Nanoscale measurements of proton tracks using fluorescent nuclear track detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sawakuchi, Gabriel O., E-mail: gsawakuchi@mdanderson.org; Sahoo, Narayan [Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Ferreira, Felisberto A. [Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Sao Paulo, SP 05508-090 (Brazil); McFadden, Conor H. [Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Hallacy, Timothy M. [Biophysics Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States); Granville, Dal A. [Department of Medical Physics, The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6 (Canada); Akselrod, Mark S. [Crystal Growth Division, Landauer, Inc., Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074 (United States)

2016-05-15

Purpose: The authors describe a method in which fluorescence nuclear track detectors (FNTDs), novel track detectors with nanoscale spatial resolution, are used to determine the linear energy transfer (LET) of individual proton tracks from proton therapy beams by allowing visualization and 3D reconstruction of such tracks. Methods: FNTDs were exposed to proton therapy beams with nominal energies ranging from 100 to 250 MeV. Proton track images were then recorded by confocal microscopy of the FNTDs. Proton tracks in the FNTD images were fit by using a Gaussian function to extract fluorescence amplitudes. Histograms of fluorescence amplitudes were then compared with LET spectra. Results: The authors successfully used FNTDs to register individual proton tracks from high-energy proton therapy beams, allowing reconstruction of 3D images of proton tracks along with delta rays. The track amplitudes from FNTDs could be used to parameterize LET spectra, allowing the LET of individual proton tracks from therapeutic proton beams to be determined. Conclusions: FNTDs can be used to directly visualize proton tracks and their delta rays at the nanoscale level. Because the track intensities in the FNTDs correlate with LET, they could be used further to measure LET of individual proton tracks. This method may be useful for measuring nanoscale radiation quantities and for measuring the LET of individual proton tracks in radiation biology experiments.

[Speckle tracking--a new ultrasound tool for the assessment of fetal myocardial function].

Science.gov (United States)

Willruth, A; Geipel, A; Merz, W; Gembruch, U

2012-06-01

Speckle tracking is a new ultrasound tool to assess 2D ventricular global and segmental myocardial velocity and deformation (strain, strain rate). Multiple factors such as fetal motion, high heart rates, low blood pressure, small size of the heart, physiological cardiac translation, filling and maturational changes of myocardium, polyhydramnion, maternal obesity and aortic pulsation can degrade the image quality and result in artifacts and measurement errors which may have an impact on the final analysis. Therefore deformation indices such as strain and strain rate offer a quantitative technique for the estimation of global and segmental myocardial function and contractility. At present longitudinal peak systolic strain is the most commonly applied deformation parameter used to analyse segmental and global myocardial contractility in adults. When obtained using Doppler methods, these measurements are angle dependent, whereas speckle tracking techniques overcome the limitations of Doppler echocardiography which is a particular advantage in foetal echocardiography. Nevertheless, the time and training necessary to acquire high-quality video clips limit the implementation of speckle tracking into clinical routine. It is not yet clear whether this new technique will identify subclinical myocardial impairment earlier than with current techniques or allow for better discrimination between healthy fetuses and fetuses with congenital heart disease. The clinical use of speckle tracking will have to be demonstrated in larger groups of complicated pregnancies. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Validation of a screening tool for attention and executive functions (EpiTrack Junior) in children and adolescents with absence epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kadish, Navah Ester; Baumann, Matthias; Pietz, Joachim; Schubert-Bast, Susanne; Reuner, Gitta

2013-10-01

Our prospective study aimed at the validation of EpiTrack Junior, a neuropsychological screening tool for attention and executive functions in children with epilepsy. Twenty-two children with absence epilepsy aged 8-17 years underwent comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation including EpiTrack Junior and measures of intelligence, verbal and nonverbal memory, word fluency and visuoconstructive organization. Concurrent and discriminant validity of EpiTrack Junior subtests and total score as well as sensitivity and specificity of the total score were analyzed. EpiTrack Junior total score was impaired in 59% of participants. Concurrent validity was demonstrated in 4/6 subtests and for the total score. Discriminant validity was shown with respect to verbal and nonverbal long-term memory. Sensitivity was higher than specificity and highest for the "working memory index". EpiTrack Junior is recommended as a sensitive and time-efficient screening tool for attention and executive functions in children with epilepsy. Impaired results should be followed up with detailed evaluation including information from the parents and school as well as counseling where indicated. © 2013.

Principle of topography-directed inkjet printing for functional micro-tracks in flexible substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Keum, Chang-Min; Lee, In-Ho; Park, Hea-Lim; Kim, Chiwoo; Lüssem, Björn; Choi, Jong Sun; Lee, Sin-Doo

2017-06-01

We present a general principle of topography-directed (TD) inkjet printing for functional micro-tracks embedded in a flexible elastomer substrate. The essential features of the TD inkjet printing in a micro-structured substrate with periodic grooves and ridges are described in terms of the topographic parameters for the transformation from a single droplet to a filament or an edge-disjoint pattern of ink in the groove. Silver ink, being widely used for producing conductive wires by conventional inkjet printing, is utilized as a testbed in our study. The underlying mechanisms for the spreading and drying processes of ink drops under the topographic compartment can be understood in a two-dimensional parameter space of the aspect ratio of the groove and the contact angle of ink on the substrate. The wetting morphologies of ink droplets are described in an analytical model where the Laplace pressure and the mean curvature at the vapor/ink interface are taken into account. The first principle of the TD inkjet printing would be applicable for constructing a variety of functional micro-tracks with high pattern fidelity from different classes of solutions such as conducting polymers, organic semiconductors, and colloidal nanoparticles.

Fast track-hoftealloplastik

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Torben Bæk; Gromov, Kirill; Kristensen, Billy B

2017-01-01

Fast-track surgery implies a coordinated perioperative approach aimed at reducing surgical stress and facilitating post-operative recovery. The fast-track programme has reduced post-operative length of stay and has led to shorter convalescence with more rapid functional recovery and decreased...... morbidity and mortality in total hip arthroplasty. It should now be a standard total hip arthroplasty patient pathway, but fine tuning of the multiple factors in the fast-track pathway is still needed in patients with special needs or high comorbidity burden....

A novel strong tracking finite-difference extended Kalman filter for nonlinear eye tracking

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHANG ZuTao; ZHANG JiaShu

2009-01-01

Non-Intrusive methods for eye tracking are Important for many applications of vision-based human computer interaction. However, due to the high nonlinearity of eye motion, how to ensure the robust-ness of external interference and accuracy of eye tracking poses the primary obstacle to the integration of eye movements into today's interfaces. In this paper, we present a strong tracking finite-difference extended Kalman filter algorithm, aiming to overcome the difficulty In modeling nonlinear eye tracking. In filtering calculation, strong tracking factor is introduced to modify a priori covariance matrix and im-prove the accuracy of the filter. The filter uses finite-difference method to calculate partial derivatives of nonlinear functions for eye tracking. The latest experimental results show the validity of our method for eye tracking under realistic conditions.

[Echo-tracking technology for evaluating femoral artery endothelial function in patients with Grave's disease].

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Wei; Wang, Jingyuan; Zhao, Qiaoling; Yang, Jinru

2012-10-01

To assess the value of echo-tracking technology in evaluating endothelial function of the femoral artery in patients with Grave's disease. Thirty-four patients with Grave's disease patients and 30 normal adults as controls were recruited in this study. The intima-media thickness (IMT), arterial stiffness (β), pressure strain elastic modulus (Ep), arterial compliance (AC), pulse wave conducting velocity (PWVβ) and augmentation index (AI) parameters were examined using echo-tracking technology for evaluating the right femoral arterial elasticity. Compared with the control subjects, the patients with Grave's disease showed significantly increased β, Ep, and PWVβ and significantly decreased AC (P0.05). In patients with Grave's disease, β and Ep were positively correlated with FT3, FT4, TT3, TT4, and PWVβ was positively correlated with FT3 and FT4. Echo-tracking technology can provide more accurate quantitative evidences for early diagnosis of femoral artery endothelial dysfunction in patients with Grave's disease, but the influence of procedural factors on the measurement accuracy should be considered in the evaluation.

Beyond the usual mapping functions in GPS, VLBI and Deep Space tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Barriot, Jean-Pierre; Serafini, Jonathan; Sichoix, Lydie

2014-05-01

We describe here a new algorithm to model the water contents of the atmosphere (including ZWD) from GPS slant wet delays relative to a single receiver. We first make the assumption that the water vapor contents are mainly governed by a scale height (exponential law), and secondly that the departures from this decaying exponential can be mapped as a set of low degree 3D Zernike functions (w.r.t. space) and Tchebyshev polynomials (w.r.t. time.) We compare this new algorithm with previous algorithms known as mapping functions in GPS, VLBI and Deep Space tracking and give an example with data acquired over a one day time span at the Geodesy Observatory of Tahiti.

Track structure in biological models.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, S B

1986-01-01

High-energy heavy ions in the galactic cosmic radiation (HZE particles) may pose a special risk during long term manned space flights outside the sheltering confines of the earth's geomagnetic field. These particles are highly ionizing, and they and their nuclear secondaries can penetrate many centimeters of body tissue. The three dimensional patterns of ionizations they create as they lose energy are referred to as their track structure. Several models of biological action on mammalian cells attempt to treat track structure or related quantities in their formulation. The methods by which they do this are reviewed. The proximity function is introduced in connection with the theory of Dual Radiation Action (DRA). The ion-gamma kill (IGK) model introduces the radial energy-density distribution, which is a smooth function characterizing both the magnitude and extension of a charged particle track. The lethal, potentially lethal (LPL) model introduces lambda, the mean distance between relevant ion clusters or biochemical species along the track. Since very localized energy depositions (within approximately 10 nm) are emphasized, the proximity function as defined in the DRA model is not of utility in characterizing track structure in the LPL formulation.

Surgery-induced changes and early recovery of hip-muscle strength, leg-press power, and functional performance after fast-track total hip arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Bente; Thorborg, Kristian; Husted, Henrik

2013-01-01

By measuring very early changes in muscle strength and functional performance after fast-track total hip arthroplasty (THA), post-operative rehabilitation, introduced soon after surgery, can be designed to specifically target identified deficits.......By measuring very early changes in muscle strength and functional performance after fast-track total hip arthroplasty (THA), post-operative rehabilitation, introduced soon after surgery, can be designed to specifically target identified deficits....

Fabrication of beta-PVDF membranes by track etching and specific functionalization of nano-pores

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuscito, O.

2008-01-01

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)(β-PVDF) nano-porous membranes were made by chemical revealing of tracks induced from swift heavy ions irradiation. Pore opening and radii can be varied in a controllable manner with the etching time. nano-pores size in nano-meter scale (from 12 nm to 50 nm) appears to be linearly dependent to the etching time. It was then necessary to adapt the characterization tools to these membranes. Consequently, we resorted to the use of structural analysis methods (Scanning Electron Microscopy, Small Angle Neutron Scattering) and developed evaluation methods of the membranes transport properties like gas permeation and ionic diffusion. Results obtained confirm the pores opening (break through) and the hydrophobicity of material, which we have modified with hydrophilic molecules. In this precise case, the grafting of acrylic acid was initiated by the radicals still remains after track-etching (called radio-grafting). This key result was obtained by a study of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance. The labelling of introduced chemical functionalities with fluorescent probes was a very effective mean to visualize very few amounts of molecules by confocal microscopy. The radio-grafting was found specifically localized inside etched tracks. The protocol offers the possibility to create a double functionality, the one localized inside the nano-pores and the other on the surface of membranes. The modification of radio-grafting parameters (the acrylic acid concentration, solvent nature, use of transfer agent) and the chemical properties of the nano-pore walls have a direct incidence on the transport properties. (author) [fr

BORC Functions Upstream of Kinesins 1 and 3 to Coordinate Regional Movement of Lysosomes along Different Microtubule Tracks.

Science.gov (United States)

Guardia, Carlos M; Farías, Ginny G; Jia, Rui; Pu, Jing; Bonifacino, Juan S

2016-11-15

The multiple functions of lysosomes are critically dependent on their ability to undergo bidirectional movement along microtubules between the center and the periphery of the cell. Centrifugal and centripetal movement of lysosomes is mediated by kinesin and dynein motors, respectively. We recently described a multi-subunit complex named BORC that recruits the small GTPase Arl8 to lysosomes to promote their kinesin-dependent movement toward the cell periphery. Here, we show that BORC and Arl8 function upstream of two structurally distinct kinesin types: kinesin-1 (KIF5B) and kinesin-3 (KIF1Bβ and KIF1A). Remarkably, KIF5B preferentially moves lysosomes on perinuclear tracks enriched in acetylated α-tubulin, whereas KIF1Bβ and KIF1A drive lysosome movement on more rectilinear, peripheral tracks enriched in tyrosinated α-tubulin. These findings establish BORC as a master regulator of lysosome positioning through coupling to different kinesins and microtubule tracks. Common regulation by BORC enables coordinate control of lysosome movement in different regions of the cell. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Role of preoperative pain, muscle function, and activity level in discharge readiness after fast-track hip and knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Bente; Bandholm, Thomas; Lunn, Troels Haxholdt

2014-01-01

therefore investigated the role of preoperative pain and functional characteristics in discharge readiness and actual LOS in fast-track THA and TKA. METHODS: Before surgery, hip pain (THA) or knee pain (TKA), lower-extremity muscle power, functional performance, and physical activity were assessed...

49 CFR 236.51 - Track circuit requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...: All Systems Track Circuits § 236.51 Track circuit requirements. Track relay controlling home signals shall be in deenergized position, or device that functions as a track relay controlling home signals... conditions exist: (a) When a rail is broken or a rail or switch-frog is removed except when a rail is broken...

Multitarget multisensor closed-loop tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders-Reed, John N.

2004-07-01

This paper describes a closed-loop tracking system using multiple co-located sensors to develop multi-sensor track histories on multiple targets. The use of multiple, co-aligned sensors to track multiple, possibly maneuvering targets, presents a number of tracker design challenges and opportunities. Many of these problems have been addressed individually in the published literature from a theoretical point of view. However, no one has yet addressed the design and implementation of a specific tracker to meet all of these requirements at once. Specific questions addressed in this paper include how to assign N detections in a current frame to M active tracks, how to initiate new tracks and terminate dead tracks, how to combine information from multiple sensors into a single integrated picture, represented by a global track file, and how to perform these functions in a timely manner to support a precision closed loop tracking system.

Eye-Tracking Study on Facial Emotion Recognition Tasks in Individuals with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Tsang, Vicky

2018-01-01

The eye-tracking experiment was carried out to assess fixation duration and scan paths that individuals with and without high-functioning autism spectrum disorders employed when identifying simple and complex emotions. Participants viewed human photos of facial expressions and decided on the identification of emotion, the negative-positive emotion…

The railway track and its long term behaviour a handbook for a railway track of high quality

CERN Document Server

Tzanakakis, Konstantinos

2013-01-01

A proper quality of a track and other infrastructure objects represents a basic requirement for train safety and punctuality. Most of the physical systems and their components deteriorate over time. This affects performance and may lead to failures. Albert Einstein said, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Only if we understand how the whole system works, taking into account its imperfections and how they influence its quality and performance will we be able to learn the rules of the game and “play better.” The book provides the readers with the necessary functional knowledge of track behaviour and comprehensively covers the function of the various track components, their interaction as elements of the track system, as well as the interaction of the track with railway vehicles. By presenting important tools for a deep understanding of track-behaviour this book aims to be a reference guide for infrastructure managers and to help them to find way...

Pseudocolor techniques for differentiation of nuclear tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camacho, S.; Laville, A.; Peralta-Fabi, R.; Lira, J.

1984-01-01

Two types of tracks left by 4 He particles at different angles of incidence to CA8015 detectors were successfully discriminated by an SEM coupled to a micro-computer image processing system. To achieve this end, a track signature is defined based on the image's gray level distribution which results from the interaction between the track profile and the electron beam. The principles of track signature extraction, determination of discriminant functions and the design of the ad hoc supervised classifier are described. Finally the possibility of obtaining the track profile through digital analysis of track signatures is discussed. (author)

A Predictive Maintenance Model for Railway Tracks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Rui; Wen, Min; Salling, Kim Bang

2015-01-01

presents a mathematical model based on Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) which is designed to optimize the predictive railway tamping activities for ballasted track for the time horizon up to four years. The objective function is setup to minimize the actual costs for the tamping machine (measured by time......). Five technical and economic aspects are taken into account to schedule tamping: (1) track degradation of the standard deviation of the longitudinal level over time; (2) track geometrical alignment; (3) track quality thresholds based on the train speed limits; (4) the dependency of the track quality...

Time-sharing visual and auditory tracking tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Tsang, Pamela S.; Vidulich, Michael A.

1987-01-01

An experiment is described which examined the benefits of distributing the input demands of two tracking tasks as a function of task integrality. Visual and auditory compensatory tracking tasks were utilized. Results indicate that presenting the two tracking signals in two input modalities did not improve time-sharing efficiency. This was attributed to the difficulty insensitivity phenomenon.

Siamese convolutional networks for tracking the spine motion

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuan; Sui, Xiubao; Sun, Yicheng; Liu, Chengwei; Hu, Yong

2017-09-01

Deep learning models have demonstrated great success in various computer vision tasks such as image classification and object tracking. However, tracking the lumbar spine by digitalized video fluoroscopic imaging (DVFI), which can quantitatively analyze the motion mode of spine to diagnose lumbar instability, has not yet been well developed due to the lack of steady and robust tracking method. In this paper, we propose a novel visual tracking algorithm of the lumbar vertebra motion based on a Siamese convolutional neural network (CNN) model. We train a full-convolutional neural network offline to learn generic image features. The network is trained to learn a similarity function that compares the labeled target in the first frame with the candidate patches in the current frame. The similarity function returns a high score if the two images depict the same object. Once learned, the similarity function is used to track a previously unseen object without any adapting online. In the current frame, our tracker is performed by evaluating the candidate rotated patches sampled around the previous frame target position and presents a rotated bounding box to locate the predicted target precisely. Results indicate that the proposed tracking method can detect the lumbar vertebra steadily and robustly. Especially for images with low contrast and cluttered background, the presented tracker can still achieve good tracking performance. Further, the proposed algorithm operates at high speed for real time tracking.

Particle tracking at the SSC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freeman, J.E.; Williams, H.H.

1984-01-01

The intent of this study was to get some idea of how difficult tracking will be at √s = 40 TeV for events involving momentum transfers in the vicinity of several hundred GeV. While some studies have been done to determine the minimum separation between two random tracks as a function of radius, the authors know of no previous study in this energy range which has considered the ''observability'' of a track along its entire path length, including the effects of magnetic field and finite double track resolution. They have not considered the effects of pileup due to multiple events, concentrating instead of the inherent difficulties of single high p/sub T/ events

MO-FG-BRD-02: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MV Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berbeco, R. [Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (United States)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-04: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MR Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Low, D. [University of California Los Angeles: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MR Tracking (United States)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-03: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: EM Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keall, P. [University of Sydney (Australia)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-04: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MR Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Low, D.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

MO-FG-BRD-03: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: EM Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keall, P.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

MO-FG-BRD-02: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MV Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berbeco, R.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

Human tracking over camera networks: a review

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Li; Wan, Wanggen; Hwang, Jenq-Neng; Muhammad, Rizwan; Yang, Mingyang; Han, Kang

2017-12-01

In recent years, automated human tracking over camera networks is getting essential for video surveillance. The tasks of tracking human over camera networks are not only inherently challenging due to changing human appearance, but also have enormous potentials for a wide range of practical applications, ranging from security surveillance to retail and health care. This review paper surveys the most widely used techniques and recent advances for human tracking over camera networks. Two important functional modules for the human tracking over camera networks are addressed, including human tracking within a camera and human tracking across non-overlapping cameras. The core techniques of human tracking within a camera are discussed based on two aspects, i.e., generative trackers and discriminative trackers. The core techniques of human tracking across non-overlapping cameras are then discussed based on the aspects of human re-identification, camera-link model-based tracking and graph model-based tracking. Our survey aims to address existing problems, challenges, and future research directions based on the analyses of the current progress made toward human tracking techniques over camera networks.

Matter Tracking Information System -

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — The Matter Tracking Information System (MTIS) principle function is to streamline and integrate the workload and work activity generated or addressed by our 300 plus...

Reference Tracking and Profit Optimization of a Power Plant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kragelund, Martin Nygaard; Leth, John-Josef; Wisniewski, Rafal

2010-01-01

In this paper we discuss two different methods for implementing reference tracking intro a profit optimization problem of a power plant. It is shown that tracking included as a side constraint results in an significant tracking error only when the reference gradient is large. When tracking...... is included in the cost function, as a quadratic term, the reference is tracked with a small accumulated error. Finally, the two methods are compared both in terms of tracking performance and computational burden....

Thermo-sensitive intelligent track membrane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pang Deling; Ren Lihua; Qian Zhilin; Huang Gang; Zhang Jinhua

1999-01-01

Using N-isopropylacryl-amide (NIP AAm) thermo-sensitive function material as monomer and nuclear track microporous membrane (NTMM) as baseline material, a thermo-sensitive intelligent track membrane (TsITM) has been prepared by the over-oxidization and pre-irradiation grafting techniques. The TsITM can be used to make a micro-switch controlled by temperature and to adjust particle screening and osmosis. To obtain sub-micron responsive grafted track pores only a very thin thermo-sensitive layer is needed. The TsITM pores are capable of swelling and shrinking rapidly and respond more sensitively to temperature

Statistical fluctuations in heavy-charged-particle tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamm, R.N.; Turner, J.E.; Wright, H.A.

1985-01-01

We present the results of the following Monte Carlo track-segment calculations for protons with energies of 1, 2, 5, and 10 MeV in liquid water: (1) radial dose around a long segment of a proton track; (2) energy-loss straggling distributions for protons of different energies in 1 μm of water; (3) the distribution in the average absorbed dose around track segments of various lengths; (4) the relative standard deviations in these distributions as functions of the length of the track segments. Calculations such as those presented here are useful for studying track phenomena on a microdosimetric scale, where statistical fluctuations are substantial

Speckle tracking analysis: a new tool for left atrial function analysis in systemic hypertension: an overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Cameli, Matteo; Ciccone, Marco M; Maiello, Maria; Modesti, Pietro A; Muiesan, Maria L; Scicchitano, Pietro; Novo, Salvatore; Palmiero, Pasquale; Saba, Pier S; Pedrinelli, Roberto

2016-05-01

Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is an imaging technique applied to the analysis of left atrial function. STE provides a non-Doppler, angle-independent and objective quantification of left atrial myocardial deformation. Data regarding feasibility, accuracy and clinical applications of left atrial strain are rapidly gathering. This review describes the fundamental concepts of left atrial STE, illustrates its pathophysiological background and discusses its emerging role in systemic arterial hypertension.

Postoperative anemia and early functional outcomes after fast-track hip arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jans, Øivind; Bandholm, Thomas; Kurbegovic, Sorel

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Postoperative anemia is prevalent in fast-track hip arthroplasty (THA) where patients are mobilized and discharged early, but whether anemia impairs functional recovery after discharge has not been adequately evaluated previously. This study aimed to evaluate whether postoperative...... anemia influenced recovery of mobility and quality of life (Qol) during the first 2 weeks after discharge from THA. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a prospective observational study in 122 THA patients more than 65 years of age. Mobility and Qol were assessed pre- and postoperatively by the 6-minute...... walk test (6MWT; primary outcome), the timed up-and-go test, and the FACT-anemia subscale. Twenty-four-hour mobility at home was assessed by activity monitoring on Days 1 to 6 after discharge. Hemoglobin (Hb) at discharge (HbD) and the Hb decrease from preoperatively (ΔHb) were compared to mobility...

Canonical particle tracking in undulator fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wuestefeld, G.; Bahrdt, J.

1991-01-01

A new algebraic mapping routine for particle tracking across wiggler and undulator fields in presented. It is based on a power series expansion of the generating function to guarantee fully canonical transformations. This method is 10 to 100 times faster than integration routines, applied in tracking codes like BETA or RACETRACK. The tracking method presented is not restricted to wigglers and undulators, it can be applied to other magnetic fields as well such as fringing fields of quadrupoles or dipoles if the suggested expansion converges

Mechatronic track guidance on disturbed track: the trade-off between actuator performance and wheel wear

Science.gov (United States)

Kurzeck, Bernhard; Heckmann, Andreas; Wesseler, Christoph; Rapp, Matthias

2014-05-01

Future high-speed trains are the main focus of the DLR research project Next Generation Train. One central point of the research activities is the development of mechatronic track guidance for the two-axle intermediate wagons with steerable, individually powered, independently rotating wheels. The traction motors hereby fulfil two functions; they concurrently are traction drives and steering actuators. In this paper, the influence of the track properties - line layout and track irregularities - on the performance requirements for the guidance actuator is investigated using multi-body models in SIMPACK®. In order to compromise on the design conflict between low wheel wear and low steering torque, the control parameters of the mechatronic track guidance are optimised using the DLR in-house software MOPS. Besides the track irregularities especially the increasing inclination at transition curves defines high actuator requirements due to gyroscopic effects at high speed. After introducing a limiter for the actuating variables into the control system, a good performance is achieved.

Tracking Regional Tissue Volume and Function Change in Lung Using Image Registration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kunlin Cao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We have previously demonstrated the 24-hour redistribution and reabsorption of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL fluid delivered to the lung during a bronchoscopic procedure in normal volunteers. In this work we utilize image-matching procedures to correlate fluid redistribution and reabsorption to changes in regional lung function. Lung CT datasets from six human subjects were used in this study. Each subject was scanned at four time points before and after BAL procedure. Image registration was performed to align images at different time points and different inflation levels. The resulting dense displacement fields were utilized to track tissue volume changes and reveal deformation patterns of local parenchymal tissue quantitatively. The registration accuracy was assessed by measuring landmark matching errors, which were on the order of 1 mm. The results show that quantitative-assessed fluid volume agreed well with bronchoscopist-reported unretrieved BAL volume in the whole lungs (squared linear correlation coefficient was 0.81. The average difference of lung tissue volume at baseline and after 24 hours was around 2%, which indicates that BAL fluid in the lungs was almost absorbed after 24 hours. Regional lung-function changes correlated with the presence of BAL fluid, and regional function returned to baseline as the fluid was reabsorbed.

Group Targets Tracking Using Multiple Models GGIW-CPHD Based on Best-Fitting Gaussian Approximation and Strong Tracking Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yun Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Gamma Gaussian inverse Wishart cardinalized probability hypothesis density (GGIW-CPHD algorithm was always used to track group targets in the presence of cluttered measurements and missing detections. A multiple models GGIW-CPHD algorithm based on best-fitting Gaussian approximation method (BFG and strong tracking filter (STF is proposed aiming at the defect that the tracking error of GGIW-CPHD algorithm will increase when the group targets are maneuvering. The best-fitting Gaussian approximation method is proposed to implement the fusion of multiple models using the strong tracking filter to correct the predicted covariance matrix of the GGIW component. The corresponding likelihood functions are deduced to update the probability of multiple tracking models. From the simulation results we can see that the proposed tracking algorithm MM-GGIW-CPHD can effectively deal with the combination/spawning of groups and the tracking error of group targets in the maneuvering stage is decreased.

MO-FG-BRD-01: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: Introduction and KV Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fahimian, B.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

MO-FG-BRD-01: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: Introduction and KV Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fahimian, B. [Stanford University (United States)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

Background for a new standard on pass-by measurement of combined roughness, track decay rate and vibroacoustic transfer functions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dittrich, M.G.; Létourneaux, F.; Dupuis, H.

2013-01-01

A measurement method for combined roughness, track decay rates and transfer functions derived from rail vibration during a train pass-by was initially developed in the late nineties [1]. This method has been then later implemented in software tools [2] and applied in several countries for various

Pneumatic motor speed control by trajectory tracking fuzzy logic

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In this study, trajectory tracking fuzzy logic controller (TTFLC) is proposed for the speed control of a pneumatic motor (PM). A third order trajectory is defined to determine the trajectory function that has to be tracked by the PM speed. Genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the TTFLC boundary values of membership functions ...

Maximum-power-point tracking control of solar heating system

KAUST Repository

Huang, Bin-Juine

2012-11-01

The present study developed a maximum-power point tracking control (MPPT) technology for solar heating system to minimize the pumping power consumption at an optimal heat collection. The net solar energy gain Q net (=Q s-W p/η e) was experimentally found to be the cost function for MPPT with maximum point. The feedback tracking control system was developed to track the optimal Q net (denoted Q max). A tracking filter which was derived from the thermal analytical model of the solar heating system was used to determine the instantaneous tracking target Q max(t). The system transfer-function model of solar heating system was also derived experimentally using a step response test and used in the design of tracking feedback control system. The PI controller was designed for a tracking target Q max(t) with a quadratic time function. The MPPT control system was implemented using a microprocessor-based controller and the test results show good tracking performance with small tracking errors. It is seen that the average mass flow rate for the specific test periods in five different days is between 18.1 and 22.9kg/min with average pumping power between 77 and 140W, which is greatly reduced as compared to the standard flow rate at 31kg/min and pumping power 450W which is based on the flow rate 0.02kg/sm 2 defined in the ANSI/ASHRAE 93-1986 Standard and the total collector area 25.9m 2. The average net solar heat collected Q net is between 8.62 and 14.1kW depending on weather condition. The MPPT control of solar heating system has been verified to be able to minimize the pumping energy consumption with optimal solar heat collection. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Effect of track etch rate on geometric track characteristics for polymeric track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Naby, A.A.; El-Akkad, F.A.

2001-01-01

Analysis of the variable track etch rate on geometric track characteristic for polymeric track detectors has been applied to the case of LR-155 II SSNTD. Spectrometric characteristics of low energy alpha particles response by the polymeric detector have been obtained. The track etching kinematics theory of development of minor diameter of the etched tracks has been applied. The calculations show that, for this type of detector, the energy dependence of the minor track diameter d is linear for small-etched removal layer h. The energy resolution gets better for higher etched removal layer

Dual color single particle tracking via nanobodies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albrecht, David; Winterflood, Christian M; Ewers, Helge

2015-01-01

Single particle tracking is a powerful tool to investigate the function of biological molecules by following their motion in space. However, the simultaneous tracking of two different species of molecules is still difficult to realize without compromising the length or density of trajectories, the localization accuracy or the simplicity of the assay. Here, we demonstrate a simple dual color single particle tracking assay using small, bright, high-affinity labeling via nanobodies of accessible targets with widely available instrumentation. We furthermore apply a ratiometric step-size analysis method to visualize differences in apparent membrane viscosity. (paper)

HCP track calculations in Lif:Mg,Ti: 3D modeling of the ''track – escape'' parameter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sattinger, D.; Sharon, A.; Horowitz, Y.S.

2011-01-01

The conceptual framework of the track interaction model (TIM) was conceived in the 1970s and mathematically formulated in the 1980s to describe heavy charged particle TL fluence response supralinearity. The extended track interaction model (ETIM) was developed to include saturation effects due to overlapping tracks and has been applied to both proton and alpha particle TL fluence response. One of the parameters of major importance in the TIM is the ''track – escape'' parameter, defined by N e /N w , where N e represents the number of electrons which escape the parent track during heating, and N w is the number of electrons which recombine within the parent track to produce a TL photon. Recently a first attempt was carried out to theoretically model escape parameters calculated in 2D geometry as a function of particle type and energy using trapping center (TC), luminescent center (LC) and competitive center (CC) occupation probabilities calculated from track segment radial dose distributions and optical absorption (OA) dose response. In this study, the calculations are extended to 3D geometry using a Monte Carlo approach which samples the point of creation of the charge carriers according to the TC occupation probabilities and then estimates N w by sampling the chord length to the track exterior. Charge carriers which escape the irradiated track volume contribute to N e . This more sophisticated 3D calculation of N e /N w is expected to increase the reliability of the modeling of heavy charged particle TL fluence response in the framework of the ETIM and enhance our understanding of “track effects” in Heavy Charged Particle (HCP) induced TL.

Quantification of global myocardial function by cine MRI deformable registration-based analysis: Comparison with MR feature tracking and speckle-tracking echocardiography.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamacie, Mariana M; Thavendiranathan, Paaladinesh; Hanneman, Kate; Greiser, Andreas; Jolly, Marie-Pierre; Ward, Richard; Wintersperger, Bernd J

2017-04-01

To evaluate deformable registration algorithms (DRA)-based quantification of cine steady-state free-precession (SSFP) for myocardial strain assessment in comparison with feature-tracking (FT) and speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE). Data sets of 28 patients/10 volunteers, undergoing same-day 1.5T cardiac MRI and echocardiography were included. LV global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential (GCS) and radial (GRS) peak systolic strain were assessed on cine SSFP data using commercially available FT algorithms and prototype DRA-based algorithms. STE was applied as standard of reference for accuracy, precision and intra-/interobserver reproducibility testing. DRA showed narrower limits of agreement compared to STE for GLS (-4.0 [-0.9,-7.9]) and GCS (-5.1 [1.1,-11.2]) than FT (3.2 [11.2,-4.9]; 3.8 [13.9,-6.3], respectively). While both DRA and FT demonstrated significant differences to STE for GLS and GCS (all pcine MRI. • Inverse DRA demonstrated superior reproducibility compared to feature-tracking (FT) methods. • Cine MR DRA and FT analysis demonstrate differences to speckle-tracking echocardiography • DRA demonstrated better correlation with STE than FT for MR-derived global strain data.

Tracking Subpixel Targets with Critically Sampled Optical Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-01

LEFT BLANK xii LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS PSF point spread function SNR signal-to-noise ratio SLAM simultaneous localization and tracking EO... LIDAR light detection and ranging FOV field of view RMS root mean squared PF particle filter TBD track before detect MCMC monte carlo markov chain

Research on infrared small-target tracking technology under complex background

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lei; Wang, Xin; Chen, Jilu; Pan, Tao

2012-10-01

In this paper, some basic principles and the implementing flow charts of a series of algorithms for target tracking are described. On the foundation of above works, a moving target tracking software base on the OpenCV is developed by the software developing platform MFC. Three kinds of tracking algorithms are integrated in this software. These two tracking algorithms are Kalman Filter tracking method and Camshift tracking method. In order to explain the software clearly, the framework and the function are described in this paper. At last, the implementing processes and results are analyzed, and those algorithms for tracking targets are evaluated from the two aspects of subjective and objective. This paper is very significant in the application of the infrared target tracking technology.

Latent tracks in polymeric etched track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamauchi, Tomoya

2013-01-01

Track registration properties in polymeric track detectors, including Poly(allyl diglycol carbonate), Bispenol A polycarbonate, Poly(ethylen terephtarate), and Polyimide, have been investigated by means of Fourie transform Infararede FT-IR spectrometry. Chemical criterion on the track formation threshold has been proposes, in stead of the conventional physical track registration models. (author)

Quality of Slab Track Construction - Track Alignment Design and Track Geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Šestáková, Janka

2015-05-01

The slab track superstructure design (without ballast) is a perspective construction especially for building tunnels and bridges in the modernized sections of railway tracks in Slovakia. Monitoring of the structure described in this article is focused on the transition areas between standard structure with ballast and slab track construction.

Maximum-power-point tracking control of solar heating system

KAUST Repository

Huang, Bin-Juine; Ton, Wei-Zhe; Wu, Chen-Chun; Ko, Hua-Wei; Chang, Hsien-Shun; Yen, Rue-Her; Wang, Jiunn-Cherng

2012-01-01

was used to determine the instantaneous tracking target Q max(t). The system transfer-function model of solar heating system was also derived experimentally using a step response test and used in the design of tracking feedback control system. The PI

Parameterization-based tracking for the P2 experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sorokin, Iurii [Institut fuer Kernphysik and PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, Mainz (Germany); Collaboration: P2-Collaboration

2016-07-01

The P2 experiment at the new MESA accelerator in Mainz aims to determine the weak mixing angle by measuring the parity-violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering at low momentum transfer. To achieve an unprecedented precision an order of 10{sup 11} scattered electrons per second have to be acquired. %within the acceptance. Whereas the tracking system is not required to operate at such high rates, every attempt is made to achieve as high rate capability as possible. The P2 tracking system will consist of four planes of high-voltage monolithic active pixel sensors (HV-MAPS). With the present preliminary design one expects about 150 signal electron tracks and 20000 background hits (from bremsstrahlung photons) per plane in every 50 ns readout frame at the full rate. In order to cope with this extreme combinatorial background in on-line mode, a parameterization-based tracking is considered as a possible solution. The idea is to transform the hit positions into a set of weakly correlated quantities, and to find simple (e.g. polynomial) functions of these quantities, that would give the required characteristics of the track (e.g. momentum). The parameters of the functions are determined from a sample of high-quality tracks, taken either from a simulation, or reconstructed in a conventional way from a sample of low-rate data.

Preparation of fluoropolymer-based ion-track membranes. Structure of latent tracks and pretreatment effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaki, Tetsuya; Nuryanthi, Nuryanthi; Koshikawa, Hiroshi; Sawada, Shinichi; Hakoda, Teruyuki; Hasegawa, Shin; Asano, Masaharu; Maekawa, Yasunari

2012-01-01

High-energy heavy-ion induced damage, called latent tracks m organic polymers can sometimes be etched out chemically to give submicro- and nano-sized pores. Our focus is placed on ion-track membranes of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), a type of fluoropolymer, which were previously considered as a matrix of polymer electrolyte fuel-cell membranes. There have been no optimized methods of preparing the PVDF-based ion-track membranes. We thus examined chemical structures of the defects created in the track, and accordingly, presented a pretreatment technique for achieving more efficient track etching. A 25 μm-thick PVDF film was bombarded with 1.1 GeV 238 U or 450 MeV 129 Xe ions. In the multi-purpose chamber, degradation processes were monitored in-situ by FT-IR spectroscopy and residual gas analysis as a function of the fluence up to 6.0 x 10 11 ions/cm 2 . The films irradiated at 8 ions/cm 2 were etched in a 9 M KOH aqueous solution at 80degC. We also performed the conductometric etching, which allows monitoring of pore evolution versus etching time by recording the electrical conductance through the membrane. At fluences above 1 x 10 10 ions/cm 2 , the film showed two new absorption bands identified as double-bond stretching vibrations of in-chain unsaturations -CH=CF- and fluorinated vinyl groups -CF 2 CH=CF 2 . These defects would result from the evolution of HF. The knowledge of the solubility in a permanganate alkaline solution and our preliminary experiment suggested the importance of oxidized tracks for the easy introduction of the etching agent. We finally found that the pretreatment with ozone could oxidize the double bonds in the tracks, thereby vigorously promoting track etching before breakthrough. (author)

Changes in Speckle Tracking Echocardiography Measures of Ventricular Function after Percutaneous Implantation of the Edwards SAPIEN Transcatheter Heart Valve in the Pulmonary Position

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhury, Shahryar M.; Hijazi, Ziyad M.; Rhodes, John F.; Kar, Saibal; Makkar, Raj; Mullen, Michael; Cao, Qi-Ling; Mandinov, Lazar; Buckley, Jason; Pietris, Nicholas P.; Shirali, Girish S.

2015-01-01

Background Patients with free pulmonary regurgitation or mixed pulmonary stenosis and regurgitation and severely dilated right ventricles (RV) show little improvement in ventricular function after pulmonary valve replacement when assessed by traditional echocardiographic markers. We evaluated changes in right and left ventricular (LV) function using speckle tracking echocardiography in patients after SAPIEN transcatheter pulmonary valve (TPV) placement. Methods Echocardiograms were evaluated at baseline, discharge, 1 and 6 months after TPV placement in 24 patients from 4 centers. Speckle tracking measures of function included peak longitudinal strain, strain rate, and early diastolic strain rate. RV fractional area change, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, and left ventricular LV ejection fraction were assessed. Routine Doppler and tissue Doppler velocities were measured. Results At baseline, all patients demonstrated moderate to severe pulmonary regurgitation; this improved following TPV placement. No significant changes were detected in conventional measures of RV or LV function at 6 months. RV longitudinal strain (−16.9% vs. −19.6%, P echocardiography may be more sensitive than traditional measures in detecting changes in systolic function after TPV implantation. (Echocardiography 2015;32:461–469) PMID:25047063

Methods and sensitivity for pass-by measurement of track decay rates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dittrich, M.G.

2012-01-01

Track decay rates are measured to characterize the track dynamics for railway noise type testing, but also for other purposes in relation to railway noise. They are often measured statically using hammer response functions on unloaded track, but can also be derived from rail vibrations on loaded

Sim Track User's Manual (v 1.0)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Y.

2010-01-27

SimTrack is a simple c++ library designed for the numeric particle tracking in the high energy accelerators. It adopts the 4th order symplectic integrator for the optical transport in the magnetic elements. The 4-D and 6-D weak-strong beam-beam treatments are integrated in it for the beam-beam studies. SimTrack is written with c++ class and standard template library. It provides versatile functions to manage elements and lines. It supports a large range of types of elements. New type of element can be easily created in the library. SimTrack calculates Twiss, coupling and fits tunes, chromaticities and corrects closed orbits. AC dipole and AC multipole are available in this library. SimTrack allows change of element parameters during tracking.

Software for precise tracking of cell proliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurokawa, Hiroshi; Noda, Hisayori; Sugiyama, Mayu; Sakaue-Sawano, Asako; Fukami, Kiyoko; Miyawaki, Atsushi

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We developed software for analyzing cultured cells that divide as well as migrate. ► The active contour model (Snakes) was used as the core algorithm. ► The time backward analysis was also used for efficient detection of cell division. ► With user-interactive correction functions, the software enables precise tracking. ► The software was successfully applied to cells with fluorescently-labeled nuclei. -- Abstract: We have developed a multi-target cell tracking program TADOR, which we applied to a series of fluorescence images. TADOR is based on an active contour model that is modified in order to be free of the problem of locally optimal solutions, and thus is resistant to signal fluctuation and morphological changes. Due to adoption of backward tracing and addition of user-interactive correction functions, TADOR is used in an off-line and semi-automated mode, but enables precise tracking of cell division. By applying TADOR to the analysis of cultured cells whose nuclei had been fluorescently labeled, we tracked cell division and cell-cycle progression on coverslips over an extended period of time.

Rotational symmetric HMD with eye-tracking capability

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Fangfang; Cheng, Dewen; Wang, Qiwei; Wang, Yongtian

2016-10-01

As an important auxiliary function of head-mounted displays (HMDs), eye tracking has an important role in the field of intelligent human-machine interaction. In this paper, an eye-tracking HMD system (ET-HMD) is designed based on the rotational symmetric system. The tracking principle in this paper is based on pupil-corneal reflection. The ET-HMD system comprises three optical paths for virtual display, infrared illumination, and eye tracking. The display optics is shared by three optical paths and consists of four spherical lenses. For the eye-tracking path, an extra imaging lens is added to match the image sensor and achieve eye tracking. The display optics provides users a 40° diagonal FOV with a ״ 0.61 OLED, the 19 mm eye clearance, and 10 mm exit pupil diameter. The eye-tracking path can capture 15 mm × 15 mm of the users' eyes. The average MTF is above 0.1 at 26 lp/mm for the display path, and exceeds 0.2 at 46 lp/mm for the eye-tracking path. Eye illumination is simulated using LightTools with an eye model and an 850 nm near-infrared LED (NIR-LED). The results of the simulation show that the illumination of the NIR-LED can cover the area of the eye model with the display optics that is sufficient for eye tracking. The integrated optical system HMDs with eye-tracking feature can help improve the HMD experience of users.

Triton, deuteron and proton responses of the CR-39 track detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamauchi, Tomoya; Matsumoto, Hiroyoshi; Oda, Keiji [Kobe Univ. of Mercantile Marine (Japan)

1996-07-01

In the present study, we assessed the response of the CR-39 detector to proton, deuteron and triton from their etch-pit growth curves obtained by multi-step etching technique and the difference among their track registration properties was discussed. In order to avoid incorrect evaluation due to the missing track effect, particle irradiation was performed at various incident energies. The response function, S(R), etch rate ratio, S, as a function of the residual range, R, was experimentally evaluated for all hydrogen isotopes by this method. In the next, we obtained another form of response functions of S(E), S({beta}) and S(LET{sub 200}), which were presented as functions of the particle energy, E, the particle velocity, {beta}(=v/c), and the linear energy transfer in the case where the cut-off energy is 200 eV, LET{sub 200}, respectively. These information will be useful also in understanding the fundamentals of the latent track formation mechanism in the plastic track detectors. (J.P.N.)

Actor-critic-based optimal tracking for partially unknown nonlinear discrete-time systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiumarsi, Bahare; Lewis, Frank L

2015-01-01

This paper presents a partially model-free adaptive optimal control solution to the deterministic nonlinear discrete-time (DT) tracking control problem in the presence of input constraints. The tracking error dynamics and reference trajectory dynamics are first combined to form an augmented system. Then, a new discounted performance function based on the augmented system is presented for the optimal nonlinear tracking problem. In contrast to the standard solution, which finds the feedforward and feedback terms of the control input separately, the minimization of the proposed discounted performance function gives both feedback and feedforward parts of the control input simultaneously. This enables us to encode the input constraints into the optimization problem using a nonquadratic performance function. The DT tracking Bellman equation and tracking Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) are derived. An actor-critic-based reinforcement learning algorithm is used to learn the solution to the tracking HJB equation online without requiring knowledge of the system drift dynamics. That is, two neural networks (NNs), namely, actor NN and critic NN, are tuned online and simultaneously to generate the optimal bounded control policy. A simulation example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Hopfield neural network in HEP track reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muresan, R.; Pentia, M.

1997-01-01

In experimental particle physics, pattern recognition problems, specifically for neural network methods, occur frequently in track finding or feature extraction. Track finding is a combinatorial optimization problem. Given a set of points in Euclidean space, one tries the reconstruction of particle trajectories, subject to smoothness constraints.The basic ingredients in a neural network are the N binary neurons and the synaptic strengths connecting them. In our case the neurons are the segments connecting all possible point pairs.The dynamics of the neural network is given by a local updating rule wich evaluates for each neuron the sign of the 'upstream activity'. An updating rule in the form of sigmoid function is given. The synaptic strengths are defined in terms of angle between the segments and the lengths of the segments implied in the track reconstruction. An algorithm based on Hopfield neural network has been developed and tested on the track coordinates measured by silicon microstrip tracking system

NucliTrack: an integrated nuclei tracking application.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Sam; Barr, Alexis R; Glen, Robert; Bakal, Chris

2017-10-15

Live imaging studies give unparalleled insight into dynamic single cell behaviours and fate decisions. However, the challenge of reliably tracking single cells over long periods of time limits both the throughput and ease with which such studies can be performed. Here, we present NucliTrack, a cross platform solution for automatically segmenting, tracking and extracting features from fluorescently labelled nuclei. NucliTrack performs similarly to other state-of-the-art cell tracking algorithms, but NucliTrack's interactive, graphical interface makes it significantly more user friendly. NucliTrack is available as a free, cross platform application and open source Python package. Installation details and documentation are at: http://nuclitrack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ A video guide can be viewed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6e0D9F-qSU Source code is available through Github: https://github.com/samocooper/nuclitrack. A Matlab toolbox is also available at: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/61479-samocooper-nuclitrack-matlab. sam@socooper.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Modified diffusion with memory for cyclone track fluctuations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bernido, Christopher C., E-mail: cbernido@mozcom.com [Research Center for Theoretical Physics, Central Visayan Institute Foundation, Jagna, Bohol 6308 (Philippines); Carpio-Bernido, M. Victoria [Research Center for Theoretical Physics, Central Visayan Institute Foundation, Jagna, Bohol 6308 (Philippines); Escobido, Matthew G.O. [W. Sycip Graduate School of Business, Asian Institute of Management, 123 Paseo de Roxas Ave., Makati City 1260 (Philippines)

2014-06-13

Fluctuations in a time series for tropical cyclone tracks are investigated based on an exponentially modified Brownian motion. The mean square displacement (MSD) is evaluated and compared to a recent work on cyclone tracks based on fractional Brownian motion (fBm). Unlike the work based on fBm, the present approach is found to capture the behavior of MSD versus time graphs for cyclones even for large values of time. - Highlights: • Cyclone track fluctuations are modeled as stochastic processes with memory. • Stochastic memory functions beyond fractional Brownian motion are introduced. • The model captures the behavior of cyclone track fluctuations for longer periods of time. • The approach can model time series for other fluctuating phenomena.

