Bio-inspired, adaptive acoustic sensor : Sensing properties in dependence of feedback parameters. - In: AIP conference proceedings, ISSN 1551-7616, Bd. 3062 (2024), 1, 040011, S. 040011-1-040011-10
Pre-processing of the sound signal during sensing is an integral functionality of the cochlea, the part of human hearing responsible for sound sensing. This pre-pocessing, which is integrated into the sensing stage directly, enables the remarkable properties of human hearing. Similarly, integrating some of these pre-processing functionalities in technological speech processing systems strongly improves their recognition performance.We developed a bio-inspired, adaptive acoustic sensor with pre-processing capabilities like nonlinear amplification and frequency filtering functionality. The sensor is composed of a single clamped silicon beam with integrated deflection sensing and thermo-mechanical actuation, subjected to a real-time feedback. While the resonance frequency and bandwidth are determined by the geometry of the sensor beam, its transfer characteristics can be switched dynamically from linear to nonlinear regime by changing the feedback parameters. In the linear regime, the feedback controls the sensitivity and bandwidth of the sensors. Here, we elaborate on the influence of the sign of feedback strength and offset on the sensor behaviour. Changing the sign of the feedback parameters switches between amplification and damping behaviour, enabling the change of sensitivity by 44 dB. Thereby, complex oscillation modes are observed for feedback parameters with similar polarity.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0189488
Volumetric Lagrangian temperature and velocity measurements with thermochromic liquid crystals. - In: Measurement science and technology, ISSN 1361-6501, Bd. 35 (2024), 3, 035301, S. 1-11
We propose a Lagrangian method for simultaneous, volumetric temperature and velocity measurements. As tracer particles for both quantities, we employ encapsulated thermochromic liquid crystals (TLCs). We discuss the challenges arising from color imaging of small particles and present measurements in an equilateral hexagonal-shaped convection cell of height h = 60 mm and distance between the parallel side walls w = 10^4 mm, which corresponds to an aspect ratio Γ = 1.73. As fluid, we use a water-glycerol mixture to match the density of the TLC particles. We propose a densely-connected neural network, trained on calibration data, to predict the temperature for individual particles based on their particle image and position in the color camera images, which achieves uncertainties below 0.2 K over a temperature range of 3 K. We use Shake-the-Box to determine the 3D position and velocity of the particles and couple it with our temperature measurement approach. We validate our approach by adjusting a stable temperature stratification and comparing our measured temperatures with the theoretical results. Finally, we apply our approach to thermal convection at Rayleigh number Ra = 3.4 × 10^7 and Prandtl number Pr = 10.6. We can visualize detaching plumes in individual temperature and convective heat transfer snapshots. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our approach allows us to compute statistics of the convective heat transfer and briefly validate our results against the literature.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/ad16d1
Electrochemical reduction of tantalum and titanium halides in 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis (trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide and 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoromethanesulfonate ionic liquids. - In: Journal of solid state electrochemistry, ISSN 1433-0768, Bd. 28 (2024), 5, S. 1557-1570
The electrodeposition of tantalum-titanium–based films using different tantalum and titanium halides was investigated in two ionic liquids, namely, 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis (trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide ([BMP][TFSI]) and 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([BMP][OTf]). Cyclic voltammetry was used to analyse the electrochemistry of the electrolytes and potentiostatic deposition was performed to evaluate the feasibility of electrodepositing tantalum-titanium–based layers. Both the metal salts and the ionic liquid influenced the electrochemical reduction of the tantalum and titanium halides significantly. While titanium halides considerably retarded the reduction of tantalum pentahalides and inhibited electrodeposition in many electrolytes, an electrolyte composition from which tantalum and titanium-containing layers could be deposited was identified. Specifically, in TaBr5 and TiBr4 in [BMP][TFSI], TiBr4 did not inhibit the deposition of tantalum and titanium was co-deposited itself by a three-step reduction mechanism as confirmed by cyclic voltammetry and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Furthermore, [BMP][TFSI] led to smoother and more compact deposits.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-023-05773-7
Adaptation of metrology-grade ac current source in velocity mode of Planck-Balance 2: direct referencing induced voltages with ac quantum voltage standard. - In: Measurement science and technology, ISSN 1361-6501, Bd. 35 (2024), 1, 015026, S. 1-11
The adaptation of developed metrology-grade ac current source (MCS) to the velocity mode of measurements of the Planck-Balance 2 as a means for generating ac mechanical oscillations is presented. The universality in operating with the MCS unit especially practical for the Planck-Balance setup for frequencies of 0.1 Hz-20 Hz (including but not limited to the negligence of a broader range of 0.01 Hz up to several hundred Hz) and for amplitudes of up to 10 mA with 16 (offset with 14)-bit effective resolution is demonstrated. MCS allows generating complex ac waveform signals as waveform synthesizers by adding to the original signal an extra five independent harmonic components, each of which with an adjustable resolution of 10 ns for phase and 16-bit for amplitude. Additionally, the MCS is supported by an external clock at 10 MHz frequency which serves also as a common reference time base for the comparison between the direct output signal of MCS, or of the induced voltage in the coil of the Planck-Balance resulting due to the applied current by MCS, with the ac quantum voltage standard at the required accuracy levels.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/ad006c
The role of vacancy dynamics in two-dimensional memristive devices. - In: Advanced electronic materials, ISSN 2199-160X, Bd. 10 (2024), 1, 2300635, S. 1-18
Two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are promising memristive materials for neuromorphic computing systems. Despite extensive experimental work, the underlying switching mechanisms are still not understood, impeding progress in material and device functionality. This study reveals the dominant role of defect dynamics in the switching process of 2D TMDC materials. The switching process is governed by the formation and annihilation dynamics of a local vacancy depletion zone. It explains the distinct features of the device characteristics observed experimentally, including fundamentally different device behavior previously thought to originate from multiple mechanisms. Key influence factors are identified and discussed with a fully coupled and dynamic charge transport model for electrons, holes, and ionic point defects, including image-charge-induced Schottky barrier lowering (SBL). Thermal effects and local Joule heating are considered by coupling the transient heat transfer equation to the electronic properties. The model is validated with hysteresis and pulse measurements for various lateral 2D MoS2-based devices, strongly corroborating the relevance of vacancy dynamics in TMDC devices and offering a new perspective on the switching mechanisms. The insights gained from this study can be used to extend the functional behavior of 2D TMDC memristive devices in future neuromorphic computing applications.
https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202300635
A universal design strategy based on NiPS3 nanosheets towards efficient photothermal conversion and solar desalination. - In: Advanced functional materials, ISSN 1616-3028, Bd. 34 (2024), 8, 2310942, S. 1-11
2D nanomaterials are proposed as promising photothermal materials for interfacial photothermal water evaporation. However, low evaporation efficiency, the use of hazardous hydrofluoric solution, and poor stability severely limit their practical applications. Here, a mixed solvent exfoliation surface deposition (MSESD) strategy for the preparation of NiPS3 nanosheets and NiPS3/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) converter is successfully developed. The converter is obtained by drop-casting the NiPS3/PVA nanosheets onto a sponge. The PVA is mainly deposited on the edge of NiPS3 nanosheets, which not only improves the stability of NiPS3 nanosheets, but also adheres to the sponge to prepare a 3D photothermal converter, which shows an evaporation rate of 1.48 kg m−2 h−1 and the average photothermal conversion efficiency (PTCE) of 93.5% under a light intensity of 1 kW m−2. The photothermal conversion mechanism reveals that the energy of absorbed photons in NiPS3 nanosheets can be effectively converted into heat through non-radiative photon transitions as well as multiple optical interactions. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first report on the application of 2D metal-phosphorus-chalcogen (MPChx) for solar desalination, which provides new insights and guidance for the development of high-performance 2D photothermal materials.
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202310942
Exploring the surface oxidation and environmental instability of 2H-/1T’-MoTe2 using field emission based scanning probe lithography. - In: Advanced materials, ISSN 1521-4095, Bd. 36 (2024), 4, 2310887, S. 1-14
An unconventional approach for the resistless nanopatterning 2H- and 1T’-MoTe2 by means of scanning probe lithography is presented. A Fowler-Nordheim tunneling current of low energetic electrons (E = 30-60 eV) emitted from the tip of an atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever is utilized to induce a nanoscale oxidation on a MoTe2 nanosheet surface under ambient conditions. Due to the water solubility of the generated oxide, a direct pattern transfer into the MoTe2 surface can be achieved by a simple immersion of the sample in deionized water. The tip-grown oxide was characterized using Auger electron and Raman spectroscopy, revealing it consists of amorphous MoO3/MoOx as well as TeO2/TeOx. With the presented technology in combination with subsequent AFM imaging it was possible to demonstrate a strong anisotropic sensitivity of 1T’-/(Td)-MoTe2 to aqueous environments. We finally used the discussed approach to structure a nanoribbon field effect transistor out of a few-layer 2H-MoTe2 nanosheet. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202310887
Influence of the reference surface and AFM tip on the radius and roundness measurement of micro spheres. - In: Measurement science and technology, ISSN 1361-6501, Bd. 35 (2024), 2, 025010, S. 1-16
The performance of tactile and optical surface sensors for nano and micro coordinate measuring machines is currently limited by the lack of precisely characterised micro spheres, since established strategies have mainly been developed for spheres in the range of millimetres or above. We have, therefore, recently focused our research efforts towards a novel strategy for the characterisation of spheres in the sub-millimetre range. It is based on a set of atomic force microscope (AFM) surface scans in conjunction with a stitching algorithm. To obtain an uncertainty statement, the uncertainty about the shape of the reference surface needs to be propagated via the shape of the AFM tip to the actual measurement object. However, the sampling process of an AFM is non-linear and the processing of AFM scans requires complex algorithms. We have, therefore, recently begun to model the characterisation of micro spheres through simulations. In this contribution, this model is extended by the influence of the tip and reference surface. The influence of the tip’s shape and reference surface is investigated through virtual and real experiments. The shape of the tip is varied by using tips with mean radii of 200 nm and 2 μm while sampling the same ruby sphere with a mean radius of 150 μm. In general, the simulation results imply that an uncertainty of less then 10 nm is achievable. However, an experimental validation of the model is still pending. The experimental investigations were limited by the lack of a suitable cleaning strategy for micro parts, which demonstrates the need for further investigations in this area. Although the characterisation of a full sphere has already been demonstrated, the investigations in this contribution are limited to equator measurements.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/ad03b7
High-resolution patterning on LTCC by transfer of photolithography-based metallic microstructures. - In: International journal of applied ceramic technology, ISSN 1744-7402, Bd. 21 (2024), 2, S. 1180-1190
The growing applications and constant miniaturization of electronic devices and of low-temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) in various fields, such as aviation, telecommunications, automotive, satellite communications, and military, have led to an increase in the demand for LTCC. Such prospects arise due to the continuous scaling down of components and high-density interconnection in electronics packaging. This paper reports a technique for the transfer of high-resolution microstructures from silicon substrates to LTCC. In this method, gold and copper patterns were formed by photolithography, electrodeposition, and residual layer stripping on silicon substrate. Lithography provides the opportunity to create and transfer complex patterns for use in several different applications and electroplating enables the use of pure metal for excellent electrical properties. The developed structures were transferred onto a top layer of LTCC tape using hot embossing. Then, the subsequent layers were stacked, laminated, and sintered. A resolution of 1.5 μm after free sintering and 4.5 μm after pressure-assisted sintering was achieved. This distinctive method can be useful for several applications requiring high-resolution and superior electrical properties.
https://doi.org/10.1111/ijac.14569
Parental sex education and sexual risk behavior of daughters and sons: findings from the representative survey “Youth Sexuality” :
Elterliche Sexualaufklärung und sexuelles Risikoverhalten bei Töchtern und Söhnen: Befunde aus der Repräsentativbefragung „Jugendsexualität“. - In: Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz, ISSN 1437-1588, Bd. 67 (2024), 1, S. 14-22
Hintergrund - Sexualaufklärung im Elternhaus soll laut Sozialisationstheorie zu mehr sexueller Handlungskompetenz bei Jugendlichen führen. Aktuelle Daten für Deutschland fehlen jedoch. Ziel der Arbeit - Vor diesem Hintergrund war es Ziel der vorliegenden Studie, erstmals das allgemeine Sprechen über Sexualität im Elternhaus (Forschungsfrage 1, F1) sowie speziell die Verhütungsberatung durch die Eltern (F2) mit dem sexuellen Risikoverhalten der Jugendlichen in Verbindung zu setzen. Material und Methoden - Datengrundlage ist die 9. Welle der Repräsentativbefragung „Jugendsexualität“ der Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA). Analysiert wurden Daten aller sexuell aktiven 14- bis 17-jährigen Jugendlichen im Sample, von denen eigene Angaben zum Sexualverhalten sowie Angaben ihrer Eltern zum Aufklärungsverhalten vorliegen (N= 357). Zur Beantwortung der beiden Forschungsfragen wurden logistische Regressionsanalysen mit 4 zentralen Merkmalen des jugendlichen Sexualverhaltens gerechnet. Ergebnisse - Es zeigte sich, dass das Sprechen über Sexualität im Elternhaus bei Mädchen und Jungen positiv korreliert mit 1. dem erreichten Konsensalter beim ersten Geschlechtsverkehr, 2. einem positiven Erleben des ersten Geschlechtsverkehrs, 3. einem zuverlässigen Verhütungsverhalten und 4. einer geringen Anzahl an Sexualpartner*innen (F1). Das gleiche Ergebnismuster ergab sich für die Verhütungsberatung durch die Eltern (F2). Diskussion - Die positiven Zusammenhänge zwischen elterlicher Sexualaufklärung und risikoärmerem jugendlichen Sexualverhalten gilt es hinsichtlich der zugrunde liegenden Kausalmechanismen genauer zu untersuchen.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-023-03783-4
Assessing the utility of text-to-SQL approaches for satisfying software developer information needs. - In: Empirical software engineering, ISSN 1573-7616, Bd. 29 (2024), 1, 15, S. 1-48
Software analytics integrated with complex databases can deliver project intelligence into the hands of software engineering (SE) experts for satisfying their information needs. A new and promising machine learning technique known as text-to-SQL automatically extracts information for users of complex databases without the need to fully understand the database structure nor the accompanying query language. Users pose their request as so-called natural language utterance, i.e., question. Our goal was evaluating the performance and applicability of text-to-SQL approaches on data derived from tools typically used in the workflow of software engineers for satisfying their information needs. We carefully selected and discussed five seminal as well as state-of-the-art text-to-SQL approaches and conducted a comparative assessment using the large-scale, cross-domain Spider dataset and the SE domain-specific SEOSS-Queries dataset. Furthermore, we study via a survey how SE professionals perform in satisfying their information needs and how they perceive text-to-SQL approaches. For the best performing approach, we observe a high accuracy of 94% in query prediction when training specifically on SE data. This accuracy is almost independent of the query’s complexity. At the same time, we observe that SE professionals have substantial deficits in satisfying their information needs directly via SQL queries. Furthermore, SE professionals are open for utilizing text-to-SQL approaches in their daily work, considering them less time-consuming and helpful. We conclude that state-of-the-art text-to-SQL approaches are applicable in SE practice for day-to-day information needs.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-023-10374-z
The framing of diversity statements in European universities: the role of imprinting and institutional legacy. - In: Minerva, ISSN 1573-1871, Bd. 62 (2024), 1, S. 69-92
We analyze the role of institutional founding conditions and institutional legacy for universities’ self-representation in terms of diversity. Based on 374 universities located in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, we can differentiate between a more idealistic understanding (logic of inclusion and equality) and a more market-oriented understanding (market logic) of diversity. Our findings show that the founding phase has no significant effect on the likelihood of a university focusing on a market-oriented understanding of diversity - however, we observe an imprinting effect with respect to the adoption of a diversity statement in general and an equity-oriented statement. Moreover, our findings show that there is a socialistic heritage for universities in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries that is at work and still influences universities’ understandings of diversity today.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-023-09507-x
Towards augmented and mixed reality on future mobile networks. - In: Multimedia tools and applications, ISSN 1573-7721, Bd. 83 (2024), 3, S. 9067-9102
Augmented and Mixed Reality (AR/MR) technologies enhance the human perception of the world by combining virtual and real environments. With the increase of mobile devices and the advent of 5G, this technology has the potential to become part of people’s life. This article aims to evaluate the impact of 5G and beyond mobile networks in the future of AR/MR. To attend to this objective, we surveyed four digital libraries to identify articles and reviews concerning AR/MR use based on mobile networks. The results describe the state-of-the-art of mobile AR/MR applications and the benefits and challenges of the technology. Finally, after the review, we propose a roadmap concerning AR/MR hardware and software development to run applications supported by future mobile networks.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-023-15301-4
Eye and face tracking in VR: avatar embodiment and enfacement with realistic and cartoon avatars. - In: MUM 2023, (2023), S. 270-278
Previous studies have explored the perception of various types of embodied avatars in immersive environments. However, the impact of eye and face tracking with personalized avatars is yet to be explored. In this paper, we investigate the impact of eye and face tracking on embodiment, enfacement, and the uncanny valley with four types of avatars using a VR-based mirroring task. We conducted a study (N=12) and created self-avatars with two rendering styles: a cartoon avatar (created in an avatar generator using a picture of the user’s face) and a photorealistic scanned avatar (created using a 3D scanner), each with and without eye and face tracking and respective adaptation of the mirror image. Our results indicate that adding eye and face tracking can be beneficial for certain enfacement scales (belonged), and we confirm that compared to a cartoon avatar, a scanned realistic avatar results in higher body ownership and increased enfacement (own face, belonging, mirror) - regardless of eye and face tracking. We critically discuss our experiences and outline the limitations of the applied hardware and software with respect to the provided level of control and the applicability for complex tasks such as displaying emotions. We synthesize these findings into a discussion about potential improvements for facial animation in VR and highlight the need for a better level of control, the integration of additional sensing and processing technologies, and an objective metric for comparing facial animation systems.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3626705.3627793
Ilm-NMR-P31: an open-access 31P nuclear magnetic resonance database and data-driven prediction of 31P NMR shifts. - In: Journal of cheminformatics, ISSN 1758-2946, Bd. 15 (2023), 122, S. 1-12
This publication introduces a novel open-access 31P Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) shift database. With 14,250 entries encompassing 13,730 distinct molecules from 3,648 references, this database offers a comprehensive repository of organic and inorganic compounds. Emphasizing single-phosphorus atom compounds, the database facilitates data mining and machine learning endeavors, particularly in signal prediction and Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) systems. Additionally, the article compares different models for 31P NMR shift prediction, showcasing the database’s potential utility. Hierarchically Ordered Spherical Environment (HOSE) code-based models and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) perform exceptionally well with a mean squared error of 11.9 and 11.4 ppm respectively, achieving accuracy comparable to quantum chemical calculations.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13321-023-00792-y
Computational modelling and mechanistic insight into light-driven CO dissociation of square-planar rhodium(I) complexes. - In: ChemPhotoChem, ISSN 2367-0932, Bd. n/a (2023), n/a, e202300219, S. 1-28
The activation step of Vaska-type Rh(I) complexes, such as the photocleavage of the Rh‑CO bond, plays an important role in the subsequent C-H activation. To elucidate the details of the photochemistry of Vaska-type Rh(I) complexes, such as trans-Rh(PMe3)2(CO)(Cl), we here present a computationally derived picture as obtained at the density functional level of theory (DFT) in combination with multireference wavefunction-based methods. We have identified that the photocleavage of CO proceeds via the metal-centered excited state, which is populated through intersystem crossing (ISC) from the dipole-allowed excited state S1. Moreover, the present study unraveled the reasons for the low C-H activation efficiency when using Rh featuring the bidentate ligand 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane (dmpe), namely due to its unfavorable photochemical properties, i.e., the small driving force for light-induced CO loss and the fast deactivation of 3MC state back to the singlet ground state. In this study, we provide theoretical insight into mechanistic details underlying the light-induced CO dissociation process, for Rh complexes featuring PMe3 and dmpe ligands.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cptc.202300219
Influence of the processing on the properties of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic sheets prepared by extrusion. - In: AIP conference proceedings, ISSN 1551-7616, Bd. 2884 (2023), 1, 050005, S. 050005-1-050005-14
Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastics (CFRT) are composite materials consisting of continuous fibers and a thermoplastic matrix and offer outstanding mechanical properties, low densities, short cycle times and recyclability. CFRT can be classified into unidirectional tapes and sheets utilizing various semi-finished textiles as reinforcement. CFRT sheets are of interest for area measured products or multiaxial loads. Various discontinuous and semi-continuous methods to prepare CFRP sheets are described in the literature. All these methods either feature high cycle times or high investment costs and require double melting of the polymer, e.g., first to produce a polymer film and second to produce the CFRT sheet. An energy efficient alternative to produce CFRT sheets is extrusion, which allows to spare one melting step. A twin-screw extruder melts the polymer, which is then conveyed by a melt pump to the film extrusion dies and applied to both sides of the semi-finished textile, which is wetted and consolidated using a calendar. Due to the high melt viscosity and the line load at the calendar the major challenge is to achieve full void-free impregnation of the semi-finished textile. The mechanical properties of a CFRT sheet are determined by fiber and void volume content. Hence, the influence of the processing conditions on the fiber and void volume content as well as the mechanical properties were examined applying a parametric study of the die temperature, the haul-off speed, and the gap between the calendar rolls. The properties of the extruded CFRT sheets were compared to compression molded sheets. The fiber volume content was directly adjusted by the haul-off speed and the extruder throughput. An increasing die temperature lowers the melt viscosity and results in an increased fiber volume content. Scanning electron microscopy shows complete macro impregnation between the fiber bundles but not completely wetted individual filaments within fiber bundles.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0168183
Interactive data cleaning for real-time streaming applications. - In: HILDA '23, (2023), 13, insges. 3 S.
