To CG or to HDG: A Comparative Study

Hybridization through the border of the elements (hybrid unknowns) combined with a Schur complement procedure (often called static condensation in the context of continuous Galerkin linear elasticity computations) has in various forms been advocated in the mathematical and engineering literature as a means of accomplishing domain decomposition, of obtaining increased accuracy and convergence results, and of algorithm optimization. Recent work on the hybridization of mixed methods, and in particular of the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method, holds the promise of capitalizing on the three aforementioned properties; in particular, of generating a numerical scheme that is discontinuous in both the primary and flux variables, is locally conservative, and is computationally competitive with traditional continuous Galerkin (CG) approaches. In this paper we present both implementation and optimization strategies for the Hybridizable Discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method applied to two dimensional elliptic operators. We implement our HDG approach within a spectral/hp element framework so that comparisons can be done between HDG and the traditional CG approach.     

To Select or To Weigh: A Comparative Study of Linear Combination Schemes for SuperParent-One-Dependence Estimators

We conduct a large-scale comparative study on linearly combining superparent-one-dependence estimators (SPODEs), a popular family of seminaive Bayesian classifiers. Altogether, 16 model selection and weighing schemes, 58 benchmark data sets, and various statistical tests are employed. This paper's main contributions are threefold. First, it formally presents each scheme's definition, rationale, and time complexity and hence can serve as a comprehensive reference for researchers interested in ensemble learning. Second, it offers bias-variance analysis for each scheme's classification error performance. Third, it identifies effective schemes that meet various needs in practice. This leads to accurate and fast classification algorithms which have an immediate and significant impact on real-world applications. Another important feature of our study is using a variety of statistical tests to evaluate multiple learning methods across multiple data sets.     

Exploiting Batch Processing on Streaming Architectures to Solve 2D Elliptic Finite Element Problems: A Hybridized Discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) Case Study

Numerical methods for elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) within both continuous and hybridized discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) frameworks share the same general structure: local (elemental) matrix generation followed by a global linear system assembly and solve. The lack of inter-element communication and easily parallelizable nature of the local matrix generation stage coupled with the parallelization techniques developed for the linear system solvers make a numerical scheme for elliptic PDEs a good candidate for implementation on streaming architectures such as modern graphical processing units (GPUs). We propose an algorithmic pipeline for mapping an elliptic finite element method to the GPU and perform a case study for a particular method within the HDG framework. This study provides comparison between CPU and GPU implementations of the method as well as highlights certain performance-crucial implementation details. The choice of the HDG method for the case study was dictated by the computationally-heavy local matrix generation stage as well as the reduced trace-based communication pattern, which together make the method amenable to the fine-grained parallelism of GPUs. We demonstrate that the HDG method is well-suited for GPU implementation, obtaining total speedups on the order of 30–35 times over a serial CPU implementation for moderately sized problems.     

To FLIP or not to FLIP: Comparative case study in higher education in Turkey

The purpose of this study was (1) to investigate the effectiveness of the flipped-classroom approach, when coupled with problem-based learning and cooperative learning, compared to that of a traditional classroom; (2) to investigate the effects of watching videos and of doing homework on achievement in a physics course; and (3) to evaluate students’ perception of the use of the flipped-classroom format in a physics course. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. A pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental method with a control group was used. The results showed that homework performance and the amount of video watched (preliminary work before class) were significantly more effective for student achievement in the flipped-classroom. Moreover, although students struggled to adapt to the new system at the beginning, students who know and feel responsible for their own learning can close the gap with more individual and group activities and can achieve higher grades.     

Graphically speaking: thoughts on the state of 3D CG in film and video

In this brief article, I want to share some of my thoughts on what I see from where I stand today. Let's start with two observations that border on the obvious. The first is that 3D is difficult. The second is that the 3D market is stagnant from a business perspective. Neither observation is earth shattering. The first is apparent to anyone who has attempted to use any of the current 3D packages. The second is clear to anyone who has invested in a 3D graphics company, or seen the Siggraph trade show diminish in size over the past few years. Now we conclude that the two are related, and that the difficulty of current 3D packages (and their associated pipelines and workflow) is a significant factor constraining potential market growth. Consequently, one conclusion might be that the problem could be addressed by making these systems easier to use. However, no amount of conventional UI design or usability engineering is going to pave the way to any significant breakthroughs in addressable market size. Something far more substantial is required. Unless there is a fundamental change in how we think about things, the industry continues to stagnate, with the key players just fighting for market share, rather than building and participating in healthy market growth. Without such a change, animation, postproduction, and VFX houses continue to be underpressure, and the viability of new start-up companies is limited.     

RANSACs for 3D Rigid Registration: A Comparative Evaluation

Estimating an accurate six-degree-of-freedom (6-DoF) pose from correspondences with outliers remains a critical issue to 3D rigid registration. Random sample consensus (RANSAC) and its variants are popular solutions to this problem. Although there have been a number of RANSAC-fashion estimators, two issues remain unsolved. First, it is unclear which estimator is more appropriate to a particular application. Second, the impacts of different sampling strategies, hypothesis generation methods, hypothesis evaluation metrics, and stop criteria on the overall estimators remain ambiguous. This work fills these gaps by first considering six existing RANSAC-fashion methods and then proposing eight variants for a comprehensive evaluation. The objective is to thoroughly compare estimators in the RANSAC family, and evaluate the effects of each key stage on the eventual 6-DoF pose estimation performance. Experiments have been carried out on four standard datasets with different application scenarios, data modalities, and nuisances. They provide us with input correspondence sets with a variety of inlier ratios, spatial distributions, and scales. Based on the experimental results, we summarize remarkable outcomes and valuable findings, so as to give practical instructions to real-world applications, and highlight current bottlenecks and potential solutions in this research realm.      

