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FAST ALGORITHMS FOR FRAGMENT BASED COMPLETION IN IMAGES OF NATURAL SCENES
Title
FAST ALGORITHMS FOR FRAGMENT BASED COMPLETION IN IMAGES OF NATURAL SCENES.
Creator
Borikar, Siddharth Rajkumar, Pattanaik, Dr.Sumanta, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Textures are used widely in computer graphics to represent fine visual details and produce realistic looking images. Often it is necessary to remove some foreground object from the scene. Removal of the portion creates one or more holes in the texture image. These holes need to be filled to complete the image. Various methods like clone brush strokes and compositing processes are used to carry out this completion. User skill is required in such methods. Texture synthesis can also be used to...
Show moreTextures are used widely in computer graphics to represent fine visual details and produce realistic looking images. Often it is necessary to remove some foreground object from the scene. Removal of the portion creates one or more holes in the texture image. These holes need to be filled to complete the image. Various methods like clone brush strokes and compositing processes are used to carry out this completion. User skill is required in such methods. Texture synthesis can also be used to complete regions where the texture is stationary or structured. Reconstructing methods can be used to fill in large-scale missing regions by interpolation. Inpainting is suitable for relatively small, smooth and non-textured regions. A number of other approaches focus on the edge and contour completion aspect of the problem. In this thesis we present a novel approach for addressing this image completion problem.Our approach focuses on image based completion, with no knowledge of the underlying scene. In natural images there is a strong horizontal orientation of texture/color distribution. We exploit this fact in our proposed algorithm to fill in missing regions from natural images. We follow the principle of figural familiarity and use the image as our training set to complete the image.
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Date Issued
2004
Identifier
CFE0000053, ucf:46078
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000053
GEORGE LISKA'S REALIST ALLIANCE THEORY, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATO
Title
GEORGE LISKA'S REALIST ALLIANCE THEORY, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATO.
Creator
Kireyev, Sergey, Handberg, Roger, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In many aspects, political theory forms a subjective structure of this abstract science. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that unlike natural sciences or mathematics, social sciences often lack the privilege of testing the theories in absolute and unadulterated conditions. Nonetheless, such nature of the science allows for a certain degree of flexibility, when applying political theories to real-world phenomena. Alliances and coalitions in international relations form the backbone of the theory...
Show moreIn many aspects, political theory forms a subjective structure of this abstract science. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that unlike natural sciences or mathematics, social sciences often lack the privilege of testing the theories in absolute and unadulterated conditions. Nonetheless, such nature of the science allows for a certain degree of flexibility, when applying political theories to real-world phenomena. Alliances and coalitions in international relations form the backbone of the theory, concerning IR scholars with two main questions: Why do alliances and coalitions form? And, what keeps alliances and coalitions together? As the core of my research, I examined NATO, as the most prominent and long-lasting alliance of our time, through the prism of alliance formation and cohesion theory introduced by George Liska. In particular, I explored the evolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization over the term of its existence, and sought to determine whether Liska's principles still apply to the contemporary situation, and in particular, how may the variables have altered the application of this scholar's theory to our future understanding of alliances. In its essence, this is a comparative study of the same alliance during the different stages of its existence. In particular, the comparison dissects such aspects of alliance theory as alignment, alliance formation, efficacy, and reasons for possible dissolution. As a result, the study led to a conclusion, that despite the permutations around and within NATO, the basic realist principles that may explain the mechanism of this alliance's formation and cohesion still apply to the contemporary organization.
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Date Issued
2004
Identifier
CFE0000211, ucf:46247
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000211
AN EXAMINATION OF RELATIONAL BULLYING IN AWARD WINNING NEWBERY BOOKS, 1996-2016
Title
AN EXAMINATION OF RELATIONAL BULLYING IN AWARD WINNING NEWBERY BOOKS, 1996-2016.
Creator
Wann, Kaysey N, Hoffman, Elizabeth, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Relational bullying, although covert in nature and difficult for adults to notice and identify, is becoming increasingly prevalent among young children and teens. The success of bibliotherapy as preventative and intervention practices for bullying shows that portrayals of relational bullying in quality children's literature would be effective in reducing and preventing it. However, relational bullying is rarely portrayed in children's literature. My goal was to find quality children's...
