White Ball Research Articles

Event recognition and classification in sports video using HMM

Sports event recognition and classification is a challenging task due to the number of possible categories. On one hand, how to characterise legitimate occasion classification names and how to acquire preparing tests for these classes should be investigated; then again, it is non-inconsequential to accomplish acceptable order execution. To address these issues, we propose the use of the spatio-temporal behaviour of an object in the footage as an embodiment of a semantic event. This is accomplished by modelling the evaluation of the position of the object with a hidden Markov model (HMM). Snooker is used as an example for this purpose of research. The system firstly parses the video sequence based on the geometry of the content in the camera view and classifies the footage as a particular view type. Secondly, we consider the relative position of the white ball on the snooker table over the duration of a clip to embody semantic events. The temporal behaviour of the white ball is modelled using a HMM where each model is representative of a particular semantic event.

"Hitting the White Ball: The Technology Neutrality Principle and Blockchain-Based Applications"

This article provides a legal analysis model for legislators to employ in order to identify non-compliance with the technology neutrality principle in cases of use of blockchain technology. The principle of technology neutrality is aimed at supporting innovation and competition. The article uses the treatment of an application called CUBER in Estonia as early as in 2014 as an example for such analysis. The CUBER mobile application used blockchain technology to execute payment transactions for goods and services. The article first portrays the challenges that the technology neutrality principle poses on existing regulation. It then explores whether technology discrimination took place against CUBER and how this could have been avoided through compliance with the technology neutrality principle. Through this analysis, the article maps the challenges that all start-ups encounter when initiating the use of a new technology aiming to innovate an existing process.

Can Qigong improve attention in adolescents? A prospective randomised controlled trial

IntroductionThe ability to direct and maintain attention is a prerequisite for learning. Qigong exercises are already commonly practiced in many developed countries to increase attention and memory. The main goal of this study was to examine whether Qigong would improve the attention levels of adolescents (12–14 years of age) when practiced as part of their physical education course. MethodThree groups of 22 individuals were considered: the verum group, which performed true Qigong; the control group, which performed sham, or placebo Qigong; and the waiting list group. In order to evaluate Qigong effects, attention tests (d2) were applied to all groups before the intervention period (t1) and after two and four weeks of practice (t2 and t3, respectively). ResultsAt t1, there was no significant difference between the verum, control and waiting list groups in all measurable features. After 4 weeks of exercise, the verum group was significantly superior in all measurable features in comparison to the control group and the waiting list group. Values in the waiting list group were generally worse than in the control group (placebo Qigong), but there was no significant difference between the control and waiting list group, showing that the placebo offered an effect that was not significantly greater than the effect of no intervention at all. Conclusion‘White Ball’ Qigong was able to improve attention in adolescents after 4 weeks of practice, leading us to conclude that it may be a useful tool when integrated into physical education classes.

Changes of skin electrical potential in acupoints from Ren Mai and Du Mai conduits during Qigong practice: Documentation of a clinical phenomenon

Qigong is a therapeutic method of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that combines slow, soft movements and postures with breath control and a special mental state of ‘awareness’. TCM holds that the practice of Qigong promotes the ‘circulation of qi’ in the human body, the ‘flow’ of upward yang qi and downward yin qi to establish ‘balance’. In Western terms, this may be generally equivalent to vegetative homeostasis and the emotionally balanced state induced thereby. Researchers have often attempted to evaluate the functional movements of qi using measurements of the skin's electrical resistance. However, these methodologies have proven difficult to gauge, validate, repeat, and interpret. We aimed to overcome these limitations by measuring the skin's electrical potential between two points of the same system. The main goal of this study was to assess the skin's electrical potential changes in acupoints from the Ren Mai and Du Mai conduits, or meridians, as well as in other points of interest, during Qigong practice. While participants performed a specific Qigong exercise called ‘White Ball’, we observed significant changes in the skin electrical potential on Mìngmén (GV 4), Shèndáo (GV 11) and Baihuì (GV 20), from the Du Mai conduit, as well as on Huiyin (CV 1), Qìhai (CV 6), Zhongwan (CV 12) and Dànzhong (CV 17), from Ren Mai. These observations are in accordance with TCM theory and may contribute to the explanation of the vegetative physiological changes that are associated with ‘qi flow’ in TCM.

