This book provides an introduction to quantum cascade lasers, including the basic underlying models used to describe the device. It aims at giving a synthetic view of the topic including the aspects of the physics, the technology, and the use of the device. It should also provide a guide for the application engineer to use this device in systems. The book is based on lecture notes of a class given for Masters and beginning PhD students. The idea is to provide an introduction to the new and exciting developments that intersubband transitions have brought to the use of the mid-infrared and terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The book provides an introductory part to each topic so that it can be used in a self-contained way, while references to the literature will allow deeper studies for further research.

Light scattering from particles in the nanometric and micrometric size range is relevant in several research fields, such as aerosol science and nanotechnology. In many applications, the description of the optical properties of non-spherical, inhomogeneous particles is still inadequate or requires demanding numerical calculations. Lorenz-Mie scattering and effective medium approximations represent currently the main theoretical tools to model such particles, but their effectiveness has been recently called into question. This work examines how the morphology of a particle affects its scattering parameters from an experimental standpoint, supporting findings with extensive simulations. The dust content of Antarctic, Greenlandic, and Alpine ice cores is analysed with a particle-by-particle approach. Moreover, a study on colloidal aggregates shows that correlations among the fields radiated by primary particles are responsible for the poor agreement of effective medium approximations with experimental results. On the theoretical side, an interpretation in terms of the structure factor is given, which satisfactorily describes the data. The insights of this thesis are relevant for quantifying the contribution of mineral dust to the radiative energy balance of the Earth.

This book comprises select peer-reviewed proceedings of the medical challenge - C-NMC challenge: Classification of normal versus malignant cells in B-ALL white blood cancer microscopic images. The challenge was run as part of the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (IEEE ISBI) 2019 held at Venice, Italy in April 2019. Cell classification via image processing has recently gained interest from the point of view of building computer-assisted diagnostic tools for blood disorders such as leukaemia. In order to arrive at a conclusive decision on disease diagnosis and degree of progression, it is very important to identify malignant cells with high accuracy. Computer-assisted tools can be very helpful in automating the process of cell segmentation and identification because morphologically both cell types appear similar. This particular challenge was run on a curated data set of more than 14000 cell images of very high quality. More than 200 international teams participated in the challenge. This book covers various solutions using machine learning and deep learning approaches. The book will prove useful for academics, researchers, and professionals interested in building low-cost automated diagnostic tools for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

This book presents the selected peer-reviewed papers from the International Conference on Communication Systems and Networks (ComNet) 2019. Highlighting the latest findings, ideas, developments and applications in all areas of advanced communication systems and networking, it covers a variety of topics, including next-generation wireless technologies such as 5G, new hardware platforms, antenna design, applications of artificial intelligence (AI), signal processing and optimization techniques. Given its scope, this book can be useful for beginners, researchers and professionals working in wireless communication and networks, and other allied fields.

This book highlights the advancements in different fields of clinical electrophysiology and gives the reader a good background of the established practices. To tackle such a wide topic, the book focuses on two main aspects: ablation and pacing, discussing the novel energy sources and approaches to rhythm restoration and control; devices and signal processing, highlighting the new available technologies and numerical approaches aiding practice and home medicine. It also presents the reader with selected strategies that could be a paradigm shifts for the field: in situ cell reprogramming, exploiting the newly founded achievements in epigenetic modification of somatic cells; artificial intelligence; cardiac digital twinning, which aims to collect the information from imaging, mechanics and electrophysiology and condense it into a patient-specific model for personalized treatment.

The papers in this proceeding discuss current and future trends in wearable communications and personal health management through the use of wireless body area networks (WBAN). The authors posit new technologies that can provide trustworthy communications mechanisms from the user to medical health databases. The authors discuss not only on-body devices, but also technologies providing information in-body. Also discussed are dependable communications combined with accurate localization and behavior analysis, which will benefit WBAN technology and make the healthcare processes more effective. The papers were presented at the 13th EAI International Conference on Body Area Networks (BODYNETS 2018), Oulu, Finland, 02-03 October 2018.

