Surface Casting Defects Inspection Using Vision System and Neural Network Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Świłło S.J.

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a vision based approach and neural network techniques in surface defects inspection and categorization. Depending on part design and processing techniques, castings may develop surface discontinuities such as cracks and pores that greatly influence the material’s properties Since the human visual inspection for the surface is slow and expensive, a computer vision system is an alternative solution for the online inspection. The authors present the developed vision system uses an advanced image processing algorithm based on modified Laplacian of Gaussian edge detection method and advanced lighting system. The defect inspection algorithm consists of several parameters that allow the user to specify the sensitivity level at which he can accept the defects in the casting. In addition to the developed image processing algorithm and vision system apparatus, an advanced learning process has been developed, based on neural network techniques. Finally, as an example three groups of defects were investigated demonstrates automatic selection and categorization of the measured defects, such as blowholes, shrinkage porosity and shrinkage cavity.

Cognitive radio and networking for heterogeneous wireless networks recent advances and visions for the future

CERN Document Server

Cattoni, Andrea; Fiorina, Jocelyn; Bader, Faouzi; Nardis, Luca

2015-01-01

This book, written by leading experts from academia and industry, offers a condensed overview on hot topics among the Cognitive Radios and Networks scientific and industrial communities (including those considered within the framework of the European COST Action IC0902) and presents exciting visions for the future. Examples of the subjects considered include the design of new filter bank-based air interfaces for spectrum sharing, medium access control design protocols, the design of cloud-based radio access networks, an evolutionary vision for the development and deployment of cognitive TCP/IP, and regulations relevant to the development of a spectrum sharing market. The concluding chapter comprises a practical, hands-on tutorial for those interested in developing their own research test beds. By focusing on the most recent advances and future avenues, this book will assist researchers in understanding the current issues and solutions in Cognitive Radios and Networks designs.

Role of vision loss, functional limitations and the supporting network in depression in a general population.

Science.gov (United States)

van Nispen, Ruth M A; Vreeken, Hilde L; Comijs, Hannie C; Deeg, Dorly J H; van Rens, Ger H M B

2016-02-01

Although the prevalence of depression in visually impaired older persons is high, the association between vision loss and depression seems to be influenced by factors other than visual impairment. In this study, the role of vision loss, functional limitations and social network characteristics in relation to depressive symptoms was investigated. Cross-sectional data (N = 1237) from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam were used to investigate the prevalence of depression (Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale) within subgroups with increasing vision loss. In linear regression models, functional limitations and social network characteristics were examined as possible mediators in the association between vision loss and depression. Having a partner was considered to be a potential moderator. Although a significant linear trend was found in the presence of depressive symptoms with 14% in normally sighted, 23% in mild and 37% in severe vision loss (χ(2)(1) = 14.9; p depression. Mediators were functional limitations (p depression, a trend was found with increasing severity of vision loss, indicating the need for more attention in (mental) health care and low-vision rehabilitation. In the general older population, vision loss was not an independent determinant of depression but was mediated by functional limitations and social network size. Rather than receiving actual social support, the idea of having a social network to rely on when needed seemed to be associated with lower levels of depression. © 2015 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Active vision and image/video understanding with decision structures based on the network-symbolic models

Science.gov (United States)

Kuvich, Gary

2003-08-01

Vision is a part of a larger information system that converts visual information into knowledge structures. These structures drive vision process, resolve ambiguity and uncertainty via feedback projections, and provide image understanding that is an interpretation of visual information in terms of such knowledge models. The ability of human brain to emulate knowledge structures in the form of networks-symbolic models is found. And that means an important shift of paradigm in our knowledge about brain from neural networks to "cortical software". Symbols, predicates and grammars naturally emerge in such active multilevel hierarchical networks, and logic is simply a way of restructuring such models. Brain analyzes an image as a graph-type decision structure created via multilevel hierarchical compression of visual information. Mid-level vision processes like clustering, perceptual grouping, separation of figure from ground, are special kinds of graph/network transformations. They convert low-level image structure into the set of more abstract ones, which represent objects and visual scene, making them easy for analysis by higher-level knowledge structures. Higher-level vision phenomena are results of such analysis. Composition of network-symbolic models works similar to frames and agents, combines learning, classification, analogy together with higher-level model-based reasoning into a single framework. Such models do not require supercomputers. Based on such principles, and using methods of Computational intelligence, an Image Understanding system can convert images into the network-symbolic knowledge models, and effectively resolve uncertainty and ambiguity, providing unifying representation for perception and cognition. That allows creating new intelligent computer vision systems for robotic and defense industries.

Models of neural networks IV early vision and attention

CERN Document Server

Cowan, Jack; Domany, Eytan

2002-01-01

Close this book for a moment and look around you. You scan the scene by directing your attention, and gaze, at certain specific objects. Despite the background, you discern them. The process is partially intentional and partially preattentive. How all this can be done is described in the fourth volume of Models of Neural Networks devoted to Early Vision and Atten­ tion that you are holding in your hands. Early vision comprises the first stages of visual information processing. It is as such a scientific challenge whose clarification calls for a penetrating review. Here you see the result. The Heraeus Foundation (Hanau) is to be thanked for its support during the initial phase of this project. John Hertz, who has extensive experience in both computational and ex­ perimental neuroscience, provides in "Neurons, Networks, and Cognition" to neural modeling. John Van Opstal explains in a theoretical introduction "The Gaze Control System" how the eye's gaze control is performed and presents a novel theoretical des...

Deep Neural Networks: A New Framework for Modeling Biological Vision and Brain Information Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus

2015-11-24

Recent advances in neural network modeling have enabled major strides in computer vision and other artificial intelligence applications. Human-level visual recognition abilities are coming within reach of artificial systems. Artificial neural networks are inspired by the brain, and their computations could be implemented in biological neurons. Convolutional feedforward networks, which now dominate computer vision, take further inspiration from the architecture of the primate visual hierarchy. However, the current models are designed with engineering goals, not to model brain computations. Nevertheless, initial studies comparing internal representations between these models and primate brains find surprisingly similar representational spaces. With human-level performance no longer out of reach, we are entering an exciting new era, in which we will be able to build biologically faithful feedforward and recurrent computational models of how biological brains perform high-level feats of intelligence, including vision.

Reconfigurable FPGA architecture for computer vision applications in Smart Camera Networks

OpenAIRE

Maggiani , Luca; Salvadori , Claudio; Petracca , Matteo; Pagano , Paolo; Saletti , Roberto

2013-01-01

International audience; Smart Camera Networks (SCNs) is nowadays an emerging research field which represents the natural evolution of centralized computer vision applications towards full distributed and pervasive systems. In such a scenario, one of the biggest effort is in the definition of a flexible and reconfigurable SCN node architecture able to remotely support the possibility of updating the application parameters and changing the running computer vision applications at run-time. In th...

Polarity related influence maximization in signed social networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong Li

Full Text Available Influence maximization in social networks has been widely studied motivated by applications like spread of ideas or innovations in a network and viral marketing of products. Current studies focus almost exclusively on unsigned social networks containing only positive relationships (e.g. friend or trust between users. Influence maximization in signed social networks containing both positive relationships and negative relationships (e.g. foe or distrust between users is still a challenging problem that has not been studied. Thus, in this paper, we propose the polarity-related influence maximization (PRIM problem which aims to find the seed node set with maximum positive influence or maximum negative influence in signed social networks. To address the PRIM problem, we first extend the standard Independent Cascade (IC model to the signed social networks and propose a Polarity-related Independent Cascade (named IC-P diffusion model. We prove that the influence function of the PRIM problem under the IC-P model is monotonic and submodular Thus, a greedy algorithm can be used to achieve an approximation ratio of 1-1/e for solving the PRIM problem in signed social networks. Experimental results on two signed social network datasets, Epinions and Slashdot, validate that our approximation algorithm for solving the PRIM problem outperforms state-of-the-art methods.

Filtering and polychromatic vision in mantis shrimps: themes in visible and ultraviolet vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Cronin, Thomas W; Bok, Michael J; Marshall, N Justin; Caldwell, Roy L

2014-01-01

Stomatopod crustaceans have the most complex and diverse assortment of retinal photoreceptors of any animals, with 16 functional classes. The receptor classes are subdivided into sets responsible for ultraviolet vision, spatial vision, colour vision and polarization vision. Many of these receptor classes are spectrally tuned by filtering pigments located in photoreceptors or overlying optical elements. At visible wavelengths, carotenoproteins or similar substances are packed into vesicles used either as serial, intrarhabdomal filters or lateral filters. A single retina may contain a diversity of these filtering pigments paired with specific photoreceptors, and the pigments used vary between and within species both taxonomically and ecologically. Ultraviolet-filtering pigments in the crystalline cones serve to tune ultraviolet vision in these animals as well, and some ultraviolet receptors themselves act as birefringent filters to enable circular polarization vision. Stomatopods have reached an evolutionary extreme in their use of filter mechanisms to tune photoreception to habitat and behaviour, allowing them to extend the spectral range of their vision both deeper into the ultraviolet and further into the red.

Palmer Quest: A Feasible Nuclear Fission "Vision Mission" to the Mars Polar Caps

Science.gov (United States)

Carsey, F. D.; Beegle, L. W.; Nakagawa, R.; Elliott, J. O.; Matthews, J. B.; Coleman, M. L.; Hecht, M. H.; Ivaniov, A. B.; Head, J. W.; Milkovich, S.

2005-01-01

We are engaged in a NASA Vision Mission study, called Palmer Quest after the American Antarctic explorer Nathaniel Palmer, to assess the presence of life and evaluate the habitability of the basal domain of the Mars polar caps. We address this goal through four objectives: 1. Determine the presence of amino acids, nutrients, and geochemical heterogeneity in the ice sheet. 2. Quantify and characterize the provenance of the amino acids in Mars ice. 3. Assess the stratification of outcropped units for indications of habitable zones. 4. Determine the accumulation of ice, mineralogic material, and amino acids in Mars ice caps over the present epoch. Because of the defined scientific goal for the vision mission, the Palmer Quest focus is astrobiological; however, the results of the study make us optimistic that aggressive multi-platform in-situ missions that address a wide range of objectives, such as climate change, can be supported by variations of the approach used on this mission. Mission Overview: The Palmer Quest baseline

Sentiment Polarization and Balance among Users in Online Social Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hillmann, Robert; Trier, Matthias

2012-01-01

Communication within online social network applications enables users to express and share sentiments electronically. Existing studies examined the existence or distribution of sentiments in online communication at a general level or in small-observed groups. Our paper extends this research...... by analyzing sentiment exchange within social networks from an ego-network perspective. We draw from research on social influence and social attachment to develop theories of node polarization, balance effects and sentiment mirroring within communication dyads. Our empirical analysis covers a multitude...... of social networks in which the sentiment valence of all messages was determined. Subsequently we studied ego-networks of focal actors (ego) and their immediate contacts. Results support our theories and indicate that actors develop polarized sentiments towards individual peers but keep sentiment in balance...

Probabilistic Coexistence and Throughput of Cognitive Dual-Polarized Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.-M. Dricot

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Diversity techniques for cognitive radio networks are important since they enable the primary and secondary terminals to efficiently share the spectral resources in the same location simultaneously. In this paper, we investigate a simple, yet powerful, diversity scheme by exploiting the polarimetric dimension. More precisely, we evaluate a scenario where the cognitive terminals use cross-polarized communications with respect to the primary users. Our approach is network-centric, that is, the performance of the proposed dual-polarized system is investigated in terms of link throughput in the primary and the secondary networks. In order to carry out this analysis, we impose a probabilistic coexistence constraint derived from an information-theoretic approach, that is, we enforce a guaranteed capacity for a primary terminal for a high fraction of time. Improvements brought about by the use of our scheme are demonstrated analytically and through simulations. In particular, the main simulation parameters are extracted from a measurement campaign dedicated to the characterization of indoor-to-indoor and outdoor-to-indoor polarization behaviors. Our results suggest that the polarimetric dimension represents a remarkable opportunity, yet easily implementable, in the context of cognitive radio networks.

Future vision of advanced telecommunication networks for electric utilities; Denki jigyo ni okeru joho tsushin network no shorai vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tonaru, S.; Ono, K.; Sakai, S.; Kawai, Y.; Tsuboi, A. [Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo (Japan); Manabe, S. [Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Kagawa (Japan); Miki, Y. [Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc., Osaka (Japan)

1995-06-01

The vision of an advanced information system is proposed to cope with the future social demand and business environmental change in electric utilities. At the large turning point such as drastic reconsideration of Electricity Utilities Industry Law, further improvement of efficiency and cost reduction are requested as well as business innovation such as proposal of a new business policy. For that purpose utilization of information and its technology is indispensable, and use of multimedia and common information in organization are the future direction for improving information basis. Consequently, free information networks without any limitation due to person and media are necessary, and the following are important: high-speed, high-frequency band, digital, easily connectable and multimedia transmission lines, and cost reduction and high reliability of networks. Based on innovation of information networks and the clear principle on advanced information system, development of new applications by multimedia technologies, diffusion of communication terminals, and promotion of standardization are essential. 60 refs., 30 figs., 5 tabs.

Synchronized High-Speed Vision Sensor Network for Expansion of Field of View

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Akihito Noda

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We propose a 500-frames-per-second high-speed vision (HSV sensor network that acquires frames at a timing that is precisely synchronized across the network. Multiple vision sensor nodes, individually comprising a camera and a PC, are connected via Ethernet for data transmission and for clock synchronization. A network of synchronized HSV sensors provides a significantly expanded field-of-view compared with that of each individual HSV sensor. In the proposed system, the shutter of each camera is controlled based on the clock of the PC locally provided inside the node, and the shutters are globally synchronized using the Precision Time Protocol (PTP over the network. A theoretical analysis and experiment results indicate that the shutter trigger skew among the nodes is a few tens of microseconds at most, which is significantly smaller than the frame interval of 1000-fps-class high-speed cameras. Experimental results obtained with the proposed system comprising four nodes demonstrated the ability to capture the propagation of a small displacement along a large-scale structure.

Container-code recognition system based on computer vision and deep neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yi; Li, Tianjian; Jiang, Li; Liang, Xiaoyao

2018-04-01

Automatic container-code recognition system becomes a crucial requirement for ship transportation industry in recent years. In this paper, an automatic container-code recognition system based on computer vision and deep neural networks is proposed. The system consists of two modules, detection module and recognition module. The detection module applies both algorithms based on computer vision and neural networks, and generates a better detection result through combination to avoid the drawbacks of the two methods. The combined detection results are also collected for online training of the neural networks. The recognition module exploits both character segmentation and end-to-end recognition, and outputs the recognition result which passes the verification. When the recognition module generates false recognition, the result will be corrected and collected for online training of the end-to-end recognition sub-module. By combining several algorithms, the system is able to deal with more situations, and the online training mechanism can improve the performance of the neural networks at runtime. The proposed system is able to achieve 93% of overall recognition accuracy.

Analysis of the resistive network in a bio-inspired CMOS vision chip

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Jae-Sung; Sung, Dong-Kyu; Hyun, Hyo-Young; Shin, Jang-Kyoo

2007-12-01

CMOS vision chips for edge detection based on a resistive circuit have recently been developed. These chips help develop neuromorphic systems with a compact size, high speed of operation, and low power dissipation. The output of the vision chip depends dominantly upon the electrical characteristics of the resistive network which consists of a resistive circuit. In this paper, the body effect of the MOSFET for current distribution in a resistive circuit is discussed with a simple model. In order to evaluate the model, two 160×120 CMOS vision chips have been fabricated by using a standard CMOS technology. The experimental results have been nicely matched with our prediction.

Vision of future energy networks - Final report; Vision of future energy networks - Schlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Froehlich, K.; Andersson, G.

2008-07-01

In the framework of the project 'Vision of Future Networks', models and methods have been developed that enable a greenfield approach for energy systems with multiple energy carriers. Applying a greenfield approach means that no existing infrastructure is taken into account when designing the energy system, i.e. the system is virtually put up on a green field. The developed models refer to the impacts of energy storage on power systems with stochastic generation, to the integrated modelling and optimization of multi-carrier energy systems, to reliability considerations of future energy systems as well as to possibilities of combined transmission of multiple energy carriers. Key concepts, which have been developed in the framework of this project, are the Energy Hub (for the conversion and storage of energy) and the Energy Interconnector (for energy transmission). By means of these concepts, it is possible to design structures for future energy systems being able to cope with the growing requirements regarding energy supply. (author)

Optical vector network analyzer with improved accuracy based on polarization modulation and polarization pulling.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wei; Liu, Jian Guo; Zhu, Ning Hua

2015-04-15

We report a novel optical vector network analyzer (OVNA) with improved accuracy based on polarization modulation and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) assisted polarization pulling. The beating between adjacent higher-order optical sidebands which are generated because of the nonlinearity of an electro-optic modulator (EOM) introduces considerable error to the OVNA. In our scheme, the measurement error is significantly reduced by removing the even-order optical sidebands using polarization discrimination. The proposed approach is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified. The experimental results show that the accuracy of the OVNA is greatly improved compared to a conventional OVNA.

Using Weightless Neural Networks for Vergence Control in an Artificial Vision System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karin S. Komati

2003-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a methodology we have developed and used to implement an artificial binocular vision system capable of emulating the vergence of eye movements. This methodology involves using weightless neural networks (WNNs as building blocks of artificial vision systems. Using the proposed methodology, we have designed several architectures of WNN-based artificial vision systems, in which images captured by virtual cameras are used for controlling the position of the ‘foveae’ of these cameras (high-resolution region of the images captured. Our best architecture is able to control the foveae vergence movements with average error of only 3.58 image pixels, which is equivalent to an angular error of approximately 0.629°.

Stereo-vision-based cooperative-vehicle positioning using OCC and neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Ifthekhar, Md. Shareef; Saha, Nirzhar; Jang, Yeong Min

2015-10-01

Vehicle positioning has been subjected to extensive research regarding driving safety measures and assistance as well as autonomous navigation. The most common positioning technique used in automotive positioning is the global positioning system (GPS). However, GPS is not reliably accurate because of signal blockage caused by high-rise buildings. In addition, GPS is error prone when a vehicle is inside a tunnel. Moreover, GPS and other radio-frequency-based approaches cannot provide orientation information or the position of neighboring vehicles. In this study, we propose a cooperative-vehicle positioning (CVP) technique by using the newly developed optical camera communications (OCC). The OCC technique utilizes image sensors and cameras to receive and decode light-modulated information from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). A vehicle equipped with an OCC transceiver can receive positioning and other information such as speed, lane change, driver's condition, etc., through optical wireless links of neighboring vehicles. Thus, the target vehicle position that is too far away to establish an OCC link can be determined by a computer-vision-based technique combined with the cooperation of neighboring vehicles. In addition, we have devised a back-propagation (BP) neural-network learning method for positioning and range estimation for CVP. The proposed neural-network-based technique can estimate target vehicle position from only two image points of target vehicles using stereo vision. For this, we use rear LEDs on target vehicles as image points. We show from simulation results that our neural-network-based method achieves better accuracy than that of the computer-vision method.

Vision and Relevant Risk Factor Interventions for Preventing Falls among Older People: A Network Meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xin-Yi; Shuai, Jian; Li, Li-Ping

2015-05-28

Our study objective was to determine the effect of vision intervention and combinations of different intervention components on preventing falls and fall-related injuries among older people. Six electronic databases were searched to identify seven articles published before May, 2014. We conducted a systematic review of data from seven randomized controlled trails and identified eight regimens: vision intervention alone (V), vision plus exercise (referred to as physical exercise) interventions (V + E), vision plus home hazard interventions (V + HH), vision plus exercise plus home hazard interventions (V + E + HH), vision plus exercise plus sensation interventions (V + E + S), vision plus hearing interventions (V + H), vision plus various risk factor assessment and interventions (V + VRF), and the control group (C, no intervention group). The main outcome was the incidence of falls during the follow-up period. Seven papers included 2723 participants. Network meta-analysis of seven trials, using pairwise comparisons between each intervention, indicated there was no significant difference. However, there was a trend in which intervention incorporating V + VRF had more advantages than any other combination of interventions. In conclusion, V + VRF proves to be more effective than other V combination interventions in preventing falls in older people (≥65 years of age). V alone appears less effective in our network meta-analysis.

Topology and robustness in the Drosophila segment polarity network.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas T Ingolia

2004-06-01

Full Text Available A complex hierarchy of genetic interactions converts a single-celled Drosophila melanogaster egg into a multicellular embryo with 14 segments. Previously, von Dassow et al. reported that a mathematical model of the genetic interactions that defined the polarity of segments (the segment polarity network was robust (von Dassow et al. 2000. As quantitative information about the system was unavailable, parameters were sampled randomly. A surprisingly large fraction of these parameter sets allowed the model to maintain and elaborate on the segment polarity pattern. This robustness is due to the positive feedback of gene products on their own expression, which induces individual cells in a model segment to adopt different stable expression states (bistability corresponding to different cell types in the segment polarity pattern. A positive feedback loop will only yield multiple stable states when the parameters that describe it satisfy a particular inequality. By testing which random parameter sets satisfy these inequalities, I show that bistability is necessary to form the segment polarity pattern and serves as a strong predictor of which parameter sets will succeed in forming the pattern. Although the original model was robust to parameter variation, it could not reproduce the observed effects of cell division on the pattern of gene expression. I present a modified version that incorporates recent experimental evidence and does successfully mimic the consequences of cell division. The behavior of this modified model can also be understood in terms of bistability in positive feedback of gene expression. I discuss how this topological property of networks provides robust pattern formation and how large changes in parameters can change the specific pattern produced by a network.

Computational vision

CERN Document Server

Wechsler, Harry

1990-01-01

The book is suitable for advanced courses in computer vision and image processing. In addition to providing an overall view of computational vision, it contains extensive material on topics that are not usually covered in computer vision texts (including parallel distributed processing and neural networks) and considers many real applications.

Design of verification platform for wireless vision sensor networks

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Juanjuan; Shang, Fei; Yu, Chuang

2017-08-01

At present, the majority of research for wireless vision sensor networks (WVSNs) still remains in the software simulation stage, and the verification platforms of WVSNs that available for use are very few. This situation seriously restricts the transformation from theory research of WVSNs to practical application. Therefore, it is necessary to study the construction of verification platform of WVSNs. This paper combines wireless transceiver module, visual information acquisition module and power acquisition module, designs a high-performance wireless vision sensor node whose core is ARM11 microprocessor and selects AODV as the routing protocol to set up a verification platform called AdvanWorks for WVSNs. Experiments show that the AdvanWorks can successfully achieve functions of image acquisition, coding, wireless transmission, and obtain the effective distance parameters between nodes, which lays a good foundation for the follow-up application of WVSNs.

75 FR 36456 - Channel America Television Network, Inc., EquiMed, Inc., Kore Holdings, Inc., Robotic Vision...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-25

... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [File No. 500-1] Channel America Television Network, Inc., EquiMed, Inc., Kore Holdings, Inc., Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (n/k/a Acuity Cimatrix, Inc.), Security... accurate information concerning the securities of Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (n/k/a Acuity Cimatrix, Inc...

Tri Band Dual Polarized Patch Antenna System For Next Generation Cellular Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Daniyal Ali Shah

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In fifth generation networks much emphasis is given to reduce the handset and base station sizes while incorporating even more features for ubiquitous connectivity. Polarization diversity is one of the methods in which a single multi-polarized antenna brings the advantages of antenna diversity. The multiband handset antennas can be made dual-polarized for improved compensation of fading effects of propagation environment especially in terrestrial bands. This paper focuses on the outcomes of the development of a horizontal and vertical polarized patch antenna scheme that operates on 3 bands 900 MHz 1.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz. The antenna system is tested for gain directivity reflection loss polarization radiation pattern and other parameters. The results are published and found are found to satisfy the requirements of cellular and data communication networks in the specified bands.

Application of neural network in τ→ρυτ polarization analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Ziping; Wang Yifang; Innocente, V.

1994-01-01

An artificial neutral network was built to select events in the τ→ρυ τ polarization analysis at LEP/L3, much better selection efficiency has been achieved. Detailed studies show that no systematic errors or bias have been introduced by the application of neural network. A polarization of P τ = -0.129 +- 0.050 +- 0.050 for this channel was obtained by using a sample of 8977 τ + τ - pairs collected near the peak of Z 0 resonance. The neural network training method and some details are described

The vision of a future energy supply network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koeppel, G.; Favre-Perrod, P.; Geidl, M.; Kloeckl, B.

2005-01-01

This article discusses a concept developed within the framework of a project entitled 'Vision of Future Energy Networks' carried out at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The project looked at the possibility of using synergies between various energy carriers and systems. Network topologies are discussed that can cope with the distributed production of energy in installations featuring technologies such as combined heat and power, micro gas turbines and wind-power installations. The topics discussed include the use of a large amount of such distributed generation capacity and which network topologies and storage requirements would be necessary for their operation. Also, under the title 'energy hubs', possible synergies with other forms of energy use are examined. The modelling, dimensioning and use of such hubs are dealt with for various scenarios, ranging from single family homes through to combinations of industrial complexes and whole residential areas. Questions of reliability are addressed and the idea of an 'Energy Interconnector' that supplies electrical, chemical and thermal energy is introduced

Broiler weight estimation based on machine vision and artificial neural network.

Science.gov (United States)

Amraei, S; Abdanan Mehdizadeh, S; Salari, S

2017-04-01

1. Machine vision and artificial neural network (ANN) procedures were used to estimate live body weight of broiler chickens in 30 1-d-old broiler chickens reared for 42 d. 2. Imaging was performed two times daily. To localise chickens within the pen, an ellipse fitting algorithm was used and the chickens' head and tail removed using the Chan-Vese method. 3. The correlations between the body weight and 6 physical extracted features indicated that there were strong correlations between body weight and the 5 features including area, perimeter, convex area, major and minor axis length. 5. According to statistical analysis there was no significant difference between morning and afternoon data over 42 d. 6. In an attempt to improve the accuracy of live weight approximation different ANN techniques, including Bayesian regulation, Levenberg-Marquardt, Scaled conjugate gradient and gradient descent were used. Bayesian regulation with R 2 value of 0.98 was the best network for prediction of broiler weight. 7. The accuracy of the machine vision technique was examined and most errors were less than 50 g.

Wavelet analysis of polarization maps of polycrystalline biological fluids networks

Science.gov (United States)

Ushenko, Y. A.

2011-12-01

The optical model of human joints synovial fluid is proposed. The statistic (statistic moments), correlation (autocorrelation function) and self-similar (Log-Log dependencies of power spectrum) structure of polarization two-dimensional distributions (polarization maps) of synovial fluid has been analyzed. It has been shown that differentiation of polarization maps of joint synovial fluid with different physiological state samples is expected of scale-discriminative analysis. To mark out of small-scale domain structure of synovial fluid polarization maps, the wavelet analysis has been used. The set of parameters, which characterize statistic, correlation and self-similar structure of wavelet coefficients' distributions of different scales of polarization domains for diagnostics and differentiation of polycrystalline network transformation connected with the pathological processes, has been determined.

Vision and Strategy for Europe’s Electricity Networks of the Future

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bamberger, Yves; Baptista, João; Belmans, Ronnie

remotely fromdemand centres. The energy challenges that Europe is now facing are changing the electricity generationlandscape. The drive for lower-carbon generation technologies, combined with greatly improved efficiency on the demand side, will enable customers to become much more inter......-active with the networks. More customer-centric networks are the way ahead, but these fundamental changes will impact significantly on network design and control. In this context, the European Technology Platform (ETP) SmartGrids was set up in 2005 to create a jointvision for the European networks of 2020 and beyond....... The platform includes representatives fromindustry, transmission and distribution system operators, research bodies and regulators. It has identified clear objectives and proposes an ambitious strategy to make a reality of this vision for the benefits of Europe and its electricity customers....

Polarized DIS Structure Functions from Neural Networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Del Debbio, L.; Guffanti, A.; Piccione, A.

2007-01-01

We present a parametrization of polarized Deep-Inelastic-Scattering (DIS) structure functions based on Neural Networks. The parametrization provides a bias-free determination of the probability measure in the space of structure functions, which retains information on experimental errors and correlations. As an example we discuss the application of this method to the study of the structure function g 1 p (x,Q 2 )

Identifying Network Motifs that Buffer Front-to-Back Signaling in Polarized Neutrophils

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanqin Wang

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Neutrophil polarity relies on local, mutual inhibition to segregate incompatible signaling circuits to the leading and trailing edges. Mutual inhibition alone should lead to cells having strong fronts and weak backs or vice versa. However, analysis of cell-to-cell variation in human neutrophils revealed that back polarity remains consistent despite changes in front strength. How is this buffering achieved? Pharmacological perturbations and mathematical modeling revealed a functional role for microtubules in buffering back polarity by mediating positive, long-range crosstalk from front to back; loss of microtubules inhibits buffering and results in anticorrelation between front and back signaling. Furthermore, a systematic, computational search of network topologies found that a long-range, positive front-to-back link is necessary for back buffering. Our studies suggest a design principle that can be employed by polarity networks: short-range mutual inhibition establishes distinct signaling regions, after which directed long-range activation insulates one region from variations in the other.

A neural network based artificial vision system for licence plate recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Draghici, S

1997-02-01

This paper presents a neural network based artificial vision system able to analyze the image of a car given by a camera, locate the registration plate and recognize the registration number of the car. The paper describes in detail various practical problems encountered in implementing this particular application and the solutions used to solve them. The main features of the system presented are: controlled stability-plasticity behavior, controlled reliability threshold, both off-line and on-line learning, self assessment of the output reliability and high reliability based on high level multiple feedback. The system has been designed using a modular approach. Sub-modules can be upgraded and/or substituted independently, thus making the system potentially suitable in a large variety of vision applications. The OCR engine was designed as an interchangeable plug-in module. This allows the user to choose an OCR engine which is suited to the particular application and to upgrade it easily in the future. At present, there are several versions of this OCR engine. One of them is based on a fully connected feedforward artificial neural network with sigmoidal activation functions. This network can be trained with various training algorithms such as error backpropagation. An alternative OCR engine is based on the constraint based decomposition (CBD) training architecture. The system has showed the following performances (on average) on real-world data: successful plate location and segmentation about 99%, successful character recognition about 98% and successful recognition of complete registration plates about 80%.

A decision-directed network for dual-polarization crosstalk cancellation

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, W. J., III

1979-01-01

Frequency reuse in the specific form of dual-polarized microwave communication systems has grown in importance in recent years as a practical means of radio spectrum conservation. Ideally the capacity of a given frequency allocation can be doubled through dual-polarization. However, hardware imperfections and propagation effects, particularly rain depolarization, prevent the achievement of this doubling without severe system performance degradation. A decision-directed cross-polarization correction network is presented whose operation depends on only simple base-band signal processing. No pilot tones or frequency offsets are required. The loop can work with any two-dimensional signal set for digital data transmission. The loop has been experimentally verified and provides a means of doubling the data capacity with little performance degradation.

Centralized light-source optical access network based on polarization multiplexing.

Science.gov (United States)

Grassi, Fulvio; Mora, José; Ortega, Beatriz; Capmany, José

2010-03-01

This paper presents and demonstrates a centralized light source optical access network based on optical polarization multiplexing technique. By using two optical sources emitting light orthogonally polarized in the Central Node for downstream and upstream operations, the Remote Node is kept source-free. EVM values below telecommunication standard requirements have been measured experimentally when bidirectional digital signals have been transmitted over 10 km of SMF employing subcarrier multiplexing technique in the electrical domain.

Virtual Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Terzopoulos, Demetri; Qureshi, Faisal Z.

Computer vision and sensor networks researchers are increasingly motivated to investigate complex multi-camera sensing and control issues that arise in the automatic visual surveillance of extensive, highly populated public spaces such as airports and train stations. However, they often encounter serious impediments to deploying and experimenting with large-scale physical camera networks in such real-world environments. We propose an alternative approach called "Virtual Vision", which facilitates this type of research through the virtual reality simulation of populated urban spaces, camera sensor networks, and computer vision on commodity computers. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by developing two highly automated surveillance systems comprising passive and active pan/tilt/zoom cameras that are deployed in a virtual train station environment populated by autonomous, lifelike virtual pedestrians. The easily reconfigurable virtual cameras distributed in this environment generate synthetic video feeds that emulate those acquired by real surveillance cameras monitoring public spaces. The novel multi-camera control strategies that we describe enable the cameras to collaborate in persistently observing pedestrians of interest and in acquiring close-up videos of pedestrians in designated areas.

Vision restoration after brain and retina damage: the "residual vision activation theory".

Science.gov (United States)

Sabel, Bernhard A; Henrich-Noack, Petra; Fedorov, Anton; Gall, Carolin

2011-01-01

Vision loss after retinal or cerebral visual injury (CVI) was long considered to be irreversible. However, there is considerable potential for vision restoration and recovery even in adulthood. Here, we propose the "residual vision activation theory" of how visual functions can be reactivated and restored. CVI is usually not complete, but some structures are typically spared by the damage. They include (i) areas of partial damage at the visual field border, (ii) "islands" of surviving tissue inside the blind field, (iii) extrastriate pathways unaffected by the damage, and (iv) downstream, higher-level neuronal networks. However, residual structures have a triple handicap to be fully functional: (i) fewer neurons, (ii) lack of sufficient attentional resources because of the dominant intact hemisphere caused by excitation/inhibition dysbalance, and (iii) disturbance in their temporal processing. Because of this resulting activation loss, residual structures are unable to contribute much to everyday vision, and their "non-use" further impairs synaptic strength. However, residual structures can be reactivated by engaging them in repetitive stimulation by different means: (i) visual experience, (ii) visual training, or (iii) noninvasive electrical brain current stimulation. These methods lead to strengthening of synaptic transmission and synchronization of partially damaged structures (within-systems plasticity) and downstream neuronal networks (network plasticity). Just as in normal perceptual learning, synaptic plasticity can improve vision and lead to vision restoration. This can be induced at any time after the lesion, at all ages and in all types of visual field impairments after retinal or brain damage (stroke, neurotrauma, glaucoma, amblyopia, age-related macular degeneration). If and to what extent vision restoration can be achieved is a function of the amount of residual tissue and its activation state. However, sustained improvements require repetitive

A new method of machine vision reprocessing based on cellular neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jianhua, W.; Liping, Z.; Fenfang, Z.; Guojian, H.

1996-01-01

This paper proposed a method of image preprocessing in machine vision based on Cellular Neural Network (CNN). CNN is introduced to design image smoothing, image recovering, image boundary detecting and other image preprocessing problems. The proposed methods are so simple that the speed of algorithms are increased greatly to suit the needs of real-time image processing. The experimental results show a satisfactory reply

Performance Analysis of Dual-Polarized Massive MIMO System with Human-Care IoT Devices for Cellular Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun-Ki Hong

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The performance analysis of the dual-polarized massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO system with Internet of things (IoT devices is studied when outdoor human-care IoT devices are connected to a cellular network via a dual-polarized massive MIMO system. The research background of the performance analysis of dual-polarized massive MIMO system with IoT devices is that recently the data usage of outdoor human-care IoT devices has increased. Therefore, the outdoor human-care IoT devices are necessary to connect with 5G cellular networks which can expect 1000 times higher performance compared with 4G cellular networks. Moreover, in order to guarantee the safety of the patient for emergency cases, a human-care Iot device must be connected to cellular networks which offer more stable communication for outdoors compared to short-range communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth. To analyze the performance of the dual-polarized massive MIMO system for human-care IoT devices, a dual-polarized MIMO spatial channel model (SCM is proposed which considers depolarization effect between the dual-polarized transmit-antennas and the receive-antennas. The simulation results show that the performance of the dual-polarized massive MIMO system is improved about 16% to 92% for 20 to 150 IoT devices compared to conventional single-polarized massive MIMO system for identical size of the transmit array.

Status of the NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET): overview of the network and future plans, new version 3 data products, and the polarized MPL

Science.gov (United States)

Welton, Ellsworth J.; Stewart, Sebastian A.; Lewis, Jasper R.; Belcher, Larry R.; Campbell, James R.; Lolli, Simone

2018-04-01

The NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) is a global federated network of Micro-Pulse Lidars (MPL) co-located with the NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). MPLNET began in 2000, and there are currently 17 long-term sites, numerous field campaigns, and more planned sites on the way. We have developed a new Version 3 processing system including the deployment of polarized MPLs across the network. Here we provide an overview of Version 3, the polarized MPL, and current and future plans.

VISIONS: Remote Observations of a Spatially-Structured Filamentary Source of Energetic Neutral Atoms near the Polar Cap Boundary During an Auroral Substorm

Science.gov (United States)

Collier, Michael R.; Chornay, D.; Clemmons, J.; Keller, J. W.; Klenzing, J.; Kujawski, J.; McLain, J.; Pfaff, R.; Rowland, D.; Zettergren, M.

2015-01-01

We report initial results from the VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm (VISIONS) rocket that flew through and near several regions of enhanced auroral activity and also sensed regions of ion outflow both remotely and directly. The observed neutral atom fluxes were largest at the lower energies and generally higher in the auroral zone than in the polar cap. In this paper, we focus on data from the latter half of the VISIONS trajectory when the rocket traversed the polar cap region. During this period, many of the energetic neutral atom spectra show a peak at 100 electronvolts. Spectra with peaks around 100 electronvolts are also observed in the Electrostatic Ion Analyzer (EIA) data consistent with these ions comprising the source population for the energetic neutral atoms. The EIA observations of this low energy population extend only over a few tens of kilometers. Furthermore, the directionality of the arriving energetic neutral atoms is consistent with either this spatially localized source of energetic ions extending from as low as about 300 kilometers up to above 600 kilometers or a larger source of energetic ions to the southwest.

Status of the NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET: overview of the network and future plans, new version 3 data products, and the polarized MPL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Welton Ellsworth J.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET is a global federated network of Micro-Pulse Lidars (MPL co-located with the NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET. MPLNET began in 2000, and there are currently 17 long-term sites, numerous field campaigns, and more planned sites on the way. We have developed a new Version 3 processing system including the deployment of polarized MPLs across the network. Here we provide an overview of Version 3, the polarized MPL, and current and future plans.

The NOVO Network: the original scientific basis for its establishment and our R&D vision

OpenAIRE

Winkel, Jørgen; Edwards, Kasper; Dellve, L.; Schiller, B.; Westgaard, Rolf H.

2017-01-01

The NOVO network is a Nordic non-governmental professional association whose aims are to foster the scientific progress, knowledge and development of the working environment within Healthcare as an integrated part of production system development. The vision is a “Nordic Model for Sustainable Systems” in the healthcare sector. It was founded in 2006 in Copenhagen and was financially supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers from 2007 to 2015. The motivation to establish the NOVO Network ar...

Functional Reflective Polarizer for Augmented Reality and Color Vision Deficiency

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-03

augment reality system is relatively high as compared to a polarizing beam splitter or a conventional reflective polarizer. Such a functional reflective...brightness of the display [7]. A key component for polarization management is polarizing beam splitter (PBS). Even though the PBS has exceptional...polarizer that can be incorporated into a compact augmented reality system. The design principle of the functional reflective polarizer is explained and

Oblique Projection Polarization Filtering-Based Interference Suppressions for Radar Sensor Networks

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Cao Bin

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The interferences coming from the radar members degrade the detection and recognition performance of the radar sensor networks (RSNs if the waveforms of the radar members are nonorthogonal. In this paper, we analyze the interferences by exploring the polarization information of the electromagnetic (EM waves. Then, we propose the oblique projection polarization filtering- (OPPF- based scheme to suppress the interferences while keeping the amplitude and phase of its own return in RSNs, even if the polarized states of the radar members are not orthogonal. We consider the cooperative RSNs environment where the polarization information of each radar member is known to all. The proposed method uses all radar members' polarization information to establish the corresponding filtering operator. The Doppler-shift and its uncertainty are independent of the polarization information, which contributes that the interferences can be suppressed without the utilization of the spatial, the temporal, the frequency, the time-delay and the Doppler-shift information. Theoretical analysis and the mathematical deduction show that the proposed scheme is a valid and simple implementation. Simulation results also demonstrate that this method can obtain a good filtering performance when dealing with the problem of interference suppressions for RSNs.

Design and simulation of a novel circularly polarized antenna with polarization reconfigurable characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Hai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A novel circularly polarized antenna with polarization reconfigurable characteristics was designed using co-simulation of Ansoft HFSS and Designer software. It consists of a dual-polarized antenna and phase switching network which act as the feed network for the dual-polarized antenna. The phase switching network was designed based on a Wilkinson power divider, where the output port was connected with SPDT to form a switching network. By controlling the SPDT state-off / on, the phase difference of the two ports could be alternated, which generated the orthogonal modes between the two ports of dual-polarized antenna. So that Left-hand circular polarization (LHCP and Right-hand circular polarization (RHCP could be achieved. The simulation shown that reflection coefficient was less than -12 dB and the axial ratio was below 3 dB between 1.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz with polarization reconfigurable characteristics.

New pediatric vision screener employing polarization-modulated, retinal-birefringence-scanning-based strabismus detection and bull's eye focus detection with an improved target system: opto-mechanical design and operation

Science.gov (United States)

Irsch, Kristina; Gramatikov, Boris I.; Wu, Yi-Kai; Guyton, David L.

2014-06-01

Amblyopia ("lazy eye") is a major public health problem, caused by misalignment of the eyes (strabismus) or defocus. If detected early in childhood, there is an excellent response to therapy, yet most children are detected too late to be treated effectively. Commercially available vision screening devices that test for amblyopia's primary causes can detect strabismus only indirectly and inaccurately via assessment of the positions of external light reflections from the cornea, but they cannot detect the anatomical feature of the eyes where fixation actually occurs (the fovea). Our laboratory has been developing technology to detect true foveal fixation, by exploiting the birefringence of the uniquely arranged Henle fibers delineating the fovea using retinal birefringence scanning (RBS), and we recently described a polarization-modulated approach to RBS that enables entirely direct and reliable detection of true foveal fixation, with greatly enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and essentially independent of corneal birefringence (a confounding variable with all polarization-sensitive ophthalmic technology). Here, we describe the design and operation of a new pediatric vision screener that employs polarization-modulated, RBS-based strabismus detection and bull's eye focus detection with an improved target system, and demonstrate the feasibility of this new approach.

New pediatric vision screener employing polarization-modulated, retinal-birefringence-scanning-based strabismus detection and bull's eye focus detection with an improved target system: opto-mechanical design and operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Irsch, Kristina; Gramatikov, Boris I; Wu, Yi-Kai; Guyton, David L

2014-06-01

Amblyopia ("lazy eye") is a major public health problem, caused by misalignment of the eyes (strabismus) or defocus. If detected early in childhood, there is an excellent response to therapy, yet most children are detected too late to be treated effectively. Commercially available vision screening devices that test for amblyopia's primary causes can detect strabismus only indirectly and inaccurately via assessment of the positions of external light reflections from the cornea, but they cannot detect the anatomical feature of the eyes where fixation actually occurs (the fovea). Our laboratory has been developing technology to detect true foveal fixation, by exploiting the birefringence of the uniquely arranged Henle fibers delineating the fovea using retinal birefringence scanning (RBS), and we recently described a polarization-modulated approach to RBS that enables entirely direct and reliable detection of true foveal fixation, with greatly enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and essentially independent of corneal birefringence (a confounding variable with all polarization-sensitive ophthalmic technology). Here, we describe the design and operation of a new pediatric vision screener that employs polarization-modulated, RBS-based strabismus detection and bull's eye focus detection with an improved target system, and demonstrate the feasibility of this new approach.

Novel wideband microwave polarization network using a fully-reconfigurable photonic waveguide interleaver with a two-ring resonator-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Leimeng; Beeker, Willem; Leinse, Arne; Heideman, René; van Dijk, Paulus; Roeloffzen, Chris

2013-02-11

We propose and demonstrate a novel wideband microwave photonic polarization network for dual linear-polarized antennas. The polarization network is based on a waveguide-implemented fully-reconfigurable optical interleaver using a two-ring resonator-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder structure. For microwave photonic signal processing, this structure is able to serve as a wideband 2 × 2 RF coupler with reconfigurable complex coefficients, and therefore can be used as a polarization network for wideband antennas. Such a device can equip the antennas with not only the polarization rotation capability for linear-polarization signals but also the capability to operate with and tune between two opposite circular polarizations. Operating together with a particular modulation scheme, the device is also able to serve for simultaneous feeding of dual-polarization signals. These photonic-implemented RF functionalities can be applied to wideband antenna systems to perform agile polarization manipulations and tracking operations. An example of such a interleaver has been realized in TriPleX waveguide technology, which was designed with a free spectral range of 20 GHz and a mask footprint of smaller than 1 × 1 cm. Using the realized device, the reconfigurable complex coefficients of the polarization network were demonstrated with a continuous bandwidth from 2 to 8 GHz and an in-band phase ripple of smaller than 5 degree. The waveguide structure of the device allows it to be further integrated with other functional building blocks of a photonic integrated circuit to realize on-chip, complex microwave photonic processors. Of particular interest, it can be included in an optical beamformer for phased array antennas, so that simultaneous wideband beam and polarization trackings can be achieved photonically. To our knowledge, this is the first-time on-chip demonstration of an integrated microwave photonic polarization network for dual linear-polarized antennas.

PolNet: A Tool to Quantify Network-Level Cell Polarity and Blood Flow in Vascular Remodeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernabeu, Miguel O; Jones, Martin L; Nash, Rupert W; Pezzarossa, Anna; Coveney, Peter V; Gerhardt, Holger; Franco, Claudio A

2018-05-08

In this article, we present PolNet, an open-source software tool for the study of blood flow and cell-level biological activity during vessel morphogenesis. We provide an image acquisition, segmentation, and analysis protocol to quantify endothelial cell polarity in entire in vivo vascular networks. In combination, we use computational fluid dynamics to characterize the hemodynamics of the vascular networks under study. The tool enables, to our knowledge for the first time, a network-level analysis of polarity and flow for individual endothelial cells. To date, PolNet has proven invaluable for the study of endothelial cell polarization and migration during vascular patterning, as demonstrated by two recent publications. Additionally, the tool can be easily extended to correlate blood flow with other experimental observations at the cellular/molecular level. We release the source code of our tool under the Lesser General Public License. Copyright © 2018 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Polarity-specific high-level information propagation in neural networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yen-Nan; Chang, Po-Yen; Hsiao, Pao-Yueh; Lo, Chung-Chuan

2014-01-01

Analyzing the connectome of a nervous system provides valuable information about the functions of its subsystems. Although much has been learned about the architectures of neural networks in various organisms by applying analytical tools developed for general networks, two distinct and functionally important properties of neural networks are often overlooked. First, neural networks are endowed with polarity at the circuit level: Information enters a neural network at input neurons, propagates through interneurons, and leaves via output neurons. Second, many functions of nervous systems are implemented by signal propagation through high-level pathways involving multiple and often recurrent connections rather than by the shortest paths between nodes. In the present study, we analyzed two neural networks: the somatic nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and the partial central complex network of Drosophila, in light of these properties. Specifically, we quantified high-level propagation in the vertical and horizontal directions: the former characterizes how signals propagate from specific input nodes to specific output nodes and the latter characterizes how a signal from a specific input node is shared by all output nodes. We found that the two neural networks are characterized by very efficient vertical and horizontal propagation. In comparison, classic small-world networks show a trade-off between vertical and horizontal propagation; increasing the rewiring probability improves the efficiency of horizontal propagation but worsens the efficiency of vertical propagation. Our result provides insights into how the complex functions of natural neural networks may arise from a design that allows them to efficiently transform and combine input signals.

