In this paper, several binary mask based Depth From Defocus (DFD) algorithms are proposed to improve autofocusing performance and robustness. A binary mask is defined by thresholding image Laplacian to remove unreliable points with low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). Three different DFD schemes-with/without spatial integration and with/without squaring-are investigated and evaluated, both through ...

A completely randomised design experiment was conducted to determine if grouphoused grower-finisher pigs (43.9 to 95 kg) show differences in performance and nitrogen utilisation when provided with a single high lysine diet (11 g/kg) or with a mean lysine concentration of 9.5 g/kg, either as a single diet or as a series of two or four diets. Four hundred and forty pigs were assigned to four diet...

Few studies have examined how Information Requirement Determination (IRD) is practiced in the Arab world. To lessen the gap, this empirical study reports on the perception of 19 IRD methods in Kuwait, an Arab country. Based on a sample of 87 software stakeholders, this study reports on the most known, widely used and highly valued IRD methods. Results show that Arab culture influences perceptio...

A new passive ranging technique named Robust Depth-from-Defocus (RDFD) is presented for autofocusing in digital cameras. It is adapted to work in the presence of image shift and scale change caused by camera/hand/object motion. RDFD is similar to spatial-domain Depth-from-Defocus (DFD) techniques in terms of computational efficiency, but it does not require pixel correspondence between two imag...

Background Diabetic foot disease (DFD) is the leading cause of hospitalisation and lower extremity amputation (LEA) in people with diabetes. Many studies have established the relationship between DFD and clinical risk factors, such as peripheral neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease. Other studies have identified the relationship between diabetes and non-clinical risk factors termed social...

In Europe, EU regulation such as the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive makes Original Equipment Manufacturers formally responsible for the set-up of collection and recovery systems. These stringent European directives on consumer waste will result in an increasing demand for cost efficient disassembly systems at a high capacity. The European WEEE directive does...

One hundred beef carcasses were selected at three packing plants and were used to determine the relationship between glycolytic potential (GP) and dark, firm, and dry (DFD) beef and to determine the effects of DFD status and GP on cooked beef palatability. Eight individual muscles were excised from one hindquarter of each carcass at d 7 postmortem: longissimus lumborum, psoas major, gluteus med...

The variable block size(VBS) motion estimation technique allows for larger blocks to be used when smaller blocks yield little gain, saving bit rates especially for areas containing more complex motion. However, the employment of the VBS motion estimation technique introduces a new optimization issue for the motion compensated transform coding, because an increase in bit rate allocation is neces...

In Einführung in die Metaphysik (EM) Heidegger describes the advent of metaphysics by analyzing in detail the transition from the pre-socratic logos to what since Aristotle has come to be known as logic; in Die Frage nach dem Ding (DFD) (and in Heidegger 1950a ) the same story is told but this time by focusing on the decisive role of mathematics. EM mentions mathematics only indicidently, and n...