This book presents details of a text-to-speech synthesis procedure using epoch synchronous overlap add (ESOLA), and provides a solution for development of a text-to-speech system using minimum data resources compared to existing solutions. It also examines most natural speech signals including random perturbation in synthesis. The book is intended for students, researchers and industrial practitioners in the field of text-to-speech synthesis.

This book by Lev M. Blinov is ideal to guide researchers from their very first encounter with liquid crystals to the level where they can perform independent experiments on liquid crystals with a thorough understanding of their behaviour also in relation to the theoretical framework. Liquid crystals can be found everywhere around us. They are used in virtually every display device, whether it is for domestic appliances of for specialized technological instruments. Their finely tunable optical properties make them suitable also for thermo-sensing and laser technologies. There are many monographs written by prominent scholars on the subject of liquid crystals. The majority of them presents the subject in great depth, sometimes focusing on a particular research aspect, and in general they require a significant level of prior knowledge. In contrast, this books aims at an audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics, chemistry and materials science. The book consists of three parts: the first part, on structure, starts from the fundamental principles underlying the structure of liquid crystals, their rich phase behaviour and the methods used to study them; the second part, on physical properties, emphasizes the influence of anisotropy on all aspects of liquid crystals behaviour; the third, focuses on electro-optics, the most important properties from the applications standpoint. This part covers only the main effects and illustrates the underlying principles in greater detail. Professor Lev M. Blinov has had a long carrier as an experimentalist. He made major contributions in the field of ferroelectric mesophases. In 1985 he received the USSR state prize for investigations of electro-optical effects in liquid crystals for spatial light modulators. In 1999 he was awarded the Frederiks medal of the Soviet Liquid Crystal Society and in 2000 he was honoured with the G. Gray silver medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society. He has held many visiting academic positions in universities and laboratories across Europe and in Japan.

This book offers a detailed and comprehensive account of the engineering of the world's first nonimaging Fresnel lens solar concentrator. The book closes a gap in solar concentrator design, and describes nonimaging refractive optics and its numerical mathematics . The contents follow a systems approach that is absent in standard handbooks of optics or solar energy. The reader is introduced to the principles, theories, and advantages of nonimaging optics from the standpoint of concentrating sunlight (the solar concentrator idea). The book shows the reader how to find his or her own optical solution using the rules and methodologies covering the design and the assessment of the nonimaging lens. This novel solar concentrator is developed within the natural constraints presented by the sun and in relation to competitive solutions offered by other concentrators.

This book presents state-of-the-art techniques for radiation hardened high-resolution Time-to-Digital converters and low noise frequency synthesizers. Throughout the book, advanced degradation mechanisms and error sources are discussed and several ways to prevent such errors are presented. An overview of the prerequisite physics of nuclear interactions is given that has been compiled in an easy to understand chapter. The book is structured in a way that different hardening techniques and solutions are supported by theory and experimental data with their various tradeoffs. Based on leading-edge research, conducted in collaboration between KU Leuven and CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research Describes in detail advanced techniques to harden circuits against ionizing radiation Provides a practical way to learn and understand radiation effects in time-based circuits Includes an introduction to the underlying physics, circuit design, and advanced techniques accompanied with experimental data

This essential volume, a brilliant source for engineers as well as scientists in numerous fields, document the state of the art of laser physics and it applications. Scientific trends and related technological aspects are considered by compiling results and conclusions from phenomenology, observation and experiments. Reliable data, physical fundamentals and detailed references are presented. In recent decades the laser source has matured to a universal tool.

The Physical Electronics Department of SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) has been pioneering the development of devices fabricated to submicron tolerances for well over 20 years. In 1961, a landmark paper on electron-beam lithography and its associated technologies was published by K. R. Shoulderst (then at SRI), which set the stage for our subsequent efforts in this field. He had the foresight to believe that the building of such small devices was actually within the range of human capabilities. As a result of this initial momentum, our experience in the technologies associated with microfabrication has become remarkably comprehensive, despite the relatively small size of our research activity. We have frequently been asked to deliver seminars or provide reviews on various aspects of micro fabrication. These activities made us aware of the need for a comprehensive overview of the physics of microfabrication. We hope that this book will fill that need."

