The term photonic crystals appears because of the analogy between electron waves in crystals and the light waves in artificial periodic dielectric structures. During the recent years the investigation of one-, two-and three-dimensional periodic structures has attracted a widespread attention of the world optics community because of great potentiality of such structures in advanced applied optical fields. The interest in periodic structures has been stimulated by the fast development of semiconductor technology that now allows the fabrication of artificial structures, whose period is comparable with the wavelength of light in the visible and infrared ranges.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/6354/16969/00781867.pdf

Photonic crystals

In the real world, a realistic setting for computer vision or multimedia recognition problems is that we have some classes containing lots of training data and many classes contain a small amount of training data. Therefore, how to use frequent classes to help learning rare classes for which it is harder to collect the training data is an open question. Learning with Shared Information is an emerging topic in machine learning, computer vision and multimedia analysis. There are different level of components that can be shared during concept modeling and machine learning stages, such as sharing generic object parts, sharing attributes, sharing transformations, sharing regularization parameters and sharing training examples, etc. Regarding the specific methods, multi-task learning, transfer learning and deep learning can be seen as using different strategies to share information. These learning with shared information methods are very effective in solving real-world large-scale problems. This special issue aims at gathering the recent advances in learning with shared information methods and their applications in computer vision and multimedia analysis. Both state-of-the-art works, as well as literature reviews, are welcome for submission. Papers addressing interesting real-world computer vision and multimedia applications are especially encouraged. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:  • Multi-task learning or transfer learning for large-scale computer vision and multimedia analysis • Deep learning for large-scale computer vision and multimedia analysis • Multi-modal approach for large-scale computer vision and multimedia analysis • Different sharing strategies, e.g., sharing generic object parts, sharing attributes, sharing transformations, sharing regularization parameters and sharing training examples, • Real-world computer vision and multimedia applications based on learning with shared information, e.g., event detection, object recognition, object detection, action recognition, human head pose estimation, object tracking, location-based services, semantic indexing. • New datasets and metrics to evaluate the benefit of the proposed sharing ability for the specific computer vision or multimedia problem. • Survey papers regarding the topic of learning with shared information.  Authors who are unsure whether their planned submission is in scope may contact the guest editors prior to the submission deadline with an abstract, in order to receive feedback.

IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence

Advances in soft robotics, materials science, and stretchable electronics have enabled rapid progress in soft grippers. Here, a critical overview of soft robotic grippers is presented, covering different material sets, physical principles, and device architectures. Soft gripping can be categorized into three technologies, enabling grasping by: a) actuation, b) controlled stiffness, and c) controlled adhesion. A comprehensive review of each type is presented. Compared to rigid grippers, end-effectors fabricated from flexible and soft components can often grasp or manipulate a larger variety of objects. Such grippers are an example of morphological computation, where control complexity is greatly reduced by material softness and mechanical compliance. Advanced materials and soft components, in particular silicone elastomers, shape memory materials, and active polymers and gels, are increasingly investigated for the design of lighter, simpler, and more universal grippers, using the inherent functionality of the materials. Embedding stretchable distributed sensors in or on soft grippers greatly enhances the ways in which the grippers interact with objects. Challenges for soft grippers include miniaturization, robustness, speed, integration of sensing, and control. Improved materials, processing methods, and sensing play an important role in future research.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/adma.201707035

Soft Robotic Grippers.

Finite element methods for Maxwell's equations.

Driven by functionality and purity demand for applications of inorganic nanoparticle colloids in optics, biology, and energy, their surface chemistry has become a topic of intensive research interest. Consequently, ligand-free colloids are ideal reference materials for evaluating the effects of surface adsorbates from the initial state for application-oriented nanointegration purposes. After two decades of development, laser synthesis and processing of colloids (LSPC) has emerged as a convenient and scalable technique for the synthesis of ligand-free nanomaterials in sealed environments. In addition to the high-purity surface of LSPC-generated nanoparticles, other strengths of LSPC include its high throughput, convenience for preparing alloys or series of doped nanomaterials, and its continuous operation mode, suitable for downstream processing. Unscreened surface charge of LSPC-synthesized colloids is the key to achieving colloidal stability and high affinity to biomolecules as well as support materials,...