The importance of data cleaning systems has continuously grown in recent years. Especially for real-time streaming applications, it is crucial, to identify and possibly remove anomalies in the data on the fly before further processing. The main challenge however lies in the construction of an appropriate data cleaning pipeline, which is complicated by the dynamic nature of streaming applications. To simplify this process and help data scientists to explore and understand the incoming data, we propose an interactive data cleaning system for streaming applications. In this paper, we list requirements for such a system and present our implementation to overcome the stated issues. Our demonstration shows, how a data cleaning pipeline can be interactively created, executed, and monitored at runtime. We also present several different tools, such as the automated advisor and the adaptive visualizer, that engage the user in the data cleaning process and help them understand the behavior of the pipeline.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3597465.3605229
Spatial prediction of the turbulent unsteady von Kármán vortex street using echo state networks. - In: Physics of fluids, ISSN 1089-7666, Bd. 35 (2023), 11, 115141, S. 115141-1-115141-15
The spatial prediction of the turbulent flow of the unsteady von Kármán vortex street behind a cylinder at Re = 1000 is studied. For this, an echo state network (ESN) with 6000 neurons was trained on the raw, low-spatial resolution data from particle image velocimetry. During prediction, the ESN is provided one half of the spatial domain of the fluid flow. The task is to infer the missing other half. Four different decompositions termed forward, backward, forward-backward, and vertical were examined to show whether there exists a favorable region of the flow for which the ESN performs best. Also, it was checked whether the flow direction has an influence on the network's performance. In order to measure the quality of the predictions, we choose the vertical velocity prediction of direction (VVPD). Furthermore, the ESN's two main hyperparameters, leaking rate (LR) and spectral radius (SR), were optimized according to the VVPD values of the corresponding network output. Moreover, each hyperparameter combination was run for 24 random reservoir realizations. Our results show that VVPD values are highest for LR ≈ 0.6, and quite independent of SR values for all four prediction approaches. Furthermore, maximum VVPD values of ≈ 0.83 were achieved for backward, forward-backward, and vertical predictions while for the forward case VVPDmax = 0.74 was achieved. We found that the predicted vertical velocity fields predominantly align with their respective ground truth. The best overall accordance was found for backward and forward-backward scenarios. In summary, we conclude that the stable quality of the reconstructed fields over a long period of time, along with the simplicity of the machine learning algorithm (ESN), which relied on coarse experimental data only, demonstrates the viability of spatial prediction as a suitable method for machine learning application in turbulence.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0172722
An ecological study protocol for the multimodal investigation of the neurophysiological underpinnings of dyadic joint action. - In: Frontiers in human neuroscience, ISSN 1662-5161, Bd. 17 (2023), 1305331, S. 1-19
A novel multimodal experimental setup and dyadic study protocol were designed to investigate the neurophysiological underpinnings of joint action through the synchronous acquisition of EEG, ECG, EMG, respiration and kinematic data from two individuals engaged in ecologic and naturalistic cooperative and competitive joint actions involving face-to-face real-time and real-space coordinated full body movements. Such studies are still missing because of difficulties encountered in recording reliable neurophysiological signals during gross body movements, in synchronizing multiple devices, and in defining suitable study protocols. The multimodal experimental setup includes the synchronous recording of EEG, ECG, EMG, respiration and kinematic signals of both individuals via two EEG amplifiers and a motion capture system that are synchronized via a single-board microcomputer and custom Python scripts. EEG is recorded using new dry sports electrode caps. The novel study protocol is designed to best exploit the multimodal data acquisitions. Table tennis is the dyadic motor task: it allows naturalistic and face-to-face interpersonal interactions, free in-time and in-space full body movement coordination, cooperative and competitive joint actions, and two task difficulty levels to mimic changing external conditions. Recording conditions - including minimum table tennis rally duration, sampling rate of kinematic data, total duration of neurophysiological recordings - were defined according to the requirements of a multilevel analytical approach including a neural level (hyperbrain functional connectivity, Graph Theoretical measures and Microstate analysis), a cognitive-behavioral level (integrated analysis of neural and kinematic data), and a social level (extending Network Physiology to neurophysiological data recorded from two interacting individuals). Four practical tests for table tennis skills were defined to select the study population, permitting to skill-match the dyad members and to form two groups of higher and lower skilled dyads to explore the influence of skill level on joint action performance. Psychometric instruments are included to assess personality traits and support interpretation of results. Studying joint action with our proposed protocol can advance the understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms sustaining daily life joint actions and could help defining systems to predict cooperative or competitive behaviors before being overtly expressed, particularly useful in real-life contexts where social behavior is a main feature.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1305331
Reduced-order modeling of two-dimensional turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard flow by hybrid quantum-classical reservoir computing. - In: Physical review research, ISSN 2643-1564, Bd. 5 (2023), 4, 043242, S. 043242-1-043242-13
Two hybrid quantum-classical reservoir computing models are presented to reproduce the low-order statistical properties of a two-dimensional turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection flow at a Rayleigh number Ra=105 and Prandtl number Pr=10. These properties comprise the mean vertical profiles of the root mean square velocity and temperature and the turbulent convective heat flux. The latter is composed of vertical velocity and temperature and measures the global turbulent heat transfer across the convection layer; it manifests locally in coherent hot and cold thermal plumes that rise from the bottom and fall from the top boundaries. Both quantum algorithms differ by the arrangement of the circuit layers of the quantum reservoir, in particular the entanglement layers. The second of the two quantum circuit architectures, denoted H2, enables a complete execution of the reservoir update inside the quantum circuit without the usage of external memory. Their performance is compared with that of a classical reservoir computing model. Therefore, all three models have to learn the nonlinear and chaotic dynamics of the turbulent flow at hand in a lower-dimensional latent data space which is spanned by the time-dependent expansion coefficients of the 16 most energetic proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modes. These training data are generated by a POD snapshot analysis from direct numerical simulations of the original turbulent flow. All reservoir computing models are operated in the reconstruction or open-loop mode, i.e., they receive three POD modes as an input at each step and reconstruct the 13 missing modes. We analyze different measures of the reconstruction error in dependence on the hyperparameters which are specific for the quantum cases or shared with the classical counterpart, such as the reservoir size and the leaking rate. We show that both quantum algorithms are able to reconstruct the essential statistical properties of the turbulent convection flow successfully with similar performance compared with the classical reservoir network. Most importantly, the quantum reservoirs are by a factor of four to eight smaller in comparison with the classical case.
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.043242
Effect of partial and global shielding on surface-driven phenomena in keyhole mode laser beam welding. - In: Welding in the world, ISSN 1878-6669, Bd. 0 (2023), 0, insges. 1-22 S.
Partial shielding by means of local gas supply has proven to be very effective in reducing spatter. Besides the effect of gas-induced dynamic pressure, the shielding of oxygen is also highly relevant for melt pool dynamics and spatter formation due to the growth of oxides and the influence on surface tension. Therefore, this paper addresses the effect of local supplied argon on oxide growth and seam topography during keyhole mode laser beam welding of high-alloy steel AISI 304. To determine the shielding quality, the results are compared to laser beam welding in a global argon atmosphere. The topography of the upper weld seams was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An X-ray microanalysis (EDX) in line scan modus was performed to determine and to locate the elements which are covering the specimen surface. The chemical state of the found elements was quantified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In a last step, high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging was performed to separate the effect of the gas-induced pressure and the gas-induced shielding on keyhole geometry. The results show that a local supply of argon contributes to a significant difference in oxide growth, affecting melt pool convection and weld seam geometry. It was further shown that the effect of gas flows at low flow rates is primarily because of oxygen shielding, as no significant difference in keyhole geometry was found by high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-023-01627-y
The AI-augmented crowd: how human crowdvoters adopt AI (or not). - In: The journal of product innovation management, ISSN 1540-5885, Bd. n/a (2023), n/a, S. 1-25
To date, innovation management research on idea evaluation has focused on human experts and crowd evaluators. With recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), idea evaluation and selection processes need to keep up. As a result, the potential role of AI-enabled systems in idea evaluation has become an important topic in innovation management research and practice. While AI can help overcome human capacity constraints and biases, prior research has identified also aversive behaviors of humans toward AI. However, research has also shown lay people's appreciation of AI. This study focuses on human crowdvoters’ AI adoption behavior. More precisely, we focus on gig workers, who despite often lacking expert knowledge are frequently engaged in crowdvoting. To investigate crowdvoters' AI adoption behavior, we conducted a behavioral experimental study (n = 629) with incentive-compatible rewards in a human-AI augmentation scenario. The participants had to predict the success or failure of crowd-generated ideas. In multiple rounds, participants could opt to delegate their decisions to an AI-enabled system or to make their own evaluations. Our findings contribute to the innovation management literature on open innovation, more specifically crowdvoting, by observing how human crowdvoters engage with AI. In addition to showing that the lay status of gig workers does not lead to an appreciation of AI, we identify factors that foster AI adoption in this specific innovation context. We hereby find mixed support for influencing factors previously identified in other contexts, including financial incentives, social incentives, and the provision of information about AI-enabled system's functionality. A second novel contribution of our empirical study is, however, the fading of crowdvoters’ aversive behavior over time.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12708
Dual-functional electrode promoting dendrite-free and CO2 utilization enabled high-reversible symmetric Na-CO2 batteries. - In: Energy & Environmental Materials, ISSN 2575-0356, Bd. n/a (2023), n/a, e12626, S. 1-10
Sodium-carbon dioxide (Na-CO2) batteries are regarded as promising energy storage technologies because of their impressive theoretical energy density and CO2 reutilization, but their practical applications are restricted by uncontrollable sodium dendrite growth and poor electrochemical kinetics of CO2 cathode. Constructing suitable multifunctional electrodes for dendrite-free anodes and kinetics-enhanced CO2 cathodes is considered one of the most important ways to advance the practical application of Na-CO2 batteries. Herein, RuO2 nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon paper (RuCP) are rationally designed and employed as both Na anode host and CO2 cathode in Na-CO2 batteries. The outstanding sodiophilicity and high catalytic activity of RuCP electrodes can simultaneously contribute to homogenous Na+ distribution and dendrite-free sodium structure at the anode, as well as strengthen discharge and charge kinetics at the cathode. The morphological evolution confirmed the uniform deposition of Na on RuCP anode with dense and flat interfaces, delivering enhanced Coulombic efficiency of 99.5% and cycling stability near 1500 cycles. Meanwhile, Na-CO2 batteries with RuCP cathode demonstrated excellent cycling stability (>350 cycles). Significantly, implementation of a dendrite-free RuCPNa anode and catalytic-site-rich RuCP cathode allowed for the construction of a symmetric Na-CO2 battery with long-duration cyclability, offering inspiration for extensive practical uses of Na-CO2 batteries.
https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12626
Data-driven estimation of scalar quantities from planar velocity measurements by deep learning applied to temperature in thermal convection. - In: Experiments in fluids, ISSN 1432-1114, Bd. 64 (2023), 12, 191, S. 1-18
The measurement of the transport of scalar quantities within flows is oftentimes laborious, difficult or even unfeasible. On the other hand, velocity measurement techniques are very advanced and give high-resolution, high-fidelity experimental data. Hence, we explore the capabilities of a deep learning model to predict the scalar quantity, in our case temperature, from measured velocity data. Our method is purely data-driven and based on the u-net architecture and, therefore, well-suited for planar experimental data. We demonstrate the applicability of the u-net on experimental temperature and velocity data, measured in large aspect ratio Rayleigh-Bénard convection at Pr = 7.1 and Ra = 2 x 10^5, 4 x 10^5, 7 x 10^5. We conduct a hyper-parameter optimization and ablation study to ensure appropriate training convergence and test different architectural variations for the u-net. We test two application scenarios that are of interest to experimentalists. One, in which the u-net is trained with data of the same experimental run and one in which the u-net is trained on data of different Ra. Our analysis shows that the u-net can predict temperature fields similar to the measurement data and preserves typical spatial structure sizes. Moreover, the analysis of the heat transfer associated with the temperature showed good agreement when the u-net is trained with data of the same experimental run. The relative difference between measured and reconstructed local heat transfer of the system characterized by the Nusselt number Nu is between 0.3 and 14.1% depending on Ra. We conclude that deep learning has the potential to supplement measurements and can partially alleviate the expense of additional measurement of the scalar quantity.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-023-03736-2
Dual-band nested circularly polarized antenna array for 5G automotive satellite communications. - In: Applied Sciences, ISSN 2076-3417, Bd. 13 (2023), 21, 11915, S. 1-15
Currently, 5G low-earth orbit satellite communications offer enhanced wireless coverage beyond the reach of 5G terrestrial networks, with important implications, particularly for automated and connected vehicles. Such wireless automotive mass-market applications demand well-designed compact user equipment antenna terminals offering non-terrestrial jointly with terrestrial communications. The antenna should be low-profile, conformal, and meet specific parameter values for gain and operational frequency bandwidth, tailored to the intended applications, in line with the aesthetic design requirements of passenger cars. This work presents an original concept for a dual-band nested circularly polarized automotive user terminal that operates at the S-band frequencies around 3.5 GHz and Ka-band frequencies around 28 GHz, namely within the 5G new-radio bands n78 and n257, respectively. The proposed terminal is designed to be integrated into the plastic components of a passenger vehicle. The arrays consist of 2 × 2 aperture-coupled corner-truncated microstrip slot patch antenna elements for the n78 band and of 4 × 4 single-layer edge-truncated microstrip circular slot patch antenna elements for the n257 band. The embedded arrays offer, across the two bands, respectively, 9.9 and 13.7 dBi measured realized gain and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidths of 100 and 1500 MHz for the n78 and n257 bands along the broadside direction. Detailed link budget calculations anticipate uplink data rates of 21 and 6 Mbit/s, respectively, deeming it suitable for various automotive mobility and Internet-of-Things applications.
