Detection of trace molecular species using degenerate four-wave mixing

Spectroscopies that make use of laser light have provided an important tool to modern researchers for the nonintrusive analysis of chemical systems. The strengths and limitations of these spectroscopic techniques often determine the viability of scientific investigations. The unique properties of degenerate four-wave mixing, a nonlinear optical technique, have recently been found to provide powerful capabilities for a wide range of applications.     

Weed detection by UAV: simulation of the impact of spectral mixing in multispectral images

This study aimed to assess the spectral information potential of images captured with an unmanned aerial vehicle, in the context of crop–weed discrimination. A model is proposed in which the entire image acquisition chain is simulated in order to compute the digital values of image pixels according to several parameters (light, plant characteristics, optical filters, sensors…) to reproduce in-field acquisition conditions. The spectral mixings in the pixels are modeled, based on an image with a 60 mm spatial resolution, to estimate the impact of the resolution on the ability to discriminate small plants. The classification potential (i.e. the ability to separate two classes) in soil and vegetation and in monocotyledon and dicotyledon classes is studied using simulations for different vegetation rates (defined as the proportion of vegetation covering the surface projected in the considered pixel). The classification is unsupervised and based on the Mahalanobis distance computation. The results of soil-vegetation discrimination show that pixels with low vegetation rates can be classified as vegetation: pixels with vegetation rate greater than 0.5 had a probability to be correctly classified between 80 and 100%. Classification between monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants requires pixels with a high vegetation rate: to obtain a probability to be correctly classified better than 80%, vegetation rates in the pixels have to be over 0.9. To compare the results with data from real images, the same classification was tested on multispectral images of a weed infested field. The comparison confirmed the ability of the model to assess vegetation–soil and crop–weed discrimination potential for specific sensors (such as the multiSPEC 4C sensor, AIRINOV, Paris, France), where the acquisition chain parameters can be tested.     

Topography from single radar images

A mathematical theory and a corresponding numerical procedure have been developed to produce digital topography from radar images as digital photometric arrays. Thus, as radargrammetry is to photogrammetry, so radarclinometry is to photoclinometry. Photoclinometry encompasses a fundamental indeterminacy principle even for terrain that is homogeneous in normal albedo, because the surface normal consistent with a given reflected specific intensity is not unique. A geometric locus of such normal directions is implied, which generates a surface. For microwave backscatter, in specific application to radarclinometry, this surface is a cone whose half-angle is the incidence angle, whose axis contains the radar, and whose apex coincides with the terrain point. Although the indeterminacy can be removed if a properly directed profile of ground truth is available as a constraint, such is seldom the case. In its absence, an auxiliary assumption, such as that the strike line runs perpendicular to the illumination line, is needed. If metric integrity is a goal, then this is an absurd assumption. Herein, "the hypothesis of local cylindricity" has been assumed, a premise regarding the nature of topographic curvature that seems more realistic and that makes possible the production of topography as a set of parallel line integrals.     

Cloud images from the pioneer venus orbiter

Ultraviolet images of Venus over a 3-month period show marked evolution of the planetary scale features in the cloud patterns. The dark horizontal Y feature recurs quasi-periodically, at intervals of about 4 days, but it has also been absent for periods of several weeks. Bow-shaped features observed in Pioneer Venus images are farther upstream from the subsolar point than those in Mariner 10 images.     

Prediction of kiwifruit orchard characteristics from satellite images

Precision Agriculture - The dry matter content of New Zealand kiwifruit is currently measured using destructive testing of a 90-fruit sample. Dry matter content varies from 14 to 20% with a...     

利用二维数字图像估算种猪体重

为解决生产过程中种猪体重称量困难,难以对其生长进行实时监测的问题,提出利用二维数字图像对种猪体重进行估算的方法。利用数码摄像机获取种猪样本图像,采用域值分割法对图像进行分割,根据投影区域与参考系的比例关系估算得到种猪真实投影面积和体高,并建立了其与体重的回归方程。实验结果表明:用该方程估算得到的种猪体重与实际称量体重的平均相对误差为3.2%,精度较高,验证了本方法估算种猪体重的可行性。本方法可以避免传统称量方法可能导致的猪的应激反应给生产带来的损失,降低种猪生产成本,可用于种猪生长过程的监测和研究,为种猪的现代化饲养管理提供了一种有效的监测手段。     

Entangled macroscopic quantum States in two superconducting qubits

We present spectroscopic evidence for the creation of entangled macroscopic quantum states in two current-biased Josephson-junction qubits coupled by a capacitor. The individual junction bias currents are used to control the interaction between the qubits by tuning the energy level spacings of the junctions in and out of resonance with each other. Microwave spectroscopy in the 4 to 6 gigahertzrange at 20 millikelvin reveals energy levels that agree well with theoretical results for entangled states. The single qubits are spatially separate, and the entangled states extend over the 0.7-millimeter distance between the two qubits.     

