Identification of the ice channel is the basic technology for developing intelligent ships in ice-covered waters,which is important to ensure the safety and economy of navigation.In the Arctic,merchant ships with low ...Identification of the ice channel is the basic technology for developing intelligent ships in ice-covered waters,which is important to ensure the safety and economy of navigation.In the Arctic,merchant ships with low ice class often navigate in channels opened up by icebreakers.Navigation in the ice channel often depends on good maneuverability skills and abundant experience from the captain to a large extent.The ship may get stuck if steered into ice fields off the channel.Under this circumstance,it is very important to study how to identify the boundary lines of ice channels with a reliable method.In this paper,a two-staged ice channel identification method is developed based on image segmentation and corner point regression.The first stage employs the image segmentation method to extract channel regions.In the second stage,an intelligent corner regression network is proposed to extract the channel boundary lines from the channel region.A non-intelligent angle-based filtering and clustering method is proposed and compared with corner point regression network.The training and evaluation of the segmentation method and corner regression network are carried out on the synthetic and real ice channel dataset.The evaluation results show that the accuracy of the method using the corner point regression network in the second stage is achieved as high as 73.33%on the synthetic ice channel dataset and 70.66%on the real ice channel dataset,and the processing speed can reach up to 14.58frames per second.展开更多
We study equations in divergence form with piecewise Cαcoefficients.The domains contain corners and the discontinuity surfaces are attached to the edges of the corners.We obtain piecewise C^(1,α) estimates across th...We study equations in divergence form with piecewise Cαcoefficients.The domains contain corners and the discontinuity surfaces are attached to the edges of the corners.We obtain piecewise C^(1,α) estimates across the discontinuity surfaces and provide an example to illustrate the issue regarding the regularity at the corners.展开更多
Passive jamming is believed to have very good potential in countermeasure community.In this paper,a passive angular blinking jamming method based on electronically controlled corner reflectors is proposed.The amplitud...Passive jamming is believed to have very good potential in countermeasure community.In this paper,a passive angular blinking jamming method based on electronically controlled corner reflectors is proposed.The amplitude of the incident wave can be modulated by switching the corner reflector between the penetration state and the reflection state,and the ensemble of multiple corner reflectors with towing rope can result in complex angle decoying effects.Dependency of the decoying effect on corner reflectors’radar cross section and positions are analyzed and simulated.Results show that the angle measured by a monopulse radar can be significantly interfered by this method while the automatic tracking is employed.展开更多
We present a stable valley photonic crystal(VPC)unit cell with C_(3v)symmetric quasi-ring-shaped dielectric columns and realize its topological phase transition by breaking mirror symmetry.Based on this unit cell stru...We present a stable valley photonic crystal(VPC)unit cell with C_(3v)symmetric quasi-ring-shaped dielectric columns and realize its topological phase transition by breaking mirror symmetry.Based on this unit cell structure,topological edge states(TESs)and topological corner states(TCSs)are realized.We obtain a new type of wave transmission mode based on photonic crystal zipper-like boundaries and apply it to a beam splitter assembled from rectangular photonic crystals(PCs).The constructed beam splitter structure is compact and possesses frequency separation functions.In addition,we construct a box-shaped triangular PC structures with zipper-like boundaries and discover phenomena of TCSs in the corners,comparing its corner states with those formed by other boundaries.Based on this,we explore the regularities of the electric field patterns of TESs and TCSs,explain the connection between the characteristic frequencies and locality of TCSs,which helps better control photons and ensures low power consumption of the system.展开更多
We investigate the higher-order topological laser in the two-dimensional(2D) coupled-cavity array. By adding staggered on-site gain and loss to the 2D Hermitian array with a trivial phase, the system will emerge degen...We investigate the higher-order topological laser in the two-dimensional(2D) coupled-cavity array. By adding staggered on-site gain and loss to the 2D Hermitian array with a trivial phase, the system will emerge degenerate topological corner modes, which are protected by bulk band gap. For such a non-Hermitian model, by adjusting the parameters of the system and introducing the pumping into the cavity at the corner, a single-mode lasing with topological protection emerges.Furthermore, single-mode lasing exists over a wide range of pumping strengths. No matter where the cavity is initially stimulated, after enough time evolution, all the cavities belonging to the topological corner mode can emit a stable laser.展开更多
