This paper extends our previous work in rigid object tracking using a spring system to track articulated objects. The idea is to represent each part of an articulated object with a spring system and connect them via articulation points. Articulation points are detected automatically by observing the motion of the object and integrated into the spring systems of the rigid parts. Experiments with...

Information on the effect of long-term management on soil nutrients and chemical properties is scanty. We examined the 30-year effect of tillage frequency and cropping sequence combination on dryland soil Olsen-P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, SO4-S, and Zn concentrations, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) at the 0-120 cm depth and annualized crop yield in the northern Great...

We present a design for a manipulator that is intrinsically mechanically safe, i.e. it can not cause pain (let alone damage) to a human being even if the control system has a failure. Based on the pressure pain thresholds for human skin, we derive a pinching safety constraint that limits the actuator torque, and an impact safety constraint that results in a trade-off between mass and velocity. ...

With the rapid development of Internet, B/S architecture has occupied the dominate place in information system engineering. Countless frameworks have emerged to boost the development of B/S systems. But how to take advantage of the convenience and avoid being tied to the chariot of these frameworks has become a dilemma for programmers. The paper analyzed the shortage of general query in layered...

springs are the  mechanical parts which have many application in industries. static and dynamic forces cause relaxation in these parts so that they lose some of their free length and reaction force. springs constant are very important in airplane and vailway industry since constant and variable forces are applied to them in period time, therefore it is necessary to avoid decreasing in spring co...

THE1974 ARTICLE BY Line and Sandison entitled “ ‘Obsolescence’ and Changes in the Use of Literature with Time” was highly critical of many assumptions about obsolescence and of the methodology and conclusions of much research on the topic. It placed emphasis on the distinction between synchronous and diachronous studies and on the need to correct for the size of the literature cited or used. Si...

SMQ / VOL. XII / NO. 1 / SPRING 2006 ABSTRACT Partnership development for national social marketing campaigns is a much copied, but poorly researched, area of practice. As part of the development of Phase II of the Centers for Disease Control’s National Bone Health Campaign, several needs-assessment and market analysis activities were conducted to develop partnership strategies that were respon...

Computer animation has been a popular research topic since 1970s, when the first parametric facial model is proposed[0]. In the recent few years, a lot of techniques are proposed to model and animate faces like physical modelling, motion capture, mesh deformation etc. However, most of them require burden work of artists and assistance of expensive model. Rigging is one kind of the most popular ...

In the 1960s the isolated tropical forest enclave of Quintana Roo was targeted by the Mexican Government to serve as the cornerstone for launching what is now considered to be one of Mexico’s most successful economic development strategies – Planned Tourism Development (PTD). This paper commences with a brief review of the role of state-driven PTD in Mexico’s national economic development agend...