WorldWideScience

Sample records for pose significant problems

  1. Problem Posing

    OpenAIRE

    Šilhavá, Marie

    2009-01-01

    This diploma thesis concentrates on problem posing from the students' point of view. Problem posing can be either seen as a teaching method which can be used in the class, or it can be used as a tool for researchers or teachers to assess the level of students' understanding of the topic. In my research, I compare three classes, one mathematics specialist class and two generalist classes, in their ability of problem posing. As an assessment tool it seemed that mathemathics specialists were abl...

  2. The art of problem posing

    CERN Document Server

    Brown, Stephen I

    1990-01-01

    Updated and expanded, this second edition satisfies the same philosophical objective as the first -- to show the importance of problem posing. Although interest in mathematical problem solving increased during the past decade, problem posing remained relatively ignored. The Art of Problem Posing draws attention to this equally important act and is the innovator in the field. Special features include: * an exploration ofthe logical relationship between problem posing and problem solving * a special chapter devoted to teaching problem posing as a separate course * sketches, drawings, diagrams, and cartoons that illustrate the schemes proposed * a special section on writing in mathematics.

  3. Problem posing reflections and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Brown, Stephen I

    2014-01-01

    As a result of the editors' collaborative teaching at Harvard in the late 1960s, they produced a ground-breaking work -- The Art Of Problem Posing -- which related problem posing strategies to the already popular activity of problem solving. It took the concept of problem posing and created strategies for engaging in that activity as a central theme in mathematics education. Based in part upon that work and also upon a number of articles by its authors, other members of the mathematics education community began to apply and expand upon their ideas. This collection of thirty readings is a tes

  4. University Students' Problem Posing Abilities and Attitudes towards Mathematics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grundmeier, Todd A.

    2002-01-01

    Explores the problem posing abilities and attitudes towards mathematics of students in a university pre-calculus class and a university mathematical proof class. Reports a significant difference in numeric posing versus non-numeric posing ability in both classes. (Author/MM)

  5. Students’ Creativity: Problem Posing in Structured Situation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amalina, I. K.; Amirudin, M.; Budiarto, M. T.

    2018-01-01

    This is a qualitative research concerning on students’ creativity on problem posing task. The study aimed at describing the students’ creative thinking ability to pose the mathematics problem in structured situations with varied condition of given problems. In order to find out the students’ creative thinking ability, an analysis of mathematics problem posing test based on fluency, novelty, and flexibility and interview was applied for categorizing students’ responses on that task. The data analysis used the quality of problem posing and categorized in 4 level of creativity. The results revealed from 29 secondary students grade 8, a student in CTL (Creative Thinking Level) 1 met the fluency. A student in CTL 2 met the novelty, while a student in CTL 3 met both fluency and novelty and no one in CTL 4. These results are affected by students’ mathematical experience. The findings of this study highlight that student’s problem posing creativity are dependent on their experience in mathematics learning and from the point of view of which students start to pose problem.

  6. Investigation of Problem-Solving and Problem-Posing Abilities of Seventh-Grade Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arikan, Elif Esra; Ünal, Hasan

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to examine the effect of multiple problem-solving skills on the problem-posing abilities of gifted and non-gifted students and to assess whether the possession of such skills can predict giftedness or affect problem-posing abilities. Participants' metaphorical images of problem posing were also explored. Participants were 20 gifted…

  7. Problem Posing with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach in Geometry Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahendra, R.; Slamet, I.; Budiyono

    2017-09-01

    One of the difficulties of students in the learning of geometry is on the subject of plane that requires students to understand the abstract matter. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of Problem Posing learning model with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach in geometry learning. This quasi experimental research was conducted in one of the junior high schools in Karanganyar, Indonesia. The sample was taken using stratified cluster random sampling technique. The results of this research indicate that the model of Problem Posing learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach can improve students’ conceptual understanding significantly in geometry learning especially on plane topics. It is because students on the application of Problem Posing with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach are become to be active in constructing their knowledge, proposing, and problem solving in realistic, so it easier for students to understand concepts and solve the problems. Therefore, the model of Problem Posing learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach is appropriately applied in mathematics learning especially on geometry material. Furthermore, the impact can improve student achievement.

  8. Skill Levels of Prospective Physics Teachers on Problem Posing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cildir, Sema; Sezen, Nazan

    2011-01-01

    Problem posing is one of the topics which the educators thoroughly accentuate. Problem posing skill is defined as an introvert activity of a student's learning. In this study, skill levels of prospective physics teachers on problem posing were determined and their views on problem posing were evaluated. To this end, prospective teachers were given…

  9. Non-standard and improperly posed problems

    CERN Document Server

    Straughan, Brian; Ames, William F

    1997-01-01

    Written by two international experts in the field, this book is the first unified survey of the advances made in the last 15 years on key non-standard and improperly posed problems for partial differential equations.This reference for mathematicians, scientists, and engineers provides an overview of the methodology typically used to study improperly posed problems. It focuses on structural stability--the continuous dependence of solutions on the initial conditions and the modeling equations--and on problems for which data are only prescribed on part of the boundary.The book addresses continuou

  10. Students’ Mathematical Creative Thinking through Problem Posing Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulfah, U.; Prabawanto, S.; Jupri, A.

    2017-09-01

    The research aims to investigate the differences in enhancement of students’ mathematical creative thinking ability of those who received problem posing approach assisted by manipulative media and students who received problem posing approach without manipulative media. This study was a quasi experimental research with non-equivalent control group design. Population of this research was third-grade students of a primary school in Bandung city in 2016/2017 academic year. Sample of this research was two classes as experiment class and control class. The instrument used is a test of mathematical creative thinking ability. Based on the results of the research, it is known that the enhancement of the students’ mathematical creative thinking ability of those who received problem posing approach with manipulative media aid is higher than the ability of those who received problem posing approach without manipulative media aid. Students who get learning problem posing learning accustomed in arranging mathematical sentence become matter of story so it can facilitate students to comprehend about story

  11. Formulas in inverse and ill-posed problems

    CERN Document Server

    Anikonov, Yu E

    1997-01-01

    The Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems Series is a series of monographs publishing postgraduate level information on inverse and ill-posed problems for an international readership of professional scientists and researchers. The series aims to publish works which involve both theory and applications in, e.g., physics, medicine, geophysics, acoustics, electrodynamics, tomography, and ecology.

  12. Turkish Primary School Teachers' Opinions about Problem Posing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilic, Cigdem

    2013-01-01

    Problem posing is one of the most important topics in a mathematics education. Through problem posing, students gain mathematical abilities and concepts and teachers can evaluate their students and arrange adequate learning environments. The aim of the present study is to investigate Turkish primary school teachers' opinions about problem posing…

  13. Inverse and Ill-posed Problems Theory and Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Kabanikhin, S I

    2011-01-01

    The text demonstrates the methods for proving the existence (if et all) and finding of inverse and ill-posed problems solutions in linear algebra, integral and operator equations, integral geometry, spectral inverse problems, and inverse scattering problems. It is given comprehensive background material for linear ill-posed problems and for coefficient inverse problems for hyperbolic, parabolic, and elliptic equations. A lot of examples for inverse problems from physics, geophysics, biology, medicine, and other areas of application of mathematics are included.

  14. Perbedaan Keterampilan Pemecahan Masalah pada Pembelajaran Fisika Menggunakan Metode Problem Posing dan Problem Solving

    OpenAIRE

    Rahman, Adetya; Hartini, Sri; An'nur, Syubhan

    2015-01-01

    Teachers should be able to choose the method of learning that can help students in learning physics, namely the method of problem posing and problem solving method. The purposes of this study are : (1) describe the learning physics skills by using problem posing method, (2) describe the learning physics skills by using problem solving method, and (3) know difference between learning physics skills by using problem posing method and problem solving method in class XI of Science SMAN 6 Banjarma...

  15. Posing Problems to Understand Children's Learning of Fractions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Lu Pien

    2013-01-01

    In this study, ways in which problem posing activities aid our understanding of children's learning of addition of unlike fractions and product of proper fractions was examined. In particular, how a simple problem posing activity helps teachers take a second, deeper look at children's understanding of fraction concepts will be discussed. The…

  16. The Effect of Problem Solving and Problem Posing Models and Innate Ability to Students Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ratna Kartika Irawati

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Pengaruh Model Problem Solving dan Problem Posing serta Kemampuan Awal terhadap Hasil Belajar Siswa   Abstract: Chemistry concepts understanding features abstract quality and requires higher order thinking skills. Yet, the learning on chemistry has not boost the higher order thinking skills of the students. The use of the learning model of Problem Solving and Problem Posing in observing the innate ability of the student is expected to resolve the issue. This study aims to determine the learning model which is effective to improve the study of the student with different level of innate ability. This study used the quasi-experimental design. The research data used in this research is the quiz/test of the class which consist of 14 multiple choice questions and 5 essay questions. The data analysis used is ANOVA Two Ways. The results showed that Problem Posing is more effective to improve the student compared to Problem Solving, students with high level of innate ability have better outcomes in learning rather than the students with low level of innate ability after being applied with the Problem solving and Problem posing model, further, Problem Solving and Problem Posing is more suitable to be applied to the students with high level of innate ability. Key Words: problem solving, problem posing, higher order thinking skills, innate ability, learning outcomes   Abstrak: Pemahaman konsep-konsep kimia yang bersifat abstrak membutuhkan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi. Pembelajaran kimia belum mendorong siswa melakukan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi. Penggunaan model pembelajaran Problem Solving dan Problem Posing dengan memperhatikan kemampuan awal siswa diduga dapat mengatasi masalah tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui model pembelajaran yang efektif dalam meningkatkan hasil belajar dengan kemampuan awal siswa yang berbeda. Penelitian ini menggunakan rancangan eksperimen semu. Data penelitian menggunakan tes hasil belajar

  17. Creativity of Field-dependent and Field-independent Students in Posing Mathematical Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azlina, N.; Amin, S. M.; Lukito, A.

    2018-01-01

    This study aims at describing the creativity of elementary school students with different cognitive styles in mathematical problem-posing. The posed problems were assessed based on three components of creativity, namely fluency, flexibility, and novelty. The free-type problem posing was used in this study. This study is a descriptive research with qualitative approach. Data collections were conducted through written task and task-based interviews. The subjects were two elementary students. One of them is Field Dependent (FD) and the other is Field Independent (FI) which were measured by GEFT (Group Embedded Figures Test). Further, the data were analyzed based on creativity components. The results show thatFD student’s posed problems have fulfilled the two components of creativity namely fluency, in which the subject posed at least 3 mathematical problems, and flexibility, in whichthe subject posed problems with at least 3 different categories/ideas. Meanwhile,FI student’s posed problems have fulfilled all three components of creativity, namely fluency, in which thesubject posed at least 3 mathematical problems, flexibility, in which thesubject posed problems with at least 3 different categories/ideas, and novelty, in which the subject posed problems that are purely the result of her own ideas and different from problems they have known.

  18. Pose and Solve Varignon Converse Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Contreras, José N.

    2014-01-01

    The activity of posing and solving problems can enrich learners' mathematical experiences because it fosters a spirit of inquisitiveness, cultivates their mathematical curiosity, and deepens their views of what it means to do mathematics. To achieve these goals, a mathematical problem needs to be at the appropriate level of difficulty,…

  19. Determining the Performances of Pre-Service Primary School Teachers in Problem Posing Situations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilic, Cigdem

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the problem posing strategies of pre-service primary school teachers in different problem posing situations (PPSs) and analysed the issues they encounter while posing problems. A problem posing task consisting of six PPSs (two free, two structured, and two semi-structured situations) was delivered to 40 participants.…

  20. Mathematical Thinking and Creativity through Mathematical Problem Posing and Solving

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María F. Ayllón

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This work shows the relationship between the development of mathematical thinking and creativity with mathematical problem posing and solving. Creativity and mathematics are disciplines that do not usually appear together. Both concepts constitute complex processes sharing elements, such as fluency (number of ideas, flexibility (range of ideas, novelty (unique idea and elaboration (idea development. These factors contribute, among others, to the fact that schoolchildren are competent in mathematics. The problem solving and posing are a very powerful evaluation tool that shows the mathematical reasoning and creative level of a person. Creativity is part of the mathematics education and is a necessary ingredient to perform mathematical assignments. This contribution presents some important research works about problem posing and solving related to the development of mathematical knowledge and creativity. To that end, it is based on various beliefs reflected in the literature with respect to notions of creativity, problem solving and posing.

  1. Investigating Mathematics Teachers Candidates' Knowledge about Problem Solving Strategies through Problem Posing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ünlü, Melihan

    2017-01-01

    The aim of the study was to determine mathematics teacher candidates' knowledge about problem solving strategies through problem posing. This qualitative research was conducted with 95 mathematics teacher candidates studying at education faculty of a public university during the first term of the 2015-2016 academic year in Turkey. Problem Posing…

  2. The effect of problem posing and problem solving with realistic mathematics education approach to the conceptual understanding and adaptive reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahendra, Rengga; Slamet, Isnandar; Budiyono

    2017-12-01

    One of the difficulties of students in learning mathematics is on the subject of geometry that requires students to understand abstract things. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of learning model Problem Posing and Problem Solving with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach to conceptual understanding and students' adaptive reasoning in learning mathematics. This research uses a kind of quasi experimental research. The population of this research is all seventh grade students of Junior High School 1 Jaten, Indonesia. The sample was taken using stratified cluster random sampling technique. The test of the research hypothesis was analyzed by using t-test. The results of this study indicate that the model of Problem Posing learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach can improve students' conceptual understanding significantly in mathematics learning. In addition tu, the results also showed that the model of Problem Solving learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach can improve students' adaptive reasoning significantly in learning mathematics. Therefore, the model of Problem Posing and Problem Solving learning with Realistic Mathematics Education Approach is appropriately applied in mathematics learning especially on the subject of geometry so as to improve conceptual understanding and students' adaptive reasoning. Furthermore, the impact can improve student achievement.

  3. Effects of the Problem-Posing Approach on Students' Problem Solving Skills and Metacognitive Awareness in Science Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akben, Nimet

    2018-05-01

    The interrelationship between mathematics and science education has frequently been emphasized, and common goals and approaches have often been adopted between disciplines. Improving students' problem-solving skills in mathematics and science education has always been given special attention; however, the problem-posing approach which plays a key role in mathematics education has not been commonly utilized in science education. As a result, the purpose of this study was to better determine the effects of the problem-posing approach on students' problem-solving skills and metacognitive awareness in science education. This was a quasi-experimental based study conducted with 61 chemistry and 40 physics students; a problem-solving inventory and a metacognitive awareness inventory were administered to participants both as a pre-test and a post-test. During the 2017-2018 academic year, problem-solving activities based on the problem-posing approach were performed with the participating students during their senior year in various university chemistry and physics departments throughout the Republic of Turkey. The study results suggested that structured, semi-structured, and free problem-posing activities improve students' problem-solving skills and metacognitive awareness. These findings indicated not only the usefulness of integrating problem-posing activities into science education programs but also the need for further research into this question.

  4. Analyzing Pre-Service Primary Teachers' Fraction Knowledge Structures through Problem Posing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilic, Cigdem

    2015-01-01

    In this study it was aimed to determine pre-service primary teachers' knowledge structures of fraction through problem posing activities. A total of 90 pre-service primary teachers participated in this study. A problem posing test consisting of two questions was used and the participants were asked to generate as many as problems based on the…

  5. Enhancing students’ mathematical problem posing skill through writing in performance tasks strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadir; Adelina, R.; Fatma, M.

    2018-01-01

    Many researchers have studied the Writing in Performance Task (WiPT) strategy in learning, but only a few paid attention on its relation to the problem-posing skill in mathematics. The problem-posing skill in mathematics covers problem reformulation, reconstruction, and imitation. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of WiPT strategy on students’ mathematical problem-posing skill. The research was conducted at a Public Junior Secondary School in Tangerang Selatan. It used a quasi-experimental method with randomized control group post-test. The samples were 64 students consists of 32 students of the experiment group and 32 students of the control. A cluster random sampling technique was used for sampling. The research data were obtained by testing. The research shows that the problem-posing skill of students taught by WiPT strategy is higher than students taught by a conventional strategy. The research concludes that the WiPT strategy is more effective in enhancing the students’ mathematical problem-posing skill compared to the conventional strategy.

  6. Teachers Implementing Mathematical Problem Posing in the Classroom: Challenges and Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Shuk-kwan S.

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports a study about how a teacher educator shared knowledge with teachers when they worked together to implement mathematical problem posing (MPP) in the classroom. It includes feasible methods for getting practitioners to use research-based tasks aligned to the curriculum in order to encourage children to pose mathematical problems.…

  7. An Investigation of Eighth Grade Students' Problem Posing Skills (Turkey Sample)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arikan, Elif Esra; Ünal, Hasan

    2015-01-01

    To pose a problem refers to the creative activity for mathematics education. The purpose of the study was to explore the eighth grade students' problem posing ability. Three learning domains such as requiring four operations, fractions and geometry were chosen for this reason. There were two classes which were coded as class A and class B. Class A…

  8. Improving attitudes toward mathematics learning with problem posing in class VIII

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vionita, Alfha; Purboningsih, Dyah

    2017-08-01

    This research is classroom action research which is collaborated to improve student's behavior toward math and mathematics learning at class VIII by using problem posing approach. The subject of research is all of students grade VIIIA which consist of 32 students. This research has been held on two period, first period is about 3 times meeting, and second period is about 4 times meeting. The instrument of this research is implementation of learning observation's guidance by using problem posing approach. Cycle test has been used to measure cognitive competence, and questionnaire to measure the students' behavior in mathematics learning process. The result of research shows the students' behavior has been improving after using problem posing approach. It is showed by the behavior's criteria of students that has increasing result from the average in first period to high in second period. Furthermore, the percentage of test result is also improve from 68,75% in first period to 78,13% in second period. On the other hand, the implementation of learning observation by using problem posing approach has also improving and it is showed by the average percentage of teacher's achievement in first period is 89,2% and student's achievement 85,8%. These results get increase in second period for both teacher and students' achievement which are 94,4% and 91,11%. As a result, students' behavior toward math learning process in class VIII has been improving by using problem posing approach.

  9. Morozov-type discrepancy principle for nonlinear ill-posed problems ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    [3] Engl H W, Kunisch K and Neubauer A, Convergence rates for Tikhonov regularization of nonliner problems, Inverse Problems 5 (1989) 523–540. [4] Hanke M, Neubauer A and Scherzer O, A convergence analysis of Landweber iteration for nonlinear ill-posed problems, Numer. Math. 72 (1995) 21–37. [5] Hofmann B and ...

  10. [Evaluation of Educational Effect of Problem-Posing System in Nursing Processing Study].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsuji, Keiko; Takano, Yasuomi; Yamakawa, Hiroto; Kaneko, Daisuke; Takai, Kiyako; Kodama, Hiromi; Hagiwara, Tomoko; Komatsugawa, Hiroshi

    2015-09-01

    The nursing processing study is generally difficult, because it is important for nursing college students to understand knowledge and utilize it. We have developed an integrated system to understand, utilize, and share knowledge. We added a problem-posing function to this system, and expected that students would deeply understand the nursing processing study through the new system. This system consisted of four steps: create a problem, create an answer input section, create a hint, and verification. Nursing students created problems related to nursing processing by this system. When we gave a lecture on the nursing processing for second year students of A university, we tried to use the creating problem function of this system. We evaluated the effect by the number of problems and the contents of the created problem, that is, whether the contents consisted of a lecture stage or not. We also evaluated the correlation between those and regular examination and report scores. We derived the following: 1. weak correlation between the number of created problems and report score (r=0.27), 2. significant differences between regular examination and report scores of students who created problems corresponding to the learning stage, and those of students who created problems not corresponding to it (P<0.05). From these results, problem-posing is suggested to be effective to fix and utilize knowledge in the lecture of nursing processing theory.

  11. Integrating Worked Examples into Problem Posing in a Web-Based Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Ju-Yuan; Hung, Chun-Ling; Lan, Yu-Feng; Jeng, Yoau-Chau

    2013-01-01

    Most students always lack of experience and perceive difficult regarding problem posing. The study hypothesized that worked examples may have benefits for supporting students' problem posing activities. A quasi-experiment was conducted in the context of a business mathematics course for examining the effects of integrating worked examples into…

  12. LEVELING STUDENTS’ CREATIVE THINKING IN SOLVING AND POSING MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatag Yuli Eko Siswono

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Many researchers assume that people are creative, but their degree ofcreativity is different. The notion of creative thinking level has beendiscussed .by experts. The perspective of mathematics creative thinkingrefers to a combination of logical and divergent thinking which is basedon intuition but has a conscious aim. The divergent thinking is focusedon flexibility, fluency, and novelty in mathematical problem solving andproblem posing. As students have various backgrounds and differentabilities, they possess different potential in thinking patterns,imagination, fantasy and performance; therefore, students have differentlevels of creative thinking. A research study was conducted in order todevelop a framework for students’ levels of creative thinking inmathematics. This research used a qualitative approach to describe thecharacteristics of the levels of creative thinking. Task-based interviewswere conducted to collect data with ten 8thgrade junior secondary schoolstudents. The results distinguished five levels of creative thinking,namely level 0 to level 4 with different characteristics in each level.These differences are based on fluency, flexibility, and novelty inmathematical problem solving and problem posing.Keywords: student’s creative thinking, problem posing, flexibility,fluency, novelty DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22342/jme.1.1.794.17-40

  13. Investigasi Kemampuan Problem Solving dan Problem Posing Matematis Mahasiswa Via Pendekatan Realistic

    OpenAIRE

    Afriansyah, Ekasatya Aldila

    2016-01-01

    Mathematical problem solving and problem posing skill are the mathematical skills that need to be owned by students. By having this skill, students can be more creative in expressing ideas by connecting the knowledge that they held previously. But in reality, there are some students who are lack of problem solving skill; therefore it is really important to improve learning through appropriate approach. Realistic approach had been chosen as the learning theory to be applied in the class. This ...

  14. Problem-Posing in Education: Transformation of the Practice of the Health Professional.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casagrande, L. D. R.; Caron-Ruffino, M.; Rodrigues, R. A. P.; Vendrusculo, D. M. S.; Takayanagui, A. M. M.; Zago, M. M. F.; Mendes, M. D.

    1998-01-01

    Studied the use of a problem-posing model in health education. The model based on the ideas of Paulo Freire is presented. Four innovative experiences of teaching-learning in environmental and occupational health and patient education are reported. Notes that the problem-posing model has the capability to transform health-education practice.…

  15. Process-based Assignment-Setting Change for Support of Overcoming Bottlenecks in Learning by Problem-Posing in Arithmetic Word Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Supianto, A. A.; Hayashi, Y.; Hirashima, T.

    2017-02-01

    Problem-posing is well known as an effective activity to learn problem-solving methods. Monsakun is an interactive problem-posing learning environment to facilitate arithmetic word problems learning for one operation of addition and subtraction. The characteristic of Monsakun is problem-posing as sentence-integration that lets learners make a problem of three sentences. Monsakun provides learners with five or six sentences including dummies, which are designed through careful considerations by an expert teacher as a meaningful distraction to the learners in order to learn the structure of arithmetic word problems. The results of the practical use of Monsakun in elementary schools show that many learners have difficulties in arranging the proper answer at the high level of assignments. The analysis of the problem-posing process of such learners found that their misconception of arithmetic word problems causes impasses in their thinking and mislead them to use dummies. This study proposes a method of changing assignments as a support for overcoming bottlenecks of thinking. In Monsakun, the bottlenecks are often detected as a frequently repeated use of a specific dummy. If such dummy can be detected, it is the key factor to support learners to overcome their difficulty. This paper discusses how to detect the bottlenecks and to realize such support in learning by problem-posing.

  16. The Effects of Problem Posing on Student Mathematical Learning: A Meta-Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosli, Roslinda; Capraro, Mary Margaret; Capraro, Robert M.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to meta-synthesize research findings on the effectiveness of problem posing and to investigate the factors that might affect the incorporation of problem posing in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The eligibility criteria for inclusion of literature in the meta-analysis was: published between 1989 and 2011,…

  17. Perturbation-Based Regularization for Signal Estimation in Linear Discrete Ill-posed Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Suliman, Mohamed Abdalla Elhag; Ballal, Tarig; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2016-01-01

    Estimating the values of unknown parameters from corrupted measured data faces a lot of challenges in ill-posed problems. In such problems, many fundamental estimation methods fail to provide a meaningful stabilized solution. In this work, we propose a new regularization approach and a new regularization parameter selection approach for linear least-squares discrete ill-posed problems. The proposed approach is based on enhancing the singular-value structure of the ill-posed model matrix to acquire a better solution. Unlike many other regularization algorithms that seek to minimize the estimated data error, the proposed approach is developed to minimize the mean-squared error of the estimator which is the objective in many typical estimation scenarios. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to a large set of real-world discrete ill-posed problems. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms a set of benchmark regularization methods in most cases. In addition, the approach also enjoys the lowest runtime and offers the highest level of robustness amongst all the tested benchmark regularization methods.

  18. Perturbation-Based Regularization for Signal Estimation in Linear Discrete Ill-posed Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Suliman, Mohamed Abdalla Elhag

    2016-11-29

    Estimating the values of unknown parameters from corrupted measured data faces a lot of challenges in ill-posed problems. In such problems, many fundamental estimation methods fail to provide a meaningful stabilized solution. In this work, we propose a new regularization approach and a new regularization parameter selection approach for linear least-squares discrete ill-posed problems. The proposed approach is based on enhancing the singular-value structure of the ill-posed model matrix to acquire a better solution. Unlike many other regularization algorithms that seek to minimize the estimated data error, the proposed approach is developed to minimize the mean-squared error of the estimator which is the objective in many typical estimation scenarios. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to a large set of real-world discrete ill-posed problems. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms a set of benchmark regularization methods in most cases. In addition, the approach also enjoys the lowest runtime and offers the highest level of robustness amongst all the tested benchmark regularization methods.

  19. Developing teachers' subject didactic competence through problem posing

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Tichá, Marie; Hošpesová, A.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 83, č. 1 (2013), s. 133-143 ISSN 0013-1954 Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : professional development * primary school teachers * problem posing Subject RIV: AM - Education Impact factor: 0.639, year: 2013 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10649-012-9455-1

  20. Meanings Given to Algebraic Symbolism in Problem-Posing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cañadas, María C.; Molina, Marta; del Río, Aurora

    2018-01-01

    Some errors in the learning of algebra suggest that students might have difficulties giving meaning to algebraic symbolism. In this paper, we use problem posing to analyze the students' capacity to assign meaning to algebraic symbolism and the difficulties that students encounter in this process, depending on the characteristics of the algebraic…

  1. Fraction Multiplication and Division Word Problems Posed by Different Years of Pre-Service Elementary Mathematics Teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tuba Aydogdu Iskenderoglu

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available It is important for pre-service teachers to know the conceptual difficulties they have experienced regarding the concepts of multiplication and division in fractions and problem posing is a way to learn these conceptual difficulties. Problem posing is a synthetic activity that fundamentally has multiple answers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the multiplication and division of fractions problems posed by pre-service elementary mathematics teachers and to investigate how the problems posed change according to the year of study the pre-service teachers are in. The study employed developmental research methods. A total of 213 pre-service teachers enrolled in different years of the Elementary Mathematics Teaching program at a state university in Turkey took part in the study. The “Problem Posing Test” was used as the data collecting tool. In this test, there are 3 multiplication and 3 division operations. The data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. The findings suggest that, regardless of the year, pre-service teachers had more conceptual difficulties in problem posing about the division of fractions than in problem posing about the multiplication of fractions.

  2. Solution of linear ill-posed problems using overcomplete dictionaries

    OpenAIRE

    Pensky, Marianna

    2016-01-01

    In the present paper we consider application of overcomplete dictionaries to solution of general ill-posed linear inverse problems. Construction of an adaptive optimal solution for such problems usually relies either on a singular value decomposition or representation of the solution via an orthonormal basis. The shortcoming of both approaches lies in the fact that, in many situations, neither the eigenbasis of the linear operator nor a standard orthonormal basis constitutes an appropriate co...

  3. Morozov-type discrepancy principle for nonlinear ill-posed problems ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    For proving the existence of a regularization parameter under a Morozov-type discrepancy principle for Tikhonov regularization of nonlinear ill-posed problems, it is required to impose additional nonlinearity assumptions on the forward operator. Lipschitz continuity of the Freéchet derivative and requirement of the Lipschitz ...

  4. Morozov-type discrepancy principle for nonlinear ill-posed problems ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-08-26

    Aug 26, 2016 ... For proving the existence of a regularization parameter under a Morozov-type discrepancy principle for Tikhonov regularization of nonlinear ill-posed problems, it is required to impose additional nonlinearity assumptions on the forward operator. Lipschitz continuity of the Freéchet derivative and requirement ...

  5. Introduced organisms pose the most significant threat to the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    spamer

    Introduced organisms pose the most significant threat to the conservation status of oceanic islands (e.g.. Williamson 1996). Subantarctic Prince Edward Island, the smaller of the two islands in the Prince Edward. Island group, has few introduced organisms; it is cur- rently known to support only three introduced animals.

  6. Enhancing Students' Communication Skills through Problem Posing and Presentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugito; E. S., Sri Mulyani; Hartono; Supartono

    2017-01-01

    This study was to explore how enhance communication skill through problem posing and presentation method. The subjects of this research were the seven grade students Junior High School, including 20 male and 14 female. This research was conducted in two cycles and each cycle consisted of four steps, they were: planning, action, observation, and…

  7. Control and System Theory, Optimization, Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-09-14

    Justlfleatlen Distribut ion/ Availability Codes # AFOSR-87-0350 Avat’ and/or1987-1988 Dist Special *CONTROL AND SYSTEM THEORY , ~ * OPTIMIZATION, * INVERSE...considerable va- riety of research investigations within the grant areas (Control and system theory , Optimization, and Ill-posed problems]. The

  8. Regularization theory for ill-posed problems selected topics

    CERN Document Server

    Lu, Shuai

    2013-01-01

    Thismonograph is a valuable contribution to thehighly topical and extremly productive field ofregularisationmethods for inverse and ill-posed problems. The author is an internationally outstanding and acceptedmathematicianin this field. In his book he offers a well-balanced mixtureof basic and innovative aspects.He demonstrates new,differentiatedviewpoints, and important examples for applications. The bookdemontrates thecurrent developments inthe field of regularization theory,such as multiparameter regularization and regularization in learning theory. The book is written for graduate and PhDs

  9. A problem-posing approach to teaching the topic of radioactivity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klaassen, C.W.J.M.

    1995-01-01

    This thesis highlights a problem-posing approach to science education. By this is meant an approach that explicitly aims at providing students with content-related motives for extending their existing conceptual resources, experiential base and belief system in a certain direction, such that a

  10. Multi-task pose-invariant face recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Changxing; Xu, Chang; Tao, Dacheng

    2015-03-01

    Face images captured in unconstrained environments usually contain significant pose variation, which dramatically degrades the performance of algorithms designed to recognize frontal faces. This paper proposes a novel face identification framework capable of handling the full range of pose variations within ±90° of yaw. The proposed framework first transforms the original pose-invariant face recognition problem into a partial frontal face recognition problem. A robust patch-based face representation scheme is then developed to represent the synthesized partial frontal faces. For each patch, a transformation dictionary is learnt under the proposed multi-task learning scheme. The transformation dictionary transforms the features of different poses into a discriminative subspace. Finally, face matching is performed at patch level rather than at the holistic level. Extensive and systematic experimentation on FERET, CMU-PIE, and Multi-PIE databases shows that the proposed method consistently outperforms single-task-based baselines as well as state-of-the-art methods for the pose problem. We further extend the proposed algorithm for the unconstrained face verification problem and achieve top-level performance on the challenging LFW data set.

  11. Mathematical Thinking and Creativity through Mathematical Problem Posing and Solving

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayllón, María F.; Gómez, Isabel A.; Ballesta-Claver, Julio

    2016-01-01

    This work shows the relationship between the development of mathematical thinking and creativity with mathematical problem posing and solving. Creativity and mathematics are disciplines that do not usually appear together. Both concepts constitute complex processes sharing elements, such as fluency (number of ideas), flexibility (range of ideas),…

  12. MODEL PEMBELAJARAN PROBLEM POSING DENGAN PENDEKATAN SAINTIFIK UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN PEMECAHAN MASALAH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adi Purnomo

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Tujuan penelitian ini untuk menghasilkan perangkat pembelajaran model problem posing pendekatan saintifik yang valid, praktis dan efektif. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian pengembangan dengan model Thiagarajan. Pengolahan data penelitian untuk uji kevalidan dan kepraktisan dilakukan dengan menghitung rata-rata skor, sedangkan uji keefektifan dilakukan dengan uji t, uji proporsi, uji regresi, uji t berpasangan, dan uji normalitas gain. Hasil pengembangan diperoleh perangkat pembelajaran dinyatakan valid dengan rata-rata skor validasi silabus 4,3, RPP 4,31, buku peserta didik 4,24, LKPD 4,16, TKPM 4,19, dari skor maksimal 5,00. Perangkat pembelajaran praktis berdasarkan hasil pengamatan kemampuan guru 4,5 (sangat baik dan respon peserta didik 3,8 (baik. Implementasi perangkat pembelajaran efektif yang ditunjukkan dengan: (1 ketuntasan klasikal TKKM melampaui 75%, rata-rata kelas melampaui KKM; (2 kemampuan pemecahan masalah peserta didik yang pembelajarannya menggunakan model problrm posing pendekatan saintifik lebih baik dari pada peserta didik dengan pembelajaran konvensional; (3 keterampilan proses saintifik dan karakter kemandirian berpengaruh positif terhadap kemampuan pemecahan masalah; dan (4 adanya peningkatan pemecahan masalah dan mendiskripsikan peningkatan kemampuan pemecahan masalah berdasarkan Taksonomi SOLO.The purpose of this research to development lesson plan through problem posing model with scientific approach which are valid, practical, and effective. The development research using Thiagarajan model. Processing data for validation and practice can be done calculating the score average, while effectivity by use of t-test, proportion test, regression test, paired t-test, n-gain. The lesson plan is valid based on the average of validation scores syllabus 4,3, RPP 4,31, student book 4,24, LKPD 4,16, TKPM 4,19.  The lesson plan is practical based on the result of observation teacher ability 4,53 and student response 4,23. The

  13. Iterative Runge–Kutta-type methods for nonlinear ill-posed problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Böckmann, C; Pornsawad, P

    2008-01-01

    We present a regularization method for solving nonlinear ill-posed problems by applying the family of Runge–Kutta methods to an initial value problem, in particular, to the asymptotical regularization method. We prove that the developed iterative regularization method converges to a solution under certain conditions and with a general stopping rule. Some particular iterative regularization methods are numerically implemented. Numerical results of the examples show that the developed Runge–Kutta-type regularization methods yield stable solutions and that particular implicit methods are very efficient in saving iteration steps

  14. Greedy solution of ill-posed problems: error bounds and exact inversion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Denis, L; Lorenz, D A; Trede, D

    2009-01-01

    The orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) is a greedy algorithm to solve sparse approximation problems. Sufficient conditions for exact recovery are known with and without noise. In this paper we investigate the applicability of the OMP for the solution of ill-posed inverse problems in general, and in particular for two deconvolution examples from mass spectrometry and digital holography, respectively. In sparse approximation problems one often has to deal with the problem of redundancy of a dictionary, i.e. the atoms are not linearly independent. However, one expects them to be approximatively orthogonal and this is quantified by the so-called incoherence. This idea cannot be transferred to ill-posed inverse problems since here the atoms are typically far from orthogonal. The ill-posedness of the operator probably causes the correlation of two distinct atoms to become huge, i.e. that two atoms look much alike. Therefore, one needs conditions which take the structure of the problem into account and work without the concept of coherence. In this paper we develop results for the exact recovery of the support of noisy signals. In the two examples, mass spectrometry and digital holography, we show that our results lead to practically relevant estimates such that one may check a priori if the experimental setup guarantees exact deconvolution with OMP. Especially in the example from digital holography, our analysis may be regarded as a first step to calculate the resolution power of droplet holography

  15. Analysis of Problems Posed by Sixth-Grade Middle School Students for the Addition of Fractions in Terms of Semantic Structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kar, Tugrul

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate how the semantic structures of problems posed by sixth-grade middle school students for the addition of fractions affect their problem-posing performance. The students were presented with symbolic operations involving the addition of fractions and asked to pose two different problems related to daily-life situations…

  16. Problem posing as a didactic resource in formal mathematics courses to train future secondary school mathematics teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorena Salazar Solórzano

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Beginning university training programs must focus on different competencies for mathematics teachers, i.e., not only on solving problems, but also on posing them and analyzing the mathematical activity. This paper reports the results of an exploratory study conducted with future secondary school mathematics teachers on the introduction of problem-posing tasks in formal mathematics courses, specifically in abstract algebra and real analysis courses. Evidence was found that training which includes problem-posing tasks has a positive impact on the students’ understanding of definitions, theorems and exercises within formal mathematics, as well as on their competency in reflecting on the mathematical activity. 

  17. EFEKTIVITAS PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA DENGAN METODE PROBLEM POSING BERBASIS PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eka Lia Susanti

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui apakah pembelajaran matematika dengan metode Problem Posing berbasis pendidikan karakter di laboratorium TeenZania pada materi garis singgung lingkaran efektif. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah peserta didik di SMP N 2 Pati. Sampel dalam penelitian ini diambil dengan teknik cluster random sampling. Variabel dalam penelitian ini yaitu keaktifan sebagai variabel independen dan prestasi belajar sebagai variabel dependen. Cara pengambilan data dengan lembar pengamatan dan tes. Data diolah dengan uji banding t dan uji pengaruh regresi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa prestasi belajar kelas eksperimen (82,74 secara statistik melebihi KKM (75. Dengan uji regresi linear sederhana diperoleh persamaan regresi ?=-15,847 + 1,194X dan R^2=0,829. Koefisien X merupakan bilangan positif sehingga keaktifan berpengaruh positif pada prestasi belajar sebesar 82,9%. Rata-rata prestasi belajar kelas eksperimen (82,74 dan rata-rata prestasi belajar kelas kontrol (72,91. Secara uji stastistik prestasi belajar kelas eksperimen lebih baik daripada prestasi belajar kelas kontrol. Berdasarkan hasil analisis disimpulkan (1 pembelajaran mencapai tuntas belajar; (2 adanya pengaruh positif pada keaktifan terhadap prestasi belajar; dan (3 prestasi belajar kelas eksperimen lebih baik daripada prestasi belajar kelas kontrol; sehingga pembelajaran matematika dengan metode problem posing berbasis pendidikan karakter di laboratorium TeenZania merupakan pembelajaran yang efektif. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the learning of mathematics by Problem Posing method in a TeenZania laboratory based character education in circle tangent material effectively. The population in this study were students in SMP N 2 Pati. The sample in this study were drawn by cluster random sampling technique. The variables in this study is the activity as an independent variable and learning achievement as the dependent variable

  18. Solving ill-posed control problems by stabilized finite element methods: an alternative to Tikhonov regularization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burman, Erik; Hansbo, Peter; Larson, Mats G.

    2018-03-01

    Tikhonov regularization is one of the most commonly used methods for the regularization of ill-posed problems. In the setting of finite element solutions of elliptic partial differential control problems, Tikhonov regularization amounts to adding suitably weighted least squares terms of the control variable, or derivatives thereof, to the Lagrangian determining the optimality system. In this note we show that the stabilization methods for discretely ill-posed problems developed in the setting of convection-dominated convection-diffusion problems, can be highly suitable for stabilizing optimal control problems, and that Tikhonov regularization will lead to less accurate discrete solutions. We consider some inverse problems for Poisson’s equation as an illustration and derive new error estimates both for the reconstruction of the solution from the measured data and reconstruction of the source term from the measured data. These estimates include both the effect of the discretization error and error in the measurements.

  19. Numerical methods for the design of large-scale nonlinear discrete ill-posed inverse problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haber, E; Horesh, L; Tenorio, L

    2010-01-01

    Design of experiments for discrete ill-posed problems is a relatively new area of research. While there has been some limited work concerning the linear case, little has been done to study design criteria and numerical methods for ill-posed nonlinear problems. We present an algorithmic framework for nonlinear experimental design with an efficient numerical implementation. The data are modeled as indirect, noisy observations of the model collected via a set of plausible experiments. An inversion estimate based on these data is obtained by a weighted Tikhonov regularization whose weights control the contribution of the different experiments to the data misfit term. These weights are selected by minimization of an empirical estimate of the Bayes risk that is penalized to promote sparsity. This formulation entails a bilevel optimization problem that is solved using a simple descent method. We demonstrate the viability of our design with a problem in electromagnetic imaging based on direct current resistivity and magnetotelluric data

  20. Exploiting residual information in the parameter choice for discrete ill-posed problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Per Christian; Kilmer, Misha E.; Kjeldsen, Rikke Høj

    2006-01-01

    Most algorithms for choosing the regularization parameter in a discrete ill-posed problem are based on the norm of the residual vector. In this work we propose a different approach, where we seek to use all the information available in the residual vector. We present important relations between...

  1. Penalized linear regression for discrete ill-posed problems: A hybrid least-squares and mean-squared error approach

    KAUST Repository

    Suliman, Mohamed Abdalla Elhag; Ballal, Tarig; Kammoun, Abla; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2016-01-01

    This paper proposes a new approach to find the regularization parameter for linear least-squares discrete ill-posed problems. In the proposed approach, an artificial perturbation matrix with a bounded norm is forced into the discrete ill-posed model

  2. PENGARUH DARI PROBLEM POSING METHOD TERHADAP KREATIVITAS VERBAL SISWA SMP KELAS VII

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bagus Priambodo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Verbal creativity is the ability to think fluent, flexible, and original that manifested through the words. Psychological freedom is one factor that can develop creativity. One alternative teaching methods that provide freedom in an atmosphere of learning is the Problem Posing Method (PPM which is triggered by Paulo Freire. This research aims to determine the presence or absence of the influence of PPM on verbal creativity. Characteristic of the subjects was junior high school students in grade 7th, received conventional learning materials, and have never had learning by using PPM. This study used a non-randomized pretest-posttest control group design. Subjects in the study were divided into two, experimental group (N = 33 and control group (N= 35. The data was collected using the Verbal Creativity Test. The results of hypothesis testing used Independent Sample T Test techniques showed the differences of mean = 3.294, α = 0.014 with (p<0.05. Keywords: Verbal creativity, problem posing method, a test of verbal creativity, junior high school students

  3. On piecewise constant level-set (PCLS) methods for the identification of discontinuous parameters in ill-posed problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Cezaro, A; Leitão, A; Tai, X-C

    2013-01-01

    We investigate level-set-type methods for solving ill-posed problems with discontinuous (piecewise constant) coefficients. The goal is to identify the level sets as well as the level values of an unknown parameter function on a model described by a nonlinear ill-posed operator equation. The PCLS approach is used here to parametrize the solution of a given operator equation in terms of a L 2 level-set function, i.e. the level-set function itself is assumed to be a piecewise constant function. Two distinct methods are proposed for computing stable solutions of the resulting ill-posed problem: the first is based on Tikhonov regularization, while the second is based on the augmented Lagrangian approach with total variation penalization. Classical regularization results (Engl H W et al 1996 Mathematics and its Applications (Dordrecht: Kluwer)) are derived for the Tikhonov method. On the other hand, for the augmented Lagrangian method, we succeed in proving the existence of (generalized) Lagrangian multipliers in the sense of (Rockafellar R T and Wets R J-B 1998 Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften (Berlin: Springer)). Numerical experiments are performed for a 2D inverse potential problem (Hettlich F and Rundell W 1996 Inverse Problems 12 251–66), demonstrating the capabilities of both methods for solving this ill-posed problem in a stable way (complicated inclusions are recovered without any a priori geometrical information on the unknown parameter). (paper)

  4. A problem-posing approach to teaching the topic of radioactivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klaassen, C. W. J. M.

    1995-12-01

    This thesis highlights a problem-posing approach to science education. By this is meant an approach that explicitly aims at providing students with content-related motives for extending their existing conceptual resources, experiential base and belief system in a certain direction, such that a further development in that direction eventually leads to a proper understanding of science. An elaboration of that approach consists in designing, testing, improving, etc, concrete didactical structures. The eventual aim of the approach is a coherent, and by means of developmental research empirically supported, didactical structure that covers the whole of science education. The thesis also contains a few steps in the direction suggested by this programmatic view. It contains an illustration of the heuristic value of an articulation of a didactical structure in some main substructures, based on the work of van Hiele and ten Voorde. It further contains a discussion of some methodological aspects relating to the design and evaluation of a didactical structure, and of the role that a further developed version of Davidson's theory of interpretation could play in this respect. A detailed didactical structure of the topic of radioactivity is presented, evaluated and, on the basis of the evaluation, judged as `good enough.' Also the role of the teacher in a problem-posing approach is dis-cussed, and in particular the consequences for that role of giving students control over and responsibility for the progress of their learning process with respect to content.

  5. A problem-posing approach to teaching the topic of radioactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klaassen, J.M.

    1995-01-01

    This thesis highlights a problem-posing approach to science education. By this is meant an approach that explicitly aims at providing students with content-related motives for extending their existing conceptual resources, experiential base and belief system in a certain direction, such that a further development in that direction eventually leads to a proper understanding of science. An elaboration of that approach consists in designing, testing, improving, etc, concrete didactical structures. The eventual aim of the approach is a coherent, and by means of developmental research empirically supported, didactical structure that covers the whole of science education. The thesis also contains a few steps in the direction suggested by this programmatic view. It contains an illustration of the heuristic value of an articulation of a didactical structure in some main substructures, based on the work of van Hiele and ten Voorde. It further contains a discussion of some methodological aspects relating to the design and evaluation of a didactical structure, and of the role that a further developed version of Davidson's theory of interpretation could play in this respect. A detailed didactical structure of the topic of radioactivity is presented, evaluated and, on the basis of the evaluation, judged as 'good enough'. Also the role of the teacher in a problem-posing approach is discussed, and in particular the consequences for that role of giving students control over and responsibility for the progress of their learning process with respect to content. refs

  6. Estimation of G-renewal process parameters as an ill-posed inverse problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krivtsov, V.; Yevkin, O.

    2013-01-01

    Statistical estimation of G-renewal process parameters is an important estimation problem, which has been considered by many authors. We view this problem from the standpoint of a mathematically ill-posed, inverse problem (the solution is not unique and/or is sensitive to statistical error) and propose a regularization approach specifically suited to the G-renewal process. Regardless of the estimation method, the respective objective function usually involves parameters of the underlying life-time distribution and simultaneously the restoration parameter. In this paper, we propose to regularize the problem by decoupling the estimation of the aforementioned parameters. Using a simulation study, we show that the resulting estimation/extrapolation accuracy of the proposed method is considerably higher than that of the existing methods

  7. Lavrentiev regularization method for nonlinear ill-posed problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kinh, Nguyen Van

    2002-10-01

    In this paper we shall be concerned with Lavientiev regularization method to reconstruct solutions x 0 of non ill-posed problems F(x)=y o , where instead of y 0 noisy data y δ is an element of X with absolut(y δ -y 0 ) ≤ δ are given and F:X→X is an accretive nonlinear operator from a real reflexive Banach space X into itself. In this regularization method solutions x α δ are obtained by solving the singularly perturbed nonlinear operator equation F(x)+α(x-x*)=y δ with some initial guess x*. Assuming certain conditions concerning the operator F and the smoothness of the element x*-x 0 we derive stability estimates which show that the accuracy of the regularized solutions is order optimal provided that the regularization parameter α has been chosen properly. (author)

  8. Development of a Mobile Learning System Based on a Collaborative Problem-Posing Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Han-Yu; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chang, Ya-Chi

    2016-01-01

    In this study, a problem-posing strategy is proposed for supporting collaborative mobile learning activities. Accordingly, a mobile learning environment has been developed, and an experiment on a local culture course has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Three classes of an elementary school in southern Taiwan…

  9. Problems posed by the development of the Oklo phenomenon: tentative global interpretation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naudet, R.

    This paper discusses the basic problems posed by the development of the Oklo phenomenon: the conditions in which the reactions are triggered and propagated and how they have been controlled. The reactions were maintained by the destruction of neutron poisons in the ore and were controlled by temperature. Oklo is made up of a large number of contiguous reactors. Geological problems of the origin of the clays, desilification, and uranium concentration are discussed. Oklo is shown to be a very complex phenomenon which developed in space and time. Besides the thermal, neutron, and geochemical coupling, there is also a tectonic coupling

  10. Penalized linear regression for discrete ill-posed problems: A hybrid least-squares and mean-squared error approach

    KAUST Repository

    Suliman, Mohamed Abdalla Elhag

    2016-12-19

    This paper proposes a new approach to find the regularization parameter for linear least-squares discrete ill-posed problems. In the proposed approach, an artificial perturbation matrix with a bounded norm is forced into the discrete ill-posed model matrix. This perturbation is introduced to enhance the singular-value (SV) structure of the matrix and hence to provide a better solution. The proposed approach is derived to select the regularization parameter in a way that minimizes the mean-squared error (MSE) of the estimator. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms a set of benchmark methods in most cases when applied to different scenarios of discrete ill-posed problems. Jointly, the proposed approach enjoys the lowest run-time and offers the highest level of robustness amongst all the tested methods.

  11. Minimization of Linear Functionals Defined on| Solutions of Large-Scale Discrete Ill-Posed Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elden, Lars; Hansen, Per Christian; Rojas, Marielba

    2003-01-01

    The minimization of linear functionals de ned on the solutions of discrete ill-posed problems arises, e.g., in the computation of con dence intervals for these solutions. In 1990, Elden proposed an algorithm for this minimization problem based on a parametric-programming reformulation involving...... the solution of a sequence of trust-region problems, and using matrix factorizations. In this paper, we describe MLFIP, a large-scale version of this algorithm where a limited-memory trust-region solver is used on the subproblems. We illustrate the use of our algorithm in connection with an inverse heat...

  12. Right-Hand Side Dependent Bounds for GMRES Applied to Ill-Posed Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Pestana, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2014. In this paper we apply simple GMRES bounds to the nearly singular systems that arise in ill-posed problems. Our bounds depend on the eigenvalues of the coefficient matrix, the right-hand side vector and the nonnormality of the system. The bounds show that GMRES residuals initially decrease, as residual components associated with large eigenvalues are reduced, after which semi-convergence can be expected because of the effects of small eigenvalues.

  13. Boneless Pose Editing and Animation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bærentzen, Jakob Andreas; Hansen, Kristian Evers; Erleben, Kenny

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a pose editing and animation method for triangulated surfaces based on a user controlled partitioning of the model into deformable parts and rigid parts which are denoted handles. In our pose editing system, the user can sculpt a set of poses simply by transforming...... the handles for each pose. Using Laplacian editing, the deformable parts are deformed to match the handles. In our animation system the user can constrain one or several handles in order to define a new pose. New poses are interpolated from the examples poses, by solving a small non-linear optimization...... problem in order to obtain the interpolation weights. While the system can be used simply for building poses, it is also an animation system. The user can specify a path for a given constraint and the model is animated correspondingly....

  14. Complication amoebic liver abscess still a significant health problem ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Amoebic liver abscess still poses a serious clinical problem in tropical countries. Here we describe three complicated cases to illustrate the magnitude this disease condition could assume in the tropics. Limited access to health facilities as well as poverty and ignorance result in patients presenting late, often with ...

  15. Survey of the problems posed by the man-machine interface, as seen from the angle of facility operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heinbuch, R.

    1995-01-01

    The man-machine interface in nuclear power plants is an area very much influenced by the vigorous progress in computer technology. The paper describes the causes underlying the innovative power in this field and its impacts on the man-machine interface in nuclear power plants. The benefits brought by the advanced computer systems in the design of the man-machine interface as well as the problems posed through application in practice to safety-relevant plant systems are discussed, and examples are given showing the experience accumulated so far, and the significant changes effected in the man-machine interface. (orig.) [de

  16. Retrieval of LAI and leaf chlorophyll content from remote sensing data by agronomy mechanism knowledge to solve the ill-posed inverse problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhenhai; Nie, Chenwei; Yang, Guijun; Xu, Xingang; Jin, Xiuliang; Gu, Xiaohe

    2014-10-01

    Leaf area index (LAI) and LCC, as the two most important crop growth variables, are major considerations in management decisions, agricultural planning and policy making. Estimation of canopy biophysical variables from remote sensing data was investigated using a radiative transfer model. However, the ill-posed problem is unavoidable for the unique solution of the inverse problem and the uncertainty of measurements and model assumptions. This study focused on the use of agronomy mechanism knowledge to restrict and remove the ill-posed inversion results. For this purpose, the inversion results obtained using the PROSAIL model alone (NAMK) and linked with agronomic mechanism knowledge (AMK) were compared. The results showed that AMK did not significantly improve the accuracy of LAI inversion. LAI was estimated with high accuracy, and there was no significant improvement after considering AMK. The validation results of the determination coefficient (R2) and the corresponding root mean square error (RMSE) between measured LAI and estimated LAI were 0.635 and 1.022 for NAMK, and 0.637 and 0.999 for AMK, respectively. LCC estimation was significantly improved with agronomy mechanism knowledge; the R2 and RMSE values were 0.377 and 14.495 μg cm-2 for NAMK, and 0.503 and 10.661 μg cm-2 for AMK, respectively. Results of the comparison demonstrated the need for agronomy mechanism knowledge in radiative transfer model inversion.

