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The growing scope, scale, and number of biometric deployments around the world emphasise the need for research into technologies facilitating efficient and reliable biometric identification queries. This work presents a method of indexing biometric databases, which relies on signal‐level fusion of facial images (morphing) to create a multi‐stage data structure and retrieval protocol. By successively pre‐filtering the list of potential candidate identities, the proposed method makes it possible to reduce the necessary number of biometric template comparisons to complete a biometric identification transaction. The proposed method is extensively evaluated on publicly available databases using open‐source and commercial off‐the‐shelf recognition systems. The results show that using the proposed method, the computational workload can be reduced down to around 30% while the biometric performance of a baseline exhaustive search‐based retrieval is fully maintained, both in closed‐set and open‐set identification scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physics is concise, simple, unambiguous, and constantly improving. Yet, confusion reigns in the field especially with respect to complexity and the second law of thermodynamics. In this paper, we step back and take a look at these notions—their meaning and definition—on the background provided by nature and thermodynamics. We review the central concepts and words that underpin the physics of evolutionary design today: information, knowledge, evolution, change, arrow of time, pattern, organization, drawings, complexity, fractal dimension, object, icon, model, empiricism, theory, disorder, second law, the "any" system in thermodynamics, morphing freely, and the constructal law. We show, for example, that information is not knowledge, fractal dimension is not a measure of complexity, and pattern is not a live flow architecture. Drawings, as physical means to facilitate the flow of knowledge, are subject to the natural tendency toward design evolution. Complexity, organization, and evolution in nature are most powerful and useful when pursued as a discipline, with precise terms, rules, and principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a method to transform stereoscopic two-dimensional (2D) images into holograms via unsupervised morphing deformations between left (L) and right (R) input images. By using robust DeepFlow and light-field rendering algorithms, we established correlations between a 2D scene and its three-dimensional (3D) display on a Looking Glass HoloPlay monitor. The possibility of applying this method, together with a lookup table for multi-view glasses-free 3D streaming with a stereo webcam, was also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research proposes a method that generates viewpoint smooth switching by reducing the flickering artefacts that are observed at bullet-times generated from asynchronous multi-view videos using frame interpolation processing. When we asynchronously capture multi-view videos of an object moving at a high velocity, deviations occur in the observed position at the bullet-times. We apply a frame interpolation technique to smooth this problem. By selecting suitable interpolated images that produce the smallest movement of the subject's observed position, we smoothly generate a viewpoint-switched bullet-time video. In this paper, we examine the subjective evaluation of the video generated by the proposed method. And we also examine objective evaluation. Therefore, the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown. Furthermore, reproducibility was improved by considering the application conditions of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Efficient shape morphing techniques play a crucial role in the approximation of partial differential equations defined in parametrized domains, such as for fluid‐structure interaction or shape optimization problems. In this paper, we focus on inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation techniques, where a reference domain is morphed into a deformed one via the displacement of a set of control points. We aim at reducing the computational burden characterizing a standard IDW approach without significantly compromising the accuracy. To this aim, first we propose an improvement of IDW based on a geometric criterion that automatically selects a subset of the original set of control points. Then, we combine this new approach with a dimensionality reduction technique based on a proper orthogonal decomposition of the set of admissible displacements. This choice further reduces computational costs. We verify the performances of the new IDW techniques on several tests by investigating the trade‐off reached in terms of accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The design of morphing structures requires attaining concurrently light-weight, load-carrying and shape adaptable systems that minimize complexity, actuation requirements and part count. Exploiting the external loads to produce local stiffness variations induced by elastic instabilities offers the potential to activate shape deformations purely passively. Following this approach, we present the structural response study of wings capable of attaining compliant buckling-induced twisting deformations. The structure is designed such that a specific level of aerodynamic load triggers the elastic instability in a shear web part of the wing box. The buckling-induced variation in effective shear stiffness, resulting from the development of a stable, reversible diagonal tension field, leads to a twisting deformation. The structural behaviour is characterized by two drastically different mechanical responses, delimited by the onset of elastic instability. The