57,713 research outputs found
Automatic detection of arcs and arclets formed by gravitational lensing
We present an algorithm developed particularly to detect gravitationally
lensed arcs in clusters of galaxies. This algorithm is suited for automated
surveys as well as individual arc detections. New methods are used for image
smoothing and source detection. The smoothing is performed by so-called
anisotropic diffusion, which maintains the shape of the arcs and does not
disperse them. The algorithm is much more efficient in detecting arcs than
other source finding algorithms and the detection by eye.Comment: A&A in press, 12 pages, 16 figure
A versatile maskless microscope projection photolithography system and its application in light-directed fabrication of DNA microarrays
We present a maskless microscope projection lithography system (MPLS), in
which photomasks have been replaced by a Digital Micromirror Device type
spatial light modulator (DMD, Texas Instruments). Employing video projector
technology high resolution patterns, designed as bitmap images on the computer,
are displayed using a micromirror array consisting of about 786000 tiny
individually addressable tilting mirrors. The DMD, which is located in the
image plane of an infinity corrected microscope, is projected onto a substrate
placed in the focal plane of the microscope objective. With a 5x(0.25 NA) Fluar
microscope objective, a fivefold reduction of the image to a total size of 9
mm2 and a minimum feature size of 3.5 microns is achieved. Our system can be
used in the visible range as well as in the near UV (with a light intensity of
up to 76 mW/cm2 around the 365 nm Hg-line). We developed an inexpensive and
simple method to enable exact focusing and controlling of the image quality of
the projected patterns. Our MPLS has originally been designed for the
light-directed in situ synthesis of DNA microarrays. One requirement is a high
UV intensity to keep the fabrication process reasonably short. Another demand
is a sufficient contrast ratio over small distances (of about 5 microns). This
is necessary to achieve a high density of features (i.e. separated sites on the
substrate at which different DNA sequences are synthesized in parallel fashion)
while at the same time the number of stray light induced DNA sequence errors is
kept reasonably small. We demonstrate the performance of the apparatus in
light-directed DNA chip synthesis and discuss its advantages and limitations.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, journal articl
S-TREE: Self-Organizing Trees for Data Clustering and Online Vector Quantization
This paper introduces S-TREE (Self-Organizing Tree), a family of models that use unsupervised learning to construct hierarchical representations of data and online tree-structured vector quantizers. The S-TREE1 model, which features a new tree-building algorithm, can be implemented with various cost functions. An alternative implementation, S-TREE2, which uses a new double-path search procedure, is also developed. S-TREE2 implements an online procedure that approximates an optimal (unstructured) clustering solution while imposing a tree-structure constraint. The performance of the S-TREE algorithms is illustrated with data clustering and vector quantization examples, including a Gauss-Markov source benchmark and an image compression application. S-TREE performance on these tasks is compared with the standard tree-structured vector quantizer (TSVQ) and the generalized Lloyd algorithm (GLA). The image reconstruction quality with S-TREE2 approaches that of GLA while taking less than 10% of computer time. S-TREE1 and S-TREE2 also compare favorably with the standard TSVQ in both the time needed to create the codebook and the quality of image reconstruction.Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-10409, N00014-95-0G57
High-resolution 3D weld toe stress analysis and ACPD method for weld toe fatigue crack initiation
Weld toe fatigue crack initiation is highly dependent on the local weld toe stress-concentrating geometry including any inherent flaws. These flaws are responsible for premature fatigue crack initiation (FCI) and must be minimised to maximise the fatigue life of a welded joint. In this work, a data-rich methodology has been developed to capture the true weld toe geometry and resulting local weld toe stress-field and relate this to the FCI life of a steel arc-welded joint. To obtain FCI lives, interrupted fatigue test was performed on the welded joint monitored by a novel multi-probe array of alternating current potential drop (ACPD) probes across the weld toe. This setup enabled the FCI sites to be located and the FCI life to be determined and gave an indication of early fatigue crack propagation rates. To understand fully the local weld toe stress-field, high-resolution (5 mu m) 3D linear-elastic finite element (FE) models were generated from X-ray micro-computed tomography (mu-CT) of each weld toe after fatigue testing. From these models, approximately 202 stress concentration factors (SCFs) were computed for every 1 mm of weld toe. These two novel methodologies successfully link to provide an assessment of the weld quality and this is correlated with the fatigue performance
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