Design of a Brain-Controlled Video Game based on a BCI System

The Computer Brain Interface (BCIs) is a new type of user interface designed to recognize real-time user-specific intentions based on user brain mapping. Gradual advancing technology behind the BCI interface has made it possible to develop gaming applications that use directly brain input instead of well-known traditional control methods. This paper presents the Mental Pool Game, a brain-controlled computer game powered by Unity3D, which uses a commercial BCI device based on a network of electroencephalography (EEG) sensors placed on the scalp capable of creating brain patterns only by capturing conscious thoughts from a user that can be easily reproduced as mental actions to control strength and speed on which the user can project on the white ball to hit any of the eight balls on the pool table. Mental PoolGame, powered by Unity3D, is a platform that provides all tools necessary for a developer to develop three-dimensional games that has been designed so that the end user no longer uses classical commands that depend on the use of well-known peripheral input devices present on any PC, such as a keyboard, mouse and more recently a joystick to control the movement of space in an object in a virtual environment.

Effect of floating balls on evaporation reduction from open water resources (Case study:Tailing dam of Sarcheshmeh copper mine), Kerman

Evaporation is one of the most important sensible losses from water resourcese, especially in desert areas that humans have the lowest level of intervention. Climate is the most important index at the amount of these losses in different areas. Different methods has been presented for reducing of water evaporation rate . In this study, in order to evaporation reduction from tailing dams and open water resources of Sarcheshmeh copper complex investigated performance of three types balls as evaporation reducing coating for the first time. Used balls are different in the mechanism of action, size and material. They are including two types of polyethylene balls, mono-aperture and multi-aperture, with a diameter of 8 cm and a type of small polypropylene white ball with a diameter of 1 cm. For evaluating of performance of these coatings, several small ponds with an area of 1m2 in the vicinity of Sarcheshmeh tailing dam were built and evaporation losses were measured for a month from 03.04.2016 until 03.05.2016 in each covers with two repeats. Based on the Tukey and Duncan multiple comparison tests, there are significant differences between covers, in 5% significant level. Results showed, the mono-aperture balls with performance of 65.1%, had the greatest impact on reducing evaporation, while multi-aperture balls and small balls with 51.7% and 38.8% respectively were in the next priorities. Finally, the mono-aperture balls were identified as the best evaporation reducing coating, because these types of balls had the most roughness on the surface and amount of empty spaces was constant in during time.

Brassicaceae Mustards: Traditional and Agronomic Uses in Australia and New Zealand.

Commonly cultivated Brassicaceae mustards, namely garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), white mustard (Brassica alba), Ethiopian mustard (B. carinata), Asian mustard (B. juncea), oilseed rape (B. napus), black mustard (B. nigra), rapeseed (B. rapa), white ball mustard (Calepina irregularis), ball mustard (Neslia paniculata), treacle mustard (Erysimum repandum), hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), Asian hedge mustard (S. orientale), smooth mustard (S. erysimoides) and canola are the major economically important oilseed crops in many countries. Mustards were naturalized to Australia and New Zealand and Australia is currently the second largest exporter of Brassicaceae oilseeds to meet the global demand for a healthy plant-derived oil, high in polyunsaturated fats. Apart from providing edible oil, various parts of these plants and many of their phytochemicals have been used traditionally for both agronomic as well as medicinal purposes, with evidence of their use by early Australian and New Zealand settlers and also the indigenous population. This review provides an overview of the current knowledge of traditional and agronomic uses of Brassicaceae oilseeds and mustards with a focus on their importance in Australia and New Zealand.

Jackie Robinson, the Anatomical Record, and the Gift of Building Bridges

Jackie Robinson, the Anatomical Record, and the Gift of Building Bridges

Measuring method for photosynthetic photon flux density using a digital camera

The paper presents a method for measuring photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) using a commercially available digital camera. PPFD is one of the critically important measurements to control photosynthetic reaction of plants. Conventionally a dedicated quantum sensor is used to measure PPFD. A quantum sensor, however, can measure PPFD of a target point at once. Thus considerable cost and labor would be consumed if the quantum sensors were introduced for managing photosynthetic reaction of numerous plants in a large greenhouse for growing commercial crops. In order to solve the problem, we propose a method for measuring PPFD using a commercially available digital camera. The method estimates spectral irradiance of daylight, fluctuating hour by hour according to weather condition changes, on the basis of the color information of a reference object in an image captured by a digital camera. Then PPFD is derived from the estimated spectral irradiance. For practical use, plural reference objects are placed in a plant community and captured as an image. PPFDs at the positions of the reference objects in the captured image are simultaneously measured. We believe that proposed method is useful in real cultivation. We conducted experiments in outdoor environment. During the experiments, a Nikon digital SLR camera D300 and a white plaster ball as a reference object were used. We finally confirmed that the average error rate of PPFD measurements by this method was 2.58%, and the maximum was within 5% which is equivalent to the accuracy of the quantum sensor on the market.

