A system for recognizing a large class of engineering drawings

We present a system for recognizing a large class of engineering drawings characterized by alternating instances of symbols and connection lines. The class includes domains such as flowcharts, logic and electrical circuits, and chemical plant diagrams. The output of the system, a netlist identifying the symbol types and interconnections, may be used for design simulation or as a compact portable representation of the drawing. The automatic recognition task is divided into two stages: 1) domain-independent rules are used to segment symbols from connection lines in the drawing image that has been thinned, vectorized, and preprocessed in routine ways; 2) a drawing understanding subsystem works in concert with a set of domain-specific matchers to classify symbols and correct errors automatically. A graphical user interface is provided to correct residual errors interactively and to log data for reporting errors objectively. The system has been tested on a database of 64 printed images drawn from text books and handbooks in different domains and scanned at 150 and 300 dpi resolution     

Implementing CS1 with embedded instructional research design in laboratories

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses. Unlike open laboratories that tend to be an informal environment provided for students to practice their skills with attendance optional, closed laboratories are structured meeting times that support the lecture component of the course, and attendance is required. This paper reports on an integrated approach to designing, implementing, and assessing laboratories with an embedded instructional research design. The activities reported here are parts of a departmentwide effort not only to improve student learning in computer science and computer engineering (CE) but also to improve the agility of the Computer Science and Engineering Department in adapting the curriculum to changing technologies, incorporate research, and validate the instructional strategies used. This paper presents the design and implementation of the laboratories and the results and analysis of student performance. Also described in this paper is cooperative learning in the laboratories and its impact on student learning.     

Optical scattering in beef steak to predict tenderness using hyperspectral imaging in the VIS-NIR region

The objective of this research is to develop a non-destructive method for predicting cooked beef tenderness using optical scattering of light on fresh beef muscle tissue. A hyperspectral imaging system (λ = 496–1,036 nm) that consists of a CCD camera and an imaging spectrograph, was used to acquire beef steak images. The hyperspectral image consisted of 120 bands with spectral intervals of 4.54 nm. Sixty-one fresh beef steaks, including 44 strip loin and 17 tenderloin cuts, were collected. After imaging, the steaks were cooked and Warner-Bratzler shear (WBS) force values were collected as tenderness references. The optical scattering profiles were derived from the hyperspectral images and fitted to the modified Lorentzian function. Parameters, such as the peak height, full scattering width at half maximum (FWHM), and the slope around the FWHM were determined at each wavelength. Stepwise regression was used to identify 7 key wavelengths and parameters. The parameters were then used to predict the WBS scores. The model was able to predict WBS scores with an R = 0.67. Optical scattering implemented with hyperspectral imaging shows limited success for predicting current status of tenderness in beef steak.     

Extensive Study of Underlap Length Effect for 3-D SOI FinFET to Achieve High Switching Ratio and Low Power

Silicon - The primary purpose of this work is to study the effect of symmetric and asymmetric variation of underlap regions both on source and drain side of 3D SOI n-FinFET. Underlap length is...     

Grafting vinyl monomers onto silk fibers: Graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate onto silk using acetylacetonate Mn(III) complex

The graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate onto Mulberry silk fibers was studied in aqueous solution using Mn(acac)₃ as initiator. Perchloric acid was found to catalyze the reaction. The rate of grafting was investigated by varying the concentration of the monomer and the complex, acidity of the medium, the solvent composition of the reaction medium, the surfactants, and the inhibitors. The graft yield increases with increasing concentration of Mn(acac)₃ up to 0.01 mol/L, decreasing thereafter. Increase of MMA concentration up to 0.56 mol/L increases graft yield, and thereafter it decreases. Among the various vinyl monomers studied, MMA was found to be most suitable for grafting. Grafting increases up to 7.5 × 10^?3 mol/L of HClO₄ concentration, and thereafter it decreases. A suitable reaction scheme has been proposed and a rate equation has been derived. The energy of activation has been calculated from the Arrhenius plot. The chain transfer constants for various chain transfer solvents have been evaluated from the average molecular weight (M?) of grafted poly(methyl methacrylate).     

