Inserting virtual pedestrians into pedestrian groups video with behavior consistency

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to integrate virtual pedestrians into a scene of real pedestrian groups with behavior consistency, and this is achieved by dynamic path planning of virtual pedestrians. Rather than accounting for the local collision avoidance only, our approach is capable of finding an optimized path for each virtual pedestrian on his way based on the current global distribution of the real groups in the scene. The big challenge is due to the information of both position and velocity of real pedestrians in the video being unavailable; also the distribution of the groups in the scene may vary dynamically. We therefore need to detect and track real pedestrians on each frame of the video to acquire their distribution and motion information. We save this information by an efficient data structure, called environment grid. During the way of a virtual pedestrian, the respective agent frequently emits the detection rays through the environment cells to find the situation of the real pedestrians ahead of him and adjust the original path if necessary. Virtual pedestrians are merged into the video finally with the occlusion between virtual characters and the real pedestrians correctly presented. Experiment results on several scenarios demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Using Task-Induced Pupil Diameter and Blink Rate to Infer Cognitive Load

Minimizing user cognitive load is suggested as an integral part of human-centered design, where a more intuitive, easy to learn, and adaptive interface is desired. In this context, it is difficult to develop optimal strategies to improve the design without first knowing how user cognitive load fluctuates during interaction. In this study, we investigate how cognitive load measurement is affected by different task types from the perspective of the load theory of attention, using pupil diameter and blink measures. We induced five levels of cognitive load during low and high perceptual load tasks and found that although pupil diameter showed significant effects on cognitive load when the perceptual load was low, neither blink rate nor pupil diameter showed significant effects on cognitive load when the perceptual load was high. The results indicate that pupil diameter can index cognitive load only in the situation of low perceptual load and are the first to provide empirical support for the cognitive control aspect of the load theory of attention, in the context of cognitive load measurement. Meanwhile, blink is a better indicator of perceptual load than cognitive load. This study also implies that perceptual load should be considered in cognitive load measurement using pupil diameter and blink measures. Automatic detection of the type and level of load in this manner helps pave the way for better reasoning about user internal processes for human-centered interface design.     

Sufficient LMI stability conditions for Lur’e type systems governed by a control law designed on their Euler approximate model

In this paper, the stability issue of Lur’e systems governed by a control law stabilising their forward Euler approximate model is investigated. More specifically, the considered control law is obtained by exploiting the advantages of a new Lur’e type Lyapunov function with disconnected level sets. This Lyapunov function is adapted to discrete-time Lur’e systems and to the structure of the forward Euler approximate model. The main result consists of linear matrix inequality conditions allowing to guarantee that the continuous-time Lur’e system associated with the proposed digital control law is globally asymptotically stable. The relevance of this approach is illustrated using a numerical example.     

Case Study: Retrofitting Large Bridge Piers on the Nakdong River, South Korea

The Gupo Bridge crosses the Nakdong River near the city of Busan, South Korea. During Typhoon Maemi in 2003, the old Gupo Bridge collapsed due to excessive pier scour. More recently, the highway construction on the left-bank floodplain required right-bank channel widening to restore the channel flood-carrying capacity. This 7?m deep floodplain excavation is expected to cause significant local scour around the 8–10?m wide and 3?m thick spread footings of Piers 11 and 12 of the Subway Bridge and Piers 15 and 16 of the Gupo Bridge. Three design options are examined for retrofitting floodplain bridge piers with massive spread footings. A solution with sheet piles and riprap was recommended in 2006 as the most appropriate design, but Plan III with a conical riprap structure around the footings was ultimately constructed in 2007 for economic reasons. Laboratory experiments also highlight the need to place gravel and synthetic filters under the designed riprap.     

Real-space tight-binding approach to electronic structure and stability in substitutional alloys

A real-space approach based on the tight-binding approximation is proposed for studying electronic structure properties, stability and order in substitutional multi-component chemically random alloy based on periodic as well as topological disordered lattices. We show that the coherent potential approximation (CPA) equations including Shiba's off-diagonal disorder can be solved self-consistently in real-space with the same accuracy currently achieved in reciprocal space. An effective one-electron Green function is given by a continued fraction expansion, and the associated effective medium is used to determine the effective cluster interactions which enter the expression of the configurationl part of the total energy for describing order-disorder phenomena in alloys. Some applications will be presented.     

Influence of moisture content on the specific methanogenic activity of dry mesophilic municipal solid waste digestate

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of moisture content on the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of a fresh dry mesophilic digestate from a municipal solid waste digester plant. For this purpose, SMA tests were performed under mesophilic conditions in 500 mL glass bottles of volume used as batch reactors, during a period of 20–25 days. Cellulose, propionate and acetate were used as substrates (5 g_COD kg^?1 digestate) at four different moisture contents, ranging from 65 to 82%. The moisture content strongly influenced the specific methanogenic activity. The highest SMA values were observed at a moisture content of 82% (11.1, 7.8 and 6.0 mg_COD g_VS^?1 d^?1 for cellulose, propionate and acetate spikes, respectively). SMA and moisture content were found to be linearly linked. Dry digestion at low water content is thus detrimental to the biological activity, probably due to physical limitations. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Nonparametric modeling of carbon prices

This paper constitutes the first exercise of nonparametric modeling applied to carbon markets. The framework of analysis is carefully detailed, and the empirical application unfolds in the case of BlueNext spot and ECX futures prices. The data is gathered in daily frequency from April 2005 to April 2010. First, we document the presence of strong nonlinearities in the conditional mean functions. Second, the conditional volatility functions reveal an asymmetric and heteroskedastic behavior which is dramatically different between carbon spot and futures logreturns. The results for spot prices are also robust to subsamples' decomposition. Third, we show in an out-of-sample forecasting exercise that nonparametric modeling allows reducing the prediction error by almost 15% compared to linear AR models. This latter result is confirmed by the Diebold–Mariano pairwise test statistic.     

Modelling elasticity of a hydrating cement paste

Concrete is a complex multi-scale composite involving multi-physics processes. As it is the only evolving component of concrete, the cement paste has a major influence on the mechanical properties of concrete at early age. This paper focuses on the increase of the elastic properties of a cement paste during its hydration. The homogenization theory for disordered media is used in order to estimate the evolution of the effective elastic moduli of the hydrating paste. The morphological model refers to two types of C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrates, main hydration products of Portland cements) distinguished by many authors: inner products or high density C-S-H build up layers surrounding the anhydrous particles, while the outer products or low density C-S-H play the role of a porous matrix.The simulations of the effective Young's modulus at late age during hydration and at the end of hydration prove to be in excellent agreement with the experimental results available in the literature.