text:
Direction fields and vector fields play an increasingly important role in computer graphics and geometry processing. The synthesis of directional fields on surfaces, or other spatial domains, is a fundamental step in numerous applications, such as mesh generation, deformation, texture mapping, and many more. The wide range of applications resulted in definitions for many types of directional fields: from vector and tensor fields, over line and cross fields, to frame and vector-set fields. Depending on the application at hand, researchers have used various notions of objectives and constraints to synthesize such fields. These notions are defined in terms of fairness, feature alignment, symmetry, or field topology, to mention just a few. To facilitate these objectives, various representations, discretizations, and optimization strategies have been developed. These choices come with varying strengths and weaknesses. This course provides a systematic overview of directional field synthesis for graphics applications, the challenges it poses, and the methods developed in recent years to address these challenges.
author = {Vaxman, Amir and Campen, Marcel and Diamanti, Olga and Bommes, David and Hildebrandt, Klaus and Technion, Mirela Ben-Chen and Panozzo, Daniele},
title = {Directional Field Synthesis, Design, and Processing},
booktitle = {ACM SIGGRAPH 2017 Courses},
series = {SIGGRAPH '17},
year = {2017},
isbn = {978-1-4503-5014-3},
location = {Los Angeles, California},
pages = {12:1--12:30},
articleno = {12},
numpages = {30},
url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3084873.3084921},
doi = {10.1145/3084873.3084921},
acmid = {3084921},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
Deep learning approaches have made tremendous progress in the field of semantic segmentation over the past few years. However, most current approaches operate in the 2D image space. Direct semantic segmentation of unstructured 3D point clouds is still an open research problem. The recently proposed PointNet architecture presents an interesting step ahead in that it can operate on unstructured point clouds, achieving decent segmentation results. However, it subdivides the input points into a grid of blocks and processes each such block individually. In this paper, we investigate the question how such an architecture can be extended to incorporate larger-scale spatial context. We build upon PointNet and propose two extensions that enlarge the receptive field over the 3D scene. We evaluate the proposed strategies on challenging indoor and outdoor datasets and show improved results in both scenarios.
author = {Francis Engelmann and
Theodora Kontogianni and
Alexander Hermans and
Bastian Leibe},
title = {Exploring Spatial Context for 3D Semantic Segmentation of Point Clouds},
booktitle = {{IEEE} International Conference on Computer Vision, 3DRMS Workshop, {ICCV}},
year = {2017}
We tackle the task of semi-supervised video object segmentation, i.e. segmenting the pixels belonging to an object in the video using the ground truth pixel mask for the first frame. We build on the recently introduced one-shot video object segmentation (OSVOS) approach which uses a pretrained network and fine-tunes it on the first frame. While achieving impressive performance, at test time OSVOS uses the fine-tuned network in unchanged form and is not able to adapt to large changes in object appearance. To overcome this limitation, we propose Online Adaptive Video Object Segmentation (OnAVOS) which updates the network online using training examples selected based on the confidence of the network and the spatial configuration. Additionally, we add a pretraining step based on objectness, which is learned on PASCAL. Our experiments show that both extensions are highly effective and improve the state of the art on DAVIS to an intersection-over-union score of 85.7%.
author = {Paul Voigtlaender and Bastian Leibe},
title = {Online Adaptation of Convolutional Neural Networks for Video Object Segmentation},
booktitle = {BMVC},
year = {2017}
We introduce an efficient computational method for generating dense and low distortion maps between two arbitrary surfaces of same genus. Instead of relying on semantic correspondences or surface parameterization, we directly optimize a variance-minimizing transport plan between two input surfaces that defines an as-conformal-as-possible inter-surface map satisfying a user-prescribed bound on area distortion. The transport plan is computed via two alternating convex optimizations, and is shown to minimize a generalized Dirichlet energy of both the map and its inverse. Computational efficiency is achieved through a coarse-to-fine approach in diffusion geometry, with Sinkhorn iterations modified to enforce bounded area distortion. The resulting inter-surface mapping algorithm applies to arbitrary shapes robustly, with little to no user interaction.
author = "Mandad, Manish and Cohen-Steiner, David and Kobbelt, Leif and Alliez, Pierre and Desbrun, Mathieu",
title = "Variance-Minimizing Transport Plans for Inter-surface Mapping",
journal = "ACM Transactions on Graphics",
volume = 36,
number = 4,
year = 2017,
articleno = {39},
In this paper we present a robust remeshing-free cutting algorithm on the basis of the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) and fully implicit time integration. One of the most crucial points of the XFEM is that integrals over discontinuous polynomials have to be computed on subdomains of the polyhedral elements. Most existing approaches construct a cut-aligned auxiliary mesh for integration. In contrast, we propose a cutting algorithm that includes the construction of specialized quadrature rules for each dissected element without the requirement to explicitly represent the arising subdomains. Moreover, we solve the problem of ill-conditioned or even numerically singular solver matrices during time integration using a novel algorithm that constrains non-contributing degrees of freedom (DOFs) and introduce a preconditioner that efficiently reuses the constructed quadrature weights. Our method is particularly suitable for fine structural cutting as it decouples the added number of DOFs from the cut's geometry and correctly preserves geometry and physical properties by accurate integration. Due to the implicit time integration these fine features can still be simulated robustly using large time steps. As opposed to this, the vast majority of existing approaches either use remeshing or element duplication. Remeshing based methods are able to correctly preserve physical quantities but strongly couple cut geometry and mesh resolution leading to an unnecessary large number of additional DOFs. Element duplication based approaches keep the number of additional DOFs small but fail at correct conservation of mass and stiffness properties. We verify consistency and robustness of our approach on simple and reproducible academic examples while stability and applicability are demonstrated in large scenarios with complex and fine structural cutting.
@ARTICLE{ Koschier2017,
author= {Dan Koschier and Jan Bender and Nils Thuerey},
title= {{Robust eXtended Finite Elements for Complex Cutting of Deformables}},
year= {2017},
journal= {Transaction on Graphics (SIGGRAPH)},
publisher= {ACM},
volume = {36},
number = {4},
pages= {12}
Semantic image segmentation is an essential component of modern autonomous driving systems, as an accurate understanding of the surrounding scene is crucial to navigation and action planning. Current state-of-the-art approaches in semantic image segmentation rely on pre-trained networks that were initially developed for classifying images as a whole. While these networks exhibit outstanding recognition performance (i.e., what is visible?), they lack localization accuracy (i.e., where precisely is something located?). Therefore, additional processing steps have to be performed in order to obtain pixel-accurate segmentation masks at the full image resolution. To alleviate this problem we propose a novel ResNet-like architecture that exhibits strong localization and recognition performance. We combine multi-scale context with pixel-level accuracy by using two processing streams within our network: One stream carries information at the full image resolution, enabling precise adherence to segment boundaries. The other stream undergoes a sequence of pooling operations to obtain robust features for recognition. The two streams are coupled at the full image resolution using residuals. Without additional processing steps and without pre-training, our approach achieves an intersection-over-union score of 71.8% on the Cityscapes dataset.
title = {{Full-Resolution Residual Networks for Semantic Segmentation in Street Scenes}},
author = {Pohlen, Tobias and Hermans, Alexander and Mathias, Markus and Leibe, Bastian},
booktitle = {{IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'17)}},
year = {2017}
Supervised deep learning often suffers from the lack of sufficient training data. Specifically in the context of monocular depth map prediction, it is barely possible to determine dense ground truth depth images in realistic dynamic outdoor environments. When using LiDAR sensors, for instance, noise is present in the distance measurements, the calibration between sensors cannot be perfect, and the measurements are typically much sparser than the camera images. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to depth map prediction from monocular images that learns in a semi-supervised way. While we use sparse ground-truth depth for supervised learning, we also enforce our deep network to produce photoconsistent dense depth maps in a stereo setup using a direct image alignment loss. In experiments we demonstrate superior performance in depth map prediction from single images compared to the state-of-the-art methods.
title = {Semi-Supervised Deep Learning for Monocular Depth Map Prediction},
author = {Kuznietsov, Yevhen and St\"uckler, J\"org and Leibe, Bastian},
booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)},
year = {2017}
Tracking in urban street scenes plays a central role in autonomous systems such as self-driving cars. Most of the current vision-based tracking methods perform tracking in the image domain. Other approaches, e.g. based on LIDAR and radar, track purely in 3D. While some vision-based tracking methods invoke 3D information in parts of their pipeline, and some 3D-based methods utilize image-based information in components of their approach, we propose to use image- and world-space information jointly throughout our method. We present our tracking pipeline as a 3D extension of image-based tracking. From enhancing the detections with 3D measurements to the reported positions of every tracked object, we use world- space 3D information at every stage of processing. We accomplish this by our novel coupled 2D-3D Kalman filter, combined with a conceptually clean and extendable hypothesize-and-select framework. Our approach matches the current state-of-the-art on the official KITTI benchmark, which performs evaluation in the 2D image domain only. Further experiments show significant improvements in 3D localization precision by enabling our coupled 2D-3D tracking.
title={Combined Image- and World-Space Tracking in Traffic Scenes},
author={O\v{s}ep, Aljo\v{s}a and Mehner, Wolfgang and Mathias, Markus and Leibe, Bastian},
The computation of smooth fields of orthogonal directions within a volume is a critical step in hexahedral mesh generation, used to guide placement of edges and singularities. While this problem shares high-level structure with surface-based frame field problems, critical aspects are lost when extending to volumes, while new structure from the flat Euclidean metric emerges. Taking these considerations into account, this paper presents an algorithm for computing such "octahedral" fields. Unlike existing approaches, our formulation achieves infinite resolution in the interior of the volume via the boundary element method (BEM), continuously assigning frames to points in the interior from only a triangle mesh discretization of the boundary. The end result is an orthogonal direction field that can be sampled anywhere inside the mesh, with smooth variation and singular structure in the interior even with a coarse boundary. We illustrate our computed frames on a number of challenging test geometries. Since the octahedral frame field problem is relatively new, we also contribute a thorough discussion of theoretical and practical challenges unique to this problem.
author = {Solomon, Justin and Vaxman, Amir and Bommes, David},
title = {Boundary Element Octahedral Fields in Volumes},
journal = {ACM Trans. Graph.},
issue_date = {June 2017},
volume = {36},
number = {3},
month = may,
year = {2017},
issn = {0730-0301},
pages = {28:1--28:16},
articleno = {28},
numpages = {16},
url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3065254},
doi = {10.1145/3065254},
acmid = {3065254},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
keywords = {Octahedral fields, boundary element method, frames, singularity graph},
A new approach to obtain a volumetric discretization from a T-spline surface representation is presented. A T-spline boundary zone is created beneath the surface, while the core of the model is discretized with Lagrangian elements. T-spline enriched elements are used as an interface between isogeometric and Lagrangian finite elements. The thickness of the T-spline zone and thereby the isogeometric volume fraction can be chosen arbitrarily large such that pure Lagrangian and pure isogeometric discretizations are included. The presented approach combines the advantages of isogeometric elements (accuracy and smoothness) and classical finite elements (simplicity and efficiency). Different heat transfer problems are solved with the finite element method using the presented discretization approach with different isogeometric volume fractions. For suitable applications, the approach leads to a substantial accuracy gain.
title={Volumetric mesh generation from T-spline surface representations},
author={Harmel, Maximilian and Sauer, Roger A and Bommes, David},
journal={Computer-Aided Design},
In this paper we present an hp-adaptive algorithm to generate discrete higher-order polynomial Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) on axis-aligned hexahedral grids from manifold polygonal input meshes. Using an orthonormal polynomial basis, we efficiently fit the polynomials to the underlying signed distance function on each cell. The proposed error-driven construction algorithm is globally adaptive and iteratively refines the SDFs using either spatial subdivision (h-refinement) following an octree scheme or by cell-wise adaption of the polynomial approximation's degree (p-refinement). We further introduce a novel decision criterion based on an error-estimator in order to decide whether to apply p- or h-refinement. We demonstrate that our method is able to construct more accurate SDFs at significantly lower memory consumption compared to previous approaches. While the cell-wise polynomial approximation will result in highly accurate SDFs, it can not be guaranteed that the piecewise approximation is continuous over cell interfaces. Therefore, we propose an optimization-based post-processing step in order to weakly enforce continuity. Finally, we apply our generated SDFs as collision detector to the physically-based simulation of geometrically highly complex solid objects in order to demonstrate the practical relevance and applicability of our method.
author = {Koschier, Dan and Deul, Crispin and Brand, Magnus and Bender, Jan},
title = {An hp-Adaptive Discretization Algorithm for Signed Distance Field Generation},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},
year = {2017},
volume = {23},
number = {10},
pages = {1--14},
issn = {1077-2626},
doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2017.2730202}
Visual scene understanding is an important capability that enables robots to purposefully act in their environment. In this paper, we propose a novel deep neural network approach to predict semantic segmentation from RGB-D sequences. The key innovation is to train our network to predict multi-view consistent semantics in a self-supervised way. At test time, its semantics predictions can be fused more consistently in semantic keyframe maps than predictions of a network trained on individual views. We base our network architecture on a recent single-view deep learning approach to RGB and depth fusion for semantic object-class segmentation and enhance it with multi-scale loss minimization. We obtain the camera trajectory using RGB-D SLAM and warp the predictions of RGB-D images into ground-truth annotated frames in order to enforce multi-view consistency during training. At test time, predictions from multiple views are fused into keyframes. We propose and analyze several methods for enforcing multi-view consistency during training and testing. We evaluate the benefit of multi-view consistency training and demonstrate that pooling of deep features and fusion over multiple views outperforms single-view baselines on the NYUDv2 benchmark for semantic segmentation. Our end-to-end trained network achieves state-of-the-art performance on the NYUDv2 dataset in single-view segmentation as well as multi-view semantic fusion.
@string{iros="International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)"}
author = "Lingni Ma and J\"org St\"uckler and Christian Kerl and Daniel Cremers",
title = "Multi-View Deep Learning for Consistent Semantic Mapping with RGB-D Cameras",
booktitle = "IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)",
year = "2017",
Complementing images with inertial measurements has become one of the most popular approaches to achieve highly accurate and robust real-time camera pose tracking. In this paper, we present a keyframe-based approach to visual-inertial simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) for monocular and stereo cameras. Our method is based on a real-time capable visual-inertial odometry method that provides locally consistent trajectory and map estimates. We achieve global consistency in the estimate through online loop-closing and non-linear optimization. Furthermore, our approach supports relocalization in a map that has been previously obtained and allows for continued SLAM operation. We evaluate our approach in terms of accuracy, relocalization capability and run-time efficiency on public benchmark datasets and on newly recorded sequences. We demonstrate state-of-the-art performance of our approach towards a visual-inertial odometry method in recovering the trajectory of the camera.
title={{Keyframe-Based Visual-Inertial Online SLAM with Relocalization}},
author={Anton Kasyanov and Francis Engelmann and J\"org St\"uckler and Bastian Leibe},
booktitle={{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems {(IROS)}},
Inferring the pose and shape of vehicles in 3D from a movable platform still remains a challenging task due to the projective sensing principle of cameras, difficult surface properties, e.g. reflections or transparency, and illumination changes between images. In this paper, we propose to use 3D shape and motion priors to regularize the estimation of the trajectory and the shape of vehicles in sequences of stereo images. We represent shapes by 3D signed distance functions and embed them in a low-dimensional manifold. Our optimization method allows for imposing a common shape across all image observations along an object track. We employ a motion model to regularize the trajectory to plausible object motions. We evaluate our method on the KITTI dataset and show state-of-the-art results in terms of shape reconstruction and pose estimation accuracy.