A versatile source of polarization entangled photons for quantum network applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaiser, Florian; Issautier, Amandine; Ngah, Lutfi A; Alibart, Olivier; Martin, Anthony; Tanzilli, Sébastien

2013-01-01

We report a versatile and practical approach for the generation of high-quality polarization entanglement in a fully guided-wave fashion. Our setup relies on a high-brilliance type-0 waveguide generator producing paired photons at a telecom wavelength associated with an advanced energy-time to polarization transcriber. The latter is capable of creating any pure polarization entangled state, and allows manipulation of single-photon bandwidths that can be chosen at will over five orders of magnitude, ranging from tens of MHz to several THz. We achieve excellent entanglement fidelities for particular spectral bandwidths, i.e. 25 MHz, 540 MHz and 80 GHz, proving the relevance of our approach. Our scheme stands as an ideal candidate for a wide range of network applications, ranging from dense division multiplexing quantum key distribution to heralded optical quantum memories and repeaters. (letter)

POLAR NETWORK INDEX AS A MAGNETIC PROXY FOR THE SOLAR CYCLE STUDIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Priyal, Muthu; Banerjee, Dipankar; Ravindra, B.; Singh, Jagdev; Karak, Bidya Binay; Muñoz-Jaramillo, Andrés; Choudhuri, Arnab Rai

2014-01-01

The Sun has a polar magnetic field which oscillates with the 11 yr sunspot cycle. This polar magnetic field is an important component of the dynamo process which operates in the solar convection zone and produces the sunspot cycle. We have direct systematic measurements of the Sun's polar magnetic field only from about the mid-1970s. There are, however, indirect proxies which give us information about this field at earlier times. The Ca-K spectroheliograms taken at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory during 1904-2007 have now been digitized with 4k × 4k CCD and have higher resolution (∼0.86 arcsec) than the other available historical data sets. From these Ca-K spectroheliograms, we have developed a completely new proxy (polar network index, hereafter PNI) for the Sun's polar magnetic field. We calculate PNI from the digitized images using an automated algorithm and calibrate our measured PNI against the polar field as measured by the Wilcox Solar Observatory for the period 1976-1990. This calibration allows us to estimate the polar fields for the earlier period up to 1904. The dynamo calculations performed with this proxy as input data reproduce reasonably well the Sun's magnetic behavior for the past century

POLAR NETWORK INDEX AS A MAGNETIC PROXY FOR THE SOLAR CYCLE STUDIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Priyal, Muthu; Banerjee, Dipankar; Ravindra, B.; Singh, Jagdev [Indian Institute of Astrophysics,Koramangala, Bengaluru 560034 (India); Karak, Bidya Binay [Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University (Sweden); Muñoz-Jaramillo, Andrés [Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States); Choudhuri, Arnab Rai, E-mail: mpriya@iiap.res.in, E-mail: dipu@iiap.res.in [Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (India)

2014-09-20

The Sun has a polar magnetic field which oscillates with the 11 yr sunspot cycle. This polar magnetic field is an important component of the dynamo process which operates in the solar convection zone and produces the sunspot cycle. We have direct systematic measurements of the Sun's polar magnetic field only from about the mid-1970s. There are, however, indirect proxies which give us information about this field at earlier times. The Ca-K spectroheliograms taken at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory during 1904-2007 have now been digitized with 4k × 4k CCD and have higher resolution (∼0.86 arcsec) than the other available historical data sets. From these Ca-K spectroheliograms, we have developed a completely new proxy (polar network index, hereafter PNI) for the Sun's polar magnetic field. We calculate PNI from the digitized images using an automated algorithm and calibrate our measured PNI against the polar field as measured by the Wilcox Solar Observatory for the period 1976-1990. This calibration allows us to estimate the polar fields for the earlier period up to 1904. The dynamo calculations performed with this proxy as input data reproduce reasonably well the Sun's magnetic behavior for the past century.

Circularly Polarized Antenna Array Fed by Air-Bridge Free CPW-Slotline Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yilin Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A novel design of 1×2 and 2×2 circularly polarized (CP microstrip patch antenna arrays is presented in this paper. The two CP antenna arrays are fed by sequentially rotated coplanar waveguide (CPW to slotline networks and are processed on 1 mm thick single-layer FR4 substrates. Both of the two arrays are low-profile and lightweight. An air-bridge free CPW-slotline power splitter is appropriately designed to form the feeding networks and realize the two CP antenna arrays. The mechanism of circular polarization in this design is explained. The simulated and measured impedance bandwidths as well as the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidths and the radiation patterns of the two proposed antenna arrays are presented. This proposed design can be easily extended to form a larger plane array with good performance owing to its simple structure.

Flood Monitoring using X-band Dual-polarization Radar Network

Science.gov (United States)

Chandrasekar, V.; Wang, Y.; Maki, M.; Nakane, K.

2009-09-01

A dense weather radar network is an emerging concept advanced by the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA). Using multiple radars observing over a common will create different data outcomes depending on the characteristics of the radar units employed and the network topology. To define this a general framework is developed to describe the radar network space, and formulations are obtained that can be used for weather radar network characterization. Current weather radar surveillance networks are based upon conventional sensing paradigm of widely-separated, standalone sensing systems using long range radars that operate at wavelengths in 5-10 cm range. Such configuration has limited capability to observe close to the surface of the earth because of the earth's curvature but also has poorer resolution at far ranges. The dense network radar system, observes and measures weather phenomenon such as rainfall and severe weather close to the ground at higher spatial and temporal resolution compared to the current paradigm. In addition the dense network paradigm also is easily adaptable to complex terrain. Flooding is one of the most common natural hazards in the world. Especially, excessive development decreases the response time of urban watersheds and complex terrain to rainfall and increases the chance of localized flooding events over a small spatial domain. Successful monitoring of urban floods requires high spatiotemporal resolution, accurate precipitation estimation because of the rapid flood response as well as the complex hydrologic and hydraulic characteristics in an urban environment. This paper reviews various aspects in radar rainfall mapping in urban coverage using dense X-band dual-polarization radar networks. By reducing the maximum range and operating at X-band, one can ensure good azimuthal resolution with a small-size antenna and keep the radar beam closer to the ground. The networked topology helps to achieve satisfactory

Machine vision inspection of lace using a neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Sanby, Christopher; Norton-Wayne, Leonard

1995-03-01

Lace is particularly difficult to inspect using machine vision since it comprises a fine and complex pattern of threads which must be verified, on line and in real time. Small distortions in the pattern are unavoidable. This paper describes instrumentation for inspecting lace actually on the knitting machine. A CCD linescan camera synchronized to machine motions grabs an image of the lace. Differences between this lace image and a perfect prototype image are detected by comparison methods, thresholding techniques, and finally, a neural network (to distinguish real defects from false alarms). Though produced originally in a laboratory on SUN Sparc work-stations, the processing has subsequently been implemented on a 50 Mhz 486 PC-look-alike. Successful operation has been demonstrated in a factory, but over a restricted width. Full width coverage awaits provision of faster processing.

Sky light polarization detection with linear polarizer triplet in light field camera inspired by insect vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenjing; Cao, Yu; Zhang, Xuanzhe; Liu, Zejin

2015-10-20

Stable information of a sky light polarization pattern can be used for navigation with various advantages such as better performance of anti-interference, no "error cumulative effect," and so on. But the existing method of sky light polarization measurement is weak in real-time performance or with a complex system. Inspired by the navigational capability of a Cataglyphis with its compound eyes, we introduce a new approach to acquire the all-sky image under different polarization directions with one camera and without a rotating polarizer, so as to detect the polarization pattern across the full sky in a single snapshot. Our system is based on a handheld light field camera with a wide-angle lens and a triplet linear polarizer placed over its aperture stop. Experimental results agree with the theoretical predictions. Not only real-time detection but simple and costless architecture demonstrates the superiority of the approach proposed in this paper.

APECS: A Network for Polar Early Career Scientist Professional Development

Science.gov (United States)

Enderlin, E. M.

2014-12-01

The Association of Polar Early Career Researchers (APECS) is an international and interdisciplinary organization for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, early faculty members, educators and others with interests in the polar regions, alpine regions and the wider Cryosphere. APECS is a scientific, non-profit organization with free individual membership that aims to stimulate research collaborations and develop effective future leaders in polar research, education, and outreach. APECS grew out of the 4th International Polar Year (2007-08), which emphasized the need to stimulate and nurture the next generation of scientists in order to improve the understanding and communication of the polar regions and its global connections. The APECS organizational structure includes a Council and an elected Executive Committee that are supported by a Directorate. These positions are open to all individual members through a democratic process. The APECS Directorate is funded by the Norwegian Research Council, the University of Tromsø and the Norwegian Polar Institute and is hosted by the University of Tromsø. Early career scientists benefit from a range of activities hosted/organized by APECS. Every year, numerous activities are run with partner organizations and in conjunction with major polar conferences and meetings. In-person and online panels and workshops focus on a range of topics, from developing field skills to applying for a job after graduate school. Career development webinars are hosted each fall and topical research webinars are hosted throughout the year and archived online (http://www.apecs.is). The APECS website also contains abundant information on polar news, upcoming conferences and meetings, and job postings for early career scientists. To better respond to members' needs, APECS has national/regional committees that are linked to the international overarching organization. Many of these committees organize regional meetings or

Vision-based mobile robot navigation through deep convolutional neural networks and end-to-end learning

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yachu; Zhao, Yuejin; Liu, Ming; Dong, Liquan; Kong, Lingqin; Liu, Lingling

2017-09-01

In contrast to humans, who use only visual information for navigation, many mobile robots use laser scanners and ultrasonic sensors along with vision cameras to navigate. This work proposes a vision-based robot control algorithm based on deep convolutional neural networks. We create a large 15-layer convolutional neural network learning system and achieve the advanced recognition performance. Our system is trained from end to end to map raw input images to direction in supervised mode. The images of data sets are collected in a wide variety of weather conditions and lighting conditions. Besides, the data sets are augmented by adding Gaussian noise and Salt-and-pepper noise to avoid overfitting. The algorithm is verified by two experiments, which are line tracking and obstacle avoidance. The line tracking experiment is proceeded in order to track the desired path which is composed of straight and curved lines. The goal of obstacle avoidance experiment is to avoid the obstacles indoor. Finally, we get 3.29% error rate on the training set and 5.1% error rate on the test set in the line tracking experiment, 1.8% error rate on the training set and less than 5% error rate on the test set in the obstacle avoidance experiment. During the actual test, the robot can follow the runway centerline outdoor and avoid the obstacle in the room accurately. The result confirms the effectiveness of the algorithm and our improvement in the network structure and train parameters

Intersection Recognition and Guide-Path Selection for a Vision-Based AGV in a Bidirectional Flow Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wu Xing

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Vision recognition and RFID perception are used to develop a smart AGV travelling on fixed paths while retaining low-cost, simplicity and reliability. Visible landmarks can describe features of shapes and geometric dimensions of lines and intersections, and RFID tags can directly record global locations on pathways and the local topological relations of crossroads. A topological map is convenient for building and editing without the need for accurate poses when establishing a priori knowledge of a workplace. To obtain the flexibility of bidirectional movement along guide-paths, a camera placed in the centre of the AGV looks downward vertically at landmarks on the floor. A small visual field presents many difficulties for vision guidance, especially for real-time, correct and reliable recognition of multi-branch crossroads. First, the region projection and contour scanning methods are both used to extract the features of shapes. Then LDA is used to reduce the number of the features' dimensions. Third, a hierarchical SVM classifier is proposed to classify their multi-branch patterns once the features of the shapes are complete. Our experiments in landmark recognition and navigation show that low-cost vision systems are insusceptible to visual noises, image breakages and floor changes, and a vision-based AGV can locate itself precisely on its paths, recognize different crossroads intelligently by verifying the conformance of vision and RFID information, and select its next pathway efficiently in a bidirectional flow network.

A Design Of Feeding Network For A Dual-Linear Polarization, Stacked, Probe-Fed Microstrip Patch Antenna Array

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jaworski, G.; Krozer, Viktor

2004-01-01

Components of multilayer feed network are presented for application in broad-band dual-linear polarized stacked C-band antenna. Measurement results of wide band matching circuits and different types of power divider networks constituting parts of BFN demonstrate wideband operation. Suitable...

Deep Learning for Computer Vision: A Brief Review

Science.gov (United States)

Doulamis, Nikolaos; Doulamis, Anastasios; Protopapadakis, Eftychios

2018-01-01

Over the last years deep learning methods have been shown to outperform previous state-of-the-art machine learning techniques in several fields, with computer vision being one of the most prominent cases. This review paper provides a brief overview of some of the most significant deep learning schemes used in computer vision problems, that is, Convolutional Neural Networks, Deep Boltzmann Machines and Deep Belief Networks, and Stacked Denoising Autoencoders. A brief account of their history, structure, advantages, and limitations is given, followed by a description of their applications in various computer vision tasks, such as object detection, face recognition, action and activity recognition, and human pose estimation. Finally, a brief overview is given of future directions in designing deep learning schemes for computer vision problems and the challenges involved therein. PMID:29487619

Deep Learning for Computer Vision: A Brief Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Athanasios Voulodimos

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Over the last years deep learning methods have been shown to outperform previous state-of-the-art machine learning techniques in several fields, with computer vision being one of the most prominent cases. This review paper provides a brief overview of some of the most significant deep learning schemes used in computer vision problems, that is, Convolutional Neural Networks, Deep Boltzmann Machines and Deep Belief Networks, and Stacked Denoising Autoencoders. A brief account of their history, structure, advantages, and limitations is given, followed by a description of their applications in various computer vision tasks, such as object detection, face recognition, action and activity recognition, and human pose estimation. Finally, a brief overview is given of future directions in designing deep learning schemes for computer vision problems and the challenges involved therein.

Deep Learning for Computer Vision: A Brief Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Voulodimos, Athanasios; Doulamis, Nikolaos; Doulamis, Anastasios; Protopapadakis, Eftychios

2018-01-01

Over the last years deep learning methods have been shown to outperform previous state-of-the-art machine learning techniques in several fields, with computer vision being one of the most prominent cases. This review paper provides a brief overview of some of the most significant deep learning schemes used in computer vision problems, that is, Convolutional Neural Networks, Deep Boltzmann Machines and Deep Belief Networks, and Stacked Denoising Autoencoders. A brief account of their history, structure, advantages, and limitations is given, followed by a description of their applications in various computer vision tasks, such as object detection, face recognition, action and activity recognition, and human pose estimation. Finally, a brief overview is given of future directions in designing deep learning schemes for computer vision problems and the challenges involved therein.

Convolutional Deep Belief Networks for Single-Cell/Object Tracking in Computational Biology and Computer Vision

OpenAIRE

Zhong, Bineng; Pan, Shengnan; Zhang, Hongbo; Wang, Tian; Du, Jixiang; Chen, Duansheng; Cao, Liujuan

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose deep architecture to dynamically learn the most discriminative features from data for both single-cell and object tracking in computational biology and computer vision. Firstly, the discriminative features are automatically learned via a convolutional deep belief network (CDBN). Secondly, we design a simple yet effective method to transfer features learned from CDBNs on the source tasks for generic purpose to the object tracking tasks using only limited amount of tra...

Networks for Life; scenario development of an ecological network in Cheshire County

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rooij, van S.A.M.; Steingröver, E.G.; Opdam, P.F.M.

2003-01-01

In this report, a vision for ecological networks in Cheshire County is developed and presented. This vision is developed in close interaction with the County Council. The vision contains a proposal for sound ecological networks of meres and mosses, heathland, rivers, woodland and grassland. A

Optimum Layout for Sensors in Water Distribution Networks through Ant Colony Algorithm: A Dual Use Vision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyed Mehdi Miri

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The accidental or intentional entry of contaminants or self-deterioration of the water quality within the network itself can severely harm public health. Efficient water quality monitoring is one of the most important tools to guarantee a reliable potable water supply to consumers of drinking water distribution systems. Considering the high purchase, installation and maintenance cost of sensors in water distribution networks deploying two independent sensor networks within one distribution system is not only bounded by physical constraints but also is not a cost-effective approach. Therefore, need for combining different objectives and designing sensor network to simultaneity satisfying these objectives is felt. Sensors should comply with dual use benefits. Sensor locations and types should be integrated not only for achieving water security goals but also for accomplishing other water utility objectives, such as satisfying regulatory monitoring requirements or collecting information to solve water quality problems. In this study, a dual use vision for the sensor layout problem in the municipal water networks, is formulated and solved with the ant colony algorithm.

Color in Computer Vision Fundamentals and Applications

CERN Document Server

Gevers, Theo; van de Weijer, Joost; Geusebroek, Jan-Mark

2012-01-01

While the field of computer vision drives many of today’s digital technologies and communication networks, the topic of color has emerged only recently in most computer vision applications. One of the most extensive works to date on color in computer vision, this book provides a complete set of tools for working with color in the field of image understanding. Based on the authors’ intense collaboration for more than a decade and drawing on the latest thinking in the field of computer science, the book integrates topics from color science and computer vision, clearly linking theor

Identification of the arabidopsis RAM/MOR signalling network: adding new regulatory players in plant stem cell maintenance and cell polarization

Science.gov (United States)

Zermiani, Monica; Begheldo, Maura; Nonis, Alessandro; Palme, Klaus; Mizzi, Luca; Morandini, Piero; Nonis, Alberto; Ruperti, Benedetto

2015-01-01

Background and Aims The RAM/MOR signalling network of eukaryotes is a conserved regulatory module involved in co-ordination of stem cell maintenance, cell differentiation and polarity establishment. To date, no such signalling network has been identified in plants. Methods Genes encoding the bona fide core components of the RAM/MOR pathway were identified in Arabidopsis thaliana (arabidopsis) by sequence similarity searches conducted with the known components from other species. The transcriptional network(s) of the arabidopsis RAM/MOR signalling pathway were identified by running in-depth in silico analyses for genes co-regulated with the core components. In situ hybridization was used to confirm tissue-specific expression of selected RAM/MOR genes. Key Results Co-expression data suggested that the arabidopsis RAM/MOR pathway may include genes involved in floral transition, by co-operating with chromatin remodelling and mRNA processing/post-transcriptional gene silencing factors, and genes involved in the regulation of pollen tube polar growth. The RAM/MOR pathway may act upstream of the ROP1 machinery, affecting pollen tube polar growth, based on the co-expression of its components with ROP-GEFs. In silico tissue-specific co-expression data and in situ hybridization experiments suggest that different components of the arabidopsis RAM/MOR are expressed in the shoot apical meristem and inflorescence meristem and may be involved in the fine-tuning of stem cell maintenance and cell differentiation. Conclusions The arabidopsis RAM/MOR pathway may be part of the signalling cascade that converges in pollen tube polarized growth and in fine-tuning stem cell maintenance, differentiation and organ polarity. PMID:26078466

The Fly Sensitizing Pigment Enhances UV Spectral Sensitivity While Preventing Polarization-Induced Artifacts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Ilić

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Microvillar photoreceptors are intrinsically capable of detecting the orientation of e-vector of linearly polarized light. They provide most invertebrates with an additional sensory channel to detect important features of their visual environment. However, polarization sensitivity (PS of photoreceptors may lead to the detection of polarization-induced false colors and intensity contrasts. Most insect photoreceptors are thus adapted to have minimal PS. Flies have twisted rhabdomeres with microvilli rotated along the length of the ommatidia to reduce PS. The additional UV-absorbing sensitizing pigment on their opsin minimizes PS in the ultraviolet. We recorded voltage from Drosophila photoreceptors R1–6 to measure the spectral dependence of PS and found that PS in the UV is invariably negligible but can be substantial above 400 nm. Using modeling, we demonstrate that in R1–6 without the sensitizing pigment, PS in the UV (PSUV would exceed PS in the visible part of the spectrum (PSVIS by a factor PSUV/PSVIS = 1.2–1.8, as lower absorption of Rh1 rhodopsin reduces self-screening. We use polarimetric imaging of objects relevant to fly polarization vision to show that their degree of polarization outdoors is highest in the short-wavelength part of the spectrum. Thus, under natural illumination, the sensitizing pigment in R1–6 renders even those cells with high PS in the visible part unsuitable for proper polarization vision. We assume that fly ventral polarization vision can be mediated by R7 alone, with R1–6 serving as an unpolarized reference channel.

61.3-Gbps hybrid fiber-wireless in-home network enabled by optical heterodyne and polarization multiplexing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cao, Z.; Li, F.; Liu, Y.; Yu, J.; Wang, Q.; Oh, C.W.; Jiao, Y.; Tran, N.C.; Boom, van den H.P.A.; Tangdiongga, E.; Koonen, A.M.J.

2014-01-01

A hybrid fiber-wireless in-home network is proposed to support high-speed multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems operating at millimeter wave (mm-wave) band by employing optical heterodyne (OH) and polarization multiplexing (PolMux). OH enables

Polarized object detection in crabs: a two-channel system.

Science.gov (United States)

Basnak, Melanie Ailín; Pérez-Schuster, Verónica; Hermitte, Gabriela; Berón de Astrada, Martín

2018-05-25

Many animal species take advantage of polarization vision for vital tasks such as orientation, communication and contrast enhancement. Previous studies have suggested that decapod crustaceans use a two-channel polarization system for contrast enhancement. Here, we characterize the polarization contrast sensitivity in a grapsid crab . We estimated the polarization contrast sensitivity of the animals by quantifying both their escape response and changes in heart rate when presented with polarized motion stimuli. The motion stimulus consisted of an expanding disk with an 82 deg polarization difference between the object and the background. More than 90% of animals responded by freezing or trying to avoid the polarized stimulus. In addition, we co-rotated the electric vector (e-vector) orientation of the light from the object and background by increments of 30 deg and found that the animals' escape response varied periodically with a 90 deg period. Maximum escape responses were obtained for object and background e-vectors near the vertical and horizontal orientations. Changes in cardiac response showed parallel results but also a minimum response when e-vectors of object and background were shifted by 45 deg with respect to the maxima. These results are consistent with an orthogonal receptor arrangement for the detection of polarized light, in which two channels are aligned with the vertical and horizontal orientations. It has been hypothesized that animals with object-based polarization vision rely on a two-channel detection system analogous to that of color processing in dichromats. Our results, obtained by systematically varying the e-vectors of object and background, provide strong empirical support for this theoretical model of polarized object detection. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Convolutional Deep Belief Networks for Single-Cell/Object Tracking in Computational Biology and Computer Vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Bineng; Pan, Shengnan; Zhang, Hongbo; Wang, Tian; Du, Jixiang; Chen, Duansheng; Cao, Liujuan

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose deep architecture to dynamically learn the most discriminative features from data for both single-cell and object tracking in computational biology and computer vision. Firstly, the discriminative features are automatically learned via a convolutional deep belief network (CDBN). Secondly, we design a simple yet effective method to transfer features learned from CDBNs on the source tasks for generic purpose to the object tracking tasks using only limited amount of training data. Finally, to alleviate the tracker drifting problem caused by model updating, we jointly consider three different types of positive samples. Extensive experiments validate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Rational Irrationality: Modeling Climate Change Belief Polarization Using Bayesian Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, John; Lewandowsky, Stephan

2016-01-01

Belief polarization is said to occur when two people respond to the same evidence by updating their beliefs in opposite directions. This response is considered to be "irrational" because it involves contrary updating, a form of belief updating that appears to violate normatively optimal responding, as for example dictated by Bayes' theorem. In light of much evidence that people are capable of normatively optimal behavior, belief polarization presents a puzzling exception. We show that Bayesian networks, or Bayes nets, can simulate rational belief updating. When fit to experimental data, Bayes nets can help identify the factors that contribute to polarization. We present a study into belief updating concerning the reality of climate change in response to information about the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW). The study used representative samples of Australian and U.S. Among Australians, consensus information partially neutralized the influence of worldview, with free-market supporters showing a greater increase in acceptance of human-caused global warming relative to free-market opponents. In contrast, while consensus information overall had a positive effect on perceived consensus among U.S. participants, there was a reduction in perceived consensus and acceptance of human-caused global warming for strong supporters of unregulated free markets. Fitting a Bayes net model to the data indicated that under a Bayesian framework, free-market support is a significant driver of beliefs about climate change and trust in climate scientists. Further, active distrust of climate scientists among a small number of U.S. conservatives drives contrary updating in response to consensus information among this particular group. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Perioperative Vision Loss in Cervical Spinal Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabel, Brandon C; Lam, Arthur; Chapman, Jens R; Oskouian, Rod J; Nassr, Ahmad; Currier, Bradford L; Sebastian, Arjun S; Arnold, Paul M; Hamilton, Steven R; Fehlings, Michael G; Mroz, Thomas E; Riew, K Daniel

2017-04-01

Retrospective multicenter case series. To assess the rate of perioperative vision loss following cervical spinal surgery. Medical records for 17 625 patients from 21 high-volume surgical centers from the AOSpine North America Clinical Research Network who received cervical spine surgery (levels from C2 to C7) between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2011, inclusive, were reviewed to identify occurrences of vision loss following surgery. Of the 17 625 patients in the registry, there were 13 946 patients assessed for the complication of blindness. There were 9591 cases that involved only anterior surgical approaches; the remaining 4355 cases were posterior and/or circumferential fusions. There were no cases of blindness or vision loss in the postoperative period reported during the sampling period. Perioperative vision loss following cervical spinal surgery is exceedingly rare.

Computer vision-based method for classification of wheat grains using artificial neural network.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabanci, Kadir; Kayabasi, Ahmet; Toktas, Abdurrahim

2017-06-01

A simplified computer vision-based application using artificial neural network (ANN) depending on multilayer perceptron (MLP) for accurately classifying wheat grains into bread or durum is presented. The images of 100 bread and 100 durum wheat grains are taken via a high-resolution camera and subjected to pre-processing. The main visual features of four dimensions, three colors and five textures are acquired using image-processing techniques (IPTs). A total of 21 visual features are reproduced from the 12 main features to diversify the input population for training and testing the ANN model. The data sets of visual features are considered as input parameters of the ANN model. The ANN with four different input data subsets is modelled to classify the wheat grains into bread or durum. The ANN model is trained with 180 grains and its accuracy tested with 20 grains from a total of 200 wheat grains. Seven input parameters that are most effective on the classifying results are determined using the correlation-based CfsSubsetEval algorithm to simplify the ANN model. The results of the ANN model are compared in terms of accuracy rate. The best result is achieved with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 9.8 × 10 -6 by the simplified ANN model. This shows that the proposed classifier based on computer vision can be successfully exploited to automatically classify a variety of grains. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

The ART of representation: Memory reduction and noise tolerance in a neural network vision system

Science.gov (United States)

Langley, Christopher S.

The Feature Cerebellar Model Arithmetic Computer (FCMAC) is a multiple-input-single-output neural network that can provide three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) pose estimation for a robotic vision system. The FCMAC provides sufficient accuracy to enable a manipulator to grasp an object from an arbitrary pose within its workspace. The network learns an appearance-based representation of an object by storing coarsely quantized feature patterns. As all unique patterns are encoded, the network size grows uncontrollably. A new architecture is introduced herein, which combines the FCMAC with an Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) network. The ART module categorizes patterns observed during training into a set of prototypes that are used to build the FCMAC. As a result, the network no longer grows without bound, but constrains itself to a user-specified size. Pose estimates remain accurate since the ART layer tends to discard the least relevant information first. The smaller network performs recall faster, and in some cases is better for generalization, resulting in a reduction of error at recall time. The ART-Under-Constraint (ART-C) algorithm is extended to include initial filling with randomly selected patterns (referred to as ART-F). In experiments using a real-world data set, the new network performed equally well using less than one tenth the number of coarse patterns as a regular FCMAC. The FCMAC is also extended to include real-valued input activations. As a result, the network can be tuned to reject a variety of types of noise in the image feature detection. A quantitative analysis of noise tolerance was performed using four synthetic noise algorithms, and a qualitative investigation was made using noisy real-world image data. In validation experiments, the FCMAC system outperformed Radial Basis Function (RBF) networks for the 3-DOF problem, and had accuracy comparable to that of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and superior to that of Shape Context Matching (SCM), both

Bio-Inspired Sensing and Imaging of Polarization Information in Nature

Science.gov (United States)

2008-05-04

Neurobiology of polarization vision,” Trends Neu- rosci. 12, 353–359 (1989). 32. R. Wehner, “‘Matched filters’: neural models of the external world,” J...degrees of polarization,” J. Exp. Biol. 199, 1467–1475 (1996). 47. T. Labhart and E. P. Meyer, Neural mechanisms in insect navigation: polarization...mm by 0.3–0.5 in. 7.6–12.7 mm while a typical ight bulb is 3 in. 76 mm in diameter and needs to be laced at least 7 in. 177.8 mm from the

SCRLH-TL Based Sequential Rotation Feed Network for Broadband Circularly Polarized Antenna Array

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. F. Zong

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a broadband circularly polarized (CP microstrip antenna array using composite right/left-handed transmission line (SCRLH-TL based sequential rotation (SR feed network is presented. The characteristics of a SCRLH-TL are initially investigated. Then, a broadband and low insertion loss 45º phase shifter is designed using the SCRLH-TL and the phase shifter is employed in constructing a SR feed network for CP antenna array. To validate the design method of the SR feed network, a 2×2 antenna array comprising sequentially rotated coupled stacked CP antenna elements is designed, fabricated and measured. Both the simulated and measured results indicate that the performances of the antenna element are further enhanced when the SR network is used. The antenna array exhibits the VSWR less than 1.8 dB from 4 GHz to 7 GHz and the 3 dB axial ratio (AR from 4.4 GHz to 6.8 GHz. Also, high peak gain of 13.7 dBic is obtained. Besides, the normalized radiation patterns at the operating frequencies are symmetrical and the side lobe levels are low at φ=0º and φ=90º.

Promoting Diversity Through Polar Interdisciplinary Coordinated Education (Polar ICE)

Science.gov (United States)

McDonnell, J. D.; Hotaling, L. A.; Garza, C.; Van Dyk, P. B.; Hunter-thomson, K. I.; Middendorf, J.; Daniel, A.; Matsumoto, G. I.; Schofield, O.

2017-12-01

Polar Interdisciplinary Coordinated Education (ICE) is an education and outreach program designed to provide public access to the Antarctic and Arctic regions through polar data and interactions with the scientists. The program provides multi-faceted science communication training for early career scientists that consist of a face-to face workshop and opportunities to apply these skills. The key components of the scientist training workshop include cultural competency training, deconstructing/decoding science for non-expert audiences, the art of telling science stories, and networking with members of the education and outreach community and reflecting on communication skills. Scientists partner with educators to provide professional development for K-12 educators and support for student research symposia. Polar ICE has initiated a Polar Literacy initiative that provides both a grounding in big ideas in polar science and science communication training designed to underscore the importance of the Polar Regions to the public while promoting interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists and educators. Our ultimate objective is to promote STEM identity through professional development of scientists and educators while developing career awareness of STEM pathways in Polar science.

Louisiana Speaks Regional Vision Transit Corridors, UTM Zone 15N NAD 83, Louisiana Recovery Authority (2007), [louisiana_speaks_vision_transit_corridors

Data.gov (United States)

Louisiana Geographic Information Center — This GIS shapefile data illustrates the primary and secondary transit corridors included in the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan Vision. This network accommodates a...

Videographic Education: Owning the Polar Crisis

Science.gov (United States)

Vachon, R. W.; Buhr, S. M.

2007-12-01

Television and internet-served video is an increasingly important media tool for reaching into society. This talk will present clips from a film designed to educate the public about warming in the polar regions, the socioeconomic and environmental implications of this warming; and the actions we can take to slow down human contributions to climate change. This talk will present a short film Owning the Polar Crisis, which is drawn from footage for Polar Visions, a four segment film available for educational audiences and the public.. The films are unique in that they draw from the perspectives of well-known climate scientists, citizens from all over the planet and natives of the Arctic. The compelling images were taken from numerous locations around the Arctic, including Alaska and Greenland. Owning the Polar Crisis was filmed, directed and produced by Dr. Ryan Vachon, a climate scientist and videographer with an intimate knowledge of the subject matter.

Deep recurrent neural network reveals a hierarchy of process memory during dynamic natural vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Junxing; Wen, Haiguang; Zhang, Yizhen; Han, Kuan; Liu, Zhongming

2018-05-01

The human visual cortex extracts both spatial and temporal visual features to support perception and guide behavior. Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) provide a computational framework to model cortical representation and organization for spatial visual processing, but unable to explain how the brain processes temporal information. To overcome this limitation, we extended a CNN by adding recurrent connections to different layers of the CNN to allow spatial representations to be remembered and accumulated over time. The extended model, or the recurrent neural network (RNN), embodied a hierarchical and distributed model of process memory as an integral part of visual processing. Unlike the CNN, the RNN learned spatiotemporal features from videos to enable action recognition. The RNN better predicted cortical responses to natural movie stimuli than the CNN, at all visual areas, especially those along the dorsal stream. As a fully observable model of visual processing, the RNN also revealed a cortical hierarchy of temporal receptive window, dynamics of process memory, and spatiotemporal representations. These results support the hypothesis of process memory, and demonstrate the potential of using the RNN for in-depth computational understanding of dynamic natural vision. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Screening for Vision Problems, Including Usher's Syndrome, among Hearing Impaired Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Fillman, Robyn D.; And Others

1987-01-01

A screening program for vision problems and Usher's Syndrome (a common cause of deaf-blindness) among 210 hearing-impaired students found 44 percent had significant vision problems and 1 percent had Usher's Syndrome. The program involved an interagency network of school, health care, and support personnel and utilized a dilated ophathalmological…

Computer vision in roadway transportation systems: a survey

Science.gov (United States)

Loce, Robert P.; Bernal, Edgar A.; Wu, Wencheng; Bala, Raja

2013-10-01

There is a worldwide effort to apply 21st century intelligence to evolving our transportation networks. The goals of smart transportation networks are quite noble and manifold, including safety, efficiency, law enforcement, energy conservation, and emission reduction. Computer vision is playing a key role in this transportation evolution. Video imaging scientists are providing intelligent sensing and processing technologies for a wide variety of applications and services. There are many interesting technical challenges including imaging under a variety of environmental and illumination conditions, data overload, recognition and tracking of objects at high speed, distributed network sensing and processing, energy sources, as well as legal concerns. This paper presents a survey of computer vision techniques related to three key problems in the transportation domain: safety, efficiency, and security and law enforcement. A broad review of the literature is complemented by detailed treatment of a few selected algorithms and systems that the authors believe represent the state-of-the-art.

Polarization diversity scheme on spectral polarization coding optical code-division multiple-access network

Science.gov (United States)

Yen, Chih-Ta; Huang, Jen-Fa; Chang, Yao-Tang; Chen, Bo-Hau

2010-12-01

We present an experiment demonstrating the spectral-polarization coding optical code-division multiple-access system introduced with a nonideal state of polarization (SOP) matching conditions. In the proposed system, the encoding and double balanced-detection processes are implemented using a polarization-diversity scheme. Because of the quasiorthogonality of Hadamard codes combining with array waveguide grating routers and a polarization beam splitter, the proposed codec pair can encode-decode multiple code words of Hadamard code while retaining the ability for multiple-access interference cancellation. The experimental results demonstrate that when the system is maintained with an orthogonal SOP for each user, an effective reduction in the phase-induced intensity noise is obtained. The analytical SNR values are found to overstate the experimental results by around 2 dB when the received effective power is large. This is mainly limited by insertion losses of components and a nonflattened optical light source. Furthermore, the matching conditions can be improved by decreasing nonideal influences.

Molecular Evolution of Spider Vision: New Opportunities, Familiar Players.

Science.gov (United States)

Morehouse, Nathan I; Buschbeck, Elke K; Zurek, Daniel B; Steck, Mireille; Porter, Megan L

2017-08-01

Spiders are among the world's most species-rich animal lineages, and their visual systems are likewise highly diverse. These modular visual systems, composed of four pairs of image-forming "camera" eyes, have taken on a huge variety of forms, exhibiting variation in eye size, eye placement, image resolution, and field of view, as well as sensitivity to color, polarization, light levels, and motion cues. However, despite this conspicuous diversity, our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of these visual systems remains shallow. Here, we review the current literature, analyze publicly available transcriptomic data, and discuss hypotheses about the origins and development of spider eyes. Our efforts highlight that there are many new things to discover from spider eyes, and yet these opportunities are set against a backdrop of deep homology with other arthropod lineages. For example, many (but not all) of the genes that appear important for early eye development in spiders are familiar players known from the developmental networks of other model systems (e.g., Drosophila). Similarly, our analyses of opsins and related phototransduction genes suggest that spider photoreceptors employ many of the same genes and molecular mechanisms known from other arthropods, with a hypothesized ancestral spider set of four visual and four nonvisual opsins. This deep homology provides a number of useful footholds into new work on spider vision and the molecular basis of its extant variety. We therefore discuss what some of these first steps might be in the hopes of convincing others to join us in studying the vision of these fascinating creatures.

Neural network classification of sweet potato embryos

Science.gov (United States)

Molto, Enrique; Harrell, Roy C.

1993-05-01

Somatic embryogenesis is a process that allows for the in vitro propagation of thousands of plants in sub-liter size vessels and has been successfully applied to many significant species. The heterogeneity of maturity and quality of embryos produced with this technique requires sorting to obtain a uniform product. An automated harvester is being developed at the University of Florida to sort embryos in vitro at different stages of maturation in a suspension culture. The system utilizes machine vision to characterize embryo morphology and a fluidic based separation device to isolate embryos associated with a pre-defined, targeted morphology. Two different backpropagation neural networks (BNN) were used to classify embryos based on information extracted from the vision system. One network utilized geometric features such as embryo area, length, and symmetry as inputs. The alternative network utilized polar coordinates of an embryo's perimeter with respect to its centroid as inputs. The performances of both techniques were compared with each other and with an embryo classification method based on linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Similar results were obtained with all three techniques. Classification efficiency was improved by reducing the dimension of the feature vector trough a forward stepwise analysis by LDA. In order to enhance the purity of the sample selected as harvestable, a reject to classify option was introduced in the model and analyzed. The best classifier performances (76% overall correct classifications, 75% harvestable objects properly classified, homogeneity improvement ratio 1.5) were obtained using 8 features in a BNN.

Multiple episodes of convergence in genes of the dim light vision pathway in bats.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong-Yi Shen

Full Text Available The molecular basis of the evolution of phenotypic characters is very complex and is poorly understood with few examples documenting the roles of multiple genes. Considering that a single gene cannot fully explain the convergence of phenotypic characters, we choose to study the convergent evolution of rod vision in two divergent bats from a network perspective. The Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae are non-echolocating and have binocular vision, whereas the sheath-tailed bats (Emballonuridae are echolocating and have monocular vision; however, they both have relatively large eyes and rely more on rod vision to find food and navigate in the night. We found that the genes CRX, which plays an essential role in the differentiation of photoreceptor cells, SAG, which is involved in the desensitization of the photoactivated transduction cascade, and the photoreceptor gene RH, which is directly responsible for the perception of dim light, have undergone parallel sequence evolution in two divergent lineages of bats with larger eyes (Pteropodidae and Emballonuroidea. The multiple convergent events in the network of genes essential for rod vision is a rare phenomenon that illustrates the importance of investigating pathways and networks in the evolution of the molecular basis of phenotypic convergence.

Computation and parallel implementation for early vision

Science.gov (United States)

Gualtieri, J. Anthony

1990-01-01

The problem of early vision is to transform one or more retinal illuminance images-pixel arrays-to image representations built out of such primitive visual features such as edges, regions, disparities, and clusters. These transformed representations form the input to later vision stages that perform higher level vision tasks including matching and recognition. Researchers developed algorithms for: (1) edge finding in the scale space formulation; (2) correlation methods for computing matches between pairs of images; and (3) clustering of data by neural networks. These algorithms are formulated for parallel implementation of SIMD machines, such as the Massively Parallel Processor, a 128 x 128 array processor with 1024 bits of local memory per processor. For some cases, researchers can show speedups of three orders of magnitude over serial implementations.

Anatomical Reconstruction and Functional Imaging Reveal an Ordered Array of Skylight Polarization Detectors in Drosophila.

Science.gov (United States)

Weir, Peter T; Henze, Miriam J; Bleul, Christiane; Baumann-Klausener, Franziska; Labhart, Thomas; Dickinson, Michael H

2016-05-11

Many insects exploit skylight polarization as a compass cue for orientation and navigation. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, photoreceptors R7 and R8 in the dorsal rim area (DRA) of the compound eye are specialized to detect the electric vector (e-vector) of linearly polarized light. These photoreceptors are arranged in stacked pairs with identical fields of view and spectral sensitivities, but mutually orthogonal microvillar orientations. As in larger flies, we found that the microvillar orientation of the distal photoreceptor R7 changes in a fan-like fashion along the DRA. This anatomical arrangement suggests that the DRA constitutes a detector for skylight polarization, in which different e-vectors maximally excite different positions in the array. To test our hypothesis, we measured responses to polarized light of varying e-vector angles in the terminals of R7/8 cells using genetically encoded calcium indicators. Our data confirm a progression of preferred e-vector angles from anterior to posterior in the DRA, and a strict orthogonality between the e-vector preferences of paired R7/8 cells. We observed decreased activity in photoreceptors in response to flashes of light polarized orthogonally to their preferred e-vector angle, suggesting reciprocal inhibition between photoreceptors in the same medullar column, which may serve to increase polarization contrast. Together, our results indicate that the polarization-vision system relies on a spatial map of preferred e-vector angles at the earliest stage of sensory processing. The fly's visual system is an influential model system for studying neural computation, and much is known about its anatomy, physiology, and development. The circuits underlying motion processing have received the most attention, but researchers are increasingly investigating other functions, such as color perception and object recognition. In this work, we investigate the early neural processing of a somewhat exotic sense, called

Community-centred Networks and Networking among Companies, Educational and Cultural Institutions and Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Konnerup, Ulla; Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Lone

2010-01-01

This article presents visions for community-centred networks and networking among companies, educational and cultural institutions and research based on blended on- and off-line collaboration and communication. Our point of departure is the general vision of networking between government, industry...... and research as formulated in the Triple Helix Model (Etzkowitz 2008). The article draws on a case study of NoEL, a network on e-learning among business, educational and cultural institutions and research, all in all 21 partners from all around Denmark. Focus is how networks and networking change character......’ in Networked Learning, Wenger et al. 2009; The analysis concerns the participation structure and how the network activities connect local work practices and research, and how technology and online communication contribute to a change from participation in offline and physical network activities into online...

Measured results of polarization crosstalk cancellation using LMS control. [Least Mean Square

Science.gov (United States)

Baird, C. A.; Rassweiler, G. G.

1977-01-01

This paper discusses the use of wideband decoupling networks for the cancellation of polarization crosstalk in dual-polarized communication links. Measured cancellation performance for an all-electronic IF network and an RF electro-mechanical waveguide network are presented. Each of these networks utilizes LMS-type adaptive control techniques to adjust the cancellation network.

Vision Assessment and Prescription of Low Vision Devices

OpenAIRE

Keeffe, Jill

2004-01-01

Assessment of vision and prescription of low vision devices are part of a comprehensive low vision service. Other components of the service include training the person affected by low vision in use of vision and other senses, mobility, activities of daily living, and support for education, employment or leisure activities. Specialist vision rehabilitation agencies have services to provide access to information (libraries) and activity centres for groups of people with impaired vision.

The role of vision processing in prosthetic vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Nick; He, Xuming; McCarthy, Chris; Horne, Lachlan; Kim, Junae; Scott, Adele; Lieby, Paulette

2012-01-01

Prosthetic vision provides vision which is reduced in resolution and dynamic range compared to normal human vision. This comes about both due to residual damage to the visual system from the condition that caused vision loss, and due to limitations of current technology. However, even with limitations, prosthetic vision may still be able to support functional performance which is sufficient for tasks which are key to restoring independent living and quality of life. Here vision processing can play a key role, ensuring that information which is critical to the performance of key tasks is available within the capability of the available prosthetic vision. In this paper, we frame vision processing for prosthetic vision, highlight some key areas which present problems in terms of quality of life, and present examples where vision processing can help achieve better outcomes.

True Visions The Emergence of Ambient Intelligence

CERN Document Server

Aarts, Emile

2006-01-01

Ambient intelligence (AI) refers to a developing technology that will increasingly make our everyday environment sensitive and responsive to our presence. The AI vision requires technology invisibly embedded in our everyday surroundings, present whenever we need it that will lead to the seamless integration of lighting, sounds, vision, domestic appliances, and personal healthcare products to enhance our living experience. Written for the non-specialist seeking an authoritative but accessible overview of this interdisciplinary field, True Visions explains how the devices making up the AI world will operate collectively using information and intelligence hidden in the wireless network connecting them. Expert contributions address key AI components such as smart materials and textiles, system architecture, mobile computing, broadband communication, and underlying issues of human-environment interactions. It seeks to unify the perspectives of scientists from diverse backgrounds ranging from the physics of materia...

Application of chaos and fractals to computer vision

CERN Document Server

Farmer, Michael E

2014-01-01

This book provides a thorough investigation of the application of chaos theory and fractal analysis to computer vision. The field of chaos theory has been studied in dynamical physical systems, and has been very successful in providing computational models for very complex problems ranging from weather systems to neural pathway signal propagation. Computer vision researchers have derived motivation for their algorithms from biology and physics for many years as witnessed by the optical flow algorithm, the oscillator model underlying graphical cuts and of course neural networks. These algorithm

Capacity upgrade in short-reach optical fibre networks: simultaneous 4-PAM 20 Gbps data and polarization-modulated PPS clock signal using a single VCSEL carrier

Science.gov (United States)

Isoe, G. M.; Wassin, S.; Gamatham, R. R. G.; Leitch, A. W. R.; Gibbon, T. B.

2017-11-01

In this work, a four-level pulse amplitude modulation (4-PAM) format with a polarization-modulated pulse per second (PPS) clock signal using a single vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) carrier is for the first time experimentally demonstrated. We propose uncomplex alternative technique for increasing capacity and flexibility in short-reach optical communication links through multi-signal modulation onto a single VCSEL carrier. A 20 Gbps 4-PAM data signal is directly modulated onto a single mode 10 GHz bandwidth VCSEL carrier at 1310 nm, therefore, doubling the network bit rate. Carrier spectral efficiency is further maximized by exploiting the inherent orthogonal polarization switching of the VCSEL carrier with changing bias in transmission of a PPS clock signal. We, therefore, simultaneously transmit a 20 Gbps 4-PAM data signal and a polarization-based PPS clock signal using a single VCSEL carrier. It is the first time a signal VCSEL carrier is reported to simultaneously transmit a directly modulated 20 Gbps 4-PAM data signal and a polarization-based PPS clock signal. We further demonstrate on the design of a software-defined digital signal processing (DSP)-assisted receiver as an alternative to costly receiver hardware. Experimental results show that a 3.21 km fibre transmission with simultaneous 20 Gbps 4-PAM data signal and polarization-based PPS clock signal introduced a penalty of 3.76 dB. The contribution of polarization-based PPS clock signal to this penalty was found out to be 0.41 dB. Simultaneous distribution of data and timing clock signals over shared network infrastructure significantly increases the aggregated data rate at different optical network units (ONUs), without costly investment.

Do cephalopods communicate using polarized light reflections from their skin?

