A tracker alignment framework for augmented reality

To achieve accurate registration, the transformations which locate the tracking system components with respect to the environment must be known. These transformations relate the base of the tracking system to the virtual world and the tracking system's sensor to the graphics display. In this paper we present a unified, general calibration method for calculating these transformations. A user is asked to align the display with objects in the real world. Using this method, the sensor to display and tracker base to world transformations can be determined with as few as three measurements

“To See What the End Will Be”

A poem in honor of Sr. Eva Regina Martin, S.S.F., 1939-201

Zeroing in on more photons and gluons

We discuss radiation zeros that are found in gauge tree amplitudes for processes involving multi-photon emission. Previous results are clarified by examples and by further elaboration. The conditions under which such amplitude zeros occur are identical in form to those for the single-photon zeros, and all radiated photons must travel parallel to each other. Any other neutral particle likewise must be massless (e.g. gluon) and travel in that common direction. The relevance to questions like gluon jet identification and computational checks is considered. We use examples to show how certain multi-photon amplitudes evade the zeros, and to demonstrate the connection to a more general result, the decoupling of an external electromagnetic plane wave in the ``null zone". Brief comments are made about zeros associated with other gauge-boson emission.Comment: 26 page

Search Interfaces for Mathematicians

Access to mathematical knowledge has changed dramatically in recent years, therefore changing mathematical search practices. Our aim with this study is to scrutinize professional mathematicians' search behavior. With this understanding we want to be able to reason why mathematicians use which tool for what search problem in what phase of the search process. To gain these insights we conducted 24 repertory grid interviews with mathematically inclined people (ranging from senior professional mathematicians to non-mathematicians). From the interview data we elicited patterns for the user group "mathematicians" that can be applied when understanding design issues or creating new designs for mathematical search interfaces.Comment: conference article "CICM'14: International Conference on Computer Mathematics 2014", DML-Track: Digital Math Libraries 17 page

The Emotionally Intelligent Officer? Exploring Decision-Making Style and Emotional Intelligence in Hostage and Crisis Negotiators and Non-Negotiator Trained Police Officers

The research described in this article explores decision-making styles and levels of emotional intelligence displayed by police hostage and crisis negotiators in the United Kingdom. One hundred and seventeen negotiators from 21 police forces took part in the research and their data were compared with 118 non-negotiator trained police officers and 203 university students. Participants completed the General Decision-Making Style Questionnaire (Scott & Bruce, 1995) and the Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Gignac, 2007), with data analysed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and t-tests. When controlling for the effects of age and social desirability, significant differences were found between both police samples and the student sample. All police officers displayed significantly lower levels of avoidant decision-making and significantly higher levels of overall emotional intelligence than students and these findings were also reflected within certain facets of emotional intelligence, specifically. These findings provide support for the existence of a unique ‘police officer profile’, but fail to support the premise of a distinct ‘hostage and crisis negotiator profile’ within the UK police population. The findings are discussed with relevance to the practice of hostage and crisis negotiation and future research directions

Carboplatin/taxane-induced gastrointestinal toxicity: a pharmacogenomics study on the SCOTROC1 trial

Carboplatin/taxane combination is first-line therapy for ovarian cancer. However, patients can encounter treatment delays, impaired quality of life, even death because of chemotherapy-induced gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity. A candidate gene study was conducted to assess potential association of genetic variants with GI toxicity in 808 patients who received carboplatin/taxane in the Scottish Randomized Trial in Ovarian Cancer 1 (SCOTROC1). Patients were randomized into discovery and validation cohorts consisting of 404 patients each. Clinical covariates and genetic variants associated with grade III/IV GI toxicity in discovery cohort were evaluated in replication cohort. Chemotherapy-induced GI toxicity was significantly associated with seven single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the ATP7B, GSR, VEGFA and SCN10A genes. Patients with risk genotypes were at 1.53 to 18.01 higher odds to develop carboplatin/taxane-induced GI toxicity (P<0.01). Variants in the VEGF gene were marginally associated with survival time. Our data provide potential targets for modulation/inhibition of GI toxicity in ovarian cancer patients

Protecting Society From Teenage Greed: A Proposal for Revising the Ages, Hours and Nature of Child Labor in America

The first section of this Article presents a picture of child labor throughout American history. It looks at child labor from the turn of the century to date. This section helps the reader understand the extent of changes in child labor over time. The second section presents a summary of federal and state child labor laws. This section shows that attempt to control employers who exploit children have changed only marginally. The third section of this Article explores social science data on the pros and cons of teenage employment. This section focuses on the issue of teenage greed. First, the section explains what social scientists know and do not know about the consequences of teenage employment. Second, this section considers whether it is fair to label teenagers greedy. This section considers alternatives for reacting to child labor problems, such as educating parents, allowing teenagers to be free to choose their lifestyles, and seeking government protection for teenagers and society. The Article concludes with a proposal for revising our child labor laws to react to the most prevalent kind of teenage employment today. Our proposal limits the number of hours most teenagers could work, but provides opportunities for more extensive employment in environments that are good for teens and society. It questions the uniquely American assumption that high school students should have serious commitments to the labor market. Our Article asserts that although the picture of the child laborer as a spoiled, self-centered teenager does not trigger the same emotions as the picture of the child laborer as a poor, overworked waif, the problem of teenage greed is much more pervasive today and needs a quick but thoughtful remedy

In silico design of context-responsive mammalian promoters with user-defined functionality

Comprehensive de novo-design of complex mammalian promoters is restricted by unpredictable combinatorial interactions between constituent transcription factor regulatory elements (TFREs). In this study, we show that modular binding sites that do not function cooperatively can be identified by analyzing host cell transcription factor expression profiles, and subsequently testing cognate TFRE activities in varying homotypic and heterotypic promoter architectures. TFREs that displayed position-insensitive, additive function within a specific expression context could be rationally combined together in silico to create promoters with highly predictable activities. As TFRE order and spacing did not affect the performance of these TFRE-combinations, compositions could be specifically arranged to preclude the formation of undesirable sequence features. This facilitated simple in silico-design of promoters with context-required, user-defined functionalities. To demonstrate this, we de novo-created promoters for biopharmaceutical production in CHO cells that exhibited precisely designed activity dynamics and long-term expression-stability, without causing observable retroactive effects on cellular performance. The design process described can be utilized for applications requiring context-responsive, customizable promoter function, particularly where co-expression of synthetic TFs is not suitable. Although the synthetic promoter structure utilized does not closely resemble native mammalian architectures, our findings also provide additional support for a flexible billboard model of promoter regulation

An Off-lattice Model for Br Electrodeposition on Au(100): from DFT to Experiment

Since Br adsorption on Au(100) displays an incommensurate ordered phase, a lattice-gas treatment of the adlayer configurations is not reliable. We therefore use density functional theory slab calculations to determine the parameters necessary for the construction of an off-lattice model. We compute and analyze the total energy and electron density as the lateral Br position and coverage are varied. This allows the calculation of the corrugation potential, the short-range lateral interactions, the dipole moment (long-range interactions), and the residence charge. From these parameters, we construct an off-lattice model with no freely adjustable parameters. The simulation results compare remarkably well with experimental results.Comment: 42 pages, 15 embedded figures, submitted to Surface Scienc