Can We Model the Scenic Beauty of an Alpine Landscape?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erich Tasser

2013-03-01

Full Text Available During the last decade, agriculture has lost its importance in many European mountain regions and tourism, which benefits from attractive landscapes, has become a major source of income. Changes in landscape patterns and elements might affect scenic beauty and therefore the socio-economic welfare of a region. Our study aimed at modeling scenic beauty by quantifying the influence of landscape elements and patterns in relationship to distance. Focusing on Alpine landscapes in South and North Tyrol, we used a photographic questionnaire showing different landscape compositions. As mountain landscapes offer long vistas, we related scenic beauty to different distance zones. Our results indicate that the near zone contributes by 64% to the valuation of scenic beauty, the middle zone by 22%, and the far zone by 14%. In contrast to artificial elements, naturalness and diversity increased scenic beauty. Significant differences between different social groups (origin, age, gender, cultural background occurred only between the local population and tourists regarding great landscape changes. Changes towards more homogenous landscapes were perceived negatively, thus political decision makers should support the conservation of the cultural landscape.

Multiresolution Network Temporal and Spatial Scheduling Model of Scenic Spot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Ge

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Tourism is one of pillar industries of the world economy. Low-carbon tourism will be the mainstream direction of the scenic spots' development, and the ω path of low-carbon tourism development is to develop economy and protect environment simultaneously. However, as the tourists' quantity is increasing, the loads of scenic spots are out of control. And the instantaneous overload in some spots caused the image phenomenon of full capacity of the whole scenic spot. Therefore, realizing the real-time schedule becomes the primary purpose of scenic spot’s management. This paper divides the tourism distribution system into several logically related subsystems and constructs a temporal and spatial multiresolution network scheduling model according to the regularity of scenic spots’ overload phenomenon in time and space. It also defines dynamic distribution probability and equivalent dynamic demand to realize the real-time prediction. We define gravitational function between fields and takes it as the utility of schedule, after resolving the transportation model of each resolution, it achieves hierarchical balance between demand and capacity of the system. The last part of the paper analyzes the time complexity of constructing a multiresolution distribution system.

78 FR 53777 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Visual Resource Management and Areas of Critical...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-30

... species, a unique sand dune community and habitat, the desert kangaroo rat, and for scenic quality. The... criteria: McCarty Canyon; for scenic quality and wildlife habitat; Seminoe and Pathfinder Reservoirs; for sensitive plant species, scenic quality, and wildlife habitat; Flattop Mountain; for sensitive plant species...

Effects of streamflows on stream-channel morphology in the eastern Niobrara National Scenic River, Nebraska, 1988–2010

Science.gov (United States)

Schaepe, Nathaniel J.; Alexander, Jason S.; Folz-Donahue, Kiernan

2016-03-09

The Niobrara River is an important and valuable economic and ecological resource in northern Nebraska that supports ecotourism, recreational boating, wildlife, fisheries, agriculture, and hydroelectric power. Because of its uniquely rich resources, a 122-kilometer reach of the Niobrara River was designated as a National Scenic River in 1991, which has been jointly managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. To assess how the remarkable qualities of the National Scenic River may change if consumptive uses of water are increased above current levels, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, initiated an investigation of how stream-channel morphology might be affected by potential decreases in summer streamflows. The study included a 65-kilometer segment in the wide, braided eastern stretch of the Niobrara National Scenic River that provides important nesting habitat for migratory bird species of concern to the Nation.

The Visual Matrix Method: Imagery and Affect in a Group-Based Research Setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lynn Froggett

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The visual matrix is a method for researching shared experience, stimulated by sensory material relevant to a research question. It is led by imagery, visualization and affect, which in the matrix take precedence over discourse. The method enables the symbolization of imaginative and emotional material, which might not otherwise be articulated and allows "unthought" dimensions of experience to emerge into consciousness in a participatory setting. We describe the process of the matrix with reference to the study "Public Art and Civic Engagement" (FROGGETT, MANLEY, ROY, PRIOR & DOHERTY, 2014 in which it was developed and tested. Subsequently, examples of its use in other contexts are provided. Both the matrix and post-matrix discussions are described, as is the interpretive process that follows. Theoretical sources are highlighted: its origins in social dreaming; the atemporal, associative nature of the thinking during and after the matrix which we describe through the Deleuzian idea of the rhizome; and the hermeneutic analysis which draws from object relations theory and the Lorenzerian tradition of scenic understanding. The matrix has been conceptualized as a "scenic rhizome" to account for its distinctive quality and hybrid origins in research practice. The scenic rhizome operates as a "third" between participants and the "objects" of contemplation. We suggest that some of the drawbacks of other group-based methods are avoided in the visual matrix—namely the tendency for inter-personal dynamics to dominate the event. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150369

Socialization, Language, and Scenic Understanding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Henning Salling; Weber, Kirsten

2013-01-01

is based on a transformation of the "scenic understanding" from a clinical to a text interpretation, which seeks to understand collective unconscious meaning in text, and is presented with an illustration of the interpretation procedure from social research. Then follows a brief systematic account of key...

Social valuation of scenic beauty in Catalonian beech forests; Valoracion social de las propiedades esteticas de los hayedos en Cataluna

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vega-Garcia, C.; Burriel, M.; Alcazar, J.

2011-07-01

Methods tested in other countries are applied for scenic beauty valuation in several beech locations in Catalonia including significant differences in site, origin, age and stand structure. The study intends to measure stand scenic beauty as seen from inside the forest, as forest visitors see it (near-view). Assessments are obtained through panels of observers in slide sessions, which are transformed into scaled ratings and related through regression analysis to plot-based forest inventory data. The development of statistical models that describe social visual preferences allows the assessment of the contribution of different forestry-related physical variables to the aesthetic improvement of beech forests. It can also be useful as a guide to beech forest planning where recreational use is prevailing or very important. (Author) 37 refs.

Talladega scenic drive corridor management plan

Science.gov (United States)

2002-04-01

The Talladega Scenic Drive is a 29-mile two-laned, paved road, primarily located along the ridges of Horseblock and Cheaha mountains through the Talladega National Forest in northeastern Alabama with panoramic views into Choccolocco and Cheaha Valley...

The Scenic performance mechanism in the Aristophanes' comedies: the prompter and the focalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane Kelly de Oliveira

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this article, we aimed to point two important mechanisms of scenic performance in the plays of the Greek comedy writer Aristophanes (V BC. Our start assumption is that it is possible to find in the text important marks for the scenic operationalization of those comedies. In the time when those comedies were composed, the author knew the material conditions of scenic performance and he used some interesting strategies, and we highlight two of them: (i he inserted reminder-speech inside the sing of chorus to work as a prompter for the coreutas' choreography; (ii he used the chorus' collective body to indicate to the spectator which scenic elements deserve the attention for being important for the progress of the plot. These two play composition strategies are similar, but not equal, to the contemporary concepts of prompter and focalization.

Appalachian National Scenic Trail pilot survey

Science.gov (United States)

Stan Zarnoch; Michael Bowker; Ken Cordell; Matt Owens; Gary T. Green; Allison Ginn

2011-01-01

Visitation statistics on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT) are important for management and Federal Government reporting purposes. However, no survey methodology has been developed to obtain accurate trailwide estimates over linear trails that traverse many hundreds of back-country miles. This research develops a stratified random survey design which utilizes...

Visual Resource Analysis for Solar Energy Zones in the San Luis Valley

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sullivan, Robert [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Environmental Science Division; Abplanalp, Jennifer M. [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Environmental Science Division; Zvolanek, Emily [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Environmental Science Division; Brown, Jeffery [Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC (United States). Dept. of the Interior

2016-01-01

This report summarizes the results of a study conducted by Argonne National Laboratory’s (Argonne’s) Environmental Science Division for the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The study analyzed the regional effects of potential visual impacts of solar energy development on three BLM-designated solar energy zones (SEZs) in the San Luis Valley (SLV) in Colorado, and, based on the analysis, made recommendations for or against regional compensatory mitigation to compensate residents and other stakeholders for the potential visual impacts to the SEZs. The analysis was conducted as part of the solar regional mitigation strategy (SRMS) task conducted by BLM Colorado with assistance from Argonne. Two separate analyses were performed. The first analysis, referred to as the VSA Analysis, analyzed the potential visual impacts of solar energy development in the SEZs on nearby visually sensitive areas (VSAs), and, based on the impact analyses, made recommendations for or against regional compensatory mitigation. VSAs are locations for which some type of visual sensitivity has been identified, either because the location is an area of high scenic value or because it is a location from which people view the surrounding landscape and attach some level of importance or sensitivity to what is seen from the location. The VSA analysis included both BLM-administered lands in Colorado and in the Taos FO in New Mexico. The second analysis, referred to as the SEZ Analysis, used BLM visual resource inventory (VRI) and other data on visual resources in the former Saguache and La Jara Field Offices (FOs), now contained within the San Luis Valley FO (SLFO), to determine whether the changes in scenic values that would result from the development of utility-scale solar energy facilities in the SEZs would affect the quality and quantity of valued scenic resources in the SLV region as a whole. If the regional effects were judged to be significant, regional

Measurement of Scenic Spots Sustainable Capacity Based on PCA-Entropy TOPSIS: A Case Study from 30 Provinces, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Xuedong; Liu, Canmian; Li, Zhi

2017-12-22

In connection with the sustainable development of scenic spots, this paper, with consideration of resource conditions, economic benefits, auxiliary industry scale and ecological environment, establishes a comprehensive measurement model of the sustainable capacity of scenic spots; optimizes the index system by principal components analysis to extract principal components; assigns the weight of principal components by entropy method; analyzes the sustainable capacity of scenic spots in each province of China comprehensively in combination with TOPSIS method and finally puts forward suggestions aid decision-making. According to the study, this method provides an effective reference for the study of the sustainable development of scenic spots and is very significant for considering the sustainable development of scenic spots and auxiliary industries to establish specific and scientific countermeasures for improvement.

The role of wild and scenic rivers in the conservation of aquatic biodiversity

Science.gov (United States)

John D. Rothlisberger; Tamara Heartsill Scalley; Russell F. Thurow

2017-01-01

Formerly diverse and abundant freshwater species are highly imperiled, with higher extinction rates than many other taxonomic groups worldwide. In the 50 years since passage of the US Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, wild and scenic rivers (WSRs) have contributed significantly to the conservation of native aquatic biodiversity as well as to the conservation and restoration...

Management Implications for the Most Attractive Scenic Sites along the Andalusia Coast (SW Spain

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Alexis Mooser

2018-04-01

Full Text Available A coastal scenery assessment was carried out at 50 sites along the 910 km long Andalusia coast (SW Spain using a checklist of 26 natural and human parameters, parameter weighting matrices, and fuzzy logic. A scenic classification was utilised that can rate sites as Class I (natural areas of great scenic beauty to Class V (urbanised areas of poor scenic interest, but, for this study, only natural sites of great scenic value were investigated; 41 sites were included in Class I, 9 in Class II and, apart from four, all of the sites were under some feature of protection—managed by the Andalusia Environmental Agency (RENPA, in Spanish. Sites belong to the Natural Park Cabo de Gata-Nijar (24% of sites, the Natural Park of Gibraltar Strait (18%, the Natural Place Acantilado de Maro-Cerro Gordo (12%, and the Natural and National parks of Doñana (8%. Results obtained by means of scenic evaluation constitute a sound scientific basis for any envisaged management plan for investigated coastal areas preservation/conservation and responsible future developments, especially for natural protected areas, which represent the most attractive coastal tourist destinations. With respect to natural parameters, excellent scenic values appeared to be linked to the geological setting and the presence of mountainous landscapes related to the Betic Chain. Human parameters usually show good scores because null or extremely reduced human impacts are recorded, but, at places, conflicts arose between conservation and recreational activities because visitors are often interested in beach activities more so than ecotourism. Low scores of human parameters were often related to litter presence or the unsuitable emplacement of utilities, such as informative panels, litter bins, etc.

Measurement of Scenic Spots Sustainable Capacity Based on PCA-Entropy TOPSIS: A Case Study from 30 Provinces, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuedong Liang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In connection with the sustainable development of scenic spots, this paper, with consideration of resource conditions, economic benefits, auxiliary industry scale and ecological environment, establishes a comprehensive measurement model of the sustainable capacity of scenic spots; optimizes the index system by principal components analysis to extract principal components; assigns the weight of principal components by entropy method; analyzes the sustainable capacity of scenic spots in each province of China comprehensively in combination with TOPSIS method and finally puts forward suggestions aid decision-making. According to the study, this method provides an effective reference for the study of the sustainable development of scenic spots and is very significant for considering the sustainable development of scenic spots and auxiliary industries to establish specific and scientific countermeasures for improvement.

Visual signal quality assessment quality of experience (QOE)

CERN Document Server

Ma, Lin; Lin, Weisi; Ngan, King

2015-01-01

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the latest trends/advances in subjective and objective quality evaluation for traditional visual signals, such as 2D images and video, as well as the most recent challenges for the field of multimedia quality assessment and processing, such as mobile video and social media. Readers will learn how to ensure the highest storage/delivery/ transmission quality of visual content (including image, video, graphics, animation, etc.) from the server to the consumer, under resource constraints, such as computation, bandwidth, storage space, battery life, etc.    Provides an overview of quality assessment for traditional visual signals; Covers newly emerged visual signals such as social media, 3D image/video, mobile video, high dynamic range (HDR) images, graphics/animation, etc., which demand better quality of experience (QoE); Helps readers to develop better quality metrics and processing methods for newly emerged visual signals; Enables testing, optimizing, benchmarking...

Site Study Plan for Aesthetics, Deaf Smith County Site, Texas: Environmental Field Program: Preliminary draft

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-06-01

The Aesthetic Site Study Plan describes a field program consisting of identification of the visually affected area; determination of scenic quality, visual sensitivity, and visual management classes of the site and vicinity; and analysis of the level of visual contrast that would be created by the project. Field ratings of scenic quality, visual sensitivity, and visual contrast will be supplemented by a public perception survey designed to incorporate the views of the public. This plan describes the need for the study, the study design, data management and use, schedule for proposed activities, and quality assurance program. This study will provide data needed to satisfy requirements contained in, or derived from, SRPO Requirement Document (SRP-RD). 35 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs

BLM Colorado Wild and Scenic Rivers Line Features (Suitable/Eligible)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of the Interior — KMZ File Format –- This line feature class represents the segments identified as eligible or suitable for Wild and Scenic River designation. These segments are part...

76 FR 14897 - Boundary Establishment for the Yellow Dog National Wild and Scenic River, Ottawa National Forest...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-18

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Boundary Establishment for the Yellow Dog National Wild... Dog National Wild and Scenic River to Congress. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Information may be..., Ironwood, MI 49938, (906) 932-1330, ext. 342. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Yellow Dog Wild and Scenic...

Design and Fabricate the Remote Monitor on the Scenic Spot Based on Integrated Sensor System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaohui Wang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Based on the embedded Linux system, established the integrated sensing system to monitor the scenic spot and transmit the collected data to the users. The platform based on the ARM11 development board as the hardware of the system. Used the sensors to collect the different data and pictures and then they were transmitted by the wired and wireless mode. Set up the small Web server by the Boa (small Web server and realized the integrated Web technology and CGI (Common Gateway Interface program. According to the difference information of the scenic spot, the mobile platform collected the needed data and transmitted it to the control platform by the ZigBee wireless module and displayed in the embedded platform. The administrator can realize monitoring all the spots of the scenic and control the terminal equipments in the whole day.

Digitisation of Scenic and Historic Interest Areas in China

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, C.; Lawson, G.; Sim, J.

2015-08-01

Digital documents have become the major information source for heritage conservation practice. More heritage managers today use electronic maps and digital information systems to facilitate management and conservation of cultural heritage. However, the social aspects of digital heritage have not been sufficiently recognised. The aim of this paper is to examine China's `Digital Scenic Area' project, a national program started in 2004, to reveal the political and economic powers behind digital heritage practice. It was found that this project was only conducted within the most popular tourist destinations in China. Tourism information was the main object but information about landscape cultures were neglected in this project. This project also demonstrated that digital management was more like a political or economic symbol rather than a tool for heritage conservation. However, using digital technologies are still considered by the local government as a highly objective way of heritage management. Selected as a typical Scenic Area in China, Slender West Lake in Yangzhou was investigated to identify heritage stakeholder's attitudes toward digital management and the request from local management practice.

Interactions of visual attention and quality perception

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Redi, J.A.; Liu, H.; Zunino, R.; Heynderickx, I.E.J.R.

2011-01-01

Several attempts to integrate visual saliency information in quality metrics are described in literature, albeit with contradictory results. The way saliency is integrated in quality metrics should reflect the mechanisms underlying the interaction between image quality assessment and visual

Sense of place along a scenic byway in Maine

Science.gov (United States)

Marilynne Mann; Jessica Leahy

2008-01-01

Sense of place defines the value and meaning of location. The Rangeley Lakes area of Maine, an unusual natural environment with cultural and historic significance, was nationally recognized in 2000 by the designation of the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway. A survey during the summer of 2006 sought to identify sense of place in the midst of tourism-related growth...

GIS and agent based spatial-temporal simulation modeling for assessing tourism social carrying capacity: a study on Mount Emei scenic area, China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Renjun

2007-06-01

Each scenic area can sustain a specific level of acceptance of tourist development and use, beyond which further development can result in socio-cultural deterioration or a decline in the quality of the experience gained by visitors. This specific level is called carrying capacity. Social carrying capacity can be defined as the maximum level of use (in terms of numbers and activities) that can be absorbed by an area without an unacceptable decline in the quality of experience of visitors and without an unacceptable adverse impact on the society of the area. It is difficult to assess the carrying capacity, because the carrying capacity is determined by not only the number of visitors, but also the time, the type of the recreation, the characters of each individual and the physical environment. The objective of this study is to build a spatial-temporal simulation model to simulate the spatial-temporal distribution of tourists. This model is a tourist spatial behaviors simulator (TSBS). Based on TSBS, the changes of each visitor's travel patterns such as location, cost, and other states data are recoded in a state table. By analyzing this table, the intensity of the tourist use in any area can be calculated; the changes of the quality of tourism experience can be quantized and analyzed. So based on this micro simulation method the social carrying capacity can be assessed more accurately, can be monitored proactively and managed adaptively. In this paper, the carrying capacity of Mount Emei scenic area is analyzed as followed: The author selected the intensity of the crowd as the monitoring Indicators. it is regarded that longer waiting time means more crowded. TSBS was used to simulate the spatial-temporal distribution of tourists. the average of waiting time all the visitors is calculated. And then the author assessed the social carrying capacity of Mount Emei scenic area, found the key factors have impacted on social carrying capacity. The results show that the TSBS

Assessment of visual landscape quality using IKONOS imagery.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozkan, Ulas Yunus

2014-07-01

The assessment of visual landscape quality is of importance to the management of urban woodlands. Satellite remote sensing may be used for this purpose as a substitute for traditional survey techniques that are both labour-intensive and time-consuming. This study examines the association between the quality of the perceived visual landscape in urban woodlands and texture measures extracted from IKONOS satellite data, which features 4-m spatial resolution and four spectral bands. The study was conducted in the woodlands of Istanbul (the most important element of urban mosaic) lying along both shores of the Bosporus Strait. The visual quality assessment applied in this study is based on the perceptual approach and was performed via a survey of expressed preferences. For this purpose, representative photographs of real scenery were used to elicit observers' preferences. A slide show comprising 33 images was presented to a group of 153 volunteers (all undergraduate students), and they were asked to rate the visual quality of each on a 10-point scale (1 for very low visual quality, 10 for very high). Average visual quality scores were calculated for landscape. Texture measures were acquired using the two methods: pixel-based and object-based. Pixel-based texture measures were extracted from the first principle component (PC1) image. Object-based texture measures were extracted by using the original four bands. The association between image texture measures and perceived visual landscape quality was tested via Pearson's correlation coefficient. The analysis found a strong linear association between image texture measures and visual quality. The highest correlation coefficient was calculated between standard deviation of gray levels (SDGL) (one of the pixel-based texture measures) and visual quality (r = 0.82, P landscapes can be estimated by using texture measures extracted from satellite data in combination with appropriate modelling techniques.

[Quality of life in visual impaired children treated for Early Visual Stimulation].

Science.gov (United States)

Messa, Alcione Aparecida; Nakanami, Célia Regina; Lopes, Marcia Caires Bestilleiro

2012-01-01

To evaluate the quality of life in visually impaired children followed in the Early Visual Stimulation Ambulatory of Unifesp in two moments, before and after rehabilitational intervention of multiprofessional team. A CVFQ quality of life questionnaire was used. This instrument has a version for less than three years old children and another one for children older than three years (three to seven years) divided in six subscales: General health, General vision health, Competence, Personality, Family impact and Treatment. The correlation between the subscales on two moments was significant. There was a statistically significant difference in general vision health (p=0,029) and other important differences obtained in general health, family impact and quality of life general score. The questionnaire showed to be effective in order to measure the quality of life related to vision on families followed on this ambulatory. The multidisciplinary interventions provided visual function and familiar quality of life improvement. The quality of life related to vision in children followed in Early Visual Stimulation Ambulatory of Unifesp showed a significant improvement on general vision health.

Socialization, Language, and Scenic Understanding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Henning Salling; Weber, Kirsten

2012-01-01

resumida brevemente, enfatizando el rol de los argumentos del investigador en descubrir el significado socialmente inconsciente en la interacción social. Finalmente, una mirada a los problemas epistemológicos contemporáneos. El enfoque de LORENZER para teorizar e investigar al sujeto como una entidad......The article is a guided tour to Alfred LORENZER's proposal for an "in-depth hermeneutic" cultural analysis methodology which was launched in an environment with an almost complete split between social sciences and psychology/psychoanalysis. It presents the background in his materialist...... socialization theory, which combines a social reinterpretation of the core insights in classical psychoanalysis—the unconscious, the drives—with a theory of language acquisition. His methodology is based on a transformation of the "scenic understanding" from a clinical to a text interpretation, which seeks...

HONDA'S IDEA ABOUT THE UTILIZATION OF NATURAL SCENERY ON "THE USE OF SCENIC LANDSCAPES"

Science.gov (United States)

Ogawa, Toru; Sanada, Junko

Essentially, natural scenery area plan must include scenery conservation and utilization as well as natural conservation, actually however, it is said that natural scenery area plan leans much toward natural conservation. So this study aims to focus on Seiroku Honda who has a major thinking about "utilization of scenery" in the Japanese national park's formation stage and clarify Honda's idea about the utilization of natural scenery by analyzing his "the Use of Scenic Landscapes". As a result, following three points are clarified. 1) Honda has four ideas in the base of each plans. 2) scenic landscape as resources in Honda's own ideas. 3) there was some conflict between modification ways and landscape resources.

Design and information requirements for travel and tourism needs on scenic byways.

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a system design and information evaluation process that could be used to review proposed or designated scenic byways. The process was intended to ensure that the geometric and traffic design of these roads wer...

A Model to Measure Tourist Preference toward Scenic Spots Based on Social Media Data: A Case of Dapeng in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Sun

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Research on tourist preference toward different tourism destinations has been a hot topic for decades in the field of tourism development. Tourist preference is mostly measured with small group opinion-based methods through introducing indicator systems in previous studies. In the digital age, e-tourism makes it possible to collect huge volumes of social data produced by tourists from the internet, to establish a new way of measuring tourist preference toward a close group of tourism destinations. This paper introduces a new model using social media data to quantitatively measure the market trend of a group of scenic spots from the angle of tourists’ demand, using three attributes: tourist sentiment orientation, present tourist market shares, and potential tourist awareness. Through data mining, cleaning, and analyzing with the framework of Machine Learning, the relative tourist preference toward 34 scenic spots closely located in the Dapeng Peninsula is calculated. The results not only provide a reliable “A-rating” system to gauge the popularity of different scenic spots, but also contribute an innovative measuring model to support scenic spots planning and policy making in the regional context.

Public perceptions of west-side forests: improving visual impact assessments and designing thinnings and harvests for scenic integrity

Science.gov (United States)

Robert G. Ribe

2013-01-01

Perceptions of public forests’ acceptability can be infl uenced by aesthetic qualities, at both broad and project levels, aff ecting managers’ social license to act. Legal and methodological issues related to measuring and managing forest aesthetics in NEPA and NFMA decision-making are discussed. It is argued that conventional visual impact assessments—using...

PosQ: Unsupervised Fingerprinting and Visualization of GPS Positioning Quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Weckemann, Kay

. This paper proposes PosQ, a system for unsupervised fingerprinting and visualization of GPS positioning quality. PosQ provides quality maps to position-based applications and visual overlays to users and managers to reveal the positioning quality in a local environment. The system reveals the quality both...

Phytodiversity of the scenic reserve Boguslavsky (Pavlograd district of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. O. Baranovsky

2006-02-01

Full Text Available Analysis of the vegetation and flora biodiversity of the scenic reserve Boguslavsky is presented. There are 500 species including 25 of rare and threatened species in different ecotopes of the flood-plain. Two species of plants, which are rare for Steppe zone of Ukraine, were found. These species are new for a flora of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

The Cause of Tourism Seasonality and Development Countermeasures on the Grand Canyon Scenic%地下大峡谷景区旅游季节性成因及应对策略

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

谢爱良

2011-01-01

This paper clearly shows the tourism seasonaliy of the grand canyon scenic with an analysis of visitors and income monthly. Tourism seasonality influence the grand canyon scenic on the carrying capacity in tourism, the tourist facilities, cost-effective, quality of service and so on.And then we analyze the cause of the tourism seasonality of the grand canyon scenic in the location, climate, tourism resources, holiday arrangements, source markets, tourism product development.Finally, to slove the tourism seasonality of the grand canyon scenic,we should design the tourism product, use of price leverage, play an intermediary role in the hotel and travel agency and focuse on collaboration with the surrounding scenic areas and so on.%通过分析地下大峡谷景区月际游客量、月收入，得出地下大峡谷景区明显呈现旅游季节性，淡旺季明显等结论。旅游季节性在旅游承载力、旅游接待设施、经济效益、服务质量等方面对地下大峡谷景区造成影响，然后从区位、气候、旅游资源、节假日安排、客源市场、旅游产品开发等方面分析了地下大峡谷景区旅游季节性的成因，最后从旅游产品设计、加强宣传、利用价格杠杆、发挥酒店旅行社中介作用、注重与周边景区协作等方面提出了解决地下大峡谷景区旅游季节性的应对策略。

Research on Eco-environment Carrying Capacity of Nanyi Valley Scenic Area%南伊沟景区生态环境承载力研究

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

包杰; 杨小林; 王忠斌

2015-01-01

Eco-environment carrying capacity of Nanyi Valley Scenic Area in Milin County,Linzhi area,Tibet was studied, the results showed that the recent ecological footprint of the scenic area was 674.70 hm2,effective ecological carrying capacity was 841.13 hm2,and ecological surplus was 166.43 hm2. In terms of current and short-term planning of the scenic area,tourism activities will not bring serious damages to the ecological environment,and ecological footprint of the study area can be further developed. But from the perspective of ecological carrying capacity,the scenic area needs a proper long-term planning,so the paper proposes the sustainable development strategies for the Nanyi Valley Scenic Area. It provides the theoretic basis for the reasonable planning,effective management and sustainable development of the scenic area.%对西藏林芝地区米林县南伊沟景区进行生态环境承载力研究，结果表明，近期南伊沟景区生态足迹量为674.70 hm2，有效生态承载力841.13 hm2，生态盈余166.43 hm2。就景区目前及近期规划来说，开展旅游活动不会对景区生态环境产生大的影响，景区生态足迹还可进一步发展。但从生态承载力方面考虑，景区应特别注意远期规划。提出了南伊沟景区可持续发展对策。

Cortical Dynamics of Contextually Cued Attentive Visual Learning and Search: Spatial and Object Evidence Accumulation

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Tsung-Ren; Grossberg, Stephen

2010-01-01

How do humans use target-predictive contextual information to facilitate visual search? How are consistently paired scenic objects and positions learned and used to more efficiently guide search in familiar scenes? For example, humans can learn that a certain combination of objects may define a context for a kitchen and trigger a more efficient…

Measures of the EU Agri-Environmental Protection Scheme (GAEPS) and their impacts on the visual acceptability of Finnish agricultural landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Tahvanainen, Liisa; Ihalainen, Marjut; Hietala-Koivu, Reija; Kolehmainen, Osmo; Tyrväinen, Liisa; Nousiainen, Ismo; Helenius, Juha

2002-11-01

As a member of the European Union, Finland has committed itself to creating an environmental policy for agriculture. The aims of this study were to evaluate visual impacts of the General Agri-Environmental Protection Scheme (GAEPS) and Supplementary Protection Scheme (SPS) and general attitudes towards some activities in those policies and furthermore to examine the suitability of the method of Alho et al. (2001) for the scenic beauty assessment. The study areas consisted of three original, untreated, and 15 modified rural landscapes representing a variety of different activities. The scenic beauty of the landscapes was evaluated through pairwise comparisons of the responses of 68 people. Furthermore, attitudes towards environmental values, water protection, buffer strips and subsidies to agriculture were obtained. The respondents found the maintained buffer strips more pleasing than unmaintained strips and considered that the quality of watercourses was increased by buffer strips along them. A suitable width for the buffer strip along main ditches, brooks and waterways was regarded, on average, to be wider than the current recommendations. Although the opinions of farmers were basically in line with the existing recommendations, farmers' opininons on the second and third most important effects of buffer strips, an increase in weeds and a decrease in cultivated land, clearly differed from those of the other respondents. Afforestation, lack of building maintenance and abandoned fields were considered to be the most important factors impacting rural landscapes. This study indicates that the Finnish Agri-Environmental Protection Schemes have had positive impacts on the visual quality of landscapes. Attitudes towards other impacts are contradictory. This study also showed the improvement of the Alho et al. (2001) method in these kinds of studies relative to other methods of pairwise comparisons.

The Performative Presence in the Scenics Arts and the Improvisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gisela Reis Biancalana

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This article makes a reflection about the relevance of improvisation aspect in the performative arts as a fomenter element of scenic presence. Performances can be defined by the moment when one or more bodies shows themselves to other people eyes and the presence here means the performer ability to attract the viewer‟s attention to himself. The improvisational aspect comes out of these situations can be applied at many levels and many ways but mainly depends on the performer in his desire to do, namely, in giving psychophysically himself to his art.

Multiscale visual quality assessment for cluster analysis with self-organizing maps

Science.gov (United States)

Bernard, Jürgen; von Landesberger, Tatiana; Bremm, Sebastian; Schreck, Tobias

2011-01-01

Cluster analysis is an important data mining technique for analyzing large amounts of data, reducing many objects to a limited number of clusters. Cluster visualization techniques aim at supporting the user in better understanding the characteristics and relationships among the found clusters. While promising approaches to visual cluster analysis already exist, these usually fall short of incorporating the quality of the obtained clustering results. However, due to the nature of the clustering process, quality plays an important aspect, as for most practical data sets, typically many different clusterings are possible. Being aware of clustering quality is important to judge the expressiveness of a given cluster visualization, or to adjust the clustering process with refined parameters, among others. In this work, we present an encompassing suite of visual tools for quality assessment of an important visual cluster algorithm, namely, the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) technique. We define, measure, and visualize the notion of SOM cluster quality along a hierarchy of cluster abstractions. The quality abstractions range from simple scalar-valued quality scores up to the structural comparison of a given SOM clustering with output of additional supportive clustering methods. The suite of methods allows the user to assess the SOM quality on the appropriate abstraction level, and arrive at improved clustering results. We implement our tools in an integrated system, apply it on experimental data sets, and show its applicability.

Supporting visual quality assessment with machine learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gastaldo, P.; Zunino, R.; Redi, J.

2013-01-01

Objective metrics for visual quality assessment often base their reliability on the explicit modeling of the highly non-linear behavior of human perception; as a result, they may be complex and computationally expensive. Conversely, machine learning (ML) paradigms allow to tackle the quality

78 FR 5490 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-25

... achieve NPS goals, while ensuring accessibility, public safety, resource protection, and protection and... throughout the river corridor. The scenic segment below O'Shaughnessy Dam and the Tioga Road corridor east of... interpretation and education at Tuolumne Meadows. Subalpine meadow and riparian areas would be protected from...

78 FR 5492 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-25

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service [NPS-PWR-PWRO-11522; PX.P0131800B.00.1] Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan, Yosemite National Park, Madera and Mariposa Counties, CA AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice of...

Esthetics evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Victor A. Rudis; James H. Gramann; Theresa A. Herrick

1994-01-01

An analysis of summer visual attributes and an overview of ongoing scenic quality research within selected shortleaf pine-hardwood stands in the Ouachita and Ozark National forests are presented.Within-stand visual attributes were reported prior to even-aged stand-level (Phase II) treatment for twelve 40-acre stands in the north, east, and south regions and for plot-...

Functional Neuroanatomy Associated with Natural and Urban Scenic Views in the Human Brain: 3.0T Functional MR Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Gwang Won; Jeong, Gwang Woo; Kim, Tae Hoon; Baek, Han Su; Oh, Seok Kyun; Kang, Heoung Keun; Lee, Sam Gyu; Kim, Yoon Soo; Song, Jin Kyu [Chonnam National University, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2010-10-15

By using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique we assessed brain activation patterns while subjects were viewing the living environments representing natural and urban scenery. A total of 28 healthy right-handed subjects underwent an fMRI on a 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner. The stimulation paradigm consisted of three times the rest condition and two times the activation condition, each of which lasted for 30 and 120 seconds, respectively. During the activation period, each subject viewed natural and urban scenery, respectively. The predominant brain activation areas observed following exposure to natural scenic views in contrast with urban views included the superior and middle frontal gyri, superior parietal gyrus, precuneus, basal ganglia, superior occipital gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and insula. On the other hand, the predominant brain activation areas following exposure to urban scenic views in contrast with natural scenes included the middle and inferior occipital gyri, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, anterior temporal pole, and inferior frontal gyrus. Our findings support the idea that the differential functional neuroanatomies for each scenic view are presumably related with subjects emotional responses to the natural and urban environment, and thus the differential functional neuroanatomy can be utilized as a neural index for the evaluation of friendliness in ecological housing

Functional Neuroanatomy Associated with Natural and Urban Scenic Views in the Human Brain: 3.0T Functional MR Imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Gwang Won; Jeong, Gwang Woo; Kim, Tae Hoon; Baek, Han Su; Oh, Seok Kyun; Kang, Heoung Keun; Lee, Sam Gyu; Kim, Yoon Soo; Song, Jin Kyu

2010-01-01

By using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique we assessed brain activation patterns while subjects were viewing the living environments representing natural and urban scenery. A total of 28 healthy right-handed subjects underwent an fMRI on a 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner. The stimulation paradigm consisted of three times the rest condition and two times the activation condition, each of which lasted for 30 and 120 seconds, respectively. During the activation period, each subject viewed natural and urban scenery, respectively. The predominant brain activation areas observed following exposure to natural scenic views in contrast with urban views included the superior and middle frontal gyri, superior parietal gyrus, precuneus, basal ganglia, superior occipital gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and insula. On the other hand, the predominant brain activation areas following exposure to urban scenic views in contrast with natural scenes included the middle and inferior occipital gyri, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, anterior temporal pole, and inferior frontal gyrus. Our findings support the idea that the differential functional neuroanatomies for each scenic view are presumably related with subjects emotional responses to the natural and urban environment, and thus the differential functional neuroanatomy can be utilized as a neural index for the evaluation of friendliness in ecological housing

Water-quality and algal conditions in the North Umpqua River basin, Oregon, 1992-95, and indications for resource management

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Chauncey W.; Carpenter, Kurt D.

1998-01-01

This report describes the results of a synoptic water-quality and algal investigation during July 1995 at 36 stream sites in a 1,350 square-mile area of the North Umpqua River Basin, Oregon. The study area includes a headwaters hydroelectric project area, a Wild and Scenic reach in the main stem immediately downstream, and the watersheds of several major tributaries. Additional data from previous investigations are reviewed, and impacts on water quality in the Wild and Scenic reach from resource management, including forestry and reservoir operations, are inferred where sufficient data exist.

In-stand scenic beauty of variable retention harvests and mature forests in the U.S. Pacific Northwest: the effects of basal area, density, retention pattern and down wood

Science.gov (United States)

R.G. Ribe

2009-01-01

Tensions between amenity- and timber-based economies in the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest motivated a study of scenic beauty inside mature forests and timber harvests. A diverse sample of regional forests, measures of forest structure, and large, representative samples of photographs and public judges were employed to measure scenic beauty inside unharvested...

[Tourism function zoning of Jinyintan Grassland Scenic Area in Qinghai Province based on ecological sensitivity analysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Lin-sheng; Tang, Cheng-cai; Guo, Hua

2010-07-01

Based on the statistical data of natural ecology and social economy in Jinyintan Grassland Scenic Area in Qinghai Province in 2008, an evaluation index system for the ecological sensitivity of this area was established from the aspects of protected area rank, vegetation type, slope, and land use type. The ecological sensitivity of the sub-areas with higher tourism value and ecological function in the area was evaluated, and the tourism function zoning of these sub-areas was made by the technology of GIS and according to the analysis of eco-environmental characteristics and ecological sensitivity of each sensitive sub-area. It was suggested that the Jinyintan Grassland Scenic Area could be divided into three ecological sensitivity sub-areas (high, moderate, and low), three tourism functional sub-areas (restricted development ecotourism, moderate development ecotourism, and mass tourism), and six tourism functional sub-areas (wetland protection, primitive ecological sightseeing, agriculture and pasture tourism, grassland tourism, town tourism, and rural tourism).

Visual disability and quality of life in glaucoma patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Cesareo, Massimo; Ciuffoletti, Elena; Ricci, Federico; Missiroli, Filippo; Giuliano, Mario Alberto; Mancino, Raffaele; Nucci, Carlo

2015-01-01

Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy that can result in progressive and irreversible vision loss, thereby affecting quality of life (QoL) of patients. Several studies have shown a strong correlation between visual field damage and visual disability in patients with glaucoma, even in the early stages of the disease. Visual impairment due to glaucoma affects normal daily activities required for independent living, such as driving, walking, and reading. There is no generally accepted instrument for assessing quality of life in glaucoma patients; different factors involved in visual disability from the disease are difficult to quantify and not easily standardized. This chapter summarizes recent works from clinical and epidemiological studies, which describe how glaucoma affects the performance of important vision-related activities and QoL. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Study of Scenic Spot Living Facility Recommendation Based on Collaborative Filtering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luo Wenbiao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available For the collection of massive complex information, the collaborative filtering system can work as a highly efficient information screening tool. It can recommend reasonable information reserve with multi angles according to the living service facility information of the scenic spots. The collaborative filtering system can collect information and forecast rating results based on users’ preference. According to different recommendation goals, the collaborative filtering system can recommend results for user feedback and give feedback of the recommendation results in various forms.

Map showing Features and Displacements of the Scenic Drive Landslide, La Honda, California, During the Period March 31, 2005-November 5, 2006

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Ray E.; Rymer, Michael J.; Prentice, Carol S.; Wheeler, Karen L.

2006-01-01

The Scenic Drive landslide in La Honda, San Mateo County, California began movement during the El Ni?o winter of 1997-98. Recurrent motion occurred during the mild El Ni?o winter of 2004-2005 and again during the winter of 2005-06. This report documents the changing geometry and motion of the Scenic Drive landslide in 2005-2006, and it documents changes and persistent features that we interpret to reflect underlying structural control of the landslide. We have also compared the displacement history to near-real time rainfall history at a continuously recording gauge for the period October 2004-November 2006.

76 FR 18241 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Energy Gateway...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-01

..., 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82003, Attention: Tamara Gertsch. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION... height with average spans between towers of 1,000 to 1,500 feet (4 to 5 structures per mile). Permanent... historical sites; Paleontological resources; Changes in visual quality and settings; National Scenic and...

Forest landscape assessment: the effects of pre-experience education on public perception of scenic beauty

Science.gov (United States)

Chad D. Pierskalla; Kevin E. Saunders; David W. McGill; David A. Smaldone

2008-01-01

Aldo Leopold argued for a type of "ecological aesthetic," where perceptions of natural landscape beauty are tied to an understanding of the natural process of forests. The purpose of this study is to examine how education affects perceptions of scenic beauty. Thirty-two students were assigned to four groups, with each group participating in a different...

A Visual Analytics Approach for Station-Based Air Quality Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Du

2016-12-01

Full Text Available With the deployment of multi-modality and large-scale sensor networks for monitoring air quality, we are now able to collect large and multi-dimensional spatio-temporal datasets. For these sensed data, we present a comprehensive visual analysis approach for air quality analysis. This approach integrates several visual methods, such as map-based views, calendar views, and trends views, to assist the analysis. Among those visual methods, map-based visual methods are used to display the locations of interest, and the calendar and the trends views are used to discover the linear and periodical patterns. The system also provides various interaction tools to combine the map-based visualization, trends view, calendar view and multi-dimensional view. In addition, we propose a self-adaptive calendar-based controller that can flexibly adapt the changes of data size and granularity in trends view. Such a visual analytics system would facilitate big-data analysis in real applications, especially for decision making support.

A Visual Analytics Approach for Station-Based Air Quality Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Yi; Ma, Cuixia; Wu, Chao; Xu, Xiaowei; Guo, Yike; Zhou, Yuanchun; Li, Jianhui

2016-12-24

With the deployment of multi-modality and large-scale sensor networks for monitoring air quality, we are now able to collect large and multi-dimensional spatio-temporal datasets. For these sensed data, we present a comprehensive visual analysis approach for air quality analysis. This approach integrates several visual methods, such as map-based views, calendar views, and trends views, to assist the analysis. Among those visual methods, map-based visual methods are used to display the locations of interest, and the calendar and the trends views are used to discover the linear and periodical patterns. The system also provides various interaction tools to combine the map-based visualization, trends view, calendar view and multi-dimensional view. In addition, we propose a self-adaptive calendar-based controller that can flexibly adapt the changes of data size and granularity in trends view. Such a visual analytics system would facilitate big-data analysis in real applications, especially for decision making support.

Proxy Graph: Visual Quality Metrics of Big Graph Sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Quan Hoang; Hong, Seok-Hee; Eades, Peter; Meidiana, Amyra

2017-06-01

Data sampling has been extensively studied for large scale graph mining. Many analyses and tasks become more efficient when performed on graph samples of much smaller size. The use of proxy objects is common in software engineering for analysis and interaction with heavy objects or systems. In this paper, we coin the term 'proxy graph' and empirically investigate how well a proxy graph visualization can represent a big graph. Our investigation focuses on proxy graphs obtained by sampling; this is one of the most common proxy approaches. Despite the plethora of data sampling studies, this is the first evaluation of sampling in the context of graph visualization. For an objective evaluation, we propose a new family of quality metrics for visual quality of proxy graphs. Our experiments cover popular sampling techniques. Our experimental results lead to guidelines for using sampling-based proxy graphs in visualization.

78 FR 65354 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Lobos CO2

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-31

... agencies; and other stakeholders. The issues include: Loss of habitat and direct disturbance to plant and... that would impact the scenic and visual quality of the area; impacts to cultural resources, lands that contain places of traditional cultural or religious importance, and historic sites; impacts to National...

No-reference visual quality assessment for image inpainting

Science.gov (United States)

Voronin, V. V.; Frantc, V. A.; Marchuk, V. I.; Sherstobitov, A. I.; Egiazarian, K.

2015-03-01

Inpainting has received a lot of attention in recent years and quality assessment is an important task to evaluate different image reconstruction approaches. In many cases inpainting methods introduce a blur in sharp transitions in image and image contours in the recovery of large areas with missing pixels and often fail to recover curvy boundary edges. Quantitative metrics of inpainting results currently do not exist and researchers use human comparisons to evaluate their methodologies and techniques. Most objective quality assessment methods rely on a reference image, which is often not available in inpainting applications. Usually researchers use subjective quality assessment by human observers. It is difficult and time consuming procedure. This paper focuses on a machine learning approach for no-reference visual quality assessment for image inpainting based on the human visual property. Our method is based on observation that Local Binary Patterns well describe local structural information of the image. We use a support vector regression learned on assessed by human images to predict perceived quality of inpainted images. We demonstrate how our predicted quality value correlates with qualitative opinion in a human observer study. Results are shown on a human-scored dataset for different inpainting methods.

Degraded visual environment image/video quality metrics

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgartner, Dustin D.; Brown, Jeremy B.; Jacobs, Eddie L.; Schachter, Bruce J.

2014-06-01

A number of image quality metrics (IQMs) and video quality metrics (VQMs) have been proposed in the literature for evaluating techniques and systems for mitigating degraded visual environments. Some require both pristine and corrupted imagery. Others require patterned target boards in the scene. None of these metrics relates well to the task of landing a helicopter in conditions such as a brownout dust cloud. We have developed and used a variety of IQMs and VQMs related to the pilot's ability to detect hazards in the scene and to maintain situational awareness. Some of these metrics can be made agnostic to sensor type. Not only are the metrics suitable for evaluating algorithm and sensor variation, they are also suitable for choosing the most cost effective solution to improve operating conditions in degraded visual environments.

Robustness and prediction accuracy of machine learning for objective visual quality assessment

OpenAIRE

HINES, ANDREW

2014-01-01

PUBLISHED Lisbon, Portugal Machine Learning (ML) is a powerful tool to support the development of objective visual quality assessment metrics, serving as a substitute model for the perceptual mechanisms acting in visual quality appreciation. Nevertheless, the reli- ability of ML-based techniques within objective quality as- sessment metrics is often questioned. In this study, the ro- bustness of ML in supporting objective quality assessment is investigated, specific...

75 FR 5803 - Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the New Merced Wild and Scenic River...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-04

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the New Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan Yosemite National Park, Mariposa and Madera Counties, CA ACTION: Notice of second extension of public scoping period. SUMMARY...

Influence factors of visual quality after phacoemulsification for cataract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhen-Lin Lin

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Cataract refers to the degenerative changes in lens quality caused by various causes of reduced transparency or color change. Surgical treatment is the main treatment modality at present. Among them, phacoemulsification has become the main surgical treatment for cataract because of its advantages such as short operation time, small incision and quicker healing. Today, cataract surgery has gradually shift to refractive surgery, and is no longer simply as cataract surgery. But after cataract phacoemulsification, the symptoms and visual quality are different. The main causes include refractive error, postoperative dry eyes and postoperative corneal astigmatism. This article reviews the factors that influence the visual quality of cataract phacoemulsification and its future trends.

ROBUSTNESS AND PREDICTION ACCURACY OF MACHINE LEARNING FOR OBJECTIVE VISUAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT

OpenAIRE

Hines, Andrew; Kendrick, Paul; Barri, Adriaan; Narwaria, Manish; Redi, Judith A.

2014-01-01

Machine Learning (ML) is a powerful tool to support the development of objective visual quality assessment metrics, serving as a substitute model for the perceptual mechanisms acting in visual quality appreciation. Nevertheless, the reliability of ML-based techniques within objective quality assessment metrics is often questioned. In this study, the robustness of ML in supporting objective quality assessment is investigated, specifically when the feature set adopted for prediction is suboptim...

Communicating and visualizing data quality through Web Map Services

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Charles; Blower, Jon; Maso, Joan; Diaz, Daniel; Griffiths, Guy; Lewis, Jane

2014-05-01

The sharing and visualization of environmental data through OGC Web Map Services is becoming increasingly common. However, information about the quality of data is rarely presented. (In this presentation we consider mostly data uncertainty as a measure of quality, although we acknowledge that many other quality measures are relevant to the geoscience community.) In the context of the GeoViQua project (http://www.geoviqua.org) we have developed conventions and tools for using WMS to deliver data quality information. The "WMS-Q" convention describes how the WMS specification can be used to publish quality information at the level of datasets, variables and individual pixels (samples). WMS-Q requires no extensions to the WMS 1.3.0 specification, being entirely backward-compatible. (An earlier version of WMS-Q was published as OGC Engineering Report 12-160.) To complement the WMS-Q convention, we have also developed extensions to the OGC Symbology Encoding (SE) specification, enabling uncertain geoscience data to be portrayed using a variety of visualization techniques. These include contours, stippling, blackening, whitening, opacity, bivariate colour maps, confidence interval triangles and glyphs. There may also be more extensive applications of these methods beyond the visual representation of uncertainty. In this presentation we will briefly describe the scope of the WMS-Q and "extended SE" specifications and then demonstrate the innovations using open-source software based upon ncWMS (http://ncwms.sf.net). We apply the tools to a variety of datasets including Earth Observation data from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative. The software allows uncertain raster data to be shared through Web Map Services, giving the user fine control over data visualization.

Tuning perception: Visual working memory biases the quality of visual awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Salahub, Christine M; Emrich, Stephen M

2016-12-01

Studies of consciousness reveal that it is possible to manipulate subjective awareness of a visual stimulus. For example, items held in visual working memory (VWM) that match target features increase the speed with which the target reaches visual awareness. To examine the effect of VWM on perception, previous studies have mainly used coarse measures of awareness, such as present/absent or forced-choice judgments. These methods can reveal whether or not an individual has seen an item, but they do not provide information about the quality with which the item was seen. Using continuous report methods it has been shown that the fidelity of a perceived item can be affected by whether or not that item is masked. In the present study, we used an object-substitution masking task to examine whether items held in VWM would influence the quality with which a masked target reached awareness, or whether the threshold for awareness was instead affected by stimuli held in memory. We observed that targets matching the contents of VWM were recalled with greater precision compared to items that did not match the contents of VWM. Importantly, this effect occurred without affecting the likelihood of the target being perceived. These results suggest that VWM plays a greater role in modulating the fidelity of perceived representations than in lowering the overall threshold of awareness.

Contamination and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Lake Bed Sediment of a Large Lake Scenic Area in China

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Li; Xu, Liang; Fu, Yongsheng

2016-01-01

The exposure of heavy metals to lake bed sediment of scenic areas may pose risks on aquatic ecosystems and human health, however very few studies on risk assessment have been reported for scenic areas. Accordingly, this study determined concentration levels, and assessed contamination characteristics and risks, of heavy metals in lake bed sediment of National Scenic Areas Songhuahu (NSAS) in China. The concentrations of Zn, Cr, Pb, Ni, and Cu were determined in 29 bed sediment samples. Results showed that the mean values of Zn, Cr, Pb, Ni, and Cu were 92.69, 90.73, 38.29, 46.77, and 49.44 mg/kg, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that organic matter was a major factor influencing distribution of heavy metals. The results for enrichment factors indicated that contamination rates and anthropogenic inputs of single heavy metals decreased in the order Cu > Ni > Pb > Cr > Zn; results of Nemerow integrated pollution index suggested that 72.41% of sampling sites were exposed to low to moderately integrated pollution, and 27.59% of sampling sites were exposed to strongly integrated pollution. According to results for potential ecological risk index, ecological risks of single and all the heavy metals in bed sediment from all the sampling sites were low. Human risks were assessed with hazardous quotients, and the results suggested that exposure of heavy metals to bed sediment posed no or little risk to human health, and the pathway of ingestion significantly contributed to human health risks. PMID:27455296

The status of whitebark pine along the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail on the Umpqua National Forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellen Michaels Goheen; Donald J. Goheen; Katy Marshall; Robert S. Danchok; John A. Petrick; Diane E. White

2002-01-01

Because of concern over widespread population declines, the distribution, stand conditions, and health of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Englem.) were evaluated along the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail on the Umpqua National Forest. Whitebark pine occurred on 76 percent of the survey transects. In general, whitebark pine was found in stands...

Visualizing the Quality of Vectur Features - a Proposal for Cadastral Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Navratil, G.; Leopoldseder, V.

2017-09-01

A well-known problem of geographical information is the communication of the quality level. It can be either done verbally / numerically or it can be done graphically. The graphical form is especially useful if the quality has a spatial variation because the spatial distribution is visualized as well. The problem of spatial variation of quality is an issue for cadastral maps. Non-experts cannot determine the quality at a specific location. Therefore a visual representation was tested for the Austrian cadastre. A map sheet was redesigned to give some indication of cadastral quality and presented to both experts and non-experts. The paper presents the result of the interviews.

