Paläographie und Graphematik der westkirchenslavisch-glagolotischen Kiever und Prager Blätter im Kontext der sinaitischen Tradition

Im Zentrum dieser Arbeit steht die Betrachtung der paläographischen und graphematischen Verhältnisse der Kiever (KB) und Prager Blätter (PB) im Kontext ausgewählter Ver-gleichsdenkmäler, die über das Kloster der hl. Katharina auf dem Sinai als Fund- und fall-weise auch Entstehungsort verbunden sind. Darüber hinaus wurden die beiden Untersu-chungsdmm. sowie die Nachträge eines gewissen Demetrius Sinaiticus in allen analysier-ten Dmm. mit der Ausnahme der PB in ihr kulturhistorisches Umfeld eingebettet und auf ihre Verbindungen zu bestimmten Regionen der altkirchenslavischen Tradition geprüft. Eine weitere Zielsetzung bestand in der Entwicklung und Anwendung spezieller und vor allem einheitlicher Untersuchungsverfahren im Bereich der Paläographie und Graphema-tik. Während das im paläographischen Teil angewandte Modell rein deskriptiven Charakter hat, kommen im graphematischen Teil zwei verschiedene Verfahren zum Einsatz: einer-seits das von H. Miklas entwickelte Beschreibungsmodell von Schriftsystemen, anderer-seits eine Tabelle zur Erfassung von Merkmalen der paradigmatischen und syntagmati-schen Ebene. Diese zunächst nur als relative Daten fungierenden Merkmale ermöglichten nach ihrer Zuordnung zu konkreten Werten und der Anwendung eines Umrechnungs-schlüssels auch eine absolute Datierung und Lokalisierung der einzelnen Handschriften bzw. ihrer Partien. Die weitgehende Übereinstimmung der errechneten Daten aller 25 Textpartien mit einigen verifizierbaren Fakten des kulturhistorischen Abschnitts bestätigte schließlich die Zuverlässigkeit dieser Methode sowie ihre Eignung für die Anwendung an größeren Textmengen. Bei der Konzeption dieser Methoden wurde u.a. auch ihre Verwert-barkeit als Grundlage zur Herstellung entsprechender Software berücksichtigt. Aus der Verbindung der Untersuchungsergebnisse aller drei Hauptteile ergaben sich fol-gende Schlussfolgerungen: Im Falle der KB (A, B) wurde ihr Sonderstatus als ältestes aksl. Denkmal (im graphematischen Teil datiert in das Jahr 925) bestätigt. Dennoch enthalten sie repräsentative Züge (runde Glagolica sowie einige paläographische Varianten) einer bestimmten Entwicklungsphase des Aksl. (bis zur ersten Hälfte des 11. Jh.s), die teils in anderen Dmm. der sinaitischen Traditon, teils außerhalb dieser vorkommen. Auch die erste Seite der KB (C) sowie Demetrius’ restliche sekundäre Einträge nehmen innerhalb der hier behandelten Hss. eine Sonderstellung ein; ihre Spezifika bezeugen im Vergleich zu KB-A und B eine deutlich spätere Entstehung (1080-90er Jahre), wahrscheinlich auf dem Sinai, obwohl auch Jerusalem nicht ausgeschlossen werden kann. Ihre Parallelen zu den kroati-schen Inschriften aus der Župa Dubrovnik und teilweise von Konavle verweisen auf Süd-dalmatien bzw. die Zeta-Hum-Region als Herkunftsregion des Schreibers und schließen somit an eine der bisherigen Forschungstheorien an. Im Einklang mit der herkömmlichen Auffassung steht die Datierung der PB (PB-A: Beginn des 11. Jh.s; PB-B und C: zweite Hälfte oder Ende desselben). Eindeutige paläographische Hinweise auf eine direkte Verbindung der PB zu den sinaitischen Denkmälern konnten zwar nicht festgestellt werden, wohl aber einige gemeinsame Züge, die eine Vertrautheit ihrer Schreiber mit den sinaitischen Gepflogenheiten durchaus möglich erscheinen lassen. Den graphematischen Teil dominiert die bereits oben erwähnte tabellarische Übersicht der temporalen und territorialen Merkmale der Hss.