Is Attention Based on Spatial Contextual Memory Preferentially Guided by Low Spatial Frequency Signals?

PubMed Central

Patai, Eva Zita; Buckley, Alice; Nobre, Anna Christina

2013-01-01

A popular model of visual perception states that coarse information (carried by low spatial frequencies) along the dorsal stream is rapidly transmitted to prefrontal and medial temporal areas, activating contextual information from memory, which can in turn constrain detailed input carried by high spatial frequencies arriving at a slower rate along the ventral visual stream, thus facilitating the processing of ambiguous visual stimuli. We were interested in testing whether this model contributes to memory-guided orienting of attention. In particular, we asked whether global, low-spatial frequency (LSF) inputs play a dominant role in triggering contextual memories in order to facilitate the processing of the upcoming target stimulus. We explored this question over four experiments. The first experiment replicated the LSF advantage reported in perceptual discrimination tasks by showing that participants were faster and more accurate at matching a low spatial frequency version of a scene, compared to a high spatial frequency version, to its original counterpart in a forced-choice task. The subsequent three experiments tested the relative contributions of low versus high spatial frequencies during memory-guided covert spatial attention orienting tasks. Replicating the effects of memory-guided attention, pre-exposure to scenes associated with specific spatial memories for target locations (memory cues) led to higher perceptual discrimination and faster response times to identify targets embedded in the scenes. However, either high or low spatial frequency cues were equally effective; LSF signals did not selectively or preferentially contribute to the memory-driven attention benefits to performance. Our results challenge a generalized model that LSFs activate contextual memories, which in turn bias attention and facilitate perception. PMID:23776509

Cross-media color reproduction using the frequency-based spatial gamut mapping algorithm based on human color vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Guangyuan; Niu, Shijun; Li, Xiaozhou; Hu, Guichun

2018-04-01

Due to the increasing globalization of printing industry, remoting proofing will become the inevitable development trend. Cross-media color reproduction will occur in different color gamuts using remote proofing technologies, which usually leads to the problem of incompatible color gamut. In this paper, to achieve equivalent color reproduction between a monitor and a printer, a frequency-based spatial gamut mapping algorithm is proposed for decreasing the loss of visual color information. The design of algorithm is based on the contrast sensitivity functions (CSF), which exploited CSF spatial filter to preserve luminance of the high spatial frequencies and chrominance of the low frequencies. First we show a general framework for how to apply CSF spatial filter in retention of relevant visual information. Then we compare the proposed framework with HPMINDE, CUSP, Bala's algorithm. The psychophysical experimental results indicated the good performance of the proposed algorithm.

Attending Globally or Locally: Incidental Learning of Optimal Visual Attention Allocation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, Melissa R.; Goldstein, Rebecca R.; van Lamsweerde, Amanda E.; Ericson, Justin M.

2018-01-01

Attention allocation determines the information that is encoded into memory. Can participants learn to optimally allocate attention based on what types of information are most likely to change? The current study examined whether participants could incidentally learn that changes to either high spatial frequency (HSF) or low spatial frequency (LSF)…

Psychophysical and physiological responses to gratings with luminance and chromatic components of different spatial frequencies.

PubMed

Cooper, Bonnie; Sun, Hao; Lee, Barry B

2012-02-01

Gratings that contain luminance and chromatic components of different spatial frequencies were used to study the segregation of signals in luminance and chromatic pathways. Psychophysical detection and discrimination thresholds to these compound gratings, with luminance and chromatic components of the one either half or double the spatial frequency of the other, were measured in human observers. Spatial frequency tuning curves for detection of compound gratings followed the envelope of those for luminance and chromatic gratings. Different grating types were discriminable at detection threshold. Fourier analysis of physiological responses of macaque retinal ganglion cells to compound waveforms showed chromatic information to be restricted to the parvocellular pathway and luminance information to the magnocellular pathway. Taken together, the human psychophysical and macaque physiological data support the strict segregation of luminance and chromatic information in independent channels, with the magnocellular and parvocellular pathways, respectively, serving as likely the physiological substrates. © 2012 Optical Society of America

A Rapid Subcortical Amygdala Route for Faces Irrespective of Spatial Frequency and Emotion.

PubMed

McFadyen, Jessica; Mermillod, Martial; Mattingley, Jason B; Halász, Veronika; Garrido, Marta I

2017-04-05

There is significant controversy over the existence and function of a direct subcortical visual pathway to the amygdala. It is thought that this pathway rapidly transmits low spatial frequency information to the amygdala independently of the cortex, and yet the directionality of this function has never been determined. We used magnetoencephalography to measure neural activity while human participants discriminated the gender of neutral and fearful faces filtered for low or high spatial frequencies. We applied dynamic causal modeling to demonstrate that the most likely underlying neural network consisted of a pulvinar-amygdala connection that was uninfluenced by spatial frequency or emotion, and a cortical-amygdala connection that conveyed high spatial frequencies. Crucially, data-driven neural simulations revealed a clear temporal advantage of the subcortical connection over the cortical connection in influencing amygdala activity. Thus, our findings support the existence of a rapid subcortical pathway that is nonselective in terms of the spatial frequency or emotional content of faces. We propose that that the "coarseness" of the subcortical route may be better reframed as "generalized." SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The human amygdala coordinates how we respond to biologically relevant stimuli, such as threat or reward. It has been postulated that the amygdala first receives visual input via a rapid subcortical route that conveys "coarse" information, namely, low spatial frequencies. For the first time, the present paper provides direction-specific evidence from computational modeling that the subcortical route plays a generalized role in visual processing by rapidly transmitting raw, unfiltered information directly to the amygdala. This calls into question a widely held assumption across human and animal research that fear responses are produced faster by low spatial frequencies. Our proposed mechanism suggests organisms quickly generate fear responses to a wide range of visual properties, heavily implicating future research on anxiety-prevention strategies. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/373864-11$15.00/0.

Recognition memory for low- and high-frequency-filtered emotional faces: Low spatial frequencies drive emotional memory enhancement, whereas high spatial frequencies drive the emotion-induced recognition bias.

PubMed

Rohr, Michaela; Tröger, Johannes; Michely, Nils; Uhde, Alarith; Wentura, Dirk

2017-07-01

This article deals with two well-documented phenomena regarding emotional stimuli: emotional memory enhancement-that is, better long-term memory for emotional than for neutral stimuli-and the emotion-induced recognition bias-that is, a more liberal response criterion for emotional than for neutral stimuli. Studies on visual emotion perception and attention suggest that emotion-related processes can be modulated by means of spatial-frequency filtering of the presented emotional stimuli. Specifically, low spatial frequencies are assumed to play a primary role for the influence of emotion on attention and judgment. Given this theoretical background, we investigated whether spatial-frequency filtering also impacts (1) the memory advantage for emotional faces and (2) the emotion-induced recognition bias, in a series of old/new recognition experiments. Participants completed incidental-learning tasks with high- (HSF) and low- (LSF) spatial-frequency-filtered emotional and neutral faces. The results of the surprise recognition tests showed a clear memory advantage for emotional stimuli. Most importantly, the emotional memory enhancement was significantly larger for face images containing only low-frequency information (LSF faces) than for HSF faces across all experiments, suggesting that LSF information plays a critical role in this effect, whereas the emotion-induced recognition bias was found only for HSF stimuli. We discuss our findings in terms of both the traditional account of different processing pathways for HSF and LSF information and a stimulus features account. The double dissociation in the results favors the latter account-that is, an explanation in terms of differences in the characteristics of HSF and LSF stimuli.

Beyond attentional bias: a perceptual bias in a dot-probe task.

PubMed

Bocanegra, Bruno R; Huijding, Jorg; Zeelenberg, René

2012-12-01

Previous dot-probe studies indicate that threat-related face cues induce a bias in spatial attention. Independently of spatial attention, a recent psychophysical study suggests that a bilateral fearful face cue improves low spatial-frequency perception (LSF) and impairs high spatial-frequency perception (HSF). Here, we combine these separate lines of research within a single dot-probe paradigm. We found that a bilateral fearful face cue, compared with a bilateral neutral face cue, speeded up responses to LSF targets and slowed down responses to HSF targets. This finding is important, as it shows that emotional cues in dot-probe tasks not only bias where information is preferentially processed (i.e., an attentional bias in spatial location), but also bias what type of information is preferentially processed (i.e., a perceptual bias in spatial frequency). PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Stimulus Type, Level of Categorization, and Spatial-Frequencies Utilization: Implications for Perceptual Categorization Hierarchies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harel, Assaf; Bentin, Shlomo

2009-01-01

The type of visual information needed for categorizing faces and nonface objects was investigated by manipulating spatial frequency scales available in the image during a category verification task addressing basic and subordinate levels. Spatial filtering had opposite effects on faces and airplanes that were modulated by categorization level. The…

Increased fusiform area activation in schizophrenia during processing of spatial frequency-degraded faces, as revealed by fMRI.

PubMed

Silverstein, S M; All, S D; Kasi, R; Berten, S; Essex, B; Lathrop, K L; Little, D M

2010-07-01

People with schizophrenia demonstrate perceptual organization impairments, and these are thought to contribute to their face processing difficulties. We examined the neural substrates of emotionally neutral face processing in schizophrenia by investigating neural activity under three stimulus conditions: faces characterized by the full spectrum of spatial frequencies, faces with low spatial frequency information removed [high spatial frequency (HSF) condition], and faces with high spatial frequency information removed [low spatial frequency (LSF) condition]. Face perception in the HSF condition is more reliant on local feature processing whereas perception in the LSF condition requires greater reliance on global form processing. Past studies of perceptual organization in schizophrenia indicate that patients perform relatively more poorly with degraded stimuli but also that, when global information is absent, patients may perform better than controls because of their relatively increased ability to initially process individual features. Therefore, we hypothesized that people with schizophrenia (n=14) would demonstrate greater face processing difficulties than controls (n=13) in the LSF condition, whereas they would demonstrate a smaller difference or superior performance in the HSF condition. In a gender-discrimination task, behavioral data indicated high levels of accuracy for both groups, with a trend toward an interaction involving higher patient performance in the HSF condition and poorer patient performance in the LSF condition. Patients demonstrated greater activity in the fusiform gyrus compared to controls in both degraded conditions. These data suggest that impairments in basic integration abilities may be compensated for by relatively increased activity in this region.

Spatial-frequency dependent binocular imbalance in amblyopia

PubMed Central

Kwon, MiYoung; Wiecek, Emily; Dakin, Steven C.; Bex, Peter J.

2015-01-01

While amblyopia involves both binocular imbalance and deficits in processing high spatial frequency information, little is known about the spatial-frequency dependence of binocular imbalance. Here we examined binocular imbalance as a function of spatial frequency in amblyopia using a novel computer-based method. Binocular imbalance at four spatial frequencies was measured with a novel dichoptic letter chart in individuals with amblyopia, or normal vision. Our dichoptic letter chart was composed of band-pass filtered letters arranged in a layout similar to the ETDRS acuity chart. A different chart was presented to each eye of the observer via stereo-shutter glasses. The relative contrast of the corresponding letter in each eye was adjusted by a computer staircase to determine a binocular Balance Point at which the observer reports the letter presented to either eye with equal probability. Amblyopes showed pronounced binocular imbalance across all spatial frequencies, with greater imbalance at high compared to low spatial frequencies (an average increase of 19%, p < 0.01). Good test-retest reliability of the method was demonstrated by the Bland-Altman plot. Our findings suggest that spatial-frequency dependent binocular imbalance may be useful for diagnosing amblyopia and as an outcome measure for recovery of binocular vision following therapy. PMID:26603125

Spatial-frequency dependent binocular imbalance in amblyopia.

PubMed

Kwon, MiYoung; Wiecek, Emily; Dakin, Steven C; Bex, Peter J

2015-11-25

While amblyopia involves both binocular imbalance and deficits in processing high spatial frequency information, little is known about the spatial-frequency dependence of binocular imbalance. Here we examined binocular imbalance as a function of spatial frequency in amblyopia using a novel computer-based method. Binocular imbalance at four spatial frequencies was measured with a novel dichoptic letter chart in individuals with amblyopia, or normal vision. Our dichoptic letter chart was composed of band-pass filtered letters arranged in a layout similar to the ETDRS acuity chart. A different chart was presented to each eye of the observer via stereo-shutter glasses. The relative contrast of the corresponding letter in each eye was adjusted by a computer staircase to determine a binocular Balance Point at which the observer reports the letter presented to either eye with equal probability. Amblyopes showed pronounced binocular imbalance across all spatial frequencies, with greater imbalance at high compared to low spatial frequencies (an average increase of 19%, p < 0.01). Good test-retest reliability of the method was demonstrated by the Bland-Altman plot. Our findings suggest that spatial-frequency dependent binocular imbalance may be useful for diagnosing amblyopia and as an outcome measure for recovery of binocular vision following therapy.

Advanced Image Processing Techniques for Maximum Information Recovery

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-11-01

0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision...available information from an image. Some radio frequency and optical sensors collect large-scale sets of spatial imagery data whose content is often...Some radio frequency and optical sensors collect large- scale sets of spatial imagery data whose content is often obscured by fog, clouds, foliage

Efficient visual object and word recognition relies on high spatial frequency coding in the left posterior fusiform gyrus: evidence from a case-series of patients with ventral occipito-temporal cortex damage.

PubMed

Roberts, Daniel J; Woollams, Anna M; Kim, Esther; Beeson, Pelagie M; Rapcsak, Steven Z; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

2013-11-01

Recent visual neuroscience investigations suggest that ventral occipito-temporal cortex is retinotopically organized, with high acuity foveal input projecting primarily to the posterior fusiform gyrus (pFG), making this region crucial for coding high spatial frequency information. Because high spatial frequencies are critical for fine-grained visual discrimination, we hypothesized that damage to the left pFG should have an adverse effect not only on efficient reading, as observed in pure alexia, but also on the processing of complex non-orthographic visual stimuli. Consistent with this hypothesis, we obtained evidence that a large case series (n = 20) of patients with lesions centered on left pFG: 1) Exhibited reduced sensitivity to high spatial frequencies; 2) demonstrated prolonged response latencies both in reading (pure alexia) and object naming; and 3) were especially sensitive to visual complexity and similarity when discriminating between novel visual patterns. These results suggest that the patients' dual reading and non-orthographic recognition impairments have a common underlying mechanism and reflect the loss of high spatial frequency visual information normally coded in the left pFG.

Influence of 4,4’-azobis (4-cyanopentanoic acid) in Transmission and Reflection Gratings Stored in a PVA/AA Photopolymer

PubMed Central

Fernandez, Elena; Fuentes, Rosa; Belendez, Augusto; Pascual, Inmaculada

2016-01-01

Holographic transmission gratings with a spatial frequency of 2658 lines/mm and reflection gratings with a spatial frequency of 4553 lines/mm were stored in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/acrylamide (AA) based photopolymer. This material can reach diffraction efficiencies close to 100% for spatial frequencies about 1000 lines/mm. However, for higher spatial frequencies, the diffraction efficiency decreases considerably as the spatial frequency increases. To enhance the material response at high spatial frequencies, a chain transfer agent, the 4,4’-azobis (4-cyanopentanoic acid), ACPA, is added to the composition of the material. Different concentrations of ACPA are incorporated into the main composition of the photopolymer to find the concentration value that provides the highest diffraction efficiency. Moreover, the refractive index modulation and the optical thickness of the transmission and reflection gratings were obtained, evaluated and compared to procure more information about the influence of the ACPA on them. PMID:28773322

Object Categorization in Finer Levels Relies More on Higher Spatial Frequencies and Takes Longer.

PubMed

Ashtiani, Matin N; Kheradpisheh, Saeed R; Masquelier, Timothée; Ganjtabesh, Mohammad

2017-01-01

The human visual system contains a hierarchical sequence of modules that take part in visual perception at different levels of abstraction, i.e., superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels. One important question is to identify the "entry" level at which the visual representation is commenced in the process of object recognition. For a long time, it was believed that the basic level had a temporal advantage over two others. This claim has been challenged recently. Here we used a series of psychophysics experiments, based on a rapid presentation paradigm, as well as two computational models, with bandpass filtered images of five object classes to study the processing order of the categorization levels. In these experiments, we investigated the type of visual information required for categorizing objects in each level by varying the spatial frequency bands of the input image. The results of our psychophysics experiments and computational models are consistent. They indicate that the different spatial frequency information had different effects on object categorization in each level. In the absence of high frequency information, subordinate and basic level categorization are performed less accurately, while the superordinate level is performed well. This means that low frequency information is sufficient for superordinate level, but not for the basic and subordinate levels. These finer levels rely more on high frequency information, which appears to take longer to be processed, leading to longer reaction times. Finally, to avoid the ceiling effect, we evaluated the robustness of the results by adding different amounts of noise to the input images and repeating the experiments. As expected, the categorization accuracy decreased and the reaction time increased significantly, but the trends were the same. This shows that our results are not due to a ceiling effect. The compatibility between our psychophysical and computational results suggests that the temporal advantage of the superordinate (resp. basic) level to basic (resp. subordinate) level is mainly due to the computational constraints (the visual system processes higher spatial frequencies more slowly, and categorization in finer levels depends more on these higher spatial frequencies).

Object Categorization in Finer Levels Relies More on Higher Spatial Frequencies and Takes Longer

PubMed Central

Ashtiani, Matin N.; Kheradpisheh, Saeed R.; Masquelier, Timothée; Ganjtabesh, Mohammad

2017-01-01

The human visual system contains a hierarchical sequence of modules that take part in visual perception at different levels of abstraction, i.e., superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels. One important question is to identify the “entry” level at which the visual representation is commenced in the process of object recognition. For a long time, it was believed that the basic level had a temporal advantage over two others. This claim has been challenged recently. Here we used a series of psychophysics experiments, based on a rapid presentation paradigm, as well as two computational models, with bandpass filtered images of five object classes to study the processing order of the categorization levels. In these experiments, we investigated the type of visual information required for categorizing objects in each level by varying the spatial frequency bands of the input image. The results of our psychophysics experiments and computational models are consistent. They indicate that the different spatial frequency information had different effects on object categorization in each level. In the absence of high frequency information, subordinate and basic level categorization are performed less accurately, while the superordinate level is performed well. This means that low frequency information is sufficient for superordinate level, but not for the basic and subordinate levels. These finer levels rely more on high frequency information, which appears to take longer to be processed, leading to longer reaction times. Finally, to avoid the ceiling effect, we evaluated the robustness of the results by adding different amounts of noise to the input images and repeating the experiments. As expected, the categorization accuracy decreased and the reaction time increased significantly, but the trends were the same. This shows that our results are not due to a ceiling effect. The compatibility between our psychophysical and computational results suggests that the temporal advantage of the superordinate (resp. basic) level to basic (resp. subordinate) level is mainly due to the computational constraints (the visual system processes higher spatial frequencies more slowly, and categorization in finer levels depends more on these higher spatial frequencies). PMID:28790954

The role of low-spatial frequencies in lexical decision and masked priming.

PubMed

Boden, C; Giaschi, D

2009-04-01

Spatial frequency filtering was used to test the hypotheses that low-spatial frequency information in printed text can: (1) lead to a rapid lexical decision or (2) facilitate word recognition. Adult proficient readers made lexical decisions in unprimed and masked repetition priming experiments with unfiltered, low-pass, high-pass and notch filtered letter strings. In the unprimed experiments, a filtered target was presented for 105 or 400 ms followed by a pattern mask. Sensitivity (d') was lowest for the low-pass filtered targets at both durations with a bias towards a 'non-word' response. Sensitivity was higher in the high-pass and notch filter conditions. In the priming experiments, a forward mask was followed by a filtered prime then an unfiltered target. Primed words, but not non-words, were identified faster than unprimed words in both the low-pass and high-pass filtered conditions. These results do not support a unique role for low-spatial frequency information in either facilitating or making rapid lexical decisions.

Frequency conversion of structured light.

PubMed

Steinlechner, Fabian; Hermosa, Nathaniel; Pruneri, Valerio; Torres, Juan P

2016-02-15

Coherent frequency conversion of structured light, i.e. the ability to manipulate the carrier frequency of a wave front without distorting its spatial phase and intensity profile, provides the opportunity for numerous novel applications in photonic technology and fundamental science. In particular, frequency conversion of spatial modes carrying orbital angular momentum can be exploited in sub-wavelength resolution nano-optics and coherent imaging at a wavelength different from that used to illuminate an object. Moreover, coherent frequency conversion will be crucial for interfacing information stored in the high-dimensional spatial structure of single and entangled photons with various constituents of quantum networks. In this work, we demonstrate frequency conversion of structured light from the near infrared (803 nm) to the visible (527 nm). The conversion scheme is based on sum-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal pumped with a 1540-nm Gaussian beam. We observe frequency-converted fields that exhibit a high degree of similarity with the input field and verify the coherence of the frequency-conversion process via mode projection measurements with a phase mask and a single-mode fiber. Our results demonstrate the suitability of exploiting the technique for applications in quantum information processing and coherent imaging.

Differential roles of low and high spatial frequency content in abnormal facial emotion perception in schizophrenia.

PubMed

McBain, Ryan; Norton, Daniel; Chen, Yue

2010-09-01

While schizophrenia patients are impaired at facial emotion perception, the role of basic visual processing in this deficit remains relatively unclear. We examined emotion perception when spatial frequency content of facial images was manipulated via high-pass and low-pass filtering. Unlike controls (n=29), patients (n=30) perceived images with low spatial frequencies as more fearful than those without this information, across emotional salience levels. Patients also perceived images with high spatial frequencies as happier. In controls, this effect was found only at low emotional salience. These results indicate that basic visual processing has an amplified modulatory effect on emotion perception in schizophrenia. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distinct spatial frequency sensitivities for processing faces and emotional expressions.

PubMed

Vuilleumier, Patrik; Armony, Jorge L; Driver, Jon; Dolan, Raymond J

2003-06-01

High and low spatial frequency information in visual images is processed by distinct neural channels. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans, we show dissociable roles of such visual channels for processing faces and emotional fearful expressions. Neural responses in fusiform cortex, and effects of repeating the same face identity upon fusiform activity, were greater with intact or high-spatial-frequency face stimuli than with low-frequency faces, regardless of emotional expression. In contrast, amygdala responses to fearful expressions were greater for intact or low-frequency faces than for high-frequency faces. An activation of pulvinar and superior colliculus by fearful expressions occurred specifically with low-frequency faces, suggesting that these subcortical pathways may provide coarse fear-related inputs to the amygdala.

Distinct subsystems for the parafoveal processing of spatial and linguistic information during eye fixations in reading.

PubMed

Inhoff, Albrecht W; Radach, Ralph; Eiter, Brianna M; Juhasz, Barbara

2003-07-01

Two experiments examined readers' use of parafoveally obtained word length information for word recognition. Both experiments manipulated the length (number of constituent characters) of a parafoveally previewed target word so that it was either accurately or inaccurately specified. In Experiment 1, previews also either revealed or denied useful orthographic information. In Experiment 2, parafoveal targets were either high- or low-frequency words. Eye movement contingent display changes were used to show the intact target upon its fixation. Examination of target viewing duration showed completely additive effects of word length previews and of ortho-graphic previews in Experiment 1, viewing duration being shorter in the accurate-length and the orthographic preview conditions. Experiment 2 showed completely additive effects of word length and word frequency, target viewing being shorter in the accurate-length and the high-frequency conditions. Together these results indicate that functionally distinct subsystems control the use of parafoveally visible spatial and linguistic information in reading. Parafoveally visible spatial information appears to be used for two distinct extralinguistic computations: visual object selection and saccade specification.

Quantitative analysis of biological tissues using Fourier transform-second-harmonic generation imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambekar Ramachandra Rao, Raghu; Mehta, Monal R.; Toussaint, Kimani C., Jr.

2010-02-01

We demonstrate the use of Fourier transform-second-harmonic generation (FT-SHG) imaging of collagen fibers as a means of performing quantitative analysis of obtained images of selected spatial regions in porcine trachea, ear, and cornea. Two quantitative markers, preferred orientation and maximum spatial frequency are proposed for differentiating structural information between various spatial regions of interest in the specimens. The ear shows consistent maximum spatial frequency and orientation as also observed in its real-space image. However, there are observable changes in the orientation and minimum feature size of fibers in the trachea indicating a more random organization. Finally, the analysis is applied to a 3D image stack of the cornea. It is shown that the standard deviation of the orientation is sensitive to the randomness in fiber orientation. Regions with variations in the maximum spatial frequency, but with relatively constant orientation, suggest that maximum spatial frequency is useful as an independent quantitative marker. We emphasize that FT-SHG is a simple, yet powerful, tool for extracting information from images that is not obvious in real space. This technique can be used as a quantitative biomarker to assess the structure of collagen fibers that may change due to damage from disease or physical injury.

Input-dependent frequency modulation of cortical gamma oscillations shapes spatial synchronization and enables phase coding.

PubMed

Lowet, Eric; Roberts, Mark; Hadjipapas, Avgis; Peter, Alina; van der Eerden, Jan; De Weerd, Peter

2015-02-01

Fine-scale temporal organization of cortical activity in the gamma range (∼25-80Hz) may play a significant role in information processing, for example by neural grouping ('binding') and phase coding. Recent experimental studies have shown that the precise frequency of gamma oscillations varies with input drive (e.g. visual contrast) and that it can differ among nearby cortical locations. This has challenged theories assuming widespread gamma synchronization at a fixed common frequency. In the present study, we investigated which principles govern gamma synchronization in the presence of input-dependent frequency modulations and whether they are detrimental for meaningful input-dependent gamma-mediated temporal organization. To this aim, we constructed a biophysically realistic excitatory-inhibitory network able to express different oscillation frequencies at nearby spatial locations. Similarly to cortical networks, the model was topographically organized with spatially local connectivity and spatially-varying input drive. We analyzed gamma synchronization with respect to phase-locking, phase-relations and frequency differences, and quantified the stimulus-related information represented by gamma phase and frequency. By stepwise simplification of our models, we found that the gamma-mediated temporal organization could be reduced to basic synchronization principles of weakly coupled oscillators, where input drive determines the intrinsic (natural) frequency of oscillators. The gamma phase-locking, the precise phase relation and the emergent (measurable) frequencies were determined by two principal factors: the detuning (intrinsic frequency difference, i.e. local input difference) and the coupling strength. In addition to frequency coding, gamma phase contained complementary stimulus information. Crucially, the phase code reflected input differences, but not the absolute input level. This property of relative input-to-phase conversion, contrasting with latency codes or slower oscillation phase codes, may resolve conflicting experimental observations on gamma phase coding. Our modeling results offer clear testable experimental predictions. We conclude that input-dependency of gamma frequencies could be essential rather than detrimental for meaningful gamma-mediated temporal organization of cortical activity.

Input-Dependent Frequency Modulation of Cortical Gamma Oscillations Shapes Spatial Synchronization and Enables Phase Coding

PubMed Central

Lowet, Eric; Roberts, Mark; Hadjipapas, Avgis; Peter, Alina; van der Eerden, Jan; De Weerd, Peter

2015-01-01

Fine-scale temporal organization of cortical activity in the gamma range (∼25–80Hz) may play a significant role in information processing, for example by neural grouping (‘binding’) and phase coding. Recent experimental studies have shown that the precise frequency of gamma oscillations varies with input drive (e.g. visual contrast) and that it can differ among nearby cortical locations. This has challenged theories assuming widespread gamma synchronization at a fixed common frequency. In the present study, we investigated which principles govern gamma synchronization in the presence of input-dependent frequency modulations and whether they are detrimental for meaningful input-dependent gamma-mediated temporal organization. To this aim, we constructed a biophysically realistic excitatory-inhibitory network able to express different oscillation frequencies at nearby spatial locations. Similarly to cortical networks, the model was topographically organized with spatially local connectivity and spatially-varying input drive. We analyzed gamma synchronization with respect to phase-locking, phase-relations and frequency differences, and quantified the stimulus-related information represented by gamma phase and frequency. By stepwise simplification of our models, we found that the gamma-mediated temporal organization could be reduced to basic synchronization principles of weakly coupled oscillators, where input drive determines the intrinsic (natural) frequency of oscillators. The gamma phase-locking, the precise phase relation and the emergent (measurable) frequencies were determined by two principal factors: the detuning (intrinsic frequency difference, i.e. local input difference) and the coupling strength. In addition to frequency coding, gamma phase contained complementary stimulus information. Crucially, the phase code reflected input differences, but not the absolute input level. This property of relative input-to-phase conversion, contrasting with latency codes or slower oscillation phase codes, may resolve conflicting experimental observations on gamma phase coding. Our modeling results offer clear testable experimental predictions. We conclude that input-dependency of gamma frequencies could be essential rather than detrimental for meaningful gamma-mediated temporal organization of cortical activity. PMID:25679780

Spatial Frequency Priming of Scene Perception in Adolescents with and without ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanmarcke, Steven; Noens, Ilse; Steyaert, Jean; Wagemans, Johan

2017-01-01

While most typically developing (TD) participants have a coarse-to-fine processing style, people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seem to be less globally and more locally biased when processing visual information. The stimulus-specific spatial frequency content might be directly relevant to determine this temporal hierarchy of visual…

Spatial-frequency spectrum of patterns changes the visibility of spatial-phase differences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawton, T. B.

1985-01-01

It is shown that spatial-frequency components over a 4-octave range affected the visibility of spatial-phase differences. Contrast thresholds were measured for discrimination between two (+45- and -45-deg) spatial phases of a sinusoidal test grating added to a background grating. The background could contain one or several sinusoidal components, all in 0-deg phase. Phase differences between the test and the background were visible at lower contrasts when test and background frequencies were harmonically related than when they were not, when test and background frequencies were within 1 octave than when they were farther apart, when the fundamental frequency of the background was low than when it was high, and for some discriminations more than for others, after practice. The visibility of phase differences was not affected by additional components in the background if the fundamental and difference frequencies of the background remained unchanged. Observers' reports of their strategies gave information about the types of attentive processing that were used to discriminate phase differences. Attentive processing facilitated phase discrimination for multifrequency gratings spanning a much wider range of spatial frequencies than would be possible by using only local preattentive processing. These results were consistent with the visibility of phase differences being processed by some combination of even- and odd-symmetric simple cells tuned to a wide range of different spatial frequencies.

Built-Up Area Detection from High-Resolution Satellite Images Using Multi-Scale Wavelet Transform and Local Spatial Statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Gao, J.; Yuan, Y.; Lv, Z.

2018-04-01

Recently, built-up area detection from high-resolution satellite images (HRSI) has attracted increasing attention because HRSI can provide more detailed object information. In this paper, multi-resolution wavelet transform and local spatial autocorrelation statistic are introduced to model the spatial patterns of built-up areas. First, the input image is decomposed into high- and low-frequency subbands by wavelet transform at three levels. Then the high-frequency detail information in three directions (horizontal, vertical and diagonal) are extracted followed by a maximization operation to integrate the information in all directions. Afterward, a cross-scale operation is implemented to fuse different levels of information. Finally, local spatial autocorrelation statistic is introduced to enhance the saliency of built-up features and an adaptive threshold algorithm is used to achieve the detection of built-up areas. Experiments are conducted on ZY-3 and Quickbird panchromatic satellite images, and the results show that the proposed method is very effective for built-up area detection.

The highs and lows of object impossibility: effects of spatial frequency on holistic processing of impossible objects.

PubMed

Freud, Erez; Avidan, Galia; Ganel, Tzvi

2015-02-01

Holistic processing, the decoding of a stimulus as a unified whole, is a basic characteristic of object perception. Recent research using Garner's speeded classification task has shown that this processing style is utilized even for impossible objects that contain an inherent spatial ambiguity. In particular, similar Garner interference effects were found for possible and impossible objects, indicating similar holistic processing styles for the two object categories. In the present study, we further investigated the perceptual mechanisms that mediate such holistic representation of impossible objects. We relied on the notion that, whereas information embedded in the high-spatial-frequency (HSF) content supports fine-detailed processing of object features, the information conveyed by low spatial frequencies (LSF) is more crucial for the emergence of a holistic shape representation. To test the effects of image frequency on the holistic processing of impossible objects, participants performed the Garner speeded classification task on images of possible and impossible cubes filtered for their LSF and HSF information. For images containing only LSF, similar interference effects were observed for possible and impossible objects, indicating that the two object categories were processed in a holistic manner. In contrast, for the HSF images, Garner interference was obtained only for possible, but not for impossible objects. Importantly, we provided evidence to show that this effect could not be attributed to a lack of sensitivity to object possibility in the LSF images. Particularly, even for full-spectrum images, Garner interference was still observed for both possible and impossible objects. Additionally, performance in an object classification task revealed high sensitivity to object possibility, even for LSF images. Taken together, these findings suggest that the visual system can tolerate the spatial ambiguity typical to impossible objects by relying on information embedded in LSF, whereas HSF information may underlie the visual system's susceptibility to distortions in objects' spatial layouts.

Contributions of Low and High Spatial Frequency Processing to Impaired Object Recognition Circuitry in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Calderone, Daniel J.; Hoptman, Matthew J.; Martínez, Antígona; Nair-Collins, Sangeeta; Mauro, Cristina J.; Bar, Moshe; Javitt, Daniel C.; Butler, Pamela D.

2013-01-01

Patients with schizophrenia exhibit cognitive and sensory impairment, and object recognition deficits have been linked to sensory deficits. The “frame and fill” model of object recognition posits that low spatial frequency (LSF) information rapidly reaches the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and creates a general shape of an object that feeds back to the ventral temporal cortex to assist object recognition. Visual dysfunction findings in schizophrenia suggest a preferential loss of LSF information. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) to investigate the contribution of visual deficits to impaired object “framing” circuitry in schizophrenia. Participants were shown object stimuli that were intact or contained only LSF or high spatial frequency (HSF) information. For controls, fMRI revealed preferential activation to LSF information in precuneus, superior temporal, and medial and dorsolateral PFC areas, whereas patients showed a preference for HSF information or no preference. RSFC revealed a lack of connectivity between early visual areas and PFC for patients. These results demonstrate impaired processing of LSF information during object recognition in schizophrenia, with patients instead displaying increased processing of HSF information. This is consistent with findings of a preference for local over global visual information in schizophrenia. PMID:22735157

Multivariate spatial models of excess crash frequency at area level: case of Costa Rica.

PubMed

Aguero-Valverde, Jonathan

2013-10-01

Recently, areal models of crash frequency have being used in the analysis of various area-wide factors affecting road crashes. On the other hand, disease mapping methods are commonly used in epidemiology to assess the relative risk of the population at different spatial units. A natural next step is to combine these two approaches to estimate the excess crash frequency at area level as a measure of absolute crash risk. Furthermore, multivariate spatial models of crash severity are explored in order to account for both frequency and severity of crashes and control for the spatial correlation frequently found in crash data. This paper aims to extent the concept of safety performance functions to be used in areal models of crash frequency. A multivariate spatial model is used for that purpose and compared to its univariate counterpart. Full Bayes hierarchical approach is used to estimate the models of crash frequency at canton level for Costa Rica. An intrinsic multivariate conditional autoregressive model is used for modeling spatial random effects. The results show that the multivariate spatial model performs better than its univariate counterpart in terms of the penalized goodness-of-fit measure Deviance Information Criteria. Additionally, the effects of the spatial smoothing due to the multivariate spatial random effects are evident in the estimation of excess equivalent property damage only crashes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Development of Nonstationary Regional Frequency Analysis Model with Large-scale Climate Information: Its Application to Korean Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jin-Young; Kwon, Hyun-Han; Kim, Hung-Soo

2015-04-01

The existing regional frequency analysis has disadvantages in that it is difficult to consider geographical characteristics in estimating areal rainfall. In this regard, this study aims to develop a hierarchical Bayesian model based nonstationary regional frequency analysis in that spatial patterns of the design rainfall with geographical information (e.g. latitude, longitude and altitude) are explicitly incorporated. This study assumes that the parameters of Gumbel (or GEV distribution) are a function of geographical characteristics within a general linear regression framework. Posterior distribution of the regression parameters are estimated by Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, and the identified functional relationship is used to spatially interpolate the parameters of the distributions by using digital elevation models (DEM) as inputs. The proposed model is applied to derive design rainfalls over the entire Han-river watershed. It was found that the proposed Bayesian regional frequency analysis model showed similar results compared to L-moment based regional frequency analysis. In addition, the model showed an advantage in terms of quantifying uncertainty of the design rainfall and estimating the area rainfall considering geographical information. Finally, comprehensive discussion on design rainfall in the context of nonstationary will be presented. KEYWORDS: Regional frequency analysis, Nonstationary, Spatial information, Bayesian Acknowledgement This research was supported by a grant (14AWMP-B082564-01) from Advanced Water Management Research Program funded by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korean government.

Separate channels for the analysis of the shape and the movement of moving visual stimulus.

PubMed

Tolhurst, D J

1973-06-01

1. The effects of temporal modulation on the properties of spatial frequency channels have been investigated using adaptation.2. Adapting to drifting sinusoidal gratings caused threshold elevation that was both spatial frequency and direction specific. Little systematic difference was found between the band widths of the elevation curves for drifting and stationary gratings.3. It was confirmed that adaptation fails to reveal channels at low spatial frequencies when stationary gratings are used. However, channels were revealed at frequencies at least as low as 0.66 c/deg when the test gratings were made to move. These channels are adapted only a little by stationary gratings, confirming their dependence on movement.4. The existence of movement-sensitive channels at low spatial frequencies explains the well known observation that temporal modulation greatly increases the sensitivity of the visual system to low spatial frequencies.5. Temporal modulation was effective at revealing these channels only when the flicker or movement of the test patterns was apparent to the observer; only at low spatial frequencies did patterns, modulated at low rates, actually appear to be temporarily modulated at threshold. At higher spatial frequencies, they were indistinguishable from stationary patterns until the contrast was some way above the detection threshold.6. It is suggested, therefore, that the movement-sensitive channels are responsible for signalling the occurrence of movement; the channels at higher spatial frequencies give no information about temporal changes. These two systems of channels are compared to the Y- and X-cells respectively of the cat.

Priming Facial Gender and Emotional Valence: The Influence of Spatial Frequency on Face Perception in ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanmarcke, Steven; Wagemans, Johan

2017-01-01

Adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performed two priming experiments in which they implicitly processed a prime stimulus, containing high and/or low spatial frequency information, and then explicitly categorized a target face either as male/female (gender task) or as positive/negative (Valence task). Adolescents with ASD…

Cerebral Correlates of Emotional and Action Appraisals During Visual Processing of Emotional Scenes Depending on Spatial Frequency: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Campagne, Aurélie; Fradcourt, Benoit; Pichat, Cédric; Baciu, Monica; Kauffmann, Louise; Peyrin, Carole

2016-01-01

Visual processing of emotional stimuli critically depends on the type of cognitive appraisal involved. The present fMRI pilot study aimed to investigate the cerebral correlates involved in the visual processing of emotional scenes in two tasks, one emotional, based on the appraisal of personal emotional experience, and the other motivational, based on the appraisal of the tendency to action. Given that the use of spatial frequency information is relatively flexible during the visual processing of emotional stimuli depending on the task's demands, we also explored the effect of the type of spatial frequency in visual stimuli in each task by using emotional scenes filtered in low spatial frequency (LSF) and high spatial frequencies (HSF). Activation was observed in the visual areas of the fusiform gyrus for all emotional scenes in both tasks, and in the amygdala for unpleasant scenes only. The motivational task induced additional activation in frontal motor-related areas (e.g. premotor cortex, SMA) and parietal regions (e.g. superior and inferior parietal lobules). Parietal regions were recruited particularly during the motivational appraisal of approach in response to pleasant scenes. These frontal and parietal activations, respectively, suggest that motor and navigation processes play a specific role in the identification of the tendency to action in the motivational task. Furthermore, activity observed in the motivational task, in response to both pleasant and unpleasant scenes, was significantly greater for HSF than for LSF scenes, suggesting that the tendency to action is driven mainly by the detailed information contained in scenes. Results for the emotional task suggest that spatial frequencies play only a small role in the evaluation of unpleasant and pleasant emotions. Our preliminary study revealed a partial distinction between visual processing of emotional scenes during identification of the tendency to action, and during identification of personal emotional experiences. It also illustrates flexible use of the spatial frequencies contained in scenes depending on their emotional valence and on task demands.

The impact of variation in low-frequency interaural cross correlation on auditory spatial imagery in stereophonic loudspeaker reproduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martens, William

2005-04-01

Several attributes of auditory spatial imagery associated with stereophonic sound reproduction are strongly modulated by variation in interaural cross correlation (IACC) within low frequency bands. Nonetheless, a standard practice in bass management for two-channel and multichannel loudspeaker reproduction is to mix low-frequency musical content to a single channel for reproduction via a single driver (e.g., a subwoofer). This paper reviews the results of psychoacoustic studies which support the conclusion that reproduction via multiple drivers of decorrelated low-frequency signals significantly affects such important spatial attributes as auditory source width (ASW), auditory source distance (ASD), and listener envelopment (LEV). A variety of methods have been employed in these tests, including forced choice discrimination and identification, and direct ratings of both global dissimilarity and distinct attributes. Contrary to assumptions that underlie industrial standards established in 1994 by ITU-R. Recommendation BS.775-1, these findings imply that substantial stereophonic spatial information exists within audio signals at frequencies below the 80 to 120 Hz range of prescribed subwoofer cutoff frequencies, and that loudspeaker reproduction of decorrelated signals at frequencies as low as 50 Hz can have an impact upon auditory spatial imagery. [Work supported by VRQ.

Method to optimize patch size based on spatial frequency response in image rendering of the light field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Wang, Yanan; Zhu, Zhenhao; Su, Jinhui

2018-05-01

A focused plenoptic camera can effectively transform angular and spatial information to yield a refocused rendered image with high resolution. However, choosing a proper patch size poses a significant problem for the image-rendering algorithm. By using a spatial frequency response measurement, a method to obtain a suitable patch size is presented. By evaluating the spatial frequency response curves, the optimized patch size can be obtained quickly and easily. Moreover, the range of depth over which images can be rendered without artifacts can be estimated. Experiments show that the results of the image rendered based on frequency response measurement are in accordance with the theoretical calculation, which indicates that this is an effective way to determine the patch size. This study may provide support to light-field image rendering.

Glyph guessing for ‘oo’ and ‘ee’: spatial frequency information in sound symbolic matching for ancient and unfamiliar scripts

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

In three experiments, we asked whether diverse scripts contain interpretable information about the speech sounds they represent. When presented with a pair of unfamiliar letters, adult readers correctly guess which is /i/ (the ‘ee’ sound in ‘feet’), and which is /u/ (the ‘oo’ sound in ‘shoe’) at rates higher than expected by chance, as shown in a large sample of Singaporean university students (Experiment 1) and replicated in a larger sample of international Internet users (Experiment 2). To uncover what properties of the letters contribute to different scripts' ‘guessability,’ we analysed the visual spatial frequencies in each letter (Experiment 3). We predicted that the lower spectral frequencies in the formants of the vowel /u/ would pattern with lower spatial frequencies in the corresponding letters. Instead, we found that across all spatial frequencies, the letter with more black/white cycles (i.e. more ink) was more likely to be guessed as /u/, and the larger the difference between the glyphs in a pair, the higher the script's guessability. We propose that diverse groups of humans across historical time and geographical space tend to employ similar iconic strategies for representing speech in visual form, and provide norms for letter pairs from 56 diverse scripts. PMID:28989784

Spatial-frequency composite watermarking for digital image copyright protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Po-Chyi; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

2000-05-01

Digital watermarks can be classified into two categories according to the embedding and retrieval domain, i.e. spatial- and frequency-domain watermarks. Because the two watermarks have different characteristics and limitations, combination of them can have various interesting properties when applied to different applications. In this research, we examine two spatial-frequency composite watermarking schemes. In both cases, a frequency-domain watermarking technique is applied as a baseline structure in the system. The embedded frequency- domain watermark is robust against filtering and compression. A spatial-domain watermarking scheme is then built to compensate some deficiency of the frequency-domain scheme. The first composite scheme is to embed a robust watermark in images to convey copyright or author information. The frequency-domain watermark contains owner's identification number while the spatial-domain watermark is embedded for image registration to resist cropping attack. The second composite scheme is to embed fragile watermark for image authentication. The spatial-domain watermark helps in locating the tampered part of the image while the frequency-domain watermark indicates the source of the image and prevents double watermarking attack. Experimental results show that the two watermarks do not interfere with each other and different functionalities can be achieved. Watermarks in both domains are detected without resorting to the original image. Furthermore, the resulting watermarked image can still preserve high fidelity without serious visual degradation.

Effect of chronic and acute low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on spatial memory in rats.

PubMed

Li, Wei; Yang, Yuye; Ye, Qing; Yang, Bo; Wang, Zhengrong

2007-03-15

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a novel, non-invasive neurological and psychiatric tool. The low-frequency (1 Hz or less) rTMS is likely to play a particular role in its mechanism of action with different effects in comparison with high-frequency (>1 Hz) rTMS. There is limited information regarding the effect of low-frequency rTMS on spatial memory. In our study, each male Wistar rat was daily given 300 stimuli (1.0 T, 200 micros) at a rate of 0.5 Hz or sham stimulation. We investigated the effects of chronic and acute rTMS on reference/working memory process in Morris water maze test with the hypothesis that the effect would differ by chronic or acute condition. Chronic low-frequency rTMS impaired the retrieval of spatial short- and long-term spatial reference memory but not acquisition process and working memory, whereas acute low-frequency rTMS predominantly induced no deficits in acquisition or short-term spatial reference memory as well as working memory except for long-term reference memory. In summary, chronic 0.5 Hz rTMS disrupts spatial short- and long-term reference memory function, but acute rTMS differently affects reference memory. Chronic low-frequency rTMS may be used to modulate reference memory. Treatment protocols using low-frequency rTMS in neurological and psychiatric disorders need to take into account the potential effect of chronic low-frequency rTMS on memory and other cognitive functions.

A multistream model of visual word recognition.

PubMed

Allen, Philip A; Smith, Albert F; Lien, Mei-Ching; Kaut, Kevin P; Canfield, Angie

2009-02-01

Four experiments are reported that test a multistream model of visual word recognition, which associates letter-level and word-level processing channels with three known visual processing streams isolated in macaque monkeys: the magno-dominated (MD) stream, the interblob-dominated (ID) stream, and the blob-dominated (BD) stream (Van Essen & Anderson, 1995). We show that mixing the color of adjacent letters of words does not result in facilitation of response times or error rates when the spatial-frequency pattern of a whole word is familiar. However, facilitation does occur when the spatial-frequency pattern of a whole word is not familiar. This pattern of results is not due to different luminance levels across the different-colored stimuli and the background because isoluminant displays were used. Also, the mixed-case, mixed-hue facilitation occurred when different display distances were used (Experiments 2 and 3), so this suggests that image normalization can adjust independently of object size differences. Finally, we show that this effect persists in both spaced and unspaced conditions (Experiment 4)--suggesting that inappropriate letter grouping by hue cannot account for these results. These data support a model of visual word recognition in which lower spatial frequencies are processed first in the more rapid MD stream. The slower ID and BD streams may process some lower spatial frequency information in addition to processing higher spatial frequency information, but these channels tend to lose the processing race to recognition unless the letter string is unfamiliar to the MD stream--as with mixed-case presentation.

Behavioral assessment of emotional and motivational appraisal during visual processing of emotional scenes depending on spatial frequencies.

PubMed

Fradcourt, B; Peyrin, C; Baciu, M; Campagne, A

2013-10-01

Previous studies performed on visual processing of emotional stimuli have revealed preference for a specific type of visual spatial frequencies (high spatial frequency, HSF; low spatial frequency, LSF) according to task demands. The majority of studies used a face and focused on the appraisal of the emotional state of others. The present behavioral study investigates the relative role of spatial frequencies on processing emotional natural scenes during two explicit cognitive appraisal tasks, one emotional, based on the self-emotional experience and one motivational, based on the tendency to action. Our results suggest that HSF information was the most relevant to rapidly identify the self-emotional experience (unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral) while LSF was required to rapidly identify the tendency to action (avoidance, approach, and no action). The tendency to action based on LSF analysis showed a priority for unpleasant stimuli whereas the identification of emotional experience based on HSF analysis showed a priority for pleasant stimuli. The present study confirms the interest of considering both emotional and motivational characteristics of visual stimuli. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attention Modifies Spatial Resolution According to Task Demands.

PubMed

Barbot, Antoine; Carrasco, Marisa

2017-03-01

How does visual attention affect spatial resolution? In texture-segmentation tasks, exogenous (involuntary) attention automatically increases resolution at the attended location, which improves performance where resolution is too low (at the periphery) but impairs performance where resolution is already too high (at central locations). Conversely, endogenous (voluntary) attention improves performance at all eccentricities, which suggests a more flexible mechanism. Here, using selective adaptation to spatial frequency, we investigated the mechanism by which endogenous attention benefits performance in resolution tasks. Participants detected a texture target that could appear at several eccentricities. Adapting to high or low spatial frequencies selectively affected performance in a manner consistent with changes in resolution. Moreover, adapting to high, but not low, frequencies mitigated the attentional benefit at central locations where resolution was too high; this shows that attention can improve performance by decreasing resolution. Altogether, our results indicate that endogenous attention benefits performance by modulating the contribution of high-frequency information in order to flexibly adjust spatial resolution according to task demands.

Attention Modifies Spatial Resolution According to Task Demands

PubMed Central

Barbot, Antoine; Carrasco, Marisa

2017-01-01

How does visual attention affect spatial resolution? In texture-segmentation tasks, exogenous (involuntary) attention automatically increases resolution at the attended location, which improves performance where resolution is too low (at the periphery) but impairs performance where resolution is already too high (at central locations). Conversely, endogenous (voluntary) attention improves performance at all eccentricities, which suggests a more flexible mechanism. Here, using selective adaptation to spatial frequency, we investigated the mechanism by which endogenous attention benefits performance in resolution tasks. Participants detected a texture target that could appear at several eccentricities. Adapting to high or low spatial frequencies selectively affected performance in a manner consistent with changes in resolution. Moreover, adapting to high, but not low, frequencies mitigated the attentional benefit at central locations where resolution was too high; this shows that attention can improve performance by decreasing resolution. Altogether, our results indicate that endogenous attention benefits performance by modulating the contribution of high-frequency information in order to flexibly adjust spatial resolution according to task demands. PMID:28118103

Simultaneous storage of medical images in the spatial and frequency domain: a comparative study.

PubMed

Nayak, Jagadish; Bhat, P Subbanna; Acharya U, Rajendra; Uc, Niranjan

2004-06-05

Digital watermarking is a technique of hiding specific identification data for copyright authentication. This technique is adapted here for interleaving patient information with medical images, to reduce storage and transmission overheads. The patient information is encrypted before interleaving with images to ensure greater security. The bio-signals are compressed and subsequently interleaved with the image. This interleaving is carried out in the spatial domain and Frequency domain. The performance of interleaving in the spatial, Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients is studied. Differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) is employed for data compression as well as encryption and results are tabulated for a specific example. It can be seen from results, the process does not affect the picture quality. This is attributed to the fact that the change in LSB of a pixel changes its brightness by 1 part in 256. Spatial and DFT domain interleaving gave very less %NRMSE as compared to DCT and DWT domain. The Results show that spatial domain the interleaving, the %NRMSE was less than 0.25% for 8-bit encoded pixel intensity. Among the frequency domain interleaving methods, DFT was found to be very efficient.

Multifrequency synthesis and extraction using square wave projection patterns for quantitative tissue imaging.

PubMed

Nadeau, Kyle P; Rice, Tyler B; Durkin, Anthony J; Tromberg, Bruce J

2015-11-01

We present a method for spatial frequency domain data acquisition utilizing a multifrequency synthesis and extraction (MSE) method and binary square wave projection patterns. By illuminating a sample with square wave patterns, multiple spatial frequency components are simultaneously attenuated and can be extracted to determine optical property and depth information. Additionally, binary patterns are projected faster than sinusoids typically used in spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI), allowing for short (millisecond or less) camera exposure times, and data acquisition speeds an order of magnitude or more greater than conventional SFDI. In cases where sensitivity to superficial layers or scattering is important, the fundamental component from higher frequency square wave patterns can be used. When probing deeper layers, the fundamental and harmonic components from lower frequency square wave patterns can be used. We compared optical property and depth penetration results extracted using square waves to those obtained using sinusoidal patterns on an in vivo human forearm and absorbing tube phantom, respectively. Absorption and reduced scattering coefficient values agree with conventional SFDI to within 1% using both high frequency (fundamental) and low frequency (fundamental and harmonic) spatial frequencies. Depth penetration reflectance values also agree to within 1% of conventional SFDI.

Multifrequency synthesis and extraction using square wave projection patterns for quantitative tissue imaging

PubMed Central

Nadeau, Kyle P.; Rice, Tyler B.; Durkin, Anthony J.; Tromberg, Bruce J.

2015-01-01

Abstract. We present a method for spatial frequency domain data acquisition utilizing a multifrequency synthesis and extraction (MSE) method and binary square wave projection patterns. By illuminating a sample with square wave patterns, multiple spatial frequency components are simultaneously attenuated and can be extracted to determine optical property and depth information. Additionally, binary patterns are projected faster than sinusoids typically used in spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI), allowing for short (millisecond or less) camera exposure times, and data acquisition speeds an order of magnitude or more greater than conventional SFDI. In cases where sensitivity to superficial layers or scattering is important, the fundamental component from higher frequency square wave patterns can be used. When probing deeper layers, the fundamental and harmonic components from lower frequency square wave patterns can be used. We compared optical property and depth penetration results extracted using square waves to those obtained using sinusoidal patterns on an in vivo human forearm and absorbing tube phantom, respectively. Absorption and reduced scattering coefficient values agree with conventional SFDI to within 1% using both high frequency (fundamental) and low frequency (fundamental and harmonic) spatial frequencies. Depth penetration reflectance values also agree to within 1% of conventional SFDI. PMID:26524682

Preliminary frequency-domain analysis for the reconstructed spatial resolution of muon tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, B.; Zhao, Z.; Wang, X.; Wang, Y.; Wu, D.; Zeng, Z.; Zeng, M.; Yi, H.; Luo, Z.; Yue, X.; Cheng, J.

2014-11-01

Muon tomography is an advanced technology to non-destructively detect high atomic number materials. It exploits the multiple Coulomb scattering information of muon to reconstruct the scattering density image of the traversed object. Because of the statistics of muon scattering, the measurement error of system and the data incompleteness, the reconstruction is always accompanied with a certain level of interference, which will influence the reconstructed spatial resolution. While statistical noises can be reduced by extending the measuring time, system parameters determine the ultimate spatial resolution that one system can reach. In this paper, an effective frequency-domain model is proposed to analyze the reconstructed spatial resolution of muon tomography. The proposed method modifies the resolution analysis in conventional computed tomography (CT) to fit the different imaging mechanism in muon scattering tomography. The measured scattering information is described in frequency domain, then a relationship between the measurements and the original image is proposed in Fourier domain, which is named as "Muon Central Slice Theorem". Furthermore, a preliminary analytical expression of the ultimate reconstructed spatial is derived, and the simulations are performed for validation. While the method is able to predict the ultimate spatial resolution of a given system, it can also be utilized for the optimization of system design and construction.

Effects of background stimulation upon eye-movement information.

PubMed

Nakamura, S

1996-04-01

To investigate the effects of background stimulation upon eye-movement information (EMI), the perceived deceleration of the target motion during pursuit eye movement (Aubert-Fleishl paradox) was analyzed. In the experiment, a striped pattern was used as a background stimulus with various brightness contrasts and spatial frequencies for serially manipulating the attributions of the background stimulus. Analysis showed that the retinal-image motion of the background stimulus (optic flow) affected eye-movement information and that the effects of optic flow became stronger when high contrast and low spatial frequency stripes were presented as the background stimulus. In conclusion, optic flow is one source of eye-movement information in determining real object motion, and the effectiveness of optic flow depends on the attributes of the background stimulus.

Modes of Visual Recognition and Perceptually Relevant Sketch-based Coding for Images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jobson, Daniel J.

1991-01-01

A review of visual recognition studies is used to define two levels of information requirements. These two levels are related to two primary subdivisions of the spatial frequency domain of images and reflect two distinct different physical properties of arbitrary scenes. In particular, pathologies in recognition due to cerebral dysfunction point to a more complete split into two major types of processing: high spatial frequency edge based recognition vs. low spatial frequency lightness (and color) based recognition. The former is more central and general while the latter is more specific and is necessary for certain special tasks. The two modes of recognition can also be distinguished on the basis of physical scene properties: the highly localized edges associated with reflectance and sharp topographic transitions vs. smooth topographic undulation. The extreme case of heavily abstracted images is pursued to gain an understanding of the minimal information required to support both modes of recognition. Here the intention is to define the semantic core of transmission. This central core of processing can then be fleshed out with additional image information and coding and rendering techniques.

Crop Frequency Mapping for Land Use Intensity Estimation During Three Decades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Michael; Tindall, Dan

2016-08-01

Crop extent and frequency maps are an important input to inform the debate around land value and competitive land uses, food security and sustainability of agricultural practices. Such spatial datasets are likely to support decisions on natural resource management, planning and policy. The complete Landsat Time Series (LTS) archive for 23 Landsat footprints in western Queensland from 1987 to 2015 was used in a multi-temporal mapping approach. Spatial, spectral and temporal information were combined in multiple crop-modelling steps, supported by on ground training data sampled across space and time for the classes Crop and No-Crop. Temporal information within summer and winter growing seasons for each year were summarised, and combined with various vegetation indices and band ratios computed from a mid-season spectral-composite image. All available temporal information was spatially aggregated to the scale of image segments in the mid- season composite for each growing season and used to train a random forest classifier for a Crop and No- Crop classification. Validation revealed that the predictive accuracy varied by growing season and region to be within k = 0.88 to 0.97 and are thus suitable for mapping current and historic cropping activity. Crop frequency maps were produced for all regions at different time intervals. The crop frequency maps were validated separately with a historic crop information time series. Different land use intensities and conversions e.g. from agricultural to pastures are apparent and potential drivers of these conversions are discussed.

How do schizophrenia patients use visual information to decode facial emotion?

PubMed

Lee, Junghee; Gosselin, Frédéric; Wynn, Jonathan K; Green, Michael F

2011-09-01

Impairment in recognizing facial emotions is a prominent feature of schizophrenia patients, but the underlying mechanism of this impairment remains unclear. This study investigated the specific aspects of visual information that are critical for schizophrenia patients to recognize emotional expression. Using the Bubbles technique, we probed the use of visual information during a facial emotion discrimination task (fear vs. happy) in 21 schizophrenia patients and 17 healthy controls. Visual information was sampled through randomly located Gaussian apertures (or "bubbles") at 5 spatial frequency scales. Online calibration of the amount of face exposed through bubbles was used to ensure 75% overall accuracy for each subject. Least-square multiple linear regression analyses between sampled information and accuracy were performed to identify critical visual information that was used to identify emotional expression. To accurately identify emotional expression, schizophrenia patients required more exposure of facial areas (i.e., more bubbles) compared with healthy controls. To identify fearful faces, schizophrenia patients relied less on bilateral eye regions at high-spatial frequency compared with healthy controls. For identification of happy faces, schizophrenia patients relied on the mouth and eye regions; healthy controls did not utilize eyes and used the mouth much less than patients did. Schizophrenia patients needed more facial information to recognize emotional expression of faces. In addition, patients differed from controls in their use of high-spatial frequency information from eye regions to identify fearful faces. This study provides direct evidence that schizophrenia patients employ an atypical strategy of using visual information to recognize emotional faces.

High Speed Computational Ghost Imaging via Spatial Sweeping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuwang; Liu, Yang; Suo, Jinli; Situ, Guohai; Qiao, Chang; Dai, Qionghai

2017-03-01

Computational ghost imaging (CGI) achieves single-pixel imaging by using a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) to generate structured illuminations for spatially resolved information encoding. The imaging speed of CGI is limited by the modulation frequency of available SLMs, and sets back its practical applications. This paper proposes to bypass this limitation by trading off SLM’s redundant spatial resolution for multiplication of the modulation frequency. Specifically, a pair of galvanic mirrors sweeping across the high resolution SLM multiply the modulation frequency within the spatial resolution gap between SLM and the final reconstruction. A proof-of-principle setup with two middle end galvanic mirrors achieves ghost imaging as fast as 42 Hz at 80 × 80-pixel resolution, 5 times faster than state-of-the-arts, and holds potential for one magnitude further multiplication by hardware upgrading. Our approach brings a significant improvement in the imaging speed of ghost imaging and pushes ghost imaging towards practical applications.

An information theory of image gathering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fales, Carl L.; Huck, Friedrich O.

1991-01-01

Shannon's mathematical theory of communication is extended to image gathering. Expressions are obtained for the total information that is received with a single image-gathering channel and with parallel channels. It is concluded that the aliased signal components carry information even though these components interfere with the within-passband components in conventional image gathering and restoration, thereby degrading the fidelity and visual quality of the restored image. An examination of the expression for minimum mean-square-error, or Wiener-matrix, restoration from parallel image-gathering channels reveals a method for unscrambling the within-passband and aliased signal components to restore spatial frequencies beyond the sampling passband out to the spatial frequency response cutoff of the optical aperture.

Cerebral Correlates of Emotional and Action Appraisals During Visual Processing of Emotional Scenes Depending on Spatial Frequency: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Campagne, Aurélie; Fradcourt, Benoit; Pichat, Cédric; Baciu, Monica; Kauffmann, Louise; Peyrin, Carole

2016-01-01

Visual processing of emotional stimuli critically depends on the type of cognitive appraisal involved. The present fMRI pilot study aimed to investigate the cerebral correlates involved in the visual processing of emotional scenes in two tasks, one emotional, based on the appraisal of personal emotional experience, and the other motivational, based on the appraisal of the tendency to action. Given that the use of spatial frequency information is relatively flexible during the visual processing of emotional stimuli depending on the task’s demands, we also explored the effect of the type of spatial frequency in visual stimuli in each task by using emotional scenes filtered in low spatial frequency (LSF) and high spatial frequencies (HSF). Activation was observed in the visual areas of the fusiform gyrus for all emotional scenes in both tasks, and in the amygdala for unpleasant scenes only. The motivational task induced additional activation in frontal motor-related areas (e.g. premotor cortex, SMA) and parietal regions (e.g. superior and inferior parietal lobules). Parietal regions were recruited particularly during the motivational appraisal of approach in response to pleasant scenes. These frontal and parietal activations, respectively, suggest that motor and navigation processes play a specific role in the identification of the tendency to action in the motivational task. Furthermore, activity observed in the motivational task, in response to both pleasant and unpleasant scenes, was significantly greater for HSF than for LSF scenes, suggesting that the tendency to action is driven mainly by the detailed information contained in scenes. Results for the emotional task suggest that spatial frequencies play only a small role in the evaluation of unpleasant and pleasant emotions. Our preliminary study revealed a partial distinction between visual processing of emotional scenes during identification of the tendency to action, and during identification of personal emotional experiences. It also illustrates flexible use of the spatial frequencies contained in scenes depending on their emotional valence and on task demands. PMID:26757433

Abnormalities of Object Visual Processing in Body Dysmorphic Disorder

PubMed Central

Feusner, Jamie D.; Hembacher, Emily; Moller, Hayley; Moody, Teena D.

2013-01-01

Background Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder may have perceptual distortions for their appearance. Previous studies suggest imbalances in detailed relative to configural/holistic visual processing when viewing faces. No study has investigated the neural correlates of processing non-symptom-related stimuli. The objective of this study was to determine whether individuals with body dysmorphic disorder have abnormal patterns of brain activation when viewing non-face/non-body object stimuli. Methods Fourteen medication-free participants with DSM-IV body dysmorphic disorder and 14 healthy controls participated. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants matched photographs of houses that were unaltered, contained only high spatial frequency (high detail) information, or only low spatial frequency (low detail) information. The primary outcome was group differences in blood oxygen level-dependent signal changes. Results The body dysmorphic disorder group showed lesser activity in the parahippocampal gyrus, lingual gyrus, and precuneus for low spatial frequency images. There were greater activations in medial prefrontal regions for high spatial frequency images, although no significant differences when compared to a low-level baseline. Greater symptom severity was associated with lesser activity in dorsal occipital cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex for normal and high spatial frequency images. Conclusions Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder have abnormal brain activation patterns when viewing objects. Hypoactivity in visual association areas for configural and holistic (low detail) elements and abnormal allocation of prefrontal systems for details is consistent with a model of imbalances in global vs. local processing. This may occur not only for appearance but also for general stimuli unrelated to their symptoms. PMID:21557897

Ladar imaging detection of salient map based on PWVD and Rényi entropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yuannan; Zhao, Yuan; Deng, Rong; Dong, Yanbing

2013-10-01

Spatial-frequency information of a given image can be extracted by associating the grey-level spatial data with one of the well-known spatial/spatial-frequency distributions. The Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) has a good characteristic that the images can be represented in spatial/spatial-frequency domains. For intensity and range images of ladar, through the pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution (PWVD) using one or two dimension window, the statistical property of Rényi entropy is studied. We also analyzed the change of Rényi entropy's statistical property in the ladar intensity and range images when the man-made objects appear. From this foundation, a novel method for generating saliency map based on PWVD and Rényi entropy is proposed. After that, target detection is completed when the saliency map is segmented using a simple and convenient threshold method. For the ladar intensity and range images, experimental results show the proposed method can effectively detect the military vehicles from complex earth background with low false alarm.

Effects of variations of stage and flux at different frequencies on the estimates using river stage tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y. L.; Yeh, T. C. J.; Wen, J. C.

2017-12-01

This study is to investigate the ability of river stage tomography to estimate the spatial distribution of hydraulic transmissivity (T), storage coefficient (S), and diffusivity (D) in groundwater basins using information of groundwater level variations induced by periodic variations of stream stage, and infiltrated flux from the stream boundary. In order to accomplish this objective, the sensitivity and correlation of groundwater heads with respect to the hydraulic properties is first conducted to investigate the spatial characteristics of groundwater level in response to the stream variations at different frequencies. Results of the analysis show that the spatial distributions of the sensitivity of heads at an observation well in response to periodic river stage variations are highly correlated despite different frequencies. On the other hand, the spatial patterns of the sensitivity of the observed head to river flux boundaries at different frequencies are different. Specifically, the observed head is highly correlated with T at the region between the stream and observation well when the high-frequency periodic flux is considered. On the other hand, it is highly correlated with T at the region between monitoring well and the boundary opposite to the stream when the low-frequency periodic flux is prescribed to the stream. We also find that the spatial distributions of the sensitivity of observed head to S variation are highly correlated with all frequencies in spite of heads or fluxes stream boundary. Subsequently, the differences of the spatial correlations of the observed heads to the hydraulic properties under the head and flux boundary conditions are further investigated by an inverse model (i.e., successive stochastic linear estimator). This investigation uses noise-free groundwater and stream data of a synthetic aquifer, where aquifer heterogeneity is known exactly. The ability of river stage tomography is then tested with these synthetic data sets to estimate T, S, and D distribution. The results reveal that boundary flux variations with different frequencies contain different information about the aquifer characteristics while the head boundary does not.

Age effects on visual-perceptual processing and confrontation naming.

PubMed

Gutherie, Audrey H; Seely, Peter W; Beacham, Lauren A; Schuchard, Ronald A; De l'Aune, William A; Moore, Anna Bacon

2010-03-01

The impact of age-related changes in visual-perceptual processing on naming ability has not been reported. The present study investigated the effects of 6 levels of spatial frequency and 6 levels of contrast on accuracy and latency to name objects in 14 young and 13 older neurologically normal adults with intact lexical-semantic functioning. Spatial frequency and contrast manipulations were made independently. Consistent with the hypotheses, variations in these two visual parameters impact naming ability in young and older subjects differently. The results from the spatial frequency-manipulations revealed that, in general, young vs. older subjects are faster and more accurate to name. However, this age-related difference is dependent on the spatial frequency on the image; differences were only seen for images presented at low (e.g., 0.25-1 c/deg) or high (e.g., 8-16 c/deg) spatial frequencies. Contrary to predictions, the results from the contrast manipulations revealed that overall older vs. young adults are more accurate to name. Again, however, differences were only seen for images presented at the lower levels of contrast (i.e., 1.25%). Both age groups had shorter latencies on the second exposure of the contrast-manipulated images, but this possible advantage of exposure was not seen for spatial frequency. Category analyses conducted on the data from this study indicate that older vs. young adults exhibit a stronger nonliving-object advantage for naming spatial frequency-manipulated images. Moreover, the findings suggest that bottom-up visual-perceptual variables integrate with top-down category information in different ways. Potential implications on the aging and naming (and recognition) literature are discussed.

EEG source reconstruction reveals frontal-parietal dynamics of spatial conflict processing.

PubMed

Cohen, Michael X; Ridderinkhof, K Richard

2013-01-01

Cognitive control requires the suppression of distracting information in order to focus on task-relevant information. We applied EEG source reconstruction via time-frequency linear constrained minimum variance beamforming to help elucidate the neural mechanisms involved in spatial conflict processing. Human subjects performed a Simon task, in which conflict was induced by incongruence between spatial location and response hand. We found an early (∼200 ms post-stimulus) conflict modulation in stimulus-contralateral parietal gamma (30-50 Hz), followed by a later alpha-band (8-12 Hz) conflict modulation, suggesting an early detection of spatial conflict and inhibition of spatial location processing. Inter-regional connectivity analyses assessed via cross-frequency coupling of theta (4-8 Hz), alpha, and gamma power revealed conflict-induced shifts in cortical network interactions: Congruent trials (relative to incongruent trials) had stronger coupling between frontal theta and stimulus-contrahemifield parietal alpha/gamma power, whereas incongruent trials had increased theta coupling between medial frontal and lateral frontal regions. These findings shed new light into the large-scale network dynamics of spatial conflict processing, and how those networks are shaped by oscillatory interactions.

Representing spatial structure through maps and language: Lord of the Rings encodes the spatial structure of middle Earth.

PubMed

Louwerse, Max M; Benesh, Nick

2012-01-01

Spatial mental representations can be derived from linguistic and non-linguistic sources of information. This study tested whether these representations could be formed from statistical linguistic frequencies of city names, and to what extent participants differed in their performance when they estimated spatial locations from language or maps. In a computational linguistic study, we demonstrated that co-occurrences of cities in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit predicted the authentic longitude and latitude of those cities in Middle Earth. In a human study, we showed that human spatial estimates of the location of cities were very similar regardless of whether participants read Tolkien's texts or memorized a map of Middle Earth. However, text-based location estimates obtained from statistical linguistic frequencies better predicted the human text-based estimates than the human map-based estimates. These findings suggest that language encodes spatial structure of cities, and that human cognitive map representations can come from implicit statistical linguistic patterns, from explicit non-linguistic perceptual information, or from both. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Audiovisual Perception of Noise Vocoded Speech in Dyslexic and Non-Dyslexic Adults: The Role of Low-Frequency Visual Modulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Megnin-Viggars, Odette; Goswami, Usha

2013-01-01

Visual speech inputs can enhance auditory speech information, particularly in noisy or degraded conditions. The natural statistics of audiovisual speech highlight the temporal correspondence between visual and auditory prosody, with lip, jaw, cheek and head movements conveying information about the speech envelope. Low-frequency spatial and…

Simultaneous storage of medical images in the spatial and frequency domain: A comparative study

PubMed Central

Nayak, Jagadish; Bhat, P Subbanna; Acharya U, Rajendra; UC, Niranjan

2004-01-01

Background Digital watermarking is a technique of hiding specific identification data for copyright authentication. This technique is adapted here for interleaving patient information with medical images, to reduce storage and transmission overheads. Methods The patient information is encrypted before interleaving with images to ensure greater security. The bio-signals are compressed and subsequently interleaved with the image. This interleaving is carried out in the spatial domain and Frequency domain. The performance of interleaving in the spatial, Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients is studied. Differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) is employed for data compression as well as encryption and results are tabulated for a specific example. Results It can be seen from results, the process does not affect the picture quality. This is attributed to the fact that the change in LSB of a pixel changes its brightness by 1 part in 256. Spatial and DFT domain interleaving gave very less %NRMSE as compared to DCT and DWT domain. Conclusion The Results show that spatial domain the interleaving, the %NRMSE was less than 0.25% for 8-bit encoded pixel intensity. Among the frequency domain interleaving methods, DFT was found to be very efficient. PMID:15180899

Representational dynamics of object recognition: Feedforward and feedback information flows.