A No Reference Image Quality Assessment Metric Based on Visual Perception

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Fu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, how to evaluate image quality reasonably is a basic and challenging problem. In view of the present no reference evaluation methods, they cannot reflect the human visual perception of image quality accurately. In this paper, we propose an efficient general-purpose no reference image quality assessment (NRIQA method based on visual perception, and effectively integrates human visual characteristics into the NRIQA fields. First, a novel algorithm for salient region extraction is presented. Two characteristics graphs of texture and edging of the original image are added to the Itti model. Due to the normalized luminance coefficients of natural images obey the generalized Gauss probability distribution, we utilize this characteristic to extract statistical features in the regions of interest (ROI and regions of non-interest respectively. Then, the extracted features are fused to be an input to establish the support vector regression (SVR model. Finally, the IQA model obtained by training is used to predict the quality of the image. Experimental results show that this method has good predictive ability, and the evaluation effect is better than existing classical algorithms. Moreover, the predicted results are more consistent with human subjective perception, which can accurately reflect the human visual perception to image quality.

Video processing for human perceptual visual quality-oriented video coding.

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Hyungsuk; Kim, Wonha

2013-04-01

We have developed a video processing method that achieves human perceptual visual quality-oriented video coding. The patterns of moving objects are modeled by considering the limited human capacity for spatial-temporal resolution and the visual sensory memory together, and an online moving pattern classifier is devised by using the Hedge algorithm. The moving pattern classifier is embedded in the existing visual saliency with the purpose of providing a human perceptual video quality saliency model. In order to apply the developed saliency model to video coding, the conventional foveation filtering method is extended. The proposed foveation filter can smooth and enhance the video signals locally, in conformance with the developed saliency model, without causing any artifacts. The performance evaluation results confirm that the proposed video processing method shows reliable improvements in the perceptual quality for various sequences and at various bandwidths, compared to existing saliency-based video coding methods.

Landscape Visual Quality and Meiofauna Biodiversity on Sandy Beaches

Science.gov (United States)

Felix, Gabriela; Marenzi, Rosemeri C.; Polette, Marcos; Netto, Sérgio A.

2016-10-01

Sandy beaches are central economic assets, attracting more recreational users than other coastal ecosystems. However, urbanization and landscape modification can compromise both the functional integrity and the attractiveness of beach ecosystems. Our study aimed at investigating the relationship between sandy beach artificialization and the landscape perception by the users, and between sandy beach visual attractiveness and biodiversity. We conducted visual and biodiversity assessments of urbanized and semiurbanized sandy beaches in Brazil and Uruguay. We specifically examined meiofauna as an indicator of biodiversity. We hypothesized that urbanization of sandy beaches results in a higher number of landscape detractors that negatively affect user evaluation, and that lower-rated beach units support lower levels of biodiversity. We found that urbanized beach units were rated lower than semiurbanized units, indicating that visual quality was sensitive to human interventions. Our expectations regarding the relationship between landscape perception and biodiversity were only partially met; only few structural and functional descriptors of meiofauna assemblages differed among classes of visual quality. However, lower-rated beach units exhibited signs of lower environmental quality, indicated by higher oligochaete densities and significant differences in meiofauna structure. We conclude that managing sandy beaches needs to advance beyond assessment of aesthetic parameters to also include the structure and function of beach ecosystems. Use of such supporting tools for managing sandy beaches is particularly important in view of sea level rise and increasing coastal development.

Comparison on the visual quality after different multifocal lens implantation in cataract patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Si-Meng Qu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available AIM: To compare the visual quality after different multifocal lens(MIOLimplantation in cataract patients. METHODS:Totally 78 cases(78 eyesof cataract patients who receiving phacoemulsification and implantation of different MIOL were enrolled from February 2016 to June 2017 in our hospital. According to the different type of implanted MIOL, the 78 cases(78 eyeswere divided Group A, B and C, each group was 26 cases(26 eyes. Patients in the Group A were implanted regional refraction MIOL SBL-3; patients in the Group B implanted step progressive diffraction MIOL SN6AD1; patients in the Group C implanted all-optical plane diffraction MIOL Tecnis ZMB00. The visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, defocus testing, contrast visual acuity and satisfaction of visual quality were compared in 3 groups at postoperative 3mo. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in postoperative adverse reactions between the three groups(P>0.05. There was statistical difference in uncorrected intermediate visual acuity, uncorrected near visual acuity, distance-corrected intermediate visual acuity and distance-corrected near visual acuity in 3 groups(PPPPPPPPPCONCLUSION:The region refraction MIOL SBL-3 not only could provide better distant, intermediate and near visual acuity, but also could provide better contrast sensitivity and contrast visual acuity, thereby greatly increase visual quality satisfaction.

Research publications of the Cascade Head Experimental Forest and Scenic Research Area, Oregon Coast Range, 1934 to 1990.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarah E. Greene; Tawny Blinn

1991-01-01

A list of publications resulting from research at the Cascade Head Experimental Forest and Scenic Research Area, Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon, from 1934 to 1990 is presented. Over 200 publications are listed, including papers, theses, and reports. An index is provided that cross-references the listings under appropriate keywords.

Criteria for assessment of bridge aesthetic and visual quality

Science.gov (United States)

Rozentale, I.; Paeglitis, A.

2017-10-01

The bridge designers should find an ideal balance between structure, economy, buildability, aesthetics, durability and harmony with industrial or natural landscape. During the last years, the society has adopted documents providing procedures for evaluation of the impact of the structural appearance on surrounding landscape. The European Landscape Convention defines the landscape as an area perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors. The Convention indicates the methods for clear and objective assessment of the landscape’s visual qualities. The esthetical qualities of bridge structures, appearance and attraction should satisfy not only the technicians - engineers and architects, but mostly the surrounding population. Each of these groups has a different perception of esthetical qualities of structure. Many authors have used different methods and criteria for assessment of bridge aesthetics. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the bridge aesthetic and visual quality assessment methods and criteria.

Negative emotion boosts quality of visual working memory representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Weizhen; Zhang, Weiwei

2016-08-01

Negative emotion impacts a variety of cognitive processes, including working memory (WM). The present study investigated whether negative emotion modulated WM capacity (quantity) or resolution (quality), 2 independent limits on WM storage. In Experiment 1, observers tried to remember several colors over 1-s delay and then recalled the color of a randomly picked memory item by clicking a best-matching color on a continuous color wheel. On each trial, before the visual WM task, 1 of 3 emotion conditions (negative, neutral, or positive) was induced by having observers to rate the valence of an International Affective Picture System image. Visual WM under negative emotion showed enhanced resolution compared with neutral and positive conditions, whereas the number of retained representations was comparable across the 3 emotion conditions. These effects were generalized to closed-contour shapes in Experiment 2. To isolate the locus of these effects, Experiment 3 adopted an iconic memory version of the color recall task by eliminating the 1-s retention interval. No significant change in the quantity or quality of iconic memory was observed, suggesting that the resolution effects in the first 2 experiments were critically dependent on the need to retain memory representations over a short period of time. Taken together, these results suggest that negative emotion selectively boosts visual WM quality, supporting the dissociable nature quantitative and qualitative aspects of visual WM representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Visual quality analysis for images degraded by different types of noise

Science.gov (United States)

Ponomarenko, Nikolay N.; Lukin, Vladimir V.; Ieremeyev, Oleg I.; Egiazarian, Karen O.; Astola, Jaakko T.

2013-02-01

Modern visual quality metrics take into account different peculiarities of the Human Visual System (HVS). One of them is described by the Weber-Fechner law and deals with the different sensitivity to distortions in image fragments with different local mean values (intensity, brightness). We analyze how this property can be incorporated into a metric PSNRHVS- M. It is shown that some improvement of its performance can be provided. Then, visual quality of color images corrupted by three types of i.i.d. noise (pure additive, pure multiplicative, and signal dependent, Poisson) is analyzed. Experiments with a group of observers are carried out for distorted color images created on the basis of TID2008 database. Several modern HVS-metrics are considered. It is shown that even the best metrics are unable to assess visual quality of distorted images adequately enough. The reasons for this deal with the observer's attention to certain objects in the test images, i.e., with semantic aspects of vision, which are worth taking into account in design of HVS-metrics.

Dynamic response of the scenic beauty value of different forests to various thinning intensities in central eastern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Songqiu; Yin, Na; Guan, Qingwei; Katoh, Masato

2014-11-01

Forest management has a significant influence on the preferences of people for forest landscapes. This study sought to evaluate the dynamic effects of thinning intensities on the landscape value of forests over time. Five typical stands in Wuxiangsi National Forest Park in Nanjing, China, were subjected to a thinning experiment designed with four intensities: unthinned, light thinning, moderate thinning, and heavy thinning. People's preferences for landscape photographs taken in plots under various thinning intensities were assessed through scenic beauty estimation (SBE) at 2 and 5 years after thinning. The differences in scenic beauty value between different thinning intensities were then analyzed with a paired samples t test for the two periods. The results indicated that the landscape value of all of the thinned plots significantly exceeded that of the unthinned plots 2 years after thinning (p beautiful than the lightly thinned and moderately thinned plots, whereas there was no significant difference between moderate thinning and light thinning. At 5 years after thinning, however, the moderately thinned plots received the highest preference scores among the four intensities, displaying an average improvement of 11.32 % compared with the unthinned plots. A multiple linear regression (MLR) model indicated that landscape value improved with increases in the average diameter at breast height (DBH) and with the improvement of environmental cleanliness in the stand, whereas the value decreased with an increasing stem density, species diversity, litter coverage, and canopy density. In addition, we found that the performance of a neural network model based on a multilayer perception (MLP) algorithm for predicting scenic beauty was slightly better than that of the MLR model. The findings of our study suggest that moderate to heavy thinning should be recommended to manage forests for the improvement of forest landscape value.

Visual inspection as one of the important elements of the quality control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paweł Szklarzyk

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Quality control of the production process allows to detect incompatibilities. One of the key elements of quality control is a visual inspection. The object of the research is to determine the essential elements having an impact on visual inspections. Research was carried out according to the BOST method designed at the Institute of Production Engineering, Technical University of Czestochowa

The impact of psychosocial adaptation status on quality of life for Chinese patients with visual impairments.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiu-jie; Wang, Ai-ping; Yin, An-chun

2014-01-01

To analyse the association of psychosocial adaptation with quality of life and to examine the influential factors for Chinese people with visual impairments. The status of psychosocial adaptation is the main influential factor for quality of life. The correlation between psychosocial adaptation and quality of life for various diseases has been studied previously. However, there have been few reports on the impact of psychosocial adaptation on quality of life in people with visual impairments. Survey. In this study, subjects with visual impairment (n = 213) were interviewed to assess their demographics, disease-related information, psychosocial adaptation status and quality of life. The psychosocial adaptation questionnaire and quality of life scale for visually impaired patients were used to survey psychosocial adaptation and quality of life. Correlation and multiple stepwise regression analyses were used to study the association of psychosocial adaptation with quality of life in visually impaired patients. Psychosocial adaptation was significantly associated with quality of life, including the sense of belonging and psychological dimensions. The results also showed that there was statistical significance for the impact of occupational status, payment, monthly income (family), vision classification and psychosocial adaptation on quality of life, and the status of psychosocial adaptation was the main factor affecting the quality of life in people with visual impairments. It was found that the status of psychosocial adaptation was conspicuously associated with multiple dimensions of quality of life. Therefore, psychosocial adaptation status should be given close attention in clinical care. Our results could be used to guide nurses in making a plan for health education and nursing that improves the quality of life for the visually impaired. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Quality of life in patients with visual impairment in Ibadan: a clinical study in primary care.

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Adigun, Kehinde; Oluleye, Tunji S; Ladipo, Modupe Ma; Olowookere, Samuel Anu

2014-01-01

Visual function is important for optimal orientation in functional and social life, and has an effect on physical and emotional well-being. Visual impairment, therefore, leads to restrictions in all aspects of daily living and is related to quality of life. The aim of this study was to provide information on the causes of visual impairment in patients presenting to their family physician, the spectrum of impairment, and its impact on quality of life for these patients. This descriptive cross-sectional study of 375 adult patients with ocular symptoms was performed in the general outpatient department of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, from July to September, 2009. After checking their presenting visual acuity, the patients were interviewed using the Vision-Related Quality of Life questionnaire to determine the impact of visual impairment on their quality of life. Ophthalmic examinations were performed to determine the causes of visual impairment. The results were analyzed using proportions and percentages. The main causes of visual impairment were cataracts (58.7%), refractive error (19.4%), and glaucoma (2.9%). Visual impairment was found to be associated with advancing age, low education, and unemployment (Pvisual function (64.2%) and social interaction (50.9%). Quality of life was found to be related to the degree of visual impairment, ie, blind patients reported poor quality of life (41.4%) when compared with those having low vision (8.6%) or near normal vision (2.4%, Pvisual impairment. Family physicians need to identify these visually impaired patients early and make timely referrals.

Gastric visualization and image quality in radionuclide bone scanning: concise communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, M.A.; Pollack, M.J.

1981-01-01

In a 12-mo study period, there were 14 days identified when the stomach was visualized in routine bone imaging. On these days, 44% of the 110 patients imaged demonstrated this effect. Only the quality control, binding efficiency, and scan quality differed (p less than 0.005) when the study population was compared with a reference population of 162 patients. However, on the days when this effect was noted, there was a significant (p less than 0.001) linear correlation between the presence and degree of gastric visualization and the radiopharmaceutical incubation and quality control parameters. The study suggests a sporadic phenomenon that appears to result from partial oxidation of the agent during incubation, producing (a) different species of labeled diphosphonate that display altered affinity for bone (scan quality) and (b) free pertechnetate

Gastric visualization and image quality in radionuclide bone scanning: concise communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, M.A.; Pollack, M.J.

1981-01-01

In a 12-mo study period, there were 14 days identified when the stomach was visualized in routine bone imaging. On these days, 44% of the 110 patients imaged demonstrated this effect. There was a significant linear correlation between the presence and degree of gastric visualization and the radiopharmaceutical incubation and quality control parameters. The study suggests a sporadic phenomenon that appears to result from partial oxidation of the agent during incubation, producing (a) different species of labeled diphosphonate that display altered affinity for bone (scan quality) and (b) free pertechnetate

Health-related quality of life, physical activity, and sedentary behavior of adults with visual impairments.

Science.gov (United States)

Haegele, Justin A; Famelia, Ruri; Lee, Jihyun

2017-11-01

Research suggests that physical activity and sedentary behaviors can impact one's health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, little is known about the impact that these behaviors can have on the HRQoL of those with visual impairments. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to determine the associations of physical activity and sedentary behavior with HRQoL among a sample of adults with visual impairments. Individuals with visual impairments were invited via email to complete three questionnaires: (a) the international physical activity questionnaire-short form, (b) the Rasch-revised versions of the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument with the Level of Independence subscale, and (c) a demographic questionnaire. Eighty participants (M age   =   47.5) provided usable surveys for analyses. The results demonstrated that physical activity significantly predicted HRQoL (F(2,79) = 3.508, p = .035, R 2 Adjusted =.060), yet, sedentary behavior did not (F(2,79) = 1.546, p = .220, R 2  = .039, R 2 Adjusted =.014). Gender differences were uncovered regarding the relationship between physical activity and health-related quality of life. The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of physical activity in influencing the HRQoL of adults with visual impairments. This study supports the need for additional intervention research to promote physical activity for those with visual impairments. Implications for Rehabilitations Adults with visual impairments tend to report lower health-related quality of life than peers without visual impairments. Regular participation in leisure-time physical activity, and restricted sedentary time, have been demonstrated to positively influence health-related quality of life for adults without disabilities. In this study, physical activity shows promise as an effective means of improving health-related quality of life for adults with visual impairments.

Visual acuity and quality of life in dry eye disease: Proceedings of the OCEAN group meeting.

Science.gov (United States)

Benítez-Del-Castillo, José; Labetoulle, Marc; Baudouin, Christophe; Rolando, Maurizio; Akova, Yonca A; Aragona, Pasquale; Geerling, Gerd; Merayo-Lloves, Jesús; Messmer, Elisabeth M; Boboridis, Kostas

2017-04-01

Dry eye disease (DED) results in tear film instability and hyperosmolarity, inflammation of the ocular surface and, ultimately, visual disturbance that can significantly impact a patient's quality of life. The effects on visual acuity result in difficulties with driving, reading and computer use and negatively impact psychological health. These effects also extend to the workplace, with a loss of productivity and quality of work causing substantial economic losses. The effects of DED and the impact on vision experienced by patients may not be given sufficient importance by ophthalmologists. Functional visual acuity (FVA) is a measure of visual acuity after sustained eye opening without blinking for at least 10 s and mimics the sustained visual acuity of daily life. Measuring dynamic FVA allows the detection of impaired visual function in patients with DED who may display normal conventional visual acuity. There are currently several tests and methods that can be used to measure dynamic visual function: the SSC-350 FVA measurement system, assessment of best-corrected visual acuity decay using the interblink visual acuity decay test, serial measurements of ocular and corneal higher order aberrations, and measurement of dynamic vision quality using the Optical Quality Analysis System. Although the equipment for these methods may be too large or unaffordable for use in clinical practice, FVA testing is an important assessment for DED. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quality of Life Related to Visual Function in Three Young Adults with Mucopolysaccharidoses

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Katherine L. Bergwerk

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The systemic mucopolysaccharidoses are complex syndromes, which may include corneal clouding as a mechanism leading to decreased vision and hence decreased quality of life. This study presents three young adult patients with mucopolysaccharidoses in order to compare their visual status through retrospective chart review, including patient and guardian interview, history, and examination, including a modified form of the VF-14 questionnaire (visual function with 14 questions.When the visual acuity and VF-14 results of the three patients were compared, the results of the VF-14 correlated with the patients� visual acuity status. The two patients who retained clear corneas or underwent penetrating keratoplasty had a wider range of social and physical activities, and an overall better quality of life than did the patient with decreased vision due to opacified corneas.We conclude that close monitoring of the ocular health of patients with storage syndromes that may compromise visual acuity must be stressed, and intervention to insure good vision is of the utmost importance to maintaining a good quality of life for these patients, especially as new therapies assist these patients to achieve increased longevity with better health.

Influence of visual appearance on loudspeaker sound quality evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karandreas, Theodoros-Alexandros; Christensen, Flemming

2008-01-01

Product sound quality evaluation aims to identify relevant attributes and assess their influence on the overall auditory impression. Extending this sound specific rationale, the present study evaluates overall impression in relation to audition and vision, specifically for loudspeakers. In order...... to quantify the bias that the loudspeaker appearance has on the sound quality evaluation of a naive listening panel, audio stimuli of varied degradation are coupled with actual loudspeakers of different visual appearance....

On the Importance of Audiovisual Coherence for the Perceived Quality of Synthesized Visual Speech

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wesley Mattheyses

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Audiovisual text-to-speech systems convert a written text into an audiovisual speech signal. Typically, the visual mode of the synthetic speech is synthesized separately from the audio, the latter being either natural or synthesized speech. However, the perception of mismatches between these two information streams requires experimental exploration since it could degrade the quality of the output. In order to increase the intermodal coherence in synthetic 2D photorealistic speech, we extended the well-known unit selection audio synthesis technique to work with multimodal segments containing original combinations of audio and video. Subjective experiments confirm that the audiovisual signals created by our multimodal synthesis strategy are indeed perceived as being more synchronous than those of systems in which both modes are not intrinsically coherent. Furthermore, it is shown that the degree of coherence between the auditory mode and the visual mode has an influence on the perceived quality of the synthetic visual speech fragment. In addition, the audio quality was found to have only a minor influence on the perceived visual signal's quality.

Evaluation of visual quality of spherical and aspherical intraocular lenses by Optical Quality Analysis System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Chen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available AIM: To evaluate the impact of spherical and aspherical intraocular lenses on the postoperative visual quality of age-related cataract patients using Optical Quality Analysis System (OQAS. METHODS: Seventy-four eyes with age-related cataracts were randomly divided into spherical and aspherical lens implantation groups. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA was measured preoperatively, one day, one week, two weeks, one month and two months after surgery. A biometric systems analysis using the OQAS objective scattering index (OSI was performed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in visual acuity (P>0.05 before and after spherical and aspheric lens implantation. There was a negative linear correction between the OSI value and BCVA (r=-0.634, P=0.000, and positive corrections between the OSI value and the lens LOCUS III value of nucleus color (NC, nucleus opacity (NO, cortex (C and posterior lens capsular (P (r=0.704, P=0.000; r=0.514, P=0.000; r=0.276, P=0.020; r=0.417, P=0.000, respectively. OSI values of spherical vs aspherical lenses were 11.5±3.6 vs 11.8±3.4, 4.1±0.9 vs 3.3±0.8, 3.5±0.9 vs 2.7±0.7, 3.3±0.8 vs 2.6±0.7, 3.2±0.7 vs 2.5±0.8, and 3.2±0.8 vs 2.5±0.8 before and 1d, 1, 2wk, 1 and 2mo after surgery, respectively. All time points varied significantly (P<0.01 between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Aspherical IOLs does not significantly affect visual acuity compared with spherical IOLs. The OSI value, was significantly lower in the aspherical lens group compared with the spherical lens. This study shows that objective visual quality of aspheric IOLs is better than that of the spherical lens by means of OQAS biological measurement method.

Flexible Visual Quality Inspection in Discrete Manufacturing

OpenAIRE

Petković, Tomislav; Jurić, Darko; Lončarić, Sven

2013-01-01

Most visual quality inspections in discrete manufacturing are composed of length, surface, angle or intensity measurements. Those are implemented as end-user configurable inspection tools that should not require an image processing expert to set up. Currently available software solutions providing such capability use a flowchart based programming environment, but do not fully address an inspection flowchart robustness and can require a redefinition of the flowchart if a small variation is int...

Visual quality evaluation of urban commercial streetscape for the development of landscape visual planning system in provincial street corridors in Malang, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Santosa, H.; Ernawati, J.; Wulandari, L. D.

2018-03-01

The visual aesthetic experience in urban spaces is important in establishing a comfortable and satisfying experience for the community. The embodiment of a good visual image of urban space will encourage the emergence of positive perceptions and meanings stimulating the community to produce a good reaction to its urban space. Moreover, to establish a Good Governance in urban planning and design, it is necessary to boost and promote a community participation in the process of controlling the visual quality of urban space through the visual quality evaluation on urban street corridors. This study is an early stage as part of the development of ‘Landscape Visual Planning System’ on the commercial street corridor in Malang. Accordingly, the research aims to evaluate the physical characteristics and the public preferences of the spatial and visual aspects in five provincial road corridors in Malang. This study employs a field survey methods, and an environmental aesthetics approach through semantic differential method. The result of the identification of physical characteristics and the assessment of public preferences on the spatial and visual aspects of the five provincial streets serve as the basis for constructing the 3d interactive simulation scenarios in the Landscape Visual Planning System.

Perceptual visual dysfunction, physical impairment and quality of life in Bangladeshi children with cerebral palsy.

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Mitry, D; Williams, C; Northstone, K; Akter, A; Jewel, J; Khan, N; Muhit, M; Gilbert, C E; Bowman, R

2016-09-01

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of motor disability in children and is often accompanied by sensory and/or cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to characterise visual acuity impairment, perceptual visual dysfunction (PVD) and physical disability in a community-based sample of Bangladeshi children with CP and to assess the impact of these factors on the quality of life of the children. A key informant study was used to recruit children with CP from Sirajganj district. Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels and visual impairment were assessed by a physiotherapist and an optometrist, respectively. Assessments of visual perception were performed and standardised questionnaires were administered to each child's main carer to elicit indicators of PVD and parent-reported health-related quality of life. A generalised linear regression analysis was conducted to assess the determinants of the quality of life scores. 180 children were recruited. The median age was 8 years (IQR: 6-11 years); 112 (62%) were male; 57 (32%) had visual acuity impairment and 95 (53%) had some parent-reported PVD. In analyses adjusted for age, sex, GMFCS and acuity impairment, visual attention (pvisual search (p=0.020). PVD is an important contributor in reducing quality of life in children with CP, independent of motor disability and acuity impairment. Better characterisation of PVD is important to help design interventions for affected children, which may improve their quality of life. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Association between Visual Impairment and Low Vision and Sleep Duration and Quality among Older Adults in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Peltzer, Karl; Phaswana-Mafuya, Nancy

2017-07-19

This study aims to estimate the association between visual impairment and low vision and sleep duration and poor sleep quality in a national sample of older adults in South Africa. A national population-based cross-sectional Study of Global Ageing and Adults Health (SAGE) wave 1 was conducted in 2008 with a sample of 3840 individuals aged 50 years or older in South Africa. The interviewer-administered questionnaire assessed socio-demographic characteristics, health variables, sleep duration, quality, visual impairment, and vision. Results indicate that 10.0% of the sample reported short sleep duration (≤5 h), 46.6% long sleep (≥9 h), 9.3% poor sleep quality, 8.4% self-reported and visual impairment (near and/or far vision); and 43.2% measured low vision (near and/or far vision) (0.01-0.25 decimal) and 7.5% low vision (0.01-0.125 decimal). In fully adjusted logistic regression models, self-reported visual impairment was associated with short sleep duration and poor sleep quality, separately and together. Low vision was only associated with long sleep duration and poor sleep quality in unadjusted models. Self-reported visual impairment was related to both short sleep duration and poor sleep quality. Population data on sleep patterns may want to include visual impairment measures.

A no-reference image and video visual quality metric based on machine learning

Science.gov (United States)

Frantc, Vladimir; Voronin, Viacheslav; Semenishchev, Evgenii; Minkin, Maxim; Delov, Aliy

2018-04-01

The paper presents a novel visual quality metric for lossy compressed video quality assessment. High degree of correlation with subjective estimations of quality is due to using of a convolutional neural network trained on a large amount of pairs video sequence-subjective quality score. We demonstrate how our predicted no-reference quality metric correlates with qualitative opinion in a human observer study. Results are shown on the EVVQ dataset with comparison existing approaches.

Streamflow monitoring and statistics for development of water rights claims for Wild and Scenic Rivers, Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness, Idaho, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Molly S.; Fosness, Ryan L.

2013-01-01

-record method. The synthetic and actual daily mean streamflow records were used to estimate daily mean streamflow that was exceeded 80, 50, and 20 percent of the time (80-, 50-, and 20-percent exceedances) for bimonthly and annual periods. Bankfull streamflow statistics were calculated by fitting the synthetic and actual annual peak streamflow records to a log Pearson Type III distribution using Bulletin 17B guidelines in the U.S. Geological Survey PeakFQ program. The coefficients of determination (R2) for the regressions between the monitoring and index sites ranged from 0.74 for Wickahoney Creek to 0.98 for the West Fork Bruneau River and Deep Creek. Confidence in computed streamflow statistics is highest among other sites for the East Fork Owyhee River and the West Fork Bruneau River on the basis of regression statistics, visual fit of the related data, and the range and number of streamflow measurements. Streamflow statistics for sites with the greatest uncertainty included Big Jacks, Little Jacks, Cottonwood, Wickahoney, and Sheep Creeks. The uncertainty in computed streamflow statistics was due to a number of factors which included the distance of index sites relative to monitoring sites, relatively low streamflow conditions that occurred during the study, and the limited number and range of streamflow measurements. However, the computed streamflow statistics are considered the best possible estimates given available datasets in the remote study area. Streamflow measurements over a wider range of hydrologic and climatic conditions would improve the relations between streamflow characteristics at monitoring and index sites. Additionally, field surveys are needed to verify if the streamflows selected for the water rights claims are sufficient for maintaining outstanding remarkable values in the Wild and Scenic rivers included in the study.

Interaction of aberrations, diffraction, and quantal fluctuations determine the impact of pupil size on visual quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Renfeng; Wang, Huachun; Thibos, Larry N; Bradley, Arthur

2017-04-01

Our purpose is to develop a computational approach that jointly assesses the impact of stimulus luminance and pupil size on visual quality. We compared traditional optical measures of image quality and those that incorporate the impact of retinal illuminance dependent neural contrast sensitivity. Visually weighted image quality was calculated for a presbyopic model eye with representative levels of chromatic and monochromatic aberrations as pupil diameter was varied from 7 to 1 mm, stimulus luminance varied from 2000 to 0.1  cd/m2, and defocus varied from 0 to -2 diopters. The model included the effects of quantal fluctuations on neural contrast sensitivity. We tested the model's predictions for five cycles per degree gratings by measuring contrast sensitivity at 5  cyc/deg. Unlike the traditional Strehl ratio and the visually weighted area under the modulation transfer function, the visual Strehl ratio derived from the optical transfer function was able to capture the combined impact of optics and quantal noise on visual quality. In a well-focused eye, provided retinal illuminance is held constant as pupil size varies, visual image quality scales approximately as the square root of illuminance because of quantum fluctuations, but optimum pupil size is essentially independent of retinal illuminance and quantum fluctuations. Conversely, when stimulus luminance is held constant (and therefore illuminance varies with pupil size), optimum pupil size increases as luminance decreases, thereby compensating partially for increased quantum fluctuations. However, in the presence of -1 and -2 diopters of defocus and at high photopic levels where Weber's law operates, optical aberrations and diffraction dominate image quality and pupil optimization. Similar behavior was observed in human observers viewing sinusoidal gratings. Optimum pupil size increases as stimulus luminance drops for the well-focused eye, and the benefits of small pupils for improving defocused image

Streamflow statistics for development of water rights claims for the Jarbidge Wild and Scenic River, Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness, Idaho, 2013-14: a supplement to Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5212

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Molly S.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), estimated streamflow statistics for stream segments designated “Wild,” “Scenic,” or “Recreational” under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness in southwestern Idaho. The streamflow statistics were used by the BLM to develop and file a draft, federal reserved water right claim to protect federally designated “outstanding remarkable values” in the Jarbidge River. The BLM determined that the daily mean streamflow equaled or exceeded 20, 50, and 80 percent of the time during bimonthly periods (two periods per month) and the bankfull (66.7-percent annual exceedance probability) streamflow are important thresholds for maintaining outstanding remarkable values. Although streamflow statistics for the Jarbidge River below Jarbidge, Nevada (USGS 13162225) were published previously in 2013 and used for the draft water right claim, the BLM and USGS have since recognized the need to refine streamflow statistics given the approximate 40 river mile distance and intervening tributaries between the original point of estimation (USGS 13162225) and at the mouth of the Jarbidge River, which is the downstream end of the Wild and Scenic River segment. A drainage-area-ratio method was used in 2013 to estimate bimonthly exceedance probability streamflow statistics at the mouth of the Jarbidge River based on available streamgage data on the Jarbidge and East Fork Jarbidge Rivers. The resulting bimonthly streamflow statistics were further adjusted using a scaling factor calculated from a water balance on streamflow statistics calculated for the Bruneau and East Fork Bruneau Rivers and Sheep Creek. The final, adjusted bimonthly exceedance probability and bankfull streamflow statistics compared well with available verification datasets (including discrete streamflow measurements made at the mouth of the Jarbidge River) and are considered the

The effects of road building on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity in Huangshan Scenic Area.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Anna; Tang, Dongmei; Jin, Xiulong; Lu, Lin; Li, Xiaohong; Liu, Kun

2018-01-22

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are vital soil microbes that connect many individual plants into a large functional organism via a vast mycelial network under the ground. In this study, the changes of soil AM fungal community in response to road-building disturbance caused by tourism development in Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) Scenic Area are assessed. Road building have brought negative effects on AM fungal community, inducing lower diversity parameters, including species number, spore density and diversity indices. However, the dominant genus and species of AM fungi which play key roles in the AM fungal community composition are quite similar before and after road building. Moreover, there are no significant differences in species richness of AM fungi associated with plants, suggesting the tolerance of AM fungal community to the disturbance of road building.

Studying the added value of visual attention in objective image quality metrics based on eye movement data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, H.; Heynderickx, I.E.J.

2009-01-01

Current research on image quality assessment tends to include visual attention in objective metrics to further enhance their performance. A variety of computational models of visual attention are implemented in different metrics, but their accuracy in representing human visual attention is not fully

Comparative evaluation of toric intraocular lens alignment and visual quality with image-guided surgery and conventional three-step manual marking.

Science.gov (United States)

Titiyal, Jeewan S; Kaur, Manpreet; Jose, Cijin P; Falera, Ruchita; Kinkar, Ashutosh; Bageshwar, Lalit Ms

2018-01-01

To compare toric intraocular lens (IOL) alignment assisted by image-guided surgery or manual marking methods and its impact on visual quality. This prospective comparative study enrolled 80 eyes with cataract and astigmatism ≥1.5 D to undergo phacoemulsification with toric IOL alignment by manual marking method using bubble marker (group I, n=40) or Callisto eye and Z align (group II, n=40). Postoperatively, accuracy of alignment and visual quality was assessed with a ray tracing aberrometer. Primary outcome measure was deviation from the target axis of implantation. Secondary outcome measures were visual quality and acuity. Follow-up was performed on postoperative days (PODs) 1 and 30. Deviation from the target axis of implantation was significantly less in group II on PODs 1 and 30 (group I: 5.5°±3.3°, group II: 3.6°±2.6°; p =0.005). Postoperative refractive cylinder was -0.89±0.35 D in group I and -0.64±0.36 D in group II ( p =0.003). Visual acuity was comparable between both the groups. Visual quality measured in terms of Strehl ratio ( p image-guided surgery group. Significant negative correlation was observed between deviation from target axis and visual quality parameters (Strehl ratio and MTF) ( p Image-guided surgery allows precise alignment of toric IOL without need for reference marking. It is associated with superior visual quality which correlates with the precision of IOL alignment.

A Network and Visual Quality Aware N-Screen Content Recommender System Using Joint Matrix Factorization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farman Ullah

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a network and visual quality aware N-Screen content recommender system. N-Screen provides more ways than ever before to access multimedia content through multiple devices and heterogeneous access networks. The heterogeneity of devices and access networks present new questions of QoS (quality of service in the realm of user experience with content. We propose, a recommender system that ensures a better visual quality on user’s N-screen devices and the efficient utilization of available access network bandwidth with user preferences. The proposed system estimates the available bandwidth and visual quality on users N-Screen devices and integrates it with users preferences and contents genre information to personalize his N-Screen content. The objective is to recommend content that the user’s N-Screen device and access network are capable of displaying and streaming with the user preferences that have not been supported in existing systems. Furthermore, we suggest a joint matrix factorization approach to jointly factorize the users rating matrix with the users N-Screen device similarity and program genres similarity. Finally, the experimental results show that we also enhance the prediction and recommendation accuracy, sparsity, and cold start issues.

A network and visual quality aware N-screen content recommender system using joint matrix factorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Ullah, Farman; Sarwar, Ghulam; Lee, Sungchang

2014-01-01

We propose a network and visual quality aware N-Screen content recommender system. N-Screen provides more ways than ever before to access multimedia content through multiple devices and heterogeneous access networks. The heterogeneity of devices and access networks present new questions of QoS (quality of service) in the realm of user experience with content. We propose, a recommender system that ensures a better visual quality on user's N-screen devices and the efficient utilization of available access network bandwidth with user preferences. The proposed system estimates the available bandwidth and visual quality on users N-Screen devices and integrates it with users preferences and contents genre information to personalize his N-Screen content. The objective is to recommend content that the user's N-Screen device and access network are capable of displaying and streaming with the user preferences that have not been supported in existing systems. Furthermore, we suggest a joint matrix factorization approach to jointly factorize the users rating matrix with the users N-Screen device similarity and program genres similarity. Finally, the experimental results show that we also enhance the prediction and recommendation accuracy, sparsity, and cold start issues.

Does an increase in compression force really improve visual image quality in mammography? – An initial investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mercer, C.E.; Hogg, P.; Cassidy, S.; Denton, E.R.E.

2013-01-01

Objective: Literature speculates that visual image quality (IQ) and compression force levels may be directly related. This small study investigates whether a relationship exists between compression force levels and visual IQ. Method: To investigate how visual IQ varies with different levels of compression force, 39 clients were selected over a 6 year screening period that had received markedly different amounts of compression force on each of their three sequential screens. Images for the 3 screening episodes for all women were scored visually using 3 different IQ scales. Results: Correlation coefficients between the 3 IQ scales were positive and high (0.82, 0.9 and 0.85). For the scales, the IQ scores their correlation does not vary significantly, even though different compression levels had been applied. Kappa IQ scale 1: 0.92, 0.89, 0.89. ANOVA IQ scale 2: p = 0.98, p = 0.55, p = 0.56. ICC IQ scale 3: 0.97, 0.93, 0.91. Conclusion: For the 39 clients there is no difference in visual IQ when different amounts of compression are applied. We believe that further work should be conducted into compression force and image quality as ‘higher levels’ of compression force may not be justified in the attainment of suitable visual image quality

THE SCENIC VALUE OF ABANDONED MINING AREAS IN POLAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

URSZULA MYGA-PIĄTEK

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abandoned Polish mining areas are commonly heavily transformed so that they endanger no longer the environment. A disadvantage is that the newly created areas commonly contribute to the monotonous urban-industrial landscape, rather than providing additional value. This is partly due to legislation that hampers a more diversified management of abandoned mining areas as potentially valuable landforms. One of the legal barriers that restricts the possibilities of making these areas more attractive, regards the utilization of remaining exploitation holes (i.e. land depressions of at least 2 m deep, formed as a result of open-pit mining of energy, chemical, building or metallurgical resources and waste heaps as important cultural and scenic elements. Such a new use of these old mininginduced phenomena is important if it is intended not only to involve the regional population in the process of exploring and exploiting the earth’s resources, but also to confront them with some negative consequences of these activities, including shaping the landscape in which these objects are situated. The current attitude towards a new architecture for abandoned mining areas should be reconsidered; particularly the present-day approach based on narrow specializations – for instance of experts in mineral exploitation, spatial planning or environmental protection – should be replaced by interdisciplinary action regarding shaping the landscape of abandoned mining areas.

Visualizing the quality of partially accruing data for use in decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Eaton, Julia; Painter, Ian; Olson, Don; Lober, William B

2015-01-01

Secondary use of clinical health data for near real-time public health surveillance presents challenges surrounding its utility due to data quality issues. Data used for real-time surveillance must be timely, accurate and complete if it is to be useful; if incomplete data are used for surveillance, understanding the structure of the incompleteness is necessary. Such data are commonly aggregated due to privacy concerns. The Distribute project was a near real-time influenza-like-illness (ILI) surveillance system that relied on aggregated secondary clinical health data. The goal of this work is to disseminate the data quality tools developed to gain insight into the data quality problems associated with these data. These tools apply in general to any system where aggregate data are accrued over time and were created through the end-user-as-developer paradigm. Each tool was developed during the exploratory analysis to gain insight into structural aspects of data quality. Our key finding is that data quality of partially accruing data must be studied in the context of accrual lag-the difference between the time an event occurs and the time data for that event are received, i.e. the time at which data become available to the surveillance system. Our visualization methods therefore revolve around visualizing dimensions of data quality affected by accrual lag, in particular the tradeoff between timeliness and completion, and the effects of accrual lag on accuracy. Accounting for accrual lag in partially accruing data is necessary to avoid misleading or biased conclusions about trends in indicator values and data quality.

Motorized Recreation Sounds Influence Nature Scene Evaluations: The Role of Attitude Moderators

Science.gov (United States)

Benfield, Jacob; Taff, B. D.; Weinzimmer, David; Newman, Peter

2018-01-01

Soundscape assessment takes many forms, including letting the consequences of the soundscape be an indicator of soundscape quality or value. As a result, much social science research has been conducted to better quantify problem soundscapes and the subsequent effects on humans exposed to them. Visual evaluations of natural environments are one area where research has consistently shown detrimental effects of noisy or anthropogenic soundscapes (e.g., those containing noise from motorized recreation), but the potential moderating role of individual attitudes toward elements within the soundscape has not been sufficiently explored. This study demonstrates that both pro-motorized recreation and pro-motorized recreation management attitudes can alter the effect of motorized recreation noise on scenic evaluations in opposing directions. Pro-recreation attitudes lessen the effect of the soundscape, while pro-management attitudes heighten the negative effect of anthropogenic sounds on scenic evaluation. The implications for other areas of soundscape research, especially with regard to soundscape quality assessment through experienced outcomes, are discussed, including possible strategies for prioritizing known or relevant moderating variables. PMID:29706911

Motorized Recreation Sounds Influence Nature Scene Evaluations: The Role of Attitude Moderators.

Science.gov (United States)

Benfield, Jacob; Taff, B D; Weinzimmer, David; Newman, Peter

2018-01-01

Soundscape assessment takes many forms, including letting the consequences of the soundscape be an indicator of soundscape quality or value. As a result, much social science research has been conducted to better quantify problem soundscapes and the subsequent effects on humans exposed to them. Visual evaluations of natural environments are one area where research has consistently shown detrimental effects of noisy or anthropogenic soundscapes (e.g., those containing noise from motorized recreation), but the potential moderating role of individual attitudes toward elements within the soundscape has not been sufficiently explored. This study demonstrates that both pro-motorized recreation and pro-motorized recreation management attitudes can alter the effect of motorized recreation noise on scenic evaluations in opposing directions. Pro-recreation attitudes lessen the effect of the soundscape, while pro-management attitudes heighten the negative effect of anthropogenic sounds on scenic evaluation. The implications for other areas of soundscape research, especially with regard to soundscape quality assessment through experienced outcomes, are discussed, including possible strategies for prioritizing known or relevant moderating variables.

Motorized Recreation Sounds Influence Nature Scene Evaluations: The Role of Attitude Moderators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacob Benfield

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Soundscape assessment takes many forms, including letting the consequences of the soundscape be an indicator of soundscape quality or value. As a result, much social science research has been conducted to better quantify problem soundscapes and the subsequent effects on humans exposed to them. Visual evaluations of natural environments are one area where research has consistently shown detrimental effects of noisy or anthropogenic soundscapes (e.g., those containing noise from motorized recreation, but the potential moderating role of individual attitudes toward elements within the soundscape has not been sufficiently explored. This study demonstrates that both pro-motorized recreation and pro-motorized recreation management attitudes can alter the effect of motorized recreation noise on scenic evaluations in opposing directions. Pro-recreation attitudes lessen the effect of the soundscape, while pro-management attitudes heighten the negative effect of anthropogenic sounds on scenic evaluation. The implications for other areas of soundscape research, especially with regard to soundscape quality assessment through experienced outcomes, are discussed, including possible strategies for prioritizing known or relevant moderating variables.

Influence on Visual Quality of Intraoperative Orientation of Asymmetric Intraocular Lenses.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonaque-González, Sergio; Ríos, Susana; Amigó, Alfredo; López-Gil, Norberto

2015-10-01

To evaluate visual quality when changing the intraocular orientation of the Lentis Mplus LS-312MF nonrotational symmetric +3.00 diopters aspheric multifocal intraocular lens ([IOL] Oculentis GmbH, Berlin, Germany) in normal eyes. An artificial eye was used to measure the in vitro wavefront of the IOL. The corneal topography of 20 healthy patients was obtained. For each eye, a computational analysis simulated the implantation of the IOL. The modulation transfer function (MTF) and an image quality parameter (visually modulated transfer function [VSMTF] metric) were calculated for a 5.0-mm pupil and for three conditions: distance, intermediate, and near vision. The procedure was repeated for each eye after a rotation of the IOL with respect to the cornea from 0° to 360° in 1° steps. Statistical analysis showed significant differences in mean VSMTF values between orientations for distance vision. Optimal orientation of the IOL (different for each eye) showed a mean improvement of 58% ± 19% (range: 20% to 121%) in VSMTF values with respect to the worst possible orientation. For these orientations, intermediate and near vision quality were statistically indistinguishable. The MTFs were different between orientations, showing a mean difference of approximately 5 cycles per degree in the maximum spatial frequencies that can be transferred between the best and the worst orientations for distance vision. The results suggest that implantation of this nonrotational symmetric IOL should improve visual outcomes if it is oriented to coincide with a customized meridian. A simple, practical method is proposed to find an approximation to the angle that an Mplus IOL should be inserted. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

Relationship between Forest Color Characteristics and Scenic Beauty: Case Study Analyzing Pictures of Mountainous Forests at Sloped Positions in Jiuzhai Valley, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhe Zhang

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Forests are important place for outdoor recreation and scenery appreciation. So in order to better meet the needs of the public, forest appreciation has received increasing attention from foresters in recent years. However, related research is still limited. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine the relationship between forest colors (measured by specific elements and spatial indices of color and Scenic Beauty Estimation values. We researched Jiuzhai Valley in China by selecting 104 pictures to determine the scenic beauty estimation values of forests in a mountainous region. Quantitative color elements were extracted by programming on Matlab, and spatial indices of color patches were extracted by ArcGIS and FRAGSTATS. A total of 23 indices were obtained to explain the color characteristics of each forest picture. The results showed that the yellow and red colors were the main mutable colors of Jiuzhai Valley in autumn, but the color patches index had no significant change over time in that season. After partial correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis, we found that 14 color elements, eight color patch factors and six particular indices had an effect on the SBE values, which can then be used to efficiently measure and enhance the forest color beauty of Jiuzhai Valley.

Evaluation on the Emergency Capacity of the Mountain-type Scenic Spot based on Matter-units Analysis Model:A case study of Henan Yuantaishan Scenic spot%基于物元模型的山岳型景区应急能力评价研究*--以河南云台山景区为例

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张永领; 张红

2014-01-01

山地灾害的破坏性和山地地形地貌特征给山岳型景区突发事件应急救援带来了巨大挑战，因此亟须对山岳型景区的应急能力进行评价，全面提高山岳型景区突发事件的应急救援能力。以应急管理周期理论和山地突发事件特征为基础，构建了山岳型景区应急能力评价指标体系，包括9个一级指标和29个二级指标；建立了以物元分析法为基础的山岳型应急能力评价模型，并以山岳型景区云台山为例进行评价，结果表明：基于物元分析法的山岳型景区应急能力评价模型，不仅能够科学评定应急能力的等级，而且还能揭示应急能力的发展和转化趋势，评估结果可为景区应急能力建设的科学决策提供参考。%Mountain-type scenic spots have emergency rescue difficulty because of devastation of mountain disasters and typical mountain topography characteristics,therefore it needs to evaluate the emergency capacity for emergent events and comprehen-sively improve the emergency response capabilities for the emergency capacity to emergent events.The assessment index system of emergency capacity for the mountain-type emergencies is constructed from 9 level indicators and 29 secondary indicators based on 4-stage emergency management and Mountain-type scenic spot characteristics;the emergency capacity evaluation model was established based on the matter-element analysis method.And emergency capacity was evaluated for the Yuntaishan scenic spot as a case study.The result shows that the emergency capacity assessment model based on matter-element analysis method not only can carry on the scientific evaluation to the emergency ability level,but also can reveal the emergency ability development and transformation trend,which can offer references to scientific decision-making of emergency capacity for the mountain-type scenic spots.

[Comparative analysis of visual function and the quality of life index with eyeglasses or a progressive contact lens].

Science.gov (United States)

Sant'Anna, Neusa Vidal; Schor, Paulo; Lipener, César; Uras, Ricardo

2006-01-01

To compare the visual function and the answers to a questionnaire of quality of life of patients wearing a progressive contact lens or eyeglasses. The Focus Progressive contact lens had been fitted in 35 patients with far visual acuity with progressive-addition eyeglasses equal to zero (log MAR) and near J1 (Jaeger). The far and near visual acuities and the measurement of contrast sensitivity were compared when the patients were wearing the eyeglasses or the contact lens and the patients' results of the scores of the quality of life questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) were analyzed statistically considering the type of ametropy and the age. The far and near visual acuities and the contrast sensitivity measurement were worse with the contact lens than with eyeglasses. The answers to the questionnaire did not differ when were comparing the same patients wearing eyeglasses or contact lens, no matter the type of ametropy. The myopic and the hyperopic subgroups had worse answers to the quality of life questionnaire when corrected with the contact lens than with eyeglasses, both with age equal to or less than their median. The visual function was worse with the contact lens. The type of ametropy did not influence the answers to the quality of life questionnaire considering the optical correction, but age did.

The Institutional Sustainability in Protected Area Tourism-Case Studies of Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China and New Forest National Park, United Kingdom

OpenAIRE

Xu, Feifei; Fox, Dorothy; Zhang, J.; Cheng, S.

2014-01-01

This article considers sustainable tourism development in two protected areas, Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area in China and the New Forest National Park in the United Kingdom. An inductive approach is used to explore the "fourth component" of sustainable tourism development that is institutional sustainability. Primary data from in-depth interviews, together with a range of secondary data sources, are analyzed to understand the governance and management of each area. These reveal that whilst ...

Showing the Unsayable: Participatory Visual Approaches and the Constitution of 'Patient Experience' in Healthcare Quality Improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Papoulias, Constantina

2018-06-01

This article considers the strengths and potential contributions of participatory visual methods for healthcare quality improvement research. It argues that such approaches may enable us to expand our understanding of 'patient experience' and of its potential for generating new knowledge for health systems. In particular, they may open up dimensions of people's engagement with services and treatments which exceed both the declarative nature of responses to questionnaires and the narrative sequencing of self reports gathered through qualitative interviewing. I will suggest that working with such methods may necessitate a more reflexive approach to the constitution of evidence in quality improvement work. To this end, the article will first consider the emerging rationale for the use of visual participatory methods in improvement before outlining the implications of two related approaches-photo-elicitation and PhotoVoice-for the constitution of 'experience'. It will then move to a participatory model for healthcare improvement work, Experience Based Co-Design (EBCD). It will argue that EBCD exemplifies both the strengths and the limitations of adequating visual participatory approaches to quality improvement ends. The article will conclude with a critical reflection on a small photographic study, in which the author participated, and which sought to harness service user perspectives for the design of psychiatric facilities, as a way of considering the potential contribution of visual participatory methods for quality improvement.

Developing risk management dashboards using risk and quality measures: A visual best practices approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Bunting, Robert F; Siegal, Dana

2017-10-01

Because quality measures are ubiquitous, health care risk management leaders often use them as a proxy for risk management measures. While certain quality measures adequately reflect some aspects of risk management, they are neither a perfect nor complete substitute for well-developed and comprehensive risk management measures. Using a comprehensive approach consisting of quality measures, risk measures, and measures that are less amenable to classification would be the best approach. Identifying the most powerful and informative measures, designing the most appropriate dashboards, and incorporating visual best practices are crucial steps required for evaluating the effectiveness and value of an enterprise risk management program. The authors explain the terms and concepts, review the measures available in the literature, propose new measures, discuss visual best practices, and provide sample dashboard components. © 2017 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; social issues fact sheet 15: Landscape change and aesthetics

Science.gov (United States)

Christine Esposito

2006-01-01

Fuels management produces changes in the landscape that can impact scenic beauty. If people do not consider a forest to be scenic, they may think that the low scenic quality is a result of poor management or ecological health. This fact sheet looks at the relevency of the effects of natural and human-caused landscape changes, when planning fuels management.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; social issues fact sheet 16: Prescribed fire and visual quality

Science.gov (United States)

Christine Esposito

2006-01-01

Research shows that, while prescribed burning and other fuels treatments can lower visual quality in some situations, they can also improve it in others. This fact sheet reviews the visual aspects of different levels of prescribed burning.Other publications in this series...

Subjective evaluation of two stereoscopic imaging systems exploiting visual attention to improve 3D quality of experience

Science.gov (United States)

Hanhart, Philippe; Ebrahimi, Touradj

2014-03-01

Crosstalk and vergence-accommodation rivalry negatively impact the quality of experience (QoE) provided by stereoscopic displays. However, exploiting visual attention and adapting the 3D rendering process on the fly can reduce these drawbacks. In this paper, we propose and evaluate two different approaches that exploit visual attention to improve 3D QoE on stereoscopic displays: an offline system, which uses a saliency map to predict gaze position, and an online system, which uses a remote eye tracking system to measure real time gaze positions. The gaze points were used in conjunction with the disparity map to extract the disparity of the object-of-interest. Horizontal image translation was performed to bring the fixated object on the screen plane. The user preference between standard 3D mode and the two proposed systems was evaluated through a subjective evaluation. Results show that exploiting visual attention significantly improves image quality and visual comfort, with a slight advantage for real time gaze determination. Depth quality is also improved, but the difference is not significant.

