goals

schedule

references

previous years

Schedule

Abstracts

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Measurements of Hurricane Winds: Impact on Infrastructure
by Kurtis R. Gurley
University of Florida

Abstract. This talk will focus on the in-field data measurement research to characterize hurricane winds and their effects on residential housing. This work has been ongoing since 1999, and has evolved into a state-of-the-art project utilizing wireless sensors and satellite communications to maximize what can be learned from each land falling hurricane.
Dr. Gurley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida. Since joining UF in 1997, Dr. Gurley has largely concentrated his research on the measurement and modeling of ground-level hurricane winds, and the evaluation of the vulnerability of residential housing to hurricane wind damage. The goal of this work is to build cost-effective wind resistant housing in Florida.

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Biologically-Inspired Robotics: Learning from Nature
by Alfredo Weitzenfeld
Professor of Computer Engineering
Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), Mexico

Abstract: Biology has been an important source of inspiration in creating new technology. In the robotics realm, an extensive number of architectures have taken inspiration from animal behavior. These biorobotic architectures have sought to mimic animal ethology, i.e. behavior described by higher-level brain processes, and to a lesser extent animal neuroethology, i.e. behavior mapped to underlying neural structures. From a neuroscientific perspective, advances in brain theory have provided an ever increasing understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in aspects such as memory, adaptation and learning. To model such systems we have a developed a multi-level schema and neural networks approach that we now apply to the development of biologically inspired robotic architectures. We expect these advances to help develop new generations of adaptive robotics systems having an increasing impact on real world applications. The work to be presented in this talk overviews a number of biologically-inspired robotic architectures developed by our group. A number of models and corresponding biorobotic architectures are presented describing animal behaviors such as prey acquisition, predator avoidance and exploration, based on studies from praying mantis, frogs and toads, rats and monkeys.

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Optimal 3D Lattices in Scientific Visualization and Computer Graphics
by AliReza Entezari
Simon Fraiser University

Abstract. Faithful and accurate reconstruction of functions from a set of given data points is an integral part of many visualization, computer graphics and scientific computing algorithms. In this talk I will demonstrate how we exploit the optimal sphere packing lattices to advance the state-of-the-art visualization algorithms. Not only these dense packing lattices significantly increase the reconstruction accuracy, but also they minimize the computational cost of the reconstruction. This striking result is counter-intuitive to the general understanding about the traditionally popular Cartesian methods.
Discretization and reconstruction (interpolation) of data is also common to other computational fields such as medical imaging, vision, machine learning and numerical solutions to partial differential equations. I will discuss advantages of exploiting the optimal lattices in some of these areas.

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Image and video-stream encoding using near-optimal triangulations
by Georg Umlauf
University of Kaiserslautern

Abstract. In this talk I will present a method to speed up the optimization approach to find a near-optimal triangulation to approximate an image, using simulated annealing. Since the number of vertices of the triangulation is small compared to the number of pixels, storing or transmitting the triangulation saves a lot of space or bandwidth, respectively. Furthermore, we define probability distributions that speed up the convergence of the simulated annealing approach significantly.
Since affine transformations of a triangulation can be computed very efficiently, resizing or rotating the image can also be computed very efficiently, which is useful for scaling from small displays (e.g. handheld devices, PDAs, mobile phones) to large displays (e.g. CRTs, power walls). Because our approximation is C0 continuous and a vector based graphic format, resizing is possible without aliasing artifacts.

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Computational Cameras: Redefining the Image
by Shree K. Nayar
Columbia University

Abstract. In this talk, we will first present the concept of a computational camera. It is a device that embodies the convergence of the camera and the computer. It uses new optics to select rays from the scene in unusual ways, and an appropriate algorithm to process the selected rays. This ability to manipulate images before they are recorded and process the recorded images before they are presented is a powerful one. It enables us to experience our visual world in rich and compelling ways. We will show computational cameras that can capture wide angle, high dynamic range, multispectral, and depth images. Finally, we will explore the use of a programmable light source as a more sophisticated camera flash. We will show how the use of such a flash enables a camera to produce images that reveal the complex interactions of light within objects as well as between them.

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The Validity of a Virtual Human Experience for Interpersonal Skills Education
by Kyle Johnsen

Abstract. Any new tool introduced for education needs to be validated. We developed a virtual human experience called the Virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination (VOSCE). In the VOSCE, a medical student examines a life-size virtual human who is presenting symptoms of an illness. The student is then graded on interview skills. As part of a medical school class requirement, thirty three second year medical students participated in a user study designed to determine the validity of the VOSCE for testing interview skills. In the study, participant performance in the VOSCE is compared to participant performance in the OSCE, an interview with a trained actor. There was a significant correlation (r(33)=.49, p<.005) between overall score in the VOSCE and overall score in the OSCE. This means that the interaction skills used with a virtual human translate to the interaction skills used with a real human. Comparing the experience of virtual human interaction to real human interaction is the critical validation step towards using virtual humans for interpersonal skills education.

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References

References from the talks as well as the presentation materials will be available here (upon speakers approval).

Previous years

Fall06	Spring06	Fall05	Spring05	Fall04	Spring04	Fall03	Spring03
Fall02	Spring02	Fall01	Spring01	Fall00	Spring00	Fall99	Spring99

goals

schedule

references

previous years

Alper Üngör (ungoratcisedotufldotedu) Jan 2007