Deep Fluids: A Generative Network for Parameterized Fluid Simulations

This paper presents a novel generative model to synthesize fluid simulations from a set of reduced parameters. A convolutional neural network is trained on a collection of discrete, parameterizable fluid simulation velocity fields. Due to the capability of deep learning architectures to learn representative features of the data, our generative model is able to accurately approximate the training data set, while providing plausible interpolated in‐betweens. The proposed generative model is optimized for fluids by a novel loss function that guarantees divergence‐free velocity fields at all times. In addition, we demonstrate that we can handle complex parameterizations in reduced spaces, and advance simulations in time by integrating in the latent space with a second network. Our method models a wide variety of fluid behaviors, thus enabling applications such as fast construction of simulations, interpolation of fluids with different parameters, time re‐sampling, latent space simulations, and compression of fluid simulation data. Reconstructed velocity fields are generated up to 700× faster than re‐simulating the data with the underlying CPU solver, while achieving compression rates of up to 1300×.     

Augmenting photographs with audio

We report a user requirements study of several interfaces for the playback of sounds from photographs. The study showed that users liked listening to audiophotos when the sounds are played back from photographic prints, but as a complement to playback on a PC. When handling prints the audio needs to be invoked manually from the print with a facility to pause the audio during playback. A handheld audioprint player was then designed to fulfill these needs, based on an embedded chip in the paper.     

MPEG—4视频的实时传输

MPEG－4是一个全新的多媒体标准,采用了基于对象和模型的编码方法。简要总结了MPEG－4视频编码的各种特点,对网络实时传输MPEG－4视频提出了各种评估标准,并针对面临的困难介绍了相应的解决方案。     

实时全自动视频拼接方法

在视频拼接中,配准的误差和运动物体都会给拼接结果带来鬼影,简单的融合方法会带来图像高频内容的丢失,复杂的融合算法则难以满足实时性。针对上述问题,使用一种改进的快速检测Harris算子以及改进的RANSAC算法来减少图像配准误差,结合捆绑调整进行全局调整,并提出新的融合方法。通过对重叠区域边界的求取和形态学腐蚀运算,确定需要融合的像素,结合三角函数作为权值来进行融合。大量的实验结果表明,该方法具有良好的实时拼接效果。     

Physical hypermedia: Augmenting physical material with hypermedia structures

This paper introduces the notion of physical hypermedia, addressing the problem of organizing material in mixed digital and physical environments. Based on empirical studies, we propose concepts for collectional actions and meta-data actions, and present prototypes combining principles from augmented reality and hypermedia to support organization of mixtures of digital and physical materials. Our prototype of a physical hypermedia system is running on an augmented architect's desk and digital walls utilizing Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tags as well as visual tags tracked by cameras. It allows users to tag physical materials, and have these tracked by readers (antennas) that may become pervasive in our work environments. In the physical hypermedia system, we work with three categories of RFID tags: simple object tags, collectional tags, and tooltags invoking operations such as grouping and linking of physical material. In addition, we utilize visual ARToolKit tags for linking and navigating 3D models on a physical desk. Our primary application domain is architecture and design, and so we discuss the use of augmented collectional artifacts primarily for this domain.     

Animating Pictures of Fluid using Video Examples

We propose a system that allows the user to design a continuous flow animation starting from a still fluid image. The basic idea is to apply the fluid motion extracted from a video example to the target image. The system first decomposes the video example into three components, an average image, a flow field and residuals. The user then specifies equivalent information over the target image. The user manually paints the rough flow field, and the system automatically refines it using the estimated gradients of the target image. The user semi-automatically transfers the residuals onto the target image. The system then approximates the average image and synthesizes an animation on the target image by adding the transferred residuals and warping them according to the user-specified flow field. Finally, the system adjusts the appearance of the resulting animation by applying histogram matching. We designed animations of various pictures, such as rivers, waterfalls, fires, and smoke.     

Augmenting paper-based learning with mobile phones

Paper and traditional books have been serving as useful tools in supporting knowledge-intensive tasks and school learning. Although learning strategies such as selective verbatim note-taking or question-asking may foster intentional recall or resolve comprehension difficulties in paper-based learning practice, improvement in learning may depend on the opportunity and quality of which students apply note-taking, review notes, or enhance comprehension through questioning. This study aims to complement a paper textbook with a mobile phone and to treat the combination as a whole to facilitate verbatim note-taking, resolving comprehension questions, and receiving reading recommendations. The textbook paragraphs were augmented with line numbers to facilitate coordination between the mobile phone and the paper textbook. An eight-week comparative study was conducted to explore the use of two reading vehicles. The results and findings show that using a mobile phone to augment paper-based learning is technically feasible and seems to promote the application of verbatim note-taking and posting comprehension questions for discussion. However, the results of two course tests indicate that consequent learning improvement seemed inconsistent among the students. A six-week case study was also conducted to explore the implications of the augmented support to students’ learning practice. The findings show that mobile phones as learning supportive tools to augment paper-based learning could support students’ planning and management of learning strategies or activities. The portability of mobile phones and paper textbooks and the ubiquitous connection of paper-based learning with an online learning community may provide the flexibility in planning ahead for suitable learning strategies or activities and may enhance students’ assessment for management of students’ learning goals.     

