Adaptive Non-Rigid Inpainting of 3D Point Cloud Geometry

In this letter, we introduce several algorithms for geometry inpainting of 3D point clouds with large holes. The algorithms are examplar-based: hole filling is performed iteratively using templates near the hole boundary to find the best matching regions elsewhere in the cloud, from where existing points are transferred to the hole. We propose two improvements over the previous work on exemplar-based hole filling. The first one is adaptive template size selection in each iteration, which simultaneously leads to higher accuracy and lower execution time. The second improvement is a non-rigid transformation to better align the candidate set of points with the template before the point transfer, which leads to even higher accuracy. We demonstrate the algorithms' ability to fill holes that are difficult or impossible to fill by existing methods.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, a short journal paper (letter

Finding the Leptonic WWWW Decay Mode of a Heavy Higgs Boson

We reanalyze the extraction of the heavy Higgs boson signal $H\rightarrow W^+W^-\rightarrow \bar\ell\nu,\ell\bar\nu$ $(\ell=e\hbox{ or }\mu)$ from the Standard Model background at hadron supercolliders, taking into account revised estimates of the top quark background. With new acceptance criteria the detection of the signal remains viable. Requiring a forward jet-tag, a central jet-veto, and a large relative transverse momentum of the two charged leptons yields $S/\sqrt B>6$ for one year of running at the SSC or LHC.Comment: LaTex(Revtex), 9 pages, 6 figures (available upon request), MAD/PH/75

An extendible and ubiquitious e-learning software for foreigners to learn Chinese on iOS-based devices

The larger screen size, mobility, sensing and multi-touch input features of Android or iOS based devices like the iPad or Android tablet PC offer many exciting opportunities for real-life edutainment applications. An example is the learning of Chinese, especially to write Chinese characters in correct stroke sequences, that is typically considered as a difficult task to most foreigners. In this work, we propose an extendible, easy-to-use and ubiquitous e-learning software that was integrated with mini-games to facilitate the learning of Chinese characters on iOS-based devices such as the iPad. To demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, a prototype of our proposed e-learning software was built on the iOS-based devices so that foreign students can learn to speak and write Chinese anytime and anywhere. Among the various commercially available iOS-based app for learning Chinese, our proposal represents the first attempt to reduce the complexity of learning to write Chinese characters through mini-games while increasing the extendibility of the e-learning software through component-based design. More importantly, it opens up numerous opportunities for further investigations. © 2012 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

The role of the intervertebral disc niche on embryonic stem cell differentiation and intervertebral disc regeneration

Poster Session - Orthopedic Regeneration: no. 91DMM 2011 entitled: Re-engineering Regenerative MedicineThe intervertebral disc (IVD) is a highly specialised environment, where cell, water and proteoglycan decrease is strongly associated with disc degeneration, which can lead to back pain. We postulate that the IVD niche is a major factor for IVD cell development and maintenance, and can play a role in progenitor differentiation to become disc cells. The understanding of how stem/progenitor cells develop into IVD cells could potentially facilitate the development of regenerative therapies for degenerated IVD. Here, we aim to introduce human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into the IVD environment using a model of decellularised bovine disc, and examine how the IVD niche impacts on phenotypic changes in vitro using …postprin

A simplified model of the source channel of the Leksell Gamma Knife(R)^(R): testing multisource configurations with PENELOPE

A simplification of the source channel geometry of the Leksell Gamma Knife$^{\circledR}$, recently proposed by the authors and checked for a single source configuration (Al-Dweri et al 2004), has been used to calculate the dose distributions along the $x$, $y$ and $z$ axes in a water phantom with a diameter of 160~mm, for different configurations of the Gamma Knife including 201, 150 and 102 unplugged sources. The code PENELOPE (v. 2001) has been used to perform the Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, the output factors for the 14, 8 and 4~mm helmets have been calculated. The results found for the dose profiles show a qualitatively good agreement with previous ones obtained with EGS4 and PENELOPE (v. 2000) codes and with the predictions of GammaPlan$^{\circledR}$. The output factors obtained with our model agree within the statistical uncertainties with those calculated with the same Monte Carlo codes and with those measured with different techniques. Owing to the accuracy of the results obtained and to the reduction in the computational time with respect to full geometry simulations (larger than a factor 15), this simplified model opens the possibility to use Monte Carlo tools for planning purposes in the Gamma Knife$^{\circledR}$.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 5 table

NLO-QCD corrections to e+ e- --> hadrons in models of TeV-scale gravity

We present results on NLO-QCD corrections to the process e+ e- --> hadrons via photon-, Z- and graviton-exchange in the context of TeV-scale gravity models. The quantitative impact of these QCD corrections for searches of extra dimensions at a Linear Collider is briefly discussed.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, using axodraw.st