https://doi.org/10.3390/app132111915
Investigation of the fiber length and the mechanical properties of waste recycled from continuous glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene. - In: Recycling, ISSN 2313-4321, Bd. 8 (2023), 6, 82, S. 1-20
This paper explores the mechanical recycling of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs) waste into injection molded products, focusing on the influence of recycling parameters on fiber length and mechanical properties. CFRTPs are gaining attention for their promising attributes, including weight-specific mechanical properties, short cycle times, storability, and recyclability, making them suitable for diverse applications. However, as CFRTP production rates rise, recycling strategies become crucial for sustainability. This study investigates the processability of CFRTP waste, defines size reduction conditions, and evaluates the impact of various compounding parameters such as temperature, screw speed, and fiber volume content during extrusion. The research findings indicate that higher screw speeds lead to fiber length reduction, whereas elevated temperatures result in longer fibers. Increased fiber volume intensifies interactions, resulting in shorter lengths. Additionally, the study examines the influence of injection molding parameters such as back pressure, screw speed, and initial fiber length on the resulting fiber length and mechanical properties of injection molded specimens, emphasizing the need for precise parameter control to optimize performance in recycled CFRTPs. Key findings are that increasing the initial fiber length from 260 μm to 455 μm results in an average fiber length after injection molding of 225 μm and 341 μm, respectively. This implies that longer initial fibers are more prone to breakage. Regarding the mechanical properties, increasing back pressure from 20 bar to 60 bar results in a reduction in Young’s modulus of approximately 40 MPa. Higher screw speed also reduces modulus by approximately 70 MPa due to intensified fiber-screw interactions. However, back pressure and screw speed have neutral effects on the tensile strength and the elongation at break.
https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling8060082
Data augmentation for design of concentric tube continuum robots by generative adversarial networks. - In: Proceedings in applied mathematics and mechanics, ISSN 1617-7061, Bd. 23 (2023), 4, e202300278, S. 1-7
Concentric tube continuum robots are a promising type of robot for various medical applications. Their application in neurosurgery poses challenging requirements for design and control that can be addressed by physics-informed data-based approaches. A prerequisite to data-based modeling is an informative, rich data set. However, limited access to experimental data raises interest in partially or entirely synthetic data sets. In this contribution, we study the application of generative adversarial networks (GANs) for data augmentation in a data-based design process of such robots. We propose a GAN framework suitable for curve-fitting to generate synthetic trajectories of robots along with their corresponding control parameters. Our evaluation shows that the GANs can efficiently produce meaningful synthetic trajectories and control parameter pairs that show a good agreement with simulated trajectories.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pamm.202300278
Stage-cost design for optimal and model predictive control of linear port-Hamiltonian systems: energy efficiency and robustness. - In: Proceedings in applied mathematics and mechanics, ISSN 1617-7061, Bd. 23 (2023), 4, e202300296, S. 1-9
We consider singular optimal control of port-Hamiltonian systems with minimal energy supply. We investigate the robustness of different stage-cost designs w.r.t. time discretization and show that alternative formulations that are equivalent in continuous time, differ strongly in view of discretization. Furthermore, we consider the impact of additional quadratic control regularization and demonstrate that this leads to a considerable increase in energy consumption. Then, we extend our results to the tracking problem within model predictive control and show that the intrinsic but singular choice of the cost functional as the supplied energy leads to a substantial improvement of the closed-loop performance.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pamm.202300296
On the behavior of prolate spheroids in a standing surface acoustic wave field. - In: Microfluidics and nanofluidics, ISSN 1613-4990, Bd. 27 (2023), 12, 81, S. 1-19
The active manipulation of particle and cell trajectories in fluids by high-frequency standing surface acoustic waves (sSAW) allows to separate particles and cells systematically depending on their size and acoustic contrast. However, process technologies and biomedical applications usually operate with non-spherical particles, for which the prediction of acoustic forces is highly challenging and remains a subject of ongoing research. In this study, the dynamical behavior of prolate spheroids exposed to a three-dimensional acoustic field with multiple pressure nodes along the channel width is examined. Optical measurements reveal an alignment of the particles orthogonal to the pressure nodes of the sSAW, which has not been reported in literature so far. The dynamical behavior of the particles is analyzed under controlled initial conditions for various motion patterns by imposing a phase shift on the sSAW. To gain detailed understanding of the particle dynamics, a three-dimensional numerical model is developed to predict the acoustic force and torque acting on a prolate spheroid. Considering the acoustically induced streaming around the particle, the numerical results are in excellent agreement with experimental findings. Using the proposed numerical model, a dependence of the acoustic force on the particle shape is found in relation to the acoustic impedance of the channel ceiling. Hence, the numerical model presented herein promises high progress for the design of separation devices utilizing sSAW, exploiting an additional separation criterion based on the particle shape.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-023-02690-z
Accelerating large table scan using Processing-In-Memory technology. - In: Datenbank-Spektrum, ISSN 1610-1995, Bd. 23 (2023), 3, S. 199-209
Today’s systems are capable of storing large amounts of data in main memory. Particularly, in-memory DBMSs benefit from this development. However, the processing of data from the main memory necessarily has to run via the CPU. This creates a bottleneck, which affects the possible performance of the DBMS. Processing-In-Memory (PIM) is a paradigm to overcome this problem, which was not available in commercial systems for a long time. With the availability of UPMEM, a commercial product is finally available that provides PIM technology in hardware. In this work, we focus on the acceleration of the table scan, a fundamental database query operation. We show and investigate an approach that can be used to optimize this operation by using PIM. We evaluate the PIM scan in terms of parallelism and execution time in benchmarks with different table sizes and compare it to a traditional CPU-based table scan. The result is a PIM table scan that outperforms the CPU-based scan significantly.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13222-023-00456-z
Flower electrodes for comfortable dry electroencephalography. - In: Scientific reports, ISSN 2045-2322, Bd. 13 (2023), 16589, S. 1-15
Dry electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes provide rapid, gel-free, and easy EEG preparation, but with limited wearing comfort. We propose a novel dry electrode comprising multiple tilted pins in a flower-like arrangement. The novel Flower electrode increases wearing comfort and contact area while maintaining ease of use. In a study with 20 volunteers, we compare the performance of a novel 64-channel dry Flower electrode cap to a commercial dry Multipin electrode cap in sitting and supine positions. The wearing comfort of the Flower cap was rated as significantly improved both in sitting and supine positions. The channel reliability and average impedances of both electrode systems were comparable. Averaged VEP components showed no considerable differences in global field power amplitude and latency, as well as in signal-to-noise ratio and topography. No considerable differences were found in the power spectral density of the resting state EEGs between 1 and 40 Hz. Overall, our findings provide evidence for equivalent channel reliability and signal characteristics of the compared cap systems in the sitting and supine positions. The reliability, signal quality, and significantly improved wearing comfort of the Flower electrode allow new fields of applications for dry EEG in long-term monitoring, sensitive populations, and recording in supine position.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42732-8
Evaluating statistical disclosure attacks and countermeasures for anonymous voice calls. - In: ARES 23, (2023), 22, insges. 10 S.
Assuming a threat model of a global observer, statistical disclosure attacks have been proposed to efficiently de-anonymize communication relationships in text-based mix networks over time. It is commonly assumed that such attacks are also able to disclose call relationships in anonymous communication networks (ACNs) that support voice calls. One straightforward countermeasure is to expect users to permanently send and receive packets that mimic a Voice over IP (VoIP) call. However, this is not practical in real world scenarios, like on mobile devices. In this article, we adapt one specific statistical disclosure attack (Z-SDA-MD) to voice calls and quantitatively study less resource-intensive countermeasures. As base countermeasure, we evaluate a round-based communication model, corresponding to a timed mix. A simulation study of this scenario shows that the Z-SDA-MD is not well suited for a general disclosure of call relationships because of too many false positives. Nevertheless, the attack is able to correctly identify the most frequent relationships. Still, the accuracy in that regard may significantly be decreased by increasing the duration of one round, by decoupling actions (call setup and teardown) of caller and callee by a random number of rounds, and by occasional fake calls to a fixed set of “fake friends”. Overall, our study shows that anonymous voice calls may be implemented with an acceptable trade-off between anonymity, call setup time, and bandwidth overhead.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3600160.3600186
An exploratory study on the use of threat intelligence sharing platforms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. - In: ARES 23, (2023), 30, insges. 7 S.
Threat intelligence sharing is a promising solution to enhance knowledge and situational awareness of the rapidly growing number of emerging cyber threats. Accordingly, there are a variety of platforms on the security solutions market that enable the efficient and targeted exchange of threat intelligence across organisations. Unfortunately, very little is known so far about the dissemination and use of these platforms from the end-user perspective. To address this issue, we conducted an exploratory study on the use of threat intelligence sharing platforms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. For this purpose, we surveyed 69 security and IT experts from large companies, federal authorities and public universities in autumn 2022. Our findings show, among other things, a growing interest in threat intelligence sharing platforms and their value to information security processes.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3600160.3600185
Heat management and tensile strength of 3 mm mixed and matched connections of butt joints of S355J2+N, S460MC and S700MC. - In: ce/papers, ISSN 2509-7075, Bd. 6 (2023), 3/4, S. 1476-1482
High-strength structural steels are beneficial in terms of the sustainability of constructions due to the possible reduction of weight and overall material needs. Nevertheless, high-strength steels have a smaller processing parameter range in regarding the specific heat input and resulting cooling rate. Especially the cooling time t8/5 characterizing the time span to cool down from 800 to 500 ˚C is an important indicator. Single layer butt-welded gas metal arc welding (GMAW) connections of 3 mm plates between normal strength (S355J2+N, S460MC) and high-strength steels (S700MC) as well as matched connections (S460MC, S700MC) are carried out. Hereby, the influence of the energy input, melting rate, joint preparation, filler metal (matching and undermatching) and backing methods are observed. Spatially resolved IR-thermal observation shows variations within the welds of up to 50 % in the cooling time t8/5 depending on those parameters. These fluctuations lead to significant changes of the microstructure within the melting and heat-affected zone. UCI hardness mappings show the softening and microstructural change within these zones. Those soft zones can be the region of failure for butt welded connections as shown by transverse tensile tests with spatially resolved optical strain measurements. The results obtained can be used to define more precise welding procedures of these types of connections and also are used to develop design rules for mixed connections made of normal strength and high-strength steel.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cepa.2265
Automatic camera selection, shot size, and video editing in theater multi-camera recordings. - In: IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, Bd. 11 (2023), S. 96673-96692
In a non-professional environment, multi-camera recordings of theater performances or other stage shows are difficult to realize, because amateurs are usually untrained in camera work and in using a vision mixing desk that mixes multiple cameras. This can be remedied by a production process with high-resolution cameras where recordings of image sections from long shots or medium-long shots are manually or automatically cropped in post-production. For this purpose, Gandhi et al. presented a single-camera system (referred to as Gandhi Recording System in the paper) that obtains close-ups from a high-resolution recording from the central perspective. The proposed system in this paper referred to as “Proposed Recording System” extends the method to four perspectives based on a Reference Recording System from professional TV theater recordings from the Ohnsorg Theater. Rules for camera selection, image cropping, and montage are derived from the Reference Recording System in this paper. For this purpose, body and pose recognition software is used and the stage action is reconstructed from the recordings into the stage set. Speakers are recognized by detecting lip movements and speaker changes are identified using audio diarization software. The Proposed Recording System proposed in this paper is practically instantiated on a school theater recording made by laymen using four 4K cameras. An automatic editing script is generated that outputs a montage of a scene. The principles can also be adapted for other recording situations with an audience, such as lectures, interviews, discussions, talk shows, gala events, award ceremonies, and the like. More than 70 % of test persons confirm in an online study the added value of the perspective diversity of four cameras of the Proposed Recording System versus the single-camera method of Gandhi et al.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3311256
Comparison of fiber interferometric sensor with a commercial interferometer for a Kibble balance velocity calibration. - In: Measurement science and technology, ISSN 1361-6501, Bd. 34 (2023), 12, 125017, S. 1-10
This article presents a fiber interferometric sensor (FIS) for measuring the velocity amplitude of an oscillatory vibrating object, with a focus on velocity mode measurement in applications using the Kibble balance principle. The sensor uses the range-resolved interferometry method to measure the displacement of the moving object and employs a multi-harmonic sine-fit algorithm to estimate the displacement amplitude and frequency, thereby determining the velocity amplitude. This article provides a comprehensive explanation of the experimental setup and the measurement techniques employed, as well as a detailed analysis of the uncertainty budget, with the performance validation of the FIS benchmarked against a commercial interferometer within a Kibble balance setup. The velocity amplitude of a coil of the Kibble balance, oscillating with an approx. amplitude of 20 μm and a frequency of 0.25 Hz, was measured using the sensor and found to be 31.282 31 μm s^−1 with a relative deviation of −1.9 ppm compared to a commercial interferometer. The high performance of the FIS, especially with regard to non-linearity errors, and the small size of the measuring head enable universality of integration into a wide variety of measurement systems, also including the use as general-purpose vibration and displacement sensor.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/acf2b7
Microwave angiography by ultra-wideband sounding: a preliminary investigation. - In: Diagnostics, ISSN 2075-4418, Bd. 13 (2023), 18, 2950, S. 1-17
Angiography is a very informative method for physicians such as cardiologists, neurologists and neuroscientists. The current modalities experience some shortages, e.g., ultrasound is very operator dependent. The computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) angiography are very expensive and near infrared spectroscopy cannot capture the deep arteries. Microwave technology has the potential to address some of these issues while compromising between operator dependency, cost, speed, penetration depth and resolution. This paper studies the feasibility of microwave signals for monitoring of arteries. To this aim, a homogenous phantom mimicking body tissue is built. Four elastic tubes simulate arteries and a mechanical system creates pulsations in these arteries. A multiple input multiple output (MIMO) array of ultra-wideband (UWB) transmitters and receivers illuminates the phantom and captures the reflected signals over the desired observation time period. Since we are only interested in the imaging of dynamic parts, i.e., arteries, the static clutters can be suppressed easily by background subtraction method. To obtain a fast image of arteries, which are pulsating with the heartbeat rate, we calculate the Fourier transform of each channel of the MIMO system over the observation time and apply delay and sum (DAS) beamforming method on the heartbeat rate aligned spectral component. The results show that the lateral and longitudinal images and motion mode (M-mode) time series of different points of phantom have the potential to be used for diagnosis.
https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13182950
Investigation on the influence of process parameters on the mechanical properties of extruded bio-based and biodegradable continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sheets. - In: Polymers, ISSN 2073-4360, Bd. 15 (2023), 18, 3830, S. 1-14
The use of bio-based and biodegradable matrix materials in fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) is an approach to reduce the consumption of fossil resources and the amount of polymer waste. This study aims to assess the influence of the process parameters on the resulting mechanical properties of extruded bio-based and biodegradable continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs) in the form of sheets. Therefore, the impregnation temperature during the production of PLA/flax fiber composites is varied between 220 ˚C and 280 ˚C, and the consolidation pressure, between 50 bar and 90 bar. A design of experiments approach is used. Fiber contents of 28.8% to 34.8% and void contents of 6.8% to 15.5% are determined for the composites by optical measurements. To assess the mechanical properties, tensile tests are performed. Using the evaluation software Minitab, a strong negative influence of the consolidation pressure on the tensile modulus and the tensile strength is observed. Increasing the pressure from 50 bar to 90 bar results in a reduction in the tensile modulus of 50.7% and a reduction in the tensile strength of 54.8%, respectively. It is assumed that this is due to fibers being damaged by the external force exerted onto the materials during the consolidation process in the calender. The influence of the impregnation temperature on the mechanical properties cannot be verified.
