Automated Production of Movies on a Cluster of Computers

A method of accelerating and facilitating production of video and film motion-picture products, and software and generic designs of computer hardware to implement the method, are undergoing development. The method provides for automation of most of the tedious and repetitive tasks involved in editing and otherwise processing raw digitized imagery into final motion-picture products. The method was conceived to satisfy requirements, in industrial and scientific testing, for rapid processing of multiple streams of simultaneously captured raw video imagery into documentation in the form of edited video imagery and video derived data products for technical review and analysis. In the production of such video technical documentation, unlike in production of motion-picture products for entertainment, (1) it is often necessary to produce multiple video derived data products, (2) there are usually no second chances to repeat acquisition of raw imagery, (3) it is often desired to produce final products within minutes rather than hours, days, or months, and (4) consistency and quality, rather than aesthetics, are the primary criteria for judging the products. In the present method, the workflow has both serial and parallel aspects: processing can begin before all the raw imagery has been acquired, each video stream can be subjected to different stages of processing simultaneously on different computers that may be grouped into one or more cluster(s), and the final product may consist of multiple video streams. Results of processing on different computers are shared, so that workers can collaborate effectively

Measuring and testing dependence by correlation of distances

Distance correlation is a new measure of dependence between random vectors. Distance covariance and distance correlation are analogous to product-moment covariance and correlation, but unlike the classical definition of correlation, distance correlation is zero only if the random vectors are independent. The empirical distance dependence measures are based on certain Euclidean distances between sample elements rather than sample moments, yet have a compact representation analogous to the classical covariance and correlation. Asymptotic properties and applications in testing independence are discussed. Implementation of the test and Monte Carlo results are also presented.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053607000000505 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

System Synchronizes Recordings from Separated Video Cameras

A system of electronic hardware and software for synchronizing recordings from multiple, physically separated video cameras is being developed, primarily for use in multiple-look-angle video production. The system, the time code used in the system, and the underlying method of synchronization upon which the design of the system is based are denoted generally by the term "Geo-TimeCode(TradeMark)." The system is embodied mostly in compact, lightweight, portable units (see figure) denoted video time-code units (VTUs) - one VTU for each video camera. The system is scalable in that any number of camera recordings can be synchronized. The estimated retail price per unit would be about $350 (in 2006 dollars). The need for this or another synchronization system external to video cameras arises because most video cameras do not include internal means for maintaining synchronization with other video cameras. Unlike prior video-camera-synchronization systems, this system does not depend on continuous cable or radio links between cameras (however, it does depend on occasional cable links lasting a few seconds). Also, whereas the time codes used in prior video-camera-synchronization systems typically repeat after 24 hours, the time code used in this system does not repeat for slightly more than 136 years; hence, this system is much better suited for long-term deployment of multiple cameras

THE STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE OF MAYA SACRIFICE: A CASE STUDY OF RITUALIZED HUMAN SACRIFICE AT MIDNIGHT TERROR CAVE, BELIZE

The site of Midnight Terror Cave is located in the karstic Roaring Creek Valley near the village of Springfield in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was discovered in 2006 and fieldwork was conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Survey Project and California State University, Los Angeles, between 2008 and 2010. This dissertation focuses on the osteological analysis of the bones of 118 individuals recovered and recorded at the site. The osteological, contextual, and demographic evidence is framed within ritual and costly signaling theory of structural violence and viewed with the ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature of the ancient and modern Maya in mind. Analyses of the data indicate that the site’s remains constitute the largest assemblage of probably sacrificed individuals in the Southern Maya Lowlands, and that these sacrifices may have coincided with the Terminal Classic droughts. Demographic analysis indicates that the mortuary assemblage is significantly different from what would be expected for a “normal” cemetery assemblage of a horticultural society. The large quantities of older children and young adults apparently sacrificed in this cave suggest that these may have been petitions to the Maya rain deity. Isotopic data and paleopathology evidence suggest that geographical outsiders and possible social outcasts were at least sometimes chosen for sacrifice

