A Unified Tensor Level Set for Image Segmentation

This paper presents a new region-based unified tensor level set model for image segmentation. This model introduces a three-order tensor to comprehensively depict features of pixels, e.g., gray value and the local geometrical features, such as orientation and gradient, and then, by defining a weighted distance, we generalized the representative region-based level set method from scalar to tensor. The proposed model has four main advantages compared with the traditional representative method as follows. First, involving the Gaussian filter bank, the model is robust against noise, particularly the salt-and pepper-type noise. Second, considering the local geometrical features, e. g., orientation and gradient, the model pays more attention to boundaries and makes the evolving curve stop more easily at the boundary location. Third, due to the unified tensor pixel representation representing the pixels, the model segments images more accurately and naturally. Fourth, based on a weighted distance definition, the model possesses the capacity to cope with data varying from scalar to vector, then to high-order tensor. We apply the proposed method to synthetic, medical, and natural images, and the result suggests that the proposed method is superior to the available representative region-based level set method.

A Relay Level Set Method for Automatic Image Segmentation

This paper presents a new image segmentation method that applies an edge-based level set method in a relay fashion. The proposed method segments an image in a series of nested subregions that are automatically created by shrinking the stabilized curves in their previous subregions. The final result is obtained by combining all boundaries detected in these subregions. The proposed method has the following three advantages: 1) It can be automatically executed without human-computer interactions; 2) it applies the edge-based level set method with relay fashion to detect all boundaries; and 3) it automatically obtains a full segmentation without specifying the number of relays in advance. The comparison experiments illustrate that the proposed method performs better than the representative level set methods, and it can obtain similar or better results compared with other popular segmentation algorithms.

Effect of interfacial roughness on dewetting behavior of polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) bilayer film

The dewetting behavior of polystyrene (PS) film on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) sublayer was investigated by changing the short-range roughness of the PMMA sublayer systemically. When the bilayer film was heated to the temperature above both Tgs, the protuberances formed in both layers to reduce the system energy. By tracing the dewetting process of the PS up-layer, the dewetting velocity was found to increase with the roughness of the sublayer.

Dendritic Superstructures and Structure Transitions of Asymmetric Poly(L-lactide-b-ethylene oxide) Diblock Copolymer Thin films

The evolution of morphologies of isothermally crystallized thin films with different thicknesses of poly(L-lactide-bethylene oxide) diblock copolymer was observed by optical microscopy (OM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Dendritic superstructures stacked with lamellae were investigated in thin films with similar to 200 nm to similar to 400 nm thickness. The lamellar structure was a lozenge- or truncated-lozenge-shaped single crystal of PLLA confirmed by AFM observations. The contour of the dendritic superstructures is hexagonal, and two types of sectors, [110] and [100], can be classified in terms of the chain-folding and crystal growth directions. These phenomena Are due to the interplay of the crystallization of the PLLA block, the microphase separation of the block copolymer, and the effect of the film thickness.

AFM studies of DNA structures on mica in the presence of alkaline earth metal ions

As counterions of DNA on mica, Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+ were used for,clarifying whether DNA molecules equilibrate or are trapped on mica surface. End to end distance and contour lengths were determined from statistical analysis of AFM data. It was revealed that DNA molecules can equilibrate on mica when Mg2+, Ca2+ and Sr2+ are counterions. When Ba2+ is present, significantly crossovered DNA molecules indicate that it is most difficult for DNA to equilibrate on mica and the trapping degree is different under different preparation conditions. In the presence of ethanol, using AFM we have also observed the dependence of B A conformational transition on counterion identities. The four alkaline earth metal ions cause the B-A transition in different degrees, in which Sr2+ induces the greatest structural transition.

Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship of the opioid antagonist with potent anorectant activity of 3,4-dimethyl-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl) piperidine

A series of 3,4-dimethyl-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl) piperidine opioid antagonists with varying substituents on the nitrogen were evaluated for their effect on food consumption in obese Zucker rats. In developing three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) studies for this series of opioid antagonists, different structure alignments have been tested to predict the anorectant activities. The interaction energies between molecules and the probe atom were then correlated with anorectant activity using partial least squares (PLS) method. The steric and electrostatic features of the 3D-QSAR were presented in the form of standard deviation coefficient contour maps of steric and electrostatic fields. The results showed that 3D-QSAR results are much better than the results obtained by 2D-QSAR.