influence of the buckling component design on the attainable change in spanwise angle of attack is investigated for the specific case of a finite composite wing structure under aerodynamic loads. The type of composite material, its thickness, and the fibre orientation are the considered design parameters. The buckling-induced variation in twist angle, and the corresponding aerodynamic pressure redistribution on the wing, is exploited for achieving load alleviation, reducing the global lift coefficient and decreasing the wing root bending moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital image alterations (morphing) of identity document photos is a major concern, and may potentially allow citizens with malicious intent to enroll for identity document(s) later in order to be used by another individual. Taking the photo in the application office --live enrollment --can address this issue. However, this is a break with tradition and entails a sizeable overhaul in the public sector, which can be reluctant to change and often lacks the necessary formal methods that ensure a smooth transition. The objective of this paper is to map the main barriers and drivers related to live enrollment based on theoretical research and interviews conducted with high-ranking officers at passport authorities in Estonia, Kosovo, Norway, and Sweden. These countries have successfully switched to live enrollment. The main motivation for live enrollment has been increased security; for Estonia, user convenience was important and was behind the decision of keeping alternative application processes for the citizens. The absence of legacy systems makes it easier to implement public sector innovations, such as live enrollment. Behind the successful implementation is proper risk management: covering technological, political, and organizational risks. Finally, the research results indicate varying experiences, obstacles, cultural differences, and trade-offs, while emphasizing the need to understand barriers and drivers in a contextualized way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract We propose a new method to compute compatible triangulations of two polygons in order to create smooth geometric transformations between them. Compared to existing methods, our approach creates triangulations of better quality, that is, triangulations with fewer long thin triangles and Steiner points. This results in visually appealing morphings when transforming the shape from one into another. Our method consists of three stages. First, we use a common valid vertex pair to uniquely decompose the source and target polygons into pairs of sub-polygons, in which each concave sub-polygon is triangulated. Second, within each sub-polygon pair, we map the triangulation of a concave sub-polygon onto the corresponding sub-polygon using a linear transformation, thereby generating compatible meshes between the source and the target. Third, we refine the compatible meshes, which creates better quality planar shape morphing with detailed textures. In order to evaluate the quality of the resulting mesh, we present a new metric that assesses the deformation of each triangle during the shape morphing process. Finally, we present an efficient scheme to handle compatible triangulations for a shape with self-occlusion, resulting in an interactive shape morphing system. Experimental results show that our method can create compatible meshes of higher quality as compared to existing methods with fewer long thin triangles and smaller triangle deformation values during shape morphing. These advantages enable us to create more consistent rotations for rigid shape interpolation algorithms and facilitate a smoother morphing process. The proposed algorithm is both robust and computationally efficient. It can be applied to produce convincing transformations such as interactive 2D animation and texture mapping. The proposed interactive shape morphing system enables normal users to generate morphing video easily without any professional knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controllable morphing is still a challenge in the field of 4D printing. In this paper, a novel 4D printing technology of composites with embedded continuous fibers is introduced, and the bilayer prepared by this technology can realize programmable deformation with a high deformation accuracy. The deformation of the composite structure is caused by the difference of coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) between continuous fibers and flexible matrix. The angle between the intersecting fibers determines the size of the principal curvature, while the bisector of the angle of the fibers determines the direction of the principal curvature. Utilizing this rule, deformation of arbitrary deployable surface can be realized by designing the fiber trajectories. The high control accuracy of fiber orientation leads to a high deformation accuracy of 4D printed structure. The error between the theoretical value and the experimental value of the conical surface curvature is not more than 6%. In addition, the smart composite structure with the ability of temperature response and self-actuated deforming composite structure have also been prepared by this 4D printing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their inception in the middle of the twentieth century, Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) have played an important role in many fields and applications that are used by geospatial professionals, ranging from commercial companies to government agencies. Thus, both the scientific community and the industry have introduced many methods and technologies for DTM generation and data handling. These resulted in a high volume and variety of DTM databases, each having different coverage and data-characteristics, such