Quality of Slab Track Construction – Track Alignment Design and Track Geometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šestáková Janka

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The slab track superstructure design (without ballast is a perspective construction especially for building tunnels and bridges in the modernized sections of railway tracks in Slovakia. Monitoring of the structure described in this article is focused on the transition areas between standard structure with ballast and slab track construction.

Markerless 3D Face Tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walder, Christian; Breidt, Martin; Bulthoff, Heinrich

2009-01-01

We present a novel algorithm for the markerless tracking of deforming surfaces such as faces. We acquire a sequence of 3D scans along with color images at 40Hz. The data is then represented by implicit surface and color functions, using a novel partition-of-unity type method of efficiently...... the scanned surface, using the variation of both shape and color as features in a dynamic energy minimization problem. Our prototype system yields high-quality animated 3D models in correspondence, at a rate of approximately twenty seconds per timestep. Tracking results for faces and other objects...

Fast-track rehabilitation in elective colorectal surgery patients: a prospective clinical and immunological single-centre study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wichmann, Matthias W; Eben, Ricarda; Angele, Martin K; Brandenburg, Franzis; Goetz, Alwin E; Jauch, Karl-Walter

2007-07-01

Recent clinical data indicate that fast-track surgery (multimodal rehabilitation) leads to shorter postoperative length of hospital stay, faster recovery of gastrointestinal function as well as reduced morbidity and mortality rates. To date, no study has focused on the effects of fast-track surgery on postoperative immune function. This study was initiated to determine whether fast-track rehabilitation results in improved clinical and immunological outcome of patients undergoing colorectal surgery. Forty patients underwent either conventional or fast-track rehabilitation after colorectal surgery. In addition to clinical parameters (return of gastrointestinal function, food intake, pain score, complication rates and postoperative length of stay), we determined parameters of perioperative immunity by flow cytometry (lymphocyte subgroups) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (interleukin-6). Our findings indicate a better-preserved cell-mediated immune function (T cells, T-helper cells, natural killer cells) after fast-track rehabilitation, whereas the pro-inflammatory response (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6) was unchanged in both study groups. Furthermore, we detected a significantly faster return of gastrointestinal function (first bowel movement P<0.001, food intake P<0.05), significantly reduced pain scores in the postoperative course (P < 0.05) and a significantly shorter length of postoperative stay (P<0.001) in patients undergoing fast-track rehabilitation. Fast-track rehabilitation after colorectal surgery results in better-preserved cell-mediated immunity when compared with conventional postoperative care. Furthermore, patients undergoing fast-track rehabilitation suffer from less pain and have a faster return of gastrointestinal function in the postoperative course. In addition, postoperative length of hospital stay was significantly shorter in fast-track patients.

The role of pain for early rehabilitation in fast track total knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Bente; Kristensen, Morten Tange; Myhrmann, Lis

2010-01-01

To investigate the relationship between early functional mobility and pain intensity in a fast track program after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).......To investigate the relationship between early functional mobility and pain intensity in a fast track program after total knee arthroplasty (TKA)....

Bayesian target tracking based on particle filter

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2005-01-01

For being able to deal with the nonlinear or non-Gaussian problems, particle filters have been studied by many researchers. Based on particle filter, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) proposal function is applied to Bayesian target tracking. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, the resampling step, etc novel techniques are also introduced into Bayesian target tracking. And the simulation results confirm the improved particle filter with these techniques outperforms the basic one.

A comparison of tracking with visual and kinesthetic-tactual displays

Science.gov (United States)

Jagacinski, R. J.; Flach, J. M.; Gilson, R. D.

1981-01-01

Recent research on manual tracking with a kinesthetic-tactual (KT) display suggests that under appropriate conditions it may be an effective means of providing visual workload relief. In order to better understand how KT tracking differs from visual tracking, both a critical tracking task and stationary single-axis tracking tasks were conducted with and without velocity quickening. On the critical tracking task, the visual displays were superior; however, the KT quickened display was approximately equal to the visual unquickened display. Mean squared error scores in the stationary tracking tasks for the visual and KT displays were approximately equal in the quickened conditions, and the describing functions were very similar. In the unquickened conditions, the visual display was superior. Subjects using the unquickened KT display exhibited a low frequency lead-lag that may be related to sensory adaptation.

Kalman Filter Tracking on Parallel Architectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerati, Giuseppe; Elmer, Peter; Krutelyov, Slava; Lantz, Steven; Lefebvre, Matthieu; McDermott, Kevin; Riley, Daniel; Tadel, Matevž; Wittich, Peter; Würthwein, Frank; Yagil, Avi

2016-01-01

Power density constraints are limiting the performance improvements of modern CPUs. To address this we have seen the introduction of lower-power, multi-core processors such as GPGPU, ARM and Intel MIC. In order to achieve the theoretical performance gains of these processors, it will be necessary to parallelize algorithms to exploit larger numbers of lightweight cores and specialized functions like large vector units. Track finding and fitting is one of the most computationally challenging problems for event reconstruction in particle physics. At the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), for example, this will be by far the dominant problem. The need for greater parallelism has driven investigations of very different track finding techniques such as Cellular Automata or Hough Transforms. The most common track finding techniques in use today, however, are those based on a Kalman filter approach. Significant experience has been accumulated with these techniques on real tracking detector systems, both in the trigger and offline. They are known to provide high physics performance, are robust, and are in use today at the LHC. Given the utility of the Kalman filter in track finding, we have begun to port these algorithms to parallel architectures, namely Intel Xeon and Xeon Phi. We report here on our progress towards an end-to-end track reconstruction algorithm fully exploiting vectorization and parallelization techniques in a simplified experimental environment

Response of cellulose nitrate track detectors to electron doses

CERN Document Server

Segovia, N; Moreno, A; Vazquez-Polo, G; Santamaría, T; Aranda, P; Hernández, A

1999-01-01

In order to study alternative dose determination methods, the bulk etching velocity and the latent track annealing of LR 115 track detectors was studied during electron irradiation runs from a Pelletron accelerator. For this purpose alpha irradiated and blank detectors were exposed to increasing electron doses from 10.5 to 317.5 kGy. After the irradiation with electrons the detectors were etched under routine conditions, except for the etching time, that was varied for each electron dose in order to reach a fixed residual thickness. The variation of the bulk etching velocity as a function of each one of the electron doses supplied, was interpolated in order to obtain dosimetric response curves. The observed annealing effect on the latent tracks is discussed as a function of the total electron doses supplied and the temperature.

Right heart function in impaired left ventricular diastolic function: 2D speckle tracking echocardiography-based and Doppler tissue imaging-based analysis of right atrial and ventricular function.

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Anna; Bathe, Marny; Oertelt-Prigione, Sabine; Seeland, Ute; Rücke, Mirjam; Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera; Stangl, Karl; Knebel, Fabian; Stangl, Verena; Dreger, Henryk

2018-01-01

The aim of our study was to describe right atrial (RA) and right ventricular (RV) function, assessed by Doppler tissue imaging and 2D speckle tracking echocardiography (2DSTE), in women with signs of early impaired left ventricular diastolic function (DD). In a cross-sectional trial, standard parameters of diastolic and right heart function were investigated in 438 women of the Berlin Female Risk Evaluation (BEFRI) study. In a subset of women, average peak systolic RA strain (RAS), as well as the average peak systolic RV strain of the free wall (RVS free wall) and of all RV segments (average RV strain; RVS Avg), was analyzed using 2DSTE. Compared to women with normal diastolic function (DD0), RAS, RVS free wall and RVS Avg were significantly reduced in DD (43.1% ± 11.9%, -26.7% ± 5.6%, and -23.3% ± 3.5% in DD0; vs 35.1% ± 10.4%, -23.9% ± 5.5%, and -20.6% ± 3.8% in DD; P right heart function is significantly altered in DD. DTI as well as 2DSTE constitute sensitive echocardiographic tools that enable the diagnosis of impaired right heart mechanics in early-staged DD. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Blossom Point Satellite Tracking and Command Station

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — FUNCTION: The Blossom Point Satellite Command and Tracking Facility (BP) provides engineering and operational support to several complex space systems for the Navy...

Tracking errors in a prototype real-time tumour tracking system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharp, Gregory C; Jiang, Steve B; Shimizu, Shinichi; Shirato, Hiroki

2004-01-01

In motion-compensated radiation therapy, radio-opaque markers can be implanted in or near a tumour and tracked in real-time using fluoroscopic imaging. Tracking these implanted markers gives highly accurate position information, except when tracking fails due to poor or ambiguous imaging conditions. This study investigates methods for automatic detection of tracking errors, and assesses the frequency and impact of tracking errors on treatments using the prototype real-time tumour tracking system. We investigated four indicators for automatic detection of tracking errors, and found that the distance between corresponding rays was most effective. We also found that tracking errors cause a loss of gating efficiency of between 7.6 and 10.2%. The incidence of treatment beam delivery during tracking errors was estimated at between 0.8% and 1.25%

Left Ventricular Function in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: The Role of Two-Dimensional Speckle Tracking Strain.

Science.gov (United States)

de Amorim Corrêa, Ricardo; de Oliveira, Fernanda Brito; Barbosa, Marcia M; Barbosa, Jose Augusto A; Carvalho, Taís Soares; Barreto, Michele Campos; Campos, Frederico Thadeu A F; Nunes, Maria Carmo Pereira

2016-09-01

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure with abnormal right ventricular (RV) pressure overload that may alter left ventricular (LV) function. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of RV pressure overload on LV function in PAH patients using two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking strain. The study enrolled 37 group 1 PAH patients and 38 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. LV longitudinal and radial 2D strains were measured with and without including the ventricular septum. Six-minute walk test (6MWT) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were also obtained in patients with PAH. The mean age of patients was 46.4 ± 14.8 years, 76% women, and 16 patients (43%) had schistosomiasis. Sixteen patients (43%) were in WHO class III or IV under specific treatment for PAH. The overall 6MWT distance was 441 meters, and the BNP levels were 80 pg/mL. Patients with PAH more commonly presented with LV diastolic dysfunction and impairment of RV function when compared to controls. LV global longitudinal and radial strains were lower in patients than in controls (-17.9 ± 2.8 vs. -20.5 ± 1.9; P < 0.001 and 30.8 ± 10.5 vs. 49.8 ± 15.4; P < 0.001, respectively). After excluding septal values, LV longitudinal and radial strains remained lower in patients than in controls. The independent factors associated with global LV longitudinal strain were LV ejection fraction, RV fractional area change, and tricuspid annular systolic motion. This study showed impaired LV contractility in patients with PAH assessed by speckle tracking strain, irrespective of ventricular septal involvement. Global LV longitudinal strain was associated independently with RV fractional area change and tricuspid annular systolic motion, after adjustment for LV ejection fraction. © 2016, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Track structure in radiation biology: theory and applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikjoo, H; Uehara, S; Wilson, W E; Hoshi, M; Goodhead, D T

1998-04-01

A brief review is presented of the basic concepts in track structure and the relative merit of various theoretical approaches adopted in Monte-Carlo track-structure codes are examined. In the second part of the paper, a formal cluster analysis is introduced to calculate cluster-distance distributions. Total experimental ionization cross-sections were least-square fitted and compared with the calculation by various theoretical methods. Monte-Carlo track-structure code Kurbuc was used to examine and compare the spectrum of the secondary electrons generated by using functions given by Born-Bethe, Jain-Khare, Gryzinsky, Kim-Rudd, Mott and Vriens' theories. The cluster analysis in track structure was carried out using the k-means method and Hartigan algorithm. Data are presented on experimental and calculated total ionization cross-sections: inverse mean free path (IMFP) as a function of electron energy used in Monte-Carlo track-structure codes; the spectrum of secondary electrons generated by different functions for 500 eV primary electrons; cluster analysis for 4 MeV and 20 MeV alpha-particles in terms of the frequency of total cluster energy to the root-mean-square (rms) radius of the cluster and differential distance distributions for a pair of clusters; and finally relative frequency distribution for energy deposited in DNA, single-strand break and double-strand breaks for 10MeV/u protons, alpha-particles and carbon ions. There are a number of Monte-Carlo track-structure codes that have been developed independently and the bench-marking presented in this paper allows a better choice of the theoretical method adopted in a track-structure code to be made. A systematic bench-marking of cross-sections and spectra of the secondary electrons shows differences between the codes at atomic level, but such differences are not significant in biophysical modelling at the macromolecular level. Clustered-damage evaluation shows: that a substantial proportion of dose ( 30%) is

Object Tracking via 2DPCA and l2-Regularization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haijun Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We present a fast and robust object tracking algorithm by using 2DPCA and l2-regularization in a Bayesian inference framework. Firstly, we model the challenging appearance of the tracked object using 2DPCA bases, which exploit the strength of subspace representation. Secondly, we adopt the l2-regularization to solve the proposed presentation model and remove the trivial templates from the sparse tracking method which can provide a more fast tracking performance. Finally, we present a novel likelihood function that considers the reconstruction error, which is concluded from the orthogonal left-projection matrix and the orthogonal right-projection matrix. Experimental results on several challenging image sequences demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve more favorable performance against state-of-the-art tracking algorithms.

Multiphase Interface Tracking with Fast Semi-Lagrangian Contouring.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaosheng; He, Xiaowei; Liu, Xuehui; Zhang, Jian J; Liu, Baoquan; Wu, Enhua

2016-08-01

We propose a semi-Lagrangian method for multiphase interface tracking. In contrast to previous methods, our method maintains an explicit polygonal mesh, which is reconstructed from an unsigned distance function and an indicator function, to track the interface of arbitrary number of phases. The surface mesh is reconstructed at each step using an efficient multiphase polygonization procedure with precomputed stencils while the distance and indicator function are updated with an accurate semi-Lagrangian path tracing from the meshes of the last step. Furthermore, we provide an adaptive data structure, multiphase distance tree, to accelerate the updating of both the distance function and the indicator function. In addition, the adaptive structure also enables us to contour the distance tree accurately with simple bisection techniques. The major advantage of our method is that it can easily handle topological changes without ambiguities and preserve both the sharp features and the volume well. We will evaluate its efficiency, accuracy and robustness in the results part with several examples.

Large angle tracking and high discriminating tracking in nuclear emulsion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuo, Tomokazu; Shibuya, Hiroshi; Ogawa, Satoru; Fukuda, Tsutomu; Mikado, Shoji

2015-01-01

Nuclear emulsion is a high resolution and re-analyzable detector. Conventional “Track Selector” which have angle acceptance |tan θ|<0.6 are widely used to find tracks in emulsion. We made a new track selector “Fine Track Selector” (FTS) which has large angle acceptance and high discriminating ability. The FTS reduces fake tracks using new algorithms, navigation etc. FTS also keeps finding efficiency of tracks around 90% in an angle range of |tan θ| < 3.5. FTS was applied to the τ candidate in OPERA and no additional tracks found. FTS will be useful to our new J-PARC emulsion experiment.

Millimeter wave radar system on a rotating platform for combined search and track functionality with SAR imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Aulenbacher, Uwe; Rech, Klaus; Sedlmeier, Johannes; Pratisto, Hans; Wellig, Peter

2014-10-01

Ground based millimeter wave radar sensors offer the potential for a weather-independent automatic ground surveillance at day and night, e.g. for camp protection applications. The basic principle and the experimental verification of a radar system concept is described, which by means of an extreme off-axis positioning of the antenna(s) combines azimuthal mechanical beam steering with the formation of a circular-arc shaped synthetic aperture (SA). In automatic ground surveillance the function of search and detection of moving ground targets is performed by means of the conventional mechanical scan mode. The rotated antenna structure designed as a small array with two or more RX antenna elements with simultaneous receiver chains allows to instantaneous track multiple moving targets (monopulse principle). The simultaneously operated SAR mode yields areal images of the distribution of stationary scatterers. For ground surveillance application this SAR mode is best suited for identifying possible threats by means of change detection. The feasibility of this concept was tested by means of an experimental radar system comprising of a 94 GHz (W band) FM-CW module with 1 GHz bandwidth and two RX antennas with parallel receiver channels, placed off-axis at a rotating platform. SAR mode and search/track mode were tested during an outdoor measurement campaign. The scenery of two persons walking along a road and partially through forest served as test for the capability to track multiple moving targets. For SAR mode verification an image of the area composed of roads, grassland, woodland and several man-made objects was reconstructed from the measured data.

Discovering Activities to Recognize and Track in a Smart Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashidi, Parisa; Cook, Diane J; Holder, Lawrence B; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2011-01-01

The machine learning and pervasive sensing technologies found in smart homes offer unprecedented opportunities for providing health monitoring and assistance to individuals experiencing difficulties living independently at home. In order to monitor the functional health of smart home residents, we need to design technologies that recognize and track activities that people normally perform as part of their daily routines. Although approaches do exist for recognizing activities, the approaches are applied to activities that have been pre-selected and for which labeled training data is available. In contrast, we introduce an automated approach to activity tracking that identifies frequent activities that naturally occur in an individual's routine. With this capability we can then track the occurrence of regular activities to monitor functional health and to detect changes in an individual's patterns and lifestyle. In this paper we describe our activity mining and tracking approach and validate our algorithms on data collected in physical smart environments.

Markerless human motion tracking using hierarchical multi-swarm cooperative particle swarm optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Saini, Sanjay; Zakaria, Nordin; Rambli, Dayang Rohaya Awang; Sulaiman, Suziah

2015-01-01

The high-dimensional search space involved in markerless full-body articulated human motion tracking from multiple-views video sequences has led to a number of solutions based on metaheuristics, the most recent form of which is Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). However, the classical PSO suffers from premature convergence and it is trapped easily into local optima, significantly affecting the tracking accuracy. To overcome these drawbacks, we have developed a method for the problem based on Hierarchical Multi-Swarm Cooperative Particle Swarm Optimization (H-MCPSO). The tracking problem is formulated as a non-linear 34-dimensional function optimization problem where the fitness function quantifies the difference between the observed image and a projection of the model configuration. Both the silhouette and edge likelihoods are used in the fitness function. Experiments using Brown and HumanEva-II dataset demonstrated that H-MCPSO performance is better than two leading alternative approaches-Annealed Particle Filter (APF) and Hierarchical Particle Swarm Optimization (HPSO). Further, the proposed tracking method is capable of automatic initialization and self-recovery from temporary tracking failures. Comprehensive experimental results are presented to support the claims.

Influence of tracks densities in solid state nuclear track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guedes O, S.; Hadler N.; Lunes, P.; Saenz T, C.

1996-01-01

When Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD) is employed to measure nuclear tracks produced mainly by fission fragments and alpha particles, it is considered that the tracks observation work is performed under an efficiency, ε 0 , which is independent of the track density (number of tracks/area unit). There are not published results or experimental data supporting such an assumption. In this work the dependence of ε 0 with track density is studied basing on experimental data. To perform this, pieces of CR-39 cut from a sole 'mother sheet' were coupled to thin uranium films for different exposition times and the resulting ratios between track density and exposition time were compared. Our results indicate that ε 0 is constant for track densities between 10 3 and 10 5 cm -2 . At our etching conditions track overlapping makes impossible the counting for densities around 1.7 x 10 5 cm -2 . For track densities less than 10 3 cm -2 , ε 0 , was not observed to be constant. (authors). 4 refs., 2 figs

Comparison of ergometer- and track-based testing in junior track-sprint cyclists. Implications for talent identification and development.

Science.gov (United States)

Tofari, Paul J; Cormack, Stuart J; Ebert, Tammie R; Gardner, A Scott; Kemp, Justin G

2017-10-01

Talent identification (TID) and talent development (TDE) programmes in track sprint cycling use ergometer- and track-based tests to select junior athletes and assess their development. The purpose of this study was to assess which tests are best at monitoring TID and TDE. Ten male participants (16.2 ± 1.1 year; 178.5 ± 6.0 cm and 73.6 ± 7.6 kg) were selected into the national TID squad based on initial testing. These tests consisted of two 6-s maximal sprints on a custom-built ergometer and 4 maximal track-based tests (2 rolling and 2 standing starts) using 2 gear ratios. Magnitude-based inferences and correlation coefficients assessed changes following a 3-month TDE programme. Training elicited meaningful improvements (80-100% likely) in all ergometer parameters. The standing and rolling small gear, track-based effort times were likely and very likely (3.2 ± 2.4% and 3.3 ± 1.9%, respectively) improved by training. Stronger correlations between ergometer- and track-based measures were very likely following training. Ergometer-based testing provides a more sensitive tool than track-based testing to monitor changes in neuromuscular function during the early stages of TDE. However, track-based testing can indicate skill-based improvements in performance when interpreted with ergometer testing. In combination, these tests provide information on overall talent development.

Quantification of biventricular myocardial function using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking, endocardial border delineation and echocardiographic speckle tracking in patients with repaired tetralogy of fallot and healthy controls

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Parameters of myocardial deformation have been suggested to be superior to conventional measures of ventricular function in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF), but have required non-routine, tagged cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) techniques. We assessed biventricular myocardial function using CMR cine-based feature tracking (FT) and compared it to speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) and to simple endocardial border delineation (EBD). In addition, the relation between parameters of myocardial deformation and clinical parameters was assessed. Methods Overall, 28 consecutive adult patients with repaired ToF (age 40.4 ± 13.3 years) underwent standard steady-state-free precession sequence CMR, echocardiography, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. In addition, 25 healthy subjects served as controls. Myocardial deformation was assessed by CMR based FT (TomTec Diogenes software), CMR based EBD (using custom written software) and STE (TomTec Cardiac Performance Analysis software). Results Feature tracking was feasible in all subjects. A close agreement was found between measures of global left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) global strain. Interobserver agreement for FT and STE was similar for longitudinal LV global strain, but FT showed better inter-observer reproducibility than STE for circumferential or radial LV and longitudinal RV global strain. Reproducibility of regional strain on FT was, however, poor. The relative systolic length change of the endocardial border measured by EBD yielded similar results to FT global strain. Clinically, biventricular longitudinal strain on FT was reduced compared to controls (P < 0.0001) and was related to the number of previous cardiac operations. In addition, FT derived RV strain was related to exercise capacity and VE/VCO2-slope. Conclusions Although neither the inter-study reproducibility nor accuracy of FT software were investigated, and its inter-observer reproducibility for regional

An eye-tracking method to reveal the link between gazing patterns and pragmatic abilities in high functioning autism spectrum disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ouriel eGrynszpan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The present study illustrates the potential advantages of an eye-tracking method for exploring the association between visual scanning of faces and inferences of mental states. Participants watched short videos involving social interactions and had to explain what they had seen. The number of cognition verbs (e.g. think, believe, know in their answers were counted. Given the possible use of peripheral vision that could confound eye-tracking measures, we added a condition using a gaze-contingent viewing window: the entire visual display is blurred, expect for an area that moves with the participant’s gaze. Eleven typical adults and eleven high functioning adults with ASD were recruited. The condition employing the viewing window yielded strong correlations between the average duration of fixations, the ratio of cognition verbs and standard measures of social disabilities.

The relationship between fission track length and track density in apatite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laslett, G.M.; Gleadow, A.J.W.; Duddy, I.R.

1984-01-01

Fission track dating is based upon an age equation derived from a random line segment model for fission tracks. This equation contains the implicit assumption of a proportional relationship between the true mean length of fission tracks and their track density in an isotropic medium. Previous experimental investigation of this relationship for both spontaneous and induced tracks in apatite during progressive annealment model in an obvious fashion. Corrected equations relating track length and density for apatite, an anisotropic mineral, show that the proportionality in this case is between track density and a length factor which is a generalization of the mean track length combining the actual length and crystallographic orientation of the track. This relationship has been experimentally confirmed for induced tracks in Durango apatite, taking into account bias in sampling of the track lengths, and the effect of the bulk etching velocity. (author)

Symplectic Tracking of Multi-Isotopic Heavy-Ion Beams in SixTrack

CERN Document Server

Hermes, Pascal; De Maria, Riccardo

2016-01-01

The software SixTrack provides symplectic proton tracking over a large number of turns. The code is used for the tracking of beam halo particles and the simulation of their interaction with the collimators to study the efficiency of the LHC collimation system. Tracking simulations for heavy-ion beams require taking into account the mass to charge ratio of each particle because heavy ions can be subject to fragmentation at their passage through the collimators. In this paper we present the derivation of a Hamiltonian for multi-isotopic heavy-ion beams and symplectic tracking maps derived from it. The resulting tracking maps were implemented in the tracking software SixTrack. With this modification, SixTrack can be used to natively track heavy-ion beams of multiple isotopes through a magnetic accelerator lattice.

Charged particle tracking in high multiplicity events at RHIC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foley, K.J.; Love, W.A.

1985-01-01

It is generally accepted that the ability to track some fraction of the charged particles produced in heavy ion collisions is very desirable. At a very minimum, one must detect the occurance of multiple interactions in a single crossing. The very tight beam structure at RHIC does not favor time separation, so the location of separate vertices seems the best solution. The limits of tracking large numbers of tracks in a solid angle approaching 4π have been explored. A model detector considered is a 2.5 m radius TPC, a true 3D tracking device. In order to estimate the particle density of a function of production angle, five Hijet Au-Au central events were used to deduce the particle density distribution as a function of polar angle. An important feature of a tracking detector is the effective ''pixel'' size - the area within which two tracks cannot be resolved. In a TPC with multistep avalanche chamber readout this is approximately 3 mm x 3 mm or approx.0.1 cm 2 . Using this pixel size we have calculated the radius at which the number of particles/pixel is 0.01 and 0.1. With the exception of the region very near the beam expect these distributions aren't expected to change very much with the application of a low (approx. 0.5 tesla) magnetic field. While the actual reconstruction efficiency will depend on the fine details of the apparatus and reconstruction program, the 1% fill fraction is safe for efficiencies in the 80 to 90% region. Tracking is found to be feasible at pseudorapidities up to 3

Subacute pain and function after fast-track hip and knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lasse Østergaard; Gaarn-Larsen, L; Kristensen, B B

2009-01-01

In a well-defined fast-track setup for total hip and knee arthroplasty, with a multimodal analgesic regimen consisting of intra-operative local anaesthetic infiltration and oral celecoxib, gabapentin and paracetamol for 6 days postoperatively, we conducted a prospective, consecutive, observationa...

PolarTrack: Optical Outside-In Device Tracking that Exploits Display Polarization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rädle, Roman; Jetter, Hans-Christian; Fischer, Jonathan

2018-01-01

PolarTrack is a novel camera-based approach to detecting and tracking mobile devices inside the capture volume. In PolarTrack, a polarization filter continuously rotates in front of an off-the-shelf color camera, which causes the displays of observed devices to periodically blink in the camera feed....... The periodic blinking results from the physical characteristics of current displays, which shine polarized light either through an LC overlay to produce images or through a polarizer to reduce light reflections on OLED displays. PolarTrack runs a simple detection algorithm on the camera feed to segment...... displays and track their locations and orientations, which makes PolarTrack particularly suitable as a tracking system for cross-device interaction with mobile devices. Our evaluation of PolarTrack's tracking quality and comparison with state-of-the-art camera-based multi-device tracking showed a better...

Optical tracking of nanoscale particles in microscale environments

Science.gov (United States)

Mathai, P. P.; Liddle, J. A.; Stavis, S. M.

2016-03-01

The trajectories of nanoscale particles through microscale environments record useful information about both the particles and the environments. Optical microscopes provide efficient access to this information through measurements of light in the far field from nanoparticles. Such measurements necessarily involve trade-offs in tracking capabilities. This article presents a measurement framework, based on information theory, that facilitates a more systematic understanding of such trade-offs to rationally design tracking systems for diverse applications. This framework includes the degrees of freedom of optical microscopes, which determine the limitations of tracking measurements in theory. In the laboratory, tracking systems are assemblies of sources and sensors, optics and stages, and nanoparticle emitters. The combined characteristics of such systems determine the limitations of tracking measurements in practice. This article reviews this tracking hardware with a focus on the essential functions of nanoparticles as optical emitters and microenvironmental probes. Within these theoretical and practical limitations, experimentalists have implemented a variety of tracking systems with different capabilities. This article reviews a selection of apparatuses and techniques for tracking multiple and single particles by tuning illumination and detection, and by using feedback and confinement to improve the measurements. Prior information is also useful in many tracking systems and measurements, which apply across a broad spectrum of science and technology. In the context of the framework and review of apparatuses and techniques, this article reviews a selection of applications, with particle diffusion serving as a prelude to tracking measurements in biological, fluid, and material systems, fabrication and assembly processes, and engineered devices. In so doing, this review identifies trends and gaps in particle tracking that might influence future research.

Laser-based pedestrian tracking in outdoor environments by multiple mobile robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozaki, Masataka; Kakimuma, Kei; Hashimoto, Masafumi; Takahashi, Kazuhiko

2012-10-29

This paper presents an outdoors laser-based pedestrian tracking system using a group of mobile robots located near each other. Each robot detects pedestrians from its own laser scan image using an occupancy-grid-based method, and the robot tracks the detected pedestrians via Kalman filtering and global-nearest-neighbor (GNN)-based data association. The tracking data is broadcast to multiple robots through intercommunication and is combined using the covariance intersection (CI) method. For pedestrian tracking, each robot identifies its own posture using real-time-kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS) and laser scan matching. Using our cooperative tracking method, all the robots share the tracking data with each other; hence, individual robots can always recognize pedestrians that are invisible to any other robot. The simulation and experimental results show that cooperating tracking provides the tracking performance better than conventional individual tracking does. Our tracking system functions in a decentralized manner without any central server, and therefore, this provides a degree of scalability and robustness that cannot be achieved by conventional centralized architectures.

Performance-oriented asymptotic tracking control of hydraulic systems with radial basis function network disturbance observer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Hu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Uncertainties, including parametric uncertainties and uncertain nonlinearities, always exist in positioning servo systems driven by a hydraulic actuator, which would degrade their tracking accuracy. In this article, an integrated control scheme, which combines adaptive robust control together with radial basis function neural network–based disturbance observer, is proposed for high-accuracy motion control of hydraulic systems. Not only parametric uncertainties but also uncertain nonlinearities (i.e. nonlinear friction, external disturbances, and/or unmodeled dynamics are taken into consideration in the proposed controller. The above uncertainties are compensated, respectively, by adaptive control and radial basis function neural network, which are ultimately integrated together by applying feedforward compensation technique, in which the global stabilization of the controller is ensured via a robust feedback path. A new kind of parameter and weight adaptation law is designed on the basis of Lyapunov stability theory. Furthermore, the proposed controller obtains an expected steady performance even if modeling uncertainties exist, and extensive simulation results in various working conditions have proven the high performance of the proposed control scheme.

Image formation in track-etch detectors: Pt. 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ilic, Radomir; Najzer, Mitja

1990-01-01

The radiographic performance of solid state nuclear track detectors was analysed with respect to image quality. Image quality is expressed in terms of three image quality factors: contrast or gradient of the detector, image unsharpness and detail discernment. Equations for the image quality factors were derived from the radiographic transfer function, taking into account image inhomogeneity caused by statistical fluctuations of track density. To find optimal radiographic conditions for a given application, a single quantity called the figure of radiographic merit was defined. It is expressed as the weighted product of the image quality factors. It was found that optimum image quality of a balanced image, characterized by equal importance of all three image quality factors, is obtained at an exposure value (defined as the product of the average visible track area and track density) of unity. (author)

Fast particle tracking with wake fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dohlus, M.; Floettmann, K.; Henning, C.

2012-01-15

Tracking calculations of charged particles in electromagnetic fields require in principle the simultaneous solution of the equation of motion and of Maxwell's equations. In many tracking codes a simpler and more efficient approach is used: external fields like that of the accelerating structures are provided as field maps, generated in separate computations and for the calculation of self fields the model of a particle bunch in uniform motion is used. We describe how an externally computed wake function can be approximated by a table of Taylor coefficients and how the wake field kick can be calculated for the particle distribution in a tracking calculation. The integrated kick, representing the effect of a distributed structure, is applied at a discrete time. As an example, we use our approach to calculate the emittance growth of a bunch in an undulator beam pipe due to resistive wall wake field effects. (orig.)

Track reconstruction at the ILC: the ILD tracking software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaede, Frank; Aplin, Steven; Rosemann, Christoph; Voutsinas, Georgios; Glattauer, Robin

2014-01-01

One of the key requirements for Higgs physics at the International Linear Collider ILC is excellent track reconstruction with very good momentum and impact parameter resolution. ILD is one of the two detector concepts at the ILC. Its central tracking system comprises of an outer Si-tracker, a highly granular TPC, an intermediate silicon tracker and a pixel vertex detector, and it is complemented by silicon tracking disks in the forward direction. Large hit densities from beam induced coherent electron-positron pairs at the ILC pose an additional challenge to the pattern recognition algorithms. We present the recently developed new ILD tracking software, the pattern recognition algorithms that are using clustering techniques, Cellular Automatons and Kalman filter based track extrapolation. The performance of the ILD tracking system is evaluated using a detailed simulation including dead material, gaps and imperfections.

Functional measurements based on feature tracking of cine magnetic resonance images identify left ventricular segments with myocardial scar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nylander Eva

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of the study was to perform a feature tracking analysis on cine magnetic resonance (MR images to elucidate if functional measurements of the motion of the left ventricular wall may detect scar defined with gadolinium enhanced MR. Myocardial contraction can be measured in terms of the velocity, displacement and local deformation (strain of a particular myocardial segment. Contraction of the myocardial wall will be reduced in the presence of scar and as a consequence of reduced myocardial blood flow. Methods Thirty patients (3 women and 27 men were selected based on the presence or absence of extensive scar in the anteroseptal area of the left ventricle. The patients were investigated in stable clinical condition, 4-8 weeks post ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with percutaneous coronary intervention. Seventeen had a scar area >75% in at least one anteroseptal segment (scar and thirteen had scar area Results In the scar patients, segments with scar showed lower functional measurements than remote segments. Radial measurements of velocity, displacement and strain performed better in terms of receiver-operator-characteristic curves (ROC than the corresponding longitudinal measurements. The best area-under-curve was for radial strain, 0.89, where a cut-off value of 38.8% had 80% sensitivity and 86% specificity for the detection of a segment with scar area >50%. As a percentage of the mean, intraobserver variability was 16-14-26% for radial measurements of displacement-velocity-strain and corresponding interobserver variability was 13-12-18%. Conclusion Feature tracking analysis of cine-MR displays velocity, displacement and strain in the radial and longitudinal direction and may be used for the detection of transmural scar. The accuracy and repeatability of the radial functional measurements is satisfactory and global measures agree.

Visual tracking of da Vinci instruments for laparoscopic surgery

Science.gov (United States)

Speidel, S.; Kuhn, E.; Bodenstedt, S.; Röhl, S.; Kenngott, H.; Müller-Stich, B.; Dillmann, R.

2014-03-01

Intraoperative tracking of laparoscopic instruments is a prerequisite to realize further assistance functions. Since endoscopic images are always available, this sensor input can be used to localize the instruments without special devices or robot kinematics. In this paper, we present an image-based markerless 3D tracking of different da Vinci instruments in near real-time without an explicit model. The method is based on different visual cues to segment the instrument tip, calculates a tip point and uses a multiple object particle filter for tracking. The accuracy and robustness is evaluated with in vivo data.

Chaotic system optimal tracking using data-based synchronous method with unknown dynamics and disturbances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Ruizhuo; Wei Qinglai

2017-01-01

We develop an optimal tracking control method for chaotic system with unknown dynamics and disturbances. The method allows the optimal cost function and the corresponding tracking control to update synchronously. According to the tracking error and the reference dynamics, the augmented system is constructed. Then the optimal tracking control problem is defined. The policy iteration (PI) is introduced to solve the min-max optimization problem. The off-policy adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm is then proposed to find the solution of the tracking Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs (HJI) equation online only using measured data and without any knowledge about the system dynamics. Critic neural network (CNN), action neural network (ANN), and disturbance neural network (DNN) are used to approximate the cost function, control, and disturbance. The weights of these networks compose the augmented weight matrix, and the uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) of which is proven. The convergence of the tracking error system is also proven. Two examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed synchronous solution method for the chaotic system tracking problem. (paper)

Coherent light scattering by nuclear etched tracks in the PADC (a form of CR-39)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Groetz, J.E.; Chambaudet, A. [Universite de Franche-Comte, Besancon (France). Lab. de Microanalyses Nucleaires; Lacourt, A. [Laboratoire d`Optique P.M. Duffieux, UMR 6603 CNRS, Universite de Franche-Comte, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besancon Cedex (France)

1998-08-01

A new kind of measurement has been proposed to improve the reading of the solid state nuclear track detector CR-39. This method is based on coherent light scattering (He-Ne laser) by etched proton tracks, and is complementary to observation under an optical microscope and reading by optical density of the CR-39. The irradiated and chemically etched CR-39 sample is illuminated by a laser beam under a normal incidence angle. The light intensity diffracted by the tracks beyond the sample - defined with the bi-directional transmissive distribution functions - is measured with a photodiode. Thus, the bi-directional transmissive distribution functions depend on the characteristics of the irradiation, namely the track density, track sizes and orientations. We have performed a track light diffraction model calculation through the use of the Fraunhofer diffraction, Babinet`s principle and the spatial coherence and incoherence. We compared calculations and experimental results for the different shapes of tracks: conical, oblique and spherical-shaped. (orig.) 14 refs.

Coherent light scattering by nuclear etched tracks in the PADC (a form of CR-39)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Groetz, J.E.; Chambaudet, A.

1998-01-01

A new kind of measurement has been proposed to improve the reading of the solid state nuclear track detector CR-39. This method is based on coherent light scattering (He-Ne laser) by etched proton tracks, and is complementary to observation under an optical microscope and reading by optical density of the CR-39. The irradiated and chemically etched CR-39 sample is illuminated by a laser beam under a normal incidence angle. The light intensity diffracted by the tracks beyond the sample - defined with the bi-directional transmissive distribution functions - is measured with a photodiode. Thus, the bi-directional transmissive distribution functions depend on the characteristics of the irradiation, namely the track density, track sizes and orientations. We have performed a track light diffraction model calculation through the use of the Fraunhofer diffraction, Babinet's principle and the spatial coherence and incoherence. We compared calculations and experimental results for the different shapes of tracks: conical, oblique and spherical-shaped. (orig.)

Environment-sensitive ion-track membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Masaru

1996-01-01

Development of an environment-sensitive porous membrane from ion-track membranes may realize by combining the techniques of ion beam radiation and those of molecular designing and synthesis for intelligent materials. Now, the development of such membrane is progressing with an aim at selecting some specific substances and accurately control its pore size in response to any small environmental stimulus such as temperature change. The authors have been studying the molecular design, synthesis and functional expression of intelligent materials, which are called here as environment-sensitive gels. In this report, the outlines of the apparatus for the production of such porous membrane was described. An organic polymer membrane was irradiated with an ion beam and followed by chemical etching to make ion track pores. Scanning electron microscopic observation for the cross section of the membrane showed that the pore shape varies greatly depending on the ion nuclide used. The characteristics of newly produced porous membranes consisting of CR-30/A-ProDMe and polyethylene-telephtharate were investigated in respect of pore size change responding to temperature. These studies of design, synthesis and functions of such gels would enable to substitute artificial materials for the functions of human sensors. (M.N.). 54 refs

Analysis of the Dynamic Response in the Railway Vehicles to the Track Vertical Irregularities. Part I: The Theoretical Model and the Vehicle Response Functions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Dumitriu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The paper herein focuses on the dynamic response of a two-bogie vehicle to the excitations derived from the track vertical irregularities. The symmetrical and antisymmetrical modes due from the bounce and pitch motions of the axles’ planes in the two bogies are being considered. The analysis of the dynamic response in the vehicle relies on the response functions in three reference points of the carbody, composed by means of these response functions to the symmetrical and antisymmetrical excitation modes. Similarly, the dynamic response of the vehicle to the track stochastic irregularities is examined and expressed as a power spectral density of the carbody vertical acceleration and the root mean square of the acceleration and the index of the partial comfort to the vertical vibrations is calculated. The paper is structured into two parts. The Part I includes all the theoretical elements required for the analysis of the dynamic response in the vehicle, while Part II introduces the results of the numerical analysis.

Is self-regard a sociometer or a hierometer? Self-esteem tracks status and inclusion, narcissism tracks status.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahadevan, Nikhila; Gregg, Aiden P; Sedikides, Constantine

2018-04-02

What adaptive function does self-regard serve? Sociometer theory predicts that it positively tracks social inclusion. A new theory, hierometer theory, predicts that it positively tracks social status. We tested both predictions with respect to two types of self-regard: self-esteem and narcissism. Study 1 (N = 940), featuring a cross-sectional design, found that both status and inclusion covaried positively with self-esteem, but that status alone covaried positively with narcissism. These links held independently of gender, age, and the Big Five personality traits. Study 2 (N = 627), a preregistered cross-sectional study, obtained similar results with alternative measures of self-esteem and narcissism. Studies 3-4 featured experimental designs in which status and inclusion were orthogonally manipulated. Study 3 (N = 104) found that both higher status and higher inclusion promoted higher self-esteem, whereas only higher status promoted higher narcissism. Study 4 (N = 259) obtained similar results with alternative measures of self-esteem and narcissism. The findings suggest that self-esteem operates as both sociometer and hierometer, positively tracking both status and inclusion, whereas narcissism operates primarily as a hierometer, positively tracking status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Latent track structure in polymers as observed by a highly sensitive electrolytical conductivity measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danziger, M.; Schulz, A.; Trofimov, V.V.; Prokert, K.

1994-01-01

First results of a new electrolytical conductivity cell are reported concerning the initial stage of the pore opening process during track etching in vitreous solids. On the basis of the soft mode (low energy excitation) model for track etching, a distribution function for the number of performed micropores as function of time is calculated. The results account for the radial etch rate as function of the effective pore radius. ((orig.))

Improving Global Multi-target Tracking with Local Updates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Milan, Anton; Gade, Rikke; Dick, Anthony

2014-01-01

-target tracker, if they result in a reduction in the global cost function. Since tracking failures typically arise when targets become occluded, we propose a local data association scheme to maintain the target identities in these situations. We demonstrate a reduction of up to 50% in the global cost function...

Towards an IMU Evaluation Framework for Human Body Tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Venek, Verena; Kremser, Wolfgang; Schneider, Cornelia

2018-01-01

Existing full-body tracking systems, which use Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) as sensing unit, require expert knowledge for setup and data collection. Thus, the daily application for human body tracking is difficult. In particular, in the field of active and assisted living (AAL), tracking human movements would enable novel insights not only into the quantity but also into the quality of human movement, for example by monitoring functional training. While the current market offers a wide range of products with vastly different properties, literature lacks guidelines for choosing IMUs for body tracking applications. Therefore, this paper introduces developments towards an IMU evaluation framework for human body tracking which compares IMUs against five requirement areas that consider device features and data quality. The data quality is assessed by conducting a static and a dynamic error analysis. In a first application to four IMUs of different component consumption, the IMU evaluation framework convinced as promising tool for IMU selection.

Off-policy integral reinforcement learning optimal tracking control for continuous-time chaotic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei Qing-Lai; Song Rui-Zhuo; Xiao Wen-Dong; Sun Qiu-Ye

2015-01-01

This paper estimates an off-policy integral reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm to obtain the optimal tracking control of unknown chaotic systems. Off-policy IRL can learn the solution of the HJB equation from the system data generated by an arbitrary control. Moreover, off-policy IRL can be regarded as a direct learning method, which avoids the identification of system dynamics. In this paper, the performance index function is first given based on the system tracking error and control error. For solving the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, an off-policy IRL algorithm is proposed. It is proven that the iterative control makes the tracking error system asymptotically stable, and the iterative performance index function is convergent. Simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed tracking control method. (paper)

Robust feedback zoom tracking for digital video surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Tengyue; Tang, Xiaoqi; Song, Bao; Wang, Jin; Chen, Jihong

2012-01-01

Zoom tracking is an important function in video surveillance, particularly in traffic management and security monitoring. It involves keeping an object of interest in focus during the zoom operation. Zoom tracking is typically achieved by moving the zoom and focus motors in lenses following the so-called "trace curve", which shows the in-focus motor positions versus the zoom motor positions for a specific object distance. The main task of a zoom tracking approach is to accurately estimate the trace curve for the specified object. Because a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller has historically been considered to be the best controller in the absence of knowledge of the underlying process and its high-quality performance in motor control, in this paper, we propose a novel feedback zoom tracking (FZT) approach based on the geometric trace curve estimation and PID feedback controller. The performance of this approach is compared with existing zoom tracking methods in digital video surveillance. The real-time implementation results obtained on an actual digital video platform indicate that the developed FZT approach not only solves the traditional one-to-many mapping problem without pre-training but also improves the robustness for tracking moving or switching objects which is the key challenge in video surveillance.

Information structure and reference tracking in complex sentences

CERN Document Server

Gijn, Rik van; Matic, Dejan

2014-01-01

This paper discusses argument marking and reference tracking in Mekens complex clauses and their correlation to information structure. The distribution of pronominal arguments in Mekens simple clauses follows an absolutive pattern with main verbs. Complex clauses maintain the morphological absolutive argument marking, but show a nominative pattern with respect to argument reference tracking, since transitive and intransitive subjects function as syntactic pivots. The language extends the use of argument-marking verb morphology to control the reference of discourse participants across clauses.

Symmetric Kullback-Leibler Metric Based Tracking Behaviors for Bioinspired Robotic Eyes.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hengli; Luo, Jun; Wu, Peng; Xie, Shaorong; Li, Hengyu

2015-01-01

A symmetric Kullback-Leibler metric based tracking system, capable of tracking moving targets, is presented for a bionic spherical parallel mechanism to minimize a tracking error function to simulate smooth pursuit of human eyes. More specifically, we propose a real-time moving target tracking algorithm which utilizes spatial histograms taking into account symmetric Kullback-Leibler metric. In the proposed algorithm, the key spatial histograms are extracted and taken into particle filtering framework. Once the target is identified, an image-based control scheme is implemented to drive bionic spherical parallel mechanism such that the identified target is to be tracked at the center of the captured images. Meanwhile, the robot motion information is fed forward to develop an adaptive smooth tracking controller inspired by the Vestibuloocular Reflex mechanism. The proposed tracking system is designed to make the robot track dynamic objects when the robot travels through transmittable terrains, especially bumpy environment. To perform bumpy-resist capability under the condition of violent attitude variation when the robot works in the bumpy environment mentioned, experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our bioinspired tracking system using bionic spherical parallel mechanism inspired by head-eye coordination.

