Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/10). Includes bibliographical references.

Free-floating planets (FFPs) are very difficult to observe directly since they are isolated and intrinsically faint. The gravitational microlensing effect is now major method to observe FFPs, but observing low-mass FFPs is still difficult due to their short duration. We compute simulations for FFP microlensing observations down to Earth-mass using the numerical Besancon Galactic model created by Robin et al. (2012a). These are the first detailed simulation of FFP microlensing using a population synthesis Galactic model incorporating a 3D extinction model, and we also take full account of finite source effects. Firstly, we simulate the microlensing event rate and spatial distribution using three different modes, and for each mode three FFP lens masses (Jupiter, Neptune, and Earth). For the target area of (l, b) =(1, -1.75) which corresponds to the centre of the proposed Euclid ExELS field, our simulations result in 184-920 Jupiter-mass FFPs during the 5 year Euclid mission depending on simulation assumptions. For the Earth-mass FFPs, the rate range is 9-49 FFPs assuming 100% detection efficiency. Next, we compute the rate of parallax detection using a 3D model of the observers. We consider parallax detection by Euclid and WFIRST-AFTA, and by Euclid and LSST. We found that 52 Jupiter-mass FFPs will be detected by a parallax between Euclid and WFIRST-AFTA for two 30-day continuous period around equinoxes if they observe simultaneously. The rate falls to 4 parallax events for Earth-mass FFPs. The parallax detection between Euclid and LSST would be affected by the observation time on the Earth, but it could provide 20 Jupiter-mass FFPs down to 1.4 Earth-mass FFPs.

Esse trabalho objetiva motivar os professores que ensinam trigonometria, no ensino médio, propondo formas e propostas de ensino que facilitem o desenvolvimento da capacidade dos alunos em dominar as funções trigonométricas de tal forma, que eles possam fazer uso desse conhecimento para a resolução de problemas da vida cotidiana. O ensino de trigonometria, como vem sendo ministrado, não é, geralmente, apreciado por grande parte dos alunos os quais, muitas vezes, sofrem com a exigência de memorização de uma quantidade de informações sem nenhuma aplicabilidade prática em seu dia a dia. A proposta, aqui apresentada, fundamenta-se na libertação da metodologia de fixação de definições e fórmulas, sem relação entre fato e conceito bem como das maneiras de resolução de exercícios mecânicos, evitando a obrigatoriedade de memorização forçada de algoritmos. Este trabalho foi realizado em duas etapas complementares: uma teórica e outra experimental. Na parte teórica, trouxemos as definições das funções trigonométricas; as definições das medidas dos ângulos, tanto em graus como em radianos, com o objetivo de mostrar e explicar as razões da existência das duas unidades de medidas de ângulos e as diferenças e formas mais vantajosas que cada uma delas apresenta na representação de uma função trigonométrica. Na parte experimental, foi feita uma aplicação prática dos conceitos estudados, como o cálculo de distâncias inacessíveis, utilizando o método Paralaxe. Nessa etapa, fizemos uma simulação de situações reais presentes no dia a dia de todos a partir da semelhança de triângulos. Em seguida, mostramos situações em que se pode utilizar a trigonometria de forma prática e contextualizada. Para tanto, contamos com a participação de alguns alunos da ONG Pedra Bruta - Lapidando Talentos. As atividades realizadas são de simples aplicação e mostraram um resultado significativo, pois otimizaram o processo ensino aprendizagem e extrapolaram os limites da sala de aula já que a metodologia usada para a construção do conhecimento não se restringiu apenas à lousa, ao giz, caderno e ao espaço da sala de aula. A abordagem dada trouxe uma prática capaz de ressignificar o conteúdo aos discentes, deixando mais envolvente o ensino de trigonometria, pois, embora haja muita literatura sobre o assunto, não há um detalhamento de descrições e interpretações de práticas de ensino voltadas à contextualização. Portanto, foi realizado um passo a passo de como desenvolver situações de aprendizagem, fazendo uso de recursos simples e de baixo custo. / This paper aims at motivating teachers who teach Trigonometry in high school by suggesting ways and teaching proposals that can make it easier to lead the students into developing their abilities so as to master trigonometric functions in order to make use of such knowledge for solving everyday life problems. The teaching of Trigonometry as it has been done is not generally enjoyable for the most part of the students who resent the demands of memorization of a volume of information which can hardly find any practical applicability day to day. The suggestion presented in this thesis is based on freeing one from such a methodology that requires memorizing definitions and formulas without correlating fact and concept and from employing mechanical solving of exercises and by doing so avoid mandatory memorizing of algorithms. This work has been done in two complementary phases: a theoretical and an experimental one. Within the theoretical part we have brought in the definitions of trigonometric functions; the definitions of measurement of angles both in degrees and radians in order to demonstrate and explain the reason for the existence of two different measurement units for angles as well as the differences and the more advantageous forms each of them presents for the representation of a trigonometric function. In the experimental part a practical application of the concepts studied was done such as the calculation of inaccessible distances using the Parallax method. In this phase we have done a simulation of common real life situations using the similarity of triangles. After we showed situations in which one can make practical and contextualized use of Trigonometry. For such we invited some students from the NGO Pedra Dura - LapidandoTalentos. The activities done are easily applicable and showed significant results when they optimized the teaching and learning process and extrapolated the classroom limits once the methodology used for the building of knowledge was not restricted to a board, a piece of chalk, a notebook and the classroom.The approach given has brought forward a practice capable of bringing new meaning to contents for the students by making the teaching of Trigonometry more involving because, although there is extensive literature about this subject there is not a detailed description or interpretation of teaching practices aimed at such contextualization. A step by step was thus built on how to develop situated learning sequences making use of simple and low cost resources.

