Multimedia courseware: Never mind the quality how much will it cost to develop?

This paper evaluates multimedia courseware costing techniques such as the US Airforce Interactive Courseware Method (Golas, 1993), CBT Analyst (Kearsley, 1985), CEAC (Schooley, 1988) and MEEM (Marshall, Samson, Dugard, & Scott, 1994) against the data from ten multimedia courseware developments. The Relative Error and Mean Absolute Relative Error (MARE) are calculated to allow comparison of the different methods

Unsupervised Segmentation of Action Segments in Egocentric Videos using Gaze

Unsupervised segmentation of action segments in egocentric videos is a desirable feature in tasks such as activity recognition and content-based video retrieval. Reducing the search space into a finite set of action segments facilitates a faster and less noisy matching. However, there exist a substantial gap in machine understanding of natural temporal cuts during a continuous human activity. This work reports on a novel gaze-based approach for segmenting action segments in videos captured using an egocentric camera. Gaze is used to locate the region-of-interest inside a frame. By tracking two simple motion-based parameters inside successive regions-of-interest, we discover a finite set of temporal cuts. We present several results using combinations (of the two parameters) on a dataset, i.e., BRISGAZE-ACTIONS. The dataset contains egocentric videos depicting several daily-living activities. The quality of the temporal cuts is further improved by implementing two entropy measures.Comment: To appear in 2017 IEEE International Conference On Signal and Image Processing Application

Needle age-related and seasonal photosynthetic capacity variation is negligible for modelling yearly gas exchange of a sparse temperate Scots pine forest

In this study, we quantified the predictive accuracy loss involved with omitting photosynthetic capacity variation for a Scots pine (<i>Pinus sylvestris</i> L.) stand in Flanders, Belgium. Over the course of one phenological year, we measured the maximum carboxylation capacity at 25 &deg;C (<i>V</i>_m25), the maximum electron transport capacity at 25 &deg;C (<i>J</i>_m25), and the leaf area index (LAI) of different-aged needle cohorts in the upper and lower canopy. We used these measurements as input for a process-based multi-layer canopy model with the objective to quantify the difference in yearly gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and canopy transpiration (<i>E</i>_can) simulated under scenarios in which the observed needle age-related and/or seasonal variation of <i>V</i>_m25 and <i>J</i>_m25 was omitted. We compared simulated GEP with estimations obtained from eddy covariance measurements. Additionally, we measured summer needle N content to investigate the relationship between photosynthetic capacity parameters and needle N content along different needle ages. <br><br> Results show that <i>V</i>_m25 and <i>J</i>_m25 were, respectively, 27% and 13% higher in current-year than in one-year old needles. A significant seasonality effect was found on <i>V</i>_m25, but not on <i>J</i>_m25. Summer needle N content was considerably lower in current-year than in one-year-old needles. As a result, the correlations between <i>V</i>_m25 and needle N content and <i>J</i>_m25 and needle N content were negative and non-significant, respectively. Some explanations for these unexpected correlations were brought forward. Yearly GEP was overestimated by the canopy model by &plusmn;15% under all scenarios. The inclusion and omission of the observed needle age-related <i>V</i>_m25 and <i>J</i>_m25 variation in the model simulations led to statistically significant but ecologically irrelevant differences in simulated yearly GEP and <i>E</i>_can. Omitting seasonal variation did not yield significant simulation differences. Our results indicate that intensive photosynthetic capacity measurements over the full growing season and separate simulation of needle age classes were no prerequisites for accurate simulations of yearly canopy gas exchange. This is true, at least, for the studied stand, which has a very sparse canopy and is exposed to high N deposition and, hence, is not fully representative for temperate Scots pine stands. Nevertheless, we believe well-parameterized process-based canopy models – as applied in this study – are a useful tool to quantify losses of predictive accuracy involved with canopy simplification in modelling

The EU role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict : what is the potential of the 2013 European Commission Guidelines on eligibility of Israeli enterprises in the Occupied Territories for financial support?

