 | Enhanced Visual Realism by Incorporating Camera Image Effect In video see-through augmented reality (AR), virtual objects are overlaid over digital video images. One particular problem of this image mixing process is that the visual appearance of the computer graphics differs strongly from the real background image. The reason for this is that typical AR systems use fast but simple real-time rendering techniques for displaying virtual objects. In this paper, methods for reducing the impact of three effects which make virtual and real objects easily distinguishable are presented. The first effect is camera image noise, which is contained in the data delivered by the image sensor used for capturing the real scene. The second effect considered is edge aliasing, which makes distinguishing virtual objects from real objects simple. Finally, we consider motion blur, which is caused by the temporal integration of color intensities in the image sensor during fast movements of the camera or observed objects. In this paper, we present a system for generating a realistic simulation of image noise based on a new camera calibration step. Additionally, a rendering algorithm is introduced, which performs a smooth blending between the camera image and virtual objects at their boundary in order to reduce aliasing. Lastly, a rendering method is presented, which produces motion blur according to the current camera movement. The implementation of the new rendering techniques utilizes the programmability of modern graphics processing units (GPUs) and delivers real-time frame rates. Link: http://www.janfischer.com/pub_pages/pub-fischer06-ismar.html Reference: J. Fischer and D. Bartz and W. Strasser, Enhanced Visual Realism by Incorporating Camera Image Effects, IEEE and ACM ISMAR 2006 |
 | Deductive planning for an autonomous helicopter robot PARADOCS is a planning and reasoning framework based on deduction. Through an integration with a temporal constraint solver it implements a novel threat resolution that enables minimal commitment partial order planning. The video demonstrates setting up, planning, and executing a logistics mission for a robotic helicopter, and the use of automatically generated execution monitoring constraints to recover from execution failures. |
 | OSHC OBB 2007 OSHC OBB 2007 Duration: 51 seconds Medium: Animated 3D Computer Graphics Production Length: Approximately 3 weeks including preproduction. Background: The Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSCH) under the Department of Labor and Employment comissioned our group, Tabo Works, to create a 20 to 40-second Opening Bill Board to be included in their presentation at a conference held in Japan around November, 2007. Zero Accident Program (ZAP) is one of OSHC's programs centered on preventive measures on occupation-related hazards. Story: The Opening Bill Board presents both of their mascots prepared and ready in anticipation of an accident. The story line incorporates a temporal shift at which Zeero and Reeza in the present timeline, meet a future that is not along their timeline. The accident did not happen at all since their preparations have averted it. It is, however, presented in the storyline to accentuate the fruits of their preventive anticipation. On the last part, another accident crawls towards its next victim but even before it reaches anywhere near it, ZAP neutralizes the threat. Credits: Ian Navarroza DIRECTOR, CHARACTER MODELING, CAMERA ANIMATION, LIGHTING, RENDERING, SCENE INTEGRATION, COMPOSITING. Marwyn Lacabra CHARACTER ANIMATION, CHARACTER MODELING. Joselito legaspi RIGGING, CHARACTER ANIMATION, COMPOSITING. Hedrick David TEXT ANIMATION, DYNAMICS. Nani Naguit MUSICAL SCORE, SOUND DESIGN. John Paul Querido PROP MODELING, RENDERING AND RENDER MANAGEMENT, MATERIAL TWEAKS. John Roswell Yujuico PROP MODELING, SCENE INTEGRATION, TEXTURING, RENDERING. |
 | Marco Iacoboni - Depth Electrode Recordings in the Brain Marco Iacoboni, MD PhD, is a neurologist and neuroscientist originally from Italy. Today he is at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he serves on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and is Director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation laboratory of the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center. Iacoboni's lab is arguably the leading lab in human mirror neuron research and he has a close relationship with Giacomo Rizzolatti in whose lab mirror neurons were originally discovered in monkeys. In the monkey premotor cortex, Rizzolatti and colleagues discovered cells that fire not only when the monkey performs goal oriented actions, but also when it observes the same action performed by somebody else. These cells are called mirror neurons, and are thought to be the evolutionary precursors of neural mechanisms supporting several aspects of social behavior, from imitation to empathy. The many evolutionary steps between small apes and humans suggest that mirror neurons may have also evolved from the monkey brain to the human brain. Investigations of the human brain, however, typically do not allow to study individual cells. Using a rare clinical opportunity, we have recently recorded single and multi-unit spiking activity from human neurons. Our data provide several novel findings: first, direct evidence for the existence of mirror neurons in the human brain; second, the anatomical distribution of these neurons extends from previously reported inferior frontal and inferior parietal cortex to the medial frontal and medial temporal cortices; third, excitatory and inhibitory responses in mirror neurons are equally represented; fourth, a third of human mirror neurons show opposing pattern of excitation and inhibition during action observation and action execution, a neural feature that may help preserving the sense of being the owner of an action during mirroring, and exert control on unwanted imitation. Taken together, these findings suggest that mirror neurons form a multimodal system for flexible integration of the perceptual and motor aspects of actions of the self and others. |