PubMed

Goddard, Erin; Carlson, Thomas A; Dermody, Nadene; Woolgar, Alexandra

2016-03-01

Object perception involves a range of visual and cognitive processes, and is known to include both a feedfoward flow of information from early visual cortical areas to higher cortical areas, along with feedback from areas such as prefrontal cortex. Previous studies have found that low and high spatial frequency information regarding object identity may be processed over different timescales. Here we used the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with multivariate pattern analysis to measure information specifically related to object identity in peri-frontal and peri-occipital areas. Using stimuli closely matched in their low-level visual content, we found that activity in peri-occipital cortex could be used to decode object identity from ~80ms post stimulus onset, and activity in peri-frontal cortex could also be used to decode object identity from a later time (~265ms post stimulus onset). Low spatial frequency information related to object identity was present in the MEG signal at an earlier time than high spatial frequency information for peri-occipital cortex, but not for peri-frontal cortex. We additionally used Granger causality analysis to compare feedforward and feedback influences on representational content, and found evidence of both an early feedfoward flow and later feedback flow of information related to object identity. We discuss our findings in relation to existing theories of object processing and propose how the methods we use here could be used to address further questions of the neural substrates underlying object perception. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Correlation of Spatially Filtered Dynamic Speckles in Distance Measurement Application

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Semenov, Dmitry V.; Nippolainen, Ervin; Kamshilin, Alexei A.

2008-04-15

In this paper statistical properties of spatially filtered dynamic speckles are considered. This phenomenon was not sufficiently studied yet while spatial filtering is an important instrument for speckles velocity measurements. In case of spatial filtering speckle velocity information is derived from the modulation frequency of filtered light power which is measured by photodetector. Typical photodetector output is represented by a narrow-band random noise signal which includes non-informative intervals. Therefore more or less precious frequency measurement requires averaging. In its turn averaging implies uncorrelated samples. However, conducting research we found that correlation is typical property not only of dynamic speckle patternsmore » but also of spatially filtered speckles. Using spatial filtering the correlation is observed as a response of measurements provided to the same part of the object surface or in case of simultaneously using several adjacent photodetectors. Found correlations can not be explained using just properties of unfiltered dynamic speckles. As we demonstrate the subject of this paper is important not only from pure theoretical point but also from the point of applied speckle metrology. E.g. using single spatial filter and an array of photodetector can greatly improve accuracy of speckle velocity measurements.« less

Effects of spatial frequency content on classification of face gender and expression.

PubMed

Aguado, Luis; Serrano-Pedraza, Ignacio; Rodríguez, Sonia; Román, Francisco J

2010-11-01

The role of different spatial frequency bands on face gender and expression categorization was studied in three experiments. Accuracy and reaction time were measured for unfiltered, low-pass (cut-off frequency of 1 cycle/deg) and high-pass (cutoff frequency of 3 cycles/deg) filtered faces. Filtered and unfiltered faces were equated in root-mean-squared contrast. For low-pass filtered faces reaction times were higher than unfiltered and high-pass filtered faces in both categorization tasks. In the expression task, these results were obtained with expressive faces presented in isolation (Experiment 1) and also with neutral-expressive dynamic sequences where each expressive face was preceded by a briefly presented neutral version of the same face (Experiment 2). For high-pass filtered faces different effects were observed on gender and expression categorization. While both speed and accuracy of gender categorization were reduced comparing to unfiltered faces, the efficiency of expression classification remained similar. Finally, we found no differences between expressive and non expressive faces in the effects of spatial frequency filtering on gender categorization (Experiment 3). These results show a common role of information from the high spatial frequency band in the categorization of face gender and expression.

Mid-frequency MTF compensation of optical sparse aperture system.

PubMed

Zhou, Chenghao; Wang, Zhile

2018-03-19

Optical sparse aperture (OSA) can greatly improve the spatial resolution of optical system. However, because of its aperture dispersion and sparse, its mid-frequency modulation transfer function (MTF) are significantly lower than that of a single aperture system. The main focus of this paper is on the mid-frequency MTF compensation of the optical sparse aperture system. Firstly, the principle of the mid-frequency MTF decreasing and missing of optical sparse aperture are analyzed. This paper takes the filling factor as a clue. The method of processing the mid-frequency MTF decreasing with large filling factor and method of compensation mid-frequency MTF with small filling factor are given respectively. For the MTF mid-frequency decreasing, the image spatial-variant restoration method is proposed to restore the mid-frequency information in the image; for the mid-frequency MTF missing, two images obtained by two system respectively are fused to compensate the mid-frequency information in optical sparse aperture image. The feasibility of the two method are analyzed in this paper. The numerical simulation of the system and algorithm of the two cases are presented using Zemax and Matlab. The results demonstrate that by these two methods the mid-frequency MTF of OSA system can be compensated effectively.

Effects of background motion on eye-movement information.

PubMed

Nakamura, S

1997-02-01

The effect of background stimulus on eye-movement information was investigated by analyzing the underestimation of the target velocity during pursuit eye movement (Aubert-Fleishl paradox). In the experiment, a striped pattern with various brightness contrasts and spatial frequencies was used as a background stimulus, which was moved at various velocities. Analysis showed that the perceived velocity of the pursuit target, which indicated the magnitudes of eye-movement information, decreased when the background stripes moved in the same direction as eye movement at higher velocities and increased when the background moved in the opposite direction. The results suggest that the eye-movement information varied as a linear function of the velocity of the motion of the background retinal image (optic flow). In addition, the effectiveness of optic flow on eye-movement information was determined by the attributes of the background stimulus such as the brightness contrast or the spatial frequency of the striped pattern.

Detection and extraction of orientation-and-scale-dependent information from two-dimensional GPR data with tuneable directional wavelet filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tzanis, Andreas

2013-02-01

The Ground Probing Radar (GPR) is a valuable tool for near surface geological, geotechnical, engineering, environmental, archaeological and other work. GPR images of the subsurface frequently contain geometric information (constant or variable-dip reflections) from various structures such as bedding, cracks, fractures, etc. Such features are frequently the target of the survey; however, they are usually not good reflectors and they are highly localized in time and in space. Their scale is therefore a factor significantly affecting their detectability. At the same time, the GPR method is very sensitive to broadband noise from buried small objects, electromagnetic anthropogenic activity and systemic factors, which frequently blurs the reflections from such targets. This paper introduces a method to de-noise GPR data and extract geometric information from scale-and-dip dependent structural features, based on one-dimensional B-Spline Wavelets, two-dimensional directional B-Spline Wavelet (BSW) Filters and two-dimensional Gabor Filters. A directional BSW Filter is built by sidewise arranging s identical one-dimensional wavelets of length L, tapering the s-parallel direction (span) with a suitable window function and rotating the resulting matrix to the desired orientation. The length L of the wavelet defines the temporal and spatial scale to be isolated and the span determines the length over which to smooth (spatial resolution). The Gabor Filter is generated by multiplying an elliptical Gaussian by a complex plane wave; at any orientation the temporal or spatial scale(s) to be isolated are determined by the wavelength. λ of the plane wave and the spatial resolution by the spatial aspect ratio γ, which specifies the ellipticity of the support of the Gabor function. At any orientation, both types of filter may be tuned at any frequency or spatial wavenumber by varying the length or the wavelength respectively. The filters can be applied directly to two-dimensional radargrams, in which case they abstract information about given scales at given orientations. Alternatively, they can be rotated to different orientations under adaptive control, so that they remain tuned at a given frequency or wavenumber and the resulting images can be stacked in the LS sense, so as to obtain a complete representation of the input data at a given temporal or spatial scale. In addition to isolating geometrical information for further scrutiny, the proposed filtering methods can be used to enhance the S/N ratio in a manner particularly suitable for GPR data, because the frequency response of the filters mimics the frequency characteristics of the source wavelet. Finally, signal attenuation and temporal localization are closely associated: low attenuation interfaces tend to produce reflections rich in high frequencies and fine-scale localization as a function of time. Conversely, high attenuation interfaces will produce reflections rich in low frequencies and broad localization. Accordingly, the temporal localization characteristics of the filters may be exploited to investigate the characteristics of signal propagation (hence material properties). The method is shown to be very effective in extracting fine to coarse scale information from noisy data and is demonstrated with applications to noisy GPR data from archaeometric and geotechnical surveys.

Binocular rivalry after right-hemisphere stroke: Effects of attention impairment on perceptual dominance patterns.

PubMed

Walle, Kjersti Mæhlum; Kyler, Hillary Lynn; Nordvik, Jan Egil; Becker, Frank; Laeng, Bruno

2017-10-01

Binocular rivalry is when perception fluctuates while the stimuli, consisting of different images presented to each eye, remain unchanged. The fluctuation rate and predominance ratio of these images are regarded as information source for understanding properties of consciousness and perception. We administered a binocular rivalry task to 26 right-hemisphere stroke patients and 26 healthy control participants, using stimuli such as simple Gabor anaglyphs. Each single Gabor image was of unequal spatial frequency compared to its counterpart, allowing assessment of the effect of relative spatial frequency on rivalry predominance. Results revealed that patients had significantly decreased alternation rate compared to healthy controls, with severity of patients' attention impairment predicting alternation rates. The patient group had higher predominance ratio for high compared to low relative spatial frequency stimuli consistent with the hypothesis that damage to the right hemisphere may disrupt processing of relatively low spatial frequencies. Degree of attention impairment also predicted the effect of relative spatial frequencies. Lastly, both groups showed increased predominance rates in the right eye compared to the left eye. This right eye dominance was more pronounced in patients than controls, suggesting that right hemisphere stroke may additionally affect eye predominance ratios. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A discrepancy within primate spatial vision and its bearing on the definition of edge detection processes in machine vision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jobson, Daniel J.

1990-01-01

The visual perception of form information is considered to be based on the functioning of simple and complex neurons in the primate striate cortex. However, a review of the physiological data on these brain cells cannot be harmonized with either the perceptual spatial frequency performance of primates or the performance which is necessary for form perception in humans. This discrepancy together with recent interest in cortical-like and perceptual-like processing in image coding and machine vision prompted a series of image processing experiments intended to provide some definition of the selection of image operators. The experiments were aimed at determining operators which could be used to detect edges in a computational manner consistent with the visual perception of structure in images. Fundamental issues were the selection of size (peak spatial frequency) and circular versus oriented operators (or some combination). In a previous study, circular difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) operators, with peak spatial frequency responses at about 11 and 33 cyc/deg were found to capture the primary structural information in images. Here larger scale circular DOG operators were explored and led to severe loss of image structure and introduced spatial dislocations (due to blur) in structure which is not consistent with visual perception. Orientation sensitive operators (akin to one class of simple cortical neurons) introduced ambiguities of edge extent regardless of the scale of the operator. For machine vision schemes which are functionally similar to natural vision form perception, two circularly symmetric very high spatial frequency channels appear to be necessary and sufficient for a wide range of natural images. Such a machine vision scheme is most similar to the physiological performance of the primate lateral geniculate nucleus rather than the striate cortex.

Attempting to physically explain space-time correlation of extremes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernardara, Pietro; Gailhard, Joel

2010-05-01

Spatial and temporal clustering of hydro-meteorological extreme events is scientific evidence. Moreover, the statistical parameters characterizing their local frequencies of occurrence show clear spatial patterns. Thus, in order to robustly assess the hydro-meteorological hazard, statistical models need to be able to take into account spatial and temporal dependencies. Statistical models considering long term correlation for quantifying and qualifying temporal and spatial dependencies are available, such as multifractal approach. Furthermore, the development of regional frequency analysis techniques allows estimating the frequency of occurrence of extreme events taking into account spatial patterns on the extreme quantiles behaviour. However, in order to understand the origin of spatio-temporal clustering, an attempt to find physical explanation should be done. Here, some statistical evidences of spatio-temporal correlation and spatial patterns of extreme behaviour are given on a large database of more than 400 rainfall and discharge series in France. In particular, the spatial distribution of multifractal and Generalized Pareto distribution parameters shows evident correlation patterns in the behaviour of frequency of occurrence of extremes. It is then shown that the identification of atmospheric circulation pattern (weather types) can physically explain the temporal clustering of extreme rainfall events (seasonality) and the spatial pattern of the frequency of occurrence. Moreover, coupling this information with the hydrological modelization of a watershed (as in the Schadex approach) an explanation of spatio-temporal distribution of extreme discharge can also be provided. We finally show that a hydro-meteorological approach (as the Schadex approach) can explain and take into account space and time dependencies of hydro-meteorological extreme events.

EEG Source Reconstruction Reveals Frontal-Parietal Dynamics of Spatial Conflict Processing

PubMed Central

Cohen, Michael X; Ridderinkhof, K. Richard

2013-01-01

Cognitive control requires the suppression of distracting information in order to focus on task-relevant information. We applied EEG source reconstruction via time-frequency linear constrained minimum variance beamforming to help elucidate the neural mechanisms involved in spatial conflict processing. Human subjects performed a Simon task, in which conflict was induced by incongruence between spatial location and response hand. We found an early (∼200 ms post-stimulus) conflict modulation in stimulus-contralateral parietal gamma (30–50 Hz), followed by a later alpha-band (8–12 Hz) conflict modulation, suggesting an early detection of spatial conflict and inhibition of spatial location processing. Inter-regional connectivity analyses assessed via cross-frequency coupling of theta (4–8 Hz), alpha, and gamma power revealed conflict-induced shifts in cortical network interactions: Congruent trials (relative to incongruent trials) had stronger coupling between frontal theta and stimulus-contrahemifield parietal alpha/gamma power, whereas incongruent trials had increased theta coupling between medial frontal and lateral frontal regions. These findings shed new light into the large-scale network dynamics of spatial conflict processing, and how those networks are shaped by oscillatory interactions. PMID:23451201

Frequency correction method for improved spatial correlation of hyperpolarized 13C metabolites and anatomy.

PubMed

Cunningham, Charles H; Dominguez Viqueira, William; Hurd, Ralph E; Chen, Albert P

2014-02-01

Blip-reversed echo-planar imaging (EPI) is investigated as a method for measuring and correcting the spatial shifts that occur due to bulk frequency offsets in (13)C metabolic imaging in vivo. By reversing the k-space trajectory for every other time point, the direction of the spatial shift for a given frequency is reversed. Here, mutual information is used to find the 'best' alignment between images and thereby measure the frequency offset. Time-resolved 3D images of pyruvate/lactate/urea were acquired with 5 s temporal resolution over a 1 min duration in rats (N = 6). For each rat, a second injection was performed with the demodulation frequency purposely mis-set by +35 Hz, to test the correction for erroneous shifts in the images. Overall, the shift induced by the 35 Hz frequency offset was 5.9 ± 0.6 mm (mean ± standard deviation). This agrees well with the expected 5.7 mm shift based on the 2.02 ms delay between k-space lines (giving 30.9 Hz per pixel). The 0.6 mm standard deviation in the correction corresponds to a frequency-detection accuracy of 4 Hz. A method was presented for ensuring the spatial registration between (13)C metabolic images and conventional anatomical images when long echo-planar readouts are used. The frequency correction method was shown to have an accuracy of 4 Hz. Summing the spatially corrected frames gave a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement factor of 2 or greater, compared with the highest single frame. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sensitivity to spatial frequency content is not specific to face perception

PubMed Central

Williams, N. Rankin; Willenbockel, Verena; Gauthier, Isabel

2010-01-01

Prior work using a matching task between images that were complementary in spatial frequency and orientation information suggested that the representation of faces, but not objects, retains low-level spatial frequency (SF) information (Biederman & Kalocsai. 1997). In two experiments, we reexamine the claim that faces are uniquely sensitive to changes in SF. In contrast to prior work, we used a design allowing the computation of sensitivity and response criterion for each category, and in one experiment, equalized low-level image properties across object categories. In both experiments, we find that observers are sensitive to SF changes for upright and inverted faces and nonface objects. Differential response biases across categories contributed to a larger sensitivity for faces, but even sensitivity showed a larger effect for faces, especially when faces were upright and in a front-facing view. However, when objects were inverted, or upright but shown in a three-quarter view, the matching of objects and faces was equally sensitive to SF changes. Accordingly, face perception does not appear to be uniquely affected by changes in SF content. PMID:19576237

Method for extracting long-equivalent wavelength interferometric information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hochberg, Eric B. (Inventor)

1991-01-01

A process for extracting long-equivalent wavelength interferometric information from a two-wavelength polychromatic or achromatic interferometer. The process comprises the steps of simultaneously recording a non-linear sum of two different frequency visible light interferograms on a high resolution film and then placing the developed film in an optical train for Fourier transformation, low pass spatial filtering and inverse transformation of the film image to produce low spatial frequency fringes corresponding to a long-equivalent wavelength interferogram. The recorded non-linear sum irradiance derived from the two-wavelength interferometer is obtained by controlling the exposure so that the average interferogram irradiance is set at either the noise level threshold or the saturation level threshold of the film.

Array processing for RFID tag localization exploiting multi-frequency signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yimin; Li, Xin; Amin, Moeness G.

2009-05-01

RFID is an increasingly valuable business and technology tool for electronically identifying, locating, and tracking products, assets, and personnel. As a result, precise positioning and tracking of RFID tags and readers have received considerable attention from both academic and industrial communities. Finding the position of RFID tags is considered an important task in various real-time locating systems (RTLS). As such, numerous RFID localization products have been developed for various applications. The majority of RFID positioning systems is based on the fusion of pieces of relevant information, such as the range and the direction-of-arrival (DOA). For example, trilateration can determine the tag position by using the range information of the tag estimated from three or more spatially separated reader antennas. Triangulation is another method to locate RFID tags that use the direction-of-arrival (DOA) information estimated at multiple spatially separated locations. The RFID tag positions can also be determined through hybrid techniques that combine the range and DOA information. The focus of this paper to study the design and performance of the localization of passive RFID tags using array processing techniques in a multipath environment, and exploiting multi-frequency CW signals. The latter are used to decorrelate the coherent multipath signals for effective DOA estimation and for the purpose of accurate range estimation. Accordingly, the spatial and frequency dimensionalities are fully utilized for robust and accurate positioning of RFID tags.

Emphasis of spatial cues in the temporal fine structure during the rising segments of amplitude-modulated sounds

PubMed Central

Dietz, Mathias; Marquardt, Torsten; Salminen, Nelli H.; McAlpine, David

2013-01-01

The ability to locate the direction of a target sound in a background of competing sources is critical to the survival of many species and important for human communication. Nevertheless, brain mechanisms that provide for such accurate localization abilities remain poorly understood. In particular, it remains unclear how the auditory brain is able to extract reliable spatial information directly from the source when competing sounds and reflections dominate all but the earliest moments of the sound wave reaching each ear. We developed a stimulus mimicking the mutual relationship of sound amplitude and binaural cues, characteristic to reverberant speech. This stimulus, named amplitude modulated binaural beat, allows for a parametric and isolated change of modulation frequency and phase relations. Employing magnetoencephalography and psychoacoustics it is demonstrated that the auditory brain uses binaural information in the stimulus fine structure only during the rising portion of each modulation cycle, rendering spatial information recoverable in an otherwise unlocalizable sound. The data suggest that amplitude modulation provides a means of “glimpsing” low-frequency spatial cues in a manner that benefits listening in noisy or reverberant environments. PMID:23980161

On the identification of normal modes of oscillation from observations of the solar periphery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gough, D. D.; Latour, J.

1984-01-01

The decomposition of solar oscillations into their constituent normal modes requires a knowledge of both the spatial and temporal variation of the perturbation to the Sun's surface. The task is especially difficult when only limited spatial information is available. Observations of the limb darkening function, for example, are probably sensitive to too large a number of modes to permit most of the modes to be identified in a power spectrum of measurements at only a few points on the limb, unless the results are combined with other data. A procedure was considered by which the contributions from quite small groups of modes to spatially well resolved data obtained at any instant can be extracted from the remaining modes. Combining these results with frequency information then permits the modes to be identified, at least if their frequencies are low enough to ensure that modes of high degree do not contribute substantially to the signal.

Assessing the capability of different satellite observing configurations to resolve the distribution of methane emissions at kilometer scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Alexander J.; Jacob, Daniel J.; Benmergui, Joshua; Brandman, Jeremy; White, Laurent; Randles, Cynthia A.

2018-06-01

Anthropogenic methane emissions originate from a large number of fine-scale and often transient point sources. Satellite observations of atmospheric methane columns are an attractive approach for monitoring these emissions but have limitations from instrument precision, pixel resolution, and measurement frequency. Dense observations will soon be available in both low-Earth and geostationary orbits, but the extent to which they can provide fine-scale information on methane sources has yet to be explored. Here we present an observation system simulation experiment (OSSE) to assess the capabilities of different satellite observing system configurations. We conduct a 1-week WRF-STILT simulation to generate methane column footprints at 1.3 × 1.3 km2 spatial resolution and hourly temporal resolution over a 290 × 235 km2 domain in the Barnett Shale, a major oil and gas field in Texas with a large number of point sources. We sub-sample these footprints to match the observing characteristics of the recently launched TROPOMI instrument (7 × 7 km2 pixels, 11 ppb precision, daily frequency), the planned GeoCARB instrument (2.7 × 3.0 km2 pixels, 4 ppb precision, nominal twice-daily frequency), and other proposed observing configurations. The information content of the various observing systems is evaluated using the Fisher information matrix and its eigenvalues. We find that a week of TROPOMI observations should provide information on temporally invariant emissions at ˜ 30 km spatial resolution. GeoCARB should provide information available on temporally invariant emissions ˜ 2-7 km spatial resolution depending on sampling frequency (hourly to daily). Improvements to the instrument precision yield greater increases in information content than improved sampling frequency. A precision better than 6 ppb is critical for GeoCARB to achieve fine resolution of emissions. Transient emissions would be missed with either TROPOMI or GeoCARB. An aspirational high-resolution geostationary instrument with 1.3 × 1.3 km2 pixel resolution, hourly return time, and 1 ppb precision would effectively constrain the temporally invariant emissions in the Barnett Shale at the kilometer scale and provide some information on hourly variability of sources.

Spatial frequency characteristics at image decision-point locations for observers with different radiological backgrounds in lung nodule detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietrzyk, Mariusz W.; Manning, David J.; Dix, Alan; Donovan, Tim

2009-02-01

Aim: The goal of the study is to determine the spatial frequency characteristics at locations in the image of overt and covert observers' decisions and find out if there are any similarities in different observers' groups: the same radiological experience group or the same accuracy scored level. Background: The radiological task is described as a visual searching decision making procedure involving visual perception and cognitive processing. Humans perceive the world through a number of spatial frequency channels, each sensitive to visual information carried by different spatial frequency ranges and orientations. Recent studies have shown that particular physical properties of local and global image-based elements are correlated with the performance and the level of experience of human observers in breast cancer and lung nodule detections. Neurological findings in visual perception were an inspiration for wavelet applications in vision research because the methodology tries to mimic the brain processing algorithms. Methods: The wavelet approach to the set of postero-anterior chest radiographs analysis has been used to characterize perceptual preferences observers with different levels of experience in the radiological task. Psychophysical methodology has been applied to track eye movements over the image, where particular ROIs related to the observers' fixation clusters has been analysed in the spaces frame by Daubechies functions. Results: Significance differences have been found between the spatial frequency characteristics at the location of different decisions.

Spatial-phase-modulation-based study of polyvinyl-alcohol/acrylamide photopolymers in the low spatial frequency range.

PubMed

Gallego, Sergi; Márquez, André; Méndez, David; Marini, Stephan; Beléndez, Augusto; Pascual, Inmaculada

2009-08-01

Photopolymers are appealing materials for the fabrication of diffractive optical elements (DOEs). We evaluate the possibilities of polyvinyl-alcohol/acrylamide-based photopolymers to store diffractive elements with low spatial frequencies. We record gratings with different spatial frequencies in the material and analyze the material behavior measuring the transmitted and the reflected orders as a function of exposition. We study two different compositions for the photopolymer, with and without a cross-linker. The values of diffraction efficiency achieved for both compositions make the material suitable to record DOEs with long spatial periods. Assuming a Fermi-Dirac-function-based profile, we fitted the diffracted intensities (up to the eighth order) to obtain the phase profile of the recorded gratings. This analysis shows that it is possible to achieve a phase shift larger than 2pi rad with steep edges in the periodic phase profile. In the case of the measurements in reflection, we have obtained information dealing with the surface profile, which show that it has a smooth shape with an extremely large phase-modulation depth.

Spatial filtering velocimeter for vehicle navigation with extended measurement range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xin; Zhou, Jian; Nie, Xiaoming; Long, Xingwu

2015-05-01

The idea of using spatial filtering velocimeter is proposed to provide accurate velocity information for vehicle autonomous navigation system. The presented spatial filtering velocimeter is based on a CMOS linear image sensor. The limited frame rate restricts high speed measurement of the vehicle. To extend measurement range of the velocimeter, a method of frequency shifting is put forward. Theoretical analysis shows that the frequency of output signal can be reduced and the measurement range can be doubled by this method when the shifting direction is set the same with that of image velocity. The approach of fast Fourier transform (FFT) is employed to obtain the power spectra of the spatially filtered signals. Because of limited frequency resolution of FFT, a frequency spectrum correction algorithm, called energy centrobaric correction, is used to improve the frequency resolution. The correction accuracy energy centrobaric correction is analyzed. Experiments are carried out to measure the moving surface of a conveyor belt. The experimental results show that the maximum measurable velocity is about 800deg/s without frequency shifting, 1600deg/s with frequency shifting, when the frame rate of the image is about 8117 Hz. Therefore, the measurement range is doubled by the method of frequency shifting. Furthermore, experiments were carried out to measure the vehicle velocity simultaneously using both the designed SFV and a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV). The measurement results of the presented SFV are coincident with that of the LDV, but with bigger fluctuation. Therefore, it has the potential of application to vehicular autonomous navigation.

Spectro-spatial analysis of wave packet propagation in nonlinear acoustic metamaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, W. J.; Li, X. P.; Wang, Y. S.; Chen, W. Q.; Huang, G. L.

2018-01-01

The objective of this work is to analyze wave packet propagation in weakly nonlinear acoustic metamaterials and reveal the interior nonlinear wave mechanism through spectro-spatial analysis. The spectro-spatial analysis is based on full-scale transient analysis of the finite system, by which dispersion curves are generated from the transmitted waves and also verified by the perturbation method (the L-P method). We found that the spectro-spatial analysis can provide detailed information about the solitary wave in short-wavelength region which cannot be captured by the L-P method. It is also found that the optical wave modes in the nonlinear metamaterial are sensitive to the parameters of the nonlinear constitutive relation. Specifically, a significant frequency shift phenomenon is found in the middle-wavelength region of the optical wave branch, which makes this frequency region behave like a band gap for transient waves. This special frequency shift is then used to design a direction-biased waveguide device, and its efficiency is shown by numerical simulations.

Predicting bias in perceived position using attention field models.

PubMed

Klein, Barrie P; Paffen, Chris L E; Pas, Susan F Te; Dumoulin, Serge O

2016-05-01

Attention is the mechanism through which we select relevant information from our visual environment. We have recently demonstrated that attention attracts receptive fields across the visual hierarchy (Klein, Harvey, & Dumoulin, 2014). We captured this receptive field attraction using an attention field model. Here, we apply this model to human perception: We predict that receptive field attraction results in a bias in perceived position, which depends on the size of the underlying receptive fields. We instructed participants to compare the relative position of Gabor stimuli, while we manipulated the focus of attention using exogenous cueing. We varied the eccentric position and spatial frequency of the Gabor stimuli to vary underlying receptive field size. The positional biases as a function of eccentricity matched the predictions by an attention field model, whereas the bias as a function of spatial frequency did not. As spatial frequency and eccentricity are encoded differently across the visual hierarchy, we speculate that they might interact differently with the attention field that is spatially defined.

Application of future remote sensing systems to irrigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, L. D.

1982-01-01

Area estimates of irrigated crops and knowledge of crop type are required for modeling water consumption to assist farmers, rangers, and agricultural consultants in scheduling irrigation for distributed management of crop yields. Information on canopy physiology and soil moisture status on a spatial basis is potentially available from remote sensors, so the questions to be addressed relate to: (1) timing (data frequency, instantaneous and integrated measurement); and scheduling (widely distributed spatial demands); (2) spatial resolution; (3) radiometric and geometric accuracy and geoencoding; and (4) information/data distribution. This latter should be overnight, with no central storage, onsite capture, and low cost.

Attention to local and global levels of hierarchical Navon figures affects rapid scene categorization.

PubMed

Brand, John; Johnson, Aaron P

2014-01-01

In four experiments, we investigated how attention to local and global levels of hierarchical Navon figures affected the selection of diagnostic spatial scale information used in scene categorization. We explored this issue by asking observers to classify hybrid images (i.e., images that contain low spatial frequency (LSF) content of one image, and high spatial frequency (HSF) content from a second image) immediately following global and local Navon tasks. Hybrid images can be classified according to either their LSF, or HSF content; thus, making them ideal for investigating diagnostic spatial scale preference. Although observers were sensitive to both spatial scales (Experiment 1), they overwhelmingly preferred to classify hybrids based on LSF content (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that LSF based hybrid categorization was faster following global Navon tasks, suggesting that LSF processing associated with global Navon tasks primed the selection of LSFs in hybrid images. In Experiment 4, replicating Experiment 3 but suppressing the LSF information in Navon letters by contrast balancing the stimuli examined this hypothesis. Similar to Experiment 3, observers preferred to classify hybrids based on LSF content; however and in contrast, LSF based hybrid categorization was slower following global than local Navon tasks.

Attention to local and global levels of hierarchical Navon figures affects rapid scene categorization

PubMed Central

Brand, John; Johnson, Aaron P.

2014-01-01

In four experiments, we investigated how attention to local and global levels of hierarchical Navon figures affected the selection of diagnostic spatial scale information used in scene categorization. We explored this issue by asking observers to classify hybrid images (i.e., images that contain low spatial frequency (LSF) content of one image, and high spatial frequency (HSF) content from a second image) immediately following global and local Navon tasks. Hybrid images can be classified according to either their LSF, or HSF content; thus, making them ideal for investigating diagnostic spatial scale preference. Although observers were sensitive to both spatial scales (Experiment 1), they overwhelmingly preferred to classify hybrids based on LSF content (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that LSF based hybrid categorization was faster following global Navon tasks, suggesting that LSF processing associated with global Navon tasks primed the selection of LSFs in hybrid images. In Experiment 4, replicating Experiment 3 but suppressing the LSF information in Navon letters by contrast balancing the stimuli examined this hypothesis. Similar to Experiment 3, observers preferred to classify hybrids based on LSF content; however and in contrast, LSF based hybrid categorization was slower following global than local Navon tasks. PMID:25520675

A 3D THz image processing methodology for a fully integrated, semi-automatic and near real-time operational system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brook, A.; Cristofani, E.; Vandewal, M.; Matheis, C.; Jonuscheit, J.; Beigang, R.

2012-05-01

The present study proposes a fully integrated, semi-automatic and near real-time mode-operated image processing methodology developed for Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) THz images with the center frequencies around: 100 GHz and 300 GHz. The quality control of aeronautics composite multi-layered materials and structures using Non-Destructive Testing is the main focus of this work. Image processing is applied on the 3-D images to extract useful information. The data is processed by extracting areas of interest. The detected areas are subjected to image analysis for more particular investigation managed by a spatial model. Finally, the post-processing stage examines and evaluates the spatial accuracy of the extracted information.

Depth Structure from Asymmetric Shading Supports Face Discrimination

PubMed Central

Chen, Chien-Chung; Chen, Chin-Mei; Tyler, Christopher W.

2013-01-01

To examine the effect of illumination direction on the ability of observers to discriminate between faces, we manipulated the direction of illumination on scanned 3D face models. In order to dissociate the surface reflectance and illumination components of front-view face images, we introduce a symmetry algorithm that can separate the symmetric and asymmetric components of the face in both low and high spatial frequency bands. Based on this approach, hybrid faces stimuli were constructed with different combinations of symmetric and asymmetric spatial content. Discrimination results with these images showed that asymmetric illumination information biased face perception toward the structure of the shading component, while the symmetric illumination information had little, if any, effect. Measures of perceived depth showed that this property increased systematically with the asymmetric but not the symmetric low spatial frequency component. Together, these results suggest that (1) the asymmetric 3D shading information dramatically affects both the perceived facial information and the perceived depth of the facial structure; and (2) these effects both increase as the illumination direction is shifted to the side. Thus, our results support the hypothesis that face processing has a strong 3D component. PMID:23457484

Increased spatial granularity of left brain activation and unique age/gender signatures: a 4D frequency domain approach to cerebral lateralization at rest.

PubMed

Agcaoglu, O; Miller, R; Mayer, A R; Hugdahl, K; Calhoun, V D

2016-12-01

Cerebral lateralization is a well-studied topic. However, most of the research to date in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been carried out on hemodynamic fluctuations of voxels, networks, or regions of interest (ROIs). For example, cerebral differences can be revealed by comparing the temporal activation of an ROI in one hemisphere with the corresponding homotopic region in the other hemisphere. While this approach can reveal significant information about cerebral organization, it does not provide information about the full spatiotemporal organization of the hemispheres. The cerebral differences revealed in literature suggest that hemispheres have different spatiotemporal organization in the resting state. In this study, we evaluate cerebral lateralization in the 4D spatiotemporal frequency domain to compare the hemispheres in the context of general activation patterns at different spatial and temporal scales. We use a gender-balanced resting fMRI dataset comprising over 600 healthy subjects ranging in age from 12 to 71, that have previously been studied with a network specific voxel-wise and global analysis of lateralization (Agcaoglu, et al. NeuroImage, 2014). Our analysis elucidates significant differences in the spatiotemporal organization of brain activity between hemispheres, and generally more spatiotemporal fluctuation in the left hemisphere especially in the high spatial frequency bands, and more power in the right hemisphere in the low and middle spatial frequencies. Importantly, the identified effects are not visible in the context of a typical assessment of voxelwise, regional, or even global laterality, thus our study highlights the value of 4D spatiotemporal frequency domain analyses as a complementary and powerful tool for studying brain function.

Paleohydrologic techniques used to define the spatial occurrence of floods

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jarrett, R.D.

1990-01-01

Defining the cause and spatial characteristics of floods may be difficult because of limited streamflow and precipitation data. New paleohydrologic techniques that incorporate information from geomorphic, sedimentologic, and botanic studies provide important supplemental information to define homogeneous hydrologic regions. These techniques also help to define the spatial structure of rainstorms and floods and improve regional flood-frequency estimates. The occurrence and the non-occurrence of paleohydrologic evidence of floods, such as flood bars, alluvial fans, and tree scars, provide valuable hydrologic information. The paleohydrologic research to define the spatial characteristics of floods improves the understanding of flood hydrometeorology. This research was used to define the areal extent and contributing drainage area of flash floods in Colorado. Also, paleohydrologic evidence was used to define the spatial boundaries for the Colorado foothills region in terms of the meteorologic cause of flooding and elevation. In general, above 2300 m, peak flows are caused by snowmelt. Below 2300 m, peak flows primarily are caused by rainfall. The foothills region has an upper elevation limit of about 2300 m and a lower elevation limit of about 1500 m. Regional flood-frequency estimates that incorporate the paleohydrologic information indicate that the Big Thompson River flash flood of 1976 had a recurrence interval of approximately 10,000 years. This contrasts markedly with 100 to 300 years determined by using conventional hydrologic analyses. Flood-discharge estimates based on rainfall-runoff methods in the foothills of Colorado result in larger values than those estimated with regional flood-frequency relations, which are based on long-term streamflow data. Preliminary hydrologic and paleohydrologic research indicates that intense rainfall does not occur at higher elevations in other Rocky Mountain states and that the highest elevations for rainfall-producing floods vary by latitude. The study results have implications for floodplain management and design of hydraulic structures in the mountains of Colorado and other Rocky Mountain States. ?? 1990.

Mutual Information in Frequency and Its Application to Measure Cross-Frequency Coupling in Epilepsy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malladi, Rakesh; Johnson, Don H.; Kalamangalam, Giridhar P.; Tandon, Nitin; Aazhang, Behnaam

2018-06-01

We define a metric, mutual information in frequency (MI-in-frequency), to detect and quantify the statistical dependence between different frequency components in the data, referred to as cross-frequency coupling and apply it to electrophysiological recordings from the brain to infer cross-frequency coupling. The current metrics used to quantify the cross-frequency coupling in neuroscience cannot detect if two frequency components in non-Gaussian brain recordings are statistically independent or not. Our MI-in-frequency metric, based on Shannon's mutual information between the Cramer's representation of stochastic processes, overcomes this shortcoming and can detect statistical dependence in frequency between non-Gaussian signals. We then describe two data-driven estimators of MI-in-frequency: one based on kernel density estimation and the other based on the nearest neighbor algorithm and validate their performance on simulated data. We then use MI-in-frequency to estimate mutual information between two data streams that are dependent across time, without making any parametric model assumptions. Finally, we use the MI-in- frequency metric to investigate the cross-frequency coupling in seizure onset zone from electrocorticographic recordings during seizures. The inferred cross-frequency coupling characteristics are essential to optimize the spatial and spectral parameters of electrical stimulation based treatments of epilepsy.

Staring 2-D hadamard transform spectral imager

DOEpatents

Gentry, Stephen M [Albuquerque, NM; Wehlburg, Christine M [Albuquerque, NM; Wehlburg, Joseph C [Albuquerque, NM; Smith, Mark W [Albuquerque, NM; Smith, Jody L [Albuquerque, NM

2006-02-07

A staring imaging system inputs a 2D spatial image containing multi-frequency spectral information. This image is encoded in one dimension of the image with a cyclic Hadamarid S-matrix. The resulting image is detecting with a spatial 2D detector; and a computer applies a Hadamard transform to recover the encoded image.

Selective loss of orientation column maps in visual cortex during brief elevation of intraocular pressure.

PubMed

Chen, Xin; Sun, Chao; Huang, Luoxiu; Shou, Tiande

2003-01-01

To compare the orientation column maps elicited by different spatial frequency gratings in cortical area 17 of cats before and during brief elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP). IOP was elevated by injecting saline into the anterior chamber of a cat's eye through a syringe needle. The IOP was elevated enough to cause a retinal perfusion pressure (arterial pressure minus IOP) of approximately 30 mm Hg during a brief elevation of IOP. The visual stimulus gratings were varied in spatial frequency, whereas other parameters were kept constant. The orientation column maps of the cortical area 17 were monocularly elicited by drifting gratings of different spatial frequencies and revealed by a brain intrinsic signal optical imaging system. These maps were compared before and during short-term elevation of IOP. The response amplitude of the orientation maps in area 17 decreased during a brief elevation of IOP. This decrease was dependent on the retinal perfusion pressure but not on the absolute IOP. The location of the most visible maps was spatial-frequency dependent. The blurring or loss of the pattern of the orientation maps was most severe when high-spatial-frequency gratings were used and appeared most significantly on the posterior part of the exposed cortex while IOP was elevated. However, the basic patterns of the maps remained unchanged. Changes in cortical signal were not due to changes in the optics of the eye with elevation of IOP. A stable normal IOP is essential for maintaining normal visual cortical functions. During a brief and high elevation of IOP, the cortical processing of high-spatial-frequency visual information was diminished because of a selectively functional decline of the retinogeniculocortical X pathway by a mechanism of retinal circulation origin.

Interactions of spatial and luminance information in the retina of chickens during myopia development.

PubMed

Feldkaemper, M; Diether, S; Kleine, G; Schaeffel, F

1999-01-01

Degrading the retinal image by frosted eye occluders produces elongated eyes and 'deprivation myopia' in a variety of animal models. The postulated retinal 'deprivation detector' is quite sensitive to even small changes in image contrast or spatial frequency composition. Because psychophysical experiments have shown that a decline in luminance shifts the contrast sensitivity function to lower spatial frequencies, it is likely that only a reduced spatial frequency range is available for image analysis to control eye growth. It is even possible that the compression might be sufficient to promote deprivation myopia. We have tested this hypothesis, using the animal model of the chicken. (1) At an ambient illumination of 550 lux (about 76 cd m-2), neutral density (ND) filters placed in front of the eye with 0.0, 0.5 or 1.0 log unit attenuation did not change refractive development. However, monocularly or binocularly attached filters with 2 log units attenuation produced 5-7 D of myopia relative to normal eyes. Black occluders were not more effective. Frosted eye occluders with little effect on image brightness (about 0.5 log units attenuation) produced much more myopia (about 16 D compared with the controls). (2) The effects of the ND filters on refractive development could not be reproduced if the ambient illumination was reduced by 2 log units. Probably, minor effects on image quality were introduced by optical imperfections of the ND filters which were more critical at low retinal image brightness. (3) In an optomotor experiment (spatial frequency 0.2 cyc deg-1, stripe speed 57 deg sec-1), it was shown that the chickens' contrast sensitivity was severely reduced when the eyes were covered by 2.0 ND filters. (4) Since there is evidence that changes in dopamine release from the retina may be one of the factors affecting the development of myopia, we have tested how selective these changes were for spatial information. It was found that dopamine release was controlled by both spatial and luminance information and that the inputs of both could be scarcely separated. (5) Because the experiments show that the eye becomes more sensitive to image degradation at low light, the human eye may also be more prone to develop myopia if the light levels are low during extended periods of near work. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Spatial auditory processing in pinnipeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holt, Marla M.

Given the biological importance of sound for a variety of activities, pinnipeds must be able to obtain spatial information about their surroundings thorough acoustic input in the absence of other sensory cues. The three chapters of this dissertation address spatial auditory processing capabilities of pinnipeds in air given that these amphibious animals use acoustic signals for reproduction and survival on land. Two chapters are comparative lab-based studies that utilized psychophysical approaches conducted in an acoustic chamber. Chapter 1 addressed the frequency-dependent sound localization abilities at azimuth of three pinniped species (the harbor seal, Phoca vitulina, the California sea lion, Zalophus californianus, and the northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris). While performances of the sea lion and harbor seal were consistent with the duplex theory of sound localization, the elephant seal, a low-frequency hearing specialist, showed a decreased ability to localize the highest frequencies tested. In Chapter 2 spatial release from masking (SRM), which occurs when a signal and masker are spatially separated resulting in improvement in signal detectability relative to conditions in which they are co-located, was determined in a harbor seal and sea lion. Absolute and masked thresholds were measured at three frequencies and azimuths to determine the detection advantages afforded by this type of spatial auditory processing. Results showed that hearing sensitivity was enhanced by up to 19 and 12 dB in the harbor seal and sea lion, respectively, when the signal and masker were spatially separated. Chapter 3 was a field-based study that quantified both sender and receiver variables of the directional properties of male northern elephant seal calls produce within communication system that serves to delineate dominance status. This included measuring call directivity patterns, observing male-male vocally-mediated interactions, and an acoustic playback study. Results showed that males produce calls that were highly directional that together with social status influenced the response of receivers. Results from the playback study were able to confirm that the isolated acoustic components of this display resulted in similar responses among males. These three chapters provide further information about comparative aspects of spatial auditory processing in pinnipeds.

Are all types of expertise created equal? Car experts use different spatial frequency scales for subordinate categorization of cars and faces.

PubMed

Harel, Assaf; Bentin, Shlomo

2013-01-01

A much-debated question in object recognition is whether expertise for faces and expertise for non-face objects utilize common perceptual information. We investigated this issue by assessing the diagnostic information required for different types of expertise. Specifically, we asked whether face categorization and expert car categorization at the subordinate level relies on the same spatial frequency (SF) scales. Fifteen car experts and fifteen novices performed a category verification task with spatially filtered images of faces, cars, and airplanes. Images were categorized based on their basic (e.g. "car") and subordinate level (e.g. "Japanese car") identity. The effect of expertise was not evident when objects were categorized at the basic level. However, when the car experts categorized faces and cars at the subordinate level, the two types of expertise required different kinds of SF information. Subordinate categorization of faces relied on low SFs more than on high SFs, whereas subordinate expert car categorization relied on high SFs more than on low SFs. These findings suggest that expertise in the recognition of objects and faces do not utilize the same type of information. Rather, different types of expertise require different types of diagnostic visual information.

Are All Types of Expertise Created Equal? Car Experts Use Different Spatial Frequency Scales for Subordinate Categorization of Cars and Faces

PubMed Central

Harel, Assaf; Bentin, Shlomo

2013-01-01

A much-debated question in object recognition is whether expertise for faces and expertise for non-face objects utilize common perceptual information. We investigated this issue by assessing the diagnostic information required for different types of expertise. Specifically, we asked whether face categorization and expert car categorization at the subordinate level relies on the same spatial frequency (SF) scales. Fifteen car experts and fifteen novices performed a category verification task with spatially filtered images of faces, cars, and airplanes. Images were categorized based on their basic (e.g. “car”) and subordinate level (e.g. “Japanese car”) identity. The effect of expertise was not evident when objects were categorized at the basic level. However, when the car experts categorized faces and cars at the subordinate level, the two types of expertise required different kinds of SF information. Subordinate categorization of faces relied on low SFs more than on high SFs, whereas subordinate expert car categorization relied on high SFs more than on low SFs. These findings suggest that expertise in the recognition of objects and faces do not utilize the same type of information. Rather, different types of expertise require different types of diagnostic visual information. PMID:23826188

SPECIAL ISSUE ON OPTICAL PROCESSING OF INFORMATION: Optical information processing with transformation of the spatial coherence of light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bykovskii, Yurii A.; Markilov, A. A.; Rodin, V. G.; Starikov, S. N.

1995-10-01

A description is given of systems with spatially incoherent illumination, intended for spectral and correlation analysis, and for the recording of Fourier holograms. These systems make use of transformation of the degree of the spatial coherence of light. The results are given of the processing of images and signals, including those transmitted by a bundle of fibre-optic waveguides both as monochromatic light and as quasimonochromatic radiation from a cathode-ray tube. The feasibility of spatial frequency filtering and of correlation analysis of images with a bipolar impulse response is considered for systems with spatially incoherent illumination where these tasks are performed by double transformation of the spatial coherence of light. A description is given of experimental systems and the results of image processing are reported.

Indoor detection of passive targets recast as an inverse scattering problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gottardi, G.; Moriyama, T.

2017-10-01

The wireless local area networks represent an alternative to custom sensors and dedicated surveillance systems for target indoor detection. The availability of the channel state information has opened the exploitation of the spatial and frequency diversity given by the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Such a fine-grained information can be used to solve the detection problem as an inverse scattering problem. The goal of the detection is to reconstruct the properties of the investigation domain, namely to estimate if the domain is empty or occupied by targets, starting from the measurement of the electromagnetic perturbation of the wireless channel. An innovative inversion strategy exploiting both the frequency and the spatial diversity of the channel state information is proposed. The target-dependent features are identified combining the Kruskal-Wallis test and the principal component analysis. The experimental validation points out the detection performance of the proposed method when applied to an existing wireless link of a WiFi architecture deployed in a real indoor scenario. False detection rates lower than 2 [%] have been obtained.

Modulation of hippocampal NCAM polysialylation and spatial memory consolidation by fear conditioning.

PubMed

Sandi, Carmen; Merino, José J; Cordero, M Isabel; Kruyt, Nyika D; Murphy, Keith J; Regan, Ciaran M

2003-09-15

Cell adhesion molecule function is involved in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and associated with memory consolidation. At the infragranular zone of the dentate gyrus, neurons expressing the polysialylated form of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM PSA) transiently increase their frequency 12 hours after training in different tasks. Using immunohistochemical procedures, we investigated NCAM polysialylation following training in a contextual fear conditioning paradigm that employed increasing shock intensities to separately model stressful and traumatic experiences in adult male Wistar rats. Fear conditioning with a stressful.4-mA stimulus resulted in an increased frequency of dentate polysialylated neurons, the magnitude of which was indistinguishable from that observed following water maze training. By contrast, training with a traumatic 1-mA stimulus resulted in a significant decrease in the frequency of polysialylated neurons at the 12 hours posttraining time. Whereas sequential training in the water maze paradigm followed by fear conditioning resulted in potentiated consolidation of spatial information when conditioning involved a.4-mA stimulus, amnesia for spatial learning occurred when conditioning was performed with a 1-mA stimulus. These results suggest traumatic fear conditioning suppresses NCAM-PSA-mediated plasticity and the concomitant inability to store the trace of recently acquired information.

Texture characterization for joint compression and classification based on human perception in the wavelet domain.

PubMed

Fahmy, Gamal; Black, John; Panchanathan, Sethuraman

2006-06-01

Today's multimedia applications demand sophisticated compression and classification techniques in order to store, transmit, and retrieve audio-visual information efficiently. Over the last decade, perceptually based image compression methods have been gaining importance. These methods take into account the abilities (and the limitations) of human visual perception (HVP) when performing compression. The upcoming MPEG 7 standard also addresses the need for succinct classification and indexing of visual content for efficient retrieval. However, there has been no research that has attempted to exploit the characteristics of the human visual system to perform both compression and classification jointly. One area of HVP that has unexplored potential for joint compression and classification is spatial frequency perception. Spatial frequency content that is perceived by humans can be characterized in terms of three parameters, which are: 1) magnitude; 2) phase; and 3) orientation. While the magnitude of spatial frequency content has been exploited in several existing image compression techniques, the novel contribution of this paper is its focus on the use of phase coherence for joint compression and classification in the wavelet domain. Specifically, this paper describes a human visual system-based method for measuring the degree to which an image contains coherent (perceptible) phase information, and then exploits that information to provide joint compression and classification. Simulation results that demonstrate the efficiency of this method are presented.

Anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder are associated with abnormalities in processing visual information.

PubMed

Li, W; Lai, T M; Bohon, C; Loo, S K; McCurdy, D; Strober, M; Bookheimer, S; Feusner, J

2015-07-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are characterized by distorted body image and are frequently co-morbid with each other, although their relationship remains little studied. While there is evidence of abnormalities in visual and visuospatial processing in both disorders, no study has directly compared the two. We used two complementary modalities--event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)--to test for abnormal activity associated with early visual signaling. We acquired fMRI and ERP data in separate sessions from 15 unmedicated individuals in each of three groups (weight-restored AN, BDD, and healthy controls) while they viewed images of faces and houses of different spatial frequencies. We used joint independent component analyses to compare activity in visual systems. AN and BDD groups demonstrated similar hypoactivity in early secondary visual processing regions and the dorsal visual stream when viewing low spatial frequency faces, linked to the N170 component, as well as in early secondary visual processing regions when viewing low spatial frequency houses, linked to the P100 component. Additionally, the BDD group exhibited hyperactivity in fusiform cortex when viewing high spatial frequency houses, linked to the N170 component. Greater activity in this component was associated with lower attractiveness ratings of faces. Results provide preliminary evidence of similar abnormal spatiotemporal activation in AN and BDD for configural/holistic information for appearance- and non-appearance-related stimuli. This suggests a common phenotype of abnormal early visual system functioning, which may contribute to perceptual distortions.

Fizeau Fourier transform imaging spectroscopy: missing data reconstruction.

PubMed

Thurman, Samuel T; Fienup, James R

2008-04-28

Fizeau Fourier transform imaging spectroscopy yields both spatial and spectral information about an object. Spectral information, however, is not obtained for a finite area of low spatial frequencies. A nonlinear reconstruction algorithm based on a gray-world approximation is presented. Reconstruction results from simulated data agree well with ideal Michelson interferometer-based spectral imagery. This result implies that segmented-aperture telescopes and multiple telescope arrays designed for conventional imaging can be used to gather useful spectral data through Fizeau FTIS without the need for additional hardware.

Restoration of motion blurred image with Lucy-Richardson algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jing; Liu, Zhao Hui; Zhou, Liang

2015-10-01

Images will be blurred by relative motion between the camera and the object of interest. In this paper, we analyzed the process of motion-blurred image, and demonstrated a restoration method based on Lucy-Richardson algorithm. The blur extent and angle can be estimated by Radon transform algorithm and auto-correlation function, respectively, and then the point spread function (PSF) of the motion-blurred image can be obtained. Thus with the help of the obtained PSF, the Lucy-Richardson restoration algorithm is used for experimental analysis on the motion-blurred images that have different blur extents, spatial resolutions and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR's). Further, its effectiveness is also evaluated by structural similarity (SSIM). Further studies show that, at first, for the image with a spatial frequency of 0.2 per pixel, the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the restored images can maintains above 0.7 when the blur extent is no bigger than 13 pixels. That means the method compensates low frequency information of the image, while attenuates high frequency information. At second, we fund that the method is more effective on condition that the product of the blur extent and spatial frequency is smaller than 3.75. Finally, the Lucy-Richardson algorithm is found insensitive to the Gaussian noise (of which the variance is not bigger than 0.1) by calculating the MTF of the restored image.

Spatially variable stage-driven groundwater-surface water interaction inferred from time-frequency analysis of distributed temperature sensing data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mwakanyamale, Kisa; Slater, Lee; Day-Lewis, Frederick D.; Elwaseif, Mehrez; Johnson, Carole D.

2012-01-01

Characterization of groundwater-surface water exchange is essential for improving understanding of contaminant transport between aquifers and rivers. Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FODTS) provides rich spatiotemporal datasets for quantitative and qualitative analysis of groundwater-surface water exchange. We demonstrate how time-frequency analysis of FODTS and synchronous river stage time series from the Columbia River adjacent to the Hanford 300-Area, Richland, Washington, provides spatial information on the strength of stage-driven exchange of uranium contaminated groundwater in response to subsurface heterogeneity. Although used in previous studies, the stage-temperature correlation coefficient proved an unreliable indicator of the stage-driven forcing on groundwater discharge in the presence of other factors influencing river water temperature. In contrast, S-transform analysis of the stage and FODTS data definitively identifies the spatial distribution of discharge zones and provided information on the dominant forcing periods (≥2 d) of the complex dam operations driving stage fluctuations and hence groundwater-surface water exchange at the 300-Area.

On the identification of normal modes of oscillation from observations of the solar periphery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gough, D. O.; Latour, J.

1984-01-01

The decomposition of solar oscillations into their constituent normal modes requires a knowledge of both the spatial and temporal variation of the perturbation to the sun's surface. The task can be especially difficult when only limited spatial information is available. Observations of the limb-darkening function, for example, are probably sensitive to too large a number of modes to permit most of the modes to be identified in a power spectrum of measurements at only a few points on the limb, unless the results are combined with other data. In this paper a procedure is considered by which the contributions from quite small groups of modes to spatially well resolved data obtained at any instant can be extracted from the remaining modes. Combining these results with frequency information then permits the modes to be identified, at least if their frequencies are low enough to ensure that modes of high degree do not contribute substantially to the signal.

Priming Facial Gender and Emotional Valence: The Influence of Spatial Frequency on Face Perception in ASD.

PubMed

Vanmarcke, Steven; Wagemans, Johan

2017-04-01

Adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performed two priming experiments in which they implicitly processed a prime stimulus, containing high and/or low spatial frequency information, and then explicitly categorized a target face either as male/female (gender task) or as positive/negative (Valence task). Adolescents with ASD made more categorization errors than typically developing adolescents. They also showed an age-dependent improvement in categorization speed and had more difficulties with categorizing facial expressions than gender. However, in neither of the categorization tasks, we found group differences in the processing of coarse versus fine prime information. This contradicted our expectations, and indicated that the perceptual differences between adolescents with and without ASD critically depended on the processing time available for the primes.

Resolution of VTI anisotropy with elastic full-waveform inversion: theory and basic numerical examples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podgornova, O.; Leaney, S.; Liang, L.

2018-07-01

Extracting medium properties from seismic data faces some limitations due to the finite frequency content of the data and restricted spatial positions of the sources and receivers. Some distributions of the medium properties make low impact on the data (including none). If these properties are used as the inversion parameters, then the inverse problem becomes overparametrized, leading to ambiguous results. We present an analysis of multiparameter resolution for the linearized inverse problem in the framework of elastic full-waveform inversion. We show that the spatial and multiparameter sensitivities are intertwined and non-sensitive properties are spatial distributions of some non-trivial combinations of the conventional elastic parameters. The analysis accounts for the Hessian information and frequency content of the data; it is semi-analytical (in some scenarios analytical), easy to interpret and enhances results of the widely used radiation pattern analysis. Single-type scattering is shown to have limited sensitivity, even for full-aperture data. Finite-frequency data lose multiparameter sensitivity at smooth and fine spatial scales. Also, we establish ways to quantify a spatial-multiparameter coupling and demonstrate that the theoretical predictions agree well with the numerical results.

Multimodal Medical Image Fusion by Adaptive Manifold Filter.

PubMed

Geng, Peng; Liu, Shuaiqi; Zhuang, Shanna

2015-01-01

Medical image fusion plays an important role in diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as image-guided radiotherapy and surgery. The modified local contrast information is proposed to fuse multimodal medical images. Firstly, the adaptive manifold filter is introduced into filtering source images as the low-frequency part in the modified local contrast. Secondly, the modified spatial frequency of the source images is adopted as the high-frequency part in the modified local contrast. Finally, the pixel with larger modified local contrast is selected into the fused image. The presented scheme outperforms the guided filter method in spatial domain, the dual-tree complex wavelet transform-based method, nonsubsampled contourlet transform-based method, and four classic fusion methods in terms of visual quality. Furthermore, the mutual information values by the presented method are averagely 55%, 41%, and 62% higher than the three methods and those values of edge based similarity measure by the presented method are averagely 13%, 33%, and 14% higher than the three methods for the six pairs of source images.

SPECIAL ISSUE ON OPTICAL PROCESSING OF INFORMATION: Realisation of video-frequency filters on the basis of a new mode of operation of an acousto-optical correlator with spatial integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ushakov, V. N.

1995-10-01

A video-frequency acousto-optical correlator with spatial integration, which widens the functional capabilities of correlation-type acousto-optical processors, is described. The correlator is based on a two-dimensional reference transparency and it can filter arbitrary video signals of spectral width limited by the pass band of an acousto-optical modulator. The calculated pulse characteristic is governed by the structure of the reference transparency. A procedure for the synthesis of this transparency is considered and experimental results are reported.

Frequency analysis of the visual steady-state response measured with the fast optical signal in younger and older adults.

PubMed

Tse, Chun-Yu; Gordon, Brian A; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele

2010-09-01

Relatively high frequency activity (>4Hz) carries important information about the state of the brain or its response to high frequency events. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is commonly used to study these changes because it possesses high temporal resolution and a good signal-to-noise ratio. However, it provides limited spatial information. Non-invasive fast optical signals (FOS) have been proposed as a neuroimaging tool combining spatial and temporal resolution. Yet, this technique has not been applied to study high frequency brain oscillations because of its relatively low signal-to-noise ratio. Here we investigate the sensitivity of FOS to relatively high-frequency brain oscillations. We measured the steady-state optical response elicited in medial and lateral occipital cortex by checkerboard reversals occurring at 4, 6, and 8Hz in younger and older adults. Stimulus-dependent oscillations were observed at the predicted stimulation frequency. In addition, in the younger adults the FOS steady-state response was smaller in lateral than medial areas, whereas in the older adults it was reversed in these two cortical regions. This may reflect diminished top-down inhibitory control in the older adults. The results indicate that FOS can be used to study the modulation of relatively high-frequency brain oscillations in adjacent cortical regions. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial hearing in Cope’s gray treefrog: II. Frequency-dependent directionality in the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibrations

PubMed Central

Lee, Norman; Schrode, Katrina M.; Johns, Anastasia R.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Bee, Mark A.

2014-01-01

Anuran ears function as pressure difference receivers, and the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibrations are inherently directional, varying with sound incident angle. We quantified the nature of this directionality for Cope’s gray treefrog, Hyla chrysoscelis. We presented subjects with pure tones, advertisement calls, and frequency-modulated sweeps to examine the influence of frequency, signal level, lung inflation, and sex on ear directionality. Interaural differences in the amplitude of tympanum vibrations were 1–4 dB greater than sound pressure differences adjacent to the two tympana, while interaural differences in the phase of tympanum vibration were similar to or smaller than those in sound phase. Directionality in the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibration were highly dependent on sound frequency, and directionality in amplitude varied slightly with signal level. Directionality in the amplitude and phase of tone- and call-evoked responses did not differ between sexes. Lung inflation strongly affected tympanum directionality over a narrow frequency range that, in females, included call frequencies. This study provides a foundation for further work on the biomechanics and neural mechanisms of spatial hearing in H. chrysoscelis, and lends valuable perspective to behavioral studies on the use of spatial information by this species and other frogs. PMID:24504183

A novel x-ray detector design with higher DQE and reduced aliasing: Theoretical analysis of x-ray reabsoprtion in detector converter material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nano, Tomi; Escartin, Terenz; Karim, Karim S.; Cunningham, Ian A.

2016-03-01

The ability to improve visualization of structural information in digital radiography without increasing radiation exposures requires improved image quality across all spatial frequencies, especially at high frequencies. The detective quantum efficiency (DQE) as a function of spatial frequency quantifies image quality given by an x-ray detector. We present a method of increasing DQE at high spatial frequencies by improving the modulation transfer function (MTF) and reducing noise aliasing. The Apodized Aperature Pixel (AAP) design uses a detector with micro-elements to synthesize desired pixels and provide higher DQE than conventional detector designs. A cascaded system analysis (CSA) that incorporates x-ray interactions is used for comparison of the theoretical MTF, noise power spectrum (NPS), and DQE. Signal and noise transfer through the converter material is shown to consist of correlated an uncorrelated terms. The AAP design was shown to improve the DQE of both material types that have predominantly correlated transfer (such as CsI) and predominantly uncorrelated transfer (such as Se). Improvement in the MTF by 50% and the DQE by 100% at the sampling cut-off frequency is obtained when uncorrelated transfer is prevalent through the converter material. Optimizing high-frequency DQE results in improved image contrast and visualization of small structures and fine-detail.

Spatial hearing in Cope's gray treefrog: II. Frequency-dependent directionality in the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibrations.

PubMed

Caldwell, Michael S; Lee, Norman; Schrode, Katrina M; Johns, Anastasia R; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Bee, Mark A

2014-04-01

Anuran ears function as pressure difference receivers, and the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibrations are inherently directional, varying with sound incident angle. We quantified the nature of this directionality for Cope's gray treefrog, Hyla chrysoscelis. We presented subjects with pure tones, advertisement calls, and frequency-modulated sweeps to examine the influence of frequency, signal level, lung inflation, and sex on ear directionality. Interaural differences in the amplitude of tympanum vibrations were 1-4 dB greater than sound pressure differences adjacent to the two tympana, while interaural differences in the phase of tympanum vibration were similar to or smaller than those in sound phase. Directionality in the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibration were highly dependent on sound frequency, and directionality in amplitude varied slightly with signal level. Directionality in the amplitude and phase of tone- and call-evoked responses did not differ between sexes. Lung inflation strongly affected tympanum directionality over a narrow frequency range that, in females, included call frequencies. This study provides a foundation for further work on the biomechanics and neural mechanisms of spatial hearing in H. chrysoscelis, and lends valuable perspective to behavioral studies on the use of spatial information by this species and other frogs.

Real-time and quantitative isotropic spatial resolution susceptibility imaging for magnetic nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pi, Shiqiang; Liu, Wenzhong; Jiang, Tao

2018-03-01

The magnetic transparency of biological tissue allows the magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) to be a promising functional sensor and contrast agent. The complex susceptibility of MNPs, strongly influenced by particle concentration, excitation magnetic field and their surrounding microenvironment, provides significant implications for biomedical applications. Therefore, magnetic susceptibility imaging of high spatial resolution will give more detailed information during the process of MNP-aided diagnosis and therapy. In this study, we present a novel spatial magnetic susceptibility extraction method for MNPs under a gradient magnetic field, a low-frequency drive magnetic field, and a weak strength high-frequency magnetic field. Based on this novel method, a magnetic particle susceptibility imaging (MPSI) of millimeter-level spatial resolution (<3 mm) was achieved using our homemade imaging system. Corroborated by the experimental results, the MPSI shows real-time (1 s per frame acquisition) and quantitative abilities, and isotropic high resolution.

Paleo-event data standards for dendrochronology

Treesearch

Elaine Kennedy Sutherland; P. Brewer; W. Gross

2017-01-01

Extreme environmental events, such as storm winds, landslides, insect infestations, and wildfire, cause loss of life, resources, and human infrastructure. Disaster riskreduction analysis can be improved with information about past frequency, intensity, and spatial patterns of extreme events. Tree-ring analyses can provide such information: tree rings reflect events as...

Projection correlation based view interpolation for cone beam CT: primary fluence restoration in scatter measurement with a moving beam stop array.

PubMed

Yan, Hao; Mou, Xuanqin; Tang, Shaojie; Xu, Qiong; Zankl, Maria

2010-11-07

Scatter correction is an open problem in x-ray cone beam (CB) CT. The measurement of scatter intensity with a moving beam stop array (BSA) is a promising technique that offers a low patient dose and accurate scatter measurement. However, when restoring the blocked primary fluence behind the BSA, spatial interpolation cannot well restore the high-frequency part, causing streaks in the reconstructed image. To address this problem, we deduce a projection correlation (PC) to utilize the redundancy (over-determined information) in neighbouring CB views. PC indicates that the main high-frequency information is contained in neighbouring angular projections, instead of the current projection itself, which provides a guiding principle that applies to high-frequency information restoration. On this basis, we present the projection correlation based view interpolation (PC-VI) algorithm; that it outperforms the use of only spatial interpolation is validated. The PC-VI based moving BSA method is developed. In this method, PC-VI is employed instead of spatial interpolation, and new moving modes are designed, which greatly improve the performance of the moving BSA method in terms of reliability and practicability. Evaluation is made on a high-resolution voxel-based human phantom realistically including the entire procedure of scatter measurement with a moving BSA, which is simulated by analytical ray-tracing plus Monte Carlo simulation with EGSnrc. With the proposed method, we get visually artefact-free images approaching the ideal correction. Compared with the spatial interpolation based method, the relative mean square error is reduced by a factor of 6.05-15.94 for different slices. PC-VI does well in CB redundancy mining; therefore, it has further potential in CBCT studies.

Spatial information outflow from the hippocampal circuit: distributed spatial coding and phase precession in the subiculum.

PubMed

Kim, Steve M; Ganguli, Surya; Frank, Loren M

2012-08-22

Hippocampal place cells convey spatial information through a combination of spatially selective firing and theta phase precession. The way in which this information influences regions like the subiculum that receive input from the hippocampus remains unclear. The subiculum receives direct inputs from area CA1 of the hippocampus and sends divergent output projections to many other parts of the brain, so we examined the firing patterns of rat subicular neurons. We found a substantial transformation in the subicular code for space from sparse to dense firing rate representations along a proximal-distal anatomical gradient: neurons in the proximal subiculum are more similar to canonical, sparsely firing hippocampal place cells, whereas neurons in the distal subiculum have higher firing rates and more distributed spatial firing patterns. Using information theory, we found that the more distributed spatial representation in the subiculum carries, on average, more information about spatial location and context than the sparse spatial representation in CA1. Remarkably, despite the disparate firing rate properties of subicular neurons, we found that neurons at all proximal-distal locations exhibit robust theta phase precession, with similar spiking oscillation frequencies as neurons in area CA1. Our findings suggest that the subiculum is specialized to compress sparse hippocampal spatial codes into highly informative distributed codes suitable for efficient communication to other brain regions. Moreover, despite this substantial compression, the subiculum maintains finer scale temporal properties that may allow it to participate in oscillatory phase coding and spike timing-dependent plasticity in coordination with other regions of the hippocampal circuit.

Spatially explicit spectral analysis of point clouds and geospatial data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buscombe, Daniel D.

2015-01-01

The increasing use of spatially explicit analyses of high-resolution spatially distributed data (imagery and point clouds) for the purposes of characterising spatial heterogeneity in geophysical phenomena necessitates the development of custom analytical and computational tools. In recent years, such analyses have become the basis of, for example, automated texture characterisation and segmentation, roughness and grain size calculation, and feature detection and classification, from a variety of data types. In this work, much use has been made of statistical descriptors of localised spatial variations in amplitude variance (roughness), however the horizontal scale (wavelength) and spacing of roughness elements is rarely considered. This is despite the fact that the ratio of characteristic vertical to horizontal scales is not constant and can yield important information about physical scaling relationships. Spectral analysis is a hitherto under-utilised but powerful means to acquire statistical information about relevant amplitude and wavelength scales, simultaneously and with computational efficiency. Further, quantifying spatially distributed data in the frequency domain lends itself to the development of stochastic models for probing the underlying mechanisms which govern the spatial distribution of geological and geophysical phenomena. The software packagePySESA (Python program for Spatially Explicit Spectral Analysis) has been developed for generic analyses of spatially distributed data in both the spatial and frequency domains. Developed predominantly in Python, it accesses libraries written in Cython and C++ for efficiency. It is open source and modular, therefore readily incorporated into, and combined with, other data analysis tools and frameworks with particular utility for supporting research in the fields of geomorphology, geophysics, hydrography, photogrammetry and remote sensing. The analytical and computational structure of the toolbox is described, and its functionality illustrated with an example of a high-resolution bathymetric point cloud data collected with multibeam echosounder.

Joint Entropy for Space and Spatial Frequency Domains Estimated from Psychometric Functions of Achromatic Discrimination

PubMed Central

Silveira, Vladímir de Aquino; Souza, Givago da Silva; Gomes, Bruno Duarte; Rodrigues, Anderson Raiol; Silveira, Luiz Carlos de Lima

2014-01-01

We used psychometric functions to estimate the joint entropy for space discrimination and spatial frequency discrimination. Space discrimination was taken as discrimination of spatial extent. Seven subjects were tested. Gábor functions comprising unidimensionalsinusoidal gratings (0.4, 2, and 10 cpd) and bidimensionalGaussian envelopes (1°) were used as reference stimuli. The experiment comprised the comparison between reference and test stimulithat differed in grating's spatial frequency or envelope's standard deviation. We tested 21 different envelope's standard deviations around the reference standard deviation to study spatial extent discrimination and 19 different grating's spatial frequencies around the reference spatial frequency to study spatial frequency discrimination. Two series of psychometric functions were obtained for 2%, 5%, 10%, and 100% stimulus contrast. The psychometric function data points for spatial extent discrimination or spatial frequency discrimination were fitted with Gaussian functions using the least square method, and the spatial extent and spatial frequency entropies were estimated from the standard deviation of these Gaussian functions. Then, joint entropy was obtained by multiplying the square root of space extent entropy times the spatial frequency entropy. We compared our results to the theoretical minimum for unidimensional Gábor functions, 1/4π or 0.0796. At low and intermediate spatial frequencies and high contrasts, joint entropy reached levels below the theoretical minimum, suggesting non-linear interactions between two or more visual mechanisms. We concluded that non-linear interactions of visual pathways, such as the M and P pathways, could explain joint entropy values below the theoretical minimum at low and intermediate spatial frequencies and high contrasts. These non-linear interactions might be at work at intermediate and high contrasts at all spatial frequencies once there was a substantial decrease in joint entropy for these stimulus conditions when contrast was raised. PMID:24466158

Joint entropy for space and spatial frequency domains estimated from psychometric functions of achromatic discrimination.