Show moreRelational bullying, although covert in nature and difficult for adults to notice and identify, is becoming increasingly prevalent among young children and teens. The success of bibliotherapy as preventative and intervention practices for bullying shows that portrayals of relational bullying in quality children's literature would be effective in reducing and preventing it. However, relational bullying is rarely portrayed in children's literature. My goal was to find quality children's realistic fiction literature that portrays relational bullying in Newbery award-winning books, and to bring them to the attention of teachers. After creating a table to determine what types of bullying, if any, were portrayed in the 21 Newbery Medal and Honor realistic fiction children's literature (1996-2016), the books were read in their totality, and analyzed for any portrayals of relational bullying, including the experience of bullying from the eyes of the bully, victim, and bystander. The bullying portrayed in the literature was described, as well as the characteristics of the bully and victim. Only 10 out of the 21 books read contained portrayals of bullying in the plot. Using this information, future research will include creating a website for teachers, other educational professionals, and parents, to help bring quality children's literature portrayals of relational bullying to their attention. The hope is that teachers will begin to use the findings of this study as a resource with their students, to prevent or address relational bullying in their classrooms, and to recommend it to school psychologists, counselors, and parents, as needed.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFH0000231, ucf:44684
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0000231
ROLE OF REVOLUTIONARY LEADERSHIP IN IRAN TO ITS FOREIGN POLICY
Title
ROLE OF REVOLUTIONARY LEADERSHIP IN IRAN TO ITS FOREIGN POLICY.
Creator
Latorre, Aida, Sadri, Houman, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This study investigated the role of different leadership styles within Iran and how such leadership changes influenced Iranian foreign policy. The study utilized event-data analysis of Iranian history and current events and discussed the role of realist and idealist to the development of Iran into the regional power it is today as well as how Western relations played a role in developing Iranian foreign policy, particularly with regard to its nuclear development. The main body of the study...
Show moreThis study investigated the role of different leadership styles within Iran and how such leadership changes influenced Iranian foreign policy. The study utilized event-data analysis of Iranian history and current events and discussed the role of realist and idealist to the development of Iran into the regional power it is today as well as how Western relations played a role in developing Iranian foreign policy, particularly with regard to its nuclear development. The main body of the study drew from the dynamics within Iran, its relations with the West, relations with Israel, and relations with other foreign powers. The event-data analysis also took into account the political and socioeconomic stability and conditions within Iran as it would readily influence the foreign policy-making within the nation. The first part of the study analyzed Iranian society under the Shah and the under the revolutionary guidance of the Ayatollah Khomeini; the second part analyzed the post-Khomeini period in Iran. In addition to reviewing the role of different revolutionary leadership styles within Iran, this study considers the role that Iranian-Western relations have played in Iranian policy-making. Further, this study considers the tumultuous role that nuclear development has had in Iran's foreign relations. Findings showed that there is a relationship between Western presence in the Middle East and growing aggression by Iranian leadership. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the role of revolutionary leadership styles is critical in accessing the manner in which foreign policy decisions are made. The study found that the role of Islam in Iranian politics has brought much contention but found that in the post-Khomeini years, it has not been the central reason for policy decisions. Recommendations were made for the continued study of the role of nuclear development in Iranian-Western relations as this study was able to find some evidence of it having some level of relevance. Additionally, recommendations were made that additional research be conducted with regard to the role of Islam in shaping Iranian foreign policy in the Post-Khomeini era.
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Date Issued
2009
Identifier
CFE0002726, ucf:48145
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002726
DECIPHERING HOLLAND'S CODE
Title
DECIPHERING HOLLAND'S CODE.
Creator
Turner, Dennis, Mottarella, Karen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Party Exercise found on countless career guidance websites and popularized by the best-selling, job-hunting book What Color Is Your Parachute (Bolles, 2015) purports to provide an estimate of an individual's Holland's code. This study examines whether this commonly used Party Exercise accurately predicts an individual's Holland's code (Holland, 1997). Undergraduate students (N=473) completed The Party Exercise and then the Self- Directed Search (Holland & Messer, 2013). The results of...
Show moreThe Party Exercise found on countless career guidance websites and popularized by the best-selling, job-hunting book What Color Is Your Parachute (Bolles, 2015) purports to provide an estimate of an individual's Holland's code. This study examines whether this commonly used Party Exercise accurately predicts an individual's Holland's code (Holland, 1997). Undergraduate students (N=473) completed The Party Exercise and then the Self- Directed Search (Holland & Messer, 2013). The results of this study do not support the use of this popular "Party Exercise" as a valid estimate of an individual's Holland code.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFH0004911, ucf:45496
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004911
REAL-TIME REALISTIC RENDERING AND HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE DISPLAY AND COMPRESSION
Title
REAL-TIME REALISTIC RENDERING AND HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE DISPLAY AND COMPRESSION.