Augmenting elementary school education with VR

At the University of Illinois at Chicago's Electronic Visualization Laboratory, we use virtual reality technology to complement real-world experiences rather than replace them. For more than two years, we've been deploying ImmersaDesk applications in a Chicago-area elementary school. We want to know whether these virtual environments (VEs) help children make sense of mathematics and scientific phenomena. If so, can educators adapt them to the realities of elementary school learning and teaching? Our experience indicates that VR can successfully augment scientific education as well as help to equalize the learning environment by engaging students of all levels     

XYZ实时视频编码技术

考虑到工业现场中特有的传感器测量环境,提出了利用传感器信息压缩工业图象的观点,在此基础上,提出了基于信息融合的工业运动视频图象压缩编码方法,并对基于模型的信息融合编码方法压缩运输皮带图象进行了研究,压缩效果使图象传输的码速率降低到１－２Ｋｂｐｓ     

采集显示一体化的实时视频信号处理系统

提出了一种软硬件结合的采集显示一体化的视频信号处理系统 ,该系统以 SAA7111A作为视频信号采集器 ,用 CHIPS6 90 0 0视频加速器作为视频捕捉和回放器 ,使视频回放直接在 6 90 0 0芯片内完成 ,减少通过计算机总线的传输量 ,从而取得从回放到数值处理均有令人满意的效果     

Virtual prints: Augmenting virtual environments with interactive personal marks

This paper introduces the concept of Virtual Prints (ViPs) as an intuitive metaphor for supporting interaction and navigation, as well as a number of additional tasks in virtual environments (VEs). Three types of ViPs are described: Virtual Footprints, which are used for tracking user navigation (position, orientation and movement), Virtual Handprints, which are used for tracing user interaction with the VE, and Virtual Markers, which are ‘special’ marks (usually coupled with information) that can be created upon user request. In a VE, the ViPs concept is instantiated and supported through a software mechanism (the ViPs mechanism) that allows users to create, manage and interact with their personal ViPs, as well as other users’ ViPs.The paper presents the background and related work upon which the suggested concept builds, as well as the distinctive properties that differentiate ViPs from other related efforts. An account of how users can interact with ViPs is provided and related issues and challenges are discussed along with techniques and methods for addressing them. The paper also describes the process followed towards defining and experimenting with the concept of ViPs by means of iterative design and evaluation of an interactive prototype. This process involved exploratory studies, as well as several inspections and formal tests with both experts and potential end-users, in order to assess the usefulness of the concept and identify possible shortcomings, and also to evaluate and improve the usability of the proposed designs and software prototypes. In general, the findings of the studies reinforce the initial hypothesis that ViPs are an intuitive and powerful concept, and show that the related software is easy to learn and use. Overall, the results of the studies support strong evidence that an appropriately designed and implemented, fully functional ViPs mechanism can significantly increase the usability of VEs.     

实时视频摘要及其在舰船导航中的应用

针对视频信号在低带宽导航通信条件下进行实时传输比较吃力的问题,本文提出一种新的实时视频摘要算法。该算法是通过修改视觉重要特征（包括亮度、色彩对比等）的对比度来实现。具体地说,在图像的低对比度区域用双边滤波降低对比度,而在高对比度区域人为地加上用高斯差分滤波器得到的边缘以增加对比度。实验结果表明：该算法不仅能够很好地去除噪声,而且具有很强的压缩能力。这在现代导航特别是在低带宽情况下的导航数据传输方面有着巨大的应用前景。     

基于视频流体模型的图像超分辨率重建

为解决监控视频分辨率不足的问题,在视频流体模型的基础上,提出一种图像超分辨率重建方法。视频流体模型记录了视频对象的整体区域,及区域内各像素的时域对应关系,利用流体区域在不同时刻的像素值进行滤波和拼接,达到去噪、扩展分辨率的目的,基于等色线构建视频流体模型,使用视频流体模型实现去噪,以起始帧作为参考图像,并依次在各帧中选择补入流纹,根据补入流纹的相邻流纹计算补入流纹在初始帧的位置,如果所得位置非整数,对参考图像插值拉伸,采用补入流纹中的值代替相关坐标的像素值。实验结果表明,将添加噪声的CIF格式视频重建到2CIF格式,该方法的重建结果比最大后验估计与投影方法、梯度投影等方法的峰值信噪比提高1 dB~4 dB。     

Augmenting a conceptual model with geospatiotemporal annotations

While many real-world applications need to organize data based on space (e.g., geology, geomarketing, environmental modeling) and/or time (e.g., accounting, inventory management, personnel management), existing conventional conceptual models do not provide a straightforward mechanism to explicitly capture the associated spatial and temporal semantics. As a result, it is left to database designers to discover, design, and implement - on an ad hoc basis - the temporal and spatial concepts that they need. We propose an annotation-based approach that allows a database designer to focus first on nontemporal and nongeospatial aspects (i.e., "what") of the application and, subsequently, augment the conceptual schema with geospatiotemporal annotations (i.e., "when" and "where"). Via annotations, we enable a supplementary level of abstraction that succinctly encapsulates the geospatiotemporal data semantics and naturally extends the semantics of a conventional conceptual model. An overarching assumption in conceptual modeling has always been that expressiveness and formality need to be balanced with simplicity. We posit that our formally defined annotation-based approach is net only expressive, but also straightforward to understand and implement.     