Mid-Infrared Fibre Photonics: Glass Materials, Fibre Fabrication and Processing, Laser Sources and Devicess combines the latest glass chemistry, fibre fabrication and post processing techniques to provide a comprehensive reference on the fundamental science and latest research in fibre photonics for the mid-infrared range. The book systematically reviews the key glass materials systems including fluorides, chalcogenides, and oxides. Each materials chapter includes discussion of composition, structure, thermal, optical and mechanical properties, extrinsic and intrinsic loss mechanisms, materials preparation and purification techniques. Then Mid-Infrared Fibre Photonics: Glass Materials, Fibre Fabrication and Processing, Laser Sources and Devicess covers the most relevant fabrication, post-processing, and spectroscopy techniques. Fibre sources are also addressed including fibre sources for continuous wave emission, pulsed emission, and broadband emission. The book concludes with a brief overview of important medical, sensing and defence applications.

The imaging process in stellar interferometers is explained starting from first principles on wave propagation and diffraction. Wave propagation through turbulence is described in detail using Kolmogorov statistics. The impact of turbulence on the imaging process is discussed both for single telescopes and for interferometers. Correction methods (adaptive optics and fringe tracking) are presented including wavefront sensing/fringe sensing methods and closed loop operation. Instrumental techniques like beam combination and visibility measurements (modulus and phase) as well as Nulling and heterodyne interferometry are described. The book closes with examples of observing programmes linking the theory with individual astrophysical programmes.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science and optical science which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed articles authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter opens with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield as well as graduate students can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand. These are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This eighth volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on molecules interacting with ultrashort and intense laser fields, advanced technologies for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses and their applications, laser plasma formation and laser acceleration.

In the development of digital multimedia, the importance and impact of image processing and mathematical morphology are well documented in areas ranging from automated vision detection and inspection to object recognition, image analysis and pattern recognition. Those working in these ever-evolving fields require a solid grasp of basic fundamentals, theory, and related applications and few books can provide the unique tools for learning contained in this text.

Image Processing and Mathematical Morphology: Fundamentals and Applications is a comprehensive, wide-ranging overview of morphological mechanisms and techniques and their relation to image processing. More than merely a tutorial on vital technical information, the book places this knowledge into a theoretical framework. This helps readers analyze key principles and architectures and then use the author 's novel ideas on implementation of advanced algorithms to formulate a practical and detailed plan to develop and foster their own ideas. The book:

• Presents the history and state-of-the-art techniques related to image morphological processing, with numerous practical examples
• Gives readers a clear tutorial on complex technology and other tools that rely on their intuition for a clear understanding of the subject
• Includes an updated bibliography and useful graphs and illustrations
• Examines several new algorithms in great detail so that readers can adapt them to derive their own solution approaches

This invaluable reference helps readers assess and simplify problems and their essential requirements and complexities, giving them all the necessary data and methodology to master current theoretical developments and applications, as well as create new ones.

Reasoning for Information: Seeking and Planning Dialogues provides a logic-based reasoning component for spoken language dialogue systems. This component, called Problem Assistant is responsible for processing constraints on a possible solution obtained from various sources, namely user and the system's domain-specific information. The authors also present findings on the implementation of a dialogue management interface to the Problem Assistant. The dialogue system supports simple mixed-initiative planning interactions in the TRAINS domain, which is still a relatively complex domain involving a number of logical constraints and relations forming the basis for the collaborative problem-solving behavior that drives the dialogue.

This is the most comprehensive book on the basics, realization and applications of micromechanical photonics. Its purpose is to give the engineering student and the practical engineer a systematic introduction to optical MEMS (Micro electro mechanical systems) and micromechanical photonics. It does this not only through theoretical and experimental results, but also by describing various products and their fields of application.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science, and optical science, which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed chapters authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter begins with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield, as well as graduate students, can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand; these are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This seventh volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on the ionization of atoms and molecules, ultrafast responses of protons and electrons within a molecule, molecular alignment, high-order harmonics and attosecond pulse generation, and acceleration of electrons and ions in laser plasmas.

This volume focuses on the characterization of nano-optical materials and optical near-field interactions. It begins with the techniques for characterizing the magneto-optical Kerr effect and continues with methods to determine structural and optical properties in high-quality quantum wires with high spatial uniformity. Further topics include: near-field luminescence mapping in InGaN/GaN single quantum well structures in order to interpret the recombination mechanism in InGaN-based nano-structures; and theoretical treatment of the optical near field and optical near-field interactions, providing the basis for investigating the signal transport and associated dissipation in nano-optical devices. Taken as a whole, this overview will be a valuable resource for engineers and scientists working in the field of nano-electro-optics.

