Real-time measurement of pointing action by using DSP

This paper presents an approach of measuring in real-time the vector of finger that is pointing to an object. DSP is used in the operation processing unit in order to do the real-time processing. The steps include the extraction of flesh-colored regions from an image, the labeling of the flesh-colored regions, and the detection of two characteristic positions on the finger so that the direction that the finger is pointing at will be calculated. The entire process takes about 29 msec, which makes it possible to have the frame rate of 34 fps. With this frame rate, this measurement approach is considered real-time and promising to be merged into other application systems. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Entrainment and musicality in the human system interface

What constitutes our human capacity to engage and be in the same frame of mind as another human? How do we come to share a sense of what ‘looks good’ and what ‘makes sense’? How do we handle differences and come to coexist with them? How do we come to feel that we understand what someone else is experiencing? How are we able to walk in silence with someone familiar and be sharing a peaceful space? All of these aspects are part of human ‘interaction’. In designing interactive technologies designers have endeavoured to explicate, analyse and simulate, our capacity for social adaptation. Their motivations are mixed and include the desires to improve efficiency, improve consumption, to connect people, to make it easier for people to work together, to improve education and learning. In these endeavours to explicate, analyse and simulate, there is a fundamental human capacity that is beyond technology and that facilitates these aspects of being, feeling and thinking with others. That capacity, we suggest, is human entrainment. This is our ability to coordinate the timing of our behaviours and rhythmically synchronise our attentional resources. Expressed within the movements of our bodies and voices, it has a quality that is akin to music. In this paper, disparate domains of research such as pragmatics, social psychology, behaviourism, cognitive science, computational linguistics, gesture, are brought together, and considered in light of the developments in interactive technology, in order to shape a conceptual framework for understanding entrainment in everyday human interaction.     

A comparison of algorithms for control constrained optimal control of the Burgers equation

Abstract A comparison of three different but related numerical methods for control constrained optimal control of the Burgers equation is carried out. We develop the principal ideas of the different strategies considered and present detailed numerical examples. Lastly, conclusions about the behavior of the approaches are obtained.     

The effect of CaF<Subscript>2</Subscript> on thermodynamics of CaO-CaF<Subscript>2</Subscript>-SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>(-MgO) slags

To address the role of CaF₂ in the CaO-CaF₂-SiO₂(-MgO) slag system employed for the production of low-pressure rotor steels, the thermodynamic aspects of the slag were investigated by equilibrating it with liquid iron at 1873 K in CaO or MgO crucibles. Presaturation of slag with an oxide block piece of CaO or MgO in a Pt crucible and application of a carbon paste to the outside of an oxide crucible were designed to prevent crucible failure during the slag-metal experiments. The liquidus isotherm and phase boundary of the preceding slag system were investigated using the slag-metal equilibria. Also, the effect of CaF₂ on the sulfide capacity and the activity coefficient of Fe _t O were of particular interest in controlling the sulfur level and cleanliness of low-pressure rotor steels.     

The transient to steady-state transition during the spray-rolling process

From the geometrical standpoint, this article presents a qualitative theoretical analysis and prediction of the transient to steady-state transition during the spray-rolling process, a novel manufacturing technique for aluminum strips. The analytical results indicate that, when the deposited materials at the specific points on one roll surface overlap their counterparts on the other roll surface, spray rolling transits from the transient state to the steady state. The specific points are the limiting deposition positions of the atomized droplets on the roll surface initially.     

Cyclic oxidation response of multiphase niobium-based alloys

Cyclic oxidation tests were performed on multiphase Nb-based alloys containing silicide, Laves, and Nb solid solution phases. In particular, the oxidation resistance of six alloys with various compositions (Nb, Ti, Hf, Cr, Ge, and Si) and microstructures was characterized by thermal cycling from ambient temperature to a peak temperature that ranges from 900 °C to 1400 °C. Weight change data were obtained and the corresponding spalled oxides were collected and identified by X-ray diffraction. The results indicated that Nb-based alloys formed a mixture of CrNbO₄, Nb₂O₅, and Nb₂O₅ · TiO₂, with possibly small amounts of SiO₂ or GeO₂. The oxidation resistance was improved when CrNbO₄ formed instead of Nb₂O₅ and Nb₂O₅ · TiO₂. These results were used to assess the influence of microstructure and composition on the oxidation resistance of multiphase Nb-based alloys.     

Kernel Spectral Matched Filter for Hyperspectral Imagery

In this paper a kernel-based nonlinear spectral matched filter is introduced for target detection in hyperspectral imagery, which is implemented by using the ideas in kernel-based learning theory. A spectral matched filter is defined in a feature space of high dimensionality, which is implicitly generated by a nonlinear mapping associated with a kernel function. A kernel version of the matched filter is derived by expressing the spectral matched filter in terms of the vector dot products form and replacing each dot product with a kernel function using the so called kernel trick property of the Mercer kernels. The proposed kernel spectral matched filter is equivalent to a nonlinear matched filter in the original input space, which is capable of generating nonlinear decision boundaries. The kernel version of the linear spectral matched filter is implemented and simulation results on hyperspectral imagery show that the kernel spectral matched filter outperforms the conventional linear matched filter.     

Thomas Fincke und die <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geometria rotundi</Emphasis>

Thomas Fincke (January 6^th, 1561–April 24^th, 1656), born in Flensburg (Germany), was one of the very most important and significant scientists in Denmark during the seventeenth century, a mathematician and astrologer and physician in the beginning of modern science, a representative of humanism and an influentual academic organizer. He studied in Strasbourg (since 1577) and Padua (since 1583) and received his M.D. in Basel (1587), he practised as a physician throughout his life (since 1587 or 1590) and became a professor at Copenhagen (1591). But he was best known because of his Geometriae rotundi libri XIIII (1583), a famous book on plane and spherical trigonometry, based not on Euclid but on Petrus Ramus. In this influentual work, in which Fincke introduced the terms tangent and secant and probable first noticed the Law of Tangents and the so-called Newton-Oppel-Mauduit-Simpson-Mollweide-Gauss-formula, he showed himself to be „abreast of the mathematics of his time“.