Some photos I took in Oxford last year

ATER this month I will present my work at Oxford University. I still have many photos from my last visit (sample above) and I also wrote some notes. The absurd thing is that, for the first time, the college where we’ll be staying does not permit jeans and T-shirts. It doesn’t sound so liberal to me.

As was the case before, another concern for me would be whether the projection facilities can handle OpenDocument format. Even if I choose to present in HTML with JavaScript, there’s no guarantee that a proper Web browser (one that supports Web standards) will be installed. In that case, I need to bring a laptop and, oddly enough, people are assumed to have the same ‘flavour’ of software. Therefore, it has become common to share the same computer in a session, passing files using USB sticks. Use of laptops is frowned upon, so ignorance in computing and standards evidently leads to inconveniences. That aside, I have little desire to travel anymore, but I am left without much choice. I’ll probably write more on this topic, nearer to the actual date of the event.

Come Monday, I should have the content of my thesis in a fairly complete state. Then, the text should be ripe for serious improvements, proofreading, and further work on layout. The deadline for a first draft is August 31^st and final submission is due by September 30th.

Frankly, I have had some serious issues coping with temptation to procrastinate. I never had these issues before, so it’s rather odd and worrisome. It was never worth letting laziness take over as I lost some sleep over this. It also gives me less control of my schedule as I continue to pace myself rather than just get it done with. I could truly need a motivational boost, rather than pressure and fear. Judging by some resources I have read, what I am going through is common. I am definitely past the stage of doubt, but I just wish I could spend more than an hour per day writing. I just dread the thought of going through the same text over and over again. I suspect that pressure will ultimately take its toll and wake me up so that I can comfortably comply with some preset deadlines. I am worried and optimistic at the same time.

will be in London all day today, which is why I am up so early in the morning/night. A Structure and Function meeting will take place and encourage discussion about some recent research among our inter-site collaboration (Manchester, Imperial College, University College London, Oxford).

The journey to London will be roughly as long as the stay, which is somewhat disappointing, if not a real pain. It is also quite disruptive to the normal daytime activities, so I will go to sleep late at night. It is definitely going to be a heck of a long day!

The annual conference Medical Image Understanding and Analysis 2006 is due to begin tomorrow. I will be presenting on the second day (HTML version). This means that I am not very likely to be active on the Web. Certain habitual chores will be unaffected: exercise and posting of GNU/Linux advocacy items. I have begun taking the latter more seriously and, as of several months ago, the return has been tremendous.

The months to proceed are likely to have me occupied with thesis writing. It appears as though I’ll have to make various submissions concurrently. These events often seem to distract, but I am positive that I can stay on track nevertheless and submit in September.

O it’s official. I have submitted the Notice of Submission form, which currently indicates that I should submit my thesis strictly on schedule, i.e. at the end of September. A final draft is due by the end of August, so I will bury myself to comply with the schedule. I have no clear plans for the period that extends beyond September, but I will definitely take a vacation. I probably need one, but I always have my doubts, based on experience.

On the down side of things, my submission to the British Machine Vision Conference was rejected yesterday. Ho hum. The paper outlined a method for evaluating model such as the one shown below.

Appearance model of the brain, ±2.5 standards deviations shown

HE potential AUT strike is keeping everyone occupied, so I have embarked on final persistent push to write and complete my thesis. This began on the 2^nd of the month and it primarily involve piecing together some past publications, elaborating where suitable, and glueing them sensibly.

When I first joined this scene of academic research, I was somewhat surprised to reveal that genuine and original content (as opposed to gross re-use) is not only perceived as acceptable; it is sometimes encouraged, as a matter of fact. I was truly disappointed to come to grips with this mentality, wherein peers say that good text should better remain unchanged and in most cases evolve or have some fine, cosmethic changes applied. If further progress is made, it can be appended to the existing text. This robs many people out of artistic integrity, in my humble opinion. It also leads to duplication and repeatability, which can make us feel like parrots.

The first mode of variation in a
poor appearance model of the brain

OME “dreadful deadline”, which I mentioned in my previous post, is thankfully behind us, after a short extension. To make matters much better, I have just received a notification of acceptance for another conference, which saturates my once-modest publications list. Tomorrow I may find out that another paper was accepted (of which I am not the first author though).

All in all, such decent progress will make it easier for me to complete the Ph.D. fairly early. I will be presenting my work in July and fingers remain crossed for TMI. When one gets showered by many achievements at once, it is hard not to make a vanity blog post. I hope others feel happy for me as I have already informed my entire family.