A Comparative Study Of Global Optimization Approaches To Meg Source Localization

It is well-known that the problem of MEG source localization can be cast as an optimization problem. So far, there have been many works in which various optimization methods were adopted for source localization. In this paper, we compare the performance of three typical and widely used optimization techniques for a specific MEG source localization problem. We first introduce a hybrid algorithm by combining genetic and local search strategies to overcome disadvantages of conventional genetic algorithms. Second, we apply the tabu search, a widely used optimization method in combinational optimization and discrete mathematics, to source localization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt in the literature to apply tabu search to MEG/EEG source localization. Third, in order to further compare the performance of the above algorithms, simulated annealing is also applied to MEG source localization problem. The computer simulation results show that our local genetic algorithm is the most effective approach to dipole localization, and the tabu search method is also a very good strategy for this problem.     

从二维投影视图构造三维实体算法的效率提高途径

从二维视图构造三维实体在计算机图形学中具有重要意义。该文在通常的自底向上法进行三维重建过程中,增加了一个新的判别过程,使整个算法的时间复杂度大为降低,提高了效率。     

Getting Chipped: To Ban or Not to Ban

Human Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) implants are currently being marketed as a way to limit access to secure areas or as anti-kidnapping devices, as well as means to track and quickly identify in emergency situations individuals with serious medical conditions or mental disabilities or to serve as cashless payment devices with a wave of the hand. While in certain instances, such as in some medical applications, this technology can have positive and benign effects there are also serious privacy implications. Although at present, technological and financial challenges prevent the wide take-up of these highly controversial devices, privacy advocates fear the technology might be abused by governments and big corporations and used to constantly locate and profile people. A detailed critique of the complex privacy, security, ethical and health implications in the light of this emerging technology is still lacking and this article attempts to contribute to this process.     

Koala 3D: A continuous climbing 3D printer

The size of manufactured parts is naturally bound by the size of their production machines. In this paper, we explore the alternative of making a machine that can continuously navigate along an object being fabricated, producing objects larger than itself. The machine combines a climbing robot and a 3D printer. It uses an infinite fabrication loop which includes printing, reanchoring to a new station, and printing again. We present the design, construction, and characterization of the machine along with experiments on the fabrication of vertical columns. We also demonstrate the freeform fabrication capabilities of the machine by printing a moai statue. The results obtained have a wide range of applications for construction, product fabrication and promisingly broaden the current applications of 3D printing.     

CubeALS:新的三维协同过滤推荐算法

随着互联网的快速发展,人们对个性化网页搜索、个性化广告投放、个性化社会标注等三维推荐服务的需求越来越紧迫。这些三维立方体数据高度稀疏,且与二维推荐系统相比三维推荐系统中对象之间的关系更加复杂。为了更好地模拟三维对象之间的关系并解决三维数据高度稀疏的问题,提出了一种新的三维协同过滤推荐算法CubeALS(cube alternating least squares)。该算法对三维协同过滤推荐算法CubeSVD(cube singular value decomposition)进行了改进,尝试使用不同于SVD的算法进行矩阵分解。在真实的个性化社会标注数据集上的实验结果表明,与CubeSVD算法相比,CubeALS的性能得到了显著提高。     

三维虚拟物体表面重建的研究

在激光扫描共焦显微三维成像，CT成像，MRI成像，以及在图象处理和识别中，三维物体的显示是必不可少的，目前，最流行的显示方式是虚拟物体的三维重建，通常虚拟物体三维重中以采用体素级重建，可也以采用切片极重建，由于切片级重建仍需要解决物体轮廓对应，分叉曲面，轮廓拼接等关键性问题，为此，提出了一些新的方法，在这些方法中，轮廓的对应采用OR运算和AND运算来确定，如果两个轮廓的OR和ND运算结果满足预先设置的准则，则这两个轮廓相对应；分叉曲面采用数字形态学方法来分解，其由形态学方法生成的边界就是分叉曲面的分割线，轮廓拼拦则是将对应轮廓经多边形简化后，由三角形接拼法来构成表面，且三角形是根据最小轮廓跨接边准则来构建的，通过对这些方法进行的实验结果表明，理论与实际完全相符，这些方法的优点是编程简单，运算速度快。     

人脸识别:从二维到三维

人脸识别是生物特征识别技术的一个重要方向。虽然目前大部分研究都还只是针对二维人脸图像,但是3D人脸模型包含更丰富的人脸信息,有助于机器对人脸的识别。从二维到三维,人脸识别研究进入了一个新的阶段。从3D人脸数据的获取方式入手,介绍最近提出的一系列3D人脸识别算法,并进行归类。最后提出"有针对性地获取3D人脸模型数据是进行有效识别的基础"这一结论。     

To Game or Not to Game?

Effective teaching of software engineering is a challenging endeavor, and some researchers have suggested alternative teaching methods to help. This column looks at the empirical evidence for one such method, game-based learning, and reports on a literature review that looked at what games are available as well as the degree to which their efficacy has been studied. The 21 studies that were reviewed contained mixed results about the games' pedagogic effectiveness, but in general, results showed that games can provide effective learning, mainly to reinforce knowledge. More detailed results were also reviewed concerning the games' results on other metrics, as well as conclusions about how such games could be best designed.     

To Prosecute or Not to Prosecute?

Networks dominate today's computing landscape and commercial technical protection is lagging behind attack technology. As a result, protection programme success depends more on prudent management decisions than on the selection of technical safeguards. Managing Network Security takes a management view of protection and seeks to reconcile the need for security with the limitations of technology.