  17. Multiscale analysis for ill-posed problems with semi-discrete Tikhonov regularization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhong, Min; Lu, Shuai; Cheng, Jin

    2012-01-01

    Using compactly supported radial basis functions of varying radii, Wendland has shown how a multiscale analysis can be applied to the approximation of Sobolev functions on a bounded domain, when the available data are discrete and noisy. Here, we examine the application of this analysis to the solution of linear moderately ill-posed problems using semi-discrete Tikhonov–Phillips regularization. As in Wendland’s work, the actual multiscale approximation is constructed by a sequence of residual corrections, where different support radii are employed to accommodate different scales. The convergence of the algorithm for noise-free data is given. Based on the Morozov discrepancy principle, a posteriori parameter choice rule and error estimates for the noisy data are derived. Two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the appropriateness of the proposed method. (paper)

  18. Coupled bias-variance tradeoff for cross-pose face recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Annan; Shan, Shiguang; Gao, Wen

    2012-01-01

    Subspace-based face representation can be looked as a regression problem. From this viewpoint, we first revisited the problem of recognizing faces across pose differences, which is a bottleneck in face recognition. Then, we propose a new approach for cross-pose face recognition using a regressor with a coupled bias-variance tradeoff. We found that striking a coupled balance between bias and variance in regression for different poses could improve the regressor-based cross-pose face representation, i.e., the regressor can be more stable against a pose difference. With the basic idea, ridge regression and lasso regression are explored. Experimental results on CMU PIE, the FERET, and the Multi-PIE face databases show that the proposed bias-variance tradeoff can achieve considerable reinforcement in recognition performance.

  19. In-the-wild facial expression recognition in extreme poses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Fei; Zhang, Qian; Zheng, Chi; Qiu, Guoping

    2018-04-01

    In the computer research area, facial expression recognition is a hot research problem. Recent years, the research has moved from the lab environment to in-the-wild circumstances. It is challenging, especially under extreme poses. But current expression detection systems are trying to avoid the pose effects and gain the general applicable ability. In this work, we solve the problem in the opposite approach. We consider the head poses and detect the expressions within special head poses. Our work includes two parts: detect the head pose and group it into one pre-defined head pose class; do facial expression recognize within each pose class. Our experiments show that the recognition results with pose class grouping are much better than that of direct recognition without considering poses. We combine the hand-crafted features, SIFT, LBP and geometric feature, with deep learning feature as the representation of the expressions. The handcrafted features are added into the deep learning framework along with the high level deep learning features. As a comparison, we implement SVM and random forest to as the prediction models. To train and test our methodology, we labeled the face dataset with 6 basic expressions.

  20. Convergence rates and finite-dimensional approximations for nonlinear ill-posed problems involving monotone operators in Banach spaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen Buong.

    1992-11-01

    The purpose of this paper is to investigate convergence rates for an operator version of Tikhonov regularization constructed by dual mapping for nonlinear ill-posed problems involving monotone operators in real reflective Banach spaces. The obtained results are considered in combination with finite-dimensional approximations for the space. An example is considered for illustration. (author). 15 refs

  1. Prospective elementary school teachers’ ways of making sense of mathematical problem posing (Modos en que futuros profesores de primaria dan sentido a la invención de problemas matemáticos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olive Chapman

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The study tackled prospective teachers’ sense-making of mathematical problem posing and the impact of posing different contextual problems on their learning. Focus was on the generation of new problems and reformulation of given problems. Participants were 40 prospective elementary teachers. The findings provide insights into possible ways these teachers could make sense of problem posing of contextual mathematical problems and the learning afforded by posing diverse problems. Highlighted are five perspectives and nine categories of problem posing tasks to support development of proficiency in problem-posing knowledge for teaching. El estudio indagó sobre los modos en que futuros profesores de primaria dan sentido a la invención de problemas matemáticos y el impacto de plantear diferentes problemas contextualizados en su aprendizaje. El foco fue la invención de nuevos problemas y la reformulación de otros dados. Los participantes fueron 40 futuros maestros de primaria. Los resultados proporcionan elementos sobre posibles modos en que estos maestros dan sentido a la invención de problemas matemáticos y el aprendizaje que ofrece plantear diversos problemas. Se destacan cinco perspectivas y nueve categorías de tareas en la invención de problemas para apoyar el desarrollo de la competencia de plantear problemas en la enseñanza.

  2. The nucleolus is well-posed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fragnelli, Vito; Patrone, Fioravante; Torre, Anna

    2006-02-01

    The lexicographic order is not representable by a real-valued function, contrary to many other orders or preorders. So, standard tools and results for well-posed minimum problems cannot be used. We prove that under suitable hypotheses it is however possible to guarantee the well-posedness of a lexicographic minimum over a compact or convex set. This result allows us to prove that some game theoretical solution concepts, based on lexicographic order are well-posed: in particular, this is true for the nucleolus.

  3. Human action recognition based on estimated weak poses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Wenjuan; Gonzàlez, Jordi; Roca, Francesc Xavier

    2012-12-01

    We present a novel method for human action recognition (HAR) based on estimated poses from image sequences. We use 3D human pose data as additional information and propose a compact human pose representation, called a weak pose, in a low-dimensional space while still keeping the most discriminative information for a given pose. With predicted poses from image features, we map the problem from image feature space to pose space, where a Bag of Poses (BOP) model is learned for the final goal of HAR. The BOP model is a modified version of the classical bag of words pipeline by building the vocabulary based on the most representative weak poses for a given action. Compared with the standard k-means clustering, our vocabulary selection criteria is proven to be more efficient and robust against the inherent challenges of action recognition. Moreover, since for action recognition the ordering of the poses is discriminative, the BOP model incorporates temporal information: in essence, groups of consecutive poses are considered together when computing the vocabulary and assignment. We tested our method on two well-known datasets: HumanEva and IXMAS, to demonstrate that weak poses aid to improve action recognition accuracies. The proposed method is scene-independent and is comparable with the state-of-art method.

  4. Pose-Invariant Face Recognition via RGB-D Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sang, Gaoli; Li, Jing; Zhao, Qijun

    2016-01-01

    Three-dimensional (3D) face models can intrinsically handle large pose face recognition problem. In this paper, we propose a novel pose-invariant face recognition method via RGB-D images. By employing depth, our method is able to handle self-occlusion and deformation, both of which are challenging problems in two-dimensional (2D) face recognition. Texture images in the gallery can be rendered to the same view as the probe via depth. Meanwhile, depth is also used for similarity measure via frontalization and symmetric filling. Finally, both texture and depth contribute to the final identity estimation. Experiments on Bosphorus, CurtinFaces, Eurecom, and Kiwi databases demonstrate that the additional depth information has improved the performance of face recognition with large pose variations and under even more challenging conditions.

  5. Face pose tracking using the four-point algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fung, Ho Yin; Wong, Kin Hong; Yu, Ying Kin; Tsui, Kwan Pang; Kam, Ho Chuen

    2017-06-01

    In this paper, we have developed an algorithm to track the pose of a human face robustly and efficiently. Face pose estimation is very useful in many applications such as building virtual reality systems and creating an alternative input method for the disabled. Firstly, we have modified a face detection toolbox called DLib for the detection of a face in front of a camera. The detected face features are passed to a pose estimation method, known as the four-point algorithm, for pose computation. The theory applied and the technical problems encountered during system development are discussed in the paper. It is demonstrated that the system is able to track the pose of a face in real time using a consumer grade laptop computer.

  6. Modified truncated randomized singular value decomposition (MTRSVD) algorithms for large scale discrete ill-posed problems with general-form regularization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Zhongxiao; Yang, Yanfei

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we propose new randomization based algorithms for large scale linear discrete ill-posed problems with general-form regularization: subject to , where L is a regularization matrix. Our algorithms are inspired by the modified truncated singular value decomposition (MTSVD) method, which suits only for small to medium scale problems, and randomized SVD (RSVD) algorithms that generate good low rank approximations to A. We use rank-k truncated randomized SVD (TRSVD) approximations to A by truncating the rank- RSVD approximations to A, where q is an oversampling parameter. The resulting algorithms are called modified TRSVD (MTRSVD) methods. At every step, we use the LSQR algorithm to solve the resulting inner least squares problem, which is proved to become better conditioned as k increases so that LSQR converges faster. We present sharp bounds for the approximation accuracy of the RSVDs and TRSVDs for severely, moderately and mildly ill-posed problems, and substantially improve a known basic bound for TRSVD approximations. We prove how to choose the stopping tolerance for LSQR in order to guarantee that the computed and exact best regularized solutions have the same accuracy. Numerical experiments illustrate that the best regularized solutions by MTRSVD are as accurate as the ones by the truncated generalized singular value decomposition (TGSVD) algorithm, and at least as accurate as those by some existing truncated randomized generalized singular value decomposition (TRGSVD) algorithms. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11771249 and 11371219).

  7. Binary classification posed as a quadratically constrained quadratic ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Binary classification is posed as a quadratically constrained quadratic problem and solved using the proposed method. Each class in the binary classification problem is modeled as a multidimensional ellipsoid to forma quadratic constraint in the problem. Particle swarms help in determining the optimal hyperplane or ...

  8. Making 2D face recognition more robust using AAMs for pose compensation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huisman, Peter; Munster, Ruud; Moro-Ellenberger, Stephanie; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Bazen, A.M.

    2006-01-01

    The problem of pose in 2D face recognition is widely acknowledged. Commercial systems are limited to near frontal face images and cannot deal with pose deviations larger than 15 degrees from the frontal view. This is a problem, when using face recognition for surveillance applications in which

  9. Well-posed optimization problems

    CERN Document Server

    Dontchev, Asen L

    1993-01-01

    This book presents in a unified way the mathematical theory of well-posedness in optimization. The basic concepts of well-posedness and the links among them are studied, in particular Hadamard and Tykhonov well-posedness. Abstract optimization problems as well as applications to optimal control, calculus of variations and mathematical programming are considered. Both the pure and applied side of these topics are presented. The main subject is often introduced by heuristics, particular cases and examples. Complete proofs are provided. The expected knowledge of the reader does not extend beyond textbook (real and functional) analysis, some topology and differential equations and basic optimization. References are provided for more advanced topics. The book is addressed to mathematicians interested in optimization and related topics, and also to engineers, control theorists, economists and applied scientists who can find here a mathematical justification of practical procedures they encounter.

  10. Pose estimation for mobile robots working on turbine blade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, X.D.; Chen, Q.; Liu, J.J.; Sun, Z.G.; Zhang, W.Z. [Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

    2009-03-11

    This paper discussed a features point detection and matching task technique for mobile robots used in wind turbine blade applications. The vision-based scheme used visual information from the robot's surrounding environment to match successive image frames. An improved pose estimation algorithm based on a scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) was developed to consider the characteristics of local images of turbine blades, pose estimation problems, and conditions. The method included a pre-subsampling technique for reducing computation and bidirectional matching for improving precision. A random sample consensus (RANSAC) method was used to estimate the robot's pose. Pose estimation conditions included a wide pose range; the distance between neighbouring blades; and mechanical, electromagnetic, and optical disturbances. An experimental platform was used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm. 20 refs., 6 figs.

  11. Posing the problem of time in S. N. Bulgakov: in the context of nature and freedom antinomy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana Rezvykh

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The author discusses a S. N. Bulgakov’s unique approach to the problem of time, consisting of an effort to resolve the problem basing on corollaries from Kant’s antinomy of nature and freedom, as well as on ideas of Schelling. Bulgakov views the time antinomically. It was his reflection on the meaning of Kant’s antinomism which led him to posing the problem of time. For the first time we find him treating this problem in his article Apocalypticism and Socialism, which dealt with antinomy of eschatology and chiliasm. Here also he starts to consider relation of time and eternity through antinomy of nature and freedom. In his Philosophy of Economy the same problem is solved by means of the concept of Sophia as the ontological basis of personality, which unites freedom and nature, the eternal and the temporal. But in his Unfading Light the antinomy of nature and freedom is discussed through differentiation between negative and positive theology. Bulgakov uses as a synthesizing concept Schelling’s idea of «eternal time» as unity of eternity and time. Thus, despite Bulgakov’s repeated statements about their clear distinction, time and eternity are drawn together. Such an attempt to solve the problem of time raises doubts about the very possibility of freedom.

  12. Robust head pose estimation via supervised manifold learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chao; Song, Xubo

    2014-05-01

    Head poses can be automatically estimated using manifold learning algorithms, with the assumption that with the pose being the only variable, the face images should lie in a smooth and low-dimensional manifold. However, this estimation approach is challenging due to other appearance variations related to identity, head location in image, background clutter, facial expression, and illumination. To address the problem, we propose to incorporate supervised information (pose angles of training samples) into the process of manifold learning. The process has three stages: neighborhood construction, graph weight computation and projection learning. For the first two stages, we redefine inter-point distance for neighborhood construction as well as graph weight by constraining them with the pose angle information. For Stage 3, we present a supervised neighborhood-based linear feature transformation algorithm to keep the data points with similar pose angles close together but the data points with dissimilar pose angles far apart. The experimental results show that our method has higher estimation accuracy than the other state-of-art algorithms and is robust to identity and illumination variations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Zebra Mussels Pose a Threat to Virginia's Waters

    OpenAIRE

    Helfrich, Louis A. (Louis Anthony), 1942-; Weigmann, Diana L.; Speenburgh, Renee M.; Neves, Richard J.; Kitchel, Lisie; Bruenderman, Sue A., 1962-

    2005-01-01

    Provides an brief introduction to the invasion of the zebra mussel into American waters, explains the economic consequences they pose, and discusses if Virginia will inherit the problem, what the public can do to help, the general lifecycle of the zebra mussel and if they can be controlled, and who is working on the zebra mussel problem.

  14. PRA has many faces - can the safety goal be well-posed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bargmann, H.

    1983-01-01

    The question is discussed whether probabilistic reliability problems can, principally, be well-posed in practical situations. The problem is reduced to the question whether an underlying probabilistic experiment which is, essentially, the set of outcomes can be precisely specified such that the solution of the problem is unique. Upon reexamination of a classical paradox due to Bertrand and consideration of a typical problem of structural reliability we conclude that the possibility of well-posing a reliability problem should be considered illusory, for fundamental reasons which are inherent in practical situations. In particular, it should not be assumed that a quantitative safety goal could be verified. Generally, a probabilistic assessment should be considered as a quantitative method for establishing rational results which should, however, not be viewed as quantitative measures but as qualitative guides

  15. Pose estimation of industrial objects towards robot operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Jie; Zhou, Fuqiang; Tan, Haishu; Cao, Yu

    2017-10-01

    With the advantages of wide range, non-contact and high flexibility, the visual estimation technology of target pose has been widely applied in modern industry, robot guidance and other engineering practices. However, due to the influence of complicated industrial environment, outside interference factors, lack of object characteristics, restrictions of camera and other limitations, the visual estimation technology of target pose is still faced with many challenges. Focusing on the above problems, a pose estimation method of the industrial objects is developed based on 3D models of targets. By matching the extracted shape characteristics of objects with the priori 3D model database of targets, the method realizes the recognition of target. Thus a pose estimation of objects can be determined based on the monocular vision measuring model. The experimental results show that this method can be implemented to estimate the position of rigid objects based on poor images information, and provides guiding basis for the operation of the industrial robot.

  16. Sparse deconvolution for the large-scale ill-posed inverse problem of impact force reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Baijie; Zhang, Xingwu; Gao, Jiawei; Liu, Ruonan; Chen, Xuefeng

    2017-01-01

    Most previous regularization methods for solving the inverse problem of force reconstruction are to minimize the l2-norm of the desired force. However, these traditional regularization methods such as Tikhonov regularization and truncated singular value decomposition, commonly fail to solve the large-scale ill-posed inverse problem in moderate computational cost. In this paper, taking into account the sparse characteristic of impact force, the idea of sparse deconvolution is first introduced to the field of impact force reconstruction and a general sparse deconvolution model of impact force is constructed. Second, a novel impact force reconstruction method based on the primal-dual interior point method (PDIPM) is proposed to solve such a large-scale sparse deconvolution model, where minimizing the l2-norm is replaced by minimizing the l1-norm. Meanwhile, the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm is used to compute the search direction of PDIPM with high computational efficiency. Finally, two experiments including the small-scale or medium-scale single impact force reconstruction and the relatively large-scale consecutive impact force reconstruction are conducted on a composite wind turbine blade and a shell structure to illustrate the advantage of PDIPM. Compared with Tikhonov regularization, PDIPM is more efficient, accurate and robust whether in the single impact force reconstruction or in the consecutive impact force reconstruction.

  17. Pose-invariant face recognition using Markov random fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Huy Tho; Chellappa, Rama

    2013-04-01

    One of the key challenges for current face recognition techniques is how to handle pose variations between the probe and gallery face images. In this paper, we present a method for reconstructing the virtual frontal view from a given nonfrontal face image using Markov random fields (MRFs) and an efficient variant of the belief propagation algorithm. In the proposed approach, the input face image is divided into a grid of overlapping patches, and a globally optimal set of local warps is estimated to synthesize the patches at the frontal view. A set of possible warps for each patch is obtained by aligning it with images from a training database of frontal faces. The alignments are performed efficiently in the Fourier domain using an extension of the Lucas-Kanade algorithm that can handle illumination variations. The problem of finding the optimal warps is then formulated as a discrete labeling problem using an MRF. The reconstructed frontal face image can then be used with any face recognition technique. The two main advantages of our method are that it does not require manually selected facial landmarks or head pose estimation. In order to improve the performance of our pose normalization method in face recognition, we also present an algorithm for classifying whether a given face image is at a frontal or nonfrontal pose. Experimental results on different datasets are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

  18. Determination of the Geometric Form of a Plane of a Tectonic Gap as the Inverse III-posed Problem of Mathematical Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirota, Dmitry; Ivanov, Vadim

    2017-11-01

    Any mining operations influence stability of natural and technogenic massifs are the reason of emergence of the sources of differences of mechanical tension. These sources generate a quasistationary electric field with a Newtonian potential. The paper reviews the method of determining the shape and size of a flat source field with this kind of potential. This common problem meets in many fields of mining: geological exploration mineral resources, ore deposits, control of mining by underground method, determining coal self-heating source, localization of the rock crack's sources and other applied problems of practical physics. This problems are ill-posed and inverse and solved by converting to Fredholm-Uryson integral equation of the first kind. This equation will be solved by A.N. Tikhonov regularization method.

  19. Fast human pose estimation using 3D Zernike descriptors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berjón, Daniel; Morán, Francisco

    2012-03-01

    Markerless video-based human pose estimation algorithms face a high-dimensional problem that is frequently broken down into several lower-dimensional ones by estimating the pose of each limb separately. However, in order to do so they need to reliably locate the torso, for which they typically rely on time coherence and tracking algorithms. Their losing track usually results in catastrophic failure of the process, requiring human intervention and thus precluding their usage in real-time applications. We propose a very fast rough pose estimation scheme based on global shape descriptors built on 3D Zernike moments. Using an articulated model that we configure in many poses, a large database of descriptor/pose pairs can be computed off-line. Thus, the only steps that must be done on-line are the extraction of the descriptors for each input volume and a search against the database to get the most likely poses. While the result of such process is not a fine pose estimation, it can be useful to help more sophisticated algorithms to regain track or make more educated guesses when creating new particles in particle-filter-based tracking schemes. We have achieved a performance of about ten fps on a single computer using a database of about one million entries.

  20. Person-Independent Head Pose Estimation Using Biased Manifold Embedding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sethuraman Panchanathan

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Head pose estimation has been an integral problem in the study of face recognition systems and human-computer interfaces, as part of biometric applications. A fine estimate of the head pose angle is necessary and useful for several face analysis applications. To determine the head pose, face images with varying pose angles can be considered to be lying on a smooth low-dimensional manifold in high-dimensional image feature space. However, when there are face images of multiple individuals with varying pose angles, manifold learning techniques often do not give accurate results. In this work, we propose a framework for a supervised form of manifold learning called Biased Manifold Embedding to obtain improved performance in head pose angle estimation. This framework goes beyond pose estimation, and can be applied to all regression applications. This framework, although formulated for a regression scenario, unifies other supervised approaches to manifold learning that have been proposed so far. Detailed studies of the proposed method are carried out on the FacePix database, which contains 181 face images each of 30 individuals with pose angle variations at a granularity of 1∘. Since biometric applications in the real world may not contain this level of granularity in training data, an analysis of the methodology is performed on sparsely sampled data to validate its effectiveness. We obtained up to 2∘ average pose angle estimation error in the results from our experiments, which matched the best results obtained for head pose estimation using related approaches.

  1. Exemplar-based human action pose correction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Wei; Deng, Ke; Bai, Xiang; Leyvand, Tommer; Guo, Baining; Tu, Zhuowen

    2014-07-01

    The launch of Xbox Kinect has built a very successful computer vision product and made a big impact on the gaming industry. This sheds lights onto a wide variety of potential applications related to action recognition. The accurate estimation of human poses from the depth image is universally a critical step. However, existing pose estimation systems exhibit failures when facing severe occlusion. In this paper, we propose an exemplar-based method to learn to correct the initially estimated poses. We learn an inhomogeneous systematic bias by leveraging the exemplar information within a specific human action domain. Furthermore, as an extension, we learn a conditional model by incorporation of pose tags to further increase the accuracy of pose correction. In the experiments, significant improvements on both joint-based skeleton correction and tag prediction are observed over the contemporary approaches, including what is delivered by the current Kinect system. Our experiments for the facial landmark correction also illustrate that our algorithm can improve the accuracy of other detection/estimation systems.

  2. Pose estimation for augmented reality applications using genetic algorithm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Ying Kin; Wong, Kin Hong; Chang, Michael Ming Yuen

    2005-12-01

    This paper describes a genetic algorithm that tackles the pose-estimation problem in computer vision. Our genetic algorithm can find the rotation and translation of an object accurately when the three-dimensional structure of the object is given. In our implementation, each chromosome encodes both the pose and the indexes to the selected point features of the object. Instead of only searching for the pose as in the existing work, our algorithm, at the same time, searches for a set containing the most reliable feature points in the process. This mismatch filtering strategy successfully makes the algorithm more robust under the presence of point mismatches and outliers in the images. Our algorithm has been tested with both synthetic and real data with good results. The accuracy of the recovered pose is compared to the existing algorithms. Our approach outperformed the Lowe's method and the other two genetic algorithms under the presence of point mismatches and outliers. In addition, it has been used to estimate the pose of a real object. It is shown that the proposed method is applicable to augmented reality applications.

  3. Local Feature Learning for Face Recognition under Varying Poses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duan, Xiaodong; Tan, Zheng-Hua

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we present a local feature learning method for face recognition to deal with varying poses. As opposed to the commonly used approaches of recovering frontal face images from profile views, the proposed method extracts the subject related part from a local feature by removing the pose...... related part in it on the basis of a pose feature. The method has a closed-form solution, hence being time efficient. For performance evaluation, cross pose face recognition experiments are conducted on two public face recognition databases FERET and FEI. The proposed method shows a significant...... recognition improvement under varying poses over general local feature approaches and outperforms or is comparable with related state-of-the-art pose invariant face recognition approaches. Copyright ©2015 by IEEE....

  4. Unintended allergens in precautionary labelled and unlabelled products pose significant risks to UK allergic consumers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Remington, B.C.; Baumert, J.L.; Blom, W.M.; Houben, G.F.; Taylor, S.L.; Kruizinga, A.G.

    2015-01-01

    Background Allergens in food may pose a risk to allergic consumers. While there is EU regulation for allergens present as an ingredient, this is not the case for unintended allergen presence (UAP). Food companies use precautionary allergen labels to inform allergic individuals of a potential risk

  5. Point Cloud Based Relative Pose Estimation of a Satellite in Close Range

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lujiang Liu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Determination of the relative pose of satellites is essential in space rendezvous operations and on-orbit servicing missions. The key problems are the adoption of suitable sensor on board of a chaser and efficient techniques for pose estimation. This paper aims to estimate the pose of a target satellite in close range on the basis of its known model by using point cloud data generated by a flash LIDAR sensor. A novel model based pose estimation method is proposed; it includes a fast and reliable pose initial acquisition method based on global optimal searching by processing the dense point cloud data directly, and a pose tracking method based on Iterative Closest Point algorithm. Also, a simulation system is presented in this paper in order to evaluate the performance of the sensor and generate simulated sensor point cloud data. It also provides truth pose of the test target so that the pose estimation error can be quantified. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and achievable pose accuracy, numerical simulation experiments are performed; results demonstrate algorithm capability of operating with point cloud directly and large pose variations. Also, a field testing experiment is conducted and results show that the proposed method is effective.

  6. Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to 'Power Poses'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Lantos, Dorottya; Bowden, Deborah

    2017-01-01

    Research on beneficial consequences of yoga focuses on the effects of yogic breathing and meditation. Less is known about the psychological effects of performing yoga postures. The present study investigated the effects of yoga poses on subjective sense of energy and self-esteem. The effects of yoga postures were compared to the effects of 'power poses,' which arguably increase the sense of power and self-confidence due to their association with interpersonal dominance (Carney et al., 2010). The study tested the novel prediction that yoga poses, which are not associated with interpersonal dominance but increase bodily energy, would increase the subjective feeling of energy and therefore increase self-esteem compared to 'high power' and 'low power' poses. A two factorial, between participants design was employed. Participants performed either two standing yoga poses with open front of the body ( n = 19), two standing yoga poses with covered front of the body ( n = 22), two expansive, high power poses ( n = 21), or two constrictive, low power poses ( n = 20) for 1-min each. The results showed that yoga poses in comparison to 'power poses' increased self-esteem. This effect was mediated by an increased subjective sense of energy and was observed when baseline trait self-esteem was controlled for. These results suggest that the effects of performing open, expansive body postures may be driven by processes other than the poses' association with interpersonal power and dominance. This study demonstrates that positive effects of yoga practice can occur after performing yoga poses for only 2 min.

  7. Contactless and pose invariant biometric identification using hand surface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanhangad, Vivek; Kumar, Ajay; Zhang, David

    2011-05-01

    This paper presents a novel approach for hand matching that achieves significantly improved performance even in the presence of large hand pose variations. The proposed method utilizes a 3-D digitizer to simultaneously acquire intensity and range images of the user's hand presented to the system in an arbitrary pose. The approach involves determination of the orientation of the hand in 3-D space followed by pose normalization of the acquired 3-D and 2-D hand images. Multimodal (2-D as well as 3-D) palmprint and hand geometry features, which are simultaneously extracted from the user's pose normalized textured 3-D hand, are used for matching. Individual matching scores are then combined using a new dynamic fusion strategy. Our experimental results on the database of 114 subjects with significant pose variations yielded encouraging results. Consistent (across various hand features considered) performance improvement achieved with the pose correction demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed approach for hand based biometric systems with unconstrained and contact-free imaging. The experimental results also suggest that the dynamic fusion approach employed in this work helps to achieve performance improvement of 60% (in terms of EER) over the case when matching scores are combined using the weighted sum rule.

  8. An ill-posed problem for the Black-Scholes equation for a profitable forecast of prices of stock options on real market data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klibanov, Michael V.; Kuzhuget, Andrey V.; Golubnichiy, Kirill V.

    2016-01-01

    A new empirical mathematical model for the Black-Scholes equation is proposed to forecast option prices. This model includes new interval for the price of the underlying stock, new initial and new boundary conditions. Conventional notions of maturity time and strike prices are not used. The Black-Scholes equation is solved as a parabolic equation with the reversed time, which is an ill-posed problem. Thus, a regularization method is used to solve it. To verify the validity of our model, real market data for 368 randomly selected liquid options are used. A new trading strategy is proposed. Our results indicates that our method is profitable on those options. Furthermore, it is shown that the performance of two simple extrapolation-based techniques is much worse. We conjecture that our method might lead to significant profits of those financial insitutions which trade large amounts of options. We caution, however, that further studies are necessary to verify this conjecture.

  9. Perspective projection for variance pose face recognition from camera calibration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fakhir, M. M.; Woo, W. L.; Chambers, J. A.; Dlay, S. S.

    2016-04-01

    Variance pose is an important research topic in face recognition. The alteration of distance parameters across variance pose face features is a challenging. We provide a solution for this problem using perspective projection for variance pose face recognition. Our method infers intrinsic camera parameters of the image which enable the projection of the image plane into 3D. After this, face box tracking and centre of eyes detection can be identified using our novel technique to verify the virtual face feature measurements. The coordinate system of the perspective projection for face tracking allows the holistic dimensions for the face to be fixed in different orientations. The training of frontal images and the rest of the poses on FERET database determine the distance from the centre of eyes to the corner of box face. The recognition system compares the gallery of images against different poses. The system initially utilises information on position of both eyes then focuses principally on closest eye in order to gather data with greater reliability. Differentiation between the distances and position of the right and left eyes is a unique feature of our work with our algorithm outperforming other state of the art algorithms thus enabling stable measurement in variance pose for each individual.

  10. Multi-Task Convolutional Neural Network for Pose-Invariant Face Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Xi; Liu, Xiaoming

    2018-02-01

    This paper explores multi-task learning (MTL) for face recognition. We answer the questions of how and why MTL can improve the face recognition performance. First, we propose a multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for face recognition where identity classification is the main task and pose, illumination, and expression estimations are the side tasks. Second, we develop a dynamic-weighting scheme to automatically assign the loss weight to each side task, which is a crucial problem in MTL. Third, we propose a pose-directed multi-task CNN by grouping different poses to learn pose-specific identity features, simultaneously across all poses. Last but not least, we propose an energy-based weight analysis method to explore how CNN-based MTL works. We observe that the side tasks serve as regularizations to disentangle the variations from the learnt identity features. Extensive experiments on the entire Multi-PIE dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work using all data in Multi-PIE for face recognition. Our approach is also applicable to in-the-wild datasets for pose-invariant face recognition and achieves comparable or better performance than state of the art on LFW, CFP, and IJB-A datasets.

  11. Full Body Pose Estimation During Occlusion using Multiple Cameras

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fihl, Preben; Cosar, Serhan

    people is a very challenging problem for methods based on pictorials structure as for any other monocular pose estimation method. In this report we present work on a multi-view approach based on pictorial structures that integrate low level information from multiple calibrated cameras to improve the 2D...

  12. 3D Facial Landmarking under Expression, Pose, and Occlusion Variations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    H. Dibeklioğ lu; A.A. Salah (Albert Ali); L. Akarun

    2008-01-01

    htmlabstractAutomatic localization of 3D facial features is important for face recognition, tracking, modeling and expression analysis. Methods developed for 2D images were shown to have problems working across databases acquired with different illumination conditions. Expression variations, pose

  13. Mixed gradient-Tikhonov methods for solving nonlinear ill-posed problems in Banach spaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Margotti, Fábio

    2016-01-01

    Tikhonov regularization is a very useful and widely used method for finding stable solutions of ill-posed problems. A good choice of the penalization functional as well as a careful selection of the topologies of the involved spaces is fundamental to the quality of the reconstructions. These choices can be combined with some a priori information about the solution in order to preserve desired characteristics like sparsity constraints for example. To prove convergence and stability properties of this method, one usually has to assume that a minimizer of the Tikhonov functional is known. In practical situations however, the exact computation of a minimizer is very difficult and even finding an approximation can be a very challenging and expensive task if the involved spaces have poor convexity or smoothness properties. In this paper we propose a method to attenuate this gap between theory and practice, applying a gradient-like method to a Tikhonov functional in order to approximate a minimizer. Using only available information, we explicitly calculate a maximal step-size which ensures a monotonically decreasing error. The resulting algorithm performs only finitely many steps and terminates using the discrepancy principle. In particular the knowledge of a minimizer or even its existence does not need to be assumed. Under standard assumptions, we prove convergence and stability results in relatively general Banach spaces, and subsequently, test its performance numerically, reconstructing conductivities with sparsely located inclusions and different kinds of noise in the 2D electrical impedance tomography. (paper)

  14. Problems posed by the model of bipolar transistor used and the measurement of the parameters associated in the IMAG.1 program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imbrechts, Claude; Le Ber, Jacques

    1969-02-01

    The IMAG-1 program uses, for diodes and transistors, bipolar models of the Ebers and Moll modified type. This model is already used in the US NET.1 program. The object of this paper is essentially to pose the problem of the measurement of the parameters associated with the Ebers and Moll model. However, the authors' ambition is not to solve it but to attract attention to the need to speak the same language to define the model, the methods of measuring the associated parameters and their dispersions in order to better appreciate inaccuracies due to the model's approximations

  15. An Improved Method of Pose Estimation for Lighthouse Base Station Extension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yi; Weng, Dongdong; Li, Dong; Xun, Hang

    2017-10-22

    In 2015, HTC and Valve launched a virtual reality headset empowered with Lighthouse, the cutting-edge space positioning technology. Although Lighthouse is superior in terms of accuracy, latency and refresh rate, its algorithms do not support base station expansion, and is flawed concerning occlusion in moving targets, that is, it is unable to calculate their poses with a small set of sensors, resulting in the loss of optical tracking data. In view of these problems, this paper proposes an improved pose estimation algorithm for cases where occlusion is involved. Our algorithm calculates the pose of a given object with a unified dataset comprising of inputs from sensors recognized by all base stations, as long as three or more sensors detect a signal in total, no matter from which base station. To verify our algorithm, HTC official base stations and autonomous developed receivers are used for prototyping. The experiment result shows that our pose calculation algorithm can achieve precise positioning when a few sensors detect the signal.

  16. Abstract Cauchy problems three approaches

    CERN Document Server

    Melnikova, Irina V

    2001-01-01

    Although the theory of well-posed Cauchy problems is reasonably understood, ill-posed problems-involved in a numerous mathematical models in physics, engineering, and finance- can be approached in a variety of ways. Historically, there have been three major strategies for dealing with such problems: semigroup, abstract distribution, and regularization methods. Semigroup and distribution methods restore well-posedness, in a modern weak sense. Regularization methods provide approximate solutions to ill-posed problems. Although these approaches were extensively developed over the last decades by many researchers, nowhere could one find a comprehensive treatment of all three approaches.Abstract Cauchy Problems: Three Approaches provides an innovative, self-contained account of these methods and, furthermore, demonstrates and studies some of the profound connections between them. The authors discuss the application of different methods not only to the Cauchy problem that is not well-posed in the classical sense, b...

  17. Observation problems posed for the Klein-Gordon equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    András Szijártó

    2012-01-01

    Sufficient conditions are obtained that guarantee the solvability of each of four observation problems with given state functions $f, \\ g$ at two distinct time instants $-\\inftyproblem, and the representability of $t_2-t_1$ as a rational multiple of $\\frac{2l}{a}$. The reconstruction of the unknown initial data $(u(x,0, u_t(x,0$ as the elements of $D^{s+1}(0,l \\times D^s(0,l$ are given by means of the method of Fourier expansions.

  18. THE QUALITY OF MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS - EVALUATION AND SELF-EVALUATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patáková, Eva

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The research presented in the article consists of two parts. Firstly, opinions on mathematical problem quality are explored within four groups of participants (novices, specialists and experts in problem posing; high school students who never posed their own problems. Secondly, self-reflections written by the participants who have some experience in problem posing (novices, specialists and experts are explored and compared with the general view of problem quality received in the first part of the research. The more experienced problem posers have more requirements on problem quality (both as general requirements and within their own work on posing problems. There is a slight decrease in ability to notice important features of mathematical problem quality after the first experience in problem posing. Experts lay stress on mathematical features of the problem whilst novices and specialists more on problem – student interaction.

  19. Pose Space Surface Manipulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuke Yoshiyasu

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Example-based mesh deformation techniques produce natural and realistic shapes by learning the space of deformations from examples. However, skeleton-based methods cannot manipulate a global mesh structure naturally, whereas the mesh-based approaches based on a translational control do not allow the user to edit a local mesh structure intuitively. This paper presents an example-driven mesh editing framework that achieves both global and local pose manipulations. The proposed system is built with a surface deformation method based on a two-step linear optimization technique and achieves direct manipulations of a model surface using translational and rotational controls. With the translational control, the user can create a model in natural poses easily. The rotational control can adjust the local pose intuitively by bending and twisting. We encode example deformations with a rotation-invariant mesh representation which handles large rotations in examples. To incorporate example deformations, we infer a pose from the handle translations/rotations and perform pose space interpolation, thereby avoiding involved nonlinear optimization. With the two-step linear approach combined with the proposed multiresolution deformation method, we can edit models at interactive rates without losing important deformation effects such as muscle bulging.

  20. When a Problem Is More than a Teacher's Question

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, Jo Clay; Knott, Libby

    2013-01-01

    Not only are the problems teachers pose throughout their teaching of great importance but also the ways in which they use those problems make this a critical component of teaching. A problem-posing episode includes the problem setup, the statement of the problem, and the follow-up questions. Analysis of problem-posing episodes of precalculus…

  1. Carbon chain length and the stimulus problem in oldfaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boesveldt, S.; Olsson, M.; Lundstrom, J.N.

    2010-01-01

    Understanding how odour quality perception is encoded in its molecular properties arguably poses one of the most significant problems in olfaction. Determining the odour structure–quality relationships of structurally similar odorants could provide a key tool to this problem. We tentatively explored

  2. Statistical Model-Based Face Pose Estimation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    GE Xinliang; YANG Jie; LI Feng; WANG Huahua

    2007-01-01

    A robust face pose estimation approach is proposed by using face shape statistical model approach and pose parameters are represented by trigonometric functions. The face shape statistical model is firstly built by analyzing the face shapes from different people under varying poses. The shape alignment is vital in the process of building the statistical model. Then, six trigonometric functions are employed to represent the face pose parameters. Lastly, the mapping function is constructed between face image and face pose by linearly relating different parameters. The proposed approach is able to estimate different face poses using a few face training samples. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.

  3. Gaussian particle filter based pose and motion estimation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    Determination of relative three-dimensional (3D) position, orientation, and relative motion between two reference frames is an important problem in robotic guidance, manipulation, and assembly as well as in other fields such as photogrammetry.A solution to pose and motion estimation problem that uses two-dimensional (2D) intensity images from a single camera is desirable for real-time applications. The difficulty in performing this measurement is that the process of projecting 3D object features to 2D images is a nonlinear transformation. In this paper, the 3D transformation is modeled as a nonlinear stochastic system with the state estimation providing six degrees-of-freedom motion and position values, using line features in image plane as measuring inputs and dual quaternion to represent both rotation and translation in a unified notation. A filtering method called the Gaussian particle filter (GPF) based on the particle filtering concept is presented for 3D pose and motion estimation of a moving target from monocular image sequences. The method has been implemented with simulated data, and simulation results are provided along with comparisons to the extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to show the relative advantages of the GPF. Simulation results showed that GPF is a superior alternative to EKF and UKF.

  4. Tooth display and lip position during spontaneous and posed smiling in adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Der Geld, Pieter; Oosterveld, Paul; Berge, Stefaan J; Kuijpers-Jagtman, Anne M

    2008-08-01

    To analyze differences in tooth display, lip-line height, and smile width between the posed smiling record, traditionally produced for orthodontic diagnosis, and the spontaneous (Duchenne) smile of joy. The faces of 122 male participants were each filmed during spontaneous and posed smiling. Spontaneous smiles were elicited through the participants watching a comical movie. Maxillary and mandibular lip-line heights, tooth display, and smile width were measured using a digital videographic method for smile analysis. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare measurements of posed and spontaneous smiling. Maxillary lip-line heights during spontaneous smiling were significantly higher than during posed smiling. Compared to spontaneous smiling, tooth display in the (pre)molar area during posed smiling decreased by up to 30%, along with a significant reduction of smile width. During posed smiling, also mandibular lip-line heights changed and the teeth were more covered by the lower lip than during spontaneous smiling. Reduced lip-line heights, tooth display, and smile width on a posed smiling record can have implications for the diagnostics of lip-line height, smile arc, buccal corridors, and plane of occlusion. Spontaneous smiling records next to posed smiling records are therefore recommended for diagnostic purposes. Because of the dynamic nature of spontaneous smiling, it is proposed to switch to dynamic video recording of the smile.

  5. Adaptive relative pose control of spacecraft with model couplings and uncertainties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Liang; Zheng, Zewei

    2018-02-01

    The spacecraft pose tracking control problem for an uncertain pursuer approaching to a space target is researched in this paper. After modeling the nonlinearly coupled dynamics for relative translational and rotational motions between two spacecraft, position tracking and attitude synchronization controllers are developed independently by using a robust adaptive control approach. The unknown kinematic couplings, parametric uncertainties, and bounded external disturbances are handled with adaptive updating laws. It is proved via Lyapunov method that the pose tracking errors converge to zero asymptotically. Spacecraft close-range rendezvous and proximity operations are introduced as an example to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

  6. The present global financial and economic crisis poses an additional risk factor for mental health problems on the employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avčin, Bojana Avguštin; Kučina, Andrea Užmah; Sarotar, Brigita Novak; Radovanović, Mirjana; Plesničar, Blanka Kores

    2011-09-01

    The global financial and economic crisis starting in 2007 led to a deterioration of several socio-economic determinants of mental health. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the impact of the present economic crisis on the depression and anxiety levels of the employed in the private and public sector in Slovenia. Altogether 1592 employees completed an internet based self-reported questionnaire. Data about perceived impact of the economic crisis, several socio-demographic, socioeconomic, and health parameters were collected. Depression symptoms were assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale and anxiety symptoms by the Spielberger State-Inventory. Regression models were used 1) to explore the associations of the economic crisis with the level of depression and anxiety symptoms while controlling for some sociodemographic and work characteristic variables, and 2) to understand the relationship between some potentially important socioeconomic variables and the perception of the economic crisis. Depressive and anxiety scores were significantly increased among 590 (46.6%) employees being affected by the economic crisis. The level of depressive symptoms was significantly associated with perceived impact by the crisis, recent sick leave, reported injuries sustained at work, benzodiazepine and analgesic use, the lack of emotional support, and trust in crisis telephone lines. The level of anxiety symptoms yielded the robust association with the level of depression symptoms, reported injuries sustained on the way to work and education. The economic crisis poses an additional risk factor for mental health problems which clinicians should internalize and become more aware of them. Symptoms of depression and anxiety can be masked in high-utilizers of medical care with physical complaints or psychoactive drug use.

  7. Recovering the 3d Pose and Shape of Vehicles from Stereo Images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coenen, M.; Rottensteiner, F.; Heipke, C.

    2018-05-01

    The precise reconstruction and pose estimation of vehicles plays an important role, e.g. for autonomous driving. We tackle this problem on the basis of street level stereo images obtained from a moving vehicle. Starting from initial vehicle detections, we use a deformable vehicle shape prior learned from CAD vehicle data to fully reconstruct the vehicles in 3D and to recover their 3D pose and shape. To fit a deformable vehicle model to each detection by inferring the optimal parameters for pose and shape, we define an energy function leveraging reconstructed 3D data, image information, the vehicle model and derived scene knowledge. To minimise the energy function, we apply a robust model fitting procedure based on iterative Monte Carlo model particle sampling. We evaluate our approach using the object detection and orientation estimation benchmark of the KITTI dataset (Geiger et al., 2012). Our approach can deal with very coarse pose initialisations and we achieve encouraging results with up to 82 % correct pose estimations. Moreover, we are able to deliver very precise orientation estimation results with an average absolute error smaller than 4°.

  8. Inverse logarithmic potential problem

    CERN Document Server

    Cherednichenko, V G

    1996-01-01

    The Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems Series is a series of monographs publishing postgraduate level information on inverse and ill-posed problems for an international readership of professional scientists and researchers. The series aims to publish works which involve both theory and applications in, e.g., physics, medicine, geophysics, acoustics, electrodynamics, tomography, and ecology.

  9. Pengenalan Pose Tangan Menggunakan HuMoment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dina Budhi Utami

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Computer vision yang didasarkan pada pengenalan bentuk memiliki banyak potensi dalam interaksi manusia dan komputer. Pose tangan dapat dijadikan simbol interaksi manusia dengan komputer seperti halnya pada penggunaan berbagai pose tangan pada bahasa isyarat. Berbagai pose tangan dapat digunakan untuk menggantikan fungsi mouse, untuk mengendalikan robot, dan sebagainya. Penelitian ini difokuskan pada pembangunan sistem pengenalan pose tangan menggunakan HuMoment. Proses pengenalan pose tangan dimulai dengan melakukan segmentasi citra masukan untuk menghasilkan citra ROI (Region of Interest yaitu area telapak tangan. Selanjutnya dilakukan proses deteksi tepi. Kemudian dilakukan ekstraksi nilai HuMoment. Nilai HuMoment dikuantisasikan ke dalam bukukode yang dihasilkan dari proses pelatihan menggunakan K-Means. Proses kuantisasi dilakukan dengan menghitung nilai Euclidean Distance terkecil antara nilai HuMomment citra masukan dan bukukode. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, nilai akurasi sistem dalam mengenali pose tangan adalah 88.57%.

  10. Spontaneous and posed facial expression in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, M C; Smith, M K; Ellgring, H

    1996-09-01

    Spontaneous and posed emotional facial expressions in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD, n = 12) were compared with those of healthy age-matched controls (n = 12). The intensity and amount of facial expression in PD patients were expected to be reduced for spontaneous but not posed expressions. Emotional stimuli were video clips selected from films, 2-5 min in duration, designed to elicit feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, or anger. Facial movements were coded using Ekman and Friesen's (1978) Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In addition, participants rated their emotional experience on 9-point Likert scales. The PD group showed significantly less overall facial reactivity than did controls when viewing the films. The predicted Group X Condition (spontaneous vs. posed) interaction effect on smile intensity was found when PD participants with more severe disease were compared with those with milder disease and with controls. In contrast, ratings of emotional experience were similar for both groups. Depression was positively associated with emotion rating but not with measures of facial activity. Spontaneous facial expression appears to be selectively affected in PD, whereas posed expression and emotional experience remain relatively intact.

  11. Pose tracking for augmented reality applications in outdoor archaeological sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Younes, Georges; Asmar, Daniel; Elhajj, Imad; Al-Harithy, Howayda

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, agencies around the world have invested huge amounts of effort toward digitizing many aspects of the world's cultural heritage. Of particular importance is the digitization of outdoor archaeological sites. In the spirit of valorization of this digital information, many groups have developed virtual or augmented reality (AR) computer applications themed around a particular archaeological object. The problem of pose tracking in outdoor AR applications is addressed. Different positional systems are analyzed, resulting in the selection of a monocular camera-based user tracker. The limitations that challenge this technique from map generation, scale, anchoring, to lighting conditions are analyzed and systematically addressed. Finally, as a case study, our pose tracking system is implemented within an AR experience in the Byblos Roman theater in Lebanon.

  12. Preconditioner and convergence study for the Quantum Computer Aided Design (QCAD) nonlinear poisson problem posed on the Ottawa Flat 270 design geometry.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalashnikova, Irina

    2012-05-01

    A numerical study aimed to evaluate different preconditioners within the Trilinos Ifpack and ML packages for the Quantum Computer Aided Design (QCAD) non-linear Poisson problem implemented within the Albany code base and posed on the Ottawa Flat 270 design geometry is performed. This study led to some new development of Albany that allows the user to select an ML preconditioner with Zoltan repartitioning based on nodal coordinates, which is summarized. Convergence of the numerical solutions computed within the QCAD computational suite with successive mesh refinement is examined in two metrics, the mean value of the solution (an L{sup 1} norm) and the field integral of the solution (L{sup 2} norm).

  13. Hierarchical graphical-based human pose estimation via local multi-resolution convolutional neural network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Aichun; Wang, Tian; Snoussi, Hichem

    2018-03-01

    This paper addresses the problems of the graphical-based human pose estimation in still images, including the diversity of appearances and confounding background clutter. We present a new architecture for estimating human pose using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). Firstly, a Relative Mixture Deformable Model (RMDM) is defined by each pair of connected parts to compute the relative spatial information in the graphical model. Secondly, a Local Multi-Resolution Convolutional Neural Network (LMR-CNN) is proposed to train and learn the multi-scale representation of each body parts by combining different levels of part context. Thirdly, a LMR-CNN based hierarchical model is defined to explore the context information of limb parts. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed deep learning approach for human pose estimation.

  14. Hierarchical graphical-based human pose estimation via local multi-resolution convolutional neural network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aichun Zhu

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the problems of the graphical-based human pose estimation in still images, including the diversity of appearances and confounding background clutter. We present a new architecture for estimating human pose using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN. Firstly, a Relative Mixture Deformable Model (RMDM is defined by each pair of connected parts to compute the relative spatial information in the graphical model. Secondly, a Local Multi-Resolution Convolutional Neural Network (LMR-CNN is proposed to train and learn the multi-scale representation of each body parts by combining different levels of part context. Thirdly, a LMR-CNN based hierarchical model is defined to explore the context information of limb parts. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed deep learning approach for human pose estimation.

  15. Collaborative Random Faces-Guided Encoders for Pose-Invariant Face Representation Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Ming; Zhang, Yizhe; Fu, Yun

    2018-04-01

    Learning discriminant face representation for pose-invariant face recognition has been identified as a critical issue in visual learning systems. The challenge lies in the drastic changes of facial appearances between the test face and the registered face. To that end, we propose a high-level feature learning framework called "collaborative random faces (RFs)-guided encoders" toward this problem. The contributions of this paper are three fold. First, we propose a novel supervised autoencoder that is able to capture the high-level identity feature despite of pose variations. Second, we enrich the identity features by replacing the target values of conventional autoencoders with random signals (RFs in this paper), which are unique for each subject under different poses. Third, we further improve the performance of the framework by incorporating deep convolutional neural network facial descriptors and linking discriminative identity features from different RFs for the augmented identity features. Finally, we conduct face identification experiments on Multi-PIE database, and face verification experiments on labeled faces in the wild and YouTube Face databases, where face recognition rate and verification accuracy with Receiver Operating Characteristic curves are rendered. In addition, discussions of model parameters and connections with the existing methods are provided. These experiments demonstrate that our learning system works fairly well on handling pose variations.

  16. Inverse problems for Maxwell's equations

    CERN Document Server

    Romanov, V G

    1994-01-01

    The Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems Series is a series of monographs publishing postgraduate level information on inverse and ill-posed problems for an international readership of professional scientists and researchers. The series aims to publish works which involve both theory and applications in, e.g., physics, medicine, geophysics, acoustics, electrodynamics, tomography, and ecology.

  17. A deep learning approach for pose estimation from volumetric OCT data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gessert, Nils; Schlüter, Matthias; Schlaefer, Alexander

    2018-05-01

    Tracking the pose of instruments is a central problem in image-guided surgery. For microscopic scenarios, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is increasingly used as an imaging modality. OCT is suitable for accurate pose estimation due to its micrometer range resolution and volumetric field of view. However, OCT image processing is challenging due to speckle noise and reflection artifacts in addition to the images' 3D nature. We address pose estimation from OCT volume data with a new deep learning-based tracking framework. For this purpose, we design a new 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to directly predict the 6D pose of a small marker geometry from OCT volumes. We use a hexapod robot to automatically acquire labeled data points which we use to train 3D CNN architectures for multi-output regression. We use this setup to provide an in-depth analysis on deep learning-based pose estimation from volumes. Specifically, we demonstrate that exploiting volume information for pose estimation yields higher accuracy than relying on 2D representations with depth information. Supporting this observation, we provide quantitative and qualitative results that 3D CNNs effectively exploit the depth structure of marker objects. Regarding the deep learning aspect, we present efficient design principles for 3D CNNs, making use of insights from the 2D deep learning community. In particular, we present Inception3D as a new architecture which performs best for our application. We show that our deep learning approach reaches errors at our ground-truth label's resolution. We achieve a mean average error of 14.89 ± 9.3 µm and 0.096 ± 0.072° for position and orientation learning, respectively. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. The problem of "significant risk": exploring the public health impact of criminalizing HIV non-disclosure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mykhalovskiy, Eric

    2011-09-01

    Using criminal law powers to respond to people living with HIV (PHAs) who expose sexual partners to HIV or transmit the virus to them is a prominent global HIV public policy issue. While there are widespread concerns about the public health impact of HIV-related criminalization, the social science literature on the topic is limited. This article responds to that gap in knowledge by reporting on the results of qualitative research conducted with service providers and PHAs in Canada. The article draws on a studies in the social organization of knowledge perspective and insights from critical criminology and work on the "medico-legal borderland." It investigates the role played by the legal concept of "significant risk" in coordinating criminal law governance and its interface with public health and HIV prevention. In doing so, the article emphasizes that exploring the public health impact of criminalization must move past the criminal law--PHA dyad to address broader social and institutional processes relevant to HIV prevention. Drawing on individual and focus group interviews, this article explores how criminal law governance shapes the activities of providers engaged in HIV prevention counseling, conceptualized as a complex of activities linking clinicians, public health officials, front-line counselors, PHAs, and others. It emphasizes three key findings: (1) the concept of significant risk poses serious problems to risk communication in HIV counseling and contributes to contradictory advice about disclosure obligations; (2) criminalization discourages PHAs' openness about HIV non-disclosure in counseling relationships; and (3) the recontextualization of public health interpretations of significant risk in criminal proceedings can intensify criminalization. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Web-based Visualisation of Head Pose and Facial Expressions Changes:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kalliatakis, Grigorios; Vidakis, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

    2016-01-01

    Despite significant recent advances in the field of head pose estimation and facial expression recognition, raising the cognitive level when analysing human activity presents serious challenges to current concepts. Motivated by the need of generating comprehensible visual representations from...... and accurately estimate head pose changes in unconstrained environment. In order to complete the secondary process of recognising four universal dominant facial expressions (happiness, anger, sadness and surprise), emotion recognition via facial expressions (ERFE) was adopted. After that, a lightweight data...

