scholarly journals Affective Multimodal Control of Virtual Characters

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Klesen ◽  
Patrick Gebhard
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
The Body ◽  
Temporal Constraints ◽  
Virtual Characters ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Control Body ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Selection Of

In this paper we report about the use of computer generated affect to control body and mind of cognitively modeled virtual characters. We use the computational model of affect ALMA that is able to simulate three different affect types in real-time. The computation of affect is based on a novel approach of an appraisal language. Both the use of elements of the appraisal language and the simulation of different affect types has been evaluated. Affect is used to control facial expressions, facial complexions, affective animations, posture, and idle behavior on the body layer and the selection of dialogue strategies on the mind layer. To enable a fine-grained control of these aspects a Player Markup Language (PML) has been developed. The PML is player-independent and allows a sophisticated control of character actions coordinated by high-level temporal constraints. An Action Encoder module maps the output of ALMA to PML actions using affect display rules. These actions drive the real-time rendering of affect, gesture and speech parameters of virtual characters, which we call Virtual Humans. 

scholarly journals Deep Reinforcement Learning for End-to-End Local Motion Planning of Autonomous Aerial Robots in Unknown Outdoor Environments: Real-Time Flight Experiments

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 2534
Author(s):  
Oualid Doukhi ◽  
Deok-Jin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Autonomous Navigation ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
Local Motion ◽  
Aerial Robots ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Outdoor Environments ◽  
Aerial Vehicle ◽  
High Level

Autonomous navigation and collision avoidance missions represent a significant challenge for robotics systems as they generally operate in dynamic environments that require a high level of autonomy and flexible decision-making capabilities. This challenge becomes more applicable in micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) due to their limited size and computational power. This paper presents a novel approach for enabling a micro aerial vehicle system equipped with a laser range finder to autonomously navigate among obstacles and achieve a user-specified goal location in a GPS-denied environment, without the need for mapping or path planning. The proposed system uses an actor–critic-based reinforcement learning technique to train the aerial robot in a Gazebo simulator to perform a point-goal navigation task by directly mapping the noisy MAV’s state and laser scan measurements to continuous motion control. The obtained policy can perform collision-free flight in the real world while being trained entirely on a 3D simulator. Intensive simulations and real-time experiments were conducted and compared with a nonlinear model predictive control technique to show the generalization capabilities to new unseen environments, and robustness against localization noise. The obtained results demonstrate our system’s effectiveness in flying safely and reaching the desired points by planning smooth forward linear velocity and heading rates.

Modeling Secure 3D Web Applications

2011 ◽  
pp. 263-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Walczak
Keyword(s):  
Web Applications ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Dynamic Composition ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Access Privileges ◽  
3D Scene ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Content Modeling ◽  
3D Web

This chapter describes a novel approach to building 3D web applications, called Flex-VR, which can be used a basis for implementing security solutions. Two key elements of the approach are described: scene structuralization and content modeling. The scene structuralization enables decomposition of a 3D scene into independent geometrical and behavioral objects, called VR-Beans. Virtual scenes with rich interactivity and behavior can be dynamically created by combining sets of independent VR-Beans. The second element – the content model – is a generalized high-level description of the application content. The model enables efficient manipulation of content elements and dynamic composition of virtual scenes. Flex-VR provides a fine-grained semantically-rich content structure, which can be used as a basis for defining access privileges for users and groups. Five levels of user privileges definition in the Flex-VR approach are described. An application of Flex-VR in the cultural heritage domain is presented. Examples demonstrate how user privileges can be defined at all levels.