A Visual Arts Education pedagogical approach for enhancing quality of life for persons with dementia (innovative practice).

Science.gov (United States)

Tietyen, Ann C; Richards, Allan G

2017-01-01

A new and innovative pedagogical approach that administers hands-on visual arts activities to persons with dementia based on the field of Visual Arts Education is reported in this paper. The aims of this approach are to enhance cognition and improve quality of life. These aims were explored in a small qualitative study with eight individuals with moderate dementia, and the results are published as a thesis. In this paper, we summarize and report the results of this small qualitative study and expand upon the rationale for the Visual Arts Education pedagogical approach that has shown promise for enhancing cognitive processes and improving quality of life for persons with dementia.

Quality-Related Monitoring and Grading of Granulated Products by Weibull-Distribution Modeling of Visual Images with Semi-Supervised Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jinping; Tang, Zhaohui; Xu, Pengfei; Liu, Wenzhong; Zhang, Jin; Zhu, Jianyong

2016-06-29

The topic of online product quality inspection (OPQI) with smart visual sensors is attracting increasing interest in both the academic and industrial communities on account of the natural connection between the visual appearance of products with their underlying qualities. Visual images captured from granulated products (GPs), e.g., cereal products, fabric textiles, are comprised of a large number of independent particles or stochastically stacking locally homogeneous fragments, whose analysis and understanding remains challenging. A method of image statistical modeling-based OPQI for GP quality grading and monitoring by a Weibull distribution(WD) model with a semi-supervised learning classifier is presented. WD-model parameters (WD-MPs) of GP images' spatial structures, obtained with omnidirectional Gaussian derivative filtering (OGDF), which were demonstrated theoretically to obey a specific WD model of integral form, were extracted as the visual features. Then, a co-training-style semi-supervised classifier algorithm, named COSC-Boosting, was exploited for semi-supervised GP quality grading, by integrating two independent classifiers with complementary nature in the face of scarce labeled samples. Effectiveness of the proposed OPQI method was verified and compared in the field of automated rice quality grading with commonly-used methods and showed superior performance, which lays a foundation for the quality control of GP on assembly lines.

Perception of personal safety in urban recreation sites

Science.gov (United States)

Herbert W. Schroeder; L.M. Anderson

1984-01-01

Photograph of 17 urban recreation sites in Chicago and Atlanta were evaluated by college students (n = 68) in Illinois, Georgia, and Michigan, for either perceived security, scenic quality, or both. For most raters, high visibility and developed park features significantly enhanced perceived security. Scenic quality, on the other hand, was enhanced for the majority of...

Qualidade visual após retratamento de LASIK personalizado versus convencional Visual quality after custom versus standard LASIK retreatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andréia Peltier Urbano

2008-12-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Avaliar a qualidade visual após retratamento personalizado e retratamento convencional em olhos submetidos a LASIK primário convencional. MÉTODOS: Foi realizado estudo prospectivo de 74 olhos submetidos ao retratamento de LASIK para correção de miopia e astigmatismo. Cada paciente foi submetido ao retratamento de LASIK com ablação personalizada (Zyoptix, Bausch & Lomb em um olho e ablação convencional (Planoscan, Bausch & Lomb no olho contralateral. Foram comparados os resultados do teste de ofuscamento e da sensibilidade ao contraste durante o acompanhamento de seis meses. RESULTADOS: Os olhos do grupo Zyoptix apresentaram melhores resultados no teste de ofuscamento e na sensibilidade ao contraste do que o olho contralateral, quando se compararam os resultados. CONCLUSÕES: O retratamento personalizado resultou em melhor qualidade visual pós-operatória do que o retratamento convencional de LASIK primário convencional.PURPOSE: To evaluate visual quality after wavefront-guided LASIK versus standard LASIK in retreatment of primary LASIK for myopia and myopic astigmatism. METHODS: A prospective study was performed with paired eye control of 74 eyes with LASIK retreatment. Each patient underwent retreatment using custom ablation (Zyoptix, Bausch & Lomb in 1 eye and standard ablation LASIK (PlanoScan, Bausch & Lomb in the contralateral eye. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed, including evaluation of glare test and contrast sensitivity test, with a follow-up of 6 months. RESULTS: Zyoptix eyes showed better results of glare test and contrast sensitivity test than the contralateral eyes. CONCLUSIONS: Wavefront-guided LASIK produces better visual quality than standard LASIK in the retreatment of refractive errors after primary LASIK.

Visual Methods and Quality in Information Behaviour Research: The Cases of Photovoice and Mental Mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Andrew; Benson, Melanie

2017-01-01

Introduction: The purpose of the paper is to explore the ways in which visual methods can increase the quality of qualitative information behaviour research. Methods: The paper examines Tracy's framework of eight criteria for research quality: worthy topic, rich rigour, sincerity, credibility, resonance, significant contribution, ethical issues…

Effect of 1-methylcyclopropene on shelf life, visual quality and nutritional quality of netted melon.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Y; Wang, B L; Shui, D J; Cao, L L; Wang, C; Yang, T; Wang, X Y; Ye, H X

2015-04-01

The effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on shelf life, fruit visual quality and nutritional quality were investigated. Netted melons were treated with air (control) and 0.6 µl l(-1) 1-MCP at 25 ℃ for 24 h, and then stored at 25 ℃ or 10 ℃ for 10 days. 1-MCP significantly extended the shelf life, inhibited weight loss and delayed firmness decline of melon fruits. Ethylene production was also inhibited and respiration rate was declined. 1-MCP retarded 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) increases and inhibited ACC synthase and ACC oxidase activity. Moreover, 1-MCP treatment reduced the decrease in total soluble solids and titratable acidity, as well as the decrease of the content of sugars (sucrose, fructose and glucose). These results indicated that 1-MCP treatment is a good method to extend melon shelf life and maintain fruit quality, and the combination of 1-MCP and low temperature storage resulted in more acceptable fruit quality. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Severe structural and functional visual system damage leads to profound loss of vision-related quality of life in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Felix; Zimmermann, Hanna; Mikolajczak, Janine; Oertel, Frederike C; Pache, Florence; Weinhold, Maria; Schinzel, Johann; Bellmann-Strobl, Judith; Ruprecht, Klemens; Paul, Friedemann; Brandt, Alexander U

2017-01-01

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are characterized by devastating optic neuritis attacks causing more structural damage and visual impairment than in multiple sclerosis (MS). The objective of this study was to compare vision-related quality of life in NMOSD and MS patients and correlate it to structural retinal damage and visual function. Thirty-one NMOSD and 31 matched MS patients were included. Vision-related quality of life was assessed with the 39-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ). All patients underwent retinal optical coherence tomography and visual acuity and contrast sensitivity measurements. Vision-related quality of life was reduced in NMOSD compared to MS patients. This difference was driven by a higher incidence of bilateral and more severe optic neuritis in the NMOSD group. Retinal thinning and visual impairment were significantly greater in the NMOSD cohort. Lower vision-related quality of life was associated with more retinal damage and reduced visual function as assessed by visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. NMOSD-related bilateral ON-attacks cause severe structural damage and visual impairment that lead to severe loss of vision-related quality of life. The NEI-VFQ is a helpful tool to monitor vision-related quality of life in NMOSD patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Monitoring Processes in Visual Search Enhanced by Professional Experience: The Case of Orange Quality-Control Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonino Visalli

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Visual search tasks have often been used to investigate how cognitive processes change with expertise. Several studies have shown visual experts' advantages in detecting objects related to their expertise. Here, we tried to extend these findings by investigating whether professional search experience could boost top-down monitoring processes involved in visual search, independently of advantages specific to objects of expertise. To this aim, we recruited a group of quality-control workers employed in citrus farms. Given the specific features of this type of job, we expected that the extensive employment of monitoring mechanisms during orange selection could enhance these mechanisms even in search situations in which orange-related expertise is not suitable. To test this hypothesis, we compared performance of our experimental group and of a well-matched control group on a computerized visual search task. In one block the target was an orange (expertise target while in the other block the target was a Smurfette doll (neutral target. The a priori hypothesis was to find an advantage for quality-controllers in those situations in which monitoring was especially involved, that is, when deciding the presence/absence of the target required a more extensive inspection of the search array. Results were consistent with our hypothesis. Quality-controllers were faster in those conditions that extensively required monitoring processes, specifically, the Smurfette-present and both target-absent conditions. No differences emerged in the orange-present condition, which resulted to mainly rely on bottom-up processes. These results suggest that top-down processes in visual search can be enhanced through immersive real-life experience beyond visual expertise advantages.

Monitoring Processes in Visual Search Enhanced by Professional Experience: The Case of Orange Quality-Control Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Visalli, Antonino; Vallesi, Antonino

2018-01-01

Visual search tasks have often been used to investigate how cognitive processes change with expertise. Several studies have shown visual experts' advantages in detecting objects related to their expertise. Here, we tried to extend these findings by investigating whether professional search experience could boost top-down monitoring processes involved in visual search, independently of advantages specific to objects of expertise. To this aim, we recruited a group of quality-control workers employed in citrus farms. Given the specific features of this type of job, we expected that the extensive employment of monitoring mechanisms during orange selection could enhance these mechanisms even in search situations in which orange-related expertise is not suitable. To test this hypothesis, we compared performance of our experimental group and of a well-matched control group on a computerized visual search task. In one block the target was an orange (expertise target) while in the other block the target was a Smurfette doll (neutral target). The a priori hypothesis was to find an advantage for quality-controllers in those situations in which monitoring was especially involved, that is, when deciding the presence/absence of the target required a more extensive inspection of the search array. Results were consistent with our hypothesis. Quality-controllers were faster in those conditions that extensively required monitoring processes, specifically, the Smurfette-present and both target-absent conditions. No differences emerged in the orange-present condition, which resulted to mainly rely on bottom-up processes. These results suggest that top-down processes in visual search can be enhanced through immersive real-life experience beyond visual expertise advantages.

Functionality and Performance Visualization of the Distributed High Quality Volume Renderer (HVR)

KAUST Repository

Shaheen, Sara

2012-07-01

Volume rendering systems are designed to provide means to enable scientists and a variety of experts to interactively explore volume data through 3D views of the volume. However, volume rendering techniques are computationally intensive tasks. Moreover, parallel distributed volume rendering systems and multi-threading architectures were suggested as natural solutions to provide an acceptable volume rendering performance for very large volume data sizes, such as Electron Microscopy data (EM). This in turn adds another level of complexity when developing and manipulating volume rendering systems. Given that distributed parallel volume rendering systems are among the most complex systems to develop, trace and debug, it is obvious that traditional debugging tools do not provide enough support. As a consequence, there is a great demand to provide tools that are able to facilitate the manipulation of such systems. This can be achieved by utilizing the power of compute graphics in designing visual representations that reflect how the system works and that visualize the current performance state of the system.The work presented is categorized within the field of software Visualization, where Visualization is used to serve visualizing and understanding various software. In this thesis, a number of visual representations that reflect a number of functionality and performance aspects of the distributed HVR, a high quality volume renderer system that uses various techniques to visualize large volume sizes interactively. This work is provided to visualize different stages of the parallel volume rendering pipeline of HVR. This is along with means of performance analysis through a number of flexible and dynamic visualizations that reflect the current state of the system and enables manipulation of them at runtime. Those visualization are aimed to facilitate debugging, understanding and analyzing the distributed HVR.

A WebGIS-based system for analyzing and visualizing air quality data for Shanghai Municipality

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Manyi; Liu, Chaoshun; Gao, Wei

2014-10-01

An online visual analytical system based on Java Web and WebGIS for air quality data for Shanghai Municipality was designed and implemented to quantitatively analyze and qualitatively visualize air quality data. By analyzing the architecture of WebGIS and Java Web, we firstly designed the overall scheme for system architecture, then put forward the software and hardware environment and also determined the main function modules for the system. The visual system was ultimately established with the DIV + CSS layout method combined with JSP, JavaScript, and some other computer programming languages based on the Java programming environment. Moreover, Struts, Spring, and Hibernate frameworks (SSH) were integrated in the system for the purpose of easy maintenance and expansion. To provide mapping service and spatial analysis functions, we selected ArcGIS for Server as the GIS server. We also used Oracle database and ESRI file geodatabase to store spatial data and non-spatial data in order to ensure the data security. In addition, the response data from the Web server are resampled to implement rapid visualization through the browser. The experimental successes indicate that this system can quickly respond to user's requests, and efficiently return the accurate processing results.

Comparison of image quality and portal vein visualization in IADSP using iopamidol, 76 % urografin, and 38 % urografin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibata, Toshiya; Yamashita, Keiji; Konishi, Junji; Hayakawa, Katsumi; Hamanaka, Daizaburo; Okumura, Ryouji; Ishi, Yasushi.

1988-01-01

The image quality of intra-arterial digital subtraction portography (IADSP) was studied in 50 randomly assigned patients using one of three contrast agents: iopamidol, (IOP, 20 cases), 76 % Na-meglumine diatrzioate (76 % UG, 20 cases), and 38 % Na-meglumine diatrizoate (38 % UG, 10 cases). Sharpness and contrast of images, and portal vein visualization were evaluated in these groups. IOP provided better image quality and portal vein visualization than 76 % UG. There was no significant difference between them in terms of side effects, such as contrast medium-induced pain and feeling of warmth, or changes in physiological parameters like blood pressure and heart rate. When a low osmolar contrast agent like IOP passes through the mesentery capillary bed, the eflux of the contrast agent into the interstitial space and the influex of water into the capillary may be less, resulting in less dilution of the contrast agent in the superior mesenteric vein. This might explain the better image quality and portal vein visualization of IOP. (author)

LOD map--A visual interface for navigating multiresolution volume visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chaoli; Shen, Han-Wei

2006-01-01

In multiresolution volume visualization, a visual representation of level-of-detail (LOD) quality is important for us to examine, compare, and validate different LOD selection algorithms. While traditional methods rely on ultimate images for quality measurement, we introduce the LOD map--an alternative representation of LOD quality and a visual interface for navigating multiresolution data exploration. Our measure for LOD quality is based on the formulation of entropy from information theory. The measure takes into account the distortion and contribution of multiresolution data blocks. A LOD map is generated through the mapping of key LOD ingredients to a treemap representation. The ordered treemap layout is used for relative stable update of the LOD map when the view or LOD changes. This visual interface not only indicates the quality of LODs in an intuitive way, but also provides immediate suggestions for possible LOD improvement through visually-striking features. It also allows us to compare different views and perform rendering budget control. A set of interactive techniques is proposed to make the LOD adjustment a simple and easy task. We demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach on large scientific and medical data sets.

USGS geologic Mapping and karst research in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri, USA

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Weary, David J.; Grant, Victoria M

2014-01-01

The Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) was created in 1964 to protect 134 miles of the Current River and its major tributary, the Jacks Fork, that are located in south-central Missouri (fig. 1). The park includes numerous large karst springs including Big Spring, by flow volume this is the largest spring in the National Park system. The National Park Service (NPS) administers a narrow, nearly continuous corridor of land adjacent to the two rivers. Base flow for the rivers is chiefly supplied by groundwater that has traveled through the karst landscape from as far as 38 miles away from the spring (Imes and Frederick, 2002). The watershed is vulnerable to pollution, but the area remains largely rural with few industries. The springs and rivers provide habitat for numerous aquatic species as well as recreational resources for floaters, fishermen, and campers. The ONSR is a major cave park with hundreds of known caves and diverse in-cave resources.

Influence of visual stimuli on the sound quality evaluation of loudspeaker systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karandreas, Theodoros-Alexandros; Christensen, Flemming

Product sound quality evaluation aims to identify relevant attributes and assess their influence on the overall auditory impression. Extending this sound specific rationale, the present study evaluates overall impression in relation to hearing and vision, specifically for loudspeakers. In order...... to quantify the bias that the image of a loudspeaker has on the sound quality evaluation of a naive listening panel, loudspeaker sounds of varied degradation are coupled with positively or negatively biasing visual input of actual loudspeakers, and in a separate experiment by pictures of the same loudspeakers....

Influence of visual stimuli in the sound quality evaluation of loudspeaker systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karandreas, Theodoros-Alexandros; Christensen, Flemming

2006-01-01

There is currently an increasing demand to evaluate sound quality attributes of products and understand to what extend they influence a user's overall impression, since there is usually more than one modality stimulating this evaluation. The present study uses the loudspeakers as an example...... and evaluates the overall impression in relation to hearing and vision.In order to quantify the bias that the image of a loudspeaker has on the sound quality evaluation done by a naive listening panel, loudspeaker sounds of varied degradation are coupled with positively or negatively biasing visual input...

Depression in the elderly with visual impairment and its association with quality of life

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Renaud J

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Judith Renaud, Emmanuelle Bédard School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Background: Visual impairment is more prevalent in the elderly and depression is common in this population. Although many studies have investigated depression or quality of life (QOL in older adults with visual impairment, few have looked at the association between these two concepts for this population. The aim of this systematized review was to describe the association between depression and QOL in older adults with visual impairment. Methods: A search was done using multiple electronic databases for studies addressing the relationship between QOL and depression in elders with visual impairment. The concept of QOL was divided into two different approaches, ie, QOL as achievement and QOL as subjective well-being. Comparison of QOL scores between participants with and without depression (Cohen's d and correlations between depression and QOL (Pearson's r were examined. Results: Thirteen studies reported in 18 articles were included in the review. Nearly all of the studies revealed that better QOL was moderately to strongly correlated with less severe depressive symptoms (r = 0.22–0.68 for QOL as achievement; r = 0.68 and 0.72 for QOL as subjective well-being. Effect sizes for the QOL differences between the groups with and without depression ranged from small to large (d = 0.17 to 0.95 for QOL as achievement; no data for QOL as subjective well-being. Conclusion: Additional studies are necessary to pinpoint further the determinants and mediators of this relationship. Considering the high prevalence rate of depression in this community and its disabling effects on QOL, interventions to prevent and treat depression are essential. More efforts are needed in clinical settings to train health care practitioners to identify depressed elders with visual impairment and provide appropriate treatment. Keywords: depressive symptoms, disability, health

Regional air-quality and acid-deposition modeling and the role for visualization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Novak, J.H.; Dennis, R.L.

1991-11-01

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses air quality and deposition models to advance the scientific understanding of basic physical and chemical processes related to air pollution, and to assess the effectiveness of alternative emissions control strategies. The paper provides a brief technical description of several regional scale atmospheric models, their current use within EPA, and related data analysis issues. Spatial analysis is a key component in the evaluation and interpretation of the model predictions. Thus, the authors highlight several types of analysis enhancements focusing on those related to issues of spatial scale, user access to models and analysis tools, and consolidation of air quality modeling and graphical analysis capabilities. They discuss their initial experience with a Geographical Information System (GIS) pilot project that generated the initial concepts for the design of an integrated modeling and analysis environment. And finally, they present current plans to evolve this modeling/visualization approach to a distributed, heterogeneous computing environment which enables any research scientist or policy analyst to use high performance visualization techniques from his/her desktop

The ventral visual pathway: an expanded neural framework for the processing of object quality.

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Kravitz, Dwight J; Saleem, Kadharbatcha S; Baker, Chris I; Ungerleider, Leslie G; Mishkin, Mortimer

2013-01-01

Since the original characterization of the ventral visual pathway, our knowledge of its neuroanatomy, functional properties, and extrinsic targets has grown considerably. Here we synthesize this recent evidence and propose that the ventral pathway is best understood as a recurrent occipitotemporal network containing neural representations of object quality both utilized and constrained by at least six distinct cortical and subcortical systems. Each system serves its own specialized behavioral, cognitive, or affective function, collectively providing the raison d'être for the ventral visual pathway. This expanded framework contrasts with the depiction of the ventral visual pathway as a largely serial staged hierarchy culminating in singular object representations and more parsimoniously incorporates attentional, contextual, and feedback effects. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Correlation of visual performance with quality of life and intraocular aberrometric profile in patients implanted with rotationally asymmetric multifocal IOLs.

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Ramón, María L; Piñero, David P; Pérez-Cambrodí, Rafael J

2012-02-01

To examine the visual performance of a rotationally asymmetric multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) by correlating the defocus curve of the IOL-implanted eye with the intraocular aberrometric profile and impact on the quality of life. A prospective, consecutive, case series study including 26 eyes from 13 patients aged between 50 and 83 years (mean: 65.54±7.59 years) was conducted. All patients underwent bilateral cataract surgery with implantation of a rotationally asymmetric multifocal IOL (Lentis Mplus LS-312 MF30, Oculentis GmbH). Distance and near visual acuity outcomes, intraocular aberrations, defocus curve, and quality of life (assessed using the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25) were evaluated postoperatively (mean follow-up: 6.42±2.24 months). A significant improvement in distance visual acuity was found postoperatively (P<.01). Mean postoperative logMAR distance-corrected near visual acuity was 0.19±0.12 (∼20/30). Corrected distance visual acuity and near visual acuity of 20/20 or better were achieved by 30.8% and 7.7% of eyes, respectively. Of all eyes, 96.2% had a postoperative addition between 0 and 1.00 diopter (D). The defocus curve showed two peaks of maximum visual acuity (0 and 3.00 D of defocus), with an acceptable range of intermediate vision. LogMAR visual acuity corresponding to near defocus was directly correlated with some higher order intraocular aberrations (r⩾0.44, P⩽.04). Some difficulties evaluated with the quality of life test correlated directly with near and intermediate visual acuity (r⩾0.50, P⩽.01). The Lentis Mplus multifocal IOL provides good distance, intermediate, and near visual outcomes; however, the induced intraocular aberrometric profile may limit the potential visual benefit. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

Image size invariant visual cryptography for general access structures subject to display quality constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kai-Hui; Chiu, Pei-Ling

2013-10-01

Conventional visual cryptography (VC) suffers from a pixel-expansion problem, or an uncontrollable display quality problem for recovered images, and lacks a general approach to construct visual secret sharing schemes for general access structures. We propose a general and systematic approach to address these issues without sophisticated codebook design. This approach can be used for binary secret images in non-computer-aided decryption environments. To avoid pixel expansion, we design a set of column vectors to encrypt secret pixels rather than using the conventional VC-based approach. We begin by formulating a mathematic model for the VC construction problem to find the column vectors for the optimal VC construction, after which we develop a simulated-annealing-based algorithm to solve the problem. The experimental results show that the display quality of the recovered image is superior to that of previous papers.

Evaluation of the quality of CR mammography images in Chugoku Rosai Hospital. Visual evaluation and digital evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makihata, Hiroshi; Fukuda, Tomoya; Aomori, Masaji; Hara, Shinji

2005-01-01

New mammography system (50-micrometer system) composed of Fuji computed tomography (FCR) both sides IP, 5000MA and dry imager was introduced in the Department of Physical Checkup of Chugoku Rosai Hospital in 2003. We performed visual evaluation and digital evaluation using 50-micrometer system in accordance with (the quality control guidance of) Non-Profit Organization the Central Committee on Quality Control of Mammographic Screening. In visual evaluation using RMI156 phantom the system cleared the quality control guidance about a fiber, calcification, and masses. On step phantom, it passed about 10 steps, masses, and calcifications. Since a success standard was not announced officially, the performance in digital evaluation cannot be judged and only the result is presented. In digital evaluation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is 14.9, root of mean squares (RMS) is 32.9, SNRC is 16.4, SNRT is 3.65. This system image has high sharpness and is considered from the result in visual evaluation to have the ability of offering images with a high degree of information. (author)

Quality of life and visual acuity outcomes in the Registry in Glaucoma Outcomes Research study.

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Anne L; Lum, Flora C; Gliklich, Richard E; Velentgas, Priscilla; Su, Zhaohui

2016-01-01

The RiGOR study evaluated the association of treatment and patient-reported outcomes for open-angle glaucoma patients. The Glaucoma Symptom Scale (National Eye Institute-Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) and visual acuity (VA) were collected as quality of life measures. The proportion of patients with improvement of at least two lines of vision was highest in the incisional surgery group (14.2% compared with 9.9% for laser surgery and 10.9% for additional medication). No clinically relevant differences were seen in benefit for the laser surgery or incisional surgery groups compared with additional medications for the Glaucoma Symptom Scale or NEI-VFQ measures or subscales. Differences in quality of life by race need to be explored in further studies.

The Image Quality of a Digital Chest X-Ray Radiography System: Comparison of Quantitative Image Quality Analysis and Radiologists' Visual Scoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nam, Ji Ho [Dept. of Radiology Oncology, Yongsan Hospital, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Yongsan (Korea, Republic of); Chung, Myung Jin [Dept. of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Park, Darl; Kim, Won Taek; Kim, Yong Ho; Ki, Yong Kan; Kim, DFong Hyun; Lee, Ju Hee; Kim, Dong Won [Dept. of Radiology Oncology, Yongsan Hospital, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Yongsan (Korea, Republic of); Jeon, Ho Sang [Reserach Institue for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Yongsan Hospital, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Yongsan (Korea, Republic of)

2011-11-15

To evaluate the performance of imaging devices, which should be periodically monitored to maintain high quality images to the radiologists. Additionally, this evaluation may prevent patients from radiation over-exposure. The most suitable engineering standard for imaging performance evaluation of digital X-ray thoracic images was determined. IEC 62220-1 standards were used to evaluate the performance of the images. In succession, the visibilities of overall image, pneumothorax, and humerus head in anthropomorphic thoracic phantom images were used to evaluate the image qualities by radiologists. The rank correlation coefficient (p) of visual scoring by radiologists with system spatial resolution is not meaningful (p-value, p = 0.295), but is significant with image noise (p-value, p -0.9267). Finally, the noise equivalent quanta (NEQ) presents a high rank correlation for visual scoring of radiologists (p-value, p = 0.9320). Image quality evaluation of radiologists were mainly affected by imaging noise. Hence, the engineered standard for evaluating image noise is the most important index to effectively monitor the performance of X-ray images. Additionally, the NEQ can be used to evaluate the performance of radiographic systems, because it theoretically corresponds to the synthetic image quality of systems.

Macular Carotenoid Supplementation Improves Visual Performance, Sleep Quality, and Adverse Physical Symptoms in Those with High Screen Time Exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Stringham, James M; Stringham, Nicole T; O'Brien, Kevin J

2017-06-29

The dramatic rise in the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers over the past decade has raised concerns about potentially deleterious health effects of increased "screen time" (ST) and associated short-wavelength (blue) light exposure. We determined baseline associations and effects of 6 months' supplementation with the macular carotenoids (MC) lutein, zeaxanthin, and mesozeaxanthin on the blue-absorbing macular pigment (MP) and measures of sleep quality, visual performance, and physical indicators of excessive ST. Forty-eight healthy young adults with at least 6 h of daily near-field ST exposure participated in this placebo-controlled trial. Visual performance measures included contrast sensitivity, critical flicker fusion, disability glare, and photostress recovery. Physical indicators of excessive screen time and sleep quality were assessed via questionnaire. MP optical density (MPOD) was assessed via heterochromatic flicker photometry. At baseline, MPOD was correlated significantly with all visual performance measures ( p eye strain, eye fatigue, and all visual performance measures, versus placebo ( p < 0.05 for all). Increased MPOD significantly improves visual performance and, in turn, improves several undesirable physical outcomes associated with excessive ST. The improvement in sleep quality was not directly related to increases in MPOD, and may be due to systemic reduction in oxidative stress and inflammation.

The effect of ice skating on psychological well-being and sleep quality of children with visual or hearing impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Dursun, Onur Burak; Erhan, Süleyman Erim; Ibiş, Esra Özhan; Esin, Ibrahim Selcuk; Keleş, Sadullah; Şirinkan, Ahmet; Yörük, Özgür; Acar, Ethem; Beyhun, Nazim Ercument

2015-01-01

Physical exercise and sports have a key role in preventing physical and psychiatric problems in children. However, children with a disability often experience difficulty participating in physical activity due to a lack of suitable opportunities. Participation in an accessible sport is particularly important for these children, but studies examining which sports are beneficial for which disability groups are rare. In this study, we assessed the effects of ice skating on the psychological well-being, self-concept, and sleep quality of children with hearing or visual impairment. Forty students (20 visually impaired and 20 hearing impaired) aged 8-16 were included in a regular ice skating programme for three months. We examined the sleep quality, self-concept, and behavioural and emotional states of the children before and after participating in the programme. There was a significant improvement in self-concept, behavioural and emotional problems, and sleep quality (p sleep quality (p = 0.019) and emotional problem scores (p = 0.000) of the visually impaired children improved; self-concept, peer relations and hyperactivity scores of these children worsened (p sport alternatives that gives children the opportunity to exercise and have fun together. The results of this study revealed that regular ice skating programmes may have positive effects on the psychological well-being of children with hearing impairment. Despite some positive effects, caution must be use when including visually impaired children in ice skating programmes. Generalization of the study's outcomes is limited as the study group were residential students enrolled in special education institutions for children who are blind or deaf. Ice skating is a community-based sport and a popular leisure activity that can also have benefits for people with disabilities. Ice skating and children with hearing impairment: Self-concept, behavioural and emotional problems, and sleep quality of the children

Research on Scenic Spot’s Sustainable Development Based on a SD Model: A Case Study of the Jiuzhai Valley

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhixue Liao

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In the field of tourism, the development of tourist attractions is playing an increasingly crucial role in tourism economy, regional economy and national economy. However, the eco-environment has been damaged while tourism industry develops rapidly. Thus, to solve the contradiction between tourism development and eco-environment protection is the key to achieving sustainable development of tourism. This paper builds a SD model, which is based on the analysis of the economic subsystem and environment subsystem, to promote sustainable development. In order to show the effectiveness of the model, Jiuzhai Valley is taken as the research object and a decisive basis is provided for the path adjustment of sustainable development in tourist scenic.

Comparison of visual outcomes and subjective visual quality after bilateral implantation of a diffractive trifocal intraocular lens and blended implantation of apodized diffractive bifocal intraocular lenses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gundersen KG

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Kjell G Gundersen,1 Rick Potvin21IFocus Øyeklinikk AS, Haugesund, Norway; 2Science in Vision, Akron, NY, USAPurpose: To compare the visual acuity (VA and quality of vision between bilateral implantation of a trifocal intraocular lens (IOL and blended bifocal IOLs with an intermediate add in the dominant eye and a near add in the nondominant eye.Patients and methods: Patients with either trifocal or blended bifocal IOLs implanted were recruited after surgery. Subjects returned for a single diagnostic visit between 3 and 24 months after surgery. VA was tested at various distances, including low-contrast acuity and acuity at their preferred reading distance. A binocular defocus curve was obtained, and subjective visual function and quality of vision were evaluated.Results: Twenty-five trifocal subjects and 30 blended bifocal subjects were enrolled. There were no significant differences in low-contrast acuity, preferred reading distance, or acuity at that reading distance. Binocular vision at 4 m, 60 cm, and 40 cm was not statistically significantly different. The trifocal provided statistically significantly better visual acuity (P<0.05 at vergences from -0.5 to -1.5 D (from 2 m to 67 cm viewing distance, P<0.05. There was no statistically significant difference in the near vision subscale scores of the 39-question National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire or the overall scores of the Quality of Vision questionnaire, though significantly more trifocal subjects reported that the observed visual disturbances were “bothersome” (P<0.05.Conclusion: Both lens modalities provided subjects with excellent binocular near and distance vision, with similar low rates of visual disturbances and good reported functional vision. The trifocal IOL provided significantly better intermediate VA in the viewing distance range of 2 m to 67 cm, corresponding to viewing things such as a car dashboard or grocery shelf. VA was similar between groups at

Mapping vegetation communities using statistical data fusion in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Chastain, R.A.; Struckhoff, M.A.; He, H.S.; Larsen, D.R.

2008-01-01

A vegetation community map was produced for the Ozark National Scenic Riverways consistent with the association level of the National Vegetation Classification System. Vegetation communities were differentiated using a large array of variables derived from remote sensing and topographic data, which were fused into independent mathematical functions using a discriminant analysis classification approach. Remote sensing data provided variables that discriminated vegetation communities based on differences in color, spectral reflectance, greenness, brightness, and texture. Topographic data facilitated differentiation of vegetation communities based on indirect gradients (e.g., landform position, slope, aspect), which relate to variations in resource and disturbance gradients. Variables derived from these data sources represent both actual and potential vegetation community patterns on the landscape. A hybrid combination of statistical and photointerpretation methods was used to obtain an overall accuracy of 63 percent for a map with 49 vegetation community and land-cover classes, and 78 percent for a 33-class map of the study area. ?? 2008 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Between Art and Social Science: Scenic Composition as a Methodological Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lynn Froggett

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The scenic composition (SC is a methodological device enabling the synthesis and articulation of researchers' own complex experiences of events witnessed during data collection. Positioned between art and social science, it makes use of literary conventions to synthesise "experience near" accounts of data for interpretation. This article explains how the SC is composed by drawing on associative thinking and illustrates its use within a specific case study. The conceptual basis of the SC is discussed with reference to the work of LORENZER, WINNICOTT and BION. This is the first study in which four compositions, each by a different researcher, have been used to provide a multi-faceted view of a complex event, a live webcast. The compositions are presented along with researchers' reflections. Common themes and significant differences relating to life situations, histories and dispositions of the researchers emerge. The differences were expressed through choice of literary genres, which are common cultural resources. We ask what was achieved through the use of SCs compared with a thematic analysis of the webcast, and find that apart from synthesising and presentational functions, they give access to a multi-sensory range of researchers' experiences, including unconscious elements which were then available for reflexive interpretation by an interpretation panel. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs140356

Halftone visual cryptography.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Zhi; Arce, Gonzalo R; Di Crescenzo, Giovanni

2006-08-01

Visual cryptography encodes a secret binary image (SI) into n shares of random binary patterns. If the shares are xeroxed onto transparencies, the secret image can be visually decoded by superimposing a qualified subset of transparencies, but no secret information can be obtained from the superposition of a forbidden subset. The binary patterns of the n shares, however, have no visual meaning and hinder the objectives of visual cryptography. Extended visual cryptography [1] was proposed recently to construct meaningful binary images as shares using hypergraph colourings, but the visual quality is poor. In this paper, a novel technique named halftone visual cryptography is proposed to achieve visual cryptography via halftoning. Based on the blue-noise dithering principles, the proposed method utilizes the void and cluster algorithm [2] to encode a secret binary image into n halftone shares (images) carrying significant visual information. The simulation shows that the visual quality of the obtained halftone shares are observably better than that attained by any available visual cryptography method known to date.

Changes in Quality of Life in Visually Impaired Patients after Low-Vision Rehabilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Renieri, Giulia; Pitz, Susanne; Pfeiffer, Norbert; Beutel, Manfred E.; Zwerenz, Rudiger

2013-01-01

The objective of the study was to assess the impact of low-vision aids on quality of life. Interviews included a modified version of the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (Modified German NEI VFQ-25), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination Blind, and Indicators of the Rehabilitation…

Constructivist-Visual Mind Map Teaching Approach and the Quality of Students' Cognitive Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Dhindsa, Harkirat S.; Makarimi-Kasim; Anderson, O. Roger

2011-01-01

This study compared the effects of a constructivist-visual mind map teaching approach (CMA) and of a traditional teaching approach (TTA) on (a) the quality and richness of students' knowledge structures and (b) TTA and CMA students' perceptions of the extent that a constructivist learning environment (CLE) was created in their classes. The sample…

Scenic drive landslide of January-March 1998, La Honda, San Mateo County, California

Science.gov (United States)

Jayko, Angela S.; Rymer, Michael J.; Prentice, Carol S.; Wilson, Ray C.; Wells, Ray E.

1998-01-01

The small rural town of La Honda, Calif., is an unincorporated region of San Mateo County situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the western part of the San Francisco peninsula. Much of the town is underlain by a previously recognized ancient landslide complex. The ancient slide complex covers about 1.0 to 1.25 km2, parts of which have been historically active. This report describes a recent landslide involving part of Scenic Drive, La Honda, that became active in January 1998. This report does not describe other currently active landslides in La Honda, such as the January 1998 slide on lower Recreation Drive, or the history of sliding in the area. This report concerns the principal morphological features we observed and mapped between 11 February and 21 March 1998 on an enlargement of a 1:7500-scale air photo acquired 6 March 1998 and prior to that on a town property-line map, and by laser survey carried out between 26 February and 8 March. The principal objective of this report is to make available the detailed photographic and topographic base maps and associated description of surface morphological features.

Quality control in diagnostic radiology: software (Visual Basic 6) and database applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Md Saion Salikin; Muhammad Farid Abdul Khalid

2002-01-01

Quality Assurance programme in diagnostic Radiology is being implemented by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Malaysia. Under this program the performance of an x-ray machine used for diagnostic purpose is tested by using the approved procedure which is commonly known as Quality Control in diagnostic radiology. The quality control or performance tests are carried out b a class H licence holder issued the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984. There are a few computer applications (software) that are available in the market which can be used for this purpose. A computer application (software) using Visual Basics 6 and Microsoft Access, is being developed to expedite data handling, analysis and storage as well as report writing of the quality control tests. In this paper important features of the software for quality control tests are explained in brief. A simple database is being established for this purpose which is linked to the software. Problems encountered in the preparation of database are discussed in this paper. A few examples of practical usage of the software and database applications are presented in brief. (Author)

Proposal for a system of indicators to assess the visual quality of the urban landscape in informal settlements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johana Andrea Mesa-Carranza

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Propuesta de un sistema de indicadores para evaluar la calidad visual del paisaje urbano en asentamientos informalesResumenLos asentamientos informales son producto de procesos espontáneos de urbanización y se conforman sin ninguna planificación oficial, generando exclusión social y marginalidad, las cuales repercuten negativamente en el aspecto físico del entorno urbano y en la calidad de vida de los habitantes. Este texto se enfoca en la construcción de los lineamientos de confort ambiental orientados a la calidad visual del paisaje urbano; a partir de una revisión bibliográfica descriptiva se presentan los diferentes autores y conceptos que definen al paisaje urbano; se identifican los principales componentes que lo conforman y, a partir de estos, se propone un sistema de indicadores para valorar su calidad visual, bajo la integración de factores inherentes a las dimensiones ecológica, estética y cultural, los cuales contribuyen a definir el diagnóstico de cada componente propuesto, además de establecer un sistema de evaluación que favorezca el mejoramiento de la calidad visual del paisaje urbano informal, proporcionando resultados que ayuden al proceso de diseño y a la preservación o el mejoramiento del mismo.Palabras clave: diseño del paisaje, diseño urbano, paisaje cultural, paisaje natural, protección del paisaje. Proposal for a system of indicators to assess the visual quality of the urban landscape in informal settlementsAbstractInformal settlements are the result of spontaneous processes of urbanization and are formed without any official planning, generating social exclusion and marginalization, which adversely affect the physical appearance of the urban environment and quality of life of the inhabitants. This text focuses on building environmental guidelines comfort-oriented visual quality of the urban landscape; from a descriptive literature review, there is a presentation of different authors and concepts that

Reduced health-related quality of life among Japanese college students with visual impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Masaki, Iguchi

2015-01-01

Although previous studies have shown detrimental effects of visual impairment on health-related quality of life (HRQOL), they were primarily conducted on elderly individuals with visual impairment. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate if HRQOL is impaired in young college students with visual impairment and to explore the relationships between HRQOL and other factors. It was hypothesized that visual impairment is not influential enough to lower the HRQOL of young people due to their better physical fitness and more flexible mentality. A total of 21 college students (mean age = 25 years old) with varying degrees of visual impairment completed the short form (SF)-36 health survey and questionnaires on daily physical activities. Subjects were grouped depending on the type of visual impairment: blind (n = 11) or severely impaired (n = 10). In addition, grip strength and single-leg standing balance were assessed. No between-group differences were found in the SF-36 scores. However, compared to the general Japanese standards (50.0 ± 10.0), the Vitality scores of the blind group were lower (41.9 ± 7.2, p = 0.004) and the Physical Function scores of the severely impaired group were higher (55.3 ± 2.4, p = 0.001). In addition, a negative correlation was found between standing balance (variability of foot center of pressure) and the Physical Component Summary score of the SF-36 (r(2) = 0.35, p = 0.005). These findings suggest that even among young people severe visual impairment leads to reductions in some components of HRQOL.

Visual analytics in medical education: impacting analytical reasoning and decision making for quality improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaitsis, Christos; Nilsson, Gunnar; Zary, Nabil

2015-01-01

The medical curriculum is the main tool representing the entire undergraduate medical education. Due to its complexity and multilayered structure it is of limited use to teachers in medical education for quality improvement purposes. In this study we evaluated three visualizations of curriculum data from a pilot course, using teachers from an undergraduate medical program and applying visual analytics methods. We found that visual analytics can be used to positively impacting analytical reasoning and decision making in medical education through the realization of variables capable to enhance human perception and cognition on complex curriculum data. The positive results derived from our evaluation of a medical curriculum and in a small scale, signify the need to expand this method to an entire medical curriculum. As our approach sustains low levels of complexity it opens a new promising direction in medical education informatics research.

Impact of First Eye versus Second Eye Cataract Surgery on Visual Function and Quality of Life.

Science.gov (United States)

Shekhawat, Nakul S; Stock, Michael V; Baze, Elizabeth F; Daly, Mary K; Vollman, David E; Lawrence, Mary G; Chomsky, Amy S

2017-10-01

To compare the impact of first eye versus second eye cataract surgery on visual function and quality of life. Cohort study. A total of 328 patients undergoing separate first eye and second eye phacoemulsification cataract surgeries at 5 veterans affairs centers in the United States. Patients with previous ocular surgery, postoperative endophthalmitis, postoperative retinal detachment, reoperation within 30 days, dementia, anxiety disorder, hearing difficulty, or history of drug abuse were excluded. Patients received complete preoperative and postoperative ophthalmic examinations for first eye and second eye cataract surgeries. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was measured 30 to 90 days preoperatively and postoperatively. Patients completed the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) 30 to 90 days preoperatively and postoperatively. The NEI-VFQ scores were calculated using a traditional subscale scoring algorithm and a Rasch-refined approach producing visual function and socioemotional subscale scores. Postoperative NEI-VFQ scores and improvement in NEI-VFQ scores comparing first eye versus second eye cataract surgery. Mean age was 70.4 years (±9.6 standard deviation [SD]). Compared with second eyes, first eyes had worse mean preoperative BCVA (0.55 vs. 0.36 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR), P < 0.001), greater mean BCVA improvement after surgery (-0.50 vs. -0.32 logMAR, P < 0.001), and slightly worse postoperative BCVA (0.06 vs. 0.03 logMAR, P = 0.039). Compared with first eye surgery, second eye surgery resulted in higher postoperative NEI-VFQ scores for nearly all traditional subscales (P < 0.001), visual function subscale (-3.85 vs. -2.91 logits, P < 0.001), and socioemotional subscale (-2.63 vs. -2.10 logits, P < 0.001). First eye surgery improved visual function scores more than second eye surgery (-2.99 vs. -2.67 logits, P = 0.021), but both first and second eye surgeries resulted in similar

Assessment of Air Quality Status in Wuhan, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiabei Song

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this study, air quality characteristics in Wuhan were assessed through descriptive statistics and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA. Results show that air quality has slightly improved over the recent years. While the NO2 concentration is still increasing, the PM10 concentration shows a clearly downward trend with some small fluctuations. In addition, the SO2 concentration has steadily decreased since 2008. Nevertheless, the current level of air pollutants is still quite high, with the PM10 and NO2 levels exceeding the air quality standard. Seasonal variation exists consistently for all the pollutants, with the highest concentration in winter and the lowest in summer. Cluster analysis evidenced that nine urban monitoring sites could be classified into three clusters. Cluster I consists of only the LY site, which is located in the famous East Lake scenic area with the best air quality. Cluster II corresponds to three monitoring sites with heavily trafficked roads nearby, where relatively severe NO2 pollution occurred. Cluster III is comprised of the remaining five sites, characterized by PM10 and SO2 pollution.

Psychosocial adaptation status and health-related quality of life among older Chinese adults with visual disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chong-Wen; Chan, Cecilia L W

2009-09-01

To examine the association of psychosocial adaptation status with vision-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and the role of psychosocial adaptation in the linkage between visual impairment and vision-specific HRQOL outcomes among older adults with visual disorders. In this cross-sectional study, older urban adults with visual problems (N = 167) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to assess their self-reported visual function, general health, psychosocial adaptation status, and vision-specific HRQOL. Performance-based measure of visual function marked by distance visual acuity was clinically conducted by ophthalmologists. It was found in the study that psychosocial adaptation status was significantly associated with vision-specific HRQOL, including the domains of mental health symptoms due to vision and dependency on others due to vision. The results also showed that psychosocial adaptation status could buffer the effect of visual impairment on vision-specific HRQOL, including the domains of social function, mental health, and dependency. Psychosocial adaptation status is significantly associated with multiple domains of vision-specific HRQOL. The findings have significant implications for health education and psychosocial intervention for older adults with age-related vision loss.

Comparison of Quality of Life and Social Skills between Students with Visual Problems (Blind and Partially Blind) and Normal Students

OpenAIRE

Fereshteh Kordestani; Azam Daneshfar; Davood Roustaee

2014-01-01

This study aimed to compare the quality of life and social skills between students who are visually impaired (blind and partially blind) and normal students. The population consisted of all students with visual problems (blind and partially blind) and normal students in secondary schools in Tehran in the academic year 2013-2014. Using a multi-stage random sampling method, 40 students were selected from each group. The SF-36s quality of life questionnaire and Foster and Inderbitzen social skil...

The impact of translucent fabric shades and control strategies on energy savings and visual quality

Science.gov (United States)

Wankanapon, Pimonmart

Translucent fabric shades provide opportunities for building occupants to control sunlight penetration for heat reduction, thermal comfort, and visual quality. Regulating shades affects building energy and can potentially reduce the size of mechanical cooling systems. Shades are not normally included in energy model studies during the design process, even though shades potential impact energy use. This is because the occupants normally leave shades closed a large fraction of the time, but models are generally performed with no shades. Automatic shade control is now available, so it is necessary to understand the impact of shades on visual quality and their energy saving potential in order to optimize their overall performance. There are very limited studies that have address shades and their integrated performance on energy consumption and visual quality. Most of these do not reflected modern shade types and their application. The goals of this study are: First, to determine the impact of shades on total, heating, cooling and lighting energy savings with different design and operation parameters. Second, to study and develop different automatic shade control strategies to promote and optimize energy savings and visual quality. A simulation-based approach using EnergyPlus in a parametric study provide better understanding energy savings under different shade conditions. The parametric runs addressed various building parameters such as geometry, orientation, site climate, glazing/shade properties, and shade control strategies with integrated lighting control. The impact of shades was determined for total building and space heating, cooling and lighting energy savings. The effect of shades on visual quality was studied using EnergyPlus, AGI32 and DAYSIM for several indices such as daylight glare index (DGI), work plane illuminance, luminance ratios and view. Different shade control strategies and integrated lighting control were considered with two translucent fabric

Prism therapy and visual rehabilitation in homonymous visual field loss.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Neill, Evelyn C

2011-02-01

Homonymous visual field defects (HVFD) are common and frequently occur after cerebrovascular accidents. They significantly impair visual function and cause disability particularly with regard to visual exploration. The purpose of this study was to assess a novel interventional treatment of monocular prism therapy on visual functioning in patients with HVFD of varied etiology using vision targeted, health-related quality of life (QOL) questionnaires. Our secondary aim was to confirm monocular and binocular visual field expansion pre- and posttreatment.

7 CFR 650.24 - Scenic beauty (visual resource).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... NRCS work. Strip-cropping, field borders, field windbreaks, and ponds are examples. Emphasis is given... resource values particularly in waste management systems; field borders, field windbreaks, wetland..., and farmsteads; siting or positioning of structures and buildings to be in harmony with the landscape...

Multivariate analysis and visualization of soil quality data for no-till systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Villamil, M B; Miguez, F E; Bollero, G A

2008-01-01

To evidence the multidimensionality of the soil quality concept, we propose the use of data visualization as a tool for exploratory data analyses, model building, and diagnostics. Our objective was to establish the best edaphic indicators for assessing soil quality in four no-till systems with regard to functioning as a medium for crop production and nutrient cycling across two Illinois locations. The compared situations were no-till corn-soybean rotations including either winter fallowing (C/S) or cover crops of rye (Secale cereale; C-R/S-R), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa; C-R/S-V), or their mixture (C-R/S-VR). The dataset included the variables bulk density (BD), penetration resistance (PR), water aggregate stability (WAS), soil reaction (pH), and the contents of soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), soil nitrates (NO(3)-N), and available phosphorus (P). Interactive data visualization along with canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) allowed us to show that WAS, BD, and the contents of P, TN, and SOM have the greatest potential as soil quality indicators in no-till systems in Illinois. It was more difficult to discriminate among WCC rotations than to separate these from C/S, considerably inflating the error rate associated with CDA. We predict that observations of no-till C/S will be classified correctly 51% of the time, while observations of no-till WCC rotations will be classified correctly 74% of the time. High error rates in CDA underscore the complexity of no-till systems and the need in this area for more long-term studies with larger datasets to increase accuracy to acceptable levels.

ESIABA IROBI'S HANGMEN ALSO DIE IN THE HUB *Benedict

African Journals Online (AJOL)

visual properties of light, costume, scenic background and sometimes with ... dominance and exploitation that contribute to the operation of reconstructing ..... proclaim that Nigeria's problem is not money but what to do with money further push.

The Assessment of the Quality of Life in Visually Impaired People with Different Level of Physical Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamelska Anna Malwina

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Quality of life (QOL is associated with factors such as health, physical functioning, life satisfaction, a sense of happiness, and others. In case of disabled people, much attention is paid to their QOL rather than only the improvement of physiological variables. In a group of blind and visually impaired people, the effect of physical activity (PA on the socialization process, the ability to explore own personality traits, developing creativity, and more motivation and desire to overcome the difficulties associated with visual impairment were observed.

Visual quality analysis of femtosecond LASIK and iris location guided mechanical SBK for high myopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong-Su Jiang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available AIM: To make a analysis of visual quality of iris location guided femtosecond laser assisted in situ keratomi(LASIKand iris location guided mechanical sub-bowman keratomileusis(SBKfor high myopia treatment. METHODS:Femtosecond LASIK(study groupwas performed in 102 eyes of 51 patients with high myopia and 70 eyes of 35 patients were received mechanical SBK(control groupfrom January to October 2013. The spherical refraction of all the patients was from -6.00～-9.50D. Best corrected visual acuity(BCVAof the patients was ≥1.0. Uncorrected visual acuity(UCVA, BCVA, thickness of cornea flap, contrast sensitivity function(CSFand senior ocular aberration were examined in these patients and follow-up was 1a. RESULTS: At 1a after surgery 94.1% UCVA in study group reached ≥1.0 and there was 94.3% in control group. There was no significant difference between two groups(P>0.05. Residual refraction of study group was -0.08±0.10 D and control group was -0.10±0.07 D. There was no significant difference of residual refraction between two groups(P>0.05. C12, C8 of senior ocular aberration and RMSH in study group was less than control group, amplification: 0.1642±0.0519 and 0.2229±0.0382(t=8.077, Pt=0.556, P>0.05. C8 was 0.0950±0.069 and 0.1858±0.095(t=7.261, Pt=12.801, PP>0.05.CONCLUSION: Femtosecond LASIK and mechanical SBK is effective for high myopia. Compared to mechanical SBK, femtosecond LASIK shows more advantages in the senior ocular aberration and visual quality. The cornea flap is more regular from central to peripheral area with femtosecond laser.

Post-lens tear turbidity and visual quality after scleral lens wear.

Science.gov (United States)

Carracedo, Gonzalo; Serramito-Blanco, Maria; Martin-Gil, Alba; Wang, Zicheng; Rodriguez-Pomar, Candela; Pintor, Jesús

2017-11-01

The aim was to evaluate the turbidity and thickness of the post-lens tear layer and its effect on visual quality in patients with keratoconus after the beginning of lens wear and before lens removal at the end of eight hours. Twenty-six patients with keratoconus (aged 36.95 ± 8.95 years) participated voluntarily in the study. The sample was divided into two groups: patients with intrastromal corneal ring (ICRS group) and patients without ICRS (KC group). Distance visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity, pachymetry, post-lens tear layer height and post-lens tear layer turbidity (percentage area occupied and number of particles per mm 2 ) were evaluated with optical coherence tomography before and after wearing a scleral lens. A significant increase of turbidity was found in all groups assessed (p turbidity parameters with distance VA but no correlation between turbidity and post-lens tear layer thickness at the beginning was found (p > 0.05). A strong correlation in all groups between the post-lens tear layer at the beginning and differences of tear layer thickness between two measures was also found (p turbidity. © 2017 Optometry Australia.

