Monitoring of Tsunami/Earthquake Damages by Polarimetric Microwave Remote Sensing Technique

Polarization characterizes the vector state of EM wave. When interacting with polarized wave, rough natural surface often induces dominant surface scattering; building also presents dominant double-bounce scattering. Tsunami/earthquake causes serious destruction just by inundating the land surface and destroying the building. By analyzing the change of surface and double-bounce scattering before and after disaster, we can achieve a monitoring of damages. This constitutes one basic principle of polarimetric microwave remote sensing of tsunami/earthquake. The extraction of surface and double-bounce scattering from coherency matrix is achieved by model-based decomposition. The general four-component scattering power decomposition with unitary transformation (G4U) has been widely used in the remote sensing of tsunami/earthquake to identify surface and double-bounce scattering because it can adaptively enhance surface or double-bounce scattering. Nonetheless, the strict derivation in this chapter conveys that G4U cannot always strengthen the double-bounce scattering in urban area nor strengthen the surface scattering in water or land area unless we adaptively combine G4U and its duality for an extended G4U (EG4U). Experiment on the ALOS-PALSAR datasets of 2011 great Tohoku tsunami/earthquake demonstrates not only the outperformance of EG4U but also the effectiveness of polarimetric remote sensing in the qualitative monitoring and quantitative evaluation of tsunami/earthquake damages

Intermediate ferroelectric orthorhombic and monoclinic MB phases in [110]- electric field cooled Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-30%PbTiO3 crystals

Structural phase transformations of [110] electric field cooled Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-30%PbTiO3 (PMN-30%PT) crystals have been performed by x-ray diffraction in a field-cooled (FC) condition. A phase sequence of cubic(C)-tetragonal(T)-orthorhombic (O)-monoclinic (MB) was found on field-cooling (FC); and a R-MB-O one was observed with increasing field beginning from the zero field-cooled (ZFC) condition at room temperature. The application of the [110] electric field induced a dramatic change in the phase sequence in the FC condition, compared to the corresponding data for PMN-30%PT crystals in a [001] field, which shows that the phase sequence in the FC condition is altered by the crystallographic direction along which a modest electric field (E) is applied. Only when E is applied along [110] are intermediate O and MB phases observed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Fe–Ga/Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 magnetoelectric laminate composites

We have found large magnetoelectric (ME) effects in long-type laminate composites of Fe–20%Ga magnetostrictive alloys and piezoelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 single crystals. At lower frequencies, the ME voltage coefficient of a laminate with longitudinally magnetized and longitudinally polarized (i.e., L-L mode) layers was 1.41 V/Oe (or1.01 V/cm Oe). Near the natural resonant frequency ( ∼ 91 kHz) of the laminate, the ME voltage coefficients were found to be dramatically increased to 50.7 V/Oe (36.2 V/cm Oe)for the L-L mode. In addition, the laminate can detect a minute magnetic field as low as ∼ 2×10−12 T at resonance frequency, and ∼ 1×10−10 T at lower frequencies

Reduced contrast sensitivity function is correlated with changes to cone photoreceptors in simple high myopia

PurposeTo investigate the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) changes in simple high myopia (SHM) and evaluate the correlations between these changes with the early changes in the retinal microstructure.MethodsThis prospective study comprised 81 subjects, 20 with emmetropia (EM), 26 with low myopia and moderate myopia (LM/MM), and 35 with SHM. The area under the log CSF curve (AULCSF) and the cut-off spatial frequency (Cut-off SF) were employed as measures of CSF. Adaptive optics (AO) was employed to quantify the cone density, spacing, and regularity. The thickness and blood flow of the retinal sublayers were determined from vertical and horizontal optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) A-scans. Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) was employed to analyze the choroidal thickness (CT) and choroidal vascularity using a custom algorithm. Differences in the retinal and choroidal parameters, cone distribution, AULCSF, and Cut-off SF were compared among the three groups. Multivariate linear mixed models were used to elucidate the associations between photoreceptor morphological alterations, retinal and choroidal parameters, and AULCSF.ResultsThe AULCSF and Cut-off SF were significantly lower in the SHM group compared to the EM and LM groups (p < 0.05). The SHM group had less cone density, larger cone spacing, and lower cone regularity than the EM and LM/MM groups (p < 0.05). Moreover, the thickness of the inner segment of photoreceptors (IS), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer and choroid were reduced, and the outer segment of photoreceptors (OS) was thicker in the SHM group compared to the EM and LM/MM groups (all p < 0.05). A longer axial length (AL) was correlated with decreased AULCSF, cone density, and cone spacing (r = −0.800 to 0.752, all p < 0.050). Additionally, decreased CSF was correlated with lower cone density (r = 0.338, p = 0.035).ConclusionDecreased contrast sensitivity was observed in patients with SHM and cone density was significantly correlated with reduced AUCSF