Grafting of vinyl monomers onto silk fibers: Trivalent-manganese-initiated graft copolymerization of acrylamide onto silk fibers

Graft copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) onto silk fibers, using Mn(III)–sulphate as initiator, has been investigated, in aqueous sulphuric acid in the temperature range of 30–55°C. Grafting reaction has been studied by varying the concentration of monomer, Mn(III), sulphuric acid, temperature, and also with the modified silk. The graft yield increases significantly with increase of monomer concentrations to the extent of 0.85M, after which the rate falls. With increase in Mn(III) concentration and H⁺ ion concentration the graft yield increases, but after an optimum concentration a depression in the graft yield is noticed. The rate of the reaction is temperature-dependent; with increase of temperature the graft-on increases. Among the solvent composition studied a solvent/water mixture containing 10% of the solvent seems to constitute the most favorable medium for grafting, and a further increase of solvent composition decreases the graft yield. The effect of various additives such as transition metal salts, aromatic and heterocyclic amines on grafting reaction has been studied. A suitable mechanism for grafting has been proposed. Finally physical characterization such as thermal analysis (TGA) of the grafted samples has been carried out in order to ensure grafting and to study the change in the properties of the fibers.     

Grafting vinyl monomers onto wool fibers: Graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate onto wool fibers using vanadyl acetyl acetonate complex

The graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto native and reduced Indian Chokla wool fibers was studied in aqueous solution using the acetylacetonate oxovanadium (IV) complex. The rate of grafting was investigated by varying the concentration of the monomer and the complex, acidity of the medium, and the solvent composition of the reaction medium. The graft yield increases with increasing concentration of the initiator up to 8.75 × 10^?5 mol/L, of the monomer up to 0.5634 mol/L, and thereafter it decreases. MMA was found to be the most active monomer when compared to other vinyl monomers. Grafting increases with increasing concentration of HClO₄ and with increasing temperature. Reduced and oxidized wools were found to be better substrates than untreated, esterified, crosslinked, and trinitrophenylated wools. The extent of grafting was mostly dependent upon the concentration of ? SH groups in case of reduced wool. A suitable reaction scheme has been proposed and the activation energy was calculated from Arrhenius plot.     

Spatio-temporal polygonal clustering with space and time as first-class citizens

Detecting spatio-temporal clusters, i.e. clusters of objects similar to each other occurring together across space and time, has important real-world applications such as climate change, drought analysis, detection of outbreak of epidemics (e.g. bird flu), bioterrorist attacks (e.g. anthrax release), and detection of increased military activity. Research in spatio-temporal clustering has focused on grouping individual objects with similar trajectories, detecting moving clusters, or discovering convoys of objects. However, most of these solutions are based on using a piece-meal approach where snapshot clusters are formed at each time stamp and then the series of snapshot clusters are analyzed to discover moving clusters. This approach has two fundamental limitations. First, it is point-based and is not readily applicable to polygonal datasets. Second, its static analysis approach at each time slice is susceptible to inaccurate tracking of dynamic cluster especially when clusters change over both time and space. In this paper we present a spatio-temporal polygonal clustering algorithm known as the Spatio-Temporal Polygonal Clustering (STPC) algorithm. STPC clusters spatial polygons taking into account their spatial and topological properties, treating time as a first-class citizen, and integrating density-based clustering with moving cluster analysis. Our experiments on the drought analysis application, flu spread analysis and crime cluster detection show the validity and robustness of our algorithm in an important geospatial application.     

Acrylic-ester-polyol based novel two-component polyurethane clear coat: Evaluation of performance characteristics

In the current study, a combination of acrylic polyol (AP) and ester polyol (EP) were synthesized and reacted at variable ratios with hexamethylene diisocyanates and isophorone diisocyanates to prepare a transparent two-component polyurethane (PU) coating formulation. The formations of the polyol system, isocyanate system, and the PU systems were confirmed by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Transparency of the coatings was examined using haze, and gloss measurement, which showed acrylic-ester-polyurethane (aePU-5 and aePU-6) have 91.5% and 91.8% transparency and gloss of 90.3 and 90.7 GU respectively. The thermal properties like T_g and the thermal stability of the coatings were verified using differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis respectively which was found to increase with increasing EP content and decreasing AP content which may be ascribed to improved compatibility of copolymers, and homogeneity in PU along with enhanced crosslinking density. The degree of adhesion of coating with the substrate was validated from lap-shear, and cross-cut tape test which showed improved performance at AP:EP ratio of 60:40. The coatings were found to exhibit resistance toward pencil hardness with aePU-5 and aePU-6 having the optimum resistance of 9H. The surface morphology and topography were observed under scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The outcome confirms the higher smoothness of the surfaces subjected to the increase in EP content. The PU system with 40 wt% AP content and 60 wt% EP designated as aePU-5 was found to exhibit optimum performance.