A Platform Independent Architecture for Virtual Characters and Avatars

We have developed a Platform Independent Architecture for Virtual Characters and Avatars (PIAVCA), a character animation system that aims to be independent of any underlying graphics framework and so be easily portable. PIAVCA supports body animation based on a skeletal representation and facial animation based on morph targets

Analysis domain model for shared virtual environments

The field of shared virtual environments, which also encompasses online games and social 3D environments, has a system landscape consisting of multiple solutions that share great functional overlap. However, there is little system interoperability between the different solutions. A shared virtual environment has an associated problem domain that is highly complex raising difficult challenges to the development process, starting with the architectural design of the underlying system. This paper has two main contributions. The first contribution is a broad domain analysis of shared virtual environments, which enables developers to have a better understanding of the whole rather than the part(s). The second contribution is a reference domain model for discussing and describing solutions - the Analysis Domain Model

Taxation- Federal Income Tax - Deductible Contributions to Nonqualified Profit-Sharing Plans

In 1942 plaintiff employer adopted a profit-sharing plan under which a percentage of each year\u27s profits was to be deposited in irrevocable trusts for distribution to its employees in succeeding years. The plan was not qualified under the Internal Revenue Code. Although under the terms of the trusts each employee\u27s rights in the fund vested at the time the contribution was made by the employer, these rights would be forfeited by voluntary resignation prior to a fixed date. In 1945 plaintiff deducted the amount contributed to the trust in that year as a contribution to a non-qualified profit-sharing plan under subsection (D) of section 23 (p) (1), but the Commissioner of Internal Revenue disallowed any deduction in that or any other year for amounts contributed to or paid from any of the funds, alleging that at the time the contribution was made to the trust the rights of the employees were forfeitable. In an action to recover overpayment of income and excess profits taxes, held, Commissioner\u27s determination overruled, and recovery allowed, one judge dissenting. Under subsection (D) of section 23 (p) (1), plaintiff is allowed to deduct in 1945 not the amount contributed to the trust in that year, but rather the amount actually paid from the trust to the employee-beneficiaries in that year, because nonforfeitability in that subsection refers to the time of payment from the trust, and not to the time of payment to the trust. Russell Manufacturing Co. v. United States, (Ct. Cl. 1959) 175 F. Supp. 159

A Study of Cheese Spreads and Dips

Each year in the State of Utah, thousands of pounds of a number of varieties of bulk end packaged cheese are returned to the manufacturing plants from the stores and other distribution points. The main reasons are: broken wrapper or rind, crushed or otherwise mutilated package, and mold development

Constructing a gazebo: supporting teamwork in a tightly coupled, distributed task in virtual reality

Many tasks require teamwork. Team members may work concurrently, but there must be some occasions of coming together. Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) allow distributed teams to come together across distance to share a task. Studies of CVE systems have tended to focus on the sense of presence or copresence with other people. They have avoided studying close interaction between us-ers, such as the shared manipulation of objects, because CVEs suffer from inherent network delays and often have cumbersome user interfaces. Little is known about the ef-fectiveness of collaboration in tasks requiring various forms of object sharing and, in particular, the concurrent manipu-lation of objects. This paper investigates the effectiveness of supporting teamwork among a geographically distributed group in a task that requires the shared manipulation of objects. To complete the task, users must share objects through con-current manipulation of both the same and distinct at-tributes. The effectiveness of teamwork is measured in terms of time taken to achieve each step, as well as the impression of users. The effect of interface is examined by comparing various combinations of walk-in cubic immersive projection technology (IPT) displays and desktop devices

Constitutional Law - Governmental Immunity - Immunity of Agent of Federal Government to State Taxation

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company contracted with the Atomic Energy Commission to construct and operate the Savannah River Project for development of the hydrogen bomb for a fee of one dollar. Under the contract du Pont was to purchase all materials and supplies with funds furnished by the United States, title to vest in the government immediately when it passed from the vendor. South Carolina attempted to apply its sales and use taxes to these purchases. In an action by the United States and du Pont before a statutory three-judge district court to enjoin collection of these taxes, held, injunction granted, one judge dissenting. The purchases by du Pont are exempt from state taxation because du Pont was acting as an agent of the federal government. United States v. Livingston, 179 F. Supp. 9 (E.D. S.C. 1959)

Expectations and Experiences of Participants in Ongoing Adoption Reunion Relationships:A Qualitative Study

This article describes the expectations, responses to unmet expectations, and factors that influence adoption reunion outcomes. Themes derived for interviews with 10 adult adoptees and 10 birth mothers who had each experienced an adoption reunion beyond an initial face-to-face meeting are reported

The Effect of Environmental Features, Self-Avatar, and Immersion on Object Location Memory in Virtual Environments

One potential application for virtual environments (VEs) is the training of spatial knowledge. A critical question is what features the VE should have in order to facilitate this training. Previous research has shown that people rely on environmental features, such as sockets and wall decorations, when learning object locations. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of varied environmental feature fidelity of VEs, the use of self-avatars, and the level of immersion on object location learning and recall. Following a between-subjects experimental design, participants were asked to learn the location of three identical objects by navigating one of the three environments: a physical laboratory or low and high detail VE replicas of this laboratory. Participants who experienced the VEs could use either a head-mounted display (HMD) or a desktop computer. Half of the participants learning in the HMD and desktop systems were assigned a virtual body. Participants were then asked to place physical versions of the three objects in the physical laboratory in the same configuration. We tracked participant movement, measured object placement, and administered a questionnaire related to aspects of the experience. HMD learning resulted in statistically significant higher performance than desktop learning. Results indicate that, when learning in low detail VEs, there is no difference in performance between participants using HMD and desktop systems. Overall, providing the participant with a virtual body had a negative impact on performance. Preliminary inspection of navigation data indicates that spatial learning strategies are different in systems with varying levels of immersion

Object Location Memory Error in Virtual and Real Environments

We aim to further explore the transfer of spatial knowledge from virtual to real spaces. Based on previous research on spatial memory in immersive virtual reality (VR) we ran a study that looked at the effect of three locomotion techniques (joystick, pointing-and-teleporting and walking-in-place) on object location learning and recall. Participants were asked to learn the location of a virtual object in a virtual environment (VE). After a short period of time they were asked to recall the location by placing a real version of the object in the real-world equivalent environment. Results indicate that the average placement error, or distance between original and recalled object location, is approximately 20cm for all locomotion technique conditions. This result is similar to the outcome of a previous study on spatial memory in VEs that used real walking. We report this unexpected finding and suggest further work on spatial memory in VR by recommending the replication of this study in different environments and using objects with a wider diversity of properties, including varying sizes and shapes

Anion Hydrogen Bonding from a ‘Revealed’ Urea Ligand

Hydrogen bonding from a urea group to hydrogen bond acceptor anions can adopt either R_2^1 (6) or R_2^2 (8) motifs depending on the proximity of hydrogen bond acceptor atoms. However, for the sterically bulky and weaker hydrogen bond acceptor triflate anion, hydrogen bond acceptor polymorphism is observe