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Text is a new way to guide human image manipulation. Albeit natural and flexible, text usually suffers from inaccuracy in spatial description, ambiguity in the description of appearance, and incompleteness. We in this paper address these issues. To overcome inaccuracy, we use structured information (e.g., poses) to help identify correct location to manipulate, by disentangling the control of appearance and spatial structure. Moreover, we learn the image-text shared space with derived disentanglement to improve accuracy and quality of manipulation, by separating relevant and irrelevant editing directions for the textual instructions in this space. Our model generates a series of manipulation results by moving source images in this space with different degrees of editing strength. Thus, to reduce the ambiguity in text, our model generates sequential output for manual selection. In addition, we propose an efficient pseudo-label loss to enhance editing performance when the text is incomplete. We evaluate our method on various datasets and show its precision and interactiveness to manipulate human images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing penetration of hydrogen vehicles and modern energy conversion technologies strengthen the coupling of transportation and energy networks. This article proposes a hydrogen supply infrastructure planning model for the integration of hydrogen vehicles and renewable energy. To flexibly meet the energy demand of hydrogen vehicles, the proposed model makes investment decisions for various facilities, including hydrogen pipelines, hydrogen refueling stations, power to gas devices, and renewable energy generators. Besides, with the pipeline transportation method applied, the hydrogen network is constructed and coordinated with the electricity and transportation networks. The multinetwork synergistic effect is thus fully utilized, bringing higher operational flexibility and investment economy. Furthermore, a two-stage stochastic planning model is provided to accommodate the variability of renewable energy and traffic loads. To reduce the computational complexity of the proposed stochastic planning model, both linearization techniques and Benders decomposition algorithm are applied. Simulation results of the 8-node system and the 24-node system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm. Compared to the uncoordinated model, the proposed model saves by 11% of the total cost for the 24-node test system. Also, the computational performance of the Benders decomposition algorithm surpasses that of the basic algorithm by more than 24.6% in the two test systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing work in intelligent communications has recently made preliminary attempts to utilize multi-source sensing information (MSI) to improve the system performance. However, the research on MSI aided intelligent communications has not yet explored how to integrate and fuse the multimodal sensory data, which motivates us to develop a systematic framework for wireless communications based on deep multimodal learning (DML). In this paper, we first present complete descriptions and heuristic understandings on the framework of DML based wireless communications, where core design choices are analyzed in the view of communications. Then, we develop several DML based architectures for channel prediction in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems that leverage various modality combinations and fusion levels. The case study of massive MIMO channel prediction offers an important example that can be followed in developing other DML based communication technologies. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed DML framework can effectively exploit the constructive and complementary information of multimodal sensory data to assist the current wireless communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperspectral (HS) pansharpening, as a special case of the superresolution (SR) problem, is to obtain a high-resolution (HR) image from the fusion of an HR panchromatic (PAN) image and a low-resolution (LR) HS image. Though HS pansharpening based on deep learning has gained rapid development in recent years, it is still a challenging task because of the following requirements: 1) a unique model with the goal of fusing two images with different dimensions should enhance spatial resolution while preserving spectral information; 2) all the parameters should be adaptively trained without manual adjustment; and 3) a model with good generalization should overcome the sensitivity to different sensor data in reasonable computational complexity. To meet such requirements, we propose a unique HS pansharpening framework based on a 3-D generative adversarial network (HPGAN) in this article. The HPGAN induces the 3-D spectral–spatial generator network to reconstruct the HR HS image from the newly constructed 3-D PAN cube and the LR HS image. It searches for an optimal HR HS image by successive adversarial learning to fool the introduced PAN discriminator network. The loss function is specifically designed to comprehensively consider global constraint, spectral constraint, and spatial constraint. Besides, the proposed 3-D training in the high-frequency domain reduces the sensitivity to different sensor data and extends the generalization of HPGAN. Experimental results on data sets captured by different sensors illustrate that the proposed method can successfully enhance spatial resolution and preserve spectral information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the scheme that combines LDM (Layered Division Multiplexing) with the FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) scheme based on BST-OFDM (Band Segmented Transmission - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is proposed for the next-generation DTTB (Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting). The proposed LDM-BST-OFDM scheme provides a more effective frequency utilization of the stream for fixed reception. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by computer simulations where the effectiveness of proposed scheme for fixed reception is shown. Although LDM-BST-OFDM improves the performance, dedicated receivers that can demodulate symbols multiplexed by LDM are required. In this paper, LDM-BST-OFDM using punctured LDPC code is proposed, which can decode the stream for fixed reception even if symbols multiplexed by LDM are not demodulated. The reception characteristics of the proposed scheme are evaluated by computer simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sheets of silicone rubber (SiR) were aged under various aging conditions to examine its effects on the mechanical and dielectric properties of SiR. Mainly by analyzing the results obtained by mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy, it has become clear that cross-linked structures with siloxane bonds are formed under all the conditions. This makes SiR hard and then brittle, but it also makes better the dielectric properties apparently. An early stage of degradation in SiR can be detected by EAB and complex electric modulus, which is defined as the reciprocal of complex permittivity. Therefore, EAB and complex electric modulus are useful to monitor the aging status of SiR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at elucidating the correlations between structural changes and the variation of dielectric properties of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) during thermal aging. For this purpose, thermal aging experiments were carried out on XLPE samples at 80, 100, 120 and 140 °C for different aging times for a maximum total duration of 5040 hours. Chemical changes were assessed by Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR). Besides, the crystallinity ratio and the melting temperature were evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy was used to investigate the evolution of the dielectric constant and losses of XLPE during aging. The results show that aging at 80 and 100 °C could help to improve the crystalline state of XLPE which leads to the decrease of the dielectric constant. However, for higher thermal stress, the main aging mechanism of XLPE is thermal oxidation which leads to deteriorate the morphology and increase both the polarization and losses, mainly at low frequencies. It has been found also that in some cases, the non-homogeneity of the color of XLPE seems to indicate the increase of interfaces in the material which could lead to increase the dielectric losses due to the interfacial polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epoxy resin and its microcomposite are widely used as electrical insulation in electrical equipment. Surface flashover and breakdown properties of these materials can be influenced by dielectric relaxation process and charge carrier behavior. The charge transport characteristics and dielectric relaxation process for neat EP and its microcomposites were studied by means of dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. The glass transition temperatures Tg of the two kinds of samples were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry measurement, which were approximately 105 ?C and 120 ?C, respectively. Both the two kinds of samples were sputtered with gold electrodes on two sides, and electrodes' diameter was 30 mm. The properties of dielectric relaxation was measured by Concept 80 Novocontrol broadband dielectric spectrometer at various temperatures from 100 ?C to 180 ?C. There is a relaxation peak which labeled ? in the range of high frequencies on account of the molecular chain movement or motion of segmental chains when the temperature is above Tg. At the same time, the dc conductivity attributed by the charge carrier transport occurs in the range of low frequencies. Besides, there are different relaxation times for molecular chains with different length scales. Moreover, there is a broad distribution of relaxation time for both neat EP and its microcomposites and the relaxation time distribution at different temperatures was calculated. In addition, it was found that the relation between peak frequency of relaxation process and temperature follow the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) law, and temperature dependences of dc conductivity also obey the VFT equation. The Vogel temperatures of dielectric relaxation process and charge carrier transport were calculated by fitting the results of permittivity and conductivity. The glass transition temperatures for neat EP and its microcomposite were estimated to be 102 ?C and 117 ?C through Vogel temperatures, which are in consistence with DSC measurement results. It represents that free volume in the two kinds of samples increases with the increase of temperature, thus enhancing molecular chain movement and charge carrier transport process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Complex permittivity ( ϵr' and ϵr") and conductivity were measured in a wide temperature range for dicyclopentadiene (DCP) resin and epoxy resin, which show glass transition at a similar temperature around 150 °C. Furthermore, space charge distributions remaining in the two resins that had been polarized in the same wide temperature range were measured at room temperature. As a result, it was found that ϵr ?, ϵ r?, and conductivity are much lower in DCP resin than in epoxy resin at almost all the temperatures and frequencies. A further analysis using complex electric modulus, which is the inverse of the complex permittivity, indicates that charge transport is much more difficult in DCP resin. Furthermore, while similar small amounts of homocharges appear in DCP resin at any polarization temperatures, a significant accumulation of heterocharges, most likely due to ions, is induced in epoxy resin in the vicinity of the cathode/sample interface at polarization temperatures above the glass transition temperature. These results indicate that DCP resin possesses superior stable dielectric behavior, especially at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Radiation resistance was compared between dicyclopentadiene (DCP) resin (P) and epoxy resin (E) by analyzing mainly their complex permittivity ( ϵr' and ϵr") and electrical conductivity. While both ϵr' and ϵr" increase significantly in E with an increase in total dose of the gamma irradiation, no such increases are observed in P. The conductivity is always smaller in P than in E and the difference becomes larger with the increase in total dose. This difference becomes very obvious if we pay attention to electric modulus spectra. These results indicate clearly that P has a better gamma resistance than E. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similarity-preserving hashing is a commonly used method for nearest neighbor search in large-scale image retrieval. For image retrieval, deep-network-based hashing methods are appealing, since they can simultaneously learn effective image representations and compact hash codes. This paper focuses on deep-network-based hashing for multi-label images, each of which may contain objects of multiple categories. In most existing hashing methods, each image is represented by one piece of hash code, which is referred to as semantic hashing. This setting may be suboptimal for multi-label image retrieval. To solve this problem, we propose a deep architecture that learns instance-aware image representations for multi-label image data, which are organized in multiple groups, with each group containing the features for one category. The instance-aware representations not only bring advantages to semantic hashing but also can be used in category-aware hashing, in which an image is represented by multiple pieces of hash codes and each piece of code corresponds to a category. Extensive evaluations conducted on several benchmark data sets demonstrate that for both the semantic hashing and the category-aware hashing, the proposed method shows substantial improvement over the state-of-the-art supervised and unsupervised hashing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethylene propylene rubber insulation under operation for 16 years in boiling water reactor containments was subjected to additional thermal aging at 110°C. After 70 days of aging, the mechanical property of the insulation was decreased such that the limit guaranteeing durability against design-basis events was breached. This degradation rate is three times slower than that predicted on the basis of an accelerated aging test with control samples. Infrared spectroscopic analysis revealed suppression in the formation of carbonyl products in the service-used cables. According to the gel fraction measurement, cross-linking is the dominant reaction in such service cables. The unique slow degradation dynamics observed in service cables could be attributed to such oxidation control and the cross-linking reaction. The present study also conducts nuclear magnetic resonance analysis to elucidate the cross-linking point in the main chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxidation process induced in ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) copolymer by gamma irradiation was simulated by solving equations on chemical reactions and gas diffusion rates. As a result, distributions of oxidative products and gases and changes in material properties were clarified. All the oxidative products such as ketones, alcohols, and carboxylic acids, crosslinks between molecular chains, and chain scissions in EPDM increase with irradiation and they show concave spatial distributions inside the sample sheets. The simulation results demonstrates that EPDM becomes hard when it was irradiated by gamma rays and the increase in hardness is more significant at the surface of the sample sheet than its inside. Moreover, it was found that a low diffusion coefficient of oxygen in EPDM leads to the appearance of a clearer diffusion-limited regime of degradation. These simulation results are in good agreement with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors have demonstrated that the estimation of the precise locations of points in cables aged thermally or mechanically or by the irradiation of gamma rays is possible by a combination of frequency domain reflectometry and inverse fast Fourier transform. This paper examines how this ability of fault location depends on the type, structure, and insulation material of the cable, using several kinds of polymer insulated cables such as a triple core cable insulated with flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer, a dual core cable insulated with silicone rubber, a dual core cable insulated with crosslinked polyolefin (XLPO), a coaxial cylindrical cable insulated with low density polyethylene, and a flat cord insulated by polyvinyl chloride (PVC). As a result, for cables with lengths from 16 to 72 m, the maximum sensitivity is attained when the highest frequency of the inputted electromagnetic waves is 1.0 GHz or higher for coaxial cables, but around 300 to 800 MHz for dual or triple core cables. For the location attempt of the position heated by a heater, cables insulated with PVC give higher signal intensities than those insulated with XLPO. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dielectric behavior was compared experimentally between polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalate) (PEN). Due to their similar chemical structures, the two polymers exhibit many parallel dielectric properties. While the two polymers exhibit fairly similar thermally stimulated polarization and depolarization currents (TSPC and TSDC), the temperature at which TSPC or TSDC starts to increase rapidly is about 20 ?C higher in PEN than in PET, mostly likely reflecting the difference in their glass transition temperatures (Tg's). At temperatures about 30 ?C lower than Tg, the two polymers show a hump in their first-run TSPC spectra, probably originating from impurity or moisture. Both the real and imaginary parts of complex permittivity, ϵr' and ϵr", increase significantly at temperatures above their Tg's for both PEN and PET, since molecular motion becomes active. Shoulders and plateaux clearly appear in ϵr' and ϵr" spectra of PEN, which move toward higher frequencies with an increase in temperature. To further analyze them, complex electric modulus M* was introduced. As a result, it has become clear that electric conduction dominates the dielectric behavior of PET and PEN at temperatures above Tg, especially at low frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical analysis has been performed on variously aged ethylene propylene rubber insulation on cables removed from boiling water reactor-type containment. Temperature and dose rate conditions of such cables are not identical. Therefore, elongation at break data observed for such insulation are converted to each equivalent period under 60 ?C, 10 mGy/h condition. The aging trend is found to