Skin Conductance Feedback Meditation: Evaluation of a Novel Physiology-Assisted Meditation Style

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 313-320
Author(s):  
Thilo Hinterberger ◽  
Felicitas Baierlein ◽  
Natalie Breitenbach
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Feedback Questionnaire ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Viable Method ◽  
Positive Effect

Background: Mindfulness meditation (MM) can be regarded as a practice for calming the mind, while the focus on their breathing can help meditators maintain a state of mindful presence. We have developed and evaluated an alternative method for reaching conscious states of pure being without the aid of a focus of attention. Methods: Skin conductance feedback was provided in real-time during meditation sessions (SCFM) and the practicability of this novel approach was evaluated. 30 participants - 15 meditation experts and 15 non-meditators - attended 6 sessions of meditation over the course of 3 days; 4 SCFM and 2 ordinary MM sessions were conducted. Each session was evaluated with physiological measures and a feedback questionnaire assessing subjective changes in body-related, emotional, and mental self-perception. Results: On average, 78.3% of the participants felt more integrated and connected, 84.2% perceived themselves as more calm and balanced, and 50% felt vitalized after SCFM sessions, while only 5% or less felt more agitated or depressed after the sessions. SCFM was not significantly different from MM. The positive effect of SCFM correlated positively with mindfulness self-ratings. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that SCFM is a viable method for performing a satisfying and consciousness-expanding meditation session.

Ultrasound Medical Imaging Techniques

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Danilo Avola ◽  
Luigi Cinque ◽  
Alessio Fagioli ◽  
Gianluca Foresti ◽  
Alessio Mecca
Keyword(s):  
Medical Imaging ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
The Us ◽  
High Level ◽  
Surgical Operations ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Us Technology

Ultrasound (US) imaging for medical purposes has been increasing in popularity over the years. The US technology has some valuable strengths, such as it is harmless, very cheap, and can provide real-time feedback. At the same time, it has also some drawbacks that the research in this field is trying to mitigate, such as the high level of noise and the low quality of the images. This survey aims at presenting the advances in the techniques used for US medical imaging. It describes the studies on the different organs that the US uses the most and tries to categorize the research in this field into three groups, i.e., segmentation, classification, and miscellaneous. This latter group includes the works that either provide aid during surgical operations or try to enhance the quality of the acquired US images/volumes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review that analyzes the different techniques exploited on a large selection of body locations (i.e., brain, thyroid, heart, breast, fetal, and prostate) in the three sub-fields of research.

scholarly journals CJing: Combining Live Coding and VJing for Live Visual Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jack Voldemars Purvis
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Graphical User Interfaces ◽  
Visual Performance ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
High Level

<p>Live coding focuses on improvising content by coding in textual interfaces, but this reliance on low level text editing impairs usability by not allowing for high level manipulation of content. VJing focuses on remixing existing content with graphical user interfaces and hardware controllers, but this focus on high level manipulation does not allow for fine-grained control where content can be improvised from scratch or manipulated at a low level. This thesis proposes the code jockey practice (CJing), a new hybrid practice that combines aspects of live coding and VJing practice. In CJing, a performer known as a code jockey (CJ) interacts with code, graphical user interfaces and hardware controllers to create or manipulate real-time visuals. CJing harnesses the strengths of live coding and VJing to enable flexible performances where content can be controlled at both low and high levels. Live coding provides fine-grained control where content can be improvised from scratch or manipulated at a low level while VJing provides high level manipulation where content can be organised, remixed and interacted with. To illustrate CJing, this thesis contributes Visor, a new environment for live visual performance that embodies the practice. Visor's design is based on key ideas of CJing and a study of live coders and VJs in practice. To evaluate CJing and Visor, this thesis reflects on the usage of Visor in live performances and feedback gathered from creative coders, live coders, and VJs who experimented with the environment.</p>

scholarly journals CJing: Combining Live Coding and VJing for Live Visual Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jack Voldemars Purvis
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Graphical User Interfaces ◽  
Visual Performance ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
High Level