-Partien, auf deren Grundlage schließlich auch ihre Datierung und Lokalisierung erfolgte. Der letzte Teil ist dem geschichtlichen Hintergrund der beiden Untersuchungsdmm. und ihren Verbindungen zu den verschiedenen ksl. Traditionen gewidmet. Dabei bilden die Texte und Lebensumstände des Demetrius Sinaiticus ein Bindeglied zwischen den beiden Denkmalsgruppen und spielen somit eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Datierung der betroffenen Partien.The focus of this work is the examination of the paleographic and graphemic relationship of the Kiev Folia (KF) and Prague Fragments (PF) in the context of selected comparable sources, all of which are connected through Saint Catherine’s monastery on Mt. Sinai, the location at which they were found and, in some cases, were written. Furthermore, the two artifacts under investigation, as well as the additions of a certain Demetrius Sinaiticus pre-sent in all of the analyzed manuscripts with the exception of the PF were embedded in their respective historico-cultural environments and also examined with regard to their connec-tion with certain areas of the Old Slavonic tradition. A further objective was the develop-ment and application of specific and specially standardized investigation procedures of paleography and graphematics. Whereas the character of the model applied in the paleographic part is purely descriptive, two different procedures are employed in the graphemic part: on the one hand the descrip-tive model of writing systems developed by H. Miklas, and on the other, a table for the acquisition of the characteristics on the paradigmatic and the syntagmatic level. These characteristics function initially only as relative data. After their classification, how-ever, they enable the establishment of concrete values and the application of a conversion key that allows accurate dating and the localization of the single manuscripts and their re-spective parts. The extensive correspondence between the generated data sets of all 25 text parts and the verifiable factual evidence of the historico-cultural chapter have confirmed the reliability of this method, as well as its suitability for application to larger quantities of texts. The conception of these methods took several aspects into account, amongst others, their usability as a base for the generation corresponding software. The combination of the research results of the three major parts yields the following conclusion: In the case of the KF (A, B), its special status as the oldest Old Church Slavonic source (dated at the year 925 A.D.) has been confirmed. Nevertheless, it contains representative traits (rounded Glagolica as well as some paleographic variants) of a specific phase in the development of the Old Church Slavonic (until the first half of the 11th century), which appear in other samples of the Sinai tradition, but also in sources apart from these. The first page of the KF (C) as well as remaining secondary notes of Demetrius have an exceptional position within the manuscripts treated in the dissertation. Their specifics testify, compared to KF-A and B, a clearly later origin (1080 until the 1090s), probably from the Sinai, although Jerusa-lem cannot be ruled out. Their parallels to the Croatian inscriptions from Župa Dubrovnik and from Konavle point to the southern Dalmatia or alternatively, the Zeta-Hum-region as the scribe’s place of origin, thus tying in with one of the recent research theories. The dating of the PF (PF-A: early 11th century; PF-B and C: second half or end of the same) is in accordance with traditional concepts. Indeed, any explicit paleographic hints at a direct connection between the PF and the Sinai manuscripts could not be detected. Even so, certain common traits indicate that their scribes were familiar with the Sinai tradition. The graphemic part is dominated by the tabular overview of temporal and territorial char-acteristics of the manuscript parts already mentioned above, the final dating and localiza-tion of the parts being based upon this. The last part is dedicated to the historical background of the two sources under investiga-tion and their connections to certain areas of the Church Slavonic tradition. Here the texts and the living conditions of Demetrius Sinaiticus represent a link between the two artifact groups and thus play a key role in the dating of the parts concerned

