Fusion of remote sensing images based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform and region segmentation

The purpose of remote sensing images fusion is to produce a fused image that contains more clear, accurate and comprehensive information than any single image. A novel fusion method is proposed in this paper based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and region segmentation. Firstly, the multispectral image is transformed to intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) system. Secondly, the panchromatic image and the component intensity of the multispectral image are decomposed by NSCT. Then the NSCT coefficients of high and low frequency subbands are fused by different rules, respectively. For the high frequency subbands, the fusion rules are also unalike in the smooth and edge regions. The two regions are segregated in the panchromatic image, and the segmentation is based on particle swarm optimization. Finally, the fusion image can be obtained by performing inverse NSCT and inverse IHS transform. The experimental results are evaluated by both subjective and objective criteria. It is shown that the proposed method can obtain superior results to others.     

Efficient democratic group signatures with threshold traceability

Democratic group signature (DGS) is a group-oriented primitive with great flexibilities, i.e., no group manager, anonymity, and traceability. In a DGS scheme with (t, n)-threshold traceability, any subset of not less than t members can jointly reveal the identity of the signer while preserving security even in the presence of an active adversary can corrupt up to t − 1 group members. This paper proposes an efficient DGS scheme. We use publicly verifiable secret sharing (PVSS) to distribute the trapdoor via which the real signer is revealed. The computation cost and communication overhead of our DGS signatures are greatly reduced, compared with the existing work. For example, the size of the resulting signature contains only 2n + 1 elements of Z _q , except the PVSS output.     

Color image segmentation by edge linking and region grouping

A novel method toward color image segmentation is proposed based on edge linking and region grouping. Firstly, the edges extracted by the Canny detector are linked to form regions. Each of the end points of edges is connected by a direct line to the nearest pixel on another edge segment within a sub-window. A new distance is defined based on the feature that the edge tends to preserve its original direction. By sampling the lines to the image, the image is over-segmented to labeled regions. Secondly, the labeled regions are grouped both locally and globally. A decision tree is constructed to decide the importance of properties that affect the merging procedure. Finally, the result is refined by user’s selection of regions that compose the desired object. Experiments show that the method can effectively segment the object and is much faster than the state-of-the-art color image segmentation methods.     

An efficient threshold key-insulated signature scheme

To tackle the key-exposure problem in signature settings, this paper introduces a new cryptographic primitive named threshold key-insulated signature (TKIS) and proposes a concrete TKIS scheme. For a TKIS system, at least k out of n helpers are needed to update a user’s temporary private key. On the one hand, even if up to k−1 helpers are compromised in addition to the exposure of any of temporary private keys, security of the non-exposed periods is still assured. On the other hand, even if all the n helpers are compromised, we can still ensure the security of all periods as long as none of temporary private keys is exposed. Compared with traditional key-insulated signature (KIS) schemes, the proposed TKIS scheme not only greatly enhances the security of the system, but also provides flexibility and efficiency.     

Comparison of osteogenesis between two kinds of stem cells from goat combined calcium phosphate cement in tissue engineering

To explore the possible mechanism of osteogenesis for deciduous teeth stem cells (DTSCs) in vivo/ vitro, stem cells from goat deciduous teeth (SGDs) were firstly isolated, induced and transplanted into immunocompromised mice. The SGDs’s mineralization pattern and osteogenesis were compared with bone marrow messenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) from goats. SGDs have similar osteogenic differentiation pattern in vitro and bone-like tissue formation mechanism in vivo to BMMSCs; moreover SGDs have stronger alkaline phosphatase (ALP) gene expression and osteopontin (OPN) gene expression levels than BMMSCs; also SGDs can form more bone-like tissues than BMMSCs when cell-scaffold compounds are transplanted into immunocompromised mice. This pre-clinical study in a large-animal model confirms that DTSCs may be an appropriate source of stem cells in repairing bone defects with tissue engineering.     