author = {Francis Engelmann and J{\"{o}}rg St{\"{u}}ckler and Bastian Leibe},
title = {{SAMP:} Shape and Motion Priors for 4D Vehicle Reconstruction},
booktitle = {{IEEE} Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision,
year = {2017}
In this paper we present a novel Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method for the efficient and stable simulation of incompressible fluids. The most efficient SPH-based approaches enforce incompressibility either on position or velocity level. However, the continuity equation for incompressible flow demands to maintain a constant density and a divergence-free velocity field. We propose a combination of two novel implicit pressure solvers enforcing both a low volume compression as well as a divergence-free velocity field. While a compression-free fluid is essential for realistic physical behavior, a divergence-free velocity field drastically reduces the number of required solver iterations and increases the stability of the simulation significantly. Thanks to the improved stability, our method can handle larger time steps than previous approaches. This results in a substantial performance gain since the computationally expensive neighborhood search has to be performed less frequently. Moreover, we introduce a third optional implicit solver to simulate highly viscous fluids which seamlessly integrates into our solver framework. Our implicit viscosity solver produces realistic results while introducing almost no numerical damping. We demonstrate the efficiency, robustness and scalability of our method in a variety of complex simulations including scenarios with millions of turbulent particles or highly viscous materials.
author = {Jan Bender and Dan Koschier},
title = {Divergence-Free SPH for Incompressible and Viscous Fluids},
year = {2017},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},
publisher = {IEEE},
keywords={Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics;divergence-free fluids;fluid simulation;implicit integration;incompressibility;viscous fluids},
Dissipation elements (DE) define a geometrical structure for the analysis of small-scale turbulence. Existing analyses based on DEs focus on a statistical treatment of large populations of DEs. In this paper, we propose a method for the interactive visualization of the geometrical shape of DE populations. We follow a two-step approach: in a pre-processing step, we approximate individual DEs by tube-like, implicit shapes with elliptical cross sections of varying radii; we then render these approximations by direct ray-casting thereby avoiding the need for costly generation of detailed, explicit geometry for rasterization. Our results demonstrate that the approximation gives a reasonable representation of DE geometries and the rendering performance is suitable for interactive use.
booktitle = {Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and Visualization},
author = {Tom Vierjahn and Andrea Schnorr and Benjamin Weyers and Dominik Denker and Ingo Wald and Christoph Garth and Torsten W. Kuhlen and Bernd Hentschel},
title = {Interactive Exploration of Dissipation Element Geometry},
year = {2017},
pages = {53--62},
doi = {10.2312/pgv.20171093},
An increasingly heterogeneous system landscape in modern high performance computing requires the efficient and portable adaption of performant algorithms to diverse architectures. However, classic hybrid shared-memory/distributed systems are designed and tuned towards specific platforms, thus impeding development, usage and optimization of these approaches with respect to portability. We demonstrate a flexible parallel rendering framework built upon a task-based dynamic runtime environment enabling adaptable performance-oriented deployment on various platform configurations. Our task definition represents an effective and easy-to-control trade-off between sort-first and sort-last image compositing, enabling good scalability in combination with inherent dynamic load balancing. We conduct comprehensive benchmarks to verify the characteristics and potential of our novel task-based system design for high-performance visualization.
@inproceedings {Biedert2017,
booktitle = {Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and Visualization},
title = {{A Task-Based Parallel Rendering Component For Large-Scale Visualization Applications}},
author = {Biedert, Tim and Werner, Kilian and Hentschel, Bernd and Garth, Christoph},
year = {2017},
pages = {63--71},
DOI = {10.2312/pgv.20171094}
Understanding multi-dimensional data and in particular multi-dimensional dependencies is hard. Information visualization can help to understand this type of data. Still, the problem of how users gain insights from such visualizations is not well understood. Both the visualizations and the users play a role in understanding the data. In a case study, using both, a scatterplot matrix and a HyperSlice with six-dimensional data, we asked 16 participants to think aloud and measured insights during the process of analyzing the data. The amount of insights was strongly correlated with spatial abilities. Interestingly, all users were able to complete an optimization task independently of self-reported understanding of the data.
author="Calero Valdez, Andr{\'e}
and Gebhardt, Sascha
and Kuhlen, Torsten W.
and Ziefle, Martina",
editor="Duffy, Vincent G.",
title="Measuring Insight into Multi-dimensional Data from a Combination of a Scatterplot Matrix and a HyperSlice Visualization",
bookTitle="Digital Human Modeling. Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics, and Risk Management: Health and Safety: 8th International Conference, DHM 2017, Held as Part of HCI International 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July 9-14, 2017, Proceedings, Part II",
publisher="Springer International Publishing",
3D-Polarized Light Imaging (3D-PLI) provides data that enables an exploration of brain fibers at very high resolution. However, the visualization poses several challenges. Beside the huge data set sizes, users have to visually perceive the pure amount of information which might be, among other aspects, inhibited for inner structures because of occlusion by outer layers of the brain. We propose a clustering of fiber directions by means of spherical harmonics using a level-of-detail structure by which the user can interactively choose a clustering degree according to the zoom level or details required. Furthermore, the clustering method can be used for the automatic grouping of similar spherical harmonics automatically into one representative. An optional overlay with a direct vector visualization of the 3D-PLI data provides a better anatomical context.
Honorable Mention for Best Short Paper!
@inproceedings {Haenel2017Interactive,
booktitle = {EuroVis 2017 - Short Papers},
editor = {Barbora Kozlikova and Tobias Schreck and Thomas Wischgoll},
title = {{Interactive Level-of-Detail Visualization of 3D-Polarized Light Imaging Data Using Spherical Harmonics}},
author = {H\"anel, Claudia and Demiralp, Ali C. and Axer, Markus and Gr\"assel, David and Hentschel, Bernd and Kuhlen, Torsten W.},
year = {2017},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association},
DOI = {10.2312/eurovisshort.20171145}
In this paper we introduce a novel micropolar material model for the simulation of turbulent inviscid fluids. The governing equations are solved by using the concept of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). As already investigated in previous works, SPH fluid simulations suffer from numerical diffusion which leads to a lower vorticity, a loss in turbulent details and finally in less realistic results. To solve this problem we propose a micropolar fluid model. The micropolar fluid model is a generalization of the classical Navier-Stokes equations, which are typically used in computer graphics to simulate fluids. In contrast to the classical Navier-Stokes model, micropolar fluids have a microstructure and therefore consider the rotational motion of fluid particles. In addition to the linear velocity field these fluids also have a field of microrotation which represents existing vortices and provides a source for new ones. However, classical micropolar materials are viscous and the translational and the rotational motion are coupled in a dissipative way. Since our goal is to simulate turbulent fluids, we introduce a novel modified micropolar material for inviscid fluids with a non-dissipative coupling. Our model can generate realistic turbulences, is linear and angular momentum conserving, can be easily integrated in existing SPH simulation methods and its computational overhead is negligible.
author = {Jan Bender and Dan Koschier and Tassilo Kugelstadt and Marcel Weiler},
title = {A Micropolar Material Model for Turbulent SPH Fluids},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer
year = {2017},
publisher = {ACM}
In this paper, we present the novel concept of density maps for robust handling of static and rigid dynamic boundaries in fluid simulations based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). In contrast to the vast majority of existing approaches, we use an implicit discretization for a continuous extension of the density field throughout solid boundaries. Using the novel representation we enhance accuracy and efficiency of density and density gradient evaluations in boundary regions by computationally efficient lookups into our density maps. The map is generated in a preprocessing step and discretizes the density contribution in the boundary's near-field. In consequence of the high regularity of the continuous boundary density field, we use cubic Lagrange polynomials on a narrow-band structure of a regular grid for discretization. This strategy not only removes the necessity to sample boundary surfaces with particles but also decouples the particle size from the number of sample points required to represent the boundary. Moreover, it solves the ever-present problem of particle deficiencies near the boundary. In several comparisons we show that the representation is more accurate than particle samplings, especially for smooth curved boundaries. We further demonstrate that our approach robustly handles scenarios with highly complex boundaries and even outperforms one of the most recent sampling based techniques.
author = {Dan Koschier and Jan Bender},
title = {Density Maps for Improved SPH Boundary Handling},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation},
year = {2017},
series = {SCA '17},
pages = {1--10},
publisher = {ACM}
The physically-based simulation of mechanical effects has been an important research topic in computer graphics for more than two decades. Classical methods in this field discretize Newton's second law and determine different forces to simulate various effects like stretching, shearing, and bending of deformable bodies or pressure and viscosity of fluids, to mention just a few. Given these forces, velocities and finally positions are determined by a numerical integration of the resulting accelerations. In the last years position-based simulation methods have become popular in the graphics community. In contrast to classical simulation approaches these methods compute the position changes in each simulation step directly, based on the solution of a quasi-static problem. Therefore, position-based approaches are fast, stable and controllable which make them well-suited for use in interactive environments. However, these methods are generally not as accurate as force-based methods but provide visual plausibility. Hence, the main application areas of position-based simulation are virtual reality, computer games and special effects in movies and commercials. In this tutorial we first introduce the basic concept of position-based dynamics. Then we present different solvers and compare them with the variational formulation of the implicit Euler method in connection with compliant constraints. We discuss approaches to improve the convergence of these solvers. Moreover, we show how position-based methods are applied to simulate elastic rods, cloth, volumetric deformable bodies, rigid body systems and fluids. We also demonstrate how complex effects like anisotropy or plasticity can be simulated and introduce approaches to improve the performance. Finally, we give an outlook and discuss open problems.
@inproceedings {BMM2017,
title = "A Survey on Position Based Dynamics, 2017",
author = "Jan Bender and Matthias M{\"u}ller and Miles Macklin",
year = "2017",
booktitle = "EUROGRAPHICS 2017 Tutorials",
publisher = "Eurographics Association"
TL;DR: Collected & annotated laser detection dataset. Use window around each point to cast vote on detection center.
We introduce the DROW detector, a deep learning based detector for 2D range data. Laser scanners are lighting invariant, provide accurate range data, and typically cover a large field of view, making them interesting sensors for robotics applications. So far, research on detection in laser range data has been dominated by hand-crafted features and boosted classifiers, potentially losing performance due to suboptimal design choices. We propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based detector for this task. We show how to effectively apply CNNs for detection in 2D range data, and propose a depth preprocessing step and voting scheme that significantly improve CNN performance. We demonstrate our approach on wheelchairs and walkers, obtaining state of the art detection results. Apart from the training data, none of our design choices limits the detector to these two classes, though. We provide a ROS node for our detector and release our dataset containing 464k laser scans, out of which 24k were annotated.
title = {{DROW: Real-Time Deep Learning based Wheelchair Detection in 2D Range Data}},
author = {Beyer*, Lucas and Hermans*, Alexander and Leibe, Bastian},
journal = {{IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)}},
year = {2016}
Choosing an adequate system control technique is crucial to support complex interaction scenarios in virtual reality applications. In this work, we compare an existing hierarchical pie-menu-based approach with a speech-recognition-based one in terms of task performance and user experience in a formal user study. As testbed, we use a factory planning application featuring a large set of system control options.
author = {Pick, Sebastian and Puika, Andrew S. and Kuhlen, Torsten},
title = {{C}omparison of a speech-based and a pie-menu-based
interaction metaphor for application control},
address = {Piscataway, NJ},
publisher = {IEEE},
reportid = {RWTH-2017-06169},
pages = {381-382},
year = {2017},
comment = {2017 IEEE Virtual Reality (VR) : proceedings : March 18-22,
2017, Los Angeles, CA, USA / Evan Suma Rosenberg, David M.
Krum, Zachary Wartell, Betty Mohler, Sabarish V. Babu, Frank
Steinicke, and Victoria Interrante ; sponsored by IEEE
Computer Society, Visialization and Graphics Technical
booktitle = {2017 IEEE Virtual Reality (VR) :
proceedings : March 18-22, 2017, Los
Angeles, CA, USA / Evan Suma Rosenberg,
David M. Krum, Zachary Wartell, Betty
Mohler, Sabarish V. Babu, Frank
Steinicke, and Victoria Interrante ;
sponsored by IEEE Computer Society,
Visialization and Graphics Technical
month = {Mar},
date = {2017-03-18},
organization = {2017 IEEE Virtual Reality, Los
Angeles, CA (USA), 18 Mar 2017 - 22 Mar
cin = {124620 / 120000 / 080025},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)124620_20151124$ / $I:(DE-82)120000_20140620$ /
pnm = {B-1 - Virtual Production Intelligence},
pid = {G:(DE-82)X080025-B-1},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)7 / PUB:(DE-HGF)8},
doi = {10.1109/VR.2017.7892336},
url = {http://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/691795},
Immersive data analytics as an emerging research topic in scientific and information visualization has recently been brought back into the focus due to the emergence of low-cost consumer virtual reality hardware. Previous research has shown the positive impact of immersive visualization on data analytics workflows, but in most cases, insights were based on large-screen setups. In contrast, less research focuses on a close integration of immersive technology into existing, i.e., desktop-based data analytics workflows. This implies specific requirements regarding the usability of such systems, which include, i.e., the prevention of cybersickness. In this work, we present a prototypical application, which offers a first set of tools and addresses major challenges for a fully immersive data analytics setting in which the user is sitting at a desktop. In particular, we address the problem of cybersickness by integrating prevention strategies combined with individualized user profiles to maximize time of use.
This paper describes our method used for the 2017 DAVIS Challenge on Video Object Segmentation [26]. The challenge's task is to segment the pixels belonging to multiple objects in a video using the ground truth pixel masks, which are given for the first frame. We build on our recently proposed Online Adaptive Video Object Segmentation (OnAVOS) method which pretrains a convolutional neural network for objectness, fine-tunes it on the first frame, and further updates the network online while processing the video. OnAVOS selects confidently predicted foreground pixels as positive training examples and pixels, which are far away from the last assumed object position as negative examples. While OnAVOS was designed to work with a single object, we extend it to handle multiple objects by combining the predictions of multiple single-object runs. We introduce further extensions including upsampling layers which increase the output resolution. We achieved the fifth place out of 22 submissions to the competition.
author = {Paul Voigtlaender and Bastian Leibe},
title = {Online Adaptation of Convolutional Neural Networks for the 2017 DAVIS Challenge on Video Object Segmentation},
journal = {The 2017 DAVIS Challenge on Video Object Segmentation - CVPR Workshops},
year = {2017}
Applications of Virtual Reality (VR) have been repeatedly explored with the goal to improve the data analysis process of users from different application domains, such as architecture and simulation sciences. Unfortunately, making VR available in professional application scenarios or even using it on a regular basis has proven to be challenging. We argue that everyday usage environments, such as office spaces, have introduced constraints that critically affect the design of interaction concepts since well-established techniques might be difficult to use. In our opinion, it is crucial to understand the impact of usage scenarios on interaction design, to successfully develop VR applications for everyday use. To substantiate our claim, we define three distinct usage scenarios in this work that primarily differ in the amount of mobility they allow for. We outline each scenario's inherent constraints but also point out opportunities that may be used to design novel, well-suited interaction techniques for different everyday usage environments. In addition, we link each scenario to a concrete application example to clarify its relevance and show how it affects interaction design.