A Method of Rendering CSG-Type Solids Using a Hybrid of Conventional Rendering Methods and Ray Tracing Techniques

This thesis describes a fast, efficient and innovative algorithm for producing shaded, still images of complex objects, built using constructive solid geometry ( CSG ) techniques. The algorithm uses a hybrid of conventional rendering methods and ray tracing techniques. A description of existing modelling and rendering methods is given in chapters 1, 2 and 3, with emphasis on the data structures and rendering techniques selected for incorporation in the hybrid method. Chapter 4 gives a general description of the hybrid method. This method processes data in the screen coordinate system and generates images in scan-line order. Scan lines are divided into spans (or segments) using the bounding rectangles of primitives calculated in screen coordinates. Conventional rendering methods and ray tracing techniques are used interchangeably along each scan-line. The method used is detennined by the number of primitives associated with a particular span. Conventional rendering methods are used when only one primitive is associated with a span, ray tracing techniques are used for hidden surface removal when two or more primitives are involved. In the latter case each pixel in the span is evaluated by accessing the polygon that is visible within each primitive associated with the span. The depth values (i. e. z-coordinates derived from the 3-dimensional definition) of the polygons involved are deduced for the pixel's position using linear interpolation. These values are used to determine the visible polygon. The CSG tree is accessed from the bottom upwards via an ordered index that enables the 'visible' primitives on any particular scan-line to be efficiently located. Within each primitive an ordered path through the data structure provides the polygons potentially visible on a particular scan-line. Lists of the active primitives and paths to potentially visible polygons are maintained throughout the rendering step and enable span coherence and scan-line coherence to be fully utilised. The results of tests with a range of typical objects and scenes are provided in chapter 5. These results show that the hybrid algorithm is significantly faster than full ray tracing algorithms

Procedural modelling techniques to configure driving serious game scenes

Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de tratar do problema da segurança rodoviária, a fim de evitar mais acidentes e mortes tanto de motoristas como de pedestres através da criação de uma ferramenta que é capaz de carregar dados do mundo real a partir de localizações selecionadas pelo utilizador e transformá-los em modelos tridimensionais para uso posterior em jogos de condução sérios. Estes modelos são então povoados com os pedestres que andam nos passeios e a capacidade de conduzir um veículo é dada ao utilizador. Além disso, a ferramenta deve ser flexível o suficiente para permitir que os utilizadores configurem diferentes condições, tais como o tempo, hora do dia, opções de renderização, os danos do veículo e densidade de pedestres, a fim de realizar estudos em diferentes condições. O projeto também deve ser de código aberto, para que qualquer pessoa pode editá-lo e expandi-lo para atender as suas necessidades e realizar estudos específicos. Possui integração Oculus Rift, que estende ainda mais a possibilidade de realização de estudos para o motorista humano, através da expanção dessa integração para avaliar os comportamentos do motorista. Outro aspeto importante é a possibilidade de exportar toda a cena procedimentalmente gerada para um formato de ficheiro 3D que pode ser editado numa aplicação externa.Ao fornecer esta ferramenta de forma gratuita, não só marca o início de um gerador do mundo em 3D de código aberto, mas também uma