Assessment of Radiographic Image Quality by Visual Examination of Neutron Radiographs of the Calibration Fuel Pin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Domanus, Joseph Czeslaw

1986-01-01

Up till now no reliable radiographic image quality standards exist for neutron radiography of nuclear reactor fuel. Under the Euratoro Neutron Radiography Working Group (NRWG) Test Program neutron radiographs were produced at different neutron radiography facilities within the European Community...... of a calibration fuel pin. The radiographs were made by the direct, transfer and tracketch methods using different film recording materials. These neutron radiographs of the calibration fuel pin were used for the assessement of radiographic image quality. This was done by visual examination of the radiographs...

Information efficiency in visual communication

Science.gov (United States)

Alter-Gartenberg, Rachel; Rahman, Zia-Ur

1993-01-01

This paper evaluates the quantization process in the context of the end-to-end performance of the visual-communication channel. Results show that the trade-off between data transmission and visual quality revolves around the information in the acquired signal, not around its energy. Improved information efficiency is gained by frequency dependent quantization that maintains the information capacity of the channel and reduces the entropy of the encoded signal. Restorations with energy bit-allocation lose both in sharpness and clarity relative to restorations with information bit-allocation. Thus, quantization with information bit-allocation is preferred for high information efficiency and visual quality in optimized visual communication.

Information efficiency in visual communication

Science.gov (United States)

Alter-Gartenberg, Rachel; Rahman, Zia-ur

1993-08-01

This paper evaluates the quantization process in the context of the end-to-end performance of the visual-communication channel. Results show that the trade-off between data transmission and visual quality revolves around the information in the acquired signal, not around its energy. Improved information efficiency is gained by frequency dependent quantization that maintains the information capacity of the channel and reduces the entropy of the encoded signal. Restorations with energy bit-allocation lose both in sharpness and clarity relative to restorations with information bit-allocation. Thus, quantization with information bit-allocation is preferred for high information efficiency and visual quality in optimized visual communication.

The Application of Visual Illusion in the Visual Communication Design

Science.gov (United States)

Xin, Tao; You Ye, Han

2018-03-01

With the development of our national reform, opening up and modernization, the science and technology has also been well developed and it has been applied in every wall of life, the development of visual illusion industry is represented in the widespread use of advanced technology in it. Ultimately, the visual illusion is a phenomenon, it should be analyzed from the angles of physics and philosophy. The widespread application of visual illusion not only can improve the picture quality, but also could maximize peoples’ sense degree through the visual communication design works, expand people’s horizons and promote the diversity of visual communication design works.

Spatial Techniques to Visualize Acoustic Comfort along Cultural and Heritage Routes for a World Heritage City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ni Sheng

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes to visualize acoustic comfort along tourist routes. Route-based tourism is crucial to the sustainability of tourism development in historic areas. Applying the concept of route-based tourism to guide tourists rambling along cultural and heritage routes can relieve overcrowded condition at hot scenic spots and increase the overall carrying capacity of the city. However, acoustic comfort along tourist routes is rarely addressed in academic studies and decision-making. Taking Macao as an example, this paper has studied pedestrian exposure to traffic noise along the cultural and heritage routes. The study is based on a GIS-based traffic noise model system with a high spatial resolution down to individual buildings along both sides of the street. Results show that tourists suffer from excessive traffic noise at certain sites, which may have negative impact on the promotion of route-based tourism in the long run. In addition, it is found that urban growth affects urban form and street layout, which in turn affect traffic flow and acoustic comfort in urban area. The present study demonstrates spatial techniques to visualize acoustic comfort along tourist routes, and the techniques are foreseen to be used more frequently to support effective tourism planning in the future.

[The effect of parenteral citicoline on visual functions and life quality of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma].

Science.gov (United States)

Frolov, M A; Gonchar, P A; Barashkov, V I; Kumar, V; Morozova, N S; Frolov, A M; Kazakova, K A

2011-01-01

The effect of nootropic drug citicoline on visual functions, perimetric indexes of static automated perimetry, morphometric characteristics of retinal tomography and life quality of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) stage I-III and normalized intraocular pressure (IOP) was studied. 40 patients aged 46-78 years old with POAG stage I-III and normalized IOP were treated with citicoline. Among them there were 24 female and 16 male. The patients were divided into 2 equal groups--experimental and control. Patients of both groups were treated with intravenous citicoline for 10 days. The dose of citicoline in experimental group was 1000 mg/day, in control--500 mg/day. After treatment in both groups visual functions, perimetric indexes of static automated perimetry, morphometric characteristics of retinal tomography and life quality showed improvement. Citicoline has significant neuroprotective effect preventing apoptosis.

The Effect of Different levels of Soil Moisture on Visual Quality, Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of Three Native Grass Species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ramin mahdavi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Over the last three decades, turfgrass breeders have put significant effort into breeding and developing turf species that have good drought resistance. As water conservation becomes an important issue, an interest is increasing in identifying grasses that require less water. Lack of water resources is most problems to increasing urban green spaces. Plants with good drought resistance are those that are able to survive stress by means of drought avoidance, drought tolerance at leaf water potentials, or both. The efficient use of water is made possible by understanding the effects of soil moisture water on crop development and yield. Drought affects the visual quality, growth rate and evapotranspiration. Researchers reported that turfgrass subjected to drought conditions for short periods could sustain a fairly good appearance by soil moisture about half of its consumptive use whenever soil moisture level falls to near permanent wilting point. Drought stress caused decrease in RWC and visual quality of many grass cultivars. In drought conditions resistance grass showed increase in proline content on their leaves. Therefore the use of native grasses with high-strength instead of imported grass with low-resistance is one way to increase landscape areas and reduce costs. The purpose of this study was to be compared native grasses with commercial grass cultivar “Super sport”. Materials and Methods: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of soil moisture stress levels included 85% (control, 65% and 45% of field capacity on native species Brumos tomentellus, Festuca rubra and F. arundinacea and commercial cultivars Super sport (control under greenhouse conditions. Plants were cultured in PVC containers measuring 9 cm in diameter and 60 cm deep. Soil was mixture of 70% loam soil, 20% pit mass and 10% sand. Greenhouse air temperature was maintained between 22 and 28 centigrade degree. All plants were maintained under

Visual assessment of soil structure quality in an agroextractivist system in Southeastern Amazonia

Science.gov (United States)

Fernanda Simões da Silva, Laura; Stuchi Boschi, Raquel; Ortega Gomes, Matheus; Cooper, Miguel

2016-04-01

Soil structure is considered a key factor in the functioning of soil, affecting its ability to support plant and animal life, and moderate environmental quality. Numerous methods are available to evaluate soil structure based on physical, chemical and biological indicators. Among the physical indicators, the attributes most commonly used are soil bulk density, porosity, soil resistance to penetration, tensile strength of aggregates, soil water infiltration, and available water. However, these methods are expensive and generally time costly for sampling and laboratorial procedures. Recently, evaluations using qualitative and semi-quantitative indicators of soil structure quality have gained importance. Among these methods, the method known as Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) (Ball et al., 2007; Guimarães et al., 2011) can supply this necessity in temperate and tropical regions. The study area is located in the Piranheira Praialta Agroextrativist Settlement Project in the county of Nova Ipixuna, Pará, Brazil. Two toposequences were chosen, one under native forest and the other under pasture. Pits were opened in different landscape positions (upslope, midslope and downslope) for soil morphological, micromorphological and physical characterization. The use of the soil visual evaluation method (SVE) consisted in collecting an undisturbed soil sample of approximately 25 cm in length, 20 cm in width and 10 cm in depth. 12 soil samples were taken for each land use. The samples were manually fragmented, respecting the fracture planes between the aggregates. The SVE was done comparing the fragmented sample with a visual chart and scores were given to the soil structure. The categories that define the soil structure quality (Qe) vary from 1 to 5. Lower scores mean better soil structure. The final score calculation was done using the classification key of Ball et al. (2007) adapted by Guimarães (2011). A change in soil structure was observed between forest and

A Study On The Influence Of Illuminance Quality To Student’s Performance Of Visual Activities: Case Study Of Architecture Studio Room In Universitas Islam Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Bayuaji, Wisnu Hendrawan; Ayu Iswardhani, Tanty Kesuma; Risky, Alif Angga

2017-01-01

This research aims to measure and evaluate the level of illuminance quality in architecture studio room in relation to the achievement of standard performance and minimum visual comfortableness that should be fulfilled. This study also explores the effect of both illumination quality and quantity to the students physical and psychological performance in conducting visual activities in the architecture studio room. This evaluation will also evaluate the deviation between perception of brightne...

DataFed: A Federated Data System for Visualization and Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Air Quality Data

Science.gov (United States)

Husar, R. B.; Hoijarvi, K.

2017-12-01

DataFed is a distributed web-services-based computing environment for accessing, processing, and visualizing atmospheric data in support of air quality science and management. The flexible, adaptive environment facilitates the access and flow of atmospheric data from provider to users by enabling the creation of user-driven data processing/visualization applications. DataFed `wrapper' components, non-intrusively wrap heterogeneous, distributed datasets for access by standards-based GIS web services. The mediator components (also web services) map the heterogeneous data into a spatio-temporal data model. Chained web services provide homogeneous data views (e.g., geospatial, time views) using a global multi-dimensional data model. In addition to data access and rendering, the data processing component services can be programmed for filtering, aggregation, and fusion of multidimensional data. A complete application software is written in a custom made data flow language. Currently, the federated data pool consists of over 50 datasets originating from globally distributed data providers delivering surface-based air quality measurements, satellite observations, emissions data as well as regional and global-scale air quality models. The web browser-based user interface allows point and click navigation and browsing the XYZT multi-dimensional data space. The key applications of DataFed are for exploring spatial pattern of pollutants, seasonal, weekly, diurnal cycles and frequency distributions for exploratory air quality research. Since 2008, DataFed has been used to support EPA in the implementation of the Exceptional Event Rule. The data system is also used at universities in the US, Europe and Asia.

The association of visually-assessed quality of movement during jump-landing with ankle dorsiflexion range-of-motion and hip abductor muscle strength among healthy female athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabin, Alon; Einstein, Ofira; Kozol, Zvi

2018-05-01

To explore the association between ankle dorsiflexion (DF) range of motion (ROM), and hip abductor muscle strength, to visually-assessed quality of movement during jump-landing. Cross-sectional. Gymnasium of participating teams. 37 female volleyball players. Quality of movement in the frontal-plane, sagittal-plane, and overall (both planes) was visually rated as "good/moderate" or "poor". Weight-bearing Ankle DF ROM and hip abductor muscle strength were compared between participants with differing quality of movement. Weight-bearing DF ROM on both sides was decreased among participants with "poor" sagittal-plane quality of movement (dominant side: 50.8° versus 43.6°, P = .02; non-dominant side: 54.6° versus 45.9°, P = .01), as well as among participants with an overall "poor" quality of movement (dominant side: 51.8° versus 44.0°, P movement (53.9° versus 46.0°, P = .02). No differences in hip abductor muscle strength were noted between participants with differing quality of movement. Visual assessment of jump-landing can detect differences in quality of movement that are associated with ankle DF ROM. Clinicians observing a poor quality of movement may wish to assess ankle DF ROM. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Visualization Approach to Air Pollution Data Exploration—A Case Study of Air Quality Index (PM2.5 in Beijing, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huan Li

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In recent years, frequent occurrences of significant air pollution events in China have routinely caused panic and are a major topic of discussion by the public and air pollution experts in government and academia. Therefore, this study proposed an efficient visualization method to represent directly, quickly, and clearly the spatio-temporal information contained in air pollution data. Data quality check and cleansing during a preliminary visual analysis is presented in tabular form, heat matrix, or line chart, upon which hypotheses can be deduced. Further visualizations were designed to verify the hypotheses and obtain useful findings. This method was tested and validated in a year-long case study of the air quality index (AQI of PM2.5 in Beijing, China. We found that PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 may be emitted by the same sources, and strong winds may accelerate the spread of pollutants. The average concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing was greater than the AQI value of 50 over the six-year study period. Furthermore, arable lands exhibited considerably higher concentrations of air pollutants than vegetation-covered areas. The findings of this study showed that our visualization method is intuitive and reliable through data quality checking and information sharing with multi-perspective air pollution graphs. This method allows the data to be easily understood by the public and inspire or aid further studies in other fields.

A novel no-reference objective stereoscopic video quality assessment method based on visual saliency analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xinyan; Zhao, Wei; Ye, Long; Zhang, Qin

2017-07-01

This paper proposes a no-reference objective stereoscopic video quality assessment method with the motivation that making the effect of objective experiments close to that of subjective way. We believe that the image regions with different visual salient degree should not have the same weights when designing an assessment metric. Therefore, we firstly use GBVS algorithm to each frame pairs and separate both the left and right viewing images into the regions with strong, general and week saliency. Besides, local feature information like blockiness, zero-crossing and depth are extracted and combined with a mathematical model to calculate a quality assessment score. Regions with different salient degree are assigned with different weights in the mathematical model. Experiment results demonstrate the superiority of our method compared with the existed state-of-the-art no-reference objective Stereoscopic video quality assessment methods.

The Impact of Change in Visual Field on Health-Related Quality of Life: The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study

Science.gov (United States)

Patino, Cecilia M.; Varma, Rohit; Azen, Stanley P.; Conti, David V.; Nichol, Michael B.; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta

2010-01-01

Purpose To assess the impact of change in visual field (VF) on change in health related quality of life (HRQoL) at the population level. Design Prospective cohort study Participants 3,175 Los Angles Latino Eye Study (LALES) participants Methods Objective measures of VF and visual acuity and self-reported HRQoL were collected at baseline and 4-year follow-up. Analysis of covariance was used to evaluate mean differences in change of HRQoL across severity levels of change in VF and to test for effect modification by covariates. Main outcome measures General and vision-specific HRQoL. Results Of 3,175 participants, 1430 (46%) showed a change in VF (≥1 decibel [dB]) and 1651, 1715 (54%) reported a clinically important change (≥5 points) in vision-specific HRQoL. Progressive worsening and improvement in the VF were associated with increasing losses and gains in vision-specific HRQoL for the composite score and 10 of its 11 subscales (all Ptrends 5 dB and gains > 3 dB were associated with clinically meaningful losses and gains in vision-specific HRQoL, respectively. Areas of vision-specific HRQoL most affected by greater losses in VF were driving, dependency, role-functioning, and mental health. The effect of change in VF (loss or gain) on mean change in vision-specific HRQoL varied by level of baseline vision loss (in visual field and/or visual acuity) and by change in visual acuity (all P-interactions 5 dB loss in visual field during the study period had a mean loss of vision-specific HRQoL of 11.3 points, while those with no VF loss at baseline had a mean loss of 0.97 points Similarly, with a > 5 dB loss in VF and baseline visual acuity impairment (mild/severe) there was a loss in vision-specific HRQoL of 10.5 points, whereas with no visual acuity impairment at baseline there was a loss of vision-specific HRQoL of 3.7 points. Conclusion Both losses and gains in VF produce clinically meaningful changes in vision-specific HRQoL. In the presence of pre-existing vision

Interference of partial visual analysis of root filling quality and apical status on retreatment decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata Dornelles Morgental

2012-04-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The presence of periapical radiolucency has been used as a criterion for endodontic treatment failure. However, in addition to the inherent limitations of radiographic examinations, radiographic interpretations are extremely subjective. Thus, this study investigated the effect of partial analysis of root filling quality and periapical status on retreatment decisions by general dentists. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twelve digitalized periapical radiographs were analyzed by 10 observers. The study was conducted at three time points at 1-week intervals. Radiographs edited with the Adobe Photoshop CS4 software were analyzed at three time points: first, only root filling quality was analyzed; second, only the periapical areas of the teeth under study were visualized; finally, observers analyzed the unedited radiographic image. Spearman ’s coefficient was used to analyze the correlations between the scores assigned when the periapical area was not visible and when the unedited radiograph was analyzed, as well as between the scores assigned when root fillings where not visible and when the unedited radiograph was analyzed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values between partial images and unedited radiographs were also used to analyze retreatment decisions. The level of significance was set at 5%. RESULTS: The visualization of the root filling on the unedited radiograph affected the interpretation of the periapical status and the technical quality of the fillings has a greater influence on the general dentist’s decision to prescribe endodontic retreatment than the periapical condition. CONCLUSION: In order to make endodontic diagnosis, radiographic interpretation process should not only emphasize technical aspects, but also consider biological factors.

'Silent voices' in health services research: ethnicity and socioeconomic variation in participation in studies of quality of life in childhood visual disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Tadic, Valerie; Hamblion, Esther Louise; Keeley, Sarah; Cumberland, Phillippa; Lewando Hundt, Gillian; Rahi, Jugnoo Sangeeta

2010-04-01

Purpose. To investigate patterns of participation of visually impaired (VI) children and their families in health services research. Methods. The authors compared clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of children and their families who participated with those who did not participate in two studies of quality of life (QoL) of VI children. In Study 1, the authors interviewed VI children and adolescents, aged 10 to 15 years, about their vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) as the first phase of a program to develop a VRQoL instrument for this population. One hundred seven children with visual impairment (visual acuity in the better eye LogMar worse than 0.51) were invited to participate in the interviews. Study 2 investigated health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of VI children using an existing generic instrument, administered in a postal survey. 151 VI children and adolescents, aged 2 to 16 years, with hereditary retinal disorders were invited to participate in the survey. Results. The overall participation level was below 50%. In both studies, participants from white ethnic and more affluent socioeconomic backgrounds were overrepresented. Participation did not vary by age, sex, or clinical characteristics. Conclusions. The authors suggest that there are barriers to participation in child- and family-centered research on childhood visual disability for children from socioeconomically deprived or ethnic minority groups. They urge assessment and reporting of participation patterns in further health services research on childhood visual disability. Failure to recognize that there are "silent voices" is likely to have important implications for equitable and appropriate service planning and provision for VI children.

[An epidemiological study of visual disability and visual rehabilitation in Beijing].

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Yan-hong; Ding, Ji-yuan; Peng, Hong; Shi, Ji-liang; Qu, Cheng-yi; Liu, Xi-pu

2009-12-01

To investigate the status of visual disability and the demands for visual rehabilitation services in Beijing. Five hundred and fifty-five persons with visual disability in Beijing from the Second National Survey on Disability of China were involved in this study. Their visual disability and demands for rehabilitation were evaluated. About three fourth of the visual disabled persons were over 60 years of age. Cataract, retinal and choroidal diseases, and glaucoma were the three leading causes of the visual impairment. Medical service was the number one (82.0%) demand for the persons with visual disability, although 89.4% of them had previously received some kinds of medial services. People who had received visual aid devices or rehabilitation training were 26.7% and 5.8%, respectively, while more people showed their demand for these service (36.6% and 11.9%, respectively). The demand for visual rehabilitation varied in different groups of age and severity of disability. Accessibility of high quality medical services for preventable blindness diseases should be further promoted. Public health education on visual rehabilitation is also needed.

Femtosecond-Assisted LASIK Versus PRK: Comparison of 6-Month Visual Acuity and Quality Outcome for High Myopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hashemi, Hassan; Miraftab, Mohammad; Ghaffari, Reza; Asgari, Soheila

2016-11-01

To compare the results of femtosecond-assisted laser in situ keratomileusis (femto-LASIK) and photorefractive keratectomy with mitomycin C (PRK-MMC) for the correction of myopia more than 7.0 diopters (D). In this comparative nonrandomized trial, 60 eyes (30 eyes in each group) were enrolled. Patients were tested for uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), manifest refraction spherical equivalent, ocular and corneal aberrations, and contrast sensitivity (CS) before surgery and at 3 and 6 months postoperatively. Mean preoperative myopia was -8.65±1.51 and -8.04±1.70 D in the femto-LASIK and PRK-MMC groups, respectively (P=0.149). Intergroup differences in baseline indices were not statistically significant. At 6 months after surgery, UDVA showed an improving trend, but it was better in the femto-LASIK group (P=0.026). CDVA in the two groups remained similarly unchanged (P=0.170). For the femto-LASIK and PRK-MMC groups, the safety indices were 1.01±0.05 and 1.01±0.14 (P=0.949), respectively, and the efficacy indices were 0.99±0.07 and 0.93±0.22 (P=0.192), respectively. Comparing CS, only CS18 showed a significantly greater decrease in the femto-LASIK group compared with the PRK-MMC group (P=0.016). Intergroup differences were not statistically significant in other spatial frequencies. Changes in the ocular and corneal higher order aberrations were not statistically different between the two groups except ocular coma, which increased in the femto-LASIK group (P=0.041). Femto-LASIK improves UDVA better than PRK-MMC in high myopia. However, because of increased coma, the quality of vision is reduced. In other words, visual acuity outcome is better with femto-LASIK and visual quality outcome is better with PRK-MMC.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; social issues fact sheet 13: Strategies for managing fuels and visual quality

Science.gov (United States)

Christine Esposito

2006-01-01

The public's acceptance of forest management practices, including fuels reduction, is heavily based on how forests look. Fuels managers can improve their chances of success by considering aesthetics when making management decisions. This fact sheet reviews a three-part general strategy for managing fuels and visual quality: planning, implementation, and monitoring...

Color extended visual cryptography using error diffusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, InKoo; Arce, Gonzalo R; Lee, Heung-Kyu

2011-01-01

Color visual cryptography (VC) encrypts a color secret message into n color halftone image shares. Previous methods in the literature show good results for black and white or gray scale VC schemes, however, they are not sufficient to be applied directly to color shares due to different color structures. Some methods for color visual cryptography are not satisfactory in terms of producing either meaningless shares or meaningful shares with low visual quality, leading to suspicion of encryption. This paper introduces the concept of visual information pixel (VIP) synchronization and error diffusion to attain a color visual cryptography encryption method that produces meaningful color shares with high visual quality. VIP synchronization retains the positions of pixels carrying visual information of original images throughout the color channels and error diffusion generates shares pleasant to human eyes. Comparisons with previous approaches show the superior performance of the new method.

Feasibility assessment of visual quality analyzer KR-1W guiding personalized aspheric IOL implantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-Li Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available AIM: To discuss the feasibility of using the visual quality analyzer KR-1W to guide the relatively personalized aspheric intraocular lens(IOLimplants to make the whole eye spherical aberration close to 0.1μm.METHODS: In this prospective case series study, the corneal spherical aberration with 6mm aperture of 73 patients(100 eyeswas measured with KR-1W Visual Function Analyzer 1d before surgery. For the sake of the whole postoperative spherical aberration were close to 0.1μm, 9 cases(16 eyeswith corneal spherical aberration 0.35μm were implanted Tecnis ZA9003 IOL, named Tecnis group. Aspherical IOL was implanted after phacoemulsification through a cornea 2.75mm incision without suture.Uncorrected visual acuity, beat corrected visual acuity, spherical aberration of the whole eye and jnternal optics(mainly IOLat 6mm pupil diameter were examined at 3mo postoperatively. The relevant data were analyzed using t-test and variance analysis.RESULTS: The whole ocular spherical aberration at 6mm pupil diameter in all postoperative were 0.084±0.032μm; in Tecnis group, the data were 0.091 ± 0.021μm; in AO group, the data were 0.0814-0.013μm; IQ group were 0.093±0.042μm. There was no significantly different between the predicted value and actual value of ocular spherical aberration at 6 mm pupil diameter in all postoperative(t=1.932, P=0.061and in the three groups. The difference value in the predicted values of the preoperative spherical aberrations of the whole eye and the actual values after surgery was 0.013±0.041μm; there was no statistically significant difference(F=2.537, P=0.091. Respectively compared the uncorrected visual acuity and besta corrected visual acuity among three groups of postoperative, no significant difference were found(F=0.897, P=0.421; F=1.423, P=0.097.CONCLUSION: Personality selection of aspheric IOL based on preoperative corneal spherical aberration of patients is feasible and produces satisfactory target postoperative

Visual soil evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Visual Soil Evaluation (VSE) provides land users and environmental authorities with the tools to assess soil quality for crop performance. This book describes the assessment of the various structural conditions of soil, especially after quality degradation such as compaction, erosion or organic...... and nutrient leaching, and for diagnosing and rectifying erosion and compaction in soils....

Método de avaliação visual da qualidade da estrutura aplicado a Latossolo Vermelho Distroférrico sob diferentes sistemas de uso e manejo Visual assessment soil quality structure methodology applied to Oxisol under different soil use and management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neyde Fabíola Balarezo Giarola

2009-11-01

Full Text Available O aumento da demanda pela avaliação da qualidade da estrutura do solo para o adequado crescimento de plantas tem motivado pesquisadores a desenvolverem técnicas visuais de avaliação, a campo, simples e confiáveis para esse fim. No Brasil, um número reduzido de estudos foi realizado empregando métodos visuais de diagnóstico do estado estrutural de solos no campo. Esse trabalho testou a hipótese de que o método de Avaliação Visual da Qualidade da Estrutura do Solo desenvolvido por BALL et al. (2007 para solos de clima temperado pode ser aplicado na identificação de campo da qualidade estrutural de um Latossolo Vermelho Distroférrico sob diferentes sistemas de uso e manejo. Para isso, foram avaliadas amostras indeformadas coletadas de mata preservada (M, sistema de integração lavoura-pecuária (ILP e sistema plantio direto (SPD. A avaliação da estrutura apoiou-se na aparência, na resistência e nas características das unidades estruturais de blocos de solo e foi definida por cinco escores visuais de classificação de qualidade. O método empregado permitiu distinguir a qualidade do solo de diferentes sistemas de uso e manejo a partir da avaliação da estrutura da camada estudada.The increasing demand for assessing soil structure for crop growth has motivated researchers to develop simple and reliable visual indicators to assess soil structure at the field. There are a few records in Brazil indicating the use of visual techniques for assessing soil physical quality. This paper tested the hypothesis that the Visual Soil Structure Quality Assessment methodology developed by BALL et al. (2007 is reliable for identifying the structural quality of tropical and subtropical soils under different soil management systems. Therefore, the overall objective of this paper was to visually identify the structural quality of an Oxisol under forest, crop-livestock rotation and no-till system. The structure evaluation was based on appearance

Scenario-visualization for the assessment of perceived green space qualities at the urban-rural fringe.

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Eckart; Hehl-Lange, Sigrid; Brewer, Mark J

2008-11-01

The provision of green space is increasingly being perceived as an important factor for quality of life. However, green spaces often face high developmental pressure. The main objective of this study is to investigate a prospective approach to green space planning by combining three-dimensional (3D) visualization of green space scenarios and survey techniques to facilitate improved participation of the public. Aside from the 'Status quo', scenarios 'Agriculture', 'Recreation', 'Nature conservation' and 'Wind turbines' are visualized in three dimensions. In order to test responses, a survey was conducted both in print format and on the Internet. Overall, 49 different visualizations that belong to one of the scenarios were available in the survey and were rated according to the perceived esthetic, recreational and ecological values. The highest rated scenes include vegetation elements such as meadows with orchards, single trees, shrubs or forest. The least attractive scenes are those where buildings are highly dominant or where there are no vegetation elements. Based on the ratings for the individual images and on the corresponding scenarios, our study shows that there is high potential for improving the existing landscape. All suggested changes are either rated about equal to or considerably higher than the status quo, with the scenario 'Nature conservation' receiving the highest scores.

The Effect of Patient Characteristics and Sleep Quality on Visual Field Performance Reliability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Swarup S. Swaminathan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To investigate the association of automated visual field (VF reliability indices (false positive [FP], false negative [FN], and fixation loss [FL] and sleep quality, VF experience, and age. Methods. Prospective, cross-sectional study. Adult patients (age ≥ 18 years completing automated VF testing were invited to participate. Baseline participant characteristics were obtained, and all participants were asked to complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI questionnaire. Nonparametric Spearman correlations and logistical regression models were performed. Results. 63 patients were enrolled. Lower PSQI score was correlated with higher percentage (% FL in the right eye (p=0.03. Fewer prior VF was significantly correlated with higher %FP in the right eye (p=0.008. Older age was significantly correlated with higher %FN in the left eye (p=0.01. Greater mean deviation (MD and pattern standard deviation (PSD were strongly correlated with higher %FN in the right (p=0.02 and 0.002, resp. and left eyes (p=0.01 and 0.02, resp.. Conclusion. In this prospective, cross-sectional study, worse MD and PSD are strongly correlated with increased FN in both eyes. Increased FN in the left eye associated with older age might be attributable to test fatigue. Worse sleep quality is associated with decreased FL in the right eye.

Effects of task and image properties on visual-attention deployment in image-quality assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Alers, Hani; Redi, Judith; Liu, Hantao; Heynderickx, Ingrid

2015-03-01

It is important to understand how humans view images and how their behavior is affected by changes in the properties of the viewed images and the task they are given, particularly the task of scoring the image quality (IQ). This is a complex behavior that holds great importance for the field of image-quality research. This work builds upon 4 years of research work spanning three databases studying image-viewing behavior. Using eye-tracking equipment, it was possible to collect information on human viewing behavior of different kinds of stimuli and under different experimental settings. This work performs a cross-analysis on the results from all these databases using state-of-the-art similarity measures. The results strongly show that asking the viewers to score the IQ significantly changes their viewing behavior. Also muting the color saturation seems to affect the saliency of the images. However, a change in IQ was not consistently found to modify visual attention deployment, neither under free looking nor during scoring. These results are helpful in gaining a better understanding of image viewing behavior under different conditions. They also have important implications on work that collects subjective image-quality scores from human observers.

Systematic tracking, visualizing, and interpreting of consumer feedback for drinking water quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Dietrich, Andrea M; Phetxumphou, Katherine; Gallagher, Daniel L

2014-12-01

Consumer feedback and complaints provide utilities with useful data about consumer perceptions of aesthetic water quality in the distribution system. This research provides a systematic approach to interpret consumer complaint water quality data provided by four water utilities that recorded consumer complaints, but did not routinely process the data. The utilities tended to write down a myriad of descriptors that were too numerous or contained a variety of spellings so that electronic "harvesting" was not possible and much manual labor was required to categorize the complaints into majors areas, such as suggested by the Drinking Water Taste and Odor Wheel or existing check-sheets. When the consumer complaint data were categorized and visualized using spider (or radar) and run-time plots, major taste, odor, and appearance patterns emerged that clarified the issue and could provide guidance to the utility on the nature and extent of the problem. A caveat is that while humans readily identify visual issues with the water, such as color, cloudiness, or rust, describing specific tastes and odors in drinking water is acknowledged to be much more difficult for humans to achieve without training. This was demonstrated with two utility groups and a group of consumers identifying the odors of orange, 2-methylisoborneol, and dimethyl trisulfide. All three groups readily and succinctly identified the familiar orange odor. The two utility groups were much more able to identify the musty odor of 2-methylisoborneol, which was likely familiar to them from their work with raw and finished water. Dimethyl trisulfide, a garlic-onion odor associated with sulfur compounds in drinking water, was the least familiar to all three groups, although the laboratory staff did best. These results indicate that utility personnel should be tolerant of consumers who can assuredly say the water is different, but cannot describe the problem. Also, it indicates that a T&O program at a utility would

Virtual View Image over Wireless Visual Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gamantyo Hendrantoro

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In general, visual sensors are applied to build virtual view images. When number of visual sensors increases then quantity and quality of the information improves. However, the view images generation is a challenging task in Wireless Visual Sensor Network environment due to energy restriction, computation complexity, and bandwidth limitation. Hence this paper presents a new method of virtual view images generation from selected cameras on Wireless Visual Sensor Network. The aim of the paper is to meet bandwidth and energy limitations without reducing information quality. The experiment results showed that this method could minimize number of transmitted imageries with sufficient information.

Visual thread quality for precision miniature mechanisms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gillespie, L.K.

1981-04-01

Threaded features have eight visual appearance factors which can affect their function in precision miniature mechanisms. The Bendix practice in deburring, finishing, and accepting these conditions on miniature threads is described as is their impact in assemblies of precision miniature electromechanical assemblies.

A expressão cênica como elemento facilitador da performance no coro juvenil Scenic expression as a facilitator in the youth choir performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Costa

2009-01-01

Full Text Available O presente artigo nasceu do desejo de pesquisar e divulgar este excelente veículo facilitador do canto coral - sobretudo para adolescentes - que é a expressão cênica. Tal recurso vem oferecer uma gama maior de possibilidades criativas e soluções originais para o desenvolvimento da linguagem coral, além de instigar os envolvidos ao exercício do autoconhecimento. Este trabalho é parte de pesquisa do Mestrado em Música desenvolvido na UNIRIO.The present paper results from the need to research and promote scenic expression as an ideal facilitator for singing, especially among adolescents. It may offer a wider range of creative possibilities and original solutions for the development of the choral language, besides encouraging the exercise of self-knowledge. This paper is part of a Masters Degree in Music research developed at UNIRIO (Brazil.

Pedagogy and Quality in Indian Slum School Settings: A Bernsteinian Analysis of Visual Representations in the Integrated Child Development Service

Science.gov (United States)

Chawla-Duggan, Rita

2016-01-01

This paper focuses upon the micro level of the pre-school classroom, taking the example of the Indian Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), and the discourse of "child-centred" pedagogy that is often associated with quality pre-schooling. Through an analysis of visual data, semi-structured and film elicitation interviews drawn…

Skin lipids of the striped plateau lizard ( Sceloporus virgatus) correlate with female receptivity and reproductive quality alongside visual ornaments

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Jay K.; Wallace, Alisa K.; Weiss, Stacey L.

2017-10-01

Sex pheromones can perform a variety of functions ranging from revealing the location of suitable mates to being honest signals of mate quality, and they are used in the mate selection process by many species of reptile. In this study, we determined whether the skin lipids of female striped plateau lizards ( Sceloporus virgatus) can predict the reproductive quality of females, thereby having the potential to serve as pheromones. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, we identified 17 compounds present in skin lipids of female lizards. Using principal component analysis to compare the skin lipid profile of receptive and non-receptive females, we determined that an uncharacterized compound may allow for chemical identification of receptive mates. We also compared extracted principal components to measures of female fitness and reproductive qualities and found that the level of two 18 carbon fatty acids present in a female's skin lipids may indicate her clutch size. Finally, we compared the information content of the skin lipids to that of female-specific color ornaments to assess whether chemical and visual cues transmit different information or not. We found that the chroma of a female's orange throat patch is also related to her clutch size, suggesting that chemical signals may reinforce the information communicated by visual ornamentation in this species which would support the "backup signals" hypothesis for multiple signals.

Water quality and algal conditions in the North Umpqua River, Oregon, 1995-2007, and their response to Diamond Lake restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Kurt D.; Anderson, Chauncey W.; Jones, Mikeal E.

2014-01-01

The Wild and Scenic North Umpqua River is one of the highest-quality waters in the State of Oregon, supporting runs of wild salmon, steelhead, and trout. For many years, blooms of potentially toxic blue-green algae in Diamond and Lemolo Lakes have threatened water quality, fisheries, and public health. The blooms consist primarily of Anabaena, a nitrogen (N)-fixing planktonic alga that appears to have contributed to N enrichment, which could account for changes in communities and biomass of periphyton, or attached benthic algae, in the river. Periphyton can become a nuisance in summer by affecting riffle habitat and causing high pH that fails to meet State of Oregon water-quality standards. These symptoms of nutrient enrichment in the North Umpqua River were first documented in 1995, and the symptoms have continued since then. Restoring natural ecosystem processes that store nutrients rather than fueling algae might help improve pH and water-clarity conditions.

Tourists' preferences for ecotourism planning and development ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Tourists' preferences were: revising the price; improved product quality; creation of scenic viewpoints; improved service quality; improved infrastructure and information on the park as well. The study found that the park managers need to reconsider tourist's preferences while planning and developing ecotourism in Rwanda.

Retinal image quality during accommodation.

Science.gov (United States)

López-Gil, Norberto; Martin, Jesson; Liu, Tao; Bradley, Arthur; Díaz-Muñoz, David; Thibos, Larry N

2013-07-01

We asked if retinal image quality is maximum during accommodation, or sub-optimal due to accommodative error, when subjects perform an acuity task. Subjects viewed a monochromatic (552 nm), high-contrast letter target placed at various viewing distances. Wavefront aberrations of the accommodating eye were measured near the endpoint of an acuity staircase paradigm. Refractive state, defined as the optimum target vergence for maximising retinal image quality, was computed by through-focus wavefront analysis to find the power of the virtual correcting lens that maximizes visual Strehl ratio. Despite changes in ocular aberrations and pupil size during binocular viewing, retinal image quality and visual acuity typically remain high for all target vergences. When accommodative errors lead to sub-optimal retinal image quality, acuity and measured image quality both decline. However, the effect of accommodation errors of on visual acuity are mitigated by pupillary constriction associated with accommodation and binocular convergence and also to binocular summation of dissimilar retinal image blur. Under monocular viewing conditions some subjects displayed significant accommodative lag that reduced visual performance, an effect that was exacerbated by pharmacological dilation of the pupil. Spurious measurement of accommodative error can be avoided when the image quality metric used to determine refractive state is compatible with the focusing criteria used by the visual system to control accommodation. Real focusing errors of the accommodating eye do not necessarily produce a reliably measurable loss of image quality or clinically significant loss of visual performance, probably because of increased depth-of-focus due to pupil constriction. When retinal image quality is close to maximum achievable (given the eye's higher-order aberrations), acuity is also near maximum. A combination of accommodative lag, reduced image quality, and reduced visual function may be a useful

基于5A景区最大承载量和游客接待量的旅游供需关系模型研究%Study of Mathematical Model Between Tourism Supply and Demand Based on Relationship of the 5A Level Scenic Spots' Maximum Carrying Capacity and the Amount of the Tourists

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

刘静; 刘耀龙; 段锦

2017-01-01

旅游承载量是反映旅游供给能力的重要指标,游客接待量是衡量旅游需求状况的常用指标.在分析我国5A级景区最大承载量空间分异特征的基础上,对2014年各省市5A级景区日最大承载量和年游客接待量进行相关性和回归分析,构建基于景区承载量和游客接待量的旅游供需关系模型.结果表明:(1)5A级景区最大承载量和游客接待量之间存在显著的正相关关系;(2)旅游供需关系模型可由复合函数定量表征;(3)模型能够预测旅游供需变化,对旅游业发展具有一定的指示意义.%Tourism carrying capacity is an important index to reflect the tourism supply capacity, and the amount of the tourists is a common index to measure tourism demand. On the basis of the analysis of the spatial distribution characteristics of 5A level scenic spots' maximum carrying capacity, the paper carries out correlation and regression analysis about the 5A level scenic' maximum carrying capacity and the amount of the tourists. Sample data is calculated or statistical results of 31 provinces in 2014. Tourism supply and demand model is constructed based on the relationship between the 5A level scenic spots' maximum carrying capacity and the amount of the tourists. Results indicate: (1)There is a significant positive correlation between the 5A level scenic spot'maximum carrying capacity and the amount of tourists; (2)The model of tourism supply and demand relations can be quantitatively characterized by complex functions;(3)The model can predict the change of tourism supply and demand, which have referential meaning to the development of tourism.

Integration of auditory and visual speech information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hall, M.; Smeele, P.M.T.; Kuhl, P.K.

1998-01-01

The integration of auditory and visual speech is observed when modes specify different places of articulation. Influences of auditory variation on integration were examined using consonant identifi-cation, plus quality and similarity ratings. Auditory identification predicted auditory-visual

Identification of Quality Visual-Based Learning Material for Technology Education

Science.gov (United States)

Katsioloudis, Petros

2010-01-01

It is widely known that the use of visual technology enhances learning by providing a better understanding of the topic as well as motivating students. If all visual-based learning materials (tables, figures, photos, etc.) were equally effective in facilitating student achievement of all kinds of educational objectives, there would virtually be no…

Comparison of animated jet stream visualizations

Science.gov (United States)

Nocke, Thomas; Hoffmann, Peter

2016-04-01

The visualization of 3D atmospheric phenomena in space and time is still a challenging problem. In particular, multiple solutions of animated jet stream visualizations have been produced in recent years, which were designed to visually analyze and communicate the jet and related impacts on weather circulation patterns and extreme weather events. This PICO integrates popular and new jet animation solutions and inter-compares them. The applied techniques (e.g. stream lines or line integral convolution) and parametrizations (color mapping, line lengths) are discussed with respect to visualization quality criteria and their suitability for certain visualization tasks (e.g. jet patterns and jet anomaly analysis, communicating its relevance for climate change).

Visual Perception Based Rate Control Algorithm for HEVC

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zeqi; Liu, PengYu; Jia, Kebin

2018-01-01

For HEVC, rate control is an indispensably important video coding technology to alleviate the contradiction between video quality and the limited encoding resources during video communication. However, the rate control benchmark algorithm of HEVC ignores subjective visual perception. For key focus regions, bit allocation of LCU is not ideal and subjective quality is unsatisfied. In this paper, a visual perception based rate control algorithm for HEVC is proposed. First bit allocation weight of LCU level is optimized based on the visual perception of luminance and motion to ameliorate video subjective quality. Then λ and QP are adjusted in combination with the bit allocation weight to improve rate distortion performance. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm reduces average 0.5% BD-BR and maximum 1.09% BD-BR at no cost in bitrate accuracy compared with HEVC (HM15.0). The proposed algorithm devotes to improving video subjective quality under various video applications.

Quantifying the visual-sensory landscape qualities that contribute to cultural ecosystem services using social media and LiDAR

Science.gov (United States)

Van Berkel, Derek B.; Tabrizian, Payam; Dorning, Monica; Smart, Lindsey S.; Newcomb, Doug; Mehaffey, Megan; Neale, Anne; Meentemeyer, Ross K.

2018-01-01

Landscapes are increasingly recognized for providing valuable cultural ecosystem services with numer- ous non-material benefits by serving as places of rest, relaxation, and inspiration that ultimately improve overall mental health and physical well-being. Maintaining and enhancing these valuable benefits through targeted management and conservation measures requires understanding the spatial and tem- poral determinants of perceived landscape values. Content contributed through mobile technologies and the web are emerging globally, providing a promising data source for localizing and assessing these land- scape benefits. These georeferenced data offer rich in situ qualitative information through photos and comments that capture valued and special locations across large geographic areas. We present a novel method for mapping and modeling landscape values and perceptions that leverages viewshed analysis of georeferenced social media data. Using a high resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) derived digital surface model, we are able to evaluate landscape characteristics associated with the visual- sensory qualities of outdoor recreationalists. Our results show the importance of historical monuments and attractions in addition to specific environmental features which are appreciated by the public. Evaluation of photo-image content highlights the opportunity of including temporally and spatially vari- able visual-sensory qualities in cultural ecosystem services (CES) evaluation like the sights, sounds and smells of wildlife and weather phenomena.

3-D vision and figure-ground separation by visual cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Grossberg, S

1994-01-01

A neural network theory of three-dimensional (3-D) vision, called FACADE theory, is described. The theory proposes a solution of the classical figure-ground problem for biological vision. It does so by suggesting how boundary representations and surface representations are formed within a boundary contour system (BCS) and a feature contour system (FCS). The BCS and FCS interact reciprocally to form 3-D boundary and surface representations that are mutually consistent. Their interactions generate 3-D percepts wherein occluding and occluded object parts are separated, completed, and grouped. The theory clarifies how preattentive processes of 3-D perception and figure-ground separation interact reciprocally with attentive processes of spatial localization, object recognition, and visual search. A new theory of stereopsis is proposed that predicts how cells sensitive to multiple spatial frequencies, disparities, and orientations are combined by context-sensitive filtering, competition, and cooperation to form coherent BCS boundary segmentations. Several factors contribute to figure-ground pop-out, including: boundary contrast between spatially contiguous boundaries, whether due to scenic differences in luminance, color, spatial frequency, or disparity; partially ordered interactions from larger spatial scales and disparities to smaller scales and disparities; and surface filling-in restricted to regions surrounded by a connected boundary. Phenomena such as 3-D pop-out from a 2-D picture, Da Vinci stereopsis, 3-D neon color spreading, completion of partially occluded objects, and figure-ground reversals are analyzed. The BCS and FCS subsystems model aspects of how the two parvocellular cortical processing streams that join the lateral geniculate nucleus to prestriate cortical area V4 interact to generate a multiplexed representation of Form-And-Color-And-DEpth, or FACADE, within area V4. Area V4 is suggested to support figure-ground separation and to interact with

Accuracy of quantitative visual soil assessment

Science.gov (United States)

van Leeuwen, Maricke; Heuvelink, Gerard; Stoorvogel, Jetse; Wallinga, Jakob; de Boer, Imke; van Dam, Jos; van Essen, Everhard; Moolenaar, Simon; Verhoeven, Frank; Stoof, Cathelijne

2016-04-01

Visual soil assessment (VSA) is a method to assess soil quality visually, when standing in the field. VSA is increasingly used by farmers, farm organisations and companies, because it is rapid and cost-effective, and because looking at soil provides understanding about soil functioning. Often VSA is regarded as subjective, so there is a need to verify VSA. Also, many VSAs have not been fine-tuned for contrasting soil types. This could lead to wrong interpretation of soil quality and soil functioning when contrasting sites are compared to each other. We wanted to assess accuracy of VSA, while taking into account soil type. The first objective was to test whether quantitative visual field observations, which form the basis in many VSAs, could be validated with standardized field or laboratory measurements. The second objective was to assess whether quantitative visual field observations are reproducible, when used by observers with contrasting backgrounds. For the validation study, we made quantitative visual observations at 26 cattle farms. Farms were located at sand, clay and peat soils in the North Friesian Woodlands, the Netherlands. Quantitative visual observations evaluated were grass cover, number of biopores, number of roots, soil colour, soil structure, number of earthworms, number of gley mottles and soil compaction. Linear regression analysis showed that four out of eight quantitative visual observations could be well validated with standardized field or laboratory measurements. The following quantitative visual observations correlated well with standardized field or laboratory measurements: grass cover with classified images of surface cover; number of roots with root dry weight; amount of large structure elements with mean weight diameter; and soil colour with soil organic matter content. Correlation coefficients were greater than 0.3, from which half of the correlations were significant. For the reproducibility study, a group of 9 soil scientists and 7

Balancing Attended and Global Stimuli in Perceived Video Quality Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Junyong; Korhonen, Jari; Perkis, Andrew

2011-01-01

. This paper proposes a quality model based on the late attention selection theory, assuming that the video quality is perceived via two mechanisms: global and local quality assessment. First we model several visual features influencing the visual attention in quality assessment scenarios to derive......The visual attention mechanism plays a key role in the human perception system and it has a significant impact on our assessment of perceived video quality. In spite of receiving less attention from the viewers, unattended stimuli can still contribute to the understanding of the visual content...... an attention map using appropriate fusion techniques. The global quality assessment as based on the assumption that viewers allocate their attention equally to the entire visual scene, is modeled by four carefully designed quality features. By employing these same quality features, the local quality model...

Visualization and Quality Control Web Tools for CERES Products

Science.gov (United States)

Mitrescu, C.; Doelling, D. R.

2017-12-01

The NASA CERES project continues to provide the scientific communities a wide variety of satellite-derived data products such as observed TOA broadband shortwave and longwave observed fluxes, computed TOA and Surface fluxes, as well as cloud, aerosol, and other atmospheric parameters. They encompass a wide range of temporal and spatial resolutions, suited to specific applications. CERES data is used mostly by climate modeling communities but also by a wide variety of educational institutions. To better serve our users, a web-based Ordering and Visualization Tool (OVT) was developed by using Opens Source Software such as Eclipse, java, javascript, OpenLayer, Flot, Google Maps, python, and others. Due to increased demand by our own scientists, we also implemented a series of specialized functions to be used in the process of CERES Data Quality Control (QC) such as 1- and 2-D histograms, anomalies and differences, temporal and spatial averaging, side-by-side parameter comparison, and others that made the process of QC far easier and faster, but more importantly far more portable. With the integration of ground site observed surface fluxes we further facilitate the CERES project to QC the CERES computed surface fluxes. An overview of the CERES OVT basic functions using Open Source Software, as well as future steps in expanding its capabilities will be presented at the meeting.

Professional Standards for Visual Arts Educators

Science.gov (United States)

National Art Education Association, 2009

2009-01-01

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) is committed to ensuring that all students have access to a high quality, certified visual arts educator in every K-12 public school across the United States, recognizing that effective arts instruction is a core component of 21st-century education. "Professional Standards for Visual Arts…

Industrial image processing visual quality control in manufacturing

CERN Document Server

Demant, Christian; Garnica, Carsten

2013-01-01

This practical introduction focuses on how to build integrated solutions to industrial vision problems from individual algorithms. It gives a hands-on guide for setting up automated visual inspection systems using the NeuroCheck software package.

Using Symmetrical Regions of Interest to Improve Visual SLAM

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kootstra, Geert; Schomaker, Lambertus

2009-01-01

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) based on visual information is a challenging problem. One of the main problems with visual SLAM is to find good quality landmarks, that can be detected despite noise and small changes in viewpoint. Many approaches use SIFT interest points as visual

A Cross-Layer Approach for Maximizing Visual Entropy Using Closed-Loop Downlink MIMO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyungkeuk Lee

2008-07-01

Full Text Available We propose an adaptive video transmission scheme to achieve unequal error protection in a closed loop multiple input multiple output (MIMO system for wavelet-based video coding. In this scheme, visual entropy is employed as a video quality metric in agreement with the human visual system (HVS, and the associated visual weight is used to obtain a set of optimal powers in the MIMO system for maximizing the visual quality of the reconstructed video. For ease of cross-layer optimization, the video sequence is divided into several streams, and the visual importance of each stream is quantified using the visual weight. Moreover, an adaptive load balance control, named equal termination scheduling (ETS, is proposed to improve the throughput of visually important data with higher priority. An optimal solution for power allocation is derived as a closed form using a Lagrangian relaxation method. In the simulation results, a highly improved visual quality is demonstrated in the reconstructed video via the cross-layer approach by means of visual entropy.

Efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Fusco, Natália; Germano, Giseli Donadon; Capellini, Simone Aparecida

2015-01-01

To verify the efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia. The participants were 20 students from third to fifth grade of a public elementary school in Marília, São Paulo, aged from 8 years to 11 years and 11 months, distributed into the following groups: Group I (GI; 10 students with developmental dyslexia) and Group II (GII; 10 students with good academic performance). A perceptual and visual-motor intervention program was applied, which comprised exercises for visual-motor coordination, visual discrimination, visual memory, visual-spatial relationship, shape constancy, sequential memory, visual figure-ground coordination, and visual closure. In pre- and post-testing situations, both groups were submitted to the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (TVPS-3), and the quality of handwriting was analyzed using the Dysgraphia Scale. The analyzed statistical results showed that both groups of students had dysgraphia in pretesting situation. In visual perceptual skills, GI presented a lower performance compared to GII, as well as in the quality of writing. After undergoing the intervention program, GI increased the average of correct answers in TVPS-3 and improved the quality of handwriting. The developed intervention program proved appropriate for being applied to students with dyslexia, and showed positive effects because it provided improved visual perception skills and quality of writing for students with developmental dyslexia.

Information theoretical assessment of visual communication with subband coding

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Zia-ur; Fales, Carl L.; Huck, Friedrich O.

1994-09-01

A well-designed visual communication channel is one which transmits the most information about a radiance field with the fewest artifacts. The role of image processing, encoding and restoration is to improve the quality of visual communication channels by minimizing the error in the transmitted data. Conventionally this role has been analyzed strictly in the digital domain neglecting the effects of image-gathering and image-display devices on the quality of the image. This results in the design of a visual communication channel which is `suboptimal.' We propose an end-to-end assessment of the imaging process which incorporates the influences of these devices in the design of the encoder and the restoration process. This assessment combines Shannon's communication theory with Wiener's restoration filter and with the critical design factors of the image gathering and display devices, thus providing the metrics needed to quantify and optimize the end-to-end performance of the visual communication channel. Results show that the design of the image-gathering device plays a significant role in determining the quality of the visual communication channel and in designing the analysis filters for subband encoding.