  20. Penerapan Pendekatan Contextual Teaching and Learning (Ctl) Dengan Model Problem Posing Untuk Meningkatkan Kualitas Pembelajaran Biologi Siswa Kelas X.2 SMA Negeri 2 Karanganyar Tahun Pelajaran 2011/2012

    OpenAIRE

    Suparmi, Suparmi; Suciati, Suciati; Harlita, Harlita

    2013-01-01

    – This research aims to improve low quality of biology in class X.2 SMA Negeri 2 Karanganyar in academic year 2011/2012. Learning considered by teacher's performance, utility of facilities in the classroom, classroom climate, student's scientific attitude, and student motivation of achievement applying for approach Contextual Teaching and Learning with Problem Posing model. This research was a classroom action research which and performed in three cycles. Each cycle consisted of 4 ...

  1. The fuel element of the first charge for EL 4; presentation, main problems arising in the research, production problems; L'element combustible du 1. jeu de EL 4; presentation, problemes essentiels poses par l'etude, problemes de fabrication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ringot, C; Bailly, H; Bujas, R [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1964-07-01

    The fuel element making up the first charge for EL-4 is made of slightly enriched uranium oxide canned in stainless steel. This fuel element makes it possible to operate the reactor in the safest conditions awaiting the development of the fuel which will be finally adopted; this will have a low absorption can: beryllium, or a zirconium copper alloy. The 500 mm assembly is made up of 19 small rods placed on 3 rings, inside a graphite jacket. The solution adopted was a solution using completely independent small rods. This report deals with possible problems resulting from their study and production. (authors) [French] L'element combustible du 1er jeu EL-4 est un element combustible a oxyde d'uranium legerement enrichi gaine d'acier inoxydable. C'est un element combustible permettant de faire fonctionner le reacteur EL 4 dans des conditions aussi sures que possible avant de mettre au point le combustible definitif qui sera a gaine peu absorbante: beryllium, ou alliage zirconium-cuivre. L'assemblage de longueur 500 mm est constitue de 19 crayons places sur 3 couronnes, a l'interieur d'une chemise de graphite. La solution adoptee a ete une solution a crayons independants les uns des autres. Ce rapport traite des problemes eventuels poses par leur etude et leur fabrication. (auteurs)

  2. A New 3D Object Pose Detection Method Using LIDAR Shape Set.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jung-Un; Kang, Hang-Bong

    2018-03-16

    In object detection systems for autonomous driving, LIDAR sensors provide very useful information. However, problems occur because the object representation is greatly distorted by changes in distance. To solve this problem, we propose a LIDAR shape set that reconstructs the shape surrounding the object more clearly by using the LIDAR point information projected on the object. The LIDAR shape set restores object shape edges from a bird's eye view by filtering LIDAR points projected on a 2D pixel-based front view. In this study, we use this shape set for two purposes. The first is to supplement the shape set with a LIDAR Feature map, and the second is to divide the entire shape set according to the gradient of the depth and density to create a 2D and 3D bounding box proposal for each object. We present a multimodal fusion framework that classifies objects and restores the 3D pose of each object using enhanced feature maps and shape-based proposals. The network structure consists of a VGG -based object classifier that receives multiple inputs and a LIDAR-based Region Proposal Networks (RPN) that identifies object poses. It works in a very intuitive and efficient manner and can be extended to other classes other than vehicles. Our research has outperformed object classification accuracy (Average Precision, AP) and 3D pose restoration accuracy (3D bounding box recall rate) based on the latest studies conducted with KITTI data sets.

  3. Robustness of Input features from Noisy Silhouettes in Human Pose Estimation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gong, Wenjuan; Fihl, Preben; Gonzàlez, Jordi

    2014-01-01

    . In this paper, we explore this problem. First, We compare performances of several image features widely used for human pose estimation and explore their performances against each other and select one with best performance. Second, iterative closest point algorithm is introduced for a new quantitative...... of silhouette samples of different noise levels and compare with the selected feature on a public dataset: Human Eva dataset....

  4. Identification of significant problems related to light water reactor piping systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-07-01

    Work on the project was divided into three tasks. In Task 1, past surveys of LWR piping system problems and recent Licensee Event Report summaries are studied to identify the significant problems of LWR piping systems and the primary causes of these problems. Pipe cracking is identified as the most recurring problem and is mainly due to the vibration of pipes due to operating pump-pipe resonance, fluid-flow fluctuations, and vibration of pipe supports. Research relevant to the identified piping system problems is evaluated. Task 2 studies identify typical LWR piping systems and the current loads and load combinations used in the design of these systems. Definitions of loads are reviewed. In Task 3, a comparative study is carried out on the use of nonlinear analysis methods in the design of LWR piping systems. The study concludes that the current linear-elastic methods of analysis may not predict accurately the behavior of piping systems under seismic loads and may, under certain circumstances, result in nonconservative designs. Gaps at piping supports are found to have a significant effect on the response of the piping systems

  5. Assessing exposure risks for aquatic organisms posed by Tamiflu use under seasonal influenza and pandemic conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Wei-Yu; Lin, Chia-Jung; Liao, Chung-Min

    2014-01-01

    Environmental pollution by anti-influenza drugs is increasingly recognized as a threat to aquatic environments. However, little is known about empirical data on risk effects posed by environmentally relevant concentrations of anti-influenza drug based on recently published ecotoxicological researches in Taiwan. Here we linked ecotoxicology models with an epidemiological scheme to assess exposure risks of aquatic organisms and environmental hazards posed by antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu) use in Taiwan. Built on published bioassays, we used probabilistic risk assessment model to estimate potential threats of environmentally relevant hazards on algae, daphnid, and zerbrafish. We found that Tamiflu use was unlikely to pose a significant chronic environmental risk to daphnia and zebrafish during seasonal influenza. However, the chronic environmental risk posed by Tamiflu use during pandemic was alarming. We conclude that no significant risk to algal growth was found during seasonal influenza and high pandemic Tamiflu use. -- Highlights: • Environmentally relevant concentrations of anti-influenza drug have ecotoxicologically important effects. • Tamiflu is unlikely to pose a significant chronic environmental risk during seasonal influenza. • Chronic environmental risk posed by Tamiflu during pandemic is alarming. • Tertiary process in sewage treatment plants is crucial in mitigating Tamiflu exposure risk. -- A probabilistic framework can be used for assessing exposure risks posed by environmentally relevant concentrations of anti-influenza drug in aquatic ecosystems

  6. Research mathematicians’ practices in selecting mathematical problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Misfeldt, Morten; Johansen, Mikkel Willum

    2015-01-01

    mathematicians select and pose problems and discuss to what extent our results can be used to inform, criticize, and develop educational practice at various levels. Selecting and posing problems is far from simple. In fact, it is considered hard, complex, and of crucial importance. A number of criteria...

  7. Generalized Hough transform based time invariant action recognition with 3D pose information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muench, David; Huebner, Wolfgang; Arens, Michael

    2014-10-01

    Human action recognition has emerged as an important field in the computer vision community due to its large number of applications such as automatic video surveillance, content based video-search and human robot interaction. In order to cope with the challenges that this large variety of applications present, recent research has focused more on developing classifiers able to detect several actions in more natural and unconstrained video sequences. The invariance discrimination tradeoff in action recognition has been addressed by utilizing a Generalized Hough Transform. As a basis for action representation we transform 3D poses into a robust feature space, referred to as pose descriptors. For each action class a one-dimensional temporal voting space is constructed. Votes are generated from associating pose descriptors with their position in time relative to the end of an action sequence. Training data consists of manually segmented action sequences. In the detection phase valid human 3D poses are assumed as input, e.g. originating from 3D sensors or monocular pose reconstruction methods. The human 3D poses are normalized to gain view-independence and transformed into (i) relative limb-angle space to ensure independence of non-adjacent joints or (ii) geometric features. In (i) an action descriptor consists of the relative angles between limbs and their temporal derivatives. In (ii) the action descriptor consists of different geometric features. In order to circumvent the problem of time-warping we propose to use a codebook of prototypical 3D poses which is generated from sample sequences of 3D motion capture data. This idea is in accordance with the concept of equivalence classes in action space. Results of the codebook method are presented using the Kinect sensor and the CMU Motion Capture Database.

  8. Learning methods for ill-posed problems. Applications to γ-spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vigneron, V.

    1997-05-01

    Up to recent days, feature extraction bas been mostly considered a supervised process of (linear filters) mapping the original measurements into more effective features so as to minimize a criterion, assuming that the variables are already selected and given. Furthermore, data are rare and/or expensive, even sometimes not representative of the exact distribution. From an experimental device, the physicist gets some measurements, spoiled by noise and some determinist distortions. The 'problem' is then to seek 'good' values of a 'number' of 'interesting' parameters. But, neither 'good', nor the 'number', nor 'interesting' are clearly defined notions. Frequently, the physicist is unable to write the mathematical equations of the observed phenomenon. He hopes that usual recipes called Fourier transform, deconvolution, least squares... Will produce shining revelations. Of course, these recipes are well-known and their honorability well established, sometimes with a name of a mathematician as a quality-label. In Pattern Recognition the input items have to be identified under various transformations of their representations. Contemporary neural-network research concentrates mostly on decision making systems, whereas the fundamental functions associated with the preprocessing of observations have often been ignored. This paper is a step toward theories that are expected to help the emergence of invariant-features. In this context, the Learning Theory approach (through advances tools like ACP, CCA or factorial cumulants) offers a great potential for archiving optimal solutions of complex real world problems, because it deals with undefined knowledge which is in mind of the physicist before he carries out the experiment: non-linear correlations, hidden dependencies... These questions are complex and very problem-dependant, but we focus on a specific one: ill-conditioned problems, i.e. when the physicist has not a sufficient amount of experimental data. In order to illustrate

  9. Consistently Showing Your Best Side? Intra-individual Consistency in #Selfie Pose Orientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindell, Annukka K.

    2017-01-01

    Painted and photographic portraits of others show an asymmetric bias: people favor their left cheek. Both experimental and database studies confirm that the left cheek bias extends to selfies. To date all such selfie studies have been cross-sectional; whether individual selfie-takers tend to consistently favor the same pose orientation, or switch between multiple poses, remains to be determined. The present study thus examined intra-individual consistency in selfie pose orientations. Two hundred selfie-taking participants (100 male and 100 female) were identified by searching #selfie on Instagram. The most recent 10 single-subject selfies for the each of the participants were selected and coded for type of selfie (normal; mirror) and pose orientation (left, midline, right), resulting in a sample of 2000 selfies. Results indicated that selfie-takers do tend to consistently adopt a preferred pose orientation (α = 0.72), with more participants showing an overall left cheek bias (41%) than would be expected by chance (overall right cheek bias = 31.5%; overall midline bias = 19.5%; no overall bias = 8%). Logistic regression modellng, controlling for the repeated measure of participant identity, indicated that sex did not affect pose orientation. However, selfie type proved a significant predictor when comparing left and right cheek poses, with a stronger left cheek bias for mirror than normal selfies. Overall, these novel findings indicate that selfie-takers show intra-individual consistency in pose orientation, and in addition, replicate the previously reported left cheek bias for selfies and other types of portrait, confirming that the left cheek bias also presents within individuals’ selfie corpora. PMID:28270790

  10. Single leg balancing in ballet: effects of shoe conditions and poses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lobo da Costa, Paula H; Azevedo Nora, Fernanda G S; Vieira, Marcus Fraga; Bosch, Kerstin; Rosenbaum, Dieter

    2013-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of lower limb positioning and shoe conditions on stability levels of selected single leg ballet poses performed in demi-pointe position. Fourteen female non-professional ballet dancers (mean age of 18.4±2.8 years and mean body mass index of 21.5±2.8kg/m(2)) who had practiced ballet for at least seven years, without any musculoskeletal impairment volunteered to participate in this study. A capacitive pressure platform allowed for the assessment of center of pressure variables related to the execution of three single leg ballet poses in demi pointé position: attitude devant, attitude derriére, and attitude a la second. Peak pressures, contact areas, COP oscillation areas, anterior-posterior and medio-lateral COP oscillations and velocities were compared between two shoe conditions (barefoot versus slippers) and among the different poses. Barefoot performances produced more stable poses with significantly higher plantar contact areas, smaller COP oscillation areas and smaller anterior-posterior COP oscillations. COP oscillation areas, anterior-posterior COP oscillations and medio-lateral COP velocities indicated that attitude a la second is the least challenging and attitude derriére the most challenging pose. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Pose Planning for the Feed Support System of FAST

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Yao

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A six-cable driven parallel manipulator and an A-B rotator in the feed support system of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST are adopted for realizing the position and pose of nine feeds. The six-cable driven parallel manipulator is a flexible mechanism, which may not be stably controlled due to a small cable tension. The A-B rotator is a rigid mechanism, and its stability and accuracy can be improved by small pose angle. Based on the different characteristics, a pose planning function is presented. The optimization target of the pose planning function is to get the smallest pose angle of the A-B rotator, and the constraint condition can reflect the controllability of the six-cable driven parallel manipulator. Then, the pose planning realization process of the feed support system is proposed. Based on the pose planning method, optimized pose angles of the feed support system for the nine feeds are obtained, which suggests that the pose angle of the six-cable driven parallel manipulator changes from 0° to 14° and the pose angle of the A-B rotator changes from 0° to 26.4°.

  12. Preconditioners for state-constrained optimal control problems with Moreau-Yosida penalty function

    KAUST Repository

    Pearson, John W.; Stoll, Martin; Wathen, Andrew J.

    2012-01-01

    Optimal control problems with partial differential equations as constraints play an important role in many applications. The inclusion of bound constraints for the state variable poses a significant challenge for optimization methods. Our focus here

  13. 2D Methods for pose invariant face recognition

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mokoena, Ntabiseng

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The ability to recognise face images under random pose is a task that is done effortlessly by human beings. However, for a computer system, recognising face images under varying poses still remains an open research area. Face recognition across pose...

  14. Dealing with the problem countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, R.W.

    1985-01-01

    The test of America's policies to prevent nuclear proliferation is the so-called problem countries, those states that pose the greatest risk of ''going nuclear.'' Most visible - and the source of greatest concern - are those countries which have developed or appear to be in the process of developing nuclear weapons capabilities. In addition to Pakistan, near-nuclear countries of note include India, Israel, South Africa, Argentina, South Korea, and Taiwan. Several other countries, including Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Brazil, seem to pose proliferation risks in the longer term. More problematic are countries, such as Mexico, that, although they seem to represent little or no proliferation risk themselves, pose difficult problems by challenging restrictions in nuclear export policy. The author examines US policy toward some of the problem countries, paying particular attention to Pakistan. The constants in US policy and the few changes wrought by the Reagan administration are noted throughout

  15. Real-Time Head Pose Estimation on Mobile Platforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianfeng Ren

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Many computer vision applications such as augmented reality require head pose estimation. As far as the real-time implementation of head pose estimation on relatively resource limited mobile platforms is concerned, it is required to satisfy real-time constraints while maintaining reasonable head pose estimation accuracy. The introduced head pose estimation approach in this paper is an attempt to meet this objective. The approach consists of the following components: Viola-Jones face detection, color-based face tracking using an online calibration procedure, and head pose estimation using Hu moment features and Fisher linear discriminant. Experimental results running on an actual mobile device are reported exhibiting both the real- time and accuracy aspects of the developed approach.

  16. Problems which are well posed in a generalized sense with applications to the Einstein equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kreiss, H-O; Winicour, J

    2006-01-01

    In the harmonic description of general relativity, the principal part of the Einstein equations reduces to a constrained system of ten curved space wave equations for the components of the spacetime metric. We use the pseudo- differential theory of systems which are strongly well posed in the generalized sense to establish the well posedness of constraint-preserving boundary conditions for this system when treated in a second-order differential form. The boundary conditions are of a generalized Sommerfeld type that is benevolent for numerical calculation

  17. General problems arising from the analogical resolution of the kinetic equations of nuclear reactors (1961); Problemes generaux poses par la resolution analogique des equations cinetiques des reacteurs nucleaires (1961)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caillet, C [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1961-07-01

    The author reviews precisely the analogical techniques used for the resolution of the kinetic equations of nuclear reactors. Prior to this, he recalls the reasons which oblige physicians and engineers, even today, to use electronic machines in this domain. The author then considers the technological problems posed by the range of values which the various nuclear parameters adopt. In each case, he shows that a compromise is possible allowing an optimum precision. He compares the results to those obtained by arithmetic calculation and uses the examples chosen in a critical analysis of the present possibilities of the two methods of calculation. (author) [French] L'auteur cherche a faire un point aussi exact que possible des techniques analogiques utilisees pour resoudre les equations cinetiques des reacteurs nucleaires. Il rappelle auparavant les raisons pour lesquelles physiciens et ingenieurs sont obliges, encore aujourd'hui, de faire appel aux machines electroniques dans ce domaine. Puis il etudie les problemes technologiques que souleve le champ des valeurs prises par les differents parametres nucleaires. Dans chacun des cas, il montre l'existence d'un compromis qui permet d'atteindre une precision optimum. Il compare les resultats obtenus a ceux provenant de calculateurs arithmetiques et profite des exemples choisis pour faire une analyse critique des possibilites actuelles offertes par les deux modes de calcul. (auteur)

  18. Simulation-Based Optimization of Camera Placement in the Context of Industrial Pose Estimation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Troels Bo; Iversen, Thorbjørn Mosekjær; Lindvig, Anders Prier

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we optimize the placement of a camera in simulation in order to achieve a high success rate for a pose estimation problem. This is achieved by simulating 2D images from a stereo camera in a virtual scene. The stereo images are then used to generate 3D point clouds based on two diff...

  19. Underground localization using dual magnetic field sequence measurement and pose graph SLAM for directional drilling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Byeolteo; Myung, Hyun

    2014-01-01

    With the development of unconventional gas, the technology of directional drilling has become more advanced. Underground localization is the key technique of directional drilling for real-time path following and system control. However, there are problems such as vibration, disconnection with external infrastructure, and magnetic field distortion. Conventional methods cannot solve these problems in real time or in various environments. In this paper, a novel underground localization algorithm using a re-measurement of the sequence of the magnetic field and pose graph SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) is introduced. The proposed algorithm exploits the property of the drilling system that the body passes through the previous pass. By comparing the recorded measurement from one magnetic sensor and the current re-measurement from another magnetic sensor, the proposed algorithm predicts the pose of the drilling system. The performance of the algorithm is validated through simulations and experiments. (paper)

  20. Underground localization using dual magnetic field sequence measurement and pose graph SLAM for directional drilling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Byeolteo; Myung, Hyun

    2014-12-01

    With the development of unconventional gas, the technology of directional drilling has become more advanced. Underground localization is the key technique of directional drilling for real-time path following and system control. However, there are problems such as vibration, disconnection with external infrastructure, and magnetic field distortion. Conventional methods cannot solve these problems in real time or in various environments. In this paper, a novel underground localization algorithm using a re-measurement of the sequence of the magnetic field and pose graph SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) is introduced. The proposed algorithm exploits the property of the drilling system that the body passes through the previous pass. By comparing the recorded measurement from one magnetic sensor and the current re-measurement from another magnetic sensor, the proposed algorithm predicts the pose of the drilling system. The performance of the algorithm is validated through simulations and experiments.

  1. Head pose estimation algorithm based on deep learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Yuanming; Liu, Yijun

    2017-05-01

    Head pose estimation has been widely used in the field of artificial intelligence, pattern recognition and intelligent human-computer interaction and so on. Good head pose estimation algorithm should deal with light, noise, identity, shelter and other factors robustly, but so far how to improve the accuracy and robustness of attitude estimation remains a major challenge in the field of computer vision. A method based on deep learning for pose estimation is presented. Deep learning with a strong learning ability, it can extract high-level image features of the input image by through a series of non-linear operation, then classifying the input image using the extracted feature. Such characteristics have greater differences in pose, while they are robust of light, identity, occlusion and other factors. The proposed head pose estimation is evaluated on the CAS-PEAL data set. Experimental results show that this method is effective to improve the accuracy of pose estimation.

  2. ONKALO POSE experiment. Phase 3: execution and monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valli, J.; Hakala, M.; Wanne, T.; Kantia, P.; Siren, T.

    2014-01-01

    In-depth knowledge of the in situ stress state at the Olkiluoto site is critical for stability assessment both prior to and after deposition of spent nuclear fuel in order to understand and avoid potential damage to the rock at the site. Posiva's Olkiluoto Spalling Experiment (POSE) was designed specifically for this purpose with three primary goals: establish the in situ spalling/damage strength of Olkiluoto migmatitic gneiss, establish the state of in situ stress at the -345 m depth level and act as a Prediction-Outcome (P-O) exercise. Phases 1 and 2 of POSE are outlined in WR 2012-60. The objectives of the third phase of the POSE experiment are the same as the original objectives outlined above. This report outlines the execution and results of the third phase of the POSE experiment. The third phase of the experiment involved internally heating the third experimental hole (ONK-EH3) of the POSE niche in order to cause a symmetrical thermal stress increase around the hole due to the thermal expansion of rock. This thermomechanically induced stress increase, coupled with the estimated existing in situ stress state, should cause the maximum principal stress around the hole to exceed the predicted spalling strength of the rock around the hole. ONK-EH3 is located almost completely in pegmatitic granite. Four fractures near the top of the hole were mapped after boring ONK-EH3, and a tensile failure located at the contact between mica-rich gneiss and pegmatitic granite was observed 18 months after boring, prior to the experiment. Based on predictive calculations and the estimated in situ state of stress, the maximum principal stress magnitude should reach ca. 100 MPa when the temperature was just below 100 deg C after 12 weeks of heating. There were problems with the heater control unit at the beginning of the experiment, after which heating proceeded according to plan. The crack damage threshold of pegmatitic granite has been determined to be 85 ±17 MPa at Olkiluoto

  3. Zoonotic pathogens from feral swine that pose a significant threat to public health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, V R; Bowen, R A; Bosco-Lauth, A M

    2018-06-01

    The natural fecundity of suids, great ability to adapt to new habitats and desire for local hunting opportunities leading to translocation of feral pigs to regions where they are not yet established have all been instrumental in the home range expansion of feral swine. Feral swine populations in the United States continue to expand, wreaking havoc on agricultural lands, further compromising threatened and endangered species, and posing a microbiological threat to humans, domestic livestock and companion animals. This manuscript thoroughly reviews zoonotic diseases of concern including brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, leptospirosis, enteric pathogens, both Salmonella spp. and shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, and hepatitis E. These pathogens are not a comprehensive list of microbes that are capable of infecting both humans and feral swine, but rather have been selected as they are known to infect US feral swine, direct transmission between wild suids and humans has previously been documented, or they have been shown to be readily transmitted during processing or consumption of feral swine pork. Humans that interact directly or indirectly with feral swine are at much higher risk for the development of a number of zoonotic pathogens. Numerous case reports document transmission events from feral swine and wild boar to humans, and the resulting diseases may be mild and self-limiting, chronic or fatal. Individuals that interact with feral swine should take preventative measures to minimize the risk of disease transmission and all meat should be thoroughly cooked. Additionally, public health campaigns to increase knowledge of the risks associated with feral swine are imperative. © 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  4. Muscle utilization patterns vary by skill levels of the practitioners across specific yoga poses (asanas).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Meng; Mooney, Kiersten; Balachandran, Anoop; Richards, Luca; Harriell, Kysha; Signorile, Joseph F

    2014-08-01

    To compare muscle activation patterns in 14 dominant side muscles during different yoga poses across three skill levels. Mixed repeated-measures descriptive study. University neuromuscular research laboratory, Miami, US. A group of 36 yoga practitioners (9 M/27 F; mean ± SD, 31.6 ± 12.6 years) with at least 3 months yoga practice experience. Each of the 11 surya namaskar poses A and B was performed separately for 15s and the surface electromyography for 14 muscles were recorded. Normalized root mean square of the electromyographic signal (NrmsEMG) for 14 muscles (5 upper body, 4 trunk, 5 lower body). There were significant main effects of pose for all fourteen muscles except middle trapezius (p<.02) and of skill level for the vastus medialis; p=.027). A significant skill level × pose interaction existed for five muscles (pectoralis major sternal head, anterior deltoid, medial deltoid, upper rectus abdominis and gastrocnemius lateralis; p<.05). Post hoc analyses using Bonferroni comparisons indicated that different poses activated specific muscle groups; however, this varied by skill level. Our results indicate that different poses can produce specific muscle activation patterns which may vary due to practitioners' skill levels. This information can be used in designing rehabilitation and training programs and for cuing during yoga training. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. To Strike a Pose: No Stereotype Backlash for Power Posing Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miriam Rennung

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Power posing, the adoption of open and powerful postures, has effects that parallel those of actual social power. This study explored the social evaluation of adopting powerful versus powerless body postures in men and women regarding perceived warmth, competence, and the likelihood of eliciting admiration, envy, pity, and contempt. Previous findings suggest that the display of power by women may have side effects due to gender stereotyping, namely reduced warmth ratings and negative emotional reactions. An experiment (N = 2,473 asked participants to rate pictures of men and women who adopted high-power or low-power body postures. High-power posers were rated higher on competence, admiration, envy, and contempt compared to low-power posers, whereas the opposite was true for pity. There was no impact of power posing on perceived warmth. Contrary to expectations, the poser’s gender did not moderate any of the effects. These findings suggest that nonverbal displays of power do influence fundamental dimensions of social perception and their accompanying emotional reactions but result in comparably positive and negative evaluations for both genders.

  6. Gambling frequency, gambling problems and concerned significant others of problem gamblers in Finland: cross-sectional population studies in 2007 and 2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salonen, Anne H; Alho, Hannu; Castrén, Sari

    2015-05-01

    This study compares past-year gambling frequency, gambling problems and concerned significant others (CSOs) of problem gamblers in Finland by age, from 2007 and 2011. We used random sample data collected in 2007 (n = 4722) and 2011 (n = 4484). The data were weighted, based on gender, age and region of residence. We measured the past-year gambling frequency using a categorical variable, while gambling severity was measured with the South Oaks Gambling Screen. We identified CSOs by a single question including seven response options. Chi-Squared and Fisher's exact tests were used. Overall, the past-year gambling frequency change was statistically significant between 2007 and 2011. Among 18-64-year-old Finnish people, the proportion of non-gamblers decreased. Yet, among 15-17-year-old respondents, non-gambling increased and gambling problems decreased. Among 18-24 year olds, the proportion of close ones with gambling problems also decreased. On the other hand, the proportion of family members with gambling problems increased among the 50-64 year olds. The increase in adult gambling participation was mainly explained by infrequent gambling. The proportion of gambling problems from the gamblers' and CSOs' perspective remained unchanged, yet significant changes were observed within age groups. The short-term changes in under-age gambling problems were desirable. Future studies should explore the adaptation and access hypotheses alongside gambling problems. © 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

  7. Inverse problems in linear transport theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dressler, K.

    1988-01-01

    Inverse problems for a class of linear kinetic equations are investigated. The aim is to identify the scattering kernel of a transport equation (corresponding to the structure of a background medium) by observing the 'albedo' part of the solution operator for the corresponding direct initial boundary value problem. This means to get information on some integral operator in an integrodifferential equation through on overdetermined boundary value problem. We first derive a constructive method for solving direct halfspace problems and prove a new factorization theorem for the solutions. Using this result we investigate stationary inverse problems with respect to well posedness (e.g. reduce them to classical ill-posed problems, such as integral equations of first kind). In the time-dependent case we show that a quite general inverse problem is well posed and solve it constructively. (orig.)

  8. Multifactor Analysis of Roadheader’s Body Pose Responses during the Horizontal Cutting Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kai Zong

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Based on the Lagrange equation in system dynamics, aiming at the horizontal cutting process, the dynamical coupling model of boom-type roadheader’s body pose was established. According to input problem of solving the model, a calculation method of the cutting head load was proposed, and the relationship between the cutting head load and pressure of the driving cylinders and swing angle of the cutting arm was obtained through simulating analysis. The simulation model was established to solve the dynamical coupling model. The cutting head load, horizontal swing angle of the cutting arm, and dip angle of coal seam were regarded as independent variables to perform changing parameter analysis in variations of the body pose. The field experiment was carried out, and the measured data is basically consistent with the simulation values. The results show that lateral displacement of the body can reach up to 6.5 cm, backward displacement can reach up to 5.2 cm, floor-based quantity can reach up to 11 cm, pitch angle of the body can reach up to 7.8°, and roll angle can reach up to 2.1°. Variations of the body pose parameters are influenced greatly by the cutting head load, while the influence from horizontal swing angle of the cutting arm and dip angle of coal seam is slighter. Among the pose parameters, floor-based quantity and pitch angle of the body vary relatively greatly, which tend to seriously influence forming quality of the roadway and should be mainly considered in deviation rectification of the roadheader’s body pose.

  9. Binocular Vision-Based Position and Pose of Hand Detection and Tracking in Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jun, Chen; Wenjun, Hou; Qing, Sheng

    After the study of image segmentation, CamShift target tracking algorithm and stereo vision model of space, an improved algorithm based of Frames Difference and a new space point positioning model were proposed, a binocular visual motion tracking system was constructed to verify the improved algorithm and the new model. The problem of the spatial location and pose of the hand detection and tracking have been solved.

  10. Hardware in the Loop Performance Assessment of LIDAR-Based Spacecraft Pose Determination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Opromolla, Roberto; Fasano, Giancarmine; Rufino, Giancarlo; Grassi, Michele

    2017-09-24

    In this paper an original, easy to reproduce, semi-analytic calibration approach is developed for hardware-in-the-loop performance assessment of pose determination algorithms processing point cloud data, collected by imaging a non-cooperative target with LIDARs. The laboratory setup includes a scanning LIDAR, a monocular camera, a scaled-replica of a satellite-like target, and a set of calibration tools. The point clouds are processed by uncooperative model-based algorithms to estimate the target relative position and attitude with respect to the LIDAR. Target images, acquired by a monocular camera operated simultaneously with the LIDAR, are processed applying standard solutions to the Perspective- n -Points problem to get high-accuracy pose estimates which can be used as a benchmark to evaluate the accuracy attained by the LIDAR-based techniques. To this aim, a precise knowledge of the extrinsic relative calibration between the camera and the LIDAR is essential, and it is obtained by implementing an original calibration approach which does not need ad-hoc homologous targets (e.g., retro-reflectors) easily recognizable by the two sensors. The pose determination techniques investigated by this work are of interest to space applications involving close-proximity maneuvers between non-cooperative platforms, e.g., on-orbit servicing and active debris removal.

  11. Sensitivity computation of the l1 minimization problem and its application to dictionary design of ill-posed problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horesh, L; Haber, E

    2009-01-01

    The l 1 minimization problem has been studied extensively in the past few years. Recently, there has been a growing interest in its application for inverse problems. Most studies have concentrated in devising ways for sparse representation of a solution using a given prototype dictionary. Very few studies have addressed the more challenging problem of optimal dictionary construction, and even these were primarily devoted to the simplistic sparse coding application. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of the inverse solution with respect to the dictionary is presented. This analysis reveals some of the salient features and intrinsic difficulties which are associated with the dictionary design problem. Equipped with these insights, we propose an optimization strategy that alleviates these hurdles while utilizing the derived sensitivity relations for the design of a locally optimal dictionary. Our optimality criterion is based on local minimization of the Bayesian risk, given a set of training models. We present a mathematical formulation and an algorithmic framework to achieve this goal. The proposed framework offers the design of dictionaries for inverse problems that incorporate non-trivial, non-injective observation operators, where the data and the recovered parameters may reside in different spaces. We test our algorithm and show that it yields improved dictionaries for a diverse set of inverse problems in geophysics and medical imaging

  12. Sensitivity computation of the ell1 minimization problem and its application to dictionary design of ill-posed problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horesh, L.; Haber, E.

    2009-09-01

    The ell1 minimization problem has been studied extensively in the past few years. Recently, there has been a growing interest in its application for inverse problems. Most studies have concentrated in devising ways for sparse representation of a solution using a given prototype dictionary. Very few studies have addressed the more challenging problem of optimal dictionary construction, and even these were primarily devoted to the simplistic sparse coding application. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of the inverse solution with respect to the dictionary is presented. This analysis reveals some of the salient features and intrinsic difficulties which are associated with the dictionary design problem. Equipped with these insights, we propose an optimization strategy that alleviates these hurdles while utilizing the derived sensitivity relations for the design of a locally optimal dictionary. Our optimality criterion is based on local minimization of the Bayesian risk, given a set of training models. We present a mathematical formulation and an algorithmic framework to achieve this goal. The proposed framework offers the design of dictionaries for inverse problems that incorporate non-trivial, non-injective observation operators, where the data and the recovered parameters may reside in different spaces. We test our algorithm and show that it yields improved dictionaries for a diverse set of inverse problems in geophysics and medical imaging.

  13. Manifolds for pose tracking from monocular video

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basu, Saurav; Poulin, Joshua; Acton, Scott T.

    2015-03-01

    We formulate a simple human-pose tracking theory from monocular video based on the fundamental relationship between changes in pose and image motion vectors. We investigate the natural embedding of the low-dimensional body pose space into a high-dimensional space of body configurations that behaves locally in a linear manner. The embedded manifold facilitates the decomposition of the image motion vectors into basis motion vector fields of the tangent space to the manifold. This approach benefits from the style invariance of image motion flow vectors, and experiments to validate the fundamental theory show reasonable accuracy (within 4.9 deg of the ground truth).

  14. The lighter side of advertising: investigating posing and lighting biases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Nicole A; Burkitt, Jennifer A; Patrick, Regan E; Elias, Lorin J

    2008-11-01

    People tend to display the left cheek when posing for a portrait; however, this effect does not appear to generalise to advertising. The amount of body visible in the image and the sex of the poser might also contribute to the posing bias. Portraits also exhibit lateral lighting biases, with most images being lit from the left. This effect might also be present in advertisements. A total of 2801 full-page advertisements were sampled and coded for posing direction, lighting direction, sex of model, and amount of body showing. Images of females showed an overall leftward posing bias, but the biases in males depended on the amount of body visible. Males demonstrated rightward posing biases for head-only images. Overall, images tended to be lit from the top left corner. The two factors of posing and lighting biases appear to influence one another. Leftward-lit images had more leftward poses than rightward, while the opposite occurred for rightward-lit images. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the posing biases in advertisements are dependent on the amount of body showing in the image, and that biases in lighting direction interact with these posing biases.

  15. A tutorial on inverse problems for anomalous diffusion processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jin, Bangti; Rundell, William

    2015-01-01

    Over the last two decades, anomalous diffusion processes in which the mean squares variance grows slower or faster than that in a Gaussian process have found many applications. At a macroscopic level, these processes are adequately described by fractional differential equations, which involves fractional derivatives in time or/and space. The fractional derivatives describe either history mechanism or long range interactions of particle motions at a microscopic level. The new physics can change dramatically the behavior of the forward problems. For example, the solution operator of the time fractional diffusion diffusion equation has only limited smoothing property, whereas the solution for the space fractional diffusion equation may contain weak singularity. Naturally one expects that the new physics will impact related inverse problems in terms of uniqueness, stability, and degree of ill-posedness. The last aspect is especially important from a practical point of view, i.e., stably reconstructing the quantities of interest. In this paper, we employ a formal analytic and numerical way, especially the two-parameter Mittag-Leffler function and singular value decomposition, to examine the degree of ill-posedness of several ‘classical’ inverse problems for fractional differential equations involving a Djrbashian–Caputo fractional derivative in either time or space, which represent the fractional analogues of that for classical integral order differential equations. We discuss four inverse problems, i.e., backward fractional diffusion, sideways problem, inverse source problem and inverse potential problem for time fractional diffusion, and inverse Sturm–Liouville problem, Cauchy problem, backward fractional diffusion and sideways problem for space fractional diffusion. It is found that contrary to the wide belief, the influence of anomalous diffusion on the degree of ill-posedness is not definitive: it can either significantly improve or worsen the conditioning

  16. Animated pose templates for modeling and detecting human actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Benjamin Z; Nie, Bruce X; Liu, Zicheng; Zhu, Song-Chun

    2014-03-01

    This paper presents animated pose templates (APTs) for detecting short-term, long-term, and contextual actions from cluttered scenes in videos. Each pose template consists of two components: 1) a shape template with deformable parts represented in an And-node whose appearances are represented by the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) features, and 2) a motion template specifying the motion of the parts by the Histogram of Optical-Flows (HOF) features. A shape template may have more than one motion template represented by an Or-node. Therefore, each action is defined as a mixture (Or-node) of pose templates in an And-Or tree structure. While this pose template is suitable for detecting short-term action snippets in two to five frames, we extend it in two ways: 1) For long-term actions, we animate the pose templates by adding temporal constraints in a Hidden Markov Model (HMM), and 2) for contextual actions, we treat contextual objects as additional parts of the pose templates and add constraints that encode spatial correlations between parts. To train the model, we manually annotate part locations on several keyframes of each video and cluster them into pose templates using EM. This leaves the unknown parameters for our learning algorithm in two groups: 1) latent variables for the unannotated frames including pose-IDs and part locations, 2) model parameters shared by all training samples such as weights for HOG and HOF features, canonical part locations of each pose, coefficients penalizing pose-transition and part-deformation. To learn these parameters, we introduce a semi-supervised structural SVM algorithm that iterates between two steps: 1) learning (updating) model parameters using labeled data by solving a structural SVM optimization, and 2) imputing missing variables (i.e., detecting actions on unlabeled frames) with parameters learned from the previous step and progressively accepting high-score frames as newly labeled examples. This algorithm belongs to a

  17. A cross docking pipeline for improving pose prediction and virtual screening performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Ashutosh; Zhang, Kam Y. J.

    2018-01-01

    Pose prediction and virtual screening performance of a molecular docking method depend on the choice of protein structures used for docking. Multiple structures for a target protein are often used to take into account the receptor flexibility and problems associated with a single receptor structure. However, the use of multiple receptor structures is computationally expensive when docking a large library of small molecules. Here, we propose a new cross-docking pipeline suitable to dock a large library of molecules while taking advantage of multiple target protein structures. Our method involves the selection of a suitable receptor for each ligand in a screening library utilizing ligand 3D shape similarity with crystallographic ligands. We have prospectively evaluated our method in D3R Grand Challenge 2 and demonstrated that our cross-docking pipeline can achieve similar or better performance than using either single or multiple-receptor structures. Moreover, our method displayed not only decent pose prediction performance but also better virtual screening performance over several other methods.

  18. Assessing the risk posed by high-turbidity water to water supplies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chia-Ling; Liao, Chung-Sheng

    2012-05-01

    The objective of this study is to assess the risk of insufficient water supply posed by high-turbidity water. Several phenomena can pose risks to the sufficiency of a water supply; this study concerns risks to water treatment plants from particular properties of rainfall and raw water turbidity. High-turbidity water can impede water treatment plant operations; rainfall properties can influence the degree of soil erosion. Thus, water turbidity relates to rainfall characteristics. Exceedance probabilities are presented for different rainfall intensities and turbidities of water. When the turbidity of raw water is higher than 5,000 NTU, it can cause operational problems for a water treatment plant. Calculations show that the turbidity of raw water at the Ban-Sin water treatment plant will be higher than 5,000 NTU if the rainfall intensity is larger than 165 mm/day. The exceedance probability of high turbidity (turbidity >5,000 NTU) in the Ban-Sin water treatment plant is larger than 10%. When any water treatment plant cannot work regularly, its ability to supply water to its customers is at risk.

  19. Pose Estimation with a Kinect for Ergonomic Studies: Evaluation of the Accuracy Using a Virtual Mannequin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre Plantard

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Analyzing human poses with a Kinect is a promising method to evaluate potentials risks of musculoskeletal disorders at workstations. In ecological situations, complex 3D poses and constraints imposed by the environment make it difficult to obtain reliable kinematic information. Thus, being able to predict the potential accuracy of the measurement for such complex 3D poses and sensor placements is challenging in classical experimental setups. To tackle this problem, we propose a new evaluation method based on a virtual mannequin. In this study, we apply this method to the evaluation of joint positions (shoulder, elbow, and wrist, joint angles (shoulder and elbow, and the corresponding RULA (a popular ergonomics assessment grid upper-limb score for a large set of poses and sensor placements. Thanks to this evaluation method, more than 500,000 configurations have been automatically tested, which would be almost impossible to evaluate with classical protocols. The results show that the kinematic information obtained by the Kinect software is generally accurate enough to fill in ergonomic assessment grids. However inaccuracy strongly increases for some specific poses and sensor positions. Using this evaluation method enabled us to report configurations that could lead to these high inaccuracies. As a supplementary material, we provide a software tool to help designers to evaluate the expected accuracy of this sensor for a set of upper-limb configurations. Results obtained with the virtual mannequin are in accordance with those obtained from a real subject for a limited set of poses and sensor placements.

  20. Transfer between Pose and Illumination Training in Face Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chang Hong; Bhuiyan, Md. Al-Amin; Ward, James; Sui, Jie

    2009-01-01

    The relationship between pose and illumination learning in face recognition was examined in a yes-no recognition paradigm. The authors assessed whether pose training can transfer to a new illumination or vice versa. Results show that an extensive level of pose training through a face-name association task was able to generalize to a new…

  1. Asynchronous vehicle pose correction using visual detection of ground features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harnarinesingh, Randy E S; Syan, Chanan S

    2014-01-01

    The inherent noise associated with odometry manifests itself as errors in localization for autonomous vehicles. Visual odometry has been previously used in order to supplement classical vehicle odometry. However, visual odometry is limited in its ability to reduce errors in localization for large travel distances that entail the cumulative summing of individual frame-to-frame image errors. In this paper, a novel machine vision approach for tiled surfaces is proposed to address this problem. Tile edges in a laboratory environment are used to define a travel trajectory for the Quansar Qbot (autonomous vehicle) built on the iRobot iRoomba platform with a forward facing camera. Tile intersections are used to enable asynchronous error recovery for vehicle position and orientation. The proposed approach employs real-time image classification and is feasible for error mitigation for large travel distances. The average position error for an 8m travel distance using classical odometry was measured to be 0.28m. However, implementation of the proposed approach resulted in an error of 0.028m. The proposed approach therefore significantly reduces pose estimation error and could be used to supplement existing modalities such as GPS and Laser-based range sensors

  2. Calibrating corneal material model parameters using only inflation data: an ill-posed problem

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Kok, S

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available is to perform numerical modelling using the finite element method, for which a calibrated material model is required. These material models are typically calibrated using experimental inflation data by solving an inverse problem. In the inverse problem...

  3. The Pose Estimation of Mobile Robot Based on Improved Point Cloud Registration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanzi Miao

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Due to GPS restrictions, an inertial sensor is usually used to estimate the location of indoor mobile robots. However, it is difficult to achieve high-accuracy localization and control by inertial sensors alone. In this paper, a new method is proposed to estimate an indoor mobile robot pose with six degrees of freedom based on an improved 3D-Normal Distributions Transform algorithm (3D-NDT. First, point cloud data are captured by a Kinect sensor and segmented according to the distance to the robot. After the segmentation, the input point cloud data are processed by the Approximate Voxel Grid Filter algorithm in different sized voxel grids. Second, the initial registration and precise registration are performed respectively according to the distance to the sensor. The most distant point cloud data use the 3D-Normal Distributions Transform algorithm (3D-NDT with large-sized voxel grids for initial registration, based on the transformation matrix from the odometry method. The closest point cloud data use the 3D-NDT algorithm with small-sized voxel grids for precise registration. After the registrations above, a final transformation matrix is obtained and coordinated. Based on this transformation matrix, the pose estimation problem of the indoor mobile robot is solved. Test results show that this method can obtain accurate robot pose estimation and has better robustness.

  4. An improved silhouette for human pose estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawes, Anthony H.; Iftekharuddin, Khan M.

    2017-08-01

    We propose a novel method for analyzing images that exploits the natural lines of a human poses to find areas where self-occlusion could be present. Errors caused by self-occlusion cause several modern human pose estimation methods to mis-identify body parts, which reduces the performance of most action recognition algorithms. Our method is motivated by the observation that, in several cases, occlusion can be reasoned using only boundary lines of limbs. An intelligent edge detection algorithm based on the above principle could be used to augment the silhouette with information useful for pose estimation algorithms and push forward progress on occlusion handling for human action recognition. The algorithm described is applicable to computer vision scenarios involving 2D images and (appropriated flattened) 3D images.

  5. Temporal subtraction of chest radiographs compensating pose differences

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Berg, Jens; Dworzak, Jalda; Klinder, Tobias; Manke, Dirk; Kreth, Adrian; Lamecker, Hans; Zachow, Stefan; Lorenz, Cristian

    2011-03-01

    Temporal subtraction techniques using 2D image registration improve the detectability of interval changes from chest radiographs. Although such methods are well known for some time they are not widely used in radiologic practice. The reason is the occurrence of strong pose differences between two acquisitions with a time interval of months to years in between. Such strong perspective differences occur in a reasonable number of cases. They cannot be compensated by available image registration methods and thus mask interval changes to be undetectable. In this paper a method is proposed to estimate a 3D pose difference by the adaptation of a 3D rib cage model to both projections. The difference between both is then compensated for, thus producing a subtraction image with virtually no change in pose. The method generally assumes that no 3D image data is available from the patient. The accuracy of pose estimation is validated with chest phantom images acquired under controlled geometric conditions. A subtle interval change simulated by a piece of plastic foam attached to the phantom becomes visible in subtraction images generated with this technique even at strong angular pose differences like an anterior-posterior inclination of 13 degrees.

  6. A review of cooperative and uncooperative spacecraft pose determination techniques for close-proximity operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Opromolla, Roberto; Fasano, Giancarmine; Rufino, Giancarlo; Grassi, Michele

    2017-08-01

    The capability of an active spacecraft to accurately estimate its relative position and attitude (pose) with respect to an active/inactive, artificial/natural space object (target) orbiting in close-proximity is required to carry out various activities like formation flying, on-orbit servicing, active debris removal, and space exploration. According to the specific mission scenario, the pose determination task involves both theoretical and technological challenges related to the search for the most suitable algorithmic solution and sensor architecture, respectively. As regards the latter aspect, electro-optical sensors represent the best option as their use is compatible with mass and power limitation of micro and small satellites, and their measurements can be processed to estimate all the pose parameters. Overall, the degree of complexity of the challenges related to pose determination largely varies depending on the nature of the targets, which may be actively/passively cooperative, uncooperative but known, or uncooperative and unknown space objects. In this respect, while cooperative pose determination has been successfully demonstrated in orbit, the uncooperative case is still under study by universities, research centers, space agencies and private companies. However, in both the cases, the demand for space applications involving relative navigation maneuvers, also in close-proximity, for which pose determination capabilities are mandatory, is significantly increasing. In this framework, a review of state-of-the-art techniques and algorithms developed in the last decades for cooperative and uncooperative pose determination by processing data provided by electro-optical sensors is herein presented. Specifically, their main advantages and drawbacks in terms of achieved performance, computational complexity, and sensitivity to variability of pose and target geometry, are highlighted.

  7. The solar neutrino problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roxburgh, I.W.

    1981-01-01

    The problems posed by the low flux of neutrinos from the sun detected by Davis and coworkers are reviewed. Several proposals have been advanced to resolve these problems and the more reasonable (in the author's opinion) are presented. Recent claims that the neutrino may have finite mass are also considered. (orig.)

  8. Methane combustion kinetic rate constants determination: an ill-posed inverse problem analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bárbara D. L. Ferreira

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Methane combustion was studied by the Westbrook and Dryer model. This well-established simplified mechanism is very useful in combustion science, for computational effort can be notably reduced. In the inversion procedure to be studied, rate constants are obtained from [CO] concentration data. However, when inherent experimental errors in chemical concentrations are considered, an ill-conditioned inverse problem must be solved for which appropriate mathematical algorithms are needed. A recurrent neural network was chosen due to its numerical stability and robustness. The proposed methodology was compared against Simplex and Levenberg-Marquardt, the most used methods for optimization problems.

  9. An inverse problem in a parabolic equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhilin Li

    1998-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, an inverse problem in a parabolic equation is studied. An unknown function in the equation is related to two integral equations in terms of heat kernel. One of the integral equations is well-posed while another is ill-posed. A regularization approach for constructing an approximate solution to the ill-posed integral equation is proposed. Theoretical analysis and numerical experiment are provided to support the method.

  10. Questioning the significance of the non-identity problem in applied ethics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawlor, Rob

    2015-11-01

    Authors such as Tony Hope and Julian Savulescu appeal to Derek Parfit's non-identity problem in relation to particular questions in applied ethics, and particularly in reproductive ethics. They argue that the non-identity problem shows that an individual cannot be harmed by being brought into existence, and therefore, we cannot say that the individual is harmed if, for example, we select an embryo in order to have a deaf child. Thus, they argue that an appeal to the non-identity problem blocks (or significantly reduces the force of) objections in a number of cases. I argue that these discussions often give the impression that this is a clear conclusion, shared by most philosophers, and largely beyond dispute. This is particularly significant because these discussions are often in journals or books with an interdisciplinary readership. My concern is that they give the impression of stating: 'philosophers have studied this issue, and this is the conclusion they have reached. Now I will emphasise the implications for medical ethics'. I argue that, far from being the consensus view, the view presented by Hope and Savulescu is rejected by many, including Parfit himself. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  11. Method of orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Na; Sun, Changku; Wang, Peng; Yang, Qian; Liu, Xintong

    2018-01-01

    In order to meet the aviation's and machinery manufacturing's pose measurement need of high precision, fast speed and wide measurement range, and to resolve the contradiction between measurement range and resolution of vision sensor, this paper proposes an orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement method. This paper designs and realizes an orthogonally splitting imaging vision sensor and establishes a pose measurement system. The vision sensor consists of one imaging lens, a beam splitter prism, cylindrical lenses and dual linear CCD. Dual linear CCD respectively acquire one dimensional image coordinate data of the target point, and two data can restore the two dimensional image coordinates of the target point. According to the characteristics of imaging system, this paper establishes the nonlinear distortion model to correct distortion. Based on cross ratio invariability, polynomial equation is established and solved by the least square fitting method. After completing distortion correction, this paper establishes the measurement mathematical model of vision sensor, and determines intrinsic parameters to calibrate. An array of feature points for calibration is built by placing a planar target in any different positions for a few times. An terative optimization method is presented to solve the parameters of model. The experimental results show that the field angle is 52 °, the focus distance is 27.40 mm, image resolution is 5185×5117 pixels, displacement measurement error is less than 0.1mm, and rotation angle measurement error is less than 0.15°. The method of orthogonally splitting imaging pose measurement can satisfy the pose measurement requirement of high precision, fast speed and wide measurement range.

  12. Surgical fiducial segmentation and tracking for pose estimation based on ultrasound B-mode images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei Chen; Kuo, Nathanael; Aalamifar, Fereshteh; Narrow, David; Coon, Devin; Prince, Jerry; Boctor, Emad M

    2016-08-01

    Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive diagnostic tool for the quantitative measurement of blood flow. However, given that it provides velocity data that is dependent on the location and angle of measurement, repeat measurements to detect problems over time may require an expert to return to the same location. We therefore developed an image-guidance system based on ultrasound B-mode images that enables an inexperienced user to position the ultrasound probe at the same site repeatedly in order to acquire a comparable time series of Doppler readings. The system utilizes a bioresorbable fiducial and complementing software composed of the fiducial detection, key points tracking, probe pose estimation, and graphical user interface (GUI) modules. The fiducial is an echogenic marker that is implanted at the surgical site and can be detected and tracked during ultrasound B-mode screening. The key points on the marker can next be used to determine the pose of the ultrasound probe with respect to the marker. The 3D representation of the probe with its position and orientation are then displayed in the GUI for the user guidance. The fiducial detection has been tested on the data sets collected from three animal studies. The pose estimation algorithm was validated by five data sets collected by a UR5 robot. We tested the system on a plastisol phantom and showed that it can detect and track the fiducial marker while displaying the probe pose in real-time.

  13. An investigation into multi-dimensional prediction models to estimate the pose error of a quadcopter in a CSP plant setting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lock, Jacobus C.; Smit, Willie J.; Treurnicht, Johann

    2016-05-01

    The Solar Thermal Energy Research Group (STERG) is investigating ways to make heliostats cheaper to reduce the total cost of a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant. One avenue of research is to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to automate and assist with the heliostat calibration process. To do this, the pose estimation error of each UAV must be determined and integrated into a calibration procedure. A computer vision (CV) system is used to measure the pose of a quadcopter UAV. However, this CV system contains considerable measurement errors. Since this is a high-dimensional problem, a sophisticated prediction model must be used to estimate the measurement error of the CV system for any given pose measurement vector. This paper attempts to train and validate such a model with the aim of using it to determine the pose error of a quadcopter in a CSP plant setting.

  14. Multi-view 3D Human Pose Estimation in Complex Environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofmann, K.M.; Gavrila, D.M.

    2012-01-01

    We introduce a framework for unconstrained 3D human upper body pose estimation from multiple camera views in complex environment. Its main novelty lies in the integration of three components: single-frame pose recovery, temporal integration and model texture adaptation. Single-frame pose recovery

  15. Student Engagement in a Structured Problem-Based Approach to Learning: A First-Year Electronic Engineering Study Module on Heat Transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montero, E.; Gonzalez, M. J.