ferramenta capaz de permitir diversos usos diferentes, tais como a realização de estudos, a construção de cenários de jogos de vídeo ou ser usado como uma ferramenta de aprendizagem por uma escola de condução. Esperemos que isto seja capaz de aumentar a segurança rodoviária, se usado com cuidado como uma ferramenta séria.Para fazer isto vamos usar o motor de jogo Unity 5 para desenvolver o projeto, CGIAR-CSI para baixar dados de elevação, o Google Static Maps para as imagens de satélite, OpenStreetMap para os dados de localização e tudo o mais é construído dentro do Unity. Também é usado o UnitySlippyMap, que é um mapa do mundo que trabalha com vários fornecedores de "tiles" que foi integrado no contexto deste projeto para permitir que os utilizadores selecionem um local dentro do Unity.Ao longo deste documento, irá encontrar uma revisão da literatura sobre o tema, incluindo o trabalho relacionado e tentativas de fazer projetos semelhantes, seguido de uma comparação entre outros projetos e este. Irá também encontrar detalhes sobre o desenvolvimento e a arquitetura do sistema, bem como detalhes profundos sobre a implementação. No final pode encontrar algumas capturas de ecrã dos resultados deste projeto e a conclusão que refere a satisfação dos objetivos e trabalho futuro.Palavras Chave: Modelação Procedimental, Simulação de Condução, Locais do Mundo, Jogos Sérios, Segurança RodoviáriaThis dissertation has the objective of tackling the road safety problem in order to further prevent accidents and casualties for both drivers and pedestrians by creating a tool that is capable of loading real world data from user selected locations and render them in 3 dimensional models for further use in serious driving games. These models are then populated with pedestrians that walk around and the ability to drive a vehicle is given to the user. Also the tool should be flexible enough to allow the users to configure the different conditions such as weather, time of day, rendering options, vehicle damage and pedestrian density, in order to conduct studies on different conditions. The project should also be open source, so anyone can edit it and expand it their own way to suit their needs and conduct specific studies. It features Oculus Rift integration, which further extends the possibility of conducting studies to the human driver by giving the possibility to expand this integration to evaluate the driver's behaviours. Another important aspect is the possibility to export the entire procedurally generated scene to a 3D file format that can be edited by an external application.By providing such tool for free, not only marks the beginning of an open source world 3D generator, but also a framework capable of allowing multiple different usages, such as conducting studies, building video game scenarios or be used as a learning tool by a driving school for instance. Hopefully this will increase road safety if used carefully as a serious tool.To do so we'll use the game engine Unity 5 to develop the project, CGIAR-CSI to download elevation data, Google Static Maps for the satellite imagery, OpenStreetMap for the location data and everything else is built inside Unity. Also UnitySlippyMap, which is a world map that works with various tile providers was used and integrated on the context of this project to allow users to select a location inside Unity.Along this document you will find a literature review on the topic, including related work and attempts to do similar projects followed by a comparison between other project and this one. The reader will also find details about development and the system's architecture as well as deep details about implementation. On the end you can find a few screen shots of the results of this project.Key Words: Procedural Modelling, Driving Simulation, World Locations, Serious Games, Road Safet