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15183830
Ultrathin hematite-hercynite films for future unassisted solar water splitting. - In: Advanced Materials Technologies, ISSN 2365-709X, Bd. 8 (2023), 22, 2300655, S. 1-10
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting requires stable, efficient, and cost-effective photoelectrodes to enable future large-scale solar hydrogen production. Ultrathin hematite-hercynite photoanodes that meet all these criteria in an excellent way is presented here. Hematite-hercynite photoelectrodes are synthesized in a self-forming manner by thermal oxidation of iron-aluminum alloy films and characterized with regard to water splitting applications. Photoanodes fabricated from 17 wt.% Al at 493 ˚C for 8 h and 685 ˚C for 5 min exhibit, for instance, a photocurrent density of 1.24 and 1.53 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V versus RHE, respectively, as well as superior light absorption in the visible range of the solar spectrum. The PEC performance improvement in comparison to pure hematite thin film electrodes is first achieved by adjusting the aluminum concentration with an optimum range of 12-17 wt.% and second by optimizing the annealing conditions. The resulting photocurrent densities are about a factor of three higher than those obtained from electrodes synthesized from pure iron thin films using the same synthesis conditions. Finally, it is shown that ultrathin hematite-hercynite photoelectrodes enable even unassisted solar water splitting in a NaOH (1 m) electrolyte with a maximum solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 0.78%.
https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202300655
Gel adsorbed redox mediators tempo as integrated solid-state cathode for ultra-long life quasi-solid-state Na-air battery. - In: Advanced energy materials, ISSN 1614-6840, Bd. 13 (2023), 42, 2302325, S. 1-10
In metal-air batteries, the integrated solid-state cathode is considered a promising design because it can solve the problem of high interfacial resistance of conventional solid-state cathodes. However, solid discharge products cannot be efficiently decomposed in an integrated solid-state cathode, resulting in batteries that are unable to operate for long periods of time. Herein, an integrated solid-state cathode (Gel-Tempo cathode) of sodium-air batteries (SABs) capable of promoting efficient decomposition of discharge product Na2O2 is designed. The Gel-Tempo cathode is synthesized by cationic-π interaction of redox mediator 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (Tempo) and ionic liquid with carbon nanotubes. The Gel-Tempo cathode serves multiple functions as a redox mediator, flame retardancy, and high stability to air. In quasi-solid-state SABs, the Gel-Tempo cathode reduces overpotential to 1.15 V and improves coulomb efficiency to 84.5% (at a limited discharge capacity of 3000 mAh g−1) compared to gel cathodes. Experiments and density functional theory calculations indicate that Tempo significantly reduces the Gibbs free energy in the decomposition reaction of Na2O2, and high Tempo content is more conducive to enhancing the decomposition kinetics of Na2O2 and hence resulting in an ultra-long cycle life (1746 h). This work is crucial to promote practical applications of SABs, providing guidelines for functionalization design of integrated solid-state cathodes for metal-air batteries.
https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202302325
Cooperative memory management for table and temporary data. - In: 1st Workshop on Simplicity in Management of Data, (2023), 2, insges. 5 S.
The traditional paradigm for managing memory in database management systems (DBMS) treats memory used for caching table data and memory for temporary data as separate entities. This leads to inefficient utilization of the available memory capacity for mixed workloads. With memory being a significant factor in the costs of operating a DBMS, utilizing memory as efficiently as possible is highly desirable. As an alternative to the traditional paradigm, we propose managing the entire available memory in a cooperative manner to achieve better memory utilization and consequently higher cost-effectiveness for DBMSs. Initial experimental evaluation of cooperative memory management using a prototype implementation shows promising results and leads to several interesting further research directions.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3596225.3596230
Understanding the formation of “false friends” (hidden lack of fusion defects) in laser beam welding by means of high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging. - In: Welding in the world, ISSN 1878-6669, Bd. 67 (2023), 11, S. 2557-2570
This paper provides a fundamental understanding of “false friend” formation, i.e., hidden defects associated with lack of fusion, using an experimental setup that allowed an insight into the processing zone based on high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging. The setup enabled the welding of a lap joint of AISI 304 high-alloy steel sheets (X5CrNi18-10/1.4301), with the ability to adjust different gap heights between top and bottom sheet (up to 0.20 mm) and to acquire high-speed X-ray images at 100 kHz simultaneously with the welding process. On this basis, a time-resolved description of the “false friend” formation can be provided by visualizing the interaction between keyhole and melt pool during laser welding and solidification processes within the gap area. The bridgeability of the gap was limited due to the gap height and insufficient melt supply leading to the solidification of the bridge. The distance between the solidified bridge and the keyhole increased with time, while the keyhole and melt pool dynamics initiated the formation of new melt bridges whose stability was defined by melt flow conditions, surface tension, and gap heights. The alternating formation and solidification of melt bridges resulted in entrapped areas of lacking fusion within the weld, i.e., “false friends.” Finally, based on the results of this study, a model concept is presented that concludes the main mechanisms of “false friend” formation.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-023-01581-9
[Rezension von: Schorlemer, Sabine von, UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe und postkoloniale Diskurse]. - In: Politische Vierteljahresschrift / Deutsche Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft. - Berlin : Springer, 1960- , ISSN: 1862-2860 , ZDB-ID: 2275340-0, ISSN 1862-2860, Bd. 64 (2023), 4, S. 897-899
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-023-00493-z
Weak interaction between cations and anions in electrolyte enabling fast dual-ion storage for potassium-ion hybrid capacitors. - In: Advanced functional materials, ISSN 1616-3028, Bd. 33 (2023), 52, 2304086, S. 1-10
Identifying an effective electrolyte is a primary challenge for hybrid ion capacitors, due to the intricacy of dual-ion storage. Here, this study demonstrates that the electrochemical behavior of graphite oxide in ether-solvent electrolyte outperforms those in ester-solvent electrolytes for the cathode of potassium-ion hybrid capacitor. The experimental and theoretical assessments verify that the anion and cation are isolated effectively in dimethyl ether, endowing a weaker interaction between cations and anions compared to that of ester-solvent electrolytes, which facilitates the dual-ion diffusion and thus enhances the electrochemical performance. This result provides a rational strategy to realize high-rate cations and anions storage on the carbon cathode. Furthermore, a new low-cost and high-performance capacitor prototype, modified graphite oxide (MGO) cathode versus pristine graphite (PG) in ether-solvent electrolyte (MGOǁDMEǁPG), is proposed. It exhibits a high energy density of 150 Wh kg^−1cathode at a high power density of 21443 W kg^−1cathode (calculation based on total mass: 60 Wh kg^−1 at 8577 W kg^−1).
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202304086
Simulation of magnetohydrodynamic flows of liquid metals with heat transfer or magnetic stirring. - In: Proceedings in applied mathematics and mechanics, ISSN 1617-7061, Bd. 23 (2023), 3, e202300153, S. 1-8
We discuss the effects of nonhomogeneous magnetic fields in liquid metal flows in two different configurations. In the first configuration, we briefly report the impact of fringing magnetic fields in a turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection setup, where it was shown that the global heat transport decreases with an increase of fringe-width. The convective motion in regions of strong magnetic fields is confined near the sidewalls. In the second configuration, we numerically study the effects of an oscillating magnetic obstacle with different frequencies of oscillation on liquid metal flow in a duct. The Reynolds number is low such that the wake of the stationary magnetic obstacle is steady. The transverse oscillation of the magnet creates a sinusoidal time-dependent wake reminiscent of the vortex shedding behind solid obstacles. We examine the behavior of the streamwise and spanwise components of the Lorentz forces as well as the work done by the magnets on the fluid. The frequency of the oscillation of the streamwise component of Lorentz force is twice that of the spanwise component as in the case of lift and drag on solid cylindrical obstacles. The total drag force and the energy transferred from the magnets to the fluid show a nonmonotonic dependence on the frequency of oscillation of the magnetic obstacle indicative of a resonant excitation of the sinusoidal vortex shedding.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pamm.202300153
Stability analysis of wall-attached Bénard-Marangoni convection in a vertical magnetic field. - In: Proceedings in applied mathematics and mechanics, ISSN 1617-7061, Bd. 23 (2023), 2, e202300020, S. 1-8
The threshold for the onset of thermocapillary flow in a planar liquid layer heated from below is increased by a vertical magnetic field when the liquid is a good electric conductor. The magnetic damping effect is reduced when the induced eddy currents are blocked by insulating side walls. Neutral conditions for this specific Bénard-Marangoni stability problem with a vertical field and side walls are obtained numerically for three-dimensional perturbations assumed periodic in one horizontal direction. The domain is bounded by a free-slip wall at the bottom, a free surface at the top and two free-slip lateral walls in the other horizontal direction. Buoyancy forces and surface deformations are neglected and a constant heat flux is imposed on the free surface. Upon increasing the magnetic induction, the least stable modes become localized near the side walls and the convective threshold increases at a lower rate than for the least stable bulk mode.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pamm.202300020
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy of lithium-decorated graphene. - In: Annalen der Physik, ISSN 1521-3889, Bd. 535 (2023), 11, 2300249, S. 1-8
Lithium decoration of graphene on SiC(0001) is achieved in a surface science approach by intercalation and adsorption of the alkali metal. Spectroscopy of the differential conductance with a scanning tunneling microscope at the Li-decorated graphene surfaces does not give rise to a pairing gap at the Fermi energy, which may be expected because of the previously predicted superconducting phase [Profeta et al., Nat. Phys. 2012, 8, 131]. Rather, pronounced gaps in the spectroscopic data of intercalated samples reflect the excitation of graphene phonons. Rationales that possibly explain this discrepancy between experimental findings and theoretical predictions are suggested.
https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.202300249
Exploring citizen discussions’ potential to inform smart city agendas: insights from German-city-centered online communities. - In: New media & society, ISSN 1461-7315, Bd. 0 (2023), 0
With more than 50% of the world’s population living in urban areas, the smart city concept has been introduced as a solution to urbanization problems, with a focus on technological and social innovation. However, critics argue that the concept is more about marketing than actual benefits for citizens. Given the limitations of conventional and formalized e-participation and smart city procedures, we highlight the value of shared citizen knowledge and the potential of e-interaction in this context by analyzing city-related informal social media communication, following recent calls to embrace citizens’ opinions in the smart city framework. This work focuses on major German cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The authors identify nine categories of interest in citizens’ discussions. Unlike official channels, citizens tend to focus on social and societal issues. The results of this study can complement existing tools by including citizens’ perspectives in smart city decision-making processes.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231187032
Intelligent Energy-aware Routing Protocol in Mobile IoT Networks based on SDN. - In: IEEE transactions on green communications and networking, ISSN 2473-2400, Bd. 7 (2023), 4, S. 2093-2103
Intelligent devices and equipment have affected almost all aspects of our life and behavior. The type of connection and the manner of communication between this large volume of devices has caused the emergence of a vast field in the Internet called the Internet of Things, which significantly highlights the issue of energy management and increases the lifetime of networks. Complex communications, especially in mobile networks, have generated many challenges for network designers. To solve these challenges, the Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm has reduced the overhead in the devices caused by processing and computing by adding new capabilities to mobile IoT networks. This technique transfers energy-consuming tasks to the central controller, which manages continuous topological changes of the network in dynamic environments. This paper presents a new routing approach called Intelligent Energy-aware Routing Protocol in Mobile IoT Networks based on SDN (IERMIoT), which tries to manage the dynamic changes of topology due to the movement of mobile nodes to increase the network’s lifetime and prevent energy dissipation. For this purpose, it defines clusters of nodes and uses an intelligent evolutionary algorithm to determine the number of clusters required in the network and their balanced distribution in the dynamic environment. Also, this approach considers a mechanism to reduce the overhead of control packets and routing packets, which significantly affects the energy consumption of nodes. The simulation results indicate the proposed solution’s effectiveness compared to other simulated approaches with respect to packet delivery rate, average energy consumption, network lifetime, number of alive nodes, coverage, and routing overhead.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TGCN.2023.3296272
What does the public know about technological solutions for achieving carbon neutrality? Citizens' knowledge of energy transition and the role of media. - In: Frontiers in communication, ISSN 2297-900X, Bd. 8 (2023), 1005603, S. 01-13
The present study explores the relation between media use and knowledge in the context of the energy transition. To identify relevant knowledge categories, we relied on the expertise of an interdisciplinary research team. Based on this expertise, we identified awareness-knowledge of changes in the energy system and principles-knowledge of hydrogen as important knowledge categories. With data obtained from a nationwide online survey of the German-speaking population (n = 2,025) conducted in August 2021, we examined the level of knowledge concerning both categories in the German population. Furthermore, we studied its associations with exposure to journalistic media and direct communication from non-media actors (e.g., scientists). Our results revealed a considerable lack of knowledge for both categories. Considering the media variables, we found only weak, and in some cases even negative, relations with the use of journalistic media or other actors that spread information online. However, we found comparably strong associations between both knowledge categories and the control variables of sex, education, and personal interest. We use these results to open up a general discussion of the role of the media in knowledge acquisition processes.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1005603
The 3D flower-like MnV12O31&hahog;10H2O as a high-capacity and long-lifespan cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. - In: Small structures, ISSN 2688-4062, Bd. 4 (2023), 11, 2300136, S. 1-11
Selecting the right cathode material is a key component to achieving high-energy and long-lifespan aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs); however, the development of cathode materials still faces serious challenges due to the high polarization of Zn2+. In this work, MnV12O31&hahog;10H2O (MnVO) synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method is proposed as a promising cathode material for AZIBs. Because the stable layered structure and hieratical morphology of MnVO provide a large layer space for rapid ion transports, this material exhibits high specific capacity (433 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), an outstanding long-term cyclability (5000 cycles at a current density of 3 A g−1), and an excellent energy density (454.65 Wh kg−1). To illustrate the intercalation mechanism, ex situ X-Ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are adopted, uncovering an H+/Zn2+ dual-cation co-intercalation processes. In addition, density-functional theory calculation analysis shows that MnVO has a delocalized electron cloud and the diffusion energy barrier of Zn2+ in MnVO is low, which promotes the Zn2+ transport and consequently improves the reversibility of the battery upon deep cycling. The key and enlightening insights are provided in the results for designing high-performance vanadium-oxide-based cathode materials for AZIBs.
https://doi.org/10.1002/sstr.202300136
Sex-related patterns in the electroencephalogram and their relevance in machine learning classifiers. - In: Human brain mapping, ISSN 1097-0193, Bd. 44 (2023), 14, S. 4848-4858
Deep learning is increasingly being proposed for detecting neurological and psychiatric diseases from electroencephalogram (EEG) data but the method is prone to inadvertently incorporate biases from training data and exploit illegitimate patterns. The recent demonstration that deep learning can detect the sex from EEG implies potential sex-related biases in deep learning-based disease detectors for the many diseases with unequal prevalence between males and females. In this work, we present the male- and female-typical patterns used by a convolutional neural network that detects the sex from clinical EEG (81% accuracy in a separate test set with 142 patients). We considered neural sources, anatomical differences, and non-neural artifacts as sources of differences in the EEG curves. Using EEGs from 1140 patients, we found electrocardiac artifacts to be leaking into the supposedly brain activity-based classifiers. Nevertheless, the sex remained detectable after rejecting heart-related and other artifacts. In the cleaned data, EEG topographies were critical to detect the sex, but waveforms and frequencies were not. None of the traditional frequency bands was particularly important for sex detection. We were able to determine the sex even from EEGs with shuffled time points and therewith completely destroyed waveforms. Researchers should consider neural and non-neural sources as potential origins of sex differences in their data, they should maintain best practices of artifact rejection, even when datasets are large, and they should test their classifiers for sex biases.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26417
Triangle-Mesh-Rasterization-Projection (TMRP): an algorithm to project a point cloud onto a consistent, dense and accurate 2D raster image. - In: Sensors, ISSN 1424-8220, Bd. 23 (2023), 16, 7030, S. 1-28
The projection of a point cloud onto a 2D camera image is relevant in the case of various image analysis and enhancement tasks, e.g., (i) in multimodal image processing for data fusion, (ii) in robotic applications and in scene analysis, and (iii) for deep neural networks to generate real datasets with ground truth. The challenges of the current single-shot projection methods, such as simple state-of-the-art projection, conventional, polygon, and deep learning-based upsampling methods or closed source SDK functions of low-cost depth cameras, have been identified. We developed a new way to project point clouds onto a dense, accurate 2D raster image, called Triangle-Mesh-Rasterization-Projection (TMRP). The only gaps that the 2D image still contains with our method are valid gaps that result from the physical limits of the capturing cameras. Dense accuracy is achieved by simultaneously using the 2D neighborhood information (rx,ry) of the 3D coordinates in addition to the points P(X,Y,V). In this way, a fast triangulation interpolation can be performed. The interpolation weights are determined using sub-triangles. Compared to single-shot methods, our algorithm is able to solve the following challenges. This means that: (1) no false gaps or false neighborhoods are generated, (2) the density is XYZ independent, and (3) ambiguities are eliminated. Our TMRP method is also open source, freely available on GitHub, and can be applied to almost any sensor or modality. We also demonstrate the usefulness of our method with four use cases by using the KITTI-2012 dataset or sensors with different modalities. Our goal is to improve recognition tasks and processing optimization in the perception of transparent objects for robotic manufacturing processes.
https://doi.org/10.3390/s23167030
Ni/Al multilayer reactions on nanostructured silicon substrates. - In: Journal of materials science, ISSN 1573-4803, Bd. 58 (2023), 31, S. 12811-12826
Fast energy release, which is a fundamental property of reactive multilayer systems, can be used in a wide field of applications. For most applications, a self-propagating reaction and adhesion between the multilayers and substrate are necessary. In this work, a distinct approach for achieving self-propagating reactions and adhesion between deposited Ni/Al reactive multilayers and silicon substrate is demonstrated. The silicon surface consists of random structures, referred to as silicon grass, which were created by deep reactive ion etching. Using the etching process, structure units of heights between 8 and 13 µm and density between 0.5 and 3.5 structures per µm^2 were formed. Ni and Al layers were alternatingly deposited in the stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 using sputtering, to achieve a total thickness of 5 µm. The analysis of the reaction and phase transformation was done with high-speed camera, high-speed pyrometer, and X-ray diffractometer. Cross-sectional analysis showed that the multilayers grew only on top of the silicon grass in the form of inversed cones, which enabled adhesion between the silicon grass and the reacted multilayers. A self-propagating reaction on silicon grass was achieved, due to the thermally isolating air pockets present around these multilayer cones. The velocity and temperature of the reaction varied according to the structure morphology. The reaction parameters decreased with increasing height and decreasing density of the structures. To analyze the exact influence of the morphology, further investigations are needed.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08794-9
A hybrid patch decomposition approach to compute an enclosure for multi-objective mixed-integer convex optimization problems. - In: Mathematical methods of operations research, ISSN 1432-5217, Bd. 0 (2023), 0, insges. 30 S.