We explore the behaviors of optically coupled topological corner states in supercell arrays composed of photonic crystal rods,where each supercell is a second-order topological insulator.Our findings indicate that the...We explore the behaviors of optically coupled topological corner states in supercell arrays composed of photonic crystal rods,where each supercell is a second-order topological insulator.Our findings indicate that the coupled corner states possess nondegenerate eigenfrequencies at theΓpoint,with coupled dipole corner states excited resonantly by incident plane waves and displaying a polarization-independent characteristic.The resonance properties of coupled dipole corner states can be effectively modulated via evanescently near-field coupling,while multipole decomposition shows that they are primarily dominated by electric quadrupole moment and magnetic dipole moment.Furthermore,we demonstrate that these coupled corner states can form surface lattice resonances driven by diffractively far-field coupling,leading to a dramatic increase in the quality factor.This work introduces more optical approaches to tailoring photonic topological states,and holds potential applications in mid-infrared topological micro-nano devices.展开更多
A major challenge facing the steady-state operation of tokamak fusion reactors is to develop a viable divertor solution with order-of-magnitude increase in power handling capability as compared with present experience...A major challenge facing the steady-state operation of tokamak fusion reactors is to develop a viable divertor solution with order-of-magnitude increase in power handling capability as compared with present experience.A recently developed divertor concept for this end has been tested recently on EAST tokamak through combining the effects of a closed divertor corner and E×B drifts.The E×B drifts in the divertor move particles towards the outer divertor corner area in the scrape-off layer for B×▽B directed away from the divertor,which can significantly enhance the particle concentration there,facilitating divertor detachment.In recent EAST experiments,the effects have been demonstrated where the lowest electron temperature at the divertor plate is obtained with strike point located close to the corner in the horizontal target and with B×▽B away from the divertor.These experimental results are in reasonable agreement with SOLPS-ITER simulations including drift effects,suggesting that the new divertor concept potentially provides a promising divertor solution for long-pulse operations of future tokamak fusion reactors with much higher power fluxes.展开更多
As China moves to fundamentally improve its virus response by downgrading COVID-19 management to Class B from top-level Class A,one sector that has remained crucial yet bruised by the three-year battle against the dis...As China moves to fundamentally improve its virus response by downgrading COVID-19 management to Class B from top-level Class A,one sector that has remained crucial yet bruised by the three-year battle against the disease finally released a sigh of relief.展开更多
During both daily operation and emergency evacuation,the corners of walking facilities in subway stations play an important role in efficient circulation.However,the effectiveness of the corner is difficult to assess....During both daily operation and emergency evacuation,the corners of walking facilities in subway stations play an important role in efficient circulation.However,the effectiveness of the corner is difficult to assess.In this paper,a method of passenger gathering and scattering analysis based on queueing models was proposed to investigate the corner performance in subway stations.Firstly,we constructed a set of state spaces of passenger flow according to passenger density and proposed the state transition model of passenger flow.Moreover,the model of passenger flow blocking and unblocking probability were also presented.Then,to illustrate the validity of the method and model,several passenger gathering-scattering scenarios and were simulated to verify the influence of passenger distribution and facility width on passenger walking,and the blocking probability,throughput,and expected time were also analyzed under various widths of the target corridor and arrival rates.Results showed that the proposed model can reproduce the trend of walking parameters changing and the self-organizing phenomenon of'faster is lower'.With the increase of arrival rates of passengers,walking speeds of passengers decrease and the expected walking time is prolonged,and the blocking probability sharply increased when the arrival rate exceeded 7 peds/s.In addition,with change of width of the target facility,efficiency of capacity of walking circulation facility fluctuated.With the width of the target corridor enlarged by 10%,the steady state of passenger flow was less crowded.Therefore,corridor width is critical to the circulation efficiency of passengers in subway stations.The conclusions will help to develop reasonable passenger flow control plans to ease the jam and keep passengers walking safely.展开更多
