Development of the Information Society in Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia

The article is presenting facts about the politics carried on the EU concerning development of the information society in Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia - countries that in 2004 became members of the EU. Enlargement of the EU structures allowed for more dynamic development of these countries in the information society context. The situation of each country was presented by indicators describing the household and the community situation in information society. Indicators was gained from Eurostat system. The universality of these indicators lets to the assessment of the level and dynamics of development in relation to the EU average. Comparison of Poland and its southern neighbors allows also to observe changes that occur and may allow better progress in this field.Artykul prezentuje dane na temat prowadzonej w UE polityki w zakresie rozwoju spoleczeństwa informacyjnego w Czechach, Polsce i Slowacji, które staly się czlonkami UE w 2004 roku. Rozszerzenie struktur unijnych pozwolilo na zdynamizowanie rozwoju tych krajów w zakresie spoleczeństwa informacyjnego. Sytuację poszczególnych krajów zaprezentowano przy pomocy wskażników opisujących gospodarstwa domowe oraz spoleczność pochodzące z Eurostatu. Powszechność tych wskażników pozwala na ocenę dynamiki rozwoju oraz poziomu tego rozwoju w odniesieniu do wartości średniej w UE. Porównanie Polski oraz jej poludniowych sąsiadów pozwolić ma również na dostrzeżenie przemian, które zachodzą i mogą pozwolić na lepszy postęp w tej dziedzinie

Hypernetwork functional image representation

Motivated by the human way of memorizing images we introduce their functional representation, where an image is represented by a neural network. For this purpose, we construct a hypernetwork which takes an image and returns weights to the target network, which maps point from the plane (representing positions of the pixel) into its corresponding color in the image. Since the obtained representation is continuous, one can easily inspect the image at various resolutions and perform on it arbitrary continuous operations. Moreover, by inspecting interpolations we show that such representation has some properties characteristic to generative models. To evaluate the proposed mechanism experimentally, we apply it to image super-resolution problem. Despite using a single model for various scaling factors, we obtained results comparable to existing super-resolution methods

Avatars Going Mainstream: Typology of Tropes in Avatar-Based Storytelling Practices

Due to the growing popularity of video games, gaming itself has become a shared experience among media audiences worldwide. The phenomenon of avatar-based games has led to the emergence of new storytelling practices. The paper proposes a typology of tropes in these avatar-based narratives focusing on non-game case studies. Suggested tropes are also confronted with the latest research on avatars in the area of game studies and current knowledge of the issues concerning the player-avatar relationship. Some of the most popular misconceptions regarding the gameplay experience and its representation in non-game media are exposed as a result of this analysis. The research confirms that popular culture perceives gaming experience as closely related to the player identity, as the latter inspires new genres of non-game narratives

Astigmatism and Pseudoaccommodation in Pseudophakic Eyes

noAdvanced IOLs with circumferential zones of different power provide pseudoaccommodation. We investigated the potential for power variation with meridian, namely astigmatism, to provide pseudo-accommodation. With appropriate power and axis orientations, acceptable pseudo-accommodation can be achieved

The Faculty Notebook, September 2011

The Faculty Notebook is published periodically by the Office of the Provost at Gettysburg College to bring to the attention of the campus community accomplishments and activities of academic interest. Faculty are encouraged to submit materials for consideration for publication to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development. Copies of this publication are available at the Office of the Provost

People’s Initiatives to Use IT for Development

human development, technology

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation - 2000 Annual Report

Contains mission statement, president's message, project summaries, program information, grants list, financial statements, and list of board members and staff