Symmetric Kullback-Leibler Metric Based Tracking Behaviors for Bioinspired Robotic Eyes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hengli Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A symmetric Kullback-Leibler metric based tracking system, capable of tracking moving targets, is presented for a bionic spherical parallel mechanism to minimize a tracking error function to simulate smooth pursuit of human eyes. More specifically, we propose a real-time moving target tracking algorithm which utilizes spatial histograms taking into account symmetric Kullback-Leibler metric. In the proposed algorithm, the key spatial histograms are extracted and taken into particle filtering framework. Once the target is identified, an image-based control scheme is implemented to drive bionic spherical parallel mechanism such that the identified target is to be tracked at the center of the captured images. Meanwhile, the robot motion information is fed forward to develop an adaptive smooth tracking controller inspired by the Vestibuloocular Reflex mechanism. The proposed tracking system is designed to make the robot track dynamic objects when the robot travels through transmittable terrains, especially bumpy environment. To perform bumpy-resist capability under the condition of violent attitude variation when the robot works in the bumpy environment mentioned, experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our bioinspired tracking system using bionic spherical parallel mechanism inspired by head-eye coordination.

A simplified Track Assembler I/O for the Muon Trigger Track Finder

CERN Document Server

Dallavalle, Gaetano-Marco; Genchev, Vladimir; Grandi, Claudio; Neumeister, Norbert; Porth, Paul; Rohringer, Herbert

1998-01-01

One of the architectural concerns in the present design of the Muon Trigger Track Finder ( MTTF) is the large number of inputs to the Track Assembler ( TA). In the TA block, input track segment pairs from many Extrapolation Units ( EU) are associated into tracks. The relative contribution of these inputs to the assembled tracks is studied with simulated track patterns for low and high pt muons over the entire eta, phi acceptance of the CMS barrel. A pruning of the EUs is proposed which does not alter the performance of the Track Finder and minimizes the interconnections between azimuthal wedges.

MODERN POSSIBILITIES OF SPECKLE TRACKING ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. S. Nikiforov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Speckle-tracking echocardiography is promising modern technique for evaluation of structural and functional changes in the myocardium. It evaluates the indicator of global longitudinal myocardial deformation, which is more sensitive than ejection fraction to early changes of left ventricular contractility. The diagnostic capabilities of speckle tracking echocardiography are reflected in clinical recommendations and consensus statements of European Society of Cardiology (ESC, European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI and American Society of Echocardiography (ASE. The aim of this paper is describe basic principles of speckle tracking echocardiography and clinical applications of this new technology. Attention is paid to the use of speckle tracking echocardiography in such heart pathologies as heart failure, coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction, left ventricular hypertrophy in arterial hypertension, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and amyloidosis of the heart, valvular heart disease, constrictive pericarditis and cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity.

Algorithms for tracking of charged particles in circular accelerators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iselin, F.Ch.

1986-01-01

An important problem in accelerator design is the determination of the largest stable betatron amplitude. This stability limit is also known as the dynamic aperture. The equations describing the particle motion are non-linear, and the Linear Lattice Functions cannot be used to compute the stability limits. The stability limits are therefore usually searched for by particle tracking. One selects a set of particles with different betatron amplitudes and tracks them for many turns around the machine. The particles which survive a sufficient number of turns are termed stable. This paper concentrates on conservative systems. For this case the particle motion can be described by a Hamiltonian, i.e. tracking particles means application of canonical transformations. Canonical transformations are equivalent to symplectic mappings, which implies that there exist invariants. These invariants should not be destroyed in tracking

IVF: exploiting intensity variation function for high-performance pedestrian tracking in forward-looking infrared imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Lamberti, Fabrizio; Sanna, Andrea; Paravati, Gianluca; Belluccini, Luca

2014-02-01

Tracking pedestrian targets in forward-looking infrared video sequences is a crucial component of a growing number of applications. At the same time, it is particularly challenging, since image resolution and signal-to-noise ratio are generally very low, while the nonrigidity of the human body produces highly variable target shapes. Moreover, motion can be quite chaotic with frequent target-to-target and target-to-scene occlusions. Hence, the trend is to design ever more sophisticated techniques, able to ensure rather accurate tracking results at the cost of a generally higher complexity. However, many of such techniques might not be suitable for real-time tracking in limited-resource environments. This work presents a technique that extends an extremely computationally efficient tracking method based on target intensity variation and template matching originally designed for targets with a marked and stable hot spot by adapting it to deal with much more complex thermal signatures and by removing the native dependency on configuration choices. Experimental tests demonstrated that, by working on multiple hot spots, the designed technique is able to achieve the robustness of other common approaches by limiting drifts and preserving the low-computational footprint of the reference method.

Cluster-based localization and tracking in ubiquitous computing systems

CERN Document Server

Martínez-de Dios, José Ramiro; Torres-González, Arturo; Ollero, Anibal

2017-01-01

Localization and tracking are key functionalities in ubiquitous computing systems and techniques. In recent years a very high variety of approaches, sensors and techniques for indoor and GPS-denied environments have been developed. This book briefly summarizes the current state of the art in localization and tracking in ubiquitous computing systems focusing on cluster-based schemes. Additionally, existing techniques for measurement integration, node inclusion/exclusion and cluster head selection are also described in this book.

Solar tracking system

Science.gov (United States)

Okandan, Murat; Nielson, Gregory N.

2016-07-12

Solar tracking systems, as well as methods of using such solar tracking systems, are disclosed. More particularly, embodiments of the solar tracking systems include lateral supports horizontally positioned between uprights to support photovoltaic modules. The lateral supports may be raised and lowered along the uprights or translated to cause the photovoltaic modules to track the moving sun.

Efficient Sample Tracking With OpenLabFramework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

List, Markus; Schmidt, Steffen; Trojnar, Jakub

2014-01-01

of samples created and need to be replaced with state-of-the-art laboratory information management systems. Such systems have been developed in large numbers, but they are often limited to specific research domains and types of data. One domain so far neglected is the management of libraries of vector clones...... and genetically engineered cell lines. OpenLabFramework is a newly developed web-application for sample tracking, particularly laid out to fill this gap, but with an open architecture allowing it to be extended for other biological materials and functional data. Its sample tracking mechanism is fully customizable...

LENMODEL: A forward model for calculating length distributions and fission-track ages in apatite

Science.gov (United States)

Crowley, Kevin D.

1993-05-01

The program LENMODEL is a forward model for annealing of fission tracks in apatite. It provides estimates of the track-length distribution, fission-track age, and areal track density for any user-supplied thermal history. The program approximates the thermal history, in which temperature is represented as a continuous function of time, by a series of isothermal steps of various durations. Equations describing the production of tracks as a function of time and annealing of tracks as a function of time and temperature are solved for each step. The step calculations are summed to obtain estimates for the entire thermal history. Computational efficiency is maximized by performing the step calculations backwards in model time. The program incorporates an intuitive and easy-to-use graphical interface. Thermal history is input to the program using a mouse. Model options are specified by selecting context-sensitive commands from a bar menu. The program allows for considerable selection of equations and parameters used in the calculations. The program was written for PC-compatible computers running DOS TM 3.0 and above (and Windows TM 3.0 or above) with VGA or SVGA graphics and a Microsoft TM-compatible mouse. Single copies of a runtime version of the program are available from the author by written request as explained in the last section of this paper.

Coating and functionalization of high density ion track structures by atomic layer deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mättö, Laura [Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YFL), FI-40014 (Finland); Szilágyi, Imre M., E-mail: imre.szilagyi@mail.bme.hu [Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szent Gellért tér 4, Budapest H-1111 (Hungary); MTA-BME Technical Analytical Research Group, Szent Gellért tér 4, Budapest H-1111 (Hungary); Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 55, Helsinki FI-00014 (Finland); Laitinen, Mikko [Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YFL), FI-40014 (Finland); Ritala, Mikko; Leskelä, Markku [Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 55, Helsinki FI-00014 (Finland); Sajavaara, Timo [Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YFL), FI-40014 (Finland)

2016-10-01

In this study flexible TiO{sub 2} coated porous Kapton membranes are presented having electron multiplication properties. 800 nm crossing pores were fabricated into 50 μm thick Kapton membranes using ion track technology and chemical etching. Consecutively, 50 nm TiO{sub 2} films were deposited into the pores of the Kapton membranes by atomic layer deposition using Ti({sup i}OPr){sub 4} and water as precursors at 250 °C. The TiO{sub 2} films and coated membranes were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectometry (XRR). Au metal electrode fabrication onto both sides of the coated foils was achieved by electron beam evaporation. The electron multipliers were obtained by joining two coated membranes separated by a conductive spacer. The results show that electron multiplication can be achieved using ALD-coated flexible ion track polymer foils. - Highlights: • Porous Kapton membranes were obtained by ion track technology and chemical etching. • TiO{sub 2} films were deposited by ALD into the pores of the Kapton membranes. • TiO{sub 2} nanotube array was prepared by removing the polymer core. • MCP structures were obtained from the coated membranes. • Electron multiplication was achieved using the ALD-coated Kapton foils.

A computer program TRACK_P for studying proton tracks in PADC detectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Nikezic

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A computer program for studying proton tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors was developed and described in this paper. The program was written in Fortran 90, with an additional tool for visualizing the track appearance as seen under the optical microscope in the transmission mode, which was written in the Python programming language. Measurable track parameters were determined and displayed in the application window and written in a data file. Three-dimensional representation of tracks was enabled. Examples of calculated tracks were also given in the present paper.

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-04-13

In this thesis, we propose a new aerial video dataset and benchmark for low altitude UAV target tracking, as well as, a photo-realistic UAV simulator that can be coupled with tracking methods. Our benchmark provides the rst evaluation of many state of-the-art and popular trackers on 123 new and fully annotated HD video sequences captured from a low-altitude aerial perspective. Among the compared trackers, we determine which ones are the most suitable for UAV tracking both in terms of tracking accuracy and run-time. We also present a simulator that can be used to evaluate tracking algorithms in real-time scenarios before they are deployed on a UAV "in the field", as well as, generate synthetic but photo-realistic tracking datasets with free ground truth annotations to easily extend existing real-world datasets. Both the benchmark and simulator will be made publicly available to the vision community to further research in the area of object tracking from UAVs. Additionally, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by \\'handing over the camera\\' from one UAV to another. We integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Sliding mode control of photoelectric tracking platform based on the inverse system method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Zong Chen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the photoelectric tracking platform tracking performance, an integral sliding mode control strategy based on inverse system decoupling method is proposed. The electromechanical dynamic model is established based on multi-body system theory and Newton-Euler method. The coupled multi-input multi-output (MIMO nonlinear system is transformed into two pseudo-linear single-input single-output (SISO subsystems based on the inverse system method. An integral sliding mode control scheme is designed for the decoupled pseudo-linear system. In order to eliminate system chattering phenomenon caused by traditional sign function in sliding-mode controller, the sign function is replaced by the Sigmoid function. Simulation results show that the proposed decoupling method and the control strategy can restrain the influences of internal coupling and disturbance effectively, and has better robustness and higher tracking accuracy.

Nursing care in fast-track surgery strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorota Kozieł

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In recent years, many study results have been published confirming an improvement in the outcomes of treatment related with management of patients within the fast-track surgery programme. Early postoperative rehabilitation is possible provided there is engagement of a multi-disciplinary team, including well-educated nurses. Today, a diversion can be observed from traditional nursing on behalf of a coordinated, holistic approach, while more attention is paid to the, thus far marginalised, psychosocial aspects of care. The objective of the study is to discuss the basic assumptions of fast track surgery with respect to nursing care, with particular emphasis placed on the educational function. Modern nursing within the short-track surgery programme should focus on the provision of patients with care consisting of preliminary information concerning the perioperative period, social and psychological support, counselling in the area of home convalescence, and procedures in the case of complications.

The scheduling of tracking times for interplanetary spacecraft on the Deep Space Network

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, W. A.

1978-01-01

The Deep Space Network (DSN) is a network of tracking stations, located throughout the globe, used to track spacecraft for NASA's interplanetary missions. This paper describes a computer program, DSNTRAK, which provides an optimum daily tracking schedule for the DSN given the view periods at each station for a mission set of n spacecraft, where n is between 2 and 6. The objective function is specified in terms of relative total daily tracking time requirements between the n spacecraft. Linear programming is used to maximize the total daily tracking time and determine an optimal daily tracking schedule consistent with DSN station capabilities. DSNTRAK is used as part of a procedure to provide DSN load forecasting information for proposed future NASA mission sets.

Robust Model Predictive Control Schemes for Tracking Setpoints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vu Trieu Minh

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper briefly reviews the development of nontracking robust model predictive control (RMPC schemes for uncertain systems using linear matrix inequalities (LMIs subject to input saturated and softened state constraints. Then we develop two new tracking setpoint RMPC schemes with common Lyapunov function and with zero terminal equality subject to input saturated and softened state constraints. The novel tracking setpoint RMPC schemes are able to stabilize uncertain systems once the output setpoints lead to the violation of the state constraints. The state violation can be regulated by changing the value of the weighting factor. A brief comparative simulation study of the two tracking setpoint RMPC schemes is done via simple examples to demonstrate the ability of the softened state constraint schemes. Finally, some features of future research from this study are discussed.

PROCESS FEATURES OF FLUCTUATIONS PROPAGATION AT STRESS-STRAIN WORK OF THE RAILWAY TRACK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. O. Bondarenko

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Scientific work aims at the determination the basic laws of fluctuations propagation process from exitation of rolling stock in the design system of permanent way and substructures of the railway lines for studing the deformation processes as the basis for a regulatory framework of the track operation in the conditions of ensuring the reliability of railways. Methodology. To achieve the aim the principles of elasticity theories and wave propagation process in describing the interaction track and rolling stock were applied. Findings. The kinds of fluctuations and system which should be used when considering the fluctuations in the deformation process of rail track were established. The general view of the displacement function was determined. Originality. The theoretical concepts and principles to consider fluctuations of a structures system of permanent way and substructures of the railway track, energised by rolling stock were grounded. This will allow studing the process of deformation work of the mentioned system, which changes its state. That in turn will allow us to determine the parameters of the trains functional reliability, as part of the security passes of rolling stock on the track section with regard to its technical condition. Practical value. Usually for safe crossing of rolling stock parameters of fluctuation process in the system «vehicle-track» are determined. Existing models or carefully consider fluctuations of rolling stock in generalized characteristics of the structures of permanent way and substructures of the railway tracks or view of quasi-dynamic fluctuations rails with general characteristics of under rail base. This review process of oscillations, energised by rolling stock and delivered to all the elements of the permanent way and substructures of the railway track do not allow determining both the reliability parameters of elements in the system of track construction and parameters of functional

Students paperwork tracking system (SPATRASE)

Science.gov (United States)

Ishak, I. Y.; Othman, M. B.; Talib, Rahmat; Ilyas, M. A.

2017-09-01

This paper focused on a system for tracking the status of the paperwork using the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and mobile apps. Student paperwork tracking system or known as SPATRASE was developed to ease the user to track the location status of the paperwork. The current problem faced by the user is the process of approval paperwork takes around a month or more. The process took around a month to get full approval from the department because of many procedures that need to be done. Nevertheless, the user cannot know the location status of the paperwork immediately because of the inefficient manual system. The submitter needs to call the student affairs department to get the information about the location status of the paperwork. Thus, this project was purposed as an alternative to solve the waiting time of the paperwork location status. The prototype of this system involved the hardware and software. The project consists of NFC tags, RFID Reader, and mobile apps. At each checkpoint, the RFID Reader was placed on the secretary desk. While the system involved the development of database using Google Docs that linked to the web server. After that, the submitter received the URL link and be directed to the web server and mobile apps. This system is capable of checking their location status tracking using mobile apps and Google Docs. With this system, it makes the tracking process become efficient and reliable to know the paperwork at the exact location. Thus, it is preventing the submitter to call the department all the time. Generally, this project is fully functional and we hope it can help Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) to overcome the problem of paperwork missing and location of the paperwork.

Tracking of plus-ends reveals microtubule functional diversity in different cell types

Science.gov (United States)

Shaebani, M. Reza; Pasula, Aravind; Ott, Albrecht; Santen, Ludger

2016-07-01

Many cellular processes are tightly connected to the dynamics of microtubules (MTs). While in neuronal axons MTs mainly regulate intracellular trafficking, they participate in cytoskeleton reorganization in many other eukaryotic cells, enabling the cell to efficiently adapt to changes in the environment. We show that the functional differences of MTs in different cell types and regions is reflected in the dynamic properties of MT tips. Using plus-end tracking proteins EB1 to monitor growing MT plus-ends, we show that MT dynamics and life cycle in axons of human neurons significantly differ from that of fibroblast cells. The density of plus-ends, as well as the rescue and catastrophe frequencies increase while the growth rate decreases toward the fibroblast cell margin. This results in a rather stable filamentous network structure and maintains the connection between nucleus and membrane. In contrast, plus-ends are uniformly distributed along the axons and exhibit diverse polymerization run times and spatially homogeneous rescue and catastrophe frequencies, leading to MT segments of various lengths. The probability distributions of the excursion length of polymerization and the MT length both follow nearly exponential tails, in agreement with the analytical predictions of a two-state model of MT dynamics.

Kalman Filter Track Fits and Track Breakpoint Analysis

CERN Document Server

Astier, Pierre; Cousins, R D; Letessier-Selvon, A A; Popov, B A; Vinogradova, T G; Astier, Pierre; Cardini, Alessandro; Cousins, Robert D.; Letessier-Selvon, Antoine; Popov, Boris A.; Vinogradova, Tatiana

2000-01-01

We give an overview of track fitting using the Kalman filter method in the NOMAD detector at CERN, and emphasize how the wealth of by-product information can be used to analyze track breakpoints (discontinuities in track parameters caused by scattering, decay, etc.). After reviewing how this information has been previously exploited by others, we describe extensions which add power to breakpoint detection and characterization. We show how complete fits to the entire track, with breakpoint parameters added, can be easily obtained from the information from unbroken fits. Tests inspired by the Fisher F-test can then be used to judge breakpoints. Signed quantities (such as change in momentum at the breakpoint) can supplement unsigned quantities such as the various chisquares. We illustrate the method with electrons from real data, and with Monte Carlo simulations of pion decays.

Framework conditions for tracking electricity in Europe. E-TRACK WP2 report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lise, W.; Boots, M.G.; De Joode, J.; Ten Donkelaar, M.; Timpe, C.; Vrolijk, C.

2006-03-01

The analysis of this report shows that context matters for tracking generation attributes. On the one hand, there are factors that enable the introduction of tracking, like previous experiences with green certificates. Some Member States have already gained experience with tracking generation attributes, which is required to disclose the generation mix to the consumer. On the other hand, there are factors that are making the introduction of tracking generation attributes in Europe more difficult, like the widely varying initiatives among Member States with respect to legislation on GOs and disclosure. Also the market conditions can be of influence. The varying degree of market opening matters, because the usefulness of tracking is lower in a market where a customer cannot switch among suppliers. The amount of electricity traded makes it difficult to link generation to consumption under contract-based tracking, while this is of no concern under certificate-based tracking. One of the ways towards overcoming the aforementioned barriers is harmonisation of schemes for tracking generation attributes

Track propagation methods for the correlation of charged tracks with clusters in the calorimeter of the bar PANDA experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Nasawasd, T.; Simantathammakul, T.; Herold, C.; Stockmanns, T.; Ritman, J.; Kobdaj, C.

2018-02-01

To classify clusters of hits in the electromagnetic calorimeter (EMC) of bar PANDA (antiProton ANnihilation at DArmstadt), one has to match these EMC clusters with tracks of charged particles reconstructed from hits in the tracking system. Therefore the tracks are propagated to the surface of the EMC and associated with EMC clusters which are nearby and below a cut parameter. In this work, we propose a helix propagator to extrapolate the track from the Straw Tube Tracker (STT) to the inner surface of the EMC instead of the GEANE propagator which is already embedded within the PandaRoot computational framework. The results for both propagation methods show a similar quality, with a 30% gain in CPU time when using the helix propagator. We use Monte-Carlo truth information to compare the particle ID of the EMC clusters with the ID of the extrapolated points, thus deciding upon the correctness of the matches. By varying the cut parameter as a function of transverse momentum and particle type, our simulations show that the purity can be increased by 3-5% compared to the default value which is a constant cut in the bar PANDA simulation framework PandaRoot.

Quadrotor trajectory tracking using PID cascade control

Science.gov (United States)

Idres, M.; Mustapha, O.; Okasha, M.

2017-12-01

Quadrotors have been applied to collect information for traffic, weather monitoring, surveillance and aerial photography. In order to accomplish their mission, quadrotors have to follow specific trajectories. This paper presents proportional-integral-derivative (PID) cascade control of a quadrotor for path tracking problem when velocity and acceleration are small. It is based on near hover controller for small attitude angles. The integral of time-weighted absolute error (ITAE) criterion is used to determine the PID gains as a function of quadrotor modeling parameters. The controller is evaluated in three-dimensional environment in Simulink. Overall, the tracking performance is found to be excellent for small velocity condition.

An ion beam tracking system based on a parallel plate avalanche counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carter, I. P.; Ramachandran, K.; Dasgupta, M.; Hinde, D. J.; Rafiei, R.; Luong, D. H.; Williams, E.; Cook, K. J.; McNeil, S.; Rafferty, D. C.; Harding, A. B.; Muirhead, A. G.; Tunningley, T.

2013-01-01

A pair of twin position-sensitive parallel plate avalanche counters have been developed at the Australian National University as a tracking system to aid in the further rejection of unwanted beam particles from a 6.5 T super conducting solenoid separator named SOLEROO. Their function is to track and identify each beam particle passing through the detectors on an event-by-event basis. In-beam studies have been completed and the detectors are in successful operation, demonstrating the tracking capability. A high efficiency 512-pixel wide-angle silicon detector array will then be integrated with the tracking system for nuclear reactions studies of radioactive ions. (authors)

Elevated intracranial pressure and reversible eye-tracking changes detected while viewing a film clip.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolecki, Radek; Dammavalam, Vikalpa; Bin Zahid, Abdullah; Hubbard, Molly; Choudhry, Osamah; Reyes, Marleen; Han, ByoungJun; Wang, Tom; Papas, Paraskevi Vivian; Adem, Aylin; North, Emily; Gilbertson, David T; Kondziolka, Douglas; Huang, Jason H; Huang, Paul P; Samadani, Uzma

2018-03-01

OBJECTIVE The precise threshold differentiating normal and elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) is variable among individuals. In the context of several pathophysiological conditions, elevated ICP leads to abnormalities in global cerebral functioning and impacts the function of cranial nerves (CNs), either or both of which may contribute to ocular dysmotility. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of elevated ICP on eye-tracking performed while patients were watching a short film clip. METHODS Awake patients requiring placement of an ICP monitor for clinical purposes underwent eye tracking while watching a 220-second continuously playing video moving around the perimeter of a viewing monitor. Pupil position was recorded at 500 Hz and metrics associated with each eye individually and both eyes together were calculated. Linear regression with generalized estimating equations was performed to test the association of eye-tracking metrics with changes in ICP. RESULTS Eye tracking was performed at ICP levels ranging from -3 to 30 mm Hg in 23 patients (12 women, 11 men, mean age 46.8 years) on 55 separate occasions. Eye-tracking measures correlating with CN function linearly decreased with increasing ICP (p short film clip. These results suggest that eye tracking may be used as a noninvasive, automatable means to quantitate the physiological impact of elevated ICP, which has clinical application for assessment of shunt malfunction, pseudotumor cerebri, concussion, and prevention of second-impact syndrome.

Tracks: Nurses and the Tracking Network

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2012-06-06

This podcast highlights the utility of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for nurses in a variety of work settings. It features commentary from the American Nurses Association and includes stories from a public health nurse in Massachusetts.  Created: 6/6/2012 by National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)/Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects (DEHHE)/Environmental Health Tracking Branch (EHTB).   Date Released: 6/6/2012.

Decontaminate feature for tracking: adaptive tracking via evolutionary feature subset

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiaoyuan; Wang, Yuru; Yin, Minghao; Ren, Jinchang; Li, Ruizhi

2017-11-01

Although various visual tracking algorithms have been proposed in the last 2-3 decades, it remains a challenging problem for effective tracking with fast motion, deformation, occlusion, etc. Under complex tracking conditions, most tracking models are not discriminative and adaptive enough. When the combined feature vectors are inputted to the visual models, this may lead to redundancy causing low efficiency and ambiguity causing poor performance. An effective tracking algorithm is proposed to decontaminate features for each video sequence adaptively, where the visual modeling is treated as an optimization problem from the perspective of evolution. Every feature vector is compared to a biological individual and then decontaminated via classical evolutionary algorithms. With the optimized subsets of features, the "curse of dimensionality" has been avoided while the accuracy of the visual model has been improved. The proposed algorithm has been tested on several publicly available datasets with various tracking challenges and benchmarked with a number of state-of-the-art approaches. The comprehensive experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed methodology.

Elastic tracking versus neural network tracking for very high multiplicity problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harlander, M.; Gyulassy, M.

1991-04-01

A new Elastic Tracking (ET) algorithm is proposed for finding tracks in very high multiplicity and noisy environments. It is based on a dynamical reinterpretation and generalization of the Radon transform and is related to elastic net algorithms for geometrical optimization. ET performs an adaptive nonlinear fit to noisy data with a variable number of tracks. Its numerics is more efficient than that of the traditional Radon or Hough transform method because it avoids binning of phase space and the costly search for valid minima. Spurious local minima are avoided in ET by introducing a time-dependent effective potential. The method is shown to be very robust to noise and measurement error and extends tracking capabilities to much higher track densities than possible via local road finding or even the novel Denby-Peterson neural network tracking algorithms. 12 refs., 2 figs

Enhancement of tracking performance in electro-optical system based on servo control algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, WooJin; Kim, SungSu; Jung, DaeYoon; Seo, HyoungKyu

2017-10-01

Modern electro-optical surveillance and reconnaissance systems require tracking capability to get exact images of target or to accurately direct the line of sight to target which is moving or still. This leads to the tracking system composed of image based tracking algorithm and servo control algorithm. In this study, we focus on the servo control function to minimize the overshoot in the tracking motion and do not miss the target. The scheme is to limit acceleration and velocity parameters in the tracking controller, depending on the target state information in the image. We implement the proposed techniques by creating a system model of DIRCM and simulate the same environment, validate the performance on the actual equipment.

Quadrotor Trajectory Tracking Based on Quasi-LPV System and Internal Model Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZeFang He

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Internal model control (IMC design method based on quasi-LPV (Linear Parameter Varying system is proposed. In this method, the nonlinear model is firstly transformed to the linear model based on quasi-LPV method; then, the quadrotor nonlinear motion function is transformed to transfer function matrix based on the transformation model from the state space to the transfer function; further, IMC is designed to control the controlled object represented by transfer function matrix and realize quadrotor trajectory tracking. The performance of the controller proposed in this paper is tested by tracking for three reference trajectories with drastic changes. The simulation results indicate that the control method proposed in this paper has stronger robustness to parameters uncertainty and disturbance rejection performance.

Computer image analysis of etched tracks from ionizing radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Blanford, George E.

1994-01-01

I proposed to continue a cooperative research project with Dr. David S. McKay concerning image analysis of tracks. Last summer we showed that we could measure track densities using the Oxford Instruments eXL computer and software that is attached to an ISI scanning electron microscope (SEM) located in building 31 at JSC. To reduce the dependence on JSC equipment, we proposed to transfer the SEM images to UHCL for analysis. Last summer we developed techniques to use digitized scanning electron micrographs and computer image analysis programs to measure track densities in lunar soil grains. Tracks were formed by highly ionizing solar energetic particles and cosmic rays during near surface exposure on the Moon. The track densities are related to the exposure conditions (depth and time). Distributions of the number of grains as a function of their track densities can reveal the modality of soil maturation. As part of a consortium effort to better understand the maturation of lunar soil and its relation to its infrared reflectance properties, we worked on lunar samples 67701,205 and 61221,134. These samples were etched for a shorter time (6 hours) than last summer's sample and this difference has presented problems for establishing the correct analysis conditions. We used computer counting and measurement of area to obtain preliminary track densities and a track density distribution that we could interpret for sample 67701,205. This sample is a submature soil consisting of approximately 85 percent mature soil mixed with approximately 15 percent immature, but not pristine, soil.

Charged particle spectroscopy with solid state nuclear track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunyadi, I.; Somogyi, G.

1984-01-01

Some of earlier and recent methods for differentiation of charged particles according to their energy, based on the use of polymeric etch-track detectors (CN, CA, PC and CR-39) are outlined. The principle of three track methods suitable for nuclear spectroscopy is discussed. These are based on the analysis of the diameter, surface size and shape of etch-track 'cones' produced by charged particles in polymers, after using shorter or longer chemical etching processes. Examples are presented from the results of the last decade in ATOMKI, Debrecen, Hungary, concerning the application of nuclear track spectroscopy to different low-energy nuclear reaction studies, angular distribution and excitation function measurements. These involve the study of (d,α) reaction on sup(14)N, sup(19)F and sup(27)Al nuclei, (sup(3)He,α) reactions on sup(15)N, (p,α) reaction on sup(27)Al and the process sup(12)C(sup(12)C, sup(8)Be)sup(16)O. (author)

Neural network tracking and extension of positive tracking periods

Science.gov (United States)

Hanan, Jay C.; Chao, Tien-Hsin; Moreels, Pierre

2004-04-01

Feature detectors have been considered for the role of supplying additional information to a neural network tracker. The feature detector focuses on areas of the image with significant information. Basically, if a picture says a thousand words, the feature detectors are looking for the key phrases (keypoints). These keypoints are rotationally invariant and may be matched across frames. Application of these advanced feature detectors to the neural network tracking system at JPL has promising potential. As part of an ongoing program, an advanced feature detector was tested for augmentation of a neural network based tracker. The advance feature detector extended tracking periods in test sequences including aircraft tracking, rover tracking, and simulated Martian landing. Future directions of research are also discussed.

Inspection Robot Based Mobile Sensing and Power Line Tracking for Smart Grid.

Science.gov (United States)

Byambasuren, Bat-Erdene; Kim, Donghan; Oyun-Erdene, Mandakh; Bold, Chinguun; Yura, Jargalbaatar

2016-02-19

Smart sensing and power line tracking is very important in a smart grid system. Illegal electricity usage can be detected by remote current measurement on overhead power lines using an inspection robot. There is a need for accurate detection methods of illegal electricity usage. Stable and correct power line tracking is a very prominent issue. In order to correctly track and make accurate measurements, the swing path of a power line should be previously fitted and predicted by a mathematical function using an inspection robot. After this, the remote inspection robot can follow the power line and measure the current. This paper presents a new power line tracking method using parabolic and circle fitting algorithms for illegal electricity detection. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed tracking method by simulation and experimental results.

Implementation Of Code And Carrier Tracking Loops For Software GPS Receivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Win Kay Khaing

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract GPS is playing in very important role in our modern mobile societies. Software approach is very flexible rather than the traditional hardware receivers. The soft-GPS receiver includes two portions hardware and software. In hardware portion an antenna filter down-converter from RF Radio Frequency to IF Intermediate Frequency and an ADC Analog to Digital Converter are included. In software portion signal processing such as acquisition tracking and navigation that runs on general purpose processor is included. The GPS signal is taken from N-FUELS Full Educational Library of Signals for Navigation signal simulator. The heart of soft-GPS receiver is the synchronization processes such as acquisition and tracking. In tracking there are two main loops for code and carrier tracking. The objective of this paper is to analyse and find the optimum discriminator function for the code tracking loop in soft-GPS receivers. The delay lock loop DLL is a well-known technique to track the codes for GNSS spread spectrum systems. This paper also presents non-coherent square law DLLs and the impacts of some parameters on DLL discriminators such as number of samples per chip early-late spacing different C No values where C denotes the signal power and No is the noise spectral density and the impact of with or without front-end device. The results of discriminator outputs are illustrated by using S-curves. Testing results with the real GPS signal are also described. This optimized discriminator functions can be implemented in any soft-GPS receivers.

Parameterization-based tracking for the P2 experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Sorokin, Iurii

2017-08-01

The P2 experiment in Mainz aims to determine the weak mixing angle θW at low momentum transfer by measuring the parity-violating asymmetry of elastic electronproton scattering. In order to achieve the intended precision of Δ(sin2 θW)/sin2θW = 0:13% within the planned 10 000 hours of running the experiment has to operate at the rate of 1011 detected electrons per second. Although it is not required to measure the kinematic parameters of each individual electron, every attempt is made to achieve the highest possible throughput in the track reconstruction chain. In the present work a parameterization-based track reconstruction method is described. It is a variation of track following, where the results of the computation-heavy steps, namely the propagation of a track to the further detector plane, and the fitting, are pre-calculated, and expressed in terms of parametric analytic functions. This makes the algorithm extremely fast, and well-suited for an implementation on an FPGA. The method also takes implicitly into account the actual phase space distribution of the tracks already at the stage of candidate construction. Compared to a simple algorithm, that does not use such information, this allows reducing the combinatorial background by many orders of magnitude, down to O(1) background candidate per one signal track. The method is developed specifically for the P2 experiment in Mainz, and the presented implementation is tightly coupled to the experimental conditions.

Development and Application of the Stereo Vision Tracking System with Virtual Reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chia-Sui Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A virtual reality (VR driver tracking verification system is created, of which the application to stereo image tracking and positioning accuracy is researched in depth. In the research, the feature that the stereo vision system has image depth is utilized to improve the error rate of image tracking and image measurement. In a VR scenario, the function collecting behavioral data of driver was tested. By means of VR, racing operation is simulated and environmental (special weathers such as raining and snowing and artificial (such as sudden crossing road by pedestrians, appearing of vehicles from dead angles, roadblock variables are added as the base for system implementation. In addition, the implementation is performed with human factors engineered according to sudden conditions that may happen easily in driving. From experimental results, it proves that the stereo vision system created by the research has an image depth recognition error rate within 0.011%. The image tracking error rate may be smaller than 2.5%. In the research, the image recognition function of stereo vision is utilized to accomplish the data collection of driver tracking detection. In addition, the environmental conditions of different simulated real scenarios may also be created through VR.

Study of the behavior of automatic track detectors for radon determination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moreno C, A.

1997-01-01

Both the alpha decay and the alpha and beta emitting radon daughters, may affect the living cells. In this thesis, experiments have been performed to study the response of environmental radon using different alpha particle detectors. A study was performed both in the laboratory and in the field of two kinds of detectors: a) Passive solid state nuclear track detectors, LR 115 type II, capable to integrate the alpha particles in a given period of time and, b) an automatic active detector, Clipperton, that continuously accumulate the alpha counting from radon decay. LR-115 track detectors were exposed in the laboratory to alpha particles from a radioactive source and a controlled radon atmosphere. The detectors were also exposed to electrons from an electron accelerator. The number of alpha tracks in the detectors were evaluated with two kinds of spark counters. The response of the track detectors as a function of the number of alpha tracks showed a reproducibility of 92%, and the effect of electron doses showed that the bulk etching velocity varied as a function of the electron dose. Additionally some changes were introduced in an SSNTD exchanger, exposed to the radon chamber in order to reduce the background in the non exposed positions. A conversion factor of 0.016 tracks/cm 2 . 10h per Bq/m 3 was obtained. The response of the two spark counters was similar. Field soil radon determinations were performed with track detectors during 11 months and with the active detector during 5 months with exposures each month and each hour respectively. When calculated for the same time periods exposure the response of both systems was similar. However differences were quite striking in the patterns of short and long term exposure periods since short term fluctuations are explicitly shown with the active detector while integrated within the passive one. (Author)

Proton an alpha detections by track recording technique in CR-39

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, W.A. de; Franco, M.A.R.; Herdade, S.B.; Khouri, M.C.F.; Goncalez, O.L.

1986-07-01

The plastic CR-39 is utilized as proton track detector in the study of the reaction 27 A (e, p) and 59 Co (e, p), near threshold. Preliminary results are presented for the energy calibration (mean track diameter as a function of proton energy) of CR-39 with mono-energetic protons of a Van de Graaff accelerator, in the energy range 1-3 MeV. (author) [pt

Dual-Tasking Alleviated Sleep Deprivation Disruption in Visuomotor Tracking: An fMRI Study

Science.gov (United States)

Gazes, Yunglin; Rakitin, Brian C.; Steffener, Jason; Habeck, Christian; Butterfield, Brady; Basner, Robert C.; Ghez, Claude; Stern, Yaakov

2012-01-01

Effects of dual-responding on tracking performance after 49-h of sleep deprivation (SD) were evaluated behaviorally and with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Continuous visuomotor tracking was performed simultaneously with an intermittent color-matching visual detection task in which a pair of color-matched stimuli constituted a…

Development of etched nuclear tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.

1980-01-01

The theoretical description of the evolution of etched tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors is considered for different initial conditions, for the cases of constant and varying track etch rates, isotropic and anisotropic bulk etching as well as for thick and thin detectors. It is summarized how one can calculate the main parameters of etch-pit geometry, the track length, the axes of a surface track opening, track profile and track contour. The application of the theory of etch-track evolution is demonstrated with selected practical problems. Attention is paid to certain questions related to the determination of unknown track parameters and calculation of surface track sizes. Finally, the theory is extended to the description of the perforation and etch-hole evolution process in thin detectors, which is of particular interest for track radiography and nuclear filter production. (orig.)

Development of etched nuclear tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.

1979-01-01

The theoretical description of the evolution of etched tracks in solid state nuclear track detectors is considered for different initial conditions, for the cases of constant and varying track etch rates, isotopic and unisotropic bulk etching as well as for thick and thin detectors. It is summarized how the main parameters of etch-pit geometry, the track length, the axes of a surface track opening, the track profile and the track contour can be calculated. The application of the theory of etch-track evolution is demonstrated with selected practical problems. Attention is paid to certain questions related to the determination of unknown track parameters and calculation of surface track sizes. Finally, the theory is extended to the description of the perforation and etch-hole evolution process in thin detectors, which is of particular interest for track radiography and nuclear filter production. (author)

Sampling strong tracking nonlinear unscented Kalman filter and its application in eye tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zu-Tao, Zhang; Jia-Shu, Zhang

2010-01-01

The unscented Kalman filter is a developed well-known method for nonlinear motion estimation and tracking. However, the standard unscented Kalman filter has the inherent drawbacks, such as numerical instability and much more time spent on calculation in practical applications. In this paper, we present a novel sampling strong tracking nonlinear unscented Kalman filter, aiming to overcome the difficulty in nonlinear eye tracking. In the above proposed filter, the simplified unscented transform sampling strategy with n + 2 sigma points leads to the computational efficiency, and suboptimal fading factor of strong tracking filtering is introduced to improve robustness and accuracy of eye tracking. Compared with the related unscented Kalman filter for eye tracking, the proposed filter has potential advantages in robustness, convergence speed, and tracking accuracy. The final experimental results show the validity of our method for eye tracking under realistic conditions. (classical areas of phenomenology)

Naturally etched tracks in apatites and the correction of fission track dating

CERN Document Server

Tien, J L

1999-01-01

Naturally etched tracks have been found in apatites from the rapid cooled, high-level Kunon pluton in the Zhangzhou Igneous Complex, SE China. This is manifested by the fact that the apatite fission track (FT) age derived from conventional counting of spontaneous and induced tracks yields a result of 140.6+-6.5 Ma, which is much older than the ages determined using other methods on different minerals from the same rock. When tracks are observed after etching the polished inner sections of the apatite grains, the naturally etched tracks characterized by having hazy boundaries can be distinguished from the normal tracks with sharp boundaries. The age obtained by omitting these fading-resistant hazy tracks, 76.5+-4.0 Ma, indicates the time of the Kunon pluton cooling down to approx 100 deg. C. The corrected peak age (73.8 Ma) is consistent with the other apatite FT peak ages (79.2 to 70.2 Ma) of the nearly contemporaneous plutons in the same igneous complex.

The ATLAS FTK Auxiliary Card: A Highly Functional VME Rear Transition Module for a Hardware Track Finding Processing Unit

CERN Document Server

Alison, John; The ATLAS collaboration; Bogdan, Mircea; Bryant, Patrick; Cheng, Yangyang; Krizka, Karol; Shochet, Mel; Tompkins, Lauren; Webster, Jordan S

2014-01-01

The ATLAS Fast TracKer is a hardware-based charged particle track finder for the High Level Trigger system of the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC. Using a multi-component system, it finds charged particle trajectories of 1 GeV/c and greater using data from the full ATLAS silicon tracking detectors at a rate of 100 kHz. Pattern recognition and preliminary track fitting are performed by VME Processing Units consisting of an Associative Memory Board containing custom associative memory chips for pattern recognition, and the Auxiliary Card (AUX), a powerful rear transition module which formats the data for pattern recognition and performs linearized fits on track candidates. We report on the design and testing of the AUX, which utilizes six FPGAs to process up to 32 Gbps of hit data, as well as fit the helical trajectory of one track candidate per nanosecond through a highly parallel track fitting architecture. Both the board and firmware design will be discussed, as well as the performance observed in tests at CERN ...

Ergotamine-derived dopamine agonists and left ventricular function in Parkinson patients: systolic and diastolic function studied by conventional echocardiography, tissue Doppler imaging, and two-dimensional speckle tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmussen, Vibeke Guldbrand; Poulsen, Steen Hvitfeldt; Dupont, Erik; Ostergaard, Karen; Safikhany, Gholamhossein; Egeblad, Henrik

2008-11-01

Ergot-derived dopamine agonists (EDDA) induce fibrotic heart valve disease. We aimed to investigate whether EDDA treatment also affects left ventricular (LV) function. Myocardial function was evaluated in 110 Parkinson patients [mean age (63.4 +/- 9.0 years)] treated for at least 6 months with either EDDA (n = 71) or non-EDDA (n = 39). LV ejection fraction did not differ between EDDA and non-EDDA patients [63 +/- 4% vs. 65 +/- 4% (ns)]. There was no difference in prevalence of diastolic dysfunction between EDDA and non-EDDA patients [7% vs. 8% (ns)]. Finally, averaged LV systolic myocardial strain and longitudinal displacement analysed by means of two-dimensional speckle tracking showed no difference between EDDA and non-EDDA patients [strain: 19 +/- 3% vs. 19 +/- 2% (ns) and longitudinal displacement: 12 +/- 2 mm vs. 12 +/- 2 mm (ns)]. Elevated p-NT-proBNP was found in 38% of EDDA patients and in 59% of non-EDDA patients (ns). In contrast to the well-established association between EDDA treatment and valvular fibrosis, EDDA did not have a detectable adverse impact on myocardial systolic and diastolic function.

Water effect on sensitivity and tracks regression on SSNTD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benderac, R.; Glisovic, D.; Antanasijevic, R.; Vukovic, J.; Todorovic, Z.

1986-01-01

The detection characteristics for different kinds of cellulose nitrate as a function of water treatment between originate of latent alpha tracks and etching were determined. It has been shown that efficiency depends on their physico-chemical characteristics. Registration efficiency has been also determined for alpha particles for different kinds of cellulose nitrates as a function of uranium salts concentration.

Network exploitation using WAMI tracks

Science.gov (United States)

Rimey, Ray; Record, Jim; Keefe, Dan; Kennedy, Levi; Cramer, Chris

2011-06-01

Creating and exploiting network models from wide area motion imagery (WAMI) is an important task for intelligence analysis. Tracks of entities observed moving in the WAMI sensor data are extracted, then large numbers of tracks are studied over long time intervals to determine specific locations that are visited (e.g., buildings in an urban environment), what locations are related to other locations, and the function of each location. This paper describes several parts of the network detection/exploitation problem, and summarizes a solution technique for each: (a) Detecting nodes; (b) Detecting links between known nodes; (c) Node attributes to characterize a node; (d) Link attributes to characterize each link; (e) Link structure inferred from node attributes and vice versa; and (f) Decomposing a detected network into smaller networks. Experimental results are presented for each solution technique, and those are used to discuss issues for each problem part and its solution technique.

Tracking tumor boundary in MV-EPID images without implanted markers: A feasibility study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Xiaoyong; Homma, Noriyasu; Ichiji, Kei; Takai, Yoshihiro; Yoshizawa, Makoto

2015-01-01

Purpose: To develop a markerless tracking algorithm to track the tumor boundary in megavoltage (MV)-electronic portal imaging device (EPID) images for image-guided radiation therapy. Methods: A level set method (LSM)-based algorithm is developed to track tumor boundary in EPID image sequences. Given an EPID image sequence, an initial curve is manually specified in the first frame. Driven by a region-scalable energy fitting function, the initial curve automatically evolves toward the tumor boundary and stops on the desired boundary while the energy function reaches its minimum. For the subsequent frames, the tracking algorithm updates the initial curve by using the tracking result in the previous frame and reuses the LSM to detect the tumor boundary in the subsequent frame so that the tracking processing can be continued without user intervention. The tracking algorithm is tested on three image datasets, including a 4-D phantom EPID image sequence, four digitally deformable phantom image sequences with different noise levels, and four clinical EPID image sequences acquired in lung cancer treatment. The tracking accuracy is evaluated based on two metrics: centroid localization error (CLE) and volume overlap index (VOI) between the tracking result and the ground truth. Results: For the 4-D phantom image sequence, the CLE is 0.23 ± 0.20 mm, and VOI is 95.6% ± 0.2%. For the digital phantom image sequences, the total CLE and VOI are 0.11 ± 0.08 mm and 96.7% ± 0.7%, respectively. In addition, for the clinical EPID image sequences, the proposed algorithm achieves 0.32 ± 0.77 mm in the CLE and 72.1% ± 5.5% in the VOI. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the authors’ proposed method both in tumor localization and boundary tracking in EPID images. In addition, compared with two existing tracking algorithms, the proposed method achieves a higher accuracy in tumor localization. Conclusions: In this paper, the authors presented a feasibility study of tracking

Sign tracking, but not goal tracking, is resistant to outcome devaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara E. Morrison

2015-12-01

Full Text Available During Pavlovian conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (CS may act as a predictor of a reward to be delivered in another location. Individuals vary widely in their propensity to engage with the CS (sign tracking or with the site of eventual reward (goal tracking. It is often assumed that sign tracking involves the association of the CS with the motivational value of the reward, resulting in the CS acquiring incentive value independent of the outcome. However, experimental evidence for this assumption is lacking. In order to test the hypothesis that sign tracking behavior does not rely on a neural representation of the outcome, we employed a reward devaluation procedure. We trained rats on a classic Pavlovian paradigm in which a lever CS was paired with a sucrose reward, then devalued the reward by pairing sucrose with illness in the absence of the CS. We found that sign tracking behavior was enhanced, rather than diminished, following reward devaluation; thus, sign tracking is clearly independent of a representation of the outcome. In contrast, goal tracking behavior was decreased by reward devaluation. Furthermore, when we divided rats into those with high propensity to engage with the lever (sign trackers and low propensity to engage with the lever (goal trackers, we found that nearly all of the effects of devaluation could be attributed to the goal trackers. These results show that sign tracking and goal tracking behavior may be the output of different associative structures in the brain, providing insight into the mechanisms by which reward-associated stimuli – such as drug cues – come to exert control over behavior in some individuals.

Sign Tracking, but Not Goal Tracking, is Resistant to Outcome Devaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Sara E.; Bamkole, Michael A.; Nicola, Saleem M.