Weakly electric fish use of a self-generated electric field to probe their environment, this behaviour is known as electrolocation. This study investigated two aspects of electrolocation in two species of knifefish (Apteronotus leptorhynchus and Eigenmannia virescens). First, we characterized the ability to track moving objects and found that tracking performance did not differ among speeds tested in either species. Second, we characterized a motion-related cue for distance perception, similar to visual parallax, for which rapidly moving objects would be perceived as closer than slowly moving objects. During tracking experiments, the fish remained centered between the moving objects. We hypothesized that the fish use electrosensory parallax to perform this centering behaviour. Thus, we predicted that if one object moved slightly slower than the other, the fish would perceive the slower-moving object as farther away, and would move towards the slower object to remain “centered.” Indeed, our results supported our hypothesis with E. virescens moving towards the slower object to an extent that increased with the relative decrease in speed.

Photometric data on the Kron-Cousins photometric system have been obtained for 118 new late K to middle M-type stars with known distances. These data have been used to obtain absolute red magnitudes, to construct a color-magnitude diagram, and to compute a polynomial function for disk dwarf stars in the color range 1.5 ≤ R-I < 2.0, which can be used to compute absolute red magnitudes to be used for photometric parallaxes. Such photometric parallaxes allow new stellar distance estimations that are essential when modeling the spatial distribution of stars in our Galaxy. This is especially important for M-type stars, as they make up more than half of the mass of the Milky Way. Intermediate-band CaH observations have also been obtained in an ongoing effort to distinguish stellar luminosity classes and populations; R-L and R-I colors are used to identify possible subdwarf stars. A total of seven possible new subdwarfs and three previously known subdwarfs have been identified with this method. / Department of Physics and Astronomy

Cheung Man-Tai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-84). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / List of Figures --- p.vi / List of Tables --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1. --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1. --- Parallax --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2. --- Literature Review --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3. --- Research Objective --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4. --- Organization of Thesis --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- The 3-Image Algorithm --- p.1 / Chapter 2.1. --- Projective Reconstruction --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2. --- Epipolar Geometry and Fundamental Matrix --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3. --- Determine the Projective Mapping --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.1. --- Conditions for Initial Matches --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3.2. --- Obtaining the Feature Correspondence --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4. --- Registering Pixel Element --- p.21 / Chapter 2.4.1. --- Single Homography Approach --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4.2. --- Multiple Homography Approach --- p.23 / Chapter 2.4.3. --- Triangular Patches Clustering --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4.3.1. --- Delaunay Triangulation --- p.25 / Chapter 2.5. --- Mosaic Construction --- p.29 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- The n-Image Algorithm --- p.31 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- The Uneven-Sampling-Rate n-Image Algorithm --- p.34 / Chapter 4.1. --- Varying the Reference-Target Images Separation --- p.35 / Chapter 4.2. --- Varying the Target-Intermediate Images Separation --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Experiments --- p.43 / Chapter 5.1. --- Experimental Setup --- p.43 / Chapter 5.1.1. --- Measuring the Performance --- p.43 / Chapter 5.2. --- Experiments on the 3-Image Algorithm --- p.44 / Chapter 5.2.1. --- Planar Scene --- p.44 / Chapter 5.2.2. --- Comparison between a Global Parametric Transformation and the 3-Image Algorithm --- p.46 / Chapter 5.2.3. --- Generic Scene --- p.49 / Chapter 5.2.4. --- The Triangular Patches Clustering against the Multiple Homography Approach --- p.52 / Chapter 5.3. --- Experiments on the n-Image Algorithm --- p.56 / Chapter 5.3.1. --- Initial Experiment on the n-Image Algorithm --- p.56 / Chapter 5.3.2. --- Another Experiment on the n-Image Algorithm --- p.58 / Chapter 5.3.3. --- the n-Image Algorithm over a Longer Image Stream --- p.61 / Chapter 5.4. --- Experiments on the Uneven-Sampling-Rate n-Image Algorithm --- p.65 / Chapter 5.4.1. --- Varying Reference-Target Images Separation --- p.65 / Chapter 5.4.2. --- Varying Target-Intermediate Images Separation --- p.69 / Chapter 5.4.3. --- Comparing the Uneven-Sampling-Rate n-Image Algorithm and Global Transformation Method --- p.73 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.76 / Bibliography --- p.81

