Efficient screen-space approach to high-quality multiscale ambient occlusion

We present a new screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) algorithm that improves on the state-of-the-art SSAO methods in both performance and quality. Our method computes ambient occlusion (AO) values at multiple image resolutions and combines them to obtain the final, high-resolution AO value for each image pixel. It produces high-quality AO that includes both high-frequency shadows due to nearby, occluding geometry and low-frequency shadows due to distant geometry. Our approach only needs to use very small sampling kernels at every resolution, thereby achieving high performance without resorting to random sampling. As a consequence, our results do not suffer from noise and excessive blur, which are common of other SSAO methods. Therefore, our method also avoids the expensive, final blur pass commonly used in other SSAO methods. The use of multiple resolutions also helps reduce errors that are caused by SSAO’s inherent lack of visibility checking. Temporal incoherence caused by using coarse resolutions is solved with an optional temporal filtering pass. Our method produces results that are closer to ray-traced solutions than those of any existing SSAO methods, while running at similar or higher frame rates than the fastest ones.     

Exploring US Business Cycles with Bivariate Loops Using Penalized Spline Regression

The phrase business cycle is usually used for short term fluctuations in macroeconomic time series. In this paper we focus on the estimation of business cycles in a bivariate manner by fitting two series simultaneously. The underlying model is thereby nonparametric in that no functional form is prespecified but smoothness of the functions are assumed. The functions are then estimated using penalized spline estimation. The bivariate approach will allow to compare business cycles, check and compare phase lengths and visualize this in forms of loops in a bivariate way. Moreover, the focus is on separation of long and short phase fluctuation, where only the latter is the classical business cycle while the first is better known as Friedman or Goodwin cycle, respectively. Again, we use nonparametric models and fit the functional shape with penalized splines. For the separation of long and short phase components we employ an Akaike criterion.     

Globally stable adaptive robust tracking control using RBF neural networks as feedforward compensators

In previous adaptive neural network control schemes, neural networks are usually used as feedback compensators. So, only semi-globally uniformly ultimate boundedness of closed-loop systems can be guaranteed, and no methods are given to determine the neural network approximation domain. However, in this paper, it is showed that if neural networks are used as feedforward compensators instead of feedback ones, then we can ensure the globally uniformly ultimate boundedness of closed-loop systems and determine the neural network approximation domain via the bound of known reference signals. It should be pointed out that this domain is very important for designing the neural network structure, for example, it directly determines the choice of the centers of radial basis function neural networks. Simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approaches.     

重质碳酸钙活化的研究

采用硬脂酸对1500目重质碳酸钙进行湿法活化,利用正交实验研究了硬脂酸加入量、反应温度和反应时间对活化效果的影响。测定了改性前后重质碳酸钙活化度,并用红外光谱进行表征。     

Buckling of carbon fiber composite pyramidal truss core sandwich columns

This paper deals with the theoretical prediction of global buckling loads for carbon fiber composite pyramidal truss core sandwich columns. Different from thin plate structures, transverse shear effect can not be neglected for sandwich structures. In addition, the attributes of the laminated face sheets are considered in the present paper. A zig-zag displacement approximation is made. Based on the principle of minimum potential energy, equilibrium equations and boundary conditions are derived via the variational method. The critical buckling loads under various boundary conditions are presented. In order to validate the reasonableness of the equivalent-core method, the strain energies stored in the actual discrete truss members and the equivalent continuous homogenous core layer are calculated respectively and compared, and a good agreement is obtained. The proposed analytical method is verified by comparing with the published theoretical predictions and experimental results.