Vortex Visualization for Practical Engineering Applications
In order to understand complex vortical flows in large data sets, we must be able to detect and visualize vortices in an automated fashion. In this paper, we present a feature-based vortex detection and visualization technique that is appropriate for large computational fluid dynamics data sets computed on unstructured meshes. In particular, we focus on the application of this technique to visualization of the flow over a serrated wing and the flow field around a spinning missile with dithering canards. We have developed a core line extraction technique based on the observation that vortex cores coincide with local extrema in certain scalar fields. We also have developed a novel technique to handle complex vortex topology that is based on k-means clustering. These techniques facilitate visualization of vortices in simulation data that may not be optimally resolved or sampled. Results are included that highlight the strengths and weaknesses of our approach. We conclude by describing how our approach can be improved to enhance robustness and expand its range of applicability

title: Spatial domain wavelet design for feature preservation in computational data sets
abstract: High-fidelity wavelet transforms can facilitate visualization and analysis of large scientific data sets. However, it is important that salient characteristics of the original features be preserved under the transformation. We present a set of filter design axioms in the spatial domain which ensure that certain feature characteristics are preserved from scale to scale and that the resulting filters correspond to wavelet transforms admitting in-place implementation. We demonstrate how the axioms can be used to design linear feature-preserving filters that are optimal in the sense that they are closest in L2 to the ideal low pass filter. We are particularly interested in linear wavelet transforms for large data sets generated by computational fluid dynamics simulations. Our effort is different from classical filter design approaches which focus solely on performance in the frequency domain. Results are included that demonstrate the feature-preservation characteristics of our filters

title: Enhancement of microtubules in EM tomography
abstract: The interpretation of the EM tomography of microtubules is challenging due to the low SNR and low contrast of the volume data. Therefore, image enhancement is crucial for the subsequent segmentation and structural analysis of microtubules. In this paper, we propose a model based 3D image enhancement approach by combining transform domain technique and spatial domain techniques in three consecutive steps. The enhancement starts with an anisotropic invariant wavelet transform to effectively enhance the elongated features, followed by a 3D shape filter via eigen analysis to capture the local geometric properties of the tubular structure. The enhancement ends with a coherence enhancing diffusion to complete the interruptions along the microtubules. The contribution of this work is that we have tailored and improved each of the above techniques to exploit the unique geometric and photometric properties of microtubules. Experimental results indicate that our proposed approach has excellent performance in noise removal and enhancement of the tomography volume.

title: Soft-Information Assisted Near-Optimum Nonlinear Detection for BLAST-type Space Division Multiplexing OFDM Systems
abstract: In this contribution, a nonlinear hybrid detection scheme based on a novel soft-information assisted genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed for a turbo convolutional (TC) coded space division multiplexing (SDM) aided orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. Our numerical results show that the performance of the currently known GA-assisted system can be improved by about 2 dB with the aid of the GA's population-based soft solution, approaching the optimum performance of the soft-information assisted maximum likelihood (ML) detection, while exhibiting a lower complexity, especially in high-throughput scenarios. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is capable of achieving a good performance even in the so-called overloaded systems, where the number of transmit antennas is higher than the number of receiver antennas

title: Access Protocol with Efficient Slot Reuse in WDM Metro Ring
abstract: This letter provides a scalable slotted ring network architecture with nodes using one fixed transmitter, one tunable transmitter and multiple fixed receivers. Furthermore, the novel access protocol with efficient slot reuse is proposed. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that protocol can achieve high node throughput and low queuing delay.

title: Robust Document Image Authentication
abstract: In this paper, we propose a novel method for robust document image authentication. In the proposed method, characters and symbols on a binary document are first grouped into different classes based on k-means clustering in the feature space. Labels are then assigned to the different classes. An ordered sequence of labels formed from the characters and symbols on the document is then used to compute a digital signature. This is achieved by using a cryptographic hash function and a secret key. The computed signature can be appended at the end of an electronic document file, or printed on a hardcopy document in the form of a bar code. Using this method, we will be able to detect any intentional content alteration to the document, but at the same time tolerate moderate amount of noise introduced by printing, scanning, and photocopying of the document. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

title: HUX: handling updates in XML
abstract: We demonstrate HUX (Handling Updates in XML) which provides a reliable and efficient solution for the XML view update problem. Given an update over an XML view, our U-Filter subsytem first determines whether the update is translatable or not by examining potential conflicts in both schema and data. If an update is determined to be translatable, our U-Translator subsystem searches potential translations and finds a "good" one. Our demonstration illustrates the working, as well as the performance, of the two sub-systems within HUX for different application scenarios.