Persistent Objects Research Articles

THE FOURTH IBIS/ISGRI SOFT GAMMA-RAY SURVEY CATALOG

In this paper we report on the fourth soft gamma-ray source catalog obtained with the IBIS gamma-ray imager on board the INTEGRAL satellite. The scientific dataset is based on more than 70Ms of high quality observations performed during the first five and a half years of Core Program and public observations. Compared to previous IBIS surveys, this catalog includes a substantially increased coverage of extragalactic fields, and comprises more than 700 high-energy sources detected in the energy range 17--100 keV, including both transients and faint persistent objects which can only be revealed with longer exposure times. A comparison is provided with the latest Swift/BAT survey results.

Camera handoff and placement for automated tracking systems with multiple omnidirectional cameras

In a multi-camera surveillance system, both camera handoff and placement play an important role in generating an automated and persistent object tracking, typical of most surveillance requirements. Camera handoff should comprise three fundamental components, time to trigger handoff process, the execution of consistent labeling, and the selection of the next optimal camera. In this paper, we design an observation measure to quantitatively formulate the effectiveness of object tracking so that we can trigger camera handoff timely and select the next camera appropriately before the tracked object falls out of the field of view (FOV) of the currently observing camera. In the meantime, we present a novel solution to the consistent labeling problem in omnidirectional cameras. A spatial mapping procedure is proposed to consider both the noise inherent to the tracking algorithms used by the system and the lens distortion introduced by omnidirectional cameras. This does not only avoid the tedious process, but also increases the accuracy, to obtain the correspondence between omnidirectional cameras without human interventions. We also propose to use the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test to improve the accuracy of trajectory association between pairs of objects. In addition, since we need a certain amount of time to successfully carry out the camera handoff procedure, we introduce an additional constraint to optimally reserve sufficient cameras’ overlapped FOVs for the camera placement. Experiments show that our proposed observation measure can quantitatively formulate the effectiveness of tracking, so that camera handoff can smoothly transfer objects of interest. Meanwhile, our proposed consistent labeling approach can perform as accurately as the geometry-based approach without tedious calibration processes and outperform Calderara’s homography-based approach. Our proposed camera placement method exhibits a significant increase in the camera handoff success rate at the cost of slightly decreased coverage, as compared to Erdem and Sclaroff’s method without considering the requirement on overlapped FOVs.

CUSTOMARY NON-REFOULEMENT OF REFUGEES AND AUTOMATIC INCORPORATION INTO THE COMMON LAW: A HONG KONG PERSPECTIVE

The judgment of Hartmann J of the Hong Kong Court of First Instance in C v Director of Immigration [2008] 2 HKC 165 (“C”) was ground-breaking. For the first time, a common law court unequivocally recognized a customary norm of non-refoulement of refugees. However, Hartmann J denied that the norm had attained the status of jus cogens and found Hong Kong, always guarded about asylum seekers, to be a persistent objector. His Lordship proceeded to deny the applicants any relief. They had invoked the norm to overcome the Hong Kong government’s practice of leaving the assessment of refugee status to the UNHCR. Hartmann J refused to give the norm any such procedural reach. His Lordship also refused to apply the doctrine of automatic incorporation. Through the prism of C, this article seeks to clarify the application of that doctrine, in the context of persistent objection, a constitutionally prescribed separation of powers, inconsistency between custom and statute, as well as administrative law and tortious liability. The author concludes that C should be reversed on appeal.

Basic-level kinds and object persistence

In three experiments, we explored the basis of adults' judgments of individual object persistence through transformation. Participants watched scenarios in which an object underwent a transformation into an object belonging to the same or a different basic-level kind. Participants were queried about the object's persistence through the transformation as an individual (indexed by its proper name) and as a member of the original kind (indexed by its basic-level count noun in Experiments 1 and 2, or by its superordinate-level noun in Experiment 3). In all experiments, participants rated objects that were altered in a way that maintained basic-level kind to be less likely to retain their proper name than those that were altered in a way that changed basic-level kind. These findings suggest that shared basic-level kind membership serves as a dimension of similarity over which objects' unique individual identities are highlighted. We discuss the implications of the results for existing theoretical accounts of adults' judgments of individual object persistence.

