Adaptive online deployment for resource constrained mobile smart clients

Nowadays mobile devices are more and more used as a platform for applications. Contrary to prior generation handheld devices configured with a predefined set of applications, today leading edge devices provide a platform for flexible and customized application deployment. However, these applications have to deal with the limitations (e.g. CPU speed, memory) of these mobile devices and thus cannot handle complex tasks. In order to cope with the handheld limitations and the ever changing device context (e.g. network connections, remaining battery time, etc.) we present a middleware solution that dynamically offloads parts of the software to the most appropriate server. Without a priori knowledge of the application, the optimal deployment is calculated, that lowers the cpu usage at the mobile client, whilst keeping the used bandwidth minimal. The information needed to calculate this optimum is gathered on the fly from runtime information. Experimental results show that the proposed solution enables effective execution of complex applications in a constrained environment. Moreover, we demonstrate that the overhead from the middleware components is below 2%

A component-based approach towards mobile distributed and collaborative PTAM

Having numerous sensors on-board, smartphones have rapidly become a very attractive platform for augmented reality applications. Although the computational resources of mobile devices grow, they still cannot match commonly available desktop hardware, which results in downscaled versions of well known computer vision techniques that sacrifice accuracy for speed. We propose a component-based approach towards mobile augmented reality applications, where components can be configured and distributed at runtime, resulting in a performance increase by offloading CPU intensive tasks to a server in the network. By sharing distributed components between multiple users, collaborative AR applications can easily be developed. In this poster, we present a component-based implementation of the Parallel Tracking And Mapping (PTAM) algorithm, enabling to distribute components to achieve a mobile, distributed version of the original PTAM algorithm, as well as a collaborative scenario

First record of the Starry Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles tatei) in Indonesian New Guinea (Papua)

The Starry Owlet-Nightjar Aegotheles tatei, also known as Spangled, Star-spotted or Rand’s Owlet-Nightjar, is one of the least known birds of New Guinea’s lowland rainforests. It was recognized as a distinct species as recently as 2000 and its vocalizations were first documented in 2008.  Although hitherto all observations of the species were from Papua New Guinea, its presence in Papua (Irian Jaya) was predictable since the type locality is close to the Indonesian border.  A 6-day targeted search for the Starry Owlet-Nightjar was undertaken in lowland forest along the Kali Muyu River. The first Indonesian record for this species was confirmed on 6 October 2012, when a bird was spotlighted and sound recordings of the song and the alarm call were obtained. According to local people, the species may be widespread in the area

From nada to Namur : national parliaments' involvement in trade politics, the case of Belgium

In the past years we have seen a somewhat paradoxical evolution in EU trade politics. While the Lisbon Treaty was meant to facilitate the adoption of trade agreements by bolstering the exclusive supranational competence of the European Union, (sub-)national Parliaments have now become more involved in trade policy than ever before. We investigate this shift in involvement across the Belgian parliaments. In the past fifteen years, both the Federal, Flemish and Walloon parliament paid little attention to EU trade policy. This has changed since 2014, especially in Wallonia but also in the other assemblies. Combining a variety of sources, we conclude that several interacting factors have fuelled this increase in Parliamentary involvement. First, TTIP and CETA contain ‘deep trade’ provisions that have alerted MPs. Second, TTIP has generated an unseen amount of mobilisation and contestation, and this has led politicians (especially on the left and in the opposition) to join the fray as well. Finally, the asymmetry between the Walloon and federal governing coalitions have favoured a more activist opposition by Wallonia, while Flanders’ centre-right coalition has remained supportive

Excretion and folding of plasmalemma function to accommodate alterations in guard cell volume during stomatal closure in Vicia faba L.

Stomatal movement results in large and repetitive changes in cell volume and consequently surface area. While endocytosis has been extensively studied and is thought to be a major mechanism for accommodating the volume changes as evidenced mainly by fluorescent labelling and confocal imaging, studies at the ultrastructural level in intact guard cells of stomata regulated by natural factors have never been reported. Here, it is reported that excretion and folding of the plasmalemma are critical for accommodating the volume alterations in intact guard cells in Vicia faba L. Using transmission electron microscopy in combination with laser confocal microscopy, it was observed that in fully opened stomata the plasmalemma was smooth and tightly adhered to the cell walls while a whole large vacuole appeared in the cell. In the closed stomata, besides vacuole fragmentation, endocytosis of the tonoplast rather than the plasmalemma commonly occurred. Importantly, in stomata where pore closure was induced by circadian rhythm or CO2, numerous tiny vesicles were found outside the plasmalemma and, moreover, extensive folding of the plasmalemma could also be found in some regions of the cells. Additionally, an unknown structure was found at the interface between the plasmalemma and cell walls, especially in those areas of the cell where extensive folding occurred, suggesting that plasmalemma turnover is possibly associated with an interaction between the plasmalemma and cell walls. Collectively, the results strongly indicate that excretion and folding of the plasmalemma are critical for the accommodation of the cell volume alterations during stomatal movement

Perancangan Visualisasi Keris 3d dengan Layanan Augmented Reality Cloud-recognition

Salah satu obyek budaya tradisional yang populer adalah keris. Senjata tradisional ini memiliki bentuk yang indah. Pengetahuan masyarakat mengenai keris semakin berkurang, hal ini karena media yang digunakan untuk memperkenalkan keris yang kurang menarik dan sulit diperoleh. Oleh karena itu dibutuhkan suatu media baru untuk memperkenalkan keris kepada masyarakat luas. Pengguna dapat dengan mudah memindai ponsel mereka pada media yang disediakan dan memperoleh data tentang keris. Obyek keris akan dibuat virtual sehingga dapat dikenal dengan cukup menarik oleh masyarakat. Obyek keris akan dimodelkan secara 3 dimensi, lalu digabungkan dengan pola penanda. Dengan menggunakan teknologi Augmented Reality maka diharapkan dapat menggabungkan obyek keris secara virtual dengan pola penanda pada media promosi. Pembuatan Augmented Reality obyek keris ini memanfaatkan fitur-fitur dari layanan Vuforia, AutoCad123D, dan Unity Game Designer. Vuforia menyediakan fitur pengenalan pola Augmented Reality secara remote. Autocad123D menyediakan layanan pemodelan 3D dengan baik. Unity game designer menyediakan layanan untuk menggabungkan kedua layanan Vuforia dan Autocad123D. Dengan menggunakan layanan tersebut maka akan didapatkan aplikasi yang cukup ringan, mengurangi beban komputasi pada client, menjadi lebih ramah memori, dan kemudahan dalam memperbarui aplikasi di pihak client