SHAPE DEFORMATION FOR OBJECTS OF GREATLY DISSIMILAR SHAPES WITH SMOOTH MANIFOLD

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

A design framework for ISFAR: (an intelligent surveillance system with face recognition).

Chan, Fai.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.14Chapter 1.1. --- Background --- p.14Chapter 1.1.1. --- Introduction to Intelligent Surveillance System (ISS) --- p.14Chapter 1.1.2. --- Typical architecture of Surveillance System --- p.17Chapter 1.1.3. --- Single-camera vs Multi-camera Surveillance System --- p.17Chapter 1.1.4. --- Intelligent Surveillance System with Face Recognition (ISFAR) --- p.20Chapter 1.1.5. --- Minimal requirements for automatic Face Recognition --- p.21Chapter 1.2. --- Motivation --- p.22Chapter 1.3. --- Major Contributions --- p.26Chapter 1.3.1. --- A unified design framework for IS FAR --- p.26Chapter 1.3.2. --- Prototyping of IS FAR (ISFARO) --- p.29Chapter 1.3.3. --- Evaluation of ISFARO --- p.29Chapter 1.4. --- Thesis Organization --- p.30Chapter 2. --- Related Works --- p.31Chapter 2.1. --- Distant Human Identification (DHID) --- p.31Chapter 2.2. --- Distant Targets Identification System --- p.33Chapter 2.3. --- Virtual Vision System with Camera Scheduling --- p.35Chapter 3. --- A unified design framework for IS FAR --- p.37Chapter 3.1. --- Camera system modeling --- p.40Chapter 3.1.1. --- Stereo Triangulation (Human face location estimation) --- p.40Chapter 3.1.2. --- Camera system calibration --- p.42Chapter 3.2. --- Human face detection --- p.44Chapter 3.3. --- Human face tracking --- p.46Chapter 3.4. --- Human face correspondence --- p.50Chapter 3.4.1. --- Information consistency in stereo triangulation --- p.51Chapter 3.4.2. --- Proposed object correspondent algorithm --- p.52Chapter 3.5. --- Human face location and velocity estimation --- p.57Chapter 3.6. --- Human-Camera Synchronization --- p.58Chapter 3.6.1. --- Controlling a PTZ Camera for capturing human facial images --- p.60Chapter 3.6.2. --- Mathematical Formulation of the Human Face Capturing Problem --- p.61Chapter 4. --- Prototyping of lSFAR (ISFARO) --- p.64Chapter 4.1. --- Experiment Setup --- p.64Chapter 4.2. --- Speed of the PTZ camera 一 AXIS 213 PTZ --- p.67Chapter 4.3. --- Performance of human face detection and tracking --- p.68Chapter 4.4. --- Performance of human face correspondence --- p.72Chapter 4.5. --- Performance of human face location estimation --- p.74Chapter 4.6. --- Stability test of the Human-Camera Synchronization model --- p.75Chapter 4.7. --- Performance of ISFARO in capturing human facial images --- p.76Chapter 4.8. --- System Profiling of ISFARO --- p.79Chapter 4.9. --- Summary --- p.79Chapter 5. --- Improvements to ISFARO --- p.80Chapter 5.1. --- System Dynamics oflSFAR --- p.80Chapter 5.2. --- Proposed improvements to ISFARO --- p.82Chapter 5.2.1. --- Semi-automatic camera system calibration --- p.82Chapter 5.2.2. --- Velocity estimation using Kalman filter --- p.83Chapter 5.2.3. --- Reduction in PTZ camera delay --- p.87Chapter 5.2.4. --- Compensation of image blurriness due to motion from human --- p.89Chapter 5.3. --- Experiment Setup --- p.91Chapter 5.4. --- Performance of human face location estimation --- p.91Chapter 5.5. --- Speed of the PTZ Camera - SONY SNC RX-570 --- p.93Chapter 5.6. --- Performance of human face velocity estimation --- p.95Chapter 5.7. --- Performance of improved ISFARO in capturing human facial images --- p.99Chapter 6. --- Conclusions --- p.101Chapter 7. --- Bibliography --- p.10