Laser Synthesis and Processing of Colloids: Fundamentals and Applications

We propose an approach useful for the evaluation of electrical conductivity of nanocomposite materials. We consider the modeling of a polymeric matrix with gold nanoparticles by evaluating the electrical coupling of spherical gold nanoparticles embedded in chitosan polymer. The electrical coupling is generated by a voltage signal which provides a current distribution which is function of the gold nanonoparticles filling factor. We use a properly designed finite element method (FEM) tool.

FEM modeling of conductivity and electrical coupling in polymeric nanocomposite material

The proposed work describes a new approach based on supply chain traceability by blockchain (BC). The basic BC network has been designed and applied for vegetables process monitoring and tracing. The paper proposes some results of an industry research project by describing the whole scenario, the architectures implementing BC, the sequence diagram principle, and the prototype network embedding blocks and transactions. The discussion is also addressed on the possibility to combine different technique such as artificial intelligence, and image processing to improve pre-cut vegetable quality. The paper proposed preliminary results proves that the adopted technologies and the methodologies found in the literature are suitable for the sanitation process certification and for quality traceability. The mentioned approaches are useful to apply the suggested frameworks for other supply chains.

/pdf/blockchain-and-technologies-matching-with-the-case-of-study-4lb2zapztq.pdf

Blockchain and Technologies Matching with the Case of Study of Vegetables Production

In the following article a comparative analysis between Original Data (OD) and Augmented Data (AD) are carried out for the prediction of glycemic status in patients with diabetes. Specifically, the OD concerning the time series of the glycemic status of a patient are compared with AD. The AD are obtained by the randomised average with five different ranges, and are processed by a Machine Learning (ML) algorithm for prediction. The adopted ML algorithm is the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). In order to optimise the prediction two different data partitioning scenarios selecting training datasets are analysed. The results show that the algorithm performances related to the use of AD through the randomisation of data in different ranges around the average value, are better than the OD data processing about the minimization of statistical errors in self learning models. The best achieved error decrease is of 75.4% if compared with ANN-MLP processing of the original dataset. Furthermore, in the paper is added a linked discussion about the economic and managerial impact of AD in the healthcare sector.

/pdf/original-data-vs-high-performance-augmented-data-for-ann-23ifa0nk.pdf

Original Data Vs High Performance Augmented Data for ANN Prediction of Glycemic Status in Diabetes Patients

Bragg reflector by means of the form birefringence effect in dielectric rings

Diamond films exhibit interesting properties, such as a wide bandgap (5.5 eV) and very low electron affinity which favours the electron photoemission. Diamond based cold photocathode is well known and demonstrated, due also to its chemical stability and mechanical robustness. In this work, a comparative study on photoemission of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) film and nanodiamond (ND) layers obtained by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition and pulsed spray technique, respectively, is presented and discussed evidencing advantages and drawbacks. The first technique permits to obtain thin NCD films at high deposition temperature (650-900 °C) with excellent homogeneity and adhesion; whereas the second one allows to deposit thin ND layer at a temperature of 120 °C with poor adhesion and low uniformity. Both NCD film and ND layers have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoemission measurements.

Alessandro Massaro

Papers

FEM modeling of conductivity and electrical coupling in polymeric nanocomposite material

Blockchain and Technologies Matching with the Case of Study of Vegetables Production

Original Data Vs High Performance Augmented Data for ANN Prediction of Glycemic Status in Diabetes Patients

Bragg reflector by means of the form birefringence effect in dielectric rings

Comparative photoemission study between nanocrystalline diamond films and nanodiamond layers