A Study of Dance Usage in Kusa Paba Movie

A dance technique used to supplement the acting can be identified in modern Sinhala films that have taken Indian historical stories as a source. The Sinhala film Kusa Paba, directed by Sunil Ariyaratne, is based on the Kusa Jãtaka in the book Pansiya Panas Jathaka Potha, and it is set in North Indian social culture. The research problem of this study is to investigate how the proposed social culture is revealed through the use of dance in the Kusa Paba film. The central assumption of this study is to identify the use of dance in this film and, secondarily, to recognize the proposed social culture. This study is based primarily on qualitative data and inductive reasoning. The data gathered through the methods of watching the film, library research, and interviews has been presented as a contextual analysis. For those dance scenes, costumes and composition, background decoration, and music styles were well used to represent North Indian culture. The study revealed that South Indian culture is highlighted through the use of dances such as Kudirai Attam, Kathakali and the constant use of basic postures, foot movements and hasta mudras in Bharata Nãtyam. The study concluded that other dance-related features are more indicative of the projected social culture than the dance style and motions employed in the Kusa Paba movie. Accordingly, the research recommends that these negative impacts can be reduced through proper source analysis and through an optimal interrelationship with the film squad to choreograph the cinema dance. DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v08i02.0

Mutual information based sensor registration and calibration

Knowledge of calibration, that defines the location of sensors relative to each other, and registration, that relates sensor response due to the same physical phenomena, are essential in order to be able to fuse information from multiple sensors. In this paper, a Mutual Information (MI) based approach for automatic sensor registration and calibration is presented. Unsupervised learning of a nonparametric sensing model by maximizing mutual information between signal streams is used to relate information from different sensors, allowing unknown sensor registration and calibration to be determined. Experiments conducted in an office environment are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Two laser sensors are used to capture people mobbing in an arbitrarily manner in the environment and MI from a number of attributes of the motion are used for relating the signal streams from the sensors. Thus the sensor registration and calibration is achieved without using artificial patterns or pre-specified motions. © 2006 IEEE

A Radio-Inertial Localization and Tracking System with BLE Beacons Prior Maps

© 2018 IEEE. In this paper, we develop a system for the low-cost indoor localization and tracking problem using radio signal strength indicator, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and magnetometer sensors. We develop a novel and simplified probabilistic IMU motion model as the proposal distribution of the sequential Monte-Carlo technique to track the robot trajectory. Our algorithm can globally localize and track a robot with a priori unknown location, given an informative prior map of the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. Also, we formulate the problem as an optimization problem that serves as the Backend of the algorithm mentioned above (Front-end). Thus, by simultaneously solving for the robot trajectory and the map of BLE beacons, we recover a continuous and smooth trajectory of the robot, corrected locations of the BLE beacons, and the time-varying IMU bias. The evaluations achieved using hardware show that through the proposed closed-loop system the localization performance can be improved; furthermore, the system becomes robust to the error in the map of beacons by feeding back the optimized map to the Front-end

Regularity in speech rhythm as a social coalition signal

First published: 01 August 2019Regular rhythm facilitates audiomotor entrainment and synchronization in motor behavior and vocalizations between individuals. As rhythm entrainment between interacting agents is correlated with higher levels of cooperation and prosocial affiliative behavior, humans can potentiallymap regular speech rhythmonto higher cooperation and friendliness between interacting individuals.We tested this hypothesis at two rhythmic levels: pulse (recurrent acoustic events) and meter (hierarchical structuring of pulses based on their relative salience).We asked the listeners to make judgments of the hostile or collaborative attitude of two interacting agents who exhibit either regular or irregular pulse (Experiment 1) or meter (Experiment 2). The results confirmed a link between the perception of social affiliation and rhythmicity: evenly distributed pulses (vowel onsets) and consistent grouping of pulses into recurrent hierarchical patterns are more likely to be perceived as cooperation signals. People are more sensitive to regularity at the level of pulse than at the level of meter, and they are more confident when they associate cooperation with isochrony in pulse. The evolutionary origin of this faculty is possibly the need to transmit and perceive coalition information in social groups of human ancestors. We discuss the implications of these findings for the emergence of speech in humans.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres/Units of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0490) to the BCBL, from European Commission as Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowDLV- 792331 to L.P., fromMinisterio de Ciencia E Innovacion by grant PSI2017-82563-P to A.G.S., and grant RTI2018-098317-B-I00 to M.O