We present a novel incremental algorithm for non-slicing floorplans based on the corner block list representation. The horizontal and vertical adjacency graphs are derived from the packing of the initial floorplanning...We present a novel incremental algorithm for non-slicing floorplans based on the corner block list representation. The horizontal and vertical adjacency graphs are derived from the packing of the initial floorplanning results. Based on the critical path and the accumulated slack distances we define,we choose the best position for insertion and do a series of operations incrementally, such as deleting modules, adding modules, and resizing modules quickly. This incremental floorplanning algorithm has a very high speed less than 1μm,which is one of the most important measures in this research. The algorithm preserves the original good performances on area and wire length. It can also supply other tools with good physical estimates for area, wire length, and other performance guidelines.展开更多
Corner detection is a chief step in computer vision. A new corner detection algorithm in planar curves is proposed. Firstly, from the human perception, two key characteristics are given as an amendment of the traditio...Corner detection is a chief step in computer vision. A new corner detection algorithm in planar curves is proposed. Firstly, from the human perception, two key characteristics are given as an amendment of the traditional corner properties. Based on the two properties, the concept of the fuzzy set is introduced into a detection. Secondly, the extracted-formulae of three groups including the features of the corner subject degree are derived. Through synthesizing the features of three groups, the judgments of the corner detection, location, and optimization are obtained. Finally, by using the algorithm the detection results of several examples and feature curves for some interested parts, as well as the detection results for the test images history in references are given. Results show that the algorithm is easily realized after adopting the fuzzy set, and the detection effect is very ideal.展开更多
In milling around sharp corners, residual materials are left at sharp corners when the stepover is extremely long in the contour-parallel tool path. Milling force at the sharp corner rises momentarily due to the incre...In milling around sharp corners, residual materials are left at sharp corners when the stepover is extremely long in the contour-parallel tool path. Milling force at the sharp corner rises momentarily due to the increase of the cutter contact length, thus shortening the tool life and leading to machine chatter, even cutter breakage. Then a tool path improvement method by inserting biarc transition segments in the contour-parallel tool path is proposed for milling the pocket. Using the method, the cutter moves along the biarc transition tool path. And the corner material is removed. The improved tool path is continuous for clearing residual materials at the sharp corner. Finally, the machining experiment validates the proposed method.展开更多
A multi layer gridless area router is reported.Based on corner stitching,this router adopts tile expansion to explore path for each net.A heuristic method that penalizes nodes deviating from the destination is devise...A multi layer gridless area router is reported.Based on corner stitching,this router adopts tile expansion to explore path for each net.A heuristic method that penalizes nodes deviating from the destination is devised to accelerate the algorithm.Besides,an enhanced interval tree is used to manage the intermediate data structure.In order to improve the completion rate of routing,a new gridless rip up and rerouting algorithm is proposed.The experimental results indicate that the completion rate is improved after the rip up and reroute process and the speed of this algorithm is satisfactory.展开更多
Most of local feature descriptors assume that the scene is planar. In the real scene, the captured images come from the 3-D world. 3-D corner as a novel invariant feature is important for the image matching and the ob...Most of local feature descriptors assume that the scene is planar. In the real scene, the captured images come from the 3-D world. 3-D corner as a novel invariant feature is important for the image matching and the object detection, while automatically discriminating 3-D corners from ordinary corners is difficult. A novel method for 3-D corner detection is proposed based on the image graph grammar, and it can detect the 3-D features of corners to some extent. Experimental results show that the method is valid and the 3-D corner is useful for image matching.展开更多