Imaging diagnosis of 95 cases of moderate and severe acute carbon monoxide poisoning

Objective: To explore the difference of radiological imaging features of delayed encephalopathy after carbon monoxide poisoning (DECMP) and acute carbon monoxide poisoning (ACMP) , and the correlation between the imaging findings and clinical prognosis of the disease. Methods: The correlation between imaging findings and clinical manifestations and prognosis of 95 patients with moderate and severe acute carbon monoxide poisoning were retrospectively analyzed. In the above 95 cases, there were 62 cases of ACMP and 33 cases of DEACMP. All patients underwent conventional CT, MRI and magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) . Circular regions of interest (ROI) measurement was used for analysis of average diffusion coefficient (ADC) value and fractional anisotropy (FA) value of the MRI and DTI imaging manifestations in different brain regions. Results: The main clinical manifestation of moderate acute carbon monoxide poisoning was consciousness disorder and fatigue; Severe poisoning patients showed deep coma as the main clinical manifestations; The most prominent clinical manifestations of DEACMP were mental disorders and neurological impairment in the extrapyramidal system. A total of 95 cases with moderate or severe CO poisoning showed unilateral or bilateral cerebral cortex, bilateral basal ganglia (white ball) , cerebral white matter around bilateral ventricles or bilateral centrum semiovale, around bilateral ventricles cerebral white matter around bilateral ventricles and bilateral centrum semiovale, cerebral cortex and subcortical involvement. CT showed normal or low density shadow.MRI showed that the lesion T(1)WI presented slightly low or equal signal, T(2)WI and FLAIR sequences showed equal, a slightly higher or high signal; DWI sequence showed slightly higher or high signal. ADC value and FA value in different brain white matter regions of DEACMP group was significantly lower than those of ACMP group (P<0.05) , especially for those around semi oval center and lateral ventricles of the brain white matter (P<0.01) ; The ADC values increased significantly, FA value decreased significantly in the nerve nucleus (P<0.05) , especially for ADC values in globus pallidus (P<0.01) . Conclusion: DTI can evaluate the brain tissue damage in patients with DEACMP more early and more accurately.

Mate-searching behavior of the black chafer Holotrichia kiotonensis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): identification of a sex pheromone, and male orientation behavior controlled by olfactory and visual cues

In the black chafer Holotrichia kiotonensis Brenske (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), mating behavior was observed between 1940 and 2010 hours at < 0.1 lx in both the laboratory and the field. In the laboratory, an ether extract of female abdominal glands induced a series of pre-mating behaviors such as short-distance orientation and abdominal bending. When the extract was fractionated by silica gel column chromatography, the active fraction was eluted with 50% ether in hexane and 100% ether. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis revealed that both active fractions contained anthranilic acid (2-amino-benzoic acid) as a major compound. The amount of this compound was determined to be ca. 600 ng/female by high performance liquid chromatography analysis with a fluorescence detector. In the field, male chafers were observed to land on cotton balls impregnated with 10 mg of authentic anthranilic acid. When a white ball treated with anthranilic acid was placed 2–10 cm away from an untreated black ball, males were observed to land significantly more frequently on the latter. These results suggest that males could recognize white balls below 0.1 lx and landed on black balls. When a treated black ball was placed beside an untreated black ball, more males landed on the former. The difference was significant when the distance between the two lures was 5 or 10 cm, but not significant when it was 2 cm. These observations demonstrated that anthranilic acid was the sex-attractant pheromone for the black chafer H. kiotonensis and that the males located and landed on a pheromone source by using olfaction in conjunction with visual orientation. The importance of visual orientation in this nocturnal species is discussed in comparison with the congeneric diurnal species Holotrichia loochooana loochooana.

External focus of attention and autonomy support have additive benefits for motor performance in children

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of external focus instructions and autonomy support on motor performance of children. In addition, we sought to provide evidence for an increased focus on the task goal under the external focus condition by using an inattentional blindness manipulation. DesignWithin-participant design. MethodThirty-six children (mean age = 8.5 ± 1.3 years) were asked to perform a bowling task with their dominant hand. Each participant performed 8 trials under external focus (path of the ball), internal focus (hand), or control conditions. In each attentional focus condition, they performed half of the trials under a choice (autonomy support) condition, in which they were able to choose among 4 bowling balls, and a no-choice condition (white ball). ResultsThe external focus instruction resulted in greater bowling accuracy (i.e., more pins knocked down) than internal focus and no instructions (control). Furthermore, choice resulted in more effective performance than no choice. Thus, both factors had additive benefits for performance. There was some evidence for an increased task focus in the external condition. ConclusionsThe present results show that, within the same individuals, instructions to adopt an external focus and the provision of a small choice contributed independently to enhance motor performance in children.

