CAGD-based computer vision

Journal ArticleAbstract-Three-dimensional model-based computer vision uses geometric models of objects and sensed data to recognize objects in a scene. Likewise, computer aided geometric design (CAGD) systems are used to interactively generate three-dimensional models during the design process. Despite this similarity, there has been a dichotomy between these fields. Recently, the unification of CAGD and vision systems has become the focus of research in the context of manufacturing automation

Making the voice matter in English Studies Teaching

This introduction frames the guest edition of the journal on ‘Oracy and English Studies’. The pieces in this special forum explore how a renewed focus on speaking can re-imagine what it means to ‘do English’. We are two university-level teachers, one from Classics, one from English, eager to explore the potential of this idea. We have brought together a series of short provocations from leading UK-based practitioners both within and beyond the subject area: including a speech-writer, university teachers of Shakespeare and contemporary poetry, charity leaders, and political communication specialists. Their pieces reflect on classroom practices including reading aloud and vocalization, impersonation, the analysis of political speeches and argumentation, or getting students to interrogate their attitudes to their own voices. In each case, our contributors have been asked to respond to the concept from educational theory known as ‘oracy’ (simply put, ‘listening and speaking skills’). English studies clearly need to grapple with this suddenly ubiquitous concept. Not just for its political resonances, but because it is rich in implications for teachers of English at all levels, and deserves greater recognition and interrogation beyond the world of education

Impact of a Young-Earth Creationist Apologetics Course on Student Creation Worldview

Science educators holding an evolutionary worldview are concerned about the teaching of young -Earth creationism (YEC) and generally oppose its presentation in public schools. This paper examines the influence of a YEC apologetics course on Creation and evolution worldview attitudes of Liberty University students. The creation worldview test (CWT) was administered and a total scale score along with three subscales scores in theology, science and age were analyzed. Student pre-test scores indicated some weaknesses, suggesting departure from a solid YEC worldview. Following the course, students shifted significantly toward stronger agreement with the YEC position in total score, science and age. The results demonstrate that when Christian college students are taught from a YEC perspective, they shift toward stronger beliefs in YEC

Identifying obstacles preventing the uptake of tunnel handling methods for laboratory mice: An international thematic survey

Handling of laboratory mice is essential for experiments and husbandry, but handling can increase anxiety in mice, compromising their welfare and potentially reducing replicability between studies. The use of non-aversive handling (e.g., tunnel handling or cupping), rather than the standard method of picking mice up by the tail, has been shown to enhance interaction with a handler, reduce anxiety-like behaviours, and increase exploration and performance in standard behavioural tests. Despite this, some labs continue to use tail handling for routine husbandry, and the extent to which non-aversive methods are being used is currently unknown. Here we conducted an international online survey targeting individuals that work with and/or conduct research using laboratory mice. The survey aimed to identify the handling methods currently being used, and to determine common obstacles that may be preventing the wider uptake of non-aversive handling. We also surveyed opinions concerning the current data in support of non-aversive handling for mouse welfare and scientific outcomes. 390 complete responses were received and analysed quantitatively and thematically. We found that 35% report using tail handling only, and 43% use a combination of tail and non-aversive methods. 18% of respondents reported exclusively using non-aversive methods. The vast majority of participants were convinced that non-aversive handling improves animal welfare and scientific outcomes. However, the survey indicated that researchers were significantly less likely to have heard of non-aversive handling and more likely to use tail handling compared with animal care staff. Thematic analysis revealed there were concerns regarding the time required for non-aversive methods compared with tail handling, and that there was a perceived incompatibility of tunnel handling with restraint, health checks and other routine procedures. Respondents also highlighted a need for additional research into the impact of handling method that is representative of experimental protocols and physiological indicators used in the biomedical fields. This survey highlights where targeted research, outreach, training and funding may have the greatest impact on increasing uptake of non-aversive handling methods for laboratory mice

Post-foundational Ontology and the Charge of Social Weightlessness in Radical Democratic Theory: A Response to Lois McNay’s The Misguided Search for the Political

