Development of a markerless optical motion capture system for daily use of training in swimming

The main objective of this research was to develop a markerless optical motion capture system that can be used for daily use in swimming training. The butterfly stroke was targeted since it is considered bilaterally symmetric in motion. The system consisted of a segmentation process to obtain the participant’s silhouettes and a matching process to estimate the pose of the participant. A variable thresholding method was used to extract the silhouettes to solve non-uniform illumination in the recorded swimming video. Prior to the matching process, the human body was modeled as a series of nine segments to help the matching process. The model was then mapped so that it aligned with the silhouettes, which were investigated by similarity of intensity value. To minimize the degree of freedom in image matching, the available joint motion in the swimming human simulation model was used as a priori information for kinematics data of the swimming motion. As a result, the rotation angle’s correlation coefficients between the references and result of the matching process were around 0.95 for trunk, thigh, shank, upper arm, forearm, hand and 0.78 for head, hip and foot. The rotation angle and the velocity of the center of mass were put into the swimming human simulation model for a dynamics analysis. The simulation results show that the velocity obtained in the experiment corresponded to the fluid force exerted on the lower and upper limbs. Consequently, the proposed system of obtaining the joint motion of the butterfly stroke is suitable for daily training and coaching.     

Designing,building, measuring,and testing a constant equivalent fall height terrain park jump

Previous work has presented both a theoretical foundation for designing terrain park jumps that control landing impact and computer software to accomplish this task. US ski resorts have been reluctant to adopt this more engineered approach to jump design, in part due to questions of feasibility. The present study demonstrates this feasibility. It describes the design, construction, measurement, and experimental testing of such a jump. It improves on the previous efforts with more complete instrumentation, a larger range of jump distances, and a new method for combining jumper- and board-mounted accelerometer data to estimate equivalent fall height, a measure of impact severity. It unequivocally demonstrates the efficacy of the engineering design approach, namely that it is possible and practical to design and build free style terrain park jumps with landing surface shapes that control for landing impact as predicted by the theory.     

Three Decades of Cultural Exchange through Book Donation

The cultural exchange between China and Japan dates back to ancient times.This extensive exchange that covers wide range of fields continued even in times of tension in the bilateral relations.The cooperation established between the National Library of China （NLC） and Nippon Shuppan Hanbai Inc.     

Materials Research in France: A Short-lived National Initiative (1982–1994)

This paper describes the French initiative in materials research against both a national and an international background, in an attempt to disentangle the local circumstances, which prompted this governmental initiative, and to characterize the specific profile of materials research in France. In presenting a biography of the interdisciplinary program in materials research (PIRMAT), we argue that: i) the PIRMAT denotes a failure of the French science policy in materials research; ii) the leadership of the CNRS led to a specific style of research, quite different from the engineering approach of Materials Science and Engineering, and characteristic of a French style in materials research.     

National,Regional and Global Perspectives of Higher Education and Science Policies in the Arab Region

In this paper we discuss the interaction between science policies (and particularly in the area of scientific research) and higher education policies in Gulf and Mediterranean Arab countries. Our analysis reveals a discrepancy between the two sub-regions with respect to integration in the global market, cooperation in scientific research and international mobility of students. The paper discusses the implications of the analysis of reform policies and higher education restructuring.     

Prediction as an Impediment to Preparedness: Lessons from the US Hurricane and Earthquake Research Enterprises

No matter one’s wealth or social position, all are subject to the threats of natural hazards. Be it fire, flood, hurricane, earthquake, tornado, or drought, the reality of hazard risk is universal. In response, governments, non-profits, and the private sector all support research to study hazards. Each has a common end in mind: to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities. While this end goal is shared across hazards, the conception of how to get there can diverge considerably. The earthquake and hurricane research endeavors in the US provide an illustrative contrast. The earthquake community sets out to increase resilience through a research process that simultaneously promotes both high quality and usable – preparedness-focused - science. In order to do so, the logic suggests that research must be collaborative, responsive, and transparent. Hurricane research, by contrast, largely promotes high quality science – predictions - alone, and presumes that usability should flow from there. This process is not collaborative, responsive, or transparent. Experience suggests, however, that the latter model – hurricane research - does not prepare communities or decision makers to use the high quality science it has produced when a storm does hit. The predictions are good, but they are not used effectively. Earthquake research, on the other hand, is developed through a collaborative process that equips decision makers to know and use hazards research knowledge as soon as an earthquake hits. The contrast between the two fields suggests that earthquake research is more likely to meet the end goal of resilience than is hurricane research, and thus that communities might be more resilient to hurricanes were the model by which research is funded and conducted to change. The earthquake research experience can provide lessons for this shift. This paper employs the Public Value Mapping (PVM) framework to explore these two divergent public value logics, their end results, and opportunities for improvement.     

奏响文化交流新乐章——2011年新年献辞

“莺啼燕语报新年”,2011年的新年已经来到。值此辞旧年迎新春之际,我谨向热情关心和支持《文化交流》办刊工作的各级领导、各界人士致以崇高的敬意和衷心的感谢,向《文化交流》的广大读者、作者朋友以及《文化交流》的办刊工作者道一声：谢谢!谢谢你们,在过去的一年中,《文化交流》因你们而精彩!     

Deterioration of Yungang Grottoes: Diagnosis and research

Yungang Grottoes, in Datong City of Shanxi Province, China, as the state-level key cultural relic preservation organ, have been subjected to severe degradation due to natural and human factors over the years. Since January 2010, site investigation and research on Yungang Grottoes, assisted by the Xi’an Relics Protection Center and Yungang Grottoes Cultural Research Institute, have been carried out in the laboratory of cultural relics conservation materials in Zhejiang University. Our investigation of the deterioration characteristics of these grottoes is presented here. The paper describes about 12 types of diseases in detail represented by dust deposit, salt crystallization and black crust. Relevant samples have been collected and analyzed by means of SEM, FT-IR, XRD and EDAX to study the potential hazard to the sandstones and conservation methods, which could be used to help guide remediation efforts directed at reducing the weathering problem.     

客家优良传统的根在河洛

<正>河洛地区文化积淀厚重,历代名家辈出。河洛地区先民们创造的河洛文化是以中原文化为代表的黄河文明的核心和发祥地,河洛文化是中华文明的摇篮文化,是数千年来的中国传统文化的主体。客家人来源于中原汉民族,深受河洛文化的影响,北方粗犷豪爽的性格特征,锻造出客家人乐生迈进、刚强弘毅、勇敢