In multi-objective mixed-integer convex optimization, multiple convex objective functions need to be optimized simultaneously while some of the variables are restricted to take integer values. In this paper, we present a new algorithm to compute an enclosure of the nondominated set of such optimization problems. More precisely, we decompose the multi-objective mixed-integer convex optimization problem into several multi-objective continuous convex optimization problems, which we refer to as patches. We then dynamically compute and improve coverages of the nondominated sets of those patches to finally combine them to obtain an enclosure of the nondominated set of the multi-objective mixed-integer convex optimization problem. Additionally, we introduce a mechanism to reduce the number of patches that need to be considered in total. Our new algorithm is the first of its kind and guaranteed to return an enclosure of prescribed quality within a finite number of iterations. For selected numerical test instances we compare our new criterion space based approach to other algorithms from the literature and show that much larger instances can be solved with our new algorithm.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00186-023-00828-x
Data-informed reservoir computing for efficient time-series prediction. - In: Chaos, ISSN 1089-7682, Bd. 33 (2023), 7, 073109, S. 073109-1-073109-11
We propose a new approach to dynamical system forecasting called data-informed-reservoir computing (DI-RC) that, while solely being based on data, yields increased accuracy, reduced computational cost, and mitigates tedious hyper-parameter optimization of the reservoir computer (RC). Our DI-RC approach is based on the recently proposed hybrid setup where a knowledge-based model is combined with a machine learning prediction system, but it replaces the knowledge-based component by a data-driven model discovery technique. As a result, our approach can be chosen when a suitable knowledge-based model is not available. We demonstrate our approach using a delay-based RC as the machine learning component in conjunction with sparse identification of nonlinear dynamical systems for the data-driven model component. We test the performance on two example systems: the Lorenz system and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system. Our results indicate that our proposed technique can yield an improvement in the time-series forecasting capabilities compared with both approaches applied individually, while remaining computationally cheap. The benefit of our proposed approach, compared with pure RC, is most pronounced when the reservoir parameters are not optimized, thereby reducing the need for hyperparameter optimization.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0152311
3D passive microfluidic valves in silicon and glass using grayscale lithography and reactive ion etching transfer. - In: Microfluidics and nanofluidics, ISSN 1613-4990, Bd. 27 (2023), 8, 55, S. 1-12
A fabrication strategy for high-efficiency passive three-dimensional microfluidic valves with no mechanical parts fabricated in silicon and glass substrates is presented. 3D diffuser-nozzle valve structures were produced and characterized in their added value in comparison to conventional diffuser-nozzle valve designs with rectangular cross sections. A grayscale lithography approach for 3D photoresist structuring combined with a proportional transfer by reactive ion etching allowed to transfer 3D resist valve designs with high precision into the targeted substrate material. The efficiency with respect to the rectification characteristics or so-called diodicity of the studied valve designs is defined as the ratio of the pressure drops in backward and forward flow directions. The studied valve designs were characterized experimentally as well as numerically based on finite element simulations with overall matching results that demonstrate a significantly improved flow rectification of the 3D valves compared to the corresponding conventional structure. Our novel 3D valve structures show, for instance, even without systematic optimization a measured diodicity of up to 1.5 at low flow rates of only about 10 μl/s.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-023-02663-2
MLflow2PROV: extracting provenance from machine learning experiments. - In: Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop on Data Management for End-to-End Machine Learning (DEEM), (2023), 9, insges. 4 S.
Supporting iterative and explorative workflows for developing machine learning (ML) models, ML experiment management systems (ML EMSs), such as MLflow, are increasingly used to simplify the structured collection and management of ML artifacts, such as ML models, metadata, and code. However, EMSs typically suffer from limited provenance capabilities. As a consequence, it is hard to analyze provenance information and gain knowledge that can be used to improve both ML models and their development workflows. We propose a W3C-PROV-compliant provenance model capturing ML experiment activities that originate from Git and MLflow usage. Moreover, we present the tool MLflow2PROV that extracts provenance graphs according to our model, enabling querying, analyzing, and further processing of collected provenance information.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3595360.3595859
Processing-in-Memory for databases: query processing and data transfer. - In: 19th International Workshop on Data Management on New Hardware, (DaMoN 2023), June 19th 2023, (2023), S. 107-111
The Processing-in-Memory (PIM) paradigm promises to accelerate data processing by pushing down computation to memory, reducing the amount of data transfer between memory and CPU, and - in this way - relieving the CPU from processing. Particularly, in in-memory databases memory access becomes a performance bottleneck. Thus, PIM seems to offer an interesting solution for database processing. In this work, we investigate how commercially available PIM technology can be leveraged to accelerate query processing by offloading (parts of) query operators to memory. Furthermore, we show how to address the problem of limited PIM storage capacity by interleaving transfer and computation and present a cost model for the data placement problem.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3592980.3595323
Recommender systems in continuing professional education for public transport: challenges of a human-centered design. - In: Adjunct proceedings of the 31st ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization, (2023), S. 331-336
Continuous training is an essential building block to avoid workforce shortage in the public transport sector in Germany. However, the personnel requirements in this sector are highly diverse, similar to the education history of the employees. Therefore, more and more specialized continuous training offers arise, which are, on the one hand, more and more personalized but also make it more challenging to find suitable offers for the individual. Specialized recommender systems for this niche application might be a possible solution. This paper presents current work-in-progress results towards such a system and, in particular, the requirements for the recommender systems from the users’ perspective. We conducted guided interviews with industry representatives focusing on the usage-oriented expectations in recommender systems for an online platform for offerings of continuing education in the area of public transport. The resulting usage requirements form the basis for the concluding literature review of recommender systems in the special application domain. The results show that especially the challenges of small communities with limited content and multiple profiles are not sufficiently addressed in the development of recommender systems, such that existing solutions are not applicable in this niche area.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3563359.3596995
From explainable AI to explainable simulation: using machine learning and XAI to understand system robustness. - In: ACM SIGSIM-PADS 2023, (2023), S. 96-106
Evaluating robustness is an important goal in simulation-based analysis. Robustness is achieved when the controllable factors of a system are adjusted in such a way that any possible variance in uncontrollable factors (noise) has minimal impact on the variance of the desired output. The optimization of system robustness using simulation is a dedicated and well-established research direction. However, once a simulation model is available, there is a lot of potential to learn more about the inherent relationships in the system, especially regarding its robustness. Data farming offers the possibility to explore large design spaces using smart experiment design, high performance computing, automated analysis, and interactive visualization. Sophisticated machine learning methods excel at recognizing and modelling the relation between large amounts of simulation input and output data. However, investigating and analyzing this modelled relationship can be very difficult, since most modern machine learning methods like neural networks or random forests are opaque black boxes. Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) can help to peak into this black box, helping us to explore and learn about relations between simulation input and output. In this paper, we introduce a concept for using Data Farming, machine learning and XAI to investigate and understand system robustness of a given simulation model.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3573900.3591114
Boosting material utilization via direct growth of Zn2(V3O8)2 on the carbon cloth as a cathode to achieve a high-capacity aqueous zinc-ion battery. - In: Small, ISSN 1613-6829, Bd. 19 (2023), 46, 2303307, S. 1-10
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted the attention of researchers because of their high theoretical capacity and safety. Among the many vanadium-based AZIB cathode materials, zinc vanadate is of great interest as a typical phase in the dis-/charge process. Here, a remarkable method to improve the utilization rate of zinc vanadate cathode materials is reported. In situ growth of Zn2(V3O8)2 on carbon cloth (CC) as the cathode material (ZVOCC) of AZIBs. Compared with the Zn2(V3O8)2 cathode material bonded on titanium foil (ZVO@Ti), the specific capacity increases from 300 to 420 mAh g−1, and the utilization rate of the material increases from 69.60% to 99.2%. After the flexible device is prepared, it shows the appropriate specific capacity (268.4 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1) and high safety. The method proposed in this work improves the material utilization rate and enhances the energy density of AZIB and also has a certain reference for the other electrochemical energy storage devices.
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202303307
A test instance generator for multiobjective mixed-integer optimization. - In: Mathematical methods of operations research, ISSN 1432-5217, Bd. 0 (2023), 0, insges. 26 S.
Application problems can often not be solved adequately by numerical algorithms as several difficulties might arise at the same time. When developing and improving algorithms which hopefully allow to handle those difficulties in the future, good test instances are required. These can then be used to detect the strengths and weaknesses of different algorithmic approaches. In this paper we present a generator for test instances to evaluate solvers for multiobjective mixed-integer linear and nonlinear optimization problems. Based on test instances for purely continuous and purely integer problems with known efficient solutions and known nondominated points, suitable multiobjective mixed-integer test instances can be generated. The special structure allows to construct instances scalable in the number of variables and objective functions. Moreover, it allows to control the resulting efficient and nondominated sets as well as the number of efficient integer assignments.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00186-023-00826-z
Calibration of low-temperature photoluminescence of boron-doped silicon with increased temperature precision. - In: Physica status solidi, ISSN 1521-3951, Bd. 260 (2023), 10, 2300300, S. 1-5
https://doi.org/10.1002/pssb.202300300
Collective variables between large-scale states in turbulent convection. - In: Physical review research, ISSN 2643-1564, Bd. 5 (2023), 3, S. 033061-1-033061-19
The dynamics in a confined turbulent convection flow is dominated by multiple long-lived macroscopic circulation states that are visited subsequently by the system in a Markov-type hopping process. In the present work, we analyze the short transition paths between these subsequent macroscopic system states by a data-driven learning algorithm that extracts the low-dimensional transition manifold and the related new coordinates, which we term collective variables, in the state space of the complex turbulent flow. We therefore transfer and extend concepts for conformation transitions in stochastic microscopic systems, such as in the dynamics of macromolecules, to a deterministic macroscopic flow. Our analysis is based on long-term direct numerical simulation trajectories of turbulent convection in a closed cubic cell at a Prandtl number Pr=0.7 and Rayleigh numbers Ra=10^6 and 10^7 for a time lag of 10^5 convective free-fall time units. The simulations resolve vortices and plumes of all physically relevant scales, resulting in a state space spanned by more than 3.5 million degrees of freedom. The transition dynamics between the large-scale circulation states can be captured by the transition manifold analysis with only two collective variables, which implies a reduction of the data dimension by a factor of more than a million. Our method demonstrates that cessations and subsequent reversals of the large-scale flow are unlikely in the present setup, and thus it paves the way for the development of efficient reduced-order models of the macroscopic complex nonlinear dynamical system.
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.033061
Image appeal revisited: analysis, new dataset, and prediction models. - In: IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, Bd. 11 (2023), S. 69563-69585
There are more and more photographic images uploaded to social media platforms such as Instagram, Flickr, or Facebook on a daily basis. At the same time, attention and consumption for such images is high, with image views and liking as one of the success factors for users and driving forces for social media algorithms. Here, “liking” can be assumed to be driven by image appeal and further factors such as who is posting the images and what they may show and reveal about the posting person. It is therefore of high research interest to evaluate the appeal of such images in the context of social media platforms. Such an appeal evaluation may help to improve image quality or could be used as an additional filter criterion to select good images. To analyze image appeal, various datasets have been established over the past years. However, not all datasets contain high-resolution images, are up to date, or include additional data, such as meta-data or social-media-type data such as likes and views. We created our own dataset “AVT-ImageAppeal-Dataset”, which includes images from different photo-sharing platforms. The dataset also includes a subset of other state-of-the-art datasets and is extended by social-media-type data, meta-data, and additional images. In this paper, we describe the dataset and a series of laboratory- and crowd-tests we conducted to evaluate image appeal. These tests indicate that there is only a small influence when likes and views are included in the presentation of the images in comparison to when these are not shown, and also the appeal ratings are only a little correlated to likes and views. Furthermore, it is shown that lab and crowd tests are highly similar considering the collected appeal ratings. In addition to the dataset, we also describe various machine learning models for the prediction of image appeal, using only the photo itself as input. The models have a similar or slightly better performance than state-of-the-art models. The evaluation indicates that there is still an improvement in image appeal prediction and furthermore, other aspects, such as the presentation context could be evaluated.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3292588
Enhanced solutions for the block-term decomposition in rank-(Lr, Lr, 1) terms. - In: IEEE transactions on signal processing, ISSN 1941-0476, Bd. 71 (2023), S. 2608-2621
The block-term decompositions (BTD) represent tensors as a linear combination of low multilinear rank terms and can be explicitly related to the Canonical Polyadic decomposition (CPD). In this paper, we introduce the SECSI-BTD framework, which exploits the connection between two decompositions to estimate the block-terms of the rank-(Lr, Lr, 1) BTD. The proposed SECSI-BTD algorithm includes the initial calculation of the factor estimates using the SEmi-algebraic framework for approximate Canonical polyadic decompositions via SImultaneous Matrix Diagonalizations (SECSI), followed by clustering and refinement procedures that return the appropriate rank-(Lr, Lr, 1) BTD terms. Moreover, we introduce a new approach to estimate the multilinear rank structure of the tensor based on the HOSVD and $k$-means clustering. Since the proposed SECSI-BTD algorithm does not require a known rank structure but can still take advantage of the known ranks when available, it is more flexible than the existing techniques in the literature. Additionally, our algorithm does not require multiple initializations, and the simulation results show that it provides more accurate results and a better convergence behavior for an extensive range of SNRs.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSP.2023.3289730
Three-dimensional light field fundus imaging: automatic determination of diagnostically relevant optic nerve head parameters. - In: Translational Vision Science & Technology, ISSN 2164-2591, Bd. 12 (2023), 7, 21, S. 1-16
Purpose: Morphological changes to the optic nerve head (ONH) can be detected at the early stages of glaucoma. Three-dimensional imaging and analysis may aid in the diagnosis. Light field (LF) fundus cameras can generate three-dimensional (3D) images of optic disc topography from a single shot and are less susceptible to motion artifacts. Here, we introduce a processing method to determine diagnostically relevant ONH parameters automatically and present the results of a subject study performed to validate this method. Methods: The ONHs of 17 healthy subjects were examined and images were acquired with both an LF fundus camera and by optical coherence tomography (OCT). The LF data were analyzed with a novel algorithm and compared with the results of the OCT study. Depth information was reconstructed, and a model with radial basis functions was used for processing of the 3D point cloud and to provide a finite surface. The peripapillary rising and falling edges were evaluated to determine optic disc and cup contours and finally calculate the parameters. Results: Nine of the 17 subjects exhibited prominent optic cups. The contours and ONH parameters determined by an analysis of LF 3D imaging largely agreed with the data obtained from OCT. The median disc areas, cup areas, and cup depths differed by 0.17 mm^2, -0.04 mm^2, and -0.07 mm, respectively. Conclusions: The findings presented here suggest the possibility of using LF data to evaluate the ONH. Translational Relevance: LF data can be used to determine geometric parameters of the ONH and thus may be suitable for future use in glaucoma diagnostics.