<p>Det har tidigare pågått många experiment och examensarbeten inom ansikts- och ögondetektering och många är medvetna av detekteringsalgoritmernas existens men däremot är den parallaxeffekten inte lika vältalad trots att tredimensionell och djupupplevelse är vanlig för oss. Vad är parallax? Hur är det att implementera och använda det i datorspel?</p><p>Syftet med detta projekt är att förstå den parallaxeffektens påverkan i datorspel och hur människor upplever det. Den parallaxeffekten som undersöks är en djupupplevelse som uppfattas när vi rör oss, till följd av skillnaden på bilden beroende av huvudets rörelse, vilket är rörelseparallax. Lösningsförslaget till projektet är att använda sig av webbkamera till att detektera och följa ansiktsrörelse och anpassar grafiken till det. Slutligen ska en användarstudie på upplevelsen ske med ungefär tio till tjugo personer. Förutom parallaxeffekten kommer även en jämförelse med den normala 3D och anaglyf att ingå i användarstudien, där den normala 3D innebär illustration av tredimensionellt föremål i en skärm.</p> / <p>Many experiments and theses have studied face and eye detection, because of that many are aware of their existence but on the other hand how many does know about parallax although we are surrounding by three-dimensional and depth perception. So what is parallax? How is it to implement and use it in computer games?</p><p>The objective with this thesis is to understand how parallax effect will influence a human being by computer game and how we will perceive it. The parallax that been treated in this project is the depth perception which we perceive when we are moving; due to the disparity of the image depends on our movement, which is called motion parallax or only parallax. One solution plan is to use the webcam to detect and track the face of the user and adjusts the graphics to it. A user survey on the depth perception will carry out by about ten to twenty people. In addition to parallax there will also be a comparison with the normal 3D and anaglyph, where normal 3D means illustration of a three dimensional object in a screen.</p>

Since the first successful measurements of stellar trigonometric parallax in the 1830s, the study of nearby stars has focused on the highest proper motion stars (mu > 0.18"/yr). Those high proper motion stars have formed the backbone of the last 150 years of study of the Solar Neighborhood and the composition of the Galaxy. Statistically speaking, though, there is a population of stars that will have low proper motions when their space motions have been projected onto the sky. At the same time, over the last twenty years, populations of relatively young stars (less than ~100 Myr), most of them with low proper motions, have been revealed near (<100 >pc) the Sun. This dissertation is the result of two related projects: A photometric search for nearby (<25 >pc) southern-hemisphere M dwarf stars with low proper motions (mu < 0.18"/yr), and a search for nearby (

This investigation in the 24 Kapteyn Selected Areas along the celestial equator examined 21 red dwarf stars identified in an objective-prism survey. These stars were classified as red dwarf stars using light at wavelengths between 5800 A and 6800 A. Using calcium-hydride-based luminosity classification, this study found 13 of these stars to be red giant stars, and only 6 stars were found to be red dwarfs. One star was determined to be warm star. One star was not clearly distinguishable as a dwarf or giant. Distance calculations for the red dwarf stars found that these stars lie within 40 parsecs of the sun. / Department of Physics and Astronomy