PubMed

Silveira, Vladímir de Aquino; Souza, Givago da Silva; Gomes, Bruno Duarte; Rodrigues, Anderson Raiol; Silveira, Luiz Carlos de Lima

2014-01-01

We used psychometric functions to estimate the joint entropy for space discrimination and spatial frequency discrimination. Space discrimination was taken as discrimination of spatial extent. Seven subjects were tested. Gábor functions comprising unidimensionalsinusoidal gratings (0.4, 2, and 10 cpd) and bidimensionalGaussian envelopes (1°) were used as reference stimuli. The experiment comprised the comparison between reference and test stimulithat differed in grating's spatial frequency or envelope's standard deviation. We tested 21 different envelope's standard deviations around the reference standard deviation to study spatial extent discrimination and 19 different grating's spatial frequencies around the reference spatial frequency to study spatial frequency discrimination. Two series of psychometric functions were obtained for 2%, 5%, 10%, and 100% stimulus contrast. The psychometric function data points for spatial extent discrimination or spatial frequency discrimination were fitted with Gaussian functions using the least square method, and the spatial extent and spatial frequency entropies were estimated from the standard deviation of these Gaussian functions. Then, joint entropy was obtained by multiplying the square root of space extent entropy times the spatial frequency entropy. We compared our results to the theoretical minimum for unidimensional Gábor functions, 1/4π or 0.0796. At low and intermediate spatial frequencies and high contrasts, joint entropy reached levels below the theoretical minimum, suggesting non-linear interactions between two or more visual mechanisms. We concluded that non-linear interactions of visual pathways, such as the M and P pathways, could explain joint entropy values below the theoretical minimum at low and intermediate spatial frequencies and high contrasts. These non-linear interactions might be at work at intermediate and high contrasts at all spatial frequencies once there was a substantial decrease in joint entropy for these stimulus conditions when contrast was raised.

Implication of the first decision on visual information-sampling in the spatial frequency domain in pulmonary nodule recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietrzyk, Mariusz W.; Manning, David; Donovan, Tim; Dix, Alan

2010-02-01

Aim: To investigate the impact on visual sampling strategy and pulmonary nodule recognition of image-based properties of background locations in dwelled regions where the first overt decision was made. . Background: Recent studies in mammography show that the first overt decision (TP or FP) has an influence on further image reading including the correctness of the following decisions. Furthermore, the correlation between the spatial frequency properties of the local background following decision sites and the first decision correctness has been reported. Methods: Subjects with different radiological experience were eye tracked during detection of pulmonary nodules from PA chest radiographs. Number of outcomes and the overall quality of performance are analysed in terms of the cases where correct or incorrect decisions were made. JAFROC methodology is applied. The spatial frequency properties of selected local backgrounds related to a certain decisions were studied. ANOVA was used to compare the logarithmic values of energy carried by non redundant stationary wavelet packet coefficients. Results: A strong correlation has been found between the number of TP as a first decision and the JAFROC score (r = 0.74). The number of FP as a first decision was found negatively correlated with JAFROC (r = -0.75). Moreover, the differential spatial frequency profiles outcomes depend on the first choice correctness.

Spatial frequency domain spectroscopy of two layer media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yudovsky, Dmitry; Durkin, Anthony J.

2011-10-01

Monitoring of tissue blood volume and oxygen saturation using biomedical optics techniques has the potential to inform the assessment of tissue health, healing, and dysfunction. These quantities are typically estimated from the contribution of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin to the absorption spectrum of the dermis. However, estimation of blood related absorption in superficial tissue such as the skin can be confounded by the strong absorption of melanin in the epidermis. Furthermore, epidermal thickness and pigmentation varies with anatomic location, race, gender, and degree of disease progression. This study describes a technique for decoupling the effect of melanin absorption in the epidermis from blood absorption in the dermis for a large range of skin types and thicknesses. An artificial neural network was used to map input optical properties to spatial frequency domain diffuse reflectance of two layer media. Then, iterative fitting was used to determine the optical properties from simulated spatial frequency domain diffuse reflectance. Additionally, an artificial neural network was trained to directly map spatial frequency domain reflectance to sets of optical properties of a two layer medium, thus bypassing the need for iteration. In both cases, the optical thickness of the epidermis and absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of the dermis were determined independently. The accuracy and efficiency of the iterative fitting approach was compared with the direct neural network inversion.

Impaired recognition of facial emotions from low-spatial frequencies in Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Kätsyri, Jari; Saalasti, Satu; Tiippana, Kaisa; von Wendt, Lennart; Sams, Mikko

2008-01-01

The theory of 'weak central coherence' [Happe, F., & Frith, U. (2006). The weak coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 5-25] implies that persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a perceptual bias for local but not for global stimulus features. The recognition of emotional facial expressions representing various different levels of detail has not been studied previously in ASDs. We analyzed the recognition of four basic emotional facial expressions (anger, disgust, fear and happiness) from low-spatial frequencies (overall global shapes without local features) in adults with an ASD. A group of 20 participants with Asperger syndrome (AS) was compared to a group of non-autistic age- and sex-matched controls. Emotion recognition was tested from static and dynamic facial expressions whose spatial frequency contents had been manipulated by low-pass filtering at two levels. The two groups recognized emotions similarly from non-filtered faces and from dynamic vs. static facial expressions. In contrast, the participants with AS were less accurate than controls in recognizing facial emotions from very low-spatial frequencies. The results suggest intact recognition of basic facial emotions and dynamic facial information, but impaired visual processing of global features in ASDs.

Manufacturing of super-polished large aspheric/freeform optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Dae Wook; Oh, Chang-jin; Lowman, Andrew; Smith, Greg A.; Aftab, Maham; Burge, James H.

2016-07-01

Several next generation astronomical telescopes or large optical systems utilize aspheric/freeform optics for creating a segmented optical system. Multiple mirrors can be combined to form a larger optical surface or used as a single surface to avoid obscurations. In this paper, we demonstrate a specific case of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). This optic is a 4.2 m in diameter off-axis primary mirror using ZERODUR thin substrate, and has been successfully completed in the Optical Engineering and Fabrication Facility (OEFF) at the University of Arizona, in 2016. As the telescope looks at the brightest object in the sky, our own Sun, the primary mirror surface quality meets extreme specifications covering a wide range of spatial frequency errors. In manufacturing the DKIST mirror, metrology systems have been studied, developed and applied to measure low-to-mid-to-high spatial frequency surface shape information in the 4.2 m super-polished optical surface. In this paper, measurements from these systems are converted to Power Spectral Density (PSD) plots and combined in the spatial frequency domain. Results cover 5 orders of magnitude in spatial frequencies and meet or exceed specifications for this large aspheric mirror. Precision manufacturing of the super-polished DKIST mirror enables a new level of solar science.

Basic abnormalities in visual processing affect face processing at an early age in autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Vlamings, Petra Hendrika Johanna Maria; Jonkman, Lisa Marthe; van Daalen, Emma; van der Gaag, Rutger Jan; Kemner, Chantal

2010-12-15

A detailed visual processing style has been noted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); this contributes to problems in face processing and has been directly related to abnormal processing of spatial frequencies (SFs). Little is known about the early development of face processing in ASD and the relation with abnormal SF processing. We investigated whether young ASD children show abnormalities in low spatial frequency (LSF, global) and high spatial frequency (HSF, detailed) processing and explored whether these are crucially involved in the early development of face processing. Three- to 4-year-old children with ASD (n = 22) were compared with developmentally delayed children without ASD (n = 17). Spatial frequency processing was studied by recording visual evoked potentials from visual brain areas while children passively viewed gratings (HSF/LSF). In addition, children watched face stimuli with different expressions, filtered to include only HSF or LSF. Enhanced activity in visual brain areas was found in response to HSF versus LSF information in children with ASD, in contrast to control subjects. Furthermore, facial-expression processing was also primarily driven by detail in ASD. Enhanced visual processing of detailed (HSF) information is present early in ASD and occurs for neutral (gratings), as well as for socially relevant stimuli (facial expressions). These data indicate that there is a general abnormality in visual SF processing in early ASD and are in agreement with suggestions that a fast LSF subcortical face processing route might be affected in ASD. This could suggest that abnormal visual processing is causative in the development of social problems in ASD. Copyright © 2010 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combined multispectral spatial frequency domain imaging and computed tomography system for intraoperative breast tumor margin assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McClatchy, D. M.; Rizzo, E. J.; Krishnaswamy, V.; Kanick, S. C.; Wells, W. A.; Paulsen, K. D.; Pogue, B. W.

2017-02-01

There is a dire clinical need for surgical margin guidance in breast conserving therapy (BCT). We present a multispectral spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) system, spanning the visible and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths, combined with a shielded X-ray computed tomography (CT) system, designed for intraoperative breast tumor margin assessment. While the CT can provide a volumetric visualization of the tumor core and its spiculations, the co-registered SFDI can provide superficial and quantitative information about localized changes tissue morphology from light scattering parameters. These light scattering parameters include both model-based parameters of sub-diffusive light scattering related to the particle size scale distribution and also textural information of the high spatial frequency reflectance. Because the SFDI and CT components are rigidly fixed, a simple transformation can be used to simultaneously display the SFDI and CT data in the same coordinate system. This is achieved through the Visualization Toolkit (vtk) file format in the open-source Slicer medical imaging software package. In this manuscript, the instrumentation, data processing, and preliminary human specimen data will be presented. The ultimate goal of this work is to evaluate this technology in a prospective clinical trial, and the current limitations and engineering solutions to meet this goal will also be discussed.

Deep data: discovery and visualization Application to hyperspectral ALMA imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merényi, Erzsébet; Taylor, Joshua; Isella, Andrea

2017-06-01

Leading-edge telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter and sub-millimeter Array (ALMA), and near-future ones, are capable of imaging the same sky area at hundreds-to-thousands of frequencies with both high spectral and spatial resolution. This provides unprecedented opportunities for discovery about the spatial, kinematical and compositional structure of sources such as molecular clouds or protoplanetary disks, and more. However, in addition to enormous volume, the data also exhibit unprecedented complexity, mandating new approaches for extracting and summarizing relevant information. Traditional techniques such as examining images at selected frequencies become intractable while tools that integrate data across frequencies or pixels (like moment maps) can no longer fully exploit and visualize the rich information. We present a neural map-based machine learning approach that can handle all spectral channels simultaneously, utilizing the full depth of these data for discovery and visualization of spectrally homogeneous spatial regions (spectral clusters) that characterize distinct kinematic behaviors. We demonstrate the effectiveness on an ALMA image cube of the protoplanetary disk HD142527. The tools we collectively name ``NeuroScope'' are efficient for ``Big Data'' due to intelligent data summarization that results in significant sparsity and noise reduction. We also demonstrate a new approach to automate our clustering for fast distillation of large data cubes.

Statistics of natural scenes and cortical color processing.

PubMed

Cecchi, Guillermo A; Rao, A Ravishankar; Xiao, Youping; Kaplan, Ehud

2010-09-01

We investigate the spatial correlations of orientation and color information in natural images. We find that the correlation of orientation information falls off rapidly with increasing distance, while color information is more highly correlated over longer distances. We show that orientation and color information are statistically independent in natural images and that the spatial correlation of jointly encoded orientation and color information decays faster than that of color alone. Our findings suggest that: (a) orientation and color information should be processed in separate channels and (b) the organization of cortical color and orientation selectivity at low spatial frequencies is a reflection of the cortical adaptation to the statistical structure of the visual world. These findings are in agreement with biological observations, as form and color are thought to be represented by different classes of neurons in the primary visual cortex, and the receptive fields of color-selective neurons are larger than those of orientation-selective neurons. The agreement between our findings and biological observations supports the ecological theory of perception.

Aberrant patterns of visual facial information usage in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Clark, Cameron M; Gosselin, Frédéric; Goghari, Vina M

2013-05-01

Deficits in facial emotion perception have been linked to poorer functional outcome in schizophrenia. However, the relationship between abnormal emotion perception and functional outcome remains poorly understood. To better understand the nature of facial emotion perception deficits in schizophrenia, we used the Bubbles Facial Emotion Perception Task to identify differences in usage of visual facial information in schizophrenia patients (n = 20) and controls (n = 20), when differentiating between angry and neutral facial expressions. As hypothesized, schizophrenia patients required more facial information than controls to accurately differentiate between angry and neutral facial expressions, and they relied on different facial features and spatial frequencies to differentiate these facial expressions. Specifically, schizophrenia patients underutilized the eye regions, overutilized the nose and mouth regions, and virtually ignored information presented at the lowest levels of spatial frequency. In addition, a post hoc one-tailed t test revealed a positive relationship of moderate strength between the degree of divergence from "normal" visual facial information usage in the eye region and lower overall social functioning. These findings provide direct support for aberrant patterns of visual facial information usage in schizophrenia in differentiating between socially salient emotional states. © 2013 American Psychological Association

A piecewise probabilistic regression model to decode hand movement trajectories from epidural and subdural ECoG signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farrokhi, Behraz; Erfanian, Abbas

2018-06-01

Objective. The primary concern of this study is to develop a probabilistic regression method that would improve the decoding of the hand movement trajectories from epidural ECoG as well as from subdural ECoG signals. Approach. The model is characterized by the conditional expectation of the hand position given the ECoG signals. The conditional expectation of the hand position is then modeled by a linear combination of the conditional probability density functions defined for each segment of the movement. Moreover, a spatial linear filter is proposed for reducing the dimension of the feature space. The spatial linear filter is applied to each frequency band of the ECoG signals and extract the features with highest decoding performance. Main results. For evaluating the proposed method, a dataset including 28 ECoG recordings from four adult Japanese macaques is used. The results show that the proposed decoding method outperforms the results with respect to the state of the art methods using this dataset. The relative kinematic information of each frequency band is also investigated using mutual information and decoding performance. The decoding performance shows that the best performance was obtained for high gamma bands from 50 to 200 Hz as well as high frequency ECoG band from 200 to 400 Hz for subdural recordings. However, the decoding performance was decreased for these frequency bands using epidural recordings. The mutual information shows that, on average, the high gamma band from 50 to 200 Hz and high frequency ECoG band from 200 to 400 Hz contain significantly more information than the average of the rest of the frequency bands ≤ft( p<0.001 \\right) for both subdural and epidural recordings. The results of high resolution time-frequency analysis show that ERD/ERS patterns in all frequency bands could reveal the dynamics of the ECoG responses during the movement. The onset and offset of the movement can be clearly identified by the ERD/ERS patterns. Significance. Reliable decoding the kinematic information from the brain signals paves the way for robust control of external devices.

Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves from remote sensing datasets: direct comparison of weather radar and CMORPH over the Eastern Mediterranean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morin, Efrat; Marra, Francesco; Peleg, Nadav; Mei, Yiwen; Anagnostou, Emmanouil N.

2017-04-01

Rainfall frequency analysis is used to quantify the probability of occurrence of extreme rainfall and is traditionally based on rain gauge records. The limited spatial coverage of rain gauges is insufficient to sample the spatiotemporal variability of extreme rainfall and to provide the areal information required by management and design applications. Conversely, remote sensing instruments, even if quantitative uncertain, offer coverage and spatiotemporal detail that allow overcoming these issues. In recent years, remote sensing datasets began to be used for frequency analyses, taking advantage of increased record lengths and quantitative adjustments of the data. However, the studies so far made use of concepts and techniques developed for rain gauge (i.e. point or multiple-point) data and have been validated by comparison with gauge-derived analyses. These procedures add further sources of uncertainty and prevent from isolating between data and methodological uncertainties and from fully exploiting the available information. In this study, we step out of the gauge-centered concept presenting a direct comparison between at-site Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves derived from different remote sensing datasets on corresponding spatial scales, temporal resolutions and records. We analyzed 16 years of homogeneously corrected and gauge-adjusted C-Band weather radar estimates, high-resolution CMORPH and gauge-adjusted high-resolution CMORPH over the Eastern Mediterranean. Results of this study include: (a) good spatial correlation between radar and satellite IDFs ( 0.7 for 2-5 years return period); (b) consistent correlation and dispersion in the raw and gauge adjusted CMORPH; (c) bias is almost uniform with return period for 12-24 h durations; (d) radar identifies thicker tail distributions than CMORPH and the tail of the distributions depends on the spatial and temporal scales. These results demonstrate the potential of remote sensing datasets for rainfall frequency analysis for management (e.g. warning and early-warning systems) and design (e.g. sewer design, large scale drainage planning)

A parameter estimation algorithm for spatial sine testing - Theory and evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rost, R. W.; Deblauwe, F.

1992-01-01

This paper presents the theory and an evaluation of a spatial sine testing parameter estimation algorithm that uses directly the measured forced mode of vibration and the measured force vector. The parameter estimation algorithm uses an ARMA model and a recursive QR algorithm is applied for data reduction. In this first evaluation, the algorithm has been applied to a frequency response matrix (which is a particular set of forced mode of vibration) using a sliding frequency window. The objective of the sliding frequency window is to execute the analysis simultaneously with the data acquisition. Since the pole values and the modal density are obtained from this analysis during the acquisition, the analysis information can be used to help determine the forcing vectors during the experimental data acquisition.

Oscillatory encoding of visual stimulus familiarity.

PubMed

Kissinger, Samuel T; Pak, Alexandr; Tang, Yu; Masmanidis, Sotiris C; Chubykin, Alexander A

2018-06-18

Familiarity of the environment changes the way we perceive and encode incoming information. However, the neural substrates underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. Here we describe a new form of experience-dependent low frequency oscillations in the primary visual cortex (V1) of awake adult male mice. The oscillations emerged in visually evoked potentials (VEPs) and single-unit activity following repeated visual stimulation. The oscillations were sensitive to the spatial frequency content of a visual stimulus and required the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) for their induction and expression. Finally, ongoing visually evoked theta (4-6 Hz) oscillations boost the VEP amplitude of incoming visual stimuli if the stimuli are presented at the high excitability phase of the oscillations. Our results demonstrate that an oscillatory code can be used to encode familiarity and serves as a gate for oncoming sensory inputs. Significance Statement. Previous experience can influence the processing of incoming sensory information by the brain and alter perception. However, the mechanistic understanding of how this process takes place is lacking. We have discovered that persistent low frequency oscillations in the primary visual cortex encode information about familiarity and the spatial frequency of the stimulus. These familiarity evoked oscillations influence neuronal responses to the oncoming stimuli in a way that depends on the oscillation phase. Our work demonstrates a new mechanism of visual stimulus feature detection and learning. Copyright © 2018 the authors.

Spatial-spectral characterization of focused spatially chirped broadband laser beams.

PubMed

Greco, Michael J; Block, Erica; Meier, Amanda K; Beaman, Alex; Cooper, Samuel; Iliev, Marin; Squier, Jeff A; Durfee, Charles G

2015-11-20

Proper alignment is critical to obtain the desired performance from focused spatially chirped beams, for example in simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing (SSTF). We present a simple technique for inspecting the beam paths and focusing conditions for the spectral components of a broadband beam. We spectrally resolve the light transmitted past a knife edge as it was scanned across the beam at several axial positions. The measurement yields information about spot size, M2, and the propagation paths of different frequency components. We also present calculations to illustrate the effects of defocus aberration on SSTF beams.

Reduced Reliance on Optimal Facial Information for Identity Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Hayley C.; Annaz, Dagmara; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Johnson, Mark H.

2013-01-01

Previous research into face processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has revealed atypical biases toward particular facial information during identity recognition. Specifically, a focus on features (or high spatial frequencies [HSFs]) has been reported for both face and nonface processing in ASD. The current study investigated the development…

A Spatial and Temporal Frequency Based Figure-Ground Processor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weisstein, Namoi; Wong, Eva

1990-03-01

Recent findings in visual psychophysics have shown that figure-ground perception can be specified by the spatial and temporal response characteristics of the visual system. Higher spatial frequency regions of the visual field are perceived as figure and lower spatial frequency regions are perceived as background/ (Klymenko and Weisstein, 1986, Wong and Weisstein, 1989). Higher temporal frequency regions are seen as background and lower temporal frequency regions are seen as figure (Wong and Weisstein, 1987, Klymenko, Weisstein, Topolski, and Hsieh, 1988). Thus, high spatial and low temporal frequencies appear to be associated with figure and low spatial and high temporal frequencies appear to be associated with background.

Spatial gradient for unique-feature detection in patients with unilateral neglect: evidence from auditory and visual search.

PubMed

Eramudugolla, Ranmalee; Mattingley, Jason B

2008-01-01

Patients with unilateral spatial neglect following right hemisphere damage are impaired in detecting contralesional targets in both visual and haptic search tasks, and often show a graded improvement in detection performance for more ipsilesional spatial locations. In audition, multiple simultaneous sounds are most effectively perceived if they are distributed along the frequency dimension. Thus, attention to spectro-temporal features alone can allow detection of a target sound amongst multiple simultaneous distracter sounds, regardless of whether these sounds are spatially separated. Spatial bias in attention associated with neglect should not affect auditory search based on spectro-temporal features of a sound target. We report that a right brain damaged patient with neglect demonstrated a significant gradient favouring the ipsilesional side on a visual search task as well as an auditory search task in which the target was a frequency modulated tone amongst steady distractor tones. No such asymmetry was apparent in the auditory search performance of a control patient with a right hemisphere lesion but no neglect. The results suggest that the spatial bias in attention exhibited by neglect patients affects stimulus processing even when spatial information is irrelevant to the task.

Spectral refractive index assessment of turbid samples by combining spatial frequency near-infrared spectroscopy with Kramers-Kronig analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meitav, Omri; Shaul, Oren; Abookasis, David

2018-03-01

A practical algorithm for estimating the wavelength-dependent refractive index (RI) of a turbid sample in the spatial frequency domain with the aid of Kramers-Kronig (KK) relations is presented. In it, phase-shifted sinusoidal patterns (structured illumination) are serially projected at a high spatial frequency onto the sample surface (mouse scalp) at different near-infrared wavelengths while a camera mounted normally to the sample surface captures the reflected diffuse light. In the offline analysis pipeline, recorded images at each wavelength are converted to spatial absorption maps by logarithmic function, and once the absorption coefficient information is obtained, the imaginary part (k) of the complex RI (CRI), based on Maxell's equations, can be calculated. Using the data represented by k, the real part of the CRI (n) is then resolved by KK analysis. The wavelength dependence of n ( λ ) is then fitted separately using four standard dispersion models: Cornu, Cauchy, Conrady, and Sellmeier. In addition, three-dimensional surface-profile distribution of n is provided based on phase profilometry principles and a phase-unwrapping-based phase-derivative-variance algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate the capability of the proposed idea for sample's determination of a biological sample's RI value.

Optical implementation of the synthetic discriminant function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, S.; Riggins, J.

1984-10-01

Much attention is focused on the use of coherent optical pattern recognition (OPR) using matched spatial filters for robotics and intelligent systems. The OPR problem consists of three aspects -- information input, information processing, and information output. This paper discusses the information processing aspect which consists of choosing a filter to provide robust correlation with high efficiency. The filter should ideally be invariant to image shift, rotation and scale, provide a reasonable signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and allow high throughput efficiency. The physical implementation of a spatial matched filter involves many choices. These include the use of conventional holograms or computer-generated holograms (CGH) and utilizing absorption or phase materials. Conventional holograms inherently modify the reference image by non-uniform emphasis of spatial frequencies. Proper use of film nonlinearity provides improved filter performance by emphasizing frequency ranges crucial to target discrimination. In the case of a CGH, the emphasis of the reference magnitude and phase can be controlled independently of the continuous tone or binary writing processes. This paper describes computer simulation and optical implementation of a geometrical shape and a Synthetic Discriminant Function (SDF) matched filter. The authors chose the binary Allebach-Keegan (AK) CGH algorithm to produce actual filters. The performances of these filters were measured to verify the simulation results. This paper provides a brief summary of the matched filter theory, the SDF, CGH algorithms, Phase-Only-Filtering, simulation procedures, and results.

Predictive landslide susceptibility mapping using spatial information in the Pechabun area of Thailand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Hyun-Joo; Lee, Saro; Chotikasathien, Wisut; Kim, Chang Hwan; Kwon, Ju Hyoung

2009-04-01

For predictive landslide susceptibility mapping, this study applied and verified probability model, the frequency ratio and statistical model, logistic regression at Pechabun, Thailand, using a geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing. Landslide locations were identified in the study area from interpretation of aerial photographs and field surveys, and maps of the topography, geology and land cover were constructed to spatial database. The factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as slope gradient, slope aspect and curvature of topography and distance from drainage were calculated from the topographic database. Lithology and distance from fault were extracted and calculated from the geology database. Land cover was classified from Landsat TM satellite image. The frequency ratio and logistic regression coefficient were overlaid for landslide susceptibility mapping as each factor’s ratings. Then the landslide susceptibility map was verified and compared using the existing landslide location. As the verification results, the frequency ratio model showed 76.39% and logistic regression model showed 70.42% in prediction accuracy. The method can be used to reduce hazards associated with landslides and to plan land cover.

Radar derived spatial statistics of summer rain. Volume 3: Appendices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ronnenburg, C.; Bassnett, A.; Knapp, H.; Vann, W. A.

1975-01-01

A collection of selected important memoranda written during the course of the experiment. It contains detailed information on: (1) frequency diversity, (2) radar controller and radar video processor, (3) SPANDAR calibration, and (4) meteorological summaries.

Exploiting spectral content for image segmentation in GPR data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Patrick K.; Morton, Kenneth D., Jr.; Collins, Leslie M.; Torrione, Peter A.

2011-06-01

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) sensors provide an effective means for detecting changes in the sub-surface electrical properties of soils, such as changes indicative of landmines or other buried threats. However, most GPR-based pre-screening algorithms only localize target responses along the surface of the earth, and do not provide information regarding an object's position in depth. As a result, feature extraction algorithms are forced to process data from entire cubes of data around pre-screener alarms, which can reduce feature fidelity and hamper performance. In this work, spectral analysis is investigated as a method for locating subsurface anomalies in GPR data. In particular, a 2-D spatial/frequency decomposition is applied to pre-screener flagged GPR B-scans. Analysis of these spatial/frequency regions suggests that aspects (e.g. moments, maxima, mode) of the frequency distribution of GPR energy can be indicative of the presence of target responses. After translating a GPR image to a function of the spatial/frequency distributions at each pixel, several image segmentation approaches can be applied to perform segmentation in this new transformed feature space. To illustrate the efficacy of the approach, a performance comparison between feature processing with and without the image segmentation algorithm is provided.

Contrast sensitivity of wildtype mice wearing diffusers or spectacle lenses, and the effect of atropine.

PubMed

Schmucker, Christine; Schaeffel, Frank

2006-03-01

To find out how spatial vision in mice is affected by wearing of spectacle lenses or diffusers, and by atropine eye drops. This information is necessary to determine which treatments could effectively induce refractive errors in young mice. Whole-body optomotor responses were recorded by automated video analysis in freely ranging mice in a large rotating drum that was covered inside with vertical square-wave gratings with spatial frequencies of 0.03, 0.10 and 0.30 cyc/deg, both at "dim light" (0.10 cd/m(2)), and under photopic conditions (30 cd/m(2)). Contrast thresholds were determined by varying the contrasts of the gratings. Mice wore either no lenses, or binocular plano lenses, or lenses with powers ranging from +25 D to -25 D, or diffusers. In another experiment, contrast thresholds were determined 30 min after binocular installation of one drop of 1% atropine solution which is known to suppress myopia development in other animal models. The range of spatial frequencies, at which the mice still responded to stripes with less than the maximal grating contrast, was rather small. At 0.03 cyc/deg, the mice responded to stripes with low contrast down to 24%. At 0.10 cyc/deg, the minimal contrast was 45%, but at 0.30 cyc/deg, only the maximum contrast elicited a significant response. In dim light, spatial vision was severely impaired and only the lowest spatial frequencies, presented at the highest contrast (91%), were detected. The whole-body optomotor response was largest with spectacle lens powers of plano diopters and +7D lenses. The magnitude of the response decreased symmetrically with increasing lens powers for both signs, providing information on the behavioral depth of field (a second-order fit through the data placed the extreme limits of a response at around +25 D and -25 D lens powers). Finally, atropine improved contrast sensitivity, at least at the lowest spatial frequency tested, a result that was previously obtained also in the chicken and could help to explain the inhibitory effect of atropine on myopia. The study shows that mice have sufficient spatial vision to respond to treatment with powerful spectacle lenses or diffusers. Accordingly, these devices should be effective in inducing refractive errors in this animal model, although primarily under photopic conditions.

Forming First Impressions of Others in Schizophrenia: Impairments In Fast Processing and In Use of Spatial Frequency Information

PubMed Central

Vakhrusheva, J; Zemon, V; Bar, M; Weiskopf, NG; Tremeau, F; Petkova, E; Su, Z; Abeles, I; Butler, PD

2014-01-01

Individuals form first impressions of others all the time, which affects their social functioning. Typical adults form threat impressions in faces with neutral expressions quickly, requiring less than 40 ms. These impressions appear to be mediated by low spatial frequency (LSF) content in the images. Little is known, however, about mechanisms of first impression formation in schizophrenia. The current study investigated how quickly individuals with schizophrenia can form consistent impressions of threat compared with controls and explored the mechanisms involved. Patients and controls were presented intact, LSF- or high spatial frequency (HSF)-filtered faces with durations that varied from 39 – 1703 ms and were asked to rate how threatening each face was on a scale from 1 to 5. In order to assess the speed of impression formation for intact faces, correlations were calculated for ratings made at each duration compared to a reference duration of 1703 ms for each group. Controls demonstrated a significant relation for intact faces presented for 39 ms, whereas patients required 390 ms to demonstrate a significant relation with the reference duration. For controls, LSFs primarily contributed to the formation of consistent threat impressions at 39 ms, whereas patients showed a trend for utilizing both LSF and HSF information to form consistent threat impressions at 390 ms. Results indicate that individuals with schizophrenia require a greater integration time to form a stable “first impression” of threat, which may be related to the need to utilize compensatory mechanisms such as HSF, as well as LSF, information. PMID:25458862

Forming first impressions of others in schizophrenia: impairments in fast processing and in use of spatial frequency information.

PubMed

Vakhrusheva, J; Zemon, V; Bar, M; Weiskopf, N G; Tremeau, F; Petkova, E; Su, Z; Abeles, I Y; Butler, P D

2014-12-01

Individuals form first impressions of others all the time, which affects their social functioning. Typical adults form threat impressions in faces with neutral expressions quickly, requiring less than 40 ms. These impressions appear to be mediated by low spatial frequency (LSF) content in the images. Little is known, however, about mechanisms of first impression formation in schizophrenia. The current study investigated how quickly individuals with schizophrenia can form consistent impressions of threat compared with controls and explored the mechanisms involved. Patients and controls were presented intact, LSF- or high spatial frequency (HSF)-filtered faces with durations that varied from 39 to 1703 ms and were asked to rate how threatening each face was on a scale from 1 to 5. In order to assess the speed of impression formation for intact faces, correlations were calculated for ratings made at each duration compared to a reference duration of 1703 ms for each group. Controls demonstrated a significant relation for intact faces presented for 39 ms, whereas patients required 390 ms to demonstrate a significant relation with the reference duration. For controls, LSFs primarily contributed to the formation of consistent threat impressions at 39 ms, whereas patients showed a trend for utilizing both LSF and HSF information to form consistent threat impressions at 390 ms. Results indicate that individuals with schizophrenia require a greater integration time to form a stable "first impression" of threat, which may be related to the need to utilize compensatory mechanisms such as HSF, as well as LSF, information. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Total teleportation of a single-photon state

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Humble, Travis S; Bennink, Ryan S; Grice, Warren P

2008-01-01

Recent demonstrations of teleportation have transferred quantum information encoded into either polarization or field-quadrature degrees of freedom (DOFs), but an outstanding question is how to simultaneously teleport quantum information encoded into multiple DOFs. We describe how the transverse-spatial, spectral and polarization states of a single photon can be simultaneously teleported using a pair of multimode, polarization-entangled photons derived from spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Furthermore, when the initial photon pair is maximally entangled in the spatial, spectral, and polarization DOFs then the photon s full quantum state can be reliably teleported using a Bell-state measurement based on sum-frequency generation.

Multi-scale Slip Inversion Based on Simultaneous Spatial and Temporal Domain Wavelet Transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, W.; Yao, H.; Yang, H. Y.

2017-12-01

Finite fault inversion is a widely used method to study earthquake rupture processes. Some previous studies have proposed different methods to implement finite fault inversion, including time-domain, frequency-domain, and wavelet-domain methods. Many previous studies have found that different frequency bands show different characteristics of the seismic rupture (e.g., Wang and Mori, 2011; Yao et al., 2011, 2013; Uchide et al., 2013; Yin et al., 2017). Generally, lower frequency waveforms correspond to larger-scale rupture characteristics while higher frequency data are representative of smaller-scale ones. Therefore, multi-scale analysis can help us understand the earthquake rupture process thoroughly from larger scale to smaller scale. By the use of wavelet transform, the wavelet-domain methods can analyze both the time and frequency information of signals in different scales. Traditional wavelet-domain methods (e.g., Ji et al., 2002) implement finite fault inversion with both lower and higher frequency signals together to recover larger-scale and smaller-scale characteristics of the rupture process simultaneously. Here we propose an alternative strategy with a two-step procedure, i.e., firstly constraining the larger-scale characteristics with lower frequency signals, and then resolving the smaller-scale ones with higher frequency signals. We have designed some synthetic tests to testify our strategy and compare it with the traditional one. We also have applied our strategy to study the 2015 Gorkha Nepal earthquake using tele-seismic waveforms. Both the traditional method and our two-step strategy only analyze the data in different temporal scales (i.e., different frequency bands), while the spatial distribution of model parameters also shows multi-scale characteristics. A more sophisticated strategy is to transfer the slip model into different spatial scales, and then analyze the smooth slip distribution (larger scales) with lower frequency data firstly and more detailed slip distribution (smaller scales) with higher frequency data subsequently. We are now implementing the slip inversion using both spatial and temporal domain wavelets. This multi-scale analysis can help us better understand frequency-dependent rupture characteristics of large earthquakes.

Spatial Frequency Requirements and Gaze Strategy in Visual-Only and Audiovisual Speech Perception

PubMed Central

Wilson, Amanda H.; Paré, Martin; Munhall, Kevin G.

2016-01-01

Purpose The aim of this article is to examine the effects of visual image degradation on performance and gaze behavior in audiovisual and visual-only speech perception tasks. Method We presented vowel–consonant–vowel utterances visually filtered at a range of frequencies in visual-only, audiovisual congruent, and audiovisual incongruent conditions (Experiment 1; N = 66). In Experiment 2 (N = 20), participants performed a visual-only speech perception task and in Experiment 3 (N = 20) an audiovisual task while having their gaze behavior monitored using eye-tracking equipment. Results In the visual-only condition, increasing image resolution led to monotonic increases in performance, and proficient speechreaders were more affected by the removal of high spatial information than were poor speechreaders. The McGurk effect also increased with increasing visual resolution, although it was less affected by the removal of high-frequency information. Observers tended to fixate on the mouth more in visual-only perception, but gaze toward the mouth did not correlate with accuracy of silent speechreading or the magnitude of the McGurk effect. Conclusions The results suggest that individual differences in silent speechreading and the McGurk effect are not related. This conclusion is supported by differential influences of high-resolution visual information on the 2 tasks and differences in the pattern of gaze. PMID:27537379

Three Dimensional Speckle Imaging Employing a Frequency-Locked Tunable Diode Laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cannon, Bret D.; Bernacki, Bruce E.; Schiffern, John T.

2015-09-01

We describe a high accuracy frequency stepping method for a tunable diode laser to improve a three dimensional (3D) imaging approach based upon interferometric speckle imaging. The approach, modeled after Takeda, exploits tuning an illumination laser in frequency as speckle interferograms of the object (specklegrams) are acquired at each frequency in a Michelson interferometer. The resulting 3D hypercube of specklegrams encode spatial information in the x-y plane of each image with laser tuning arrayed along its z-axis. We present laboratory data of before and after results showing enhanced 3D imaging resulting from precise laser frequency control.

Continuous-variable quantum computing in optical time-frequency modes using quantum memories.

PubMed

Humphreys, Peter C; Kolthammer, W Steven; Nunn, Joshua; Barbieri, Marco; Datta, Animesh; Walmsley, Ian A

2014-09-26

We develop a scheme for time-frequency encoded continuous-variable cluster-state quantum computing using quantum memories. In particular, we propose a method to produce, manipulate, and measure two-dimensional cluster states in a single spatial mode by exploiting the intrinsic time-frequency selectivity of Raman quantum memories. Time-frequency encoding enables the scheme to be extremely compact, requiring a number of memories that are a linear function of only the number of different frequencies in which the computational state is encoded, independent of its temporal duration. We therefore show that quantum memories can be a powerful component for scalable photonic quantum information processing architectures.

Investigating the performance of reconstruction methods used in structured illumination microscopy as a function of the illumination pattern's modulation frequency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shabani, H.; Sánchez-Ortiga, E.; Preza, C.

2016-03-01

Surpassing the resolution of optical microscopy defined by the Abbe diffraction limit, while simultaneously achieving optical sectioning, is a challenging problem particularly for live cell imaging of thick samples. Among a few developing techniques, structured illumination microscopy (SIM) addresses this challenge by imposing higher frequency information into the observable frequency band confined by the optical transfer function (OTF) of a conventional microscope either doubling the spatial resolution or filling the missing cone based on the spatial frequency of the pattern when the patterned illumination is two-dimensional. Standard reconstruction methods for SIM decompose the low and high frequency components from the recorded low-resolution images and then combine them to reach a high-resolution image. In contrast, model-based approaches rely on iterative optimization approaches to minimize the error between estimated and forward images. In this paper, we study the performance of both groups of methods by simulating fluorescence microscopy images from different type of objects (ranging from simulated two-point sources to extended objects). These simulations are used to investigate the methods' effectiveness on restoring objects with various types of power spectrum when modulation frequency of the patterned illumination is changing from zero to the incoherent cut-off frequency of the imaging system. Our results show that increasing the amount of imposed information by using a higher modulation frequency of the illumination pattern does not always yield a better restoration performance, which was found to be depended on the underlying object. Results from model-based restoration show performance improvement, quantified by an up to 62% drop in the mean square error compared to standard reconstruction, with increasing modulation frequency. However, we found cases for which results obtained with standard reconstruction methods do not always follow the same trend.

Modelling the dependence of contrast sensitivity on grating area and spatial frequency.

PubMed

Rovamo, J; Luntinen, O; Näsänen, R

1993-12-01

We modelled the human foveal visual system in a detection task as a simple image processor comprising (i) low-pass filtering due to the optical transfer function of the eye, (ii) high-pass filtering of neural origin, (iii) addition of internal neural noise, and (iv) detection by a local matched filter. Its detection efficiency for gratings was constant up to a critical area but then decreased with increasing area. To test the model we measured Michelson contrast sensitivity as a function of grating area at spatial frequencies of 0.125-32 c/deg for simple vertical and circular cosine gratings. In circular gratings luminance was sinusoidally modulated as a function of the radius of the grating field. In agreement with the model, contrast sensitivity at all spatial frequencies increased in proportion to the square-root of grating area at small areas. When grating area exceeded critical area, the increase saturated and contrast sensitivity became independent of area at large grating areas. Spatial integration thus obeyed Piper's law at small grating areas. The critical area of spatial integration, marking the cessation of Piper's law, was constant in solid degrees at low spatial frequencies but inversely proportional to spatial frequency squared at medium and high spatial frequencies. At low spatial frequencies the maximum contrast sensitivity obtainable by spatial integration increased in proportion to spatial frequency but at high spatial frequencies it decreased in proportion to the cube of the increasing spatial frequency. The increase was due to high-pass filtering of neural origin (lateral inhibition) and the decrease was mainly due to the optical transfer function of the eye. Our model explained 95% of the total variance of the contrast sensitivity data.

Mitotic Cortical Waves Predict Future Division Sites by Encoding Positional and Size Information.

PubMed

Xiao, Shengping; Tong, Cheesan; Yang, Yang; Wu, Min

2017-11-20

Dynamic spatial patterns such as traveling waves could theoretically encode spatial information, but little is known about whether or how they are employed by biological systems, especially higher eukaryotes. Here, we show that concentric target or spiral waves of active Cdc42 and the F-BAR protein FBP17 are invoked in adherent cells at the onset of mitosis. These waves predict the future sites of cell divisions and represent the earliest known spatial cues for furrow assembly. Unlike interphase waves, the frequencies and wavelengths of the mitotic waves display size-dependent scaling properties. While the positioning role of the metaphase waves requires microtubule dynamics, spindle and microtubule-independent inhibitory signals are propagated by the mitotic waves to ensure the singularity of furrow formation. Taken together, we propose that metaphase cortical waves integrate positional and cell size information for division-plane specification in adhesion-dependent cytokinesis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatially-Heterodyned Holography

DOEpatents

Thomas, Clarence E [Knoxville, TN; Hanson, Gregory R [Clinton, TN

2006-02-21

A method of recording a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram, including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis, includes: splitting a laser beam into a reference beam and an object beam; interacting the object beam with an object; focusing the reference beam and the object beam at a focal plane of a digital recorder to form a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis; digital recording the spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram; Fourier transforming axes of the recorded spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes in Fourier space to sit on top of a heterodyne carrier frequency defined by an angle between the reference beam and the object beam; cutting off signals around an origin; and performing an inverse Fourier transform.

Biologically Inspired Model for Inference of 3D Shape from Texture

PubMed Central

Gomez, Olman; Neumann, Heiko

2016-01-01

A biologically inspired model architecture for inferring 3D shape from texture is proposed. The model is hierarchically organized into modules roughly corresponding to visual cortical areas in the ventral stream. Initial orientation selective filtering decomposes the input into low-level orientation and spatial frequency representations. Grouping of spatially anisotropic orientation responses builds sketch-like representations of surface shape. Gradients in orientation fields and subsequent integration infers local surface geometry and globally consistent 3D depth. From the distributions in orientation responses summed in frequency, an estimate of the tilt and slant of the local surface can be obtained. The model suggests how 3D shape can be inferred from texture patterns and their image appearance in a hierarchically organized processing cascade along the cortical ventral stream. The proposed model integrates oriented texture gradient information that is encoded in distributed maps of orientation-frequency representations. The texture energy gradient information is defined by changes in the grouped summed normalized orientation-frequency response activity extracted from the textured object image. This activity is integrated by directed fields to generate a 3D shape representation of a complex object with depth ordering proportional to the fields output, with higher activity denoting larger distance in relative depth away from the viewer. PMID:27649387

Directional spatial frequency analysis of lipid distribution in atherosclerotic plaque

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korn, Clyde; Reese, Eric; Shi, Lingyan; Alfano, Robert; Russell, Stewart

2016-04-01

Atherosclerosis is characterized by the growth of fibrous plaques due to the retention of cholesterol and lipids within the artery wall, which can lead to vessel occlusion and cardiac events. One way to evaluate arterial disease is to quantify the amount of lipid present in these plaques, since a higher disease burden is characterized by a higher concentration of lipid. Although therapeutic stimulation of reverse cholesterol transport to reduce cholesterol deposits in plaque has not produced significant results, this may be due to current image analysis methods which use averaging techniques to calculate the total amount of lipid in the plaque without regard to spatial distribution, thereby discarding information that may have significance in marking response to therapy. Here we use Directional Fourier Spatial Frequency (DFSF) analysis to generate a characteristic spatial frequency spectrum for atherosclerotic plaques from C57 Black 6 mice both treated and untreated with a cholesterol scavenging nanoparticle. We then use the Cauchy product of these spectra to classify the images with a support vector machine (SVM). Our results indicate that treated plaque can be distinguished from untreated plaque using this method, where no difference is seen using the spatial averaging method. This work has the potential to increase the effectiveness of current in-vivo methods of plaque detection that also use averaging methods, such as laser speckle imaging and Raman spectroscopy.

Method and Apparatus of Multiplexing and Acquiring Data from Multiple Optical Fibers Using a Single Data Channel of an Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parker, Jr., Allen R (Inventor); Chan, Hon Man (Inventor); Piazza, Anthony (Nino) (Inventor); Richards, William Lance (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A method and system for multiplexing a network of parallel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor-fibers to a single acquisition channel of a closed Michelson interferometer system via a fiber splitter by distinguishing each branch of fiber sensors in the spatial domain. On each branch of the splitter, the fibers have a specific pre-determined length, effectively separating each branch of fiber sensors spatially. In the spatial domain the fiber branches are seen as part of one acquisition channel on the interrogation system. However, the FBG-reference arm beat frequency information for each fiber is retained. Since the beat frequency is generated between the reference arm, the effective fiber length of each successive branch includes the entire length of the preceding branch. The multiple branches are seen as one fiber having three segments where the segments can be resolved. This greatly simplifies optical, electronic and computational complexity, and is especially suited for use in multiplexed or branched OFS networks for SHM of large and/or distributed structures which need a lot of measurement points.

Distance-dependent pattern blending can camouflage salient aposematic signals.

PubMed

Barnett, James B; Cuthill, Innes C; Scott-Samuel, Nicholas E

2017-07-12

The effect of viewing distance on the perception of visual texture is well known: spatial frequencies higher than the resolution limit of an observer's visual system will be summed and perceived as a single combined colour. In animal defensive colour patterns, distance-dependent pattern blending may allow aposematic patterns, salient at close range, to match the background to distant observers. Indeed, recent research has indicated that reducing the distance from which a salient signal can be detected can increase survival over camouflage or conspicuous aposematism alone. We investigated whether the spatial frequency of conspicuous and cryptically coloured stripes affects the rate of avian predation. Our results are consistent with pattern blending acting to camouflage salient aposematic signals effectively at a distance. Experiments into the relative rate of avian predation on edible model caterpillars found that increasing spatial frequency (thinner stripes) increased survival. Similarly, visual modelling of avian predators showed that pattern blending increased the similarity between caterpillar and background. These results show how a colour pattern can be tuned to reveal or conceal different information at different distances, and produce tangible survival benefits. © 2017 The Author(s).

Vibration-based monitoring and diagnostics using compressive sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganesan, Vaahini; Das, Tuhin; Rahnavard, Nazanin; Kauffman, Jeffrey L.

2017-04-01

Vibration data from mechanical systems carry important information that is useful for characterization and diagnosis. Standard approaches rely on continually streaming data at a fixed sampling frequency. For applications involving continuous monitoring, such as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), such approaches result in high volume data and rely on sensors being powered for prolonged durations. Furthermore, for spatial resolution, structures are instrumented with a large array of sensors. This paper shows that both volume of data and number of sensors can be reduced significantly by applying Compressive Sensing (CS) in vibration monitoring applications. The reduction is achieved by using random sampling and capitalizing on the sparsity of vibration signals in the frequency domain. Preliminary experimental results validating CS-based frequency recovery are also provided. By exploiting the sparsity of mode shapes, CS can also enable efficient spatial reconstruction using fewer spatially distributed sensors. CS can thereby reduce the cost and power requirement of sensing as well as streamline data storage and processing in monitoring applications. In well-instrumented structures, CS can enable continued monitoring in case of sensor or computational failures.

Local regression type methods applied to the study of geophysics and high frequency financial data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mariani, M. C.; Basu, K.

2014-09-01

In this work we applied locally weighted scatterplot smoothing techniques (Lowess/Loess) to Geophysical and high frequency financial data. We first analyze and apply this technique to the California earthquake geological data. A spatial analysis was performed to show that the estimation of the earthquake magnitude at a fixed location is very accurate up to the relative error of 0.01%. We also applied the same method to a high frequency data set arising in the financial sector and obtained similar satisfactory results. The application of this approach to the two different data sets demonstrates that the overall method is accurate and efficient, and the Lowess approach is much more desirable than the Loess method. The previous works studied the time series analysis; in this paper our local regression models perform a spatial analysis for the geophysics data providing different information. For the high frequency data, our models estimate the curve of best fit where data are dependent on time.

[Imprinting as a mechanism of information memorizing in the adult BALB/c mice].

PubMed

Nikol'skaia, K A; Berezhnoĭ, D S

2011-09-01

Study of spatial learning in adult BALB/c mice revealed that a short exposition to the environment (from 3 to 8 minutes) could be enough for spatial information to be fixed in the long-term memory, and affected subsequent learning process in the new environment. Control group, learning in the same maze, followed the "shortest path" principle during formation of the optimal food-obtaining habit. Experimental animals, learning in a slightly changed environment, were unable to apply this rule due to persistent coupling of the new spatial information with the old memory traces which led to constant errors. The obtained effect was observed during the whole learning period and depended neither on frequency nor on interval of repetition during the initial information acquisition. The obtained data testify that memorizing in adult state share the properties with the imprinting process inherent in the early ontogeny. The memory fixation on all development stages seems to be based on a universal mechanism.

Long-distance thermal temporal ghost imaging over optical fibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Xin; Zhang, Wei; Li, Hao; You, Lixing; Wang, Zhen; Huang, Yidong

2018-02-01

A thermal ghost imaging scheme between two distant parties is proposed and experimentally demonstrated over long-distance optical fibers. In the scheme, the weak thermal light is split into two paths. Photons in one path are spatially diffused according to their frequencies by a spatial dispersion component, then illuminate the object and record its spatial transmission information. Photons in the other path are temporally diffused by a temporal dispersion component. By the coincidence measurement between photons of two paths, the object can be imaged in a way of ghost imaging, based on the frequency correlation between photons in the two paths. In the experiment, the weak thermal light source is prepared by the spontaneous four-wave mixing in a silicon waveguide. The temporal dispersion is introduced by single mode fibers of 50 km, which also could be looked as a fiber link. Experimental results show that this scheme can be realized over long-distance optical fibers.

Impact Induced Delamination Detection and Quantification With Guided Wavefield Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tian, Zhenhua; Leckey, Cara A. C.; Yu, Lingyu; Seebo, Jeffrey P.

2015-01-01

This paper studies impact induced delamination detection and quantification by using guided wavefield data and spatial wavenumber imaging. The complex geometry impact-like delamination is created through a quasi-static indentation on a CFRP plate. To detect and quantify the impact delamination in the CFRP plate, PZT-SLDV sensing and spatial wavenumber imaging are performed. In the PZT-SLDV sensing, the guided waves are generated from the PZT, and the high spatial resolution guided wavefields are measured by the SLDV. The guided wavefield data acquired from the PZT-SLDV sensing represent guided wave propagation in the composite laminate and include guided wave interaction with the delamination damage. The measured guided wavefields are analyzed through the spatial wavenumber imaging method, which generates an image containing the dominant local wavenumber at each spatial location. The spatial wavenumber imaging result for the simple single layer Teflon insert delamination provided quantitative information on delamination damage size and location. The location of delamination damage is indicated by the area with larger wavenumbers in the spatial wavenumber image. The impact-like delamination results only partially agreed with the damage size and shape. The results also demonstrated the dependence on excitation frequency. Future work will further investigate the accuracy of the wavenumber imaging method for real composite damage and the dependence on frequency of excitation.

Hippocampal-prefrontal input supports spatial encoding in working memory.

PubMed

Spellman, Timothy; Rigotti, Mattia; Ahmari, Susanne E; Fusi, Stefano; Gogos, Joseph A; Gordon, Joshua A

2015-06-18

Spatial working memory, the caching of behaviourally relevant spatial cues on a timescale of seconds, is a fundamental constituent of cognition. Although the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are known to contribute jointly to successful spatial working memory, the anatomical pathway and temporal window for the interaction of these structures critical to spatial working memory has not yet been established. Here we find that direct hippocampal-prefrontal afferents are critical for encoding, but not for maintenance or retrieval, of spatial cues in mice. These cues are represented by the activity of individual prefrontal units in a manner that is dependent on hippocampal input only during the cue-encoding phase of a spatial working memory task. Successful encoding of these cues appears to be mediated by gamma-frequency synchrony between the two structures. These findings indicate a critical role for the direct hippocampal-prefrontal afferent pathway in the continuous updating of task-related spatial information during spatial working memory.

Testing the generality of the zoom-lens model: Evidence for visual-pathway specific effects of attended-region size on perception.

PubMed

Goodhew, Stephanie C; Lawrence, Rebecca K; Edwards, Mark

2017-05-01

There are volumes of information available to process in visual scenes. Visual spatial attention is a critically important selection mechanism that prevents these volumes from overwhelming our visual system's limited-capacity processing resources. We were interested in understanding the effect of the size of the attended area on visual perception. The prevailing model of attended-region size across cognition, perception, and neuroscience is the zoom-lens model. This model stipulates that the magnitude of perceptual processing enhancement is inversely related to the size of the attended region, such that a narrow attended-region facilitates greater perceptual enhancement than a wider region. Yet visual processing is subserved by two major visual pathways (magnocellular and parvocellular) that operate with a degree of independence in early visual processing and encode contrasting visual information. Historically, testing of the zoom-lens has used measures of spatial acuity ideally suited to parvocellular processing. This, therefore, raises questions about the generality of the zoom-lens model to different aspects of visual perception. We found that while a narrow attended-region facilitated spatial acuity and the perception of high spatial frequency targets, it had no impact on either temporal acuity or the perception of low spatial frequency targets. This pattern also held up when targets were not presented centrally. This supports the notion that visual attended-region size has dissociable effects on magnocellular versus parvocellular mediated visual processing.

Effects of spatial frequency bands on perceptual decision: it is not the stimuli but the comparison.

PubMed

Rotshtein, Pia; Schofield, Andrew; Funes, María J; Humphreys, Glyn W

2010-08-24

Observers performed three between- and two within-category perceptual decisions with hybrid stimuli comprising low and high spatial frequency (SF) images. We manipulated (a) attention to, and (b) congruency of information in the two SF bands. Processing difficulty of the different SF bands varied across different categorization tasks: house-flower, face-house, and valence decisions were easier when based on high SF bands, while flower-face and gender categorizations were easier when based on low SF bands. Larger interference also arose from response relevant distracters that were presented in the "preferred" SF range of the task. Low SF effects were facilitated by short exposure durations. The results demonstrate that decisions are affected by an interaction of task and SF range and that the information from the non-attended SF range interfered at the decision level. A further analysis revealed that overall differences in the statistics of image features, in particular differences of orientation information between two categories, were associated with decision difficulty. We concluded that the advantage of using information from one SF range over another depends on the specific task requirements that built on the differences of the statistical properties between the compared categories.

Sound-diffracting flap in the ear of a bat generates spatial information.

PubMed

Müller, Rolf; Lu, Hongwang; Buck, John R

2008-03-14

Sound diffraction by the mammalian ear generates source-direction information. We have obtained an immediate quantification of this information from numerical predictions. We demonstrate the power of our approach by showing that a small flap in a bat's pinna generates useful information over a large set of directions in a central band of frequencies: presence of the flap more than doubled the solid angle with direction information above a given threshold. From the workings of the employed information measure, the Cramér-Rao lower bound, we can explain how physical shape is linked to sensory information via a strong sidelobe with frequency-dependent orientation in the directivity pattern. This method could be applied to any other mammal species with pinnae to quantify the relative importance of pinna structures' contributions to directional information and to facilitate interspecific comparisons of pinna directivity patterns.

Combining Temporal and Spectral Information with Spatial Mapping to Identify Differences between Phonological and Semantic Networks: A Magnetoencephalographic Approach.

PubMed

McNab, Fiona; Hillebrand, Arjan; Swithenby, Stephen J; Rippon, Gina

2012-01-01

Early, lesion-based models of language processing suggested that semantic and phonological processes are associated with distinct temporal and parietal regions respectively, with frontal areas more indirectly involved. Contemporary spatial brain mapping techniques have not supported such clear-cut segregation, with strong evidence of activation in left temporal areas by both processes and disputed evidence of involvement of frontal areas in both processes. We suggest that combining spatial information with temporal and spectral data may allow a closer scrutiny of the differential involvement of closely overlapping cortical areas in language processing. Using beamforming techniques to analyze magnetoencephalography data, we localized the neuronal substrates underlying primed responses to nouns requiring either phonological or semantic processing, and examined the associated measures of time and frequency in those areas where activation was common to both tasks. Power changes in the beta (14-30 Hz) and gamma (30-50 Hz) frequency bands were analyzed in pre-selected time windows of 350-550 and 500-700 ms In left temporal regions, both tasks elicited power changes in the same time window (350-550 ms), but with different spectral characteristics, low beta (14-20 Hz) for the phonological task and high beta (20-30 Hz) for the semantic task. In frontal areas (BA10), both tasks elicited power changes in the gamma band (30-50 Hz), but in different time windows, 500-700 ms for the phonological task and 350-550 ms for the semantic task. In the left inferior parietal area (BA40), both tasks elicited changes in the 20-30 Hz beta frequency band but in different time windows, 350-550 ms for the phonological task and 500-700 ms for the semantic task. Our findings suggest that, where spatial measures may indicate overlapping areas of involvement, additional beamforming techniques can demonstrate differential activation in time and frequency domains.

Absolute Depth Sensitivity in Cat Primary Visual Cortex under Natural Viewing Conditions.

PubMed

Pigarev, Ivan N; Levichkina, Ekaterina V

2016-01-01

Mechanisms of 3D perception, investigated in many laboratories, have defined depth either relative to the fixation plane or to other objects in the visual scene. It is obvious that for efficient perception of the 3D world, additional mechanisms of depth constancy could operate in the visual system to provide information about absolute distance. Neurons with properties reflecting some features of depth constancy have been described in the parietal and extrastriate occipital cortical areas. It has also been shown that, for some neurons in the visual area V1, responses to stimuli of constant angular size differ at close and remote distances. The present study was designed to investigate whether, in natural free gaze viewing conditions, neurons tuned to absolute depths can be found in the primary visual cortex (area V1). Single-unit extracellular activity was recorded from the visual cortex of waking cats sitting on a trolley in front of a large screen. The trolley was slowly approaching the visual scene, which consisted of stationary sinusoidal gratings of optimal orientation rear-projected over the whole surface of the screen. Each neuron was tested with two gratings, with spatial frequency of one grating being twice as high as that of the other. Assuming that a cell is tuned to a spatial frequency, its maximum response to the grating with a spatial frequency twice as high should be shifted to a distance half way closer to the screen in order to attain the same size of retinal projection. For hypothetical neurons selective to absolute depth, location of the maximum response should remain at the same distance irrespective of the type of stimulus. It was found that about 20% of neurons in our experimental paradigm demonstrated sensitivity to particular distances independently of the spatial frequencies of the gratings. We interpret these findings as an indication of the use of absolute depth information in the primary visual cortex.

Electro-optic modulation of a laser at microwave frequencies for interferometric purposes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Specht, Paul E.; Jilek, Brook A.

2017-02-01

A multi-point microwave interferometer (MPMI) concept was previously proposed by the authors for spatially-resolved, non-invasive tracking of a shock, reaction, or detonation front in energetic media [P. Specht et al., AIP Conf. Proc. 1793, 160010 (2017).]. The advantage of the MPMI concept over current microwave interferometry techniques is its detection of Doppler shifted microwave signals through electro-optic (EO) modulation of a laser. Since EO modulation preserves spatial variations in the Doppler shift, collecting the EO modulated laser light into a fiber array for recording with an optical heterodyne interferometer yields spatially-resolved velocity information. This work demonstrates the underlying physical principle of the MPMI diagnostic: the monitoring of a microwave signal with nanosecond temporal resolution using an optical heterodyne interferometer. For this purpose, the MPMI concept was simplified to a single-point construction using two tunable 1550 nm lasers and a 35.2 GHz microwave source. A (110) ZnTe crystal imparted the microwave frequency onto a laser, which was combined with a reference laser for determination of the microwave frequency in an optical heterodyne interferometer. A single, characteristic frequency associated with the microwave source was identified in all experiments, providing a means to monitor a microwave signal on nanosecond time scales. Lastly, areas for improving the frequency resolution of this technique are discussed, focusing on increasing the phase-modulated signal strength.

Electro-optic modulation of a laser at microwave frequencies for interferometric purposes.

PubMed

Specht, Paul E; Jilek, Brook A

2017-02-01

A multi-point microwave interferometer (MPMI) concept was previously proposed by the authors for spatially-resolved, non-invasive tracking of a shock, reaction, or detonation front in energetic media [P. Specht et al., AIP Conf. Proc. 1793, 160010 (2017).]. The advantage of the MPMI concept over current microwave interferometry techniques is its detection of Doppler shifted microwave signals through electro-optic (EO) modulation of a laser. Since EO modulation preserves spatial variations in the Doppler shift, collecting the EO modulated laser light into a fiber array for recording with an optical heterodyne interferometer yields spatially-resolved velocity information. This work demonstrates the underlying physical principle of the MPMI diagnostic: the monitoring of a microwave signal with nanosecond temporal resolution using an optical heterodyne interferometer. For this purpose, the MPMI concept was simplified to a single-point construction using two tunable 1550 nm lasers and a 35.2 GHz microwave source. A (110) ZnTe crystal imparted the microwave frequency onto a laser, which was combined with a reference laser for determination of the microwave frequency in an optical heterodyne interferometer. A single, characteristic frequency associated with the microwave source was identified in all experiments, providing a means to monitor a microwave signal on nanosecond time scales. Lastly, areas for improving the frequency resolution of this technique are discussed, focusing on increasing the phase-modulated signal strength.

First Measurements of High Frequency Cross-Spectra from a Pair of Large Michelson Interferometers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chou, Aaron S.; Gustafson, Richard; Hogan, Craig

Measurements are reported of high frequency cross-spectra of signals from the Fermilab Holometer, a pair of co-located 39 m, high power Michelson interferometers. The instrument obtains differential position sensitivity to cross-correlated signals far exceeding any previous measurement in a broad frequency band extending to the 3.8 MHz inverse light crossing time of the apparatus. A model of universal exotic spatial shear correlations that matches the Planck scale holographic information bound of space-time position states is excluded to 4.6{\\sigma} significance.

Feedback and feedforward control of frequency tuning to naturalistic stimuli.

PubMed

Chacron, Maurice J; Maler, Leonard; Bastian, Joseph

2005-06-08

Sensory neurons must respond to a wide variety of natural stimuli that can have very different spatiotemporal characteristics. Optimal responsiveness to subsets of these stimuli can be achieved by devoting specialized neural circuitry to different stimulus categories, or, alternatively, this circuitry can be modulated or tuned to optimize responsiveness to current stimulus conditions. This study explores the mechanisms that enable neurons within the initial processing station of the electrosensory system of weakly electric fish to shift their tuning properties based on the spatial extent of the stimulus. These neurons are tuned to low frequencies when the stimulus is restricted to a small region within the receptive field center but are tuned to higher frequencies when the stimulus impinges on large regions of the sensory epithelium. Through a combination of modeling and in vivo electrophysiology, we reveal the respective contributions of the filtering characteristics of extended dendritic structures and feedback circuitry to this shift in tuning. Our results show that low-frequency tuning can result from the cable properties of an extended dendrite that conveys receptor-afferent information to the cell body. The shift from low- to high-frequency tuning, seen in response to spatially extensive stimuli, results from increased wide-band input attributable to activation of larger populations of receptor afferents, as well as the activation of parallel fiber feedback from the cerebellum. This feedback provides a cancellation signal with low-pass characteristics that selectively attenuates low-frequency responsiveness. Thus, with spatially extensive stimuli, these cells preferentially respond to the higher-frequency components of the receptor-afferent input.

The jamming avoidance response in the weakly electric fish Eigenmannia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heiligenberg, Walter

1980-10-01

This study analyzes the algorithm by which the animal's nervous system evaluates spatially distributed temporal patterns of electroreceptive information. The outcome of this evaluation controls the jamming avoidance response, which is a shift in the animal's electric organ discharge frequency away from similar foreign frequencies. The encoding of “behaviorally relevant” stimulus variables by electroreceptors and the central computation of their messages are investigated by combined behavioral and neurophysiological strategies.

The significance of retinal image contrast and spatial frequency composition for eye growth modulation in young chicks

PubMed Central

Tran, Nina; Chiu, Sara; Tian, Yibin; Wildsoet, Christine F.

2009-01-01

Purpose This study sought further insight into the stimulus dependence of form deprivation myopia, a common response to retinal image degradation in young animals. Methods Each of 4 Bangerter diffusing filters (0.6, 0.1, <0.1, and LP (light perception only)) combined with clear plano lenses, as well as plano lenses alone, were fitted monocularly to 4-day-old chicks. Axial ocular dimensions and refractive errors were monitored over a 14-day treatment period, using high frequency A-scan ultrasonography and an autorefractor, respectively. Results Only the <0.1 and LP filters induced significant form deprivation myopia; these filters induced similarly large myopic shifts in refractive error (mean interocular differences ±SEM: -9.92 ±1.99, -7.26 ± 1.60 D respectively), coupled to significant increases in both vitreous chamber depths and optical axial lengths (p<0.001). The other 3 groups showed comparable, small changes in their ocular dimensions (p>0.05), and only small myopic shifts in refraction (<3.00 D). The myopia-inducing filters eliminated mid-and-high spatial frequency information. Conclusions Our results are consistent with emmetropization being tuned to mid-spatial frequencies. They also imply that form deprivation is not a graded phenomenon. PMID:18533221

Laser speckle imaging in the spatial frequency domain

PubMed Central

Mazhar, Amaan; Cuccia, David J.; Rice, Tyler B.; Carp, Stefan A.; Durkin, Anthony J.; Boas, David A.; Choi, Bernard; Tromberg, Bruce J.

2011-01-01

Laser Speckle Imaging (LSI) images interference patterns produced by coherent addition of scattered laser light to map subsurface tissue perfusion. However, the effect of longer path length photons is typically unknown and poses a limitation towards absolute quantification. In this work, LSI is integrated with spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) to suppress multiple scattering and absorption effects. First, depth sensitive speckle contrast is shown in phantoms by separating a deep source (4 mm) from a shallow source (2 mm) of speckle contrast by using a high spatial frequency of illumination (0.24 mm−1). We develop an SFD adapted correlation diffusion model and show that with high frequency (0.24 mm−1) illumination, doubling of absorption contrast results in only a 1% change in speckle contrast versus 25% change using a planar unmodulated (0 mm−1) illumination. Similar absorption change is mimicked in vivo imaging a finger occlusion and the relative speckle contrast change from baseline is 10% at 0.26 mm−1 versus 60% at 0 mm−1 during a finger occlusion. These results underscore the importance of path length and optical properties in determining speckle contrast. They provide an integrated approach for simultaneous mapping of blood flow (speckle contrast) and oxygenation (optical properties) which can be used to inform tissue metabolism. PMID:21698018

High-Frequency Subband Compressed Sensing MRI Using Quadruplet Sampling

PubMed Central

Sung, Kyunghyun; Hargreaves, Brian A

2013-01-01

Purpose To presents and validates a new method that formalizes a direct link between k-space and wavelet domains to apply separate undersampling and reconstruction for high- and low-spatial-frequency k-space data. Theory and Methods High- and low-spatial-frequency regions are defined in k-space based on the separation of wavelet subbands, and the conventional compressed sensing (CS) problem is transformed into one of localized k-space estimation. To better exploit wavelet-domain sparsity, CS can be used for high-spatial-frequency regions while parallel imaging can be used for low-spatial-frequency regions. Fourier undersampling is also customized to better accommodate each reconstruction method: random undersampling for CS and regular undersampling for parallel imaging. Results Examples using the proposed method demonstrate successful reconstruction of both low-spatial-frequency content and fine structures in high-resolution 3D breast imaging with a net acceleration of 11 to 12. Conclusion The proposed method improves the reconstruction accuracy of high-spatial-frequency signal content and avoids incoherent artifacts in low-spatial-frequency regions. This new formulation also reduces the reconstruction time due to the smaller problem size. PMID:23280540

Image gathering and processing - Information and fidelity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huck, F. O.; Fales, C. L.; Halyo, N.; Samms, R. W.; Stacy, K.

1985-01-01

In this paper we formulate and use information and fidelity criteria to assess image gathering and processing, combining optical design with image-forming and edge-detection algorithms. The optical design of the image-gathering system revolves around the relationship among sampling passband, spatial response, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Our formulations of information, fidelity, and optimal (Wiener) restoration account for the insufficient sampling (i.e., aliasing) common in image gathering as well as for the blurring and noise that conventional formulations account for. Performance analyses and simulations for ordinary optical-design constraints and random scences indicate that (1) different image-forming algorithms prefer different optical designs; (2) informationally optimized designs maximize the robustness of optimal image restorations and lead to the highest-spatial-frequency channel (relative to the sampling passband) for which edge detection is reliable (if the SNR is sufficiently high); and (3) combining the informationally optimized design with a 3 by 3 lateral-inhibitory image-plane-processing algorithm leads to a spatial-response shape that approximates the optimal edge-detection response of (Marr's model of) human vision and thus reduces the data preprocessing and transmission required for machine vision.

Spatial frequency discrimination learning in normal and developmentally impaired human vision

PubMed Central

Astle, Andrew T.; Webb, Ben S.; McGraw, Paul V.

2010-01-01

Perceptual learning effects demonstrate that the adult visual system retains neural plasticity. If perceptual learning holds any value as a treatment tool for amblyopia, trained improvements in performance must generalise. Here we investigate whether spatial frequency discrimination learning generalises within task to other spatial frequencies, and across task to contrast sensitivity. Before and after training, we measured contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency discrimination (at a range of reference frequencies 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 c/deg). During training, normal and amblyopic observers were divided into three groups. Each group trained on a spatial frequency discrimination task at one reference frequency (2, 4, or 8 c/deg). Normal and amblyopic observers who trained at lower frequencies showed a greater rate of within task learning (at their reference frequency) compared to those trained at higher frequencies. Compared to normals, amblyopic observers showed greater within task learning, at the trained reference frequency. Normal and amblyopic observers showed asymmetrical transfer of learning from high to low spatial frequencies. Both normal and amblyopic subjects showed transfer to contrast sensitivity. The direction of transfer for contrast sensitivity measurements was from the trained spatial frequency to higher frequencies, with the bandwidth and magnitude of transfer greater in the amblyopic observers compared to normals. The findings provide further support for the therapeutic efficacy of this approach and establish general principles that may help develop more effective protocols for the treatment of developmental visual deficits. PMID:20832416

Multi-pixel high-resolution three-dimensional imaging radar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooper, Ken B. (Inventor); Dengler, Robert J. (Inventor); Siegel, Peter H. (Inventor); Chattopadhyay, Goutam (Inventor); Ward, John S. (Inventor); Juan, Nuria Llombart (Inventor); Bryllert, Tomas E. (Inventor); Mehdi, Imran (Inventor); Tarsala, Jan A. (Inventor)

2012-01-01

A three-dimensional imaging radar operating at high frequency e.g., 670 GHz radar using low phase-noise synthesizers and a fast chirper to generate a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) waveform, is disclosed that operates with a multiplexed beam to obtain range information simultaneously on multiple pixels of a target. A source transmit beam may be divided by a hybrid coupler into multiple transmit beams multiplexed together and directed to be reflected off a target and return as a single receive beam which is demultiplexed and processed to reveal range information of separate pixels of the target associated with each transmit beam simultaneously. The multiple transmit beams may be developed with appropriate optics to be temporally and spatially differentiated before being directed to the target. Temporal differentiation corresponds to a different intermediate frequencies separating the range information of the multiple pixels. Collinear transmit beams having differentiated polarizations may also be implemented.

Multi-mode of Four and Six Wave Parametric Amplified Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Dayu; Yang, Yiheng; Zhang, Da; Liu, Ruizhou; Ma, Danmeng; Li, Changbiao; Zhang, Yanpeng

2017-03-01

Multiple quantum modes in correlated fields are essential for future quantum information processing and quantum computing. Here we report the generation of multi-mode phenomenon through parametric amplified four- and six-wave mixing processes in a rubidium atomic ensemble. The multi-mode properties in both frequency and spatial domains are studied. On one hand, the multi-mode behavior is dominantly controlled by the intensity of external dressing effect, or nonlinear phase shift through internal dressing effect, in frequency domain; on the other hand, the multi-mode behavior is visually demonstrated from the images of the biphoton fields directly, in spatial domain. Besides, the correlation of the two output fields is also demonstrated in both domains. Our approach supports efficient applications for scalable quantum correlated imaging.