https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.12.7.21
The study of screw extrusion-based additive manufacturing of eco-friendly aliphatic polyketone. - In: Journal of materials research and technology, ISSN 2214-0697, Bd. 25 (2023), S. 4125-4138
Aliphatic polyketone is a new-age eco-friendly, high-performance engineering thermoplastic. However, its potential for replacing other polymers depends on its ability to be processed. Considering that the first aliphatic polyketone suitable for processing was developed relatively recently (2015), the material gained new research potential. In this paper screw extrusion-based process was developed for additive manufacturing of aliphatic polyketone. A detailed characterisation of the process and printed samples was done. It was shown that the extruder-base process can produce stable additive-manufactured parts depending on printing speed (process parameters). The interpass temperature has a significant influence on printing properties and it depends on printing speed (travel speed of building platform and extruder rotational speed). With the increase in the printing speed, the interpass temperature increases as well. If it is low causes insufficient heat for diffusion to occur causing delamination and if it is too high causes geometrical deviation of workpieces which leads to defects causing a reduction in inter-road strength. The tensile strength of specimens with raster angle 0˚ was 62.7 ± 1.4 MPa, which is slightly higher than the tensile strength of base material guaranteed by the supplier (60 MPa) while the elongation up to the first crack was 32.8 ± 4.6%. Iinter-road strength in specimens with a raster angle of 90˚ was 37.2 ± 0.8 MPa which is 62% of the base material while interpass temperature was 189 ± 3.3 ˚C.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.06.223
Influence of extrinsic induced tensile stress on the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of nanosized Al/Ni multilayers. - In: Journal of materials science, ISSN 1573-4803, Bd. 58 (2023), 24, S. 10085-10095
Reactive multilayer systems consisting of alternating nanoscale Al and Ni layers are applicable in joining, various pyrotechnic applications and thermal batteries. Since diffusion based high-temperature synthesis occurs without the presence of air, efforts have focused on investigating the understanding of the fundamental reaction processes and characteristics. The aim of this study is to expose the reactive multilayers to extrinsic induced tensile stress so that the self-propagating synthesis can proceed under these conditions. Further, the properties during and after the reaction will be investigated. Multilayers deposited by sputtering on Kapton® substrates with different bilayer- and total thicknesses as well as commercial Nanofoils® with thicknesses of 40 µm and 60 µm were used as samples. The investigations focused on the propagation velocity measured with a high-speed camera, the temperature regime determined with a high-speed pyrometer, and the formed phases after the synthesis examined via X-ray diffraction. The gained results of this study reveal important insights for the application of the reactive Al/Ni multilayer system in terms of stability or reliability related to propagation front velocity, maximum temperature and formed phases under induced external tensile stresses.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08618-w
Flow structure and dynamics behind cylinder arrays at Reynolds number ∼100. - In: Physics of fluids, ISSN 1089-7666, Bd. 35 (2023), 6, 067125, S. 067125-1-067125-14
The flow behind nine different arrays of cylinders is experimentally investigated via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) at a Reynolds number of Re ∼ 100 based on the diameter of the cylinders. Each array consists of a column of four cylinders in front and three in the rear. The horizontal distance between the two columns and the vertical distance between the cylinders within each column are varied for H/D = [2, 4, 8] and V/D = [2, 4, 6], resulting in nine different arrays denoted as mVnH, where m corresponds to V/D and n stands for H/D. The PIV measurements are conducted for 15 s at 200 Hz frequency, corresponding to 39 to 360 vortex shedding events for the wakes in this study. Then, proper orthogonal decomposition is applied to the velocity fields to analyze the flow dynamics. All arrays show unsteady flow, and based on their flow structures, they are classified in to three main categories of single bluff body (SBB), transitional (TR), and co-shedding (CS) flow. SBB characteristics can be seen for 2V2H and 2V4H arrays, but the latter has more steady vortex shedding as the H/D increases from 2 to 4. Then, 2V8H and 4V2H have an asymmetric flow with several vortex streets and act as an intermediary stage in the shift from SBB to CS flow structure when the distances are increased. The highest total kinetic energy values and widest probability density functions of the velocity components are observed for this group. The five remaining arrays in the CS group have symmetric flow, with three or five vortex streets present behind. However, based on the distances, the frequency and phase synchronization of the vortex streets change considerably, which might have an important effect on, for example, the heat transfer or the structural load of the cylinders.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0155102
Five-level structural hierarchy: microfluidically supported synthesis of core-shell microparticles containing nested set of dispersed metal and polymer micro and nanoparticles. - In: Particle & particle systems characterization, ISSN 1521-4117, Bd. 14 (2023), 10, 2300030, S. 1-13
This study presents the development of a hierarchical design concept for the synthesis of multi-scale polymer particles with up to five levels of organization. The synthesis of core-shell microparticles containing nested sets of dispersed metal and polymer micro- and nanoparticles is achieved through in situ photopolymerization using a double co-axial capillaries microfluidic device. The flow rates of the carrier, shell, and core phases are optimized to control particle size and result in stable core-shell particles with well-dispersed three-level composites in the shell matrix. The robustness and reversibility of these core-shell particles are demonstrated through five cycles of drying and re-swelling, showing that the size and structure of core-shell particles remain unchanged. Additionally, the permeability and mobility of dye molecules within the shell matrix are tested and showed that different molecular weight dyes have different penetration times. This study highlights the potential of microfluidics as a powerful tool for the controlled and precise synthesis of complex structured materials and demonstrates the versatility and potential of these core-shell particles for sensing applications as particle-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppsc.202300030
Novel gas phase route toward patterned deposition of sputter-free Pt/Al nanofoils. - In: Advanced Materials Technologies, ISSN 2365-709X, Bd. 8 (2023), 18, 2300448, S. 1-8
This article reports a new approach toward fabrication and directed assembly of nanoparticulate reactive system (Nanofoils) on patterned substrates. Different from current state-of-the-art, gas phase electrodeposition uses nanoparticles instead of atoms to form densely packed multilayered thin films at room temperature-pressure. On ignition, the multilayer system undergoes an exothermic self-propagating reaction. The numerous contact points between two metallic nanoparticulate layers aid in high heat release. Sub-10-nm Platinum (Pt) and Aluminum (Al) particles are synthesized through cathode erosion of metal electrodes in a flow of pure nitrogen gas (spark ablation). Pt/Al bilayer stacks with total thickness of 3–8 µm undergo self-propagating reaction with a 10.3 mm s−1 wavefront velocity on local ignition. The reaction wavefront is captured using high speed videography. Calorimetry studies reveal two exothermic peaks suggesting Pt/Al alloy formation. The peak at 135 ˚C has a higher calorific value of 150 mW g−1 while the peak at 400 ˚C has a 12 mW g−1 exothermic peak. X-ray diffraction study shows reaction-products are cubic Al2Pt with small quantities of orthorhombic Al6Pt and orthorhombic AlPt2. Electron microscopy studies help draw a correlation between film morphology, bimetallic interface, nanoparticle oxidation, and self-propagating reaction kinetics that is significant in broadening our understanding towards nanoparticulate reactive systems.
https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202300448
Wet chemical and plasma etching of photosensitive glass. - In: Solids, ISSN 2673-6497, Bd. 4 (2023), 3, S. 213-234
Photosensitive glasses for radiation-induced 3D microstructuring, due to their optical transparency and thermal, mechanical, and chemical resistance, enable the use of new strategies for numerous microscale applications, ranging from optics to biomedical systems. In this context, we investigated the plasma etching of photosensitive glasses after their exposure and compared it to the established wet chemical etching method, which offers new degrees of freedom in microstructuring control and microsystem fabrication. A CF4/H2 etching gas mixture with a constant volumetric flow of 30 sccm and a variable H2 concentration from 0% to 40% was utilized for plasma-based etching, while for wet chemical etching, diluted hydrofluoric acid (1% ≤ cHF ≤ 20%) was used. Therefore, both etching processes are based on a chemical etching attack involving fluorine ions. A key result is the observed reversion of the etch selectivity between the initial glassy and partially crystallized parts that evolve after UV exposure and thermal treatment. The crystallized parts were found to be 27 times more soluble than the unexposed glass parts during wet chemical etching. During the plasma etching process, the glassy components dissolve approximately 2.5 times faster than the partially crystalline components. Unlike wet chemical etching, the surfaces of plasma etched photostructured samples showed cone- and truncated-cone-shaped topographies, which supposedly resulted from self-masking effects during plasma etching, as well as a distinct physical contribution from the plasma etching process. The influences of various water species on the etching behaviors of the homogeneous glass and partially crystallized material are discussed based on FTIR-ATR and in relation to the respective etch rates and SNMS measurements.
https://doi.org/10.3390/solids4030014
Adaptive query compilation in graph databases. - In: Distributed and parallel databases, ISSN 1573-7578, Bd. 41 (2023), 3, S. 359-386
Compiling database queries into compact and efficient machine code has proven to be a great technique to improve query performance and exploit characteristics of modern hardware. Particularly for graph database queries, which often execute the exact instructions for processing, this technique can lead to an improvement. Furthermore, compilation frameworks like LLVM provide powerful optimization techniques and support different backends. However, the time for generating and optimizing machine code becomes an issue for short-running queries or queries which could produce early results quickly. In this work, we present an adaptive approach integrating graph query interpretation and compilation. While query compilation and code generation are running in the background, the query execution starts using the interpreter. When the code generation is finished, the execution switches to the compiled code. Our evaluation of the approach using short-running and complex queries show that autonomously switching execution modes helps to improve the runtime of all types of queries and additionally to hide compilation times and the additional latencies of the underlying storage.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10619-023-07430-4
Data-driven self-organization with implicit self-coordination for coverage and capacity optimization in cellular networks. - In: IEEE transactions on network and service management, ISSN 1932-4537, Bd. 20 (2023), 2, S. 1153-1169
Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) and Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) are two tightly coupled and conflicting Self-Organizing Network (SON) functions that are responsible for ensuring optimal coverage and capacity in any cellular network. While executing currently, these functions may modify the same RF and antenna parameters, resulting in severe performance deteriorations. In this context, a centralized optimization and coordination approach may be impractical considering the large sizes of network clusters and the dynamics involved between the several other defined SON use cases. In this work, an implicitly coordinated and scalable self-organizing architecture is followed such that when a carefully defined multi-objective utility function for CCO-ICIC joint optimization is optimized locally by each RAN node, a desired balance between the two conflicting network targets of coverage and capacity is ensured globally. Pareto analysis of three variants of the proposed Local Multi-Objective KPI (LMO KPI) has been conducted to implicitly coordinate the two SON functions in a distributed self-organized manner. In order to recommend appropriate network configurations dynamically to quickly adapt to altering network environments, two collaborative filtering-based Recommender Systems (RecSys), one using a Deep Autoencoder and another based on Singular Value Decomposition, have been employed along with a neural network regressor to improve recommendations for cold-start scenarios. The two proposed hybrid-RecSys-based SON coordination solutions, while adopting an appropriate Local Multi-Objective KPI (LMO KPI), outperform previous work in coverage by 36% and in capacity by around 2% while reducing power consumption by more than 50%. The study demonstrates that the definition of the LMO KPI is crucial to the performance of this approach. Altogether, the work shows that the adopted self-organization and implicit SON-coordination approach is not only feasible and performant but also scales well if implemented meticulously.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSM.2023.3262401
Linearly modulated multi-focal diffractive lens for multi-sheet excitation of flow driven samples in a light-sheet fluorescence microscope. - In: Journal of the European Optical Society, ISSN 1990-2573, Bd. 19 (2023), 1, 26, S. 1-8
Light sheet fluorescence microscope with single light sheet illumination enables rapid 3D imaging of living cells. In this paper we show the design, fabrication and characterization of a diffractive optical element producing several light sheets along a 45˚ inclined tube. The element, which is based on a multi-focal diffractive lens and a linear grating, generates five thin light sheets with equal intensities when combined with a refractive cylindrical lens. The generated uniform light sheets can be applied for the scanning of samples in tubes enabling flow-driven 3-dimensional imaging.
https://doi.org/10.1051/jeos/2023022
2.5D+ plasma etching for a continuously adjustable sidewall angle in SiO2. - In: Optical materials express, ISSN 2159-3930, Bd. 13 (2023), 6, S. 1780-1796
We present a systematic investigation of an SiO2 etching process using a standard fluorocarbon chemistry ICP-RIE etch tool with a cryogenically cooled electrode. Our goal is to enable the control of the SiO2 feature morphology, i.e., the sidewall angle, in order to add a degree of freedom for the design of resonant micro-/nanooptical elements. For such elements as e.g., whispering gallery mode resonators with specific mode profiles, it is essential to maintain low surface roughness. To this end, we investigate a variety of gas compositions. For statistical evaluation, we use a surface response methodology for several parameters and investigate the influence of the substrate temperature on the sidewall angle. Different hypotheses from the literature for the cause of non-anisotropic etch behavior are discussed for our specific case. Various investigations based on the prior hypothesis are presented, which provide more information about the pseudo-isotropic etch profile. Finally, we present two use cases: firstly, a classical anisotropic etch with a high aspect ratio and very low roughness (<1 nm), and secondly, an etch process for the fabrication of whispering gallery mode resonators that confine the light at the bottom of the resonator.
https://doi.org/10.1364/OME.484157
Contraception on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok : a content and quality analysis
Verhütung auf YouTube, Instagram und TikTok : eine Inhalts- und Qualitätsanalyse. - In: Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz, ISSN 1437-1588, Bd. 66 (2023), 9, S. 990-999
Hintergrund: Jugendliche und Erwachsene beziehen Informationen über Verhütung zunehmend über soziale Medien. Ziel der Arbeit: Vor diesem Hintergrund ist es Ziel der vorliegenden Studie, erstmals Inhalte und Qualität deutschsprachiger Verhütungsbeiträge auf YouTube, Instagram und TikTok zu untersuchen. Beantwortet werden sollen Forschungsfragen zu Anbieter*innen (F1), Inhalten (F2) und Qualität der Verhütungsbeiträge (F3) sowie zu Publikumsreaktionen (F4). Material und Methoden: Es wurde eine Stichprobe von N= 1000 Verhütungsbeiträgen von YouTube (500), Instagram (250) und TikTok (250) gezogen. Pro Beitrag gingen maximal 20 verhütungsbezogene Kommentare in das Kommentar-Sample ein (N= 12.454). Die Beiträge und Kommentare wurden mittels reliabilitätsgeprüfter Codebücher analysiert. Die Datenanalyse erfolgte mit SPSS. Die Studie ist präregistriert und alle Daten, Materialien und Analyseskripte sind öffentlich verfügbar. Ergebnisse: Es zeigte sich, dass die Verhütungsbeiträge mehrheitlich von Gesundheitslaien stammten (52%), gefolgt von Medienprofis und Gesundheitsprofis (F1). Inhaltlich deckten die Verhütungsbeiträge alle verfügbaren Verhütungsmethoden ab, wobei Pille (69%) und Kondom (40%) dominierten (F2). Nach gängigen Qualitätskriterien zeigten sich deutliche Defizite, wobei im Vergleich YouTube-Videos am besten abschnitten (F3). TikTok-Videos dagegen waren Spitzenreiter bei den Publikumsreaktionen, sie verzeichneten die meisten Views, Likes und Kommentare. Die Kommentarspalten wurden vom Publikum oft genutzt, um eigene Verhütungserfahrungen zu teilen oder Nachfragen zu stellen (F4). Diskussion: Weitere Forschung sowie Praxismaßnahmen sind notwendig, um die Qualität von Verhütungsinformationen in sozialen Medien besser einschätzen und optimieren zu können.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-023-03698-0
Phase formation of cubic silicon carbide from reactive silicon-carbon multilayers. - In: MRS advances, ISSN 2059-8521, Bd. 8 (2023), 9, S. 494-498
Silicon carbide layers were fabricated using self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of binary silicon-carbon based reactive multilayers. The silicon and carbon bilayers were fabricated with two different bilayer thicknesses. They are deposited by magnetron sputtering in an alternating layer system with a total thickness of 1 μm. The entire system is annealed by rapid thermal annealing at different temperatures ranging from 500 to 1100 ˚C. From XRD analysis we could find that the formation of the silicon carbide phase was initiated from 700 ˚C. With increasing bilayer thickness the silicon carbide phase formation was partially suppressed by the silicon recrystallization due to resulting lower carbon diffusion into silicon. The transformation process proceeds in a four-step process: densification/recrystallization, interdiffusion, nucleation and transformation. From this, it was noted that when compared to low bilayer thickness samples, the formation of the silicon carbide phase is delayed with increasing bilayer thickness and needs higher reaction initiation temperatures.
https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-023-00531-3
Energy-efficient operation conditions of MoS2-based memristors. - In: Physica status solidi, ISSN 1862-6319, Bd. 220 (2023), 13, 2200893, S. 1-12
Sufficient energy consumption for conventional information processing makes it necessary to look for new computational methods. One of the possible solutions to this problem is neuromorphic computations using memristive devices. Memristors based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) are a promising way to provide a sizeable amount of hysteresis at low energy costs. Herein, different configurations of MoS2 memristors as well as the mechanisms involved in hysteresis formation are shown. Bottom gated configuration is beneficial in terms of hysteresis area and energy efficiency. The impact of device channel dimensions on the hysteresis area and energy consumption is discussed. Different operation conditions with triangular, rectangular, sinusoidal, and sawtooth drain-to-source pulses are simulated, and rectangular pulses demonstrate the highest energy efficiency. The study shows the potential to realize low-power neuromorphic systems using MoS2 memristive devices.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202200893
Adaptive update handling for graph HTAP. - In: Distributed and parallel databases, ISSN 1573-7578, Bd. 41 (2023), 3, S. 331-357
Hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP) workloads on graph data can significantly benefit from GPU accelerators. However, to exploit the full potential of GPU processing, dedicated graph representations are necessary, which mostly make in-place updates difficult. In this paper, we discuss an adaptive update handling approach in a graph database system for HTAP workloads. We discuss and evaluate strategies for propagating transactional updates from an update-friendly table storage to a GPU-optimized sparse matrix format for analytics.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10619-023-07428-y
Changes in formal structure towards self-managing organization and their effects on the intra-organizational communication network. - In: Journal of organization design, ISSN 2245-408X, Bd. 12 (2023), 3, S. 83-98
Changes in organizational structure affect the intra-organizational communication network. However, despite an increasing relevance of less hierarchical and less bureaucratic forms of organizing, the question of how self-managing forms of organization influence employees’ communication behavior has received only scant attention yet. In our study, we analyze the case of a medium-sized firm that experiences organizational change from rigid bureaucratic structures to a more self-managing organization model and question how employees’ centrality in the communication network is affected by this reorganization. Following an explorative research approach informed by prior research on self-managing forms of organizations and communication networks, our findings show that after the change process communication generally is less dependent on formal hierarchy. However, while employees who held a higher rank before the change process loose in centrality, their centrality at the end of the change process is still higher than that of other employees. Moreover, employees who experience a promotion become more central in the communication network while demotions do not have an effect. By discussing these findings in the context of organizational change and the persistence of organizational structures, we contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the implementation process of self-managing organizations.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s41469-023-00143-z.pdf?pdf=button
The fallacy in productivity decomposition. - In: Journal of evolutionary economics, ISSN 1432-1386, Bd. 33 (2023), 3, S. 797-835
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00191-023-00816-8.pdf
Neuromorphic acoustic sensing using an adaptive microelectromechanical cochlea with integrated feedback. - In: Nature electronics, ISSN 2520-1131, Bd. 6 (2023), 5, S. 370-380
Many speech processing systems struggle in conditions with low signal-to-noise ratios and in changing acoustic environments. Adaptation at the transduction level with integrated signal processing could help to address this; in human hearing, transduction and signal processing are integrated and can be adaptively tuned for noisy conditions. Here we report a microelectromechanical cochlea as a bio-inspired acoustic sensor with integrated signal processing functionality. Real-time feedback is used to tune the sensing and processing properties, and dynamic switching between linear and nonlinear characteristics improves the detection of signals in noisy conditions, increases the sensor dynamic range and enables adaptation to changing acoustic environments. The transition to nonlinear behaviour is attributed to a Hopf bifurcation and we experimentally validate its dependence on sensor and feedback parameters. We also show that output-signal coupling between two coupled sensors can increase the frequency coverage.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-00957-5
CO2 conversion toward real-world applications: electrocatalysis versus CO2 batteries. - In: Advanced functional materials, ISSN 1616-3028, Bd. 33 (2023), 32, 2300926, S. 1-38
Electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion technologies have become new favorites for addressing environmental and energy issues, especially with direct electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 (ECO2RR) and alkali metal-CO2 (M-CO2) batteries as representatives. They are poised to create new economic drivers while also paving the way for a cleaner and more sustainable future for humanity. Although still far from practical application, ECO2RR has been intensively investigated over the last few years, with some achievements. In stark contrast, M-CO2 batteries, especially aqueous and hybrid M-CO2 batteries, offer the potential to combine energy storage and ECO2RR into an integrated system, but their research is still in the early stages. This article gives an insightful review, comparison, and analysis of recent advances in ECO2RR and M-CO2 batteries, illustrating their similarities and differences, aiming to advance their development and innovation. Considering the crucial role of well-designed functional materials in facilitating ECO2RR and M-CO2 batteries, special attention is paid to the development of rational design strategies for functional materials and components, such as electrodes/catalysts, electrolytes, and membranes/separators, at the industrial level and their impact on CO2 conversion. Moreover, future perspectives and research suggestions for ECO2RR and M-CO2 batteries are presented to facilitate practical applications.