2015-01-01

During Pavlovian conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (CS) may act as a predictor of a reward to be delivered in another location. Individuals vary widely in their propensity to engage with the CS (sign tracking) or with the site of eventual reward (goal tracking). It is often assumed that sign tracking involves the association of the CS with the motivational value of the reward, resulting in the CS acquiring incentive value independent of the outcome. However, experimental evidence for this assumption is lacking. In order to test the hypothesis that sign tracking behavior does not rely on a neural representation of the outcome, we employed a reward devaluation procedure. We trained rats on a classic Pavlovian paradigm in which a lever CS was paired with a sucrose reward, then devalued the reward by pairing sucrose with illness in the absence of the CS. We found that sign tracking behavior was enhanced, rather than diminished, following reward devaluation; thus, sign tracking is clearly independent of a representation of the outcome. In contrast, goal tracking behavior was decreased by reward devaluation. Furthermore, when we divided rats into those with high propensity to engage with the lever (sign trackers) and low propensity to engage with the lever (goal trackers), we found that nearly all of the effects of devaluation could be attributed to the goal trackers. These results show that sign tracking and goal tracking behavior may be the output of different associative structures in the brain, providing insight into the mechanisms by which reward-associated stimuli—such as drug cues—come to exert control over behavior in some individuals. PMID:26733783

Myocardium tracking via matching distributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ben Ayed, Ismail; Li, Shuo; Ross, Ian; Islam, Ali

2009-01-01

The goal of this study is to investigate automatic myocardium tracking in cardiac Magnetic Resonance (MR) sequences using global distribution matching via level-set curve evolution. Rather than relying on the pixelwise information as in existing approaches, distribution matching compares intensity distributions, and consequently, is well-suited to the myocardium tracking problem. Starting from a manual segmentation of the first frame, two curves are evolved in order to recover the endocardium (inner myocardium boundary) and the epicardium (outer myocardium boundary) in all the frames. For each curve, the evolution equation is sought following the maximization of a functional containing two terms: (1) a distribution matching term measuring the similarity between the non-parametric intensity distributions sampled from inside and outside the curve to the model distributions of the corresponding regions estimated from the previous frame; (2) a gradient term for smoothing the curve and biasing it toward high gradient of intensity. The Bhattacharyya coefficient is used as a similarity measure between distributions. The functional maximization is obtained by the Euler-Lagrange ascent equation of curve evolution, and efficiently implemented via level-set. The performance of the proposed distribution matching was quantitatively evaluated by comparisons with independent manual segmentations approved by an experienced cardiologist. The method was applied to ten 2D mid-cavity MR sequences corresponding to ten different subjects. Although neither shape prior knowledge nor curve coupling were used, quantitative evaluation demonstrated that the results were consistent with manual segmentations. The proposed method compares well with existing methods. The algorithm also yields a satisfying reproducibility. Distribution matching leads to a myocardium tracking which is more flexible and applicable than existing methods because the algorithm uses only the current data, i.e., does not

Tracking time-varying coefficient-functions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Henrik Aalborg; Nielsen, Torben Skov; Joensen, Alfred K.

2000-01-01

is a combination of recursive least squares with exponential forgetting and local polynomial regression. It is argued, that it is appropriate to let the forgetting factor vary with the value of the external signal which is the argument of the coefficient functions. Some of the key properties of the modified method...... are studied by simulation...

Readmissions after fast-track hip and knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Husted, Henrik; Otte, Niels Kristian Stahl; Kristensen, Billy B

2010-01-01

With the implementation of fast-track surgery with optimization of both logistical and clinical features, the postoperative convalescence has been reduced as functional milestones have been achieved earlier and consequently length of stay (LOS) in hospital has been reduced. However, it has been...

Patient-reported outcome after fast-track knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Kristian; Hansen, Torben B; Søballe, Kjeld

2012-01-01

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe patient-related functional outcomes after fast-track total knee arthroplasty and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. Furthermore, we wanted to assess physical areas where an additional need for rehabilitation could be identified, and finally, we...

Track reconstruction in discrete detectors by neutral networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Glazov, A A; Kisel` , I V; Konotopskaya, E V; Neskoromnyj, V N; Ososkov, G A

1993-12-31

On the basis of applying neutral networks to the track recognition problem the investigations are made according to the specific properties of such discrete detectors as multiwire proportional chambers. These investigations result in the modification of the so-called rotor model in a neutral neural network. The energy function of a network in this modification contains only one cost term. This speeds up calculations considerably. The reduction of the energy function is done by the neuron selection with the help of simplegeometrical and energetical criteria. Besides, the cellular automata were applied to preliminary selection of data that made it possible to create an initial network configuration with the energy closer to its global minimum. The algorithm was tested on 10{sup 4} real three-prong events obtained from the ARES-spectrometer. The results are satisfactory including the noise robustness and good resolution of nearby going tracks. 12 refs.; 10 figs.

Track reconstruction in discrete detectors by neutral networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glazov, A.A.; Kisel', I.V.; Konotopskaya, E.V.; Neskoromnyj, V.N.; Ososkov, G.A.

1992-01-01

On the basis of applying neutral networks to the track recognition problem the investigations are made according to the specific properties of such discrete detectors as multiwire proportional chambers. These investigations result in the modification of the so-called rotor model in a neutral neural network. The energy function of a network in this modification contains only one cost term. This speeds up calculations considerably. The reduction of the energy function is done by the neuron selection with the help of simplegeometrical and energetical criteria. Besides, the cellular automata were applied to preliminary selection of data that made it possible to create an initial network configuration with the energy closer to its global minimum. The algorithm was tested on 10 4 real three-prong events obtained from the ARES-spectrometer. The results are satisfactory including the noise robustness and good resolution of nearby going tracks. 12 refs.; 10 figs

Inspection Robot Based Mobile Sensing and Power Line Tracking for Smart Grid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bat-erdene Byambasuren

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Smart sensing and power line tracking is very important in a smart grid system. Illegal electricity usage can be detected by remote current measurement on overhead power lines using an inspection robot. There is a need for accurate detection methods of illegal electricity usage. Stable and correct power line tracking is a very prominent issue. In order to correctly track and make accurate measurements, the swing path of a power line should be previously fitted and predicted by a mathematical function using an inspection robot. After this, the remote inspection robot can follow the power line and measure the current. This paper presents a new power line tracking method using parabolic and circle fitting algorithms for illegal electricity detection. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed tracking method by simulation and experimental results.

Observations of fission-tracks in zircons by atomic force microscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohishi, Shinnosuke; Hasebe, Noriko

2012-01-01

The fission-track (FT) method is a dating technique based on the observation of damage (tracks) by spontaneous fission of 238 U left in a mineral. The date is calculated from the track density and the uranium concentration in the mineral. This is possible because the number of tracks is a function of uranium concentration and time since the start of track accumulation. Usually, the number of tracks is counted under an optical microscope after etching (chemical expansion of a track). However, as FT density per unit area rises, it becomes difficult to count the number of tracks. This is due to the fact that FTs overlap one another and are unable to be readily distinguished. This research examines the potential of atomic force microscope (AFM) for FT dating using zircons, which are likely to show higher FT density than other minerals due to their high U concentrations. To obtain an AFM image for a sample prepared for FT dating, removing the static electricity of the sample is essential to avoid an unexpected movement of the cantilever. A grain should be wider than about 30 μm to bring the cantilever on the mineral surface. Polishing with a fine grained compound is very important. There is not much difference in sharpness between images by AC mode (scanning with vibrating cantilever at a constant cycle) and Contact mode (scanning with the cantilever always in close contact with the surface). To confirm how tracks can be identified with the AFM, an AFM image was compared with an image obtained with the optical microscope. When change in the number of tracks and their shapes were observed through stepwise etching, the track expanded as the etching time increased. In addition, the etching rate was slower for large tracks than those for small tracks. This implied that the AFM can be used to observe etching of zircons with different degrees of nuclear fission damage. A track that could not be seen with the optical microscope due to insufficient etching could be observed by

Range measurements and track kinetics in Dielectric Nuclear Track Detectors (DNTDs)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aframian, A

1981-01-01

Observations of nuclear track development profiles and the kinetics of etched tracks in sensitive dielectric nuclear track detectors indicate three separate phases: the inception phase or the cone phase, the transition phase and the sphere phase. Continued etching of the sphere phase to through-tracks yields accurate range data for particles of different masses and energies and minimum critical angles of registration for each particle. The present results show an energy resolution of 40 keV (fwhm) for 5.48 MeV alpha-particles emitted from Am-241.

Neural network consistent empirical physical formula construction for neutron–gamma discrimination in gamma ray tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yildiz, Nihat; Akkoyun, Serkan

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Detector responses in neutron–gamma discrimination were estimated by neural networks. ► Novel consistent neural network empirical physical formulas (EPFs) were constructed for detector responses. ► The EPFs are of explicit mathematical functional form. ► The EPFs can be used to derive various physical functions relevant to neutron–gamma discrimination in gamma ray tracking. -- Abstract: Gamma ray tracking is an efficient detection technique in studying exotic nuclei which lies far from beta stability line. To achieve very powerful and extraordinary resolution ability, new detectors based on gamma ray tracking are currently being developed. To reach this achievement, the neutron–gamma discrimination in these detectors is also an important task. In this paper, by suitable layered feedforward neural networks (LFNNs), we have constructed novel and consistent empirical physical formulas (EPFs) for some highly nonlinear detector counts measured in neutron–gamma discrimination. The detector counts data used in the discrimination was actually borrowed from our previous paper. The counts used here had been originally measured versus the following parameters: energy deposited in the first interaction points, difference in the incoming direction of initial gamma rays, and finally figure of merit values of the clusters determined by tracking. The LFNN–EPFs are of explicit mathematical functional form. Therefore, by various suitable operations of mathematical analysis, these LFNN–EPFs can be used to derivate further physical functions which might be potentially relevant to neutron–gamma discrimination performance of gamma ray tracking.

Large scale tracking algorithms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansen, Ross L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Love, Joshua Alan [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Melgaard, David Kennett [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Karelitz, David B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Pitts, Todd Alan [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Zollweg, Joshua David [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Anderson, Dylan Z. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Nandy, Prabal [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Whitlow, Gary L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Bender, Daniel A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Byrne, Raymond Harry [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-01-01

Low signal-to-noise data processing algorithms for improved detection, tracking, discrimination and situational threat assessment are a key research challenge. As sensor technologies progress, the number of pixels will increase signi cantly. This will result in increased resolution, which could improve object discrimination, but unfortunately, will also result in a significant increase in the number of potential targets to track. Many tracking techniques, like multi-hypothesis trackers, suffer from a combinatorial explosion as the number of potential targets increase. As the resolution increases, the phenomenology applied towards detection algorithms also changes. For low resolution sensors, "blob" tracking is the norm. For higher resolution data, additional information may be employed in the detection and classfication steps. The most challenging scenarios are those where the targets cannot be fully resolved, yet must be tracked and distinguished for neighboring closely spaced objects. Tracking vehicles in an urban environment is an example of such a challenging scenario. This report evaluates several potential tracking algorithms for large-scale tracking in an urban environment.

Force-field compensation in a manual tracking task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina Squeri

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This study addresses force/movement control in a dynamic "hybrid" task: the master sub-task is continuous manual tracking of a target moving along an eight-shaped Lissajous figure, with the tracking error as the primary performance index; the slave sub-task is compensation of a disturbing curl viscous field, compatibly with the primary performance index. The two sub-tasks are correlated because the lateral force the subject must exert on the eight-shape must be proportional to the longitudinal movement speed in order to perform a good tracking. The results confirm that visuo-manual tracking is characterized by an intermittent control mechanism, in agreement with previous work; the novel finding is that the overall control patterns are not altered by the presence of a large deviating force field, if compared with the undisturbed condition. It is also found that the control of interaction-forces is achieved by a combination of arm stiffness properties and direct force control, as suggested by the systematic lateral deviation of the trajectories from the nominal path and the comparison between perturbed trials and catch trials. The coordination of the two sub-tasks is quickly learnt after the activation of the deviating force field and is achieved by a combination of force and the stiffness components (about 80% vs. 20%, which is a function of the implicit accuracy of the tracking task.

Intelligent Materials Tracking System for Construction Projects Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Narimah Kasim

2015-05-01

Full Text Available An essential factor adversely affecting the performance of construction projects is the improper handling of materials during site activities. In addition, paper-based reports are mostly used to record and exchange information related to the material components within the supply chain, which is problematic and inefficient. Generally, technologies (such as wireless systems and RFID are not being adequately used to overcome human errors and are not well integrated with project management systems to make tracking and management of materials easier and faster. Findings from a literature review and surveys showed that there is a lack of positive examples of such tools having been used effectively. Therefore, this research focused on the development of a materials tracking system that integrates RFID-based materials management with resources modelling to improve on-site materials tracking. Rapid prototyping was used to develop the system and testing of the system was carried out to examine the functionality and working appropriately. The proposed system is intended to promote the employment of RFID for automatic materials tracking with integration of resource modelling (Microsoft (R Office Project in the project management system in order to establish which of the tagged components are required resources for certain project tasks. In conclusion, the system provides an automatic and easy tracking method for managing materials during materials delivery and inventory management processes in construction projects.

Eye-Tracking as a Tool to Evaluate Functional Ability in Everyday Tasks in Glaucoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enkelejda Kasneci

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To date, few studies have investigated the eye movement patterns of individuals with glaucoma while they undertake everyday tasks in real-world settings. While some of these studies have reported possible compensatory gaze patterns in those with glaucoma who demonstrated good task performance despite their visual field loss, little is known about the complex interaction between field loss and visual scanning strategies and the impact on task performance and, consequently, on quality of life. We review existing approaches that have quantified the effect of glaucomatous visual field defects on the ability to undertake everyday activities through the use of eye movement analysis. Furthermore, we discuss current developments in eye-tracking technology and the potential for combining eye-tracking with virtual reality and advanced analytical approaches. Recent technological developments suggest that systems based on eye-tracking have the potential to assist individuals with glaucomatous loss to maintain or even improve their performance on everyday tasks and hence enhance their long-term quality of life. We discuss novel approaches for studying the visual search behavior of individuals with glaucoma that have the potential to assist individuals with glaucoma, through the use of personalized programs that take into consideration the individual characteristics of their remaining visual field and visual search behavior.

Making tracks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1986-10-15

In many modern tracking chambers, the sense wires, rather than being lined up uniformly, are grouped into clusters to facilitate the pattern recognition process. However, with higher energy machines providing collisions richer in secondary particles, event reconstruction becomes more complicated. A Caltech / Illinois / SLAC / Washington group developed an ingenious track finding and fitting approach for the Mark III detector used at the SPEAR electron-positron ring at SLAC (Stanford). This capitalizes on the detector's triggering, which uses programmable logic circuits operating in parallel, each 'knowing' the cell patterns for all tracks passing through a specific portion of the tracker (drift chamber)

Usefulness of Guided Breathing for Dose Rate-Regulated Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han-Oh, Sarah; Yi, Byong Yong; Berman, Barry L.; Lerma, Fritz; Yu, Cedric

2009-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of guided breathing for dose rate-regulated tracking (DRRT), a new technique to compensate for intrafraction tumor motion. Methods and Materials: DRRT uses a preprogrammed multileaf collimator sequence that tracks the tumor motion derived from four-dimensional computed tomography and the corresponding breathing signals measured before treatment. Because the multileaf collimator speed can be controlled by adjusting the dose rate, the multileaf collimator positions are adjusted in real time during treatment by dose rate regulation, thereby maintaining synchrony with the tumor motion. DRRT treatment was simulated with free, audio-guided, and audiovisual-guided breathing signals acquired from 23 lung cancer patients. The tracking error and duty cycle for each patient were determined as a function of the system time delay (range, 0-1.0 s). Results: The tracking error and duty cycle averaged for all 23 patients was 1.9 ± 0.8 mm and 92% ± 5%, 1.9 ± 1.0 mm and 93% ± 6%, and 1.8 ± 0.7 mm and 92% ± 6% for the free, audio-guided, and audiovisual-guided breathing, respectively, for a time delay of 0.35 s. The small differences in both the tracking error and the duty cycle with guided breathing were not statistically significant. Conclusion: DRRT by its nature adapts well to variations in breathing frequency, which is also the motivation for guided-breathing techniques. Because of this redundancy, guided breathing does not result in significant improvements for either the tracking error or the duty cycle when DRRT is used for real-time tumor tracking

Multisensor Distributed Track Fusion AlgorithmBased on Strong Tracking Filter and Feedback Integration1）

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YANGGuo-Sheng; WENCheng-Lin; TANMin

2004-01-01

A new multisensor distributed track fusion algorithm is put forward based on combiningthe feedback integration with the strong tracking Kalman filter. Firstly, an effective tracking gateis constructed by taking the intersection of the tracking gates formed before and after feedback.Secondly, on the basis of the constructed effective tracking gate, probabilistic data association andstrong tracking Kalman filter are combined to form the new multisensor distributed track fusionalgorithm. At last, simulation is performed on the original algorithm and the algorithm presented.

Track finding and track reconstruction in the internal forward drift chamber of SAPHIR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Umlauf, G.

1993-03-01

A track finding algorithm has been developed for the inner forward drift chamber of the SAPHIR detector (at ELSA in Bonn) using the Principal Components Analysis as a tool for interpolating track coordinates. The drift chamber consists of twelve planar layers with six different inclinations and is being operated in an inhomogenous magnetic field. The task of track finding is basicly split into a primary stage that defines track candidates without the use of drift-time information and a second stage that serves to verify the track candidate and to resolve the intrinsic left-right ambiguities of the drift chamber signals. Tracks with at most three missing signals can be found. (orig.) [de

Timber tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Düdder, Boris; Ross, Omry

2017-01-01

Managing and verifying forest products in a value chain is often reliant on easily manipulated document or digital tracking methods - Chain of Custody Systems. We aim to create a new means of tracking timber by developing a tamper proof digital system based on Blockchain technology. Blockchain...

Robust Visual Tracking via Online Discriminative and Low-Rank Dictionary Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Tao; Liu, Fanghui; Bhaskar, Harish; Yang, Jie

2017-09-12

In this paper, we propose a novel and robust tracking framework based on online discriminative and low-rank dictionary learning. The primary aim of this paper is to obtain compact and low-rank dictionaries that can provide good discriminative representations of both target and background. We accomplish this by exploiting the recovery ability of low-rank matrices. That is if we assume that the data from the same class are linearly correlated, then the corresponding basis vectors learned from the training set of each class shall render the dictionary to become approximately low-rank. The proposed dictionary learning technique incorporates a reconstruction error that improves the reliability of classification. Also, a multiconstraint objective function is designed to enable active learning of a discriminative and robust dictionary. Further, an optimal solution is obtained by iteratively computing the dictionary, coefficients, and by simultaneously learning the classifier parameters. Finally, a simple yet effective likelihood function is implemented to estimate the optimal state of the target during tracking. Moreover, to make the dictionary adaptive to the variations of the target and background during tracking, an online update criterion is employed while learning the new dictionary. Experimental results on a publicly available benchmark dataset have demonstrated that the proposed tracking algorithm performs better than other state-of-the-art trackers.

Sliding Mode Tracking Control of Manipulator Based on the Improved Reaching Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Na ZHAI

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Due to the mechanical hand often have serious uncertainty, as the state in which the different and external changes, also its parameters are changing, this is very adverse to achieve precise control. In this paper, the traditional sliding mode variable structure was improved, the sign function is replaced by saturated function based on the double power reaching law, by adjusting the values of e1, e2, a, b, g and k to effectively improve the manipulator joint reaching speed, track expected trajectory fast and shorten the system response time. Finally, the method is used for simulation of manipulator trajectory tracking, compared to two reaching law control algorithms. The simulation results show that the control algorithm has good dynamic performance, which can effectively restrain the chattering and quickly track the desired trajectory. Therefore, the improved reaching law can effectively improve the performance of robotic manipulator.

Dependence of yield of nuclear track-biosensors on track radius and analyte concentration

Science.gov (United States)

García-Arellano, H.; Muñoz H., G.; Fink, D.; Vacik, J.; Hnatowicz, V.; Alfonta, L.; Kiv, A.

2018-04-01

In swift heavy ion track-based polymeric biosensor foils with incorporated enzymes one exploits the correlation between the analyte concentration and the sensor current, via the enrichment of charged enzymatic reaction products in the track's confinement. Here we study the influence of the etched track radius on the biosensor's efficiency. These sensors are analyte-specific only if both the track radii and the analyte concentration exceed certain threshold values of ∼15 nm and ∼10-6 M (for glucose sensing), respectively. Below these limits the sensor signal stems un-specifically from any charge carrier. In its proper working regime, the inner track walls are smoothly covered by enzymes and the efficiency is practically radius independent. Theory shows that the measured current should be slightly sub-proportional to the analyte concentration; the measurements roughly reconfirm this. Narrower tracks (∼5-15 nm radius) with reduced enzyme coverage lead to decreasing efficiency. Tiny signals visible when the tracks are etched to effective radii between 0 and ∼5 nm are tentatively ascribed to enzymes bonded to surface-near nano-cracks in the polymer foil, resulting from its degradation due to aging, rather than to the tracks. Precondition for this study was the accurate determination of the etched track radii, which is possible only by a nanofluidic approach. This holds to some extent even for enzyme-covered tracks, though in this case most of the wall charges are compensated by enzyme bonding.

Occlusion-Aware Fragment-Based Tracking With Spatial-Temporal Consistency.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Chong; Wang, Dong; Lu, Huchuan

2016-08-01

In this paper, we present a robust tracking method by exploiting a fragment-based appearance model with consideration of both temporal continuity and discontinuity information. From the perspective of probability theory, the proposed tracking algorithm can be viewed as a two-stage optimization problem. In the first stage, by adopting the estimated occlusion state as a prior, the optimal state of the tracked object can be obtained by solving an optimization problem, where the objective function is designed based on the classification score, occlusion prior, and temporal continuity information. In the second stage, we propose a discriminative occlusion model, which exploits both foreground and background information to detect the possible occlusion, and also models the consistency of occlusion labels among different frames. In addition, a simple yet effective training strategy is introduced during the model training (and updating) process, with which the effects of spatial-temporal consistency are properly weighted. The proposed tracker is evaluated by using the recent benchmark data set, on which the results demonstrate that our tracker performs favorably against other state-of-the-art tracking algorithms.

Tracks: A National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network Overview

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

In this podcast, Dr. Mike McGeehin, Director of CDC's Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, provides an overview of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. It highlights the Tracking Network's goal, how it will improve public health, its audience, and much more.

Urbanism on Track : Application of tracking technologies in urbanism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van der Hoeven, F.D.; Van Schaick, J.; Van der Spek, S.C.; Smit, M.G.J.

2008-01-01

Tracking technologies such as GPS, mobile phone tracking, video and RFID monitoring are rapidly becoming part of daily life. Technological progress offers huge possibilities for studying human activity patterns in time and space in new ways. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) held an

An insight on advantage of hybrid sun–wind-tracking over sun-tracking PV system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahimi, Masoud; Banybayat, Meisam; Tagheie, Yaghoub; Valeh-e-Sheyda, Peyvand

2015-01-01

Graphical abstract: Real photograph of hybrid sun–wind-tracking system. - Highlights: • Novel hybrid sun–wind-tracking system proposed to enhance PV cell performance. • The wind tracker can cool down the PV cell as sun-tracking system work. • The hybrid tracker achieved 7.4% increase in energy gain over the sun tracker. • The overall daily output energy gain was increased by 49.83% by using this system. - Abstract: This paper introduces the design and application of a novel hybrid sun–wind-tracking system. This hybrid system employs cooling effect of wind, besides the advantages of tracking sun for enhancing power output from examined hybrid photovoltaic cell. The principal experiment focuses on comparison between dual-axes sun-tracking and hybrid sun–wind-tracking photovoltaic (PV) panels. The deductions based on the research tests confirm that the overall daily output energy gain was increased by 49.83% compared with that of a fixed system. Moreover, an overall increase of about 7.4% in the output power was found for the hybrid sun–wind-tracking over the two-axis sun tracking system.

Observer-based linear parameter varying H∞ tracking control for hypersonic vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yiqing Huang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This article aims to develop observer-based linear parameter varying output feedback H∞ tracking controller for hypersonic vehicles. Due to the complexity of an original nonlinear model of the hypersonic vehicle dynamics, a slow–fast loop linear parameter varying polytopic model is introduced for system stability analysis and controller design. Then, a state observer is developed by linear parameter varying technique in order to estimate the unmeasured attitude angular for slow loop system. Also, based on the designed linear parameter varying state observer, a kind of attitude tracking controller is presented to reduce tracking errors for all bounded reference attitude angular inputs. The closed-loop linear parameter varying system is proved to be quadratically stable by Lypapunov function technique. Finally, simulation results show that the developed linear parameter varying H∞ controller has good tracking capability for reference commands.

Low-voltage electroosmotic pumping using polyethylene terephthalate track-etched membrane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Ceming; Wang Lin [State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Xue Jianming, E-mail: jmxue@pku.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)

2012-09-01

We present experimental investigations of electroosmotic (EO) pumping using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) track-etched membrane at a low applied voltage. An EO pump based on PET track-etched membrane has been designed and fabricated. Pumping performance of the device is experimentally studied in terms of flow rate as a function of applied voltage and KCl aqueous concentration. The PET track-etched membrane EO pump can generate flow rates on the order of 10 {mu}l min{sup -1} cm{sup -2} at several applied volts. The measured flow rate tends to decrease with increasing KCl aqueous concentration. In addition, we study the EO flow in cylindrical nanopore with use of a continuum model, composed of Nernst Planck equations, Poisson equation and Navier Stokes equations.

distance tracking scheme for seamless handover in ims-based

African Journals Online (AJOL)

userpc

Mobile Node (MN) in a network cell are proactively tracked in order to determine the exact .... The parameter εi is a correction factor for effective mobile antenna height, which is a function of .... Wireless Networks: Ad Hoc, Vehicular and.

Non-etching nuclear track visualization in polymers: fluorescent and dyed tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.; Toth-Szilagyi, M.; Monnin, M.; Gourcy, J.

1979-01-01

A report is presented on progress in two methods of non-etching nuclear track visualization. The basis for one method is to graft polymer chains in the vicinity of the ion path in a polymer, and then to dye it, making the track visible. The second method is similar, but in this case saturated organic molecules can be used, which prevents subsequent polymerization. The detector is soaked with a solution of a sensitization molecule that can react with a convenient dye and fix it. The sensitization molecules may diffuse into the detector either through the bulk of it or/ and along the region damaged by a charged particle. Depending on the detailed procedure used, the tracks may be seen as 'dyed tracks' with visible-light illumination or as 'fluorescent tracks' with u.v. illumination. Experimental procedures and results are given and discussed. (U.K.)

CMS detector tracking performance in Run-II

CERN Document Server

Brondolin, Erica

2017-01-01

Since the start of Run-II in June 2015, LHC has delivered pp collisions at a center of mass energy of 13TeV and with a bunch time separation of 25 ns. On avarage, more than 25 inelastic collisions are superimposed on the event of interest. Under these new conditions, the CMS collaboration has re-calibrated and verified the performance of the whole detector. In particular, the CMS tracking performance has been measured both directly and indirectly. Direct measurements are, among others, the beam spot determination, the vertex resolution and the muon reconstruction efficiency with the tag and probe technique. An indirect assessment can be given by the pion reconstruction efficiency and the low-mass resonance parameters as a function of different single track kinematics.

Hopfield neural network in HEP track reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muresan, Raluca; Pentia, Mircea

1996-01-01

This work uses neural network technique (Hopfield method) to reconstruct particle tracks starting from a data set obtained with a coordinate detector system placed around a high energy accelerated particle interaction region. A learning algorithm for finding the optimal connection of the signal points have been elaborated and tested. We used a single layer neutral network with constraints in order to obtain the particle tracks drawn through the detected signal points. The dynamics of the systems is given by the MFT equations which determine the system evolution to a minimum energy function. We carried out a computing program that has been tested on a lot of Monte Carlo simulated data. With this program we obtained good results even for noise/signal ratio 200. (authors)

Enterprise Mobile Tracking and Reminder System: MAE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheah Huei Yoong

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Mobile phones have made significant improvements from providing voice communications to advanced features such as camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, SMS, voice recognition, Internet surfing, and touch screen. This paper presents an enterprise mobile tracking and reminder system (MAE that enables the elderly to have a better elder-care experience. The high-level architecture and major software algorithms especially the tracking in Android phones and SMS functions in server are described. The analysis of data captured and performance study of the server are discussed. In order to show the effectiveness of MAE, a pilot test was carried out with a retirement village in Singapore and the feedback from the elderly was evaluated. Generally, most comments received from the elderly were positive.

Living alongside railway tracks: Long-term effects of nocturnal noise on sleep and cardiovascular reactivity as a function of age.

Science.gov (United States)

Tassi, Patricia; Rohmer, Odile; Schimchowitsch, Sarah; Eschenlauer, Arnaud; Bonnefond, Anne; Margiocchi, Florence; Poisson, Franck; Muzet, Alain

2010-10-01

Very few studies were devoted to permanent effects of nocturnal railway noise on sleep and cardiovascular reactivity. We investigated the effects of nocturnal railway noise on sleep and cardiovascular response in young and middle-aged adults living for many years either near a railway track or in a quiet area. Forty subjects (50% males) divided into two age groups (juniors: 26.2+/-3.6 and seniors: 56.2+/-4.2) participated in this experiment. Half of them lived near a railway track (RW group: 2.6 to 19 years) and the other half in a quiet environment (QE group: 8.1 to 14.2 years). After an adaptation night, all subjects underwent two nights in the laboratory: one control night and one noisy night (30 by-passes of a freight train). Sleep and cardiovascular modifications were assessed in response to noise. Sleep fragmentation indices were lower in RW subjects compared to QE whatever their age. In response to noise, there was a higher cardiovascular response rate to noise in RW juniors and a lower cardiovascular response rate in RW seniors compared to their age-paired QE counterparts. In conclusion, permanent exposure to nocturnal railway noise leads to decreased sleep fragmentation and to cardiovascular habituation. It is suggested that during the initial period experienced by residents living near railway tracks, nocturnal railway noise could induce a sensitization process on the autonomic response to noise reflecting a startle/defense reflex due to its functional significance, which progressively turns to habituation in the long-term if no adverse effect is experienced. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EnTracked: Energy-Efficient Robust Position Tracking for Mobile Devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Jensen, Jakob Langdal; Godsk, Torben

2009-01-01

conditions and mobility, schedules position updates to both minimize energy consumption and optimize robustness. The realized system tracks pedestrian targets equipped with GPS-enabled devices. The system is configurable to realize different trade-offs between energy consumption and robustness. We provide...... of the mobile device. Furthermore, tracking has to robustly deliver position updates when faced with changing conditions such as delays due to positioning and communication, and changing positioning accuracy. This work proposes EnTracked --- a system that, based on the estimation and prediction of system...... extensive experimental results by profiling how devices consume power, by emulation on collected data and by validation in several real-world deployments. Results from this profiling show how a device consumes power while tracking its position. Results from the emulation indicate that the system can...

Study of the characteristics of ionizing particles record of CR-39 track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brandao, Luis Eduardo Barreira

1983-01-01

The bulk and track etching proprieties of a new Solid State Nuclear Track Detector CR-39 were investigated under different etching conditions. The discussion is based on results obtained using aqueous solutions of KOH with addition of alcoholic solvent to aqueous solutions. It was found that track registration sensitivity can be dramatically changed by using the proper chemical treatment. A method to enlarge and dye etch tracks to be viewed by simple projection on a screen is discussed. The applications of CR-39 in neutron fluence measurements are shown. Graphs are presented of the densities of the registered traces by the detector as a function of etch time both for samples with and without a polycarbonate radiator. (author)

Solid state nuclear track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Medeiros, J.A.; Carvalho, M.L.C.P. de

1992-12-01

Solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD) are dielectric materials, crystalline or vitreous, which registers tracks of charged nuclear particles, like alpha particles or fission fragments. Chemical etching of the detectors origin tracks that are visible at the optical microscope: track etching rate is higher along the latent track, where damage due to the charged particle increase the chemical potential, and etching rate giving rise to holes, the etched tracks. Fundamental principles are presented as well as some ideas of main applications. (author)

MO-FG-BRD-00: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-00: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

Measurement of fission track of uranium particle by solid state nuclear track detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, S. C.; Pyo, H. W.; Ji, K. Y.; Kim, W. H.

2002-01-01

In this study, we discussed results of the measurement of fission tracks for the uranium containing particles by solid state nuclear track detector. Uranium containing silica and uranium oxide particles were prepared by uranium sorption onto silica powder in weak acidic medium and laser ablation on uranium pellet, respectively. Fission tracks for the uranium containing silica and uranium oxide particles were detected on Lexan plastic detector. It was found that the fission track size and shapes depend on the particle size uranium content in particles. Correlation of uranium particle diameter with fission track radius was also discussed

Optimal Dynamic Strategies for Index Tracking and Algorithmic Trading

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Brian

In this thesis we study dynamic strategies for index tracking and algorithmic trading. Tracking problems have become ever more important in Financial Engineering as investors seek to precisely control their portfolio risks and exposures over different time horizons. This thesis analyzes various tracking problems and elucidates the tracking errors and strategies one can employ to minimize those errors and maximize profit. In Chapters 2 and 3, we study the empirical tracking properties of exchange traded funds (ETFs), leveraged ETFs (LETFs), and futures products related to spot gold and the Chicago Board Option Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX), respectively. These two markets provide interesting and differing examples for understanding index tracking. We find that static strategies work well in the nonleveraged case for gold, but fail to track well in the corresponding leveraged case. For VIX, tracking via neither ETFs, nor futures\\ portfolios succeeds, even in the nonleveraged case. This motivates the need for dynamic strategies, some of which we construct in these two chapters and further expand on in Chapter 4. There, we analyze a framework for index tracking and risk exposure control through financial derivatives. We derive a tracking condition that restricts our exposure choices and also define a slippage process that characterizes the deviations from the index over longer horizons. The framework is applied to a number of models, for example, Black Scholes model and Heston model for equity index tracking, as well as the Square Root (SQR) model and the Concatenated Square Root (CSQR) model for VIX tracking. By specifying how each of these models fall into our framework, we are able to understand the tracking errors in each of these models. Finally, Chapter 5 analyzes a tracking problem of a different kind that arises in algorithmic trading: schedule following for optimal execution. We formulate and solve a stochastic control problem to obtain the optimal

Globally Stable Adaptive Backstepping Neural Network Control for Uncertain Strict-Feedback Systems With Tracking Accuracy Known a Priori.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Weisheng; Ge, Shuzhi Sam; Wu, Jian; Gong, Maoguo

2015-09-01

This paper addresses the problem of globally stable direct adaptive backstepping neural network (NN) tracking control design for a class of uncertain strict-feedback systems under the assumption that the accuracy of the ultimate tracking error is given a priori. In contrast to the classical adaptive backstepping NN control schemes, this paper analyzes the convergence of the tracking error using Barbalat's Lemma via some nonnegative functions rather than the positive-definite Lyapunov functions. Thus, the accuracy of the ultimate tracking error can be determined and adjusted accurately a priori, and the closed-loop system is guaranteed to be globally uniformly ultimately bounded. The main technical novelty is to construct three new n th-order continuously differentiable functions, which are used to design the control law, the virtual control variables, and the adaptive laws. Finally, two simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed control method.

Maglev Train Signal Processing Architecture Based on Nonlinear Discrete Tracking Differentiator.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhiqiang; Li, Xiaolong; Xie, Yunde; Long, Zhiqiang

2018-05-24

In a maglev train levitation system, signal processing plays an important role for the reason that some sensor signals are prone to be corrupted by noise due to the harsh installation and operation environment of sensors and some signals cannot be acquired directly via sensors. Based on these concerns, an architecture based on a new type of nonlinear second-order discrete tracking differentiator is proposed. The function of this signal processing architecture includes filtering signal noise and acquiring needed signals for levitation purposes. The proposed tracking differentiator possesses the advantages of quick convergence, no fluttering, and simple calculation. Tracking differentiator's frequency characteristics at different parameter values are studied in this paper. The performance of this new type of tracking differentiator is tested in a MATLAB simulation and this tracking-differentiator is implemented in Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL). In the end, experiments are conducted separately on a test board and a maglev train model. Simulation and experiment results show that the performance of this novel signal processing architecture can fulfill the real system requirement.

Maglev Train Signal Processing Architecture Based on Nonlinear Discrete Tracking Differentiator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiqiang Wang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In a maglev train levitation system, signal processing plays an important role for the reason that some sensor signals are prone to be corrupted by noise due to the harsh installation and operation environment of sensors and some signals cannot be acquired directly via sensors. Based on these concerns, an architecture based on a new type of nonlinear second-order discrete tracking differentiator is proposed. The function of this signal processing architecture includes filtering signal noise and acquiring needed signals for levitation purposes. The proposed tracking differentiator possesses the advantages of quick convergence, no fluttering, and simple calculation. Tracking differentiator’s frequency characteristics at different parameter values are studied in this paper. The performance of this new type of tracking differentiator is tested in a MATLAB simulation and this tracking-differentiator is implemented in Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL. In the end, experiments are conducted separately on a test board and a maglev train model. Simulation and experiment results show that the performance of this novel signal processing architecture can fulfill the real system requirement.

Particle tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mais, H.; Ripken, G.; Wrulich, A.; Schmidt, F.

1986-02-01

After a brief description of typical applications of particle tracking in storage rings and after a short discussion of some limitations and problems related with tracking we summarize some concepts and methods developed in the qualitative theory of dynamical systems. We show how these concepts can be applied to the proton ring HERA. (orig.)

Fast neutron dosimetry using CR-39 track detectors with polyethylene as radiator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castillo, F.; Espinosa, G.; Golzarri, J.I.; Osorio, D.; Rangel, J.; Reyes, P.G.; Herrera, J.J.E.

2013-01-01

The chemical etching parameters (etching time, temperature, normality of etchant, etc.) for the use of CR-39 (allyl diglycol carbonate – Lantrack ® ) as a fast neutron dosimeter have been optimized. The CR-39 chips, placed under a 1.5 mm polyethylene radiator, were exposed for calibration to an 241 Am-Be source at different time intervals for a given neutron fluence. After several chemical etching processes of the detectors with different conditions, the optimum characteristics for the chemical etching were found at 6N KOH solution, 60 ± 1 °C, for 12 h. An accurate relationship between the dose and fluence calculations was obtained as a function of the track density. - Highlights: ► Optimum etching time for fast neutron irradiated CR-39 track detectors is found. ► Relationship between dose and fluence obtained as a function of the track density. ► Results are consistent with those reported elsewhere, and extend the dose range

A New Robust Tracking Control Design for Turbofan Engines: H∞/Leitmann Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muxuan Pan

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a H ∞ /Leitmann approach to the robust tracking control design is presented for an uncertain dynamic system. This new method is developed in the following two steps. Firstly, a tracking dynamic system with simultaneous consideration of parameter uncertainty and noise is modeled based on a linear system and a reference model. Accordingly, a “nominal system” from the tracking system is defined and controlled by a H ∞ control to obtain the asymptotical stability and noise resistance. Secondly, by making use of a Lyapunov function and the norm boundedness, a new robust control with the “Leitmann approach” is designed to cope with the uncertainty. The two controls collaborate with each other to achieve “uniform tracking boundedness” and “uniform ultimate tracking boundedness”. The new approach is then applied to an aircraft turbofan control design, and the numerical simulation results show the prescribed performances of the closed-loop system and the advantage of the developed approach.

Mechanism of track formation by charged particles in inorganic and organic solid-state track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doerschel, B.; Pretzsch, G.; Streubel, G.

1979-01-01

Knowledge of the individual phases of track formation mechanism is necessary in some applications of solid-state track detectors. The generation of latent tracks is described by energy transfer processes of the charged particles along their paths using several different models. Etchability of the latent tracks is discussed on the basis of some distinct criteria taking into account different fractions of energy release by the primary and secondary particles during track generation. If these etchability criteria for latent tracks are fulfilled, visual particle tracks can be produced by a chemical etching process. Etch pit formation depends on the etching conditions. The geometrical parameters of the etching pits are given on the basis of known etching rates. Evaluation of individual particle tracks or determination of track density yields results depending on both the properties of the particles and the etching conditions. Determination of particle energy and particle fluence is discussed as an example. (author)

Evolutionary Ship Track Planning within Traffic Separation Schemes – Evaluation of Individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafal Szlapczynski

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an extended version of the author’s Evolutionary Sets of Safe Ship Trajectories method. The method plans safe tracks of all ships involved in an encounter including speed reduction maneuvers, if necessary, and taking into account Rule 10 of COLREGS, which specifies ships’ behavior within Traffic Separation Schemes governed by IMO. The paper focuses on the evaluation phase of the evolutionary process and shows how fitness function is designed to compare various possible tracks as well as to assess the quality of a final solution. The impact of the fitness function on the method’s results is illustrated by examples.

‘PhysTrack’: a Matlab based environment for video tracking of kinematics in the physics laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Umar Hassan, Muhammad; Sabieh Anwar, Muhammad

2017-07-01

In the past two decades, several computer software tools have been developed to investigate the motion of moving bodies in physics laboratories. In this article we report a Matlab based video tracking library, PhysTrack, primarily designed to investigate kinematics. We compare PhysTrack with other commonly available video tracking tools and outline its salient features. The general methodology of the whole video tracking process is described with a step by step explanation of several functionalities. Furthermore, results of some real physics experiments are also provided to demonstrate the working of the automated video tracking, data extraction, data analysis and presentation tools that come with this development environment. We believe that PhysTrack will be valuable for the large community of physics teachers and students already employing Matlab.

Development of a railway wagon-track interaction model: Case studies on excited tracks

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Lei; Chen, Xianmai; Li, Xuwei; He, Xianglin

2018-02-01

In this paper, a theoretical framework for modeling the railway wagon-ballast track interactions is presented, in which the dynamic equations of motion of wagon-track systems are constructed by effectively coupling the linear and nonlinear dynamic characteristics of system components. For the linear components, the energy-variational principle is directly used to derive their dynamic matrices, while for the nonlinear components, the dynamic equilibrium method is implemented to deduce the load vectors, based on which a novel railway wagon-ballast track interaction model is developed, and being validated by comparing with the experimental data measured from a heavy haul railway and another advanced model. With this study, extensive contributions in figuring out the critical speed of instability, limits and localizations of track irregularities over derailment accidents are presented by effectively integrating the dynamic simulation model, the track irregularity probabilistic model and time-frequency analysis method. The proposed approaches can provide crucial information to guarantee the running safety and stability of the wagon-track system when considering track geometries and various running speeds.

Advanced Tracking of Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Christian Søndergaard; Li, K.-J.; Pakalnis, Stardas

2005-01-01

efficient tracking techniques. More specifically, while almost all commercially available tracking solutions simply offer time-based sampling of positions, this paper's techniques aim to offer a guaranteed tracking accuracy for each vehicle at the lowest possible costs, in terms of network traffic...

Binomial distribution of Poisson statistics and tracks overlapping probability to estimate total tracks count with low uncertainty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khayat, Omid; Afarideh, Hossein; Mohammadnia, Meisam

2015-01-01

In the solid state nuclear track detectors of chemically etched type, nuclear tracks with center-to-center neighborhood of distance shorter than two times the radius of tracks will emerge as overlapping tracks. Track overlapping in this type of detectors causes tracks count losses and it becomes rather severe in high track densities. Therefore, tracks counting in this condition should include a correction factor for count losses of different tracks overlapping orders since a number of overlapping tracks may be counted as one track. Another aspect of the problem is the cases where imaging the whole area of the detector and counting all tracks are not possible. In these conditions a statistical generalization method is desired to be applicable in counting a segmented area of the detector and the results can be generalized to the whole surface of the detector. Also there is a challenge in counting the tracks in densely overlapped tracks because not sufficient geometrical or contextual information are available. It this paper we present a statistical counting method which gives the user a relation between the tracks overlapping probabilities on a segmented area of the detector surface and the total number of tracks. To apply the proposed method one can estimate the total number of tracks on a solid state detector of arbitrary shape and dimensions by approximating the tracks averaged area, whole detector surface area and some orders of tracks overlapping probabilities. It will be shown that this method is applicable in high and ultra high density tracks images and the count loss error can be enervated using a statistical generalization approach. - Highlights: • A correction factor for count losses of different tracks overlapping orders. • For the cases imaging the whole area of the detector is not possible. • Presenting a statistical generalization method for segmented areas. • Giving a relation between the tracks overlapping probabilities and the total tracks

Real-Time Tumor Tracking in the Lung Using an Electromagnetic Tracking System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shah, Amish P., E-mail: Amish.Shah@orlandohealth.com [Department of Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida (United States); Kupelian, Patrick A.; Waghorn, Benjamin J.; Willoughby, Twyla R.; Rineer, Justin M.; Mañon, Rafael R.; Vollenweider, Mark A.; Meeks, Sanford L. [Department of Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida (United States)

2013-07-01

Purpose: To describe the first use of the commercially available Calypso 4D Localization System in the lung. Methods and Materials: Under an institutional review board-approved protocol and an investigational device exemption from the US Food and Drug Administration, the Calypso system was used with nonclinical methods to acquire real-time 4-dimensional lung tumor tracks for 7 lung cancer patients. The aims of the study were to investigate (1) the potential for bronchoscopic implantation; (2) the stability of smooth-surface beacon transponders (transponders) after implantation; and (3) the ability to acquire tracking information within the lung. Electromagnetic tracking was not used for any clinical decision making and could only be performed before any radiation delivery in a research setting. All motion tracks for each patient were reviewed, and values of the average displacement, amplitude of motion, period, and associated correlation to a sinusoidal model (R{sup 2}) were tabulated for all 42 tracks. Results: For all 7 patients at least 1 transponder was successfully implanted. To assist in securing the transponder at the tumor site, it was necessary to implant a secondary fiducial for most transponders owing to the transponder's smooth surface. For 3 patients, insertion into the lung proved difficult, with only 1 transponder remaining fixed during implantation. One patient developed a pneumothorax after implantation of the secondary fiducial. Once implanted, 13 of 14 transponders remained stable within the lung and were successfully tracked with the tracking system. Conclusions: Our initial experience with electromagnetic guidance within the lung demonstrates that transponder implantation and tracking is achievable though not clinically available. This research investigation proved that lung tumor motion exhibits large variations from fraction to fraction within a single patient and that improvements to both transponder and tracking system are still

Ground Simulation of an Autonomous Satellite Rendezvous and Tracking System Using Dual Robotic Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Trube, Matthew J.; Hyslop, Andrew M.; Carignan, Craig R.; Easley, Joseph W.

2012-01-01

A hardware-in-the-loop ground system was developed for simulating a robotic servicer spacecraft tracking a target satellite at short range. A relative navigation sensor package "Argon" is mounted on the end-effector of a Fanuc 430 manipulator, which functions as the base platform of the robotic spacecraft servicer. Machine vision algorithms estimate the pose of the target spacecraft, mounted on a Rotopod R-2000 platform, relay the solution to a simulation of the servicer spacecraft running in "Freespace", which performs guidance, navigation and control functions, integrates dynamics, and issues motion commands to a Fanuc platform controller so that it tracks the simulated servicer spacecraft. Results will be reviewed for several satellite motion scenarios at different ranges. Key words: robotics, satellite, servicing, guidance, navigation, tracking, control, docking.

Controlled ion track etching

Science.gov (United States)

George, J.; Irkens, M.; Neumann, S.; Scherer, U. W.; Srivastava, A.; Sinha, D.; Fink, D.