Creator
Xu, Ruifeng, Pattanaik, Sumanta, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation focuses on the many issues that arise from the visual rendering problem. Of primary consideration is light transport simulation, which is known to be computationally expensive. Monte Carlo methods represent a simple and general class of algorithms often used for light transport computation. Unfortunately, the images resulting from Monte Carlo approaches generally suffer from visually unacceptable noise artifacts. The result of any light transport simulation is, by its very...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the many issues that arise from the visual rendering problem. Of primary consideration is light transport simulation, which is known to be computationally expensive. Monte Carlo methods represent a simple and general class of algorithms often used for light transport computation. Unfortunately, the images resulting from Monte Carlo approaches generally suffer from visually unacceptable noise artifacts. The result of any light transport simulation is, by its very nature, an image of high dynamic range (HDR). This leads to the issues of the display of such images on conventional low dynamic range devices and the development of data compression algorithms to store and recover the corresponding large amounts of detail found in HDR images. This dissertation presents our contributions relevant to these issues. Our contributions to high dynamic range image processing include tone mapping and data compression algorithms. This research proposes and shows the efficacy of a novel level set based tone mapping method that preserves visual details in the display of high dynamic range images on low dynamic range display devices. The level set method is used to extract the high frequency information from HDR images. The details are then added to the range compressed low frequency information to reconstruct a visually accurate low dynamic range version of the image. Additional challenges associated with high dynamic range images include the requirements to reduce excessively large amounts of storage and transmission time. To alleviate these problems, this research presents two methods for efficient high dynamic range image data compression. One is based on the classical JPEG compression. It first converts the raw image into RGBE representation, and then sends the color base and common exponent to classical discrete cosine transform based compression and lossless compression, respectively. The other is based on the wavelet transformation. It first transforms the raw image data into the logarithmic domain, then quantizes the logarithmic data into the integer domain, and finally applies the wavelet based JPEG2000 encoder for entropy compression and bit stream truncation to meet the desired bit rate requirement. We believe that these and similar such contributions will make a wide application of high dynamic range images possible. The contributions to light transport simulation include Monte Carlo noise reduction, dynamic object rendering and complex scene rendering. Monte Carlo noise is an inescapable artifact in synthetic images rendered using stochastic algorithm. This dissertation proposes two noise reduction algorithms to obtain high quality synthetic images. The first one models the distribution of noise in the wavelet domain using a Laplacian function, and then suppresses the noise using a Bayesian method. The other extends the bilateral filtering method to reduce all types of Monte Carlo noise in a unified way. All our methods reduce Monte Carlo noise effectively. Rendering of dynamic objects adds more dimension to the expensive light transport simulation issue. This dissertation presents a pre-computation based method. It pre-computes the surface radiance for each basis lighting and animation key frame, and then renders the objects by synthesizing the pre-computed data in real-time. Realistic rendering of complex scenes is computationally expensive. This research proposes a novel 3D space subdivision method, which leads to a new rendering framework. The light is first distributed to each local region to form local light fields, which are then used to illuminate the local scenes. The method allows us to render complex scenes at interactive frame rates. Rendering has important applications in mixed reality. Consistent lighting and shadows between real scenes and virtual scenes are important features of visual integration. The dissertation proposes to render the virtual objects by irradiance rendering using live captured environmental lighting. This research also introduces a virtual shadow generation method that computes shadows cast by virtual objects to the real background. We finally conclude the dissertation by discussing a number of future directions for rendering research, and presenting our proposed approaches.
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Date Issued
2005
Identifier
CFE0000730, ucf:46615
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000730
Mirrors and Vanities
Title
Mirrors and Vanities.
Creator
Salas, Leslie, Rushin, Patrick, Poissant, David, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
"Mirrors and Vanities" is a multi-modal collection which showcases the diversity of working in long and short storytelling forms. Featured in this thesis are fiction, nonfiction, graphic narrative, and screenplay.Using unconventional approaches to storytelling in order to achieve emotional resonance with the audience while maintaining high standards for craft, these stories and essays explore the costs inherent to the subtle nuances of interpersonal relationships. The fiction focuses on the...
Show more"Mirrors and Vanities" is a multi-modal collection which showcases the diversity of working in long and short storytelling forms. Featured in this thesis are fiction, nonfiction, graphic narrative, and screenplay.Using unconventional approaches to storytelling in order to achieve emotional resonance with the audience while maintaining high standards for craft, these stories and essays explore the costs inherent to the subtle nuances of interpersonal relationships. The fiction focuses on the complications of characters keeping secrets. A husband discovers the truth behind his wife's miscarriage. A girl visits her fianc(&)#233; in purgatory. A boy crosses a line and loses his best friend. Meanwhile, the nonfiction centers on self-discovery and gender roles associated with power struggles. A schizophrenic threatens to ruin my mother's wedding. I rediscover my relationship with my father through food writing. Sword-work teaches me to fail and succeed at making martial art. The title work of the thesis is a collaged story highlighting the tribulations of a physicist fixated on recovering his lost love by manipulating the multiverse. The multi-modal format implicates the nebulosity of physics theories and how different aspects of the narrative can be presented in various formats to best suit the nature of the storytelling.Through the interactions of characters in mundane and extraordinary circumstances, the works in this thesis examine the consequences of choice, the contrast between reality and expectation, coming of age, and the Truth of narrative.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004745, ucf:49789
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004745