26,784 research outputs found
Integration via Meaning: Using the Semantic Web to deliver Web Services
Presented at the CRIS2002 Conference in Kassel.-- 9 pages.-- Contains: Conference paper (PDF) + PPT presentation.The major developments of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the last two years have been Web Services and the Semantic Web. The former allows the construction of distributed systems across the WWW by providing a lightweight middleware architecture. The latter provides an infrastructure for accessing resources on the WWW via their relationships with respect to conceptual descriptions. In this paper, I shall review the progress undertaken in each of these two areas. Further, I shall argue that in order for the aims of both the Semantic Web and the Web Services activities to be successful, then the Web Service architecture needs to be augmented by concepts and tools of the Semantic Web. This infrastructure will allow resource discovery, brokering and access to be enabled in a standardised, integrated and interoperable manner. Finally, I survey
the CLRC Information Technology R&D programme to show how it is contributing to the development of this future infrastructure
Relating Objective and Subjective Performance Measures for AAM-based Visual Speech Synthesizers
We compare two approaches for synthesizing visual speech using Active Appearance Models (AAMs): one that utilizes acoustic features as input, and one that utilizes a phonetic transcription as input. Both synthesizers are trained using the same data and the performance is measured using both objective and subjective testing. We investigate the impact of likely sources of error in the synthesized visual speech by introducing typical errors into real visual speech sequences and subjectively measuring the perceived degradation. When only a small region (e.g. a single syllable) of ground-truth visual speech is incorrect we find that the subjective score for the entire sequence is subjectively lower than sequences generated by our synthesizers. This observation motivates further consideration of an often ignored issue, which is to what extent are subjective measures correlated with objective measures of performance? Significantly, we find that the most commonly used objective measures of performance are not necessarily the best indicator of viewer perception of quality. We empirically evaluate alternatives and show that the cost of a dynamic time warp of synthesized visual speech parameters to the respective ground-truth parameters is a better indicator of subjective quality
Sexual Assault Study: Differences by Relationship
Poster originally presented to the Anchorage Police Department and the 2004 Alaska Summit on Violence Against Women.This issue of Anchorage Community Indicators Series 2, "Sexual Assault Study," describes the spatial patterning and geographical concentration of 282 sexual assaults reported to the Anchorage Police Department in 2000â2001 by relationship between victim and suspect. More specifically, this analysis compares the 168 victims assaulted by nonstrangers to the 99 victims assaulted by strangers. Among non-strangers, the most common relationships included acquaintances (30%), friends (27%), and boyfriends/girlfriends (12%).This research was supported by Grant No. 2000-RH-CX-K039 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and by a UAA Faculty Development Grant to the second author.Data /
Sexual assault densities by relationship (maps) /
Alcohol use (by victim; by suspect) /
Age (of victim; of suspect) /
Race (of victim; of suspect) /
Location (pick-up location; assault location) /
Victim injuries /
Time to repor
Rational Construction of Stochastic Numerical Methods for Molecular Sampling
In this article, we focus on the sampling of the configurational
Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution, that is, the calculation of averages of functions
of the position coordinates of a molecular -body system modelled at constant
temperature. We show how a formal series expansion of the invariant measure of
a Langevin dynamics numerical method can be obtained in a straightforward way
using the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff lemma. We then compare Langevin dynamics
integrators in terms of their invariant distributions and demonstrate a
superconvergence property (4th order accuracy where only 2nd order would be
expected) of one method in the high friction limit; this method, moreover, can
be reduced to a simple modification of the Euler-Maruyama method for Brownian
dynamics involving a non-Markovian (coloured noise) random process. In the
Brownian dynamics case, 2nd order accuracy of the invariant density is
achieved. All methods considered are efficient for molecular applications
(requiring one force evaluation per timestep) and of a simple form. In fully
resolved (long run) molecular dynamics simulations, for our favoured method, we
observe up to two orders of magnitude improvement in configurational sampling
accuracy for given stepsize with no evident reduction in the size of the
largest usable timestep compared to common alternative methods
The Star Formation Histories and Efficiencies of Two Giant HII Regions in M33
photometry is used to re-identify the OB associations which power the
two most luminous HII regions in M33, NGC 604 and NGC 595. There is a
significant difference (2-3 Myr) in the ages of the most recent star formation
episode in these two regions, while NGC 595 also has undergone a prior episode
of star formation (10-15 Myr ago). These data, combined with the presence of
molecular clouds in the heart of NGC 604, suggest that molecular clouds may
survive at least one intense episode of massive star formation. The star
formation efficiencies (mass of stars per mass of gas) of these two HII regions
are up to a factor of 3 larger than the average efficiency in the inner disk of
M33 or in Galactic molecular clouds, but are still only 2-5\%.Comment: 26 pages including 2 figures, uuencoded compressed postscript file
(Figure 1 not available electronically). Accepted to Ap
Research in planetary Astronomy
The focus was on the study, via near infrared observations, of the outer planets and their satellites. In the last year, these observations have emphasized imaging observations using the Cassegrain infrared camera at the f/70 focus of the 200 inch Hale telescope
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Body dissatisfaction, appearance investment and wellbeing: how older obese men orient to 'aesthetic health' [forthcoming]
Most research on male body image to date has focused on young men using quantitative methods. The study reported here is based on qualitative interviews with a sample of older men (n = 30) on a weight management programme, and we asked them about body-related feelings. The interviews were all transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Our results indicate that although body weight was typically minimised, body image was a key concern, with many examples of body consciousness and body dissatisfaction evident. On the other hand, post-programme weight loss was associated with a transformative shift in body image, with the men emphasising enhanced body confidence, self-esteem and psychological wellbeing. We conclude by highlighting the need to recognise and address appearance issues and/as health concerns for middle-aged and older men
Geothermal down well pumping system
A key technical problem in the exploitation of hot water geothermal energy resources is down-well pumping to inhibit mineral precipitation, improve thermal efficiency, and enhance flow. A novel approach to this problem involves the use of a small fraction of the thermal energy of the well water to boil and super-heat a clean feedwater flow in a down-hole exchanger adjacent to the pump. This steam powers a high-speed turbine-driven pump. The exhaust steam is brought to the surface through an exhaust pipe, condensed, and recirculated. A small fraction of the high-pressure clean feedwater is diverted to lubricate the turbine pump bearings and prevent leakage of brine into the turbine-pump unit. A project demonstrating the feasibility of this approach by means of both laboratory and down-well tests is discussed
Producing holograms of reacting sprays in liquid propellant rocket engines, phase 1 Interim report, 1 Aug. 1967 - 7 Feb. 1968
Pulsed ruby laser holograms of reacting liquid propellant spray
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