5,801 research outputs found
Applying High-Level Understanding to Visual Localisation for Mapping
No full textDigital cameras are often used on robots these days. One of the common limitations of these cameras is a relatively small field of view. Consequently, the camera is usually tilted downwards to see the floor immediately in front of the robot in order to avoid obstacles. With the camera tilted, vertical edges no longer appear vertical in the image. This feature can however be used to advantage to discriminate amongst straight line edges extracted from the image when searching for landmarks. It might also be used to estimate angles of rotation and distances moved between successive images in order to assist with localisation. Horizontal edges in the real world very rarely appear horizontal in the image due to perspective. By mapping these back to real-world coordinates, it is possible to use the locations of these edges in two successive images to measure rotations or translations of the robot
Implementation and Characterization of Novel Acoustic Imaging through Beamformers for Automotive Applications
No full textTraffic congestion is a severe problem on European freeways. According to a study of the European Commission, its impact will increase even up to 10% in the year 2010. Since building new infrastructure is no longer an appropriate option in most (Western) countries, there are many approaches towards a more effective road usage and a more 'intelligent' way of increasing the capacity of the road network. Examples of advanced traffic control systems are, e.g., 'intelligent' speed limits, adaptive ramp metering, or dynamic routing. This paper focuses on a proposal of a vehicle acoustic imaging that allows driver to recognize obstacles and other cars around him in a safe way. The proposed front end electronic and sensing system are included in a specific architecture supervised by a microcontroller. The used algorithm for gathering data belongs to LCMV and LCMP beamforming methods
Sen-Lab-LMS/Senescence_nuclear_features: Publication_version_2.0
No full text<p>Author checklist.</p>
Vision based control for micro aerial vehicles : Application to sense and avoid
No full textThis work presents a collision avoidance approach based on omnidirectional cameras that does not require the estimation of range between two platforms to resolve a collision encounter. Our method achieves minimum separation between the two vehicles involved by maximising the view-angle given by the omnidirectional sensor. Only visual information is used to achieve avoidance under a bearing- only visual servoing approach. We provide theoretical problem formulation, as well as results from real flights using small quadrotor
The Contributions of Professor Amartya Sen in the Field of Human Rights
No full textThis paper analyses the work of the Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Amartya Sen from the perspective of human rights. It assesses the ways in which Sen's research agenda has deepened and expanded human rights discourse in the disciplines of ethics and economics, and examines how his work has promoted cross-fertilisation and integration on this subject across traditional disciplinary divides. The paper suggests that Sen's development of a 'scholarly bridge' between human rights and economics is an important and innovative contribution that has methodological as well as substantive importance and that provides a prototype and stimuli for future research. It also establishes that the idea of fundamental freedoms and human rights is itself an important gateway into understanding the nature, scope and significance of Sen's research. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of the challenges to be addressed in taking Sen's contributions in the field of human rights forward.Amartya Sen, human rights, poverty, freedom, obligation, capability approach, meta-rights, entitlements, opportunity freedom, liberty-rights
Inequalities, Agency, and Well-being: Conceptual Linkages and Measurement Challenges in Development
No full textdevelopment, inequality, gender, well-being, agency, capability, distribution, Sen
Non-destructive and cost-effective 3D plant growth monitoring system in outdoor conditions : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in School of Food and Advanced Technology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
No full textPlant growth monitoring is one of the crucial steps within plant phenotyping. Traditional manual measurement techniques are error-prone and destructive. In recent times there has been substantial progress in computer vision-based methods. Due to their non-destructive nature and increased accuracy, imaging techniques are becoming state-of-the-art in plant phenotyping. However, most of the associated cameras, sensors, and processors are expensive, resulting in their reduced applicability in this area.
This thesis proposes a framework for low-cost plant growth monitoring. A novel, cost-effective and non-destructive 3D method is proposed. It uses a smartphone’s camera and is based on the structure-from-motion algorithm to construct 3D plant models. This algorithm uses several overlapped images to build the model. The modelling speed and quality largely depend on the number of input images used. It is challenging to select the right number of images to generate an accurate plant model - too few images might generate false points in the 3D point cloud, whereas too many images will result in redundant processing, which will inevitably increase computation time. An analytical method is proposed to determine the appropriate number of images for modelling to solve this problem. Once the 3D model is generated, it is essential to segment the various plant components such as leaves and stems to measure traits. The segmentation method needs to be able to work regardless of the particular plant architecture. This thesis proposes a segmentation method using Euclidean distance to segment the point cloud. Finally, plant traits for growth monitoring are measured: leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves, stem height, and leaf area. Methods to accurately measure leaf length, width and stem height when curled are proposed. To conclude, this thesis demonstrated that the proposed framework could monitor plant growth and calculate structure and growth parameters in different outdoor conditions. The framework was tested using five different plants with different architectures: cauliflower, lettuce, tomato, chilli, and maize. Hence, this framework is a potential alternative to costly state-of-the-art systems
OVERCOMING POSITIVISM IN ECONOMICS: AMARTYA SEN'S PROJECT OF INFUSING ETHICS INTO ECONOMICS
No full textLogical Positivism, which arose in philosophy early in the twentieth century, proclaimed the sharp distinction between facts and values. Despite objections at the time, positivism was imported into economics in the 1930s. Over time, objections lessened; economics was transformed and ethical considerations were driven out of its core. In the 1950s, debates about positivism arose within the discipline which had exported it. According to the American philosopher Hilary Putnam, the fact/value distinction is now discredited in philosophy. If that is so, the methodological foundations of contemporary economics are also discredited. In this article I examine Amartya Sen’s moral science of economics. First, I will present his historical account of the connections between economics and ethics. Sen claims that there was a close connection between the two until positivism was imported. Second, I will sketch some of Sen’s ethical objections to modern economics, which is still suffering from positivism. Finally, I will lay out some of his ideas on how economics can be returned to an ethical path. Once the ground has been cleared of positivism, ethics can re-emerge in economics in various ways. One path has been marked out by Sen.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
Scene structure analysis for sprint sports
No full textThis work proposes a robust model to analyse the structure of horse races based on 2D velocity vector information. This model is capable of detecting scene breaks, classifying the view of the contenders and extracting the trajectory of the contenders throughout the race. The performance of the system is tested over six video clips from two different broadcast sources. The performance analysis shows the model achieves a high accuracy of view classification with the lowest value of 83%, all in real time
Adventure Tourism and its Future Potential in Ha Tinh, Vietnam
No full textDue to the lack of information about adventure tourism, the client of the thesis, Thanh Sen Travel was not consider adventure tourism as the product of the company. With the belief that Ha Tinh was a potential city to develop adventure tourism, the purpose of the thesis was to investigate the possibility and potential of the city. Therefore, the thesis would provide the company with more information about adventure tourism, identified potential locations and customer segments. The author wanted to persuade the company to add adventure tourism as a new feature to attract new customers coming to the region.
In addition to secondary sources, primary sources were collected via individual qualitative interview of 9 travelers to find a potential target tourist group. Thanh Sen Travel helped the author in discussing the potential adventure tourism activities as well as giving local data to help with the completion of the thesis
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