<p>Live coding focuses on improvising content by coding in textual interfaces, but this reliance on low level text editing impairs usability by not allowing for high level manipulation of content. VJing focuses on remixing existing content with graphical user interfaces and hardware controllers, but this focus on high level manipulation does not allow for fine-grained control where content can be improvised from scratch or manipulated at a low level. This thesis proposes the code jockey practice (CJing), a new hybrid practice that combines aspects of live coding and VJing practice. In CJing, a performer known as a code jockey (CJ) interacts with code, graphical user interfaces and hardware controllers to create or manipulate real-time visuals. CJing harnesses the strengths of live coding and VJing to enable flexible performances where content can be controlled at both low and high levels. Live coding provides fine-grained control where content can be improvised from scratch or manipulated at a low level while VJing provides high level manipulation where content can be organised, remixed and interacted with. To illustrate CJing, this thesis contributes Visor, a new environment for live visual performance that embodies the practice. Visor's design is based on key ideas of CJing and a study of live coders and VJs in practice. To evaluate CJing and Visor, this thesis reflects on the usage of Visor in live performances and feedback gathered from creative coders, live coders, and VJs who experimented with the environment.</p>

scholarly journals The Role of Oxygen Intake and Liver Enzyme on The Dynamics of Damaged Hepatocytes: Implications to Ischaemic Liver Injury via A Mathematical Model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Ghosh ◽  
Claire Onsager ◽  
Leon Arriola ◽  
Andrew Mason ◽  
William Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Liver Injury ◽  
Real Time ◽  
The Body ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Oxygen Intake ◽  
Serum Aminotransferase ◽  
Time Dynamics ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Time Basis

AbstractIschaemic Hepatitis (IH) or Hypoxic Hepatitis (HH) also known as centrilobular liver cell necrosis is an acute liver injury characterized by a rapid increase in serum aminotransferase. The liver injury typically results from another underlying medical conditions like cardiac failure, respiratory failure and septic shock in which the liver becomes damaged due to deprivation of either blood or oxygen. IH is a potentially lethal condition which is often preventable if diagnosed properly. Unfortunately, mechanism that causes IH are often not well understood, making it difficult to diagnose or accurately quantify the patterns of related biomakers. In most cases, currently the only way to determine a case of IH (i.e., to diagnose it) is to rule out all other possible conditions for other liver injuries. A better understanding of the liver’s response to IH is necessary to aid in its diagnosis, measurement and improve outcomes. The goal of this study, is to identify mechanisms that can alter a few associated biomarkers for reducing density of damaged hepatocytes, and thus reduce chances of IH. To this end, we develop a mathematical model capturing dynamics of hepatocytes in the liver through the rise and fall of associated liver enzymes aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) related to condition of IH. The model analysis provides a novel approach to predict the level of biomarkers given variations in the systemic oxygen in the body. Using IH patient data in US, novel model parameters are described and then estimated for the first time to capture real time dynamics of hepatocytes in the presence and absence of IH condition. Different scenarios of patient conditions were also analyzed and validated using empirical information. This study and its results may allow physicians to estimate the extent of liver damage in a IH patient based on their enzyme levels and receive faster treatment on real time basis.

scholarly journals "'if buizy Love intrenches': Adorno and Rochester on Pleasure and Love

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lacey Ann Conley
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Abstract Theory ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
Ideal Approach ◽  
Active Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Discrete Moments ◽  
Selection Of