Conté: Treball de recerca, pòster i resum executiuEl conflicte Israelià-Palestí és un dels conflictes més llargs del món. Aquest conflicte és una prioritat estratègica per Europa, tal i com estableix l'Estratègia Europea 2003 de la UE, de la qual Europa en té molt a guanyar amb la resolució del conflicte. Molts han discutit sobre el rol que ha de jugar la Unió Europea en el conflicte, ja sigui polític o econòmic, i algunes opinions afirmen que no fa tot el que podria. La UE, la qual els seus principis i valors tendeixen a promocionar mesures per a la resolució de conflictes, no és la única organització que ha proposat iniciatives, però tots els intents per acabar amb el conflicte sobre aquests territoris de moment han fallat. Tot i que els Territoris Ocupats no són internacionalment reconeguts com a part d'Israel, la situació ha restat irresolta durant més de 40 anys. Les Directrius 2013 de la Comissió Europea prohibeixen l'emissió de beques, finançament o premis a entitats Israelianes, amb l'excepció que incloguin una clàusula exclusiva de colònies. Les institucions israelianes situades més enllà de la Línia Verda d'abans del 1967 seran automàticament inelegibles. La UE manca influència política però és el major donant financer a l'Autoritat Palestina i el soci comercial més important d'Israel. Es sol dir que la Unió Europa és un "gegant econòmic" però un "nan polític". Ha canviat això la Unió Europea a través de les Directrius 2013? Les Directrius 2013 busquen influenciar la posició econòmica de la UE. És la primera vegada que la UE ha mostrat desacord amb la política d'Israel, no només a través de declaracions polítiques sinó que també a través de polítiques econòmiques.Tot i això, la seva eficàcia roman dubtosa ja que Israel etiqueta els seus productes de manera que amaga el seu origen geogràfic, dificultant-ho per a la UE i als seus ciutadans per a que distingeixin entre Israel i els Territoris Ocupats. El problema central d'aquestes directrius és que distingeixen entre Israel i les empreses israelianes situades als Territoris Ocupats com si fossin diferents, però sovint són parts separades de la mateixa empresa. Com llavors pot saber la UE amb qui pot promocionar relacions econòmiques i amb qui no? Les Directrius 2013 poden resultar grandiloqüents. La UE cerca honorar els seus valores però no pot fer-ho de manera eficaç degut a les seves divisions internes. Les directrius posen les bases per a canvis importants però no asseguren que aquests passin. Soles són insuficients. Hi ha una falta de mesures específiques, mecanismes i finançament per a que aquestes directrius es duguin a terme siguin supervisades.The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the longest ongoing confrontations in the world. Not only is it a strategic priority for Europe, as the EU 2003 Security Strategy states, but Europe has also much to gain from conflict resolution. Many have discussed the role the EU has to play, whether economic or also political, and one informed opinion is that the EU is underplaying its hand. The EU, whose principles and values tend to promote measures for conflict resolution, is not the only organisation to propose initiatives, but all attempts to end the conflict over these territories have so far failed. And even though the Occupied Territories are not recognised internationally as part of Israel, the situation has remained unresolved for over 40 years now. The European Commission 2013 Guidelines prohibit the issuing of EU grants, funding, prizes or scholarships to Israeli entities unless a settlement exclusion clause is included. Israeli institutions and bodies situated across the pre-1967 Green Line should be automatically ineligible. The EU lacks political influence but is the largest financial donor to the Palestinian Authority and biggest trade partner for Israel. It is sometimes said that the EU is an "economic giant" but a "political dwarf". Has the EU changed this through the 2013 Guidelines? The 2013 Guidelines seek to leverage the EU's economic position. It is the first time that the EU has shown its disagreement with Israeli policy not just through political statements but through economic policy. However, their effectiveness remains in doubt because Israel labels its products in a way that masks their geographical origin, making it difficult for the EU and its citizens to distinguish between Israel and the Occupied Territories. The core problem of these Guidelines is that they distinguish between Israel and Israeli companies in the Occupied Territories as if they were different, but very often they are separate parts of the same company. How then is the EU supposed to know who it can promote economic relations with? The 2013 Guidelines could be no more than grandstanding. The EU seeks to honour its core values but it cannot do so effectively due to its own internal divisions. The Guidelines lay the basis for an important turn in events but they do not ensure it will happen. Alone they are insufficient. There is a lack of specific measures, mechanisms and funding for these guidelines to be carried out and monitore

Corticolimbic dysfunction during facial and prosodic emotional recognition in first-episode psychosis patients and individuals at ultra-high risk

Emotional processing dysfunction is widely reported in patients with chronic schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis (FEP), and has been linked to functional abnormalities of corticolimbic regions. However, corticolimbic dysfunction is less studied in people at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR), particularly during processing prosodic voices. We examined corticolimbic response during an emotion recognition task in 18 UHR participants and compared them with 18 FEP patients and 21 healthy controls (HC). Emotional recognition accuracy and corticolimbic response were measured during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using emotional dynamic facial and prosodic voice stimuli. Relative to HC, both UHR and FEP groups showed impaired overall emotion recognition accuracy. Whilst during face trials, both UHR and FEP groups did not show significant differences in brain activation relative to HC, during voice trials, FEP patients showed reduced activation across corticolimbic networks including the amygdala. UHR participants showed a trend for increased response in the caudate nucleus during the processing of emotionally valenced prosodic voices relative to HC. The results indicate that corticolimbic dysfunction seen in FEP patients is also present, albeit to a lesser extent, in an UHR cohort, and may represent a neural substrate for emotional processing difficulties prior to the onset of florid psychosis