This article responds to the accusation made by Lois McNay in The Misguided Search for the Political that much radical democratic theory is ‘socially weightless’ as a direct result of its turn towards an ontological understanding of the political. It argues that the social weightlessness identified in the work of the particular theorists McNay singles out for critique is not the result of the ontological approach per se. After briefly summarising McNay’s argument, Oliver Marchart’s ontology of political difference is used to defend the ‘search for the political’ against four aspects of McNay’s argument: the status of the ontological in post-foundational thought, the question of universality in relation to the political, the relationship between the social and the political, and that between indeterminacy and agency. Following this, the methodology of the disclosing critique of social suffering that McNay puts forward as an alternative to the ontological paradigm will be examined. This will be shown not only to be compatible with such a paradigm, but to be rooted in the very same parts of Heidegger’s philosophy. Moreover, her approach is found to enhance the ontological approach to the political by recovering its hermeneutical dimension, and in turn reconnecting hermeneutics to the question of the body. These are steps which, if further built upon, could add not only social, but also fleshly weight to ontological theories of the political, strengthening the critical potential of radical democracy

Comparison of common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) phenology timing between historical data and current Project BudBurst citizen science data: challenges and lessons learned.

Observing the timing of plant phenology provides a way to monitor and predict effects of ecological change on plants. This study compared historical data for common lilac dating from 1956-2003 with recent lilac phenology data collected by Project BudBurst citizen scientists from 2007-2013. Due to the lack of accessible growing degree day data, it was not possible to directly examine climate effects on phenology timing. Instead, we compared geographic distribution patterns between historical and Project BudBurst data to explore what factors might contribute to the timing of phenophase dates between data sets. T-tests were performed on latitude, longitude, and day of year of observation (Julian date) for first flower and first leaf between the two data sets. Differences between latitude were not significant for first flower and first leaf (p = 0.789, p = 0.489, respectively) but there was a difference between longitude for both variables (p\u3c0.001). Mean observation dates for Project BudBurst were 9.5 days earlier for first flower (significantly different, p = 0.0001) and 2.3 days earlier for first leaf (no significant difference, p = 0.063) but the difference in longitude and the small sample size of the Project BudBurst data set makes these findings questionable. Because of the effect of longitude, we suggest future analyses of data by regions. Additional Project BudBurst observations in the western U.S. would allow better comparisons in that region and encouraging observations near historic sites would take advantage of a long, rich data set

Impact of Air Injection on Jet Noise

The objective of this viewgraph presentation is to review the program to determine impact of core fluidic chevrons on noise produced by dual stream jets (i.e., broadband shock noise - supersonic, and mixing noise - subsonic and supersonic). The presentation reviews the sources of jet noise. It shows designs of Generation II Fluidic Chevrons. The injection impacts shock structure and stream disturbances through enhanced mixing. This may impact constructive interference between acoustic sources. The high fan pressures may inhibit mixing produced by core injectors. A fan stream injection may be required for better noise reduction. In future the modification of Gen II nozzles to allow for some azimuthal control: will allow for higher mass flow rates and will allow for shallower injection angles A Flow field study is scheduled for spring, 2008 The conclusions are that injection can reduce well-defined shock noise and injection reduces mixing noise near peak jet noise angl

Measuring the Rol of Digital Engineering: It\u27s a Journey, Not a Number

Systems engineering as a discipline has long had difficulty providing quantifiable evidence of its value (Honour 2004); DE transformation provides an opportunity to better measure its value. Transitioning from a document-based to a model-based approach is expensive, and organizations want to know if the effort and cost to adopt MBSE is worth it

Proof Repair Infrastructure for Supervised Models: Building a Large Proof Repair Dataset

We report on our efforts building a new, large proof-repair dataset and benchmark suite for the Coq proof assistant. The dataset is made up of Git commits from open-source projects with old and new versions of definitions and proofs aligned across commits. Building this dataset has been a significant undertaking, highlighting a number of challenges and gaps in existing infrastructure. We discuss these challenges and gaps, and we provide recommendations for how the proof assistant community can address them. Our hope is to make it easier to build datasets and benchmark suites so that machine-learning tools for proofs will move to target the tasks that matter most and do so equitably across proof assistants

Reward Learning with Trees:Methods and Evaluation

Recent efforts to learn reward functions from human feedback have tended to use deep neural networks, whose lack of transparency hampers our ability to explain agent behaviour or verify alignment. We explore the merits of learning intrinsically interpretable tree models instead. We develop a recently proposed method for learning reward trees from preference labels, and show it to be broadly competitive with neural networks on challenging high-dimensional tasks, with good robustness to limited or corrupted data. Having found that reward tree learning can be done effectively in complex settings, we then consider why it should be used, demonstrating that the interpretable reward structure gives significant scope for traceability, verification and explanation