FONSECA, Fernando Facó de Assis. Pensar a liberdade em Slavoj Zizek: uma reflexão sobre ciência, ontologia, subjetividade e política emancipatória. 2015. 230f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Brasileira, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-01-19T11:23:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_ffafonseca.pdf: 828805 bytes, checksum: c597eef1ad65af3558eadf28d8113c83 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-01-19T15:03:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_ffafonseca.pdf: 828805 bytes, checksum: c597eef1ad65af3558eadf28d8113c83 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-19T15:03:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_ffafonseca.pdf: 828805 bytes, checksum: c597eef1ad65af3558eadf28d8113c83 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / The present work discusses the idea of emancipation and freedom for Zizek, a concept of freedom strictly materialist and post-metaphysical. If the emphasis today on the ideals of the Enlightenment (Aufklärung) supplied by modernity is considered a step backwards before our reality post-modern, Zizek sees the challenge of reintegrating such principles in philosophical scenario today in a very special way. His merit consists basically to approach the kernel of the contemporary question (in terms of science, ontology, subjectivity and politics) from the ideal modern that opens up the prospect of emancipation and human freedom. Our work has, therefore, as task to explore this theme of freedom in current times, in what Kant understood with the principle of Aufklärung, namely, the leaving of man of minority, of which he himself is guilty. In this sense, the theme will be divided into four main thematic areas: (i) science and epistemology, (ii) ontology, (iii) subjectivity and (iv) emancipatory politics. On the first point it is discussed the ideal of Aufklärung for Zizek and how it contrasts directly with the perspective of Habermas and his project of a unfinished modernity. For this, we take as a guide the controversy on the subject of biogenetic, and, from then on, we look for to demonstrate as that the conception of modernity for Zizek is still more radical than that of Habermas. In the second chapter, we are seeking to develop how Zizek justifies the ontological basis of freedom from the passage from Kant to Hegel. The focus is deposited in the parallax shift of epistemological obstacle in Kant, for his positive ontological condition, in Hegel. That is, the way as Hegel radicalizes the Kantian thought from a twist purely formal dialectic. In the third chapter, the prospect of freedom is now shifted to the field of subjectivity, the dialectical relation between the Kantian moral Law and the sadistic enjoyment. In this direction, I look for to show first as that Lacan articulates Kant with Sade, then think about how that the psychoanalyst seeks an outlet for the principle of Kantian freedom from the Law of desire, which allows us to think a Kant without Sade. In the room and last chapter, step for a discussion properly politics, where I question as one truly emancipatory politics is possible, linked to the idea of class struggle and political act. In each treated point, we strive to radicalize the principle of human freedom in its materialistic basis. The interesting approach in the dialectical materialism of Zizek is that, at any time, it is replace our reality by another better, but only - and this is crucial - radicalize what remains in potentia in ours. / O presente trabalho tematiza a ideia de emancipação e liberdade para Zizek, um conceito de liberdade estritamente materialista e pós-metafísico. Se a ênfase, hoje, nos ideais do Esclarecimento (Aufklärung) fornecidos pela modernidade é considerada um retrocesso diante de nossa realidade pós-moderna, Zizek encara o desafio de reintegrar tais princípios no cenário filosófico atual de maneira muito singular. Seu mérito consiste fundamentalmente em abordar o cerne da questão contemporânea (no que tange à ciência, ontologia, subjetividade e política) a partir dos ideais modernos que abrem a perspectiva de emancipação e liberdade humana. Nosso trabalho tem, portanto, como tarefa explorar esse tema da liberdade nos tempos atuais, radicalizando, assim, o que Kant compreendia com o princípio da Aufklärung, a saber, a saída do homem da minoridade, da qual ele mesmo é culpado. Nesse sentido, o tema será dividido em quatro linhas temáticas principais: i) ciência e epistemologia, ii) ontologia, iii) subjetividade e iv) política emancipatória. No primeiro ponto é discutido o ideal de Aufklärung para Zizek e como este se contrapõe diretamente com a perspectiva de Habermas e seu projeto de uma modernidade inacabada. Para isso, tomamos como fio condutor a polêmica sobre o tema da biogenética, e, a partir daí, procuramos demonstrar como que a concepção de modernidade para Zizek é ainda mais radical do que a de Habermas. No segundo capítulo, procuramos desenvolver o modo como Zizek fundamenta a base ontológica da liberdade a partir da passagem de Kant a Hegel. O foco é depositado na mudança paraláctica do obstáculo epistemológico, em Kant, para a sua condição ontológica positiva, em Hegel. Ou seja, o modo como Hegel radicaliza o pensamento kantiano a partir de uma torção dialética puramente formal. No terceiro capítulo, a perspectiva da liberdade é deslocada agora para o campo da subjetividade, na relação dialética entre a Lei moral kantiana e o gozo sádico. Nesse sentido, procuro mostrar primeiramente como que Lacan articula Kant com Sade, para, em seguida, pensar como que o psicanalista procura uma saída para o princípio de liberdade kantiana a partir da Lei do desejo, o que nos permite pensar um Kant sem Sade. No quarto e último capítulo, passo para uma discussão propriamente política, onde questiono como é possível uma política verdadeiramente emancipatória, vinculada à ideia de luta de classe e ato político. Em cada ponto tratado, esforçamo-nos por radicalizar o princípio de liberdade humana em sua base materialista. O interessante na abordagem do materialismo dialético de Zizek é que, em momento algum, cabe substituir nossa realidade por outra melhor, mas apenas – e isso é o fundamental – radicalizar o que permanece in potentia na nossa.