Object recognition using shape-from-shading

This paper investigates whether surface topography information extracted from intensity images using a recently reported shape-from-shading (SFS) algorithm can be used for the purposes of 3D object recognition. We consider how curvature and shape-index information delivered by this algorithm can be used to recognize objects based on their surface topography. We explore two contrasting object recognition strategies. The first of these is based on a low-level attribute summary and uses histograms of curvature and orientation measurements. The second approach is based on the structural arrangement of constant shape-index maximal patches and their associated region attributes. We show that region curvedness and a string ordering of the regions according to size provides recognition accuracy of about 96 percent. By polling various recognition schemes. including a graph matching method. we show that a recognition rate of 98-99 percent is achievable

New constraints on data-closeness and needle map consistency for shape-from-shading

This paper makes two contributions to the problem of needle-map recovery using shape-from-shading. First, we provide a geometric update procedure which allows the image irradiance equation to be satisfied as a hard constraint. This not only improves the data closeness of the recovered needle-map, but also removes the necessity for extensive parameter tuning. Second, we exploit the improved ease of control of the new shape-from-shading process to investigate various types of needle-map consistency constraint. The first set of constraints are based on needle-map smoothness. The second avenue of investigation is to use curvature information to impose topographic constraints. Third, we explore ways in which the needle-map is recovered so as to be consistent with the image gradient field. In each case we explore a variety of robust error measures and consistency weighting schemes that can be used to impose the desired constraints on the recovered needle-map. We provide an experimental assessment of the new shape-from-shading framework on both real world images and synthetic images with known ground truth surface normals. The main conclusion drawn from our analysis is that the data-closeness constraint improves the efficiency of shape-from-shading and that both the topographic and gradient consistency constraints improve the fidelity of the recovered needle-map

Efficiency, technology and productivity change in Australian universities, 1998-2003

In this study, productivity growth in thirty-five Australian universities is investigated using nonparametric frontier techniques over the period 1998 to 2003. The inputs included in the analysis are full-time equivalent academic and non-academic staff, non-labour expenditure and undergraduate and postgraduate student load and the outputs are undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD completions, national competitive and industry grants and publications. Using Malmquist indices, productivity growth is decomposed into technical efficiency and technological change. The results indicate that annual productivity growth averaged 3.3 percent across all universities, with a range between -1.8 percent and 13.0 percent, and was largely attributable to technological progress. However, separate analyses of research-only and teaching-only productivity indicate that most of this gain was attributable to improvements in research-only productivity associated with pure technical and some scale efficiency improvements. While teaching-only productivity also contributed, the largest source of gain in that instance was technological progress offset by a slight fall in technical efficiency.Productivity; technical and scale efficiency; technological progress; Malmquist indices; universities.

Oceanographic data from the R.R.S. Discovery II. : International Geophysical Year cruise 3, 1958

Originally issued as Reference No. 59-54In August and September 1958 a number of oceanographic sections were made in the R.R.S. DISCOVERY II, Captain James Gray, under the scientific leadership of H. F. P. Herdman. These sections comprise part of a joint program undertaken by the National Institute of Oceanography and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the International Geophysical Year.The United States participation in this program was supported by the Office of Naval Research Contract Nonr 2196(00) with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

“A place where bodies are their own signs”: Re-reading J.M. Coetzee’s Foe via Gubar, Spivak, Parry and Levinas.

Esse ensaio argumenta que, na obra de Coetzee, a escritura é sempre representada como uma apreensão violenta da alteridade. Mas a escritura é também representada, repetitivamente, como o malogro para representar o outro, marcado por seu corpo. É esse malogro que Foe propõe a perscrutar. Reconhecendo o malogro da autoridade escritural, a falha em possuir na interpretação a marca de alteridade, abre o leitor (escritural), sempre, ao (auto) questionamento. E essa (auto) interrogação é precisamente o que mitiga o ostensivo poder autoral. Nessa abertura, nesse reconhecimento da reiteração e reavaliação sem fim, jaz a possibilidade de novas narrativas para a leitura do sujeito e uma política que começa no autoquestionamento e na recusa da autoridade. Assim, esse ensaio aborda a obra de Coetzee usando as abordagens teóricas de Gubar, Spivak, Parry e Levinas

Attitudes of Young Adult Catholic Women Towards Religious Life and Related Issues