Multi-mode of Four and Six Wave Parametric Amplified Process.

PubMed

Zhu, Dayu; Yang, Yiheng; Zhang, Da; Liu, Ruizhou; Ma, Danmeng; Li, Changbiao; Zhang, Yanpeng

2017-03-03

Multiple quantum modes in correlated fields are essential for future quantum information processing and quantum computing. Here we report the generation of multi-mode phenomenon through parametric amplified four- and six-wave mixing processes in a rubidium atomic ensemble. The multi-mode properties in both frequency and spatial domains are studied. On one hand, the multi-mode behavior is dominantly controlled by the intensity of external dressing effect, or nonlinear phase shift through internal dressing effect, in frequency domain; on the other hand, the multi-mode behavior is visually demonstrated from the images of the biphoton fields directly, in spatial domain. Besides, the correlation of the two output fields is also demonstrated in both domains. Our approach supports efficient applications for scalable quantum correlated imaging.

Spectral analysis and filtering techniques in digital spatial data processing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pan, Jeng-Jong

1989-01-01

A filter toolbox has been developed at the EROS Data Center, US Geological Survey, for retrieving or removing specified frequency information from two-dimensional digital spatial data. This filter toolbox provides capabilities to compute the power spectrum of a given data and to design various filters in the frequency domain. Three types of filters are available in the toolbox: point filter, line filter, and area filter. Both the point and line filters employ Gaussian-type notch filters, and the area filter includes the capabilities to perform high-pass, band-pass, low-pass, and wedge filtering techniques. These filters are applied for analyzing satellite multispectral scanner data, airborne visible and infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) data, gravity data, and the digital elevation models (DEM) data. -from Author

Fault detection in rotating machines with beamforming: Spatial visualization of diagnosis features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardenas Cabada, E.; Leclere, Q.; Antoni, J.; Hamzaoui, N.

2017-12-01

Rotating machines diagnosis is conventionally related to vibration analysis. Sensors are usually placed on the machine to gather information about its components. The recorded signals are then processed through a fault detection algorithm allowing the identification of the failing part. This paper proposes an acoustic-based diagnosis method. A microphone array is used to record the acoustic field radiated by the machine. The main advantage over vibration-based diagnosis is that the contact between the sensors and the machine is no longer required. Moreover, the application of acoustic imaging makes possible the identification of the sources of acoustic radiation on the machine surface. The display of information is then spatially continuous while the accelerometers only give it discrete. Beamforming provides the time-varying signals radiated by the machine as a function of space. Any fault detection tool can be applied to the beamforming output. Spectral kurtosis, which highlights the impulsiveness of a signal as function of frequency, is used in this study. The combination of spectral kurtosis with acoustic imaging makes possible the mapping of the impulsiveness as a function of space and frequency. The efficiency of this approach lays on the source separation in the spatial and frequency domains. These mappings make possible the localization of such impulsive sources. The faulty components of the machine have an impulsive behavior and thus will be highlighted on the mappings. The study presents experimental validations of the method on rotating machines.

Direction of information flow in large-scale resting-state networks is frequency-dependent.

PubMed

Hillebrand, Arjan; Tewarie, Prejaas; van Dellen, Edwin; Yu, Meichen; Carbo, Ellen W S; Douw, Linda; Gouw, Alida A; van Straaten, Elisabeth C W; Stam, Cornelis J

2016-04-05

Normal brain function requires interactions between spatially separated, and functionally specialized, macroscopic regions, yet the directionality of these interactions in large-scale functional networks is unknown. Magnetoencephalography was used to determine the directionality of these interactions, where directionality was inferred from time series of beamformer-reconstructed estimates of neuronal activation, using a recently proposed measure of phase transfer entropy. We observed well-organized posterior-to-anterior patterns of information flow in the higher-frequency bands (alpha1, alpha2, and beta band), dominated by regions in the visual cortex and posterior default mode network. Opposite patterns of anterior-to-posterior flow were found in the theta band, involving mainly regions in the frontal lobe that were sending information to a more distributed network. Many strong information senders in the theta band were also frequent receivers in the alpha2 band, and vice versa. Our results provide evidence that large-scale resting-state patterns of information flow in the human brain form frequency-dependent reentry loops that are dominated by flow from parieto-occipital cortex to integrative frontal areas in the higher-frequency bands, which is mirrored by a theta band anterior-to-posterior flow.

High frequency seismic signal generated by landslides on complex topographies: from point source to spatially distributed sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mangeney, A.; Kuehnert, J.; Capdeville, Y.; Durand, V.; Stutzmann, E.; Kone, E. H.; Sethi, S.

2017-12-01

During their flow along the topography, landslides generate seismic waves in a wide frequency range. These so called landquakes can be recorded at very large distances (a few hundreds of km for large landslides). The recorded signals depend on the landslide seismic source and the seismic wave propagation. If the wave propagation is well understood, the seismic signals can be inverted for the seismic source and thus can be used to get information on the landslide properties and dynamics. Analysis and modeling of long period seismic signals (10-150s) have helped in this way to discriminate between different landslide scenarios and to constrain rheological parameters (e.g. Favreau et al., 2010). This was possible as topography poorly affects wave propagation at these long periods and the landslide seismic source can be approximated as a point source. In the near-field and at higher frequencies (> 1 Hz) the spatial extent of the source has to be taken into account and the influence of the topography on the recorded seismic signal should be quantified in order to extract information on the landslide properties and dynamics. The characteristic signature of distributed sources and varying topographies is studied as a function of frequency and recording distance.The time dependent spatial distribution of the forces applied to the ground by the landslide are obtained using granular flow numerical modeling on 3D topography. The generated seismic waves are simulated using the spectral element method. The simulated seismic signal is compared to observed seismic data from rockfalls at the Dolomieu Crater of Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion).Favreau, P., Mangeney, A., Lucas, A., Crosta, G., and Bouchut, F. (2010). Numerical modeling of landquakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 37(15):1-5.

High-speed spatial frequency domain imaging of rat cortex detects dynamic optical and physiological properties following cardiac arrest and resuscitation.

PubMed

Wilson, Robert H; Crouzet, Christian; Torabzadeh, Mohammad; Bazrafkan, Afsheen; Farahabadi, Maryam H; Jamasian, Babak; Donga, Dishant; Alcocer, Juan; Zaher, Shuhab M; Choi, Bernard; Akbari, Yama; Tromberg, Bruce J

2017-10-01

Quantifying rapidly varying perturbations in cerebral tissue absorption and scattering can potentially help to characterize changes in brain function caused by ischemic trauma. We have developed a platform for rapid intrinsic signal brain optical imaging using macroscopically structured light. The device performs fast, multispectral, spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI), detecting backscattered light from three-phase binary square-wave projected patterns, which have a much higher refresh rate than sinusoidal patterns used in conventional SFDI. Although not as fast as "single-snapshot" spatial frequency methods that do not require three-phase projection, square-wave patterns allow accurate image demodulation in applications such as small animal imaging where the limited field of view does not allow single-phase demodulation. By using 655, 730, and 850 nm light-emitting diodes, two spatial frequencies ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]), three spatial phases (120 deg, 240 deg, and 360 deg), and an overall camera acquisition rate of 167 Hz, we map changes in tissue absorption and reduced scattering parameters ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) and oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin concentration at [Formula: see text]. We apply this method to a rat model of cardiac arrest (CA) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to quantify hemodynamics and scattering on temporal scales ([Formula: see text]) ranging from tens of milliseconds to minutes. We observe rapid concurrent spatiotemporal changes in tissue oxygenation and scattering during CA and following CPR, even when the cerebral electrical signal is absent. We conclude that square-wave SFDI provides an effective technical strategy for assessing cortical optical and physiological properties by balancing competing performance demands for fast signal acquisition, small fields of view, and quantitative information content.

A possible role for a paralemniscal auditory pathway in the coding of slow temporal information

PubMed Central

Abrams, Daniel A.; Nicol, Trent; Zecker, Steven; Kraus, Nina

2010-01-01

Low frequency temporal information present in speech is critical for normal perception, however the neural mechanism underlying the differentiation of slow rates in acoustic signals is not known. Data from the rat trigeminal system suggest that the paralemniscal pathway may be specifically tuned to code low-frequency temporal information. We tested whether this phenomenon occurs in the auditory system by measuring the representation of temporal rate in lemniscal and paralemniscal auditory thalamus and cortex in guinea pig. Similar to the trigeminal system, responses measured in auditory thalamus indicate that slow rates are differentially represented in a paralemniscal pathway. In cortex, both lemniscal and paralemniscal neurons indicated sensitivity to slow rates. We speculate that a paralemniscal pathway in the auditory system may be specifically tuned to code low frequency temporal information present in acoustic signals. These data suggest that somatosensory and auditory modalities have parallel sub-cortical pathways that separately process slow rates and the spatial representation of the sensory periphery. PMID:21094680

(abstract) Topographic Signatures in Geology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farr, Tom G.; Evans, Diane L.

1996-01-01

Topographic information is required for many Earth Science investigations. For example, topography is an important element in regional and global geomorphic studies because it reflects the interplay between the climate-driven processes of erosion and the tectonic processes of uplift. A number of techniques have been developed to analyze digital topographic data, including Fourier texture analysis. A Fourier transform of the topography of an area allows the spatial frequency content of the topography to be analyzed. Band-pass filtering of the transform produces images representing the amplitude of different spatial wavelengths. These are then used in a multi-band classification to map units based on their spatial frequency content. The results using a radar image instead of digital topography showed good correspondence to a geologic map, however brightness variations in the image unrelated to topography caused errors. An additional benefit to the use of Fourier band-pass images for the classification is that the textural signatures of the units are quantative measures of the spatial characteristics of the units that may be used to map similar units in similar environments.

Sharpening coarse-to-fine stereo vision by perceptual learning: asymmetric transfer across the spatial frequency spectrum

PubMed Central

Tran, Truyet T.; Craven, Ashley P.; Leung, Tsz-Wing; Chat, Sandy W.; Levi, Dennis M.

2016-01-01

Neurons in the early visual cortex are finely tuned to different low-level visual features, forming a multi-channel system analysing the visual image formed on the retina in a parallel manner. However, little is known about the potential ‘cross-talk’ among these channels. Here, we systematically investigated whether stereoacuity, over a large range of target spatial frequencies, can be enhanced by perceptual learning. Using narrow-band visual stimuli, we found that practice with coarse (low spatial frequency) targets substantially improves performance, and that the improvement spreads from coarse to fine (high spatial frequency) three-dimensional perception, generalizing broadly across untrained spatial frequencies and orientations. Notably, we observed an asymmetric transfer of learning across the spatial frequency spectrum. The bandwidth of transfer was broader when training was at a high spatial frequency than at a low spatial frequency. Stereoacuity training is most beneficial when trained with fine targets. This broad transfer of stereoacuity learning contrasts with the highly specific learning reported for other basic visual functions. We also revealed strategies to boost learning outcomes ‘beyond-the-plateau’. Our investigations contribute to understanding the functional properties of the network subserving stereovision. The ability to generalize may provide a key principle for restoring impaired binocular vision in clinical situations. PMID:26909178

Vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopic study of crystalline cellulose in biomass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seong H.; Lee, Christopher M.; Kafle, Kabindra; Park, Yong Bum; Xi, Xiaoning

2013-09-01

The noncentrosymmetry requirement of sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy allows selective detection of crystalline cellulose in plant cell walls and lignocellulose biomass without spectral interferences from hemicelluloses and lignin. In addition, the phase synchronization requirement of the SFG process allows noninvasive investigation of spatial arrangement of crystalline cellulose microfibrils in the sample. This paper reviews how these principles are applied to reveal structural information of crystalline cellulose in plant cell walls and biomass.

Is Fourier analysis performed by the visual system or by the visual investigator.

PubMed

Ochs, A L

1979-01-01

A numerical Fourier transform was made of the pincushion grid illusion and the spectral components orthogonal to the illusory lines were isolated. Their inverse transform creates a picture of the illusion. The spatial-frequency response of cortical, simple receptive field neurons similarly filters the grid. A complete set of these neurons thus approximates a two-dimensional Fourier analyzer. One cannot conclude, however, that the brain actually uses frequency-domain information to interpret visual images.

Linear optical quantum computing in a single spatial mode.

PubMed

Humphreys, Peter C; Metcalf, Benjamin J; Spring, Justin B; Moore, Merritt; Jin, Xian-Min; Barbieri, Marco; Kolthammer, W Steven; Walmsley, Ian A

2013-10-11

We present a scheme for linear optical quantum computing using time-bin-encoded qubits in a single spatial mode. We show methods for single-qubit operations and heralded controlled-phase (cphase) gates, providing a sufficient set of operations for universal quantum computing with the Knill-Laflamme-Milburn [Nature (London) 409, 46 (2001)] scheme. Our protocol is suited to currently available photonic devices and ideally allows arbitrary numbers of qubits to be encoded in the same spatial mode, demonstrating the potential for time-frequency modes to dramatically increase the quantum information capacity of fixed spatial resources. As a test of our scheme, we demonstrate the first entirely single spatial mode implementation of a two-qubit quantum gate and show its operation with an average fidelity of 0.84±0.07.

Feasibility of spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) for optically characterizing a preclinical oncology model.

PubMed

Tabassum, Syeda; Zhao, Yanyu; Istfan, Raeef; Wu, Junjie; Waxman, David J; Roblyer, Darren

2016-10-01

Determination of chemotherapy efficacy early during treatment would provide more opportunities for physicians to alter and adapt treatment plans. Diffuse optical technologies may be ideally suited to track early biological events following chemotherapy administration due to low cost and high information content. We evaluated the use of spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) to characterize a small animal tumor model in order to move towards the goal of endogenous optical monitoring of cancer therapy in a controlled preclinical setting. The effects of key measurement parameters including the choice of imaging spatial frequency and the repeatability of measurements were evaluated. The precision of SFDI optical property extractions over repeat mouse measurements was determined to be within 3.52% for move and replace experiments. Baseline optical properties and chromophore values as well as intratumor heterogeneity were evaluated over 25 tumors. Additionally, tumor growth and chemotherapy response were monitored over a 45 day longitudinal study in a small number of mice to demonstrate the ability of SFDI to track treatment effects. Optical scattering and oxygen saturation increased as much as 70% and 25% respectively in treated tumors, suggesting SFDI may be useful for preclinical tracking of cancer therapies.

Construction and characterization of ultraviolet acousto-optic based femtosecond pulse shapers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mcgrane, Shawn D; Moore, David S; Greenfield, Margo T

2008-01-01

We present all the information necessary for construction and characterization of acousto optic pulse shapers, with a focus on ultraviolet wavelengths, Various radio-frequency drive configurations are presented to allow optimization via knowledgeable trade-off of design features. Detailed performance characteristics of a 267 nm acousto-optic modulator (AOM) based pulse shaper are presented, Practical considerations for AOM based pulse shaping of ultra-broad bandwidth (sub-10 fs) amplified femtosecond pulse shaping are described, with particular attention paid to the effects of the RF frequency bandwidth and optical frequency bandwidth on the spatial dispersion of the output laser pulses.

VLUIS, a land use data product for Victoria, Australia, covering 2006 to 2013

PubMed Central

Morse-McNabb, Elizabeth; Sheffield, Kathryn; Clark, Rob; Lewis, Hayden; Robson, Susan; Cherry, Don; Williams, Steve

2015-01-01

Land Use Information is a key dataset required to enable an understanding of the changing nature of our landscapes and the associated influences on natural resources and regional communities. The Victorian Land Use Information System (VLUIS) data product has been created within the State Government of Victoria to support land use assessments. The project began in 2007 using stakeholder engagement to establish product requirements such as format, classification, frequency and spatial resolution. Its genesis is significantly different to traditional methods, incorporating data from a range of jurisdictions to develop land use information designed for regular on-going creation and consistency. Covering the entire landmass of Victoria, the dataset separately describes land tenure, land use and land cover. These variables are co-registered to a common spatial base (cadastral parcels) across the state for the period 2006 to 2013; biennially for land tenure and land use, and annually for land cover. Data is produced as a spatial GIS feature class. PMID:26602150

VLUIS, a land use data product for Victoria, Australia, covering 2006 to 2013.

PubMed

Morse-McNabb, Elizabeth; Sheffield, Kathryn; Clark, Rob; Lewis, Hayden; Robson, Susan; Cherry, Don; Williams, Steve

2015-11-24

Land Use Information is a key dataset required to enable an understanding of the changing nature of our landscapes and the associated influences on natural resources and regional communities. The Victorian Land Use Information System (VLUIS) data product has been created within the State Government of Victoria to support land use assessments. The project began in 2007 using stakeholder engagement to establish product requirements such as format, classification, frequency and spatial resolution. Its genesis is significantly different to traditional methods, incorporating data from a range of jurisdictions to develop land use information designed for regular on-going creation and consistency. Covering the entire landmass of Victoria, the dataset separately describes land tenure, land use and land cover. These variables are co-registered to a common spatial base (cadastral parcels) across the state for the period 2006 to 2013; biennially for land tenure and land use, and annually for land cover. Data is produced as a spatial GIS feature class.

Seismic low-frequency-based calculation of reservoir fluid mobility and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xue-Hua; He, Zhen-Hua; Zhu, Si-Xin; Liu, Wei; Zhong, Wen-Li

2012-06-01

Low frequency content of seismic signals contains information related to the reservoir fluid mobility. Based on the asymptotic analysis theory of frequency-dependent reflectivity from a fluid-saturated poroelastic medium, we derive the computational implementation of reservoir fluid mobility and present the determination of optimal frequency in the implementation. We then calculate the reservoir fluid mobility using the optimal frequency instantaneous spectra at the low-frequency end of the seismic spectrum. The methodology is applied to synthetic seismic data from a permeable gas-bearing reservoir model and real land and marine seismic data. The results demonstrate that the fluid mobility shows excellent quality in imaging the gas reservoirs. It is feasible to detect the location and spatial distribution of gas reservoirs and reduce the non-uniqueness and uncertainty in fluid identification.

Deconstructing continuous flash suppression

PubMed Central

Yang, Eunice; Blake, Randolph

2012-01-01

In this paper, we asked to what extent the depth of interocular suppression engendered by continuous flash suppression (CFS) varies depending on spatiotemporal properties of the suppressed stimulus and CFS suppressor. An answer to this question could have implications for interpreting the results in which CFS influences the processing of different categories of stimuli to different extents. In a series of experiments, we measured the selectivity and depth of suppression (i.e., elevation in contrast detection thresholds) as a function of the visual features of the stimulus being suppressed and the stimulus evoking suppression, namely, the popular “Mondrian” CFS stimulus (N. Tsuchiya & C. Koch, 2005). First, we found that CFS differentially suppresses the spatial components of the suppressed stimulus: Observers' sensitivity for stimuli of relatively low spatial frequency or cardinally oriented features was more strongly impaired in comparison to high spatial frequency or obliquely oriented stimuli. Second, we discovered that this feature-selective bias primarily arises from the spatiotemporal structure of the CFS stimulus, particularly within information residing in the low spatial frequency range and within the smooth rather than abrupt luminance changes over time. These results imply that this CFS stimulus operates by selectively attenuating certain classes of low-level signals while leaving others to be potentially encoded during suppression. These findings underscore the importance of considering the contribution of low-level features in stimulus-driven effects that are reported under CFS. PMID:22408039

Deconstructing continuous flash suppression.

PubMed

Yang, Eunice; Blake, Randolph

2012-03-08

In this paper, we asked to what extent the depth of interocular suppression engendered by continuous flash suppression (CFS) varies depending on spatiotemporal properties of the suppressed stimulus and CFS suppressor. An answer to this question could have implications for interpreting the results in which CFS influences the processing of different categories of stimuli to different extents. In a series of experiments, we measured the selectivity and depth of suppression (i.e., elevation in contrast detection thresholds) as a function of the visual features of the stimulus being suppressed and the stimulus evoking suppression, namely, the popular "Mondrian" CFS stimulus (N. Tsuchiya & C. Koch, 2005). First, we found that CFS differentially suppresses the spatial components of the suppressed stimulus: Observers' sensitivity for stimuli of relatively low spatial frequency or cardinally oriented features was more strongly impaired in comparison to high spatial frequency or obliquely oriented stimuli. Second, we discovered that this feature-selective bias primarily arises from the spatiotemporal structure of the CFS stimulus, particularly within information residing in the low spatial frequency range and within the smooth rather than abrupt luminance changes over time. These results imply that this CFS stimulus operates by selectively attenuating certain classes of low-level signals while leaving others to be potentially encoded during suppression. These findings underscore the importance of considering the contribution of low-level features in stimulus-driven effects that are reported under CFS.

Limitations of contrast enhancement for infrared target identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du Bosq, Todd W.; Fanning, Jonathan D.

2009-05-01

Contrast enhancement and dynamic range compression are currently being used to improve the performance of infrared imagers by increasing the contrast between the target and the scene content. Automatic contrast enhancement techniques do not always achieve this improvement. In some cases, the contrast can increase to a level of target saturation. This paper assesses the range-performance effects of contrast enhancement for target identification as a function of image saturation. Human perception experiments were performed to determine field performance using contrast enhancement on the U.S. Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD standard military eight target set using an un-cooled LWIR camera. The experiments compare the identification performance of observers viewing contrast enhancement processed images at various levels of saturation. Contrast enhancement is modeled in the U.S. Army thermal target acquisition model (NVThermIP) by changing the scene contrast temperature. The model predicts improved performance based on any improved target contrast, regardless of specific feature saturation or enhancement. The measured results follow the predicted performance based on the target task difficulty metric used in NVThermIP for the non-saturated cases. The saturated images reduce the information contained in the target and performance suffers. The model treats the contrast of the target as uniform over spatial frequency. As the contrast is enhanced, the model assumes that the contrast is enhanced uniformly over the spatial frequencies. After saturation, the spatial cues that differentiate one tank from another are located in a limited band of spatial frequencies. A frequency dependent treatment of target contrast is needed to predict performance of over-processed images.

Pixelated camouflage patterns from the perspective of hyperspectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Racek, František; Jobánek, Adam; Baláž, Teodor; Krejčí, Jaroslav

2016-10-01

Pixelated camouflage patterns fulfill the role of both principles the matching and the disrupting that are exploited for blending the target into the background. It means that pixelated pattern should respect natural background in spectral and spatial characteristics embodied in micro and macro patterns. The HS imaging plays the similar, however the reverse role in the field of reconnaissance systems. The HS camera fundamentally records and extracts both the spectral and spatial information belonging to the recorded scenery. Therefore, the article deals with problems of hyperspectral (HS) imaging and subsequent processing of HS images of pixelated camouflage patterns which are among others characterized by their specific spatial frequency heterogeneity.

Model of human visual-motion sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, A. B.; Ahumada, A. J., Jr.

1985-01-01

A model of how humans sense the velocity of moving images is proposed. The model exploits constraints provided by human psychophysics, notably that motion-sensing elements appear tuned for two-dimensional spatial frequency, and by the frequency spectrum of a moving image, namely, that its support lies in the plane in which the temporal frequency equals the dot product of the spatial frequency and the image velocity. The first stage of the model is a set of spatial-frequency-tuned, direction-selective linear sensors. The temporal frequency of the response of each sensor is shown to encode the component of the image velocity in the sensor direction. At the second stage, these components are resolved in order to measure the velocity of image motion at each of a number of spatial locations and spatial frequencies. The model has been applied to several illustrative examples, including apparent motion, coherent gratings, and natural image sequences. The model agrees qualitatively with human perception.

Cross-Modulation Interference with Lateralization of Mixed-Modulated Waveforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, I-Hui; Petrosyan, Agavni; Goncalves, Oscar F.; Hickok, Gregory; Saberi, Kourosh

2010-01-01

Purpose: This study investigated the ability to use spatial information in mixed-modulated (MM) sounds containing concurrent frequency-modulated (FM) and amplitude-modulated (AM) sounds by exploring patterns of interference when different modulation types originated from different loci as may occur in a multisource acoustic field. Method:…

Estimation of optimal hologram recording modes on photothermal materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dzhamankyzov, Nasipbek Kurmanalievich; Ismanov, Yusupzhan Khakimzhanovich; Zhumaliev, Kubanychbek Myrzabekovich; Alymkulov, Samsaly Amanovich

2018-01-01

A theoretical analysis of the hologram recording process on photothermal media to estimate the required laser radiation power for the information recording as the function of the spatial frequency and radiation exposure duration is considered. Results of the analysis showed that materials with a low thermal diffusivity are necessary to increase the recording density in these media and the recording should be performed with short pulses to minimize the thermal diffusion length. A solution for the heat conduction equation for photothermal materials heated by an interference laser field was found. The solution obtained allows one to determine the required value of the recording temperature for given spatial frequencies, depending on the thermal physical parameters of the medium and on the power and duration of the heating radiation.

Nuclear 3D organization and radiosensitivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eidelman, Y. A.; Slanina, S. V.; Aleshchenko, A. V.; Sen'ko, O. V.; Kononkova, A. D.; Andreev, S. G.

2017-01-01

Current mechanisms of radiation-induced chromosomal aberration (CA) formation suggest misrepair of chromosomal lesions being in spatial proximity. In this case CAs have to depend on pattern of chromosomal contacts and on chromosome spatial organization in a cell nucleus. We were interested in whether variation of nucleus 3D organization results in difference of radiation induced CA formation frequency. Experimental data available do not provide information sufficient for definite conclusions. To have more deep insight in this issue we developed the biophysical modeling technique taking into account different levels of chromosome/nuclear organization and radiation damage of DNA and chromosomes. Computer experiments on gamma irradiation were carried out for two types of cells with different 3D organization of nuclei, preferentially peripheral and internal. CA frequencies were found to depend on spatial positioning of chromosomes within a nucleus which determines a pattern of interchromosomal contacts. For individual chromosomes this effect can be more pronounced than for genome averaged. Since significant part of aberrations, for example dicentrics, results in cell death, the proposed technique is capable of evaluating radiosensitivity of cells, both normal and cancer, with the incorporation of 3D genome information. This predictive technology allows to reduce uncertainties of prognosis of biological effects of radiation compared to phenomenological methods and may have variety of biomedical applications, in particular, in cancer radiation therapy.

Importance of phase alignment for interocular suppression.

PubMed

Maehara, Goro; Huang, Pi-Chun; Hess, Robert F

2009-07-01

We measured contrast thresholds for Gabor targets in the presence of maskers which had higher or lower spatial frequencies than the targets. A high-pass fractal masker elevated target contrast thresholds at low and intermediate pedestal contrasts in both monocular and dichoptic modes of presentation, suggesting that the masking occurs after a monocular processing stage. Moreover we found that a high-pass checkerboard masker elevated thresholds at the low and intermediate pedestal contrasts and that most of this threshold elevation disappeared when the phase of the masker's spatial components were scrambled. This masking was effective only in the dichoptic presentation, not in the monocular presentation. These results indicate that phase alignment of the high spatial frequency components plays a crucial role for interocular suppression. We speculate that phase alignments signal the existence of a luminance contour in the monocular image and that this signal suppresses processing of information in the other eye when there is no corresponding signal in that eye.

Developmental dyslexia and vision

PubMed Central

Quercia, Patrick; Feiss, Léonard; Michel, Carine

2013-01-01

Developmental dyslexia affects almost 10% of school-aged children and represents a significant public health problem. Its etiology is unknown. The consistent presence of phonological difficulties combined with an inability to manipulate language sounds and the grapheme–phoneme conversion is widely acknowledged. Numerous scientific studies have also documented the presence of eye movement anomalies and deficits of perception of low contrast, low spatial frequency, and high frequency temporal visual information in dyslexics. Anomalies of visual attention with short visual attention spans have also been demonstrated in a large number of cases. Spatial orientation is also affected in dyslexics who manifest a preference for spatial attention to the right. This asymmetry may be so pronounced that it leads to a veritable neglect of space on the left side. The evaluation of treatments proposed to dyslexics whether speech or oriented towards the visual anomalies remains fragmentary. The advent of new explanatory theories, notably cerebellar, magnocellular, or proprioceptive, is an incentive for ophthalmologists to enter the world of multimodal cognition given the importance of the eye’s visual input. PMID:23690677

Fast focus estimation using frequency analysis in digital holography.

PubMed

Oh, Seungtaik; Hwang, Chi-Young; Jeong, Il Kwon; Lee, Sung-Keun; Park, Jae-Hyeung

2014-11-17

A novel fast frequency-based method to estimate the focus distance of digital hologram for a single object is proposed. The focus distance is computed by analyzing the distribution of intersections of smoothed-rays. The smoothed-rays are determined by the directions of energy flow which are computed from local spatial frequency spectrum based on the windowed Fourier transform. So our method uses only the intrinsic frequency information of the optical field on the hologram and therefore does not require any sequential numerical reconstructions and focus detection techniques of conventional photography, both of which are the essential parts in previous methods. To show the effectiveness of our method, numerical results and analysis are presented as well.

Spatial Release From Masking in Simulated Cochlear Implant Users With and Without Access to Low-Frequency Acoustic Hearing

PubMed Central

Dietz, Mathias; Hohmann, Volker; Jürgens, Tim

2015-01-01

For normal-hearing listeners, speech intelligibility improves if speech and noise are spatially separated. While this spatial release from masking has already been quantified in normal-hearing listeners in many studies, it is less clear how spatial release from masking changes in cochlear implant listeners with and without access to low-frequency acoustic hearing. Spatial release from masking depends on differences in access to speech cues due to hearing status and hearing device. To investigate the influence of these factors on speech intelligibility, the present study measured speech reception thresholds in spatially separated speech and noise for 10 different listener types. A vocoder was used to simulate cochlear implant processing and low-frequency filtering was used to simulate residual low-frequency hearing. These forms of processing were combined to simulate cochlear implant listening, listening based on low-frequency residual hearing, and combinations thereof. Simulated cochlear implant users with additional low-frequency acoustic hearing showed better speech intelligibility in noise than simulated cochlear implant users without acoustic hearing and had access to more spatial speech cues (e.g., higher binaural squelch). Cochlear implant listener types showed higher spatial release from masking with bilateral access to low-frequency acoustic hearing than without. A binaural speech intelligibility model with normal binaural processing showed overall good agreement with measured speech reception thresholds, spatial release from masking, and spatial speech cues. This indicates that differences in speech cues available to listener types are sufficient to explain the changes of spatial release from masking across these simulated listener types. PMID:26721918

Multi-functional angiographic OFDI using frequency-multiplexed dual-beam illumination

PubMed Central

Kim, SunHee; Park, Taejin; Jang, Sun-Joo; Nam, Ahhyun S.; Vakoc, Benjamin J.; Oh, Wang-Yuhl

2015-01-01

Detection of blood flow inside the tissue sample can be achieved by measuring the local change of complex signal over time in angiographic optical coherence tomography (OCT). In conventional angiographic OCT, the transverse displacement of the imaging beam during the time interval between a pair of OCT signal measurements must be significantly reduced to minimize the noise due to the beam scanning-induced phase decorrelation at the expense of the imaging speed. Recent introduction of dual-beam scan method either using polarization encoding or two identical imaging systems in spectral-domain (SD) OCT scheme shows potential for high-sensitivity vasculature imaging without suffering from spurious phase noise caused by the beam scanning-induced spatial decorrelation. In this paper, we present multi-functional angiographic optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) using frequency-multiplexed dual-beam illumination. This frequency multiplexing scheme, utilizing unique features of OFDI, provides spatially separated dual imaging beams occupying distinct electrical frequency bands that can be demultiplexed in the frequency domain processing. We demonstrate the 3D multi-functional imaging of the normal mouse skin in the dorsal skin fold chamber visualizing distinct layer structures from the intensity imaging, information about mechanical integrity from the polarization-sensitive imaging, and depth-resolved microvasculature from the angiographic imaging that are simultaneously acquired and automatically co-registered. PMID:25968731

Digital visual communications using a Perceptual Components Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Andrew B.

1991-01-01

The next era of space exploration will generate extraordinary volumes of image data, and management of this image data is beyond current technical capabilities. We propose a strategy for coding visual information that exploits the known properties of early human vision. This Perceptual Components Architecture codes images and image sequences in terms of discrete samples from limited bands of color, spatial frequency, orientation, and temporal frequency. This spatiotemporal pyramid offers efficiency (low bit rate), variable resolution, device independence, error-tolerance, and extensibility.

Asking better questions: How presentation formats influence information search.

PubMed

Wu, Charley M; Meder, Björn; Filimon, Flavia; Nelson, Jonathan D

2017-08-01

While the influence of presentation formats have been widely studied in Bayesian reasoning tasks, we present the first systematic investigation of how presentation formats influence information search decisions. Four experiments were conducted across different probabilistic environments, where subjects (N = 2,858) chose between 2 possible search queries, each with binary probabilistic outcomes, with the goal of maximizing classification accuracy. We studied 14 different numerical and visual formats for presenting information about the search environment, constructed across 6 design features that have been prominently related to improvements in Bayesian reasoning accuracy (natural frequencies, posteriors, complement, spatial extent, countability, and part-to-whole information). The posterior variants of the icon array and bar graph formats led to the highest proportion of correct responses, and were substantially better than the standard probability format. Results suggest that presenting information in terms of posterior probabilities and visualizing natural frequencies using spatial extent (a perceptual feature) were especially helpful in guiding search decisions, although environments with a mixture of probabilistic and certain outcomes were challenging across all formats. Subjects who made more accurate probability judgments did not perform better on the search task, suggesting that simple decision heuristics may be used to make search decisions without explicitly applying Bayesian inference to compute probabilities. We propose a new take-the-difference (TTD) heuristic that identifies the accuracy-maximizing query without explicit computation of posterior probabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A systematic intercomparison of regional flood frequency analysis models in a simulation framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganora, Daniele; Laio, Francesco; Claps, Pierluigi

2015-04-01

Regional frequency analysis (RFA) is a well-established methodology to provide an estimate of the flood frequency curve (or other discharge-related variables), based on the fundamental concept of substituting temporal information at a site (no data or short time series) by exploiting observations at other sites (spatial information). Different RFA paradigms exist, depending on the way the information is transferred to the site of interest. Despite the wide use of such methodology, a systematic comparison between these paradigms has not been performed. The aim of this study is to provide a framework wherein carrying out the intercomparison: we thus synthetically generate data through Monte Carlo simulations for a number of (virtual) stations, following a GEV parent distribution; different scenarios can be created to represent different spatial heterogeneity patterns by manipulating the parameters of the parent distribution at each station (e.g. with a linear variation in space of the shape parameter of the GEV). A special case is the homogeneous scenario where each station record is sampled from the same parent distribution. For each scenario and each simulation, different regional models are applied to evaluate the 200-year growth factor at each station. Results are than compared to the exact growth factor of each station, which is known in our virtual world. Considered regional approaches include: (i) a single growth curve for the whole region; (ii) a multiple-region model based on cluster analysis which search for an adequate number of homogeneous subregions; (iii) a Region-of-Influence model which defines a homogeneous subregion for each site; (iv) a spatially-smooth estimation procedure based on linear regressions.. A further benchmark model is the at-site estimate based on the analysis of the local record. A comprehensive analysis of the results of the simulations shows that, if the scenario is homogeneous (no spatial variability), all the regional approaches have comparable performances. Moreover, as expected, regional estimates are much more reliable than the at-site estimates. If the scenario is heterogeneous, the performances of the regional models depend on the pattern of heterogeneity; in general, however, the spatially-smooth regional approach performs better than the others, and its performances improve for increasing record lengths. For heterogeneous scenarios, the at-site estimates appear to be comparably more efficient than in the homogeneous case, and in general less biased than the regional estimates.

Transformation of a Spatial Map across the Hippocampal-Lateral Septal Circuit.

PubMed

Tingley, David; Buzsáki, György

2018-05-15

The hippocampus constructs a map of the environment. How this "cognitive map" is utilized by other brain regions to guide behavior remains unexplored. To examine how neuronal firing patterns in the hippocampus are transmitted and transformed, we recorded neurons in its principal subcortical target, the lateral septum (LS). We observed that LS neurons carry reliable spatial information in the phase of action potentials, relative to hippocampal theta oscillations, while the firing rates of LS neurons remained uninformative. Furthermore, this spatial phase code had an anatomical microstructure within the LS and was bound to the hippocampal spatial code by synchronous gamma frequency cell assemblies. Using a data-driven model, we show that rate-independent spatial tuning arises through the dynamic weighting of CA1 and CA3 cell assemblies. Our findings demonstrate that transformation of the hippocampal spatial map depends on higher-order theta-dependent neuronal sequences. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relation between clinical mature and immature lymphocyte cells in human peripheral blood and their spatial label free scattering patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lu; Zhao, Xin; Zhang, Zhenxi; Zhao, Hong; Chen, Wei; Yuan, Li

2016-07-01

A single living cell's light scattering pattern (LSP) in the horizontal plane, which has been denoted as the cell's "2D fingerprint," may provide a powerful label-free detection tool in clinical applications. We have recently studied the LSP in spatial scattering planes, denoted as the cell's "3D fingerprint," for mature and immature lymphocyte cells in human peripheral blood. The effects of membrane size, morphology, and the existence of the nucleus on the spatial LSP are discussed. In order to distinguish clinical label-free mature and immature lymphocytes, the special features of the spatial LSP are studied by statistical method in both the spatial and frequency domains. Spatial LSP provides rich information on the cell's morphology and contents, which can distinguish mature from immature lymphocyte cells and hence ultimately it may be a useful label-free technique for clinical leukemia diagnosis.

Influence of spherical aberration, stimulus spatial frequency, and pupil apodisation on subjective refractions

PubMed Central

Bradley, Arthur; Xu, Renfeng; Thibos, Larry; Marin, Gildas; Hernandez, Martha

2014-01-01

Purpose To test competing hypotheses (Stiles Crawford pupil apodising or superior imaging of high spatial frequencies by the central pupil) for the pupil size independence of subjective refractions in the presence of primary spherical aberration. Methods Subjective refractions were obtained with a variety of test stimuli (high contrast letters, urban cityscape, high and low spatial frequency gratings) while modulating pupil diameter, levels of primary spherical aberration and pupil apodisation. Subjective refractions were also obtained with low-pass and high-pass stimuli and using “darker” and “sharper” subjective criteria. Results Subjective refractions for stimuli containing high spatial frequencies focus a near paraxial region of the pupil and are affected only slightly by level of Seidel spherical aberration, degree of pupil apodisation and pupil diameter, and generally focused a radius of about 1 to 1.5 mm from the pupil centre. Low spatial frequency refractions focus a marginal region of the pupil, and are significantly affected by level of spherical aberration, amount of pupil apodisation, and pupil size. Clinical refractions that employ the “darker” or “sharper” subjective criteria bias the patient to use lower or higher spatial frequencies respectively. Conclusions In the presence of significant levels of spherical aberration, the pupil size independence of subjective refractions occurs with or without Stiles Crawford apodisation for refractions that optimise high spatial frequency content in the image. If low spatial frequencies are optimised by a subjective refraction, spherical refractive error varies with spherical aberration, pupil size, and level of apodisation. As light levels drop from photopic to scotopic, therefore, we expect a shift from pupil size independent to pupil size dependent subjective refractions. Emphasising a “sharper” criterion during subjective refractions will improve image quality for high spatial frequencies and generate pupil size independent refractions. PMID:24397356

Pattern masking: the importance of remote spatial frequencies and their phase alignment.

PubMed

Huang, Pi-Chun; Maehara, Goro; May, Keith A; Hess, Robert F

2012-02-16

To assess the effects of spatial frequency and phase alignment of mask components in pattern masking, target threshold vs. mask contrast (TvC) functions for a sine-wave grating (S) target were measured for five types of mask: a sine-wave grating (S), a square-wave grating (Q), a missing fundamental square-wave grating (M), harmonic complexes consisting of phase-scrambled harmonics of a square wave (Qp), and harmonic complexes consisting of phase-scrambled harmonics of a missing fundamental square wave (Mp). Target and masks had the same fundamental frequency (0.46 cpd) and the target was added in phase with the fundamental frequency component of the mask. Under monocular viewing conditions, the strength of masking depends on phase relationships among mask spatial frequencies far removed from that of the target, at least 3 times the target frequency, only when there are common target and mask spatial frequencies. Under dichoptic viewing conditions, S and Q masks produced similar masking to each other and the phase-scrambled masks (Qp and Mp) produced less masking. The results suggest that pattern masking is spatial frequency broadband in nature and sensitive to the phase alignments of spatial components.

The effects of display time and eccentricity on the detection of amplitude and phase degradations in textured stimuli.

PubMed

Clarke, Alasdair D F; Green, Patrick R; Chantler, Mike J

2012-03-08

The amplitude and phase spectra of an image contain important information for perception, and a large body of work has investigated the effects of manipulating these spectra on the recognition or classification of image content. Here, we use a novel means of investigating sensitivity to amplitude and phase spectra properties, testing the ability of observers to detect degradations of the spectral content of synthetic images of textured surfaces that are broadband in the frequency domain. The effects of display time and retinal eccentricity on sensitivity to these two manipulations are compared using stimuli matched for difficulty of detection. We find no difference between the time courses for the detection of degradation in the two spectra; in both cases, accuracy rises above chance when display times are greater than 80 ms. Increasing retinal eccentricity to 8.7°, however, has a significantly stronger effect on the accuracy of detecting degradations of the amplitude spectrum than of the phase spectrum. Further, sensitivity to phase randomization that is restricted to low spatial frequencies is greater in the periphery (at 8.7° eccentricity) than in the fovea. These last two results imply that the fovea and periphery are specialized for the processing of phase spectrum information in distinct spatial frequency bands.

An automatic optimum kernel-size selection technique for edge enhancement

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chavez, Pat S.; Bauer, Brian P.

1982-01-01

Edge enhancement is a technique that can be considered, to a first order, a correction for the modulation transfer function of an imaging system. Digital imaging systems sample a continuous function at discrete intervals so that high-frequency information cannot be recorded at the same precision as lower frequency data. Because of this, fine detail or edge information in digital images is lost. Spatial filtering techniques can be used to enhance the fine detail information that does exist in the digital image, but the filter size is dependent on the type of area being processed. A technique has been developed by the authors that uses the horizontal first difference to automatically select the optimum kernel-size that should be used to enhance the edges that are contained in the image. 

Development of an adaptive bilateral filter for evaluating color image difference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhaohui; Hardeberg, Jon Yngve

2012-04-01

Spatial filtering, which aims to mimic the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) of the human visual system (HVS), has previously been combined with color difference formulae for measuring color image reproduction errors. These spatial filters attenuate imperceptible information in images, unfortunately including high frequency edges, which are believed to be crucial in the process of scene analysis by the HVS. The adaptive bilateral filter represents a novel approach, which avoids the undesirable loss of edge information introduced by CSF-based filtering. The bilateral filter employs two Gaussian smoothing filters in different domains, i.e., spatial domain and intensity domain. We propose a method to decide the parameters, which are designed to be adaptive to the corresponding viewing conditions, and the quantity and homogeneity of information contained in an image. Experiments and discussions are given to support the proposal. A series of perceptual experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of our approach. The experimental sample images were reproduced with variations in six image attributes: lightness, chroma, hue, compression, noise, and sharpness/blurriness. The Pearson's correlation values between the model-predicted image difference and the observed difference were employed to evaluate the performance, and compare it with that of spatial CIELAB and image appearance model.

Combining Temporal and Spectral Information with Spatial Mapping to Identify Differences between Phonological and Semantic Networks: A Magnetoencephalographic Approach

PubMed Central

McNab, Fiona; Hillebrand, Arjan; Swithenby, Stephen J.; Rippon, Gina

2012-01-01

Early, lesion-based models of language processing suggested that semantic and phonological processes are associated with distinct temporal and parietal regions respectively, with frontal areas more indirectly involved. Contemporary spatial brain mapping techniques have not supported such clear-cut segregation, with strong evidence of activation in left temporal areas by both processes and disputed evidence of involvement of frontal areas in both processes. We suggest that combining spatial information with temporal and spectral data may allow a closer scrutiny of the differential involvement of closely overlapping cortical areas in language processing. Using beamforming techniques to analyze magnetoencephalography data, we localized the neuronal substrates underlying primed responses to nouns requiring either phonological or semantic processing, and examined the associated measures of time and frequency in those areas where activation was common to both tasks. Power changes in the beta (14–30 Hz) and gamma (30–50 Hz) frequency bands were analyzed in pre-selected time windows of 350–550 and 500–700 ms In left temporal regions, both tasks elicited power changes in the same time window (350–550 ms), but with different spectral characteristics, low beta (14–20 Hz) for the phonological task and high beta (20–30 Hz) for the semantic task. In frontal areas (BA10), both tasks elicited power changes in the gamma band (30–50 Hz), but in different time windows, 500–700 ms for the phonological task and 350–550 ms for the semantic task. In the left inferior parietal area (BA40), both tasks elicited changes in the 20–30 Hz beta frequency band but in different time windows, 350–550 ms for the phonological task and 500–700 ms for the semantic task. Our findings suggest that, where spatial measures may indicate overlapping areas of involvement, additional beamforming techniques can demonstrate differential activation in time and frequency domains. PMID:22908001

Real time system design of motor imagery brain-computer interface based on multi band CSP and SVM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Li; Li, Xiaoqin; Bian, Yan

2018-04-01

Motion imagery (MT) is an effective method to promote the recovery of limbs in patients after stroke. Though an online MT brain computer interface (BCT) system, which apply MT, can enhance the patient's participation and accelerate their recovery process. The traditional method deals with the electroencephalogram (EEG) induced by MT by common spatial pattern (CSP), which is used to extract information from a frequency band. Tn order to further improve the classification accuracy of the system, information of two characteristic frequency bands is extracted. The effectiveness of the proposed feature extraction method is verified by off-line analysis of competition data and the analysis of online system.

The role of ECoG magnitude and phase in decoding position, velocity, and acceleration during continuous motor behavior

PubMed Central

Hammer, Jiri; Fischer, Jörg; Ruescher, Johanna; Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas; Aertsen, Ad; Ball, Tonio

2013-01-01

In neuronal population signals, including the electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocorticogram (ECoG), the low-frequency component (LFC) is particularly informative about motor behavior and can be used for decoding movement parameters for brain-machine interface (BMI) applications. An idea previously expressed, but as of yet not quantitatively tested, is that it is the LFC phase that is the main source of decodable information. To test this issue, we analyzed human ECoG recorded during a game-like, one-dimensional, continuous motor task with a novel decoding method suitable for unfolding magnitude and phase explicitly into a complex-valued, time-frequency signal representation, enabling quantification of the decodable information within the temporal, spatial and frequency domains and allowing disambiguation of the phase contribution from that of the spectral magnitude. The decoding accuracy based only on phase information was substantially (at least 2 fold) and significantly higher than that based only on magnitudes for position, velocity and acceleration. The frequency profile of movement-related information in the ECoG data matched well with the frequency profile expected when assuming a close time-domain correlate of movement velocity in the ECoG, e.g., a (noisy) “copy” of hand velocity. No such match was observed with the frequency profiles expected when assuming a copy of either hand position or acceleration. There was also no indication of additional magnitude-based mechanisms encoding movement information in the LFC range. Thus, our study contributes to elucidating the nature of the informative LFC of motor cortical population activity and may hence contribute to improve decoding strategies and BMI performance. PMID:24198757

Contralateral Bias of High Spatial Frequency Tuning and Cardinal Direction Selectivity in Mouse Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Zeitoun, Jack H.; Kim, Hyungtae

2017-01-01

Binocular mechanisms for visual processing are thought to enhance spatial acuity by combining matched input from the two eyes. Studies in the primary visual cortex of carnivores and primates have confirmed that eye-specific neuronal response properties are largely matched. In recent years, the mouse has emerged as a prominent model for binocular visual processing, yet little is known about the spatial frequency tuning of binocular responses in mouse visual cortex. Using calcium imaging in awake mice of both sexes, we show that the spatial frequency preference of cortical responses to the contralateral eye is ∼35% higher than responses to the ipsilateral eye. Furthermore, we find that neurons in binocular visual cortex that respond only to the contralateral eye are tuned to higher spatial frequencies. Binocular neurons that are well matched in spatial frequency preference are also matched in orientation preference. In contrast, we observe that binocularly mismatched cells are more mismatched in orientation tuning. Furthermore, we find that contralateral responses are more direction-selective than ipsilateral responses and are strongly biased to the cardinal directions. The contralateral bias of high spatial frequency tuning was found in both awake and anesthetized recordings. The distinct properties of contralateral cortical responses may reflect the functional segregation of direction-selective, high spatial frequency-preferring neurons in earlier stages of the central visual pathway. Moreover, these results suggest that the development of binocularity and visual acuity may engage distinct circuits in the mouse visual system. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Seeing through two eyes is thought to improve visual acuity by enhancing sensitivity to fine edges. Using calcium imaging of cellular responses in awake mice, we find surprising asymmetries in the spatial processing of eye-specific visual input in binocular primary visual cortex. The contralateral visual pathway is tuned to higher spatial frequencies than the ipsilateral pathway. At the highest spatial frequencies, the contralateral pathway strongly prefers to respond to visual stimuli along the cardinal (horizontal and vertical) axes. These results suggest that monocular, and not binocular, mechanisms set the limit of spatial acuity in mice. Furthermore, they suggest that the development of visual acuity and binocularity in mice involves different circuits. PMID:28924011

Discriminative spatial-frequency-temporal feature extraction and classification of motor imagery EEG: An sparse regression and Weighted Naïve Bayesian Classifier-based approach.

PubMed

Miao, Minmin; Zeng, Hong; Wang, Aimin; Zhao, Changsen; Liu, Feixiang

2017-02-15

Common spatial pattern (CSP) is most widely used in motor imagery based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. In conventional CSP algorithm, pairs of the eigenvectors corresponding to both extreme eigenvalues are selected to construct the optimal spatial filter. In addition, an appropriate selection of subject-specific time segments and frequency bands plays an important role in its successful application. This study proposes to optimize spatial-frequency-temporal patterns for discriminative feature extraction. Spatial optimization is implemented by channel selection and finding discriminative spatial filters adaptively on each time-frequency segment. A novel Discernibility of Feature Sets (DFS) criteria is designed for spatial filter optimization. Besides, discriminative features located in multiple time-frequency segments are selected automatically by the proposed sparse time-frequency segment common spatial pattern (STFSCSP) method which exploits sparse regression for significant features selection. Finally, a weight determined by the sparse coefficient is assigned for each selected CSP feature and we propose a Weighted Naïve Bayesian Classifier (WNBC) for classification. Experimental results on two public EEG datasets demonstrate that optimizing spatial-frequency-temporal patterns in a data-driven manner for discriminative feature extraction greatly improves the classification performance. The proposed method gives significantly better classification accuracies in comparison with several competing methods in the literature. The proposed approach is a promising candidate for future BCI systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

VEP contrast sensitivity responses reveal reduced functional segregation of mid and high filters of visual channels in autism.

PubMed

Jemel, Boutheina; Mimeault, Daniel; Saint-Amour, Dave; Hosein, Anthony; Mottron, Laurent

2010-06-01

Despite the vast amount of behavioral data showing a pronounced tendency in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to process fine visual details, much less is known about the neurophysiological characteristics of spatial vision in ASD. Here, we address this issue by assessing the contrast sensitivity response properties of the early visual-evoked potentials (VEPs) to sine-wave gratings of low, medium and high spatial frequencies in adults with ASD and in an age- and IQ-matched control group. Our results show that while VEP contrast responses to low and high spatial frequency gratings did not differ between ASD and controls, early VEPs to mid spatial frequency gratings exhibited similar response characteristics as those to high spatial frequency gratings in ASD. Our findings show evidence for an altered functional segregation of early visual channels, especially those responsible for processing mid- and high-frequency spatial scales.

Controlling Energy Radiations of Electromagnetic Waves via Frequency Coding Metamaterials.

PubMed

Wu, Haotian; Liu, Shuo; Wan, Xiang; Zhang, Lei; Wang, Dan; Li, Lianlin; Cui, Tie Jun

2017-09-01

Metamaterials are artificial structures composed of subwavelength unit cells to control electromagnetic (EM) waves. The spatial coding representation of metamaterial has the ability to describe the material in a digital way. The spatial coding metamaterials are typically constructed by unit cells that have similar shapes with fixed functionality. Here, the concept of frequency coding metamaterial is proposed, which achieves different controls of EM energy radiations with a fixed spatial coding pattern when the frequency changes. In this case, not only different phase responses of the unit cells are considered, but also different phase sensitivities are also required. Due to different frequency sensitivities of unit cells, two units with the same phase response at the initial frequency may have different phase responses at higher frequency. To describe the frequency coding property of unit cell, digitalized frequency sensitivity is proposed, in which the units are encoded with digits "0" and "1" to represent the low and high phase sensitivities, respectively. By this merit, two degrees of freedom, spatial coding and frequency coding, are obtained to control the EM energy radiations by a new class of frequency-spatial coding metamaterials. The above concepts and physical phenomena are confirmed by numerical simulations and experiments.

Evaluation techniques and metrics for assessment of pan+MSI fusion (pansharpening)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercovich, Ryan A.

2015-05-01

Fusion of broadband panchromatic data with narrow band multispectral data - pansharpening - is a common and often studied problem in remote sensing. Many methods exist to produce data fusion results with the best possible spatial and spectral characteristics, and a number have been commercially implemented. This study examines the output products of 4 commercial implementations with regard to their relative strengths and weaknesses for a set of defined image characteristics and analyst use-cases. Image characteristics used are spatial detail, spatial quality, spectral integrity, and composite color quality (hue and saturation), and analyst use-cases included a variety of object detection and identification tasks. The imagery comes courtesy of the RIT SHARE 2012 collect. Two approaches are used to evaluate the pansharpening methods, analyst evaluation or qualitative measure and image quality metrics or quantitative measures. Visual analyst evaluation results are compared with metric results to determine which metrics best measure the defined image characteristics and product use-cases and to support future rigorous characterization the metrics' correlation with the analyst results. Because pansharpening represents a trade between adding spatial information from the panchromatic image, and retaining spectral information from the MSI channels, the metrics examined are grouped into spatial improvement metrics and spectral preservation metrics. A single metric to quantify the quality of a pansharpening method would necessarily be a combination of weighted spatial and spectral metrics based on the importance of various spatial and spectral characteristics for the primary task of interest. Appropriate metrics and weights for such a combined metric are proposed here, based on the conducted analyst evaluation. Additionally, during this work, a metric was developed specifically focused on assessment of spatial structure improvement relative to a reference image and independent of scene content. Using analysis of Fourier transform images, a measure of high-frequency content is computed in small sub-segments of the image. The average increase in high-frequency content across the image is used as the metric, where averaging across sub-segments combats the scene dependent nature of typical image sharpness techniques. This metric had an improved range of scores, better representing difference in the test set than other common spatial structure metrics.

Broadband interferometric characterization of divergence and spatial chirp.

PubMed

Meier, Amanda K; Iliev, Marin; Squier, Jeff A; Durfee, Charles G

2015-09-01

We demonstrate a spectral interferometric method to characterize lateral and angular spatial chirp to optimize intensity localization in spatio-temporally focused ultrafast beams. Interference between two spatially sheared beams in an interferometer will lead to straight fringes if the wavefronts are curved. To produce reference fringes, we delay one arm relative to another in order to measure fringe rotation in the spatially resolved spectral interferogram. With Fourier analysis, we can obtain frequency-resolved divergence. In another arrangement, we spatially flip one beam relative to the other, which allows the frequency-dependent beamlet direction (angular spatial chirp) to be measured. Blocking one beam shows the spatial variation of the beamlet position with frequency (i.e., the lateral spatial chirp).

A Theory of the Visual System Biology Underlying Development of Spatial Frequency Lateralization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Mary F.; Reggia, James A.

2007-01-01

The spatial frequency hypothesis contends that performance differences between the hemispheres on various visuospatial tasks are attributable to lateralized processing of the spatial frequency content of visual stimuli. Hellige has proposed that such lateralization could arise during infant development from the earlier maturation of the right…

Spatiotemporal frequency tuning of BOLD and gamma band MEG responses compared in primary visual cortex.

PubMed

Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh D; Singh, Krish D

2008-05-01

In this study, the spatial and temporal frequency tuning characteristics of the MEG gamma (40-60 Hz) rhythm and the BOLD response in primary visual cortex were measured and compared. In an identical MEG/fMRI paradigm, 10 participants viewed reversing square wave gratings at 2 spatial frequencies [0.5 and 3 cycles per degree (cpd)] reversing at 5 temporal frequencies (0, 1 6, 10, 15 Hz). Three-dimensional images of MEG source power were generated with synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) and showed a high degree of spatial correspondence with BOLD responses in primary visual cortex with a mean spatial separation of 6.5 mm, but the two modalities showed different tuning characteristics. The gamma rhythm showed a clear increase in induced power for the high spatial frequency stimulus while BOLD showed no difference in activity for the two spatial frequencies used. Both imaging modalities showed a general increase of activity with temporal frequency, however, BOLD plateaued around 6-10 Hz while the MEG generally increased with a dip exhibited at 6 Hz. These results demonstrate that the two modalities may show activation in similar spatial locations but that the functional pattern of these activations may differ in a complex manner, suggesting that they may be tuned to different aspects of neuronal activity.

Spatial and temporal ultrafast imaging and control of terahertz wavepackets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koehl, Richard Michael

Some polar optical phonons couple strongly to far- infrared electromagnetic radiation and move at light-like speeds through dielectric media. These phonon-polaritons retain both ionic and electromagnetic character. One of the fruitful implications of this mixing is that vibrational and electronic nonlinearities in ferroelectric and other highly anharmonic media interact with traveling electromagnetic waves spanning several frequency regimes, permitting nonlinear wave mixing at infrared and optical frequencies. Nonlinear optical mixing techniques are well-developed because optical light is easy to produce, but the lack of similar far- infrared sources has stymied similar efforts at terahertz frequencies. Nonlinear interactions in this frequency regime provide information about vibrational potential energy surfaces and are very strong when the lattice vibration is associated with a phase transition. In this thesis, I review methods based on a well known nonlinear optical technique, impulsive stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS), to monitor the progress of coherent phonon polaritons in a highly nonlinear ferroelectric, lithium tantalate. I also advance multiple-pulse ISRS optical techniques to attempt to elucidate information about the ferroelectric's vibrational potential energy surface, and I discuss significant recent progress that has been made in the development of ultrafast optical tools to generate far-infrared radiation through ISRS at specified times and spatial locations and control the interactions of coherent phonon-polariton wavepackets. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)

Acquisition of a full-resolution image and aliasing reduction for a spatially modulated imaging polarimeter with two snapshots

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jing; Yuan, Changan; Huang, Guohua; Zhao, Yinjun; Ren, Wenyi; Cao, Qizhi; Li, Jianying; Jin, Mingwu

2018-01-01

A snapshot imaging polarimeter using spatial modulation can encode four Stokes parameters allowing instantaneous polarization measurement from a single interferogram. However, the reconstructed polarization images could suffer a severe aliasing signal if the high-frequency component of the intensity image is prominent and occurs in the polarization channels, and the reconstructed intensity image also suffers reduction of spatial resolution due to low-pass filtering. In this work, a method using two anti-phase snapshots is proposed to address the two problems simultaneously. The full-resolution target image and the pure interference fringes can be obtained from the sum and the difference of the two anti-phase interferograms, respectively. The polarization information reconstructed from the pure interference fringes does not contain the aliasing signal from the high-frequency component of the object intensity image. The principles of the method are derived and its feasibility is tested by both computer simulation and a verification experiment. This work provides a novel method for spatially modulated imaging polarization technology with two snapshots to simultaneously reconstruct a full-resolution object intensity image and high-quality polarization components. PMID:29714224

Mapping power-law rheology of living cells using multi-frequency force modulation atomic force microscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takahashi, Ryosuke; Okajima, Takaharu, E-mail: okajima@ist.hokudai.ac.jp

We present multi-frequency force modulation atomic force microscopy (AFM) for mapping the complex shear modulus G* of living cells as a function of frequency over the range of 50–500 Hz in the same measurement time as the single-frequency force modulation measurement. The AFM technique enables us to reconstruct image maps of rheological parameters, which exhibit a frequency-dependent power-law behavior with respect to G{sup *}. These quantitative rheological measurements reveal a large spatial variation in G* in this frequency range for single cells. Moreover, we find that the reconstructed images of the power-law rheological parameters are much different from those obtained inmore » force-curve or single-frequency force modulation measurements. This indicates that the former provide information about intracellular mechanical structures of the cells that are usually not resolved with the conventional force measurement methods.« less

cBathy: A robust algorithm for estimating nearshore bathymetry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Plant, Nathaniel G.; Holman, Rob; Holland, K. Todd

2013-01-01

A three-part algorithm is described and tested to provide robust bathymetry maps based solely on long time series observations of surface wave motions. The first phase consists of frequency-dependent characterization of the wave field in which dominant frequencies are estimated by Fourier transform while corresponding wave numbers are derived from spatial gradients in cross-spectral phase over analysis tiles that can be small, allowing high-spatial resolution. Coherent spatial structures at each frequency are extracted by frequency-dependent empirical orthogonal function (EOF). In phase two, depths are found that best fit weighted sets of frequency-wave number pairs. These are subsequently smoothed in time in phase 3 using a Kalman filter that fills gaps in coverage and objectively averages new estimates of variable quality with prior estimates. Objective confidence intervals are returned. Tests at Duck, NC, using 16 surveys collected over 2 years showed a bias and root-mean-square (RMS) error of 0.19 and 0.51 m, respectively but were largest near the offshore limits of analysis (roughly 500 m from the camera) and near the steep shoreline where analysis tiles mix information from waves, swash and static dry sand. Performance was excellent for small waves but degraded somewhat with increasing wave height. Sand bars and their small-scale alongshore variability were well resolved. A single ground truth survey from a dissipative, low-sloping beach (Agate Beach, OR) showed similar errors over a region that extended several kilometers from the camera and reached depths of 14 m. Vector wave number estimates can also be incorporated into data assimilation models of nearshore dynamics.

Role of the mouse retinal photoreceptor ribbon synapse in visual motion processing for optokinetic responses.

PubMed

Sugita, Yuko; Araki, Fumiyuki; Chaya, Taro; Kawano, Kenji; Furukawa, Takahisa; Miura, Kenichiro

2015-01-01

The ribbon synapse is a specialized synaptic structure in the retinal outer plexiform layer where visual signals are transmitted from photoreceptors to the bipolar and horizontal cells. This structure is considered important in high-efficiency signal transmission; however, its role in visual signal processing is unclear. In order to understand its role in visual processing, the present study utilized Pikachurin-null mutant mice that show improper formation of the photoreceptor ribbon synapse. We examined the initial and late phases of the optokinetic responses (OKRs). The initial phase was examined by measuring the open-loop eye velocity of the OKRs to sinusoidal grating patterns of various spatial frequencies moving at various temporal frequencies for 0.5 s. The mutant mice showed significant initial OKRs with a spatiotemporal frequency tuning (spatial frequency, 0.09 ± 0.01 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.87 ± 0.12 Hz) that was slightly different from the wild-type mice (spatial frequency, 0.11 ± 0.01 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.66 ± 0.12 Hz). The late phase of the OKRs was examined by measuring the slow phase eye velocity of the optokinetic nystagmus induced by the sinusoidal gratings of various spatiotemporal frequencies moving for 30 s. We found that the optimal spatial and temporal frequencies of the mutant mice (spatial frequency, 0.11 ± 0.02 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 0.81 ± 0.24 Hz) were both lower than those in the wild-type mice (spatial frequency, 0.15 ± 0.02 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.93 ± 0.62 Hz). These results suggest that the ribbon synapse modulates the spatiotemporal frequency tuning of visual processing along the ON pathway by which the late phase of OKRs is mediated.

Role of the Mouse Retinal Photoreceptor Ribbon Synapse in Visual Motion Processing for Optokinetic Responses

PubMed Central

Sugita, Yuko; Araki, Fumiyuki; Chaya, Taro; Kawano, Kenji; Furukawa, Takahisa; Miura, Kenichiro

2015-01-01

The ribbon synapse is a specialized synaptic structure in the retinal outer plexiform layer where visual signals are transmitted from photoreceptors to the bipolar and horizontal cells. This structure is considered important in high-efficiency signal transmission; however, its role in visual signal processing is unclear. In order to understand its role in visual processing, the present study utilized Pikachurin-null mutant mice that show improper formation of the photoreceptor ribbon synapse. We examined the initial and late phases of the optokinetic responses (OKRs). The initial phase was examined by measuring the open-loop eye velocity of the OKRs to sinusoidal grating patterns of various spatial frequencies moving at various temporal frequencies for 0.5 s. The mutant mice showed significant initial OKRs with a spatiotemporal frequency tuning (spatial frequency, 0.09 ± 0.01 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.87 ± 0.12 Hz) that was slightly different from the wild-type mice (spatial frequency, 0.11 ± 0.01 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.66 ± 0.12 Hz). The late phase of the OKRs was examined by measuring the slow phase eye velocity of the optokinetic nystagmus induced by the sinusoidal gratings of various spatiotemporal frequencies moving for 30 s. We found that the optimal spatial and temporal frequencies of the mutant mice (spatial frequency, 0.11 ± 0.02 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 0.81 ± 0.24 Hz) were both lower than those in the wild-type mice (spatial frequency, 0.15 ± 0.02 cycles/°; temporal frequency, 1.93 ± 0.62 Hz). These results suggest that the ribbon synapse modulates the spatiotemporal frequency tuning of visual processing along the ON pathway by which the late phase of OKRs is mediated. PMID:25955222

Cueing spatial attention through timing and probability.

PubMed

Girardi, Giovanna; Antonucci, Gabriella; Nico, Daniele

2013-01-01

Even when focused on an effortful task we retain the ability to detect salient environmental information, and even irrelevant visual stimuli can be automatically detected. However, to which extent unattended information affects attentional control is not fully understood. Here we provide evidences of how the brain spontaneously organizes its cognitive resources by shifting attention between a selective-attending and a stimulus-driven modality within a single task. Using a spatial cueing paradigm we investigated the effect of cue-target asynchronies as a function of their probabilities of occurrence (i.e., relative frequency). Results show that this accessory information modulates attentional shifts. A valid spatial cue improved participants' performance as compared to an invalid one only in trials in which target onset was highly predictable because of its more robust occurrence. Conversely, cuing proved ineffective when spatial cue and target were associated according to a less frequent asynchrony. These patterns of response depended on asynchronies' probability and not on their duration. Our findings clearly demonstrate that through a fine decision-making, performed trial-by-trial, the brain utilizes implicit information to decide whether or not voluntarily shifting spatial attention. As if according to a cost-planning strategy, the cognitive effort of shifting attention depending on the cue is performed only when the expected advantages are higher. In a trade-off competition for cognitive resources, voluntary/automatic attending may thus be a more complex process than expected. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Big data integration shows Australian bush-fire frequency is increasing significantly.

PubMed

Dutta, Ritaban; Das, Aruneema; Aryal, Jagannath

2016-02-01

Increasing Australian bush-fire frequencies over the last decade has indicated a major climatic change in coming future. Understanding such climatic change for Australian bush-fire is limited and there is an urgent need of scientific research, which is capable enough to contribute to Australian society. Frequency of bush-fire carries information on spatial, temporal and climatic aspects of bush-fire events and provides contextual information to model various climate data for accurately predicting future bush-fire hot spots. In this study, we develop an ensemble method based on a two-layered machine learning model to establish relationship between fire incidence and climatic data. In a 336 week data trial, we demonstrate that the model provides highly accurate bush-fire incidence hot-spot estimation (91% global accuracy) from the weekly climatic surfaces. Our analysis also indicates that Australian weekly bush-fire frequencies increased by 40% over the last 5 years, particularly during summer months, implicating a serious climatic shift.

Big data integration shows Australian bush-fire frequency is increasing significantly

PubMed Central

Dutta, Ritaban; Das, Aruneema; Aryal, Jagannath

2016-01-01

Increasing Australian bush-fire frequencies over the last decade has indicated a major climatic change in coming future. Understanding such climatic change for Australian bush-fire is limited and there is an urgent need of scientific research, which is capable enough to contribute to Australian society. Frequency of bush-fire carries information on spatial, temporal and climatic aspects of bush-fire events and provides contextual information to model various climate data for accurately predicting future bush-fire hot spots. In this study, we develop an ensemble method based on a two-layered machine learning model to establish relationship between fire incidence and climatic data. In a 336 week data trial, we demonstrate that the model provides highly accurate bush-fire incidence hot-spot estimation (91% global accuracy) from the weekly climatic surfaces. Our analysis also indicates that Australian weekly bush-fire frequencies increased by 40% over the last 5 years, particularly during summer months, implicating a serious climatic shift. PMID:26998312

Age, cognitive style, and traffic signs.

PubMed

Lambert, L D; Fleury, M

1994-04-01

This study assessed the efficiency with which young and older adults of varying field dependence extract information from traffic signs. It also identified some visual attributes of signs which affect recognition time. Two experiments were conducted. In Exp. 1, digitized signs, embedded in rural and urban backgrounds, were presented on a computer monitor. Subjects indicated on which side a target sign had appeared. Analysis showed that recognition times were dependent on age and field-dependence scores. Also, visual backgrounds and spatial frequency of pictographs affected RTs. In Exp. 2, recognition RT to 2 signs with redesigned pictographs was measured as well as time taken to detect signs. The signs showing reduced spatial frequency were the fastest to recognize, although no effect was noticed during detection. The subjects who showed the worst performance when facing the original signs benefitted the most from the modifications.

Capturing Chromosome Conformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dekker, Job; Rippe, Karsten; Dekker, Martijn; Kleckner, Nancy

2002-02-01

We describe an approach to detect the frequency of interaction between any two genomic loci. Generation of a matrix of interaction frequencies between sites on the same or different chromosomes reveals their relative spatial disposition and provides information about the physical properties of the chromatin fiber. This methodology can be applied to the spatial organization of entire genomes in organisms from bacteria to human. Using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we could confirm known qualitative features of chromosome organization within the nucleus and dynamic changes in that organization during meiosis. We also analyzed yeast chromosome III at the G1 stage of the cell cycle. We found that chromatin is highly flexible throughout. Furthermore, functionally distinct AT- and GC-rich domains were found to exhibit different conformations, and a population-average 3D model of chromosome III could be determined. Chromosome III emerges as a contorted ring.

Simultaneous two-wavelength tri-window common-path digital holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Lei; Shan, Mingguang; Zhong, Zhi

2018-06-01

Two-wavelength common-path off-axis digital holography is proposed with a tri-window in a single shot. It is established using a standard 4f optical image system with a 2D Ronchi grating placed outside the Fourier plane. The input plane consists of three windows: one for the object and the other two for reference. Aided by a spatial filter together with two orthogonal linear polarizers in the Fourier plane, the two-wavelength information is encoded into a multiplexed hologram with two orthogonal spatial frequencies that enable full separation of spectral information in the digital Fourier space without resolution loss. Theoretical analysis and experimental results illustrate that our approach can simultaneously perform quantitative phase imaging at two wavelengths.

Motion mechanisms with different spatiotemporal characteristics identified by an MAE technique with superimposed gratings.