    2009-01-01

    Problem-based learning has been at the core of significant developments in engineering education in recent years. This term refers to any learning environment in which the problem drives the learning, because it is posed in such a way that students realize they need to acquire new knowledge before the problem can be solved. This paper presents the…

  16. Approximate source conditions for nonlinear ill-posed problems—chances and limitations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hein, Torsten; Hofmann, Bernd

    2009-01-01

    In the recent past the authors, with collaborators, have published convergence rate results for regularized solutions of linear ill-posed operator equations by avoiding the usual assumption that the solutions satisfy prescribed source conditions. Instead the degree of violation of such source conditions is expressed by distance functions d(R) depending on a radius R ≥ 0 which is an upper bound of the norm of source elements under consideration. If d(R) tends to zero as R → ∞ an appropriate balancing of occurring regularization error terms yields convergence rates results. This approach was called the method of approximate source conditions, originally developed in a Hilbert space setting. The goal of this paper is to formulate chances and limitations of an application of this method to nonlinear ill-posed problems in reflexive Banach spaces and to complement the field of low order convergence rates results in nonlinear regularization theory. In particular, we are going to establish convergence rates for a variant of Tikhonov regularization. To keep structural nonlinearity conditions simple, we update the concept of degree of nonlinearity in Hilbert spaces to a Bregman distance setting in Banach spaces

  17. Methods of RVD object pose estimation and experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shang, Yang; He, Yan; Wang, Weihua; Yu, Qifeng

    2007-11-01

    Methods of measuring a RVD (rendezvous and docking) cooperative object's pose from monocular and binocular images respectively are presented. The methods solve the initial values first and optimize the object pose parameters by bundle adjustment. In the disturbance-rejecting binocular method, chosen measurement system parameters of one camera's exterior parameters are modified simultaneously. The methods need three or more cooperative target points to measure the object's pose accurately. Experimental data show that the methods converge quickly and stably, provide accurate results and do not need accurate initial values. Even when the chosen measurement system parameters are subjected to some amount of disturbance, the binocular method manages to provide fairly accurate results.

  18. Single-frame 3D human pose recovery from multiple views

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofmann, M.; Gavrila, D.M.

    2009-01-01

    We present a system for the estimation of unconstrained 3D human upper body pose from multi-camera single-frame views. Pose recovery starts with a shape detection stage where candidate poses are generated based on hierarchical exemplar matching in the individual camera views. The hierarchy used in

  19. Standard diffusive systems are well-posed linear systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Matignon, Denis; Zwart, Heiko J.

    2004-01-01

    The class of well-posed linear systems as introduced by Salamon has become a well-understood class of systems, see e.g. the work of Weiss and the book of Staffans. Many partial partial differential equations with boundary control and point observation can be formulated as a well-posed linear system.

  20. Regularization methods for ill-posed problems in multiple Hilbert scales

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mazzieri, Gisela L; Spies, Ruben D

    2012-01-01

    Several convergence results in Hilbert scales under different source conditions are proved and orders of convergence and optimal orders of convergence are derived. Also, relations between those source conditions are proved. The concept of a multiple Hilbert scale on a product space is introduced, and regularization methods on these scales are defined, both for the case of a single observation and for the case of multiple observations. In the latter case, it is shown how vector-valued regularization functions in these multiple Hilbert scales can be used. In all cases, convergence is proved and orders and optimal orders of convergence are shown. Finally, some potential applications and open problems are discussed. (paper)

  1. [Specific problems posed by carbohydrate utilization in the rainbow trout].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergot, F

    1979-01-01

    Carbohydrate incorporation in trout diets arises problems both at digestive and metabolic levels. Digestive utilization of carbohydrate closely depends on their molecular weight. In addition, in the case of complex carbohydrates (starches), different factors such as the level of incorporation, the amount consumed and the physical state of starch influence the digestibility. The measurement of digestibility in itself is confronted with methodological difficulties. The way the feces are collected can affect the digestion coefficient. Dietary carbohydrates actually serve as a source of energy. Nevertheless, above a certain level in the diet, intolerance phenomena may appear. The question that arises now is to establish the optimal part that carbohydrates can take in the metabolizable energy of a given diet.

  2. Real-time Pipeline for Object Modeling and Grasping Pose Selection via Superquadric Functions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giulia Vezzani

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This work provides a novel real-time pipeline for modeling and grasping of unknown objects with a humanoid robot. Such a problem is of great interest for the robotic community, since conventional approaches fail when the shape, dimension, or pose of the objects are missing. Our approach reconstructs in real-time a model for the object under consideration and represents the robot hand both with proper and mathematically usable models, i.e., superquadric functions. The volume graspable by the hand is represented by an ellipsoid and is defined a priori, because the shape of the hand is known in advance. The superquadric representing the object is obtained in real-time from partial vision information instead, e.g., one stereo view of the object under consideration, and provides an approximated 3D full model. The optimization problem we formulate for the grasping pose computation is solved online by using the Ipopt software package and, thus, does not require off-line computation or learning. Even though our approach is for a generic humanoid robot, we developed a complete software architecture for executing this approach on the iCub humanoid robot. Together with that, we also provide a tutorial on how to use this framework. We believe that our work, together with the available code, is of a strong utility for the iCub community for three main reasons: object modeling and grasping are relevant problems for the robotic community, our code can be easily applied on every iCub, and the modular structure of our framework easily allows extensions and communications with external code.

  3. Stable methods for ill-posed problems and application to reconstruction of atmospheric temperature profile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Son, H.H.; Luong, P.T.; Loan, N.T.

    1990-04-01

    The problems of Remote Sensing (passive or active) are investigated on the base of main principle which consists in interpretation of radiometric electromagnetic measurements in such spectral interval where the radiation is sensitive to interested physical property of medium. Those problems such as an analysis of composition and structure of atmosphere using the records of scattered radiation, cloud identification, investigation of thermodynamic state and composition of system, reconstructing the atmospheric temperature profile on the base of data processing of infrared radiation emitted by system Earth-Atmosphere... belong to class of inverse problems of mathematical physics which are often incorrect. Int his paper a new class of regularized solution corresponding to general formulated RATP-problem is considered. (author). 14 refs, 3 figs, 3 tabs

  4. The Coffee-Milk Mixture Problem Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marion, Charles F.

    2015-01-01

    This analysis of a problem that is frequently posed at professional development workshops, in print, and on the Web--the coffee-milk mixture riddle--illustrates the timeless advice of George Pólya's masterpiece on problem solving in mathematics, "How to Solve It." In his book, Pólya recommends that problems previously solved and put…

  5. Regularization parameter selection methods for ill-posed Poisson maximum likelihood estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bardsley, Johnathan M; Goldes, John

    2009-01-01

    In image processing applications, image intensity is often measured via the counting of incident photons emitted by the object of interest. In such cases, image data noise is accurately modeled by a Poisson distribution. This motivates the use of Poisson maximum likelihood estimation for image reconstruction. However, when the underlying model equation is ill-posed, regularization is needed. Regularized Poisson likelihood estimation has been studied extensively by the authors, though a problem of high importance remains: the choice of the regularization parameter. We will present three statistically motivated methods for choosing the regularization parameter, and numerical examples will be presented to illustrate their effectiveness

  6. The Soda Can Optimization Problem: Getting Close to the Real Thing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Premadasa, Kirthi; Martin, Paul; Sprecher, Bryce; Yang, Lai; Dodge, Noah-Helen

    2016-01-01

    Optimizing the dimensions of a soda can is a classic problem that is frequently posed to freshman calculus students. However, if we only minimize the surface area subject to a fixed volume, the result is a can with a square edge-on profile, and this differs significantly from actual cans. By considering a more realistic model for the can that…

  7. Research Mathematicians' Practices in Selecting Mathematical Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misfeldt, Morten; Johansen, Mikkel Willum

    2015-01-01

    Developing abilities to create, inquire into, qualify, and choose among mathematical problems is an important educational goal. In this paper, we elucidate how mathematicians work with mathematical problems in order to understand this mathematical process. More specifically, we investigate how mathematicians select and pose problems and discuss to…

  8. Web-based visualisation of head pose and facial expressions changes: monitoring human activity using depth data

    OpenAIRE

    Kalliatakis, Grigorios; Vidakis, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

    2017-01-01

    Despite significant recent advances in the field of head pose estimation and facial expression recognition, raising the cognitive level when analysing human activity presents serious challenges to current concepts. Motivated by the need of generating comprehensible visual representations from different sets of data, we introduce a system capable of monitoring human activity through head pose and facial expression changes, utilising an affordable 3D sensing technology (Microsoft Kinect sensor)...

  9. Is supergravity well-posed?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isenberg, J.; Bao, D.; Yasskin, P.B.

    1983-01-01

    One rather fundamental question concerning supergravity remains unresolved: Is supergravity a well-posed field theory? That is, does a set of certain (Cauchy) data specified on some initial spacelike surface determine a unique, causally propagating spacetime solution of the supergravity field equations (at least in some finite neighborhood of the initial surface)? In this paper, the authors give a very brief report on work directed towards answering this question. (Auth.)

  10. A globally well-posed finite element algorithm for aerodynamics applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iannelli, G. S.; Baker, A. J.

    1991-01-01

    A finite element CFD algorithm is developed for Euler and Navier-Stokes aerodynamic applications. For the linear basis, the resultant approximation is at least second-order-accurate in time and space for synergistic use of three procedures: (1) a Taylor weak statement, which provides for derivation of companion conservation law systems with embedded dispersion-error control mechanisms; (2) a stiffly stable second-order-accurate implicit Rosenbrock-Runge-Kutta temporal algorithm; and (3) a matrix tensor product factorization that permits efficient numerical linear algebra handling of the terminal large-matrix statement. Thorough analyses are presented regarding well-posed boundary conditions for inviscid and viscous flow specifications. Numerical solutions are generated and compared for critical evaluation of quasi-one- and two-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes benchmark test problems.

  11. Clinically Significant Behavior Problems among Young Children 2 Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujiwara, Takeo; Yagi, Junko; Homma, Hiroaki; Mashiko, Hirobumi; Nagao, Keizo; Okuyama, Makiko

    2014-01-01

    Background On March 11, 2011, a massive undersea earthquake and tsunami struck East Japan. Few studies have investigated the impact of exposure to a natural disaster on preschool children. We investigated the association of trauma experiences during the Great East Japan Earthquake on clinically significant behavior problems among preschool children 2 years after the earthquake. Method Participants were children who were exposed to the 2011 disaster at preschool age (affected area, n = 178; unaffected area, n = 82). Data were collected from September 2012 to June 2013 (around 2 years after the earthquake), thus participants were aged 5 to 8 years when assessed. Severe trauma exposures related to the earthquake (e.g., loss of family members) were assessed by interview, and trauma events in the physical environment related to the earthquake (e.g. housing damage), and other trauma exposure before the earthquake, were assessed by questionnaire. Behavior problems were assessed by caregivers using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which encompasses internalizing, externalizing, and total problems. Children who exceeded clinical cut-off of the CBCL were defined as having clinically significant behavior problems. Results Rates of internalizing, externalizing, and total problems in the affected area were 27.7%, 21.2%, and 25.9%, respectively. The rate ratio suggests that children who lost distant relatives or friends were 2.36 times more likely to have internalizing behavior problems (47.6% vs. 20.2%, 95% CI: 1.10–5.07). Other trauma experiences before the earthquake also showed significant positive association with internalizing, externalizing, and total behavior problems, which were not observed in the unaffected area. Conclusions One in four children still had behavior problems even 2 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Children who had other trauma experiences before the earthquake were more likely to have behavior problems. These data will be

  12. Environmental data quality problems: ''Technical'' vs. ''legal'' defensibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luker, R.S.; Brooks, M.C.; Stagg, D.D.

    1995-01-01

    Two significant aspects of environmental data quality are currently being emphasized throughout the industry as critical precursors to environmental decision making: technical integrity and legal defensibility. Because audit findings and consequent perceptions by a client often pose more questions than answers--especially with respect to the ''systemic'' nature and significance of problems based on nonstatistical, ad hoc sampling of large programs--quality assurance in environmental restoration must do more than implement traditional administrative controls. A major problem persists in achieving a consensus opinion between quality assurance and technical staff on the significance of various data problems. This case study compares and contrasts ''technical integrity'' and ''legal defensibility'', and provides performance measures developed to optimize both components in a large, complex DOE environmental restoration program. Performance measures of both administrative and technical processes are being used to ensure that conclusions drawn concerning ''systematic'' problems are not premature, and are founded on thorough, representative aspects of the program. Improved methods to reach consensus opinions on environmental decision-making are imperative and environmental data quality, the cornerstone on which the decisions are built, must be not only scientifically solid, but perceived as solid, if stakeholders are to be satisfied

  13. On Euler's problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Egorov, Yurii V

    2013-01-01

    We consider the classical problem on the tallest column which was posed by Euler in 1757. Bernoulli-Euler theory serves today as the basis for the design of high buildings. This problem is reduced to the problem of finding the potential for the Sturm-Liouville equation corresponding to the maximum of the first eigenvalue. The problem has been studied by many mathematicians but we give the first rigorous proof of the existence and uniqueness of the optimal column and we give new formulae which let us find it. Our method is based on a new approach consisting in the study of critical points of a related nonlinear functional. Bibliography: 6 titles.

  14. Special problems in making geotechnical measurements in salt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verslvis, S.; Lindner, E.N.

    1983-01-01

    The transfer of experience, theory, and instrumentation suitable for hard rock media has posed numerous problems which this paper will address. Foremost of these pertains to the time-dependent (creep) behavior of salt. The theoretical mechanism is elusive; creep laws formulated to predict this behavior represent the state of the art in regression analysis. Furthermore, long term experiments (1 year) that would be necessary to determine creep mechanism(s) are enormously expensive and tie-up test equipment. Second, tests for determining in situ stress are based on the theory of elasticity. However anelastic (non-recoverable) strains contribute a significant portion of the material behavior precluding back calculating in situ stresses. Another problem pertains to the rate-dependent behavior of salt. Loading and temperature gradients experienced in the laboratory are more severe than would be experienced in a repository. Significant differences in material behavior can be expected along with special problems with instrumentation

  15. Adaptive nonlinear robust relative pose control of spacecraft autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Liang; Huo, Wei; Jiao, Zongxia

    2017-03-01

    This paper studies relative pose control for a rigid spacecraft with parametric uncertainties approaching to an unknown tumbling target in disturbed space environment. State feedback controllers for relative translation and relative rotation are designed in an adaptive nonlinear robust control framework. The element-wise and norm-wise adaptive laws are utilized to compensate the parametric uncertainties of chaser and target spacecraft, respectively. External disturbances acting on two spacecraft are treated as a lumped and bounded perturbation input for system. To achieve the prescribed disturbance attenuation performance index, feedback gains of controllers are designed by solving linear matrix inequality problems so that lumped disturbance attenuation with respect to the controlled output is ensured in the L 2 -gain sense. Moreover, in the absence of lumped disturbance input, asymptotical convergence of relative pose are proved by using the Lyapunov method. Numerical simulations are performed to show that position tracking and attitude synchronization are accomplished in spite of the presence of couplings and uncertainties. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Concerned significant others of people with gambling problems in Finland: a cross-sectional population study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salonen, Anne H; Castrén, Sari; Alho, Hannu; Lahti, Tuuli

    2014-04-24

    Problem gambling not only impacts those directly involved, but also the concerned significant others (CSOs) of problem gamblers. The aims of this study were to investigate the proportion of male and female CSOs at the population level; to investigate who the CSOs were concerned about; and to investigate sociodemographic factors, gender differences, gambling behaviour, and health and well-being among CSOs and non-CSOs. The data (n = 4484) were based on a cross-sectional population study. Structured telephone interviews were conducted in 2011-2012. The data were weighted based on age, gender and residency. The respondents were defined as CSOs if they reported that at least one of their significant others (father, mother, sister/brother, grandparent, spouse, own child/children, close friend) had had gambling problems. Statistical significance was determined by chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests, and logistic regression analysis. Altogether, 19.3% of the respondents were identified as CSOs. Most commonly, the problem gambler was a close friend (12.4%) of the CSO. The percentage of close friends having a gambling problem was larger among male CSOs (14.4%) compared with female CSOs (10.3%; p ≤ 0.001), while the percentage of partners with gambling problem was larger among females (2.6%) than among males (0.8%; p ≤ 0.001). In the best fitting model, the odds ratio (95% CI) of being a male CSO was 2.03 (1.24-3.31) for past-year gambling problems, 1.46 (1.08-1.97) for loneliness and 1.78 (1.38-2.29) for risky alcohol consumption. The odds ratio (95% CI) of being a female CSO was 1.51 (1.09-2.08) for past-year gambling involvement, 3.05 (1.18-7.90) for past-year gambling problems, 2.21 (1.24-3.93) for mental health problems, 1.39 (1.03-1.89) for loneliness and 1.97 (1.43-2.71) for daily smoking. CSOs of problem gamblers often experience cumulating problems such as their own risky gambling behaviour, health problems and other addictive disorders. The

  17. Metals and metalloids in PM10 in Nandan County, Guangxi, China, and the health risks posed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Guanghui; Song, Bo; Xia, Deshang; Yang, Zijie; Wang, Fopeng

    2018-03-16

    Intense mining, smelting, and tailing activities of polymetallic ore deposits have affected the environment in Nandan County, Guangxi, China. Samples of particulates with aerodynamic diameters low or equal 10 μm (PM 10 ) were collected in Nandan County to investigate the concentrations of and health risks posed by 17 metals and metalloids in the PM 10 . The metal and metalloid concentrations were lower than those found in other industrial cities. The mean Cr concentration was 7.48 ng/m 3 . Significant higher metal and metalloid concentrations were found in PM 10 from mining areas (Dachang and Chehe) than from the control area (Liuzhai) (p metalloids in PM 10 at all the sites were low, but the non-carcinogenic risks posed to children by all the metals and metalloids together exceeded the safe level (i.e., risk value > 1). The carcinogenic risks posed by Cd, Ni, and Pb were negligible at all sites, while As, Co, and Cr posed potential carcinogenic risks to the residents.

  18. Some particular problems put by operating experimental reactors; Quelques problemes particuliers poses par le fonctionnement des piles laboratoires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Candiotti, C; Mabeix, R; Uguen, R [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1960-07-01

    On basis of a six years experience in operating research reactors, the authors explain, first, the difference in their utilization between these piles and another similar ones and, after, in consequence, they set off corresponding servitudes. These servitudes put very particular problems in operating itself, maintenance, modifications or additions on these apparatus. (author) [French] Les redacteurs se basant sur six annees d'experience dans l'exploitation de reacteurs de recherche, exposent tout d'abord les differences d'utilisation entre ces engins et d'autres appareils fonctionnellement similaires et font ressortir, par voie de consequence, les servitudes correspondantes. Ces servitudes posent des problemes tres particuliers dans les domaines de l'exploitation proprement dite, de l'entretien, des modifications ou adjonctions apportees a l'ensemble. (auteur)

  19. Hyperbolic systems with analytic coefficients well-posedness of the Cauchy problem

    CERN Document Server

    Nishitani, Tatsuo

    2014-01-01

    This monograph focuses on the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for linear hyperbolic systems with matrix coefficients. Mainly two questions are discussed: (A) Under which conditions on lower order terms is the Cauchy problem well posed? (B) When is the Cauchy problem well posed for any lower order term? For first order two by two systems with two independent variables with real analytic coefficients, we present complete answers for both (A) and (B). For first order systems with real analytic coefficients we prove general necessary conditions for question (B) in terms of minors of the principal symbols. With regard to sufficient conditions for (B), we introduce hyperbolic systems with nondegenerate characteristics, which contains strictly hyperbolic systems, and prove that the Cauchy problem for hyperbolic systems with nondegenerate characteristics is well posed for any lower order term. We also prove that any hyperbolic system which is close to a hyperbolic system with a nondegenerate characteristic of mu...

  20. Maternal physiological dysregulation while parenting poses risk for infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leerkes, Esther M; Su, Jinni; Calkins, Susan D; O'Brien, Marion; Supple, Andrew J

    2017-02-01

    The extent to which indices of maternal physiological arousal (skin conductance augmentation) and regulation (vagal withdrawal) while parenting predict infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems directly or indirectly via maternal sensitivity was examined in a sample of 259 mothers and their infants. Two covariates, maternal self-reported emotional risk and Adult Attachment Interview attachment coherence were assessed prenatally. Mothers' physiological arousal and regulation were measured during parenting tasks when infants were 6 months old. Maternal sensitivity was observed during distress-eliciting tasks when infants were 6 and 14 months old, and an average sensitivity score was calculated. Attachment disorganization was observed during the Strange Situation when infants were 14 months old, and mothers reported on infants' behavior problems when infants were 27 months old. Over and above covariates, mothers' arousal and regulation while parenting interacted to predict infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems such that maternal arousal was associated with higher attachment disorganization and behavior problems when maternal regulation was low but not when maternal regulation was high. This effect was direct and not explained by maternal sensitivity. The results suggest that maternal physiological dysregulation while parenting places infants at risk for psychopathology.

  1. Challenges Posed by Novel Psychoactive Substances – Middle East Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maciej J. Bogusz

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available New psychoactive substances (NPS are defined as substances of abuse, either in a pure form or a preparation, that are not controlled by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, but which may pose a public health threat. In this context, the term “new” does not necessarily refer to new inventions but to substances that have recently become available or popular in a given society or country. This definition indicates that the problem of NPS is not new; however, the availability of any information via new communication technologies in the 21st century has enabled the spread of unwanted and socially harmful information, like information on the commercial availability of various NPS, offered in rising amounts and brands.

  2. Drogue pose estimation for unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous aerial refueling system based on infrared vision sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shanjun; Duan, Haibin; Deng, Yimin; Li, Cong; Zhao, Guozhi; Xu, Yan

    2017-12-01

    Autonomous aerial refueling is a significant technology that can significantly extend the endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles. A reliable method that can accurately estimate the position and attitude of the probe relative to the drogue is the key to such a capability. A drogue pose estimation method based on infrared vision sensor is introduced with the general goal of yielding an accurate and reliable drogue state estimate. First, by employing direct least squares ellipse fitting and convex hull in OpenCV, a feature point matching and interference point elimination method is proposed. In addition, considering the conditions that some infrared LEDs are damaged or occluded, a missing point estimation method based on perspective transformation and affine transformation is designed. Finally, an accurate and robust pose estimation algorithm improved by the runner-root algorithm is proposed. The feasibility of the designed visual measurement system is demonstrated by flight test, and the results indicate that our proposed method enables precise and reliable pose estimation of the probe relative to the drogue, even in some poor conditions.

  3. Some particular problems put by operating experimental reactors; Quelques problemes particuliers poses par le fonctionnement des piles laboratoires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Candiotti, C.; Mabeix, R.; Uguen, R. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1960-07-01

    On basis of a six years experience in operating research reactors, the authors explain, first, the difference in their utilization between these piles and another similar ones and, after, in consequence, they set off corresponding servitudes. These servitudes put very particular problems in operating itself, maintenance, modifications or additions on these apparatus. (author) [French] Les redacteurs se basant sur six annees d'experience dans l'exploitation de reacteurs de recherche, exposent tout d'abord les differences d'utilisation entre ces engins et d'autres appareils fonctionnellement similaires et font ressortir, par voie de consequence, les servitudes correspondantes. Ces servitudes posent des problemes tres particuliers dans les domaines de l'exploitation proprement dite, de l'entretien, des modifications ou adjonctions apportees a l'ensemble. (auteur)

  4. Driver head pose tracking with thermal camera

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bole, S.; Fournier, C.; Lavergne, C.; Druart, G.; Lépine, T.

    2016-09-01

    Head pose can be seen as a coarse estimation of gaze direction. In automotive industry, knowledge about gaze direction could optimize Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Pose estimation systems are often based on camera when applications have to be contactless. In this paper, we explore uncooled thermal imagery (8-14μm) for its intrinsic night vision capabilities and for its invariance versus lighting variations. Two methods are implemented and compared, both are aided by a 3D model of the head. The 3D model, mapped with thermal texture, allows to synthesize a base of 2D projected models, differently oriented and labeled in yaw and pitch. The first method is based on keypoints. Keypoints of models are matched with those of the query image. These sets of matchings, aided with the 3D shape of the model, allow to estimate 3D pose. The second method is a global appearance approach. Among all 2D models of the base, algorithm searches the one which is the closest to the query image thanks to a weighted least squares difference.

  5. A Support System for the Electric Appliance Control Using Pose Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawano, Takuya; Yamamoto, Kazuhiko; Kato, Kunihito; Hongo, Hitoshi

    In this paper, we propose an electric appliance control support system for aged and bedridden people using pose recognition. We proposed a pose recognition system that distinguishes between seven poses of the user on the bed. First, the face and arm regions of the user are detected by using the skin color. Our system focuses a recognition region surrounding the face region. Next, the higher order local autocorrelation features within the region are extracted. The linear discriminant analysis creates the coefficient matrix that can optimally distinguish among training data from the seven poses. Our algorithm can recognize the seven poses even if the subject wears different clothes and slightly shifts or slants on the bed. From the experimental results, our system achieved an accuracy rate of over 99 %. Then, we show that it possibles to construct one of a user-friendly system.

  6. Flexible Polyhedral Surfaces with Two Flat Poses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hellmuth Stachel

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available We present three types of polyhedral surfaces, which are continuously flexible and have not only an initial pose, where all faces are coplanar, but pass during their self-motion through another pose with coplanar faces (“flat pose”. These surfaces are examples of so-called rigid origami, since we only admit exact flexions, i.e., each face remains rigid during the motion; only the dihedral angles vary. We analyze the geometry behind Miura-ori and address Kokotsakis’ example of a flexible tessellation with the particular case of a cyclic quadrangle. Finally, we recall Bricard’s octahedra of Type 3 and their relation to strophoids.

  7. A well-posed numerical method to track isolated conformal map singularities in Hele-Shaw flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baker, G.; Siegel, M.; Tanveer, S.

    1995-01-01

    We present a new numerical method for calculating an evolving 2D Hele-Shaw interface when surface tension effects are neglected. In the case where the flow is directed from the less viscous fluid into the more viscous fluid, the motion of the interface is ill-posed; small deviations in the initial condition will produce significant changes in the ensuing motion. The situation is disastrous for numerical computation, as small roundoff errors can quickly lead to large inaccuracies in the computed solution. Our method of computation is most easily formulated using a conformal map from the fluid domain into a unit disk. The method relies on analytically continuing the initial data and equations of motion into the region exterior to the disk, where the evolution problem becomes well-posed. The equations are then numerically solved in the extended domain. The presence of singularities in the conformal map outside of the disk introduces specific structures along the fluid interface. Our method can explicitly track the location of isolated pole and branch point singularities, allowing us to draw connections between the development of interfacial patterns and the motion of singularities as they approach the unit disk. In particular, we are able to relate physical features such as finger shape, side-branch formation, and competition between fingers to the nature and location of the singularities. The usefulness of this method in studying the formation of topological singularities (self-intersections of the interface) is also pointed out. 47 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab

  8. Coupled multiview autoencoders with locality sensitivity for three-dimensional human pose estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Jialin; Sun, Jifeng; Luo, Shasha; Duan, Bichao

    2017-09-01

    Estimating three-dimensional (3D) human poses from a single camera is usually implemented by searching pose candidates with image descriptors. Existing methods usually suppose that the mapping from feature space to pose space is linear, but in fact, their mapping relationship is highly nonlinear, which heavily degrades the performance of 3D pose estimation. We propose a method to recover 3D pose from a silhouette image. It is based on the multiview feature embedding (MFE) and the locality-sensitive autoencoders (LSAEs). On the one hand, we first depict the manifold regularized sparse low-rank approximation for MFE and then the input image is characterized by a fused feature descriptor. On the other hand, both the fused feature and its corresponding 3D pose are separately encoded by LSAEs. A two-layer back-propagation neural network is trained by parameter fine-tuning and then used to map the encoded 2D features to encoded 3D poses. Our LSAE ensures a good preservation of the local topology of data points. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

  9. Trajectory Planning with Pose Feedback for a Dual-Arm Space Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yicheng Liu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to obtain high precision path tracking for a dual-arm space robot, a trajectory planning method with pose feedback is proposed to be introduced into the design process in this paper. Firstly, pose error kinematic models are derived from the related kinematics and desired pose command for the end-effector and the base, respectively. On this basis, trajectory planning with pose feedback is proposed from a control perspective. Theoretical analyses show that the proposed trajectory planning algorithm can guarantee that pose error converges to zero exponentially for both the end-effector and the base when the robot is out of singular configuration. Compared with the existing algorithms, the proposed algorithm can lead to higher precision path tracking for the end-effector. Furthermore, the algorithm renders the system good anti-interference property for the base. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed trajectory planning algorithm.

  10. Rethinking pedagogy for second-order differential equations: a simplified approach to understanding well-posed problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tisdell, Christopher C.

    2017-07-01

    Knowing an equation has a unique solution is important from both a modelling and theoretical point of view. For over 70 years, the approach to learning and teaching 'well posedness' of initial value problems (IVPs) for second- and higher-order ordinary differential equations has involved transforming the problem and its analysis to a first-order system of equations. We show that this excursion is unnecessary and present a direct approach regarding second- and higher-order problems that does not require an understanding of systems.

  11. Resolution for the Loviisa benchmark problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia, C.R.; Quintero, R.; Milian, D.

    1992-01-01

    In the present paper, the Loviisa benchmark problem for cycles 11 and 8, and reactor blocks 1 and 2 from Loviisa NPP, is calculated. This problem user law leakage reload patterns and was posed at the second thematic group of TIC meeting held in Rheinsberg GDR, march 1989. SPPS-1 coarse mesh code has been used for the calculations

  12. 3D head pose estimation and tracking using particle filtering and ICP algorithm

    KAUST Repository

    Ben Ghorbel, Mahdi; Baklouti, Malek; Couvet, Serge

    2010-01-01

    This paper addresses the issue of 3D head pose estimation and tracking. Existing approaches generally need huge database, training procedure, manual initialization or use face feature extraction manually extracted. We propose a framework for estimating the 3D head pose in its fine level and tracking it continuously across multiple Degrees of Freedom (DOF) based on ICP and particle filtering. We propose to approach the problem, using 3D computational techniques, by aligning a face model to the 3D dense estimation computed by a stereo vision method, and propose a particle filter algorithm to refine and track the posteriori estimate of the position of the face. This work comes with two contributions: the first concerns the alignment part where we propose an extended ICP algorithm using an anisotropic scale transformation. The second contribution concerns the tracking part. We propose the use of the particle filtering algorithm and propose to constrain the search space using ICP algorithm in the propagation step. The results show that the system is able to fit and track the head properly, and keeps accurate the results on new individuals without a manual adaptation or training. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.

  13. Head Pose Estimation Using Multilinear Subspace Analysis for Robot Human Awareness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivanov, Tonislav; Matthies, Larry; Vasilescu, M. Alex O.

    2009-01-01

    Mobile robots, operating in unconstrained indoor and outdoor environments, would benefit in many ways from perception of the human awareness around them. Knowledge of people's head pose and gaze directions would enable the robot to deduce which people are aware of the its presence, and to predict future motions of the people for better path planning. To make such inferences, requires estimating head pose on facial images that are combination of multiple varying factors, such as identity, appearance, head pose, and illumination. By applying multilinear algebra, the algebra of higher-order tensors, we can separate these factors and estimate head pose regardless of subject's identity or image conditions. Furthermore, we can automatically handle uncertainty in the size of the face and its location. We demonstrate a pipeline of on-the-move detection of pedestrians with a robot stereo vision system, segmentation of the head, and head pose estimation in cluttered urban street scenes.

  14. Compensating Pose Uncertainties through Appropriate Gripper Finger Cutouts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolniakowski Adam

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The gripper finger design is a recurring problem in many robotic grasping platforms used in industry. The task of switching the gripper configuration to accommodate for a new batch of objects typically requires engineering expertise, and is a lengthy and costly iterative trial-and-error process. One of the open challenges is the need for the gripper to compensate for uncertainties inherent to the workcell, e.g. due to errors in calibration, inaccurate pose estimation from the vision system, or object deformation. In this paper, we present an analysis of gripper uncertainty compensating capabilities in a sample industrial object grasping scenario for a finger that was designed using an automated simulation-based geometry optimization method (Wolniakowski et al., 2013, 2015. We test the developed gripper with a set of grasps subjected to structured perturbation in a simulation environment and in the real-world setting. We provide a comparison of the data obtained by using both of these approaches. We argue that the strong correspondence observed in results validates the use of dynamic simulation for the gripper finger design and optimization.

  15. Agricultural problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bickerton, George E.

    1997-01-01

    Although there were not reasons to deplore against major activity release from any of the 110 industrial reactors authorized to operate in US, the nuclear incident that occurred at the Three Mile Island Plant in 1979 urged the public conscience toward the necessity of readiness to cope with events of this type. The personnel of the Emergency Planning Office functioning in the frame of US Department of Agriculture has already participated in around 600 intervention drillings on a federal, local or state scale to plan, test or asses radiological emergency plans or to intervene locally. These exercises allowed acquiring a significant experience in elaborating emergency plans, planning the drillings, working out scenarios and evaluation of the potential impact of accidents from the agricultural point of view. We have also taken part in different international drillings among which the most recent are INEX 1 and RADEX 94. We have found on these occasions that the agricultural problems are essential preoccupations in most of the cases no matter if the context is international, national, local or of state level. The paper poses problems specifically related to milk, fruits and vegetables, soils, meat and meat products. Finally the paper discusses issues like drilling planning, alarm and notification, sampling strategy, access authorizations for farmers, removing of contamination wastes. A number of social, political and economical relating problems are also mentioned

  16. Pose Estimation and Adaptive Robot Behaviour for Human-Robot Interaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svenstrup, Mikael; Hansen, Søren Tranberg; Andersen, Hans Jørgen

    2009-01-01

    Abstract—This paper introduces a new method to determine a person’s pose based on laser range measurements. Such estimates are typically a prerequisite for any human-aware robot navigation, which is the basis for effective and timeextended interaction between a mobile robot and a human. The robot......’s pose. The resulting pose estimates are used to identify humans who wish to be approached and interacted with. The interaction motion of the robot is based on adaptive potential functions centered around the person that respect the persons social spaces. The method is tested in experiments...

  17. An anti-disturbing real time pose estimation method and system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Jian; Zhang, Xiao-hu

    2011-08-01

    Pose estimation relating two-dimensional (2D) images to three-dimensional (3D) rigid object need some known features to track. In practice, there are many algorithms which perform this task in high accuracy, but all of these algorithms suffer from features lost. This paper investigated the pose estimation when numbers of known features or even all of them were invisible. Firstly, known features were tracked to calculate pose in the current and the next image. Secondly, some unknown but good features to track were automatically detected in the current and the next image. Thirdly, those unknown features which were on the rigid and could match each other in the two images were retained. Because of the motion characteristic of the rigid object, the 3D information of those unknown features on the rigid could be solved by the rigid object's pose at the two moment and their 2D information in the two images except only two case: the first one was that both camera and object have no relative motion and camera parameter such as focus length, principle point, and etc. have no change at the two moment; the second one was that there was no shared scene or no matched feature in the two image. Finally, because those unknown features at the first time were known now, pose estimation could go on in the followed images in spite of the missing of known features in the beginning by repeating the process mentioned above. The robustness of pose estimation by different features detection algorithms such as Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) feature, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speed Up Robust Feature (SURF) were compared and the compact of the different relative motion between camera and the rigid object were discussed in this paper. Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) parallel computing was also used to extract and to match hundreds of features for real time pose estimation which was hard to work on Central Processing Unit (CPU). Compared with other pose estimation methods, this new

  18. Problems of underground gasification of coal. Les Problemes que pose une gazeification souterraine des charbons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doumenc, R A.M.

    1948-11-01

    Underground gasification is examined in collaboration with Socogaz of Brussels. The USSR has been successful and claims to have produced gas of 1,000 cal per cu m at the rate of 30,000 cu m per hr at Gorlovka (Donets). Results of the American, Belgian, and Italian experiments show that the gas produced contains much CO/sub 2/ and only 5 percent CO. The coal has been burned but not gasified. If the main problem to be solved should be production of a rich gas for burning or a sufficiently hot gas for direct heating, many difficulties would need to be overcome, such as remote control of the fire, choice of suitable coal seams, etc. The underground process is attractive because of the great saving in labor. As it is impossible to reproduce conditions on a laboratory scale, the time and expenditure required for these lengthy experiments seem to be amply justified.

  19. The potential for expert system support in solving the pressurized water reactor fuel shuffling problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rothleder, B.M.; Poetschat, G.R.; Faught, W.S.; Eich, V.J.

    1988-01-01

    The fuel shuffling problem is posed by the need to reposition partially burned assemblies to achieve minimum X-Y pin power peaks reload cycles of pressurized water reactors. This problem is a classic artificial intelligence (AI) problem and is highly suitable for AI expert system solution assistance, in contrast to the conventional solution, which ultimately depends solely on trial and error. Such a fuel shuffling assistant would significantly reduce engineering and computer execution time for conventional loading patterns and, much more importantly, even more significantly for low-leakage loading patterns. A successful hardware/software demonstrator has been introduced, paving the way for development of a broadly expert system program. Such a program, upon incorporating the recently developed technique perverse depletion, would provide a directed path for solving the low-leakage problem

  20. Locating binding poses in protein-ligand systems using reconnaissance metadynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Söderhjelm, Pär; Tribello, Gareth A.; Parrinello, Michele

    2012-01-01

    A molecular dynamics-based protocol is proposed for finding and scoring protein-ligand binding poses. This protocol uses the recently developed reconnaissance metadynamics method, which employs a self-learning algorithm to construct a bias that pushes the system away from the kinetic traps where it would otherwise remain. The exploration of phase space with this algorithm is shown to be roughly six to eight times faster than unbiased molecular dynamics and is only limited by the time taken to diffuse about the surface of the protein. We apply this method to the well-studied trypsin–benzamidine system and show that we are able to refind all the poses obtained from a reference EADock blind docking calculation. These poses can be scored based on the length of time the system remains trapped in the pose. Alternatively, one can perform dimensionality reduction on the output trajectory and obtain a map of phase space that can be used in more expensive free-energy calculations. PMID:22440749

  1. A Grasp-Pose Generation Method Based on Gaussian Mixture Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenjia Wu

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM-based grasp-pose generation method is proposed in this paper. Through offline training, the GMM is set up and used to depict the distribution of the robot's reachable orientations. By dividing the robot's workspace into small 3D voxels and training the GMM for each voxel, a look-up table covering all the workspace is built with the x, y and z positions as the index and the GMM as the entry. Through the definition of Task Space Regions (TSR, an object's feasible grasp poses are expressed as a continuous region. With the GMM, grasp poses can be preferentially sampled from regions with high reachability probabilities in the online grasp-planning stage. The GMM can also be used as a preliminary judgement of a grasp pose's reachability. Experiments on both a simulated and a real robot show the superiority of our method over the existing method.

  2. A randomized controlled study of power posing before public speaking exposure for social anxiety disorder: No evidence for augmentative effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Michelle L; Papini, Santiago; Rosenfield, David; Roelofs, Karin; Kolb, Sarah; Powers, Mark B; Smits, Jasper A J

    2017-12-01

    This manuscript details a randomized controlled study designed to test the efficacy of power posing (i.e., briefly holding postures associated with dominance and power) as an augmentative strategy for exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Seventy-three individuals diagnosed with SAD were assigned to one of three conditions: power posing, submissive posing, or rest (no posing) prior to participating in an exposure therapy session. Participants were assessed for between-group differences in pre- and post-manipulation salivary hormone levels, within-session subjective experiences of fear, and pre- and 1-week post-treatment SAD severity outcome measures. Though the intervention resulted in decreased SAD symptom severity one week later, analyses revealed no significant between-group differences on any tested variables. Accordingly, this study provides no evidence to suggest that power posing impacts hormone levels or exposure therapy outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Rethinking Pedagogy for Second-Order Differential Equations: A Simplified Approach to Understanding Well-Posed Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tisdell, Christopher C.

    2017-01-01

    Knowing an equation has a unique solution is important from both a modelling and theoretical point of view. For over 70 years, the approach to learning and teaching "well posedness" of initial value problems (IVPs) for second- and higher-order ordinary differential equations has involved transforming the problem and its analysis to a…

  4. Preparatory power posing affects nonverbal presence and job interview performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuddy, Amy J C; Wilmuth, Caroline A; Yap, Andy J; Carney, Dana R

    2015-07-01

    The authors tested whether engaging in expansive (vs. contractive) "power poses" before a stressful job interview--preparatory power posing--would enhance performance during the interview. Participants adopted high-power (i.e., expansive, open) poses or low-power (i.e., contractive, closed) poses, and then prepared and delivered a speech to 2 evaluators as part of a mock job interview. All interview speeches were videotaped and coded for overall performance and hireability and for 2 potential mediators: verbal content (e.g., structure, content) and nonverbal presence (e.g., captivating, enthusiastic). As predicted, those who prepared for the job interview with high- (vs. low-) power poses performed better and were more likely to be chosen for hire; this relation was mediated by nonverbal presence, but not by verbal content. Although previous research has focused on how a nonverbal behavior that is enacted during interactions and observed by perceivers affects how those perceivers evaluate and respond to the actor, this experiment focused on how a nonverbal behavior that is enacted before the interaction and unobserved by perceivers affects the actor's performance, which, in turn, affects how perceivers evaluate and respond to the actor. This experiment reveals a theoretically novel and practically informative result that demonstrates the causal relation between preparatory nonverbal behavior and subsequent performance and outcomes. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Integral geometry and inverse problems for hyperbolic equations

    CERN Document Server

    Romanov, V G

    1974-01-01

    There are currently many practical situations in which one wishes to determine the coefficients in an ordinary or partial differential equation from known functionals of its solution. These are often called "inverse problems of mathematical physics" and may be contrasted with problems in which an equation is given and one looks for its solution under initial and boundary conditions. Although inverse problems are often ill-posed in the classical sense, their practical importance is such that they may be considered among the pressing problems of current mathematical re­ search. A. N. Tihonov showed [82], [83] that there is a broad class of inverse problems for which a particular non-classical definition of well-posed ness is appropriate. This new definition requires that a solution be unique in a class of solutions belonging to a given subset M of a function space. The existence of a solution in this set is assumed a priori for some set of data. The classical requirement of continuous dependence of the solutio...

  6. Cultural adaptations to the differential threats posed by hot versus cold climates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Damian R

    2013-10-01

    Hot and cold climates have posed differential threats to human survival throughout history. Cold temperatures can pose direct threats to survival in themselves, whereas hot temperatures may pose threats indirectly through higher prevalence of infectious disease. These differential threats yield convergent predictions for the relationship between more demanding climates and freedom of expression, but divergent predictions for freedom from discrimination.

  7. Posed versus spontaneous facial expressions are modulated by opposite cerebral hemispheres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Elliott D; Pulusu, Vinay K

    2013-05-01

    Clinical research has indicated that the left face is more expressive than the right face, suggesting that modulation of facial expressions is lateralized to the right hemisphere. The findings, however, are controversial because the results explain, on average, approximately 4% of the data variance. Using high-speed videography, we sought to determine if movement-onset asymmetry was a more powerful research paradigm than terminal movement asymmetry. The results were very robust, explaining up to 70% of the data variance. Posed expressions began overwhelmingly on the right face whereas spontaneous expressions began overwhelmingly on the left face. This dichotomy was most robust for upper facial expressions. In addition, movement-onset asymmetries did not predict terminal movement asymmetries, which were not significantly lateralized. The results support recent neuroanatomic observations that upper versus lower facial movements have different forebrain motor representations and recent behavioral constructs that posed versus spontaneous facial expressions are modulated preferentially by opposite cerebral hemispheres and that spontaneous facial expressions are graded rather than non-graded movements. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  8. The relative pose estimation of aircraft based on contour model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Tai; Sun, Xiangyi

    2017-02-01

    This paper proposes a relative pose estimation approach based on object contour model. The first step is to obtain a two-dimensional (2D) projection of three-dimensional (3D)-model-based target, which will be divided into 40 forms by clustering and LDA analysis. Then we proceed by extracting the target contour in each image and computing their Pseudo-Zernike Moments (PZM), thus a model library is constructed in an offline mode. Next, we spot a projection contour that resembles the target silhouette most in the present image from the model library with reference of PZM; then similarity transformation parameters are generated as the shape context is applied to match the silhouette sampling location, from which the identification parameters of target can be further derived. Identification parameters are converted to relative pose parameters, in the premise that these values are the initial result calculated via iterative refinement algorithm, as the relative pose parameter is in the neighborhood of actual ones. At last, Distance Image Iterative Least Squares (DI-ILS) is employed to acquire the ultimate relative pose parameters.

  9. Hysteresis and Phase Transitions in a Lattice Regularization of an Ill-Posed Forward-Backward Diffusion Equation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmers, Michael; Herrmann, Michael

    2018-03-01

    We consider a lattice regularization for an ill-posed diffusion equation with a trilinear constitutive law and study the dynamics of phase interfaces in the parabolic scaling limit. Our main result guarantees for a certain class of single-interface initial data that the lattice solutions satisfy asymptotically a free boundary problem with a hysteretic Stefan condition. The key challenge in the proof is to control the microscopic fluctuations that are inevitably produced by the backward diffusion when a particle passes the spinodal region.

  10. The Liner Shipping Fleet Repositioning Problem with Cargo Flows

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tierney, Kevin; Jensen, Rune Møller

    2012-01-01

    We solve an important problem for the liner shipping industry called the Liner Shipping Fleet Repositioning Problem (LSFRP). The LSFRP poses a large financial burden on liner shipping firms. During repositioning, vessels are moved between services in a liner shipping network. Shippers wish...

  11. Childhood constipation as an emerging public health problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajindrajith, Shaman; Devanarayana, Niranga Manjuri; Crispus Perera, Bonaventure Jayasiri; Benninga, Marc Alexander

    2016-08-14

    Functional constipation (FC) is a significant health problem in children and contrary to common belief, has serious ramifications on the lives of children and their families. It is defined by the Rome criteria which encourage the use of multiple clinical features for diagnosis. FC in children has a high prevalence (0.7%-29%) worldwide, both in developed and developing countries. Biopsychosocial risk factors such as psychological stress, poor dietary habits, obesity and child maltreatment are commonly identified predisposing factors for FC. FC poses a significant healthcare burden on the already overstretched health budgets of many countries in terms of out-patient care, in-patient care, expenditure for investigations and prescriptions. Complications are common and range from minor psychological disturbances, to lower health-related quality of life. FC in children also has a significant impact on families. Many paediatric clinical trials have poor methodological quality, and drugs proved to be useful in adults, are not effective in relieving symptoms in children. A significant proportion of inadequately treated children have similar symptoms as adults. These factors show that constipation is an increasing public health problem across the world with a significant medical, social and economic impact. This article highlights the potential public health impact of FC and the possibility of overcoming this problem by concentrating on modifiable risk factors rather than expending resources on high cost investigations and therapeutic modalities.

  12. Head Pose Estimation on Eyeglasses Using Line Detection and Classification Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setthawong, Pisal; Vannija, Vajirasak

    This paper proposes a unique approach for head pose estimation of subjects with eyeglasses by using a combination of line detection and classification approaches. Head pose estimation is considered as an important non-verbal form of communication and could also be used in the area of Human-Computer Interface. A major improvement of the proposed approach is that it allows estimation of head poses at a high yaw/pitch angle when compared with existing geometric approaches, does not require expensive data preparation and training, and is generally fast when compared with other approaches.

  13. Approximation of Bayesian Inverse Problems for PDEs

    OpenAIRE

    Cotter, S. L.; Dashti, M.; Stuart, A. M.

    2010-01-01

    Inverse problems are often ill posed, with solutions that depend sensitively on data.n any numerical approach to the solution of such problems, regularization of some form is needed to counteract the resulting instability. This paper is based on an approach to regularization, employing a Bayesian formulation of the problem, which leads to a notion of well posedness for inverse problems, at the level of probability measures. The stability which results from this well posedness may be used as t...

  14. Probabilistic Elastic Part Model: A Pose-Invariant Representation for Real-World Face Verification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Haoxiang; Hua, Gang

    2018-04-01

    Pose variation remains to be a major challenge for real-world face recognition. We approach this problem through a probabilistic elastic part model. We extract local descriptors (e.g., LBP or SIFT) from densely sampled multi-scale image patches. By augmenting each descriptor with its location, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is trained to capture the spatial-appearance distribution of the face parts of all face images in the training corpus, namely the probabilistic elastic part (PEP) model. Each mixture component of the GMM is confined to be a spherical Gaussian to balance the influence of the appearance and the location terms, which naturally defines a part. Given one or multiple face images of the same subject, the PEP-model builds its PEP representation by sequentially concatenating descriptors identified by each Gaussian component in a maximum likelihood sense. We further propose a joint Bayesian adaptation algorithm to adapt the universally trained GMM to better model the pose variations between the target pair of faces/face tracks, which consistently improves face verification accuracy. Our experiments show that we achieve state-of-the-art face verification accuracy with the proposed representations on the Labeled Face in the Wild (LFW) dataset, the YouTube video face database, and the CMU MultiPIE dataset.

  15. Attribute And-Or Grammar for Joint Parsing of Human Pose, Parts and Attributes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Seyoung; Nie, Xiaohan; Zhu, Song-Chun

    2017-07-25

    This paper presents an attribute and-or grammar (A-AOG) model for jointly inferring human body pose and human attributes in a parse graph with attributes augmented to nodes in the hierarchical representation. In contrast to other popular methods in the current literature that train separate classifiers for poses and individual attributes, our method explicitly represents the decomposition and articulation of body parts, and account for the correlations between poses and attributes. The A-AOG model is an amalgamation of three traditional grammar formulations: (i)Phrase structure grammar representing the hierarchical decomposition of the human body from whole to parts; (ii)Dependency grammar modeling the geometric articulation by a kinematic graph of the body pose; and (iii)Attribute grammar accounting for the compatibility relations between different parts in the hierarchy so that their appearances follow a consistent style. The parse graph outputs human detection, pose estimation, and attribute prediction simultaneously, which are intuitive and interpretable. We conduct experiments on two tasks on two datasets, and experimental results demonstrate the advantage of joint modeling in comparison with computing poses and attributes independently. Furthermore, our model obtains better performance over existing methods for both pose estimation and attribute prediction tasks.

  16. On Euler's problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Egorov, Yurii V [Institute de Mathematique de Toulouse, Toulouse (France)

    2013-04-30

    We consider the classical problem on the tallest column which was posed by Euler in 1757. Bernoulli-Euler theory serves today as the basis for the design of high buildings. This problem is reduced to the problem of finding the potential for the Sturm-Liouville equation corresponding to the maximum of the first eigenvalue. The problem has been studied by many mathematicians but we give the first rigorous proof of the existence and uniqueness of the optimal column and we give new formulae which let us find it. Our method is based on a new approach consisting in the study of critical points of a related nonlinear functional. Bibliography: 6 titles.

  17. Categorization of questions posed before and after inquiry-based learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Milena García González

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Posing research questions is the central ability of the scientific thought. This article examines the ability of sixth grade children to pose researchable questions before and after a three months’ work on a didactic sequence based on the inquiry school model. According to their purpose, the questions asked by children, after reading a text, were classified into researchable questions -susceptible to be empirically explored-, questions about a cause, and questions on a piece of data. The results show that the amount and the type of questions the students were able to pose during the intervention changed, from most of questions on data or information, to most of researchable questions, subsequently, the importance of designing teaching approaches to foster this ability was proved.

  18. Automatic generation of statistical pose and shape models for articulated joints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin Chen; Graham, Jim; Hutchinson, Charles; Muir, Lindsay

    2014-02-01

    Statistical analysis of motion patterns of body joints is potentially useful for detecting and quantifying pathologies. However, building a statistical motion model across different subjects remains a challenging task, especially for a complex joint like the wrist. We present a novel framework for simultaneous registration and segmentation of multiple 3-D (CT or MR) volumes of different subjects at various articulated positions. The framework starts with a pose model generated from 3-D volumes captured at different articulated positions of a single subject (template). This initial pose model is used to register the template volume to image volumes from new subjects. During this process, the Grow-Cut algorithm is used in an iterative refinement of the segmentation of the bone along with the pose parameters. As each new subject is registered and segmented, the pose model is updated, improving the accuracy of successive registrations. We applied the algorithm to CT images of the wrist from 25 subjects, each at five different wrist positions and demonstrated that it performed robustly and accurately. More importantly, the resulting segmentations allowed a statistical pose model of the carpal bones to be generated automatically without interaction. The evaluation results show that our proposed framework achieved accurate registration with an average mean target registration error of 0.34 ±0.27 mm. The automatic segmentation results also show high consistency with the ground truth obtained semi-automatically. Furthermore, we demonstrated the capability of the resulting statistical pose and shape models by using them to generate a measurement tool for scaphoid-lunate dissociation diagnosis, which achieved 90% sensitivity and specificity.