Tool sequence optimization based on three logical modes of robot control via CPLEX optimization

Cluster tools have advantages of shorter cycle times, faster process development, and better yield for less contamination. The sequence of dual-arm cluster tools is a complex logistics process during the semiconductor production. Efficient use of cluster tools is naturally very significant to competitive fab operations. Generating an optimized sequence in a computationally efficient manner and assessing the quality of the requirements to improve the fab production are the key factors for semiconductor manufacturing productivity. The Petri net modeling is introduced to minimize the makespan of the process for the three different logical modes and select a better mode after comparing the makespan among the three logical modes. The tool sequence optimization problem is formulated as optimization firing transition sequences based on the Petri net and then the formulation is converted to be linearly solved by the branch-and-cut method in the standard commercial solver CPLEX. Special methods for the linear conversion are highlighted. Due to the limited calculation time requirement for the real production and the large scale of the problem, special methods for the efficiency tuning are applied according to the characteristics of the problem. Numerical testing is supported by one of the most advanced semiconductor enterprises and the computational results show significant improvement compared with the traditional manual sequence results.     

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of splat formation on substrates in plasma spraying

Plasma sprayed coatings are built up by the accumulation of splats formed by the impacting, spreading and solidifying of molten droplets on the substrate. A three-dimensional computational model including heat transfer and solidification is established to simulate the formation process of a single splat using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT. The fluid flow and energy equations are discretized and solved according to typical finite volume method on an unstructured grid. A volume of fluid (VOF) tracking algorithm is used to track the droplet flow with free surface. In order to understand the splat formation mechanism, the process of splat formation caused by impacting and spreading of a molten nickel droplet on a polished mild steel surface is simulated. On this basis, the simulations of impact of a molten droplet on substrate with different conditions including the surface morphology, thermal conductivity, initial temperature of the substrate and the thermal contact resistance are presented. The results clearly show the effect of those parameters on the shape of the final splat and splash behaviors.     

Implementation of dynamic matrix control on field programmable gate array

High performance computer is often required by model predictive control (MPC) systems due to the heavy online computation burden. To extend MPC to more application cases with low-cost computation facilities, the implementation of MPC controller on field programmable gate array (FPGA) system is studied. For the dynamic matrix control (DMC) algorithm, the main design idea and the implemental strategy of DMC controller are introduced based on a FPGA’s embedded system. The performance tests show that both the computation efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed controller can be satisfied due to the parallel computing capability of FPGA.     

Study on bending conditions of plate in coil box

In a coil box between the roughing and finishing stands on a hot strip mill, a problem has been encountered that the entry region of the plate touches the bending rolls and deforms. As a result, the defective coil occurs. The condition of plate bending, which forms a new deformation feature in coiling, is analyzed. In this paper, the authors focus on the research of the effects of coiling parameters, such as the thickness of plate, roll speed and feeding speed of plate in coil box, and on specific plate bending. A finite element method is developed to simulate this coiling process. Based on numerical simulation, the effects of the coiling parameters on the mechanics and deformation of the bending plate are obtained. Numerical simulation tests have verified the validity of the developed model.     

Chaff cloud jamming suppression based on wavelet transform

Radar target signals and chaff cloud jamming signals have different characters by the wavelet transform. The wavelet coefficients of radar target signals are highly correlated with its near-and-near-scale wavelet coefficients, however the correlativity between the wavelet coefficients of chaff cloud jamming signals and its near-and-near scale wavelet coefficients is less significant. Based on the binary-base discrete wavelet transform and the correlation algorithm, the method of target entropy to estimate standard variance of the jamming signals and each scale is proposed to ensure reasonable threshold, to suppress chaff cloud signals and finally to reconstruct mixed signals by the improved spatially selective noise filtration (ISSNF) method. The extensive simulation results show that the proposed method can availably suppress chaff cloud jamming and decontaminate target echo.