Scene visibility - the information of which parts of the scene are visible from a certain location—can be used to derive various properties of a virtual environment. For example, it enables the computation of viewpoint quality to determine the informativeness of a viewpoint, helps in constructing virtual tours, and allows to keep track of the objects a user may already have seen. However, computing visibility at runtime may be too computationally expensive for many applications, while sampling the entire scene beforehand introduces a costly precomputation step and may include many samples not needed later on.
Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel approach to precompute visibility information based on navigation meshes, a polygonal representation of a scene's navigable areas. We show that with only limited precomputation, high accuracy can be achieved in these areas. Furthermore, we demonstrate the usefulness of the approach by means of several applications, including viewpoint quality computation, landmark and room detection, and exploration assistance. In addition, we present a travel interface based on common visibility that we found to result in less cybersickness in a user study.
author={Sebastian Freitag and Benjamin Weyers and Torsten W. Kuhlen},
booktitle={2017 IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI)},
title={{Efficient Approximate Computation of Scene Visibility Based on Navigation Meshes and Applications for Navigation and Scene Analysis}},
Viewpoint quality estimation methods allow the determination of the most informative position in a scene. However, a single position usually cannot represent an entire scene, requiring instead a set of several viewpoints. Measuring the quality of such a set of views, however, is not trivial, and the computation of an optimal set of views is an NP-hard problem. Therefore, in this work, we propose three methods to estimate the quality of a set of views. Furthermore, we evaluate three approaches for computing an approximation to the optimal set (two of them new) regarding effectiveness and efficiency.
The manual adjustment of travel speed to cover medium or large distances in virtual environments may increase cognitive load, and manual travel at high speeds can lead to cybersickness due to inaccurate steering. In this work, we present an approach to quickly pass regions where the environment does not change much, using automated suggestions based on the computation of common visibility. In a user study, we show that our method can reduce cybersickness when compared with manual speed control.
The use of non-verbal vocal input (NVVI) as a hand-free trigger approach has proven to be valuable in previous work [Zielasko2015]. Nevertheless, BlowClick's original detection method is vulnerable to false positives and, thus, is limited in its potential use, e.g., together with acoustic feedback for the trigger. Therefore, we extend the existing approach by adding common machine learning methods. We found that a support vector machine (SVM) with Gaussian kernel performs best for detecting blowing with at least the same latency and more precision as before. Furthermore, we added acoustic feedback to the NVVI trigger, which increases the user's confidence. To evaluate the advanced trigger technique, we conducted a user study (n=33). The results confirm that it is a reliable trigger; alone and as part of a hands-free point-and-click interface.
We extended BlowClick, a NVVI metaphor for clicking, by adding machine learning methods to more reliably classify blowing events. We found a support vector machine with Gaussian kernel performing the best with at least the same latency and more precision than before. Furthermore, we added acoustic feedback to the NVVI trigger, which increases the user's confidence. With this extended technique we conducted a user study with 33 participants and could confirm that it is possible to use NVVI as a reliable trigger as part of a hands-free point-and-click interface.
In this work we describe the scenario of fully-immersive desktop VR, which serves the overall goal to seamlessly integrate with existing workflows and workplaces of data analysts and researchers, such that they can benefit from the gain in productivity when immersed in their data-spaces. Furthermore, we provide a literature review showing the status quo of techniques and methods available for realizing this scenario under the raised restrictions. Finally, we propose a concept of an analysis framework and the decisions made and the decisions still to be taken, to outline how the described scenario and the collected methods are feasible in a real use case.
Embodied, virtual agents provide users assistance in agent-based support systems. To this end, two closely linked factors have to be considered for the agents' behavioral design: their presence time (PT), i.e., the time in which the agents are visible, and the approaching time (AT), i.e., the time span between the user's calling for an agent and the agent's actual availability.
This work focuses on human-like assistants that are embedded in immersive scenes but that are required only temporarily. To the best of our knowledge, guidelines for a suitable trade-off between PT and AT of these assistants do not yet exist. We address this gap by presenting the results of a controlled within-subjects study in a CAVE. While keeping a low PT so that the agent is not perceived as annoying, three strategies affecting the AT, namely fading, walking, and running, are evaluated by 40 subjects. The results indicate no clear preference for either behavior. Instead, the necessity of a better trade-off between a low AT and an agent's realistic behavior is demonstrated.
Title = {Evaluation of Approaching-Strategies of Temporarily Required Virtual Assistants in Immersive Environments},
Author = {Andrea B\"{o}nsch and Tom Vierjahn and Torsten W. Kuhlen},
Booktitle = {IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces},
Year = {2017},
Pages = {69-72}
Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) are strongly limited in their payload and power capacity. In order to implement autonomous navigation, algorithms are therefore desirable that use sensory equipment that is as small, low-weight, and low- power consuming as possible. In this paper, we propose a method for autonomous MAV navigation and exploration using a low-cost consumer-grade quadrocopter equipped with a monocular camera. Our vision-based navigation system builds on LSD-SLAM which estimates the MAV trajectory and a semi-dense reconstruction of the environment in real-time. Since LSD-SLAM only determines depth at high gradient pixels, texture-less areas are not directly observed. We propose an obstacle mapping and exploration approach that takes this property into account. In experiments, we demonstrate our vision-based autonomous navigation and exploration system with a commercially available Parrot Bebop MAV.
author={Lukas von Stumberg and Vladyslav Usenko and Jakob Engel and J\"org St\"uckler and Daniel Cremers},
title={From Monoular {SLAM} to Autonomous Drone Exploration},
booktitle = {Accepted for the European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR)},
year = {2017},
Data from diverse workflows is often too complex for an adequate analysis without visualization. One kind of data are multi-dimensional datasets, which can be visualized via a wide array of techniques. For instance, glyphs can be used to visualize individual datapoints. However, glyphs need to be actively looked at to be comprehended. This work explores a novel approach towards visualizing a single datapoint, with the intention of increasing the user's awareness of it while they are looking at something else. The basic concept is to represent this point by a scene that surrounds the user in an immersive virtual environment. This idea is based on the observation that humans can extract low-detailed information, the so-called gist, from a scene nearly instantly (equal or less 100ms). We aim at providing a first step towards answering the question whether enough information can be encoded in the gist of a scene to represent a point in multi-dimensional space and if this information is helpful to the user's understanding of this space.
author = {Bellgardt, Martin and Gebhardt, Sascha and Hentschel, Bernd and Kuhlen, Torsten W.},
booktitle = {Workshop on Immersive Analytics},
title = {{Gistualizer: An Immersive Glyph for Multidimensional Datapoints}},
year = {2017}
It is increasingly common to embed embodied, human-like, virtual agents into immersive virtual environments for either of the two use cases: (1) populating architectural scenes as anonymous members of a crowd and (2) meeting or supporting users as individual, intelligent and conversational agents. However, the new trend towards intelligent cyber physical systems inherently combines both use cases. Thus, we argue for the necessity of multiagent systems consisting of anonymous and autonomous agents, who temporarily turn into intelligent individuals. Besides purely enlivening the scene, each agent can thus be engaged into a situation-dependent interaction by the user, e.g., into a conversation or a joint task. To this end, we devise components for an agent's behavioral design modeling the transition between an anonymous and an individual agent when a user approaches.
Title = {{Turning Anonymous Members of a Multiagent System into Individuals}},
Author = {Andrea B\"{o}nsch, Tom Vierjahn, Ari Shapiro and Torsten W. Kuhlen},
Booktitle = {IEEE Virtual Humans and Crowds for Immersive Environments},
Year = {2017},
Keywords = {Virtual Humans; Virtual Reality; Intelligent Agents; Mutliagent System},
Owner = {ab280112},
Timestamp = {2017.02.28}
In this paper we propose a novel approach to identify and label the structural elements of furniture e.g. wardrobes, cabinets etc. Given a furniture item, the subdivision into its structural components like doors, drawers and shelves is difficult as the number of components and their spatial arrangements varies severely. Furthermore, structural elements are primarily distinguished by their function rather than by unique color or texture based appearance features. It is therefore difficult to classify them, even if their correct spatial extent were known. In our approach we jointly estimate the number of functional units, their spatial structure, and their corresponding labels by using reversible jump MCMC (rjMCMC), a method well suited for optimization on spaces of varying dimensions (the number of structural elements). Optionally, our system permits to invoke depth information e.g. from RGB-D cameras, which are already frequently mounted on mobile robot platforms. We show a considerable improvement over a baseline method even without using depth data, and an additional performance gain when depth input is enabled.
title={3D Semantic Segmentation of Modular Furniture using rjMCMC
author={Badami, Ishrat and Tom, Manu and Mathias, Markus and Leibe, Bastian},
Controlling user-agent-interactions by means of an external operator includes selecting the virtual interaction partners fast and faultlessly. However, especially in immersive scenes with a large number of potential partners, this task is non-trivial.
Thus, we present a score-based recommendation system supporting an operator in the selection task. Agents are recommended as potential partners based on two parameters: the user's distance to the agents and the user's gazing direction. An additional graphical user interface (GUI) provides elements for configuring the system and for applying actions to those agents which the operator has confirmed as interaction partners.
Title = {Score-Based Recommendation for Efficiently Selecting Individual
Virtual Agents in Multi-Agent Systems},
Author = {Andrea Bönsch and Robert Trisnadi and Jonathan Wendt and Tom Vierjahn, and Torsten
W. Kuhlen},
Booktitle = {Proceedings of 23rd ACM
Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology},
Year = {2017},
Pages = {tba},
Immersive visualization (IV) fosters the creation of mental images of a data set, a scene, a procedure, etc. We devise an initial version of a design space for categorizing workflows that take advantage of IV. From this categorization, specific requirements for seamlessly integrating IV can be derived. We validate the design space with three workflows emerging from our research projects.
Title = {Towards a Design Space Characterizing Workflows that Take Advantage of Immersive Visualization},
Author = {Tom Vierjahn and Daniel Zielasko and Kees van Kooten and Peter Messmer and Bernd Hentschel and Torsten W. Kuhlen and Benjamin Weyers},
Booktitle = {IEEE Virtual Reality Conference Poster Proceedings},
Year = {2017},
Pages = {329-330},
Traditionally, experimental economics uses controlled and incentivized field and lab experiments to analyze economic behavior. However, investigating peer effects in the classic settings is challenging due to the reflection problem: Who is influencing whom?
To overcome this, we enlarge the methodological toolbox of these experiments by means of Virtual Reality. After introducing and validating a real-effort sorting task, we embed a virtual agent as peer of a human subject, who independently performs an identical sorting task. We conducted two experiments investigating (a) the subject's productivity adjustment due to peer effects and (b) the incentive effects on competition. Our results indicate a great potential for Virtual-Reality-based economic experiments.
Title = {Peers At Work: Economic Real-Effort Experiments In The Presence of Virtual Co-Workers},
Author = {Andrea B\"{o}nsch and Jonathan Wendt and Heiko Overath and Özgür Gürerk and Christine Harbring and Christian Grund and Thomas Kittsteiner and Torsten W. Kuhlen},
Booktitle = {IEEE Virtual Reality Conference Poster Proceedings},
Year = {2017},
Pages = {301-302},
Workflows for the acquisition and analysis of data in the natural sciences exhibit a growing degree of complexity and heterogeneity, are increasingly performed in large collaborative efforts, and often require the use of high-performance computing (HPC). Here, we explore the reasons for these new challenges and demands and discuss their impact, with a focus on the scientific domain of computational neuroscience. We argue for the need for software platforms integrating HPC systems that allow scientists to construct, comprehend and execute workflows composed of diverse processing steps using different tools. As a use case we present a concrete implementation of such a complex workflow, covering diverse topics such as HPC-based simulation using the NEST software, access to the SpiNNaker neuromorphic hardware platform, complex data analysis using the Elephant library, and interactive visualizations. Tools are embedded into a web-based software platform under development by the Human Brain Project, called Collaboratory. On the basis of this implementation, we discuss the state-of-the-art and future challenges in constructing large, collaborative workflows with access to HPC resources.
The research area Virtual Production Intelligence (VPI) focuses on the integrated support of collaborative planning processes for production systems and products. The focus of the research is on processes for information processing in the design domains Factory and Machine. These processes provide the integration and interactive analysis of emerging, mostly heterogeneous planning information. The demonstrators (flapAssist, memoSlice und VPI platform) that are Information systems serve for the validation of the scientific approaches and aim to realize a continuous and consistent information management in terms of the Digital Factory. Central challenges are the semantic information integration (e.g., by means of metamodelling), the subsequent evaluation as well as the visualization of planning information (e.g., by means of Visual Analytics and Virtual Reality). All scientific and technical work is done within an interdisciplinary team composed of engineers, computer scientists and physicists.
key = {683508},
editor = {Brecher, Christian and Özdemir, Denis},
title = {{I}ntegrative {P}roduction {T}echnology : {T}heory and
address = {Cham},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
reportid = {RWTH-2017-01369},
isbn = {978-3-319-47451-9},
pages = {XXXIX, 1100 Seiten : Illustrationen},
year = {2017},
cin = {417310 / 080025},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)417310_20140620$ / $I:(DE-82)080025_20140620$},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)3},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-47452-6},
url = {http://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/683508},
The bachelor thesis' aim was to develop a framework allowing to design and conduct virtual-reality-based user studies gaining insight into the concept of personal space.
Title = {Do Not Invade: A Virtual-Reality-Framework to Study Personal Space},
Author = {Jan Schnathmeier and Heiko Overath and Sina Radke and Andrea B\"{o}nsch and Ute Habel and Torsten W. Kuhlen},
Journal = {{V}irtuelle und {E}rweiterte {R}ealit\"at, 14. {W}orkshop der {GI}-{F}achgruppe {VR}/{AR}},
Year = {2017},
Pages = {203-204},
Publisher = {Shaker Verlag}
TL;DR: Explorative paper. Learn a Triplet-ReID net, embed the full image. Keep embeddings of known tracks, correlate them with image embeddings and use that as measurement model in a Bayesian filtering tracker. MOT score is mediocre, but framework is theoretically pleasing.
With the rise of end-to-end learning through deep learning, person detectors and re-identification (ReID) models have recently become very strong. Multi-camera multi-target (MCMT) tracking has not fully gone through this transformation yet. We intend to take another step in this direction by presenting a theoretically principled way of integrating ReID with tracking formulated as an optimal Bayes filter. This conveniently side-steps the need for data-association and opens up a direct path from full images to the core of the tracker. While the results are still sub-par, we believe that this new, tight integration opens many interesting research opportunities and leads the way towards full end-to-end tracking from raw pixels.
author = {Lucas Beyer and
Stefan Breuers and
Vitaly Kurin and
Bastian Leibe},
title = {{Towards a Principled Integration of Multi-Camera Re-Identification
and Tracking through Optimal Bayes Filters}},
journal = {{2017 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops (CVPRW)}},
year = {2017},
pages ={1444-1453},
TL;DR: Use triplet loss, hard-mining inside mini-batch performs great, is similar to offline semi-hard mining but much more efficient.
In the past few years, the field of computer vision has gone through a revolution fueled mainly by the advent of large datasets and the adoption of deep convolutional neural networks for end-to-end learning. The person re-identification subfield is no exception to this, thanks to the notable publication of the Market-1501 and MARS datasets and several strong deep learning approaches. Unfortunately, a prevailing belief in the community seems to be that the triplet loss is inferior to using surrogate losses (classification, verification) followed by a separate metric learning step. We show that, for models trained from scratch as well as pretrained ones, using a variant of the triplet loss to perform end-to-end deep metric learning outperforms any other published method by a large margin.
title = {{In Defense of the Triplet Loss for Person Re-Identification}},
author = {Hermans*, Alexander and Beyer*, Lucas and Leibe, Bastian},
journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.07737},
year = {2017}


