Visual Speech Recognition with Lightweight Psychologically Motivated Gabor Features

Extraction of relevant lip features is of continuing interest in the visual speech domain. Using end-to-end feature extraction can produce good results, but at the cost of the results being difficult for humans to comprehend and relate to. We present a new, lightweight feature extraction approach, motivated by human-centric glimpse-based psychological research into facial barcodes, and demonstrate that these simple, easy to extract 3D geometric features (produced using Gabor-based image patches), can successfully be used for speech recognition with LSTM-based machine learning. This approach can successfully extract low dimensionality lip parameters with a minimum of processing. One key difference between using these Gabor-based features and using other features such as traditional DCT, or the current fashion for CNN features is that these are human-centric features that can be visualised and analysed by humans. This means that it is easier to explain and visualise the results. They can also be used for reliable speech recognition, as demonstrated using the Grid corpus. Results for overlapping speakers using our lightweight system gave a recognition rate of over 82%, which compares well to less explainable features in the literature.     

All-optical 2R-regeneration and continuous wave to pulsed signal wavelength conversion based on fiber nonlinearity

In this paper, we propose a novel all-optical 2R (re-amplification and re-shaping) regenerator based on inducing nonlinear chirp over a continuous wave probe. The regenerator also performs continuous wave to pulsed wavelength conversion. The chirp is induced in a highly nonlinear fiber by the data modulated pulsed signal that is to be regenerated. Offset filtering is employed at the output of the highly nonlinear fiber to extract the frequencies generated as a result of chirping. The regenerator performance has been evaluated with the help of bit-error-rate plots and eye diagrams at different values of optical signal to noise ratios. Apart from re-shaping and re-amplification, inclusion of the regenerator results in better resilience to amplified spontaneous emission noise.     

Growth and characteristics of reactive pulsed laser deposited molybdenum trioxide thin films

Molybdenum trioxide thin films were prepared by reactive pulsed laser deposition on Corning 7059 glass substrates. The influence of oxygen partial pressure and deposition temperature on the structure, surface morphology and optical properties of these films was studied to understand the growth mechanism of MoO₃ thin films. The films formed at 473 K in an oxygen partial pressure of 100 mTorr exhibited predominantly a (0k0) orientation, corresponding to an orthorhombic layered structure of α-MoO₃. The evaluated optical band gap of the films was 3.24 eV. The crystallite size increased with increase of deposition temperature. The films formed at an oxygen partial pressure of pO₂=100 mTorr and at a deposition temperature greater than 700 K exhibited both (0k0) and (0kl) orientations, representing α-β mixed phases of MoO₃. The films formed at an oxygen partial pressure less than 100 mTorr were found to be sub-stoichiometric with α-β mixed phases. The investigation revealed the growth of polycrystalline and single-phase orthorhombic-layered-structure α-MoO₃ thin films with composition nearly approaching the nominal stoichiometry at moderate substrate temperatures in an oxygen partial pressure of 100 mTorr. Received: 9 April 2001 / Accepted: 6 August 2001 / Published online: 17 October 2001     

Observation of chimera patterns in a network of symmetric chaotic finance systems

The economic and financial systems consist of many nonlinear factors that make them behave as the complex systems. Recently many chaotic finance systems have been proposed to study the complex dynamics of finance as a noticeable problem in economics. In fact, the intricate structure between financial institutions can be obtained by using a network of financial systems. Therefore, in this paper, we consider a ring network of coupled symmetric chaotic finance systems, and investigate its behavior by varying the coupling parameters. The results show that the coupling strength and range have significant effects on the behavior of the coupled systems, and various patterns such as the chimera and multi-chimera states are observed. Furthermore, changing the parameters' values, remarkably influences on the oscillators attractors. When several synchronous clusters are formed, the attractors of the synchronized oscillators are symmetric, but different from the single oscillator attractor.     