PubMed

Shioiri, Satoshi; Matsumiya, Kazumichi

2009-05-29

We investigated spatiotemporal characteristics of motion mechanisms using a new type of motion aftereffect (MAE) we found. Our stimulus comprised two superimposed sinusoidal gratings with different spatial frequencies. After exposure to the moving stimulus, observers perceived the MAE in the static test in the direction opposite to that of the high spatial frequency grating even when low spatial frequency motion was perceived during adaptation. In contrast, in the flicker test, the MAE was perceived in the direction opposite to that of the low spatial frequency grating. These MAEs indicate that two different motion systems contribute to motion perception and can be isolated by using different test stimuli. Using a psychophysical technique based on the MAE, we investigated the differences between the two motion mechanisms. The results showed that the static MAE is the aftereffect of the motion system with a high spatial and low temporal frequency tuning (slow motion detector) and the flicker MAE is the aftereffect of the motion system with a low spatial and high temporal frequency tuning (fast motion detector). We also revealed that the two motion detectors differ in orientation tuning, temporal frequency tuning, and sensitivity to relative motion.

Arrhythmia Mechanism and Scaling Effect on the Spectral Properties of Electroanatomical Maps With Manifold Harmonics.

PubMed

Sanroman-Junquera, Margarita; Mora-Jimenez, Inmaculada; Garcia-Alberola, Arcadio; Caamano, Antonio J; Trenor, Beatriz; Rojo-Alvarez, Jose L

2018-04-01

Spatial and temporal processing of intracardiac electrograms provides relevant information to support the arrhythmia ablation during electrophysiological studies. Current cardiac navigation systems (CNS) and electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) build detailed 3-D electroanatomical maps (EAM), which represent the spatial anatomical distribution of bioelectrical features, such as activation time or voltage. We present a principled methodology for spectral analysis of both EAM geometry and bioelectrical feature in CNS or ECGI, including their spectral representation, cutoff frequency, or spatial sampling rate (SSR). Existing manifold harmonic techniques for spectral mesh analysis are adapted to account for a fourth dimension, corresponding to the EAM bioelectrical feature. Appropriate scaling is required to address different magnitudes and units. With our approach, simulated and real EAM showed strong SSR dependence on both the arrhythmia mechanism and the cardiac anatomical shape. For instance, high frequencies increased significantly the SSR because of the "early-meets-late" in flutter EAM, compared with the sinus rhythm. Besides, higher frequency components were obtained for the left atrium (more complex anatomy) than for the right atrium in sinus rhythm. The proposed manifold harmonics methodology opens the field toward new signal processing tools for principled EAM spatiofeature analysis in CNS and ECGI, and to an improved knowledge on arrhythmia mechanisms.

[Functional anatomy of the cochlear nerve and the central auditory system].

PubMed

Simon, E; Perrot, X; Mertens, P

2009-04-01

The auditory pathways are a system of afferent fibers (through the cochlear nerve) and efferent fibers (through the vestibular nerve), which are not limited to a simple information transmitting system but create a veritable integration of the sound stimulus at the different levels, by analyzing its three fundamental elements: frequency (pitch), intensity, and spatial localization of the sound source. From the cochlea to the primary auditory cortex, the auditory fibers are organized anatomically in relation to the characteristic frequency of the sound signal that they transmit (tonotopy). Coding the intensity of the sound signal is based on temporal recruitment (the number of action potentials) and spatial recruitment (the number of inner hair cells recruited near the cell of the frequency that is characteristic of the stimulus). Because of binaural hearing, commissural pathways at each level of the auditory system and integration of the phase shift and the difference in intensity between signals coming from both ears, spatial localization of the sound source is possible. Finally, through the efferent fibers in the vestibular nerve, higher centers exercise control over the activity of the cochlea and adjust the peripheral hearing organ to external sound conditions, thus protecting the auditory system or increasing sensitivity by the attention given to the signal.

The Development of Spatial Frequency Biases in Face Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Hayley C.; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Johnson, Mark H.

2010-01-01

Previous research has suggested that a mid-band of spatial frequencies is critical to face recognition in adults, but few studies have explored the development of this bias in children. We present a paradigm adapted from the adult literature to test spatial frequency biases throughout development. Faces were presented on a screen with particular…

A crowdful of letters: disentangling the role of similarity, eccentricity and spatial frequencies in letter crowding.

PubMed

Zahabi, Sacha; Arguin, Martin

2014-04-01

The present study investigated the joint impact of target-flanker similarity and of spatial frequency content on the crowding effect in letter identification. We presented spatial frequency filtered letters to neurologically intact non-dyslexic readers while manipulating target-flanker distance, target eccentricity and target-flanker confusability (letter similarity metric based on published letter confusion matrices). The results show that high target-flanker confusability magnifies crowding. They also reveal an intricate pattern of interactions of the spatial frequency content of the stimuli with target eccentricity, flanker distance and similarity. The findings are congruent with the notion that crowding results from the inappropriate pooling of target and flanker features and that this integration is more likely to match a response template at a subsequent decision stage with similar than dissimilar flankers. In addition, the evidence suggests that crowding from similar flankers is biased towards relatively high spatial frequencies and that crowding shifts towards lower spatial frequencies as target eccentricity is increased. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of spatial frequency information in the decoding of facial expressions of pain: a novel hybrid task.

PubMed

Wang, Shan; Eccleston, Christopher; Keogh, Edmund

2017-11-01

Spatial frequency (SF) information contributes to the recognition of facial expressions, including pain. Low-SF encodes facial configuration and structure and often dominates over high-SF information, which encodes fine details in facial features. This low-SF preference has not been investigated within the context of pain. In this study, we investigated whether perpetual preference differences exist for low-SF and high-SF pain information. A novel hybrid expression paradigm was used in which 2 different expressions, one containing low-SF information and the other high-SF information, were combined in a facial hybrid. Participants are instructed to identify the core expression contained within the hybrid, allowing for the measurement of SF information preference. Three experiments were conducted (46 participants in each) that varied the expressions within the hybrid faces: respectively pain-neutral, pain-fear, and pain-happiness. In order to measure the temporal aspects of image processing, each hybrid image was presented for 33, 67, 150, and 300 ms. As expected, identification of pain and other expressions was dominated by low-SF information across the 3 experiments. The low-SF preference was largest when the presentation of hybrid faces was brief and reduced as the presentation duration increased. A sex difference was also found in experiment 1. For women, the low-SF preference was dampened by high-SF pain information, when viewing low-SF neutral expressions. These results not only confirm the role that SF information has in the recognition of pain in facial expressions but suggests that in some situations, there may be sex differences in how pain is communicated.

Using Anatomic Magnetic Resonance Image Information to Enhance Visualization and Interpretation of Functional Images: A Comparison of Methods Applied to Clinical Arterial Spin Labeling Images

PubMed Central

Dai, Weiying; Soman, Salil; Hackney, David B.; Wong, Eric T.; Robson, Philip M.; Alsop, David C.

2017-01-01

Functional imaging provides hemodynamic and metabolic information and is increasingly being incorporated into clinical diagnostic and research studies. Typically functional images have reduced signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution compared to other non-functional cross sectional images obtained as part of a routine clinical protocol. We hypothesized that enhancing visualization and interpretation of functional images with anatomic information could provide preferable quality and superior diagnostic value. In this work, we implemented five methods (frequency addition, frequency multiplication, wavelet transform, non-subsampled contourlet transform and intensity-hue-saturation) and a newly proposed ShArpening by Local Similarity with Anatomic images (SALSA) method to enhance the visualization of functional images, while preserving the original functional contrast and quantitative signal intensity characteristics over larger spatial scales. Arterial spin labeling blood flow MR images of the brain were visualization enhanced using anatomic images with multiple contrasts. The algorithms were validated on a numerical phantom and their performance on images of brain tumor patients were assessed by quantitative metrics and neuroradiologist subjective ratings. The frequency multiplication method had the lowest residual error for preserving the original functional image contrast at larger spatial scales (55%–98% of the other methods with simulated data and 64%–86% with experimental data). It was also significantly more highly graded by the radiologists (p<0.005 for clear brain anatomy around the tumor). Compared to other methods, the SALSA provided 11%–133% higher similarity with ground truth images in the simulation and showed just slightly lower neuroradiologist grading score. Most of these monochrome methods do not require any prior knowledge about the functional and anatomic image characteristics, except the acquired resolution. Hence, automatic implementation on clinical images should be readily feasible. PMID:27723582

Characterization of the Ionosphere over the South Atlantic Ocean by Means of Ionospheric Tomography using Dual Frequency GPS Signals Received On Board a Research Ship

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-01

space environment. 1.0 INTRODUCTION The current geographical coverage of the International GNSS Service (IGS) tracking network limits the spatial...routes to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean Islands serviced by the South African National Antarctic programme (SANAP). The routes of the SA Agulhas to...collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services , Directorate for Information

Bootstrapping agency: How control-relevant information affects motivation.

PubMed

Karsh, Noam; Eitam, Baruch; Mark, Ilya; Higgins, E Tory

2016-10-01

How does information about one's control over the environment (e.g., having an own-action effect) influence motivation? The control-based response selection framework was proposed to predict and explain such findings. Its key tenant is that control relevant information modulates both the frequency and speed of responses by determining whether a perceptual event is an outcome of one's actions or not. To test this framework empirically, the current study examines whether and how temporal and spatial contiguity/predictability-previously established as being important for one's sense of agency-modulate motivation from control. In 5 experiments, participants responded to a cue, potentially triggering a perceptual effect. Temporal (Experiments 1a-c) and spatial (Experiments 2a and b) contiguity/predictability between actions and their potential effects were experimentally manipulated. The influence of these control-relevant factors was measured, both indirectly (through their effect on explicit judgments of agency) and directly on response time and response frequency. The pattern of results was highly consistent with the control-based response selection framework in suggesting that control relevant information reliably modulates the impact of "having an effect" on different levels of action selection. We discuss the implications of this study for the notion of motivation from control and for the empirical work on the sense of agency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Communication path for extreme environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jorgensen, Charles C. (Inventor); Betts, Bradley J. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Methods and systems for using one or more radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs), or other suitable signal transmitters and/or receivers, to provide a sensor information communication path, to provide location and/or spatial orientation information for an emergency service worker (ESW), to provide an ESW escape route, to indicate a direction from an ESW to an ES appliance, to provide updated information on a region or structure that presents an extreme environment (fire, hazardous fluid leak, underwater, nuclear, etc.) in which an ESW works, and to provide accumulated thermal load or thermal breakdown information on one or more locations in the region.

Encoding of Spatio-Temporal Input Characteristics by a CA1 Pyramidal Neuron Model

PubMed Central

Pissadaki, Eleftheria Kyriaki; Sidiropoulou, Kyriaki; Reczko, Martin; Poirazi, Panayiota

2010-01-01

The in vivo activity of CA1 pyramidal neurons alternates between regular spiking and bursting, but how these changes affect information processing remains unclear. Using a detailed CA1 pyramidal neuron model, we investigate how timing and spatial arrangement variations in synaptic inputs to the distal and proximal dendritic layers influence the information content of model responses. We find that the temporal delay between activation of the two layers acts as a switch between excitability modes: short delays induce bursting while long delays decrease firing. For long delays, the average firing frequency of the model response discriminates spatially clustered from diffused inputs to the distal dendritic tree. For short delays, the onset latency and inter-spike-interval succession of model responses can accurately classify input signals as temporally close or distant and spatially clustered or diffused across different stimulation protocols. These findings suggest that a CA1 pyramidal neuron may be capable of encoding and transmitting presynaptic spatiotemporal information about the activity of the entorhinal cortex-hippocampal network to higher brain regions via the selective use of either a temporal or a rate code. PMID:21187899

Retrieving accurate temporal and spatial information about Taylor slug flows from non-invasive NIR photometry measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helmers, Thorben; Thöming, Jorg; Mießner, Ulrich

2017-11-01

In this article, we introduce a novel approach to retrieve spatial- and time-resolved Taylor slug flow information from a single non-invasive photometric flow sensor. The presented approach uses disperse phase surface properties to retrieve the instantaneous velocity information from a single sensor's time-scaled signal. For this purpose, a photometric sensor system is simulated using a ray-tracing algorithm to calculate spatially resolved near-infrared transmission signals. At the signal position corresponding to the rear droplet cap, a correlation factor of the droplet's geometric properties is retrieved and used to extract the instantaneous droplet velocity from the real sensor's temporal transmission signal. Furthermore, a correlation for the rear cap geometry based on the a priori known total superficial flow velocity is developed, because the cap curvature is velocity sensitive itself. Our model for velocity derivation is validated, and measurements of a first prototype showcase the capability of the device. Long-term measurements visualize systematic fluctuations in droplet lengths, velocities, and frequencies that could otherwise, without the observation on a larger timescale, have been identified as measurement errors and not systematic phenomenas.

Grading of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia using spatial frequency for optical histology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pu, Yang; Jagtap, Jaidip; Pradhan, Asima; Alfano, Robert R.

2014-03-01

It is important to detect cervical dysplasia, Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN). CIN is the potentially premalignant and abnormal squamous cells on surface of cervix. In this study, the spatial frequency spectra of pre-cancer cervical tissues are used to detect differences among different grades of human cervical tissues. Seven sets of thick tissue sections of human cervix of normal, CIN 1, CIN 2, and CIN 3 tissues are studied. The confocal microscope images of the stromal region of normal and CIN human tissues were analyzed using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to generate the spatial spectra. It is observed that higher frequency components exist in CIN tissues than those in normal tissue, as well as those in higher grade CIN tissue than those in lower grade CIN tissue. The width of the spatial frequency of different types of tissues is used to create a criterion for CIN grading by training a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The results show that the randomness of tissue structures from normal to different stages of precancer in cervical tissue can be recognized by fingerprints of the spatial frequency. The efficacy of spatial frequency analysis for CIN grading is evaluated as excellent since high AUC (area under the ROC curve), sensitivity and specificity are obtained by the statistics study. This works lays the foundation of using spatial frequency spectra for a histology evaluation.

Low-cost coding of directivity information for the recording of musical instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braasch, Jonas; Martens, William L.; Woszczyk, Wieslaw

2004-05-01

Most musical instruments radiate sound according to characteristic spatial directivity patterns. These patterns are usually not only strongly frequency dependent, but also time-variant functions of various parameters of the instrument, such as pitch and the playing technique applied (e.g., plucking versus bowing of string instruments). To capture the directivity information when recording an instrument, Warusfel and Misdariis (2001) proposed to record an instrument using four channels, one for the monopole and the others for three orthogonal dipole parts. In the new recording setup presented here, it is proposed to store one channel at a high sampling frequency, along with directivity information that is updated only every few milliseconds. Taking the binaural sluggishness of the human auditory system into account in this way provides a low-cost coding scheme for subsequent reproduction of time-variant directivity patterns.

Using geostatistics to evaluate cleanup goals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marcon, M.F.; Hopkins, L.P.

1995-12-01

Geostatistical analysis is a powerful predictive tool typically used to define spatial variability in environmental data. The information from a geostatistical analysis using kriging, a geostatistical. tool, can be taken a step further to optimize sampling location and frequency and help quantify sampling uncertainty in both the remedial investigation and remedial design at a hazardous waste site. Geostatistics were used to quantify sampling uncertainty in attainment of a risk-based cleanup goal and determine the optimal sampling frequency necessary to delineate the horizontal extent of impacted soils at a Gulf Coast waste site.

Co-registration of ultrasound and frequency-domain photoacoustic radar images and image improvement for tumor detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dovlo, Edem; Lashkari, Bahman; Choi, Sung soo Sean; Mandelis, Andreas

2015-03-01

This paper demonstrates the co-registration of ultrasound (US) and frequency domain photoacoustic radar (FD-PAR) images with significant image improvement from applying image normalization, filtering and amplification techniques. Achieving PA imaging functionality on a commercial Ultrasound instrument could accelerate clinical acceptance and use. Experimental results presented demonstrate live animal testing and show enhancements in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast and spatial resolution. The co-registered image produced from the US and phase PA images, provides more information than both images independently.

Evaluating Sentinel-2 for Lakeshore Habitat Mapping Based on Airborne Hyperspectral Data.

PubMed

Stratoulias, Dimitris; Balzter, Heiko; Sykioti, Olga; Zlinszky, András; Tóth, Viktor R

2015-09-11

Monitoring of lakeshore ecosystems requires fine-scale information to account for the high biodiversity typically encountered in the land-water ecotone. Sentinel-2 is a satellite with high spatial and spectral resolution and improved revisiting frequency and is expected to have significant potential for habitat mapping and classification of complex lakeshore ecosystems. In this context, investigations of the capabilities of Sentinel-2 in regard to the spatial and spectral dimensions are needed to assess its potential and the quality of the expected output. This study presents the first simulation of the high spatial resolution (i.e., 10 m and 20 m) bands of Sentinel-2 for lakeshore mapping, based on the satellite's Spectral Response Function and hyperspectral airborne data collected over Lake Balaton, Hungary in August 2010. A comparison of supervised classifications of the simulated products is presented and the information loss from spectral aggregation and spatial upscaling in the context of lakeshore vegetation classification is discussed. We conclude that Sentinel-2 imagery has a strong potential for monitoring fine-scale habitats, such as reed beds.

Evaluating Sentinel-2 for Lakeshore Habitat Mapping Based on Airborne Hyperspectral Data

PubMed Central

Stratoulias, Dimitris; Balzter, Heiko; Sykioti, Olga; Zlinszky, András; Tóth, Viktor R.

2015-01-01

Monitoring of lakeshore ecosystems requires fine-scale information to account for the high biodiversity typically encountered in the land-water ecotone. Sentinel-2 is a satellite with high spatial and spectral resolution and improved revisiting frequency and is expected to have significant potential for habitat mapping and classification of complex lakeshore ecosystems. In this context, investigations of the capabilities of Sentinel-2 in regard to the spatial and spectral dimensions are needed to assess its potential and the quality of the expected output. This study presents the first simulation of the high spatial resolution (i.e., 10 m and 20 m) bands of Sentinel-2 for lakeshore mapping, based on the satellite’s Spectral Response Function and hyperspectral airborne data collected over Lake Balaton, Hungary in August 2010. A comparison of supervised classifications of the simulated products is presented and the information loss from spectral aggregation and spatial upscaling in the context of lakeshore vegetation classification is discussed. We conclude that Sentinel-2 imagery has a strong potential for monitoring fine-scale habitats, such as reed beds. PMID:26378538

Adaptive shaping of cortical response selectivity in the vibrissa pathway

PubMed Central

Zheng, He J. V.; Wang, Qi

2015-01-01

One embodiment of context-dependent sensory processing is bottom-up adaptation, where persistent stimuli decrease neuronal firing rate over hundreds of milliseconds. Adaptation is not, however, simply the fatigue of the sensory pathway, but shapes the information flow and selectivity to stimulus features. Adaptation enhances spatial discriminability (distinguishing stimulus location) while degrading detectability (reporting presence of the stimulus), for both the ideal observer of the cortex and awake, behaving animals. However, how the dynamics of the adaptation shape the cortical response and this detection and discrimination tradeoff is unknown, as is to what degree this phenomenon occurs on a continuum as opposed to a switching of processing modes. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging in anesthetized rats to capture the temporal and spatial characteristics of the cortical response to tactile inputs, we showed that the suppression of the cortical response, in both magnitude and spatial spread, is continuously modulated by the increasing amount of energy in the adapting stimulus, which is nonuniquely determined by its frequency and velocity. Single-trial ideal observer analysis demonstrated a tradeoff between detectability and spatial discriminability up to a moderate amount of adaptation, which corresponds to the frequency range in natural whisking. This was accompanied by a decrease in both detectability and discriminability with high-energy adaptation, which indicates a more complex coupling between detection and discrimination than a simple switching of modes. Taken together, the results suggest that adaptation operates on a continuum and modulates the tradeoff between detectability and discriminability that has implications for information processing in ethological contexts. PMID:25787959

Vehicle-borne IED detection using the ULTOR correlation processor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burcham, Joel D.; Vachon, Joyce E.

2006-05-01

Advanced Optical Systems, Inc. developed the ULTOR(r) system, a real-time correlation processor that looks for improvised explosive devices (IED) by examining imagery of vehicles. The system determines the level of threat an approaching vehicle may represent. The system works on incoming video collected at different wavelengths, including visible, infrared, and synthetic aperture radar. Sensors that attach to ULTOR can be located wherever necessary to improve the safety around a checkpoint. When a suspect vehicle is detected, ULTOR can track the vehicle, alert personnel, check for previous instances of the vehicle, and update other networked systems with the threat information. The ULTOR processing engine focuses on the spatial frequency information available in the image. It correlates the imagery with templates that specify the criteria defining a suspect vehicle. It can perform full field correlations at a rate of 180 Hz or better. Additionally, the spatial frequency information is applied to a trained neural network to identify suspect vehicles. We have performed various laboratory and field experiments to verify the performance of the ULTOR system in a counter IED environment. The experiments cover tracking specific targets in video clips to demonstrating real-time ULTOR system performance. The selected targets in the experiments include various automobiles in both visible and infrared video.

A hexagonal orthogonal-oriented pyramid as a model of image representation in visual cortex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Andrew B.; Ahumada, Albert J., Jr.

1989-01-01

Retinal ganglion cells represent the visual image with a spatial code, in which each cell conveys information about a small region in the image. In contrast, cells of the primary visual cortex use a hybrid space-frequency code in which each cell conveys information about a region that is local in space, spatial frequency, and orientation. A mathematical model for this transformation is described. The hexagonal orthogonal-oriented quadrature pyramid (HOP) transform, which operates on a hexagonal input lattice, uses basis functions that are orthogonal, self-similar, and localized in space, spatial frequency, orientation, and phase. The basis functions, which are generated from seven basic types through a recursive process, form an image code of the pyramid type. The seven basis functions, six bandpass and one low-pass, occupy a point and a hexagon of six nearest neighbors on a hexagonal lattice. The six bandpass basis functions consist of three with even symmetry, and three with odd symmetry. At the lowest level, the inputs are image samples. At each higher level, the input lattice is provided by the low-pass coefficients computed at the previous level. At each level, the output is subsampled in such a way as to yield a new hexagonal lattice with a spacing square root of 7 larger than the previous level, so that the number of coefficients is reduced by a factor of seven at each level. In the biological model, the input lattice is the retinal ganglion cell array. The resulting scheme provides a compact, efficient code of the image and generates receptive fields that resemble those of the primary visual cortex.

High visual resolution matters in audiovisual speech perception, but only for some.

PubMed

Alsius, Agnès; Wayne, Rachel V; Paré, Martin; Munhall, Kevin G

2016-07-01

The basis for individual differences in the degree to which visual speech input enhances comprehension of acoustically degraded speech is largely unknown. Previous research indicates that fine facial detail is not critical for visual enhancement when auditory information is available; however, these studies did not examine individual differences in ability to make use of fine facial detail in relation to audiovisual speech perception ability. Here, we compare participants based on their ability to benefit from visual speech information in the presence of an auditory signal degraded with noise, modulating the resolution of the visual signal through low-pass spatial frequency filtering and monitoring gaze behavior. Participants who benefited most from the addition of visual information (high visual gain) were more adversely affected by the removal of high spatial frequency information, compared to participants with low visual gain, for materials with both poor and rich contextual cues (i.e., words and sentences, respectively). Differences as a function of gaze behavior between participants with the highest and lowest visual gains were observed only for words, with participants with the highest visual gain fixating longer on the mouth region. Our results indicate that the individual variance in audiovisual speech in noise performance can be accounted for, in part, by better use of fine facial detail information extracted from the visual signal and increased fixation on mouth regions for short stimuli. Thus, for some, audiovisual speech perception may suffer when the visual input (in addition to the auditory signal) is less than perfect.

Figure/ground segregation from temporal delay is best at high spatial frequencies.

PubMed

Kojima, H

1998-12-01

Two experiments investigated the role of spatial frequency in performance of a figure/ground segregation task based on temporal cues. Figure orientation was much easier to judge when figure and ground portions of the target were defined exclusively by random texture composed entirely of high spatial frequencies. When target components were defined by low spatial frequencies only, the task was nearly impossible except with long temporal delay between figure and ground. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that M-cell activity is primarily responsible for figure/ground segregation from temporal delay. Instead, these results point to a distinction between temporal integration and temporal differentiation. Additionally, the present results can be related to recent work on the binding of spatial features over time.

PhyloGeoViz: a web-based program that visualizes genetic data on maps.

PubMed

Tsai, Yi-Hsin E

2011-05-01

The first step of many population genetic studies is the simple visualization of allele frequencies on a landscape. This basic data exploration can be challenging without proprietary software, and the manual plotting of data is cumbersome and unfeasible at large sample sizes. I present an open source, web-based program that plots any kind of frequency or count data as pie charts in Google Maps (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA). Pie polygons are then exportable to Google Earth (Google Inc.), a free Geographic Information Systems platform. Import of genetic data into Google Earth allows phylogeographers access to a wealth of spatial information layers integral to forming hypotheses and understanding patterns in the data. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

A spherical model for orientation and spatial-frequency tuning in a cortical hypercolumn.

PubMed Central

Bressloff, Paul C; Cowan, Jack D

2003-01-01

A theory is presented of the way in which the hypercolumns in primary visual cortex (V1) are organized to detect important features of visual images, namely local orientation and spatial-frequency. Given the existence in V1 of dual maps for these features, both organized around orientation pinwheels, we constructed a model of a hypercolumn in which orientation and spatial-frequency preferences are represented by the two angular coordinates of a sphere. The two poles of this sphere are taken to correspond, respectively, to high and low spatial-frequency preferences. In Part I of the paper, we use mean-field methods to derive exact solutions for localized activity states on the sphere. We show how cortical amplification through recurrent interactions generates a sharply tuned, contrast-invariant population response to both local orientation and local spatial frequency, even in the case of a weakly biased input from the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). A major prediction of our model is that this response is non-separable with respect to the local orientation and spatial frequency of a stimulus. That is, orientation tuning is weaker around the pinwheels, and there is a shift in spatial-frequency tuning towards that of the closest pinwheel at non-optimal orientations. In Part II of the paper, we demonstrate that a simple feed-forward model of spatial-frequency preference, unlike that for orientation preference, does not generate a faithful representation when amplified by recurrent interactions in V1. We then introduce the idea that cortico-geniculate feedback modulates LGN activity to generate a faithful representation, thus providing a new functional interpretation of the role of this feedback pathway. Using linear filter theory, we show that if the feedback from a cortical cell is taken to be approximately equal to the reciprocal of the corresponding feed-forward receptive field (in the two-dimensional Fourier domain), then the mismatch between the feed-forward and cortical frequency representations is eliminated. We therefore predict that cortico-geniculate feedback connections innervate the LGN in a pattern determined by the orientation and spatial-frequency biases of feed-forward receptive fields. Finally, we show how recurrent cortical interactions can generate cross-orientation suppression. PMID:14561324

Determination of the complex refractive index segments of turbid sample with multispectral spatially modulated structured light and models approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meitav, Omri; Shaul, Oren; Abookasis, David

2017-09-01

Spectral data enabling the derivation of a biological tissue sample's complex refractive index (CRI) can provide a range of valuable information in the clinical and research contexts. Specifically, changes in the CRI reflect alterations in tissue morphology and chemical composition, enabling its use as an optical marker during diagnosis and treatment. In the present work, we report a method for estimating the real and imaginary parts of the CRI of a biological sample using Kramers-Kronig (KK) relations in the spatial frequency domain. In this method, phase-shifted sinusoidal patterns at single high spatial frequency are serially projected onto the sample surface at different near-infrared wavelengths while a camera mounted normal to the sample surface acquires the reflected diffuse light. In the offline analysis pipeline, recorded images at each wavelength are converted to spatial phase maps using KK analysis and are then calibrated against phase-models derived from diffusion approximation. The amplitude of the reflected light, together with phase data, is then introduced into Fresnel equations to resolve both real and imaginary segments of the CRI at each wavelength. The technique was validated in tissue-mimicking phantoms with known optical parameters and in mouse models of ischemic injury and heat stress. Experimental data obtained indicate variations in the CRI among brain tissue suffering from injury. CRI fluctuations correlated with alterations in the scattering and absorption coefficients of the injured tissue are demonstrated. This technique for deriving dynamic changes in the CRI of tissue may be further developed as a clinical diagnostic tool and for biomedical research applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the estimation of the spectral CRI of a mouse head following injury obtained in the spatial frequency domain.

High frequency mode shapes characterisation using Digital Image Correlation and phase-based motion magnification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina-Viedma, A. J.; Felipe-Sesé, L.; López-Alba, E.; Díaz, F.

2018-03-01

High speed video cameras provide valuable information in dynamic events. Mechanical characterisation has been improved by the interpretation of the behaviour in slow-motion visualisations. In modal analysis, videos contribute to the evaluation of mode shapes but, generally, the motion is too subtle to be interpreted. In latest years, image treatment algorithms have been developed to generate a magnified version of the motion that could be interpreted by naked eye. Nevertheless, optical techniques such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC) are able to provide quantitative information of the motion with higher sensitivity than naked eye. For vibration analysis, mode shapes characterisation is one of the most interesting DIC performances. Full-field measurements provide higher spatial density than classical instrumentations or Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometry. However, the accurateness of DIC is reduced at high frequencies as a consequence of the low displacements and hence it is habitually employed in low frequency spectra. In the current work, the combination of DIC and motion magnification is explored in order to provide numerical information in magnified videos and perform DIC mode shapes characterisation at unprecedented high frequencies through increasing the amplitude of displacements.

Cortical Thought Theory: A Working Model of the Human Gestalt Mechanism.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-07-01

time is proportional to KA , where K is some number and N is the number of pertinent pieces of information in the database (or size of ; the input...Functions In Man. Basic Books: New York, 1966. 77. Maffei, Lamberto, and Adriana Fiorentini. "The Visual Cortex As A Spatial Frequency Analyser." Vision

Information theoretic measures of network coordination in high-frequency scalp EEG reveal dynamic patterns associated with seizure termination

PubMed Central

Stamoulis, Catherine; Schomer, Donald L.; Chang, Bernard S.

2013-01-01

How a seizure terminates is still under-studied and, despite its clinical importance, remains an obscure phase of seizure evolution. Recent studies of seizure-related scalp EEGs at frequencies >100 Hz suggest that neural activity, in the form of oscillations and/or neuronal network interactions, may play an important role in preictal/ictal seizure evolution [2, 31]. However, the role of high-frequency activity in seizure termination, is unknown, if it exists at all. Using information theoretic measures of network coordination, this study investigated ictal and immediate postictal neurodynamic interactions encoded in scalp EEGs from a relatively small sample of 8 patients with focal epilepsy and multiple seizures originating in temporal and/or frontal brain regions, at frequencies ≤100 Hz and >100 Hz, respectively. Despite some heterogeneity in the dynamics of these interactions, consistent patterns were also estimated. Specifically, in several seizures, linear or non-linear increase in high-frequency neuronal coordination during ictal intervals, coincided with a corresponding decrease in coordination at frequencies <100 Hz, suggesting a potential interference role of high-frequency activity, to disrupt abnormal ictal synchrony at lower frequencies. These changes in network synchrony started at least 20–30 sec prior to seizure offset, depending on the seizure duration. Opposite patterns were estimated at frequencies ≤100 Hz in several seizures. These results raise the possibility that high-frequency interference may occur in the form of progressive network coordination during the ictal interval, which continues during the postictal interval. This may be one of several possible mechanisms that facilitate seizure termination. In fact, inhibition of pairwise interactions between EEGs by other signals in their spatial neighborhood, quantified by negative interaction information, was estimated at frequencies ≤100 Hz, at least in some seizures. PMID:23608198

Detection and analysis of diamond fingerprinting feature and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xin; Huang, Guoliang; Li, Qiang; Chen, Shengyi

2011-01-01

Before becoming a jewelry diamonds need to be carved artistically with some special geometric features as the structure of the polyhedron. There are subtle differences in the structure of this polyhedron in each diamond. With the spatial frequency spectrum analysis of diamond surface structure, we can obtain the diamond fingerprint information which represents the "Diamond ID" and has good specificity. Based on the optical Fourier Transform spatial spectrum analysis, the fingerprinting identification of surface structure of diamond in spatial frequency domain was studied in this paper. We constructed both the completely coherent diamond fingerprinting detection system illuminated by laser and the partially coherent diamond fingerprinting detection system illuminated by led, and analyzed the effect of the coherence of light source to the diamond fingerprinting feature. We studied rotation invariance and translation invariance of the diamond fingerprinting and verified the feasibility of real-time and accurate identification of diamond fingerprint. With the profit of this work, we can provide customs, jewelers and consumers with a real-time and reliable diamonds identification instrument, which will curb diamond smuggling, theft and other crimes, and ensure the healthy development of the diamond industry.

Polarization transfer NMR imaging

DOEpatents

Sillerud, Laurel O.; van Hulsteyn, David B.

1990-01-01

A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) image is obtained with spatial information modulated by chemical information. The modulation is obtained through polarization transfer from a first element representing the desired chemical, or functional, information, which is covalently bonded and spin-spin coupled with a second element effective to provide the imaging data. First and second rf pulses are provided at first and second frequencies for exciting the imaging and functional elements, with imaging gradients applied therebetween to spatially separate the nuclei response for imaging. The second rf pulse is applied at a time after the first pulse which is the inverse of the spin coupling constant to select the transfer element nuclei which are spin coupled to the functional element nuclei for imaging. In a particular application, compounds such as glucose, lactate, or lactose, can be labeled with .sup.13 C and metabolic processes involving the compounds can be imaged with the sensitivity of .sup.1 H and the selectivity of .sup.13 C.

Controlling Energy Radiations of Electromagnetic Waves via Frequency Coding Metamaterials

PubMed Central

Wu, Haotian; Liu, Shuo; Wan, Xiang; Zhang, Lei; Wang, Dan; Li, Lianlin

2017-01-01

Metamaterials are artificial structures composed of subwavelength unit cells to control electromagnetic (EM) waves. The spatial coding representation of metamaterial has the ability to describe the material in a digital way. The spatial coding metamaterials are typically constructed by unit cells that have similar shapes with fixed functionality. Here, the concept of frequency coding metamaterial is proposed, which achieves different controls of EM energy radiations with a fixed spatial coding pattern when the frequency changes. In this case, not only different phase responses of the unit cells are considered, but also different phase sensitivities are also required. Due to different frequency sensitivities of unit cells, two units with the same phase response at the initial frequency may have different phase responses at higher frequency. To describe the frequency coding property of unit cell, digitalized frequency sensitivity is proposed, in which the units are encoded with digits “0” and “1” to represent the low and high phase sensitivities, respectively. By this merit, two degrees of freedom, spatial coding and frequency coding, are obtained to control the EM energy radiations by a new class of frequency‐spatial coding metamaterials. The above concepts and physical phenomena are confirmed by numerical simulations and experiments. PMID:28932671

Crack Detection with Lamb Wave Wavenumber Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tian, Zhenhua; Leckey, Cara; Rogge, Matt; Yu, Lingyu

2013-01-01

In this work, we present our study of Lamb wave crack detection using wavenumber analysis. The aim is to demonstrate the application of wavenumber analysis to 3D Lamb wave data to enable damage detection. The 3D wavefields (including vx, vy and vz components) in time-space domain contain a wealth of information regarding the propagating waves in a damaged plate. For crack detection, three wavenumber analysis techniques are used: (i) two dimensional Fourier transform (2D-FT) which can transform the time-space wavefield into frequency-wavenumber representation while losing the spatial information; (ii) short space 2D-FT which can obtain the frequency-wavenumber spectra at various spatial locations, resulting in a space-frequency-wavenumber representation; (iii) local wavenumber analysis which can provide the distribution of the effective wavenumbers at different locations. All of these concepts are demonstrated through a numerical simulation example of an aluminum plate with a crack. The 3D elastodynamic finite integration technique (EFIT) was used to obtain the 3D wavefields, of which the vz (out-of-plane) wave component is compared with the experimental measurement obtained from a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) for verification purposes. The experimental and simulated results are found to be in close agreement. The application of wavenumber analysis on 3D EFIT simulation data shows the effectiveness of the analysis for crack detection. Keywords: : Lamb wave, crack detection, wavenumber analysis, EFIT modeling

Face Recognition Is Affected by Similarity in Spatial Frequency Range to a Greater Degree Than Within-Category Object Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collin, Charles A.; Liu, Chang Hong; Troje, Nikolaus F.; McMullen, Patricia A.; Chaudhuri, Avi

2004-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that face identification is more sensitive to variations in spatial frequency content than object recognition, but none have compared how sensitive the 2 processes are to variations in spatial frequency overlap (SFO). The authors tested face and object matching accuracy under varying SFO conditions. Their results…

Interocular transfer of spatial adaptation is weak at low spatial frequencies.

PubMed

Baker, Daniel H; Meese, Tim S

2012-06-15

Adapting one eye to a high contrast grating reduces sensitivity to similar target gratings shown to the same eye, and also to those shown to the opposite eye. According to the textbook account, interocular transfer (IOT) of adaptation is around 60% of the within-eye effect. However, most previous studies on this were limited to using high spatial frequencies, sustained presentation, and criterion-dependent methods for assessing threshold. Here, we measure IOT across a wide range of spatiotemporal frequencies, using a criterion-free 2AFC method. We find little or no IOT at low spatial frequencies, consistent with other recent observations. At higher spatial frequencies, IOT was present, but weaker than previously reported (around 35%, on average, at 8c/deg). Across all conditions, monocular adaptation raised thresholds by around a factor of 2, and observers showed normal binocular summation, demonstrating that they were not binocularly compromised. These findings prompt a reassessment of our understanding of the binocular architecture implied by interocular adaptation. In particular, the output of monocular channels may be available to perceptual decision making at low spatial frequencies. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Internal noise sources limiting contrast sensitivity.

PubMed

Silvestre, Daphné; Arleo, Angelo; Allard, Rémy

2018-02-07

Contrast sensitivity varies substantially as a function of spatial frequency and luminance intensity. The variation as a function of luminance intensity is well known and characterized by three laws that can be attributed to the impact of three internal noise sources: early spontaneous neural activity limiting contrast sensitivity at low luminance intensities (i.e. early noise responsible for the linear law), probabilistic photon absorption at intermediate luminance intensities (i.e. photon noise responsible for de Vries-Rose law) and late spontaneous neural activity at high luminance intensities (i.e. late noise responsible for Weber's law). The aim of this study was to characterize how the impact of these three internal noise sources vary with spatial frequency and determine which one is limiting contrast sensitivity as a function of luminance intensity and spatial frequency. To estimate the impact of the different internal noise sources, the current study used an external noise paradigm to factorize contrast sensitivity into equivalent input noise and calculation efficiency over a wide range of luminance intensities and spatial frequencies. The impact of early and late noise was found to drop linearly with spatial frequency, whereas the impact of photon noise rose with spatial frequency due to ocular factors.

Slow-theta power decreases during item-place encoding predict spatial accuracy of subsequent context recall.

PubMed

Crespo-García, Maité; Zeiller, Monika; Leupold, Claudia; Kreiselmeyer, Gernot; Rampp, Stefan; Hamer, Hajo M; Dalal, Sarang S

2016-11-15

Human hippocampal theta oscillations play a key role in accurate spatial coding. Associative encoding involves similar hippocampal networks but, paradoxically, is also characterized by theta power decreases. Here, we investigated how theta activity relates to associative encoding of place contexts resulting in accurate navigation. Using MEG, we found that slow-theta (2-5Hz) power negatively correlated with subsequent spatial accuracy for virtual contextual locations in posterior hippocampus and other cortical structures involved in spatial cognition. A rare opportunity to simultaneously record MEG and intracranial EEG in an epilepsy patient provided crucial insights: during power decreases, slow-theta in right anterior hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus phase-led the left temporal cortex and predicted spatial accuracy. Our findings indicate that decreased slow-theta activity reflects local and long-range neural mechanisms that encode accurate spatial contexts, and strengthens the view that local suppression of low-frequency activity is essential for more efficient processing of detailed information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Informing Species Conservation at Multiple Scales Using Data Collected for Marine Mammal Stock Assessments

PubMed Central

Grech, Alana; Sheppard, James; Marsh, Helene

2011-01-01

Background Conservation planning and the design of marine protected areas (MPAs) requires spatially explicit information on the distribution of ecological features. Most species of marine mammals range over large areas and across multiple planning regions. The spatial distributions of marine mammals are difficult to predict using habitat modelling at ecological scales because of insufficient understanding of their habitat needs, however, relevant information may be available from surveys conducted to inform mandatory stock assessments. Methodology and Results We use a 20-year time series of systematic aerial surveys of dugong (Dugong dugong) abundance to create spatially-explicit models of dugong distribution and relative density at the scale of the coastal waters of northeast Australia (∼136,000 km2). We interpolated the corrected data at the scale of 2 km * 2 km planning units using geostatistics. Planning units were classified as low, medium, high and very high dugong density on the basis of the relative density of dugongs estimated from the models and a frequency analysis. Torres Strait was identified as the most significant dugong habitat in northeast Australia and the most globally significant habitat known for any member of the Order Sirenia. The models are used by local, State and Federal agencies to inform management decisions related to the Indigenous harvest of dugongs, gill-net fisheries and Australia's National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. Conclusion/Significance In this paper we demonstrate that spatially-explicit population models add value to data collected for stock assessments, provide a robust alternative to predictive habitat distribution models, and inform species conservation at multiple scales. PMID:21464933

Lossless Compression of JPEG Coded Photo Collections.

PubMed

Wu, Hao; Sun, Xiaoyan; Yang, Jingyu; Zeng, Wenjun; Wu, Feng

2016-04-06

The explosion of digital photos has posed a significant challenge to photo storage and transmission for both personal devices and cloud platforms. In this paper, we propose a novel lossless compression method to further reduce the size of a set of JPEG coded correlated images without any loss of information. The proposed method jointly removes inter/intra image redundancy in the feature, spatial, and frequency domains. For each collection, we first organize the images into a pseudo video by minimizing the global prediction cost in the feature domain. We then present a hybrid disparity compensation method to better exploit both the global and local correlations among the images in the spatial domain. Furthermore, the redundancy between each compensated signal and the corresponding target image is adaptively reduced in the frequency domain. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed lossless compression method. Compared to the JPEG coded image collections, our method achieves average bit savings of more than 31%.

Urban soil exploration through multi-receiver electromagnetic induction and stepped-frequency ground penetrating radar.

PubMed

Van De Vijver, Ellen; Van Meirvenne, Marc; Vandenhaute, Laura; Delefortrie, Samuël; De Smedt, Philippe; Saey, Timothy; Seuntjens, Piet

2015-07-01

In environmental assessments, the characterization of urban soils relies heavily on invasive investigation, which is often insufficient to capture their full spatial heterogeneity. Non-invasive geophysical techniques enable rapid collection of high-resolution data and provide a cost-effective alternative to investigate soil in a spatially comprehensive way. This paper presents the results of combining multi-receiver electromagnetic induction and stepped-frequency ground penetrating radar to characterize a former garage site contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. The sensor combination showed the ability to identify and accurately locate building remains and a high-density soil layer, thus demonstrating the high potential to investigate anthropogenic disturbances of physical nature. In addition, a correspondence was found between an area of lower electrical conductivity and elevated concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons, suggesting the potential to detect specific chemical disturbances. We conclude that the sensor combination provides valuable information for preliminary assessment of urban soils.

Apparatus for direct-to-digital spatially-heterodyned holography

DOEpatents

Thomas, Clarence E.; Hanson, Gregory R.

2006-12-12

An apparatus operable to record a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis includes: a laser; a beamsplitter optically coupled to the laser; an object optically coupled to the beamsplitter; a focusing lens optically coupled to both the beamsplitter and the object; a digital recorder optically coupled to the focusing lens; and a computer that performs a Fourier transform, applies a digital filter, and performs an inverse Fourier transform. A reference beam and an object beam are focused by the focusing lens at a focal plane of the digital recorder to form a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis which is recorded by the digital recorder, and the computer transforms the recorded spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes and shifts axes in Fourier space to sit on top of a heterodyne carrier frequency defined by an angle between the reference beam and the object beam and cuts off signals around an original origin before performing the inverse Fourier transform.

Age-related macular degeneration changes the processing of visual scenes in the brain.

PubMed

Ramanoël, Stephen; Chokron, Sylvie; Hera, Ruxandra; Kauffmann, Louise; Chiquet, Christophe; Krainik, Alexandre; Peyrin, Carole

2018-01-01

In age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the processing of fine details in a visual scene, based on a high spatial frequency processing, is impaired, while the processing of global shapes, based on a low spatial frequency processing, is relatively well preserved. The present fMRI study aimed to investigate the residual abilities and functional brain changes of spatial frequency processing in visual scenes in AMD patients. AMD patients and normally sighted elderly participants performed a categorization task using large black and white photographs of scenes (indoors vs. outdoors) filtered in low and high spatial frequencies, and nonfiltered. The study also explored the effect of luminance contrast on the processing of high spatial frequencies. The contrast across scenes was either unmodified or equalized using a root-mean-square contrast normalization in order to increase contrast in high-pass filtered scenes. Performance was lower for high-pass filtered scenes than for low-pass and nonfiltered scenes, for both AMD patients and controls. The deficit for processing high spatial frequencies was more pronounced in AMD patients than in controls and was associated with lower activity for patients than controls not only in the occipital areas dedicated to central and peripheral visual fields but also in a distant cerebral region specialized for scene perception, the parahippocampal place area. Increasing the contrast improved the processing of high spatial frequency content and spurred activation of the occipital cortex for AMD patients. These findings may lead to new perspectives for rehabilitation procedures for AMD patients.

Isolating contour information from arbitrary images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jobson, Daniel J.

1989-01-01

Aspects of natural vision (physiological and perceptual) serve as a basis for attempting the development of a general processing scheme for contour extraction. Contour information is assumed to be central to visual recognition skills. While the scheme must be regarded as highly preliminary, initial results do compare favorably with the visual perception of structure. The scheme pays special attention to the construction of a smallest scale circular difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) convolution, calibration of multiscale edge detection thresholds with the visual perception of grayscale boundaries, and contour/texture discrimination methods derived from fundamental assumptions of connectivity and the characteristics of printed text. Contour information is required to fall between a minimum connectivity limit and maximum regional spatial density limit at each scale. Results support the idea that contour information, in images possessing good image quality, is (centered at about 10 cyc/deg and 30 cyc/deg). Further, lower spatial frequency channels appear to play a major role only in contour extraction from images with serious global image defects.

Multisource Imaging of Seasonal Dynamics in Land Surface Phenology Using Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melaas, E. K.; Graesser, J.; Friedl, M. A.

2017-12-01

Land surface phenology, including the timing of phenophase transitions and the entire seasonal cycle of surface reflectance and vegetation indices, is important for a myriad of applications including monitoring the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate variability and extreme events, and land cover mapping. While methods to monitor and map phenology from coarse spatial resolution instruments such as MODIS are now relatively mature, the spatial resolution of these instruments is inadequate where vegetation properties, land use, and land cover vary at spatial scales of tens of meters. To address this need, algorithms to map phenology at moderate spatial resolution (30 m) using data from Landsat have recently been developed. However, the 16-day repeat cycle of Landsat presents significant challenges in regions where changes are rapid or where cloud cover reduces the frequency of clear-sky views. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellites, which are designed to provide moderate spatial resolution data at 5-day revisit frequency near the equator and 3 day revisit frequency in the mid-latitudes, will alleviate this constraint in many parts of the world. Here, we use harmonized time series of data from Sentinel-2A and Landsat OLI (HLS) to quantify the timing of land surface phenology metrics across a sample of deciduous forest and grassland-dominated sites, and then compare these estimates with co-located in situ observations. The resulting phenology maps demonstrate the improved information related to landscape-scale features that can be estimated from HLS data relative to comparable metrics from coarse spatial resolution instruments. For example, our results based on HLS data reveal spatial patterns in phenological metrics related to topographic and land cover controls that are not resolved in MODIS data, and show good agreement with transition dates observed from in situ measurements. Our results also show systematic bias toward earlier timing of spring, which is caused by inadequate density of observations that will be mitigated once data from Sentinel-2B are available. Overall, our results highlight the potential for using moderate spatial resolution data from Landsat and Sentinel-2 for developing operational phenology algorithms and products in support of the science community.

Image enhancement by non-linear extrapolation in frequency space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Charles H. (Inventor); Greenspan, Hayit K. (Inventor)

1998-01-01

An input image is enhanced to include spatial frequency components having frequencies higher than those in an input image. To this end, an edge map is generated from the input image using a high band pass filtering technique. An enhancing map is subsequently generated from the edge map, with the enhanced map having spatial frequencies exceeding an initial maximum spatial frequency of the input image. The enhanced map is generated by applying a non-linear operator to the edge map in a manner which preserves the phase transitions of the edges of the input image. The enhanced map is added to the input image to achieve a resulting image having spatial frequencies greater than those in the input image. Simplicity of computations and ease of implementation allow for image sharpening after enlargement and for real-time applications such as videophones, advanced definition television, zooming, and restoration of old motion pictures.

Effect of scanning velocity on femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structures on HgCdTe crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Hongan; Dai, Ye; Wang, Haodong; Yan, Xiaona; Ma, Guohong

2017-12-01

In this paper, a femtosecond laser line-scanning irradiation was used to induce the periodic surface microstructure on HgCdTe crystal. Low spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures of 650-770 nm and high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures of 152-246 nm were respectively found with different scanning speeds. The evolution process from low spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures to high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures is characterized by scanning electron microscope. Their spatial periods deduced by using a two-dimensional Fourier transformation partly agree with the predictions of the Sipe-Drude theory. Confocal micro-Raman spectral show that the atomic arrangement of induced low spatial frequency laser-induced structures are basically consistent with the crystal in the central area of laser-scanning line, however a new peak at 164 cm-1 for the CdTe-like mode becomes evident due to the Hg vaporization when strong laser ablation happens. The obtained surface periodic ripples may have applications in fabricating advanced infrared detector.

Uncomfortable images in art and nature.

PubMed

Fernandez, Dominic; Wilkins, Arnold J

2008-01-01

The ratings of discomfort from a wide variety of images can be predicted from the energy at different spatial scales in the image, as measured by the Fourier amplitude spectrum of the luminance. Whereas comfortable images show the regression of Fourier amplitude against spatial frequency common in natural scenes, uncomfortable images show a regression with disproportionately greater amplitude at spatial frequencies within two octaves of 3 cycles deg(-1). In six studies, the amplitude in this spatial frequency range relative to that elsewhere in the spectrum explains variance in judgments of discomfort from art, from images constructed from filtered noise, and from art in which the phase or amplitude spectra have been altered. Striped patterns with spatial frequency within the above range are known to be uncomfortable and capable of provoking headaches and seizures in susceptible persons. The present findings show for the first time that, even in more complex images, the energy in this spatial-frequency range is associated with aversion. We propose a simple measurement that can predict aversion to those works of art that have reached the national media because of negative public reaction.

Uncomfortable images in art and nature

PubMed Central

Fernandez, Dominic; Wilkins, Arnold J.

2008-01-01

We find that the ratings of discomfort from a wide variety of images can be predicted from the energy at different spatial scales in the image, as measured by the Fourier amplitude spectrum of the luminance. Whereas comfortable images show the regression of Fourier amplitude against spatial frequency common in natural scenes, uncomfortable images show a regression with disproportionately greater amplitude at spatial frequencies within two octaves of 3 cycles per degree. In six studies, the amplitude at this spatial frequency relative to that 3 octaves below explains variance in judgments of discomfort from art, from images constructed from filtered noise and from art in which the phase or amplitude spectra have been altered. Striped patterns with spatial frequency within the above range are known to be uncomfortable and capable of provoking headaches and seizures in susceptible persons. The present findings show for the first time that even in more complex images the energy in this spatial frequency range is associated with aversion. We propose a simple measurement that can predict aversion to those works of art that have reached the national media because of negative public reaction. PMID:18773732

Effective intracortical microstimulation parameters applied to primary motor cortex for evoking forelimb movements to stable spatial end points

PubMed Central

Van Acker, Gustaf M.; Amundsen, Sommer L.; Messamore, William G.; Zhang, Hongyu Y.; Luchies, Carl W.; Kovac, Anthony

2013-01-01

High-frequency, long-duration intracortical microstimulation (HFLD-ICMS) applied to motor cortex is recognized as a useful and informative method for corticomotor mapping by evoking natural-appearing movements of the limb to consistent stable end-point positions. An important feature of these movements is that stimulation of a specific site in motor cortex evokes movement to the same spatial end point regardless of the starting position of the limb. The goal of this study was to delineate effective stimulus parameters for evoking forelimb movements to stable spatial end points from HFLD-ICMS applied to primary motor cortex (M1) in awake monkeys. We investigated stimulation of M1 as combinations of frequency (30–400 Hz), amplitude (30–200 μA), and duration (0.5–2 s) while concurrently recording electromyographic (EMG) activity from 24 forelimb muscles and movement kinematics with a motion capture system. Our results suggest a range of parameters (80–140 Hz, 80–140 μA, and 1,000-ms train duration) that are effective and safe for evoking forelimb translocation with subsequent stabilization at a spatial end point. The mean time for stimulation to elicit successful movement of the forelimb to a stable spatial end point was 475.8 ± 170.9 ms. Median successful frequency and amplitude were 110 Hz and 110 μA, respectively. Attenuated parameters resulted in inconsistent, truncated, or undetectable movements, while intensified parameters yielded no change to movement end points and increased potential for large-scale physiological spread and adverse focal motor effects. Establishing cortical stimulation parameters yielding consistent forelimb movements to stable spatial end points forms the basis for a systematic and comprehensive mapping of M1 in terms of evoked movements and associated muscle synergies. Additionally, the results increase our understanding of how the central nervous system may encode movement. PMID:23741044

Spatial-temporal variability of soil water content in a cropland-shelterbelt-desert site in an arid inland river basin of Northwest China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Qin; Gao, Guangyao; Hu, Wei; Fu, Bojie

2016-09-01

Knowledge of the spatial-temporal variability of soil water content (SWC) is critical for understanding a range of hydrological processes. In this study, the spatial variance and temporal stability of SWC were investigated in a cropland-shelterbelt-desert site at the oasis-desert ecotone in the middle of the Heihe River Basin, China. The SWC was measured on 65 occasions to a depth of 2.8 m at 45 locations during two growing seasons from 2012 to 2013. The standard deviation of the SWC versus the mean SWC exhibited a convex upward relationship in the shelterbelt with the greatest spatial variation at the SWC of around 22.0%, whereas a linearly increasing relationship was observed for the cropland, desert, and land use pattern. The standard deviation of the relative difference was positively linearly correlated with the SWC (p < 0.05) for the land use pattern, whereas such a relationship was not found in the three land use types. The spatial pattern of the SWC was more time stable for the land use pattern, followed by desert, shelterbelt, and cropland. The spatial pattern of SWC changed dramatically among different soil layers. The locations representing the mean SWC varied with the depth, and no location could represent the whole soil profile due to different soil texture, root distribution and irrigation management. The representative locations of each soil layer could be used to estimate the mean SWC well. The statistics of temporal stability of the SWC could be presented equally well with a low frequency of observation (30-day interval) as with a high frequency (5-day interval). Sampling frequency had little effect on the selection of the representative locations of the field mean SWC. This study provides useful information for designing the optimal strategy for sampling SWC at the oasis-desert ecotone in the arid inland river basin.

Beyond time and space: The effect of a lateralized sustained attention task and brain stimulation on spatial and selective attention.

PubMed

Shalev, Nir; De Wandel, Linde; Dockree, Paul; Demeyere, Nele; Chechlacz, Magdalena

2017-10-03

The Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) provides a mathematical formalisation of the "biased competition" account of visual attention. Applying this model to individual performance in a free recall task allows the estimation of 5 independent attentional parameters: visual short-term memory (VSTM) capacity, speed of information processing, perceptual threshold of visual detection; attentional weights representing spatial distribution of attention (spatial bias), and the top-down selectivity index. While the TVA focuses on selection in space, complementary accounts of attention describe how attention is maintained over time, and how temporal processes interact with selection. A growing body of evidence indicates that different facets of attention interact and share common neural substrates. The aim of the current study was to modulate a spatial attentional bias via transfer effects, based on a mechanistic understanding of the interplay between spatial, selective and temporal aspects of attention. Specifically, we examined here: (i) whether a single administration of a lateralized sustained attention task could prime spatial orienting and lead to transferable changes in attentional weights (assigned to the left vs right hemi-field) and/or other attentional parameters assessed within the framework of TVA (Experiment 1); (ii) whether the effects of such spatial-priming on TVA parameters could be further enhanced by bi-parietal high frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) (Experiment 2). Our results demonstrate that spatial attentional bias, as assessed within the TVA framework, was primed by sustaining attention towards the right hemi-field, but this spatial-priming effect did not occur when sustaining attention towards the left. Furthermore, we show that bi-parietal high-frequency tRNS combined with the rightward spatial-priming resulted in an increased attentional selectivity. To conclude, we present a novel, theory-driven method for attentional modulation providing important insights into how the spatial and temporal processes in attention interact with attentional selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning of spatio-temporal codes in a coupled oscillator system.

PubMed

Orosz, Gábor; Ashwin, Peter; Townley, Stuart

2009-07-01

In this paper, we consider a learning strategy that allows one to transmit information between two coupled phase oscillator systems (called teaching and learning systems) via frequency adaptation. The dynamics of these systems can be modeled with reference to a number of partially synchronized cluster states and transitions between them. Forcing the teaching system by steady but spatially nonhomogeneous inputs produces cyclic sequences of transitions between the cluster states, that is, information about inputs is encoded via a "winnerless competition" process into spatio-temporal codes. The large variety of codes can be learned by the learning system that adapts its frequencies to those of the teaching system. We visualize the dynamics using "weighted order parameters (WOPs)" that are analogous to "local field potentials" in neural systems. Since spatio-temporal coding is a mechanism that appears in olfactory systems, the developed learning rules may help to extract information from these neural ensembles.

Combining total internal reflection sum frequency spectroscopy spectral imaging and confocal fluorescence microscopy.

PubMed

Allgeyer, Edward S; Sterling, Sarah M; Gunewardene, Mudalige S; Hess, Samuel T; Neivandt, David J; Mason, Michael D

2015-01-27

Understanding surface and interfacial lateral organization in material and biological systems is critical in nearly every field of science. The continued development of tools and techniques viable for elucidation of interfacial and surface information is therefore necessary to address new questions and further current investigations. Sum frequency spectroscopy (SFS) is a label-free, nonlinear optical technique with inherent surface specificity that can yield critical organizational information on interfacial species. Unfortunately, SFS provides no spatial information on a surface; small scale heterogeneities that may exist are averaged over the large areas typically probed. Over the past decade, this has begun to be addressed with the advent of SFS microscopy. Here we detail the construction and function of a total internal reflection (TIR) SFS spectral and confocal fluorescence imaging microscope directly amenable to surface investigations. This instrument combines, for the first time, sample scanning TIR-SFS imaging with confocal fluorescence microscopy.

Wide-field high spatial frequency domain imaging of tissue microstructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Weihao; Zeng, Bixin; Cao, Zili; Zhu, Danfeng; Xu, M.

2018-02-01

Wide-field tissue imaging is usually not capable of resolving tissue microstructure. We present High Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (HSFDI) - a noncontact imaging modality that spatially maps the tissue microscopic scattering structures over a large field of view. Based on an analytical reflectance model of sub-diffusive light from forward-peaked highly scattering media, HSFDI quantifies the spatially-resolved parameters of the light scattering phase function from the reflectance of structured light modulated at high spatial frequencies. We have demonstrated with ex vivo cancerous tissue to validate the robustness of HSFDI in significant contrast and differentiation of the microstructutral parameters between different types and disease states of tissue.

Image jitter enhances visual performance when spatial resolution is impaired.

PubMed

Watson, Lynne M; Strang, Niall C; Scobie, Fraser; Love, Gordon D; Seidel, Dirk; Manahilov, Velitchko

2012-09-06

Visibility of low-spatial frequency stimuli improves when their contrast is modulated at 5 to 10 Hz compared with stationary stimuli. Therefore, temporal modulations of visual objects could enhance the performance of low vision patients who primarily perceive images of low-spatial frequency content. We investigated the effect of retinal-image jitter on word recognition speed and facial emotion recognition in subjects with central visual impairment. Word recognition speed and accuracy of facial emotion discrimination were measured in volunteers with AMD under stationary and jittering conditions. Computer-driven and optoelectronic approaches were used to induce retinal-image jitter with duration of 100 or 166 ms and amplitude within the range of 0.5 to 2.6° visual angle. Word recognition speed was also measured for participants with simulated (Bangerter filters) visual impairment. Text jittering markedly enhanced word recognition speed for people with severe visual loss (101 ± 25%), while for those with moderate visual impairment, this effect was weaker (19 ± 9%). The ability of low vision patients to discriminate the facial emotions of jittering images improved by a factor of 2. A prototype of optoelectronic jitter goggles produced similar improvement in facial emotion discrimination. Word recognition speed in participants with simulated visual impairment was enhanced for interjitter intervals over 100 ms and reduced for shorter intervals. Results suggest that retinal-image jitter with optimal frequency and amplitude is an effective strategy for enhancing visual information processing in the absence of spatial detail. These findings will enable the development of novel tools to improve the quality of life of low vision patients.

Spatial-frequency cutoff requirements for pattern recognition in central and peripheral vision

PubMed Central

Kwon, MiYoung; Legge, Gordon E.

2011-01-01

It is well known that object recognition requires spatial frequencies exceeding some critical cutoff value. People with central scotomas who rely on peripheral vision have substantial difficulty with reading and face recognition. Deficiencies of pattern recognition in peripheral vision, might result in higher cutoff requirements, and may contribute to the functional problems of people with central-field loss. Here we asked about differences in spatial-cutoff requirements in central and peripheral vision for letter and face recognition. The stimuli were the 26 letters of the English alphabet and 26 celebrity faces. Each image was blurred using a low-pass filter in the spatial frequency domain. Critical cutoffs (defined as the minimum low-pass filter cutoff yielding 80% accuracy) were obtained by measuring recognition accuracy as a function of cutoff (in cycles per object). Our data showed that critical cutoffs increased from central to peripheral vision by 20% for letter recognition and by 50% for face recognition. We asked whether these differences could be accounted for by central/peripheral differences in the contrast sensitivity function (CSF). We addressed this question by implementing an ideal-observer model which incorporates empirical CSF measurements and tested the model on letter and face recognition. The success of the model indicates that central/peripheral differences in the cutoff requirements for letter and face recognition can be accounted for by the information content of the stimulus limited by the shape of the human CSF, combined with a source of internal noise and followed by an optimal decision rule. PMID:21854800

Phencyclidine Discoordinates Hippocampal Network Activity But Not Place Fields

PubMed Central

Kao, Hsin-Yi; Kenney, Jana; Kelemen, Eduard

2017-01-01

We used the psychotomimetic phencyclidine (PCP) to investigate the relationships among cognitive behavior, coordinated neural network function, and information processing within the hippocampus place cell system. We report in rats that PCP (5 mg/kg, i.p.) impairs a well learned, hippocampus-dependent place avoidance behavior in rats that requires cognitive control even when PCP is injected directly into dorsal hippocampus. PCP increases 60–100 Hz medium-freguency gamma oscillations in hippocampus CA1 and these increases correlate with the cognitive impairment caused by systemic PCP administration. PCP discoordinates theta-modulated medium-frequency and slow gamma oscillations in CA1 LFPs such that medium-frequency gamma oscillations become more theta-organized than slow gamma oscillations. CA1 place cell firing fields are preserved under PCP, but the drug discoordinates the subsecond temporal organization of discharge among place cells. This discoordination causes place cell ensemble representations of a familiar space to cease resembling pre-PCP representations despite preserved place fields. These findings point to the cognitive impairments caused by PCP arising from neural discoordination. PCP disrupts the timing of discharge with respect to the subsecond timescales of theta and gamma oscillations in the LFP. Because these oscillations arise from local inhibitory synaptic activity, these findings point to excitation–inhibition discoordination as the root of PCP-induced cognitive impairment. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Hippocampal neural discharge is temporally coordinated on timescales of theta and gamma oscillations in the LFP and the discharge of a subset of pyramidal neurons called “place cells” is spatially organized such that discharge is restricted to locations called a cell's “place field.” Because this temporal coordination and spatial discharge organization is thought to represent spatial knowledge, we used the psychotomimetic phencyclidine (PCP) to disrupt cognitive behavior and assess the importance of neural coordination and place fields for spatial cognition. PCP impaired the judicious use of spatial information and discoordinated hippocampal discharge without disrupting firing fields. These findings dissociate place fields from spatial cognitive behavior and suggest that hippocampus discharge coordination is crucial to spatial cognition. PMID:29118102

Test-retest reliability of infant event related potentials evoked by faces.

PubMed

Munsters, N M; van Ravenswaaij, H; van den Boomen, C; Kemner, C

2017-04-05

Reliable measures are required to draw meaningful conclusions regarding developmental changes in longitudinal studies. Little is known, however, about the test-retest reliability of face-sensitive event related potentials (ERPs), a frequently used neural measure in infants. The aim of the current study is to investigate the test-retest reliability of ERPs typically evoked by faces in 9-10 month-old infants. The infants (N=31) were presented with neutral, fearful and happy faces that contained only the lower or higher spatial frequency information. They were tested twice within two weeks. The present results show that the test-retest reliability of the face-sensitive ERP components is moderate (P400 and Nc) to substantial (N290). However, there is low test-retest reliability for the effects of the specific experimental manipulations (i.e. emotion and spatial frequency) on the face-sensitive ERPs. To conclude, in infants the face-sensitive ERP components (i.e. N290, P400 and Nc) show adequate test-retest reliability, but not the effects of emotion and spatial frequency on these ERP components. We propose that further research focuses on investigating elements that might increase the test-retest reliability, as adequate test-retest reliability is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions on individual developmental trajectories of the face-sensitive ERPs in infants. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Sensitivity of a Bayesian atmospheric-transport inversion model to spatio-temporal sensor resolution applied to the 2006 North Korean nuclear test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lundquist, K. A.; Jensen, D. D.; Lucas, D. D.

2017-12-01

Atmospheric source reconstruction allows for the probabilistic estimate of source characteristics of an atmospheric release using observations of the release. Performance of the inversion depends partially on the temporal frequency and spatial scale of the observations. The objective of this study is to quantify the sensitivity of the source reconstruction method to sparse spatial and temporal observations. To this end, simulations of atmospheric transport of noble gasses are created for the 2006 nuclear test at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Synthetic observations are collected from the simulation, and are taken as "ground truth". Data denial techniques are used to progressively coarsen the temporal and spatial resolution of the synthetic observations, while the source reconstruction model seeks to recover the true input parameters from the synthetic observations. Reconstructed parameters considered here are source location, source timing and source quantity. Reconstruction is achieved by running an ensemble of thousands of dispersion model runs that sample from a uniform distribution of the input parameters. Machine learning is used to train a computationally-efficient surrogate model from the ensemble simulations. Monte Carlo sampling and Bayesian inversion are then used in conjunction with the surrogate model to quantify the posterior probability density functions of source input parameters. This research seeks to inform decision makers of the tradeoffs between more expensive, high frequency observations and less expensive, low frequency observations.

Mapping Frequency-Specific Tone Predictions in the Human Auditory Cortex at High Spatial Resolution.

PubMed

Berlot, Eva; Formisano, Elia; De Martino, Federico

2018-05-23

Auditory inputs reaching our ears are often incomplete, but our brains nevertheless transform them into rich and complete perceptual phenomena such as meaningful conversations or pleasurable music. It has been hypothesized that our brains extract regularities in inputs, which enables us to predict the upcoming stimuli, leading to efficient sensory processing. However, it is unclear whether tone predictions are encoded with similar specificity as perceived signals. Here, we used high-field fMRI to investigate whether human auditory regions encode one of the most defining characteristics of auditory perception: the frequency of predicted tones. Two pairs of tone sequences were presented in ascending or descending directions, with the last tone omitted in half of the trials. Every pair of incomplete sequences contained identical sounds, but was associated with different expectations about the last tone (a high- or low-frequency target). This allowed us to disambiguate predictive signaling from sensory-driven processing. We recorded fMRI responses from eight female participants during passive listening to complete and incomplete sequences. Inspection of specificity and spatial patterns of responses revealed that target frequencies were encoded similarly during their presentations, as well as during omissions, suggesting frequency-specific encoding of predicted tones in the auditory cortex (AC). Importantly, frequency specificity of predictive signaling was observed already at the earliest levels of auditory cortical hierarchy: in the primary AC. Our findings provide evidence for content-specific predictive processing starting at the earliest cortical levels. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Given the abundance of sensory information around us in any given moment, it has been proposed that our brain uses contextual information to prioritize and form predictions about incoming signals. However, there remains a surprising lack of understanding of the specificity and content of such prediction signaling; for example, whether a predicted tone is encoded with similar specificity as a perceived tone. Here, we show that early auditory regions encode the frequency of a tone that is predicted yet omitted. Our findings contribute to the understanding of how expectations shape sound processing in the human auditory cortex and provide further insights into how contextual information influences computations in neuronal circuits. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/384934-09$15.00/0.

Visual search accelerates during adolescence.

PubMed

Burggraaf, Rudolf; van der Geest, Jos N; Frens, Maarten A; Hooge, Ignace T C

2018-05-01

We studied changes in visual-search performance and behavior during adolescence. Search performance was analyzed in terms of reaction time and response accuracy. Search behavior was analyzed in terms of the objects fixated and the duration of these fixations. A large group of adolescents (N = 140; age: 12-19 years; 47% female, 53% male) participated in a visual-search experiment in which their eye movements were recorded with an eye tracker. The experiment consisted of 144 trials (50% with a target present), and participants had to decide whether a target was present. Each trial showed a search display with 36 Gabor patches placed on a hexagonal grid. The target was a vertically oriented element with a high spatial frequency. Nontargets differed from the target in spatial frequency, orientation, or both. Search performance and behavior changed during adolescence; with increasing age, fixation duration and reaction time decreased. Response accuracy, number of fixations, and selection of elements to fixate upon did not change with age. Thus, the speed of foveal discrimination increases with age, while the efficiency of peripheral selection does not change. We conclude that the way visual information is gathered does not change during adolescence, but the processing of visual information becomes faster.

Facial expressions perceived by the adolescent brain: Towards the proficient use of low spatial frequency information.

PubMed

Peters, Judith C; Kemner, Chantal

2017-10-01

Rapid decoding of emotional expressions is essential for social communication. Fast processing of facial expressions depends on the adequate (subcortical) processing of important global face cues in the low spatial frequency (LSF) ranges. However, children below 9 years of age extract fearful expression information from local details represented by high SF (HSF) image content. Our ERP study investigated at which developmental stage this ineffective HSF-driven processing is replaced by the proficient and rapid LSF-driven perception of fearful faces, in which adults are highly skilled. We examined behavioral and neural responses to high- and low-pass filtered faces with a fearful or neutral expression in groups of children on the verge of pre-adolescence (9-10 years), adolescents (14-15 years), and young adults (20-28 years). Our results suggest that the neural emotional face processing network has a protracted maturational course into adolescence, which is related to changes in SF processing. In mid-adolescence, increased sensitivity to emotional LSF cues is developed, which aids the fast and adequate processing of fearful expressions that might signal impending danger. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Target dependence of orientation and direction selectivity of corticocortical projection neurons in the mouse V1

PubMed Central

Matsui, Teppei; Ohki, Kenichi

2013-01-01

Higher order visual areas that receive input from the primary visual cortex (V1) are specialized for the processing of distinct features of visual information. However, it is still incompletely understood how this functional specialization is acquired. Here we used in vivo two photon calcium imaging in the mouse visual cortex to investigate whether this functional distinction exists at as early as the level of projections from V1 to two higher order visual areas, AL and LM. Specifically, we examined whether sharpness of orientation and direction selectivity and optimal spatial and temporal frequency of projection neurons from V1 to higher order visual areas match with that of target areas. We found that the V1 input to higher order visual areas were indeed functionally distinct: AL preferentially received inputs from V1 that were more orientation and direction selective and tuned for lower spatial frequency compared to projection of V1 to LM, consistent with functional differences between AL and LM. The present findings suggest that selective projections from V1 to higher order visual areas initiates parallel processing of sensory information in the visual cortical network. PMID:24068987

Reference frames for spatial frequency in face representation differ in the temporal visual cortex and amygdala.

