Shape and Trajectory Tracking of Moving Obstacles

This work presents new methods and algorithms for tracking the shape and trajectory of moving reflecting obstacles with broken rays, or rays reflecting at an obstacle. While in tomography the focus of the reconstruction method is to recover the velocity structure of the domain, the shape and trajectory reconstruction procedure directly finds the shape and trajectory of the obstacle. The physical signal carrier for this innovative method are ultrasonic beams. When the speed of sound is constant, the rays are straight line segments and the shape and trajectory of moving objects will be reconstructed with methods based on the travel time equation and ellipsoid geometry. For variable speed of sound, we start with the eikonal equation and a system of differential equations that has its origins in acoustics and seismology. In this case, the rays are curves that are not necessarily straight line segments and we develop algorithms for shape and trajectory tracking based on the numerical solution of these equations. We present methods and algorithms for shape and trajectory tracking of moving obstacles with reflected rays when the location of the receiver of the reflected ray is not known in advance. The shape and trajectory tracking method is very efficient because it is not necessary for the reflected signal to traverse the whole domain or the same path back to the transmitter. It could be received close to the point of reflection or far away from the transmitter. This optimizes the energy spent by transmitters for tracking the object, reduces signal attenuation and improves image resolution. It is a safe and secure method. We also present algorithms for tracking the shape and trajectory of absorbing obstacles. The new methods and algorithms for shape and trajectory tracking enable new applications and an application to one-hop Internet routing is presented.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

To what extent is the taking and use of neuroscientific evidence compatible with the rights enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights?

Criminal law is arguably among the most important parts of any system of law as its purpose is to counter serious forms of socially undesired behavior such as assault on one’s property, physical integrity and life. Therefore in order to fulfill the high expectations society has of it, it should be equipped with the best tools to find out the truth, determine who is guilty and either punish or send them to rehabilitation. To achieve these goals it has the power to gather all kinds of evidence and invade people’s liberties and private lives. These extensive prerogatives are controlled to a large extent, but not only, by the protection from the state’s intrusion into private life enshrined in human rights documents such as the right to fair trial and the right to privacy in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The protection granted to individuals in this way, however, is far from absolute and it is often reduced in the process of solving particularly important cases. Thus the answer to whether human rights are infringed can often be ambiguous, policy-driven and depend on the balancing of interests in the particular case.This paper endeavors to discuss whether the compulsory taking and use of neuroscientific evidence in the form of fMRI lie-detection and Guilty Knowledge Tests (‘GKT’ from now on) as well as Brain Fingerprinting (‘BF’ from now on) detection of existing knowledge from the defendant in criminal proceedings complies with the right to fair trial and particularly the right to silence which is part of it; and the right to privacy as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.   

LA FILOSOFÍA DE SOLOVYOV COMO RACIONALIZACIÓN DE LOS SENTIMIENTOS Y EL COMPORTAMIENTO RELGIOSOS

  Resumen: El artículo está dedicado a Vladimir Solovyov (Vladimir Solovyov) (1853-1900), el filósofo religioso más grande de Rusia del siglo 19. La tesis fundamental es que las ideas principales de Solovyov se pueden interpretar como una reflexión filosófica sobre los sentimientos religiosos fundamentales y los aspectos de comportamiento religioso. En este sentido se analizan en detalle las enseñanzas de Solovyov sobre la unidad positiva (all-encompassing unity, всеединство), la catolicidad (sobornost, соборность) y la divinohumanidad (Godmanhood, Divine Humanity, богочеловечество). Se presta atención especial al proyecto teocrático de Solovyov de establecer una Iglesia Cristiana Universal (Christian Universal Church, Ecumenical Church) y restaurar la unidad (re-unification) de la cristiandad.Palabras clave:unidad, divinohumanidad; catolicidad; ortodoxia rusa (Russian Orthodoxy); Iglesia Universal (Ecumenical Church; Universal Church)

Ultrasonic Sol-Gel Arrays for Monitoring High-Temperature Corrosion

Corrosion of oil refinery equipment operating at high temperature is a growing challenge linked to an increase in sulfur concentration and acidity within the world supply of crude oils. Improved high temperature monitoring tools are needed to continuously measure the local minimum wall thickness of steel pipe subject to non-uniform internal corrosion. Thickness measurements must be sufficiently accurate to calculate the maximum allowable stress permissible as to avoid failure. Thickness measurements must also be sufficiently reliable and precise to correlate the rate of wall-loss with process conditions as to improve future corrosion rate predictions. Permanently installed structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies have the potential to meet these needs and an ultrasonic sensor technology based on the sol-gel ceramic fabrication process will be presented. The sol-gel thin-film sensor fabrication process is described: aerosol printing of high-temperature piezoceramic material, heat curing, polarization, electrode deposition, and wiring. The sensors are characterized with the photoelastic visualization method by first, recording the propagating elastic waves as a sequence of images, then, processing the image frames to reconstruct a beam profile through identification of the maximum optical intensity for each pixel via normalizing, filtering, and smoothing. A sol-gel transducer is shown to be similar to a traditional manual contact transducer. The systematic and environmental factors that impact ultrasonic thickness measurement accuracy, precision, and reliability are discussed. An experiment is conducted using a flat-bottom-hole calibration pipe at ambient temperature with sol-gel transducer arrays in pulse-echo and pitch-catch configuration for various time-of-flight thickness calculation methods. A weighted censored relative maximum likelihood statistical method incorporating the propagation of asymmetric uncertainty is used to report thickness measurement results with confidence limits analogous to the a90/95 terminology used in Probability-of-Detection (POD) assessments. Future work is discussed to apply the statistical analysis technique to complex back-wall surfaces at high temperature representative of naphthenic acid corrosion in oil refineries