Science.gov (United States)

Mäthger, Lydia M; Shashar, Nadav; Hanlon, Roger T

2009-07-01

Cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish and octopus) are probably best known for their ability to change color and pattern for camouflage and communication. This is made possible by their complex skin, which contains pigmented chromatophore organs and structural light reflectors (iridophores and leucophores). Iridophores create colorful and linearly polarized reflective patterns. Equally interesting, the photoreceptors of cephalopod eyes are arranged in a way to give these animals the ability to detect the linear polarization of incoming light. The capacity to detect polarized light may have a variety of functions, such as prey detection, navigation, orientation and contrast enhancement. Because the skin of cephalopods can produce polarized reflective patterns, it has been postulated that cephalopods could communicate intraspecifically through this visual system. The term 'hidden' or 'private' communication channel has been given to this concept because many cephalopod predators may not be able to see their polarized reflective patterns. We review the evidence for polarization vision as well as polarization signaling in some cephalopod species and provide examples that tend to support the notion--currently unproven--that some cephalopods communicate using polarized light signals.

Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan Vision New or Improved Roadways, UTM Zone 15N NAD 83, Louisiana Recovery Authority (2007), [louisiana_speaks_vision_roadway_improvements

Data.gov (United States)

Louisiana Geographic Information Center — This GIS shapefile data illustrates new or improved roadways included in the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan Vision. This network accommodates a land use pattern that...

Building Capacity for Telecentre Partnerships, Networking and ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... within the telecentre.org community. Specifically, CSI will develop a post-2010 vision for telecentre.org; identify new partners who can contribute to this vision; encourage collaboration and innovation on the part of telecentre.org partners; conduct research on network development; and provide coaching to network leaders ...

Application of polarization in high speed, high contrast inspection

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Matthew J.

2017-08-01

Industrial optical inspection often requires high speed and high throughput of materials. Engineers use a variety of techniques to handle these inspection needs. Some examples include line scan cameras, high speed multi-spectral and laser-based systems. High-volume manufacturing presents different challenges for inspection engineers. For example, manufacturers produce some components in quantities of millions per month, per week or even per day. Quality control of so many parts requires creativity to achieve the measurement needs. At times, traditional vision systems lack the contrast to provide the data required. In this paper, we show how dynamic polarization imaging captures high contrast images. These images are useful for engineers to perform inspection tasks in some cases where optical contrast is low. We will cover basic theory of polarization. We show how to exploit polarization as a contrast enhancement technique. We also show results of modeling for a polarization inspection application. Specifically, we explore polarization techniques for inspection of adhesives on glass.

A Bionic Polarization Navigation Sensor and Its Calibration Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Huijie; Xu, Wujian

2016-08-03

The polarization patterns of skylight which arise due to the scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere can be used by many insects for deriving compass information. Inspired by insects' polarized light compass, scientists have developed a new kind of navigation method. One of the key techniques in this method is the polarimetric sensor which is used to acquire direction information from skylight. In this paper, a polarization navigation sensor is proposed which imitates the working principles of the polarization vision systems of insects. We introduce the optical design and mathematical model of the sensor. In addition, a calibration method based on variable substitution and non-linear curve fitting is proposed. The results obtained from the outdoor experiments provide support for the feasibility and precision of the sensor. The sensor's signal processing can be well described using our mathematical model. A relatively high degree of accuracy in polarization measurement can be obtained without any error compensation.

A method to calculate Stokes parameters and angle of polarization of skylight from polarized CIMEL sun/sky radiometers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, L.; Li, Z.; Li, K.; Blarel, L.; Wendisch, M.

2014-01-01

The polarized CIMEL sun/sky radiometers have been routinely operated within the Sun/sky-radiometer Observation NETwork (SONET) in China and some sites of the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) around the world. However, the polarization measurements are not yet widely used due to in a certain degree the lack of Stokes parameters derived directly from these polarization measurements. Meanwhile, it have been shown that retrievals of several microphysical properties of aerosol particles can be significantly improved by using degree of linear polarization (DoLP) measurements of polarized CIMEL sun/sky radiometers (CE318-DP). The Stokes parameters Q and U, as well as angle of polarization (AoP) contain additional information about linear polarization and its orientation. A method to calculate Stokes parameters Q, U, and AoP from CE318-DP polarized skylight measurements is introduced in this study. A new polarized almucantar geometry based on CE318-DP is measured to illustrate abundant variation features of these parameters. The polarization parameters calculated in this study are consistent with previous results of DoLP and I, and also comparable to vector radiative transfer simulations. - Highlights: • The CE318-DP polarized measurements are not yet widely used except DoLP. • Compared with DoLP and I, difficulty in calculating Stokes Q and U is discussed. • A new polarized almucantar observation geometry based on CE318-DP is executed. • We derive Stokes Q, U, and AoP both in principal and almucantar plane geometries. • The results are comparable with previous DoLP and I, as well as model simulations

MEDYAN: Mechanochemical Simulations of Contraction and Polarity Alignment in Actomyosin Networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konstantin Popov

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Active matter systems, and in particular the cell cytoskeleton, exhibit complex mechanochemical dynamics that are still not well understood. While prior computational models of cytoskeletal dynamics have lead to many conceptual insights, an important niche still needs to be filled with a high-resolution structural modeling framework, which includes a minimally-complete set of cytoskeletal chemistries, stochastically treats reaction and diffusion processes in three spatial dimensions, accurately and efficiently describes mechanical deformations of the filamentous network under stresses generated by molecular motors, and deeply couples mechanics and chemistry at high spatial resolution. To address this need, we propose a novel reactive coarse-grained force field, as well as a publicly available software package, named the Mechanochemical Dynamics of Active Networks (MEDYAN, for simulating active network evolution and dynamics (available at www.medyan.org. This model can be used to study the non-linear, far from equilibrium processes in active matter systems, in particular, comprised of interacting semi-flexible polymers embedded in a solution with complex reaction-diffusion processes. In this work, we applied MEDYAN to investigate a contractile actomyosin network consisting of actin filaments, alpha-actinin cross-linking proteins, and non-muscle myosin IIA mini-filaments. We found that these systems undergo a switch-like transition in simulations from a random network to ordered, bundled structures when cross-linker concentration is increased above a threshold value, inducing contraction driven by myosin II mini-filaments. Our simulations also show how myosin II mini-filaments, in tandem with cross-linkers, can produce a range of actin filament polarity distributions and alignment, which is crucially dependent on the rate of actin filament turnover and the actin filament's resulting super-diffusive behavior in the actomyosin-cross-linker system

Recent advances in the development and transfer of machine vision technologies for space

Science.gov (United States)

Defigueiredo, Rui J. P.; Pendleton, Thomas

1991-01-01

Recent work concerned with real-time machine vision is briefly reviewed. This work includes methodologies and techniques for optimal illumination, shape-from-shading of general (non-Lambertian) 3D surfaces, laser vision devices and technology, high level vision, sensor fusion, real-time computing, artificial neural network design and use, and motion estimation. Two new methods that are currently being developed for object recognition in clutter and for 3D attitude tracking based on line correspondence are discussed.

Can invertebrates see the e-vector of polarization as a separate modality of light?

Science.gov (United States)

Labhart, Thomas

2016-12-15

The visual world is rich in linearly polarized light stimuli, which are hidden from the human eye. But many invertebrate species make use of polarized light as a source of valuable visual information. However, exploiting light polarization does not necessarily imply that the electric (e)-vector orientation of polarized light can be perceived as a separate modality of light. In this Review, I address the question of whether invertebrates can detect specific e-vector orientations in a manner similar to that of humans perceiving spectral stimuli as specific hues. To analyze e-vector orientation, the signals of at least three polarization-sensitive sensors (analyzer channels) with different e-vector tuning axes must be compared. The object-based, imaging polarization vision systems of cephalopods and crustaceans, as well as the water-surface detectors of flying backswimmers, use just two analyzer channels. Although this excludes the perception of specific e-vector orientations, a two-channel system does provide a coarse, categoric analysis of polarized light stimuli, comparable to the limited color sense of dichromatic, 'color-blind' humans. The celestial compass of insects employs three or more analyzer channels. However, that compass is multimodal, i.e. e-vector information merges with directional information from other celestial cues, such as the solar azimuth and the spectral gradient in the sky, masking e-vector information. It seems that invertebrate organisms take no interest in the polarization details of visual stimuli, but polarization vision grants more practical benefits, such as improved object detection and visual communication for cephalopods and crustaceans, compass readings to traveling insects, or the alert 'water below!' to water-seeking bugs. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Low Vision

Science.gov (United States)

... USAJobs Home » Statistics and Data » Low Vision Listen Low Vision Low Vision Defined: Low Vision is defined as the best- ... Ethnicity 2010 U.S. Age-Specific Prevalence Rates for Low Vision by Age, and Race/Ethnicity Table for 2010 ...

Computing motion using resistive networks

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Christof; Luo, Jin; Mead, Carver; Hutchinson, James

1988-01-01

Recent developments in the theory of early vision are described which lead from the formulation of the motion problem as an ill-posed one to its solution by minimizing certain 'cost' functions. These cost or energy functions can be mapped onto simple analog and digital resistive networks. It is shown how the optical flow can be computed by injecting currents into resistive networks and recording the resulting stationary voltage distribution at each node. These networks can be implemented in cMOS VLSI circuits and represent plausible candidates for biological vision systems.

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission): an extended white paper

NARCIS (Netherlands)

André, Philippe; Baccigalupi, Carlo; Banday, Anthony; Barbosa, Domingos; Barreiro, Belen; Bartlett, James; Bartolo, Nicola; Battistelli, Elia; Battye, Richard; Bendo, George; Benoît, Alain; Bernard, Jean-Philippe; Bersanelli, Marco; Béthermin, Matthieu; Bielewicz, Pawel; Bonaldi, Anna; Bouchet, François; Boulanger, François; Brand, Jan; Bucher, Martin; Burigana, Carlo; Cai, Zhen-Yi; Camus, Philippe; Casas, Francisco; Casasola, Viviana; Castex, Guillaume; Challinor, Anthony; Chluba, Jens; Chon, Gayoung; Colafrancesco, Sergio; Comis, Barbara; Cuttaia, Francesco; D'Alessandro, Giuseppe; Da Silva, Antonio; Davis, Richard; de Avillez, Miguel; de Bernardis, Paolo; de Petris, Marco; de Rosa, Adriano; de Zotti, Gianfranco; Delabrouille, Jacques; Désert, François-Xavier; Dickinson, Clive; Diego, Jose Maria; Dunkley, Joanna; Enßlin, Torsten; Errard, Josquin; Falgarone, Edith; Ferreira, Pedro; Ferrière, Katia; Finelli, Fabio; Fletcher, Andrew; Fosalba, Pablo; Fuller, Gary; Galli, Silvia; Ganga, Ken; García-Bellido, Juan; Ghribi, Adnan; Giard, Martin; Giraud-Héraud, Yannick; Gonzalez-Nuevo, Joaquin; Grainge, Keith; Gruppuso, Alessandro; Hall, Alex; Hamilton, Jean-Christophe; Haverkorn, Marijke; Hernandez-Monteagudo, Carlos; Herranz, Diego; Jackson, Mark; Jaffe, Andrew; Khatri, Rishi; Kunz, Martin; Lamagna, Luca; Lattanzi, Massimiliano; Leahy, Paddy; Lesgourgues, Julien; Liguori, Michele; Liuzzo, Elisabetta; Lopez-Caniego, Marcos; Macias-Perez, Juan; Maffei, Bruno; Maino, Davide; Mangilli, Anna; Martinez-Gonzalez, Enrique; Martins, Carlos J. A. P.; Masi, Silvia; Massardi, Marcella; Matarrese, Sabino; Melchiorri, Alessandro; Melin, Jean-Baptiste; Mennella, Aniello; Mignano, Arturo; Miville-Deschênes, Marc-Antoine; Monfardini, Alessandro; Murphy, Anthony; Naselsky, Pavel; Nati, Federico; Natoli, Paolo; Negrello, Mattia; Noviello, Fabio; O'Sullivan, Créidhe; Paci, Francesco; Pagano, Luca; Paladino, Rosita; Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Paoletti, Daniela; Peiris, Hiranya; Perrotta, Francesca; Piacentini, Francesco; Piat, Michel; Piccirillo, Lucio; Pisano, Giampaolo; Polenta, Gianluca; Pollo, Agnieszka; Ponthieu, Nicolas; Remazeilles, Mathieu; Ricciardi, Sara; Roman, Matthieu; Rosset, Cyrille; Rubino-Martin, Jose-Alberto; Salatino, Maria; Schillaci, Alessandro; Shellard, Paul; Silk, Joseph; Starobinsky, Alexei; Stompor, Radek; Sunyaev, Rashid; Tartari, Andrea; Terenzi, Luca; Toffolatti, Luigi; Tomasi, Maurizio; Trappe, Neil; Tristram, Matthieu; Trombetti, Tiziana; Tucci, Marco; Van de Weijgaert, Rien; Van Tent, Bartjan; Verde, Licia; Vielva, Patricio; Wandelt, Ben; Watson, Robert; Withington, Stafford

2014-01-01

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) was proposed to ESA in May 2013 as a large-class mission for investigating within the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision program a set of important scientific questions that require high resolution, high sensitivity, full-sky observations

Vision based flight procedure stereo display system

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xiaoyun; Wan, Di; Ma, Lan; He, Yuncheng

2008-03-01

A virtual reality flight procedure vision system is introduced in this paper. The digital flight map database is established based on the Geographic Information System (GIS) and high definitions satellite remote sensing photos. The flight approaching area database is established through computer 3D modeling system and GIS. The area texture is generated from the remote sensing photos and aerial photographs in various level of detail. According to the flight approaching procedure, the flight navigation information is linked to the database. The flight approaching area vision can be dynamic displayed according to the designed flight procedure. The flight approaching area images are rendered in 2 channels, one for left eye images and the others for right eye images. Through the polarized stereoscopic projection system, the pilots and aircrew can get the vivid 3D vision of the flight destination approaching area. Take the use of this system in pilots preflight preparation procedure, the aircrew can get more vivid information along the flight destination approaching area. This system can improve the aviator's self-confidence before he carries out the flight mission, accordingly, the flight safety is improved. This system is also useful in validate the visual flight procedure design, and it helps to the flight procedure design.

PolarTREC—A Model Program for Taking Polar Literacy into the Future

Science.gov (United States)

Warburton, J.; Timm, K.; Larson, A. M.

2009-12-01

Polar TREC—Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating, is a three-year (2007-2009) NSF-funded International Polar Year (IPY) teacher professional development program that advances Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education by improving teacher content knowledge and instructional practices through Teacher Research Experiences (TRE) in the Arctic and Antarctic. Leveraging profound changes and fascinating science taking place in the polar regions, PolarTREC broadly disseminates activities and products to students, educators, researchers, and the public, connecting them with the Arctic and Antarctica and sustaining the widespread interest in the polar regions and building on the enthusiasm that was generated through IPY. Central to the PolarTREC Teacher Research Experience Model, over 40 teachers have spent two to eight weeks participating in hands-on research in the polar regions and sharing their experiences with diverse audiences via live events, online multimedia journals, and interactive bulletin boards. The Connecting Arctic/Antarctic Researchers and Educators (CARE) Network unifies learning community members participants, alumni, and others, developing a sustainable association of education professionals networking to share and apply polar STEM content and pedagogical skills. Educator and student feedback from preliminary results of the program evaluation has shown that PolarTREC’s comprehensive program activities have many positive impacts on educators and their ability to teach science concepts and improve their teaching methods. Additionally, K-12 students polled in interest surveys showed significant changes in key areas including amount of time spent in school exploring research activities, importance of understanding science for future work, importance of understanding the polar regions as a person in today’s world, as well as increased self-reported knowledge and interest in numerous science content areas. Building

An Event-Driven Classifier for Spiking Neural Networks Fed with Synthetic or Dynamic Vision Sensor Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evangelos Stromatias

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces a novel methodology for training an event-driven classifier within a Spiking Neural Network (SNN System capable of yielding good classification results when using both synthetic input data and real data captured from Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS chips. The proposed supervised method uses the spiking activity provided by an arbitrary topology of prior SNN layers to build histograms and train the classifier in the frame domain using the stochastic gradient descent algorithm. In addition, this approach can cope with leaky integrate-and-fire neuron models within the SNN, a desirable feature for real-world SNN applications, where neural activation must fade away after some time in the absence of inputs. Consequently, this way of building histograms captures the dynamics of spikes immediately before the classifier. We tested our method on the MNIST data set using different synthetic encodings and real DVS sensory data sets such as N-MNIST, MNIST-DVS, and Poker-DVS using the same network topology and feature maps. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by achieving the highest classification accuracy reported on the N-MNIST (97.77% and Poker-DVS (100% real DVS data sets to date with a spiking convolutional network. Moreover, by using the proposed method we were able to retrain the output layer of a previously reported spiking neural network and increase its performance by 2%, suggesting that the proposed classifier can be used as the output layer in works where features are extracted using unsupervised spike-based learning methods. In addition, we also analyze SNN performance figures such as total event activity and network latencies, which are relevant for eventual hardware implementations. In summary, the paper aggregates unsupervised-trained SNNs with a supervised-trained SNN classifier, combining and applying them to heterogeneous sets of benchmarks, both synthetic and from real DVS chips.

An Event-Driven Classifier for Spiking Neural Networks Fed with Synthetic or Dynamic Vision Sensor Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Stromatias, Evangelos; Soto, Miguel; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Linares-Barranco, Bernabé

2017-01-01

This paper introduces a novel methodology for training an event-driven classifier within a Spiking Neural Network (SNN) System capable of yielding good classification results when using both synthetic input data and real data captured from Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) chips. The proposed supervised method uses the spiking activity provided by an arbitrary topology of prior SNN layers to build histograms and train the classifier in the frame domain using the stochastic gradient descent algorithm. In addition, this approach can cope with leaky integrate-and-fire neuron models within the SNN, a desirable feature for real-world SNN applications, where neural activation must fade away after some time in the absence of inputs. Consequently, this way of building histograms captures the dynamics of spikes immediately before the classifier. We tested our method on the MNIST data set using different synthetic encodings and real DVS sensory data sets such as N-MNIST, MNIST-DVS, and Poker-DVS using the same network topology and feature maps. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by achieving the highest classification accuracy reported on the N-MNIST (97.77%) and Poker-DVS (100%) real DVS data sets to date with a spiking convolutional network. Moreover, by using the proposed method we were able to retrain the output layer of a previously reported spiking neural network and increase its performance by 2%, suggesting that the proposed classifier can be used as the output layer in works where features are extracted using unsupervised spike-based learning methods. In addition, we also analyze SNN performance figures such as total event activity and network latencies, which are relevant for eventual hardware implementations. In summary, the paper aggregates unsupervised-trained SNNs with a supervised-trained SNN classifier, combining and applying them to heterogeneous sets of benchmarks, both synthetic and from real DVS chips.

Where vision meets memory: prefrontal-posterior networks for visual object constancy during categorization and recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Schendan, Haline E; Stern, Chantal E

2008-07-01

Objects seen from unusual relative to more canonical views require more time to categorize and recognize, and, according to object model verification theories, additionally recruit prefrontal processes for cognitive control that interact with parietal processes for mental rotation. To test this using functional magnetic resonance imaging, people categorized and recognized known objects from unusual and canonical views. Canonical views activated some components of a default network more on categorization than recognition. Activation to unusual views showed that both ventral and dorsal visual pathways, and prefrontal cortex, have key roles in visual object constancy. Unusual views activated object-sensitive and mental rotation (and not saccade) regions in ventrocaudal intraparietal, transverse occipital, and inferotemporal sulci, and ventral premotor cortex for verification processes of model testing on any task. A collateral-lingual sulci "place" area activated for mental rotation, working memory, and unusual views on correct recognition and categorization trials to accomplish detailed spatial matching. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and object-sensitive lateral occipital sulcus activated for mental rotation and unusual views on categorization more than recognition, supporting verification processes of model prediction. This visual knowledge framework integrates vision and memory theories to explain how distinct prefrontal-posterior networks enable meaningful interactions with objects in diverse situations.

The polarity protein Par6 is coupled to the microtubule network during molluscan early embryogenesis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Homma, Taihei [Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Shimizu, Miho [Kuroda Chiromorphology Team, ERATO-SORST, JST, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902 (Japan); Kuroda, Reiko, E-mail: ckuroda@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Kuroda Chiromorphology Team, ERATO-SORST, JST, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902 (Japan); Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902 (Japan)

2011-01-07

Research highlights: {yields} The cDNAs encoding Par6 and aPKC homologues were cloned from the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. {yields} L. stagnalis Par6 directly interacts with tubulin and microtubules and localizes to the microtubule cytoskeleton during the early embryogenesis. {yields} Identical sequence and localization of LsPar6 for the dextral and the sinistral snails exclude the possibility of the gene being the primary determinant of body handedness. -- Abstract: Cell polarity, which directs the orientation of asymmetric cell division and segregation of fate determinants, is a fundamental feature of development and differentiation. Regulators of polarity have been extensively studied, and the critical importance of the Par (partitioning-defective) complex as the polarity machinery is now recognized in a wide range of eukaryotic systems. The Par polarity module is evolutionarily conserved, but its mechanism and cooperating factors vary among different systems. Here we describe the cloning and characterization of a pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis homologue of partitioning-defective 6 (Lspar6). The protein product LsPar6 shows high affinity for microtubules and localizes to the mitotic apparatus during embryonic cell division. In vitro assays revealed direct binding of LsPar6 to tubulin and microtubules, which is the first evidence of the direct interaction between the two proteins. The interaction is mediated by two distinct regions of LsPar6 both located in the N-terminal half. Atypical PKC, a functional partner of Par6, was also found to localize to the mitotic spindle. These results suggest that the L. stagnalis Par complex employs the microtubule network in cell polarity processes during the early embryogenesis. Identical sequence and localization of LsPar6 for the dextral and the sinistral snails exclude the possibility of the gene being the primary determinant of handedness.

The polarity protein Par6 is coupled to the microtubule network during molluscan early embryogenesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Homma, Taihei; Shimizu, Miho; Kuroda, Reiko

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → The cDNAs encoding Par6 and aPKC homologues were cloned from the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. → L. stagnalis Par6 directly interacts with tubulin and microtubules and localizes to the microtubule cytoskeleton during the early embryogenesis. → Identical sequence and localization of LsPar6 for the dextral and the sinistral snails exclude the possibility of the gene being the primary determinant of body handedness. -- Abstract: Cell polarity, which directs the orientation of asymmetric cell division and segregation of fate determinants, is a fundamental feature of development and differentiation. Regulators of polarity have been extensively studied, and the critical importance of the Par (partitioning-defective) complex as the polarity machinery is now recognized in a wide range of eukaryotic systems. The Par polarity module is evolutionarily conserved, but its mechanism and cooperating factors vary among different systems. Here we describe the cloning and characterization of a pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis homologue of partitioning-defective 6 (Lspar6). The protein product LsPar6 shows high affinity for microtubules and localizes to the mitotic apparatus during embryonic cell division. In vitro assays revealed direct binding of LsPar6 to tubulin and microtubules, which is the first evidence of the direct interaction between the two proteins. The interaction is mediated by two distinct regions of LsPar6 both located in the N-terminal half. Atypical PKC, a functional partner of Par6, was also found to localize to the mitotic spindle. These results suggest that the L. stagnalis Par complex employs the microtubule network in cell polarity processes during the early embryogenesis. Identical sequence and localization of LsPar6 for the dextral and the sinistral snails exclude the possibility of the gene being the primary determinant of handedness.

The effect of body bias of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor in the resistive network on spatial current distribution in a bio-inspired complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor vision chip

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Jae-Sung; Hyun, Hyo-Young; Seo, Sang-Ho; Shin, Jang-Kyoo

2008-11-01

Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) vision chips for edge detection based on a resistive circuit have recently been developed. These chips help in the creation of neuromorphic systems of a compact size, high speed of operation, and low power dissipation. The output of the vision chip depends predominantly upon the electrical characteristics of the resistive network which consists of a resistive circuit. In this paper, the body effect of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor for current distribution in a resistive circuit is discussed with a simple model. In order to evaluate the model, two 160 × 120 CMOS vision chips have been fabricated using a standard CMOS technology. The experimental results nicely match our prediction.

The copepod Calanus spp. (Calanidae) is repelled by polarized light

Science.gov (United States)

Lerner, Amit; Browman, Howard I.

2016-10-01

Both attraction and repulsion from linearly polarized light have been observed in zooplankton. A dichotomous choice experiment, consisting of plankton light traps deployed in natural waters at a depth of 30 m that projected either polarized or unpolarized light of the same intensity, was used to test the hypothesis that the North Atlantic copepod, Calanus spp., is linearly polarotactic. In addition, the transparency of these copepods, as they might be seen by polarization insensitive vs. sensitive visual systems, was measured. Calanus spp. exhibited negative polarotaxis with a preference ratio of 1.9:1. Their transparency decreased from 80% to 20% to 30% in the unpolarized, partially polarized, and electric (e-) vector orientation domains respectively - that is, these copepods would appear opaque and conspicuous to a polarization-sensitive viewer looking at them under conditions rich in polarized light. Since the only difference between the two plankton traps was the polarization cue, we conclude that Calanus spp. are polarization sensitive and exhibit negative polarotaxis at low light intensities (albeit well within the sensitivity range reported for copepods). We hypothesize that Calanus spp. can use polarization vision to reduce their risk of predation by polarization-sensitive predators and suggest that this be tested in future experiments.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH AGENDA FOR EUROPE’S ELECTRICITY NETWORKS OF THE FUTURE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bamberger, Yves; Baptista, João; Botting, Duncan

The first milestone towards the establishment of a common strategy for the development of Europe’s electricity networks was set in April 2006 when the paper ‘Vision and Strategy for Europe’s Electricity Networks of the Future’1 was published. In this Vision, future electricity markets and networks...

Nuclear Fusion with Polarized Nucleons & PolFusion

CERN Document Server

Engels, Ralf; Büscher, Markus; Vasilyev, Alexander

2016-01-01

This book offers a detailed examination of the latest work on the potential of polarized fuel to realize the vision of energy production by nuclear fusion. It brings together contributions from nuclear physicists and fusion physicists with the aims of fostering exchange of information between the two communities, describing the current status in the field, and examining new ideas and projects under development. It is evident that polarized fuel can offer huge improvements for the first generation of fusion reactors and open new technological possibilities for future generations, including neutron lean reactors, which could be the most popular and sustainable energy production option to avoid environmental problems. Nevertheless, many questions must be resolved before polarized fuel can be used for energy production in the different reactor types. Readers will find this book to be a stimulating source of information on the key issues. It is based on contributions from leading scientists delivered at the meetin...

Visual rehabilitation: visual scanning, multisensory stimulation and vision restoration trainings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil M. Dundon

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Neuropsychological training methods of visual rehabilitation for homonymous vision loss caused by postchiasmatic damage fall into two fundamental paradigms: compensation and restoration. Existing methods can be classified into three groups: Visual Scanning Training (VST, Audio-Visual Scanning Training (AViST and Vision Restoration Training (VRT. VST and AViST aim at compensating vision loss by training eye scanning movements, whereas VRT aims at improving lost vision by activating residual visual functions by training light detection and discrimination of visual stimuli. This review discusses the rationale underlying these paradigms and summarizes the available evidence with respect to treatment efficacy. The issues raised in our review should help guide clinical care and stimulate new ideas for future research uncovering the underlying neural correlates of the different treatment paradigms. We propose that both local within-system interactions (i.e., relying on plasticity within peri-lesional spared tissue and changes in more global between-system networks (i.e., recruiting alternative visual pathways contribute to both vision restoration and compensatory rehabilitation that ultimately have implications for the rehabilitation of cognitive functions.

Operational Based Vision Assessment Automated Vision Test Collection User Guide

Science.gov (United States)

2017-05-15

AFRL-SA-WP-SR-2017-0012 Operational Based Vision Assessment Automated Vision Test Collection User Guide Elizabeth Shoda, Alex...June 2015 – May 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Operational Based Vision Assessment Automated Vision Test Collection User Guide 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER... automated vision tests , or AVT. Development of the AVT was required to support threshold-level vision testing capability needed to investigate the

Retinal bipolar cells: elementary building blocks of vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Euler, Thomas; Haverkamp, Silke; Schubert, Timm; Baden, Tom

2014-08-01

Retinal bipolar cells are the first ‘projection neurons’ of the vertebrate visual system—all of the information needed for vision is relayed by this intraretinal connection. Each of the at least 13 distinct types of bipolar cells systematically transforms the photoreceptor input in a different way, thereby generating specific channels that encode stimulus properties, such as polarity, contrast, temporal profile and chromatic composition. As a result, bipolar cell output signals represent elementary ‘building blocks’ from which the microcircuits of the inner retina derive a feature-oriented description of the visual world.

Unbiased determination of polarized parton distributions and their uncertainties

CERN Document Server

Ball, Richard D.; Guffanti, Alberto; Nocera, Emanuele R.; Ridolfi, Giovanni; Rojo, Juan

2013-01-01

We present a determination of a set of polarized parton distributions (PDFs) of the nucleon, at next-to-leading order, from a global set of longitudinally polarized deep-inelastic scattering data: NNPDFpol1.0. The determination is based on the NNPDF methodology: a Monte Carlo approach, with neural networks used as unbiased interpolants, previously applied to the determination of unpolarized parton distributions, and designed to provide a faithful and statistically sound representation of PDF uncertainties. We present our dataset, its statistical features, and its Monte Carlo representation. We summarize the technique used to solve the polarized evolution equations and its benchmarking, and the method used to compute physical observables. We review the NNPDF methodology for parametrization and fitting of neural networks, the algorithm used to determine the optimal fit, and its adaptation to the polarized case. We finally present our set of polarized parton distributions. We discuss its statistical properties, ...

Rapid and highly resolving associative affective learning: convergent electro- and magnetoencephalographic evidence from vision and audition.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, Christian; Bröckelmann, Ann-Kathrin; Rehbein, Maimu; Dobel, Christian; Junghöfer, Markus

2013-03-01

Various pathway models for emotional processing suggest early prefrontal contributions to affective stimulus evaluation. Yet, electrophysiological evidence for such rapid modulations is still sparse. In a series of four MEG/EEG studies which investigated associative learning in vision and audition using a novel MultiCS Conditioning paradigm, many different neutral stimuli (faces, tones) were paired with aversive and appetitive events in only two to three learning instances. Electrophysiological correlates of neural activity revealed highly significant amplified processing for conditioned stimuli within distributed prefrontal and sensory cortical networks. In both, vision and audition, affect-specific responses occurred in two successive waves of rapid (vision: 50-80 ms, audition: 25-65 ms) and mid-latency (vision: >130 ms, audition: >100 ms) processing. Interestingly, behavioral measures indicated that MultiCS Conditioning successfully prevented contingency awareness. We conclude that affective processing rapidly recruits highly elaborate and widely distributed networks with substantial capacity for fast learning and excellent resolving power. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distributed FPGA-based smart camera architecture for computer vision applications

OpenAIRE

Bourrasset, Cédric; Maggiani, Luca; Sérot, Jocelyn; Berry, François; Pagano, Paolo

2013-01-01

International audience; Smart camera networks (SCN) raise challenging issues in many fields of research, including vision processing, communication protocols, distributed algorithms or power management. Furthermore, application logic in SCN is not centralized but spread among network nodes meaning that each node must have to process images to extract significant features, and aggregate data to understand the surrounding environment. In this context, smart camera have first embedded general pu...

Pediatric Low Vision

Science.gov (United States)

... Asked Questions Español Condiciones Chinese Conditions Pediatric Low Vision What is Low Vision? Partial vision loss that cannot be corrected causes ... and play. What are the signs of Low Vision? Some signs of low vision include difficulty recognizing ...

Low Vision FAQs

Science.gov (United States)

... de los Ojos Cómo hablarle a su oculista Low Vision FAQs What is low vision? Low vision is a visual impairment, not correctable ... person’s ability to perform everyday activities. What causes low vision? Low vision can result from a variety of ...

Microtubules Enable the Planar Cell Polarity of Airway Cilia

Science.gov (United States)

Vladar, Eszter K.; Bayly, Roy D.; Sangoram, Ashvin; Scott, Matthew P.; Axelrod, Jeffrey D.

2012-01-01

Summary Background Airway cilia must be physically oriented along the longitudinal tissue axis for concerted, directional motility that is essential for proper mucociliary clearance. Results We show that Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) signaling specifies directionality and orients respiratory cilia. Within all airway epithelial cells a conserved set of PCP proteins shows interdependent, asymmetric junctional localization; non-autonomous signaling coordinates polarization between cells; and a polarized microtubule (MT) network is likely required for asymmetric PCP protein localization. We find that basal bodies dock after polarity of PCP proteins is established, are polarized nearly simultaneously, and refinement of basal body/cilium orientation continues during airway epithelial development. Unique to mature multiciliated cells, we identify PCP-regulated, planar polarized MTs that originate from basal bodies and interact, via their plus ends, with membrane domains associated with the PCP proteins Frizzled and Dishevelled. Disruption of MTs leads to misoriented cilia. Conclusions A conserved PCP pathway orients airway cilia by communicating polarity information from asymmetric membrane domains at the apical junctions, through MTs, to orient the MT and actin based network of ciliary basal bodies below the apical surface. PMID:23122850

Cloud-based Networked Visual Servo Control

OpenAIRE

Wu, Haiyan; Lu, Lei; Chen, Chih-Chung; Hirche, Sandra; Kühnlenz, Kolja

2013-01-01

The performance of vision-based control systems, in particular of highly dynamic vision-based motion control systems, is often limited by the low sampling rate of the visual feedback caused by the long image processing time. In order to overcome this problem, the networked visual servo control, which integrates networked computational resources for cloud image processing, is considered in this article. The main contributions of this article are i) a real-time transport protocol for transmitti...

Vision from next generation sequencing: multi-dimensional genome-wide analysis for producing gene regulatory networks underlying retinal development, aging and disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hyun-Jin; Ratnapriya, Rinki; Cogliati, Tiziana; Kim, Jung-Woong; Swaroop, Anand

2015-05-01

Genomics and genetics have invaded all aspects of biology and medicine, opening uncharted territory for scientific exploration. The definition of "gene" itself has become ambiguous, and the central dogma is continuously being revised and expanded. Computational biology and computational medicine are no longer intellectual domains of the chosen few. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology, together with novel methods of pattern recognition and network analyses, has revolutionized the way we think about fundamental biological mechanisms and cellular pathways. In this review, we discuss NGS-based genome-wide approaches that can provide deeper insights into retinal development, aging and disease pathogenesis. We first focus on gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that govern the differentiation of retinal photoreceptors and modulate adaptive response during aging. Then, we discuss NGS technology in the context of retinal disease and develop a vision for therapies based on network biology. We should emphasize that basic strategies for network construction and analyses can be transported to any tissue or cell type. We believe that specific and uniform guidelines are required for generation of genome, transcriptome and epigenome data to facilitate comparative analysis and integration of multi-dimensional data sets, and for constructing networks underlying complex biological processes. As cellular homeostasis and organismal survival are dependent on gene-gene and gene-environment interactions, we believe that network-based biology will provide the foundation for deciphering disease mechanisms and discovering novel drug targets for retinal neurodegenerative diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Excess B‐modes extracted from the Planck polarization maps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard-Nielsen, Hans Ulrik

2016-01-01

on both temperature and polarization data obtained by the WMAP satellite. The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of neural networks for extracting the CMB signal from the Planck polarization data with high precision. Both auto‐correlation and cross‐correlation power spectra within...... a mask covering about 63 % of the sky have been used together with a “high pass filter” in order to minimize the influence of the remaining systematic errors in the Planck Q and U maps. Using the Planck 2015 released polarization maps, a BB power spectrum have been extracted by Multilayer Perceptron...... tensor to scalar ratios). The feasibility of the neural network to remove the residual systematics from the available Planck polarization data to a high level has been demonstrated. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)...

Epithelial cell polarity, stem cells and cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martin-Belmonte, Fernando; Perez-Moreno, Mirna

2011-01-01

, deregulation of adhesion and polarity proteins can cause misoriented cell divisions and increased self-renewal of adult epithelial stem cells. In this Review, we highlight some advances in the understanding of how loss of epithelial cell polarity contributes to tumorigenesis.......After years of extensive scientific discovery much has been learned about the networks that regulate epithelial homeostasis. Loss of expression or functional activity of cell adhesion and cell polarity proteins (including the PAR, crumbs (CRB) and scribble (SCRIB) complexes) is intricately related...

Excess B-modes extracted from the Planck polarization maps

Science.gov (United States)

Nørgaard-Nielsen, H. U.

2016-06-01

One of the main obstacles for extracting the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from mm/submm observations is the pollution from the main Galactic components: synchrotron, free-free and thermal dust emission. The feasibility of using simple neural networks to extract CMB has been demonstrated on both temperature and polarization data obtained by the WMAP satellite. The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of neural networks for extracting the CMB signal from the Planck polarization data with high precision. Both auto-correlation and cross-correlation power spectra within a mask covering about 63 % of the sky have been used together with a ``high pass filter'' in order to minimize the influence of the remaining systematic errors in the Planck Q and U maps. Using the Planck 2015 released polarization maps, a BB power spectrum have been extracted by Multilayer Perceptron neural networks. This spectrum contains a bright feature with signal to noise ratios ≃ 4.5 within 200 ≤ l ≤ 250. The spectrum is significantly brighter than the BICEP2 2015 spectrum, with a spectral behaviour quite different from the ``canonical'' models (weak lensing plus B-modes spectra with different tensor to scalar ratios). The feasibility of the neural network to remove the residual systematics from the available Planck polarization data to a high level has been demonstrated.

Grounding Our Vision: Brain Research and Strategic Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Mike

2011-01-01

While recognizing the value of "vision," it could be argued that vision alone--at least in schools--is not enough to rally the financial and emotional support required to translate an idea into reality. A compelling vision needs to reflect substantive, research-based knowledge if it is to spark the kind of strategic thinking and insight…

Real-Time (Vision-Based) Road Sign Recognition Using an Artificial Neural Network

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, Kh Tohidul; Raj, Ram Gopal

2017-01-01

Road sign recognition is a driver support function that can be used to notify and warn the driver by showing the restrictions that may be effective on the current stretch of road. Examples for such regulations are ‘traffic light ahead’ or ‘pedestrian crossing’ indications. The present investigation targets the recognition of Malaysian road and traffic signs in real-time. Real-time video is taken by a digital camera from a moving vehicle and real world road signs are then extracted using vision-only information. The system is based on two stages, one performs the detection and another one is for recognition. In the first stage, a hybrid color segmentation algorithm has been developed and tested. In the second stage, an introduced robust custom feature extraction method is used for the first time in a road sign recognition approach. Finally, a multilayer artificial neural network (ANN) has been created to recognize and interpret various road signs. It is robust because it has been tested on both standard and non-standard road signs with significant recognition accuracy. This proposed system achieved an average of 99.90% accuracy with 99.90% of sensitivity, 99.90% of specificity, 99.90% of f-measure, and 0.001 of false positive rate (FPR) with 0.3 s computational time. This low FPR can increase the system stability and dependability in real-time applications. PMID:28406471

Estimation of visual maps with a robot network equipped with vision sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Gil, Arturo; Reinoso, Óscar; Ballesta, Mónica; Juliá, Miguel; Payá, Luis

2010-01-01

In this paper we present an approach to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) problem using a team of autonomous vehicles equipped with vision sensors. The SLAM problem considers the case in which a mobile robot is equipped with a particular sensor, moves along the environment, obtains measurements with its sensors and uses them to construct a model of the space where it evolves. In this paper we focus on the case where several robots, each equipped with its own sensor, are distributed in a network and view the space from different vantage points. In particular, each robot is equipped with a stereo camera that allow the robots to extract visual landmarks and obtain relative measurements to them. We propose an algorithm that uses the measurements obtained by the robots to build a single accurate map of the environment. The map is represented by the three-dimensional position of the visual landmarks. In addition, we consider that each landmark is accompanied by a visual descriptor that encodes its visual appearance. The solution is based on a Rao-Blackwellized particle filter that estimates the paths of the robots and the position of the visual landmarks. The validity of our proposal is demonstrated by means of experiments with a team of real robots in a office-like indoor environment.

Real-Time (Vision-Based) Road Sign Recognition Using an Artificial Neural Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, Kh Tohidul; Raj, Ram Gopal

2017-04-13

Road sign recognition is a driver support function that can be used to notify and warn the driver by showing the restrictions that may be effective on the current stretch of road. Examples for such regulations are 'traffic light ahead' or 'pedestrian crossing' indications. The present investigation targets the recognition of Malaysian road and traffic signs in real-time. Real-time video is taken by a digital camera from a moving vehicle and real world road signs are then extracted using vision-only information. The system is based on two stages, one performs the detection and another one is for recognition. In the first stage, a hybrid color segmentation algorithm has been developed and tested. In the second stage, an introduced robust custom feature extraction method is used for the first time in a road sign recognition approach. Finally, a multilayer artificial neural network (ANN) has been created to recognize and interpret various road signs. It is robust because it has been tested on both standard and non-standard road signs with significant recognition accuracy. This proposed system achieved an average of 99.90% accuracy with 99.90% of sensitivity, 99.90% of specificity, 99.90% of f-measure, and 0.001 of false positive rate (FPR) with 0.3 s computational time. This low FPR can increase the system stability and dependability in real-time applications.

Estimation of Visual Maps with a Robot Network Equipped with Vision Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arturo Gil

2010-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present an approach to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM problem using a team of autonomous vehicles equipped with vision sensors. The SLAM problem considers the case in which a mobile robot is equipped with a particular sensor, moves along the environment, obtains measurements with its sensors and uses them to construct a model of the space where it evolves. In this paper we focus on the case where several robots, each equipped with its own sensor, are distributed in a network and view the space from different vantage points. In particular, each robot is equipped with a stereo camera that allow the robots to extract visual landmarks and obtain relative measurements to them. We propose an algorithm that uses the measurements obtained by the robots to build a single accurate map of the environment. The map is represented by the three-dimensional position of the visual landmarks. In addition, we consider that each landmark is accompanied by a visual descriptor that encodes its visual appearance. The solution is based on a Rao-Blackwellized particle filter that estimates the paths of the robots and the position of the visual landmarks. The validity of our proposal is demonstrated by means of experiments with a team of real robots in a office-like indoor environment.

Polarization-Insensitive Tunable Optical Filters based on Liquid Crystal Polarization Gratings

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolescu, Elena

Tunable optical filters are widely used for a variety of applications including spectroscopy, optical communication networks, remote sensing, and biomedical imaging and diagnostics. All of these application areas can greatly benefit from improvements in the key characteristics of the tunable optical filters embedded in them. Some of these key parameters include peak transmittance, bandwidth, tuning range, and transition width. In recent years research efforts have also focused on miniaturizing tunable optical filters into physically small packages for compact portable spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging applications such as real-time medical diagnostics and defense applications. However, it is important that miniaturization not have a detrimental effect on filter performance. The overarching theme of this dissertation is to explore novel configurations of Polarization Gratings (PGs) as simple, low-cost, polarization-insensitive alternatives to conventional optical filtering technologies for applications including hyperspectral imaging and telecommunications. We approach this goal from several directions with a combination of theory and experimental demonstration leading to, in our opinion, a significant contribution to the field. We present three classes of tunable optical filters, the first of which is an angle-filtering scheme where the stop-band wavelengths are redirected off axis and the passband is transmitted on-axis. This is achieved using a stacked configuration of polarization gratings of various thicknesses. To improve this class of filter, we also introduce a novel optical element, the Bilayer Polarization Grating, exhibiting unique optical properties and demonstrating complex anchoring conditions with high quality. The second class of optical filter is analogous to a Lyot filter, utilizing stacks of static or tunable waveplates sandwiched with polarizing elements. However, we introduce a new configuration using PGs and static waveplates to replace

Unbiased determination of polarized parton distributions and their uncertainties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ball, Richard D. [Tait Institute, University of Edinburgh, JCMB, KB, Mayfield Rd, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland (United Kingdom); Forte, Stefano, E-mail: forte@mi.infn.it [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano and INFN, Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Guffanti, Alberto [The Niels Bohr International Academy and Discovery Center, The Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Nocera, Emanuele R. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano and INFN, Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Ridolfi, Giovanni [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova and INFN, Sezione di Genova, Genova (Italy); Rojo, Juan [PH Department, TH Unit, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland)

2013-09-01

We present a determination of a set of polarized parton distributions (PDFs) of the nucleon, at next-to-leading order, from a global set of longitudinally polarized deep-inelastic scattering data: NNPDFpol1.0. The determination is based on the NNPDF methodology: a Monte Carlo approach, with neural networks used as unbiased interpolants, previously applied to the determination of unpolarized parton distributions, and designed to provide a faithful and statistically sound representation of PDF uncertainties. We present our dataset, its statistical features, and its Monte Carlo representation. We summarize the technique used to solve the polarized evolution equations and its benchmarking, and the method used to compute physical observables. We review the NNPDF methodology for parametrization and fitting of neural networks, the algorithm used to determine the optimal fit, and its adaptation to the polarized case. We finally present our set of polarized parton distributions. We discuss its statistical properties, test for its stability upon various modifications of the fitting procedure, and compare it to other recent polarized parton sets, and in particular obtain predictions for polarized first moments of PDFs based on it. We find that the uncertainties on the gluon, and to a lesser extent the strange PDF, were substantially underestimated in previous determinations.

Unbiased determination of polarized parton distributions and their uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ball, Richard D.; Forte, Stefano; Guffanti, Alberto; Nocera, Emanuele R.; Ridolfi, Giovanni; Rojo, Juan

2013-01-01

We present a determination of a set of polarized parton distributions (PDFs) of the nucleon, at next-to-leading order, from a global set of longitudinally polarized deep-inelastic scattering data: NNPDFpol1.0. The determination is based on the NNPDF methodology: a Monte Carlo approach, with neural networks used as unbiased interpolants, previously applied to the determination of unpolarized parton distributions, and designed to provide a faithful and statistically sound representation of PDF uncertainties. We present our dataset, its statistical features, and its Monte Carlo representation. We summarize the technique used to solve the polarized evolution equations and its benchmarking, and the method used to compute physical observables. We review the NNPDF methodology for parametrization and fitting of neural networks, the algorithm used to determine the optimal fit, and its adaptation to the polarized case. We finally present our set of polarized parton distributions. We discuss its statistical properties, test for its stability upon various modifications of the fitting procedure, and compare it to other recent polarized parton sets, and in particular obtain predictions for polarized first moments of PDFs based on it. We find that the uncertainties on the gluon, and to a lesser extent the strange PDF, were substantially underestimated in previous determinations

Sharing Responsibility for Our Children: How One Community Is Making Its Vision for Children a Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Dickinson, Pat; Lothian, Shelley; Jonz, Mary Beth

2007-01-01

In this article, the authors describe a group of committed people called the Our Kids Network in the Regional Municipality of Halton, in Ontario, Canada, which was given the opportunity to create a positive, future-oriented vision for the children in their community, and detail how it is making its vision for children a reality. The Halton Our…

The potential of computer vision, optical backscattering parameters and artificial neural network modelling in monitoring the shrinkage of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) during drying.