  19. Numerical investigation of the inverse blackbody radiation problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xin Tan, Guo-zhen Yang, Ben-yuan Gu

    1994-01-01

    A numerical algorithm for the inverse blackbody radiation problem, which is the determination of the temperature distribution of a thermal radiator (TDTR) from its total radiated power spectrum (TRPS), is presented, based on the general theory of amplitude-phase retrieval. With application of this new algorithm, the ill-posed nature of the Fredholm equation of the first kind can be largely overcome and a convergent solution to high accuracy can be obtained. By incorporation of the hybrid input-output algorithm into our algorithm, the convergent process can be substantially expedited and the stagnation problem of the solution can be averted. From model calculations it is found that the new algorithm can also provide a robust reconstruction of the TDTR from the noise-corrupted data of the TRPS. Therefore the new algorithm may offer a useful approach to solving the ill-posed inverse problem. 18 refs., 9 figs

  20. Health problems raised by the elimination of radioactive wastes and nuclear accidents; Problemes sanitaires poses par l'elimination des dechets radioactifs et par les accidents nucleaires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jammet, H; Mechali, D; Dousset, M [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1964-07-01

    The rapid development of nuclear energy demands an urgent solution to the health problems arising from the discharge into the environment of radioactive residues produced by nuclear installations. - To be able to evaluate the risks run by the population and to fix tolerance limits for waste discharge, it is necessary to possess an exact knowledge of the course taken by the radioelements discharged, from their source until they reach man. The incorporation of radioelements in food cycles is the first risk to take into consideration. The factors involved in all stages of this transmission must be foreseen, whether they concern physical or biological media, because of their continuity and their interdependence. Finally, socio-economic and dietetic data must be collected in order that the risks and tolerance levels estimated are based on concrete and experimental rather than theoretical knowledge. The risk of nuclear accidents in the atomic industry, although very improbable, must be taken into consideration because of the seriousness of their consequences. The health problems arise in the field of professional hygiene on the one hand and in that of public hygiene on the other. In the first field the risk is two-fold and involves irradiation and contamination. The public sphere is reduced essentially to the risk of contamination by radioactive substances accidentally released in the surrounding medium. The health studies to be conducted in this field therefore include research not only on irradiation or contamination therapeutics but also on the transfer of radioelements from the accident site to man, mainly through food cycles, in their physical and in their biological components. Studies of this kind form the basis of decisions in the health field which would have to be taken in the case of an accident. (authors) [French] Le developpement rapide de l'energie nucleaire rend urgente la solution des problemes sanitaires poses par le rejet dans le milieu ambiant des

  1. Application of Shape Similarity in Pose Selection and Virtual Screening in CSARdock2014 Exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Ashutosh; Zhang, Kam Y J

    2016-06-27

    To evaluate the applicability of shape similarity in docking-based pose selection and virtual screening, we participated in the CSARdock2014 benchmark exercise for identifying the correct docking pose of inhibitors targeting factor XA, spleen tyrosine kinase, and tRNA methyltransferase. This exercise provides a valuable opportunity for researchers to test their docking programs, methods, and protocols in a blind testing environment. In the CSARdock2014 benchmark exercise, we have implemented an approach that uses ligand 3D shape similarity to facilitate docking-based pose selection and virtual screening. We showed here that ligand 3D shape similarity between bound poses could be used to identify the native-like pose from an ensemble of docking-generated poses. Our method correctly identified the native pose as the top-ranking pose for 73% of test cases in a blind testing environment. Moreover, the pose selection results also revealed an excellent correlation between ligand 3D shape similarity scores and RMSD to X-ray crystal structure ligand. In the virtual screening exercise, the average RMSD for our pose prediction was found to be 1.02 Å, and it was one of the top performances achieved in CSARdock2014 benchmark exercise. Furthermore, the inclusion of shape similarity improved virtual screening performance of docking-based scoring and ranking. The coefficient of determination (r(2)) between experimental activities and docking scores for 276 spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitors was found to be 0.365 but reached 0.614 when the ligand 3D shape similarity was included.

  2. IT Infrastructure Planning from a North Denmark Perspective: Major Problems, Consequences and Possible Solutions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Thomas Phillip; Madsen, Ole Brun

    2004-01-01

    are proposed. These problems appear on the background of a dawning understanding of IT infrastructure as a crucial part of the modern society comparable to the recognised infrastructures, such as roads and electricity. The IT-infrastructure and the problems are placed in the context of the growing importance......This paper gives an overview of the more prominent problems in IT infrastructure evolution and in particular the neccessary planning process in Denmark. A discussion of consequences and possible solutions is presented. Through the DDN-project Nordjysk Netforum, NJNF, and its partners and attendant...... research at Aalborg University, AAU, it has become apparent that several problems pose significant hindrances to an efficient IT-infrastructrure planning and implementation. These problems range form awareness of IT-infrastructure issues, over education and research to main cause and possible solutions...

  3. IT infrastructure planning from a North Denmark perspective: Major problems, consequences and possible solutions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Ole Brun; Knudsen, Thomas Phillip

    are proposed. These problems appear on the background of a dawning understanding of IT infrastructure as a crucial part of the modern society comparable to the recognised infrastructures, such as roads and electricity. The IT-infrastructure and the problems are placed in the context of the growing importance......This paper gives an overview of the more prominent problems in IT infrastructure evolution and in particular the neccessary planning process in Denmark. A discussion of consequences and possible solutions is presented. Through the DDN-project Nordjysk Netforum, NJNF, and its partners and attendant...... research at Aalborg University, AAU, it has become apparent that several problems pose significant hindrances to an efficient IT-infrastructrure planning and implementation. These problems range form awareness of IT-infrastructure issues, over education and research to main cause and possible solutions...

  4. 6DoF object pose measurement by a monocular manifold-based pattern recognition technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kouskouridas, Rigas; Charalampous, Konstantinos; Gasteratos, Antonios

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, a novel solution to the compound problem of object recognition and 3D pose estimation is presented. An accurate measurement of the geometrical configuration of a recognized target, relative to a known coordinate system, is of fundamental importance and constitutes a prerequisite for several applications such as robot grasping or obstacle avoidance. The proposed method lays its foundations on the following assumptions: (a) the same object captured under varying viewpoints and perspectives represents data that could be projected onto a well-established and highly distinguishable subspace; (b) totally different objects observed under the same viewpoints and perspectives share identical 3D pose that can be sufficiently modeled to produce a generalized model. Toward this end, we propose an advanced architecture that allows both recognizing patterns and providing efficient solution for 6DoF pose estimation. We employ a manifold modeling architecture that is grounded on a part-based representation of an object, which in turn, is accomplished via an unsupervised clustering of the extracted visual cues. The main contributions of the proposed framework are: (a) the proposed part-based architecture requires minimum supervision, compared to other contemporary solutions, whilst extracting new features encapsulating both appearance and geometrical attributes of the objects; (b) contrary to related projects that extract high-dimensional data, thus, increasing the complexity of the system, the proposed manifold modeling approach makes use of low dimensionality input vectors; (c) the formulation of a novel input–output space mapping that outperforms the existing dimensionality reduction schemes. Experimental results justify our theoretical claims and demonstrate the superiority of our method comparing to other related contemporary projects. (paper)

  5. Preconditioners for state-constrained optimal control problems with Moreau-Yosida penalty function

    KAUST Repository

    Pearson, John W.

    2012-11-21

    Optimal control problems with partial differential equations as constraints play an important role in many applications. The inclusion of bound constraints for the state variable poses a significant challenge for optimization methods. Our focus here is on the incorporation of the constraints via the Moreau-Yosida regularization technique. This method has been studied recently and has proven to be advantageous compared with other approaches. In this paper, we develop robust preconditioners for the efficient solution of the Newton steps associated with the fast solution of the Moreau-Yosida regularized problem. Numerical results illustrate the efficiency of our approach. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Group problem-solving skills training for self-harm: randomised controlled trial

    OpenAIRE

    McAuliffe, Carmel; McLeavey, Breda C.; Fitzgerald, Anthony P.; Corcoran, Paul; Carroll, Bernie; Ryan, Louise; Fitzgerald, Eva; O'Regan, Mary; Mulqueen, Jillian; Arensman, Ella

    2014-01-01

    Background: Rates of self-harm are high and have recently increased. This trend and the repetitive nature of self-harm pose a significant challenge to mental health services. Aims: To determine the efficacy of a structured group problem-solving skills training (PST) programme as an intervention approach for self-harm in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) as offered by mental health services. Method: A total of 433 participants (aged 18-64 years) were randomly assigned to TAU plus PST or TAU...

  7. The Profile of Creativity and Proposing Statistical Problem Quality Level Reviewed From Cognitive Style

    Science.gov (United States)

    Awi; Ahmar, A. S.; Rahman, A.; Minggi, I.; Mulbar, U.; Asdar; Ruslan; Upu, H.; Alimuddin; Hamda; Rosidah; Sutamrin; Tiro, M. A.; Rusli

    2018-01-01

    This research aims to reveal the profile about the level of creativity and the ability to propose statistical problem of students at Mathematics Education 2014 Batch in the State University of Makassar in terms of their cognitive style. This research uses explorative qualitative method by giving meta-cognitive scaffolding at the time of research. The hypothesis of research is that students who have field independent (FI) cognitive style in statistics problem posing from the provided information already able to propose the statistical problem that can be solved and create new data and the problem is already been included as a high quality statistical problem, while students who have dependent cognitive field (FD) commonly are still limited in statistics problem posing that can be finished and do not load new data and the problem is included as medium quality statistical problem.

  8. Teach it Yourself - Fast Modeling of Industrial Objects for 6D Pose Estimation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sølund, Thomas; Rajeeth Savarimuthu, Thiusius; Glent Buch, Anders

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we present a vision system that allows a human to create new 3D models of novel industrial parts by placing the part in two different positions in the scene. The two shot modeling framework generates models with a precision that allows the model to be used for 6D pose estimation wi....... In addition, the models are applied in a pose estimation application, evaluated with 37 different scenes with 61 unique object poses. The pose estimation results show a mean translation error on 4.97 mm and a mean rotation error on 3.38 degrees....

  9. Regularization Techniques for Linear Least-Squares Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Suliman, Mohamed

    2016-04-01

    method deals with discrete ill-posed problems when the singular values of the linear transformation matrix are decaying very fast to a significantly small value. For the both proposed algorithms, the regularization parameter is obtained as a solution of a non-linear characteristic equation. We provide a details study for the general properties of these functions and address the existence and uniqueness of the root. To demonstrate the performance of the derivations, the first proposed COPRA method is applied to estimate different signals with various characteristics, while the second proposed COPRA method is applied to a large set of different real-world discrete ill-posed problems. Simulation results demonstrate that the two proposed methods outperform a set of benchmark regularization algorithms in most cases. In addition, the algorithms are also shown to have the lowest run time.

  10. Optical neural network system for pose determination of spinning satellites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Andrew; Casasent, David

    1990-01-01

    An optical neural network architecture and algorithm based on a Hopfield optimization network are presented for multitarget tracking. This tracker utilizes a neuron for every possible target track, and a quadratic energy function of neural activities which is minimized using gradient descent neural evolution. The neural net tracker is demonstrated as part of a system for determining position and orientation (pose) of spinning satellites with respect to a robotic spacecraft. The input to the system is time sequence video from a single camera. Novelty detection and filtering are utilized to locate and segment novel regions from the input images. The neural net multitarget tracker determines the correspondences (or tracks) of the novel regions as a function of time, and hence the paths of object (satellite) parts. The path traced out by a given part or region is approximately elliptical in image space, and the position, shape and orientation of the ellipse are functions of the satellite geometry and its pose. Having a geometric model of the satellite, and the elliptical path of a part in image space, the three-dimensional pose of the satellite is determined. Digital simulation results using this algorithm are presented for various satellite poses and lighting conditions.

  11. Solving the Liner Shipping Fleet Repositioning Problem with Cargo Flows

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tierney, Kevin; Askelsdottir, Björg; Jensen, Rune Møller

    2015-01-01

    We solve a central problem in the liner shipping industry called the liner shipping fleet repositioning problem (LSFRP). The LSFRP poses a large financial burden on liner shipping firms. During repositioning, vessels are moved between routes in a liner shipping network. Liner carriers wish...

  12. A multi-camera system for real-time pose estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savakis, Andreas; Erhard, Matthew; Schimmel, James; Hnatow, Justin

    2007-04-01

    This paper presents a multi-camera system that performs face detection and pose estimation in real-time and may be used for intelligent computing within a visual sensor network for surveillance or human-computer interaction. The system consists of a Scene View Camera (SVC), which operates at a fixed zoom level, and an Object View Camera (OVC), which continuously adjusts its zoom level to match objects of interest. The SVC is set to survey the whole filed of view. Once a region has been identified by the SVC as a potential object of interest, e.g. a face, the OVC zooms in to locate specific features. In this system, face candidate regions are selected based on skin color and face detection is accomplished using a Support Vector Machine classifier. The locations of the eyes and mouth are detected inside the face region using neural network feature detectors. Pose estimation is performed based on a geometrical model, where the head is modeled as a spherical object that rotates upon the vertical axis. The triangle formed by the mouth and eyes defines a vertical plane that intersects the head sphere. By projecting the eyes-mouth triangle onto a two dimensional viewing plane, equations were obtained that describe the change in its angles as the yaw pose angle increases. These equations are then combined and used for efficient pose estimation. The system achieves real-time performance for live video input. Testing results assessing system performance are presented for both still images and video.

  13. Numerical convergence for a sewage disposal problem

    OpenAIRE

    Alvarez-Vázquez, L.J.; Martínez, A.; Rodríguez, C.; Vázquez-Méndez, M.E.

    2001-01-01

    The management of sewage disposal and the design of wastewater treatment systems can be formulated as a constrained pointwise optimal control problem. In this paper we study the convergence of the numerical resolution for the corresponding state system by means of a characteristics Galerkin method. The main difficulty of the problem is due to the existence of Radon measures in the right-hand side of the state system. Finally, we present numerical results for a realistic problem posed in a ria...

  14. Regularization and error estimates for nonhomogeneous backward heat problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duc Trong Dang

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we study the inverse time problem for the non-homogeneous heat equation which is a severely ill-posed problem. We regularize this problem using the quasi-reversibility method and then obtain error estimates on the approximate solutions. Solutions are calculated by the contraction principle and shown in numerical experiments. We obtain also rates of convergence to the exact solution.

  15. Socio-emotionally Significant Experience and Children’s Processing of Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schermerhorn, Alice C.; Bates, John E.; Puce, Aina; Molfese, Dennis L.

    2017-01-01

    Theory and research indicate considerable influence of socio-emotionally significant experiences on children’s functioning and adaptation. In the current study, we examined neurophysiological correlates of children’s allocation of information processing resources to socio-emotionally significant events, specifically, simulated marital interactions. We presented 9- to 11-year-old children (n = 24; 11 females) with 15 videos of interactions between two actors posing as a married couple. Task-irrelevant brief auditory probes were presented during the videos, and event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited to the auditory probes were measured. As hypothesized, exposure to higher levels of interparental conflict was associated with smaller P1, P2, and N2 ERPs to the probes. This finding is consistent with the idea that children who had been exposed to more interparental conflict attended more to the videos and diverted fewer cognitive resources to processing the probes, thereby producing smaller ERPs to the probes. In addition, smaller N2s were associated with more child behavior problems, suggesting that allocating fewer processing resources to the probes was associated with more problem behavior. Results are discussed in terms of implications of socio-emotionally significant experiences for children’s processing of interpersonal interactions. PMID:27993611

  16. Teaching Human Poses Interactively to a Social Robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez-Pacheco, Victor; Malfaz, Maria; Fernandez, Fernando; Salichs, Miguel A.

    2013-01-01

    The main activity of social robots is to interact with people. In order to do that, the robot must be able to understand what the user is saying or doing. Typically, this capability consists of pre-programmed behaviors or is acquired through controlled learning processes, which are executed before the social interaction begins. This paper presents a software architecture that enables a robot to learn poses in a similar way as people do. That is, hearing its teacher's explanations and acquiring new knowledge in real time. The architecture leans on two main components: an RGB-D (Red-, Green-, Blue- Depth) -based visual system, which gathers the user examples, and an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system, which processes the speech describing those examples. The robot is able to naturally learn the poses the teacher is showing to it by maintaining a natural interaction with the teacher. We evaluate our system with 24 users who teach the robot a predetermined set of poses. The experimental results show that, with a few training examples, the system reaches high accuracy and robustness. This method shows how to combine data from the visual and auditory systems for the acquisition of new knowledge in a natural manner. Such a natural way of training enables robots to learn from users, even if they are not experts in robotics. PMID:24048336

  17. Teaching Human Poses Interactively to a Social Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel A. Salichs

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The main activity of social robots is to interact with people. In order to do that, the robot must be able to understand what the user is saying or doing. Typically, this capability consists of pre-programmed behaviors or is acquired through controlled learning processes, which are executed before the social interaction begins. This paper presents a software architecture that enables a robot to learn poses in a similar way as people do. That is, hearing its teacher’s explanations and acquiring new knowledge in real time. The architecture leans on two main components: an RGB-D (Red-, Green-, Blue- Depth -based visual system, which gathers the user examples, and an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR system, which processes the speech describing those examples. The robot is able to naturally learn the poses the teacher is showing to it by maintaining a natural interaction with the teacher. We evaluate our system with 24 users who teach the robot a predetermined set of poses. The experimental results show that, with a few training examples, the system reaches high accuracy and robustness. This method shows how to combine data from the visual and auditory systems for the acquisition of new knowledge in a natural manner. Such a natural way of training enables robots to learn from users, even if they are not experts in robotics.

  18. Using physics-based pose predictions and free energy perturbation calculations to predict binding poses and relative binding affinities for FXR ligands in the D3R Grand Challenge 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Athanasiou, Christina; Vasilakaki, Sofia; Dellis, Dimitris; Cournia, Zoe

    2018-01-01

    Computer-aided drug design has become an integral part of drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, and is nowadays extensively used in the lead identification and lead optimization phases. The drug design data resource (D3R) organizes challenges against blinded experimental data to prospectively test computational methodologies as an opportunity for improved methods and algorithms to emerge. We participated in Grand Challenge 2 to predict the crystallographic poses of 36 Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR)-bound ligands and the relative binding affinities for two designated subsets of 18 and 15 FXR-bound ligands. Here, we present our methodology for pose and affinity predictions and its evaluation after the release of the experimental data. For predicting the crystallographic poses, we used docking and physics-based pose prediction methods guided by the binding poses of native ligands. For FXR ligands with known chemotypes in the PDB, we accurately predicted their binding modes, while for those with unknown chemotypes the predictions were more challenging. Our group ranked #1st (based on the median RMSD) out of 46 groups, which submitted complete entries for the binding pose prediction challenge. For the relative binding affinity prediction challenge, we performed free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations coupled with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. FEP/MD calculations displayed a high success rate in identifying compounds with better or worse binding affinity than the reference (parent) compound. Our studies suggest that when ligands with chemical precedent are available in the literature, binding pose predictions using docking and physics-based methods are reliable; however, predictions are challenging for ligands with completely unknown chemotypes. We also show that FEP/MD calculations hold predictive value and can nowadays be used in a high throughput mode in a lead optimization project provided that crystal structures of

  19. Macrobend optical sensing for pose measurement in soft robot arms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sareh, Sina; Noh, Yohan; Liu, Hongbin; Althoefer, Kaspar; Li, Min; Ranzani, Tommaso

    2015-01-01

    This paper introduces a pose-sensing system for soft robot arms integrating a set of macrobend stretch sensors. The macrobend sensory design in this study consists of optical fibres and is based on the notion that bending an optical fibre modulates the intensity of the light transmitted through the fibre. This sensing method is capable of measuring bending, elongation and compression in soft continuum robots and is also applicable to wearable sensing technologies, e.g. pose sensing in the wrist joint of a human hand. In our arrangement, applied to a cylindrical soft robot arm, the optical fibres for macrobend sensing originate from the base, extend to the tip of the arm, and then loop back to the base. The connectors that link the fibres to the necessary opto-electronics are all placed at the base of the arm, resulting in a simplified overall design. The ability of this custom macrobend stretch sensor to flexibly adapt its configuration allows preserving the inherent softness and compliance of the robot which it is installed on. The macrobend sensing system is immune to electrical noise and magnetic fields, is safe (because no electricity is needed at the sensing site), and is suitable for modular implementation in multi-link soft continuum robotic arms. The measurable light outputs of the proposed stretch sensor vary due to bend-induced light attenuation (macrobend loss), which is a function of the fibre bend radius as well as the number of repeated turns. The experimental study conducted as part of this research revealed that the chosen bend radius has a far greater impact on the measured light intensity values than the number of turns (if greater than five). Taking into account that the bend radius is the only significantly influencing design parameter, the macrobend stretch sensors were developed to create a practical solution to the pose sensing in soft continuum robot arms. Henceforward, the proposed sensing design was benchmarked against an electromagnetic

  20. Health problems raised by the elimination of radioactive wastes and nuclear accidents; Problemes sanitaires poses par l'elimination des dechets radioactifs et par les accidents nucleaires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jammet, H.; Mechali, D.; Dousset, M. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1964-07-01

    The rapid development of nuclear energy demands an urgent solution to the health problems arising from the discharge into the environment of radioactive residues produced by nuclear installations. - To be able to evaluate the risks run by the population and to fix tolerance limits for waste discharge, it is necessary to possess an exact knowledge of the course taken by the radioelements discharged, from their source until they reach man. The incorporation of radioelements in food cycles is the first risk to take into consideration. The factors involved in all stages of this transmission must be foreseen, whether they concern physical or biological media, because of their continuity and their interdependence. Finally, socio-economic and dietetic data must be collected in order that the risks and tolerance levels estimated are based on concrete and experimental rather than theoretical knowledge. The risk of nuclear accidents in the atomic industry, although very improbable, must be taken into consideration because of the seriousness of their consequences. The health problems arise in the field of professional hygiene on the one hand and in that of public hygiene on the other. In the first field the risk is two-fold and involves irradiation and contamination. The public sphere is reduced essentially to the risk of contamination by radioactive substances accidentally released in the surrounding medium. The health studies to be conducted in this field therefore include research not only on irradiation or contamination therapeutics but also on the transfer of radioelements from the accident site to man, mainly through food cycles, in their physical and in their biological components. Studies of this kind form the basis of decisions in the health field which would have to be taken in the case of an accident. (authors) [French] Le developpement rapide de l'energie nucleaire rend urgente la solution des problemes sanitaires poses par le rejet dans le milieu ambiant des

  1. Cloud computing approaches for prediction of ligand binding poses and pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrenz, Morgan; Shukla, Diwakar; Pande, Vijay S

    2015-01-22

    We describe an innovative protocol for ab initio prediction of ligand crystallographic binding poses and highly effective analysis of large datasets generated for protein-ligand dynamics. We include a procedure for setup and performance of distributed molecular dynamics simulations on cloud computing architectures, a model for efficient analysis of simulation data, and a metric for evaluation of model convergence. We give accurate binding pose predictions for five ligands ranging in affinity from 7 nM to > 200 μM for the immunophilin protein FKBP12, for expedited results in cases where experimental structures are difficult to produce. Our approach goes beyond single, low energy ligand poses to give quantitative kinetic information that can inform protein engineering and ligand design.

  2. Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to ‘Power Poses’

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnieszka Golec de Zavala

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Research on beneficial consequences of yoga focuses on the effects of yogic breathing and meditation. Less is known about the psychological effects of performing yoga postures. The present study investigated the effects of yoga poses on subjective sense of energy and self-esteem. The effects of yoga postures were compared to the effects of ‘power poses,’ which arguably increase the sense of power and self-confidence due to their association with interpersonal dominance (Carney et al., 2010. The study tested the novel prediction that yoga poses, which are not associated with interpersonal dominance but increase bodily energy, would increase the subjective feeling of energy and therefore increase self-esteem compared to ‘high power’ and ‘low power’ poses. A two factorial, between participants design was employed. Participants performed either two standing yoga poses with open front of the body (n = 19, two standing yoga poses with covered front of the body (n = 22, two expansive, high power poses (n = 21, or two constrictive, low power poses (n = 20 for 1-min each. The results showed that yoga poses in comparison to ‘power poses’ increased self-esteem. This effect was mediated by an increased subjective sense of energy and was observed when baseline trait self-esteem was controlled for. These results suggest that the effects of performing open, expansive body postures may be driven by processes other than the poses’ association with interpersonal power and dominance. This study demonstrates that positive effects of yoga practice can occur after performing yoga poses for only 2 min.

  3. Cavitation problems in sodium valves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elie, X.

    1976-01-01

    Cavitation poses few problems for sodium valves, in spite of the fact that the loops are not pressurized. This is no doubt due to the low flow velocities in the pipes. For auxiliary loop valves we are attempting to standardize performances with respect to cavitation. For economic reasons cavitation thresholds are approached with large diameter valves. (author)

  4. Problem Representation on the Fringe of Institutions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vallbé, J.J.

    2014-01-01

    Measuring the interaction between agents and institutions poses a number of challenges. The paper provides data and results from a project in political science aimed at representing the problem spaces described by organization members in depicting decision situations with high levels of procedural

  5. Monocular-Based 6-Degree of Freedom Pose Estimation Technology for Robotic Intelligent Grasping Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tao Liu

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Industrial robots are expected to undertake ever more advanced tasks in the modern manufacturing industry, such as intelligent grasping, in which robots should be capable of recognizing the position and orientation of a part before grasping it. In this paper, a monocular-based 6-degree of freedom (DOF pose estimation technology to enable robots to grasp large-size parts at informal poses is proposed. A camera was mounted on the robot end-flange and oriented to measure several featured points on the part before the robot moved to grasp it. In order to estimate the part pose, a nonlinear optimization model based on the camera object space collinearity error in different poses is established, and the initial iteration value is estimated with the differential transformation. Measuring poses of the camera are optimized based on uncertainty analysis. Also, the principle of the robotic intelligent grasping system was developed, with which the robot could adjust its pose to grasp the part. In experimental tests, the part poses estimated with the method described in this paper were compared with those produced by a laser tracker, and results show the RMS angle and position error are about 0.0228° and 0.4603 mm. Robotic intelligent grasping tests were also successfully performed in the experiments.

  6. A pose estimation method for unmanned ground vehicles in GPS denied environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamjidi, Amirhossein; Ye, Cang

    2012-06-01

    This paper presents a pose estimation method based on the 1-Point RANSAC EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) framework. The method fuses the depth data from a LIDAR and the visual data from a monocular camera to estimate the pose of a Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in a GPS denied environment. Its estimation framework continuy updates the vehicle's 6D pose state and temporary estimates of the extracted visual features' 3D positions. In contrast to the conventional EKF-SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) frameworks, the proposed method discards feature estimates from the extended state vector once they are no longer observed for several steps. As a result, the extended state vector always maintains a reasonable size that is suitable for online calculation. The fusion of laser and visual data is performed both in the feature initialization part of the EKF-SLAM process and in the motion prediction stage. A RANSAC pose calculation procedure is devised to produce pose estimate for the motion model. The proposed method has been successfully tested on the Ford campus's LIDAR-Vision dataset. The results are compared with the ground truth data of the dataset and the estimation error is ~1.9% of the path length.

  7. Multispectral embedding-based deep neural network for three-dimensional human pose recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Jialin; Sun, Jifeng

    2018-01-01

    Monocular image-based three-dimensional (3-D) human pose recovery aims to retrieve 3-D poses using the corresponding two-dimensional image features. Therefore, the pose recovery performance highly depends on the image representations. We propose a multispectral embedding-based deep neural network (MSEDNN) to automatically obtain the most discriminative features from multiple deep convolutional neural networks and then embed their penultimate fully connected layers into a low-dimensional manifold. This compact manifold can explore not only the optimum output from multiple deep networks but also the complementary properties of them. Furthermore, the distribution of each hierarchy discriminative manifold is sufficiently smooth so that the training process of our MSEDNN can be effectively implemented only using few labeled data. Our proposed network contains a body joint detector and a human pose regressor that are jointly trained. Extensive experiments conducted on four databases show that our proposed MSEDNN can achieve the best recovery performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

  8. The Techa river: 50 years of radiation problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evlanov, D.

    2000-01-01

    A short history of radioecological problems on the Techa river is reviewed. Creating Techa's cascade ponds posed several problems such as rehabilitation (cleaning water, reduction and utilization of radioisotopes) and stabilization of closed ponds. The Mayak plant solves the complex problems of the industrial ponds on the Techa River using the following: Hydrological and hydro-geological studies of the Techa cascade ponds, and development of methods and technologies for cleaning the bottom of the ponds. The final solution to Techa's problems is possible .only with the collaboration of the South Ural Nuclear Power Plant. (authors)

  9. Methods for intraoperative, sterile pose-setting of patient-specific microstereotactic frames

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vollmann, Benjamin; Müller, Samuel; Kundrat, Dennis; Ortmaier, Tobias; Kahrs, Lüder A.

    2015-03-01

    This work proposes new methods for a microstereotactic frame based on bone cement fixation. Microstereotactic frames are under investigation for minimal invasive temporal bone surgery, e.g. cochlear implantation, or for deep brain stimulation, where products are already on the market. The correct pose of the microstereotactic frame is either adjusted outside or inside the operating room and the frame is used for e.g. drill or electrode guidance. We present a patientspecific, disposable frame that allows intraoperative, sterile pose-setting. Key idea of our approach is bone cement between two plates that cures while the plates are positioned with a mechatronics system in the desired pose. This paper includes new designs of microstereotactic frames, a system for alignment and first measurements to analyze accuracy and applicable load.

  10. Head Pose Estimation from Passive Stereo Images

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breitenstein, Michael D.; Jensen, Jeppe; Høilund, Carsten

    2009-01-01

    function. Our algorithm incorporates 2D and 3D cues to make the system robust to low-quality range images acquired by passive stereo systems. It handles large pose variations (of ±90 ° yaw and ±45 ° pitch rotation) and facial variations due to expressions or accessories. For a maximally allowed error of 30...

  11. Well-posed Euler model of shock-induced two-phase flow in bubbly liquid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tukhvatullina, R. R.; Frolov, S. M.

    2018-03-01

    A well-posed mathematical model of non-isothermal two-phase two-velocity flow of bubbly liquid is proposed. The model is based on the two-phase Euler equations with the introduction of an additional pressure at the gas bubble surface, which ensures the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for a system of governing equations with homogeneous initial conditions, and the Rayleigh-Plesset equation for radial pulsations of gas bubbles. The applicability conditions of the model are formulated. The model is validated by comparing one-dimensional calculations of shock wave propagation in liquids with gas bubbles with a gas volume fraction of 0.005-0.3 with experimental data. The model is shown to provide satisfactory results for the shock propagation velocity, pressure profiles, and the shock-induced motion of the bubbly liquid column.

  12. Improved pose and affinity predictions using different protocols tailored on the basis of data availability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prathipati, Philip; Nagao, Chioko; Ahmad, Shandar; Mizuguchi, Kenji

    2016-09-01

    The D3R 2015 grand drug design challenge provided a set of blinded challenges for evaluating the applicability of our protocols for pose and affinity prediction. In the present study, we report the application of two different strategies for the two D3R protein targets HSP90 and MAP4K4. HSP90 is a well-studied target system with numerous co-crystal structures and SAR data. Furthermore the D3R HSP90 test compounds showed high structural similarity to existing HSP90 inhibitors in BindingDB. Thus, we adopted an integrated docking and scoring approach involving a combination of both pharmacophoric and heavy atom similarity alignments, local minimization and quantitative structure activity relationships modeling, resulting in the reasonable prediction of pose [with the root mean square deviation (RMSD) values of 1.75 Å for mean pose 1, 1.417 Å for the mean best pose and 1.85 Å for the mean all poses] and affinity (ROC AUC = 0.702 at 7.5 pIC50 cut-off and R = 0.45 for 180 compounds). The second protein, MAP4K4, represents a novel system with limited SAR and co-crystal structure data and little structural similarity of the D3R MAP4K4 test compounds to known MAP4K4 ligands. For this system, we implemented an exhaustive pose and affinity prediction protocol involving docking and scoring using the PLANTS software which considers side chain flexibility together with protein-ligand fingerprints analysis assisting in pose prioritization. This protocol through fares poorly in pose prediction (with the RMSD values of 4.346 Å for mean pose 1, 4.69 Å for mean best pose and 4.75 Å for mean all poses) and produced reasonable affinity prediction (AUC = 0.728 at 7.5 pIC50 cut-off and R = 0.67 for 18 compounds, ranked 1st among 80 submissions).

  13. Unfolding in particle physics: A window on solving inverse problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spano, F.

    2013-01-01

    Unfolding is the ensemble of techniques aimed at resolving inverse, ill-posed problems. A pedagogical introduction to the origin and main problems related to unfolding is presented and used as the the stepping stone towards the illustration of some of the most common techniques that are currently used in particle physics experiments. (authors)

  14. A fast method for the unit scheduling problem with significant renewable power generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osório, G.J.; Lujano-Rojas, J.M.; Matias, J.C.O.; Catalão, J.P.S.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A model to the scheduling of power systems with significant renewable power generation is provided. • A new methodology that takes information from the analysis of each scenario separately is proposed. • Based on a probabilistic analysis, unit scheduling and corresponding economic dispatch are estimated. • A comparison with others methodologies is in favour of the proposed approach. - Abstract: Optimal operation of power systems with high integration of renewable power sources has become difficult as a consequence of the random nature of some sources like wind energy and photovoltaic energy. Nowadays, this problem is solved using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) approach, which allows considering important statistical characteristics of wind and solar power production such as the correlation between consecutive observations, the diurnal profile of the forecasted power production, and the forecasting error. However, MCS method requires the analysis of a representative amount of trials, which is an intensive calculation task that increases considerably with the number of scenarios considered. In this paper, a model to the scheduling of power systems with significant renewable power generation based on scenario generation/reduction method, which establishes a proportional relationship between the number of scenarios and the computational time required to analyse them, is proposed. The methodology takes information from the analysis of each scenario separately to determine the probabilistic behaviour of each generator at each hour in the scheduling problem. Then, considering a determined significance level, the units to be committed are selected and the load dispatch is determined. The proposed technique was illustrated through a case study and the comparison with stochastic programming approach was carried out, concluding that the proposed methodology can provide an acceptable solution in a reduced computational time

  15. Learning methods for ill-posed problems. Applications to {gamma}-spectrometry; Methodes d`apprentissage statistiques et problemes inverses. Applications a la spectrographie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vigneron, V [CEA Saclay, 91 - Gif-sur-Yvette (France). Dept. de Mecanique et de Technologie; [Universite d` Evry, 91 - Orsay (France)

    1997-05-01

    Up to recent days, feature extraction bas been mostly considered a supervised process of (linear filters) mapping the original measurements into more effective features so as to minimize a criterion, assuming that the variables are already selected and given. Furthermore, data are rare and/or expensive, even sometimes not representative of the exact distribution. From an experimental device, the physicist gets some measurements, spoiled by noise and some determinist distortions. The `problem` is then to seek `good` values of a `number` of `interesting` parameters. But, neither `good`, nor the `number`, nor `interesting` are clearly defined notions. Frequently, the physicist is unable to write the mathematical equations of the observed phenomenon. He hopes that usual recipes called Fourier transform, deconvolution, least squares... Will produce shining revelations. Of course, these recipes are well-known and their honorability well established, sometimes with a name of a mathematician as a quality-label. In Pattern Recognition the input items have to be identified under various transformations of their representations. Contemporary neural-network research concentrates mostly on decision making systems, whereas the fundamental functions associated with the preprocessing of observations have often been ignored. This paper is a step toward theories that are expected to help the emergence of invariant-features. In this context, the Learning Theory approach (through advances tools like ACP, CCA or factorial cumulants) offers a great potential for archiving optimal solutions of complex real world problems, because it deals with undefined knowledge which is in mind of the physicist before he carries out the experiment: non-linear correlations, hidden dependencies... These questions are complex and very problem-dependant, but we focus on a specific one: ill-conditioned problems, i.e. when the physicist has not a sufficient amount of experimental data. In order to illustrate

  16. Body-part templates for recovery of 2D human poses under occlusion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poppe, Ronald Walter; Poel, Mannes; Perales, F.J.; Fisher, R.B.

    2008-01-01

    Detection of humans and estimation of their 2D poses from a single image are challenging tasks. This is especially true when part of the observation is occluded. However, given a limited class of movements, poses can be recovered given the visible body-parts. To this end, we propose a novel template

  17. Robotic-surgical instrument wrist pose estimation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fabel, Stephan; Baek, Kyungim; Berkelman, Peter

    2010-01-01

    The Compact Lightweight Surgery Robot from the University of Hawaii includes two teleoperated instruments and one endoscope manipulator which act in accord to perform assisted interventional medicine. The relative positions and orientations of the robotic instruments and endoscope must be known to the teleoperation system so that the directions of the instrument motions can be controlled to correspond closely to the directions of the motions of the master manipulators, as seen by the the endoscope and displayed to the surgeon. If the manipulator bases are mounted in known locations and all manipulator joint variables are known, then the necessary coordinate transformations between the master and slave manipulators can be easily computed. The versatility and ease of use of the system can be increased, however, by allowing the endoscope or instrument manipulator bases to be moved to arbitrary positions and orientations without reinitializing each manipulator or remeasuring their relative positions. The aim of this work is to find the pose of the instrument end effectors using the video image from the endoscope camera. The P3P pose estimation algorithm is used with a Levenberg-Marquardt optimization to ensure convergence. The correct transformations between the master and slave coordinate frames can then be calculated and updated when the bases of the endoscope or instrument manipulators are moved to new, unknown, positions at any time before or during surgical procedures.

  18. Pose Estimation of Interacting People using Pictorial Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fihl, Preben; Moeslund, Thomas B.

    2010-01-01

    Pose estimation of people have had great progress in recent years but so far research has dealt with single persons. In this paper we address some of the challenges that arise when doing pose estimation of interacting people. We build on the pictorial structures framework and make important...... contributions by combining color-based appearance and edge information using a measure of the local quality of the appearance feature. In this way we not only combine the two types of features but dynamically find the optimal weighting of them. We further enable the method to handle occlusions by searching...... a foreground mask for possible occluded body parts and then applying extra strong kinematic constraints to find the true occluded body parts. The effect of applying our two contributions are show through both qualitative and quantitative tests and show a clear improvement on the ability to correctly localize...

  19. Post processing of protein-compound docking for fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD): in-silico structure-based drug screening and ligand-binding pose prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukunishi, Yoshifumi

    2010-01-01

    For fragment-based drug development, both hit (active) compound prediction and docking-pose (protein-ligand complex structure) prediction of the hit compound are important, since chemical modification (fragment linking, fragment evolution) subsequent to the hit discovery must be performed based on the protein-ligand complex structure. However, the naïve protein-compound docking calculation shows poor accuracy in terms of docking-pose prediction. Thus, post-processing of the protein-compound docking is necessary. Recently, several methods for the post-processing of protein-compound docking have been proposed. In FBDD, the compounds are smaller than those for conventional drug screening. This makes it difficult to perform the protein-compound docking calculation. A method to avoid this problem has been reported. Protein-ligand binding free energy estimation is useful to reduce the procedures involved in the chemical modification of the hit fragment. Several prediction methods have been proposed for high-accuracy estimation of protein-ligand binding free energy. This paper summarizes the various computational methods proposed for docking-pose prediction and their usefulness in FBDD.

  20. Trotting Gait of a Quadruped Robot Based on the Time-Pose Control Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cai RunBin

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available We present the Time-Pose control method for the trotting gait of a quadruped robot on flat ground and up a slope. The method, with brief control structure, real-time operation ability and high adaptability, divides quadruped robot control into gait control and pose control. Virtual leg and intuitive controllers are introduced to simplify the model and generate the trajectory of mass centre and location of supporting legs in gait control, while redundancy optimization is used for solving the inverse kinematics in pose control. The models both on flat ground and up a slope are fully analysed, and different kinds of optimization methods are compared using the manipulability measure in order to select the best option. Simulations are performed, which prove that the Time-Pose control method is realizable for these two kinds of environment.

  1. The role of qualitative discussion in problem solving

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cerny, V.

    1998-01-01

    The paper contributes to the methodology of problem solving in physics. We argue that the task of solving a problem does not end by obtaining the result. We claim that a question like 'Why the result came out as it did?' can be meaningfully posed and that deeper understanding of the subject comes out as a result of a discussion on possible answers to such a question (Author)

  2. Robust Pose Estimation using the SwissRanger SR-3000 Camera

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gudmundsson, Sigurjon Arni; Larsen, Rasmus; Ersbøll, Bjarne Kjær

    2007-01-01

    In this paper a robust method is presented to classify and estimate an objects pose from a real time range image and a low dimensional model. The model is made from a range image training set which is reduced dimensionally by a nonlinear manifold learning method named Local Linear Embedding (LLE)......). New range images are then projected to this model giving the low dimensional coordinates of the object pose in an efficient manner. The range images are acquired by a state of the art SwissRanger SR-3000 camera making the projection process work in real-time....

  3. An optimal control approach to manpower planning problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. W. J. Lee

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available A manpower planning problem is studied in this paper. The model includes scheduling different types of workers over different tasks, employing and terminating different types of workers, and assigning different types of workers to various trainning programmes. The aim is to find an optimal way to do all these while keeping the time-varying demand for minimum number of workers working on each different tasks satisfied. The problem is posed as an optimal discrete-valued control problem in discrete time. A novel numerical scheme is proposed to solve the problem, and an illustrative example is provided.

  4. Students Advise Fortune 500 Company: Designing a Problem-Based Learning Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brzovic, Kathy; Matz, S. Irene

    2009-01-01

    This article describes the process of planning and implementing a problem-based learning community. Business and communication students from a large university in the Western United States competed in teams to solve an authentic business problem posed by a Fortune 500 company. The company's willingness to adopt some of their recommendations…

  5. An inverse problem approach to pattern recognition in industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Sever

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Many works have shown strong connections between learning and regularization techniques for ill-posed inverse problems. A careful analysis shows that a rigorous connection between learning and regularization for inverse problem is not straightforward. In this study, pattern recognition will be viewed as an ill-posed inverse problem and applications of methods from the theory of inverse problems to pattern recognition are studied. A new learning algorithm derived from a well-known regularization model is generated and applied to the task of reconstruction of an inhomogeneous object as pattern recognition. Particularly, it is demonstrated that pattern recognition can be reformulated in terms of inverse problems defined by a Riesz-type kernel. This reformulation can be employed to design a learning algorithm based on a numerical solution of a system of linear equations. Finally, numerical experiments have been carried out with synthetic experimental data considering a reasonable level of noise. Good recoveries have been achieved with this methodology, and the results of these simulations are compatible with the existing methods. The comparison results show that the Regularization-based learning algorithm (RBA obtains a promising performance on the majority of the test problems. In prospects, this method can be used for the creation of automated systems for diagnostics, testing, and control in various fields of scientific and applied research, as well as in industry.

  6. Inertial measurement unit–based iterative pose compensation algorithm for low-cost modular manipulator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunhan Lin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available It is a necessary mean to realize the accurate motion control of the manipulator which uses end-effector pose correction method and compensation method. In this article, first, we established the kinematic model and error model of the modular manipulator (WUST-ARM, and then we discussed the measurement methods and precision of the inertial measurement unit sensor. The inertial measurement unit sensor is mounted on the end-effector of modular manipulator, to get the real-time pose of the end-effector. At last, a new inertial measurement unit–based iterative pose compensation algorithm is proposed. By applying this algorithm in the pose compensation experiment of modular manipulator which is composed of low-cost rotation joints, the results show that the inertial measurement unit can obtain a higher precision when in static state; it will accurately feedback to the control system with an accurate error compensation angle after a brief delay when the end-effector moves to the target point, and after compensation, the precision errors of roll angle, pitch angle, and yaw angle are reached at 0.05°, 0.01°, and 0.27° respectively. It proves that this low-cost method provides a new solution to improve the end-effector pose of low-cost modular manipulator.

  7. $h - p$ Spectral element methods for elliptic problems on non-smooth domains using parallel computers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tomar, S.K.

    2002-01-01

    It is well known that elliptic problems when posed on non-smooth domains, develop singularities. We examine such problems within the framework of spectral element methods and resolve the singularities with exponential accuracy.

  8. Health Issues: Do Cell Phones Pose a Health Hazard?

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Procedures Home, Business, and Entertainment Products Cell Phones Health Issues Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More sharing ... it Email Print Do cell phones pose a health hazard? Many people are concerned that cell phone ...

  9. Pose Self-Measurement of Noncooperative Spacecraft Based on Solar Panel Triangle Structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingzhou Song

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Aiming at the recognition and location of noncooperative spacecraft, this paper presents a monocular vision pose measurement method based on solar triangle structure. First of all, an autonomous recognition algorithm of feature structure based on sliding window Hough transformation (SWHT and inscribed circle of a triangle is proposed, and the image coordinates of feature points on the triangle can be obtained relying on this algorithm, combined with the P4P algorithm and the structure of spacecraft, calculating the relative pose of target expressed by rotation and translation matrix. The whole algorithm can be loaded into the prewritten onboard program, which will get the autocomplete feature structure extraction and relative pose measurement without human intervention, and this method does not need to mount any markers on the target. Then compare the measured values with the accurate value of the laser tracker, so that a conclusion can be drawn that the maximum position error is lower than 5% and the rotation error is lower than 4%, which meets the requirements of noncooperative spacecraft’s pose measurement for observations, tracking, and docking in the final rendezvous phase.

  10. Mining Key Skeleton Poses with Latent SVM for Action Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoqiang Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Human action recognition based on 3D skeleton has become an active research field in recent years with the recently developed commodity depth sensors. Most published methods analyze an entire 3D depth data, construct mid-level part representations, or use trajectory descriptor of spatial-temporal interest point for recognizing human activities. Unlike previous work, a novel and simple action representation is proposed in this paper which models the action as a sequence of inconsecutive and discriminative skeleton poses, named as key skeleton poses. The pairwise relative positions of skeleton joints are used as feature of the skeleton poses which are mined with the aid of the latent support vector machine (latent SVM. The advantage of our method is resisting against intraclass variation such as noise and large nonlinear temporal deformation of human action. We evaluate the proposed approach on three benchmark action datasets captured by Kinect devices: MSR Action 3D dataset, UTKinect Action dataset, and Florence 3D Action dataset. The detailed experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves superior performance to the state-of-the-art skeleton-based action recognition methods.

  11. Predicting 3D pose in partially overlapped X-ray images of knee prostheses using model-based Roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Chi-Pin; Lin, Shang-Chih; Shih, Kao-Shang; Huang, Chang-Hung; Lee, Chian-Her

    2014-12-01

    After total knee replacement, the model-based Roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) technique has been used to monitor the status of prosthetic wear, misalignment, and even failure. However, the overlap of the prosthetic outlines inevitably increases errors in the estimation of prosthetic poses due to the limited amount of available outlines. In the literature, quite a few studies have investigated the problems induced by the overlapped outlines, and manual adjustment is still the mainstream. This study proposes two methods to automate the image processing of overlapped outlines prior to the pose registration of prosthetic models. The outline-separated method defines the intersected points and segments the overlapped outlines. The feature-recognized method uses the point and line features of the remaining outlines to initiate registration. Overlap percentage is defined as the ratio of overlapped to non-overlapped outlines. The simulated images with five overlapping percentages are used to evaluate the robustness and accuracy of the proposed methods. Compared with non-overlapped images, overlapped images reduce the number of outlines available for model-based RSA calculation. The maximum and root mean square errors for a prosthetic outline are 0.35 and 0.04 mm, respectively. The mean translation and rotation errors are 0.11 mm and 0.18°, respectively. The errors of the model-based RSA results are increased when the overlap percentage is beyond about 9%. In conclusion, both outline-separated and feature-recognized methods can be seamlessly integrated to automate the calculation of rough registration. This can significantly increase the clinical practicability of the model-based RSA technique.

  12. Cauchy problem for Laplace equation: An observer based approach

    KAUST Repository

    Majeed, Muhammad Usman

    2013-10-01

    A method to solve Cauchy Problem for Laplace equation using state observers is proposed. It is known that this problem is ill-posed. The domain under consideration is simple lipschitz in 2 with a hole. The idea is to recover the solution over whole domain from the observations on outer boundary. Proposed approach adapts one of the space variables as a time variable. The observer developed to solve Cauchy problem for the Laplace\\'s equation is compuationally robust and accurate. © 2013 IEEE.

  13. Comparison On Matching Methods Used In Pose Tracking For 3D Shape Representation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khin Kyu Kyu Win

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this work three different algorithms such as Brute Force Delaunay Triangulation and k-d Tree are analyzed on matching comparison for 3D shape representation. It is intended for developing the pose tracking of moving objects in video surveillance. To determine 3D pose of moving objects some tracking system may require full 3D pose estimation of arbitrarily shaped objects in real time. In order to perform 3D pose estimation in real time each step in the tracking algorithm must be computationally efficient. This paper presents method comparison for the computationally efficient registration of 3D shapes including free-form surfaces. Matching of free-form surfaces are carried out by using geometric point matching algorithm ICP. Several aspects of the ICP algorithm are investigated and analyzed by using specified surface setup. The surface setup processed in this system is represented by simple geometric primitive dealing with objects of free-from shape. Considered representations are a cloud of points.

  14. Pose measurement method with six parameters for microassembly based on an optical micrometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Xin; Wang, Qiang; Zhang, Zhi-jing; Sun, Yuan; Zhang, Xiao-feng

    2009-07-01

    This paper presents a new pose measurement method of microminiature parts that is capable of transforming one dimension (1D) contour size obtained by optical micrometer to three dimension (3D) data with six parameters for microassembly. Pose measurement is one of the most important processes for microminiature parts' alignment and insertion in microassembly. During the past few years, researchers have developed their microassembly systems focusing on visual identification to obtain two or three dimension data with no more than three parameters. Scanning electronic microscope (SEM), optical microscope, and stereomicroscope are applied in their systems. However, as structures of microminiature parts become increasingly complex, six parameters to represent their position and orientation are specifically needed. Firstly, The pose measurement model is established based on the introduction of measuring objects and measuring principle of optical micrometer. The measuring objects are microminiature parts with complex 3D structure. Two groups of two dimension (2D) data are gathered at two different measurement positions. Then part pose with 6 parameters is calculated, including 3 position parameters of feature point of the part and 3 orientation parameters of the part axis. Secondly, pose measurement process for a small shaft, vertical orientation determination, and position parameters obtaining are presented. 2D data is gathered by scanning the generatrix of the part, and valid data is extracted and saved in arrays. A vertical orientation criterion is proposed to determine whether the part is parallel to the Z-axis of the coordinate. If not, 2D data will be fixed into a linear equation using least square algorithm. Then orientation parameters are calculated. Center of Part End (CPE) is selected as feature point of the part, and its position parameters are extracted form two group of 2D data. Finally, a fast pose measurement device is developed and representative

  15. Combining Front Vehicle Detection with 3D Pose Estimation for a Better Driver Assistance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Peng

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Driver assistant systems enhance traffic safety and efficiency. The accurate 3D pose of a front vehicle can help a driver to make the right decision on the road. We propose a novel real-time system to estimate the 3D pose of the front vehicle. This system consists of two parallel threads: vehicle rear tracking and mapping. The vehicle rear is first identified in the video captured by an onboard camera, after license plate localization and foreground extraction. The 3D pose estimation technique is then employed with respect to the extracted vehicle rear. Most current 3D pose estimation techniques need prior models or a stereo initialization with user cooperation. It is extremely difficult to obtain prior models due to the varying appearance of vehicles' rears. Moreover, it is unsafe to ask for drivers' cooperation when a vehicle is running. In our system, two initial keyframes for stereo algorithms are automatically extracted by vehicle rear detection and tracking. Map points are defined as a collection of point features extracted from the vehicle's rear with their 3D information. These map points are inferences that relate the 2D features detected in following vehicles' rears with the 3D world. The relative 3D pose of the onboard camera to the front vehicle rear is then estimated through matching the map points with point features detected on the front vehicle rear. We demonstrate the capabilities of our system by testing on real-time and synthesized videos. In order to make the experimental analysis visible, we demonstrated an estimated 3D pose through augmented reality, which needs accurate and real-time 3D pose estimation.

  16. The problem of living in a world contaminated with chemicals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Metcalf, R.L. [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana (United States)

    1990-12-31

    The proliferation of xenobiotic chemicals in the global environment poses living problems for each of us aboard {open_quotes}spaceship earth.{close_quotes} Seven case studies are presented that illustrate the magnitude of the problem that can result from waiting to identify toxic hazards until there have been decades of {open_quotes}human guinea pig{close_quotes} exposure. 25 refs., 5 tabs.

  17. Bayes procedures for adaptive inference in inverse problems for the white noise model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knapik, B.T.; Szabó, B.T.; van der Vaart, A.W.; van Zanten, J.H.

    2016-01-01

    We study empirical and hierarchical Bayes approaches to the problem of estimating an infinite-dimensional parameter in mildly ill-posed inverse problems. We consider a class of prior distributions indexed by a hyperparameter that quantifies regularity. We prove that both methods we consider succeed

  18. Optimizing decentralized production-distribution planning problem in a multi-period supply chain network under uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nourifar, Raheleh; Mahdavi, Iraj; Mahdavi-Amiri, Nezam; Paydar, Mohammad Mahdi

    2017-09-01

    Decentralized supply chain management is found to be significantly relevant in today's competitive markets. Production and distribution planning is posed as an important optimization problem in supply chain networks. Here, we propose a multi-period decentralized supply chain network model with uncertainty. The imprecision related to uncertain parameters like demand and price of the final product is appropriated with stochastic and fuzzy numbers. We provide mathematical formulation of the problem as a bi-level mixed integer linear programming model. Due to problem's convolution, a structure to solve is developed that incorporates a novel heuristic algorithm based on Kth-best algorithm, fuzzy approach and chance constraint approach. Ultimately, a numerical example is constructed and worked through to demonstrate applicability of the optimization model. A sensitivity analysis is also made.

  19. Numerical solution to a multi-dimensional linear inverse heat conduction problem by a splitting-based conjugate gradient method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dinh Nho Hao; Nguyen Trung Thanh; Sahli, Hichem

    2008-01-01

    In this paper we consider a multi-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem with time-dependent coefficients in a box, which is well-known to be severely ill-posed, by a variational method. The gradient of the functional to be minimized is obtained by aids of an adjoint problem and the conjugate gradient method with a stopping rule is then applied to this ill-posed optimization problem. To enhance the stability and the accuracy of the numerical solution to the problem we apply this scheme to the discretized inverse problem rather than to the continuous one. The difficulties with large dimensions of discretized problems are overcome by a splitting method which only requires the solution of easy-to-solve one-dimensional problems. The numerical results provided by our method are very good and the techniques seem to be very promising.