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester presents in his poetry an enigmatic and seemingly contradictory worldview that is a common topic of discussion amongst his critics. Marianne Thormählen talks about a “fundamental paradox that confronts a student of Rochester’s stances and values as expressed in his verse” which is that “the mind pursues satisfaction through the body;” but “minds are particularly unreliable guides and bodies are lamentably fallible” (27). Paul Hammond further argues, “His poetry often disturbs […] continuity through the fragmentation of experience into discrete moments which may be severed from any possible narrative” (49). It makes sense then that a body of work lacking narrative continuity can best be analyzed through the application of a theory that shares the same fragmented construction. Hammond’s description of Rochester’s poetry sounds a great deal like Devra Lee Davis’ assertion about Theodor Adorno that “His [thought] models are not duplicable, system-bound expressions: they are moments, expressions, and sketches,” and are arguably “mood betraying.” She goes on to describe his writing as an “orchestrated cacophony of outrage” (396), as if the author’s mood itself were the center of the interpretation, which is then “orchestrated” around it. From these critical observations it can be concluded that Rochester and Adorno are both notable for an intense authorial presence in their writing, revealing inconsistencies that can only come from the changeability of an active, individual mind that is not content with constructions of abstract theory, but also insists on the importance of individual experience. For Adorno, critical theory is only valuable when it considers specificity and difference, which makes his theory an ideal approach to consider the writing of the Earl of Rochester. Using Adorno’s Minima Moralia alongside a selection of Rochester’s poems, this study examines the interesting intersections in the observations and beliefs of Adorno and Rochester, specifically as they are expressed in ideas about sex, pleasure, and love, and explores the implications of these shared viewpoints as they manifest themselves in Rochester’s life and work.

scholarly journals The role of oxygen intake and liver enzyme on the dynamics of damaged hepatocytes: Implications to ischaemic liver injury via a mathematical model

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0230833
Author(s):  
Aditi Ghosh ◽  
Claire Onsager ◽  
Andrew Mason ◽  
Leon Arriola ◽  
William Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Liver Injury ◽  
Real Time ◽  
The Body ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Oxygen Intake ◽  
Serum Aminotransferase ◽  
Time Dynamics ◽  
Novel Approach

Ischaemic Hepatitis (IH) or Hypoxic Hepatitis (HH) also known as centrilobular liver cell necrosis is an acute liver injury characterized by a rapid increase in serum aminotransferase. The liver injury typically results from different underlying medical conditions such as cardiac failure, respiratory failure and septic shock in which the liver becomes damaged due to deprivation of either blood or oxygen. IH is a potentially lethal condition that is often preventable if diagnosed timely. The role of mechanisms that cause IH is often not well understood, making it difficult to diagnose or accurately quantify the patterns of related biomarkers. In most patients, currently, the only way to determine a case of IH is to rule out all other possible conditions for liver injuries. A better understanding of the liver’s response to IH is necessary to aid in its diagnosis, measurement, and improve outcomes. The goal of this study is to identify mechanisms that can alter associated biomarkers for reducing the density of damaged hepatocytes, and thus reduce the chances of IH. We develop a mathematical model capturing dynamics of hepatocytes in the liver through the rise and fall of associated liver enzymes aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) related to the condition of IH. The model analysis provides a novel approach to predict the level of biomarkers given variations in the systemic oxygen in the body. Using IH patient data in the US, novel model parameters are described and then estimated for the first time to capture real-time dynamics of hepatocytes in the presence and absence of IH condition. The results may allow physicians to estimate the extent of liver damage in an IH patient based on their enzyme levels and receive faster treatment on a real-time basis.

scholarly journals *Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind-Body Healing, *Yoga for the West & *Science of Stretching

1990 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
Donna Martin ◽  
Jim Dreaver ◽  
Willow Rain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Body ◽  
Yoga Practice ◽  
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ◽  
The West ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Selection Of

Deepak Chopra, author of Quantum Healing, a practicing endocrinologist who trained both in India and the United States, brings together in this book both Western medical understanding and research with the insights of Ayurveda as given to him by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. *Ian Rawlinson's Yoga for the West is a beautifully presented, easy-to-read manual for the serious yoga student. The book opens with a foreword by T.K.V. Desikachar, one of India's leading yoga teachers and the main inspiration behind the author's work. *Deconditioning the body, relaxing the mind, freeing perception: these are some of the benefits of a regular yoga practice. Studying for intellectual clarity is an essential part of that practice, and information is available from a dizzying selection of sources and disciplines. The subject of this book is flexibility within the context of gymnastics and kinesiology. Author Michael J. Alter, of theScience of Stretching, is a former gymnast, coach and nationally certified men's gymnastics judge. Then reading this book from the perspective of a yoga teacher and therapist

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