Science.gov (United States)

Onwude, Daniel I; Hashim, Norhashila; Abdan, Khalina; Janius, Rimfiel; Chen, Guangnan

2018-03-01

Drying is a method used to preserve agricultural crops. During the drying of products with high moisture content, structural changes in shape, volume, area, density and porosity occur. These changes could affect the final quality of dried product and also the effective design of drying equipment. Therefore, this study investigated a novel approach in monitoring and predicting the shrinkage of sweet potato during drying. Drying experiments were conducted at temperatures of 50-70 °C and samples thicknesses of 2-6 mm. The volume and surface area obtained from camera vision, and the perimeter and illuminated area from backscattered optical images were analysed and used to evaluate the shrinkage of sweet potato during drying. The relationship between dimensionless moisture content and shrinkage of sweet potato in terms of volume, surface area, perimeter and illuminated area was found to be linearly correlated. The results also demonstrated that the shrinkage of sweet potato based on computer vision and backscattered optical parameters is affected by the product thickness, drying temperature and drying time. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network with input layer containing three cells, two hidden layers (18 neurons), and five cells for output layer, was used to develop a model that can monitor, control and predict the shrinkage parameters and moisture content of sweet potato slices under different drying conditions. The developed ANN model satisfactorily predicted the shrinkage and dimensionless moisture content of sweet potato with correlation coefficient greater than 0.95. Combined computer vision, laser light backscattering imaging and artificial neural network can be used as a non-destructive, rapid and easily adaptable technique for in-line monitoring, predicting and controlling the shrinkage and moisture changes of food and agricultural crops during drying. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Understanding human visual processing with Deep Neural Networks

OpenAIRE

Thorat, Sushrut

2016-01-01

This presentation has 2 parts:1. An introduction to the vision processing - neuroscience, and machine vision.2. Discussion of one of the first papers relating Deep Networks to the visual ventral stream. (Khaligh-Razavi, 2014)

Making a vision document tangible using "vision-tactics-metrics" tables.

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, Ivo; Slomski, Carol

2006-01-01

We describe a method of making a vision document tangible by attaching specific tactics and metrics to the key elements of the vision. We report on the development and early use of a "vision-tactics-metrics" table in a department of surgery. Use of the table centered the vision in the daily life of the department and its faculty, and facilitated cultural change.

Image/video understanding systems based on network-symbolic models

Science.gov (United States)

Kuvich, Gary

2004-03-01

Vision is a part of a larger information system that converts visual information into knowledge structures. These structures drive vision process, resolve ambiguity and uncertainty via feedback projections, and provide image understanding that is an interpretation of visual information in terms of such knowledge models. Computer simulation models are built on the basis of graphs/networks. The ability of human brain to emulate similar graph/network models is found. Symbols, predicates and grammars naturally emerge in such networks, and logic is simply a way of restructuring such models. Brain analyzes an image as a graph-type relational structure created via multilevel hierarchical compression of visual information. Primary areas provide active fusion of image features on a spatial grid-like structure, where nodes are cortical columns. Spatial logic and topology naturally present in such structures. Mid-level vision processes like perceptual grouping, separation of figure from ground, are special kinds of network transformations. They convert primary image structure into the set of more abstract ones, which represent objects and visual scene, making them easy for analysis by higher-level knowledge structures. Higher-level vision phenomena are results of such analysis. Composition of network-symbolic models combines learning, classification, and analogy together with higher-level model-based reasoning into a single framework, and it works similar to frames and agents. Computational intelligence methods transform images into model-based knowledge representation. Based on such principles, an Image/Video Understanding system can convert images into the knowledge models, and resolve uncertainty and ambiguity. This allows creating intelligent computer vision systems for design and manufacturing.

Workshop on New Visions for Software Design and Productivity: Research and Applications

Data.gov (United States)

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, Executive Office of the President — The goals of the SDP workshop on New Visions for Software Design and Productivity were to: Bring together leading-edge researchers and practitioners Encourage...

Measuring political polarization: Twitter shows the two sides of Venezuela

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, A. J.; Borondo, J.; Losada, J. C.; Benito, R. M.

2015-03-01

We say that a population is perfectly polarized when divided in two groups of the same size and opposite opinions. In this paper, we propose a methodology to study and measure the emergence of polarization from social interactions. We begin by proposing a model to estimate opinions in which a minority of influential individuals propagate their opinions through a social network. The result of the model is an opinion probability density function. Next, we propose an index to quantify the extent to which the resulting distribution is polarized. Finally, we apply the proposed methodology to a Twitter conversation about the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, finding a good agreement between our results and offline data. Hence, we show that our methodology can detect different degrees of polarization, depending on the structure of the network.

Augmented reality with image registration, vision correction and sunlight readability via liquid crystal devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yu-Jen; Chen, Po-Ju; Liang, Xiao; Lin, Yi-Hsin

2017-03-27

Augmented reality (AR), which use computer-aided projected information to augment our sense, has important impact on human life, especially for the elder people. However, there are three major challenges regarding the optical system in the AR system, which are registration, vision correction, and readability under strong ambient light. Here, we solve three challenges simultaneously for the first time using two liquid crystal (LC) lenses and polarizer-free attenuator integrated in optical-see-through AR system. One of the LC lens is used to electrically adjust the position of the projected virtual image which is so-called registration. The other LC lens with larger aperture and polarization independent characteristic is in charge of vision correction, such as myopia and presbyopia. The linearity of lens powers of two LC lenses is also discussed. The readability of virtual images under strong ambient light is solved by electrically switchable transmittance of the LC attenuator originating from light scattering and light absorption. The concept demonstrated in this paper could be further extended to other electro-optical devices as long as the devices exhibit the capability of phase modulations and amplitude modulations.

Near vision spectacle coverage and barriers to near vision ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

easily help to address this visual disability.7 An average cost of near vision spectacle in Ghana is approximately. $ 5.8 Near-vision spectacle could be dispensed as single vision, bifocal or progressive eye glasses to meet near vi- sion needs.2. Recent evidence suggests that the ageing population in. Ghana is increasing ...

New Applications of m-Polar Fuzzy Matroids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Musavarah Sarwar

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Mathematical modelling is an important aspect in apprehending discrete and continuous physical systems. Multipolar uncertainty in data and information incorporates a significant role in various abstract and applied mathematical modelling and decision analysis. Graphical and algebraic models can be studied more precisely when multiple linguistic properties are dealt with, emphasizing the need for a multi-index, multi-object, multi-agent, multi-attribute and multi-polar mathematical approach. An m-polar fuzzy set is introduced to overcome the limitations entailed in single-valued and two-valued uncertainty. Our aim in this research study is to apply the powerful methodology of m-polar fuzzy sets to generalize the theory of matroids. We introduce the notion of m-polar fuzzy matroids and investigate certain properties of various types of m-polar fuzzy matroids. Moreover, we apply the notion of the m-polar fuzzy matroid to graph theory and linear algebra. We present m-polar fuzzy circuits, closures of m-polar fuzzy matroids and put special emphasis on m-polar fuzzy rank functions. Finally, we also describe certain applications of m-polar fuzzy matroids in decision support systems, ordering of machines and network analysis.

AN INVESTIGATION OF VISION PROBLEMS AND THE VISION CARE SYSTEM IN RURAL CHINA.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Yunli; Yi, Hongmei; Zhang, Linxiu; Shi, Yaojiang; Ma, Xiaochen; Congdon, Nathan; Zhou, Zhongqiang; Boswell, Matthew; Rozelle, Scott

2014-11-01

This paper examines the prevalence of vision problems and the accessibility to and quality of vision care in rural China. We obtained data from 4 sources: 1) the National Rural Vision Care Survey; 2) the Private Optometrists Survey; 3) the County Hospital Eye Care Survey; and 4) the Rural School Vision Care Survey. The data from each of the surveys were collected by the authors during 2012. Thirty-three percent of the rural population surveyed self-reported vision problems. Twenty-two percent of subjects surveyed had ever had a vision exam. Among those who self-reported having vision problems, 34% did not wear eyeglasses. Fifty-four percent of those with vision problems who had eyeglasses did not have a vision exam prior to receiving glasses. However, having a vision exam did not always guarantee access to quality vision care. Four channels of vision care service were assessed. The school vision examination program did not increase the usage rate of eyeglasses. Each county-hospital was staffed with three eye-doctors having one year of education beyond high school, serving more than 400,000 residents. Private optometrists often had low levels of education and professional certification. In conclusion, our findings shows that the vision care system in rural China is inadequate and ineffective in meeting the needs of the rural population sampled.

Crosstalk cancellation on linearly and circularly polarized communications satellite links

Science.gov (United States)

Overstreet, W. P.; Bostian, C. W.

1979-01-01

The paper discusses the cancellation network approach for reducing crosstalk caused by depolarization on a dual-polarized communications satellite link. If the characteristics of rain depolarization are sufficiently well known, the cancellation network can be designed in a way that reduces system complexity, the most important parameter being the phase of the cross-polarized signal. Relevant theoretical calculations and experimental data are presented. The simplicity of the cancellation system proposed makes it ideal for use with small domestic or private earth terminals.

An assembly system based on industrial robot with binocular stereo vision

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Hong; Xiao, Nanfeng

2017-01-01

This paper proposes an electronic part and component assembly system based on an industrial robot with binocular stereo vision. Firstly, binocular stereo vision with a visual attention mechanism model is used to get quickly the image regions which contain the electronic parts and components. Secondly, a deep neural network is adopted to recognize the features of the electronic parts and components. Thirdly, in order to control the end-effector of the industrial robot to grasp the electronic parts and components, a genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to compute the transition matrix and the inverse kinematics of the industrial robot (end-effector), which plays a key role in bridging the binocular stereo vision and the industrial robot. Finally, the proposed assembly system is tested in LED component assembly experiments, and the results denote that it has high efficiency and good applicability.

Living with vision loss

Science.gov (United States)

Diabetes - vision loss; Retinopathy - vision loss; Low vision; Blindness - vision loss ... of visual aids. Some options include: Magnifiers High power reading glasses Devices that make it easier to ...

A child's vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Nye, Christina

2014-06-01

Implementing standard vision screening techniques in the primary care practice is the most effective means to detect children with potential vision problems at an age when the vision loss may be treatable. A critical period of vision development occurs in the first few weeks of life; thus, it is imperative that serious problems are detected at this time. Although it is not possible to quantitate an infant's vision, evaluating ocular health appropriately can mean the difference between sight and blindness and, in the case of retinoblastoma, life or death. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of visual skills training, vision coaching and sports vision ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of three different approaches to improving sports performance through improvements in “sports vision:” (1) a visual skills training programme, (2) traditional vision coaching sessions, and (3) a multi-disciplinary approach identified as sports vision dynamics.

Fine structure and optical properties of biological polarizers in crustaceans and cephalopods

Science.gov (United States)

Chiou, Tsyr-Huei; Caldwell, Roy L.; Hanlon, Roger T.; Cronin, Thomas W.

2008-04-01

The lighting of the underwater environment is constantly changing due to attenuation by water, scattering by suspended particles, as well as the refraction and reflection caused by the surface waves. These factors pose a great challenge for marine animals which communicate through visual signals, especially those based on color. To escape this problem, certain cephalopod mollusks and stomatopod crustaceans utilize the polarization properties of light. While the mechanisms behind the polarization vision of these two animal groups are similar, several distinctive types of polarizers (i.e. the structure producing the signal) have been found in these animals. To gain a better knowledge of how these polarizers function, we studied the relationships between fine structures and optical properties of four types of polarizers found in cephalopods and stomatopods. Although all the polarizers share a somewhat similar spectral range, around 450- 550 nm, the reflectance properties of the signals and the mechanisms used to produce them have dramatic differences. In cephalopods, stack-plates polarizers produce the polarization patterns found on the arms and around their eyes. In stomatopods, we have found one type of beam-splitting polarizer based on photonic structures and two absorptive polarizer types based on dichroic molecules. These stomatopod polarizers may be found on various appendages, and on the cuticle covering dorsal or lateral sides of the animal. Since the efficiencies of all these polarizer types are somewhat sensitive to the change of illumination and viewing angle, how these animals compensate with different behaviors or fine structural features of the polarizer also varies.

Visual guidance of a pig evisceration robot using neural networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, S.S.; Andersen, A.W.; Jørgensen, T.M.

1996-01-01

The application of a RAM-based neural network to robot vision is demonstrated for the guidance of a pig evisceration robot. Tests of the combined robot-vision system have been performed at an abattoir. The vision system locates a set of feature points on a pig carcass and transmits the 3D coordin...

Color vision test

Science.gov (United States)

... present from birth) color vision problems: Achromatopsia -- complete color blindness , seeing only shades of gray Deuteranopia -- difficulty telling ... Vision test - color; Ishihara color vision test Images Color blindness tests References Bowling B. Hereditary fundus dystrophies. In: ...

Impairments to Vision

Science.gov (United States)

... an external Non-Government web site. Impairments to Vision Normal Vision Diabetic Retinopathy Age-related Macular Degeneration In this ... pictures, fixate on the nose to simulate the vision loss. In diabetic retinopathy, the blood vessels in ...

Vision Lab

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Vision Lab personnel perform research, development, testing and evaluation of eye protection and vision performance. The lab maintains and continues to develop...

Networks in the news media

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bro, Peter

more formal types of social networks, but also complement or even substitute social networking elsewhere, and as such this particular type of social network offers people both inside and outside the news room new potentials - and problems. This article describe the basic vision of networks in the news......When news reporters connect people in a single news story or in a series of coherent news stories they essentially construct networks in the news media. Networks through which social actors are aligned symbolically in written, visible or audible form. These socio-symbolic networks not only copy...

Image understanding systems based on the unifying representation of perceptual and conceptual information and the solution of mid-level and high-level vision problems

Science.gov (United States)

Kuvychko, Igor

2001-10-01

Vision is a part of a larger information system that converts visual information into knowledge structures. These structures drive vision process, resolving ambiguity and uncertainty via feedback, and provide image understanding, that is an interpretation of visual information in terms of such knowledge models. A computer vision system based on such principles requires unifying representation of perceptual and conceptual information. Computer simulation models are built on the basis of graphs/networks. The ability of human brain to emulate similar graph/networks models is found. That means a very important shift of paradigm in our knowledge about brain from neural networks to the cortical software. Starting from the primary visual areas, brain analyzes an image as a graph-type spatial structure. Primary areas provide active fusion of image features on a spatial grid-like structure, where nodes are cortical columns. The spatial combination of different neighbor features cannot be described as a statistical/integral characteristic of the analyzed region, but uniquely characterizes such region itself. Spatial logic and topology naturally present in such structures. Mid-level vision processes like clustering, perceptual grouping, multilevel hierarchical compression, separation of figure from ground, etc. are special kinds of graph/network transformations. They convert low-level image structure into the set of more abstract ones, which represent objects and visual scene, making them easy for analysis by higher-level knowledge structures. Higher-level vision phenomena like shape from shading, occlusion, etc. are results of such analysis. Such approach gives opportunity not only to explain frequently unexplainable results of the cognitive science, but also to create intelligent computer vision systems that simulate perceptional processes in both what and where visual pathways. Such systems can open new horizons for robotic and computer vision industries.

Ground-based Polarization Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Aerosols and the Correlation between Polarization Degree and PM2.5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng, Chen; Zhengqiang, Li; Weizhen, Hou; Yisong, Xie; Donghui, Li; Kaitao, Li; Ying, Zhang

2014-01-01

The ground-based polarization remote sensing adds the polarization dimension information to traditional intensity detection, which provides a new method to detect atmospheric aerosols properties. In this paper, the polarization measurements achieved by a new multi-wavelength sun photometer, CE318-DP, are used for the ground-based remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols. In addition, a polarized vector radiative transfer model is introduced to simulate the DOLP (Degree Of Linear Polarization) under different sky conditions. At last, the correlative analysis between mass density of PM 2.5 and multi-wavelength and multi-angular DOLP is carried out. The result shows that DOLP has a high correlation with mass density of PM 2.5 , R 2 >0.85. As a consequence, this work provides a new method to estimate the mass density of PM 2.5 by using the comprehensive network of ground-based sun photometer

The radio-on-fiber-wavelength-division-multiplexed-passive-optical network (WDM-RoF-PON) for wireless and wire layout with linearly-polarized dual-wavelength fiber laser and carrier reusing

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Wei; Chang, Jun

2013-07-01

In this paper, we design a WDM-RoF-PON based on linearly-polarized dual-wavelength fiber laser and CSRZ-DPSK, which can achieve wire-line and wireless access synchronously. With the CSRZ-DPSK modulation, the wireless access in ONU can save RF source and the frequency of radio carrier can be controlled by OLT. The dual-wavelength fiber laser is the union light source of WDM-PON with polarization multiplexing. By the RSOA and downstream light source reusing, the ONU can save omit laser source and makes the WDM-PON to be colorless. The networking has the credible transmission property, including wireless access and fiber transmission. The networking also has excellent covering range.

Robot Vision Library

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Andrew B.; Ansar, Adnan I.; Litwin, Todd E.; Goldberg, Steven B.

2009-01-01

The JPL Robot Vision Library (JPLV) provides real-time robot vision algorithms for developers who are not vision specialists. The package includes algorithms for stereo ranging, visual odometry and unsurveyed camera calibration, and has unique support for very wideangle lenses

Towards high capacity and low latency backhauling in 5G: The 5G STEP-FWD vision

OpenAIRE

Vardakas, John S.; Tafur Monroy, Ildefonso; Wosinka, Lena; Agapiou, George; Brenot, Romain; Pleros, Nikos; Verikoukis, Christos

2017-01-01

This paper presents the vision of the 5G STEP-FWD project, funded by the European Commission, with the objective to propose a novel optical-wireless networking solution for the provision of high speed connectivity to end users. The features of the new architecture, based on the utilization of Ultra-Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Passive Optical Networks as the backhaul network, providing access to hyper dense mmWave networks, are presented in detail. Moreover, the research challenges ...

Visions of Vision: An Exploratory Study of the Role College and University Presidents Play in Developing Institutional Vision

Science.gov (United States)

McWade, Jessica C.

2014-01-01

This qualitative research explores how college and university presidents engage in the process of developing formal institutional vision. The inquiry identifies roles presidents play in vision development, which is often undertaken as part of strategic-planning initiatives. Two constructs of leadership and institutional vision are used to examine…

Light Vision Color

Science.gov (United States)

Valberg, Arne

2005-04-01

Light Vision Color takes a well-balanced, interdisciplinary approach to our most important sensory system. The book successfully combines basics in vision sciences with recent developments from different areas such as neuroscience, biophysics, sensory psychology and philosophy. Originally published in 1998 this edition has been extensively revised and updated to include new chapters on clinical problems and eye diseases, low vision rehabilitation and the basic molecular biology and genetics of colour vision. Takes a broad interdisciplinary approach combining basics in vision sciences with the most recent developments in the area Includes an extensive list of technical terms and explanations to encourage student understanding Successfully brings together the most important areas of the subject in to one volume

What Is Low Vision?

Science.gov (United States)

... Your Rights Training Resources Workplace Technology CareerConnect Stories Working as a Senior with Vision Loss For Seniors Age-Related Vision ... Changes Health and Aging Retirement Living Continuing to Work as a Senior with Vision Loss Get Connected About VisionAware Join ...

Static and dynamic postural control in low-vision and normal-vision adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomomitsu, Mônica S V; Alonso, Angelica Castilho; Morimoto, Eurica; Bobbio, Tatiana G; Greve, Julia M D

2013-04-01

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of reduced visual information on postural control by comparing low-vision and normal-vision adults in static and dynamic conditions. Twenty-five low-vision subjects and twenty-five normal sighted adults were evaluated for static and dynamic balance using four protocols: 1) the Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance on firm and foam surfaces with eyes opened and closed; 2) Unilateral Stance with eyes opened and closed; 3) Tandem Walk; and 4) Step Up/Over. The results showed that the low-vision group presented greater body sway compared with the normal vision during balance on a foam surface (p≤0.001), the Unilateral Stance test for both limbs (p≤0.001), and the Tandem Walk test. The low-vision group showed greater step width (p≤0.001) and slower gait speed (p≤0.004). In the Step Up/Over task, low-vision participants were more cautious in stepping up (right p≤0.005 and left p≤0.009) and in executing the movement (p≤0.001). These findings suggest that visual feedback is crucial for determining balance, especially for dynamic tasks and on foam surfaces. Low-vision individuals had worse postural stability than normal-vision adults in terms of dynamic tests and balance on foam surfaces.

The Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission

CERN Document Server

André, Philippe; Banday, Anthony; Barbosa, Domingos; Barreiro, Belen; Bartlett, James; Bartolo, Nicola; Battistelli, Elia; Battye, Richard; Bendo, George; Benoȋt, Alain; Bernard, Jean-Philippe; Bersanelli, Marco; Béthermin, Matthieu; Bielewicz, Pawel; Bonaldi, Anna; Bouchet, François; Boulanger, François; Brand, Jan; Bucher, Martin; Burigana, Carlo; Cai, Zhen-Yi; Camus, Philippe; Casas, Francisco; Casasola, Viviana; Castex, Guillaume; Challinor, Anthony; Chluba, Jens; Chon, Gayoung; Colafrancesco, Sergio; Comis, Barbara; Cuttaia, Francesco; D'Alessandro, Giuseppe; Da Silva, Antonio; Davis, Richard; de Avillez, Miguel; de Bernardis, Paolo; de Petris, Marco; de Rosa, Adriano; de Zotti, Gianfranco; Delabrouille, Jacques; Désert, François-Xavier; Dickinson, Clive; Diego, Jose Maria; Dunkley, Joanna; Enßlin, Torsten; Errard, Josquin; Falgarone, Edith; Ferreira, Pedro; Ferrière, Katia; Finelli, Fabio; Fletcher, Andrew; Fosalba, Pablo; Fuller, Gary; Galli, Silvia; Ganga, Ken; García-Bellido, Juan; Ghribi, Adnan; Giard, Martin; Giraud-Héraud, Yannick; Gonzalez-Nuevo, Joaquin; Grainge, Keith; Gruppuso, Alessandro; Hall, Alex; Hamilton, Jean-Christophe; Haverkorn, Marijke; Hernandez-Monteagudo, Carlos; Herranz, Diego; Jackson, Mark; Jaffe, Andrew; Khatri, Rishi; Kunz, Martin; Lamagna, Luca; Lattanzi, Massimiliano; Leahy, Paddy; Lesgourgues, Julien; Liguori, Michele; Liuzzo, Elisabetta; Lopez-Caniego, Marcos; Macias-Perez, Juan; Maffei, Bruno; Maino, Davide; Mangilli, Anna; Martinez-Gonzalez, Enrique; Martins, Carlos J.A.P.; Masi, Silvia; Massardi, Marcella; Matarrese, Sabino; Melchiorri, Alessandro; Melin, Jean-Baptiste; Mennella, Aniello; Mignano, Arturo; Miville-Deschênes, Marc-Antoine; Monfardini, Alessandro; Murphy, Anthony; Naselsky, Pavel; Nati, Federico; Natoli, Paolo; Negrello, Mattia; Noviello, Fabio; O'Sullivan, Créidhe; Paci, Francesco; Pagano, Luca; Paladino, Rosita; Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Paoletti, Daniela; Peiris, Hiranya; Perrotta, Francesca; Piacentini, Francesco; Piat, Michel; Piccirillo, Lucio; Pisano, Giampaolo; Polenta, Gianluca; Pollo, Agnieszka; Ponthieu, Nicolas; Remazeilles, Mathieu; Ricciardi, Sara; Roman, Matthieu; Rosset, Cyrille; Rubino-Martin, Jose-Alberto; Salatino, Maria; Schillaci, Alessandro; Shellard, Paul; Silk, Joseph; Starobinsky, Alexei; Stompor, Radek; Sunyaev, Rashid; Tartari, Andrea; Terenzi, Luca; Toffolatti, Luigi; Tomasi, Maurizio; Trappe, Neil; Tristram, Matthieu; Trombetti, Tiziana; Tucci, Marco; Van de Weijgaert, Rien; Van Tent, Bartjan; Verde, Licia; Vielva, Patricio; Wandelt, Ben; Watson, Robert; Withington, Stafford; Cabrera, Nicolas

2014-01-01

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) was proposed to ESA in May 2013 as a large-class mission for investigating within the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision program a set of important scientific questions that require high resolution, high sensitivity, full-sky observations of the sky emission at wavelengths ranging from millimeter-wave to the far-infrared. PRISM's main objective is to explore the distant universe, probing cosmic history from very early times until now as well as the structures, distribution of matter, and velocity flows throughout our Hubble volume. PRISM will survey the full sky in a large number of frequency bands in both intensity and polarization and will measure the absolute spectrum of sky emission more than three orders of magnitude better than COBE FIRAS. The aim of this Extended White Paper is to provide a more detailed overview of the highlights of the new science that will be made possible by PRISM

VISION development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez, J.E.; Sherwood, R.J.; Whitman, S.R.

1994-01-01

VISION is a flexible and extensible object-oriented programming environment for prototyping computer-vision and pattern-recognition algorithms. This year's effort focused on three major areas: documentation, graphics, and support for new applications

Pre-Capture Privacy for Small Vision Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittaluga, Francesco; Koppal, Sanjeev Jagannatha

2017-11-01

The next wave of micro and nano devices will create a world with trillions of small networked cameras. This will lead to increased concerns about privacy and security. Most privacy preserving algorithms for computer vision are applied after image/video data has been captured. We propose to use privacy preserving optics that filter or block sensitive information directly from the incident light-field before sensor measurements are made, adding a new layer of privacy. In addition to balancing the privacy and utility of the captured data, we address trade-offs unique to miniature vision sensors, such as achieving high-quality field-of-view and resolution within the constraints of mass and volume. Our privacy preserving optics enable applications such as depth sensing, full-body motion tracking, people counting, blob detection and privacy preserving face recognition. While we demonstrate applications on macro-scale devices (smartphones, webcams, etc.) our theory has impact for smaller devices.

Polarization Calculation and Underwater Target Detection Inspired by Biological Visual Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Shen

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In challenging underwater environments, the polarization parameter maps calculated by the Stokes model are characterized by the high noise and error, harassing the underwater target detection tasks. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel bionic polarization calculation and underwater target detection method by modeling the visual system of mantis shrimps. This system includes many operators including a polarization-opposition calculation, a factor optimization and a visual neural network model. A calibration learning method is proposed to search the optimal value of the factors in the linear subtraction model. Finally, a six-channel visual neural network model is proposed to detect the underwater targets. Experimental results proved that the maps produced by the polarization-opposition parameter is more accurate and have lower noise than that produced by the Stokes parameter, achieving better performance in underwater target detection tasks.

Vision-based interaction

CERN Document Server

Turk, Matthew

2013-01-01

In its early years, the field of computer vision was largely motivated by researchers seeking computational models of biological vision and solutions to practical problems in manufacturing, defense, and medicine. For the past two decades or so, there has been an increasing interest in computer vision as an input modality in the context of human-computer interaction. Such vision-based interaction can endow interactive systems with visual capabilities similar to those important to human-human interaction, in order to perceive non-verbal cues and incorporate this information in applications such

Augmented reality with image registration, vision correction and sunlight readability via liquid crystal devices

OpenAIRE

Wang, Yu-Jen; Chen, Po-Ju; Liang, Xiao; Lin, Yi-Hsin

2017-01-01

Augmented reality (AR), which use computer-aided projected information to augment our sense, has important impact on human life, especially for the elder people. However, there are three major challenges regarding the optical system in the AR system, which are registration, vision correction, and readability under strong ambient light. Here, we solve three challenges simultaneously for the first time using two liquid crystal (LC) lenses and polarizer-free attenuator integrated in optical-see-...

The Ripple Pond: Enabling Spiking Networks to See

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed eAfshar

2013-11-01

Full Text Available We present the biologically inspired Ripple Pond Network (RPN, a simply connected spiking neural network which performs a transformation converting two dimensional images to one dimensional temporal patterns suitable for recognition by temporal coding learning and memory networks. The RPN has been developed as a hardware solution linking previously implemented neuromorphic vision and memory structures such as frameless vision sensors and neuromorphic temporal coding spiking neural networks. Working together such systems are potentially capable of delivering end-to-end high-speed, low-power and low-resolution recognition for mobile and autonomous applications where slow, highly sophisticated and power hungry signal processing solutions are ineffective. Key aspects in the proposed approach include utilising the spatial properties of physically embedded neural networks and propagating waves of activity therein for information processing, using dimensional collapse of imagery information into amenable temporal patterns and the use of asynchronous frames for information binding.

The ripple pond: enabling spiking networks to see.

Science.gov (United States)

Afshar, Saeed; Cohen, Gregory K; Wang, Runchun M; Van Schaik, André; Tapson, Jonathan; Lehmann, Torsten; Hamilton, Tara J

2013-01-01

We present the biologically inspired Ripple Pond Network (RPN), a simply connected spiking neural network which performs a transformation converting two dimensional images to one dimensional temporal patterns (TP) suitable for recognition by temporal coding learning and memory networks. The RPN has been developed as a hardware solution linking previously implemented neuromorphic vision and memory structures such as frameless vision sensors and neuromorphic temporal coding spiking neural networks. Working together such systems are potentially capable of delivering end-to-end high-speed, low-power and low-resolution recognition for mobile and autonomous applications where slow, highly sophisticated and power hungry signal processing solutions are ineffective. Key aspects in the proposed approach include utilizing the spatial properties of physically embedded neural networks and propagating waves of activity therein for information processing, using dimensional collapse of imagery information into amenable TP and the use of asynchronous frames for information binding.

Reconfigurable micromachined antenna with polarization diversity for mm-wave applications

KAUST Repository

Sallam, Mai O.

2012-03-01

In this paper a novel MEMS antenna with reconfigurable polarization operating at 60 GHz is presented. This antenna can provide vertical linear polarization, horizontal linear polarization, left hand circular polarization (LHCP), or right hand circular polarization (RHCP) based on the states of the switches present in the feeding network. The proposed antenna is characterized by having its radiating elements isolated from the feeding circuitry via a ground plane without the need for wafer bonding or hybrid integration. Such advantage results in good electric performance while maintains low fabrication cost. The antenna parameters are optimized using HFSS and the results are cross-validated using CST. The good agreement between the two simulators, confirms that the proposed antenna enjoys attractive radiation characteristics for all polarization senses. © 2012 IEEE.

Reconfigurable micromachined antenna with polarization diversity for mm-wave applications

KAUST Repository

Sallam, Mai O.; Soliman, Ezzeldin A.; Sedky, Sherif

2012-01-01

In this paper a novel MEMS antenna with reconfigurable polarization operating at 60 GHz is presented. This antenna can provide vertical linear polarization, horizontal linear polarization, left hand circular polarization (LHCP), or right hand circular polarization (RHCP) based on the states of the switches present in the feeding network. The proposed antenna is characterized by having its radiating elements isolated from the feeding circuitry via a ground plane without the need for wafer bonding or hybrid integration. Such advantage results in good electric performance while maintains low fabrication cost. The antenna parameters are optimized using HFSS and the results are cross-validated using CST. The good agreement between the two simulators, confirms that the proposed antenna enjoys attractive radiation characteristics for all polarization senses. © 2012 IEEE.

Calibration of the degree of linear polarization measurements of the polarized Sun-sky radiometer based on the POLBOX system.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhengqiang; Li, Kaitao; Li, Li; Xu, Hua; Xie, Yisong; Ma, Yan; Li, Donghui; Goloub, Philippe; Yuan, Yinlin; Zheng, Xiaobing

2018-02-10

Polarization observation of sky radiation is the frontier approach to improve the remote sensing of atmospheric components, e.g., aerosol and clouds. The polarization calibration of the ground-based Sun-sky radiometer is the basis for obtaining accurate degree of linear polarization (DOLP) measurement. In this paper, a DOLP calibration method based on a laboratory polarized light source (POLBOX) is introduced in detail. Combined with the CE318-DP Sun-sky polarized radiometer, a calibration scheme for DOLP measurement is established for the spectral range of 440-1640 nm. Based on the calibration results of the Sun-sky radiometer observation network, the polarization calibration coefficient and the DOLP calibration residual are analyzed statistically. The results show that the DOLP residual of the calibration scheme is about 0.0012, and thus it can be estimated that the final DOLP calibration accuracy of this method is about 0.005. Finally, it is verified that the accuracy of the calibration results is in accordance with the expected results by comparing the simulated DOLP with the vector radiative transfer calculations.

The Effects of GABAergic Polarity Changes on Episodic Neural Network Activity in Developing Neural Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilfredo Blanco

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Early in development, neural systems have primarily excitatory coupling, where even GABAergic synapses are excitatory. Many of these systems exhibit spontaneous episodes of activity that have been characterized through both experimental and computational studies. As development progress the neural system goes through many changes, including synaptic remodeling, intrinsic plasticity in the ion channel expression, and a transformation of GABAergic synapses from excitatory to inhibitory. What effect each of these, and other, changes have on the network behavior is hard to know from experimental studies since they all happen in parallel. One advantage of a computational approach is that one has the ability to study developmental changes in isolation. Here, we examine the effects of GABAergic synapse polarity change on the spontaneous activity of both a mean field and a neural network model that has both glutamatergic and GABAergic coupling, representative of a developing neural network. We find some intuitive behavioral changes as the GABAergic neurons go from excitatory to inhibitory, shared by both models, such as a decrease in the duration of episodes. We also find some paradoxical changes in the activity that are only present in the neural network model. In particular, we find that during early development the inter-episode durations become longer on average, while later in development they become shorter. In addressing this unexpected finding, we uncover a priming effect that is particularly important for a small subset of neurons, called the “intermediate neurons.” We characterize these neurons and demonstrate why they are crucial to episode initiation, and why the paradoxical behavioral change result from priming of these neurons. The study illustrates how even arguably the simplest of developmental changes that occurs in neural systems can present non-intuitive behaviors. It also makes predictions about neural network behavioral changes

Report of the Interagency Optical Network Testbeds Workshop 2 (ONT2)

Data.gov (United States)

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, Executive Office of the President — ...Develop a common vision of the optical network technologies, services, infrastructure, and organizations needed to enable widespread use of optical networks...

Smart displays in intelligent environments: a vision for Europe 2007+

Science.gov (United States)

Maiser, Eric

2005-07-01

Future electronic systems will create "ambient intelligence": environments that recognise us, applications which can be used intuitively. Displays will always be a key part of such systems, because visual information provides a densely packed fast link to our brain. European researchers and suppliers are global drivers in display innovation - on the other hand Europe is a major influence on the market for display applications. However, today displays are produced in Asia, European research and development is scattered, and lacks both collaboration and a strong production base. That is why adria, a European network for the displays community, has been formed: Its goal is to substantially enhance the standing of the displays industry in Europe by creating a common knowledge base, by generating a common vision for a display future in Europe and by establishing appreciated services for a future association that will serve as a "one-stop-shop" for the community. To effectively start the discussion, a vision paper1 has been compiled including inputs from 95 individuals from 17 European countries. It describes the state displays research and industry are in today and estimates future developments displays will take towards intelligent systems in the next decade and beyond. Recommendations are made to reinforce the displays industry in a sustainable way building on existing strengths in research, as well as in the materials and equipment sectors. The adria network, its roadmapping approach as well as key projections and findings of the vision paper are described here, going beyond the topic of Organic Light Emitting Diodes alone.

Barriers to accessing low vision services.

Science.gov (United States)

Pollard, Tamara L; Simpson, John A; Lamoureux, Ecosse L; Keeffe, Jill E

2003-07-01

To investigate barriers to accessing low vision services in Australia. Adults with a vision impairment (vision difficulties, duration of vision loss and satisfaction with vision and also examined issues of awareness of low vision services and referral to services. Focus groups were also conducted with vision impaired (Vision Australia Foundation. The discussions were recorded and transcribed. The questionnaire revealed that referral to low vision services was associated with a greater degree of vision loss (p = 0.002) and a greater self-perception of low vision (p = 0.005) but that referral was not associated with satisfaction (p = 0.144) or difficulties related to vision (p = 0.169). Participants with mild and moderate vision impairment each reported similar levels of difficulties with daily activities and satisfaction with their vision (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant difference in the level of difficulties experienced with daily activities between those with mild-moderate and severe vision impairment (p low vision services related to awareness of services among the general public and eye care professionals, understanding of low vision and the services available, acceptance of low vision, the referral process, and transport. In addition to the expected difficulties with lack of awareness of services by people with low vision, many people do not understand what the services provide and do not identify themselves as having low vision. Knowledge of these barriers, from the perspective of people with low vision, can now be used to guide the development and content of future health-promotion campaigns.

Neuroimaging of amblyopia and binocular vision: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Joly, Olivier; Frankó, Edit

2014-01-01

Amblyopia is a cerebral visual impairment considered to derive from abnormal visual experience (e.g., strabismus, anisometropia). Amblyopia, first considered as a monocular disorder, is now often seen as a primarily binocular disorder resulting in more and more studies examining the binocular deficits in the patients. The neural mechanisms of amblyopia are not completely understood even though they have been investigated with electrophysiological recordings in animal models and more recently with neuroimaging techniques in humans. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about the brain regions that underlie the visual deficits associated with amblyopia with a focus on binocular vision using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The first studies focused on abnormal responses in the primary and secondary visual areas whereas recent evidence shows that there are also deficits at higher levels of the visual pathways within the parieto-occipital and temporal cortices. These higher level areas are part of the cortical network involved in 3D vision from binocular cues. Therefore, reduced responses in these areas could be related to the impaired binocular vision in amblyopic patients. Promising new binocular treatments might at least partially correct the activation in these areas. Future neuroimaging experiments could help to characterize the brain response changes associated with these treatments and help devise them.

Progress in computer vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, A. K.; Dorai, C.

Computer vision has emerged as a challenging and important area of research, both as an engineering and a scientific discipline. The growing importance of computer vision is evident from the fact that it was identified as one of the "Grand Challenges" and also from its prominent role in the National Information Infrastructure. While the design of a general-purpose vision system continues to be elusive machine vision systems are being used successfully in specific application elusive, machine vision systems are being used successfully in specific application domains. Building a practical vision system requires a careful selection of appropriate sensors, extraction and integration of information from available cues in the sensed data, and evaluation of system robustness and performance. The authors discuss and demonstrate advantages of (1) multi-sensor fusion, (2) combination of features and classifiers, (3) integration of visual modules, and (IV) admissibility and goal-directed evaluation of vision algorithms. The requirements of several prominent real world applications such as biometry, document image analysis, image and video database retrieval, and automatic object model construction offer exciting problems and new opportunities to design and evaluate vision algorithms.

Global positioning method based on polarized light compass system

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun; Yang, Jiangtao; Wang, Yubo; Tang, Jun; Shen, Chong

2018-05-01

This paper presents a global positioning method based on a polarized light compass system. A main limitation of polarization positioning is the environment such as weak and locally destroyed polarization environments, and the solution to the positioning problem is given in this paper which is polarization image de-noising and segmentation. Therefore, the pulse coupled neural network is employed for enhancing positioning performance. The prominent advantages of the present positioning technique are as follows: (i) compared to the existing position method based on polarized light, better sun tracking accuracy can be achieved and (ii) the robustness and accuracy of positioning under weak and locally destroyed polarization environments, such as cloudy or building shielding, are improved significantly. Finally, some field experiments are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed global positioning technique. The experiments have shown that our proposed method outperforms the conventional polarization positioning method, the real time longitude and latitude with accuracy up to 0.0461° and 0.0911°, respectively.

Modeling charge polarization voltage for large lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Jiang

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Polarization voltage of the lithium-ion battery is an important parameter that has direct influence on battery performance. The paper aims to analyze the impedance characteristics of the lithium-ion battery based on EIS data. Design/methodology/approach: The effects of currents, initial SOC of the battery on charge polarization voltage are investigated, which is approximately linear function of charge current. The change of charge polarization voltage is also analyzed with the gradient analytical method in the SOC domain. The charge polarization model with two RC networks is presented, and parts of model parameters like Ohmic resistance and charge transfer impedance are estimated by both EIS method and battery constant current testing method. Findings: This paper reveals that the Ohmic resistance accounts for much contribution to battery total polarization compared to charge transfer impedance. Practical implications: Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the model with the proposed identification method, which provides the foundation for battery charging optimization. Originality/value: The paper analyzed the impedance characteristics of the lithium-ion battery based on EIS data, presented a charge polarization model with two RC networks, and estimated parameters like Ohmic resistance and charge transfer impedance.

Feed network and electromagnetic radiation source

Science.gov (United States)

Ardavan, Arzhang; Singleton, John; Linehan, Kevin E.; Ardavan, Houshang; Schmidt-Zwiefel, Andrea Caroline

2017-01-17

An antenna may include a volume polarization current radiator and a feed network. The volume polarization current radiator, includes a dielectric solid (such as a dielectric strip), and a plurality of closely-spaced excitation elements (24), each excitation element (24) being configured to induce a volume polarization current distribution in the dielectric solid proximate to the excitation element when a voltage is applied to the excitation element. The feed network is coupled to the volume polarization current radiator. The feed network also includes a plurality of passive power divider elements (32) and a plurality of passive delay elements (d1-d6) coupling the first port (30) and the plurality of second ports (108, 109, 164), the plurality of power divider elements (32) and the plurality of phase delay elements (d1-d6) being configured such that a radio-frequency signal that is applied to the first port (30) experiences a progressive change of phase as it is coupled to the plurality of second ports (108, 109, 164) so as to cause the volume polarization current distribution to propagate along the dielectric solid.

The CCH Vision Stimulation Program for Infants with Low Vision: Preliminary Results.

Science.gov (United States)

Leguire, L. E.; And Others

1992-01-01

This study evaluated the Columbus (Ohio) Children's Hospital vision stimulation program, involving in-home intervention with 15 visually impaired infants. Comparison with controls indicated benefits of appropriate vision stimulation in increasing the neural foundation for vision and visual-motor function in visually impaired infants. (Author/DB)

Real-time stereo generation for surgical vision during minimal invasive robotic surgery

Science.gov (United States)

Laddi, Amit; Bhardwaj, Vijay; Mahapatra, Prasant; Pankaj, Dinesh; Kumar, Amod

2016-03-01

This paper proposes a framework for 3D surgical vision for minimal invasive robotic surgery. It presents an approach for generating the three dimensional view of the in-vivo live surgical procedures from two images captured by very small sized, full resolution camera sensor rig. A pre-processing scheme is employed to enhance the image quality and equalizing the color profile of two images. Polarized Projection using interlacing two images give a smooth and strain free three dimensional view. The algorithm runs in real time with good speed at full HD resolution.

Machine Vision Handbook

CERN Document Server

2012-01-01

The automation of visual inspection is becoming more and more important in modern industry as a consistent, reliable means of judging the quality of raw materials and manufactured goods . The Machine Vision Handbook  equips the reader with the practical details required to engineer integrated mechanical-optical-electronic-software systems. Machine vision is first set in the context of basic information on light, natural vision, colour sensing and optics. The physical apparatus required for mechanized image capture – lenses, cameras, scanners and light sources – are discussed followed by detailed treatment of various image-processing methods including an introduction to the QT image processing system. QT is unique to this book, and provides an example of a practical machine vision system along with extensive libraries of useful commands, functions and images which can be implemented by the reader. The main text of the book is completed by studies of a wide variety of applications of machine vision in insp...

Relevance of intracellular polarity to accuracy of eukaryotic chemotaxis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hiraiwa, Tetsuya; Nishikawa, Masatoshi; Shibata, Tatsuo; Nagamatsu, Akihiro; Akuzawa, Naohiro

2014-01-01

Eukaryotic chemotaxis is usually mediated by intracellular signals that tend to localize at the front or back of the cell. Such intracellular polarities frequently require no extracellular guidance cues, indicating that spontaneous polarization occurs in the signal network. Spontaneous polarization activity is considered relevant to the persistent motions in random cell migrations and chemotaxis. In this study, we propose a theoretical model that connects spontaneous intracellular polarity and motile ability in a chemoattractant solution. We demonstrate that the intracellular polarity can enhance the accuracy of chemotaxis. Chemotactic accuracy should also depend on chemoattractant concentration through the concentration-dependent correlation time in the polarity direction. Both the polarity correlation time and the chemotactic accuracy depend on the degree of responsiveness to the chemical gradient. We show that optimally accurate chemotaxis occurs at an intermediate responsiveness of intracellular polarity. Experimentally, we find that the persistence time of randomly migrating Dictyostelium cells depends on the chemoattractant concentration, as predicted by our theory. At the optimum responsiveness, this ameboid cell can enhance its chemotactic accuracy tenfold. (paper)

Agnosic vision is like peripheral vision, which is limited by crowding.

Science.gov (United States)

Strappini, Francesca; Pelli, Denis G; Di Pace, Enrico; Martelli, Marialuisa

2017-04-01

Visual agnosia is a neuropsychological impairment of visual object recognition despite near-normal acuity and visual fields. A century of research has provided only a rudimentary account of the functional damage underlying this deficit. We find that the object-recognition ability of agnosic patients viewing an object directly is like that of normally-sighted observers viewing it indirectly, with peripheral vision. Thus, agnosic vision is like peripheral vision. We obtained 14 visual-object-recognition tests that are commonly used for diagnosis of visual agnosia. Our "standard" normal observer took these tests at various eccentricities in his periphery. Analyzing the published data of 32 apperceptive agnosia patients and a group of 14 posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) patients on these tests, we find that each patient's pattern of object recognition deficits is well characterized by one number, the equivalent eccentricity at which our standard observer's peripheral vision is like the central vision of the agnosic patient. In other words, each agnosic patient's equivalent eccentricity is conserved across tests. Across patients, equivalent eccentricity ranges from 4 to 40 deg, which rates severity of the visual deficit. In normal peripheral vision, the required size to perceive a simple image (e.g., an isolated letter) is limited by acuity, and that for a complex image (e.g., a face or a word) is limited by crowding. In crowding, adjacent simple objects appear unrecognizably jumbled unless their spacing exceeds the crowding distance, which grows linearly with eccentricity. Besides conservation of equivalent eccentricity across object-recognition tests, we also find conservation, from eccentricity to agnosia, of the relative susceptibility of recognition of ten visual tests. These findings show that agnosic vision is like eccentric vision. Whence crowding? Peripheral vision, strabismic amblyopia, and possibly apperceptive agnosia are all limited by crowding, making it

Advancing Environmental Prediction Capabilities for the Polar Regions and Beyond during The Year of Polar Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Kirstin; Goessling, Helge; Hoke, Winfried; Kirchhoff, Katharina; Jung, Thomas

2017-04-01

Environmental changes in polar regions open up new opportunities for economic and societal operations such as vessel traffic related to scientific, fishery and tourism activities, and in the case of the Arctic also enhanced resource development. The availability of current and accurate weather and environmental information and forecasts will therefore play an increasingly important role in aiding risk reduction and safety management around the poles. The Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) has been established by the World Meteorological Organization's World Weather Research Programme as the key activity of the ten-year Polar Prediction Project (PPP; see more on www.polarprediction.net). YOPP is an internationally coordinated initiative to significantly advance our environmental prediction capabilities for the polar regions and beyond, supporting improved weather and climate services. Scheduled to take place from mid-2017 to mid-2019, the YOPP core phase covers an extended period of intensive observing, modelling, prediction, verification, user-engagement and education activities in the Arctic and Antarctic, on a wide range of time scales from hours to seasons. The Year of Polar Prediction will entail periods of enhanced observational and modelling campaigns in both polar regions. With the purpose to close the gaps in the conventional polar observing systems in regions where the observation network is sparse, routine observations will be enhanced during Special Observing Periods for an extended period of time (several weeks) during YOPP. This will allow carrying out subsequent forecasting system experiments aimed at optimizing observing systems in the polar regions and providing insight into the impact of better polar observations on forecast skills in lower latitudes. With various activities and the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, YOPP will contribute to the knowledge base needed to managing the opportunities and risks that come with polar climate change.