Detailed images of asteroid 25143 Itokawa from Hayabusa

Rendezvous of the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa with the near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa took place during the interval September through November 2005. The onboard camera imaged the solid surface of this tiny asteroid (535 meters by 294 meters by 209 meters) with a spatial resolution of 70 centimeters per pixel, revealing diverse surface morphologies. Unlike previously explored asteroids, the surface of Itokawa reveals both rough and smooth terrains. Craters generally show unclear morphologies. Numerous boulders on Itokawa's surface suggest a rubble-pile structure.     

Antarctica: measuring glacier velocity from satellite images

Many Landsat images of Antarctica show distinctive flow and crevasse features in the floating part of ice streams and outlet glaciers immediately below their grounding zones. Some of the features, which move with the glacier or ice stream, remain visible over many years and thus allow time-lapse measurements of ice velocities. Measurements taken from Landsat images of features on Byrd Glacier agree well with detailed ground and aerial observations. The satellite-image technique thus offers a rapid and cost-effective method of obtaining average velocities, to a first order of accuracy, of many ice streams and outlet glaciers near their termini.     

QUANTUM COMPUTING: Quantum Entangled Bits Step Closer to IT

In contrast to today's computers, quantum computers and information technologies may in future be able to store and transmit information not only in the state "0" or "1," but also in superpositions of the two; information will then be stored and transmitted in entangled quantum states. Zeilinger discusses recent advances toward using this principle for quantum cryptography and highlights studies into the entanglement (or controlled superposition) of several photons, atoms, or ions.     

基于ETM~+的遥感影像信息提取研究

以沈阳市苏家屯区为试验区,对ETM+图像的光谱信息和纹理信息进行综合分析,以达到提高影像分类精度的目的.利用光谱信息提取水体、植被;采用基于灰度共生矩阵的纹理量的分类法,通过TM5波段提取灰度共生矩阵和灰度联合矩阵,计算并提取最能反映类别差异的纹理量值将光谱信息混淆的水田、旱田、居民地用分离,得到最终的分类结果.结果表明:将纹理特征应用于图像分类中可区分光谱混淆的地类,光谱与纹理特征结合得到的分类精度要高于单纯光谱的分类精度.     

Method for estimation of ocean current velocity from satellite images

Barotropic instability waves on a shear interface propagate at the average speed of the water on the two sides. Assuming the instability to be excited by tidal oscillations, the phase speed is the wavelength divided by the tidal period. If the water is at rest on one side of the shear layer the current speed on the other side can be calculated. This method, applied to the Gulf Stream beyond Cape Hatteras as seen in satellite images, gives estimates of current speed in general agreement with in situ observations.     

Low and high-level visual feature-based apple detection from multi-modal images

Automated harvesting requires accurate detection and recognition of the fruit within a tree canopy in real-time in uncontrolled environments. However, occlusion, variable illumination, variable appearance and texture make this task a complex challenge. Our research discusses the development of a machine vision system, capable of recognizing occluded green apples within a tree canopy. This involves the detection of “green” apples within scenes of “green leaves”, shadow patterns, branches and other objects found in natural tree canopies. The system uses both thermal infra-red and color image modalities in order to achieve improved performance. Maximization of mutual information is used to find the optimal registration parameters between images from the two modalities. We use two approaches for apple detection based on low and high-level visual features. High-level features are global attributes captured by image processing operations, while low-level features are strong responses to primitive parts-based filters (such as Haar wavelets). These features are then applied separately to color and thermal infra-red images to detect apples from the background. These two approaches are compared and it is shown that the low-level feature-based approach is superior (74% recognition accuracy) over the high-level visual feature approach (53.16% recognition accuracy). Finally, a voting scheme is used to improve the detection results, which drops the false alarms with little effect on the recognition rate. The resulting classifiers acting independently can partially recognize the on-tree apples, however, when combined the recognition accuracy is increased.     

形象思维与数学形象思维

形象思维问题起源于西方美学,是人们长期探索美学和文艺创作领域基本规律的结果。在同一思维活动中,形象思维和逻辑思维同时存在,且相互切换和互译,强调形象思维的地位和作用,并不等于要削弱逻辑思维的功能。