WADA Service: An Extension of DICOM WADO Service

The Web Access to Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) Persistent Objects (WADO) service is standardized as the Web extension to DICOM. This paper analyzes the operational specifications of the WADO service and extends its access capability to the whole DICOM hierarchy (patient, study, series, and object). The proposed Web Access to DICOM Archives (WADA) service, as opposed to WADO, also includes an extrainternal query mechanism and support of medical reports submission. A pilot implementation of WADA as software components and their integration into a three-tier architecture are also presented. Advanced security mechanisms are augmented to ensure communication encryption, user identification, and access restriction to data according to user roles. The proposed service is a simple approach, and can be embedded in any system managing medical images and reports. WADA can also be integrated into the Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing-Imaging (XDS-I) standard, which is considered to be the most likely future standard for medical imaging exchange.

WADA Service: An Extension of DICOM WADO Service

The Web Access to Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) Persistent Objects (WADO) service is standardized as the Web extension to DICOM. This paper analyzes the operational specifications of the WADO service and extends its access capability to the whole DICOM hierarchy (patient, study, series, and object). The proposed Web Access to DICOM Archives (WADA) service, as opposed to WADO, also includes an extrainternal query mechanism and support of medical reports submission. A pilot implementation of WADA as software components and their integration into a three-tier architecture are also presented. Advanced security mechanisms are augmented to ensure communication encryption, user identification, and access restriction to data according to user roles. The proposed service is a simple approach, and can be embedded in any system managing medical images and reports. WADA can also be integrated into the Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing-Imaging (XDS-I) standard, which is considered to be the most likely future standard for medical imaging exchange.

Staying in bounds: Contextual constraints on object-file coherence

Coherent visual perception necessitates the ability to track distinct objects as the same entities over time and motion. Calculations of such object persistence appear to be fairly automatic and constrained by specific rules. We explore the nature of object persistence here within the object-file framework; object files are mid-level visual representations that track entities over time and motion as the same persisting objects and store and update information about the objects. We present three new findings. First, objects files are constrained by the principle of “boundedness”; persisting entities should maintain a single closed contour. Second, object files are constrained by the principle of “containment”; all the parts and properties of a persisting object should reside within, and be connected to, the object itself. Third, object files are sensitive to the context in which an object appears; the very same physical entity that can instantiate object-file formation in one experimental context cannot in another. This contextual influence demonstrates for the first time that object files are sensitive to more than just the physical properties contained within any given visual display.

Implementing an EJB3-Specific Graph Transformation Plugin by Using Database Independent Queries

The current paper presents a novel approach to implement a graph transformation engine as an EJB3-specific plugin by using EJB QL queries for pattern matching. The essence of the approach is to create an EJB QL query for the precondition of each graph transformation rule. Pattern matching and updating phases of a rule application are implemented in a public method of a stateless session bean by executing the prepared EJB QL query and by manipulating persistent objects, respectively.

The Role of Persistent Objection in International Humanitarian Law

AbstractThe publication of the ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law encouraged a debate on the role of the doctrine of persistent objection in international humanitarian law. After setting out the background and meaning of this doctrine, this article will use the examples of belligerent reprisals against civilians and the protection of the environment in light of the use of nuclear weapons to show that although persistent objection is relied upon in international humanitarian law, the dictates of the principles of humanity and public conscience mean that it is less accepted and respected than in other areas of international law. This despite the fact that there are no express limitations on the application of this doctrine to international humanitarian law.

Transparency and the governance of the Internet

In Internet governance transparency issues merit more extensive consideration: the Internet offers valuable opportunities for transparent communication and for the achievement of open access to discussion topics, thereby enhancing information exchange and dialogue between the governance-related institutions and the interested parties concerned. Transparency could also promote the mobilization of new actors and the participation of the civil society; such development would increase the level of democratic legitimization through active involvement. ICANN has recognized the need to improve the transparency framework within its structures; the ongoing attempts should be strengthened by scholar research supporting the efforts of the ICANN bodies in the present consultation phase. Since a transparent methodology for rule-making processes based on revisable procedures reduces mistrust, transparency should become a persistent objective of governance mechanisms.