 | mozart guitar at school duo duet menuet duo guitar duet mozart don juan school audition The so-called "Mozart effect" - the popularised term for the findings of serious academic research which demonstrated short-term cognitive benefits when young children listened to classical music - may have been somewhat tarnished by commercial exploiters, but the evidence of children's pleasure in music is undeniable. We see it in the infant classroom, in primary schools, and in our high schools, from the high energy involvement in rock bands, to the serious study of classical music in school orchestras, to the playcentre's drumming ensemble. And few teenagers these days seem to be able to go anywhere without their iPods being plugged into their ears. The popularity of singing in schools has been a positive force since the earliest colonial days and its linkage with theatre is represented today in the many musical productions schools perform every year. Now, traditional notions such as the belief that pupils concentrate and learn best in a completely quiet environment are being challenged, with background music regularly being used in classrooms and significant benefits noticed in the response of children in certain tasks. There has been a great deal of research carried out internationally into the effects of music and music learning on the developing brain. More recent studies, including those carried out in this country, have looked at if, and how, music may also help reading comprehension and writing ability, as well as mathematics problem-solving and the understanding of science. With sensory integration so significant in children's learning readiness for reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is of great interest that some of the research shows music in its broadest sense can improve spatial-temporal reasoning. Learning to read music and understand the formal structures of beat and accent by playing an instrument or singing are also beneficial disciplines where attention-spans may be short and the ability to concentrate needs remedy. During Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in which the children were exhibited as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich, then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, who met Mozart in London in 1764--65. The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768. These trips were often arduous, because of the primitive conditions of travel at that time,[7] the need to wait patiently for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility,[8] and long, near-fatal illnesses endured far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764)[9] then the two children (The Hague, fall 1765)[10] After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang left for Italy, leaving Wolfgang's mother and sister at home. This journey took from December 1769 to March 1771, and like earlier journeys had the purpose of displaying the now-teenaged Mozart's abilities as a performer and as a rapidly maturing composer. Mozart met G.B. Martini in Bologna, and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. In Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel then wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning to correct minor errors; thus producing the first illegal copy of this closely-guarded property of the Vatican. |
 | Global Earth True Colour MERIS Mosaics Using spectral bands 2, 3, 5 and 7 from the ENVISAT MERIS Reduced Resolution level 2 products the Grid on-Demand Services and Infrastructure automatically creates in a daily, monthly and seasonal basis, global Earth maps. With a spatial resolution of 1 minute (around 1.8 km) this dataset is available in an imagery product in TIFF and PNG format presented in the Plate-Carré projection. This service is already included in the operational setting of GRID on-Demand Infrastructure and Services (G-POD) and as such is automated. The processing currently takes from 2 days to 4 hours on 16 computing elements depending on the temporal range (seasonal, monthly or daily). This is one of several third-party applications and services integrated and supported by Terradue ( http://www.terradue.com/ ) to the European Space Agency using the gridify. The gridify is an application integration environment developed by Terradue based on Globus Grid Technology that enables the implementation and configuration of composite services requiring the use of substantial computer and data resources. |
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![Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\](images/articles/thumbs/nytremblantthumb.jpg "Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\")
