Entrepreneurial Activity by Women in Rural South Dakota

Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital,

Intelligent Cinematic Camera Control for Real-Time Graphics Applications

E-sports is currently estimated to be a billion dollar industry which is only growing in size from year to year. However the cinematography of spectated games leaves much to be desired. In most cases, the spectator either gets to control their own freely-moving camera or they get to see the view that a specific player sees. This thesis presents a system for the generation of cinematically-pleasing views for spectating real-time graphics applications. A custom real-time engine has been built to demonstrate the effect of this system on several different game modes with varying visual cinematic constraints, such as the rule of thirds. To create the cinematic views, we encode cinematic rules as cost functions that are fed into a non-linear least squares solver. These cost functions rely on the geometry of the scene, minimizing residuals based on the 3D positions and 2D reprojections of the geometry. The final cinematic view is found by altering camera position and angle until a local minimum is met. The system was evaluated by comparing video output from a traditional rigidly constrained camera and the results of our algorithm’s optimally solved views. User surveys are then used to qualitatively evaluate the system. The results of these surveys do not statistically find a preference between the cinematic views and the rigidly constrained views. In addition, we present performance and timing considerations for the system, reporting that the system can operate within modern expectations of latency when enough constraints are placed on the non-linear least squares solver

Origin and development of true karst valleys in response to late Holocene sea‐level change, the Transverse Glades of southeast Florida, USA

The Miami Limestone is an oolite depositional body that is used as an analog model for geological interpretation of the rock record. Barrier‐bar complex, oolite banks, extensive bryozoan flats and tidal creeks, referred to as transverse glades, have been described. High‐resolution LiDAR data are used to produce unprecedented, detailed topographic maps of the transverse glades in the southern Atlantic Coastal Ridge. These maps were originally used to calculate historic discharge from the Everglades but revealed features inconsistent with the prevailing theory that the topography is of a depositional origin. Field observations verified an epikarst terrain truncated by collapsed subsurface conduits creating valleys, previously described as palaeotidal creeks. Observations of the 12 southern tidal creeks or transverse glades provided a sequence of six stages in the development of these karst valleys. After Late Pleistocene deposition of the Miami Limestone, sea‐level dropped producing conditions of: (a) epikarst which reduced the surface elevation preferentially, forming the southern Everglades Basin and modifying Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay precursor basins and (b) downward water movement producing vertical solution features. As Holocene sea‐level approached the South Florida carbonate platform margin a freshwater lens formed and groundwater movement became horizontal. Two sets of cavernous zones developed during the Middle and Late Holocene. Solution pipes and dolines provide a connection between the surface and groundwater along alignments which delineate subsurface conduits. Stages of valley formation are associated with the collapse of these conduits first forming a series of pocket valleys followed by narrow blind valleys and half blind or through valleys linking the Everglades to the coastal plain. Valleys then expanded in width until: (a) completion of cavernous zone collapse, (b) most boulder fields and valley margins reduced by weathering and (c) the valleys filled with wetland soils

Verfahren der Werbewirkungsmessung : ein Vergleich der Angebote kommerzieller Institute

Werbung gerät als Marketing-Instrument zunehmend unter Erfolgsdruck: Einerseits wächst die Bedeutung der Werbung als strategischer Erfolgsfaktor des Marketing, andererseits wird sie mit äußerst schwierigen Markt- und Kommunikationsbedingungen konfrontiert. Ein Werbecontrolling ist notwendig, um die Effektivität und Effizienz von Werbeinvestitionen zu gewährleisten. Die Verfahren der Werbewirkungsmessung, die von kommerziellen Instituten angeboten werden, sollen helfen, die Wirkung von Werbung zu beurteilen. Bei der Vielzahl angebotener Verfahren fällt es aber oft schwer, die für die jeweilige Problemstellung angemessenen Instrumente ausfindig zu machen. Das Ziel dieses Beitrages besteht darin, den Stand der Werbewirkungsmessung in der Praxis abzubilden, um dem Entscheider, der an der Erfassung der Wirkung seiner werblichen Maßnahmen interessiert ist, einen Überblick über die Verfahren der Werbewirkungsmessung verschiedener Institute zu geben und die Auswahlentscheidung zu erleichtern. Die Instrumente werden bzgl. ihres Einsatzschwerpunktes kategorisiert und innerhalb der Kategorien vergleichend gegenübergestellt