Monte-Carlo simulations of the recombination dynamics in porous silicon

A simple lattice model describing the recombination dynamics in visible light emitting porous Silicon is presented. In the model, each occupied lattice site represents a Si crystal of nanometer size. The disordered structure of porous Silicon is modeled by modified random percolation networks in two and three dimensions. Both correlated (excitons) and uncorrelated electron-hole pairs have been studied. Radiative and non-radiative processes as well as hopping between nearest neighbor occupied sites are taken into account. By means of extensive Monte-Carlo simulations, we show that the recombination dynamics in porous Silicon is due to a dispersive diffusion of excitons in a disordered arrangement of interconnected Si quantum dots. The simulated luminescence decay for the excitons shows a stretched exponential lineshape while for uncorrelated electron-hole pairs a power law decay is suggested. Our results successfully account for the recombination dynamics recently observed in the experiments. The present model is a prototype for a larger class of models describing diffusion of particles in a complex disordered system.Comment: 33 pages, RevTeX, 19 figures available on request to [email protected]

Orchestration of renewable generation in low energy buildings and districts using energy storage and load shaping

There is increasing penetration of renewable generation in buildings and districts. There are challenges in making the effective use of this generation. The objective of the ORIGIN project (Orchestration of Renewable Integrated Generation In Neighborhoods) is to shape loads so that the fraction of energy consumed that is from local renewable generation is maximized, and energy imported from outside sources is minimized. This paper presents the overall approach taken in the ORIGIN project and explores building physics aspects of solar thermal storage system orchestration. The case study districts are briefly introduced and characteristics of their generation, buildings, districts and shiftable loads described. The orchestration approach taken in ORIGIN is then presented. At the core of the ORIGIN system is the orchestration algorithm which generates informational and control outputs to shape future loads to best meet the objectives. The model based approach used to quantify thermal and electrical load shifting opportunities for pre-charging, coasting or avoiding loads, while meeting thermal comfort and other demands, is described using a solar thermal storage system as an example. The future steps for the ORIGIN project; retrofit of the ORIGIN system into existing districts and potential for other future applications is briefly discussed

Characterization of bovine uterine fluid extracellular vesicles proteomic profiles at follicular and luteal phases of the oestrous cycle

Extracellular vesicles (EV) have been identified in uterine fluid (UF), however the bovine UF-EV profile during different phases of the oestrous cycle has not yet been established. Therefore, we compared the UF-EV, and their protein profile at follicular and luteal phases of the oestrous cycle. UF samples were collected from healthy uteri of six live and six slaughtered cows at follicular or luteal phases. Isolation of EV was performed using tangential flow filtration followed by size exclusion chromatography. EV were characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), fluorescence NTA, zeta potential, and transmission electron microscopy. Mass-spectrometry was used to evaluate EV protein profile from live cows. Particle concentrations (mean ± SD) were higher (P < 0.05) at follicular than at luteal phase in both live (1.01 × 108 ± 1.66 × 107 vs 7.56 × 107 ± 1.80 × 107, respectively) and slaughtered cows (1.17 × 108 ± 2.34 × 107 vs 9.12 × 107 ± 9.77 × 106, respectively). The proportion of fluorescently labelled EV varied significantly between follicular and luteal phases across live (28.9 ± 1.9% vs 19.3 ± 2.8%, respectively) and slaughtered cows (26.5 ± 6.3% vs 27.3 ± 2 .7%, respectively). In total, 41 EV proteins were differentially expressed between the phases. Some of the proteins were involved in reproductive processes, cell adhesion and proliferation, and cellular metabolic processes. The results indicated differences in bovine UF-EV concentration and protein profile at follicular and luteal phases, which would suggest that EV modulate uterine microenvironment across the oestrous cycle. Further research is needed to understand the effect of EV changes throughout the oestrous cycle

Creativity Bento Box: a physical resource pack to support interaction in virtual space

The Creativity Bento Box is a physical resource pack, designed to support casual social interaction and break taking in an intensive, computer-mediated social activity. It was developed within the Creativity Greenhouse project, which piloted a mechanism to create research proposals and distribute funding at a distance. This involved facilitated phases of collaboration and competition over multiple days of computer-mediated work, where participants communicate and interact through a virtual world. During the iterative development process, the lack of time for socialising, the intense focus on virtual resources, and a lack of time spent away from the screen were reported as negative issues in feedback from participants. We report on the development of the Creativity Bento Box and how it helped to address these issues. By providing physical resources that contrasted with the properties of the virtual world, it supported people to socialise and take breaks from their primary activity, allowed them to include physical space and artefacts in their interactions, and provoked moves away from the otherwise intense focus on the computer. We reflect on the roles of the Bento Box as a gift, in bridging between physical and virtual contexts, its higher suitability during the earlier phases of ideation and group development, and its perception by participants as something ‘framed’. Through this, we highlight the underexplored potential of using physical, offline resources as a means to solve difficulties in distanced social interactions