text:
Circuit Lighting, Inc.
Mastering the Art of Lighting
Garage Sale
Conventional Fixtures
Dimming and Control
Fog Machines and Hazers
Hanging Hardware
LED Fixtures
Moving Lights
Truss and Lifts
System Integration
Design Services
Rental Equipment
Aerial Platform Lifts
Used Equipment for Sale
Service / Repair
About us
Contact Information
Job Opportunities
Join our Mailings
System Integration / Installation
Permanent Truss Installation for an Exhibition
Circuit Lighting provides comprehensive system installation services, from the initial consultation, installation and training to the finished product. A permanent lighting, staging, and/or curtain installation in a new building or a renovated space requires careful thought: Circuit Lighting is a certified distributor of today's leading industry lighting equipment, staging and curtain manufacturers.
Says Richard Tilley, President of Circuit Lighting:
"Permanent installations should last for many years. We strive to be intimately aware of the Buyers needs. Among the crucial information assembeled in assessing our Clients needs are following: Available resources, budget restrictions, space restrictions, lay outs, production needs, equipment longevity, guarantee and after Sale Service and Technical Support. Circuit Lighting will extensively research its Clients space through site surveys, auto cad drawings, budget inquiries and present a proposal that includes high quality, State-of the Art equipment at more than reasonable prices. It will take in consideration every aspect of the job. The Client can rest assured that he is in expert hands by letting Circuit Lighting handling his installation."
Projects include: Schools auditoriums, Temples, Churches, Theaters, Nightclubs, Theme Parks, Retail spaces, Exhibits, Convention Centers, Corporate Facilities, Government Facilities, Museums, Restaurants, Concert Halls and Private Facilities
And just an afterthought: Circuit Lighting will continue to support your lighting, staging or curtain installation with factory-trained, certified technicians, available to the clients for training, troubleshooting and repair. Service and maintenance contracts are available upon request
Phone: 732-968-9533
Fax: 732-968-9231
Circuit Lighting, Inc.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Inc VAT
Ex VAT
Click and Collect Only
What stores are available for Click and Collect?
Call us on: 03300 581847
Keeping on top of your lawns in the summer can be quite the chore but, we have a range of lawnmowers and accessories that can make that a little easier. Electric mowers, petrol lawn mowers or ride on mowers all play their part in keeping gardens green and tidy.