Space and time, not surface features, guide object persistence

Successful visual perception relies on the ability to keep track of distinct entities as the same persisting objects from one moment to the next. This is a computationally difficult process and its underlying nature remains unclear. Here we use the object file framework to explore whether surface feature information (e.g., color, shape) can be used to compute such object persistence. From six experiments we find that spatiotemporal information (location as a function of time) easily determines object files, but surface features do not. The results suggest an unexpectedly strong constraint on the visual system's ability to compute online object persistence.

The Enhancement of Transparency in Internet Governance

In Internet governance transparency issues merit more extensive consideration: The Internet offers valuable opportunities for transparent communication and for the achievement of open access to discussion topics, thereby enhancing information exchange and dialogue between the governance- related institutions and the interested parties concerned. Transparency could also promote the mobilization of new actors and the participation of the civil society; such development would increase the level of democratic legitimization through active involvement. ICANN has recognized the need to improve the transparency framework within its structures; the ongoing attempts should be strengthened by scholar research supporting the effort of the ICANN bodies in the present consultation phase. Since a transparent methodology for rule-making processes based on revisable procedures reduces mistrust, transparency should become a persistent objective of governance mechanisms.

A virtual type for a multiple‐type object and its implementation

AbstractTo deal with the evolution of data and applications and with the existence of multiple views for the same data, the object data model needs to be extended with the object extension functionality to allow an object to dynamically change its type, and the object viewing functionality to allow an object to be seen as if it had a different structure and behavior. This paper proposes the virtual type facility which provides a persistent object of ?, an enhanced C++ persistent programming language compliant with the ?standard, with a different structure and behavior from those of its base types. Additionally, it presents the implementation details of the facility. The virtual type facility gives a different interface of an object to redefine its structure and behavior without affecting the behavior of a base type, while the multiple‐type object of ?allows an object to be dynamically extended to model an entity which changes its behavior with time. The virtual type facility integrates the object extension functionality and the object viewing functionality for dealing with the database evolution. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 38(11): 25–35, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.20781

An XMM-Newtonstudy of hyper-luminous infrared galaxies

Hyper-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (HLIRGs) are the most luminous persistent objects in the Universe. They exhibit extremely high star formation rates, and most of them seem to harbour an AGN. They are unique laboratories to investigate utmost star formation, and its connection to super-massive black hole growth. X-ray studies of HLIRGs have the potential to unravel the AGN contribution to the bolometric output from these bright objects. We have selected a sample of 14 HLIRGs observed by XMM-Newton (type 1, type 2 AGN and starburst), 5 of which are candidates to be Compton-thick objects. This is the first time that a systematic study of this type of objects is carried out in the X-ray spectral band. Their X-ray spectral properties have been correlated with their IR luminosities, estimated by IRAS, ISO and sub-mm data. The X-ray spectra of HLIRGs present heterogeneous properties. All our X-ray detected HLIRGs (10) have AGN-dominated X-ray spectra. The hard X-ray luminosity of 8 of them is consistent with a pure AGN contribution, while in the remaining 2 sources both an AGN and a starburst seem to contribute to the overall emission. We found soft excess emission in 5 sources. In one of them it is consistent with a pure starburst origin, while in the other 4 sources it is consistent with an AGN origin. The observed X-ray emission is systematically below the one expected for a standard local QSO of the same IR luminosity, suggesting the possible presence of absorption in type 2 objects and/or a departure from a standard spectral energy distribution of QSO. The X-ray-to-IR-luminosity ratio is constant with redshift, indicating similar evolutions for the AGN and starburst component, and that their respective power sources could be physically related.