2006-03-01

It is a common practice since long to follow the ion track-etching process in thin foils via conductometry, i.e . by measurement of the electrical current which passes through the etched track, once the track breakthrough condition has been achieved. The major disadvantage of this approach, namely the absence of any major detectable signal before breakthrough, can be avoided by examining the track-etching process capacitively. This method allows one to define precisely not only the breakthrough point before it is reached, but also the length of any non-transient track. Combining both capacitive and conductive etching allows one to control the etching process perfectly. Examples and possible applications are given.

Noise distribution of a peak track and hold circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seller, Paul; Hardie, Alec L.; Morrissey, Quentin

2012-01-01

Noise in linear electronic circuits is well characterised in terms of power spectral density in the frequency domain and the Normal probability density function in the time domain. For instance a charge preamplifier followed by a simple time independent pulse shaping circuit produces an output with a predictable, easily calculated Normal density function. By the Ergodic Principle this is true if the signal is sampled randomly in time or the experiment is run many times and measured at a fixed time after the circuit is released from reset. Apart from well defined cases, the time of the sample after release of reset does not affect the density function. If this signal is then passed through a peak track-and-hold circuit the situation is very different. The probability density function of the sampled signal is no longer Normal and the function changes with the time of the sample after release of reset. This density function can be classified by the Gumbel probability density function which characterises the Extreme Value Distribution of a defined number of Normally distributed values. The number of peaks in the signal is an important factor in the analysis. This issue is analysed theoretically and compared with a time domain noise simulation programme. This is then related to a real electronic circuit used for low-noise X-ray measurements and shows how the low-energy resolution of this system is significantly degraded when using a peak track-and-hold.

Printed Tag Real-time Tracking

KAUST Repository

Bilal, Rana M.

2014-09-18

Disclosed are various embodiments for monitoring tracking devices capable of seamless indoor and outdoor tracking transitions. A tracking device may comprise, for example, printable circuitry and antennas combined with one or more receivers/transceivers on a substrate. The tracking device may be configured, for example, to localize the tracking device via GPS or an alternative localization strategy based on a determination of whether GPS communication is available. A modified RSSI fingerprinting methodology may be used to accurately determine a location of the tracking device using Wi-Fi access points. A device monitoring service may communicate with internal and/or external mapping API\\'s to render a device monitoring user interface comprising a visual representation of the location of the tracking device.

Thermal Tracking of Sports Players

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rikke Gade

2014-07-01

Full Text Available We present here a real-time tracking algorithm for thermal video from a sports game. Robust detection of people includes routines for handling occlusions and noise before tracking each detected person with a Kalman filter. This online tracking algorithm is compared with a state-of-the-art offline multi-target tracking algorithm. Experiments are performed on a manually annotated 2-minutes video sequence of a real soccer game. The Kalman filter shows a very promising result on this rather challenging sequence with a tracking accuracy above 70% and is superior compared with the offline tracking approach. Furthermore, the combined detection and tracking algorithm runs in real time at 33 fps, even with large image sizes of 1920 × 480 pixels.

Thermal tracking of sports players.

Science.gov (United States)

Gade, Rikke; Moeslund, Thomas B

2014-07-29

We present here a real-time tracking algorithm for thermal video from a sports game. Robust detection of people includes routines for handling occlusions and noise before tracking each detected person with a Kalman filter. This online tracking algorithm is compared with a state-of-the-art offline multi-target tracking algorithm. Experiments are performed on a manually annotated 2-minutes video sequence of a real soccer game. The Kalman filter shows a very promising result on this rather challenging sequence with a tracking accuracy above 70% and is superior compared with the offline tracking approach. Furthermore, the combined detection and tracking algorithm runs in real time at 33 fps, even with large image sizes of 1920 × 480 pixels.

Track and mode controller (TMC): a software executive for a high-altitude pointing and tracking experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Michnovicz, Michael R.

1997-06-01

A real-time executive has been implemented to control a high altitude pointing and tracking experiment. The track and mode controller (TMC) implements a table driven design, in which the track mode logic for a tracking mission is defined within a state transition diagram (STD). THe STD is implemented as a state transition table in the TMC software. Status Events trigger the state transitions in the STD. Each state, as it is entered, causes a number of processes to be activated within the system. As these processes propagate through the system, the status of key processes are monitored by the TMC, allowing further transitions within the STD. This architecture is implemented in real-time, using the vxWorks operating system. VxWorks message queues allow communication of status events from the Event Monitor task to the STD task. Process commands are propagated to the rest of the system processors by means of the SCRAMNet shared memory network. The system mode logic contained in the STD will autonomously sequence in acquisition, tracking and pointing system through an entire engagement sequence, starting with target detection and ending with aimpoint maintenance. Simulation results and lab test results will be presented to verify the mode controller. In addition to implementing the system mode logic with the STD, the TMC can process prerecorded time sequences of commands required during startup operations. It can also process single commands from the system operator. In this paper, the author presents (1) an overview, in which he describes the TMC architecture, the relationship of an end-to-end simulation to the flight software and the laboratory testing environment, (2) implementation details, including information on the vxWorks message queues and the SCRAMNet shared memory network, (3) simulation results and lab test results which verify the mode controller, and (4) plans for the future, specifically as to how this executive will expedite transition to a fully

Single-Track Melt-Pool Measurements and Microstructures in Inconel 625

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Supriyo; Ma, Li; Levine, Lyle E.; Ricker, Richard E.; Stoudt, Mark R.; Heigel, Jarred C.; Guyer, Jonathan E.

2018-02-01

We use single-track laser melting experiments and simulations on Inconel 625 to estimate the dimensions and microstructure of the resulting melt pool. Our work is based on a design-of-experiments approach which uses multiple laser power and scan speed combinations. Single-track experiments generated melt pools of certain dimensions that showed reasonable agreement with our finite-element calculations. Phase-field simulations were used to predict the size and segregation of the cellular microstructure that formed along the melt-pool boundaries for the solidification conditions that changed as a function of melt-pool dimensions.

Single-Track Melt-Pool Measurements and Microstructures in Inconel 625

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Supriyo; Ma, Li; Levine, Lyle E.; Ricker, Richard E.; Stoudt, Mark R.; Heigel, Jarred C.; Guyer, Jonathan E.

2018-06-01

We use single-track laser melting experiments and simulations on Inconel 625 to estimate the dimensions and microstructure of the resulting melt pool. Our work is based on a design-of-experiments approach which uses multiple laser power and scan speed combinations. Single-track experiments generated melt pools of certain dimensions that showed reasonable agreement with our finite-element calculations. Phase-field simulations were used to predict the size and segregation of the cellular microstructure that formed along the melt-pool boundaries for the solidification conditions that changed as a function of melt-pool dimensions.

Stair Climbing Control for 4-DOF Tracked Vehicle Based on Internal Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daisuke Endo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In search-and-rescue missions, multi-degrees-of-freedom (DOF tracked robots that are equipped with subtracks are commonly used. These types of robots have superior locomotion performance on rough terrain. However, in teleoperated missions, the performance of tracked robots depends largely on the operators’ ability to control every subtrack appropriately. Therefore, an autonomous traversal function can significantly help in the teleoperation of such robots. In this paper, we propose a planning and control method for 4-DOF tracked robots climbing up/down known stairs automatically based on internal sensors. Experimental results obtained using mockup stairs verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Forward tracking detectors

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. Forward tracking is an essential part of a detector at the international linear collider (ILC). The requirements for forward tracking are explained and the proposed solutions in the detector concepts are shown.

Commodity movement tracking (CMT) : bridging operations and commercial transactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewyta, M.

2004-01-01

Enbridge Pipelines Inc. (EPI) operates a network of interconnected pipelines that facilitate the transport of liquid fuels across North America, with operations centralized in Edmonton, Alberta. This paper addressed the issue of accurately tracking the location of commodities transported on EPI pipelines for billing and payment purposes. The role of integrated information systems in meeting the need for high quality information by customers and by EPI was also addressed. The paper presented the Commodity Movement Tracking (CMT) system that is central to achieving the desired accuracy of commercial and financial transactions. CMT tracks inventories and links products to commercial transactions across the pipeline. Batches are tracked from initial receipt to final delivery, incorporating CMT's operational checks and balances, reconciliation steps, process monitoring, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems data that contribute to inputs equaling outputs. Daily schedules are recorded into the CMT system as events, based on volumetric information derived from the SCADA system. Receipt and delivery events will be electronically recorded into CMT from field flow computers in the near future. CMT modeling considers changes within the line configuration, static pipe diameter changes, as well as packing and draining of the line fill resulting from pressure changes. This paper described the major functional activities of the overall business process, such as nominations, scheduling, commodity movement tracking, leak detection, electronic ticketing, SCADA, and oil accounting. 10 figs.

A computational tool to characterize particle tracking measurements in optical tweezers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, Michael A; Bowen, Warwick P

2013-01-01

Here, we present a computational tool for optical tweezers which calculates the particle tracking signal measured with a quadrant detector and the shot-noise limit to position resolution. The tool is a piece of Matlab code which functions within the freely available Optical Tweezers Toolbox. It allows the measurements performed in most optical tweezer experiments to be theoretically characterized in a fast and easy manner. The code supports particles with arbitrary size, any optical fields and any combination of objective and condenser, and performs a full vector calculation of the relevant fields. Example calculations are presented which show the tracking signals for different particles, and the shot-noise limit to position sensitivity as a function of the effective condenser NA. (paper)

LiTrack: A Fast Longitudinal Phase Space Tracking Code with Graphical User Interface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bane, K.L.F.

2005-01-01

Linac-based light sources and linear colliders typically apply longitudinal phase space manipulations in their design, including electron bunch compression and wakefield-induced energy spread control. Several computer codes handle such issues, but most also require detailed information on the transverse focusing lattice. In fact, in most linear accelerators, the transverse distributions do not significantly affect the longitudinal, and can be ignored initially. This allows the use of a fast 2D code to study longitudinal aspects without time-consuming considerations of the transverse focusing. LiTrack is based on a 15-year old code (same name) originally written by one of us (KB), which is now a Matlab [1] code with additional features, such as graphical user interface, prompt output plotting, and functional call within a script. This single-bunch tracking code includes RF acceleration, bunch compression to 3rd order, geometric and resistive short-range wakefields, aperture limits, synchrotron radiation, and flexible output plotting. The code was used to design both the LCLS [2] and the SPPS [3] projects at SLAC and typically runs 10 5 particles in < 1 minute. We describe the features, show some examples, and provide free access to the code

Diffusion tensor imaging fiber tracking with reliable tracking orientation and flexible step size☆

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Xufeng; Wang, Manning; Chen, Xinrong; Nie, Shengdong; Li, Zhexu; Xu, Xiaoping; Zhang, Xuelong; Song, Zhijian

2013-01-01

We propose a method of reliable tracking orientation and flexible step size fiber tracking. A new directional strategy was defined to select one optimal tracking orientation from each directional set, which was based on the single-tensor model and the two-tensor model. The directional set of planar voxels contained three tracking directions: two from the two-tensor model and one from the single-tensor model. The directional set of linear voxels contained only one principal vector. In addition, a flexible step size, rather than fixable step sizes, was implemented to improve the accuracy of fiber tracking. We used two sets of human data to assess the performance of our method; one was from a healthy volunteer and the other from a patient with low-grade glioma. Results verified that our method was superior to the single-tensor Fiber Assignment by Continuous Tracking and the two-tensor eXtended Streamline Tractography for showing detailed images of fiber bundles. PMID:25206444

Tracking accuracy evaluation of a PET-enabled glove for molecular image-guided surgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruionu, L.G.; Wilson, E.; Cleary, K.; Wong, K.H.; Weinberg, I.N.

2007-01-01

We are developing a new type of PET scanner with a flexible geometry that can provide in situ functional imaging in environments where conventional full-body PET scanning would be difficult or impossible. Because PET reconstruction depends on localizing emissions from the radiotracer inside the patient, our system must have a means of continuously monitoring the detectors' position and orientation. We therefore evaluated the accuracy of using electromagnetic tracking for this task by comparing position measurements from the electromagnetic tracking system to a reference optical tracking system. The mean error in localization was 2.1 mm. (orig.)

Tracking accuracy evaluation of a PET-enabled glove for molecular image-guided surgery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gruionu, L.G. [Computer Aided Interventions and Medical Robotics (CAIMR), Imaging Science and Information Systems (ISIS) Center, Georgetown Univ. Medical Center, Washington, DC (United States); Faculty of Engineering and Management of Technological Systems, Univ. of Craiova, Craiova (Romania); Wilson, E.; Cleary, K.; Wong, K.H. [Computer Aided Interventions and Medical Robotics (CAIMR), Imaging Science and Information Systems (ISIS) Center, Georgetown Univ. Medical Center, Washington, DC (United States); Weinberg, I.N. [Fast Imaging Co., Bethesda, MD (United States)

2007-06-15

We are developing a new type of PET scanner with a flexible geometry that can provide in situ functional imaging in environments where conventional full-body PET scanning would be difficult or impossible. Because PET reconstruction depends on localizing emissions from the radiotracer inside the patient, our system must have a means of continuously monitoring the detectors' position and orientation. We therefore evaluated the accuracy of using electromagnetic tracking for this task by comparing position measurements from the electromagnetic tracking system to a reference optical tracking system. The mean error in localization was 2.1 mm. (orig.)

High-throughput phenotyping of plant resistance to aphids by automated video tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Kloth, Karen J; Ten Broeke, Cindy Jm; Thoen, Manus Pm; Hanhart-van den Brink, Marianne; Wiegers, Gerrie L; Krips, Olga E; Noldus, Lucas Pjj; Dicke, Marcel; Jongsma, Maarten A

2015-01-01

Piercing-sucking insects are major vectors of plant viruses causing significant yield losses in crops. Functional genomics of plant resistance to these insects would greatly benefit from the availability of high-throughput, quantitative phenotyping methods. We have developed an automated video tracking platform that quantifies aphid feeding behaviour on leaf discs to assess the level of plant resistance. Through the analysis of aphid movement, the start and duration of plant penetrations by aphids were estimated. As a case study, video tracking confirmed the near-complete resistance of lettuce cultivar 'Corbana' against Nasonovia ribisnigri (Mosely), biotype Nr:0, and revealed quantitative resistance in Arabidopsis accession Co-2 against Myzus persicae (Sulzer). The video tracking platform was benchmarked against Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) recordings and aphid population development assays. The use of leaf discs instead of intact plants reduced the intensity of the resistance effect in video tracking, but sufficiently replicated experiments resulted in similar conclusions as EPG recordings and aphid population assays. One video tracking platform could screen 100 samples in parallel. Automated video tracking can be used to screen large plant populations for resistance to aphids and other piercing-sucking insects.

Beyond Group: Multiple Person Tracking via Minimal Topology-Energy-Variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shan; Ye, Qixiang; Xing, Junliang; Kuijper, Arjan; Han, Zhenjun; Jiao, Jianbin; Ji, Xiangyang

2017-12-01

Tracking multiple persons is a challenging task when persons move in groups and occlude each other. Existing group-based methods have extensively investigated how to make group division more accurately in a tracking-by-detection framework; however, few of them quantify the group dynamics from the perspective of targets' spatial topology or consider the group in a dynamic view. Inspired by the sociological properties of pedestrians, we propose a novel socio-topology model with a topology-energy function to factor the group dynamics of moving persons and groups. In this model, minimizing the topology-energy-variance in a two-level energy form is expected to produce smooth topology transitions, stable group tracking, and accurate target association. To search for the strong minimum in energy variation, we design the discrete group-tracklet jump moves embedded in the gradient descent method, which ensures that the moves reduce the energy variation of group and trajectory alternately in the varying topology dimension. Experimental results on both RGB and RGB-D data sets show the superiority of our proposed model for multiple person tracking in crowd scenes.

Calibration of PM-355 nuclear track detectors for low-energy deuterons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malinowski, K.; Skladnik-Sadowska, E.; Sadowski, M.J.; Czaus, K.

2008-01-01

A dependence of track diameters on deuteron energy was investigated for PM-355 nuclear track detectors. Deuteron streams were obtained from RPI-IBIS facility at the pulsed injection of deuterium. Mass and energy analysis was performed with a Thomson-type spectrometer and PM-355 samples. An etched deuteron parabola extended from about 20 keV to about 500 keV. The energy resolution of measurements on the parabola at 20 keV was ±0.2keV, and at 500 keV amounted to ±50keV. Accuracy of the determination of deuteron energies decreased for higher energy values. Results are presented in diagrams showing the track diameters as a function of deuteron energy for chosen etching times (1-8 h)

Status and trends of solid state track detector use in radiation protection monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doerschel, B.

1980-01-01

The characteristic properties of solid state track detectors allow them to be used for determining the radiation fields of charged and uncharged particles and, consequently, for solving some problems involved in radiation protection monitoring. Aptitude of various detector materials is investigated on the basis of the track formation mechanism taking into account the properties of the particles to be detected. Use of these detectors in radiation protection monitoring presumes appropriate methods of intensifying the latent tracks, which are discussed as a function of various physical parameters. Readout methods of solid state track detectors are based on variations in detector properties determined by number and size of particle tracks in the detector. The choice of a special readout method, among other things, depends on the purpose, detector material, and pretreatment of the detectors. The most prospective methods are described and investigated with respect to their possible use in various fields of radiation protection monitoring. The trends of development of the application of solid state track detectors in radiation protection monitoring are discussed, using some typical applications as examples. (author)

Structural functional associations of the orbit in thyroid eye disease: Kalman filters to track extraocular rectal muscles

Science.gov (United States)

Chaganti, Shikha; Nelson, Katrina; Mundy, Kevin; Luo, Yifu; Harrigan, Robert L.; Damon, Steve; Fabbri, Daniel; Mawn, Louise; Landman, Bennett

2016-03-01

Pathologies of the optic nerve and orbit impact millions of Americans and quantitative assessment of the orbital structures on 3-D imaging would provide objective markers to enhance diagnostic accuracy, improve timely intervention, and eventually preserve visual function. Recent studies have shown that the multi-atlas methodology is suitable for identifying orbital structures, but challenges arise in the identification of the individual extraocular rectus muscles that control eye movement. This is increasingly problematic in diseased eyes, where these muscles often appear to fuse at the back of the orbit (at the resolution of clinical computed tomography imaging) due to inflammation or crowding. We propose the use of Kalman filters to track the muscles in three-dimensions to refine multi-atlas segmentation and resolve ambiguity due to imaging resolution, noise, and artifacts. The purpose of our study is to investigate a method of automatically generating orbital metrics from CT imaging and demonstrate the utility of the approach by correlating structural metrics of the eye orbit with clinical data and visual function measures in subjects with thyroid eye disease. The pilot study demonstrates that automatically calculated orbital metrics are strongly correlated with several clinical characteristics. Moreover, it is shown that the superior, inferior, medial and lateral rectus muscles obtained using Kalman filters are each correlated with different categories of functional deficit. These findings serve as foundation for further investigation in the use of CT imaging in the study, analysis and diagnosis of ocular diseases, specifically thyroid eye disease.

Electromagnetic servoing-a new tracking paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichl, Tobias; Gardiazabal, José; Navab, Nassir

2013-08-01

Electromagnetic (EM) tracking is highly relevant for many computer assisted interventions. This is in particular due to the fact that the scientific community has not yet developed a general solution for tracking of flexible instruments within the human body. Electromagnetic tracking solutions are highly attractive for minimally invasive procedures, since they do not require line of sight. However, a major problem with EM tracking solutions is that they do not provide uniform accuracy throughout the tracking volume and the desired, highest accuracy is often only achieved close to the center of tracking volume. In this paper, we present a solution to the tracking problem, by mounting an EM field generator onto a robot arm. Proposing a new tracking paradigm, we take advantage of the electromagnetic tracking to detect the sensor within a specific sub-volume, with known and optimal accuracy. We then use the more accurate and robust robot positioning for obtaining uniform accuracy throughout the tracking volume. Such an EM servoing methodology guarantees optimal and uniform accuracy, by allowing us to always keep the tracked sensor close to the center of the tracking volume. In this paper, both dynamic accuracy and accuracy distribution within the tracking volume are evaluated using optical tracking as ground truth. In repeated evaluations, the proposed method was able to reduce the overall error from 6.64±7.86 mm to a significantly improved accuracy of 3.83±6.43 mm. In addition, the combined system provides a larger tracking volume, which is only limited by the reach of the robot and not the much smaller tracking volume defined by the magnetic field generator.

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-01-01

persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc

Speckle Tracking and Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Marins Rocha

Full Text Available Abstract Background: Amyloidosis is a disease caused by deposits of insoluble fibrils in extracellular spaces. The most common type of familial amyloidosis is mediated by mutation of transthyretin, especially Val30Met. Symptoms and ejection fraction decrease may occur in cardiac amyloidosis only in case of poor prognosis. Myocardial strain detected by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography can indicate changes in myocardial function at early stages of the disease. Objective: To determine the accuracy of left ventricular longitudinal strain by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography in patients with familial amyloidosis caused by Val30Met transthyretin mutation. Methods: Eighteen consecutive patients, carriers of transthyretin mutation, were evaluated by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography, by which myocardial strain curves were obtained, following the American Society of Echocardiography recommendations. Results: Patients were divided into three groups: 1- Val30Met with cardiac amyloidosis; 2-Val30Met with extracardiac amyloidosis; 3 - Val30Met without evidence of disease. As the three groups were compared by the Mann-Whitney test, we found a statistically significant difference between groups 1 and 2 in the mean longitudinal tension (p=0.01, mean basal longitudinal strain (p=0.014; in mean longitudinal tension and mean longitudinal strain between groups 1 and 3 (p=0.005; and in the ratio of longitudinal strain of apical septum segment to longitudinal strain of basal septum (p=0.041 between groups 2 and 3. Conclusion: Left ventricular longitudinal strain detected by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography is able to diagnose left ventricular dysfunction in early stages of familial amyloidosis caused by transthyretin Val30Met mutation.

Traditional Tracking with Kalman Filter on Parallel Architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Cerati, Giuseppe; Elmer, Peter; Lantz, Steven; MacNeill, Ian; McDermott, Kevin; Riley, Dan; Tadel, Matevž; Wittich, Peter; Würthwein, Frank; Yagil, Avi

2015-05-01

Power density constraints are limiting the performance improvements of modern CPUs. To address this, we have seen the introduction of lower-power, multi-core processors, but the future will be even more exciting. In order to stay within the power density limits but still obtain Moore's Law performance/price gains, it will be necessary to parallelize algorithms to exploit larger numbers of lightweight cores and specialized functions like large vector units. Example technologies today include Intel's Xeon Phi and GPGPUs. Track finding and fitting is one of the most computationally challenging problems for event reconstruction in particle physics. At the High Luminosity LHC, for example, this will be by far the dominant problem. The most common track finding techniques in use today are however those based on the Kalman Filter. Significant experience has been accumulated with these techniques on real tracking detector systems, both in the trigger and offline. We report the results of our investigations into the potential and limitations of these algorithms on the new parallel hardware.

MotorSense: Using Motion Tracking Technology to Support the Identification and Treatment of Gross-Motor Dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Arnedillo-Sánchez, Inmaculada; Boyle, Bryan; Bossavit, Benoît

2017-01-01

MotorSense is a motion detection and tracking technology that can be implemented across a range of environments to assist in detecting delays in gross-motor skills development. The system utilises the motion tracking functionality of Microsoft's Kinect™. It features games that require children to perform graded gross-motor tasks matched with their chronological and developmental ages. This paper describes the rationale for MotorSense, provides an overview of the functionality of the system and illustrates sample activities.

Study of α-energy discrimination in CR-39 track etch detectors for use as a radon/thoron dosemeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kandaiya, S.; Al-Najjar, S.A.R.; Piesch, E.

1988-01-01

The properties of CR 39 nuclear track detectors were evaluated for their α-energy discrimination up to 8.77 MeV using a combination of chemical-electrochemical track revealing techniques. Using three field strengths, α-energy discrimination by ECE track diameter and track density as a function of chemical pre-etching time were studied. α-energy spectra using different irradiation geometries were then evaluated using the optimum conditions and then compared with those obtained form other techniques. (author)

Velocity Tracking Control of Wheeled Mobile Robots by Iterative Learning Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaochun Lu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an iterative learning control (ILC strategy to resolve the trajectory tracking problem of wheeled mobile robots (WMRs based on dynamic model. In the previous study of WMRs’ trajectory tracking, ILC was usually applied to the kinematical model of WMRs with the assumption that desired velocity can be tracked immediately. However, this assumption cannot be realized in the real world at all. The kinematic and dynamic models of WMRs are deduced in this chapter, and a novel combination of D-type ILC algorithm and dynamic model of WMR with random bounded disturbances are presented. To analyze the convergence of the algorithm, the method of contracting mapping, which shows that the designed controller can make the velocity tracking errors converge to zero completely when the iteration times tend to infinite, is adopted. Simulation results show the effectiveness of D-type ILC in the trajectory tracking problem of WMRs, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of the algorithm in the condition of random bounded disturbance. A comparative study conducted between D-type ILC and compound cosine function neural network (NN controller also demonstrates the effectiveness of the ILC strategy.

Tracks: A National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network Overview

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2009-08-04

In this podcast, Dr. Mike McGeehin, Director of CDC's Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, provides an overview of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. It highlights the Tracking Network's goal, how it will improve public health, its audience, and much more.  Created: 8/4/2009 by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   Date Released: 8/4/2009.

Why we are tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tække, Jesper

2015-01-01

In this short essay, concerning why we are tracking, I will try to frame tracking as an evolutionary developed skill that humans need to survive. From an evolutionary point zero life must reflect upon itself in regard to its surrounding world as a kind of societal self-synchronization in this reg......In this short essay, concerning why we are tracking, I will try to frame tracking as an evolutionary developed skill that humans need to survive. From an evolutionary point zero life must reflect upon itself in regard to its surrounding world as a kind of societal self......-synchronization in this regard (Spencer 1890, Luhmann 2000, Tække 2014, 2011). I was inspired by Jill Walker Rettberg’s book: “Seeing Ourselves through Technology” and her presentation at the seminar: “Tracking Culture” arranged by Anders Albrechtslund in Aarhus January 2015....

Contour tracking and corner detection in a logic programming environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bell, Benjamin; Pau, L. F.

1990-01-01

The added functionality such as contour tracking and corner detection which logic programming lends to standard image operators is described. An environment for implementing low-level imaging operations with Prolog predicates is considered. Within this environment, higher-level image predicates (...

Criteria of assessment of short track runners’ prospects as mean of promising sportsmen losses’ prevention at selection stage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.A. Kugayevskiy

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: to offer main criteria for assessment of short track runners’ prospects. Material: 8 sportsmen of short track Ukrainian national team participated in the research. Influence of training means’ volume on result, shown on competition distance, was determined. Both organism’s functional and reserve potentials were assessed with the help of computer program D&K-test. Results: we have determined priority of functional indicators in selection of short track runners and for assessment of their prospects. Sportsman’s potentials shall be assessed on the base of functional fitness indicators, analysis of competition practice and training process data of pervious stage of sport perfection. Conclusions: individualization of training process, considering physiological characteristics of definite sportsman, will permit to completely open the embedded potential. Absence of sportsman’s progress with prominent functional system’s characteristics points at demand in correction of training program for his sportsman.

The DOe Silicon Track Trigger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steinbrueck, Georg

2003-01-01

We describe a trigger preprocessor to be used by the DOe experiment for selecting events with tracks from the decay of long-lived particles. This Level 2 impact parameter trigger utilizes information from the Silicon Microstrip Tracker to reconstruct tracks with improved spatial and momentum resolutions compared to those obtained by the Level 1 tracking trigger. It is constructed of VME boards with much of the logic existing in programmable processors. A common motherboard provides the I/O infrastructure and three different daughter boards perform the tasks of identifying the roads from the tracking trigger data, finding the clusters in the roads in the silicon detector, and fitting tracks to the clusters. This approach provides flexibility for the design, testing and maintenance phases of the project. The track parameters are provided to the trigger framework in 25 μs. The effective impact parameter resolution for high-momentum tracks is 35 μm, dominated by the size of the Tevatron beam

The influence of train running direction and track supports position on the behaviour of transition zones

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sañudo Ortega, R.; Miranda Manzanares, M.; Markine, V.; Dell' Olio, L.

2016-07-01

Different types of track infrastructure can be found along railway lines. Separation zones between these different types of structures are the source of a lot of problems. Transition zones on a railway line represent a gradual solution for the problems between conventional railway structure and singular structures located at different points along the line. The different nature, positioning and geometry used with the materials generate changes in the stiffness on both sides of these singular zones leading to an increase in wear and a loss of geometry, with the associated maintenance costs. This article describes the use of mathematical modelling to represent the behaviour of these zones as a function of train running direction and track supports. Available research into transition zones has not studied these separation points where high increases in load are generated for very short periods of time. Finite elements are used to model two types of track (conventional ballasted track and slab track), using a vehicle to dynamically simulate the behaviour in these zones as a function of train running direction and the position of track supports. The magnitudes analysed were the vertical stresses and the vertical displacements under the sleepers and the supports in both types of structure. The results show increased stresses at the separation zone between both structures which varied in magnitude and position depending most of track supports’ location than the train running direction. (Author)

Ion track etching revisited: II. Electronic properties of aged tracks in polymers

Science.gov (United States)

Fink, D.; Muñoz Hernández, G.; Cruz, S. A.; Garcia-Arellano, H.; Vacik, J.; Hnatowicz, V.; Kiv, A.; Alfonta, L.

2018-02-01

We compile here electronic ion track etching effects, such as capacitive-type currents, current spike emission, phase shift, rectification and background currents that eventually emerge upon application of sinusoidal alternating voltages across thin, aged swift heavy ion-irradiated polymer foils during etching. Both capacitive-type currents and current spike emission occur as long as obstacles still prevent a smooth continuous charge carrier passage across the foils. In the case of sufficiently high applied electric fields, these obstacles are overcome by spike emission. These effects vanish upon etchant breakthrough. Subsequent transmitted currents are usually of Ohmic type, but shortly after breakthrough (during the track' core etching) often still exhibit deviations such as strong positive phase shifts. They stem from very slow charge carrier mobility across the etched ion tracks due to retarding trapping/detrapping processes. Upon etching the track's penumbra, one occasionally observes a split-up into two transmitted current components, one with positive and another one with negative phase shifts. Usually, these phase shifts vanish when bulk etching starts. Current rectification upon track etching is a very frequent phenomenon. Rectification uses to inverse when core etching ends and penumbra etching begins. When the latter ends, rectification largely vanishes. Occasionally, some residual rectification remains which we attribute to the aged polymeric bulk itself. Last not least, we still consider background currents which often emerge transiently during track etching. We could assign them clearly to differences in the electrochemical potential of the liquids on both sides of the etched polymer foils. Transient relaxation effects during the track etching cause their eventually chaotic behaviour.

Fast Compressive Tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Kaihua; Zhang, Lei; Yang, Ming-Hsuan

2014-10-01

It is a challenging task to develop effective and efficient appearance models for robust object tracking due to factors such as pose variation, illumination change, occlusion, and motion blur. Existing online tracking algorithms often update models with samples from observations in recent frames. Despite much success has been demonstrated, numerous issues remain to be addressed. First, while these adaptive appearance models are data-dependent, there does not exist sufficient amount of data for online algorithms to learn at the outset. Second, online tracking algorithms often encounter the drift problems. As a result of self-taught learning, misaligned samples are likely to be added and degrade the appearance models. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective and efficient tracking algorithm with an appearance model based on features extracted from a multiscale image feature space with data-independent basis. The proposed appearance model employs non-adaptive random projections that preserve the structure of the image feature space of objects. A very sparse measurement matrix is constructed to efficiently extract the features for the appearance model. We compress sample images of the foreground target and the background using the same sparse measurement matrix. The tracking task is formulated as a binary classification via a naive Bayes classifier with online update in the compressed domain. A coarse-to-fine search strategy is adopted to further reduce the computational complexity in the detection procedure. The proposed compressive tracking algorithm runs in real-time and performs favorably against state-of-the-art methods on challenging sequences in terms of efficiency, accuracy and robustness.

Robust Control of Welding Robot for Tracking a Rectangular Welding Line

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manh Dung Ngo

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper highlights a welding robot (WR for its end effector to track a rectangular welding line (RWL. The WR includes five actuators which use a DC motor as a power source. Two controllers are proposed to control the WR's end effector: a main controller and a servo controller. Firstly, based on WR's kinematic equations and its feedback errors using backstepping method the main controller is proposed to design the reference-inputs for the WR's actuators in order that the WR's end effector tracks the RWL. Secondly, based on the dynamic equation of WR's actuator, the servo controller is designed using an active disturbance rejection control method. Finally, a control system incorporated with the main controller and the servo controllers make the WR's end effector robustly track a RWL in the presence of the modeling uncertainty and disturbances during the welding process. In experiment, the main controller which has a function as a master of the control system links to the five servo controllers which have a function as a slave via I2C communication. The effectiveness of the proposed control system is proven through the simulation and experimental results.

Robust Control of Welding Robot for Tracking a Rectangular Welding Line

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manh Dung Ngo

2006-09-01

Full Text Available This paper highlights a welding robot (WR for its end effector to track a rectangular welding line (RWL. The WR includes five actuators which use a DC motor as a power source. Two controllers are proposed to control the WR's end effector: a main controller and a servo controller. Firstly, based on WR's kinematic equations and its feedback errors using backstepping method the main controller is proposed to design the reference-inputs for the WR's actuators in order that the WR's end effector tracks the RWL. Secondly, based on the dynamic equation of WR's actuator, the servo controller is designed using an active disturbance rejection control method. Finally, a control system incorporated with the main controller and the servo controllers make the WR's end effector robustly track a RWL in the presence of the modeling uncertainty and disturbances during the welding process. In experiment, the main controller which has a function as a master of the control system links to the five servo controllers which have a function as a slave via I2C communication. The effectiveness of the proposed control system is proven through the simulation and experimental results.

Three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography allows detailed evaluation of left atrial function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy--insights from the MAGYAR-Path Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Domsik, Péter; Kalapos, Anita; Chadaide, Számi; Sepp, Róbert; Hausinger, Péter; Forster, Tamás; Nemes, Attila

2014-11-01

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) represents a generalized myopathic process affecting both ventricular and atrial myocardium. Reduced left atrial (LA) function was demonstrated in HCM by different methods. Three-dimensional (3D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has just been introduced for the evaluation of LA. This study was designed to compare 3DSTE-derived LA volumetric and strain parameters in HCM with healthy controls. The study comprised 23 consecutive HCM patients (mean age: 48.5 ± 15.1 years, 14 men). Their results were compared to 23 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Complete two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography and 3DSTE have been performed in all cases. Calculated LA maximum (66.4 ± 20.4 mL vs. 36.0 ± 6.1 mL, P echocardiography allows detailed evaluation of LA (dys) function in HCM by volumetric and strain measurements. © 2014, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A numerical model for the thermal history of rocks based on confined horizontal fission tracks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Peter Klint; Hansen, Kirsten; Kunzendorf, Helmar

1992-01-01

A numerical model for determination of the thermal history of rocks is presented. It is shown that the thermal history may be uniquely determined as a piece-by-piece linear function on the basis of etched confined, horizontal fission track length distributions, their surface densities, and the ur......A numerical model for determination of the thermal history of rocks is presented. It is shown that the thermal history may be uniquely determined as a piece-by-piece linear function on the basis of etched confined, horizontal fission track length distributions, their surface densities...

Knowledge Management for Distributed Tracking and the Next-Generation Command and Control

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ceruti, Marion G; Wright, Tedd L

2006-01-01

Knowledge Management for Distributed-Tracking (KMDT) is an ongoing research and development project to improve military-information functions in the battle space, such as command, control, and decision support...

Simultaneous tracking and activity recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manfredotti, Cristina Elena; Fleet, David J.; Hamilton, Howard J.

2011-01-01

be used to improve the prediction step of the tracking, while, at the same time, tracking information can be used for online activity recognition. Experimental results in two different settings show that our approach 1) decreases the error rate and improves the identity maintenance of the positional......Many tracking problems involve several distinct objects interacting with each other. We develop a framework that takes into account interactions between objects allowing the recognition of complex activities. In contrast to classic approaches that consider distinct phases of tracking and activity...... tracking and 2) identifies the correct activity with higher accuracy than standard approaches....

TrackingNet: A Large-Scale Dataset and Benchmark for Object Tracking in the Wild

KAUST Repository

Mü ller, Matthias; Bibi, Adel Aamer; Giancola, Silvio; Al-Subaihi, Salman; Ghanem, Bernard

2018-01-01

Despite the numerous developments in object tracking, further development of current tracking algorithms is limited by small and mostly saturated datasets. As a matter of fact, data-hungry trackers based on deep-learning currently rely on object detection datasets due to the scarcity of dedicated large-scale tracking datasets. In this work, we present TrackingNet, the first large-scale dataset and benchmark for object tracking in the wild. We provide more than 30K videos with more than 14 million dense bounding box annotations. Our dataset covers a wide selection of object classes in broad and diverse context. By releasing such a large-scale dataset, we expect deep trackers to further improve and generalize. In addition, we introduce a new benchmark composed of 500 novel videos, modeled with a distribution similar to our training dataset. By sequestering the annotation of the test set and providing an online evaluation server, we provide a fair benchmark for future development of object trackers. Deep trackers fine-tuned on a fraction of our dataset improve their performance by up to 1.6% on OTB100 and up to 1.7% on TrackingNet Test. We provide an extensive benchmark on TrackingNet by evaluating more than 20 trackers. Our results suggest that object tracking in the wild is far from being solved.

TrackingNet: A Large-Scale Dataset and Benchmark for Object Tracking in the Wild

KAUST Repository

Müller, Matthias

2018-03-28

Despite the numerous developments in object tracking, further development of current tracking algorithms is limited by small and mostly saturated datasets. As a matter of fact, data-hungry trackers based on deep-learning currently rely on object detection datasets due to the scarcity of dedicated large-scale tracking datasets. In this work, we present TrackingNet, the first large-scale dataset and benchmark for object tracking in the wild. We provide more than 30K videos with more than 14 million dense bounding box annotations. Our dataset covers a wide selection of object classes in broad and diverse context. By releasing such a large-scale dataset, we expect deep trackers to further improve and generalize. In addition, we introduce a new benchmark composed of 500 novel videos, modeled with a distribution similar to our training dataset. By sequestering the annotation of the test set and providing an online evaluation server, we provide a fair benchmark for future development of object trackers. Deep trackers fine-tuned on a fraction of our dataset improve their performance by up to 1.6% on OTB100 and up to 1.7% on TrackingNet Test. We provide an extensive benchmark on TrackingNet by evaluating more than 20 trackers. Our results suggest that object tracking in the wild is far from being solved.

Evaluation of a video-based head motion tracking system for dedicated brain PET

Science.gov (United States)

Anishchenko, S.; Beylin, D.; Stepanov, P.; Stepanov, A.; Weinberg, I. N.; Schaeffer, S.; Zavarzin, V.; Shaposhnikov, D.; Smith, M. F.

2015-03-01

Unintentional head motion during Positron Emission Tomography (PET) data acquisition can degrade PET image quality and lead to artifacts. Poor patient compliance, head tremor, and coughing are examples of movement sources. Head motion due to patient non-compliance can be an issue with the rise of amyloid brain PET in dementia patients. To preserve PET image resolution and quantitative accuracy, head motion can be tracked and corrected in the image reconstruction algorithm. While fiducial markers can be used, a contactless approach is preferable. A video-based head motion tracking system for a dedicated portable brain PET scanner was developed. Four wide-angle cameras organized in two stereo pairs are used for capturing video of the patient's head during the PET data acquisition. Facial points are automatically tracked and used to determine the six degree of freedom head pose as a function of time. The presented work evaluated the newly designed tracking system using a head phantom and a moving American College of Radiology (ACR) phantom. The mean video-tracking error was 0.99±0.90 mm relative to the magnetic tracking device used as ground truth. Qualitative evaluation with the ACR phantom shows the advantage of the motion tracking application. The developed system is able to perform tracking with accuracy close to millimeter and can help to preserve resolution of brain PET images in presence of movements.

Development of nuclear track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, Gyoergy

1985-01-01

The birth and development of two decades of a new nuclear detection method is briefly summarized by one of the first inventors. The main steps of the development and broadening application of nuclear solid state track detectors are described underlying the contribution and main results of the research group of ATOMKI, Hungary (i.e. the finding of the proper plastic materials for track detectors, the discovery of correlations between the track diameter and the particle energy, the increasing of energy resolution, explanation of the track developing process, elaboration of new electrochemical track analyzing methods and automatic track analyzers). Recently, this detecting technique has grown to the phase of the industrial mass production and broad application in radiogeochemistry, mining, radioecology, personal monitoring in nuclear power plants, etc. (D.Gy.)

Expectations on Track? High School Tracking and Adolescent Educational Expectations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karlson, Kristian Bernt

2015-01-01

This paper examines the role of adaptation in expectation formation processes by analyzing how educational tracking in high schools affects adolescents' educational expectations. I argue that adolescents view track placement as a signal about their academic abilities and respond to it in terms...... of modifying their educational expectations. Applying a difference-in-differences approach to the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, I find that being placed in an advanced or honors class in high school positively affects adolescents’ expectations, particularly if placement is consistent across...... subjects and if placement contradicts tracking experiences in middle school. My findings support the hypothesis that adolescents adapt their educational expectations to ability signals sent by schools....

The Design of High Performance, Low Power Triple-Track Magnetic Sensor Chip

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junning Chen

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a design of a high performance and low power consumption triple-track magnetic sensor chip which was fabricated in TSMC 0.35 μm CMOS process. This chip is able to simultaneously sense, decode and read out the information stored in triple-track magnetic cards. A reference voltage generating circuit, a low-cost filter circuit, a power-on reset circuit, an RC oscillator, and a pre-decoding circuit are utilized as the basic modules. The triple-track magnetic sensor chip has four states, i.e., reset, sleep, swiping card and data read-out. In sleep state, the internal RC oscillator is closed, which means that the digital part does not operate to optimize energy consumption. In order to improve decoding accuracy and expand the sensing range of the signal, two kinds of circuit are put forward, naming offset correction circuit, and tracking circuit. With these two circuits, the sensing function of this chip can be more efficiently and accurately. We simulated these circuit modules with TSMC technology library. The results showed that these modules worked well within wide range input signal. Based on these results, the layout and tape-out were carried out. The measurement results showed that the chip do function well within a wide swipe speed range, which achieved the design target.

Why still in hospital after fast-track hip and knee arthroplasty?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Husted, Henrik; Lunn, Troels H; Troelsen, Anders

2011-01-01

Background and purpose Length of stay (LOS) following total hip and knee arthroplasty (THA and TKA) has been reduced to about 3 days in fast-track setups with functional discharge criteria. Earlier studies have identified patient characteristics predicting LOS, but little is known about specific...... reasons for being hospitalized following fast-track THA and TKA. Patients and methods To determine clinical and logistical factors that keep patients in hospital for the first postoperative 24-72 hours, we performed a cohort study of consecutive, unselected patients undergoing unilateral primary THA (n...

Self-Tracking: Reflections from the BodyTrack Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Anne

2016-07-06

Based on the author's experiences the practice of self-tracking can empower individuals to explore and address issues in their lives. This work is inspired by examples of people who have reclaimed their wellness through an iterative process of noticing patterns of ups and downs, trying out new ideas and strategies, and observing the results. In some cases, individuals have realized that certain foods, environmental exposures, or practices have unexpected effects for them, and that adopting custom strategies can greatly improve quality of life, overcoming chronic problems. Importantly, adopting the role of investigator of their own situation appears to be transformative: people who embarked on this path changed their relationship to their health situation even before making discoveries that helped lead to symptom improvement. The author co-founded the BodyTrack project in 2010 with the goal of empowering a broader set of people to embrace this investigator role in their own lives and better address their health and wellness concerns, particularly those with complex environmental or behavioral components. The core of the BodyTrack system is an open source web service called Fluxtream ( https://fluxtream.org ) that allows users to aggregate, visualize, and reflect on data from myriad sources on a common timeline. The project is also working to develop and spread peer coaching practices to help transfer the culture and skills of self-tracking while mentoring individuals in how to self-assess their own situation and guide the process for themselves.

Effect of Tracking Error of Double-Axis Tracking Device on the Optical Performance of Solar Dish Concentrator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Yan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a flux distribution model of the focal plane in dish concentrator system has been established based on ray tracking method. This model was adopted for researching the influence of the mirror slope error, solar direct normal irradiance, and tracking error of elevation-azimuth tracking device (EATD on the focal spot characteristics (i.e., flux distribution, geometrical shape, centroid position, and intercept factor. The tracking error transmission law of the EATD transferred to dish concentrator was also studied. The results show that the azimuth tracking error of the concentrator decreases with the increase of the concentrator elevation angle and it decreases to 0 mrad when the elevation angle is 90°. The centroid position of focal spot along x-axis and y-axis has linear relationship with azimuth and elevation tracking error of EATD, respectively, which could be used to evaluate and calibrate the tracking error of the dish concentrator. Finally, the transmission law of the EATD azimuth tracking error in solar heliostats is analyzed, and a dish concentrator using a spin-elevation tracking device is proposed, which can reduce the effect of spin tracking error on the dish concentrator. This work could provide fundamental for manufacturing precision allocation of tracking devices and developing a new type of tracking device.

Multi-Target Tracking via Mixed Integer Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-13

an easily interpretable global objective function. Furthermore, we propose a greedy heuristic which quickly finds good solutions. We extend both the... heuristic and the MIO model to scenarios with missed detections and false alarms. Index Terms—optimization; multi-target tracking; data asso- ciation...energy in [14] and then again as a minimization of discrete-continuous energy in [15]. These algorithms aim to more accurately represent the nature of the

Atrioventricular junction (AVJ) motion tracking: a software tool with ITK/VTK/Qt.

Science.gov (United States)

Pengdong Xiao; Shuang Leng; Xiaodan Zhao; Hua Zou; Ru San Tan; Wong, Philip; Liang Zhong

2016-08-01

The quantitative measurement of the Atrioventricular Junction (AVJ) motion is an important index for ventricular functions of one cardiac cycle including systole and diastole. In this paper, a software tool that can conduct AVJ motion tracking from cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) images is presented by using Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK), The Visualization Toolkit (VTK) and Qt. The software tool is written in C++ by using Visual Studio Community 2013 integrated development environment (IDE) containing both an editor and a Microsoft complier. The software package has been successfully implemented. From the software engineering practice, it is concluded that ITK, VTK, and Qt are very handy software systems to implement automatic image analysis functions for CMR images such as quantitative measure of motion by visual tracking.

Grafting on nuclear tracks using the active sites that remain after the etching process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazzei, R.; Bermudez, G. Garcia; Chappa, V.C.; Grosso, M.F. del; Fernandez, A.

2006-01-01

Poly(propylene) foils were irradiated with Ag ions and then chemically etched to produce samples with structured surfaces. After the etching procedure the active sites that remain on the latent track were used to graft acrylic acid. Nuclear tracks before grafting were visualised using a transmission electron microscope. The grafting yields were determined by weight measurements as a function of ion fluence, etching and grafting time, and were also analysed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Both measurements suggest that the acrylic acid was grafted on etched tracks using the active sites produced by the swift heavy ion beam

Grafting on nuclear tracks using the active sites that remain after the etching process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mazzei, R. [Unidad de Aplicaciones Tecnologicas y Agropecuarias, CNEA, 1429 Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, Buenos Aires (Argentina)]. E-mail: mazzei@cae.cnea.gov.ar; Bermudez, G. Garcia [U. A. de Fisica, Tandar, CNEA, 1429 Buenos Aires (Argentina); Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnologia, UNSAM, 1653 Buenos Aires (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (Argentina); Chappa, V.C. [U. A. de Fisica, Tandar, CNEA, 1429 Buenos Aires (Argentina); Grosso, M.F. del [U. A. de Fisica, Tandar, CNEA, 1429 Buenos Aires (Argentina); U. A. de Materiales, CNEA, 1429 Buenos Aires (Argentina); Fernandez, A. [Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2006-09-15

Poly(propylene) foils were irradiated with Ag ions and then chemically etched to produce samples with structured surfaces. After the etching procedure the active sites that remain on the latent track were used to graft acrylic acid. Nuclear tracks before grafting were visualised using a transmission electron microscope. The grafting yields were determined by weight measurements as a function of ion fluence, etching and grafting time, and were also analysed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Both measurements suggest that the acrylic acid was grafted on etched tracks using the active sites produced by the swift heavy ion beam.