Electromagnetic ray-tracing for the investigation of multipath and vibration signatures in radar imagery

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery has been used extensively within UK Defence and Intelligence for many years. Despite this, the exploitation of SAR imagery is still challenging to the inexperienced imagery analyst as the non-literal image provided for exploitation requires careful consideration of the imaging geometry, the target being imaged and the physics of radar interactions with objects. It is therefore not surprising to note that in 2017 the most useful tool available to a radar imagery analyst is a contextual optical image of the same area. This body of work presents a way to address this by adopting recent advances in radar signal processing and computational geometry to develop a SAR simulator called SARCASTIC (SAR Ray-Caster for the Intelligence Community) that can rapidly render a scene with the precise collection geometry of an image being exploited. The work provides a detailed derivation of the simulator from first principals. It is then validated against a range of real-world SAR collection systems. The work shows that such a simulator can provide an analyst with the necessary tools to extract intelligence from a collection that is unavailable to a conventional imaging system. The thesis then describes a new technique that allows a vibrating target to be detected within a SAR collection. The simulator is used to predict a unique scattering signature - described as a one-sided paired echo. Finally an experiment is described that was performed by Cranfield University to specifications determined by SARCASTIC which show that the unique radar signature can actually occur within a SAR collection

Realtime ray tracing on current CPU architectures

In computer graphics, ray tracing has become a powerful tool for generating realistically looking images. Even though ray tracing offers high flexibility, a logarithmic scalability in scene complexity, and is known to be efficiently parallelizable, its demand for compute power has in the past lead to its limitation to high-quality off-line rendering. This thesis focuses on the question of how realtime ray tracing can be realized on current processor architectures. To this end, it provides a detailed analysis of the weaknesses and strengths of current processor architectures, for the purpose of allowing for highly optimized implementation. The combination of processor-specific optimizations with algorithms that exploit the coherence of ray tracing, makes it possible to achieve realtime performance on a single CPU. Besides the optimization of the ray tracing algorithm itself, this thesis focuses on the efficient building of spatial index structures. By building these structures from scratch for every frame, interactive ray tracing of fully dynamic scenes becomes possible. Moreover, a parallelization framework for ray tracing is discussed that efficiently exploits the compute power of a cluster of commodity PCs. Finally, a global illumination algorithm is proposed that efficiently combines optimized ray tracing and the parallelization framework. The combination makes it possible to compute complete global illumination at interactive frame rates

A Multiple-Mechanism Developmental Model for Defining Self-Organizing Geometric Structures

This thesis introduces a model of multicellular development. The model combines elements of the chemical, cell lineage, and mechanical models of morphogenesis pioneered by Turing, Lindenmayer, and Odell, respectively. The internal state of each cell in the model is represented by a time-varying state vector that is updated by a differential equation. The differential equation is formulated as a sum of contributions from different sources, describing gene transcription, kinetics, and cell metabolism. Each term in the differential equation is multiplied by a conditional expression that models regulatory processes specific to the process described by that term. The resulting model has a broader range of fundamental mechanisms than other developmental models. Since gene transcription is included, the model can represent the genetic orchestration of a developmental process involving multiple mechanisms. We show that a computational implementation of the model represents a wide range of biologically relevant phenomena in two and three dimensions. This is illustrated by a diverse collection of simulation experiments exhibiting phenomena such as lateral inhibition, differentiation, segment formation, size regulation, and regeneration of damaged structures. We have explored several application areas with the model: Synthetic biology. We advocate the use of mathematical modeling and simulation for generating intuitions about complex biological systems, in addition to the usual application of mathematical biology to perform analysis on a simplified model. The breadth of our model makes it useful as a tool for exploring biological questions about pattern formation and morphogenesis. We show that simulated experiments to address a particular question can be done quickly and can generate useful biological intuitions. As an example, we document a simulation experiment exploring inhibition via surface chemicals. This experiment suggests that the final pattern depends strongly on the temporal sequence of events. This intuition was obtained quickly using the simulator as an aid to understanding the general behavior of the developmental system. Artificial evolution of neural networks. Neural networks can be represented using a developmental model. We investigate the use of artificial evolution to select equations and parameters that cause the model to create desired structures. We compare our approach to other work in evolutionary neural networks, and discuss the difficulties involved. Computer graphics modeling. We extend the model to allow cells to sense the presence of a 3D surface model, and then use the multicellular simulator to grow cells on the surface. This database amplification technique enables the creation of cellular textures to represent detailed geometry on a surface (e.g., scales, feathers, thorns). In the process of writing many developmental programs, we have gained some experience in the construction of self-organizing cellular structures. We identify some critical issues (size regulation and scalability), and suggest biologically-plausible strategies for addressing them

Report of the Lapita Homeland Project

The idea for the Lapita Homeland Project arose out of a conversation with Jim Specht at the 52nd ANZAAS Congress held at Macquarie University in Sydney in 1982. It was a time of increasing interest in Melanesian archaeology; Green's decade of research into Lapita sites in the Reefs-Santa Cruz group of the eastern Solomons had culminated in his influential synthesis (Green 1979) and some associated disputes with colleagues (e.g. Clark and Terrell 1978; Green 1982). Specht himself was continuing to research and publish on the archaeology of West New Britain (Specht 1974, 1981; Specht and Koettig 1981; Specht and Hollis 1982; Specht et al 1981a; Specht et al 1981b). At the Australian National University, Jean Kennedy and I had initially combined with Wallace Ambrose to expand his long term investigations into the Admiralty Islands, and Kennedy was extending this interest (Kennedy 1979, 1981a, 1981b, 1982, 1983). (From Introduction)