text:
If you are one of our Windows 10 pilot users and have noticed that your Documents folder appears empty; it will be a result of our new policy that has been put in place. Please be assured that your files have not been removed, but can be accessed by following these steps:
- Open "This PC" and navigate to the C: drive.
- Open the 'Users' folder
- Find your username in the list, and open the folder.
- You will find your 'Documents' folder in this list.
- Make sure you copy your files from here and then paste them back into your normal Documents folder (you can find this under 'Quick access' in the sidebar) so that they are available for future reference.


text:
KOI & Equipment SALE
This Koi sale is open to anyone; however, only Nishiki Koi Club members can post here. Most of our members reside in Orange County, California. Most of the sales will be pick-up only as arranged by the seller(s). Shipping may not be available unless noted by the seller. Please contact the seller directly.
Oxygen systems:
Two bottles as shown in pic. Both with gauges and bag filling hoses, hand-valves, etc. (fill equipment not shown).
Bottles full of oxygen. One with stand (shown on far right).
One extra bottle (middle in pic) – empty.
Full bottle w/gauges, stand & bag-filling equip: $35 (compare at $100+)
Full bottle w/gauges & bag-filling equip & w/o stand $30 (compare at $100+)
Empty bottle: $10 (compare at $50)
Caveat: Some oxygen filling places won't fill the "medical oxygen" bottles. The good news is that some do. I will tell the buyer(s) where to get them filled
Rectangular measuring tub: Heavy polyethylene (floats) ~4ft outside lip (length), 42.5″ long x 17.5″ wide x 15″ deep inside. Good condition. $100.00 (compare at $279 + shipping)
Note: "compare at…" are prices I found on the internet.
Spike Cover (in Mission Viejo-you pick them up here)
or email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Thanks in advance,