ANNOTATION SUPPORTED OCCLUDED OBJECT TRACKING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Devinder Kumar

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Tracking occluded objects at different depths has become as extremely important component of study for any video sequence having wide applications in object tracking, scene recognition, coding, editing the videos and mosaicking. The paper studies the ability of annotation to track the occluded object based on pyramids with variation in depth further establishing a threshold at which the ability of the system to track the occluded object fails. Image annotation is applied on 3 similar video sequences varying in depth. In the experiment, one bike occludes the other at a depth of 60cm, 80cm and 100cm respectively. Another experiment is performed on tracking humans with similar depth to authenticate the results. The paper also computes the frame by frame error incurred by the system, supported by detailed simulations. This system can be effectively used to analyze the error in motion tracking and further correcting the error leading to flawless tracking. This can be of great interest to computer scientists while designing surveillance systems etc.

Why tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burchart, J.; Kral, J.

1979-01-01

A comparison is made of two methods of determining the age of rocks, ie., the krypton-argon method and the fission tracks method. The former method is more accurate but is dependent on the temperature and on the grain size of the investigated rocks (apatites, biotites, muscovites). As for the method of fission tracks, the determination is not dependent on grain size. This method allows dating and the determination of uranium concentration and distribution in rocks. (H.S.)

Pennsylvania Source Term Tracking System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-08-01

The Pennsylvania Source Term Tracking System tabulates surveys received from radioactive waste generators in the Commonwealth of radioactive waste is collected each quarter from generators using the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Quarterly Report Form (hereafter called the survey) and then entered into the tracking system data base. This personal computer-based tracking system can generate 12 types of tracking reports. The first four sections of this reference manual supply complete instructions for installing and setting up the tracking system on a PC. Section 5 presents instructions for entering quarterly survey data, and Section 6 discusses generating reports. The appendix includes samples of each report

Simultaneous tracking of drug molecules and carriers using aptamer-functionalized fluorescent superstable gold nanorod-carbon nanocapsules during thermo-chemotherapy

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xue-Wei; Gao, Wei; Fan, Huanhuan; Ding, Ding; Lai, Xiao-Fang; Zou, Yu-Xiu; Chen, Long; Chen, Zhuo; Tan, Weihong

2016-04-01

Controlling and monitoring the drug delivery process is critical to its intended therapeutic function. Many nanocarrier systems for drug delivery have been successfully developed. However, biocompatibility, stability, and simultaneously tracing drugs and nanocarriers present significant limitations. Herein, we have fabricated a multifunctional nanocomposite by coating the gold nanorod (AuNR) with a biocompatible, superstable and fluorescent carbon layer, obtaining the AuNR@carbon core-shell nanocapsule. In this system, the carbon shell, originally obtained in aqueous glucose solutions and, therefore, biocompatible in physiological environments, could be simply loaded with cell-specific aptamers and therapeutic molecules through π-π interactions, a useful tool for cancer-targeted cellular imaging and therapy. Moreover, such a stable and intrinsic fluorescence effect of the AuNR@carbon enabled simultaneous tracking of released therapeutic molecules and nanocarriers under thermo-chemotherapy. The AuNR@carbons had high surface areas and stable shells, as well as unique optical and photothermal properties, making them promising nanostructures for biomedical applications.Controlling and monitoring the drug delivery process is critical to its intended therapeutic function. Many nanocarrier systems for drug delivery have been successfully developed. However, biocompatibility, stability, and simultaneously tracing drugs and nanocarriers present significant limitations. Herein, we have fabricated a multifunctional nanocomposite by coating the gold nanorod (AuNR) with a biocompatible, superstable and fluorescent carbon layer, obtaining the AuNR@carbon core-shell nanocapsule. In this system, the carbon shell, originally obtained in aqueous glucose solutions and, therefore, biocompatible in physiological environments, could be simply loaded with cell-specific aptamers and therapeutic molecules through π-π interactions, a useful tool for cancer-targeted cellular imaging and

What Are We Tracking ... and Why?

Science.gov (United States)

Suarez-Sola, I.; Davey, A.; Hourcle, J. A.

2008-12-01

What Are We Tracking ... and Why? It is impossible to define what adequate provenance is without knowing who is asking the question. What determines sufficient provenance information is not a function of the data, but of the question being asked of it. Many of these questions are asked by people not affiliated with the mission and possibly from different disciplines. To plan for every conceivable question would require a significant burden on the data systems that are designed to answer the mission's science objectives. Provenance is further complicated as each system might have a different definition of 'data set'. Is it the raw instrument results? Is it the result of numerical processing? Does it include the associated metadata? Does it include packaging? Depending on how a system defines 'data set', it may not be able to track provenance with sufficient granularity to ask the desired question, or we may end up with a complex web of relationships that significantly increases the system complexity. System designers must also remember that data archives are not a closed system. We need mechanisms for tracking not only the provenance relationships between data objects and the systems that generate them, but also from journal articles back to the data that was used to support the research. Simply creating a mirror of the data used, as done in other scientific disciplines, is unrealistic for terabyte and petabyte scale data sets. We present work by the Virtual Solar Observatory on the assignment of identifiers that could be used for tracking provenance and compare it to other proposed standards in the scientific and library science communities. We use the Solar Dynamics Observatory, STEREO and Hinode missions as examples where the concept of 'data set' breaks many systems for citing data.

Track segment synthesis method for NTA film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumazawa, Shigeru

1980-03-01

A method is presented for synthesizing track segments extracted from a gray-level digital picture of NTA film in automatic counting system. In order to detect each track in an arbitrary direction, even if it has some gaps, as a set of the track segments, the method links extracted segments along the track, in succession, to the linked track segments, according to whether each extracted segment bears a similarity of direction to the track or not and whether it is connected with the linked track segments or not. In the case of a large digital picture, the method is applied to each subpicture, which is a strip of the picture, and then concatenates subsets of track segments linked at each subpicture as a set of track segments belonging to a track. The method was applied to detecting tracks in various directions over the eight 364 x 40-pixel subpictures with the gray scale of 127/pixel (picture element) of the microphotograph of NTA film. It was proved to be able to synthesize track segments correctly for every track in the picture. (author)

Alignment of the ALICE Inner Tracking System with cosmic-ray tracks

CERN Document Server

Aamodt, K; Abeysekara, U; Abrahantes Quintana, A; Adamová, D; Aggarwal, M M; Aglieri Rinella, G; Agocs, A G; Aguilar Salazar, S; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, A; Ahmad, N; Ahn, S U; Akimoto, R; Akindinov, A; Aleksandrov, D; Alessandro, B; Alfaro Molina, R; Alici, A; Almaráz Aviña, E; Alme, J; Altini, V; Altinpinar, S; Alt, T; Andrei, C; Andronic, A; Anelli, G; Angelov, V; Anson, C; Anticic, T; Antinori, F; Antinori, S; Antipin, K; Antonczyk, D; Antonioli, P; Anzo, A; Aphecetche, L; Appelshäuser, H; Arcelli, S; Arceo, R; Arend, A; Armesto, N; Arnaldi, R; Aronsson, T; Arsene, I C; Asryan, A; Augustinus, A; Averbeck, R; Awes, T C; Äystö, J; Azmi, M D; Bablok, S; Bach, M; Badalà, A; Baek, Y W; Bagnasco, S; Bailhache, R; Bala, R; Baldisseri, A; Baldit, A; Bán, J; Barbera, R; Barile, F; Barnaföldi, G G; Barnby, L; Barret, V; Bartke, J; Basile, M; Basmanov, V; Bastid, N; Bathen, B; Batigne, G; Batyunya, B; Baumann, C; Bearden, I G; Becker, B; Belikov, I; Bellwied, R; Belmont-Moreno, E; Belogianni, A; Benhabib, L; Beolé, S; Berceanu, I; Bercuci, A; Berdermann, E; Berdnikov, Y; Betev, L; Bhasin, A; Bhati, A K; Bianchi, L; Bianchin, C; Bianchi, N; Bielcík, J; Bielcíková, J; Bilandzic, A; Bimbot, L; Biolcati, E; Blanc, A; Blanco, F; Blanco, F; Blau, D; Blume, C; Boccioli, M; Bock, N; Bogdanov, A; Bøggild, H; Bogolyubsky, M; Bohm, J; Boldizsár, L; Bombara, M; Bombonati, C; Bondila, M; Borel, H; Borshchov, V; Bortolin, C; Bose, S; Bosisio, L; Bossú, F; Botje, M; Böttger, S; Bourdaud, G; Boyer, B; Braun, M; Braun-Munzinger, P; Bravina, L; Bregant, M; Breitner, T; Bruckner, G; Bruna, E; Bruno, G E; Brun, R; Budnikov, D; Buesching, H; Bugaev, K; Buncic, P; Busch, O; Buthelezi, Z; Caffarri, D; Caines, H; Cai, X; Camacho, E; Camerini, P; Campbell, M; Canoa Roman, V; Capitani, G P; Cara Romeo, G; Carena, F; Carena, W; Carminati, F; Casanova Díaz, A; Caselle, M; Castillo Castellanos, J; Castillo Hernandez, J F; Catanescu, V; Cattaruzza, E; Cavicchioli, C; Cerello, P; Chambert, V; Chang, B; Chapeland, S; Charpy, A; Charvet, J L; Chattopadhyay, S; Chattopadhyay, S; Cherney, M; Cheshkov, C; Cheynis, B; Chiavassa, E; Chibante Barroso, V; Chinellato, D D; Chochula, P; Choi, K; Chojnacki, M; Christakoglou, P; Christensen, C H; Christiansen, P; Chujo, T; Chuman, F; Cicalo, C; Cifarelli, L; Cindolo, F; Cleymans, J; Cobanoglu, O; Coffin, J P; Coli, S; Colla, A; Conesa Balbastre, G; Conesa del Valle, Z; Conner, E S; Constantin, P; Contin, G; Contreras, J G; Cormier, T M; Corrales Morales, Y; Cortese, P; Cortés Maldonado, I; Cosentino, M R; Costa, F; Cotallo, M E; Crescio, E; Crochet, P; Cuautle, E; Cunqueiro, L; Cussonneau, J; Dainese, A; Dalsgaard, H H; Danu, A; Dash, A; Dash, S; Das, I; Das, S; de Barros, G O V; De Caro, A; de Cataldo, G; de Cuveland, J; De Falco, A; De Gaspari, M; de Groot, J; De Gruttola, D; de Haas, A P; De Marco, N; De Pasquale, S; De Remigis, R; de Rooij, R; de Vaux, G; Delagrange, H; Dellacasa, G; Deloff, A; Demanov, V; Dénes, E; Deppman, A; D'Erasmo, G; Derkach, D; Devaux, A; Di Bari, D; 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Maldonado Cervantes, I; Malek, M; Mal'Kevich, D; Malkiewicz, T; Malzacher, P; Mamonov, A; Manceau, L; Mangotra, L; Manko, V; Manso, F; Manzari, V; Mao, Y; Mares, J; Margagliotti, G V; Margotti, A; Marín, A; Martashvili, I; Martinengo, P; Martínez Davalos, A; Martínez García, G; Martínez, M I; Maruyama, Y; Ma, R; Marzari Chiesa, A; Masciocchi, S; Masera, M; Masetti, M; Masoni, A; Massacrier, L; Mastromarco, M; Mastroserio, A; Matthews, Z L; Mattos Tavares, B; Matyja, A; Mayani, D; Mazza, G; Mazzoni, M A; Meddi, F; Menchaca-Rocha, A; Mendez Lorenzo, P; Meoni, M; Mercado Pérez, J; Mereu, P; Miake, Y; Michalon, A; Miftakhov, N; Milosevic, J; Minafra, F; Mischke, A; Miskowiec, D; Mitu, C; Mizoguchi, K; Mlynarz, J; Mohanty, B; Molnar, L; Mondal, M M; Montaño Zetina, L; Monteno, M; Montes, E; Morando, M; Moretto, S; Morsch, A; Moukhanova, T; Muccifora, V; Mudnic, E; Muhuri, S; Müller, H; Munhoz, M G; Munoz, J; Musa, L; Musso, A; Nandi, B K; Nania, R; Nappi, E; Navach, F; Navin, S; Nayak, T K; 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Zbroszczyk, H; Zelnicek, P; Zenin, A; Zepeda, A; Zgura, I; Zhalov, M; Zhang, X; Zhou, D; Zhou, S; Zhu, J; Zichichi, A; Zinchenko, A; Zinovjev, G; Zinovjev, M; Zoccarato, Y; Zychácek, V

2010-01-01

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiment devoted to investigating the strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. The ALICE ITS, Inner Tracking System, consists of six cylindrical layers of silicon detectors with three different technologies; in the outward direction: two layers of pixel detectors, two layers each of drift, and strip detectors. The number of parameters to be determined in the spatial alignment of the 2198 sensor modules of the ITS is about 13,000. The target alignment precision is well below 10 micron in some cases (pixels). The sources of alignment information include survey measurements, and the reconstructed tracks from cosmic rays and from proton-proton collisions. The main track-based alignment method uses the Millepede global approach. An iterative local method was developed and used as well. We present the results obtained for the ITS alignment using about 10^5 charged tracks from cosmic rays that h...

A Heritage Tourism and Tourist Flow Pattern: A Perspective on Traditional versus Modern Technologies in Tracking the Tourists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamad Akmal Mohamad Toha

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Historic city offers tourists a mixture of cultural heritage and leisure activities in a unique set-ting. However, there are limited research addressing the movement and behavior of tourists in tourism destination that leads the understanding of urban function towards "heterogeneity" and "multi functionality". In order to maintain and ensuring long-term success as an attractive des-tination for tourists, tourist’s movement and behavior is most likely an important element to be fully understood by decision maker. Hence, the method of tracking tourist is one of the im-portant aspects in providing better picture, especially in the context of obtaining accurate data on the tourist’s movement. Hence, the studies were designed to determine the potential worth of the various tracking technologies for research on tourist movement in Melaka historic cities. The discussion in this paper focusing on 6 traditional and 5 modern methods of tracking tourists movement. Accuracy, availability, location of the study area, costs, privacy of travelling, dura-tion of tracking and suitability in tracking daily movement are used as variables to identify which tracking method is the best to track tourists in heritage site. Existing literature indicates that application of GPS in a smart phone emerges as the best option method for tracking tour-ists in Melaka heritage site. By comparing methods of tracking tourists, it may assist researcher to choose the best option of method to obtain accurate and precise data about tourist move-ment. Thus, the study offered a systematic review of several tracking technologies in which potentially able to push the boundaries of tourism studies, as well as improving policy making, planning and management in tourism area.

General formula for on-axis sun-tracking system and its application in improving tracking accuracy of solar collector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chong, K.K.; Wong, C.W. [Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Off Jalan Genting Kelang, Setapak, 53300 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

2009-03-15

Azimuth-elevation and tilt-roll tracking mechanism are among the most commonly used sun-tracking methods for aiming the solar collector towards the sun at all times. It has been many decades that each of these two sun-tracking methods has its own specific sun-tracking formula and they are not interrelated. In this paper, the most general form of sun-tracking formula that embraces all the possible on-axis tracking methods is presented. The general sun-tracking formula not only can provide a general mathematical solution, but more significantly it can improve the sun-tracking accuracy by tackling the installation error of the solar collector. (author)

A numerical model for the thermal history of rocks based on confined horizontal fission tracks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jensen, P.K.; Kunzendorf, Helmar; Hansen, Kirsten

1992-01-01

A numerical model for determination of the thermal history of rocks is presented. It is shown that the thermal history may be uniquely determined as a piece-by-piece linear function on the basis of etched confined, horizontal fission track length distributions, their surface densities, and the uranium content. The initial track length distribution is taken into account. A relation between the measured track length distribution and age is given which includes correction for partial annealing. The annealing model used is the fanning Arrhenius plot. It is shown that track length distributions measured in transmitted light are biased favouring short tracks compared with measurements in reflected light. Testing of the model is performed on apatites from a tuffaceous sandstone from Bornholm (Denmark) yielding an estimate of the thermal history for the period of about 280 Ma back in time. (author)

The role of vestibular and support-tactile-proprioceptive inputs in visual-manual tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Kornilova, Ludmila; Naumov, Ivan; Glukhikh, Dmitriy; Khabarova, Ekaterina; Pavlova, Aleksandra; Ekimovskiy, Georgiy; Sagalovitch, Viktor; Smirnov, Yuriy; Kozlovskaya, Inesa

Sensorimotor disorders in weightlessness are caused by changes of functioning of gravity-dependent systems, first of all - vestibular and support. The question arises, what’s the role and the specific contribution of the support afferentation in the development of observed disorders. To determine the role and effects of vestibular, support, tactile and proprioceptive afferentation on characteristics of visual-manual tracking (VMT) we conducted a comparative analysis of the data obtained after prolonged spaceflight and in a model of weightlessness - horizontal “dry” immersion. Altogether we examined 16 Russian cosmonauts before and after prolonged spaceflights (129-215 days) and 30 subjects who stayed in immersion bath for 5-7 days to evaluate the state of the vestibular function (VF) using videooculography and characteristics of the visual-manual tracking (VMT) using electrooculography & joystick with biological visual feedback. Evaluation of the VF has shown that both after immersion and after prolonged spaceflight there were significant decrease of the static torsional otolith-cervical-ocular reflex (OCOR) and simultaneous significant increase of the dynamic vestibular-cervical-ocular reactions (VCOR) with a revealed negative correlation between parameters of the otoliths and canals reactions, as well as significant changes in accuracy of perception of the subjective visual vertical which correlated with changes in OCOR. Analyze of the VMT has shown that significant disorders of the visual tracking (VT) occurred from the beginning of the immersion up to 3-4 day after while in cosmonauts similar but much more pronounced oculomotor disorders and significant changes from the baseline were observed up to R+9 day postflight. Significant changes of the manual tracking (MT) were revealed only for gain and occurred on 1 and 3 days in immersion while after spaceflight such changes were observed up to R+5 day postflight. We found correlation between characteristics

Electronic tracking system and wandering in Alzheimer's disease: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Faucounau, V; Riguet, M; Orvoen, G; Lacombe, A; Rialle, V; Extra, J; Rigaud, A-S

2009-01-01

Wandering is a behavioural disorder, which occurs in Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. People who wander are at risk of physical harm and untimely death. Moreover, wandering behaviour causes a lot of stress to the caregivers. In the last few years, different geolocation devices have been developed in order to minimise risk and manage unsafe wandering. These detection systems rarely meet patients and caregivers' needs because they are not involved in the devices building process. The aim is to explore the needs and perceptions of wandering persons and their caregivers towards existing tracking devices as well as their acceptability and usability. This paper reports a dyad case. The tracking system tested is presented as a mobile Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver-shaped, including function of telephony and data transfer via GSM/GPRS. Dyad patient/caregiver expressed their needs and perceptions towards tracking devices and gave their impressions about the functioning of the tested device at the end of the test. The patient focused on the device's shape which he found too voluminous and unaesthetic, and was unable to give an opinion about the device's functioning. The spouse highlighted malfunctions and usage difficulties, which made the device not appropriate to her needs. Involving end-users in the co-design of new technologies is necessary for building tailored devices. Moreover, in this area of dementia care, the person-centred approach is essential to a tailored wandering management.

Tracking planets and moons: mechanisms of object tracking revealed with a new paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Tombu, Michael; Seiffert, Adriane E

2011-04-01

People can attend to and track multiple moving objects over time. Cognitive theories of this ability emphasize location information and differ on the importance of motion information. Results from several experiments have shown that increasing object speed impairs performance, although speed was confounded with other properties such as proximity of objects to one another. Here, we introduce a new paradigm to study multiple object tracking in which object speed and object proximity were manipulated independently. Like the motion of a planet and moon, each target-distractor pair rotated about both a common local point as well as the center of the screen. Tracking performance was strongly affected by object speed even when proximity was controlled. Additional results suggest that two different mechanisms are used in object tracking--one sensitive to speed and proximity and the other sensitive to the number of distractors. These observations support models of object tracking that include information about object motion and reject models that use location alone.

Track finding and fitting in the H1 Forward Track Detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burke, S.; Henderson, R.C.W.; Maxfield, S.J.; Patel, G.D.; Morris, J.V.; Sankey, D.P.C.; Skillicorn, I.O.

1995-07-01

The tracking environment in the H1 Forward Tracker Detector, where the hit multiplicity from proton fragments is high, is parituclarly hostile. The techniques and software which have been developed for pattern recognition and Kalman fitting of charged particle tracks in this region are described in detail. (orig.)

FORMATION OF ESTIMATED CONDITIONS FOR LIFE CYCLE OF DEFORMATION WORK OF THE RAILWAY TRACK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. O. Bondarenko

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose.The purpose of this research is to substantiate the technical limits of the railway track (under reliability status for the formation the regulatory framework for reliability and functional safety of the railway track in Ukraine. Methodology.In order to achieve the goal of research analysis methods of the technical states of elements and trackforms that are typical of operation conditions of the railways in Ukraine were used. Findings.Technical states accordance of elements and trackforms to reliability status under existing regulations was defined. These conditions are based on the track assessments in accordance with the dimensional tape results. The status of each element of the track design affects its deformation work, but the rules are still absent that would connect state of track elements with the state of the track by estimation of the dimensional tape. The reasons on which the limits are not set were established. It was found out which researches are necessary to conduct for their installation. Originality. The classification of the reliability state of a railway track for permitted deviation at the track laying and maintenance was developed. The regulation importance the technical states of ballast section and subgrade for the developed classification was established. Practical value. Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ is a founding member of the Council for Railway Transport of the Commonwealth. This body issued interstate standard State Standard 32192-2013 «Reliability of railway equipment. Basic concepts, terms and definitions». On this basis developed a new interstate standard «Security functional of railway equipment. Terms and definitions». At the same time UZ is a member of the cooperation of railways in International Union of Railway Transport where rules with reliable and safe operation of railways are established in all transport branches. This study will help implement these standards on the railways of Ukraine, improve the

SimTrack: A compact c++ library for particle orbit and spin tracking in accelerators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Yun [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2015-06-24

SimTrack is a compact c++ library of 6-d symplectic element-by-element particle tracking in accelerators originally designed for head-on beam-beam compensation simulation studies in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It provides a 6-d symplectic orbit tracking with the 4th order symplectic integration for magnet elements and the 6-d symplectic synchro-beam map for beam-beam interaction. Since its inception in 2009, SimTrack has been intensively used for dynamic aperture calculations with beam-beam interaction for RHIC. Recently, proton spin tracking and electron energy loss due to synchrotron radiation were added. In this article, I will present the code architecture, physics models, and some selected examples of its applications to RHIC and a future electron-ion collider design eRHIC.

SimTrack: A compact c++ code for particle orbit and spin tracking in accelerators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Yun

2015-11-21

SimTrack is a compact c++ code of 6-d symplectic element-by-element particle tracking in accelerators originally designed for head-on beam–beam compensation simulation studies in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It provides a 6-d symplectic orbit tracking with the 4th order symplectic integration for magnet elements and the 6-d symplectic synchro-beam map for beam–beam interaction. Since its inception in 2009, SimTrack has been intensively used for dynamic aperture calculations with beam–beam interaction for RHIC. Recently, proton spin tracking and electron energy loss due to synchrotron radiation were added. In this paper, I will present the code architecture, physics models, and some selected examples of its applications to RHIC and a future electron-ion collider design eRHIC.

Study of performance of the ATLAS transition radiation tracker in run 1 of the LHC: Tracking characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Belyaev, N.; Krasnopevtsev, D.; Smirnov, N.

2018-01-01

The ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) contains more than 350000 large straw tubes and it is the outermost of the three subsystems of the ATLAS Inner Detector (ID). The TRT contributes substantially to the ATLAS ID resolution for the tracks of high-energy particles, providing excellent particle identification capabilities and electron-pion separation. Basic performance parameters of the TRT related to its tracking function are described in this paper. The data used in this study were collected during the first period of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operation in 2012 with a proton collision energy of 8 TeV. The tracking performance of the TRT has been studied in the case of operating with a Xe-based gas mixture and as a function of the straw occupancy. Special attention was paid to investigation of tracking parameters inside hadronic jets. The experimental data and simulation are in reasonable agreement, even within the dense cores of the most energetic jets.

Convalescence after colonic resection with fast-track versus conventional care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjort Jakobsen, D; Sonne, E; Basse, L

2004-01-01

BACKGROUND: Multi-modal rehabilitation programmes may improve early postoperative body composition, pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and reduce hospital stay. So far, no data are available on convalescence after discharge. AIM: The objectives were to compare convalescence data (fatigue, sleep...... vs. 8 days in the fast-track vs. conventional care group, respectively (p sleep were increased in the conventional care group when compared with the fast-track group (p ... results in earlier resumption of normal activities with reduced fatigue and need for sleep postoperatively compared to conventional care, and without increased need for nursing care or visits to general practitioners. However, readmissions may occur more frequently....

Neuro-PID tracking control of a discharge air temperature system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaheer-uddin, M.; Tudoroiu, N.

2004-01-01

In this paper, the problem of improving the performance of a discharge air temperature (DAT) system using a PID controller and augmenting it with neural network based tuning and tracking functions is explored. The DAT system is modeled as a SISO (single input single output) system. The architecture of the real time neuro-PID controller and simulation results obtained under realistic operating conditions are presented. The neural network assisted PID tuning method is simple to implement. Results show that the network assisted PID controller is able to track both constant and variable set point trajectories efficiently in the presence of disturbances acting on the DAT system

The Simpsons program 6-D phase space tracking with acceleration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Machida, S.

1993-02-01

A particle tracking code, Simpsons, in 6-D phase space including energy ramping has been developed to model proton synchrotrons and storage rings. We take time as the independent variable to change machine parameters and diagnose beam quality in a quite similar way as real machines, unlike existing tracking codes for synchrotrons which advance a particle element by element. Arbitrary energy ramping and rf voltage curves as a function of time are read as an input file for defining a machine cycle. The code is used to study beam dynamics with time dependent parameters. Some of the examples from simulations of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) boosters are shown.

The Simpsons program 6-D phase space tracking with acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Machida, S.

1993-12-01

A particle tracking code, Simpsons, in 6-D phase space including energy ramping has been developed to model proton synchrotrons and storage rings. We take time as the independent variable to change machine parameters and diagnose beam quality in a quite similar way as real machines, unlike existing tracking codes for synchrotrons which advance a particle element by element. Arbitrary energy ramping and rf voltage curves as a function of time are read as an input file for defining a machine cycle. The code is used to study beam dynamics with time dependent parameters. Some of the examples from simulations of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) boosters are shown.

The Simpsons program 6-D phase space tracking with acceleration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Machida, S. (Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, Dallas, Texas 75237 (United States))

1993-12-25

A particle tracking code, Simpsons, in 6-D phase space including energy ramping has been developed to model proton synchrotrons and storage rings. We take time as the independent variable to change machine parameters and diagnose beam quality in a quite similar way as real machines, unlike existing tracking codes for synchrotrons which advance a particle element by element. Arbitrary energy ramping and rf voltage curves as a function of time are read as an input file for defining a machine cycle. The code is used to study beam dynamics with time dependent parameters. Some of the examples from simulations of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) boosters are shown.

The Simpsons program 6-D phase space tracking with acceleration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machida, S.

1993-01-01

A particle tracking code, Simpsons, in 6-D phase space including energy ramping has been developed to model proton synchrotrons and storage rings. We take time as the independent variable to change machine parameters and diagnose beam quality in a quite similar way as real machines, unlike existing tracking codes for synchrotrons which advance a particle element by element. Arbitrary energy ramping and rf voltage curves as a function of time are read as an input file for defining a machine cycle. The code is used to study beam dynamics with time dependent parameters. Some of the examples from simulations of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) boosters are shown

Renewable Energy Tracking Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Renewable energy generation ownership can be accounted through tracking systems. Tracking systems are highly automated, contain specific information about each MWh, and are accessible over the internet to market participants.

Decision-Directed Recursive Least Squares MIMO Channels Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karami Ebrahim

2006-01-01

Full Text Available A new approach for joint data estimation and channel tracking for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO channels is proposed based on the decision-directed recursive least squares (DD-RLS algorithm. RLS algorithm is commonly used for equalization and its application in channel estimation is a novel idea. In this paper, after defining the weighted least squares cost function it is minimized and eventually the RLS MIMO channel estimation algorithm is derived. The proposed algorithm combined with the decision-directed algorithm (DDA is then extended for the blind mode operation. From the computational complexity point of view being versus the number of transmitter and receiver antennas, the proposed algorithm is very efficient. Through various simulations, the mean square error (MSE of the tracking of the proposed algorithm for different joint detection algorithms is compared with Kalman filtering approach which is one of the most well-known channel tracking algorithms. It is shown that the performance of the proposed algorithm is very close to Kalman estimator and that in the blind mode operation it presents a better performance with much lower complexity irrespective of the need to know the channel model.

Alternate Double Single Track Lines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moraga Contreras, P.; Grande Andrade, Z.; Castillo Ron, E.

2016-07-01

The paper discusses the advantages and shortcomings of alternate double single track (ADST) lines with respect to double track lines for high speed lines. ADST lines consists of sequences of double and single track segments optimally selected in order to reduce the construction and maintenance costs of railway lines and to optimize the timetables used to satisfy a given demand. The single tracks are selected to coincide with expensive segments (tunnels and viaducts) and the double tracks are chosen to coincide with flat areas and only where they are necessary. At the same time, departure times are adjusted for trains to cross at the cheap double track segments. This alternative can be used for new lines and also for existing conventional lines where some new tracks are to be constructed to reduce travel time (increase speed). The ADST proposal is illustrated with some examples of both types (new lines and where conventional lines exist), including the Palencia-Santander, the Santiago-Valparaíso-Viña del Mar and the Dublin-Belfast lines, where very important reductions (90 %) are obtained, especially where a railway infrastructure already exist. (Author)

Endoscopic vision-based tracking of multiple surgical instruments during robot-assisted surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryu, Jiwon; Choi, Jaesoon; Kim, Hee Chan

2013-01-01

Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery is effective for operations in limited space. Enhancing safety based on automatic tracking of surgical instrument position to prevent inadvertent harmful events such as tissue perforation or instrument collisions could be a meaningful augmentation to current robotic surgical systems. A vision-based instrument tracking scheme as a core algorithm to implement such functions was developed in this study. An automatic tracking scheme is proposed as a chain of computer vision techniques, including classification of metallic properties using k-means clustering and instrument movement tracking using similarity measures, Euclidean distance calculations, and a Kalman filter algorithm. The implemented system showed satisfactory performance in tests using actual robot-assisted surgery videos. Trajectory comparisons of automatically detected data and ground truth data obtained by manually locating the center of mass of each instrument were used to quantitatively validate the system. Instruments and collisions could be well tracked through the proposed methods. The developed collision warning system could provide valuable information to clinicians for safer procedures. © 2012, Copyright the Authors. Artificial Organs © 2012, International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Processing of plastic track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.

1977-01-01

A survey of some actual problems of the track processing methods available at this time for plastics is presented. In the case of the conventional chemical track-etching technique, mainly the etching situations related to detector geometry, and the relationship between registration sensitivity and the etching parameters are considered. Special attention is paid to the behaviour of track-revealing by means of electrochemical etching. Finally, some properties of a promising new track processing method based on graft polymerization are discussed. (author)

Processing of plastic track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.

1976-01-01

A survey of some actual problems of the track processing methods available at this time for plastics is presented. In the case of the conventional chemical track etching technique mainly the etching situations related to detector geometry and the relationship of registration sensitivity and the etching parameters are considered. A special attention is paid to the behaviour of track revealing by means of electrochemical etching. Finally, some properties of a promising new track processing method based on graft polymerization is discussed. (orig.) [de

Slushy weightings for the optimal pilot model. [considering visual tracking task

Science.gov (United States)

Dillow, J. D.; Picha, D. G.; Anderson, R. O.

1975-01-01

A pilot model is described which accounts for the effect of motion cues in a well defined visual tracking task. The effect of visual and motion cues are accounted for in the model in two ways. First, the observation matrix in the pilot model is structured to account for the visual and motion inputs presented to the pilot. Secondly, the weightings in the quadratic cost function associated with the pilot model are modified to account for the pilot's perception of the variables he considers important in the task. Analytic results obtained using the pilot model are compared to experimental results and in general good agreement is demonstrated. The analytic model yields small improvements in tracking performance with the addition of motion cues for easily controlled task dynamics and large improvements in tracking performance with the addition of motion cues for difficult task dynamics.

Proton tracking in a high-granularity Digital Tracking Calorimeter for proton CT purposes

Science.gov (United States)

Pettersen, H. E. S.; Alme, J.; Biegun, A.; van den Brink, A.; Chaar, M.; Fehlker, D.; Meric, I.; Odland, O. H.; Peitzmann, T.; Rocco, E.; Ullaland, K.; Wang, H.; Yang, S.; Zhang, C.; Röhrich, D.

2017-07-01

Radiation therapy with protons as of today utilizes information from x-ray CT in order to estimate the proton stopping power of the traversed tissue in a patient. The conversion from x-ray attenuation to proton stopping power in tissue introduces range uncertainties of the order of 2-3% of the range, uncertainties that are contributing to an increase of the necessary planning margins added to the target volume in a patient. Imaging methods and modalities, such as Dual Energy CT and proton CT, have come into consideration in the pursuit of obtaining an as good as possible estimate of the proton stopping power. In this study, a Digital Tracking Calorimeter is benchmarked for proof-of-concept for proton CT purposes. The Digital Tracking Calorimeter was originally designed for the reconstruction of high-energy electromagnetic showers for the ALICE-FoCal project. The presented prototype forms the basis for a proton CT system using a single technology for tracking and calorimetry. This advantage simplifies the setup and reduces the cost of a proton CT system assembly, and it is a unique feature of the Digital Tracking Calorimeter concept. Data from the AGORFIRM beamline at KVI-CART in Groningen in the Netherlands and Monte Carlo simulation results are used to in order to develop a tracking algorithm for the estimation of the residual ranges of a high number of concurrent proton tracks. High energy protons traversing the detector leave a track through the sensor layers. These tracks are spread out through charge diffusion processes. A charge diffusion model is applied for acquisition of estimates of the deposited energy of the protons in each sensor layer by using the size of the charge diffused area. A model fit of the Bragg Curve is applied to each reconstructed track and through this, estimating the residual range of each proton. The range of the individual protons can at present be estimated with a resolution of 4%. The readout system for this prototype is able to

Proton tracking in a high-granularity Digital Tracking Calorimeter for proton CT purposes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pettersen, H.E.S., E-mail: helge.pettersen@helse-bergen.no [Department of Oncology and Medical Physics, Haukeland University Hospital, Postbox 1400, 5021 Bergen (Norway); Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Alme, J. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Biegun, A. [Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut, University of Groningen, NL-9747 AA Groningen (Netherlands); Brink, A. van den [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Chaar, M.; Fehlker, D. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Meric, I. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Bergen University College, Postbox 7030, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Odland, O.H. [Department of Oncology and Medical Physics, Haukeland University Hospital, Postbox 1400, 5021 Bergen (Norway); Peitzmann, T.; Rocco, E. [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Ullaland, K. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Wang, H. [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Yang, S. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Zhang, C. [Nikhef, Utrecht University, Postbox 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Röhrich, D. [Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, 5020 Bergen (Norway)

2017-07-11

Radiation therapy with protons as of today utilizes information from x-ray CT in order to estimate the proton stopping power of the traversed tissue in a patient. The conversion from x-ray attenuation to proton stopping power in tissue introduces range uncertainties of the order of 2–3% of the range, uncertainties that are contributing to an increase of the necessary planning margins added to the target volume in a patient. Imaging methods and modalities, such as Dual Energy CT and proton CT, have come into consideration in the pursuit of obtaining an as good as possible estimate of the proton stopping power. In this study, a Digital Tracking Calorimeter is benchmarked for proof-of-concept for proton CT purposes. The Digital Tracking Calorimeter was originally designed for the reconstruction of high-energy electromagnetic showers for the ALICE-FoCal project. The presented prototype forms the basis for a proton CT system using a single technology for tracking and calorimetry. This advantage simplifies the setup and reduces the cost of a proton CT system assembly, and it is a unique feature of the Digital Tracking Calorimeter concept. Data from the AGORFIRM beamline at KVI-CART in Groningen in the Netherlands and Monte Carlo simulation results are used to in order to develop a tracking algorithm for the estimation of the residual ranges of a high number of concurrent proton tracks. High energy protons traversing the detector leave a track through the sensor layers. These tracks are spread out through charge diffusion processes. A charge diffusion model is applied for acquisition of estimates of the deposited energy of the protons in each sensor layer by using the size of the charge diffused area. A model fit of the Bragg Curve is applied to each reconstructed track and through this, estimating the residual range of each proton. The range of the individual protons can at present be estimated with a resolution of 4%. The readout system for this prototype is able to

Body-Part Tracking of Infants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Mikkel Damgaard; Herskind, Anna; Nielsen, Jens Bo

2014-01-01

Motion tracking is a widely used technique to analyze and measure adult human movement. However, these methods cannot be transferred directly to motion tracking of infants due to the big differences in the underlying human model. However, motion tracking of infants can be used for automatic...

Visualization of ground truth tracks for the video 'Tracking a "facer's" behavior in a public plaza'

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2015-01-01

The video shows the ground truth tracks in GIS of all pedestrians in the video 'Tracking a 'facer's" behavior in a public plaza'. The visualization was made using QGIS TimeManager.......The video shows the ground truth tracks in GIS of all pedestrians in the video 'Tracking a 'facer's" behavior in a public plaza'. The visualization was made using QGIS TimeManager....

Experiment design for pilot identification in compensatory tracking tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, W. R.

1976-01-01

A design criterion for input functions in laboratory tracking tasks resulting in efficient parameter estimation is formulated. The criterion is that the statistical correlations between pairs of parameters be reduced in order to minimize the problem of nonuniqueness in the extraction process. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated for a lower order dynamic system.

Clean tracks for ATLAS

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

First cosmic ray tracks in the integrated ATLAS barrel SCT and TRT tracking detectors. A snap-shot of a cosmic ray event seen in the different layers of both the SCT and TRT detectors. The ATLAS Inner Detector Integration Team celebrated a major success recently, when clean tracks of cosmic rays were detected in the completed semiconductor tracker (SCT) and transition radiation tracker (TRT) barrels. These tracking tests come just months after the successful insertion of the SCT into the TRT (See Bulletin 09/2006). The cosmic ray test is important for the experiment because, after 15 years of hard work, it is the last test performed on the fully assembled barrel before lowering it into the ATLAS cavern. The two trackers work together to provide millions of channels so that particles' tracks can be identified and measured with great accuracy. According to the team, the preliminary results were very encouraging. After first checks of noise levels in the final detectors, a critical goal was to study their re...

Tracks, spurs, blobs and delta-rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magee, J.L.; Chatterjee, A.

1983-01-01

The track of a high-energy particle is the collection of all transient species created by the particle in the total degradation of its energy. Visible electron tracks are called delta rays. A microscopic description of the track with all its knocked-out electrons leads to spurs, blobs, and short tracks. Energy deposition criteria for these three track entities are 6 to 100 eV, 100 to 500 eV, and 500 eV to 5 keV, respectively

Gamma ray energy tracking in GRETINA

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, I. Y.

2011-10-01

The next generation of stable and exotic beam accelerators will provide physics opportunities to study nuclei farther away from the line of stability. However, these experiments will be more demanding on instrumentation performance. These come from the lower production rate for more exotic beams, worse beam impurities, and large beam velocity from the fragmentation and inverse reactions. Gamma-ray spectroscopy will be one of the most effective tools to study exotic nuclei. However, to fully exploit the physics reach provided by these new facilities, better gamma-ray detector will be needed. In the last 10 years, a new concept, gamma-ray energy tracking array, was developed. Tracking arrays will increase the detection sensitivity by factors of several hundred compared to current arrays used in nuclear physics research. Particularly, the capability of reconstructing the position of the interaction with millimeters resolution is needed to correct the Doppler broadening of gamma rays emitted from high velocity nuclei. GRETINA is a gamma-ray tracking array which uses 28 Ge crystals, each with 36 segments, to cover ¼ of the 4 π of the 4 π solid angle. The gamma ray tracking technique requires detailed pulse shape information from each of the segments. These pulses are digitized using 14-bit 100 MHz flash ADCs, and digital signal analysis algorithms implemented in the on-board FPGAs provides energy, time and selection of pulse traces. A digital trigger system, provided flexible trigger functions including a fast trigger output, and also allows complicated trigger decisions to be made up to 20 microseconds. Further analyzed, carried out in a computer cluster, determine the energy, time, and three-dimensional positions of all gamma-ray interactions in the array. This information is then utilized, together with the characteristics of Compton scattering and pair-production processes, to track the scattering sequences of the gamma rays. GRETINA construction is completed in

Climate Data Provenance Tracking for Just-In-Time Computation

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, S.; Nadeau, D.; Doutriaux, C.; Williams, D. N.

2016-12-01

The "Climate Data Management System" (CDMS) was created in 1996 as part of the Climate Data Analysis Tools suite of software. It provides a simple interface into a wide variety of climate data formats, and creates NetCDF CF-Compliant files. It leverages the NumPy framework for high performance computation, and is an all-in-one IO and computation package. CDMS has been extended to track manipulations of data, and trace that data all the way to the original raw data. This extension tracks provenance about data, and enables just-in-time (JIT) computation. The provenance for each variable is packaged as part of the variable's metadata, and can be used to validate data processing and computations (by repeating the analysis on the original data). It also allows for an alternate solution for sharing analyzed data; if the bandwidth for a transfer is prohibitively expensive, the provenance serialization can be passed in a much more compact format and the analysis rerun on the input data. Data provenance tracking in CDMS enables far-reaching and impactful functionalities, permitting implementation of many analytical paradigms.

Studding the phenomenon of pair production of tracks on plastic detectors during radon measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shweikani, R.; Jourbi, B.

2011-06-01

Previous studies showed the appearance of many pairs of alpha tracks on the surface of the solid state nuclear track detectors (CR39) when exposed to radon. So the aim of this study was to judge whether this is a statistical or a physical phenomenon. Therefore, a theoretical function representing the probability of forming pairs of tracks on the detector was developed. A statistical studying was done for two sets of (1) mm thickness of CR39 detectors, the first set was exposed in the radon calibration chamber (RCC) with stable radon concentration (170 kBq/m 3 ) for different detectors positions inside and outside the exposure chamber (EC). While the second set was exposed to 241 Am source (1667 Bq) for different exposure times. The results show that the concentration of the single tracks on the detectors in case of covered EC was lower than the same situation without cover. In addition, the concentrations of the single tracks in various exposure situations inside and outside the EC were associated to the effective volumes that each detector sees. Finally, no considerable deference was found between pairs concentration in the two exposure cases (Radon chamber and 241 Am source), and both were lower than the theoretical values which calculated using the theoretical function. This means that pairs formation phenomena is a statistical phenomenon and there is no physical parameters related to radon gas or its daughter's behavior. (author)

Research and application of devices for synchronously tracking the sun

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, Ming; Sun, Youhong; Wang, Qinghua; Wu, Xiaohan [Jilin Univ. Changchun (China). College of Construction Engineering

2008-07-01

This paper introduces a concept of apparent motion orbit of the sun, and put forward the theory of synchronous (linear) tracking the sun. Using solarium mechanism to trail the running path of solar hour angel, and using modified sine function framework to trace solar apparent declination path, and then connect these two mechanisms with linear transmission chain. More than 45%{proportional_to}122% electricity can be output by the synchronous tracking photovoltaic (PV) devices compare with those fixed PV ones with the same area between the spring equinox to the summer solstice. The 17m{sup 2} heat collector of synchronous tracking, its static wind-driven power consumption is less than 3.5W (0.2W/m{sup 2}), and the gale consumption is less than 7W(0.34W/m{sup 2}). The apparatus can be utilized widely in solar power, heating, lighting systems and other solar energy utilization. (orig.)

Thermal Tracking of Sports Players

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gade, Rikke; Moeslund, Thomas B.

2014-01-01

We present here a real-time tracking algorithm for thermal video from a sports game. Robust detection of people includes routines for handling occlusions and noise before tracking each detected person with a Kalman filter. This online tracking algorithm is compared with a state-of-the-art offline...

Underground communications and tracking technology advances

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fiscor, S

2007-03-15

As the June 2009 deadline set by the MINER Act grows near, several technologies have emerged as possible options for communicating and tracking underground coal miners in the event of an emergency or disaster. NIOSH is currently deciding how best to invest $10 million assigned by Congress under an Emergency Supplementary Appropriations Act (ESA) to research and develop mine safety technology. Medium and ultra high frequency (UHF) systems seem to be leading the pack with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags serving as the tracking system. Wireless mesh systems can serve as a communications infrastructure and they can do much more. Even more technologies continue to emerge, such as inertial navigation tracking systems. Mines are discovering the wonders of modern voice and data communications underground. Still no one know if it is economically practical to design a system that will function after a coal mine explosion. From the nineteen systems submitted to MSHA's request for information (RFI), six systems were selected that represented most of the technologies that had been proposed: the Rajant Breadcrumb, Innovative Wireless, Concurrent Technologies/Time Domain, Transtek, Gamma Services, and the Kutta Consulting systems. They were tested at CONSOL Energy's McElroy mine in April 2006. MSHA felt that all of those systems needed a significant amount of work before they were ready for use in a underground coal mining environment. The agency continues to work with these, and other manufacturers, to assist in arranging for field demonstration and then to gain MSHA approval.

Fast-track totalknæalloplastik

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gromov, Kirill; Kristensen, Billy B; Jørgensen, Christoffer Calov

2017-01-01

patients are eligible for fast-track TKA, and hence the fast-track concept should be standard at all joint replacement facilities. Future challenges of fast-track TKA include safe introduction of outpatient protocols, acute and chronic pain after surgery and optimal utilization of post......Fast-track total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a well-established concept including optimized logistics and evidence-based treatment, focusing on minimizing surgical stress and improved post-operative recovery, thus leading to lower mortality and morbidity as well as high patient satisfaction. All...

Self-Motion Impairs Multiple-Object Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Laura E.; Seiffert, Adriane E.

2010-01-01

Investigations of multiple-object tracking aim to further our understanding of how people perform common activities such as driving in traffic. However, tracking tasks in the laboratory have overlooked a crucial component of much real-world object tracking: self-motion. We investigated the hypothesis that keeping track of one's own movement…

Track Starter's Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Dailey, Charles H.; Rankin, Kelly D.