  20. Existence and uniqueness of solution for a model problem of transonic flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tangmanee, S.

    1985-11-01

    A model problem of transonic flow ''the Tricomi equation'' bounded by the rectangular-curve boundary is studied. We transform the model problem into a symmetric positive system and an admissible boundary condition is posed. We show that with some conditions the existence and uniqueness of the solution are guaranteed. (author)

  1. The rarity of "unusual" [corrected] dispositions of victim bodies: staging and posing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keppel, Robert D; Weis, Joseph G

    2004-11-01

    The act of leaving a victim's body in an unusual position is a conscious criminal action by an offender to thwart an investigation, shock the finder and investigators of the crime scene, or give perverted pleasure to the killer. The unusual position concepts of posing and staging a murder victim have been documented thoroughly and have been accepted by the courts as a definable phenomenon. One staging case and one posing case are outlined and reveal characteristics of those homicides. From the Washington State Attorney General's Homicide Investigation and Tracking System's database on murder covering the years 1981-2000 (a total of 5,224 cases), the relative frequency of unusual body dispositions is revealed as a very rare occurrence. Only 1.3% of victims are left in an unusual position, with 0.3% being posed and 0.1% being staged. The characteristics of these types of murders also set them apart: compared to all other murders, in staged murders the victims and killers are, on average, older. All victims and offenders in the staged murders are white, with victims being disproportionately white in murders with any kind of unusual body disposition. Likewise, females stand out as victims when the body is posed, staged, or left in other unusual positions. Whereas posed bodies are more likely to include sexual assault, often in serial murders, there is no evidence of either in the staged cases. Lastly, when a body is left in an unusual position, binding is more likely, as well as the use of more "hands on" means of killing the victim, such as stabbing or cutting weapons, bludgeons, ligatures, or hands and feet.

  2. Association study of multiple antibiotic resistance and virulence: a strategy to assess the extent of risk posed by bacterial population in aquatic environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Santosh Kumar; Ekka, Roseleen; Mishra, Mitali; Mohapatra, Harapriya

    2017-07-01

    The present study explored the association between multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index and virulence index to determine what percent of environmental antibiotic-resistant (eARB) bacteria could pose threat as potential pathogen. 16srRNA-based sequencing of 113 non-duplicate isolates identified majority of them to be gram negative belonging to Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Proteus, Acinetobacter, and Klebsiella. Statistical comparison of MAR indices of the abovementioned genera indicated differences in the median values among the groups (p  Klebsiella = Acinetobacter > Proteus > Aeromonas > Enterobacter. Association between MAR index and virulence index revealed that 25% of isolates in the population under study posed high threat to human/animal or both; out of which 75% isolates belonged to genus Pseudomonas. Based on observations of comparative analysis of the six gram-negative genera, it could be concluded that Pseudomonas isolates from environment pose significantly high threat as potential pathogens while Enterobacter isolates posed no threat.

  3. The investigation and implementation of real-time face pose and direction estimation on mobile computing devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Deqian; Gao, Lisheng; Jhang, Seong Tae

    2012-04-01

    The mobile computing device has many limitations, such as relative small user interface and slow computing speed. Usually, augmented reality requires face pose estimation can be used as a HCI and entertainment tool. As far as the realtime implementation of head pose estimation on relatively resource limited mobile platforms is concerned, it is required to face different constraints while leaving enough face pose estimation accuracy. The proposed face pose estimation method met this objective. Experimental results running on a testing Android mobile device delivered satisfactory performing results in the real-time and accurately.

  4. Worked problems in heat, thermodynamics and kinetic theory for physics students

    CERN Document Server

    Pincherle, L; Green, L L

    2013-01-01

    Worked Problems in Heat, Thermodynamics and Kinetic Theory for Physics Students is a complementary to textbooks in physics. This book is a collection of exercise problems that have been part of tutorial classes in heat and thermodynamics at the University of London. This collection of exercise problems, with answers that are fully worked out, deals with various topics. This book poses problems covering the definition of temperature such as calculating the assigned value of the temperature of boiling water under specific conditions. This text also gives example of problems dealing with the fir

  5. Contact Zones, Problem Posing and Critical Consciousness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Lisa

    2012-01-01

    In this article, I share the shape and findings of a participatory action research project with newcomer youths on the contours of status in society. This project was nested in a professional internship experience for newcomer youth, and this experience provided the context in which we explored how privilege and status are afforded in American…

  6. Political crisis poses problems for nuclear industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mitev, Lubomir [NucNet, Brussels (Belgium)

    2014-11-15

    The political crisis in Ukraine has given rise to several problematic issues for the nuclear industry, including the country's obvious dependence on Russia for nuclear fuel supplies and the transport of nuclear material. A 2013 report by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) concluded that Ukraine will lean towards the development of ''intensive cooperation'' with Western nuclear regulators and companies as it seeks to increase its control over the sector and reduce its dependency on Russia. The PIIA report said the gas crises of 2006 and 2009, and especially the current destabilisation of the country, have highlighted Ukraine's ''excessive and problematic dependence'' on energy supply from Russia. The 'Energy Strategy of Ukraine Until 2030' assumes that the share of nuclear energy will remain the same in 2030 as it was in 2005 - about 50 % of the energy mix. To achieve its goals, Ukraine's strategy envisages several priority actions. Firstly, work should begin on identification of three or four sites for new nuclear stations. Secondly, the plan says that Khmelnistki-3 and -4 should be completed by 2016. Thirdly, the plan envisages six gigawatts of new nuclear capacity becoming operational between 2019 and 2021. Finally, lifetime extensions are planned for South Ukraine units 1 to 3, Zaporozhye units 1 to 6, Rovno units 2 and 3 and Khmelnitski-1.

  7. Pose Self-Calibration of Stereo Vision Systems for Autonomous Vehicle Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musleh, Basam; Martín, David; Armingol, José María; de la Escalera, Arturo

    2016-09-14

    Nowadays, intelligent systems applied to vehicles have grown very rapidly; their goal is not only the improvement of safety, but also making autonomous driving possible. Many of these intelligent systems are based on making use of computer vision in order to know the environment and act accordingly. It is of great importance to be able to estimate the pose of the vision system because the measurement matching between the perception system (pixels) and the vehicle environment (meters) depends on the relative position between the perception system and the environment. A new method of camera pose estimation for stereo systems is presented in this paper, whose main contribution regarding the state of the art on the subject is the estimation of the pitch angle without being affected by the roll angle. The validation of the self-calibration method is accomplished by comparing it with relevant methods of camera pose estimation, where a synthetic sequence is used in order to measure the continuous error with a ground truth. This validation is enriched by the experimental results of the method in real traffic environments.

  8. Pose Self-Calibration of Stereo Vision Systems for Autonomous Vehicle Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musleh, Basam; Martín, David; Armingol, José María; de la Escalera, Arturo

    2016-01-01

    Nowadays, intelligent systems applied to vehicles have grown very rapidly; their goal is not only the improvement of safety, but also making autonomous driving possible. Many of these intelligent systems are based on making use of computer vision in order to know the environment and act accordingly. It is of great importance to be able to estimate the pose of the vision system because the measurement matching between the perception system (pixels) and the vehicle environment (meters) depends on the relative position between the perception system and the environment. A new method of camera pose estimation for stereo systems is presented in this paper, whose main contribution regarding the state of the art on the subject is the estimation of the pitch angle without being affected by the roll angle. The validation of the self-calibration method is accomplished by comparing it with relevant methods of camera pose estimation, where a synthetic sequence is used in order to measure the continuous error with a ground truth. This validation is enriched by the experimental results of the method in real traffic environments. PMID:27649178

  9. Winners, losers, and posers: The effect of power poses on testosterone and risk-taking following competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Kristopher M; Apicella, Coren L

    2017-06-01

    A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition. The effect of postural power displays (i.e. power poses) on hormone levels and decision-making has recently been challenged. While Carney et al. (2010) found that holding brief postural displays of power leads to increased testosterone, decreased cortisol and greater economic risk taking, this failed to replicate in a recent high-powered study (Ranehill et al. 2015). It has been put forward that subtle differences in social context may account for the differences in results. Power displays naturally occur within the context of competitions, as do changes in hormones, and researchers have yet to examine the effects of poses within this ecologically relevant context. Using a large sample of 247 male participants, natural winners and losers of a physical competition were randomly assigned to hold a low, neutral or high-power postural display. We found no main effect of pose type on testosterone, cortisol, risk or feelings of power. Winners assigned to a high-power pose had a relative, albeit small, rise in testosterone compared to winners who held neutral or low-power poses. For losers, we found little evidence that high-power poses lead to increased testosterone relative to those holding neutral or low-powered poses. If anything, the reverse was observed - losers had a reduction in testosterone after holding high-power poses. To the extent that changes in testosterone modulate social behaviors adaptively, it is possible that the relative reduction in testosterone observed in losers taking high-powered poses is designed to inhibit further "winner-like" behavior that could result in continued defeat and harm. Still, effects were small, multiple comparisons were made, and the results ran counter to our predictions. We thus treat these conclusions as preliminary. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. IMU-based Real-time Pose Measurement system for Anterior Pelvic Plane in Total Hip Replacement Surgeries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhe Cao; Shaojie Su; Hao Tang; Yixin Zhou; Zhihua Wang; Hong Chen

    2017-07-01

    With the aging of population, the number of Total Hip Replacement Surgeries (THR) increased year by year. In THR, inaccurate position of the implanted prosthesis may lead to the failure of the operation. In order to reduce the failure rate and acquire the real-time pose of Anterior Pelvic Plane (APP), we propose a measurement system in this paper. The measurement system includes two parts: Initial Pose Measurement Instrument (IPMI) and Real-time Pose Measurement Instrument (RPMI). IPMI is used to acquire the initial pose of the APP, and RPMI is used to estimate the real-time pose of the APP. Both are composed of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and magnetometer sensors. To estimate the attitude of the measurement system, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is adopted in this paper. The real-time pose of the APP could be acquired together with the algorithm designed in the paper. The experiment results show that the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is within 1.6 degrees, which meets the requirement of THR operations.

  11. Tridimensional pose estimation of a person head

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez Berenguer, Elisa; Soria, Carlos; Nasisi, Oscar; Mut, Vicente

    2007-01-01

    In this work, we present a method for estimating 3-D motion parameters; this method provides an alternative way for 3D head pose estimation from image sequence in the current computer vision literature. This method is robust over extended sequences and large head motions and accurately extracts the orientation angles of head from a single view. Experimental results show that this tracking system works well for development a human-computer interface for people that possess severe motor incapacity

  12. Eco-analytical Methodology in Environmental Problems Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agienko, M. I.; Bondareva, E. P.; Chistyakova, G. V.; Zhironkina, O. V.; Kalinina, O. I.

    2017-01-01

    Among the problems common to all mankind, which solutions influence the prospects of civilization, the problem of ecological situation monitoring takes very important place. Solution of this problem requires specific methodology based on eco-analytical comprehension of global issues. Eco-analytical methodology should help searching for the optimum balance between environmental problems and accelerating scientific and technical progress. The fact that Governments, corporations, scientists and nations focus on the production and consumption of material goods cause great damage to environment. As a result, the activity of environmentalists is developing quite spontaneously, as a complement to productive activities. Therefore, the challenge posed by the environmental problems for the science is the formation of geo-analytical reasoning and the monitoring of global problems common for the whole humanity. So it is expected to find the optimal trajectory of industrial development to prevent irreversible problems in the biosphere that could stop progress of civilization.

  13. ESPRIT: Exercise Sensing and Pose Recovery Inference Tool, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to develop ESPRIT: an Exercise Sensing and Pose Recovery Inference Tool, in support of NASA's effort in developing crew exercise technologies for...

  14. Is Late or Non-Payment a Significant Problem to Malaysian Contractors?

    OpenAIRE

    M.E. Che Munaaim; M.S. Mohd Danuri; H. Abdul-Rahman

    2007-01-01

    Some developed countries have drawn lip construction-specific statutory security of payment acts/legislations typically known as Construction Contracts Act to eliminate poor payment practices and to assist continuous uninterrupted construction works. Malaysia too cannot pretend not to have these problems. This paper presents findings of a study conducted amongst Malaysian contractors with the aims to determine the seriousness of late and non- payment problems; to identify the main causes and ...

  15. A Posteriori Analysis of Adaptive Multiscale Operator Decomposition Methods for Multiphysics Problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Donald Estep; Michael Holst; Simon Tavener

    2010-02-08

    This project was concerned with the accurate computational error estimation for numerical solutions of multiphysics, multiscale systems that couple different physical processes acting across a large range of scales relevant to the interests of the DOE. Multiscale, multiphysics models are characterized by intimate interactions between different physics across a wide range of scales. This poses significant computational challenges addressed by the proposal, including: (1) Accurate and efficient computation; (2) Complex stability; and (3) Linking different physics. The research in this project focused on Multiscale Operator Decomposition methods for solving multiphysics problems. The general approach is to decompose a multiphysics problem into components involving simpler physics over a relatively limited range of scales, and then to seek the solution of the entire system through some sort of iterative procedure involving solutions of the individual components. MOD is a very widely used technique for solving multiphysics, multiscale problems; it is heavily used throughout the DOE computational landscape. This project made a major advance in the analysis of the solution of multiscale, multiphysics problems.

  16. Deformation-specific and deformation-invariant visual object recognition: pose vs identity recognition of people and deforming objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tristan J Webb

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available When we see a human sitting down, standing up, or walking, we can recognise one of these poses independently of the individual, or we can recognise the individual person, independently of the pose. The same issues arise for deforming objects. For example, if we see a flag deformed by the wind, either blowing out or hanging languidly, we can usually recognise the flag, independently of its deformation; or we can recognise the deformation independently of the identity of the flag. We hypothesize that these types of recognition can be implemented by the primate visual system using temporo-spatial continuity as objects transform as a learning principle. In particular, we hypothesize that pose or deformation can be learned under conditions in which large numbers of different people are successively seen in the same pose, or objects in the same deformation. We also hypothesize that person-specific representations that are independent of pose, and object-specific representations that are independent of deformation and view, could be built, when individual people or objects are observed successively transforming from one pose or deformation and view to another. These hypotheses were tested in a simulation of the ventral visual system, VisNet, that uses temporal continuity, implemented in a synaptic learning rule with a short-term memory trace of previous neuronal activity, to learn invariant representations. It was found that depending on the statistics of the visual input, either pose-specific or deformation-specific representations could be built that were invariant with respect to individual and view; or that identity-specific representations could be built that were invariant with respect to pose or deformation and view. We propose that this is how pose-specific and pose-invariant, and deformation-specific and deformation-invariant, perceptual representations are built in the brain.

  17. Is Late or Non-Payment a Significant Problem to Malaysian Contractors?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.E. Che Munaaim

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Some developed countries have drawn lip construction-specific statutory security of payment acts/legislations typically known as Construction Contracts Act to eliminate poor payment practices and to assist continuous uninterrupted construction works. Malaysia too cannot pretend not to have these problems. This paper presents findings of a study conducted amongst Malaysian contractors with the aims to determine the seriousness of late and non- payment problems; to identify the main causes and effects of late and non-payment; and to identify ways to sustain the payment flows in the Malaysian construction industry. The study focused on contractual payments from the paymaster (government or private to the contractors. The main factors for late and nonpayment in the construction industry identified from the study include: delay in certification, paymaster's poor financial management, local culture/attitude, pay master's failure to implement good governance in business, underpayment of certified amounts by the pay master and the use of 'pay when paid' clauses in contracts. The research findings show that late and non-payment can create cash flow problems, stress and financial hardship on the contractors. Amongst the most appropriate solutions to overcome the problem of late and non-payment faced by local contractors include: a right to regular periodic payment, a right to a defined time frame (or payment and a right to a speedy dispute resolution mechanism. Promptness of submitting, processing, issuing interim payment certificates and honouring the certificates are extremely important issues in relation to progress payment claims. Perhaps, an increased sense of professionalism in construction industry could overcome some of the problems related to late and non- payment issues.

  18. A new benchmark for pose estimation with ground truth from virtual reality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schlette, Christian; Buch, Anders Glent; Aksoy, Eren Erdal

    2014-01-01

    The development of programming paradigms for industrial assembly currently gets fresh impetus from approaches in human demonstration and programming-by-demonstration. Major low- and mid-level prerequisites for machine vision and learning in these intelligent robotic applications are pose estimation......, stereo reconstruction and action recognition. As a basis for the machine vision and learning involved, pose estimation is used for deriving object positions and orientations and thus target frames for robot execution. Our contribution introduces and applies a novel benchmark for typical multi...

  19. An H1(Ph)-coercive discontinuous Galerkin formulation for the Poisson problem: 1D analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zee, van der K.G.; Brummelen, van E.H.; Borst, de R.

    2006-01-01

    Coercivity of the bilinear form in a continuum variational problem is a fundamental property for finite-element discretizations: By the classical Lax–Milgram theorem, any conforming discretization of a coercive variational problem is stable; i.e., discrete approximations are well-posed and possess

  20. An H1(Ph)-Coercive Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation for The Poisson Problem : 1-D Analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van der Zee, K.G.; Van Brummelen, E.H.; De Borst, R.

    2006-01-01

    Coercivity of the bilinear form in a continuum variational problem is a fundamental property for finite-element discretizations: By the classical Lax–Milgram theorem, any conforming discretization of a coercive variational problem is stable; i.e., discrete approximations are well-posed and possess

  1. On an inverse source problem for enhanced oil recovery by wave motion maximization in reservoirs

    KAUST Repository

    Karve, Pranav M.; Kucukcoban, Sezgin; Kallivokas, Loukas F.

    2014-01-01

    to increase the mobility of otherwise entrapped oil. The goal is to arrive at the spatial and temporal description of surface sources that are capable of maximizing mobility in the target reservoir. The focusing problem is posed as an inverse source problem

  2. Structural interface parameters are discriminatory in recognising near-native poses of protein-protein interactions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sony Malhotra

    Full Text Available Interactions at the molecular level in the cellular environment play a very crucial role in maintaining the physiological functioning of the cell. These molecular interactions exist at varied levels viz. protein-protein interactions, protein-nucleic acid interactions or protein-small molecules interactions. Presently in the field, these interactions and their mechanisms mark intensively studied areas. Molecular interactions can also be studied computationally using the approach named as Molecular Docking. Molecular docking employs search algorithms to predict the possible conformations for interacting partners and then calculates interaction energies. However, docking proposes number of solutions as different docked poses and hence offers a serious challenge to identify the native (or near native structures from the pool of these docked poses. Here, we propose a rigorous scoring scheme called DockScore which can be used to rank the docked poses and identify the best docked pose out of many as proposed by docking algorithm employed. The scoring identifies the optimal interactions between the two protein partners utilising various features of the putative interface like area, short contacts, conservation, spatial clustering and the presence of positively charged and hydrophobic residues. DockScore was first trained on a set of 30 protein-protein complexes to determine the weights for different parameters. Subsequently, we tested the scoring scheme on 30 different protein-protein complexes and native or near-native structure were assigned the top rank from a pool of docked poses in 26 of the tested cases. We tested the ability of DockScore to discriminate likely dimer interactions that differ substantially within a homologous family and also demonstrate that DOCKSCORE can distinguish correct pose for all 10 recent CAPRI targets.

  3. Pose Self-Calibration of Stereo Vision Systems for Autonomous Vehicle Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Basam Musleh

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, intelligent systems applied to vehicles have grown very rapidly; their goal is not only the improvement of safety, but also making autonomous driving possible. Many of these intelligent systems are based on making use of computer vision in order to know the environment and act accordingly. It is of great importance to be able to estimate the pose of the vision system because the measurement matching between the perception system (pixels and the vehicle environment (meters depends on the relative position between the perception system and the environment. A new method of camera pose estimation for stereo systems is presented in this paper, whose main contribution regarding the state of the art on the subject is the estimation of the pitch angle without being affected by the roll angle. The validation of the self-calibration method is accomplished by comparing it with relevant methods of camera pose estimation, where a synthetic sequence is used in order to measure the continuous error with a ground truth. This validation is enriched by the experimental results of the method in real traffic environments.

  4. Personal privacy, information assurance, and the threat posed by malware techology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stytz, Martin R.; Banks, Sheila B.

    2006-04-01

    In spite of our best efforts to secure the cyber world, the threats posed to personal privacy by attacks upon networks and software continue unabated. While there are many reasons for this state of affairs, clearly one of the reasons for continued vulnerabilities in software is the inability to assess their security properties and test their security systems while they are in development. A second reason for this growing threat to personal privacy is the growing sophistication and maliciousness of malware coupled with the increasing difficulty of detecting malware. The pervasive threat posed by malware coupled with the difficulties faced when trying to detect its presence or an attempted intrusion make addressing the malware threat one of the most pressing issues that must be solved in order to insure personal privacy to users of the internet. In this paper, we will discuss the threat posed by malware, the types of malware found in the wild (outside of computer laboratories), and current techniques that are available for from a successful malware penetration. The paper includes a discussion of anti-malware tools and suggestions for future anti-malware efforts.

  5. Locomotor problems among rural elderly population in a District of Aligarh, North India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maroof, Mohd; Ahmad, Anees; Khalique, Najam; Ansari, M Athar

    2017-01-01

    Locomotor functions decline with the age along with other physiological changes. This results in deterioration of the quality of life with decreased social and economic role in the society, as well as increased dependency, for the health care and other basic services. The demographic transition resulting in increased proportion of elderly may pose a burden to the health system. To find the prevalence of locomotor problems among the elderly population, and related sociodemographic factors. The study was a community-based cross-sectional study done at field practice area of Rural Health Training Centre, JN Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. A sample of 225 was drawn from 1018 elderly population aged 60 years and above using systematic random sampling with probability proportionate to size. Sociodemographic characteristics were obtained using pretested and predesigned questionnaire. Locomotor problems were assessed using the criteria used by National Sample Survey Organization. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Chi-square test was used to test relationship of locomotor problems with sociodemographic factors. P locomotor problems among the elderly population was 25.8%. Locomotor problems were significantly associated with age, gender, and working status whereas no significant association with literacy status and marital status was observed. The study concluded that approximately one-fourth of the elderly population suffered from locomotor problems. The sociodemographic factors related to locomotor problems needs to be addressed properly to help them lead an independent and economically productive life.

  6. SIGNIFICANCE OF EARLY-AGE LEARNING OF MATHEMATICAL SKILLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sead Rešić

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available It is a fact that only hereditary, i.e. genetic factors are not sufficient for development of a child’s brain; on the contrary, a child needs external stimuli expressed through touch, speech, images, which lead to the conclusion that immediate and extended surroundings shape the brain, meaning that the external stimuli, stronger or weaker, mutually connect the brain cells and neurons. Questions regarding the development of mathematical manner of thinking are mostly based on the natural process of learning, however, this paper deals with deeper set of problems, which are not only difficult to resolve but possibly there is no resolution. Namely, a question is posed what is the appropriate age when a child is ready and able to solve certain mathematical problems or notice mathematical principles, that is, whether they are actually exist clearly defined age boundaries based on which a conclusion could be made about the time and individual is ready to solve mathematical problems of a concrete difficulty level or to notice mathematical laws.

  7. Galerkin approximations of nonlinear optimal control problems in Hilbert spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mickael D. Chekroun

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Nonlinear optimal control problems in Hilbert spaces are considered for which we derive approximation theorems for Galerkin approximations. Approximation theorems are available in the literature. The originality of our approach relies on the identification of a set of natural assumptions that allows us to deal with a broad class of nonlinear evolution equations and cost functionals for which we derive convergence of the value functions associated with the optimal control problem of the Galerkin approximations. This convergence result holds for a broad class of nonlinear control strategies as well. In particular, we show that the framework applies to the optimal control of semilinear heat equations posed on a general compact manifold without boundary. The framework is then shown to apply to geoengineering and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions formulated here in terms of optimal control of energy balance climate models posed on the sphere $\\mathbb{S}^2$.

  8. Radioactive residues. Current and prospective problems. Les residus radioactifs. Problems actuels et perspectives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gauvenet, A.

    1975-07-01

    After having described the principal characteristics of radioactive residues, the author examined the current problems posed by liquid and gaseous effluents and stressed that nuclear installations are definitely much less polluting, with an identical power output, than conventional power stations. Research programs have been undertaken in the face of the predictable increase in activity. The gist of the matter is to maintain the absorbed doses at their present level and to study the problem of compounds with a long lifetime, the accumulation of which would create considerable danger on a world scale. With respect to the stockpiling of wastes, the author described the various techniques currently used and cited studies in progress, some of which--such as vitrification--have already come into the first stages of application. After having noted that the waste problem undoubtedly constitutes a technical difficulty and perhaps even more so on the psychological plane, the author defined in conclusion the conditions that should be established so that this problem does not hinder the short- and long-term development of nuclear energy.

  9. Hg-contaminated terrestrial spiders pose a potential risk to songbirds at Caddo Lake (Texas/Louisiana, USA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gann, Gretchen L; Powell, Cleveland H; Chumchal, Matthew M; Drenner, Ray W

    2015-02-01

    Methylmercury (MeHg) is an environmental contaminant that can have adverse effects on wildlife. Because MeHg is produced by bacteria in aquatic ecosystems, studies of MeHg contamination of food webs historically have focused on aquatic organisms. However, recent studies have shown that terrestrial organisms such as songbirds can be contaminated with MeHg by feeding on MeHg-contaminated spiders. In the present study, the authors examined the risk that MeHg-contaminated terrestrial long-jawed orb weaver spiders (Tetragnatha sp.) pose to songbirds at Caddo Lake (Texas/Louisiana, USA). Methylmercury concentrations in spiders were significantly different in river, wetland, and open-water habitats. The authors calculated spider-based wildlife values (the minimum spider MeHg concentrations causing physiologically significant doses in consumers) to assess exposure risks for arachnivorous birds. Methylmercury concentrations in spiders exceeded wildlife values for Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) nestlings, with the highest risk in the river habitat. The present study indicates that MeHg concentrations in terrestrial spiders vary with habitat and can pose a threat to small-bodied nestling birds that consume large amounts of spiders at Caddo Lake. This MeHg threat to songbirds may not be unique to Caddo Lake and may extend throughout the southeastern United States. © 2014 SETAC.

  10. Evaluating the tuberculosis hazard posed to cattle from wildlife across Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardstaff, Joanne L; Marion, Glenn; Hutchings, Michael R; White, Piran C L

    2014-10-01

    Tuberculosis (TB) caused by infection with Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) and other closely related members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTC) infects many domestic and wildlife species across Europe. Transmission from wildlife species to cattle complicates the control of disease in cattle. By determining the level of TB hazard for which a given wildlife species is responsible, the potential for transmission to the cattle population can be evaluated. We undertook a quantitative review of TB hazard across Europe on a country-by-country basis for cattle and five widely-distributed wildlife species. Cattle posed the greatest current and potential TB hazard other cattle for the majority of countries in Europe. Wild boar posed the greatest hazard of all the wildlife species, indicating that wild boar have the greatest ability to transmit the disease to cattle. The most common host systems for TB hazards in Europe are the cattle-deer-wild boar ones. The cattle-roe deer-wild boar system is found in 10 countries, and the cattle-red deer-wild boar system is found in five countries. The dominance of cattle with respect to the hazards in many regions confirms that intensive surveillance of cattle for TB should play an important role in any TB control programme. The significant contribution that wildlife can make to the TB hazard to cattle is also of concern, given current population and distribution increases of some susceptible wildlife species, especially wild boar and deer, and the paucity of wildlife TB surveillance programmes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. On Characterisation of Markov Processes Via Martingale Problems

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    This extension is used to improve on a criterion for a probability measure to be invariant for the semigroup associated with the Markov process. We also give examples of martingale problems that are well-posed in the class of solutions which are continuous in probability but for which no r.c.l.l. solution exists.

  12. Language and Communication-Related Problems of Aviation Safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cushing, Steven

    A study of the problems posed by the use of natural language in various aspects of aviation is presented. The study, part of a larger investigation of the feasibility of voice input/output interfaces for communication in aviation, looks at representative real examples of accidents and near misses resulting from language confusions and omissions.…

  13. Exploring factors affecting shareholders’ funds within the conflict of interest posed by the executives of the company

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Xiang

    2010-01-01

    This paper investigates the relationship between several factors and the shareholders’ funds within the conflict of interest posed by the executives of the company in 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Management decision on corporate performance may affect shareholders’ funds under manager-shareholders conflict arising from asymmetric information. We found a significant relationship between provisions and shareholders’ funds. Furthermore, we also found financial distres...

  14. Feature and Pose Constrained Visual Aided Inertial Navigation for Computationally Constrained Aerial Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Brian; Hudson, Nicolas; Tweddle, Brent; Brockers, Roland; Matthies, Larry

    2011-01-01

    A Feature and Pose Constrained Extended Kalman Filter (FPC-EKF) is developed for highly dynamic computationally constrained micro aerial vehicles. Vehicle localization is achieved using only a low performance inertial measurement unit and a single camera. The FPC-EKF framework augments the vehicle's state with both previous vehicle poses and critical environmental features, including vertical edges. This filter framework efficiently incorporates measurements from hundreds of opportunistic visual features to constrain the motion estimate, while allowing navigating and sustained tracking with respect to a few persistent features. In addition, vertical features in the environment are opportunistically used to provide global attitude references. Accurate pose estimation is demonstrated on a sequence including fast traversing, where visual features enter and exit the field-of-view quickly, as well as hover and ingress maneuvers where drift free navigation is achieved with respect to the environment.

  15. POSING THE HISTORICAL JESUS QUESTION AND THE GOAL OF ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    mycl

    ... study recommended that. African scholars be allowed to develop and pose the Historical Jesus ... he is seen as the starting point for modern critical study of Jesus. (Burer). ... African anthropology and culture and the data of revelation, and how this theology ... Man” from two perspectives: that of a biblical culture in the first.

  16. The Development of an Internet-Based Treatment for Problem Gamblers and Concerned Significant Others: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nilsson, Anders; Magnusson, Kristoffer; Carlbring, Per; Andersson, Gerhard; Gumpert, Clara Hellner

    2018-06-01

    Problem gambling creates significant harm for the gambler and for concerned significant others (CSOs). While several studies have investigated the effects of individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for problem gambling, less is known about the effects of involving CSOs in treatment. Behavioral couples therapy (BCT) has shown promising results when working with substance use disorders by involving both the user and a CSO. This pilot study investigated BCT for problem gambling, as well as the feasibility of performing a larger scale randomized controlled trial. 36 participants, 18 gamblers and 18 CSOs, were randomized to either BCT or individual CBT for the gambler. Both interventions were Internet-delivered self-help interventions with therapist support. Both groups of gamblers improved on all outcome measures, but there were no differences between the groups. The CSOs in the BCT group lowered their scores on anxiety and depression more than the CSOs of those randomized to the individual CBT group did. The implications of the results and the feasibility of the trial are discussed.

  17. Impact of Sliding Window Length in Indoor Human Motion Modes and Pose Pattern Recognition Based on Smartphone Sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaojing Wang

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Human activity recognition (HAR is essential for understanding people’s habits and behaviors, providing an important data source for precise marketing and research in psychology and sociology. Different approaches have been proposed and applied to HAR. Data segmentation using a sliding window is a basic step during the HAR procedure, wherein the window length directly affects recognition performance. However, the window length is generally randomly selected without systematic study. In this study, we examined the impact of window length on smartphone sensor-based human motion and pose pattern recognition. With data collected from smartphone sensors, we tested a range of window lengths on five popular machine-learning methods: decision tree, support vector machine, K-nearest neighbor, Gaussian naïve Bayesian, and adaptive boosting. From the results, we provide recommendations for choosing the appropriate window length. Results corroborate that the influence of window length on the recognition of motion modes is significant but largely limited to pose pattern recognition. For motion mode recognition, a window length between 2.5–3.5 s can provide an optimal tradeoff between recognition performance and speed. Adaptive boosting outperformed the other methods. For pose pattern recognition, 0.5 s was enough to obtain a satisfactory result. In addition, all of the tested methods performed well.

  18. Improving head and body pose estimation through semi-supervised manifold alignment

    KAUST Repository

    Heili, Alexandre

    2014-10-27

    In this paper, we explore the use of a semi-supervised manifold alignment method for domain adaptation in the context of human body and head pose estimation in videos. We build upon an existing state-of-the-art system that leverages on external labelled datasets for the body and head features, and on the unlabelled test data with weak velocity labels to do a coupled estimation of the body and head pose. While this previous approach showed promising results, the learning of the underlying manifold structure of the features in the train and target data and the need to align them were not explored despite the fact that the pose features between two datasets may vary according to the scene, e.g. due to different camera point of view or perspective. In this paper, we propose to use a semi-supervised manifold alignment method to bring the train and target samples closer within the resulting embedded space. To this end, we consider an adaptation set from the target data and rely on (weak) labels, given for example by the velocity direction whenever they are reliable. These labels, along with the training labels are used to bias the manifold distance within each manifold and to establish correspondences for alignment.

  19. Did Buddha turn the other cheek too? A comparison of posing biases between Jesus and Buddha.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duerksen, Kari N; Friedrich, Trista E; Elias, Lorin J

    2015-10-02

    People tend to exhibit a leftward bias in posing. Various studies suggest that posing to the left portrays a stronger emotion, whereas posing to the right portrays a more neutral emotion. Religions such as Christianity emphasize the role of strong emotions in religious experience, whereas religions such as Buddhism emphasize the calming of emotions as being important. In the present study, we investigated if the emphasis on emotionality of a religion influences the depiction of their religious figures. Specifically, we coded 484 paintings of Jesus and Buddha from online art databases for whether the deity exhibited a left bias, right bias, or central face presentation. The posing biases were analysed to discover whether paintings of Jesus would more frequently depict a leftward bias than paintings of Buddha. Jesus is more commonly depicted with a leftward bias than Buddha, and Buddha is more commonly depicted with a central face presentation than Jesus. These findings support the idea that the amount of emotionality that is to be conveyed in artwork influences the whether the subject is posed with a leftward bias.

  20. Head Pose Estimation on Top of Haar-Like Face Detection: A Study Using the Kinect Sensor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anwar Saeed

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Head pose estimation is a crucial initial task for human face analysis, which is employed in several computer vision systems, such as: facial expression recognition, head gesture recognition, yawn detection, etc. In this work, we propose a frame-based approach to estimate the head pose on top of the Viola and Jones (VJ Haar-like face detector. Several appearance and depth-based feature types are employed for the pose estimation, where comparisons between them in terms of accuracy and speed are presented. It is clearly shown through this work that using the depth data, we improve the accuracy of the head pose estimation. Additionally, we can spot positive detections, faces in profile views detected by the frontal model, that are wrongly cropped due to background disturbances. We introduce a new depth-based feature descriptor that provides competitive estimation results with a lower computation time. Evaluation on a benchmark Kinect database shows that the histogram of oriented gradients and the developed depth-based features are more distinctive for the head pose estimation, where they compare favorably to the current state-of-the-art approaches. Using a concatenation of the aforementioned feature types, we achieved a head pose estimation with average errors not exceeding 5:1; 4:6; 4:2 for pitch, yaw and roll angles, respectively.

  1. Material-Point Analysis of Large-Strain Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Søren

    The aim of this thesis is to apply and improve the material-point method for modelling of geotechnical problems. One of the geotechnical phenomena that is a subject of active research is the study of landslides. A large amount of research is focused on determining when slopes become unstable. Hence......, it is possible to predict if a certain slope is stable using commercial finite element or finite difference software such as PLAXIS, ABAQUS or FLAC. However, the dynamics during a landslide are less explored. The material-point method (MPM) is a novel numerical method aimed at analysing problems involving...... materials subjected to large strains in a dynamical time–space domain. This thesis explores the material-point method with the specific aim of improving the performance for geotechnical problems. Large-strain geotechnical problems such as landslides pose a major challenge to model numerically. Employing...

  2. Exhaustive sampling of docking poses reveals binding hypotheses for propafenone type inhibitors of P-glycoprotein.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Freya Klepsch

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Overexpression of the xenotoxin transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp represents one major reason for the development of multidrug resistance (MDR, leading to the failure of antibiotic and cancer therapies. Inhibitors of P-gp have thus been advocated as promising candidates for overcoming the problem of MDR. However, due to lack of a high-resolution structure the concrete mode of interaction of both substrates and inhibitors is still not known. Therefore, structure-based design studies have to rely on protein homology models. In order to identify binding hypotheses for propafenone-type P-gp inhibitors, five different propafenone derivatives with known structure-activity relationship (SAR pattern were docked into homology models of the apo and the nucleotide-bound conformation of the transporter. To circumvent the uncertainty of scoring functions, we exhaustively sampled the pose space and analyzed the poses by combining information retrieved from SAR studies with common scaffold clustering. The results suggest propafenone binding at the transmembrane helices 5, 6, 7 and 8 in both models, with the amino acid residue Y307 playing a crucial role. The identified binding site in the non-energized state is overlapping with, but not identical to, known binding areas of cyclic P-gp inhibitors and verapamil. These findings support the idea of several small binding sites forming one large binding cavity. Furthermore, the binding hypotheses for both catalytic states were analyzed and showed only small differences in their protein-ligand interaction fingerprints, which indicates only small movements of the ligand during the catalytic cycle.

  3. Relative Pose Estimation and Accuracy Verification of Spherical Panoramic Image

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    XIE Donghai

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper improves the method of the traditional 5-point relative pose estimation algorithm, and proposes a relative pose estimation algorithm which is suitable for spherical panoramic images. The algorithm firstly computes the essential matrix, then decomposes the essential matrix to obtain the rotation matrix and the translation vector using SVD, and finally the reconstructed three-dimensional points are used to eliminate the error solution. The innovation of the algorithm lies the derivation of panorama epipolar formula and the use of the spherical distance from the point to the epipolar plane as the error term for the spherical panorama co-planarity function. The simulation experiment shows that when the random noise of the image feature points is within the range of pixel, the error of the three Euler angles is about 0.1°, and the error between the relative translational displacement and the simulated value is about 1.5°. The result of the experiment using the data obtained by the vehicle panorama camera and the POS shows that:the error of the roll angle and pitch angle can be within 0.2°, the error of the heading angle can be within 0.4°, and the error between the relative translational displacement and the POS can be within 2°. The result of our relative pose estimation algorithm is used to generate the spherical panoramic epipolar images, then we extract the key points between the spherical panoramic images and calculate the errors in the column direction. The result shows that the errors is less than 1 pixel.

  4. ULTOR(Registered TradeMark) Passive Pose and Position Engine For Spacecraft Relative Navigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannah, S. Joel

    2008-01-01

    The ULTOR(Registered TradeMark) Passive Pose and Position Engine (P3E) technology, developed by Advanced Optical Systems, Inc (AOS), uses real-time image correlation to provide relative position and pose data for spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control. Potential data sources include a wide variety of sensors, including visible and infrared cameras. ULTOR(Registered TradeMark) P3E has been demonstrated on a number of host processing platforms. NASA is integrating ULTOR(Registerd TradeMark) P3E into its Relative Navigation System (RNS), which is being developed for the upcoming Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Mission 4 (SM4). During SM4 ULTOR(Registered TradeMark) P3E will perform realtime pose and position measurements during both the approach and departure phases of the mission. This paper describes the RNS implementation of ULTOR(Registered TradeMark) P3E, and presents results from NASA's hardware-in-the-loop simulation testing against the HST mockup.

  5. Effects of pose and image resolution on automatic face recognition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mahmood, Zahid; Ali, Tauseef; Khan, Samee U.

    The popularity of face recognition systems have increased due to their use in widespread applications. Driven by the enormous number of potential application domains, several algorithms have been proposed for face recognition. Face pose and image resolutions are among the two important factors that

  6. Analysis of a finite PML approximation to the three dimensional elastic wave scattering problem

    KAUST Repository

    Bramble, James H.

    2010-01-01

    We consider the application of a perfectly matched layer (PML) technique to approximate solutions to the elastic wave scattering problem in the frequency domain. The PML is viewed as a complex coordinate shift in spherical coordinates which leads to a variable complex coefficient equation for the displacement vector posed on an infinite domain (the complement of the scatterer). The rapid decay of the PML solution suggests truncation to a bounded domain with a convenient outer boundary condition and subsequent finite element approximation (for the truncated problem). We prove existence and uniqueness of the solutions to the infinite domain and truncated domain PML equations (provided that the truncated domain is sufficiently large). We also show exponential convergence of the solution of the truncated PML problem to the solution of the original scattering problem in the region of interest. We then analyze a Galerkin numerical approximation to the truncated PML problem and prove that it is well posed provided that the PML damping parameter and mesh size are small enough. Finally, computational results illustrating the efficiency of the finite element PML approximation are presented. © 2010 American Mathematical Society.

  7. Compensation of significant parametric uncertainties using sliding mode online learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schnetter, Philipp; Kruger, Thomas

    An augmented nonlinear inverse dynamics (NID) flight control strategy using sliding mode online learning for a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is presented. Because parameter identification for this class of aircraft often is not valid throughout the complete flight envelope, aerodynamic parameters used for model based control strategies may show significant deviations. For the concept of feedback linearization this leads to inversion errors that in combination with the distinctive susceptibility of small UAS towards atmospheric turbulence pose a demanding control task for these systems. In this work an adaptive flight control strategy using feedforward neural networks for counteracting such nonlinear effects is augmented with the concept of sliding mode control (SMC). SMC-learning is derived from variable structure theory. It considers a neural network and its training as a control problem. It is shown that by the dynamic calculation of the learning rates, stability can be guaranteed and thus increase the robustness against external disturbances and system failures. With the resulting higher speed of convergence a wide range of simultaneously occurring disturbances can be compensated. The SMC-based flight controller is tested and compared to the standard gradient descent (GD) backpropagation algorithm under the influence of significant model uncertainties and system failures.

  8. Abortion: A significant problem of public health and a determinant of biological reproduction

    OpenAIRE

    Todorović Miodrag; Radovanović Olica

    2006-01-01

    Artificial abortion is a very important social-medical, economic and demographic problem. It is not only a problem of public health (disease disability, sterility) and social economy (to lose income and compensation because of absenteeism, increase of expense in health care sector for the treatment of direct, early and late consequences and sterility). It is a very important demographic problem because of the increase in "unrealized fertilities" and lost of descendents. According to the regis...

  9. Statistical method for resolving the photon-photoelectron-counting inversion problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Jinlong; Li Tiejun; Peng, Xiang; Guo Hong

    2011-01-01

    A statistical inversion method is proposed for the photon-photoelectron-counting statistics in quantum key distribution experiment. With the statistical viewpoint, this problem is equivalent to the parameter estimation for an infinite binomial mixture model. The coarse-graining idea and Bayesian methods are applied to deal with this ill-posed problem, which is a good simple example to show the successful application of the statistical methods to the inverse problem. Numerical results show the applicability of the proposed strategy. The coarse-graining idea for the infinite mixture models should be general to be used in the future.

  10. Introduction to inverse problems for differential equations

    CERN Document Server

    Hasanov Hasanoğlu, Alemdar

    2017-01-01

    This book presents a systematic exposition of the main ideas and methods in treating inverse problems for PDEs arising in basic mathematical models, though it makes no claim to being exhaustive. Mathematical models of most physical phenomena are governed by initial and boundary value problems for PDEs, and inverse problems governed by these equations arise naturally in nearly all branches of science and engineering. The book’s content, especially in the Introduction and Part I, is self-contained and is intended to also be accessible for beginning graduate students, whose mathematical background includes only basic courses in advanced calculus, PDEs and functional analysis. Further, the book can be used as the backbone for a lecture course on inverse and ill-posed problems for partial differential equations. In turn, the second part of the book consists of six nearly-independent chapters. The choice of these chapters was motivated by the fact that the inverse coefficient and source problems considered here a...

  11. Camera pose estimation for augmented reality in a small indoor dynamic scene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frikha, Rawia; Ejbali, Ridha; Zaied, Mourad

    2017-09-01

    Camera pose estimation remains a challenging task for augmented reality (AR) applications. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)-based methods are able to estimate the six degrees of freedom camera motion while constructing a map of an unknown environment. However, these methods do not provide any reference for where to insert virtual objects since they do not have any information about scene structure and may fail in cases of occlusion of three-dimensional (3-D) map points or dynamic objects. This paper presents a real-time monocular piece wise planar SLAM method using the planar scene assumption. Using planar structures in the mapping process allows rendering virtual objects in a meaningful way on the one hand and improving the precision of the camera pose and the quality of 3-D reconstruction of the environment by adding constraints on 3-D points and poses in the optimization process on the other hand. We proposed to benefit from the 3-D planes rigidity motion in the tracking process to enhance the system robustness in the case of dynamic scenes. Experimental results show that using a constrained planar scene improves our system accuracy and robustness compared with the classical SLAM systems.

  12. Greenhouse problem in the Amazon jungle clearing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reis, E.J.; Margulis, S.

    1991-01-01

    This paper discusses the contribution of Amazon jungle clearing to the greenhouse problem and makes an assessment of long-run prospects. The introductory sections pose the problem from both international and Brazilian perspectives. The next section describes major features of the Amazonia ecosystems and presents methods and evidence on deforestation and on its impact on carbon dioxide emissions. Based upon cross-section information for a sample of municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon, the following section estimates elasticities of deforestation in relation to major economic factors- government policies included- and uses them to make projections for the future pace of deforestation. The last section discusses policy alternatives to slow down forest conversion

  13. Evaluating potentialities and constrains of Problem Based Learning curriculum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guerra, Aida

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a research design to evaluate Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum potentialities and constrains for future changes. PBL literature lacks examples of how to evaluate and analyse established PBL learning environments to address new challenges posed. The research design......) in the curriculum and a mean to choose cases for further case study (third phase)....

  14. The Cauchy Problem for a Fifth-Order Dispersive Equation

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Hongjun; Liu, Yongqi; Chen, Yongqiang

    2014-01-01

    This paper is devoted to studying the Cauchy problem for a fifth-order equation. We prove that it is locally well-posed for the initial data in the Sobolev space ${H}^{s}(\\mathbf{R})$ with $s\\ge 1/4$ . We also establish the ill-posedness for the initial data in ${H}^{s}(\\mathbf{R})$ with $s

  15. A New Pose Estimation Algorithm Using a Perspective-Ray-Based Scaled Orthographic Projection with Iteration.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pengfei Sun

    Full Text Available Pose estimation aims at measuring the position and orientation of a calibrated camera using known image features. The pinhole model is the dominant camera model in this field. However, the imaging precision of this model is not accurate enough for an advanced pose estimation algorithm. In this paper, a new camera model, called incident ray tracking model, is introduced. More importantly, an advanced pose estimation algorithm based on the perspective ray in the new camera model, is proposed. The perspective ray, determined by two positioning points, is an abstract mathematical equivalent of the incident ray. In the proposed pose estimation algorithm, called perspective-ray-based scaled orthographic projection with iteration (PRSOI, an approximate ray-based projection is calculated by a linear system and refined by iteration. Experiments on the PRSOI have been conducted, and the results demonstrate that it is of high accuracy in the six degrees of freedom (DOF motion. And it outperforms three other state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of accuracy during the contrast experiment.

  16. Estimation de pose omnidirectionnelle dans un contexte de réalité augmentée

    OpenAIRE

    Poirier, Stéphane

    2012-01-01

    Estimer la pose de la caméra est un défi fondamental en réalité augmentée et permet la superposition d’un modèle à la réalité. Estimer précisément la pose est souvent critique en ingénierie d’infrastructures. Les images omnidirectionnelles ont un champ de vision supérieur aux images planaires communément utilisées en RA. Cette propriété peut bénéficier à l’estimation de la pose. Or, aucun travail ne présente de résultats montrant clairement un gain de précision. Notre objectif est de quantifi...

  17. Pose Measurement Method and Experiments for High-Speed Rolling Targets in a Wind Tunnel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenyuan Jia

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available High-precision wind tunnel simulation tests play an important role in aircraft design and manufacture. In this study, a high-speed pose vision measurement method is proposed for high-speed and rolling targets in a supersonic wind tunnel. To obtain images with high signal-to-noise ratio and avoid impacts on the aerodynamic shape of the rolling targets, a high-speed image acquisition method based on ultrathin retro-reflection markers is presented. Since markers are small-sized and some of them may be lost when the target is rolling, a novel markers layout with which markers are distributed evenly on the surface is proposed based on a spatial coding method to achieve highly accurate pose information. Additionally, a pose acquisition is carried out according to the mentioned markers layout after removing mismatching points by Case Deletion Diagnostics. Finally, experiments on measuring the pose parameters of high-speed targets in the laboratory and in a supersonic wind tunnel are conducted to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the position measurement precision is less than 0.16 mm, the pitching and yaw angle precision less than 0.132° and the roll angle precision 0.712°.

  18. Pose measurement method and experiments for high-speed rolling targets in a wind tunnel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Zhenyuan; Ma, Xin; Liu, Wei; Lu, Wenbo; Li, Xiao; Chen, Ling; Wang, Zhengqu; Cui, Xiaochun

    2014-12-12

    High-precision wind tunnel simulation tests play an important role in aircraft design and manufacture. In this study, a high-speed pose vision measurement method is proposed for high-speed and rolling targets in a supersonic wind tunnel. To obtain images with high signal-to-noise ratio and avoid impacts on the aerodynamic shape of the rolling targets, a high-speed image acquisition method based on ultrathin retro-reflection markers is presented. Since markers are small-sized and some of them may be lost when the target is rolling, a novel markers layout with which markers are distributed evenly on the surface is proposed based on a spatial coding method to achieve highly accurate pose information. Additionally, a pose acquisition is carried out according to the mentioned markers layout after removing mismatching points by Case Deletion Diagnostics. Finally, experiments on measuring the pose parameters of high-speed targets in the laboratory and in a supersonic wind tunnel are conducted to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the position measurement precision is less than 0.16 mm, the pitching and yaw angle precision less than 0.132° and the roll angle precision 0.712°.

  19. Measurement of highly active samples of ultrashort-lived radionuclides and its problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van der Baan, J.G.; Panek, K.J.

    1985-01-01

    The measurement of highly active eluates obtained from the generators for ultrashort-lived radionuclides poses several problems which are briefly discussed by using the example of the /sup 195m/Hg→/sup 195m/Au generator. For overcoming some of the problems, the construction of a multiple single-channel analyzer that allows high count rates, is described, as well as the counting technique applicable for highly active eluates

  20. REGULARIZED D-BAR METHOD FOR THE INVERSE CONDUCTIVITY PROBLEM

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Kim; Lassas, Matti; Mueller, Jennifer

    2009-01-01

    A strategy for regularizing the inversion procedure for the two-dimensional D-bar reconstruction algorithm based on the global uniqueness proof of Nachman [Ann. Math. 143 (1996)] for the ill-posed inverse conductivity problem is presented. The strategy utilizes truncation of the boundary integral...... the convergence of the reconstructed conductivity to the true conductivity as the noise level tends to zero. The results provide a link between two traditions of inverse problems research: theory of regularization and inversion methods based on complex geometrical optics. Also, the procedure is a novel...

  1. Solution to the inversely stated transient source-receptor problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sajo, E.; Sheff, J.R.

    1995-01-01

    Transient source-receptor problems are traditionally handled via the Boltzmann equation or through one of its variants. In the atmospheric transport of pollutants, meteorological uncertainties in the planetary boundary layer render only a few approximations to the Boltzmann equation useful. Often, due to the high number of unknowns, the atmospheric source-receptor problem is ill-posed. Moreover, models to estimate downwind concentration invariably assume that the source term is known. In this paper, an inverse methodology is developed, based on downwind measurement of concentration and that of meterological parameters to estimate the source term

  2. A parametric finite element method for solid-state dewetting problems with anisotropic surface energies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Weizhu; Jiang, Wei; Wang, Yan; Zhao, Quan

    2017-02-01

    We propose an efficient and accurate parametric finite element method (PFEM) for solving sharp-interface continuum models for solid-state dewetting of thin films with anisotropic surface energies. The governing equations of the sharp-interface models belong to a new type of high-order (4th- or 6th-order) geometric evolution partial differential equations about open curve/surface interface tracking problems which include anisotropic surface diffusion flow and contact line migration. Compared to the traditional methods (e.g., marker-particle methods), the proposed PFEM not only has very good accuracy, but also poses very mild restrictions on the numerical stability, and thus it has significant advantages for solving this type of open curve evolution problems with applications in the simulation of solid-state dewetting. Extensive numerical results are reported to demonstrate the accuracy and high efficiency of the proposed PFEM.

  3. Expanding the Space of Plausible Solutions in a Medical Tutoring System for Problem-Based Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazi, Hameedullah; Haddawy, Peter; Suebnukarn, Siriwan

    2009-01-01

    In well-defined domains such as Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry, solutions to a posed problem can objectively be classified as correct or incorrect. In ill-defined domains such as medicine, the classification of solutions to a patient problem as correct or incorrect is much more complex. Typical tutoring systems accept only a small set of…

  4. Absolute stability results for well-posed infinite-dimensional systems with applications to low-gain integral control

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Logemann, H; Curtain, RF

    2000-01-01

    We derive absolute stability results for well-posed infinite-dimensional systems which, in a sense, extend the well-known circle criterion to the case that the underlying linear system is the series interconnection of an exponentially stable well-posed infinite-dimensional system and an integrator

  5. Multi-view 3D human pose estimation combining single-frame recovery, temporal integration and model adaptation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofmann, K.M.; Gavrilla, D.M.