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202300926
Influence of environment on self-propagating reactions in Al/Ni multilayer foils. - In: MRS advances, ISSN 2059-8521, Bd. 8 (2023), 9, S. 477-483
Reactive aluminum-nickel multilayer system shows exothermic energetic materials which act as a heat source for packaging and bonding of microsystems. The main challenge is controlling the self-propagation reaction velocity and temperature generated by thermal management through different thermal conductive substrate materials. The current work investigates the heat distribution of Al/Ni multilayer foils from different thermal conductive substrates which act as heat sink materials during the self-propagating reaction. A two-dimensional numerical model was developed to study thermal conductive heat loss and substrate thermal properties on the self-propagating reaction in Al/Ni multilayer foils. The self-propagating reaction was introduced on the surface of the foils by an electrical spark. Here we investigate the minimum critical thickness of Al/Ni multilayer foils which shows the self-propagation reaction on different substrates and verified from the two-dimensional numerical model. The outcomes of this investigation will facilitate the integration of Al/Ni multilayer foils on different substrates as intrinsic heat sources for different applications of micro/nanodevices.
https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-023-00574-6
Systemic conception of the data acquisition of Digital Twin solutions for use case-oriented development and its application to a gearbox. - In: Systems, ISSN 2079-8954, Bd. 11 (2023), 5, 227, S. 1-17
Digital Twins are being used more and more frequently and provide information from the Real Twin for different applications. Measurements on the Real Twin are required to obtain information, which in many cases requires the installation of supplementary sensors. For their conception and design, it is particularly important that the measuring principles are selected purposefully and the appropriate sensors are integrated at the goal-oriented measuring positions without impairing the functions and other properties of the Real Twin by the integration of these sensors. In this article, a "Design for Digital Twin" approach is discussed for the systematic procedure and demonstrated using a multi-staged gearbox as a concrete example. The approach focuses on the mechanical and hardware side of the Real Twin. For the systematic conception and design of the Digital Twin solution, an understanding of the stakeholder demands and the expected use cases is necessary. Based on the stakeholder demands and use cases, the relevant product properties can be determined. Using the relevant properties, an iterative process of conception, design, and analysis takes place. The conception is carried out by means of target-oriented cause-effect analyses, taking into account systemic interrelations of the Real Twin components and systematics for the selection of measurement principles. Systemic considerations, combined with an effect graph, allow for the analysis and evaluation of disturbing factors.
https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11050227
Quality assessment of higher resolution images and videos with remote testing. - In: Quality and user experience, ISSN 2366-0147, Bd. 8 (2023), 1, 2, S. 1-26
In many research fields, human-annotated data plays an important role as it is used to accomplish a multitude of tasks. One such example is in the field of multimedia quality assessment where subjective annotations can be used to train or evaluate quality prediction models. Lab-based tests could be one approach to get such quality annotations. They are usually performed in well-defined and controlled environments to ensure high reliability. However, this high reliability comes at a cost of higher time consumption and costs incurred. To mitigate this, crowd or online tests could be used. Usually, online tests cover a wider range of end devices, environmental conditions, or participants, which may have an impact on the ratings. To verify whether such online tests can be used for visual quality assessment, we designed three online tests. These online tests are based on previously conducted lab tests as this enables comparison of the results of both test paradigms. Our focus is on the quality assessment of high-resolution images and videos. The online tests use AVrate Voyager, which is a publicly accessible framework for online tests. To transform the lab tests into online tests, dedicated adaptations in the test methodologies are required. The considered modifications are, for example, a patch-based or centre cropping of the images and videos, or a randomly sub-sampling of the to-be-rated stimuli. Based on the analysis of the test results in terms of correlation and SOS analysis it is shown that online tests can be used as a reliable replacement for lab tests albeit with some limitations. These limitations relate to, e.g., lack of appropriate display devices, limitation of web technologies, and modern browsers considering support for different video codecs and formats.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41233-023-00055-6
Few-shot object detection: a comprehensive survey. - In: IEEE transactions on neural networks and learning systems, ISSN 2162-2388, Bd. 0 (2023), 0, S. 1-21
Humans are able to learn to recognize new objects even from a few examples. In contrast, training deep-learning-based object detectors requires huge amounts of annotated data. To avoid the need to acquire and annotate these huge amounts of data, few-shot object detection (FSOD) aims to learn from few object instances of new categories in the target domain. In this survey, we provide an overview of the state of the art in FSOD. We categorize approaches according to their training scheme and architectural layout. For each type of approach, we describe the general realization as well as concepts to improve the performance on novel categories. Whenever appropriate, we give short takeaways regarding these concepts in order to highlight the best ideas. Eventually, we introduce commonly used datasets and their evaluation protocols and analyze the reported benchmark results. As a result, we emphasize common challenges in evaluation and identify the most promising current trends in this emerging field of FSOD.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TNNLS.2023.3265051
Analysis of appeal for realistic AI-generated photos. - In: IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, Bd. 11 (2023), S. 38999-39012
AI-generated images have gained in popularity in recent years due to improvements and developments in the field of artificial intelligence. This has led to several new AI generators, which may produce realistic, funny, and impressive images using a simple text prompt. DALL-E-2, Midjourney, and Craiyon are a few examples of the mentioned approaches. In general, it can be seen that the quality, realism, and appeal of the images vary depending on the used approach. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze to what extent such AI-generated images are realistic or of high appeal from a more photographic point of view and how users perceive them. To evaluate the appeal of several state-of-the-art AI generators, we develop a dataset consisting of 27 different text prompts, with some of them being based on the DrawBench prompts. Using these prompts we generated a total of 135 images with five different AI-Text-To-Image generators. These images in combination with real photos form the basis of our evaluation. The evaluation is based on an online subjective study and the results are compared with state-of-the-art image quality models and features. The results indicate that some of the included generators are able to produce realistic and highly appealing images. However, this depends on the approach and text prompt to a large extent. The dataset and evaluation of this paper are made publicly available for reproducibility, following an Open Science approach.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3267968
Influence of the temperature-time regime on the mechanical properties during the DED-Arc process of near-net-shape Ti-6Al-4 V components. - In: Welding in the world, ISSN 1878-6669, Bd. 67 (2023), 7, S. 1643-1665
In a research project, the additive manufacturing process of components made of Ti-6Al-4 V using gas metal arc welding (GMAW), which is classified into the directed energy deposition-arc (DED-Arc) processes, was investigated. The project focused on the systematic development of economical additive build-up strategies and the analysis of the temperature-time regime during the build-up process, as well as the investigation of the resulting properties. A welding range diagram was created with recommendations for process settings for additive manufacturing with the controlled short circuit, as well as a presentation of possible defect patterns outside the range shown. For the fabrication of thick-walled structures, various build-up strategies were investigated by modifying the welding path and evaluated with regard to their suitability. Based on the results, additive structures were fabricated by varying the temperature-time regime in order to gain insights into selected geometrical, metallurgical, and mechanical properties. Different energy inputs per unit length, structure dimensions, and interpass temperatures (IPT) were used for this purpose. The research project provides comprehensive findings on the additive processing of the material Ti-6Al-4 V using metal inert gas welding, in particular with regard to the temperature-time regime and the resulting properties.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-023-01513-7
Interactive robot teaching based on finger trajectory using multimodal RGB-D-T-data. - In: Frontiers in robotics and AI, ISSN 2296-9144, Bd. 10 (2023), 1120357, S. 01-13
The concept of Industry 4.0 brings the change of industry manufacturing patterns that become more efficient and more flexible. In response to this tendency, an efficient robot teaching approach without complex programming has become a popular research direction. Therefore, we propose an interactive finger-touch based robot teaching schema using a multimodal 3D image (color (RGB), thermal (T) and point cloud (3D)) processing. Here, the resulting heat trace touching the object surface will be analyzed on multimodal data, in order to precisely identify the true hand/object contact points. These identified contact points are used to calculate the robot path directly. To optimize the identification of the contact points we propose a calculation scheme using a number of anchor points which are first predicted by hand/object point cloud segmentation. Subsequently a probability density function is defined to calculate the prior probability distribution of true finger trace. The temperature in the neighborhood of each anchor point is then dynamically analyzed to calculate the likelihood. Experiments show that the trajectories estimated by our multimodal method have significantly better accuracy and smoothness than only by analyzing point cloud and static temperature distribution.
https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2023.1120357
Model predictive control of parabolic PDE systems under chance constraints. - In: Mathematics, ISSN 2227-7390, Bd. 11 (2023), 6, 1372, S. 1-23
Model predictive control (MPC) heavily relies on the accuracy of the system model. Nevertheless, process models naturally contain random parameters. To derive a reliable solution, it is necessary to design a stochastic MPC. This work studies the chance constrained MPC of systems described by parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) with random parameters. Inequality constraints on time- and space-dependent state variables are defined in terms of chance constraints. Using a discretization scheme, the resulting high-dimensional chance constrained optimization problem is solved by our recently developed inner-outer approximation which renders the problem computationally amenable. The proposed MPC scheme automatically generates probability tubes significantly simplifying the derivation of feasible solutions. We demonstrate the viability and versatility of the approach through a case study of tumor hyperthermia cancer treatment control, where the randomness arises from the thermal conductivity coefficient characterizing heat flux in human tissue.
https://doi.org/10.3390/math11061372
Structural and optical properties of gold nanosponges revealed via 3D nano-reconstruction and phase-field models. - In: Communications materials, ISSN 2662-4443, Bd. 4 (2023), 1, 20, S. 1-13
Nanosponges are subject of intensive research due to their unique morphology, which leads among other effects to electrodynamic field localization generating a strongly nonlinear optical response at hot spots and thus enable a variety of applications. Accurate predictions of physical properties require detailed knowledge of the sponges’ chaotic nanometer-sized structure, posing a metrological challenge. A major goal is to obtain computer models with equivalent structural and optical properties. Here, to understand the sponges’ morphology, we present a procedure for their accurate 3D reconstruction using focused ion beam tomography. Additionally, we introduce a simulation method to create nanoporous sponge models with adjustable geometric properties. It is shown that if certain morphological parameters are similar for computer-generated and experimental sponges, their optical response, including magnitudes and hot spot locations, are also similar. Finally, we analyze the anisotropy of experimental sponges and present an easy-to-use method to reproduce arbitrary anisotropies in computer-generated sponges.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-023-00346-7
Modeling of an automatic vision mixer with human characteristics for multi-camera theater recordings. - In: IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, Bd. 11 (2023), S. 18714-18726
A production process using high-resolution cameras can be used for multi-camera recordings of theater performances or other stage performances. One approach to automate the generation of suitable image cuts could be to focus on speaker changes so that the person who is speaking is shown in the generated cut. However, these image cuts can appear static and robotic if they are set too precisely. Therefore, the characteristics and habits of professional vision mixers (persons who operate the vision mixing desk) during the editing process are investigated in more detail in order to incorporate them into an automation process. The characteristic features of five different vision mixers are examined, which were used under almost identical recording conditions for theatrical cuts in TV productions. The cuts are examined with regard to their temporal position in relation to pauses in speech, which take place during speaker changes on stage. It is shown that different professional vision mixers set the cuts individually differently before, in or after the pauses in speech. Measured are differences on average up to 0.3 seconds. From the analysis of the image cuts, an approach for a model is developed in which the individual characteristics of a vision mixer can be set. With the help of this novel model, a more human appearance can be given to otherwise exact and robotic cuts, when automating image cuts.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3245804
The HAInich: a multidisciplinary vision data-set for a better understanding of the forest ecosystem. - In: Scientific data, ISSN 2052-4463, Bd. 10 (2023), 1, 168, S. 1-11
We present a multidisciplinary forest ecosystem 3D perception dataset. The dataset was collected in the Hainich-Dün region in central Germany, which includes two dedicated areas, which are part of the Biodiversity Exploratories - a long term research platform for comparative and experimental biodiversity and ecosystem research. The dataset combines several disciplines, including computer science and robotics, biology, bio-geochemistry, and forestry science. We present results for common 3D perception tasks, including classification, depth estimation, localization, and path planning. We combine the full suite of modern perception sensors, including high-resolution fisheye cameras, 3D dense LiDAR, differential GPS, and an inertial measurement unit, with ecological metadata of the area, including stand age, diameter, exact 3D position, and species. The dataset consists of three hand held measurement series taken from sensors mounted on a UAV during each of three seasons: winter, spring, and early summer. This enables new research opportunities and paves the way for testing forest environment 3D perception tasks and mission set automation for robotics.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02010-8
SenGlove - a modular wearable device to measure kinematic parameters of the human hand. - In: Bioengineering, ISSN 2306-5354, Bd. 10 (2023), 3, 324, S. 1-29
For technical or medical applications, the knowledge of the exact kinematics of the human hand is key to utilizing its capability of handling and manipulating objects and communicating with other humans or machines. The optimal relationship between the number of measurement parameters, measurement accuracy, as well as complexity, usability and cost of the measuring systems is hard to find. Biomechanic assumptions, the concepts of a biomechatronic system and the mechatronic design process, as well as commercially available components, are used to develop a sensorized glove. The proposed wearable introduced in this paper can measure 14 of 15 angular values of a simplified hand model. Additionally, five contact pressure values at the fingertips and inertial data of the whole hand with six degrees of freedom are gathered. Due to the modular design and a hand size examination based on anthropometric parameters, the concept of the wearable is applicable to a large variety of hand sizes and adaptable to different use cases. Validations show a combined root-mean-square error of 0.99° to 2.38° for the measurement of all joint angles on one finger, surpassing the human perception threshold and the current state-of-the-art in science and technology for comparable systems.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10030324
Ultrahigh-rate and ultralong-duration sodium storage enabled by sodiation-driven reconfiguration. - In: Advanced energy materials, ISSN 1614-6840, Bd. 13 (2023), 6, 2204324, S. 1-12
Despite their variable valence and favorable sodiation/desodiation potential, vanadium sulfides (VSx) used as anode materials of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been held back by their capacity decline and low cycling capability, associated with the structure distortion volume expansion and pulverization. This study reports an accessible process to tackle these challenges via fabricating a 3D-VSx anode for SIBs with ultrahigh-rate and ultralong-duration stable sodium storage. The sodiation-driven reactivation of micro-nano 3D-VSx activates the reconfiguration effect, effectively maintaining structural integrity. Interestingly, the mechanical degradation of 3D-VSx over the sodiation process can be controlled by fine-tuning the operating voltage. The self-reconfigured open nanostructures with large void space not only effectively withstand repetitive volume changes and mitigate the damaging mechanical stresses, but also in turn construct a self-optimized shortened ion diffusion pathway. Moreover, the sodiation-driven reconfiguration excites many active sites and optimizes a stable solid-electrolyte interface, thereby delivering a reversible capacity of 961.4 mA h g^-1 after 1500 cycles at a high rate of 2 A g^-1. This work provides new insight into the rational design of electrodes toward long-lived SIBs through sodiation-driven reconfiguration.
https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202204324
Microstructural characterization and self-propagation properties of reactive Al/Ni multilayers deposited onto wavelike surface morphologies: influence on the propagation front velocity. - In: Physica status solidi, ISSN 1862-6319, Bd. 220 (2023), 7, 2200765, S. 1-10
Reactive multilayer systems are nanostructures of great interest for various technological applications because of their high energy release rate during the self-propagating reaction of their components. Therefore, many efforts are aimed at controlling the propagation velocity of these reactions. Herein, reactive multilayer systems of Al/Ni in the shape of free-standing foils with a wavelike surface morphology prepared by using sacrificial substrates with well-aligned waves are presented and the propagation of the reaction along different directions of the reproduced waves is analyzed. During the ignition test, the propagation front is recorded with a high-speed camera, and the maximum temperature is measured using a pyrometer. The propagation of the reaction is favored in the direction of the waves, which points out the influence of the anisotropy generated by this morphology and how it affects the propagation dynamics and the resulting microstructure. Furthermore, compared to their counterparts fabricated on flat substrates, these reactive multilayers with wavelike morphology exhibit a remarkable reduction in the propagation velocity of the reaction of about 50%, without significantly affecting the maximum temperature registered during the reaction.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202200765
Designing atomic interfaces in chalcogenides for boosting photocatalysis. - In: Solar RRL, ISSN 2367-198X, Bd. 7 (2023), 9, 2300025, S. 1-25
A deeper understanding of interfaces comes after the rapid development of nano-hybrids. Atomic interfaces with atomic-level thickness, intimate bonds, inferior charge-transport resistance, and robust stability have received escalating interest in the field of photocatalysis. Taking into account the fact that the carrier dynamics and spectrum response of candidate photocatalysts like chalcogenides remain suffering, sustained efforts are devoted. Hybridization, which is accompanied by interface designing, behaves as a supportive strategy to enlarge the photocatalytic output. Hence, the comprehensive survey for recent empirical studies on atomic interfaces in chalcogenides is highly desirable. Precisely, the fundamental of atomic interfaces, the devised approaches to design atomic interfaces in chalcogenides and their feasible roles for maneuvering photocatalysis, and the auxiliary advanced characterization are enumerated and summarized. The multifarious interaction of structure, chemical environment, optical and electric properties, and photocatalytic performance in chalcogenides with atomic interfaces is highlighted. Meanwhile, perspectives of atomic interfaces benefiting photocatalysis are given with a summary, and outlooks related to controllable architecture, nucleation mechanism, calculation, and the correlation between atomic interfaces and amended photocatalysis are presented discreetly. Herein, the review is meant to provide the first systematic account of designing atomic interfaces in chalcogenides served for ultimate photocatalytic applications.