This guide was developed to serve both the novice and experienced starter in track and field events. Each year in the United States, runners encounter dozens of different starters' mannerisms as they travel to track meets in various towns and states. The goal of any competent and conscientious starter is to insure that all runners receive a fair…

Adaptive H∞ nonlinear velocity tracking using RBFNN for linear DC brushless motor

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Ching-Chih; Chan, Cheng-Kain; Li, Yi Yu

2012-01-01

This article presents an adaptive H ∞ nonlinear velocity control for a linear DC brushless motor. A simplified model of this motor with friction is briefly recalled. The friction dynamics is described by the Lu Gre model and the online tuning radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used to parameterise the nonlinear friction function and un-modelled errors. An adaptive nonlinear H ∞ control method is then proposed to achieve velocity tracking, by assuming that the upper bounds of the ripple force, the changeable load and the nonlinear friction can be learned by the RBFNN. The closed-loop system is proven to be uniformly bounded using the Lyapunov stability theory. The feasibility and the efficacy of the proposed control are exemplified by conducting two velocity tracking experiments.

Node Depth Adjustment Based Target Tracking in UWSNs Using Improved Harmony Search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meiqin Liu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs can provide a promising solution to underwater target tracking. Due to the limited computation and bandwidth resources, only a small part of nodes are selected to track the target at each interval. How to improve tracking accuracy with a small number of nodes is a key problem. In recent years, a node depth adjustment system has been developed and applied to issues of network deployment and routing protocol. As far as we know, all existing tracking schemes keep underwater nodes static or moving with water flow, and node depth adjustment has not been utilized for underwater target tracking yet. This paper studies node depth adjustment method for target tracking in UWSNs. Firstly, since a Fisher Information Matrix (FIM can quantify the estimation accuracy, its relation to node depth is derived as a metric. Secondly, we formulate the node depth adjustment as an optimization problem to determine moving depth of activated node, under the constraint of moving range, the value of FIM is used as objective function, which is aimed to be minimized over moving distance of nodes. Thirdly, to efficiently solve the optimization problem, an improved Harmony Search (HS algorithm is proposed, in which the generating probability is modified to improve searching speed and accuracy. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify performance of our scheme.

Ion track etching revisited: I. Correlations between track parameters in aged polymers

Science.gov (United States)

Fink, D.; Muñoz H., G.; García A., H.; Vacik, J.; Hnatowicz, V.; Kiv, A.; Alfonta, L.

2018-04-01

Some yet poorly understood problems of etching of pristine and swift heavy ion track-irradiated aged polymers were treated, by applying conductometry across the irradiated foils during etching. The onset times of etchant penetration across pristine foils, and the onset times of the different etched track regimes in irradiated foils were determined for polymers of various proveniences, fluences and ages, as well as their corresponding etching speeds. From the results, correlations of the parameters with each other were deduced. The normalization of these parameters enables one to compare irradiated polymer foils of different origin and treatment with one another. In a number of cases, also polymeric gel formation and swelling occur which influence the track etching behaviour. The polymer degradation during aging influences the track etching parameters, which differ from each other on both sides of the foils. With increasing sample age, these differences increase.

Motion Tracking for Medical Imaging: A Non-Visible Structured Light Tracking Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Oline Vinter; Paulsen, Rasmus Reinhold; Højgaard, Liselotte

2012-01-01

We present a system for head motion tracking in 3D brain imaging. The system is based on facial surface reconstruction and tracking using a structured light (SL) scanning principle. The system is designed to fit into narrow 3D medical scanner geometries limiting the field of view. It is tested......, is that it is not necessary to place markers on the patient. This provides a simpler workflow and eliminates uncertainties related to marker attachment and stability. We show proof of concept of a marker less tracking system especially designed for clinical use with promising results....... in a clinical setting on the high resolution research tomograph (HRRT), Siemens PET scanner with a head phantom and volunteers. The SL system is compared to a commercial optical tracking system, the Polaris Vicra system, from NDI based on translatory and rotary ground truth motions of the head phantom...

Assessment of left ventricular regional function in affected and carrier dogs with duchenne muscular dystrophy using speckle tracking echocardiography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yugeta Naoko

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (STE is a relatively new method to detect regional myocardial dysfunction. To assess left ventricular (LV regional myocardial dysfunction using STE in Duchenne muscular dystrophy model dogs (CXMDJ without overt clinical signs of heart failure. Methods Six affected dogs, 8 carrier dogs with CXMDJ, and 8 control dogs were used. Conventional echocardiography, systolic and diastolic function by Doppler echocardiography, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI, and strain indices using STE, were assessed and compared among the 3 groups. Results Significant differences were seen in body weight, transmitral E wave and E' wave derived from TDI among the 3 groups. Although no significant difference was observed in any global strain indices, in segmental analysis, the peak radial strain rate during early diastole in posterior segment at chordae the tendineae level showed significant differences among the 3 groups. Conclusions The myocardial strain rate by STE served to detect the impaired cardiac diastolic function in CXMDJ without any obvious LV dilation or clinical signs. The radial strain rate may be a useful parameter to detect early myocardial impairment in CXMDJ.

Tracks: Nurses and the Tracking Network

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

This podcast highlights the utility of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for nurses in a variety of work settings. It features commentary from the American Nurses Association and includes stories from a public health nurse in Massachusetts.

An interface tracking model for droplet electrocoalescence.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erickson, Lindsay Crowl

2013-09-01

This report describes an Early Career Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project to develop an interface tracking model for droplet electrocoalescence. Many fluid-based technologies rely on electrical fields to control the motion of droplets, e.g. microfluidic devices for high-speed droplet sorting, solution separation for chemical detectors, and purification of biodiesel fuel. Precise control over droplets is crucial to these applications. However, electric fields can induce complex and unpredictable fluid dynamics. Recent experiments (Ristenpart et al. 2009) have demonstrated that oppositely charged droplets bounce rather than coalesce in the presence of strong electric fields. A transient aqueous bridge forms between approaching drops prior to pinch-off. This observation applies to many types of fluids, but neither theory nor experiments have been able to offer a satisfactory explanation. Analytic hydrodynamic approximations for interfaces become invalid near coalescence, and therefore detailed numerical simulations are necessary. This is a computationally challenging problem that involves tracking a moving interface and solving complex multi-physics and multi-scale dynamics, which are beyond the capabilities of most state-of-the-art simulations. An interface-tracking model for electro-coalescence can provide a new perspective to a variety of applications in which interfacial physics are coupled with electrodynamics, including electro-osmosis, fabrication of microelectronics, fuel atomization, oil dehydration, nuclear waste reprocessing and solution separation for chemical detectors. We present a conformal decomposition finite element (CDFEM) interface-tracking method for the electrohydrodynamics of two-phase flow to demonstrate electro-coalescence. CDFEM is a sharp interface method that decomposes elements along fluid-fluid boundaries and uses a level set function to represent the interface.

Applications of nuclear track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Medveczky, L.

1980-01-01

The results of a scientific research-work are summarized. Nuclear track detectors were used for new applications or in unusual ways. Photographic films, nuclear emulsions and dielectric track detectors were investigated. The tracks were detected by optical microscopy. Empirical formulation has been derived for the neutron sensitivity of certain dielectric materials. Methods were developed for leak testing of closed alpha emitting sources. New procedures were found for the application and evaluation of track detector materials. The results were applied in the education, personnel dosimetry, radon dosimetry etc. (R.J.)

A parameterization of nuclear track profiles in CR-39 detector

Science.gov (United States)

Azooz, A. A.; Al-Nia'emi, S. H.; Al-Jubbori, M. A.

2012-11-01

on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage. No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 15598 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 3933244 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: MATLAB. Computer: Any Desktop or Laptop. Operating system: Windows 1998 or above (with MATLAB R13 or above installed). RAM: 512 Megabytes or higher Classification: 17.5. Nature of problem: A new semispherical parameterization of charged particle tracks in CR-39 SSNTD is carried out in a previous paper. This parameterization is developed here into a MATLAB based software to calculate the track length and track profile for any proton or alpha particle energy or etching time. This software is intended to compete with the TRACK_TEST [1] and TRACK_VISION [2] software currently in use by all people working in the field of SSNTD. Solution method: Based on fitting of experimental results of protons and alpha particles track lengths for various energies and etching times to a new semispherical formula with four free fitting parameters, the best set of energy independent parameters were found. These parameters are introduced into the software and the software is programmed to solve the set of equations to calculate the track depth, track etching rate as a function of both time and residual range for particles of normal and oblique incidence, the track longitudinal profile at both normal and oblique incidence, and the three dimensional track profile at normal incidence. Running time: 1-8 s on Pentium (4) 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM depending on the etching time value References: [1] ADWT_v1_0 Track_Test Computer program TRACK_TEST for calculating parameters and plotting profiles for etch pits in nuclear track materials. D. Nikezic, K.N. Yu Comput. Phys. Commun. 174(2006)160 [2] AEAF

Quantification of global myocardial function by cine MRI deformable registration-based analysis: Comparison with MR feature tracking and speckle-tracking echocardiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamacie, Mariana M.; Thavendiranathan, Paaladinesh; Hanneman, Kate; Greiser, Andreas; Jolly, Marie-Pierre; Ward, Richard; Wintersperger, Bernd J.

2017-01-01

To evaluate deformable registration algorithms (DRA)-based quantification of cine steady-state free-precession (SSFP) for myocardial strain assessment in comparison with feature-tracking (FT) and speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE). Data sets of 28 patients/10 volunteers, undergoing same-day 1.5T cardiac MRI and echocardiography were included. LV global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential (GCS) and radial (GRS) peak systolic strain were assessed on cine SSFP data using commercially available FT algorithms and prototype DRA-based algorithms. STE was applied as standard of reference for accuracy, precision and intra-/interobserver reproducibility testing. DRA showed narrower limits of agreement compared to STE for GLS (-4.0 [-0.9,-7.9]) and GCS (-5.1 [1.1,-11.2]) than FT (3.2 [11.2,-4.9]; 3.8 [13.9,-6.3], respectively). While both DRA and FT demonstrated significant differences to STE for GLS and GCS (all p<0.001), only DRA correlated significantly to STE for GLS (r=0.47; p=0.006). However, good correlation was demonstrated between MR techniques (GLS:r=0.74; GCS:r=0.80; GRS:r=0.45, all p<0.05). Comparing DRA with FT, intra-/interobserver coefficient of variance was lower (1.6 %/3.2 % vs. 6.4 %/5.7 %) and intraclass-correlation coefficient was higher. DRA GCS and GRS data presented zero variability for repeated observations. DRA is an automated method that allows myocardial deformation assessment with superior reproducibility compared to FT. (orig.)

Quantification of global myocardial function by cine MRI deformable registration-based analysis: Comparison with MR feature tracking and speckle-tracking echocardiography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamacie, Mariana M. [University Health Network, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Thavendiranathan, Paaladinesh [University Health Network, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Hanneman, Kate [University Health Network, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Greiser, Andreas [Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen (Germany); Jolly, Marie-Pierre [Medical Imaging Technologies, Siemens Healthcare, Princeton, NJ (United States); Ward, Richard [University of Toronto, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Wintersperger, Bernd J. [University Health Network, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Toronto General Hospital, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

2017-04-15

To evaluate deformable registration algorithms (DRA)-based quantification of cine steady-state free-precession (SSFP) for myocardial strain assessment in comparison with feature-tracking (FT) and speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE). Data sets of 28 patients/10 volunteers, undergoing same-day 1.5T cardiac MRI and echocardiography were included. LV global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential (GCS) and radial (GRS) peak systolic strain were assessed on cine SSFP data using commercially available FT algorithms and prototype DRA-based algorithms. STE was applied as standard of reference for accuracy, precision and intra-/interobserver reproducibility testing. DRA showed narrower limits of agreement compared to STE for GLS (-4.0 [-0.9,-7.9]) and GCS (-5.1 [1.1,-11.2]) than FT (3.2 [11.2,-4.9]; 3.8 [13.9,-6.3], respectively). While both DRA and FT demonstrated significant differences to STE for GLS and GCS (all p<0.001), only DRA correlated significantly to STE for GLS (r=0.47; p=0.006). However, good correlation was demonstrated between MR techniques (GLS:r=0.74; GCS:r=0.80; GRS:r=0.45, all p<0.05). Comparing DRA with FT, intra-/interobserver coefficient of variance was lower (1.6 %/3.2 % vs. 6.4 %/5.7 %) and intraclass-correlation coefficient was higher. DRA GCS and GRS data presented zero variability for repeated observations. DRA is an automated method that allows myocardial deformation assessment with superior reproducibility compared to FT. (orig.)

Underwater Acoustic Target Tracking: A Review

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Ying; Fan, Liying

2018-01-01

Advances in acoustic technology and instrumentation now make it possible to explore marine resources. As a significant component of ocean exploration, underwater acoustic target tracking has aroused wide attention both in military and civil fields. Due to the complexity of the marine environment, numerous techniques have been proposed to obtain better tracking performance. In this paper, we survey over 100 papers ranging from innovative papers to the state-of-the-art in this field to present underwater tracking technologies. Not only the related knowledge of acoustic tracking instrument and tracking progress is clarified in detail, but also a novel taxonomy method is proposed. In this paper, algorithms for underwater acoustic target tracking are classified based on the methods used as: (1) instrument-assisted methods; (2) mode-based methods; (3) tracking optimization methods. These algorithms are compared and analyzed in the aspect of dimensions, numbers, and maneuvering of the tracking target, which is different from other survey papers. Meanwhile, challenges, countermeasures, and lessons learned are illustrated in this paper. PMID:29301318

Online track reconstruction at hadron colliders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amerio, Silvia; Bettini, Marco; Nicoletto, Marino; Crescioli, Francesco; Bucciantonio, Martina; DELL'ORSO, Mauro; Piendibene, Marco; VOLPI, Guido; Annovi, Alberto; Catastini, Pierluigi; Giannetti, Paola; Lucchesi, Donatella

2010-01-01

Real time event reconstruction plays a fundamental role in High Energy Physics experiments. Reducing the rate of data to be saved on tape from millions to hundreds per second is critical. In order to increase the purity of the collected samples, rate reduction has to be coupled with the capability to simultaneously perform a first selection of the most interesting events. A fast and efficient online track reconstruction is important to effectively trigger on leptons and/or displaced tracks from b-quark decays. This talk will be an overview of online tracking techniques in different HEP environments: we will show how H1 experiment at HERA faced the challenges of online track reconstruction implementing pattern matching and track linking algorithms on CAMs and FPGAs in the Fast Track Processor (FTT). The pattern recognition technique is also at the basis of the Silicon Vertex Trigger (SVT) at the CDF experiment at Tevatron: coupled to a very fast fitting phase, SVT allows to trigger on displaced tracks, thus greatly increasing the efficiency for the hadronic B decay modes. A recent upgrade of the SVT track fitter, the Giga-fitter, can perform more than 1 fit/ns and further improves the CDF online trigger capabilities at high luminosity. At SLHC, where luminosities will be 2 orders of magnitude greater than Tevatron, online tracking will be much more challenging: we will describe CMS future plans for a Level-1 track trigger and the Fast Tracker (FTK) processor at the ATLAS experiment, based on the Giga-fitter architecture and designed to provide high quality tracks reconstructed over the entire detector in time for a Level-2 trigger decision.luminosity. At SLHC, where luminosities will be 2 orders of magnitude greater than Tevatron, online tracking will be much more challenging: we will describe CMS future plans for a Level-1 track trigger and the Fast Tracker (FTK) processor at the Atlas experiment, based on the Giga-fitter architecture and designed to provide high

Tracking the Re-organization of Motor Functions After Disconnective Surgery: A Longitudinal fMRI and DTI Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Rosazza

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: Mechanisms of motor plasticity are critical to maintain motor functions after cerebral damage. This study explores the mechanisms of motor reorganization occurring before and after surgery in four patients with drug-refractory epilepsy candidate to disconnective surgery.Methods: We studied four patients with early damage, who underwent tailored hemispheric surgery in adulthood, removing the cortical motor areas and disconnecting the corticospinal tract (CST from the affected hemisphere. Motor functions were assessed clinically, with functional MRI (fMRI tasks of arm and leg movement and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI before and after surgery with assessments of up to 3 years. Quantifications of fMRI motor activations and DTI fractional anisotropy (FA color maps were performed to assess the lateralization of motor network. We hypothesized that lateralization of motor circuits assessed preoperatively with fMRI and DTI was useful to evaluate the motor outcome in these patients.Results: In two cases preoperative DTI-tractography did not reconstruct the CST, and FA-maps were strongly asymmetric. In the other two cases, the affected CST appeared reduced compared to the contralateral one, with modest asymmetry in the FA-maps. fMRI showed different degrees of lateralization of the motor network and the SMA of the intact hemisphere was mostly engaged in all cases. After surgery, patients with a strongly lateralized motor network showed a stable performance. By contrast, a patient with a more bilateral pattern showed worsening of the upper limb function. For all cases, fMRI activations shifted to the intact hemisphere. Structural alterations of motor circuits, observed with FA values, continued beyond 1 year after surgery.Conclusion: In our case series fMRI and DTI could track the longitudinal reorganization of motor functions. In these four patients the more the paretic limbs recruited the intact hemisphere in primary motor and associative

Tracking the Re-organization of Motor Functions After Disconnective Surgery: A Longitudinal fMRI and DTI Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosazza, Cristina; Deleo, Francesco; D'Incerti, Ludovico; Antelmi, Luigi; Tringali, Giovanni; Didato, Giuseppe; Bruzzone, Maria G; Villani, Flavio; Ghielmetti, Francesco

2018-01-01

Objective: Mechanisms of motor plasticity are critical to maintain motor functions after cerebral damage. This study explores the mechanisms of motor reorganization occurring before and after surgery in four patients with drug-refractory epilepsy candidate to disconnective surgery. Methods: We studied four patients with early damage, who underwent tailored hemispheric surgery in adulthood, removing the cortical motor areas and disconnecting the corticospinal tract (CST) from the affected hemisphere. Motor functions were assessed clinically, with functional MRI (fMRI) tasks of arm and leg movement and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) before and after surgery with assessments of up to 3 years. Quantifications of fMRI motor activations and DTI fractional anisotropy (FA) color maps were performed to assess the lateralization of motor network. We hypothesized that lateralization of motor circuits assessed preoperatively with fMRI and DTI was useful to evaluate the motor outcome in these patients. Results: In two cases preoperative DTI-tractography did not reconstruct the CST, and FA-maps were strongly asymmetric. In the other two cases, the affected CST appeared reduced compared to the contralateral one, with modest asymmetry in the FA-maps. fMRI showed different degrees of lateralization of the motor network and the SMA of the intact hemisphere was mostly engaged in all cases. After surgery, patients with a strongly lateralized motor network showed a stable performance. By contrast, a patient with a more bilateral pattern showed worsening of the upper limb function. For all cases, fMRI activations shifted to the intact hemisphere. Structural alterations of motor circuits, observed with FA values, continued beyond 1 year after surgery. Conclusion: In our case series fMRI and DTI could track the longitudinal reorganization of motor functions. In these four patients the more the paretic limbs recruited the intact hemisphere in primary motor and associative areas, the

Personal neutron monitoring using TLD albedo combined with etched tracks detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsujimura, N.; Momose, T. [Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, Ibarakiken (Japan)

2002-07-01

The albedo dosimetry has been carried out in personal neutron monitoring in the MOX fuel plant of JNC Tokai Works, however, it has shortcomings mainly due to the inherently poor energy response. This paper describes our efforts to overcome these difficulties in practical use of albedo dosemeters. The following four subjects are presented: (1) the neutron energy response functions of albedo TLD obtained from the mono-energetic neutron irradiation experiments and the Monte-Carlo calculations, (2) the location- dependent correction factors calculated from the response functions and neutron energy spectra measured in the workplaces, (3) the results of the international personal neutron dosimetry intercomparison program, and (4) the operational comparison program of TLD albedo and etched tracks detector worn by workers engaged in the fabrication process of the MOX fuel plant. Finally, the characteristics of the combination neutron dosemeter using TLD albedo and solid state etched track detector are summarized.

GENFIT - a generic track-fitting toolkit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rauch, Johannes [Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany); Schlueter, Tobias [Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (Germany)

2014-07-01

GENFIT is an experiment-independent track-fitting toolkit, which combines fitting algorithms, track representations, and measurement geometries into a modular framework. We report on a significantly improved version of GENFIT, based on experience gained in the Belle II, PANDA, and FOPI experiments. Improvements concern the implementation of additional track-fitting algorithms, enhanced implementations of Kalman fitters, enhanced visualization capabilities, and additional implementations of measurement types suited for various kinds of tracking detectors. The data model has been revised, allowing for efficient track merging, smoothing, residual calculation and alignment.

Particle Tracking in Circular Accelerators Using the Exact Hamiltonian in SixTrack

CERN Document Server

Fjellstrom, Mattias; Hansson, Johan

2013-12-13

Particle motion in accelerators is in general complex. Tracking codes are developed to simulate beam dynamics in accelerators. SixTrack is a long lived particle tracking code maintained at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. A particle accelerator consists of a large number of magnets and other electromagnetic devices that guide the particle through the accelerator. Each device defines its own equation of motion, which often cannot be solved exactly. For this purpose, a number of approximations are introduced in order to facilitate the solution and to speed up the computation. In a high-energy accelerator, the particle has small transverse momentum components. This is exploited in the small-angle approximation. In this approximation the equations of motion are expanded to a low order in the transverse momentum components. In low-energy particle accelerators, or in tracking with large momentum deviations, this approximation is invalid. The equations of motion of a particle passing through a f...

A novel approach to tracking antigen-experienced CD4 T cells into functional compartments via tandem deep and shallow TCR clonotyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Estorninho, Megan; Gibson, Vivienne B; Kronenberg-Versteeg, Deborah; Liu, Yuk-Fun; Ni, Chester; Cerosaletti, Karen; Peakman, Mark

2013-12-01

Extensive diversity in the human repertoire of TCRs for Ag is both a cornerstone of effective adaptive immunity that enables host protection against a multiplicity of pathogens and a weakness that gives rise to potential pathological self-reactivity. The complexity arising from diversity makes detection and tracking of single Ag-specific CD4 T cells (ASTs) involved in these immune responses challenging. We report a tandem, multistep process to quantify rare TCRβ-chain variable sequences of ASTs in large polyclonal populations. The approach combines deep high-throughput sequencing (HTS) within functional CD4 T cell compartments, such as naive/memory cells, with shallow, multiple identifier-based HTS of ASTs identified by activation marker upregulation after short-term Ag stimulation in vitro. We find that clonotypes recognizing HLA class II-restricted epitopes of both pathogen-derived Ags and self-Ags are oligoclonal and typically private. Clonotype tracking within an individual reveals private AST clonotypes resident in the memory population, as would be expected, representing clonal expansions (identical nucleotide sequence; "ultraprivate"). Other AST clonotypes share CDR3β amino acid sequences through convergent recombination and are found in memory populations of multiple individuals. Tandem HTS-based clonotyping will facilitate studying AST dynamics, epitope spreading, and repertoire changes that arise postvaccination and following Ag-specific immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease.

Real-Time 3D Tracking and Reconstruction on Mobile Phones.

Science.gov (United States)

Prisacariu, Victor Adrian; Kähler, Olaf; Murray, David W; Reid, Ian D

2015-05-01

We present a novel framework for jointly tracking a camera in 3D and reconstructing the 3D model of an observed object. Due to the region based approach, our formulation can handle untextured objects, partial occlusions, motion blur, dynamic backgrounds and imperfect lighting. Our formulation also allows for a very efficient implementation which achieves real-time performance on a mobile phone, by running the pose estimation and the shape optimisation in parallel. We use a level set based pose estimation but completely avoid the, typically required, explicit computation of a global distance. This leads to tracking rates of more than 100 Hz on a desktop PC and 30 Hz on a mobile phone. Further, we incorporate additional orientation information from the phone's inertial sensor which helps us resolve the tracking ambiguities inherent to region based formulations. The reconstruction step first probabilistically integrates 2D image statistics from selected keyframes into a 3D volume, and then imposes coherency and compactness using a total variational regularisation term. The global optimum of the overall energy function is found using a continuous max-flow algorithm and we show that, similar to tracking, the integration of per voxel posteriors instead of likelihoods improves the precision and accuracy of the reconstruction.

Tracking by Machine Learning Methods

CERN Document Server

Jofrehei, Arash

2015-01-01

Current track reconstructing methods start with two points and then for each layer loop through all possible hits to find proper hits to add to that track. Another idea would be to use this large number of already reconstructed events and/or simulated data and train a machine on this data to find tracks given hit pixels. Training time could be long but real time tracking is really fast Simulation might not be as realistic as real data but tacking has been done for that with 100 percent efficiency while by using real data we would probably be limited to current efficiency.

Improved nano-particle tracking analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, John G

2012-01-01

Nano-particle tracking is a method to estimate a particle size distribution by tracking the movements of individual particles, using multiple images of particles moving under Brownian motion. A novel method to recover a particle size distribution from nano-particle tracking data is described. Unlike a simple histogram-based method, the method described is able to account for the finite number of steps in each particle track and consequently for the measurement uncertainty in the step-length data. Computer simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the approach compared with the current method. (paper)

The Tracking Meteogram, an AWIPS II Tool for Time-Series Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Burks, Jason Eric; Sperow, Ken

2015-01-01

A new tool has been developed for the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) II through collaboration between NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) and the NWS Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL). Referred to as the "Tracking Meteogram", the tool aids NWS forecasters in assessing meteorological parameters associated with moving phenomena. The tool aids forecasters in severe weather situations by providing valuable satellite and radar derived trends such as cloud top cooling rates, radial velocity couplets, reflectivity, and information from ground-based lightning networks. The Tracking Meteogram tool also aids in synoptic and mesoscale analysis by tracking parameters such as the deepening of surface low pressure systems, changes in surface or upper air temperature, and other properties. The tool provides a valuable new functionality and demonstrates the flexibility and extensibility of the NWS AWIPS II architecture. In 2014, the operational impact of the tool was formally evaluated through participation in the NOAA/NWS Operations Proving Ground (OPG), a risk reduction activity to assess performance and operational impact of new forecasting concepts, tools, and applications. Performance of the Tracking Meteogram Tool during the OPG assessment confirmed that it will be a valuable asset to the operational forecasters. This presentation reviews development of the Tracking Meteogram tool, performance and feedback acquired during the OPG activity, and future goals for continued support and extension to other application areas.

Eye tracking in user experience design

CERN Document Server

Romano Bergstorm, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Eye Tracking for User Experience Design explores the many applications of eye tracking to better understand how users view and interact with technology. Ten leading experts in eye tracking discuss how they have taken advantage of this new technology to understand, design, and evaluate user experience. Real-world stories are included from these experts who have used eye tracking during the design and development of products ranging from information websites to immersive games. They also explore recent advances in the technology which tracks how users interact with mobile devices, large-screen displays and video game consoles. Methods for combining eye tracking with other research techniques for a more holistic understanding of the user experience are discussed. This is an invaluable resource to those who want to learn how eye tracking can be used to better understand and design for their users. * Includes highly relevant examples and information for those who perform user research and design interactive experi...

Track models and radiation chemical yields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chatterjee, A.; Magee, J.L.

1987-01-01

The authors are concerned only with systems in which single track effects dominate and radiation chemical yields are sums of yields for individual tracks. The authors know that the energy deposits of heavy particle tracks are composed of spurs along the particle trajectory (about one-half of the energy) and a more diffuse pattern composed of the tracks of knock-on electrons, called the penumbra (about one-half of the energy). The simplest way to introduce the concept of a unified track model for heavy particles is to consider the special case of the track of a heavy particle with an LET below 0.2-0.3eV/A, which in practice limits us to protons, deuterons, or particles with energy above 100 MeV per nucleon. At these LET values, to a good approximation, spurs formed by the main particle track can be considered to remain isolated throughout the radiation chemical reactions

Dynamic Learning from Adaptive Neural Control of Uncertain Robots with Guaranteed Full-State Tracking Precision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A dynamic learning method is developed for an uncertain n-link robot with unknown system dynamics, achieving predefined performance attributes on the link angular position and velocity tracking errors. For a known nonsingular initial robotic condition, performance functions and unconstrained transformation errors are employed to prevent the violation of the full-state tracking error constraints. By combining two independent Lyapunov functions and radial basis function (RBF neural network (NN approximator, a novel and simple adaptive neural control scheme is proposed for the dynamics of the unconstrained transformation errors, which guarantees uniformly ultimate boundedness of all the signals in the closed-loop system. In the steady-state control process, RBF NNs are verified to satisfy the partial persistent excitation (PE condition. Subsequently, an appropriate state transformation is adopted to achieve the accurate convergence of neural weight estimates. The corresponding experienced knowledge on unknown robotic dynamics is stored in NNs with constant neural weight values. Using the stored knowledge, a static neural learning controller is developed to improve the full-state tracking performance. A comparative simulation study on a 2-link robot illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Particle Filter Tracking without Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaime Ortegon-Aguilar

2007-01-01

Full Text Available People tracking is an interesting topic in computer vision. It has applications in industrial areas such as surveillance or human-machine interaction. Particle Filters is a common algorithm for people tracking; challenging situations occur when the target's motion is poorly modelled or with unexpected motions. In this paper, an alternative to address people tracking is presented. The proposed algorithm is based in particle filters, but instead of using a dynamical model, it uses background subtraction to predict future locations of particles. The algorithm is able to track people in omnidirectional sequences with a low frame rate (one or two frames per second. Our approach can tackle unexpected discontinuities and changes in the direction of the motion. The main goal of the paper is to track people from laboratories, but it has applications in surveillance, mainly in controlled environments.

Single track coincidence measurements of fluorescent and plastic nuclear track detectors in therapeutic carbon beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osinga, J-M; Jäkel, O; Ambrožová, I; Brabcová, K Pachnerová; Davídková, M; Akselrod, M S; Greilich, S

2014-01-01

In this paper we present a method for single track coincidence measurements using two different track detector materials. We employed plastic and fluorescent nuclear track detectors (PNTDs and FNTDs) in the entrance channel of a monoenergetic carbon ion beam covering the therapeutic energy range from 80 to 425 MeV/u. About 99% of all primary particle tracks detected by both detectors were successfully matched, while 1% of the particles were only detected by the FNTDs because of their superior spatial resolution. We conclude that both PNTDs and FNTDs are suitable for clinical carbon beam dosimetry with a detection efficiency of at least 98.82% and 99.83% respectively, if irradiations are performed with low fluence in the entrance channel of the ion beam. The investigated method can be adapted to other nuclear track detectors and offers the possibility to characterize new track detector materials against well-known detectors. Further, by combining two detectors with a restricted working range in the presented way a hybrid-detector system can be created with an extended and optimized working range

Adaptive Backstepping-Based Neural Tracking Control for MIMO Nonlinear Switched Systems Subject to Input Delays.

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Ben; Li, Lu

2018-06-01

This brief proposes a new neural-network (NN)-based adaptive output tracking control scheme for a class of disturbed multiple-input multiple-output uncertain nonlinear switched systems with input delays. By combining the universal approximation ability of radial basis function NNs and adaptive backstepping recursive design with an improved multiple Lyapunov function (MLF) scheme, a novel adaptive neural output tracking controller design method is presented for the switched system. The feature of the developed design is that different coordinate transformations are adopted to overcome the conservativeness caused by adopting a common coordinate transformation for all subsystems. It is shown that all the variables of the resulting closed-loop system are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded under a class of switching signals in the presence of MLF and that the system output can follow the desired reference signal. To demonstrate the practicability of the obtained result, an adaptive neural output tracking controller is designed for a mass-spring-damper system.

Evaluation of Subclinical Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction in Chronic Asymptomatic Alcoholics by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murathan Kucuk

2017-01-01

Full Text Available By using two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography, we aimed to investigate the structural and functional changes on myocardium in chronic asymptomatic alcoholics without any cardiovascular disease. Forty-one consecutive asymptomatic male alcoholics who were admitted to the outpatient alcoholism unit and 30 age matched healthy male volunteers selected as the control group were enrolled in the study. The study group were investigated by using standard two-dimensional echocardiography and speckle tracking echocardiography. The left ventricular (LV global longitudinal strain and LV global circumferential strain were significantly lower in alcoholics when compared with control subjects. There was no difference in global radial strain between the two groups. To demonstrate the effect of total life time dose of ethanol (TLDE on echocardiographic abnormalities, we assessed the correlation analysis. There was a nonsignificant weak correlation between global LV circumferential strain and TLDE (r=0.27, p=0.083. Speckle tracking echocardiography derived left ventricular systolic function was impaired in chronic alcoholic patients when compared with healthy controls.

Beam tracking strategies for studies of kinetic scales in the solar wind with THOR-CSW

Science.gov (United States)

De Keyser, Johan; Lavraud, Benoit; Neefs, Eddy; Berkenbosch, Sophie; Anciaux, Michel; Maggiolo, Romain

2016-04-01

Modern plasma spectrometers for monitoring the solar wind attempt to intelligently track the energy and direction of the solar wind beam in order to obtain solar wind velocity distributions more efficiently. Such beam tracking strategies offer some benefits, but also have their limitations and drawbacks. Benefits include an improved resolution and/or a faster velocity distribution function acquisition time. Limitations are due to instrument characteristics that tend to be optimized for a particular range of particle energies and arrival directions. A drawback is the risk to miss an important part of the velocity distribution or to lose track of the beam altogether. A comparison is presented of different beam tracking strategies under consideration for the THOR-CSW instrument in order to highlight a number of design decisions and their impact on the acquired velocity distributions. The gain offered by beam tracking in terms of increased time resolution turns out to be essential for studies of solar wind physics at kinetic scales.

Digestion proteomics: tracking lactoferrin truncation and peptide release during simulated gastric digestion.

Science.gov (United States)

Grosvenor, Anita J; Haigh, Brendan J; Dyer, Jolon M

2014-11-01

The extent to which nutritional and functional benefit is derived from proteins in food is related to its breakdown and digestion in the body after consumption. Further, detailed information about food protein truncation during digestion is critical to understanding and optimising the availability of bioactives, in controlling and limiting allergen release, and in minimising or monitoring the effects of processing and food preparation. However, tracking the complex array of products formed during the digestion of proteins is not easily accomplished using classical proteomics. We here present and develop a novel proteomic approach using isobaric labelling to mapping and tracking protein truncation and peptide release during simulated gastric digestion, using bovine lactoferrin as a model food protein. The relative abundance of related peptides was tracked throughout a digestion time course, and the effect of pasteurisation on peptide release assessed. The new approach to food digestion proteomics developed here therefore appears to be highly suitable not only for tracking the truncation and relative abundance of released peptides during gastric digestion, but also for determining the effects of protein modification on digestibility and potential bioavailability.

Distributed Tracking in Distributed Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

1988-05-26

Glocal Track 6-17 6-12: Case II: Initial Glocal Track 6-18 6-13: Local Tracking Results with Multiple Model Approach 6-19 6-14: Model Probability History...3480.0- 2290.0e iee. onee -5800 -4600.8 -3400.8 -2208.8 -1886 X (Mi) Figure 6-11: Case 1: Initial Glocal Track 6-17 460. 420. 38 . 3488.9 1st 3498.9

Large Radius Tracking at the ATLAS Experiment

CERN Document Server

Lutz, Margaret Susan; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Many exotics and SUSY models include particles which are long lived resulting in decays which are highly displaced from the proton-proton interaction point (IP). The standard track reconstruction algorithm used by the ATLAS collaboration is optimized for tracks from “primary” particles, which originate close to the IP. Thus, tight restrictions on the transverse and longitudinal impact parameters, as well as on several other tracking variables, are applied to improve the track reconstruction performance and to reduce the fake rate. This track reconstruction is very efficient for primary particles, but not for the non-prompt particles mentioned above.  In order to reconstruct tracks with large impact parameters due to displaced decays, a tracking algorithm has been optimized to re-run with loosened requirements over the hits left over after standard track reconstruction has finished. Enabling this “retracking” has significantly increased the efficiency of reconstructing tracks from displaced decays, wh...

Robust track fitting in the Belle II inner tracking detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nadler, Moritz; Frühwirth, Rudolf

2012-01-01

Track fitting in the new inner tracker of the Belle II experiment uses the GENFIT package. In the latter both a standard Kalman filter and a robust extension, the deterministic annealing filter (DAF), are implemented. This contribution presents the results of a simulation experiment which examines the performance of the DAF in the inner tracker, in terms of outlier detection ability and of the impact of different kinds of background on the quality of the fitted tracks.

Automatic detection, tracking and sensor integration

Science.gov (United States)

Trunk, G. V.

1988-06-01

This report surveys the state of the art of automatic detection, tracking, and sensor integration. In the area of detection, various noncoherent integrators such as the moving window integrator, feedback integrator, two-pole filter, binary integrator, and batch processor are discussed. Next, the three techniques for controlling false alarms, adapting thresholds, nonparametric detectors, and clutter maps are presented. In the area of tracking, a general outline is given of a track-while-scan system, and then a discussion is presented of the file system, contact-entry logic, coordinate systems, tracking filters, maneuver-following logic, tracking initiating, track-drop logic, and correlation procedures. Finally, in the area of multisensor integration the problems of colocated-radar integration, multisite-radar integration, radar-IFF integration, and radar-DF bearing strobe integration are treated.

Maximum Correntropy Criterion Kalman Filter for α-Jerk Tracking Model with Non-Gaussian Noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bowen Hou

2017-11-01

Full Text Available As one of the most critical issues for target track, α -jerk model is an effective maneuver target track model. Non-Gaussian noises always exist in the track process, which usually lead to inconsistency and divergence of the track filter. A novel Kalman filter is derived and applied on α -jerk tracking model to handle non-Gaussian noise. The weighted least square solution is presented and the standard Kalman filter is deduced firstly. A novel Kalman filter with the weighted least square based on the maximum correntropy criterion is deduced. The robustness of the maximum correntropy criterion is also analyzed with the influence function and compared with the Huber-based filter, and, moreover, the kernel size of Gaussian kernel plays an important role in the filter algorithm. A new adaptive kernel method is proposed in this paper to adjust the parameter in real time. Finally, simulation results indicate the validity and the efficiency of the proposed filter. The comparison study shows that the proposed filter can significantly reduce the noise influence for α -jerk model.

Attitude and position tracking

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Candy, LP

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Several applications require the tracking of attitude and position of a body based on velocity data. It is tempting to use direction cosine matrices (DCM), for example, to track attitude based on angular velocity data, and to integrate the linear...

StimTrack: An open-source software for manual transcranial magnetic stimulation coil positioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Ambrosini, Emilia; Ferrante, Simona; van de Ruit, Mark; Biguzzi, Stefano; Colombo, Vera; Monticone, Marco; Ferriero, Giorgio; Pedrocchi, Alessandra; Ferrigno, Giancarlo; Grey, Michael J

2018-01-01

During Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) experiments researchers often use a neuronavigation system to precisely and accurately maintain coil position and orientation. This study aimed to develop and validate an open-source software for TMS coil navigation. StimTrack uses an optical tracker and an intuitive user interface to facilitate the maintenance of position and orientation of any type of coil within and between sessions. Additionally, online access to navigation data is provided, hereby adding e.g. the ability to start or stop the magnetic stimulator depending on the distance to target or the variation of the orientation angles. StimTrack allows repeatable repositioning of the coil within 0.7mm for translation and 0.9) was obtained on all parameters computed on SR curves acquired using StimTrack. StimTrack showed a target accuracy similar to that of a commercial neuronavigation system (BrainSight, Rogue Research Inc.). Indeed, small differences both in position (∼0.2mm) and orientation (TMS. StimTrack allows researchers to tailor its functionality to their specific needs, providing added value that benefits experimental procedures and improves data quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Kalman Orbit Optimized Loop Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Lawrence E.; Meehan, Thomas K.

2011-01-01

Under certain conditions of low signal power and/or high noise, there is insufficient signal to noise ratio (SNR) to close tracking loops with individual signals on orbiting Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In addition, the processing power available from flight computers is not great enough to implement a conventional ultra-tight coupling tracking loop. This work provides a method to track GNSS signals at very low SNR without the penalty of requiring very high processor throughput to calculate the loop parameters. The Kalman Orbit-Optimized Loop (KOOL) tracking approach constitutes a filter with a dynamic model and using the aggregate of information from all tracked GNSS signals to close the tracking loop for each signal. For applications where there is not a good dynamic model, such as very low orbits where atmospheric drag models may not be adequate to achieve the required accuracy, aiding from an IMU (inertial measurement unit) or other sensor will be added. The KOOL approach is based on research JPL has done to allow signal recovery from weak and scintillating signals observed during the use of GPS signals for limb sounding of the Earth s atmosphere. That approach uses the onboard PVT (position, velocity, time) solution to generate predictions for the range, range rate, and acceleration of the low-SNR signal. The low- SNR signal data are captured by a directed open loop. KOOL builds on the previous open loop tracking by including feedback and observable generation from the weak-signal channels so that the MSR receiver will continue to track and provide PVT, range, and Doppler data, even when all channels have low SNR.

Automatic segmentation of coronary angiograms based on fuzzy inferring and probabilistic tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shoujun Zhou

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Segmentation of the coronary angiogram is important in computer-assisted artery motion analysis or reconstruction of 3D vascular structures from a single-plan or biplane angiographic system. Developing fully automated and accurate vessel segmentation algorithms is highly challenging, especially when extracting vascular structures with large variations in image intensities and noise, as well as with variable cross-sections or vascular lesions. Methods This paper presents a novel tracking method for automatic segmentation of the coronary artery tree in X-ray angiographic images, based on probabilistic vessel tracking and fuzzy structure pattern inferring. The method is composed of two main steps: preprocessing and tracking. In preprocessing, multiscale Gabor filtering and Hessian matrix analysis were used to enhance and extract vessel features from the original angiographic image, leading to a vessel feature map as well as a vessel direction map. In tracking, a seed point was first automatically detected by analyzing the vessel feature map. Subsequently, two operators [e.g., a probabilistic tracking operator (PTO and a vessel structure pattern detector (SPD] worked together based on the detected seed point to extract vessel segments or branches one at a time. The local structure pattern was inferred by a multi-feature based fuzzy inferring function employed in the SPD. The identified structure pattern, such as crossing or bifurcation, was used to control the tracking process, for example, to keep tracking the current segment or start tracking a new one, depending on the detected pattern. Results By appropriate integration of these advanced preprocessing and tracking steps, our tracking algorithm is able to extract both vessel axis lines and edge points, as well as measure the arterial diameters in various complicated cases. For example, it can walk across gaps along the longitudinal vessel direction, manage varying vessel

Research on Dynamics and Stability in the Stairs-climbing of a Tracked Mobile Robot

OpenAIRE

Tao, Weijun; Ou, Yi; Feng, Hutian

2012-01-01

Aiming at the functional requirement of climbing up the stairs, the dynamics and stability during a tracked mobile robot's climbing of stairs is studied. First, from the analysis of its cross-country performance, the mechanical structure of the tracked mobile robot is designed and the hardware composition of its control system is given. Second, based on the analysis to its stairs-climbing process, the dynamical model of stairs-climbing is established by using the classical mechanics method. N...

Applying patent information to tracking a specific technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen-Yuan Liu

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Patents in general contain much novel technological information. This paper demonstrates that the usage of patent analysis can facilitate a unique scheme for tracking technology development. In this paper, the walking technique of the Japanese biped robot is tracked as an example. The searching method of the FI (file index and F-term classification system developed by JPO (Japan Patent Office was employed in this study, where all the related patent data were searched from the IPDL (Intellectual Property Digital Library. This study investigated an important technique applied to the humanoid biped robot that imitates the walking behavior of the human beings on two legs. By analyzing the patent information obtained, the relative research capabilities, technical strengths, and patent citation conditions among patent competitors were compared. Furthermore, a formulated technical matrix of patent map is established in this paper to indicate that the ZMP (Zero Moment Point control means is the main technology to achieve stabilized walking control of the humanoid biped robot. This study also incorporates relevant academic journal findings and industrial information. Results presented herein demonstrate that patents can function not only as a map for tracking a technology trajectory, but also as a guide to the main development of a new technology in years to come.

VeloUT tracking for the LHCb Upgrade

CERN Document Server

Bowen, E

2014-01-01

This note describes track reconstruction in the LHCb tracking system upstream of the magnet, namely the VELO and UT sub-detectors. The implementation of the VeloUT algorithm and its performance in terms of track reconstruction efficiency, ghost rate and execution time per event are presented. The algorithm has been optimised for use in the Upgrade software trigger of LHCb. The momentum information obtained for the VeloUT tracks (due to a fringe magnetic field between the VELO and UT sub-detectors) can reduce the total execution time per event for the full tracking sequence. The performance of the tracking sequence with and without the use of VeloUT tracks is also presented.

Development of a 750x750 pixels CMOS imager sensor for tracking applications

Science.gov (United States)

Larnaudie, Franck; Guardiola, Nicolas; Saint-Pé, Olivier; Vignon, Bruno; Tulet, Michel; Davancens, Robert; Magnan, Pierre; Corbière, Franck; Martin-Gonthier, Philippe; Estribeau, Magali

2017-11-01

Solid-state optical sensors are now commonly used in space applications (navigation cameras, astronomy imagers, tracking sensors...). Although the charge-coupled devices are still widely used, the CMOS image sensor (CIS), which performances are continuously improving, is a strong challenger for Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) systems. This paper describes a 750x750 pixels CMOS image sensor that has been specially designed and developed for star tracker and tracking sensor applications. Such detector, that is featuring smart architecture enabling very simple and powerful operations, is built using the AMIS 0.5μm CMOS technology. It contains 750x750 rectangular pixels with 20μm pitch. The geometry of the pixel sensitive zone is optimized for applications based on centroiding measurements. The main feature of this device is the on-chip control and timing function that makes the device operation easier by drastically reducing the number of clocks to be applied. This powerful function allows the user to operate the sensor with high flexibility: measurement of dark level from masked lines, direct access to the windows of interest… A temperature probe is also integrated within the CMOS chip allowing a very precise measurement through the video stream. A complete electro-optical characterization of the sensor has been performed. The major parameters have been evaluated: dark current and its uniformity, read-out noise, conversion gain, Fixed Pattern Noise, Photo Response Non Uniformity, quantum efficiency, Modulation Transfer Function, intra-pixel scanning. The characterization tests are detailed in the paper. Co60 and protons irradiation tests have been also carried out on the image sensor and the results are presented. The specific features of the 750x750 image sensor such as low power CMOS design (3.3V, power consumption<100mW), natural windowing (that allows efficient and robust tracking algorithms), simple proximity electronics (because of the on

Report of the Central Tracking Group

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cassel, D.G.; Hanson, G.G.