as accuracy, resolution, level-of-detail – amongst others. These various factors can cause a dilemma for scientists, mappers, and engineers that now have to choose a DTM to work with, let alone if several of these representations exist for a specified area. Traditionally, researchers tackled this problem by using only one DTM (e.g., the most accurate or detailed one), and only rarely tried to implement data fusion approaches, combining several DTMs into one cohesive unit. Although to some extent this was successful in reducing errors and improving the overall integrated DTM accuracy, two prominent problems are still scarcely addressed. The first is that the horizontal datum distortions and discrepancies between the DTMs are mostly ignored, with only the height dimension taken into account, even though in most cases these are evident. The second is that most approaches operate on a global scale, and thus do not address the more localized variations and discrepancies that are presented in the different DTMs. Both problems affect the resulting integrated DTM quality, which retains these unresolved distortions and discrepancies, resulting in a representation that is to some extent inferior and ambiguous. In order to tackle this, we propose an image based fusion approach: using the SIFT algorithm for matching and registration of the different representations, alongside localized morphing. Implementing the proposed approach and algorithms on various DTMs, the results are promising, with the capacity correctly geospatially align the DTMs, thus reducing the mean height difference variance between the databases to close to zero, as well as reducing the standard deviation between them by more than 30 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compliant structures, such as flexible corrugated panels and honeycomb structures, are promising structural solutions for morphing aircraft. The compliant structure can be tailored to carry aerodynamic loads and achieve the geometry change simultaneously, while the reliability of the morphing aircraft can be guaranteed if conventional components and materials are used in the fabrication of the morphing structure. In this article, a compliant structure is proposed to change the dihedral angle of a morphing wingtip. Unsymmetrical stiffness is introduced in the compliant structure to induce the rotation of the structure. Trapezoidal corrugated panels are used, whose geometry parameters can be tailored to provide the stiffness asymmetry. An equivalent model of the corrugated panel is employed to calculate the deformation of the compliant structure. To provide the airfoil shape, a flexible honeycomb structure is used in the leading and trailing edges. An optimisation is performed to determine the geometry variables, while also considering the actuator requirements and the available space to instal the compliant structure. An experimental prototype has been manufactured to demonstrate the deformation of the morphing wingtip and conduct basic wind tunnel tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correspondence between images is a fundamental problem in computer vision, with a variety of graphics applications. This paper presents a novel method for sparse cross-domain correspondence. Our method is designed for pairs of images where the main objects of interest may belong to different semantic categories and differ drastically in shape and appearance, yet still contain semantically related or geometrically similar parts. Our approach operates on hierarchies of deep features, extracted from the input images by a pre-trained CNN. Specifically, starting from the coarsest layer in both hierarchies, we search for Neural Best Buddies (NBB): pairs of neurons that are mutual nearest neighbors. The key idea is then to percolate NBBs through the hierarchy, while narrowing down the search regions at each level and retaining only NBBs with significant activations. Furthermore, in order to overcome differences in appearance, each pair of search regions is transformed into a common appearance. We evaluate our method via a user study, in addition to comparisons with alternative correspondence approaches. The usefulness of our method is demonstrated using a variety of graphics applications, including cross-domain image alignment, creation of hybrid images, automatic image morphing, and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is associated with emotional states that can be characterized as positive affect. Moreover, a variety of psychiatric disorders that are associated with disturbed reactions toward reward- or safety-signaling stimuli reveal functional or structural anomalies within this area. Thus, neuromodulation of this region via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) offers an attractive opportunity to noninvasively influence pleasant emotional and reward processing. Recent experiments revealed hemodynamic and electrophysiological evidence for valence specific modulations of emotional scene processing after excitatory and inhibitory tDCS of the vmPFC. Here, we identified that tDCS modulation of vmPFC during emotional face processing results in effects convergent with scene processing, in that excitatory tDCS increased neural reactivity during happy compared to fearful face perception, whereas inhibitory stimulation led to a converse effect. In addition, behavioral data (affect identification of ambiguous expressive faces) revealed a bias toward preferential processing of happy compared to fearful faces after excitatory compared to after inhibitory stimulation. These results further support the vmPFC as an appropriate target for noninvasive neuromodulation of an appetitive processing network in patients suffering from disturbed cognition of reward- and safety-signaling stimuli. It should