Utilizing sensor fusion in markerless mobile augmented reality

One of the key challenges of markerless Augmented Reality (AR) systems, where no a priori information of the environment is available, is map and scale initialization. In such systems, the scale is unknown as it is impossible to determine the scale from a sequence of images alone. Implementing scale is vital for ensuring that augmented objects are contextually sensitive to the environment they are projected upon. In this paper we demonstrate a sensor and vision fusion approach for robust and user-friendly initialization of map and scale. The map is initialized, using inbuilt accelerometers, whilst scale is initialized by the camera auto-focusing capability. The later is possible by applying the Depth From Focus (DFF) method, which was, till now, limited to high precision camera systems. The demonstrated illustrates benefits of such a system, which is running on a commercially available mobile phone Nokia N900

Rooted and grounded : spiritual-revival churches in contemporary Panama

textThe Panamanian state has historically marginalized West Indian people and excluded them from its national narrative. This thesis focuses on one particular kind of West Indian institution, the Spiritual-Revival churches, and utilizes ethnographic methods to recover the history, theory, and politics of contemporary Panamanian Revivalism. Chapter One traces the interpellation and self-making of black people in Panama from the sixteenth century to the present day, engaging with elite and subaltern discourses on race, citizenship, and diaspora. Chapter Two discusses the arrival of the Spiritual-Revival churches in Panama and provides an in-depth survey of the beliefs, practices, and rituals of the religion. Chapter Three explores Revivalist thought on blackness, diaspora, and citizenship in the present political moment. I explore the possible epistemological contributions of Spiritual-Revival churches to the black movement and to the wider Panamanian polity. The Spiritual-Revival churches form part of a long and contiguous, black radical tradition on the isthmus that speaks to the historical and present marginalization of black Panamanians. Revivalist theology and ritual practice not only affirm spiritual teachings, but also form an integral part of what the faithful believe it means to be West Indian, black, and autonomous. Currently, Revivalists are at a crossroads as they attempt to navigate and various discourses on tradition, orthodoxy, culture, and identity while establishing their own counter-discourses.Latin American Studie

Environmental Education

The need for a new profession devoted to environmental matters is asserted. The qualities of such a profession are sketched, and it is argued that new initiatives in environmental education are needed in the form of graduate, professional programs with primary emphasis on practice. An example 2-year program is presented. A fundamental requirement is scientific competence; undergraduate preparation in the sciences or engineering is mandatory. The graduate curriculum itself is built on three primary cores: environmental science and engineering, business and management, and public policy. Additionally, an environmental round table is proposed as a focal point for academic, industrial, governmental, and public discussion on environmental matters. The round table would provide oversight for the professional educational program and an affiliated research institute

A Smaller Window to the University: The Impact of Athletic De-Escalation on Status and Reputation

Given the changing landscape of Division I athletic competition, determining the most advantageous commitment to athletic programs is an important issue in sport and university policy. With the recent autonomy granted to select Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and pending antitrust litigation vying for college athlete compensation, many universities are considering alternative courses of action in reducing their existing commitment to Division I athletics. Accordingly, this study sought to examine the impact of de-escalating Division I commitment—specifically discontinuing a Division I football program—on the status and reputation of the university and athletic department. In considering the entire population of universities which have discontinued their Division I football program from 1981 to 2010 (N = 21), the results revealed that football program discontinuation had little positive or negative impact on academic status and reputation, and a slight negative impact on athletic status. The implications of this research contributes important information on assessing previous decisions to discontinue a Division I football program and what became of those decisions