There are many factors affecting English learning,and motivation of learner is crucial to it.The purpose of this paper is to explore some measures to stimulate English learning motivation and help college students to ...There are many factors affecting English learning,and motivation of learner is crucial to it.The purpose of this paper is to explore some measures to stimulate English learning motivation and help college students to learn English better.Based on the investigation of college students’participation in English corner,this paper focuses on the main factors affecting the English learning motivation of Chinese college students.The paper investigates the situation of college students taking part in English corner,and analyzes what is the English learning motivation of college students,based on a questionnaire survey of 180 random students in Xi’an Innovation College of Yan’an University,as well as uses other relevant scholars’ideas for reference.And then it puts forward some efficient measures to promote college students’English learning.展开更多
This paper presents a corner-based image alignment algorithm based on the procedures of corner-based template matching and geometric parameter estimation. This algorithm consists of two stages: 1) training phase, and ...This paper presents a corner-based image alignment algorithm based on the procedures of corner-based template matching and geometric parameter estimation. This algorithm consists of two stages: 1) training phase, and 2) matching phase. In the training phase, a corner detection algorithm is used to extract the corners. These corners are then used to build the pyramid images. In the matching phase, the corners are obtained using the same corner detection algorithm. The similarity measure is then determined by the differences of gradient vector between the corners obtained in the template image and the inspection image, respectively. A parabolic function is further applied to evaluate the geometric relationship between the template and the inspection images. Results show that the corner-based template matching outperforms the original edge-based template matching in efficiency, and both of them are robust against non-liner light changes. The accuracy and precision of the corner-based image alignment are competitive to that of edge-based image alignment under the same environment. In practice, the proposed algorithm demonstrates its precision, efficiency and robustness in image alignment for real world applications.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program(Grant No.2022YFE0107000)the General Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52171259)the High-Tech Ship Research Project of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(Grant No.[2021]342)。
文摘Identification of the ice channel is the basic technology for developing intelligent ships in ice-covered waters,which is important to ensure the safety and economy of navigation.In the Arctic,merchant ships with low ice class often navigate in channels opened up by icebreakers.Navigation in the ice channel often depends on good maneuverability skills and abundant experience from the captain to a large extent.The ship may get stuck if steered into ice fields off the channel.Under this circumstance,it is very important to study how to identify the boundary lines of ice channels with a reliable method.In this paper,a two-staged ice channel identification method is developed based on image segmentation and corner point regression.The first stage employs the image segmentation method to extract channel regions.In the second stage,an intelligent corner regression network is proposed to extract the channel boundary lines from the channel region.A non-intelligent angle-based filtering and clustering method is proposed and compared with corner point regression network.The training and evaluation of the segmentation method and corner regression network are carried out on the synthetic and real ice channel dataset.The evaluation results show that the accuracy of the method using the corner point regression network in the second stage is achieved as high as 73.33%on the synthetic ice channel dataset and 70.66%on the real ice channel dataset,and the processing speed can reach up to 14.58frames per second.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(12061080,12161087 and 12261093)the Science and Technology Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province(GJJ211601)supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(11871305).
文摘We study equations in divergence form with piecewise Cαcoefficients.The domains contain corners and the discontinuity surfaces are attached to the edges of the corners.We obtain piecewise C^(1,α) estimates across the discontinuity surfaces and provide an example to illustrate the issue regarding the regularity at the corners.
基金supported by the Equipment Pre-research Project(GK202002A020068)。
文摘Passive jamming is believed to have very good potential in countermeasure community.In this paper,a passive angular blinking jamming method based on electronically controlled corner reflectors is proposed.The amplitude of the incident wave can be modulated by switching the corner reflector between the penetration state and the reflection state,and the ensemble of multiple corner reflectors with towing rope can result in complex angle decoying effects.Dependency of the decoying effect on corner reflectors’radar cross section and positions are analyzed and simulated.Results show that the angle measured by a monopulse radar can be significantly interfered by this method while the automatic tracking is employed.