This study examines the attitudes of a sample of young adult Catholic women from Perth, Western Australia, towards women\u27s religious life in the apostolic tradition\u27. Respondents\u27 ages range from 18 to 35 years. Their attitudes towards other issues relating to religious life are also examined, including commitments: community: religious sisters: the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience: and social justice issues relevant to Australia. The study also analyses participants\u27 values and the relationship between these and their commitments. Differences in responses are highlighted through the concept of conservatism/liberalism and the framework of Fowler\u27s Stages of Faith Development is used to understand these differences

Malmquist Indices of Pre and Post-Deregulation Productivity, Efficiency and Technological Change in the Singaporean Banking Sector

By the end of the 1990s, the Singaporean government had recognised the need to open up its banking sector so as to remain competitive in the global economy. The Monetary Authority of Singapore thus began deregulation of the banking sector in 1999 to strengthening the competitiveness of local banks relative to their foreign competition through mergers. This paper employs a nonparametric Malmquist productivity index to provide measure of productivity, technological change and efficiency gains over the period 1995-2005. The findings reveal some total factor productivity growth associated with deregulation and scale efficiency improvement largely from mergers amongst the local banks.Efficiency, productivity; deregulation; Malmquist indices; banking

Evaluating Consumer Sensory and Composition Attributes of Arkansas-Grown Fresh-Market Blackberries

Blackberries are grown worldwide for commercial fresh markets. Three Arkansas-grown fresh-market blackberry genotypes (‘Natchez’, ‘Ouachita’, and A-2418) were evaluated for consumer sensory and compositional attributes at the University of Arkansas Food Science Department, Fayetteville. The compositional attributes of the blackberries were within an acceptable range for commercial markets (soluble solids=8.20-11.90%, pH=2.79-3.18, titratable acidity=1.09-1.32%). In terms of soluble solids to titratable acidity ratio, ‘Ouachita’ (10.92) had the highest ratio, followed by ‘Natchez’ (8.93) and A-2418 (6.25). A consumer sensory panel (n=80) evaluated fresh-market blackberry attributes using a 9-point hedonic scale for overall impression, overall flavor, sweetness, and sourness and a 5-point Just-about-Right (JAR) scale for sweetness and sourness. The participants also ranked the blackberries in order of overall liking from most to least liked. For overall impression, overall flavor, and sweetness, ‘Natchez’ scored higher than ‘Ouachita’ and A-2418, but the panelists did not detect differences in sourness. In terms of JAR for sweetness, 64% of consumers scored ‘Natchez’ JAR, followed by ‘Ouachita’ (39%) and A-2418 (34%). Whereas, 42% percent found A-2418 “Too Sour”, followed by ‘Ouachita (33%) and ‘Natchez’ (25%). In terms of ranking the blackberries, ‘Natchez’ was the most liked blackberry followed by ‘Ouachita’ and A-2418. When looking only at blackberries ranked first, 53% of consumers ranked ‘Natchez’ as their most liked berry, compared to A-2418 (26%) and ‘Ouachita’ (21%). The results from this research suggested that fresh-market blackberries with medium-level sweetness to sourness ratios were preferred though more consumers than expected preferred the blackberries with the more extreme ratios

Lay Christian Counseling and Client Expectations for Integration in Therapy

As lay approaches to Christian counseling have multiplied and become increasingly sophisticated, we hypothesize that these might affect expectations of conservative Christian clients for professional integrative psychotherapy. Accordingly, we review several models of lay counseling, broadly categorizing them into active listening, cognitive & solution-focused approaches, inner healing, and mixed models. We consider how client expectations for psychotherapy may be altered through their experiences with these approaches. Subsequently, we make recommendations for clinicians who deal with lay-counseling-experienced clients. These include doing a more detailed assessment of client lay counseling experiences and considering ethical aspects of treatment (informed consent and competency to treat)

Genetic epidemiology: Systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem connective tissue disease characterised phenotypically by fibrosis and ischaemic atrophy. Its aetiology is most likely multifactorial. A genetic predisposition to the condition is suggested by reports of familial SSc (a positive family history is the strongest risk factor yet identified), by animal models, and by disease-association studies, in which researchers have examined a wide variety of genes including those involved in fibrosis, in vascular function and structure, and in autoimmunity – the relative rarity of SSc has precluded linkage studies, except in the Choctaw Indians. Recent advances in genetic methodologies should further our understanding of this complex disease process