This book covers the essential concepts and strategies within traditional and cutting-edge feature learning methods thru both theoretical analysis and case studies. Good features give good models and it is usually not classifiers but features that determine the effectiveness of a model. In this book, readers can find not only traditional feature learning methods, such as principal component analysis, linear discriminant analysis, and geometrical-structure-based methods, but also advanced feature learning methods, such as sparse learning, low-rank decomposition, tensor-based feature extraction, and deep-learning-based feature learning. Each feature learning method has its own dedicated chapter that explains how it is theoretically derived and shows how it is implemented for real-world applications. Detailed illustrated figures are included for better understanding. This book can be used by students, researchers, and engineers looking for a reference guide for popular methods of feature learning and machine intelligence.

This textbook provides an introduction to the study of digital signal processing, employing a top-to-bottom structure to motivate the reader, a graphical approach to the solution of the signal processing mathematics, and extensive use of MATLAB. In contrast to the conventional teaching approach, the book offers a top-down approach which first introduces students to digital filter design, provoking questions about the mathematical tools required. The following chapters provide answers to these questions, introducing signals in the discrete domain, Fourier analysis, filters in the time domain and the Z-transform. The author introduces the mathematics in a conceptual manner with figures to illustrate the physical meaning of the equations involved. Chapter six builds on these concepts and discusses advanced filter design, and chapter seven discusses matters of practical implementation. This book introduces the corresponding MATLAB functions and programs in every chapter with examples, and the final chapter introduces the actual real-time filter from MATLAB. Aimed primarily at undergraduate students in electrical and electronic engineering, this book enables the reader to implement a digital filter using MATLAB. Deliver the conceptual knowledge of digital signal processing with extensive use of the illustrations from practical viewpoint. Also, the digital signal processing is initiated from the digital not from the continuous domain.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computing and Network Communications (CoCoNet'20), October 14-17, 2020, Chennai, India. The papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from several initial submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on Signal, Image and Speech Processing, Wireless and Mobile Communication, Internet of Things, Cloud and Edge Computing, Distributed Systems, Machine Intelligence, Data Analytics, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing and Circuits and Systems. The book is directed to the researchers and scientists engaged in various fields of computing and network communication domains.

The new edition of this textbook is based on Dr. Thanh T. Tran's 10+ years' experience teaching high-speed digital and analog design courses at Rice University and 30+ years' experience working in high-speed system design, including signal and power integrity in digital signal processing (DSP), computer, and embedded system. The book provides hands-on, practical instruction on high-speed digital and analog design for students and working engineers. The author first presents good high-speed digital and analog design practices that minimize both component and system noise and ensure system design success. He then presents guidelines to be used throughout the design process to reduce noise and radiation and to avoid common pitfalls while improving quality and reliability. The book is filled with tips on design and system simulation that minimize late stage redesign costs and product shipment delays. Hands-on design examples focusing on audio, video, analog filters, DDR memory, and power supplies are featured throughout. In addition, the author provides a practical approach to design multi-gigahertz high-speed serial busses (USB-C, PCIe, HDMI, DP) and simulate printed circuit board insertion and return loss using s-parameter models.

This book introduces readers to the algorithm of Compass & GPS dual-system software receivers, and to the software implementation. It provides detailed descriptions of key theories in the fields of signal processing, communication, control, and signal estimation. The book is based on the author's extensive experience in GNSS receiver design. The MATLAB script developed for this book demonstrates most of the key theories and equips the reader with excellent tools for practicing them.

In 1954, Charles Townes invented the laser's microwave cousin, the maser. The next logical step was to extend the same physical principles to the shorter wavelengths of light, but the idea did not catch fire until October 1957, when Townes asked Gordon Gould about Gould's research on using light to excite thallium atoms. Each took the idea and ran with it. The independent-minded Gould sought the fortune of an independent inventor; the professorial Townes sought the fame of scientific recognition. Townes enlisted the help of his brother-in-law, Arthur Schawlow, and got Bell Labs into the race. Gould turned his ideas into a patent application and a million-dollar defense contract. They soon had company. Ali Javan, one of Townes's former students, began pulling 90-hour weeks at Bell Labs with colleague Bill Bennett. And far away in California a bright young physicist named Ted Maiman became a very dark horse in the race. While Schawlow proclaimed that ruby could never make a laser, Maiman slowly convinced himself it would. As others struggled with recalcitrant equipment and military secrecy, Maiman built a tiny and elegant device that fit in the palm of his hand. His ruby laser worked the first time he tried it, on May 16, 1960, but afterwards he had to battle for acceptance as the man who made the first laser. Beam is a fascinating tale of a remarkable and powerful invention that has become a symbol of modern technology.