Observation of vortex dipoles in an oblate Bose-Einstein condensate

We report experimental observations and numerical simulations of the formation, dynamics, and lifetimes of single and multiply charged quantized vortex dipoles in highly oblate dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). We nucleate pairs of vortices of opposite charge (vortex dipoles) by forcing superfluid flow around a repulsive gaussian obstacle within the BEC. By controlling the flow velocity we determine the critical velocity for the nucleation of a single vortex dipole, with excellent agreement between experimental and numerical results. We present measurements of vortex dipole dynamics, finding that the vortex cores of opposite charge can exist for many seconds and that annihilation is inhibited in our highly oblate trap geometry. For sufficiently rapid flow velocities we find that clusters of like-charge vortices aggregate into long-lived dipolar flow structures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 EPAPS fil

Mathematical modeling of respiratory system mechanics in the newborn lamb.

International audienceIn this paper, a mathematical model of the respiratory mechanics is used to reproduce experimental signal waveforms acquired from three newborn lambs. As the main challenge is to determine specific lamb parameters, a sensitivity analysis has been realized to find the most influent parameters, which are identified using an evolutionary algorithm. Results show a close match between experimental and simulated pressure and flow waveforms obtained during spontaneous ventilation and pleural pressure variations acquired during the application of positive pressure, since root mean square errors equal to 0.0119, 0.0052 and 0.0094. The identified parameters were discussed in light of previous knowledge of respiratory mechanics in the newborn

Optical characterization of the growth and spatial structure of a substorm onset arc

We present a detailed case study of the characteristics of auroral forms that constitute the first ionospheric signatures of substorm expansion phase onset. Analysis of the optical frequency and along-arc (azimuthal) wave number spectra provides the strongest constraint to date on the potential mechanisms and instabilities in the near-Earth magnetosphere that accompany auroral onset and which precede poleward arc expansion and auroral breakup. We evaluate the frequency and growth rates of the auroral forms as a function of azimuthal wave number to determine whether these wave characteristics are consistent with current models of the substorm onset mechanism. We find that the frequency, spatial scales, and growth rates of the auroral forms are most consistent with the cross-field current instability or a ballooning instability, most likely triggered close to the inner edge of the ion plasma sheet. This result is supportive of a near-Earth plasma sheet initiation of the substorm expansion phase. We also present evidence that the frequency and phase characteristics of the auroral undulations may be generated via resonant processes operating along the geomagnetic field. Our observations provide the most powerful constraint to date on the ionospheric manifestation of the physical processes operating during the first few minutes around auroral substorm onset

Superlight small bipolarons

Recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has identified that a finite-range Fr\"ohlich electron-phonon interaction (EPI) with c-axis polarized optical phonons is important in cuprate superconductors, in agreement with an earlier proposal by Alexandrov and Kornilovitch. The estimated unscreened EPI is so strong that it could easily transform doped holes into mobile lattice bipolarons in narrow-band Mott insulators such as cuprates. Applying a continuous-time quantum Monte-Carlo algorithm (CTQMC) we compute the total energy, effective mass, pair radius, number of phonons and isotope exponent of lattice bipolarons in the region of parameters where any approximation might fail taking into account the Coulomb repulsion and the finite-range EPI. The effects of modifying the interaction range and different lattice geometries are discussed with regards to analytical strong-coupling/non-adiabatic results. We demonstrate that bipolarons can be simultaneously small and light, provided suitable conditions on the electron-phonon and electron-electron interaction are satisfied. Such light small bipolarons are a necessary precursor to high-temperature Bose-Einstein condensation in solids. The light bipolaron mass is shown to be universal in systems made of triangular plaquettes, due to a novel crab-like motion. Another surprising result is that the triplet-singlet exchange energy is of the first order in the hopping integral and triplet bipolarons are heavier than singlets in certain lattice structures at variance with intuitive expectations. Finally, we identify a range of lattices where superlight small bipolarons may be formed, and give estimates for their masses in the anti-adiabatic approximation.Comment: 31 pages. To appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, Special Issue 'Mott's Physics