Showing papers on "Character (mathematics) published in 2004"

Bayesian inference of character evolution.

Abstract: Much recent progress in evolutionary biology is based on the inference of ancestral states and past transformations in important traits on phylogenetic trees. These exercises often assume that the tree is known without error and that ancestral states and character change can be mapped onto it exactly. In reality, there is often considerable uncertainty about both the tree and the character mapping. Recently introduced Bayesian statistical methods enable the study of character evolution while simultaneously accounting for both phylogenetic and mapping uncertainty, adding much needed credibility to the reconstruction of evolutionary history.

Interdisciplinarity and complexity: An evolving relationship*

Abstract: In recent decades, the ideas of interdisciplinarity and complexity have become increasingly entwined. This convergence invites an exploration of the links and their implications. The implications span the nature of knowledge, the structure of the university, the character of problem solving, the dialogue between science and humanities, and the theoretical relationship of the two underlying ideas.

Character Strengths and Positive Youth Development

Abstract: The goal of positive youth development is to build and strengthen assets that enable youth to grow and flourish throughout life. In this article, the definition, origins, and assessment of character strengths and ways of fostering them are discussed. Character strengths are here defined as a family of positive traits reflected in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Character strengths are important in their own right, but they additionally promote well-being and buffer against psychological disorders among youth. Good parenting, close relationships with peer and family, positive role models, positive institutions, and various youth development programs play important roles in the development of character strengths. Character strengths exist in degrees, and they can be measured as individual differences. Future studies should approach character strengths as multidimensional constructs to understand better the structure and development of character, and how it contributes to positive youth development.

Motion doodles: an interface for sketching character motion

Abstract: In this paper we present a novel system for sketching the motion of a character. The process begins by sketching a character to be animated. An animated motion is then created for the character by drawing a continuous sequence of lines, arcs, and loops. These are parsed and mapped to a parameterized set of output motions that further reflect the location and timing of the input sketch. The current system supports a repertoire of 18 different types of motions in 2D and a subset of these in 3D. The system is unique in its use of a cursive motion specification, its ability to allow for fast experimentation, and its ease of use for non-experts.

Bullying and social identity: The effects of group norms and distinctiveness threat on attitudes towards bullying

Abstract: Drawing from social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), an experiment was carried out to determine the extent to which children's attitudes towards bullying could be moderated by in-group norms and perceived threat to group distinctiveness. The study investigated the responses of 120 male primary school students aged 10-13 years from five schools. The children read a story about a popular in-group and an unpopular out-group which involved the manipulation of three variables: the norms of the in-group (bullying vs. fairness); distinctiveness threat (out-group similarity vs. out-group difference); and the behaviour of the in-group character towards the out-group character (bullying vs. helpful). It was predicted that a perceived threat to group distinctiveness, represented by similarity between the in-group and the out-group, and salient group norms that prescribed either bullying or fairness, would moderate the acceptability of bullying behaviours. Two story response measures were analysed: in-group character liking and whether the in-group character would be retained as a group member following his behaviour. The strongest support for social identity theory was revealed in the retention of in-group character variable. The in-group character was much more likely to have been retained as a group member when he behaved in accordance with group norms. Evidence was also found that bullying was more acceptable when directed at an out-group member who was similar and therefore possibly represented a threat to the in-group.

Dynamic player groups for interest management in multi-character virtual environments

Abstract: A method and apparatus improve the efficiency of simulating a virtual environment by filtering information about the virtual environment on a group basis instead of a character basis. The filtered information is sent to each client associated with a character in the group.

Method and apparatus for scaling handwritten character input for handwriting recognition

Abstract: A method, computer program product, and a data processing system for scaling handwritten character input for performing handwriting recognition. A stroke parameter is derived from a handwritten character stroke and an input area is calculated in which the handwritten character stroke was supplied. The stroke parameter is scaled according to the input area.