PubMed

Inagaki, Mikio; Fujita, Ichiro

2011-07-13

Social communication in nonhuman primates and humans is strongly affected by facial information from other individuals. Many cortical and subcortical brain areas are known to be involved in processing facial information. However, how the neural representation of faces differs across different brain areas remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the reference frame for spatial frequency (SF) tuning of face-responsive neurons differs in the temporal visual cortex and amygdala in monkeys. Consistent with psychophysical properties for face recognition, temporal cortex neurons were tuned to image-based SFs (cycles/image) and showed viewing distance-invariant representation of face patterns. On the other hand, many amygdala neurons were influenced by retina-based SFs (cycles/degree), a characteristic that is useful for social distance computation. The two brain areas also differed in the luminance contrast sensitivity of face-responsive neurons; amygdala neurons sharply reduced their responses to low luminance contrast images, while temporal cortex neurons maintained the level of their responses. From these results, we conclude that different types of visual processing in the temporal visual cortex and the amygdala contribute to the construction of the neural representations of faces.

Correction of mid-spatial-frequency errors by smoothing in spin motion for CCOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yizhong; Wei, Chaoyang; Shao, Jianda; Xu, Xueke; Liu, Shijie; Hu, Chen; Zhang, Haichao; Gu, Haojin

2015-08-01

Smoothing is a convenient and efficient way to correct mid-spatial-frequency errors. Quantifying the smoothing effect allows improvements in efficiency for finishing precision optics. A series experiments in spin motion are performed to study the smoothing effects about correcting mid-spatial-frequency errors. Some of them use a same pitch tool at different spinning speed, and others at a same spinning speed with different tools. Introduced and improved Shu's model to describe and compare the smoothing efficiency with different spinning speed and different tools. From the experimental results, the mid-spatial-frequency errors on the initial surface were nearly smoothed out after the process in spin motion and the number of smoothing times can be estimated by the model before the process. Meanwhile this method was also applied to smooth the aspherical component, which has an obvious mid-spatial-frequency error after Magnetorheological Finishing processing. As a result, a high precision aspheric optical component was obtained with PV=0.1λ and RMS=0.01λ.

A task-irrelevant stimulus attribute affects perception and short-term memory

PubMed Central

Huang, Jie; Kahana, Michael J.; Sekuler, Robert

2010-01-01

Selective attention protects cognition against intrusions of task-irrelevant stimulus attributes. This protective function was tested in coordinated psychophysical and memory experiments. Stimuli were superimposed, horizontally and vertically oriented gratings of varying spatial frequency; only one orientation was task relevant. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a task-irrelevant spatial frequency interfered with visual discrimination of the task-relevant spatial frequency. Experiment 2 adopted a two-item Sternberg task, using stimuli that had been scaled to neutralize interference at the level of vision. Despite being visually neutralized, the task-irrelevant attribute strongly influenced recognition accuracy and associated reaction times (RTs). This effect was sharply tuned, with the task-irrelevant spatial frequency having an impact only when the task-relevant spatial frequencies of the probe and study items were highly similar to one another. Model-based analyses of judgment accuracy and RT distributional properties converged on the point that the irrelevant orientation operates at an early stage in memory processing, not at a later one that supports decision making. PMID:19933454

Comparing the minimum spatial-frequency content for recognizing Chinese and alphabet characters

PubMed Central

Wang, Hui; Legge, Gordon E.

2018-01-01

Visual blur is a common problem that causes difficulty in pattern recognition for normally sighted people under degraded viewing conditions (e.g., near the acuity limit, when defocused, or in fog) and also for people with impaired vision. For reliable identification, the spatial frequency content of an object needs to extend up to or exceed a minimum value in units of cycles per object, referred to as the critical spatial frequency. In this study, we investigated the critical spatial frequency for alphabet and Chinese characters, and examined the effect of pattern complexity. The stimuli were divided into seven categories based on their perimetric complexity, including the lowercase and uppercase alphabet letters, and five groups of Chinese characters. We found that the critical spatial frequency significantly increased with complexity, from 1.01 cycles per character for the simplest group to 2.00 cycles per character for the most complex group of Chinese characters. A second goal of the study was to test a space-bandwidth invariance hypothesis that would represent a tradeoff between the critical spatial frequency and the number of adjacent patterns that can be recognized at one time. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the critical spatial frequencies in cycles per character from the current study and visual-span sizes in number of characters (measured by Wang, He, & Legge, 2014) for sets of characters with different complexities. For the character size (1.2°) we used in the study, we found an invariant product of approximately 10 cycles, which may represent a capacity limitation on visual pattern recognition. PMID:29297056

Solid perception mechanism by a shading pattern: spatial frequency components in a corrugated wave pattern.

PubMed

Nameda, N

1988-01-01

Illumination allows solid object perception to be obtained and depicted by a shading pattern produced by lighting. The shading cue, as one of solid perception cues (Gibson 1979), was investigated in regard to a white corrugated wave shape, using computer graphic device: Tospix-2. The reason the corrugated wave was chosen, is that an alternately bright and dark pattern, produced by shading, can be conveniently analyzed into contained spatial frequencies. This paper reports spatial frequency properties contained in the shading pattern. The shading patterns, input into the computer graphic device, are analyzed by Fourier Transformation by the same device. After the filtration by various spatial frequency low and high pass filters, Inverse Fourier Transformation is carried out for the residual components. The result of the analysis indicates that the third through higher harmonics components are important in regard to presenting a solid reality feeling in solid perception. Sakata (1983) also reported that an edged pattern, superimposed onto a lower sinusoidal pattern, was important in solid perception. The third through higher harmonics components express the changing position of luminance on the pattern, and a slanted plane relating to the light direction. Detection of a solid shape, constructed with flat planes, is assumed to be on the bottom of the perfect curved solid perception mechanism. Apparent evidence for this assumption, in difficult visual conditions, is that a flat paneled solid is seen before the curved solid. This mechanism is explained by two spatial frequency neural network systems, assumed as having correspondence with higher spatial frequency detection and lower spatial frequency detection.

Exploring the parahippocampal cortex response to high and low spatial frequency spaces.

PubMed

Zeidman, Peter; Mullally, Sinéad L; Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Samuel; Maguire, Eleanor A

2012-05-30

The posterior parahippocampal cortex (PHC) supports a range of cognitive functions, in particular scene processing. However, it has recently been suggested that PHC engagement during functional MRI simply reflects the representation of three-dimensional local space. If so, PHC should respond to space in the absence of scenes, geometric layout, objects or contextual associations. It has also been reported that PHC activation may be influenced by low-level visual properties of stimuli such as spatial frequency. Here, we tested whether PHC was responsive to the mere sense of space in highly simplified stimuli, and whether this was affected by their spatial frequency distribution. Participants were scanned using functional MRI while viewing depictions of simple three-dimensional space, and matched control stimuli that did not depict a space. Half the stimuli were low-pass filtered to ascertain the impact of spatial frequency. We observed a significant interaction between space and spatial frequency in bilateral PHC. Specifically, stimuli depicting space (more than nonspatial stimuli) engaged the right PHC when they featured high spatial frequencies. In contrast, the interaction in the left PHC did not show a preferential response to space. We conclude that a simple depiction of three-dimensional space that is devoid of objects, scene layouts or contextual associations is sufficient to robustly engage the right PHC, at least when high spatial frequencies are present. We suggest that coding for the presence of space may be a core function of PHC, and could explain its engagement in a range of tasks, including scene processing, where space is always present.

Predicting plasticity with soft vibrational modes: from dislocations to glasses.

PubMed

Rottler, Jörg; Schoenholz, Samuel S; Liu, Andrea J

2014-04-01

We show that quasilocalized low-frequency modes in the vibrational spectrum can be used to construct soft spots, or regions vulnerable to rearrangement, which serve as a universal tool for the identification of flow defects in solids. We show that soft spots not only encode spatial information, via their location, but also directional information, via directors for particles within each soft spot. Single crystals with isolated dislocations exhibit low-frequency phonon modes that localize at the core, and their polarization pattern predicts the motion of atoms during elementary dislocation glide in two and three dimensions in exquisite detail. Even in polycrystals and disordered solids, we find that the directors associated with particles in soft spots are highly correlated with the direction of particle displacements in rearrangements.

Spatial attention increases high-frequency gamma synchronisation in human medial visual cortex.

PubMed

Koelewijn, Loes; Rich, Anina N; Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh D; Singh, Krish D

2013-10-01

Visual information processing involves the integration of stimulus and goal-driven information, requiring neuronal communication. Gamma synchronisation is linked to neuronal communication, and is known to be modulated in visual cortex both by stimulus properties and voluntarily-directed attention. Stimulus-driven modulations of gamma activity are particularly associated with early visual areas such as V1, whereas attentional effects are generally localised to higher visual areas such as V4. The absence of a gamma increase in early visual cortex is at odds with robust attentional enhancements found with other measures of neuronal activity in this area. Here we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to explore the effect of spatial attention on gamma activity in human early visual cortex using a highly effective gamma-inducing stimulus and strong attentional manipulation. In separate blocks, subjects tracked either a parafoveal grating patch that induced gamma activity in contralateral medial visual cortex, or a small line at fixation, effectively attending away from the gamma-inducing grating. Both items were always present, but rotated unpredictably and independently of each other. The rotating grating induced gamma synchronisation in medial visual cortex at 30-70 Hz, and in lateral visual cortex at 60-90 Hz, regardless of whether it was attended. Directing spatial attention to the grating increased gamma synchronisation in medial visual cortex, but only at 60-90 Hz. These results suggest that the generally found increase in gamma activity by spatial attention can be localised to early visual cortex in humans, and that stimulus and goal-driven modulations may be mediated at different frequencies within the gamma range. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"Paradox of slow frequencies" - Are slow frequencies in upper cortical layers a neural predisposition of the level/state of consciousness (NPC)?

PubMed

Northoff, Georg

2017-09-01

Consciousness research has much focused on faster frequencies like alpha or gamma while neglecting the slower ones in the infraslow (0.001-0.1Hz) and slow (0.1-1Hz) frequency range. These slower frequency ranges have a "bad reputation" though; their increase in power can observed during the loss of consciousness as in sleep, anesthesia, and vegetative state. However, at the same time, slower frequencies have been conceived instrumental for consciousness. The present paper aims to resolve this paradox which I describe as "paradox of slow frequencies". I first show various data that suggest a central role of slower frequencies in integrating faster ones, i.e., "temporo-spatial integration and nestedness". Such "temporo-spatial integration and nestedness" is disrupted during the loss of consciousness as in anesthesia and sleep leading to "temporo-spatial fragmentation and isolation" between slow and fast frequencies. Slow frequencies are supposedly mediated by neural activity in upper cortical layers in higher-order associative regions as distinguished from lower cortical layers that are related to faster frequencies. Taken together, slower and faster frequencies take on different roles for the level/state of consciousness. Faster frequencies by themselves are sufficient and thus a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) while slower frequencies are a necessary non-sufficient condition of possible consciousness, e.g., a neural predisposition of the level/state of consciousness (NPC). This resolves the "paradox of slow frequencies" in that it assigns different roles to slower and faster frequencies in consciousness, i.e., NCC and NPC. Taken as NCC and NPC, fast and slow frequencies including their relation as in "temporo-spatial integration and nestedness" can be considered a first "building bloc" of a future "temporo-spatial theory of consciousness" (TTC) (Northoff, 2013; Northoff, 2014b; Northoff & Huang, 2017). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Definition of SMOS Level 3 Land Products for the Villafranca del Castillo Data Processing Centre (CP34)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez-Baeza, E.; Monsoriu Torres, A.; Font, J.; Alonso, O.

2009-04-01

The ESA SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Mission is planned to be launched in July 2009. The satellite will measure soil moisture over the continents and surface salinity of the oceans at resolutions that are sufficient for climatological-type studies. This paper describes the procedure to be used at the Spanish SMOS Level 3 and 4 Data Processing Centre (CP34) to generate Soil Moisture and other Land Surface Product maps from SMOS Level 2 data. This procedure can be used to map Soil Moisture, Vegetation Water Content and Soil Dielectric Constant data into different pre-defined spatial grids with fixed temporal frequency. The L3 standard Land Surface Products to be generated at CP34 are: Soil Moisture products: maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of 3 days, daily generation maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of 10 days, generation frequency of once every 10 days. b': maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of monthly decades (1st to 10th of the month, 11th to 20th of the month, 21st to last day of the month), generation frequency of once every decade monthly average, temporal averaging from L3 decade averages, monthly generation Seasonal average, temporal averaging from L3 monthly averages, seasonally generation yearly average, temporal averaging from L3 monthly averages, yearly generation Vegetation Water Content products: maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of 10 days, generation frequency of once every 10 days. a': maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of monthly decades (1st to 10th of the month, 11th to 20th of the month, 21st to last day of the month) using simple averaging method over the L2 products in ISEA grid, generation frequency of once every decade monthly average, temporal averaging from L3 decade averages, monthly generation seasonal average, temporal averaging from L3 monthly averages, seasonally generation yearly average, temporal averaging from L3 monthly averages, yearly generation Dielectric Constant products: (the dielectric constant products are delivered together with soil moisture products, with the same averaging periods and generation frequency): maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of 3 days, daily generation maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of 10 days, generation frequency of once every 10 days. b': maximum spatial resolution with no spatial averaging, temporal averaging of monthly decades (1st to 10th of the month, 11th to 20th of the month, 21st to last day of the month), generation frequency of once every decade monthly average, temporal averaging from L3 decade averages, monthly generation seasonal average, temporal averaging from L3 monthly averages, seasonally generation yearly average, temporal averaging from L3 monthly averages, yearly generation.

A Role of Phase-Resetting in Coordinating Large Scale Neural Networks During Attention and Goal-Directed Behavior

PubMed Central

Voloh, Benjamin; Womelsdorf, Thilo

2016-01-01

Short periods of oscillatory activation are ubiquitous signatures of neural circuits. A broad range of studies documents not only their circuit origins, but also a fundamental role for oscillatory activity in coordinating information transfer during goal directed behavior. Recent studies suggest that resetting the phase of ongoing oscillatory activity to endogenous or exogenous cues facilitates coordinated information transfer within circuits and between distributed brain areas. Here, we review evidence that pinpoints phase resetting as a critical marker of dynamic state changes of functional networks. Phase resets: (1) set a “neural context” in terms of narrow band frequencies that uniquely characterizes the activated circuits; (2) impose coherent low frequency phases to which high frequency activations can synchronize, identifiable as cross-frequency correlations across large anatomical distances; (3) are critical for neural coding models that depend on phase, increasing the informational content of neural representations; and (4) likely originate from the dynamics of canonical E-I circuits that are anatomically ubiquitous. These multiple signatures of phase resets are directly linked to enhanced information transfer and behavioral success. We survey how phase resets re-organize oscillations in diverse task contexts, including sensory perception, attentional stimulus selection, cross-modal integration, Pavlovian conditioning, and spatial navigation. The evidence we consider suggests that phase-resets can drive changes in neural excitability, ensemble organization, functional networks, and ultimately, overt behavior. PMID:27013986

Integrated approach to monitor water dynamics with drones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raymaekers, Dries; De Keukelaere, Liesbeth; Knaeps, Els; Strackx, Gert; Decrop, Boudewijn; Bollen, Mark

2017-04-01

Remote sensing has been used for more than 20 years to estimate water quality in the open ocean and study the evolution of vegetation on land. More recently big improvements have been made to extend these practices to coastal and inland waters, opening new monitoring opportunities, eg. monitoring the impact of dredging activities on the aquatic environment. While satellite sensors can provide complete coverage and historical information of the study area, they are limited in their temporal revisit time and spatial resolution. Therefore, deployment of drones can create an added value and in combination with satellite information increase insights in the dynamics and actors of coastal and aquatic systems. Drones have the advantages of monitoring at high spatial detail (cm scale), with high frequency and are flexible. One of the important water quality parameters is the suspended sediment concentration. However, retrieving sediment concentrations from unmanned systems is a challenging task. The sediment dynamics in the port of Breskens, the Netherlands, were investigated by combining information retrieved from different data sources: satellite, drone and in-situ data were collected, analysed and inserted in sediment models. As such, historical (satellite), near-real time (drone) and predictive (sediment models) information, integrated in a spatial data infrastructure, allow to perform data analysis and can support decision makers.

Changes in tendon spatial frequency parameters with loading.

PubMed

Pearson, Stephen J; Engel, Aaron J; Bashford, Gregory R

2017-05-24

To examine and compare the loading related changes in micro-morphology of the patellar tendon. Fifteen healthy young males (age 19±3yrs, body mass 83±5kg) were utilised in a within subjects matched pairs design. B mode ultrasound images were taken in the sagittal plane of the patellar tendon at rest with the knee at 90° flexion. Repeat images were taken whilst the subjects were carrying out maximal voluntary isometric contractions. Spatial frequency parameters related to the tendon morphology were determined within regions of interest (ROI) from the B mode images at rest and during isometric contractions. A number of spatial parameters were observed to be significantly different between resting and contracted images (Peak spatial frequency radius (PSFR), axis ratio, spatial Q-factor, PSFR amplitude ratio, and the sum). These spatial frequency parameters were indicative of acute alterations in the tendon micro-morphology with loading. Acute loading modifies the micro-morphology of the tendon, as observed via spatial frequency analysis. Further research is warranted to explore its utility with regard to different loading induced micro-morphological alterations, as these could give valuable insight not only to aid strengthening of this tissue but also optimization of recovery from injury and treatment of conditions such as tendinopathies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential verbal, visual, and spatial working memory in written language production.

PubMed

Raulerson, Bascom A; Donovan, Michael J; Whiteford, Alison P; Kellogg, Ronald T

2010-02-01

The contributions of verbal, visual, and spatial working memory to written language production were investigated. Participants composed definitions for nouns while concurrently performing a task which required updating, storing, and retrieving information coded either verbally, visually, or spatially. The present study extended past findings by showing the linguistic encoding of planned conceptual content makes its largest demand on verbal working memory for both low and high frequency nouns. Kellogg, Olive, and Piolat in 2007 found that concrete nouns place substantial demands on visual working memory when imaging the nouns' referents during planning, whereas abstract nouns make no demand. The current study further showed that this pattern was not an artifact of visual working memory being sensitive to manipulation of just any lexical property of the noun prompts. In contrast to past results, writing made a small but detectible demand on spatial working memory.

Phase-and-amplitude recovery from a single phase-contrast image using partially spatially coherent x-ray radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beltran, Mario A.; Paganin, David M.; Pelliccia, Daniele

2018-05-01

A simple method of phase-and-amplitude extraction is derived that corrects for image blurring induced by partially spatially coherent incident illumination using only a single intensity image as input. The method is based on Fresnel diffraction theory for the case of high Fresnel number, merged with the space-frequency description formalism used to quantify partially coherent fields and assumes the object under study is composed of a single-material. A priori knowledge of the object’s complex refractive index and information obtained by characterizing the spatial coherence of the source is required. The algorithm was applied to propagation-based phase-contrast data measured with a laboratory-based micro-focus x-ray source. The blurring due to the finite spatial extent of the source is embedded within the algorithm as a simple correction term to the so-called Paganin algorithm and is also numerically stable in the presence of noise.

Estimating the effective spatial resolution of an AVHRR time series

USGS Publications Warehouse

Meyer, D.J.

1996-01-01

A method is proposed to estimate the spatial degradation of geometrically rectified AVHRR data resulting from misregistration and off-nadir viewing, and to infer the cumulative effect of these degradations over time. Misregistrations are measured using high resolution imagery as a geometric reference, and pixel sizes are computed directly from satellite zenith angles. The influence or neighbouring features on a nominal 1 km by 1 km pixel over a given site is estimated from the above information, and expressed as a spatial distribution whose spatial frequency response is used to define an effective field-of-view (EFOV) for a time series. In a demonstration of the technique applied to images from the Conterminous U.S. AVHRR data set, an EFOV of 3·1km in the east-west dimension and 19 km in the north-south dimension was estimated for a time series accumulated over a grasslands test site.

Simultaneous displacement and slope measurement in electronic speckle pattern interferometry using adjustable aperture multiplexing.

PubMed

Lu, Min; Wang, Shengjia; Aulbach, Laura; Koch, Alexander W

2016-08-01

This paper suggests the use of adjustable aperture multiplexing (AAM), a method which is able to introduce multiple tunable carrier frequencies into a three-beam electronic speckle pattern interferometer to measure the out-of-plane displacement and its first-order derivative simultaneously. In the optical arrangement, two single apertures are located in the object and reference light paths, respectively. In cooperation with two adjustable mirrors, virtual images of the single apertures construct three pairs of virtual double apertures with variable aperture opening sizes and aperture distances. By setting the aperture parameter properly, three tunable spatial carrier frequencies are produced within the speckle pattern and completely separate the information of three interferograms in the frequency domain. By applying the inverse Fourier transform to a selected spectrum, its corresponding phase difference distribution can thus be evaluated. Therefore, we can obtain the phase map due to the deformation as well as its slope of the test surface from two speckle patterns which are recorded at different loading events. By this means, simultaneous and dynamic measurements are realized. AAM has greatly simplified the measurement system, which contributes to improving the system stability and increasing the system flexibility and adaptability to various measurement requirements. This paper presents the AAM working principle, the phase retrieval using spatial carrier frequency, and preliminary experimental results.

New technologies lead to a new frontier: cognitive multiple data representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buffat, S.; Liege, F.; Plantier, J.; Roumes, C.

2005-05-01

The increasing number and complexity of operational sensors (radar, infrared, hyperspectral...) and availability of huge amount of data, lead to more and more sophisticated information presentations. But one key element of the IMINT line cannot be improved beyond initial system specification: the operator.... In order to overcome this issue, we have to better understand human visual object representation. Object recognition theories in human vision balance between matching 2D templates representation with viewpoint-dependant information, and a viewpoint-invariant system based on structural description. Spatial frequency content is relevant due to early vision filtering. Orientation in depth is an important variable to challenge object constancy. Three objects, seen from three different points of view in a natural environment made the original images in this study. Test images were a combination of spatial frequency filtered original images and an additive contrast level of white noise. In the first experiment, the observer's task was a same versus different forced choice with spatial alternative. Test images had the same noise level in a presentation row. Discrimination threshold was determined by modifying the white noise contrast level by means of an adaptative method. In the second experiment, a repetition blindness paradigm was used to further investigate the viewpoint effect on object recognition. The results shed some light on the human visual system processing of objects displayed under different physical descriptions. This is an important achievement because targets which not always match physical properties of usual visual stimuli can increase operational workload.

Task-induced frequency modulation features for brain-computer interfacing.

PubMed

Jayaram, Vinay; Hohmann, Matthias; Just, Jennifer; Schölkopf, Bernhard; Grosse-Wentrup, Moritz

2017-10-01

Task-induced amplitude modulation of neural oscillations is routinely used in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for decoding subjects' intents, and underlies some of the most robust and common methods in the field, such as common spatial patterns and Riemannian geometry. While there has been some interest in phase-related features for classification, both techniques usually presuppose that the frequencies of neural oscillations remain stable across various tasks. We investigate here whether features based on task-induced modulation of the frequency of neural oscillations enable decoding of subjects' intents with an accuracy comparable to task-induced amplitude modulation. We compare cross-validated classification accuracies using the amplitude and frequency modulated features, as well as a joint feature space, across subjects in various paradigms and pre-processing conditions. We show results with a motor imagery task, a cognitive task, and also preliminary results in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as using common spatial patterns and Laplacian filtering. The frequency features alone do not significantly out-perform traditional amplitude modulation features, and in some cases perform significantly worse. However, across both tasks and pre-processing in healthy subjects the joint space significantly out-performs either the frequency or amplitude features alone. This result only does not hold for ALS patients, for whom the dataset is of insufficient size to draw any statistically significant conclusions. Task-induced frequency modulation is robust and straight forward to compute, and increases performance when added to standard amplitude modulation features across paradigms. This allows more information to be extracted from the EEG signal cheaply and can be used throughout the field of BCIs.

Critical band masking reveals the effects of optical distortions on the channel mediating letter identification.

PubMed

Young, Laura K; Smithson, Hannah E

2014-01-01

There is evidence that letter identification is mediated by only a narrow band of spatial frequencies and that the center frequency of the neural channel thought to underlie this selectivity is related to the size of the letters. When letters are spatially filtered (at a fixed size) the channel tuning characteristics change according to the properties of the spatial filter (Majaj et al., 2002). Optical aberrations in the eye act to spatially filter the image formed on the retina-their effect is generally to attenuate high frequencies more than low frequencies but often in a non-monotonic way. We might expect the change in the spatial frequency spectrum caused by the aberration to predict the shift in channel tuning observed for aberrated letters. We show that this is not the case. We used critical-band masking to estimate channel-tuning in the presence of three types of aberration-defocus, coma and secondary astigmatism. We found that the maximum masking was shifted to lower frequencies in the presence of an aberration and that this result was not simply predicted by the spatial-frequency-dependent degradation in image quality, assessed via metrics that have previously been shown to correlate well with performance loss in the presence of an aberration. We show that if image quality effects are taken into account (using visual Strehl metrics), the neural channel required to model the data is shifted to lower frequencies compared to the control (no-aberration) condition. Additionally, we show that when spurious resolution (caused by π phase shifts in the optical transfer function) in the image is masked, the channel tuning properties for aberrated letters are affected, suggesting that there may be interference between visual channels. Even in the presence of simulated aberrations, whose properties change from trial-to-trial, observers exhibit flexibility in selecting the spatial frequencies that support letter identification.

SSD with generalized phase modulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rothenberg, J.

1996-01-09

Smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) with standard frequency modulation (FM), although simple to implement, has the disadvantage that low spatial frequencies present in the spectrum of the target illumination are not smoothed as effectively as with a more general smoothing method (eg, induced spatial incoherence method). The reduced smoothing performance of standard FM-SSD can result in spectral power of the speckle noise at these low spatial frequencies as much as one order of magnitude larger than that achieved with a more general method. In fact, at small integration times FM-SSD has no smoothing effect at all for a broad bandmore » of low spatial frequencies. This effect may have important implications for both direct and indirect drive ICF.« less

Perceived change in orientation from optic flow in the central visual field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dyre, Brian P.; Andersen, George J.

1988-01-01

The effects of internal depth within a simulation display on perceived changes in orientation have been studied. Subjects monocularly viewed displays simulating observer motion within a volume of randomly positioned points through a window which limited the field of view to 15 deg. Changes in perceived spatial orientation were measured by changes in posture. The extent of internal depth within the display, the presence or absence of visual information specifying change in orientation, and the frequency of motion supplied by the display were examined. It was found that increased sway occurred at frequencies equal to or below 0.375 Hz when motion at these frequencies was displayed. The extent of internal depth had no effect on the perception of changing orientation.

Photo-multiplier Tube Based Hybrid MRI and Frequency Domain Fluorescence Tomography System for Small Animal Imaging

PubMed Central

Lin, Y; Ghijsen, M T; Gao, H; Liu, N; Nalcioglu, O; Gulsen, G

2014-01-01

Fluorescence tomography (FT) is a promising molecular imaging technique that can spatially resolve both fluorophore concentration and lifetime parameters. However, recovered fluorophore parameters highly depend on the size and depth of the object due to the ill-posedness of the FT inverse problem. Structural a priori information from another high spatial resolution imaging modality has been demonstrated to significantly improve FT reconstruction accuracy. In this study, we have constructed a combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and FT system for small animal imaging. A photo-multiplier tube (PMT) is used as the detector to acquire frequency domain FT measurements. This is the first MR-compatible time-resolved FT system that can reconstruct both fluorescence concentration and lifetime maps simultaneously. The performance of the hybrid system is evaluated with phantom studies. Two different fluorophores, Indocyanine Green (ICG) and 3-3′ Diethylthiatricarbocyanine Iodide (DTTCI), which have similar excitation and emission spectra but different lifetimes, are utilized. The fluorescence concentration and lifetime maps are both reconstructed with and without the structural a priori information obtained from MRI for comparison. We show that the hybrid system can accurately recover both fluorescence intensity and lifetime within 10% error for two 4.2 mm-diameter cylindrical objects embedded in a 38 mm-diameter cylindrical phantom when MRI structural a priori information is utilized. PMID:21753235

Spatial and Temporal Flood Risk Assessment for Decision Making Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azizat, Nazirah; Omar, Wan-Mohd-Sabki Wan

2018-03-01

Heavy rainfall, adversely impacting inundation areas, depends on the magnitude of the flood. Significantly, location of settlements, infrastructure and facilities in floodplains result in many regions facing flooding risks. A problem faced by the decision maker in an assessment of flood vulnerability and evaluation of adaptation measures is recurrent flooding in the same areas. Identification of recurrent flooding areas and frequency of floods should be priorities for flood risk management. However, spatial and temporal variability become major factors of uncertainty in flood risk management. Therefore, dynamic and spatial characteristics of these changes in flood impact assessment are important in making decisions about the future of infrastructure development and community life. System dynamics (SD) simulation and hydrodynamic modelling are presented as tools for modelling the dynamic characteristics of flood risk and spatial variability. This paper discusses the integration between spatial and temporal information that is required by the decision maker for the identification of multi-criteria decision problems involving multiple stakeholders.

The spatial resolving power of earth resources satellites: A review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Townshend, J. R. G.

1980-01-01

The significance of spatial resolving power on the utility of current and future Earth resources satellites is critically discussed and the relative merits of different approaches in defining and estimating spatial resolution are outlined. It is shown that choice of a particular measure of spatial resolution depends strongly on the particular needs of the user. Several experiments have simulated the capabilities of future satellite systems by degradation of aircraft images. Surprisingly, many of these indicated that improvements in resolution may lead to a reduction in the classification accuracy of land cover types using computer assisted methods. However, where the frequency of boundary pixels is high, the converse relationship is found. Use of imagery dependent upon visual interpretation is likely to benefit more consistently from higher resolutions. Extraction of information from images will depend upon several other factors apart from spatial resolving power: these include characteristics of the terrain being sensed, the image processing methods that are applied as well as certain sensor characteristics.

Comparative analysis of 2D and 3D distance measurements to study spatial genome organization.

PubMed

Finn, Elizabeth H; Pegoraro, Gianluca; Shachar, Sigal; Misteli, Tom

2017-07-01

The spatial organization of genomes is non-random, cell-type specific, and has been linked to cellular function. The investigation of spatial organization has traditionally relied extensively on fluorescence microscopy. The validity of the imaging methods used to probe spatial genome organization often depends on the accuracy and precision of distance measurements. Imaging-based measurements may either use 2 dimensional datasets or 3D datasets which include the z-axis information in image stacks. Here we compare the suitability of 2D vs 3D distance measurements in the analysis of various features of spatial genome organization. We find in general good agreement between 2D and 3D analysis with higher convergence of measurements as the interrogated distance increases, especially in flat cells. Overall, 3D distance measurements are more accurate than 2D distances, but are also more susceptible to noise. In particular, z-stacks are prone to error due to imaging properties such as limited resolution along the z-axis and optical aberrations, and we also find significant deviations from unimodal distance distributions caused by low sampling frequency in z. These deviations are ameliorated by significantly higher sampling frequency in the z-direction. We conclude that 2D distances are preferred for comparative analyses between cells, but 3D distances are preferred when comparing to theoretical models in large samples of cells. In general and for practical purposes, 2D distance measurements are preferable for many applications of analysis of spatial genome organization. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Application of time–frequency wavelet analysis in the reflectometry of thin films

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Astaf’ev, S. B., E-mail: bard@crys.ras.ru; Shchedrin, B. M.; Yanusova, L. G.

2017-03-15

The application of time–frequency wavelet analysis for solving the reflectometry inverse problem is considered. It is shown that a simultaneous transform of specular intensity curve, depending on the grazing angle and spatial frequency, allows one to determine not only the thickness but also the alteration order of individual regions (layers) with characteristic behavior of electron density. This information makes it possible to reconstruct the electron density profile in the film cross section as a whole (i.e., to solve the inverse reflectometry problem). The application of the time–frequency transform is illustrated by examples of reconstructing (based on X-ray reflectivity data) themore » layer alternation order in models of two-layer films with inverted arrangement of layers and a four-layer film on a solid substrate.« less

Systematic study of high-frequency ultrasonic transducer design for laser-scanning photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy

PubMed Central

Ma, Teng; Zhang, Xiangyang; Chiu, Chi Tat; Chen, Ruimin; Kirk Shung, K.; Zhou, Qifa; Jiao, Shuliang

2014-01-01

Abstract. Photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy (PAOM) is a high-resolution in vivo imaging modality that is capable of providing specific optical absorption information for the retina. A high-frequency ultrasonic transducer is one of the key components in PAOM, which is in contact with the eyelid through coupling gel during imaging. The ultrasonic transducer plays a crucial role in determining the image quality affected by parameters such as spatial resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and field of view. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic study on a high-frequency ultrasonic transducer design for PAOM. The design includes piezoelectric material selection, frequency selection, and the fabrication process. Transducers of various designs were successfully applied for capturing images of biological samples in vivo. The performances of these designs are compared and evaluated. PMID:24441942

Systematic study of high-frequency ultrasonic transducer design for laser-scanning photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy.

PubMed

Ma, Teng; Zhang, Xiangyang; Chiu, Chi Tat; Chen, Ruimin; Kirk Shung, K; Zhou, Qifa; Jiao, Shuliang

2014-01-01

Photoacoustic ophthalmoscopy (PAOM) is a high-resolution in vivo imaging modality that is capable of providing specific optical absorption information for the retina. A high-frequency ultrasonic transducer is one of the key components in PAOM, which is in contact with the eyelid through coupling gel during imaging. The ultrasonic transducer plays a crucial role in determining the image quality affected by parameters such as spatial resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and field of view. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic study on a high-frequency ultrasonic transducer design for PAOM. The design includes piezoelectric material selection, frequency selection, and the fabrication process. Transducers of various designs were successfully applied for capturing images of biological samples in vivo. The performances of these designs are compared and evaluated.

An underestimated role of precipitation frequency in regulating summer soil moisture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Chaoyang; Chen, Jing M.; Pumpanen, Jukka

2012-04-26

Soil moisture induced droughts are expected to become more frequent under future global climate change. Precipitation has been previously assumed to be mainly responsible for variability in summer soil moisture. However, little is known about the impacts of precipitation frequency on summer soil moisture, either interannually or spatially. To better understand the temporal and spatial drivers of summer drought, 415 site yr measurements observed at 75 flux sites world wide were used to analyze the temporal and spatial relationships between summer soil water content (SWC) and the precipitation frequencies at various temporal scales, i.e., from half-hourly, 3, 6, 12 andmore » 24 h measurements. Summer precipitation was found to be an indicator of interannual SWC variability with r of 0.49 (p < 0.001) for the overall dataset. However, interannual variability in summer SWC was also significantly correlated with the five precipitation frequencies and the sub-daily precipitation frequencies seemed to explain the interannual SWC variability better than the total of precipitation. Spatially, all these precipitation frequencies were better indicators of summer SWC than precipitation totals, but these better performances were only observed in non-forest ecosystems. Our results demonstrate that precipitation frequency may play an important role in regulating both interannual and spatial variations of summer SWC, which has probably been overlooked or underestimated. However, the spatial interpretation should carefully consider other factors, such as the plant functional types and soil characteristics of diverse ecoregions.« less

Nanosensitive optical coherence tomography for the study of changes in static and dynamic structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alexandrov, S; Subhash, H; Leahy, M

2014-07-31

We briefly discuss the principle of image formation in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). The theory of a new approach to improve dramatically the sensitivity of conventional OCT is described. The approach is based on spectral encoding of spatial frequency. Information about the spatial structure is directly translated from the Fourier domain to the image domain as different wavelengths, without compromising the accuracy. Axial spatial period profiles of the structure are reconstructed for any volume of interest within the 3D OCT image with nanoscale sensitivity. An example of application of the nanoscale OCT to probe the internal structure ofmore » medico-biological objects, the anterior chamber of an ex vivo rat eye, is demonstrated. (laser biophotonics)« less

Spatial orientation of different frequencies within the echolocation beam of a Tursiops truncatus and Pseudorca crassidens.

PubMed

Ibsen, Stuart D; Nachtigall, Paul E; Krause-Nehring, Jacqueline; Kloepper, Laura; Breese, Marlee; Li, Songhai; Vlachos, Stephanie

2012-08-01

A two-dimensional array of 16 hydrophones was created to map the spatial distribution of different frequencies within the echolocation beam of a Tursiops truncatus and a Pseudorca crassidens. It was previously shown that both the Tursiops and Pseudorca only paid attention to frequencies between 29 and 42 kHz while echolocating. Both individuals tightly focused the 30 kHz frequency and the spatial location of the focus was consistently pointed toward the target. At 50 kHz the beam was less focused and less precisely pointed at the target. At 100 kHz the focus was often completely lost and was not pointed at the target. This indicates that these individuals actively focused the beam toward the target only in the frequency range they paid attention to. Frequencies outside this range were left unfocused and undirected. This focusing was probably achieved through sensorimotor control of the melon morphology and nasal air sacs. This indicates that both morphologically different species can control the spatial distribution of different frequency ranges within the echolocation beam to create consistent ensonation of desired targets.

Snow Water Equivalent Retrieval Using Multitemporal COSMO Skymed X-Band SAR Images To Inform Water Systems Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denaro, S.; Del Gobbo, U.; Castelletti, A.; Tebaldini, S.; Monti Guarnieri, A.

2015-12-01

In this work, we explore the use of exogenous snow-related information for enhancing the operation of water facilities in snow dominated watersheds. Traditionally, such information is assimilated into short-to-medium term streamflow forecasts, which are then used to inform water systems operation. Here, we adopt an alternative model-free approach, where the policy is directly conditioned upon a small set of selected observational data able to surrogate the snow-pack dynamics. In snow-fed water systems, the Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) stored in the basin often represents the largest contribution to the future season streamflow. The SWE estimation process is challenged by the high temporal and spatial variability of snow-pack and snow properties. Traditional retrieval methods, based on few ground sensors and optical satellites, often fail at representing the spatial diversity of snow conditions over large basins and at producing continuous (gap-free) data at the high sample frequency (e.g. daily) required to optimally control water systems. Against this background, SWE estimates from remote sensed radar products stand out, being able to acquire spatial information with no dependence on cloud coverage. In this work, we propose a technique for retrieving SWE estimates from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Cosmo SkyMed X-band images: a regression model, calibrated on ground SWE measurements, is implemented on dry snow maps obtained through a multi-temporal approach. The unprecedented spatial scale of this application is novel w.r.t. state of the art radar analysis conducted on limited spatial domains. The operational value of the SAR retrieved SWE estimates is evaluated based on ISA, a recently developed information selection and assessment framework. The method is demonstrated on a snow-rain fed river basin in the Italian Alps. Preliminary results show SAR images have a good potential for monitoring snow conditions and for improving water management operations.

Neural processing of high and low spatial frequency information in faces changes across development: qualitative changes in face processing during adolescence.

PubMed

Peters, Judith C; Vlamings, Petra; Kemner, Chantal

2013-05-01

Face perception in adults depends on skilled processing of interattribute distances ('configural' processing), which is disrupted for faces presented in inverted orientation (face inversion effect or FIE). Children are not proficient in configural processing, and this might relate to an underlying immaturity to use facial information in low spatial frequency (SF) ranges, which capture the coarse information needed for configural processing. We hypothesized that during adolescence a shift from use of high to low SF information takes place. Therefore, we studied the influence of SF content on neural face processing in groups of children (9-10 years), adolescents (14-15 years) and young adults (21-29 years) by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) to upright and inverted faces which varied in SF content. Results revealed that children show a neural FIE in early processing stages (i.e. P1; generated in early visual areas), suggesting a superficial, global facial analysis. In contrast, ERPs of adults revealed an FIE at later processing stages (i.e. N170; generated in face-selective, higher visual areas). Interestingly, adolescents showed FIEs in both processing stages, suggesting a hybrid developmental stage. Furthermore, adolescents and adults showed FIEs for stimuli containing low SF information, whereas such effects were driven by both low and high SF information in children. These results indicate that face processing has a protracted maturational course into adolescence, and is dependent on changes in SF processing. During adolescence, sensitivity to configural cues is developed, which aids the fast and holistic processing that is so special for faces. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Texture-dependent motion signals in primate middle temporal area

PubMed Central

Gharaei, Saba; Tailby, Chris; Solomon, Selina S; Solomon, Samuel G

2013-01-01

Neurons in the middle temporal (MT) area of primate cortex provide an important stage in the analysis of visual motion. For simple stimuli such as bars and plaids some neurons in area MT – pattern cells – seem to signal motion independent of contour orientation, but many neurons – component cells – do not. Why area MT supports both types of receptive field is unclear. To address this we made extracellular recordings from single units in area MT of anaesthetised marmoset monkeys and examined responses to two-dimensional images with a large range of orientations and spatial frequencies. Component and pattern cell response remained distinct during presentation of these complex spatial textures. Direction tuning curves were sharpest in component cells when a texture contained a narrow range of orientations, but were similar across all neurons for textures containing all orientations. Response magnitude of pattern cells, but not component cells, increased with the spatial bandwidth of the texture. In addition, response variability in all neurons was reduced when the stimulus was rich in spatial texture. Fisher information analysis showed that component cells provide more informative responses than pattern cells when a texture contains a narrow range of orientations, but pattern cells had more informative responses for broadband textures. Component cells and pattern cells may therefore coexist because they provide complementary and parallel motion signals. PMID:24000175

Stellar interferometers and hypertelescopes: new insights on an angular spatial frequency approach to their non-invariant imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dettwiller, L.; Lépine, T.

2017-12-01

A general and pure wave theory of image formation for all types of stellar interferometers, including hypertelescopes, is developed in the frame of Fresnel's paraxial approximations of diffraction. For a hypertelescope, we show that the severe lack of translation invariance leads to multiple and strong spatial frequency heterodyning, which codes the very high frequencies detected by the hypertelescope into medium spatial frequencies and introduces a moiré-type ambiguity for extended objects. This explains mathematically the disappointing appearance of poor resolution observed in some image simulations for hypertelescopes.

Spatial contrast sensitivity - Effects of age, test-retest, and psychophysical method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Higgins, Kent E.; Jaffe, Myles J.; Caruso, Rafael C.; Demonasterio, Francisco M.

1988-01-01

Two different psychophysical methods were used to test the spatial contrast sensitivity in normal subjects from five age groups. The method of adjustment showed a decline in sensitivity with increasing age at all spatial frequencies, while the forced-choice procedure showed an age-related decline predominantly at high spatial frequencies. It is suggested that a neural component is responsible for this decline.

Image restoration and superresolution as probes of small scale far-IR structure in star forming regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lester, D. F.; Harvey, P. M.; Joy, M.; Ellis, H. B., Jr.

1986-01-01

Far-infrared continuum studies from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory are described that are designed to fully exploit the small-scale spatial information that this facility can provide. This work gives the clearest picture to data on the structure of galactic and extragalactic star forming regions in the far infrared. Work is presently being done with slit scans taken simultaneously at 50 and 100 microns, yielding one-dimensional data. Scans of sources in different directions have been used to get certain information on two dimensional structure. Planned work with linear arrays will allow us to generalize our techniques to two dimensional image restoration. For faint sources, spatial information at the diffraction limit of the telescope is obtained, while for brighter sources, nonlinear deconvolution techniques have allowed us to improve over the diffraction limit by as much as a factor of four. Information on the details of the color temperature distribution is derived as well. This is made possible by the accuracy with which the instrumental point-source profile (PSP) is determined at both wavelengths. While these two PSPs are different, data at different wavelengths can be compared by proper spatial filtering. Considerable effort has been devoted to implementing deconvolution algorithms. Nonlinear deconvolution methods offer the potential of superresolution -- that is, inference of power at spatial frequencies that exceed D lambda. This potential is made possible by the implicit assumption by the algorithm of positivity of the deconvolved data, a universally justifiable constraint for photon processes. We have tested two nonlinear deconvolution algorithms on our data; the Richardson-Lucy (R-L) method and the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM). The limits of image deconvolution techniques for achieving spatial resolution are addressed.

Attention to Hierarchical Level Influences Attentional Selection of Spatial Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flevaris, Anastasia V.; Bentin, Shlomo; Robertson, Lynn C.

2011-01-01

Ample evidence suggests that global perception may involve low spatial frequency (LSF) processing and that local perception may involve high spatial frequency (HSF) processing (Shulman, Sullivan, Gish, & Sakoda, 1986; Shulman & Wilson, 1987; Robertson, 1996). It is debated whether SF selection is a low-level mechanism associating global…

Stereoscopic depth constancy

PubMed Central

Guan, Phillip

2016-01-01

Depth constancy is the ability to perceive a fixed depth interval in the world as constant despite changes in viewing distance and the spatial scale of depth variation. It is well known that the spatial frequency of depth variation has a large effect on threshold. In the first experiment, we determined that the visual system compensates for this differential sensitivity when the change in disparity is suprathreshold, thereby attaining constancy similar to contrast constancy in the luminance domain. In a second experiment, we examined the ability to perceive constant depth when the spatial frequency and viewing distance both changed. To attain constancy in this situation, the visual system has to estimate distance. We investigated this ability when vergence, accommodation and vertical disparity are all presented accurately and therefore provided veridical information about viewing distance. We found that constancy is nearly complete across changes in viewing distance. Depth constancy is most complete when the scale of the depth relief is constant in the world rather than when it is constant in angular units at the retina. These results bear on the efficacy of algorithms for creating stereo content. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Vision in our three-dimensional world’. PMID:27269596

Multiscale radar mapping of surface melt over mountain glaciers in High Mountain Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiner, N.; McDonald, K. C.

2017-12-01

Glacier melt dominates input for many hydrologic systems in the Himalayan Hindukush region that feed rivers that are critical for downstream ecosystems and hydropower generation in this highly populated area. Deviation in seasonal surface melt timing and duration with a changing climate has the potential to affect up to a billion people on the Indian Subcontinent. Satellite-borne microwave remote sensing has unique capabilities that allow monitoring of numerous landscape processes associated with snowmelt and freeze/thaw state, without many of the limitations in optical-infrared sensors such as solar illumination or atmospheric conditions. The onset of regional freeze/thaw and surface melting transitions determine important surface hydrologic variables like river discharge. Theses regional events are abrupt therefore difficult to observe with low-frequency observation sensors. Recently launched synthetic aperture radar (SAR) onboard the Sentinel-1 A and B satellites from the European Space Agency (ESA) provide wide-swath and high spatial resolution (50-100 m) C-Band SAR observations with observations frequencies not previously available, on the order of 8 to 16 days. The Sentinel SARs provide unique opportunity to study freeze/thaw and mountain glacier melt dynamics at process level scales, spatial and temporal. The melt process of individual glaciers, being fully resolved by imaging radar, will inform on the radiometric scattering physics associated with surface hydrology during the transition from melted to thawed state and during refreeze. Backscatter observations, along with structural information about the surface will be compared with complimentary coarse spatial resolution C-Band radar scatterometers, Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT Met Op A+B), to understand the sub-pixel contribution of surface melting and freeze/thaw signals. This information will inform on longer-scale records of backscatter from ASCAT, 2006-2017. We present a comparison of polarimetric C-Band melt signals contained in the multi-scale backscatter and present a coincident freeze/thaw and snowmelt records from ASCAT and Sentinel-1 for the Gandaki basin, Nepal.

A perspective of synthetic aperture radar for remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skolnik, M. I.

1978-01-01

The characteristics and capabilities of synthetic aperture radar are discussed so as to identify those features particularly unique to SAR. The SAR and Optical images were compared. The SAR is an example of radar that provides more information about a target than simply its location. It is the spatial resolution and imaging capability of SAR that has made its application of interest, especially from spaceborne platforms. However, for maximum utility to remote sensing, it was proposed that other information be extracted from SAR data, such as the cross section with frequency and polarization.

3D imaging of translucent media with a plenoptic sensor based on phase space optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xuanzhe; Shu, Bohong; Du, Shaojun

2015-05-01

Traditional stereo imaging technology is not working for dynamical translucent media, because there are no obvious characteristic patterns on it and it's not allowed using multi-cameras in most cases, while phase space optics can solve the problem, extracting depth information directly from "space-spatial frequency" distribution of the target obtained by plenoptic sensor with single lens. This paper discussed the presentation of depth information in phase space data, and calculating algorithms with different transparency. A 3D imaging example of waterfall was given at last.

Novel phase-locked electronic speckle pattern interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Kaiduan; Zhang, Feng; Wang, Chuangshe; Tan, Yushan

1997-03-01

The theory, design, and characteristics of a Phase-locked Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) are described. The main principle of the Phase-lock system is to use the characteristics of spatial frequency of the object light to get the information of the phase of the objects' vibration and the disturbance of air. By using the information, we eliminate not only the influence of the objects' vibration, but also the influence of the disturbance of the air. So we can get more stable image of ESPI, and more reliable measurement result.

Masking potency and whiteness of noise at various noise check sizes.

PubMed

Kukkonen, H; Rovamo, J; Näsänen, R

1995-02-01

The masking effect of spatial noise can be increased by increasing either the rms contrast or check size of noise. In this study, the authors investigated the largest noise check size that still mimics the effect of white noise in grating detection and how it depends on the bandwidth and spatial frequency of a grating. The authors measured contrast energy thresholds, E, for vertical cosine gratings at various spatial frequencies and bandwidths. Gratings were embedded in two-dimensional spatial noise. The side length of the square noise checks was varied in the experiments. The spectral density, N(0,0), of white spatial noise at zero frequency was calculated by multiplying the noise check area by the rms contrast of noise squared. The physical signal-to-noise ratio at threshold [E/N(0,0)]0.5 was initially constant but then started to decrease. The largest noise check that still produced a constant physical signal-to-noise ratio at threshold was directly proportional to the spatial frequency. When expressed as a fraction of grating cycle, the largest noise check size depended only on stimulus bandwidth. The smallest number of noise checks per grating cycle needed to mimic the effect of white noise decreased from 4.2 to 2.6 when the number of grating cycles increased from 1 to 64. Spatial noise can be regarded as white in grating detection if there are at least four square noise checks per grating cycle at all spatial frequencies.

High-dynamic-range scene compression in humans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCann, John J.

2006-02-01

Single pixel dynamic-range compression alters a particular input value to a unique output value - a look-up table. It is used in chemical and most digital photographic systems having S-shaped transforms to render high-range scenes onto low-range media. Post-receptor neural processing is spatial, as shown by the physiological experiments of Dowling, Barlow, Kuffler, and Hubel & Wiesel. Human vision does not render a particular receptor-quanta catch as a unique response. Instead, because of spatial processing, the response to a particular quanta catch can be any color. Visual response is scene dependent. Stockham proposed an approach to model human range compression using low-spatial frequency filters. Campbell, Ginsberg, Wilson, Watson, Daly and many others have developed spatial-frequency channel models. This paper describes experiments measuring the properties of desirable spatial-frequency filters for a variety of scenes. Given the radiances of each pixel in the scene and the observed appearances of objects in the image, one can calculate the visual mask for that individual image. Here, visual mask is the spatial pattern of changes made by the visual system in processing the input image. It is the spatial signature of human vision. Low-dynamic range images with many white areas need no spatial filtering. High-dynamic-range images with many blacks, or deep shadows, require strong spatial filtering. Sun on the right and shade on the left requires directional filters. These experiments show that variable scene- scenedependent filters are necessary to mimic human vision. Although spatial-frequency filters can model human dependent appearances, the problem still remains that an analysis of the scene is still needed to calculate the scene-dependent strengths of each of the filters for each frequency.

Is there "neural efficiency" during the processing of visuo-spatial information in male humans? An EEG study.

PubMed

Capotosto, Paolo; Perrucci, M Gianni; Brunetti, Marcella; Del Gratta, Cosimo; Doppelmayr, Michael; Grabner, Roland H; Klimesch, Wolfgang; Neubauer, Aljoscha; Neuper, Christa; Pfurtscheller, Gert; Romani, Gian Luca; Babiloni, Claudio

2009-12-28

More intelligent persons (high IQ) typically present a higher cortical activity during tasks requiring the encoding of visuo-spatial information, namely higher alpha (about 10 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD; Doppelmayr et al., 2005). The opposite is true ("neural efficiency") during the retrieval of the encoded information, as revealed by both lower alpha ERD and/or lower theta (about 5 Hz) event-related synchronization (ERS; Grabner et al., 2004). To reconcile these contrasting results, here we evaluated the working hypothesis that more intelligent male subjects are characterized by a high cortical activity during the encoding phase. This deep encoding would explain the relatively low cortical activity for the retrieval of the encoded information. To test this hypothesis, electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded in 22 healthy young male volunteers during visuo-spatial information processing (encoding) and short-term retrieval of the encoded information. Cortical activity was indexed by theta ERS and alpha ERD. It was found that the higher the subjects' total IQ, the stronger the frontal theta ERS during the encoding task. Furthermore, the higher the subjects' total IQ, the lower the frontal high-frequency alpha ERD (about 10-12 Hz) during the retrieval task. This was not true for parietal counterpart of these EEG rhythms. These results reconcile previous contrasting evidence confirming that more intelligent persons do not ever show event-related cortical responses compatible with "neural efficiency" hypothesis. Rather, their cortical activity would depend on flexible and task-adapting features of frontal activation.

Visual sensitivity to spatially sampled modulation in human observers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulligan, Jeffrey B.; Macleod, Donald I. A.

1991-01-01

Thresholds were measured for detecting spatial luminance modulation in regular lattices of visually discrete dots. Thresholds for modulation of a lattice are generally higher than the corresponding threshold for modulation of a continuous field, and the size of the threshold elevation, which depends on the spacing of the lattice elements, can be as large as a one log unit. The largest threshold elevations are seen when the sample spacing is 12 min arc or greater. Theories based on response compression cannot explain the further observation that the threshold elevations due to spatial sampling are also dependent on modulation frequency: the greatest elevations occur with higher modulation frequencies. The idea that this is due to masking of the modulation frequency by the spatial frequencies in the sampling lattice is considered.

Image enhancement filters significantly improve reading performance for low vision observers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawton, T. B.

1992-01-01

As people age, so do their photoreceptors; many photoreceptors in central vision stop functioning when a person reaches their late sixties or early seventies. Low vision observers with losses in central vision, those with age-related maculopathies, were studied. Low vision observers no longer see high spatial frequencies, being unable to resolve fine edge detail. We developed image enhancement filters to compensate for the low vision observer's losses in contrast sensitivity to intermediate and high spatial frequencies. The filters work by boosting the amplitude of the less visible intermediate spatial frequencies. The lower spatial frequencies. These image enhancement filters not only reduce the magnification needed for reading by up to 70 percent, but they also increase the observer's reading speed by 2-4 times. A summary of this research is presented.

MULTISCALE ADAPTIVE SMOOTHING MODELS FOR THE HEMODYNAMIC RESPONSE FUNCTION IN FMRI*

PubMed Central

Wang, Jiaping; Zhu, Hongtu; Fan, Jianqing; Giovanello, Kelly; Lin, Weili

2012-01-01

In the event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analysis, there is an extensive interest in accurately and robustly estimating the hemodynamic response function (HRF) and its associated statistics (e.g., the magnitude and duration of the activation). Most methods to date are developed in the time domain and they have utilized almost exclusively the temporal information of fMRI data without accounting for the spatial information. The aim of this paper is to develop a multiscale adaptive smoothing model (MASM) in the frequency domain by integrating the spatial and temporal information to adaptively and accurately estimate HRFs pertaining to each stimulus sequence across all voxels in a three-dimensional (3D) volume. We use two sets of simulation studies and a real data set to examine the finite sample performance of MASM in estimating HRFs. Our real and simulated data analyses confirm that MASM outperforms several other state-of-art methods, such as the smooth finite impulse response (sFIR) model. PMID:24533041

Investigating the effect of previous treatments on wheat biomass over multiple spatial frequencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milne, A. E.; Castellanos, M. T.; Cartagena, M. C.; Tarquis, A. M.; Lark, R. M.

2010-09-01

In this study we use the maximum overlap discrete packet transform (MODWPT) to investigate residual effects on wheat biomass of fertigation treatments applied to a previous crop. The wheat crop covered nine subplots from a previous experiment on melon response to fertigation. Each subplot had previously received a different level of applied nitrogen. Many factors affect wheat biomass, causing it to vary at different spatial frequencies. We hypothesize that these will include residual effects from fertilizer application (at relatively low spatial frequencies) and the local influence of individual plants from the previous melon crop (at high frequency). To test this hypothesis we use the MODWPT to identify the dominant spatial frequencies of wheat biomass variation, and analyse the relationship to both the previous fertilizer application and the location of individual melon plants in the previous crop. The MODWPT is particularly appropriate for this because it allows us first to identify the key spatial frequencies in the wheat biomass objectively and to analyse them, and their relationship to hypothesized driving factors without any assumptions of uniformity (stationarity) of wheat-biomass variation. The results showed that the applied nitrogen dominated the wheat biomass response, and that there was a noticeable component of wheat-biomass variation at the spatial frequency that corresponds to the melon cropping. We expected wheat biomass to be negatively correlated with the position of melons in the previous crop, due to uptake of the applied nitrogen. The MODWPT, which allows us to detect changes in correlation between variables at different frequencies, showed that such a relationship was found across part of the experiment but not uniformly.

A comparison of regional flood frequency analysis approaches in a simulation framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganora, D.; Laio, F.

2016-07-01

Regional frequency analysis (RFA) is a well-established methodology to provide an estimate of the flood frequency curve at ungauged (or scarcely gauged) sites. Different RFA approaches exist, depending on the way the information is transferred to the site of interest, but it is not clear in the literature if a specific method systematically outperforms the others. The aim of this study is to provide a framework wherein carrying out the intercomparison by building up a virtual environment based on synthetically generated data. The considered regional approaches include: (i) a unique regional curve for the whole region; (ii) a multiple-region model where homogeneous subregions are determined through cluster analysis; (iii) a Region-of-Influence model which defines a homogeneous subregion for each site; (iv) a spatially smooth estimation procedure where the parameters of the regional model vary continuously along the space. Virtual environments are generated considering different patterns of heterogeneity, including step change and smooth variations. If the region is heterogeneous, with the parent distribution changing continuously within the region, the spatially smooth regional approach outperforms the others, with overall errors 10-50% lower than the other methods. In the case of a step-change, the spatially smooth and clustering procedures perform similarly if the heterogeneity is moderate, while clustering procedures work better when the step-change is severe. To extend our findings, an extensive sensitivity analysis has been performed to investigate the effect of sample length, number of virtual stations, return period of the predicted quantile, variability of the scale parameter of the parent distribution, number of predictor variables and different parent distribution. Overall, the spatially smooth approach appears as the most robust approach as its performances are more stable across different patterns of heterogeneity, especially when short records are considered.

Imaging the Subsurface of the Thuringian Basin (Germany) on Different Spatial Scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goepel, A.; Krause, M.; Methe, P.; Kukowski, N.

2014-12-01

Understanding the coupled dynamics of near surface and deep fluid flow patterns is essential to characterize the properties of sedimentary basins, to identify the processes of compaction, diagenesis, and transport of mass and energy. The multidisciplinary project INFLUINS (Integrated FLUid dynamics IN Sedimentary basins) aims for investigating the behavior of fluids in the Thuringian Basin, a small intra-continental sedimentary basin in Germany, at different spatial scales, ranging from the pore scale to the extent of the entire basin. As hydraulic properties often significantly vary with spatial scales, e.g. seismic data using different frequencies are required to gain information about the spatial variability of elastic and hydraulic subsurface properties. For the Thuringian Basin, we use seismic and borehole data acquired in the framework of INFLUINS. Basin-wide structural imaging data are available from 2D reflection seismic profiles as well as 2.5D and 3D seismic travel time tomography. Further, core material from a 1,179 m deep drill hole completed in 2013 is available for laboratory seismic experiments on mm- to cm-scale. The data are complemented with logging data along the entire drill hole. This campaign yielded e.g. sonic and density logs allowing the estimation of in-situ P-velocity and acoustic impedance with a spatial resolution on the cm-scale and provides improved information about petrologic and stratigraphic variability at different scales. Joint interpretation of basin scale structural and elastic properties data with laboratory scale data from ultrasound experiments using core samples enables a detailed and realistic imaging of the subsurface properties on different spatial scales. Combining seismic travel time tomography with stratigraphic interpretation provides useful information of variations in the elastic properties for certain geological units and therefore gives indications for changes in hydraulic properties.

Spatial Frequency Discrimination: Effects of Age, Reward, and Practice

PubMed Central

Peters, Judith Carolien

2017-01-01

Social interaction starts with perception of the world around you. This study investigated two fundamental issues regarding the development of discrimination of higher spatial frequencies, which are important building blocks of perception. Firstly, it mapped the typical developmental trajectory of higher spatial frequency discrimination. Secondly, it developed and validated a novel design that could be applied to improve atypically developed vision. Specifically, this study examined the effect of age and reward on task performance, practice effects, and motivation (i.e., number of trials completed) in a higher spatial frequency (reference frequency: 6 cycles per degree) discrimination task. We measured discrimination thresholds in children aged between 7 to 12 years and adults (N = 135). Reward was manipulated by presenting either positive reinforcement or punishment. Results showed a decrease in discrimination thresholds with age, thus revealing that higher spatial frequency discrimination continues to develop after 12 years of age. This development continues longer than previously shown for discrimination of lower spatial frequencies. Moreover, thresholds decreased during the run, indicating that discrimination abilities improved. Reward did not affect performance or improvement. However, in an additional group of 5–6 year-olds (N = 28) punishments resulted in the completion of fewer trials compared to reinforcements. In both reward conditions children aged 5–6 years completed only a fourth or half of the run (64 to 128 out of 254 trials) and were not motivated to continue. The design thus needs further adaptation before it can be applied to this age group. Children aged 7–12 years and adults completed the run, suggesting that the design is successful and motivating for children aged 7–12 years. This study thus presents developmental differences in higher spatial frequency discrimination thresholds. Furthermore, it presents a design that can be used in future developmental studies that require multiple stimulus presentations such as visual perceptual learning. PMID:28135272

Spatial Frequency Discrimination: Effects of Age, Reward, and Practice.

PubMed

van den Boomen, Carlijn; Peters, Judith Carolien

2017-01-01

Social interaction starts with perception of the world around you. This study investigated two fundamental issues regarding the development of discrimination of higher spatial frequencies, which are important building blocks of perception. Firstly, it mapped the typical developmental trajectory of higher spatial frequency discrimination. Secondly, it developed and validated a novel design that could be applied to improve atypically developed vision. Specifically, this study examined the effect of age and reward on task performance, practice effects, and motivation (i.e., number of trials completed) in a higher spatial frequency (reference frequency: 6 cycles per degree) discrimination task. We measured discrimination thresholds in children aged between 7 to 12 years and adults (N = 135). Reward was manipulated by presenting either positive reinforcement or punishment. Results showed a decrease in discrimination thresholds with age, thus revealing that higher spatial frequency discrimination continues to develop after 12 years of age. This development continues longer than previously shown for discrimination of lower spatial frequencies. Moreover, thresholds decreased during the run, indicating that discrimination abilities improved. Reward did not affect performance or improvement. However, in an additional group of 5-6 year-olds (N = 28) punishments resulted in the completion of fewer trials compared to reinforcements. In both reward conditions children aged 5-6 years completed only a fourth or half of the run (64 to 128 out of 254 trials) and were not motivated to continue. The design thus needs further adaptation before it can be applied to this age group. Children aged 7-12 years and adults completed the run, suggesting that the design is successful and motivating for children aged 7-12 years. This study thus presents developmental differences in higher spatial frequency discrimination thresholds. Furthermore, it presents a design that can be used in future developmental studies that require multiple stimulus presentations such as visual perceptual learning.

Information theoretic measures of network coordination in high-frequency scalp EEG reveal dynamic patterns associated with seizure termination.

PubMed

Stamoulis, Catherine; Schomer, Donald L; Chang, Bernard S

2013-08-01

How a seizure terminates is still under-studied and, despite its clinical importance, remains an obscure phase of seizure evolution. Recent studies of seizure-related scalp EEGs at frequencies >100 Hz suggest that neural activity, in the form of oscillations and/or neuronal network interactions, may play an important role in preictal/ictal seizure evolution (Andrade-Valenca et al., 2011; Stamoulis et al., 2012). However, the role of high-frequency activity in seizure termination, is unknown, if it exists at all. Using information theoretic measures of network coordination, this study investigated ictal and immediate postictal neurodynamic interactions encoded in scalp EEGs from a relatively small sample of 8 patients with focal epilepsy and multiple seizures originating in temporal and/or frontal brain regions, at frequencies ≤ 100 Hz and >100 Hz, respectively. Despite some heterogeneity in the dynamics of these interactions, consistent patterns were also estimated. Specifically, in several seizures, linear or non-linear increase in high-frequency neuronal coordination during ictal intervals, coincided with a corresponding decrease in coordination at frequencies <100 Hz, suggesting a potential interference role of high-frequency activity, to disrupt abnormal ictal synchrony at lower frequencies. These changes in network synchrony started at least 20-30s prior to seizure offset, depending on the seizure duration. Opposite patterns were estimated at frequencies ≤ 100 Hz in several seizures. These results raise the possibility that high-frequency interference may occur in the form of progressive network coordination during the ictal interval, which continues during the postictal interval. This may be one of several possible mechanisms that facilitate seizure termination. In fact, inhibition of pairwise interactions between EEGs by other signals in their spatial neighborhood, quantified by negative interaction information, was estimated at frequencies ≤ 100 Hz, at least in some seizures. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lower bound for LCD image quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, William P.; Balram, Nikhil

1996-03-01

The paper presents an objective lower bound for the discrimination of patterns and fine detail in images on a monochrome LCD. In applications such as medical imaging and military avionics the information of interest is often at the highest frequencies in the image. Since LCDs are sampled data systems, their output modulation is dependent on the phase between the input signal and the sampling points. This phase dependence becomes particularly significant at high spatial frequencies. In order to use an LCD for applications such as those mentioned above it is essential to have a lower (worst case) bound on the performance of the display. We address this problem by providing a mathematical model for the worst case output modulation of an LCD in response to a sine wave input. This function can be interpreted as a worst case modulation transfer function (MTF). The intersection of the worst case MTF with the contrast threshold function (CTF) of the human visual system defines the highest spatial frequency that will always be detectable. In addition to providing the worst case limiting resolution, this MTF is combined with the CTF to produce objective worst case image quality values using the modulation transfer function area (MTFA) metric.

Co-registered Frequency-Domain Photoacoustic Radar and Ultrasound System for Subsurface Imaging in Turbid Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dovlo, Edem; Lashkari, Bahman; Mandelis, Andreas

2016-03-01

Frequency-domain photoacoustic radar (FD-PAR) imaging of absorbers in turbid media and their comparison and/or validation as well as co-registration with their corresponding ultrasound (US) images are demonstrated in this paper. Also presented are the FD-PAR tomography and the effects of reducing the number of scan lines (or angles) on image quality, resolution, and contrast. The FD-PAR modality uses intensity-modulated (coded) continuous wave laser sources driven by frequency-swept (chirp) waveforms. The spatial cross-correlation function between the PA response and the reference signal used for laser source modulation produces the reconstructed image. Live animal testing is demonstrated, and images of comparable signal-to-noise ratio, contrast, and spatial resolution were obtained. Various image improvement techniques to further reduce absorber spread and artifacts in the images such as normalization, filtering, and amplification were also investigated. The co-registered image produced from the combined US and PA images provides more information than both images independently. The significance of this work lies in the fact that achieving PA imaging functionality on a commercial ultrasound instrument could accelerate its clinical acceptance and use. This work is aimed at functional PA imaging of small animals in vivo.

History of Reading Struggles Linked to Enhanced Learning in Low Spatial Frequency Scenes

PubMed Central

Schneps, Matthew H.; Brockmole, James R.; Sonnert, Gerhard; Pomplun, Marc

2012-01-01

People with dyslexia, who face lifelong struggles with reading, exhibit numerous associated low-level sensory deficits including deficits in focal attention. Countering this, studies have shown that struggling readers outperform typical readers in some visual tasks that integrate distributed information across an expanse. Though such abilities would be expected to facilitate scene memory, prior investigations using the contextual cueing paradigm failed to find corresponding advantages in dyslexia. We suggest that these studies were confounded by task-dependent effects exaggerating known focal attention deficits in dyslexia, and that, if natural scenes were used as the context, advantages would emerge. Here, we investigate this hypothesis by comparing college students with histories of severe lifelong reading difficulties (SR) and typical readers (TR) in contexts that vary attention load. We find no differences in contextual-cueing when spatial contexts are letter-like objects, or when contexts are natural scenes. However, the SR group significantly outperforms the TR group when contexts are low-pass filtered natural scenes [F(3, 39) = 3.15, p<.05]. These findings suggest that perception or memory for low spatial frequency components in scenes is enhanced in dyslexia. These findings are important because they suggest strengths for spatial learning in a population otherwise impaired, carrying implications for the education and support of students who face challenges in school. PMID:22558210

History of reading struggles linked to enhanced learning in low spatial frequency scenes.

PubMed

Schneps, Matthew H; Brockmole, James R; Sonnert, Gerhard; Pomplun, Marc

2012-01-01

People with dyslexia, who face lifelong struggles with reading, exhibit numerous associated low-level sensory deficits including deficits in focal attention. Countering this, studies have shown that struggling readers outperform typical readers in some visual tasks that integrate distributed information across an expanse. Though such abilities would be expected to facilitate scene memory, prior investigations using the contextual cueing paradigm failed to find corresponding advantages in dyslexia. We suggest that these studies were confounded by task-dependent effects exaggerating known focal attention deficits in dyslexia, and that, if natural scenes were used as the context, advantages would emerge. Here, we investigate this hypothesis by comparing college students with histories of severe lifelong reading difficulties (SR) and typical readers (TR) in contexts that vary attention load. We find no differences in contextual-cueing when spatial contexts are letter-like objects, or when contexts are natural scenes. However, the SR group significantly outperforms the TR group when contexts are low-pass filtered natural scenes [F(3, 39) = 3.15, p<.05]. These findings suggest that perception or memory for low spatial frequency components in scenes is enhanced in dyslexia. These findings are important because they suggest strengths for spatial learning in a population otherwise impaired, carrying implications for the education and support of students who face challenges in school.

Right Hemispatial Neglect: Frequency and Characterization Following Acute Left Hemisphere Stroke

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleinman, Jonathan T.; Newhart, Melissa; Davis, Cameron; Heidler-Gary, Jennifer; Gottesman, Rebecca F.; Hillis, Argye E.

2007-01-01

The frequency of various types of unilateral spatial neglect and associated areas of neural dysfunction after left hemisphere stroke are not well characterized. Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) in distinct spatial reference frames have been identified after acute right, but not left hemisphere stroke. We studied 47 consecutive right handed…

Brief Report: Developing Spatial Frequency Biases for Face Recognition in Autism and Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Hayley C.; Annaz, Dagmara; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Johnson, Mark H.

2011-01-01

The current study investigated whether contrasting face recognition abilities in autism and Williams syndrome could be explained by different spatial frequency biases over developmental time. Typically-developing children and groups with Williams syndrome and autism were asked to recognise faces in which low, middle and high spatial frequency…

High-latitude distributions of plasma waves and spatial irregularities from DE 2 alternating current electric field observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heppner, J. P.; Liebrecht, M. C.; Maynard, N. C.; Pfaff, R. F.

