Wavelet Coefficients and Gradient Direction for Offline Recognition of Isolated Malayalam Characters

This work attempt to use the wavelet transform coefficients combined with image gradient direction as feature vector for the recognition of isolated handwritten Malayalam characters. It has been established that the number of zero crossings in wavelet transform distinctly characterizes an image. This property has been exploited in this work for the recognition of handwritten characters. The images of 71 characters in Malayalam are considered for the recognition purpose. The segmented image of the symbols are thinned and smoothed for further processing. The feature vector proposed in this work is the combination of number of zero crossings in two level Daubechies (Db4) wavelet transform and gradient direction of the image mapped to twelve regions with each region having 30 degree span. A two level Db4 wavelet transform is applied on each processed symbol and the number of zero crossings in each of 20 sub images are counted and recorded. Gradient direction is combined with this to form the feature vector. Multilayer Perceptron classifier is used for classification. We have obtained an accuracy of 98.8%

Single image super resolution using compressive K-SVD and fusion of sparse approximation algorithms

Super Resolution based on Compressed Sensing (CS) considers low resolution (LR) image patch as the compressive measurement of its corresponding high resolution (HR) patch. In this paper we propose a single image super resolution scheme with compressive K-SVD algorithm(CKSVD) for dictionary learning incorporating fusion of sparse approximation algorithms to produce better results. The CKSVD algorithm is able to learn a dictionary on a set of training signals using only compressive sensing measurements of them. In the fusion based scheme used for sparse approximation, several CS reconstruction algorithms participate and they are executed in parallel, independently. The final estimate of the underlying sparse signal is derived by fusing the estimates obtained from the participating algorithms. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme demands fewer CS measurements for creating better quality super resolved images in terms of both PSNR and visual perception

On possible impact of the Indian summer monsoon on the ENSO

The Indian summer monsoon (ISM) could influence the El Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) only if it could induce significant surface wind anomalies in the active regions of central and eastern equatorial Pacific. Using 50-year NCEP reanalysis, it is shown that observed surface winds in the central and eastern Pacific associated 'purely' with ISM and unrelated to ENSO are very weak (~0.5m.s-1). Strong surface winds in the central and eastern Pacific following a 'strong' or 'weak' ISM, noted in some earlier composite analyses, are related not to ISM but to the concurrent sea surface temperature (SST) forcing associated with the ENSO. A long run of an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) without inter-annual SST forcing also show that a 'pure' ISM induces only very weak surface winds in the equatorial central and eastern Pacific. Thus, we conclude that the ISM by itself is unlikely to influence the ENSO in a significant way

Bounds on Compactness for LMXB Neutron Stars from X-ray Burst Oscillations

We have modelled X-ray burst oscillations observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) from two low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB): 4U 1636-53 with a frequency of 580 Hz, and 4U 1728-34 at a frequency of 363 Hz. We have computed least squares fits to the oscillations observed during the rising phase of bursts using a model which includes emission from either a single circular hot spot or a pair of circular antipodal hot spots on the surface of a neutron star. We model the spreading of the thermonuclear hot spots by assuming that the hot spot angular size grows linearly with time. We calculate the flux as a function of rotational phase from the hot spots and take into account photon deflection in the relativistic gravitational field of the neutron star assuming the exterior spacetime is the Schwarzschild metric. We find acceptable fits with our model and we use these to place constraints on the compactness of the neutron stars in these sources. For 4U 1636-53, in which detection of a 290 Hz sub-harmonic supports the two spot model, we find that the compactness (i.e., mass/radius ratio) is constrained to be M/R < 0.163 at 90% confidence (G = c = 1). This requires a relatively stiff equation of state (EOS) for the stellar interior. For example, if the neutron star has a mass of 1.4 Msun then its radius must be > 12.8 km. Fits using a single hot spot model are not as highly constraining. We discuss the implications of our findings for recent efforts to calculate the EOS of dense nucleon matter and the structure of neutron stars.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, AASTeX. Revised and expanded version. Resubmitted to Astrophysical Journa

Cosmic Coincidence and Asymmetric Dark Matter in a Stueckelberg Extension

We discuss the possibility of cogenesis generating the ratio of baryon asymmetry to dark matter in a Stueckelberg U(1) extension of the standard model and of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. For the U(1) we choose $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ which is anomaly free and can be gauged. The dark matter candidate arising from this extension is a singlet of the standard model gauge group but is charged under $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$. Solutions to the Boltzmann equations for relics in the presence of asymmetric dark matter are discussed. It is shown that the ratio of the baryon asymmetry to dark matter consistent with the current WMAP data, i.e., the cosmic coincidence, can be successfully explained in this model with the depletion of the symmetric component of dark matter from resonant annihilation via the Stueckelberg gauge boson. For the extended MSSM model it is shown that one has a two component dark matter picture with asymmetric dark matter being the dominant component and the neutralino being the subdominant component (i.e., with relic density a small fraction of the WMAP cold dark matter value). Remarkably, the subdominant component can be detected in direct detection experiments such as SuperCDMS and XENON-100. Further, it is shown that the class of Stueckelberg models with a gauged $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ will produce a dramatic signature at a muon collider with the $\sigma(\mu^+\mu^-\to \mu^+\mu^-,\tau^+\tau^-)$ showing a detectable $Z'$ resonance while $\sigma(\mu^+\mu^-\to e^+e^-)$ is devoid of this resonance. Asymmetric dark matter arising from a $U(1)_{B-L}$ Stueckelberg extension is also briefly discussed. Finally, in the models we propose the asymmetric dark matter does not oscillate and there is no danger of it being washed out from oscillations.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figure

Raman anomalies as signatures of pressure induced electronic topological and structural transitions in black phosphorus: Experiments and Theory

We report high pressure Raman experiments of Black phosphorus up to 24 GPa. The line widths of first order Raman modes A$^1_g$, B$_{2g}$ and A$^2_g$ of the orthorhombic phase show a minimum at 1.1 GPa. Our first-principles density functional analysis reveals that this is associated with the anomalies in electron-phonon coupling at the semiconductor to topological insulator transition through inversion of valence and conduction bands marking a change from trivial to nontrivial electronic topology. The frequencies of B$_{2g}$ and A$^2_g$ modes become anomalous in the rhombohedral phase at 7.4 GPa, and new modes appearing in the rhombohedral phase show anomalous softening with pressure. This is shown to originate from unusual structural evolution of black phosphorous with pressure, based on first-principles theoretical analysis.Comment: 13pages, 12figure