however be noted that electrophysiological pre-tDCS differences at earlier time intervals of emotional face and scene processing appeared amplified by tDCS, which remains to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As future space mission structures are required to achieve more with scarcer resources, new structural configurations and modeling capabilities will be needed to meet the next generation space structural challenges. A paradigm shift is required away from the current structures that are static, heavy, and stiff, to innovative lightweight structures that meet requirements by intelligently adapting to the environment. As the complexity of these intelligent structures increases, the computational cost of the modeling and optimization efforts become increasingly demanding. Novel methods that identify and reduce the number of parameters to only those most critical considerably reduce these complex problems, allowing highly iterative evaluations and in-depth optimization efforts to be computationally feasible. This parameter ranking methodology will be demonstrated on the optimization of the thermal morphing anisogrid boom. The proposed novel morphing structure provides high precision morphing through the use of thermal strain as the sole actuation mechanism. The morphing concept uses the helical members in the anisogrid structure to provide complex constrained actuations that can achieve the six degree of freedom morphing capability. This structure provides a unique potential to develop an integrated structural morphing system, where the adaptive morphing capability is integrated directly into the primary structure. To identify parameters of interest, the Q-DEIM model reduction algorithm is implemented to rank the model parameters based on their impact on the morphing performance. This parameter ranking method provides insight into the system and enables the optimal allocation of computational and engineering resources to the most critical areas of the system for optimization. The methodology, in conjunction with a singular value decomposition (SVD), provides a ranking and identifies parameters of relative importance. The SVD is used to truncate the nine parameters problem at two locations, generating a five parameter optimization problem and a three parameter optimization problem. To evaluate the ranking, a parameter sweep in conjunction with a simple minimum cost function search algorithm will compare all 120 five parameter ranking orders to the Q-DEIM ranking. This reduced parameter set significantly reduces the parameter complexity and the computational cost of the model optimization. This paper will present the methodology to define the resulting performance of the optimal thermal morphing anisogrid structure, minimum morphing control, and the systems frequency response capability as a function of available power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein structures are often solved at atomic resolution in two states defining a functional movement but intervening conformations are usually unknown. Morphing methods generate intervening conformations between two known structures. When viewed as an animation using molecular graphics, a smooth, direct morph enables the eye to track changes in structure that might be otherwise missed. We present a morphing method that aims to linearly interpolate interatomic distances and which uses SMACOF (Scaling by MAjorisation of COmplicated Function) and multigrid techniques with a cut-off distance based weighting that optimizes the MolProbity score of intervening structures. The all-atom morphs are smooth, move directly between the two structures, and are shown, in general, to pass closer to a set of known intermediates than those generated using other methods. The techniques are also used for docking by putting the unbound structures in a “near-approach pose” and then morphing to the bound complex. The resulting GPU-accelerated tools are available on a webserver, Morphit_Pro, at http://morphit-pro.cmp.uea.ac.uk/ and more than 5000 domains movements available at the DynDom website can now be viewed as morphs http://morphit-pro.cmp.uea.ac.uk/dyndom/ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodology is presented for price-directed demand response steered by market signals and anticipation models. Electricity prices vary dynamically and with substantial volatility in a way that ceteris paribus ( ceteris paribus is a Latin phrase meaning “with all other conditions remaining constant”) prices rise as the distance between available power and peak demand is reduced. Price can thus be a factor in overall load pattern morphing, that is, automated decision-making by energy management systems controlling devices consuming electricity. Load and price forecasting are key technologies for market participants to make optimal decisions regarding their demand response. To this end, this paper develops the Virtual Budget approach that couples price and load forecasting, and allows automated morphing of a user's electricity consumption. In particular, the Virtual Budget leverages price forecasts to modify the initial forecasted load demand via smart scheduling algorithms. The performance of the Virtual Budget is evaluated on a set of real historical data, and the reported results demonstrate that its use may lead to savings in electricity consumption costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helical shapes are ubiquitous in both nature and engineering. However, the development of soft actuators and robots that mimic helical motions has been hindered primarily due to the lack of efficient modeling approaches that take into account the material anisotropy and the directional change of the external loading point. In this work, we present a theoretical framework for modeling controllable