Rare earth elements in bottom sediments of major rivers around the Yellow Sea: implications for sediment provenance

Rare earth elements (REEs) of 91 fine-grained bottom sediment samples from five major rivers in Korea (the Han, Keum, and Yeongsan) and China (the Changjiang and Huanghe) were studied to investigate their potential as source indicator for Yellow Sea shelf sediments, this being the first synthetic report on REE trends for bottom sediments of these rivers. The results show distinct differences in REE contents and their upper continental crust (UCC)-normalized patterns: compared to heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), light rare earth elements (LREEs) are highly enriched in Korean river sediments, in contrast to Chinese river sediments that have a characteristic positive Eu anomaly. This phenomenon is observed also in primary source rocks within the river catchments. This suggests that source rock composition is the primary control on the REE signatures of these river sediments, due largely to variations in the levels of chlorite and monazite, which are more abundant in Korean bottom river sediments. Systematic variations in I LREE pound/I HREE pound ratios, and in (La/Yb)-(Gd/Yb)(UCC) but also (La/Lu)-(La/Y)(UCC) and (La/Y)-(Gd/Lu)(UCC) relations have the greatest discriminatory power. These findings are consistent with, but considerably expand on the limited datasets available to date for suspended sediments. Evidently, the REE fingerprints of these river sediments can serve as a useful diagnostic tool for tracing the provenance of sediments in the Yellow Sea, and for reconstructing their dispersal patterns and the circulation system of the modern shelf, as well as the paleoenvironmental record of this and adjoining marginal seas.

Analysis on deep crustal structure along the onshore-offshore seismic profile across the Binhai (littoral) fault zone in northeastern South China Sea

The onshore-offshore deep seismic experiment was carried out for the first time and filled the blankness of the seismic surveys in the transition area between South China and northeastern South China Sea. The seismic data were analyzed and processed. The different seismic phases were identified and their travel time arrivals were modeled by ray-tracing to study the P-wave velocity crustal structure of this area. The crustal structure of this area is the continental crust. The crust thickness is gradually decreasing southward along the on-shore-offshore seismic line. The low-velocity layer (5.5 similar to 5.9 km (.) s(-1)) exists generally in the middle crust (about 10.0 similar to 18.0km)with about 2.5 similar to 4.0 km thickness, which is also thinning seaward. No obvious high-velocity layer appears in the lower crust. The Binhai (littoral) fault zone is a low velocity zone, which is located about 35km southeast to the Nan'ao station and corresponding to the gradient belt of gravity & magnetism anomalies. The depth of the fault zone is close to the Moho discontinuity. The littoral fault zone is a boundary between the normal continental crust of South China and the thinned continental crust of the sea area.

Dynamics of nonlinear error growth and season-dependent predictability of El Nino events in the Zebiak-Cane model

With the intermediate-complexity Zebiak-Cane model, we investigate the 'spring predictability barrier' (SPB) problem for El Nino events by tracing the evolution of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation (CNOP), where CNOP is superimposed on the El Nino events and acts as the initial error with the biggest negative effect on the El Nino prediction. We show that the evolution of CNOP-type errors has obvious seasonal dependence and yields a significant SPB, with the most severe occurring in predictions made before the boreal spring in the growth phase of El Nino. The CNOP-type errors can be classified into two types: one possessing a sea-surface-temperature anomaly pattern with negative anomalies in the equatorial central-western Pacific, positive anomalies in the equatorial eastern Pacific, and a thermocline depth anomaly pattern with positive anomalies along the Equator, and another with patterns almost opposite to those of the former type. In predictions through the spring in the growth phase of El Nino, the initial error with the worst effect on the prediction tends to be the latter type of CNOP error, whereas in predictions through the spring in the decaying phase, the initial error with the biggest negative effect on the prediction is inclined to be the former type of CNOP error. Although the linear singular vector (LSV)-type errors also have patterns similar to the CNOP-type errors, they cover a more localized area than the CNOP-type errors and cause a much smaller prediction error, yielding a less significant SPB. Random errors in the initial conditions are also superimposed on El Nino events to investigate the SPB. We find that, whenever the predictions start, the random errors neither exhibit an obvious season-dependent evolution nor yield a large prediction error, and thus may not be responsible for the SPB phenomenon for El Nino events. These results suggest that the occurrence of the SPB is closely related to particular initial error patterns. The two kinds of CNOP-type error are most likely to cause a significant SPB. They have opposite signs and, consequently, opposite growth behaviours, a result which may demonstrate two dynamical mechanisms of error growth related to SPB: in one case, the errors grow in a manner similar to El Nino; in the other, the errors develop with a tendency opposite to El Nino. The two types of CNOP error may be most likely to provide the information regarding the 'sensitive area' of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) predictions. If these types of initial error exist in realistic ENSO predictions and if a target method or a data assimilation approach can filter them, the ENSO forecast skill may be improved. Copyright (C) 2009 Royal Meteorological Society

