水平等方面仍有一些问题,导致在监控过程和措施实施方面还存在许多疏漏,有待完善。