be approximately slower by half than that expected from accelerated aging test results. Furthermore, this aging trend is used as a reference to fit to each elongation value, and the fitted curve is extrapolated to find the end of service life, which is defined as 70 % of absolute elongation. Lifetimes estimated from this method and from predictions by the accelerated aging test are compared on an Arrhenius plot. It is suggested that the latter lifetime estimation is shorter than actual. The temperature dependence also suggests a difference in a basic chemical reaction under the two aging conditions, which results in apparent differences in activation energies and pre-exponential factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Now that gas insulated switchgear (GIS) for ac systems are becoming increasingly compact as specifications are rationalized, more consideration of their insulation characteristics for residual dc voltage is required. Furthermore, with dc power transmission technology drawing more and more global attention, clarifying the insulation characteristics of GIS for dc voltage is increasingly important. In this paper, to understand the insulation characteristics of epoxy resin, which is widely used for GIS insulating spacers, factors determining the resistivity of the epoxy insulator surface layer under dc voltage were initially investigated on an experimental basis. Consequently, it emerged that the bulk resistance was more dominant than the surface resistance for the dc resistance of epoxy resin due to the dependency of the test sample resistance value on their radius. Since the electric field might be concentrated if some part of this insulator surface layer showed non-uniform resistivity, the influence of the curing agent, one of the potential causes of this non-uniformity, was subsequently investigated with its content as a parameter. As a result, the volume resistivity in the long-term region was likely to decline or vary for epoxy resin containing less curing agent due to the presence of numerous polarized components unreacted with curing agent. In addition, the presence of micro protrusions or similar, if any, on the insulator surface or electrode is considered to cause electrification due to the concentration of electric field on the surface layer. Accordingly, the relationship between their surface roughness and electrification level was investigated using gaps between insulators or an electrode and an insulator facing each other, respectively. Consequently, where the surface roughness of the insulator or electrode was high, a current component with a large damping time constant, considered attributable to electrical charges moving across the gap, appeared after the charging current components and an electrification condition was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging and degradation phenomena associated with polymeric insulating materials have been investigated over the past 50 years. The results of such investigations have advanced type test procedures for qualifying the integrity of nuclear power plant safety cables. However, it has recently been determined that such advanced procedures may sometimes estimate the lifetime of cables in a significantly very short. This triggered sophisticated research on a degradation model. This paper carries out literature review on various degradation phenomena under thermal and radiation conditions, in order to attempt to interpret them using the latest degradation model, and to clarify the remaining research issues for the sophistication of test procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new degradation model for safety cables in nuclear power plants that incorporates the critical antioxidant concentration concept is proposed in order to account for the effect of antioxidants and to simulate several synergisms in various thermal and radiation environments. A chemical reaction scheme is used to represent oxidation reactions via the decomposition of peroxide radicals. The effects of antioxidants are included in this scheme in order to demonstrate critical concentration phenomena. In addition, diffusion equations are added to the reaction rate equations to enable reproduction of diffusion-limited oxidation. Such a degradation model with antioxidant effects is discussed for degradation behaviors in polymers used for safety cables under various dose rates and temperature conditions, and its effectiveness is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes adequate methods to improve the interference mitigation capability of a recently investigated switched-based interference reduction scheme for single downlink channel assignment in over-loaded small-cell networks. The model assumes that the available orthogonal channels for small cells are distributed among access points in close vicinity, where each access point knows its allocated channels a priori. Each cell has a single antenna, employs the open access strategy, and can reuse its allocated channels simultaneously, while scheduling concurrent service requests. Moreover, the access points can not coordinate their transmissions, and can receive limited feedback from active users. The paper presents low-complexity schemes to identify a suitable channel to serve the scheduled user by maintaining the interference power level within a tolerable range. They attempt to either complement the switched-based scheme by minimum interference channel selection or adopt different interference thresholds on available channels, while reducing the channel examination load. The optimal thresholds for interference mitigation at the desired receive station are quantified for various performance criteria. The performance and processing load of the proposed schemes are obtained analytically, and then compared to those of the single-threshold scheme via numerical and simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Effects of nanofiller materials on typical dielectric properties of bisphenol-A epoxy resin were compared among three kinds of nanofillers, i. e. boehmite alumina, titania, and silica. In all the samples, the complex permittivity ϵr' and ϵr" become significantly higher with an increase in temperature beyond 120 °C, especially at low frequencies. Such increase iinϵr' and ϵr" indicates the abundance of mobile charge carriers, which