16,820 research outputs found
Optimization of a Non-traditional Unsupervised Classification Approach for Land Cover Analysis
The conditions under which a hybrid of clustering and canonical analysis for image classification produce optimum results were analyzed. The approach involves generation of classes by clustering for input to canonical analysis. The importance of the number of clusters input and the effect of other parameters of the clustering algorithm (ISOCLS) were examined. The approach derives its final result by clustering the canonically transformed data. Therefore the importance of number of clusters requested in this final stage was also examined. The effect of these variables were studied in terms of the average separability (as measured by transformed divergence) of the final clusters, the transformation matrices resulting from different numbers of input classes, and the accuracy of the final classifications. The research was performed with LANDSAT MSS data over the Hazleton/Berwick Pennsylvania area. Final classifications were compared pixel by pixel with an existing geographic information system to provide an indication of their accuracy
Wide-bandwidth, tunable, multiple-pulse-width optical delays using slow light in cesium vapor
We demonstrate an all-optical delay line in hot cesium vapor that tunably
delays 275 ps input pulses up to 6.8 ns and 740 input ps pulses up to 59 ns
(group index of approximately 200) with little pulse distortion. The delay is
made tunable with a fast reconfiguration time (hundreds of ns) by optically
pumping out of the atomic ground states.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Analytical model of brittle destruction based on hypothesis of scale similarity
The size distribution of dust particles in nuclear fusion devices is close to
the power function. A function of this kind can be the result of brittle
destruction. From the similarity assumption it follows that the size
distribution obeys the power law with the exponent between -4 and -1. The model
of destruction has much in common with the fractal theory. The power exponent
can be expressed in terms of the fractal dimension. Reasonable assumptions on
the shape of fragments concretize the power exponent, and vice versa possible
destruction laws can be inferred on the basis of measured size distributions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Include medical ethics in the Research Excellence Framework
The Research Excellence Framework of the Higher Education
Funding Council for England is taking place in 2013, its three
key elements being outputs (65% of the profile), impact (20%),
and “quality of the research environment” (15%). Impact will
be assessed using case studies that “may include any social,
economic or cultural impact or benefit beyond academia that
has taken place during the assessment period.”1
Medical ethics in the UK still does not have its own cognate
assessment panel—for example, bioethics or applied
ethics—unlike in, for example, Australia. Several researchers
in medical ethics have reported to the Institute of Medical Ethics
that during the internal preliminary stage of the Research
Excellence Framework several medical schools have decided
to include only research that entails empirical data gathering.
Thus, conceptual papers and ethical analysis will be excluded.
The arbitrary exclusion of reasoned discussion of medical ethics
issues as a proper subject for medical research unless it is based
on empirical data gathering is conceptually mistaken. “Empirical
ethics” is, of course, a legitimate component of medical ethics
research, but to act as though it is the only legitimate component
suggests, at best, a partial understanding of the nature of ethics
in general and medical ethics in particular. It also mistakenly
places medicine firmly on only one side of the
science/humanities “two cultures” divide instead of in its rightful
place bridging the divide.
Given the emphasis by the General Medical Council on medical
ethics in properly preparing “tomorrow’s doctors,” we urge
medical schools to find a way of using the upcoming Research
Excellence Framework to highlight the expertise residing in
their ethicist colleagues. We are confident that appropriate
assessment will reveal work of high quality that can be shown
to have social and cultural impact and benefit beyond academia,
as required by the framework
A Study of Feature Extraction Using Divergence Analysis of Texture Features
An empirical study of texture analysis for feature extraction and classification of high spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery (10 meters) is presented in terms of specific land cover types. The principal method examined is the use of spatial gray tone dependence (SGTD). The SGTD method reduces the gray levels within a moving window into a two-dimensional spatial gray tone dependence matrix which can be interpreted as a probability matrix of gray tone pairs. Haralick et al (1973) used a number of information theory measures to extract texture features from these matrices, including angular second moment (inertia), correlation, entropy, homogeneity, and energy. The derivation of the SGTD matrix is a function of: (1) the number of gray tones in an image; (2) the angle along which the frequency of SGTD is calculated; (3) the size of the moving window; and (4) the distance between gray tone pairs. The first three parameters were varied and tested on a 10 meter resolution panchromatic image of Maryville, Tennessee using the five SGTD measures. A transformed divergence measure was used to determine the statistical separability between four land cover categories forest, new residential, old residential, and industrial for each variation in texture parameters
Periodically-Poled Silicon [Updated]
We propose a new class of photonic devices based on periodic stress fields in
silicon that enable second-order nonlinearity as well as quasi-phase matching.
Periodically-poled silicon (PePSi) adds the periodic poling capability to
silicon photonics, and allows the excellent crystal quality and advanced
manufacturing capabilities of silicon to be harnessed for devices based on
second-order nonlinear effects. As an example of the utility of the PePSi
technology, we present simulations showing that mid-wave infrared radiation can
be efficiently generated through difference frequency generation from
near-infrared with a conversion efficiency of 50%. This technology can also be
implemented with piezoelectric material, which offers the capability to
dynamically control the X(2) nonlinearity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Spontaneous radiative decay of translational levels of an atom near a dielectric surface
We study spontaneous radiative decay of translational levels of an atom in
the vicinity of a semi-infinite dielectric. We systematically derive the
microscopic dynamical equations for the spontaneous decay process. We calculate
analytically and numerically the radiative linewidths and the spontaneous
transition rates for the translational levels. The roles of the interference
between the emitted and reflected fields and of the transmission into the
evanescent modes are clearly identified. Our numerical calculations for the
silica--cesium interaction show that the radiative linewidths of the bound
excited levels with large enough but not too large vibrational quantum numbers
are moderately enhanced by the emission into the evanescent modes and those for
the deep bound levels are substantially reduced by the surface-induced red
shift of the transition frequency
Enhanced Two-Photon Absorption in a Hollow-Core Photonic Bandgap Fiber
We show that two-photon absorption (TPA) in Rubidium atoms can be greatly
enhanced by the use of a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber. We investigate
off-resonant, degenerate Doppler-free TPA on the 5S1/2 - 5D5/2 transition and
observe 1% absorption of a pump beam with a total power of only 1 mW in the
fiber. These results are verified by measuring the amount of emitted blue
fluorescence and are consistent with the theoretical predictions which indicate
that transit time effects play an important role in determining the two-photon
absorption cross-section in a confined geometry.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Strong nonlinear optical response of graphene flakes measured by four-wave mixing
We present the first experimental investigation of nonlinear optical
properties of graphene flakes. We find that at near infrared frequencies a
graphene monolayer exhibits a remarkably high third-order optical nonlinearity
which is practically independent of the wavelengths of incident light. The
nonlinear optical response can be utilized for imaging purposes, with image
contrasts of graphene which are orders of magnitude higher than those obtained
using linear microscopy.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
The effect of composition on the mechanism of stress-corrosion cracking of titanium alloys in nitrogen tetroxide, and aqueous and hot- salt environments Annual summary report, 1 May 1967 - 30 Apr. 1968
Stress corrosion data for titanium alloys in aqueous, hot salt, and nitrogen dioxide environment
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