This report presents an account of the course "Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Solids: Advances and Applications" held in Erice, Italy, from June 16 to 30, 1993. This meeting was organized by the International School of Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture. The purpose of this course was to present and discuss physical models, mathematical formalisms, experimental techniques, and applications relevant to the subject of nonlinear spectroscopy of solid state materials. The universal availability and application of lasers in spectroscopy has led to the widespread observation of nonlinear effects in the spectroscopy of materials. Nonlinear spectroscopy encompasses many physical phenomena which have their origin in the monochromaticity, spectral brightness, coherence, power density and tunability of laser sources. Conventional spectroscopy assumes a linear dependence between the applied electromagnetic field and the induced polarization of atoms and molecules. The validity of this assumption rests on the fact that even the most powerful conventional sources of light produce a light intensity which is not strong enough to equalize the rate of stimulated emission and that of the experimentally observed decay. A different situation may arise when laser light sources are used, particularly pulsed lasers. The use of such light sources can make the probability of induced emission comparable to, or even greater than, the probability of the observed decay; in such cases the nonlinearity of the response of the system is revealed by the experimental data and new properties, not detectable by conventional spectroscopy, will emerge.

This book presents recent outcomes of the collaborative "Tricorder" project, which brings together partners from industry, research institutes and hospitals to deliver an easy contactless alternative for electrocardiograms (ECG). Featuring contributions investigating the possible applications of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) signals for the remote measurement of vital parameters of the heart, the book provides insights into the vision and the history of the "Tricorder" project and the basic differences between the vibrocardiograms and electrocardiograms. It also discusses topics such as signal processing, heartbeat measurement techniques, respiration frequency and oxygen saturation determination, with a particular focus on the diagnostic value of the method presented, e.g., diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and estimation of the oxygen saturation in premature infants. Further, the authors review the advantages and drawbacks of the new method and the specific fields of application. This book will appeal to researchers and industry leaders interested in laser remote sensing for medical applications as well as medical professionals curious about new healthcare technologies.

This book reviews the spaceborne and airborne remote sensing of clouds including cloud lidar and radar data analysis, snow and soil reflectance spectroscopy, and single light scattering by nonspherical scatterers. Providing deep insights into the latest technologies, it is a valuable resource for scientists and postgraduate students alike.

This book discusses autonomous spacecraft navigation based on X-ray pulsars, analyzing how to process X-ray pulsar signals, how to simulate them, and how to estimate the pulse's time of arrival based on epoch folding. In turn, the book presents a range of X-ray pulsar-based spacecraft positioning/time-keeping/attitude determination methods. It also describes the error transmission mechanism of the X-ray pulsar-based navigation system and its corresponding compensation methods. Further, the book introduces readers to navigation based on multiple measurement information fusion, such as X-ray pulsar/traditional celestial body integrated navigation and X-ray pulsar/INS integrated navigation. As such, it offers readers extensive information on both the theory and applications of X-ray pulsar-based navigation, and reflects the latest developments in China and abroad.

This volume collects a a number of contributions on spontaneous symmetry breaking. Current studies in this general field are going ahead at a full speed. The book present review chapters which give an overview on the major break throughs of recent years. It covers a number of different physical settings which are introduced when a nonlinearity is added to the underlying symmetric problems and its strength exceeds a certain critical value. The corresponding loss of symmetry, called spontaneous symmetry breaking, alias self-trapping into asymmetric states is extensively discussed in this book.
The book presents both active theoretical studies of spontaneous symmetry breaking effects as well as experimental findings, chiefly for Bose-Einstein-Condensates with the self-repulsive nonlinearity, and also for photorefractive media in optics.

The chapters of this volume are based on talks given at the eleventh international Sampling Theory and Applications conference held in 2015 at American University in Washington, D.C. The papers highlight state-of-the-art advances and trends in sampling theory and related areas of application, such as signal and image processing. Chapters have been written by prominent mathematicians, applied scientists, and engineers with an expertise in sampling theory. Claude Shannon's 100th birthday is also celebrated, including an introductory essay that highlights Shannon's profound influence on the field. The topics covered include both theory and applications, such as: * Compressed sensing* Non-uniform and wave sampling* A-to-D conversion* Finite rate of innovation* Time-frequency analysis* Operator theory* Mobile sampling issues Sampling: Theory and Applications is ideal for mathematicians, engineers, and applied scientists working in sampling theory or related areas.