Determination of Chloride Content in Different Types of Cement Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

The characterization and accurate determination of the chloride content in cement/concrete is very important for the assessment of the durability and safety of a concrete structure. The available analytical techniques are relatively expensive and time consuming. In this study, a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system was used for determination of elemental composition in three different types of cement samples. The plasma was generated by focusing a pulsed Nd: YAG laser at 1064 nm on the cement samples. The concentrations of different elements of significance for structural stability in cement samples were determined. The evaluation of the potential and the capabilities of LIBS as a rapid tool for characterization of cement samples is discussed. The optimum LIBS setup and experimental conditions to detect and measure chloride in building materials are reported. The LIBS results were compared with the results obtained using a standard analytical technique such as inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP–ES). The limits of detection were determined, and calibration curves were measured. The results of this investigation indicate the reliability of LIBS to characterize different cement samples and to assess the chloride content in these cements.     

Nonclassicality of two-mode nonorthogonal states

Nonclassical features of Schrödinger cat state with two-mode superposition state based on two coherent states π out of phase by fixing the relative phase equal to average photon number are discussed. Study of two-mode quadrature squeezing, oscillatory and sub-Poissonian photon statistics show that nonclassicality exists for these states. However, it is observed that the considered states do not violates the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality. Furthermore, simultaneously existence of quadrature squeezing and sub-Poissonian photon statistics shows that these states have more nonclassical features than that of famous even and odd coherent states.     

Dynamic characteristics of nanoindentation in Ni:A molecular dynamics simulation study

In this work,three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulation is carried out to elucidate the nanoindentation behaviour of single crystal Ni.The substrate indenter system is modelled using hybrid interatomic potentials including the manybody potential(embedded atom method) and two-body Morse potential.The spherical indenter is chosen,and the simulation is performed for different loading rates from 10 m/s to 200 m/s.Results show that the maximum indentation load and hardness of the system increase with the increase of velocity.The effect of indenter size on the nanoindentation response is also analysed.It is found that the maximum indentation load is higher for the large indenter whereas the hardness is higher for the smaller indenter.Dynamic nanoindentation is carried out to investigate the behaviour of Ni substrate to multiple loading-unloading cycles.It is observed from the results that the increase in the number of loading unloading cycles reduces the maximum load and hardness of the Ni substrate.This is attributed to the decrease in recovery force due to defects and dislocations produced after each indentation cycle.     

Impact of Linear Operator on the Convergence of HAM Solution: A Modified Operator Approach

The linear operator plays an important role in the computational process of Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). In HAM frame any kind of linear operator can be chosen to develop a solution. Hence, it is easy to introduce the modified/physical parameter dependent linear operators. The effective use of these operators has been judged through solving fluid flow problems. Modification in linear operators affects the solution and improves the computational efficiency of HAM for larger values of parameters. The convergence rate of the solution is rapid and several times higher resulting in less computational time.     

Structure and morphology of laser-ablated WO3 thin films

The structure and surface morphology of WO₃ thin films deposited by a laser-ablation technique have been found to be strongly dependent on the deposition conditions and the nature of the substrate. By precisely controlling the substrate temperature and the oxygen partial pressure, amorphous, polycrystalline, nano-crystalline and iso-epitaxial WO₃ thin films were successfully grown. The structure and surface morphological features of the films from X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy data are described in relation to the deposition conditions. PACS 81.15.Fg; 68.55.-a; 68.37.Ps     

Anisotropic electrical properties of Bi0.5(Na0.75K0.25)0.5TiO3 ceramics fabricated by reactive templated grain growth (RTGG)

We have fabricated lead-free Bi_0.5(Na_0.75K_0.25)_0.5TiO₃ (BNKT) ceramics by a conventional process (CP) and reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) methods. The effect of grain orientation on structure, dielectric, complex impedance and electrical properties was investigated. The phase formation and grain morphology of BNKT ceramics were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. High dielectric constant and low dielectric loss was observed for grain oriented (textured) BNKT ceramics. Complex impedance, temperature dependent ac and dc conductivity were performed to explore the conduction behavior of the prepared BNKT ceramics.