Viscous Attenuation Of Acoustic Waves In Suspensions

A model for attenuation of acoustic waves in suspensions is proposed which includes an energy loss due to viscous fluid flow around spherical particles. The expression for the complex wavenumber is developed by considering the partial pressures acting on the solid and fluid phases of the suspension. This is shown to be equivalent to the results of the Biot theory for porous media in the limiting case where the frame moduli vanish. Unlike earlier applications of the limiting case Biot theory, however, a value for the attenuation coefficient is developed from the Stokes flow drag force on a sphere instead of attempting to apply a permeability value to a suspension. If the fluid and solid particle velocities have harmonic time dependence with angular frequency w, the attenuation in this model is proportional to w2 at low frequencies and approaches a constant value at high frequencies. The predicted attenuation is very sensitive to the radius and density of the spherical particles. Accurate modeling of observed phase velocities from suspensions of spherical polystyrene particles in water and oil and successful inversion for kaolinite properties using attenuation and velocity data from kaolinite suspensions at 100 kHz show that this viscous dissipation model is a good representation of the effects controlling the propagation of acoustic waves in these suspensions. Attenuation predictions are also compared to amplitude ratio data from an oil-polystyrene suspension. The viscous effects are shown to be significant for only a limited range of solid concentration and frequency by the reduced accuracy of the model for attenuation in a kaolinite suspension at 1 MHz.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Full Waveform Acoustic Logging ConsortiumNational Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra

Truth or Consequences: The Dilemma of Asserting the Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in Bankruptcy Proceedings

This article discusses both the manner in which issues regarding the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination may arise in bankruptcy cases and the many potential consequences of asserting the privilege. Parts II and III provide a general overview of the bankruptcy process and the Fifth Amendment, respectively. Part IV examines whether and to what extent the privilege against self-incrimination protects corporations and their directors, officers, and shareholders. Part V offers a similar examination of the extent to which the Fifth Amendment protects against the compelled production of documents. Parts VI and VII address the closely related topics of invocation and waiver of the privilege. Part VIII analyzes what may well be the most serious potential consequence of invoking the privilege-the court’s drawing an adverse inference against the individual choosing to remain silent. Part IX analyzes other, at least arguably, less serious potential consequences when the court draws such inferences. Part X discusses the question of whether a bankruptcy court can and should stay bankruptcy proceedings pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against an individual who invokes the privilege against self-incrimination during a bankruptcy proceeding. Finally, Part XI deals with immunity, an often suggested but seldom granted means of resolving the inherent conflict between the individual’s right to remain silent and other parties’ interests in full disclosure

Electronic clinical predictive thermometer using logarithm for temperature prediction

A thermometer that rapidly predicts body temperature based on the temperature signals received from a temperature sensing probe when it comes into contact with the body. The logarithms of the differences between the temperature signals in a selected time frame are determined. A line is fit through the logarithms and the slope of the line is used as a system time constant in predicting the final temperature of the body. The time constant in conjunction with predetermined additional constants are used to compute the predicted temperature. Data quality in the time frame is monitored and if unacceptable, a different time frame of temperature signals is selected for use in prediction. The processor switches to a monitor mode if data quality over a limited number of time frames is unacceptable. Determining the start time on which the measurement time frame for prediction is based is performed by summing the second derivatives of temperature signals over time frames. When the sum of second derivatives in a particular time frame exceeds a threshold, the start time is established

Process-Based Statistical Models Predict Dynamic Estuarine Salinity

Climate change is increasing variation in freshwater input and the intensity of this variation in estuarine systems throughout the world. Estuarine salinity responds to dynamic meteorological and hydrological processes with important consequences to physical features, such as vertical stratification, as well as living resources, such as the distribution, abundance and diversity of species. We developed and evaluated two space-time statistical models to predict bottom salinity in Pamlico Sound, NC: (i) process and (ii) time models. Both models used 20-years of observed salinity and contained a deterministic component designed to represent four key processes that affect salinity: (1) recent and long-term fresh water influx (FWI) from four rivers, (2) mixing with the ocean through inlets, (3) hurricane incidence, and (4) interactions among these variables. Freshwater discharge and distance from an inlet to the Atlantic Ocean explained the most variance in dynamic salinity. The final process model explained 89% of spatiotemporal variability in salinity in a withheld dataset, whereas the final time model explained 87% of the variability within the same withheld data set. This study provides a methodological template for modeling salinity and other normally-distributed abiotic variables in this lagoonal estuary

Optical fiber systems are convectively unstable

We theoretically and experimentally evidence that fiber systems are convective systems since their nonlocal inherent properties, such as the dispersion and Raman effects, break the reflection symmetry. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations carried out for a fiber ring cavity demonstrate that the third-order dispersion term leads to the appearance of convective and absolute instabilities. Their signature is an asymmetry in the output power spectrum. Using this criterion, experimental evidence of convective instabilities is given in a fiber cavity pumped by a pulsed laser