Curtin University

About: Curtin University is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Zircon. The organization has 14257 authors who have published 48997 publications receiving 1336531 citations. The organization is also known as: WAIT & Western Australian Institute of Technology.

Using Kinect for face recognition under varying poses, expressions, illumination and disguise

Abstract: We present an algorithm that uses a low resolution 3D sensor for robust face recognition under challenging conditions. A preprocessing algorithm is proposed which exploits the facial symmetry at the 3D point cloud level to obtain a canonical frontal view, shape and texture, of the faces irrespective of their initial pose. This algorithm also fills holes and smooths the noisy depth data produced by the low resolution sensor. The canonical depth map and texture of a query face are then sparse approximated from separate dictionaries learned from training data. The texture is transformed from the RGB to Discriminant Color Space before sparse coding and the reconstruction errors from the two sparse coding steps are added for individual identities in the dictionary. The query face is assigned the identity with the smallest reconstruction error. Experiments are performed using a publicly available database containing over 5000 facial images (RGB-D) with varying poses, expressions, illumination and disguise, acquired using the Kinect sensor. Recognition rates are 96.7% for the RGB-D data and 88.7% for the noisy depth data alone. Our results justify the feasibility of low resolution 3D sensors for robust face recognition.

Measuring service quality in a tertiary institution

Abstract: Measures service quality from the point of view of the customer using the SERVQUAL model. The “customers” in this instance were a group of business students at an Australian university. Obtains service quality evaluations in relation to academic and administrative aspects of the educational service. Makes significant negative evaluations in relation to the quality of administrative services. Finds that satisfaction with the academic service was closely related to dependability whereas satisfaction with administrative services was associated with good communication.

The ecological significance of canopy seed storage in fire-prone environments: a model for non-sprouting shrubs

Abstract: 1 A comprehensive data set on age, survival and reproduction for the non-sprouting (fire-killed) shrub Banksia hookeriana, encompassing 13 years of measurements at 15 sites in south-western Australia, and including 10 fires, was used to parameterize a computer model to investigate optimum plant life-history strategies in a fire-prone environment Parameter ranges encompassed life-history information for other nonsprouting Banksia species from the same region 2 The relationship between fire interval and level of canopy seed storage (serotiny) was analysed to identify the circumstances under which serotiny is favoured, and what degree of serotiny maximizes potential population growth rate In addition to deterministic versions of the model, stochasticity in fire interval and conditions for recruitment were analysed 3 The deterministic model indicated a maximum finite rate of natural increase (λ = 115) when the fire interval was 16 years and all seeds were retained on the plant until fire occurred Although the model failed to predict the intermediate degrees of serotiny present in nature, it supported the optimum fire interval predicted from canopy seed bank dynamics 4 Changes to biological attributes associated with timing of reproduction and longevity shifted the optimum fire interval and estimated rate of population growth, but did not alter the conclusions concerning serotiny Although shorter seed longevity and increased rates of predation and/or decay reduced the value of serotiny, even very low levels of canopy seed storage increased species fitness under intermediate fire frequencies (10-20 years) 5 If the probability of inter-fire recruitment and survival was increased, optimum growth shifted from strong serotiny under a regime of frequent fire ( 40 year interval) 6 Stochasticity around mean fire interval resulted in intermediate to strong (but not complete) serotiny being predicted as optimal once the CV for fire interval approached 100% This result is interpreted as a bet-hedging strategy whereby spontaneous release of some seeds during the inter-fire period permits recruitment on rare occasions where fire interval approaches or exceeds the species longevity