Device Architecture and Materials for Organic Light-Emitting Devices focuses on the design of new device and material concepts for organic light-emitting devices, thereby targeting high current densities and an improved control of the triplet concentration. A new light-emitting device architecture, the OLED with field-effect electron transport, is demonstrated. This device is a hybrid between a diode and a field-effect transistor. Compared to conventional OLEDs, the metallic cathode is displaced by one to several micrometers from the light-emitting zone, reducing optical absorption losses. The electrons injected by the cathode accumulate at an organic heterojunction and are transported to the light-emission zone by field-effect. High mobilities for charge carriers are achieved in this way, enabling a high current density and a reduced number of charge carriers in the device. Pulsed excitation experiments show that pulses down to 1 us can be applied to this structure without affecting the light intensity, suggesting that pulsed excitation might be useful to reduce the accumulation of triplets in the device. The combination of all these properties makes the OLED with field-effect electron transport particularly interesting for waveguide devices and future electrically pumped lasers. In addition, triplet-emitter doped organic materials, as well as the use of triplet scavengers in conjugated polymers are investigated.

This book reports the latest results in the study of clutter suppression and signal processing techniques and focuses on the analysis of non-stationary characteristics of bistatic SAR clutter, DPCA-based clutter suppression method, optimization-based clutter suppression method, sparse recovery-based clutter suppression method, experimental verification and many other aspects, i.e., including the research results of realization technology and experimental verification. Bistatic SAR clutter suppression is the prerequisite and key technique for realizing the detection of moving targets on the ground/sea surface. It is also the frontier and difficult issue of international research in the field of radar. Researchers, engineers and graduate students in radar signal processing can benefit from this book, who wish to learn the core theories, methods and applications of bistatic SAR technologies.

Deep connections exist between harmonic and applied analysis and the diverse yet connected topics of machine learning, data analysis, and imaging science. This volume explores these rapidly growing areas and features contributions presented at the second and third editions of the Summer Schools on Applied Harmonic Analysis, held at the University of Genova in 2017 and 2019. Each chapter offers an introduction to essential material and then demonstrates connections to more advanced research, with the aim of providing an accessible entrance for students and researchers. Topics covered include ill-posed problems; concentration inequalities; regularization and large-scale machine learning; unitarization of the radon transform on symmetric spaces; and proximal gradient methods for machine learning and imaging.