Attention modeling for video quality assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Junyong; Korhonen, Jari; Perkis, Andrew

2010-01-01

averaged spatiotemporal pooling. The local quality is derived from visual attention modeling and quality variations over frames. Saliency, motion, and contrast information are taken into account in modeling visual attention, which is then integrated into IQMs to calculate the local quality of a video frame...... average between the global quality and the local quality. Experimental results demonstrate that the combination of the global quality and local quality outperforms both sole global quality and local quality, as well as other quality models, in video quality assessment. In addition, the proposed video...... quality modeling algorithm can improve the performance of image quality metrics on video quality assessment compared to the normal averaged spatiotemporal pooling scheme....

Sustainable power and scenic beauty: The Niagara River Water Diversion Treaty and its relevance today

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sedoff, Andrei; Schott, Stephan; Karney, Bryan

2014-01-01

Niagara Falls and the Niagara River have always attracted great public interest due to their natural beauty, their enormous potential for electricity generation, their recreational value and as an important ecosystem. There have been simultaneous efforts to preserve this unique natural wonder and harness its power through hydroelectric development projects by both the United States and Canada. This paper explores the evolution of these efforts that culminated with the signing of the 1950 Niagara River Water Diversion Treaty that established minimum water flow rates to protect the “scenic beauty” of the falls, allowing the remaining water to be diverted for power production. We examine the rationale that led to specific water flow restrictions and question to what extent they are relevant today, as water intake capacity on the Canadian side has just been extended by around 25%. We find that current restrictions under the Niagara River Water Treaty (that expired in 2000) are not based on sound scientific evidence and estimate the upper limit of potential foregone benefits from clean electricity generation and greenhouse gas reductions. We identify a number of important issues that emerged in the last decades and that would justify an exploration of new treaty rules. - Highlights: • We examine the history of water diversion at Niagara Falls. • We examine the rationale that led to water flow restrictions over Niagara Falls and its relevance today. • We estimate the opportunity cost of foregone energy generation with the new Canadian intake capacity. • Water flow stipulations were not based on the sound scientific or ecosystem analysis. • A renegotiation of the 1950 Niagara River Water Diversion Treaty is overdue

A novel approach for quality control system using sensor fusion of infrared and visual image processing for laser sealing of food containers

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Habaibeh, A.; Shi, F.; Brown, N.; Kerr, D.; Jackson, M.; Parkin, R. M.

2004-10-01

This paper presents a new mechatronic approach of using infrared thermography combined with image processing for the quality control of a laser sealing process for food containers. The suggested approach uses an online infrared system to assess the heat distribution within the container seal in order to guarantee the integrity of the process. Visual image processing is then used for quality assurance to guarantee optimum sealing. The results described in this paper show examples of the capability of the condition monitoring system to detect faults in the sealing process. The results found indicate that the suggested approach could form an effective quality control and assurance system.

Data Quality Monitoring Display for ATLAS experiment

CERN Document Server

Ilchenko, Y; The ATLAS collaboration; Corso-Radu, A; Hadavand, H; Kolos, S; Slagle, K; Taffard, A

2009-01-01

The start of collisions at the LHC brings with it much excitement and many unknowns. It’s essential at this point in the experiment to be prepared with user-friendly tools to quickly and efficiently determine the quality of the data. Easy visualization of data for the shift crew and experts is one of the key factors in the data quality assessment process. The Data Quality Monitoring Display (DQMD) is a visualization tool for the automatic data quality assessment of the ATLAS experiment. It is the interface through which the shift crew and experts can validate the quality of the data being recorded or processed, be warned of problems related to data quality, and identify the origin of such problems. This tool allows great flexibility for visualization of results from automatic histogram checking through custom algorithms, the configuration used to run the algorithms, and histograms used for the check, with an overlay of reference histograms when applicable. The display also supports visualization of the resu...

The 1992 Vermont recreation survey and environmental index: Vermonters' perceptions of recreational and environmental issues in Vermont

Science.gov (United States)

Kevin R. Wiberg; Frederick E. Schmidt; Robert E. Manning; Susan Bulmer

1995-01-01

In 1992, Vermonters rated the state's recreational resources a "B-" with a corresponding grade of "B" for the quality of the state's environment. Scenic resources continued to be rated most highly as were state trails and commercial recreation establishments. Concern for water resource quality, solid and toxic waste disposal, acid rain,...

Trifocal intraocular lenses: a comparison of the visual performance and quality of vision provided by two different lens designs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gundersen KG

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Kjell G Gundersen,1 Rick Potvin2 1IFocus Øyeklinikk AS, Haugesund, Norway; 2Science in Vision, Akron, NY, USA Purpose: To compare two different diffractive trifocal intraocular lens (IOL designs, evaluating longer-term refractive outcomes, visual acuity (VA at various distances, low contrast VA and quality of vision.Patients and methods: Patients with binocularly implanted trifocal IOLs of two different designs (FineVision [FV] and Panoptix [PX] were evaluated 6 months to 2 years after surgery. Best distance-corrected and uncorrected VA were tested at distance (4 m, intermediate (80 and 60 cm and near (40 cm. A binocular defocus curve was collected with the subject’s best distance correction in place. The preferred reading distance was determined along with the VA at that distance. Low contrast VA at distance was also measured. Quality of vision was measured with the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire near subset and the Quality of Vision questionnaire.Results: Thirty subjects in each group were successfully recruited. The binocular defocus curves differed only at vergences of −1.0 D (FV better, P=0.02, −1.5 and −2.00 D (PX better, P<0.01 for both. Best distance-corrected and uncorrected binocular vision were significantly better for the PX lens at 60 cm (P<0.01 with no significant differences at other distances. The preferred reading distance was between 42 and 43 cm for both lenses, with the VA at the preferred reading distance slightly better with the PX lens (P=0.04. There were no statistically significant differences by lens for low contrast VA (P=0.1 or for quality of vision measures (P>0.3.Conclusion: Both trifocal lenses provided excellent distance, intermediate and near vision, but several measures indicated that the PX lens provided better intermediate vision at 60 cm. This may be important to users of tablets and other handheld devices. Quality of vision appeared similar between the two lens designs

The Relationship between Visual Impairment and Health-Related Quality of Life in Korean Adults: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2012)

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Yuli; Shin, Jeong Ah; Yang, Suk Woo; Yim, Hyeon Woo; Kim, Hyun Seung; Park, Young-Hoon

2015-01-01

Introduction To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Korean adults with visual impairment(VI) using various measures based on a nationally distributed sample. Methods Using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2008–2012) data, we compared EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D) and EQ-visual analogue scale (VAS) scores after adjusting for socio-demographic and psychosocial factors as well as for comorbidities with VI. Logistic regressions were used to elucidate determinants for the lowest quintile HRQoL scales according to VI severity. Uncorrected visual acuity (VA) which implies vision of ordinary life was measured using an international standard vision chart based on Snellen scale. Results 28,825 participants (sum of weights; 37,562,376) were included in the analysis. The mean EQ-5D and EQ-VAS scores were significantly lower in the VI groups than in the normal vision (defined as VA 20/20-20/25) group based on the better or worse seeing eye (Pimpaired HRQoL compared with the normal vision population. The analyses presented here elicited even mild VI could potentially deteriorate the health-related quality of life (or subjective perception of health quality) and therefore, therapeutic approaches should also focus on the subjective perception and better management of health condition. PMID:26192763

Multiple variables data sets visualization in ROOT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Couet, O

2008-01-01

The ROOT graphical framework provides support for many different functions including basic graphics, high-level visualization techniques, output on files, 3D viewing etc. They use well-known world standards to render graphics on screen, to produce high-quality output files, and to generate images for Web publishing. Many techniques allow visualization of all the basic ROOT data types, but the graphical framework was still a bit weak in the visualization of multiple variables data sets. This paper presents latest developments done in the ROOT framework to visualize multiple variables (>4) data sets

TU-FG-BRB-12: Real-Time Visualization of Discrete Spot Scanning Proton Therapy Beam for Quality Assurance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuzaki, Y; Jenkins, C; Yang, Y; Xing, L; Yoshimura, T; Fujii, Y; Umegaki, K

2016-01-01

Purpose: With the growing adoption of proton beam therapy there is an increasing need for effective and user-friendly tools for performing quality assurance (QA) measurements. The speed and versatility of spot-scanning proton beam (PB) therapy systems present unique challenges for traditional QA tools. To address these challenges a proof-of-concept system was developed to visualize, in real-time, the delivery of individual spots from a spot-scanning PB in order to perform QA measurements. Methods: The PB is directed toward a custom phantom with planar faces coated with a radioluminescent phosphor (Gd2O2s:Tb). As the proton beam passes through the phantom visible light is emitted from the coating and collected by a nearby CMOS camera. The images are processed to determine the locations at which the beam impinges on each face of the phantom. By so doing, the location of each beam can be determined relative to the phantom. The cameras are also used to capture images of the laser alignment system. The phantom contains x-ray fiducials so that it can be easily located with kV imagers. Using this data several quality assurance parameters can be evaluated. Results: The proof-of-concept system was able to visualize discrete PB spots with energies ranging from 70 MeV to 220 MeV. Images were obtained with integration times ranging from 20 to 0.019 milliseconds. If not limited by data transmission, this would correspond to a frame rate of 52,000 fps. Such frame rates enabled visualization of individual spots in real time. Spot locations were found to be highly correlated (R"2=0.99) with the nozzle-mounted spot position monitor indicating excellent spot positioning accuracy Conclusion: The system was shown to be capable of imaging individual spots for all clinical beam energies. Future development will focus on extending the image processing software to provide automated results for a variety of QA tests.

TU-FG-BRB-12: Real-Time Visualization of Discrete Spot Scanning Proton Therapy Beam for Quality Assurance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsuzaki, Y [Proton Beam Therapy Center, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido (Japan); Jenkins, C; Yang, Y; Xing, L [Stanford University, Stanford, California (United States); Yoshimura, T; Fujii, Y [Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido (Japan); Umegaki, K [Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE), Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido (Japan)

2016-06-15

Purpose: With the growing adoption of proton beam therapy there is an increasing need for effective and user-friendly tools for performing quality assurance (QA) measurements. The speed and versatility of spot-scanning proton beam (PB) therapy systems present unique challenges for traditional QA tools. To address these challenges a proof-of-concept system was developed to visualize, in real-time, the delivery of individual spots from a spot-scanning PB in order to perform QA measurements. Methods: The PB is directed toward a custom phantom with planar faces coated with a radioluminescent phosphor (Gd2O2s:Tb). As the proton beam passes through the phantom visible light is emitted from the coating and collected by a nearby CMOS camera. The images are processed to determine the locations at which the beam impinges on each face of the phantom. By so doing, the location of each beam can be determined relative to the phantom. The cameras are also used to capture images of the laser alignment system. The phantom contains x-ray fiducials so that it can be easily located with kV imagers. Using this data several quality assurance parameters can be evaluated. Results: The proof-of-concept system was able to visualize discrete PB spots with energies ranging from 70 MeV to 220 MeV. Images were obtained with integration times ranging from 20 to 0.019 milliseconds. If not limited by data transmission, this would correspond to a frame rate of 52,000 fps. Such frame rates enabled visualization of individual spots in real time. Spot locations were found to be highly correlated (R{sup 2}=0.99) with the nozzle-mounted spot position monitor indicating excellent spot positioning accuracy Conclusion: The system was shown to be capable of imaging individual spots for all clinical beam energies. Future development will focus on extending the image processing software to provide automated results for a variety of QA tests.

Visualization of regulations to support design and quality control--a long-term study.

Science.gov (United States)

Blomé, Mikael

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to visualize design regulations of furniture by means of interactive technology based on earlier studies and practical examples. The usage of the visualized regulations was evaluated on two occasions: at the start when the first set of regulations was presented, and after six years of usage of all regulations. The visualized regulations were the result of a design process involving experts and potential users in collaboration with IKEA of Sweden AB. The evaluations by the different users showed a very positive response to using visualized regulations. The participative approach, combining expertise in specific regulations with visualization of guidelines, resulted in clear presentations of important regulations, and great attitudes among the users. These kinds of visualizations have proved to be applicable in a variety of product areas at IKEA, with a potential for further dissemination. It is likely that the approaches to design and visualized regulations in this case study could function in other branches.

What is beautiful is useful: visual appeal and expected information quality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Geest, Thea; van Dongelen, Raymond

2009-01-01

Would users, when having a first glance on websites, expect that visually appealing websites contain better information than websites that are less appealing? And if they looked longer, would that change their judgment? We created two versions for 12 homepages of websites, one with low visual

Performance of a constructed wetland-pond system for treatment and reuse of wastewater from campus buildings.

Science.gov (United States)

Ou, Wen-Sheng; Lin, Ying-Feng; Jing, Shuh-Ren; Lin, Hsien-Te

2006-11-01

A constructed wetland-pond system consisting of two free-water-surface-flow (FWS) wetland cells, a scenic pond, and a slag filter in series was used for reclamation of septic tank effluent from a campus building. The results show that FWS wetlands effectively removed major pollutants under a hydraulic loading rate between 2.1 and 4.2 cm/d, with average efficiencies ranging from 74 to 78% for total suspended solids, 73 to 88% for 5-day biochemical oxygen demand, 42 to 49% for total nitrogen, 34 to 70% for total phosphorous, 64 to 79% for total coliforms, and 90 to 99.9% for Escherichia coli. After passing through the scenic pond and slag filter, the reclaimed water was used for landscape irrigation. There were a variety of ornamental plants and aquatic animals established in the second FWS cell and scenic pond with good water quality, thus enhancing landscape and ecology amenity in campuses.

Prism therapy and visual rehabilitation in homonymous visual field loss.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Neill, Evelyn C

2012-02-01

PURPOSE: Homonymous visual field defects (HVFD) are common and frequently occur after cerebrovascular accidents. They significantly impair visual function and cause disability particularly with regard to visual exploration. The purpose of this study was to assess a novel interventional treatment of monocular prism therapy on visual functioning in patients with HVFD of varied etiology using vision targeted, health-related quality of life (QOL) questionnaires. Our secondary aim was to confirm monocular and binocular visual field expansion pre- and posttreatment. METHODS: Twelve patients with acquired, documented HVFD were eligible to be included. All patients underwent specific vision-targeted, health-related QOL questionnaire and monocular and binocular Goldmann perimetry before commencing prism therapy. Patients were fitted with monocular prisms on the side of the HVFD with the base-in the direction of the field defect creating a peripheral optical exotropia and field expansion. After the treatment period, QOL questionnaires and perimetry were repeated. RESULTS: Twelve patients were included in the treatment group, 10 of whom were included in data analysis. Overall, there was significant improvement within multiple vision-related, QOL functioning parameters, specifically within the domains of general health (p < 0.01), general vision (p < 0.05), distance vision (p < 0.01), peripheral vision (p < 0.05), role difficulties (p < 0.05), dependency (p < 0.05), and social functioning (p < 0.05). Visual field expansion was shown when measured monocularly and binocularly during the study period in comparison with pretreatment baselines. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HVFD demonstrate decreased QOL. Monocular sector prisms can improve the QOL and expand the visual field in these patients.

Assessment of visual communication by information theory

Science.gov (United States)

Huck, Friedrich O.; Fales, Carl L.

1994-01-01

This assessment of visual communication integrates the optical design of the image-gathering device with the digital processing for image coding and restoration. Results show that informationally optimized image gathering ordinarily can be relied upon to maximize the information efficiency of decorrelated data and the visual quality of optimally restored images.

Confidence, Visual Research, and the Aesthetic Function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stan Ruecker

2007-05-01

Full Text Available The goal of this article is to identify and describe one of the primary purposes of aesthetic quality in the design of computer interfaces and visualization tools. We suggest that humanists can derive advantages in visual research by acknowledging by their efforts to advance aesthetic quality that a significant function of aesthetics in this context is to inspire the user’s confidence. This confidence typically serves to create a sense of trust in the provider of the interface or tool. In turn, this increased trust may result in an increased willingness to engage with the object, on the basis that it demonstrates an attention to detail that promises to reward increased engagement. In addition to confidence, the aesthetic may also contribute to a heightened degree of satisfaction with having spent time using or investigating the object. In the realm of interface design and visualization research, we propose that these aesthetic functions have implications not only for the quality of interactions, but also for the results of the standard measures of performance and preference.

Assessing Essential Qualities of Urban Space with Emotional and Visual Data Based on GIS Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin Li

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Finding a method to evaluate people’s emotional responses to urban spaces in a valid and objective way is fundamentally important for urban design practices and related policy making. Analysis of the essential qualities of urban space could be made both more effective and more accurate using innovative information techniques that have become available in the era of big data. This study introduces an integrated method based on geographical information systems (GIS and an emotion-tracking technique to quantify the relationship between people’s emotional responses and urban space. This method can evaluate the degree to which people’s emotional responses are influenced by multiple urban characteristics such as building shapes and textures, isovist parameters, visual entropy, and visual fractals. The results indicate that urban spaces may influence people’s emotional responses through both spatial sequence arrangements and shifting scenario sequences. Emotional data were collected with body sensors and GPS devices. Spatial clustering was detected to target effective sampling locations; then, isovists were generated to extract building textures. Logistic regression and a receiver operating characteristic analysis were used to determine the key isovist parameters and the probabilities that they influenced people’s emotion. Finally, based on the results, we make some suggestions for design professionals in the field of urban space optimization.

Nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods for synthetic biology biobricks' visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jiaoyun; Wang, Haipeng; Ding, Huitong; An, Ning; Alterovitz, Gil

2017-01-19

Visualizing data by dimensionality reduction is an important strategy in Bioinformatics, which could help to discover hidden data properties and detect data quality issues, e.g. data noise, inappropriately labeled data, etc. As crowdsourcing-based synthetic biology databases face similar data quality issues, we propose to visualize biobricks to tackle them. However, existing dimensionality reduction methods could not be directly applied on biobricks datasets. Hereby, we use normalized edit distance to enhance dimensionality reduction methods, including Isomap and Laplacian Eigenmaps. By extracting biobricks from synthetic biology database Registry of Standard Biological Parts, six combinations of various types of biobricks are tested. The visualization graphs illustrate discriminated biobricks and inappropriately labeled biobricks. Clustering algorithm K-means is adopted to quantify the reduction results. The average clustering accuracy for Isomap and Laplacian Eigenmaps are 0.857 and 0.844, respectively. Besides, Laplacian Eigenmaps is 5 times faster than Isomap, and its visualization graph is more concentrated to discriminate biobricks. By combining normalized edit distance with Isomap and Laplacian Eigenmaps, synthetic biology biobircks are successfully visualized in two dimensional space. Various types of biobricks could be discriminated and inappropriately labeled biobricks could be determined, which could help to assess crowdsourcing-based synthetic biology databases' quality, and make biobricks selection.

Impact of focal spot size on radiologic image quality: A visual grading analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gorham, Sinead [Diagnostic Imaging, Biological Imaging Research, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, Health Science, Belfield, UCD, Dublin 4 (Ireland); Brennan, Patrick C., E-mail: patrick.brennan@ucd.i [Diagnostic Imaging, Biological Imaging Research, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, Health Science, Belfield, UCD, Dublin 4 (Ireland)

2010-11-15

Fine and broad focal spot sizes are available on general X-ray tubes. Excessive use of fine focus can impact on tube life and whilst it is established that fine focal spot size reduces geometric unsharpness, the extent of this benefit on clinical image quality is unclear. The current cadaver-based work compares images produced with effective focal sizes of 0.8 mm and 1.8 mm. Four projection types were included, lateral ankle, antero-posterior (AP) knee, AP thoracic spine and horizontal beam lateral (HBL) lumbar spine, and a visual grading analysis was used to assess visibility of anatomical criteria. Five clinicians scored each image using a 1-4 scoring scale, a reference image was employed for standardization and a Mann-Whitney U statistical test compared results derived from each focus. Radiation doses were monitored using a dose area product (DAP) meter. Statistical analyses demonstrated no significant differences between images produced at each focus, although a relationship between body part thickness and number of criteria with a higher (non-significant) score for the fine focus compared with the broad focal spot size was demonstrated. Choice of focus had no radiation dose implications. Fine foci X-ray sources are used predominantly for extremity imaging to enhance visualization of fine detail such as trabecular patterns, yet there is no evidence to support this practice. The argument for regular employment of fine foci, particularly for the type of acquisition and display devices used in this study, needs to be revisited.

Prediction of the visual impact of motorways using GIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Like; Kang, Jian; Schroth, Olaf

2015-01-01

Large scale transportation projects can adversely affect the visual perception of environmental quality and require adequate visual impact assessment. In this study, we investigated the effects of the characteristics of the road project and the character of the existing landscape on the perceived visual impact of motorways, and developed a GIS-based prediction model based on the findings. An online survey using computer-visualised scenes of different motorway and landscape scenarios was carried out to obtain perception-based judgements on the visual impact. Motorway scenarios simulated included the baseline scenario without road, original motorway, motorways with timber noise barriers, transparent noise barriers and tree screen; different landscape scenarios were created by changing land cover of buildings and trees in three distance zones. The landscape content of each scene was measured in GIS. The result shows that presence of a motorway especially with the timber barrier significantly decreases the visual quality of the view. The resulted visual impact tends to be lower where it is less visually pleasant with more buildings in the view, and can be slightly reduced by the visual absorption effect of the scattered trees between the motorway and the viewpoint. Based on the survey result, eleven predictors were identified for the visual impact prediction model which was applied in GIS to generate maps of visual impact of motorways in different scenarios. The proposed prediction model can be used to achieve efficient and reliable assessment of visual impact of motorways. - Highlights: • Motorways induce significant visual impact especially with timber noise barriers. • Visual impact is negatively correlated with amount of buildings in the view. • Visual impact is positively correlated with percentage of trees in the view. • Perception-based motorway visual impact prediction model using mapped predictors • Predicted visual impacts in different scenarios are

Prediction of the visual impact of motorways using GIS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Like [School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN (United Kingdom); Kang, Jian, E-mail: j.kang@sheffield.ac.uk [School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN (United Kingdom); Schroth, Olaf [Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN (United Kingdom)

2015-11-15

Large scale transportation projects can adversely affect the visual perception of environmental quality and require adequate visual impact assessment. In this study, we investigated the effects of the characteristics of the road project and the character of the existing landscape on the perceived visual impact of motorways, and developed a GIS-based prediction model based on the findings. An online survey using computer-visualised scenes of different motorway and landscape scenarios was carried out to obtain perception-based judgements on the visual impact. Motorway scenarios simulated included the baseline scenario without road, original motorway, motorways with timber noise barriers, transparent noise barriers and tree screen; different landscape scenarios were created by changing land cover of buildings and trees in three distance zones. The landscape content of each scene was measured in GIS. The result shows that presence of a motorway especially with the timber barrier significantly decreases the visual quality of the view. The resulted visual impact tends to be lower where it is less visually pleasant with more buildings in the view, and can be slightly reduced by the visual absorption effect of the scattered trees between the motorway and the viewpoint. Based on the survey result, eleven predictors were identified for the visual impact prediction model which was applied in GIS to generate maps of visual impact of motorways in different scenarios. The proposed prediction model can be used to achieve efficient and reliable assessment of visual impact of motorways. - Highlights: • Motorways induce significant visual impact especially with timber noise barriers. • Visual impact is negatively correlated with amount of buildings in the view. • Visual impact is positively correlated with percentage of trees in the view. • Perception-based motorway visual impact prediction model using mapped predictors • Predicted visual impacts in different scenarios are

77 FR 32667 - Notice of Intent To Prepare Environmental Impact Statement for Alcatraz Ferry Embarkation Site...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

... transportation, visitor experience, aesthetics, economics, cultural resources, natural resources, and air quality... the natural, cultural, scenic and recreational resources of Alcatraz, the larger GGNRA, and the... impacts, including natural, cultural, socioeconomic and other topics; and suggest possible mitigation...

Stereoscopic Visual Attention-Based Regional Bit Allocation Optimization for Multiview Video Coding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dai Qionghai

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a Stereoscopic Visual Attention- (SVA- based regional bit allocation optimization for Multiview Video Coding (MVC by the exploiting visual redundancies from human perceptions. We propose a novel SVA model, where multiple perceptual stimuli including depth, motion, intensity, color, and orientation contrast are utilized, to simulate the visual attention mechanisms of human visual system with stereoscopic perception. Then, a semantic region-of-interest (ROI is extracted based on the saliency maps of SVA. Both objective and subjective evaluations of extracted ROIs indicated that the proposed SVA model based on ROI extraction scheme outperforms the schemes only using spatial or/and temporal visual attention clues. Finally, by using the extracted SVA-based ROIs, a regional bit allocation optimization scheme is presented to allocate more bits on SVA-based ROIs for high image quality and fewer bits on background regions for efficient compression purpose. Experimental results on MVC show that the proposed regional bit allocation algorithm can achieve over % bit-rate saving while maintaining the subjective image quality. Meanwhile, the image quality of ROIs is improved by  dB at the cost of insensitive image quality degradation of the background image.

Impacts of soil moisture content on visual soil evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Emmet-Booth, Jeremy; Forristal, Dermot; Fenton, Owen; Bondi, Giulia; Creamer, Rachel; Holden, Nick

2017-04-01

Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation (VSE) techniques offer tools for soil quality assessment. They involve the visual and tactile assessment of soil properties such as aggregate size and shape, porosity, redox morphology, soil colour and smell. An increasing body of research has demonstrated the reliability and utility of VSE techniques. However a number of limitations have been identified, including the potential impact of soil moisture variation during sampling. As part of a national survey of grassland soil quality in Ireland, an evaluation of the impact of soil moisture on two widely used VSE techniques was conducted. The techniques were Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) (Guimarães et al., 2011) and Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) (Shepherd, 2009). Both generate summarising numeric scores that indicate soil structural quality, though employ different scoring mechanisms. The former requires the assessment of properties concurrently and the latter separately. Both methods were deployed on 20 sites across Ireland representing a range of soils. Additional samples were taken for soil volumetric water (θ) determination at 5-10 and 10-20 cm depth. No significant correlation was observed between θ 5-10 cm and either VSE technique. However, VESS scores were significantly related to θ 10-20 cm (rs = 0.40, sig = 0.02) while VSA scores were not (rs = -0.33, sig = 0.06). VESS and VSA scores can be grouped into quality classifications (good, moderate and poor). No significant mean difference was observed between θ 5-10 cm or θ 10-20 cm according to quality classification by either method. It was concluded that VESS scores may be affected by soil moisture variation while VSA appear unaffected. The different scoring mechanisms, where the separate assessment and scoring of individual properties employed by VSA, may limit soil moisture effects. However, moisture content appears not to affect overall structural quality classification by either method. References

Interface healing and its correlation with visual recovery and quality of vision following small incision lenticule extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganesh, Sri; Brar, Sheetal; Pandey, Rahul; Pawar, Archana

2018-02-01

To study the time course of interface healing and its correlation with visual acuity, modulation transfer function (MTF), and aberrations after myopic small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) correction. Seventy-eight eyes of 78 patients (1 eye per patient) with a mean age of 25.7 years and mean spherical equivalent (SE) of -3.74D, undergoing bilateral SMILE procedure, were included in this study. On postoperative day 1, 2 weeks, and 3 months, dilated retroillumination photographs were taken and morphology of corneal interface was graded by comparing them with 5 standard templates representing 5 grades of interface roughness (IRG): IRG - 0 (clear), IRG - 1 (mild), IRG - 2 (moderate), IRG - 3 (severe), and IRG - 4 (severe IRG with Bowman's folds in visual axis). Pearson's correlations were computed to study correlation associations, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for intragroup comparison of means. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. At 3 months, 90.70% eyes were Grade 0 while 9.30% eyes still had Grade 2 interface granularity. Mean IRG significantly improved from 2.47 ± 0.57 at day 1 to 0.62 ± 0.53 at 3 months (P = 0.00). At day 1, pre-SE showed a significant positive correlation with IRG; however, mean postoperative corrected distant visual acuity (CDVA, in decimal), corneal Strehl ratio (SR), and MTF showed weak but significant negative correlation with IRG (r2 = 0.28 for SE, -0.052 for CDVA, -0.017 for SR, and -0.39 for MTF, respectively, P correlations). At 2 weeks and 3 months, corneal MTF continued to show a significant negative correlation, whereas other parameters did not show any correlation with IRG. Visual quality and corneal MTF may be significantly affected by the IRG in the immediate postoperative period after SMILE and may take 3 months or more for complete recovery.

Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity are two important factors affecting vision-related quality of life in advanced age-related macular degeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Roh, Miin; Selivanova, Alexandra; Shin, Hyun Joon; Miller, Joan W; Jackson, Mary Lou

2018-01-01

Vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has a profound effect on vision-related quality of life (VRQoL). The pupose of this study is to identify clinical factors associated with VRQoL using the Rasch- calibrated NEI VFQ-25 scales in bilateral advanced AMD patients. We retrospectively reviewed 47 patients (mean age 83.2 years) with bilateral advanced AMD. Clinical assessment included age, gender, type of AMD, high contrast visual acuity (VA), history of medical conditions, contrast sensitivity (CS), central visual field loss, report of Charles Bonnet Syndrome, current treatment for AMD and Rasch-calibrated NEI VFQ-25 visual function and socioemotional function scales. The NEI VFQ visual function scale includes items of general vision, peripheral vision, distance vision and near vision-related activity while the socioemotional function scale includes items of vision related-social functioning, role difficulties, dependency, and mental health. Multiple regression analysis (structural regression model) was performed using fixed item parameters obtained from the one-parameter item response theory model. Multivariate analysis showed that high contrast VA and CS were two factors influencing VRQoL visual function scale (β = -0.25, 95% CI-0.37 to -0.12, p<0.001 and β = 0.35, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.46, p<0.001) and socioemontional functioning scale (β = -0.2, 95% CI -0.37 to -0.03, p = 0.023, and β = 0.3, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.43, p = 0.001). Central visual field loss was not assoicated with either VRQoL visual or socioemontional functioning scale (β = -0.08, 95% CI-0.28 to 0.12,p = 0.44 and β = -0.09, 95% CI -0.03 to 0.16, p = 0.50, respectively). In patients with vision impairment secondary to bilateral advanced AMD, high contrast VA and CS are two important factors affecting VRQoL.

How visual search relates to visual diagnostic performance: a narrative systematic review of eye-tracking research in radiology.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Gijp, A; Ravesloot, C J; Jarodzka, H; van der Schaaf, M F; van der Schaaf, I C; van Schaik, J P J; Ten Cate, Th J

2017-08-01

Eye tracking research has been conducted for decades to gain understanding of visual diagnosis such as in radiology. For educational purposes, it is important to identify visual search patterns that are related to high perceptual performance and to identify effective teaching strategies. This review of eye-tracking literature in the radiology domain aims to identify visual search patterns associated with high perceptual performance. Databases PubMed, EMBASE, ERIC, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science were searched using 'visual perception' OR 'eye tracking' AND 'radiology' and synonyms. Two authors independently screened search results and included eye tracking studies concerning visual skills in radiology published between January 1, 1994 and July 31, 2015. Two authors independently assessed study quality with the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument, and extracted study data with respect to design, participant and task characteristics, and variables. A thematic analysis was conducted to extract and arrange study results, and a textual narrative synthesis was applied for data integration and interpretation. The search resulted in 22 relevant full-text articles. Thematic analysis resulted in six themes that informed the relation between visual search and level of expertise: (1) time on task, (2) eye movement characteristics of experts, (3) differences in visual attention, (4) visual search patterns, (5) search patterns in cross sectional stack imaging, and (6) teaching visual search strategies. Expert search was found to be characterized by a global-focal search pattern, which represents an initial global impression, followed by a detailed, focal search-to-find mode. Specific task-related search patterns, like drilling through CT scans and systematic search in chest X-rays, were found to be related to high expert levels. One study investigated teaching of visual search strategies, and did not find a significant effect on perceptual performance. Eye

36 CFR 297.3 - Definitions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 297.3 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS Water Resources Projects § 297.3 Definitions. Act means the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (82 Stat... assistance affecting the free-flowing characteristics or the scenic or natural values of a Wild and Scenic...

Quality knowledge of science through virtual laboratory as an element of visualization

Science.gov (United States)

Rizman Herga, Natasa

experiment, carried out over a period of two school years (2012/2013 and 2013/2014) in ten primary schools, the effectiveness of teaching carried out with the support of a virtual laboratory was analyzed. The obtained empirical findings reveal that the use of virtual laboratory has great impact on the pupils' knowledge and interest. At the end of the experiment, pupils in the experimental group had an advantage according to knowledge of chemical contents in science. Also, the use of virtual laboratory had an impact on the sustainability of the acquired knowledge of science contents and pupils' interest at the end of the experiment, because the pupils in the experimental group had a higher interest for learning science contents. The didactic experiment determined, that the use of virtual laboratory enables quality learning and teaching chemical contents of science, because it allows: (1) experimental work as an active learning method, (2) the visualization of abstract concepts and phenomena, (3) dynamic sub micro presentations (4) integration of all three levels of the chemical concept as a whole and (5) positively impacts pupils' interest, knowledge and sustainability of the acquired knowledge.

The Fungible Audio-Visual Mapping and its Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Sa

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article draws a perceptual approach to audio-visual mapping. Clearly perceivable cause and effect relationships can be problematic if one desires the audience to experience the music. Indeed perception would bias those sonic qualities that fit previous concepts of causation, subordinating other sonic qualities, which may form the relations between the sounds themselves. The question is, how can an audio-visual mapping produce a sense of causation, and simultaneously confound the actual cause-effect relationships. We call this a fungible audio-visual mapping. Our aim here is to glean its constitution and aspect. We will report a study, which draws upon methods from experimental psychology to inform audio-visual instrument design and composition. The participants are shown several audio-visual mapping prototypes, after which we pose quantitative and qualitative questions regarding their sense of causation, and their sense of understanding the cause-effect relationships. The study shows that a fungible mapping requires both synchronized and seemingly non-related components – sufficient complexity to be confusing. As the specific cause-effect concepts remain inconclusive, the sense of causation embraces the whole. 

[Are Visual Field Defects Reversible? - Visual Rehabilitation with Brains].

Science.gov (United States)

Sabel, B A

2017-02-01

Visual field defects are considered irreversible because the retina and optic nerve do not regenerate. Nevertheless, there is some potential for recovery of the visual fields. This can be accomplished by the brain, which analyses and interprets visual information and is able to amplify residual signals through neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change its own functional architecture by modulating synaptic efficacy. This is actually the neurobiological basis of normal learning. Plasticity is maintained throughout life and can be induced by repetitively stimulating (training) brain circuits. The question now arises as to how plasticity can be utilised to activate residual vision for the treatment of visual field loss. Just as in neurorehabilitation, visual field defects can be modulated by post-lesion plasticity to improve vision in glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or optic neuropathy. Because almost all patients have some residual vision, the goal is to strengthen residual capacities by enhancing synaptic efficacy. New treatment paradigms have been tested in clinical studies, including vision restoration training and non-invasive alternating current stimulation. While vision training is a behavioural task to selectively stimulate "relative defects" with daily vision exercises for the duration of 6 months, treatment with alternating current stimulation (30 min. daily for 10 days) activates and synchronises the entire retina and brain. Though full restoration of vision is not possible, such treatments improve vision, both subjectively and objectively. This includes visual field enlargements, improved acuity and reaction time, improved orientation and vision related quality of life. About 70 % of the patients respond to the therapies and there are no serious adverse events. Physiological studies of the effect of alternating current stimulation using EEG and fMRI reveal massive local and global changes in the brain. These include

Fatal Attraction: Nazi Landscapes, Modernity and Holocaust Memory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Laarse, R.; Kolen, J.; Renes, J.; Hermans, R.

2015-01-01

Landscapes are in western culture considered as 'art', valuated by scenic qualities represeneted in landscape painting and reproduced in landscape architecture. Working under the fetish of authenticity by singling out aesthetic styles and iconic periods, connoisseurship is still a basic assumption

Evaluation of a software package for automated quality assessment of contrast detail images-comparison with subjective visual assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pascoal, A; Lawinski, C P; Honey, I; Blake, P

2005-01-01

Contrast detail analysis is commonly used to assess image quality (IQ) associated with diagnostic imaging systems. Applications include routine assessment of equipment performance and optimization studies. Most frequently, the evaluation of contrast detail images involves human observers visually detecting the threshold contrast detail combinations in the image. However, the subjective nature of human perception and the variations in the decision threshold pose limits to the minimum image quality variations detectable with reliability. Objective methods of assessment of image quality such as automated scoring have the potential to overcome the above limitations. A software package (CDRAD analyser) developed for automated scoring of images produced with the CDRAD test object was evaluated. Its performance to assess absolute and relative IQ was compared with that of an average observer. Results show that the software does not mimic the absolute performance of the average observer. The software proved more sensitive and was able to detect smaller low-contrast variations. The observer's performance was superior to the software's in the detection of smaller details. Both scoring methods showed frequent agreement in the detection of image quality variations resulting from changes in kVp and KERMA detector , which indicates the potential to use the software CDRAD analyser for assessment of relative IQ

Setting visual pre-placement testing in a technology manufacturing environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gowan, Nancy J

2014-01-01

Every day we use our eyes to perform activities of daily living and work. Aging changes as well as health conditions can impact an individual's visual function, making it more difficult to accurately perform work activities. Occupational therapists work closely with optometrists and employers to develop ways to accommodate for these changes so that the employee can continue to perform the work tasks. This manuscript outlines a case study of systematically developing visual demands analyses and pre-placement vision screening assessment protocols for individuals completing quality inspection positions. When the vision screening was completed, it was discovered that over 20% of the employees had visual deficits that were correctable. This screening process yielded improved quality results but also identification of previously undetected visual deficits. Further development of vision screening in the workplace is supported.

DOE's SciDAC Visualization and Analytics Center for EnablingTechnologies -- Strategy for Petascale Visual Data Analysis Success

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bethel, E Wes; Johnson, Chris; Aragon, Cecilia; Rubel, Oliver; Weber, Gunther; Pascucci, Valerio; Childs, Hank; Bremer, Peer-Timo; Whitlock, Brad; Ahern, Sean; Meredith, Jeremey; Ostrouchov, George; Joy, Ken; Hamann, Bernd; Garth, Christoph; Cole, Martin; Hansen, Charles; Parker, Steven; Sanderson, Allen; Silva, Claudio; Tricoche, Xavier

2007-10-01

The focus of this article is on how one group of researchersthe DOE SciDAC Visualization and Analytics Center for EnablingTechnologies (VACET) is tackling the daunting task of enabling knowledgediscovery through visualization and analytics on some of the world slargest and most complex datasets and on some of the world's largestcomputational platforms. As a Center for Enabling Technology, VACET smission is the creation of usable, production-quality visualization andknowledge discovery software infrastructure that runs on large, parallelcomputer systems at DOE's Open Computing facilities and that providessolutions to challenging visual data exploration and knowledge discoveryneeds of modern science, particularly the DOE sciencecommunity.

Information, entropy and fidelity in visual communication

Science.gov (United States)

Huck, Friedrich O.; Fales, Carl L.; Alter-Gartenberg, Rachel; Rahman, Zia-Ur

1992-01-01

This paper presents an assessment of visual communication that integrates the critical limiting factors of image gathering and display with the digital processing that is used to code and restore images. The approach focuses on two mathematical criteria, information and fidelity, and on their relationships to the entropy of the encoded data and to the visual quality of the restored image.

Information, entropy, and fidelity in visual communication

Science.gov (United States)

Huck, Friedrich O.; Fales, Carl L.; Alter-Gartenberg, Rachel; Rahman, Zia-ur

1992-10-01

This paper presents an assessment of visual communication that integrates the critical limiting factors of image gathering an display with the digital processing that is used to code and restore images. The approach focuses on two mathematical criteria, information and fidelity, and on their relationships to the entropy of the encoded data and to the visual quality of the restored image.

EDITORIAL: Focus on Visualization in Physics FOCUS ON VISUALIZATION IN PHYSICS

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Barry C.; Senden, Tim; Springel, Volker

2008-12-01

cosmology wherein this (in principle invisible) dark matter dominates the cosmic matter content. The advantages of visualization found for simulated data also hold for real world data as well. With the application of computerized acquisition many scientific disciplines are witnessing exponential growth rates of the volume of accumulated raw data, which often makes it daunting to condense the information into a manageable form, a challenge that can be addressed by modern visualization techniques. Such visualizations are also often an enticing way to communicate scientific results to the general public. This need for visualization is especially true in basic science, with its reliance on a benevolent and interested general public that drives the need for high-quality visualizations. Despite the widespread use of visualization, this technology has suffered from a lack of the unifying influence of shared common experiences. As with any emerging technology practitioners have often independently found solutions to similar problems. It is the aim of this focus issue to celebrate the importance of visualization, report on its growing use by the broad community of physicists, including biophysics, chemical physics, geophysics, astrophysics, and medical physics, and provide an opportunity for the diverse community of scientists using visualization to share work in one issue of a journal that itself is in the vanguard of supporting visualization and multimedia. A remarkable breadth and diversity of visualization in physics is to be found in this issue spanning fundamental aspects of relativity theory to computational fluid dynamics. The topics span length scales that are as small as quantum phenomena to the entire observable Universe. We have been impressed by the quality of the submissions and hope that this snap-shot will introduce, inform, motivate and maybe even help to unify visualization in physics. Readers are also directed to the December issue of Physics World which includes

The Open Space Sculptures Used in the Gençlik Park towards Visual Perception of Park Users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Polat

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Urban parks are the most important areas that allow recreational activities in our towns. Increasing the visual quality of urban parks provides positive impacts on urban quality. Besides the artistic and technical features of open space sculptures which are used for urban park designs are the visual perceptions and preferences of park users are also important. In the context of this study, six sculptures in Gençlik Park which is in the boundaries Ankara have been considered. The aim of the study, to measure the visual quality of the sculptures in the urban parks through park users and to reveal the relationship between visual landscape indicators (of being interesting, coherence, complexity, meaningfulness, and mystery and the visual quality. For this purpose, the six pieces in Ankara Youth Park of sculpture were evaluated the scope of research. According to the results of the study; it was realized that park users like sculptures visually. A statistically significant relationship was found between the visual quality of the sculptures and some landscape indicators (to be interesting, mystery and harmony. In addition to these, some suggestions were made regarding the use of sculptures in urban parks.

The direction of research into visual disability and quality of life in glaucoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Garway-Heath David F

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Glaucoma will undoubtedly impact on a person's ability to function as they go about their day-to-day life. The purpose of this study is to investigate the amount of published knowledge in quality of life (QoL and visual disability studies for glaucoma, and make comparisons with similar research in other chronic conditions. Methods A systematic literature search of the Global Health, EMBASE Psychiatry and MEDLINE databases. Title searches for glaucoma and six other example chronic diseases were entered alongside a selection of keywords chosen to capture studies focusing on QoL and everyday task ability. These results were further filtered during a manual search of resulting abstracts. Outcomes were the number of publications per year for each disease, number relating to QoL and type of glaucoma QoL research. Results Fifteen years ago there were no published studies relating to the impact of glaucoma on QoL but by 2009 this had risen to 1.2% of all glaucoma articles. The number of papers relating to QoL as a proportion of all papers in glaucoma in the past 10 years (0.6% is smaller than for AMD and some other disabling chronic diseases. Most QoL studies in glaucoma (82% involve questionnaires. Conclusion QoL studies in glaucoma are increasing in number but represent a tiny minority of the total publications in glaucoma research. There are fewer QoL articles in glaucoma compared to some other disabling chronic conditions. The majority of QoL articles in glaucoma research use questionnaires; performance-based measures of visual disability may offer an additional method of determining how the disease impacts on QoL.

The direction of research into visual disability and quality of life in glaucoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Glen, Fiona C; Crabb, David P; Garway-Heath, David F

2011-08-04

Glaucoma will undoubtedly impact on a person's ability to function as they go about their day-to-day life. The purpose of this study is to investigate the amount of published knowledge in quality of life (QoL) and visual disability studies for glaucoma, and make comparisons with similar research in other chronic conditions. A systematic literature search of the Global Health, EMBASE Psychiatry and MEDLINE databases. Title searches for glaucoma and six other example chronic diseases were entered alongside a selection of keywords chosen to capture studies focusing on QoL and everyday task ability. These results were further filtered during a manual search of resulting abstracts. Outcomes were the number of publications per year for each disease, number relating to QoL and type of glaucoma QoL research. Fifteen years ago there were no published studies relating to the impact of glaucoma on QoL but by 2009 this had risen to 1.2% of all glaucoma articles. The number of papers relating to QoL as a proportion of all papers in glaucoma in the past 10 years (0.6%) is smaller than for AMD and some other disabling chronic diseases. Most QoL studies in glaucoma (82%) involve questionnaires. QoL studies in glaucoma are increasing in number but represent a tiny minority of the total publications in glaucoma research. There are fewer QoL articles in glaucoma compared to some other disabling chronic conditions. The majority of QoL articles in glaucoma research use questionnaires; performance-based measures of visual disability may offer an additional method of determining how the disease impacts on QoL.

Information theoretical assessment of visual communication with wavelet coding

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Zia-ur

1995-06-01

A visual communication channel can be characterized by the efficiency with which it conveys information, and the quality of the images restored from the transmitted data. Efficient data representation requires the use of constraints of the visual communication channel. Our information theoretic analysis combines the design of the wavelet compression algorithm with the design of the visual communication channel. Shannon's communication theory, Wiener's restoration filter, and the critical design factors of image gathering and display are combined to provide metrics for measuring the efficiency of data transmission, and for quantitatively assessing the visual quality of the restored image. These metrics are: a) the mutual information (Eta) between the radiance the radiance field and the restored image, and b) the efficiency of the channel which can be roughly measured by as the ratio (Eta) /H, where H is the average number of bits being used to transmit the data. Huck, et al. (Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1993) have shown that channels desinged to maximize (Eta) , also maximize. Our assessment provides a framework for designing channels which provide the highest possible visual quality for a given amount of data under the critical design limitations of the image gathering and display devices. Results show that a trade-off exists between the maximum realizable information of the channel and its efficiency: an increase in one leads to a decrease in the other. The final selection of which of these quantities to maximize is, of course, application dependent.

Light-distortion analysis as a possible indicator of visual quality after refractive lens exchange with diffractive multifocal intraocular lenses.

Science.gov (United States)

Brito, Pedro; Salgado-Borges, José; Neves, Helena; Gonzalez-Meijome, José; Monteiro, Manuel

2015-03-01

To study the perception of light distortion after refractive lens exchange (RLE) with diffractive multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs). Clínica Oftalmológica das Antas, Porto, Portugal. Retrospective comparative study. Refractive lens exchange was performed with implantation of an AT Lisa 839M (trifocal) or 909MP (bifocal toric) IOL, the latter if corneal astigmatism was more than 0.75 diopter (D). The postoperative visual and refractive outcomes were evaluated. A prototype light-distortion analyzer was used to quantify the postoperative light-distortion indices. A control group of eyes in which a Tecnis ZCB00 1-piece monofocal IOL was implanted had the same examinations. A trifocal or bifocal toric IOL was implanted in 66 eyes. The control IOL was implanted in 18 eyes. All 3 groups obtained a significant improvement in uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) (P refractive cylinder was less than 1.00 D in 86.7% of cases with the toric IOL. The mean light-distortion index was significantly higher in the multifocal IOL groups than in the monofocal group (P light-distortion index and CDVA. The multifocal IOLs provided excellent UDVA and functional UNVA despite increased light-distortion indices. The light-distortion analyzer reliably quantified a subjective component of vision distinct from visual acuity; it may become a useful adjunct in the evaluation of visual quality obtained with multifocal IOLs. No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. Copyright © 2015 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quality of vision, patient satisfaction and long-term visual function after bilateral implantation of a low addition multifocal intraocular lens.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrotti, Emilio; Mastropasqua, Rodolfo; Bonetto, Jacopo; Demasi, Christian; Aiello, Francesco; Nucci, Carlo; Mariotti, Cesare; Marchini, Giorgio

2017-07-17

The aim of the current study was to compare the quality of vision, contrast sensitivity and patient satisfaction with a biaspheric, segmented, rotationally asymmetric IOL (Lentis Comfort LS-313 MF 15-Oculentis GmbH, Berlin, Germany) as opposed to those of a monofocal IOL. This prospective single-blind comparative study included two groups of patients affected by bilateral senile cataract who underwent lens extraction and IOL implantation. The first group received a bilateral implantation of a monofocal IOL, and the second group received a bilateral implantation of the Comfort IOL. Twelve months after surgery uncorrected and corrected visual acuity at different distances (30, 50, 70 cm and 4 m), defocus curve and contrast sensitivity were assessed. Patient's satisfaction and spectacle independence were evaluated by mean of the NEI RQL-42 questionnaire. No significant differences were found between the groups in terms of near vision. The group of patients implanted with a Comfort IOL obtained the best results at intermediate distances (50 and 70 cm P < .001). Both groups showed an excellent uncorrected distance visual acuity (4 m). No statistically significant differences were found in terms of corrected near, intermediate and distance visual acuity. Concerning contrast sensitivity, no statistically significant differences between the groups were observed at any cycles per degree. The NEI RQL-42 questionnaire showed statistically significant differences between the group for "near vision" (P = .015), "dependence on correction" (P = .048) and "suboptimal correction" (P < .001) subscales. Our findings indicated that the Comfort IOL +1.5 D provides a good intermediate spectacle independence together with a high quality of vision, with a low amount of subjective symptoms and a contrast sensitivity similar to those obtained with a monofocal IOL.

The impact of online visual on users' motivation and behavioural intention - A comparison between persuasive and non-persuasive visuals

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Nurulhuda; Shiratuddin, Mohd Fairuz; Wong, Kok Wai

2016-08-01

Research related to the first impression has highlighted the importance of visual appeal in influencing the favourable attitude towards a website. In the perspective of impression formation, it is proposed that the users are actually attracted to certain characteristics or aspects of the visual properties of a website, while ignoring the rests. Therefore, this study aims to investigate which visual strongly appeals to the users by comparing the impact of common visuals with the persuasive visuals. The principles of social influence are proposed as the added value to the persuasiveness of the web visuals. An experimental study is conducted and the PLS-SEM method is employed to analyse the obtained data. The result of the exploratory analyses demonstrated that the structural model has better quality when tested with persuasive data sample compared to non-persuasive data sample, evident with stronger coefficient of determination and path coefficients. Thus, it is concluded that persuasive visual provides better impact towards users' attitude and behavioural intention of a website.

Visual stimulation, {sup 1}H MR spectroscopy and fMRI of the human visual pathways

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boucard, Christine C.; Cornelissen, Frans W. [University of Groningen, Laboratory for Experimental Ophthalmology, Postbus 30001, Groningen (Netherlands); University of Groningen, BCN Neuro-imaging Center, Postbus 196, Groningen (Netherlands); Mostert, Jop P.; Keyser, Jacques De [University Hospital Groningen, Department of Neurology, Groningen (Netherlands); Oudkerk, Matthijs; Sijens, Paul E. [University Hospital Groningen, Department of Radiology, Groningen (Netherlands)

2005-01-01

The purpose was to assess changes in lactate content and other brain metabolites under visual stimulation in optical chiasm, optic radiations and occipital cortex using multiple voxel MR spectroscopy (MRS). {sup 1}H chemical shift imaging (CSI) examinations of transverse planes centered to include the above structures were performed in four subjects at an echo time of 135 ms. Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to confirm the presence of activity in the visual cortex during the visual stimulation. Spectral maps of optical chiasm were of poor quality due to field disturbances caused by nearby large blood vessels and/or eye movements. The optic radiations and the occipital lobe did not show any significant MR spectral change upon visual stimulation, i.e., the peak areas of inositol, choline, creatine, glutamate and N-acetylaspartate were not affected. Reproducible lactate signals were not observed. fMRI confirmed the presence of strong activations in stimulated visual cortex. Prolonged visual stimulation did not cause significant changes in MR spectra. Any signal observed near the 1.33 ppm resonance frequency of the lactate methyl-group was artifactual, originating from lipid signals from outside the volume of interest (VOI). Previous claims about changes in lactate levels in the visual cortex upon visual stimulation may have been based on such erroneous observations. (orig.)