Design and construction of automatic sorting station with machine vision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oscar D. Velasco-Delgado

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents the design, construction and testing of an automatic product sorting system in belt conveyor with machine vision that integrates Free and Open Source Software technology and Allen Bradley commercial equipment. Requirements are defined to determine features such as: mechanics of manufacturing station, an app of product sorting with machine vision and for automation system. For the app of machine vision a library is used for optical digital image processing Open CV, for the mechanical design of the manufacturing station is used the CAD tool Solid Edge and for the design and implementation of automation ISA standards are used along with an automation engineering project methodology integrating a PLC, an inverter, a Panel View and a DeviceNet Network. Performance tests are shown by classifying bottles and PVC pieces in four established types, the behavior of the integrated system is checked so as the efficiency of the same. The processing time on machine vision is 0.290 s on average for a piece of PVC, a capacity of 206 accessories per minute, for bottles was obtained a processing time of 0.267 s, a capacity of 224 bottles per minute. A maximum mechanical performance is obtained with 32 products per minute (1920 products/hour with the conveyor to 22 cm/s and 40 cm of distance between products obtaining an average error of 0.8%.

Peripheral vision of youths with low vision: motion perception, crowding, and visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Tadin, Duje; Nyquist, Jeffrey B; Lusk, Kelly E; Corn, Anne L; Lappin, Joseph S

2012-08-24

Effects of low vision on peripheral visual function are poorly understood, especially in children whose visual skills are still developing. The aim of this study was to measure both central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical and low vision. Of specific interest was the extent to which measures of foveal function predict performance of peripheral tasks. We assessed central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical vision (n = 7, ages 10-17) and low vision (n = 24, ages 9-18). Experimental measures used both static and moving stimuli and included visual crowding, visual search, motion acuity, motion direction discrimination, and multitarget motion comparison. In most tasks, visual function was impaired in youths with low vision. Substantial differences, however, were found both between participant groups and, importantly, across different tasks within participant groups. Foveal visual acuity was a modest predictor of peripheral form vision and motion sensitivity in either the central or peripheral field. Despite exhibiting normal motion discriminations in fovea, motion sensitivity of youths with low vision deteriorated in the periphery. This contrasted with typically sighted participants, who showed improved motion sensitivity with increasing eccentricity. Visual search was greatly impaired in youths with low vision. Our results reveal a complex pattern of visual deficits in peripheral vision and indicate a significant role of attentional mechanisms in observed impairments. These deficits were not adequately captured by measures of foveal function, arguing for the importance of independently assessing peripheral visual function.

Dual-band dual-polarized array for WLAN applications

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Steyn, JM

2009-01-01

Full Text Available dual-band dual-polarized (DBDP) antenna design for WLAN applications. The antenna is in the form of an array consisting of four double-dipole radiators. The basic radiating element consists of a rhombus shaped dipole above a planar ground plane... the ground planes and the respective feedlines. Substrate cuts and difierent heights for the horizontal feedlines were necessary to achieve the latter. The 2nd conflguration (for vertical polarization) has a slightly difierent feeding network layout...

Shared vision promotes family firm performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Neff, John E

2015-01-01

A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS), Role Clarity (RCL), Confidence in Management (CON), and Professional Networking (OLN) that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR), the functional integrity of the family itself, exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC) that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.

Shared Vision promotes family firm performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Edward Neff

2015-05-01

Full Text Available A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS, Role Clarity (RCL, Confidence in Management (CON, and Professional Networking (OLN that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR, the functional integrity of the family itself exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.

Micro Vision

OpenAIRE

Ohba, Kohtaro; Ohara, Kenichi

2007-01-01

In the field of the micro vision, there are few researches compared with macro environment. However, applying to the study result for macro computer vision technique, you can measure and observe the micro environment. Moreover, based on the effects of micro environment, it is possible to discovery the new theories and new techniques.

Measuring indoor occupancy in intelligent buildings using the fusion of vision sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Dixin; Guan, Xiaohong; Du, Youtian; Zhao, Qianchuan

2013-01-01

In intelligent buildings, practical sensing systems designed to gather indoor occupancy information play an indispensable role in improving occupant comfort and energy efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel method for occupancy measurement based on the video surveillance now widely used in buildings. In our method, we analyze occupant detection both at the entrance and inside the room. A two-stage static detector is presented based on both appearances and shapes to find the human heads in rooms, and motion-based technology is used for occupant detection at the entrance. To model the change of occupancy and combine the detection results from multiple vision sensors located at entrances and inside rooms for more accurate occupancy estimation, we propose a dynamic Bayesian network-based method. The detection results of each vision sensor play the role of evidence nodes of this network, and thus, we can estimate the true occupancy at time t using the evidence prior to (and including) time t. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. (paper)

Low Vision Devices and Training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Imran Azam Butt

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Vision is the ability to see with a clear perception of detail, colour and contrast, and to distinguish objects visually. Like any other sense, vision tends to deteriorate or diminish naturally with age. In most cases, reduction in visual capability can be corrected with glasses, medicine or surgery. However, if the visual changes occur because of an incurable eye disease, condition or injury, vision loss can be permanent. Many people around the world with permanent visual impairment have some residual vision which can be used with the help of low vision services, materials and devices. This paper describes different options for the enhancement of residual vision including optical and non-optical devices and providing training for the low vision client.

Kinetic modeling of auroral ion outflows observed by the VISIONS sounding rocket

Science.gov (United States)

Albarran, R. M.; Zettergren, M. D.

2017-12-01

The VISIONS (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm) sounding rocket was launched on Feb. 7, 2013 at 8:21 UTC from Poker Flat, Alaska, into an auroral substorm with the objective of identifying the drivers and dynamics of the ion outflow below 1000km. Energetic ion data from the VISIONS polar cap boundary crossing show evidence of an ion "pressure cooker" effect whereby ions energized via transverse heating in the topside ionosphere travel upward and are impeded by a parallel potential structure at higher altitudes. VISIONS was also instrumented with an energetic neutral atom (ENA) detector which measured neutral particles ( 50-100 eV energy) presumably produced by charge-exchange with the energized outflowing ions. Hence, inferences about ion outflow may be made via remotely-sensing measurements of ENAs. This investigation focuses on modeling energetic outflowing ion distributions observed by VISIONS using a kinetic model. This kinetic model traces large numbers of individual particles, using a guiding-center approximation, in order to allow calculation of ion distribution functions and moments. For the present study we include mirror and parallel electric field forces, and a source of ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) wave heating, thought to be central to the transverse energization of ions. The model is initiated with a steady-state ion density altitude profile and Maxwellian velocity distribution characterizing the initial phase-space conditions for multiple particle trajectories. This project serves to advance our understanding of the drivers and particle dynamics in the auroral ionosphere and to improve data analysis methods for future sounding rocket and satellite missions.

Research on robot navigation vision sensor based on grating projection stereo vision

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaoling; Luo, Yinsheng; Lin, Yuchi; Zhu, Lei

2016-10-01

A novel visual navigation method based on grating projection stereo vision for mobile robot in dark environment is proposed. This method is combining with grating projection profilometry of plane structured light and stereo vision technology. It can be employed to realize obstacle detection, SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) and vision odometry for mobile robot navigation in dark environment without the image match in stereo vision technology and without phase unwrapping in the grating projection profilometry. First, we research the new vision sensor theoretical, and build geometric and mathematical model of the grating projection stereo vision system. Second, the computational method of 3D coordinates of space obstacle in the robot's visual field is studied, and then the obstacles in the field is located accurately. The result of simulation experiment and analysis shows that this research is useful to break the current autonomous navigation problem of mobile robot in dark environment, and to provide the theoretical basis and exploration direction for further study on navigation of space exploring robot in the dark and without GPS environment.

Assessing Challenges and Opportunities for Education and Communication Activities for International Polar Year 2007-2008

Science.gov (United States)

McCaffrey, M. S.

2005-05-01

Considerable planning has gone into identifying ways to maximize International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) as a global event that will facilitate the integration of research and education inherent in IPY, and draw the interest and involvement of people around the world. Documents developed through the IPY planning process, including NRC Reports (2004), and drafts reports on education and outreach from the ICSU IPY Planning Group in the Fall of 2004, and the Bridging the Poles workshop of June, 2004, articulate the tremendous potential for IPY beyond the formal research agenda and goals. With less that two years before the start of IPY and fewer than fours years before the activities are completed, these and emerging opportunities face a number of challenges. In addition to the limited time frame remaining to prepare for these activities, participants involved with IPY education and outreach will also need to consider factors such as: uncertain funding for such activities; the lack of established international networks for geoscience education; the need for high level coordination of IPY education and communication; and the creative and intellectual challenge of making the polar regions relevant to people around the world. The planning process has identified six constituencies as key audiences of IPY communication efforts: i) the scientific/research community, ii) young and potentially new polar researchers, iii) the pre-university education community, iv) arctic communities, iv) the general public, and v) decision-makers. Understanding and meeting these audiences' expectations through on-going evaluation and engagement will be key to successful IPY education and outreach efforts. A number of distinct education and outreach projects have been proposed to the ICSU-WMO IPY planning process, such as courses and workshops on specific aspects of IPY, including efforts to address the social and cultural dimension of Arctic peoples. To help meet the challenges, achieve the

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives: Creating a Collaborative Conservation Vision in the Face of Climate Change Uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Athearn, N.; Schlafmann, D.

2015-12-01

The 22 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) form a "network of networks," each defined by the characteristics of its ecoregion and its unique community of conservation managers, practitioners, and scientists. As self-directed partnerships, LCCs are strongly influenced not only by the landscape but by the evolving cultures and values that define the multi-faceted relationships between people and place. LCCs maintain an ecologically connected network across these diverse landscapes by transcending borders and leveraging resources. Natural resource managers are challenged to make decisions in the face of multiple uncertainties, and several partners across the network have recognized that climate change is one important uncertainty that spans boundaries - both across the conservation community and beyond. The impacts of climate change across the LCC Network are likely to be as diverse as the network itself - manifesting as, for example, sea level rise, ocean acidification, loss of sea ice, and shifts in climate patterns and timing - but synergies are being leveraged within and between LCCs and national climate-focused programs to systematically address the needs of the network to support a collaborative conservation vision that addresses multiple landscape-scale stressors in the face of climate uncertainties. This vision is being achieved by leveraging the convening power of the LCCs and collaborating with DOI Climate Science Centers and others. Selected case studies will demonstrate how the network finds strength in its differences, but also reveals powerful collaborative opportunities through integrated science, shared conservation strategies, and strategic approaches for translating targeted science to conservation action. These examples exemplify past successes as well as ongoing efforts as the network continues to bring about effective application of climate science to achieve conservation outcomes across the LCC Network in an uncertain future climate.

Peripheral Vision of Youths with Low Vision: Motion Perception, Crowding, and Visual Search

Science.gov (United States)

Tadin, Duje; Nyquist, Jeffrey B.; Lusk, Kelly E.; Corn, Anne L.; Lappin, Joseph S.

2012-01-01

Purpose. Effects of low vision on peripheral visual function are poorly understood, especially in children whose visual skills are still developing. The aim of this study was to measure both central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical and low vision. Of specific interest was the extent to which measures of foveal function predict performance of peripheral tasks. Methods. We assessed central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical vision (n = 7, ages 10–17) and low vision (n = 24, ages 9–18). Experimental measures used both static and moving stimuli and included visual crowding, visual search, motion acuity, motion direction discrimination, and multitarget motion comparison. Results. In most tasks, visual function was impaired in youths with low vision. Substantial differences, however, were found both between participant groups and, importantly, across different tasks within participant groups. Foveal visual acuity was a modest predictor of peripheral form vision and motion sensitivity in either the central or peripheral field. Despite exhibiting normal motion discriminations in fovea, motion sensitivity of youths with low vision deteriorated in the periphery. This contrasted with typically sighted participants, who showed improved motion sensitivity with increasing eccentricity. Visual search was greatly impaired in youths with low vision. Conclusions. Our results reveal a complex pattern of visual deficits in peripheral vision and indicate a significant role of attentional mechanisms in observed impairments. These deficits were not adequately captured by measures of foveal function, arguing for the importance of independently assessing peripheral visual function. PMID:22836766

Chemicals Industry Vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

none,

1996-12-01

Chemical industry leaders articulated a long-term vision for the industry, its markets, and its technology in the groundbreaking 1996 document Technology Vision 2020 - The U.S. Chemical Industry. (PDF 310 KB).

Low Vision Tips

Science.gov (United States)

... this page: https://medlineplus.gov/lowvision.html MedlinePlus: Low Vision Tips We are sorry. MedlinePlus no longer maintains the For Low Vision Users page. You will still find health resources ...

Topology of Functional Connectivity and Hub Dynamics in the Beta Band As Temporal Prior for Natural Vision in the Human Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Betti, Viviana; Corbetta, Maurizio; de Pasquale, Francesco; Wens, Vincent; Della Penna, Stefania

2018-04-11

Networks hubs represent points of convergence for the integration of information across many different nodes and systems. Although a great deal is known on the topology of hub regions in the human brain, little is known about their temporal dynamics. Here, we examine the static and dynamic centrality of hub regions when measured in the absence of a task (rest) or during the observation of natural or synthetic visual stimuli. We used Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in humans (both sexes) to measure static and transient regional and network-level interaction in α- and β-band limited power (BLP) in three conditions: visual fixation (rest), viewing of movie clips (natural vision), and time-scrambled versions of the same clips (scrambled vision). Compared with rest, we observed in both movie conditions a robust decrement of α-BLP connectivity. Moreover, both movie conditions caused a significant reorganization of connections in the α band, especially between networks. In contrast, β-BLP connectivity was remarkably similar between rest and natural vision. Not only the topology did not change, but the joint dynamics of hubs in a core network during natural vision was predicted by similar fluctuations in the resting state. We interpret these findings by suggesting that slow-varying fluctuations of integration occurring in higher-order regions in the β band may be a mechanism to anticipate and predict slow-varying temporal patterns of the visual environment. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A fundamental question in neuroscience concerns the function of spontaneous brain connectivity. Here, we tested the hypothesis that topology of intrinsic brain connectivity and its dynamics might predict those observed during natural vision. Using MEG, we tracked the static and time-varying brain functional connectivity when observers were either fixating or watching different movie clips. The spatial distribution of connections and the dynamics of centrality of a set of regions were similar

Review: Familiarity to Vision Rehabilitation Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nasser Sadegh-Pour

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Considering the numbers of low vision patients who have been visited and treated in eye clinics, sometimes there is no exact treatment to increase their visual acuity. Therefore, the necessity to pay attention to vision rehabilitation for them is strongly felt. The aims of this essay are to define vision rehabilitation and its process in relevant centers (called Low Vision Clinic.The statistic of low vision people is reported and the method of collecting data is described. Standard definition, causes of low vision and related diseases (congenital, heredity, acquired… are explained. In addition, low vision aids and role of test and prescription are discussed. Sometimes ophthalmologists and optometrists can not exactly cure patient to raise their V.A because there is no treatment or drug or ordinary glasses. In these cases the clients should refer to low vision clinic and visit low vision specialist on vision rehabilitation process. After primary evaluation they are tested completely and at the end are prescribed proper low vision aid and also provided with advice in relation to career, education role and training techniques especially in children. At the last part of present dissertation, some examples are provided to show effectiveness of vision rehabilitation and low vision aid among the clients in different countries.

Neural network approximation of nonlinearity in laser nano-metrology system based on TLMI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olyaee, Saeed; Hamedi, Samaneh, E-mail: s_olyaee@srttu.edu [Nano-photonics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratory (NORLab), Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University (SRTTU), Lavizan, 16788, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2011-02-01

In this paper, an approach based on neural network (NN) for nonlinearity modeling in a nano-metrology system using three-longitudinal-mode laser heterodyne interferometer (TLMI) for length and displacement measurements is presented. We model nonlinearity errors that arise from elliptically and non-orthogonally polarized laser beams, rotational error in the alignment of laser head with respect to the polarizing beam splitter, rotational error in the alignment of the mixing polarizer, and unequal transmission coefficients in the polarizing beam splitter. Here we use a neural network algorithm based on the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network. The simulation results show that multi-layer feed forward perceptron network is successfully applicable to real noisy interferometer signals.

Neural network approximation of nonlinearity in laser nano-metrology system based on TLMI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olyaee, Saeed; Hamedi, Samaneh

2011-01-01

In this paper, an approach based on neural network (NN) for nonlinearity modeling in a nano-metrology system using three-longitudinal-mode laser heterodyne interferometer (TLMI) for length and displacement measurements is presented. We model nonlinearity errors that arise from elliptically and non-orthogonally polarized laser beams, rotational error in the alignment of laser head with respect to the polarizing beam splitter, rotational error in the alignment of the mixing polarizer, and unequal transmission coefficients in the polarizing beam splitter. Here we use a neural network algorithm based on the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network. The simulation results show that multi-layer feed forward perceptron network is successfully applicable to real noisy interferometer signals.

Neuroimaging of amblyopia and binocular vision: a review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier eJoly

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Amblyopia is a cerebral visual impairment considered to derive from abnormal visual experience (e.g., strabismus, anisometropia. Amblyopia, first considered as a monocular disorder, is now often seen as a primarily binocular disorder resulting in more and more studies examining the binocular deficits in the patients. The neural mechanisms of amblyopia are not completely understood even though they have been investigated with electrophysiological recordings in animal models and more recently with neuroimaging techniques in humans. In this review, we summarise the current knowledge about the brain regions that underlie the visual deficits associated with amblyopia with a focus on binocular vision using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. The first studies focused on abnormal responses in the primary and secondary visual areas whereas recent evidence show that there are also deficits at higher levels of the visual pathways within the parieto-occipital and temporal cortices. These higher level areas are part of the cortical network involved in 3D vision from binocular cues. Therefore, reduced responses in these areas could be related to the impaired binocular vision in amblyopic patients. Promising new binocular treatments might at least partially correct the activation in these areas. Future neuroimaging experiments could help to characterise the brain response changes associated with these treatments and help devise them.

High speed vision processor with reconfigurable processing element array based on full-custom distributed memory

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhe; Yang, Jie; Shi, Cong; Qin, Qi; Liu, Liyuan; Wu, Nanjian

2016-04-01

In this paper, a hybrid vision processor based on a compact full-custom distributed memory for near-sensor high-speed image processing is proposed. The proposed processor consists of a reconfigurable processing element (PE) array, a row processor (RP) array, and a dual-core microprocessor. The PE array includes two-dimensional processing elements with a compact full-custom distributed memory. It supports real-time reconfiguration between the PE array and the self-organized map (SOM) neural network. The vision processor is fabricated using a 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The circuit area of the distributed memory is reduced markedly into 1/3 of that of the conventional memory so that the circuit area of the vision processor is reduced by 44.2%. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed design achieves correct functions.

Head-Mounted Display Technology for Low Vision Rehabilitation and Vision Enhancement

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrlich, Joshua R.; Ojeda, Lauro V.; Wicker, Donna; Day, Sherry; Howson, Ashley; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan; Moroi, Sayoko E.

2017-01-01

Purpose To describe the various types of head-mounted display technology, their optical and human factors considerations, and their potential for use in low vision rehabilitation and vision enhancement. Design Expert perspective. Methods An overview of head-mounted display technology by an interdisciplinary team of experts drawing on key literature in the field. Results Head-mounted display technologies can be classified based on their display type and optical design. See-through displays such as retinal projection devices have the greatest potential for use as low vision aids. Devices vary by their relationship to the user’s eyes, field of view, illumination, resolution, color, stereopsis, effect on head motion and user interface. These optical and human factors considerations are important when selecting head-mounted displays for specific applications and patient groups. Conclusions Head-mounted display technologies may offer advantages over conventional low vision aids. Future research should compare head-mounted displays to commonly prescribed low vision aids in order to compare their effectiveness in addressing the impairments and rehabilitation goals of diverse patient populations. PMID:28048975

Profile of Low Vision Population Attending Low Vision Clinic in a Peripheral Eye Hospital in Nepal

OpenAIRE

Safal Khanal, BOptom; Pekila Lama, MD

2013-01-01

Background: Blindness and low vision are major causes of morbidity and constitute a significant public health problem, both detrimental to the quality of life for the individual and an economic burden on the individual, family, and society in general. People with low vision have the potential for enhancement of functional vision if they receive the appropriate low vision services. The present study aims to determine the profile of the low vision population attending a low vision clinic at a p...

Learning from vision-to-touch is different than from touch-to-vision.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dagmar A Wismeijer

2012-11-01

Full Text Available We studied whether vision can teach touch to the same extent as touch seems to teach vision. In a 2 x 2 between-participants learning study, we artificially correlated visual gloss cues with haptic compliance cues. In two "natural" tasks, we tested whether visual gloss estimations have an influence on haptic estimations of softness and vice versa. In two "new" tasks, in which participants were either asked to haptically judge glossiness or to visually judge softness, we investigated how perceptual estimates transfer from one sense to the other. Our results showed that vision does not teach touch as efficient as touch seems to teach vision.

VERAM - Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgarten, Wibke; Vashev, Boris

2017-04-01

The overall objective of VERAM project is to produce a Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials in 2050 based on raw materials research and innovation (R&I) coordination. Two leading European Technology Platforms (ETPs): ETP SMR (Sustainable Minerals Resources) and FTP (Forest Technology Platform) are joining forces to develop a common vison and roadmap with the support of ECTP (European Construction Technology Platform), represented by UNIVPM, SusChem (ETP for Sustainable Chemistry), represented by Cefic, EuMaT (Advanced Materials ETP), represented by VITO, ERAMIN 2, represented by Research Centre JUELICH and WoodWisdom Network Plus represented by the Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR). This partnership provides VERAM with expertise from downstream applications and additional knowledge on non-biotic and biotic raw materials. The project encourages capacity building as well as transfer of knowledge. It expects to provide an innovation reference point for the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Raw Materials (formerly the KIC Raw MatTERS), to coordinate the network involved in the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials Commitments and relevant proposals funded under Horizon 2020. It provides a platform for identifying gaps and complementarities and enables their bridging. VERAM will be able to advise the European Commission and Member States on future research needs and policies to stimulate innovation and assist in overcoming fragmentation in the implementing the EIP Raw Materials Strategic Implementation Plan. VERAM looks for mutually beneficial information exchange, encourages cross-fertilization between actions undertaken by different raw material industries, and expects to accelerate exploitation of breakthrough innovations. One of the main outcomes of the project is the presentation of a common long term 2050 Vision and Roadmap for relevant raw materials including metals, industrial minerals and aggregates and wood. The

An overview of the first decade of PollyNET: an emerging network of automated Raman-polarization lidars for continuous aerosol profiling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Baars

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A global vertically resolved aerosol data set covering more than 10 years of observations at more than 20 measurement sites distributed from 63° N to 52° S and 72° W to 124° E has been achieved within the Raman and polarization lidar network PollyNET. This network consists of portable, remote-controlled multiwavelength-polarization-Raman lidars (Polly for automated and continuous 24/7 observations of clouds and aerosols. PollyNET is an independent, voluntary, and scientific network. All Polly lidars feature a standardized instrument design with different capabilities ranging from single wavelength to multiwavelength systems, and now apply unified calibration, quality control, and data analysis. The observations are processed in near-real time without manual intervention, and are presented online at http://polly.tropos.de/. The paper gives an overview of the observations on four continents and two research vessels obtained with eight Polly systems. The specific aerosol types at these locations (mineral dust, smoke, dust-smoke and other dusty mixtures, urban haze, and volcanic ash are identified by their Ångström exponent, lidar ratio, and depolarization ratio. The vertical aerosol distribution at the PollyNET locations is discussed on the basis of more than 55 000 automatically retrieved 30 min particle backscatter coefficient profiles at 532 nm as this operating wavelength is available for all Polly lidar systems. A seasonal analysis of measurements at selected sites revealed typical and extraordinary aerosol conditions as well as seasonal differences. These studies show the potential of PollyNET to support the establishment of a global aerosol climatology that covers the entire troposphere.

Two Distinct Scene-Processing Networks Connecting Vision and Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Baldassano, Christopher; Esteva, Andre; Fei-Fei, Li; Beck, Diane M

2016-01-01

A number of regions in the human brain are known to be involved in processing natural scenes, but the field has lacked a unifying framework for understanding how these different regions are organized and interact. We provide evidence from functional connectivity and meta-analyses for a new organizational principle, in which scene processing relies upon two distinct networks that split the classically defined parahippocampal place area (PPA). The first network of strongly connected regions consists of the occipital place area/transverse occipital sulcus and posterior PPA, which contain retinotopic maps and are not strongly coupled to the hippocampus at rest. The second network consists of the caudal inferior parietal lobule, retrosplenial complex, and anterior PPA, which connect to the hippocampus (especially anterior hippocampus), and are implicated in both visual and nonvisual tasks, including episodic memory and navigation. We propose that these two distinct networks capture the primary functional division among scene-processing regions, between those that process visual features from the current view of a scene and those that connect information from a current scene view with a much broader temporal and spatial context. This new framework for understanding the neural substrates of scene-processing bridges results from many lines of research, and makes specific functional predictions.

Biofeedback for Better Vision

Science.gov (United States)

1990-01-01

Biofeedtrac, Inc.'s Accommotrac Vision Trainer, invented by Dr. Joseph Trachtman, is based on vision research performed by Ames Research Center and a special optometer developed for the Ames program by Stanford Research Institute. In the United States, about 150 million people are myopes (nearsighted), who tend to overfocus when they look at distant objects causing blurry distant vision, or hyperopes (farsighted), whose vision blurs when they look at close objects because they tend to underfocus. The Accommotrac system is an optical/electronic system used by a doctor as an aid in teaching a patient how to contract and relax the ciliary body, the focusing muscle. The key is biofeedback, wherein the patient learns to control a bodily process or function he is not normally aware of. Trachtman claims a 90 percent success rate for correcting, improving or stopping focusing problems. The Vision Trainer has also proved effective in treating other eye problems such as eye oscillation, cross eyes, and lazy eye and in professional sports to improve athletes' peripheral vision and reaction time.

Low Vision Rehabilitation and Diabetic Retinopathy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, Sarfaraz A.

2007-01-01

Diabetic retinopathy is emerging as a major cause of blindness. Diabetic retinopathy calls for a multidisciplinary to the patients. Management of the patient requires a team work by the internist, diabetologist, dietician, ophthalmologist and low vision therapist. Diabetic retinopathy very often results in vision loss. It is important for ophthalmologist to recognize the importance of low vision rehabilitation in formulating appropriate treatment strategies. People with low vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy usually experience difficulty in daily life. Most people with diabetic retinopathy (who have remaining useful vision) can be helped with low vision devices. However, often one low vision device may not be suitable for all purposes. A comprehensive low vision evaluation is required to assess the person's current visual status, identify the goals and the visual needs, and then design an individualized vision rehabilitation program to meet these needs. (author)

The founding charter of the Genomic Observatories Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Neil; Field, Dawn; Amaral-Zettler, Linda; Clark, Melody S; Deck, John; Drummond, Alexei; Faith, Daniel P; Geller, Jonathan; Gilbert, Jack; Glöckner, Frank Oliver; Hirsch, Penny R; Leong, Jo-Ann; Meyer, Chris; Obst, Matthias; Planes, Serge; Scholin, Chris; Vogler, Alfried P; Gates, Ruth D; Toonen, Rob; Berteaux-Lecellier, Véronique; Barbier, Michèle; Barker, Katherine; Bertilsson, Stefan; Bicak, Mesude; Bietz, Matthew J; Bobe, Jason; Bodrossy, Levente; Borja, Angel; Coddington, Jonathan; Fuhrman, Jed; Gerdts, Gunnar; Gillespie, Rosemary; Goodwin, Kelly; Hanson, Paul C; Hero, Jean-Marc; Hoekman, David; Jansson, Janet; Jeanthon, Christian; Kao, Rebecca; Klindworth, Anna; Knight, Rob; Kottmann, Renzo; Koo, Michelle S; Kotoulas, Georgios; Lowe, Andrew J; Marteinsson, Viggó Thór; Meyer, Folker; Morrison, Norman; Myrold, David D; Pafilis, Evangelos; Parker, Stephanie; Parnell, John Jacob; Polymenakou, Paraskevi N; Ratnasingham, Sujeevan; Roderick, George K; Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, Naiara; Schonrogge, Karsten; Simon, Nathalie; Valette-Silver, Nathalie J; Springer, Yuri P; Stone, Graham N; Stones-Havas, Steve; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Thibault, Kate M; Wecker, Patricia; Wichels, Antje; Wooley, John C; Yahara, Tetsukazu; Zingone, Adriana

2014-03-07

The co-authors of this paper hereby state their intention to work together to launch the Genomic Observatories Network (GOs Network) for which this document will serve as its Founding Charter. We define a Genomic Observatory as an ecosystem and/or site subject to long-term scientific research, including (but not limited to) the sustained study of genomic biodiversity from single-celled microbes to multicellular organisms.An international group of 64 scientists first published the call for a global network of Genomic Observatories in January 2012. The vision for such a network was expanded in a subsequent paper and developed over a series of meetings in Bremen (Germany), Shenzhen (China), Moorea (French Polynesia), Oxford (UK), Pacific Grove (California, USA), Washington (DC, USA), and London (UK). While this community-building process continues, here we express our mutual intent to establish the GOs Network formally, and to describe our shared vision for its future. The views expressed here are ours alone as individual scientists, and do not necessarily represent those of the institutions with which we are affiliated.

Celestial orientation with the sun not in view: lizards use a time-compensated sky polarization compass.

Science.gov (United States)

Maoret, Francesco; Beltrami, Giulia; Bertolucci, Cristiano; Foà, Augusto

2014-04-01

The present investigation was aimed at testing whether the lizard sky polarization compass is time compensated. For this purpose, ruin lizards, Podarcis sicula, were both trained and tested for orientation inside a Morris water maze under clear skies with the sun not in view. During training, lizards showed a striking bimodal orientation along the training axis, demonstrating their capability of determining the symmetry plane of the sky polarization pattern and thus the use of polarization information in orientation. After reaching criteria, lizards were kept 7 days in a 6-h fast clock-shift treatment and then released with the sun not in view. Six-hour clock-shifted lizards showed a bimodal distribution of directional choices, which was oriented perpendicularly to the training axis, as it was expected on the basis of the clock-shift. The results show that the only celestial diurnal compass mechanism that does not need a direct vision of the sun disk (i.e., the sky polarization compass) is a time-compensated compass.

Visual control of a robot manipulator using neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurazume, Ryo; Sekiguchi, Minoru; Nagata, Shigemi

1994-01-01

This paper describes a vision-motor fusion system using neural networks, consisting of multiple vision sensors and a manipulator, for grasping an object placed in a desired position and attitude in a three-dimensional workspace. The system does not need complicated vision sensor calibration and calculation of a transformation matrix, and can thus be easily constructed for grasping tasks. An experimental system with two TV cameras and a manipulator with six degrees of freedom grasped a connector suspended in a three-dimensional workspace with high accuracy. (author)

Convergence of Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prasad, Ramjee; Ruggieri, Marina

2008-01-01

The paper focuses on the revolutionary changes that could characterise the future of networks. Those changes involve many aspects in the conceivement and exploitation of networks: architecture, services, technologies and modeling. The convergence of wired and wireless technologies along...... with the integration of system componennts and the convergence of services (e.g. communications and navigation) are only some of the elements that shape the perpsected mosaic. Authors delineate this vision, highlighting the presence of the space and stratospheric components and the related services as building block...

A vision and strategy for the virtual physiological human in 2010 and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Peter; Coveney, Peter V; de Bono, Bernard; Diaz, Vanessa; Fenner, John; Frangi, Alejandro F; Harris, Peter; Hose, Rod; Kohl, Peter; Lawford, Pat; McCormack, Keith; Mendes, Miriam; Omholt, Stig; Quarteroni, Alfio; Skår, John; Tegner, Jesper; Randall Thomas, S; Tollis, Ioannis; Tsamardinos, Ioannis; van Beek, Johannes H G M; Viceconti, Marco

2010-06-13

European funding under framework 7 (FP7) for the virtual physiological human (VPH) project has been in place now for nearly 2 years. The VPH network of excellence (NoE) is helping in the development of common standards, open-source software, freely accessible data and model repositories, and various training and dissemination activities for the project. It is also helping to coordinate the many clinically targeted projects that have been funded under the FP7 calls. An initial vision for the VPH was defined by framework 6 strategy for a European physiome (STEP) project in 2006. It is now time to assess the accomplishments of the last 2 years and update the STEP vision for the VPH. We consider the biomedical science, healthcare and information and communications technology challenges facing the project and we propose the VPH Institute as a means of sustaining the vision of VPH beyond the time frame of the NoE.

Beauty and cuteness in peripheral vision

Science.gov (United States)

Kuraguchi, Kana; Ashida, Hiroshi

2015-01-01

Guo et al. (2011) showed that attractiveness was detectable in peripheral vision. Since there are different types of attractiveness (Rhodes, 2006), we investigated how beauty and cuteness are detected in peripheral vision with a brief presentation. Participants (n = 45) observed two Japanese female faces for 100 ms, then were asked to respond which face was more beautiful (or cuter). The results indicated that both beauty and cuteness were detectable in peripheral vision, but not in the same manner. Discrimination rates for judging beauty were invariant in peripheral and central vision, while discrimination rates for judging cuteness declined in peripheral vision as compared with central vision. This was not explained by lower resolution in peripheral vision. In addition, for male participants, it was more difficult to judge cuteness than beauty in peripheral vision, thus suggesting that gender differences can have a certain effect when judging cuteness. Therefore, central vision might be suitable for judging cuteness while judging beauty might not be affected by either central or peripheral vision. This might be related with the functional difference between beauty and cuteness. PMID:25999883

Efficacy of vision therapy in children with learning disability and associated binocular vision anomalies.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussaindeen, Jameel Rizwana; Shah, Prerana; Ramani, Krishna Kumar; Ramanujan, Lalitha

To report the frequency of binocular vision (BV) anomalies in children with specific learning disorders (SLD) and to assess the efficacy of vision therapy (VT) in children with a non-strabismic binocular vision anomaly (NSBVA). The study was carried out at a centre for learning disability (LD). Comprehensive eye examination and binocular vision assessment was carried out for 94 children (mean (SD) age: 15 (2.2) years) diagnosed with specific learning disorder. BV assessment was done for children with best corrected visual acuity of ≥6/9 - N6, cooperative for examination and free from any ocular pathology. For children with a diagnosis of NSBVA (n=46), 24 children were randomized to VT and no intervention was provided to the other 22 children who served as experimental controls. At the end of 10 sessions of vision therapy, BV assessment was performed for both the intervention and non-intervention groups. Binocular vision anomalies were found in 59 children (62.8%) among which 22% (n=13) had strabismic binocular vision anomalies (SBVA) and 78% (n=46) had a NSBVA. Accommodative infacility (AIF) was the commonest of the NSBVA and found in 67%, followed by convergence insufficiency (CI) in 25%. Post-vision therapy, the intervention group showed significant improvement in all the BV parameters (Wilcoxon signed rank test, p<0.05) except negative fusional vergence. Children with specific learning disorders have a high frequency of binocular vision disorders and vision therapy plays a significant role in improving the BV parameters. Children with SLD should be screened for BV anomalies as it could potentially be an added hindrance to the reading difficulty in this special population. Copyright © 2017 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Synthetic vision to augment sensor based vision for remotely piloted vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tadema, J.; Koeners, J.; Theunissen, E.

2006-01-01

In the past fifteen years, several research programs have demonstrated potential advantages of synthetic vision technology for manned aviation. More recently, some research programs have focused on integrating synthetic vision technology into control stations for remotely controlled aircraft. The

Spectral and spatial properties of polarized light reflections from the arms of squid (Loligo pealeii) and cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis L.).

Science.gov (United States)

Chiou, Tsyr-Huei; Mäthger, Lydia M; Hanlon, Roger T; Cronin, Thomas W

2007-10-01

On every arm of cuttlefish and squid there is a stripe of high-reflectance iridophores that reflects highly polarized light. Since cephalopods possess polarization vision, it has been hypothesized that these polarized stripes could serve an intraspecific communication function. We determined how polarization changes when these boneless arms move. By measuring the spectral and polarizing properties of the reflected light from samples at various angles of tilt and rotation, we found that the actual posture of the arm has little or no effect on partial polarization or the e-vector angle of the reflected light. However, when the illumination angle changed, the partial polarization of the reflected light also changed. The spectral reflections of the signals were also affected by the angle of illumination but not by the orientation of the sample. Electron microscope samples showed that these stripes are composed of several groups of multilayer platelets within the iridophores. The surface normal to each group is oriented at a different angle, which produces essentially constant reflection of polarized light over a range of viewing angles. These results demonstrate that cuttlefish and squid could send out reliable polarization signals to a receiver regardless of arm orientation.

Optical Network Testbeds Workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joe Mambretti

2007-06-01

technologies. Several years ago, when many of these optical networking research topics were first being investigated, they were the subject of controversial debate. The new techniques challenged many long-held concepts related to architecture and technology. However, today all major networking organizations are transitioning toward infrastructure that incorporates these new concepts. This progress has been assisted through the series of Optical Networking Testbed Workshops (ONT). The first (ONT1) outlined a general framework of key issues and topics and developed a series of recommendations (www.nren.nasa.gov/workshop7). The second (ONT2) developed a common vision of optical network technologies, services, infrastructure, and organizations (www.nren.nasa.gov/workshop8). Processes that allow for a common vision encourage widespread deployment of these types of resources among advanced networking communities. Also, such a shared vision enables key concepts and technologies to migrate from basic research testbeds to wider networking communities. The ONT-3 workshop built on these earlier activities by expanding discussion to include additional considerations of the international interoperability and of greater impact of optical networking technology on networking in general. In accordance with this recognition, the workshop confirmed that future-oriented research and development is indispensable to fundamentally change the current Internet architecture to create a global network incorporating completely new concepts. The workshop also recognized that the first priority to allow for this progress is basic research and development, including international collaborative activities, which are important for the global realization of interoperability of a new generation architecture.

A method of non-contact reading code based on computer vision

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chunsen; Zong, Xiaoyu; Guo, Bingxuan

2018-03-01

With the purpose of guarantee the computer information exchange security between internal and external network (trusted network and un-trusted network), A non-contact Reading code method based on machine vision has been proposed. Which is different from the existing network physical isolation method. By using the computer monitors, camera and other equipment. Deal with the information which will be on exchanged, Include image coding ,Generate the standard image , Display and get the actual image , Calculate homography matrix, Image distort correction and decoding in calibration, To achieve the computer information security, Non-contact, One-way transmission between the internal and external network , The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experiments on real computer text data, The speed of data transfer can be achieved 24kb/s. The experiment shows that this algorithm has the characteristics of high security, fast velocity and less loss of information. Which can meet the daily needs of the confidentiality department to update the data effectively and reliably, Solved the difficulty of computer information exchange between Secret network and non-secret network, With distinctive originality, practicability, and practical research value.

What You Should Know (Low Vision)

Science.gov (United States)

... Cataract Diabetic retinopathy Glaucoma Macular degeneration What is low vision? When you have low vision, eyeglasses, contact lenses, ... eyesight. How do I know if I have low vision? Below are some signs of low vision. Even ...

Vision Problems in Homeless Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Natalie L; Smith, Thomas J; DeSantis, Diana; Suhocki, Marissa; Fenske, Danielle

2015-08-01

Vision problems in homeless children can decrease educational achievement and quality of life. To estimate the prevalence and specific diagnoses of vision problems in children in an urban homeless shelter. A prospective series of 107 homeless children and teenagers who underwent screening with a vision questionnaire, eye chart screening (if mature enough) and if vision problem suspected, evaluation by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Glasses and other therapeutic interventions were provided if necessary. The prevalence of vision problems in this population was 25%. Common diagnoses included astigmatism, amblyopia, anisometropia, myopia, and hyperopia. Glasses were required and provided for 24 children (22%). Vision problems in homeless children are common and frequently correctable with ophthalmic intervention. Evaluation by pediatric ophthalmologist is crucial for accurate diagnoses and treatment. Our system of screening and evaluation is feasible, efficacious, and reproducible in other homeless care situations.

Integrated-optics heralded controlled-NOT gate for polarization-encoded qubits

Science.gov (United States)

Zeuner, Jonas; Sharma, Aditya N.; Tillmann, Max; Heilmann, René; Gräfe, Markus; Moqanaki, Amir; Szameit, Alexander; Walther, Philip

2018-03-01

Recent progress in integrated-optics technology has made photonics a promising platform for quantum networks and quantum computation protocols. Integrated optical circuits are characterized by small device footprints and unrivalled intrinsic interferometric stability. Here, we take advantage of femtosecond-laser-written waveguides' ability to process polarization-encoded qubits and present an implementation of a heralded controlled-NOT gate on chip. We evaluate the gate performance in the computational basis and a superposition basis, showing that the gate can create polarization entanglement between two photons. Transmission through the integrated device is optimized using thermally expanded core fibers and adiabatically reduced mode-field diameters at the waveguide facets. This demonstration underlines the feasibility of integrated quantum gates for all-optical quantum networks and quantum repeaters.

Genetics Home Reference: color vision deficiency

Science.gov (United States)

... my area? Other Names for This Condition color blindness color vision defects defective color vision vision defect, color ... Perception KidsHealth from the Nemours Foundation MalaCards: color blindness MalaCards: color vision deficiency Orphanet: Blue cone monochromatism Orphanet: NON ...

NASA IceBridge and PolarTREC - Education and Outreach Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Bartholow, S.; Warburton, J.; Beck, J.; Woods, J. E.

2015-12-01

PolarTREC-Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating, a teacher professional development program, began with the International Polar Year in 2004 and continues today in the United States. PolarTREC has worked specifically with OIB for 3 years and looking forward to ongoing collaboration. PolarTREC brings U.S. K­12 educators and polar researchers together through an innovative teacher research experience model. Participating teachers spend 3-6 weeks in the field with research teams conducting surveys and collecting data on various aspects of polar science. During their experience, teachers become research team members filling a variety of roles on the team. They also fulfill a unique role of public outreach officer, conducting live presentations about their field site and research as well as journaling, answering questions, and posting photos. Working with OIB has opened up the nature of science for the participating teachers. In developing the long-term relationship with OIB teams, teachers can now share (1) the diversity of training, backgrounds, and interests of OIB scientists, (2) identify the linkages between Greenlandic culture and community and cryospheric science and evidence of climate change, (3) network with Danish and Greenlandic educators on the mission (4) gain access to the full spectrum of a science project - development, implementation, analysis, networking, and dissemination of information. All aspects help these teachers become champions of NASA science and educational leaders in their communities. Evaluation data shows that PolarTREC has clearly achieved it goals with the OIB partnership and suggests that linking teachers and researchers can have the potential to transform the nature of science education. By giving teachers the content knowledge, pedagogical tools, confidence, understanding of science in the broader society, and experiences with scientific inquiry, participating teachers are using authentic scientific research in their

Multiscale Methods, Parallel Computation, and Neural Networks for Real-Time Computer Vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Battiti, Roberto

1990-01-01

This thesis presents new algorithms for low and intermediate level computer vision. The guiding ideas in the presented approach are those of hierarchical and adaptive processing, concurrent computation, and supervised learning. Processing of the visual data at different resolutions is used not only to reduce the amount of computation necessary to reach the fixed point, but also to produce a more accurate estimation of the desired parameters. The presented adaptive multiple scale technique is applied to the problem of motion field estimation. Different parts of the image are analyzed at a resolution that is chosen in order to minimize the error in the coefficients of the differential equations to be solved. Tests with video-acquired images show that velocity estimation is more accurate over a wide range of motion with respect to the homogeneous scheme. In some cases introduction of explicit discontinuities coupled to the continuous variables can be used to avoid propagation of visual information from areas corresponding to objects with different physical and/or kinematic properties. The human visual system uses concurrent computation in order to process the vast amount of visual data in "real -time." Although with different technological constraints, parallel computation can be used efficiently for computer vision. All the presented algorithms have been implemented on medium grain distributed memory multicomputers with a speed-up approximately proportional to the number of processors used. A simple two-dimensional domain decomposition assigns regions of the multiresolution pyramid to the different processors. The inter-processor communication needed during the solution process is proportional to the linear dimension of the assigned domain, so that efficiency is close to 100% if a large region is assigned to each processor. Finally, learning algorithms are shown to be a viable technique to engineer computer vision systems for different applications starting from

Learning from vision-to-touch is different than learning from touch-to-vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Wismeijer, Dagmar A; Gegenfurtner, Karl R; Drewing, Knut

2012-01-01

We studied whether vision can teach touch to the same extent as touch seems to teach vision. In a 2 × 2 between-participants learning study, we artificially correlated visual gloss cues with haptic compliance cues. In two "natural" tasks, we tested whether visual gloss estimations have an influence on haptic estimations of softness and vice versa. In two "novel" tasks, in which participants were either asked to haptically judge glossiness or to visually judge softness, we investigated how perceptual estimates transfer from one sense to the other. Our results showed that vision does not teach touch as efficient as touch seems to teach vision.

IDA's Energy Vision 2050

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Lund, Henrik; Hansen, Kenneth

IDA’s Energy Vision 2050 provides a Smart Energy System strategy for a 100% renewable Denmark in 2050. The vision presented should not be regarded as the only option in 2050 but as one scenario out of several possibilities. With this vision the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA, presents its third...... contribution for an energy strategy for Denmark. The IDA’s Energy Plan 2030 was prepared in 2006 and IDA’s Climate Plan was prepared in 2009. IDA’s Energy Vision 2050 is developed for IDA by representatives from The Society of Engineers and by a group of researchers at Aalborg University. It is based on state......-of-the-art knowledge about how low cost energy systems can be designed while also focusing on long-term resource efficiency. The Energy Vision 2050 has the ambition to focus on all parts of the energy system rather than single technologies, but to have an approach in which all sectors are integrated. While Denmark...

Panoramic stereo sphere vision

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Weijia; Zhang, Baofeng; Röning, Juha; Zong, Xiaoning; Yi, Tian

2013-01-01

Conventional stereo vision systems have a small field of view (FOV) which limits their usefulness for certain applications. While panorama vision is able to "see" in all directions of the observation space, scene depth information is missed because of the mapping from 3D reference coordinates to 2D panoramic image. In this paper, we present an innovative vision system which builds by a special combined fish-eye lenses module, and is capable of producing 3D coordinate information from the whole global observation space and acquiring no blind area 360°×360° panoramic image simultaneously just using single vision equipment with one time static shooting. It is called Panoramic Stereo Sphere Vision (PSSV). We proposed the geometric model, mathematic model and parameters calibration method in this paper. Specifically, video surveillance, robotic autonomous navigation, virtual reality, driving assistance, multiple maneuvering target tracking, automatic mapping of environments and attitude estimation are some of the applications which will benefit from PSSV.

A Novel Approach to Exploring the Mars Polar Caps

Science.gov (United States)

Brophy, John R.; Carsey, Frank D.; Rodgers, David H.; Soderblom, L. A.; Wilcox, Brian H.

2000-01-01

The Martian polar caps contain some of the most important scientific sites on the planet. There is much interest in exploring them with a view to understanding their role in the Mars climate system. By gaining access to the stratigraphy of the polar terrain, it is probable that one can access the climate history of the planet. Additionally, investigations aimed at localizing subsurface water--liquid or solid--are not only of great scientific interest but are also germane to the long-term interests of the manned space flight program. A major difficulty with polar exploration is access. Current techniques using chemical propulsion, Holman transfers, and direct-entry landers with aeroshells have limited capability to access the polar terrain. For the near term the authors propose a new approach to solving this transportation issue by using Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), recently flight demonstrated on NASA's DS1 Mission to an asteroid and a comet. For a longer-term approach there are additional ways in which access to Mars, as well as other planets, can be significantly improved. These include the use of Chaos orbit theory to enable transportation between LaGrange points in the solar system, gossamer structures enabling very low-mass mobility, and advanced ascent vehicles. In this paper the authors describe how a 1000-kG payload can be transported to the surface of Mars and a polar sample obtained and returned to Earth in less than five years using SEP. A vision of how this approach can be integrated into a long-term Mars exploration strategy building toward the future is also discussed.

