25,670 research outputs found
A programme to determine the exact interior of any connected digital picture
Region filling is one of the most important and fundamental operations in
computer graphics and image processing. Many filling algorithms and their
implementations are based on the Euclidean geometry, which are then translated
into computational models moving carelessly from the continuous to the finite
discrete space of the computer. The consequences of this approach is that most
implementations fail when tested for challenging degenerate and nearly
degenerate regions. We present a correct integer-only procedure that works for
all connected digital pictures. It finds all possible interior points, which
are then displayed and stored in a locating matrix. Namely, we present a
filling and locating procedure that can be used in computer graphics and image
processing applications
Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe: NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010
The goal of this European Science Foundation Forward Look into the future of Nuclear Physics is to bring together
the entire Nuclear Physics community in Europe to formulate a coherent plan of the best way to develop the field in
the coming decade and beyond.<p></p>
The primary aim of Nuclear Physics is to understand the origin, evolution, structure and phases of strongly interacting matter, which constitutes nearly 100% of the visible matter in the universe. This is an immensely important and challenging task that requires the concerted effort of scientists working in both theory and experiment, funding agencies, politicians and the public.<p></p>
Nuclear Physics projects are often âbig scienceâ, which implies large investments and long lead times. They need careful forward planning and strong support from policy makers. This Forward Look provides an excellent tool to achieve this. It represents the outcome of detailed scrutiny by Europeâs leading experts and will help focus the views of the scientific community on the most promising directions in the field and create the basis for funding agencies to provide adequate support.<p></p>
The current NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010 âPerspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europeâ resulted from consultation
with close to 6 000 scientists and engineers over a period of approximately one year. Its detailed recommendations
are presented on the following pages. For the interested public, a short summary brochure has been produced to
accompany the Forward Look.<p></p>
Recent Contributions of Theory to Our Understanding of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
Revolutionary observational arrays, together with a new generation of ocean and climate models, have provided new and intriguing insights into the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) over the last two decades. Theoretical models have also changed our view of the AMOC, providing a dynamical framework for understanding the new observations and the results of complex models. In this paper we review recent advances in conceptual understanding of the processes maintaining the AMOC. We discuss recent theoretical models that address issues such as the interplay between surface buoyancy and wind forcing, the extent to which the AMOC is adiabatic, the importance of mesoscale eddies, the interaction between the middepth North Atlantic Deep Water cell and the abyssal Antarctic Bottom Water cell, the role of basin geometry and bathymetry, and the importance of a threeâdimensional multipleâbasin perspective. We review new paradigms for deep water formation in the highâlatitude North Atlantic and the impact of diapycnal mixing on vertical motion in the ocean interior. And we discuss advances in our understanding of the AMOC's stability and its scaling with largeâscale meridional density gradients. Along with reviewing theories for the mean AMOC, we consider models of AMOC variability and discuss what we have learned from theory about the detection and meridional propagation of AMOC anomalies. Simple theoretical models remain a vital and powerful tool for articulating our understanding of the AMOC and identifying the processes that are most critical to represent accurately in the next generation of numerical ocean and climate models
Sex in the city: the rise of soft-erotic film culture in Cinema Leopold, Ghent, 1945-1954
Since the 1990s, film studies saw a disciplinary shift from approaches favoring a textual and ideological analysis of films to a broader understanding of the socio-cultural history of cinema under the banner of new cinema history. This turn not only allowed for ânicheâ research domains to flourish such as film economics or cinema memory research, or for new empirical and critical methodologies to be applied to film and cinema history. This change in researching and writing film/cinema history also shed light on previously marginalized, neglected or uncharted film cultures and histories, burgeoning scholarship in for instance (s)exploitation cinema.
This contribution examines a peculiar part of post-war local film culture in the Belgian city of Ghent, more precisely the one around the city-center soft-erotic cinema Cinema Leopold (1945-54). The research is based on a programming and box-office database compiled from archival sources and contextualized by other data (internal and external correspondence, posters,âŠ) coming from the business archive of Octave Bonnevalle, Cinema Leopoldâs founding pater familias (material kept in the State Archives of Belgium; RAB/B70/1928-1977). The database now contains information on 625 film titles shown between 1945 and 1954, out of which 233 were unidentified (due to lack of information). Although the database is at times crippled by source inconsistencies, it is extremely rich in documenting the everyday practices of a cinema that gradually turned into a soft-erotic movie theater.
The database allows for some remarkable findings concerning shifts in the origin of films, their production years, genres, censorship and popularity. The key finding is that Cinema Leopold started out after the Second World War with a child-friendly, mainstream Hollywood-oriented film program, as did most cinemas in Ghent, but its profile slowly tilted towards more mature audiences and provocative film genres. These included French ârisquĂ©â feature films containing some forms of nudity like Perfectionist/Un Grand Patron (Ciampi, 1951) and documentaries on venereal diseases like the successful Austrian Creeping Poison/Schleichendes Gift (WallbrĂŒck, 1946), but also auteur movies such as Bergmanâs Port of Call/Hamnstad (1948) were shown. It is interesting how Leopold walked a fine line between innovative, bold European art-house cinema, soft-erotic âdidacticâ movies and flat-out commercial soft-porn. By 1954, Leopold had gathered a loyal crowd, which kept the cinema alive until 1981 despite the several law suits and trials. This micro-history offers a remarkable example of the post-war flourishing of alternative, yet profit-driven cinema circuits, riddled with media controversies and censorship
Pathway to the Square Kilometre Array - The German White Paper -
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is the most ambitious radio telescope ever
planned. With a collecting area of about a square kilometre, the SKA will be
far superior in sensitivity and observing speed to all current radio
facilities. The scientific capability promised by the SKA and its technological
challenges provide an ideal base for interdisciplinary research, technology
transfer, and collaboration between universities, research centres and
industry. The SKA in the radio regime and the European Extreme Large Telescope
(E-ELT) in the optical band are on the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum
for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and have been recognised as the essential
facilities for European research in astronomy.
This "White Paper" outlines the German science and R&D interests in the SKA
project and will provide the basis for future funding applications to secure
German involvement in the Square Kilometre Array.Comment: Editors: H. R. Kl\"ockner, M. Kramer, H. Falcke, D.J. Schwarz, A.
Eckart, G. Kauffmann, A. Zensus; 150 pages (low resolution- and colour-scale
images), published in July 2012, language English (including a foreword and
an executive summary in German), the original file is available via the MPIfR
homepag
System requirement report for Level 2 â national management institutions, for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines
This report presents the findings from a thorough literature review, workshops, and group and individual interviews conducted by STREAM in the Philippines in November and December 2003.
The ambitious scope of the report combined with the limited time frame and funding available to compile it necessitated the extensive use of secondary data, including both published and unpublished material written by staff of the agencies / organisations involved, with very limited editing of material used. All possible efforts were made to generate information in participation with the government institutions responsible for managing the fisheries, and all contributors (as well as many other
stakeholders) were provided with multiple opportunities to comment on the report content. The contributors are listed on the front page of the report. (Pdf contains 56 pages)
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