Comparação da função visual e do índice de qualidade de vida com uso de óculos ou de lente de contato progressiva Comparative analysis of visual function and the quality of life index with eyeglasses or a progressive contact lens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neusa Vidal Sant'Anna

2006-06-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Comparar a função visual e a resposta dos pacientes ao índice de qualidade de vida quando estes são corrigidos com óculos com lentes progressivas ou lente de contato progressiva. MÉTODOS: Foram selecionados 35 pacientes présbitas, usuários de óculos com acuidade visual igual, ou melhor, a logMAR zero (longe e J1 (perto, para adaptarem a lente de contato Focus Progressive®. Foram comparadas medidas de acuidade visual para longe, perto e sensibilidade ao contraste com a lente de contato e com os óculos. Os resultados do questionário de avaliação de qualidade de vida NEI VFQ-25 dos mesmos pacientes corrigidos com os óculos e com a lente de contato progressiva foram comparados, levando-se em consideração o tipo de ametropia e a idade. RESULTADOS: A acuidade visual para longe, perto e a sensibilidade ao contraste foram significantemente piores com lente de contato progressiva do que com os óculos. As respostas do questionário não diferiram quanto à forma de correção quando se analisou o tipo de ametropia, entretanto foram significantemente piores com a lente de contato nos grupos míope e hipermétrope abaixo das suas respectivas medianas da idade e maiores no hipermétrope acima de sua mediana. CONCLUSÃO: As funções visuais foram significantemente piores com a lente de contato e o tipo de ametropia não influenciou nas respostas ao índice de qualidade de vida quanto à forma de correção, mas sim, quanto à idade.PURPOSE: To compare the visual function and the answers to a questionnaire of quality of life of patients wearing a progressive contact lens or eyeglasses. METHODS: The Focus Progressive® contact lens had been fitted in 35 patients with far visual acuity with progressive-addition eyeglasses equal to zero (log MAR and near J1 (Jaeger. The far and near visual acuities and the measurement of contrast sensitivity were compared when the patients were wearing the eyeglasses or the contact lens and the

75 FR 49514 - Notice of Availability for the Little Snake Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-13

... protect sensitive plants, remnant plant communities, cultural and geologic values, and scenic quality. The... relevance and importance criteria, but not designated as ACECs in the Proposed RMP because they were deemed not warranted for special management attention include: Lookout Mountain, Limestone Ridge, Cross...

Modulation of visually evoked postural responses by contextual visual, haptic and auditory information: a 'virtual reality check'.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Georg F; Shao, Fei; White, Mark D; Hopkins, Carl; Robotham, Antony J

2013-01-01

Externally generated visual motion signals can cause the illusion of self-motion in space (vection) and corresponding visually evoked postural responses (VEPR). These VEPRs are not simple responses to optokinetic stimulation, but are modulated by the configuration of the environment. The aim of this paper is to explore what factors modulate VEPRs in a high quality virtual reality (VR) environment where real and virtual foreground objects served as static visual, auditory and haptic reference points. Data from four experiments on visually evoked postural responses show that: 1) visually evoked postural sway in the lateral direction is modulated by the presence of static anchor points that can be haptic, visual and auditory reference signals; 2) real objects and their matching virtual reality representations as visual anchors have different effects on postural sway; 3) visual motion in the anterior-posterior plane induces robust postural responses that are not modulated by the presence of reference signals or the reality of objects that can serve as visual anchors in the scene. We conclude that automatic postural responses for laterally moving visual stimuli are strongly influenced by the configuration and interpretation of the environment and draw on multisensory representations. Different postural responses were observed for real and virtual visual reference objects. On the basis that automatic visually evoked postural responses in high fidelity virtual environments should mimic those seen in real situations we propose to use the observed effect as a robust objective test for presence and fidelity in VR.

MatrixPlot: visualizing sequence constraints

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gorodkin, Jan; Stærfeldt, Hans Henrik; Lund, Ole

1999-01-01

MatrixPlot: visualizing sequence constraints. Sub-title Abstract Summary : MatrixPlot is a program for making high-quality matrix plots, such as mutual information plots of sequence alignments and distance matrices of sequences with known three-dimensional coordinates. The user can add information...

The multiple sclerosis visual pathway cohort: understanding neurodegeneration in MS.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Lapiscina, Elena H; Fraga-Pumar, Elena; Gabilondo, Iñigo; Martínez-Heras, Eloy; Torres-Torres, Ruben; Ortiz-Pérez, Santiago; Llufriu, Sara; Tercero, Ana; Andorra, Magi; Roca, Marc Figueras; Lampert, Erika; Zubizarreta, Irati; Saiz, Albert; Sanchez-Dalmau, Bernardo; Villoslada, Pablo

2014-12-15

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disease of the Central Nervous System with two major underlying etiopathogenic processes: inflammation and neurodegeneration. The latter determines the prognosis of this disease. MS is the main cause of non-traumatic disability in middle-aged populations. The MS-VisualPath Cohort was set up to study the neurodegenerative component of MS using advanced imaging techniques by focusing on analysis of the visual pathway in a middle-aged MS population in Barcelona, Spain. We started the recruitment of patients in the early phase of MS in 2010 and it remains permanently open. All patients undergo a complete neurological and ophthalmological examination including measurements of physical and disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale; Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite and neuropsychological tests), disease activity (relapses) and visual function testing (visual acuity, color vision and visual field). The MS-VisualPath protocol also assesses the presence of anxiety and depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), general quality of life (SF-36) and visual quality of life (25-Item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire with the 10-Item Neuro-Ophthalmic Supplement). In addition, the imaging protocol includes both retinal (Optical Coherence Tomography and Wide-Field Fundus Imaging) and brain imaging (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Finally, multifocal Visual Evoked Potentials are used to perform neurophysiological assessment of the visual pathway. The analysis of the visual pathway with advance imaging and electrophysilogical tools in parallel with clinical information will provide significant and new knowledge regarding neurodegeneration in MS and provide new clinical and imaging biomarkers to help monitor disease progression in these patients.

Visualization drivers for Geant4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beretvas, Andy

2005-01-01

This document is on Geant 4 visualization tools (drivers), evaluating pros and cons of each option, including recommendations on which tools to support at Fermilab for different applications. Four visualization drivers are evaluated. They re OpenGL, HepRep, DAWN and VRML. They all have good features, OpenGL provides graphic output with out an intermediate file. HepRep provides menus to assist the user. DAWN provides high quality plots and even for large files produces output quickly. VRML uses the smallest disk space for intermediate files. Large experiments at Fermilab will want to write their own display. They should proceed to make this display graphics independent. Medium experiment will probably want to use HepRep because of it's menu support. Smaller scale experiments will want to use OpenGL in the spirit of having immediate response, good quality output and keeping things simple

Parts-based stereoscopic image assessment by learning binocular manifold color visual properties

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Haiyong; Yu, Mei; Luo, Ting; Zhang, Yun; Jiang, Gangyi

2016-11-01

Existing stereoscopic image quality assessment (SIQA) methods are mostly based on the luminance information, in which color information is not sufficiently considered. Actually, color is part of the important factors that affect human visual perception, and nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) and manifold learning are in line with human visual perception. We propose an SIQA method based on learning binocular manifold color visual properties. To be more specific, in the training phase, a feature detector is created based on NMF with manifold regularization by considering color information, which not only allows parts-based manifold representation of an image, but also manifests localized color visual properties. In the quality estimation phase, visually important regions are selected by considering different human visual attention, and feature vectors are extracted by using the feature detector. Then the feature similarity index is calculated and the parts-based manifold color feature energy (PMCFE) for each view is defined based on the color feature vectors. The final quality score is obtained by considering a binocular combination based on PMCFE. The experimental results on LIVE I and LIVE Π 3-D IQA databases demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve much higher consistency with subjective evaluations than the state-of-the-art SIQA methods.

Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity are two important factors affecting vision-related quality of life in advanced age-related macular degeneration

Science.gov (United States)

Selivanova, Alexandra; Shin, Hyun Joon; Miller, Joan W.; Jackson, Mary Lou

2018-01-01

Purpose Vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has a profound effect on vision-related quality of life (VRQoL). The pupose of this study is to identify clinical factors associated with VRQoL using the Rasch- calibrated NEI VFQ-25 scales in bilateral advanced AMD patients. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 47 patients (mean age 83.2 years) with bilateral advanced AMD. Clinical assessment included age, gender, type of AMD, high contrast visual acuity (VA), history of medical conditions, contrast sensitivity (CS), central visual field loss, report of Charles Bonnet Syndrome, current treatment for AMD and Rasch-calibrated NEI VFQ-25 visual function and socioemotional function scales. The NEI VFQ visual function scale includes items of general vision, peripheral vision, distance vision and near vision-related activity while the socioemotional function scale includes items of vision related-social functioning, role difficulties, dependency, and mental health. Multiple regression analysis (structural regression model) was performed using fixed item parameters obtained from the one-parameter item response theory model. Results Multivariate analysis showed that high contrast VA and CS were two factors influencing VRQoL visual function scale (β = -0.25, 95% CI-0.37 to -0.12, p<0.001 and β = 0.35, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.46, p<0.001) and socioemontional functioning scale (β = -0.2, 95% CI -0.37 to -0.03, p = 0.023, and β = 0.3, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.43, p = 0.001). Central visual field loss was not assoicated with either VRQoL visual or socioemontional functioning scale (β = -0.08, 95% CI-0.28 to 0.12,p = 0.44 and β = -0.09, 95% CI -0.03 to 0.16, p = 0.50, respectively). Conclusion In patients with vision impairment secondary to bilateral advanced AMD, high contrast VA and CS are two important factors affecting VRQoL. PMID:29746512

Quality during construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogers, C.B.

1977-01-01

This paper outlines the quality assurance program used by Bechtel Corp. in constructing Nuclear Power Plants. As a tool for scheduling and visualizing situations during construction, power plant scale models are used. The use of models, preplanning, detail scheduling, and early development of procedures and inspection plans, have all contributed to a lower cost integrated quality program. Quality control and quality assurance are built in, thus satisfying the regulatory requirements

Availability Issues in Wireless Visual Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Daniel G.; Silva, Ivanovitch; Guedes, Luiz Affonso; Vasques, Francisco; Portugal, Paulo

2014-01-01

Wireless visual sensor networks have been considered for a large set of monitoring applications related with surveillance, tracking and multipurpose visual monitoring. When sensors are deployed over a monitored field, permanent faults may happen during the network lifetime, reducing the monitoring quality or rendering parts or the entire network unavailable. In a different way from scalar sensor networks, camera-enabled sensors collect information following a directional sensing model, which changes the notions of vicinity and redundancy. Moreover, visual source nodes may have different relevancies for the applications, according to the monitoring requirements and cameras' poses. In this paper we discuss the most relevant availability issues related to wireless visual sensor networks, addressing availability evaluation and enhancement. Such discussions are valuable when designing, deploying and managing wireless visual sensor networks, bringing significant contributions to these networks. PMID:24526301

Formation of 17-18 yrs age girl students’ visual performance by means of visual training at stage of adaptation to learning loads

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bondarenko S.V.

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: substantiation of health related training influence of basketball and volleyball elements on functional state of 1 st year students’ visual analyzers in period of adaptation to learning loads with expressed visual component. Material: in experiment 29 students of 17-18 year age without visual pathologies participated. Indicators of visual performance were determined by correction table of Tagayeva and processed by Weston methodic. Accommodative function was tested by method of mechanical proximetry. Results: the authors worked out and tested two programs of visual training. Influence of visual trainings on visual performance’s main components (quickness, quality, integral indicators was studied as well as eye’s accommodative function (by dynamic of position of the nearest point of clear vision. Conclusions: Application of visual trainings at physical education classes permits to improve indicators of visual analyzer’s performance as well as minimize negative influence of intensive learning loads on eye’ accommodative function.

Visual dysfunction, neurodegenerative diseases, and aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Gregory R; Owsley, Cynthia

2003-08-01

The four most common sight-threatening conditions in older adults in North America are cataract, ARM, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Even in their moderate stages, these conditions cause visual sensory impairments and reductions in health-related quality of life, including difficulties in daily tasks and psychosocial problems. Many older adults are free from these conditions, yet still experience a variety of visual perceptual problems resulting from aging-related changes in the optics of the eye and degeneration of the visual neural pathways. These problems consist of impairments in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color discrimination, temporal sensitivity, motion perception, peripheral visual field sensitivity, and visual processing speed. PD causes a progressive loss of dopaminergic cells predominantly in the retina and possibly in other areas of the visual system. This retinal dopamine deficiency produces selective spatial-temporal abnormalities in retinal ganglion cell function, probably arising from altered receptive field organization in the PD retina. The cortical degeneration characteristics of AD, including neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques, also are present in the visual cortical areas, especially in the visual association areas. The most prominent electrophysiologic change in AD is a delay in the P2 component of the flash VEP. Deficits in higher-order visual abilities typically are compromised in AD, including problems with visual attention, perceiving structure from motion, visual memory, visual learning, reading, and object and face perception. There have been reports of a visual variant of AD in which these types of visual problems are the initial and most prominent signs of the disease. Visual sensory impairments (e.g., contrast sensitivity or achromatopsia) also have been reported but are believed more reflective of cortical disturbances than of AD-associated optic neuropathy.

Impact of visual impairment on vision-specific quality of life among older adults living in nursing home.

Science.gov (United States)

Dev, Mahesh Kumar; Paudel, Nabin; Joshi, Niraj Dev; Shah, Dev Narayan; Subba, Shishir

2014-03-01

Visual impairment (VI) has a significant negative impact on quality of life (QoL) amongst older people living in nursing homes. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of VI and blindness and to explore the association between severity of VI and vision-specific QoL among older people living in nursing homes of Kathmandu, Nepal. This cross-sectional study involved 158 residents aged 60 years or older residing in seven nursing homes of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Near acuity, presenting and the best corrected distance visual acuity (VA) were assessed in each eye and considered in the better eye after adequate refraction. A complete anterior and posterior segment examination was carried out. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a 57-item Nursing Home Vision-Targeted Health-Related Quality of Life (NHVQoL) questionnaire. The mean age of residents was 75.60 ± 7.12 years and the majority were female (66.46%). The prevalence of VI and blindness was 45.57% and its leading cause was cataract, which was followed by age-related macular degeneration, corneal opacity, glaucoma and macular scar. The mean composite score of NHVQoL questionnaire was 52.22 ± 12.49. There was a consistent overall deterioration in the mean composite score as well as each subscale score of NHVQoL questionnaire with a worsening of VA. VI and blindness are highly prevalent among older people living in nursing homes. VI has a significant negative impact on vision-specific QoL. Vision-specific QoL is reduced, and the reduction in the QoL bears a positive association with severity of VI among older people living in nursing homes.

On the assessment of visual communication by information theory

Science.gov (United States)

Huck, Friedrich O.; Fales, Carl L.

1993-01-01

This assessment of visual communication integrates the optical design of the image-gathering device with the digital processing for image coding and restoration. Results show that informationally optimized image gathering ordinarily can be relied upon to maximize the information efficiency of decorrelated data and the visual quality of optimally restored images.

Evaluation of soil structure in the framework of an overall soil quality rating

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mueller, L; Shepherd, T G; Schindler, U

2013-01-01

Soil structure is an important aspect of agricultural soil quality, and its preservation and improvement are key to sustaining soil functions. Methods of overall soil quality assessment which include visual soil structure information can be useful tools for monitoring and managing the global soil...... resource. The aim of the paper is: (i) to demonstrate the role of visual quantification of soil structure within the procedure of the overall soil quality assessment by the Muencheberg Soil Quality Rating (M-SQR), (ii) to quantify the magnitude and variability of soil structure and overall M......-SQR on a number of agricultural research sites and (iii) to analyse the correlations of soil quality rating results with crop yields. We analysed visual soil structure and overall soil quality on a range of 20 experimental sites in seven countries. To assess visual soil structure we utilised the Visual Soil...

75 FR 54378 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Stehekin River Corridor Implementation Plan; Lake Chelan...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-07

... systems to prevent degradation of water quality and scenic resources. Given drastic changes in flood... frequency of flooding at some sites, while decreasing erosion rates at others. Integrated management actions... infrastructure and protection of resources. Management of large wood and proliferation of bank protection...

High-volume image quality assessment systems: tuning performance with an interactive data visualization tool

Science.gov (United States)

Bresnahan, Patricia A.; Pukinskis, Madeleine; Wiggins, Michael

1999-03-01

Image quality assessment systems differ greatly with respect to the number and types of mags they need to evaluate, and their overall architectures. Managers of these systems, however, all need to be able to tune and evaluate system performance, requirements often overlooked or under-designed during project planning. Performance tuning tools allow users to define acceptable quality standards for image features and attributes by adjusting parameter settings. Performance analysis tools allow users to evaluate and/or predict how well a system performs in a given parameter state. While image assessment algorithms are becoming quite sophisticated, duplicating or surpassing the human decision making process in their speed and reliability, they often require a greater investment in 'training' or fine tuning of parameters in order to achieve optimum performance. This process may involve the analysis of hundreds or thousands of images, generating a large database of files and statistics that can be difficult to sort through and interpret. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that personnel charged with tuning and maintaining the production system may not have the statistical or analytical background required for the task. Meanwhile, hardware innovations have greatly increased the volume of images that can be handled in a given time frame, magnifying the consequences of running a production site with an inadequately tuned system. In this paper, some general requirements for a performance evaluation and tuning data visualization system are discussed. A custom engineered solution to the tuning and evaluation problem is then presented, developed within the context of a high volume image quality assessment, data entry, OCR, and image archival system. A key factor influencing the design of the system was the context-dependent definition of image quality, as perceived by a human interpreter. This led to the development of a five-level, hierarchical approach to image quality

Immersive visualization of dynamic CFD model results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comparato, J.R.; Ringel, K.L.; Heath, D.J.

2004-01-01

With immersive visualization the engineer has the means for vividly understanding problem causes and discovering opportunities to improve design. Software can generate an interactive world in which collaborators experience the results of complex mathematical simulations such as computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling. Such software, while providing unique benefits over traditional visualization techniques, presents special development challenges. The visualization of large quantities of data interactively requires both significant computational power and shrewd data management. On the computational front, commodity hardware is outperforming large workstations in graphical quality and frame rates. Also, 64-bit commodity computing shows promise in enabling interactive visualization of large datasets. Initial interactive transient visualization methods and examples are presented, as well as development trends in commodity hardware and clustering. Interactive, immersive visualization relies on relevant data being stored in active memory for fast response to user requests. For large or transient datasets, data management becomes a key issue. Techniques for dynamic data loading and data reduction are presented as means to increase visualization performance. (author)

Perceived visual informativeness (PVI): construct and scale development to assess visual information in printed materials.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Andy J; Jensen, Jakob D; Davis, LaShara A; Carcioppolo, Nick

2014-01-01

There is a paucity of research on the visual images used in health communication messages and campaign materials. Even though many studies suggest further investigation of these visual messages and their features, few studies provide specific constructs or assessment tools for evaluating the characteristics of visual messages in health communication contexts. The authors conducted 2 studies to validate a measure of perceived visual informativeness (PVI), a message construct assessing visual messages presenting statistical or indexical information. In Study 1, a 7-item scale was created that demonstrated good internal reliability (α = .91), as well as convergent and divergent validity with related message constructs such as perceived message quality, perceived informativeness, and perceived attractiveness. PVI also converged with a preference for visual learning but was unrelated to a person's actual vision ability. In addition, PVI exhibited concurrent validity with a number of important constructs including perceived message effectiveness, decisional satisfaction, and three key public health theory behavior predictors: perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy. Study 2 provided more evidence that PVI is an internally reliable measure and demonstrates that PVI is a modifiable message feature that can be tested in future experimental work. PVI provides an initial step to assist in the evaluation and testing of visual messages in campaign and intervention materials promoting informed decision making and behavior change.

Visualizing planetary data by using 3D engines

Science.gov (United States)

Elgner, S.; Adeli, S.; Gwinner, K.; Preusker, F.; Kersten, E.; Matz, K.-D.; Roatsch, T.; Jaumann, R.; Oberst, J.

2017-09-01

We examined 3D gaming engines for their usefulness in visualizing large planetary image data sets. These tools allow us to include recent developments in the field of computer graphics in our scientific visualization systems and present data products interactively and in higher quality than before. We started to set up the first applications which will take use of virtual reality (VR) equipment.

Modulation of visually evoked postural responses by contextual visual, haptic and auditory information: a 'virtual reality check'.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georg F Meyer

Full Text Available Externally generated visual motion signals can cause the illusion of self-motion in space (vection and corresponding visually evoked postural responses (VEPR. These VEPRs are not simple responses to optokinetic stimulation, but are modulated by the configuration of the environment. The aim of this paper is to explore what factors modulate VEPRs in a high quality virtual reality (VR environment where real and virtual foreground objects served as static visual, auditory and haptic reference points. Data from four experiments on visually evoked postural responses show that: 1 visually evoked postural sway in the lateral direction is modulated by the presence of static anchor points that can be haptic, visual and auditory reference signals; 2 real objects and their matching virtual reality representations as visual anchors have different effects on postural sway; 3 visual motion in the anterior-posterior plane induces robust postural responses that are not modulated by the presence of reference signals or the reality of objects that can serve as visual anchors in the scene. We conclude that automatic postural responses for laterally moving visual stimuli are strongly influenced by the configuration and interpretation of the environment and draw on multisensory representations. Different postural responses were observed for real and virtual visual reference objects. On the basis that automatic visually evoked postural responses in high fidelity virtual environments should mimic those seen in real situations we propose to use the observed effect as a robust objective test for presence and fidelity in VR.

Comparative assessment of public opinion on the landscape quality of two biosphere reserves in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Sowińska-Świerkosz, Barbara; Chmielewski, Tadeusz J

2014-09-01

The European Landscape Convention (2000) obligates European Union countries to identify and implement landscape quality objectives (LQOs) understood as the specification of public expectations and preferences concerning the landscape of a given area, expressed by competent public authorities. The convention emphasizes the important role of local community representatives in this field. In Poland, the implementation of the LQO concept was first undertaken in two regions with radically different landscape characteristics: (1) the West Polesie Biosphere Reserve and (2) the selected protected areas of the Roztocze-Solska Forest, nominated to the rank of a biosphere reserve. The first stage of the presented study was the recognition of public opinion on the quality of key features of landscape, based on a questionnaire (n = 470). The primary objective of the study was to provide an answer to the following questions: (1) Whether similar social expectations regarding landscape quality exist in spite of radically different landscape characteristics of the regions investigated (landscape quality is understood as spatial arrangement, scenic beauty, and lack of environmental pollution); (2) which landscape features are considered to be most preservation worthy by the representatives of both local communities; and (3) What processes or development impacts pose the greatest threat to the landscape quality of both regions according to the public opinion? The conducted comparative assessment revealed that it is possible to define a set of features fundamental to the quality of both areas and that representatives of local communities pointed out the same threats to the natural and cultural values of both regions investigated.

Modulation of Visually Evoked Postural Responses by Contextual Visual, Haptic and Auditory Information: A ‘Virtual Reality Check’

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Georg F.; Shao, Fei; White, Mark D.; Hopkins, Carl; Robotham, Antony J.

2013-01-01

Externally generated visual motion signals can cause the illusion of self-motion in space (vection) and corresponding visually evoked postural responses (VEPR). These VEPRs are not simple responses to optokinetic stimulation, but are modulated by the configuration of the environment. The aim of this paper is to explore what factors modulate VEPRs in a high quality virtual reality (VR) environment where real and virtual foreground objects served as static visual, auditory and haptic reference points. Data from four experiments on visually evoked postural responses show that: 1) visually evoked postural sway in the lateral direction is modulated by the presence of static anchor points that can be haptic, visual and auditory reference signals; 2) real objects and their matching virtual reality representations as visual anchors have different effects on postural sway; 3) visual motion in the anterior-posterior plane induces robust postural responses that are not modulated by the presence of reference signals or the reality of objects that can serve as visual anchors in the scene. We conclude that automatic postural responses for laterally moving visual stimuli are strongly influenced by the configuration and interpretation of the environment and draw on multisensory representations. Different postural responses were observed for real and virtual visual reference objects. On the basis that automatic visually evoked postural responses in high fidelity virtual environments should mimic those seen in real situations we propose to use the observed effect as a robust objective test for presence and fidelity in VR. PMID:23840760

An Information-Theoretic-Cluster Visualization for Self-Organizing Maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Brito da Silva, Leonardo Enzo; Wunsch, Donald C

2018-06-01

Improved data visualization will be a significant tool to enhance cluster analysis. In this paper, an information-theoretic-based method for cluster visualization using self-organizing maps (SOMs) is presented. The information-theoretic visualization (IT-vis) has the same structure as the unified distance matrix, but instead of depicting Euclidean distances between adjacent neurons, it displays the similarity between the distributions associated with adjacent neurons. Each SOM neuron has an associated subset of the data set whose cardinality controls the granularity of the IT-vis and with which the first- and second-order statistics are computed and used to estimate their probability density functions. These are used to calculate the similarity measure, based on Renyi's quadratic cross entropy and cross information potential (CIP). The introduced visualizations combine the low computational cost and kernel estimation properties of the representative CIP and the data structure representation of a single-linkage-based grouping algorithm to generate an enhanced SOM-based visualization. The visual quality of the IT-vis is assessed by comparing it with other visualization methods for several real-world and synthetic benchmark data sets. Thus, this paper also contains a significant literature survey. The experiments demonstrate the IT-vis cluster revealing capabilities, in which cluster boundaries are sharply captured. Additionally, the information-theoretic visualizations are used to perform clustering of the SOM. Compared with other methods, IT-vis of large SOMs yielded the best results in this paper, for which the quality of the final partitions was evaluated using external validity indices.

Genome U-Plot: a whole genome visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaitatzes, Athanasios; Johnson, Sarah H; Smadbeck, James B; Vasmatzis, George

2018-05-15

The ability to produce and analyze whole genome sequencing (WGS) data from samples with structural variations (SV) generated the need to visualize such abnormalities in simplified plots. Conventional two-dimensional representations of WGS data frequently use either circular or linear layouts. There are several diverse advantages regarding both these representations, but their major disadvantage is that they do not use the two-dimensional space very efficiently. We propose a layout, termed the Genome U-Plot, which spreads the chromosomes on a two-dimensional surface and essentially quadruples the spatial resolution. We present the Genome U-Plot for producing clear and intuitive graphs that allows researchers to generate novel insights and hypotheses by visualizing SVs such as deletions, amplifications, and chromoanagenesis events. The main features of the Genome U-Plot are its layered layout, its high spatial resolution and its improved aesthetic qualities. We compare conventional visualization schemas with the Genome U-Plot using visualization metrics such as number of line crossings and crossing angle resolution measures. Based on our metrics, we improve the readability of the resulting graph by at least 2-fold, making apparent important features and making it easy to identify important genomic changes. A whole genome visualization tool with high spatial resolution and improved aesthetic qualities. An implementation and documentation of the Genome U-Plot is publicly available at https://github.com/gaitat/GenomeUPlot. vasmatzis.george@mayo.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Screening methods for post-stroke visual impairment: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanna, Kerry Louise; Hepworth, Lauren Rachel; Rowe, Fiona

2017-12-01

To provide a systematic overview of the various tools available to screen for post-stroke visual impairment. A review of the literature was conducted including randomised controlled trials, controlled trials, cohort studies, observational studies, systematic reviews and retrospective medical note reviews. All languages were included and translation was obtained. Participants included adults ≥18 years old diagnosed with a visual impairment as a direct cause of a stroke. We searched a broad range of scholarly online resources and hand-searched articles registers of published, unpublished and on-going trials. Search terms included a variety of MESH terms and alternatives in relation to stroke and visual conditions. Study selection was performed by two authors independently. The quality of the evidence and risk of bias were assessed using the STROBE, GRACE and PRISMA statements. A total of 25 articles (n = 2924) were included in this review. Articles appraised reported on tools screening solely for visual impairments or for general post-stroke disabilities inclusive of vision. The majority of identified tools screen for visual perception including visual neglect (VN), with few screening for visual acuity (VA), visual field (VF) loss or ocular motility (OM) defects. Six articles reported on nine screening tools which combined visual screening assessment alongside screening for general stroke disabilities. Of these, three included screening for VA; three screened for VF loss; three screened for OM defects and all screened for VN. Two tools screened for all visual impairments. A further 19 articles were found which reported on individual vision screening tests in stroke populations; two for VF loss; 11 for VN and six for other visual perceptual defects. Most tools cannot accurately account for those with aphasia or communicative deficits, which are common problems following a stroke. There is currently no standardised visual screening tool which can accurately

Visual disability rates in a ten-year cohort of patients with anterior visual pathway meningiomas.

Science.gov (United States)

Bor-Shavit, Elite; Hammel, Naama; Nahum, Yoav; Rappaport, Zvi Harry; Stiebel-Kalish, Hadas

2015-01-01

To examine the visual outcome of anterior visual pathway meningioma (AVPM) patients followed for at least one year. Data were collected on demographics, clinical course and management. Visual disability was classified at the first and last examination as follows: I--no visual disability; II--mild visual defect in one eye; III--mild visual defect in both eyes; IV--loss of driver's license; V--legally blind. Eight-one AVPM patients had their tumor originate in the clinoid process in 23 (28%), sphenoid-wing area in 18 (22%), cavernous sinus in 15 (19%), tuberculum sellae in 8 (10%), and mixed in 17 (21%). On last examination, 46 patients (57%) had good visual acuity in one or both eyes (Class I or II) and 17 (21%) were mildly affected in both eyes. The rate of Class IV disability was 16%, and Class V disability was 6%. Attention needs to be addressed to the considerable proportion of patients with AVPM (22% in this study) who may lose their driver's license or become legally blind. Occupational therapists should play an important role in the multidisciplinary management of those patients to help them adapt to their new physical and social situation. Anterior visual pathway meningiomas (AVPMs) are commonly not life-threatening but they can lead to profound visual disability, especially when the tumor originates in the tuberculum sellae and cavernous sinus. Particular attention should be paid to visual acuity and visual field deficits, as these can profoundly affect the patient's quality of life including ability to drive and activities of daily living. The interdisciplinary management of patients with AVPM should include the neurosurgeon, neuro-ophthalmologist and occupational therapist. Also, early intervention by the occupational therapist can help patients adapt to their current physical and social situation and return to everyday tasks more rapidly.

Impaired Visual Motor Coordination in Obese Adults.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Gaul, David

2016-09-01

Objective. To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and movement outcome during a visual rhythmic coordination task. Methods. 88 participants (44 obese and 44 matched control) sat on a chair equipped with a wrist pendulum oscillating in the sagittal plane. The task was to swing the pendulum in synchrony with a moving visual stimulus displayed on a screen. Results. Obese participants demonstrated significantly (p < 0.01) higher values for continuous relative phase (CRP) indicating poorer level of coordination, increased movement variability (p < 0.05), and a larger amplitude (p < 0.05) than their healthy weight counterparts. Conclusion. These results highlight the existence of visual sensory integration deficiencies for obese participants. The obese group have greater difficulty in synchronizing their movement with a visual stimulus. Considering that visual motor coordination is an essential component of many activities of daily living, any impairment could significantly affect quality of life.

Visualization of construction engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okada, Hisako; Miura, Jun

2000-01-01

It is required for nuclear power plant construction to reduce construction cost and shorten construction period. An early and accurate construction planning including schedule coordination among the companies has recently become more important and it is possible to obtain necessary information for construction planning in early stage. In this situation, we have been developing a visualization system for construction engineering for nuclear power plants. This system has an interface with the existing Plant Layout 3D-CAD system and consists of three sub systems: (1) Scheduling and simulation system, (2) Yard planning system and (3) Scaffolding planning system. This paper describes overview of this system. This visualization system is very helpful for construction engineers to easily understand situation and environment around installation area, to easily plan a work sequence and confirm the planned schedule, and it is also effective for customers and workers to understand the planning. As a result, this visualization system enables safety and high quality construction. (author)

Analysis of visual representation techniques for product configuration systems in industrial companies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shafiee, Sara; Kristjansdottir, Katrin; Hvam, Lars

2016-01-01

with knowledge representations and communications with domain experts. The results presented in the paper are therefore aimed to provide insight into the impact from using visual knowledge representations techniques in PCSs projects. The findings indicate that use of visual knowledge representations techniques...... in PCSs projects will result in improved quality of maintenance and development support for the knowledge base and improved quality of the communication with domain experts....

36 CFR 14.78 - Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... characteristics and purpose. There must also be included a statement as to the voltage for which the line is... water quality, scenic and esthetic features, historical and archeological features, and wildlife, fish... of Agriculture, as well as such other environmental criteria and guidelines as the National Park...

Visualization of volumetric seismic data

Science.gov (United States)

Spickermann, Dela; Böttinger, Michael; Ashfaq Ahmed, Khawar; Gajewski, Dirk

2015-04-01

Mostly driven by demands of high quality subsurface imaging, highly specialized tools and methods have been developed to support the processing, visualization and interpretation of seismic data. 3D seismic data acquisition and 4D time-lapse seismic monitoring are well-established techniques in academia and industry, producing large amounts of data to be processed, visualized and interpreted. In this context, interactive 3D visualization methods proved to be valuable for the analysis of 3D seismic data cubes - especially for sedimentary environments with continuous horizons. In crystalline and hard rock environments, where hydraulic stimulation techniques may be applied to produce geothermal energy, interpretation of the seismic data is a more challenging problem. Instead of continuous reflection horizons, the imaging targets are often steep dipping faults, causing a lot of diffractions. Without further preprocessing these geological structures are often hidden behind the noise in the data. In this PICO presentation we will present a workflow consisting of data processing steps, which enhance the signal-to-noise ratio, followed by a visualization step based on the use the commercially available general purpose 3D visualization system Avizo. Specifically, we have used Avizo Earth, an extension to Avizo, which supports the import of seismic data in SEG-Y format and offers easy access to state-of-the-art 3D visualization methods at interactive frame rates, even for large seismic data cubes. In seismic interpretation using visualization, interactivity is a key requirement for understanding complex 3D structures. In order to enable an easy communication of the insights gained during the interactive visualization process, animations of the visualized data were created which support the spatial understanding of the data.

公示语英译现状分析及应对策略探讨--以南通濠河风景区为例%Analysis and Discussion on the Current Situation of Eng-lish Translation for Public Signs and the Coping Strategy:Taking the Scenic Area of Moat Hao in Nantong as an Example

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2013-01-01

　　公示语的英译就如同一张名片，向外国友人介绍我们的城市。景区公示语的英译水平更代表着一个旅游景区的形象。本文结合实例，从南通濠河风景区公示语英译的现状出发，指出存在的问题，分析造成错误的原因，同时探讨提高公示语英译水平的相关策略。%English translation of public signs sends information of a city to foreigners just like a business card. The level of transla-tion of the public signs in a scenic spot will affect its image as well. The scenic area of Moat Hao in Nantong is taken as an ex-ample. According to the current situation and analysis of given examples, existing problems are pointed out together with the causes of them. And coping strategies for improving the level of translation are explored.

Patient-centered and visual quality outcomes of premium cataract surgery: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sophia Y; Stem, Maxwell S; Oren, Gale; Shtein, Roni; Lichter, Paul R

2017-06-26

Over 8 million cataract surgeries are performed in the United States and the European Union annually, with many patients choosing to pay out of pocket for premium options including premium intraocular lens implants (IOLs) or laser-assisted cataract surgery (LACS). This report provides a systematic review evaluating patient-centered and visual quality outcomes comparing standard monofocal IOLs to premium cataract surgery options. PubMed and EMBASE were searched for publications published between January 1, 1980, and September 18, 2016, on multifocal, accommodative, and toric IOLs, monovision, and LACS, which reported on 1) dysphotopsias, 2) contrast sensitivity, 3) spectacle independence, 4) vision-related quality of life or patient satisfaction, and 5) IOL exchange. Multifocal lenses achieved higher rates of spectacle independence compared to monofocal lenses but also had higher reported frequency of dysphotopsia and worse contrast sensitivity, especially with low light or glare. Accommodative lenses were not associated with reduced contrast sensitivity or more dysphotopsia but had only modest improvements in spectacle independence compared to monofocal lenses. Studies of monovision did not target a sufficiently myopic outcome in the near-vision eye to achieve the full potential for spectacle independence. Patients reported high levels of overall satisfaction regardless of implanted IOL. No studies correlated patient-reported outcomes with patient expectations. Studies are needed to thoroughly compare patient-reported outcomes with concomitant patient expectations. In light of the substantial patient costs for premium options, patients and their surgeons will benefit from a better understanding of which surgical options best meet patients' expectations and how those expectations can be impacted by premium versus monofocal-including monovision-options.

Effects of Diquafosol Ophthalmic Solution on Quality of Life in Dry Eye Assessed Using the Dry Eye-Related Quality-of-Life Score Questionnaire: Effectiveness in Patients While Reading and Using Visual Display Terminals.

Science.gov (United States)

Utsunomiya, Tsugiaki; Kawahara, Atsushi; Hanada, Kazuomi; Yoshida, Akitoshi

2017-08-01

Diquafosol ophthalmic solution improves objective findings in the ocular surface and subjective symptoms in patients with dry eye. The Dry Eye-Related Quality-of-Life Score (DEQS) questionnaire was developed to assess dry eye symptoms and their effects on quality of life. However, because little research using the DEQS has been reported, we evaluated the effects of diquafosol ophthalmic solution on ocular surface findings and quality of life using the DEQS in patients with dry eye. Sixty-three patients with dry eye were assigned to the control group (artificial tears) or diquafosol group. Both groups instilled 1 drop of the solution in both eyes 6 times daily and were evaluated after 2 weeks; the diquafosol group also was instructed to be examined at 1 and 3 months. We evaluated the subjective symptoms using the DEQS, fluorescein staining score, tear film breakup time (BUT), Schirmer testing, and lower tear meniscus height with anterior-segment optical coherence tomography. In the diquafosol group, the fluorescein staining score, BUT, tear meniscus height, and DEQS scores improved significantly compared with before treatment in contrast to the control group. Furthermore, in the diquafosol group, the staining score and BUT improved significantly compared with the control group. Analysis of each DEQS item indicated that diquafosol ophthalmic solution relieved foreign body sensation and problems when reading and using visual display terminals compared with the control group. Diquafosol ophthalmic solution was effective in patients with dry eye, especially those with foreign body sensation and problems when reading and using visual display terminals.

PRIDE Inspector Toolsuite: Moving Toward a Universal Visualization Tool for Proteomics Data Standard Formats and Quality Assessment of ProteomeXchange Datasets.

Science.gov (United States)

Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Xu, Qing-Wei; Wang, Rui; Uszkoreit, Julian; Griss, Johannes; Sanchez, Aniel; Reisinger, Florian; Csordas, Attila; Ternent, Tobias; Del-Toro, Noemi; Dianes, Jose A; Eisenacher, Martin; Hermjakob, Henning; Vizcaíno, Juan Antonio

2016-01-01

The original PRIDE Inspector tool was developed as an open source standalone tool to enable the visualization and validation of mass-spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics data before data submission or already publicly available in the Proteomics Identifications (PRIDE) database. The initial implementation of the tool focused on visualizing PRIDE data by supporting the PRIDE XML format and a direct access to private (password protected) and public experiments in PRIDE.The ProteomeXchange (PX) Consortium has been set up to enable a better integration of existing public proteomics repositories, maximizing its benefit to the scientific community through the implementation of standard submission and dissemination pipelines. Within the Consortium, PRIDE is focused on supporting submissions of tandem MS data. The increasing use and popularity of the new Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) data standards such as mzIdentML and mzTab, and the diversity of workflows supported by the PX resources, prompted us to design and implement a new suite of algorithms and libraries that would build upon the success of the original PRIDE Inspector and would enable users to visualize and validate PX "complete" submissions. The PRIDE Inspector Toolsuite supports the handling and visualization of different experimental output files, ranging from spectra (mzML, mzXML, and the most popular peak lists formats) and peptide and protein identification results (mzIdentML, PRIDE XML, mzTab) to quantification data (mzTab, PRIDE XML), using a modular and extensible set of open-source, cross-platform libraries. We believe that the PRIDE Inspector Toolsuite represents a milestone in the visualization and quality assessment of proteomics data. It is freely available at http://github.com/PRIDE-Toolsuite/. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Unhealthy behaviours and risk of visual impairment: The CONSTANCES population-based cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Merle, Bénédicte M J; Moreau, Gwendoline; Ozguler, Anna; Srour, Bernard; Cougnard-Grégoire, Audrey; Goldberg, Marcel; Zins, Marie; Delcourt, Cécile

2018-04-26

Unhealthy behaviours are linked to a higher risk of eye diseases, but their combined effect on visual function is unknown. We aimed to examine the individual and combined associations of diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption with visual impairment among French adults. 38 903 participants aged 18-73 years from the CONSTANCES nationwide cohort (2012-2016) with visual acuity measured and who completed, lifestyle, medical and food frequency questionnaires were included. Visual impairment was defined as a presenting visual acuity visual impairment increased with decreasing diet quality (p for trend = 0.04), decreasing physical activity (p for trend = 0.02) and increasing smoking pack-years (p for trend = 0.03), whereas no statistically significant association with alcohol consumption was found. Combination of several unhealthy behaviours was associated with increasing odds for visual impairment (p for trend = 0.0002), with a fully-adjusted odds ratio of 1.81 (95% CI 1.18 to 2.79) for participants reporting 2 unhealthy behaviours and 2.92 (95% CI 1.60 to 5.32) for those reporting 3 unhealthy behaviours. An unhealthy lifestyle including low/intermediate diet quality, low physical activity and heavy smoking was associated with visual impairment in this large population-based study.

Visual pollution in public spaces in Venezuela

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendez Velandia, Carmen Arelys

2013-01-01

Each day cities inhabitants are exposed to visual pollution. This work assess the environmental impact caused by visual pollution in public spaces, using as a case of study a mixed-use neighborhood in San Cristobal, the capital of Tachira state, Venezuela. Such assessment was made using a qualitative approach, where special emphasis was paid to the perception of these impacts by a purposive sample of users of this area. The compilation and analysis of information reveal the main visual pollutants existing in these public spaces where, in addition to outdoor advertising, overhead wires, rubbish, graffiti, vacant land, among others, cars and outdoor kiosks. Neighborhood users are sensitive to the presence of visual pollutants, which affects them physically and psychologically, as well as for the visual quality of their environment. Such signs were used to guide a qualitative appraisal of environmental impacts generated by these circumstances and to propose policies to mitigate them.

Selective visual attention to emotional words: Early parallel frontal and visual activations followed by interactive effects in visual cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Schindler, Sebastian; Kissler, Johanna

2016-10-01

Human brains spontaneously differentiate between various emotional and neutral stimuli, including written words whose emotional quality is symbolic. In the electroencephalogram (EEG), emotional-neutral processing differences are typically reflected in the early posterior negativity (EPN, 200-300 ms) and the late positive potential (LPP, 400-700 ms). These components are also enlarged by task-driven visual attention, supporting the assumption that emotional content naturally drives attention. Still, the spatio-temporal dynamics of interactions between emotional stimulus content and task-driven attention remain to be specified. Here, we examine this issue in visual word processing. Participants attended to negative, neutral, or positive nouns while high-density EEG was recorded. Emotional content and top-down attention both amplified the EPN component in parallel. On the LPP, by contrast, emotion and attention interacted: Explicit attention to emotional words led to a substantially larger amplitude increase than did explicit attention to neutral words. Source analysis revealed early parallel effects of emotion and attention in bilateral visual cortex and a later interaction of both in right visual cortex. Distinct effects of attention were found in inferior, middle and superior frontal, paracentral, and parietal areas, as well as in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Results specify separate and shared mechanisms of emotion and attention at distinct processing stages. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3575-3587, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

WPF ir Microsoft Visual Studio technologijų panaudojimas vizualizacijos sistemoms kurti

OpenAIRE

Mockus, Algirdas

2009-01-01

The author of this work analyzes possibility to use standard application development techniques for creating process visualization systems. Adoption of this method can result in visualization systems creation and support cost reduction. New system would allow achieving better graphics quality, expandability and lower integration complexity. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and Microsoft Visual Studio technologies were chosen as the basis because of many exclusive features they have....

Developing and validating a psychometric scale for image quality assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mraity, H.; England, A.; Hogg, P.

2014-01-01

Purpose: Using AP pelvis as a catalyst, this paper explains how a psychometric scale for image quality assessment can be created using Bandura's theory for self-efficacy. Background: Establishing an accurate diagnosis is highly dependent upon the quality of the radiographic image. Image quality, as a construct (i.e. set of attributes that makes up the image quality), continues to play an essential role in the field of diagnostic radiography. The process of assessing image quality can be facilitated by using criteria, such as the European Commission (EC) guidelines for quality criteria as published in 1996. However, with the advent of new technology (Computed Radiography and Digital Radiography), some of the EC criteria may no longer be suitable for assessing the visual quality of a digital radiographic image. Moreover, a lack of validated visual image quality scales in the literature can also lead to significant variations in image quality evaluation. Creating and validating visual image quality scales, using a robust methodology, could reduce variability and improve the validity and reliability of perceptual image quality evaluations

Can visual evoked potentials be used in biometric identification?

Science.gov (United States)

Power, Alan J; Lalor, Edmund C; Reilly, Richard B

2006-01-01

Due to known differences in the anatomical structure of the visual pathways and generators in different individuals, the use of visual evoked potentials offers the possibility of an alternative to existing biometrics methods. A study based on visual evoked potentials from 13 individuals was carried out to assess the best combination of temporal, spectral and AR modeling features to realize a robust biometric. From the results it can be concluded that visual evoked potentials show considerable biometric qualities, with classification accuracies reaching a high of 86.54% and that a specific temporal and spectral combination was found to be optimal. Based on these results the visual evoked potential may be a useful tool in biometric identification when used in conjunction with more established biometric methods.

Visual problems associated with traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, Richard A

2018-02-28

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its associated concussion are major causes of disability and death. All ages can be affected but children, young adults and the elderly are particularly susceptible. A decline in mortality has resulted in many more individuals living with a disability caused by TBI including those affecting vision. This review describes: (1) the major clinical and pathological features of TBI; (2) the visual signs and symptoms associated with the disorder; and (3) discusses the assessment of quality of life and visual rehabilitation of the patient. Defects in primary vision such as visual acuity and visual fields, eye movement including vergence, saccadic and smooth pursuit movements, and in more complex aspects of vision involving visual perception, motion vision ('akinopsia'), and visuo-spatial function have all been reported in TBI. Eye movement dysfunction may be an early sign of TBI. Hence, TBI can result in a variety of visual problems, many patients exhibiting multiple visual defects in combination with a decline in overall health. Patients with chronic dysfunction following TBI may require occupational, vestibular, cognitive and other forms of physical therapy. Such patients may also benefit from visual rehabilitation, including reading-related oculomotor training and the prescribing of spectacles with a variety of tints and prism combinations. © 2018 Optometry Australia.

Linking ecology and aesthetics in sustainable agricultural landscapes: Lessons from the Palouse region of Washington, U.S.A

Science.gov (United States)

Linda R. Klein; William G. Hendrix; Virginia I. Lohr; Jolie B. Kaytes; Rodney D. Sayler; Mark E. Swanson; William J. Elliot; John P. Reganold

2015-01-01

Inspired by international escalation in agricultural sustainability debates, we explored the promise of landscape-scale conservation buffers to mitigate environmental damage, improve ecological function, and enhance scenic quality. Although the ecological benefits of buffer vegetation are well established by plot- and field-scale research, buffer adoption by farmers is...

How does age-related macular degeneration affect real-world visual ability and quality of life? A systematic review

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Deanna J; Hobby, Angharad E; Binns, Alison M; Crabb, David P

2016-01-01

Objectives To review systematically the evidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affecting real-world visual ability and quality of life (QoL). To explore trends in specific topics within this body of the literature. Design Systematic review. Methods A systematic literature search was carried out using MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsychARTICLES and Health and Psychosocial Instruments for articles published up to January 2015 for studies including people diagnosed with AMD, assessing real-world visual ability or QoL as an outcome. Two researchers screened studies for eligibility. Details of eligible studies including study design, characteristics of study population and outcomes measured were recorded in a data extraction table. All included studies underwent quality appraisal using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool 2011 Version (MMAT). Results From 5284 studies, 123 were eligible for inclusion. A range of approaches were identified, including performance-based methods, quantitative and qualitative patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). AMD negatively affects tasks including mobility, face recognition, perception of scenes, computer use, meal preparation, shopping, cleaning, watching TV, reading, driving and, in some cases, self-care. There is evidence for higher rates of depression among people with AMD than among community dwelling elderly. A number of adaptation strategies have been associated with AMD of varying duration. Much of the research fails to report the type of AMD studied (59% of included studies) or the duration of disease in participants (74%). Of those that do report type studied, the breakdown is as follows: wet AMD 20%, dry AMD 4% and both types 17%. Conclusions There are many publications highlighting the negative effects of AMD in various domains of life. Future research should focus on delivering some of this research knowledge into patient management and clinical trials and differentiating between the types of AMD. PMID

Evaluating the effect of a third-party implementation of resolution recovery on the quality of SPECT bone scan imaging using visual grading regression.

Science.gov (United States)

Hay, Peter D; Smith, Julie; O'Connor, Richard A

2016-02-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits to SPECT bone scan image quality when applying resolution recovery (RR) during image reconstruction using software provided by a third-party supplier. Bone SPECT data from 90 clinical studies were reconstructed retrospectively using software supplied independent of the gamma camera manufacturer. The current clinical datasets contain 120×10 s projections and are reconstructed using an iterative method with a Butterworth postfilter. Five further reconstructions were created with the following characteristics: 10 s projections with a Butterworth postfilter (to assess intraobserver variation); 10 s projections with a Gaussian postfilter with and without RR; and 5 s projections with a Gaussian postfilter with and without RR. Two expert observers were asked to rate image quality on a five-point scale relative to our current clinical reconstruction. Datasets were anonymized and presented in random order. The benefits of RR on image scores were evaluated using ordinal logistic regression (visual grading regression). The application of RR during reconstruction increased the probability of both observers of scoring image quality as better than the current clinical reconstruction even where the dataset contained half the normal counts. Type of reconstruction and observer were both statistically significant variables in the ordinal logistic regression model. Visual grading regression was found to be a useful method for validating the local introduction of technological developments in nuclear medicine imaging. RR, as implemented by the independent software supplier, improved bone SPECT image quality when applied during image reconstruction. In the majority of clinical cases, acquisition times for bone SPECT intended for the purposes of localization can safely be halved (from 10 s projections to 5 s) when RR is applied.

The efficacy of VIPP-V parenting training for parents of young children with a visual or visual-and-intellectual disability: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Platje, Evelien; Sterkenburg, Paula; Overbeek, Mathile; Kef, Sabina; Schuengel, Carlo

2018-01-23

Video-feedback Intervention to promote positive parenting-visual (VIPP-V) or visual-and-intellectual disability is an attachment-based intervention aimed at enhancing sensitive parenting and promoting positive parent-child relationships. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of VIPP-V for parents of children aged 1-5 with visual or visual-and-intellectual disabilities. A total of 37 dyads received only care-as-usual (CAU) and 40 received VIPP-V besides CAU. The parents receiving VIPP-V did not show increased parental sensitivity or parent-child interaction quality, however, their parenting self-efficacy increased. Moreover, the increase in parental self-efficacy predicted the increase in parent-child interaction. In conclusion, VIPP-V does not appear to directly improve the quality of contact between parent and child, but does contribute to the self-efficacy of parents to support and to comfort their child. Moreover, as parents experience their parenting as more positive, this may eventually lead to higher sensitive responsiveness and more positive parent-child interactions.

The effectiveness of VIPP-V parenting training for parents of young children with a visual or visual-and-intellectual disability: study protocol of a multicenter randomized controlled trial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Overbeek, M.M.; Sterkenburg, P.S.; Kef, S.; Schuengel, C.