A Novel Approach to Exploring the Mars Polar Caps

Science.gov (United States)

Brophy, John R.; Carsey, Frank D.; Rodgers, David H.; Soderblom, L. A.; Wilcox, Brian H.

2000-08-01

The Martian polar caps contain some of the most important scientific sites on the planet. There is much interest in exploring them with a view to understanding their role in the Mars climate system. By gaining access to the stratigraphy of the polar terrain, it is probable that one can access the climate history of the planet. Additionally, investigations aimed at localizing subsurface water--liquid or solid--are not only of great scientific interest but are also germane to the long-term interests of the manned space flight program. A major difficulty with polar exploration is access. Current techniques using chemical propulsion, Holman transfers, and direct-entry landers with aeroshells have limited capability to access the polar terrain. For the near term the authors propose a new approach to solving this transportation issue by using Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), recently flight demonstrated on NASA's DS1 Mission to an asteroid and a comet. For a longer-term approach there are additional ways in which access to Mars, as well as other planets, can be significantly improved. These include the use of Chaos orbit theory to enable transportation between LaGrange points in the solar system, gossamer structures enabling very low-mass mobility, and advanced ascent vehicles. In this paper the authors describe how a 1000-kG payload can be transported to the surface of Mars and a polar sample obtained and returned to Earth in less than five years using SEP. A vision of how this approach can be integrated into a long-term Mars exploration strategy building toward the future is also discussed.

FPGA Vision Data Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Morfopoulos, Arin C.; Pham, Thang D.

2013-01-01

JPL has produced a series of FPGA (field programmable gate array) vision algorithms that were written with custom interfaces to get data in and out of each vision module. Each module has unique requirements on the data interface, and further vision modules are continually being developed, each with their own custom interfaces. Each memory module had also been designed for direct access to memory or to another memory module.

Higher-order neural network software for distortion invariant object recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Max B.; Spirkovska, Lilly

1991-01-01

The state-of-the-art in pattern recognition for such applications as automatic target recognition and industrial robotic vision relies on digital image processing. We present a higher-order neural network model and software which performs the complete feature extraction-pattern classification paradigm required for automatic pattern recognition. Using a third-order neural network, we demonstrate complete, 100 percent accurate invariance to distortions of scale, position, and in-plate rotation. In a higher-order neural network, feature extraction is built into the network, and does not have to be learned. Only the relatively simple classification step must be learned. This is key to achieving very rapid training. The training set is much smaller than with standard neural network software because the higher-order network only has to be shown one view of each object to be learned, not every possible view. The software and graphical user interface run on any Sun workstation. Results of the use of the neural software in autonomous robotic vision systems are presented. Such a system could have extensive application in robotic manufacturing.

FLORA™: Phase I development of a functional vision assessment for prosthetic vision users.

Science.gov (United States)

Geruschat, Duane R; Flax, Marshall; Tanna, Nilima; Bianchi, Michelle; Fisher, Andy; Goldschmidt, Mira; Fisher, Lynne; Dagnelie, Gislin; Deremeik, Jim; Smith, Audrey; Anaflous, Fatima; Dorn, Jessy

2015-07-01

Research groups and funding agencies need a functional assessment suitable for an ultra-low vision population to evaluate the impact of new vision-restoration treatments. The purpose of this study was to develop a pilot assessment to capture the functional visual ability and well-being of subjects whose vision has been partially restored with the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System. The Functional Low-Vision Observer Rated Assessment (FLORA) pilot assessment involved a self-report section, a list of functional visual tasks for observation of performance and a case narrative summary. Results were analysed to determine whether the interview questions and functional visual tasks were appropriate for this ultra-low vision population and whether the ratings suffered from floor or ceiling effects. Thirty subjects with severe to profound retinitis pigmentosa (bare light perception or worse in both eyes) were enrolled in a clinical trial and implanted with the Argus II System. From this population, 26 subjects were assessed with the FLORA. Seven different evaluators administered the assessment. All 14 interview questions were asked. All 35 tasks for functional vision were selected for evaluation at least once, with an average of 20 subjects being evaluated for each test item. All four rating options—impossible (33 per cent), difficult (23 per cent), moderate (24 per cent) and easy (19 per cent)—were used by the evaluators. Evaluators also judged the amount of vision they observed the subjects using to complete the various tasks, with 'vision only' occurring 75 per cent on average with the System ON, and 29 per cent with the System OFF. The first version of the FLORA was found to contain useful elements for evaluation and to avoid floor and ceiling effects. The next phase of development will be to refine the assessment and to establish reliability and validity to increase its value as an assessment tool for functional vision and well-being. © 2015 The Authors. Clinical

Modeling foveal vision

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Florack, L.M.J.; Sgallari, F.; Murli, A.; Paragios, N.

2007-01-01

geometric model is proposed for an artificial foveal vision system, and its plausibility in the context of biological vision is explored. The model is based on an isotropic, scale invariant two-form that describes the spatial layout of receptive fields in the the visual sensorium (in the biological

Polarization measurement for internal polarized gaseous targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ye Zhenyu; Ye Yunxiu; Lv Haijiang; Mao Yajun

2004-01-01

The authors present an introduction to internal polarized gaseous targets, polarization method, polarization measurement method and procedure. To get the total nuclear polarization of hydrogen atoms (including the polarization of the recombined hydrogen molecules) in the target cell, authors have measured the parameters relating to atomic polarization and polarized hydrogen atoms and molecules. The total polarization of the target during our measurement is P T =0.853 ± 0.036. (authors)

Impact of low vision services on the quality of life of low vision patients in Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Godwin O. Ovenseri-Ogbomo

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Patients’ perspectives on the impact of clinical interventions have been recognised as critical elements in patient care. Quality-of-life instruments are designed to measure these perspectives. We used the National Eye Institute’s 25-item Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ to measure the impact of optical low vision devices on the quality of life of 22 low vision patients who obtained and were using low vision devices from a secondary low vision clinic in the Eastern Region, Ghana. The study employed a pre- and post-intervention technique. We found statistically significant improvements in measured visual acuity and NEI VFQ scores in 8 of the 10 domains evaluated. We conclude that optical low vision devices have a positive impact on the quality of life of low vision patients in Ghana. Keywords: low vision; quality of life; visual acuity; visual impairment; Ghana

Foreground removal from WMAP 7 yr polarization maps using an MLP neural network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard-Nielsen, Hans Ulrik

2012-01-01

. As a concrete example, the WMAP 7-year polarization data, the most reliable determination of the polarization properties of the CMB, has been analyzed. The analysis has adopted the frequency maps, noise models, window functions and the foreground models as provided by the WMAP Team, and no auxiliary data...

Industrial vision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Ole

1998-01-01

This dissertation is concerned with the introduction of vision-based application s in the ship building industry. The industrial research project is divided into a natural seq uence of developments, from basic theoretical projective image generation via CAD and subpixel analysis to a description...... is present ed, and the variability of the parameters is examined and described. The concept of using CAD together with vision information is based on the fact that all items processed at OSS have an associated complete 3D CAD model that is accessible at all production states. This concept gives numerous...... possibilities for using vision in applications which otherwise would be very difficult to automate. The requirement for low tolerances in production is, despite the huge dimensions of the items involved, extreme. This fact makes great demands on the ability to do robust sub pixel estimation. A new method based...

Collaborative Wireless Sensor Networks in Industrial and Business Processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marin Perianu, Mihai

2008-01-01

Personal computers, mobile telephony and the Internet made the vision of everyone being networked real, at such a level of quality and speed that people could only dream of, one hundred years ago. Nowadays, another dream starts to become reality: the dream of networking everything. The limits of

Company Vision and Organizational Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vojko Toman

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The effectiveness of a company is largely dependent on the company itself; it depends above all on its corporate governance, management, and implementation, as well as on decision-making processes and coordination. Many authors believe that organizational learning and knowledge are the most relevant aspects of company effectiveness. If a company wants to be effective it needs to create and realize its vision; to do this, it needs creativity, imagination, and knowledge, which can be obtained or enhanced through learning. This paper defines vision, learning, creativity and management and, above all, their relationships. The author argues that company vision influences the learning and knowledge of employees in the company through the vision’s content, through the vision-creating process, and through the vision enforcement process. Conversely, the influence of learning on company vision is explained. The paper is aimed at the use in the practice of companies and helps them to increase their effectiveness.

USC orthogonal multiprocessor for image processing with neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Kai; Panda, Dhabaleswar K.; Haddadi, Navid

1990-07-01

This paper presents the architectural features and imaging applications of the Orthogonal MultiProcessor (OMP) system, which is under construction at the University of Southern California with research funding from NSF and assistance from several industrial partners. The prototype OMP is being built with 16 Intel i860 RISC microprocessors and 256 parallel memory modules using custom-designed spanning buses, which are 2-D interleaved and orthogonally accessed without conflicts. The 16-processor OMP prototype is targeted to achieve 430 MIPS and 600 Mflops, which have been verified by simulation experiments based on the design parameters used. The prototype OMP machine will be initially applied for image processing, computer vision, and neural network simulation applications. We summarize important vision and imaging algorithms that can be restructured with neural network models. These algorithms can efficiently run on the OMP hardware with linear speedup. The ultimate goal is to develop a high-performance Visual Computer (Viscom) for integrated low- and high-level image processing and vision tasks.

Understanding and preventing computer vision syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Loh, Ky; Redd, Sc

2008-01-01

The invention of computer and advancement in information technology has revolutionized and benefited the society but at the same time has caused symptoms related to its usage such as ocular sprain, irritation, redness, dryness, blurred vision and double vision. This cluster of symptoms is known as computer vision syndrome which is characterized by the visual symptoms which result from interaction with computer display or its environment. Three major mechanisms that lead to computer vision syndrome are extraocular mechanism, accommodative mechanism and ocular surface mechanism. The visual effects of the computer such as brightness, resolution, glare and quality all are known factors that contribute to computer vision syndrome. Prevention is the most important strategy in managing computer vision syndrome. Modification in the ergonomics of the working environment, patient education and proper eye care are crucial in managing computer vision syndrome.

UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING COMPUTER VISION SYNDROME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

REDDY SC

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The invention of computer and advancement in information technology has revolutionized and benefited the society but at the same time has caused symptoms related to its usage such as ocular sprain, irritation, redness, dryness, blurred vision and double vision. This cluster of symptoms is known as computer vision syndrome which is characterized by the visual symptoms which result from interaction with computer display or its environment. Three major mechanisms that lead to computer vision syndrome are extraocular mechanism, accommodative mechanism and ocular surface mechanism. The visual effects of the computer such as brightness, resolution, glare and quality all are known factors that contribute to computer vision syndrome. Prevention is the most important strategy in managing computer vision syndrome. Modification in the ergonomics of the working environment, patient education and proper eye care are crucial in managing computer vision syndrome.

[Quality system Vision 2000].

Science.gov (United States)

Pasini, Evasio; Pitocchi, Oreste; de Luca, Italo; Ferrari, Roberto

2002-12-01

A recent document of the Italian Ministry of Health points out that all structures which provide services to the National Health System should implement a Quality System according to the ISO 9000 standards. Vision 2000 is the new version of the ISO standard. Vision 2000 is less bureaucratic than the old version. The specific requests of the Vision 2000 are: a) to identify, to monitor and to analyze the processes of the structure, b) to measure the results of the processes so as to ensure that they are effective, d) to implement actions necessary to achieve the planned results and the continual improvement of these processes, e) to identify customer requests and to measure customer satisfaction. Specific attention should be also dedicated to the competence and training of the personnel involved in the processes. The principles of the Vision 2000 agree with the principles of total quality management. The present article illustrates the Vision 2000 standard and provides practical examples of the implementation of this standard in cardiological departments.

Impact of Mutual Coupling and Polarization of Antennas on BER Performances of Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianfeng Zheng

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is aimed at studying the impacts of mutual coupling, matching networks, and polarization of antennas on performances of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO systems employing Spatial Multiplexing (SM. In particular, the uncoded average Bit Error Rate (BER of MIMO systems is investigated. An accurate signal analysis framework based on circuit network parameters is presented to describe the transmit/receive characteristics of the matched/unmatched antenna array. The studied arrays consist of matched/unmatched compact copolarization and polarization diversity antenna array. Monte-Carlo numerical simulations are used to study the BER performances of the SM MIMO systems using maximum-likelihood and/or zero-forcing detection schemes. The simulation results demonstrate that the use of matching networks can improve the BER performance of SM MIMO systems significantly, and the BER performance deterioration due to antenna orientation randomness can be compensated by use of polarization diversity antenna arrays.

Predictors of vision impairment in Multiple Sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez-Dalmau, Bernardo; Martinez-Lapiscina, Elena H; Pulido-Valdeolivas, Irene; Zubizarreta, Irati; Llufriu, Sara; Blanco, Yolanda; Sola-Valls, Nuria; Sepulveda, Maria; Guerrero, Ana; Alba, Salut; Andorra, Magi; Camos, Anna; Sanchez-Vela, Laura; Alfonso, Veronica; Saiz, Albert; Villoslada, Pablo

2018-01-01

Visual impairment significantly alters the quality of life of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The objective of this study was to identify predictors (independent variables) of visual outcomes, and to define their relationship with neurological disability and retinal atrophy when assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT). We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 119 consecutive patients with MS, assessing vision using high contrast visual acuity (LogMar), 2.5% and 1.25% low contrast visual acuity (Sloan charts), and color vision (Hardy-Rand-Rittler plates). Quality of vision is a patient reported outcome based on an individual's unique perception of his or her vision and was assessed with the Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25 (VFQ-25) with the 10 neuro-ophthalmologic items. MS disability was assessed using the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), the MS functional composite (MSFC) and the brief repetitive battery-neuropsychology (BRB-N). Retinal atrophy was assessed using spectral domain OCT, measuring the thickness of the peripapillar retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and the volume of the ganglion cell plus inner plexiform layer (GCIPL). The vision of patients with MS was impaired, particularly in eyes with prior optic neuritis. Retinal atrophy (pRNFL and GCIPL) was closely associated with impaired low contrast vision and color vision, whereas the volume of the GCIPL showed a trend (p = 0.092) to be associated with quality of vision. Multiple regression analysis revealed that EDSS was an explanatory variable for high contrast vision after stepwise analysis, GCIPL volume for low contrast vision, and GCIPL volume and EDSS for color vision. The explanatory variables for quality of vision were high contrast vision and color vision. In summary, quality of vision in MS depends on the impairment of high contrast visual acuity and color vision due to the disease.

Early vision and focal attention

Science.gov (United States)

Julesz, Bela

1991-07-01

At the thirty-year anniversary of the introduction of the technique of computer-generated random-dot stereograms and random-dot cinematograms into psychology, the impact of the technique on brain research and on the study of artificial intelligence is reviewed. The main finding-that stereoscopic depth perception (stereopsis), motion perception, and preattentive texture discrimination are basically bottom-up processes, which occur without the help of the top-down processes of cognition and semantic memory-greatly simplifies the study of these processes of early vision and permits the linking of human perception with monkey neurophysiology. Particularly interesting are the unexpected findings that stereopsis (assumed to be local) is a global process, while texture discrimination (assumed to be a global process, governed by statistics) is local, based on some conspicuous local features (textons). It is shown that the top-down process of "shape (depth) from shading" does not affect stereopsis, and some of the models of machine vision are evaluated. The asymmetry effect of human texture discrimination is discussed, together with recent nonlinear spatial filter models and a novel extension of the texton theory that can cope with the asymmetry problem. This didactic review attempts to introduce the physicist to the field of psychobiology and its problems-including metascientific problems of brain research, problems of scientific creativity, the state of artificial intelligence research (including connectionist neural networks) aimed at modeling brain activity, and the fundamental role of focal attention in mental events.

[Comparison of the Pressure on the Larynx and Tongue Using McGRATH® MAC Video Laryngoscope--Direct Vision versus Indirect Vision].

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Yasutomo; Miyazaki, Yukiko; Kitakata, Hidenori; Shibuya, Hiromi; Okada, Toshiki

2015-12-01

Studies show that McGRATH® MAC (McG) is useful during direct laryngoscopy. However, no study has examined whether McG re- duces pressure on the upper airway tract We compared direct vision with indirect vision concerning pressure on the larynx and tongue. Twenty two anesthesiologists and 16 junior residents attempted direct laryngoscopy of airway management simulator using McG with direct vision and indirect vision. Pressure was measured using pressure measurement film. In anesthesiologists group, pressure on larynx was 14.8 ± 2.7 kgf · cm(-2) with direct vision and 12.7 ± 2.7 kgf · cm(-2) with indirect vision (P vision and 7.6 ± 2.8 kgf · cm(-2) with indirect vision (P = 0.18). In junior residents group, pressure on larynx was 19.0 ± 1.3 kgf · cm(-2) with direct vision and 14.1 ± 3.1 kgf · cm(-2) with indirect vision (P vision and 11.2 ± 4.7 kgf · cm(-2) with indirect vision (P vision can reduce pressure on the upper airway tract.

A cost-effective intelligent robotic system with dual-arm dexterous coordination and real-time vision

Science.gov (United States)

Marzwell, Neville I.; Chen, Alexander Y. K.

1991-01-01

Dexterous coordination of manipulators based on the use of redundant degrees of freedom, multiple sensors, and built-in robot intelligence represents a critical breakthrough in development of advanced manufacturing technology. A cost-effective approach for achieving this new generation of robotics has been made possible by the unprecedented growth of the latest microcomputer and network systems. The resulting flexible automation offers the opportunity to improve the product quality, increase the reliability of the manufacturing process, and augment the production procedures for optimizing the utilization of the robotic system. Moreover, the Advanced Robotic System (ARS) is modular in design and can be upgraded by closely following technological advancements as they occur in various fields. This approach to manufacturing automation enhances the financial justification and ensures the long-term profitability and most efficient implementation of robotic technology. The new system also addresses a broad spectrum of manufacturing demand and has the potential to address both complex jobs as well as highly labor-intensive tasks. The ARS prototype employs the decomposed optimization technique in spatial planning. This technique is implemented to the framework of the sensor-actuator network to establish the general-purpose geometric reasoning system. The development computer system is a multiple microcomputer network system, which provides the architecture for executing the modular network computing algorithms. The knowledge-based approach used in both the robot vision subsystem and the manipulation control subsystems results in the real-time image processing vision-based capability. The vision-based task environment analysis capability and the responsive motion capability are under the command of the local intelligence centers. An array of ultrasonic, proximity, and optoelectronic sensors is used for path planning. The ARS currently has 18 degrees of freedom made up by two

Stereo Vision Inside Tire

Science.gov (United States)

2015-08-21

1 Stereo Vision Inside Tire P.S. Els C.M. Becker University of Pretoria W911NF-14-1-0590 Final...Stereo Vision Inside Tire 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER W911NF-14-1-0590 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Prof PS Els CM...on the development of a stereo vision system that can be mounted inside a rolling tire , known as T2-CAM for Tire -Terrain CAMera. The T2-CAM system

Copenhagen Energy Vision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiesen, Brian Vad; Lund, Rasmus Søgaard; Connolly, David

The short-term goal for The City of Copenhagen is a CO2 neutral energy supply by the year 2025, and the long-term vision for Denmark is a 100% renewable energy (RE) supply by the year 2050. In this project, it is concluded that Copenhagen plays a key role in this transition. The long-term vision...

Accurate Localization of Communicant Vehicles using GPS and Vision Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georges CHALLITA

2009-07-01

Full Text Available The new generation of ADAS systems based on cooperation between vehicles can offer serious perspectives to the road security. The inter-vehicle cooperation is made possible thanks to the revolution in the wireless mobile ad hoc network. In this paper, we will develop a system that will minimize the imprecision of the GPS used to car tracking, based on the data given by the GPS which means the coordinates and speed in addition to the use of the vision data that will be collected from the loading system in the vehicle (camera and processor. Localization information can be exchanged between the vehicles through a wireless communication device. The creation of the system must adopt the Monte Carlo Method or what we call a particle filter for the treatment of the GPS data and vision data. An experimental study of this system is performed on our fleet of experimental communicating vehicles.

Hierarchical organization of brain functional networks during visual tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuo, Zhao; Cai, Shi-Min; Fu, Zhong-Qian; Zhang, Jie

2011-09-01

The functional network of the brain is known to demonstrate modular structure over different hierarchical scales. In this paper, we systematically investigated the hierarchical modular organizations of the brain functional networks that are derived from the extent of phase synchronization among high-resolution EEG time series during a visual task. In particular, we compare the modular structure of the functional network from EEG channels with that of the anatomical parcellation of the brain cortex. Our results show that the modular architectures of brain functional networks correspond well to those from the anatomical structures over different levels of hierarchy. Most importantly, we find that the consistency between the modular structures of the functional network and the anatomical network becomes more pronounced in terms of vision, sensory, vision-temporal, motor cortices during the visual task, which implies that the strong modularity in these areas forms the functional basis for the visual task. The structure-function relationship further reveals that the phase synchronization of EEG time series in the same anatomical group is much stronger than that of EEG time series from different anatomical groups during the task and that the hierarchical organization of functional brain network may be a consequence of functional segmentation of the brain cortex.

Vision/INS Integrated Navigation System for Poor Vision Navigation Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Youngsun Kim

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the performance of an inertial navigation system, many aiding sensors can be used. Among these aiding sensors, a vision sensor is of particular note due to its benefits in terms of weight, cost, and power consumption. This paper proposes an inertial and vision integrated navigation method for poor vision navigation environments. The proposed method uses focal plane measurements of landmarks in order to provide position, velocity and attitude outputs even when the number of landmarks on the focal plane is not enough for navigation. In order to verify the proposed method, computer simulations and van tests are carried out. The results show that the proposed method gives accurate and reliable position, velocity and attitude outputs when the number of landmarks is insufficient.

Governance and Vision: Visions of Cities towards a low-energy future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pares-Ramos, Isabel K.; Dupas, Stephane

2010-07-01

The overall aim of this report was to identify and review the process by which different cities have built visionary plans for the long-term sustainable development of their territory for a low-energy, climate-resilient future. We used a case studies approach to describe different methods used by cities to build their visionary plans and address present energy and climate change challenges. The purpose of this report is as well to contribute to the debate on the future of cities in the post-carbon society and to inspire further initiatives for a low-energy future. The first step towards understanding the visioning/planning process of cities for a low-energy future was to identify several initiatives were cities have developed a plan or statement to address energy and climate change issues in the next 20 to 50 years. These plans and documents were then reviewed in search of diverse and innovative methods and process for visioning, design and planning towards a low-carbon future. After these preliminary assessments and observations, we selected 4 cities based on the use of different methodologies for visioning, planning and development of the action plan and projects. Afterwards, we focused on the description of the visioning/planning process per city, based on information obtained from official plans and documents, and from interviews with local authorities and other personnel working for projects in each of the cities selected. The content of the interviews varied according to the local context of the initiative, but in general contained questions regarding methods and tools used to build their visions and action plans, as well as enquiries about the visioning steps and process, the role of stakeholders, and implementation strategies used to drive forward this initiatives

Boosted Jet Tagging with Jet-Images and Deep Neural Networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kagan, Michael; Oliveira, Luke de; Mackey, Lester; Nachman, Benjamin; Schwartzman, Ariel

2016-01-01

Building on the jet-image based representation of high energy jets, we develop computer vision based techniques for jet tagging through the use of deep neural networks. Jet-images enabled the connection between jet substructure and tagging with the fields of computer vision and image processing. We show how applying such techniques using deep neural networks can improve the performance to identify highly boosted W bosons with respect to state-of-the-art substructure methods. In addition, we explore new ways to extract and visualize the discriminating features of different classes of jets, adding a new capability to understand the physics within jets and to design more powerful jet tagging methods

Towards high capacity and low latency backhauling in 5G : the 5G STEP-FWD vision

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vardakas, John S.; Monroy, Idelfonso Tafur; Wosinska, Lena; Agapiou, George; Brenot, Romain; Pleros, Nikos; Verikoukis, Christos

2017-01-01

This paper presents the vision of the 5G STEP-FWD project, funded by the European Commission, with the objective to propose a novel optical-wireless networking solution for the provision of high speed connectivity to end users. The features of the new architecture, based on the utilization of

Rich Support for Heterogeneous Polar Data in RAMADDA

Science.gov (United States)

McWhirter, J.; Crosby, C. J.; Griffith, P. C.; Khalsa, S.; Lazzara, M. A.; Weber, W. J.

2013-12-01

Difficult to navigate environments, tenuous logistics, strange forms, deeply rooted cultures - these are all experiences shared by Polar scientist in the field as well as the developers of the underlying data management systems back in the office. Among the key data management challenges that Polar investigations present are the heterogeneity and complexity of data that are generated. Polar regions are intensely studied across many science domains through a variety of techniques - satellite and aircraft remote sensing, in-situ observation networks, modeling, sociological investigations, and extensive PI-driven field project data collection. While many data management efforts focus on large homogeneous collections of data targeting specific science domains (e.g., satellite, GPS, modeling), multi-disciplinary efforts that focus on Polar data need to be able to address a wide range of data formats, science domains and user communities. There is growing use of the RAMADDA (Repository for Archiving, Managing and Accessing Diverse Data) system to manage and provide services for Polar data. RAMADDA is a freely available extensible data repository framework that supports a wide range of data types and services to allow the creation, management, discovery and use of data and metadata. The broad range of capabilities provided by RAMADDA and its extensibility makes it well-suited as an archive solution for Polar data. RAMADDA can run in a number of diverse contexts - as a centralized archive, at local institutions, and can even run on an investigator's laptop in the field, providing in-situ metadata and data management services. We are actively developing archives and support for a number of Polar initiatives: - NASA-Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE): ABoVE is a long-term multi-instrument field campaign that will make use of a wide range of data. We have developed an extensive ontology of program, project and site metadata in RAMADDA, in support of the ABo

Propuesta de nueva visión del sistema de gestion de redes; Proposal of New Vision of the Networks Management System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raúl Fernández Álvarez

2011-02-01

Full Text Available En el trabajo se hace un análisis de los principales cambios en la propuesta de nueva visión del sistema degestión de redes de la Unión Eléctrica. Se revisa la historia de este sistema a través de la evolución deldocumento. Se analizan los cambios que ha habido en el entorno tanto por los cambios tecnológicos y estructuralesen Cuba como por los avances de las normas internacionales. Se recogen los criterios fundamentales del nuevodocumento.  The work analyzes the proposed changes for the vision of the network management system of the ElectricalUnion. The history of this system is checked through the evolution of this important document. There areanalyzed the changes that have existed in the environment so much for the technological and structural changesin our country as for the advances of the international norms. The fundamentals criteria for the new documentsare gathered.

The indicative map of the pan-European ecological network in Western Europe : technical background report

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jongman, R.H.G.; Bouwma, I.M.; Doorn, van A.M.

2006-01-01

The Pan European Ecological Network for Western Europe is the third project in developing the Pan European Ecological Network The objective of the Pan-European Ecological Network is to develop a vision for a coherent network of high value areas for biodiversity, as internationally and nationally

Antecedents of network capability and their effects on innovation performance: an empirical test of hi-tech firms in China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fang, Gang; Ma, Xiang Yuan; Brouwers-Ren, Liqin; Zhou, Qing

2014-01-01

A firm’s competitive advantage can come not only from internal resources but also from inter-firm innovation networks. This paper shows that network capabilities (i.e., network visioning capability, network constructing capability, network operating capability and network centring capability) are

Green heterogeneous wireless networks

CERN Document Server

Ismail, Muhammad; Nee, Hans-Peter; Qaraqe, Khalid A; Serpedin, Erchin

2016-01-01

This book focuses on the emerging research topic "green (energy efficient) wireless networks" which has drawn huge attention recently from both academia and industry. This topic is highly motivated due to important environmental, financial, and quality-of-experience (QoE) considerations. Specifically, the high energy consumption of the wireless networks manifests in approximately 2% of all CO2 emissions worldwide. This book presents the authors’ visions and solutions for deployment of energy efficient (green) heterogeneous wireless communication networks. The book consists of three major parts. The first part provides an introduction to the "green networks" concept, the second part targets the green multi-homing resource allocation problem, and the third chapter presents a novel deployment of device-to-device (D2D) communications and its successful integration in Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets). The book is novel in that it specifically targets green networking in a heterogeneous wireless medium, which re...

High Isolation Dual-Polarized Patch Antenna with Hybrid Ring Feeding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xian-Jing Lin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a hybrid ring feeding dual-polarized patch antenna with high isolation in a wide working band. The proposed antenna consists of a circular radiating patch printed on the upper horizontal substrate, two pairs of Γ shaped strips printed on two vertical substrates, and a hybrid ring feeding network printed on the lower two horizontal substrates. The proposed antenna adopts Γ shape strips coupled feeding structure to achieve a wide operating band. Furthermore, a hybrid ring feeding structure with high isolation in a wide bandwidth, which is firstly proposed, is applied as feeding network. When one port is excited, the feeding network can realize twice the power cancellation. Thus, high ports isolation characteristics can be obtained. A prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated and measured. Measured results show that the 10 dB reflection coefficient bandwidths of the two ports are both about 38.7%, with port isolation higher than 40 dB through most of the band, and the cross-polarizations are below −24 dB.

The Pedagogy of Teaching Educational Vision: A Vision Coach's Field Notes about Leaders as Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Schein, Jeffrey

2009-01-01

The emerging field of educational visioning is full of challenges and phenomena worthy of careful analysis and documentation. A relatively neglected phenomenon is the learning curve of the leaders (often lay leaders) involved in the visioning process. This article documents a range of experiences of the author serving as a vision coach to five…

Mobile social networking an innovative approach

CERN Document Server

Zhang, Daqing

2014-01-01

The use of contextually aware, pervasive, distributed computing, and sensor networks to bridge the gap between the physical and online worlds is the basis of mobile social networking. This book shows how applications can be built to provide mobile social networking, the research issues that need to be solved to enable this vision, and how mobile social networking can be used to provide computational intelligence that will improve daily life. With contributions from the fields of sociology, computer science, human-computer interaction and design, this book demonstrates how mobile social networks can be inferred from users' physical interactions both with the environment and with others, as well as how users behave around them and how their behavior differs on mobile vs. traditional online social networks.

Low vision and mobility scooters: the experiences of individuals with low vision who use mobility scooters.

Science.gov (United States)

McMullan, Keri S; Butler, Mary

2018-05-09

Older adults with low vision are a growing population with rehabilitation needs including support with community mobility to enable community participation. Some older adults with low vision choose to use mobility scooters to mobilize within their community, but there is limited research about the use by people with low vision. This paper describes a pilot study and asks the question: what are the experiences of persons with low vision who use mobility scooters? This study gathered the experiences of four participants with low vision, aged 51 and over, who regularly use mobility scooters. Diverse methods were used including a go-along, a semi-structured interview and a new measure of functional vision for mobility called the vision-related outcomes in orientation and mobility (VROOM). Four themes were found to describe experiences: autonomy and well-being, accessibility, community interactions and self-regulation. Discussion and implications: This study was a pilot for a larger study examining self-regulation in scooter users. However, as roles emerge for health professionals and scooters, the findings also provide evidence to inform practice, because it demonstrates the complex meaning and influences on performance involved in low vision mobility scooter use. Implications for rehabilitation Scooter use supports autonomy and well-being and community connections for individuals with both mobility and visual impairments. Low vision scooter users demonstrate self-regulation of their scooter use to manage both their visual and environmental limitations. Issues of accessibility experienced by this sample affect a wider community of footpath users, emphasizing the need for councils to address inadequate infrastructure. Rehabilitators can support their low vision clients' scooter use by acknowledging issues of accessibility and promoting self-regulation strategies to manage risks and barriers.

Dominant phonon polarization conversion across dimensionally mismatched interfaces: Carbon-nanotube-graphene junction

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jingjing; Lee, Jonghoon; Dong, Yalin; Roy, Ajit; Fisher, Timothy S.; Ruan, Xiulin

2018-04-01

Dimensionally mismatched interfaces are emerging for thermal management applications, but thermal transport physics remains poorly understood. Here we consider the carbon-nanotube-graphene junction, which is a dimensionally mismatched interface between one- and two-dimensional materials and is the building block for carbon-nanotube (CNT)-graphene three-dimensional networks. We predict the transmission function of individual phonon modes using the wave packet method; surprisingly, most incident phonon modes show predominantly polarization conversion behavior. For instance, longitudinal acoustic (LA) polarizations incident from CNTs transmit mainly into flexural transverse (ZA) polarizations in graphene. The frequency stays the same as the incident mode, indicating elastic transmission. Polarization conversion is more significant as the phonon wavelength increases. We attribute such unique phonon polarization conversion behavior to the dimensional mismatch across the interface, and it opens significantly new phonon transport channels as compared to existing theories where polarization conversion is neglected.

Network Architecture: lessons from the past, vision for the future

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2004-01-01

The Architectural Principles of the Internet have dominated the past decade. Orthogonal to the telecommunications industry principles, they dramatically changed the networking landscape because they relied on iconoclastic ideas. First, the Internet end-to-end principle, which stipulates that the network should intervene minimally on the end-to-end traffic, pushing the complexity to the end-systems. Second, the ban of centralized functions: all the Internet techniques (routing, DNS, management) are based on distributed, decentralized mechanisms. Third, the absolute domination of connectionless (stateless) protocols (as with IP, HTTTP). However, when facing new requirements: multimedia traffic, security, Grid applications, these principles appear sometimes as architectural barriers. Multimedia requires QoS guarantees, but stateless systems are not good at QoS. Security requires active, intelligent networks, but dumb routers or plain end-to-end mail systems are insufficient. Grid applications require...

Case Report: Use of Sports and Performance Vision Training to Benefit a Low-vision Patient's Function.

Science.gov (United States)

Laby, Daniel M

2018-05-17

Despite our inability to attenuate the course of many ocular diseases that can ultimately lead to loss or significantly decreased visual function, this report describes a potential technique to aid such patients in maximizing the use of the vision that remains. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of utilizing sports vision training to improve objective and subjective visuomotor function in a low-vision patient. A 37-year-old woman with Usher syndrome presented with reduced central visual acuity and visual field. Although we were unable to reverse the damage resulting from her diagnosis, we were able to improve the use of the remaining vision. A 27 to 31% improvement in hand-eye coordination was achieved along with a 41% improvement in object tracking and visual concentration. Most importantly, following the 14-week training period, there was also a subjective improvement in the patient's appreciation of her visual ability. The sports vision literature cites many examples in which sports vision training is useful in improving visuomotor and on-field performance. We hypothesized that these techniques may be used to aid not only athletes but also patients with low vision. Despite suffering from reduced acuity and a limited visual field, these patients often still have a significant amount of vision ability that can be used to guide motor actions. Using techniques to increase the efficient use of this remaining vision may reduce the impact of the reduced visual function and aid in activities of daily living.

Solar photospheric network properties and their cycle variation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thibault, K.; Charbonneau, P.; Béland, M., E-mail: kim@astro.umontreal.ca-a, E-mail: paulchar@astro.umontreal.ca-b, E-mail: michel.beland@calculquebec.ca-c [Département de Physique et Calcul Québec, Université de Montréal, 2900 Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 (Canada)

2014-11-20

We present a numerical simulation of the formation and evolution of the solar photospheric magnetic network over a full solar cycle. The model exhibits realistic behavior as it produces large, unipolar concentrations of flux in the polar caps, a power-law flux distribution with index –1.69, a flux replacement timescale of 19.3 hr, and supergranule diameters of 20 Mm. The polar behavior is especially telling of model accuracy, as it results from lower-latitude activity, and accumulates the residues of any potential modeling inaccuracy and oversimplification. In this case, the main oversimplification is the absence of a polar sink for the flux, causing an amount of polar cap unsigned flux larger than expected by almost one order of magnitude. Nonetheless, our simulated polar caps carry the proper signed flux and dipole moment, and also show a spatial distribution of flux in good qualitative agreement with recent high-latitude magnetographic observations by Hinode. After the last cycle emergence, the simulation is extended until the network has recovered its quiet Sun initial condition. This permits an estimate of the network relaxation time toward the baseline state characterizing extended periods of suppressed activity, such as the Maunder Grand Minimum. Our simulation results indicate a network relaxation time of 2.9 yr, setting 2011 October as the soonest the time after which the last solar activity minimum could have qualified as a Maunder-type Minimum. This suggests that photospheric magnetism did not reach its baseline state during the recent extended minimum between cycles 23 and 24.

Vision in water.

Science.gov (United States)

Atchison, David A; Valentine, Emma L; Gibson, Georgina; Thomas, Hannah R; Oh, Sera; Pyo, Young Ah; Lacherez, Philippe; Mathur, Ankit

2013-09-06

The purpose of this study is to determine visual performance in water, including the influence of pupil size. The water environment was simulated by placing goggles filled with saline in front of the eyes with apertures placed at the front of the goggles. Correction factors were determined for the different magnification under this condition in order to estimate vision in water. Experiments were conducted on letter visual acuity (seven participants), grating resolution (eight participants), and grating contrast sensitivity (one participant). For letter acuity, mean loss of vision in water, compared to corrected vision in air, varied between 1.1 log min of arc resolution (logMAR) for a 1 mm aperture to 2.2 logMAR for a 7 mm aperture. The vision in min of arc was described well by a linear relationship with pupil size. For grating acuity, mean loss varied between 1.1 logMAR for a 2 mm aperture to 1.2 logMAR for a 6 mm aperture. Contrast sensitivity for a 2 mm aperture deteriorated as spatial frequency increased with a 2 log unit loss by 3 c/°. Superimposed on this deterioration were depressions (notches) in sensitivity with the first three notches occurring at 0.45, 0.8, and 1.3 c/° with estimates for water of 0.39, 0.70, and 1.13 c/°. In conclusion, vision in water is poor. It becomes worse as pupil size increases, but the effects are much more marked for letter targets than for grating targets.

Bio-inspired vision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Posch, C

2012-01-01

Nature still outperforms the most powerful computers in routine functions involving perception, sensing and actuation like vision, audition, and motion control, and is, most strikingly, orders of magnitude more energy-efficient than its artificial competitors. The reasons for the superior performance of biological systems are subject to diverse investigations, but it is clear that the form of hardware and the style of computation in nervous systems are fundamentally different from what is used in artificial synchronous information processing systems. Very generally speaking, biological neural systems rely on a large number of relatively simple, slow and unreliable processing elements and obtain performance and robustness from a massively parallel principle of operation and a high level of redundancy where the failure of single elements usually does not induce any observable system performance degradation. In the late 1980's, Carver Mead demonstrated that silicon VLSI technology can be employed in implementing ''neuromorphic'' circuits that mimic neural functions and fabricating building blocks that work like their biological role models. Neuromorphic systems, as the biological systems they model, are adaptive, fault-tolerant and scalable, and process information using energy-efficient, asynchronous, event-driven methods. In this paper, some basics of neuromorphic electronic engineering and its impact on recent developments in optical sensing and artificial vision are presented. It is demonstrated that bio-inspired vision systems have the potential to outperform conventional, frame-based vision acquisition and processing systems in many application fields and to establish new benchmarks in terms of redundancy suppression/data compression, dynamic range, temporal resolution and power efficiency to realize advanced functionality like 3D vision, object tracking, motor control, visual feedback loops, etc. in real-time. It is argued that future artificial vision systems

UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING COMPUTER VISION SYNDROME

OpenAIRE

REDDY SC; LOH KY

2008-01-01

The invention of computer and advancement in information technology has revolutionized and benefited the society but at the same time has caused symptoms related to its usage such as ocular sprain, irritation, redness, dryness, blurred vision and double vision. This cluster of symptoms is known as computer vision syndrome which is characterized by the visual symptoms which result from interaction with computer display or its environment. Three major mechanisms that lead to computer vision syn...

Saliency detection by conditional generative adversarial network

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Xiaoxu; Yu, Hui

2018-04-01

Detecting salient objects in images has been a fundamental problem in computer vision. In recent years, deep learning has shown its impressive performance in dealing with many kinds of vision tasks. In this paper, we propose a new method to detect salient objects by using Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). This type of network not only learns the mapping from RGB images to salient regions, but also learns a loss function for training the mapping. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that Conditional GAN has been used in salient object detection. We evaluate our saliency detection method on 2 large publicly available datasets with pixel accurate annotations. The experimental results have shown the significant and consistent improvements over the state-of-the-art method on a challenging dataset, and the testing speed is much faster.

Feedback Networks

OpenAIRE

Zamir, Amir R.; Wu, Te-Lin; Sun, Lin; Shen, William; Malik, Jitendra; Savarese, Silvio

2016-01-01

Currently, the most successful learning models in computer vision are based on learning successive representations followed by a decision layer. This is usually actualized through feedforward multilayer neural networks, e.g. ConvNets, where each layer forms one of such successive representations. However, an alternative that can achieve the same goal is a feedback based approach in which the representation is formed in an iterative manner based on a feedback received from previous iteration's...

Color Vision in Aniridia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Hilde R; Hagen, Lene A; Landsend, Erlend C S; Gilson, Stuart J; Utheim, Øygunn A; Utheim, Tor P; Neitz, Maureen; Baraas, Rigmor C

2018-04-01

To assess color vision and its association with retinal structure in persons with congenital aniridia. We included 36 persons with congenital aniridia (10-66 years), and 52 healthy, normal trichromatic controls (10-74 years) in the study. Color vision was assessed with Hardy-Rand-Rittler (HRR) pseudo-isochromatic plates (4th ed., 2002); Cambridge Color Test and a low-vision version of the Color Assessment and Diagnosis test (CAD-LV). Cone-opsin genes were analyzed to confirm normal versus congenital color vision deficiencies. Visual acuity and ocular media opacities were assessed. The central 30° of both eyes were imaged with the Heidelberg Spectralis OCT2 to grade the severity of foveal hypoplasia (FH, normal to complete: 0-4). Five participants with aniridia had cone opsin genes conferring deutan color vision deficiency and were excluded from further analysis. Of the 31 with aniridia and normal opsin genes, 11 made two or more red-green (RG) errors on HRR, four of whom also made yellow-blue (YB) errors; one made YB errors only. A total of 19 participants had higher CAD-LV RG thresholds, of which eight also had higher CAD-LV YB thresholds, than normal controls. In aniridia, the thresholds were higher along the RG than the YB axis, and those with a complete FH had significantly higher RG thresholds than those with mild FH (P = 0.038). Additional increase in YB threshold was associated with secondary ocular pathology. Arrested foveal formation and associated alterations in retinal processing are likely to be the primary reason for impaired red-green color vision in aniridia.

Lambda Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Czajkowski, Michael

2014-06-01

There is an explosion in the quantity and quality of IMINT data being captured in Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) today. While automated exploitation techniques involving computer vision are arriving, only a few architectures can manage both the storage and bandwidth of large volumes of IMINT data and also present results to analysts quickly. Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) has been actively researching in the area of applying Big Data cloud computing techniques to computer vision applications. This paper presents the results of this work in adopting a Lambda Architecture to process and disseminate IMINT data using computer vision algorithms. The approach embodies an end-to-end solution by processing IMINT data from sensors to serving information products quickly to analysts, independent of the size of the data. The solution lies in dividing up the architecture into a speed layer for low-latent processing and a batch layer for higher quality answers at the expense of time, but in a robust and fault-tolerant way. This approach was evaluated using a large corpus of IMINT data collected by a C-130 Shadow Harvest sensor over Afghanistan from 2010 through 2012. The evaluation data corpus included full motion video from both narrow and wide area field-of-views. The evaluation was done on a scaled-out cloud infrastructure that is similar in composition to those found in the Intelligence Community. The paper shows experimental results to prove the scalability of the architecture and precision of its results using a computer vision algorithm designed to identify man-made objects in sparse data terrain.

Jane Addams’ Social Vision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villadsen, Kaspar

2018-01-01

resonated with key tenets of social gospel theology, which imbued her texts with an overarching vision of humanity’s progressive history. It is suggested that Addams’ vision of a major transition in industrial society, one involving a BChristian renaissance^ and individuals’ transformation into Bsocialized...

Computer vision for sports

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomas, Graham; Gade, Rikke; Moeslund, Thomas B.

2017-01-01

fixed to players or equipment is generally not possible. This provides a rich set of opportunities for the application of computer vision techniques to help the competitors, coaches and audience. This paper discusses a selection of current commercial applications that use computer vision for sports...

The Event Detection and the Apparent Velocity Estimation Based on Computer Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Shimojo, M.

2012-08-01

The high spatial and time resolution data obtained by the telescopes aboard Hinode revealed the new interesting dynamics in solar atmosphere. In order to detect such events and estimate the velocity of dynamics automatically, we examined the estimation methods of the optical flow based on the OpenCV that is the computer vision library. We applied the methods to the prominence eruption observed by NoRH, and the polar X-ray jet observed by XRT. As a result, it is clear that the methods work well for solar images if the images are optimized for the methods. It indicates that the optical flow estimation methods in the OpenCV library are very useful to analyze the solar phenomena.

Impact of low vision rehabilitation on functional vision performance of children with visual impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganesh, Suma; Sethi, Sumita; Srivastav, Sonia; Chaudhary, Amrita; Arora, Priyanka

2013-09-01

To evaluate the impact of low vision rehabilitation on functional vision of children with visual impairment. The LV Prasad-Functional Vision Questionnaire, designed specifically to measure functional performance of visually impaired children of developing countries, was used to assess the level of difficulty in performing various tasks pre and post visual rehabilitation in children with documented visual impairment. Chi-square test was used to assess the impact of rehabilitation intervention on functional vision performance; a P visual acuity prior to the introduction of low vision devices (LVDs) was 0.90 ± 0.05 for distance and for near it was 0.61 ± 0.05. After the intervention, the acuities improved significantly for distance (0.2 ± 0.27; P visual rehabilitation was especially found in those activities related to their studying lifestyle like copying from the blackboard (P visual rehabilitation, especially with those activities which are related to their academic output. It is important for these children to have an early visual rehabilitation to decrease the impairment associated with these decreased visual output and to enhance their learning abilities.

Functional programming for computer vision

Science.gov (United States)

Breuel, Thomas M.

1992-04-01

Functional programming is a style of programming that avoids the use of side effects (like assignment) and uses functions as first class data objects. Compared with imperative programs, functional programs can be parallelized better, and provide better encapsulation, type checking, and abstractions. This is important for building and integrating large vision software systems. In the past, efficiency has been an obstacle to the application of functional programming techniques in computationally intensive areas such as computer vision. We discuss and evaluate several 'functional' data structures for representing efficiently data structures and objects common in computer vision. In particular, we will address: automatic storage allocation and reclamation issues; abstraction of control structures; efficient sequential update of large data structures; representing images as functions; and object-oriented programming. Our experience suggests that functional techniques are feasible for high- performance vision systems, and that a functional approach simplifies the implementation and integration of vision systems greatly. Examples in C++ and SML are given.

Implementing the Internet of Things vision in industrial wireless sensor networks

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Kruger, CP

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The authors of this paper explore the use of IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN), IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low power and Lossy Networks (RPL) and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) as a possible solution for realising...