https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202300025
Ultralow expansion glass as material for advanced micromechanical systems. - In: Advanced engineering materials, ISSN 1527-2648, Bd. 25 (2023), 9, 2201873, S. 1-14
Ultralow expansion (ULE) glasses are of special interest for temperature stabilized systems for example in precision metrology. Nowadays, ULE materials are mainly used in macroscopic and less in micromechanical systems. Reasons for this are a lack of technologies for parallel fabricating high-quality released microstructures with a high accuracy. As a result, there is a high demand in transferring these materials into miniaturized application examples, realistic system modeling, and the investigation of microscopic material properties. Herein, a technological base for fabricating released micromechanical structures and systems with a structure height above 100 μm in ULE 7972 glass is established. Herein, the main fabrication parameters that are important for the system design and contribute thus to the introduction of titanium silicate as material for glass-based micromechanical systems are discussed. To study the mechanical properties in combination with respective simulation models, microcantilevers are used as basic mechanical elements to evaluate technological parameters and other impact factors. The implemented models allow to predict the micromechanical system properties with a deviation of only ±5% and can thus effectively support the micromechanical system design in an early stage of development.
https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202201873
Exfoliated 2D layered and nonlayered metal phosphorous trichalcogenides nanosheets as promising electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction. - In: Angewandte Chemie, ISSN 1521-3773, Bd. 62 (2023), 17, e202217253, S. 1-8
Two-dimensional (2D) materials catalysts provide an atomic-scale view on a fascinating arena for understanding the mechanism of electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (CO2 ECR). Here, we successfully exfoliated both layered and nonlayered ultra-thin metal phosphorous trichalcogenides (MPCh3) nanosheets via wet grinding exfoliation (WGE), and systematically investigated the mechanism of MPCh3 as catalysts for CO2 ECR. Unlike the layered CoPS3 and NiPS3 nanosheets, the active Sn atoms tend to be exposed on the surfaces of nonlayered SnPS3 nanosheets. Correspondingly, the nonlayered SnPS3 nanosheets exhibit clearly improved catalytic activity, showing formic acid selectivity up to 31.6 % with -7.51 mA cm^-2 at -0.65 V vs. RHE. The enhanced catalytic performance can be attributed to the formation of HCOO* via the first proton-electron pair addition on the SnPS3 surface. These results provide a new avenue to understand the novel CO2 ECR mechanism of Sn-based and MPCh3-based catalysts.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202217253
Correlation of the vector gradient of a magnetic field with the kinetic energy of hard magnetic milling beads in electromechanical mills. - In: Chemie - Ingenieur - Technik, ISSN 1522-2640, Bd. 95 (2023), 10, S. 1615-1622
This paper describes the experimental investigation and numerical simulation of a novel electromechanical milling principle: the direct transformation of energy into the movement of milling beads with special magnetic properties. The experimental results show that this principle is ideally suited for the finest grinding of organic agents. Anthraquinone particles with a median size of 25.5 µm were electromechanically ground to 1 µm and the magnetic field strength in the process chamber has the greatest influence on milling results. The developed model reveals that the distribution of the time- and location-dependent vector gradient of the magnetic field in the process chamber determines the energy transfer from the exciter systems to the milling beads and hence the grinding results. With a suitable characterization of the vector gradient distribution, it is possible to establish a correlation between the vector gradient and specific milling beads power. This correlation is fundamental for the design of electromechanical milling machines.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.202200183
Noise characteristics in spaceflight multichannel EEG. - In: PLOS ONE, ISSN 1932-6203, Bd. 18 (2023), 2, e0280822, S. 1-12
The cognitive performance of the crew has a major impact on mission safety and success in space flight. Monitoring of cognitive performance during long-duration space flight therefore is of paramount importance and can be performed using compact state-of-the-art mobile EEG. However, signal quality of EEG may be compromised due to the vicinity to various electronic devices and constant movements. We compare noise characteristics between in-flight extraterrestrial microgravity and ground-level terrestrial electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. EEG data recordings from either aboard International Space Station (ISS) or on earth’s surface, utilizing three EEG amplifiers and two electrode types, were compared. In-flight recordings showed noise level of an order of magnitude lower when compared to pre- and post-flight ground-level recordings with the same EEG system. Noise levels between ground-level recordings with actively shielded cables, and in-flight recordings without shielded cables, were similar. Furthermore, noise level characteristics of shielded ground-level EEG recordings, using wet and dry electrodes, and in-flight EEG recordings were similar. Actively shielded mobile dry EEG systems will support neuroscientific research and neurocognitive monitoring during spaceflight, especially during long-duration space missions.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280822
Environmental communication publications in Indonesia’s leading communication journals : a systematic review. - In: Jurnal Aspikom, ISSN 2548-8309, Bd. 8 (2023), 1, S. 15-28
As an emerging country, Indonesia is facing many environmental problems, with some of the most critical being plastic waste, severe deforestation, and climate change. Under such conditions, communication science plays an important role in pointing to the best way to inform the public so as to stimulate engagement and action to solve these problems. In this article, a systematic literature review of papers on environmental communication published in three leading communication journals in Indonesia was conducted. The findings show that despite the severe environmental problems in Indonesia, a limited number of studies on environmental communication have been published, and only a few methods and designs have been used. Therefore, more attention from communication scholars and intellectuals in Indonesia is needed to address environmental problems in their research. Creating an environmental communication division in existing communication associations is proposed as a practical solution, among others, and is discussed in the outlook section of this study
https://doi.org/10.24329/aspikom.v8i1.1210
A systematic comparison of deep learning methods for EEG time series analysis. - In: Frontiers in neuroinformatics, ISSN 1662-5196, Bd. 17 (2023), 1067095, S. 01-17
Analyzing time series data like EEG or MEG is challenging due to noisy, high-dimensional, and patient-specific signals. Deep learning methods have been demonstrated to be superior in analyzing time series data compared to shallow learning methods which utilize handcrafted and often subjective features. Especially, recurrent deep neural networks (RNN) are considered suitable to analyze such continuous data. However, previous studies show that they are computationally expensive and difficult to train. In contrast, feed-forward networks (FFN) have previously mostly been considered in combination with hand-crafted and problem-specific feature extractions, such as short time Fourier and discrete wavelet transform. A sought-after are easily applicable methods that efficiently analyze raw data to remove the need for problem-specific adaptations. In this work, we systematically compare RNN and FFN topologies as well as advanced architectural concepts on multiple datasets with the same data preprocessing pipeline. We examine the behavior of those approaches to provide an update and guideline for researchers who deal with automated analysis of EEG time series data. To ensure that the results are meaningful, it is important to compare the presented approaches while keeping the same experimental setup, which to our knowledge was never done before. This paper is a first step toward a fairer comparison of different methodologies with EEG time series data. Our results indicate that a recurrent LSTM architecture with attention performs best on less complex tasks, while the temporal convolutional network (TCN) outperforms all the recurrent architectures on the most complex dataset yielding a 8.61% accuracy improvement. In general, we found the attention mechanism to substantially improve classification results of RNNs. Toward a light-weight and online learning-ready approach, we found extreme learning machines (ELM) to yield comparable results for the less complex tasks.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fninf.2023.1067095
Influence of different surface conditions on mechanical properties during ultrasonic welding of aluminum wire strands and copper terminals. - In: Welding in the world, ISSN 1878-6669, Bd. 67 (2023), 6, S. 1427-1436
Ultrasonic metal welding (USMW) has become considerable attention in terms of its suitable applications compared to conventional fusion welding techniques. The main advantage of USMW results from the comparatively low process times and joining temperatures below the melting point. Thus, USMW is particularly used for the joining of dissimilar material combinations, e.g., aluminum and copper (Al/Cu), in battery cell production or wiring harness applications. However, process fluctuations in USMW of Al/Cu joints can occur due to varying surface conditions of the joining materials. Therefore, this study investigated different surface conditions of copper terminals and their effects on mechanical properties. At first, three different surface conditions were generated, respectively: surface cleaning (sulfuric acid and ethanol), structuring process by laser, and structuring process by milling. These modifications are compared with the terminals in the initial state (contaminated). The characterization of the terminal surfaces was carried out with 3-D laser scanning microscopy as well as light microscopy. The mechanical conditions were examined with shear tensile tests. The tensile tests showed a significant influence of the surface condition on the resulting failure loads compared to the initial state. The highest failure loads could be achieved with the structured terminals (+ 48%), whereas contaminated terminals and terminals with notches exhibited comparatively poor failure loads (- 28%). This can be explained by varying interface formations between the terminal and the wire, which was detected by metallography and SEM analysis. Furthermore, it was figured out that the interface between aluminum and copper exhibits a firm and formed closure bond and hence increased failure loads for laser-structured terminals. Additional investigations by SEM revealed no detectable occurrence of intermetallic phases.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-023-01490-x
Comparative study on the friction behaviour and the particle formation process between a laser cladded brake disc and a conventional grey cast iron disc. - In: Metals, ISSN 2075-4701, Bd. 13 (2023), 2, 300, S. 1-19
Brake-wear particle emissions are the result of the components of a friction brake being in tribological contact, and they are classified as non-exhaust emissions. Since most of the emitted particles belong to the size classes of particulate matter (≤10 μm) and differ significantly in terms of their physico-chemical properties from automotive exhaust emissions, this source is of particular relevance to human health and, therefore, the focus of scientific studies. Previous studies have shown that coated brake discs offer significant wear and emission reduction potential. Nevertheless, no studies are available that describe the specific particle formation process, the contact conditions, the structure of the friction layer and the differences compared to conventional grey cast iron discs. The aim of this study is to describe those differences. For this purpose, the tribological behaviour, the structure of the friction layer and the associated particle dynamics within the friction contact between a laser cladding coated disc and a conventional grey cast iron disc are compared. The required investigations are carried out both ex situ (stationary) and in situ (dynamic). Parallel to the tribological investigations, the particle emission behaviour is determined on an inertia dynamometer using a constant volume sampling system (CVS) and equipment for particle number and particle size distribution measurement. The results show that, for two different brake pads, the laser cladding brake disc has lower wear and less particulate emissions than the grey cast iron brake disc. The wear behaviour of the coating varies significantly for the two brake pads. By contrast, the grey cast iron brake disc shows a significantly lower influence.
https://doi.org/10.3390/met13020300
Evolution and features of dust devil-like vortices in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection - an experimental study. - In: JGR, ISSN 2169-8996, Bd. 128 (2023), 2, e2022JD037466, S. 1-20
We present an experimental study simulating atmospheric dust devils in a controlled laboratory experiment. The experimental facility, called the “Barrel of Ilmenau” (www.ilmenauer-fass.de) represents a classical Rayleigh-Bénard set-up and is believed to model the phenomena in a convective atmospheric boundary layer fairly well. Our work complements and extends the numerical work of Giersch and Raasch (2021) https//doi.org/10.1029/2020jd034334 by experiments. Dust devils are thermal convective vortices with a vertical axis of rotation visualized by entrained soil particles. They evolve in the convective atmospheric boundary layer and are believed to substantially contribute to the aerosol transport into the atmosphere. Thus, their evolution, size, lifetime, and frequency of occurrence are of particular research interest. Extensive experimental studies have been conducted by field measurements and laboratory experiments so far. Beyond that, our study is the first attempt of Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) in air to investigate dust devil-like vortices in a laboratory experiment. Up to now, this set-up mimics the natural process of dust devil evolution as closest to reality. The flow measurement was carried out by particle tracking velocimetry using neutrally buoyant soap bubbles. We initially identified dust devil-like vortices by eye from the Lagrangian velocity field, and in a later, more sophisticated analysis by a specific algorithm from the corresponding Eulerian velocity field. We analyzed their frequency of occurrence, observation time, and size. With our work, we could demonstrate that turbulent RBC is an appropriate model to mimic the natural process of the evolution of dust devils in the convective atmospheric boundary layer without artificial stimulation.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD037466
Particle detection and size recognition based on defocused particle images: a comparison of a deterministic algorithm and a deep neural network. - In: Experiments in fluids, ISSN 1432-1114, Bd. 64 (2023), 2, 21, S. 1-16
The systematic manipulation of components of multimodal particle solutions is a key for the design of modern industrial products and pharmaceuticals with highly customized properties. In order to optimize innovative particle separation devices on microfluidic scales, a particle size recognition with simultaneous volumetric position determination is essential. In the present study, the astigmatism particle tracking velocimetry is extended by a deterministic algorithm and a deep neural network (DNN) to include size classification of particles of multimodal size distribution. Without any adaptation of the existing measurement setup, a reliable classification of bimodal particle solutions in the size range of 1.14 μm–5.03 μm is demonstrated with a precision of up to 99.9 %. Concurrently, the high detection rate of the particles, suspended in a laminar fluid flow, is quantified by a recall of 99.0 %. By extracting particle images from the experimentally acquired images and placing them on a synthetic background, semi-synthetic images with consistent ground truth are generated. These contain labeled overlapping particle images that are correctly detected and classified by the DNN. The study is complemented by employing the presented algorithms for simultaneous size recognition of up to four particle species with a particle diameter in between 1.14 μm and 5.03 μm. With the very high precision of up to 99.3 % at a recall of 94.8 %, the applicability to classify multimodal particle mixtures even in dense solutions is confirmed. The present contribution thus paves the way for quantitative evaluation of microfluidic separation and mixing processes.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-023-03574-2
Effect of poly-crystallinity on the magnetoelectric behavior of TiN/AlN/Ni MEMS cantilevers investigated by finite element methods. - In: Physica status solidi, ISSN 1862-6319, Bd. 220 (2023), 16, 2200839, S. 1-6
Herein, magnetoelectric microelectromechanical system (MEMS) cantilevers are investigated on basis of a TiN/AlN/Ni laminate derived from experimental sensors using finite-element simulations. With the anisotropic ΔE effect as an implication of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, the lateral sensitivity of the sensor is studied for different nickel layer thicknesses and boundary conditions. It is found that above 60% of the cantilever length, the nickel is effectively not contributing to the sensor sensitivity anymore which is supported by the investigation of sensors with partial nickel coverage. The boundary condition of the magnetostrictive layer is found to affect the sensitivity of thick layers while it is negligible for thinning layers. Further investigations on basis of polycrystalline untextured nickel with slightly preferred orientations reveal a stronger effect on thin layers than on thicker ones. It is found to arise from relatively large crystals in the high-sensitivity region near the clamping of the sensor. For thicker polycrystalline layers, the ΔE effect reproduces a characteristic based mainly on the (110) and (111) orientations while the (100) orientation appears to be underrepresented.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202200839
C60 fullerene attenuates muscle force reduction in a rat during fatigue development. - In: Heliyon, ISSN 2405-8440, Bd. 8 (2022), 12, e12449, S. 1-9
C60 fullerene (C60) as a nanocarbon particle, compatible with biological structures, capable of penetrating through cell membranes and effectively scavenging free radicals, is widely used in biomedicine. A protective effect of C60 on the biomechanics of fast (m. gastrocnemius) and slow (m. soleus) muscle contraction in rats and the pro- and antioxidant balance of muscle tissue during the development of muscle fatigue was studied compared to the same effect of the known antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC). C60 and NAC were administered intraperitoneally at doses of 1 and 150 mg kg−1, respectively, daily for 5 days and 1 h before the start of the experiment. The following quantitative markers of muscle fatigue were used: the force of muscle contraction, the level of accumulation of secondary products of lipid peroxidation (TBARS) and the oxygen metabolite H2O2, the activity of first-line antioxidant defense enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT)), and the condition of the glutathione system (reduced glutathione (GSH) content and the activity of the glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme). The analysis of the muscle contraction force dynamics in rats against the background of induced muscle fatigue showed, that the effect of C60, 1 h after drug administration, was (15-17)% more effective on fast muscles than on slow muscles. A further slight increase in the effect of C60 was revealed after 2 h of drug injection, (7-9)% in the case of m. gastrocnemius and (5-6)% in the case of m. soleus. An increase in the effect of using C60 occurred within 4 days (the difference between 4 and 5 days did not exceed (3-5)%) and exceeded the effect of NAC by (32-34)%. The analysis of biochemical parameters in rat muscle tissues showed that long-term application of C60 contributed to their decrease by (10-30)% and (5-20)% in fast and slow muscles, respectively, on the 5th day of the experiment. At the same time, the protective effect of C60 was higher compared to NAC by (28-44)%. The obtained results indicate the prospect of using C60 as a potential protective nano agent to improve the efficiency of skeletal muscle function by modifying the reactive oxygen species-dependent mechanisms that play an important role in the processes of muscle fatigue development.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12449