For many astronomers, Adaptive Optics is something like a dream coming true. Sinee 1609 and the first observations of celestial bodies performed with the help of an optieal teleseope, astronomers have always fighted to improve the 'resolving power' of their instruments. For a long time, engineers have trimmed the optieal quality of the teleseopes, until they finally reaehed the barrier set by the atmospherie turbulence, a few seconds of are. At that point, the intrinsic quality of the site beeame a major issue to establish new observatories with modern telescopes, and astronomers started to desert the urban skies and to migrate toward mountains and deserts. This quest has been sueeessful and a few privileged sites, where the average natural 'seeing' is close to 0. 5," are now hosting clusters of giant telescopes of the 4 m and soon 10 m class. Yet, this atmospherie limit corresponds in the visible wavelength range to the diffraetion limit of a 20 em telescope only. The loss was severe: a faetor 20 in angular and several hundred in peak energy eoncentration, i. e. in deteetivity of resolution very faint objeets. In the beginning of the seventies, two doors half opened to provide a way out of this dead-end. First, the technique of speckle interferometry (and its various related developments) has allowed to restore the diffraetion limit of large telescopes at visible and infrared wavelengths (see, e. g.

This book provides a cross-section of cutting-edge research areas being pursued by researchers in spatial data handling and geographic information science (GIS). It presents selected papers on the advancement of spatial data handling and GIS in digital cartography, geospatial data integration, geospatial database and data infrastructures, geospatial data modeling, GIS for sustainable development, the interoperability of heterogeneous spatial data systems, location-based services, spatial knowledge discovery and data mining, spatial decision support systems, spatial data structures and algorithms, spatial statistics, spatial data quality and uncertainty, the visualization of spatial data, and web and wireless applications in GIS.

This book is a collection of papers presented by renowned researchers, keynote speakers, and academicians in the International Conference on VLSI, Communication, Analog Designs, Signals & Systems and Networking (VCASAN-2013), organized by B.N.M. Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India during July 17 19, 2013. The book provides global trends in cutting-edge technologies in electronics and communication engineering. The content of the book is useful to engineers, researchers, and academicians as well as industry professionals.

Optics and Lasers is an introduction to applied optics, covering elementary ray and wave optics as well as lasers, holography, fibers, optical waveguides, integrated optics, and quantum noise. Further chapters deal with the physical principles of optical instruments, light sources, and detectors. Numerous examples and exercises with complete solutions help the readers to deepen their knowledge.This completely revised and enlarged edition is intended for advanced undergraduates in laser physics and engineering but will also be helpful for active scientists.

This book traces the evolution of our understanding and utilization of light from classical antiquity and the early thoughts of Pythagoras to the present time. From the earliest recorded theories and experiments to the latest applications in photonic communication and computation, the ways in which light has been put to use are numerous and astounding. Indeed, some of the latest advances in light science are in fields that until recently belonged to the realm of science fiction. The author, writing for an audience of both students and other scientifically interested readers, describes fundamental investigations of the nature of light and ongoing methods to measure its speed as well as the emergence of the wave theory of light and the complementary photon theory. The importance of light in the theory of relativity is discussed as is the development of electrically-driven light sources and lasers. The information here covers the range o f weak single-photon light sources to super-high power lasers and synchrotron light sources. Many cutting-edge topics are also introduced, including entanglement-based quantum communication through optical fibers and free space, quantum teleportation, and quantum computing. The nature and use of "squeezed light" - e.g. for gravitational wave detection - is another fascinating excursion, as is the topic of fabricated metamaterials, as used to create invisibility cloaks. Here the reader also learns about the realization of extremely slow speed and time-reversed light. The theories, experiments, and applications described in this book are, whenever possible, derived from original references. The many annotated drawings and level of detail make clear the goals, procedures, and conclusions of the original investigators. Where they are required, all specialist terms and mathematical symbols are defined and explained. The final part of the book covers light expe riments in the free space of the cosmos, and also speculates about scenarios for the cosmological origins of light and the expected fate of the photon in a dying universe.

In this book, hierarchical structures based on neural networks are investigated for automatic speech recognition. These structures are mainly evaluated within the phoneme recognition task under the Hybrid Hidden Markov Model/Artificial Neural Network (HMM/ANN) paradigm. The baseline hierarchical scheme consists of two levels each which is based on a Multilayered Perceptron (MLP). Additionally, the output of the first level is used as an input for the second level. This system can be substantially speeded up by removing the redundant information contained at the output of the first level.

This handbook brings together a variety of approaches to the uses of big data in multiple fields, primarily science, medicine, and business. This single resource features contributions from researchers around the world from a variety of fields, where they share their findings and experience. This book is intended to help spur further innovation in big data. The research is presented in a way that allows readers, regardless of their field of study, to learn from how applications have proven successful and how similar applications could be used in their own field. Contributions stem from researchers in fields such as physics, biology, energy, healthcare, and business. The contributors also discuss important topics such as fraud detection, privacy implications, legal perspectives, and ethical handling of big data.

