Adaptive source-channel subband video coding for wireless channels

This paper presents a general framework for combined source-channel coding within the context of subband coding. The unequal importance of subbands in reconstruction of the source is exploited by an appropriate allocation of source and channel coding rates for the coding and transmission of subbands over a noisy channel. For each subband, the source coding rate as well as the level of protection (quantified by the channel coding rate) are jointly chosen to minimize the total end-to-end mean-squared distortion suffered by the source. This allocation of source and channel coding rates is posed as a constrained optimization problem, and solved using a generalized bit allocation algorithm. The optimal choice of source and channel coding rates depends on the state of the physical channel. These results are extended to transmission over fading channels using a finite state model, where every state corresponds to an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. A coding strategy is also developed that minimizes the average distortion when the channel state is unavailable at the transmitter. Experimental results are provided that demonstrate application of these combined source-channel coding strategies on video sequences     

The 3DP: a processor architecture for three-dimensionalapplications

The 3DP (3-Dimensional Processor), a parallel-computing architecture that targets problems that have a 3-D numerical structure and require numerous calculations on 3-D vectors, is described. The 3DP architecture differs from traditional scalar architectures in that it operates directly on vectors. It differs from general parallel architectures in that it can solve problems that predict the behavior of highly coupled systems, and it differs from vector architectures in that it runs efficiently on length-3 vectors. Object-oriented programming on the 3DP and programming the 3DP in C++ are discussed. 3DP performance is reviewed, and the current implementation of the 3DP architecture, as an attached processor that plugs directly into Sun host VMEbus, is described     

Hardness-stress-strain correlation in aluminium—A simpler alternative to visioplasticity in metal forming

Local stress and strain variations in the deformation zone can be ascertained by measuring hardness. Hardness is correlated with strain and stress. The expressions discussed later are useful in determining the local variations in stress and strain from hardness measurement. It is a simple method compared to visioplasticity. One can estimate the forces required for a forming process. It helps in the choice of equipment, design of tooling and selection of lubricant for the particular process.     

Thermal stability and high-temperature wear of Ti–TiN and TiN–CrN nanomultilayer coatings under self-mated conditions

Ti–TiN and TiN–CrN nanomultilayers were thermally stable retaining uniform and sharp layer interfaces up to 24 h at 773 K, without any oxidation or phase transformation accompanying each individual layer. Decreasing the multilayer spacing resulted in an increase in the hardness in both cases. The coating hardness was found to be independent of the substrate type, when applied on HS718, Ti64 and HCHCr substrates. In scratch testing, the multilayers displayed a better resistance to the onset of failure, as compared to the monolayer TiN. The substrate plasticity played an important role in determining the coating failure mode. Self-mated wear tests revealed the CrN–TiN system to exhibit the best wear behaviour, both at room temperature and at 773 K. The Ti–TiN coatings are more accommodative with all three substrates, as compared to TiN–CrN and TiN.     

A packet delay analysis for cellular digital packet data

We formulate and analyze a model of voice and data burst traffic for cellular digital packet data (CDPD). To develop a tractible model, we make some reasonable simplifying assumptions to model the voice traffic and one of the logical CDPD channels as an M/M/1 queue in a random environment. Rather than explicitly solve the resulting matrix quadratic equation, we develop an asymptotic analysis that gives us simple approximate formulas (with error bounds) for many performance measures of interest. In particular, one metric that we highlight comes from using our approximate mean data burst delay formula to characterize the performance of a set of interacting logical CDPD channels. We do so by describing it in terms of an equivalent number of independent, dedicated CDPD channels, We can use this metric to suggest what the optimal number of logical CDPD channels for a given system should be     

A survey of sensory data boundary estimation,covering and tracking techniques using collaborating sensors

