Cooking System

The invention refers to a cooking system, preferably cooking hob, more preferably induction hob

Accuracy of a Phase-Correlation Technique for Fully Automated Sea Ice Motion Retrieval based on Sequential SAR Images

In order to improve ship routing in polar waters, we present a software processor to retrieve high resolution sea ice motion fields from spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image sequences fully automatically. Sea ice is almost continually in motion. Within hours, wind and ocean currents can cause significant changes within the sea ice. When the ice is pulled apart by winds or currents from opposite directions, the ice fractures, and open water leads appear. When ice is strongly pushed together by converging wind and currents, the ice sheet will break and either pile up randomly one piece over another, forming a thick, uneven surface, or be forced upwards, creating high walls called ridges. Such obstacles are difficult or impossible even for icebreakers to overcome. SAR satellites such as TerraSAR-X or Sentinel-1 are well suitable to map different structures in the sea ice. Due to their near-polar orbit, spatially and temporally near coincident acquisitions in high latitudes are possible on a daily basis. The core of the presented software processor for sea ice motion retrieval is the well-known phase correlation technique, executed within a hierarchical motion estimation framework presented in our previous work. The output of the processor is a vector field indicating the sea ice displacement, which can be converted into sea ice velocity. Now, we investigate the accuracy of the retrieved displacement. Our test deals with a series of TerraSAR-X ScanSAR mode images acquired over drift buoys that are located in arctic waters, as well as with collocated Sentinel-1 acquisitions for comparison. We monitored the buoys during July 2017 and January 2018. In the winter sequences, an ice concentration of >90 % is predominant, while the summer acquisitions capture an ice concentration of 50 % - 80 %. Altogether, the accuracy of motion vectors estimated from TerraSAR-X image pairs amounts to 30 m (1σ-error). The motion field has a resolution of 150 m x 150 m, which gives a very detailed look into the local sea ice motion, detecting small variations. The presented processor is intended to be part of the operational data processing chain at DLR Ground Station Network sites. In ongoing work, we implement parallel processing in order to reduce computing time so vessels in ice infested waters can receive information on local sea ice motion in near real-time

A Response to the United Nations CITES Blockchain Challenge: Incremental and Integrative PoA-based Permit Exchange

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) negotiated and administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) regulates the international trade of endangered species and derived products through a permit-based system. Currently, the permit process is paper-based and hence highly prone to manipulations and errors. Being aware of blockchains' potential, the CITES Secretariat defined a challenge to determine whether a blockchain-based system can address the aforementioned issues and serve as a secure, efficient, and affordable permit processing system. In this paper, we respond to the CITES Blockchain Challenge. First, we analyze the permit process and discuss how blockchain systems can improve that process in a way traditional systems cannot. Building on these results, we design a blockchain-based system that enables secure, manipulation resistant permit validation, produces an immutable record of processed permits, and is in compliance with the CITES agreement. To evaluate this design, we developed a proof-of-concept implementation compatible with the paper-based permit process and deployed it to a Proof-of-Authority-based blockchain network. This allows incremental adoption and integration with the existing process, thereby increasing acceptance and addressing affordability. Finally, we describe how a blockchain- based system could disruptively improve the established permit process by enforcing quotas and tracking provenance

Ion beam etching process simulation for the pattern transfer of photoresist diffraction gratings generated by holography

The manufacturing process for diffraction gratings based on interference lithography results at first in a resist surface relief pattern. However, the majority of applications demand grating structures in the inorganic substrate material itself. Commonly, a modification of the grating profile with regard to an optimized diffraction efficiency is necessary. Therefore a number of different etching methods may be employed. For the very often applied dry etching processes an intuitively accessible forecast of the resulting etched profile is virtually impossible. This is caused by the distinct angular dependence of the etching rate. Beside the option to predict etching results the adapted simulation tool based on MATLAB offers a deeper insight into the mechanics of the pattern transfer via ion etching

MAJOR DEPRESSION AND SURVIVAL IN PEOPLE WITH CANCER

OBJECTIVE: The question of whether depression is associated with worse survival in people with cancer remains unanswered because of methodological criticism of the published research on the topic. We aimed to study the association in a large methodologically robust study. METHODS: We analyzed data on 20,582 patients with breast, colorectal, gynecological, lung, and prostate cancers who had attended cancer outpatient clinics in Scotland, United Kingdom. Patients had completed two-stage screening for major depression as part of their cancer care. These data on depression status were linked to demographic, cancer, and subsequent mortality data from national databases. We estimated the association of major depression with survival for each cancer using Cox regression. We adjusted for potential confounders and interactions between potentially time-varying confounders and the interval between cancer diagnosis and depression screening, and used multiple imputation for missing depression and confounder data. We pooled the cancer-specific results using fixed-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: Major depression was associated with worse survival for all cancers, with similar adjusted hazard ratios (HRs): breast cancer (HR = 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15-1.75), colorectal cancer (HR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.11-1.94), gynecological cancer (HR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.08-1.71), lung cancer (HR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.24-1.56), and prostate cancer (HR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.08-2.85). The pooled HR was 1.41 (95% CI = 1.29-1.54, p < .001, I2 = 0%). These findings were not materially different when we only considered the deaths (90%) that were attributed to cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Major depression is associated with worse survival in patients with common cancers. The mechanisms of this association and the clinical implications require further study

Generation of Rapid Civil Alerts by Satellite On-Board SAR Processing

The concept and prototype implementation of a satellite on-board SAR processing chain designed for Maritime Situation Awareness is described. It aims to reduce the latency between data acquisition and product delivery to about 3-4 minutes. SAR processing is one component of a larger prototype system being developed in the frame of the H2020 EO-ALERT project. It further comprises an optical data chain, data compression/encryption, and delivery. The system employs multiple boards with Multi-Processor-System-On-Chip (MPSoC) combining FPGAs and ARM CPUs. Low latency data processing was a key development goal, hence, a tailored workflow and adapted L1 and L2 processing algorithms ensure that the requirements for latency and product quality are met. The SAR processor is designed to generate SAR imagery from TerraSAR-X stripmap data for subsequent ship detection and sea state determination. The achieved overall L1 and L2 processing times were 60 s for ship detection and 105 s for sea state determination on a 1125 km² SAR image. These results enable further work towards a new generation of Earth Observation satellites with similar processing capabilities on-board, providing users with products only a few minutes after acquisition