text:
After u gone , I suffered a lot
I long for ur bosom and what can I do ?
All people pity on my condition
And the nights complained of me
Every day I ask myself ..
Don't I come on your mind ?
Or you like my torture ?
Reassure me with just one word my love
Comfort my heart that is calling u
My love , I said I can handle the torture
But do you imagine that I loved u more
while u're away ?
Come and feel me
And bring me back to u so I can feel myself again
Because except for your eyes in this
world , I have no place
Don't I come on your mind ?
Or you like my torture ?
Mo7amed Nour
in English ..
U r my only angel in this life
and no one except u ..
will be .


text:
Latest Blog
Membuat Game Tebak Gambar
Tutorial membuat game tebak gambar dengan Flash
Memahami konstain
Memahami penggunaan konstrain dalam membuat sistem gerak
E-Book Media Pembelajaran
E Book Gratis Membuat Media Pembelajaran Interaktif
Membuat mouse trail
Membuat animasi ikan mengikuti kursor mouse
Animasi Karakter Game RPG Flash
Membuat animasi karakter dalam game RPG Flash
Aplikasi Peta Game RPG Flash
Mengaplikasikan Map Editor untuk peta game RPG Flash
Membuat Peta Game RPG Flash
Membuat peta untuk game RPG Flash
Mengerakkan Karakter Game RPG
Menambahkan karakter dalam game RPG Flash
Membuat Game RPG
Membuat game RPG Flash actionscript 3 dengan teknik tiling
Indonesia Soccer League
Sekilas tentang pengembangan game sepakbola dengan Flash
Indonesia Soccer League
Play Indonesian Soccer League on Flash 3D Games
Dwarf Village 2 Update
Time flies, 2014 is coming and I almost forgot that I have some pending project - the Dwarf Village 3D. Last year was very busy year, so i can't finish most of my grame project. So at this early 2014 I would like to start the project again and do some improvement. So what happen with this project?? take a look on this detail :
Dwarf Village 3D that I've made in 2013 is 70% done, I need to add a lot of stuff like breeding cattle, buying/selling stuff, talking with people etc. The main different with the first version is the game's control. Dwarf Village 3D is using keyboard instead of mouse. After playing the game, I just feel that the game is very similar with Harvest Moon series - and I think I have to bring it back to the original version of Dwarf Village (using mouse as main controller). In the middle of the changing keyboard to mouse, my computer crash and I've lost everything. I have to start from the begining - so I just give up and leave it.
July 2013 I've bought new PC and back to this project. I've install all the software that I need - and I've found that Flare3D has the new version. The new version of Flare3D is using .ZF3D file format instead of .F3D - so everything changed, and I have to make another adjustment. This made me almost giveup with this project.By the end of 2013 I have some spare time to develop game again, and I try to rewrite this game. After 2 weeks coding and redeveloping the graphics then I get a good progress - improving the game feature and add some stuff. So here the update of the Dwarf Village 3D :
Mouse Controlled Dwarf Village 3D
Now this game is using mouse as main controller - just similar with Dwarf Village 1. Another reason to use mouse is I want this game released on multiplatform (like android and iOS) in near future - because mouse event is almost similar with touch event, it would be great if this game is controlled with mouse right now
Controlling an 3D object base on mouse event using Flare3D is quite simple but tricky. It is very simple to get X and Y position when you click some 2D area, but in 3D, you need some thing to detect the mouse position base on the camera view. I use Tutorial 12 - mouse and plane on the Flare3D wiki, to detect the mouse position against the 3D plane. With that tutorial i can easily get the X and Y position - and add some simple A* pathfinding to the 3D object.
Done with the movement - I've add another Dwarf Village's features like breading some chicken, cows, and sheep.
Then the weather. Dwaft Village support 4 wheather that change the behaviour of the environment, the types of crops and the game textures. For the winter season, instead of changing the model with the snowy version - I just change the texture material so it save a lot of file size. Here the screenshot of different weather:
What next?
I need to add people, story line and some score system. Still a lot to do then - but I will try to do faster than last year. OK thanks for reading and drop me some feedback.
Share ( Ayo Berbagi )
Leave me a comment
untuk pertanyaan lebih baik di email langsung ke wandah [at] wandah [dot] com agar cepat direspon


text:
State needs review: Presidential Review Committee…
A key recommendation of the Presidential Review Committee (PRC) presented to the portfolio committee on public enterprises in Parliament said one of the thirty one recommendations emanating from the report is that a single over-arching law, proposed as the "State-Owned Entities Act" which would govern every state owned entity (SOE) through an "SOE Council of Ministers" should be enacted.
Such a council, the PRC suggests, should be drawn from the departments of public enterprises, trade and industry, economic development, national treasury, national planning and other relevant stakeholders. This should be established to oversee implementation of the proposed Act and to enable the mandate of continued collaboration between SOEs and government departments at all levels.
Split between those with commercial interests
The PRC report recommended that the proposed council be structured so that commercial entities which were SOEs were placed under one umbrella, and non-commercial and development finance institutions under another.
The report was commissioned by President Zuma following the Polokwane conference resolution, which was to strengthen the role of state-owned enterprises. The report covers four main areas — development and transformation, ownership and governance, the viability and funding of businesses, and their strategic and operational effectiveness.
Seven models looked at
Seven models of developmental states and their relationships with state owned bodies were considered by the PRC, the report concludes that a change in South Africa in the management and coordination of SOEs was clearly required.
This would involve vision, an enabling framework, performance monitoring and evaluation, with competence and the right capacity, all to be put in place effectively, otherwise there would be failure, the report said. The result is the proposal of a State-Owned Entities Act, governing every SOE and a controlling SOE Council, with such a mandate.
Salaries and wages recommendations separated
The PRC report also recommends a totally independent Central Remuneration Authority (CRA) to provide guidelines and parameters on remuneration of state employees with a common performance management system and to consider the mandate of each SOE and conclude on its right to exist, subject to critical reviews every five years.
The independence of the CRA from the SOEs was critical, the report adds.
Getting out of the kitchen
The report gets tough on its call for "rationalization", suggesting the state "exits from those sectors" where market failure exists "and/or could be adequately provided for by the private sector", focusing only on those SOEs that provided public goods or which were considered "strategic."
The report clearly makes the suggestion that the state should "either divest, either fully or partially, from those SOEs that were seen to be under-performing or competing unsuccessfully against private operators, and to absorb those entities by incorporating them into line function department programmes."
Not prescribing their call
Throughout its deliberations, the PRC says in its report, it had considered its role to be about informing, rather than prescribing, so that the policy decisions would be made in Parliament.
Most members, both the majority party members and opposition, welcomed the report with the caveat being expressed in some circles that it was unclear which SOEs should be considered as ripe for "rationalisation". Some members expressed the fear that unless things were carefully controlled, a massive "state ministerial empire might be built".
MPs not to be on Council
It was suggested by one ANC MP that members of parliament might be allowed to join the SOE Council, but it became clear from debate that this was expressly precluded in the PRC report itself and should this happen, it would be totally contrary to Parliament's role of oversight and therefore could not be allowed under any circumstances.
The Presidential Review Committee was chaired by Ms Victoria Phiyega


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ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. -- Benilde-St. Margaret's took an early two-goal lead, only to see it slip away before breaking a 2-2 tie with four third-period goals for a 6-2 junior varsity win over Rochester Lourdes.
The Red Knights dominated the game but had problems solving the puzzle that Eagles' goalie Zach Walston proved to be.
With an 18-2 advantage in shots on goal in the opening frame, BSM only managed goals by Sam Ryan and Logan Lyke, one minutes, 23 seconds apart to take a 2-0 lead at 5:30.
The Red Knights then had a 16-4 advantage in shots in the second period but it was Lourdes' Dustin Sorenson who did all of the scoring in the middle stanza as the teams went into the second intermission tied, 2-2.
Cooper Gay scored the eventual game-winner just 1:42 into the final period and final three goals came in a span of 3:30 with Nic Dokman, Will Thompson and Toby Curtiss putting the game away by expanding the lead to goals with 1:54 remaining.
In all, BSM held a 53-8 advantage in shots on goal. Curtiss had 10 of those shots while Gay had eight.
Ryan and Thompson each had a goal and an assist while Jake Hankinson and Axel Toft each contributed a pair of assists.
The Red Knights return to Metro West Conference play, Tuesday, when they host Bloomington Jefferson at the St. Louis Park Rec Center. Opening faceoff is slated for 5 p.m.
Toby Curtiss' second goal of the season came on his 10th shot of the game and sealed the deal for the Red Knights.