Sound, devoid of meaning, would not matter to us. It is the information sound conveys that helps the brain to understand its environment. Sound and its underlying meaning are always associated with time and space. There is no sound without spatial properties, and the brain always organizes this information within a temporal-spatial framework. This book is devoted to understanding the importance of meaning for spatial and related further aspects of hearing, including cross-modal inference. People, when exposed to acoustic stimuli, do not react directly to what they hear but rather to what they hear means to them. This semiotic maxim may not always apply, for instance, when the reactions are reflexive. But, where it does apply, it poses a major challenge to the builders of models of the auditory system. Take, for example, an auditory model that is meant to be implemented on a robotic agent for autonomous search-&-rescue actions. Or think of a system that can perform judgments on the sound quality of multimedia-reproduction systems. It becomes immediately clear that such a system needs * Cognitive capabilities, including substantial inherent knowledge * The ability to integrate information across different sensory modalities To realize these functions, the auditory system provides a pair of sensory organs, the two ears, and the means to perform adequate preprocessing of the signals provided by the ears. This is realized in the subcortical parts of the auditory system. In the title of a prior book, the term Binaural Listening is used to indicate a focus on sub-cortical functions. Psychoacoustics and auditory signal processing contribute substantially to this area. The preprocessed signals are then forwarded to the cortical parts of the auditory system where, among other things, recognition, classification, localization, scene analysis, assignment of meaning, quality assessment, and action planning take place. Also, information from different sensory modalities is integrated at this level. Between sub-cortical and cortical regions of the auditory system, numerous feedback loops exist that ultimately support the high complexity and plasticity of the auditory system. The current book concentrates on these cognitive functions. Instead of processing signals, processing symbols is now the predominant modeling task. Substantial contributions to the field draw upon the knowledge acquired by cognitive psychology. The keyword Binaural Understanding in the book title characterizes this shift. Both books, The Technology of Binaural Listening and the current one, have been stimulated and supported by AABBA, an open research group devoted to the development and application of models of binaural hearing. The current book is dedicated to technologies that help explain, facilitate, apply, and support various aspects of binaural understanding. It is organized into five parts, each containing three to six chapters in order to provide a comprehensive overview of this emerging area. Each chapter was thoroughly reviewed by at least two anonymous, external experts. The first part deals with the psychophysical and physiological effects of Forming and Interpreting Aural Objects as well as the underlying models. The fundamental concepts of reflexive and reflective auditory feedback are introduced. Mechanisms of binaural attention and attention switching are covered-as well as how auditory Gestalt rules facilitate binaural understanding. A general blackboard architecture is introduced as an example of how machines can learn to form and interpret aural objects to simulate human cognitive listening. The second part, Configuring and Understanding Aural Space, focuses on the human understanding of complex three-dimensional environments-covering the psychological and biological fundamentals of auditory space formation. This part further addresses the human mechanisms used to process information and interact in complex reverberant environments, such as concert halls and forests, and additionally examines how the auditory system can learn to understand and adapt to these environments. The third part is dedicated to Processing Cross-Modal Inference and highlights the fundamental human mechanisms used to integrate auditory cues with cues from other modalities to localize and form perceptual objects. This part also provides a general framework for understanding how complex multimodal scenes can be simulated and rendered. The fourth part, Evaluating Aural-scene Quality and Speech Understanding, focuses on the object-forming aspects of binaural listening and understanding. It addresses cognitive mechanisms involved in both the understanding of speech and the processing of nonverbal information such as Sound Quality and Quality-of- Experience. The aesthetic judgment of rooms is also discussed in this context. Models that simulate underlying human processes and performance are covered in addition to techniques for rendering virtual environments that can then be used to test these models. The fifth part deals with the Application of Cognitive Mechanisms to Audio Technology. It highlights how cognitive mechanisms can be utilized to create spatial auditory illusions using binaural and other 3D-audio technologies. Further, it covers how cognitive binaural technologies can be applied to improve human performance in auditory displays and to develop new auditory technologies for interactive robots. The book concludes with the application of cognitive binaural technologies to the next generation of hearing aids.

This book is a collection of papers presented at the International Workshop on New Approaches for Multidimensional Signal Processing (NAMSP 2020), held at Technical University of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria, during 09-11 July 2020. The book covers research papers in the field of N-dimensional multicomponent image processing, multidimensional image representation and super-resolution, 3D image processing and reconstruction, MD computer vision systems, multidimensional multimedia systems, neural networks for MD image processing, data-based MD image retrieval and knowledge data mining, watermarking, hiding and encryption of MD images, MD image processing in robot systems, tensor-based data processing, 3D and multi-view visualization, forensic analysis systems for MD images and many more.

This book investigates the architectures and characteristics of OUSNs, the mobility models of OUSN nodes, the challenges of message dissemination, and some evaluation indexes of message dissemination. Then, this book provides some message dissemination techniques in OUSNs from the viewpoints of nodes and data messages, respectively. The proposed message dissemination techniques and their conclusions can provide some useful insights to improve the performance of data message dissemination and promote the future applications of OUSNs. Researchers and engineers in the field of underwater sensor networks can benefit from the book.

This thesis presents a comprehensive theoretical description of classical and quantum aspects of plasmonics in three and two dimensions, and also in transdimensional systems containing elements with different dimensionalities. It focuses on the theoretical understanding of the salient features of plasmons in nanosystems as well as on the multifaceted aspects of plasmon-enhanced light-matter interactions at the nanometer scale. Special emphasis is given to the modeling of nonclassical behavior across the transition regime bridging the classical and the quantum domains. The research presented in this dissertation provides useful tools for understanding surface plasmons in various two- and three-dimensional nanostructures, as well as quantum mechanical effects in their response and their joint impact on light-matter interactions at the extreme nanoscale. These contributions constitute novel and solid advancements in the research field of plasmonics and nanophotonics that will help guide future experimental investigations in the blossoming field of nanophotonics, and also facilitate the design of the next generation of truly nanoscale nanophotonic devices.