基金Project supported by the Suzhou Basic Research Project (Grant No.SJC2023003)Suzhou City University National Project Pre-research Project (Grant No.2023SGY014)。
文摘We present a stable valley photonic crystal(VPC)unit cell with C_(3v)symmetric quasi-ring-shaped dielectric columns and realize its topological phase transition by breaking mirror symmetry.Based on this unit cell structure,topological edge states(TESs)and topological corner states(TCSs)are realized.We obtain a new type of wave transmission mode based on photonic crystal zipper-like boundaries and apply it to a beam splitter assembled from rectangular photonic crystals(PCs).The constructed beam splitter structure is compact and possesses frequency separation functions.In addition,we construct a box-shaped triangular PC structures with zipper-like boundaries and discover phenomena of TCSs in the corners,comparing its corner states with those formed by other boundaries.Based on this,we explore the regularities of the electric field patterns of TESs and TCSs,explain the connection between the characteristic frequencies and locality of TCSs,which helps better control photons and ensures low power consumption of the system.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12274326 and 12174288)the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2021YFA1400602)。
文摘We investigate the higher-order topological laser in the two-dimensional(2D) coupled-cavity array. By adding staggered on-site gain and loss to the 2D Hermitian array with a trivial phase, the system will emerge degenerate topological corner modes, which are protected by bulk band gap. For such a non-Hermitian model, by adjusting the parameters of the system and introducing the pumping into the cavity at the corner, a single-mode lasing with topological protection emerges.Furthermore, single-mode lasing exists over a wide range of pumping strengths. No matter where the cavity is initially stimulated, after enough time evolution, all the cavities belonging to the topological corner mode can emit a stable laser.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.62275271,12272407,and 62275269)the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2022YFF0706005)+1 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province,China (Grant Nos.2023JJ40683,2022JJ40552,and 2020JJ5646)the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University,China (Grant No.NCET-12-0142)。
文摘We explore the behaviors of optically coupled topological corner states in supercell arrays composed of photonic crystal rods,where each supercell is a second-order topological insulator.Our findings indicate that the coupled corner states possess nondegenerate eigenfrequencies at theΓpoint,with coupled dipole corner states excited resonantly by incident plane waves and displaying a polarization-independent characteristic.The resonance properties of coupled dipole corner states can be effectively modulated via evanescently near-field coupling,while multipole decomposition shows that they are primarily dominated by electric quadrupole moment and magnetic dipole moment.Furthermore,we demonstrate that these coupled corner states can form surface lattice resonances driven by diffractively far-field coupling,leading to a dramatic increase in the quality factor.This work introduces more optical approaches to tailoring photonic topological states,and holds potential applications in mid-infrared topological micro-nano devices.
基金funded by the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Program of China(Nos.2019YFE03030000,2019YFE03080500 and 2022YFE03060004)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.U19A20113)。
文摘A major challenge facing the steady-state operation of tokamak fusion reactors is to develop a viable divertor solution with order-of-magnitude increase in power handling capability as compared with present experience.A recently developed divertor concept for this end has been tested recently on EAST tokamak through combining the effects of a closed divertor corner and E×B drifts.The E×B drifts in the divertor move particles towards the outer divertor corner area in the scrape-off layer for B×▽B directed away from the divertor,which can significantly enhance the particle concentration there,facilitating divertor detachment.In recent EAST experiments,the effects have been demonstrated where the lowest electron temperature at the divertor plate is obtained with strike point located close to the corner in the horizontal target and with B×▽B away from the divertor.These experimental results are in reasonable agreement with SOLPS-ITER simulations including drift effects,suggesting that the new divertor concept potentially provides a promising divertor solution for long-pulse operations of future tokamak fusion reactors with much higher power fluxes.
文摘As China moves to fundamentally improve its virus response by downgrading COVID-19 management to Class B from top-level Class A,one sector that has remained crucial yet bruised by the three-year battle against the disease finally released a sigh of relief.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2020YFB1600701).
文摘During both daily operation and emergency evacuation,the corners of walking facilities in subway stations play an important role in efficient circulation.However,the effectiveness of the corner is difficult to assess.In this paper,a method of passenger gathering and scattering analysis based on queueing models was proposed to investigate the corner performance in subway stations.Firstly,we constructed a set of state spaces of passenger flow according to passenger density and proposed the state transition model of passenger flow.Moreover,the model of passenger flow blocking and unblocking probability were also presented.Then,to illustrate the validity of the method and model,several passenger gathering-scattering scenarios and were simulated to verify the influence of passenger distribution and facility width on passenger walking,and the blocking probability,throughput,and expected time were also analyzed under various widths of the target corridor and arrival rates.Results showed that the proposed model can reproduce the trend of walking parameters changing and the self-organizing phenomenon of'faster is lower'.With the increase of arrival rates of passengers,walking speeds of passengers decrease and the expected walking time is prolonged,and the blocking probability sharply increased when the arrival rate exceeded 7 peds/s.In addition,with change of width of the target facility,efficiency of capacity of walking circulation facility fluctuated.With the width of the target corridor enlarged by 10%,the steady state of passenger flow was less crowded.Therefore,corridor width is critical to the circulation efficiency of passengers in subway stations.The conclusions will help to develop reasonable passenger flow control plans to ease the jam and keep passengers walking safely.
