Matrix measures on the unit circle, moment spaces, orthogonal polynomials and the Geronimus relations

We study the moment space corresponding to matrix measures on the unit circle. Moment points are characterized by non-negative definiteness of block Toeplitz matrices. This characterization is used to derive an explicit representation of orthogonal polynomials with respect to matrix measures on the unit circle and to present a geometric definition of canonical moments. It is demonstrated that these geometrically defined quantities coincide with the Verblunsky coefficients, which appear in the Szeg\"{o} recursions for the matrix orthogonal polynomials. Finally, we provide an alternative proof of the Geronimus relations which is based on a simple relation between canonical moments of matrix measures on the interval [-1,1] and the Verblunsky coefficients corresponding to matrix measures on the unit circle.Comment: 25 page

Recognition of human body posture from a cloud of 3D data points using wavelet transform coefficients

Addresses the problem of recognizing a human body posture from a cloud of 3D points acquired by a human body scanner. Motivated by finding a representation that embodies a high discriminatory power between posture classes, a new type of feature is suggested, namely the wavelet transform coefficients (WTC) of the 3D data-point distribution projected on to the space of spherical harmonics. A feature selection technique is developed to find those features with high discriminatory power. Integrated within a Bayesian classification framework and compared with other standard features, the WTC showed great capability in discriminating between close postures. The qualities of the WTC features were also reflected in the experimental results carried out with artificially generated postures, where the WTC obtained the best classification rat

A further step towards a physically consistent virtual crack closure technique

The standard virtual crack closure technique may calculate negative values of the modal contributions to the energy release rate when analysing problems with highly asymmetric cracks. To avoid such physically meaningless results, a method is proposed, where the partitioning of fracture modes is based on the decomposition of the crack-tip nodal force into energetically orthogonal components. As an example, a delaminated cantilever beam subjected to bending moments is analysed. Both geometric and algebraic interpretations of the method are discussed

Simultaneous Optimal Uncertainty Apportionment and Robust Design Optimization of Systems Governed by Ordinary Differential Equations

The inclusion of uncertainty in design is of paramount practical importance because all real-life systems are affected by it. Designs that ignore uncertainty often lead to poor robustness, suboptimal performance, and higher build costs. Treatment of small geometric uncertainty in the context of manufacturing tolerances is a well studied topic. Traditional sequential design methodologies have recently been replaced by concurrent optimal design methodologies where optimal system parameters are simultaneously determined along with optimally allocated tolerances; this allows to reduce manufacturing costs while increasing performance. However, the state of the art approaches remain limited in that they can only treat geometric related uncertainties restricted to be small in magnitude. This work proposes a novel framework to perform robust design optimization concurrently with optimal uncertainty apportionment for dynamical systems governed by ordinary differential equations. The proposed framework considerably expands the capabilities of contemporary methods by enabling the treatment of both geometric and non-geometric uncertainties in a unified manner. Additionally, uncertainties are allowed to be large in magnitude and the governing constitutive relations may be highly nonlinear. In the proposed framework, uncertainties are modeled using Generalized Polynomial Chaos and are solved quantitatively using a least-square collocation method. The computational efficiency of this approach allows statistical moments of the uncertain system to be explicitly included in the optimization-based design process. The framework formulates design problems as constrained multi-objective optimization problems, thus enabling the characterization of a Pareto optimal trade-off curve that is off-set from the traditional deterministic optimal trade-off curve. The Pareto off-set is shown to be a result of the additional statistical moment information formulated in the objective and constraint relations that account for the system uncertainties. Therefore, the Pareto trade-off curve from the new framework characterizes the entire family of systems within the probability space; consequently, designers are able to produce robust and optimally performing systems at an optimal manufacturing cost. A kinematic tolerance analysis case-study is presented first to illustrate how the proposed methodology can be applied to treat geometric tolerances. A nonlinear vehicle suspension design problem, subject to parametric uncertainty, illustrates the capability of the new framework to produce an optimal design at an optimal manufacturing cost, accounting for the entire family of systems within the associated probability space. This case-study highlights the general nature of the new framework which is capable of optimally allocating uncertainties of multiple types and with large magnitudes in a single calculation

A Kind of Affine Weighted Moment Invariants

A new kind of geometric invariants is proposed in this paper, which is called affine weighted moment invariant (AWMI). By combination of local affine differential invariants and a framework of global integral, they can more effectively extract features of images and help to increase the number of low-order invariants and to decrease the calculating cost. The experimental results show that AWMIs have good stability and distinguishability and achieve better results in image retrieval than traditional moment invariants. An extension to 3D is straightforward