was verified by the space charge distribution measurements. All the samples show two peaks at 110 and 180 °C in the thermally stimulated depolarization current spectra. The lower-temperature peak is apparently caused by depolarization of dipoles induced by the glass transition, while the higher-temperature peak is due to the release of space charge. These characteristic properties appear more significantly in the nanocomposites with boehmite alumina and titania and less significantly in the nanocomposite with silica than in the neat epoxy esin. This indicates that the silica nanofillers give the best results as far as these properties cconcerned. The suppression of molecular motion by the addition of nanofillers seems to work effectively in the case of silica, while the nanofiller addition is likely to aaccelerate the motion of ionic carriers and/or that of dipoles in the case of boehmite alumina and titania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constant stress accelerated ageing experiments were conducted on unfilled epoxy and epoxy alumina nanocomposites with different filler loadings of 0.1, 1 and 5 wt%. Electrical (6 kV/mm), thermal (60oC) and combined electrothermal (6 kV/mm and 60°C) ageing experiments were performed for a duration of 250 h. The leakage current through the samples were continuously monitored and the variation in the tan δ values with ageing duration was also monitored. It was observed that the increase in the tan δ value with ageing duration was less for the epoxy alumina nanocomposites as compared to the unfilled epoxy. Dielectric spectroscopy measurements were performed on the samples before and after the ageing in the frequency range of 10-2 to 106 Hz. The permittivity and tan δ values were found to increase in the low frequency range. The volume resistivity of unfilled epoxy and epoxy alumina nanocomposites were also measured before and after the ageing. The volume resistivity improved marginally for the thermally aged samples, but reduced for the electrically aged and the electrothermally aged samples. The decrease in the value of volume resistivity was more for the multistress aged unfilled epoxy samples as compared to the multistress aged epoxy alumina nanocomposites. It was also observed that the unfilled epoxy samples having a higher value of tan δ failed first. The time to failure of the samples showed an increasing trend with an increase in the nano filler loading of epoxy alumina nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Effects of nanofiller addition on four typical dielectric properties, namely permittivity εr′, dielectric loss factor εr″, space charge accumulation, and partial discharge (PD) resistance were evaluated for polypropylene (PP) and its nanocomposites (NCs) with nanoclay. While εr′ and εr″ are almost independent of temperature and frequency in the base unfilled PP, they are highly dependent on the two parameters in the two NCs. Namely, εr′ increases significantly at temperatures above 20 °C and the frequency spectrum of εr″ shows at least one temperature-dependent peak. Furthermore, space charge appears abundantly in the two NCs compared to the base PP. These results indicate that plenty of mobile carriers and/or dipoles, probably resulted from the manufacturing process, remain in the two NCs. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned 'inferior' insulating properties, the two NCs have an improved PD resistance compared with the base PP. Namely, the erosion depth on the surface induced by PDs is the smallest in the NC with the largest filler content, while it is the largest in the base PP. Such differences in the effects of nanofillers on different insulating properties are attributable to the fact that nanofillers can improve the PD resistance simply by their presence, while the chemicals needed for uniform dispersion of nanofillers may sometimes increase the permittivity and abundance of charge carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric properties were compared between two kinds of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) composites prepared by adding near spherical MgO fillers with different diameters of around several ten nm and several μm. In the whole range of temperature from 0 °C to 90 °C, the conductivity is decreased and the permittivity is increased by the addition of fillers, irrespective of their sizes. However, the decrement in the conductivity is more significant and permittivity increment is suppressed more in the case of the nm fillers. In addition, a drastic increase in dielectric loss factor, observed at low frequencies, is suppressed more significantly by the addition of the nm fillers. While the formation of packet-like charge, observed in LOPE, is suppressed by both fillers, the effect is far more significant in the nanocomposites. This means that the nano-fillers suppress the conductivity enhancement by the voltage application more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the radiation responses of 2.5 V 110 transistors and regular-threshold MOSFETs from a 90 nm commercial bulk CMOS technology. The data obtained 60Co ionizing radiation experiments indicate enhanced TID susceptibility in 110 devices and circuits, which is attributed to the p-type body doping. A quantitative model is used to analyze the effects of doping and oxide trapped charge buildup along the sidewall of the shallow trench isolation oxide. These effects are captured in the general electrostatic equation for surface potential, which can be correlated to off-state leakage current. Device simulations are used in concert with experimental measurements and the analytical model to provide physical insight into the radiation response of each device type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which described an electrical connector in which the normal force between the pin and the receptacle is increased after the connector is mated and decreased before separation. Shape memory alloy (SMA) effect; Connector enhancement using SMA; Experimental details; Results and discussion; Conclusions.

Presents information on a study which explored the challenges related to radiation hardening complementary metal-oxide semiconductors technologies with shallow-trench isolation. Experimental details; Mechanism limiting trench hardness; Results and discussion; Conclusions.