From 3D Point Clouds to Pose-Normalised Depth Maps

We consider the problem of generating either pairwise-aligned or pose-normalised depth maps from noisy 3D point clouds in a relatively unrestricted poses. Our system is deployed in a 3D face alignment application and consists of the following four stages: (i) data filtering, (ii) nose tip identification and sub-vertex localisation, (iii) computation of the (relative) face orientation, (iv) generation of either a pose aligned or a pose normalised depth map. We generate an implicit radial basis function (RBF) model of the facial surface and this is employed within all four stages of the process. For example, in stage (ii), construction of novel invariant features is based on sampling this RBF over a set of concentric spheres to give a spherically-sampled RBF (SSR) shape histogram. In stage (iii), a second novel descriptor, called an isoradius contour curvature signal, is defined, which allows rotational alignment to be determined using a simple process of 1D correlation. We test our system on both the University of York (UoY) 3D face dataset and the Face Recognition Grand Challenge (FRGC) 3D data. For the more challenging UoY data, our SSR descriptors significantly outperform three variants of spin images, successfully identifying nose vertices at a rate of 99.6%. Nose localisation performance on the higher quality FRGC data, which has only small pose variations, is 99.9%. Our best system successfully normalises the pose of 3D faces at rates of 99.1% (UoY data) and 99.6% (FRGC data)

The formation of spiral arms and rings in barred galaxies

We propose a theory to explain the formation of both spirals and rings in barred galaxies using a common dynamical framework. It is based on the orbital motion driven by the unstable equilibrium points of the rotating bar potential. Thus, spirals, rings and pseudo-rings are related to the invariant manifolds associated to the periodic orbits around these equilibrium points. We examine the parameter space of three barred galaxy models and discuss the formation of the different morphological structures according to the properties of the bar model. We also study the influence of the shape of the rotation curve in the outer parts, by making families of models with rising, flat or falling rotation curves in the outer parts. The differences between spiral and ringed structures arise from differences in the dynamical parameters of the host galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, conference proceedings of "Semaine de l'Astrophysique Francaise", Grenoble 2007, eds. J. Bouvier, A. Chalabaev, C. Charbonne

Efficient harmonic oscillator chain energy harvester driven by colored noise

We study the performance of an electromechanical harmonic oscillator chain as an energy harvester to extract power from finite-bandwidth ambient random vibrations, which are modelled by colored noise. The proposed device is numerically simulated and its performance assessed by means of the net electrical power generated and its efficiency in converting the external noise-supplied power into electrical power. Our main result is a much enhanced performance, both in the net electrical power delivered and in efficiency, of the harmonic chain with respect to the popular single oscillator resonator. Our numerical findings are explained by means of an analytical approximation, in excellent agreement with numerics

Renormalisation group determination of the order of the DNA denaturation transition

We report on the nature of the thermal denaturation transition of homogeneous DNA as determined from a renormalisation group analysis of the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois model. Our approach is based on an analogy with the phenomenon of critical wetting that goes further than previous qualitative comparisons, and shows that the transition is continuous for the average base-pair separation. However, since the range of universal critical behaviour appears to be very narrow, numerically observed denaturation transitions may look first-order, as it has been reported in the literature.Comment: 6 pages; no figures; to appear in Europhysics Letter