1993-01-01

The high-latitude spatial distributions of average signal intensities in 12 frequency channels between 4 Hz and 512 kHz as measured by the ac electric field spectrometers on the DE-2 spacecraft are analyzed for 18 mo of measurements. In MLT-INL (magnetic local time-invariant latitude) there are three distinct distributions that can be identified with 4-512 Hz signals from spatial irregularities and Alfven waves, 256-Hz to 4.1-kHz signals from ELF hiss, and 4.1-64 kHz signals from VLF auroral hiss, respectively. Overlap between ELF hiss and spatial irregularity signals occurs in the 256-512 Hz band. VLF hiss signals extend downward in frequency into the 1.0-4.1 kHz band and upward into the frequency range 128-512 kHz. The distinctly different spatial distribution patterns for the three bands, 4-256 Hz, 512-1204 Hz, and 4.1-64 kHz, indicate a lack of any causal relationships between VLF hiss, ELF hiss, and lower-frequency signals from spatial irregularities and Alfven waves.

Neurons in cat V1 show significant clustering by degree of tuning

PubMed Central

Ziskind, Avi J.; Emondi, Al A.; Kurgansky, Andrei V.; Rebrik, Sergei P.

2015-01-01

Neighboring neurons in cat primary visual cortex (V1) have similar preferred orientation, direction, and spatial frequency. How diverse is their degree of tuning for these properties? To address this, we used single-tetrode recordings to simultaneously isolate multiple cells at single recording sites and record their responses to flashed and drifting gratings of multiple orientations, spatial frequencies, and, for drifting gratings, directions. Orientation tuning width, spatial frequency tuning width, and direction selectivity index (DSI) all showed significant clustering: pairs of neurons recorded at a single site were significantly more similar in each of these properties than pairs of neurons from different recording sites. The strength of the clustering was generally modest. The percent decrease in the median difference between pairs from the same site, relative to pairs from different sites, was as follows: for different measures of orientation tuning width, 29–35% (drifting gratings) or 15–25% (flashed gratings); for DSI, 24%; and for spatial frequency tuning width measured in octaves, 8% (drifting gratings). The clusterings of all of these measures were much weaker than for preferred orientation (68% decrease) but comparable to that seen for preferred spatial frequency in response to drifting gratings (26%). For the above properties, little difference in clustering was seen between simple and complex cells. In studies of spatial frequency tuning to flashed gratings, strong clustering was seen among simple-cell pairs for tuning width (70% decrease) and preferred frequency (71% decrease), whereas no clustering was seen for simple-complex or complex-complex cell pairs. PMID:25652921

Increasing the information acquisition volume in iris recognition systems.

PubMed

Barwick, D Shane

2008-09-10

A significant hurdle for the widespread adoption of iris recognition in security applications is that the typically small imaging volume for eye placement results in systems that are not user friendly. Separable cubic phase plates at the lens pupil have been shown to ameliorate this disadvantage by increasing the depth of field. However, these phase masks have limitations on how efficiently they can capture the information-bearing spatial frequencies in iris images. The performance gains in information acquisition that can be achieved by more general, nonseparable phase masks is demonstrated. A detailed design method is presented, and simulations using representative designs allow for performance comparisons.

Spatial resolution dependence on spectral frequency in human speech cortex electrocorticography.

PubMed

Muller, Leah; Hamilton, Liberty S; Edwards, Erik; Bouchard, Kristofer E; Chang, Edward F

2016-10-01

Electrocorticography (ECoG) has become an important tool in human neuroscience and has tremendous potential for emerging applications in neural interface technology. Electrode array design parameters are outstanding issues for both research and clinical applications, and these parameters depend critically on the nature of the neural signals to be recorded. Here, we investigate the functional spatial resolution of neural signals recorded at the human cortical surface. We empirically derive spatial spread functions to quantify the shared neural activity for each frequency band of the electrocorticogram. Five subjects with high-density (4 mm center-to-center spacing) ECoG grid implants participated in speech perception and production tasks while neural activity was recorded from the speech cortex, including superior temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. The cortical surface field potential was decomposed into traditional EEG frequency bands. Signal similarity between electrode pairs for each frequency band was quantified using a Pearson correlation coefficient. The correlation of neural activity between electrode pairs was inversely related to the distance between the electrodes; this relationship was used to quantify spatial falloff functions for cortical subdomains. As expected, lower frequencies remained correlated over larger distances than higher frequencies. However, both the envelope and phase of gamma and high gamma frequencies (30-150 Hz) are largely uncorrelated (<90%) at 4 mm, the smallest spacing of the high-density arrays. Thus, ECoG arrays smaller than 4 mm have significant promise for increasing signal resolution at high frequencies, whereas less additional gain is achieved for lower frequencies. Our findings quantitatively demonstrate the dependence of ECoG spatial resolution on the neural frequency of interest. We demonstrate that this relationship is consistent across patients and across cortical areas during activity.

Spatial resolution dependence on spectral frequency in human speech cortex electrocorticography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller, Leah; Hamilton, Liberty S.; Edwards, Erik; Bouchard, Kristofer E.; Chang, Edward F.

2016-10-01

Objective. Electrocorticography (ECoG) has become an important tool in human neuroscience and has tremendous potential for emerging applications in neural interface technology. Electrode array design parameters are outstanding issues for both research and clinical applications, and these parameters depend critically on the nature of the neural signals to be recorded. Here, we investigate the functional spatial resolution of neural signals recorded at the human cortical surface. We empirically derive spatial spread functions to quantify the shared neural activity for each frequency band of the electrocorticogram. Approach. Five subjects with high-density (4 mm center-to-center spacing) ECoG grid implants participated in speech perception and production tasks while neural activity was recorded from the speech cortex, including superior temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. The cortical surface field potential was decomposed into traditional EEG frequency bands. Signal similarity between electrode pairs for each frequency band was quantified using a Pearson correlation coefficient. Main results. The correlation of neural activity between electrode pairs was inversely related to the distance between the electrodes; this relationship was used to quantify spatial falloff functions for cortical subdomains. As expected, lower frequencies remained correlated over larger distances than higher frequencies. However, both the envelope and phase of gamma and high gamma frequencies (30-150 Hz) are largely uncorrelated (<90%) at 4 mm, the smallest spacing of the high-density arrays. Thus, ECoG arrays smaller than 4 mm have significant promise for increasing signal resolution at high frequencies, whereas less additional gain is achieved for lower frequencies. Significance. Our findings quantitatively demonstrate the dependence of ECoG spatial resolution on the neural frequency of interest. We demonstrate that this relationship is consistent across patients and across cortical areas during activity.

Investigating the Small-Scale Spatial Variabilty of Precipitable Water Vapor by Adding Single-Frequency Receivers into an Existing Dual-Frequency Receiver Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krietemeyer, Andreas; ten Veldhuis, Marie-claire; van de Giesen, Nick

2017-04-01

Exploiting GNSS signal delays is one possibility to obtain Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) estimates in the atmosphere. The technique is well known since the early 1990s and by now an established method in the meteorological community. The data is crucial for weather forecasting and its assimilation into numerical weather forecasting models is a topic of ongoing research. However, the spatial resolution of ground based GNSS receivers is usually low, in the order of tens of kilometres. Since severe weather events such as convective storms can be concentrated in spatial extent, existing GNSS networks are often not sufficient to retrieve small scale PWV fluctuations and need to be densified. For economic reasons, the use of low-cost single-frequency receivers is a promising solution. In this study, we will deploy a network of single-frequency receivers to densify an existing dual-frequency network in order to investigate the spatial and temporal PWV variations. We demonstrate a test network consisting of four single-frequency receivers in the Rotterdam area (Netherlands). In order to eliminate the delay caused by the ionosphere, the Satellite-specific Epoch-differenced Ionospheric Delay model (SEID) is applied, using a surrounding dual-frequency network distributed over a radius of approximately 25 km. With the synthesized L2 frequency, the tropospheric delays are estimated using the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) strategy and International GNSS Service (IGS) final orbits. The PWV time series are validated by a comparison of a collocated single-frequency and a dual-frequency receiver. The time series themselves form the basis for potential further studies like data assimilation into numerical weather models and GNSS tomography to study the impact of the increased spatial resolution on local heavy rain forecast.

Modulations of eye movement patterns by spatial filtering during the learning and testing phases of an old/new face recognition task.

PubMed

Lemieux, Chantal L; Collin, Charles A; Nelson, Elizabeth A

2015-02-01

In two experiments, we examined the effects of varying the spatial frequency (SF) content of face images on eye movements during the learning and testing phases of an old/new recognition task. At both learning and testing, participants were presented with face stimuli band-pass filtered to 11 different SF bands, as well as an unfiltered baseline condition. We found that eye movements varied significantly as a function of SF. Specifically, the frequency of transitions between facial features showed a band-pass pattern, with more transitions for middle-band faces (≈5-20 cycles/face) than for low-band (≈<5 cpf) or high-band (≈>20 cpf) ones. These findings were similar for the learning and testing phases. The distributions of transitions across facial features were similar for the middle-band, high-band, and unfiltered faces, showing a concentration on the eyes and mouth; conversely, low-band faces elicited mostly transitions involving the nose and nasion. The eye movement patterns elicited by low, middle, and high bands are similar to those previous researchers have suggested reflect holistic, configural, and featural processing, respectively. More generally, our results are compatible with the hypotheses that eye movements are functional, and that the visual system makes flexible use of visuospatial information in face processing. Finally, our finding that only middle spatial frequencies yielded the same number and distribution of fixations as unfiltered faces adds more evidence to the idea that these frequencies are especially important for face recognition, and reveals a possible mediator for the superior performance that they elicit.

Quantitative, depth-resolved determination of particle motion using multi-exposure, spatial frequency domain laser speckle imaging.

PubMed

Rice, Tyler B; Kwan, Elliott; Hayakawa, Carole K; Durkin, Anthony J; Choi, Bernard; Tromberg, Bruce J

2013-01-01

Laser Speckle Imaging (LSI) is a simple, noninvasive technique for rapid imaging of particle motion in scattering media such as biological tissue. LSI is generally used to derive a qualitative index of relative blood flow due to unknown impact from several variables that affect speckle contrast. These variables may include optical absorption and scattering coefficients, multi-layer dynamics including static, non-ergodic regions, and systematic effects such as laser coherence length. In order to account for these effects and move toward quantitative, depth-resolved LSI, we have developed a method that combines Monte Carlo modeling, multi-exposure speckle imaging (MESI), spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI), and careful instrument calibration. Monte Carlo models were used to generate total and layer-specific fractional momentum transfer distributions. This information was used to predict speckle contrast as a function of exposure time, spatial frequency, layer thickness, and layer dynamics. To verify with experimental data, controlled phantom experiments with characteristic tissue optical properties were performed using a structured light speckle imaging system. Three main geometries were explored: 1) diffusive dynamic layer beneath a static layer, 2) static layer beneath a diffuse dynamic layer, and 3) directed flow (tube) submerged in a dynamic scattering layer. Data fits were performed using the Monte Carlo model, which accurately reconstructed the type of particle flow (diffusive or directed) in each layer, the layer thickness, and absolute flow speeds to within 15% or better.

Photographic image enhancement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hite, Gerald E.

1990-01-01

Deblurring capabilities would significantly improve the scientific return from Space Shuttle crew-acquired images of the Earth and the safety of Space Shuttle missions. Deblurring techniques were developed and demonstrated on two digitized images that were blurred in different ways. The first was blurred by a Gaussian blurring function analogous to that caused by atmospheric turbulence, while the second was blurred by improper focussing. It was demonstrated, in both cases, that the nature of the blurring (Gaussian and Airy) and the appropriate parameters could be obtained from the Fourier transformation of their images. The difficulties posed by the presence of noise necessitated special consideration. It was demonstrated that a modified Wiener frequency filter judiciously constructed to avoid over emphasis of frequency regions dominated by noise resulted in substantially improved images. Several important areas of future research were identified. Two areas of particular promise are the extraction of blurring information directly from the spatial images and improved noise abatement form investigations of select spatial regions and the elimination of spike noise.

Joint Spatial-Spectral Feature Space Clustering for Speech Activity Detection from ECoG Signals

PubMed Central

Kanas, Vasileios G.; Mporas, Iosif; Benz, Heather L.; Sgarbas, Kyriakos N.; Bezerianos, Anastasios; Crone, Nathan E.

2014-01-01

Brain machine interfaces for speech restoration have been extensively studied for more than two decades. The success of such a system will depend in part on selecting the best brain recording sites and signal features corresponding to speech production. The purpose of this study was to detect speech activity automatically from electrocorticographic signals based on joint spatial-frequency clustering of the ECoG feature space. For this study, the ECoG signals were recorded while a subject performed two different syllable repetition tasks. We found that the optimal frequency resolution to detect speech activity from ECoG signals was 8 Hz, achieving 98.8% accuracy by employing support vector machines (SVM) as a classifier. We also defined the cortical areas that held the most information about the discrimination of speech and non-speech time intervals. Additionally, the results shed light on the distinct cortical areas associated with the two syllable repetition tasks and may contribute to the development of portable ECoG-based communication. PMID:24658248

Hearing and spatial behavior in Gryllotalpa major Saussure (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae).

PubMed

Howard, Daniel R; Mason, Andrew C; Hill, Peggy S M

2008-11-01

The prairie mole cricket (Gryllotalpa major Saussure) is a rare orthopteran insect of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem of the south central USA. Populations are known to currently occupy fragmented prairie sites in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, including The Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in north central Oklahoma. Prairie mole cricket populations were surveyed at this site and at another site in Craig County, OK during the spring of 2005 and 2006, using the male cricket's acoustic call to locate advertising aggregations of males. Five males from one large aggregation were removed in a study to describe (1) the hearing thresholds across the call's range of frequencies, (2) the distances over which the higher harmonic components of the male's calls are potentially detectable, (3) the species' sensitivity to ultrasound and (4) the spatio-auditory dynamics of the prairie mole cricket lek. Results indicate that G. major has a bimodal pattern of frequency tuning, with hearing sensitivities greatest at the 2 kHz carrier frequency (41 dB SPL) and declining through the call's frequency range (84 dB at 10 kHz). A second sensitivity peak is evident in the ultrasound range at 25 kHz (62 dB SPL). Spatial analysis of G. major lek sites indicates that approximately 73% of males within the lek are spaced in such a way as to allow acoustic interaction at the species' carrier frequency, while any information in higher harmonic overtones in the call appears to be available only to nearest neighbors.

Classifying visuomotor workload in a driving simulator using subject specific spatial brain patterns

PubMed Central

Dijksterhuis, Chris; de Waard, Dick; Brookhuis, Karel A.; Mulder, Ben L. J. M.; de Jong, Ritske

2013-01-01

A passive Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a system that responds to the spontaneously produced brain activity of its user and could be used to develop interactive task support. A human-machine system that could benefit from brain-based task support is the driver-car interaction system. To investigate the feasibility of such a system to detect changes in visuomotor workload, 34 drivers were exposed to several levels of driving demand in a driving simulator. Driving demand was manipulated by varying driving speed and by asking the drivers to comply to individually set lane keeping performance targets. Differences in the individual driver's workload levels were classified by applying the Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) and Fisher's linear discriminant analysis to frequency filtered electroencephalogram (EEG) data during an off line classification study. Several frequency ranges, EEG cap configurations, and condition pairs were explored. It was found that classifications were most accurate when based on high frequencies, larger electrode sets, and the frontal electrodes. Depending on these factors, classification accuracies across participants reached about 95% on average. The association between high accuracies and high frequencies suggests that part of the underlying information did not originate directly from neuronal activity. Nonetheless, average classification accuracies up to 75–80% were obtained from the lower EEG ranges that are likely to reflect neuronal activity. For a system designer, this implies that a passive BCI system may use several frequency ranges for workload classifications. PMID:23970851

Analysis of microstrip patch antennas using finite difference time domain method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reineix, Alain; Jecko, Bernard

1989-11-01

The study of microstrip patch antennas is directly treated in the time domain, using a modified finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Assuming an appropriate choice of excitation, the frequency dependence of the relevant parameters can readily be found using the Fourier transform of the transient current. The FDTD method allows a rigorous treatment of one or several dielectric interfaces. Different types of excitation can be taken into consideration (coaxial, microstrip lines, etc.). Plotting the spatial distribution of the current density gives information about the resonance modes. The usual frequency-depedent parameters (input impedance, radiation pattern) are given for several examples.

Applications of QCL mid-IR imaging to the advancement of pathology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sreedhar, Hari; Varma, Vishal K.; Bird, Benjamin; Guzman, Grace; Walsh, Michael J.

2017-03-01

Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) spectroscopic imaging is a novel technique with many potential applications to histopathology. Like traditional Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) imaging, QCL spectroscopic imaging derives biochemical data coupled to the spatial information of a tissue sample, and can be used to improve the diagnostic and prognostic value of assessment of a tissue biopsy. This technique also offers advantages over traditional FT-IR imaging, specifically the capacity for discrete frequency and real-time imaging. In this work we present applications of QCL spectroscopic imaging to tissue samples, including discrete frequency imaging, to compare with FT-IR and its potential value to pathology.

Laser Controlled Tunneling in a Vertical Optical Lattice

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beaufils, Q.; Tackmann, G.; Wang, X.

2011-05-27

Raman laser pulses are used to induce coherent tunneling between neighboring sites of a vertical 1D optical lattice. Such tunneling occurs when the detuning of a probe laser from the atomic transition frequency matches multiples of the Bloch frequency, allowing for a spectroscopic control of the coupling between Wannier-Stark (WS) states. In particular, we prepare coherent superpositions of WS states of adjacent sites, and investigate the coherence time of these superpositions by realizing a spatial interferometer. This scheme provides a powerful tool for coherent manipulation of external degrees of freedom of cold atoms, which is a key issue for quantummore » information processing.« less

Multi-modal diffuse optical techniques for breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy monitoring (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cochran, Jeffrey M.; Busch, David R.; Ban, Han Y.; Kavuri, Venkaiah C.; Schweiger, Martin J.; Arridge, Simon R.; Yodh, Arjun G.

2017-02-01

We present high spatial density, multi-modal, parallel-plate Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) imaging systems for the purpose of breast tumor detection. One hybrid instrument provides time domain (TD) and continuous wave (CW) DOT at 64 source fiber positions. The TD diffuse optical spectroscopy with PMT- detection produces low-resolution images of absolute tissue scattering and absorption while the spatially dense array of CCD-coupled detector fibers (108 detectors) provides higher-resolution CW images of relative tissue optical properties. Reconstruction of the tissue optical properties, along with total hemoglobin concentration and tissue oxygen saturation, is performed using the TOAST software suite. Comparison of the spatially-dense DOT images and MR images allows for a robust validation of DOT against an accepted clinical modality. Additionally, the structural information from co-registered MR images is used as a spatial prior to improve the quality of the functional optical images and provide more accurate quantification of the optical and hemodynamic properties of tumors. We also present an optical-only imaging system that provides frequency domain (FD) DOT at 209 source positions with full CCD detection and incorporates optical fringe projection profilometry to determine the breast boundary. This profilometry serves as a spatial constraint, improving the quality of the DOT reconstructions while retaining the benefits of an optical-only device. We present initial images from both human subjects and phantoms to display the utility of high spatial density data and multi-modal information in DOT reconstruction with the two systems.

Visual sensitivity for luminance and chromatic stimuli during the execution of smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements.

PubMed

Braun, Doris I; Schütz, Alexander C; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2017-07-01

Visual sensitivity is dynamically modulated by eye movements. During saccadic eye movements, sensitivity is reduced selectively for low-spatial frequency luminance stimuli and largely unaffected for high-spatial frequency luminance and chromatic stimuli (Nature 371 (1994), 511-513). During smooth pursuit eye movements, sensitivity for low-spatial frequency luminance stimuli is moderately reduced while sensitivity for chromatic and high-spatial frequency luminance stimuli is even increased (Nature Neuroscience, 11 (2008), 1211-1216). Since these effects are at least partly of different polarity, we investigated the combined effects of saccades and smooth pursuit on visual sensitivity. For the time course of chromatic sensitivity, we found that detection rates increased slightly around pursuit onset. During saccades to static and moving targets, detection rates dropped briefly before the saccade and reached a minimum at saccade onset. This reduction of chromatic sensitivity was present whenever a saccade was executed and it was not modified by subsequent pursuit. We also measured contrast sensitivity for flashed high- and low-spatial frequency luminance and chromatic stimuli during saccades and pursuit. During saccades, the reduction of contrast sensitivity was strongest for low-spatial frequency luminance stimuli (about 90%). However, a significant reduction was also present for chromatic stimuli (about 58%). Chromatic sensitivity was increased during smooth pursuit (about 12%). These results suggest that the modulation of visual sensitivity during saccades and smooth pursuit is more complex than previously assumed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical skin imaging using color spatial frequency domain imaging (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Bin; Lesicko, John; Moy, Austin J.; Reichenberg, Jason; Tunnell, James W.

2016-02-01

Skin diseases are typically associated with underlying biochemical and structural changes compared with normal tissues, which alter the optical properties of the skin lesions, such as tissue absorption and scattering. Although widely used in dermatology clinics, conventional dermatoscopes don't have the ability to selectively image tissue absorption and scattering, which may limit its diagnostic power. Here we report a novel clinical skin imaging technique called color spatial frequency domain imaging (cSFDI) which enhances contrast by rendering color spatial frequency domain (SFD) image at high spatial frequency. Moreover, by tuning spatial frequency, we can obtain both absorption weighted and scattering weighted images. We developed a handheld imaging system specifically for clinical skin imaging. The flexible configuration of the system allows for better access to skin lesions in hard-to-reach regions. A total of 48 lesions from 31 patients were imaged under 470nm, 530nm and 655nm illumination at a spatial frequency of 0.6mm^(-1). The SFD reflectance images at 470nm, 530nm and 655nm were assigned to blue (B), green (G) and red (R) channels to render a color SFD image. Our results indicated that color SFD images at f=0.6mm-1 revealed properties that were not seen in standard color images. Structural features were enhanced and absorption features were reduced, which helped to identify the sources of the contrast. This imaging technique provides additional insights into skin lesions and may better assist clinical diagnosis.

Team performance in networked supervisory control of unmanned air vehicles: effects of automation, working memory, and communication content.

PubMed

McKendrick, Ryan; Shaw, Tyler; de Visser, Ewart; Saqer, Haneen; Kidwell, Brian; Parasuraman, Raja

2014-05-01

Assess team performance within a net-worked supervisory control setting while manipulating automated decision aids and monitoring team communication and working memory ability. Networked systems such as multi-unmanned air vehicle (UAV) supervision have complex properties that make prediction of human-system performance difficult. Automated decision aid can provide valuable information to operators, individual abilities can limit or facilitate team performance, and team communication patterns can alter how effectively individuals work together. We hypothesized that reliable automation, higher working memory capacity, and increased communication rates of task-relevant information would offset performance decrements attributed to high task load. Two-person teams performed a simulated air defense task with two levels of task load and three levels of automated aid reliability. Teams communicated and received decision aid messages via chat window text messages. Task Load x Automation effects were significant across all performance measures. Reliable automation limited the decline in team performance with increasing task load. Average team spatial working memory was a stronger predictor than other measures of team working memory. Frequency of team rapport and enemy location communications positively related to team performance, and word count was negatively related to team performance. Reliable decision aiding mitigated team performance decline during increased task load during multi-UAV supervisory control. Team spatial working memory, communication of spatial information, and team rapport predicted team success. An automated decision aid can improve team performance under high task load. Assessment of spatial working memory and the communication of task-relevant information can help in operator and team selection in supervisory control systems.

Modelling of high-frequency structure-borne sound transmission on FEM grids using the Discrete Flow Mapping technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartmann, Timo; Tanner, Gregor; Xie, Gang; Chappell, David; Bajars, Janis

2016-09-01

Dynamical Energy Analysis (DEA) combined with the Discrete Flow Mapping technique (DFM) has recently been introduced as a mesh-based high frequency method modelling structure borne sound for complex built-up structures. This has proven to enhance vibro-acoustic simulations considerably by making it possible to work directly on existing finite element meshes circumventing time-consuming and costly re-modelling strategies. In addition, DFM provides detailed spatial information about the vibrational energy distribution within a complex structure in the mid-to-high frequency range. We will present here progress in the development of the DEA method towards handling complex FEM-meshes including Rigid Body Elements. In addition, structure borne transmission paths due to spot welds are considered. We will present applications for a car floor structure.

Fiber transport of spatially entangled photons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Löffler, W.; Eliel, E. R.; Woerdman, J. P.; Euser, T. G.; Scharrer, M.; Russell, P.

2012-03-01

High-dimensional entangled photons pairs are interesting for quantum information and cryptography: Compared to the well-known 2D polarization case, the stronger non-local quantum correlations could improve noise resistance or security, and the larger amount of information per photon increases the available bandwidth. One implementation is to use entanglement in the spatial degree of freedom of twin photons created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion, which is equivalent to orbital angular momentum entanglement, this has been proven to be an excellent model system. The use of optical fiber technology for distribution of such photons has only very recently been practically demonstrated and is of fundamental and applied interest. It poses a big challenge compared to the established time and frequency domain methods: For spatially entangled photons, fiber transport requires the use of multimode fibers, and mode coupling and intermodal dispersion therein must be minimized not to destroy the spatial quantum correlations. We demonstrate that these shortcomings of conventional multimode fibers can be overcome by using a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, which follows the paradigm to mimic free-space transport as good as possible, and are able to confirm entanglement of the fiber-transported photons. Fiber transport of spatially entangled photons is largely unexplored yet, therefore we discuss the main complications, the interplay of intermodal dispersion and mode mixing, the influence of external stress and core deformations, and consider the pros and cons of various fiber types.

Task-induced frequency modulation features for brain-computer interfacing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayaram, Vinay; Hohmann, Matthias; Just, Jennifer; Schölkopf, Bernhard; Grosse-Wentrup, Moritz

2017-10-01

Objective. Task-induced amplitude modulation of neural oscillations is routinely used in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for decoding subjects’ intents, and underlies some of the most robust and common methods in the field, such as common spatial patterns and Riemannian geometry. While there has been some interest in phase-related features for classification, both techniques usually presuppose that the frequencies of neural oscillations remain stable across various tasks. We investigate here whether features based on task-induced modulation of the frequency of neural oscillations enable decoding of subjects’ intents with an accuracy comparable to task-induced amplitude modulation. Approach. We compare cross-validated classification accuracies using the amplitude and frequency modulated features, as well as a joint feature space, across subjects in various paradigms and pre-processing conditions. We show results with a motor imagery task, a cognitive task, and also preliminary results in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as using common spatial patterns and Laplacian filtering. Main results. The frequency features alone do not significantly out-perform traditional amplitude modulation features, and in some cases perform significantly worse. However, across both tasks and pre-processing in healthy subjects the joint space significantly out-performs either the frequency or amplitude features alone. This result only does not hold for ALS patients, for whom the dataset is of insufficient size to draw any statistically significant conclusions. Significance. Task-induced frequency modulation is robust and straight forward to compute, and increases performance when added to standard amplitude modulation features across paradigms. This allows more information to be extracted from the EEG signal cheaply and can be used throughout the field of BCIs.

Assessing Regional Scale Variability in Extreme Value Statistics Under Altered Climate Scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brunsell, Nathaniel; Mechem, David; Ma, Chunsheng

Recent studies have suggested that low-frequency modes of climate variability can significantly influence regional climate. The climatology associated with extreme events has been shown to be particularly sensitive. This has profound implications for droughts, heat waves, and food production. We propose to examine regional climate simulations conducted over the continental United States by applying a recently developed technique which combines wavelet multi–resolution analysis with information theory metrics. This research is motivated by two fundamental questions concerning the spatial and temporal structure of extreme events. These questions are 1) what temporal scales of the extreme value distributions are most sensitive tomore » alteration by low-frequency climate forcings and 2) what is the nature of the spatial structure of variation in these timescales? The primary objective is to assess to what extent information theory metrics can be useful in characterizing the nature of extreme weather phenomena. Specifically, we hypothesize that (1) changes in the nature of extreme events will impact the temporal probability density functions and that information theory metrics will be sensitive these changes and (2) via a wavelet multi–resolution analysis, we will be able to characterize the relative contribution of different timescales on the stochastic nature of extreme events. In order to address these hypotheses, we propose a unique combination of an established regional climate modeling approach and advanced statistical techniques to assess the effects of low-frequency modes on climate extremes over North America. The behavior of climate extremes in RCM simulations for the 20th century will be compared with statistics calculated from the United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) and simulations from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). This effort will serve to establish the baseline behavior of climate extremes, the validity of an innovative multi–resolution information theory approach, and the ability of the RCM modeling framework to represent the low-frequency modulation of extreme climate events. Once the skill of the modeling and analysis methodology has been established, we will apply the same approach for the AR5 (IPCC Fifth Assessment Report) climate change scenarios in order to assess how climate extremes and the the influence of lowfrequency variability on climate extremes might vary under changing climate. The research specifically addresses the DOE focus area 2. Simulation of climate extremes under a changing climate. Specific results will include (1) a better understanding of the spatial and temporal structure of extreme events, (2) a thorough quantification of how extreme values are impacted by low-frequency climate teleconnections, (3) increased knowledge of current regional climate models ability to ascertain these influences, and (4) a detailed examination of the how the distribution of extreme events are likely to change under different climate change scenarios. In addition, this research will assess the ability of the innovative wavelet information theory approach to characterize extreme events. Any and all of these results will greatly enhance society’s ability to understand and mitigate the regional ramifications of future global climate change.« less

Monitoring groundwater-surface water interaction using time-series and time-frequency analysis of transient three-dimensional electrical resistivity changes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Timothy C.; Slater, Lee D.; Ntarlagiannis, Dimitris; Day-Lewis, Frederick D.; Elwaseif, Mehrez

2012-01-01

Time-lapse resistivity imaging is increasingly used to monitor hydrologic processes. Compared to conventional hydrologic measurements, surface time-lapse resistivity provides superior spatial coverage in two or three dimensions, potentially high-resolution information in time, and information in the absence of wells. However, interpretation of time-lapse electrical tomograms is complicated by the ever-increasing size and complexity of long-term, three-dimensional (3-D) time series conductivity data sets. Here we use 3-D surface time-lapse electrical imaging to monitor subsurface electrical conductivity variations associated with stage-driven groundwater-surface water interactions along a stretch of the Columbia River adjacent to the Hanford 300 near Richland, Washington, USA. We reduce the resulting 3-D conductivity time series using both time-series and time-frequency analyses to isolate a paleochannel causing enhanced groundwater-surface water interactions. Correlation analysis on the time-lapse imaging results concisely represents enhanced groundwater-surface water interactions within the paleochannel, and provides information concerning groundwater flow velocities. Time-frequency analysis using the Stockwell (S) transform provides additional information by identifying the stage periodicities driving groundwater-surface water interactions due to upstream dam operations, and identifying segments in time-frequency space when these interactions are most active. These results provide new insight into the distribution and timing of river water intrusion into the Hanford 300 Area, which has a governing influence on the behavior of a uranium plume left over from historical nuclear fuel processing operations.

Temporal Instabilities in Amblyopic Perception: A Quantitative Approach.

PubMed

Thiel, Aylin; Iftime, Adrian

2016-04-01

The purpose of this study is to quantify the temporal characteristics of spatial misperceptions in human amblyopia. Twenty-two adult participants with strabismus, strabismic, anisometropic, or mixed amblyopia were asked to describe their subjective percept of static geometrical patterns with different spatial frequencies and shapes, as seen with their non-dominant eye. We generated digital reconstructions of their perception (static images or movies) that were subsequently validated by the subjects using consecutive matching sessions. We calculated the Shannon entropy variation in time for each recorded movie, as a measure of temporal instability. Nineteen of the 22 subjects perceived temporal instabilities that can be broadly classified in two categories. We found that the average frequency of the perceived temporal instabilities is ∼1 Hz. The stimuli with higher spatial frequencies yielded more often temporally unstable perceptions with higher frequencies. We suggest that type and amount of temporal instabilities in amblyopic vision are correlated with the etiology and spatial frequency of the stimulus.

Characterization of random scattering media and related information retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhenyu

There has been substantial interest in optical imaging in and through random media in applications as diverse as environmental sensing and tumor detection. The rich scatter environment also leads to multiple paths or channels, which may provide higher capacity for communication. Coherent light passing through random media produces an intensity speckle pattern when imaged, as a result of multiple scatter and the imaging optics. When polarized coherent light is used, the speckle pattern is sensitive to the polarization state, depending on the amount of scatter, and such measurements provide information about the random medium. This may form the basis for enhanced imaging of random media and provide information on the scatterers themselves. Second and third order correlations over laser scan frequency are shown to lead to the ensemble averaged temporal impulse response, with sensitivity to the polarization state in the more weakly scattering regime. A new intensity interferometer is introduced that provides information about two signals incident on a scattering medium. The two coherent beams, which are not necessarily overlapping, interfere in a scattering medium. A sinusoidal modulation in the second order intensity correlation with laser scan frequency is shown to be related to the relative delay of the two incident beams. An intensity spatial correlation over input position reveals that decorrelation occurs over a length comparable to the incident beam size. Such decorrelation is also related to the amount of scatter. Remarkably, with two beams incident at different angles, the intensity correlation over the scan position has a sinusoidal modulation that is related to the incidence angle difference between the two input beams. This spatial correlation over input position thus provides information about input wavevectors.

Combining Imaging and Non-Imaging Observations for Improved Space-Object Identification

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-27

Optical and Digital Superresolution Early in the project, we expolited Fisher information (FI) to characterize the extent of spatial-frequency...extrapolation beyond the diffraction-limited optical bandwidth when the support of the object is known a priori. This support-assisted optical superresolution ...both digital (DSR) and optical superresolution (OSR). Indeed, by analyzing a se- quence of sub-pixel-shifted undersampled images one can show the

Greater magnocellular saccadic suppression in high versus low autistic tendency suggests a causal path to local perceptual style.

PubMed

Crewther, David P; Crewther, Daniel; Bevan, Stephanie; Goodale, Melvyn A; Crewther, Sheila G

2015-12-01

Saccadic suppression-the reduction of visual sensitivity during rapid eye movements-has previously been proposed to reflect a specific suppression of the magnocellular visual system, with the initial neural site of that suppression at or prior to afferent visual information reaching striate cortex. Dysfunction in the magnocellular visual pathway has also been associated with perceptual and physiological anomalies in individuals with autism spectrum disorder or high autistic tendency, leading us to question whether saccadic suppression is altered in the broader autism phenotype. Here we show that individuals with high autistic tendency show greater saccadic suppression of low versus high spatial frequency gratings while those with low autistic tendency do not. In addition, those with high but not low autism spectrum quotient (AQ) demonstrated pre-cortical (35-45 ms) evoked potential differences (saccade versus fixation) to a large, low contrast, pseudo-randomly flashing bar. Both AQ groups showed similar differential visual evoked potential effects in later epochs (80-160 ms) at high contrast. Thus, the magnocellular theory of saccadic suppression appears untenable as a general description for the typically developing population. Our results also suggest that the bias towards local perceptual style reported in autism may be due to selective suppression of low spatial frequency information accompanying every saccadic eye movement.

Prevalence of pure versus mixed snow cover pixels across spatial resolutions in alpine environments: implications for binary and fractional remote sensing approaches

USGS Publications Warehouse

Selkowitz, David J.; Forster, Richard; Caldwell, Megan K.

2014-01-01

Remote sensing of snow-covered area (SCA) can be binary (indicating the presence/absence of snow cover at each pixel) or fractional (indicating the fraction of each pixel covered by snow). Fractional SCA mapping provides more information than binary SCA, but is more difficult to implement and may not be feasible with all types of remote sensing data. The utility of fractional SCA mapping relative to binary SCA mapping varies with the intended application as well as by spatial resolution, temporal resolution and period of interest, and climate. We quantified the frequency of occurrence of partially snow-covered (mixed) pixels at spatial resolutions between 1 m and 500 m over five dates at two study areas in the western U.S., using 0.5 m binary SCA maps derived from high spatial resolution imagery aggregated to fractional SCA at coarser spatial resolutions. In addition, we used in situ monitoring to estimate the frequency of partially snow-covered conditions for the period September 2013–August 2014 at 10 60-m grid cell footprints at two study areas with continental snow climates. Results from the image analysis indicate that at 40 m, slightly above the nominal spatial resolution of Landsat, mixed pixels accounted for 25%–93% of total pixels, while at 500 m, the nominal spatial resolution of MODIS bands used for snow cover mapping, mixed pixels accounted for 67%–100% of total pixels. Mixed pixels occurred more commonly at the continental snow climate site than at the maritime snow climate site. The in situ data indicate that some snow cover was present between 186 and 303 days, and partial snow cover conditions occurred on 10%–98% of days with snow cover. Four sites remained partially snow-free throughout most of the winter and spring, while six sites were entirely snow covered throughout most or all of the winter and spring. Within 60 m grid cells, the late spring/summer transition from snow-covered to snow-free conditions lasted 17–56 days and averaged 37 days. Our results suggest that mixed snow-covered snow-free pixels are common at the spatial resolutions imaged by both the Landsat and MODIS sensors. This highlights the additional information available from fractional SCA products and suggests fractional SCA can provide a major advantage for hydrological and climatological monitoring and modeling, particularly when accurate representation of the spatial distribution of snow cover is critical.

Change detection in synthetic aperture radar images based on image fusion and fuzzy clustering.

PubMed

Gong, Maoguo; Zhou, Zhiqiang; Ma, Jingjing

2012-04-01

This paper presents an unsupervised distribution-free change detection approach for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images based on an image fusion strategy and a novel fuzzy clustering algorithm. The image fusion technique is introduced to generate a difference image by using complementary information from a mean-ratio image and a log-ratio image. In order to restrain the background information and enhance the information of changed regions in the fused difference image, wavelet fusion rules based on an average operator and minimum local area energy are chosen to fuse the wavelet coefficients for a low-frequency band and a high-frequency band, respectively. A reformulated fuzzy local-information C-means clustering algorithm is proposed for classifying changed and unchanged regions in the fused difference image. It incorporates the information about spatial context in a novel fuzzy way for the purpose of enhancing the changed information and of reducing the effect of speckle noise. Experiments on real SAR images show that the image fusion strategy integrates the advantages of the log-ratio operator and the mean-ratio operator and gains a better performance. The change detection results obtained by the improved fuzzy clustering algorithm exhibited lower error than its preexistences.

Multispectral medical image fusion in Contourlet domain for computer based diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Bhateja, Vikrant; Moin, Aisha; Srivastava, Anuja; Bao, Le Nguyen; Lay-Ekuakille, Aimé; Le, Dac-Nhuong

2016-07-01

Computer based diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease can be performed by dint of the analysis of the functional and structural changes in the brain. Multispectral image fusion deliberates upon fusion of the complementary information while discarding the surplus information to achieve a solitary image which encloses both spatial and spectral details. This paper presents a Non-Sub-sampled Contourlet Transform (NSCT) based multispectral image fusion model for computer-aided diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The proposed fusion methodology involves color transformation of the input multispectral image. The multispectral image in YIQ color space is decomposed using NSCT followed by dimensionality reduction using modified Principal Component Analysis algorithm on the low frequency coefficients. Further, the high frequency coefficients are enhanced using non-linear enhancement function. Two different fusion rules are then applied to the low-pass and high-pass sub-bands: Phase congruency is applied to low frequency coefficients and a combination of directive contrast and normalized Shannon entropy is applied to high frequency coefficients. The superiority of the fusion response is depicted by the comparisons made with the other state-of-the-art fusion approaches (in terms of various fusion metrics).

Multispectral medical image fusion in Contourlet domain for computer based diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhateja, Vikrant, E-mail: bhateja.vikrant@gmail.com, E-mail: nhuongld@hus.edu.vn; Moin, Aisha; Srivastava, Anuja

Computer based diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can be performed by dint of the analysis of the functional and structural changes in the brain. Multispectral image fusion deliberates upon fusion of the complementary information while discarding the surplus information to achieve a solitary image which encloses both spatial and spectral details. This paper presents a Non-Sub-sampled Contourlet Transform (NSCT) based multispectral image fusion model for computer-aided diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The proposed fusion methodology involves color transformation of the input multispectral image. The multispectral image in YIQ color space is decomposed using NSCT followed by dimensionality reduction using modified Principal Componentmore » Analysis algorithm on the low frequency coefficients. Further, the high frequency coefficients are enhanced using non-linear enhancement function. Two different fusion rules are then applied to the low-pass and high-pass sub-bands: Phase congruency is applied to low frequency coefficients and a combination of directive contrast and normalized Shannon entropy is applied to high frequency coefficients. The superiority of the fusion response is depicted by the comparisons made with the other state-of-the-art fusion approaches (in terms of various fusion metrics).« less

Spatial and Temporal Ionospheric Monitoring Using Broadband Sferic Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCormick, J. C.; Cohen, M. B.; Gross, N. C.; Said, R. K.

2018-04-01

The D region of the ionosphere (60-90 km altitude) is highly variable on timescales from fractions of a second to many hours, and on spatial scales up to many hundreds of kilometers. Very low frequency (VLF) and low-frequency (LF) (3-30 kHz and 30-300 kHz) radio waves are guided to global distances by reflections from the ground and the D region. Therefore, information about its current state is encoded in received VLF/LF signals. VLF transmitters have been used in the past for D region studies, with ionospheric disturbances manifesting as perturbations in amplitude and/or phase. The return stroke of lightning is an impulsive VLF radiator, but unlike VLF transmitters, lightning events are distributed broadly in space allowing for much greater spatial coverage of the D region compared to VLF transmitter-based remote sensing in addition to the broadband spectral advantage over the narrowband transmitters. The challenge is that individual lightning-generated waveforms, or "sferics," vary due to the lightning current parameters and uncertainty in the time/location information, in addition to D region ionospheric variability. These factors make it difficult to utilize the VLF/LF emissions from lightning in a straightforward manner. We describe a technique to recover the time domain and amplitude/phase spectra for both Bϕ and Br with high fidelity and consider the utility of our technique with ambient and varied ionospheric conditions. We demonstrate a technique to simulate sferics and infer a parameterized ionosphere with the Wait and Spies parameters (h' and β) offering all of the tools needed for a global measurement.

Evaluation of wildfire patterns at the wildland-urban fringe across the continental U.S.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinoshita, A. M.; Hogue, T. S.

2014-12-01

Wildfires threaten ecosystems and urban development across the United States, posing significant implications for land management and natural processes such as watershed hydrology. This study investigates the spatial association between large wildfires and urbanization. Several geospatial dataset are combined to map wildfires (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity for 1984 to 2012) and housing density (SILVIS Lab Spatial Analysis for Conservation and Sustainability decadal housing density for 1940 to 2030) relative to natural wildlands across the contiguous U.S. Several buffers (i.e. 25 km) are developed around wildlands (Protected Areas Database of the United States) to quantify the change and relationship in spatial fire and housing density patterns. Since 1984, wildfire behavior is cyclical and follows general climatology, where warmer years have more and larger fires. Ignition locations also follow transportation corridors and development which provide easy accessibility to wildlands. In California, both fire frequency and total acres burned exhibit increasing trends (statistically significant at 95%). The 1980s average wildfire frequency and total acres burned was 3100 fires and approximately 1200 km2, respectively. These numbers have increased to 2200 fires and over 1500 km2 in the 2010 to 2012 period alone. Initial observations also show that decennial population and area burned for four major Californian counties (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta) show strong correlation between the last decade of burned area, urban-fringe proximity, and urbanization trends. Improving our understanding of human induced wildfire regimes provides key information on urban fringe communities most vulnerable to the wildfire risks and can help inform regional development planning.

Evaluating multiple determinants of the structure of plant-animal mutualistic networks.

PubMed

Vázquez, Diego P; Chacoff, Natacha P; Cagnolo, Luciano

2009-08-01

The structure of mutualistic networks is likely to result from the simultaneous influence of neutrality and the constraints imposed by complementarity in species phenotypes, phenologies, spatial distributions, phylogenetic relationships, and sampling artifacts. We develop a conceptual and methodological framework to evaluate the relative contributions of these potential determinants. Applying this approach to the analysis of a plant-pollinator network, we show that information on relative abundance and phenology suffices to predict several aggregate network properties (connectance, nestedness, interaction evenness, and interaction asymmetry). However, such information falls short of predicting the detailed network structure (the frequency of pairwise interactions), leaving a large amount of variation unexplained. Taken together, our results suggest that both relative species abundance and complementarity in spatiotemporal distribution contribute substantially to generate observed network patters, but that this information is by no means sufficient to predict the occurrence and frequency of pairwise interactions. Future studies could use our methodological framework to evaluate the generality of our findings in a representative sample of study systems with contrasting ecological conditions.

Steady-state VEP responses to uncomfortable stimuli.

PubMed

O'Hare, Louise

2017-02-01

Periodic stimuli, such as op-art, can evoke a range of aversive sensations included in the term visual discomfort. Illusory motion effects are elicited by fixational eye movements, but the cortex might also contribute to effects of discomfort. To investigate this possibility, steady-state visually evoked responses (SSVEPs) to contrast-matched op-art-based stimuli were measured at the same time as discomfort judgements. On average, discomfort reduced with increasing spatial frequency of the pattern. In contrast, the peak amplitude of the SSVEP response was around the midrange spatial frequencies. Like the discomfort judgements, SSVEP responses to the highest spatial frequencies were lowest amplitude, but the relationship breaks down between discomfort and SSVEP for the lower spatial frequency stimuli. This was not explicable by gross eye movements as measured using the facial electrodes. There was a weak relationship between the peak SSVEP responses and discomfort judgements for some stimuli, suggesting that discomfort can be explained in part by electrophysiological responses measured at the level of the cortex. However, there is a breakdown of this relationship in the case of lower spatial frequency stimuli, which remains unexplained. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visual Evoked Cortical Potential (VECP) Elicited by Sinusoidal Gratings Controlled by Pseudo-Random Stimulation

PubMed Central

Araújo, Carolina S.; Souza, Givago S.; Gomes, Bruno D.; Silveira, Luiz Carlos L.

2013-01-01

The contributions of contrast detection mechanisms to the visual cortical evoked potential (VECP) have been investigated studying the contrast-response and spatial frequency-response functions. Previously, the use of m-sequences for stimulus control has been almost restricted to multifocal electrophysiology stimulation and, in some aspects, it substantially differs from conventional VECPs. Single stimulation with spatial contrast temporally controlled by m-sequences has not been extensively tested or compared to multifocal techniques. Our purpose was to evaluate the influence of spatial frequency and contrast of sinusoidal gratings on the VECP elicited by pseudo-random stimulation. Nine normal subjects were stimulated by achromatic sinusoidal gratings driven by pseudo random binary m-sequence at seven spatial frequencies (0.4–10 cpd) and three stimulus sizes (4°, 8°, and 16° of visual angle). At 8° subtence, six contrast levels were used (3.12–99%). The first order kernel (K1) did not provide a consistent measurable signal across spatial frequencies and contrasts that were tested–signal was very small or absent–while the second order kernel first (K2.1) and second (K2.2) slices exhibited reliable responses for the stimulus range. The main differences between results obtained with the K2.1 and K2.2 were in the contrast gain as measured in the amplitude versus contrast and amplitude versus spatial frequency functions. The results indicated that K2.1 was dominated by M-pathway, but for some stimulus condition some P-pathway contribution could be found, while the second slice reflected the P-pathway contribution. The present work extended previous findings of the visual pathways contribution to VECP elicited by pseudorandom stimulation for a wider range of spatial frequencies. PMID:23940546

Modification of response functions of cat visual cortical cells by spatially congruent perturbing stimuli.

PubMed

Kabara, J F; Bonds, A B

2001-12-01

Responses of cat striate cortical cells to a drifting sinusoidal grating were modified by the superimposition of a second, perturbing grating (PG) that did not excite the cell when presented alone. One consequence of the presence of a PG was a shift in the tuning curves. The orientation tuning of all 41 cells exposed to a PG and the spatial frequency tuning of 83% of the 23 cells exposed to a PG showed statistically significant dislocations of both the response function peak and center of mass from their single grating values. As found in earlier reports, the presence of PGs suppressed responsiveness. However, reductions measured at the single grating optimum orientation or spatial frequency were on average 1.3 times greater than the suppression found at the peak of the response function modified by the presence of the PG. Much of the loss in response seen at the single grating optimum is thus a result of a shift in the tuning function rather than outright suppression. On average orientation shifts were repulsive and proportional (approximately 0.10 deg/deg) to the angle between the perturbing stimulus and the optimum single grating orientation. Shifts in the spatial frequency response function were both attractive and repulsive, resulting in an overall average of zero. For both simple and complex cells, PGs generally broadened orientation response function bandwidths. Similarly, complex cell spatial frequency response function bandwidths broadened. Simple cell spatial frequency response functions usually did not change, and those that did broadened only 4% on average. These data support the hypothesis that additional sinusoidal components in compound stimuli retune cells' response functions for orientation and spatial frequency.

High spatial resolution distributed optical fiber dynamic strain sensor with enhanced frequency and strain resolution.

PubMed

Masoudi, Ali; Newson, Trevor P

2017-01-15

A distributed optical fiber dynamic strain sensor with high spatial and frequency resolution is demonstrated. The sensor, which uses the ϕ-OTDR interrogation technique, exhibited a higher sensitivity thanks to an improved optical arrangement and a new signal processing procedure. The proposed sensing system is capable of fully quantifying multiple dynamic perturbations along a 5 km long sensing fiber with a frequency and spatial resolution of 5 Hz and 50 cm, respectively. The strain resolution of the sensor was measured to be 40 nε.

Decoherence and Collisional Frequency Shifts of Trapped Bosons and Fermions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gibble, Kurt; LNE-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, 75014 Paris

2009-09-11

We perform exact calculations of collisional frequency shifts for several fermions or bosons using a singlet and triplet basis for pairs of particles. The 'factor of 2 controversy' for bosons becomes clear - the factor is always 2. Decoherence is described by singlet states and they are unaffected by spatially uniform clock fields. Spatial variations are critical, especially for fermions which were previously thought to be immune to collision shifts. The spatial variations lead to decoherence and a novel frequency shift that is not proportional to the partial density of internal states.

Image Quality Assessment Using the Joint Spatial/Spatial-Frequency Representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beghdadi, Azeddine; Iordache, Răzvan

2006-12-01

This paper demonstrates the usefulness of spatial/spatial-frequency representations in image quality assessment by introducing a new image dissimilarity measure based on 2D Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD). The properties of 2D WVD are shortly reviewed, and the important issue of choosing the analytic image is emphasized. The WVD-based measure is shown to be correlated with subjective human evaluation, which is the premise towards an image quality assessor developed on this principle.

Deconstruction of spatial integrity in visual stimulus detected by modulation of synchronized activity in cat visual cortex.

PubMed

Zhou, Zhiyi; Bernard, Melanie R; Bonds, A B

2008-04-02

Spatiotemporal relationships among contour segments can influence synchronization of neural responses in the primary visual cortex. We performed a systematic study to dissociate the impact of spatial and temporal factors in the signaling of contour integration via synchrony. In addition, we characterized the temporal evolution of this process to clarify potential underlying mechanisms. With a 10 x 10 microelectrode array, we recorded the simultaneous activity of multiple cells in the cat primary visual cortex while stimulating with drifting sine-wave gratings. We preserved temporal integrity and systematically degraded spatial integrity of the sine-wave gratings by adding spatial noise. Neural synchronization was analyzed in the time and frequency domains by conducting cross-correlation and coherence analyses. The general association between neural spike trains depends strongly on spatial integrity, with coherence in the gamma band (35-70 Hz) showing greater sensitivity to the change of spatial structure than other frequency bands. Analysis of the temporal dynamics of synchronization in both time and frequency domains suggests that spike timing synchronization is triggered nearly instantaneously by coherent structure in the stimuli, whereas frequency-specific oscillatory components develop more slowly, presumably through network interactions. Our results suggest that, whereas temporal integrity is required for the generation of synchrony, spatial integrity is critical in triggering subsequent gamma band synchronization.

The dynamics of sensory buffers: geometric, spatial, and experience-dependent shaping of iconic memory.

PubMed

Graziano, Martin; Sigman, Mariano

2008-05-23

When a stimulus is presented, its sensory trace decays rapidly, lasting for approximately 1000 ms. This brief and labile memory, referred as iconic memory, serves as a buffer before information is transferred to working memory and executive control. Here we explored the effect of different factors--geometric, spatial, and experience--with respect to the access and the maintenance of information in iconic memory and the progressive distortion of this memory. We studied performance in a partial report paradigm, a design wherein recall of only part of a stimulus array is required. Subjects had to report the identity of a letter in a location that was cued in a variable delay after the stimulus onset. Performance decayed exponentially with time, and we studied the different parameters (time constant, zero-delay value, and decay amplitude) as a function of the different factors. We observed that experience (determined by letter frequency) affected the access to iconic memory but not the temporal decay constant. On the contrary, spatial position affected the temporal course of delay. The entropy of the error distribution increased with time reflecting a progressive morphological distortion of the iconic buffer. We discuss our results on the context of a model of information access to executive control and how it is affected by learning and attention.

Spatial processing in the auditory cortex of the macaque monkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Recanzone, Gregg H.

2000-10-01

The patterns of cortico-cortical and cortico-thalamic connections of auditory cortical areas in the rhesus monkey have led to the hypothesis that acoustic information is processed in series and in parallel in the primate auditory cortex. Recent physiological experiments in the behaving monkey indicate that the response properties of neurons in different cortical areas are both functionally distinct from each other, which is indicative of parallel processing, and functionally similar to each other, which is indicative of serial processing. Thus, auditory cortical processing may be similar to the serial and parallel "what" and "where" processing by the primate visual cortex. If "where" information is serially processed in the primate auditory cortex, neurons in cortical areas along this pathway should have progressively better spatial tuning properties. This prediction is supported by recent experiments that have shown that neurons in the caudomedial field have better spatial tuning properties than neurons in the primary auditory cortex. Neurons in the caudomedial field are also better than primary auditory cortex neurons at predicting the sound localization ability across different stimulus frequencies and bandwidths in both azimuth and elevation. These data support the hypothesis that the primate auditory cortex processes acoustic information in a serial and parallel manner and suggest that this may be a general cortical mechanism for sensory perception.

Wireless Relay Selection in Pocket Switched Networks Based on Spatial Regularity of Human Mobility †

PubMed Central

Huang, Jianhui; Cheng, Xiuzhen; Bi, Jingping; Chen, Biao

2016-01-01

Pocket switched networks (PSNs) take advantage of human mobility to deliver data. Investigations on real-world trace data indicate that human mobility shows an obvious spatial regularity: a human being usually visits a few places at high frequencies. These most frequently visited places form the home of a node, which is exploited in this paper to design two HomE based Relay selectiOn (HERO) algorithms. Both algorithms input single data copy into the network at any time. In the basic HERO, only the first node encountered by the source and whose home overlaps a destination’s home is selected as a relay while the enhanced HERO keeps finding more optimal relay that visits the destination’s home with higher probability. The two proposed algorithms only require the relays to exchange the information of their home and/or the visiting frequencies to their home when two nodes meet. As a result, the information update is reduced and there is no global status information that needs to be maintained. This causes light loads on relays because of the low communication cost and storage requirements. Additionally, only simple operations are needed in the two proposed algorithms, resulting in little computation overhead at relays. At last, a theoretical analysis is performed on some key metrics and then the real-world based simulations indicate that the two HERO algorithms are efficient and effective through employing only one or a few relays. PMID:26797609

Dynamic area telethermometry and its clinical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anbar, Michael

1995-03-01

Dynamic area telethermometry (DAT) is a recent development in thermology, the science of biological heat generation and dissipation. DAT is based on monitoring changes in infrared emission, deriving from them information on the kinetics and mechanisms of biological thermoregulation. Remotely monitoring infrared emission is the most reliable technique to study bioenergetics, because it minimally perturbs the investigated system. Area monitoring of heat dissipating surfaces is needed because temporal changes in the spatial distribution of temperature conveys information on mechanisms of thermoregulation. DAT can be applied to biological systems ranging from single cells (microtelecalorimetry) to large areas of human skin (clinical thermology). DAT requires the accumulation of many (hundreds to thousands) thermal images followed by analysis of the thermokinetics of each pixel or group of pixels. In clinical thermology this analysis uses FFT to extract systemic, regional and local thermoregulatory frequencies (TRFs). DAT also extracts information on local thermoregulation from the temporal behavior of homogeneity of skin temperature (HST). Analysis of the relative contributions (FFT amplitudes) of the different frequencies allows distinction between vascular, neurological, and immunological thermoregulatory dysfunctions. This analysis, which can reveal the mechanism of the dysfunction, can be very useful in the diagnosis and staging of various disorders, ranging from diabetes mellitus and liver cirrhosis to breast cancer and malignant melanoma. From the engineering standpoint DAT requires highly stable imaging systems and effective display of the spatial distribution of TRFs to allow identification of thermoregulatory pathways and their dysfunction.

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Postfire Vegetation Survey Campaigns through Large and Heterogeneous Areas: Opportunities and Challenges.

PubMed

Fernández-Guisuraga, José Manuel; Sanz-Ablanedo, Enoc; Suárez-Seoane, Susana; Calvo, Leonor

2018-02-14

This study evaluated the opportunities and challenges of using drones to obtain multispectral orthomosaics at ultra-high resolution that could be useful for monitoring large and heterogeneous burned areas. We conducted a survey using an octocopter equipped with a Parrot SEQUOIA multispectral camera in a 3000 ha framework located within the perimeter of a megafire in Spain. We assessed the quality of both the camera raw imagery and the multispectral orthomosaic obtained, as well as the required processing capability. Additionally, we compared the spatial information provided by the drone orthomosaic at ultra-high spatial resolution with another image provided by the WorldView-2 satellite at high spatial resolution. The drone raw imagery presented some anomalies, such as horizontal banding noise and non-homogeneous radiometry. Camera locations showed a lack of synchrony of the single frequency GPS receiver. The georeferencing process based on ground control points achieved an error lower than 30 cm in X-Y and lower than 55 cm in Z. The drone orthomosaic provided more information in terms of spatial variability in heterogeneous burned areas in comparison with the WorldView-2 satellite imagery. The drone orthomosaic could constitute a viable alternative for the evaluation of post-fire vegetation regeneration in large and heterogeneous burned areas.

Conjunctions between motion and disparity are encoded with the same spatial resolution as disparity alone.

PubMed

Allenmark, Fredrik; Read, Jenny C A

2012-10-10

Neurons in cortical area MT respond well to transparent streaming motion in distinct depth planes, such as caused by observer self-motion, but do not contain subregions excited by opposite directions of motion. We therefore predicted that spatial resolution for transparent motion/disparity conjunctions would be limited by the size of MT receptive fields, just as spatial resolution for disparity is limited by the much smaller receptive fields found in primary visual cortex, V1. We measured this using a novel "joint motion/disparity grating," on which human observers detected motion/disparity conjunctions in transparent random-dot patterns containing dots streaming in opposite directions on two depth planes. Surprisingly, observers showed the same spatial resolution for these as for pure disparity gratings. We estimate the limiting receptive field diameter at 11 arcmin, similar to V1 and much smaller than MT. Higher internal noise for detecting joint motion/disparity produces a slightly lower high-frequency cutoff of 2.5 cycles per degree (cpd) versus 3.3 cpd for disparity. This suggests that information on motion/disparity conjunctions is available in the population activity of V1 and that this information can be decoded for perception even when it is invisible to neurons in MT.

Use of phase-locking value in sensorimotor rhythm-based brain-computer interface: zero-phase coupling and effects of spatial filters.

PubMed

Jian, Wenjuan; Chen, Minyou; McFarland, Dennis J

2017-11-01

Phase-locking value (PLV) is a potentially useful feature in sensorimotor rhythm-based brain-computer interface (BCI). However, volume conduction may cause spurious zero-phase coupling between two EEG signals and it is not clear whether PLV effects are independent of spectral amplitude. Volume conduction might be reduced by spatial filtering, but it is uncertain what impact this might have on PLV. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore whether zero-phase PLV is meaningful and how it is affected by spatial filtering. Both amplitude and PLV feature were extracted in the frequency band of 10-15 Hz by classical methods using archival EEG data of 18 subjects trained on a two-target BCI task. The results show that with right ear-referenced data, there is meaningful long-range zero-phase synchronization likely involving the primary motor area and the supplementary motor area that cannot be explained by volume conduction. Another novel finding is that the large Laplacian spatial filter enhances the amplitude feature but eliminates most of the phase information seen in ear-referenced data. A bipolar channel using phase-coupled areas also includes both phase and amplitude information and has a significant practical advantage since fewer channels required.

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Postfire Vegetation Survey Campaigns through Large and Heterogeneous Areas: Opportunities and Challenges

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This study evaluated the opportunities and challenges of using drones to obtain multispectral orthomosaics at ultra-high resolution that could be useful for monitoring large and heterogeneous burned areas. We conducted a survey using an octocopter equipped with a Parrot SEQUOIA multispectral camera in a 3000 ha framework located within the perimeter of a megafire in Spain. We assessed the quality of both the camera raw imagery and the multispectral orthomosaic obtained, as well as the required processing capability. Additionally, we compared the spatial information provided by the drone orthomosaic at ultra-high spatial resolution with another image provided by the WorldView-2 satellite at high spatial resolution. The drone raw imagery presented some anomalies, such as horizontal banding noise and non-homogeneous radiometry. Camera locations showed a lack of synchrony of the single frequency GPS receiver. The georeferencing process based on ground control points achieved an error lower than 30 cm in X-Y and lower than 55 cm in Z. The drone orthomosaic provided more information in terms of spatial variability in heterogeneous burned areas in comparison with the WorldView-2 satellite imagery. The drone orthomosaic could constitute a viable alternative for the evaluation of post-fire vegetation regeneration in large and heterogeneous burned areas. PMID:29443914

Impact of Primary Spherical Aberration, Spatial Frequency and Stiles Crawford Apodization on Wavefront determined Refractive Error: A Computational Study

PubMed Central

Xu, Renfeng; Bradley, Arthur; Thibos, Larry N.

2013-01-01

Purpose We tested the hypothesis that pupil apodization is the basis for central pupil bias of spherical refractions in eyes with spherical aberration. Methods We employed Fourier computational optics in which we vary spherical aberration levels, pupil size, and pupil apodization (Stiles Crawford Effect) within the pupil function, from which point spread functions and optical transfer functions were computed. Through-focus analysis determined the refractive correction that optimized retinal image quality. Results For a large pupil (7 mm), as spherical aberration levels increase, refractions that optimize the visual Strehl ratio mirror refractions that maximize high spatial frequency modulation in the image and both focus a near paraxial region of the pupil. These refractions are not affected by Stiles Crawford Effect apodization. Refractions that optimize low spatial frequency modulation come close to minimizing wavefront RMS, and vary with level of spherical aberration and Stiles Crawford Effect. In the presence of significant levels of spherical aberration (e.g. C40 = 0.4 µm, 7mm pupil), low spatial frequency refractions can induce −0.7D myopic shift compared to high SF refraction, and refractions that maximize image contrast of a 3 cycle per degree square-wave grating can cause −0.75D myopic drift relative to refractions that maximize image sharpness. Discussion Because of small depth of focus associated with high spatial frequency stimuli, the large change in dioptric power across the pupil caused by spherical aberration limits the effective aperture contributing to the image of high spatial frequencies. Thus, when imaging high spatial frequencies, spherical aberration effectively induces an annular aperture defining that portion of the pupil contributing to a well-focused image. As spherical focus is manipulated during the refraction procedure, the dimensions of the annular aperture change. Image quality is maximized when the inner radius of the induced annulus falls to zero, thus defining a circular near paraxial region of the pupil that determines refraction outcome. PMID:23683093

The Hidden Structure of Organic Informal-like Settlements in Jogjakarta City: An Investigation of Socio-Spatial Relationship in an Urban Kampung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutama, I. A. W.

2018-05-01

Some urban kampungs are registered as informal settlements in Indonesian cities. The existence of a kampung amidst the cities is crucial in providing an affordable access to housing for most of the city’s residents. As an integral part of the city, urban kampungs face many problems such as social segregation, low and deteriorated physical quality, and exclusion from spatial plans which may worsen the residents’ quality of life. Apart from this condition, an urban kampung is believed to have a strong social cohesion and resilient community which are able to persist and survive socially and economically. Towards the sustainability of the city, kampungs as part of the city structure need to be addressed spatially through proper plan and design strategy. In doing so, planners and architects must understand the unique characteristics of urban kampungs to appreciate their positive contribution to the cities. This paper is presented to understand the underlying information on the organic spatial layout of the informal kampung and its impact on social composition within the framework of lively, vibrant, and safe neighborhoods. We utilized Space Syntax (SSX) combined with activity snapshot to understand the socio-spatial relationship and then triangulated the results with a questionnaire on the residents’ perception. Kampung Code, located in the inner city of Yogyakarta, was selected as the case study area as it represents the informal-like settlements. This study revealed that the complex interplays of the organic spatial layout does not significantly affect the frequency of outdoor activities. However, the presence of eight popular spaces (streets, house’s terraces, local shops/taverns, small open spaces, riverbanks, guard posts, community buildings, and small mosques) distributed within Kampung Code does influence it, and it is the driving factor for the residents to engage with others in the form of social interactions. Popular places are able to accommodate residents’ need for various activities from informal business, community interaction, and hobbies. Eventually, the continuous process of interaction and encounter in the same shared public places shapes the strong social connection and conducive living situation, ensuring the kampung to be a lively, vibrant, and safe neighborhood. Reflecting from this study, where organic spatial layout has little effect on social composition and encounters, planners and architects should be aware that proper spatial layout design (e.g., high integration street networks in global and local scale) could generate constant flow of both locals and passersby – enhancing the vibrancy and vitality of the public realm in the kampungs

Estimating neighborhood variability with a binary comparison matrix.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Murphy, D.L.

1985-01-01

A technique which utilizes a binary comparison matrix has been developed to implement a neighborhood function for a raster format data base. The technique assigns an index value to the center pixel of 3- by 3-pixel neighborhoods. The binary comparison matrix provides additional information not found in two other neighborhood variability statistics; the function is sensitive to both the number of classes within the neighborhood and the frequency of pixel occurrence in each of the classes. Application of the function to a spatial data base from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, demonstrates 1) the numerical distribution of the index values, and 2) the spatial patterns exhibited by the numerical values. -Author

Emotion improves and impairs early vision.

PubMed

Bocanegra, Bruno R; Zeelenberg, René

2009-06-01

Recent studies indicate that emotion enhances early vision, but the generality of this finding remains unknown. Do the benefits of emotion extend to all basic aspects of vision, or are they limited in scope? Our results show that the brief presentation of a fearful face, compared with a neutral face, enhances sensitivity for the orientation of subsequently presented low-spatial-frequency stimuli, but diminishes orientation sensitivity for high-spatial-frequency stimuli. This is the first demonstration that emotion not only improves but also impairs low-level vision. The selective low-spatial-frequency benefits are consistent with the idea that emotion enhances magnocellular processing. Additionally, we suggest that the high-spatial-frequency deficits are due to inhibitory interactions between magnocellular and parvocellular pathways. Our results suggest an emotion-induced trade-off in visual processing, rather than a general improvement. This trade-off may benefit perceptual dimensions that are relevant for survival at the expense of those that are less relevant.

Spatial Frequency Responses of Anisotropic Refractive Index Gratings Formed in Holographic Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals

PubMed Central

Fukuda, Yoshiaki; Tomita, Yasuo

2016-01-01

We report on an experimental investigation of spatial frequency responses of anisotropic transmission refractive index gratings formed in holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLCs). We studied two different types of HPDLC materials employing two different monomer systems: one with acrylate monomer capable of radical mediated chain-growth polymerizations and the other with thiol-ene monomer capable of step-growth polymerizations. It was found that the photopolymerization kinetics of the two HPDLC materials could be well explained by the autocatalytic model. We also measured grating-spacing dependences of anisotropic refractive index gratings at a recording wavelength of 532 nm. It was found that the HPDLC material with the thiol-ene monomer gave higher spatial frequency responses than that with the acrylate monomer. Statistical thermodynamic simulation suggested that such a spatial frequency dependence was attributed primarily to a difference in the size of formed liquid crystal droplets due to different photopolymerization mechanisms. PMID:28773314

Spatial Frequency Responses of Anisotropic Refractive Index Gratings Formed in Holographic Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals.

PubMed

Fukuda, Yoshiaki; Tomita, Yasuo

2016-03-10

We report on an experimental investigation of spatial frequency responses of anisotropic transmission refractive index gratings formed in holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLCs). We studied two different types of HPDLC materials employing two different monomer systems: one with acrylate monomer capable of radical mediated chain-growth polymerizations and the other with thiol-ene monomer capable of step-growth polymerizations. It was found that the photopolymerization kinetics of the two HPDLC materials could be well explained by the autocatalytic model. We also measured grating-spacing dependences of anisotropic refractive index gratings at a recording wavelength of 532 nm. It was found that the HPDLC material with the thiol-ene monomer gave higher spatial frequency responses than that with the acrylate monomer. Statistical thermodynamic simulation suggested that such a spatial frequency dependence was attributed primarily to a difference in the size of formed liquid crystal droplets due to different photopolymerization mechanisms.

The Potential for Spatial Distribution Indices to Signal Thresholds in Marine Fish Biomass

PubMed Central

Reuchlin-Hugenholtz, Emilie

2015-01-01

The frequently observed positive relationship between fish population abundance and spatial distribution suggests that changes in distribution can be indicative of trends in abundance. If contractions in spatial distribution precede declines in spawning stock biomass (SSB), spatial distribution reference points could complement the SSB reference points that are commonly used in marine conservation biology and fisheries management. When relevant spatial distribution information is integrated into fisheries management and recovery plans, risks and uncertainties associated with a plan based solely on the SSB criterion would be reduced. To assess the added value of spatial distribution data, we examine the relationship between SSB and four metrics of spatial distribution intended to reflect changes in population range, concentration, and density for 10 demersal populations (9 species) inhabiting the Scotian Shelf, Northwest Atlantic. Our primary purpose is to assess their potential to serve as indices of SSB, using fisheries independent survey data. We find that metrics of density offer the best correlate of spawner biomass. A decline in the frequency of encountering high density areas is associated with, and in a few cases preceded by, rapid declines in SSB in 6 of 10 populations. Density-based indices have considerable potential to serve both as an indicator of SSB and as spatially based reference points in fisheries management. PMID:25789624

Spatial filtering with photonic crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maigyte, Lina; Staliunas, Kestutis; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats

2015-03-15

Photonic crystals are well known for their celebrated photonic band-gaps—the forbidden frequency ranges, for which the light waves cannot propagate through the structure. The frequency (or chromatic) band-gaps of photonic crystals can be utilized for frequency filtering. In analogy to the chromatic band-gaps and the frequency filtering, the angular band-gaps and the angular (spatial) filtering are also possible in photonic crystals. In this article, we review the recent advances of the spatial filtering using the photonic crystals in different propagation regimes and for different geometries. We review the most evident configuration of filtering in Bragg regime (with the back-reflection—i.e., inmore » the configuration with band-gaps) as well as in Laue regime (with forward deflection—i.e., in the configuration without band-gaps). We explore the spatial filtering in crystals with different symmetries, including axisymmetric crystals; we discuss the role of chirping, i.e., the dependence of the longitudinal period along the structure. We also review the experimental techniques to fabricate the photonic crystals and numerical techniques to explore the spatial filtering. Finally, we discuss several implementations of such filters for intracavity spatial filtering.« less

Virus evolution and transmission in an ever more connected world

PubMed Central

Pybus, Oliver G.; Tatem, Andrew J.; Lemey, Philippe

2015-01-01

The frequency and global impact of infectious disease outbreaks, particularly those caused by emerging viruses, demonstrate the need for a better understanding of how spatial ecology and pathogen evolution jointly shape epidemic dynamics. Advances in computational techniques and the increasing availability of genetic and geospatial data are helping to address this problem, particularly when both information sources are combined. Here, we review research at the intersection of evolutionary biology, human geography and epidemiology that is working towards an integrated view of spatial incidence, host mobility and viral genetic diversity. We first discuss how empirical studies have combined viral spatial and genetic data, focusing particularly on the contribution of evolutionary analyses to epidemiology and disease control. Second, we explore the interplay between virus evolution and global dispersal in more depth for two pathogens: human influenza A virus and chikungunya virus. We discuss the opportunities for future research arising from new analyses of human transportation and trade networks, as well as the associated challenges in accessing and sharing relevant spatial and genetic data. PMID:26702033

Remotely Sensed High-Resolution Global Cloud Dynamics for Predicting Ecosystem and Biodiversity Distributions.