This book is an introduction to techniques and applications of optical methods for materials Characterization in civil and environmental engineering. Emphasizing chemical sensing and diagnostics, it is written for students and researchers studying the physical and chemical processes in manmade or natural materials. Optical Phenomenology and Applications - Health Monitoring for Infrastructure Materials and the Environment, describes the utility of optical-sensing technologies in applications that include monitoring of transport processes and reaction chemistries in materials of the infrastructure and the subsurface environment. Many of the applications reviewed will address long standing issues in infrastructure health monitoring such as the alkali silica reaction, the role of pH in materials degradation, and the remote and inset characterization of the subsurface environment. The remarkable growth in photonics has contributed immensely to transforming bench-top optical instruments to compact field deployable systems. This has also contributed to optical sensors for environmental sensing and infrastructure health monitoring. Application of optical waveguides and full field imaging for civil and environmental engineering application is introduced and chemical and physical recognition strategies are presented; this is followed by range of filed deployable applications. Emphasizing system robustness, and long-term durability, examples covered include in-situ monitoring of transport phenomena, imaging degradation chemistries, and remote sensing of the subsurface ground water.

In the early 1990s, the establishment of the Internet brought forth a revolutionary viewpoint of information storage, distribution, and processing: the World Wide Web is becoming an enormous and expanding distributed digital library. Along with the development of the Web, image indexing and retrieval have grown into research areas sharing a vision of intelligent agents. Far beyond Web searching, image indexing and retrieval can potentially be applied to many other areas, including biomedicine, space science, biometric identification, digital libraries, the military, education, commerce, culture and entertainment.
Machine Learning and Statistical Modeling Approaches to Image Retrieval describes several approaches of integrating machine learning and statistical modeling into an image retrieval and indexing system that demonstrates promising results. The topics of this book reflect authors' experiences of machine learning and statistical modeling based image indexing and retrieval. This book contains detailed references for further reading and research in this field as well.

This newly revised and updated edition offers a current and complete introduction to the analysis and design of Electro-Optical (EO) imaging systems. The Third Edition provides numerous updates and several new chapters including those covering Pilotage, Infrared Search and Track, and Simplified Target Acquisition Model. The principles and components of the Linear Shift-Invariant (LSI) infrared and electro-optical systems are detailed in full and help you to combine this approach with calculus and domain transformations to achieve a successful imaging system analysis. Ultimately, the steps described in this book lead to results in quantitative characterizations of performance metrics such as modulation transfer functions, minimum resolvable temperature difference, minimum resolvable contrast, and probability of object discrimination. The book includes an introduction to two-dimensional functions and mathematics which can be used to describe image transfer characteristics and imaging system components. You also learn diffraction concepts of coherent and incoherent imaging systems which show you the fundamental limits of their performance. By using the evaluation procedures contained in this desktop reference, you become capable of predicting both sensor test and field performance and quantifying the effects of component variations. The book contains over 800 time-saving equations and includes numerous analyses and designs throughout. It also includes a reference link to special website prepared by the authors that augments the book in the classroom and serves as an additional resource for practicing engineers. With its comprehensive coverage and practical approach, this is a strong resource for engineers needing a bench reference for sensor and basic scenario performance calculations. Numerous analyses and designs are given throughout the text. It is also an excellent text for upper-level students with an interest in electronic imaging systems.

This book covers four major topics of integrated photonics: 1) fundamental principles of electromagnetic theory; 2) waveguides; 3) simulation of waveguide modes, and 4) photonic structures. The first part of the text explores the basis for optical propagation and establishes the use of the MKS system, discussing the wave equation and the properties of materials such as attenuation and dispersion. The next section explores the operation of optical waveguides. We start with planar slab waveguides, then systematically advance to more complicated structures, such as graded index waveguides, circular waveguides, and rectangular waveguides. The details of coupling light between and within waveguide modes is clearly described, and applied to the examination of photonic bandgap crystals and optical devices such as arrayed waveguides. The final section of the text discusses optoelectronic devices such as modulators and switches. These topics are very active areas of research today, and are likely to increase in significance as they mature.
From the beginning Integrated Photonics introduces numerical techniques for studying non-analytic structures. Most chapters have numerical problems designed for solution using a computational program such as Matlab or Mathematica. An entire chapter is devoted to one of the numeric simulation techniques being used in optoelectronic design (the Beam Propagation Method), and provides opportunity for students to explore some novel optical structures without too much effort. Small pieces of code are supplied where appropriate to get the reader started on the numeric work.
Integrated Photonics is designed for the senior/first year graduate student, andrequires a basic familiarity with electromagnetic waves, and the ability to solve differential equations with boundary conditions.