Character sheaves on disconnected groups, X

Abstract: We classify the unipotent character sheaves on a fixed connected component of a reductive algebraic group under a mild hypothesis on the characteristic of the ground field

In your face, robot! The influence of a character's embodiment on how users perceive its emotional expressions

Abstract: The ability of artificial characters to express emotions is essential for the natural interaction with humans. Their absence could be interpreted as coldness towards the user. Artificial characters can have different embodiments. Screen characters and robotic characters are currently among the most widely used. This study investigates the influence of the character’s embodiment on how users perceive the character’s emotional expressions. The results show that there is no significant difference in the perceived intensity and recognition accuracy between a robotic character and a screen character. Another important aspect of the character is its ability to express different emotional intensity levels. Developers create different geometrical intensity levels of emotional expressions by equally dividing the spatial difference of each facial component between the neutral and maximum expression. However, the relationship between this geometrical intensity and the intensity perceived by the user might not be strictly linear. This study shows that also a quadratic trend is present in this relationship and that10% steps increase of geometrical intensity can often be distinguished whereas 20% steps can be distinguished almost all the time.

Supercongruences for truncated n+1Fn hypergeometric series with applications to certain weight three newforms

Abstract: We prove general results on supercongruences between values of truncated F-n+1(n) hypergeometric functions and their character analogs. As a consequence of the main results of this paper, we prove Beukers-type supercongruences for certain weight three newforms.

Game information, information storage medium and game apparatus

Abstract: Game information for causing an apparatus similar to a computer to function, the apparatus connected to an input system, the input system comprising: a tablet using an electromagnetic induction method; and a formed object incorporating a coil for performing predetermined communication using an electromagnetic induction method when placed on the tablet, and a memory for storing identification information on the formed object, so that, when the formed object is placed on the tablet, the apparatus obtains from the input system a placed position and direction on the tablet, and identification information on the formed object, wherein the apparatus is caused to function as: a change detecting unit for detecting a change of the placed position and the direction obtained from the input system; a selecting unit for selecting character information corresponding to the identification information obtained from the input system out of a plurality of character information, each of which includes image information on a character imitating a figure of the formed object and is associated with the identification information on the formed object; a character control unit for disposing the character, imitating the figure of the formed object placed on the tablet, in a game space according to the character information selected by the selecting unit, and for controlling motion and movement of the character according to the change detected by the change detecting unit; and an image generating unit for generating an image in the game space including the character controlled by the character control unit.

College and character: Insights from the national survey of student engagement

Abstract: The authors examine the college conditions that contribute to character development, using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

Making Character Concrete: Empirical Strategies for Studying Place Distinction:

Abstract: Actors orient themselves toward places based not only on major distinctions—coastal versus inland, large city versus small town—but based on a subtler and seemingly ineffable set of qualities, incl...

Game system using touch panel input

Abstract: A player performs an input operation so as to draw a predetermined graphic on a touch panel. A type of attack against an enemy character is determined based on a graphical shape of an input trajectory. An effectiveness of attack against the enemy character is determined based on the size of the graphical shape of the input trajectory. Damage caused by attack to the enemy character is determined based on the style and effectiveness of attack.

Principal component analysis for online handwritten character recognition

Abstract: In this paper, principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to the problem of online handwritten character recognition in the Tamil script. The input is a temporally ordered sequence of (x,y) pen coordinates corresponding to an isolated character obtained from a digitizer. The input is converted into a feature vector of constant dimensions following smoothing and normalization. PCA is used to find the basis vectors of each class subspace and the orthogonal distance to the subspaces used for classification. Pre-clustering of the training data and modification of distance measure are explored to overcome some common problems in the traditional subspace method, in empirical evaluation, these PCA -based classification schemes are found to compare favorably with nearest neighbour classification.

Character Development And Storytelling For Games

Abstract: Introduction PART I: Background 1. Myths and Equations 2. The Story Remains the Same PART II: Creating Characters 3. Respecting Characters 4. Character Roles 5. Character Traits 6. Character Encounters PART III: Telling a Story 7. Once Upon a Time 8. Respecting Story 9. Bringing the Story to Life 10. Charting New Territory 11. Story Chiropractics 12. Editing 13. The Roots of New Storytelling 14. Modular Storytelling PART IV: Games People Play 15. Game Types 16. Game Genres 17. Console Games 18. Bringing Virtual Worlds to Life 19. Enabling a Story in Virtual Worlds PART V: Reflections 20. The Responsible Writer PART VI: Appendices Appendix A: Opinionated Bibliography Appendix B: Developer Primer on Building Writing Teams Index

Online handwriting recognition for Tamil

Abstract: A system for online recognition of handwritten Tamil characters is presented. A handwritten character is constructed by executing a sequence of strokes. A structure- or shape-based representation of a stroke is used in which a stroke is represented as a string of shape features. Using this string representation, an unknown stroke is identified by comparing it with a database of strokes using a flexible string matching procedure. A full character is recognized by identifying all the component strokes. Character termination, is determined using a finite state automaton. Development of similar systems for other Indian scripts is outlined.