Computer Vision for Timber Harvesting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Anders Lindbjerg

The goal of this thesis is to investigate computer vision methods for timber harvesting operations. The background for developing computer vision for timber harvesting is to document origin of timber and to collect qualitative and quantitative parameters concerning the timber for efficient harvest...... segments. The purpose of image segmentation is to make the basis for more advanced computer vision methods like object recognition and classification. Our second method concerns image classification and we present a method where we classify small timber samples to tree species based on Active Appearance...... to the development of the logTracker system the described methods have a general applicability making them useful for many other computer vision problems....

Feature recognition and detection for ancient architecture based on machine vision

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Zheng; Wang, Niannian; Zhao, Peng; Zhao, Xuefeng

2018-03-01

Ancient architecture has a very high historical and artistic value. The ancient buildings have a wide variety of textures and decorative paintings, which contain a lot of historical meaning. Therefore, the research and statistics work of these different compositional and decorative features play an important role in the subsequent research. However, until recently, the statistics of those components are mainly by artificial method, which consumes a lot of labor and time, inefficiently. At present, as the strong support of big data and GPU accelerated training, machine vision with deep learning as the core has been rapidly developed and widely used in many fields. This paper proposes an idea to recognize and detect the textures, decorations and other features of ancient building based on machine vision. First, classify a large number of surface textures images of ancient building components manually as a set of samples. Then, using the convolution neural network to train the samples in order to get a classification detector. Finally verify its precision.

Development and evaluation of vision rehabilitation devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Gang; Peli, Eli

2011-01-01

We have developed a range of vision rehabilitation devices and techniques for people with impaired vision due to either central vision loss or severely restricted peripheral visual field. We have conducted evaluation studies with patients to test the utilities of these techniques in an effort to document their advantages as well as their limitations. Here we describe our work on a visual field expander based on a head mounted display (HMD) for tunnel vision, a vision enhancement device for central vision loss, and a frequency domain JPEG/MPEG based image enhancement technique. All the evaluation studies included visual search paradigms that are suitable for conducting indoor controllable experiments.

Night Vision Manual for the Flight Surgeon.

Science.gov (United States)

1985-08-01

macula and fovea centralis. 4. Duality theory of vision-extends sensitivity of vision over 100,000 times (Fig. 12). ~Im Uilting Ullmlrage WVIVIWCentral...lowered night vision capa- bilities due to disease or degenerations . F. Hypoxia 1. Decrement of central vision due to 02 lack is quite small; such as, at

Gait disorder rehabilitation using vision and non-vision based sensors: A systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asraf Ali

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Even though the amount of rehabilitation guidelines has never been greater, uncertainty continues to arise regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of the rehabilitation of gait disorders. This question has been hindered by the lack of information on accurate measurements of gait disorders. Thus, this article reviews the rehabilitation systems for gait disorder using vision and non-vision sensor technologies, as well as the combination of these. All papers published in the English language between 1990 and June, 2012 that had the phrases “gait disorder” “rehabilitation”, “vision sensor”, or “non vision sensor” in the title, abstract, or keywords were identified from the SpringerLink, ELSEVIER, PubMed, and IEEE databases. Some synonyms of these phrases and the logical words “and” “or” and “not” were also used in the article searching procedure. Out of the 91 published articles found, this review identified 84 articles that described the rehabilitation of gait disorders using different types of sensor technologies. This literature set presented strong evidence for the development of rehabilitation systems using a markerless vision-based sensor technology. We therefore believe that the information contained in this review paper will assist the progress of the development of rehabilitation systems for human gait disorders.

LINEAR POLARIZATION OF CLASS I METHANOL MASERS IN MASSIVE STAR-FORMING REGIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Ji-hyun; Byun, Do-Young; Kim, Kee-Tae; Kim, Jongsoo; Lyo, A-Ran; Vlemmings, W. H. T.

2016-01-01

Class I methanol masers are found to be good tracers of the interaction between outflows from massive young stellar objects with their surrounding media. Although polarization observations of Class II methanol masers have been able to provide information about magnetic fields close to the central (proto)stars, polarization observations of Class I methanol masers are rare, especially at 44 and 95 GHz. We present the results of linear polarization observations of 39 Class I methanol maser sources at 44 and 95 GHz. These two lines are observed simultaneously with one of the 21 m Korean VLBI Network telescopes in single-dish mode. Approximately 60% of the observed sources have fractional polarizations of a few percent in at least one transition. This is the first reported detection of linear polarization of the 44 GHz methanol maser. The two maser transitions show similar polarization properties, indicating that they trace similar magnetic environments, although the fraction of the linear polarization is slightly higher at 95 GHz. We discuss the association between the directions of polarization angles and outflows. We also discuss some targets having different polarization properties at both lines, including DR21(OH) and G82.58+0.20, which show the 90° polarization angle flip at 44 GHz.

Multi-user distribution of polarization entangled photon pairs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trapateau, J.; Orieux, A.; Diamanti, E.; Zaquine, I., E-mail: isabelle.zaquine@telecom-paristech.fr [LTCI, CNRS, Télécom ParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 75013 Paris (France); Ghalbouni, J. [Applied Physics Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences 2, Lebanese University, Campus Fanar, BP 90656 Jdeidet (Lebanon)

2015-10-14

We experimentally demonstrate multi-user distribution of polarization entanglement using commercial telecom wavelength division demultiplexers. The entangled photon pairs are generated from a broadband source based on spontaneous parametric down conversion in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal using a double path setup employing a Michelson interferometer and active phase stabilisation. We test and compare demultiplexers based on various technologies and analyze the effect of their characteristics, such as losses and polarization dependence, on the quality of the distributed entanglement for three channel pairs of each demultiplexer. In all cases, we obtain a Bell inequality violation, whose value depends on the demultiplexer features. This demonstrates that entanglement can be distributed to at least three user pairs of a network from a single source. Additionally, we verify for the best demultiplexer that the violation is maintained when the pairs are distributed over a total channel attenuation corresponding to 20 km of optical fiber. These techniques are therefore suitable for resource-efficient practical implementations of entanglement-based quantum key distribution and other quantum communication network applications.

The Trickle-Down Effect of Institutional Vision: Vision Statements and Academic Advising

Science.gov (United States)

Abelman, Robert; Atkin, David; Dalessandro, Amy; Snyder-Suhy, Sharon; Janstova, Patricie

2007-01-01

A description of the kinds of educated humans to be cultivated at a particular institution can be found in the college or university vision statement. The extent that vision is reflected in the governing models of advising operations, known by personnel, and transformed into day-to-day activities was assessed through a NACADA membership survey.…

Lessons Learned from the Creation of a Center of Excellence in Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation in Wenzhou, China

Science.gov (United States)

Marinoff, Rebecca; Heilberger, Michael H.

2017-01-01

A model Center of Excellence in Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation was created in a health care setting in China utilizing an inter-institutional relationship with a United States optometric institution. Accomplishments of, limitations to, and stimuli to the provision of low vision and vision rehabilitation services are shared.

Convolutional Neural Networks - Generalizability and Interpretations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Malmgren-Hansen, David

from data despite it being limited in amount or context representation. Within Machine Learning this thesis focuses on Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer Vision. The research aims to answer how to explore a model's generalizability to the whole population of data samples and how to interpret...

Polarized protein transport and lumen formation during epithelial tissue morphogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Blasky, Alex J; Mangan, Anthony; Prekeris, Rytis

2015-01-01

One of the major challenges in biology is to explain how complex tissues and organs arise from the collective action of individual polarized cells. The best-studied model of this process is the cross talk between individual epithelial cells during their polarization to form the multicellular epithelial lumen during tissue morphogenesis. Multiple mechanisms of apical lumen formation have been proposed. Some epithelial lumens form from preexisting polarized epithelial structures. However, de novo lumen formation from nonpolarized cells has recently emerged as an important driver of epithelial tissue morphogenesis, especially during the formation of small epithelial tubule networks. In this review, we discuss the latest findings regarding the mechanisms and regulation of de novo lumen formation in vitro and in vivo.

Basic design principles of colorimetric vision systems

Science.gov (United States)

Mumzhiu, Alex M.

1998-10-01

Color measurement is an important part of overall production quality control in textile, coating, plastics, food, paper and other industries. The color measurement instruments such as colorimeters and spectrophotometers, used for production quality control have many limitations. In many applications they cannot be used for a variety of reasons and have to be replaced with human operators. Machine vision has great potential for color measurement. The components for color machine vision systems, such as broadcast quality 3-CCD cameras, fast and inexpensive PCI frame grabbers, and sophisticated image processing software packages are available. However the machine vision industry has only started to approach the color domain. The few color machine vision systems on the market, produced by the largest machine vision manufacturers have very limited capabilities. A lack of understanding that a vision based color measurement system could fail if it ignores the basic principles of colorimetry is the main reason for the slow progress of color vision systems. the purpose of this paper is to clarify how color measurement principles have to be applied to vision systems and how the electro-optical design features of colorimeters have to be modified in order to implement them for vision systems. The subject of this presentation far exceeds the limitations of a journal paper so only the most important aspects will be discussed. An overview of the major areas of applications for colorimetric vision system will be discussed. Finally, the reasons why some customers are happy with their vision systems and some are not will be analyzed.

Stable isotope-resolved analysis with quantitative dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lerche, Mathilde Hauge; Yigit, Demet; Frahm, Anne Birk

2018-01-01

Metabolite profiles and their isotopomer distributions can be studied non-invasively in complex mixtures with NMR. The advent of dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (dDNP) and isotope enrichment add sensitivity and resolution to such met-abolic studies. Metabolic pathways and networks can be...

Real-Time 3D Motion capture by monocular vision and virtual rendering

OpenAIRE

Gomez Jauregui , David Antonio; Horain , Patrick

2012-01-01

International audience; Avatars in networked 3D virtual environments allow users to interact over the Internet and to get some feeling of virtual telepresence. However, avatar control may be tedious. Motion capture systems based on 3D sensors have recently reached the consumer market, but webcams and camera-phones are more widespread and cheaper. The proposed demonstration aims at animating a user's avatar from real time 3D motion capture by monoscopic computer vision, thus allowing virtual t...

Vision based systems for UAV applications

CERN Document Server

Kuś, Zygmunt

2013-01-01

This monograph is motivated by a significant number of vision based algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that were developed during research and development projects. Vision information is utilized in various applications like visual surveillance, aim systems, recognition systems, collision-avoidance systems and navigation. This book presents practical applications, examples and recent challenges in these mentioned application fields. The aim of the book is to create a valuable source of information for researchers and constructors of solutions utilizing vision from UAV. Scientists, researchers and graduate students involved in computer vision, image processing, data fusion, control algorithms, mechanics, data mining, navigation and IC can find many valuable, useful and practical suggestions and solutions. The latest challenges for vision based systems are also presented.

Vision for city gas business management up to the year of 2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Araki, Mutsuo

1988-03-01

Summary of the VISION FOR MANAGEMENT UP TO 2000 and the related main subjects practiced are reported. The MULTIPLE ENERGY ERA of competition for the same demand among vairous kinds of energy has started. Increase in the demand rate of 3.6%/year is expected for city gas in urban areas. The NATURAL GAS BIG PROJECT (introduction of LNG, construction of main lines for natural gas transportation, change in the amount of heat by natural gas) is now expected to be completed in October which will materialize a drastic rationalization of the NETWORK SYSTEM. Reconstruction of ENERGY UTILIZATION SYSTEM to conform with the rationalization is required in the future. As examples of executing the 2000 VISION, reports are made on radical enterprise reform, establishment of research system (establishment of URBAN LIFE RESEARCH LABORATORY), development of residence reform business, new business in food industry, and establishment of strategical organizations.

LATE VISION: PROCESSES AND EPISTEMIC STATUS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Athanassios eRaftopoulos

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I examine the processes that occur in late vision and address the problem of whether late vision should be construed as a properly speaking perceptual stage, or as a thought-like discursive stage. Specifically, I argue that late vision, its (partly conceptual nature notwithstanding, neither is constituted by nor does it implicate what I call pure thoughts, that is, propositional structures that are formed in the cognitive areas of the brain through, and participate in, discursive reasoning and inferences. At the same time, the output of late vision, namely an explicit belief concerning the identity and category membership of an object (that is, a recognitional belief or its features, eventually enters into discursive reasoning. Using Jackendoff’s distinction between visual awareness, which characterizes perception, and visual understanding, which characterizes pure thought, I claim that the contents of late vision belong to visual awareness and not to visual understanding and that although late vision implicates beliefs, either implicit or explicit, these beliefs are hybrid visual/conceptual constructs and not pure thoughts. Distinguishing between these hybrid representations and pure thoughts and delineating the nature of the representations of late vision lays the ground for examining, among other things, the process of conceptualization that occurs in visual processing and the way concepts modulate perceptual content affecting either its representational or phenomenal character. I also do not discuss the epistemological relations between the representations of late vision and the perceptual judgments they ‘support’, or ‘guide’ or ‘render possible’ or ‘evidence’ or ‘entitle’. However, the specification of the epistemology of late vision lays the ground for attacking that problem as well.

Colour, vision and ergonomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinheiro, Cristina; da Silva, Fernando Moreira

2012-01-01

This paper is based on a research project - Visual Communication and Inclusive Design-Colour, Legibility and Aged Vision, developed at the Faculty of Architecture of Lisbon. The research has the aim of determining specific design principles to be applied to visual communication design (printed) objects, in order to be easily read and perceived by all. This study target group was composed by a selection of socially active individuals, between 55 and 80 years, and we used cultural events posters as objects of study and observation. The main objective is to overlap the study of areas such as colour, vision, older people's colour vision, ergonomics, chromatic contrasts, typography and legibility. In the end we will produce a manual with guidelines and information to apply scientific knowledge into the communication design projectual practice. Within the normal aging process, visual functions gradually decline; the quality of vision worsens, colour vision and contrast sensitivity are also affected. As people's needs change along with age, design should help people and communities, and improve life quality in the present. Applying principles of visually accessible design and ergonomics, the printed design objects, (or interior spaces, urban environments, products, signage and all kinds of visually information) will be effective, easier on everyone's eyes not only for visually impaired people but also for all of us as we age.

Deep Learning Neural Networks in Cybersecurity - Managing Malware with AI

OpenAIRE

Rayle, Keith

2017-01-01

There’s a lot of talk about the benefits of deep learning (neural networks) and how it’s the new electricity that will power us into the future. Medical diagnosis, computer vision and speech recognition are all examples of use-cases where neural networks are being applied in our everyday business environment. This begs the question…what are the uses of neural-network applications for cyber security? How does the AI process work when applying neural networks to detect malicious software bombar...

Reinforcement learning in computer vision

Science.gov (United States)

Bernstein, A. V.; Burnaev, E. V.

2018-04-01

Nowadays, machine learning has become one of the basic technologies used in solving various computer vision tasks such as feature detection, image segmentation, object recognition and tracking. In many applications, various complex systems such as robots are equipped with visual sensors from which they learn state of surrounding environment by solving corresponding computer vision tasks. Solutions of these tasks are used for making decisions about possible future actions. It is not surprising that when solving computer vision tasks we should take into account special aspects of their subsequent application in model-based predictive control. Reinforcement learning is one of modern machine learning technologies in which learning is carried out through interaction with the environment. In recent years, Reinforcement learning has been used both for solving such applied tasks as processing and analysis of visual information, and for solving specific computer vision problems such as filtering, extracting image features, localizing objects in scenes, and many others. The paper describes shortly the Reinforcement learning technology and its use for solving computer vision problems.

Polarization of lanthanum nucleus by dynamic polarization method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adachi, Toshikazu; Ishimoto, Shigeru; Masuda, Yasuhiro; Morimoto, Kimio

1989-01-01

Preliminary studies have been carried out concerning the application of a dynamic polarization method to polarizing lanthanum fluoride single crystal to be employed as target in experiments with time reversal invariance. The present report briefly outlines the dynamic polarization method and describes some preliminary studies carried out so far. Dynamic polarization is of particular importance because no techniques are currently available that can produce highly polarized static nucleus. Spin interaction between electrons and protons (nuclei) plays a major role in the dynamic polarization method. In a thermal equilibrium state, electrons are polarized almost completely while most protons are not polarized. Positively polarized proton spin is produced by applying microwave to this system. The most hopeful candidate target material is single crystal of LaF 3 containing neodymium because the crystal is chemically stable and easy to handle. The spin direction is of great importance in experiments with time reversal invariance. The spin of neutrons in the target can be cancelled by adjusting the external magnetic field applied to a frozen polarized target. In a frozen spin state, the polarity decreases slowly with a relaxation time that depends on the external magnetic field and temperature. (N.K.)

Do polar faculae terminate or commence an extended cycle of solar activity?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bumba, V.

1990-01-01

From the local as well as from the global points of view, polar magnetic fields are formed from successively developed trailing polarity fields expelled from the main activity zone. Polar faculae observed during the 20th and the 21st cycles of activity fill in the areas covered by the most intense unipolar fields distributed in the convection network. These polar regions formed from magnetic fields of an old activity cycle are sharply separated from low-latitude magnetic fields and from fields developed by a new cycle of activity. The polarity distribution in polar faculae seems to follow from unipolarity of their magnetic fields - the prevailing polarity becomes the main leading polarity. The greatest part of the main activity zone, the most intense faculae shifting equatorwards are connected with the zone of the prevailing leading polarity magnetic fields. Some of these faculae - the weak and inhomogeneously distributed ones, bordering the main faculae butterflies polewards - are related again to the trailing polarity fields shifting polewards. The main characteristic of the latitudinal distribution of solar faculae is the existence of their two latitudinal types: the polar faculae shifting polewards are related to the trailing polarity fields of the old cycle, the faculae of the main activity zone shifting equatorwards are related mainly (from the global point of view) to the leading polarity fields, and their activity ends several years earlier than that of the polar ones. The polar faculae with their magnetic fields represent the last phase of the magnetic activity cycle lasting 15-17 years. (author). 6 figs., 21 refs

Polarized neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, W.G.

1988-01-01

The book on 'polarized neutrons' is intended to inform researchers in condensed matter physics and chemistry of the diversity of scientific problems that can be investigated using polarized neutron beams. The contents include chapters on:- neutron polarizers and instrumentation, polarized neutron scattering, neutron polarization analysis experiments and precessing neutron polarization. (U.K.)

Collaborative and cognitive network platforms : Vision and research challenges

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Onur, E.; Durmus, Y.; Hawas, M.G.; Heemstra de Groot, S.M.; Niemegeers, I.G.M.M.

2011-01-01

In this paper, we present a visionary concept referred to as Collaborative and Cognitive Network Platforms (CCNPs) as a future-proof solution for creating a dependable, self-organizing and self-managing communication substrate for effective ICT solutions to societal problems. CCNP creates a

INL Vision and Strategy 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pillai, Rekha Sukamar

2015-01-01

This Laboratory vision and strategy presents INL's vision and strategy for the Laboratory and is our introduction to a special place dedicated to improving our nation's energy security future.

The Rho GTPase Cdc42 regulates hair cell planar polarity and cellular patterning in the developing cochlea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Kirjavainen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Hair cells of the organ of Corti (OC of the cochlea exhibit distinct planar polarity, both at the tissue and cellular level. Planar polarity at tissue level is manifested as uniform orientation of the hair cell stereociliary bundles. Hair cell intrinsic polarity is defined as structural hair bundle asymmetry; positioning of the kinocilium/basal body complex at the vertex of the V-shaped bundle. Consistent with strong apical polarity, the hair cell apex displays prominent actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. The Rho GTPase Cdc42 regulates cytoskeletal dynamics and polarization of various cell types, and, thus, serves as a candidate regulator of hair cell polarity. We have here induced Cdc42 inactivation in the late-embryonic OC. We show the role of Cdc42 in the establishment of planar polarity of hair cells and in cellular patterning. Abnormal planar polarity was displayed as disturbances in hair bundle orientation and morphology and in kinocilium/basal body positioning. These defects were accompanied by a disorganized cell-surface microtubule network. Atypical protein kinase C (aPKC, a putative Cdc42 effector, colocalized with Cdc42 at the hair cell apex, and aPKC expression was altered upon Cdc42 depletion. Our data suggest that Cdc42 together with aPKC is part of the machinery establishing hair cell planar polarity and that Cdc42 acts on polarity through the cell-surface microtubule network. The data also suggest that defects in apical polarization are influenced by disturbed cellular patterning in the OC. In addition, our data demonstrates that Cdc42 is required for stereociliogenesis in the immature cochlea.

Networking for proteins : A yeast two-hybrid and RNAi profiling approach to uncover C. elegans cell polarity regulators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koorman, T.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/337456038

2016-01-01

Cell polarity is a near universal trait of life and guides many aspects of animal development. Although a number of key polarity proteins have been identified, many interactions with proteins acting downstream likely remain to be elucidated. Mutations in polarity proteins or deregulation of polarity

The possibilities of using scale-selective polarization cartography in diagnostics of myocardium pathologies

Science.gov (United States)

Ushenko, Yu. A.; Wanchuliak, O. Y.

2013-06-01

The optical model of polycrystalline networks of myocardium protein fibrils is presented. The technique of determining the coordinate distribution of polarization azimuth of the points of laser images of myocardium histological sections is suggested. The results of investigating the interrelation between the values of statistical (statistical moments of the 1st-4th order) parameters are presented which characterize distributions of wavelet-coefficients polarization maps of myocardium layers and death reasons.

National Hydrogen Vision Meeting Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2001-11-01

This document provides presentations and summaries of the notes from the National Hydrogen Vision Meeting''s facilitated breakout sessions. The Vision Meeting, which took place November 15-16, 2001, kicked off the public-private partnership that will pave the way to a more secure and cleaner energy future for America. These proceedings were compiled into a formal report, A National Vision of America''s Transition to a Hydrogen Economy - To 2030 and Beyond, which is also available online.

The Vision Thing in Higher Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, George

1995-01-01

It is argued that while the concept of "vision" in higher education has been met with disdain, criticism is based on misconceptions of vision's nature and role--that vision requires a charismatic administrator and that visionaries are dreamers. Educators and planners are urged to use imaginative thinking to connect the institution's and staff's…

ABCs of foveal vision

Science.gov (United States)

Matchko, Roy M.; Gerhart, Grant R.

2001-12-01

This paper presents a simple mathematical performance model of the human foveal vision system based on an extensive analysis of the Blackwell-McCready (BM) data set. It includes a closed-form equation, the (ABC)t law, that allows the analyst to predict the entire range of BM threshold data. Relationships are derived among the four fundamental parameters of foveal vision: target area A, background luminance B, threshold contrast C, and stimulus presentation time t. Hyperbolic-curve fits on log-log plots of the data lead to the well-known laws of Ricco, Blackwell, Weber and Fechner, and Bloch. This paper unifies important relationships associated with target and background scene parameters as they relate to the human foveal vision process. The process of detecting a BM target, using foveal vision, is reduced to the total temporal summation of light energy modified by a multiplicative energy ratio. A stochastic model of human observer performance is presented in terms of a cumulative Gaussian distribution, which is a function of the apparent and BM contrast threshold values.

THE SYSTEM OF TECHNICAL VISION IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. V. Shavetov

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the development of video broadcasting system in view of controlling mobile robots over the Internet. A brief overview of the issues and their solutions, encountered in the real-time broadcasting video stream, is given. Affordable and versatile solutions of technical vision are considered. An approach for frame-accurate video rebroadcasting to unlimited number of end-users is proposed. The optimal performance parameters of network equipment for the final number of cameras are defined. System approbation on five IP cameras of different manufacturers is done. The average time delay for broadcasting in MJPEG format over the local network was 200 ms and 500 ms over the Internet.

What is vision Hampton Roads?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

What is Vision Hampton Roads? : Vision Hampton Roads is... : A regionwide economic development strategy based on the collective strengths of all : localities of Hampton Roads, created with the input of business, academia, nonprofits, : government,...

Simultaneous 10 Gbps data and polarization-based pulse-per-second clock transmission using a single VCSEL for high-speed optical fibre access networks

Science.gov (United States)

Isoe, G. M.; Wassin, S.; Gamatham, R. R. G.; Leitch, A. W. R.; Gibbon, T. B.

2017-01-01

Access networks based on vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) transmitters offer alternative solution in delivering different high bandwidth, cost effective services to the customer premises. Clock and reference frequency distribution is critical for applications such as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), GPS, banking and big data science projects. Simultaneous distribution of both data and timing signals over shared infrastructure is thus desirable. In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel, cost-effective technique for multi-signal modulation on a single VCSEL transmitter. Two signal types, an intensity modulated 10 Gbps data signal and a polarization-based pulse per second (PPS) clock signal are directly modulated onto a single VCSEL carrier at 1310 nm. Spectral efficiency is maximized by exploiting inherent orthogonal polarization switching of the VCSEL with changing bias in transmission of the PPS signal. A 10 Gbps VCSEL transmission with PPS over 11 km of G.652 fibre introduced a transmission penalty of 0.52 dB. The contribution of PPS to this penalty was found to be 0.08 dB.

Mediating Data and Building Community for Informed, Intelligent Decision Making for the Polar Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Pulsifer, P. L.; Stieglitz, M.

2017-12-01

Much has been written about the state of data and related systems for the polar regions, however work remains to be done to achieve an envisioned integrated and well-defined pan-Arctic observing and data network that enables access to high quality data, expertise and information in support of scientific understanding, stakeholder needs, and agency operations. In this paper we argue that priorities for establishing such a network are in the area of machine-enhanced data mediation and the human aspects of community building. The authors have engaged in a U.S.-based, multi-agency process with the goal of applying modern cyberinfrastructure to improve capabilities for integrating data. A particular case-study focuses on establishing a carbon budget for the Arctic region. This effort contributes to broader global efforts aimed at establishing an international observing and data network. Results are based on a series meetings, workshops, systems design activities, and publications. Analysis reveals that there are a large number of polar data resources interacting in a network that functions as a data ecosystem. Given the size and complexity of the network, achieving broad data discovery and access and meaningful data integration (i.e. developing a carbon budget) will require advanced techniques including machine learning, semantic mediation, and the use of highly connected virtual research environments. To achieve the aforementioned goal will require a community of engaged researchers, technologists, and stakeholders to establish requirements and the social and organizational context needed for effective machine-based approaches. The results imply that: i) the polar research and application community must be more aware of advances in technology; ii) funders must adopt a long-term, sustainable infrastructure approach to systems development; iii) the community must work together to enable interoperability; iv) we must recognize that the challenge is socio-technical and

A locality aware convolutional neural networks accelerator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shi, R.; Xu, Z.; Sun, Z.; Peemen, M.C.J.; Li, A.; Corporaal, H.; Wu, D.

2015-01-01

The advantages of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) with respect to traditional methods for visual pattern recognition have changed the field of machine vision. The main issue that hinders broad adoption of this technique is the massive computing workload in CNN that prevents real-time

Iberdrola's Innovation Network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tejedor-Escobar, E.; Martinez-Cid, P. M.

2009-01-01

Iberdrola's Innovation Network was created as a place where the company shares and promotes ideas and projects with its technological partners. The network consists of multiple nodes each one with its specific scope where the company exposes its vision and strategy related to the node's thematic. It also enables a interchange of opinions, know-how and resources in order to develop R and D projects that solve Iberdrola's needs. Based on the concept of Open Innovation, the network is open for anybody that wants to join and that has interest in the diverse matters treated in the nodes. The Innovation Network is targeted to manufacturers/providers, universities, technological centers and associations. The Innovation Network offers to its member the acquisitions of relevant information and know-how, as well as the possibility of participating in the projects that are generated. Iberdrola's strong commitment with Innovation, together with its definitive internationalization process, make that the available resources provided by Iberdrola itself, as well as the interest areas and the project are very important for any stake holder in the sector. (Author) 4 refs

Temporary effects of alcohol on color vision

Science.gov (United States)

Geniusz, Maciej K.; Geniusz, Malwina; Szmigiel, Marta; Przeździecka-Dołyk, Joanna

2017-09-01

The color vision has been described as one to be very sensitive to the intake of several chemicals. The present research reviews the published literature that is concerned with color vision impairment due to alcohol. Most of this research considers people under long-term effects of alcohol. However, there is little information about temporary effects of alcohol on color vision. A group of ten volunteers aged 18-40 was studied. During the study levels of alcohol in the body were tested with a standard breathalyzer while color vision were studied using Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Color Vision Tests. Keywords: Col

TLEP, first step in a long-term vision for HEP

CERN Document Server

Koratzinos, M; Aleksan, R; Janot, P; Zimmermann, F; Ellis, J R; Zanetti, M

2013-01-01

The discovery of H(126) has renewed interest in circular e+e- colliders that can operate as Higgs factories, which benefit from three unique characteristics: i) high luminosity and reliability, ii) the availability of several interaction points, iii) superior beam energy accuracy. TLEP is an e+e- storage ring of 80-km circumference that can operate with very high luminosity from the Z peak (90 GeV) to the top quark pair threshold (350 GeV). It can achieve transverse beam polarization at the Z peak and WW threshold, giving it unparalleled accuracy on the beam energy. A preliminary study indicates that an 80 km tunnel could be constructed around CERN. Such a tunnel would allow a 100 TeV proton-proton collider to be established in the same ring (VHE-LHC), offering a long term vision.

Interoperability Strategic Vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Widergren, Steven E.; Knight, Mark R.; Melton, Ronald B.; Narang, David; Martin, Maurice; Nordman, Bruce; Khandekar, Aditya; Hardy, Keith S.

2018-02-28

The Interoperability Strategic Vision whitepaper aims to promote a common understanding of the meaning and characteristics of interoperability and to provide a strategy to advance the state of interoperability as applied to integration challenges facing grid modernization. This includes addressing the quality of integrating devices and systems and the discipline to improve the process of successfully integrating these components as business models and information technology improve over time. The strategic vision for interoperability described in this document applies throughout the electric energy generation, delivery, and end-use supply chain. Its scope includes interactive technologies and business processes from bulk energy levels to lower voltage level equipment and the millions of appliances that are becoming equipped with processing power and communication interfaces. A transformational aspect of a vision for interoperability in the future electric system is the coordinated operation of intelligent devices and systems at the edges of grid infrastructure. This challenge offers an example for addressing interoperability concerns throughout the electric system.

NETWORK SERVICES FOR DIAGNOSTIC OPTODIGITAL COMPLEX FOR TELEMEDICINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. S. Kopylov

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with a result of the network services development for the optodigital complex for telemedicine diagnostics. This complex is designed for laboratory and clinical tests in health care facilities. Composition of network services includes the following: a client application for database of diagnostic test, a web-service, a web interface, a video server and microimage processing server. Structure of these services makes it possible to combine set of software for transferring depersonalized medical data via the Internet and operating with optodigital devices included in the complex. Complex is consisted of three systems: micro-vision, endoscopic and network. The micro-vision system includes an automated digital microscope with two highly sensitive cameras which can be controlled remotely via the Internet. The endoscopic system gives the possibility to implement video broadcasting to remote users both during diagnostic tests and also off-line after tests. The network system is the core of the complex where network services and application software are functioning, intended for archiving, storage and providing access to the database of diagnostic tests. The following subjects are developed and tested for functional stability: states transfer protocol, commands transfer protocol and video-stream transfer protocol from automated digital microscope and video endoscope. These protocols can work in web browsers on modern mobile devices without additional software.

Pleiades Visions

Science.gov (United States)

Whitehouse, M.

2016-01-01

Pleiades Visions (2012) is my new musical composition for organ that takes inspiration from traditional lore and music associated with the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) star cluster from Australian Aboriginal, Native American, and Native Hawaiian cultures. It is based on my doctoral dissertation research incorporating techniques from the fields of ethnomusicology and cultural astronomy; this research likely represents a new area of inquiry for both fields. This large-scale work employs the organ's vast sonic resources to evoke the majesty of the night sky and the expansive landscapes of the homelands of the above-mentioned peoples. Other important themes in Pleiades Visions are those of place, origins, cosmology, and the creation of the world.

Very long baseline interferometry applied to polar motion, relativity, and geodesy. Ph.D. thesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, C.

1978-01-01

The causes and effects of diurnal polar motion are described. An algorithm was developed for modeling the effects on very long baseline interferometry observables. A selection was made between two three-station networks for monitoring polar motion. The effects of scheduling and the number of sources observed on estimated baseline errors are discussed. New hardware and software techniques in very long baseline interferometry are described

School Vision of Learning: Urban Setting

Science.gov (United States)

Guy, Tiffany A.

2010-01-01

In this paper, the author develops her school vision of learning. She explains the theories she used to help develop the vision. The author then goes into detail on the methods she will use to make her vision for a school that prepares urban students for a successful life after high school. She takes into account all the stakeholders and how they…

Computer vision for an autonomous mobile robot

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Withey, Daniel J

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Computer vision systems are essential for practical, autonomous, mobile robots – machines that employ artificial intelligence and control their own motion within an environment. As with biological systems, computer vision systems include the vision...

Target recognition of log-polar ladar range images using moment invariants

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Wenze; Han, Shaokun; Cao, Jie; Yu, Haoyong

2017-01-01

The ladar range image has received considerable attentions in the automatic target recognition field. However, previous research does not cover target recognition using log-polar ladar range images. Therefore, we construct a target recognition system based on log-polar ladar range images in this paper. In this system combined moment invariants and backpropagation neural network are selected as shape descriptor and shape classifier, respectively. In order to fully analyze the effect of log-polar sampling pattern on recognition result, several comparative experiments based on simulated and real range images are carried out. Eventually, several important conclusions are drawn: (i) if combined moments are computed directly by log-polar range images, translation, rotation and scaling invariant properties of combined moments will be invalid (ii) when object is located in the center of field of view, recognition rate of log-polar range images is less sensitive to the changing of field of view (iii) as object position changes from center to edge of field of view, recognition performance of log-polar range images will decline dramatically (iv) log-polar range images has a better noise robustness than Cartesian range images. Finally, we give a suggestion that it is better to divide field of view into recognition area and searching area in the real application.

Unravelling 21st Century Riddles – Universal Network Visions from a Human Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baken, N.; Van Belleghem, N.; Van Boven, E.; De Korte, A.

2006-01-01

Networks are omnipresent and universal. Mankind, for example, forms a social network. Today, information and communications technology (ICT) exponentially accelerates the interaction between the human nodes of this global social network. In that way, ICT appears to evoke a phase transformation,

Altered vision destabilizes gait in older persons.

Science.gov (United States)

Helbostad, Jorunn L; Vereijken, Beatrix; Hesseberg, Karin; Sletvold, Olav

2009-08-01

This study assessed the effects of dim light and four experimentally induced changes in vision on gait speed and footfall and trunk parameters in older persons walking on level ground. Using a quasi-experimental design, gait characteristics were assessed in full light, dim light, and in dim light combined with manipulations resulting in reduced depth vision, double vision, blurred vision, and tunnel vision, respectively. A convenience sample of 24 home-dwelling older women and men (mean age 78.5 years, SD 3.4) with normal vision for their age and able to walk at least 10 m without assistance participated. Outcome measures were gait speed and spatial and temporal parameters of footfall and trunk acceleration, derived from an electronic gait mat and accelerometers. Dim light alone had no effect. Vision manipulations combined with dim light had effect on most footfall parameters but few trunk parameters. The largest effects were found regarding double and tunnel vision. Men increased and women decreased gait speed following manipulations (p=0.017), with gender differences also in stride velocity variability (p=0.017) and inter-stride medio-lateral trunk acceleration variability (p=0.014). Gender effects were related to differences in body height and physical functioning. Results indicate that visual problems lead to a more cautious and unstable gait pattern even under relatively simple conditions. This points to the importance of assessing vision in older persons and correcting visual impairments where possible.

Application of Vision Metrology to In-Orbit Measurement of Large Reflector Onboard Communication Satellite for Next Generation Mobile Satellite Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Akioka, M.; Orikasa, T.; Satoh, M.; Miura, A.; Tsuji, H.; Toyoshima, M.; Fujino, Y.

2016-06-01

Satellite for next generation mobile satellite communication service with small personal terminal requires onboard antenna with very large aperture reflector larger than twenty meters diameter because small personal terminal with lower power consumption in ground base requires the large onboard reflector with high antenna gain. But, large deployable antenna will deform in orbit because the antenna is not a solid dish but the flexible structure with fine cable and mesh supported by truss. Deformation of reflector shape deteriorate the antenna performance and quality and stability of communication service. However, in case of digital beam forming antenna with phased array can modify the antenna beam performance due to adjustment of excitation amplitude and excitation phase. If we can measure the reflector shape precisely in orbit, beam pattern and antenna performance can be compensated with the updated excitation amplitude and excitation phase parameters optimized for the reflector shape measured every moment. Softbank Corporation and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology has started the project "R&D on dynamic beam control technique for next generation mobile communication satellite" as a contracted research project sponsored by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of Japan. In this topic, one of the problem in vision metrology application is a strong constraints on geometry for camera arrangement on satellite bus with very limited space. On satellite in orbit, we cannot take many images from many different directions as ordinary vision metrology measurement and the available area for camera positioning is quite limited. Feasibility of vision metrology application and general methodology to apply to future mobile satellite communication satellite is to be found. Our approach is as follows: 1) Development of prototyping simulator to evaluate the expected precision for network design in zero order and first order 2) Trial

Neural networks for perception human and machine perception

CERN Document Server

Wechsler, Harry

1991-01-01

Neural Networks for Perception, Volume 1: Human and Machine Perception focuses on models for understanding human perception in terms of distributed computation and examples of PDP models for machine perception. This book addresses both theoretical and practical issues related to the feasibility of both explaining human perception and implementing machine perception in terms of neural network models. The book is organized into two parts. The first part focuses on human perception. Topics on network model ofobject recognition in human vision, the self-organization of functional architecture in t

Feature-Free Activity Classification of Inertial Sensor Data With Machine Vision Techniques: Method, Development, and Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Dominguez Veiga, Jose Juan; O'Reilly, Martin; Whelan, Darragh; Caulfield, Brian; Ward, Tomas E

2017-08-04

Inertial sensors are one of the most commonly used sources of data for human activity recognition (HAR) and exercise detection (ED) tasks. The time series produced by these sensors are generally analyzed through numerical methods. Machine learning techniques such as random forests or support vector machines are popular in this field for classification efforts, but they need to be supported through the isolation of a potentially large number of additionally crafted features derived from the raw data. This feature preprocessing step can involve nontrivial digital signal processing (DSP) techniques. However, in many cases, the researchers interested in this type of activity recognition problems do not possess the necessary technical background for this feature-set development. The study aimed to present a novel application of established machine vision methods to provide interested researchers with an easier entry path into the HAR and ED fields. This can be achieved by removing the need for deep DSP skills through the use of transfer learning. This can be done by using a pretrained convolutional neural network (CNN) developed for machine vision purposes for exercise classification effort. The new method should simply require researchers to generate plots of the signals that they would like to build classifiers with, store them as images, and then place them in folders according to their training label before retraining the network. We applied a CNN, an established machine vision technique, to the task of ED. Tensorflow, a high-level framework for machine learning, was used to facilitate infrastructure needs. Simple time series plots generated directly from accelerometer and gyroscope signals are used to retrain an openly available neural network (Inception), originally developed for machine vision tasks. Data from 82 healthy volunteers, performing 5 different exercises while wearing a lumbar-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU), was collected. The ability of the

Vision Restoration in Glaucoma by Activating Residual Vision with a Holistic, Clinical Approach: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabel, Bernhard A; Cárdenas-Morales, Lizbeth; Gao, Ying

2018-01-01

How to cite this article: Sabel BA, Cárdenas-Morales L, Gao Y. Vision Restoration in Glaucoma by activating Residual Vision with a Holistic, Clinical Approach: A Review. J Curr Glaucoma Pract 2018;12(1):1-9.

Workshop on polarized neutron filters and polarized pulsed neutron experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itoh, Shinichi

2004-07-01

The workshop was held in KEK by thirty-three participants on April 26, 2004. The polarized neutron filter method was only discussed. It consists of three parts; the first part was discussed on the polarized neutron methods, the second part on the polarized neutron experiments and the third on the pulse neutron spectrometer and polarized neutron experiments. The six papers were presented such as the polarized 3 He neutron spin filter, neutron polarization by proton polarized filter, soft master and neutron scattering, polarized neutron in solid physics, polarization experiments by chopper spectroscope and neutron polarization system in superHRPD. (S.Y.)

Peer-to-Peer Enclaves for Improving Network Defence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David W. Archer

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Information about cyberthreats within networks spreads slowly relative to the speed at which those threats spread. Typical "threat feeds" that are commercially available also disseminate information slowly relative to the propagation speed of attacks, and they often convey irrelevant information about imminent threats. As a result, hosts sharing a network may miss opportunities to improve their defence postures against imminent attack because needed information arrives too late or is lost in irrelevant noise. We envision timely, relevant peer-to-peer sharing of threat information – based on current technologies – as a solution to these problems and as a useful design pattern for defensive cyberwarfare. In our setting, network nodes form communities that we call enclaves, where each node defends itself while sharing information on imminent threats with peers that have similar threat exposure. In this article, we present our vision for this solution. We sketch the architecture of a typical node in such a network and how it might interact with a framework for sharing threat information; we explain why certain defensive countermeasures may work better in our setting; we discuss current tools that could be used as components in our vision; and we describe opportunities for future research and development.

Accuracy of vision technicians in screening ocular pathology at rural vision centres of southern India.

Science.gov (United States)

Suram, Vasantha; Addepalli, Uday Kumar; Krishnaiah, Sannapaneni; Kovai, Vilas; Khanna, Rohit C

2016-03-01

There is paucity of data on the inter-observer agreement and diagnostic accuracy between a primary-care technician (vision technician) and an ophthalmologist. Hence, the current study was conducted to assess the accuracy of vision technicians, to screen potentially sight-threatening ocular conditions at rural vision centres of southern India and their agreement with an ophthalmologist. In July to August 2010, patients presenting to seven vision centres in Adilabad district (Andhra Pradesh) were selected and screened in a masked manner by seven vision technicians followed by an examination by a consultant ophthalmologist. Agreement was assessed between vision technicians and the ophthalmologist for screening of potential sight-threatening ocular conditions and decisions for referral. The ophthalmologist's findings were considered as the reference standard. Two hundred and seventy-nine patients were enrolled at seven vision centres with a mean age of 32.9 ± 21.8 years. Agreement for screening of ocular pathology was 0.82 (95 per cent CI, 0.8-0.83). There was excellent agreement for cataract (0.97; 95 per cent CI, 0.93-1), refractive error (0.98; 95 per cent CI, 0.96-1), corneal pathology (1.0; 95 per cent CI, 1.0-1.0) and other anterior segment pathology (0.95; 95 per cent CI, 0.9-1); the agreement was moderate to fair for detection of glaucoma suspects (0.43; 95 per cent CI, 0.28-0.60) and retinal pathology (0.39; 95 per cent CI, 0.14-0.63). Sensitivity for screening of anterior segment pathology was 94.6-100 per cent. There was a fair to moderate sensitivity for glaucoma suspect; 35.6 per cent (95 per cent CI, 21.9-51.2) and retinal pathology 26.3 per cent (95 per cent CI, 9.2-51.2). Specificity for screening of ocular pathology was 98.2 to 100 per cent. The kappa (κ) agreement for referral for any pathology was 0.82 (0.8-0.83) CONCLUSION: As there is good agreement between the vision technicians and the ophthalmologist for screening and referral of

Soft Computing Techniques in Vision Science

CERN Document Server

Yang, Yeon-Mo

2012-01-01

This Special Edited Volume is a unique approach towards Computational solution for the upcoming field of study called Vision Science. From a scientific firmament Optics, Ophthalmology, and Optical Science has surpassed an Odyssey of optimizing configurations of Optical systems, Surveillance Cameras and other Nano optical devices with the metaphor of Nano Science and Technology. Still these systems are falling short of its computational aspect to achieve the pinnacle of human vision system. In this edited volume much attention has been given to address the coupling issues Computational Science and Vision Studies.  It is a comprehensive collection of research works addressing various related areas of Vision Science like Visual Perception and Visual system, Cognitive Psychology, Neuroscience, Psychophysics and Ophthalmology, linguistic relativity, color vision etc. This issue carries some latest developments in the form of research articles and presentations. The volume is rich of contents with technical tools ...

Dense image correspondences for computer vision

CERN Document Server

Liu, Ce

2016-01-01

This book describes the fundamental building-block of many new computer vision systems: dense and robust correspondence estimation. Dense correspondence estimation techniques are now successfully being used to solve a wide range of computer vision problems, very different from the traditional applications such techniques were originally developed to solve. This book introduces the techniques used for establishing correspondences between challenging image pairs, the novel features used to make these techniques robust, and the many problems dense correspondences are now being used to solve. The book provides information to anyone attempting to utilize dense correspondences in order to solve new or existing computer vision problems. The editors describe how to solve many computer vision problems by using dense correspondence estimation. Finally, it surveys resources, code, and data necessary for expediting the development of effective correspondence-based computer vision systems.   ·         Provides i...

Participative Action Research: The Vision Conference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

René Victor Valqui Vidal

2003-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the principles behind the design and management of the Vision Conference: a one-day workshop for a large group of participants endeavoured to create ideas, projects and visions for the future activities of a local community or an organisation. A case study from a local community in Denmark is also presented with the purpose of illustrating the organisation, planning and management of a Vision Conference. The paper focuses in the three central social processes of the conference: group work, problem solving and facilitation. The paper ends with a discussion of creativity and creativity techniques suitable for Vision Conferences.

Regional new energy vision for Fukuoka city; Fukuokashi chiiki shin energy vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-02-01

A regional new energy vision has been formulated for Fukuoka city, Fukuoka Prefecture, which will serve as a basic guide to the promotion of new energy introduction which is one of the measures for coping with environmental problems. The vision is described in five chapters of (1) the local characteristics of Fukuoka city, (2) energy situation in Fukuoka city, (3) basic program, (4) high priority plans, and (5) efforts to enhance the vision toward realization. Discussed as high priority plans are the introduction of new energy into public buildings above all others, high efficiency utilization of refuse-derived energy, utilization of new energy at water supply and drainage facilities, utilization of water temperature difference energy, introduction of clean energy vehicles, promotion of a new energy industry, and the extension of assistance for encouraging citizens and industrialists to adopt new energy. In extending assistance for encouraging the introduction of new energy, studies are made about measures for introducing new energy into individual residences and about a citizenry-involving new energy adopting industry (offering a site to the power generation industry) under the basal conditions that information be supplied sufficiently and that the citizenry and administration cooperate with each other in driving forward the vision. (NEDO)

Network Design Guidance for the Global Special Operations Forces Network

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-01

an introduction to the Network Design Continuum. 170 Robert M. Hayden, “ Moral Vision and Impaired Insight: The Imagining of Other Peoples...CEO and municipal president were of an abstract nature, about moral courage and political principles, which he felt it was the task of the UN to...the actions needled to improv e or rorrect peri:lrmance, relativ e to the goals of the syste m. Determin ing how a system shoukl WJrk and how dlanges

Improving the Robustness of Deep Neural Networks via Stability Training

OpenAIRE

Zheng, Stephan; Song, Yang; Leung, Thomas; Goodfellow, Ian

2016-01-01

In this paper we address the issue of output instability of deep neural networks: small perturbations in the visual input can significantly distort the feature embeddings and output of a neural network. Such instability affects many deep architectures with state-of-the-art performance on a wide range of computer vision tasks. We present a general stability training method to stabilize deep networks against small input distortions that result from various types of common image processing, such...

Vision in high-level football officials.

