Modelling the total appearance of gonio-apparent surfaces using stereo vision

Over recent decades, the textured coating provided by metallic surfaces has been an important factor in attracting customers of the automobile industry. This has meant that quantifying the appearance of coating products is essential for product development and quality control. The appearance of these coated products strongly depends on the viewing geometry, giving rise to a variety of properties of perceptual attributes such as texture, colour and gloss. Due to the visually-complex nature of such coatings, there remains an unsatisfied demand to develop techniques to measure the total appearance of metallic coatings. This study describes which aims to define the total appearance of metallic coatings and then objectively characterise it. Total appearance here refers to the combination of three properties of perceptual attributes of the surface: glint, coarseness and brightness. A number of metallic panels were visually scaled and a computational model capable for predicting three perceptual attributes was developed. A computational model was developed to relate the results from this psychophysical experiment to data obtained from a stereo image capture system. This is a new alternative technique aimed at solving one of the most challenging problems in computer vision: stereo matching. In the system, two images are captured by a same camera under two different lighting conditions to mimic stereoscopic vision. This not only addresses the problem of stereo matching (i.e. to find the corresponding pixels between two images) but also enhances the effect of perceptual attributes. After linearisation of camera response, spatial uniformity correction was performed to minimise the effect of uneven illumination. A characterisation method was then used to transfer the RGB to device-independent values. Two images captured under different lighting conditions were merged to obtain stereo data. In glint feature extraction, the pixels in the final image were segmented into two regions: bright spots and dark background. Next, statistical analyses were applied to extract features. Finally a model was created to predict the glint attribute of the metallic coating panels based on an image captured by the stereo capture system. In coarseness feature extraction, the merged image transformed to frequency domain using a discrete Fourier Transform. An octave bandpass filter was then applied to the Fourier Spectra image and data analysis was carried out to achieve the “image variance value” for each band. In similar to final step of glint, a model was created to predict the coarseness attribute

Development of Gait Rehabilitation System Capable of Assisting Pelvic Movement of Normal Walking

Gait rehabilitation training with robotic exoskeleton is drawing attention as a method for more advanced gait rehabilitation training. However, most of the rehabilitation robots are mainly focused on locomotion training in the sagittal plane. This study introduces a novel gait rehabilitation system with actuated pelvic motion to generate natural gait motion. The rehabilitation robot developed in this study, COWALK, is a lower-body exoskeleton system with 15 degrees of freedom (DoFs). The COWALK can generate multi-DoF pelvic movement along with leg movements. To produce natural gait patterns, the actuation of pelvic movement is essential. In the COWALK, the pelvic movement mechanism is designed to help hemiplegic patients regain gait balance during gait training. To verify the effectiveness of the developed system, the gait patterns with and without pelvic movement were compared to the normal gait on a treadmill. The experimental results show that the active control of pelvic movement combined with the active control of leg movement can make the gait pattern much more natural

Determinants Of Enforcement Action By The Financial Supervisory Service Of Korea From The Perspective Of Audit Firms

In this study, we examine the determinants of enforcement action by the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea from the perspective of audit firms. Enforcement action is an indication of audit failure. Both client- and audit firm-specific factors are involved in its occurrence. Most published studies of enforcement after audit failure focus on client characteristics because details about audit firms from financial statements and information about organizational structure are not publicly available. However, examining the issues surrounding enforcement from the perspective of audit firms may also be valuable in elucidating the potential determinants of audit failure resulting in enforcement action. Utilizing publicly available data from audit firms in South Korea, we identify several audit firm characteristics as determinants of enforcement action. The results of our empirical analysis reveal that the likelihood of audit failure is positively associated with the ratio of accounts receivable to total assets, the ratio of audit fees to total revenue, the ratio of partners to the total number of CPAs, CEO ownership, and age of audit firms. In addition, the likelihood of audit failure is negatively associated with ownership concentration and profitability. These associations are more pronounced in non-affiliated audit firms than affiliated audit firms. Several useful implications for regulators are described for improving audit quality by means of enforcement action

Effects of nucleon resonances on η\eta photoproduction off the neutron reexamined

We investigate $\eta$ photoproduction off the neutron target, i.e., $\gamma n \to \eta n$, employing an effective Lagrangian method combining with a Regge approach. As a background, we consider nucleon exchange in the $s$-channel diagram and $\rho$- and $\omega$-meson Regge trajectories in the $t$ channel. The role of nucleon resonances given in the Review of Particle Data Group in the range of $W \approx 1500 - 2100$ MeV and the narrow nucleon resonance $N(1685,1/2^+)$ is extensively studied. The numerical results of the total and differential cross sections, double polarization observable $E$, and helicity-dependent cross sections $\sigma_{1/2}$, $\sigma_{3/2}$ are found to be in qualitative agreement with the recent A2 experimental data. The predictions of the beam asymmetry are also given.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Modeling of an Interconnected Fluidized Bed Reactor for Chemical Looping Combustion

Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) is comprised of two reactors, in which direct contact between air and fuel is avoided. A metal oxide, as oxygen carrier, transports oxygen from the air reactor to the fuel reactor while circulating between them. Based on the hydrodynamics coupled with reaction kinetics of oxygen carrier from the literature, a model for an interconnected fluidized bed reactor has been developed to optimize the design and operation of the reactor system. The model considers the chemical reaction of a single particle and a particle population balance for the calculation of bed particle conversion. The core-annulus and two-phase hydrodynamic models are assumed for the air and fuel reactors, respectively. Predictions of the oxygen emission, particle conversion and fuel conversion efficiency under different operating conditions are presented for a pilot scale CLC reactor system

Staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization in a community-based population : a potential role in adult-onset asthma

Background: Recent studies suggest that Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin sensitization is a risk factor for asthma. However, there is a paucity of epidemiologic evidence on adult-onset asthma in community-based populations. Objective: We sought to evaluate the epidemiology and the clinical significance of staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization in community-based adult populations. Methods: The present analyses were performed using the baseline data set of Korean adult population surveys, consisting of 1080 adults (mean age=60.2years) recruited from an urban and a rural community. Questionnaires, methacholine challenge tests, and allergen skin tests were performed for defining clinical phenotypes. Sera were analysed for total IgE and enterotoxin-specific IgE using ImmunoCAP. Results: Staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization (0.35kU/L) had a prevalence of 27.0%. Risk factors were identified as male sex, current smoking, advanced age (61years), and inhalant allergen sensitization. Current asthma was mostly adult onset (18years old) and showed independent associations with high enterotoxin-specific IgE levels in multivariate logistic regression tests. In multivariate linear regressions, staphylococcal enterotoxin-specific IgE level was identified as the major determinant factor for total IgE level. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization was independently associated with adult-onset asthma in adult community populations. Strong correlations between the enterotoxin-specific IgE and total IgE levels support the clinical significance. The present findings warrant further studies for the precise roles of staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization in the asthma pathogenesis

Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Pseudouroleptus jejuensis nov. spec., a New Soil Ciliate (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea) from South Korea

A new soil ciliate, Pseudouroleptus jejuensis, was discovered from Jeju Island, South Korea and described based on live observation, protargol impregnation, and SSU rRNA gene sequence analyses. Pseudouroleptus jejuensis differs from other congeneric species mainly by number of dorsal kineties (5 vs. 4). Based on our observation of late dividers, we confirm that the dorsal kinety anlage 3 forms 3 kineties (i.e., dorsal kineties 3–5), and the dorsal kinety anlagen 1–3 form 3–5/1–2/0 caudal cirri, respectively. Our gene trees support the assignment of this new species in Pseudouroleptus to full supporting values