1986-10-01

Issues involved in building a realistic central tracking system for a general-purpose 4π detector for the SSC are addressed. Such a central tracking system must be capable of running at the full design luminosity of 10 33 cm -2 s -1 . Momentum measurement was required in a general-purpose 4π detector. Limitations on charged particle tracking detectors at the SSC imposed by rates and radiation damage are reviewed. Cell occupancy is the dominant constraint, which led us to the conclusion that only small cells, either wires or straw tubes, are suitable for a central tracking system at the SSC. Mechanical problems involved in building a central tracking system of either wires or straw tubes were studied, and our conclusion was that it is possible to build such a large central tracking system. Of course, a great deal of research and development is required. We also considered central tracking systems made of scintillating fibers or silicon microstrips, but our conclusion was that neither is a realistic candidate given the current state of technology. We began to work on computer simulation of a realistic central tracking system. Events from interesting physics processes at the SSC will be complex and will be further complicated by hits from out-of-time bunch crossings and multiple interactions within the same bunch crossing. Detailed computer simulations are needed to demonstrate that the pattern recognition and tracking problems can be solved

Technology survey on video face tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tong; Gomes, Herman Martins

2014-03-01

With the pervasiveness of monitoring cameras installed in public areas, schools, hospitals, work places and homes, video analytics technologies for interpreting these video contents are becoming increasingly relevant to people's lives. Among such technologies, human face detection and tracking (and face identification in many cases) are particularly useful in various application scenarios. While plenty of research has been conducted on face tracking and many promising approaches have been proposed, there are still significant challenges in recognizing and tracking people in videos with uncontrolled capturing conditions, largely due to pose and illumination variations, as well as occlusions and cluttered background. It is especially complex to track and identify multiple people simultaneously in real time due to the large amount of computation involved. In this paper, we present a survey on literature and software that are published or developed during recent years on the face tracking topic. The survey covers the following topics: 1) mainstream and state-of-the-art face tracking methods, including features used to model the targets and metrics used for tracking; 2) face identification and face clustering from face sequences; and 3) software packages or demonstrations that are available for algorithm development or trial. A number of publically available databases for face tracking are also introduced.

Hemifield effects in multiple identity tracking.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte Hudson

Full Text Available In everyday life, we often need to attentively track moving objects. A previous study has claimed that this tracking occurs independently in the left and right visual hemifields (Alvarez & Cavanagh, 2005, Psychological Science,16, 637-647. Specifically, it was shown that observers were much more accurate at tracking objects that were spread over both visual hemifields as opposed to when all were confined to a single visual hemifield. In that study, observers were not required to remember the identities of the objects. Conversely, in real life, there is seldom any benefit to tracking an object unless you can also recall its identity. It has been predicted that when observers are required to remember the identities of the tracked objects a bilateral advantage should no longer be observed (Oksama & Hyönä, 2008, Cognitive Psychology, 56, 237-283. We tested this prediction and found that a bilateral advantage still occurred, though it was not as strong as when observers were not required to remember the identities of the targets. Even in the later case we found that tracking was not completely independent in the two visual hemifields. We present a combined model of multiple object tracking and multiple identity tracking that can explain our data.

Image analysis used to count and measure etched tracks from ionizing radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Blanford, George E.; Schulz, Cindy K.

1995-01-01

We have developed techniques to use digitized scanning electron micrographs and computer image analysis programs to measure track densities in lunar soil grains and plastic dosimeters. Tracks in lunar samples are formed by highly ionizing solar energetic particles and cosmic rays during near surface exposure on the Moon. The track densities are related to the exposure conditions (depth and time). Distributions of the number of grains as a function of their track densities can reveal the modality of soil maturation. We worked on two samples identified for a consortium study of lunar weathering effects, 61221 and 67701. They were prepared by the lunar curator's staff as polished grain mounts that were etched in boiling 1 N NaOH for 6 h to reveal tracks. We determined that backscattered electron images taken at 10 percent contrast and approximately 50 percent brightness produced suitable high contrast images for analysis. We used the NIH Image program to cut out areas that were unsuitable for measurement such as edges, cracks, etc. We ascertained a gray-scale threshold of 25 to separate tracks from background. We used the computer to count everything that was two pixels or greater in size and to measure the area to obtain track densities. We found an excellent correlation with manual measurements for track densities below 1 x 10(exp 8) cm(exp -2). For track densities between 1 x 10(exp 8) cm(exp -2) to 1 x 10(exp 9) cm(exp -2) we found that a regression formula using the percentage area covered by tracks gave good agreement with manual measurements. We determined the track density distributions for 61221 and 67701. Sample 61221 is an immature sample, but not pristine. Sample 67701 is a submature sample that is very close to being fully mature. Because only 10 percent of the grains have track densities less than 10(exp 9) cm(exp -2), it is difficulty to determine whether the sample matured in situ or is a mixture of a mature and a submature soil. Although our analysis

Eye tracking and the translation process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hvelplund, Kristian Tangsgaard

2014-01-01

Eye tracking has become increasingly popular as a quantitative research method in translation research. This paper discusses some of the major methodological issues involved in the use of eye tracking in translation research. It focuses specifically on challenges in the analysis and interpretation...... of eye-tracking data as reflections of cognitive processes during translation. Four types of methodological issues are discussed in the paper. The first part discusses the preparatory steps that precede the actual recording of eye-tracking data. The second part examines critically the general assumptions...... linking eye movements to cognitive processing in the context of translation research. The third part of the paper discusses two popular eye-tracking measures often used in translation research, fixations and pupil size, while the fourth part proposes a method to evaluate the quality of eye-tracking data....

Thermodynamics of nuclear track chemical etching

Science.gov (United States)

Rana, Mukhtar Ahmed

2018-05-01

This is a brief paper with new and useful scientific information on nuclear track chemical etching. Nuclear track etching is described here by using basic concepts of thermodynamics. Enthalpy, entropy and free energy parameters are considered for the nuclear track etching. The free energy of etching is determined using etching experiments of fission fragment tracks in CR-39. Relationship between the free energy and the etching temperature is explored and is found to be approximately linear. The above relationship is discussed. A simple enthalpy-entropy model of chemical etching is presented. Experimental and computational results presented here are of fundamental interest in nuclear track detection methodology.

Analysis of the interface tracking errors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerne, G.; Tiselj, I.; Petelin, S.

2001-01-01

An important limitation of the interface-tracking algorithm is the grid density, which determines the space scale of the surface tracking. In this paper the analysis of the interface tracking errors, which occur in a dispersed flow, is performed for the VOF interface tracking method. A few simple two-fluid tests are proposed for the investigation of the interface tracking errors and their grid dependence. When the grid density becomes too coarse to follow the interface changes, the errors can be reduced either by using denser nodalization or by switching to the two-fluid model during the simulation. Both solutions are analyzed and compared on a simple vortex-flow test.(author)

Model-Based Motion Tracking of Infants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Mikkel Damgaard; Herskind, Anna; Nielsen, Jens Bo

2014-01-01

Even though motion tracking is a widely used technique to analyze and measure human movements, only a few studies focus on motion tracking of infants. In recent years, a number of studies have emerged focusing on analyzing the motion pattern of infants, using computer vision. Most of these studies...... are based on 2D images, but few are based on 3D information. In this paper, we present a model-based approach for tracking infants in 3D. The study extends a novel study on graph-based motion tracking of infants and we show that the extension improves the tracking results. A 3D model is constructed...

Automatic measurement for solid state track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogura, Koichi

1982-01-01

Since in solid state track detectors, their tracks are measured with a microscope, observers are forced to do hard works that consume time and labour. This causes to obtain poor statistic accuracy or to produce personal error. Therefore, many researches have been done to aim at simplifying and automating track measurement. There are two categories in automating the measurement: simple counting of the number of tracks and the requirements to know geometrical elements such as the size of tracks or their coordinates as well as the number of tracks. The former is called automatic counting and the latter automatic analysis. The method to generally evaluate the number of tracks in automatic counting is the estimation of the total number of tracks in the total detector area or in a field of view of a microscope. It is suitable for counting when the track density is higher. The method to count tracks one by one includes the spark counting and the scanning microdensitometer. Automatic analysis includes video image analysis in which the high quality images obtained with a high resolution video camera are processed with a micro-computer, and the tracks are automatically recognized and measured by feature extraction. This method is described in detail. In many kinds of automatic measurements reported so far, frequently used ones are ''spark counting'' and ''video image analysis''. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Dust Devil Tracks

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

(Released 8 May 2002) The Science This image, centered near 50.0 S and 17.7 W displays dust devil tracks on the surface. Most of the lighter portions of the image likely have a thin veneer of dust settled on the surface. As a dust devil passes over the surface, it acts as a vacuum and picks up the dust, leaving the darker substrate exposed. In this image there is a general trend of many of the tracks running from east to west or west to east, indicating the general wind direction. There is often no general trend present in dust devil tracks seen in other images. The track patterns are quite ephemeral and can completely change or even disappear over the course of a few months. Dust devils are one of the mechanisms that Mars uses to constantly pump dust into the ubiquitously dusty atmosphere. This atmospheric dust is one of the main driving forces of the present Martian climate. The Story Vrrrrooooooooom. Think of a tornado, the cartoon Tasmanian devil, or any number of vacuum commercials that powerfully suck up swirls of dust and dirt. That's pretty much what it's like on the surface of Mars a lot of the time. Whirlpools of wind called

Negotiating Family Tracking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albrechtslund, Anders; Bøge, Ask Risom; Sonne Damkjær, Maja

This presentation explores the question: What motivates the use of tracking technologies in families, and how does the use transform the relations between parent and child? The purpose is to investigate why tracking technologies are used in families and how these technologies potentially change...... the relation between parents and children. The use of tracking technologies in families implicate negotiations about the boundaries of trust and intimacy in parent-child relations which can lead to strategies of resistance or modification (Fotel and Thomsen, 2004; Rooney, 2010; Steeves and Jones, 2010......). In the presentation, we report from a qualitative study that focuses on intergenerational relations. The study draws on empirical data from workshops with Danish families as well as individual and group interviews. We aim to gain insights about the sharing habits and negotiations in intimate family relations...

Automated tracking of animal posture and movement during exploration and sensory orientation behaviors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Gomez-Marin

Full Text Available The nervous functions of an organism are primarily reflected in the behavior it is capable of. Measuring behavior quantitatively, at high-resolution and in an automated fashion provides valuable information about the underlying neural circuit computation. Accordingly, computer-vision applications for animal tracking are becoming a key complementary toolkit to genetic, molecular and electrophysiological characterization in systems neuroscience.We present Sensory Orientation Software (SOS to measure behavior and infer sensory experience correlates. SOS is a simple and versatile system to track body posture and motion of single animals in two-dimensional environments. In the presence of a sensory landscape, tracking the trajectory of the animal's sensors and its postural evolution provides a quantitative framework to study sensorimotor integration. To illustrate the utility of SOS, we examine the orientation behavior of fruit fly larvae in response to odor, temperature and light gradients. We show that SOS is suitable to carry out high-resolution behavioral tracking for a wide range of organisms including flatworms, fishes and mice.Our work contributes to the growing repertoire of behavioral analysis tools for collecting rich and fine-grained data to draw and test hypothesis about the functioning of the nervous system. By providing open-access to our code and documenting the software design, we aim to encourage the adaptation of SOS by a wide community of non-specialists to their particular model organism and questions of interest.

Launch vehicle tracking enhancement through Global Positioning System Metric Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, T. C.; Li, Hanchu; Gray, T.; Doran, A.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) initiated operational flights of both the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicle families in 2002. The Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles were developed jointly with the US Air Force (USAF) as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Both Launch Vehicle (LV) families have provided 100% mission success since their respective inaugural launches and demonstrated launch capability from both Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on the Western Test Range and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) on the Eastern Test Range. However, the current EELV fleet communications, tracking, & control architecture & technology, which date back to the origins of the space launch business, require support by a large and high cost ground footprint. The USAF has embarked on an initiative known as Future Flight Safety System (FFSS) that will significantly reduce Test Range Operations and Maintenance (O& M) cost by closing facilities and decommissioning ground assets. In support of the FFSS, a Global Positioning System Metric Tracking (GPS MT) System based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation has been developed for EELV which will allow both Ranges to divest some of their radar assets. The Air Force, ULA and Space Vector have flown the first 2 Atlas Certification vehicles demonstrating the successful operation of the GPS MT System. The first Atlas V certification flight was completed in February 2012 from CCAFS, the second Atlas V certification flight from VAFB was completed in September 2012 and the third certification flight on a Delta IV was completed October 2012 from CCAFS. The GPS MT System will provide precise LV position, velocity and timing information that can replace ground radar tracking resource functionality. The GPS MT system will provide an independent position/velocity S-Band telemetry downlink to support the current man-in-the-loop ground-based commanded destruct of an anomalous flight- The system

Selection and testing of ballast stones for underground railway tracks

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ballast is broken pieces of hard rocks such as sandstones, schist, etc. approximately 25- 60 mm size, over which the railway tracks are laid. The function of the ballast is to transfer the applied load over a large surface, provide adequate elasticity, prevent creep and hold the sleepers in position. Also under wet conditions, ...

Energy Tracking Software Platform

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryan Davis; Nathan Bird; Rebecca Birx; Hal Knowles

2011-04-04

Acceleration has created an interactive energy tracking and visualization platform that supports decreasing electric, water, and gas usage. Homeowners have access to tools that allow them to gauge their use and track progress toward a smaller energy footprint. Real estate agents have access to consumption data, allowing for sharing a comparison with potential home buyers. Home builders have the opportunity to compare their neighborhood's energy efficiency with competitors. Home energy raters have a tool for gauging the progress of their clients after efficiency changes. And, social groups are able to help encourage members to reduce their energy bills and help their environment. EnergyIT.com is the business umbrella for all energy tracking solutions and is designed to provide information about our energy tracking software and promote sales. CompareAndConserve.com (Gainesville-Green.com) helps homeowners conserve energy through education and competition. ToolsForTenants.com helps renters factor energy usage into their housing decisions.

Precise Object Tracking under Deformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saad, M.H.

2010-01-01

The precise object tracking is an essential issue in several serious applications such as; robot vision, automated surveillance (civil and military), inspection, biomedical image analysis, video coding, motion segmentation, human-machine interface, visualization, medical imaging, traffic systems, satellite imaging etc. This framework focuses on the precise object tracking under deformation such as scaling, rotation, noise, blurring and change of illumination. This research is a trail to solve these serious problems in visual object tracking by which the quality of the overall system will be improved. Developing a three dimensional (3D) geometrical model to determine the current pose of an object and predict its future location based on FIR model learned by the OLS. This framework presents a robust ranging technique to track a visual target instead of the traditional expensive ranging sensors. The presented research work is applied to real video stream and achieved high precession results. xiiiThe precise object tracking is an essential issue in several serious applications such as; robot vision, automated surveillance (civil and military), inspection, biomedical image analysis, video coding, motion segmentation, human-machine interface, visualization, medical imaging, traffic systems, satellite imaging etc. This framework focuses on the precise object tracking under deformation such as scaling, rotation, noise, blurring and change of illumination. This research is a trail to solve these serious problems in visual object tracking by which the quality of the overall system will be improved. Developing a three dimensional (3D) geometrical model to determine the current pose of an object and predict its future location based on FIR model learned by the OLS. This framework presents a robust ranging technique to track a visual target instead of the traditional expensive ranging sensors. The presented research work is applied to real video stream and achieved high

Fast regional readout CMOS Image Sensor for dynamic MLC tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Zin, H.; Harris, E.; Osmond, J.; Evans, P.

2014-03-01

Advanced radiotherapy techniques such as volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) require verification of the complex beam delivery including tracking of multileaf collimators (MLC) and monitoring the dose rate. This work explores the feasibility of a prototype Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor Image Sensor (CIS) for tracking these complex treatments by utilising fast, region of interest (ROI) read out functionality. An automatic edge tracking algorithm was used to locate the MLC leaves edges moving at various speeds (from a moving triangle field shape) and imaged with various sensor frame rates. The CIS demonstrates successful edge detection of the dynamic MLC motion within accuracy of 1.0 mm. This demonstrates the feasibility of the sensor to verify treatment delivery involving dynamic MLC up to ~400 frames per second (equivalent to the linac pulse rate), which is superior to any current techniques such as using electronic portal imaging devices (EPID). CIS provides the basis to an essential real-time verification tool, useful in accessing accurate delivery of complex high energy radiation to the tumour and ultimately to achieve better cure rates for cancer patients.

Fast regional readout CMOS image sensor for dynamic MLC tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zin, H; Harris, E; Osmond, J; Evans, P

2014-01-01

Advanced radiotherapy techniques such as volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) require verification of the complex beam delivery including tracking of multileaf collimators (MLC) and monitoring the dose rate. This work explores the feasibility of a prototype Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor Image Sensor (CIS) for tracking these complex treatments by utilising fast, region of interest (ROI) read out functionality. An automatic edge tracking algorithm was used to locate the MLC leaves edges moving at various speeds (from a moving triangle field shape) and imaged with various sensor frame rates. The CIS demonstrates successful edge detection of the dynamic MLC motion within accuracy of 1.0 mm. This demonstrates the feasibility of the sensor to verify treatment delivery involving dynamic MLC up to ∼400 frames per second (equivalent to the linac pulse rate), which is superior to any current techniques such as using electronic portal imaging devices (EPID). CIS provides the basis to an essential real-time verification tool, useful in accessing accurate delivery of complex high energy radiation to the tumour and ultimately to achieve better cure rates for cancer patients.

VeloTT tracking for LHCb Run II

CERN Document Server

Bowen, Espen Eie; Tresch, Marco

2016-01-01

This note describes track reconstruction in the LHCb tracking system upstream of the magnet, combining VELO tracks with hits in the TT sub-detector. The implementation of the VeloTT algorithm and its performance in terms of track reconstruction efficiency, ghost rate and execution time are presented. The algorithm has been rewritten for use in the first software trigger level for LHCb Run II. The momentum and charge information obtained for the VeloTT tracks (due to a fringe magnetic field between the VELO and TT sub-detectors) can reduce the total execution time for the full tracking sequence.

D0 central tracking chamber performance studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pizzuto, D.

1991-12-01

The performance of the completed DO central tracking chamber was studied using cosmic rays at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Also studied was a prototype tracking chamber identical in design to the completed DO tracking chamber. The prototype chamber was exposed to a collimated beam of 150 GeV pions at the Fermilab NWA test facility. Results indicate an RΦ tracking resolution compatible with the limitations imposed by physical considerations, excellent 2 track resolution, and a high track reconstruction efficiency along with a good rejection power against γ → e + e - events

Robotic vehicle with multiple tracked mobility platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Salton, Jonathan R [Albuquerque, NM; Buttz, James H [Albuquerque, NM; Garretson, Justin [Albuquerque, NM; Hayward, David R [Wetmore, CO; Hobart, Clinton G [Albuquerque, NM; Deuel, Jr., Jamieson K.

2012-07-24

A robotic vehicle having two or more tracked mobility platforms that are mechanically linked together with a two-dimensional coupling, thereby forming a composite vehicle of increased mobility. The robotic vehicle is operative in hazardous environments and can be capable of semi-submersible operation. The robotic vehicle is capable of remote controlled operation via radio frequency and/or fiber optic communication link to a remote operator control unit. The tracks have a plurality of track-edge scallop cut-outs that allow the tracks to easily grab onto and roll across railroad tracks, especially when crossing the railroad tracks at an oblique angle.

Demonstrating EnTracked a System for Energy-Efficient Position Tracking for Mobile Devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Jensen, Jakob Langdal; Godsk, Torben

An important feature of a modern mobile device is that it can position itself. Not only for use on the device but also for remote applications that require tracking of the device. To be useful, such position tracking has to be energy-efficient to avoid having a major impact on the battery life...... of the mobile device. To address this challenge we have build a system named EnTracked that, based on the estimation and prediction of system conditions and mobility, schedules position updates to both minimize energy consumption and optimize robustness. In this demonstration we would like to show how...

Fission - track age of the Marjalahti Pallasite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bondar, Yu.V.; Perelygin, V.P.

2006-01-01

Full text: Investigation of fossil charged-particle tracks in various mineral phases of extraterrestrial samples is a powerful method for research the early stages of the solar system. Over geological time, meteorites crystals have accumulated a record of tracks produced by heavily charged energetic particles from both internal (spontaneous fission of 238U and some other extinct isotopes) and external sources (galactic cosmic rays with Z>20). The fortunate fact that meteorite grains can accumulate latent and very long-lived tracks since soon after the end of nucleosynthesis in the solar nebula enables one to decode their radiation history and to detect any thermal events in the meteorite cosmic history by revealing these tracks through suitable etching procedures. Only a few minerals in meteorites (mainly phosphates) contain small amount of uranium; the fact that 238 U undergoes fission with fission-decay constant λ f ∼ 8.2x10 -17 yr -1 allows one to use this isotope as a chronometer. By measuring the U concentration in the crystals (by reactor irradiation) and the density of the spontaneous-fission tracks it is relatively easy to calculate the 'fission-track age' if 238 U is the main source of fission tracks. However the fission-track dating of extraterrestrial samples compared with the terrestrial ones has some peculiar features due to presence of a number of other potential track sources except the spontaneous fission of 238 U, such as the spontaneous fission of presently extinct 244 Pu, heavy nuclei of cosmic rays and induced fission by cosmic ray primaries. Only tracks from the spontaneous fission of U and Pu are suitable for fission-track dating. The competing effects of these fissioning elements, whose half-lives differ by a factor of ∼50, form a basis for a fission-track chronology for samples older than ∼ 4.0 Gyr. Over small intervals in time (∼ few x10 8 yr ) the track density from spontaneous fission of 238 U is nearly constant. However, the

Robust online face tracking-by-detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Comaschi, F.; Stuijk, S.; Basten, T.; Corporaal, H.

2016-01-01

The problem of online face tracking from unconstrained videos is still unresolved. Challenges range from coping with severe online appearance variations to coping with occlusion. We propose RFTD (Robust Face Tracking-by-Detection), a system which combines tracking and detection into a single

The Accuracy Assessment of Determining the Axis of Railway Track Basing on the Satellite Surveying

Science.gov (United States)

Koc, Władysław; Specht, Cezary; Chrostowski, Piotr; Palikowska, Katarzyna

2012-09-01

In 2009, at the Gdansk University of Technology there have been carried out, for the first time, continuous satellite surveying of railway track by the use of the relative phase method based on geodesic active network ASG-EUPOS and NAVGEO service. Still continuing research works focused on the GNSS multi-receivers platform evaluation for projecting and stock-taking. In order to assess the accuracy of the railway track axis position, the values of deviations of transverse position XTE (Cross Track Error) were evaluated. In order to eliminate the influence of random measurement errors and to obtain the coordinates representing the actual shape of the track, the XTE variable was analyzed by signal analysis methods (Chebyshev low-pass filtering and fast Fourier transform). At the end the paper presents the module of the computer software SATTRACK which currently has been developing at the Gdansk University of Technology. The program serves visualization, assessment and design process of railway track, adapted to the technique of continuous satellite surveying. The module called TRACK STRAIGHT is designed to assess the straight sections. A description of its operation as well as examples of its functions has been presented.

Using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to track DSpace metadata fields as custom dimensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suzanna Conrad

2015-01-01

Full Text Available DSpace can be problematic for those interested in tracking download and pageview statistics granularly. Some libraries have implemented code to track events on websites and some have experimented with using Google Tag Manager to automate event tagging in DSpace. While these approaches make it possible to track download statistics, granular details such as authors, content types, titles, advisors, and other fields for which metadata exist are generally not tracked in DSpace or Google Analytics without coding. Moreover, it can be time consuming to track and assess pageview data and relate that data back to particular metadata fields. This article will detail the learning process of incorporating custom dimensions for tracking these detailed fields including trial and error attempts to use the data import function manually in Google Analytics, to automate the data import using Google APIs, and finally to automate the collection of dimension data in Google Tag Manager by mimicking SEO practices for capturing meta tags. This specific case study refers to using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics with DSpace; however, this method may also be applied to other types of websites or systems.

Tracking nanoparticles in an optical microscope using caustics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patterson, Eann A; Whelan, Maurice P

2008-01-01

An elegant method is proposed and demonstrated for tracking the location and movement of nanoparticles in an optical microscope using the optical phenomenon of caustics. A simple and reversible adjustment to the microscope generates caustics several orders of magnitude larger than the particles. The method offers a simple and relatively inexpensive method for visualizing such phenomena as the formation of self-assembled monolayers and the interaction of nanoparticles with chemically functionalized surfaces

Tracking nanoparticles in an optical microscope using caustics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patterson, Eann A [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Whelan, Maurice P [Nanotechnology and Molecular Imaging Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission DG Joint Research Center, 21021 Ispra (Vatican City State, Holy See,) (Italy)

2008-03-12

An elegant method is proposed and demonstrated for tracking the location and movement of nanoparticles in an optical microscope using the optical phenomenon of caustics. A simple and reversible adjustment to the microscope generates caustics several orders of magnitude larger than the particles. The method offers a simple and relatively inexpensive method for visualizing such phenomena as the formation of self-assembled monolayers and the interaction of nanoparticles with chemically functionalized surfaces.

Buckling analysis of continuous welded rail track

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van, M.A.

1996-01-01

Continuous welded rail track, compared to jointed track not only reduces maintenance costs, but also increases life time of track components and the comfort of passengers. Since expansion of the rails is hardly possible in CWR-track, a temperature increase will result in high compressive stresses

Track benchmarking method for uncertainty quantification of particle tracking velocimetry interpolations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneiders, Jan F G; Sciacchitano, Andrea

2017-01-01

The track benchmarking method (TBM) is proposed for uncertainty quantification of particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) data mapped onto a regular grid. The method provides statistical uncertainty for a velocity time-series and can in addition be used to obtain instantaneous uncertainty at increased computational cost. Interpolation techniques are typically used to map velocity data from scattered PTV (e.g. tomographic PTV and Shake-the-Box) measurements onto a Cartesian grid. Recent examples of these techniques are the FlowFit and VIC+  methods. The TBM approach estimates the random uncertainty in dense velocity fields by performing the velocity interpolation using a subset of typically 95% of the particle tracks and by considering the remaining tracks as an independent benchmarking reference. In addition, also a bias introduced by the interpolation technique is identified. The numerical assessment shows that the approach is accurate when particle trajectories are measured over an extended number of snapshots, typically on the order of 10. When only short particle tracks are available, the TBM estimate overestimates the measurement error. A correction to TBM is proposed and assessed to compensate for this overestimation. The experimental assessment considers the case of a jet flow, processed both by tomographic PIV and by VIC+. The uncertainty obtained by TBM provides a quantitative evaluation of the measurement accuracy and precision and highlights the regions of high error by means of bias and random uncertainty maps. In this way, it is possible to quantify the uncertainty reduction achieved by advanced interpolation algorithms with respect to standard correlation-based tomographic PIV. The use of TBM for uncertainty quantification and comparison of different processing techniques is demonstrated. (paper)

Track treeing mechanism and its application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Boyang

1993-01-01

Based on electrostriction and fracture mechanics, experiment observation and data-processing, two models (restriction among tree tracks and induction of tree track onto stress concentrated spots) and factors (restriction and induction) are proposed; The existence of four types of plastic zone (spot-block pz, single crack isolate pz, transition from isolate to block pz and crack-block pz) and two types of annex (plastic zone and crack zone) are pointed out. The development regularities of Gp (diameter of plastic zone), G(diameter of tree track), S(tree track density) and total areal of tree track (SG 2 ) in two basic experiments (H=H+dH, H=Hc H-field strength) are described by using four basic formulae. (author)

Offset Free Tracking Predictive Control Based on Dynamic PLS Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Xin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper develops an offset free tracking model predictive control based on a dynamic partial least square (PLS framework. First, state space model is used as the inner model of PLS to describe the dynamic system, where subspace identification method is used to identify the inner model. Based on the obtained model, multiple independent model predictive control (MPC controllers are designed. Due to the decoupling character of PLS, these controllers are running separately, which is suitable for distributed control framework. In addition, the increment of inner model output is considered in the cost function of MPC, which involves integral action in the controller. Hence, the offset free tracking performance is guaranteed. The results of an industry background simulation demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method.

An efficient central DOA tracking algorithm for multiple incoherently distributed sources

Science.gov (United States)

Hassen, Sonia Ben; Samet, Abdelaziz

2015-12-01

In this paper, we develop a new tracking method for the direction of arrival (DOA) parameters assuming multiple incoherently distributed (ID) sources. The new approach is based on a simple covariance fitting optimization technique exploiting the central and noncentral moments of the source angular power densities to estimate the central DOAs. The current estimates are treated as measurements provided to the Kalman filter that model the dynamic property of directional changes for the moving sources. Then, the covariance-fitting-based algorithm and the Kalman filtering theory are combined to formulate an adaptive tracking algorithm. Our algorithm is compared to the fast approximated power iteration-total least square-estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique (FAPI-TLS-ESPRIT) algorithm using the TLS-ESPRIT method and the subspace updating via FAPI-algorithm. It will be shown that the proposed algorithm offers an excellent DOA tracking performance and outperforms the FAPI-TLS-ESPRIT method especially at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values. Moreover, the performances of the two methods increase as the SNR values increase. This increase is more prominent with the FAPI-TLS-ESPRIT method. However, their performances degrade when the number of sources increases. It will be also proved that our method depends on the form of the angular distribution function when tracking the central DOAs. Finally, it will be shown that the more the sources are spaced, the more the proposed method can exactly track the DOAs.

Arterial tree tracking from anatomical landmarks in magnetic resonance angiography scans

Science.gov (United States)

O'Neil, Alison; Beveridge, Erin; Houston, Graeme; McCormick, Lynne; Poole, Ian

2014-03-01

This paper reports on arterial tree tracking in fourteen Contrast Enhanced MRA volumetric scans, given the positions of a predefined set of vascular landmarks, by using the A* algorithm to find the optimal path for each vessel based on voxel intensity and a learnt vascular probability atlas. The algorithm is intended for use in conjunction with an automatic landmark detection step, to enable fully automatic arterial tree tracking. The scan is filtered to give two further images using the top-hat transform with 4mm and 8mm cubic structuring elements. Vessels are then tracked independently on the scan in which the vessel of interest is best enhanced, as determined from knowledge of typical vessel diameter and surrounding structures. A vascular probability atlas modelling expected vessel location and orientation is constructed by non-rigidly registering the training scans to the test scan using a 3D thin plate spline to match landmark correspondences, and employing kernel density estimation with the ground truth center line points to form a probability density distribution. Threshold estimation by histogram analysis is used to segment background from vessel intensities. The A* algorithm is run using a linear cost function constructed from the threshold and the vascular atlas prior. Tracking results are presented for all major arteries excluding those in the upper limbs. An improvement was observed when tracking was informed by contextual information, with particular benefit for peripheral vessels.

Drift chamber tracking with neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindsey, C.S.; Denby, B.; Haggerty, H.

1992-10-01

We discuss drift chamber tracking with a commercial log VLSI neural network chip. Voltages proportional to the drift times in a 4-layer drift chamber were presented to the Intel ETANN chip. The network was trained to provide the intercept and slope of straight tracks traversing the chamber. The outputs were recorded and later compared off line to conventional track fits. Two types of network architectures were studied. Applications of neural network tracking to high energy physics detector triggers is discussed

Holographic processing of track chamber data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bykovsky, Y A; Larkin, A I; Markilov, A A; Starikov, S N [Moskovskij Fiziko-Tekhnicheskij Inst. (USSR)

1975-12-01

The holographic pattern recognition method was applied for processing of track chamber photographs. Experiments on detection of such events as a definitely directed track, an angle formed by two tracks, a three-pronged star, a definitely curved track were performed by using models. It is proposed to recognize these events in a filmshot by the shape of correlation signals. The experiment to recognize the event in a real bubble chamber filmshot was realized; requirements to the processing films were determined.

Can Tracking Improve Learning?

Science.gov (United States)

Duflo, Esther; Dupas, Pascaline; Kremer, Michael

2009-01-01

Tracking students into different classrooms according to their prior academic performance is controversial among both scholars and policymakers. If teachers find it easier to teach a homogeneous group of students, tracking could enhance school effectiveness and raise test scores of both low- and high-ability students. If students benefit from…

Common barrel and forward CA tracking algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mykhailo, Pugach [Goethe-Universitaet, Frankfurt (Germany); Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt (Germany); KINR, Kyiv (Ukraine); Gorbunov, Sergey; Kisel, Ivan [Goethe-Universitaet, Frankfurt (Germany); Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt (Germany); Collaboration: PANDA-Collaboration

2016-07-01

There are complex detector setups which consist of barrel (cylindrical) and forward parts, and such systems require a special approach in the registered charged particles track finding procedure. Currently the tracking procedure might be performed in both parts of such detector independently from each other, but the final goal on this direction is a creation of a combined tracking, which will work in both parts of the detector simultaneously. The basic algorithm is based on Kalman Filter (KF) and Cellular Automata (CA). And the tracking procedure in such a complex system is rather extraordinary as far as it requires 2 different models to describe the state vector of segments of the reconstructed track in the mathematical apparatus of the KF-algorithm. To overcome this specifics a mathematical apparatus of transition matrices must be developed and implemented, so that one can transfer from one track model to another. Afterwards the work of the CA is performed, which reduces to segments sorting, their union into track-candidates and selection of the best candidates by the chi-square criteria after fitting of the track-candidate by the KF. In this report the algorithm, status and perspectives of such combined tracking are described.

Realization of nuclear track filters and their applications to the study of environmental aerosol samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Shilun

1993-01-01

Detailed study of the behaviours of radon decay products requires the knowledge of environmental aerosols. A combination of devices and instruments have been tested to be superior in study of aerosol characteristics. Nuclear track filters and cascade track filter impactor are basic devices, which bring the functions of α -spectrometer, scanning electron microscope and electron microprobe into full play. This paper describes how to use these devices and instruments to collect aerosols, to determine aerosol radioactivity, size distribution and elemental compositions and to determine the concentration of aerosols in air as a function of aerosol sizes, which are important parameters in dominating the interactions between aerosol and radon decay products. (author). 15 refs, 7 figs

Track-stitching using graphical models and message passing

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van der Merwe, LJ

2013-07-01

Full Text Available In order to stitch tracks together, two tasks are required, namely tracking and track stitching. In this study track stitching is performed using a graphical model and message passing (belief propagation) approach. Tracks are modelled as nodes in a...

Interacting with target tracking algorithms in a gaze-enhanced motion video analysis system

Science.gov (United States)

Hild, Jutta; Krüger, Wolfgang; Heinze, Norbert; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth; Beyerer, Jürgen

2016-05-01

Motion video analysis is a challenging task, particularly if real-time analysis is required. It is therefore an important issue how to provide suitable assistance for the human operator. Given that the use of customized video analysis systems is more and more established, one supporting measure is to provide system functions which perform subtasks of the analysis. Recent progress in the development of automated image exploitation algorithms allow, e.g., real-time moving target tracking. Another supporting measure is to provide a user interface which strives to reduce the perceptual, cognitive and motor load of the human operator for example by incorporating the operator's visual focus of attention. A gaze-enhanced user interface is able to help here. This work extends prior work on automated target recognition, segmentation, and tracking algorithms as well as about the benefits of a gaze-enhanced user interface for interaction with moving targets. We also propose a prototypical system design aiming to combine both the qualities of the human observer's perception and the automated algorithms in order to improve the overall performance of a real-time video analysis system. In this contribution, we address two novel issues analyzing gaze-based interaction with target tracking algorithms. The first issue extends the gaze-based triggering of a target tracking process, e.g., investigating how to best relaunch in the case of track loss. The second issue addresses the initialization of tracking algorithms without motion segmentation where the operator has to provide the system with the object's image region in order to start the tracking algorithm.

EYE GAZE TRACKING

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

This invention relates to a method of performing eye gaze tracking of at least one eye of a user, by determining the position of the center of the eye, said method comprising the steps of: detecting the position of at least three reflections on said eye, transforming said positions to spanning...... a normalized coordinate system spanning a frame of reference, wherein said transformation is performed based on a bilinear transformation or a non linear transformation e.g. a möbius transformation or a homographic transformation, detecting the position of said center of the eye relative to the position...... of said reflections and transforming this position to said normalized coordinate system, tracking the eye gaze by tracking the movement of said eye in said normalized coordinate system. Thereby calibration of a camera, such as knowledge of the exact position and zoom level of the camera, is avoided...

Tri-track: free software for large-scale particle tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Vallotton, Pascal; Olivier, Sandra

2013-04-01

The ability to correctly track objects in time-lapse sequences is important in many applications of microscopy. Individual object motions typically display a level of dynamic regularity reflecting the existence of an underlying physics or biology. Best results are obtained when this local information is exploited. Additionally, if the particle number is known to be approximately constant, a large number of tracking scenarios may be rejected on the basis that they are not compatible with a known maximum particle velocity. This represents information of a global nature, which should ideally be exploited too. Some time ago, we devised an efficient algorithm that exploited both types of information. The tracking task was reduced to a max-flow min-cost problem instance through a novel graph structure that comprised vertices representing objects from three consecutive image frames. The algorithm is explained here for the first time. A user-friendly implementation is provided, and the specific relaxation mechanism responsible for the method's effectiveness is uncovered. The software is particularly competitive for complex dynamics such as dense antiparallel flows, or in situations where object displacements are considerable. As an application, we characterize a remarkable vortex structure formed by bacteria engaged in interstitial motility.

76 FR 74585 - Railroad Workplace Safety; Adjacent-Track On-Track Safety for Roadway Workers

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-30

... impression that adjacent-track on-track safety was in effect, but it was not, due to a miscommunication. Of... the solution to the problem.'' And while the RWP Working Group did in fact draft this language, and...

Data-Base Software For Tracking Technological Developments

Science.gov (United States)

Aliberti, James A.; Wright, Simon; Monteith, Steve K.

1996-01-01

Technology Tracking System (TechTracS) computer program developed for use in storing and retrieving information on technology and related patent information developed under auspices of NASA Headquarters and NASA's field centers. Contents of data base include multiple scanned still images and quick-time movies as well as text. TechTracS includes word-processing, report-editing, chart-and-graph-editing, and search-editing subprograms. Extensive keyword searching capabilities enable rapid location of technologies, innovators, and companies. System performs routine functions automatically and serves multiple users.

Advances in waveform-agile sensing for tracking

CERN Document Server

Sira, Sandeep Prasad

2009-01-01

Recent advances in sensor technology and information processing afford a new flexibility in the design of waveforms for agile sensing. Sensors are now developed with the ability to dynamically choose their transmit or receive waveforms in order to optimize an objective cost function. This has exposed a new paradigm of significant performance improvements in active sensing: dynamic waveform adaptation to environment conditions, target structures, or information features. The manuscript provides a review of recent advances in waveform-agile sensing for target tracking applications. A dynamic wav

Sign-tracking (autoshaping) in rats: a comparison of cocaine and food as unconditioned stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Kearns, David N; Weiss, Stanley J

2004-11-01

A series of experiments was performed to determine whether sign-tracking would occur in rats with intravenous (i.v.) cocaine as the unconditioned stimulus. In Experiment 1, a retractable lever paired with food produced strong sign-tracking, but a lever paired with one of three doses of i.v. cocaine did not elicit any approach or contact behavior. Experiment 2 demonstrated that doses of cocaine that did not elicit sign-tracking would function as a positive reinforcer for a lever contact operant. In Experiment 3, an artificial consummatory response was added to make the cocaine reinforcement episode more behaviorally comparable to that occasioned by food. Although the rats readily performed this response when it was required to receive cocaine infusions, they still did not contact a lever that signaled the availability of these infusions. It appears that cocaine is different from other positive reinforcers (e.g., food, water, warmth, or intracranial stimulation) in that it will not produce sign-tracking in rats.

Research on Dynamics and Stability in the Stairs-Climbing of a Tracked Mobile Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weijun Tao

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Aiming at the functional requirement of climbing up the stairs, the dynamics and stability during a tracked mobile robot's climbing of stairs is studied. First, from the analysis of its cross-country performance, the mechanical structure of the tracked mobile robot is designed and the hardware composition of its control system is given. Second, based on the analysis to its stairs-climbing process, the dynamical model of stairs-climbing is established by using the classical mechanics method. Next, the stability conditions for its stairs-climbing are determined and an evaluation method of its stairs-climbing stability is proposed, based on a mechanics analysis on the robot's backwards tumbling during the stairs-climbing process. Through simulation and experiments, the effectiveness of the dynamical model and the stability evaluation method of the tracked mobile robot in stairs-climbing is verified, which can provide design and analysis foundations for the tracked mobile robots' stairs-climbing.

Space shuttle configuration accounting functional design specification

Science.gov (United States)

1974-01-01

An analysis is presented of the requirements for an on-line automated system which must be capable of tracking the status of requirements and engineering changes and of providing accurate and timely records. The functional design specification provides the definition, description, and character length of the required data elements and the interrelationship of data elements to adequately track, display, and report the status of active configuration changes. As changes to the space shuttle program levels II and III configuration are proposed, evaluated, and dispositioned, it is the function of the configuration management office to maintain records regarding changes to the baseline and to track and report the status of those changes. The configuration accounting system will consist of a combination of computers, computer terminals, software, and procedures, all of which are designed to store, retrieve, display, and process information required to track proposed and proved engineering changes to maintain baseline documentation of the space shuttle program levels II and III.

Monte Carlo Library Least Square (MCLLS) Method for Multiple Radioactive Particle Tracking in BPR

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhijian; Lee, Kyoung; Gardner, Robin

2010-03-01

In This work, a new method of radioactive particles tracking is proposed. An accurate Detector Response Functions (DRF's) was developed from MCNP5 to generate library for NaI detectors with a significant speed-up factor of 200. This just make possible for the idea of MCLLS method which is used for locating and tracking the radioactive particle in a modular Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR) by searching minimum Chi-square values. The method was tested to work pretty good in our lab condition with a six 2" X 2" NaI detectors array only. This method was introduced in both forward and inverse ways. A single radioactive particle tracking system with three collimated 2" X 2" NaI detectors is used for benchmark purpose.

Percentage of Fast-Track Receipts

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — The dataset provides the percentage of fast-track receipts by state during the reporting fiscal year. Fast-tracked cases consist of those cases identified as Quick...

Gestational changes in left ventricular myocardial contractile function: new insights from two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

Science.gov (United States)

Sengupta, Shantanu P; Bansal, Manish; Hofstra, Leonard; Sengupta, Partho P; Narula, Jagat

2017-01-01

The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of pregnancy and labor on left ventricular (LV) myocardial mechanics using speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). Pregnancy is characterized by profound hormonal and hemodynamic alterations that directly or indirectly influence cardiac structure and function. However, the impact of these changes on left ventricular (LV) myocardial contractile function has not been fully elucidated. In this prospective, longitudinal study, 35 pregnant women underwent serial clinical and echocardiographic evaluation during each trimester and at labor. Two dimensional STE was performed to measure global LV longitudinal, circumferential and radial strain (GLS, GCS and GRS, respectively). Similar data obtained from 20 nulliparous, age-matched women were used as control. All strain values during pregnancy were adjusted for age and hemodynamic parameters. There was a progressive increase in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cardiac output and LV stroke-work during pregnancy. LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes also increased progressively but LV ejection fraction remained unaltered, except for slight reduction during the second trimester. Compared to the controls, GLS and GCS were reduced in the first trimester itself (GLS -22.39 ± 5.43 % vs. -18.66 ± 0.64 %, P 0.0002; GCS -20.84 ± 3.20 vs. -17.88 ± 0.09, P counterbalancing changes in the myocardial mechanics. LV longitudinal and circumferential strain are reduced whereas radial strain is increased. These counterbalancing changes serve to maintain overall LV ejection performance within a normal range and enable the maternal heart to meet the hemodynamic demands of pregnancy and labor.

Track formation. Principles and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monnin, M.

1978-01-01

The principles and technical aspects of track formation in insulating solids are first described. The characteristics of dialectic track detection are discussed from the technical point of view: the nature of the detectors, the chemical treatment, the sensitivity and the environmental conditions of use. The applications are reviewed. The principle of each type of applied research is described and then the applications are listed. When used as a detector, nuclear tracks can provide valuable information in a number of fields: element content determination and wrapping, imaging, radiation dosimetry, environmental studies, technological uses and miscellaneous other applications. The track-formation process can also be used for making well-defined holes; this method allows other applications which are also described. Finally, some possible future applications are mentioned. (author)

Reconstructing events, from electronic signals to tracks

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2015-01-01

Reconstructing tracks in the events taken by LHC experiments is one of the most challenging and computationally expensive software tasks to be carried out in the data processing chain. A typical LHC event is composed of multiple p-p interactions, each leaving signals from many charged particles in the detector and jus building up an environment of unprecedented complexity. In the lecture I will give an overview of event reconstruction in a typical High Energy Physics experiment. After an introduction to particle tracking detectors I will discuss the concepts and techniques required to master the tracking challenge at the LHC. I will explain how track propagation in a realistic detector works, present different techniques for track fitting and track finding. At the end we will see how all of those techniques play together in the ATLAS track reconstruction application.

Functionalized Nanoporous Track Etched {beta}-PVDF Membrane Electrodes for Lead (II) Determination by Square Wave Anodic Stripping Voltammetry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bessbousse, H [Laboratoire des Solides Irradies, CEA-CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau (France); Nadhakumar, I [School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton S017 1BJ (United Kingdom); Decker, M; Clochard, M -C; Wade, T L [Laboratoire des Solides Irradies, CEA-CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau (France); Barsbay, M [Hacettepe University, Department of Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry Division, 06800 Beytepe Ankara (Turkey)

2012-09-15

Track etched functionalized nanoporous {beta}-PVDF membrane electrodes, or functionalized membrane electrodes (FME), are thin-layer cells made from poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) functionalized nanoporous {beta}-poly(vinylidene fluoride) ({beta}-PVDF) membranes with thin Au films sputtered on each side as electrodes. The Au film is thin enough that the pores of the membranes are not completely covered. The PAA functionalization is specifically localised in the walls of the nanoporous {beta}-PVDF membrane by grafting. The PAA is a cation exchange polymer that adsorbs metal ions, such as Pb{sup 2+}, from aqueous solutions concentrating the ions into the membrane. After a time the FME is transferred to an electrochemical cell for analysis. A negative potential is applied to the Au film of the FME for a set time to reduce the adsorbed ions onto the Au film working electrode. The other metalized side of the FME functions as a counter electrode. Finally, square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SW-ASV) is performed on the FME to determine the metal ion concentrations in the original solution. The calibration curve of charge versus log concentration has a Temkin isotherm form. The FME membranes are 9 {mu}m thick and have 40 nm diameter pores with a density of 10{sup 10} pores/cm{sup 2}. This high pore density provides a large capacity for ion adsorption. Au ingress in the pores during sputtering forms a random array of nanoelectrodes. Like surface modified electrodes for adsorptive stripping voltammetry, the pre-concentration step for the FME is performed at open circuit. The zero current intercept of the calibration for Pb{sup 2+} is 0.13 ppb ({mu}g/L) and a detection limit of 0.050 ppb based on 3S/N from blank measurements. Voltammetry (CV) and chronoapmerometry (CA) were used to characterize the system. The apparent diffusion coefficient (D) for Pb{sup 2+} in the PAA functionalized pores was determined to be 2.44 x 10{sup -7} cm{sup 2}/s and the partition coefficient (p

A Robust Vision-based Runway Detection and Tracking Algorithm for Automatic UAV Landing

KAUST Repository

Abu Jbara, Khaled F.

2015-05-01

This work presents a novel real-time algorithm for runway detection and tracking applied to the automatic takeoff and landing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The algorithm is based on a combination of segmentation based region competition and the minimization of a specific energy function to detect and identify the runway edges from streaming video data. The resulting video-based runway position estimates are updated using a Kalman Filter, which can integrate other sensory information such as position and attitude angle estimates to allow a more robust tracking of the runway under turbulence. We illustrate the performance of the proposed lane detection and tracking scheme on various experimental UAV flights conducted by the Saudi Aerospace Research Center. Results show an accurate tracking of the runway edges during the landing phase under various lighting conditions. Also, it suggests that such positional estimates would greatly improve the positional accuracy of the UAV during takeoff and landing phases. The robustness of the proposed algorithm is further validated using Hardware in the Loop simulations with diverse takeoff and landing videos generated using a commercial flight simulator.

A Mobile Asset Tracking System Architecture under Mobile-Stationary Co-Existing WSNs