Augmenting Node-Link Diagrams with Topographic Attribute Maps

We propose a novel visualization technique for graphs that are attributed with scalar data. In many scenarios, these attributes (e.g., birth date in a family network) provide ambient context information for the graph structure, whose consideration is important for different visual graph analysis tasks. Graph attributes are usually conveyed using different visual representations (e.g., color, size, shape) or by reordering the graph structure according to the attribute domain (e.g., timelines). While visual encodings allow graphs to be arranged in a readable layout, assessing contextual information such as the relative similarities of attributes across the graph is often cumbersome. In contrast, attribute-based graph reordering serves the comparison task of attributes, but typically strongly impairs the readability of the structural information given by the graph's topology. In this work, we augment force-directed node-link diagrams with a continuous ambient representation of the attribute context. This way, we provide a consistent overview of the graph's topological structure as well as its attributes, supporting a wide range of graph-related analysis tasks. We resort to an intuitive height field metaphor, illustrated by a topographic map rendering using contour lines and suitable color maps. Contour lines visually connect nodes of similar attribute values, and depict their relative arrangement within the global context. Moreover, our contextual representation supports visualizing attribute value ranges associated with graph nodes (e.g., lifespans in a family network) as trajectories routed through this height field. We discuss how user interaction with both the structural and the contextual information fosters exploratory graph analysis tasks. The effectiveness and versatility of our technique is confirmed in a user study and case studies from various application domains.     

Augmenting satellite precipitation estimation with lightning information

We have used lightning information to augment the precipitation estimation from remotely sensed imagery using an artificial neural network cloud classification system (PERSIANN-CCS). Co-located lightning data are used to segregate cloud patches, segmented from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-12 infrared (IR) data, into either electrified patches (ECPs) or nonelectrified patches (NECPs). A set of features is extracted separately for the ECPs and NECPs. Features for the ECPs include a new feature corresponding to the number of flashes that occur within a 15 minute window around the time of the nominal scan of the satellite IR images of the cloud patches. The cloud patches are classified and clustered using a self-organizing maps (SOM) neural network. Then, brightness temperature and rain rate (T–R) relationships are derived for different clusters. Rain rates are estimated for the cloud patches based on their representative (T–R) relationship. The equitable threat scores (ETS) of the daily and hourly precipitation estimates at a range of rain rate thresholds show that incorporating lightning information can improve categorical precipitation estimation in the winter and fall seasons. In the winter, the ETS improvement is almost 15% for the daily and 12% for the hourly rainfall estimates (at thresholds below 15 mm hour^?1). During the same period, there is also a drop in the false alarm ratio (FAR) and a corresponding increase in the probability of detection (POD) at most threshold levels. During the summer and spring seasons, no categorical significant improvements have been noted, except for the BIAS scores for the hourly rainfall estimates at higher thresholds (above 5 mm hour^?1) in the summer months. A quantitative evaluation in terms of the root mean squared error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (CORR) shows that the incorporation of lightning data does improve rainfall estimation over all seasons with the most improvement (around 11–13% CORR improvement) occurring during the winter. We speculate that during the winter, more of the ice processes are packed into a thinner stratiform layer with lower cloud tops and freezing levels. Hence, more of the ice contributes to precipitation on the ground. We also expect that information from lightning, related to the ice microphysics processes, provides surrogate information about the rain rate.     

Augmenting a window system with speech input

Some necessary background in speech recognition and window systems is given, with an analysis of how they might be combined. Xspeak, a navigation application, and its operation and a field study of its use are described. With Xspeak, window navigation tasks usually performed with a mouse can be controlled by voice. An improved version, Xspeak II, which incorporates a language for translating spoken commands, is introduced     

实时图像的运动目标检测及跟踪

在复杂背景的运动目标实时检测算法的研究中,由于目标受到外界环境影响,目标不能正确提取。针对克服背景干扰因素提取,干净的目标像素,大多数背景建模与背景更新算法计算复杂,难以满足视频监控的实时要求。为解决上述问题,提出一种根据像素特征的背景差法,将目标的边缘特征融入减背景算法,通过对离散的目标边缘梯度像素进行网格密度聚类法实现目标像素的提取,采用改进的均值漂移跟踪算法,在DM642平台上实现目标检测与跟踪。实验结果表明,改进的算法可以有效的克服光线变化、背景抖动、噪声等问题,实时检测、跟踪多个目标,并能解决目标遮挡问题。