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Dinuba (DHS) Class of 1982 Alumni List
Help us Update the Dinuba 1982 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
Registered Alumni
1982 Class List
- Felicia Aguilar
- John Andrade
- Jonathan Andrade
- Donna Boss
- Brenda Butler
- Nelly Carrasco
- Rachel Cazares
- Aztec Chicano
- Chris Clark
- David Downs
- Keith Friesen
- Eddie Furguson
- Robert Gapen
- Brad Giese
- Greg LeBlanc
- Jose Lopez
- Brian Mitts
- Alfredo Pinto
- Laura Potthoff
- Trinidad Horacio Rios Rios
- Richard Rodarte
- Lisa Segura
- Lisa Sevura
- Kim Silvers
- Maria Solis
- Joseph Sosa
- Teresa Sustaita
- Joel Sutterfield
- Kareem Tayeh Memorial
- Karen Whitlow Torres
- Lorraine Valenzuela
Know Dinuba Class of 1982 graduates that are NOT on this List? Help us Update the 1982 Class List by adding missing names.
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial was the top movie in theaters in 1982, with a lifetime gross of over $435,110,554. Among TV shows in 1982, Dallas was the most popular of the year.
Hit Songs From 1982
Making LoveRoberta Flack
Eye Of The TigerSurvivor
Take It Easy On MeLittle River Band
Private EyesDaryl Hall and John Oates
The Other WomanRay Parker Jr.
Do You Believe In LoveHuey Lewis and The News
I RanA Flock Of Seagulls
Let's GrooveEarth, Wind and Fire
Eye In The SkyAlan Parsons Project
Waiting On A FriendRolling Stones
Hit Movies From 1982
Hit TV Shows From 1982
Class Memories From 1982
Reunions and Dinuba High School News
More 1982 alumni from Dinuba HS have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 1982 alumni.
Alumni from the Dinuba High School class of 1982 that have been added to this alumni directory are shown on this page. All of the people on this page graduated in '82 from Dinuba . You can register for free to add your name to the DHS alumni directory.
While you are reminiscing about the times you spent in high school at Dinuba High School, you should also check out alumni photos, yearbook listings and share any reunion info if possible.


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??!! "The Only Thing That Won't Go Down Is the Boat!"
posted by October 9 at 18:04 PMon
That line appeared as a targeted ad in my [heterosexual female] friend's gmail yesterday. It links to this Bostonian booze cruise, whose website offers a pic of the following lovely galpresumably one of the innumerable things that (unlike the boat) will be going down over Boston Harbor:
That's quite the slogan, Boatonian: A whole boatful of people who will blow you! Also, you probably will not drown!


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Padiham event 2006 (1)
Our event at Padihams Unitarian Chapel Hall on 11th November wasn't the biggest model railway exhibition anyone will see, but what made it special was the variety on show - from gauge 1 main line live steamers to a breathtaking 21 foot model theme park, wonderful trams, vintage Hornby 3 rail, my Irish narrow gauge...
... and an almost limitless supply of hot bacon balmcakes, cakes, pastries, and lunchtime soup & dumplings. We asked each exhibitor to tell us about his or her railway, and these next six pages are a compilation of what they said. We also asked the Minister for a paragraph about the Unitarian Chapel in whose Hall the event took place.
The UK North West Group of the Gauge 1 Association exhibited Withnell Junction. Gauge 1 (44.5 mm) was very popular in the early 1900's, but rather fell out of favour as smaller scale models became available. The G1 Association was formed by a small band of enlightened enthusiasts back in 1947, and is now an international organisation with well over 2000 members worldwide.
Generally our models are built to a scale of 10mm to 1 foot although some modellers work to the fractionally smaller 1/32nd scale. The hobby has grown enormously in the last few years, fuelled by the availability of the Aster locos, the recently introduced Bachman range, and an ever increasing range of kits and ready-to-run equipment from other suppliers. The North West Group currently has about 60 members.
The Group's portable track was first exhibited in 2000, and since then has appeared regularly at Padiham, at the Woodvale International Rally, at the Festival of Railway Modelling Exhibition in Harrogate in February last, and at the Harrogate Model Engineering and Modelling Exhibition in 2005 & 2006. At one time there was a Withnell station (though not a true junction) on the line which ran from Cherry Tree Station (on the Blackburn to Preston line) to Chorley and onwards to Wigan. There was however a siding which served the Withnell Brick and Terracotta Company. The line was opened to traffic in 1869 and had gradients as steep as 1 in 60 to reach the summit at Brinscall (558 feet above sea level). The line was operated jointly by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co. and the London and North Western Railway.
A fairly frequent service of passenger trains was operated in later years, generally hauled by Stanier 2-6-4 tanks, while freight trains could be hauled by anything up to a 9F 2-10-0. The line finally closed in January 1960. Our Gauge 1 station layout bears no resemblance to the actual Withnell station, but was so named as a tribute to our former chairman, Don Fifer, who lived nearby.
On to
Padiham event page 2
The photographs and text on this page are copyright (c) Paul Backhouse 2006 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the owner's permission.


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Have you ever wondered how daily newspapers are printed? Or better yet, do you have any idea
on how important the printing industry is to the world?
Although the printing industry is not given that much attention by most people at all, it is
certainly one of the most important industries in the world. The printing industry provides daily
information that millions of people from all over the world share with everyday. Moreover, it
also provides learning materials for people of all ages, gender, and race. Without the printing
industry, people who have impaired hearing conditions could not possibly receive any
information, or communicate with other people. Therefore, the printing industry has indeed
contributed to the advancement of civilization.
One of the most essential machines in the printing industry is the letterpress printing machine.
This machine is considered as the original mode of mass communication. In fact, the letterpress
printing machine is responsible for giving birth to the newspaper and other printed media forms.
Ever since the first letterpress machine was developed, there have been many improvements and
incarnations on it already. Today, the new breed of these printing machines offers many features
that enable efficient and fast printing operations.
There are three general types of the letterpress machine which includes the rotary letterpress, the
flat bed cylinder press, and the platen type cylinder press. The most commonly used among
these three types is the rotary press. The rotary press is widely used because of its efficient
production of materials in high quantity. This is probably the reason why this type of letterpress
is preferred by most commercial and specialty printing industries.
On the other hand, the flat bed cylinder press operates slowest among the three types of
letterpress machines. Basically, this machine utilizes a vertical or horizontal bed for locking the
plate onto. The plate is a very important component of this letterpress machine because it
contains the document to be copied. Unfortunately though, the flat bed cylinder letterpress
machine is not commonly used in printing industries today.
Finally, the platen type press is used in the printing and production of place cards and
stationeries. Although this press is quite old, some of these types are still used for various
printing needs.


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06-14-2011 #1
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
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How to make SUBdirectories in Dovecot...??
I wonder how i can get subdirectories (.INBOX/***/*** etc...) in dovecot...
I just stardet a mail server and when i tried to create it from the mail client (MS Outlook) it says that the server wont allow it...
Anyone who knows a solution?