PubMed

Wilson, Adam M; Jetz, Walter

2016-03-01

Cloud cover can influence numerous important ecological processes, including reproduction, growth, survival, and behavior, yet our assessment of its importance at the appropriate spatial scales has remained remarkably limited. If captured over a large extent yet at sufficiently fine spatial grain, cloud cover dynamics may provide key information for delineating a variety of habitat types and predicting species distributions. Here, we develop new near-global, fine-grain (≈1 km) monthly cloud frequencies from 15 y of twice-daily Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images that expose spatiotemporal cloud cover dynamics of previously undocumented global complexity. We demonstrate that cloud cover varies strongly in its geographic heterogeneity and that the direct, observation-based nature of cloud-derived metrics can improve predictions of habitats, ecosystem, and species distributions with reduced spatial autocorrelation compared to commonly used interpolated climate data. These findings support the fundamental role of remote sensing as an effective lens through which to understand and globally monitor the fine-grain spatial variability of key biodiversity and ecosystem properties.

Clinical implications of parallel visual pathways.

PubMed

Bassi, C J; Lehmkuhle, S

1990-02-01

Visual information travels from the retina to visual cortical areas along at least two parallel pathways. In this paper, anatomical and physiological evidence is presented to demonstrate the existence of, and trace these two pathways throughout the visual systems of the cat, primate, and human. Physiological and behavioral experiments are discussed which establish that these two pathways are differentially sensitive to stimuli that vary in spatial and temporal frequency. One pathway (M-pathway) is more sensitive to coarse visual form that is modulated or moving at fast rates, whereas the other pathway (P-pathway) is more sensitive to spatial detail that is stationary or moving at slow rates. This difference between the M- and P-pathways is related to some spatial and temporal effects observed in humans. Furthermore, evidence is presented that certain diseases selectively comprise the functioning of M- or P-pathways (i.e., glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease, and anisometropic amblyopia), and some of the spatial and temporal deficits observed in these patients are presented within the context of the dysfunction of the M- or P-pathway.

Impact imaging of aircraft composite structure based on a model-independent spatial-wavenumber filter.

PubMed

Qiu, Lei; Liu, Bin; Yuan, Shenfang; Su, Zhongqing

2016-01-01

The spatial-wavenumber filtering technique is an effective approach to distinguish the propagating direction and wave mode of Lamb wave in spatial-wavenumber domain. Therefore, it has been gradually studied for damage evaluation in recent years. But for on-line impact monitoring in practical application, the main problem is how to realize the spatial-wavenumber filtering of impact signal when the wavenumber of high spatial resolution cannot be measured or the accurate wavenumber curve cannot be modeled. In this paper, a new model-independent spatial-wavenumber filter based impact imaging method is proposed. In this method, a 2D cross-shaped array constructed by two linear piezoelectric (PZT) sensor arrays is used to acquire impact signal on-line. The continuous complex Shannon wavelet transform is adopted to extract the frequency narrowband signals from the frequency wideband impact response signals of the PZT sensors. A model-independent spatial-wavenumber filter is designed based on the spatial-wavenumber filtering technique. Based on the designed filter, a wavenumber searching and best match mechanism is proposed to implement the spatial-wavenumber filtering of the frequency narrowband signals without modeling, which can be used to obtain a wavenumber-time image of the impact relative to a linear PZT sensor array. By using the two wavenumber-time images of the 2D cross-shaped array, the impact direction can be estimated without blind angle. The impact distance relative to the 2D cross-shaped array can be calculated by using the difference of time-of-flight between the frequency narrowband signals of two different central frequencies and the corresponding group velocities. The validations performed on a carbon fiber composite laminate plate and an aircraft composite oil tank show a good impact localization accuracy of the model-independent spatial-wavenumber filter based impact imaging method. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sharpening vision by adapting to flicker.

PubMed

Arnold, Derek H; Williams, Jeremy D; Phipps, Natasha E; Goodale, Melvyn A

2016-11-01

Human vision is surprisingly malleable. A static stimulus can seem to move after prolonged exposure to movement (the motion aftereffect), and exposure to tilted lines can make vertical lines seem oppositely tilted (the tilt aftereffect). The paradigm used to induce such distortions (adaptation) can provide powerful insights into the computations underlying human visual experience. Previously spatial form and stimulus dynamics were thought to be encoded independently, but here we show that adaptation to stimulus dynamics can sharpen form perception. We find that fast flicker adaptation (FFAd) shifts the tuning of face perception to higher spatial frequencies, enhances the acuity of spatial vision-allowing people to localize inputs with greater precision and to read finer scaled text, and it selectively reduces sensitivity to coarse-scale form signals. These findings are consistent with two interrelated influences: FFAd reduces the responsiveness of magnocellular neurons (which are important for encoding dynamics, but can have poor spatial resolution), and magnocellular responses contribute coarse spatial scale information when the visual system synthesizes form signals. Consequently, when magnocellular responses are mitigated via FFAd, human form perception is transiently sharpened because "blur" signals are mitigated.

Potential roles of cholinergic modulation in the neural coding of location and movement speed

PubMed Central

Dannenberg, Holger; Hinman, James R.; Hasselmo, Michael E.

2016-01-01

Behavioral data suggest that cholinergic modulation may play a role in certain aspects of spatial memory, and neurophysiological data demonstrate neurons that fire in response to spatial dimensions, including grid cells and place cells that respond on the basis of location and running speed. These neurons show firing responses that depend upon the visual configuration of the environment, due to coding in visually-responsive regions of the neocortex. This review focuses on the physiological effects of acetylcholine that may influence the sensory coding of spatial dimensions relevant to behavior. In particular, the local circuit effects of acetylcholine within the cortex regulate the influence of sensory input relative to internal memory representations, via presynaptic inhibition of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission, and the modulation of intrinsic currents in cortical excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In addition, circuit effects of acetylcholine regulate the dynamics of cortical circuits including oscillations at theta and gamma frequencies. These effects of acetylcholine on local circuits and network dynamics could underlie the role of acetylcholine in coding of spatial information for the performance of spatial memory tasks. PMID:27677935

Sharpening vision by adapting to flicker

PubMed Central

Arnold, Derek H.; Williams, Jeremy D.; Phipps, Natasha E.; Goodale, Melvyn A.

2016-01-01

Human vision is surprisingly malleable. A static stimulus can seem to move after prolonged exposure to movement (the motion aftereffect), and exposure to tilted lines can make vertical lines seem oppositely tilted (the tilt aftereffect). The paradigm used to induce such distortions (adaptation) can provide powerful insights into the computations underlying human visual experience. Previously spatial form and stimulus dynamics were thought to be encoded independently, but here we show that adaptation to stimulus dynamics can sharpen form perception. We find that fast flicker adaptation (FFAd) shifts the tuning of face perception to higher spatial frequencies, enhances the acuity of spatial vision—allowing people to localize inputs with greater precision and to read finer scaled text, and it selectively reduces sensitivity to coarse-scale form signals. These findings are consistent with two interrelated influences: FFAd reduces the responsiveness of magnocellular neurons (which are important for encoding dynamics, but can have poor spatial resolution), and magnocellular responses contribute coarse spatial scale information when the visual system synthesizes form signals. Consequently, when magnocellular responses are mitigated via FFAd, human form perception is transiently sharpened because “blur” signals are mitigated. PMID:27791115

Rainfall: State of the Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Testik, Firat Y.; Gebremichael, Mekonnen

Rainfall: State of the Science offers the most up-to-date knowledge on the fundamental and practical aspects of rainfall. Each chapter, self-contained and written by prominent scientists in their respective fields, provides three forms of information: fundamental principles, detailed overview of current knowledge and description of existing methods, and emerging techniques and future research directions. The book discusses • Rainfall microphysics: raindrop morphodynamics, interactions, size distribution, and evolution • Rainfall measurement and estimation: ground-based direct measurement (disdrometer and rain gauge), weather radar rainfall estimation, polarimetric radar rainfall estimation, and satellite rainfall estimation • Statistical analyses: intensity-duration-frequency curves, frequency analysis of extreme events, spatial analyses, simulation and disaggregation, ensemble approach for radar rainfall uncertainty, and uncertainty analysis of satellite rainfall products The book is tailored to be an indispensable reference for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students who study any aspect of rainfall or utilize rainfall information in various science and engineering disciplines.

Solution pH change in non-uniform alternating current electric fields at frequencies above the electrode charging frequency

PubMed Central

An, Ran; Massa, Katherine

2014-01-01

AC Faradaic reactions have been reported as a mechanism inducing non-ideal phenomena such as flow reversal and cell deformation in electrokinetic microfluidic systems. Prior published work described experiments in parallel electrode arrays below the electrode charging frequency (fc), the frequency for electrical double layer charging at the electrode. However, 2D spatially non-uniform AC electric fields are required for applications such as in plane AC electroosmosis, AC electrothermal pumps, and dielectrophoresis. Many microscale experimental applications utilize AC frequencies around or above fc. In this work, a pH sensitive fluorescein sodium salt dye was used to detect [H+] as an indicator of Faradaic reactions in aqueous solutions within non-uniform AC electric fields. Comparison experiments with (a) parallel (2D uniform fields) electrodes and (b) organic media were employed to deduce the electrode charging mechanism at 5 kHz (1.5fc). Time dependency analysis illustrated that Faradaic reactions exist above the theoretically predicted electrode charging frequency. Spatial analysis showed [H+] varied spatially due to electric field non-uniformities and local pH changed at length scales greater than 50 μm away from the electrode surface. Thus, non-uniform AC fields yielded spatially varied pH gradients as a direct consequence of ion path length differences while uniform fields did not yield pH gradients; the latter is consistent with prior published data. Frequency dependence was examined from 5 kHz to 12 kHz at 5.5 Vpp potential, and voltage dependency was explored from 3.5 to 7.5 Vpp at 5 kHz. Results suggest that Faradaic reactions can still proceed within electrochemical systems in the absence of well-established electrical double layers. This work also illustrates that in microfluidic systems, spatial medium variations must be considered as a function of experiment time, initial medium conditions, electric signal potential, frequency, and spatial position. PMID:25553200

Identification of redundant and synergetic circuits in triplets of electrophysiological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erramuzpe, Asier; Ortega, Guillermo J.; Pastor, Jesus; de Sola, Rafael G.; Marinazzo, Daniele; Stramaglia, Sebastiano; Cortes, Jesus M.

2015-12-01

Objective. Neural systems are comprised of interacting units, and relevant information regarding their function or malfunction can be inferred by analyzing the statistical dependencies between the activity of each unit. While correlations and mutual information are commonly used to characterize these dependencies, our objective here is to extend interactions to triplets of variables to better detect and characterize dynamic information transfer. Approach. Our approach relies on the measure of interaction information (II). The sign of II provides information as to the extent to which the interaction of variables in triplets is redundant (R) or synergetic (S). Three variables are said to be redundant when a third variable, say Z, added to a pair of variables (X, Y), diminishes the information shared between X and Y. Similarly, the interaction in the triplet is said to be synergetic when conditioning on Z enhances the information shared between X and Y with respect to the unconditioned state. Here, based on this approach, we calculated the R and S status for triplets of electrophysiological data recorded from drug-resistant patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in order to study the spatial organization and dynamics of R and S close to the epileptogenic zone (the area responsible for seizure propagation). Main results. In terms of spatial organization, our results show that R matched the epileptogenic zone while S was distributed more in the surrounding area. In relation to dynamics, R made the largest contribution to high frequency bands (14-100 Hz), while S was expressed more strongly at lower frequencies (1-7 Hz). Thus, applying II to such clinical data reveals new aspects of epileptogenic structure in terms of the nature (redundancy versus synergy) and dynamics (fast versus slow rhythms) of the interactions. Significance. We expect this methodology, robust and simple, can reveal new aspects beyond pair-interactions in networks of interacting units in other setups with multi-recording data sets (and thus, not necessarily in epilepsy, the pathology we have approached here).

A nanogenerator as a self-powered sensor for measuring the vibration spectrum of a drum membrane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Aifang; Zhao, Yong; Jiang, Peng; Wang, Zhong Lin

2013-02-01

A nanogenerator (NG) is a device that converts vibration energy into electricity. Here, a flexible, small size and lightweight NG is successfully demonstrated as an active sensor for detecting the vibration spectrum of a drum membrane without the use of an external power source. The output current/voltage signal of the NG is a direct measure of the strain of the local vibrating drum membrane that contains rich informational content, such as, notably, the vibration frequency, vibration speed and vibration amplitude. In comparison to the laser vibrometer, which is excessively complex and expensive, this kind of small and low cost sensor based on an NG is also capable of detecting the local vibration frequency of a drum membrane accurately. A spatial arrangement of the NGs on the membrane can provide position-dependent vibration information on the surface. The measured frequency spectrum can be understood on the basis of the theoretically calculated vibration modes. This work expands the application of NGs and reveals the potential for developing sound wave detection, environmental/infrastructure monitoring and many more applications.

A Probabilistic Analysis of Surface Water Flood Risk in London.

PubMed

Jenkins, Katie; Hall, Jim; Glenis, Vassilis; Kilsby, Chris

2018-06-01

Flooding in urban areas during heavy rainfall, often characterized by short duration and high-intensity events, is known as "surface water flooding." Analyzing surface water flood risk is complex as it requires understanding of biophysical and human factors, such as the localized scale and nature of heavy precipitation events, characteristics of the urban area affected (including detailed topography and drainage networks), and the spatial distribution of economic and social vulnerability. Climate change is recognized as having the potential to enhance the intensity and frequency of heavy rainfall events. This study develops a methodology to link high spatial resolution probabilistic projections of hourly precipitation with detailed surface water flood depth maps and characterization of urban vulnerability to estimate surface water flood risk. It incorporates probabilistic information on the range of uncertainties in future precipitation in a changing climate. The method is applied to a case study of Greater London and highlights that both the frequency and spatial extent of surface water flood events are set to increase under future climate change. The expected annual damage from surface water flooding is estimated to be to be £171 million, £343 million, and £390 million/year under the baseline, 2030 high, and 2050 high climate change scenarios, respectively. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

A Skew-t space-varying regression model for the spectral analysis of resting state brain activity.

PubMed

Ismail, Salimah; Sun, Wenqi; Nathoo, Farouk S; Babul, Arif; Moiseev, Alexader; Beg, Mirza Faisal; Virji-Babul, Naznin

2013-08-01

It is known that in many neurological disorders such as Down syndrome, main brain rhythms shift their frequencies slightly, and characterizing the spatial distribution of these shifts is of interest. This article reports on the development of a Skew-t mixed model for the spatial analysis of resting state brain activity in healthy controls and individuals with Down syndrome. Time series of oscillatory brain activity are recorded using magnetoencephalography, and spectral summaries are examined at multiple sensor locations across the scalp. We focus on the mean frequency of the power spectral density, and use space-varying regression to examine associations with age, gender and Down syndrome across several scalp regions. Spatial smoothing priors are incorporated based on a multivariate Markov random field, and the markedly non-Gaussian nature of the spectral response variable is accommodated by the use of a Skew-t distribution. A range of models representing different assumptions on the association structure and response distribution are examined, and we conduct model selection using the deviance information criterion. (1) Our analysis suggests region-specific differences between healthy controls and individuals with Down syndrome, particularly in the left and right temporal regions, and produces smoothed maps indicating the scalp topography of the estimated differences.

Spatial resolution and frequency of satellite data acquisition for multi-temporal analysis of environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, S.; Sugimura, T.; Kameda, K.

1992-07-01

The environmental monitoring capacity by satellite depends upon the spatial resolution and the acquisition frequency it provides. The information on environmental change obtained by Landsat, the first earth observation satellite, was a rectangular reclamation area on Tokyo Bay meaning only a few square kilometers. However, multi-temporal SPOT/HRV data enables newly built small buildings meaning just ten square meters or so to be detected. Environmental changes of the global dimensions are today attracting world attention. In Japan, the major environmental problems are decaying cedar forests due to acid rain, decaying pine forests due to the pine beetle, landslides due to left-cut forests and problem resulting from agricultural chemicals on golf courses. All of these pose a national problem, but each is a phenomenon which covers an area of a few meters square at the largest. The existing earth observation satellites are unable to monitor these seemingly small sized environmental changes. For this, satellites with a spatial resolution of a few meters only or less than a meter are required. This situation becomes apparent when specific cases are examined, and it is expected considering the speed of past sensor development satellite observation systems providing this capacity will most probably be developed by the year 2020.

Data Embedding for Covert Communications, Digital Watermarking, and Information Augmentation

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-03-01

proposed an image authentication algorithm based on the fragility of messages embedded in digital images using LSB encoding. In [Walt95], he proposes...Invertibility 2/ 3 SAMPLE DATA EMBEDDING TECHNIQUES 23 3.1 SPATIAL TECHNIQUES 23 LSB Encoding in Intensity Images 23 Data embedding...ATTACK 21 FIGURE 6. EFFECTS OF LSB ENCODING 25 FIGURE 7. ALGORITHM FOR EZSTEGO 28 FIGURE 8. DATA EMBEDDING IN THE FREQUENCY DOMAIN 30 FIGURE 9

Polarimetric Wavelet Fractal Remote Sensing Principles for Space Materials (Preprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-04

previously introduced 9-10, 28. The combination of polarimetry and wavelet-fractal analysis yields enhanced knowledge of the spatial-temporal-frequency...applications in situations that require analysis over very short time durations or where information is localized, and have been combined with polarimetry ...and D.B. Chenault, “Near Infrared Imaging Polarimetry ”, Proc. SPIE 4481, pp. 30-31, 2001. [8] A.B. Mahler, P. Smith, R. Chipman, G. Smith, N

Change of spatial information under rescaling: A case study using multi-resolution image series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Weirong; Henebry, Geoffrey M.

Spatial structure in imagery depends on a complicated interaction between the observational regime and the types and arrangements of entities within the scene that the image portrays. Although block averaging of pixels has commonly been used to simulate coarser resolution imagery, relatively little attention has been focused on the effects of simple rescaling on spatial structure and the explanation and a possible solution to the problem. Yet, if there are significant differences in spatial variance between rescaled and observed images, it may affect the reliability of retrieved biogeophysical quantities. To investigate these issues, a nested series of high spatial resolution digital imagery was collected at a research site in eastern Nebraska in 2001. An airborne Kodak DCS420IR camera acquired imagery at three altitudes, yielding nominal spatial resolutions ranging from 0.187 m to 1 m. The red and near infrared (NIR) bands of the co-registered image series were normalized using pseudo-invariant features, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated. Plots of grain sorghum planted in orthogonal crop row orientations were extracted from the image series. The finest spatial resolution data were then rescaled by averaging blocks of pixels to produce a rescaled image series that closely matched the spatial resolution of the observed image series. Spatial structures of the observed and rescaled image series were characterized using semivariogram analysis. Results for NDVI and its component bands show, as expected, that decreasing spatial resolution leads to decreasing spatial variability and increasing spatial dependence. However, compared to the observed data, the rescaled images contain more persistent spatial structure that exhibits limited variation in both spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. Rescaling via simple block averaging fails to consider the effect of scene object shape and extent on spatial information. As the features portrayed by pixels are equally weighted regardless of the shape and extent of the underlying scene objects, the rescaled image retains more of the original spatial information than would occur through direct observation at a coarser sensor spatial resolution. In contrast, for the observed images, due to the effect of the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the imaging system, high frequency features like edges are blurred or lost as the pixel size increases, resulting in greater variation in spatial structure. Successive applications of a low-pass spatial convolution filter are shown to mimic a MTF. Accordingly, it is recommended that such a procedure be applied prior to rescaling by simple block averaging, if insufficient image metadata exist to replicate the net MTF of the imaging system, as might be expected in land cover change analysis studies using historical imagery.

Differential effects of exogenous and endogenous attention on second-order texture contrast sensitivity

PubMed Central

Barbot, Antoine; Landy, Michael S.; Carrasco, Marisa

2012-01-01

The visual system can use a rich variety of contours to segment visual scenes into distinct perceptually coherent regions. However, successfully segmenting an image is a computationally expensive process. Previously we have shown that exogenous attention—the more automatic, stimulus-driven component of spatial attention—helps extract contours by enhancing contrast sensitivity for second-order, texture-defined patterns at the attended location, while reducing sensitivity at unattended locations, relative to a neutral condition. Interestingly, the effects of exogenous attention depended on the second-order spatial frequency of the stimulus. At parafoveal locations, attention enhanced second-order contrast sensitivity to relatively high, but not to low second-order spatial frequencies. In the present study we investigated whether endogenous attention—the more voluntary, conceptually-driven component of spatial attention—affects second-order contrast sensitivity, and if so, whether its effects are similar to those of exogenous attention. To that end, we compared the effects of exogenous and endogenous attention on the sensitivity to second-order, orientation-defined, texture patterns of either high or low second-order spatial frequencies. The results show that, like exogenous attention, endogenous attention enhances second-order contrast sensitivity at the attended location and reduces it at unattended locations. However, whereas the effects of exogenous attention are a function of the second-order spatial frequency content, endogenous attention affected second-order contrast sensitivity independent of the second-order spatial frequency content. This finding supports the notion that both exogenous and endogenous attention can affect second-order contrast sensitivity, but that endogenous attention is more flexible, benefitting performance under different conditions. PMID:22895879

Temporal and spatial tuning of dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus neurons in unanesthetized rats

PubMed Central

Sriram, Balaji; Meier, Philip M.

2016-01-01

Visual response properties of neurons in the dorsolateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) have been well described in several species, but not in rats. Analysis of responses from the unanesthetized rat dLGN will be needed to develop quantitative models that account for visual behavior of rats. We recorded visual responses from 130 single units in the dLGN of 7 unanesthetized rats. We report the response amplitudes, temporal frequency, and spatial frequency sensitivities in this population of cells. In response to 2-Hz visual stimulation, dLGN cells fired 15.9 ± 11.4 spikes/s (mean ± SD) modulated by 10.7 ± 8.4 spikes/s about the mean. The optimal temporal frequency for full-field stimulation ranged from 5.8 to 19.6 Hz across cells. The temporal high-frequency cutoff ranged from 11.7 to 33.6 Hz. Some cells responded best to low temporal frequency stimulation (low pass), and others were strictly bandpass; most cells fell between these extremes. At 2- to 4-Hz temporal modulation, the spatial frequency of drifting grating that drove cells best ranged from 0.008 to 0.18 cycles per degree (cpd) across cells. The high-frequency cutoff ranged from 0.01 to 1.07 cpd across cells. The majority of cells were driven best by the lowest spatial frequency tested, but many were partially or strictly bandpass. We conclude that single units in the rat dLGN can respond vigorously to temporal modulation up to at least 30 Hz and spatial detail up to 1 cpd. Tuning properties were heterogeneous, but each fell along a continuum; we found no obvious clustering into discrete cell types along these dimensions. PMID:26936980

Assessing the predictive capability of optical imaging techniques, Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) and Laser Speckle Imaging (LSI), to the gold standard of clinical assessment in a controlled animal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ponticorvo, A.; Rowland, R.; Baldado, M.; Burmeister, D. M.; Christy, R. J.; Bernal, N.; Durkin, A. J.

2018-02-01

The current standard for assessment of burn severity and subsequent wound healing is through clinical examination, which is highly subjective. Accurate early assessment of burn severity is critical for dictating the course of wound management. Complicating matters is the fact that burn wounds are often large and can have multiple regions that vary in severity. In order to manage the treatment more effectively, a tool that can provide spatially resolved information related to mapping burn severity could aid clinicians when making decisions. Several new technologies focus on burn care in an attempt to help clinicians objectively determine burn severity. By quantifying perfusion, laser speckle imaging (LSI) has had success in categorizing burn wound severity at earlier time points than clinical assessment alone. Additionally, spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) is a new technique that can quantify the tissue structural damage associated with burns to achieve earlier categorization of burn severity. Here we compared the performance of a commercial LSI device (PeriCam PSI, Perimed Inc.), a SFDI device (Reflect RSTM, Modulated Imaging Inc.) and conventional clinical assessment in a controlled (porcine) model of graded burn wound severity over the course of 28 days. Specifically we focused on the ability of each system to predict the spatial heterogeneity of the healed wound at 28 days, based on the images at an early time point. Spatial heterogeneity was defined by clinical assessment of distinct regions of healing on day 28. Across six pigs, 96 burn wounds (3 cm diameter) were created. Clinical assessment at day 28 indicated that 39 had appeared to heal in a heterogeneous manner. Clinical observation at day 1 found 35 / 39 (90%) to be spatially heterogeneous in terms of burn severity. The LSI system was able to detect spatial heterogeneity of burn severity in 14 / 39 (36%) cases on day 1 and 23 / 39 cases (59%) on day 7. By contrast the SFDI system was able to detect spatial heterogeneity of burn severity in 39 / 39 (100%) cases on day 1. Here we have demonstrated that for the purposes of predicting heterogeneity in wound healing, SFDI generated scattering properties were a significantly more effective tool than perfusion images measured using LSI. This indicates that SFDI may be better suited to help clinicians categorize different burns earlier, ultimately informing treatment strategy to improve patient outcomes.

DOA-informed source extraction in the presence of competing talkers and background noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taseska, Maja; Habets, Emanuël A. P.

2017-12-01

A desired speech signal in hands-free communication systems is often degraded by noise and interfering speech. Even though the number and locations of the interferers are often unknown in practice, it is justified to assume in certain applications that the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of the desired source is approximately known. Using the known DOA, fixed spatial filters such as the delay-and-sum beamformer can be steered to extract the desired source. However, it is well-known that fixed data-independent spatial filters do not provide sufficient reduction of directional interferers. Instead, the DOA information can be used to estimate the statistics of the desired and the undesired signals and to compute optimal data-dependent spatial filters. One way the DOA is exploited for optimal spatial filtering in the literature, is by designing DOA-based narrowband detectors to determine whether a desired or an undesired signal is dominant at each time-frequency (TF) bin. Subsequently, the statistics of the desired and the undesired signals can be estimated during the TF bins where the respective signal is dominant. In a similar manner, a Gaussian signal model-based detector which does not incorporate DOA information has been used in scenarios where the undesired signal consists of stationary background noise. However, when the undesired signal is non-stationary, resulting for example from interfering speakers, such a Gaussian signal model-based detector is unable to robustly distinguish desired from undesired speech. To this end, we propose a DOA model-based detector to determine the dominant source at each TF bin and estimate the desired and undesired signal statistics. We demonstrate that data-dependent spatial filters that use the statistics estimated by the proposed framework achieve very good undesired signal reduction, even when using only three microphones.

Comparison of Extreme Precipitation Return Levels using Spatial Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling versus Regional Frequency Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Love, C. A.; Skahill, B. E.; AghaKouchak, A.; Karlovits, G. S.; England, J. F.; Duren, A. M.

2017-12-01

We compare gridded extreme precipitation return levels obtained using spatial Bayesian hierarchical modeling (BHM) with their respective counterparts from a traditional regional frequency analysis (RFA) using the same set of extreme precipitation data. Our study area is the 11,478 square mile Willamette River basin (WRB) located in northwestern Oregon, a major tributary of the Columbia River whose 187 miles long main stem, the Willamette River, flows northward between the Coastal and Cascade Ranges. The WRB contains approximately two ­thirds of Oregon's population and 20 of the 25 most populous cities in the state. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Portland District operates thirteen dams and extreme precipitation estimates are required to support risk­ informed hydrologic analyses as part of the USACE Dam Safety Program. Our intent is to profile for the USACE an alternate methodology to an RFA that was developed in 2008 due to the lack of an official NOAA Atlas 14 update for the state of Oregon. We analyze 24-hour annual precipitation maxima data for the WRB utilizing the spatial BHM R package "spatial.gev.bma", which has been shown to be efficient in developing coherent maps of extreme precipitation by return level. Our BHM modeling analysis involved application of leave-one-out cross validation (LOO-CV), which not only supported model selection but also a comprehensive assessment of location specific model performance. The LOO-CV results will provide a basis for the BHM RFA comparison.

Encoding geometric and non-geometric information: a study with evolved agents.

PubMed

Ponticorvo, Michela; Miglino, Orazio

2010-01-01

Vertebrate species use geometric information and non-geometric or featural cues to orient. Under some circumstances, when both geometric and non-geometric information are available, the geometric information overwhelms non-geometric cues (geometric primacy). In other cases, we observe the inverse tendency or the successful integration of both cues. In past years, modular explanations have been proposed for the geometric primacy: geometric and non-geometric information are processed separately, with the geometry module playing a dominant role. The modularity issue is related to the recent debate on the encoding of geometric information: is it innate or does it depend on environmental experience? In order to get insight into the mechanisms that cause the wide variety of behaviors observed in nature, we used Artificial Life experiments. We demonstrated that agents trained mainly with a single class of information oriented efficiently when they were exposed to one class of information (geometric or non-geometric). When they were tested in environments that contained both classes of information, they displayed a primacy for the information that they had experienced more during their training phase. Encoding and processing geometric and non-geometric information was run in a single cognitive neuro-representation. These findings represent a theoretical proof that the exposure frequency to different spatial information during a learning/adaptive history could produce agents with no modular neuro-cognitive systems that are able to process different types of spatial information and display various orientation behaviors (geometric primacy, non-geometric primacy, no primacy at all).

High-spectral resolution solar microwave observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hurford, G. J.

1986-01-01

The application of high-spectral resolution microwave observations to the study of solar activity is discussed with particular emphasis on the frequency dependence of microwave emission from solar active regions. A shell model of gyroresonance emission from active regions is described which suggest that high-spectral resolution, spatially-resolved observations can provide quantitative information about the magnetic field distribution at the base of the corona. Corresponding observations of a single sunspot with the Owens Valley frequency-agile interferometer at 56 frequencies between 1.2 and 14 Ghs are presented. The overall form of the observed size and brightness temperature spectra was consistent with expectations based on the shell model, although there were differences of potential physical significance. The merits and weaknesses of microwave spectroscopy as a technique for measuring magnetic fields in the solar corona are briefly discussed.

Building perceptual color maps for visualizing interval data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalvin, Alan D.; Rogowitz, Bernice E.; Pelah, Adar; Cohen, Aron

2000-06-01

In visualization, a 'color map' maps a range of data values onto a scale of colors. However, unless a color map is e carefully constructed, visual artifacts can be produced. This problem has stimulated considerable interest in creating perceptually based color maps, that is, color maps where equal steps in data value are perceived as equal steps in the color map [Robertson (1988); Pizer (1981); Green (1992); Lefkowitz and Herman, 1992)]. In Rogowitz and Treinish, (1996, 1998) and in Bergman, Treinish and Rogowitz, (1995), we demonstrated that color maps based on luminance or saturation could be good candidates for satisfying this requirement. This work is based on the seminal work of S.S. Stevens (1966), who measured the perceived magnitude of different magnitudes of physical stimuli. He found that for many physical scales, including luminance (cd/m2) and saturation (the 'redness' of a long-wavelength light source), equal ratios in stimulus value produced equal ratios in perceptual magnitude. He interpreted this as indicating that there exists in human cognition a common scale for representing magnitude, and we scale the effects of different physical stimuli to this internal scale. In Rogowitz, Kalvin, Pelahb and Cohen (1999), we used a psychophysical technique to test this hypothesis as it applies to the creation of perceptually uniform color maps. We constructed color maps as trajectories through three-color spaces, a common computer graphics standard (uncalibrated HSV), a common perceptually-based engineering standard for creating visual stimuli (L*a*b*), and a space commonly used in the graphic arts (Munsell). For each space, we created color scales that varied linearly in hue, saturation, or luminance and measured the detectability of increments in hue, saturation or luminance for each of these color scales. We measured the amplitude of the just-detectable Gaussian increments at 20 different values along the range of each color map. For all three color spaces, we found that luminance-based color maps provided the most perceptually- uniform representations of the data. The just-detectable increment was constant at all points in the color map, with the exception of the lowest-luminance values, where a larger increment was required. The saturation-based color maps provided less sensitivity than the luminance-based color maps, requiring much larger increments for detection. For the hue- based color maps, the size of the increment required for detection varied across the range. For example, for the standard 'rainbow' color map (uncalibrated HSV, hue-varying map), a step in the 'green' region required an increment 16 times the size of the increment required in the 'cyan' part of the range. That is, the rainbow color map would not successfully represent changes in the data in the 'green' region of this color map. In this paper, we extend this research by studying the detectability of spatially-modulated Gabor targets based on these hue, saturation and luminance scales. Since, in visualization, the user is called upon to detect and identify patterns that vary in their spatial characteristics, it is important to study how different types of color maps represent data with varying spatial properties. To do so, we measured modulation thresholds for low-(0.2 c/deg) and high-spatial frequency (4.0 c/deg) Gabor patches and compared them with the Gaussian results. As before, we measured increment thresholds for hue, saturation, and luminance modulations. These color scales were constructed as trajectories along the three perceptual dimensions of color (hue, saturation, and luminance) in two color spaces, uncalibrated HSV and calibrated L*a*b. This allowed us to study how the three perceptual dimensions represent magnitude information for test patterns varying in spatial frequency. This design also allowed us to test the hypothesis that the luminance channel best carries high-spatial frequency information while the saturation channel best represents low spatial-frequency information (Mullen 1985; DeValois and DeValois 1988).

2.5-D frequency-domain viscoelastic wave modelling using finite-element method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Jian-guo; Huang, Xing-xing; Liu, Wei-fang; Zhao, Wei-jun; Song, Jian-yong; Xiong, Bin; Wang, Shang-xu

2017-10-01

2-D seismic modelling has notable dynamic information discrepancies with field data because of the implicit line-source assumption, whereas 3-D modelling suffers from a huge computational burden. The 2.5-D approach is able to overcome both of the aforementioned limitations. In general, the earth model is treated as an elastic material, but the real media is viscous. In this study, we develop an accurate and efficient frequency-domain finite-element method (FEM) for modelling 2.5-D viscoelastic wave propagation. To perform the 2.5-D approach, we assume that the 2-D viscoelastic media are based on the Kelvin-Voigt rheological model and a 3-D point source. The viscoelastic wave equation is temporally and spatially Fourier transformed into the frequency-wavenumber domain. Then, we systematically derive the weak form and its spatial discretization of 2.5-D viscoelastic wave equations in the frequency-wavenumber domain through the Galerkin weighted residual method for FEM. Fixing a frequency, the 2-D problem for each wavenumber is solved by FEM. Subsequently, a composite Simpson formula is adopted to estimate the inverse Fourier integration to obtain the 3-D wavefield. We implement the stiffness reduction method (SRM) to suppress artificial boundary reflections. The results show that this absorbing boundary condition is valid and efficient in the frequency-wavenumber domain. Finally, three numerical models, an unbounded homogeneous medium, a half-space layered medium and an undulating topography medium, are established. Numerical results validate the accuracy and stability of 2.5-D solutions and present the adaptability of finite-element method to complicated geographic conditions. The proposed 2.5-D modelling strategy has the potential to address modelling studies on wave propagation in real earth media in an accurate and efficient way.

Increased Anatomical Specificity of Neuromodulation via Modulated Focused Ultrasound

PubMed Central

Mehić, Edin; Xu, Julia M.; Caler, Connor J.; Coulson, Nathaniel K.; Moritz, Chet T.; Mourad, Pierre D.

2014-01-01

Transcranial ultrasound can alter brain function transiently and nondestructively, offering a new tool to study brain function now and inform future therapies. Previous research on neuromodulation implemented pulsed low-frequency (250–700 kHz) ultrasound with spatial peak temporal average intensities (ISPTA) of 0.1–10 W/cm2. That work used transducers that either insonified relatively large volumes of mouse brain (several mL) with relatively low-frequency ultrasound and produced bilateral motor responses, or relatively small volumes of brain (on the order of 0.06 mL) with relatively high-frequency ultrasound that produced unilateral motor responses. This study seeks to increase anatomical specificity to neuromodulation with modulated focused ultrasound (mFU). Here, ‘modulated’ means modifying a focused 2-MHz carrier signal dynamically with a 500-kHz signal as in vibro-acoustography, thereby creating a low-frequency but small volume (approximately 0.015 mL) source of neuromodulation. Application of transcranial mFU to lightly anesthetized mice produced various motor movements with high spatial selectivity (on the order of 1 mm) that scaled with the temporal average ultrasound intensity. Alone, mFU and focused ultrasound (FUS) each induced motor activity, including unilateral motions, though anatomical location and type of motion varied. Future work should include larger animal models to determine the relative efficacy of mFU versus FUS. Other studies should determine the biophysical processes through which they act. Also of interest is exploration of the potential research and clinical applications for targeted, transcranial neuromodulation created by modulated focused ultrasound, especially mFU’s ability to produce compact sources of ultrasound at the very low frequencies (10–100s of Hertz) that are commensurate with the natural frequencies of the brain. PMID:24504255

A method for generating high resolution satellite image time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Tao

2014-10-01

There is an increasing demand for satellite remote sensing data with both high spatial and temporal resolution in many applications. But it still is a challenge to simultaneously improve spatial resolution and temporal frequency due to the technical limits of current satellite observation systems. To this end, much R&D efforts have been ongoing for years and lead to some successes roughly in two aspects, one includes super resolution, pan-sharpen etc. methods which can effectively enhance the spatial resolution and generate good visual effects, but hardly preserve spectral signatures and result in inadequate analytical value, on the other hand, time interpolation is a straight forward method to increase temporal frequency, however it increase little informative contents in fact. In this paper we presented a novel method to simulate high resolution time series data by combing low resolution time series data and a very small number of high resolution data only. Our method starts with a pair of high and low resolution data set, and then a spatial registration is done by introducing LDA model to map high and low resolution pixels correspondingly. Afterwards, temporal change information is captured through a comparison of low resolution time series data, and then projected onto the high resolution data plane and assigned to each high resolution pixel according to the predefined temporal change patterns of each type of ground objects. Finally the simulated high resolution data is generated. A preliminary experiment shows that our method can simulate a high resolution data with a reasonable accuracy. The contribution of our method is to enable timely monitoring of temporal changes through analysis of time sequence of low resolution images only, and usage of costly high resolution data can be reduces as much as possible, and it presents a highly effective way to build up an economically operational monitoring solution for agriculture, forest, land use investigation, environment and etc. applications.

Region Segmentation in the Frequency Domain Applied to Upper Airway Real-Time Magnetic Resonance Images

PubMed Central

Narayanan, Shrikanth

2009-01-01

We describe a method for unsupervised region segmentation of an image using its spatial frequency domain representation. The algorithm was designed to process large sequences of real-time magnetic resonance (MR) images containing the 2-D midsagittal view of a human vocal tract airway. The segmentation algorithm uses an anatomically informed object model, whose fit to the observed image data is hierarchically optimized using a gradient descent procedure. The goal of the algorithm is to automatically extract the time-varying vocal tract outline and the position of the articulators to facilitate the study of the shaping of the vocal tract during speech production. PMID:19244005

EEG resolutions in detecting and decoding finger movements from spectral analysis

PubMed Central

Xiao, Ran; Ding, Lei

2015-01-01

Mu/beta rhythms are well-studied brain activities that originate from sensorimotor cortices. These rhythms reveal spectral changes in alpha and beta bands induced by movements of different body parts, e.g., hands and limbs, in electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, less can be revealed in them about movements of different fine body parts that activate adjacent brain regions, such as individual fingers from one hand. Several studies have reported spatial and temporal couplings of rhythmic activities at different frequency bands, suggesting the existence of well-defined spectral structures across multiple frequency bands. In the present study, spectral principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on EEG data, obtained from a finger movement task, to identify cross-frequency spectral structures. Features from identified spectral structures were examined in their spatial patterns, cross-condition pattern changes, detection capability of finger movements from resting, and decoding performance of individual finger movements in comparison to classic mu/beta rhythms. These new features reveal some similar, but more different spatial and spectral patterns as compared with classic mu/beta rhythms. Decoding results further indicate that these new features (91%) can detect finger movements much better than classic mu/beta rhythms (75.6%). More importantly, these new features reveal discriminative information about movements of different fingers (fine body-part movements), which is not available in classic mu/beta rhythms. The capability in decoding fingers (and hand gestures in the future) from EEG will contribute significantly to the development of non-invasive BCI and neuroprosthesis with intuitive and flexible controls. PMID:26388720

Analysis on unevenness of skin color using the melanin and hemoglobin components separated by independent component analysis of skin color image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ojima, Nobutoshi; Fujiwara, Izumi; Inoue, Yayoi; Tsumura, Norimichi; Nakaguchi, Toshiya; Iwata, Kayoko

2011-03-01

Uneven distribution of skin color is one of the biggest concerns about facial skin appearance. Recently several techniques to analyze skin color have been introduced by separating skin color information into chromophore components, such as melanin and hemoglobin. However, there are not many reports on quantitative analysis of unevenness of skin color by considering type of chromophore, clusters of different sizes and concentration of the each chromophore. We propose a new image analysis and simulation method based on chromophore analysis and spatial frequency analysis. This method is mainly composed of three techniques: independent component analysis (ICA) to extract hemoglobin and melanin chromophores from a single skin color image, an image pyramid technique which decomposes each chromophore into multi-resolution images, which can be used for identifying different sizes of clusters or spatial frequencies, and analysis of the histogram obtained from each multi-resolution image to extract unevenness parameters. As the application of the method, we also introduce an image processing technique to change unevenness of melanin component. As the result, the method showed high capabilities to analyze unevenness of each skin chromophore: 1) Vague unevenness on skin could be discriminated from noticeable pigmentation such as freckles or acne. 2) By analyzing the unevenness parameters obtained from each multi-resolution image for Japanese ladies, agerelated changes were observed in the parameters of middle spatial frequency. 3) An image processing system modulating the parameters was proposed to change unevenness of skin images along the axis of the obtained age-related change in real time.

[Research on Residual Aberrations Correction with Adaptive Optics Technique in Patients Undergoing Orthokeratology].

PubMed

Gong, Rui; Yang, Bi; Liu, Longqian; Dai, Yun; Zhang, Yudong; Zhao, Haoxin

2016-06-01

We conducted this study to explore the influence of the ocular residual aberrations changes on contrast sensitivity(CS)function in eyes undergoing orthokeratology using adaptive optics technique.Nineteen subjects’ nineteen eyes were included in this study.The subjects were between 12 and 20years(14.27±2.23years)of age.An adaptive optics(AO)system was adopted to measure and compensate the residual aberrations through a 4-mm artificial pupil,and at the same time the contrast sensitivities were measured at five spatial frequencies(2,4,8,16,and 32 cycles per degree).The CS measurements with and without AO correction were completed.The sequence of the measurements with and without AO correction was randomly arranged without informing the observers.A two-interval forced-choice procedure was used for the CS measurements.The paired t-test was used to compare the contrast sensitivity with and without AO correction at each spatial frequency.The results revealed that the AO system decreased the mean total root mean square(RMS)from 0.356μm to 0.160μm(t=10.517,P<0.001),and the mean total higher-order RMS from 0.246μm to 0.095μm(t=10.113,P<0.001).The difference in log contrast sensitivity with and without AO correction was significant only at 8cpd(t=-2.51,P=0.02).Thereby we concluded that correcting the ocular residual aberrations using adaptive optics technique could improve the contrast sensitivity function at intermediate spatial frequency in patients undergoing orthokeratology.

Population receptive field (pRF) measurements of chromatic responses in human visual cortex using fMRI.

PubMed

Welbourne, Lauren E; Morland, Antony B; Wade, Alex R

2018-02-15

The spatial sensitivity of the human visual system depends on stimulus color: achromatic gratings can be resolved at relatively high spatial frequencies while sensitivity to isoluminant color contrast tends to be more low-pass. Models of early spatial vision often assume that the receptive field size of pattern-sensitive neurons is correlated with their spatial frequency sensitivity - larger receptive fields are typically associated with lower optimal spatial frequency. A strong prediction of this model is that neurons coding isoluminant chromatic patterns should have, on average, a larger receptive field size than neurons sensitive to achromatic patterns. Here, we test this assumption using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We show that while spatial frequency sensitivity depends on chromaticity in the manner predicted by behavioral measurements, population receptive field (pRF) size measurements show no such dependency. At any given eccentricity, the mean pRF size for neuronal populations driven by luminance, opponent red/green and S-cone isolating contrast, are identical. Changes in pRF size (for example, an increase with eccentricity and visual area hierarchy) are also identical across the three chromatic conditions. These results suggest that fMRI measurements of receptive field size and spatial resolution can be decoupled under some circumstances - potentially reflecting a fundamental dissociation between these parameters at the level of neuronal populations. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The functional significance of velocity storage and its dependence on gravity.

PubMed

Laurens, Jean; Angelaki, Dora E

2011-05-01

Research in the vestibular field has revealed the existence of a central process, called 'velocity storage', that is activated by both visual and vestibular rotation cues and is modified by gravity, but whose functional relevance during natural motion has often been questioned. In this review, we explore spatial orientation in the context of a Bayesian model of vestibular information processing. In this framework, deficiencies/ambiguities in the peripheral vestibular sensors are compensated for by central processing to more accurately estimate rotation velocity, orientation relative to gravity, and inertial motion. First, an inverse model of semicircular canal dynamics is used to reconstruct rotation velocity by integrating canal signals over time. However, its low-frequency bandwidth is limited to avoid accumulation of noise in the integrator. A second internal model uses this reconstructed rotation velocity to compute an internal estimate of tilt and inertial acceleration. The bandwidth of this second internal model is also restricted at low frequencies to avoid noise accumulation and drift of the tilt/translation estimator over time. As a result, low-frequency translation can be erroneously misinterpreted as tilt. The time constants of these two integrators (internal models) can be conceptualized as two Bayesian priors of zero rotation velocity and zero linear acceleration, respectively. The model replicates empirical observations like 'velocity storage' and 'frequency segregation' and explains spatial orientation (e.g., 'somatogravic') illusions. Importantly, the functional significance of this network, including velocity storage, is found during short-lasting, natural head movements, rather than at low frequencies with which it has been traditionally studied.

The functional significance of velocity storage and its dependence on gravity

PubMed Central

Laurens, Jean

2013-01-01

Research in the vestibular field has revealed the existence of a central process, called ‘velocity storage’, that is activated by both visual and vestibular rotation cues and is modified by gravity, but whose functional relevance during natural motion has often been questioned. In this review, we explore spatial orientation in the context of a Bayesian model of vestibular information processing. In this framework, deficiencies/ambiguities in the peripheral vestibular sensors are compensated for by central processing to more accurately estimate rotation velocity, orientation relative to gravity, and inertial motion. First, an inverse model of semicircular canal dynamics is used to reconstruct rotation velocity by integrating canal signals over time. However, its low-frequency bandwidth is limited to avoid accumulation of noise in the integrator. A second internal model uses this reconstructed rotation velocity to compute an internal estimate of tilt and inertial acceleration. The bandwidth of this second internal model is also restricted at low frequencies to avoid noise accumulation and drift of the tilt/translation estimator over time. As a result, low-frequency translation can be erroneously misinterpreted as tilt. The time constants of these two integrators (internal models) can be conceptualized as two Bayesian priors of zero rotation velocity and zero linear acceleration, respectively. The model replicates empirical observations like ‘velocity storage’ and ‘frequency segregation’ and explains spatial orientation (e.g., ‘somatogravic’) illusions. Importantly, the functional significance of this network, including velocity storage, is found during short-lasting, natural head movements, rather than at low frequencies with which it has been traditionally studied. PMID:21293850

Processing of Fear and Anger Facial Expressions: The Role of Spatial Frequency

PubMed Central

Comfort, William E.; Wang, Meng; Benton, Christopher P.; Zana, Yossi

2013-01-01

Spatial frequency (SF) components encode a portion of the affective value expressed in face images. The aim of this study was to estimate the relative weight of specific frequency spectrum bandwidth on the discrimination of anger and fear facial expressions. The general paradigm was a classification of the expression of faces morphed at varying proportions between anger and fear images in which SF adaptation and SF subtraction are expected to shift classification of facial emotion. A series of three experiments was conducted. In Experiment 1 subjects classified morphed face images that were unfiltered or filtered to remove either low (<8 cycles/face), middle (12–28 cycles/face), or high (>32 cycles/face) SF components. In Experiment 2 subjects were adapted to unfiltered or filtered prototypical (non-morphed) fear face images and subsequently classified morphed face images. In Experiment 3 subjects were adapted to unfiltered or filtered prototypical fear face images with the phase component randomized before classifying morphed face images. Removing mid frequency components from the target images shifted classification toward fear. The same shift was observed under adaptation condition to unfiltered and low- and middle-range filtered fear images. However, when the phase spectrum of the same adaptation stimuli was randomized, no adaptation effect was observed. These results suggest that medium SF components support the perception of fear more than anger at both low and high level of processing. They also suggest that the effect at high-level processing stage is related more to high-level featural and/or configural information than to the low-level frequency spectrum. PMID:23637687

Future frequencies of extreme weather events in the National Wildlife Refuges of the conterminous U.S.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Martinuzzi, Sebastian; Allstadt, Andrew J.; Bateman, Brooke L.; Heglund, Patricia J.; Pidgeon, Anna M.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Vavrus, Stephen J.; Radeloff, Volker C.

2016-01-01

Climate change is a major challenge for managers of protected areas world-wide, and managers need information about future climate conditions within protected areas. Prior studies of climate change effects in protected areas have largely focused on average climatic conditions. However, extreme weather may have stronger effects on wildlife populations and habitats than changes in averages. Our goal was to quantify future changes in the frequency of extreme heat, drought, and false springs, during the avian breeding season, in 415 National Wildlife Refuges in the conterminous United States. We analyzed spatially detailed data on extreme weather frequencies during the historical period (1950–2005) and under different scenarios of future climate change by mid- and late-21st century. We found that all wildlife refuges will likely experience substantial changes in the frequencies of extreme weather, but the types of projected changes differed among refuges. Extreme heat is projected to increase dramatically in all wildlife refuges, whereas changes in droughts and false springs are projected to increase or decrease on a regional basis. Half of all wildlife refuges are projected to see increases in frequency (> 20% higher than the current rate) in at least two types of weather extremes by mid-century. Wildlife refuges in the Southwest and Pacific Southwest are projected to exhibit the fastest rates of change, and may deserve extra attention. Climate change adaptation strategies in protected areas, such as the U.S. wildlife refuges, may need to seriously consider future changes in extreme weather, including the considerable spatial variation of these changes.

Formal and informal environmental sensing data and integration potential: Perceptions of citizens and experts.

PubMed

Jiang, Qijun; Bregt, Arnold K; Kooistra, Lammert

2018-04-01

Environmental sensing data provide crucial information for environment-related decision-making. Formal data are provided by official environmental institutes. Beyond those, however, there is a growing body of so-called informal sensing data, which are contributed by citizens using low-cost sensors. How good are these informal data, and how might they be applied, next to formal environmental sensing data? Could both types of sensing data be gainfully integrated? This paper presents the results of an online survey investigating perceptions within citizen science communities, environmental institutes and their networks of formal and informal environmental sensing data. The results show that citizens and experts had different views of formal and informal environmental sensing data, particularly on measurement frequency and the data information provision power. However, there was agreement, too, for example, on the accuracy of formal environmental sensing data. Furthermore, both agreed that the integration of formal and informal environmental sensing data offered potential for improvements on several aspects, particularly spatial coverage, data quantity and measurement frequency. Interestingly, the accuracy of informal environmental sensing data was largely unknown to both experts and citizens. This suggests the need for further investigation of informal environmental sensing data and the potential for its effective integration with formal environmental sensing data, if hurdles like standardisation can be overcome. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preoperative Mapping of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Using Spatial Frequency Domain and Ultrasound Imaging

PubMed Central

Rohrbach, Daniel J.; Muffoletto, Daniel; Huihui, Jonathan; Saager, Rolf; Keymel, Kenneth; Paquette, Anne; Morgan, Janet; Zeitouni, Nathalie; Sunar, Ulas

2014-01-01

Rationale and Objectives The treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is usually by surgical excision or Mohs micrographic surgery and alternatively may include photodynamic therapy (PDT). To guide surgery and to optimize PDT, information about the tumor structure, optical parameters, and vasculature is desired. Materials and Methods Spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) can map optical absorption, scattering, and fluorescence parameters that can enhance tumor contrast and quantify light and photosensitizer dose. High frequency ultrasound (HFUS) imaging can provide high-resolution tumor structure and depth, which is useful for both surgery and PDT planning. Results Here, we present preliminary results from our recently developed clinical instrument for patients with NMSC. We quantified optical absorption and scattering, blood oxygen saturation (StO2), and total hemoglobin concentration (THC) with SFDI and lesion thickness with ultrasound. These results were compared to histological thickness of excised tumor sections. Conclusions SFDI quantified optical parameters with high precision, and multiwavelength analysis enabled 2D mappings of tissue StO2 and THC. HFUS quantified tumor thickness that correlated well with histology. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the instrument for noninvasive mapping of optical, physiological, and ultrasound contrasts in human skin tumors for surgery guidance and therapy planning. PMID:24439339

Spatially constrained Bayesian inversion of frequency- and time-domain electromagnetic data from the Tellus projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiyan, Duygu; Rath, Volker; Delhaye, Robert

2017-04-01

The frequency- and time-domain airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data collected under the Tellus projects of the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) which represent a wealth of information on the multi-dimensional electrical structure of Ireland's near-surface. Our project, which was funded by GSI under the framework of their Short Call Research Programme, aims to develop and implement inverse techniques based on various Bayesian methods for these densely sampled data. We have developed a highly flexible toolbox using Python language for the one-dimensional inversion of AEM data along the flight lines. The computational core is based on an adapted frequency- and time-domain forward modelling core derived from the well-tested open-source code AirBeo, which was developed by the CSIRO (Australia) and the AMIRA consortium. Three different inversion methods have been implemented: (i) Tikhonov-type inversion including optimal regularisation methods (Aster el al., 2012; Zhdanov, 2015), (ii) Bayesian MAP inversion in parameter and data space (e.g. Tarantola, 2005), and (iii) Full Bayesian inversion with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (Sambridge and Mosegaard, 2002; Mosegaard and Sambridge, 2002), all including different forms of spatial constraints. The methods have been tested on synthetic and field data. This contribution will introduce the toolbox and present case studies on the AEM data from the Tellus projects.

Algorithm for automatic image dodging of unmanned aerial vehicle images using two-dimensional radiometric spatial attributes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wenzhuo; Sun, Kaimin; Li, Deren; Bai, Ting

2016-07-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing technology has come into wide use in recent years. The poor stability of the UAV platform, however, produces more inconsistencies in hue and illumination among UAV images than other more stable platforms. Image dodging is a process used to reduce these inconsistencies caused by different imaging conditions. We propose an algorithm for automatic image dodging of UAV images using two-dimensional radiometric spatial attributes. We use object-level image smoothing to smooth foreground objects in images and acquire an overall reference background image by relative radiometric correction. We apply the Contourlet transform to separate high- and low-frequency sections for every single image, and replace the low-frequency section with the low-frequency section extracted from the corresponding region in the overall reference background image. We apply the inverse Contourlet transform to reconstruct the final dodged images. In this process, a single image must be split into reasonable block sizes with overlaps due to large pixel size. Experimental mosaic results show that our proposed method reduces the uneven distribution of hue and illumination. Moreover, it effectively eliminates dark-bright interstrip effects caused by shadows and vignetting in UAV images while maximally protecting image texture information.

A new framework for estimating return levels using regional frequency analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winter, Hugo; Bernardara, Pietro; Clegg, Georgina

2017-04-01

We propose a new framework for incorporating more spatial and temporal information into the estimation of extreme return levels. Currently, most studies use extreme value models applied to data from a single site; an approach which is inefficient statistically and leads to return level estimates that are less physically realistic. We aim to highlight the benefits that could be obtained by using methodology based upon regional frequency analysis as opposed to classic single site extreme value analysis. This motivates a shift in thinking, which permits the evaluation of local and regional effects and makes use of the wide variety of data that are now available on high temporal and spatial resolutions. The recent winter storms over the UK during the winters of 2013-14 and 2015-16, which have caused wide-ranging disruption and damaged important infrastructure, provide the main motivation for the current work. One of the most impactful natural hazards is flooding, which is often initiated by extreme precipitation. In this presentation, we focus on extreme rainfall, but shall discuss other meteorological variables alongside potentially damaging hazard combinations. To understand the risks posed by extreme precipitation, we need reliable statistical models which can be used to estimate quantities such as the T-year return level, i.e. the level which is expected to be exceeded once every T-years. Extreme value theory provides the main collection of statistical models that can be used to estimate the risks posed by extreme precipitation events. Broadly, at a single site, a statistical model is fitted to exceedances of a high threshold and the model is used to extrapolate to levels beyond the range of the observed data. However, when we have data at many sites over a spatial domain, fitting a separate model for each separate site makes little sense and it would be better if we could incorporate all this information to improve the reliability of return level estimates. Here, we use the regional frequency analysis approach to define homogeneous regions which are affected by the same storms. Extreme value models are then fitted to the data pooled from across a region. We find that this approach leads to more spatially consistent return level estimates with reduced uncertainty bounds.

Postural stability changes in the elderly with cataract simulation and refractive blur.

PubMed

Anand, Vijay; Buckley, John G; Scally, Andy; Elliott, David B

2003-11-01

To determine the influence of cataractous and refractive blur on postural stability and limb-load asymmetry (LLA) and to establish how postural stability changes with the spatial frequency and contrast of the visual stimulus. Thirteen elderly subjects (mean age, 70.76 +/- 4.14 [SD] years) with no history of falls and normal vision were recruited. Postural stability was determined as the root mean square [RMS] of the center of pressure (COP) signal in the anterior-posterior (A-P) and medial-lateral directions and LLA was determined as the ratio of the average body weight placed on the more-loaded limb to the less-loaded limb, recorded during a 30-second period. Data were collected under normal standing conditions and with somatosensory system input disrupted. Measurements were repeated with four visual targets with high (8 cyc/deg) or low (2 cyc/deg) spatial frequency and high (Weber contrast, approximately 95%) or low (Weber contrast, approximately 25%) contrast. Postural stability was measured under conditions of binocular refractive blur of 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 D and with cataract simulation. The data were analyzed in a population-averaged linear model. The cataract simulation caused significant increases in postural instability equivalent to that caused by 8-D blur conditions, and its effect was greater when the input from the somatosensory system was disrupted. High spatial frequency targets increased postural instability. Refractive blur, cataract simulation, or eye closure had no effect on LLA. Findings indicate that cataractous and refractive blur increase postural instability, and show why the elderly, many of whom have poor vision along with musculoskeletal and central nervous system degeneration, are at greater risk of falling. Findings also highlight that changes in contrast sensitivity rather than resolution changes are responsible for increasing postural instability. Providing low spatial frequency information in certain environments may be useful in maintaining postural stability. Correcting visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive error and cataracts could be a useful intervention strategy to help prevent falls and fall-related injuries in the elderly.

High-speed limnology: using advanced sensors to investigate spatial variability in biogeochemistry and hydrology.

PubMed

Crawford, John T; Loken, Luke C; Casson, Nora J; Smith, Colin; Stone, Amanda G; Winslow, Luke A

2015-01-06

Advanced sensor technology is widely used in aquatic monitoring and research. Most applications focus on temporal variability, whereas spatial variability has been challenging to document. We assess the capability of water chemistry sensors embedded in a high-speed water intake system to document spatial variability. This new sensor platform continuously samples surface water at a range of speeds (0 to >45 km h(-1)) resulting in high-density, mesoscale spatial data. These novel observations reveal previously unknown variability in physical, chemical, and biological factors in streams, rivers, and lakes. By combining multiple sensors into one platform, we were able to detect terrestrial-aquatic hydrologic connections in a small dystrophic lake, to infer the role of main-channel vs backwater nutrient processing in a large river and to detect sharp chemical changes across aquatic ecosystem boundaries in a stream/lake complex. Spatial sensor data were verified in our examples by comparing with standard lab-based measurements of selected variables. Spatial fDOM data showed strong correlation with wet chemistry measurements of DOC, and optical NO3 concentrations were highly correlated with lab-based measurements. High-frequency spatial data similar to our examples could be used to further understand aquatic biogeochemical fluxes, ecological patterns, and ecosystem processes, and will both inform and benefit from fixed-site data.

High-speed limnology: Using advanced sensors to investigate spatial variability in biogeochemistry and hydrology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crawford, John T.; Loken, Luke C.; Casson, Nora J.; Smith, Collin; Stone, Amanda G.; Winslow, Luke A.

2015-01-01

Advanced sensor technology is widely used in aquatic monitoring and research. Most applications focus on temporal variability, whereas spatial variability has been challenging to document. We assess the capability of water chemistry sensors embedded in a high-speed water intake system to document spatial variability. This new sensor platform continuously samples surface water at a range of speeds (0 to >45 km h–1) resulting in high-density, mesoscale spatial data. These novel observations reveal previously unknown variability in physical, chemical, and biological factors in streams, rivers, and lakes. By combining multiple sensors into one platform, we were able to detect terrestrial–aquatic hydrologic connections in a small dystrophic lake, to infer the role of main-channel vs backwater nutrient processing in a large river and to detect sharp chemical changes across aquatic ecosystem boundaries in a stream/lake complex. Spatial sensor data were verified in our examples by comparing with standard lab-based measurements of selected variables. Spatial fDOM data showed strong correlation with wet chemistry measurements of DOC, and optical NO3 concentrations were highly correlated with lab-based measurements. High-frequency spatial data similar to our examples could be used to further understand aquatic biogeochemical fluxes, ecological patterns, and ecosystem processes, and will both inform and benefit from fixed-site data.

A Spatial Framework to Map Heat Health Risks at Multiple Scales.

PubMed

Ho, Hung Chak; Knudby, Anders; Huang, Wei

2015-12-18

In the last few decades extreme heat events have led to substantial excess mortality, most dramatically in Central Europe in 2003, in Russia in 2010, and even in typically cool locations such as Vancouver, Canada, in 2009. Heat-related morbidity and mortality is expected to increase over the coming centuries as the result of climate-driven global increases in the severity and frequency of extreme heat events. Spatial information on heat exposure and population vulnerability may be combined to map the areas of highest risk and focus mitigation efforts there. However, a mismatch in spatial resolution between heat exposure and vulnerability data can cause spatial scale issues such as the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). We used a raster-based model to integrate heat exposure and vulnerability data in a multi-criteria decision analysis, and compared it to the traditional vector-based model. We then used the Getis-Ord G(i) index to generate spatially smoothed heat risk hotspot maps from fine to coarse spatial scales. The raster-based model allowed production of maps at spatial resolution, more description of local-scale heat risk variability, and identification of heat-risk areas not identified with the vector-based approach. Spatial smoothing with the Getis-Ord G(i) index produced heat risk hotspots from local to regional spatial scale. The approach is a framework for reducing spatial scale issues in future heat risk mapping, and for identifying heat risk hotspots at spatial scales ranging from the block-level to the municipality level.

Study the effects of varying interference upon the optical properties of turbid samples using NIR spatial light modulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaul, Oren; Fanrazi-Kahana, Michal; Meitav, Omri; Pinhasi, Gad A.; Abookasis, David

2018-03-01

Optical properties of biological tissues are valuable diagnostic parameters which can provide necessary information regarding tissue state during disease pathogenesis and therapy. However, different sources of interference, such as temperature changes may modify these properties, introducing confounding factors and artifacts to data, consequently skewing their interpretation and misinforming clinical decision-making. In the current study, we apply spatial light modulation, a type of diffuse reflectance hyperspectral imaging technique, to monitor the variation in optical properties of highly scattering turbid media in the presence varying levels of the following sources of interference: scattering concentration, temperature, and pressure. Spatial near-infrared (NIR) light modulation is a wide-field, non-contact emerging optical imaging platform capable of separating the effects of tissue scattering from those of absorption, thereby accurately estimating both parameters. With this technique, periodic NIR illumination patterns at alternately low and high spatial frequencies, at six discrete wavelengths between 690 to 970 nm, were sequentially projected upon the medium while a CCD camera collects the diffusely reflected light. Data analysis based assumptions is then performed off-line to recover the medium's optical properties. We conducted a series of experiments demonstrating the changes in absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of commercially available fresh milk and chicken breast tissue under different interference conditions. In addition, information on the refractive index was study under increased pressure. This work demonstrates the utility of NIR spatial light modulation to detect varying sources of interference upon the optical properties of biological samples.

An improved discriminative filter bank selection approach for motor imagery EEG signal classification using mutual information.

PubMed

Kumar, Shiu; Sharma, Alok; Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko

2017-12-28

Common spatial pattern (CSP) has been an effective technique for feature extraction in electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interfaces (BCIs). However, motor imagery EEG signal feature extraction using CSP generally depends on the selection of the frequency bands to a great extent. In this study, we propose a mutual information based frequency band selection approach. The idea of the proposed method is to utilize the information from all the available channels for effectively selecting the most discriminative filter banks. CSP features are extracted from multiple overlapping sub-bands. An additional sub-band has been introduced that cover the wide frequency band (7-30 Hz) and two different types of features are extracted using CSP and common spatio-spectral pattern techniques, respectively. Mutual information is then computed from the extracted features of each of these bands and the top filter banks are selected for further processing. Linear discriminant analysis is applied to the features extracted from each of the filter banks. The scores are fused together, and classification is done using support vector machine. The proposed method is evaluated using BCI Competition III dataset IVa, BCI Competition IV dataset I and BCI Competition IV dataset IIb, and it outperformed all other competing methods achieving the lowest misclassification rate and the highest kappa coefficient on all three datasets. Introducing a wide sub-band and using mutual information for selecting the most discriminative sub-bands, the proposed method shows improvement in motor imagery EEG signal classification.

Task and spatial frequency modulations of object processing: an EEG study.

PubMed

Craddock, Matt; Martinovic, Jasna; Müller, Matthias M

2013-01-01

Visual object processing may follow a coarse-to-fine sequence imposed by fast processing of low spatial frequencies (LSF) and slow processing of high spatial frequencies (HSF). Objects can be categorized at varying levels of specificity: the superordinate (e.g. animal), the basic (e.g. dog), or the subordinate (e.g. Border Collie). We tested whether superordinate and more specific categorization depend on different spatial frequency ranges, and whether any such dependencies might be revealed by or influence signals recorded using EEG. We used event-related potentials (ERPs) and time-frequency (TF) analysis to examine the time course of object processing while participants performed either a grammatical gender-classification task (which generally forces basic-level categorization) or a living/non-living judgement (superordinate categorization) on everyday, real-life objects. Objects were filtered to contain only HSF or LSF. We found a greater positivity and greater negativity for HSF than for LSF pictures in the P1 and N1 respectively, but no effects of task on either component. A later, fronto-central negativity (N350) was more negative in the gender-classification task than the superordinate categorization task, which may indicate that this component relates to semantic or syntactic processing. We found no significant effects of task or spatial frequency on evoked or total gamma band responses. Our results demonstrate early differences in processing of HSF and LSF content that were not modulated by categorization task, with later responses reflecting such higher-level cognitive factors.

Contrast sensitivity test and conventional and high frequency audiometry: information beyond that required to prescribe lenses and headsets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comastri, S. A.; Martin, G.; Simon, J. M.; Angarano, C.; Dominguez, S.; Luzzi, F.; Lanusse, M.; Ranieri, M. V.; Boccio, C. M.

2008-04-01

In Optometry and in Audiology, the routine tests to prescribe correction lenses and headsets are respectively the visual acuity test (the first chart with letters was developed by Snellen in 1862) and conventional pure tone audiometry (the first audiometer with electrical current was devised by Hartmann in 1878). At present there are psychophysical non invasive tests that, besides evaluating visual and auditory performance globally and even in cases catalogued as normal according to routine tests, supply early information regarding diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, renal failure, cardiovascular problems, etc. Concerning Optometry, one of these tests is the achromatic luminance contrast sensitivity test (introduced by Schade in 1956). Concerning Audiology, one of these tests is high frequency pure tone audiometry (introduced a few decades ago) which yields information relative to pathologies affecting the basal cochlea and complements data resulting from conventional audiometry. These utilities of the contrast sensitivity test and of pure tone audiometry derive from the facts that Fourier components constitute the basis to synthesize stimuli present at the entrance of the visual and auditory systems; that these systems responses depend on frequencies and that the patient's psychophysical state affects frequency processing. The frequency of interest in the former test is the effective spatial frequency (inverse of the angle subtended at the eye by a cycle of a sinusoidal grating and measured in cycles/degree) and, in the latter, the temporal frequency (measured in cycles/sec). Both tests have similar duration and consist in determining the patient's threshold (corresponding to the inverse multiplicative of the contrast or to the inverse additive of the sound intensity level) for each harmonic stimulus present at the system entrance (sinusoidal grating or pure tone sound). In this article the frequencies, standard normality curves and abnormal threshold shifts inherent to the contrast sensitivity test (which for simplicity could be termed "visionmetry") and to pure tone audiometry (also termed auditory sensitivity test) are analyzed with the purpose of contributing to divulge their ability to supply early information associated to pathologies not solely related to the visual and auditory systems respectively.

Eulerian frequency analysis of structural vibrations from high-speed video

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Venanzoni, Andrea; Siemens Industry Software NV, Interleuvenlaan 68, B-3001 Leuven; De Ryck, Laurent

An approach for the analysis of the frequency content of structural vibrations from high-speed video recordings is proposed. The techniques and tools proposed rely on an Eulerian approach, that is, using the time history of pixels independently to analyse structural motion, as opposed to Lagrangian approaches, where the motion of the structure is tracked in time. The starting point is an existing Eulerian motion magnification method, which consists in decomposing the video frames into a set of spatial scales through a so-called Laplacian pyramid [1]. Each scale — or level — can be amplified independently to reconstruct a magnified motionmore » of the observed structure. The approach proposed here provides two analysis tools or pre-amplification steps. The first tool provides a representation of the global frequency content of a video per pyramid level. This may be further enhanced by applying an angular filter in the spatial frequency domain to each frame of the video before the Laplacian pyramid decomposition, which allows for the identification of the frequency content of the structural vibrations in a particular direction of space. This proposed tool complements the existing Eulerian magnification method by amplifying selectively the levels containing relevant motion information with respect to their frequency content. This magnifies the displacement while limiting the noise contribution. The second tool is a holographic representation of the frequency content of a vibrating structure, yielding a map of the predominant frequency components across the structure. In contrast to the global frequency content representation of the video, this tool provides a local analysis of the periodic gray scale intensity changes of the frame in order to identify the vibrating parts of the structure and their main frequencies. Validation cases are provided and the advantages and limits of the approaches are discussed. The first validation case consists of the frequency content retrieval of the tip of a shaker, excited at selected fixed frequencies. The goal of this setup is to retrieve the frequencies at which the tip is excited. The second validation case consists of two thin metal beams connected to a randomly excited bar. It is shown that the holographic representation visually highlights the predominant frequency content of each pixel and locates the global frequencies of the motion, thus retrieving the natural frequencies for each beam.« less