Science.gov (United States)

Baptista, António Manuel Gonçalves; Serra, Pedro M; McAlinden, Colm; Barrett, Brendan T

2017-01-01

Officiating in football depends, at least to some extent, upon adequate visual function. However, there is no vision standard for football officiating and the nature of the relationship between officiating performance and level of vision is unknown. As a first step in characterising this relationship, we report on the clinically-measured vision and on the perceived level of vision in elite-level, Portuguese football officials. Seventy-one referees (R) and assistant referees (AR) participated in the study, representing 92% of the total population of elite level football officials in Portugal in the 2013/2014 season. Nine of the 22 Rs (40.9%) and ten of the 49 ARs (20.4%) were international-level. Information about visual history was also gathered. Perceived vision was assessed using the preference-values-assigned-to-global-visual-status (PVVS) and the Quality-of-Vision (QoV) questionnaire. Standard clinical vision measures (including visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and stereopsis) were gathered in a subset (n = 44, 62%) of the participants. Data were analysed according to the type (R/AR) and level (international/national) of official, and Bonferroni corrections were applied to reduce the risk of type I errors. Adopting criterion for statistical significance of pfootball officials were similar to published normative values for young, adult populations and similar between R and AR. Clinically-measured vision did not differ according to officiating level. Visual acuity measured with and without a pinhole disc indicated that around one quarter of participants may be capable of better vision when officiating, as evidenced by better acuity (≥1 line of letters) using the pinhole. Amongst the clinical visual tests we used, we did not find evidence for above-average performance in elite-level football officials. Although the impact of uncorrected mild to moderate refractive error upon officiating performance is unknown, with a greater uptake of eye examinations, visual

Automatic Welding System of Aluminum Pipe by Monitoring Backside Image of Molten Pool Using Vision Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Baskoro, Ario Sunar; Kabutomori, Masashi; Suga, Yasuo

An automatic welding system using Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding with vision sensor for welding of aluminum pipe was constructed. This research studies the intelligent welding process of aluminum alloy pipe 6063S-T5 in fixed position and moving welding torch with the AC welding machine. The monitoring system consists of a vision sensor using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera to monitor backside image of molten pool. The captured image was processed to recognize the edge of molten pool by image processing algorithm. Neural network model for welding speed control were constructed to perform the process automatically. From the experimental results it shows the effectiveness of the control system confirmed by good detection of molten pool and sound weld of experimental result.

Neutron polarization in polarized 3He targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friar, J.L.; Gibson, B.F.; Payne, G.L.; Bernstein, A.M.; Chupp, T.E.

1990-01-01

Simple formulas for the neutron and proton polarizations in polarized 3 He targets are derived assuming (1) quasielastic final states; (2) no final-state interactions; (3) no meson-exchange currents; (4) large momentum transfers; (5) factorizability of 3 He SU(4) response-function components. Numerical results from a wide variety of bound-state solutions of the Faddeev equations are presented. It is found that this simple model predicts the polarization of neutrons in a fully polarized 3 He target to be 87%, while protons should have a slight residual polarization of -2.7%. Numerical studies show that this model works very well for quasielastic electron scattering

VISION User Guide - VISION (Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation) Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobson, Jacob J.; Jeffers, Robert F.; Matthern, Gretchen E.; Piet, Steven J.; Baker, Benjamin A.; Grimm, Joseph

2009-01-01

The purpose of this document is to provide a guide for using the current version of the Verifiable Fuel Cycle Simulation (VISION) model. This is a complex model with many parameters; the user is strongly encouraged to read this user guide before attempting to run the model. This model is an R and D work in progress and may contain errors and omissions. It is based upon numerous assumptions. This model is intended to assist in evaluating 'what if' scenarios and in comparing fuel, reactor, and fuel processing alternatives at a systems level for U.S. nuclear power. The model is not intended as a tool for process flow and design modeling of specific facilities nor for tracking individual units of fuel or other material through the system. The model is intended to examine the interactions among the components of a fuel system as a function of time varying system parameters; this model represents a dynamic rather than steady-state approximation of the nuclear fuel system. VISION models the nuclear cycle at the system level, not individual facilities, e.g., 'reactor types' not individual reactors and 'separation types' not individual separation plants. Natural uranium can be enriched, which produces enriched uranium, which goes into fuel fabrication, and depleted uranium (DU), which goes into storage. Fuel is transformed (transmuted) in reactors and then goes into a storage buffer. Used fuel can be pulled from storage into either separation of disposal. If sent to separations, fuel is transformed (partitioned) into fuel products, recovered uranium, and various categories of waste. Recycled material is stored until used by its assigned reactor type. Note that recovered uranium is itself often partitioned: some RU flows with recycled transuranic elements, some flows with wastes, and the rest is designated RU. RU comes out of storage if needed to correct the U/TRU ratio in new recycled fuel. Neither RU nor DU are designated as wastes. VISION is comprised of several Microsoft

delta-vision

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — Delta Vision is intended to identify a strategy for managing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as a sustainable ecosystem that would continue to support environmental...

Computer and machine vision theory, algorithms, practicalities

CERN Document Server

Davies, E R

2012-01-01

Computer and Machine Vision: Theory, Algorithms, Practicalities (previously entitled Machine Vision) clearly and systematically presents the basic methodology of computer and machine vision, covering the essential elements of the theory while emphasizing algorithmic and practical design constraints. This fully revised fourth edition has brought in more of the concepts and applications of computer vision, making it a very comprehensive and up-to-date tutorial text suitable for graduate students, researchers and R&D engineers working in this vibrant subject. Key features include: Practical examples and case studies give the 'ins and outs' of developing real-world vision systems, giving engineers the realities of implementing the principles in practice New chapters containing case studies on surveillance and driver assistance systems give practical methods on these cutting-edge applications in computer vision Necessary mathematics and essential theory are made approachable by careful explanations and well-il...

Standards for vision science libraries: 2014 revision.

Science.gov (United States)

Motte, Kristin; Caldwell, C Brooke; Lamson, Karen S; Ferimer, Suzanne; Nims, J Chris

2014-10-01

This Association of Vision Science Librarians revision of the "Standards for Vision Science Libraries" aspires to provide benchmarks to address the needs for the services and resources of modern vision science libraries (academic, medical or hospital, pharmaceutical, and so on), which share a core mission, are varied by type, and are located throughout the world. Through multiple meeting discussions, member surveys, and a collaborative revision process, the standards have been updated for the first time in over a decade. While the range of types of libraries supporting vision science services, education, and research is wide, all libraries, regardless of type, share core attributes, which the standards address. The current standards can and should be used to help develop new vision science libraries or to expand the growth of existing libraries, as well as to support vision science librarians in their work to better provide services and resources to their respective users.

Efficacy of vision therapy in children with learning disability and associated binocular vision anomalies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jameel Rizwana Hussaindeen

2018-01-01

Conclusion: Children with specific learning disorders have a high frequency of binocular vision disorders and vision therapy plays a significant role in improving the BV parameters. Children with SLD should be screened for BV anomalies as it could potentially be an added hindrance to the reading difficulty in this special population.

When measured spin polarization is not spin polarization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dowben, P A; Wu Ning; Binek, Christian

2011-01-01

Spin polarization is an unusually ambiguous scientific idiom and, as such, is rarely well defined. A given experimental methodology may allow one to quantify a spin polarization but only in its particular context. As one might expect, these ambiguities sometimes give rise to inappropriate interpretations when comparing the spin polarizations determined through different methods. The spin polarization of CrO 2 and Cr 2 O 3 illustrate some of the complications which hinders comparisons of spin polarization values. (viewpoint)

Polarization-multiplexed rate-adaptive non-binary-quasi-cyclic-LDPC-coded multilevel modulation with coherent detection for optical transport networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Arabaci, Murat; Djordjevic, Ivan B; Saunders, Ross; Marcoccia, Roberto M

2010-02-01

In order to achieve high-speed transmission over optical transport networks (OTNs) and maximize its throughput, we propose using a rate-adaptive polarization-multiplexed coded multilevel modulation with coherent detection based on component non-binary quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes. Compared to prior-art bit-interleaved LDPC-coded modulation (BI-LDPC-CM) scheme, the proposed non-binary LDPC-coded modulation (NB-LDPC-CM) scheme not only reduces latency due to symbol- instead of bit-level processing but also provides either impressive reduction in computational complexity or striking improvements in coding gain depending on the constellation size. As the paper presents, compared to its prior-art binary counterpart, the proposed NB-LDPC-CM scheme addresses the needs of future OTNs, which are achieving the target BER performance and providing maximum possible throughput both over the entire lifetime of the OTN, better.

Prevalence of computer vision syndrome in Erbil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dler Jalal Ahmed

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background and objective: Nearly all colleges, universities and homes today are regularly using video display terminals, such as computer, iPad, mobile, and TV. Very little research has been carried out on Kurdish users to reveal the effect of video display terminals on the eye and vision. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of computer vision syndrome among computer users. Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Ophthalmology Department of Rizgary and Erbil teaching hospitals in Erbil city. Those used computers in the months preceding the date of this study were included in the study. Results: Among 173 participants aged between 8 to 48 years (mean age of 23.28±6.6 years, the prevalence of computer vision syndrome found to be 89.65%. The most disturbing symptom was eye irritation (79.8%, followed by blurred vision(75.7%. Participants who were using visual display terminals for more than six hours per day were at higher risk of developing nearly all symptoms of computer vision syndrome. Significant correlation was found between time-consuming on computer and symptoms such as headache (P <0.001, redness (P <0.001, eye irritation (P <0.001, blurred vision (P <0.001 and neck pain (P <0.001. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that more than three-fourths of the participants had one of the symptoms of computer vision syndrome while working on visual display terminals. Keywords: Computer vision syndrome; Headache; Neck pain; Blurred vision.

Representing vision and blindness.

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Patrick L; Cox, Alexander P; Jensen, Mark; Allen, Travis; Duncan, William; Diehl, Alexander D

2016-01-01

There have been relatively few attempts to represent vision or blindness ontologically. This is unsurprising as the related phenomena of sight and blindness are difficult to represent ontologically for a variety of reasons. Blindness has escaped ontological capture at least in part because: blindness or the employment of the term 'blindness' seems to vary from context to context, blindness can present in a myriad of types and degrees, and there is no precedent for representing complex phenomena such as blindness. We explore current attempts to represent vision or blindness, and show how these attempts fail at representing subtypes of blindness (viz., color blindness, flash blindness, and inattentional blindness). We examine the results found through a review of current attempts and identify where they have failed. By analyzing our test cases of different types of blindness along with the strengths and weaknesses of previous attempts, we have identified the general features of blindness and vision. We propose an ontological solution to represent vision and blindness, which capitalizes on resources afforded to one who utilizes the Basic Formal Ontology as an upper-level ontology. The solution we propose here involves specifying the trigger conditions of a disposition as well as the processes that realize that disposition. Once these are specified we can characterize vision as a function that is realized by certain (in this case) biological processes under a range of triggering conditions. When the range of conditions under which the processes can be realized are reduced beyond a certain threshold, we are able to say that blindness is present. We characterize vision as a function that is realized as a seeing process and blindness as a reduction in the conditions under which the sight function is realized. This solution is desirable because it leverages current features of a major upper-level ontology, accurately captures the phenomenon of blindness, and can be

Hi-Vision telecine system using pickup tube

Science.gov (United States)

Iijima, Goro

1992-08-01

Hi-Vision broadcasting, offering far more lifelike pictures than those produced by existing television broadcasting systems, has enormous potential in both industrial and commercial fields. The dissemination of the Hi-Vision system will enable vivid, movie theater quality pictures to be readily enjoyed in homes in the near future. To convert motion film pictures into Hi-Vision signals, a telecine system is needed. The Hi-Vision telecine systems currently under development are the "laser telecine," "flying-spot telecine," and "Saticon telecine" systems. This paper provides an overview of the pickup tube type Hi-Vision telecine system (referred to herein as the Saticon telecine system) developed and marketed by Ikegami Tsushinki Co., Ltd.

Target recognition and scene interpretation in image/video understanding systems based on network-symbolic models

Science.gov (United States)

Kuvich, Gary

2004-08-01

Vision is only a part of a system that converts visual information into knowledge structures. These structures drive the vision process, resolving ambiguity and uncertainty via feedback, and provide image understanding, which is an interpretation of visual information in terms of these knowledge models. These mechanisms provide a reliable recognition if the object is occluded or cannot be recognized as a whole. It is hard to split the entire system apart, and reliable solutions to the target recognition problems are possible only within the solution of a more generic Image Understanding Problem. Brain reduces informational and computational complexities, using implicit symbolic coding of features, hierarchical compression, and selective processing of visual information. Biologically inspired Network-Symbolic representation, where both systematic structural/logical methods and neural/statistical methods are parts of a single mechanism, is the most feasible for such models. It converts visual information into relational Network-Symbolic structures, avoiding artificial precise computations of 3-dimensional models. Network-Symbolic Transformations derive abstract structures, which allows for invariant recognition of an object as exemplar of a class. Active vision helps creating consistent models. Attention, separation of figure from ground and perceptual grouping are special kinds of network-symbolic transformations. Such Image/Video Understanding Systems will be reliably recognizing targets.

Low Vision Care: The Need to Maximise Visual Potential

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramachandra Pararajasegaram

2004-01-01

Full Text Available People with low vision have residual vision with some light perception, but their vision loss does not lend itself to improvement by standard spectacles or medical or surgical treatment. Such persons have the potential for enhanced functional vision if they receive appropriate low vision care services.

Algorithmic strategies for FPGA-based vision

OpenAIRE

Lim, Yoong Kang

2016-01-01

As demands for real-time computer vision applications increase, implementations on alternative architectures have been explored. These architectures include Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which offer a high degree of flexibility and parallelism. A problem with this is that many computer vision algorithms have been optimized for serial processing, and this often does not map well to FPGA implementation. This thesis introduces the concept of FPGA-tailored computer vision algorithms...

Eldercare at Home: Vision Problems

Science.gov (United States)

... seeing close objects or reading small print. Many things can be done to help with these vision problems. Using reading ... t Working If vision problems seem to be getting worse and are of major concern to the ... what the results have been. Related Resources ...

Fuzzy classification for strawberry diseases-infection using machine vision and soft-computing techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Altıparmak, Hamit; Al Shahadat, Mohamad; Kiani, Ehsan; Dimililer, Kamil

2018-04-01

Robotic agriculture requires smart and doable techniques to substitute the human intelligence with machine intelligence. Strawberry is one of the important Mediterranean product and its productivity enhancement requires modern and machine-based methods. Whereas a human identifies the disease infected leaves by his eye, the machine should also be capable of vision-based disease identification. The objective of this paper is to practically verify the applicability of a new computer-vision method for discrimination between the healthy and disease infected strawberry leaves which does not require neural network or time consuming trainings. The proposed method was tested under outdoor lighting condition using a regular DLSR camera without any particular lens. Since the type and infection degree of disease is approximated a human brain a fuzzy decision maker classifies the leaves over the images captured on-site having the same properties of human vision. Optimizing the fuzzy parameters for a typical strawberry production area at a summer mid-day in Cyprus produced 96% accuracy for segmented iron deficiency and 93% accuracy for segmented using a typical human instant classification approximation as the benchmark holding higher accuracy than a human eye identifier. The fuzzy-base classifier provides approximate result for decision making on the leaf status as if it is healthy or not.

Embedded active vision system based on an FPGA architecture

OpenAIRE

Chalimbaud , Pierre; Berry , François

2006-01-01

International audience; In computer vision and more particularly in vision processing, the impressive evolution of algorithms and the emergence of new techniques dramatically increase algorithm complexity. In this paper, a novel FPGA-based architecture dedicated to active vision (and more precisely early vision) is proposed. Active vision appears as an alternative approach to deal with artificial vision problems. The central idea is to take into account the perceptual aspects of visual tasks,...

Strategic Vision on Convergence of Wired and Wireless Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prasad, Ramjee; Olsen, Rasmus Løvenstein; Saarnio, Juha

2006-01-01

In this paper we provide an overview of how convergence will play an important role in future generation networks. We discuss how the technology today will eventually converge towards an all-IP based platform, while the commonly used layered software structure, will eventually merge into a layer ...... aspect, namely security and privacy issues within future generationnetworks....

Age-Related Psychophysical Changes and Low Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Dagnelie, Gislin

2013-01-01

When considering the burden of visual impairment on aging individuals and society at large, it is important to bear in mind that vision changes are a natural aspect of aging. In this article, we consider vision changes that are part of normal aging, the prevalence of abnormal vision changes caused by disorders of the visual system, and the anticipated incidence and impact of visual impairment as the US population ages. We then discuss the services available to reduce the impact of vision loss, and the extent to which those services can and should be improved, not only to be better prepared for the anticipated increase in low vision over the coming decades, but also to increase the awareness of interactions between visual impairment and comorbidities that are common among the elderly. Finally, we consider how to promote improved quality, availability, and acceptance of low vision care to lessen the impact of visual impairment on individuals, and its burden on society. PMID:24335074

State of Vision Development in Slovenian Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vojko Toman

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Vision is a prerequisite for efficient strategic planning and the effectiveness of a company. If a company has no vision (i.e., it does not know where it is heading, then it cannot build on advantages, eliminate weaknesses, exploit opportunities and avoid threats. The term ‘vision’ is often used in scientific and professional literature, but it should be noted that different authors understand the term differently and often discuss it inadequately. Many questions regarding the nature of vision arise in practice and in theory, and I answer many of them in my article. I define vision, explain the reasons for its necessity and provide its characteristics and content. I define mission and explain the main difference between vision and mission. The majority of the article presents the results of empirical research on the state of vision setting in Slovenian companies. The article highlights the way in which these terms are understood by top managers.

Axon Initial Segment Cytoskeleton: Architecture, Development, and Role in Neuron Polarity

Science.gov (United States)

Svitkina, Tatyana M.

2016-01-01

The axon initial segment (AIS) is a specialized structure in neurons that resides in between axonal and somatodendritic domains. The localization of the AIS in neurons is ideal for its two major functions: it serves as the site of action potential firing and helps to maintain neuron polarity. It has become increasingly clear that the AIS cytoskeleton is fundamental to AIS functions. In this review, we discuss current understanding of the AIS cytoskeleton with particular interest in its unique architecture and role in maintenance of neuron polarity. The AIS cytoskeleton is divided into two parts, submembrane and cytoplasmic, based on localization, function, and molecular composition. Recent studies using electron and subdiffraction fluorescence microscopy indicate that submembrane cytoskeletal components (ankyrin G, βIV-spectrin, and actin filaments) form a sophisticated network in the AIS that is conceptually similar to the polygonal/triangular network of erythrocytes, with some important differences. Components of the AIS cytoplasmic cytoskeleton (microtubules, actin filaments, and neurofilaments) reside deeper within the AIS shaft and display structural features distinct from other neuronal domains. We discuss how the AIS submembrane and cytoplasmic cytoskeletons contribute to different aspects of AIS polarity function and highlight recent advances in understanding their AIS cytoskeletal assembly and stability. PMID:27493806

Understanding and applying machine vision

CERN Document Server

Zeuch, Nello

2000-01-01

A discussion of applications of machine vision technology in the semiconductor, electronic, automotive, wood, food, pharmaceutical, printing, and container industries. It describes systems that enable projects to move forward swiftly and efficiently, and focuses on the nuances of the engineering and system integration of machine vision technology.

Investigation report on establishment of new energy vision in Toyohashi area; Toyohashi chiiki shin energy vision sakutei chosa hokokusho

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-02-01

The 'new energy vision for Toyohashi (Aichi Prefecture) area' was established from the viewpoint that proliferation of new energy use, which is less familiar and higher in cost, requires induction by urban and environmental measures, and consistency with district characteristics. The achievements were put into order as the report on the Toyohashi area new energy vision and the investigation on the vision establishment. The vision is composed by the following four items: 1) basic matters concerning the vision, 2) ideas and policies of the vision, 3) major measures for introducing new energies, and 4) promotion of the vision. Item 3) presents the introduction measures, introduction project, and measure development by areas. Considerations on the introduction measures include enlightenment for proliferation, expansion in information provision, development of preferential treatments, initiative introduction into public facilities, and the measures to strengthen cooperative works by citizens, business entities, and the administration. The following four projects were set: introduction of wastes power generation into the Resource Production Center (wastes treatment plant), improvement of the surplus heat utilization facilities, and introduction of wind power generation into the General Agricultural Park. (NEDO)

Investigation report on establishment of new energy vision in Toyohashi area; Toyohashi chiiki shin energy vision sakutei chosa hokokusho

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-02-01

The 'new energy vision for Toyohashi (Aichi Prefecture) area' was established from the viewpoint that proliferation of new energy use, which is less familiar and higher in cost, requires induction by urban and environmental measures, and consistency with district characteristics. The achievements were put into order as the report on the Toyohashi area new energy vision and the investigation on the vision establishment. The vision is composed by the following four items: 1) basic matters concerning the vision, 2) ideas and policies of the vision, 3) major measures for introducing new energies, and 4) promotion of the vision. Item 3) presents the introduction measures, introduction project, and measure development by areas. Considerations on the introduction measures include enlightenment for proliferation, expansion in information provision, development of preferential treatments, initiative introduction into public facilities, and the measures to strengthen cooperative works by citizens, business entities, and the administration. The following four projects were set: introduction of wastes power generation into the Resource Production Center (wastes treatment plant), improvement of the surplus heat utilization facilities, and introduction of wind power generation into the General Agricultural Park. (NEDO)

Selective control of vortex polarities by microwave field in two robustly synchronized spin-torque nano-oscillators

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yi; de Milly, Xavier; Klein, Olivier; Cros, Vincent; Grollier, Julie; de Loubens, Grégoire

2018-01-01

Manipulating operation states of coupled spin-torque nano-oscillators (STNOs), including their synchronization, is essential for applications such as complex oscillator networks. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate selective control of two coupled vortex STNOs through microwave-assisted switching of their vortex core polarities. First, the two oscillators are shown to synchronize due to the dipolar interaction in a broad frequency range tuned by an external biasing field. Coherent output is demonstrated along with strong linewidth reduction. Then, we show individual vortex polarity control of each oscillator, which leads to synchronization/desynchronization due to accompanied frequency shift. Our methods can be easily extended to multiple-element coupled oscillator networks.

Quality of life in Nepalese patients with low vision and the impact of low vision services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajendra Gyawali

2012-10-01

Conclusions: Low vision patients have poor quality of life as measured with the NEI VFQ-25. Low vision service is associated with improved visual function, better quality of life and high rate of patient satisfaction.

Robust automated classification of first-motion polarities for focal mechanism determination with machine learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Z. E.; Meier, M. A.; Hauksson, E.

2017-12-01

Accurate first-motion polarities are essential for determining earthquake focal mechanisms, but are difficult to measure automatically because of picking errors and signal to noise issues. Here we develop an algorithm for reliable automated classification of first-motion polarities using machine learning algorithms. A classifier is designed to identify whether the first-motion polarity is up, down, or undefined by examining the waveform data directly. We first improve the accuracy of automatic P-wave onset picks by maximizing a weighted signal/noise ratio for a suite of candidate picks around the automatic pick. We then use the waveform amplitudes before and after the optimized pick as features for the classification. We demonstrate the method's potential by training and testing the classifier on tens of thousands of hand-made first-motion picks by the Southern California Seismic Network. The classifier assigned the same polarity as chosen by an analyst in more than 94% of the records. We show that the method is generalizable to a variety of learning algorithms, including neural networks and random forest classifiers. The method is suitable for automated processing of large seismic waveform datasets, and can potentially be used in real-time applications, e.g. for improving the source characterizations of earthquake early warning algorithms.

A memory-array architecture for computer vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balsara, P.T.

1989-01-01

With the fast advances in the area of computer vision and robotics there is a growing need for machines that can understand images at a very high speed. A conventional von Neumann computer is not suited for this purpose because it takes a tremendous amount of time to solve most typical image processing problems. Exploiting the inherent parallelism present in various vision tasks can significantly reduce the processing time. Fortunately, parallelism is increasingly affordable as hardware gets cheaper. Thus it is now imperative to study computer vision in a parallel processing framework. The author should first design a computational structure which is well suited for a wide range of vision tasks and then develop parallel algorithms which can run efficiently on this structure. Recent advances in VLSI technology have led to several proposals for parallel architectures for computer vision. In this thesis he demonstrates that a memory array architecture with efficient local and global communication capabilities can be used for high speed execution of a wide range of computer vision tasks. This architecture, called the Access Constrained Memory Array Architecture (ACMAA), is efficient for VLSI implementation because of its modular structure, simple interconnect and limited global control. Several parallel vision algorithms have been designed for this architecture. The choice of vision problems demonstrates the versatility of ACMAA for a wide range of vision tasks. These algorithms were simulated on a high level ACMAA simulator running on the Intel iPSC/2 hypercube, a parallel architecture. The results of this simulation are compared with those of sequential algorithms running on a single hypercube node. Details of the ACMAA processor architecture are also presented.

Functional vision loss: a diagnosis of exclusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Villegas, Rex B; Ilsen, Pauline F

2007-10-01

Most cases of visual acuity or visual field loss can be attributed to ocular pathology or ocular manifestations of systemic pathology. They can also occasionally be attributed to nonpathologic processes or malingering. Functional vision loss is any decrease in vision the origin of which cannot be attributed to a pathologic or structural abnormality. Two cases of functional vision loss are described. In the first, a 58-year-old man presented for a baseline eye examination for enrollment in a vision rehabilitation program. He reported bilateral blindness since a motor vehicle accident with head trauma 4 years prior. Entering visual acuity was "no light perception" in each eye. Ocular health examination was normal and the patient made frequent eye contact with the examiners. He was referred for neuroimaging and electrophysiologic testing. The second case was a 49-year-old man who presented with a long history of intermittent monocular diplopia. His medical history was significant for psycho-medical evaluations and a diagnosis of factitious disorder. Entering uncorrected visual acuities were 20/20 in each eye, but visual field testing found constriction. No abnormalities were found that could account for the monocular diplopia or visual field deficit. A diagnosis of functional vision loss secondary to factitious disorder was made. Functional vision loss is a diagnosis of exclusion. In the event of reduced vision in the context of a normal ocular health examination, all other pathology must be ruled out before making the diagnosis of functional vision loss. Evaluation must include auxiliary ophthalmologic testing, neuroimaging of the visual pathway, review of the medical history and lifestyle, and psychiatric evaluation. Comanagement with a psychiatrist is essential for patients with functional vision loss.

From Vision to Actuality: Translating the Organizing Vision of Mobile Technology in Home Care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Tina Blegind; Agger Nielsen, Jeppe

Empirical evidence from a case study of the diffusion and adoption of mobile technology in a highly structured home care setting in Denmark shows how an organizational field vision of an efficient mobile technology was created and became transformed through diverse translation mechanisms...... the organizing vision for mobile technology in practice. Our findings show that an integration of the translation perspective not only furthers our understanding of the malleability of the organizing vision but also shows how actions at multiple levels interact to enable technology adoption and eventually...... institutionalization. Our study contributes to the increasing research on diffusion and adoption of mobile technologies within healthcare by challenging dominant single level analysis and factor-orientated approaches....

Experimental Demonstration of OCDMA Transmission Using a Three-Dimensional (Time-Wavelength-Polarization) Codeset

Science.gov (United States)

McGeehan, John E.; Motaghian Nezam, S. M. R.; Saghari, P.; Willner, Alan E.; Omrani, Reza; Vijay Kumar, P.

2005-10-01

We experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional (3-D) optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) transmission system that encodes data on time, wavelength, and polarization. Such a system may be ideal for use in short-distance optical local area networks (LANs), where polarization states remain fairly stable. This type of coding can increase the number of potential users, by a factor of approximately 2kappa, over a conventional two-dimensional (2-D) code given the same code constraints, where"kappa"is the number of collisions the codeset will allow. We encode 1-Gbit/s, 11-Gchip/s data with an 11-chip, 4-wavelength, weight-4 (per polarization) code using free-space and fiber delay lines and polarization beam combiners and decode using a polarization beam splitter, wavelength demultiplexers, and additional fiber/free-space delays. After threshold detection using independent detectors for each polarization state, we obtain 1-Gbit/s nonreturn to zero (NRZ) output data. Encoding, transmission decoding, and detection carry a penalty of 1.8 dB.

Deep hierarchical attention network for video description

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shuohao; Tang, Min; Zhang, Jun

2018-03-01

Pairing video to natural language description remains a challenge in computer vision and machine translation. Inspired by image description, which uses an encoder-decoder model for reducing visual scene into a single sentence, we propose a deep hierarchical attention network for video description. The proposed model uses convolutional neural network (CNN) and bidirectional LSTM network as encoders while a hierarchical attention network is used as the decoder. Compared to encoder-decoder models used in video description, the bidirectional LSTM network can capture the temporal structure among video frames. Moreover, the hierarchical attention network has an advantage over single-layer attention network on global context modeling. To make a fair comparison with other methods, we evaluate the proposed architecture with different types of CNN structures and decoders. Experimental results on the standard datasets show that our model has a more superior performance than the state-of-the-art techniques.

Research on generating various polarization-modes in polarized illumination system

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jinping; Lin, Wumei; Fan, Zhenjie

2013-08-01

With the increase of the numerical aperture (NA), the polarization of light affects the imaging quality of projection lens more significantly. On the contrary, according to the mask pattern, the resolution of projection lens can be improved by using the polarized illumination. That is to say, using the corresponding polarized beam (or polarization-mode) along with the off-axis illumination will improve the resolution and the imaging quality of the of projection lens. Therefore, the research on the generation of various polarization modes and its conversion methods become more and more important. In order to realize various polarization modes in polarized illumination system, after read a lot of references, we provide a way that fitting for the illumination system with the wavelength of 193nm.Six polarization-modes and a depolarized mode are probably considered. Wave-plate stack is used to generate linearly polarization-mode, which have a higher degree polarization. In order to generate X-Y and Y-X polarization mode, the equipment consisting of four sectors of λ/2 wave plate was used. We combined 16 sectors of λ/2 wave plate which have different orientations of the "slow" axis to generate radial and azimuthal polarization. Finally, a multi-polarization control device was designed. Using the kind of multi-polarization control device which applying this method could help to choose the polarization modes conveniently and flexibility for the illumination system.

Polarization properties of linearly polarized parabolic scaling Bessel beams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo, Mengwen; Zhao, Daomu, E-mail: zhaodaomu@yahoo.com

2016-10-07

The intensity profiles for the dominant polarization, cross polarization, and longitudinal components of modified parabolic scaling Bessel beams with linear polarization are investigated theoretically. The transverse intensity distributions of the three electric components are intimately connected to the topological charge. In particular, the intensity patterns of the cross polarization and longitudinal components near the apodization plane reflect the sign of the topological charge. - Highlights: • We investigated the polarization properties of modified parabolic scaling Bessel beams with linear polarization. • We studied the evolution of transverse intensity profiles for the three components of these beams. • The intensity patterns of the cross polarization and longitudinal components can reflect the sign of the topological charge.

Robot vision for nuclear advanced robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayama, Ryoichi; Okano, Hideharu; Kuno, Yoshinori; Miyazawa, Tatsuo; Shimada, Hideo; Okada, Satoshi; Kawamura, Astuo

1991-01-01

This paper describes Robot Vision and Operation System for Nuclear Advanced Robot. This Robot Vision consists of robot position detection, obstacle detection and object recognition. With these vision techniques, a mobile robot can make a path and move autonomously along the planned path. The authors implemented the above robot vision system on the 'Advanced Robot for Nuclear Power Plant' and tested in an environment mocked up as nuclear power plant facilities. Since the operation system for this robot consists of operator's console and a large stereo monitor, this system can be easily operated by one person. Experimental tests were made using the Advanced Robot (nuclear robot). Results indicate that the proposed operation system is very useful, and can be operate by only person. (author)

Integrating National Space Visions

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwood, Brent

2006-01-01

This paper examines value proposition assumptions for various models nations may use to justify, shape, and guide their space programs. Nations organize major societal investments like space programs to actualize national visions represented by leaders as investments in the public good. The paper defines nine 'vision drivers' that circumscribe the motivations evidently underpinning national space programs. It then describes 19 fundamental space activity objectives (eight extant and eleven prospective) that nations already do or could in the future use to actualize the visions they select. Finally the paper presents four contrasting models of engagement among nations, and compares these models to assess realistic pounds on the pace of human progress in space over the coming decades. The conclusion is that orthogonal engagement, albeit unlikely because it is unprecedented, would yield the most robust and rapid global progress.

Applications of AI, machine vision and robotics

CERN Document Server

Boyer, Kim; Bunke, H

1995-01-01

This text features a broad array of research efforts in computer vision including low level processing, perceptual organization, object recognition and active vision. The volume's nine papers specifically report on topics such as sensor confidence, low level feature extraction schemes, non-parametric multi-scale curve smoothing, integration of geometric and non-geometric attributes for object recognition, design criteria for a four degree-of-freedom robot head, a real-time vision system based on control of visual attention and a behavior-based active eye vision system. The scope of the book pr

Convolutional neural networks and face recognition task

Science.gov (United States)

Sochenkova, A.; Sochenkov, I.; Makovetskii, A.; Vokhmintsev, A.; Melnikov, A.

2017-09-01

Computer vision tasks are remaining very important for the last couple of years. One of the most complicated problems in computer vision is face recognition that could be used in security systems to provide safety and to identify person among the others. There is a variety of different approaches to solve this task, but there is still no universal solution that would give adequate results in some cases. Current paper presents following approach. Firstly, we extract an area containing face, then we use Canny edge detector. On the next stage we use convolutional neural networks (CNN) to finally solve face recognition and person identification task.

FPGA Implementation of Computer Vision Algorithm

OpenAIRE

Zhou, Zhonghua

2014-01-01

Computer vision algorithms, which play an significant role in vision processing, is widely applied in many aspects such as geology survey, traffic management and medical care, etc.. Most of the situations require the process to be real-timed, in other words, as fast as possible. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have a advantage of parallelism fabric in programming, comparing to the serial communications of CPUs, which makes FPGA a perfect platform for implementing vision algorithms. The...

How green are the TEN-T core network corridors?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Panagakos, George; Psaraftis, Harilaos N.

defining this concept, identified the characteristics that distinguish a green corridor from an otherwise efficient one. The main thesis of this paper is that the „core network corridors‟ of the new TEN-T guidelines exhibit all these qualities and the vision of a green corridor network in Europe is close...... to reality. To support this thesis, and in continuation of the work of SuperGreen, the paper examines the proposed new „guidelines‟ for the development of the TEN-T after presenting a brief history of transport network development in Europe....

Young Researchers Engaged in Educational Outreach to Increase Polar Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond, M.; Baeseman, J.; Xavier, J.; Kaiser, B.; Vendrell-Simon, B.

2008-12-01

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) grew out of the 4th International Polar Year (IPY-4) 2007-08 and is an international and interdisciplinary organization of over 1200 undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, early faculty members, educators and others with interests in Polar Regions and the wider cryosphere from more than 40 countries. Our aims are to stimulate interdisciplinary and international research collaborations, and develop effective future leaders in polar research, education and outreach. As potentially one of the major legacies of IPY-4, APECS members have been at the forefront of increasing scientific knowledge and public interest in the polar regions, centered around global climate change, and enhancing scientific understanding, media attention, primary and secondary school (K-12) educational programs, undergraduate institutions, and public literacy campaigns. Research and Educational Outreach activities by APECS members during IPY-4 have improved both our understanding and the communication of all aspects of the Polar Regions and the importance of their broader global connections. APECS National Committees have run Polar Contests where young researchers partnered with teachers and students to develop curriculum and activities to share their research, have participated in many field based communication exchanges and are mentoring youth to pursue careers in science, and enhancing the public perception of scientists through photo, video and museum exhibits. In cooperation with the IPY Teachers Network and the IPY IPO, APECS is developing a polar education resource book that will feature education and outreach activities by young researchers, as well as provide examples of classroom activities for teachers to incorporate polar literacy into their curriculum and a How-To guide for researchers interested in conducting education and outreach. As young researchers interactively share their excitement and

21 CFR 886.5915 - Optical vision aid.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Optical vision aid. 886.5915 Section 886.5915 Food... DEVICES OPHTHALMIC DEVICES Therapeutic Devices § 886.5915 Optical vision aid. (a) Identification. An optical vision aid is a device that consists of a magnifying lens with an accompanying AC-powered or...

21 CFR 886.5540 - Low-vision magnifier.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Low-vision magnifier. 886.5540 Section 886.5540...) MEDICAL DEVICES OPHTHALMIC DEVICES Therapeutic Devices § 886.5540 Low-vision magnifier. (a) Identification. A low-vision magnifier is a device that consists of a magnifying lens intended for use by a patient...

21 CFR 886.5870 - Low-vision telescope.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Low-vision telescope. 886.5870 Section 886.5870...) MEDICAL DEVICES OPHTHALMIC DEVICES Therapeutic Devices § 886.5870 Low-vision telescope. (a) Identification. A low-vision telescope is a device that consists of an arrangement of lenses or mirrors intended for...

N2Vision technology application for direct identification of commercial hydrocarbons in Trenton-Black River Formations of Ontario

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agou, S. [Productive Geoscience Exploration Inc., Whitby, ON (Canada)

2006-07-01

N2Vision seismic signal interpretation technology has been used to evaluate the petroleum and natural gas potential in the Trenton-Black River (TBR) formations of Ontario. The technology was developed in Russia in the 1980s to solve complex problems in frontier exploration. The N2Vision neural networks algorithm is a multilayer feed-forward neural network (MFFN) for pattern recognition and is based on data from existing wells collected over 20 years of method application. The algorithm recognizes hydrocarbons by establishing relationships between all attributes of the seismic field and data from existing wells. In Ontario, the algorithm was trained on data from many productive and non-productive wells from the researched and adjacent fields, as well as on seismic patterns of geological features obtained from the Yurubchen-Tokhom oil field in easter Siberia. The 2D seismic data was collected by different companies. It targeted shallower horizons and had non-consistent quality. The results of N2Vision were shown to be well correlated with the objective data. The common geological features of southern Ontario, Yurubchen field and the Baltic Syneclise were presented in this paper. All 3 regions are found in specific geodynamically prestressed and heated up zones that are represented primarily by shallow carbonates, leaching dolomites and highly permeable reservoirs with vertical fracturing. This paper demonstrated that the technology can greatly reduce the risk of selecting drilling locations, while significantly decreasing the cost of hydrocarbon exploration. tabs., figs.

On the performance of telemedicine system using 17-GHz orthogonally polarized microwave links under the influence of heavy rainfall.

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Bernard; Fong, A C M; Hong, G Y

2005-09-01

This paper describes the design of a telemedicine system based on next-generation wireless local area networks (WLANs) operating at 17 GHz. Seventeen gigahertz is proposed for next-generation WLAN services offering numerous advantages over traditional IEEE 802.11 networks that operate in the range of 2.4-5 GHz. Orthogonal polarization is often used to increase spectrum efficiency by utilizing signal paths of horizontal and vertical polarization. Radio waves exceeding 10 GHz are particularly vulnerable to signal degradation under the influence of rain which causes an effective reduction in isolation between polarized signal paths. This paper investigates the influence of heavy rain in a tropical region on wide-band microwave signals at 17 GHz using two links provided by a fixed broad-band wireless access system for two-way data exchange between paramedics attending an accident scene and the hospital via microwave equipment installed in the ambulance. We also study the effects of cross polarization and phase rotation due to persistent heavy rainfall in tropical regions.

VISION- REQUIREMENT FOR A SUCCESSFUL LEADER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela - Olimpia Lobonea (Oltean

2014-12-01

Full Text Available These people were called in the past chiefs, rulers. Now they are known as leaders. After management by objectives, strategic planning, project organization, this concept appears as a tool called "fourth generation". It is called VISION. Leadership and vision exist in the actual sense, which has become modern a few decades ago, managing to gather during this time a variety of scientific instruments. The connection between these two domains creates a certain type of leader, the visionary leader. The hypothesis from which we start is that all active leaders have a vision of what needs to be accomplished, and the inability to predict something that could be provided involves loss the capacity of the leader. Without vision, the energy reaches the lowest quotas, production decreases, terms limits are exceeded and human resources begin to dissipate.. The conclusion is that visionary leaders are endowed with multiple attributes (multiple intelligence, even if sometimes the role of intuition and unconscious in building vision at the expense of reason that is based on experience and facts is exaggerated.

The Rate of Low Vision Aids Usage after Prescription at the Saba and Khazaneh Clinics in Low Vision Clients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nasser Sadegh-Pour

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: This research was aimed to determine the rate of low vision aids uses by low vision clients in their daily living. Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study that was done at the Saba and Khazaneh clinics, 50 people from low vision clients were selected by convenient sampling during 2005 & 2006. One questionnaire was completed by therapist at the first time of optometric examination and useful low vision aid (LVA has been prescript and given to clients. After three months (at least they should came back to center and fill the second form. The first form was about functional vision without LVA and second too, but by using of LVA. They have been compared to fulfill the result of research. Data were analyzed by Spearman correlation coefficient, Chi – square and Wilcoxon tests. Results: Spearman correlation coefficient between use of LVAs for near with duration and frequency of study were 0/491 and 0/520 with probability values such as P=0/003 and P=0/002 that shown significant relation. There was significant difference in traffic measure and environment knowing between before and after of far LVAs using (P=0/002 and their SCC was 0/499. There was significant relation between use of low vision aid and education after prescription (P=0/011. Conclusion: However the LVAs improve vision of low vision person, but many of them don’t use by different reasons.

Polarized nuclear target based on parahydrogen induced polarization

OpenAIRE

Budker, D.; Ledbetter, M. P.; Appelt, S.; Bouchard, L. S.; Wojtsekhowski, B.

2012-01-01

We discuss a novel concept of a polarized nuclear target for accelerator fixed-target scattering experiments, which is based on parahydrogen induced polarization (PHIP). One may be able to reach a 33% free-proton polarization in the ethane molecule. The potential advantages of such a target include operation at zero magnetic field, fast ($\\sim$100 Hz) polarization reversal, and operation with large intensity of an electron beam.

Greenhouse gas mitigation can reduce sea-ice loss and increase polar bear persistence

Science.gov (United States)

Amstrup, Steven C.; Deweaver, E.T.; Douglas, David C.; Marcot, B.G.; Durner, George M.; Bitz, C.M.; Bailey, D.A.

2010-01-01

On the basis of projected losses of their essential sea-ice habitats, a United States Geological Survey research team concluded in 2007 that two-thirds of the worlds polar bears (Ursus maritimus) could disappear by mid-century if business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions continue. That projection, however, did not consider the possible benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation. A key question is whether temperature increases lead to proportional losses of sea-ice habitat, or whether sea-ice cover crosses a tipping point and irreversibly collapses when temperature reaches a critical threshold. Such a tipping point would mean future greenhouse gas mitigation would confer no conservation benefits to polar bears. Here we show, using a general circulation model, that substantially more sea-ice habitat would be retained if greenhouse gas rise is mitigated. We also show, with Bayesian network model outcomes, that increased habitat retention under greenhouse gas mitigation means that polar bears could persist throughout the century in greater numbers and more areas than in the business-as-usual case. Our general circulation model outcomes did not reveal thresholds leading to irreversible loss of ice; instead, a linear relationship between global mean surface air temperature and sea-ice habitat substantiated the hypothesis that sea-ice thermodynamics can overcome albedo feedbacks proposed to cause sea-ice tipping points. Our outcomes indicate that rapid summer ice losses in models and observations represent increased volatility of a thinning sea-ice cover, rather than tipping-point behaviour. Mitigation-driven Bayesian network outcomes show that previously predicted declines in polar bear distribution and numbers are not unavoidable. Because polar bears are sentinels of the Arctic marine ecosystem and trends in their sea-ice habitats foreshadow future global changes, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions to improve polar bear status would have conservation benefits throughout

Greenhouse gas mitigation can reduce sea-ice loss and increase polar bear persistence.

Science.gov (United States)

Amstrup, Steven C; Deweaver, Eric T; Douglas, David C; Marcot, Bruce G; Durner, George M; Bitz, Cecilia M; Bailey, David A

2010-12-16

On the basis of projected losses of their essential sea-ice habitats, a United States Geological Survey research team concluded in 2007 that two-thirds of the world's polar bears (Ursus maritimus) could disappear by mid-century if business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions continue. That projection, however, did not consider the possible benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation. A key question is whether temperature increases lead to proportional losses of sea-ice habitat, or whether sea-ice cover crosses a tipping point and irreversibly collapses when temperature reaches a critical threshold. Such a tipping point would mean future greenhouse gas mitigation would confer no conservation benefits to polar bears. Here we show, using a general circulation model, that substantially more sea-ice habitat would be retained if greenhouse gas rise is mitigated. We also show, with Bayesian network model outcomes, that increased habitat retention under greenhouse gas mitigation means that polar bears could persist throughout the century in greater numbers and more areas than in the business-as-usual case. Our general circulation model outcomes did not reveal thresholds leading to irreversible loss of ice; instead, a linear relationship between global mean surface air temperature and sea-ice habitat substantiated the hypothesis that sea-ice thermodynamics can overcome albedo feedbacks proposed to cause sea-ice tipping points. Our outcomes indicate that rapid summer ice losses in models and observations represent increased volatility of a thinning sea-ice cover, rather than tipping-point behaviour. Mitigation-driven Bayesian network outcomes show that previously predicted declines in polar bear distribution and numbers are not unavoidable. Because polar bears are sentinels of the Arctic marine ecosystem and trends in their sea-ice habitats foreshadow future global changes, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions to improve polar bear status would have conservation benefits throughout

The evolution of cooperation on geographical networks

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yixiao; Wang, Yi; Sheng, Jichuan

2017-11-01

We study evolutionary public goods game on geographical networks, i.e., complex networks which are located on a geographical plane. The geographical feature effects in two ways: In one way, the geographically-induced network structure influences the overall evolutionary dynamics, and, in the other way, the geographical length of an edge influences the cost when the two players at the two ends interact. For the latter effect, we design a new cost function of cooperators, which simply assumes that the longer the distance between two players, the higher cost the cooperator(s) of them have to pay. In this study, network substrates are generated by a previous spatial network model with a cost-benefit parameter controlling the network topology. Our simulations show that the greatest promotion of cooperation is achieved in the intermediate regime of the parameter, in which empirical estimates of various railway networks fall. Further, we investigate how the distribution of edges' geographical costs influences the evolutionary dynamics and consider three patterns of the distribution: an approximately-equal distribution, a diverse distribution, and a polarized distribution. For normal geographical networks which are generated using intermediate values of the cost-benefit parameter, a diverse distribution hinders the evolution of cooperation, whereas a polarized distribution lowers the threshold value of the amplification factor for cooperation in public goods game. These results are helpful for understanding the evolution of cooperation on real-world geographical networks.

Color Vision Defects in School Going Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R K Shrestha

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Color Vision defect can be observed in various diseases of optic nerve and retina and also a significant number of people suffer from the inherited condition of red and green color defect. Methods: A cross-sectional descritptive study was designed with purposive sampling of students from various schools of Kathmandu Valley. All children were subjected to color vision evaluation using Ishihara Isochromatic color plates along with other examination to rule out any other causes of color deficiency. Results: A total of 2001 students were examined, 1050 male students and 951 females with mean age of 10.35 (±2.75 and 10.54 (±2.72 respectively. Among the total students examined, 2.1% had some form of color vision defects. Of the male population , 3.9% had color vision defects while none of the female was found with the deficiency. Conclusions: The prelevance of color vision defect in Nepal is significant and comparable with the prelevance quoted in the studies from different countries. Keywords:color vision; congenital red green color effect; Nepal; prevalence.