Probability Distributions.- Linear Models for Regression.- Linear Models for Classification.- Neural Networks.- Kernel Methods.- Sparse Kernel Machines.- Graphical Models.- Mixture Models and EM.- Approximate Inference.- Sampling Methods.- Continuous Latent Variables.- Sequential Data.- Combining Models.

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These

Phd by thesis

Data Mining Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques

The power of feedback.

Emotion and Adaptation

This paper presents an approach for creating believable characters. We use pre-defined animations and body postures that can be combined in real-timeto generate arich set of behaviours. Moreover, parameters like speed or spatial amplitude can alsobe modified in real-time to in¤uence the character’s movement. Our ultimate goalis to create reusable synthetic characters that are able to express their inner-feelingsusing bodily expression. 1 Introduction The last decade witnessed an impressive evolution of synthetic characters. The recent ad-vances in technology, particularly the continuous increase of performance in computers,lead to broad use of synthetic characters in several areas. Computer simulations are areality in many domains from warfare to rescue training. The use of synthetic charactersallows safe exercises without putting anyone into harm. In education, synthetic charactershave been used as tutors that are able to explain or guide a student through a task. Char-acters can also act as team-mates for individual training in tasks that need cooperation.In the cinema, the movie ”Toy Story” opened the door to a completely new generationof movies where the actors are computer generated. Recent examples are ”Shrek” and”Final Fantasy”. Computer games bring us every day a full hand of new gaming ex-periences where synthetic characters assume the main role. As a brief example, look at”Tomb Raider” and the impact of a character like ”Lara Croft”, or the amusing ”GuybrushThreepwood” from ”The Escape from Monkey Island”. Although purely fictional,these characters have a personality, likes and dislikes, friends, and many other things that dragus into the story and make us feel as a part of it. Computer games have also benefitedwith the development of accurate characters that simulate the reality, especially in sportsimulations. Games like ”FIFA” or ”NBA Live” have models for most of the players andit is quite pleasant to recognise a star like ”Figo” or ”Kobe Bryant”. Likewise, manysynthetic actors start to participate in artistic performances or TV shows, and start to playan important role in these domains. The future platforms of interactive TV and TV ondemand will offer a ”workplace” for many virtual presenters, virtual entertainers and vir-tual advertisers. We are entering a new era where synthetic characters need to be morehuman-like and, above all, more believable.The body assumes a natural relevance in this new generation synthetic characters.Humans, for instance, express their emotions and inner feelings with facial expressions,but also with gestures and behaviours that affect the body movement. If we take a close

From Virtual Bodies to Believable Characters

Assistive Social Robots for the Elderly Care

IVAs on learning environments.- emotion and personality.- evaluation and empirical studies.- multimodal perception and expression.- narrative and interactive applications.- social interaction.- authoring and tools.- conceptual frameworks.

Intelligent virtual agents : 12th international conference, IVA 2012, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, September, 12-14 2012 : proceedings

Virtual role-play in the classroom - experiences with FearNot!

In recent years there is a growing interest in the use of emerging advanced technologies in supporting well-being and health promotion. Although few existing programs employ innovative technologies to foster social and emotional learning in adolescence, they do not specifically focus on emotion regulation skills. Further, research in this domain has primarily tested the efficacy of these trainings with one type of measurement technique at a time, although most recent theories highlight that emotions are multi-dimensional and multi-component processes. With the above in mind and to overcome these limitations, we developed a technology-enhanced protocol for the enhancement of emotion regulation, based on evidenced based program, the Building Emotion and Affect Regulation, age-adjusted and combined with virtual characters and wearable physiological sensors. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the design and development process of this innovative protocol: EmoRegulators.

Ana Paiva

Papers

From Virtual Bodies to Believable Characters

Assistive Social Robots for the Elderly Care

Intelligent virtual agents : 12th international conference, IVA 2012, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, September, 12-14 2012 : proceedings

Virtual role-play in the classroom - experiences with FearNot!

Positive Technologies for Promoting Emotion Regulation Abilities in Adolescents.