Direct solar irradiance may cause thermal discomfort, even in winter when the ambient temperature is low and especially for high-altitude locations with a high intensity of solar radiation. Thus winter solar shading might be required and, if used, must achieve a balance between the prevention of the transmittance of solar irradiance, the utilization of passive solar heat and the supply of adequ...

This paper proposes a hybrid switching technique for a domestic PV system with AC-module architecture. In this PV system, independent control of PV modules, which are directly connected to DC terminals of a single-phase cascaded multilevel inverter, makes module-level MPPT possible to extract maximum available solar energy, especially in partial shading conditions. As one of the main contributi...

We present a model based approach to the integration of multiple cues for tracking high degree of freedom articulated motions. We then apply it to the problem of hand tracking using a single camera sequence. Hand tracking is particularly challenging because of occlusions, shading variations, and the high dimensionality of the motion. The novelty of our approach is in the combination of multiple...

In this paper, a formal model for antivirus update agent system is presented based on mobile agent technology and predicate/transition Petri nets. The mobile agent system contains two mobile agents called DCA and UNA. It sends out agents to update antivirus on client computers in a network. Each agent takes on a specified responsibility. First, DCA roams through the network and check the last d...

In this study we explore the impact of asymmetrical vs. uniform crown shading on the mortality and growth of upper and lower branches within tree crowns, for two conifer species: shade intolerant lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and shade tolerant white spruce (Picea glauca). We also explore xylem hydraulics, foliar nutrition, and carbohydrate status as drivers for growth and expansion of the lo...

This paper presents the relationship between daylighting performance and shading device design in the perimeter area of buildings. In the area of tropic and sub-tropic, designers always face with the contradiction between solar heat gain and daylighting using. Factors such as different type of shading device, material reflectance, fenestration design, opening ratio, and daylight distribution wi...

Solar shading designs are important for reduction of building energy consumption and improvement of indoor thermal environment. This paper carried out a number of building simulations for evaluation of the energy performance of different shading devices based on incremental costs. The results show that movable shading devices lower incremental costs by up to 50% compared with fixed ones for the...

Both non-Lambertian shading, specularities in particular, and occluding contours have ill-matched binocular disparities. For example, the disparities of specularities depend not only on a surface's position but also on its curvature. Shading and contour disparities do in general not specify a point on the surface. I investigated how shading and contours contribute to perceived shape in stereosc...

Nitrogen availability and illumination intensity are two key factors which affect rice growth. However, their influences on total nitrogen accumulation, photosynthetic rate, root morphologies, and yields are not fully understood. We conducted two field experiments to (1) evaluate the effects of shading under different N treatments on photosynthetic parameters, root morphologies, total nutrient ...

Physically grounded shading models have been known for many years, but they have only recently started to replace the " ad-hoc " models in common use for both film and game production. Compared to " ad-hoc " models, which require laborious tweaking to produce high-quality images, physically-based, energy-conserving shading models easily create materials that hold up under a variety of lighting ...