Boundary estimation and tracking have important applications in the areas of environmental monitoring and disaster management. A boundary separates two regions of interest in a phenomenon. It can be visualized as an edge if there is a sharp change in the field value between the two regions or alternatively, as a contour with a field value $f=\tau$ separating two regions with field values $f>\tau$ and $f<\tau$. Examples include contours/boundaries of hazardous concentration in a pollutant spill, frontal boundary of a forest fire, isotherms, isohalines etc. Recent advances in the area of embedded sensor devices and robotics have led to deployments of networks of sensors capable of sensing, computing, communication and mobility. They are used to estimate the boundaries of interest in physical phenomena, monitor or track them over time and also in some cases, mitigate the spatial spread of the phenomena. Since these sensors work autonomously in the environment, minimizing the energy consumed while maximizing the accuracy of estimation or tracking is the main challenge for algorithms for boundary estimation and tracking. Several algorithms with these objectives have been proposed in the literature. In this work, we focus on the algorithms that estimate and cover boundaries found in the sensory data in a field and not the topological boundary of the sensor network per se, which is beyond the scope of this paper.Here, our objective is to provide a comprehensive survey of the algorithms for boundary estimation and tracking by providing a taxonomy based on two broad categories — (i) Boundary estimation and tracking, where the sensors estimate the boundary without physically covering the boundary and (ii) Boundary covering — where the sensors not only predict the location and estimate the entire boundary but also physically cover the boundary by surrounding and bounding it. We further classify the techniques based on (a) sensing capabilities —in situ, range or remote sensing (b) movement capabilities — static or mobile sensors and (c) boundary type — static or dynamic and (d) type of estimation — field estimation where the entire field is sampled to search for contours and localized estimation where sampling is done near the boundary and (e) different types of mobility models in the case of mobile sensors. We believe that such a survey has not been performed before. By capturing and classifying the current state-of-the-art and identifying open research problems, we hope to ignite interest and stimulate efforts towards promising solutions for real-world boundary estimation and tracking problems.     

Effect of interfacial impurities on intermixing of bilayers

Mixing experiments were performed on Ni/Pt and René N4/Pt systems to understand the effect of interfacial impurities on the ion-beam mixing process. A layer of platinum 15 or 50 nm thick was deposited on metallographically polished sputter-cleaned nickel and René N4 substrates as well as on metallographically polished uncleaned René N4 by electron-beam deposition techniques. These targets were exposed to the bombardment of a Pt⁺ 1 MeV beam. A range of fluences, 2×10¹⁵ to 2×10¹⁶ Pt⁺/cm²⁺ was used to cause intermixing. The amount of mixing was evaluated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and Auger sputter depth profiling. The mixing rates were the same for Ni/Pt and René N4/Pt with the clean interface. However, it was significantly less in René N4/Pt with an interfacial native oxide/impurity layer. The initial high volume fraction of precipitates in René N4 along the ion path became disordered under bombardment, and the alloying elements present significantly in the resultant solid solution did not influence the mixing process. Mixing in Ni/Pt and René N4/Pt with the clean interface appears to be dominated by thermochemical influences.     

An evaluation of the performance of an automated procedure for comparative modelling of protein tertiary structure

A 3-D model of a protein can be constructed from its amino acidsequence and the 3-D structures of one or more homologues byannealing three sets of fragments: the structurally conservedregions, structurally variable regions and the side chains.The method encoded in the computer program COMPOSER was assessedby generating 3-D models of eight proteins whose crystal structuresare already known and for which 3-D structures of homologuesare available. In the structurally conserved regions, differencesbetween modelled and X-ray structures are smaller than the differencesbetween the X-ray structures of the modelled protein and thehomologues used to build the model. When several homologuesare used, the contributions of the known structures are weighted,preferably by the square of sequence similarity; this is especiallyimportant when the similarities of the homologues to the modelledstructure differ greatly. The ‘collar’ extensionapproach, in which a similar region of different length in ahomologue is used to extend the framework, can result in a moreaccurate model. If known homologues comprise more than one relatedgroup of proteins and they are both distantly related to theunknown, then alignment of the sequence to be modelled witheach group of homologues facilitates identification of structurallyconserved regions of the unknown and leads to an improved model.Models have root mean square differences (r.m.s.d.s) with thestructures defined by X-ray analysis of between 0.73 and 1.56Å for all C atoms, for seven of the eight models. Forthe model of mucor pepsin, where the closest homologue has 33%sequence identity and 20% of the residues are in structurallyvariable regions, the r.m.s.d. for the framework region is 1.71Å and the r.m.s.d. for all C atoms is 3.47 Â.     

Detection of dental abnormalities using SVM and PSVM

Landmarks needed for detecting dental abnormalities in cephalometric analysis were selected from the digital image, and the angle values needed for dental analysis were calculated and stored in a database which is used for developing training dataset. Principal component analysis was applied for dimension reduction to get the desired feature vectors which are trained and tested using support vector machine and proximal support vector machine classifier to detect the dental abnormalities, the performance of the classifiers were also compared.