    2009-01-01

    We present a system for the estimation of unconstrained 3D human upper body movement from multiple cameras. Its main novelty lies in the integration of three components: single frame pose recovery, temporal integration and model adaptation. Single frame pose recovery consists of a hypothesis

  6. Is Attribute-Based Zero-Shot Learning an Ill-Posed Strategy?

    KAUST Repository

    Alabdulmohsin, Ibrahim; Cisse, Moustapha; Zhang, Xiangliang

    2016-01-01

    One transfer learning approach that has gained a wide popularity lately is attribute-based zero-shot learning. Its goal is to learn novel classes that were never seen during the training stage. The classical route towards realizing this goal is to incorporate a prior knowledge, in the form of a semantic embedding of classes, and to learn to predict classes indirectly via their semantic attributes. Despite the amount of research devoted to this subject lately, no known algorithm has yet reported a predictive accuracy that could exceed the accuracy of supervised learning with very few training examples. For instance, the direct attribute prediction (DAP) algorithm, which forms a standard baseline for the task, is known to be as accurate as supervised learning when as few as two examples from each hidden class are used for training on some popular benchmark datasets! In this paper, we argue that this lack of significant results in the literature is not a coincidence; attribute-based zero-shot learning is fundamentally an ill-posed strategy. The key insight is the observation that the mechanical task of predicting an attribute is, in fact, quite different from the epistemological task of learning the “correct meaning” of the attribute itself. This renders attribute-based zero-shot learning fundamentally ill-posed. In more precise mathematical terms, attribute-based zero-shot learning is equivalent to the mirage goal of learning with respect to one distribution of instances, with the hope of being able to predict with respect to any arbitrary distribution. We demonstrate this overlooked fact on some synthetic and real datasets. The data and software related to this paper are available at https://mine. kaust.edu.sa/Pages/zero-shot-learning.aspx. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

  7. Is Attribute-Based Zero-Shot Learning an Ill-Posed Strategy?

    KAUST Repository

    Alabdulmohsin, Ibrahim

    2016-09-03

    One transfer learning approach that has gained a wide popularity lately is attribute-based zero-shot learning. Its goal is to learn novel classes that were never seen during the training stage. The classical route towards realizing this goal is to incorporate a prior knowledge, in the form of a semantic embedding of classes, and to learn to predict classes indirectly via their semantic attributes. Despite the amount of research devoted to this subject lately, no known algorithm has yet reported a predictive accuracy that could exceed the accuracy of supervised learning with very few training examples. For instance, the direct attribute prediction (DAP) algorithm, which forms a standard baseline for the task, is known to be as accurate as supervised learning when as few as two examples from each hidden class are used for training on some popular benchmark datasets! In this paper, we argue that this lack of significant results in the literature is not a coincidence; attribute-based zero-shot learning is fundamentally an ill-posed strategy. The key insight is the observation that the mechanical task of predicting an attribute is, in fact, quite different from the epistemological task of learning the “correct meaning” of the attribute itself. This renders attribute-based zero-shot learning fundamentally ill-posed. In more precise mathematical terms, attribute-based zero-shot learning is equivalent to the mirage goal of learning with respect to one distribution of instances, with the hope of being able to predict with respect to any arbitrary distribution. We demonstrate this overlooked fact on some synthetic and real datasets. The data and software related to this paper are available at https://mine. kaust.edu.sa/Pages/zero-shot-learning.aspx. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

  8. Precise 3D Lug Pose Detection Sensor for Automatic Robot Welding Using a Structured-Light Vision System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Il Jae Lee

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we propose a precise 3D lug pose detection sensor for automatic robot welding of a lug to a huge steel plate used in shipbuilding, where the lug is a handle to carry the huge steel plate. The proposed sensor consists of a camera and four laser line diodes, and its design parameters are determined by analyzing its detectable range and resolution. For the lug pose acquisition, four laser lines are projected on both lug and plate, and the projected lines are detected by the camera. For robust detection of the projected lines against the illumination change, the vertical threshold, thinning, Hough transform and separated Hough transform algorithms are successively applied to the camera image. The lug pose acquisition is carried out by two stages: the top view alignment and the side view alignment. The top view alignment is to detect the coarse lug pose relatively far from the lug, and the side view alignment is to detect the fine lug pose close to the lug. After the top view alignment, the robot is controlled to move close to the side of the lug for the side view alignment. By this way, the precise 3D lug pose can be obtained. Finally, experiments with the sensor prototype are carried out to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed sensor.

  9. Improving extreme-scale problem solving: assessing electronic brainstorming effectiveness in an industrial setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dornburg, Courtney C; Stevens, Susan M; Hendrickson, Stacey M L; Davidson, George S

    2009-08-01

    An experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of individual versus group electronic brainstorming to address difficult, real-world challenges. Although industrial reliance on electronic communications has become ubiquitous, empirical and theoretical understanding of the bounds of its effectiveness have been limited. Previous research using short-term laboratory experiments have engaged small groups of students in answering questions irrelevant to an industrial setting. The present experiment extends current findings beyond the laboratory to larger groups of real-world employees addressing organization-relevant challenges during the course of 4 days. Employees and contractors at a national laboratory participated, either in a group setting or individually, in an electronic brainstorm to pose solutions to a real-world problem. The data demonstrate that (for this design) individuals perform at least as well as groups in producing quantity of electronic ideas, regardless of brainstorming duration. However, when judged with respect to quality along three dimensions (originality, feasibility, and effectiveness), the individuals significantly (p industrial reliance on electronic problem-solving groups should be tempered, and large nominal groups may be more appropriate corporate problem-solving vehicles.

  10. A circular feature-based pose measurement method for metal part grasping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Chenrui; He, Zaixing; Zhang, Shuyou; Zhao, Xinyue

    2017-01-01

    The grasping of circular metal parts such as bearings and flanges is a common task in industry. Limited by low texture and repeated features, the point-feature-based method is not applicable in pose measurement of these parts. In this paper, we propose a novel pose measurement method for grasping circular metal parts. This method is based on cone degradation and involves a monocular camera. To achieve higher measurement accuracy, a position-based visual servoing method is presented to continuously control an eye-in-hand, six-degrees-of-freedom robot arm to grasp the part. The uncertainty of the part’s coordinate frame during the control process is solved by defining a fixed virtual coordinate frame. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and the factors that affect measurement accuracy are analyzed. (paper)

  11. An algebraic method to develop well-posed PML models Absorbing layers, perfectly matched layers, linearized Euler equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rahmouni, Adib N.

    2004-01-01

    In 1994, Berenger [Journal of Computational Physics 114 (1994) 185] proposed a new layer method: perfectly matched layer, PML, for electromagnetism. This new method is based on the truncation of the computational domain by a layer which absorbs waves regardless of their frequency and angle of incidence. Unfortunately, the technique proposed by Berenger (loc. cit.) leads to a system which has lost the most important properties of the original one: strong hyperbolicity and symmetry. We present in this paper an algebraic technique leading to well-known PML model [IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 44 (1996) 1630] for the linearized Euler equations, strongly well-posed, preserving the advantages of the initial method, and retaining symmetry. The technique proposed in this paper can be extended to various hyperbolic problems

  12. Revisiting Mathematical Problem Solving and Posing in the Digital Era: Toward Pedagogically Sound Uses of Modern Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abramovich, S.

    2014-01-01

    The availability of sophisticated computer programs such as "Wolfram Alpha" has made many problems found in the secondary mathematics curriculum somewhat obsolete for they can be easily solved by the software. Against this background, an interplay between the power of a modern tool of technology and educational constraints it presents is…

  13. Stereovision-based pose and inertia estimation of unknown and uncooperative space objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pesce, Vincenzo; Lavagna, Michèle; Bevilacqua, Riccardo

    2017-01-01

    Autonomous close proximity operations are an arduous and attractive problem in space mission design. In particular, the estimation of pose, motion and inertia properties of an uncooperative object is a challenging task because of the lack of available a priori information. This paper develops a novel method to estimate the relative position, velocity, angular velocity, attitude and the ratios of the components of the inertia matrix of an uncooperative space object using only stereo-vision measurements. The classical Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and an Iterated Extended Kalman Filter (IEKF) are used and compared for the estimation procedure. In addition, in order to compute the inertia properties, the ratios of the inertia components are added to the state and a pseudo-measurement equation is considered in the observation model. The relative simplicity of the proposed algorithm could be suitable for an online implementation for real applications. The developed algorithm is validated by numerical simulations in MATLAB using different initial conditions and uncertainty levels. The goal of the simulations is to verify the accuracy and robustness of the proposed estimation algorithm. The obtained results show satisfactory convergence of estimation errors for all the considered quantities. The obtained results, in several simulations, shows some improvements with respect to similar works, which deal with the same problem, present in literature. In addition, a video processing procedure is presented to reconstruct the geometrical properties of a body using cameras. This inertia reconstruction algorithm has been experimentally validated at the ADAMUS (ADvanced Autonomous MUltiple Spacecraft) Lab at the University of Florida. In the future, this different method could be integrated to the inertia ratios estimator to have a complete tool for mass properties recognition.

  14. Design Research on Personalized Problem Posing in Algebra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walkington, Candace

    2017-01-01

    Algebra is an area of pressing national concern around issues of equity and access in education. Recent theories and research suggest that personalization of instruction can allow students to activate their funds of knowledge and can elicit interest in the content to be learned. This paper examines the results of a large-scale teaching experiment…

  15. THE ECONOMIC SPACE OF RUSSIA: PROBLEMS AND TRENDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E.Y. Animitsa

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers the essence of the definition "economic space", its basic characteristics and properties. From the point of view of the regional economy the modern structure of the economic space of the Russian Federation is examined. The scientific problem of finding out the new territorial economic formations with vague, not clearly cut administrative borders studied in the framework of scientific trend "space economy" is posed.

  16. The role of the posed smile in overall facial esthetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Havens, David C; McNamara, James A; Sigler, Lauren M; Baccetti, Tiziano

    2010-03-01

    To evaluate the role of the posed smile in overall facial esthetics, as determined by laypersons and orthodontists. Twenty orthodontists and 20 lay evaluators were asked to perform six Q-sorts on different photographs of 48 white female subjects. The six Q-sorts consisted of three different photographs for each of two time points (pre- and posttreatment), as follows: (1) smile-only, (2) face without the smile, and (3) face with the smile. The evaluators determined a split-line for attractive and unattractive images at the end of each Q-sort. The proportions of attractive patients were compared across Q-sorts using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired data. The evaluators also ranked nine facial/dental characteristics at the completion of the six Q-sorts. Evaluators found the pretreatment face without the smile to be significantly more attractive than the face with the smile or the smile-only photographs. Dissimilar results were seen posttreatment; there was not a significant difference between the three posttreatment photographs. The two panels agreed on the proportion of "attractive" subjects but differed on the attractiveness level of each individual subject. The presence of a malocclusion has a negative impact on facial attractiveness. Orthodontic correction of a malocclusion affects overall facial esthetics positively. Laypeople and orthodontists agree on what is attractive. Overall facial harmony is the most important characteristic used in deciding facial attractiveness.

  17. An inverse source problem of the Poisson equation with Cauchy data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ji-Chuan Liu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we study an inverse source problem of the Poisson equation with Cauchy data. We want to find iterative algorithms to detect the hidden source within a body from measurements on the boundary. Our goal is to reconstruct the location, the size and the shape of the hidden source. This problem is ill-posed, regularization techniques should be employed to obtain the regularized solution. Numerical examples show that our proposed algorithms are valid and effective.

  18. Web-Based Problem-Solving Assignment and Grading System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brereton, Giles; Rosenberg, Ronald

    2014-11-01

    In engineering courses with very specific learning objectives, such as fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, it is conventional to reinforce concepts and principles with problem-solving assignments and to measure success in problem solving as an indicator of student achievement. While the modern-day ease of copying and searching for online solutions can undermine the value of traditional assignments, web-based technologies also provide opportunities to generate individualized well-posed problems with an infinite number of different combinations of initial/final/boundary conditions, so that the probability of any two students being assigned identical problems in a course is vanishingly small. Such problems can be designed and programmed to be: single or multiple-step, self-grading, allow students single or multiple attempts; provide feedback when incorrect; selectable according to difficulty; incorporated within gaming packages; etc. In this talk, we discuss the use of a homework/exam generating program of this kind in a single-semester course, within a web-based client-server system that ensures secure operation.

  19. Boundary value problems and Fourier expansions

    CERN Document Server

    MacCluer, Charles R

    2004-01-01

    Based on modern Sobolev methods, this text for advanced undergraduates and graduate students is highly physical in its orientation. It integrates numerical methods and symbolic manipulation into an elegant viewpoint that is consonant with implementation by digital computer. The first five sections form an informal introduction that develops students' physical and mathematical intuition. The following section introduces Hilbert space in its natural environment, and the next six sections pose and solve the standard problems. The final seven sections feature concise introductions to selected topi

  20. Theorising international monetary relations: three questions about the significance of materiality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Leander

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This article engages a conversation with Benjamin Cohen by raising three questions about the significance of materiality. The paper's questions focus on how materiality can be included in theorizations so that its political import is not defined away from the outset. The article does this focussing on Cohen's treatment of electronic money and its significance for the Politics of International Monetary Relations. The first question posed is about ontology, the second about agency and the third about the scope of politics. The three questions are raised as a conversation in which arguments and counterarguments are advanced. The questions are therefore posed with Cohen's contributions to theorizing the political significance of materiality as their point of departure. They are formulated as a consequence of bringing these contributions in relation to insights from the Social Studies of Finance. From this perspective it would seem that a more far reaching engagement with materiality (in terms of ontology, agency and epistemology is necessary to capture its political significance for international monetary politics and currency hierarchies. The article does not conclude in conventional fashion but purposefully strives to leave these questions open for discussion.

  1. The exit-time problem for a Markov jump process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burch, N.; D'Elia, M.; Lehoucq, R. B.

    2014-12-01

    The purpose of this paper is to consider the exit-time problem for a finite-range Markov jump process, i.e, the distance the particle can jump is bounded independent of its location. Such jump diffusions are expedient models for anomalous transport exhibiting super-diffusion or nonstandard normal diffusion. We refer to the associated deterministic equation as a volume-constrained nonlocal diffusion equation. The volume constraint is the nonlocal analogue of a boundary condition necessary to demonstrate that the nonlocal diffusion equation is well-posed and is consistent with the jump process. A critical aspect of the analysis is a variational formulation and a recently developed nonlocal vector calculus. This calculus allows us to pose nonlocal backward and forward Kolmogorov equations, the former equation granting the various moments of the exit-time distribution.

  2. The accountability problem of flooding attacks in service-oriented architectures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Meiko; Schwenk, Jörg

    2009-01-01

    The threat of Denial of Service attacks poses a serious problem to the security of network-based services in general. For flooding attacks against service-oriented applications, this threat is dramatically amplified with potentially much higher impact and very little effort on the attacker's side....... Additionally, due to the high distribution of a SOA application's components, fending such attacks becomes a far more complex task. In this paper, we present the problem of accountability, referring to the issue of resolving the attacker in a highly distributed service-oriented application. Using a general...

  3. Methods and scales in soil erosion studies in Spain: problems and perspectives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garcia-Ruiz, J. M.

    2009-07-01

    Soil erosion is a major problem in some areas of Spain. Research groups have studied a variety of aspects of this problem indifferent environments, and at a range of scales using a diversity of methods, from piquettes and rainfall simulation to experimental plots, catchment and large regional areas. This has increased knowledge and identified the main problems: farmland abandonment, badlands erosion, the effects of land use changes, and the role of extreme events and erosion in certain crops (particularly vineyards). However, comparison of results among various research groups has been difficult, posing problems in developing solutions from State and Regional administrators. (Author) 73 refs.

  4. Poincaré and the three body problem

    CERN Document Server

    Barrow-Green, June

    1997-01-01

    The idea of chaos figures prominently in mathematics today. It arose in the work of one of the greatest mathematicians of the late 19th century, Henri Poincaré, on a problem in celestial mechanics: the three body problem. This ancient problem-to describe the paths of three bodies in mutual gravitational interaction-is one of those which is simple to pose but impossible to solve precisely. Poincaré's famous memoir on the three body problem arose from his entry in the competition celebrating the 60th birthday of King Oscar of Sweden and Norway. His essay won the prize and was set up in print as a paper in Acta Mathematica when it was found to contain a deep and critical error. In correcting this error Poincaré discovered mathematical chaos, as is now clear from Barrow-Green's pioneering study of a copy of the original memoir annotated by Poincaré himself, recently discovered in the Institut Mittag-Leffler in Stockholm. Poincaré and the Three Body Problem opens with a discussion of the development of the th...

  5. A combined vision-inertial fusion approach for 6-DoF object pose estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Juan; Bernardos, Ana M.; Tarrío, Paula; Casar, José R.

    2015-02-01

    The estimation of the 3D position and orientation of moving objects (`pose' estimation) is a critical process for many applications in robotics, computer vision or mobile services. Although major research efforts have been carried out to design accurate, fast and robust indoor pose estimation systems, it remains as an open challenge to provide a low-cost, easy to deploy and reliable solution. Addressing this issue, this paper describes a hybrid approach for 6 degrees of freedom (6-DoF) pose estimation that fuses acceleration data and stereo vision to overcome the respective weaknesses of single technology approaches. The system relies on COTS technologies (standard webcams, accelerometers) and printable colored markers. It uses a set of infrastructure cameras, located to have the object to be tracked visible most of the operation time; the target object has to include an embedded accelerometer and be tagged with a fiducial marker. This simple marker has been designed for easy detection and segmentation and it may be adapted to different service scenarios (in shape and colors). Experimental results show that the proposed system provides high accuracy, while satisfactorily dealing with the real-time constraints.

  6. Reconstruction formula for a 3-d phaseless inverse scattering problem for the Schrodinger equation

    OpenAIRE

    Klibanov, Michael V.; Romanov, Vladimir G.

    2014-01-01

    The inverse scattering problem of the reconstruction of the unknown potential with compact support in the 3-d Schr\\"odinger equation is considered. Only the modulus of the scattering complex valued wave field is known, whereas the phase is unknown. It is shown that the unknown potential can be reconstructed via the inverse Radon transform. Therefore, a long standing problem posed in 1977 by K. Chadan and P.C. Sabatier in their book "Inverse Problems in Quantum Scattering Theory" is solved.

  7. Vector-valued measure and the necessary conditions for the optimal control problems of linear systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xunjing, L.

    1981-12-01

    The vector-valued measure defined by the well-posed linear boundary value problems is discussed. The maximum principle of the optimal control problem with non-convex constraint is proved by using the vector-valued measure. Especially, the necessary conditions of the optimal control of elliptic systems is derived without the convexity of the control domain and the cost function. (author)

  8. Problem gambling among international and domestic university students in Australia: who is at risk?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Susan M; Thomas, Anna C; Kalé, Sudhir; Spence, Mark; Zlatevska, Natalina; Staiger, Petra K; Graffam, Joseph; Kyrios, Michael

    2013-06-01

    Young people are a high risk group for gambling problems and university (college) students fall into that category. Given the high accessibility of gambling in Australia and its association with entertainment, students from overseas countries, particularly those where gambling is restricted or illegal, may be particularly vulnerable. This study examines problem gambling and its correlates among international and domestic university students using a sample of 836 domestic students (286 males; 546 females); and 764 international students (369 males; 396 females) at three Australian universities. Our findings indicate that although most students gamble infrequently, around 5 % of students are problem gamblers, a proportion higher than that in the general adult population. Popular gambling choices include games known to be associated with risk (cards, horse races, sports betting, casino games, and gaming machines) as well as lotto/scratch tickets. Males are more likely to be problem gamblers than females, and almost 10 % of male international students could be classified as problem gamblers. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that male gender, international student status, financial stress, negative affect and frequency of gambling on sports, horses/dogs, table games, casino gaming machines, internet casino games and bingo all significantly predicted problem gambling. Results from this study could inform gambling-education programs in universities as they indicate which groups are more vulnerable and specify which games pose more risk of problem gambling.

  9. Marker detection evaluation by phantom and cadaver experiments for C-arm pose estimation pattern

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steger, Teena; Hoßbach, Martin; Wesarg, Stefan

    2013-03-01

    C-arm fluoroscopy is used for guidance during several clinical exams, e.g. in bronchoscopy to locate the bronchoscope inside the airways. Unfortunately, these images provide only 2D information. However, if the C-arm pose is known, it can be used to overlay the intrainterventional fluoroscopy images with 3D visualizations of airways, acquired from preinterventional CT images. Thus, the physician's view is enhanced and localization of the instrument at the correct position inside the bronchial tree is facilitated. We present a novel method for C-arm pose estimation introducing a marker-based pattern, which is placed on the patient table. The steel markers form a pattern, allowing to deduce the C-arm pose by use of the projective invariant cross-ratio. Simulations show that the C-arm pose estimation is reliable and accurate for translations inside an imaging area of 30 cm x 50 cm and rotations up to 30°. Mean error values are 0.33 mm in 3D space and 0.48 px in the 2D imaging plane. First tests on C-arm images resulted in similarly compelling accuracy values and high reliability in an imaging area of 30 cm x 42.5 cm. Even in the presence of interfering structures, tested both with anatomy phantoms and a turkey cadaver, high success rates over 90% and fully satisfying execution times below 4 sec for 1024 px × 1024 px images could be achieved.

  10. Design of Biomedical Robots for Phenotype Prediction Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    deAndrés-Galiana, Enrique J; Fernández-Martínez, Juan Luis; Sonis, Stephen T

    2016-08-01

    Genomics has been used with varying degrees of success in the context of drug discovery and in defining mechanisms of action for diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative and rare diseases in the quest for orphan drugs. To improve its utility, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness optimization of analytical methods, especially those that translate to clinically relevant outcomes, is critical. Here we define a novel tool for genomic analysis termed a biomedical robot in order to improve phenotype prediction, identifying disease pathogenesis and significantly defining therapeutic targets. Biomedical robot analytics differ from historical methods in that they are based on melding feature selection methods and ensemble learning techniques. The biomedical robot mathematically exploits the structure of the uncertainty space of any classification problem conceived as an ill-posed optimization problem. Given a classifier, there exist different equivalent small-scale genetic signatures that provide similar predictive accuracies. We perform the sensitivity analysis to noise of the biomedical robot concept using synthetic microarrays perturbed by different kinds of noises in expression and class assignment. Finally, we show the application of this concept to the analysis of different diseases, inferring the pathways and the correlation networks. The final aim of a biomedical robot is to improve knowledge discovery and provide decision systems to optimize diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. This analysis shows that the biomedical robots are robust against different kinds of noises and particularly to a wrong class assignment of the samples. Assessing the uncertainty that is inherent to any phenotype prediction problem is the right way to address this kind of problem.

  11. Foreign-funded M&A Poses No Threatto China’s Economic Security

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    王志乐

    2007-01-01

    Foreign funded M■A(Mergers ■ Acquisitions) activity is becoming increasingly common in China.In this article Wang Zhile assesses the effects and risks associated with M■A,finding that foreign funded M■A activity is immensely beneficial to China and poses no threat to economic security.

  12. Improving head and body pose estimation through semi-supervised manifold alignment

    KAUST Repository

    Heili, Alexandre; Varadarajan, Jagannadan; Ghanem, Bernard; Ahuja, Narendra; Odobez, Jean-Marc

    2014-01-01

    structure of the features in the train and target data and the need to align them were not explored despite the fact that the pose features between two datasets may vary according to the scene, e.g. due to different camera point of view or perspective

  13. A spectral algorithm for the seriation problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Atkins, J.E. [Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Mathematics; Boman, E.G. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Computer Science; Hendrickson, B. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    1994-11-01

    Given a set of objects and a correlation function f reflecting the desire for two items to be near each other, find all sequences {pi} of the items so that correlation preferences are preserved; that is if {pi}(i) < {pi}(j) < {pi}(k) then f(i,j) {ge} f(i,k) and f(j,k) {ge} f(i,k). This seriation problem has numerous applications, for instance, solving it yields a solution to the consecutive ones problem. We present a spectral algorithm for this problem that has a number of interesting features. Whereas most previous applications of spectral techniques provided bounds or heuristics, our result is an algorithm for a nontrivial combinatorial problem. Our analysis introduces powerful tools from matrix theory to the theoretical computer science community. Also, spectral methods are being applied as heuristics for a variety of sequencing problems and our result helps explain and justify these applications. Although the worst case running time for our approach is not competitive with that of existing methods for well posed problem instances, unlike combinatorial approaches our algorithm remains a credible heuristic for the important cases where there are errors in the data.

  14. Relative Pose Estimation Algorithm with Gyroscope Sensor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanshan Wei

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel vision and inertial fusion algorithm S2fM (Simplified Structure from Motion for camera relative pose estimation. Different from current existing algorithms, our algorithm estimates rotation parameter and translation parameter separately. S2fM employs gyroscopes to estimate camera rotation parameter, which is later fused with the image data to estimate camera translation parameter. Our contributions are in two aspects. (1 Under the circumstance that no inertial sensor can estimate accurately enough translation parameter, we propose a translation estimation algorithm by fusing gyroscope sensor and image data. (2 Our S2fM algorithm is efficient and suitable for smart devices. Experimental results validate efficiency of the proposed S2fM algorithm.

  15. Regularization and Bayesian methods for inverse problems in signal and image processing

    CERN Document Server

    Giovannelli , Jean-François

    2015-01-01

    The focus of this book is on "ill-posed inverse problems". These problems cannot be solved only on the basis of observed data. The building of solutions involves the recognition of other pieces of a priori information. These solutions are then specific to the pieces of information taken into account. Clarifying and taking these pieces of information into account is necessary for grasping the domain of validity and the field of application for the solutions built.  For too long, the interest in these problems has remained very limited in the signal-image community. However, the community has si

  16. Problems posed by non-targeted radiation effects for development of environmental regulatory policies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mothersill, C.; Seymour, C.

    2004-01-01

    In order to regulate exposure to any toxic substance it is necessary to decide on a safe or acceptable dose and it is necessary to be able to determine harm. Radiation protection has defined harm for practical purposes as excess cancers in humans. The dose is set at a level well below where such excess cancers can be detected above the background. Chemical (environmental) protection uses a different approach and defines a NOEL (No Observable Effect Level) and a LOEL (Lowest Observable Effect Level) for toxic or suspect chemicals. Since 'harm' may be to an ecosystem or population or individual, it is a loose term usually equating with mutation, breeding problems, numerical decline or sex ratio shift. Recently, ICRP has shifted position from one which assumed that protection of Man protected all biota, to a position which recognizes that in certain circumstances, different parameters may be important for protection of biota. In parallel with this shift, has been a paradigm shift in the science of radiation biology and a recognition that a simple dose response relationship for radiation induced DNA damage (mutation or carcinogenesis) may not in fact exist or may not be the dominant effect at low environmentally relevant doses. Thus both pillars of radiation protection have changed position. Harm cannot be defined solely on the basis of human epidemiological data because the endpoint of cancer in humans does not address the type of harm of concern in the environment because of the different mechanisms operating at low chronic doses (see associated abstract). Further, the human data may not be relevant at the doses of concern This paper considers the implications of moving to a radiation protection system based more on the environmental protection model and applies experimental radiobiological data obtained in the laboratory in an environmental risk assessment framework. (author)

  17. Communicating Climate Change: the Problem of Knowing and Doing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wildcat, D.

    2008-12-01

    The challenge of global warming and climate change may illustrate better than any recent phenomenon that quite independent of the science associated with our assessment, modeling, mitigation strategies and adaptation to the multiple complex processes that characterize this phenomenon, our greatest challenge resides in creating systems where knowledge can be usefully communicated to the general public. Knowledge transfer will pose significant challenges when addressing a topic that often leaves the ill-informed and non-scientist overwhelmed with pieces of information and paralyzed with a sense that there is nothing to be done to address this global problem. This communication problem is very acute in North American indigenous communities where a first-hand, on-the-ground, experience of climate change is indisputable, but where the charts, graphs and sophisticated models presented by scientists are treated with suspicion and often not explained very well. This presentation will discuss the efforts of the American Indian and Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group to prepare future generations of AI/AN geoscience professionals, educators, and a geoscience literate AI/AN workforce, while insuring that our Indigenous tribal knowledges of land- and sea-scapes, and climates are valued, used and incorporated into our tribal exercise of geoscience education and research. The Working Group's efforts are already suggesting the communication problem for Indigenous communities will best be solved by 'growing' our own culturally competent Indigenous geoscience professionals.

  18. SU-G-JeP3-03: Effect of Robot Pose On Beam Blocking for Ultrasound Guided SBRT of the Prostate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gerlach, S; Schlaefer, A [Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg (Germany); Kuhlemann, I; Ernst, F [Universitaet zu Luebeck, Luebeck (Germany); Fuerweger, C [European Cyberknife Center Munich, Munich (Germany)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: Ultrasound presents a fast, volumetric image modality for real-time tracking of abdominal organ motion. How-ever, ultrasound transducer placement during radiation therapy is challenging. Recently, approaches using robotic arms for intra-treatment ultrasound imaging have been proposed. Good and reliable imaging requires placing the transducer close to the PTV. We studied the effect of a seven degrees of freedom robot on the fea-sible beam directions. Methods: For five CyberKnife prostate treatment plans we established viewports for the transducer, i.e., points on the patient surface with a soft tissue view towards the PTV. Choosing a feasible transducer pose and using the kinematic redundancy of the KUKA LBR iiwa robot, we considered three robot poses. Poses 1 to 3 had the elbow point anterior, superior, and inferior, respectively. For each pose and each beam starting point, the pro-jections of robot and PTV were computed. We added a 20 mm margin accounting for organ / beam motion. The number of nodes for which the PTV was partially of fully blocked were established. Moreover, the cumula-tive overlap for each of the poses and the minimum overlap over all poses were computed. Results: The fully and partially blocked nodes ranged from 12% to 20% and 13% to 27%, respectively. Typically, pose 3 caused the fewest blocked nodes. The cumulative overlap ranged from 19% to 29%. Taking the minimum overlap, i.e., considering moving the robot’s elbow while maintaining the transducer pose, the cumulative over-lap was reduced to 16% to 18% and was 3% to 6% lower than for the best individual pose. Conclusion: Our results indicate that it is possible to identify feasible ultrasound transducer poses and to use the kinematic redundancy of a 7 DOF robot to minimize the impact of the imaging subsystem on the feasible beam directions for ultrasound guided and motion compensated SBRT. Research partially funded by DFG grants ER 817/1-1 and SCHL 1844/3-1.

  19. SU-G-JeP3-03: Effect of Robot Pose On Beam Blocking for Ultrasound Guided SBRT of the Prostate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gerlach, S; Schlaefer, A; Kuhlemann, I; Ernst, F; Fuerweger, C

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Ultrasound presents a fast, volumetric image modality for real-time tracking of abdominal organ motion. How-ever, ultrasound transducer placement during radiation therapy is challenging. Recently, approaches using robotic arms for intra-treatment ultrasound imaging have been proposed. Good and reliable imaging requires placing the transducer close to the PTV. We studied the effect of a seven degrees of freedom robot on the fea-sible beam directions. Methods: For five CyberKnife prostate treatment plans we established viewports for the transducer, i.e., points on the patient surface with a soft tissue view towards the PTV. Choosing a feasible transducer pose and using the kinematic redundancy of the KUKA LBR iiwa robot, we considered three robot poses. Poses 1 to 3 had the elbow point anterior, superior, and inferior, respectively. For each pose and each beam starting point, the pro-jections of robot and PTV were computed. We added a 20 mm margin accounting for organ / beam motion. The number of nodes for which the PTV was partially of fully blocked were established. Moreover, the cumula-tive overlap for each of the poses and the minimum overlap over all poses were computed. Results: The fully and partially blocked nodes ranged from 12% to 20% and 13% to 27%, respectively. Typically, pose 3 caused the fewest blocked nodes. The cumulative overlap ranged from 19% to 29%. Taking the minimum overlap, i.e., considering moving the robot’s elbow while maintaining the transducer pose, the cumulative over-lap was reduced to 16% to 18% and was 3% to 6% lower than for the best individual pose. Conclusion: Our results indicate that it is possible to identify feasible ultrasound transducer poses and to use the kinematic redundancy of a 7 DOF robot to minimize the impact of the imaging subsystem on the feasible beam directions for ultrasound guided and motion compensated SBRT. Research partially funded by DFG grants ER 817/1-1 and SCHL 1844/3-1.

  20. Laser Remediation of Threats Posed by Small Orbital Debris

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fork, Richard L.; Rogers, Jan R.; Hovater, Mary A.

    2012-01-01

    The continually increasing amount of orbital debris in near Earth space poses an increasing challenge to space situational awareness. Recent collisions of spacecraft caused abrupt increases in the density of both large and small debris in near Earth space. An especially challenging class of threats is that due to the increasing density of small (1 mm to 10 cm dimension) orbital debris. This small debris poses a serious threat since: (1) The high velocity enables even millimeter dimension debris to cause serious damage to vulnerable areas of space assets, e.g., detector windows; (2) The small size and large number of debris elements prevent adequate detection and cataloguing. We have identified solutions to this threat in the form of novel laser systems and novel ways of using these laser systems. While implementation of the solutions we identify is challenging we find approaches offering threat mitigation within time frames and at costs of practical interest. We base our analysis on the unique combination of coherent light specifically structured in both space and time and applied in novel ways entirely within the vacuum of space to deorbiting small debris. We compare and contrast laser based small debris removal strategies using ground based laser systems with strategies using space based laser systems. We find laser systems located and used entirely within space offer essential and decisive advantages over groundbased laser systems.

  1. Towards real-time body pose estimation for presenters in meeting environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poppe, Ronald Walter; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Nijholt, Antinus; Poel, Mannes

    2005-01-01

    This paper describes a computer vision-based approach to body pose estimation. The algorithm can be executed in real-time and processes low resolution, monocular image sequences. A silhouette is extracted and matched against a projection of a 16 DOF human body model. In addition, skin color is used

  2. Novelty Detection for Interactive Pose Recognition by a Social Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Gonzalez-Pacheco

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Active robot learners take an active role in their own learning by making queries to their human teachers when they receive new data. However, not every received input is useful for the robot, and asking for non-informative inputs or asking too many questions might worsen the user's perception of the robot. We present a novelty detection system that enables a robot to ask labels for new stimuli only when they seem both novel and interesting. Our system separates the decision process into two steps: first, it discriminates novel from known stimuli, and second, it estimates if these stimuli are likely to happen again. Our approach uses the notion of curiosity, which controls the eagerness with which the robot asks questions to the user. We evaluate our approach in the domain of pose learning by training our robot with a set of pointing poses able to detect up to 84%, 79%, and 78% of the observed novelties in three different experiments. Our approach enables robots to keep learning continuously, even after training is finished. The introduction of the curiosity parameter allows tuning, for the conditions in which the robot should want to learn more.

  3. Probabilistic Mapping of Human Visual Attention from Head Pose Estimation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Veronese

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Effective interaction between a human and a robot requires the bidirectional perception and interpretation of actions and behavior. While actions can be identified as a directly observable activity, this might not be sufficient to deduce actions in a scene. For example, orienting our face toward a book might suggest the action toward “reading.” For a human observer, this deduction requires the direction of gaze, the object identified as a book and the intersection between gaze and book. With this in mind, we aim to estimate and map human visual attention as directed to a scene, and assess how this relates to the detection of objects and their related actions. In particular, we consider human head pose as measurement to infer the attention of a human engaged in a task and study which prior knowledge should be included in such a detection system. In a user study, we show the successful detection of attention to objects in a typical office task scenario (i.e., reading, working with a computer, studying an object. Our system requires a single external RGB camera for head pose measurements and a pre-recorded 3D point cloud of the environment.

  4. Camera-pose estimation via projective Newton optimization on the manifold.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkis, Michel; Diepold, Klaus

    2012-04-01

    Determining the pose of a moving camera is an important task in computer vision. In this paper, we derive a projective Newton algorithm on the manifold to refine the pose estimate of a camera. The main idea is to benefit from the fact that the 3-D rigid motion is described by the special Euclidean group, which is a Riemannian manifold. The latter is equipped with a tangent space defined by the corresponding Lie algebra. This enables us to compute the optimization direction, i.e., the gradient and the Hessian, at each iteration of the projective Newton scheme on the tangent space of the manifold. Then, the motion is updated by projecting back the variables on the manifold itself. We also derive another version of the algorithm that employs homeomorphic parameterization to the special Euclidean group. We test the algorithm on several simulated and real image data sets. Compared with the standard Newton minimization scheme, we are now able to obtain the full numerical formula of the Hessian with a 60% decrease in computational complexity. Compared with Levenberg-Marquardt, the results obtained are more accurate while having a rather similar complexity.

  5. Cross-national differences in clinically significant cannabis problems: epidemiologic evidence from 'cannabis-only' smokers in the United States, Mexico, and Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Posada-Villa Jose

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Epidemiological studies show wide variability in the occurrence of cannabis smoking and related disorders across countries. This study aims to estimate cross-national variation in cannabis users' experience of clinically significant cannabis-related problems in three countries of the Americas, with a focus on cannabis users who may have tried alcohol or tobacco, but who have not used cocaine, heroin, LSD, or other internationally regulated drugs. Methods Data are from the World Mental Health Surveys Initiative and the National Latino and Asian American Study, with probability samples in Mexico (n = 4426, Colombia (n = 5,782 and the United States (USA; n = 8,228. The samples included 212 'cannabis only' users in Mexico, 260 in Colombia and 1,724 in the USA. Conditional GLM with GEE and 'exact' methods were used to estimate variation in the occurrence of clinically significant problems in cannabis only (CO users across these surveyed populations. Results The experience of cannabis-related problems was quite infrequent among CO users in these countries, with weighted frequencies ranging from 1% to 5% across survey populations, and with no appreciable cross-national variation in general. CO users in Colombia proved to be an exception. As compared to CO users in the USA, the Colombia smokers were more likely to have experienced cannabis-associated 'social problems' (odds ratio, OR = 3.0; 95% CI = 1.4, 6.3; p = 0.004 and 'legal problems' (OR = 9.7; 95% CI = 2.7, 35.2; p = 0.001. Conclusions This study's most remarkable finding may be the similarity in occurrence of cannabis-related problems in this cross-national comparison within the Americas. Wide cross-national variations in estimated population-level cumulative incidence of cannabis use disorders may be traced to large differences in cannabis smoking prevalence, rather than qualitative differences in cannabis experiences. More research is needed to identify conditions that

  6. Soft tissue navigation for laparoscopic prostatectomy: evaluation of camera pose estimation for enhanced visualization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumhauer, M.; Simpfendörfer, T.; Schwarz, R.; Seitel, M.; Müller-Stich, B. P.; Gutt, C. N.; Rassweiler, J.; Meinzer, H.-P.; Wolf, I.

    2007-03-01

    We introduce a novel navigation system to support minimally invasive prostate surgery. The system utilizes transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) and needle-shaped navigation aids to visualize hidden structures via Augmented Reality. During the intervention, the navigation aids are segmented once from a 3D TRUS dataset and subsequently tracked by the endoscope camera. Camera Pose Estimation methods directly determine position and orientation of the camera in relation to the navigation aids. Accordingly, our system does not require any external tracking device for registration of endoscope camera and ultrasonography probe. In addition to a preoperative planning step in which the navigation targets are defined, the procedure consists of two main steps which are carried out during the intervention: First, the preoperatively prepared planning data is registered with an intraoperatively acquired 3D TRUS dataset and the segmented navigation aids. Second, the navigation aids are continuously tracked by the endoscope camera. The camera's pose can thereby be derived and relevant medical structures can be superimposed on the video image. This paper focuses on the latter step. We have implemented several promising real-time algorithms and incorporated them into the Open Source Toolkit MITK (www.mitk.org). Furthermore, we have evaluated them for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) navigation scenarios. For this purpose, a virtual evaluation environment has been developed, which allows for the simulation of navigation targets and navigation aids, including their measurement errors. Besides evaluating the accuracy of the computed pose, we have analyzed the impact of an inaccurate pose and the resulting displacement of navigation targets in Augmented Reality.

  7. Sensing Strategies for Disambiguating among Multiple Objects in Known Poses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1985-08-01

    ELEMENT. PROIECT. TASK Artificial Inteligence Laboratory AE OKUI UBR 545 Technology Square Cambridge, MA 021.39 11. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12...AD-Ali65 912 SENSING STRATEGIES FOR DISAMBIGURTING MONG MULTIPLE 1/1 OBJECTS IN KNOWN POSES(U) MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH CAMBRIDGE ARTIFICIAL ...or Dist Special 1 ’ MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY A. I. Memo 855 August, 1985 Sensing Strategies for

  8. Strategic management of health risks posed by buried transuranic wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jump, R.A.

    1994-01-01

    A strategy is presented for reducing health risks at sites contaminated with buried transuranic (TRU) wastes by first taking measures to immobilize the contaminants until the second step, final action, becomes cost-effective and poses less risk to the remediation workers. The first step of this strategy does not preclude further action if it is warranted and is in harmony with environmental laws and regulations

  9. Inverse Free Iterative Methods for Nonlinear Ill-Posed Operator Equations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioannis K. Argyros

    2014-01-01

    ill-posed operator equation F(x=y. The proposed method is a modified form of Tikhonov gradient (TIGRA method considered by Ramlau (2003. The regularization parameter is chosen according to the balancing principle considered by Pereverzev and Schock (2005. The error estimate is derived under a general source condition and is of optimal order. Some numerical examples involving integral equations are also given in this paper.

  10. The Economic Impact of Terrorism in the Near East: Understanding the Threats Posed by Militant Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-21

    terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 researchers have sought to better understand the macroeconomic consequences of terrorism. Despite a...The Economic Impact of Terrorism in the Near East: Understanding the Threats Posed by Militant Groups A Monograph by MAJ Joshua Glonek...SUBTITLE The Economic Impact of Terrorism in the Near East: Understanding the Threats Posed by Militant Groups 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT

  11. The Burnside problem and related topics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adian, Sergei I

    2011-01-01

    This paper gives a survey of results related to the famous Burnside problem on periodic groups. A negative solution of this problem was first published in joint papers of P.S. Novikov and the author in 1968. The theory of transformations of words in free periodic groups that was created in these papers and its various modifications give a very productive approach to the investigation of hard problems in group theory. In 1950 the Burnside problem gave rise to another problem on finite periodic groups, formulated by Magnus and called by him the restricted Burnside problem. Here it is called the Burnside-Magnus problem. In the Burnside problem the question of local finiteness of periodic groups of a given exponent was posed, but the Burnside-Magnus problem is the question of the existence of a maximal finite periodic group R(m,n) of a fixed period n with a given number m of generators. These problems complement each other. The publication in a joint paper by the author and Razborov in 1987 of the first effective proof of the well-known result of Kostrikin on the existence of a maximal group R(m,n) for any prime n, together with an indication of primitive recursive upper bounds for the orders of these groups, stimulated investigations of the Burnside-Magnus problem as well. Very soon other effective proofs appeared, and then Zel'manov extended Kostrikin's result to the case when n is any power of a prime number. These results are discussed in the last section of this paper. Bibliography: 105 titles.

  12. TOPICAL REVIEW: The stability for the Cauchy problem for elliptic equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alessandrini, Giovanni; Rondi, Luca; Rosset, Edi; Vessella, Sergio

    2009-12-01

    We discuss the ill-posed Cauchy problem for elliptic equations, which is pervasive in inverse boundary value problems modeled by elliptic equations. We provide essentially optimal stability results, in wide generality and under substantially minimal assumptions. As a general scheme in our arguments, we show that all such stability results can be derived by the use of a single building brick, the three-spheres inequality. Due to the current absence of research funding from the Italian Ministry of University and Research, this work has been completed without any financial support.

  13. Modified Monte Carlo procedure for particle transport problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthes, W.

    1978-01-01

    The simulation of photon transport in the atmosphere with the Monte Carlo method forms part of the EURASEP-programme. The specifications for the problems posed for a solution were such, that the direct application of the analogue Monte Carlo method was not feasible. For this reason the standard Monte Carlo procedure was modified in the sense that additional properly weighted branchings at each collision and transport process in a photon history were introduced. This modified Monte Carlo procedure leads to a clear and logical separation of the essential parts of a problem and offers a large flexibility for variance reducing techniques. More complex problems, as foreseen in the EURASEP-programme (e.g. clouds in the atmosphere, rough ocean-surface and chlorophyl-distribution in the ocean) can be handled by recoding some subroutines. This collision- and transport-splitting procedure can of course be performed differently in different space- and energy regions. It is applied here only for a homogeneous problem

  14. Reentry challenges facing women with mental health problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visher, Christy A; Bakken, Nicholas W

    2014-01-01

    Women entering the correctional system represent a population at high risk for mental health and the body of research on the mental health needs of women offenders is growing. These mental health problems pose challenges for women at every stage of the criminal justice process, from arrest to incarceration to community reentry and reintegration. In this article, we examined mental health status among a sample of 142 women leaving confinement and the role that mental health problems played in shaping their reentry outcomes using data collected between 2002 and 2005 in Houston, Texas. In the year after leaving prison, women with mental health problems reported poorer health, more hospitalizations, more suicidal thoughts, greater difficulties securing housing and employment, more involvement in criminal behavior, and less financial support from family than women with no indication of mental health problems. However, mental health status did not increase the likelihood of substance use relapse or reincarceration. The article concludes with a discussion of recommendations for improved policy and practice.

  15. Exploring a Structure for Mathematics Lessons That Foster Problem Solving and Reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Peter; Walker, Nadia; Borcek, Chris; Rennie, Mick

    2015-01-01

    While there is widespread agreement on the importance of incorporating problem solving and reasoning into mathematics classrooms, there is limited specific advice on how this can best happen. This is a report of an aspect of a project that is examining the opportunities and constraints in initiating learning by posing challenging mathematics tasks…

  16. Incremental projection approach of regularization for inverse problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souopgui, Innocent, E-mail: innocent.souopgui@usm.edu [The University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Marine Science (United States); Ngodock, Hans E., E-mail: hans.ngodock@nrlssc.navy.mil [Naval Research Laboratory (United States); Vidard, Arthur, E-mail: arthur.vidard@imag.fr; Le Dimet, François-Xavier, E-mail: ledimet@imag.fr [Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann (France)

    2016-10-15

    This paper presents an alternative approach to the regularized least squares solution of ill-posed inverse problems. Instead of solving a minimization problem with an objective function composed of a data term and a regularization term, the regularization information is used to define a projection onto a convex subspace of regularized candidate solutions. The objective function is modified to include the projection of each iterate in the place of the regularization. Numerical experiments based on the problem of motion estimation for geophysical fluid images, show the improvement of the proposed method compared with regularization methods. For the presented test case, the incremental projection method uses 7 times less computation time than the regularization method, to reach the same error target. Moreover, at convergence, the incremental projection is two order of magnitude more accurate than the regularization method.

  17. Antibiotics as CECs: An Overview of the Hazards Posed by Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geoffrey Ivan Scott

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACTMonitoring programs have traditionally monitored legacy contaminants but are shifting focus to Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs. CECs present many challenges for monitoring and assessment, because measurement methods don't always exist nor have toxicological studies been fully conducted to place results in proper context. Also some CECs affect metabolic pathways to produce adverse outcomes that are not assessed through traditional toxicological evaluations. Antibiotics are CECs that pose significant environmental risks including development of both toxic effects at high doses and antibiotic resistance at doses well below the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC which kill bacteria and have been found in nearly half of all sites monitored in the US. Antimicrobial resistance has generally been attributed to the use of antibiotics in medicine for humans and livestock as well as aquaculture operations. The objective of this study was to assess the extent and magnitude of antibiotics in the environment and estimate their potential hazards in the environment. Antibiotics concentrations were measured in a number of monitoring studies which included Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP effluent, surface waters, sediments and biota. A number of studies reported levels of Antibiotic Resistant Microbes (ARM in surface waters and some studies found specific ARM genes (e.g. the blaM-1 gene in E. coli which may pose additional environmental risk. High levels of this gene were found to survive WWTP disinfection and accumulated in sediment at levels 100-1000 times higher than in the sewerage effluent, posing potential risks for gene transfer to other bacteria.in aquatic and marine ecosystems. Antibiotic risk assessment approaches were developed based on the use of MICs and MIC Ratios [High (Antibiotic Resistant/Low (Antibiotic Sensitive MIC] for each antibiotic indicating the range of bacterial adaptability to each antibiotic to help define the No

  18. The Cauchy problem for the Schrödinger-KdV system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hua; Cui, Shangbin

    In this paper we prove that in the general case (i.e. β not necessarily vanishing) the Cauchy problem for the Schrödinger-Korteweg-de Vries system is locally well-posed in L×H, and if β=0 then it is locally well-posed in H×H with -3/16Linares (2007) [5]. Idea of the proof is to establish some bilinear and trilinear estimates in the space G×F, where G and F are dyadic Bourgain-type spaces related to the Schrödinger operator i∂+∂x2 and the Airy operator ∂+∂x3, respectively, but with a modification on F in low frequency part of functions with a weaker structure related to the maximal function estimate of the Airy operator.

  19. Finite element approximation to a model problem of transonic flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tangmanee, S.

    1986-12-01

    A model problem of transonic flow ''the Tricomi equation'' in Ω is contained in IR 2 bounded by the rectangular-curve boundary is posed in the form of symmetric positive differential equations. The finite element method is then applied. When the triangulation of Ω-bar is made of quadrilaterals and the approximation space is the Lagrange polynomial, we get the error estimates. 14 refs, 1 fig

  20. The Dynamic Features of Lip Corners in Genuine and Posed Smiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hui Guo

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The smile is a frequently expressed facial expression that typically conveys a positive emotional state and friendly intent. However, human beings have also learned how to fake smiles, typically by controlling the mouth to provide a genuine-looking expression. This is often accompanied by inaccuracies that can allow others to determine that the smile is false. Mouth movement is one of the most striking features of the smile, yet our understanding of its dynamic elements is still limited. The present study analyzes the dynamic features of lip corners, and considers how they differ between genuine and posed smiles. Employing computer vision techniques, we investigated elements such as the duration, intensity, speed, symmetry of the lip corners, and certain irregularities in genuine and posed smiles obtained from the UvA-NEMO Smile Database. After utilizing the facial analysis tool OpenFace, we further propose a new approach to segmenting the onset, apex, and offset phases of smiles, as well as a means of measuring irregularities and symmetry in facial expressions. We extracted these features according to 2D and 3D coordinates, and conducted an analysis. The results reveal that genuine smiles have higher values for onset, offset, apex, and total durations, as well as offset displacement, and a variable we termed Irregularity-b (the SD of the apex phase than do posed smiles. Conversely, values tended to be lower for onset and offset Speeds, and Irregularity-a (the rate of peaks, Symmetry-a (the correlation between left and right facial movements, and Symmetry-d (differences in onset frame numbers between the left and right faces. The findings from the present study have been compared to those of previous research, and certain speculations are made.

  1. The effect of problem-based and lecture-based instructional strategies on learner problem solving performance, problem solving processes, and attitudes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visser, Yusra Laila

    This study compared the effect of lecture-based instruction to that of problem-based instruction on learner performance (on near-transfer and far-transfer problems), problem solving processes (reasoning strategy usage and reasoning efficiency), and attitudes (overall motivation and learner confidence) in a Genetics course. The study also analyzed the effect of self-regulatory skills and prior-academic achievement on performance for both instructional strategies. Sixty 11th grade students at a public math and science academy were assigned to either a lecture-based instructional strategy or a problem-based instructional strategy. Both treatment groups received 18 weeks of Genetics instruction through the assigned instructional strategy. In terms of problem solving performance, results revealed that the lecture-based group performed significantly better on near-transfer post-test problems. The problem-based group performed significantly better on far-transfer post-test problems. In addition, results indicated the learners in the lecture-based instructional treatment were significantly more likely to employ data-driven reasoning in the solving of problems, whereas learners in the problem-based instructional treatment were significantly more likely to employ hypothesis-driven reasoning in problem solving. No significant differences in reasoning efficiency were uncovered between treatment groups. Preliminary analysis of the motivation data suggested that there were no significant differences in motivation between treatment groups. However, a post-research exploratory analysis suggests that overall motivation was significantly higher in the lecture-based instructional treatment than in the problem-based instructional treatment. Learner confidence was significantly higher in the lecture-based group than in the problem-based group. A significant positive correlation was detected between self-regulatory skills scores and problem solving performance scores in the problem

  2. 200 more puzzling physics problems with hints and solutions

    CERN Document Server

    Gnädig, Péter; Vigh, Máté

    2016-01-01

    Like its predecessor, 200 Puzzling Physics Problems, this book is aimed at strengthening students' grasp of the laws of physics by applying them to situations that are practical, and to problems that yield more easily to intuitive insight than to brute-force methods and complex mathematics. The problems are chosen almost exclusively from classical, non-quantum physics, but are no easier for that. They are intriguingly posed in accessible non-technical language, and require readers to select an appropriate analysis framework and decide which branches of physics are involved. The general level of sophistication needed is that of the exceptional school student, the good undergraduate, or the competent graduate student; some physics professors may find some of the more difficult questions challenging. By contrast, the mathematical demands are relatively minimal, and seldom go beyond elementary calculus. This further book of physics problems is not only instructive and challenging, but also enjoyable.

  3. Tooth display and lip position during spontaneous and posed smiling in adults.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Geld, P.A.A.M. van der; Oosterveld, P.; Berge, S.J.; Kuijpers-Jagtman, A.M.