Soil organic carbon storage and soil CO2 flux in the alpine meadow ecosystem

High-resolution sampling, measurements of organic carbon contents and C-14 signatures of selected four soil profiles in the Haibei Station situated on the northeast Tibetan Plateau, and application of C-14 tracing technology were conducted in an attempt to investigate the turnover times of soil organic carbon and the soil-CO2 flux in the alpine meadow ecosystem. The results show that the organic carbon stored in the soils varies from 22.12x10(4) kg C hm(-2) to 30.75x10(4) kg C hm(-2) in the alpine meadow ecosystems, with an average of 26.86x10(4) kg C hm(-2). Turnover times of organic carbon pools increase with depth from 45 a to 73 a in the surface soil horizon to hundreds of years or millennia or even longer at the deep soil horizons in the alpine meadow ecosystems. The soil-CO2 flux ranges from 103.24 g C m(-2) a(-1) to 254.93 gC m(-2) a(-1), with an average of 191.23 g C m(-2) a(-1). The CO2 efflux produced from microbial decomposition of organic matter varies from 73.3 g C m(-2) a(-1) to 181 g C m(-2) a(-1). More than 30% of total soil organic carbon resides in the active carbon pool and 72.8%. 81.23% of total CO2 emitted from organic matter decomposition results from the topsoil horizon (from 0 cm to 10 cm) for the Kobresia meadow. Responding to global warming, the storage, volume of flow and fate of the soil organic carbon in the alpine meadow ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau will be changed, which needs further research.

仿人机器人腰部机构的动力学建模、控制与仿真

本文介绍的仿人机器人具有差动腰部机构,它除了受自身的动力学影响以外,还受到手臂和车体运动以及外力、外力矩等对腰部机构关节力矩的影响。笔者利用高效牛顿-欧拉算法完成了仿人机器人的整体建模;在不考虑各关节间耦合运动的情况下,对整体动力学模型进行适当简化,得到了腰部机构的动力学模型。简化后的动力学模型既反映了机器人车体、腰部及双臂的动力学关系,又大大地减小了计算量,易于实现基于动力学的控制算法。基于动力学模型,给出了腰部机构PD伺服轨迹跟踪控制算法,并结合计算力矩方法用于补偿腰部机构两关节受到的力矩扰动。仿真分析表明,该控制方法可以明显提高腰部机构的位置跟踪精度,并提高仿人机器人的整体作业精度。

基于形状保持主动轮廓模型长直条的检测

通过形状约束方程(组)与一般主动轮廓模型结合,将目标形状与主动轮廓模型融合到统一能量泛函模型中,提出一种形状保持主动轮廓模型。模型通过参数化水平集函数的零水平集表示某一类特定形状,不仅达到了分割即目标的目的,而且能够给出特定目标的定量描述。根据形状保持主动轮廓模型,建立一个用于长直条状目标检测的统一能量泛函模型,导出相应的Euler-Lagrange常微分方程并用水平集方法实现了长直条状区域的检测。此形状保持模型的一种特殊情况可以用于直线状地平(海天)线提取。实验结果表明,该模型不仅能够准确地检测出给定图像中的长直条状区域而且有很强的抗噪、抗变形及遮挡性能。

越野移动机器人自动驾驶专家系统的研究

本文研究越野移动机器人驾驶专家系统等有关问题．首先介绍了系统的硬件支持环境，然后阐述了自动驾驶专家系统的总体结构，有关知识库的内容以及使用知识的各功能模块的作用与运行机理．该系统已部分得以应用，能够完全代替驾驶员完成各种驾驶操作，并能进行自主导航、运动规划、自动绕障、动态跟踪目标、原路返回以及示教再现等复杂任务。

手写体数字识别装置

本文叙述一种采用飞点扫描管沿字周边扫描的技术,和如何把得到的模拟文字信息按文字的高和宽以及光点运动的方向分成4×5格子和八个方向。这样就能够从大量的信息中提取出十七种用于特征描述的基本信息量。当然选择这一“模拟——数字”信息压缩的依据和数量是由特征抽取确定的。本文还讨论了筹划特征法分类的实践,着眼点是找出能代表被分类诸对象的特征(圆弧、线段等),在此基础上用得到的60个特征来描述被分类的诸对象。理想的情况下用这些特征去描述某个数字应当是唯一的,由于手写体变化较大,扫描结果部分失真,因此在分类逻辑中,还要依据大量实践的结果加上一些所谓技巧性的逻辑,才能组成一个合理的分类逻辑。本文叙述的方法和实践已用于沈阳市信函自动分拣样机上。