Low Symmetry Phase in (001) BiFeO3_3 Epitaxial Constrained Thin Films

The lattice of (001)-oriented BiFeO$_3$ epitaxial thin film has been identified by synchrotron x-ray diffraction. By choosing proper scattering zones containing the fixed (001) reflection, we have shown that low-symmetry phases similar to a $M_A$ phase exist in the thin film at room temperature. These results demonstrate a change in phase stability from rhombohedral in bulk single crystals, to a modified monoclinic structure in epitaxial thin films

Bi-Functional Silica Nanoparticles Doped with Iron Oxide and CdTe Prepared by a Facile Method

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) and iron oxide nanoparticles doped silica nanospheres were prepared by a multistep method. Iron oxide nanoparticles were first coated with silica and then modified with amino group. Thereafter, CdTe nanoparticles were assembled on the particle surfaces by their strong interaction with amino group. Finally, an outer silica shell was deposited. The final products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, vibration sample magnetometer, photoluminescence spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), and fluorescent microscopy. The characterization results showed that the final nanomaterial possessed a saturation magnetization of about 5.8 emu g−1and an emission peak at 588 nm when the excitation wavelength fixed at 380 nm

The Human Activity Radar Challenge: benchmarking based on the ‘Radar signatures of human activities’ dataset from Glasgow University

Radar is an extremely valuable sensing technology for detecting moving targets and measuring their range, velocity, and angular positions. When people are monitored at home, radar is more likely to be accepted by end-users, as they already use WiFi, is perceived as privacy-preserving compared to cameras, and does not require user compliance as wearable sensors do. Furthermore, it is not affected by lighting condi-tions nor requires artificial lights that could cause discomfort in the home environment. So, radar-based human activities classification in the context of assisted living can empower an aging society to live at home independently longer. However, challenges remain as to the formulation of the most effective algorithms for radar-based human activities classification and their validation. To promote the exploration and cross-evaluation of different algorithms, our dataset released in 2019 was used to benchmark various classification approaches. The challenge was open from February 2020 to December 2020. A total of 23 organizations worldwide, forming 12 teams from academia and industry, participated in the inaugural Radar Challenge, and submitted 188 valid entries to the challenge. This paper presents an overview and evaluation of the approaches used for all primary contributions in this inaugural challenge. The proposed algorithms are summarized, and the main parameters affecting their performances are analyzed

The Human Activity Radar Challenge: benchmarking based on the ‘Radar signatures of human activities’ dataset from Glasgow University

Radar is an extremely valuable sensing technology for detecting moving targets and measuring their range, velocity, and angular positions. When people are monitored at home, radar is more likely to be accepted by end-users, as they already use WiFi, is perceived as privacy-preserving compared to cameras, and does not require user compliance as wearable sensors do. Furthermore, it is not affected by lighting condi-tions nor requires artificial lights that could cause discomfort in the home environment. So, radar-based human activities classification in the context of assisted living can empower an aging society to live at home independently longer. However, challenges remain as to the formulation of the most effective algorithms for radar-based human activities classification and their validation. To promote the exploration and cross-evaluation of different algorithms, our dataset released in 2019 was used to benchmark various classification approaches. The challenge was open from February 2020 to December 2020. A total of 23 organizations worldwide, forming 12 teams from academia and industry, participated in the inaugural Radar Challenge, and submitted 188 valid entries to the challenge. This paper presents an overview and evaluation of the approaches used for all primary contributions in this inaugural challenge. The proposed algorithms are summarized, and the main parameters affecting their performances are analyzed

Rhodium-catalyzed triarylphosphine synthesis via cross-coupling of aryl iodides and acylphosphines

Rhodium(I)-catalyzed C–P cross-coupling reaction with aryl iodides and acylphosphines was disclosed for a straight forward synthesis of triarylphosphines. The acylphosphines were successfully employed as both the phosphorus source and the ligand to the Rh(I) catalyst. The triarylphosphines could be afforded in a yield up to 98% with good toleration of wide functional groups