Facial feature point fitting with combined color and depth information for interactive displays

Interactive displays are driven by natural interaction with the user, necessitating a computer system that recognizes body gestures and facial expressions. User inputs are not easily or reliably recognized for a satisfying user experience, as the complexities of human communication are difficult to interpret in real-time. Recognizing facial expressions in particular is a problem that requires high-accuracy and efficiency for stable interaction environments. The recent availability of the Kinect, a low cost, low resolution sensor that supplies simultaneous color and depth images, provides a breakthrough opportunity to enhance the interactive capabilities of displays and overall user experience. This new RGBD (RGB + depth) sensor generates an additional channel of depth information that can be used to improve the performance of existing state of the art technology and develop new techniques. The Active Shape Model (ASM) is a well-known deformable model that has been extensively studied for facial feature point placement. Previous shape model techniques have applied 3D reconstruction techniques using multiple cameras or other statistical methods for producing 3D information from 2D color images. These methods showed improved results compared to using only color data, but required an additional deformable model or expensive imaging equipment. In this thesis, an ASM model is trained using the RGBD image produced by the Kinect. The real-time information from the depth sensor is registered to the color image to create a pixel-for-pixel match. To improve the quality of the depth image, a temporal median filter is applied to reduce random noise produced by the sensor. The resulting combined model is designed to produce more robust fitting of facial feature points compared to a purely color based active shape model

Aerospace applications of SINDA/FLUINT at the Johnson Space Center

SINDA/FLUINT has been found to be a versatile code for modeling aerospace systems involving single or two-phase fluid flow and all modes of heat transfer. Several applications of SINDA/FLUINT are described in this paper. SINDA/FLUINT is being used extensively to model the single phase water loops and the two-phase ammonia loops of the Space Station Freedom active thermal control system (ATCS). These models range from large integrated system models with multiple submodels to very detailed subsystem models. An integrated Space Station ATCS model has been created with ten submodels representing five water loops, three ammonia loops, a Freon loop and a thermal submodel representing the air loop. The model, which has approximately 800 FLUINT lumps and 300 thermal nodes, is used to determine the interaction between the multiple fluid loops which comprise the Space Station ATCS. Several detailed models of the flow-through radiator subsystem of the Space Station ATCS have been developed. One model, which has approximately 70 FLUINT lumps and 340 thermal nodes, provides a representation of the ATCS low temperature radiator array with two fluid loops connected only by conduction through the radiator face sheet. The detailed models are used to determine parameters such as radiator fluid return temperature, fin efficiency, flow distribution and total heat rejection for the baseline design as well as proposed alternate designs. SINDA/FLUINT has also been used as a design tool for several systems using pressurized gasses. One model examined the pressurization and depressurization of the Space Station airlock under a variety of operating conditions including convection with the side walls and internal cooling. Another model predicted the performance of a new generation of manned maneuvering units. This model included high pressure gas depressurization, internal heat transfer and supersonic thruster equations. The results of both models were used to size components, such as the heaters and gas bottles and also to point to areas where hardware testing was needed

Accuracy of Social Self-Perceptions and Peer Competence in Middle Childhood

The role of children\u27s social self-perceptions in their social development was examined. Participants were 644 fourth graders who completed peer nominations and self-ratings to measure their self-perceptions. Comparisons of children\u27s self-ratings with ratings by teachers yielded scores for self-other agreement. Comparisons of children\u27s perceived liked-most and liked-least nominations with peers\u27 actual likedmost and liked-least nominations yielded scores for dyadic perception accuracy. Significant relationships were found among the self-perception measures and they were moderately stable over time. Significant sociometric status and gender effects were found for both generalized and dyadic perceptions. Inaccurate social self-perceptions predicted loneliness and internalizing behaviors. The results are consistent with the symbolic interactionist view of the link between social perceptions and relationships

English Cottage Style Homes in America: Expressions of Architectural, Technological and Social Innovation

This dissertation examines contemporary English Cottage Style dwellings in America. First developed in Britain by English domestic architect Charles Voysey in the late 19th century, this house style was characterized by a simplification of design, a rationalism of plan, and a structural integrity reminiscent of rural medieval buildings. English Cottage Style homes gained popularity in Britain and later in America as a middle-class house type, promoted by Progressive Era housing reformers, including Gustave Stickley. Sheathed in concrete, to mimic the naturally occurring stuccos used in the 13th and 14th centuries, English Cottage Style dwellings utilized the latest in concrete reinforcement technologies, making them affordable, fire resistant, and long-lasting. Popularized in American domestic magazines, architectural journals, and product advertisements of the early twentieth century, English Cottage Style homes expressed the philosophy of the ideal home or the Home Sweet Home during a time of mass industrialization, immigration and urbanization. Originally country homes, English Cottage Style dwellings also fit neatly into the new suburbanization movement. However, as time passed and mass development of English Cottages occurred, the rural nature of these dwellings including setting, rambling floor plans, and the sense of individual craftsmanship degenerated into a sameness, which defied Voysey\u27s original intent. Ironically the English Cottage Style, with its medieval precedent, was also an influence on modernism. The fluidity of their smooth, white, concrete stucco exteriors and the simplicity of their scrubbed and spare interiors stood in contrast to the frivolity and heavy ornamentation of popular Victorian styles. Consequently, English Cottages inspired an age of sleek Art Modern and International design. Today many English Cottages survive in cities such as Detroit, Michigan, where the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts helped popularize the style. Examples can also be found in elite historic districts around the country, where English styles in general flourished, including cottages of the rambling style, first introduced by Voysey and his colleagues in the English Arts and Crafts Movement

Out of Season. (Original writing);.

Abstract Not Available. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-06, page: 2167. Adviser: Alistair MacLeod. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1996

Minimizing the Cost of Team Exploration

A group of mobile agents is given a task to explore an edge-weighted graph $G$, i.e., every vertex of $G$ has to be visited by at least one agent. There is no centralized unit to coordinate their actions, but they can freely communicate with each other. The goal is to construct a deterministic strategy which allows agents to complete their task optimally. In this paper we are interested in a cost-optimal strategy, where the cost is understood as the total distance traversed by agents coupled with the cost of invoking them. Two graph classes are analyzed, rings and trees, in the off-line and on-line setting, i.e., when a structure of a graph is known and not known to agents in advance. We present algorithms that compute the optimal solutions for a given ring and tree of order $n$, in $O(n)$ time units. For rings in the on-line setting, we give the $2$-competitive algorithm and prove the lower bound of $3/2$ for the competitive ratio for any on-line strategy. For every strategy for trees in the on-line setting, we prove the competitive ratio to be no less than $2$, which can be achieved by the $DFS$ algorithm.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, 5 pseudo-code