Mirza Athar Baig’s Ghulam Bagh: A Post-Neo-Colonial Reading

Mirza Athar Baig is known for his unique style in Urdu fiction. In his novel "Ghulam Bagh" Mirza Athar Baig shows the essence of his best philosophy regarding the treatment of life, consciousness, self identity, characterization, psychological conflict and many other aspects. The philosophy of enlightenment is also present in the novel because enlightenment opposes outdated customs and preferences and considers collective human civilization as the ascension of humanity. Apart from power and domination, the philosophy of human relations is also prominent in the novel. The novel reflects the post-colonial era and the present era; therefore, modern technology and terms are widely used in the novel. Mirza Athar Baig has also experimented with several techniques. Cultural phenomena are central to postcolonialism, so it also studies the differences between colonial and colonized cultures. The novel is written in a post-neo-colonial style, which is different from the traditional style

A Navigation System for the Visually Impaired: A Fusion of Vision and Depth Sensor

For a number of years, scientists have been trying to develop aids that can make visually impaired people more independent and aware of their surroundings. Computer-based automatic navigation tools are one example of this, motivated by the increasing miniaturization of electronics and the improvement in processing power and sensing capabilities. This paper presents a complete navigation system based on low cost and physically unobtrusive sensors such as a camera and an infrared sensor. The system is based around corners and depth values from Kinect’s infrared sensor. Obstacles are found in images from a camera using corner detection, while input from the depth sensor provides the corresponding distance. The combination is both efficient and robust. The system not only identifies hurdles but also suggests a safe path (if available) to the left or right side and tells the user to stop, move left, or move right. The system has been tested in real time by both blindfolded and blind people at different indoor and outdoor locations, demonstrating that it operates adequately.</jats:p

Multiagent Systems for 3D Reconstruction Applications

3D models of scenes are used in many areas ranging from cultural heritage to video games. In order to model a scene, there are several techniques. One of the well-known and well-used techniques is image-based reconstruction. An image-based reconstruction starts with data acquisition step and ends with 3D model of the scene. Data are collected from the scene using various ways. The chapter explains how data acquisition step can be handled using a multiagent system. The explanation is provided by literature reviews and a study whose purpose is reconstructing an area in 3D using a multiagent UAV system

Social Outcomes of Corporate Governance: Evidence from the Food Industry of Pakistan

Social and environmental problems are becoming strategic concerns for the managers in the current business scenario because it is challenging their sustainability. Here the need arises to respond to this changing phenomenon accordingly. In this regard social impact of corporate governance has not yet been explored where it can play a role of driver of excellence in terms of social performance and it is required to be studied. To check the existing situation, this study has been conducted where the social impact of corporate governance has been explored in the food Industry of Pakistan. Questionnaires have been filled from 176 managers working in six food producing firms listed in Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Structural Equation Modeling based partial least square (PLS) has been used where Smart PLS has been used for model estimation. Results are supporting the stakeholder theory as Nestle Pakistan and Engro Foods are driving social excellence through corporate governance practices, where the corporations are showing strong positive relationships of corporate governance practices with stakeholders management, environmental integrity and protection, social cohesion and equity while insignificant relationship exists between strategic proactivity and corporate governance practices as people are resistant to change and innovation. The relationships can be explored in other industries like Oil and gas, Chemicals and Construction etc

Measuring the Coverage of Interest Point Detectors

Repeatability is widely used as an indicator of the performance of an image feature detector but, although useful, it does not convey all the information that is required to describe performance. This paper explores the spatial distribution of interest points as an alternative indicator of performance, presenting a metric that is shown to concur with visual assessments. This metric is then extended to provide a measure of complementarity for pairs of detectors. Several state-of-the-art detectors are assessed, both individually and in combination. It is found that Scale Invariant Feature Operator (SFOP) is dominant, both when used alone and in combination with other detectors

Analysis of interest point distribution in SURF octaves

Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) is a state-ofthe- art, scale- and rotation-invariant feature extraction technique with the potential for real-time execution. Although SURF has been extensively employed for multi-scale computer vision applications since its inception, there are still some areas of this computationally complex algorithm that have not been fully explored and require detailed analysis to enable algorithm-level optimization of SURF for real-time execution. In particular, the distribution of interest points in SURF octaves is a topic that requires thorough investigation. Contrary to the present perception, this paper demonstrates that there is a possibility of higher octaves being more significant than the lower octaves in terms of detected interest points for real-life images. The paper also shows that variation of blob response threshold has a significant effect on interest point distribution. The results presented highlight the need of developing a systematic approach to SURF octave selection

An algorithm for the contextual adaption of SURF octave selection with good matching performance: best octaves.

Speeded-Up Robust Features is a feature extraction algorithm designed for real-time execution, although this is rarely achievable on low-power hardware such as that in mobile robots. One way to reduce the computation is to discard some of the scale-space octaves, and previous research has simply discarded the higher octaves. This paper shows that this approach is not always the most sensible and presents an algorithm for choosing which octaves to discard based on the properties of the imagery. Results obtained with this best octaves algorithm show that it is able to achieve a significant reduction in computation without compromising matching performance