2015-01-01

Background: Visual or visual-and-intellectual disabilities of children make daily interactions more difficult for their parents and may impact the quality of the parent-child relationship. To support these parents, an existing intervention (Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting;

Visual Communications for Heterogeneous Networks/Visually Optimized Scalable Image Compression. Final Report for September 1, 1995 - February 28, 2002

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hemami, S. S.

2003-06-03

The authors developed image and video compression algorithms that provide scalability, reconstructibility, and network adaptivity, and developed compression and quantization strategies that are visually optimal at all bit rates. The goal of this research is to enable reliable ''universal access'' to visual communications over the National Information Infrastructure (NII). All users, regardless of their individual network connection bandwidths, qualities-of-service, or terminal capabilities, should have the ability to access still images, video clips, and multimedia information services, and to use interactive visual communications services. To do so requires special capabilities for image and video compression algorithms: scalability, reconstructibility, and network adaptivity. Scalability allows an information service to provide visual information at many rates, without requiring additional compression or storage after the stream has been compressed the first time. Reconstructibility allows reliable visual communications over an imperfect network. Network adaptivity permits real-time modification of compression parameters to adjust to changing network conditions. Furthermore, to optimize the efficiency of the compression algorithms, they should be visually optimal, where each bit expended reduces the visual distortion. Visual optimality is achieved through first extensive experimentation to quantify human sensitivity to supra-threshold compression artifacts and then incorporation of these experimental results into quantization strategies and compression algorithms.

Artificial Vision, New Visual Modalities and Neuroadaptation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hilmi Or

2012-01-01

Full Text Available To study the descriptions from which artificial vision derives, to explore the new visual modalities resulting from eye surgeries and diseases, and to gain awareness of the use of machine vision systems for both enhancement of visual perception and better understanding of neuroadaptation. Science could not define until today what vision is. However, some optical-based systems and definitions have been established considering some factors for the formation of seeing. The best known system includes Gabor filter and Gabor patch which work on edge perception, describing the visual perception in the best known way. These systems are used today in industry and technology of machines, robots and computers to provide their "seeing". These definitions are used beyond the machinery in humans for neuroadaptation in new visual modalities after some eye surgeries or to improve the quality of some already known visual modalities. Beside this, “the blindsight” -which was not known to exist until 35 years ago - can be stimulated with visual exercises. Gabor system is a description of visual perception definable in machine vision as well as in human visual perception. This system is used today in robotic vision. There are new visual modalities which arise after some eye surgeries or with the use of some visual optical devices. Also, blindsight is a different visual modality starting to be defined even though the exact etiology is not known. In all the new visual modalities, new vision stimulating therapies using the Gabor systems can be applied. (Turk J Oph thal mol 2012; 42: 61-5

Sketchy Rendering for Information Visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, J; Isenberg, P; Isenberg, T; Dykes, J; Boukhelifa, N; Slingsby, A

2012-12-01

We present and evaluate a framework for constructing sketchy style information visualizations that mimic data graphics drawn by hand. We provide an alternative renderer for the Processing graphics environment that redefines core drawing primitives including line, polygon and ellipse rendering. These primitives allow higher-level graphical features such as bar charts, line charts, treemaps and node-link diagrams to be drawn in a sketchy style with a specified degree of sketchiness. The framework is designed to be easily integrated into existing visualization implementations with minimal programming modification or design effort. We show examples of use for statistical graphics, conveying spatial imprecision and for enhancing aesthetic and narrative qualities of visualization. We evaluate user perception of sketchiness of areal features through a series of stimulus-response tests in order to assess users' ability to place sketchiness on a ratio scale, and to estimate area. Results suggest relative area judgment is compromised by sketchy rendering and that its influence is dependent on the shape being rendered. They show that degree of sketchiness may be judged on an ordinal scale but that its judgement varies strongly between individuals. We evaluate higher-level impacts of sketchiness through user testing of scenarios that encourage user engagement with data visualization and willingness to critique visualization design. Results suggest that where a visualization is clearly sketchy, engagement may be increased and that attitudes to participating in visualization annotation are more positive. The results of our work have implications for effective information visualization design that go beyond the traditional role of sketching as a tool for prototyping or its use for an indication of general uncertainty.

Visual soil evaluation and soil compaction research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

M.L. Guimarães, Rachel; Keller, Thomas; Munkholm, Lars Juhl

2017-01-01

Following on from discussions that took place during the 19th International Conference of the International Soil Tillage Research Organization (ISTRO) in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2012, the ISTRO working groups “Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation” (VSEE) and “Subsoil Compaction” decided...... to organize a joint workshop. The present special issue is an outcome from the workshop on “Soil structural quality of tropical soils: Visual evaluation methods and soil compaction prevention strategies” that was held 26–29 May 2014 in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. There has been a long-lasting interest in Visual...... Soil Evaluation (VSE). An ISTRO working group was established more than 30 years ago with the objectives to exchange knowledge and experiences on field methods of visual-tactile soil assessment and to foster international cooperation on new or refined methods. The three previous meeting of the group...

Smart-system of distance learning of visually impaired people based on approaches of artificial intelligence

Science.gov (United States)

Samigulina, Galina A.; Shayakhmetova, Assem S.

2016-11-01

Research objective is the creation of intellectual innovative technology and information Smart-system of distance learning for visually impaired people. The organization of the available environment for receiving quality education for visually impaired people, their social adaptation in society are important and topical issues of modern education.The proposed Smart-system of distance learning for visually impaired people can significantly improve the efficiency and quality of education of this category of people. The scientific novelty of proposed Smart-system is using intelligent and statistical methods of processing multi-dimensional data, and taking into account psycho-physiological characteristics of perception and awareness learning information by visually impaired people.

The Relationship between Visual Impairment and Health-Related Quality of Life in Korean Adults: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2012.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuli Park

Full Text Available To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL in Korean adults with visual impairment(VI using various measures based on a nationally distributed sample.Using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2008-2012 data, we compared EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D and EQ-visual analogue scale (VAS scores after adjusting for socio-demographic and psychosocial factors as well as for comorbidities with VI. Logistic regressions were used to elucidate determinants for the lowest quintile HRQoL scales according to VI severity. Uncorrected visual acuity (VA which implies vision of ordinary life was measured using an international standard vision chart based on Snellen scale.28,825 participants (sum of weights; 37,562,376 were included in the analysis. The mean EQ-5D and EQ-VAS scores were significantly lower in the VI groups than in the normal vision (defined as VA 20/20-20/25 group based on the better or worse seeing eye (P<.0001 and P<.0001, respectively. Participants with moderate (VA 20/80-20/160 and severe VI (VA ≤20/200 had higher scores of multivariate-adjusted odd ratios (aORs for the lowest quintile than did the normal vision group which was particularly evident in the results from EQ-5D, whereas the results of the mild VI (VA 20/32-20/63 group did not identify significant differences from the normal vision group independent of classification according to the better or the worse seeing eye. Conversely, EQ-VAS revealed significantly higher score of multivariate-aORs for the lowest quintile in participants with mild VI either for the better or worse seeing eye.The severity of VI was definitely associated with impaired HRQoL compared with the normal vision population. The analyses presented here elicited even mild VI could potentially deteriorate the health-related quality of life (or subjective perception of health quality and therefore, therapeutic approaches should also focus on the subjective

Visual Linguistic Analysis of Political Discussions : Measuring Deliberative Quality

OpenAIRE

Gold, Valentin; El-Assady, Mennatallah; Hautli-Janisz, Annette; Bögel, Tina; Rohrdantz, Christian; Butt, Miriam; Holzinger, Katharina; Keim, Daniel

2017-01-01

This article reports on a Digital Humanities research project which is concerned with the automated linguistic and visual analysis of political discourses with a particular focus on the concept of deliberative communication. According to the theory of deliberative communication as discussed within political science, political debates should be inclusive and stakeholders participating in these debates are required to justify their positions rationally and respectfully and should eventually def...

GAViT: Genome Assembly Visualization Tool for Short Read Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Syed, Aijazuddin; Shapiro, Harris; Tu, Hank; Pangilinan, Jasmyn; Trong, Stephan

2008-03-14

It is a challenging job for genome analysts to accurately debug, troubleshoot, and validate genome assembly results. Genome analysts rely on visualization tools to help validate and troubleshoot assembly results, including such problems as mis-assemblies, low-quality regions, and repeats. Short read data adds further complexity and makes it extremely challenging for the visualization tools to scale and to view all needed assembly information. As a result, there is a need for a visualization tool that can scale to display assembly data from the new sequencing technologies. We present Genome Assembly Visualization Tool (GAViT), a highly scalable and interactive assembly visualization tool developed at the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI).

A Visual Lossless Image-Recompression Framework

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Ping Lu; Xia Jia; Hengliang Zhu; Ming Liu; Shouhong Ding; Lizhuang Ma

2015-01-01

In this paper, we propose a novel image recompression frame⁃work and image quality assessment (IQA) method to efficient⁃ly recompress Internet images. With this framework image size is significantly reduced without affecting spatial resolu⁃tion or perceptible quality of the image. With the help of IQA, the relationship between image quality and image evalu⁃ation scores can be quickly established, and the optimal quali⁃ty factor can be obtained quickly and accurately within a pre⁃determined perceptual quality range. This process ensures the image ’s perceptual quality, which is applied to each input image. The test results show that, using the proposed method, the file size of images can be reduced by about 45%-60%without affecting their visual quality. Moreover, our new im⁃age ⁃recompression framework can be used in to many differ⁃ent application scenarios.

Advancing Water Science through Data Visualization

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X.; Troy, T.

2014-12-01

As water scientists, we are increasingly handling larger and larger datasets with many variables, making it easy to lose ourselves in the details. Advanced data visualization will play an increasingly significant role in propelling the development of water science in research, economy, policy and education. It can enable analysis within research and further data scientists' understanding of behavior and processes and can potentially affect how the public, whom we often want to inform, understands our work. Unfortunately for water scientists, data visualization is approached in an ad hoc manner when a more formal methodology or understanding could potentially significantly improve both research within the academy and outreach to the public. Firstly to broaden and deepen scientific understanding, data visualization can allow for more analyzed targets to be processed simultaneously and can represent the variables effectively, finding patterns, trends and relationships; thus it can even explores the new research direction or branch of water science. Depending on visualization, we can detect and separate the pivotal and trivial influential factors more clearly to assume and abstract the original complex target system. Providing direct visual perception of the differences between observation data and prediction results of models, data visualization allows researchers to quickly examine the quality of models in water science. Secondly data visualization can also improve public awareness and perhaps influence behavior. Offering decision makers clearer perspectives of potential profits of water, data visualization can amplify the economic value of water science and also increase relevant employment rates. Providing policymakers compelling visuals of the role of water for social and natural systems, data visualization can advance the water management and legislation of water conservation. By building the publics' own data visualization through apps and games about water

Calificación visual a campo de la calidad estructural de argiudoles bajo diferentes sistemas de manejo Field visual analysis of soil structural quality in argiudolls under different managements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Imhoff

2009-12-01

Full Text Available El método de Calificación Visual a Campo de la estructura (Cvc, que permite obtener un indicador semi-cuantitativo de la calidad estructural del suelo, se caracteriza por ser simple de realizar, efectivo y de bajo costo. El objetivo de este trabajo fue aplicar la metodología Cvc y verificar su eficacia para identificar diferentes condiciones estructurales en relación a indicadores acreditados de calidad de suelo. El método fue aplicado en un Argiudol, en lotes que se encuentran con agricultura continua en siembra directa y con rotación ganadera-agrícola en labranza tradicional. Al momento del muestreo los lotes estaban con trigo y alfalfa. En cada lote se obtuvieron 10 muestras de suelo con pala plana (bloques y se les determinó la calidad estructural. A partir de estos datos se obtuvo el indicador Cvc para cada sistema. Simultáneamente, se efectuaron a campo medidas de resistencia a la penetración (RP y de humedad volumétrica del suelo (θ. Los resultados de Cvc y RP corregida por la covariable q indicaron la existencia de diferencias significativas entre sistemas en la calidad estructural del suelo a favor de la rotación ganadera-agrícola. Esas diferencias fueron ocasionadas por la presencia de capas con diferentes tipos de estructura, espesor y presencia de raíces. El método Cvc demostró serútil para evaluar rápidamente la calidad estructural del suelo.The Field Visual Analysis of soil structure (Fva allows obtaining a semi-quantitative indicator of the soil structural quality. It is simple to be determined, effective and inexpensive. In this study we applied the Fva method and verified its suitability to identify different soil qualities compared to conventional soil indicators. The analysis was carried out in an Argiudoll under a continuous cropping no-till system and under a crop-pasture rotation conventional tillage system. The plots were cropped with wheat and Lucerne at the sampling times. The Fva was performed on ten

A Framework for the Design of Effective Graphics for Scientific Visualization

Science.gov (United States)

Miceli, Kristina D.

1992-01-01

This proposal presents a visualization framework, based on a data model, that supports the production of effective graphics for scientific visualization. Visual representations are effective only if they augment comprehension of the increasing amounts of data being generated by modern computer simulations. These representations are created by taking into account the goals and capabilities of the scientist, the type of data to be displayed, and software and hardware considerations. This framework is embodied in an assistant-based visualization system to guide the scientist in the visualization process. This will improve the quality of the visualizations and decrease the time the scientist is required to spend in generating the visualizations. I intend to prove that such a framework will create a more productive environment for tile analysis and interpretation of large, complex data sets.

Active Learning in Neuroscience: A Manipulative to Simulate Visual Field Defects

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Andrew Yue-Lin; Carvalho, Helena

2016-01-01

Prevalent in 20-57% of stroke patients, visual field defects have been shown to impact quality of life. Studies have shown increased risk of falling, ambulatory difficulties, impaired reading ability, and feelings of panic in crowded or unfamiliar places in patients with visual field defects. Rehabilitation, independence, and mental health may…

An enhanced functional ability questionnaire (faVIQ to measure the impact of rehabilitation services on the visually impaired

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Stuart Wolffsohn

2014-02-01

Full Text Available AIM:To develop a short, enhanced functional ability Quality of Vision (faVIQ instrument based on previous questionnaires employing comprehensive modern statistical techniques to ensure the use of an appropriate response scale, items and scoring of the visual related difficulties experienced by patients with visual impairment.METHODS:Items in current quality-of-life questionnaires for the visually impaired were refined by a multi-professional group and visually impaired focus groups. The resulting 76 items were completed by 293 visually impaired patients with stable vision on two occasions separated by a month. The faVIQ scores of 75 patients with no ocular pathology were compared to 75 age and gender matched patients with visual impairment.RESULTS:Rasch analysis reduced the faVIQ items to 27. Correlation to standard visual metrics was moderate (r=0.32-0.46 and to the NEI-VFQ was 0.48. The faVIQ was able to clearly discriminate between age and gender matched populations with no ocular pathology and visual impairment with an index of 0.983 and 95% sensitivity and 95% specificity using a cut off of 29.CONCLUSION:The faVIQ allows sensitive assessment of quality-of-life in the visually impaired and should support studies which evaluate the effectiveness of low vision rehabilitation services.

Learning Visualizations by Analogy: Promoting Visual Literacy through Visualization Morphing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruchikachorn, Puripant; Mueller, Klaus

2015-09-01

We propose the concept of teaching (and learning) unfamiliar visualizations by analogy, that is, demonstrating an unfamiliar visualization method by linking it to another more familiar one, where the in-betweens are designed to bridge the gap of these two visualizations and explain the difference in a gradual manner. As opposed to a textual description, our morphing explains an unfamiliar visualization through purely visual means. We demonstrate our idea by ways of four visualization pair examples: data table and parallel coordinates, scatterplot matrix and hyperbox, linear chart and spiral chart, and hierarchical pie chart and treemap. The analogy is commutative i.e. any member of the pair can be the unfamiliar visualization. A series of studies showed that this new paradigm can be an effective teaching tool. The participants could understand the unfamiliar visualization methods in all of the four pairs either fully or at least significantly better after they observed or interacted with the transitions from the familiar counterpart. The four examples suggest how helpful visualization pairings be identified and they will hopefully inspire other visualization morphings and associated transition strategies to be identified.

Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM): A novel visual instrument to measure quality of life in dermatological inpatients.

Science.gov (United States)

Mühleisen, Beda; Büchi, Stefan; Schmidhauser, Simone; Jenewein, Josef; French, Lars E; Hofbauer, Günther F L

2009-07-01

To validate the PRISM (Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure) tool, a novel visual instrument, for the assessment of health-related quality of life in dermatological inpatients compared with the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the Skindex-29 questionnaires and to report qualitative information on PRISM. In an open longitudinal study, PRISM and Skindex-29 and DLQI questionnaires were completed and HRQOL measurements compared. Academic dermatological inpatient ward. The study population comprised 227 sequential dermatological inpatients on admission. Patients completed the PRISM tool and the Skindex-29 and DLQI questionnaires at admission and discharge. PRISM Self-Illness Separation (SIS) score; Skindex-29 and DLQI scores; and qualitative PRISM information by Mayring inductive qualitative context analysis. The PRISM scores correlated well with those from the Skindex-29 (rho = 0.426; P quality of life questionnaires to assess changes in the burden of suffering during hospitalization. Inductive qualitative context analysis revealed impairment of adjustment and self-image as major aspects. Patients overall expected symptomatic and functional improvement. In patients with psoriasis and leg ulcers, many expected no treatment benefit. The PRISM tool proved to be convenient and reliable for health-related quality of life assessment, applicable for a wide range of skin diseases, and correlated with DLQI and Skindex-29 scores. With the PRISM tool, free-text answers allow for the assessment of individual information and potentially customized therapeutic approaches.

DQS advisor: a visual interface and knowledge-based system to balance dose, quality, and reconstruction speed in iterative CT reconstruction with application to NLM-regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng, Z; Papenhausen, E; Mueller, K

2013-01-01

Motivated by growing concerns with regards to the x-ray dose delivered to the patient, low-dose computed tomography (CT) has gained substantial interest in recent years. However, achieving high-quality CT reconstructions from the limited projection data collected at reduced x-ray radiation is challenging, and iterative algorithms have been shown to perform much better than conventional analytical schemes in these cases. A problem with iterative methods in general is that they require users to set many parameters, and if set incorrectly high reconstruction time and/or low image quality are likely consequences. Since the interactions among parameters can be complex and thus effective settings can be difficult to identify for a given scanning scenario, these choices are often left to a highly-experienced human expert. To help alleviate this problem, we devise a computer-based assistant for this purpose, called dose, quality and speed (DQS)-advisor. It allows users to balance the three most important CT metrics–-DQS-–by ways of an intuitive visual interface. Using a known gold-standard, the system uses the ant-colony optimization algorithm to generate the most effective parameter settings for a comprehensive set of DQS configurations. A visual interface then presents the numerical outcome of this optimization, while a matrix display allows users to compare the corresponding images. The interface allows users to intuitively trade-off GPU-enabled reconstruction speed with quality and dose, while the system picks the associated parameter settings automatically. Further, once the knowledge has been generated, it can be used to correctly set the parameters for any new CT scan taken at similar scenarios. (paper)

Math for visualization, visualizing math

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijk, van J.J.; Hart, G.; Sarhangi, R.

2013-01-01

I present an overview of our work in visualization, and reflect on the role of mathematics therein. First, mathematics can be used as a tool to produce visualizations, which is illustrated with examples from information visualization, flow visualization, and cartography. Second, mathematics itself

The effectiveness of VIPP-V parenting training for parents of young children with a visual or visual-and-intellectual disability: study protocol of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Overbeek, Mathilde M; Sterkenburg, Paula S; Kef, Sabina; Schuengel, Carlo

2015-09-09

Visual or visual-and-intellectual disabilities of children make daily interactions more difficult for their parents and may impact the quality of the parent-child relationship. To support these parents, an existing intervention (Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting; VIPP; Juffer F, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, van IJzendoorn MH, 2008. Promoting positive parenting; an attachment-based intervention. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2008) was adapted for use with parents of children with a visual or visual-and-intellectual disability (VIPP-V). This attachment-based intervention was hypothesized to support parents' interpretation and understanding of the behavior of their child with a visual or visual-and-intellectual disability and respond to their child's signals in a sensitive way to improve parent-child interaction quality. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the adapted intervention VIPP-V (Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting in parents of children with Visual or visual-and-intellectual disabilities). Parent-child dyads will be randomized into two groups: 50 dyads will receive VIPP-V in combination with care-as-usual and 50 dyads will receive care-as-usual. Families with a child (1-5 years of age) with a visual or visual-and-intellectual disability will be recruited for participation in the study. Primary outcome measures are parental sensitivity and the quality of parent-child interaction. Secondary outcome measures are parental self-efficacy, and parenting stress. To assess feasibility of implementation of the intervention the experiences of early intervention workers with regard to using VIPP-V are assessed. Moderator variables are the child's developmental age, working alliance between parent and VIPP-V intervention worker and empathy of the VIPP-V intervention worker. Data will be collected approximately one week before the intervention starts (T1), one week (T2

Visual detection of defects in solder joints

Science.gov (United States)

Blaignan, V. B.; Bourbakis, Nikolaos G.; Moghaddamzadeh, Ali; Yfantis, Evangelos A.

1995-03-01

The automatic, real-time visual acquisition and inspection of VLSI boards requires the use of machine vision and artificial intelligence methodologies in a new `frame' for the achievement of better results regarding efficiency, products quality and automated service. In this paper the visual detection and classification of different types of defects on solder joints in PC boards is presented by combining several image processing methods, such as smoothing, segmentation, edge detection, contour extraction and shape analysis. The results of this paper are based on simulated solder defects and a real one.

基于互补资产的旅游景区发展战略研究%Development Strategy Research of Tourism Scenic based on Complementary Assets

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

杜俊义; 李小芳

2016-01-01

从互补资产角度来研究旅游景区的发展是一个新的视角。互补资产是旅游景区竞争优势的重要来源，影响着旅游景区的可持续发展。在界定了旅游景区互补资产的基础上，将旅游景区的互补资产分为互补人力资产、互补物质资产和互补组织资产。本文从景区产品创新、经济效益和提升景区竞争力等方面分析了互补资产对旅游景区发展的重要性，从互补人力资产、互补物质资产和互补组织资产等方面分析景区发展制约因素，在此基础上运用互补资产理论对旅游景区的发展提出了战略联盟、营销战略、人才发展战略，试图通过构建和充分利用互补资产促进创新和提升景区服务，促进景区的可持续发展。%It is a new perspective to study the development of tourist attractions. Complementary assets are a significant source of competitive advantage which affects the sustainable development of tourist scenic area. On the basis of clarifying the complementary assets of tourist attraction, the complementary assets are further divided into complementary human resource assets, complementary material assets and complementary organizational assets. On the one hand, this paper analyzes the importance of complementary assets to the development of tourist scenic area from the spheres of product innovation, economic benefit and competitiveness of tourist attraction. On the other hand, the constraints are discussed from the aspects of complementary human resource assets, complementary material assets and complementary organizational assets. Moreover, the suggestions and solutions that relate to strategic alliance, marketing strategy and talents development strategy are proposed according to the analysis in order to construct and fully utilize the complementary assets to promote the standard of innovation and service capacity in the tourist attraction and achieve sustainable development.

Quality assurance for image-guided radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinello, Ginette

2008-01-01

The topics discussed include, among others, the following: Quality assurance program; Image guided radiotherapy; Commissioning and quality assurance; Check of agreement between visual and displayed scales; quality controls: electronic portal imaging device (EPID), MV-kV and kV-kV, cone-beam CT (CBCT), patient doses. (P.A.)

Helping Educators Find Visualizations and Teaching Materials Just-in-Time

Science.gov (United States)

McDaris, J.; Manduca, C. A.; MacDonald, R. H.

2005-12-01

Major events and natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis provide geoscience educators with powerful teachable moments to engage their students with class content. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, educators need quality topical resources related to current earth science events. The web has become an excellent vehicle for disseminating this type of resource. In response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and to Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on the US Gulf Coast, the On the Cutting Edge professional development program developed collections of visualizations for use in teaching. (serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/collections/ tsunami.html,serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/ collections/hurricanes.html). These sites are collections of links to visualizations and other materials that can support the efforts of faculty, teachers, and those engaged in public outreach. They bring together resources created by researchers, government agencies and respected media sources and organize them for easy use by educators. Links are selected to provide a variety of different types of visualizations (e.g photographic images, animations, satellite imagery) and to assist educators in teaching about the geologic event reported in the news, associated Earth science concepts, and related topics of high interest. The cited links are selected from quality sources and are reviewed by SERC staff before being included on the page. Geoscience educators are encouraged to recommend links and supporting materials and to comment on the available resources. In this way the collection becomes more complete and its quality is enhanced.. These sites have received substantial use (Tsunami - 77,000 visitors in the first 3 months, Hurricanes - 2500 visitors in the first week) indicating that in addition to use by educators, they are being used by the general public seeking information about the events. Thus they provide an effective mechanism for

Clustervision: Visual Supervision of Unsupervised Clustering.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Bum Chul; Eysenbach, Ben; Verma, Janu; Ng, Kenney; De Filippi, Christopher; Stewart, Walter F; Perer, Adam

2018-01-01

Clustering, the process of grouping together similar items into distinct partitions, is a common type of unsupervised machine learning that can be useful for summarizing and aggregating complex multi-dimensional data. However, data can be clustered in many ways, and there exist a large body of algorithms designed to reveal different patterns. While having access to a wide variety of algorithms is helpful, in practice, it is quite difficult for data scientists to choose and parameterize algorithms to get the clustering results relevant for their dataset and analytical tasks. To alleviate this problem, we built Clustervision, a visual analytics tool that helps ensure data scientists find the right clustering among the large amount of techniques and parameters available. Our system clusters data using a variety of clustering techniques and parameters and then ranks clustering results utilizing five quality metrics. In addition, users can guide the system to produce more relevant results by providing task-relevant constraints on the data. Our visual user interface allows users to find high quality clustering results, explore the clusters using several coordinated visualization techniques, and select the cluster result that best suits their task. We demonstrate this novel approach using a case study with a team of researchers in the medical domain and showcase that our system empowers users to choose an effective representation of their complex data.

STANDARDIZING QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF FUSED REMOTELY SENSED IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Pohl

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The multitude of available operational remote sensing satellites led to the development of many image fusion techniques to provide high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution images. The comparison of different techniques is necessary to obtain an optimized image for the different applications of remote sensing. There are two approaches in assessing image quality: 1. Quantitatively by visual interpretation and 2. Quantitatively using image quality indices. However an objective comparison is difficult due to the fact that a visual assessment is always subject and a quantitative assessment is done by different criteria. Depending on the criteria and indices the result varies. Therefore it is necessary to standardize both processes (qualitative and quantitative assessment in order to allow an objective image fusion quality evaluation. Various studies have been conducted at the University of Osnabrueck (UOS to establish a standardized process to objectively compare fused image quality. First established image fusion quality assessment protocols, i.e. Quality with No Reference (QNR and Khan's protocol, were compared on varies fusion experiments. Second the process of visual quality assessment was structured and standardized with the aim to provide an evaluation protocol. This manuscript reports on the results of the comparison and provides recommendations for future research.

Standardizing Quality Assessment of Fused Remotely Sensed Images

Science.gov (United States)

Pohl, C.; Moellmann, J.; Fries, K.

2017-09-01

The multitude of available operational remote sensing satellites led to the development of many image fusion techniques to provide high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution images. The comparison of different techniques is necessary to obtain an optimized image for the different applications of remote sensing. There are two approaches in assessing image quality: 1. Quantitatively by visual interpretation and 2. Quantitatively using image quality indices. However an objective comparison is difficult due to the fact that a visual assessment is always subject and a quantitative assessment is done by different criteria. Depending on the criteria and indices the result varies. Therefore it is necessary to standardize both processes (qualitative and quantitative assessment) in order to allow an objective image fusion quality evaluation. Various studies have been conducted at the University of Osnabrueck (UOS) to establish a standardized process to objectively compare fused image quality. First established image fusion quality assessment protocols, i.e. Quality with No Reference (QNR) and Khan's protocol, were compared on varies fusion experiments. Second the process of visual quality assessment was structured and standardized with the aim to provide an evaluation protocol. This manuscript reports on the results of the comparison and provides recommendations for future research.

Measuring the Quality of Life of Visually Impaired Children: First Stage Psychometric Evaluation of the Novel VQoL_CYP Instrument.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valerija Tadić

Full Text Available To report piloting and initial validation of the VQoL_CYP, a novel age-appropriate vision-related quality of life (VQoL instrument for self-reporting by children with visual impairment (VI.Participants were a random patient sample of children with VI aged 10-15 years. 69 patients, drawn from patient databases at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital, United Kingdom, participated in piloting of the draft 47-item VQoL instrument, which enabled preliminary item reduction. Subsequent administration of the instrument, alongside functional vision (FV and generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL self-report measures, to 101 children with VI comprising a nationally representative sample enabled further item reduction and evaluation of psychometric properties using Rasch analysis. Construct validity was assessed through Pearson correlation coefficients.Item reduction through piloting (8 items removed for skewness and individual item response pattern and validation (1 item removed for skewness and 3 for misfit in Rasch produced a 35-item scale, with fit values within acceptable limits, no notable differential item functioning, good measurement precision, ordered response categories and acceptable targeting in Rasch. The VQoL_CYP showed good construct validity, correlating strongly with HRQoL scores, moderately with FV scores but not with acuity.Robust child-appropriate self-report VQoL measures for children with VI are necessary for understanding the broader impacts of living with a visual disability, distinguishing these from limited functioning per se. Future planned use in larger patient samples will allow further psychometric development of the VQoL_CYP as an adjunct to objective outcomes assessment.

Icarus: visualizer for de novo assembly evaluation.

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Mikheenko, Alla; Valin, Gleb; Prjibelski, Andrey; Saveliev, Vladislav; Gurevich, Alexey

2016-11-01

: Data visualization plays an increasingly important role in NGS data analysis. With advances in both sequencing and computational technologies, it has become a new bottleneck in genomics studies. Indeed, evaluation of de novo genome assemblies is one of the areas that can benefit from the visualization. However, even though multiple quality assessment methods are now available, existing visualization tools are hardly suitable for this purpose. Here, we present Icarus-a novel genome visualizer for accurate assessment and analysis of genomic draft assemblies, which is based on the tool QUAST. Icarus can be used in studies where a related reference genome is available, as well as for non-model organisms. The tool is available online and as a standalone application. http://cab.spbu.ru/software/icarus CONTACT: aleksey.gurevich@spbu.ruSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Stress wave sorting of red maple logs for structural quality

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Xiping Wang; Robert J. Ross; David W. Green; Brian Brashaw; Karl Englund; Michael Wolcott

2004-01-01

Existing log grading procedures in the United States make only visual assessments of log quality. These procedures do not incorporate estimates of the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of logs. It is questionable whether the visual grading procedures currently used for logs adequately assess the potential quality of structural products manufactured from them, especially...

Visual art and visual perception

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koenderink, Jan J.

2015-01-01

Visual art and visual perception ‘Visual art’ has become a minor cul-de-sac orthogonal to THE ART of the museum directors and billionaire collectors. THE ART is conceptual, instead of visual. Among its cherished items are the tins of artist’s shit (Piero Manzoni, 1961, Merda d’Artista) “worth their

Health-related quality of life among people aged ≥65 years with self-reported visual impairment: findings from the 2006-2010 behavioral risk factor surveillance system.

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Crews, John E; Chou, Chiu-Fang; Zhang, Xinzhi; Zack, Matthew M; Saaddine, Jinan B

2014-10-01

To examine the association between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and visual impairment among people aged ≥65 years. We used cross-sectional data from the 2006-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine six HRQoL measures: self-reported health, physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, activity limitation days, life satisfaction, and disability. Visual impairment was categorized as no, a little, and moderate/severe. We examined the association between self-reported visual impairment and HRQoL using logistic regression accounting for the survey's complex design. People with self-reported moderate/severe visual impairment had more frequent (≥14) physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, and activity limitation days in the last 30 days compared to those reporting a little or no visual impairment. After controlling for all covariates (age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, education, income, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, body mass index, leisure time activity, smoking, and medical care cost concerns) and comparing to those with no self-reported visual impairment, people reporting a little visual impairment were more likely to have fair/poor health (odds ratio, OR, 1.2, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.1-1.3), life dissatisfaction (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.3-2.0), and disability (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.6), and those with self-reported moderate/severe visual impairment had more fair/poor health (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.6-2.0), life dissatisfaction (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.8-2.9), and disability (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.8-2.2). They also had more frequent physically unhealthy days (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.7-2.1), mentally unhealthy days (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.5-2.1), and activity limitations days (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.6-2.2). Poor HRQoL is strongly associated with the severity of self-reported visual impairment among people aged ≥65 years.

Topological data analysis for scientific visualization

CERN Document Server

Tierny, Julien

2017-01-01

Combining theoretical and practical aspects of topology, this book delivers a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to topological methods for the analysis and visualization of scientific data. Theoretical concepts are presented in a thorough but intuitive manner, with many high-quality color illustrations. Key algorithms for the computation and simplification of topological data representations are described in details, and their application is carefully illustrated in a chapter dedicated to concrete use cases. With its fine balance between theory and practice, "Topological Data Analysis for Scientific Visualization" constitutes an appealing introduction to the increasingly important topic of topological data analysis, for lecturers, students and researchers.

The quality of visual information about the lower extremities influences visuomotor coordination during virtual obstacle negotiation.

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Kim, Aram; Kretch, Kari S; Zhou, Zixuan; Finley, James M

2018-05-09

Successful negotiation of obstacles during walking relies on the integration of visual information about the environment with ongoing locomotor commands. When information about the body and environment are removed through occlusion of the lower visual field, individuals increase downward head pitch angle, reduce foot placement precision, and increase safety margins during crossing. However, whether these effects are mediated by loss of visual information about the lower extremities, the obstacle, or both remains to be seen. Here, we used a fully immersive, virtual obstacle negotiation task to investigate how visual information about the lower extremities is integrated with information about the environment to facilitate skillful obstacle negotiation. Participants stepped over virtual obstacles while walking on a treadmill with one of three types of visual feedback about the lower extremities: no feedback, end-point feedback, or a link-segment model. We found that absence of visual information about the lower extremities led to an increase in the variability of leading foot placement after crossing. The presence of a visual representation of the lower extremities promoted greater downward head pitch angle during the approach to and subsequent crossing of an obstacle. In addition, having greater downward head pitch was associated with closer placement of the trailing foot to the obstacle, further placement of the leading foot after the obstacle, and higher trailing foot clearance. These results demonstrate that the fidelity of visual information about the lower extremities influences both feed-forward and feedback aspects of visuomotor coordination during obstacle negotiation.

Use of visual CO2 feedback as a retrofit solution for improving classroom air quality.

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Wargocki, P; Da Silva, N A F

2015-02-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2 ) sensors that provide a visual indication were installed in classrooms during normal school operation. During 2-week periods, teachers and students were instructed to open the windows in response to the visual CO2 feedback in 1 week and open them, as they would normally do, without visual feedback, in the other week. In the heating season, two pairs of classrooms were monitored, one pair naturally and the other pair mechanically ventilated. In the cooling season, two pairs of naturally ventilated classrooms were monitored, one pair with split cooling in operation and the other pair with no cooling. Classrooms were matched by grade. Providing visual CO2 feedback reduced CO2 levels, as more windows were opened in this condition. This increased energy use for heating and reduced the cooling requirement in summertime. Split cooling reduced the frequency of window opening only when no visual CO2 feedback was present. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A GPU-based mipmapping method for water surface visualization

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Li, Hua; Quan, Wei; Xu, Chao; Wu, Yan

2018-03-01

Visualization of water surface is a hot topic in computer graphics. In this paper, we presented a fast method to generate wide range of water surface with good image quality both near and far from the viewpoint. This method utilized uniform mesh and Fractal Perlin noise to model water surface. Mipmapping technology was enforced to the surface textures, which adjust the resolution with respect to the distance from the viewpoint and reduce the computing cost. Lighting effect was computed based on shadow mapping technology, Snell's law and Fresnel term. The render pipeline utilizes a CPU-GPU shared memory structure, which improves the rendering efficiency. Experiment results show that our approach visualizes water surface with good image quality at real-time frame rates performance.

Femtosecond laser-assisted LASIK versus PRK for high myopia: comparison of 18-month visual acuity and quality.

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Hashemi, Hassan; Ghaffari, Reza; Miraftab, Mohammad; Asgari, Soheila

2017-08-01

To compare 18-month outcomes between femtosecond laser-assisted LASIK (femto-LASIK) and photorefractive keratectomy with mitomycin-C (PRK-MMC) for myopia of more than 7.0 D in terms of visual acuity and quality. In this comparative nonrandomized clinical trial, 60 eyes from 30 patients (30 eyes in each group) were enrolled. The two procedures were compared in terms of 18-month changes in uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), manifest refraction spherical equivalent, ocular and corneal higher order aberrations (HOAs), and contrast sensitivity (CS). Mean myopia was -8.65 ± 1.51 and -8.04 ± 1.70 D (P = 0.149) and mean ablation depth was 109.37 ± 9.07 and 105.09 ± 12.59 µm (P = 0.138), in the femto-LASIK and PRK-MMC groups, respectively. Baseline parameters were not significantly different between the two groups (all P > 0.05). At 18 months postoperatively, 75 % in the femto-LASIK, versus 57.1 % in the PRK-MMC group, had 20/20 UDVA (P = 0.017). CDVA remained similarly unchanged in both groups (P = 0.616). No case had residual refractive error more than 1.0 D in the femto-LASIK group, while 33.5 % in the other group had more than 1.0 D residual error (P = 0.390). Changes in corneal HOA were not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.260). Cases in the femto-LASIK group showed more increase in ocular HOA (P = 0.032) and coma (P = 0.083, power = 72 %). CS remained similarly unchanged in all spatial frequencies in both groups (all P > 0.05). Although femto-LASIK induces more HOA compared to PRK-MMC, considering outcomes in terms of 20/20 UDVA, residual refractive error, and CS stability, femto-LASIK provides more favorable results than PRK-MMC in high myopia.

The influence of presentation format and viewer training in the visual arts on the perception of pictorial and aesthetic qualities of paintings.

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Locher, P J; Smith, J K; Smith, L F

2001-01-01

The comparability of viewers' responses to slide-projected and computer-generated images of nine paintings by renowned artists to those obtained from individuals experiencing the originals in the galleries of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art was investigated. The influence of training in the visual arts upon evaluative judgments made under the three presentation formats was also assessed. Specifically, art-trained and untrained participants in each format condition rated each artwork on sixteen measures of physical and structural characteristics, novelty of content, and aesthetic qualities. Analyses revealed significant differences in the judged hedonic value of the originals as contrasted with the two types of reproduction, whereas trained and untrained participants' evaluations of the pictorial qualities of the artworks were comparable across presentation formats. Findings are discussed in terms of a facsimile-accommodation hypothesis proposed by the authors.

Visualizing desirable patient healthcare experiences.

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Liu, Sandra S; Kim, Hyung T; Chen, Jie; An, Lingling

2010-01-01

High healthcare cost has drawn much attention and healthcare service providers (HSPs) are expected to deliver high-quality and consistent care. Therefore, an intimate understanding of the most desirable experience from a patient's and/or family's perspective as well as effective mapping and communication of such findings should facilitate HSPs' efforts in attaining sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly discerning environment. This study describes (a) the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the experience desired by patients and (b) the application of two visualization tools that are relatively new to the healthcare sector, namely the "spider-web diagram" and "promotion and detraction matrix." The visualization tools are tested with primary data collected from telephone surveys of 1,800 patients who had received care during calendar year 2005 at 6 of 61 hospitals within St. Louis, Missouri-based, Ascension Health. Five CQAs were found by factor analysis. The spider-web diagram illustrates that communication and empowerment and compassionate and respectful care are the most important CQAs, and accordingly, the promotion and detraction matrix shows those attributes that have the greatest effect for creating promoters, preventing detractors, and improving consumer's likelihood to recommend the healthcare provider.

Association between changes in visual acuity and vision-related quality of life in Japanese patients with low vision.

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Yanagisawa, Mieko; Kato, Satoshi; Kunimatsu, Shiho; Kobayashi, Megumi; Ochiai, Makiko

2011-01-01

To investigate the association between vision-related quality of life (VRQOL) and changes in visual acuity (VA). We examined the VA in 100 patients for > 1 year and evaluated the degree of its impact on VRQOL using the National Eye Institute Visual Function (VF) Questionnaire (VFQ-25; Japanese version). Before determining VFQ-25, we monitored the changes in VA in these patients for 1 year and classified them into the following two groups depending on VA changes. Patients exhibiting a decline of > 3 steps in VA, as assessed by the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution scale, were placed in the 'decline' group (47.0%) and patients exhibiting no change in VA were placed in the 'no change' group (53.0%). We compared the VFQ-25 scores between both groups in all patients with glaucoma (GLA) and macular degeneration (MD). The total score of the decline was 34.9 ± 13.6 and that of the no change group was 44.6 ± 13.9: the difference in the scores between both groups was statistically significant (p = 0.006). Similar results were obtained for patients with GLA and MD (p = 0.007 and 0.003, respectively). VRQOL differed between patients with constant VA and those with reduced VA, even though VA values were equal at a certain time point. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Visual communication - Information and fidelity. [of images

Science.gov (United States)

Huck, Freidrich O.; Fales, Carl L.; Alter-Gartenberg, Rachel; Rahman, Zia-Ur; Reichenbach, Stephen E.

1993-01-01

This assessment of visual communication deals with image gathering, coding, and restoration as a whole rather than as separate and independent tasks. The approach focuses on two mathematical criteria, information and fidelity, and on their relationships to the entropy of the encoded data and to the visual quality of the restored image. Past applications of these criteria to the assessment of image coding and restoration have been limited to the link that connects the output of the image-gathering device to the input of the image-display device. By contrast, the approach presented in this paper explicitly includes the critical limiting factors that constrain image gathering and display. This extension leads to an end-to-end assessment theory of visual communication that combines optical design with digital processing.

On automatic visual inspection of reflective surfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kulmann, Lionel

1995-01-01

surfaces, providing new and exciting applications subject to automated visual inspection. Several contextual features have been surveyed along with introduction of novel methods to perform data-dependent enhancement of local surface appearance . Morphological methods have been described and utilized......This thesis descrbes different methods to perform automatic visual inspection of reflective manufactured products, with the aim of increasing productivity, reduce cost and improve the quality level of the production. We investigate two different systems performing automatic visual inspection....... The first is the inspection of highly reflective aluminum sheets, used by the Danish company Bang & Olufsen, as a part of the exterior design and general appearance of their audio and video products. The second is the inspection of IBM hard disk read/write heads for defects during manufacturing. We have...

Demands Set Upon Modern Cartographic Visualization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanislav Frangeš

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Scientific cartography has the task to develop and research new methods of cartographic visualization. General demands are set upon modern cartographic visualization, which encompasses digital cartography and computer graphics: legibility, clearness, accuracy, plainness and aesthetics. In this paper, it is explained in detail what demands should be met in order to satisfy the general demands set. In order to satisfy the demand of legibility, one should respect conditions of minimal sizes, appropriate graphical density and better differentiation of known features. Demand of clearness needs to be met by fulfilling conditions of simplicity, contrasting quality and layer arrangement of cartographic representation. Accuracy, as the demand on cartographic visualization, can be divided into positioning accuracy and accuracy signs. For fulfilling the demand of plainness, the conditions of symbolism, traditionalism and hierarchic organization should be met. Demand of aesthetics will be met if the conditions of beauty and harmony are fulfilled.

Health-related quality of life, visual function and treatment satisfaction following intravitreal dexamethasone implant for diabetic macular edema

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramu J

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Jayashree Ramu,1 Irini Chatziralli,1 Yit Yang,2 Geeta Menon,3 Clare Bailey,4 Michael Eckstein,5 Phil Hykin,1 Sobha Sivaprasad1 On behalf of the OZDRY Study Group 1NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre, London, 2The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, 3Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey, 4Bristol Eye Hospital, Bristol, 5Brighton and Sussex University Hospital, Brighton, UK Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore and describe quantitatively patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs, ie, health-related quality of life (QoL, visual function and treatment satisfaction, in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME receiving two different regimens of Ozurdex (intravitreal dexamethasone implant. Methods: In this multicenter, prospective study, 100 patients with center-involving refractory DME were randomized 1:1 to either five monthly fixed dosing or optical coherence tomography (OCT-guided pro re nata (PRN regimen of dexamethasone intravitreal implant therapy. The primary outcome was the difference between arms in change in PROMs and health-related QoL from baseline to 12 months, as measured by the Retinopathy-Dependent Quality of Life (RetDQoL questionnaire, Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (VFQ-25 and Retinopathy Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (RetTSQ. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the RetDQoL score and VFQ-25 score at month 12 compared to those at baseline, whereas the total mean RetTSQ score increased significantly at the exit visit. The two treatment arms did not differ significantly regarding the change in PROMs and health-related QoL questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis showed that visual acuity (VA of ≥55 letters, central foveal thickness <300 µm and macular volume <9.2 mm3 at the exit visit (month 12 predicted a higher change in RetTSQ. Conclusion: This study showed that there is a statistically significant improvement in treatment satisfaction, as

Visualization rhetoric: framing effects in narrative visualization.

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Hullman, Jessica; Diakopoulos, Nicholas

2011-12-01

Narrative visualizations combine conventions of communicative and exploratory information visualization to convey an intended story. We demonstrate visualization rhetoric as an analytical framework for understanding how design techniques that prioritize particular interpretations in visualizations that "tell a story" can significantly affect end-user interpretation. We draw a parallel between narrative visualization interpretation and evidence from framing studies in political messaging, decision-making, and literary studies. Devices for understanding the rhetorical nature of narrative information visualizations are presented, informed by the rigorous application of concepts from critical theory, semiotics, journalism, and political theory. We draw attention to how design tactics represent additions or omissions of information at various levels-the data, visual representation, textual annotations, and interactivity-and how visualizations denote and connote phenomena with reference to unstated viewing conventions and codes. Classes of rhetorical techniques identified via a systematic analysis of recent narrative visualizations are presented, and characterized according to their rhetorical contribution to the visualization. We describe how designers and researchers can benefit from the potentially positive aspects of visualization rhetoric in designing engaging, layered narrative visualizations and how our framework can shed light on how a visualization design prioritizes specific interpretations. We identify areas where future inquiry into visualization rhetoric can improve understanding of visualization interpretation. © 2011 IEEE

Quality of vision in refractive and cataract surgery, indirect measurers: review article.

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Parede, Taís Renata Ribeira; Torricelli, André Augusto Miranda; Mukai, Adriana; Vieira Netto, Marcelo; Bechara, Samir Jacob

2013-01-01

Visual acuity is the measurement of an individual's ability to recognize details of an object in a space. Visual function measurements in clinical ophthalmology are limited by factors such as maximum contrast and so it might not adequately reflect the real vision conditions at that moment as well as the subjective aspects of the world perception by the patient. The objective of a successful vision-restoring surgery lies not only in gaining visual acuity lines, but also in vision quality. Therefore, refractive and cataract surgeries have the responsibility of achieving quality results. It is difficult to define quality of vision by a single parameter, and the main functional-vision tests are: contrast sensitivity, disability glare, intraocular stray light and aberrometry. In the current review the different components of the visual function are explained and the several available methods to assess the vision quality are described.

Visualizing the blind brain: brain imaging of visual field defects from early recovery to rehabilitation techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marika eUrbanski

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Visual field defects (VFDs are one of the most common consequences observed after brain injury, especially after a stroke in the posterior cerebral artery territory. Less frequently, tumours, traumatic brain injury, brain surgery or demyelination can also determine various visual disabilities, from a decrease in visual acuity to cerebral blindness. VFD is a factor of bad functional prognosis as it compromises many daily life activities (e.g., obstacle avoidance, driving, and reading and therefore the patient’s quality of life. Spontaneous recovery seems to be limited and restricted to the first six months, with the best chance of improvement at one month. The possible mechanisms at work could be partly due to cortical reorganization in the visual areas (plasticity and/or partly to the use of intact alternative visual routes, first identified in animal studies and possibly underlying the phenomenon of blindsight. Despite processes of early recovery, which is rarely complete, and learning of compensatory strategies, the patient’s autonomy may still be compromised at more chronic stages. Therefore, various rehabilitation therapies based on neuroanatomical knowledge have been developed to improve VFDs. These use eye-movement training techniques (e.g., visual search, saccadic eye movements, reading training, visual field restitution (the Vision Restoration Therapy, VRT, or perceptual learning. In this review, we will focus on studies of human adults with acquired VFDs, which have used different imaging techniques (Positron Emission Tomography: PET, Diffusion Tensor Imaging: DTI, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: fMRI, MagnetoEncephalography: MEG or neurostimulation techniques (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: TMS; transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, tDCS to show brain activations in the course of spontaneous recovery or after specific rehabilitation techniques.

Glossiness and perishable food quality: visual freshness judgment of fish eyes based on luminance distribution.

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Murakoshi, Takuma; Masuda, Tomohiro; Utsumi, Ken; Tsubota, Kazuo; Wada, Yuji

2013-01-01

Previous studies have reported the effects of statistics of luminance distribution on visual freshness perception using pictures which included the degradation process of food samples. However, these studies did not examine the effect of individual differences between the same kinds of food. Here we elucidate whether luminance distribution would continue to have a significant effect on visual freshness perception even if visual stimuli included individual differences in addition to the degradation process of foods. We took pictures of the degradation of three fishes over 3.29 hours in a controlled environment, then cropped square patches of their eyes from the original images as visual stimuli. Eleven participants performed paired comparison tests judging the visual freshness of the fish eyes at three points of degradation. Perceived freshness scores (PFS) were calculated using the Bradley-Terry Model for each image. The ANOVA revealed that the PFS for each fish decreased as the degradation time increased; however, the differences in the PFS between individual fish was larger for the shorter degradation time, and smaller for the longer degradation time. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted in order to determine the relative importance of the statistics of luminance distribution of the stimulus images in predicting PFS. The results show that standard deviation and skewness in luminance distribution have a significant influence on PFS. These results show that even if foodstuffs contain individual differences, visual freshness perception and changes in luminance distribution correlate with degradation time.

Visualization of the articular disk of the temporomandibular joint in near-real-time MRI: feasibility study

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Abolmaali, Nasreddin D.; Schmitt, Jan; Schwarz, Wolfram; Vogl, Thomas J. [J.W. Goethe University, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Frankfurt/Main (Germany); Toll, Douglas E. [Orthodontist Practice, Bad Soden (Germany); Hinterwimmer, Stefan [J.W. Goethe University, Research Group for Kinematics and Biomechanics, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Frankfurt/Main (Germany)

2004-10-01

While static MRI of the TMJ is the method of choice to evaluate the articular disk (AD), dynamic MRI so far has failed to display the AD. The capability of a modified True-FISP sequence to visualize the AD in dynamic near-real-time imaging (NRTI) was evaluated. Twelve healthy subjects and 17 patients were investigated. Besides static routine imaging, sagittal NRTI of both TMJs was performed with a True-FISP sequence at 1.5 T with TE/TR=1.84/3.68 ms. Two temporal resolutions (250/500 ms) were tested. The quality of the visualization of the AD was rated on a four-point scale (1= very good to 4= poor visualization) by two observers in consensus. ADs of the volunteers were visualized with high quality in all stages of movement (score: 1.69). In patients with internal derangement, disk-motion was clearly depicted, including fast reposition movements. Due to degenerative changes of the AD, the quality of the depiction in patients was slightly lower (score: 2.4). According to the preliminary results of this feasibility study, the suggested NRTI True-FISP sequence is capable of visualizing the entire motion of the AD of the TMJ in normal and pathologic stages with high quality. Further studies are needed to prove the clinical usefulness of this new technique. (orig.)