helical deformations of cable-driven, anisotropic, soft composite actuators. The framework is based on the minimum potential energy method, and its model predictions are validated by experiments, where the microarchitectures of the soft composite actuators can be precisely defined by 3D printing. We use the developed framework to investigate the effects of material and geometric parameters on helical deformations. The results show that material stiffness, volume fraction, layer thickness, and fiber orientation can be used to control the helical deformation of a soft actuator. In particular, we found that a critical fiber orientation angle exists at which the twist of the actuator changes the direction. Thus, this work can be of great importance for the design and fabrication of soft actuators with tailored deformation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose algorithms to compute the three-dimensional (3-D) robust stability region in multicontact. It is well known that the stability region is a product of convex cones and, hence, is a convex polyhedron. Our stability region extends existing recursive two-dimensional (2-D) static stability approaches to 3-D by accounting for possible center-of-mass accelerations. We provide algorithms that construct the region of robust stability in a systematic way. We compare our algorithms and discuss possible computation of intermediary shapes using morphing. Finally, we provide an example of usage in generating robust static postures that can serve the purpose of multicontact planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphing structures for lightweight and energy-efficient aircraft mobile surfaces have been investigated for several years. This paper presents a novel lightweight, passive and low-energy morphing surface concept based on the “lever effect” of a bistable composite plate that can be integrated in aircraft moving surfaces. By using appropriate boundary conditions, it is demonstrated that the magnitude of the activation force on the bistable composite can be tailored to match the differential pressure on the aircraft's airfoil. As a consequence, the bistable laminate can be used as a passive morphing surface. Both numerical simulations and experimental testing are used to prove this concept on a NACA 2412 airfoil structure. The results show that, by choosing proper configuration of constraints, lay-up and aspect ratio of the bistable composite, it is possible to tailor and activate the snap-through mechanism in a passive manner. The proposed concept would save significant weight when compared to an active morphing concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of caricatures is a particularly interesting field of art, because it aims to highlight the very essence of a given face. Caricature generation systems traditionally rely on two approaches: they either follow extracted rules through learning algorithms, or follow rules that were directly programmed by experts. This paper attempts to reduce the reliance on heuristic methods, by proposing a novel method that provides a set of well-defined rules, which can be put to use for the purpose of caricature generation. The method is based on the notion of anti-face in conjunction with unbiased distortions. In addition, we indicate the usefulness of the anti-face as a means to perceive, for our own sake, the degree to which our face seems peculiar to others. Finally, we deploy a reverse variant of the method in order to attain beautification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on right to privacy and right of publicity protect individuals' abilities to control when their identities are promulgated and when their identities are commercially used. It mentions current state of the law in those areas as it applies to digitally manipulated celebrity images. It proposes solutions to the law's shortcomings in an attempt to better protect individuals' right to determine how their identity is publicly represented.

This paper is devoted to the formulation of a novel optimization under uncertainty framework for the definition of optimal shapes formorphing airfoils, applied here to advancing/retreating 2Dairfoils. In particular, the morphing strategy is conceived with the intent of changing the shape at a given frequency to enhance aerodynamic performance. The optimization of morphing airfoils presented here only takes into account the aerodynamic performance. The paper is then focused on an aerodynamic optimization to set the optimal shape with respect to performance, where technological aspects are inserted through geometrical constraints. In fact, this paper presents an exploratory work on morphing geometries which aims at understanding the relationship between shape degree of freedom and actual aerodynamic gain. Thus, exploring and demonstrating the gain of the aerodynamic shape may drive the development of new mechanism for the realization of morphing structures, which could be applied to helicopter rotor blades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognition of facial identity and facial expression have been reported to be correlated. Previous studies using static facial photographs reported that identity recognition was not interfered by task-irrelevant change of facial expression but that expression recognition was interfered by task-irrelevant change of facial identity. In this study, we created dynamic morphing animations that simultaneously changes facial identity and expression to investigate the interaction between identity and expression recognition. We tested 7 -8-month-old infants who were around the age at which the recognition of facial expression develops. Using the familiarization-novelty preference procedure, we examined whether infants could learn identity and facial expression from