A Robust and Sponge-Like PRNG with Improved Efficiency

Ever since Keccak won the SHA3 competition, sponge-based constructions are being suggested for many different applications, including pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs). Sponges are very desirable, being well studied, increasingly efficient to implement and simplistic in their design. The initial construction of a sponge-based PRNG (Bertoni et al. CHES 2010) based its security on the well known sponge indifferentiability proof in the random permutation model and provided no forward security. Since then, another improved sponge-based PRNG has been put forward by Gaži and Tessaro (Eurocrypt 2016) who point out the necessity for a public seed to prevent an adversarial sampler from gaining non-negligible advantage. The authors further update the security model of Dodis et al. (CCS 2013) to accommodate a public random permutation, modelled in the ideal cipher model, and how this affects the notions of security. In this paper we introduce \reverie, an improved and practical, sponge-like pseudo-random number generator together with a formal security analysis in the PRNG with input security model of Dodis et al. with the modifications of the Gaži and Tessaro paper. We prove that \reverie is \emph{robust} when used with a public random permutation; robustness is the strongest notion of security in the chosen security model. Robustness is proved by establishing two weaker notions of security, preserving and recovering security, which together, can be shown to imply the robustness result. The proofs utilise the H-coefficient technique that has found recent popularity in this area; providing a very useful tool for proving the generator meets the necessary security notions

‘I don’t talk about my distress to others; I feel that I have to suffer my problems..’ Voices of Indian women with breast cancer: a qualitative interview study

Background: Breast cancer is the commonest form of cancer among women globally, including in India. The rising incidence in the developing world is thought to be due to increased life expectancy, urbanization and adoption of western lifestyles. A recent systematic review found that Indian women living in India or as immigrants in Canada experienced a range of psychological distresses both ameliorated and exacerbated by cultural issues personally, within the family, their community and in the context of faith and only two of the five qualitative studies explored the experience of women with breast cancer living in India. Distress may also affect treatment compliance. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the psychological distresses experienced by Indian women with breast cancer living in Kerala, South India during and after treatment and to understand better what helped to relieve or increase these distresses.Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 consenting women undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Purposive sampling was used to obtain maximum variation in socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Interviews were verbatim transcribed, translated into English and back translated to Malayalam to ensure that the meaning had not been lost. English data were analyzed using thematic frame work analysis and synthesized to provide a deeper understanding of the individuals’ experience.Results: Three major themes emerged from the data. The first major theme was “far-reaching psychological distress”. This included anxiety, guilt, anger and depression in response to the disease and physical side effects of treatment and issues relating to body image, especially hair loss and sexuality. The second major theme was “getting on with life”. Women tried to make sense of the disease, by actively seeking information, the role of medical professionals, and their practical adaptations. Many found a new future and a new way to live normal. The third major theme was the “support system” strongly based on family, friends, faith and the community which affect them positively as well as negatively.Conclusion: Psychological concerns related to disease and treatment is common in Indian women with particular emphasis on body image issues associated with hair loss. Family and faith were key support systems for almost all the women although could also be causes of distress

Early career development in the sport industry: factors affecting employment

The purpose of this study is to identify the processes and factors contributing to employment in the sport industry. In order to completely address the sport industry as a whole, sport management has been pragmatically divided into five sub disciplines, including professional practitioner, recreational, Olympic, collegiate athletic administration, and high school athletic administration. Academia has been specifically excluded from this study as a category, since its purpose is to focus on those with experiences outside the educational setting. Recognized professionals in each of the above mentioned areas were interviewed to establish their individual views and perceptions. These candidates have been drawn from a cross-section of both educational (bachelor’s and/or graduate) degree programs and several different university institutions. Individual phone interviews were utilized to establish the primary contributors for each participant in their career development. The data has been analyzed to answer research questions and form recommendations that will provide guidance for current students and practitioners in developing their career aspirations

Design of a Novel Skin-Stretching Device

In response to poor mechanical stability and long growth time of tissue-engineered skin substitutes, we present a novel skin-stretching device that mechanically stimulates engineered grafts during in vitro culture to accelerate growth. Mechanical loading increases epidermal proliferation, expression of growth factors, and mechanical stability. Our device loads engineered skin grafts at a customizable, cyclic waveform to ultimately lead to mechanically stable engineered skin grafts. ANSYS modeling approximated the maximum force to be applied at 0.2N. The device was fabricated and tested on porcine and chicken skin. After initial testing it was apparent the device could apply multiaxially load samples during culture. In addition, testing cycles can be varied to suit the user’s needs

Constitutional Convention

Billings Gazette special issue about the Montana Constitutional Convention and government information articles pertaining to the subject. Included is a list of 1972 delegates.https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_materials/1007/thumbnail.jp