文摘We present a novel incremental algorithm for non-slicing floorplans based on the corner block list representation. The horizontal and vertical adjacency graphs are derived from the packing of the initial floorplanning results. Based on the critical path and the accumulated slack distances we define,we choose the best position for insertion and do a series of operations incrementally, such as deleting modules, adding modules, and resizing modules quickly. This incremental floorplanning algorithm has a very high speed less than 1μm,which is one of the most important measures in this research. The algorithm preserves the original good performances on area and wire length. It can also supply other tools with good physical estimates for area, wire length, and other performance guidelines.
文摘Corner detection is a chief step in computer vision. A new corner detection algorithm in planar curves is proposed. Firstly, from the human perception, two key characteristics are given as an amendment of the traditional corner properties. Based on the two properties, the concept of the fuzzy set is introduced into a detection. Secondly, the extracted-formulae of three groups including the features of the corner subject degree are derived. Through synthesizing the features of three groups, the judgments of the corner detection, location, and optimization are obtained. Finally, by using the algorithm the detection results of several examples and feature curves for some interested parts, as well as the detection results for the test images history in references are given. Results show that the algorithm is easily realized after adopting the fuzzy set, and the detection effect is very ideal.
文摘In milling around sharp corners, residual materials are left at sharp corners when the stepover is extremely long in the contour-parallel tool path. Milling force at the sharp corner rises momentarily due to the increase of the cutter contact length, thus shortening the tool life and leading to machine chatter, even cutter breakage. Then a tool path improvement method by inserting biarc transition segments in the contour-parallel tool path is proposed for milling the pocket. Using the method, the cutter moves along the biarc transition tool path. And the corner material is removed. The improved tool path is continuous for clearing residual materials at the sharp corner. Finally, the machining experiment validates the proposed method.
文摘A multi layer gridless area router is reported.Based on corner stitching,this router adopts tile expansion to explore path for each net.A heuristic method that penalizes nodes deviating from the destination is devised to accelerate the algorithm.Besides,an enhanced interval tree is used to manage the intermediate data structure.In order to improve the completion rate of routing,a new gridless rip up and rerouting algorithm is proposed.The experimental results indicate that the completion rate is improved after the rip up and reroute process and the speed of this algorithm is satisfactory.
文摘Most of local feature descriptors assume that the scene is planar. In the real scene, the captured images come from the 3-D world. 3-D corner as a novel invariant feature is important for the image matching and the object detection, while automatically discriminating 3-D corners from ordinary corners is difficult. A novel method for 3-D corner detection is proposed based on the image graph grammar, and it can detect the 3-D features of corners to some extent. Experimental results show that the method is valid and the 3-D corner is useful for image matching.
文摘There are many factors affecting English learning,and motivation of learner is crucial to it.The purpose of this paper is to explore some measures to stimulate English learning motivation and help college students to learn English better.Based on the investigation of college students’participation in English corner,this paper focuses on the main factors affecting the English learning motivation of Chinese college students.The paper investigates the situation of college students taking part in English corner,and analyzes what is the English learning motivation of college students,based on a questionnaire survey of 180 random students in Xi’an Innovation College of Yan’an University,as well as uses other relevant scholars’ideas for reference.And then it puts forward some efficient measures to promote college students’English learning.
文摘This paper presents a corner-based image alignment algorithm based on the procedures of corner-based template matching and geometric parameter estimation. This algorithm consists of two stages: 1) training phase, and 2) matching phase. In the training phase, a corner detection algorithm is used to extract the corners. These corners are then used to build the pyramid images. In the matching phase, the corners are obtained using the same corner detection algorithm. The similarity measure is then determined by the differences of gradient vector between the corners obtained in the template image and the inspection image, respectively. A parabolic function is further applied to evaluate the geometric relationship between the template and the inspection images. Results show that the corner-based template matching outperforms the original edge-based template matching in efficiency, and both of them are robust against non-liner light changes. The accuracy and precision of the corner-based image alignment are competitive to that of edge-based image alignment under the same environment. In practice, the proposed algorithm demonstrates its precision, efficiency and robustness in image alignment for real world applications.