“Multiculturality” as a key methodological challenge during in-depth interviewing in international business research

Purpose: Although qualitative methods have now gained a stronger foothold in International Business (IB) research, they remain under-researched, especially regarding how researchers can overcome obstacles created when interviewers exhibit ‘multiculturality’ during international field research projects. This paper analyses how researchers’ multicultural backgrounds create challenges and opportunities in data collection during in-depth interviewing, and how such backgrounds further impact on the power imbalance between researchers and interviewees. Design/Methodology/Approach: The two multicultural co-authors of this paper draw upon their 141 in-depth interview experiences with expatriates and local staff across five separate field research projects in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, Finland, and the US. Field research experiences are analysed through a Bourdieusian inspired ‘epistemic reflexive’ self-interrogation process between the two co-authors. Findings: This paper suggests five strategies to cope with the power imbalance between the researcher and the respondent in terms of social categorisation and language: activating the ‘favoured’ ethnicity, putting the ‘desired’ passport forward, constantly reassuring of belonging to the ‘right’ social category, bonding in the interviewee’s mother tongue and adopting a multilingual approach characterised by frequent code-switching. Originality/value: This paper emphasises the relevance of exploratory, self-reflexive analysis, and uncovers how social categorisation and language influence the interviewer-interviewee power imbalance. Distinct methodological contributions are proposed accordingly for IB literature: placing ‘multiculturality’ as an important concept at the forefront of qualitative IB research; and identifying ethnicity and accent as key factors in terms of securing and conducting interviews. Keywords: Multiculturality; International Business research; in-depth interview; expatriate; language; social categorisation; field research

The Effects of Yoga Practice on Classroom Management in an Elementary School Setting

Traditionally, students in an elementary class are either disengaged or distracted from their classmates. The problem involves behavior and emotional disturbances that are often accelerated by external influences. The purpose of this research is to explore the use of yoga as an approach to reducing stress, increasing self-confidence and reducing negative behavior in a fifth grade class. A review of the literature revealed that students can ultimately improve behavioral management skills when given specific learning tools. Fifth grade students in a suburban elementary school participated in a weekly yoga practice intervention over a 4-week period of time. Students participated in a 60-minute mindful practice which included breathing practice, yoga poses, meditation and relaxation techniques. This is a teacher action research project that involved a mixed methods approach. Quantitative inquiries measured behaviors before and after implementation of the yoga program. Qualitative documentation included teacher notes, student responses to focus group questions and researcher observation. Although no obvious behavioral changes were recorded, results indicated observable changes in strength, balance, and endurance by some students which may explain their increased self-esteem and self-regulation. Noticeable changes in focus, concentration and attention were recorded for a few students. The directing teacher’s final comments highlighted students’ stronger social connections with peers as they learned breathing techniques and how to use their energy more effectively

A Modular Approach to Large-scale Design Optimization of Aerospace Systems.

Gradient-based optimization and the adjoint method form a synergistic combination that enables the efficient solution of large-scale optimization problems. Though the gradient-based approach struggles with non-smooth or multi-modal problems, the capability to efficiently optimize up to tens of thousands of design variables provides a valuable design tool for exploring complex tradeoffs and finding unintuitive designs. However, the widespread adoption of gradient-based optimization is limited by the implementation challenges for computing derivatives efficiently and accurately, particularly in multidisciplinary and shape design problems. This thesis addresses these difficulties in two ways. First, to deal with the heterogeneity and integration challenges of multidisciplinary problems, this thesis presents a computational modeling framework that solves multidisciplinary systems and computes their derivatives in a semi-automated fashion. This framework is built upon a new mathematical formulation developed in this thesis that expresses any computational model as a system of algebraic equations and unifies all methods for computing derivatives using a single equation. The framework is applied to two engineering problems: the optimization of a nanosatellite with 7 disciplines and over 25,000 design variables; and simultaneous allocation and mission optimization for commercial aircraft involving 330 design variables, 12 of which are integer variables handled using the branch-and-bound method. In both cases, the framework makes large-scale optimization possible by reducing the implementation effort and code complexity. The second half of this thesis presents a differentiable parametrization of aircraft geometries and structures for high-fidelity shape optimization. Existing geometry parametrizations are not differentiable, or they are limited in the types of shape changes they allow. This is addressed by a novel parametrization that smoothly interpolates aircraft components, providing differentiability. An unstructured quadrilateral mesh generation algorithm is also developed to automate the creation of detailed meshes for aircraft structures, and a mesh convergence study is performed to verify that the quality of the mesh is maintained as it is refined. As a demonstration, high-fidelity aerostructural analysis is performed for two unconventional configurations with detailed structures included, and aerodynamic shape optimization is applied to the truss-braced wing, which finds and eliminates a shock in the region bounded by the struts and the wing.PhDAerospace EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111567/1/hwangjt_1.pd