The Third IBIS/ISGRI Soft Gamma‐Ray Survey Catalog

In this paper we report on the third soft gamma-ray source catalog obtained with the IBIS/ISGRI gamma-ray imager on board the INTEGRAL satellite. The scientific data set is based on more than 40 Ms of high-quality observations performed during the first 3.5 yr of Core Program and public IBIS/ISGRI observations. Compared to previous IBIS/ISGRI surveys, this catalog includes a substantially increased coverage of extragalactic fields, and comprises more than 400 high-energy sources detected in the energy range 17-100 keV, including both transients and faint persistent objects that can only be revealed with longer exposure times.

Background-subtraction using contour-based fusion of thermal and visible imagery

We present a new background-subtraction technique fusing contours from thermal and visible imagery for persistent object detection in urban settings. Statistical background-subtraction in the thermal domain is used to identify the initial regions-of-interest. Color and intensity information are used within these areas to obtain the corresponding regions-of-interest in the visible domain. Within each region, input and background gradient information are combined to form a Contour Saliency Map. The binary contour fragments, obtained from corresponding Contour Saliency Maps, are then fused into a single image. An A ∗ path-constrained search along watershed boundaries of the regions-of-interest is used to complete and close any broken segments in the fused contour image. Lastly, the contour image is flood-filled to produce silhouettes. Results of our approach are evaluated quantitatively and compared with other low- and high-level fusion techniques using manually segmented data.

Persistent Objects and Capabilities in Timor.

The paper describes how the idea of persistent objects is integrated into the Timor programming language. The strategy adopted allows types to be instantiated at two levels: as i.e. objects accessible at the operating system level, and as local objects within files, which resemble objects found in conventional object oriented programs. File objects (with associated methods) can be instantiated and manipulated via capabilities, which are accessible both internally and via the operating system. Local objects are accessible via references, which are not visible at the operating system level.

Persistent Processes and Distribution in Timor.

The paper explains the concept of persistent processes and threads in Timor, showing how it is based on the in-process (procedure oriented) model of process execution. In their Timor form processes and threads can persist even when a user is logged out. They can also invoke remote persistent objects with the same semantics as invocation of local objects.

Nonconceptual Demonstrative Reference

The paper argues that the reference of perceptual demonstratives is fixed in a causal nondescriptive way through the nonconceptual content of perception. That content consists first in spatiotemporal information establishing the existence of a separate persistent object retrieved from a visual scene by the perceptual object segmentation processes that open an object-file for that object. Nonconceptual content also consists in other transducable information, that is, information that is retrieved directly in a bottom-up way from the scene (motion, shape, etc). The nonconceptual content of the mental states induced when one uses a perceptual demonstrative constitutes the mode of presentation of the perceptual demonstrative that individuates but does not identify the object of perceptual awareness and allows reference to it. On that account, perceptual demonstratives put us in a de re relationship with objects in the world through the non-conceptual information retrieved directly from the objects in the environment.

The Second IBIS/ISGRI Soft Gamma‐Ray Survey Catalog

In this paper we report the second soft gamma-ray source catalog obtained with the IBIS/ISGRI gamma-ray imager on board the INTEGRAL satellite. The scientific data set is based on more than 10 Ms of high-quality observations performed during the first 2 years of Core Program and public IBIS/ISGRI observations, and covers ~50% of the whole sky. The main aim of the first survey was to scan systematically, for the first time at energies above 20 keV, the whole Galactic plane to achieve a limiting sensitivity of ~1 mcrab in the central radian. The target of the second year of the INTEGRAL mission lifetime was to expand as much as possible our knowledge of the soft gamma-ray sky, with the same limiting sensitivity, to at least 50% of the whole sky, mainly by including a substantial coverage of extragalactic fields. This catalog comprises more than 200 high-energy sources detected in the energy range 20-100 keV, including new transients not active during the first year of operation, faint persistent objects revealed with longer exposure time, and several Galactic and extragalactic sources in sky regions not observed in the first survey. The mean position error for all the sources detected with significance above 10 ? is ~40'', enough to identify most of them with a known X-ray counterpart and to unveil the nature of most of the strongly absorbed ones, even though they are very difficult to detect in X-rays.