morphing animation. We found that infants learned identity but not expression from the morphing animation. Our results demonstrate that the interaction between identity and expression occurs differently in infancy than in adults when both the dimension of facial identity and the expression vary simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A morphological rolling robot of closed five-arc-shaped-bar linkage is presented. The rolling locomotion of the robot can effectively be propelled by morphing the shape of the robot to shift its center of gravity and forming surface-compliant configuration. Herein, we present the mechanical structure of the robot, kinematics modeling, and then dynamics of the rolling robot is analyzed with Lagrange's equation to obtain the generalized forces. Besides, the joint paths confined by rolling constraints are generated with the optimal principle of minimal module between the joint position and the reference joint trajectory. Then four schemes of dynamic rolling motion laws are presented with the purpose of comparison, and the simulation results show that the sinusoid motion law is more suitable for the dynamic rolling of the robot, due to the non-sharp transition in the rolling path and also the relatively small velocities and accelerations of the joints. Furthermore, dynamic rolling experiments on the prototype are used to verify the proposed concept and the results show that the dynamic rolling locomotion of this robot has favorable characteristics in speed, compliance and continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates terahertz (THz) imaging and classification of freshly excised murine xenograft breast cancer tumors. These tumors are grown via injection of E0771 breast adenocarcinoma cells into the flank of mice maintained on high-fat diet. Within 1 h of excision, the tumor and adjacent tissues are imaged using a pulsed THz system in the reflection mode. The THz images are classified using a statistical Bayesian mixture model with unsupervised and supervised approaches. Correlation with digitized pathology images is conducted using classification images assigned by a modal class decision rule. The corresponding receiver operating characteristic curves are obtained based on the classification results. A total of 13 tumor samples obtained from 9 tumors are investigated. The results show good correlation of THz images with pathology results in all samples of cancer and fat tissues. For tumor samples of cancer, fat, and muscle tissues, THz images show reasonable correlation with pathology where the primary challenge lies in the overlapping dielectric properties of cancer and muscle tissues. The use of a supervised regression approach shows improvement in the classification images although not consistently in all tissue regions. Advancing THz imaging of breast tumors from mice and the development of accurate statistical models will ultimately progress the technique for the assessment of human breast tumor margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various industrial applications require fully coupled electromagnetic-thermal-structural (ETS) solution. However, the fully coupled ETS technique has rarely been reported. This is mainly due to the difficulty of transferring the displacement from a structural analysis to an electromagnetic analysis in many commercial FEM codes. In this paper, a fully coupled ETS model was constructed with a morphing technique to consider this transfer. This model and a conventional segregated model were then applied to simulate induction heating process of plate bending. It is found that the results with the fully coupled model significantly differed from those with the segregated one. The difference can be attributed to the fact that the former model has changed the air gap between the inductor and the plate in the electromagnetic analysis. Furthermore, the proposed model was modified to compare with the segregated model that has been validated by highly precise experiment. The comparison shows the good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a morphing model of vector geographical data based on Fourier transformation. This model involves three main steps. They are conversion from vector data to Fourier series, generation of intermediate function by combination of the two Fourier series concerning a large scale and a small scale, and reverse conversion from combination function to vector data. By mirror processing, the model can also be used for morphing of linear features. Experimental results show that this method is sensitive to scale variations and it can be used for vector map features’ continuous scale transformation. The efficiency of this model is linearly related to the point number of shape boundary and the interceptive value n of Fourier expansion. The effect of morphing by Fourier transformation is plausible and the efficiency of the algorithm is acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maps are often animated to help users make comparisons and comprehend trends. However, large and complex differences between sequential maps can inhibit users from doing so. This paper proposes a morphing technique to highlight trends without manual intervention. Changes between sequential maps are considered as the diffusion processes of expanding classes, with these processes simulated by cellular automata. A skeleton extraction technique is introduced to handle special cases. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed morphing technique can reveal obvious trends between dramatically changed maps. The potential application of the proposed morphing technique in sequential spatial data (e.g. remote-sensing images) is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a finite time convergence sliding mode control (FSMC) strategy based on linear parameter-varying (LPV) methodology for the stability control of a morphing aircraft subject to parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. Based on the Kane method, a longitudinal dynamic model of the morphing aircraft is built. Furthermore, the linearized LPV model of the aircraft in the wing transition process is obtained, whose scheduling parameters are wing sweep angle and wingspan. The FSMC scheme is developed into LPV systems by applying the previous results for linear time-invariant (LTI) systems. The sufficient condition in form of linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints is derived for the existence of a reduced-order sliding mode, in which the dynamics can be ensured to keep robust stability and L2 gain performance. The tensor-product (TP) model transformation approach can be directly applied to solve infinite LMIs belonging to the polynomial parameter-dependent LPV system. Then, by the parameter-dependent Lyapunov function stability analysis, the synthesized FSMC is proved to drive the LPV system trajectories toward the predefined switching surface with a finite time arrival. Comparative simulation results in the nonlinear model demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shape interpolation has many applications in computer graphics such as morphing for computer animation. In this paper, we propose a novel data-driven mesh interpolation method. We adapt patch-based linear rotational invariant coordinates to effectively represent deformations of models in a shape collection, and utilize this information to guide the synthesis of interpolated shapes. Unlike previous data-driven approaches, we use a rotation/translation invariant representation which defines the plausible deformations in a global continuous space. By effectively exploiting the knowledge in the shape space, our method produces realistic interpolation results at interactive rates, outperforming state-of-the-art methods for challenging cases. We further propose a novel approach to interactive editing of shape morphing according to the shape distribution. The user can explore the morphing path and select example models intuitively and adjust the path with simple interactions to edit the morphing sequences. This provides a useful tool to allow users to generate desired morphing with little effort. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using various examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel method for retargeting human motions onto a humanoid robot. The method solves the following three simultaneous problems: the geometric parameter identification that morphs the human model to the robot model, motion planning for a robot, and the inverse kinematics of the human motion-capture data. Simultaneous solutions can imitate the original motion more accurately than conventional approaches, which solve the problems sequentially. The proposed method can reconstruct the human motion within the physical constraints imposed by robot dynamics. A reconstruction step enables quantitative analysis of the retargeting results through direct comparison with the original human motion. The method can also provide the precise morphing function as well as subject-specific models, which can handle the different body dimensions of human subjects. This new framework is suitable for applications that require an accurate generation of human-like motions with quantitative evaluation criteria, such as humanoid robots that evaluate assistive devices. Experimental tests of the proposed method were performed with humanoid robot HRP-4. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Colorization of gray-scale images relies on prior color information. Exemplar-based methods use a color image as source of such information. Then the colors of the source image are transferred to the gray-scale target image. In the literature, this transfer is mainly guided by texture descriptors. Face images usually contain few texture so that the common approaches frequently fail. In this paper, we propose a new method taking the geometric structure of the images rather their texture into account such that it is more reliable for faces. Our approach is based on image morphing and relies on the YUV color space. First, a correspondence mapping between the luminance Y channel of the color source image and the gray-scale target image is computed. This mapping is based on the time discrete metamorphosis model suggested by Berkels, Effland and Rumpf. We provide a new finite difference approach for the numerical computation of the mapping. Then, the chrominance U,V channels of the source image are transferred via this correspondence map to the target image. A possible postprocessing step by a variational model is developed to further improve the results. To keep the contrast special attention is paid to make the postprocessing unbiased. Our numerical experiments show that our morphing based approach clearly outperforms state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes the wide-ranged multistage morphing waverider design method. The flow field structure and aerodynamic characteristics of multistage waveriders are also analyzed. In this method, the multistage waverider is generated in the same conical flowfield, which contains a free-stream surface and different compression-stream surfaces. The obtained results show that the introduction of the multistage waverider design method can solve the problem of aerodynamic performance deterioration in the off-design state and allow the vehicle to always maintain the optimal flight state. The multistage waverider design method, combined with transfiguration flight strategy, can lead to greater design flexibility and the optimization of hypersonic wide-ranged waverider vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We