Auditory and visual spatial impression: Recent studies of three auditoria

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Nguyen, Andy; Cabrera, Densil

2004-10-01

Auditory spatial impression is widely studied for its contribution to auditorium acoustical quality. By contrast, visual spatial impression in auditoria has received relatively little attention in formal studies. This paper reports results from a series of experiments investigating the auditory and visual spatial impression of concert auditoria. For auditory stimuli, a fragment of an anechoic recording of orchestral music was convolved with calibrated binaural impulse responses, which had been made with the dummy head microphone at a wide range of positions in three auditoria and the sound source on the stage. For visual stimuli, greyscale photographs were used, taken at the same positions in the three auditoria, with a visual target on the stage. Subjective experiments were conducted with auditory stimuli alone, visual stimuli alone, and visual and auditory stimuli combined. In these experiments, subjects rated apparent source width, listener envelopment, intimacy and source distance (auditory stimuli), and spaciousness, envelopment, stage dominance, intimacy and target distance (visual stimuli). Results show target distance to be of primary importance in auditory and visual spatial impression-thereby providing a basis for covariance between some attributes of auditory and visual spatial impression. Nevertheless, some attributes of spatial impression diverge between the senses.

Virtual inspector: a flexible visualizer for dense 3D scanned models

OpenAIRE

Callieri, Marco; Ponchio, Federico; Cignoni, Paolo; Scopigno, Roberto

2008-01-01

The rapid evolution of automatic shape acquisition technologies will make huge amount of sampled 3D data available in the near future. Cul- tural Heritage (CH) domain is one of the ideal fields of application of 3D scanned data, while some issues in the use of those data are: how to visualize at interactive rates and full quality on commodity computers; how to improve visualization ease of use; how to support the integrated visualization of a virtual 3D artwork and the multimedia data which t...

Interventions for visual field defects in patients with stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Pollock, Alex; Hazelton, Christine; Henderson, Clair A; Angilley, Jayne; Dhillon, Baljean; Langhorne, Peter; Livingstone, Katrina; Munro, Frank A; Orr, Heather; Rowe, Fiona J; Shahani, Uma

2011-10-05

Visual field defects are estimated to affect 20% to 57% of people who have had a stroke. Visual field defects can affect functional ability in activities of daily living (commonly affecting mobility, reading and driving), quality of life, ability to participate in rehabilitation, and depression, anxiety and social isolation following stroke. There are many interventions for visual field defects, which are proposed to work by restoring the visual field (restitution); compensating for the visual field defect by changing behaviour or activity (compensation); substituting for the visual field defect by using a device or extraneous modification (substitution); or ensuring appropriate diagnosis, referral and treatment prescription through standardised assessment or screening, or both. To determine the effects of interventions for people with visual field defects after stroke. We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (February 2011), the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register (December 2009) and nine electronic bibliographic databases including CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1950 to December 2009), EMBASE (1980 to December 2009), CINAHL (1982 to December 2009), AMED (1985 to December 2009), and PsycINFO (1967 to December 2009). We also searched reference lists and trials registers, handsearched journals and conference proceedings and contacted experts. Randomised trials in adults after stroke, where the intervention was specifically targeted at improving the visual field defect or improving the ability of the participant to cope with the visual field loss. The primary outcome was functional ability in activities of daily living and secondary outcomes included functional ability in extended activities of daily living, reading ability, visual field measures, balance, falls, depression and anxiety, discharge destination or residence after stroke, quality of life and social isolation, visual scanning, adverse events and death. Two

Effects of visual priming on taste-odor interaction.

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Marije van Beilen

Full Text Available Little is known about the influence of visual characteristics other than colour on flavor perception, and the complex interactions between more than two sensory modalities. This study focused on the effects of recognizability of visual (texture information on flavor perception of odorized sweet beverages. Participants rated the perceived sweetness of odorized sucrose solutions in the presence or absence of either a congruent or incongruent visual context. Odors were qualitatively reminiscent of sweet foods (strawberry and caramel or not (savoury. Visual context was either an image of the same sweet foods (figurative context or a visual texture derived from this product (non-figurative context. Textures were created using a texture synthesis method that preserved perceived food qualities while removing object information. Odor-taste combinations were rated sweeter within a figurative than a non-figurative context. This behaviour was exhibited for all odor-taste combinations, even in trials without images, indicating sustained priming by figurative visual context. A non-figurative context showed a transient sweetening effect. Sweetness was generally enhanced most by the strawberry odor. We conclude that the degree of recognizability of visual information (figurative versus non-figurative, influences flavor perception differently. Our results suggest that this visual context priming is mediated by separate sustained and transient processes that are differently evoked by figurative and non-figurative visual contexts. These components operate independent of the congruency of the image-odor-taste combinations.

Visualization of Traffic Accidents

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Wang, Jie; Shen, Yuzhong; Khattak, Asad

2010-01-01

Traffic accidents have tremendous impact on society. Annually approximately 6.4 million vehicle accidents are reported by police in the US and nearly half of them result in catastrophic injuries. Visualizations of traffic accidents using geographic information systems (GIS) greatly facilitate handling and analysis of traffic accidents in many aspects. Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Inc. is the world leader in GIS research and development. ArcGIS, a software package developed by ESRI, has the capabilities to display events associated with a road network, such as accident locations, and pavement quality. But when event locations related to a road network are processed, the existing algorithm used by ArcGIS does not utilize all the information related to the routes of the road network and produces erroneous visualization results of event locations. This software bug causes serious problems for applications in which accurate location information is critical for emergency responses, such as traffic accidents. This paper aims to address this problem and proposes an improved method that utilizes all relevant information of traffic accidents, namely, route number, direction, and mile post, and extracts correct event locations for accurate traffic accident visualization and analysis. The proposed method generates a new shape file for traffic accidents and displays them on top of the existing road network in ArcGIS. Visualization of traffic accidents along Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Accuracy, reliability, and timing of visual evaluations of decay in fresh-cut lettuce

Science.gov (United States)

Visual assessments are used for evaluating the quality of food products, such as fresh-cut lettuce packaged in bags with modified atmosphere. We have compared the accuracy and the reliability of visual evaluations of decay on fresh-cut lettuce performed with experienced and inexperienced raters. In ...

Searching for the value of a view

Science.gov (United States)

Arthur W. Magill; Charles F. Schwan

1989-01-01

Assessing the trade-offs between market and nonmarket products of wildlands poses a major problem fornatural resource planners and managers. Scenic quality is a resource that is not quantifiable in monetary terms. To determine if market values of real estate offering views could define relative dollar values for physical dimensions and objects in views, they were...

Karst landforms as geomorphosites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Panizza

2003-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents the methodology of attributing quantitative values to the landforms as geomorphological heritage, including their evaluation in the frames of environmental impact assessment analysis. The scientific quality of a geomorphosite can be derived from its scientific, cultural, socio-economic and scenic significance and pondered according to its position and importance in the specific area.

Health-Related Quality of Life Among People Aged ≥65 Years with Self-reported Visual Impairment: Findings from the 2006–2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Science.gov (United States)

Crews, John E.; Chou, Chiu-Fang; Zhang, Xinzhi; Zack, Matthew M.; Saaddine, Jinan B.

2016-01-01

Purpose To examine the association between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and visual impairment among people aged ≥65 years. Methods We used cross-sectional data from the 2006–2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine six HRQoL measures: self-reported health, physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, activity limitation days, life satisfaction, and disability. Visual impairment was categorized as no, a little, and moderate/severe. We examined the association between self-reported visual impairment and HRQoL using logistic regression accounting for the survey’s complex design. Results People with self-reported moderate/severe visual impairment had more frequent (≥14) physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, and activity limitation days in the last 30 days compared to those reporting a little or no visual impairment. After controlling for all covariates (age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, education, income, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, body mass index, leisure time activity, smoking, and medical care cost concerns) and comparing to those with no self-reported visual impairment, people reporting a little visual impairment were more likely to have fair/poor health (odds ratio, OR, 1.2, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.1–1.3), life dissatisfaction (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.3–2.0), and disability (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3–1.6), and those with self-reported moderate/severe visual impairment had more fair/poor health (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.6–2.0), life dissatisfaction (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.8–2.9), and disability (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.8–2.2). They also had more frequent physically unhealthy days (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.7–2.1), mentally unhealthy days (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.5–2.1), and activity limitations days (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.6–2.2). Conclusion Poor HRQoL is strongly associated with the severity of self-reported visual impairment among people aged ≥65 years. PMID:24955821

The Timing of Visual Object Categorization

Science.gov (United States)

Mack, Michael L.; Palmeri, Thomas J.

2011-01-01

An object can be categorized at different levels of abstraction: as natural or man-made, animal or plant, bird or dog, or as a Northern Cardinal or Pyrrhuloxia. There has been growing interest in understanding how quickly categorizations at different levels are made and how the timing of those perceptual decisions changes with experience. We specifically contrast two perspectives on the timing of object categorization at different levels of abstraction. By one account, the relative timing implies a relative timing of stages of visual processing that are tied to particular levels of object categorization: Fast categorizations are fast because they precede other categorizations within the visual processing hierarchy. By another account, the relative timing reflects when perceptual features are available over time and the quality of perceptual evidence used to drive a perceptual decision process: Fast simply means fast, it does not mean first. Understanding the short-term and long-term temporal dynamics of object categorizations is key to developing computational models of visual object recognition. We briefly review a number of models of object categorization and outline how they explain the timing of visual object categorization at different levels of abstraction. PMID:21811480

SciDAC visualization and analytics center for enabling technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bethel, E Wes; Johnson, Chris; Joy, Ken; Ahern, Sean; Pascucci, Valerio; Childs, Hank; Cohen, Jonathan; Duchaineau, Mark; Hamann, Bernd; Hansen, Charles; Laney, Dan; Lindstrom, Peter; Meredith, Jeremy; Ostrouchov, George; Parker, Steven; Silva, Claudio; Sanderson, Allen; Tricoche, Xavier

2007-01-01

The Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies (VACET) focuses on leveraging scientific visualization and analytics software technology as an enabling technology for increasing scientific productivity and insight. Advances in computational technology have resulted in an 'information big bang,' which in turn has created a significant data understanding challenge. This challenge is widely acknowledged to be one of the primary bottlenecks in contemporary science. The vision of VACET is to adapt, extend, create when necessary, and deploy visual data analysis solutions that are responsive to the needs of DOE's computational and experimental scientists. Our center is engineered to be directly responsive to those needs and to deliver solutions for use in DOE's large open computing facilities. The research and development directly target data understanding problems provided by our scientific application stakeholders. VACET draws from a diverse set of visualization technology ranging from production quality applications and application frameworks to state-of-the-art algorithms for visualization, analysis, analytics, data manipulation, and data management

An integrated approach to hospital strategic planning, quality assurance, and continuous quality improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Day, G; Gardner, S; Herba, C

1995-01-01

Like many other healthcare organizations today, the authors' facility, a 306-bed acute care community hospital in Michigan, strives to visualize and make a transition from traditional quality assurance to continuous quality improvement. The Juran Trilogy provided the insight that strategic planning, measurement, and continuous improvement must exist side by side. At the authors' facility, this realization resulted in the hospital quality plan, which treats each of these components as part of the foundation for quality. The authors explain this model and the reporting and communication mechanisms that support it.

Modern Methods of Multidimensional Data Visualization: Analysis, Classification, Implementation, and Applications in Technical Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. K. Romanova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with theoretical and practical aspects of solving the problem of visualization of multidimensional data as an effective means of multivariate analysis of systems. Several classifications are proposed for visualization techniques, according to data types, visualization objects, the method of transformation of coordinates and data. To represent classification are used charts with links to the relevant work. The article also proposes two classifications of modern trends in display technology, including integration of visualization techniques as one of the modern trends of development, along with the introduction of interactive technologies and the dynamics of development processes. It describes some approaches to the visualization problem, which are concerned with fulfilling the needs. The needs are generated by the relevant tasks such as information retrieval in global networks, development of bioinformatics, study and control of business processes, development of regions, etc. The article highlights modern visualization tools, which are capable of improving the efficiency of the multivariate analysis and searching for solutions in multi-objective optimization of technical systems, but are not very actively used for such studies. These are horizontal graphs, graphics "quantile-quantile", etc. The paper proposes to use Choropleth cards traditionally used in cartography for simultaneous presentation of the distribution parameters of several criteria in the space. It notes that visualizations of graphs in network applications can be more actively used to describe the control system. The article suggests using the heat maps to provide graphical representation of the sensitivity of the system quality criteria under variations of options (multivariate analysis of technical systems. It also mentions that it is useful to extend the supervising heat maps to the task of estimating quality of identify in constructing system models. A

Visual motion transforms visual space representations similarly throughout the human visual hierarchy.

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Harvey, Ben M; Dumoulin, Serge O

2016-02-15

Several studies demonstrate that visual stimulus motion affects neural receptive fields and fMRI response amplitudes. Here we unite results of these two approaches and extend them by examining the effects of visual motion on neural position preferences throughout the hierarchy of human visual field maps. We measured population receptive field (pRF) properties using high-field fMRI (7T), characterizing position preferences simultaneously over large regions of the visual cortex. We measured pRFs properties using sine wave gratings in stationary apertures, moving at various speeds in either the direction of pRF measurement or the orthogonal direction. We find direction- and speed-dependent changes in pRF preferred position and size in all visual field maps examined, including V1, V3A, and the MT+ map TO1. These effects on pRF properties increase up the hierarchy of visual field maps. However, both within and between visual field maps the extent of pRF changes was approximately proportional to pRF size. This suggests that visual motion transforms the representation of visual space similarly throughout the visual hierarchy. Visual motion can also produce an illusory displacement of perceived stimulus position. We demonstrate perceptual displacements using the same stimulus configuration. In contrast to effects on pRF properties, perceptual displacements show only weak effects of motion speed, with far larger speed-independent effects. We describe a model where low-level mechanisms could underlie the observed effects on neural position preferences. We conclude that visual motion induces similar transformations of visuo-spatial representations throughout the visual hierarchy, which may arise through low-level mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mild decentration measured by a Scheimpflug camera and its impact on visual quality following SMILE in the early learning curve.

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Li, Meiyan; Zhao, Jing; Miao, Huamao; Shen, Yang; Sun, Ling; Tian, Mi; Wadium, Elizabeth; Zhou, Xingtao

2014-05-20

To measure decentration following femtosecond laser small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for the correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism in the early learning curve, and to investigate its impact on visual quality. A total of 55 consecutive patients (100 eyes) who underwent the SMILE procedure were included. Decentration was measured using a Scheimpflug camera 6 months after surgery. Uncorrected and corrected distance visual acuity (UDVA, CDVA), manifest refraction, and wavefront errors were also measured. Associations between decentration and the preoperative spherical equivalent were analyzed, as well as the associations between decentration and wavefront aberrations. Regarding efficacy and safety, 40 eyes (40%) had an unchanged CDVA; 32 eyes (32%) gained one line; and 11 eyes (11%) gained two lines. Fifteen eyes (15%) lost one line of CDVA, and two eyes (2%) lost two lines. Ninety-nine of the treated eyes (99%) had a postoperative UDVA better than 1.0, and 100 eyes (100%) had a UDVA better than 0.8. The mean decentered displacement was 0.17 ± 0.09 mm. The decentered displacement of all treated eyes (100%) was within 0.50 mm; 70 eyes (70%) were within 0.20 mm; and 90 eyes (90%) were within 0.30 mm. The vertical coma showed the greatest increase in magnitude. The magnitude of horizontal decentration was found to be associated with an induced horizontal coma. This study suggests that, although mild decentration occurred in the early learning curve, good visual outcomes were achieved after the SMILE surgery. Special efforts to minimize induced vertical coma are necessary. Copyright 2014 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

Immersive Visualization of the Solid Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Kreylos, O.; Kellogg, L. H.

2017-12-01

, or using commodity low-cost virtual reality headsets such as HTC's Vive. The recent emergence of high-quality commodity VR means that researchers can buy a complete VR system off the shelf, install it and the 3D Visualizer software themselves, and start using it for data analysis immediately.

Visual operations management tools in oil pipelines and terminals standardization processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Ludovico Almeida, Maria Fatima [Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Santiago, Adilson; Senra Ribeiro, Kassandra; Mendonca Arruda, Daniela [Petrobras Transporte (Brazil)

2010-07-01

Visual operations management (VOM) takes advantage of visual cues to communicate information, simplify processes and improve the quality and safety of operations. Because of heightened competition, the importance of standardization and quality management processes has become more evident for pipeline companies. Petrobras Transporte's marine terminal units has been working over the last years to be recognized as a reference in the activities it pursues. This is based on the Petrobras Transporte's strategic plan 2020, which foresees amongst others, the specialization of technical workforce, operational safety excellence, capital discipline, customer satisfaction, the search for new technologies and markets and the rendering of new services. To achieve these goals, the Marine Terminals standardization program must be adhered to. Focusing on communication and adoption of standards and procedures, this paper describes how visual guides were conceived and implemented within Petrobras Transporte to enable operators and technicians to meet operational, environmental and occupational health and safety requirements.

Scientific visualization uncertainty, multifield, biomedical, and scalable visualization

CERN Document Server

Chen, Min; Johnson, Christopher; Kaufman, Arie; Hagen, Hans

2014-01-01

Based on the seminar that took place in Dagstuhl, Germany in June 2011, this contributed volume studies the four important topics within the scientific visualization field: uncertainty visualization, multifield visualization, biomedical visualization and scalable visualization. • Uncertainty visualization deals with uncertain data from simulations or sampled data, uncertainty due to the mathematical processes operating on the data, and uncertainty in the visual representation, • Multifield visualization addresses the need to depict multiple data at individual locations and the combination of multiple datasets, • Biomedical is a vast field with select subtopics addressed from scanning methodologies to structural applications to biological applications, • Scalability in scientific visualization is critical as data grows and computational devices range from hand-held mobile devices to exascale computational platforms. Scientific Visualization will be useful to practitioners of scientific visualization, ...

BatMass: a Java Software Platform for LC-MS Data Visualization in Proteomics and Metabolomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Avtonomov, Dmitry M; Raskind, Alexander; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I

2016-08-05

Mass spectrometry (MS) coupled to liquid chromatography (LC) is a commonly used technique in metabolomic and proteomic research. As the size and complexity of LC-MS-based experiments grow, it becomes increasingly more difficult to perform quality control of both raw data and processing results. In a practical setting, quality control steps for raw LC-MS data are often overlooked, and assessment of an experiment's success is based on some derived metrics such as "the number of identified compounds". The human brain interprets visual data much better than plain text, hence the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words". Here, we present the BatMass software package, which allows for performing quick quality control of raw LC-MS data through its fast visualization capabilities. It also serves as a testbed for developers of LC-MS data processing algorithms by providing a data access library for open mass spectrometry file formats and a means of visually mapping processing results back to the original data. We illustrate the utility of BatMass with several use cases of quality control and data exploration.

Comprehensive model for predicting perceptual image quality of smart mobile devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Rui; Xu, Haisong; Luo, M R; Li, Haifeng

2015-01-01

An image quality model for smart mobile devices was proposed based on visual assessments of several image quality attributes. A series of psychophysical experiments were carried out on two kinds of smart mobile devices, i.e., smart phones and tablet computers, in which naturalness, colorfulness, brightness, contrast, sharpness, clearness, and overall image quality were visually evaluated under three lighting environments via categorical judgment method for various application types of test images. On the basis of Pearson correlation coefficients and factor analysis, the overall image quality could first be predicted by its two constituent attributes with multiple linear regression functions for different types of images, respectively, and then the mathematical expressions were built to link the constituent image quality attributes with the physical parameters of smart mobile devices and image appearance factors. The procedure and algorithms were applicable to various smart mobile devices, different lighting conditions, and multiple types of images, and performance was verified by the visual data.

Visualization of big SPH simulations via compressed octree grids

KAUST Repository

Reichl, Florian; Treib, Marc; Westermann, Rudiger

2013-01-01

Interactive and high-quality visualization of spatially continuous 3D fields represented by scattered distributions of billions of particles is challenging. One common approach is to resample the quantities carried by the particles to a regular grid

An efficient visualization method for analyzing biometric data

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmes, Mark; McGonagle, Mike; Yates, J. Harlan; Henning, Ronda; Hackett, Jay

2013-05-01

We introduce a novel application for biometric data analysis. This technology can be used as part of a unique and systematic approach designed to augment existing processing chains. Our system provides image quality control and analysis capabilities. We show how analysis and efficient visualization are used as part of an automated process. The goal of this system is to provide a unified platform for the analysis of biometric images that reduce manual effort and increase the likelihood of a match being brought to an examiner's attention from either a manual or lights-out application. We discuss the functionality of FeatureSCOPE™ which provides an efficient tool for feature analysis and quality control of biometric extracted features. Biometric databases must be checked for accuracy for a large volume of data attributes. Our solution accelerates review of features by a factor of up to 100 times. Review of qualitative results and cost reduction is shown by using efficient parallel visual review for quality control. Our process automatically sorts and filters features for examination, and packs these into a condensed view. An analyst can then rapidly page through screens of features and flag and annotate outliers as necessary.

Online Fabric Defect Inspection Using Smart Visual Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Changqing Sun

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Fabric defect inspection is necessary and essential for quality control in the textile industry. Traditionally, fabric inspection to assure textile quality is done by humans, however, in the past years, researchers have paid attention to PC-based automatic inspection systems to improve the detection efficiency. This paper proposes a novel automatic inspection scheme for the warp knitting machine using smart visual sensors. The proposed system consists of multiple smart visual sensors and a controller. Each sensor can scan 800 mm width of web, and can work independently. The following are considered in dealing with broken-end defects caused by a single yarn: first, a smart visual sensor is composed of a powerful DSP processor and a 2-megapixel high definition image sensor. Second, a wavelet transform is used to decompose fabric images, and an improved direct thresholding method based on high frequency coefficients is proposed. Third, a proper template is chosen in a mathematical morphology filter to remove noise. Fourth, a defect detection algorithm is optimized to meet real-time demands. The proposed scheme has been running for six months on a warp knitting machine in a textile factory. The actual operation shows that the system is effective, and its detection rate reaches 98%.

Visualization for genomics: the Microbial Genome Viewer.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerkhoven, Robert; van Enckevort, Frank H J; Boekhorst, Jos; Molenaar, Douwe; Siezen, Roland J

2004-07-22

A Web-based visualization tool, the Microbial Genome Viewer, is presented that allows the user to combine complex genomic data in a highly interactive way. This Web tool enables the interactive generation of chromosome wheels and linear genome maps from genome annotation data stored in a MySQL database. The generated images are in scalable vector graphics (SVG) format, which is suitable for creating high-quality scalable images and dynamic Web representations. Gene-related data such as transcriptome and time-course microarray experiments can be superimposed on the maps for visual inspection. The Microbial Genome Viewer 1.0 is freely available at http://www.cmbi.kun.nl/MGV

Fear of heights and visual height intolerance.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Thomas; Huppert, Doreen

2014-02-01

The aim of this review is, first, to cover the different aspects of visual height intolerance such as historical descriptions, definition of terms, phenomenology of the condition, neurophysiological control of gaze, stance and locomotion, and therapy, and, second, to identify warranted epidemiological and experimental studies. Vivid descriptions of fear of heights can be found in ancient texts from the Greek, Roman, and Chinese classics. The life-time prevalence of visual height intolerance is as high as 28% in the general population, and about 50% of those who are susceptible report an impact on quality of life. When exposed to heights, visual exploration by eye and head movements is restricted, and the velocity of locomotion is reduced. Therapy for fear of heights is dominated by the behavioral techniques applied during real or virtual reality exposure. Their efficacy might be facilitated by the administration of D-cycloserine or glucocorticoids. Visual height intolerance has a considerable impact on daily life and interpersonal interactions. It is much more frequent than fear of heights, which is defined as an environmental subtype of a specific phobia. There is certainly a continuum stretching from acrophobia to a less-pronounced visual height intolerance, to which the categorical distinction of a specific phobia does not apply.

Do visually impaired children and their parents agree on the child's vision-related quality of life and functional vision?

Science.gov (United States)

Tadić, Valerija; Cumberland, Phillippa M; Lewando-Hundt, Gillian; Rahi, Jugnoo S

2017-01-01

Aims To investigate agreement between children with visual impairment (VI) and their parents on their ratings of the child's vision-related quality of life (VQoL) and functional vision (FV) using two novel self-report patient-reported outcome measures developed for this population. Methods 99 children aged 10–15 years (mean age=12.2, SD=1.9) with VI (best corrected acuity (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) 0.50 or worse in better eye) and their parents participated in a national postal survey, completing the child and proxy versions of our novel instruments assessing VQoL and FV of children with VI—the vision-related quality of life instrument for children and young people (VQoL_CYP) and the functional vision questionnaire for children and young people (FVQ_CYP), respectively. Parent-child agreement was investigated using the Bland-Altman (BA) method. Variation across key sociodemographic and clinical characteristics was examined using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient. Results Average parental ratings of their child's VQoL and FV were significantly lower than the children's own ratings, but the range of disagreement was wide, with parents both overestimating and underestimating their child's VQoL (mean score difference=5.7, BA limits of agreement (LOA): lower −22.10 (CI 95% −24.61 to 19.59) and upper 33.50 (CI 95% 30.99 to 36.01)), but more consistently underestimating the child's FV (mean score difference=−11.8, BA LOA: lower −39.60 (CI 95% −42.12 to 37.08) and upper 16 (CI 95% 13.48 to 18.52)). There was variation in agreement by some child characteristics, including vision level, time of onset and course of VI progression. Conclusions Visually impaired children and their parents perceive the broader impact of living with VI very differently. There is value in routine capture of information independently from children and their parents for comprehensively gauging the impact of childhood VI and tailoring appropriate interventions

Attention and visual memory in visualization and computer graphics.

Science.gov (United States)

Healey, Christopher G; Enns, James T

2012-07-01

A fundamental goal of visualization is to produce images of data that support visual analysis, exploration, and discovery of novel insights. An important consideration during visualization design is the role of human visual perception. How we "see" details in an image can directly impact a viewer's efficiency and effectiveness. This paper surveys research on attention and visual perception, with a specific focus on results that have direct relevance to visualization and visual analytics. We discuss theories of low-level visual perception, then show how these findings form a foundation for more recent work on visual memory and visual attention. We conclude with a brief overview of how knowledge of visual attention and visual memory is being applied in visualization and graphics. We also discuss how challenges in visualization are motivating research in psychophysics.

Developing an Interactive Data Visualization Tool to Assess the Impact of Decision Support on Clinical Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, Timothy C; Krishnaraj, Arun; Monaghan, Dayna; Gaskin, Cree M

2018-05-18

Due to mandates from recent legislation, clinical decision support (CDS) software is being adopted by radiology practices across the country. This software provides imaging study decision support for referring providers at the point of order entry. CDS systems produce a large volume of data, providing opportunities for research and quality improvement. In order to better visualize and analyze trends in this data, an interactive data visualization dashboard was created using a commercially available data visualization platform. Following the integration of a commercially available clinical decision support product into the electronic health record, a dashboard was created using a commercially available data visualization platform (Tableau, Seattle, WA). Data generated by the CDS were exported from the data warehouse, where they were stored, into the platform. This allowed for real-time visualization of the data generated by the decision support software. The creation of the dashboard allowed the output from the CDS platform to be more easily analyzed and facilitated hypothesis generation. Integrating data visualization tools into clinical decision support tools allows for easier data analysis and can streamline research and quality improvement efforts.

A web-mapping system for real-time visualization of the global terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Liqiang; Yang, Chongjun; Liu, Donglin; Ren, Yingchao; Rui, Xiaoping

2005-04-01

In this paper, we mainly present a web-based 3D global terrain visualization application that provides more powerful transmission and visualization of global multiresolution data sets across networks. A client/server architecture is put forward. The paper also reports various relevant research work, such as efficient data compression methods to reduce the physical size of these data sets and accelerate network delivery, streaming transmission for progressively downloading data, and real-time multiresolution terrain surface visualization with a high visual quality by M-band wavelet transforms and a hierarchical triangulation technique. Finally, an experiment is performed using different levels of detailed data to verify that the system works appropriately.

Summary of Surface-Water Quality Data from the Illinois River Basin in Northeast Oklahoma, 1970-2007

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews, William J.; Becker, Mark F.; Smith, S. Jerrod; Tortorelli, Robert L.

2009-01-01

The quality of streams in the Illinois River Basin of northeastern Oklahoma is potentially threatened by increased quantities of wastes discharged from increasing human populations, grazing of about 160,000 cattle, and confined animal feeding operations raising about 20 million chickens. Increasing numbers of humans and livestock in the basin contribute nutrients and bacteria to surface water and groundwater, causing greater than the typical concentrations of those constituents for this region. Consequences of increasing contributions of these substances can include increased algal growth (eutrophication) in streams and lakes; impairment of habitat for native aquatic animals, including desirable game fish species; impairment of drinking-water quality by sediments, turbidity, taste-and-odor causing chemicals, toxic algal compounds, and bacteria; and reduction in the aesthetic quality of the streams. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, prepared this report to summarize the surface-water-quality data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey at five long-term surface-water-quality monitoring sites. The data summarized include major ions, nutrients, sediment, and fecal-indicator bacteria from the Illinois River Basin in Oklahoma for 1970 through 2007. General water chemistry, concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, chlorophyll-a (an indicator of algal biomass), fecal-indicator bacteria counts, and sediment concentrations were similar among the five long-term monitoring sites in the Illinois River Basin in northeast Oklahoma. Most water samples were phosphorus-limited, meaning that they contained a smaller proportion of phosphorus, relative to nitrogen, than typically occurs in algal tissues. Greater degrees of nitrogen limitation occurred at three of the five sites which were sampled back to the 1970s, probably due to use of detergents containing greater concentrations of phosphorus than in subsequent

Evaluation of an organic light-emitting diode display for precise visual stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Hiroyuki; Ogawa, Masaki; Sunaga, Shoji

2013-06-11

A new type of visual display for presentation of a visual stimulus with high quality was assessed. The characteristics of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display (Sony PVM-2541, 24.5 in.; Sony Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) were measured in detail from the viewpoint of its applicability to visual psychophysics. We found the new display to be superior to other display types in terms of spatial uniformity, color gamut, and contrast ratio. Changes in the intensity of luminance were sharper on the OLED display than those on a liquid crystal display. Therefore, such OLED displays could replace conventional cathode ray tube displays in vision research for high quality stimulus presentation. Benefits of using OLED displays in vision research were especially apparent in the fields of low-level vision, where precise control and description of the stimulus are needed, e.g., in mesopic or scotopic vision, color vision, and motion perception.

Assessing Software Quality Through Visualised Cohesion Metrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy Shih

2001-05-01

Full Text Available Cohesion is one of the most important factors for software quality as well as maintainability, reliability and reusability. Module cohesion is defined as a quality attribute that seeks for measuring the singleness of the purpose of a module. The module of poor quality can be a serious obstacle to the system quality. In order to design a good software quality, software managers and engineers need to introduce cohesion metrics to measure and produce desirable software. A highly cohesion software is thought to be a desirable constructing. In this paper, we propose a function-oriented cohesion metrics based on the analysis of live variables, live span and the visualization of processing element dependency graph. We give six typical cohesion examples to be measured as our experiments and justification. Therefore, a well-defined, well-normalized, well-visualized and well-experimented cohesion metrics is proposed to indicate and thus enhance software cohesion strength. Furthermore, this cohesion metrics can be easily incorporated with software CASE tool to help software engineers to improve software quality.

Evaluación del paisaje visual en humedales del río Cruces, sitio Ramsar de Chile Assessment of wetland visual landscape in the Cruces River, Ramsar site of Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANDRÉS MUÑOZ-PEDREROS

2012-03-01

valoración de los paisajes se relacionan más fuertemente con las características de la línea y de la textura como grano y densidad y su valoración es dependiente de su componente primario, los de VP alto se relacionan con cortina densa de Salix spp. con vegetación palustre y paisajes con vegetación boscosa.Landscape is an environmental heritage, which includes cultural and natural values, a resource that represents the appearance of an area and reflects its nature and history. Thus, this heritage resource should be assessed and managed rationally, especially since there is an increasing demand for areas of high landscape value for ecotourism activities. Regarding the study of visual landscape, it was not considered as a measurable element until the mid-twentieth century and considerable progress has been made in assessing the quality, the fragility and capacity for use as a direct assessment of the landscape. Still pending is the indirect analysis which includes its basic visual features such as line, color, texture, spatial configuration and relief, and their components, both primary and secondary. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the visual landscape (direct analysis of the Cruces River and surrounding area, its fragility and capacity for use, analyzing the relationship between the value of these landscapes with their visual characteristics and primary components (indirect analysis. The visual landscape quality was assessed using a mixed method with direct assessment of representative subjectivity and subsequent indirect analysis of its components, using a standardized panel of assessors. We also determined the fragility of the landscape, which was integrated with the visual quality and spatialized in a GIS. Thus categories of landscape use in the study area were created. The landscape quality average value (± SD was VP = 16.86 ± 1.99. Recommended uses are in category 3 (high landscape quality and low fragility that is tourism and recreation

[Visual cues as a therapeutic tool in Parkinson's disease. A systematic review].

Science.gov (United States)

Muñoz-Hellín, Elena; Cano-de-la-Cuerda, Roberto; Miangolarra-Page, Juan Carlos

2013-01-01

Sensory stimuli or sensory cues are being used as a therapeutic tool for improving gait disorders in Parkinson's disease patients, but most studies seem to focus on auditory stimuli. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review regarding the use of visual cues over gait disorders, dual tasks during gait, freezing and the incidence of falls in patients with Parkinson to obtain therapeutic implications. We conducted a systematic review in main databases such as Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, TripDataBase, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE and Physiotherapy Evidence Database, during 2005 to 2012, according to the recommendations of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, evaluating the quality of the papers included with the Downs & Black Quality Index. 21 articles were finally included in this systematic review (with a total of 892 participants) with variable methodological quality, achieving an average of 17.27 points in the Downs and Black Quality Index (range: 11-21). Visual cues produce improvements over temporal-spatial parameters in gait, turning execution, reducing the appearance of freezing and falls in Parkinson's disease patients. Visual cues appear to benefit dual tasks during gait, reducing the interference of the second task. Further studies are needed to determine the preferred type of stimuli for each stage of the disease. Copyright © 2012 SEGG. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

VITA-6.2: Advanced visual tool for information management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobson, Z.; Truong, Q.S.; Houston, B.; Taylor, V.; Herber, N.; El Gebaly, A.

2007-01-01

Visual Interface for Text Analysis (VITA), our combined user interface and meta-search engine software application, improves the quality and speed at which intelligence analysts can explore novel massive text corpora via innovations that facilitate user contextual awareness. (author)

[Survey on avoidable blindness and visual impairment in Panama].

Science.gov (United States)

López, Maritza; Brea, Ileana; Yee, Rita; Yi, Rodolfo; Carles, Víctor; Broce, Alberto; Limburg, Hans; Silva, Juan Carlos

2014-12-01

Determine prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in adults aged ≥ 50 years in Panama, identify their main causes, and characterize eye health services. Cross-sectional population study using standard Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness methodology. Fifty people aged ≥ 50 years were selected from each of 84 clusters chosen through representative random sampling of the entire country. Visual acuity was assessed using a Snellen chart; lens and posterior pole status were assessed by direct ophthalmoscopy. Cataract surgery coverage was calculated and its quality assessed, along with causes of visual acuity blindness was 3.0% (95% CI: 2.3-3.6). The main cause of blindness was cataract (66.4%), followed by glaucoma (10.2%). Cataract (69.2%) was the main cause of severe visual impairment and uncorrected refractive errors were the main cause of moderate visual impairment (60.7%). Surgical cataract coverage in individuals was 76.3%. Of all eyes operated for cataract, 58.0% achieved visual acuity ≤ 20/60 with available correction. Prevalence of blindness in Panama is in line with average prevalence found in other countries of the Region. This problem can be reduced, since 76.2% of cases of blindness and 85.0% of cases of severe visual impairment result from avoidable causes.

Development of carotenoid-enriched vegetables with increased nutritional quality and visual appearance

Science.gov (United States)

Carotenoids are a class of red, orange and yellow pigments widely distributed in nature. Biotech approach has been proved to be effective in successfully engineering of carotenoid content in food crops with better health and visual appearance....

Visual bias in subjective assessments of automotive sounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ellermeier, Wolfgang; Legarth, Søren Vase

2006-01-01

In order to evaluate how strong the influence of visual input on sound quality evaluation may be, a naive sample of 20 participants was asked to judge interior automotive sound recordings while simultaneously being exposed to pictures of cars. twenty-two recordings of second-gear acceleration...

Suitable Image Intensity Normalization for Arterial Visualization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yara Omran

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Ultrasonic imaging is a widely used non-invasivemedical imaging procedure since it is economical, comparativelysafe, portable and adaptable. However, one of its main weaknessesis the poor quality of images, which makes the enhancementof image quality an important issue in order to have a moreaccurate diagnose of the disease, or for the transformation of theimage through telemedicine channel and in many other imageprocessing tasks [1]. The purpose of this paper is to automaticallyenhance the image quality after the automatic detection of theartery wall. This step is essential before subsequent measurementsof arterial parameters [9]. This was performed automaticallyby applying linear normalization, where results showedthat normalization of ultra sound images is an important step inenhancing the image quality for later processing. In comparisonwith other methods, our method is automatic. The evaluationof image quality was done mathematically by comparing pixelintensities of images before and after enhancement, in additionto a visual evaluation.

Visual Literacy and Visual Thinking.

Science.gov (United States)

Hortin, John A.

It is proposed that visual literacy be defined as the ability to understand (read) and use (write) images and to think and learn in terms of images. This definition includes three basic principles: (1) visuals are a language and thus analogous to verbal language; (2) a visually literate person should be able to understand (read) images and use…

Visual Literacy and Visual Culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Messaris, Paul

Familiarity with specific images or sets of images plays a role in a culture's visual heritage. Two questions can be asked about this type of visual literacy: Is this a type of knowledge that is worth building into the formal educational curriculum of our schools? What are the educational implications of visual literacy? There is a three-part…

Prevalence and Causes of Visual Loss Among the Indigenous Peoples of the World: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Foreman, Joshua; Keel, Stuart; van Wijngaarden, Peter; Bourne, Rupert A; Wormald, Richard; Crowston, Jonathan; Taylor, Hugh R; Dirani, Mohamed

2018-05-01

Studies have documented a higher disease burden in indigenous compared with nonindigenous populations, but no global data on the epidemiology of visual loss in indigenous peoples are available. A systematic review of literature on visual loss in the world's indigenous populations could identify major gaps and inform interventions to reduce their burden of visual loss. To conduct a systematic review on the prevalence and causes of visual loss among the world's indigenous populations. A search of databases and alternative sources identified literature on the prevalence and causes of visual loss (visual impairment and blindness) and eye diseases in indigenous populations. Studies from January 1, 1990, through August 1, 2017, that included clinical eye examinations of indigenous participants and, where possible, compared findings with those of nonindigenous populations were included. Methodologic quality of studies was evaluated to reveal gaps in the literature. Limited data were available worldwide. A total of 85 articles described 64 unique studies from 24 countries that examined 79 598 unique indigenous participants. Nineteen studies reported comparator data on 42 085 nonindigenous individuals. The prevalence of visual loss was reported in 13 countries, with visual impairment ranging from 0.6% in indigenous Australian children to 48.5% in native Tibetans 50 years or older. Uncorrected refractive error was the main cause of visual impairment (21.0%-65.1%) in 5 of 6 studies that measured presenting visual acuity. Cataract was the main cause of visual impairment in all 6 studies measuring best-corrected acuity (25.4%-72.2%). Cataract was the leading cause of blindness in 13 studies (32.0%-79.2%), followed by uncorrected refractive error in 2 studies (33.0% and 35.8%). Most countries with indigenous peoples do not have data on the burden of visual loss in these populations. Although existing studies vary in methodologic quality and reliability, they suggest that most

[Nitrogen and phosphate pollution characteristics and eutrophication evaluation for typical urban landscape waters in Hefei City].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ru-Zhong; Liu, Ke-Feng; Qian, Jing; Yang, Ji-Wei; Zhang, Pian-Pian

2014-05-01

To understand the water environment regimes of the city-circling water system in Hefei City, six typical landscape waters were chosen to investigate pollution characteristics of nitrogen and phosphate and evaluate water eutrophication level according to the monitoring data of water physicochemical characteristics and chlorophyll content from September 2012 to July 2013. Study results showed that (1) the six waters mentioned above have been seriously polluted by nitrogen and phosphorus loadings, with the monthly mean values of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations far exceeding the universally accepted threshold values of water eutrophication; (2) the nitrogen contents in the waters of Nanfeihe River, Heichiba and Yuhuatang scenic spots exhibited a markedly monthly variation, and both TP and PO(3-)(4)-P in Nanfeihe River showed a fluctuated characteristic with high concentrations while presenting a significant upward trend in Yuhuatang scenic spot; (3) the average values of TN/TP ratios for Yuhuatang and Heichiba scenic spots were 104.7 and 158.3, respectively, and the ratios for Baohe Park, Yinhe Park, Xiaoyaojin Park, and city segment of Nanfeihe River were 16.8, 18.7, 6.4 and 16.8, respectively, indicating that the scenic waters of Yuhuatang and Heichiba were phosphate-limited whereas Xiaoyaojin Park was nitrogen-limited; (4) all the six scenic waters were, in general, subsumed under just two broad categories, namely Hechiba scenic spot and Nanfeihe River, which were seriously polluted, and clustered together, and the others fall into the second class; and (5) water eutrophication appraisal result indicated that the six waters were all in the state of eutrophication, and could be arranged in the order of eutrophication level, Yinhe Park > Heichiba scenic spot > city segment of Nanfeihe River > Xiaoyaojin Park > Yuhuatang scenic spot > Baohe Park.

Sight or scent: lemur sensory reliance in detecting food quality varies with feeding ecology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Rushmore

Full Text Available Visual and olfactory cues provide important information to foragers, yet we know little about species differences in sensory reliance during food selection. In a series of experimental foraging studies, we examined the relative reliance on vision versus olfaction in three diurnal, primate species with diverse feeding ecologies, including folivorous Coquerel's sifakas (Propithecus coquereli, frugivorous ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata spp, and generalist ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta. We used animals with known color-vision status and foods for which different maturation stages (and hence quality produce distinct visual and olfactory cues (the latter determined chemically. We first showed that lemurs preferentially selected high-quality foods over low-quality foods when visual and olfactory cues were simultaneously available for both food types. Next, using a novel apparatus in a series of discrimination trials, we either manipulated food quality (while holding sensory cues constant or manipulated sensory cues (while holding food quality constant. Among our study subjects that showed relatively strong preferences for high-quality foods, folivores required both sensory cues combined to reliably identify their preferred foods, whereas generalists could identify their preferred foods using either cue alone, and frugivores could identify their preferred foods using olfactory, but not visual, cues alone. Moreover, when only high-quality foods were available, folivores and generalists used visual rather than olfactory cues to select food, whereas frugivores used both cue types equally. Lastly, individuals in all three of the study species predominantly relied on sight when choosing between low-quality foods, but species differed in the strength of their sensory biases. Our results generally emphasize visual over olfactory reliance in foraging lemurs, but we suggest that the relative sensory reliance of animals may vary with their feeding ecology.

Understanding Visual Novel As Artwork of Visual Communication Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dendi Pratama

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Visual Novel is a kind of audiovisual game that offers visual strength through the narrative and visual characters. The developer community of Visual Novel (VN Project Indonesia indicated a limited local game developer that produces Visual Novel of Indonesia. In addition, Indonesian Visual Novel production was also more influenced by the style of anime or manga from Japan. Actually, Visual Novel is part of the potential of  creative industries products. The study is to formulate the problem, how to understand Visual Novel as artwork of visual communication design, especially among students? This research is a case study conducted on visual communication design student at the University Indraprasta PGRI Jakarta. The results showed low levels of knowledge, understanding, and experience of  the Visual Novel game, which is below 50%. Qualitative and quantitative methods combined with structural semiotic approach is used to describe the elements of the design and the signs structure at the Visual Novel. This research can be a scientific reference for further introduce and encourage an understanding of Visual Novel as artwork of Visual Communication Design. In addition, the results may add to the knowledge of  society, and encourage the development of Visual Novel artwork that  reflect the culture of Indonesia. Visual Novel adalah sejenis permainan audiovisual yang menawarkan kekuatan visual melalui narasi dan karakter visual. Data dari komunitas pengembang Visual Novel (VN Project Indonesia menunjukkan masih terbatasnya pengembang game lokal yang memproduksi Visual Novel Indonesia. Selain itu, produksi Visual Novel Indonesia juga lebih banyak dipengaruhi oleh gaya anime dan manga dari Jepang. Padahal Visual Novel adalah bagian dari produk industri kreatif yang potensial. Studi ini merumuskan masalah, bagaimana memahami Visual Novel sebagai karya seni desain komunikasi visual, khususnya di kalangan mahasiswa? Penelitian ini merupakan studi kasus

Assessment of visual disability using visual evoked potentials.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, Jihoon; Oh, Seiyul; Kyung, Sungeun

2012-08-06

The purpose of this study is to validate the use of visual evoked potential (VEP) to objectively quantify visual acuity in normal and amblyopic patients, and determine if it is possible to predict visual acuity in disability assessment to register visual pathway lesions. A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients diagnosed with normal vision, unilateral amblyopia, optic neuritis, and visual disability who visited the university medical center for registration from March 2007 to October 2009. The study included 20 normal subjects (20 right eyes: 10 females, 10 males, ages 9-42 years), 18 unilateral amblyopic patients (18 amblyopic eyes, ages 19-36 years), 19 optic neuritis patients (19 eyes: ages 9-71 years), and 10 patients with visual disability having visual pathway lesions. Amplitude and latencies were analyzed and correlations with visual acuity (logMAR) were derived from 20 normal and 18 amblyopic subjects. Correlation of VEP amplitude and visual acuity (logMAR) of 19 optic neuritis patients confirmed relationships between visual acuity and amplitude. We calculated the objective visual acuity (logMAR) of 16 eyes from 10 patients to diagnose the presence or absence of visual disability using relations derived from 20 normal and 18 amblyopic eyes. Linear regression analyses between amplitude of pattern visual evoked potentials and visual acuity (logMAR) of 38 eyes from normal (right eyes) and amblyopic (amblyopic eyes) subjects were significant [y = -0.072x + 1.22, x: VEP amplitude, y: visual acuity (logMAR)]. There were no significant differences between visual acuity prediction values, which substituted amplitude values of 19 eyes with optic neuritis into function. We calculated the objective visual acuity of 16 eyes of 10 patients to diagnose the presence or absence of visual disability using relations of y = -0.072x + 1.22 (-0.072). This resulted in a prediction reference of visual acuity associated with malingering vs. real

Stroke survivors' views and experiences on impact of visual impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Fiona J

2017-09-01

We sought to determine stroke survivors' views on impact of stroke-related visual impairment to quality of life. Stroke survivors with visual impairment, more than 1 year post stroke onset, were recruited. Semistructured biographical narrative interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic approach to analysis of the qualitative data was adopted. Transcripts were systematically coded using NVivo10 software. Thirty-five stroke survivors were interviewed across the UK: 16 females, 19 males; aged 20-75 years at stroke onset. Five qualitative themes emerged: "Formal care," "Symptoms and self," "Adaptations," "Daily life," and "Information." Where visual problems existed, they were often not immediately recognized as part of the stroke syndrome and attributed to other causes such as migraine. Many participants did not receive early vision assessment or treatment for their visual problems. Visual problems included visual field loss, double vision, and perceptual problems. Impact of visual problems included loss in confidence, being a burden to others, increased collisions/accidents, and fear of falling. They made many self-identified adaptations to compensate for visual problems: magnifiers, large print, increased lighting, use of white sticks. There was a consistent lack of support and provision of information about visual problems. Poststroke visual impairment causes considerable impact to daily life which could be substantially improved by simple measures including early formal visual assessment, management and advice on adaptive strategies and self-management options. Improved education about poststroke visual impairment for the public and clinicians could aid earlier diagnosis of visual impairments.

Interactions between visual working memory and visual attention

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olivers, C.N.L.

2008-01-01

Visual attention is the collection of mechanisms by which relevant visual information is selected, and irrelevant visual information is ignored. Visual working memory is the mechanism by which relevant visual information is retained, and irrelevant information is suppressed. In addition to this

VAST Challenge 2016: Streaming Visual Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

2016-10-25

life (Fig. 6), earning them an honorable mention for Quality Aesthetics. Finally, TCS Research used iconic representation to help analysts understand...ventilation (bottom). Figure 7: Iconic representation of patterns inferred by TCS Research (#130). Top: an increase in number of employees in a...include both perceptual and cognitive considerations (i.e., visual channel capabilities, short-term memory capacity, etc.). An example of one such

High performance visual display for HENP detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGuigan, Michael; Smith, Gordon; Spiletic, John; Fine, Valeri; Nevski, Pavel

2001-01-01

A high end visual display for High Energy Nuclear Physics (HENP) detectors is necessary because of the sheer size and complexity of the detector. For BNL this display will be of special interest because of STAR and ATLAS. To load, rotate, query, and debug simulation code with a modern detector simply takes too long even on a powerful work station. To visualize the HENP detectors with maximal performance we have developed software with the following characteristics. We develop a visual display of HENP detectors on BNL multiprocessor visualization server at multiple level of detail. We work with general and generic detector framework consistent with ROOT, GAUDI etc, to avoid conflicting with the many graphic development groups associated with specific detectors like STAR and ATLAS. We develop advanced OpenGL features such as transparency and polarized stereoscopy. We enable collaborative viewing of detector and events by directly running the analysis in BNL stereoscopic theatre. We construct enhanced interactive control, including the ability to slice, search and mark areas of the detector. We incorporate the ability to make a high quality still image of a view of the detector and the ability to generate animations and a fly through of the detector and output these to MPEG or VRML models. We develop data compression hardware and software so that remote interactive visualization will be possible among dispersed collaborators. We obtain real time visual display for events accumulated during simulations

Constructivist-Visual Mind Map Teaching Approach and the Quality of Students' Cognitive Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Dhindsa, Harkirat S.; Makarimi-Kasim; Roger Anderson, O.

2011-04-01

This study compared the effects of a constructivist-visual mind map teaching approach (CMA) and of a traditional teaching approach (TTA) on (a) the quality and richness of students' knowledge structures and (b) TTA and CMA students' perceptions of the extent that a constructivist learning environment (CLE) was created in their classes. The sample of the study consisted of six classes (140 Form 3 students of 13-15 years old) selected from a typical coeducational school in Brunei. Three classes (40 boys and 30 girls) were taught using the TTA while three other classes (41 boys and 29 girls) used the CMA, enriched with PowerPoint presentations. After the interventions (lessons on magnetism), the students in both groups were asked to describe in writing their understanding of magnetism accrued from the lessons. Their written descriptions were analyzed using flow map analyses to assess their content knowledge and its organisation in memory as evidence of cognitive structure. The extent of CLE was measured using a published CLE survey. The results showed that the cognitive structures of the CMA students were more extensive, thematically organised and richer in interconnectedness of thoughts than those of TTA students. Moreover, CMA students also perceived their classroom learning environment to be more constructivist than their counterparts. It is, therefore, recommended that teachers consider using the CMA teaching technique to help students enrich their understanding, especially for more complex or abstract scientific content.

PSQM-based RR and NR video quality metrics

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zhongkang; Lin, Weisi; Ong, Eeping; Yang, Xiaokang; Yao, Susu

2003-06-01

This paper presents a new and general concept, PQSM (Perceptual Quality Significance Map), to be used in measuring the visual distortion. It makes use of the selectivity characteristic of HVS (Human Visual System) that it pays more attention to certain area/regions of visual signal due to one or more of the following factors: salient features in image/video, cues from domain knowledge, and association of other media (e.g., speech or audio). PQSM is an array whose elements represent the relative perceptual-quality significance levels for the corresponding area/regions for images or video. Due to its generality, PQSM can be incorporated into any visual distortion metrics: to improve effectiveness or/and efficiency of perceptual metrics; or even to enhance a PSNR-based metric. A three-stage PQSM estimation method is also proposed in this paper, with an implementation of motion, texture, luminance, skin-color and face mapping. Experimental results show the scheme can improve the performance of current image/video distortion metrics.