The experience of using role-play and simulated practice as an adjunct to paramedic placement learning

This study examines the current experiences of paramedic students regarding the perceptions, understanding and utilisation of role-play plus simulation in a paramedic degree programme. This area is underexplored, so it is situated in the context of paramedic practice, training and education landscape in UK, Australia, Canada and the USA, and cognate professions.The skills training in its original format remains, as does the on-the job clinical training (hospital placement and ambulance internship) as these are set regulatory requirements. Role-play and task focused simulation is used as part of syndicate learning for skills development. A mixed methodology, comprising both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including an exploratory sequential design, was used in this research. This was done in order to evaluate the student perceptions of their current placement experience and to explore the perception of combining simulation and role-playing.The study results show that the current educational model of clinical placement is flawed. After a brief exposure to an exemplar event, students preferred the combination of simulation and role-playing over the use of either technique independently. Adoption of this technique firstly requires a set definition of terminology and consistent interpretation within the discipline.A consolidation of the students’ experience is required by enhancing the mentorship supports. Further research is needed to design and develop the combination of role-playing and simulation to enhance student learning in the simulation laboratory. This study promotes positive social change by providing data to the educators and key decision makers of the paramedic programme on students’ perceptions of the benefits of a technique that is able to support instruction and augment the students’ clinical placement experience

Women watching television : the influence of Thai soap operas on Lao women viewers

PhD ThesisThis study investigates how Lao women use and negotiate the storylines and female characters in Thai soap operas to construct a sign of agency and identity in order to enhance modern lifestyles and relationships and how local cultural policy-making is reacting to citizen’s transborder media consumption. Questionnaires, TV diaries, focus group discussions and interviews were used to collect data in three regional areas of Laos: Vientiane, Houayxay and Bolikhamsai, where Thai television soap operas are undergoing a revival of popularity. This study identifies three key themes to explain Lao women’s agency, identity, self-satisfaction and social aspiration through the lens of their Thai television soap operas viewing. Firstly, brand name products and fashion in the soap operas provide a rich insight into the lives of Lao women. The relationship between what Lao women wear in their daily lives and what is acceptable by political authorities for the preservation of traditional dress presents a very real cultural challenge for young women. Secondly, individualism and personal freedom have been transmitted through Thai TV soap storylines. This socio-cultural trend impacts on Lao women’s shift in attitudes towards changes in family structures, romantic relationships, premarital sex, cohabitation, teenage pregnancy, and perceptions of LGBT people. Thirdly, changes in public and personal perceptions of feminine beauty are found to be associated with Lao women’s desire for white-skin, body dissatisfactions, and use of cosmetic surgery. Data suggest that Lao women today have more agency, choices, freedom and well-being, the increased views on personal life and gender equality, but less supporting quality education and decent work. Drawing on audience studies, feminist approaches and developing the concept of individualisation and detraditionalisation, the thesis concludes that the effects of individualisation of Lao women as audiences increasing their liberated life and relationship choices, yet at the same time maintaining traditions and social norms.Professor Sujin Jinahyon, the former president of Naresuan University for sponsorin