formulate a mesh morphing technique as mesh distortion minimization problem constrained to weakly satisfy the imposed displacement of the boundary nodes. The method is devised to penalize the appearance of inverted elements during the optimization process. Accordingly, we have not equipped the method with untangling capabilities. To solve the constrained minimization problem, we apply the augmented Lagrangian technique to incorporate the boundary condition in the objective function using the Lagrangian multipliers and a penalty parameter. We have applied the proposed formulation to mesh moving and mesh curving problems. The results show that the method has the ability to deal with large displacements for 2D and 3D meshes with non-uniform sizing, and mesh curving of highly stretched 2D high-order meshes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the basic results of the morphing wing planform optimization of an experimental unmanned air vehicle for minimum drag at steady level flight. The aerodynamic design tool that consists of the three-dimensional panel method, two-dimensional boundary layer solution and generalized reduced gradient method-based optimization is appropriate for fixed wing and morphing wing conceptual and preliminary design. The morphing concept is implemented into the solution with the geometric constraints of the wing planform and the airfoil shape design variables. The drag that is created by other components of the aircraft is calculated according to empirical formulas. Wing drag and aircraft drag comparisons between baseline wing (BASE), optimum fixed wing and morphing wing are discussed with the obtained planform and airfoil shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials with switchable mechanical properties are widespread in living organisms and endow many species with traits that are essential for their survival. Many of the mechanically morphing materials systems found in nature are based on hierarchical structures, which are the basis for mechanical robustness and often also the key to responsive behavior. Many "operating principles" involve cascades of events that translate cues from the environment into changes of the overall structure and/or the connectivity of the constituting building blocks at various levels. These concepts permit dramatic property variations without significant compositional changes. Inspired by the function and the growing understanding of the operating principles at play in biological materials with the capability to change their mechanical properties, significant efforts have been made toward mimicking such architectures and functions in artificial materials. Research in this domain has rapidly grown in the last two decades and afforded many examples of bioinspired materials that are able to reversibly alter their stiffness, shape, porosity, density, or hardness upon remote stimulation. This review summarizes the state of research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technologies that use stretchable materials are increasingly important, yet we are unable to control how they stretch with much more sophistication than inflating balloons. Nature, however, demonstrates remarkable control of stretchable surfaces; for example, cephalopods can project hierarchical structures from their skin in milliseconds for a wide range of textural camouflage. Inspired by cephalopod muscular morphology, we developed synthetic tissue groupings that allowed programmable transformation of two-dimensional (2D) stretchable surfaces into target 3D shapes. The synthetic tissue groupings consisted of elastomeric membranes embedded with inextensible textile mesh that inflated to within 10% of their target shapes by using a simple fabrication method and modeling approach. These stretchable surfaces transform from flat sheets to 3D textures that imitate natural stone and plant shapes and camouflage into their background environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limited set of studies available on facial affect recognition in psychopathic individuals not only differ in their findings but also reveal that the stimuli used to portray emotions have little ecological validity. The present study looks at the relationship between the degree of psychopathic traits and emotion recognition in a sample of undergraduate men, using dynamic representations of emotions. Results suggest that high levels of antisocial behaviors are associated with poorer performance and a specific impairment in the recognition of sadness. In contrast, callous affect is positively correlated with identifying sadness expressions and predicts a heightened sensitivity to facial affect. The ability to recognize signs of vulnerability can be seen as an adaptive strategy developed by psychopathic individuals to manipulate others. Mechanisms underlying criminal behavior appear to be associated with deficits in emotional processing. The study highlights the influence of distinct facets of psychopathy in facial affect recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel smart card user authentication scheme is proposed in this paper. It is the first authentication scheme that can achieve 'one-card-pass' functionality, that is, an authorized card user may register with any department in an organization, and then, by just passing the face-to-face authentication but without conducting any extra registration, the card user can use his/her card to gain different services from all authorized departments in this organization. To enhance the security, image morphing and de-morphing techniques are used in our proposed scheme. Both the theoretical analyses and experimental results show that our proposed scheme is secure and very simple to implement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]