    2008-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To analyze differences in tooth display, lip-line height, and smile width between the posed smiling record, traditionally produced for orthodontic diagnosis, and the spontaneous (Duchenne) smile of joy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The faces of 122 male participants were each filmed during

  4. Automated pose estimation of objects using multiple ID devices for handling and maintenance task in nuclear fusion reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Umetani, Tomohiro; Morioka, Jun-ichi; Tamura, Yuichi; Inoue, Kenji; Arai, Tatsuo; Mae, Yasusi

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes a method for the automated estimation of three-dimensional pose (position and orientation) of objects by autonomous robots, using multiple identification (ID) devices. Our goal is to estimate the object pose for assembly or maintenance tasks in a real nuclear fusion reactor system, with autonomous robots cooperating in a virtual assembly system. The method estimates the three-dimensional pose for autonomous robots. This paper discusses a method of motion generation for ID acquisition using the sensory data acquired by the measurement system attached to the robots and from the environment. Experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed method. (author)

  5. Voxel-based registration of simulated and real patient CBCT data for accurate dental implant pose estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreira, António H. J.; Queirós, Sandro; Morais, Pedro; Rodrigues, Nuno F.; Correia, André Ricardo; Fernandes, Valter; Pinho, A. C. M.; Fonseca, Jaime C.; Vilaça, João. L.

    2015-03-01

    The success of dental implant-supported prosthesis is directly linked to the accuracy obtained during implant's pose estimation (position and orientation). Although traditional impression techniques and recent digital acquisition methods are acceptably accurate, a simultaneously fast, accurate and operator-independent methodology is still lacking. Hereto, an image-based framework is proposed to estimate the patient-specific implant's pose using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and prior knowledge of implanted model. The pose estimation is accomplished in a threestep approach: (1) a region-of-interest is extracted from the CBCT data using 2 operator-defined points at the implant's main axis; (2) a simulated CBCT volume of the known implanted model is generated through Feldkamp-Davis-Kress reconstruction and coarsely aligned to the defined axis; and (3) a voxel-based rigid registration is performed to optimally align both patient and simulated CBCT data, extracting the implant's pose from the optimal transformation. Three experiments were performed to evaluate the framework: (1) an in silico study using 48 implants distributed through 12 tridimensional synthetic mandibular models; (2) an in vitro study using an artificial mandible with 2 dental implants acquired with an i-CAT system; and (3) two clinical case studies. The results shown positional errors of 67+/-34μm and 108μm, and angular misfits of 0.15+/-0.08° and 1.4°, for experiment 1 and 2, respectively. Moreover, in experiment 3, visual assessment of clinical data results shown a coherent alignment of the reference implant. Overall, a novel image-based framework for implants' pose estimation from CBCT data was proposed, showing accurate results in agreement with dental prosthesis modelling requirements.

  6. Exercise Sensing and Pose Recovery Inference Tool (ESPRIT) - A Compact Stereo-based Motion Capture Solution For Exercise Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Mun Wai

    2015-01-01

    Crew exercise is important during long-duration space flight not only for maintaining health and fitness but also for preventing adverse health problems, such as losses in muscle strength and bone density. Monitoring crew exercise via motion capture and kinematic analysis aids understanding of the effects of microgravity on exercise and helps ensure that exercise prescriptions are effective. Intelligent Automation, Inc., has developed ESPRIT to monitor exercise activities, detect body markers, extract image features, and recover three-dimensional (3D) kinematic body poses. The system relies on prior knowledge and modeling of the human body and on advanced statistical inference techniques to achieve robust and accurate motion capture. In Phase I, the company demonstrated motion capture of several exercises, including walking, curling, and dead lifting. Phase II efforts focused on enhancing algorithms and delivering an ESPRIT prototype for testing and demonstration.

  7. Handheld pose tracking using vision-inertial sensors with occlusion handling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Juan; Slembrouck, Maarten; Deboeverie, Francis; Bernardos, Ana M.; Besada, Juan A.; Veelaert, Peter; Aghajan, Hamid; Casar, José R.; Philips, Wilfried

    2016-07-01

    Tracking of a handheld device's three-dimensional (3-D) position and orientation is fundamental to various application domains, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality, and interaction in smart spaces. Existing systems still offer limited performance in terms of accuracy, robustness, computational cost, and ease of deployment. We present a low-cost, accurate, and robust system for handheld pose tracking using fused vision and inertial data. The integration of measurements from embedded accelerometers reduces the number of unknown parameters in the six-degree-of-freedom pose calculation. The proposed system requires two light-emitting diode (LED) markers to be attached to the device, which are tracked by external cameras through a robust algorithm against illumination changes. Three data fusion methods have been proposed, including the triangulation-based stereo-vision system, constraint-based stereo-vision system with occlusion handling, and triangulation-based multivision system. Real-time demonstrations of the proposed system applied to AR and 3-D gaming are also included. The accuracy assessment of the proposed system is carried out by comparing with the data generated by the state-of-the-art commercial motion tracking system OptiTrack. Experimental results show that the proposed system has achieved high accuracy of few centimeters in position estimation and few degrees in orientation estimation.

  8. The interactive effect of paternal problem drinking and maternal problem drinking on adolescent internalizing problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohannessian, Christine McCauley

    2015-11-01

    This study examined the effects of both paternal problem drinking and maternal problem drinking on adolescent internalizing problems (depression and anxiety symptomatology). Surveys were administered to 566 10th and 11th grade students from the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. in the spring of 2007 and again in the spring of 2008. Although significant main effects were not observed, significant interactions were found between paternal problem drinking and maternal problem drinking for internalizing problems, especially for boys. In general, these interactions indicated that when paternal problem drinking was high, depression symptomatology and anxiety symptomatology were lower if maternal problem drinking was low. Findings from this study highlight the need to consider both paternal and maternal problem drinking when examining the effects that parental problem drinking may have on adolescent adjustment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Solving inverse problems through a smooth formulation of multiple-point geostatistics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Melnikova, Yulia

    be inferred, for instance, from a conceptual geological model termed a training image.The main motivation for this study was the challenge posed by history matching, an inverse problem aimed at estimating rock properties from production data. We addressed two main difficulties of the history matching problem...... corresponding inverse problems. However, noise in data, non-linear relationships and sparse observations impede creation of realistic reservoir models. Including complex a priori information on reservoir parameters facilitates the process of obtaining acceptable solutions. Such a priori knowledge may...... strategies including both theoretical motivation and practical aspects of implementation. Finally, it is complemented by six research papers submitted, reviewed and/or published in the period 2010 - 2013....

  10. A theoretical study on a convergence problem of nodal methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shaohong, Z.; Ziyong, L. [Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ., 1954 Hua Shan Road, Shanghai, 200030 (China); Chao, Y. A. [Westinghouse Electric Company, P. O. Box 355, Pittsburgh, PA 15230-0355 (United States)

    2006-07-01

    The effectiveness of modern nodal methods is largely due to its use of the information from the analytical flux solution inside a homogeneous node. As a result, the nodal coupling coefficients depend explicitly or implicitly on the evolving Eigen-value of a problem during its solution iteration process. This poses an inherently non-linear matrix Eigen-value iteration problem. This paper points out analytically that, whenever the half wave length of an evolving node interior analytic solution becomes smaller than the size of that node, this non-linear iteration problem can become inherently unstable and theoretically can always be non-convergent or converge to higher order harmonics. This phenomenon is confirmed, demonstrated and analyzed via the simplest 1-D problem solved by the simplest analytic nodal method, the Analytic Coarse Mesh Finite Difference (ACMFD, [1]) method. (authors)

  11. Satellite markers: a simple method for ground truth car pose on stereo video

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil, Gustavo; Savino, Giovanni; Piantini, Simone; Pierini, Marco

    2018-04-01

    Artificial prediction of future location of other cars in the context of advanced safety systems is a must. The remote estimation of car pose and particularly its heading angle is key to predict its future location. Stereo vision systems allow to get the 3D information of a scene. Ground truth in this specific context is associated with referential information about the depth, shape and orientation of the objects present in the traffic scene. Creating 3D ground truth is a measurement and data fusion task associated with the combination of different kinds of sensors. The novelty of this paper is the method to generate ground truth car pose only from video data. When the method is applied to stereo video, it also provides the extrinsic camera parameters for each camera at frame level which are key to quantify the performance of a stereo vision system when it is moving because the system is subjected to undesired vibrations and/or leaning. We developed a video post-processing technique which employs a common camera calibration tool for the 3D ground truth generation. In our case study, we focus in accurate car heading angle estimation of a moving car under realistic imagery. As outcomes, our satellite marker method provides accurate car pose at frame level, and the instantaneous spatial orientation for each camera at frame level.

  12. Characterization of discontinuities in high-dimensional stochastic problems on adaptive sparse grids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jakeman, John D.; Archibald, Richard; Xiu Dongbin

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we present a set of efficient algorithms for detection and identification of discontinuities in high dimensional space. The method is based on extension of polynomial annihilation for discontinuity detection in low dimensions. Compared to the earlier work, the present method poses significant improvements for high dimensional problems. The core of the algorithms relies on adaptive refinement of sparse grids. It is demonstrated that in the commonly encountered cases where a discontinuity resides on a small subset of the dimensions, the present method becomes 'optimal', in the sense that the total number of points required for function evaluations depends linearly on the dimensionality of the space. The details of the algorithms will be presented and various numerical examples are utilized to demonstrate the efficacy of the method.

  13. Face Recognition across Varying Poses in 7- and 9-Month-Old Infants: The Role of Facial Expression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, Cornelia; Schwarzer, Gudrun

    2010-01-01

    Three studies were conducted to determine whether 7- and 9-month-old infants generalize face identity to a novel pose of the same face when only internal face sections with and without an emotional expression were presented. In Study 1, 7- and 9-month-old infants were habituated to a full frontal or three-quarter pose of a face with neutral facial…

  14. Modified quasi-boundary value method for Cauchy problems of elliptic equations with variable coefficients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongwu Zhang

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we study a Cauchy problem for an elliptic equation with variable coefficients. It is well-known that such a problem is severely ill-posed; i.e., the solution does not depend continuously on the Cauchy data. We propose a modified quasi-boundary value regularization method to solve it. Convergence estimates are established under two a priori assumptions on the exact solution. A numerical example is given to illustrate our proposed method.

  15. NUI framework based on real-time head pose estimation and hand gesture recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Hyunduk

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The natural user interface (NUI is used for the natural motion interface without using device or tool such as mice, keyboards, pens and markers. In this paper, we develop natural user interface framework based on two recognition module. First module is real-time head pose estimation module using random forests and second module is hand gesture recognition module, named Hand gesture Key Emulation Toolkit (HandGKET. Using the head pose estimation module, we can know where the user is looking and what the user’s focus of attention is. Moreover, using the hand gesture recognition module, we can also control the computer using the user’s hand gesture without mouse and keyboard. In proposed framework, the user’s head direction and hand gesture are mapped into mouse and keyboard event, respectively.

  16. The Y2K Problem: Will It Just Be Another New Year's Eve?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwanowski, Jay

    1998-01-01

    Potential problems for college and university computing functions posed by arrival of the year 2000 (Y2K) are discussed, including arithmetic calculations and sorting functions based on two-digit year dates, embedding of two-digit dates in archival data, system coordination for data exchange, unique number generation, and leap year calculations. A…

  17. How members of the human gut microbiota overcome the sulfation problem posed by glycosaminoglycans

    OpenAIRE

    Cartmell, Alan; Lowe, Elisabeth C.; Basl?, Arnaud; Firbank, Susan J.; Ndeh, Didier A.; Murray, Heath; Terrapon, Nicolas; Lombard, Vincent; Henrissat, Bernard; Turnbull, Jeremy E.; Czjzek, Mirjam; Gilbert, Harry J.; Bolam, David N.

    2017-01-01

    The human microbiota, which plays an important role in health and disease, uses complex carbohydrates as a major source of nutrients. Utilization hierarchy indicates that the host glycosaminoglycans heparin (Hep) and heparan sulfate (HS) are high-priority carbohydrates for Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a prominent member of the human microbiota. The sulfation patterns of these glycosaminoglycans are highly variable, which presents a significant enzymatic challenge to the polysaccharide lyases...

  18. Heroin-assisted treatment as a response to the public health problem of opiate dependence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fischer, Benedikt; Rehm, Jürgen; Kirst, Maritt; Casas, Miguel; Hall, Wayne; Krausz, Michael; Metrebian, Nicky; Reggers, Jean; Uchtenhagen, Ambros; van den Brink, Wim; van Ree, Jan M.

    2002-01-01

    Injection drug use (involving the injection of illicit opiates) poses serious public health problems in many countries. Research has indicated that injection drug users are at higher risk for morbidity in the form of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B and C, and drug-related mortality, as well as increased

  19. Environmental challenges posed by veld fires in fragile regions: The case of the Bulilima and Mangwe districts in southern Zimbabwe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernest Dube

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This original research confronted challenges to environmental management and sustainability posed by veld fires in the Bulilima and Mangwe Districts of Matabeleland in the South Province in southern Zimbabwe. Veld fires have affected the fauna and flora, polluted air and water, and destroyed livelihoods. The study aimed at establishing challenges to environmental sustainability posed by veld fires, identifying the type of environment upon which veld fires have impacted, analysing legal issues and other interventions surrounding the control of veld fires and suggesting new control measures for veld fires. A qualitative research design and quota sampling were used. The study involved 30 participants. Data was collected through a questionnaire, an interview guide and participant observation. Challenges to environmental management and sustainability posed by veld fires include property damage, reduced soil fertility, destruction of vegetation, air and water pollution and destruction of wildlife. Most veld fires are a result of human actions that emanate from the disposal of cigarettes, the burning of vegetation when preparing fields, the use of fire by hunters, smoking out bees and the making of fires by motorists along highways. The government should consider reviewing the current environmental statues. Fireguards should be wide enough to lessen veld-fire impact. Lastly, veld-fire campaigns and rehearsals should be run on a regular basis. It is hoped that this work would make a significant contribution through improving the current thinking about environmental management and sustainability, thereby benefiting policy makers, practitioners and stakeholders.

  20. A new type of disconnectedness problem in a field-theory model of the NNπ system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stelbovics, A.T.; Stingl, M.

    1978-01-01

    When treated as an effective three-body problem in the framework of a simple field-theory model, the NNπ system acquires, in addition to the disconnected subsystem interactions usually considered, a new type of disconnected driving term, possible only for non-conserved particles such as the π. These terms pose a disconnectedness problem more intricate than that solved by Faddeev's equations or their known modifications for connected three-body forces. The solution of this problem in terms of a set of connected-kernel integral equations is presented. (Auth.)

  1. Late-Life Drinking Problems: The Predictive Roles of Drinking Level vs. Drinking Pattern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holahan, Charles J; Brennan, Penny L; Schutte, Kathleen K; Holahan, Carole K; Hixon, J Gregory; Moos, Rudolf H

    2017-05-01

    Research on late-middle-aged and older adults has focused primarily on average level of alcohol consumption, overlooking variability in underlying drinking patterns. The purpose of the present study was to examine the independent contributions of an episodic heavy pattern of drinking versus a high average level of drinking as prospective predictors of drinking problems. The sample comprised 1,107 adults ages 55-65 years at baseline. Alcohol consumption was assessed at baseline, and drinking problems were indexed across 20 years. We used prospective negative binomial regression analyses controlling for baseline drinking problems, as well as for demographic and health factors, to predict the number of drinking problems at each of four follow-up waves (1, 4, 10, and 20 years). Across waves where the effects were significant, a high average level of drinking (coefficients of 1.56, 95% CI [1.24, 1.95]; 1.48, 95% CI [1.11, 1.98]; and 1.85, 95% CI [1.23, 2.79] at 1, 10, and 20 years) and an episodic heavy pattern of drinking (coefficients of 1.61, 95% CI [1.30, 1.99]; 1.61, 95% CI [1.28, 2.03]; and 1.43, 95% CI [1.08, 1.90] at 1, 4, and 10 years) each independently increased the number of drinking problems by more than 50%. Information based only on average consumption underestimates the risk of drinking problems among older adults. Both a high average level of drinking and an episodic heavy pattern of drinking pose prospective risks of later drinking problems among older adults.

  2. Online absolute pose compensation and steering control of industrial robot based on six degrees of freedom laser measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Juqing; Wang, Dayong; Fan, Baixing; Dong, Dengfeng; Zhou, Weihu

    2017-03-01

    In-situ intelligent manufacturing for large-volume equipment requires industrial robots with absolute high-accuracy positioning and orientation steering control. Conventional robots mainly employ an offline calibration technology to identify and compensate key robotic parameters. However, the dynamic and static parameters of a robot change nonlinearly. It is not possible to acquire a robot's actual parameters and control the absolute pose of the robot with a high accuracy within a large workspace by offline calibration in real-time. This study proposes a real-time online absolute pose steering control method for an industrial robot based on six degrees of freedom laser tracking measurement, which adopts comprehensive compensation and correction of differential movement variables. First, the pose steering control system and robot kinematics error model are constructed, and then the pose error compensation mechanism and algorithm are introduced in detail. By accurately achieving the position and orientation of the robot end-tool, mapping the computed Jacobian matrix of the joint variable and correcting the joint variable, the real-time online absolute pose compensation for an industrial robot is accurately implemented in simulations and experimental tests. The average positioning error is 0.048 mm and orientation accuracy is better than 0.01 deg. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is feasible, and the online absolute accuracy of a robot is sufficiently enhanced.

  3. Distributional equity problems at the proposed Yucca Mountain facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasperson, R.E.; Abdollahzadeh, S.

    1988-07-01

    This paper addresses one quite specific part of this broad range of issues -- the distribution of impacts to the state of Nevada and to the nation likely to be associated with the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. As such, it is one of four needed analyses of the overall equity problems and needs to be read in conjunction with our proposed overall framework for equity studies. The objective of this report is to consider how an analysis might be made of the distribution of projected outcomes between the state and nation. At the same time, it needs to be clear that no attempt will be made actually to implement the analysis that is proposed. What follows is a conceptual statement that identifies the analytical issues and pro poses an approach for overcoming them. Significantly, it must also be noted that this report will not address procedural equity issues between the state and nation for this is the subject of a separate analysis. 14 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs

  4. Review of international solutions to NEACRP benchmark BWR lattice cell problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halsall, M.J.

    1977-12-01

    This paper summarises international solutions to a set of BWR benchmark problems. The problems, posed as an activity sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Agency Committee on Reactor Physics, were as follows: 9-pin supercell with central burnable poison pin, mini-BWR with 4 pin-cells and water gaps and control rod cruciform, full 7 x 7 pin BWR lattice cell with differential U 235 enrichment, and full 8 x 8 pin BWR lattice cell with water-hole, Pu-loading, burnable poison, and homogenised cruciform control rod. Solutions have been contributed by Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. (author)

  5. Developing Information Technology for Vocational Education in Contiguous Destitute Areas Significance, Problems, and Countermeasures: The Case of the Wuling Mountain Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jie; Xu, Fenghua

    2014-01-01

    Using the Wuling Mountain area as a case study, the authors discuss the significance as well as five problems of developing information technology for vocational education in contiguous destitute areas. Recommendations are provided at the end of the article. [Translated by Michelle LeSourd.

  6. Mickey Mouse poses with a portrait of Ronald McNair

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    In the gymnasium of Ronald McNair Magnet School in Cocoa, Fla., Mickey Mouse poses with a portrait of NASA astronaut Ronald McNair. The portrait was presented to the school by Walt Disney World during a tribute to McNair. The school had previously been renamed for the fallen astronaut who was one of a crew of seven who lost their lives during an accident following launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986.

  7. Using Online Modelled Spatial Constraints for Pose Estimation in an Industrial Setting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meyer, Kenneth Korsgaard; Wolniakowski, Adam; Hagelskjær, Frederik

    2017-01-01

    We introduce a vision system that is able to on-line learn spatial constraints to improve pose estimation in terms of correct recognition as well as computational speed. By making use of a simulated industrial robot system performing various pick and place tasks, we show the effect of model...

  8. Pose Estimation using a Hierarchical 3D Representation of Contours and Surfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buch, Anders Glent; Kraft, Dirk; Kämäräinen, Joni-Kristian

    2013-01-01

    We present a system for detecting the pose of rigid objects using texture and contour information. From a stereo image view of a scene, a sparse hierarchical scene representation is reconstructed using an early cognitive vision system. We define an object model in terms of a simple context...

  9. Bin-packing problems with load balancing and stability constraints

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trivella, Alessio; Pisinger, David

    apper in a wide range of disciplines, including transportation and logistics, computer science, engineering, economics and manufacturing. The problem is well-known to be N P-hard and difficult to solve in practice, especially when dealing with the multi-dimensional cases. Closely connected to the BPP...... realistic constraints related to e.g. load balancing, cargo stability and weight limits, in the multi-dimensional BPP. The BPP poses additional challenges compared to the CLP due to the supplementary objective of minimizing the number of bins. In particular, in section 2 we discuss how to integrate bin......-packing and load balancing of items. The problem has only been considered in the literature in simplified versions, e.g. balancing a single bin or introducing a feasible region for the barycenter. In section 3 we generalize the problem to handle cargo stability and weight constraints....

  10. Self-Organizing Neural Integration of Pose-Motion Features for Human Action Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    German Ignacio Parisi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The visual recognition of complex, articulated human movements is fundamental for a wide range of artificial systems oriented towards human-robot communication, action classification, and action-driven perception. These challenging tasks may generally involve the processing of a huge amount of visual information and learning-based mechanisms for generalizing a set of training actions and classifying new samples. To operate in natural environments, a crucial property is the efficient and robust recognition of actions, also under noisy conditions caused by, for instance, systematic sensor errors and temporarily occluded persons. Studies of the mammalian visual system and its outperforming ability to process biological motion information suggest separate neural pathways for the distinct processing of pose and motion features at multiple levels and the subsequent integration of these visual cues for action perception. We present a neurobiologically-motivated approach to achieve noise-tolerant action recognition in real time. Our model consists of self-organizing Growing When Required (GWR networks that obtain progressively generalized representations of sensory inputs and learn inherent spatiotemporal dependencies. During the training, the GWR networks dynamically change their topological structure to better match the input space. We first extract pose and motion features from video sequences and then cluster actions in terms of prototypical pose-motion trajectories. Multi-cue trajectories from matching action frames are subsequently combined to provide action dynamics in the joint feature space. Reported experiments show that our approach outperforms previous results on a dataset of full-body actions captured with a depth sensor, and ranks among the best 21 results for a public benchmark of domestic daily actions.

  11. Enrichment and assessment of the health risks posed by heavy metals in PM1 in Changji, Xinjiang, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yu Y; Shen, Ya X; Liu, Cheng; Liu, Hao F

    2017-04-16

    The present study aims to investigate the influence of human activity on heavy metals in a typical arid urban area of China and assess human health risks posed by heavy metals in PM 1 (particles <1.0 μm in diameter) for different people. In this paper, Changji (Xinjiang, China) was selected as the study area, and samples were collected from March 2014 to March 2015. A total 14 elements in PM 1 were quantified using ICP-MS. An enrichment factor (EF) was used to assess the influence of human activity on the contamination of these metals. The results indicated that Mn was not enriched; Co, Cu, Cr, Ni, Tl, and V were slightly enriched; Mo, Pb, and Sb were moderately enriched; and Ag, As, and Cd were strongly enriched. To assess the health risks associated with inhaling PM 1 , the risk assessment code and loss in life expectancy based on the individual metals were calculated. The results showed that the elements Ag, Cu, Mo, Pb, Sb, Tl, and V in PM 1 posed low levels of non-carcinogenic risks, but these metals may still pose risks to certain susceptible populations. In addition, the results also showed that As, Co, and Cr posed an appreciable carcinogenic risk, while Cd and Ni posed low levels of carcinogenic risk. The total predicted loss of life expectancy caused by the three metals As, Co, and Ni was 63.67 d for the elderly, 30.95 d for adult males, 26.62 d for adult females, and 48.22 d for children. Therefore, the safety of the elderly and children exposed to PM 1 should be given more attention than the safety of adults. The results from this study demonstrate that the health risks posed by heavy metals in PM 1 in Changji, Xinjiang, China should be examined.

  12. 6-DOF Pose Estimation of a Robotic Navigation Aid by Tracking Visual and Geometric Features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Cang; Hong, Soonhac; Tamjidi, Amirhossein

    2015-10-01

    This paper presents a 6-DOF Pose Estimation (PE) method for a Robotic Navigation Aid (RNA) for the visually impaired. The RNA uses a single 3D camera for PE and object detection. The proposed method processes the camera's intensity and range data to estimates the camera's egomotion that is then used by an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) as the motion model to track a set of visual features for PE. A RANSAC process is employed in the EKF to identify inliers from the visual feature correspondences between two image frames. Only the inliers are used to update the EKF's state. The EKF integrates the egomotion into the camera's pose in the world coordinate system. To retain the EKF's consistency, the distance between the camera and the floor plane (extracted from the range data) is used by the EKF as the observation of the camera's z coordinate. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method results in accurate pose estimates for positioning the RNA in indoor environments. Based on the PE method, a wayfinding system is developed for localization of the RNA in a home environment. The system uses the estimated pose and the floorplan to locate the RNA user in the home environment and announces the points of interest and navigational commands to the user through a speech interface. This work was motivated by the limitations of the existing navigation technology for the visually impaired. Most of the existing methods use a point/line measurement sensor for indoor object detection. Therefore, they lack capability in detecting 3D objects and positioning a blind traveler. Stereovision has been used in recent research. However, it cannot provide reliable depth data for object detection. Also, it tends to produce a lower localization accuracy because its depth measurement error quadratically increases with the true distance. This paper suggests a new approach for navigating a blind traveler. The method uses a single 3D time-of-flight camera for both 6-DOF PE and 3D object

  13. Using realistic mathematics education and the DAPIC problem-solving process to enhance secondary school students' mathematical literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sunisa Sumirattana

    2017-09-01

    This study was based on research and development design. The main purposes of this study were to develop an instructional process for enhancing mathematical literacy among students in secondary school and to study the effects of the developed instructional process on mathematical literacy. The instructional process was developed by analyzing and synthesizing realistic mathematics education and the DAPIC problem-solving process. The developed instructional process was verified by experts and was trialed. The designated pre-test/post-test control method was used to study the effectiveness of the developed instructional process on mathematical literacy. The sample consisted of 104 ninth grade students from a secondary school in Bangkok, Thailand. The developed instructional process consisted of five steps, namely (1 posing real life problems, (2 solving problems individually or in a group, (3 presenting and discussing, (4 developing formal mathematics, and (5 applying knowledge. The mathematical literacy of the experimental group was significantly higher after being taught through the instructional process. The same results were obtained when comparing the results of the experimental group with the control group.

  14. Utilizing Semantic Interpretation of Junctions for 3D-2D Pose Estimation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pilz, Florian; Yan, Shi; Grest, Daniel

    2007-01-01

    In this paper we investigate the quality of 3D-2D pose estimates using hand labeled line and point correspondences. We select point correspondences from junctions in the image, allowing to construct a meaningful interpretation about how the junction is formed, as proposed in e.g. [1], [2], [3]. W...

  15. The quality of life of adolescents with menstrual problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nur Azurah, Abdul Ghani; Sanci, Lena; Moore, Elya; Grover, Sonia

    2013-04-01

    To date, very few publications have examined the health related quality of life (HRQL) in the younger population with menstrual problems, despite their high prevalence in adolescent girls. We describe the health-related quality of life (HRQL) among adolescents with menstrual problems and identified factors that have an impact on it. The study was a questionnaire study (using PedsQL 4.0) of adolescents aged 13-18 referred to a tertiary gynecology center for menstrual problems between June 2009 and August 2010. One hundred eighty-four adolescents completed the questionnaires. The mean age was 15.10 ± 1.49 with the mean body mass index (BMI) of 22.83 ± 4.82 kg/m(2). The most common menstrual problems seen in the clinic were dysmenorrhea (38.6%) followed by heavy bleeding (33.6%), oligomenorrhea (19.6%), and amenorrhea (8.2%). The mean overall score was 70.40 ± 16.36 with 42.3% having a score below 1 standard deviation (SD) from the norms. Adolescents with dysmenorrhea had the poorest score in physical function, whereas those with amenorrhea had the lowest score in psychosocial function. Maternal parenting style, parental anxiety, adolescents' ill-health behavior, and BMI have been found to have impact on the girls' quality of life (QoL). Although menstrual problems are not life threatening, they can pose a significant impact on the quality of life of these patients. Identification of these impacts might lead to the recognition of potential services or education to improve this. Understanding the characteristics that predict QoL may help a clinician identify patients who are risk for poor QoL. Copyright © 2013 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. All rights reserved.

  16. Dental problems and emergencies of trekkers--epidemiology and prevention. Results of the ADEMED Expedition 2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Küpper, Thomas; Hettlich, Malaika; Horz, Hans-Peter; Lechner, Karin; Scharfenberg, Christine; Conrads, Georg; Yekta, Said S; Lampert, Friedrich; Gore, Claudia

    2014-04-01

    Dental problems are rarely mentioned in the training of medical students or physicians in travel medicine, and there are little data on dental problems of travellers in the literature. We studied the epidemiology of dental problems amongst trekkers in Nepal to develop strategies for preventive care during/before travelling and propose a curriculum for dental First Aid training. We undertook a prospective, cross-sectional questionnaire and clinical dental survey of Trekkers at Manang (3550 m, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal). The questionnaire was developed based on published literature and clinical experience (exploring: availability of dental kits, dental history, current dental problems, and nutritional behavior). Dental examination included: dental status, papillary bleeding index (PBI), and plaque index (Quigley and Hein; QH). Questionnaire and clinical findings were compared to data of the Annapurna Conservancy Authority about the number of days of trekkers in the region to estimate the incidence of dental problems of trekkers. None of the 309 participants carried a dental first aid kit. Dental problems, potentially treatable with a dental first aid kit, were reported by 50/309 (16.5%). Oral hygiene en route was significantly worse than home hygiene practice; overall increased plaque indices were found (Median QH: 2.25 in women; 2.36 in men). Participants who visited a dentist ≤6 months before departure had significantly fewer problems, and had lower PBI [males 0.07 (IQR 0.0 to 0.29), females 0.0 (IQR 0.0 to 0.11)]. Combining our findings with data of the park authorities on person days in the region (2007), we found a risk of dental problems as follows: any dental problem 1:23.7 trekking days; gingival bleeding 1:37.7 trekking days; dental pain 1:145.2 trekking days; lost fillings 1:339 trekking days; fractured teeth 1:509 trekking days. Dental problems can pose significant discomfort for anybody travelling in regions with low/missing infrastructure. Improved

  17. Head pose estimation from a 2D face image using 3D face morphing with depth parameters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Seong G; Mbouna, Ralph Oyini

    2015-06-01

    This paper presents estimation of head pose angles from a single 2D face image using a 3D face model morphed from a reference face model. A reference model refers to a 3D face of a person of the same ethnicity and gender as the query subject. The proposed scheme minimizes the disparity between the two sets of prominent facial features on the query face image and the corresponding points on the 3D face model to estimate the head pose angles. The 3D face model used is morphed from a reference model to be more specific to the query face in terms of the depth error at the feature points. The morphing process produces a 3D face model more specific to the query image when multiple 2D face images of the query subject are available for training. The proposed morphing process is computationally efficient since the depth of a 3D face model is adjusted by a scalar depth parameter at feature points. Optimal depth parameters are found by minimizing the disparity between the 2D features of the query face image and the corresponding features on the morphed 3D model projected onto 2D space. The proposed head pose estimation technique was evaluated on two benchmarking databases: 1) the USF Human-ID database for depth estimation and 2) the Pointing'04 database for head pose estimation. Experiment results demonstrate that head pose estimation errors in nodding and shaking angles are as low as 7.93° and 4.65° on average for a single 2D input face image.

  18. Application of structured support vector machine backpropagation to a convolutional neural network for human pose estimation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witoonchart, Peerajak; Chongstitvatana, Prabhas

    2017-08-01

    In this study, for the first time, we show how to formulate a structured support vector machine (SSVM) as two layers in a convolutional neural network, where the top layer is a loss augmented inference layer and the bottom layer is the normal convolutional layer. We show that a deformable part model can be learned with the proposed structured SVM neural network by backpropagating the error of the deformable part model to the convolutional neural network. The forward propagation calculates the loss augmented inference and the backpropagation calculates the gradient from the loss augmented inference layer to the convolutional layer. Thus, we obtain a new type of convolutional neural network called an Structured SVM convolutional neural network, which we applied to the human pose estimation problem. This new neural network can be used as the final layers in deep learning. Our method jointly learns the structural model parameters and the appearance model parameters. We implemented our method as a new layer in the existing Caffe library. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Pre-service teachers’ challenges in presenting mathematical problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desfitri, R.

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyzed how pre-service teachers prepare and assigned tasks or assignments in teaching practice situations. This study was also intended to discuss about kind of tasks or assignments they gave to students. Participants of this study were 15 selected pre-service mathematics teachers from mathematics education department who took part on microteaching class as part of teaching preparation program. Based on data obtained, it was occasionally found that there were hidden errors on questions or tasks assigned by pre-service teachers which might lead their students not to be able to reach a logical or correct answer. Although some answers might seem to be true, they were illogical or unfavourable. It is strongly recommended that pre-service teachers be more careful when posing mathematical problems so that students do not misunderstand the problems or the concepts, since both teachers and students were sometimes unaware of errors in problems being worked on.

  20. Various possible ways to express the toxicity of radioactive substances in relation with the involved practical problems; Diverses expressions possibles de la toxicite des substances radioactives en fonction des problemes pratiques poses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jammet, H; Vacca, G [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1959-07-01

    proprietes radioactives. On peut donc etablir deux classifications toxicologiques, en fonction l'une du poids du radioelement, l'autre de son activite. Le plus frequemment les quantites maxima admissibles (QMA) dans l'organisme et les concentrations maxima admissibles (CMA) dans l'air et dans l'eau sont exprimees en microcuries par millilitre ({mu}c/ml), plus rarement en microgrammes par millilitre ({mu}g/ml). L'examen comparatif de ces tableaux de QMA et CMA fait apparaitre des differences importantes dans le classement des radioelements par ordre decroissant de toxicite. C'est ainsi que le plutonium et le radium qui se trouvent parmi les produits les plus toxiques lorsque l'activite est envisagee sont loin d'etre en tete des radioelements dangereux lorsque le poids est considere. Par contre, l'iode-131 et le manganese-56, par exemple, apparaissent parmi les corps les plus dangereux dans cette derniere eventualite. Cette double constatation correspond a deux aspects des problemes poses par la toxicite des radioelements. Si la classification par activite est presque exclusivement utilisee, cela tient a ce que les mesures toxicologiques sont basees sur les proprietes radioactives des radioelements. Elles seules permettent, en general, de detecter des traces aussi faibles de substances. Par contre, la toxicite liee a la contamination interne depend en premier lieu du metabolisme des radioelements, lequel est exclusivement fonction de leurs proprietes physico-chimiques. C'est donc la classification ponderale qui est la plus representative des dangers courus du fait d'inhalation ou d'ingestion de substances radioactives. Il en resulte que la toxicite relative des radioelements ne peut etre seulement basee sur la classification en fonction de l'activite et que la repartition des substances radioactives dans les differentes categories habituelles (tres dangereuses, moyennement dangereuses, faiblement dangereuses) devrait etre remaniee. (auteur)

  1. Multiperson visual focus of attention from head pose and meeting contextual cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ba, Sileye O; Odobez, Jean-Marc

    2011-01-01

    This paper introduces a novel contextual model for the recognition of people's visual focus of attention (VFOA) in meetings from audio-visual perceptual cues. More specifically, instead of independently recognizing the VFOA of each meeting participant from his own head pose, we propose to jointly recognize the participants' visual attention in order to introduce context-dependent interaction models that relate to group activity and the social dynamics of communication. Meeting contextual information is represented by the location of people, conversational events identifying floor holding patterns, and a presentation activity variable. By modeling the interactions between the different contexts and their combined and sometimes contradictory impact on the gazing behavior, our model allows us to handle VFOA recognition in difficult task-based meetings involving artifacts, presentations, and moving people. We validated our model through rigorous evaluation on a publicly available and challenging data set of 12 real meetings (5 hours of data). The results demonstrated that the integration of the presentation and conversation dynamical context using our model can lead to significant performance improvements.

  2. Organic radiation chemistry--the present state and problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sareava, V.V.; Kalyazin, E.P.

    1985-01-01

    The authors pose the principal problems to be solved in organic radiation chemistry: 1) to derive from the structural formula of a given organic compound the composition of the products from its radiolysis under standard conditions; 2) to use a number of physicochemical properties of a given compound at the molecular and material levels to predict the variation in composition and fraction of products from the radiolysis of the compounds with a change in irradiation conditions, i.e., the parameters of the acting radiation and the state of the substance, to indicate the direction of the principal radiation chemical processes in complex mixtures of natural or technical origin. Having stated the problems, the authors attempt to show the level of understanding of the radiolysis of organic compounds, using aliphatic hydrocarbons as principal discussion subjects

  3. Where am I? Contributions to the Localization Problem of Mobile Robots

    OpenAIRE

    Iser, René

    2012-01-01

    Das Lokalisierungsproblem mobiler Roboter beschreibt die Aufgabe, deren Pose bezüglich eines gegebenen Weltkoordinatensystems zu bestimmen. Die Fähigkeit zur Selbstlokalisierung wird in vielen Anwendungsbereichen mobiler Roboter benötigt, wie etwa bei dem Materialtransport in der industriellen Fertigung, bei Einsätzen in Katastrophengebieten oder sogar bei der Exploration fremder Planeten. Eine Unterteilung existierender Verfahren zur Lösung des genannten Problems erfolgt je nachdem ob eine L...

  4. "Preparatory power posing affects nonverbal presence and job interview performance": Correction to Cuddy et al. (2015).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-05-01

    Reports an error in "Preparatory power posing affects nonverbal presence and job interview performance" by Amy J. C. Cuddy, Caroline A. Wilmuth, Andy J. Yap and Dana R. Carney ( Journal of Applied Psychology , 2015[Jul], Vol 100[4], 1286-1295). In the article, the degrees of freedom associated with the three F-tests noted on pages 1289 and 1290 should be 1 and 59 (and not 1 and 60, as previously reported). Also, on p. 1290, in the first sentence under the "Mediation" heading, it should be noted that the dependent variables were regressed onto the mediators, and not the other way around. Finally, in Figures 2 and 3 (on p.interview-preparatory power posing-would enhance performance during the interview. Participants adopted high-power (i.e., expansive, open) poses or low-power (i.e., contractive, closed) poses, and then prepared and delivered a speech to 2 evaluators as part of a mock job interview. All interview speeches were videotaped and coded for overall performance and hireability and for 2 potential mediators: verbal content (e.g., structure, content) and nonverbal presence (e.g., captivating, enthusiastic). As predicted, those who prepared for the job interview with high- (vs. low-) power poses performed better and were more likely to be chosen for hire; this relation was mediated by nonverbal presence, but not by verbal content. Although previous research has focused on how a nonverbal behavior that is enacted during interactions and observed by perceivers affects how those perceivers evaluate and respond to the actor, this experiment focused on how a nonverbal behavior that is enacted before the interaction and unobserved by perceivers affects the actor's performance, which, in turn, affects how perceivers evaluate and respond to the actor. This experiment reveals a theoretically novel and practically informative result that demonstrates the causal relation between preparatory nonverbal behavior and subsequent performance and outcomes. (PsycINFO Database

  5. Testing quantum contextuality. The problem of compatibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szangolies, Jochen

    2015-01-01

    Jochen Szangolies contributes a novel way of dealing with the problem of the experimental testability of the Kochen-Specker theorem posed by realistic, that is, noisy, measurements. Such noise spoils perfect compatibility between successive measurements, which however is a necessary requirement to test the notion of contextuality in usual approaches. To overcome this difficulty, a new, extended notion of contextuality that reduces to Kochen-Specker contextuality in the limit of perfect measurement implementations is proposed by the author, together with a scheme to test this notion experimentally. Furthermore, the behaviour of these tests under realistic noise conditions is investigated.

  6. Invasive Lionfish (Pterosis volitans) Pose Public Health Threats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz, James H

    2015-01-01

    The lionfish, Pterosis volitans, a native of Indo-Pacific oceans, is a popular saltwater aquarium fish despite venomous spines on its fins. Lionfish were inadvertently introduced into the western Atlantic from Florida in the early 1990s and have overpopulated and dispersed widely into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Initiatives to control lionfish populations were launched, including the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-sponsored "Lionfish as Food Campaign".2 Recently, scientists from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that lionfish caught off the US Virgin Islands contained ciguatoxins and could cause ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP); a seafood-borne poisoning without an antidote or any specific treatment, and a potential for prolonged neurotoxicity. Lionfish pose several public health threats. New strategies to control the lionfish population explosion in coastal waters and offshore fisheries are needed now to ensure seafood safety and public health. The lionfish, Pterosis volitans, is native to the reefs of the western Indian and Pacific Oceans (Figure 1). Brightly colored with red, white, and black stripes and adorned with feathery fins, the lionfish is a popular saltwater aquarium fish despite venomous spines on its fins (Figure 2). Lionfish were introduced into the western North Atlantic from Florida in the early 1990s after some specimens were discarded by dissatisfied amateur aquarists and others escaped from hurricane-flooded public aquariums.1 Since lionfish are voracious carnivores, have few natural predators, and reproduce prolifically, they have overpopulated and dispersed widely from Cape Hatteras to Florida, throughout the Caribbean Sea, and into the Gulf of Mexico.1 The population density of lionfish in its new, invaded territory now exceeds that of its native habitat.1 As a result, campaigns to control lionfish populations were launched in Florida and the Caribbean. Lionfish now pose several public

  7. Group Work Tests for Context-Rich Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Chris

    2016-05-01

    The group work test is an assessment strategy that promotes higher-order thinking skills for solving context-rich problems. With this format, teachers are able to pose challenging, nuanced questions on a test, while providing the support weaker students need to get started and show their understanding. The test begins with a group discussion phase, when students are given a "number-free" version of the problem. This phase allows students to digest the story-like problem, explore solution ideas, and alleviate some test anxiety. After 10-15 minutes of discussion, students inform the instructor of their readiness for the individual part of the test. What follows next is a pedagogical phase change from lively group discussion to quiet individual work. The group work test is a natural continuation of the group work in our daily physics classes and helps reinforce the importance of collaboration. This method has met with success at York Mills Collegiate Institute, in Toronto, Ontario, where it has been used consistently for unit tests and the final exam of the grade 12 university preparation physics course.

  8. The Spatial and the Visual in Mental Spatial Reasoning: An Ill-Posed Distinction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultheis, Holger; Bertel, Sven; Barkowsky, Thomas; Seifert, Inessa

    It is an ongoing and controversial debate in cognitive science which aspects of knowledge humans process visually and which ones they process spatially. Similarly, artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive science research, in building computational cognitive systems, tended to use strictly spatial or strictly visual representations. The resulting systems, however, were suboptimal both with respect to computational efficiency and cognitive plau sibility. In this paper, we propose that the problems in both research strands stem from a mis conception of the visual and the spatial in mental spatial knowl edge pro cessing. Instead of viewing the visual and the spatial as two clearly separable categories, they should be conceptualized as the extremes of a con tinuous dimension of representation. Regarding psychology, a continuous di mension avoids the need to exclusively assign processes and representations to either one of the cate gories and, thus, facilitates a more unambiguous rating of processes and rep resentations. Regarding AI and cognitive science, the con cept of a continuous spatial / visual dimension provides the possibility of rep re sentation structures which can vary continuously along the spatial / visual di mension. As a first step in exploiting these potential advantages of the pro posed conception we (a) introduce criteria allowing for a non-dichotomic judgment of processes and representations and (b) present an approach towards rep re sentation structures that can flexibly vary along the spatial / visual dimension.

  9. The problem analysis of regional flors in botanical gardens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kharchenko Victoria E.

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Now the climate changes become more pronounced. This affects to biodiversity and distribution of plants. Therefore, we need to study of the biodiversity and trends distribution of plants in specific environments. In this connection is necessary to clarify real composition of species in the of regional floras potential of their variability of and disseminating. A pressing problem remains the creation of a unified database of the flora of Russia, which takes into account the data of regional studies. Research program allows executing posed problems if it would coordinate with other botanical gardens. This program will allow revealing structural and functional adaptation of species to various environmental conditions. This will help create a basis for design ways to regulation the development of plants and biotops.

  10. Relevance vector machine technique for the inverse scattering problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Fang-Fang; Zhang Ye-Rong

    2012-01-01

    A novel method based on the relevance vector machine (RVM) for the inverse scattering problem is presented in this paper. The nonlinearity and the ill-posedness inherent in this problem are simultaneously considered. The nonlinearity is embodied in the relation between the scattered field and the target property, which can be obtained through the RVM training process. Besides, rather than utilizing regularization, the ill-posed nature of the inversion is naturally accounted for because the RVM can produce a probabilistic output. Simulation results reveal that the proposed RVM-based approach can provide comparative performances in terms of accuracy, convergence, robustness, generalization, and improved performance in terms of sparse property in comparison with the support vector machine (SVM) based approach. (general)

  11. ROBUST ALGORITHMS OF PARAMETRIC ESTIMATION IN SOME STABILIZATION PROBLEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.A. Vedyakov

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Subject of Research.The tasks of dynamic systems provision in the stable state by means of ensuring of trite solution stability for various dynamic systems in the education regime with the aid of their parameters tuning are considered. Method. The problems are solved by application of ideology of the robust finitely convergent algorithms creation. Main Results. The concepts of parametric algorithmization of stability and steady asymptotic stability are introduced and the results are presented on synthesis of coarsed gradient algorithms solving the proposed tasks for finite number of iterations with the purpose of the posed problems decision. Practical Relevance. The article results may be called for decision of practical stabilization tasks in the process of various engineering constructions and devices operation.

  12. Problems associated with the organization and planning of medical aid for radiation accident casualties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jammet, H.P.

    1977-01-01

    Problems associated with the organization and planning of medical treatment for radiation accident casualties are considered for different types of radiation accident: whole-body or partial irradiation, external or internal contamination and small or large numbers of cases. The problems posed are ones of competence, urgency and capacity; on the diagnostic side there is the problem of evaluating the exposure or contamination and assessing the resultant damage, while on the treatment side the questions of first aid, conventional treatment and specialized treatment have to be considered. The solutions envisaged involve organization at the local and national levels and planning of medical treatment by skilled, multidisciplinary medical teams. (author)

  13. 3D pose estimation and motion analysis of the articulated human hand-forearm limb in an industrial production environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, Markus; Barrois, Björn; Krüger, Lars; Wöhler, Christian; Sagerer, Gerhard; Kummert, Franz

    2010-09-01

    This study introduces an approach to model-based 3D pose estimation and instantaneous motion analysis of the human hand-forearm limb in the application context of safe human-robot interaction. 3D pose estimation is performed using two approaches: The Multiocular Contracting Curve Density (MOCCD) algorithm is a top-down technique based on pixel statistics around a contour model projected into the images from several cameras. The Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is a bottom-up approach which uses a motion-attributed 3D point cloud to estimate the object pose. Due to their orthogonal properties, a fusion of these algorithms is shown to be favorable. The fusion is performed by a weighted combination of the extracted pose parameters in an iterative manner. The analysis of object motion is based on the pose estimation result and the motion-attributed 3D points belonging to the hand-forearm limb using an extended constraint-line approach which does not rely on any temporal filtering. A further refinement is obtained using the Shape Flow algorithm, a temporal extension of the MOCCD approach, which estimates the temporal pose derivative based on the current and the two preceding images, corresponding to temporal filtering with a short response time of two or at most three frames. Combining the results of the two motion estimation stages provides information about the instantaneous motion properties of the object. Experimental investigations are performed on real-world image sequences displaying several test persons performing different working actions typically occurring in an industrial production scenario. In all example scenes, the background is cluttered, and the test persons wear various kinds of clothes. For evaluation, independently obtained ground truth data are used. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

  14. What threat do turbidity currents and submarine landslides pose to submarine telecommunications cable infrastructure?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clare, Michael; Pope, Edward; Talling, Peter; Hunt, James; Carter, Lionel

    2016-04-01

    The global economy relies on uninterrupted usage of a network of telecommunication cables on the seafloor. These submarine cables carry ~99% of all trans-oceanic digital data and voice communications traffic worldwide, as they have far greater bandwidth than satellites. Over 9 million SWIFT banks transfers alone were made using these cables in 2004, totalling 7.4 trillion of transactions per day between 208 countries, which grew to 15 million SWIFT bank transactions last year. We outline the challenge of why, how often, and where seafloor cables are broken by natural causes; primarily subsea landslides and sediment flows (turbidity currents and also debris flows and hyperpycnal flows). These slides and flows can be very destructive. As an example, a sediment flow in 1929 travelled up to 19 m/s and broke 11 cables in the NE Atlantic, running out for ~800 km to the abyssal ocean. The 2006 Pingtung earthquake triggered a sediment flow that broke 22 cables offshore Taiwan over a distance of 450 km. Here, we present initial results from the first statistical analysis of a global database of cable breaks and causes. We first investigate the controls on frequency of submarine cable breaks in different environmental and geological settings worldwide. We assess which types of earthquake pose a significant threat to submarine cable networks. Meteorological events, such as hurricanes and typhoons, pose a significant threat to submarine cable networks, so we also discuss the potential impacts of future climate change on the frequency of such hazards. We then go on to ask what are the physical impacts of submarine sediment flows on submerged cables? A striking observation from past cable breaks is sometimes cables remain unbroken, whilst adjacent cables are severed (and record powerful flows travelling at up to 6 m/s). Why are some cables broken, but neighbouring cables remain intact? We provide some explanations for this question, and outline the need for future in

  15. Individual Differences in Students' Complex Problem Solving Skills: How They Evolve and What They Imply

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wüstenberg, Sascha; Greiff, Samuel; Vainikainen, Mari-Pauliina; Murphy, Kevin

    2016-01-01

    Changes in the demands posed by increasingly complex workplaces in the 21st century have raised the importance of nonroutine skills such as complex problem solving (CPS). However, little is known about the antecedents and outcomes of CPS, especially with regard to malleable external factors such as classroom climate. To investigate the relations…

  16. On the Connection and Equivalence of Two Methods for Solving an ill-posed Inverse Problem Based on FRAP Data

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Matonoha, Ctirad; Papáček, Š.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 290, 15 December (2015), s. 598-608 ISSN 0377-0427 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) ED2.1.00/01.0024; GA MŠk(CZ) LO1205 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : inverse problem * parameter identification * Tikhonov regularization * least squares with a quadratic constraint * L-curve * FRAP Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.328, year: 2015

  17. Pose Tracking Algorithm of an Endoscopic Surgery Robot Wrist

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, L; Yin, H L; Meng, Q

    2006-01-01

    In recent two decades, more and more research on the endoscopic surgery has been carried out [2]. Most of the work focuses on the development of the robot in the field of robotics and the navigation of the surgery tools based on computer graphics. But the tracking and locating of the EndoWrist is also a very important aspect. This paper deals with the the tracking algorithm of the EndoWrist's pose (position and orientation). The linear tracking of the position is handled by the Kalman Filter. The quaternion-based nonlinear orientation tracking is implemented with the Extended Kalman Filter. The most innovative point of this paper is the parameterization of the motion model of the Extended Kalman Filter

  18. The black-body radiation inversion problem, its instability and a new universal function set method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ye, JiPing; Ji, FengMin; Wen, Tao; Dai, Xian-Xi; Dai, Ji-Xin; Evenson, William E.

    2006-01-01

    The black-body radiation inversion (BRI) problem is ill-posed and requires special techniques to achieve stable solutions. In this Letter, the universal function set method (UFS), is developed in BRI. An improved unique existence theorem is proposed. Asymptotic behavior control (ABC) is introduced. A numerical example shows that practical calculations are possible with UFS

  19. Initial value problem for colliding gravitational plane waves. III

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hauser, I.; Ernst, F.J.

    1990-01-01

    The development of a homogeneous Hilbert problem (HHP) approach to the initial value problem (IVP) for colliding gravitational plane waves with noncollinear polarization that began in two earlier papers [I. Hauser and F. J. Ernst, J. Math. Phys. 30, 872 (1989) and 30, 2322 (1989)] is continued. After formulating the HHP, the description of how one can apply it to generate a new family of solutions of the colliding wave problem that generalizes a three-parameter family constructed by Ernst, Garcia, and Hauser [J. Math. Phys. 29, 681 (1988)] using a double-Harrison transformation is given. Then the proof that the solution of the new HHP indeed solves the IVP that is posed is presented. A matrix Fredholm equation of the second kind that is equivalent to the HHP is also deduced. This will be used in a sequel to complete the proof of existence of solutions of the HHP and the proof that certain assumed differentiability hypotheses are in fact valid

  20. Assessing exposure risks for freshwater tilapia species posed by mercury and methylmercury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yi-Hsien; Lin, Yi-Jun; You, Shu-Han; Yang, Ying-Fei; How, Chun Ming; Tseng, Yi-Ting; Chen, Wei-Yu; Liao, Chung-Min

    2016-08-01

    Waterborne and dietborne exposures of freshwater fish to mercury (Hg) in the forms of inorganic (Hg(II)) and organic (methylmercury or MeHg) affect their growth, development, and reproduction. However, an integrated mechanistic risk model framework to predict the impact of Hg(II)/MeHg on freshwater fish is lacking. Here, we integrated biokinetic, physiological and biogeographic data to calibrate and then establish key risk indices-hazardous quotient and exceedance risk-for freshwater tilapia species across geographic ranges of several major rivers in Taiwan. We found that Hg(II) burden was highest in kidney followed by gill, intestine, liver, blood, and muscle. Our results showed that Hg was less likely to pose mortality risk (mortality rate less than 5 %) for freshwater tilapia species. However, Hg is likely to pose the potential hazard to aquatic environments constrained by safety levels for aquatic organisms. Sensitivity analysis showed that amount of Hg accumulated in tilapia was most influenced by sediment uptake rate. Our approach opens up new possibilities for predicting future fish population health with the impacts of continued Hg exposure to provide information on which fish are deemed safe for human consumption.