Pendeteksian Bola untuk Robot Sepak Bola Humanoid Berbasis Pengenalan Pola

Humanoid soccer robot is one of popular developed robot. RoboCup is a competitive competiton of humanoid robot soccer. The rule of RoboCup changed by the time, the previous orange ball changed by white ball which is same color as the field line and the goal. Accordingly, in this research designed a white ball detection system for humanoid soccer robot based on pattern recognition. Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) method are used in this research for feature extraction and classification. The result of this research is a system that be able to detect ball in humanoid soccer robot environment. The system tested by sliding window parameter testing, the distance of ball to robot testing, different light intensity testing, and other object testing. The conclusions of this research are: optimal detection is obtained by using 8x8 win_stride parameter size and 1,2 scale0 parameter value, maximum distance of detection with 32×32 window detector is 180 cm and with 64×64 window detector is 140 cm, the response of system in different light intensity is good enough, and the success rate of system against other obstacle object with 32×32 window detector is 68% and with 64×64 window detector is 99%.

Large deviations for generalized Polya urns with arbitrary urn function

We consider a generalized two-color Polya urn (black and white balls) first introduced by Hill et al. (1980), where the urn composition evolves as follows: let π:0,1→0,1, and denote by xn the fraction of black balls after step n, then at step n+1 a black ball is added with probability πxn and a white ball is added with probability 1−πxn. Originally introduced to mimic attachment under imperfect information, this model has found applications in many fields, ranging from Market Share modeling to polymer physics and biology.In this work we discuss large deviations for a wide class of continuous urn functions π. In particular, we prove that this process satisfies a Sample-Path Large Deviations principle, also providing a variational representation for the rate function. Then, we derive a variational representation for the limit ϕs=limn→∞1nlogPnxn=sn,s∈0,1,where nxn is the number of black balls at time n, and use it to give some insight on the shape of ϕs. Under suitable assumptions on π we are able to identify the optimal trajectory. We also find a non-linear Cauchy problem for the Cumulant Generating Function and provide an explicit analysis for some selected examples. In particular we discuss the linear case, which embeds the Bagchi–Pal Model [6], giving the exact implicit expression for ϕ in terms of the Cumulant Generating Function.

Pink Cricket Balls May Be Visually Challenging at Sunset.

Cricket is one of the world’s most popular sports, followed by hundreds of millions of people. It can be dangerous, played with a hard ball flying at great velocities, and accidents have occasionally been fatal. Traditionally, cricket has been played during the day, using a dark red ball. Since the late 1970s, a shorter form of one-day cricket has been played both during the day and at night under floodlights. To overcome visibility issues, one-day cricket uses a white ball, and players wear coloured clothing. There is now a desire to play a traditional form of cricket during the day and at night, using a ‘pink’ ball while players wear white clothing. Concerns regarding visibility, and player and umpire safety, have been raised in this context. Here, we report that these concerns have a sound basis.

Tolerance of Three Clovers (Trifoliumspp.) to Common Herbicides

Clover inclusion may increase the sustainability of certain low-maintenance turfgrasses. However, selective weed control within mixed turfgrass–clover swards proves problematic because of clover susceptibility to herbicides. Research was conducted to identify common turf herbicides that are tolerated by threeTrifoliumspecies, including white clover, ball clover, and small hop clover, within low-maintenance turfgrass. Leaf and flower density, as well as plant height, were measured 4 wk after treatment as indicators of clover response to 14 herbicides. The threeTrifoliumspp. were moderately tolerant of bentazon (&lt; 35% decrease in leaf density, height, or flowering). Simazine was well tolerated by white clover (&lt; 5% decrease in all response variables), yet moderate injury to ball clover and small hop clover was observed (&gt; 32% decrease in leaf density and &gt; 27% decrease in flower density). Pronamide was well tolerated by white and ball clovers, with no effect on measured response variables; however, pronamide decreased small hop clover height and flower density (38 and 42%, respectively). Imazethapyr and imazamox were moderately well tolerated by white clover and small hop clover (&lt; 39% decrease by all response variables), yet ball clover may be more susceptible to these herbicides than was anticipated based on previously reported tolerance. The herbicides 2,4-DB, halosulfuron, and metribuzin were well tolerated by white clover, with no effect on measured response variables; however, results suggest ball and small hop clovers were less tolerant. Clopyralid, 2,4-D, glyphosate, imazaquin, metsulfuron-methyl, and nicosulfuron resulted in varying degrees of injury across clover species and response variables, but, in general, these herbicides may not be viable options when attempting to maintain any of the three clover species tested. Further research is needed to quantify long-term effects of herbicide application on sward composition and clover succession.

Perception of spin and the interception of curved football trajectories

Using plain white and chequered footballs, we evaluated observers’ sensitivity to rotation direction and the effects of ball texture on interceptive behaviour. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the maximal distance at which observers (n = 8) could perceive the direction of ball rotation decreased when rotation frequency increased from 5 to 11 Hz. Detection threshold distances were nevertheless always larger for the chequered (decreasing from 47 to 28 m) than for the white (decreasing from 15 to 11 m) ball. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 7) moved laterally along a goal line to intercept the two balls launched with or without ±4.3 Hz sidespin from a 30-m distance. The chequered ball gave rise to shorter movement initiation times when trajectories curved outward (±6 m arrival positions) or did not curve (±2 m arrival positions). Inward curving trajectories, arriving at the same ±2 m distances from the participants as the non-curving trajectories, evoked initial movements in the wrong direction for both ball types, but the amplitude and duration of these reversal movements were attenuated for the chequered ball. We conclude that the early detection of rotation permitted by the chequered ball allowed modulation of interception behaviour without changing its qualitative characteristics.

A New Profile Measurement Method for Thin Film Surface

In order to measure the surface profile of the thin films in wide area with high accuracy, the research on the new measurement method was conducted and many patents on measurement method and system were researched. Based on the physical properties of soft thin film, the method of using white interferometer and ball cantilevers for measuring the surface profile of thin film is proposed. Then, the multi-ball-cantilever AFM system using a multi-ball-cantilever is developed that had 8 cantilevers in 2 mm and each cantilever had the ball stylus with diameter of 10.9 µm. Using this sys- tem, the measurement experiments on the step and transparent material was conducted. The results on the step that the precision of the system's measuring error is less than 2% and the measuring standard deviation is less than 1 nm. The re- sult on the step indicated that it is possible to measure the surface with high accuracy. The result on the transparent mate- rial showed the feasibility for measuring the thin film by this developed system.

Qigong as a Traditional Vegetative Biofeedback Therapy: Long-Term Conditioning of Physiological Mind-Body Effects.

A contemporary understanding of Chinese Medicine (CM) regards CM diagnosis as a functional vegetative state that may be treated by vegetative reflex therapies such as acupuncture. Within this context, traditional mind-body exercises such as Qigong can be understood as an attempt to enhance physiological proprioception, by combining a special state of “awareness” with posture, movement, and breath control. We have formerly trained young auditing flutists in “White Ball” Qigong to minimize anxiety-induced cold hands and lower anxiety-induced heart rate. Functional changes occurred 2–5 min after training and were observed over the whole training program, allowing the children to control their symptoms. In our current work, we report that warm fingers and calm hearts could be induced by the children even without Qigong exercises. Thus, these positive changes once induced and “conditioned” vegetatively were stable after weeks of training. This may show the mechanism by which Qigong acts as a therapeutic measure in disease: positive vegetative pathways may be activated instead of dysfunctional functional patterns. The positive vegetative patterns then may be available in critical stressful situations. Qigong exercise programs may therefore be understood as an ancient vegetative biofeedback exercise inducing positive vegetative functions which are added to the individual reactive repertoire.

Evaluating The Use Of ERA Mini Dental Implants Retaining Mandibular Overdenture (In Vitro Study)

This simulation study was conducted to evaluate the use of ERA white attachment versus Ball attachment for mini dental implants retained mandibular overdenture regarding retentive forces and forces transmitted to the peri-implant bone during overdenture loading. This in vitro study was carried out on duplicated educational mandibular acrylic model, and experimental overdentures. In the intraforaminal region, four mini dental implants were installed in each cast. One cast received mini implants with ERA white attachment, while the other received mini implants with ball attachment. The female attachment components were picked up in the overdenture. Strain gauges were installed, one on the distal surface of each of the two distal implants. Universal testing machine was used to apply standardized static load unilaterally on the lower right first molar, both vertically, and obliquely. Micro strains were recorded for each strain gauge. Data obtained were calculated, tabulated, and statistically analyzed to compare between the two attachment designs. Hooks were then attached to the overdentures, and dislodgment test was performed by the Universal testing machine. Data obtained were calculated, tabulated, and statistically analyzed to compare between the two attachment designs The results of this study revealed that the ERA white attachment transmits less strain to the peri-implant bone than the ball attachment, on both vertical and oblique loading while the ball attachment is more retentive then the ERA white attachment.