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Trade Ed. Naxos AudioBooks 2005
CS ISBN $17.98 Three cassettes
CD ISBN $19.98 Three CDs
If David Timson is tiring of reading Sherlock Holmes stories--this is his tenth title in the Naxos catalogue--there's no sign of it. In this suite of four tales, including two that showcase Conan Doyle's fondness for the bicycle, Timson demonstrates his mastery of Holmes and Watson and mixes in regional accents for many of the minor characters. Timson's liner notes, always a nice complement in this series, are practical as well as illuminating, since they include diagrams of the cipher at the heart of "The Adventure of the Dancing Men." Attention to details like this--which other audio publishers sometimes ignore--is something the great Holmes himself would no doubt appreciate. D.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE/JULY 05]
Trade Ed. Naxos AudioBooks 2005
CS ISBN $17.98 Three cassettes
CD ISBN $19.98 Three CDs
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This post is part 5 in an ongoing series chronicling our history as a start-up. If you missed any of the previous posts you can get them by clicking Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 or Part 4 respectively.
Celebrating 5 Years Part 5: What lies ahead?
We left off last week with coming to the present day for our company, 5 quick but eventful years have gone by almost before we could realize it. It's crazy to think that our business has been around longer than our college careers and yet it feels like its been at most half the time.
When we set out on this journey we had goals and a drive but it was not as defined as it is today. We knew that we wanted to grow food and we knew we wanted to inspire others to discover aquaponics and empower their lives much the same way we had in college and later in Spencer's backyard.
We rolodexed through many different missions from eradicating world hunger, to build, grow, earn with aquaponics and maybe a half dozen more. As we matured as a business and solidified our goals in our own mind we landed on a mission we felt was imperative for the future, attainable within our lifetimes, and inclusive of everyone not just our company. That mission, to create the City that Feeds ItselfTM is one that is going to guide us through our next five years.
We've also come to see that aquaponics can improve lives of people in so many more ways than just providing a clean, trustworthy and sustainably grown source of produce. With our hidden farmer groups like schools, veterans, I/DD agencies, etc we have partners within all cities and communities that will benefit from growing while contributing to the food security of their city.
Looking into the future we're looking to build on the foundation we have created in Meriden. We're using the Meriden project as the showcase for what is possible in CT. We still have our eyes on Hartford and hope to expand next year with a large 20,000+ sqft urban vertical aquaponics farm. In similar fashion to our Meriden Sprout Food Hub, this will be another Sprout Food Hub that will set up the support and infrastructure for a smaller network of farms to We've already have a space picked out and are in the process of acquiring the capital we will need to move forward with that project.
We'll be connecting the schools that we work with already in Hartford to the project, implementing our hidden farmer model to show how even small grows at partner organizations can have an impact on local food security. We'll use the schools and our curriculum to collect data on the food habits of Hartford residents so we both can address the local food needs and grow to the local population. This will be the model we use in every city to work towards our goal of creating the City that Feeds ItselfTM wherever we or a partner sets up a farm.
Our goal in the next year is not just to get this going in Hartford, but also in New Haven. We've already picked out a location in New Haven as well that's in a great neighborhood and full of businesses we can synergize with to deliver delicious local food to New Haven residents. With New Haven, we will also be working with our school clients the same way we will in Hartford to collect data that gives us that snapshot of the local food ecosystem in New Haven. This will inform us, and anyone who wants to serve the New Haven market, with what is actually in demand in New Haven that can be grown locally. With both cities, we want to move them towards complete food security over the next few years and showcase the model that can work in any city in the state, the country or the world.
With both of these projects, we'll face the same challenges we've faced in the past, they are very capital intensive at the outset. In the past, we've bootlegged all our farms but for these, it will take years for us to build up that kind of capital. Instead, this time around we are going to use our five years of success as a model to find partners that would like to join our mission in these cities and can help with the burden of some of the cost.
We've already locked down an education partnership with CREC schools to develop our K-12 curriculum and help us to sell our services to other schools throughout the country. With any city we go into, we like to have a few hidden farmers in place that can give us insight into the city's food paradigm.
We'll look for similar partners for the farm side of the business that can help us fund farms but also help with getting the food into the organizations and people that can best utilize it. We're in many talks already with potential scaling partners that should be able to help us with these buildouts in New Haven and Hartford next year and hopefully many more farms over the course of the next five years.
Our goal is not only to expand our business but to empower others to follow our model and open up their own farms in their own cities. By showcasing a model that works in different cities and different food demographics we can reduce a lot of the uncertainties many urban farmers currently face.
We've come a long way in our short 5 years as a company, but we still have a long long way to go to create the City that Feeds ItselfTM. This is a mission that will likely take a lifetime but should have a lasting legacy that results in sustainable food ecosystems that can reliably support our growing urban populations within the means of our planets resources. We look forward to the challenges we'll need to overcome and know along the way we'll be helping ourselves and others eat some might good food that they can feel proud about.


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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Uranium Stocks - Oversold? Maybe. Undervalued? Not Even Close.
I think what the bulls are forgetting is that the massive rise we saw in both uranium and uranium miners was based not only on existing and approved projects, but also on the prospects of a "nuclear revival" worldwide that would see a spike in new nuke applications and subsequent approvals. The last I heard Canada, Germany and even China have put a hold on all new nuclear applications until further safety studies can be completed.
Uranium prices were $40/lb just last summer and Cameco (CCJ) was trading in the low-$20's at the same time.
Exactly how is the nuclear industry 50% BETTER OFF than it was last summer?
From a technical perspective, what we witnessed in CCJ over the past 3 trading days is nothing more than a classic "dead cat bounce". Individual investors have bought into the oversold story, and some of the shorts that sold much higher are simply locking in profits. The little dip above the 200dma yesterday probably stopped out a few more shorts causing even more buying.
But none of that changes the bigger picture, which is that the sector is under a cloud of uncertainty, and prices are still about 50% higher than they were less than a year ago. That doesn't sound like a sound thesis for going long. There are still a lot of large investors that are long shares in CCJ from higher levels. They will see every bounce as an opportunity to sell. Technically I don't see how CCJ doesn't at a minimum go back to test the $21 level.
Posted by Johnny905 at 11:14 AM
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German focus 'will shift to domestic market'
By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt
Published: March 22 2010 23:30 | Last updated: March 22 2010 23:30
Germany is unlikely to repeat its past export-led success and will have to focus more on the domestic market, its central bank president argued.
In the latest attempt to counter criticism of the country's lopsided growth model, Axel Weber, Bundesbank president, argued that prior to 2008 German exports had been boosted "by strong, but ultimately unsustainable, global economic growth".
In a future world environment "characterised by a less steep but hopefully healthier expansion, German enterprises will naturally have to focus more on the domestic market than before", he said in a speech in Copenhagen.
His comments followed criticism last week by Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, that countries running large trade surpluses such as Germany were not doing enough to support growth across Europe. Her comments have riled German politicians, who have also appeared isolated within the 16-country eurozone over their reluctance to back financial aid for Greece.
German exports allowed the country to exit recession last year in advance of other large industrialised economies, with its companies reaping the benefits of years of wage moderation and structural reforms before the global financial crisis.
Mr Weber said policymakers would be "ill-advised" to conclude from Germany's past performance that there was "the need for actively propping up domestic demand, for example via encouraging higher negotiated wages". In fact Germany had served "as an important buffer for world demand at the height of the financial crisis via its still robust private consumption as well as large fiscal stimulus packages".
The Bundesbank president added that attempts by politicians to co-ordinate an economic adjustment within Europe would be "neither necessary nor helpful".
His case received backing from Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank president, who told the European parliament in Brussels that there was no case for criticising countries running trade surpluses. The ECB president added the eurozone overall was in balance and had not contributed to "a disequilibrium at the global level".
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
German focus 'will shift to domestic market'
Posted by Edward Hugh at 12:05 AM
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Chris Morgan and Emile Gladstone are set to produce a film adaptation of Robert McCammon's 1989 novel "The Wolf's Hour" for Universal.
The story focuses on a man recruited by the Allies in WWII specifically for his ability to become a werewolf.
He's soon charged with stopping a Nazi plot to drop poison gas on England, and at the same time he searches for his long lost blood brother.
Bradley and Kevin Marcus penned the script for the project after optioning the novel themselves. They fleshed the script which caught the eye of Morgan and Gladstone.
Source: Deadline


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Tips for the Aspiring Au Pair: What to Consider When Seeking a Position
There are many benefits to working as an au pair. You get the opportunity to work with a loving family, care for the needs of children and experience a new culture. However, the job is demanding, prompting the need for you to think long and hard about what you are seeking in both a position and a family.
Getting Started
When searching for a position as a live-in au pair, it's important to do your research. Carefully examine different agencies to determine if you would like professionals to work on your behalf, mediating agreements between yourself and a family and making a match that meets both your needs and the family's needs. Having a third party involved and overseeing the initial contract can save you from both headache and heartache versus trying to find a family on your own.
Numerous networking sites can also offer leads to au pair positions. Seek out au pairs and soak in the advice they have for finding a host family and establishing a contract. Network with fellow au pairs and learn from the challenges they have faced.
Establish Expectations
If you are interested in working as an au pair, begin by making a list of what you hope to gain from the experience. What type of family or home environment would you prefer?
It may help to ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you want a family that is strictly professional or would you prefer to be treated as part of the family?
- What type of location do you prefer? Do you want to live in an area with access to nature and the great outdoors or would you rather soak in the city life?
- What are you looking for in a salary and compensation package?
- Will the live-in commitment afford you time for a social life? How do you plan to network with friends and family members while working as an au pair?
- What are your childcare strategies in terms of discipline? Outlining your preferences will help you to see if you are a good match for a particular family.
Read the Fine Print
Once you have located a family that you think will be a good match, it's important to be vocal and ask questions about the position. Research the family and make sure the location is a good fit for you.
Inquire about the family's parenting style, work obligations and religious preferences, as well as the likes and dislikes of the children. Schedule a Skype or video chat session so you can ask questions face to face and meet the family. During the initial chat session, don't be afraid to ask questions about their expectations, too, such as your primary duties, lodging accommodations and responsibilities when it comes to transportation, meals and housekeeping.
Once you have determined that the family is a good fit and both parties would like to move forward, you should insist on a contract or binding agreement to protect your employment.
A contract or agreement may include the following:
- Weekly Schedule
- Expected Daily Tasks
- Room and Board
- Flight Compensation
- Vacation Time
- Overtime
- Continuing Education Opportunities, such as language courses
Having the agreement in print will help set expectations for you and the family and provide you with documentation to refer to if a conflict occurs during your employment.
Open Yourself to the Opportunity
As an au pair in a new family environment, you may feel nervous or vulnerable, but it is crucial for you to share details about yourself to help form a bond. Be honest about your interests, skills and abilities. If you are not the greatest cook, be sure to share this information. If you are a sewing enthusiast, let the host family know – they may be in need of your services or skills.
While adjusting to a new environment, many au pairs cope with culture shock. The Au Pair in America organization recommends seeking out hobbies or classes to help you adjust. In addition, incorporate relaxation and meditation into your daily routine. Communicate your struggles with your counselor or host family, too, so they can offer you the help you need.
The more you share about yourself, the more the family will share as well, helping to create a bond with you – a stranger who is about to reside within their home and take care of their children. Establish trust right away so the experience is beneficial for everyone.