Face verification across age progression.

Human faces undergo considerable amounts of varialions with aging. While face recognition systems have been proven to be sensitive to factors such as illumination and pose, their sensitivity to facial aging effects is yet to be studied. How does age progression affect the similarity between a pair of face images of an individual? What is the confidence associated with establishing the identity between a pair of age separated face images? In this paper, we develop a Bayesian age difference classifier that classifies face images of individuals based on age differences and performs face verification across age progression. Further, we study the similarity of faces across age progression. Since age separated face images invariably differ in illumination and pose, we propose preprocessing methods for minimizing such variations. Experimental results using a database comprising of pairs of face images that were retrieved from the passports of 465 individuals are presented. The verification system for faces separated by as many as nine years, attains an equal error rate of 8.5%.     

A comparison between the enhanced mass transfer in boundary and pressure driven oscillatory flow

Mass transport in pulsating flow devices using either moving boundaries or oscillating imposed pressure drops are compared with each other by means of a calculation using a simple model. We conclude that there is no difference between the two configurations as long as one is interested only in the power required to move the fluid for the convective mass transport achieved. However, the boundary driven configuration is more efficient if the power is divided by the total mass transport where both the diffusive and convective parts are taken into account, the boundary driven configuration is more efficient. The amplitude of the piston stroke in the pressure driven configuration and the amplitude in the boundary driven case are assumed to be the same, and the inertia of the moving devices themselves are ignored in this calculation.     

LDPC-based space-time coded OFDM systems over correlated fadingchannels: Performance analysis and receiver design

We consider a space-time coded (STC) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system with multiple transmitter and receiver antennas over correlated frequency- and time-selective fading channels. It is shown that the product of the time-selectivity order and the frequency-selectivity order is a key parameter to characterize the outage capacity of the correlated fading channel. It is also observed that STCs with large effective lengths and ideal built-in interleavers are more effective in exploiting the natural diversity in multiple-antenna correlated fading channels. We then propose a low-density parity-check (LDPC)-code-based STC-OFDM system. Compared with the conventional space-time trellis code (STTC), the LDPC-based STC can significantly improve the system performance by exploiting both the spatial diversity and the selective-fading diversity in wireless channels. Compared with the previously proposed turbo-code-based STC scheme, LDPC-based STC exhibits lower receiver complexity and more flexible scalability. We also consider receiver design for LDPC-based STC-OFDM systems in unknown fast fading channels and propose a novel turbo receiver employing a maximum a posteriori expectation-maximization (MAP-EM) demodulator and a soft LDPC decoder, which can significantly reduce the error floor in fast fading channels with a modest computational complexity. With such a turbo receiver, the proposed LDPC-based STC-OFDM system is a promising solution to highly efficient data transmission over selective-fading mobile wireless channels     

Measurements of thick target fission yields as a probe of fission excitation functions for deep sub-barrier energies

A close-geometry experimental technique has been developed and used to measure thick target fission yields for protons on ²³⁸U from 4.2 to 12 MeV. Fission fragments were detected at back angles by an annular photo-voltaic detector in coincidence with γ-ray registered in large NaI(Tl) detector. The neutron induced fission background was monitored by a detector on the downstream side of the thick target. Measured yields compare well with those calculated from published thin target cross sections. This method has the required sensitivity to carry out measurements at still lower energies where recent measurements give conflicting findings.     

Electromagnetic coupling effects on the cavity measurement of antenna efficiency

Electromagnetic coupling effects on the antenna in a conducting cavity are studied theoretically and experimentally. It is observed in experiments that at the resonant frequencies of the cavity, the input resistance of the antenna attains values two or three orders of magnitude higher than that at frequencies away from resonance. It is shown via theoretical analysis that the input resistance of the antenna measured at the resonant frequencies of the cavity is not merely the loss resistance desired in computing the antenna efficiency, but is actually the sum of the loss resistance of the antenna and the coupling resistance between the antenna and cavity. This coupling effect is demonstrated quantitatively by numerical computations for dipole and monopole antennas. The computational results for the input resistance are in agreement with the measured data. A method is proposed to avoid the cavity-antenna antiresonance in the measurement.     

Athermalised monolithic VMUX employing silica arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer

The realisation of a monolithic athermalised variable-optical-attenuator-integrated multiplexer (VMUX) implemented in silica-on-silicon waveguide technology is reported. The VMUX incorporates an athermal arrayed waveguide grating, providing <0.05 nm of peak transmission wavelength shift over 20-70/spl deg/C operating ambient independent of attenuator settings.     

Evaluation of the recombinant 38-kilodalton antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a potential immunodiagnostic reagent

The diagnosis of infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is of increased public health concern following increases in the number of cases in developed countries and major increases in developing countries associated with the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The specificity of purified protein derivative skin testing for the detection of infection is compromised by exposure to environmental mycobacteria. Examination of sputum detects the most infectious patients, but not those with extrapulmonary disease. The 38-kDa antigen of M. tuberculosis contains two M. tuberculosis-specific B-cell epitopes. We overexpressed the gene for this antigen in Escherichia coli and evaluated the recombinant product in in vitro assays of T-cell function and as a target for the antibody response in humans. The sensitivity and specificity of the antigen as a skin test reagent were also assessed in outbred guinea pigs. We found that 69% of healthy sensitized humans recognize the antigen in vitro, as manifested by both cell proliferation and the production of gamma interferon. Untreated patients initially have a lower frequency of response (38%); this recovers to 72% during therapy. A total of 292 patients (20 with HIV coinfection) and 58 controls were examined for production of antibody to the 38-kDa antigen by using a commercially available kit. The sensitivity of the test in comparison with that of culture was 72.6%, and the specificity was 94.9%. The antigen was also tested for its ability to induce skin reactions in outbred guinea pigs sensitized by various mycobacterial species. The antigen provoked significant skin reactions in M. tuberculosis-, M. bovis BCG-, and M. intracellulare-sensitized animals. The significance of these findings and the usefulness of this antigen in immunodiagnosis are discussed.