Narrative generation: balancing plot and character

Abstract: The ability to generate narrative is of importance to computer systems that wish to use story effectively for a wide range of contexts ranging from entertainment to training and education. The typical approach for incorporating narrative into a computer system is for system builders to script the narrative features at design time. A central limitation of this pre-scripting approach is its lack of flexibility—such systems cannot adapt the story to the user's interests, preferences, or abilities. The alternative approach is for the computer systems themselves to generate narrative that is fully adapted to the user at run time. A central challenge for systems that generate their own narrative elements is to create narratives that are readily understood as such by their users. I define two properties of narrative—plot coherence and character believability—which play a role in the success of a narrative in terms of the ability of the narrative's audience to comprehend its structure. Plot coherence is the perception by the audience that the main events of a story have meaning and relevance to the outcome of the story. Character believability is the perception by the audience that the actions performed by characters are motivated by their beliefs, desires, and traits. In this dissertation, I explore the use of search-based planning as a technique for generating stories that demonstrate both strong plot coherence and strong character believability. To that end, the dissertation makes three central contributions. First, I describe an extension to search-based planning that reasons about character intentions by identifying possible character goals that explain their actions in a plan and creates plan structure that explains why those characters commit to their goals. Second, I describe how a character personality model can be incorporated into planning in a way that guides the planner to choose consistent character behavior without strictly preventing characters from acting “out of character” when necessary. Finally, I present an open-world planning algorithm that extends the capabilities of conventional planning algorithms in order to support a process of story creation modeled after the process of dramatic authoring used by human authors. This open-world planning approach enables a story planner not only to search for a sequence of character actions to achieve a set of goals, but also to search for a possible world in which the story can effectively be set. The planning algorithms presented in this dissertation are used within a narrative generation system called Fabulist. Fabulist generates a story as a sequence of character actions and then recounts the story by first generating a discourse plan that specifies how the story content should be told and then realizing the discourse plan in a storytelling medium. I present the results of an empirical evaluation that demonstrates that narratives generated by Fabulist have strong plot coherence and strong character believability. The results clearly indicate how a planning approach to narrative generation that reasons about plot coherence and character believability can improve the audience's comprehension of plot and character.

A modified direction feature for cursive character recognition

Abstract: This paper describes a neural network-based technique for cursive character recognition applicable to segmentation-based word recognition systems. The proposed research builds on a novel feature extraction technique that extracts direction information from the structure of character contours. This principal is extended so that the direction information is integrated with a technique for detecting transitions between background and foreground pixels in the character image. The proposed technique is compared with the standard direction feature extraction technique, providing promising results using segmented characters from the CEDAR benchmark database.

On Monomial Characters and Central Idempotents of Rational Group Algebras

Abstract: We give a method to obtain the primitive central idempotent of the rational group algebra ℚG over a finite group G associated to a monomial irreducible character which does not involve computations with the character field nor its Galois group. We also show that for abelian-by-supersolvable groups this method takes a particularly easy form that can be used to compute the Wedderburn decomposition of ℚG.

Parabolic Character Sheaves, III

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to define a class of sim- ple perverse sheaves (called character sheaves) on certain ind-varieties associated to a loop group. This has applications to a geometric con- struction of certain affine Hecke algebras with unequal parameters (an affine analogue ofanother construction by the author), as will be shown elsewhere.

Voice character input program and portable terminal

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate or drastically reduce the number of keys necessary for a character input operation. SOLUTION: This portable telephone set is provided with: a voice recognition designation key 17 for designating a character input with voice. At the time of detecting the depressing operation of the voice recognition designation key 17, a control part shifts the current mode to a "voice character input mode" for performing a character input with voice. A user utters a character that the user wants to input toward a microphone part 3. A control part 10 recognizes the uttered voice, and retrieves a plurality of conversion candidates from a dictionary in the order of a higher hit rate, and mixes those conversion candidates, and controls a display part 7 to display them with a cursor. At the time of detecting voice to instruct the movement of the cursor, the control part controls the movement and display of the cursor to the display position of the next conversion candidate, and at the time of detecting voice to determine input, the control part controls the display part 7 to display the conversion candidate where the cursor is positioned at present as a character whose input has been determined. Thus, a character is inputted only with voice. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI