Sample records for video coding experts

  1. Overview of the H.264/AVC video coding standard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luthra, Ajay; Topiwala, Pankaj N.

    2003-11-01

    H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is the latest coding standard jointly developed by the Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) of ITU-T and Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) of ISO/IEC. It uses state of the art coding tools and provides enhanced coding efficiency for a wide range of applications including video telephony, video conferencing, TV, storage (DVD and/or hard disk based), streaming video, digital video creation, digital cinema and others. In this paper an overview of this standard is provided. Some comparisons with the existing standards, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Part 2, are also provided.

  2. The H.264/AVC advanced video coding standard: overview and introduction to the fidelity range extensions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sullivan, Gary J.; Topiwala, Pankaj N.; Luthra, Ajay

    2004-11-01

    H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is the latest international video coding standard. It was jointly developed by the Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) of the ITU-T and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) of ISO/IEC. It uses state-of-the-art coding tools and provides enhanced coding efficiency for a wide range of applications, including video telephony, video conferencing, TV, storage (DVD and/or hard disk based, especially high-definition DVD), streaming video, digital video authoring, digital cinema, and many others. The work on a new set of extensions to this standard has recently been completed. These extensions, known as the Fidelity Range Extensions (FRExt), provide a number of enhanced capabilities relative to the base specification as approved in the Spring of 2003. In this paper, an overview of this standard is provided, including the highlights of the capabilities of the new FRExt features. Some comparisons with the existing MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Part 2 standards are also provided.

  3. Collision count in rugby union: A comparison of micro-technology and video analysis methods.

    PubMed

    Reardon, Cillian; Tobin, Daniel P; Tierney, Peter; Delahunt, Eamonn

    2017-10-01

    The aim of our study was to determine if there is a role for manipulation of g force thresholds acquired via micro-technology for accurately detecting collisions in rugby union. In total, 36 players were recruited from an elite Guinness Pro12 rugby union team. Player movement profiles and collisions were acquired via individual global positioning system (GPS) micro-technology units. Players were assigned to a sub-category of positions in order to determine positional collision demands. The coding of collisions by micro-technology at g force thresholds between 2 and 5.5 g (0.5 g increments) was compared with collision coding by an expert video analyst using Bland-Altman assessments. The most appropriate g force threshold (smallest mean difference compared with video analyst coding) was lower for all forwards positions (2.5 g) than for all backs positions (3.5 g). The Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement indicated that there may be a substantial over- or underestimation of collisions coded via GPS micro-technology when using expert video analyst coding as the reference comparator. The manipulation of the g force thresholds applied to data acquired by GPS micro-technology units based on incremental thresholds of 0.5 g does not provide a reliable tool for the accurate coding of collisions in rugby union. Future research should aim to investigate smaller g force threshold increments and determine the events that cause coding of false positives.

  4. Chroma sampling and modulation techniques in high dynamic range video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dai, Wei; Krishnan, Madhu; Topiwala, Pankaj

    2015-09-01

    High Dynamic Range and Wide Color Gamut (HDR/WCG) Video Coding is an area of intense research interest in the engineering community, for potential near-term deployment in the marketplace. HDR greatly enhances the dynamic range of video content (up to 10,000 nits), as well as broadens the chroma representation (BT.2020). The resulting content offers new challenges in its coding and transmission. The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) of the International Standards Organization (ISO) is currently exploring coding efficiency and/or the functionality enhancements of the recently developed HEVC video standard for HDR and WCG content. FastVDO has developed an advanced approach to coding HDR video, based on splitting the HDR signal into a smoothed luminance (SL) signal, and an associated base signal (B). Both signals are then chroma downsampled to YFbFr 4:2:0 signals, using advanced resampling filters, and coded using the Main10 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, which has been developed jointly by ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T WP3/16 (VCEG). Our proposal offers both efficient coding, and backwards compatibility with the existing HEVC Main10 Profile. That is, an existing Main10 decoder can produce a viewable standard dynamic range video, suitable for existing screens. Subjective tests show visible improvement over the anchors. Objective tests show a sizable gain of over 25% in PSNR (RGB domain) on average, for a key set of test clips selected by the ISO/MPEG committee.

  5. Non-technical skills for obstetricians conducting forceps and vacuum deliveries: qualitative analysis by interviews and video recordings.

    PubMed

    Bahl, Rachna; Murphy, Deirdre J; Strachan, Bryony

    2010-06-01

    Non-technical skills are cognitive and social skills required in an operational task. These skills have been identified and taught in the surgical domain but are of particular relevance to obstetrics where the patient is awake, the partner is present and the clinical circumstances are acute and often stressful. The aim of this study was to define the non-technical skills of an operative vaginal delivery (forceps or vacuum) to facilitate transfer of skills from expert obstetricians to trainee obstetricians. Qualitative study using interviews and video recordings. The study was conducted at two university teaching hospitals (St. Michael's Hospital, Bristol and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee). Participants included 10 obstetricians and eight midwives identified as experts in conducting or supporting operative vaginal deliveries. Semi-structured interviews were carried out using routine clinical scenarios. The experts were also video recorded conducting forceps and vacuum deliveries in a simulation setting. The interviews and video recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic coding. The anonymised data were independently coded by the three researchers and then compared for consistency of interpretation. The experts reviewed the coded data for respondent validation and clarification. The themes that emerged were used to identify the non-technical skills required for conducting an operative vaginal delivery. The final skills list was classified into seven main categories. Four categories (situational awareness, decision making, task management, and team work and communication) were similar to the categories identified in surgery. Three further categories unique to obstetrics were also identified (professional relationship with the woman, maintaining professional behaviour and cross-monitoring of performance). This explicitly defined skills taxonomy could aid trainees' understanding of the non-technical skills to be considered when conducting an operative vaginal delivery and potentially reduce morbidity and improve the experience of delivery for the mother. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Validation of a Detailed Scoring Checklist for Use During Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification

    PubMed Central

    McEvoy, Matthew D.; Smalley, Jeremy C.; Nietert, Paul J.; Field, Larry C.; Furse, Cory M.; Blenko, John W.; Cobb, Benjamin G.; Walters, Jenna L.; Pendarvis, Allen; Dalal, Nishita S.; Schaefer, John J.

    2012-01-01

    Introduction Defining valid, reliable, defensible, and generalizable standards for the evaluation of learner performance is a key issue in assessing both baseline competence and mastery in medical education. However, prior to setting these standards of performance, the reliability of the scores yielding from a grading tool must be assessed. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of scores generated from a set of grading checklists used by non-expert raters during simulations of American Heart Association (AHA) MegaCodes. Methods The reliability of scores generated from a detailed set of checklists, when used by four non-expert raters, was tested by grading team leader performance in eight MegaCode scenarios. Videos of the scenarios were reviewed and rated by trained faculty facilitators and by a group of non-expert raters. The videos were reviewed “continuously” and “with pauses.” Two content experts served as the reference standard for grading, and four non-expert raters were used to test the reliability of the checklists. Results Our results demonstrate that non-expert raters are able to produce reliable grades when using the checklists under consideration, demonstrating excellent intra-rater reliability and agreement with a reference standard. The results also demonstrate that non-expert raters can be trained in the proper use of the checklist in a short amount of time, with no discernible learning curve thereafter. Finally, our results show that a single trained rater can achieve reliable scores of team leader performance during AHA MegaCodes when using our checklist in continuous mode, as measures of agreement in total scoring were very strong (Lin’s Concordance Correlation Coefficient = 0.96; Intraclass Correlation Coefficient = 0.97). Discussion We have shown that our checklists can yield reliable scores, are appropriate for use by non-expert raters, and are able to be employed during continuous assessment of team leader performance during the review of a simulated MegaCode. This checklist may be more appropriate for use by Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) instructors during MegaCode assessments than current tools provided by the AHA. PMID:22863996

  7. Cardiac ultrasonography over 4G wireless networks using a tele-operated robot

    PubMed Central

    Panayides, Andreas S.; Jossif, Antonis P.; Christoforou, Eftychios G.; Vieyres, Pierre; Novales, Cyril; Voskarides, Sotos; Pattichis, Constantinos S.

    2016-01-01

    This Letter proposes an end-to-end mobile tele-echography platform using a portable robot for remote cardiac ultrasonography. Performance evaluation investigates the capacity of long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks to facilitate responsive robot tele-manipulation and real-time ultrasound video streaming that qualifies for clinical practice. Within this context, a thorough video coding standards comparison for cardiac ultrasound applications is performed, using a data set of ten ultrasound videos. Both objective and subjective (clinical) video quality assessment demonstrate that H.264/AVC and high efficiency video coding standards can achieve diagnostically-lossless video quality at bitrates well within the LTE supported data rates. Most importantly, reduced latencies experienced throughout the live tele-echography sessions allow the medical expert to remotely operate the robot in a responsive manner, using the wirelessly communicated cardiac ultrasound video to reach a diagnosis. Based on preliminary results documented in this Letter, the proposed robotised tele-echography platform can provide for reliable, remote diagnosis, achieving comparable quality of experience levels with in-hospital ultrasound examinations. PMID:27733929

  8. Exploring Self-regulation of More or Less Expert College-Age Video Game Players: A Sequential Explanatory Design.

    PubMed

    Yilmaz Soylu, Meryem; Bruning, Roger H

    2016-01-01

    This study examined differences in self-regulation among college-age expert, moderately expert, and non-expert video game players in playing video games for fun. Winne's model of self-regulation (Winne, 2001) guided the study. The main assumption of this study was that expert video game players used more processes of self-regulation than the less-expert players. We surveyed 143 college students about their game playing frequency, habits, and use of self-regulation. Data analysis indicated that while playing recreational video games, expert gamers self-regulated more than moderately expert and non-expert players and moderately expert players used more processes of self-regulation than non-experts. Semi-structured interviews also were conducted with selected participants at each of the expertise levels. Qualitative follow-up analyses revealed five themes: (1) characteristics of expert video gamers, (2) conditions for playing a video game, (3) figuring out a game, (4) how gamers act and, (5) game context. Overall, findings indicated that playing a video game is a highly self-regulated activity and that becoming an expert video game player mobilizes multiple sets of self-regulation related skills and processes. These findings are seen as promising for educators desiring to encourage student self-regulation, because they indicate the possibility of supporting students via recreational video games by recognizing that their play includes processes of self-regulation.

  9. Exploring Self-regulation of More or Less Expert College-Age Video Game Players: A Sequential Explanatory Design

    PubMed Central

    Yilmaz Soylu, Meryem; Bruning, Roger H.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined differences in self-regulation among college-age expert, moderately expert, and non-expert video game players in playing video games for fun. Winne's model of self-regulation (Winne, 2001) guided the study. The main assumption of this study was that expert video game players used more processes of self-regulation than the less-expert players. We surveyed 143 college students about their game playing frequency, habits, and use of self-regulation. Data analysis indicated that while playing recreational video games, expert gamers self-regulated more than moderately expert and non-expert players and moderately expert players used more processes of self-regulation than non-experts. Semi-structured interviews also were conducted with selected participants at each of the expertise levels. Qualitative follow-up analyses revealed five themes: (1) characteristics of expert video gamers, (2) conditions for playing a video game, (3) figuring out a game, (4) how gamers act and, (5) game context. Overall, findings indicated that playing a video game is a highly self-regulated activity and that becoming an expert video game player mobilizes multiple sets of self-regulation related skills and processes. These findings are seen as promising for educators desiring to encourage student self-regulation, because they indicate the possibility of supporting students via recreational video games by recognizing that their play includes processes of self-regulation. PMID:27729881

  10. Towards high dynamic range extensions of HEVC: subjective evaluation of potential coding technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanhart, Philippe; Řeřábek, Martin; Ebrahimi, Touradj

    2015-09-01

    This paper reports the details and results of the subjective evaluations conducted at EPFL to evaluate the responses to the Call for Evidence (CfE) for High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Color Gamut (WCG) Video Coding issued by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The CfE on HDR/WCG Video Coding aims to explore whether the coding efficiency and/or the functionality of the current version of HEVC standard can be signi_cantly improved for HDR and WCG content. In total, nine submissions, five for Category 1 and four for Category 3a, were compared to the HEVC Main 10 Profile based Anchor. More particularly, five HDR video contents, compressed at four bit rates by each proponent responding to the CfE, were used in the subjective evaluations. Further, the side-by-side presentation methodology was used for the subjective experiment to discriminate small differences between the Anchor and proponents. Subjective results shows that the proposals provide evidence that the coding efficiency can be improved in a statistically noticeable way over MPEG CfE Anchors in terms of perceived quality within the investigated content. The paper further benchmarks the selected objective metrics based on their correlations with the subjective ratings. It is shown that PSNR-DE1000, HDRVDP- 2, and PSNR-Lx can reliably detect visible differences between the proposed encoding solutions and current HEVC standard.

  11. MPEG-compliant joint source/channel coding using discrete cosine transform and substream scheduling for visual communication over packet networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Seong-Whan; Suthaharan, Shan; Lee, Heung-Kyu; Rao, K. R.

    2001-01-01

    Quality of Service (QoS)-guarantee in real-time communication for multimedia applications is significantly important. An architectural framework for multimedia networks based on substreams or flows is effectively exploited for combining source and channel coding for multimedia data. But the existing frame by frame approach which includes Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) cannot be neglected because it is a standard. In this paper, first, we designed an MPEG transcoder which converts an MPEG coded stream into variable rate packet sequences to be used for our joint source/channel coding (JSCC) scheme. Second, we designed a classification scheme to partition the packet stream into multiple substreams which have their own QoS requirements. Finally, we designed a management (reservation and scheduling) scheme for substreams to support better perceptual video quality such as the bound of end-to-end jitter. We have shown that our JSCC scheme is better than two other two popular techniques by simulation and real video experiments on the TCP/IP environment.

  12. High Resolution, High Frame Rate Video Technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1990-01-01

    Papers and working group summaries presented at the High Resolution, High Frame Rate Video (HHV) Workshop are compiled. HHV system is intended for future use on the Space Shuttle and Space Station Freedom. The Workshop was held for the dual purpose of: (1) allowing potential scientific users to assess the utility of the proposed system for monitoring microgravity science experiments; and (2) letting technical experts from industry recommend improvements to the proposed near-term HHV system. The following topics are covered: (1) State of the art in the video system performance; (2) Development plan for the HHV system; (3) Advanced technology for image gathering, coding, and processing; (4) Data compression applied to HHV; (5) Data transmission networks; and (6) Results of the users' requirements survey conducted by NASA.

  13. Video Modeling by Experts with Video Feedback to Enhance Gymnastics Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyer, Eva; Miltenberger, Raymond G.; Batsche, Catherine; Fogel, Victoria

    2009-01-01

    The effects of combining video modeling by experts with video feedback were analyzed with 4 female competitive gymnasts (7 to 10 years old) in a multiple baseline design across behaviors. During the intervention, after the gymnast performed a specific gymnastics skill, she viewed a video segment showing an expert gymnast performing the same skill…

  14. Expert vs. novice: Problem decomposition/recomposition in engineering design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Ting

    The purpose of this research was to investigate the differences of using problem decomposition and problem recomposition among dyads of engineering experts, dyads of engineering seniors, and dyads of engineering freshmen. Fifty participants took part in this study. Ten were engineering design experts, 20 were engineering seniors, and 20 were engineering freshmen. Participants worked in dyads to complete an engineering design challenge within an hour. The entire design process was video and audio recorded. After the design session, members participated in a group interview. This study used protocol analysis as the methodology. Video and audio data were transcribed, segmented, and coded. Two coding systems including the FBS ontology and "levels of the problem" were used in this study. A series of statistical techniques were used to analyze data. Interview data and participants' design sketches also worked as supplemental data to help answer the research questions. By analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data, it was found that students used less problem decomposition and problem recomposition than engineer experts in engineering design. This result implies that engineering education should place more importance on teaching problem decomposition and problem recomposition. Students were found to spend less cognitive effort when considering the problem as a whole and interactions between subsystems than engineer experts. In addition, students were also found to spend more cognitive effort when considering details of subsystems. These results showed that students tended to use dept-first decomposition and experts tended to use breadth-first decomposition in engineering design. The use of Function (F), Behavior (B), and Structure (S) among engineering experts, engineering seniors, and engineering freshmen was compared on three levels. Level 1 represents designers consider the problem as an integral whole, Level 2 represents designers consider interactions between subsystems, and Level 3 represents designers consider details of subsystems. The results showed that students used more S on Level 1 and 3 but they used less F on Level 1 than engineering experts. The results imply that engineering curriculum should improve the teaching of problem definition in engineering design because students need to understand the problem before solving it.

  15. [The QR code in society, economy and medicine--fields of application, options and chances].

    PubMed

    Flaig, Benno; Parzeller, Markus

    2011-01-01

    2D codes like the QR Code ("Quick Response") are becoming more and more common in society and medicine. The application spectrum and benefits in medicine and other fields are described. 2D codes can be created free of charge on any computer with internet access without any previous knowledge. The codes can be easily used in publications, presentations, on business cards and posters. Editors choose between contact details, text or a hyperlink as information behind the code. At expert conferences, linkage by QR Code allows the audience to download presentations and posters quickly. The documents obtained can then be saved, printed, processed etc. Fast access to stored data in the internet makes it possible to integrate additional and explanatory multilingual videos into medical posters. In this context, a combination of different technologies (printed handout, QR Code and screen) may be reasonable.

  16. GLOBECOM '89 - IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, TX, Nov. 27-30, 1989, Conference Record. Volumes 1, 2, & 3

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    The present conference discusses topics in multiwavelength network technology and its applications, advanced digital radio systems in their propagation environment, mobile radio communications, switching programmability, advancements in computer communications, integrated-network management and security, HDTV and image processing in communications, basic exchange communications radio advancements in digital switching, intelligent network evolution, speech coding for telecommunications, and multiple access communications. Also discussed are network designs for quality assurance, recent progress in coherent optical systems, digital radio applications, advanced communications technologies for mobile users, communication software for switching systems, AI and expert systems in network management, intelligent multiplexing nodes, video and image coding, network protocols and performance, system methods in quality and reliability, the design and simulation of lightwave systems, local radio networks, mobile satellite communications systems, fiber networks restoration, packet video networks, human interfaces for future networks, and lightwave networking.

  17. HD-DVD: the next consumer electronics revolution?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Topiwala, Pankaj N.

    2003-11-01

    The DVD is emerging as one of the world's favorite consumer electronics product, rapidly replacing analog videotape in the US and many other markets at prodigious rates. It is capable of offering a full feature-length, standard-definition movie in crisp rendition on TV. TV technology is itself in the midst of switching from analog to digital TV, with high-definition being the main draw. In fact, the US government has been advocating that switch over to digital TC, with both carrot and stick approaches, for nearly two decades, with only modest results--about 2% penetration. Under FCC herding, broadcasters are falling in the digital line--slowly, and sans profit. Meanwhile, delivery of HD content on portable media would be a great solution. Indeed, a new disk technology based on blue lasers is coming; but its widespread adoption may yet be four to five yeras away. But a promising new video codec--H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, the latest coding standard jointly developed by the Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) of ITU-T and Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) of ISO/IEC, just might be the missing link. It offers substantial coding gains over MPEG-2, used in today's DVDs. With H.264, it appears possible to put HD movies on today's red-laser DVDs. Since consumers love DVDs, and HD--when they can see it, can H.264 and HD-DVD ignite a new revolution, now? It may have a huge impact on (H)DTV adoption rates.

  18. Seeing Change in Time: Video Games to Teach about Temporal Change in Scientific Phenomena

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Corredor, Javier; Gaydos, Matthew; Squire, Kurt

    2014-06-01

    This article explores how learning biological concepts can be facilitated by playing a video game that depicts interactions and processes at the subcellular level. Particularly, this article reviews the effects of a real-time strategy game that requires players to control the behavior of a virus and interact with cell structures in a way that resembles the actual behavior of biological agents. The evaluation of the video game presented here aims at showing that video games have representational advantages that facilitate the construction of dynamic mental models. Ultimately, the article shows that when video game's characteristics come in contact with expert knowledge during game design, the game becomes an excellent medium for supporting the learning of disciplinary content related to dynamic processes. In particular, results show that students who participated in a game-based intervention aimed at teaching biology described a higher number of temporal-dependent interactions as measured by the coding of verbal protocols and drawings than students who used texts and diagrams to learn the same topic.

  19. VIDEO MODELING BY EXPERTS WITH VIDEO FEEDBACK TO ENHANCE GYMNASTICS SKILLS

    PubMed Central

    Boyer, Eva; Miltenberger, Raymond G; Batsche, Catherine; Fogel, Victoria

    2009-01-01

    The effects of combining video modeling by experts with video feedback were analyzed with 4 female competitive gymnasts (7 to 10 years old) in a multiple baseline design across behaviors. During the intervention, after the gymnast performed a specific gymnastics skill, she viewed a video segment showing an expert gymnast performing the same skill and then viewed a video replay of her own performance of the skill. The results showed that all gymnasts demonstrated improved performance across three gymnastics skills following exposure to the intervention. PMID:20514194

  20. Video modeling by experts with video feedback to enhance gymnastics skills.

    PubMed

    Boyer, Eva; Miltenberger, Raymond G; Batsche, Catherine; Fogel, Victoria

    2009-01-01

    The effects of combining video modeling by experts with video feedback were analyzed with 4 female competitive gymnasts (7 to 10 years old) in a multiple baseline design across behaviors. During the intervention, after the gymnast performed a specific gymnastics skill, she viewed a video segment showing an expert gymnast performing the same skill and then viewed a video replay of her own performance of the skill. The results showed that all gymnasts demonstrated improved performance across three gymnastics skills following exposure to the intervention.

  1. A Participative Tool for Sharing, Annotating and Archiving Submarine Video Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marcon, Y.; Kottmann, R.; Ratmeyer, V.; Boetius, A.

    2016-02-01

    Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface and are known to play an essential role on all of the Earth systems and cycles. However, less than 5 percent of the ocean bottom has been explored and many aspects of the deep-sea world remain poorly understood. Increasing our ocean literacy is a necessity in order for specialists and non-specialists to better grasp the roles of the ocean on the Earth's system, its resources, and the impact of human activities on it. Due to technological advances, deep-sea research produces ever-increasing amounts of scientific video data. However, using such data for science communication and public outreach purposes remains difficult as tools for accessing/sharing such scientific data are often lacking. Indeed, there is no common solution for the management and analysis of marine video data, which are often scattered across multiple research institutes or working groups and it is difficult to get an overview of the whereabouts of those data. The VIDLIB Deep-Sea Video Platform is a web-based tool for sharing/annotating time-coded deep-sea video data. VIDLIB provides a participatory way to share and analyze video data. Scientists can share expert knowledge for video analysis without the need to upload/download large video files. Also, VIDLIB offers streaming capabilities and has potential for participatory science and science communication in that non-specialists can ask questions on what they see and get answers from scientists. Such a tool is highly valuable in terms of scientific public outreach and popular science. Video data are by far the most efficient way to communicate scientific findings to a non-expert public. VIDLIB is being used for studying the impact of deep-sea mining on benthic communities as well as for exploration in polar regions. We will present the structure and workflow of VIDLIB as well as an example of video analysis. VIDLIB (http://vidlib.marum.de) is funded by the EU EUROFLEET project and the Helmholtz Alliance ROBEX.

  2. Authoring Data-Driven Videos with DataClips.

    PubMed

    Amini, Fereshteh; Riche, Nathalie Henry; Lee, Bongshin; Monroy-Hernandez, Andres; Irani, Pourang

    2017-01-01

    Data videos, or short data-driven motion graphics, are an increasingly popular medium for storytelling. However, creating data videos is difficult as it involves pulling together a unique combination of skills. We introduce DataClips, an authoring tool aimed at lowering the barriers to crafting data videos. DataClips allows non-experts to assemble data-driven "clips" together to form longer sequences. We constructed the library of data clips by analyzing the composition of over 70 data videos produced by reputable sources such as The New York Times and The Guardian. We demonstrate that DataClips can reproduce over 90% of our data videos corpus. We also report on a qualitative study comparing the authoring process and outcome achieved by (1) non-experts using DataClips, and (2) experts using Adobe Illustrator and After Effects to create data-driven clips. Results indicated that non-experts are able to learn and use DataClips with a short training period. In the span of one hour, they were able to produce more videos than experts using a professional editing tool, and their clips were rated similarly by an independent audience.

  3. Development of a Coding Instrument to Assess the Quality and Content of Anti-Tobacco Video Games.

    PubMed

    Alber, Julia M; Watson, Anna M; Barnett, Tracey E; Mercado, Rebeccah; Bernhardt, Jay M

    2015-07-01

    Previous research has shown the use of electronic video games as an effective method for increasing content knowledge about the risks of drugs and alcohol use for adolescents. Although best practice suggests that theory, health communication strategies, and game appeal are important characteristics for developing games, no instruments are currently available to examine the quality and content of tobacco prevention and cessation electronic games. This study presents the systematic development of a coding instrument to measure the quality, use of theory, and health communication strategies of tobacco cessation and prevention electronic games. Using previous research and expert review, a content analysis coding instrument measuring 67 characteristics was developed with three overarching categories: type and quality of games, theory and approach, and type and format of messages. Two trained coders applied the instrument to 88 games on four platforms (personal computer, Nintendo DS, iPhone, and Android phone) to field test the instrument. Cohen's kappa for each item ranged from 0.66 to 1.00, with an average kappa value of 0.97. Future research can adapt this coding instrument to games addressing other health issues. In addition, the instrument questions can serve as a useful guide for evidence-based game development.

  4. Development of a Coding Instrument to Assess the Quality and Content of Anti-Tobacco Video Games

    PubMed Central

    Alber, Julia M.; Watson, Anna M.; Barnett, Tracey E.; Mercado, Rebeccah

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Previous research has shown the use of electronic video games as an effective method for increasing content knowledge about the risks of drugs and alcohol use for adolescents. Although best practice suggests that theory, health communication strategies, and game appeal are important characteristics for developing games, no instruments are currently available to examine the quality and content of tobacco prevention and cessation electronic games. This study presents the systematic development of a coding instrument to measure the quality, use of theory, and health communication strategies of tobacco cessation and prevention electronic games. Using previous research and expert review, a content analysis coding instrument measuring 67 characteristics was developed with three overarching categories: type and quality of games, theory and approach, and type and format of messages. Two trained coders applied the instrument to 88 games on four platforms (personal computer, Nintendo DS, iPhone, and Android phone) to field test the instrument. Cohen's kappa for each item ranged from 0.66 to 1.00, with an average kappa value of 0.97. Future research can adapt this coding instrument to games addressing other health issues. In addition, the instrument questions can serve as a useful guide for evidence-based game development. PMID:26167842

  5. The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control.

    PubMed

    Boot, Walter R; Kramer, Arthur F; Simons, Daniel J; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele

    2008-11-01

    Expert video game players often outperform non-players on measures of basic attention and performance. Such differences might result from exposure to video games or they might reflect other group differences between those people who do or do not play video games. Recent research has suggested a causal relationship between playing action video games and improvements in a variety of visual and attentional skills (e.g., [Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423, 534-537]). The current research sought to replicate and extend these results by examining both expert/non-gamer differences and the effects of video game playing on tasks tapping a wider range of cognitive abilities, including attention, memory, and executive control. Non-gamers played 20+ h of an action video game, a puzzle game, or a real-time strategy game. Expert gamers and non-gamers differed on a number of basic cognitive skills: experts could track objects moving at greater speeds, better detected changes to objects stored in visual short-term memory, switched more quickly from one task to another, and mentally rotated objects more efficiently. Strikingly, extensive video game practice did not substantially enhance performance for non-gamers on most cognitive tasks, although they did improve somewhat in mental rotation performance. Our results suggest that at least some differences between video game experts and non-gamers in basic cognitive performance result either from far more extensive video game experience or from pre-existing group differences in abilities that result in a self-selection effect.

  6. Video traffic characteristics of modern encoding standards: H.264/AVC with SVC and MVC extensions and H.265/HEVC.

    PubMed

    Seeling, Patrick; Reisslein, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Video encoding for multimedia services over communication networks has significantly advanced in recent years with the development of the highly efficient and flexible H.264/AVC video coding standard and its SVC extension. The emerging H.265/HEVC video coding standard as well as 3D video coding further advance video coding for multimedia communications. This paper first gives an overview of these new video coding standards and then examines their implications for multimedia communications by studying the traffic characteristics of long videos encoded with the new coding standards. We review video coding advances from MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Part 2 to H.264/AVC and its SVC and MVC extensions as well as H.265/HEVC. For single-layer (nonscalable) video, we compare H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC in terms of video traffic and statistical multiplexing characteristics. Our study is the first to examine the H.265/HEVC traffic variability for long videos. We also illustrate the video traffic characteristics and statistical multiplexing of scalable video encoded with the SVC extension of H.264/AVC as well as 3D video encoded with the MVC extension of H.264/AVC.

  7. Video Traffic Characteristics of Modern Encoding Standards: H.264/AVC with SVC and MVC Extensions and H.265/HEVC

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Video encoding for multimedia services over communication networks has significantly advanced in recent years with the development of the highly efficient and flexible H.264/AVC video coding standard and its SVC extension. The emerging H.265/HEVC video coding standard as well as 3D video coding further advance video coding for multimedia communications. This paper first gives an overview of these new video coding standards and then examines their implications for multimedia communications by studying the traffic characteristics of long videos encoded with the new coding standards. We review video coding advances from MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Part 2 to H.264/AVC and its SVC and MVC extensions as well as H.265/HEVC. For single-layer (nonscalable) video, we compare H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC in terms of video traffic and statistical multiplexing characteristics. Our study is the first to examine the H.265/HEVC traffic variability for long videos. We also illustrate the video traffic characteristics and statistical multiplexing of scalable video encoded with the SVC extension of H.264/AVC as well as 3D video encoded with the MVC extension of H.264/AVC. PMID:24701145

  8. Video compression of coronary angiograms based on discrete wavelet transform with block classification.

    PubMed

    Ho, B T; Tsai, M J; Wei, J; Ma, M; Saipetch, P

    1996-01-01

    A new method of video compression for angiographic images has been developed to achieve high compression ratio (~20:1) while eliminating block artifacts which leads to loss of diagnostic accuracy. This method adopts motion picture experts group's (MPEGs) motion compensated prediction to takes advantage of frame to frame correlation. However, in contrast to MPEG, the error images arising from mismatches in the motion estimation are encoded by discrete wavelet transform (DWT) rather than block discrete cosine transform (DCT). Furthermore, the authors developed a classification scheme which label each block in an image as intra, error, or background type and encode it accordingly. This hybrid coding can significantly improve the compression efficiency in certain eases. This method can be generalized for any dynamic image sequences applications sensitive to block artifacts.

  9. Collaboration Expertise in Medicine - No Evidence for Cross-Domain Application from a Memory Retrieval Study.

    PubMed

    Kiesewetter, Jan; Fischer, Frank; Fischer, Martin R

    2016-01-01

    Is there evidence for expertise on collaboration and, if so, is there evidence for cross-domain application? Recall of stimuli was used to measure so-called internal collaboration scripts of novices and experts in two studies. Internal collaboration scripts refer to an individual's knowledge about how to interact with others in a social situation. METHOD— Ten collaboration experts and ten novices of the content domain social science were presented with four pictures of people involved in collaborative activities. The recall texts were coded, distinguishing between superficial and collaboration script information. RESULTS— Experts recalled significantly more collaboration script information (M = 25.20; SD = 5.88) than did novices (M = 13.80; SD = 4.47). Differences in superficial information were not found. Study 2 tested whether the differences found in Study 1 could be replicated. Furthermore, the cross-domain application of internal collaboration scripts was explored. METHOD— Twenty collaboration experts and 20 novices of the content domain medicine were presented with four pictures and four videos of their content domain and a video and picture of another content domain. All stimuli showed collaborative activities typical for the respective content domains. RESULTS— As in Study 1, experts recalled significantly more collaboration script information of their content domain (M = 71.65; SD = 33.23) than did novices (M = 54.25; SD = 15.01). For the novices, no differences were found for the superficial information nor for the retrieval of collaboration script information recalled after the other content domain stimuli. There is evidence for expertise on collaboration in memory tasks. The results show that experts hold substantially more collaboration script information than did novices. Furthermore, the differences between collaboration novices and collaboration experts occurred only in their own content domain, indicating that internal collaboration scripts are not easily stored and retrieved in memory tasks other than in the own content domain.

  10. Collaboration Expertise in Medicine - No Evidence for Cross-Domain Application from a Memory Retrieval Study

    PubMed Central

    Kiesewetter, Jan; Fischer, Frank; Fischer, Martin R.

    2016-01-01

    Background Is there evidence for expertise on collaboration and, if so, is there evidence for cross-domain application? Recall of stimuli was used to measure so-called internal collaboration scripts of novices and experts in two studies. Internal collaboration scripts refer to an individual’s knowledge about how to interact with others in a social situation. Method—Study 1 Ten collaboration experts and ten novices of the content domain social science were presented with four pictures of people involved in collaborative activities. The recall texts were coded, distinguishing between superficial and collaboration script information. Results—Study 1 Experts recalled significantly more collaboration script information (M = 25.20; SD = 5.88) than did novices (M = 13.80; SD = 4.47). Differences in superficial information were not found. Study 2 Study 2 tested whether the differences found in Study 1 could be replicated. Furthermore, the cross-domain application of internal collaboration scripts was explored. Method—Study 2 Twenty collaboration experts and 20 novices of the content domain medicine were presented with four pictures and four videos of their content domain and a video and picture of another content domain. All stimuli showed collaborative activities typical for the respective content domains. Results—Study 2 As in Study 1, experts recalled significantly more collaboration script information of their content domain (M = 71.65; SD = 33.23) than did novices (M = 54.25; SD = 15.01). For the novices, no differences were found for the superficial information nor for the retrieval of collaboration script information recalled after the other content domain stimuli. Discussion There is evidence for expertise on collaboration in memory tasks. The results show that experts hold substantially more collaboration script information than did novices. Furthermore, the differences between collaboration novices and collaboration experts occurred only in their own content domain, indicating that internal collaboration scripts are not easily stored and retrieved in memory tasks other than in the own content domain. PMID:26866801

  11. Performance evaluation of MPEG internet video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luo, Jiajia; Wang, Ronggang; Fan, Kui; Wang, Zhenyu; Li, Ge; Wang, Wenmin

    2016-09-01

    Internet Video Coding (IVC) has been developed in MPEG by combining well-known existing technology elements and new coding tools with royalty-free declarations. In June 2015, IVC project was approved as ISO/IEC 14496-33 (MPEG- 4 Internet Video Coding). It is believed that this standard can be highly beneficial for video services in the Internet domain. This paper evaluates the objective and subjective performances of IVC by comparing it against Web Video Coding (WVC), Video Coding for Browsers (VCB) and AVC High Profile. Experimental results show that IVC's compression performance is approximately equal to that of the AVC High Profile for typical operational settings, both for streaming and low-delay applications, and is better than WVC and VCB.

  12. Video training and certification program improves reliability of postischemic neurologic deficit measurement in the rat.

    PubMed

    Taninishi, Hideki; Pearlstein, Molly; Sheng, Huaxin; Izutsu, Miwa; Chaparro, Rafael E; Goldstein, Larry B; Warner, David S

    2016-12-01

    Scoring systems are used to measure behavioral deficits in stroke research. Video-assisted training is used to standardize stroke-related neurologic deficit scoring in humans. We hypothesized that a video-assisted training and certification program can improve inter-rater reliability in assessing neurologic function after middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats. Three expert raters scored neurologic deficits in post-middle cerebral artery occlusion rats using three published systems having different complexity levels (3, 18, or 48 points). The system having the highest point estimate for the correlation between neurologic score and infarct size was selected to create a video-assisted training and certification program. Eight trainee raters completed the video-assisted training and certification program. Inter-rater agreement ( Κ: score) and agreement with expert consensus scores were measured before and after video-assisted training and certification program completion. The 48-point system correlated best with infarct size. Video-assisted training and certification improved agreement with expert consensus scores (pretraining = 65 ± 10, posttraining = 87 ± 14, 112 possible scores, P < 0.0001), median number of trainee raters with scores within ±2 points of the expert consensus score (pretraining = 4, posttraining = 6.5, P < 0.01), categories with Κ:  > 0.4 (pretraining = 4, posttraining = 9), and number of categories with an improvement in the Κ: score from pretraining to posttraining (n = 6). Video-assisted training and certification improved trainee inter-rater reliability and agreement with expert consensus behavioral scores in rats after middle cerebral artery occlusion. Video-assisted training and certification may be useful in multilaboratory preclinical studies. © The Author(s) 2015.

  13. An efficient system for reliably transmitting image and video data over low bit rate noisy channels

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Costello, Daniel J., Jr.; Huang, Y. F.; Stevenson, Robert L.

    1994-01-01

    This research project is intended to develop an efficient system for reliably transmitting image and video data over low bit rate noisy channels. The basic ideas behind the proposed approach are the following: employ statistical-based image modeling to facilitate pre- and post-processing and error detection, use spare redundancy that the source compression did not remove to add robustness, and implement coded modulation to improve bandwidth efficiency and noise rejection. Over the last six months, progress has been made on various aspects of the project. Through our studies of the integrated system, a list-based iterative Trellis decoder has been developed. The decoder accepts feedback from a post-processor which can detect channel errors in the reconstructed image. The error detection is based on the Huber Markov random field image model for the compressed image. The compression scheme used here is that of JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). Experiments were performed and the results are quite encouraging. The principal ideas here are extendable to other compression techniques. In addition, research was also performed on unequal error protection channel coding, subband vector quantization as a means of source coding, and post processing for reducing coding artifacts. Our studies on unequal error protection (UEP) coding for image transmission focused on examining the properties of the UEP capabilities of convolutional codes. The investigation of subband vector quantization employed a wavelet transform with special emphasis on exploiting interband redundancy. The outcome of this investigation included the development of three algorithms for subband vector quantization. The reduction of transform coding artifacts was studied with the aid of a non-Gaussian Markov random field model. This results in improved image decompression. These studies are summarized and the technical papers included in the appendices.

  14. Assessment of competence in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy: A Danish nationwide study.

    PubMed

    Petersen, René Horsleben; Gjeraa, Kirsten; Jensen, Katrine; Møller, Lars Borgbjerg; Hansen, Henrik Jessen; Konge, Lars

    2018-04-18

    Competence in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy has previously been established on the basis of numbers of procedures performed, but this approach does not ensure competence. Specific assessment tools, such as the newly developed video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy assessment tool, allow for structured and objective assessment of competence. Our aim was to provide validity evidence for the video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy assessment tool. Video recordings of 60 video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomies performed by 18 thoracic surgeons were rated using the video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy assessment tool. All 4 centers of thoracic surgery in Denmark participated in the study. Two video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery experts rated the videos. They were blinded to surgeon and center. The total internal consistency reliability Cronbach's alpha was 0.93. Inter-rater reliability between the 2 raters was Pearson's r = 0.71 (P < .001). The mean video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy assessment tool scores for the 10 procedures performed by beginners were 22.1 (standard deviation [SD], 8.6) for the 28 procedures performed by the intermediate surgeons, 31.2 (SD, 4.4), and for the 20 procedures performed by experts 35.9 (SD, 2.9) (P < .001). Bonferroni post hoc tests showed that experts were significantly better than intermediates (P < .008) and beginners (P < .001). Intermediates' mean scores were significantly better than beginners (P < .001). The pass/fail standard calculated using the contrasting group's method was 31 points. One of the beginners passed, and 2 experts failed the test. Validity evidence was provided for a newly developed assessment tool for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy assessment tool) in a clinical setting. The discriminatory ability among expert surgeons, intermediate surgeons, and beginners proved highly significant. The video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy assessment tool could be an important aid in the future training and certification of thoracic surgeons. Copyright © 2018 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Two-terminal video coding.

    PubMed

    Yang, Yang; Stanković, Vladimir; Xiong, Zixiang; Zhao, Wei

    2009-03-01

    Following recent works on the rate region of the quadratic Gaussian two-terminal source coding problem and limit-approaching code designs, this paper examines multiterminal source coding of two correlated, i.e., stereo, video sequences to save the sum rate over independent coding of both sequences. Two multiterminal video coding schemes are proposed. In the first scheme, the left sequence of the stereo pair is coded by H.264/AVC and used at the joint decoder to facilitate Wyner-Ziv coding of the right video sequence. The first I-frame of the right sequence is successively coded by H.264/AVC Intracoding and Wyner-Ziv coding. An efficient stereo matching algorithm based on loopy belief propagation is then adopted at the decoder to produce pixel-level disparity maps between the corresponding frames of the two decoded video sequences on the fly. Based on the disparity maps, side information for both motion vectors and motion-compensated residual frames of the right sequence are generated at the decoder before Wyner-Ziv encoding. In the second scheme, source splitting is employed on top of classic and Wyner-Ziv coding for compression of both I-frames to allow flexible rate allocation between the two sequences. Experiments with both schemes on stereo video sequences using H.264/AVC, LDPC codes for Slepian-Wolf coding of the motion vectors, and scalar quantization in conjunction with LDPC codes for Wyner-Ziv coding of the residual coefficients give a slightly lower sum rate than separate H.264/AVC coding of both sequences at the same video quality.

  16. Exploring the Influence of Accomplished Teachers' Video and Commentary Pairing on Teacher Candidates' Noticing and Thinking about Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hougan, Eric; Johnson, Heather; Novak, Daniel; Foote, Chandra; Palmeri, Amy

    2018-01-01

    Teacher preparation programs are facing increased demands to link pre-service teachers to expert teachers. Literature has highlighted that utilizing accomplished teacher videos has the potential to buttress pre-service teachers' professional learning. Over the last decade, several platforms have been developed that offer expert teacher videos and…

  17. Converting laserdisc video to digital video: a demonstration project using brain animations.

    PubMed

    Jao, C S; Hier, D B; Brint, S U

    1995-01-01

    Interactive laserdiscs are of limited value in large group learning situations due to the expense of establishing multiple workstations. The authors implemented an alternative to laserdisc video by using indexed digital video combined with an expert system. High-quality video was captured from a laserdisc player and combined with waveform audio into an audio-video-interleave (AVI) file format in the Microsoft Video-for-Windows environment (Microsoft Corp., Seattle, WA). With the use of an expert system, a knowledge-based computer program provided random access to these indexed AVI files. The program can be played on any multimedia computer without the need for laserdiscs. This system offers a high level of interactive video without the overhead and cost of a laserdisc player.

  18. Layered Wyner-Ziv video coding.

    PubMed

    Xu, Qian; Xiong, Zixiang

    2006-12-01

    Following recent theoretical works on successive Wyner-Ziv coding (WZC), we propose a practical layered Wyner-Ziv video coder using the DCT, nested scalar quantization, and irregular LDPC code based Slepian-Wolf coding (or lossless source coding with side information at the decoder). Our main novelty is to use the base layer of a standard scalable video coder (e.g., MPEG-4/H.26L FGS or H.263+) as the decoder side information and perform layered WZC for quality enhancement. Similar to FGS coding, there is no performance difference between layered and monolithic WZC when the enhancement bitstream is generated in our proposed coder. Using an H.26L coded version as the base layer, experiments indicate that WZC gives slightly worse performance than FGS coding when the channel (for both the base and enhancement layers) is noiseless. However, when the channel is noisy, extensive simulations of video transmission over wireless networks conforming to the CDMA2000 1X standard show that H.26L base layer coding plus Wyner-Ziv enhancement layer coding are more robust against channel errors than H.26L FGS coding. These results demonstrate that layered Wyner-Ziv video coding is a promising new technique for video streaming over wireless networks.

  19. 3D video coding: an overview of present and upcoming standards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Merkle, Philipp; Müller, Karsten; Wiegand, Thomas

    2010-07-01

    An overview of existing and upcoming 3D video coding standards is given. Various different 3D video formats are available, each with individual pros and cons. The 3D video formats can be separated into two classes: video-only formats (such as stereo and multiview video) and depth-enhanced formats (such as video plus depth and multiview video plus depth). Since all these formats exist of at least two video sequences and possibly additional depth data, efficient compression is essential for the success of 3D video applications and technologies. For the video-only formats the H.264 family of coding standards already provides efficient and widely established compression algorithms: H.264/AVC simulcast, H.264/AVC stereo SEI message, and H.264/MVC. For the depth-enhanced formats standardized coding algorithms are currently being developed. New and specially adapted coding approaches are necessary, as the depth or disparity information included in these formats has significantly different characteristics than video and is not displayed directly, but used for rendering. Motivated by evolving market needs, MPEG has started an activity to develop a generic 3D video standard within the 3DVC ad-hoc group. Key features of the standard are efficient and flexible compression of depth-enhanced 3D video representations and decoupling of content creation and display requirements.

  20. The Implementation of Blended Learning Using Android-Based Tutorial Video in Computer Programming Course II

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huda, C.; Hudha, M. N.; Ain, N.; Nandiyanto, A. B. D.; Abdullah, A. G.; Widiaty, I.

    2018-01-01

    Computer programming course is theoretical. Sufficient practice is necessary to facilitate conceptual understanding and encouraging creativity in designing computer programs/animation. The development of tutorial video in an Android-based blended learning is needed for students’ guide. Using Android-based instructional material, students can independently learn anywhere and anytime. The tutorial video can facilitate students’ understanding about concepts, materials, and procedures of programming/animation making in detail. This study employed a Research and Development method adapting Thiagarajan’s 4D model. The developed Android-based instructional material and tutorial video were validated by experts in instructional media and experts in physics education. The expert validation results showed that the Android-based material was comprehensive and very feasible. The tutorial video was deemed feasible as it received average score of 92.9%. It was also revealed that students’ conceptual understanding, skills, and creativity in designing computer program/animation improved significantly.

  1. Progressive video coding for noisy channels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Beong-Jo; Xiong, Zixiang; Pearlman, William A.

    1998-10-01

    We extend the work of Sherwood and Zeger to progressive video coding for noisy channels. By utilizing a 3D extension of the set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm, we cascade the resulting 3D SPIHT video coder with a rate-compatible punctured convolutional channel coder for transmission of video over a binary symmetric channel. Progressive coding is achieved by increasing the target rate of the 3D embedded SPIHT video coder as the channel condition improves. The performance of our proposed coding system is acceptable at low transmission rate and bad channel conditions. Its low complexity makes it suitable for emerging applications such as video over wireless channels.

  2. Attentional advantages in video-game experts are not related to perceptual tendencies.

    PubMed

    Wong, Nicole H L; Chang, Dorita H F

    2018-04-03

    Previous studies have suggested that extensive action video gaming may enhance perceptual and attentional capacities. Here, we probed whether attentional differences between video-game experts and non-experts hold when attention is selectively directed at global or local structures. We measured performance on a modified attentional-blink task using hierarchically structured stimuli that consisted of global and local elements. Stimuli carried congruent or incongruent information. In two experiments, we asked observers to direct their attention globally (Experiment 1) or locally (Experiment 2). In each RSVP trial, observers were asked to identify the identity of an initial target (T1), and detect the presence or absence of a second target (T2). Experts showed a markedly attenuated attentional blink, as quantified by higher T2 detection sensitivity, relative to non-experts, in both global and local tasks. Notably, experts and non-experts were comparably affected by stimulus congruency. We speculate that the observed visuo-attentional advantage is unlikely to be related to mere differences perceptual tendencies (i.e., greater global precedence), which has been previously associated with diminished attentional blink.

  3. The Coming of Digital Desktop Media.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Galbreath, Jeremy

    1992-01-01

    Discusses the movement toward digital-based platforms including full-motion video for multimedia products. Hardware- and software-based compression techniques for digital data storage are considered, and a chart summarizes features of Digital Video Interactive, Moving Pictures Experts Group, P x 64, Joint Photographic Experts Group, Apple…

  4. Expert Behavior in Children's Video Game Play.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    VanDeventer, Stephanie S.; White, James A.

    2002-01-01

    Investigates the display of expert behavior by seven outstanding video game-playing children ages 10 and 11. Analyzes observation and debriefing transcripts for evidence of self-monitoring, pattern recognition, principled decision making, qualitative thinking, and superior memory, and discusses implications for educators regarding the development…

  5. Video Monitoring a Simulation-Based Quality Improvement Program in Bihar, India.

    PubMed

    Dyer, Jessica; Spindler, Hilary; Christmas, Amelia; Shah, Malay Bharat; Morgan, Melissa; Cohen, Susanna R; Sterne, Jason; Mahapatra, Tanmay; Walker, Dilys

    2018-04-01

    Simulation-based training has become an accepted clinical training andragogy in high-resource settings with its use increasing in low-resource settings. Video recordings of simulated scenarios are commonly used by facilitators. Beyond using the videos during debrief sessions, researchers can also analyze the simulation videos to quantify technical and nontechnical skills during simulated scenarios over time. Little is known about the feasibility and use of large-scale systems to video record and analyze simulation and debriefing data for monitoring and evaluation in low-resource settings. This manuscript describes the process of designing and implementing a large-scale video monitoring system. Mentees and Mentors were consented and all simulations and debriefs conducted at 320 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) were video recorded. The system design, number of video recordings, and inter-rater reliability of the coded videos were assessed. The final dataset included a total of 11,278 videos. Overall, a total of 2,124 simulation videos were coded and 183 (12%) were blindly double-coded. For the double-coded sample, the average inter-rater reliability (IRR) scores were 80% for nontechnical skills, and 94% for clinical technical skills. Among 4,450 long debrief videos received, 216 were selected for coding and all were double-coded. Data quality of simulation videos was found to be very good in terms of recorded instances of "unable to see" and "unable to hear" in Phases 1 and 2. This study demonstrates that video monitoring systems can be effectively implemented at scale in resource limited settings. Further, video monitoring systems can play several vital roles within program implementation, including monitoring and evaluation, provision of actionable feedback to program implementers, and assurance of program fidelity.

  6. Design and implementation of H.264 based embedded video coding technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mao, Jian; Liu, Jinming; Zhang, Jiemin

    2016-03-01

    In this paper, an embedded system for remote online video monitoring was designed and developed to capture and record the real-time circumstances in elevator. For the purpose of improving the efficiency of video acquisition and processing, the system selected Samsung S5PV210 chip as the core processor which Integrated graphics processing unit. And the video was encoded with H.264 format for storage and transmission efficiently. Based on S5PV210 chip, the hardware video coding technology was researched, which was more efficient than software coding. After running test, it had been proved that the hardware video coding technology could obviously reduce the cost of system and obtain the more smooth video display. It can be widely applied for the security supervision [1].

  7. Inter-view prediction of intra mode decision for high-efficiency video coding-based multiview video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    da Silva, Thaísa Leal; Agostini, Luciano Volcan; da Silva Cruz, Luis A.

    2014-05-01

    Intra prediction is a very important tool in current video coding standards. High-efficiency video coding (HEVC) intra prediction presents relevant gains in encoding efficiency when compared to previous standards, but with a very important increase in the computational complexity since 33 directional angular modes must be evaluated. Motivated by this high complexity, this article presents a complexity reduction algorithm developed to reduce the HEVC intra mode decision complexity targeting multiview videos. The proposed algorithm presents an efficient fast intra prediction compliant with singleview and multiview video encoding. This fast solution defines a reduced subset of intra directions according to the video texture and it exploits the relationship between prediction units (PUs) of neighbor depth levels of the coding tree. This fast intra coding procedure is used to develop an inter-view prediction method, which exploits the relationship between the intra mode directions of adjacent views to further accelerate the intra prediction process in multiview video encoding applications. When compared to HEVC simulcast, our method achieves a complexity reduction of up to 47.77%, at the cost of an average BD-PSNR loss of 0.08 dB.

  8. Distributed video coding for wireless video sensor networks: a review of the state-of-the-art architectures.

    PubMed

    Imran, Noreen; Seet, Boon-Chong; Fong, A C M

    2015-01-01

    Distributed video coding (DVC) is a relatively new video coding architecture originated from two fundamental theorems namely, Slepian-Wolf and Wyner-Ziv. Recent research developments have made DVC attractive for applications in the emerging domain of wireless video sensor networks (WVSNs). This paper reviews the state-of-the-art DVC architectures with a focus on understanding their opportunities and gaps in addressing the operational requirements and application needs of WVSNs.

  9. Evaluating progressive-rendering algorithms in appearance design tasks.

    PubMed

    Jiawei Ou; Karlik, Ondrej; Křivánek, Jaroslav; Pellacini, Fabio

    2013-01-01

    Progressive rendering is becoming a popular alternative to precomputational approaches to appearance design. However, progressive algorithms create images exhibiting visual artifacts at early stages. A user study investigated these artifacts' effects on user performance in appearance design tasks. Novice and expert subjects performed lighting and material editing tasks with four algorithms: random path tracing, quasirandom path tracing, progressive photon mapping, and virtual-point-light rendering. Both the novices and experts strongly preferred path tracing to progressive photon mapping and virtual-point-light rendering. None of the participants preferred random path tracing to quasirandom path tracing or vice versa; the same situation held between progressive photon mapping and virtual-point-light rendering. The user workflow didn’t differ significantly with the four algorithms. The Web Extras include a video showing how four progressive-rendering algorithms converged (at http://youtu.be/ck-Gevl1e9s), the source code used, and other supplementary materials.

  10. Background-Modeling-Based Adaptive Prediction for Surveillance Video Coding.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xianguo; Huang, Tiejun; Tian, Yonghong; Gao, Wen

    2014-02-01

    The exponential growth of surveillance videos presents an unprecedented challenge for high-efficiency surveillance video coding technology. Compared with the existing coding standards that were basically developed for generic videos, surveillance video coding should be designed to make the best use of the special characteristics of surveillance videos (e.g., relative static background). To do so, this paper first conducts two analyses on how to improve the background and foreground prediction efficiencies in surveillance video coding. Following the analysis results, we propose a background-modeling-based adaptive prediction (BMAP) method. In this method, all blocks to be encoded are firstly classified into three categories. Then, according to the category of each block, two novel inter predictions are selectively utilized, namely, the background reference prediction (BRP) that uses the background modeled from the original input frames as the long-term reference and the background difference prediction (BDP) that predicts the current data in the background difference domain. For background blocks, the BRP can effectively improve the prediction efficiency using the higher quality background as the reference; whereas for foreground-background-hybrid blocks, the BDP can provide a better reference after subtracting its background pixels. Experimental results show that the BMAP can achieve at least twice the compression ratio on surveillance videos as AVC (MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding) high profile, yet with a slightly additional encoding complexity. Moreover, for the foreground coding performance, which is crucial to the subjective quality of moving objects in surveillance videos, BMAP also obtains remarkable gains over several state-of-the-art methods.

  11. Adaptive format conversion for scalable video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wan, Wade K.; Lim, Jae S.

    2001-12-01

    The enhancement layer in many scalable coding algorithms is composed of residual coding information. There is another type of information that can be transmitted instead of (or in addition to) residual coding. Since the encoder has access to the original sequence, it can utilize adaptive format conversion (AFC) to generate the enhancement layer and transmit the different format conversion methods as enhancement data. This paper investigates the use of adaptive format conversion information as enhancement data in scalable video coding. Experimental results are shown for a wide range of base layer qualities and enhancement bitrates to determine when AFC can improve video scalability. Since the parameters needed for AFC are small compared to residual coding, AFC can provide video scalability at low enhancement layer bitrates that are not possible with residual coding. In addition, AFC can also be used in addition to residual coding to improve video scalability at higher enhancement layer bitrates. Adaptive format conversion has not been studied in detail, but many scalable applications may benefit from it. An example of an application that AFC is well-suited for is the migration path for digital television where AFC can provide immediate video scalability as well as assist future migrations.

  12. Transcoding method from H.264/AVC to high efficiency video coding based on similarity of intraprediction, interprediction, and motion vector

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Mei-Feng; Zhong, Guo-Yun; He, Xiao-Hai; Qing, Lin-Bo

    2016-09-01

    Currently, most video resources on line are encoded in the H.264/AVC format. More fluent video transmission can be obtained if these resources are encoded in the newest international video coding standard: high efficiency video coding (HEVC). In order to improve the video transmission and storage on line, a transcoding method from H.264/AVC to HEVC is proposed. In this transcoding algorithm, the coding information of intraprediction, interprediction, and motion vector (MV) in H.264/AVC video stream are used to accelerate the coding in HEVC. It is found through experiments that the region of interprediction in HEVC overlaps that in H.264/AVC. Therefore, the intraprediction for the region in HEVC, which is interpredicted in H.264/AVC, can be skipped to reduce coding complexity. Several macroblocks in H.264/AVC are combined into one PU in HEVC when the MV difference between two of the macroblocks in H.264/AVC is lower than a threshold. This method selects only one coding unit depth and one prediction unit (PU) mode to reduce the coding complexity. An MV interpolation method of combined PU in HEVC is proposed according to the areas and distances between the center of one macroblock in H.264/AVC and that of the PU in HEVC. The predicted MV accelerates the motion estimation for HEVC coding. The simulation results show that our proposed algorithm achieves significant coding time reduction with a little loss in bitrates distortion rate, compared to the existing transcoding algorithms and normal HEVC coding.

  13. Game On, Science - How Video Game Technology May Help Biologists Tackle Visualization Challenges

    PubMed Central

    Da Silva, Franck; Empereur-mot, Charly; Chavent, Matthieu; Baaden, Marc

    2013-01-01

    The video games industry develops ever more advanced technologies to improve rendering, image quality, ergonomics and user experience of their creations providing very simple to use tools to design new games. In the molecular sciences, only a small number of experts with specialized know-how are able to design interactive visualization applications, typically static computer programs that cannot easily be modified. Are there lessons to be learned from video games? Could their technology help us explore new molecular graphics ideas and render graphics developments accessible to non-specialists? This approach points to an extension of open computer programs, not only providing access to the source code, but also delivering an easily modifiable and extensible scientific research tool. In this work, we will explore these questions using the Unity3D game engine to develop and prototype a biological network and molecular visualization application for subsequent use in research or education. We have compared several routines to represent spheres and links between them, using either built-in Unity3D features or our own implementation. These developments resulted in a stand-alone viewer capable of displaying molecular structures, surfaces, animated electrostatic field lines and biological networks with powerful, artistic and illustrative rendering methods. We consider this work as a proof of principle demonstrating that the functionalities of classical viewers and more advanced novel features could be implemented in substantially less time and with less development effort. Our prototype is easily modifiable and extensible and may serve others as starting point and platform for their developments. A webserver example, standalone versions for MacOS X, Linux and Windows, source code, screen shots, videos and documentation are available at the address: http://unitymol.sourceforge.net/. PMID:23483961

  14. Game on, science - how video game technology may help biologists tackle visualization challenges.

    PubMed

    Lv, Zhihan; Tek, Alex; Da Silva, Franck; Empereur-mot, Charly; Chavent, Matthieu; Baaden, Marc

    2013-01-01

    The video games industry develops ever more advanced technologies to improve rendering, image quality, ergonomics and user experience of their creations providing very simple to use tools to design new games. In the molecular sciences, only a small number of experts with specialized know-how are able to design interactive visualization applications, typically static computer programs that cannot easily be modified. Are there lessons to be learned from video games? Could their technology help us explore new molecular graphics ideas and render graphics developments accessible to non-specialists? This approach points to an extension of open computer programs, not only providing access to the source code, but also delivering an easily modifiable and extensible scientific research tool. In this work, we will explore these questions using the Unity3D game engine to develop and prototype a biological network and molecular visualization application for subsequent use in research or education. We have compared several routines to represent spheres and links between them, using either built-in Unity3D features or our own implementation. These developments resulted in a stand-alone viewer capable of displaying molecular structures, surfaces, animated electrostatic field lines and biological networks with powerful, artistic and illustrative rendering methods. We consider this work as a proof of principle demonstrating that the functionalities of classical viewers and more advanced novel features could be implemented in substantially less time and with less development effort. Our prototype is easily modifiable and extensible and may serve others as starting point and platform for their developments. A webserver example, standalone versions for MacOS X, Linux and Windows, source code, screen shots, videos and documentation are available at the address: http://unitymol.sourceforge.net/.

  15. Influence of audio triggered emotional attention on video perception

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torres, Freddy; Kalva, Hari

    2014-02-01

    Perceptual video coding methods attempt to improve compression efficiency by discarding visual information not perceived by end users. Most of the current approaches for perceptual video coding only use visual features ignoring the auditory component. Many psychophysical studies have demonstrated that auditory stimuli affects our visual perception. In this paper we present our study of audio triggered emotional attention and it's applicability to perceptual video coding. Experiments with movie clips show that the reaction time to detect video compression artifacts was longer when video was presented with the audio information. The results reported are statistically significant with p=0.024.

  16. System Synchronizes Recordings from Separated Video Cameras

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nail, William; Nail, William L.; Nail, Jasper M.; Le, Doung T.

    2009-01-01

    A system of electronic hardware and software for synchronizing recordings from multiple, physically separated video cameras is being developed, primarily for use in multiple-look-angle video production. The system, the time code used in the system, and the underlying method of synchronization upon which the design of the system is based are denoted generally by the term "Geo-TimeCode(TradeMark)." The system is embodied mostly in compact, lightweight, portable units (see figure) denoted video time-code units (VTUs) - one VTU for each video camera. The system is scalable in that any number of camera recordings can be synchronized. The estimated retail price per unit would be about $350 (in 2006 dollars). The need for this or another synchronization system external to video cameras arises because most video cameras do not include internal means for maintaining synchronization with other video cameras. Unlike prior video-camera-synchronization systems, this system does not depend on continuous cable or radio links between cameras (however, it does depend on occasional cable links lasting a few seconds). Also, whereas the time codes used in prior video-camera-synchronization systems typically repeat after 24 hours, the time code used in this system does not repeat for slightly more than 136 years; hence, this system is much better suited for long-term deployment of multiple cameras.

  17. Self-Supervised Video Hashing With Hierarchical Binary Auto-Encoder.

    PubMed

    Song, Jingkuan; Zhang, Hanwang; Li, Xiangpeng; Gao, Lianli; Wang, Meng; Hong, Richang

    2018-07-01

    Existing video hash functions are built on three isolated stages: frame pooling, relaxed learning, and binarization, which have not adequately explored the temporal order of video frames in a joint binary optimization model, resulting in severe information loss. In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised video hashing framework dubbed self-supervised video hashing (SSVH), which is able to capture the temporal nature of videos in an end-to-end learning to hash fashion. We specifically address two central problems: 1) how to design an encoder-decoder architecture to generate binary codes for videos and 2) how to equip the binary codes with the ability of accurate video retrieval. We design a hierarchical binary auto-encoder to model the temporal dependencies in videos with multiple granularities, and embed the videos into binary codes with less computations than the stacked architecture. Then, we encourage the binary codes to simultaneously reconstruct the visual content and neighborhood structure of the videos. Experiments on two real-world data sets show that our SSVH method can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods and achieve the current best performance on the task of unsupervised video retrieval.

  18. Self-Supervised Video Hashing With Hierarchical Binary Auto-Encoder

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Jingkuan; Zhang, Hanwang; Li, Xiangpeng; Gao, Lianli; Wang, Meng; Hong, Richang

    2018-07-01

    Existing video hash functions are built on three isolated stages: frame pooling, relaxed learning, and binarization, which have not adequately explored the temporal order of video frames in a joint binary optimization model, resulting in severe information loss. In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised video hashing framework dubbed Self-Supervised Video Hashing (SSVH), that is able to capture the temporal nature of videos in an end-to-end learning-to-hash fashion. We specifically address two central problems: 1) how to design an encoder-decoder architecture to generate binary codes for videos; and 2) how to equip the binary codes with the ability of accurate video retrieval. We design a hierarchical binary autoencoder to model the temporal dependencies in videos with multiple granularities, and embed the videos into binary codes with less computations than the stacked architecture. Then, we encourage the binary codes to simultaneously reconstruct the visual content and neighborhood structure of the videos. Experiments on two real-world datasets (FCVID and YFCC) show that our SSVH method can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods and achieve the currently best performance on the task of unsupervised video retrieval.

  19. Expert assessment of physical ergonomics at video-display unit workstations: repeatability, validity and responsiveness to changes.

    PubMed

    Ketola, Ritva; Toivonen, Risto; Luukkonen, Ritva; Takala, Esa-Pekka; Viikari-Juntura, Eira

    2004-08-01

    Inter-observer repeatability, validity and responsiveness to change were determined for an expert assessment method for video-display unit (VDU) workstation ergonomics. The aim was to determine to what extent the expert assessment of ergonomics is related to the technical measurements, tidiness and space, work chair ergonomics and responds to changes in these characteristics. Technical measurements and video-recordings before and 2 months after an ergonomic intervention were made for 109 VDU office workstations. Two experts in ergonomics analysed and rated the ergonomics of the workstations. A researcher analysed tidiness and available space. A physiotherapist classified the work chairs used according to their ergonomic properties. The intra-class correlation coefficient between the workstation ergonomic ratings of the two experts was 0.74 at the baseline and 0.81 at the follow-up. Workstation tidiness and space, and work chair ergonomics, had a strong effect on the assessments of both experts. For both experts a change in the locations of the mouse, the screen and the keyboard and values of tidiness and space and work chair ergonomics during the intervention showed a significant association with the ratings. The assessment method studied can be utilized by an expert in a repeatable manner both in cross-sectional and in longitudinal settings.

  20. Subjective evaluation of next-generation video compression algorithms: a case study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    De Simone, Francesca; Goldmann, Lutz; Lee, Jong-Seok; Ebrahimi, Touradj; Baroncini, Vittorio

    2010-08-01

    This paper describes the details and the results of the subjective quality evaluation performed at EPFL, as a contribution to the effort of the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) for the definition of the next-generation video coding standard. The performance of 27 coding technologies have been evaluated with respect to two H.264/MPEG-4 AVC anchors, considering high definition (HD) test material. The test campaign involved a total of 494 naive observers and took place over a period of four weeks. While similar tests have been conducted as part of the standardization process of previous video coding technologies, the test campaign described in this paper is by far the most extensive in the history of video coding standardization. The obtained subjective quality scores show high consistency and support an accurate comparison of the performance of the different coding solutions.

  1. A novel multiple description scalable coding scheme for mobile wireless video transmission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zheng, Haifeng; Yu, Lun; Chen, Chang Wen

    2005-03-01

    We proposed in this paper a novel multiple description scalable coding (MDSC) scheme based on in-band motion compensation temporal filtering (IBMCTF) technique in order to achieve high video coding performance and robust video transmission. The input video sequence is first split into equal-sized groups of frames (GOFs). Within a GOF, each frame is hierarchically decomposed by discrete wavelet transform. Since there is a direct relationship between wavelet coefficients and what they represent in the image content after wavelet decomposition, we are able to reorganize the spatial orientation trees to generate multiple bit-streams and employed SPIHT algorithm to achieve high coding efficiency. We have shown that multiple bit-stream transmission is very effective in combating error propagation in both Internet video streaming and mobile wireless video. Furthermore, we adopt the IBMCTF scheme to remove the redundancy for inter-frames along the temporal direction using motion compensated temporal filtering, thus high coding performance and flexible scalability can be provided in this scheme. In order to make compressed video resilient to channel error and to guarantee robust video transmission over mobile wireless channels, we add redundancy to each bit-stream and apply error concealment strategy for lost motion vectors. Unlike traditional multiple description schemes, the integration of these techniques enable us to generate more than two bit-streams that may be more appropriate for multiple antenna transmission of compressed video. Simulate results on standard video sequences have shown that the proposed scheme provides flexible tradeoff between coding efficiency and error resilience.

  2. Linked color imaging improves the visibility of colorectal polyps: a video study

    PubMed Central

    Yoshida, Naohisa; Naito, Yuji; Murakami, Takaaki; Hirose, Ryohei; Ogiso, Kiyoshi; Inada, Yutaka; Dohi, Osamu; Kamada, Kazuhiro; Uchiyama, Kazuhiko; Handa, Osamu; Konishi, Hideyuki; Siah, Kewin Tien Ho; Yagi, Nobuaki; Fujita, Yasuko; Kishimoto, Mitsuo; Yanagisawa, Akio; Itoh, Yoshito

    2017-01-01

    Background/study aim  Linked color imaging (LCI) by a laser endoscope (Fujifilm Co, Tokyo, Japan) is a novel narrow band light observation. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether LCI could improve the visibility of colorectal polyps using endoscopic videos. Patients and methods  We prospectively recorded videos of consecutive polyps 2 – 20 mm in size diagnosed as neoplastic polyps. Three videos, white light (WL), blue laser imaging (BLI)-bright, and LCI, were recorded for each polyp by one expert. After excluding inappropriate videos, all videos were evaluated in random order by two experts and two non-experts according to a published polyp visibility score from four (excellent visibility) to one (poor visibility). Additionally, the relationship between polyp visibility scores in LCI and various clinical characteristics including location, size, histology, morphology, and preparation were analyzed compared to WL and BLI-bright. Results  We analyzed 101 colorectal polyps (94 neoplastic) in 66 patients (303 videos). The mean polyp size was 9.0 ± 8.1 mm and 54 polyps were non-polypoid. The mean polyp visibility scores for LCI (2.86 ± 1.08) were significantly higher than for WL and BLI-bright (2.53 ± 1.15, P  < 0.001; 2.73 ± 1.47, P  < 0.041). The ratio of poor visibility (score 1 and 2) was significantly lower in LCI for experts and non-experts (35.6 %, 33.6 %) compared with WL (49.6 %, P  = 0.015, 50.5 %, P  = 0.046). The polyp visibility scores for LCI were significantly higher than those for WL for all of the factors. With respect to the comparison between BLI-bright and WL, the polyp visibility scores for BLI-bright were not higher than WL for right-sided location, < 10 mm size, sessile serrated adenoma and polyp histology, and poor preparation. For those characteristics, LCI improved the lesions with right-sided location, SSA/P histology, and poor preparation significantly better than BLI. Conclusions  LCI improved polyp visibility compared to WL for both expert and non-expert endoscopists. It is useful for improving polyp visibility in any location, any size, any morphology, any histology, and any preparation level. PMID:28596985

  3. Individualised Expert Feedback is Not Essential for Improving Basic Clinical Skills Performance in Novice Learners: A Randomized Trial.

    PubMed

    Phillips, Alexander W; Matthan, Joanna; Bookless, Lucy R; Whitehead, Ian J; Madhavan, Anantha; Rodham, Paul; Porter, Anna L R; Nesbitt, Craig I; Stansby, Gerard

    To determine whether unsupervised video feedback (UVF) is as effective as direct expert feedback (DEF) in improving clinical skills performance for medical students learning basic surgical skills-intravenous cannulation, catheterization, and suturing. Feedback is a vital component of the learning process, yet great variation persists in its quality, quantity, and methods of delivery. The use of video technology to assist in the provision of feedback has been adopted increasingly. A prospective, blinded randomized trial comparing DEF, an expert reviewing students' performances with subsequent improvement suggestions, and UVF, students reviewing their own performance with an expert teaching video, was carried out. Medical students received an initial teaching lecture on intravenous cannulation, catheterization, and suturing and were then recorded performing the task. They subsequently received either DEF or UVF before reperforming the task. Students' recordings were additionally scored by 2 blinded experts using a validated proforma. A total of 71 medical students were recruited. Cannulation scores improved 4.3% with DEF and 9.5% with UVF (p = 0.044), catheterization scores improved 8.7% with DEF and 8.9% with UVF (p = 0.96), and suturing improved 15.6% with DEF and 13.2% with UVF (p = 0.54). Improvement from baseline scores was significant in all cases (p < 0.05). Video-assisted feedback allows a significant improvement in clinical skills for novices. No significant additional benefit was demonstrated from DEF, and a similar improvement can be obtained using a generic expert video and allowing students to review their own performance. This could have significant implications for the design and delivery of such training. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Expressing Youth Voice through Video Games and Coding

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Crystle

    2017-01-01

    A growing body of research focuses on the impact of video games and coding on learning. The research often elevates learning the technical skills associated with video games and coding or the importance of problem solving and computational thinking, which are, of course, necessary and relevant. However, the literature less often explores how young…

  5. Medical Ultrasound Video Coding with H.265/HEVC Based on ROI Extraction

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Yueying; Liu, Pengyu; Gao, Yuan; Jia, Kebin

    2016-01-01

    High-efficiency video compression technology is of primary importance to the storage and transmission of digital medical video in modern medical communication systems. To further improve the compression performance of medical ultrasound video, two innovative technologies based on diagnostic region-of-interest (ROI) extraction using the high efficiency video coding (H.265/HEVC) standard are presented in this paper. First, an effective ROI extraction algorithm based on image textural features is proposed to strengthen the applicability of ROI detection results in the H.265/HEVC quad-tree coding structure. Second, a hierarchical coding method based on transform coefficient adjustment and a quantization parameter (QP) selection process is designed to implement the otherness encoding for ROIs and non-ROIs. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed optimization strategy significantly improves the coding performance by achieving a BD-BR reduction of 13.52% and a BD-PSNR gain of 1.16 dB on average compared to H.265/HEVC (HM15.0). The proposed medical video coding algorithm is expected to satisfy low bit-rate compression requirements for modern medical communication systems. PMID:27814367

  6. Medical Ultrasound Video Coding with H.265/HEVC Based on ROI Extraction.

    PubMed

    Wu, Yueying; Liu, Pengyu; Gao, Yuan; Jia, Kebin

    2016-01-01

    High-efficiency video compression technology is of primary importance to the storage and transmission of digital medical video in modern medical communication systems. To further improve the compression performance of medical ultrasound video, two innovative technologies based on diagnostic region-of-interest (ROI) extraction using the high efficiency video coding (H.265/HEVC) standard are presented in this paper. First, an effective ROI extraction algorithm based on image textural features is proposed to strengthen the applicability of ROI detection results in the H.265/HEVC quad-tree coding structure. Second, a hierarchical coding method based on transform coefficient adjustment and a quantization parameter (QP) selection process is designed to implement the otherness encoding for ROIs and non-ROIs. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed optimization strategy significantly improves the coding performance by achieving a BD-BR reduction of 13.52% and a BD-PSNR gain of 1.16 dB on average compared to H.265/HEVC (HM15.0). The proposed medical video coding algorithm is expected to satisfy low bit-rate compression requirements for modern medical communication systems.

  7. Application discussion of source coding standard in voyage data recorder

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zong, Yonggang; Zhao, Xiandong

    2018-04-01

    This paper analyzes the disadvantages of the audio and video compression coding technology used by Voyage Data Recorder, and combines the improvement of performance of audio and video acquisition equipment. The thinking of improving the audio and video compression coding technology of the voyage data recorder is proposed, and the feasibility of adopting the new compression coding technology is analyzed from economy and technology two aspects.

  8. Earlier Visual N1 Latencies in Expert Video-Game Players: A Temporal Basis of Enhanced Visuospatial Performance?

    PubMed Central

    Latham, Andrew J.; Patston, Lucy L. M.; Westermann, Christine; Kirk, Ian J.; Tippett, Lynette J.

    2013-01-01

    Increasing behavioural evidence suggests that expert video game players (VGPs) show enhanced visual attention and visuospatial abilities, but what underlies these enhancements remains unclear. We administered the Poffenberger paradigm with concurrent electroencephalogram (EEG) recording to assess occipital N1 latencies and interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) in expert VGPs. Participants comprised 15 right-handed male expert VGPs and 16 non-VGP controls matched for age, handedness, IQ and years of education. Expert VGPs began playing before age 10, had a minimum 8 years experience, and maintained playtime of at least 20 hours per week over the last 6 months. Non-VGPs had little-to-no game play experience (maximum 1.5 years). Participants responded to checkerboard stimuli presented to the left and right visual fields while 128-channel EEG was recorded. Expert VGPs responded significantly more quickly than non-VGPs. Expert VGPs also had significantly earlier occipital N1s in direct visual pathways (the hemisphere contralateral to the visual field in which the stimulus was presented). IHTT was calculated by comparing the latencies of occipital N1 components between hemispheres. No significant between-group differences in electrophysiological estimates of IHTT were found. Shorter N1 latencies may enable expert VGPs to discriminate attended visual stimuli significantly earlier than non-VGPs and contribute to faster responding in visual tasks. As successful video-game play requires precise, time pressured, bimanual motor movements in response to complex visual stimuli, which in this sample began during early childhood, these differences may reflect the experience and training involved during the development of video-game expertise, but training studies are needed to test this prediction. PMID:24058667

  9. Earlier visual N1 latencies in expert video-game players: a temporal basis of enhanced visuospatial performance?

    PubMed

    Latham, Andrew J; Patston, Lucy L M; Westermann, Christine; Kirk, Ian J; Tippett, Lynette J

    2013-01-01

    Increasing behavioural evidence suggests that expert video game players (VGPs) show enhanced visual attention and visuospatial abilities, but what underlies these enhancements remains unclear. We administered the Poffenberger paradigm with concurrent electroencephalogram (EEG) recording to assess occipital N1 latencies and interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) in expert VGPs. Participants comprised 15 right-handed male expert VGPs and 16 non-VGP controls matched for age, handedness, IQ and years of education. Expert VGPs began playing before age 10, had a minimum 8 years experience, and maintained playtime of at least 20 hours per week over the last 6 months. Non-VGPs had little-to-no game play experience (maximum 1.5 years). Participants responded to checkerboard stimuli presented to the left and right visual fields while 128-channel EEG was recorded. Expert VGPs responded significantly more quickly than non-VGPs. Expert VGPs also had significantly earlier occipital N1s in direct visual pathways (the hemisphere contralateral to the visual field in which the stimulus was presented). IHTT was calculated by comparing the latencies of occipital N1 components between hemispheres. No significant between-group differences in electrophysiological estimates of IHTT were found. Shorter N1 latencies may enable expert VGPs to discriminate attended visual stimuli significantly earlier than non-VGPs and contribute to faster responding in visual tasks. As successful video-game play requires precise, time pressured, bimanual motor movements in response to complex visual stimuli, which in this sample began during early childhood, these differences may reflect the experience and training involved during the development of video-game expertise, but training studies are needed to test this prediction.

  10. Wavelet-based audio embedding and audio/video compression

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mendenhall, Michael J.; Claypoole, Roger L., Jr.

    2001-12-01

    Watermarking, traditionally used for copyright protection, is used in a new and exciting way. An efficient wavelet-based watermarking technique embeds audio information into a video signal. Several effective compression techniques are applied to compress the resulting audio/video signal in an embedded fashion. This wavelet-based compression algorithm incorporates bit-plane coding, index coding, and Huffman coding. To demonstrate the potential of this audio embedding and audio/video compression algorithm, we embed an audio signal into a video signal and then compress. Results show that overall compression rates of 15:1 can be achieved. The video signal is reconstructed with a median PSNR of nearly 33 dB. Finally, the audio signal is extracted from the compressed audio/video signal without error.

  11. CUQI: cardiac ultrasound video quality index

    PubMed Central

    Razaak, Manzoor; Martini, Maria G.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract. Medical images and videos are now increasingly part of modern telecommunication applications, including telemedicinal applications, favored by advancements in video compression and communication technologies. Medical video quality evaluation is essential for modern applications since compression and transmission processes often compromise the video quality. Several state-of-the-art video quality metrics used for quality evaluation assess the perceptual quality of the video. For a medical video, assessing quality in terms of “diagnostic” value rather than “perceptual” quality is more important. We present a diagnostic-quality–oriented video quality metric for quality evaluation of cardiac ultrasound videos. Cardiac ultrasound videos are characterized by rapid repetitive cardiac motions and distinct structural information characteristics that are explored by the proposed metric. Cardiac ultrasound video quality index, the proposed metric, is a full reference metric and uses the motion and edge information of the cardiac ultrasound video to evaluate the video quality. The metric was evaluated for its performance in approximating the quality of cardiac ultrasound videos by testing its correlation with the subjective scores of medical experts. The results of our tests showed that the metric has high correlation with medical expert opinions and in several cases outperforms the state-of-the-art video quality metrics considered in our tests. PMID:27014715

  12. Mixture block coding with progressive transmission in packet video. Appendix 1: Item 2. M.S. Thesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Yun-Chung

    1989-01-01

    Video transmission will become an important part of future multimedia communication because of dramatically increasing user demand for video, and rapid evolution of coding algorithm and VLSI technology. Video transmission will be part of the broadband-integrated services digital network (B-ISDN). Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a viable candidate for implementation of B-ISDN due to its inherent flexibility, service independency, and high performance. According to the characteristics of ATM, the information has to be coded into discrete cells which travel independently in the packet switching network. A practical realization of an ATM video codec called Mixture Block Coding with Progressive Transmission (MBCPT) is presented. This variable bit rate coding algorithm shows how a constant quality performance can be obtained according to user demand. Interactions between codec and network are emphasized including packetization, service synchronization, flow control, and error recovery. Finally, some simulation results based on MBCPT coding with error recovery are presented.

  13. Rocket Engine Numerical Simulator (RENS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidian, Kenneth O.

    1997-01-01

    Work is being done at three universities to help today's NASA engineers use the knowledge and experience of their Apolloera predecessors in designing liquid rocket engines. Ground-breaking work is being done in important subject areas to create a prototype of the most important functions for the Rocket Engine Numerical Simulator (RENS). The goal of RENS is to develop an interactive, realtime application that engineers can utilize for comprehensive preliminary propulsion system design functions. RENS will employ computer science and artificial intelligence research in knowledge acquisition, computer code parallelization and objectification, expert system architecture design, and object-oriented programming. In 1995, a 3year grant from the NASA Lewis Research Center was awarded to Dr. Douglas Moreman and Dr. John Dyer of Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to begin acquiring knowledge in liquid rocket propulsion systems. Resources of the University of West Florida in Pensacola were enlisted to begin the process of enlisting knowledge from senior NASA engineers who are recognized experts in liquid rocket engine propulsion systems. Dr. John Coffey of the University of West Florida is utilizing his expertise in interviewing and concept mapping techniques to encode, classify, and integrate information obtained through personal interviews. The expertise extracted from the NASA engineers has been put into concept maps with supporting textual, audio, graphic, and video material. A fundamental concept map was delivered by the end of the first year of work and the development of maps containing increasing amounts of information is continuing. Find out more information about this work at the Southern University/University of West Florida. In 1996, the Southern University/University of West Florida team conducted a 4day group interview with a panel of five experts to discuss failures of the RL10 rocket engine in conjunction with the Centaur launch vehicle. The discussion was recorded on video and audio tape. Transcriptions of the entire proceedings and an abbreviated video presentation of the discussion highlights are under development. Also in 1996, two additional 3year grants were awarded to conduct parallel efforts that would complement the work being done by Southern University and the University of West Florida. Dr. Prem Bhalla of Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, is developing the architectural framework for RENS. By employing the Rose Rational language and Booch Object Oriented Programming (OOP) technology, Dr. Bhalla is developing the basic structure of RENS by identifying and encoding propulsion system components, their individual characteristics, and cross-functionality and dependencies. Dr. Ruknet Cezzar of Hampton University, located in Hampton, Virginia, began working on the parallelization and objectification of rocket engine analysis and design codes. Dr. Cezzar will use the Turbo C++ OOP language to translate important liquid rocket engine computer codes from FORTRAN and permit their inclusion into the RENS framework being developed at Jackson State University. The Southern University/University of West Florida grant was extended by 1 year to coordinate the conclusion of all three efforts in 1999.

  14. Apply network coding for H.264/SVC multicasting

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Hui; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

    2008-08-01

    In a packet erasure network environment, video streaming benefits from error control in two ways to achieve graceful degradation. The first approach is application-level (or the link-level) forward error-correction (FEC) to provide erasure protection. The second error control approach is error concealment at the decoder end to compensate lost packets. A large amount of research work has been done in the above two areas. More recently, network coding (NC) techniques have been proposed for efficient data multicast over networks. It was shown in our previous work that multicast video streaming benefits from NC for its throughput improvement. An algebraic model is given to analyze the performance in this work. By exploiting the linear combination of video packets along nodes in a network and the SVC video format, the system achieves path diversity automatically and enables efficient video delivery to heterogeneous receivers in packet erasure channels. The application of network coding can protect video packets against the erasure network environment. However, the rank defficiency problem of random linear network coding makes the error concealment inefficiently. It is shown by computer simulation that the proposed NC video multicast scheme enables heterogenous receiving according to their capacity constraints. But it needs special designing to improve the video transmission performance when applying network coding.

  15. Quality of experience enhancement of high efficiency video coding video streaming in wireless packet networks using multiple description coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boumehrez, Farouk; Brai, Radhia; Doghmane, Noureddine; Mansouri, Khaled

    2018-01-01

    Recently, video streaming has attracted much attention and interest due to its capability to process and transmit large data. We propose a quality of experience (QoE) model relying on high efficiency video coding (HEVC) encoder adaptation scheme, in turn based on the multiple description coding (MDC) for video streaming. The main contributions of the paper are (1) a performance evaluation of the new and emerging video coding standard HEVC/H.265, which is based on the variation of quantization parameter (QP) values depending on different video contents to deduce their influence on the sequence to be transmitted, (2) QoE support multimedia applications in wireless networks are investigated, so we inspect the packet loss impact on the QoE of transmitted video sequences, (3) HEVC encoder parameter adaptation scheme based on MDC is modeled with the encoder parameter and objective QoE model. A comparative study revealed that the proposed MDC approach is effective for improving the transmission with a peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) gain of about 2 to 3 dB. Results show that a good choice of QP value can compensate for transmission channel effects and improve received video quality, although HEVC/H.265 is also sensitive to packet loss. The obtained results show the efficiency of our proposed method in terms of PSNR and mean-opinion-score.

  16. Interactive Video Coding and Transmission over Heterogeneous Wired-to-Wireless IP Networks Using an Edge Proxy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pei, Yong; Modestino, James W.

    2004-12-01

    Digital video delivered over wired-to-wireless networks is expected to suffer quality degradation from both packet loss and bit errors in the payload. In this paper, the quality degradation due to packet loss and bit errors in the payload are quantitatively evaluated and their effects are assessed. We propose the use of a concatenated forward error correction (FEC) coding scheme employing Reed-Solomon (RS) codes and rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes to protect the video data from packet loss and bit errors, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of a joint source-channel coding (JSCC) approach employing this concatenated FEC coding scheme for video transmission is studied. Finally, we describe an improved end-to-end architecture using an edge proxy in a mobile support station to implement differential error protection for the corresponding channel impairments expected on the two networks. Results indicate that with an appropriate JSCC approach and the use of an edge proxy, FEC-based error-control techniques together with passive error-recovery techniques can significantly improve the effective video throughput and lead to acceptable video delivery quality over time-varying heterogeneous wired-to-wireless IP networks.

  17. A unified framework of unsupervised subjective optimized bit allocation for multiple video object coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Zhenzhong; Han, Junwei; Ngan, King Ngi

    2005-10-01

    MPEG-4 treats a scene as a composition of several objects or so-called video object planes (VOPs) that are separately encoded and decoded. Such a flexible video coding framework makes it possible to code different video object with different distortion scale. It is necessary to analyze the priority of the video objects according to its semantic importance, intrinsic properties and psycho-visual characteristics such that the bit budget can be distributed properly to video objects to improve the perceptual quality of the compressed video. This paper aims to provide an automatic video object priority definition method based on object-level visual attention model and further propose an optimization framework for video object bit allocation. One significant contribution of this work is that the human visual system characteristics are incorporated into the video coding optimization process. Another advantage is that the priority of the video object can be obtained automatically instead of fixing weighting factors before encoding or relying on the user interactivity. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, we compare it with traditional verification model bit allocation and the optimal multiple video object bit allocation algorithms. Comparing with traditional bit allocation algorithms, the objective quality of the object with higher priority is significantly improved under this framework. These results demonstrate the usefulness of this unsupervised subjective quality lifting framework.

  18. Real-time transmission of digital video using variable-length coding

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bizon, Thomas P.; Shalkhauser, Mary JO; Whyte, Wayne A., Jr.

    1993-01-01

    Huffman coding is a variable-length lossless compression technique where data with a high probability of occurrence is represented with short codewords, while 'not-so-likely' data is assigned longer codewords. Compression is achieved when the high-probability levels occur so frequently that their benefit outweighs any penalty paid when a less likely input occurs. One instance where Huffman coding is extremely effective occurs when data is highly predictable and differential coding can be applied (as with a digital video signal). For that reason, it is desirable to apply this compression technique to digital video transmission; however, special care must be taken in order to implement a communication protocol utilizing Huffman coding. This paper addresses several of the issues relating to the real-time transmission of Huffman-coded digital video over a constant-rate serial channel. Topics discussed include data rate conversion (from variable to a fixed rate), efficient data buffering, channel coding, recovery from communication errors, decoder synchronization, and decoder architectures. A description of the hardware developed to execute Huffman coding and serial transmission is also included. Although this paper focuses on matters relating to Huffman-coded digital video, the techniques discussed can easily be generalized for a variety of applications which require transmission of variable-length data.

  19. A Learning Design for Student-Generated Digital Storytelling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kearney, Matthew

    2011-01-01

    The literature on digital video in education emphasises the use of pre-fabricated, instructional-style video assets. Learning designs for supporting the use of these expert-generated video products have been developed. However, there has been a paucity of pedagogical frameworks for facilitating specific genres of learner-generated video projects.…

  20. Post Game Analysis: Using Video-Based Coaching for Continuous Professional Development

    PubMed Central

    Hu, Yue-Yung; Peyre, Sarah E.; Arriaga, Alexander F.; Osteen, Robert T.; Corso, Katherine A.; Weiser, Thomas G.; Swanson, Richard S.; Ashley, Stanley W.; Raut, Chandrajit P.; Zinner, Michael J.; Gawande, Atul A.; Greenberg, Caprice C.

    2011-01-01

    Background The surgical learning curve persists for years after training, yet existing CME efforts targeting this are limited. We describe a pilot study of a scalable video-based intervention, providing individualized feedback on intra-operative performance. Study Design Four complex operations performed by surgeons of varying experience – a chief resident accompanied by the operating senior surgeon, a surgeon with <10 years in practice, another with 20–30 years, and a surgeon with >30 years of experience – were video-recorded. Video playback formed the basis of 1-hour coaching sessions with a peer-judged surgical expert. These sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically coded. Results The sessions focused on operative technique, both technical aspects and decision-making. With increasing seniority, more discussion was devoted to the optimization of teaching and facilitation of the resident’s technical performance. Coaching sessions with senior surgeons were peer-to-peer interactions, with each discussing his preferred approach. The coach alternated between directing the session (asking probing questions) and responding to specific questions brought by the surgeons, depending on learning style. At all experience levels, video review proved valuable in identifying episodes of failure-to-progress and troubleshooting alternative approaches. All agreed this tool is a powerful one. Inclusion of trainees seems most appropriate when coaching senior surgeons; it may restrict the dialogue of more junior attendings. Conclusions Video-based coaching is an educational modality that targets intra-operative judgment, technique, and teaching. Surgeons of all levels found it highly instructive. This may provide a practical, much needed approach for continuous professional development. PMID:22192924

  1. The Use of Video Cases in a Multimedia Learning Environment for Facilitating High School Students' Inquiry into a Problem from Varying Perspectives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zydney, Janet Mannheimer; Grincewicz, Amy

    2011-12-01

    This study investigated the connection between the use of video cases within a multimedia learning environment and students' inquiry into a socio-scientific problem. The software program was designed based on principles from the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) and incorporated video cases of experts with differing perspectives. Seventy-nine 10th-grade students in an urban high school participated in this study. After watching the expert videos, students generated investigative questions and reflected on how their ideas changed over time. This study found a significant correlation between the time students spent watching the expert videos and their ability to consider the problem's perspectives as well as their ability to integrate these perspectives within their questions. Moreover, problem-solving ability and time watching the videos were detected as possible influential predictors of students' consideration of the problem's perspectives within their questions. Although students watched all video cases in equivalent ways, one of the video cases, which incorporated multiple perspectives as opposed to just presenting one perspective, appeared most influential in helping students integrate the various perspectives into their own thinking. A qualitative analysis of students' reflections indicated that many students appreciated the complexity, authenticity, and ethical dimensions of the problem. It also revealed that while the majority of students thought critically about the problem, some students still had naïve or simplistic ways of thinking. This study provided some preliminary evidence that offering students the opportunity to watch videos of different perspectives may influence them to think in alternative ways about a complex problem.

  2. Introduction to the supratentorial cerebral arteriovenous malformation video supplement.

    PubMed

    Starke, Robert M; Albuquerque, Felipe C; Lawton, Michael T

    2017-07-01

    It is with great pleasure that we present this Neurosurgical Focus video supplement on supratentorial cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). We were privileged to view a remarkable number of outstanding videos demonstrating current state-of-the-art management of brain AVMs using endovascular and microsurgical modalities. Careful and critical review was required to narrow down the submitted videos to a workable volume for this supplement, which reflects the excellent work being done at multiple centers with these lesions. This issue consists of videos that represent modern microsurgical and neuroendovascular techniques for the treatment of supratentorial cerebral AVMs. The videos demonstrate cutting-edge therapies as well as standard ones, which will be valuable to both novice and expert neurointerventionists and neurosurgeons. We are honored to be involved with this project and proud of its content and expert authors. We believe you will enjoy the video content of this supplement and hope that it will raise the collective expertise of our community of AVM surgeons.

  3. The emerging High Efficiency Video Coding standard (HEVC)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raja, Gulistan; Khan, Awais

    2013-12-01

    High definition video (HDV) is becoming popular day by day. This paper describes the performance analysis of latest upcoming video standard known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). HEVC is designed to fulfil all the requirements for future high definition videos. In this paper, three configurations (intra only, low delay and random access) of HEVC are analyzed using various 480p, 720p and 1080p high definition test video sequences. Simulation results show the superior objective and subjective quality of HEVC.

  4. Spatial resampling of IDR frames for low bitrate video coding with HEVC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hosking, Brett; Agrafiotis, Dimitris; Bull, David; Easton, Nick

    2015-03-01

    As the demand for higher quality and higher resolution video increases, many applications fail to meet this demand due to low bandwidth restrictions. One factor contributing to this problem is the high bitrate requirement of the intra-coded Instantaneous Decoding Refresh (IDR) frames featuring in all video coding standards. Frequent coding of IDR frames is essential for error resilience in order to prevent the occurrence of error propagation. However, as each one consumes a huge portion of the available bitrate, the quality of future coded frames is hindered by high levels of compression. This work presents a new technique, known as Spatial Resampling of IDR Frames (SRIF), and shows how it can increase the rate distortion performance by providing a higher and more consistent level of video quality at low bitrates.

  5. Development and pilot testing of an informed consent video for patients with limb trauma prior to debridement surgery using a modified Delphi technique.

    PubMed

    Lin, Yen-Ko; Chen, Chao-Wen; Lee, Wei-Che; Lin, Tsung-Ying; Kuo, Liang-Chi; Lin, Chia-Ju; Shi, Leiyu; Tien, Yin-Chun; Cheng, Yuan-Chia

    2017-11-29

    Ensuring adequate informed consent for surgery in a trauma setting is challenging. We developed and pilot tested an educational video containing information regarding the informed consent process for surgery in trauma patients and a knowledge measure instrument and evaluated whether the audiovisual presentation improved the patients' knowledge regarding their procedure and aftercare and their satisfaction with the informed consent process. A modified Delphi technique in which a panel of experts participated in successive rounds of shared scoring of items to forecast outcomes was applied to reach a consensus among the experts. The resulting consensus was used to develop the video content and questions for measuring the understanding of the informed consent for debridement surgery in limb trauma patients. The expert panel included experienced patients. The participants in this pilot study were enrolled as a convenience sample of adult trauma patients scheduled to receive surgery. The modified Delphi technique comprised three rounds over a 4-month period. The items given higher scores by the experts in several categories were chosen for the subsequent rounds until consensus was reached. The experts reached a consensus on each item after the three-round process. The final knowledge measure comprising 10 questions was developed and validated. Thirty eligible trauma patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) were approached and completed the questionnaires in this pilot study. The participants exhibited significantly higher mean knowledge and satisfaction scores after watching the educational video than before watching the video. Our process is promising for developing procedure-specific informed consent and audiovisual aids in medical and surgical specialties. The educational video was developed using a scientific method that integrated the opinions of different stakeholders, particularly patients. This video is a useful tool for improving the knowledge and satisfaction of trauma patients in the ED. The modified Delphi technique is an effective method for collecting experts' opinions and reaching a consensus on the content of educational materials for informed consent. Institutions should prioritize patient-centered health care and develop a structured informed consent process to improve the quality of care. The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier is NCT01338480 . The date of registration was April 18, 2011 (retrospectively registered).

  6. Resource allocation for error resilient video coding over AWGN using optimization approach.

    PubMed

    An, Cheolhong; Nguyen, Truong Q

    2008-12-01

    The number of slices for error resilient video coding is jointly optimized with 802.11a-like media access control and the physical layers with automatic repeat request and rate compatible punctured convolutional code over additive white gaussian noise channel as well as channel times allocation for time division multiple access. For error resilient video coding, the relation between the number of slices and coding efficiency is analyzed and formulated as a mathematical model. It is applied for the joint optimization problem, and the problem is solved by a convex optimization method such as the primal-dual decomposition method. We compare the performance of a video communication system which uses the optimal number of slices with one that codes a picture as one slice. From numerical examples, end-to-end distortion of utility functions can be significantly reduced with the optimal slices of a picture especially at low signal-to-noise ratio.

  7. H.264 Layered Coded Video over Wireless Networks: Channel Coding and Modulation Constraints

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghandi, M. M.; Barmada, B.; Jones, E. V.; Ghanbari, M.

    2006-12-01

    This paper considers the prioritised transmission of H.264 layered coded video over wireless channels. For appropriate protection of video data, methods such as prioritised forward error correction coding (FEC) or hierarchical quadrature amplitude modulation (HQAM) can be employed, but each imposes system constraints. FEC provides good protection but at the price of a high overhead and complexity. HQAM is less complex and does not introduce any overhead, but permits only fixed data ratios between the priority layers. Such constraints are analysed and practical solutions are proposed for layered transmission of data-partitioned and SNR-scalable coded video where combinations of HQAM and FEC are used to exploit the advantages of both coding methods. Simulation results show that the flexibility of SNR scalability and absence of picture drift imply that SNR scalability as modelled is superior to data partitioning in such applications.

  8. Compression of stereoscopic video using MPEG-2

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Puri, A.; Kollarits, Richard V.; Haskell, Barry G.

    1995-10-01

    Many current as well as emerging applications in areas of entertainment, remote operations, manufacturing industry and medicine can benefit from the depth perception offered by stereoscopic video systems which employ two views of a scene imaged under the constraints imposed by human visual system. Among the many challenges to be overcome for practical realization and widespread use of 3D/stereoscopic systems are good 3D displays and efficient techniques for digital compression of enormous amounts of data while maintaining compatibility with normal video decoding and display systems. After a brief introduction to the basics of 3D/stereo including issues of depth perception, stereoscopic 3D displays and terminology in stereoscopic imaging and display, we present an overview of tools in the MPEG-2 video standard that are relevant to our discussion on compression of stereoscopic video, which is the main topic of this paper. Next, we outilne the various approaches for compression of stereoscopic video and then focus on compatible stereoscopic video coding using MPEG-2 Temporal scalability concepts. Compatible coding employing two different types of prediction structures become potentially possible, disparity compensated prediction and combined disparity and motion compensated predictions. To further improve coding performance and display quality, preprocessing for reducing mismatch between the two views forming stereoscopic video is considered. Results of simulations performed on stereoscopic video of normal TV resolution are then reported comparing the performance of two prediction structures with the simulcast solution. It is found that combined disparity and motion compensated prediction offers the best performance. Results indicate that compression of both views of stereoscopic video of normal TV resolution appears feasible in a total of 6 to 8 Mbit/s. We then discuss regarding multi-viewpoint video, a generalization of stereoscopic video. Finally, we describe ongoing efforts within MPEG-2 to define a profile for stereoscopic video coding, as well as, the promise of MPEG-4 in addressing coding of multi-viewpoint video.

  9. Compression of stereoscopic video using MPEG-2

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Puri, Atul; Kollarits, Richard V.; Haskell, Barry G.

    1995-12-01

    Many current as well as emerging applications in areas of entertainment, remote operations, manufacturing industry and medicine can benefit from the depth perception offered by stereoscopic video systems which employ two views of a scene imaged under the constraints imposed by human visual system. Among the many challenges to be overcome for practical realization and widespread use of 3D/stereoscopic systems are good 3D displays and efficient techniques for digital compression of enormous amounts of data while maintaining compatibility with normal video decoding and display systems. After a brief introduction to the basics of 3D/stereo including issues of depth perception, stereoscopic 3D displays and terminology in stereoscopic imaging and display, we present an overview of tools in the MPEG-2 video standard that are relevant to our discussion on compression of stereoscopic video, which is the main topic of this paper. Next, we outline the various approaches for compression of stereoscopic video and then focus on compatible stereoscopic video coding using MPEG-2 Temporal scalability concepts. Compatible coding employing two different types of prediction structures become potentially possible, disparity compensated prediction and combined disparity and motion compensated predictions. To further improve coding performance and display quality, preprocessing for reducing mismatch between the two views forming stereoscopic video is considered. Results of simulations performed on stereoscopic video of normal TV resolution are then reported comparing the performance of two prediction structures with the simulcast solution. It is found that combined disparity and motion compensated prediction offers the best performance. Results indicate that compression of both views of stereoscopic video of normal TV resolution appears feasible in a total of 6 to 8 Mbit/s. We then discuss regarding multi-viewpoint video, a generalization of stereoscopic video. Finally, we describe ongoing efforts within MPEG-2 to define a profile for stereoscopic video coding, as well as, the promise of MPEG-4 in addressing coding of multi-viewpoint video.

  10. Video coding for 3D-HEVC based on saliency information

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Fang; An, Ping; Yang, Chao; You, Zhixiang; Shen, Liquan

    2016-11-01

    As an extension of High Efficiency Video Coding ( HEVC), 3D-HEVC has been widely researched under the impetus of the new generation coding standard in recent years. Compared with H.264/AVC, its compression efficiency is doubled while keeping the same video quality. However, its higher encoding complexity and longer encoding time are not negligible. To reduce the computational complexity and guarantee the subjective quality of virtual views, this paper presents a novel video coding method for 3D-HEVC based on the saliency informat ion which is an important part of Human Visual System (HVS). First of all, the relationship between the current coding unit and its adjacent units is used to adjust the maximum depth of each largest coding unit (LCU) and determine the SKIP mode reasonably. Then, according to the saliency informat ion of each frame image, the texture and its corresponding depth map will be divided into three regions, that is, salient area, middle area and non-salient area. Afterwards, d ifferent quantization parameters will be assigned to different regions to conduct low complexity coding. Finally, the compressed video will generate new view point videos through the renderer tool. As shown in our experiments, the proposed method saves more bit rate than other approaches and achieves up to highest 38% encoding time reduction without subjective quality loss in compression or rendering.

  11. Layer-based buffer aware rate adaptation design for SHVC video streaming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gudumasu, Srinivas; Hamza, Ahmed; Asbun, Eduardo; He, Yong; Ye, Yan

    2016-09-01

    This paper proposes a layer based buffer aware rate adaptation design which is able to avoid abrupt video quality fluctuation, reduce re-buffering latency and improve bandwidth utilization when compared to a conventional simulcast based adaptive streaming system. The proposed adaptation design schedules DASH segment requests based on the estimated bandwidth, dependencies among video layers and layer buffer fullness. Scalable HEVC video coding is the latest state-of-art video coding technique that can alleviate various issues caused by simulcast based adaptive video streaming. With scalable coded video streams, the video is encoded once into a number of layers representing different qualities and/or resolutions: a base layer (BL) and one or more enhancement layers (EL), each incrementally enhancing the quality of the lower layers. Such layer based coding structure allows fine granularity rate adaptation for the video streaming applications. Two video streaming use cases are presented in this paper. The first use case is to stream HD SHVC video over a wireless network where available bandwidth varies, and the performance comparison between proposed layer-based streaming approach and conventional simulcast streaming approach is provided. The second use case is to stream 4K/UHD SHVC video over a hybrid access network that consists of a 5G millimeter wave high-speed wireless link and a conventional wired or WiFi network. The simulation results verify that the proposed layer based rate adaptation approach is able to utilize the bandwidth more efficiently. As a result, a more consistent viewing experience with higher quality video content and minimal video quality fluctuations can be presented to the user.

  12. Patient-Physician Communication About Code Status Preferences: A Randomized Controlled Trial

    PubMed Central

    Rhondali, Wadih; Perez-Cruz, Pedro; Hui, David; Chisholm, Gary B.; Dalal, Shalini; Baile, Walter; Chittenden, Eva; Bruera, Eduardo

    2013-01-01

    Purpose Code status discussions are important in cancer care. The best modality for such discussions has not been established. Our objective was to determine the impact of a physician ending a code status discussion with a question (autonomy approach) versus a recommendation (beneficence approach) on patients' do-not-resuscitate (DNR) preference. Methods Patients in a supportive care clinic watched two videos showing a physician-patient discussion regarding code status. Both videos were identical except for the ending: one ended with the physician asking for the patient's code status preference and the other with the physician recommending DNR. Patients were randomly assigned to watch the videos in different sequences. The main outcome was the proportion of patients choosing DNR for the video patient. Results 78 patients completed the study. 74% chose DNR after the question video, 73% after the recommendation video. Median physician compassion score was very high and not different for both videos. 30/30 patients who had chosen DNR for themselves and 30/48 patients who had not chosen DNR for themselves chose DNR for the video patient (100% v/s 62%). Age (OR=1.1/year) and white ethnicity (OR=9.43) predicted DNR choice for the video patient. Conclusion Ending DNR discussions with a question or a recommendation did not impact DNR choice or perception of physician compassion. Therefore, both approaches are clinically appropriate. All patients who chose DNR for themselves and most patients who did not choose DNR for themselves chose DNR for the video patient. Age and race predicted DNR choice. PMID:23564395

  13. Inside KidVid: The Essential Parents' Guide to Video.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MacAlpine, Loretta

    This guide aims to help parents choose stimulating, educational, and fun videos for their children from the more than 7,000 currently available. The guide includes: 10 tips for evaluating and choosing videos; interviews with and advice from experts; annotated descriptions of more than 400 recommended videos; essential information such as suggested…

  14. Ready for Their Close-Ups

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foster, Andrea L.

    2006-01-01

    American college students are increasingly posting videos of their lives online, due to Web sites like Vimeo and Google Video that host video material free and the ubiquity of camera phones and other devices that can take video-clips. However, the growing popularity of online socializing has many safety experts worried that students could be…

  15. Integer-Linear-Programing Optimization in Scalable Video Multicast with Adaptive Modulation and Coding in Wireless Networks

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Chaewoo

    2014-01-01

    The advancement in wideband wireless network supports real time services such as IPTV and live video streaming. However, because of the sharing nature of the wireless medium, efficient resource allocation has been studied to achieve a high level of acceptability and proliferation of wireless multimedia. Scalable video coding (SVC) with adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) provides an excellent solution for wireless video streaming. By assigning different modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) to video layers, SVC can provide good video quality to users in good channel conditions and also basic video quality to users in bad channel conditions. For optimal resource allocation, a key issue in applying SVC in the wireless multicast service is how to assign MCSs and the time resources to each SVC layer in the heterogeneous channel condition. We formulate this problem with integer linear programming (ILP) and provide numerical results to show the performance under 802.16 m environment. The result shows that our methodology enhances the overall system throughput compared to an existing algorithm. PMID:25276862

  16. Learning-Based Just-Noticeable-Quantization- Distortion Modeling for Perceptual Video Coding.

    PubMed

    Ki, Sehwan; Bae, Sung-Ho; Kim, Munchurl; Ko, Hyunsuk

    2018-07-01

    Conventional predictive video coding-based approaches are reaching the limit of their potential coding efficiency improvements, because of severely increasing computation complexity. As an alternative approach, perceptual video coding (PVC) has attempted to achieve high coding efficiency by eliminating perceptual redundancy, using just-noticeable-distortion (JND) directed PVC. The previous JNDs were modeled by adding white Gaussian noise or specific signal patterns into the original images, which were not appropriate in finding JND thresholds due to distortion with energy reduction. In this paper, we present a novel discrete cosine transform-based energy-reduced JND model, called ERJND, that is more suitable for JND-based PVC schemes. Then, the proposed ERJND model is extended to two learning-based just-noticeable-quantization-distortion (JNQD) models as preprocessing that can be applied for perceptual video coding. The two JNQD models can automatically adjust JND levels based on given quantization step sizes. One of the two JNQD models, called LR-JNQD, is based on linear regression and determines the model parameter for JNQD based on extracted handcraft features. The other JNQD model is based on a convolution neural network (CNN), called CNN-JNQD. To our best knowledge, our paper is the first approach to automatically adjust JND levels according to quantization step sizes for preprocessing the input to video encoders. In experiments, both the LR-JNQD and CNN-JNQD models were applied to high efficiency video coding (HEVC) and yielded maximum (average) bitrate reductions of 38.51% (10.38%) and 67.88% (24.91%), respectively, with little subjective video quality degradation, compared with the input without preprocessing applied.

  17. A Randomized Controlled Trial of a CPR Decision Support Video for Patients Admitted to the General Medicine Service.

    PubMed

    Merino, Aimee M; Greiner, Ryan; Hartwig, Kristopher

    2017-09-01

    Patient preferences regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are important, especially during hospitalization when a patient's health is changing. Yet many patients are not adequately informed or involved in the decision-making process. We examined the effect of an informational video about CPR on hospitalized patients' code status choices. This was a prospective, randomized trial conducted at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Minnesota. We enrolled 119 patients, hospitalized on the general medicine service, and at least 65 years old. The majority were men (97%) with a mean age of 75. A video described code status choices: full code (CPR and intubation if required), do not resuscitate (DNR), and do not resuscitate/do not intubate (DNR/DNI). Participants were randomized to watch the video (n = 59) or usual care (n = 60). The primary outcome was participants' code status preferences. Secondary outcomes included a questionnaire designed to evaluate participants' trust in their healthcare team and knowledge and perceptions about CPR. Participants who viewed the video were less likely to choose full code (37%) compared to participants in the usual care group (71%) and more likely to choose DNR/DNI (56% in the video group vs. 17% in the control group) ( < 0.00001). We did not see a difference in trust in their healthcare team or knowledge and perceptions about CPR as assessed by our questionnaire. Hospitalized patients who watched a video about CPR and code status choices were less likely to choose full code and more likely to choose DNR/DNI. © 2017 Society of Hospital Medicine

  18. Toward enhancing the distributed video coder under a multiview video codec framework

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Shih-Chieh; Chen, Jiann-Jone; Tsai, Yao-Hong; Chen, Chin-Hua

    2016-11-01

    The advance of video coding technology enables multiview video (MVV) or three-dimensional television (3-D TV) display for users with or without glasses. For mobile devices or wireless applications, a distributed video coder (DVC) can be utilized to shift the encoder complexity to decoder under the MVV coding framework, denoted as multiview distributed video coding (MDVC). We proposed to exploit both inter- and intraview video correlations to enhance side information (SI) and improve the MDVC performance: (1) based on the multiview motion estimation (MVME) framework, a categorized block matching prediction with fidelity weights (COMPETE) was proposed to yield a high quality SI frame for better DVC reconstructed images. (2) The block transform coefficient properties, i.e., DCs and ACs, were exploited to design the priority rate control for the turbo code, such that the DVC decoding can be carried out with fewest parity bits. In comparison, the proposed COMPETE method demonstrated lower time complexity, while presenting better reconstructed video quality. Simulations show that the proposed COMPETE can reduce the time complexity of MVME to 1.29 to 2.56 times smaller, as compared to previous hybrid MVME methods, while the image peak signal to noise ratios (PSNRs) of a decoded video can be improved 0.2 to 3.5 dB, as compared to H.264/AVC intracoding.

  19. Film grain noise modeling in advanced video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oh, Byung Tae; Kuo, C.-C. Jay; Sun, Shijun; Lei, Shawmin

    2007-01-01

    A new technique for film grain noise extraction, modeling and synthesis is proposed and applied to the coding of high definition video in this work. The film grain noise is viewed as a part of artistic presentation by people in the movie industry. On one hand, since the film grain noise can boost the natural appearance of pictures in high definition video, it should be preserved in high-fidelity video processing systems. On the other hand, video coding with film grain noise is expensive. It is desirable to extract film grain noise from the input video as a pre-processing step at the encoder and re-synthesize the film grain noise and add it back to the decoded video as a post-processing step at the decoder. Under this framework, the coding gain of the denoised video is higher while the quality of the final reconstructed video can still be well preserved. Following this idea, we present a method to remove film grain noise from image/video without distorting its original content. Besides, we describe a parametric model containing a small set of parameters to represent the extracted film grain noise. The proposed model generates the film grain noise that is close to the real one in terms of power spectral density and cross-channel spectral correlation. Experimental results are shown to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme.

  20. Diagnosis - Using automatic test equipment and artificial intelligence expert systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramsey, J. E., Jr.

    Three expert systems (ATEOPS, ATEFEXPERS, and ATEFATLAS), which were created to direct automatic test equipment (ATE), are reviewed. The purpose of the project was to develop an expert system to troubleshoot the converter-programmer power supply card for the F-15 aircraft and have that expert system direct the automatic test equipment. Each expert system uses a different knowledge base or inference engine, basing the testing on the circuit schematic, test requirements document, or ATLAS code. Implementing generalized modules allows the expert systems to be used for any different unit under test. Using converted ATLAS to LISP code allows the expert system to direct any ATE using ATLAS. The constraint propagated frame system allows for the expansion of control by creating the ATLAS code, checking the code for good software engineering techniques, directing the ATE, and changing the test sequence as needed (planning).

  1. The Simple Video Coder: A free tool for efficiently coding social video data.

    PubMed

    Barto, Daniel; Bird, Clark W; Hamilton, Derek A; Fink, Brandi C

    2017-08-01

    Videotaping of experimental sessions is a common practice across many disciplines of psychology, ranging from clinical therapy, to developmental science, to animal research. Audio-visual data are a rich source of information that can be easily recorded; however, analysis of the recordings presents a major obstacle to project completion. Coding behavior is time-consuming and often requires ad-hoc training of a student coder. In addition, existing software is either prohibitively expensive or cumbersome, which leaves researchers with inadequate tools to quickly process video data. We offer the Simple Video Coder-free, open-source software for behavior coding that is flexible in accommodating different experimental designs, is intuitive for students to use, and produces outcome measures of event timing, frequency, and duration. Finally, the software also offers extraction tools to splice video into coded segments suitable for training future human coders or for use as input for pattern classification algorithms.

  2. Variable disparity-motion estimation based fast three-view video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bae, Kyung-Hoon; Kim, Seung-Cheol; Hwang, Yong Seok; Kim, Eun-Soo

    2009-02-01

    In this paper, variable disparity-motion estimation (VDME) based 3-view video coding is proposed. In the encoding, key-frame coding (KFC) based motion estimation and variable disparity estimation (VDE) for effectively fast three-view video encoding are processed. These proposed algorithms enhance the performance of 3-D video encoding/decoding system in terms of accuracy of disparity estimation and computational overhead. From some experiments, stereo sequences of 'Pot Plant' and 'IVO', it is shown that the proposed algorithm's PSNRs is 37.66 and 40.55 dB, and the processing time is 0.139 and 0.124 sec/frame, respectively.

  3. Joint source-channel coding for motion-compensated DCT-based SNR scalable video.

    PubMed

    Kondi, Lisimachos P; Ishtiaq, Faisal; Katsaggelos, Aggelos K

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, we develop an approach toward joint source-channel coding for motion-compensated DCT-based scalable video coding and transmission. A framework for the optimal selection of the source and channel coding rates over all scalable layers is presented such that the overall distortion is minimized. The algorithm utilizes universal rate distortion characteristics which are obtained experimentally and show the sensitivity of the source encoder and decoder to channel errors. The proposed algorithm allocates the available bit rate between scalable layers and, within each layer, between source and channel coding. We present the results of this rate allocation algorithm for video transmission over a wireless channel using the H.263 Version 2 signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scalable codec for source coding and rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes for channel coding. We discuss the performance of the algorithm with respect to the channel conditions, coding methodologies, layer rates, and number of layers.

  4. Mode-dependent templates and scan order for H.264/AVC-based intra lossless coding.

    PubMed

    Gu, Zhouye; Lin, Weisi; Lee, Bu-Sung; Lau, Chiew Tong; Sun, Ming-Ting

    2012-09-01

    In H.264/advanced video coding (AVC), lossless coding and lossy coding share the same entropy coding module. However, the entropy coders in the H.264/AVC standard were original designed for lossy video coding and do not yield adequate performance for lossless video coding. In this paper, we analyze the problem with the current lossless coding scheme and propose a mode-dependent template (MD-template) based method for intra lossless coding. By exploring the statistical redundancy of the prediction residual in the H.264/AVC intra prediction modes, more zero coefficients are generated. By designing a new scan order for each MD-template, the scanned coefficients sequence fits the H.264/AVC entropy coders better. A fast implementation algorithm is also designed. With little computation increase, experimental results confirm that the proposed fast algorithm achieves about 7.2% bit saving compared with the current H.264/AVC fidelity range extensions high profile.

  5. Low-delay predictive audio coding for the HIVITS HDTV codec

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McParland, A. K.; Gilchrist, N. H. C.

    1995-01-01

    The status of work relating to predictive audio coding, as part of the European project on High Quality Video Telephone and HD(TV) Systems (HIVITS), is reported. The predictive coding algorithm is developed, along with six-channel audio coding and decoding hardware. Demonstrations of the audio codec operating in conjunction with the video codec, are given.

  6. Efficient temporal and interlayer parameter prediction for weighted prediction in scalable high efficiency video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsang, Sik-Ho; Chan, Yui-Lam; Siu, Wan-Chi

    2017-01-01

    Weighted prediction (WP) is an efficient video coding tool that was introduced since the establishment of the H.264/AVC video coding standard, for compensating the temporal illumination change in motion estimation and compensation. WP parameters, including a multiplicative weight and an additive offset for each reference frame, are required to be estimated and transmitted to the decoder by slice header. These parameters cause extra bits in the coded video bitstream. High efficiency video coding (HEVC) provides WP parameter prediction to reduce the overhead. Therefore, WP parameter prediction is crucial to research works or applications, which are related to WP. Prior art has been suggested to further improve the WP parameter prediction by implicit prediction of image characteristics and derivation of parameters. By exploiting both temporal and interlayer redundancies, we propose three WP parameter prediction algorithms, enhanced implicit WP parameter, enhanced direct WP parameter derivation, and interlayer WP parameter, to further improve the coding efficiency of HEVC. Results show that our proposed algorithms can achieve up to 5.83% and 5.23% bitrate reduction compared to the conventional scalable HEVC in the base layer for SNR scalability and 2× spatial scalability, respectively.

  7. Using Moos To Help Learn English; Video Jigsaw; Practicing Speaking with Follow-Up Interviews and Student-Read Dictations; "Ask the Expert": Oral Presentations that Work; The Medium Is the Message.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, James; Reynolds, Judith; Noble, P. C.; Altschuler, Lee; Schauber, Holli

    2001-01-01

    Four short articles provide teaching tips for the English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language classroom, including the use of Moos, a video jigsaw, practicing oral language skills with interviews and student-read dictations, an ask the expert activity which builds learner confidence in speaking in front of groups of people. (Author/VWL)

  8. Video transmission on ATM networks. Ph.D. Thesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Yun-Chung

    1993-01-01

    The broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) is expected to provide high-speed and flexible multimedia applications. Multimedia includes data, graphics, image, voice, and video. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the adopted transport techniques for B-ISDN and has the potential for providing a more efficient and integrated environment for multimedia. It is believed that most broadband applications will make heavy use of visual information. The prospect of wide spread use of image and video communication has led to interest in coding algorithms for reducing bandwidth requirements and improving image quality. The major results of a study on the bridging of network transmission performance and video coding are: Using two representative video sequences, several video source models are developed. The fitness of these models are validated through the use of statistical tests and network queuing performance. A dual leaky bucket algorithm is proposed as an effective network policing function. The concept of the dual leaky bucket algorithm can be applied to a prioritized coding approach to achieve transmission efficiency. A mapping of the performance/control parameters at the network level into equivalent parameters at the video coding level is developed. Based on that, a complete set of principles for the design of video codecs for network transmission is proposed.

  9. Comparative assessment of H.265/MPEG-HEVC, VP9, and H.264/MPEG-AVC encoders for low-delay video applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grois, Dan; Marpe, Detlev; Nguyen, Tung; Hadar, Ofer

    2014-09-01

    The popularity of low-delay video applications dramatically increased over the last years due to a rising demand for realtime video content (such as video conferencing or video surveillance), and also due to the increasing availability of relatively inexpensive heterogeneous devices (such as smartphones and tablets). To this end, this work presents a comparative assessment of the two latest video coding standards: H.265/MPEG-HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding), H.264/MPEG-AVC (Advanced Video Coding), and also of the VP9 proprietary video coding scheme. For evaluating H.264/MPEG-AVC, an open-source x264 encoder was selected, which has a multi-pass encoding mode, similarly to VP9. According to experimental results, which were obtained by using similar low-delay configurations for all three examined representative encoders, it was observed that H.265/MPEG-HEVC provides significant average bit-rate savings of 32.5%, and 40.8%, relative to VP9 and x264 for the 1-pass encoding, and average bit-rate savings of 32.6%, and 42.2% for the 2-pass encoding, respectively. On the other hand, compared to the x264 encoder, typical low-delay encoding times of the VP9 encoder, are about 2,000 times higher for the 1-pass encoding, and are about 400 times higher for the 2-pass encoding.

  10. Digital Video of Live-Scan Fingerprint Data

    National Institute of Standards and Technology Data Gateway

    NIST Digital Video of Live-Scan Fingerprint Data (PC database for purchase)   NIST Special Database 24 contains MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group) compressed digital video of live-scan fingerprint data. The database is being distributed for use in developing and testing of fingerprint verification systems.

  11. Study and simulation of low rate video coding schemes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sayood, Khalid; Chen, Yun-Chung; Kipp, G.

    1992-01-01

    The semiannual report is included. Topics covered include communication, information science, data compression, remote sensing, color mapped images, robust coding scheme for packet video, recursively indexed differential pulse code modulation, image compression technique for use on token ring networks, and joint source/channel coder design.

  12. Visuomotor Processing, Induced Stress and Perceptual Learning

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-11-01

    the performance of expert video game players with non-experienced video game players on multiple assessments of attention, Green & Bavelier (2003...concluded that experience and proficiency playing video games alters human visual attention beneficially in terms of numerical capacity, and both...person perspective video game play. We propose that psychological stress, though not addressed as a main factor in their study, may be an

  13. Digital television system design study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Huth, G. K.

    1976-01-01

    The use of digital techniques for transmission of pictorial data is discussed for multi-frame images (television). Video signals are processed in a manner which includes quantization and coding such that they are separable from the noise introduced into the channel. The performance of digital television systems is determined by the nature of the processing techniques (i.e., whether the video signal itself or, instead, something related to the video signal is quantized and coded) and to the quantization and coding schemes employed.

  14. Selective encryption for H.264/AVC video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Tuo; King, Brian; Salama, Paul

    2006-02-01

    Due to the ease with which digital data can be manipulated and due to the ongoing advancements that have brought us closer to pervasive computing, the secure delivery of video and images has become a challenging problem. Despite the advantages and opportunities that digital video provide, illegal copying and distribution as well as plagiarism of digital audio, images, and video is still ongoing. In this paper we describe two techniques for securing H.264 coded video streams. The first technique, SEH264Algorithm1, groups the data into the following blocks of data: (1) a block that contains the sequence parameter set and the picture parameter set, (2) a block containing a compressed intra coded frame, (3) a block containing the slice header of a P slice, all the headers of the macroblock within the same P slice, and all the luma and chroma DC coefficients belonging to the all the macroblocks within the same slice, (4) a block containing all the ac coefficients, and (5) a block containing all the motion vectors. The first three are encrypted whereas the last two are not. The second method, SEH264Algorithm2, relies on the use of multiple slices per coded frame. The algorithm searches the compressed video sequence for start codes (0x000001) and then encrypts the next N bits of data.

  15. Teaching Reading: 3-5 Workshop

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Annenberg Media, 2005

    2005-01-01

    This video workshop with auxiliary classroom videos will show intermediate elementary teachers how to help their students transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Eight half-hour workshop video programs feature leading experts who discuss current research on learning to read and teaching a diverse range of students. The research…

  16. National Plant Diagnostic Network, Taxonomic training videos: Introduction to AphID

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Training is a critical part of aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) identification. This video provides visual instruction on the use of the expert system, AphID, for aphid examination and identification. The video demonstrates the use of different training modules that allow the user to gain familiarity wi...

  17. Spatial Pyramid Covariance based Compact Video Code for Robust Face Retrieval in TV-series.

    PubMed

    Li, Yan; Wang, Ruiping; Cui, Zhen; Shan, Shiguang; Chen, Xilin

    2016-10-10

    We address the problem of face video retrieval in TV-series which searches video clips based on the presence of specific character, given one face track of his/her. This is tremendously challenging because on one hand, faces in TV-series are captured in largely uncontrolled conditions with complex appearance variations, and on the other hand retrieval task typically needs efficient representation with low time and space complexity. To handle this problem, we propose a compact and discriminative representation for the huge body of video data, named Compact Video Code (CVC). Our method first models the face track by its sample (i.e., frame) covariance matrix to capture the video data variations in a statistical manner. To incorporate discriminative information and obtain more compact video signature suitable for retrieval, the high-dimensional covariance representation is further encoded as a much lower-dimensional binary vector, which finally yields the proposed CVC. Specifically, each bit of the code, i.e., each dimension of the binary vector, is produced via supervised learning in a max margin framework, which aims to make a balance between the discriminability and stability of the code. Besides, we further extend the descriptive granularity of covariance matrix from traditional pixel-level to more general patchlevel, and proceed to propose a novel hierarchical video representation named Spatial Pyramid Covariance (SPC) along with a fast calculation method. Face retrieval experiments on two challenging TV-series video databases, i.e., the Big Bang Theory and Prison Break, demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed CVC over state-of-the-art retrieval methods. In addition, as a general video matching algorithm, CVC is also evaluated in traditional video face recognition task on a standard Internet database, i.e., YouTube Celebrities, showing its quite promising performance by using an extremely compact code with only 128 bits.

  18. Cross-Layer Design for Video Transmission over Wireless Rician Slow-Fading Channels Using an Adaptive Multiresolution Modulation and Coding Scheme

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pei, Yong; Modestino, James W.

    2007-12-01

    We describe a multilayered video transport scheme for wireless channels capable of adapting to channel conditions in order to maximize end-to-end quality of service (QoS). This scheme combines a scalable H.263+ video source coder with unequal error protection (UEP) across layers. The UEP is achieved by employing different channel codes together with a multiresolution modulation approach to transport the different priority layers. Adaptivity to channel conditions is provided through a joint source-channel coding (JSCC) approach which attempts to jointly optimize the source and channel coding rates together with the modulation parameters to obtain the maximum achievable end-to-end QoS for the prevailing channel conditions. In this work, we model the wireless links as slow-fading Rician channel where the channel conditions can be described in terms of the channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the ratio of specular-to-diffuse energy[InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.]. The multiresolution modulation/coding scheme consists of binary rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes used together with nonuniform phase-shift keyed (PSK) signaling constellations. Results indicate that this adaptive JSCC scheme employing scalable video encoding together with a multiresolution modulation/coding approach leads to significant improvements in delivered video quality for specified channel conditions. In particular, the approach results in considerably improved graceful degradation properties for decreasing channel SNR.

  19. Parkinson's Disease Videos

    MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools

    ... Parkinson's Disease Expert Briefings: Getting Around: Transportation and Travel with PD Expert Briefings: Sleep and Parkinson's Nurse: ... Psychosis Why We Walk at Moving Day CareMAP: Travel and Transportation: Part 2 Interview with Nathan Slewett ...

  20. Real-time data compression of broadcast video signals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shalkauser, Mary Jo W. (Inventor); Whyte, Wayne A., Jr. (Inventor); Barnes, Scott P. (Inventor)

    1991-01-01

    A non-adaptive predictor, a nonuniform quantizer, and a multi-level Huffman coder are incorporated into a differential pulse code modulation system for coding and decoding broadcast video signals in real time.

  1. Optimal bit allocation for hybrid scalable/multiple-description video transmission over wireless channels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jubran, Mohammad K.; Bansal, Manu; Kondi, Lisimachos P.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the problem of optimal bit allocation for wireless video transmission over fading channels. We use a newly developed hybrid scalable/multiple-description codec that combines the functionality of both scalable and multiple-description codecs. It produces a base layer and multiple-description enhancement layers. Any of the enhancement layers can be decoded (in a non-hierarchical manner) with the base layer to improve the reconstructed video quality. Two different channel coding schemes (Rate-Compatible Punctured Convolutional (RCPC)/Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) coding and, product code Reed Solomon (RS)+RCPC/CRC coding) are used for unequal error protection of the layered bitstream. Optimal allocation of the bitrate between source and channel coding is performed for discrete sets of source coding rates and channel coding rates. Experimental results are presented for a wide range of channel conditions. Also, comparisons with classical scalable coding show the effectiveness of using hybrid scalable/multiple-description coding for wireless transmission.

  2. Understanding Your Cancer Prognosis

    Cancer.gov

    Understanding Your Cancer Prognosis is the main video in the NCI Prognosis Video Series, which offers the perspectives of three cancer patients and their doctor, an oncologist who is also a national expert in doctor-patient communication.

  3. Expert-novice differences in brain function of field hockey players.

    PubMed

    Wimshurst, Z L; Sowden, P T; Wright, M

    2016-02-19

    The aims of this study were to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural bases for perceptual-cognitive superiority in a hockey anticipation task. Thirty participants (15 hockey players, 15 non-hockey players) lay in an MRI scanner while performing a video-based task in which they predicted the direction of an oncoming shot in either a hockey or a badminton scenario. Video clips were temporally occluded either 160 ms before the shot was made or 60 ms after the ball/shuttle left the stick/racquet. Behavioral data showed a significant hockey expertise×video-type interaction in which hockey experts were superior to novices with hockey clips but there were no significant differences with badminton clips. The imaging data on the other hand showed a significant main effect of hockey expertise and of video type (hockey vs. badminton), but the expertise×video-type interaction did not survive either a whole-brain or a small-volume correction for multiple comparisons. Further analysis of the expertise main effect revealed that when watching hockey clips, experts showed greater activation in the rostral inferior parietal lobule, which has been associated with an action observation network, and greater activation than novices in Brodmann areas 17 and 18 and middle frontal gyrus when watching badminton videos. The results provide partial support both for domain-specific and domain-general expertise effects in an action anticipation task. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. Signal Processing Expert Code (SPEC)

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

    Ames, H.S.

    1985-12-01

    The purpose of this paper is to describe a prototype expert system called SPEC which was developed to demonstrate the utility of providing an intelligent interface for users of SIG, a general purpose signal processing code. The expert system is written in NIL, runs on a VAX 11/750 and consists of a backward chaining inference engine and an English-like parser. The inference engine uses knowledge encoded as rules about the formats of SIG commands and about how to perform frequency analyses using SIG. The system demonstrated that expert system can be used to control existing codes.

  5. High efficiency video coding for ultrasound video communication in m-health systems.

    PubMed

    Panayides, A; Antoniou, Z; Pattichis, M S; Pattichis, C S; Constantinides, A G

    2012-01-01

    Emerging high efficiency video compression methods and wider availability of wireless network infrastructure will significantly advance existing m-health applications. For medical video communications, the emerging video compression and network standards support low-delay and high-resolution video transmission, at the clinically acquired resolution and frame rates. Such advances are expected to further promote the adoption of m-health systems for remote diagnosis and emergency incidents in daily clinical practice. This paper compares the performance of the emerging high efficiency video coding (HEVC) standard to the current state-of-the-art H.264/AVC standard. The experimental evaluation, based on five atherosclerotic plaque ultrasound videos encoded at QCIF, CIF, and 4CIF resolutions demonstrates that 50% reductions in bitrate requirements is possible for equivalent clinical quality.

  6. Picture data compression coder using subband/transform coding with a Lempel-Ziv-based coder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Glover, Daniel R. (Inventor)

    1995-01-01

    Digital data coders/decoders are used extensively in video transmission. A digitally encoded video signal is separated into subbands. Separating the video into subbands allows transmission at low data rates. Once the data is separated into these subbands it can be coded and then decoded by statistical coders such as the Lempel-Ziv based coder.

  7. Experimental design and analysis of JND test on coded image/video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Joe Yuchieh; Jin, Lina; Hu, Sudeng; Katsavounidis, Ioannis; Li, Zhi; Aaron, Anne; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

    2015-09-01

    The visual Just-Noticeable-Difference (JND) metric is characterized by the detectable minimum amount of two visual stimuli. Conducting the subjective JND test is a labor-intensive task. In this work, we present a novel interactive method in performing the visual JND test on compressed image/video. JND has been used to enhance perceptual visual quality in the context of image/video compression. Given a set of coding parameters, a JND test is designed to determine the distinguishable quality level against a reference image/video, which is called the anchor. The JND metric can be used to save coding bitrates by exploiting the special characteristics of the human visual system. The proposed JND test is conducted using a binary-forced choice, which is often adopted to discriminate the difference in perception in a psychophysical experiment. The assessors are asked to compare coded image/video pairs and determine whether they are of the same quality or not. A bisection procedure is designed to find the JND locations so as to reduce the required number of comparisons over a wide range of bitrates. We will demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed JND test, report experimental results on the image and video JND tests.

  8. Depth assisted compression of full parallax light fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Graziosi, Danillo B.; Alpaslan, Zahir Y.; El-Ghoroury, Hussein S.

    2015-03-01

    Full parallax light field displays require high pixel density and huge amounts of data. Compression is a necessary tool used by 3D display systems to cope with the high bandwidth requirements. One of the formats adopted by MPEG for 3D video coding standards is the use of multiple views with associated depth maps. Depth maps enable the coding of a reduced number of views, and are used by compression and synthesis software to reconstruct the light field. However, most of the developed coding and synthesis tools target linearly arranged cameras with small baselines. Here we propose to use the 3D video coding format for full parallax light field coding. We introduce a view selection method inspired by plenoptic sampling followed by transform-based view coding and view synthesis prediction to code residual views. We determine the minimal requirements for view sub-sampling and present the rate-distortion performance of our proposal. We also compare our method with established video compression techniques, such as H.264/AVC, H.264/MVC, and the new 3D video coding algorithm, 3DV-ATM. Our results show that our method not only has an improved rate-distortion performance, it also preserves the structure of the perceived light fields better.

  9. Scalable video transmission over Rayleigh fading channels using LDPC codes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bansal, Manu; Kondi, Lisimachos P.

    2005-03-01

    In this paper, we investigate an important problem of efficiently utilizing the available resources for video transmission over wireless channels while maintaining a good decoded video quality and resilience to channel impairments. Our system consists of the video codec based on 3-D set partitioning in hierarchical trees (3-D SPIHT) algorithm and employs two different schemes using low-density parity check (LDPC) codes for channel error protection. The first method uses the serial concatenation of the constant-rate LDPC code and rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes. Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is used to detect transmission errors. In the other scheme, we use the product code structure consisting of a constant rate LDPC/CRC code across the rows of the `blocks' of source data and an erasure-correction systematic Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the column code. In both the schemes introduced here, we use fixed-length source packets protected with unequal forward error correction coding ensuring a strictly decreasing protection across the bitstream. A Rayleigh flat-fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is modeled for the transmission. The rate-distortion optimization algorithm is developed and carried out for the selection of source coding and channel coding rates using Lagrangian optimization. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this system under different wireless channel conditions and both the proposed methods (LDPC+RCPC/CRC and RS+LDPC/CRC) outperform the more conventional schemes such as those employing RCPC/CRC.

  10. 3D scene reconstruction based on multi-view distributed video coding in the Zernike domain for mobile applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Palma, V.; Carli, M.; Neri, A.

    2011-02-01

    In this paper a Multi-view Distributed Video Coding scheme for mobile applications is presented. Specifically a new fusion technique between temporal and spatial side information in Zernike Moments domain is proposed. Distributed video coding introduces a flexible architecture that enables the design of very low complex video encoders compared to its traditional counterparts. The main goal of our work is to generate at the decoder the side information that optimally blends temporal and interview data. Multi-view distributed coding performance strongly depends on the side information quality built at the decoder. At this aim for improving its quality a spatial view compensation/prediction in Zernike moments domain is applied. Spatial and temporal motion activity have been fused together to obtain the overall side-information. The proposed method has been evaluated by rate-distortion performances for different inter-view and temporal estimation quality conditions.

  11. Educational videos for practitioners attending Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative workshops supporting breastfeeding positioning, attachment and hand expression skills: Effects on knowledge and confidence.

    PubMed

    Wallace, Louise M; Ma, Yuanying; Qiu, Li Qian; Dunn, Orla M

    2018-04-26

    UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFHI) is the global standard for maternity and community services requiring all practitioners to be trained to support mothers in the essential skills of supporting positioning and attachment, and hand expression. These studies aim to rigorously assess knowledge in nurses, midwives, and doctors in these skills, tested before and after watching short videos demonstrating these skills. Practitioners were attending BFHI education, and the video study was additional. In Phase 1 clinicians in England were randomised to one of two videos (practitioner role play or clinical demonstration). The results showed improvements in knowledge and confidence, and a preference for clinical demonstration by mothers and infants. The clinical demonstration video was evaluated in China in Phase 2 where expert trainers viewed the video after completing the BHFI workshop, and in Phase 3 practitioners viewed the video before the BHFI workshop. Phase 2 with expert trainers only showed improvement in knowledge of hand expression but not positioning and attachment. In Phase 3 clinicians showed improved knowledge for both skills. In all Phases there were statistically significant improvements in confidence in practice in both skills. Viewing short videos increased knowledge, particularly about teaching hand expression, and confidence in both skills. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  12. High-grade video compression of echocardiographic studies: a multicenter validation study of selected motion pictures expert groups (MPEG)-4 algorithms.

    PubMed

    Barbier, Paolo; Alimento, Marina; Berna, Giovanni; Celeste, Fabrizio; Gentile, Francesco; Mantero, Antonio; Montericcio, Vincenzo; Muratori, Manuela

    2007-05-01

    Large files produced by standard compression algorithms slow down spread of digital and tele-echocardiography. We validated echocardiographic video high-grade compression with the new Motion Pictures Expert Groups (MPEG)-4 algorithms with a multicenter study. Seven expert cardiologists blindly scored (5-point scale) 165 uncompressed and compressed 2-dimensional and color Doppler video clips, based on combined diagnostic content and image quality (uncompressed files as references). One digital video and 3 MPEG-4 algorithms (WM9, MV2, and DivX) were used, the latter at 3 compression levels (0%, 35%, and 60%). Compressed file sizes decreased from 12 to 83 MB to 0.03 to 2.3 MB (1:1051-1:26 reduction ratios). Mean SD of differences was 0.81 for intraobserver variability (uncompressed and digital video files). Compared with uncompressed files, only the DivX mean score at 35% (P = .04) and 60% (P = .001) compression was significantly reduced. At subcategory analysis, these differences were still significant for gray-scale and fundamental imaging but not for color or second harmonic tissue imaging. Original image quality, session sequence, compression grade, and bitrate were all independent determinants of mean score. Our study supports use of MPEG-4 algorithms to greatly reduce echocardiographic file sizes, thus facilitating archiving and transmission. Quality evaluation studies should account for the many independent variables that affect image quality grading.

  13. Applying Aspects of the Expert Performance Approach to Better Understand the Structure of Skill and Mechanisms of Skill Acquisition in Video Games.

    PubMed

    Boot, Walter R; Sumner, Anna; Towne, Tyler J; Rodriguez, Paola; Anders Ericsson, K

    2017-04-01

    Video games are ideal platforms for the study of skill acquisition for a variety of reasons. However, our understanding of the development of skill and the cognitive representations that support skilled performance can be limited by a focus on game scores. We present an alternative approach to the study of skill acquisition in video games based on the tools of the Expert Performance Approach. Our investigation was motivated by a detailed analysis of the behaviors responsible for the superior performance of one of the highest scoring players of the video game Space Fortress (Towne, Boot, & Ericsson, ). This analysis revealed how certain behaviors contributed to his exceptional performance. In this study, we recruited a participant for a similar training regimen, but we collected concurrent and retrospective verbal protocol data throughout training. Protocol analysis revealed insights into strategies, errors, mental representations, and shifting game priorities. We argue that these insights into the developing representations that guided skilled performance could only easily have been derived from the tools of the Expert Performance Approach. We propose that the described approach could be applied to understand performance and skill acquisition in many different video games (and other short- to medium-term skill acquisition paradigms) and help reveal mechanisms of transfer from gameplay to other measures of laboratory and real-world performance. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  14. Crowd-assisted polyp annotation of virtual colonoscopy videos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, Ji Hwan; Nadeem, Saad; Marino, Joseph; Baker, Kevin; Barish, Matthew; Kaufman, Arie

    2018-03-01

    Virtual colonoscopy (VC) allows a radiologist to navigate through a 3D colon model reconstructed from a computed tomography scan of the abdomen, looking for polyps, the precursors of colon cancer. Polyps are seen as protrusions on the colon wall and haustral folds, visible in the VC y-through videos. A complete review of the colon surface requires full navigation from the rectum to the cecum in antegrade and retrograde directions, which is a tedious task that takes an average of 30 minutes. Crowdsourcing is a technique for non-expert users to perform certain tasks, such as image or video annotation. In this work, we use crowdsourcing for the examination of complete VC y-through videos for polyp annotation by non-experts. The motivation for this is to potentially help the radiologist reach a diagnosis in a shorter period of time, and provide a stronger confirmation of the eventual diagnosis. The crowdsourcing interface includes an interactive tool for the crowd to annotate suspected polyps in the video with an enclosing box. Using our work flow, we achieve an overall polyps-per-patient sensitivity of 87.88% (95.65% for polyps >=5mm and 70% for polyps <5mm). We also demonstrate the efficacy and effectiveness of a non-expert user in detecting and annotating polyps and discuss their possibility in aiding radiologists in VC examinations.

  15. Scalable Video Transmission Over Multi-Rate Multiple Access Channels

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-06-01

    Rate - compatible punctured convolutional codes (RCPC codes ) and their ap- plications,” IEEE...source encoded using the MPEG-4 video codec. The source encoded bitstream is then channel encoded with Rate Compatible Punctured Convolutional (RCPC...Clark, and J. M. Geist, “ Punctured convolutional codes or rate (n-1)/n and simplified maximum likelihood decoding,” IEEE Transactions on

  16. Investigating the structure preserving encryption of high efficiency video coding (HEVC)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shahid, Zafar; Puech, William

    2013-02-01

    This paper presents a novel method for the real-time protection of new emerging High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. Structure preserving selective encryption is being performed in CABAC entropy coding module of HEVC, which is significantly different from CABAC entropy coding of H.264/AVC. In CABAC of HEVC, exponential Golomb coding is replaced by truncated Rice (TR) up to a specific value for binarization of transform coefficients. Selective encryption is performed using AES cipher in cipher feedback mode on a plaintext of binstrings in a context aware manner. The encrypted bitstream has exactly the same bit-rate and is format complaint. Experimental evaluation and security analysis of the proposed algorithm is performed on several benchmark video sequences containing different combinations of motion, texture and objects.

  17. Digital video technologies and their network requirements

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

    R. P. Tsang; H. Y. Chen; J. M. Brandt

    1999-11-01

    Coded digital video signals are considered to be one of the most difficult data types to transport due to their real-time requirements and high bit rate variability. In this study, the authors discuss the coding mechanisms incorporated by the major compression standards bodies, i.e., JPEG and MPEG, as well as more advanced coding mechanisms such as wavelet and fractal techniques. The relationship between the applications which use these coding schemes and their network requirements are the major focus of this study. Specifically, the authors relate network latency, channel transmission reliability, random access speed, buffering and network bandwidth with the variousmore » coding techniques as a function of the applications which use them. Such applications include High-Definition Television, Video Conferencing, Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), and Medical Imaging.« less

  18. A competency framework for colonoscopy training derived from cognitive task analysis techniques and expert review.

    PubMed

    Zupanc, Christine M; Burgess-Limerick, Robin; Hill, Andrew; Riek, Stephan; Wallis, Guy M; Plooy, Annaliese M; Horswill, Mark S; Watson, Marcus O; Hewett, David G

    2015-12-01

    Colonoscopy is a difficult cognitive-perceptual-motor task. Designing an appropriate instructional program for such a task requires an understanding of the knowledge, skills and attitudes underpinning the competency required to perform the task. Cognitive task analysis techniques provide an empirical means of deriving this information. Video recording and a think-aloud protocol were conducted while 20 experienced endoscopists performed colonoscopy procedures. "Cued-recall" interviews were also carried out post-procedure with nine of the endoscopists. Analysis of the resulting transcripts employed the constant comparative coding method within a grounded theory framework. The resulting draft competency framework was modified after review during semi-structured interviews conducted with six expert endoscopists. The proposed colonoscopy competency framework consists of twenty-seven skill, knowledge and attitude components, grouped into six categories (clinical knowledge; colonoscope handling; situation awareness; heuristics and strategies; clinical reasoning; and intra- and inter-personal). The colonoscopy competency framework provides a principled basis for the design of a training program, and for the design of formative assessment to gauge progress towards attaining the knowledge, skills and attitudes underpinning the achievement of colonoscopy competence.

  19. A reaction-diffusion-based coding rate control mechanism for camera sensor networks.

    PubMed

    Yamamoto, Hiroshi; Hyodo, Katsuya; Wakamiya, Naoki; Murata, Masayuki

    2010-01-01

    A wireless camera sensor network is useful for surveillance and monitoring for its visibility and easy deployment. However, it suffers from the limited capacity of wireless communication and a network is easily overflown with a considerable amount of video traffic. In this paper, we propose an autonomous video coding rate control mechanism where each camera sensor node can autonomously determine its coding rate in accordance with the location and velocity of target objects. For this purpose, we adopted a biological model, i.e., reaction-diffusion model, inspired by the similarity of biological spatial patterns and the spatial distribution of video coding rate. Through simulation and practical experiments, we verify the effectiveness of our proposal.

  20. Crowdsourcing Assessment of Surgeon Dissection of Renal Artery and Vein During Robotic Partial Nephrectomy: A Novel Approach for Quantitative Assessment of Surgical Performance.

    PubMed

    Powers, Mary K; Boonjindasup, Aaron; Pinsky, Michael; Dorsey, Philip; Maddox, Michael; Su, Li-Ming; Gettman, Matthew; Sundaram, Chandru P; Castle, Erik P; Lee, Jason Y; Lee, Benjamin R

    2016-04-01

    We sought to describe a methodology of crowdsourcing for obtaining quantitative performance ratings of surgeons performing renal artery and vein dissection of robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN). We sought to compare assessment of technical performance obtained from the crowdsourcers with that of surgical content experts (CE). Our hypothesis is that the crowd can score performances of renal hilar dissection comparably to surgical CE using the Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS). A group of resident and attending robotic surgeons submitted a total of 14 video clips of RPN during hilar dissection. These videos were rated by both crowd and CE for technical skills performance using GEARS. A minimum of 3 CE and 30 Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdworkers evaluated each video with the GEARS scale. Within 13 days, we received ratings of all videos from all CE, and within 11.5 hours, we received 548 GEARS ratings from crowdworkers. Even though CE were exposed to a training module, internal consistency across videos of CE GEARS ratings remained low (ICC = 0.38). Despite this, we found that crowdworker GEARS ratings of videos were highly correlated with CE ratings at both the video level (R = 0.82, p < 0.001) and surgeon level (R = 0.84, p < 0.001). Similarly, crowdworker ratings of the renal artery dissection were highly correlated with expert assessments (R = 0.83, p < 0.001) for the unique surgery-specific assessment question. We conclude that crowdsourced assessment of qualitative performance ratings may be an alternative and/or adjunct to surgical experts' ratings and would provide a rapid scalable solution to triage technical skills.

  1. Research on compression performance of ultrahigh-definition videos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Xiangqun; He, Xiaohai; Qing, Linbo; Tao, Qingchuan; Wu, Di

    2017-11-01

    With the popularization of high-definition (HD) images and videos (1920×1080 pixels and above), there are even 4K (3840×2160) television signals and 8 K (8192×4320) ultrahigh-definition videos. The demand for HD images and videos is increasing continuously, along with the increasing data volume. The storage and transmission cannot be properly solved only by virtue of the expansion capacity of hard disks and the update and improvement of transmission devices. Based on the full use of the coding standard high-efficiency video coding (HEVC), super-resolution reconstruction technology, and the correlation between the intra- and the interprediction, we first put forward a "division-compensation"-based strategy to further improve the compression performance of a single image and frame I. Then, by making use of the above thought and HEVC encoder and decoder, a video compression coding frame is designed. HEVC is used inside the frame. Last, with the super-resolution reconstruction technology, the reconstructed video quality is further improved. The experiment shows that by the proposed compression method for a single image (frame I) and video sequence here, the performance is superior to that of HEVC in a low bit rate environment.

  2. Interobserver reliability of video recording in the diagnosis of nocturnal frontal lobe seizures.

    PubMed

    Vignatelli, Luca; Bisulli, Francesca; Provini, Federica; Naldi, Ilaria; Pittau, Francesca; Zaniboni, Anna; Montagna, Pasquale; Tinuper, Paolo

    2007-08-01

    Nocturnal frontal lobe seizures (NFLS) show one or all of the following semeiological patterns: (1) paroxysmal arousals (PA: brief and sudden recurrent motor paroxysmal behavior); (2) hyperkinetic seizures (HS: motor attacks with complex dyskinetic features); (3) asymmetric bilateral tonic seizures (ATS: motor attacks with dystonic features); (4) epileptic nocturnal wanderings (ENW: stereotyped, prolonged ambulatory behavior). To estimate the interobserver reliability (IR) of video-recording diagnosis in patients with suspected NFLS among sleep medicine experts, epileptologists, and trainees in sleep medicine. Sixty-six patients with suspected NFLS were included. All underwent nocturnal video-polysomnographic recording. Six doctors (three experts and three trainees) independently classified each case as "NFLS ascertained" (according to the above specified subtypes: PA, HS, ATS, ENW) or "NFLS excluded". IR was calculated by means of Kappa statistics, and interpreted according to the standard classification (0.0-0.20 = slight agreement; 0.21-0.40 = fair; 0.41-0.60 = moderate; 0.61-0.80 = substantial; 0.81-1.00 = almost perfect). The observed raw agreement ranged from 63% to 79% between each pair of raters; the IR ranged from "moderate" (kappa = 0.50) to "substantial" (kappa = 0.72). A major source of variance was the disagreement in distinguishing between PA and nonepileptic arousals, without differences in the level of agreement between experts and trainees. Among sleep experts and trainees, IR of diagnosis of NFLS, based on videotaped observation of sleep phenomena, is not satisfactory. Explicit video-polysomnographic criteria for the classification of paroxysmal sleep motor phenomena are needed.

  3. Crowd-sourced assessment of surgical skills in cricothyrotomy procedure.

    PubMed

    Aghdasi, Nava; Bly, Randall; White, Lee W; Hannaford, Blake; Moe, Kris; Lendvay, Thomas S

    2015-06-15

    Objective assessment of surgical skills is resource intensive and requires valuable time of expert surgeons. The goal of this study was to assess the ability of a large group of laypersons using a crowd-sourcing tool to grade a surgical procedure (cricothyrotomy) performed on a simulator. The grading included an assessment of the entire procedure by completing an objective assessment of technical skills survey. Two groups of graders were recruited as follows: (1) Amazon Mechanical Turk users and (2) three expert surgeons from University of Washington Department of Otolaryngology. Graders were presented with a video of participants performing the procedure on the simulator and were asked to grade the video using the objective assessment of technical skills questions. Mechanical Turk users were paid $0.50 for each completed survey. It took 10 h to obtain all responses from 30 Mechanical Turk users for 26 training participants (26 videos/tasks), whereas it took 60 d for three expert surgeons to complete the same 26 tasks. The assessment of surgical performance by a group (n = 30) of laypersons matched the assessment by a group (n = 3) of expert surgeons with a good level of agreement determined by Cronbach alpha coefficient = 0.83. We found crowd sourcing was an efficient, accurate, and inexpensive method for skills assessment with a good level of agreement to experts' grading. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Performance comparison of AV1, HEVC, and JVET video codecs on 360 (spherical) video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Topiwala, Pankaj; Dai, Wei; Krishnan, Madhu; Abbas, Adeel; Doshi, Sandeep; Newman, David

    2017-09-01

    This paper compares the coding efficiency performance on 360 videos, of three software codecs: (a) AV1 video codec from the Alliance for Open Media (AOM); (b) the HEVC Reference Software HM; and (c) the JVET JEM Reference SW. Note that 360 video is especially challenging content, in that one codes full res globally, but typically looks locally (in a viewport), which magnifies errors. These are tested in two different projection formats ERP and RSP, to check consistency. Performance is tabulated for 1-pass encoding on two fronts: (1) objective performance based on end-to-end (E2E) metrics such as SPSNR-NN, and WS-PSNR, currently developed in the JVET committee; and (2) informal subjective assessment of static viewports. Constant quality encoding is performed with all the three codecs for an unbiased comparison of the core coding tools. Our general conclusion is that under constant quality coding, AV1 underperforms HEVC, which underperforms JVET. We also test with rate control, where AV1 currently underperforms the open source X265 HEVC codec. Objective and visual evidence is provided.

  5. Spatial correlation-based side information refinement for distributed video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taieb, Mohamed Haj; Chouinard, Jean-Yves; Wang, Demin

    2013-12-01

    Distributed video coding (DVC) architecture designs, based on distributed source coding principles, have benefitted from significant progresses lately, notably in terms of achievable rate-distortion performances. However, a significant performance gap still remains when compared to prediction-based video coding schemes such as H.264/AVC. This is mainly due to the non-ideal exploitation of the video sequence temporal correlation properties during the generation of side information (SI). In fact, the decoder side motion estimation provides only an approximation of the true motion. In this paper, a progressive DVC architecture is proposed, which exploits the spatial correlation of the video frames to improve the motion-compensated temporal interpolation (MCTI). Specifically, Wyner-Ziv (WZ) frames are divided into several spatially correlated groups that are then sent progressively to the receiver. SI refinement (SIR) is performed as long as these groups are being decoded, thus providing more accurate SI for the next groups. It is shown that the proposed progressive SIR method leads to significant improvements over the Discover DVC codec as well as other SIR schemes recently introduced in the literature.

  6. A robust coding scheme for packet video

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Y. C.; Sayood, Khalid; Nelson, D. J.

    1991-01-01

    We present a layered packet video coding algorithm based on a progressive transmission scheme. The algorithm provides good compression and can handle significant packet loss with graceful degradation in the reconstruction sequence. Simulation results for various conditions are presented.

  7. A robust coding scheme for packet video

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Yun-Chung; Sayood, Khalid; Nelson, Don J.

    1992-01-01

    A layered packet video coding algorithm based on a progressive transmission scheme is presented. The algorithm provides good compression and can handle significant packet loss with graceful degradation in the reconstruction sequence. Simulation results for various conditions are presented.

  8. Video Game Player Profiles: Bridging Industry, Game Studies and Social Science Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Frye, Jonathan M.

    2013-01-01

    For decades, game designers and game studies experts have largely sought to understand video game players through a lens of experience and observation. Meanwhile, social science research has focused on the empirical understanding of video game players using a variety of psychological constructs. This study focuses on the creation and evaluation of…

  9. Effect of Video-Cases on the Acquisition of Situated Knowledge of Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geerts, Walter M.; Steenbeek, Henderien W.; van Geert, Paul L. C.

    2018-01-01

    Video footage is frequently used at teacher education. According to Sherin and Dyer (2017), this is often done in a way that contradicts recent studies. According to them, video is suitable for observing and interpreting interactions in the classroom. This contributes to their situated knowledge, which allows expert teachers to act intuitively,…

  10. Performance evaluation of the intra compression in the video coding standards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abramowski, Andrzej

    2015-09-01

    The article presents a comparison of the Intra prediction algorithms in the current state-of-the-art video coding standards, including MJPEG 2000, VP8, VP9, H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC. The effectiveness of techniques employed by each standard is evaluated in terms of compression efficiency and average encoding time. The compression efficiency is measured using BD-PSNR and BD-RATE metrics with H.265/HEVC results as an anchor. Tests are performed on a set of video sequences, composed of sequences gathered by Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding during the development of the H.265/HEVC standard and 4K sequences provided by Ultra Video Group. According to results, H.265/HEVC provides significant bit-rate savings at the expense of computational complexity, while VP9 may be regarded as a compromise between the efficiency and required encoding time.

  11. Coding visual features extracted from video sequences.

    PubMed

    Baroffio, Luca; Cesana, Matteo; Redondi, Alessandro; Tagliasacchi, Marco; Tubaro, Stefano

    2014-05-01

    Visual features are successfully exploited in several applications (e.g., visual search, object recognition and tracking, etc.) due to their ability to efficiently represent image content. Several visual analysis tasks require features to be transmitted over a bandwidth-limited network, thus calling for coding techniques to reduce the required bit budget, while attaining a target level of efficiency. In this paper, we propose, for the first time, a coding architecture designed for local features (e.g., SIFT, SURF) extracted from video sequences. To achieve high coding efficiency, we exploit both spatial and temporal redundancy by means of intraframe and interframe coding modes. In addition, we propose a coding mode decision based on rate-distortion optimization. The proposed coding scheme can be conveniently adopted to implement the analyze-then-compress (ATC) paradigm in the context of visual sensor networks. That is, sets of visual features are extracted from video frames, encoded at remote nodes, and finally transmitted to a central controller that performs visual analysis. This is in contrast to the traditional compress-then-analyze (CTA) paradigm, in which video sequences acquired at a node are compressed and then sent to a central unit for further processing. In this paper, we compare these coding paradigms using metrics that are routinely adopted to evaluate the suitability of visual features in the context of content-based retrieval, object recognition, and tracking. Experimental results demonstrate that, thanks to the significant coding gains achieved by the proposed coding scheme, ATC outperforms CTA with respect to all evaluation metrics.

  12. Automated encoding of clinical documents based on natural language processing.

    PubMed

    Friedman, Carol; Shagina, Lyudmila; Lussier, Yves; Hripcsak, George

    2004-01-01

    The aim of this study was to develop a method based on natural language processing (NLP) that automatically maps an entire clinical document to codes with modifiers and to quantitatively evaluate the method. An existing NLP system, MedLEE, was adapted to automatically generate codes. The method involves matching of structured output generated by MedLEE consisting of findings and modifiers to obtain the most specific code. Recall and precision applied to Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) coding were evaluated in two separate studies. Recall was measured using a test set of 150 randomly selected sentences, which were processed using MedLEE. Results were compared with a reference standard determined manually by seven experts. Precision was measured using a second test set of 150 randomly selected sentences from which UMLS codes were automatically generated by the method and then validated by experts. Recall of the system for UMLS coding of all terms was .77 (95% CI.72-.81), and for coding terms that had corresponding UMLS codes recall was .83 (.79-.87). Recall of the system for extracting all terms was .84 (.81-.88). Recall of the experts ranged from .69 to .91 for extracting terms. The precision of the system was .89 (.87-.91), and precision of the experts ranged from .61 to .91. Extraction of relevant clinical information and UMLS coding were accomplished using a method based on NLP. The method appeared to be comparable to or better than six experts. The advantage of the method is that it maps text to codes along with other related information, rendering the coded output suitable for effective retrieval.

  13. Software-codec-based full motion video conferencing on the PC using visual pattern image sequence coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barnett, Barry S.; Bovik, Alan C.

    1995-04-01

    This paper presents a real time full motion video conferencing system based on the Visual Pattern Image Sequence Coding (VPISC) software codec. The prototype system hardware is comprised of two personal computers, two camcorders, two frame grabbers, and an ethernet connection. The prototype system software has a simple structure. It runs under the Disk Operating System, and includes a user interface, a video I/O interface, an event driven network interface, and a free running or frame synchronous video codec that also acts as the controller for the video and network interfaces. Two video coders have been tested in this system. Simple implementations of Visual Pattern Image Coding and VPISC have both proven to support full motion video conferencing with good visual quality. Future work will concentrate on expanding this prototype to support the motion compensated version of VPISC, as well as encompassing point-to-point modem I/O and multiple network protocols. The application will be ported to multiple hardware platforms and operating systems. The motivation for developing this prototype system is to demonstrate the practicality of software based real time video codecs. Furthermore, software video codecs are not only cheaper, but are more flexible system solutions because they enable different computer platforms to exchange encoded video information without requiring on-board protocol compatible video codex hardware. Software based solutions enable true low cost video conferencing that fits the `open systems' model of interoperability that is so important for building portable hardware and software applications.

  14. Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: an investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA).

    PubMed

    Schubert, Torsten; Finke, Kathrin; Redel, Petra; Kluckow, Steffen; Müller, Hermann; Strobach, Tilo

    2015-05-01

    Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short-term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment 1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects of visual attention (TVA) with practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. The presence of social support messages on YouTube videos about inflammatory bowel disease and ostomies.

    PubMed

    Frohlich, Dennis Owen; Zmyslinski-Seelig, Anne

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the types of social support messages YouTube users posted on medical videos. Specifically, the study compared messages posted on inflammatory bowel disease-related videos and ostomy-related videos. Additionally, the study analyzed the differences in social support messages posted on lay-created videos and professionally-created videos. Conducting a content analysis, the researchers unitized the comments on each video; the total number of thought units amounted to 5,960. Researchers coded each thought unit through the use of a coding scheme modified from a previous study. YouTube users posted informational support messages most frequently (65.1%), followed by emotional support messages (18.3%), and finally, instrumental support messages (8.2%).

  16. A motion compensation technique using sliced blocks and its application to hybrid video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kondo, Satoshi; Sasai, Hisao

    2005-07-01

    This paper proposes a new motion compensation method using "sliced blocks" in DCT-based hybrid video coding. In H.264 ? MPEG-4 Advance Video Coding, a brand-new international video coding standard, motion compensation can be performed by splitting macroblocks into multiple square or rectangular regions. In the proposed method, on the other hand, macroblocks or sub-macroblocks are divided into two regions (sliced blocks) by an arbitrary line segment. The result is that the shapes of the segmented regions are not limited to squares or rectangles, allowing the shapes of the segmented regions to better match the boundaries between moving objects. Thus, the proposed method can improve the performance of the motion compensation. In addition, adaptive prediction of the shape according to the region shape of the surrounding macroblocks can reduce overheads to describe shape information in the bitstream. The proposed method also has the advantage that conventional coding techniques such as mode decision using rate-distortion optimization can be utilized, since coding processes such as frequency transform and quantization are performed on a macroblock basis, similar to the conventional coding methods. The proposed method is implemented in an H.264-based P-picture codec and an improvement in bit rate of 5% is confirmed in comparison with H.264.

  17. Extensions under development for the HEVC standard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sullivan, Gary J.

    2013-09-01

    This paper discusses standardization activities for extending the capabilities of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard - the first edition of which was completed in early 2013. These near-term extensions are focused on three areas: range extensions (such as enhanced chroma formats, monochrome video, and increased bit depth), bitstream scalability extensions for spatial and fidelity scalability, and 3D video extensions (including stereoscopic/multi-view coding, and probably also depth map coding and combinations thereof). Standardization extensions on each of these topics will be completed by mid-2014, and further work beyond that timeframe is also discussed.

  18. A hybrid video codec based on extended block sizes, recursive integer transforms, improved interpolation, and flexible motion representation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Karczewicz, Marta; Chen, Peisong; Joshi, Rajan; Wang, Xianglin; Chien, Wei-Jung; Panchal, Rahul; Coban, Muhammed; Chong, In Suk; Reznik, Yuriy A.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes video coding technology proposal submitted by Qualcomm Inc. in response to a joint call for proposal (CfP) issued by ITU-T SG16 Q.6 (VCEG) and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 (MPEG) in January 2010. Proposed video codec follows a hybrid coding approach based on temporal prediction, followed by transform, quantization, and entropy coding of the residual. Some of its key features are extended block sizes (up to 64x64), recursive integer transforms, single pass switched interpolation filters with offsets (single pass SIFO), mode dependent directional transform (MDDT) for intra-coding, luma and chroma high precision filtering, geometry motion partitioning, adaptive motion vector resolution. It also incorporates internal bit-depth increase (IBDI), and modified quadtree based adaptive loop filtering (QALF). Simulation results are presented for a variety of bit rates, resolutions and coding configurations to demonstrate the high compression efficiency achieved by the proposed video codec at moderate level of encoding and decoding complexity. For random access hierarchical B configuration (HierB), the proposed video codec achieves an average BD-rate reduction of 30.88c/o compared to the H.264/AVC alpha anchor. For low delay hierarchical P (HierP) configuration, the proposed video codec achieves an average BD-rate reduction of 32.96c/o and 48.57c/o, compared to the H.264/AVC beta and gamma anchors, respectively.

  19. Implementation issues in source coding

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sayood, Khalid; Chen, Yun-Chung; Hadenfeldt, A. C.

    1989-01-01

    An edge preserving image coding scheme which can be operated in both a lossy and a lossless manner was developed. The technique is an extension of the lossless encoding algorithm developed for the Mars observer spectral data. It can also be viewed as a modification of the DPCM algorithm. A packet video simulator was also developed from an existing modified packet network simulator. The coding scheme for this system is a modification of the mixture block coding (MBC) scheme described in the last report. Coding algorithms for packet video were also investigated.

  20. Indexing, Browsing, and Searching of Digital Video.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smeaton, Alan F.

    2004-01-01

    Presents a literature review that covers the following topics related to indexing, browsing, and searching of digital video: video coding and standards; conventional approaches to accessing digital video; automatically structuring and indexing digital video; searching, browsing, and summarization; measurement and evaluation of the effectiveness of…

  1. Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale: Establishing Content Validity and Psychometric Properties.

    PubMed

    Jones, Cindy; Sung, Billy; Moyle, Wendy

    2018-05-17

    To develop and psychometrically test the Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale. It is important to study engagement in people with dementia when exploring the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions that can promote meaningful activity, stimulation and wellbeing, through an increase in positive emotions and an improvement in quality of life. The Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale was developed based on current literature and previous research work on a video coding tool to ascertain the effect of psychosocial interventions on engagement in people with dementia. Using the Delphi technique, the content validity of the scale was evaluated by 15 dementia experts and formal/informal dementia carers. Psychometric properties of the scale were evaluated using 131 videos of people with dementia presented with PARO - a therapeutic, interactive, robotic seal - in long-term aged care facilities. A 10-item scale was established following the rewording, combining and elimination of prospective items, with revisions made to the instructions for using and scoring the scale. An overall consensus with agreement for the scale was established among the panel of experts. The scale demonstrated robust internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. This study successfully developed the Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale, with established content validity and psychometric properties. The scale assesses the behavioural and emotional expressions and responses of engagement by people with dementia when partaking in a psychosocial activity in five areas: affective, visual, verbal, behavioural and social engagement. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  2. An evaluation of remote communication versus face-to-face in clinical dental education.

    PubMed

    Martin, N; Lazalde, O Martínez; Stokes, C; Romano, D

    2012-03-23

    Distance learning and internet-based delivery of educational content are becoming very popular as an alternative to real face-to-face delivery. Clinical-based discussions still remain greatly face-to-face despite the advancement of remote communication and internet sharing technology. In this study we have compared three communication modalities between a learner and educator: audio and video using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) alone [AV]; audio and video VoIP with the addition of a three dimensional virtual artefact [AV3D] and physical face-to-face [FTF]. Clinical case discussions based on fictitious patients were held between a 'learner' and an 'expert' using the three communication modalities. The learner presented a clinical scenario to the experts, with the aid of a prop (partially dentate cast, digitised for AV3D), to obtain advice on the management of the clinical case. Each communication modality was tested in timed exercises in a random order among one of three experts (senior clinical restorative staff) and a learner (from a cohort of 15 senior clinical undergraduate students) all from the School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield. All learners and experts used each communication modality in turn with no prior training. Video recording and structured analysis were used to ascertain learner behaviour and levels of interactivity. Evaluation questionnaires were completed by experts and learners immediately after the experiment to ascertain effectiveness of information exchange and barriers/facilitators to communication. The video recordings showed that students were more relaxed with AV and AV3D than FTF (p = 0.01). The evaluation questionnaires showed that students felt they could provide (p = 0.03) and obtain (p = 0.003) more information using the FTF modality, followed by AV and then AV3D. Experts also ranked FTF better than AV and AV3D for providing (p = 0.012) and obtaining (p = 0) information to/from the expert. Physical face-to-face learning is a more effective communication modality for clinical case-based discussions between a learner and an expert. Remote, internet-based discussions enable a more relaxed discussion environment. The effectiveness of 3D supported internet-based communication is dependent upon a robust and simple to use interface, along with some prior training.

  3. Open Source Subtitle Editor Software Study for Section 508 Close Caption Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Murphy, F. Brandon

    2013-01-01

    This paper will focus on a specific item within the NASA Electronic Information Accessibility Policy - Multimedia Presentation shall have synchronized caption; thus making information accessible to a person with hearing impairment. This synchronized caption will assist a person with hearing or cognitive disability to access the same information as everyone else. This paper focuses on the research and implementation for CC (subtitle option) support to video multimedia. The goal of this research is identify the best available open-source (free) software to achieve synchronized captions requirement and achieve savings, while meeting the security requirement for Government information integrity and assurance. CC and subtitling are processes that display text within a video to provide additional or interpretive information for those whom may need it or those whom chose it. Closed captions typically show the transcription of the audio portion of a program (video) as it occurs (either verbatim or in its edited form), sometimes including non-speech elements (such as sound effects). The transcript can be provided by a third party source or can be extracted word for word from the video. This feature can be made available for videos in two forms: either Soft-Coded or Hard-Coded. Soft-Coded is the more optional version of CC, where you can chose to turn them on if you want, or you can turn them off. Most of the time, when using the Soft-Coded option, the transcript is also provided to the view along-side the video. This option is subject to compromise, whereas the transcript is merely a text file that can be changed by anyone who has access to it. With this option the integrity of the CC is at the mercy of the user. Hard-Coded CC is a more permanent form of CC. A Hard-Coded CC transcript is embedded within a video, without the option of removal.

  4. Video Transmission for Third Generation Wireless Communication Systems

    PubMed Central

    Gharavi, H.; Alamouti, S. M.

    2001-01-01

    This paper presents a twin-class unequal protected video transmission system over wireless channels. Video partitioning based on a separation of the Variable Length Coded (VLC) Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coefficients within each block is considered for constant bitrate transmission (CBR). In the splitting process the fraction of bits assigned to each of the two partitions is adjusted according to the requirements of the unequal error protection scheme employed. Subsequently, partitioning is applied to the ITU-T H.263 coding standard. As a transport vehicle, we have considered one of the leading third generation cellular radio standards known as WCDMA. A dual-priority transmission system is then invoked on the WCDMA system where the video data, after being broken into two streams, is unequally protected. We use a very simple error correction coding scheme for illustration and then propose more sophisticated forms of unequal protection of the digitized video signals. We show that this strategy results in a significantly higher quality of the reconstructed video data when it is transmitted over time-varying multipath fading channels. PMID:27500033

  5. A Comparison of Mental Health Diagnoses Treated via Interactive Video and Face to Face in the Veterans Healthcare Administration.

    PubMed

    Grubbs, Kathleen M; Fortney, John C; Dean, Tisha; Williams, James S; Godleski, Linda

    2015-07-01

    This study compares the mental health diagnoses of encounters delivered face to face and via interactive video in the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA). We compiled 1 year of national-level VHA administrative data for Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12). Mental health encounters were those with both a VHA Mental Health Stop Code and a Mental Health Diagnosis (n=11,906,114). Interactive video encounters were identified as those with a Mental Health Stop Code, paired with a VHA Telehealth Secondary Stop Code. Primary diagnoses were grouped into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, drug use, alcohol use, and other. In FY12, 1.5% of all mental health encounters were delivered via interactive video. Compared with face-to-face encounters, a larger percentage of interactive video encounters was for PTSD, depression, and anxiety, whereas a smaller percentage was for alcohol use, drug use, or psychosis. Providers and patients may feel more comfortable treating depression and anxiety disorders than substance use or psychosis via interactive video.

  6. Current and future trends in marine image annotation software

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gomes-Pereira, Jose Nuno; Auger, Vincent; Beisiegel, Kolja; Benjamin, Robert; Bergmann, Melanie; Bowden, David; Buhl-Mortensen, Pal; De Leo, Fabio C.; Dionísio, Gisela; Durden, Jennifer M.; Edwards, Luke; Friedman, Ariell; Greinert, Jens; Jacobsen-Stout, Nancy; Lerner, Steve; Leslie, Murray; Nattkemper, Tim W.; Sameoto, Jessica A.; Schoening, Timm; Schouten, Ronald; Seager, James; Singh, Hanumant; Soubigou, Olivier; Tojeira, Inês; van den Beld, Inge; Dias, Frederico; Tempera, Fernando; Santos, Ricardo S.

    2016-12-01

    Given the need to describe, analyze and index large quantities of marine imagery data for exploration and monitoring activities, a range of specialized image annotation tools have been developed worldwide. Image annotation - the process of transposing objects or events represented in a video or still image to the semantic level, may involve human interactions and computer-assisted solutions. Marine image annotation software (MIAS) have enabled over 500 publications to date. We review the functioning, application trends and developments, by comparing general and advanced features of 23 different tools utilized in underwater image analysis. MIAS requiring human input are basically a graphical user interface, with a video player or image browser that recognizes a specific time code or image code, allowing to log events in a time-stamped (and/or geo-referenced) manner. MIAS differ from similar software by the capability of integrating data associated to video collection, the most simple being the position coordinates of the video recording platform. MIAS have three main characteristics: annotating events in real time, posteriorly to annotation and interact with a database. These range from simple annotation interfaces, to full onboard data management systems, with a variety of toolboxes. Advanced packages allow to input and display data from multiple sensors or multiple annotators via intranet or internet. Posterior human-mediated annotation often include tools for data display and image analysis, e.g. length, area, image segmentation, point count; and in a few cases the possibility of browsing and editing previous dive logs or to analyze the annotations. The interaction with a database allows the automatic integration of annotations from different surveys, repeated annotation and collaborative annotation of shared datasets, browsing and querying of data. Progress in the field of automated annotation is mostly in post processing, for stable platforms or still images. Integration into available MIAS is currently limited to semi-automated processes of pixel recognition through computer-vision modules that compile expert-based knowledge. Important topics aiding the choice of a specific software are outlined, the ideal software is discussed and future trends are presented.

  7. Scene-aware joint global and local homographic video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Xiulian; Xu, Jizheng; Sullivan, Gary J.

    2016-09-01

    Perspective motion is commonly represented in video content that is captured and compressed for various applications including cloud gaming, vehicle and aerial monitoring, etc. Existing approaches based on an eight-parameter homography motion model cannot deal with this efficiently, either due to low prediction accuracy or excessive bit rate overhead. In this paper, we consider the camera motion model and scene structure in such video content and propose a joint global and local homography motion coding approach for video with perspective motion. The camera motion is estimated by a computer vision approach, and camera intrinsic and extrinsic parameters are globally coded at the frame level. The scene is modeled as piece-wise planes, and three plane parameters are coded at the block level. Fast gradient-based approaches are employed to search for the plane parameters for each block region. In this way, improved prediction accuracy and low bit costs are achieved. Experimental results based on the HEVC test model show that up to 9.1% bit rate savings can be achieved (with equal PSNR quality) on test video content with perspective motion. Test sequences for the example applications showed a bit rate savings ranging from 3.7 to 9.1%.

  8. Effects of domain-specific exercise load on speed and accuracy of a domain-specific perceptual-cognitive task.

    PubMed

    Schapschröer, M; Baker, J; Schorer, J

    2016-08-01

    In the context of perceptual-cognitive expertise it is important to know whether physiological loads influence perceptual-cognitive performance. This study examined whether a handball specific physical exercise load influenced participants' speed and accuracy in a flicker task. At rest and during a specific interval exercise of 86.5-90% HRmax, 35 participants (experts: n=8, advanced: n=13, novices, n=14) performed a handball specific flicker task with two types of patterns (structured and unstructured). For reaction time, results revealed moderate effect sizes for group, with experts reacting faster than advanced and advanced reacting faster than novices, and for structure, with structured videos being performed faster than unstructured ones. A significant interaction for structure×group was also found, with experts and advanced players faster for structured videos, and novices faster for unstructured videos. For accuracy, significant main effects were found for structure with structured videos solved more accurately. A significant interaction for structure×group was revealed, with experts and advanced more accurate for structured scenes and novices more accurate for unstructured scenes. A significant interaction was also found for condition×structure; at rest, unstructured and structured scenes were performed with the same accuracy while under physical exercise, structured scenes were solved more accurately. No other interactions were found. These results were somewhat surprising given previous work in this area, although the impact of a specific physical exercise on a specific perceptual-cognitive task may be different from those tested generally. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Leukemia - B-Cell Prolymphocytic Leukemia and Hairy Cell Leukemia

    MedlinePlus

    ... a 1-page fact sheet that offers an introduction to CLL. This fact sheet is available as a PDF, so it is easy to print out. Cancer.Net Patient Education Video: View a short video led by an ASCO expert in leukemia ...

  10. From the Ground Up. [Videotape

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Enns, Garry; And Others

    Through interviews with farmers, agricultural experts, and students, this video raises student's awareness of sustainable development issues in modern agriculture and food production. The video explores the following themes: agriculture and sustainable development, different approaches to farming, evaluation of farming practices in the context of…

  11. An Embedded Rule-Based Diagnostic Expert System in Ada

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Robert E.; Liberman, Eugene M.

    1992-01-01

    Ada is becoming an increasingly popular programming language for large Government-funded software projects. Ada with it portability, transportability, and maintainability lends itself well to today's complex programming environment. In addition, expert systems have also assumed a growing role in providing human-like reasoning capability expertise for computer systems. The integration is discussed of expert system technology with Ada programming language, especially a rule-based expert system using an ART-Ada (Automated Reasoning Tool for Ada) system shell. NASA Lewis was chosen as a beta test site for ART-Ada. The test was conducted by implementing the existing Autonomous Power EXpert System (APEX), a Lisp-based power expert system, in ART-Ada. Three components, the rule-based expert systems, a graphics user interface, and communications software make up SMART-Ada (Systems fault Management with ART-Ada). The rules were written in the ART-Ada development environment and converted to Ada source code. The graphics interface was developed with the Transportable Application Environment (TAE) Plus, which generates Ada source code to control graphics images. SMART-Ada communicates with a remote host to obtain either simulated or real data. The Ada source code generated with ART-Ada, TAE Plus, and communications code was incorporated into an Ada expert system that reads the data from a power distribution test bed, applies the rule to determine a fault, if one exists, and graphically displays it on the screen. The main objective, to conduct a beta test on the ART-Ada rule-based expert system shell, was achieved. The system is operational. New Ada tools will assist in future successful projects. ART-Ada is one such tool and is a viable alternative to the straight Ada code when an application requires a rule-based or knowledge-based approach.

  12. Low-complexity video encoding method for wireless image transmission in capsule endoscope.

    PubMed

    Takizawa, Kenichi; Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents a low-complexity video encoding method applicable for wireless image transmission in capsule endoscopes. This encoding method is based on Wyner-Ziv theory, in which side information available at a transmitter is treated as side information at its receiver. Therefore complex processes in video encoding, such as estimation of the motion vector, are moved to the receiver side, which has a larger-capacity battery. As a result, the encoding process is only to decimate coded original data through channel coding. We provide a performance evaluation for a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding method in the AWGN channel.

  13. Improved Techniques for Video Compression and Communication

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Haoming

    2016-01-01

    Video compression and communication has been an important field over the past decades and critical for many applications, e.g., video on demand, video-conferencing, and remote education. In many applications, providing low-delay and error-resilient video transmission and increasing the coding efficiency are two major challenges. Low-delay and…

  14. Uncovering Predictors of Disagreement: Ensuring the Quality of Expert Ratings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoth, Jessica; Schwarz, Björn; Kaiser, Gabriele; Busse, Andreas; König, Johannes; Blömeke, Sigrid

    2016-01-01

    Rating scales are a popular item format used in many types of assessments. Yet, defining which rating is correct often represents a challenge. Using expert ratings as benchmarks is one approach to ensuring the quality of a rating instrument. In this paper, such expert ratings are analyzed in detail taking a video-based test instrument of teachers'…

  15. Does expert perceptual anticipation transfer to a dissimilar domain?

    PubMed

    Müller, Sean; McLaren, Michelle; Appleby, Brendyn; Rosalie, Simon M

    2015-06-01

    The purpose of this experiment was to extend theoretical understanding of transfer of learning by investigating whether expert perceptual anticipation skill transfers to a dissimilar domain. The capability of expert and near-expert rugby players as well as novices to anticipate skill type within rugby (learning sport) was first examined using a temporal occlusion paradigm. Participants watched video footage of an opponent performing rugby skill types that were temporally occluded at different points in the opponent's action and then made a written prediction. Thereafter, the capability of participants to transfer their anticipation skill to predict pitch type in baseball (transfer sport) was examined. Participants watched video footage of a pitcher throwing different pitch types that were temporally occluded and made a written prediction. Results indicated that expert and near-expert rugby players anticipated significantly better than novices across all occlusion conditions. However, none of the skill groups were able to transfer anticipation skill to predict pitch type in baseball. The findings of this paper, along with existing literature, support the theoretical prediction that transfer of perceptual anticipation is expertise dependent and restricted to similar domains. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. Low-complexity transcoding algorithm from H.264/AVC to SVC using data mining

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garrido-Cantos, Rosario; De Cock, Jan; Martínez, Jose Luis; Van Leuven, Sebastian; Cuenca, Pedro; Garrido, Antonio

    2013-12-01

    Nowadays, networks and terminals with diverse characteristics of bandwidth and capabilities coexist. To ensure a good quality of experience, this diverse environment demands adaptability of the video stream. In general, video contents are compressed to save storage capacity and to reduce the bandwidth required for its transmission. Therefore, if these compressed video streams were compressed using scalable video coding schemes, they would be able to adapt to those heterogeneous networks and a wide range of terminals. Since the majority of the multimedia contents are compressed using H.264/AVC, they cannot benefit from that scalability. This paper proposes a low-complexity algorithm to convert an H.264/AVC bitstream without scalability to scalable bitstreams with temporal scalability in baseline and main profiles by accelerating the mode decision task of the scalable video coding encoding stage using machine learning tools. The results show that when our technique is applied, the complexity is reduced by 87% while maintaining coding efficiency.

  17. Video quality assesment using M-SVD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tao, Peining; Eskicioglu, Ahmet M.

    2007-01-01

    Objective video quality measurement is a challenging problem in a variety of video processing application ranging from lossy compression to printing. An ideal video quality measure should be able to mimic the human observer. We present a new video quality measure, M-SVD, to evaluate distorted video sequences based on singular value decomposition. A computationally efficient approach is developed for full-reference (FR) video quality assessment. This measure is tested on the Video Quality Experts Group (VQEG) phase I FR-TV test data set. Our experiments show the graphical measure displays the amount of distortion as well as the distribution of error in all frames of the video sequence while the numerical measure has a good correlation with perceived video quality outperforms PSNR and other objective measures by a clear margin.

  18. Expert models and modeling processes associated with a computer-modeling tool

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Baohui; Liu, Xiufeng; Krajcik, Joseph S.

    2006-07-01

    Holding the premise that the development of expertise is a continuous process, this study concerns expert models and modeling processes associated with a modeling tool called Model-It. Five advanced Ph.D. students in environmental engineering and public health used Model-It to create and test models of water quality. Using think aloud technique and video recording, we captured their computer screen modeling activities and thinking processes. We also interviewed them the day following their modeling sessions to further probe the rationale of their modeling practices. We analyzed both the audio-video transcripts and the experts' models. We found the experts' modeling processes followed the linear sequence built in the modeling program with few instances of moving back and forth. They specified their goals up front and spent a long time thinking through an entire model before acting. They specified relationships with accurate and convincing evidence. Factors (i.e., variables) in expert models were clustered, and represented by specialized technical terms. Based on the above findings, we made suggestions for improving model-based science teaching and learning using Model-It.

  19. An efficient interpolation filter VLSI architecture for HEVC standard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Wei; Zhou, Xin; Lian, Xiaocong; Liu, Zhenyu; Liu, Xiaoxiang

    2015-12-01

    The next-generation video coding standard of High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is especially efficient for coding high-resolution video such as 8K-ultra-high-definition (UHD) video. Fractional motion estimation in HEVC presents a significant challenge in clock latency and area cost as it consumes more than 40 % of the total encoding time and thus results in high computational complexity. With aims at supporting 8K-UHD video applications, an efficient interpolation filter VLSI architecture for HEVC is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a new interpolation filter algorithm based on the 8-pixel interpolation unit is proposed in this paper. It can save 19.7 % processing time on average with acceptable coding quality degradation. Based on the proposed algorithm, an efficient interpolation filter VLSI architecture, composed of a reused data path of interpolation, an efficient memory organization, and a reconfigurable pipeline interpolation filter engine, is presented to reduce the implement hardware area and achieve high throughput. The final VLSI implementation only requires 37.2k gates in a standard 90-nm CMOS technology at an operating frequency of 240 MHz. The proposed architecture can be reused for either half-pixel interpolation or quarter-pixel interpolation, which can reduce the area cost for about 131,040 bits RAM. The processing latency of our proposed VLSI architecture can support the real-time processing of 4:2:0 format 7680 × 4320@78fps video sequences.

  20. On scalable lossless video coding based on sub-pixel accurate MCTF

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yea, Sehoon; Pearlman, William A.

    2006-01-01

    We propose two approaches to scalable lossless coding of motion video. They achieve SNR-scalable bitstream up to lossless reconstruction based upon the subpixel-accurate MCTF-based wavelet video coding. The first approach is based upon a two-stage encoding strategy where a lossy reconstruction layer is augmented by a following residual layer in order to obtain (nearly) lossless reconstruction. The key advantages of our approach include an 'on-the-fly' determination of bit budget distribution between the lossy and the residual layers, freedom to use almost any progressive lossy video coding scheme as the first layer and an added feature of near-lossless compression. The second approach capitalizes on the fact that we can maintain the invertibility of MCTF with an arbitrary sub-pixel accuracy even in the presence of an extra truncation step for lossless reconstruction thanks to the lifting implementation. Experimental results show that the proposed schemes achieve compression ratios not obtainable by intra-frame coders such as Motion JPEG-2000 thanks to their inter-frame coding nature. Also they are shown to outperform the state-of-the-art non-scalable inter-frame coder H.264 (JM) lossless mode, with the added benefit of bitstream embeddedness.

  1. Empirical evaluation of H.265/HEVC-based dynamic adaptive video streaming over HTTP (HEVC-DASH)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Irondi, Iheanyi; Wang, Qi; Grecos, Christos

    2014-05-01

    Real-time HTTP streaming has gained global popularity for delivering video content over Internet. In particular, the recent MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) standard enables on-demand, live, and adaptive Internet streaming in response to network bandwidth fluctuations. Meanwhile, emerging is the new-generation video coding standard, H.265/HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) promises to reduce the bandwidth requirement by 50% at the same video quality when compared with the current H.264/AVC standard. However, little existing work has addressed the integration of the DASH and HEVC standards, let alone empirical performance evaluation of such systems. This paper presents an experimental HEVC-DASH system, which is a pull-based adaptive streaming solution that delivers HEVC-coded video content through conventional HTTP servers where the client switches to its desired quality, resolution or bitrate based on the available network bandwidth. Previous studies in DASH have focused on H.264/AVC, whereas we present an empirical evaluation of the HEVC-DASH system by implementing a real-world test bed, which consists of an Apache HTTP Server with GPAC, an MP4Client (GPAC) with open HEVC-based DASH client and a NETEM box in the middle emulating different network conditions. We investigate and analyze the performance of HEVC-DASH by exploring the impact of various network conditions such as packet loss, bandwidth and delay on video quality. Furthermore, we compare the Intra and Random Access profiles of HEVC coding with the Intra profile of H.264/AVC when the correspondingly encoded video is streamed with DASH. Finally, we explore the correlation among the quality metrics and network conditions, and empirically establish under which conditions the different codecs can provide satisfactory performance.

  2. Using "Making Sense of Climate Science Denial" MOOC videos in a college course

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schuenemann, K. C.; Cook, J.

    2015-12-01

    The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Denial101x: Making Sense of Climate Science Denial" teaches students to make sense of the science and respond to climate change denial. The course is made up of a series of short, myth-debunking lecture videos that can be strategically used in college courses. The videos and the visuals within have proven a great resource for an introductory college level climate change course. Methods for using the videos in both online and in-classroom courses will be presented, as well as student reactions and learning from the videos. The videos introduce and explain a climate science topic, then paraphrase a common climate change myth, explain why the myth is wrong by identifying the characteristic of climate denial used, and concludes by reinforcing the correct science. By focusing on common myths, the MOOC has made an archive of videos that can be used by anyone in need of a 5-minute response to debunk a myth. By also highlighting five characteristics of climate denial: fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking, and conspiracy theories (FLICC), the videos also teach the viewer the skills they need to critically examine myths they may encounter in the real world on a variety of topics. The videos also include a series of expert scientist interviews that can be used to drive home points, as well as put some faces to the science. These videos are freely available outside of the MOOC and can be found under the relevant "Most used climate myths" section on the skepticalscience.com webpage, as well as directly on YouTube. Discover ideas for using videos in future courses, regardless of discipline.

  3. Verification testing of the compression performance of the HEVC screen content coding extensions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sullivan, Gary J.; Baroncini, Vittorio A.; Yu, Haoping; Joshi, Rajan L.; Liu, Shan; Xiu, Xiaoyu; Xu, Jizheng

    2017-09-01

    This paper reports on verification testing of the coding performance of the screen content coding (SCC) extensions of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard (Rec. ITU-T H.265 | ISO/IEC 23008-2 MPEG-H Part 2). The coding performance of HEVC screen content model (SCM) reference software is compared with that of the HEVC test model (HM) without the SCC extensions, as well as with the Advanced Video Coding (AVC) joint model (JM) reference software, for both lossy and mathematically lossless compression using All-Intra (AI), Random Access (RA), and Lowdelay B (LB) encoding structures and using similar encoding techniques. Video test sequences in 1920×1080 RGB 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:4:4, and YCbCr 4:2:0 colour sampling formats with 8 bits per sample are tested in two categories: "text and graphics with motion" (TGM) and "mixed" content. For lossless coding, the encodings are evaluated in terms of relative bit-rate savings. For lossy compression, subjective testing was conducted at 4 quality levels for each coding case, and the test results are presented through mean opinion score (MOS) curves. The relative coding performance is also evaluated in terms of Bjøntegaard-delta (BD) bit-rate savings for equal PSNR quality. The perceptual tests and objective metric measurements show a very substantial benefit in coding efficiency for the SCC extensions, and provided consistent results with a high degree of confidence. For TGM video, the estimated bit-rate savings ranged from 60-90% relative to the JM and 40-80% relative to the HM, depending on the AI/RA/LB configuration category and colour sampling format.

  4. Novel Integration of Frame Rate Up Conversion and HEVC Coding Based on Rate-Distortion Optimization.

    PubMed

    Guo Lu; Xiaoyun Zhang; Li Chen; Zhiyong Gao

    2018-02-01

    Frame rate up conversion (FRUC) can improve the visual quality by interpolating new intermediate frames. However, high frame rate videos by FRUC are confronted with more bitrate consumption or annoying artifacts of interpolated frames. In this paper, a novel integration framework of FRUC and high efficiency video coding (HEVC) is proposed based on rate-distortion optimization, and the interpolated frames can be reconstructed at encoder side with low bitrate cost and high visual quality. First, joint motion estimation (JME) algorithm is proposed to obtain robust motion vectors, which are shared between FRUC and video coding. What's more, JME is embedded into the coding loop and employs the original motion search strategy in HEVC coding. Then, the frame interpolation is formulated as a rate-distortion optimization problem, where both the coding bitrate consumption and visual quality are taken into account. Due to the absence of original frames, the distortion model for interpolated frames is established according to the motion vector reliability and coding quantization error. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework can achieve 21% ~ 42% reduction in BDBR, when compared with the traditional methods of FRUC cascaded with coding.

  5. Telesign: a videophone system for sign language distant communication

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mozelle, Gerard; Preteux, Francoise J.; Viallet, Jean-Emmanuel

    1998-09-01

    This paper presents a low bit rate videophone system for deaf people communicating by means of sign language. Classic video conferencing systems have focused on head and shoulders sequences which are not well-suited for sign language video transmission since hearing impaired people also use their hands and arms to communicate. To address the above-mentioned functionality, we have developed a two-step content-based video coding system based on: (1) A segmentation step. Four or five video objects (VO) are extracted using a cooperative approach between color-based and morphological segmentation. (2) VO coding are achieved by using a standardized MPEG-4 video toolbox. Results of encoded sign language video sequences, presented for three target bit rates (32 kbits/s, 48 kbits/s and 64 kbits/s), demonstrate the efficiency of the approach presented in this paper.

  6. Expert system for maintenance management of a boiling water reactor power plant

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

    Hong Shen; Liou, L.W.; Levine, S.

    1992-01-01

    An expert system code has been developed for the maintenance of two boiling water reactor units in Berwick, Pennsylvania, that are operated by the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company (PP and L). The objective of this expert system code, where the knowledge of experienced operators and engineers is captured and implemented, is to support the decisions regarding which components can be safely and reliably removed from service for maintenance. It can also serve as a query-answering facility for checking the plant system status and for training purposes. The operating and maintenance information of a large number of support systems, whichmore » must be available for emergencies and/or in the event of an accident, is stored in the data base of the code. It identifies the relevant technical specifications and management rules for shutting down any one of the systems or removing a component from service to support maintenance. Because of the complexity and time needed to incorporate a large number of systems and their components, the first phase of the expert system develops a prototype code, which includes only the reactor core isolation coolant system, the high-pressure core injection system, the instrument air system, the service water system, and the plant electrical system. The next phase is scheduled to expand the code to include all other systems. This paper summarizes the prototype code and the design concept of the complete expert system code for maintenance management of all plant systems and components.« less

  7. The Design of Video Games in the Implementation of Malay Language Learning among Foreign Students in an Institution of Higher Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosman, Fuziah; Alias, Norlidah; Rahman, Mohd Nazri Abdul; Dewitt, Dorothy

    2015-01-01

    This study aims at reviewing the curriculum design by including video games in the implementation of the Malay language course at an Institute of Higher Learning. The objective of this study is to obtain expert opinion on the expected manner of implementation of video games in learning the Malay language. The Fuzzy Delphi technique (FDM) is used…

  8. Creating a Novel Video Vignette Stroke Preparedness Outcome Measure Using a Community-Based Participatory Approach.

    PubMed

    Skolarus, Lesli E; Murphy, Jillian B; Dome, Mackenzie; Zimmerman, Marc A; Bailey, Sarah; Fowlkes, Sophronia; Morgenstern, Lewis B

    2015-07-01

    Evaluating the efficacy of behavioral interventions for rare outcomes is a challenge. One such topic is stroke preparedness, defined as inteventions to increase stroke symptom recognition and behavioral intent to call 911. Current stroke preparedness intermediate outcome measures are centered on written vignettes or open-ended questions and have been shown to poorly reflect actual behavior. Given that stroke identification and action requires aural and visual processing, video vignettes may improve on current measures. This article discusses an approach for creating a novel stroke preparedness video vignette intermediate outcome measure within a community-based participatory research partnership. A total of 20 video vignettes were filmed of which 13 were unambiguous (stroke or not stroke) as determined by stroke experts and had test discrimination among community participants. Acceptable reliability, high satisfaction, and cultural relevance were found among the 14 community respondents. A community-based participatory approach was effective in creating a video vignette intermediate outcome. Future projects should consider obtaining expert and community feedback prior to filming all the video vignettes to improve the proportion of vignettes that are usable. While content validity and preliminary reliability were established, future studies are needed to confirm the reliability and establish construct validity. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

  9. Creating a Novel Video Vignette Stroke Preparedness Outcome Measure using a Community Based Participatory Approach

    PubMed Central

    Skolarus, Lesli E.; Murphy, Jillian B.; Dome, Mackenzie; Zimmerman, Marc A.; Bailey, Sarah; Fowlkes, Sophronia; Morgenstern, Lewis B.

    2015-01-01

    Evaluating the efficacy of behavioral interventions for rare outcomes is a challenge. One such topic is stroke preparedness, defined as inteventions to increase stroke symptom recognition and behavioral intent to call 911. Current stroke preparedness intermediate outcome measures are centered on written vignettes or open ended questions and have been shown to poorly reflect actual behavior. Given that stroke identification and action requires aural and visual processing, video vignettes may improve upon current measures. This article discusses an approach for creating a novel stroke preparedness video vignette intermediate outcome measure within a community based participatory research partnership. A total of 20 video vignettes were filmed of which 13 were unambiguous (stroke or not stroke) as determined by stroke experts and had test discrimination among community participants. Acceptable reliability, high satisfaction and cultural relevance were found among the 14 community respondents. A community based participatory approach was effective in creating a video vignette intermediate outcome. Future projects should consider obtaining expert and community feedback prior to filming all the video vignettes to improve the proportion of vignettes that are usable. While content validity and preliminary reliability were established, future studies are needed to confirm the reliability and establish construct validity. PMID:25367896

  10. Intra prediction using face continuity in 360-degree video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanhart, Philippe; He, Yuwen; Ye, Yan

    2017-09-01

    This paper presents a new reference sample derivation method for intra prediction in 360-degree video coding. Unlike the conventional reference sample derivation method for 2D video coding, which uses the samples located directly above and on the left of the current block, the proposed method considers the spherical nature of 360-degree video when deriving reference samples located outside the current face to which the block belongs, and derives reference samples that are geometric neighbors on the sphere. The proposed reference sample derivation method was implemented in the Joint Exploration Model 3.0 (JEM-3.0) for the cubemap projection format. Simulation results for the all intra configuration show that, when compared with the conventional reference sample derivation method, the proposed method gives, on average, luma BD-rate reduction of 0.3% in terms of the weighted spherical PSNR (WS-PSNR) and spherical PSNR (SPSNR) metrics.

  11. Modeling of video traffic in packet networks, low rate video compression, and the development of a lossy+lossless image compression algorithm

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sayood, K.; Chen, Y. C.; Wang, X.

    1992-01-01

    During this reporting period we have worked on three somewhat different problems. These are modeling of video traffic in packet networks, low rate video compression, and the development of a lossy + lossless image compression algorithm, which might have some application in browsing algorithms. The lossy + lossless scheme is an extension of work previously done under this grant. It provides a simple technique for incorporating browsing capability. The low rate coding scheme is also a simple variation on the standard discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding approach. In spite of its simplicity, the approach provides surprisingly high quality reconstructions. The modeling approach is borrowed from the speech recognition literature, and seems to be promising in that it provides a simple way of obtaining an idea about the second order behavior of a particular coding scheme. Details about these are presented.

  12. A study on multiresolution lossless video coding using inter/intra frame adaptive prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nakachi, Takayuki; Sawabe, Tomoko; Fujii, Tetsuro

    2003-06-01

    Lossless video coding is required in the fields of archiving and editing digital cinema or digital broadcasting contents. This paper combines a discrete wavelet transform and adaptive inter/intra-frame prediction in the wavelet transform domain to create multiresolution lossless video coding. The multiresolution structure offered by the wavelet transform facilitates interchange among several video source formats such as Super High Definition (SHD) images, HDTV, SDTV, and mobile applications. Adaptive inter/intra-frame prediction is an extension of JPEG-LS, a state-of-the-art lossless still image compression standard. Based on the image statistics of the wavelet transform domains in successive frames, inter/intra frame adaptive prediction is applied to the appropriate wavelet transform domain. This adaptation offers superior compression performance. This is achieved with low computational cost and no increase in additional information. Experiments on digital cinema test sequences confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

  13. Evaluation of in-network adaptation of scalable high efficiency video coding (SHVC) in mobile environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nightingale, James; Wang, Qi; Grecos, Christos; Goma, Sergio

    2014-02-01

    High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), the latest video compression standard (also known as H.265), can deliver video streams of comparable quality to the current H.264 Advanced Video Coding (H.264/AVC) standard with a 50% reduction in bandwidth. Research into SHVC, the scalable extension to the HEVC standard, is still in its infancy. One important area for investigation is whether, given the greater compression ratio of HEVC (and SHVC), the loss of packets containing video content will have a greater impact on the quality of delivered video than is the case with H.264/AVC or its scalable extension H.264/SVC. In this work we empirically evaluate the layer-based, in-network adaptation of video streams encoded using SHVC in situations where dynamically changing bandwidths and datagram loss ratios require the real-time adaptation of video streams. Through the use of extensive experimentation, we establish a comprehensive set of benchmarks for SHVC-based highdefinition video streaming in loss prone network environments such as those commonly found in mobile networks. Among other results, we highlight that packet losses of only 1% can lead to a substantial reduction in PSNR of over 3dB and error propagation in over 130 pictures following the one in which the loss occurred. This work would be one of the earliest studies in this cutting-edge area that reports benchmark evaluation results for the effects of datagram loss on SHVC picture quality and offers empirical and analytical insights into SHVC adaptation to lossy, mobile networking conditions.

  14. Deep linear autoencoder and patch clustering-based unified one-dimensional coding of image and video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Honggui

    2017-09-01

    This paper proposes a unified one-dimensional (1-D) coding framework of image and video, which depends on deep learning neural network and image patch clustering. First, an improved K-means clustering algorithm for image patches is employed to obtain the compact inputs of deep artificial neural network. Second, for the purpose of best reconstructing original image patches, deep linear autoencoder (DLA), a linear version of the classical deep nonlinear autoencoder, is introduced to achieve the 1-D representation of image blocks. Under the circumstances of 1-D representation, DLA is capable of attaining zero reconstruction error, which is impossible for the classical nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods. Third, a unified 1-D coding infrastructure for image, intraframe, interframe, multiview video, three-dimensional (3-D) video, and multiview 3-D video is built by incorporating different categories of videos into the inputs of patch clustering algorithm. Finally, it is shown in the results of simulation experiments that the proposed methods can simultaneously gain higher compression ratio and peak signal-to-noise ratio than those of the state-of-the-art methods in the situation of low bitrate transmission.

  15. Spherical rotation orientation indication for HEVC and JEM coding of 360 degree video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boyce, Jill; Xu, Qian

    2017-09-01

    Omnidirectional (or "360 degree") video, representing a panoramic view of a spherical 360° ×180° scene, can be encoded using conventional video compression standards, once it has been projection mapped to a 2D rectangular format. Equirectangular projection format is currently used for mapping 360 degree video to a rectangular representation for coding using HEVC/JEM. However, video in the top and bottom regions of the image, corresponding to the "north pole" and "south pole" of the spherical representation, is significantly warped. We propose to perform spherical rotation of the input video prior to HEVC/JEM encoding in order to improve the coding efficiency, and to signal parameters in a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message that describe the inverse rotation process recommended to be applied following HEVC/JEM decoding, prior to display. Experiment results show that up to 17.8% bitrate gain (using the WS-PSNR end-to-end metric) can be achieved for the Chairlift sequence using HM16.15 and 11.9% gain using JEM6.0, and an average gain of 2.9% for HM16.15 and 2.2% for JEM6.0.

  16. Programming Video Games and Simulations in Science Education: Exploring Computational Thinking through Code Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garneli, Varvara; Chorianopoulos, Konstantinos

    2018-01-01

    Various aspects of computational thinking (CT) could be supported by educational contexts such as simulations and video-games construction. In this field study, potential differences in student motivation and learning were empirically examined through students' code. For this purpose, we performed a teaching intervention that took place over five…

  17. Final Report. An Integrated Partnership to Create and Lead the Solar Codes and Standards Working Group

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

    Rosenthal, Andrew

    The DOE grant, “An Integrated Partnership to Create and Lead the Solar Codes and Standards Working Group,” to New Mexico State University created the Solar America Board for Codes and Standards (Solar ABCs). From 2007 – 2013 with funding from this grant, Solar ABCs identified current issues, established a dialogue among key stakeholders, and catalyzed appropriate activities to support the development of codes and standards that facilitated the installation of high quality, safe photovoltaic systems. Solar ABCs brought the following resources to the PV stakeholder community; Formal coordination in the planning or revision of interrelated codes and standards removing “stovemore » pipes” that have only roofing experts working on roofing codes, PV experts on PV codes, fire enforcement experts working on fire codes, etc.; A conduit through which all interested stakeholders were able to see the steps being taken in the development or modification of codes and standards and participate directly in the processes; A central clearing house for new documents, standards, proposed standards, analytical studies, and recommendations of best practices available to the PV community; A forum of experts that invites and welcomes all interested parties into the process of performing studies, evaluating results, and building consensus on standards and code-related topics that affect all aspects of the market; and A biennial gap analysis to formally survey the PV community to identify needs that are unmet and inhibiting the market and necessary technical developments.« less

  18. Calypso: a user-friendly web-server for mining and visualizing microbiome-environment interactions.

    PubMed

    Zakrzewski, Martha; Proietti, Carla; Ellis, Jonathan J; Hasan, Shihab; Brion, Marie-Jo; Berger, Bernard; Krause, Lutz

    2017-03-01

    Calypso is an easy-to-use online software suite that allows non-expert users to mine, interpret and compare taxonomic information from metagenomic or 16S rDNA datasets. Calypso has a focus on multivariate statistical approaches that can identify complex environment-microbiome associations. The software enables quantitative visualizations, statistical testing, multivariate analysis, supervised learning, factor analysis, multivariable regression, network analysis and diversity estimates. Comprehensive help pages, tutorials and videos are provided via a wiki page. The web-interface is accessible via http://cgenome.net/calypso/ . The software is programmed in Java, PERL and R and the source code is available from Zenodo ( https://zenodo.org/record/50931 ). The software is freely available for non-commercial users. l.krause@uq.edu.au. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  19. Topological mappings of video and audio data.

    PubMed

    Fyfe, Colin; Barbakh, Wesam; Ooi, Wei Chuan; Ko, Hanseok

    2008-12-01

    We review a new form of self-organizing map which is based on a nonlinear projection of latent points into data space, identical to that performed in the Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM).(1) But whereas the GTM is an extension of a mixture of experts, this model is an extension of a product of experts.(2) We show visualisation and clustering results on a data set composed of video data of lips uttering 5 Korean vowels. Finally we note that we may dispense with the probabilistic underpinnings of the product of experts and derive the same algorithm as a minimisation of mean squared error between the prototypes and the data. This leads us to suggest a new algorithm which incorporates local and global information in the clustering. Both ot the new algorithms achieve better results than the standard Self-Organizing Map.

  20. Optimal frame-by-frame result combination strategy for OCR in video stream

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bulatov, Konstantin; Lynchenko, Aleksander; Krivtsov, Valeriy

    2018-04-01

    This paper describes the problem of combining classification results of multiple observations of one object. This task can be regarded as a particular case of a decision-making using a combination of experts votes with calculated weights. The accuracy of various methods of combining the classification results depending on different models of input data is investigated on the example of frame-by-frame character recognition in a video stream. Experimentally it is shown that the strategy of choosing a single most competent expert in case of input data without irrelevant observations has an advantage (in this case irrelevant means with character localization and segmentation errors). At the same time this work demonstrates the advantage of combining several most competent experts according to multiplication rule or voting if irrelevant samples are present in the input data.

  1. Self-Regulation of Beer Advertising: A Comparative Analysis of Perceived Violations by Adolescents and Experts.

    PubMed

    Vendrame, Alan; Silva, Rebeca; Xuan, Ziming; Sparks, Robert; Noel, Jonathan; Pinsky, Ilana

    2015-09-01

    We assessed the impact of the 2010 revisions to Brazil's self-regulatory alcohol marketing code using expert and adolescent raters. Five popular TV beer ads were selected. Ads were rated based on the 2010 Brazilian self-regulatory marketing code. The expert group (N = 31) represented health-related professions; the adolescent group (N = 110) were public high school students. At least 1 ad violated 11 of 17 guidelines included in the study. Ratings by experts and adolescents were similar. Both found violations in all sections of the self-regulatory code, but significant group differences were seen in applying the section that prohibits the promotion of excessive alcohol consumption, with experts identifying more violations than adolescents. Beer ads in the sample systematically violated the self-regulatory standards for alcohol advertising in Brazil according to both experts and youth. Public policies for more effective restrictions and prohibitions in alcohol ads should be considered. © The Author 2015. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

  2. Reflectance Prediction Modelling for Residual-Based Hyperspectral Image Coding

    PubMed Central

    Xiao, Rui; Gao, Junbin; Bossomaier, Terry

    2016-01-01

    A Hyperspectral (HS) image provides observational powers beyond human vision capability but represents more than 100 times the data compared to a traditional image. To transmit and store the huge volume of an HS image, we argue that a fundamental shift is required from the existing “original pixel intensity”-based coding approaches using traditional image coders (e.g., JPEG2000) to the “residual”-based approaches using a video coder for better compression performance. A modified video coder is required to exploit spatial-spectral redundancy using pixel-level reflectance modelling due to the different characteristics of HS images in their spectral and shape domain of panchromatic imagery compared to traditional videos. In this paper a novel coding framework using Reflectance Prediction Modelling (RPM) in the latest video coding standard High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) for HS images is proposed. An HS image presents a wealth of data where every pixel is considered a vector for different spectral bands. By quantitative comparison and analysis of pixel vector distribution along spectral bands, we conclude that modelling can predict the distribution and correlation of the pixel vectors for different bands. To exploit distribution of the known pixel vector, we estimate a predicted current spectral band from the previous bands using Gaussian mixture-based modelling. The predicted band is used as the additional reference band together with the immediate previous band when we apply the HEVC. Every spectral band of an HS image is treated like it is an individual frame of a video. In this paper, we compare the proposed method with mainstream encoders. The experimental results are fully justified by three types of HS dataset with different wavelength ranges. The proposed method outperforms the existing mainstream HS encoders in terms of rate-distortion performance of HS image compression. PMID:27695102

  3. Aerothermal Assment Of The Expert Flap In The SCIROCCO Wind Tunnel

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Walpot, L.; Di Clemente, M.; Vos, J.; Etchells, J.; Trifoni, E.; Thoemel, J.; Gavira, J.

    2011-05-01

    In the frame of the “In-Flight Test Measurement Techniques for Aerothermodynamics” activity of the EXPERT Program, the EXPERT Instrumented Open Flap Assembly experiment has the objective to verify the design/sensor integration and validate the CFD tools. Ground based measurements were made in Europe’s largest high enthalpy plasma facility, Scirocco in Italy. Two EXPERT flaps of the flight article, instrumented with 14 thermocouples, 5 pressure ports, a pyrometer and an IR camera mounted in the cavity instrumented flap will collect in-flight data. During the Scirocco experiment, an EXPERT flap model identical to the flight article was mounted at 45 deg on a holder including cavity and was subjected to a hot plasma flow at an enthalpy up to 11MJ/kg at a stagnation pressure of 7 bar. The test model sports the same pressure sensors as the flight article. Hypersonic state-of-the-art codes were then be used to perform code-to-code and wind tunnel-to-code comparisons, including thermal response of the flap as collected during the tests by the sensors and camera.

  4. Probabilistic structural analysis methods for select space propulsion system components

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Millwater, H. R.; Cruse, T. A.

    1989-01-01

    The Probabilistic Structural Analysis Methods (PSAM) project developed at the Southwest Research Institute integrates state-of-the-art structural analysis techniques with probability theory for the design and analysis of complex large-scale engineering structures. An advanced efficient software system (NESSUS) capable of performing complex probabilistic analysis has been developed. NESSUS contains a number of software components to perform probabilistic analysis of structures. These components include: an expert system, a probabilistic finite element code, a probabilistic boundary element code and a fast probability integrator. The NESSUS software system is shown. An expert system is included to capture and utilize PSAM knowledge and experience. NESSUS/EXPERT is an interactive menu-driven expert system that provides information to assist in the use of the probabilistic finite element code NESSUS/FEM and the fast probability integrator (FPI). The expert system menu structure is summarized. The NESSUS system contains a state-of-the-art nonlinear probabilistic finite element code, NESSUS/FEM, to determine the structural response and sensitivities. A broad range of analysis capabilities and an extensive element library is present.

  5. A Robust Model-Based Coding Technique for Ultrasound Video

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Docef, Alen; Smith, Mark J. T.

    1995-01-01

    This paper introduces a new approach to coding ultrasound video, the intended application being very low bit rate coding for transmission over low cost phone lines. The method exploits both the characteristic noise and the quasi-periodic nature of the signal. Data compression ratios between 250:1 and 1000:1 are shown to be possible, which is sufficient for transmission over ISDN and conventional phone lines. Preliminary results show this approach to be promising for remote ultrasound examinations.

  6. Use of FEC coding to improve statistical multiplexing performance for video transport over ATM networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kurceren, Ragip; Modestino, James W.

    1998-12-01

    The use of forward error-control (FEC) coding, possibly in conjunction with ARQ techniques, has emerged as a promising approach for video transport over ATM networks for cell-loss recovery and/or bit error correction, such as might be required for wireless links. Although FEC provides cell-loss recovery capabilities it also introduces transmission overhead which can possibly cause additional cell losses. A methodology is described to maximize the number of video sources multiplexed at a given quality of service (QoS), measured in terms of decoded cell loss probability, using interlaced FEC codes. The transport channel is modelled as a block interference channel (BIC) and the multiplexer as single server, deterministic service, finite buffer supporting N users. Based upon an information-theoretic characterization of the BIC and large deviation bounds on the buffer overflow probability, the described methodology provides theoretically achievable upper limits on the number of sources multiplexed. Performance of specific coding techniques using interlaced nonbinary Reed-Solomon (RS) codes and binary rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes is illustrated.

  7. Facilitation and Teacher Behaviors: An Analysis of Literacy Teachers' Video-Case Discussions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arya, Poonam; Christ, Tanya; Chiu, Ming Ming

    2014-01-01

    This study explored how peer and professor facilitations are related to teachers' behaviors during video-case discussions. Fourteen inservice teachers produced 1,787 turns of conversation during 12 video-case discussions that were video-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed with statistical discourse analysis. Professor facilitations (sharing…

  8. Dynamic full-scalability conversion in scalable video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Dong Su; Bae, Tae Meon; Thang, Truong Cong; Ro, Yong Man

    2007-02-01

    For outstanding coding efficiency with scalability functions, SVC (Scalable Video Coding) is being standardized. SVC can support spatial, temporal and SNR scalability and these scalabilities are useful to provide a smooth video streaming service even in a time varying network such as a mobile environment. But current SVC is insufficient to support dynamic video conversion with scalability, thereby the adaptation of bitrate to meet a fluctuating network condition is limited. In this paper, we propose dynamic full-scalability conversion methods for QoS adaptive video streaming in SVC. To accomplish full scalability dynamic conversion, we develop corresponding bitstream extraction, encoding and decoding schemes. At the encoder, we insert the IDR NAL periodically to solve the problems of spatial scalability conversion. At the extractor, we analyze the SVC bitstream to get the information which enable dynamic extraction. Real time extraction is achieved by using this information. Finally, we develop the decoder so that it can manage the changing scalability. Experimental results showed that dynamic full-scalability conversion was verified and it was necessary for time varying network condition.

  9. Hospital-Based Physicians' Intubation Decisions and Associated Mental Models when Managing a Critically and Terminally Ill Older Patient.

    PubMed

    Haliko, Shannon; Downs, Julie; Mohan, Deepika; Arnold, Robert; Barnato, Amber E

    2018-04-01

    Variation in the intensity of acute care treatment at the end of life is influenced more strongly by hospital and provider characteristics than patient preferences. We sought to describe physicians' mental models (i.e., thought processes) when encountering a simulated critically and terminally ill older patient, and to compare those models based on whether their treatment plan was patient preference-concordant or preference-discordant. Seventy-three hospital-based physicians from 3 academic medical centers engaged in a simulated patient encounter and completed a mental model interview while watching the video recording of their encounter. We used an "expert" model to code the interviews. We then used Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare the weighted mental model themes of physicians who provided preference-concordant treatment with those who provided preference-discordant treatment. Sixty-six (90%) physicians provided preference-concordant treatment and 7 (10%) provided preference-discordant treatment (i.e., they intubated the patient). Physicians who intubated the patient were more likely to emphasize the reversible and emergent nature of the patient situation (z = -2.111, P = 0.035), their own comfort (z = -2.764, P = 0.006), and rarely focused on explicit patient preferences (z = 2.380, P = 0.017). Post-decisional interviewing with audio/video prompting may induce hindsight bias. The expert model has not yet been validated and may not be exhaustive. The small sample size limits generalizability and power. Hospital-based physicians providing preference-discordant used a different mental model for decision making for a critically and terminally ill simulated case. These differences may offer targets for future interventions to promote preference-concordant care for seriously ill patients.

  10. RD Optimized, Adaptive, Error-Resilient Transmission of MJPEG2000-Coded Video over Multiple Time-Varying Channels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bezan, Scott; Shirani, Shahram

    2006-12-01

    To reliably transmit video over error-prone channels, the data should be both source and channel coded. When multiple channels are available for transmission, the problem extends to that of partitioning the data across these channels. The condition of transmission channels, however, varies with time. Therefore, the error protection added to the data at one instant of time may not be optimal at the next. In this paper, we propose a method for adaptively adding error correction code in a rate-distortion (RD) optimized manner using rate-compatible punctured convolutional codes to an MJPEG2000 constant rate-coded frame of video. We perform an analysis on the rate-distortion tradeoff of each of the coding units (tiles and packets) in each frame and adapt the error correction code assigned to the unit taking into account the bandwidth and error characteristics of the channels. This method is applied to both single and multiple time-varying channel environments. We compare our method with a basic protection method in which data is either not transmitted, transmitted with no protection, or transmitted with a fixed amount of protection. Simulation results show promising performance for our proposed method.

  11. A complexity-scalable software-based MPEG-2 video encoder.

    PubMed

    Chen, Guo-bin; Lu, Xin-ning; Wang, Xing-guo; Liu, Ji-lin

    2004-05-01

    With the development of general-purpose processors (GPP) and video signal processing algorithms, it is possible to implement a software-based real-time video encoder on GPP, and its low cost and easy upgrade attract developers' interests to transfer video encoding from specialized hardware to more flexible software. In this paper, the encoding structure is set up first to support complexity scalability; then a lot of high performance algorithms are used on the key time-consuming modules in coding process; finally, at programming level, processor characteristics are considered to improve data access efficiency and processing parallelism. Other programming methods such as lookup table are adopted to reduce the computational complexity. Simulation results showed that these ideas could not only improve the global performance of video coding, but also provide great flexibility in complexity regulation.

  12. Evaluating the effectiveness of SW-only video coding for real-time video transmission over low-rate wireless networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bartolini, Franco; Pasquini, Cristina; Piva, Alessandro

    2001-04-01

    The recent development of video compression algorithms allowed the diffusion of systems for the transmission of video sequences over data networks. However, the transmission over error prone mobile communication channels is yet an open issue. In this paper, a system developed for the real time transmission of H263 video coded sequences over TETRA mobile networks is presented. TETRA is an open digital trunked radio standard defined by the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute developed for professional mobile radio users, providing full integration of voice and data services. Experimental tests demonstrate that, in spite of the low frame rate allowed by the SW only implementation of the decoder and by the low channel rate a video compression technique such as that complying with the H263 standard, is still preferable to a simpler but less effective frame based compression system.

  13. Video streaming with SHVC to HEVC transcoding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gudumasu, Srinivas; He, Yuwen; Ye, Yan; Xiu, Xiaoyu

    2015-09-01

    This paper proposes an efficient Scalable High efficiency Video Coding (SHVC) to High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) transcoder, which can reduce the transcoding complexity significantly, and provide a desired trade-off between the transcoding complexity and the transcoded video quality. To reduce the transcoding complexity, some of coding information, such as coding unit (CU) depth, prediction mode, merge mode, motion vector information, intra direction information and transform unit (TU) depth information, in the SHVC bitstream are mapped and transcoded to single layer HEVC bitstream. One major difficulty in transcoding arises when trying to reuse the motion information from SHVC bitstream since motion vectors referring to inter-layer reference (ILR) pictures cannot be reused directly in transcoding. Reusing motion information obtained from ILR pictures for those prediction units (PUs) will reduce the complexity of the SHVC transcoder greatly but a significant reduction in the quality of the picture is observed. Pictures corresponding to the intra refresh pictures in the base layer (BL) will be coded as P pictures in enhancement layer (EL) in the SHVC bitstream; and directly reusing the intra information from the BL for transcoding will not get a good coding efficiency. To solve these problems, various transcoding technologies are proposed. The proposed technologies offer different trade-offs between transcoding speed and transcoding quality. They are implemented on the basis of reference software SHM-6.0 and HM-14.0 for the two layer spatial scalability configuration. Simulations show that the proposed SHVC software transcoder reduces the transcoding complexity by up to 98-99% using low complexity transcoding mode when compared with cascaded re-encoding method. The transcoder performance at various bitrates with different transcoding modes are compared in terms of transcoding speed and transcoded video quality.

  14. HEVC for high dynamic range services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Seung-Hwan; Zhao, Jie; Misra, Kiran; Segall, Andrew

    2015-09-01

    Displays capable of showing a greater range of luminance values can render content containing high dynamic range information in a way such that the viewers have a more immersive experience. This paper introduces the design aspects of a high dynamic range (HDR) system, and examines the performance of the HDR processing chain in terms of compression efficiency. Specifically it examines the relation between recently introduced Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) ST 2084 transfer function and the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. SMPTE ST 2084 is designed to cover the full range of an HDR signal from 0 to 10,000 nits, however in many situations the valid signal range of actual video might be smaller than SMPTE ST 2084 supported range. The above restricted signal range results in restricted range of code values for input video data and adversely impacts compression efficiency. In this paper, we propose a code value remapping method that extends the restricted range code values into the full range code values so that the existing standards such as HEVC may better compress the video content. The paper also identifies related non-normative encoder-only changes that are required for remapping method for a fair comparison with anchor. Results are presented comparing the efficiency of the current approach versus the proposed remapping method for HM-16.2.

  15. Improve load balancing and coding efficiency of tiles in high efficiency video coding by adaptive tile boundary

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chan, Chia-Hsin; Tu, Chun-Chuan; Tsai, Wen-Jiin

    2017-01-01

    High efficiency video coding (HEVC) not only improves the coding efficiency drastically compared to the well-known H.264/AVC but also introduces coding tools for parallel processing, one of which is tiles. Tile partitioning is allowed to be arbitrary in HEVC, but how to decide tile boundaries remains an open issue. An adaptive tile boundary (ATB) method is proposed to select a better tile partitioning to improve load balancing (ATB-LoadB) and coding efficiency (ATB-Gain) with a unified scheme. Experimental results show that, compared to ordinary uniform-space partitioning, the proposed ATB can save up to 17.65% of encoding times in parallel encoding scenarios and can reduce up to 0.8% of total bit rates for coding efficiency.

  16. Exploration of depth modeling mode one lossless wedgelets storage strategies for 3D-high efficiency video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sanchez, Gustavo; Marcon, César; Agostini, Luciano Volcan

    2018-01-01

    The 3D-high efficiency video coding has introduced tools to obtain higher efficiency in 3-D video coding, and most of them are related to the depth maps coding. Among these tools, the depth modeling mode-1 (DMM-1) focuses on better encoding edges regions of depth maps. The large memory required for storing all wedgelet patterns is one of the bottlenecks in the DMM-1 hardware design of both encoder and decoder since many patterns must be stored. Three algorithms to reduce the DMM-1 memory requirements and a hardware design targeting the most efficient among these algorithms are presented. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed solutions surpass related works reducing up to 78.8% of the wedgelet memory, without degrading the encoding efficiency. Synthesis results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm reduces almost 75% of the power dissipation when compared to the standard approach.

  17. Crowdsourcing the Measurement of Interstate Conflict

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Much of the data used to measure conflict is extracted from news reports. This is typically accomplished using either expert coders to quantify the relevant information or machine coders to automatically extract data from documents. Although expert coding is costly, it produces quality data. Machine coding is fast and inexpensive, but the data are noisy. To diminish the severity of this tradeoff, we introduce a method for analyzing news documents that uses crowdsourcing, supplemented with computational approaches. The new method is tested on documents about Militarized Interstate Disputes, and its accuracy ranges between about 68 and 76 percent. This is shown to be a considerable improvement over automated coding, and to cost less and be much faster than expert coding. PMID:27310427

  18. AVS on satellite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Haiwu; Wang, Guozhong; Hou, Gang

    2005-07-01

    AVS is a new digital audio-video coding standard established by China. AVS will be used in digital TV broadcasting and next general optical disk. AVS adopted many digital audio-video coding techniques developed by Chinese company and universities in recent years, it has very low complexity compared to H.264, and AVS will charge very low royalty fee through one-step license including all AVS tools. So AVS is a good and competitive candidate for Chinese DTV and next generation optical disk. In addition, Chinese government has published a plan for satellite TV signal directly to home(DTH) and a telecommunication satellite named as SINO 2 will be launched in 2006. AVS will be also one of the best hopeful candidates of audio-video coding standard on satellite signal transmission.

  19. Judging the judges' performance in rhythmic gymnastics.

    PubMed

    Flessas, Konstantinos; Mylonas, Dimitris; Panagiotaropoulou, Georgia; Tsopani, Despina; Korda, Alexandrea; Siettos, Constantinos; Di Cagno, Alessandra; Evdokimidis, Ioannis; Smyrnis, Nikolaos

    2015-03-01

    Rhythmic gymnastics (RG) is an aesthetic event balancing between art and sport that also has a performance rating system (Code of Points) given by the International Gymnastics Federation. It is one of the sports in which competition results greatly depend on the judges' evaluation. In the current study, we explored the judges' performance in a five-gymnast ensemble routine. An expert-novice paradigm (10 international-level, 10 national-level, and 10 novice-level judges) was implemented under a fully simulated procedure of judgment in a five-gymnast ensemble routine of RG using two videos of routines performed by the Greek national team of RG. Simultaneous recordings of two-dimensional eye movements were taken during the judgment procedure to assess the percentage of time spent by each judge viewing the videos and fixation performance of each judge when an error in gymnast performance had occurred. All judge level groups had very modest performance of error recognition on gymnasts' routines, and the best international judges reported approximately 40% of true errors. Novice judges spent significantly more time viewing the videos compared with national and international judges and spent significantly more time fixating detected errors than the other two groups. National judges were the only group that made efficient use of fixation to detect errors. The fact that international-level judges outperformed both other groups, while not relying on visual fixation to detect errors, suggests that these experienced judges probably make use of other cognitive strategies, increasing their overall error detection efficiency, which was, however, still far below optimum.

  20. A software-based tool for video motion tracking in the surgical skills assessment landscape.

    PubMed

    Ganni, Sandeep; Botden, Sanne M B I; Chmarra, Magdalena; Goossens, Richard H M; Jakimowicz, Jack J

    2018-01-16

    The use of motion tracking has been proved to provide an objective assessment in surgical skills training. Current systems, however, require the use of additional equipment or specialised laparoscopic instruments and cameras to extract the data. The aim of this study was to determine the possibility of using a software-based solution to extract the data. 6 expert and 23 novice participants performed a basic laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedure in the operating room. The recorded videos were analysed using Kinovea 0.8.15 and the following parameters calculated the path length, average instrument movement and number of sudden or extreme movements. The analysed data showed that experts had significantly shorter path length (median 127 cm vs. 187 cm, p = 0.01), smaller average movements (median 0.40 cm vs. 0.32 cm, p = 0.002) and fewer sudden movements (median 14.00 vs. 21.61, p = 0.001) than their novice counterparts. The use of software-based video motion tracking of laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a simple and viable method enabling objective assessment of surgical performance. It provides clear discrimination between expert and novice performance.

  1. Multicore-based 3D-DWT video encoder

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Galiano, Vicente; López-Granado, Otoniel; Malumbres, Manuel P.; Migallón, Hector

    2013-12-01

    Three-dimensional wavelet transform (3D-DWT) encoders are good candidates for applications like professional video editing, video surveillance, multi-spectral satellite imaging, etc. where a frame must be reconstructed as quickly as possible. In this paper, we present a new 3D-DWT video encoder based on a fast run-length coding engine. Furthermore, we present several multicore optimizations to speed-up the 3D-DWT computation. An exhaustive evaluation of the proposed encoder (3D-GOP-RL) has been performed, and we have compared the evaluation results with other video encoders in terms of rate/distortion (R/D), coding/decoding delay, and memory consumption. Results show that the proposed encoder obtains good R/D results for high-resolution video sequences with nearly in-place computation using only the memory needed to store a group of pictures. After applying the multicore optimization strategies over the 3D DWT, the proposed encoder is able to compress a full high-definition video sequence in real-time.

  2. Rapid Improvement in Visual Selective Attention Related to Action Video Gaming Experience.

    PubMed

    Qiu, Nan; Ma, Weiyi; Fan, Xin; Zhang, Youjin; Li, Yi; Yan, Yuening; Zhou, Zhongliang; Li, Fali; Gong, Diankun; Yao, Dezhong

    2018-01-01

    A central issue in cognitive science is understanding how learning induces cognitive and neural plasticity, which helps illuminate the biological basis of learning. Research in the past few decades showed that action video gaming (AVG) offered new, important perspectives on learning-related cognitive and neural plasticity. However, it is still unclear whether cognitive and neural plasticity is observable after a brief AVG session. Using behavioral and electrophysiological measures, this study examined the plasticity of visual selective attention (VSA) associated with a 1 h AVG session. Both AVG experts and non-experts participated in this study. Their VSA was assessed prior to and after the AVG session. Within-group comparisons on the participants' performance before and after the AVG session showed improvements in response time in both groups and modulations of electrophysiological measures in the non-experts. Furthermore, between-group comparisons showed that the experts had superior VSA, relative to the non-experts, prior to the AVG session. These findings suggested an association between the plasticity of VSA and AVG. Most importantly, this study showed that the plasticity of VSA was observable after even a 1 h AVG session.

  3. Rapid Improvement in Visual Selective Attention Related to Action Video Gaming Experience

    PubMed Central

    Qiu, Nan; Ma, Weiyi; Fan, Xin; Zhang, Youjin; Li, Yi; Yan, Yuening; Zhou, Zhongliang; Li, Fali; Gong, Diankun; Yao, Dezhong

    2018-01-01

    A central issue in cognitive science is understanding how learning induces cognitive and neural plasticity, which helps illuminate the biological basis of learning. Research in the past few decades showed that action video gaming (AVG) offered new, important perspectives on learning-related cognitive and neural plasticity. However, it is still unclear whether cognitive and neural plasticity is observable after a brief AVG session. Using behavioral and electrophysiological measures, this study examined the plasticity of visual selective attention (VSA) associated with a 1 h AVG session. Both AVG experts and non-experts participated in this study. Their VSA was assessed prior to and after the AVG session. Within-group comparisons on the participants' performance before and after the AVG session showed improvements in response time in both groups and modulations of electrophysiological measures in the non-experts. Furthermore, between-group comparisons showed that the experts had superior VSA, relative to the non-experts, prior to the AVG session. These findings suggested an association between the plasticity of VSA and AVG. Most importantly, this study showed that the plasticity of VSA was observable after even a 1 h AVG session. PMID:29487514

  4. Cortical fMRI activation to opponents' body kinematics in sport-related anticipation: expert-novice differences with normal and point-light video.

    PubMed

    Wright, M J; Bishop, D T; Jackson, R C; Abernethy, B

    2011-08-18

    Badminton players of varying skill levels viewed normal and point-light video clips of opponents striking the shuttle towards the viewer; their task was to predict in which quadrant of the court the shuttle would land. In a whole-brain fMRI analysis we identified bilateral cortical networks sensitive to the anticipation task relative to control stimuli. This network is more extensive and localised than previously reported. Voxel clusters responding more strongly in experts than novices were associated with all task-sensitive areas, whereas voxels responding more strongly in novices were found outside these areas. Task-sensitive areas for normal and point-light video were very similar, whereas early visual areas responded differentially, indicating the primacy of kinematic information for sport-related anticipation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Subjective evaluation of H.265/HEVC based dynamic adaptive video streaming over HTTP (HEVC-DASH)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Irondi, Iheanyi; Wang, Qi; Grecos, Christos

    2015-02-01

    The Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) standard is becoming increasingly popular for real-time adaptive HTTP streaming of internet video in response to unstable network conditions. Integration of DASH streaming techniques with the new H.265/HEVC video coding standard is a promising area of research. The performance of HEVC-DASH systems has been previously evaluated by a few researchers using objective metrics, however subjective evaluation would provide a better measure of the user's Quality of Experience (QoE) and overall performance of the system. This paper presents a subjective evaluation of an HEVC-DASH system implemented in a hardware testbed. Previous studies in this area have focused on using the current H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) or H.264/SVC (Scalable Video Coding) codecs and moreover, there has been no established standard test procedure for the subjective evaluation of DASH adaptive streaming. In this paper, we define a test plan for HEVC-DASH with a carefully justified data set employing longer video sequences that would be sufficient to demonstrate the bitrate switching operations in response to various network condition patterns. We evaluate the end user's real-time QoE online by investigating the perceived impact of delay, different packet loss rates, fluctuating bandwidth, and the perceived quality of using different DASH video stream segment sizes on a video streaming session using different video sequences. The Mean Opinion Score (MOS) results give an insight into the performance of the system and expectation of the users. The results from this study show the impact of different network impairments and different video segments on users' QoE and further analysis and study may help in optimizing system performance.

  6. Perceptual video quality assessment in H.264 video coding standard using objective modeling.

    PubMed

    Karthikeyan, Ramasamy; Sainarayanan, Gopalakrishnan; Deepa, Subramaniam Nachimuthu

    2014-01-01

    Since usage of digital video is wide spread nowadays, quality considerations have become essential, and industry demand for video quality measurement is rising. This proposal provides a method of perceptual quality assessment in H.264 standard encoder using objective modeling. For this purpose, quality impairments are calculated and a model is developed to compute the perceptual video quality metric based on no reference method. Because of the shuttle difference between the original video and the encoded video the quality of the encoded picture gets degraded, this quality difference is introduced by the encoding process like Intra and Inter prediction. The proposed model takes into account of the artifacts introduced by these spatial and temporal activities in the hybrid block based coding methods and an objective modeling of these artifacts into subjective quality estimation is proposed. The proposed model calculates the objective quality metric using subjective impairments; blockiness, blur and jerkiness compared to the existing bitrate only calculation defined in the ITU G 1070 model. The accuracy of the proposed perceptual video quality metrics is compared against popular full reference objective methods as defined by VQEG.

  7. Informative-frame filtering in endoscopy videos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    An, Yong Hwan; Hwang, Sae; Oh, JungHwan; Lee, JeongKyu; Tavanapong, Wallapak; de Groen, Piet C.; Wong, Johnny

    2005-04-01

    Advances in video technology are being incorporated into today"s healthcare practice. For example, colonoscopy is an important screening tool for colorectal cancer. Colonoscopy allows for the inspection of the entire colon and provides the ability to perform a number of therapeutic operations during a single procedure. During a colonoscopic procedure, a tiny video camera at the tip of the endoscope generates a video signal of the internal mucosa of the colon. The video data are displayed on a monitor for real-time analysis by the endoscopist. Other endoscopic procedures include upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, enteroscopy, bronchoscopy, cystoscopy, and laparoscopy. However, a significant number of out-of-focus frames are included in this type of videos since current endoscopes are equipped with a single, wide-angle lens that cannot be focused. The out-of-focus frames do not hold any useful information. To reduce the burdens of the further processes such as computer-aided image processing or human expert"s examinations, these frames need to be removed. We call an out-of-focus frame as non-informative frame and an in-focus frame as informative frame. We propose a new technique to classify the video frames into two classes, informative and non-informative frames using a combination of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), Texture Analysis, and K-Means Clustering. The proposed technique can evaluate the frames without any reference image, and does not need any predefined threshold value. Our experimental studies indicate that it achieves over 96% of four different performance metrics (i.e. precision, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy).

  8. Violent Video Games Recruit American Youth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lugo, William

    2006-01-01

    An expert on the sociology of video games highlights the power of this medium to popularize violence among children. But few are aware that some of the most technologically potent products are violent war games now being produced at taxpayer expense. These are provided free as a recruiting tool by the United States military. The author contends…

  9. Localizing Target Structures in Ultrasound Video

    PubMed Central

    Kwitt, R.; Vasconcelos, N.; Razzaque, S.; Aylward, S.

    2013-01-01

    The problem of localizing specific anatomic structures using ultrasound (US) video is considered. This involves automatically determining when an US probe is acquiring images of a previously defined object of interest, during the course of an US examination. Localization using US is motivated by the increased availability of portable, low-cost US probes, which inspire applications where inexperienced personnel and even first-time users acquire US data that is then sent to experts for further assessment. This process is of particular interest for routine examinations in underserved populations as well as for patient triage after natural disasters and large-scale accidents, where experts may be in short supply. The proposed localization approach is motivated by research in the area of dynamic texture analysis and leverages several recent advances in the field of activity recognition. For evaluation, we introduce an annotated and publicly available database of US video, acquired on three phantoms. Several experiments reveal the challenges of applying video analysis approaches to US images and demonstrate that good localization performance is possible with the proposed solution. PMID:23746488

  10. Portrayal of Alcohol Brands Popular Among Underage Youth on YouTube: A Content Analysis.

    PubMed

    Primack, Brian A; Colditz, Jason B; Rosen, Eva B; Giles, Leila M; Jackson, Kristina M; Kraemer, Kevin L

    2017-09-01

    We characterized leading YouTube videos featuring alcohol brand references and examined video characteristics associated with each brand and video category. We systematically captured the 137 most relevant and popular videos on YouTube portraying alcohol brands that are popular among underage youth. We used an iterative process to codebook development. We coded variables within domains of video type, character sociodemographics, production quality, and negative and positive associations with alcohol use. All variables were double coded, and Cohen's kappa was greater than .80 for all variables except age, which was eliminated. There were 96,860,936 combined views for all videos. The most common video type was "traditional advertisements," which comprised 40% of videos. Of the videos, 20% were "guides" and 10% focused on chugging a bottle of distilled spirits. While 95% of videos featured males, 40% featured females. Alcohol intoxication was present in 19% of videos. Aggression, addiction, and injuries were uncommonly identified (2%, 3%, and 4%, respectively), but 47% of videos contained humor. Traditional advertisements represented the majority of videos related to Bud Light (83%) but only 18% of Grey Goose and 8% of Hennessy videos. Intoxication was most present in chugging demonstrations (77%), whereas addiction was only portrayed in music videos (22%). Videos containing humor ranged from 11% for music-related videos to 77% for traditional advertisements. YouTube videos depicting the alcohol brands favored by underage youth are heavily viewed, and the majority are traditional or narrative advertisements. Understanding characteristics associated with different brands and video categories may aid in intervention development.

  11. Assessing instrument handling and operative consequences simultaneously: a simple method for creating synced multicamera videos for endosurgical or microsurgical skills assessments.

    PubMed

    Jabbour, Noel; Sidman, James

    2011-10-01

    There has been an increasing interest in assessment of technical skills in most medical and surgical disciplines. Many of these assessments involve microscopy or endoscopy and are thus amenable to video recording for post hoc review. An ideal skills assessment video would provide the reviewer with a simultaneous view of the examinee's instrument handling and the operative field. Ideally, a reviewer should be blinded to the identity of the examinee and whether the assessment was performed as a pretest or posttest examination, when given in conjunction with an educational intervention. We describe a simple method for reliably creating deidentified, multicamera, time-synced videos, which may be used in technical skills assessments. We pilot tested this method in a pediatric airway endoscopy Objective Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS). Total video length was compared with the OSATS administration time. Thirty-nine OSATS were administered. There were no errors encountered in time-syncing the videos using this method. Mean duration of OSATS videos was 11 minutes and 20 seconds, which was significantly less than the time needed for an expert to be present at the administration of each 30-minute OSATS (P < 0.001). The described method for creating time-synced, multicamera skills assessment videos is reliable and may be used in endosurgical or microsurgical skills assessments. Compared with live review, post hoc video review using this method can save valuable expert reviewer time. Most importantly, this method allows a reviewer to simultaneously evaluate an examinee's instrument handling and the operative field while being blinded to the examinee's identity and timing of examination administration.

  12. Video quality assessment using a statistical model of human visual speed perception.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zhou; Li, Qiang

    2007-12-01

    Motion is one of the most important types of information contained in natural video, but direct use of motion information in the design of video quality assessment algorithms has not been deeply investigated. Here we propose to incorporate a recent model of human visual speed perception [Nat. Neurosci. 9, 578 (2006)] and model visual perception in an information communication framework. This allows us to estimate both the motion information content and the perceptual uncertainty in video signals. Improved video quality assessment algorithms are obtained by incorporating the model as spatiotemporal weighting factors, where the weight increases with the information content and decreases with the perceptual uncertainty. Consistent improvement over existing video quality assessment algorithms is observed in our validation with the video quality experts group Phase I test data set.

  13. A contourlet transform based algorithm for real-time video encoding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Katsigiannis, Stamos; Papaioannou, Georgios; Maroulis, Dimitris

    2012-06-01

    In recent years, real-time video communication over the internet has been widely utilized for applications like video conferencing. Streaming live video over heterogeneous IP networks, including wireless networks, requires video coding algorithms that can support various levels of quality in order to adapt to the network end-to-end bandwidth and transmitter/receiver resources. In this work, a scalable video coding and compression algorithm based on the Contourlet Transform is proposed. The algorithm allows for multiple levels of detail, without re-encoding the video frames, by just dropping the encoded information referring to higher resolution than needed. Compression is achieved by means of lossy and lossless methods, as well as variable bit rate encoding schemes. Furthermore, due to the transformation utilized, it does not suffer from blocking artifacts that occur with many widely adopted compression algorithms. Another highly advantageous characteristic of the algorithm is the suppression of noise induced by low-quality sensors usually encountered in web-cameras, due to the manipulation of the transform coefficients at the compression stage. The proposed algorithm is designed to introduce minimal coding delay, thus achieving real-time performance. Performance is enhanced by utilizing the vast computational capabilities of modern GPUs, providing satisfactory encoding and decoding times at relatively low cost. These characteristics make this method suitable for applications like video-conferencing that demand real-time performance, along with the highest visual quality possible for each user. Through the presented performance and quality evaluation of the algorithm, experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better or comparable visual quality relative to other compression and encoding methods tested, while maintaining a satisfactory compression ratio. Especially at low bitrates, it provides more human-eye friendly images compared to algorithms utilizing block-based coding, like the MPEG family, as it introduces fuzziness and blurring instead of artificial block artifacts.

  14. Developing Cognitive Task Analysis-based Educational Videos for Basic Surgical Skills in Plastic Surgery.

    PubMed

    Yeung, Celine; McMillan, Catherine; Saun, Tomas J; Sun, Kimberly; D'hondt, Veerle; von Schroeder, Herbert P; Martou, Glykeria; Lee, Matthew; Liao, Elizabeth; Binhammer, Paul

    To describe the development of cognitive task analysis (CTA)-based multimedia educational videos for surgical trainees in plastic surgery. A needs assessment survey was used to identify 5 plastic surgery skills on which to focus the educational videos. Three plastic surgeons were video-recorded performing each skill while describing the procedure, and were interviewed with probing questions. Three medical student reviewers coded transcripts and categorized each step into "action," "decision," or "assessment," and created a cognitive demands table (CDT) for each skill. The CDTs were combined into 1 table that was reviewed by the surgeons performing each skill to ensure accuracy. The final CDTs were compared against each surgeon's original transcripts. The total number of steps identified, percentage of steps shared, and the average percentage of steps omitted were calculated. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, an urban tertiary care teaching center. Canadian junior plastic surgery residents (n = 78) were sent a needs assessment survey. Four plastic surgeons and 1 orthopedic surgeon performed the skills. Twenty-eight residents responded to the survey (36%). Subcuticular suturing, horizontal and vertical mattress suturing, hand splinting, digital nerve block, and excisional biopsy had the most number of residents (>80%) rank the skills as being skills that students should be able to perform before entering residency. The number of steps identified through CTA ranged from 12 to 29. Percentage of steps shared by all 3 surgeons for each skill ranged from 30% to 48%, while the average percentage of steps that were omitted by each surgeon ranged from 27% to 40%. Instructional videos for basic surgical skills may be generated using CTA to help experts provide comprehensive descriptions of a procedure. A CTA-based educational tool may give trainees access to a broader, objective body of knowledge, allowing them to learn decision-making processes before entering the operating room. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. MATIN: a random network coding based framework for high quality peer-to-peer live video streaming.

    PubMed

    Barekatain, Behrang; Khezrimotlagh, Dariush; Aizaini Maarof, Mohd; Ghaeini, Hamid Reza; Salleh, Shaharuddin; Quintana, Alfonso Ariza; Akbari, Behzad; Cabrera, Alicia Triviño

    2013-01-01

    In recent years, Random Network Coding (RNC) has emerged as a promising solution for efficient Peer-to-Peer (P2P) video multicasting over the Internet. This probably refers to this fact that RNC noticeably increases the error resiliency and throughput of the network. However, high transmission overhead arising from sending large coefficients vector as header has been the most important challenge of the RNC. Moreover, due to employing the Gauss-Jordan elimination method, considerable computational complexity can be imposed on peers in decoding the encoded blocks and checking linear dependency among the coefficients vectors. In order to address these challenges, this study introduces MATIN which is a random network coding based framework for efficient P2P video streaming. The MATIN includes a novel coefficients matrix generation method so that there is no linear dependency in the generated coefficients matrix. Using the proposed framework, each peer encapsulates one instead of n coefficients entries into the generated encoded packet which results in very low transmission overhead. It is also possible to obtain the inverted coefficients matrix using a bit number of simple arithmetic operations. In this regard, peers sustain very low computational complexities. As a result, the MATIN permits random network coding to be more efficient in P2P video streaming systems. The results obtained from simulation using OMNET++ show that it substantially outperforms the RNC which uses the Gauss-Jordan elimination method by providing better video quality on peers in terms of the four important performance metrics including video distortion, dependency distortion, End-to-End delay and Initial Startup delay.

  16. High-throughput sample adaptive offset hardware architecture for high-efficiency video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Wei; Yan, Chang; Zhang, Jingzhi; Zhou, Xin

    2018-03-01

    A high-throughput hardware architecture for a sample adaptive offset (SAO) filter in the high-efficiency video coding video coding standard is presented. First, an implementation-friendly and simplified bitrate estimation method of rate-distortion cost calculation is proposed to reduce the computational complexity in the mode decision of SAO. Then, a high-throughput VLSI architecture for SAO is presented based on the proposed bitrate estimation method. Furthermore, multiparallel VLSI architecture for in-loop filters, which integrates both deblocking filter and SAO filter, is proposed. Six parallel strategies are applied in the proposed in-loop filters architecture to improve the system throughput and filtering speed. Experimental results show that the proposed in-loop filters architecture can achieve up to 48% higher throughput in comparison with prior work. The proposed architecture can reach a high-operating clock frequency of 297 MHz with TSMC 65-nm library and meet the real-time requirement of the in-loop filters for 8 K × 4 K video format at 132 fps.

  17. Comparison of H.265/HEVC encoders

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trochimiuk, Maciej

    2016-09-01

    The H.265/HEVC is the state-of-the-art video compression standard, which allows the bitrate reduction up to 50% compared with its predecessor, H.264/AVC, maintaining equal perceptual video quality. The growth in coding efficiency was achieved by increasing the number of available intra- and inter-frame prediction features and improvements in existing ones, such as entropy encoding and filtering. Nevertheless, to achieve real-time performance of the encoder, simplifications in algorithm are inevitable. Some features and coding modes shall be skipped, to reduce time needed to evaluate modes forwarded to rate-distortion optimisation. Thus, the potential acceleration of the encoding process comes at the expense of coding efficiency. In this paper, a trade-off between video quality and encoding speed of various H.265/HEVC encoders is discussed.

  18. Differentiating experts' anticipatory skills in beach volleyball.

    PubMed

    Cañal-Bruland, Rouwen; Mooren, Merel; Savelsbergh, Geert J P

    2011-12-01

    In this study, we examined how perceptual-motor expertise and watching experience contribute to anticipating the outcome of opponents' attacking actions in beach volleyball. To this end, we invited 8 expert beach volleyball players, 8 expert coaches, 8 expert referees, and 8 control participants with no beach volleyball experience to watch videos of attack sequences that were occluded at three different times and to predict the outcome of these situations. Results showed that expert players and coaches (who were both perceptual-motor experts) outperformed the expert referees (who were watching experts but did not have the same motor expertise) and the control group in the latest occlusion condition (i.e., at spiker-ball contact). This finding suggests that perceptual-motor expertise may contribute to successful action anticipation in beach volleyball.

  19. Links between Characteristics of Collaborative Peer Video Analysis Events and Literacy Teachers' Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arya, Poonam; Christ, Tanya; Chiu, Ming

    2015-01-01

    This study examined how characteristics of Collaborative Peer Video Analysis (CPVA) events are related to teachers' pedagogical outcomes. Data included 39 transcribed literacy video events, in which 14 in-service teachers engaged in discussions of their video clips. Emergent coding and Statistical Discourse Analysis were used to analyze the data.…

  20. Optimal power allocation and joint source-channel coding for wireless DS-CDMA visual sensor networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pandremmenou, Katerina; Kondi, Lisimachos P.; Parsopoulos, Konstantinos E.

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a scheme for the optimal allocation of power, source coding rate, and channel coding rate for each of the nodes of a wireless Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) visual sensor network. The optimization is quality-driven, i.e. the received quality of the video that is transmitted by the nodes is optimized. The scheme takes into account the fact that the sensor nodes may be imaging scenes with varying levels of motion. Nodes that image low-motion scenes will require a lower source coding rate, so they will be able to allocate a greater portion of the total available bit rate to channel coding. Stronger channel coding will mean that such nodes will be able to transmit at lower power. This will both increase battery life and reduce interference to other nodes. Two optimization criteria are considered. One that minimizes the average video distortion of the nodes and one that minimizes the maximum distortion among the nodes. The transmission powers are allowed to take continuous values, whereas the source and channel coding rates can assume only discrete values. Thus, the resulting optimization problem lies in the field of mixed-integer optimization tasks and is solved using Particle Swarm Optimization. Our experimental results show the importance of considering the characteristics of the video sequences when determining the transmission power, source coding rate and channel coding rate for the nodes of the visual sensor network.

  1. A new method for evaluating compliance with industry self-regulation codes governing the content of alcohol advertising.

    PubMed

    Babor, Thomas F; Xuan, Ziming; Damon, Donna

    2013-10-01

    This study evaluated the use of a modified Delphi technique in combination with a previously developed alcohol advertising rating procedure to detect content violations in the U.S. Beer Institute Code. A related aim was to estimate the minimum number of raters needed to obtain reliable evaluations of code violations in television commercials. Six alcohol ads selected for their likelihood of having code violations were rated by community and expert participants (N = 286). Quantitative rating scales were used to measure the content of alcohol advertisements based on alcohol industry self-regulatory guidelines. The community group participants represented vulnerability characteristics that industry codes were designed to protect (e.g., age <21); experts represented various health-related professions, including public health, human development, alcohol research, and mental health. Alcohol ads were rated on 2 occasions separated by 1 month. After completing Time 1 ratings, participants were randomized to receive feedback from 1 group or the other. Findings indicate that (i) ratings at Time 2 had generally reduced variance, suggesting greater consensus after feedback, (ii) feedback from the expert group was more influential than that of the community group in developing group consensus, (iii) the expert group found significantly fewer violations than the community group, (iv) experts representing different professional backgrounds did not differ among themselves in the number of violations identified, and (v) a rating panel composed of at least 15 raters is sufficient to obtain reliable estimates of code violations. The Delphi technique facilitates consensus development around code violations in alcohol ad content and may enhance the ability of regulatory agencies to monitor the content of alcoholic beverage advertising when combined with psychometric-based rating procedures. Copyright © 2013 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

  2. A New Method for Evaluating Compliance with Industry Self-regulation Codes Governing the Content of Alcohol Advertising

    PubMed Central

    Babor, Thomas F.; Xuan, Ziming; Damon, Donna

    2013-01-01

    Background This study evaluated the use of a modified Delphi technique in combination with a previously developed alcohol advertising rating procedure to detect content violations in the US Beer Institute code. A related aim was to estimate the minimum number of raters needed to obtain reliable evaluations of code violations in television commercials. Methods Six alcohol ads selected for their likelihood of having code violations were rated by community and expert participants (N=286). Quantitative rating scales were used to measure the content of alcohol advertisements based on alcohol industry self-regulatory guidelines. The community group participants represented vulnerability characteristics that industry codes were designed to protect (e.g., age < 21); experts represented various health-related professions, including public health, human development, alcohol research and mental health. Alcohol ads were rated on two occasions separated by one month. After completing Time 1 ratings, participants were randomized to receive feedback from one group or the other. Results Findings indicate that (1) ratings at Time 2 had generally reduced variance, suggesting greater consensus after feedback, (2) feedback from the expert group was more influential than that of the community group in developing group consensus, (3) the expert group found significantly fewer violations than the community group, (4) experts representing different professional backgrounds did not differ among themselves in the number of violations identified; (5) a rating panel composed of at least 15 raters is sufficient to obtain reliable estimates of code violations. Conclusions The Delphi Technique facilitates consensus development around code violations in alcohol ad content and may enhance the ability of regulatory agencies to monitor the content of alcoholic beverage advertising when combined with psychometric-based rating procedures. PMID:23682927

  3. VLSI design of lossless frame recompression using multi-orientation prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Yu-Hsuan; You, Yi-Lun; Chen, Yi-Guo

    2016-01-01

    Pursuing an experience of high-end visual quality drives human to demand a higher display resolution and a higher frame rate. Hence, a lot of powerful coding tools are aggregated together in emerging video coding standards to improve coding efficiency. This also makes video coding standards suffer from two design challenges: heavy computation and tremendous memory bandwidth. The first issue can be properly solved by a careful hardware architecture design with advanced semiconductor processes. Nevertheless, the second one becomes a critical design bottleneck for a modern video coding system. In this article, a lossless frame recompression using multi-orientation prediction technique is proposed to overcome this bottleneck. This work is realised into a silicon chip with the technology of TSMC 0.18 µm CMOS process. Its encoding capability can reach full-HD (1920 × 1080)@48 fps. The chip power consumption is 17.31 mW@100 MHz. Core area and chip area are 0.83 × 0.83 mm2 and 1.20 × 1.20 mm2, respectively. Experiment results demonstrate that this work exhibits an outstanding performance on lossless compression ratio with a competitive hardware performance.

  4. An Expert System for the Development of Efficient Parallel Code

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jost, Gabriele; Chun, Robert; Jin, Hao-Qiang; Labarta, Jesus; Gimenez, Judit

    2004-01-01

    We have built the prototype of an expert system to assist the user in the development of efficient parallel code. The system was integrated into the parallel programming environment that is currently being developed at NASA Ames. The expert system interfaces to tools for automatic parallelization and performance analysis. It uses static program structure information and performance data in order to automatically determine causes of poor performance and to make suggestions for improvements. In this paper we give an overview of our programming environment, describe the prototype implementation of our expert system, and demonstrate its usefulness with several case studies.

  5. Consensus-Based Attributes for Identifying Patients With Spasmodic Dysphonia and Other Voice Disorders.

    PubMed

    Ludlow, Christy L; Domangue, Rickie; Sharma, Dinesh; Jinnah, H A; Perlmutter, Joel S; Berke, Gerald; Sapienza, Christine; Smith, Marshall E; Blumin, Joel H; Kalata, Carrie E; Blindauer, Karen; Johns, Michael; Hapner, Edie; Harmon, Archie; Paniello, Randal; Adler, Charles H; Crujido, Lisa; Lott, David G; Bansberg, Stephen F; Barone, Nicholas; Drulia, Teresa; Stebbins, Glenn

    2018-06-21

    A roadblock for research on adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD), abductor SD (ABSD), voice tremor (VT), and muscular tension dysphonia (MTD) is the lack of criteria for selecting patients with these disorders. To determine the agreement among experts not using standard guidelines to classify patients with ABSD, ADSD, VT, and MTD, and develop expert consensus attributes for classifying patients for research. From 2011 to 2016, a multicenter observational study examined agreement among blinded experts when classifying patients with ADSD, ABSD, VT or MTD (first study). Subsequently, a 4-stage Delphi method study used reiterative stages of review by an expert panel and 46 community experts to develop consensus on attributes to be used for classifying patients with the 4 disorders (second study). The study used a convenience sample of 178 patients clinically diagnosed with ADSD, ABSD, VT MTD, vocal fold paresis/paralysis, psychogenic voice disorders, or hypophonia secondary to Parkinson disease. Participants were aged 18 years or older, without laryngeal structural disease or surgery for ADSD and underwent speech and nasolaryngoscopy video recordings following a standard protocol. Speech and nasolaryngoscopy video recordings following a standard protocol. Specialists at 4 sites classified 178 patients into 11 categories. Four international experts independently classified 75 patients using the same categories without guidelines after viewing speech and nasolaryngoscopy video recordings. Each member from the 4 sites also classified 50 patients from other sites after viewing video clips of voice/laryngeal tasks. Interrater κ less than 0.40 indicated poor classification agreement among rater pairs and across recruiting sites. Consequently, a Delphi panel of 13 experts identified and ranked speech and laryngeal movement attributes for classifying ADSD, ABSD, VT, and MTD, which were reviewed by 46 community specialists. Based on the median attribute rankings, a final attribute list was created for each disorder. When classifying patients without guidelines, raters differed in their classification distributions (likelihood ratio, χ2 = 107.66), had poor interrater agreement, and poor agreement with site categories. For 11 categories, the highest agreement was 34%, with no κ values greater than 0.26. In external rater pairs, the highest κ was 0.23 and the highest agreement was 38.5%. Using 6 categories, the highest percent agreement was 73.3% and the highest κ was 0.40. The Delphi method yielded 18 attributes for classifying disorders from speech and nasolaryngoscopic examinations. Specialists without guidelines had poor agreement when classifying patients for research, leading to a Delphi-based development of the Spasmodic Dysphonia Attributes Inventory for classifying patients with ADSD, ABSD, VT, and MTD for research.

  6. Coding tools investigation for next generation video coding based on HEVC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Jianle; Chen, Ying; Karczewicz, Marta; Li, Xiang; Liu, Hongbin; Zhang, Li; Zhao, Xin

    2015-09-01

    The new state-of-the-art video coding standard, H.265/HEVC, has been finalized in 2013 and it achieves roughly 50% bit rate saving compared to its predecessor, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. This paper provides the evidence that there is still potential for further coding efficiency improvements. A brief overview of HEVC is firstly given in the paper. Then, our improvements on each main module of HEVC are presented. For instance, the recursive quadtree block structure is extended to support larger coding unit and transform unit. The motion information prediction scheme is improved by advanced temporal motion vector prediction, which inherits the motion information of each small block within a large block from a temporal reference picture. Cross component prediction with linear prediction model improves intra prediction and overlapped block motion compensation improves the efficiency of inter prediction. Furthermore, coding of both intra and inter prediction residual is improved by adaptive multiple transform technique. Finally, in addition to deblocking filter and SAO, adaptive loop filter is applied to further enhance the reconstructed picture quality. This paper describes above-mentioned techniques in detail and evaluates their coding performance benefits based on the common test condition during HEVC development. The simulation results show that significant performance improvement over HEVC standard can be achieved, especially for the high resolution video materials.

  7. Complexity control algorithm based on adaptive mode selection for interframe coding in high efficiency video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Gang; Yang, Bing; Zhang, Xiaoyun; Gao, Zhiyong

    2017-07-01

    The latest high efficiency video coding (HEVC) standard significantly increases the encoding complexity for improving its coding efficiency. Due to the limited computational capability of handheld devices, complexity constrained video coding has drawn great attention in recent years. A complexity control algorithm based on adaptive mode selection is proposed for interframe coding in HEVC. Considering the direct proportionality between encoding time and computational complexity, the computational complexity is measured in terms of encoding time. First, complexity is mapped to a target in terms of prediction modes. Then, an adaptive mode selection algorithm is proposed for the mode decision process. Specifically, the optimal mode combination scheme that is chosen through offline statistics is developed at low complexity. If the complexity budget has not been used up, an adaptive mode sorting method is employed to further improve coding efficiency. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a very large complexity control range (as low as 10%) for the HEVC encoder while maintaining good rate-distortion performance. For the lowdelayP condition, compared with the direct resource allocation method and the state-of-the-art method, an average gain of 0.63 and 0.17 dB in BDPSNR is observed for 18 sequences when the target complexity is around 40%.

  8. Translating expert system rules into Ada code with validation and verification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Becker, Lee; Duckworth, R. James; Green, Peter; Michalson, Bill; Gosselin, Dave; Nainani, Krishan; Pease, Adam

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of this ongoing research and development program is to develop software tools which enable the rapid development, upgrading, and maintenance of embedded real-time artificial intelligence systems. The goals of this phase of the research were to investigate the feasibility of developing software tools which automatically translate expert system rules into Ada code and develop methods for performing validation and verification testing of the resultant expert system. A prototype system was demonstrated which automatically translated rules from an Air Force expert system was demonstrated which detected errors in the execution of the resultant system. The method and prototype tools for converting AI representations into Ada code by converting the rules into Ada code modules and then linking them with an Activation Framework based run-time environment to form an executable load module are discussed. This method is based upon the use of Evidence Flow Graphs which are a data flow representation for intelligent systems. The development of prototype test generation and evaluation software which was used to test the resultant code is discussed. This testing was performed automatically using Monte-Carlo techniques based upon a constraint based description of the required performance for the system.

  9. ICC '86; Proceedings of the International Conference on Communications, Toronto, Canada, June 22-25, 1986, Conference Record. Volumes 1, 2, & 3

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Papers are presented on ISDN, mobile radio systems and techniques for digital connectivity, centralized and distributed algorithms in computer networks, communications networks, quality assurance and impact on cost, adaptive filters in communications, the spread spectrum, signal processing, video communication techniques, and digital satellite services. Topics discussed include performance evaluation issues for integrated protocols, packet network operations, the computer network theory and multiple-access, microwave single sideband systems, switching architectures, fiber optic systems, wireless local communications, modulation, coding, and synchronization, remote switching, software quality, transmission, and expert systems in network operations. Consideration is given to wide area networks, image and speech processing, office communications application protocols, multimedia systems, customer-controlled network operations, digital radio systems, channel modeling and signal processing in digital communications, earth station/on-board modems, computer communications system performance evaluation, source encoding, compression, and quantization, and adaptive communications systems.

  10. Using cognitive task analysis to create a teaching protocol for bovine dystocia.

    PubMed

    Read, Emma K; Baillie, Sarah

    2013-01-01

    When learning skilled techniques and procedures, students face many challenges. Learning is easier when detailed instructions are available, but experts often find it difficult to articulate all of the steps involved in a task or relate to the learner as a novice. This problem is further compounded when the technique is internal and unsighted (e.g., obstetrical procedures). Using expert bovine practitioners and a life-size model cow and calf, the steps and decision making involved in performing correction of two different dystocia presentations (anterior leg back and breech) were deconstructed using cognitive task analysis (CTA). Video cameras were positioned to capture movement inside and outside the cow model while the experts were asked to first perform the technique as they would in a real situation and then perform the procedure again as if articulating the steps to a novice learner. The audio segments were transcribed and, together with the video components, analyzed to create a list of steps for each expert. Consensus was achieved between experts during individual interviews followed by a group discussion. A "gold standard" list or teaching protocol was created for each malpresentation. CTA was useful in defining the technical and cognitive steps required to both perform and teach the tasks effectively. Differences between experts highlight the need for consensus before teaching the skill. In addition, the study identified several different, yet effective, techniques and provided information that could allow experts to consider other approaches they might use when their own technique fails.

  11. DCT based interpolation filter for motion compensation in HEVC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alshin, Alexander; Alshina, Elena; Park, Jeong Hoon; Han, Woo-Jin

    2012-10-01

    High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) draft standard has a challenging goal to improve coding efficiency twice compare to H.264/AVC. Many aspects of the traditional hybrid coding framework were improved during new standard development. Motion compensated prediction, in particular the interpolation filter, is one area that was improved significantly over H.264/AVC. This paper presents the details of the interpolation filter design of the draft HEVC standard. The coding efficiency improvements over H.264/AVC interpolation filter is studied and experimental results are presented, which show a 4.0% average bitrate reduction for Luma component and 11.3% average bitrate reduction for Chroma component. The coding efficiency gains are significant for some video sequences and can reach up 21.7%.

  12. Dynamic code block size for JPEG 2000

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Ping-Sing; LeCornec, Yann

    2008-02-01

    Since the standardization of the JPEG 2000, it has found its way into many different applications such as DICOM (digital imaging and communication in medicine), satellite photography, military surveillance, digital cinema initiative, professional video cameras, and so on. The unified framework of the JPEG 2000 architecture makes practical high quality real-time compression possible even in video mode, i.e. motion JPEG 2000. In this paper, we present a study of the compression impact using dynamic code block size instead of fixed code block size as specified in the JPEG 2000 standard. The simulation results show that there is no significant impact on compression if dynamic code block sizes are used. In this study, we also unveil the advantages of using dynamic code block sizes.

  13. Using Video to Examine Formative Assessment Practices as Measures of Expertise for Mathematics and Science Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gotwals, Amelia Wenk; Philhower, Joanne; Cisterna, Dante; Bennett, Steven

    2015-01-01

    Formative assessment practices, including eliciting a broad range of student ideas, noticing the nuances in students' ideas, using these ideas to guide instruction, and promoting student self-regulation of learning are key components of expert teaching. Given the inherent dialogical nature of formative assessment in the classroom, video can…

  14. Language Learning Effects through the Integration of Synchronous Online Communication: The Case of Video Communication and Second Life

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Canto, Silvia; Jauregi Ondarra, Kristi

    2017-01-01

    This article attempts to shed some light on the possible learning benefits for language acquisition and intercultural development of authentic social interaction with expert peers through computer mediated communication (CMC) tools. The environments used in this study are video communication and the 3D virtual world "Second Life." For…

  15. AT2 DS II - Accelerator System Design (Part II) - CCC Video Conference

    ScienceCinema

    None

    2017-12-09

    Discussion Session - Accelerator System Design (Part II) Tutors: C. Darve, J. Weisend II, Ph. Lebrun, A. Dabrowski, U. Raich Video Conference with the CERN Control Center. Experts in the field of Accelerator science will be available to answer the students questions. This session will link the CCC and SA (using Codec VC).

  16. What People Talk About in Virtual Worlds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maher, Mary Lou

    This chapter examines what people talk about in virtual worlds, employing protocol analysis. Each of two scenario studies was developed to assess the impact of virtual worlds as a collaborative environment for a specific purpose: one for learning and one for designing. The first designed a place in Active Worlds for a course on Web Site Design, having group learning spaces surrounded by individual student galleries. Student text chat was analyzed through a coding scheme with four major categories: control, technology, learning, and place. The second studied expert architects in a Second Life environment called DesignWorld that combined 3D modeling and sketching tools. Video and audio recordings were coded in terms of four categories of communication content (designing, representation of the model, awareness of each other, and software features), and in terms of synthesis comparing alternative designs versus analysis of how well the proposed solution satisfies the given design task. Both studies found that people talk about their avatars, identity, and location in the virtual world. However, the discussion is chiefly about the task and not about the virtual world, implying that virtual worlds provide a viable environment for learning and designing that does not distract people from their task.

  17. A video coding scheme based on joint spatiotemporal and adaptive prediction.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Wenfei; Latecki, Longin Jan; Liu, Wenyu; Liang, Hui; Gorman, Ken

    2009-05-01

    We propose a video coding scheme that departs from traditional Motion Estimation/DCT frameworks and instead uses Karhunen-Loeve Transform (KLT)/Joint Spatiotemporal Prediction framework. In particular, a novel approach that performs joint spatial and temporal prediction simultaneously is introduced. It bypasses the complex H.26x interframe techniques and it is less computationally intensive. Because of the advantage of the effective joint prediction and the image-dependent color space transformation (KLT), the proposed approach is demonstrated experimentally to consistently lead to improved video quality, and in many cases to better compression rates and improved computational speed.

  18. Priority-based methods for reducing the impact of packet loss on HEVC encoded video streams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nightingale, James; Wang, Qi; Grecos, Christos

    2013-02-01

    The rapid growth in the use of video streaming over IP networks has outstripped the rate at which new network infrastructure has been deployed. These bandwidth-hungry applications now comprise a significant part of all Internet traffic and present major challenges for network service providers. The situation is more acute in mobile networks where the available bandwidth is often limited. Work towards the standardisation of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), the next generation video coding scheme, is currently on track for completion in 2013. HEVC offers the prospect of a 50% improvement in compression over the current H.264 Advanced Video Coding standard (H.264/AVC) for the same quality. However, there has been very little published research on HEVC streaming or the challenges of delivering HEVC streams in resource-constrained network environments. In this paper we consider the problem of adapting an HEVC encoded video stream to meet the bandwidth limitation in a mobile networks environment. Video sequences were encoded using the Test Model under Consideration (TMuC HM6) for HEVC. Network abstraction layers (NAL) units were packetized, on a one NAL unit per RTP packet basis, and transmitted over a realistic hybrid wired/wireless testbed configured with dynamically changing network path conditions and multiple independent network paths from the streamer to the client. Two different schemes for the prioritisation of RTP packets, based on the NAL units they contain, have been implemented and empirically compared using a range of video sequences, encoder configurations, bandwidths and network topologies. In the first prioritisation method the importance of an RTP packet was determined by the type of picture and the temporal switching point information carried in the NAL unit header. Packets containing parameter set NAL units and video coding layer (VCL) NAL units of the instantaneous decoder refresh (IDR) and the clean random access (CRA) pictures were given the highest priority followed by NAL units containing pictures used as reference pictures from which others can be predicted. The second method assigned a priority to each NAL unit based on the rate-distortion cost of the VCL coding units contained in the NAL unit. The sum of the rate-distortion costs of each coding unit contained in a NAL unit was used as the priority weighting. The preliminary results of extensive experiments have shown that all three schemes offered an improvement in PSNR, when comparing original and decoded received streams, over uncontrolled packet loss. Using the first method consistently delivered a significant average improvement of 0.97dB over the uncontrolled scenario while the second method provided a measurable, but less consistent, improvement across the range of testing conditions and encoder configurations.

  19. Application aware approach to compression and transmission of H.264 encoded video for automated and centralized transportation surveillance.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-10-01

    In this report we present a transportation video coding and wireless transmission system specically tailored to automated : vehicle tracking applications. By taking into account the video characteristics and the lossy nature of the wireless channe...

  20. Region-of-interest determination and bit-rate conversion for H.264 video transcoding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Shu-Fen; Chen, Mei-Juan; Tai, Kuang-Han; Li, Mian-Shiuan

    2013-12-01

    This paper presents a video bit-rate transcoder for baseline profile in H.264/AVC standard to fit the available channel bandwidth for the client when transmitting video bit-streams via communication channels. To maintain visual quality for low bit-rate video efficiently, this study analyzes the decoded information in the transcoder and proposes a Bayesian theorem-based region-of-interest (ROI) determination algorithm. In addition, a curve fitting scheme is employed to find the models of video bit-rate conversion. The transcoded video will conform to the target bit-rate by re-quantization according to our proposed models. After integrating the ROI detection method and the bit-rate transcoding models, the ROI-based transcoder allocates more coding bits to ROI regions and reduces the complexity of the re-encoding procedure for non-ROI regions. Hence, it not only keeps the coding quality but improves the efficiency of the video transcoding for low target bit-rates and makes the real-time transcoding more practical. Experimental results show that the proposed framework gets significantly better visual quality.

  1. Method and system for efficient video compression with low-complexity encoder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Jun (Inventor); He, Dake (Inventor); Sheinin, Vadim (Inventor); Jagmohan, Ashish (Inventor); Lu, Ligang (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    Disclosed are a method and system for video compression, wherein the video encoder has low computational complexity and high compression efficiency. The disclosed system comprises a video encoder and a video decoder, wherein the method for encoding includes the steps of converting a source frame into a space-frequency representation; estimating conditional statistics of at least one vector of space-frequency coefficients; estimating encoding rates based on the said conditional statistics; and applying Slepian-Wolf codes with the said computed encoding rates. The preferred method for decoding includes the steps of; generating a side-information vector of frequency coefficients based on previously decoded source data, encoder statistics, and previous reconstructions of the source frequency vector; and performing Slepian-Wolf decoding of at least one source frequency vector based on the generated side-information, the Slepian-Wolf code bits and the encoder statistics.

  2. Region of interest video coding for low bit-rate transmission of carotid ultrasound videos over 3G wireless networks.

    PubMed

    Tsapatsoulis, Nicolas; Loizou, Christos; Pattichis, Constantinos

    2007-01-01

    Efficient medical video transmission over 3G wireless is of great importance for fast diagnosis and on site medical staff training purposes. In this paper we present a region of interest based ultrasound video compression study which shows that significant reduction of the required, for transmission, bit rate can be achieved without altering the design of existing video codecs. Simple preprocessing of the original videos to define visually and clinically important areas is the only requirement.

  3. Quantifying the physical demands of collision sports: does microsensor technology measure what it claims to measure?

    PubMed

    Gabbett, Tim J

    2013-08-01

    The physical demands of rugby league, rugby union, and American football are significantly increased through the large number of collisions players are required to perform during match play. Because of the labor-intensive nature of coding collisions from video recordings, manufacturers of wearable microsensor (e.g., global positioning system [GPS]) units have refined the technology to automatically detect collisions, with several sport scientists attempting to use these microsensors to quantify the physical demands of collision sports. However, a question remains over the validity of these microtechnology units to quantify the contact demands of collision sports. Indeed, recent evidence has shown significant differences in the number of "impacts" recorded by microtechnology units (GPSports) and the actual number of collisions coded from video. However, a separate study investigated the validity of a different microtechnology unit (minimaxX; Catapult Sports) that included GPS and triaxial accelerometers, and also a gyroscope and magnetometer, to quantify collisions. Collisions detected by the minimaxX unit were compared with video-based coding of the actual events. No significant differences were detected in the number of mild, moderate, and heavy collisions detected via the minimaxX units and those coded from video recordings of the actual event. Furthermore, a strong correlation (r = 0.96, p < 0.01) was observed between collisions recorded via the minimaxX units and those coded from video recordings of the event. These findings demonstrate that only one commercially available and wearable microtechnology unit (minimaxX) can be considered capable of offering a valid method of quantifying the contact loads that typically occur in collision sports. Until such validation research is completed, sport scientists should be circumspect of the ability of other units to perform similar functions.

  4. Feasibility of video codec algorithms for software-only playback

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodriguez, Arturo A.; Morse, Ken

    1994-05-01

    Software-only video codecs can provide good playback performance in desktop computers with a 486 or 68040 CPU running at 33 MHz without special hardware assistance. Typically, playback of compressed video can be categorized into three tasks: the actual decoding of the video stream, color conversion, and the transfer of decoded video data from system RAM to video RAM. By current standards, good playback performance is the decoding and display of video streams of 320 by 240 (or larger) compressed frames at 15 (or greater) frames-per- second. Software-only video codecs have evolved by modifying and tailoring existing compression methodologies to suit video playback in desktop computers. In this paper we examine the characteristics used to evaluate software-only video codec algorithms, namely: image fidelity (i.e., image quality), bandwidth (i.e., compression) ease-of-decoding (i.e., playback performance), memory consumption, compression to decompression asymmetry, scalability, and delay. We discuss the tradeoffs among these variables and the compromises that can be made to achieve low numerical complexity for software-only playback. Frame- differencing approaches are described since software-only video codecs typically employ them to enhance playback performance. To complement other papers that appear in this session of the Proceedings, we review methods derived from binary pattern image coding since these methods are amenable for software-only playback. In particular, we introduce a novel approach called pixel distribution image coding.

  5. From Video to Photo

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2004-01-01

    Ever wonder whether a still shot from a home video could serve as a "picture perfect" photograph worthy of being framed and proudly displayed on the mantle? Wonder no more. A critical imaging code used to enhance video footage taken from spaceborne imaging instruments is now available within a portable photography tool capable of producing an optimized, high-resolution image from multiple video frames.

  6. Quality Scalability Aware Watermarking for Visual Content.

    PubMed

    Bhowmik, Deepayan; Abhayaratne, Charith

    2016-11-01

    Scalable coding-based content adaptation poses serious challenges to traditional watermarking algorithms, which do not consider the scalable coding structure and hence cannot guarantee correct watermark extraction in media consumption chain. In this paper, we propose a novel concept of scalable blind watermarking that ensures more robust watermark extraction at various compression ratios while not effecting the visual quality of host media. The proposed algorithm generates scalable and robust watermarked image code-stream that allows the user to constrain embedding distortion for target content adaptations. The watermarked image code-stream consists of hierarchically nested joint distortion-robustness coding atoms. The code-stream is generated by proposing a new wavelet domain blind watermarking algorithm guided by a quantization based binary tree. The code-stream can be truncated at any distortion-robustness atom to generate the watermarked image with the desired distortion-robustness requirements. A blind extractor is capable of extracting watermark data from the watermarked images. The algorithm is further extended to incorporate a bit-plane discarding-based quantization model used in scalable coding-based content adaptation, e.g., JPEG2000. This improves the robustness against quality scalability of JPEG2000 compression. The simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed concept, its applications, and its improved robustness against quality scalable content adaptation. Our proposed algorithm also outperforms existing methods showing 35% improvement. In terms of robustness to quality scalable video content adaptation using Motion JPEG2000 and wavelet-based scalable video coding, the proposed method shows major improvement for video watermarking.

  7. The Impact of Video Review on Supervisory Conferencing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baecher, Laura; McCormack, Bede

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated how video-based observation may alter the nature of post-observation talk between supervisors and teacher candidates. Audio-recorded post-observation conversations were coded using a conversation analysis framework and interpreted through the lens of interactional sociology. Findings suggest that video-based observations…

  8. Combined Wavelet Video Coding and Error Control for Internet Streaming and Multicast

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chu, Tianli; Xiong, Zixiang

    2003-12-01

    This paper proposes an integrated approach to Internet video streaming and multicast (e.g., receiver-driven layered multicast (RLM) by McCanne) based on combined wavelet video coding and error control. We design a packetized wavelet video (PWV) coder to facilitate its integration with error control. The PWV coder produces packetized layered bitstreams that are independent among layers while being embedded within each layer. Thus, a lost packet only renders the following packets in the same layer useless. Based on the PWV coder, we search for a multilayered error-control strategy that optimally trades off source and channel coding for each layer under a given transmission rate to mitigate the effects of packet loss. While both the PWV coder and the error-control strategy are new—the former incorporates embedded wavelet video coding and packetization and the latter extends the single-layered approach for RLM by Chou et al.—the main distinction of this paper lies in the seamless integration of the two parts. Theoretical analysis shows a gain of up to 1 dB on a channel with 20% packet loss using our combined approach over separate designs of the source coder and the error-control mechanism. This is also substantiated by our simulations with a gain of up to 0.6 dB. In addition, our simulations show a gain of up to 2.2 dB over previous results reported by Chou et al.

  9. Compression performance comparison in low delay real-time video for mobile applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bivolarski, Lazar

    2012-10-01

    This article compares the performance of several current video coding standards in the conditions of low-delay real-time in a resource constrained environment. The comparison is performed using the same content and the metrics and mix of objective and perceptual quality metrics. The metrics results in different coding schemes are analyzed from a point of view of user perception and quality of service. Multiple standards are compared MPEG-2, MPEG4 and MPEG-AVC and well and H.263. The metrics used in the comparison include SSIM, VQM and DVQ. Subjective evaluation and quality of service are discussed from a point of view of perceptual metrics and their incorporation in the coding scheme development process. The performance and the correlation of results are presented as a predictor of the performance of video compression schemes.

  10. MATIN: A Random Network Coding Based Framework for High Quality Peer-to-Peer Live Video Streaming

    PubMed Central

    Barekatain, Behrang; Khezrimotlagh, Dariush; Aizaini Maarof, Mohd; Ghaeini, Hamid Reza; Salleh, Shaharuddin; Quintana, Alfonso Ariza; Akbari, Behzad; Cabrera, Alicia Triviño

    2013-01-01

    In recent years, Random Network Coding (RNC) has emerged as a promising solution for efficient Peer-to-Peer (P2P) video multicasting over the Internet. This probably refers to this fact that RNC noticeably increases the error resiliency and throughput of the network. However, high transmission overhead arising from sending large coefficients vector as header has been the most important challenge of the RNC. Moreover, due to employing the Gauss-Jordan elimination method, considerable computational complexity can be imposed on peers in decoding the encoded blocks and checking linear dependency among the coefficients vectors. In order to address these challenges, this study introduces MATIN which is a random network coding based framework for efficient P2P video streaming. The MATIN includes a novel coefficients matrix generation method so that there is no linear dependency in the generated coefficients matrix. Using the proposed framework, each peer encapsulates one instead of n coefficients entries into the generated encoded packet which results in very low transmission overhead. It is also possible to obtain the inverted coefficients matrix using a bit number of simple arithmetic operations. In this regard, peers sustain very low computational complexities. As a result, the MATIN permits random network coding to be more efficient in P2P video streaming systems. The results obtained from simulation using OMNET++ show that it substantially outperforms the RNC which uses the Gauss-Jordan elimination method by providing better video quality on peers in terms of the four important performance metrics including video distortion, dependency distortion, End-to-End delay and Initial Startup delay. PMID:23940530

  11. Is video review of patient encounters an effective tool for medical student learning? A review of the literature

    PubMed Central

    Hammoud, Maya M; Morgan, Helen K; Edwards, Mary E; Lyon, Jennifer A; White, Casey

    2012-01-01

    Purpose To determine if video review of student performance during patient encounters is an effective tool for medical student learning. Methods Multiple bibliographic databases that include medical, general health care, education, psychology, and behavioral science literature were searched for the following terms: medical students, medical education, undergraduate medical education, education, self-assessment, self-evaluation, self-appraisal, feedback, videotape, video recording, televised, and DVD. The authors examined all abstracts resulting from this search and reviewed the full text of the relevant articles as well as additional articles identified in the reference lists of the relevant articles. Studies were classified by year of student (preclinical or clinical) and study design (controlled or non-controlled). Results A total of 67 articles met the final search criteria and were fully reviewed. Most studies were non-controlled and performed in the clinical years. Although the studies were quite variable in quality, design, and outcomes, in general video recording of performance and subsequent review by students with expert feedback had positive outcomes in improving feedback and ultimate performance. Video review with self-assessment alone was not found to be generally effective, but when linked with expert feedback it was superior to traditional feedback alone. Conclusion There are many methods for integrating effective use of video-captured performance into a program of learning. We recommend combining student self-assessment with feedback from faculty or other trained individuals for maximum effectiveness. We also recommend additional research in this area. PMID:23761999

  12. Development of MPEG standards for 3D and free viewpoint video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smolic, Aljoscha; Kimata, Hideaki; Vetro, Anthony

    2005-11-01

    An overview of 3D and free viewpoint video is given in this paper with special focus on related standardization activities in MPEG. Free viewpoint video allows the user to freely navigate within real world visual scenes, as known from virtual worlds in computer graphics. Suitable 3D scene representation formats are classified and the processing chain is explained. Examples are shown for image-based and model-based free viewpoint video systems, highlighting standards conform realization using MPEG-4. Then the principles of 3D video are introduced providing the user with a 3D depth impression of the observed scene. Example systems are described again focusing on their realization based on MPEG-4. Finally multi-view video coding is described as a key component for 3D and free viewpoint video systems. MPEG is currently working on a new standard for multi-view video coding. The conclusion is that the necessary technology including standard media formats for 3D and free viewpoint is available or will be available in the near future, and that there is a clear demand from industry and user side for such applications. 3DTV at home and free viewpoint video on DVD will be available soon, and will create huge new markets.

  13. NESSUS/EXPERT - An expert system for probabilistic structural analysis methods

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Millwater, H.; Palmer, K.; Fink, P.

    1988-01-01

    An expert system (NESSUS/EXPERT) is presented which provides assistance in using probabilistic structural analysis methods. NESSUS/EXPERT is an interactive menu-driven expert system that provides information to assist in the use of the probabilistic finite element code NESSUS/FEM and the fast probability integrator. NESSUS/EXPERT was developed with a combination of FORTRAN and CLIPS, a C language expert system tool, to exploit the strengths of each language.

  14. A prototype expert/information system for examining environmental risks of KSC activities

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Engel, Bernard A.

    1993-01-01

    Protection of the environment and natural resources at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is of great concern. An expert/information system to replace the paper-based KSC Environmental Checklist was developed. The computer-based system requests information only as a required and supplies assistance as needed. The most comprehensive portion of the system provides information about endangered species habitat at KSC. This module uses geographic information system (GIS) data and tools, expert rules, color graphics, computer-based video, and hypertext to provide information.

  15. Intra Frame Coding In Advanced Video Coding Standard (H.264) to Obtain Consistent PSNR and Reduce Bit Rate for Diagonal Down Left Mode Using Gaussian Pulse

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manjanaik, N.; Parameshachari, B. D.; Hanumanthappa, S. N.; Banu, Reshma

    2017-08-01

    Intra prediction process of H.264 video coding standard used to code first frame i.e. Intra frame of video to obtain good coding efficiency compare to previous video coding standard series. More benefit of intra frame coding is to reduce spatial pixel redundancy with in current frame, reduces computational complexity and provides better rate distortion performance. To code Intra frame it use existing process Rate Distortion Optimization (RDO) method. This method increases computational complexity, increases in bit rate and reduces picture quality so it is difficult to implement in real time applications, so the many researcher has been developed fast mode decision algorithm for coding of intra frame. The previous work carried on Intra frame coding in H.264 standard using fast decision mode intra prediction algorithm based on different techniques was achieved increased in bit rate, degradation of picture quality(PSNR) for different quantization parameters. Many previous approaches of fast mode decision algorithms on intra frame coding achieved only reduction of computational complexity or it save encoding time and limitation was increase in bit rate with loss of quality of picture. In order to avoid increase in bit rate and loss of picture quality a better approach was developed. In this paper developed a better approach i.e. Gaussian pulse for Intra frame coding using diagonal down left intra prediction mode to achieve higher coding efficiency in terms of PSNR and bitrate. In proposed method Gaussian pulse is multiplied with each 4x4 frequency domain coefficients of 4x4 sub macro block of macro block of current frame before quantization process. Multiplication of Gaussian pulse for each 4x4 integer transformed coefficients at macro block levels scales the information of the coefficients in a reversible manner. The resulting signal would turn abstract. Frequency samples are abstract in a known and controllable manner without intermixing of coefficients, it avoids picture getting bad hit for higher values of quantization parameters. The proposed work was implemented using MATLAB and JM 18.6 reference software. The proposed work measure the performance parameters PSNR, bit rate and compression of intra frame of yuv video sequences in QCIF resolution under different values of quantization parameter with Gaussian value for diagonal down left intra prediction mode. The simulation results of proposed algorithm are tabulated and compared with previous algorithm i.e. Tian et al method. The proposed algorithm achieved reduced in bit rate averagely 30.98% and maintain consistent picture quality for QCIF sequences compared to previous algorithm i.e. Tian et al method.

  16. A hardware-oriented concurrent TZ search algorithm for High-Efficiency Video Coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doan, Nghia; Kim, Tae Sung; Rhee, Chae Eun; Lee, Hyuk-Jae

    2017-12-01

    High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is the latest video coding standard, in which the compression performance is double that of its predecessor, the H.264/AVC standard, while the video quality remains unchanged. In HEVC, the test zone (TZ) search algorithm is widely used for integer motion estimation because it effectively searches the good-quality motion vector with a relatively small amount of computation. However, the complex computation structure of the TZ search algorithm makes it difficult to implement it in the hardware. This paper proposes a new integer motion estimation algorithm which is designed for hardware execution by modifying the conventional TZ search to allow parallel motion estimations of all prediction unit (PU) partitions. The algorithm consists of the three phases of zonal, raster, and refinement searches. At the beginning of each phase, the algorithm obtains the search points required by the original TZ search for all PU partitions in a coding unit (CU). Then, all redundant search points are removed prior to the estimation of the motion costs, and the best search points are then selected for all PUs. Compared to the conventional TZ search algorithm, experimental results show that the proposed algorithm significantly decreases the Bjøntegaard Delta bitrate (BD-BR) by 0.84%, and it also reduces the computational complexity by 54.54%.

  17. Side-information-dependent correlation channel estimation in hash-based distributed video coding.

    PubMed

    Deligiannis, Nikos; Barbarien, Joeri; Jacobs, Marc; Munteanu, Adrian; Skodras, Athanassios; Schelkens, Peter

    2012-04-01

    In the context of low-cost video encoding, distributed video coding (DVC) has recently emerged as a potential candidate for uplink-oriented applications. This paper builds on a concept of correlation channel (CC) modeling, which expresses the correlation noise as being statistically dependent on the side information (SI). Compared with classical side-information-independent (SII) noise modeling adopted in current DVC solutions, it is theoretically proven that side-information-dependent (SID) modeling improves the Wyner-Ziv coding performance. Anchored in this finding, this paper proposes a novel algorithm for online estimation of the SID CC parameters based on already decoded information. The proposed algorithm enables bit-plane-by-bit-plane successive refinement of the channel estimation leading to progressively improved accuracy. Additionally, the proposed algorithm is included in a novel DVC architecture that employs a competitive hash-based motion estimation technique to generate high-quality SI at the decoder. Experimental results corroborate our theoretical gains and validate the accuracy of the channel estimation algorithm. The performance assessment of the proposed architecture shows remarkable and consistent coding gains over a germane group of state-of-the-art distributed and standard video codecs, even under strenuous conditions, i.e., large groups of pictures and highly irregular motion content.

  18. Distributed Coding/Decoding Complexity in Video Sensor Networks

    PubMed Central

    Cordeiro, Paulo J.; Assunção, Pedro

    2012-01-01

    Video Sensor Networks (VSNs) are recent communication infrastructures used to capture and transmit dense visual information from an application context. In such large scale environments which include video coding, transmission and display/storage, there are several open problems to overcome in practical implementations. This paper addresses the most relevant challenges posed by VSNs, namely stringent bandwidth usage and processing time/power constraints. In particular, the paper proposes a novel VSN architecture where large sets of visual sensors with embedded processors are used for compression and transmission of coded streams to gateways, which in turn transrate the incoming streams and adapt them to the variable complexity requirements of both the sensor encoders and end-user decoder terminals. Such gateways provide real-time transcoding functionalities for bandwidth adaptation and coding/decoding complexity distribution by transferring the most complex video encoding/decoding tasks to the transcoding gateway at the expense of a limited increase in bit rate. Then, a method to reduce the decoding complexity, suitable for system-on-chip implementation, is proposed to operate at the transcoding gateway whenever decoders with constrained resources are targeted. The results show that the proposed method achieves good performance and its inclusion into the VSN infrastructure provides an additional level of complexity control functionality. PMID:22736972

  19. Distributed coding/decoding complexity in video sensor networks.

    PubMed

    Cordeiro, Paulo J; Assunção, Pedro

    2012-01-01

    Video Sensor Networks (VSNs) are recent communication infrastructures used to capture and transmit dense visual information from an application context. In such large scale environments which include video coding, transmission and display/storage, there are several open problems to overcome in practical implementations. This paper addresses the most relevant challenges posed by VSNs, namely stringent bandwidth usage and processing time/power constraints. In particular, the paper proposes a novel VSN architecture where large sets of visual sensors with embedded processors are used for compression and transmission of coded streams to gateways, which in turn transrate the incoming streams and adapt them to the variable complexity requirements of both the sensor encoders and end-user decoder terminals. Such gateways provide real-time transcoding functionalities for bandwidth adaptation and coding/decoding complexity distribution by transferring the most complex video encoding/decoding tasks to the transcoding gateway at the expense of a limited increase in bit rate. Then, a method to reduce the decoding complexity, suitable for system-on-chip implementation, is proposed to operate at the transcoding gateway whenever decoders with constrained resources are targeted. The results show that the proposed method achieves good performance and its inclusion into the VSN infrastructure provides an additional level of complexity control functionality.

  20. A robust low-rate coding scheme for packet video

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Y. C.; Sayood, Khalid; Nelson, D. J.; Arikan, E. (Editor)

    1991-01-01

    Due to the rapidly evolving field of image processing and networking, video information promises to be an important part of telecommunication systems. Although up to now video transmission has been transported mainly over circuit-switched networks, it is likely that packet-switched networks will dominate the communication world in the near future. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) techniques in broadband-ISDN can provide a flexible, independent and high performance environment for video communication. For this paper, the network simulator was used only as a channel in this simulation. Mixture blocking coding with progressive transmission (MBCPT) has been investigated for use over packet networks and has been found to provide high compression rate with good visual performance, robustness to packet loss, tractable integration with network mechanics and simplicity in parallel implementation.

  1. Video Games, Gender, Diversity, and Learning as Cultural Practice: Implications for Equitable Learning and Computing Participation through Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richard, Gabriela T.

    2017-01-01

    Games, play, and learning have a long and embedded history that outdates digital games by many years. However, video games, computing, and technology have significant and historically documented diversity issues, which privilege whites and males as content producers, computing and gaming experts, and STEM learners and employees. Many aspects of…

  2. An Integrated Textbook, Video, and Software Environment for Novice and Expert Prolog Programmers. Technical Report No. 23.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eisenstadt, Marc; Brayshaw, Mike

    This paper describes a Prolog execution model which serves as the uniform basis of textbook material, video-based teaching material, and an advanced graphical user interface for Prolog programmers. The model, based upon an augmented AND/OR tree representation of Prolog programs, uses an enriched "status box" in place of the traditional…

  3. PeakVizor: Visual Analytics of Peaks in Video Clickstreams from Massive Open Online Courses.

    PubMed

    Chen, Qing; Chen, Yuanzhe; Liu, Dongyu; Shi, Conglei; Wu, Yingcai; Qu, Huamin

    2016-10-01

    Massive open online courses (MOOCs) aim to facilitate open-access and massive-participation education. These courses have attracted millions of learners recently. At present, most MOOC platforms record the web log data of learner interactions with course videos. Such large amounts of multivariate data pose a new challenge in terms of analyzing online learning behaviors. Previous studies have mainly focused on the aggregate behaviors of learners from a summative view; however, few attempts have been made to conduct a detailed analysis of such behaviors. To determine complex learning patterns in MOOC video interactions, this paper introduces a comprehensive visualization system called PeakVizor. This system enables course instructors and education experts to analyze the "peaks" or the video segments that generate numerous clickstreams. The system features three views at different levels: the overview with glyphs to display valuable statistics regarding the peaks detected; the flow view to present spatio-temporal information regarding the peaks; and the correlation view to show the correlation between different learner groups and the peaks. Case studies and interviews conducted with domain experts have demonstrated the usefulness and effectiveness of PeakVizor, and new findings about learning behaviors in MOOC platforms have been reported.

  4. An Intervention Based on Video Feedback and Questioning to Improve Tactical Knowledge in Expert Female Volleyball Players.

    PubMed

    Moreno, M Perla; Moreno, Alberto; García-González, Luis; Ureña, Aurelio; Hernández, César; Del Villar, Fernando

    2016-06-01

    This study applied an intervention program, based on video feedback and questioning, to expert female volleyball players to improve their tactical knowledge. The sample consisted of eight female attackers (26 ± 2.6 years old) from the Spanish National Volleyball Team, who were divided into an experimental group (n = 4) and a control group (n = 4). The video feedback and questioning program applied in the study was developed over eight reflective sessions and consisted of three phases: viewing of the selected actions, self-analysis and reflection by the attacker, and joint player-coach analysis. The attackers were videotaped in an actual game and four clips (situations) of each of the attackers were chosen for each reflective session. Two of the clips showed a correct action by the attacker, and two showed an incorrect decision. Tactical knowledge was measured by problem representation with a verbal protocol. The members of the experimental group showed adaptations in long-term memory, significantly improving their tactical knowledge. With respect to conceptual content, there was an increase in the total number of conditions verbalized by the players; with respect to conceptual sophistication, there was an increase in the indication of appropriate conditions with two or more details; and finally, with respect to conceptual structure, there was an increase in the use of double or triple conceptual structures. The intervention program, based on video feedback and questioning, in addition to on-court training sessions of expert volleyball players, appears to improve the athletes' tactical knowledge. © The Author(s) 2016.

  5. When should video be added to conventional urodynamics in adults and is it justified by the evidence? ICI-RS 2014.

    PubMed

    Anding, Ralf; Rosier, Peter; Smith, Phillip; Gammie, Andrew; Giarenis, Ilias; Rantell, Angela; Thiruchelvam, Nikesh; Arlandis, Salvador; Cardozo, Linda

    2016-02-01

    To debate and evaluate the evidence base regarding the added value of video to urodynamics in adults and to define research questions. In the ICI-RS Meeting 2014 a Think Tank analyzed the current guidelines recommending video urodynamics (VUD) and performed a literature search to determine the level of evidence for the additional value of the imaging with urodynamic assessment of both neurogenic and non-neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction. Current guidelines do not specify the added value of imaging to urodynamics. Recommendations are based on single center series and expert opinion. Standard imaging protocols are not available and evidence regarding the balance between number and timing of pictures, patient positioning, and exposure time on the one hand and diagnosis on the other hand is lacking. On the basis of expert consensus VUD is relevant in the follow-up of patients with spinal dysraphism. Evidence for the value of VUD in non-neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction is sparse. There is some evidence that VUD is not necessary in uncomplicated female SUI, but expert opinion suggests it might improve the evaluation of patients with recurrent SUI. There is only low level evidence for the addition of video to urodynamics. The ICI-RS Think Tank encourages better reporting of results of imaging and systematic reporting of X-ray doses. Specific research hypotheses regarding the added value of imaging are recommended. The panel suggests the development of standards for technically optimal VUD that is practically achievable with machines that are on the market. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. An 802.11 n wireless local area network transmission scheme for wireless telemedicine applications.

    PubMed

    Lin, C F; Hung, S I; Chiang, I H

    2010-10-01

    In this paper, an 802.11 n transmission scheme is proposed for wireless telemedicine applications. IEEE 802.11n standards, a power assignment strategy, space-time block coding (STBC), and an object composition Petri net (OCPN) model are adopted. With the proposed wireless system, G.729 audio bit streams, Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000 (JPEG 2000) clinical images, and Moving Picture Experts Group 4 (MPEG-4) video bit streams achieve a transmission bit error rate (BER) of 10-7, 10-4, and 103 simultaneously. The proposed system meets the requirements prescribed for wireless telemedicine applications. An essential feature of this proposed transmission scheme is that clinical information that requires a high quality of service (QoS) is transmitted at a high power transmission rate with significant error protection. For maximizing resource utilization and minimizing the total transmission power, STBC and adaptive modulation techniques are used in the proposed 802.11 n wireless telemedicine system. Further, low power, direct mapping (DM), low-error protection scheme, and high-level modulation are adopted for messages that can tolerate a high BER. With the proposed transmission scheme, the required reliability of communication can be achieved. Our simulation results have shown that the proposed 802.11 n transmission scheme can be used for developing effective wireless telemedicine systems.

  7. Notions of Video Game Addiction and Their Relation to Self-Reported Addiction among Players of World of Warcraft

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oggins, Jean; Sammis, Jeffrey

    2012-01-01

    In this study, 438 players of the online video game, World of Warcraft, completed a survey about video game addiction and answered an open-ended question about behaviors they considered characteristic of video game addiction. Responses were coded and correlated with players' self-reports of being addicted to games and scores on a modified video…

  8. Pediatric regional examination of the musculoskeletal system: a practice- and consensus-based approach.

    PubMed

    Foster, Helen; Kay, Lesley; May, Carl; Rapley, Tim

    2011-11-01

    Competent examination of the pediatric musculoskeletal (MSK) system is a vital component of clinical assessment of children with MSK presentations. The aim was to develop a regional MSK examination for school-age children that is age appropriate and reflects clinical practice. Qualitative and quantitative analyses involving video observation of clinical examination technique, systematic review, and expert consensus were employed to reveal descriptions, frequencies, and variations in technique for joint regions in various clinical scenarios. Systematic review and data from clinical observation were combined with feedback from a group of pediatric MSK experts through a web-based survey. All results were collated and discussed by consensus development groups to derive the pediatric Regional Examination of the Musculoskeletal System (pREMS). A total of 48 pediatric MSK expert clinicians were involved to derive pREMS. Systematic review revealed a paucity of evidence about regional pediatric MSK examination. Video observations of MSK examinations (a total of 2,901 maneuvers) performed by pediatric MSK experts (n = 11 doctors and 8 therapists) of 89 school-age children attending outpatient clinics in 7 UK pediatric rheumatology centers were followed by semistructured interviews with 14 of 19 clinicians. Video observation showed variation in examination techniques, most frequently at the hip and knee in the context of mechanical and inflammatory clinical scenarios. pREMS is the first practice- and consensus-based regional pediatric MSK examination for school-age children. The structured approach is an important step toward improved pediatric MSK clinical skills relevant to clinical training. Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Rheumatology.

  9. Layered video transmission over multirate DS-CDMA wireless systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kondi, Lisimachos P.; Srinivasan, Deepika; Pados, Dimitris A.; Batalama, Stella N.

    2003-05-01

    n this paper, we consider the transmission of video over wireless direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) channels. A layered (scalable) video source codec is used and each layer is transmitted over a different CDMA channel. Spreading codes with different lengths are allowed for each CDMA channel (multirate CDMA). Thus, a different number of chips per bit can be used for the transmission of each scalable layer. For a given fixed energy value per chip and chip rate, the selection of a spreading code length affects the transmitted energy per bit and bit rate for each scalable layer. An MPEG-4 source encoder is used to provide a two-layer SNR scalable bitstream. Each of the two layers is channel-coded using Rate-Compatible Punctured Convolutional (RCPC) codes. Then, the data are interleaved, spread, carrier-modulated and transmitted over the wireless channel. A multipath Rayleigh fading channel is assumed. At the other end, we assume the presence of an antenna array receiver. After carrier demodulation, multiple-access-interference suppressing despreading is performed using space-time auxiliary vector (AV) filtering. The choice of the AV receiver is dictated by realistic channel fading rates that limit the data record available for receiver adaptation and redesign. Indeed, AV filter short-data-record estimators have been shown to exhibit superior bit-error-rate performance in comparison with LMS, RLS, SMI, or 'multistage nested Wiener' adaptive filter implementations. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of multirate DS-CDMA systems for wireless video transmission.

  10. What Do Social Media Say About Makeovers? A Content Analysis of Cosmetic Surgery Videos and Viewers' Responses on YouTube.

    PubMed

    Wen, Nainan; Chia, Stella C; Hao, Xiaoming

    2015-01-01

    This study examines portrayals of cosmetic surgery on YouTube, where we found a substantial number of cosmetic surgery videos. Most of the videos came from cosmetic surgeons who appeared to be aggressively using social media in their practices. Except for videos that explained cosmetic surgery procedures, most videos in our sample emphasized the benefits of cosmetic surgery, and only a small number of the videos addressed the involved risks. We also found that tactics of persuasive communication-namely, related to message source and message sensation value (MSV)-have been used in Web-based social media to attract viewers' attention and interests. Expert sources were used predominantly, although typical-consumer sources tended to generate greater viewer interest in cosmetic surgery than other types of message sources. High MSV, moreover, was found to increase a video's popularity.

  11. Progressive Dictionary Learning with Hierarchical Predictive Structure for Scalable Video Coding.

    PubMed

    Dai, Wenrui; Shen, Yangmei; Xiong, Hongkai; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Zou, Junni; Taubman, David

    2017-04-12

    Dictionary learning has emerged as a promising alternative to the conventional hybrid coding framework. However, the rigid structure of sequential training and prediction degrades its performance in scalable video coding. This paper proposes a progressive dictionary learning framework with hierarchical predictive structure for scalable video coding, especially in low bitrate region. For pyramidal layers, sparse representation based on spatio-temporal dictionary is adopted to improve the coding efficiency of enhancement layers (ELs) with a guarantee of reconstruction performance. The overcomplete dictionary is trained to adaptively capture local structures along motion trajectories as well as exploit the correlations between neighboring layers of resolutions. Furthermore, progressive dictionary learning is developed to enable the scalability in temporal domain and restrict the error propagation in a close-loop predictor. Under the hierarchical predictive structure, online learning is leveraged to guarantee the training and prediction performance with an improved convergence rate. To accommodate with the stateof- the-art scalable extension of H.264/AVC and latest HEVC, standardized codec cores are utilized to encode the base and enhancement layers. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the latest SHVC and HEVC simulcast over extensive test sequences with various resolutions.

  12. Using QR Codes to Differentiate Learning for Gifted and Talented Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siegle, Del

    2015-01-01

    QR codes are two-dimensional square patterns that are capable of coding information that ranges from web addresses to links to YouTube video. The codes save time typing and eliminate errors in entering addresses incorrectly. These codes make learning with technology easier for students and motivationally engage them in news ways.

  13. Dynamic quality of service differentiation using fixed code weight in optical CDMA networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kakaee, Majid H.; Essa, Shawnim I.; Abd, Thanaa H.; Seyedzadeh, Saleh

    2015-11-01

    The emergence of network-driven applications, such as internet, video conferencing, and online gaming, brings in the need for a network the environments with capability of providing diverse Quality of Services (QoS). In this paper, a new code family of novel spreading sequences, called a Multi-Service (MS) code, has been constructed to support multiple services in Optical- Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system. The proposed method uses fixed weight for all services, however reducing the interfering codewords for the users requiring higher QoS. The performance of the proposed code is demonstrated using mathematical analysis. It shown that the total number of served users with satisfactory BER of 10-9 using NB=2 is 82, while they are only 36 and 10 when NB=3 and 4 respectively. The developed MS code is compared with variable-weight codes such as Variable Weight-Khazani Syed (VW-KS) and Multi-Weight-Random Diagonal (MW-RD). Different numbers of basic users (NB) are used to support triple-play services (audio, data and video) with different QoS requirements. Furthermore, reference to the BER of 10-12, 10-9, and 10-3 for video, data and audio, respectively, the system can support up to 45 total users. Hence, results show that the technique can clearly provide a relative QoS differentiation with lower value of basic users can support larger number of subscribers as well as better performance in terms of acceptable BER of 10-9 at fixed code weight.

  14. Exclusively visual analysis of classroom group interactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tucker, Laura; Scherr, Rachel E.; Zickler, Todd; Mazur, Eric

    2016-12-01

    Large-scale audiovisual data that measure group learning are time consuming to collect and analyze. As an initial step towards scaling qualitative classroom observation, we qualitatively coded classroom video using an established coding scheme with and without its audio cues. We find that interrater reliability is as high when using visual data only—without audio—as when using both visual and audio data to code. Also, interrater reliability is high when comparing use of visual and audio data to visual-only data. We see a small bias to code interactions as group discussion when visual and audio data are used compared with video-only data. This work establishes that meaningful educational observation can be made through visual information alone. Further, it suggests that after initial work to create a coding scheme and validate it in each environment, computer-automated visual coding could drastically increase the breadth of qualitative studies and allow for meaningful educational analysis on a far greater scale.

  15. Compression of computer generated phase-shifting hologram sequence using AVC and HEVC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xing, Yafei; Pesquet-Popescu, Béatrice; Dufaux, Frederic

    2013-09-01

    With the capability of achieving twice the compression ratio of Advanced Video Coding (AVC) with similar reconstruction quality, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is expected to become the newleading technique of video coding. In order to reduce the storage and transmission burden of digital holograms, in this paper we propose to use HEVC for compressing the phase-shifting digital hologram sequences (PSDHS). By simulating phase-shifting digital holography (PSDH) interferometry, interference patterns between illuminated three dimensional( 3D) virtual objects and the stepwise phase changed reference wave are generated as digital holograms. The hologram sequences are obtained by the movement of the virtual objects and compressed by AVC and HEVC. The experimental results show that AVC and HEVC are efficient to compress PSDHS, with HEVC giving better performance. Good compression rate and reconstruction quality can be obtained with bitrate above 15000kbps.

  16. Meeting highlights applications of Nek5000 simulation code | Argonne

    Science.gov Websites

    Photos Videos Fact Sheets, Brochures and Reports Summer Science Writing Internship Careers Education Photos Videos Fact Sheets, Brochures and Reports Summer Science Writing Internship Meeting highlights

  17. Development of an expert based ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM map to AIS 2005 update 2008.

    PubMed

    Loftis, Kathryn L; Price, Janet P; Gillich, Patrick J; Cookman, Kathy J; Brammer, Amy L; St Germain, Trish; Barnes, Jo; Graymire, Vickie; Nayduch, Donna A; Read-Allsopp, Christine; Baus, Katherine; Stanley, Patsye A; Brennan, Maureen

    2016-09-01

    This article describes how maps were developed from the clinical modifications of the 9th and 10th revisions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to the Abbreviated Injury Scale 2005 Update 2008 (AIS08). The development of the mapping methodology is described, with discussion of the major assumptions used in the process to map ICD codes to AIS severities. There were many intricacies to developing the maps, because the 2 coding systems, ICD and AIS, were developed for different purposes and contain unique classification structures to meet these purposes. Experts in ICD and AIS analyzed the rules and coding guidelines of both injury coding schemes to develop rules for mapping ICD injury codes to the AIS08. This involved subject-matter expertise, detailed knowledge of anatomy, and an in-depth understanding of injury terms and definitions as applied in both taxonomies. The official ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM versions (injury sections) were mapped to the AIS08 codes and severities, following the rules outlined in each coding manual. The panel of experts was composed of coders certified in ICD and/or AIS from around the world. In the process of developing the map from ICD to AIS, the experts created rules to address issues with the differences in coding guidelines between the 2 schemas and assure a consistent approach to all codes. Over 19,000 ICD codes were analyzed and maps were generated for each code to AIS08 chapters, AIS08 severities, and Injury Severity Score (ISS) body regions. After completion of the maps, 14,101 (74%) of the eligible 19,012 injury-related ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes were assigned valid AIS08 severity scores between 1 and 6. The remaining 4,911 codes were assigned an AIS08 of 9 (unknown) or were determined to be nonmappable because the ICD description lacked sufficient qualifying information for determining severity according to AIS rules. There were also 15,214 (80%) ICD codes mapped to AIS08 chapter and ISS body region, which allow for ISS calculations for patient data sets. This mapping between ICD and AIS provides a comprehensive, expert-designed solution for analysts to bridge the data gap between the injury descriptions provided in hospital codes (ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM) and injury severity codes (AIS08). By applying consistent rules from both the ICD and AIS taxonomies, the expert panel created these definitive maps, which are the only ones endorsed by the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). Initial validation upheld the quality of these maps for the estimation of AIS severity, but future work should include verification of these maps for MAIS and ISS estimations with large data sets. These ICD-AIS maps will support data analysis from databases with injury information classified in these 2 different systems and open new doors for the investigation of injury from traumatic events using large injury data sets.

  18. "F*ck It! Let's Get to Drinking-Poison our Livers!": a Thematic Analysis of Alcohol Content in Contemporary YouTube MusicVideos.

    PubMed

    Cranwell, Jo; Britton, John; Bains, Manpreet

    2017-02-01

    The purpose of the present study is to describe the portrayal of alcohol content in popular YouTube music videos. We used inductive thematic analysis to explore the lyrics and visual imagery in 49 UK Top 40 songs and music videos previously found to contain alcohol content and watched by many British adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years and to examine if branded content contravened alcohol industry advertising codes of practice. The analysis generated three themes. First, alcohol content was associated with sexualised imagery or lyrics and the objectification of women. Second, alcohol was associated with image, lifestyle and sociability. Finally, some videos showed alcohol overtly encouraging excessive drinking and drunkenness, including those containing branding, with no negative consequences to the drinker. Our results suggest that YouTube music videos promote positive associations with alcohol use. Further, several alcohol companies adopt marketing strategies in the video medium that are entirely inconsistent with their own or others agreed advertising codes of practice. We conclude that, as a harm reduction measure, policies should change to prevent adolescent exposure to the positive promotion of alcohol and alcohol branding in music videos.

  19. Development of a Video-Based Evaluation Tool in Rett Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fyfe, S.; Downs, J.; McIlroy, O.; Burford, B.; Lister, J.; Reilly, S.; Laurvick, C. L.; Philippe, C.; Msall, M.; Kaufmann, W. E.; Ellaway, C.; Leonard, H.

    2007-01-01

    This paper describes the development of a video-based evaluation tool for use in Rett syndrome (RTT). Components include a parent-report checklist, and video filming and coding protocols that contain items on eating, drinking, communication, hand function and movements, personal care and mobility. Ninety-seven of the 169 families who initially…

  20. Context adaptive binary arithmetic coding-based data hiding in partially encrypted H.264/AVC videos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Dawen; Wang, Rangding

    2015-05-01

    A scheme of data hiding directly in a partially encrypted version of H.264/AVC videos is proposed which includes three parts, i.e., selective encryption, data embedding and data extraction. Selective encryption is performed on context adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) bin-strings via stream ciphers. By careful selection of CABAC entropy coder syntax elements for selective encryption, the encrypted bitstream is format-compliant and has exactly the same bit rate. Then a data-hider embeds the additional data into partially encrypted H.264/AVC videos using a CABAC bin-string substitution technique without accessing the plaintext of the video content. Since bin-string substitution is carried out on those residual coefficients with approximately the same magnitude, the quality of the decrypted video is satisfactory. Video file size is strictly preserved even after data embedding. In order to adapt to different application scenarios, data extraction can be done either in the encrypted domain or in the decrypted domain. Experimental results have demonstrated the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed scheme.

  1. [Development of a video image system for wireless capsule endoscopes based on DSP].

    PubMed

    Yang, Li; Peng, Chenglin; Wu, Huafeng; Zhao, Dechun; Zhang, Jinhua

    2008-02-01

    A video image recorder to record video picture for wireless capsule endoscopes was designed. TMS320C6211 DSP of Texas Instruments Inc. is the core processor of this system. Images are periodically acquired from Composite Video Broadcast Signal (CVBS) source and scaled by video decoder (SAA7114H). Video data is transported from high speed buffer First-in First-out (FIFO) to Digital Signal Processor (DSP) under the control of Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD). This paper adopts JPEG algorithm for image coding, and the compressed data in DSP was stored to Compact Flash (CF) card. TMS320C6211 DSP is mainly used for image compression and data transporting. Fast Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) algorithm and fast coefficient quantization algorithm are used to accelerate operation speed of DSP and decrease the executing code. At the same time, proper address is assigned for each memory, which has different speed;the memory structure is also optimized. In addition, this system uses plenty of Extended Direct Memory Access (EDMA) to transport and process image data, which results in stable and high performance.

  2. Simulation and Real-Time Verification of Video Algorithms on the TI C6400 Using Simulink

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2004-08-20

    SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12 . DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release...plot estimates over time (scrolling data) Adjust detection threshold (click mouse on graph) Monitor video capture Input video frames Captured frames 12 ...Video App: Surveillance Recording 1 2 7 3 4 9 5 6 11 SL for video Explanation of GUI 12 Target Options8 Build Process 10 13 14 15 16 M-code snippet

  3. Tactile Cueing for Target Acquisition and Identification

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    method of coding tactile information, and the method of presenting elevation information were studied. Results: Subjects were divided into video game experienced...VGP) subjects and non- video game (NVGP) experienced subjects. VGPs showed a significantly lower’ target acquisition time with the 12...that video game players performed better with the highest level of tactile resolution, while non- video game players performed better with simpler pattern and a lower resolution display.

  4. Do the Depictions of Sexual Attire and Sexual Behavior in Music Videos Differ Based on Video Network and Character Gender?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Keith; Laake, Rebecca A.; Bernard, Amy

    2006-01-01

    This study examined the sexual messages depicted in music videos aired on MTV, MTV2, BET, and GAC from August 2, 2004 to August 15, 2004. One-hour segments of music videos were taped daily for two weeks. Depictions of sexual attire and sexual behavior were analyzed via a four-page coding sheet (interrater-reliability = 0.93). Results indicated…

  5. Analysis of view synthesis prediction architectures in modern coding standards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tian, Dong; Zou, Feng; Lee, Chris; Vetro, Anthony; Sun, Huifang

    2013-09-01

    Depth-based 3D formats are currently being developed as extensions to both AVC and HEVC standards. The availability of depth information facilitates the generation of intermediate views for advanced 3D applications and displays, and also enables more efficient coding of the multiview input data through view synthesis prediction techniques. This paper outlines several approaches that have been explored to realize view synthesis prediction in modern video coding standards such as AVC and HEVC. The benefits and drawbacks of various architectures are analyzed in terms of performance, complexity, and other design considerations. It is hence concluded that block-based VSP prediction for multiview video signals provides attractive coding gains with comparable complexity as traditional motion/disparity compensation.

  6. Bites and B-Roll: Announcments of the Architecture Contest Winners

    ScienceCinema

    None

    2017-12-09

    Broadcast-quality downloads of this video are available free and unrestricted at http://stratacomm.net/solar-decathlon... Video contains announcements of the architecture awards announcement at the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Includes announcement and house b-roll of 1st place winner Team California and 2nd place winner Rice University's houses, general Solar Village b-roll, and bites from students and architecture experts

  7. Unified transform architecture for AVC, AVS, VC-1 and HEVC high-performance codecs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dias, Tiago; Roma, Nuno; Sousa, Leonel

    2014-12-01

    A unified architecture for fast and efficient computation of the set of two-dimensional (2-D) transforms adopted by the most recent state-of-the-art digital video standards is presented in this paper. Contrasting to other designs with similar functionality, the presented architecture is supported on a scalable, modular and completely configurable processing structure. This flexible structure not only allows to easily reconfigure the architecture to support different transform kernels, but it also permits its resizing to efficiently support transforms of different orders (e.g. order-4, order-8, order-16 and order-32). Consequently, not only is it highly suitable to realize high-performance multi-standard transform cores, but it also offers highly efficient implementations of specialized processing structures addressing only a reduced subset of transforms that are used by a specific video standard. The experimental results that were obtained by prototyping several configurations of this processing structure in a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA show the superior performance and hardware efficiency levels provided by the proposed unified architecture for the implementation of transform cores for the Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Audio Video coding Standard (AVS), VC-1 and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standards. In addition, such results also demonstrate the ability of this processing structure to realize multi-standard transform cores supporting all the standards mentioned above and that are capable of processing the 8k Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) video format (7,680 × 4,320 at 30 fps) in real time.

  8. Movement evaluation of front crawl swimming: Technical skill versus aesthetic quality

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    The study aim was to compare expert with non-expert swimmers’ rating of the aesthetic and technical qualities of front crawl in video-taped recordings of swimmers with low, middle, and high level proficiency. The results suggest that: i) observers’ experience affects their judgment: only the expert observers correctly rated the swimmers’ proficiency level; ii) evaluation of movement (technical and aesthetic scores) is correlated with the level of skill as expressed in the kinematics of the observed action (swimming speed, stroke frequency, and stroke length); iii) expert and non-expert observers use different strategies to rate the aesthetic and technical qualities of movement: equating the technical skill with the aesthetic quality is a general rule non-expert observers follow in the evaluation of human movement. PMID:28886063

  9. Cross-Layer Design for Robust and Scalable Video Transmission in Dynamic Wireless Environment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-02-01

    code rate convolutional codes or prioritized Rate - Compatible Punctured ...34New rate - compatible punctured convolutional codes for Viterbi decoding," IEEE Trans. Communications, Volume 42, Issue 12, pp. 3073-3079, Dec...Quality of service RCPC Rate - compatible and punctured convolutional codes SNR Signal to noise

  10. A Video Transmission System for Severely Degraded Channels

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-07-01

    rate compatible punctured convolutional codes (RCPC) . By separating the SPIHT bitstream...June 2000. 149 [170] J. Hagenauer, Rate - compatible punctured convolutional codes (RCPC codes ) and their applications, IEEE Transactions on...Farvardin [160] used rate compatible convolutional codes . They noticed that for some transmission rates , one of their EEP schemes, which may

  11. Robust Pedestrian Tracking and Recognition from FLIR Video: A Unified Approach via Sparse Coding

    PubMed Central

    Li, Xin; Guo, Rui; Chen, Chao

    2014-01-01

    Sparse coding is an emerging method that has been successfully applied to both robust object tracking and recognition in the vision literature. In this paper, we propose to explore a sparse coding-based approach toward joint object tracking-and-recognition and explore its potential in the analysis of forward-looking infrared (FLIR) video to support nighttime machine vision systems. A key technical contribution of this work is to unify existing sparse coding-based approaches toward tracking and recognition under the same framework, so that they can benefit from each other in a closed-loop. On the one hand, tracking the same object through temporal frames allows us to achieve improved recognition performance through dynamical updating of template/dictionary and combining multiple recognition results; on the other hand, the recognition of individual objects facilitates the tracking of multiple objects (i.e., walking pedestrians), especially in the presence of occlusion within a crowded environment. We report experimental results on both the CASIAPedestrian Database and our own collected FLIR video database to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed joint tracking-and-recognition approach. PMID:24961216

  12. A Secure and Robust Object-Based Video Authentication System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Dajun; Sun, Qibin; Tian, Qi

    2004-12-01

    An object-based video authentication system, which combines watermarking, error correction coding (ECC), and digital signature techniques, is presented for protecting the authenticity between video objects and their associated backgrounds. In this system, a set of angular radial transformation (ART) coefficients is selected as the feature to represent the video object and the background, respectively. ECC and cryptographic hashing are applied to those selected coefficients to generate the robust authentication watermark. This content-based, semifragile watermark is then embedded into the objects frame by frame before MPEG4 coding. In watermark embedding and extraction, groups of discrete Fourier transform (DFT) coefficients are randomly selected, and their energy relationships are employed to hide and extract the watermark. The experimental results demonstrate that our system is robust to MPEG4 compression, object segmentation errors, and some common object-based video processing such as object translation, rotation, and scaling while securely preventing malicious object modifications. The proposed solution can be further incorporated into public key infrastructure (PKI).

  13. Reconstructing Interlaced High-Dynamic-Range Video Using Joint Learning.

    PubMed

    Inchang Choi; Seung-Hwan Baek; Kim, Min H

    2017-11-01

    For extending the dynamic range of video, it is a common practice to capture multiple frames sequentially with different exposures and combine them to extend the dynamic range of each video frame. However, this approach results in typical ghosting artifacts due to fast and complex motion in nature. As an alternative, video imaging with interlaced exposures has been introduced to extend the dynamic range. However, the interlaced approach has been hindered by jaggy artifacts and sensor noise, leading to concerns over image quality. In this paper, we propose a data-driven approach for jointly solving two specific problems of deinterlacing and denoising that arise in interlaced video imaging with different exposures. First, we solve the deinterlacing problem using joint dictionary learning via sparse coding. Since partial information of detail in differently exposed rows is often available via interlacing, we make use of the information to reconstruct details of the extended dynamic range from the interlaced video input. Second, we jointly solve the denoising problem by tailoring sparse coding to better handle additive noise in low-/high-exposure rows, and also adopt multiscale homography flow to temporal sequences for denoising. We anticipate that the proposed method will allow for concurrent capture of higher dynamic range video frames without suffering from ghosting artifacts. We demonstrate the advantages of our interlaced video imaging compared with the state-of-the-art high-dynamic-range video methods.

  14. Identifying influenza-like illness presentation from unstructured general practice clinical narrative using a text classifier rule-based expert system versus a clinical expert.

    PubMed

    MacRae, Jayden; Love, Tom; Baker, Michael G; Dowell, Anthony; Carnachan, Matthew; Stubbe, Maria; McBain, Lynn

    2015-10-06

    We designed and validated a rule-based expert system to identify influenza like illness (ILI) from routinely recorded general practice clinical narrative to aid a larger retrospective research study into the impact of the 2009 influenza pandemic in New Zealand. Rules were assessed using pattern matching heuristics on routine clinical narrative. The system was trained using data from 623 clinical encounters and validated using a clinical expert as a gold standard against a mutually exclusive set of 901 records. We calculated a 98.2 % specificity and 90.2 % sensitivity across an ILI incidence of 12.4 % measured against clinical expert classification. Peak problem list identification of ILI by clinical coding in any month was 9.2 % of all detected ILI presentations. Our system addressed an unusual problem domain for clinical narrative classification; using notational, unstructured, clinician entered information in a community care setting. It performed well compared with other approaches and domains. It has potential applications in real-time surveillance of disease, and in assisted problem list coding for clinicians. Our system identified ILI presentation with sufficient accuracy for use at a population level in the wider research study. The peak coding of 9.2 % illustrated the need for automated coding of unstructured narrative in our study.

  15. Wireless Visual Sensor Network Resource Allocation using Cross-Layer Optimization

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    Rate Compatible Punctured Convolutional (RCPC) codes for channel...vol. 44, pp. 2943–2959, November 1998. [22] J. Hagenauer, “ Rate - compatible punctured convolutional codes (RCPC codes ) and their applications,” IEEE... coding rate for H.264/AVC video compression is determined. At the data link layer, the Rate - Compatible Puctured Convolutional (RCPC) channel coding

  16. Winning the game: brain processes in expert, young elite and amateur table tennis players.

    PubMed

    Wolf, Sebastian; Brölz, Ellen; Scholz, David; Ramos-Murguialday, Ander; Keune, Philipp M; Hautzinger, Martin; Birbaumer, Niels; Strehl, Ute

    2014-01-01

    (1) compared with amateurs and young elite, expert table tennis players are characterized by enhanced cortical activation in the motor and fronto-parietal cortex during motor imagery in response to table tennis videos; (2) in elite athletes, world rank points are associated with stronger cortical activation. To this aim, electroencephalographic data were recorded in 14 expert, 15 amateur and 15 young elite right-handed table tennis players. All subjects watched videos of a serve and imagined themselves responding with a specific table tennis stroke. With reference to a baseline period, power decrease/increase of the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) during the pretask- and task period indexed the cortical activation/deactivation (event-related desynchronization/synchronization, ERD/ERS). Regarding hypothesis (1), 8-10 Hz SMR ERD was stronger in elite athletes than in amateurs with an intermediate ERD in young elite athletes in the motor cortex. Regarding hypothesis (2), there was no correlation between ERD/ERS in the motor cortex and world rank points in elite experts, but a weaker ERD in the fronto-parietal cortex was associated with higher world rank points. These results suggest that motor skill in table tennis is associated with focused excitability of the motor cortex during reaction, movement planning and execution with high attentional demands. Among elite experts, less activation of the fronto-parietal attention network may be necessary to become a world champion.

  17. Viewers' perceptions of a YouTube music therapy session video.

    PubMed

    Gregory, Dianne; Gooding, Lori G

    2013-01-01

    Recent research revealed diverse content and varying levels of quality in YouTube music therapy videos and prompted questions about viewers' discrimination abilities. This study compares ratings of a YouTube music therapy session video by viewers with different levels of music therapy expertise to determine video elements related to perceptions of representational quality. Eighty-one participants included 25 novices (freshmen and sophomores in an introductory music therapy course), 25 pre-interns (seniors and equivalency students who had completed all core Music Therapy courses), 26 professionals (MT-BC or MT-BC eligibility) with a mean of 1.75 years of experience, and an expert panel of 5 MT-BC professionals with a mean of 11 years of experience in special education. After viewing a music therapy special education video that in previous research met basic competency criteria and professional standards of the American Music Therapy Association, participants completed a 16-item questionnaire. Novices' ratings were more positive (less discriminating) compared to experienced viewers' neutral or negative ratings. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) of novice, pre-intern, and professional ratings of all items revealed significant differences p, .05) for specific therapy content and for a global rating of representational quality. Experienced viewers' ratings were similar to the expert panel's ratings. Content analysis of viewers' reasons for their representational quality ratings corroborated ratings of therapy-specific content. A video that combines and clearly depicts therapy objectives, client improvement, and the effectiveness of music within a therapeutic intervention best represent the music therapy profession in a public social platform like YouTube.

  18. The accuracy and reproducibility of video assessment in the pitch-side management of concussion in elite rugby.

    PubMed

    Fuller, G W; Kemp, S P T; Raftery, M

    2017-03-01

    To investigate the accuracy and reliability of side-line video review of head impact events to aid identification of concussion in elite sport. Diagnostic accuracy and inter-rater agreement study. Immediate care, match day and team doctors involved in the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup viewed 20 video clips showing broadcaster's footage of head impact events occurring during elite Rugby matches. Subjects subsequently recorded whether any criteria warranting permanent removal from play or medical room head injury assessment were present. The accuracy of these ratings were compared to consensus expert opinion by calculating mean sensitivity and specificity across raters. The reproducibility of doctor's decisions was additionally assessed using raw agreement and Gwets AC1 chance corrected agreement coefficient. Forty rugby medicine doctors were included in the study. Compared to the expert reference standard overall sensitivity and specificity of doctors decisions were 77.5% (95% CI 73.1-81.5%) and 53.3% (95% CI 48.2-58.2%) respectively. Overall there was raw agreement of 67.8% (95% CI 57.9-77.7%) between doctors across all video clips. Chance corrected Gwets AC1 agreement coefficient was 0.39 (95% CI 0.17-0.62), indicating fair agreement. Rugby World Cup doctors' demonstrated moderate accuracy and fair reproducibility in head injury event decision making when assessing video clips of head impact events. The use of real-time video may improve the identification, decision making and management of concussion in elite sports. Copyright © 2016 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Audiovisual focus of attention and its application to Ultra High Definition video compression

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rerabek, Martin; Nemoto, Hiromi; Lee, Jong-Seok; Ebrahimi, Touradj

    2014-02-01

    Using Focus of Attention (FoA) as a perceptual process in image and video compression belongs to well-known approaches to increase coding efficiency. It has been shown that foveated coding, when compression quality varies across the image according to region of interest, is more efficient than the alternative coding, when all region are compressed in a similar way. However, widespread use of such foveated compression has been prevented due to two main conflicting causes, namely, the complexity and the efficiency of algorithms for FoA detection. One way around these is to use as much information as possible from the scene. Since most video sequences have an associated audio, and moreover, in many cases there is a correlation between the audio and the visual content, audiovisual FoA can improve efficiency of the detection algorithm while remaining of low complexity. This paper discusses a simple yet efficient audiovisual FoA algorithm based on correlation of dynamics between audio and video signal components. Results of audiovisual FoA detection algorithm are subsequently taken into account for foveated coding and compression. This approach is implemented into H.265/HEVC encoder producing a bitstream which is fully compliant to any H.265/HEVC decoder. The influence of audiovisual FoA in the perceived quality of high and ultra-high definition audiovisual sequences is explored and the amount of gain in compression efficiency is analyzed.

  20. Bedwetting

    MedlinePlus

    ... Things That Help Feelings Expert Answers Q&A Movies & More for Teens Teens site Sitio para adolescentes ... friends: your new video games going to the movies what to do this weekend Things that you ...

  1. Concussions

    MedlinePlus

    ... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Concussions Teen Sports Center Image About Us Contact Us Partners Editorial ...

  2. Probabilistic accident consequence uncertainty analysis -- Late health effects uncertain assessment. Volume 2: Appendices

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

    Little, M.P.; Muirhead, C.R.; Goossens, L.H.J.

    1997-12-01

    The development of two new probabilistic accident consequence codes, MACCS and COSYMA, was completed in 1990. These codes estimate the consequence from the accidental releases of radiological material from hypothesized accidents at nuclear installations. In 1991, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Commission of the European Communities began cosponsoring a joint uncertainty analysis of the two codes. The ultimate objective of this joint effort was to systematically develop credible and traceable uncertainty distributions for the respective code input variables. A formal expert judgment elicitation and evaluation process was identified as the best technology available for developing a library ofmore » uncertainty distributions for these consequence parameters. This report focuses on the results of the study to develop distribution for variables related to the MACCS and COSYMA late health effects models. This volume contains appendices that include (1) a summary of the MACCS and COSYMA consequence codes, (2) the elicitation questionnaires and case structures, (3) the rationales and results for the expert panel on late health effects, (4) short biographies of the experts, and (5) the aggregated results of their responses.« less

  3. Automated Quantification of the Landing Error Scoring System With a Markerless Motion-Capture System.

    PubMed

    Mauntel, Timothy C; Padua, Darin A; Stanley, Laura E; Frank, Barnett S; DiStefano, Lindsay J; Peck, Karen Y; Cameron, Kenneth L; Marshall, Stephen W

    2017-11-01

      The Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) can be used to identify individuals with an elevated risk of lower extremity injury. The limitation of the LESS is that raters identify movement errors from video replay, which is time-consuming and, therefore, may limit its use by clinicians. A markerless motion-capture system may be capable of automating LESS scoring, thereby removing this obstacle.   To determine the reliability of an automated markerless motion-capture system for scoring the LESS.   Cross-sectional study.   United States Military Academy.   A total of 57 healthy, physically active individuals (47 men, 10 women; age = 18.6 ± 0.6 years, height = 174.5 ± 6.7 cm, mass = 75.9 ± 9.2 kg).   Participants completed 3 jump-landing trials that were recorded by standard video cameras and a depth camera. Their movement quality was evaluated by expert LESS raters (standard video recording) using the LESS rubric and by software that automates LESS scoring (depth-camera data). We recorded an error for a LESS item if it was present on at least 2 of 3 jump-landing trials. We calculated κ statistics, prevalence- and bias-adjusted κ (PABAK) statistics, and percentage agreement for each LESS item. Interrater reliability was evaluated between the 2 expert rater scores and between a consensus expert score and the markerless motion-capture system score.   We observed reliability between the 2 expert LESS raters (average κ = 0.45 ± 0.35, average PABAK = 0.67 ± 0.34; percentage agreement = 0.83 ± 0.17). The markerless motion-capture system had similar reliability with consensus expert scores (average κ = 0.48 ± 0.40, average PABAK = 0.71 ± 0.27; percentage agreement = 0.85 ± 0.14). However, reliability was poor for 5 LESS items in both LESS score comparisons.   A markerless motion-capture system had the same level of reliability as expert LESS raters, suggesting that an automated system can accurately assess movement. Therefore, clinicians can use the markerless motion-capture system to reliably score the LESS without being limited by the time requirements of manual LESS scoring.

  4. FAST at MACH 20: clinical ultrasound aboard the International Space Station.

    PubMed

    Sargsyan, Ashot E; Hamilton, Douglas R; Jones, Jeffrey A; Melton, Shannon; Whitson, Peggy A; Kirkpatrick, Andrew W; Martin, David; Dulchavsky, Scott A

    2005-01-01

    Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) examination has been proved accurate for diagnosing trauma when performed by nonradiologist physicians. Recent reports have suggested that nonphysicians also may be able to perform the FAST examination reliably. A multipurpose ultrasound system is installed on the International Space Station as a component of the Human Research Facility. Nonphysician crew members aboard the International Space Station receive modest training in hardware operation, sonographic techniques, and remotely guided scanning. This report documents the first FAST examination conducted in space, as part of the sustained effort to maintain the highest possible level of available medical care during long-duration space flight. An International Space Station crew member with minimal sonography training was remotely guided through a FAST examination by an ultrasound imaging expert from Mission Control Center using private real-time two-way audio and a private space-to-ground video downlink (7.5 frames/second). There was a 2-second satellite delay for both video and audio. To facilitate the real-time telemedical ultrasound examination, identical reference cards showing topologic reference points and hardware controls were available to both the crew member and the ground-based expert. A FAST examination, including four standard abdominal windows, was completed in approximately 5.5 minutes. Following commands from the Mission Control Center-based expert, the crew member acquired all target images without difficulty. The anatomic content and fidelity of the ultrasound video were excellent and would allow clinical decision making. It is possible to conduct a remotely guided FAST examination with excellent clinical results and speed, even with a significantly reduced video frame rate and a 2-second communication latency. A wider application of trauma ultrasound applications for remote medicine on earth appears to be possible and warranted.

  5. The Application of Observational Practice and Educational Networking in Simulation-Based and Distributed Medical Education Contexts.

    PubMed

    Welsher, Arthur; Rojas, David; Khan, Zain; VanderBeek, Laura; Kapralos, Bill; Grierson, Lawrence E M

    2018-02-01

    Research has revealed that individuals can improve technical skill performance by viewing demonstrations modeled by either expert or novice performers. These findings support the development of video-based observational practice communities that augment simulation-based skill education and connect geographically distributed learners. This study explores the experimental replicability of the observational learning effect when demonstrations are sampled from a community of distributed learners and serves as a context for understanding learner experiences within this type of training protocol. Participants from 3 distributed medical campuses engaged in a simulation-based learning study of the elliptical excision in which they completed a video-recorded performance before being assigned to 1 of 3 groups for a 2-week observational practice intervention. One group observed expert demonstrations, another observed novice demonstrations, and the third observed a combination of both. Participants returned for posttesting immediately and 1 month after the intervention. Participants also engaged in interviews regarding their perceptions of the usability and relevance of video-based observational practice to clinical education. Checklist (P < 0.0001) and global rating (P < 0.0001) measures indicate that participants, regardless of group assignment, improved after the intervention and after a 1-month retention period. Analyses revealed no significant differences between groups. Qualitative analyses indicate that participants perceived the observational practice platform to be usable, relevant, and potentially improved with enhanced feedback delivery. Video-based observational practice involving expert and/or novice demonstrations enhances simulation-based skill learning in a group of geographically distributed trainees. These findings support the use of Internet-mediated observational learning communities in distributed and simulation-based medical education contexts.

  6. A comparison of cigarette- and hookah-related videos on YouTube.

    PubMed

    Carroll, Mary V; Shensa, Ariel; Primack, Brian A

    2013-09-01

    YouTube is now the second most visited site on the internet. The authors aimed to compare characteristics of and messages conveyed by cigarette- and hookah-related videos on YouTube. Systematic search procedures yielded 66 cigarette-related and 61 hookah-related videos. After three trained qualitative researchers used an iterative approach to develop and refine definitions for the coding of variables, two of them independently coded each video for content including positive and negative associations with smoking and major content type. Median view counts were 606,884 for cigarettes-related videos and 102,307 for hookah-related videos (p<0.001). However, the number of comments per 1000 views was significantly lower for cigarette-related videos than for hookah-related videos (1.6 vs 2.5, p=0.003). There was no significant difference in the number of 'like' designations per 100 reactions (91 vs 87, p=0.39). Cigarette-related videos were less likely than hookah-related videos to portray tobacco use in a positive light (24% vs 92%, p<0.001). In addition, cigarette-related videos were more likely to be of high production quality (42% vs 5%, p<0.001), to mention short-term consequences (50% vs 18%, p<0.001) and long-term consequences (44% vs 2%, p<0.001) of tobacco use, to contain explicit antismoking messages (39% vs 0%, p<0.001) and to provide specific information on how to quit tobacco use (21% vs 0%, p<0.001). Although internet user-generated videos related to cigarette smoking often acknowledge harmful consequences and provide explicit antismoking messages, hookah-related videos do not. It may be valuable for public health programmes to correct common misconceptions regarding hookah use.

  7. Code inspection instructional validation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Orr, Kay; Stancil, Shirley

    1992-01-01

    The Shuttle Data Systems Branch (SDSB) of the Flight Data Systems Division (FDSD) at Johnson Space Center contracted with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to validate the effectiveness of an interactive video course on the code inspection process. The purpose of this project was to determine if this course could be effective for teaching NASA analysts the process of code inspection. In addition, NASA was interested in the effectiveness of this unique type of instruction (Digital Video Interactive), for providing training on software processes. This study found the Carnegie Mellon course, 'A Cure for the Common Code', effective for teaching the process of code inspection. In addition, analysts prefer learning with this method of instruction, or this method in combination with other methods. As is, the course is definitely better than no course at all; however, findings indicate changes are needed. Following are conclusions of this study. (1) The course is instructionally effective. (2) The simulation has a positive effect on student's confidence in his ability to apply new knowledge. (3) Analysts like the course and prefer this method of training, or this method in combination with current methods of training in code inspection, over the way training is currently being conducted. (4) Analysts responded favorably to information presented through scenarios incorporating full motion video. (5) Some course content needs to be changed. (6) Some content needs to be added to the course. SwRI believes this study indicates interactive video instruction combined with simulation is effective for teaching software processes. Based on the conclusions of this study, SwRI has outlined seven options for NASA to consider. SwRI recommends the option which involves creation of new source code and data files, but uses much of the existing content and design from the current course. Although this option involves a significant software development effort, SwRI believes this option will produce the most effective results.

  8. Testicular Injuries

    MedlinePlus

    ... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for ... Happen? If you're a guy who plays sports, likes to lift weights and exercise a lot, ...

  9. Expert systems built by the Expert: An evaluation of OPS5

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jackson, Robert

    1987-01-01

    Two expert systems were written in OPS5 by the expert, a Ph.D. astronomer with no prior experience in artificial intelligence or expert systems, without the use of a knowledge engineer. The first system was built from scratch and uses 146 rules to check for duplication of scientific information within a pool of prospective observations. The second system was grafted onto another expert system and uses 149 additional rules to estimate the spacecraft and ground resources consumed by a set of prospective observations. The small vocabulary, the IF this occurs THEN do that logical structure of OPS5, and the ability to follow program execution allowed the expert to design and implement these systems with only the data structures and rules of another OPS5 system as an example. The modularity of the rules in OPS5 allowed the second system to modify the rulebase of the system onto which it was grafted without changing the code or the operation of that system. These experiences show that experts are able to develop their own expert systems due to the ease of programming and code reusability in OPS5.

  10. Dino Fest

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosenberg, Gary D. (Editor); Wolberg, Donald L. (Editor); Spencer, Randall S. (Editor)

    1994-01-01

    This document and video represent the proceedings of the first Dino Fest conference, which was unprecedented in bringing together exhibits of dinosaurs and other fossils and attracting many of the world's leading paleontologists and science educators, students and the public. This first Dino Fest consisted of scores of exhibits that included live and fossil plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. Lasting three weeks, the event concluded with a three-day symposium, providing dinosaur experts from around the country a forum to discuss their research and ideas with the public and other scientists. The document presents the talks of many of the scientists. The video is from an interactive television broadcast relayed by a NASA satellite that enabled children at remote locations to ask questions of a panel of dinosaur experts, literally reaching an audience around the world.

  11. Feasibility of an Integrated Expert Video Authoring Workstation for Low-Cost Teacher Produced CBI. SBIR Phase I: Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    IntelliSys, Inc., Syracuse, NY.

    This was Phase I of a three-phased project. This phase of the project investigated the feasibility of a computer-based instruction (CBI) workstation, designed for use by teachers of handicapped students within a school structure. This station is to have as a major feature the ability to produce in-house full-motion video using one of the…

  12. A new DWT/MC/DPCM video compression framework based on EBCOT

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mei, L. M.; Wu, H. R.; Tan, D. M.

    2005-07-01

    A novel Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT)/Motion Compensation (MC)/Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM) video compression framework is proposed in this paper. Although the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT)/MC/DPCM is the mainstream framework for video coders in industry and international standards, the idea of DWT/MC/DPCM has existed for more than one decade in the literature and the investigation is still undergoing. The contribution of this work is twofold. Firstly, the Embedded Block Coding with Optimal Truncation (EBCOT) is used here as the compression engine for both intra- and inter-frame coding, which provides good compression ratio and embedded rate-distortion (R-D) optimization mechanism. This is an extension of the EBCOT application from still images to videos. Secondly, this framework offers a good interface for the Perceptual Distortion Measure (PDM) based on the Human Visual System (HVS) where the Mean Squared Error (MSE) can be easily replaced with the PDM in the R-D optimization. Some of the preliminary results are reported here. They are also compared with benchmarks such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 version 2. The results demonstrate that under specified condition the proposed coder outperforms the benchmarks in terms of rate vs. distortion.

  13. Real-time video streaming using H.264 scalable video coding (SVC) in multihomed mobile networks: a testbed approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nightingale, James; Wang, Qi; Grecos, Christos

    2011-03-01

    Users of the next generation wireless paradigm known as multihomed mobile networks expect satisfactory quality of service (QoS) when accessing streamed multimedia content. The recent H.264 Scalable Video Coding (SVC) extension to the Advanced Video Coding standard (AVC), offers the facility to adapt real-time video streams in response to the dynamic conditions of multiple network paths encountered in multihomed wireless mobile networks. Nevertheless, preexisting streaming algorithms were mainly proposed for AVC delivery over multipath wired networks and were evaluated by software simulation. This paper introduces a practical, hardware-based testbed upon which we implement and evaluate real-time H.264 SVC streaming algorithms in a realistic multihomed wireless mobile networks environment. We propose an optimised streaming algorithm with multi-fold technical contributions. Firstly, we extended the AVC packet prioritisation schemes to reflect the three-dimensional granularity of SVC. Secondly, we designed a mechanism for evaluating the effects of different streamer 'read ahead window' sizes on real-time performance. Thirdly, we took account of the previously unconsidered path switching and mobile networks tunnelling overheads encountered in real-world deployments. Finally, we implemented a path condition monitoring and reporting scheme to facilitate the intelligent path switching. The proposed system has been experimentally shown to offer a significant improvement in PSNR of the received stream compared with representative existing algorithms.

  14. Reading your own lips: common-coding theory and visual speech perception.

    PubMed

    Tye-Murray, Nancy; Spehar, Brent P; Myerson, Joel; Hale, Sandra; Sommers, Mitchell S

    2013-02-01

    Common-coding theory posits that (1) perceiving an action activates the same representations of motor plans that are activated by actually performing that action, and (2) because of individual differences in the ways that actions are performed, observing recordings of one's own previous behavior activates motor plans to an even greater degree than does observing someone else's behavior. We hypothesized that if observing oneself activates motor plans to a greater degree than does observing others, and if these activated plans contribute to perception, then people should be able to lipread silent video clips of their own previous utterances more accurately than they can lipread video clips of other talkers. As predicted, two groups of participants were able to lipread video clips of themselves, recorded more than two weeks earlier, significantly more accurately than video clips of others. These results suggest that visual input activates speech motor activity that links to word representations in the mental lexicon.

  15. Fast image interpolation for motion estimation using graphics hardware

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kelly, Francis; Kokaram, Anil

    2004-05-01

    Motion estimation and compensation is the key to high quality video coding. Block matching motion estimation is used in most video codecs, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263 and H.26L. Motion estimation is also a key component in the digital restoration of archived video and for post-production and special effects in the movie industry. Sub-pixel accurate motion vectors can improve the quality of the vector field and lead to more efficient video coding. However sub-pixel accuracy requires interpolation of the image data. Image interpolation is a key requirement of many image processing algorithms. Often interpolation can be a bottleneck in these applications, especially in motion estimation due to the large number pixels involved. In this paper we propose using commodity computer graphics hardware for fast image interpolation. We use the full search block matching algorithm to illustrate the problems and limitations of using graphics hardware in this way.

  16. Sparse/DCT (S/DCT) two-layered representation of prediction residuals for video coding.

    PubMed

    Kang, Je-Won; Gabbouj, Moncef; Kuo, C-C Jay

    2013-07-01

    In this paper, we propose a cascaded sparse/DCT (S/DCT) two-layer representation of prediction residuals, and implement this idea on top of the state-of-the-art high efficiency video coding (HEVC) standard. First, a dictionary is adaptively trained to contain featured patterns of residual signals so that a high portion of energy in a structured residual can be efficiently coded via sparse coding. It is observed that the sparse representation alone is less effective in the R-D performance due to the side information overhead at higher bit rates. To overcome this problem, the DCT representation is cascaded at the second stage. It is applied to the remaining signal to improve coding efficiency. The two representations successfully complement each other. It is demonstrated by experimental results that the proposed algorithm outperforms the HEVC reference codec HM5.0 in the Common Test Condition.

  17. FBCOT: a fast block coding option for JPEG 2000

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taubman, David; Naman, Aous; Mathew, Reji

    2017-09-01

    Based on the EBCOT algorithm, JPEG 2000 finds application in many fields, including high performance scientific, geospatial and video coding applications. Beyond digital cinema, JPEG 2000 is also attractive for low-latency video communications. The main obstacle for some of these applications is the relatively high computational complexity of the block coder, especially at high bit-rates. This paper proposes a drop-in replacement for the JPEG 2000 block coding algorithm, achieving much higher encoding and decoding throughputs, with only modest loss in coding efficiency (typically < 0.5dB). The algorithm provides only limited quality/SNR scalability, but offers truly reversible transcoding to/from any standard JPEG 2000 block bit-stream. The proposed FAST block coder can be used with EBCOT's post-compression RD-optimization methodology, allowing a target compressed bit-rate to be achieved even at low latencies, leading to the name FBCOT (Fast Block Coding with Optimized Truncation).

  18. Probabilistic accident consequence uncertainty analysis: Dispersion and deposition uncertainty assessment, appendices A and B

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

    Harper, F.T.; Young, M.L.; Miller, L.A.

    The development of two new probabilistic accident consequence codes, MACCS and COSYMA, completed in 1990, estimate the risks presented by nuclear installations based on postulated frequencies and magnitudes of potential accidents. In 1991, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) began a joint uncertainty analysis of the two codes. The objective was to develop credible and traceable uncertainty distributions for the input variables of the codes. Expert elicitation, developed independently, was identified as the best technology available for developing a library of uncertainty distributions for the selected consequence parameters. The study was formulatedmore » jointly and was limited to the current code models and to physical quantities that could be measured in experiments. To validate the distributions generated for the wet deposition input variables, samples were taken from these distributions and propagated through the wet deposition code model along with the Gaussian plume model (GPM) implemented in the MACCS and COSYMA codes. Resulting distributions closely replicated the aggregated elicited wet deposition distributions. Project teams from the NRC and CEC cooperated successfully to develop and implement a unified process for the elaboration of uncertainty distributions on consequence code input parameters. Formal expert judgment elicitation proved valuable for synthesizing the best available information. Distributions on measurable atmospheric dispersion and deposition parameters were successfully elicited from experts involved in the many phenomenological areas of consequence analysis. This volume is the second of a three-volume document describing the project and contains two appendices describing the rationales for the dispersion and deposition data along with short biographies of the 16 experts who participated in the project.« less

  19. [Deontology of the medical expert].

    PubMed

    Raszeja, S

    1995-09-01

    The authority of prosecuting organ to choose the expert, set his task and verify the following opinion is defined. The qualities of the medical expert and his duties are described, referring to: -his expertise; -his morality; -his ability to issue an independent (objective) opinion. Detailed rules, which can be ascribed to a specific medical expert's deontological code, are listed and explained.

  20. Female Athlete Triad

    MedlinePlus

    ... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for ... and her health. What Is Female Athlete Triad? Sports and exercise are part of a balanced, healthy ...

  1. I'll Be Determined

    MedlinePlus

    ... iPod touch ® ! See Terms of Use for contest rules and more details. Home IBD Journeys Newly Diagnosed Treatment Diet Complications Quality of Life Strength From THE WALL Patient & Expert Videos GI ...

  2. Audiovisual quality evaluation of low-bitrate video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Winkler, Stefan; Faller, Christof

    2005-03-01

    Audiovisual quality assessment is a relatively unexplored topic. We designed subjective experiments for audio, video, and audiovisual quality using content and encoding parameters representative of video for mobile applications. Our focus were the MPEG-4 AVC (a.k.a. H.264) and AAC coding standards. Our goals in this study are two-fold: we want to understand the interactions between audio and video in terms of perceived audiovisual quality, and we use the subjective data to evaluate the prediction performance of our non-reference video and audio quality metrics.

  3. Presentation of 3D Scenes Through Video Example.

    PubMed

    Baldacci, Andrea; Ganovelli, Fabio; Corsini, Massimiliano; Scopigno, Roberto

    2017-09-01

    Using synthetic videos to present a 3D scene is a common requirement for architects, designers, engineers or Cultural Heritage professionals however it is usually time consuming and, in order to obtain high quality results, the support of a film maker/computer animation expert is necessary. We introduce an alternative approach that takes the 3D scene of interest and an example video as input, and automatically produces a video of the input scene that resembles the given video example. In other words, our algorithm allows the user to "replicate" an existing video, on a different 3D scene. We build on the intuition that a video sequence of a static environment is strongly characterized by its optical flow, or, in other words, that two videos are similar if their optical flows are similar. We therefore recast the problem as producing a video of the input scene whose optical flow is similar to the optical flow of the input video. Our intuition is supported by a user-study specifically designed to verify this statement. We have successfully tested our approach on several scenes and input videos, some of which are reported in the accompanying material of this paper.

  4. Wireless visual sensor network resource allocation using cross-layer optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bentley, Elizabeth S.; Matyjas, John D.; Medley, Michael J.; Kondi, Lisimachos P.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we propose an approach to manage network resources for a Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) visual sensor network where nodes monitor scenes with varying levels of motion. It uses cross-layer optimization across the physical layer, the link layer and the application layer. Our technique simultaneously assigns a source coding rate, a channel coding rate, and a power level to all nodes in the network based on one of two criteria that maximize the quality of video of the entire network as a whole, subject to a constraint on the total chip rate. One criterion results in the minimal average end-to-end distortion amongst all nodes, while the other criterion minimizes the maximum distortion of the network. Our approach allows one to determine the capacity of the visual sensor network based on the number of nodes and the quality of video that must be transmitted. For bandwidth-limited applications, one can also determine the minimum bandwidth needed to accommodate a number of nodes with a specific target chip rate. Video captured by a sensor node camera is encoded and decoded using the H.264 video codec by a centralized control unit at the network layer. To reduce the computational complexity of the solution, Universal Rate-Distortion Characteristics (URDCs) are obtained experimentally to relate bit error probabilities to the distortion of corrupted video. Bit error rates are found first by using Viterbi's upper bounds on the bit error probability and second, by simulating nodes transmitting data spread by Total Square Correlation (TSC) codes over a Rayleigh-faded DS-CDMA channel and receiving that data using Auxiliary Vector (AV) filtering.

  5. Supporting Reporting: On the Positive Effects of Text- and Video-Based Awareness Material on Responsible Journalistic Suicide News Writing.

    PubMed

    Scherr, Sebastian; Arendt, Florian; Schäfer, Markus

    2017-01-01

    Suicide is a global public health problem. Media impact on suicide is well confirmed and there are several recommendations on how media should and should not report on suicide to minimize the risk of copycat behavior. Those media guidelines have been developed to improve responsible reporting on suicide (RRS). Although such guidelines are used in several countries, we lack empirical evidence on their causal effect on actual journalistic news writing. We conducted an experiment with journalism students (N = 78) in Germany in which we tested whether exposure to awareness material promoting RRS influences news writing. As a supplement to the widely used text-based material, we tested the impact of a video in which a suicide expert presents the guidelines. A video was used as a supplement to text partly due to its potential benefit for prevention efforts over the Internet. We chose a low-budget production process allowing easy reproduction in different countries by local suicide experts. In the experiment, participants were either exposed to written, audio-visual, or no awareness material. Afterwards, participants read numerous facts of an ostensible suicide event and were asked to write a factual suicide news story based on these facts. Analyses indicate that awareness material exposure helped to improve RRS with the awareness video showing the strongest effects. We recommend that suicide prevention should use instructive awareness videos about RRS complementary to text-based awareness material.

  6. Dynamic frame resizing with convolutional neural network for efficient video compression

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Jaehwan; Park, Youngo; Choi, Kwang Pyo; Lee, JongSeok; Jeon, Sunyoung; Park, JeongHoon

    2017-09-01

    In the past, video codecs such as vc-1 and H.263 used a technique to encode reduced-resolution video and restore original resolution from the decoder for improvement of coding efficiency. The techniques of vc-1 and H.263 Annex Q are called dynamic frame resizing and reduced-resolution update mode, respectively. However, these techniques have not been widely used due to limited performance improvements that operate well only under specific conditions. In this paper, video frame resizing (reduced/restore) technique based on machine learning is proposed for improvement of coding efficiency. The proposed method features video of low resolution made by convolutional neural network (CNN) in encoder and reconstruction of original resolution using CNN in decoder. The proposed method shows improved subjective performance over all the high resolution videos which are dominantly consumed recently. In order to assess subjective quality of the proposed method, Video Multi-method Assessment Fusion (VMAF) which showed high reliability among many subjective measurement tools was used as subjective metric. Moreover, to assess general performance, diverse bitrates are tested. Experimental results showed that BD-rate based on VMAF was improved by about 51% compare to conventional HEVC. Especially, VMAF values were significantly improved in low bitrate. Also, when the method is subjectively tested, it had better subjective visual quality in similar bit rate.

  7. The importance of expert feedback during endovascular simulator training.

    PubMed

    Boyle, Emily; O'Keeffe, Dara A; Naughton, Peter A; Hill, Arnold D K; McDonnell, Ciaran O; Moneley, Daragh

    2011-07-01

    Complex endovascular skills are difficult to obtain in the clinical environment. Virtual reality (VR) simulator training is a valuable addition to current training curricula, but is there a benefit in the absence of expert trainers? Eighteen endovascular novices performed a renal artery angioplasty/stenting (RAS) on the Vascular Interventional Surgical Trainer simulator. They were randomized into three groups: Group A (n = 6, control), no performance feedback; Group B (n = 6, nonexpert feedback), feedback after every procedure from a nonexpert facilitator; and Group C (n = 6, expert feedback), feedback after every procedure from a consultant vascular surgeon. Each trainee completed RAS six times. Simulator-measured performance metrics included procedural and fluoroscopy time, contrast volume, accuracy of balloon placement, and handling errors. Clinical errors were also measured by blinded video assessment. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15. A clear learning curve was observed across the six trials. There were no significant differences between the three groups for the general performance metrics, but Group C made fewer errors than Groups A (P = .009) or B (P = .004). Video-based error assessment showed that Groups B and C performed better than Group A (P = .002 and P = .000, respectively). VR simulator training for novices can significantly improve general performance in the absence of expert trainers. Procedure-specific qualitative metrics are improved with expert feedback, but nonexpert facilitators can also enhance the quality of training and may represent a valuable alternative to expert clinical faculty. Copyright © 2011 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Problem-based learning using patient-simulated videos showing daily life for a comprehensive clinical approach

    PubMed Central

    Ohira, Yoshiyuki; Uehara, Takanori; Noda, Kazutaka; Suzuki, Shingo; Shikino, Kiyoshi; Kajiwara, Hideki; Kondo, Takeshi; Hirota, Yusuke; Ikusaka, Masatomi

    2017-01-01

    Objectives We examined whether problem-based learning tutorials using patient-simulated videos showing daily life are more practical for clinical learning, compared with traditional paper-based problem-based learning, for the consideration rate of psychosocial issues and the recall rate for experienced learning. Methods Twenty-two groups with 120 fifth-year students were each assigned paper-based problem-based learning and video-based problem-based learning using patient-simulated videos. We compared target achievement rates in questionnaires using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and discussion contents diversity using the Mann-Whitney U test. A follow-up survey used a chi-square test to measure students’ recall of cases in three categories: video, paper, and non-experienced. Results Video-based problem-based learning displayed significantly higher achievement rates for imagining authentic patients (p=0.001), incorporating a comprehensive approach including psychosocial aspects (p<0.001), and satisfaction with sessions (p=0.001). No significant differences existed in the discussion contents diversity regarding the International Classification of Primary Care Second Edition codes and chapter types or in the rate of psychological codes. In a follow-up survey comparing video and paper groups to non-experienced groups, the rates were higher for video (χ2=24.319, p<0.001) and paper (χ2=11.134, p=0.001). Although the video rate tended to be higher than the paper rate, no significant difference was found between the two. Conclusions Patient-simulated videos showing daily life facilitate imagining true patients and support a comprehensive approach that fosters better memory. The clinical patient-simulated video method is more practical and clinical problem-based tutorials can be implemented if we create patient-simulated videos for each symptom as teaching materials.  PMID:28245193

  9. A video to improve patient and surrogate understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation choices in the ICU: a randomized controlled trial.

    PubMed

    Wilson, Michael E; Krupa, Artur; Hinds, Richard F; Litell, John M; Swetz, Keith M; Akhoundi, Abbasali; Kashyap, Rahul; Gajic, Ognjen; Kashani, Kianoush

    2015-03-01

    To determine if a video depicting cardiopulmonary resuscitation and resuscitation preference options would improve knowledge and decision making among patients and surrogates in the ICU. Randomized, unblinded trial. Single medical ICU. Patients and surrogate decision makers in the ICU. The usual care group received a standard pamphlet about cardiopulmonary resuscitation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation preference options plus routine code status discussions with clinicians. The video group received usual care plus an 8-minute video that depicted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, showed a simulated hospital code, and explained resuscitation preference options. One hundred three patients and surrogates were randomized to usual care. One hundred five patients and surrogates were randomized to video plus usual care. Median total knowledge scores (0-15 points possible for correct answers) in the video group were 13 compared with 10 in the usual care group, p value of less than 0.0001. Video group participants had higher rates of understanding the purpose of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and resuscitation options and terminology and could correctly name components of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. No statistically significant differences in documented resuscitation preferences following the interventions were found between the two groups, although the trial was underpowered to detect such differences. A majority of participants felt that the video was helpful in cardiopulmonary resuscitation decision making (98%) and would recommend the video to others (99%). A video depicting cardiopulmonary resuscitation and explaining resuscitation preference options was associated with improved knowledge of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation options and cardiopulmonary resuscitation terminology among patients and surrogate decision makers in the ICU, compared with receiving a pamphlet on cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Patients and surrogates found the video helpful in decision making and would recommend the video to others.

  10. Problem-based learning using patient-simulated videos showing daily life for a comprehensive clinical approach.

    PubMed

    Ikegami, Akiko; Ohira, Yoshiyuki; Uehara, Takanori; Noda, Kazutaka; Suzuki, Shingo; Shikino, Kiyoshi; Kajiwara, Hideki; Kondo, Takeshi; Hirota, Yusuke; Ikusaka, Masatomi

    2017-02-27

    We examined whether problem-based learning tutorials using patient-simulated videos showing daily life are more practical for clinical learning, compared with traditional paper-based problem-based learning, for the consideration rate of psychosocial issues and the recall rate for experienced learning. Twenty-two groups with 120 fifth-year students were each assigned paper-based problem-based learning and video-based problem-based learning using patient-simulated videos. We compared target achievement rates in questionnaires using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and discussion contents diversity using the Mann-Whitney U test. A follow-up survey used a chi-square test to measure students' recall of cases in three categories: video, paper, and non-experienced. Video-based problem-based learning displayed significantly higher achievement rates for imagining authentic patients (p=0.001), incorporating a comprehensive approach including psychosocial aspects (p<0.001), and satisfaction with sessions (p=0.001). No significant differences existed in the discussion contents diversity regarding the International Classification of Primary Care Second Edition codes and chapter types or in the rate of psychological codes. In a follow-up survey comparing video and paper groups to non-experienced groups, the rates were higher for video (χ 2 =24.319, p<0.001) and paper (χ 2 =11.134, p=0.001). Although the video rate tended to be higher than the paper rate, no significant difference was found between the two. Patient-simulated videos showing daily life facilitate imagining true patients and support a comprehensive approach that fosters better memory. The clinical patient-simulated video method is more practical and clinical problem-based tutorials can be implemented if we create patient-simulated videos for each symptom as teaching materials.

  11. Design of batch audio/video conversion platform based on JavaEE

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cui, Yansong; Jiang, Lianpin

    2018-03-01

    With the rapid development of digital publishing industry, the direction of audio / video publishing shows the diversity of coding standards for audio and video files, massive data and other significant features. Faced with massive and diverse data, how to quickly and efficiently convert to a unified code format has brought great difficulties to the digital publishing organization. In view of this demand and present situation in this paper, basing on the development architecture of Sptring+SpringMVC+Mybatis, and combined with the open source FFMPEG format conversion tool, a distributed online audio and video format conversion platform with a B/S structure is proposed. Based on the Java language, the key technologies and strategies designed in the design of platform architecture are analyzed emphatically in this paper, designing and developing a efficient audio and video format conversion system, which is composed of “Front display system”, "core scheduling server " and " conversion server ". The test results show that, compared with the ordinary audio and video conversion scheme, the use of batch audio and video format conversion platform can effectively improve the conversion efficiency of audio and video files, and reduce the complexity of the work. Practice has proved that the key technology discussed in this paper can be applied in the field of large batch file processing, and has certain practical application value.

  12. System and method for creating expert systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hughes, Peter M. (Inventor); Luczak, Edward C. (Inventor)

    1998-01-01

    A system and method provides for the creation of a highly graphical expert system without the need for programming in code. An expert system is created by initially building a data interface, defining appropriate Mission, User-Defined, Inferred, and externally-generated GenSAA (EGG) data variables whose data values will be updated and input into the expert system. Next, rules of the expert system are created by building appropriate conditions of the rules which must be satisfied and then by building appropriate actions of rules which are to be executed upon corresponding conditions being satisfied. Finally, an appropriate user interface is built which can be highly graphical in nature and which can include appropriate message display and/or modification of display characteristics of a graphical display object, to visually alert a user of the expert system of varying data values, upon conditions of a created rule being satisfied. The data interface building, rule building, and user interface building are done in an efficient manner and can be created without the need for programming in code.

  13. Virtual Ultrasound Guidance for Inexperienced Operators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Caine, Timothy; Martin, David

    2012-01-01

    Medical ultrasound or echocardiographic studies are highly operator-dependent and generally require lengthy training and internship to perfect. To obtain quality echocardiographic images in remote environments, such as on-orbit, remote guidance of studies has been employed. This technique involves minimal training for the user, coupled with remote guidance from an expert. When real-time communication or expert guidance is not available, a more autonomous system of guiding an inexperienced operator through an ultrasound study is needed. One example would be missions beyond low Earth orbit in which the time delay inherent with communication will make remote guidance impractical. The Virtual Ultrasound Guidance system is a combination of hardware and software. The hardware portion includes, but is not limited to, video glasses that allow hands-free, full-screen viewing. The glasses also allow the operator a substantial field of view below the glasses to view and operate the ultrasound system. The software is a comprehensive video program designed to guide an inexperienced operator through a detailed ultrasound or echocardiographic study without extensive training or guidance from the ground. The program contains a detailed description using video and audio to demonstrate equipment controls, ergonomics of scanning, study protocol, and scanning guidance, including recovery from sub-optimal images. The components used in the initial validation of the system include an Apple iPod Classic third-generation as the video source, and Myvue video glasses. Initially, the program prompts the operator to power-up the ultrasound and position the patient. The operator would put on the video glasses and attach them to the video source. After turning on both devices and the ultrasound system, the audio-video guidance would then instruct on patient positioning and scanning techniques. A detailed scanning protocol follows with descriptions and reference video of each view along with advice on technique. The program also instructs the operator regarding the types of images to store and how to overcome pitfalls in scanning. Images can be forwarded to the ground or other site when convenient. Following study completion, the video glasses, video source, and ultrasound system are powered down and stored. Virtually any equipment that can play back video can be used to play back the program. This includes a DVD player, personal computer, and some MP3 players.

  14. Knowledge-based approach to video content classification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yu; Wong, Edward K.

    2001-01-01

    A framework for video content classification using a knowledge-based approach is herein proposed. This approach is motivated by the fact that videos are rich in semantic contents, which can best be interpreted and analyzed by human experts. We demonstrate the concept by implementing a prototype video classification system using the rule-based programming language CLIPS 6.05. Knowledge for video classification is encoded as a set of rules in the rule base. The left-hand-sides of rules contain high level and low level features, while the right-hand-sides of rules contain intermediate results or conclusions. Our current implementation includes features computed from motion, color, and text extracted from video frames. Our current rule set allows us to classify input video into one of five classes: news, weather, reporting, commercial, basketball and football. We use MYCIN's inexact reasoning method for combining evidences, and to handle the uncertainties in the features and in the classification results. We obtained good results in a preliminary experiment, and it demonstrated the validity of the proposed approach.

  15. Knowledge-based approach to video content classification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yu; Wong, Edward K.

    2000-12-01

    A framework for video content classification using a knowledge-based approach is herein proposed. This approach is motivated by the fact that videos are rich in semantic contents, which can best be interpreted and analyzed by human experts. We demonstrate the concept by implementing a prototype video classification system using the rule-based programming language CLIPS 6.05. Knowledge for video classification is encoded as a set of rules in the rule base. The left-hand-sides of rules contain high level and low level features, while the right-hand-sides of rules contain intermediate results or conclusions. Our current implementation includes features computed from motion, color, and text extracted from video frames. Our current rule set allows us to classify input video into one of five classes: news, weather, reporting, commercial, basketball and football. We use MYCIN's inexact reasoning method for combining evidences, and to handle the uncertainties in the features and in the classification results. We obtained good results in a preliminary experiment, and it demonstrated the validity of the proposed approach.

  16. Kawasaki Disease (For Parents)

    MedlinePlus

    ... Diseases & Conditions Pregnancy & Baby Nutrition & Fitness Emotions & Behavior School & Family Life First Aid & Safety Doctors & Hospitals Videos ... Health Food & Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe ...

  17. Multinational Experiment 7: Situation Awareness Technologies Used in Locked Shield 2012

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-07-08

    Teams in coordinating efforts to repel the attacks and to have a clear overall situational awareness at all times. Different kinds of visualisation ...experts Video/ Audio records labourious to follow and analyze Capture information in textual form Domain experts are too busy mitigating the damages to...Centers to tag information to produce more meaningful visualisations and to provide feedback to reporters Workflows, terminology, requirements for Cyber

  18. An embodied perspective on expertise in solving the problem of making a geologic map

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Callahan, Caitlin Norah

    The task of constructing a geologic map is a cognitively and physically demanding field-based problem. The map produced is understood to be an individual's two-dimensional interpretation or mental model of the three-dimensional underlying geology. A popular view within the geoscience community is that teaching students how to make a geologic map is valuable for preparing them to deal with disparate and incomplete data sets, for helping them develop problem-solving skills, and for acquiring expertise in geology. Few previous studies have focused specifically on expertise in geologic mapping. Drawing from literature related to expertise, to problem solving, and to mental models, two overarching research questions were identified: How do geologists of different levels of expertise constrain and solve an ill-structured problem such as making a geologic map? How do geologists address the uncertainties inherent to the processes and interpretations involved in solving a geologic mapping problem? These questions were answered using a methodology that captured the physical actions, expressed thoughts, and navigation paths of geologists as they made a geologic map. Eight geologists, from novice to expert, wore a head-mounted video camera with an attached microphone to record those actions and thoughts, creating "video logs" while in the field. The video logs were also time-stamped, which allowed the visual and audio data to be synchronized with the GPS data that tracked participants' movements in the field. Analysis of the video logs yielded evidence that all eight participants expressed thoughts that reflected the process of becoming mentally situated in the mapping task (e.g. relating between distance on a map and distance in three-dimensional space); the prominence of several of these early thoughts waned in the expressed thoughts later in the day. All participants collected several types of data while in the field; novices, however, did so more continuously throughout the day whereas the experts collected more of their data earlier in the day. Experts and novices also differed in that experts focused more on evaluating certainty in their interpretations; the novices focused more on evaluating the certainty of their observations and sense of location.

  19. Developments in REDES: The rocket engine design expert system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidian, Kenneth O.

    1990-01-01

    The Rocket Engine Design Expert System (REDES) is being developed at the NASA-Lewis to collect, automate, and perpetuate the existing expertise of performing a comprehensive rocket engine analysis and design. Currently, REDES uses the rigorous JANNAF methodology to analyze the performance of the thrust chamber and perform computational studies of liquid rocket engine problems. The following computer codes were included in REDES: a gas properties program named GASP, a nozzle design program named RAO, a regenerative cooling channel performance evaluation code named RTE, and the JANNAF standard liquid rocket engine performance prediction code TDK (including performance evaluation modules ODE, ODK, TDE, TDK, and BLM). Computational analyses are being conducted by REDES to provide solutions to liquid rocket engine thrust chamber problems. REDES is built in the Knowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) expert system shell and runs on a Sun 4/110 computer.

  20. Developments in REDES: The Rocket Engine Design Expert System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidian, Kenneth O.

    1990-01-01

    The Rocket Engine Design Expert System (REDES) was developed at NASA-Lewis to collect, automate, and perpetuate the existing expertise of performing a comprehensive rocket engine analysis and design. Currently, REDES uses the rigorous JANNAF methodology to analyze the performance of the thrust chamber and perform computational studies of liquid rocket engine problems. The following computer codes were included in REDES: a gas properties program named GASP; a nozzle design program named RAO; a regenerative cooling channel performance evaluation code named RTE; and the JANNAF standard liquid rocket engine performance prediction code TDK (including performance evaluation modules ODE, ODK, TDE, TDK, and BLM). Computational analyses are being conducted by REDES to provide solutions to liquid rocket engine thrust chamber problems. REDES was built in the Knowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) expert system shell and runs on a Sun 4/110 computer.

  1. Protection of HEVC Video Delivery in Vehicular Networks with RaptorQ Codes

    PubMed Central

    Martínez-Rach, Miguel; López, Otoniel; Malumbres, Manuel Pérez

    2014-01-01

    With future vehicles equipped with processing capability, storage, and communications, vehicular networks will become a reality. A vast number of applications will arise that will make use of this connectivity. Some of them will be based on video streaming. In this paper we focus on HEVC video coding standard streaming in vehicular networks and how it deals with packet losses with the aid of RaptorQ, a Forward Error Correction scheme. As vehicular networks are packet loss prone networks, protection mechanisms are necessary if we want to guarantee a minimum level of quality of experience to the final user. We have run simulations to evaluate which configurations fit better in this type of scenarios. PMID:25136675

  2. Subjective quality evaluation of low-bit-rate video

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masry, Mark; Hemami, Sheila S.; Osberger, Wilfried M.; Rohaly, Ann M.

    2001-06-01

    A subjective quality evaluation was performed to qualify vie4wre responses to visual defects that appear in low bit rate video at full and reduced frame rates. The stimuli were eight sequences compressed by three motion compensated encoders - Sorenson Video, H.263+ and a Wavelet based coder - operating at five bit/frame rate combinations. The stimulus sequences exhibited obvious coding artifacts whose nature differed across the three coders. The subjective evaluation was performed using the Single Stimulus Continuos Quality Evaluation method of UTI-R Rec. BT.500-8. Viewers watched concatenated coded test sequences and continuously registered the perceived quality using a slider device. Data form 19 viewers was colleted. An analysis of their responses to the presence of various artifacts across the range of possible coding conditions and content is presented. The effects of blockiness and blurriness on perceived quality are examined. The effects of changes in frame rate on perceived quality are found to be related to the nature of the motion in the sequence.

  3. Novel inter and intra prediction tools under consideration for the emerging AV1 video codec

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Joshi, Urvang; Mukherjee, Debargha; Han, Jingning; Chen, Yue; Parker, Sarah; Su, Hui; Chiang, Angie; Xu, Yaowu; Liu, Zoe; Wang, Yunqing; Bankoski, Jim; Wang, Chen; Keyder, Emil

    2017-09-01

    Google started the WebM Project in 2010 to develop open source, royalty- free video codecs designed specifically for media on the Web. The second generation codec released by the WebM project, VP9, is currently served by YouTube, and enjoys billions of views per day. Realizing the need for even greater compression efficiency to cope with the growing demand for video on the web, the WebM team embarked on an ambitious project to develop a next edition codec AV1, in a consortium of major tech companies called the Alliance for Open Media, that achieves at least a generational improvement in coding efficiency over VP9. In this paper, we focus primarily on new tools in AV1 that improve the prediction of pixel blocks before transforms, quantization and entropy coding are invoked. Specifically, we describe tools and coding modes that improve intra, inter and combined inter-intra prediction. Results are presented on standard test sets.

  4. Mobile tele-echography: user interface design.

    PubMed

    Cañero, Cristina; Thomos, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, George A; Litos, George C; Strintzis, Michael Gerassimos

    2005-03-01

    Ultrasound imaging allows the evaluation of the degree of emergency of a patient. However, in some instances, a well-trained sonographer is unavailable to perform such echography. To cope with this issue, the Mobile Tele-Echography Using an Ultralight Robot (OTELO) project aims to develop a fully integrated end-to-end mobile tele-echography system using an ultralight remote-controlled robot for population groups that are not served locally by medical experts. This paper focuses on the user interface of the OTELO system, consisting of the following parts: an ultrasound video transmission system providing real-time images of the scanned area, an audio/video conference to communicate with the paramedical assistant and with the patient, and a virtual-reality environment, providing visual and haptic feedback to the expert, while capturing the expert's hand movements. These movements are reproduced by the robot at the patient site while holding the ultrasound probe against the patient skin. In addition, the user interface includes an image processing facility for enhancing the received images and the possibility to include them into a database.

  5. Representing videos in tangible products

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fageth, Reiner; Weiting, Ralf

    2014-03-01

    Videos can be taken with nearly every camera, digital point and shoot cameras, DSLRs as well as smartphones and more and more with so-called action cameras mounted on sports devices. The implementation of videos while generating QR codes and relevant pictures out of the video stream via a software implementation was contents in last years' paper. This year we present first data about what contents is displayed and how the users represent their videos in printed products, e.g. CEWE PHOTOBOOKS and greeting cards. We report the share of the different video formats used, the number of images extracted out of the video in order to represent the video, the positions in the book and different design strategies compared to regular books.

  6. Efficient depth intraprediction method for H.264/AVC-based three-dimensional video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oh, Kwan-Jung; Oh, Byung Tae

    2015-04-01

    We present an intracoding method that is applicable to depth map coding in multiview plus depth systems. Our approach combines skip prediction and plane segmentation-based prediction. The proposed depth intraskip prediction uses the estimated direction at both the encoder and decoder, and does not need to encode residual data. Our plane segmentation-based intraprediction divides the current block into biregions, and applies a different prediction scheme for each segmented region. This method avoids incorrect estimations across different regions, resulting in higher prediction accuracy. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is superior to H.264/advanced video coding intraprediction and has the ability to improve the subjective rendering quality.

  7. Recent advances in multiview distributed video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dufaux, Frederic; Ouaret, Mourad; Ebrahimi, Touradj

    2007-04-01

    We consider dense networks of surveillance cameras capturing overlapped images of the same scene from different viewing directions, such a scenario being referred to as multi-view. Data compression is paramount in such a system due to the large amount of captured data. In this paper, we propose a Multi-view Distributed Video Coding approach. It allows for low complexity / low power consumption at the encoder side, and the exploitation of inter-view correlation without communications among the cameras. We introduce a combination of temporal intra-view side information and homography inter-view side information. Simulation results show both the improvement of the side information, as well as a significant gain in terms of coding efficiency.

  8. Brains on video games.

    PubMed

    Bavelier, Daphne; Green, C Shawn; Han, Doug Hyun; Renshaw, Perry F; Merzenich, Michael M; Gentile, Douglas A

    2011-11-18

    The popular press is replete with stories about the effects of video and computer games on the brain. Sensationalist headlines claiming that video games 'damage the brain' or 'boost brain power' do not do justice to the complexities and limitations of the studies involved, and create a confusing overall picture about the effects of gaming on the brain. Here, six experts in the field shed light on our current understanding of the positive and negative ways in which playing video games can affect cognition and behaviour, and explain how this knowledge can be harnessed for educational and rehabilitation purposes. As research in this area is still in its early days, the contributors of this Viewpoint also discuss several issues and challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward.

  9. A teledentistry system for the second opinion.

    PubMed

    Gambino, Orazio; Lima, Fausto; Pirrone, Roberto; Ardizzone, Edoardo; Campisi, Giuseppina; di Fede, Olga

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we present a Teledentistry system aimed to the Second Opinion task. It make use of a particular camera called intra-oral camera, also called dental camera, in order to perform the photo shooting and real-time video of the inner part of the mouth. The pictures acquired by the Operator with such a device are sent to the Oral Medicine Expert (OME) by means of a current File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service and the real-time video is channeled into a video streaming thanks to the VideoLan client/server (VLC) application. It is composed by a HTML5 web-pages generated by PHP and allows to perform the Second Opinion both when Operator and OME are logged and when one of them is offline.

  10. Mass-storage management for distributed image/video archives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Franchi, Santina; Guarda, Roberto; Prampolini, Franco

    1993-04-01

    The realization of image/video database requires a specific design for both database structures and mass storage management. This issue has addressed the project of the digital image/video database system that has been designed at IBM SEMEA Scientific & Technical Solution Center. Proper database structures have been defined to catalog image/video coding technique with the related parameters, and the description of image/video contents. User workstations and servers are distributed along a local area network. Image/video files are not managed directly by the DBMS server. Because of their wide size, they are stored outside the database on network devices. The database contains the pointers to the image/video files and the description of the storage devices. The system can use different kinds of storage media, organized in a hierarchical structure. Three levels of functions are available to manage the storage resources. The functions of the lower level provide media management. They allow it to catalog devices and to modify device status and device network location. The medium level manages image/video files on a physical basis. It manages file migration between high capacity media and low access time media. The functions of the upper level work on image/video file on a logical basis, as they archive, move and copy image/video data selected by user defined queries. These functions are used to support the implementation of a storage management strategy. The database information about characteristics of both storage devices and coding techniques are used by the third level functions to fit delivery/visualization requirements and to reduce archiving costs.

  11. Organization of Programming Knowledge of Novices and Experts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiedenbeck, Susan

    1986-01-01

    Reports on an experiment where novice and expert programmers made decisions about Fortran code segments. The results show that, although expert programmers are better able to extract and use functional information, they don't differ significantly from novices in their ability to use syntactic concepts. (Author/EM)

  12. Adapting hierarchical bidirectional inter prediction on a GPU-based platform for 2D and 3D H.264 video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodríguez-Sánchez, Rafael; Martínez, José Luis; Cock, Jan De; Fernández-Escribano, Gerardo; Pieters, Bart; Sánchez, José L.; Claver, José M.; de Walle, Rik Van

    2013-12-01

    The H.264/AVC video coding standard introduces some improved tools in order to increase compression efficiency. Moreover, the multi-view extension of H.264/AVC, called H.264/MVC, adopts many of them. Among the new features, variable block-size motion estimation is one which contributes to high coding efficiency. Furthermore, it defines a different prediction structure that includes hierarchical bidirectional pictures, outperforming traditional Group of Pictures patterns in both scenarios: single-view and multi-view. However, these video coding techniques have high computational complexity. Several techniques have been proposed in the literature over the last few years which are aimed at accelerating the inter prediction process, but there are no works focusing on bidirectional prediction or hierarchical prediction. In this article, with the emergence of many-core processors or accelerators, a step forward is taken towards an implementation of an H.264/AVC and H.264/MVC inter prediction algorithm on a graphics processing unit. The results show a negligible rate distortion drop with a time reduction of up to 98% for the complete H.264/AVC encoder.

  13. Detection of Terrorist Preparations by an Artificial Intelligence Expert System Employing Fuzzy Signal Detection Theory

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2004-10-25

    FUSEDOT does not require facial recognition , or video surveillance of public areas, both of which are apparently a component of TIA ([26], pp...does not use fuzzy signal detection. Involves facial recognition and video surveillance of public areas. Involves monitoring the content of voice...fuzzy signal detection, which TIA does not. Second, FUSEDOT would be easier to develop, because it does not require the development of facial

  14. Berkeley Lab Answers Your Home Energy Efficiency Questions

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

    Walker, Iain

    2013-02-14

    In this follow-up "Ask Berkeley Lab" video, energy efficiency expert Iain Walker answers some of your questions about home energy efficiency. How do you monitor which appliances use the most energy? Should you replace your old windows? Are photovoltaic systems worth the cost? What to do about a leaky house? And what's the single biggest energy user in your home? Watch the video to get the answers to these and more questions.

  15. Berkeley Lab Answers Your Home Energy Efficiency Questions

    ScienceCinema

    Walker, Iain

    2018-01-16

    In this follow-up "Ask Berkeley Lab" video, energy efficiency expert Iain Walker answers some of your questions about home energy efficiency. How do you monitor which appliances use the most energy? Should you replace your old windows? Are photovoltaic systems worth the cost? What to do about a leaky house? And what's the single biggest energy user in your home? Watch the video to get the answers to these and more questions.

  16. Interframe vector wavelet coding technique

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wus, John P.; Li, Weiping

    1997-01-01

    Wavelet coding is often used to divide an image into multi- resolution wavelet coefficients which are quantized and coded. By 'vectorizing' scalar wavelet coding and combining this with vector quantization (VQ), vector wavelet coding (VWC) can be implemented. Using a finite number of states, finite-state vector quantization (FSVQ) takes advantage of the similarity between frames by incorporating memory into the video coding system. Lattice VQ eliminates the potential mismatch that could occur using pre-trained VQ codebooks. It also eliminates the need for codebook storage in the VQ process, thereby creating a more robust coding system. Therefore, by using the VWC coding method in conjunction with the FSVQ system and lattice VQ, the formulation of a high quality very low bit rate coding systems is proposed. A coding system using a simple FSVQ system where the current state is determined by the previous channel symbol only is developed. To achieve a higher degree of compression, a tree-like FSVQ system is implemented. The groupings are done in this tree-like structure from the lower subbands to the higher subbands in order to exploit the nature of subband analysis in terms of the parent-child relationship. Class A and Class B video sequences from the MPEG-IV testing evaluations are used in the evaluation of this coding method.

  17. MPCM: a hardware coder for super slow motion video sequences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alcocer, Estefanía; López-Granado, Otoniel; Gutierrez, Roberto; Malumbres, Manuel P.

    2013-12-01

    In the last decade, the improvements in VLSI levels and image sensor technologies have led to a frenetic rush to provide image sensors with higher resolutions and faster frame rates. As a result, video devices were designed to capture real-time video at high-resolution formats with frame rates reaching 1,000 fps and beyond. These ultrahigh-speed video cameras are widely used in scientific and industrial applications, such as car crash tests, combustion research, materials research and testing, fluid dynamics, and flow visualization that demand real-time video capturing at extremely high frame rates with high-definition formats. Therefore, data storage capability, communication bandwidth, processing time, and power consumption are critical parameters that should be carefully considered in their design. In this paper, we propose a fast FPGA implementation of a simple codec called modulo-pulse code modulation (MPCM) which is able to reduce the bandwidth requirements up to 1.7 times at the same image quality when compared with PCM coding. This allows current high-speed cameras to capture in a continuous manner through a 40-Gbit Ethernet point-to-point access.

  18. Video-guided calibration of an augmented reality mobile C-arm.

    PubMed

    Chen, Xin; Naik, Hemal; Wang, Lejing; Navab, Nassir; Fallavollita, Pascal

    2014-11-01

    The augmented reality (AR) fluoroscope augments an X-ray image by video and provides the surgeon with a real-time in situ overlay of the anatomy. The overlay alignment is crucial for diagnostic and intra-operative guidance, so precise calibration of the AR fluoroscope is required. The first and most complex step of the calibration procedure is the determination of the X-ray source position. Currently, this is achieved using a biplane phantom with movable metallic rings on its top layer and fixed X-ray opaque markers on its bottom layer. The metallic rings must be moved to positions where at least two pairs of rings and markers are isocentric in the X-ray image. The current "trial and error" calibration process currently requires acquisition of many X-ray images, a task that is both time consuming and radiation intensive. An improved process was developed and tested for C-arm calibration. Video guidance was used to drive the calibration procedure to minimize both X-ray exposure and the time involved. For this, a homography between X-ray and video images is estimated. This homography is valid for the plane at which the metallic rings are positioned and is employed to guide the calibration procedure. Eight users having varying calibration experience (i.e., 2 experts, 2 semi-experts, 4 novices) were asked to participate in the evaluation. The video-guided technique reduced the number of intra-operative X-ray calibration images by 89% and decreased the total time required by 59%. A video-based C-arm calibration method has been developed that improves the usability of the AR fluoroscope with a friendlier interface, reduced calibration time and clinically acceptable radiation doses.

  19. Real Time Data System (RTDS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Muratore, John F.

    1991-01-01

    Lessons learned from operational real time expert systems are examined. The basic system architecture is discussed. An expert system is any software that performs tasks to a standard that would normally require a human expert. An expert system implies knowledge contained in data rather than code. And an expert system implies the use of heuristics as well as algorithms. The 15 top lessons learned by the operation of a real time data system are presented.

  20. Winning the game: brain processes in expert, young elite and amateur table tennis players

    PubMed Central

    Wolf, Sebastian; Brölz, Ellen; Scholz, David; Ramos-Murguialday, Ander; Keune, Philipp M.; Hautzinger, Martin; Birbaumer, Niels; Strehl, Ute

    2014-01-01

    This study tested two hypotheses: (1) compared with amateurs and young elite, expert table tennis players are characterized by enhanced cortical activation in the motor and fronto-parietal cortex during motor imagery in response to table tennis videos; (2) in elite athletes, world rank points are associated with stronger cortical activation. To this aim, electroencephalographic data were recorded in 14 expert, 15 amateur and 15 young elite right-handed table tennis players. All subjects watched videos of a serve and imagined themselves responding with a specific table tennis stroke. With reference to a baseline period, power decrease/increase of the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) during the pretask- and task period indexed the cortical activation/deactivation (event-related desynchronization/synchronization, ERD/ERS). Regarding hypothesis (1), 8–10 Hz SMR ERD was stronger in elite athletes than in amateurs with an intermediate ERD in young elite athletes in the motor cortex. Regarding hypothesis (2), there was no correlation between ERD/ERS in the motor cortex and world rank points in elite experts, but a weaker ERD in the fronto-parietal cortex was associated with higher world rank points. These results suggest that motor skill in table tennis is associated with focused excitability of the motor cortex during reaction, movement planning and execution with high attentional demands. Among elite experts, less activation of the fronto-parietal attention network may be necessary to become a world champion. PMID:25386126

  1. Best Practices for Reduction of Uncertainty in CFD Results

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mendenhall, Michael R.; Childs, Robert E.; Morrison, Joseph H.

    2003-01-01

    This paper describes a proposed best-practices system that will present expert knowledge in the use of CFD. The best-practices system will include specific guidelines to assist the user in problem definition, input preparation, grid generation, code selection, parameter specification, and results interpretation. The goal of the system is to assist all CFD users in obtaining high quality CFD solutions with reduced uncertainty and at lower cost for a wide range of flow problems. The best-practices system will be implemented as a software product which includes an expert system made up of knowledge databases of expert information with specific guidelines for individual codes and algorithms. The process of acquiring expert knowledge is discussed, and help from the CFD community is solicited. Benefits and challenges associated with this project are examined.

  2. A Comparison of Cigarette- and Hookah-Related Videos on YouTube

    PubMed Central

    Carroll, Mary V.; Shensa, Ariel; Primack, Brian A.

    2013-01-01

    Objective YouTube is now the second most visited site on the Internet. We aimed to compare characteristics of and messages conveyed by cigarette- and hookah-related videos on YouTube. Methods Systematic search procedures yielded 66 cigarette-related and 61 hookah-related videos. After 3 trained qualitative researchers used an iterative approach to develop and refine definitions for the coding of variables, 2 of them independently coded each video for content including positive and negative associations with smoking and major content type. Results Median view counts were 606,884 for cigarettes and 102,307 for hookahs (P<.001). However, the number of comments per 1,000 views was significantly lower for cigarette-related videos than for hookah-related videos (1.6 vs 2.5, P=.003). There was no significant difference in the number of “like” designations per 100 reactions (91 vs. 87, P=.39). Cigarette-related videos were less likely than hookah-related videos to portray tobacco use in a positive light (24% vs. 92%, P<.001). In addition, cigarette-related videos were more likely to be of high production quality (42% vs. 5%, P<.001), to mention short-term consequences (50% vs. 18%, P<.001) and long-term consequences (44% vs. 2%, P<.001) of tobacco use, to contain explicit antismoking messages (39% vs. 0%, P<.001), and to provide specific information on how to quit tobacco use (21% vs. 0%, P<.001). Conclusions Although Internet user–generated videos related to cigarette smoking often acknowledge harmful consequences and provide explicit antismoking messages, hookah-related videos do not. It may be valuable for public health programs to correct common misconceptions regarding hookah use. PMID:22363069

  3. Video techniques and data compared with observation in emergency trauma care

    PubMed Central

    Mackenzie, C; Xiao, Y

    2003-01-01

    Video recording is underused in improving patient safety and understanding performance shaping factors in patient care. We report our experience of using video recording techniques in a trauma centre, including how to gain cooperation of clinicians for video recording of their workplace performance, identify strengths of video compared with observation, and suggest processes for consent and maintenance of confidentiality of video records. Video records are a rich source of data for documenting clinician performance which reveal safety and systems issues not identified by observation. Emergency procedures and video records of critical events identified patient safety, clinical, quality assurance, systems failures, and ergonomic issues. Video recording is a powerful feedback and training tool and provides a reusable record of events that can be repeatedly reviewed and used as research data. It allows expanded analyses of time critical events, trauma resuscitation, anaesthesia, and surgical tasks. To overcome some of the key obstacles in deploying video recording techniques, researchers should (1) develop trust with video recorded subjects, (2) obtain clinician participation for introduction of a new protocol or line of investigation, (3) report aggregated video recorded data and use clinician reviews for feedback on covert processes and cognitive analyses, and (4) involve multidisciplinary experts in medicine and nursing. PMID:14645896

  4. Study of information transfer optimization for communication satellites

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Odenwalder, J. P.; Viterbi, A. J.; Jacobs, I. M.; Heller, J. A.

    1973-01-01

    The results are presented of a study of source coding, modulation/channel coding, and systems techniques for application to teleconferencing over high data rate digital communication satellite links. Simultaneous transmission of video, voice, data, and/or graphics is possible in various teleconferencing modes and one-way, two-way, and broadcast modes are considered. A satellite channel model including filters, limiter, a TWT, detectors, and an optimized equalizer is treated in detail. A complete analysis is presented for one set of system assumptions which exclude nonlinear gain and phase distortion in the TWT. Modulation, demodulation, and channel coding are considered, based on an additive white Gaussian noise channel model which is an idealization of an equalized channel. Source coding with emphasis on video data compression is reviewed, and the experimental facility utilized to test promising techniques is fully described.

  5. About Implantable Contraception

    MedlinePlus

    ... Health Food & Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español About Implantable Contraception KidsHealth / For Parents / About Implantable Contraception Print What ...

  6. When It's Just You After School

    MedlinePlus

    ... Things That Help Feelings Expert Answers Q&A Movies & More for Teens Teens site Sitio para adolescentes ... get home? Are you allowed to watch TV, movies, and videos, or play computer games? If so, ...

  7. KidsHealth for Kids

    MedlinePlus

    ... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Carousel rewind forward Your Lungs & Respiratory System Girls and Puberty Can your fingerprints wear ...

  8. GHB

    MedlinePlus

    ... Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for ... depressant. It's usually available as a clear liquid. It is known as a designer drug because it is made (usually in home basement labs) for the purposes of getting high. ...

  9. Novice to expert practice via postprofessional athletic training education: a grounded theory.

    PubMed

    Neibert, Peter J

    2009-01-01

    To discover the theoretic constructs that confirm, disconfirm, or extend the principles and their applications appropriate for National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA)-accredited postprofessional athletic training education programs. Interviews at the 2003 NATA Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposia. Qualitative study using grounded theory procedures. Thirteen interviews were conducted with postprofessional graduates. Participants were purposefully selected based on theoretic sampling and availability. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding procedures. Member checks, reflective journaling, and triangulation were used to ensure trustworthiness. The participants' comments confirmed and extended the current principles of postprofessional athletic training education programs and offered additional suggestions for more effective practical applications. The emergence of this central category of novice to expert practice is a paramount finding. The tightly woven fabric of the 10 processes, when interlaced with one another, provides a strong tapestry supporting novice to expert practice via postprofessional athletic training education. The emergence of this theoretic position pushes postprofessional graduate athletic training education forward to the future for further investigation into the theoretic constructs of novice to expert practice.

  10. Robust video transmission with distributed source coded auxiliary channel.

    PubMed

    Wang, Jiajun; Majumdar, Abhik; Ramchandran, Kannan

    2009-12-01

    We propose a novel solution to the problem of robust, low-latency video transmission over lossy channels. Predictive video codecs, such as MPEG and H.26x, are very susceptible to prediction mismatch between encoder and decoder or "drift" when there are packet losses. These mismatches lead to a significant degradation in the decoded quality. To address this problem, we propose an auxiliary codec system that sends additional information alongside an MPEG or H.26x compressed video stream to correct for errors in decoded frames and mitigate drift. The proposed system is based on the principles of distributed source coding and uses the (possibly erroneous) MPEG/H.26x decoder reconstruction as side information at the auxiliary decoder. The distributed source coding framework depends upon knowing the statistical dependency (or correlation) between the source and the side information. We propose a recursive algorithm to analytically track the correlation between the original source frame and the erroneous MPEG/H.26x decoded frame. Finally, we propose a rate-distortion optimization scheme to allocate the rate used by the auxiliary encoder among the encoding blocks within a video frame. We implement the proposed system and present extensive simulation results that demonstrate significant gains in performance both visually and objectively (on the order of 2 dB in PSNR over forward error correction based solutions and 1.5 dB in PSNR over intrarefresh based solutions for typical scenarios) under tight latency constraints.

  11. Building an evidence-base for the training of evidence-based treatments in community settings: Use of an expert-informed approach.

    PubMed

    Scudder, Ashley; Herschell, Amy D

    2015-08-01

    In order to make EBTs available to a large number of children and families, developers and expert therapists have used their experience and expertise to train community-based therapists in EBTs. Understanding current training practices of treatment experts may be one method for establishing best practices for training community-based therapists prior to comprehensive empirical examinations of training practices. A qualitative study was conducted using surveys and phone interviews to identify the specific procedures used by treatment experts to train and implement an evidence-based treatment in community settings. Twenty-three doctoral-level, clinical psychologists were identified to participate because of their expertise in conducting and training Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were completed by phone, later transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic coding. The de-identified data were coded by two independent qualitative data researchers and then compared for consistency of interpretation. The themes that emerged following the final coding were used to construct a training protocol to be empirically tested. The goal of this paper is to not only understand the current state of training practices for training therapists in a particular EBT, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, but to illustrate the use of expert opinion as the best available evidence in preparation for empirical evaluation.

  12. Polar Coding with CRC-Aided List Decoding

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-08-01

    TECHNICAL REPORT 2087 August 2015 Polar Coding with CRC-Aided List Decoding David Wasserman Approved...list decoding . RESULTS Our simulation results show that polar coding can produce results very similar to the FEC used in the Digital Video...standard. RECOMMENDATIONS In any application for which the DVB-S2 FEC is considered, polar coding with CRC-aided list decod - ing with N = 65536

  13. Scalable Coding of Plenoptic Images by Using a Sparse Set and Disparities.

    PubMed

    Li, Yun; Sjostrom, Marten; Olsson, Roger; Jennehag, Ulf

    2016-01-01

    One of the light field capturing techniques is the focused plenoptic capturing. By placing a microlens array in front of the photosensor, the focused plenoptic cameras capture both spatial and angular information of a scene in each microlens image and across microlens images. The capturing results in a significant amount of redundant information, and the captured image is usually of a large resolution. A coding scheme that removes the redundancy before coding can be of advantage for efficient compression, transmission, and rendering. In this paper, we propose a lossy coding scheme to efficiently represent plenoptic images. The format contains a sparse image set and its associated disparities. The reconstruction is performed by disparity-based interpolation and inpainting, and the reconstructed image is later employed as a prediction reference for the coding of the full plenoptic image. As an outcome of the representation, the proposed scheme inherits a scalable structure with three layers. The results show that plenoptic images are compressed efficiently with over 60 percent bit rate reduction compared with High Efficiency Video Coding intra coding, and with over 20 percent compared with an High Efficiency Video Coding block copying mode.

  14. Efficient space-time sampling with pixel-wise coded exposure for high-speed imaging.

    PubMed

    Liu, Dengyu; Gu, Jinwei; Hitomi, Yasunobu; Gupta, Mohit; Mitsunaga, Tomoo; Nayar, Shree K

    2014-02-01

    Cameras face a fundamental trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution. Digital still cameras can capture images with high spatial resolution, but most high-speed video cameras have relatively low spatial resolution. It is hard to overcome this trade-off without incurring a significant increase in hardware costs. In this paper, we propose techniques for sampling, representing, and reconstructing the space-time volume to overcome this trade-off. Our approach has two important distinctions compared to previous works: 1) We achieve sparse representation of videos by learning an overcomplete dictionary on video patches, and 2) we adhere to practical hardware constraints on sampling schemes imposed by architectures of current image sensors, which means that our sampling function can be implemented on CMOS image sensors with modified control units in the future. We evaluate components of our approach, sampling function and sparse representation, by comparing them to several existing approaches. We also implement a prototype imaging system with pixel-wise coded exposure control using a liquid crystal on silicon device. System characteristics such as field of view and modulation transfer function are evaluated for our imaging system. Both simulations and experiments on a wide range of scenes show that our method can effectively reconstruct a video from a single coded image while maintaining high spatial resolution.

  15. Towards a next generation open-source video codec

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bankoski, Jim; Bultje, Ronald S.; Grange, Adrian; Gu, Qunshan; Han, Jingning; Koleszar, John; Mukherjee, Debargha; Wilkins, Paul; Xu, Yaowu

    2013-02-01

    Google has recently been developing a next generation opensource video codec called VP9, as part of the experimental branch of the libvpx repository included in the WebM project (http://www.webmproject.org/). Starting from the VP8 video codec released by Google in 2010 as the baseline, a number of enhancements and new tools have been added to improve the coding efficiency. This paper provides a technical overview of the current status of this project along with comparisons and other stateoftheart video codecs H. 264/AVC and HEVC. The new tools that have been added so far include: larger prediction block sizes up to 64x64, various forms of compound INTER prediction, more modes for INTRA prediction, ⅛pel motion vectors and 8tap switchable subpel interpolation filters, improved motion reference generation and motion vector coding, improved entropy coding and framelevel entropy adaptation for various symbols, improved loop filtering, incorporation of Asymmetric Discrete Sine Transforms and larger 16x16 and 32x32 DCTs, frame level segmentation to group similar areas together, etc. Other tools and various bitstream features are being actively worked on as well. The VP9 bitstream is expected to be finalized by earlyto mid2013. Results show VP9 to be quite competitive in performance with mainstream stateoftheart codecs.

  16. Constrained motion estimation-based error resilient coding for HEVC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Weihan; Zhang, Yongfei; Li, Bo

    2018-04-01

    Unreliable communication channels might lead to packet losses and bit errors in the videos transmitted through it, which will cause severe video quality degradation. This is even worse for HEVC since more advanced and powerful motion estimation methods are introduced to further remove the inter-frame dependency and thus improve the coding efficiency. Once a Motion Vector (MV) is lost or corrupted, it will cause distortion in the decoded frame. More importantly, due to motion compensation, the error will propagate along the motion prediction path, accumulate over time, and significantly degrade the overall video presentation quality. To address this problem, we study the problem of encoder-sider error resilient coding for HEVC and propose a constrained motion estimation scheme to mitigate the problem of error propagation to subsequent frames. The approach is achieved by cutting off MV dependencies and limiting the block regions which are predicted by temporal motion vector. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively suppress the error propagation caused by bit errors of motion vector and can improve the robustness of the stream in the bit error channels. When the bit error probability is 10-5, an increase of the decoded video quality (PSNR) by up to1.310dB and on average 0.762 dB can be achieved, compared to the reference HEVC.

  17. Embed dynamic content in your poster.

    PubMed

    Hutchins, B Ian

    2013-01-29

    A new technology has emerged that will facilitate the presentation of dynamic or otherwise inaccessible data on posters at scientific meetings. Video, audio, or other digital files hosted on mobile-friendly sites can be linked to through a quick response (QR) code, a two-dimensional barcode that can be scanned by smartphones, which then display the content. This approach is more affordable than acquiring tablet computers for playing dynamic content and can reach many users at large conferences. This resource details how to host videos, generate QR codes, and view the associated files on mobile devices.

  18. Determination of Problematic ICD-9-CM Subcategories for Further Study of Coding Performance: Delphi Method

    PubMed Central

    Zeng, Xiaoming; Bell, Paul D

    2011-01-01

    In this study, we report on a qualitative method known as the Delphi method, used in the first part of a research study for improving the accuracy and reliability of ICD-9-CM coding. A panel of independent coding experts interacted methodically to determine that the three criteria to identify a problematic ICD-9-CM subcategory for further study were cost, volume, and level of coding confusion caused. The Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) 2007 fiscal year data set as well as suggestions from the experts were used to identify coding subcategories based on cost and volume data. Next, the panelists performed two rounds of independent ranking before identifying Excisional Debridement as the subcategory that causes the most confusion among coders. As a result, they recommended it for further study aimed at improving coding accuracy and variation. This framework can be adopted at different levels for similar studies in need of a schema for determining problematic subcategories of code sets. PMID:21796264

  19. C U L8ter: YouTube distracted driving PSAs use of behavior change theory.

    PubMed

    Steadman, Mindy; Chao, Melanie S; Strong, Jessica T; Maxwell, Martha; West, Joshua H

    2014-01-01

    To examine the inclusion of health behavior theory in distracted driving PSAs on YouTube.com. Two-hundred fifty PSAs were assessed using constructs from 4 prominent health behavior theories. A total theory score was calculated for each video. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with higher theory scores. PSAs were generally lacking in theoretical content. Video length, use of rates/statistics, driving scenario depiction, and presence of a celebrity were positively associated with theory inclusion. Collaboration between health experts and PSA creators could be fostered to produce more theory-based distracted driving videos on YouTube.com.

  20. Potential digitization/compression techniques for Shuttle video

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Habibi, A.; Batson, B. H.

    1978-01-01

    The Space Shuttle initially will be using a field-sequential color television system but it is possible that an NTSC color TV system may be used for future missions. In addition to downlink color TV transmission via analog FM links, the Shuttle will use a high resolution slow-scan monochrome system for uplink transmission of text and graphics information. This paper discusses the characteristics of the Shuttle video systems, and evaluates digitization and/or bandwidth compression techniques for the various links. The more attractive techniques for the downlink video are based on a two-dimensional DPCM encoder that utilizes temporal and spectral as well as the spatial correlation of the color TV imagery. An appropriate technique for distortion-free coding of the uplink system utilizes two-dimensional HCK codes.

  1. Variation of SNOMED CT coding of clinical research concepts among coding experts.

    PubMed

    Andrews, James E; Richesson, Rachel L; Krischer, Jeffrey

    2007-01-01

    To compare consistency of coding among professional SNOMED CT coders representing three commercial providers of coding services when coding clinical research concepts with SNOMED CT. A sample of clinical research questions from case report forms (CRFs) generated by the NIH-funded Rare Disease Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) were sent to three coding companies with instructions to code the core concepts using SNOMED CT. The sample consisted of 319 question/answer pairs from 15 separate studies. The companies were asked to select SNOMED CT concepts (in any form, including post-coordinated) that capture the core concept(s) reflected in the question. Also, they were asked to state their level of certainty, as well as how precise they felt their coding was. Basic frequencies were calculated to determine raw level agreement among the companies and other descriptive information. Krippendorff's alpha was used to determine a statistical measure of agreement among the coding companies for several measures (semantic, certainty, and precision). No significant level of agreement among the experts was found. There is little semantic agreement in coding of clinical research data items across coders from 3 professional coding services, even using a very liberal definition of agreement.

  2. Interactive Courseware Standards

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-07-01

    music industry standard provides data formats and transmission specifications for musical notation. Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). This...has been used in the music industry for several years, especially for electronically programmable keyboards and 16 instruments. The video compression

  3. Strep Test: Throat Culture (For Parents)

    MedlinePlus

    ... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Strep Test: Throat Culture KidsHealth / For Parents / Strep Test: Throat Culture What's ...

  4. Augmenting advance care planning in poor prognosis cancer with a video decision aid: a preintervention-postintervention study.

    PubMed

    Volandes, Angelo E; Levin, Tomer T; Slovin, Susan; Carvajal, Richard D; O'Reilly, Eileen M; Keohan, Mary Louise; Theodoulou, Maria; Dickler, Maura; Gerecitano, John F; Morris, Michael; Epstein, Andrew S; Naka-Blackstone, Anastazia; Walker-Corkery, Elizabeth S; Chang, Yuchiao; Noy, Ariela

    2012-09-01

    The authors tested whether an educational video on the goals of care in advanced cancer (life-prolonging care, basic care, or comfort care) helped patients understand these goals and had an impact on their preferences for resuscitation. A survey of 80 patients with advanced cancer was conducted before and after they viewed an educational video. The outcomes of interest included changes in goals of care preference and knowledge and consistency of preferences with code status. Before viewing the video, 10 patients (13%) preferred life-prolonging care, 24 patients (30%) preferred basic care, 29 patients (36%) preferred comfort care, and 17 patients (21%) were unsure. Preferences did not change after the video, when 9 patients (11%) chose life-prolonging care, 28 patients (35%) chose basic care, 29 patients (36%) chose comfort care, and, 14 patients (18%) were unsure (P = .28). Compared with baseline, after the video presentation, more patients did not want cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (71% vs 62%; P = .03) or ventilation (80% vs 67%; P = .008). Knowledge about goals of care and likelihood of resuscitation increased after the video (P < .001). Of the patients who did not want CPR or ventilation after the video augmentation, only 4 patients (5%) had a documented do-not-resuscitate order in their medical record (kappa statistic, -0.01; 95% confidence interval, -0.06 to 0.04). Acceptability of the video was high. Patients with advanced cancer did not change care preferences after viewing the video, but fewer wanted CPR or ventilation. Documented code status was inconsistent with patient preferences. Patients were more knowledgeable after the video, reported that the video was acceptable, and said they would recommend it to others. The current results indicated that this type of video may enable patients to visualize "goals of care," enriching patient understanding of worsening health states and better informing decision making. Copyright © 2012 American Cancer Society.

  5. Procedural key steps in laparoscopic colorectal surgery, consensus through Delphi methodology.

    PubMed

    Dijkstra, Frederieke A; Bosker, Robbert J I; Veeger, Nicolaas J G M; van Det, Marc J; Pierie, Jean Pierre E N

    2015-09-01

    While several procedural training curricula in laparoscopic colorectal surgery have been validated and published, none have focused on dividing surgical procedures into well-identified segments, which can be trained and assessed separately. This enables the surgeon and resident to focus on a specific segment, or combination of segments, of a procedure. Furthermore, it will provide a consistent and uniform method of training for residents rotating through different teaching hospitals. The goal of this study was to determine consensus on the key steps of laparoscopic right hemicolectomy and laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy among experts in our University Medical Center and affiliated hospitals. This will form the basis for the INVEST video-assisted side-by-side training curriculum. The Delphi method was used for determining consensus on key steps of both procedures. A list of 31 steps for laparoscopic right hemicolectomy and 37 steps for laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy was compiled from textbooks and national and international guidelines. In an online questionnaire, 22 experts in 12 hospitals within our teaching region were invited to rate all steps on a Likert scale on importance for the procedure. Consensus was reached in two rounds. Sixteen experts agreed to participate. Of these 16 experts, 14 (88%) completed the questionnaire for both procedures. Of the 14 who completed the first round, 13 (93%) completed the second round. Cronbach's alpha was 0.79 for the right hemicolectomy and 0.91 for the sigmoid colectomy, showing high internal consistency between the experts. For the right hemicolectomy, 25 key steps were established; for the sigmoid colectomy, 24 key steps were established. Expert consensus on the key steps for laparoscopic right hemicolectomy and laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy was reached. These key steps will form the basis for a video-assisted teaching curriculum.

  6. Community Peer-Led Falls Prevention Presentations: What Do the Experts Suggest?

    PubMed

    Khong, Linda A M; Berlach, Richard G; Hill, Keith D; Hill, Anne-Marie

    2018-04-01

    Falls among older adults are a major problem. Despite considerable progress in falls prevention research, older adults often show low motivation to engage in recommended preventive strategies. Peer-led falls prevention education for older adults may have potential for bridging the research evidence-practice gap, thereby promoting the uptake of falls prevention strategies. We evaluated peer educators' presentations of falls prevention education to community-dwelling older adults in regard to established criteria that were consistent with adult learning principles, the framework of health behaviour change, falls prevention guidelines, and recommendations for providing falls prevention information. We conducted a within-stage mixed model study using purposive and snowball sampling techniques to recruit 10 experts to evaluate video recordings of the delivery of three peer-led falls prevention presentations. Each expert viewed three videos and rated them using a questionnaire containing both open-ended and closed items. There was a good level of expert agreement across the questionnaire domains. Though the experts rated some aspects of the presentations highly, they thought that the presentations were mainly didactic in delivery, not consistently personally relevant to the older adult audience, and did not encourage older adults to engage in the preventive strategies that were presented. Based on the experts' findings, we developed five key themes and recommendations for the effective delivery of peer-led falls prevention presentations. These included recommending that peer educators share falls prevention messages in a more interactive and experiential manner and that uptake of strategies should be facilitated by encouraging the older adults to develop a personalised action plan. Findings suggest that if peer-led falls prevention presentations capitalise on older adults' capability, opportunity, and motivation, the older adults may be more receptive to take up falls prevention messages.

  7. Is perception of quality more important than technical quality in patient video cases?

    PubMed

    Roland, Damian; Matheson, David; Taub, Nick; Coats, Tim; Lakhanpaul, Monica

    2015-08-13

    The use of video cases to demonstrate key signs and symptoms in patients (patient video cases or PVCs) is a rapidly expanding field. The aims of this study were to evaluate whether the technical quality, or judgement of quality, of a video clip influences a paediatrician's judgment on acuity of the case and assess the relationship between perception of quality and the technical quality of a selection of video clips. Participants (12 senior consultant paediatricians attending an examination workshop) individually categorised 28 PVCs into one of 3 possible acuities and then described the quality of the image seen. The PVCs had been converted into four different technical qualities (differing bit rates ranging from excellent to low quality). Participants' assessment of quality and the actual industry standard of the PVC were independent (333 distinct observations, spearmans rho = 0.0410, p = 0.4564). Agreement between actual acuity and participants' judgement was generally good at higher acuities but moderate at medium/low acuities of illness (overall correlation 0.664). Perception of the quality of the clip was related to correct assignment of acuity regardless of the technical quality of the clip (number of obs = 330, z = 2.07, p = 0.038). It is important to benchmark PVCs prior to use in learning resources as experts may not agree on the information within, or quality of, the clip. It appears, although PVCs may be beneficial in a pedagogical context, the perception of quality of clip may be an important determinant of an expert's decision making.

  8. Brains on video games

    PubMed Central

    Bavelier, Daphne; Green, C. Shawn; Han, Doug Hyun; Renshaw, Perry F.; Merzenich, Michael M.; Gentile, Douglas A.

    2015-01-01

    The popular press is replete with stories about the effects of video and computer games on the brain. Sensationalist headlines claiming that video games ‘damage the brain’ or ‘boost brain power’ do not do justice to the complexities and limitations of the studies involved, and create a confusing overall picture about the effects of gaming on the brain. Here, six experts in the field shed light on our current understanding of the positive and negative ways in which playing video games can affect cognition and behaviour, and explain how this knowledge can be harnessed for educational and rehabilitation purposes. As research in this area is still in its early days, the contributors of this Viewpoint also discuss several issues and challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward. PMID:22095065

  9. “It’s Totally Okay to Be Sad, but Never Lose Hope”: Content Analysis of Infertility-Related Videos on YouTube in Relation to Viewer Preferences

    PubMed Central

    Kelly-Hedrick, Margot; Grunberg, Paul H; Brochu, Felicia

    2018-01-01

    Background Infertility patients frequently use the internet to find fertility-related information and support from people in similar circumstances. YouTube is increasingly used as a source of health-related information and may influence health decision making. There have been no studies examining the content of infertility-related videos on YouTube. Objective The purpose of this study was to (1) describe the content of highly viewed videos on YouTube related to infertility and (2) identify video characteristics that relate to viewer preference. Methods Using the search term “infertility,” the 80 top-viewed YouTube videos and their viewing statistics (eg, views, likes, and comments) were collected. Videos that were non-English, unrelated to infertility, or had age restrictions were excluded. Content analysis was used to examine videos, employing a coding rubric that measured the presence or absence of video codes related to purpose, tone, and demographic and fertility characteristics (eg, sex, parity, stage of fertility treatment). Results A total of 59 videos, with a median of 156,103 views, met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into 35 personal videos (35/59, 59%) and 24 informational-educational videos (24/59, 41%). Personal videos did not differ significantly from informational-educational videos on number of views, dislikes, subscriptions driven, or shares. However, personal videos had significantly more likes (P<.001) and comments (P<.001) than informational-educational videos. The purposes of the videos were treatment outcomes (33/59, 56%), sharing information (30/59, 51%), emotional aspects of infertility (20/59, 34%), and advice to others (6/59, 10%). The tones of the videos were positive (26/59, 44%), neutral (25/59, 42%), and mixed (8/59, 14%); there were no videos with negative tone. No videos contained only male posters. Videos with a positive tone did not differ from neutral videos in number of views, dislikes, subscriptions driven, or shares; however, positive videos had significantly more likes (P<.001) and comments (P<.001) than neutral videos. A majority (21/35, 60%) of posters of personal videos shared a pregnancy announcement. Conclusions YouTube is a source of both technical and personal experience-based information about infertility. However, videos that include personal experiences may elicit greater viewer engagement. Positive videos and stories of treatment success may provide hope to viewers but could also create and perpetuate unrealistic expectations about the success rates of fertility treatment. PMID:29792296

  10. An overview of new video coding tools under consideration for VP10: the successor to VP9

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mukherjee, Debargha; Su, Hui; Bankoski, James; Converse, Alex; Han, Jingning; Liu, Zoe; Xu, Yaowu

    2015-09-01

    Google started an opensource project, entitled the WebM Project, in 2010 to develop royaltyfree video codecs for the web. The present generation codec developed in the WebM project called VP9 was finalized in mid2013 and is currently being served extensively by YouTube, resulting in billions of views per day. Even though adoption of VP9 outside Google is still in its infancy, the WebM project has already embarked on an ambitious project to develop a next edition codec VP10 that achieves at least a generational bitrate reduction over the current generation codec VP9. Although the project is still in early stages, a set of new experimental coding tools have already been added to baseline VP9 to achieve modest coding gains over a large enough test set. This paper provides a technical overview of these coding tools.

  11. Comparison of five video-assisted intubation devices by novice and expert laryngoscopists for use in the aeromedical evacuation environment.

    PubMed

    Wallace, Matthew C; Britton, SSgt Tyler; Meek, Robbie; Walsh-Hart, Sharon; Carter, Col Todd E; Lisco, Steven J

    2017-01-01

    The critically ill or injured patient undergoing military medical evacuation may require emergent intubation. Intubation may be life-saving, but it carries risks. The novice or infrequent laryngoscopist has a distinct disadvantage because experience is critical for the rapid and safe establishment of a secured airway. This challenge is compounded by the austere environment of the back of an aircraft under blackout conditions. This study determined which of five different video-assisted intubation devices (VAIDs) was best suited for in-flight use by U.S. Air Force Critical Care Air Transport Teams by comparing time to successful intubation between novice and expert laryngoscopists under three conditions, Normal Airway Lights on (NAL), Difficult Airway Lights on (DAL) and Difficult Airway Blackout (DAB), using manikins on a standard military transport stanchion and the floor with a minimal amount of setup time and extraneous light emission. A convenience sample size of 40 participants (24 novices and 16 experts) attempted intubation with each of the 5 different video laryngoscopic devices on high-fidelity airway manikins. Time to tracheal intubation and number of optimization maneuvers used were recorded. Kruskal-Wallis testing determined significant differences between the VAIDs in time to intubation for each particular scenario. Devices with significant differences underwent pair-wise comparison testing using rank-sum analysis to further clarify the difference. Device assembly times, startup times and the amount of light emitted were recorded. Perceived ease of use was surveyed. Novices were fastest with the Pentax AWS in all difficult airway scenarios. Experts recorded the shortest median times consistently using 3 of the 5 devices. The AWS was superior overall in 4 of the 6 scenarios tested. Experts and novices subjectively judged the GlideScope Ranger as easiest to use. The light emitted by all the devices was less than the USAF-issued headlamp. Novices intubated fastest with the Pentax AWS in all difficult airway scenarios. The GlideScope required the shortest setup time, and participants judged this device as the easiest to use. The GlideScope and AWS exhibited the two fastest total setup times. Both devices are suitable for in-flight use by infrequent and seasoned laryngoscopists.

  12. Guidance, navigation, and control subsystem equipment selection algorithm using expert system methods

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Allen, Cheryl L.

    1991-01-01

    Enhanced engineering tools can be obtained through the integration of expert system methodologies and existing design software. The application of these methodologies to the spacecraft design and cost model (SDCM) software provides an improved technique for the selection of hardware for unmanned spacecraft subsystem design. The knowledge engineering system (KES) expert system development tool was used to implement a smarter equipment section algorithm than that which is currently achievable through the use of a standard data base system. The guidance, navigation, and control subsystems of the SDCM software was chosen as the initial subsystem for implementation. The portions of the SDCM code which compute the selection criteria and constraints remain intact, and the expert system equipment selection algorithm is embedded within this existing code. The architecture of this new methodology is described and its implementation is reported. The project background and a brief overview of the expert system is described, and once the details of the design are characterized, an example of its implementation is demonstrated.

  13. Joint-layer encoder optimization for HEVC scalable extensions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Chia-Ming; He, Yuwen; Dong, Jie; Ye, Yan; Xiu, Xiaoyu; He, Yong

    2014-09-01

    Scalable video coding provides an efficient solution to support video playback on heterogeneous devices with various channel conditions in heterogeneous networks. SHVC is the latest scalable video coding standard based on the HEVC standard. To improve enhancement layer coding efficiency, inter-layer prediction including texture and motion information generated from the base layer is used for enhancement layer coding. However, the overall performance of the SHVC reference encoder is not fully optimized because rate-distortion optimization (RDO) processes in the base and enhancement layers are independently considered. It is difficult to directly extend the existing joint-layer optimization methods to SHVC due to the complicated coding tree block splitting decisions and in-loop filtering process (e.g., deblocking and sample adaptive offset (SAO) filtering) in HEVC. To solve those problems, a joint-layer optimization method is proposed by adjusting the quantization parameter (QP) to optimally allocate the bit resource between layers. Furthermore, to make more proper resource allocation, the proposed method also considers the viewing probability of base and enhancement layers according to packet loss rate. Based on the viewing probability, a novel joint-layer RD cost function is proposed for joint-layer RDO encoding. The QP values of those coding tree units (CTUs) belonging to lower layers referenced by higher layers are decreased accordingly, and the QP values of those remaining CTUs are increased to keep total bits unchanged. Finally the QP values with minimal joint-layer RD cost are selected to match the viewing probability. The proposed method was applied to the third temporal level (TL-3) pictures in the Random Access configuration. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed joint-layer optimization method can improve coding performance by 1.3% for these TL-3 pictures compared to the SHVC reference encoder without joint-layer optimization.

  14. Learning dictionaries of sparse codes of 3D movements of body joints for real-time human activity understanding.

    PubMed

    Qi, Jin; Yang, Zhiyong

    2014-01-01

    Real-time human activity recognition is essential for human-robot interactions for assisted healthy independent living. Most previous work in this area is performed on traditional two-dimensional (2D) videos and both global and local methods have been used. Since 2D videos are sensitive to changes of lighting condition, view angle, and scale, researchers begun to explore applications of 3D information in human activity understanding in recently years. Unfortunately, features that work well on 2D videos usually don't perform well on 3D videos and there is no consensus on what 3D features should be used. Here we propose a model of human activity recognition based on 3D movements of body joints. Our method has three steps, learning dictionaries of sparse codes of 3D movements of joints, sparse coding, and classification. In the first step, space-time volumes of 3D movements of body joints are obtained via dense sampling and independent component analysis is then performed to construct a dictionary of sparse codes for each activity. In the second step, the space-time volumes are projected to the dictionaries and a set of sparse histograms of the projection coefficients are constructed as feature representations of the activities. Finally, the sparse histograms are used as inputs to a support vector machine to recognize human activities. We tested this model on three databases of human activities and found that it outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms. Thus, this model can be used for real-time human activity recognition in many applications.

  15. Illusory Motion Reproduced by Deep Neural Networks Trained for Prediction

    PubMed Central

    Watanabe, Eiji; Kitaoka, Akiyoshi; Sakamoto, Kiwako; Yasugi, Masaki; Tanaka, Kenta

    2018-01-01

    The cerebral cortex predicts visual motion to adapt human behavior to surrounding objects moving in real time. Although the underlying mechanisms are still unknown, predictive coding is one of the leading theories. Predictive coding assumes that the brain's internal models (which are acquired through learning) predict the visual world at all times and that errors between the prediction and the actual sensory input further refine the internal models. In the past year, deep neural networks based on predictive coding were reported for a video prediction machine called PredNet. If the theory substantially reproduces the visual information processing of the cerebral cortex, then PredNet can be expected to represent the human visual perception of motion. In this study, PredNet was trained with natural scene videos of the self-motion of the viewer, and the motion prediction ability of the obtained computer model was verified using unlearned videos. We found that the computer model accurately predicted the magnitude and direction of motion of a rotating propeller in unlearned videos. Surprisingly, it also represented the rotational motion for illusion images that were not moving physically, much like human visual perception. While the trained network accurately reproduced the direction of illusory rotation, it did not detect motion components in negative control pictures wherein people do not perceive illusory motion. This research supports the exciting idea that the mechanism assumed by the predictive coding theory is one of basis of motion illusion generation. Using sensory illusions as indicators of human perception, deep neural networks are expected to contribute significantly to the development of brain research. PMID:29599739

  16. Illusory Motion Reproduced by Deep Neural Networks Trained for Prediction.

    PubMed

    Watanabe, Eiji; Kitaoka, Akiyoshi; Sakamoto, Kiwako; Yasugi, Masaki; Tanaka, Kenta

    2018-01-01

    The cerebral cortex predicts visual motion to adapt human behavior to surrounding objects moving in real time. Although the underlying mechanisms are still unknown, predictive coding is one of the leading theories. Predictive coding assumes that the brain's internal models (which are acquired through learning) predict the visual world at all times and that errors between the prediction and the actual sensory input further refine the internal models. In the past year, deep neural networks based on predictive coding were reported for a video prediction machine called PredNet. If the theory substantially reproduces the visual information processing of the cerebral cortex, then PredNet can be expected to represent the human visual perception of motion. In this study, PredNet was trained with natural scene videos of the self-motion of the viewer, and the motion prediction ability of the obtained computer model was verified using unlearned videos. We found that the computer model accurately predicted the magnitude and direction of motion of a rotating propeller in unlearned videos. Surprisingly, it also represented the rotational motion for illusion images that were not moving physically, much like human visual perception. While the trained network accurately reproduced the direction of illusory rotation, it did not detect motion components in negative control pictures wherein people do not perceive illusory motion. This research supports the exciting idea that the mechanism assumed by the predictive coding theory is one of basis of motion illusion generation. Using sensory illusions as indicators of human perception, deep neural networks are expected to contribute significantly to the development of brain research.

  17. Video analysis for insight and coding: Examples from tutorials in introductory physics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scherr, Rachel E.

    2009-12-01

    The increasing ease of video recording offers new opportunities to create richly detailed records of classroom activities. These recordings, in turn, call for research methodologies that balance generalizability with interpretive validity. This paper shares methodology for two practices of video analysis: (1) gaining insight into specific brief classroom episodes and (2) developing and applying a systematic observational protocol for a relatively large corpus of video data. These two aspects of analytic practice are illustrated in the context of a particular research interest but are intended to serve as general suggestions.

  18. Computer vision enhances mobile eye-tracking to expose expert cognition in natural-scene visual-search tasks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Keane, Tommy P.; Cahill, Nathan D.; Tarduno, John A.; Jacobs, Robert A.; Pelz, Jeff B.

    2014-02-01

    Mobile eye-tracking provides the fairly unique opportunity to record and elucidate cognition in action. In our research, we are searching for patterns in, and distinctions between, the visual-search performance of experts and novices in the geo-sciences. Traveling to regions resultant from various geological processes as part of an introductory field studies course in geology, we record the prima facie gaze patterns of experts and novices when they are asked to determine the modes of geological activity that have formed the scene-view presented to them. Recording eye video and scene video in natural settings generates complex imagery that requires advanced applications of computer vision research to generate registrations and mappings between the views of separate observers. By developing such mappings, we could then place many observers into a single mathematical space where we can spatio-temporally analyze inter- and intra-subject fixations, saccades, and head motions. While working towards perfecting these mappings, we developed an updated experiment setup that allowed us to statistically analyze intra-subject eye-movement events without the need for a common domain. Through such analyses we are finding statistical differences between novices and experts in these visual-search tasks. In the course of this research we have developed a unified, open-source, software framework for processing, visualization, and interaction of mobile eye-tracking and high-resolution panoramic imagery.

  19. American Federation for Aging Research

    MedlinePlus

    ... Press Room Links Videos HuffPost Infoaging Biology of Aging Disease Center Healthy Aging Ask the Expert Contact Us Press Info Contact ... the pipeline of research in the biology of aging AFAR's Impact GIVE to AFAR's work to help ...

  20. Visual Impairment

    MedlinePlus

    ... site Sitio para adolescentes Body Mind Sexual Health Food & Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Visual Impairment KidsHealth / For Teens / Visual Impairment What's in ...

  1. Pregnancy Calendar: A Week-by-Week Guide

    MedlinePlus

    ... Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español A Week-by-Week Pregnancy Calendar KidsHealth / For Parents / A Week-by-Week ...

  2. Establishing Inter- and Intrarater Reliability for High-Stakes Testing Using Simulation.

    PubMed

    Kardong-Edgren, Suzan; Oermann, Marilyn H; Rizzolo, Mary Anne; Odom-Maryon, Tamara

    This article reports one method to develop a standardized training method to establish the inter- and intrarater reliability of a group of raters for high-stakes testing. Simulation is used increasingly for high-stakes testing, but without research into the development of inter- and intrarater reliability for raters. Eleven raters were trained using a standardized methodology. Raters scored 28 student videos over a six-week period. Raters then rescored all videos over a two-day period to establish both intra- and interrater reliability. One rater demonstrated poor intrarater reliability; a second rater failed all students. Kappa statistics improved from the moderate to substantial agreement range with the exclusion of the two outlier raters' scores. There may be faculty who, for different reasons, should not be included in high-stakes testing evaluations. All faculty are content experts, but not all are expert evaluators.

  3. Fast bi-directional prediction selection in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC temporal scalable video coding.

    PubMed

    Lin, Hung-Chih; Hang, Hsueh-Ming; Peng, Wen-Hsiao

    2011-12-01

    In this paper, we propose a fast algorithm that efficiently selects the temporal prediction type for the dyadic hierarchical-B prediction structure in the H.264/MPEG-4 temporal scalable video coding (SVC). We make use of the strong correlations in prediction type inheritance to eliminate the superfluous computations for the bi-directional (BI) prediction in the finer partitions, 16×8/8×16/8×8 , by referring to the best temporal prediction type of 16 × 16. In addition, we carefully examine the relationship in motion bit-rate costs and distortions between the BI and the uni-directional temporal prediction types. As a result, we construct a set of adaptive thresholds to remove the unnecessary BI calculations. Moreover, for the block partitions smaller than 8 × 8, either the forward prediction (FW) or the backward prediction (BW) is skipped based upon the information of their 8 × 8 partitions. Hence, the proposed schemes can efficiently reduce the extensive computational burden in calculating the BI prediction. As compared to the JSVM 9.11 software, our method saves the encoding time from 48% to 67% for a large variety of test videos over a wide range of coding bit-rates and has only a minor coding performance loss. © 2011 IEEE

  4. Overview of MPEG internet video coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, R. G.; Li, G.; Park, S.; Kim, J.; Huang, T.; Jang, E. S.; Gao, W.

    2015-09-01

    MPEG has produced standards that have provided the industry with the best video compression technologies. In order to address the diversified needs of the Internet, MPEG issued the Call for Proposals (CfP) for internet video coding in July, 2011. It is anticipated that any patent declaration associated with the Baseline Profile of this standard will indicate that the patent owner is prepared to grant a free of charge license to an unrestricted number of applicants on a worldwide, non-discriminatory basis and under other reasonable terms and conditions to make, use, and sell implementations of the Baseline Profile of this standard in accordance with the ITU-T/ITU-R/ISO/IEC Common Patent Policy. Three different codecs had responded to the CfP, which are WVC, VCB and IVC. WVC was proposed jointly by Apple, Cisco, Fraunhofer HHI, Magnum Semiconductor, Polycom and RIM etc. it's in fact AVC baseline. VCB was proposed by Google, and it's in fact VP8. IVC was proposed by several Universities (Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Hanyang University and Korea Aerospace University etc.) and its coding tools was developed from Zero. In this paper, we give an overview of the coding tools in IVC, and evaluate its performance by comparing it with WVC, VCB and AVC High Profile.

  5. Efficient biprediction decision scheme for fast high efficiency video coding encoding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, Sang-hyo; Lee, Seung-ho; Jang, Euee S.; Jun, Dongsan; Kang, Jung-Won

    2016-11-01

    An efficient biprediction decision scheme of high efficiency video coding (HEVC) is proposed for fast-encoding applications. For low-delay video applications, bidirectional prediction can be used to increase compression performance efficiently with previous reference frames. However, at the same time, the computational complexity of the HEVC encoder is significantly increased due to the additional biprediction search. Although a some research has attempted to reduce this complexity, whether the prediction is strongly related to both motion complexity and prediction modes in a coding unit has not yet been investigated. A method that avoids most compression-inefficient search points is proposed so that the computational complexity of the motion estimation process can be dramatically decreased. To determine if biprediction is critical, the proposed method exploits the stochastic correlation of the context of prediction units (PUs): the direction of a PU and the accuracy of a motion vector. Through experimental results, the proposed method showed that the time complexity of biprediction can be reduced to 30% on average, outperforming existing methods in view of encoding time, number of function calls, and memory access.

  6. An efficient CU partition algorithm for HEVC based on improved Sobel operator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Xuebin; Chen, Xiaodong; Xu, Yong; Sun, Gang; Yang, Yunsheng

    2018-04-01

    As the latest video coding standard, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) achieves over 50% bit rate reduction with similar video quality compared with previous standards H.264/AVC. However, the higher compression efficiency is attained at the cost of significantly increasing computational load. In order to reduce the complexity, this paper proposes a fast coding unit (CU) partition technique to speed up the process. To detect the edge features of each CU, a more accurate improved Sobel filtering is developed and performed By analyzing the textural features of CU, an early CU splitting termination is proposed to decide whether a CU should be decomposed into four lower-dimensions CUs or not. Compared with the reference software HM16.7, experimental results indicate the proposed algorithm can lessen the encoding time up to 44.09% on average, with a negligible bit rate increase of 0.24%, and quality losses lower 0.03 dB, respectively. In addition, the proposed algorithm gets a better trade-off between complexity and rate-distortion among the other proposed works.

  7. Neighboring block based disparity vector derivation for multiview compatible 3D-AVC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, Jewon; Chen, Ying; Zhang, Li; Zhao, Xin; Karczewicz, Marta

    2013-09-01

    3D-AVC being developed under Joint Collaborative Team on 3D Video Coding (JCT-3V) significantly outperforms the Multiview Video Coding plus Depth (MVC+D) which simultaneously encodes texture views and depth views with the multiview extension of H.264/AVC (MVC). However, when the 3D-AVC is configured to support multiview compatibility in which texture views are decoded without depth information, the coding performance becomes significantly degraded. The reason is that advanced coding tools incorporated into the 3D-AVC do not perform well due to the lack of a disparity vector converted from the depth information. In this paper, we propose a disparity vector derivation method utilizing only the information of texture views. Motion information of neighboring blocks is used to determine a disparity vector for a macroblock, so that the derived disparity vector is efficiently used for the coding tools in 3D-AVC. The proposed method significantly improves a coding gain of the 3D-AVC in the multiview compatible mode about 20% BD-rate saving in the coded views and 26% BD-rate saving in the synthesized views on average.

  8. Video coding for next-generation surveillance systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klasen, Lena M.; Fahlander, Olov

    1997-02-01

    Video is used as recording media in surveillance system and also more frequently by the Swedish Police Force. Methods for analyzing video using an image processing system have recently been introduced at the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science, and new methods are in focus in a research project at Linkoping University, Image Coding Group. The accuracy of the result of those forensic investigations often depends on the quality of the video recordings, and one of the major problems when analyzing videos from crime scenes is the poor quality of the recordings. Enhancing poor image quality might add manipulative or subjective effects and does not seem to be the right way of getting reliable analysis results. The surveillance system in use today is mainly based on video techniques, VHS or S-VHS, and the weakest link is the video cassette recorder, (VCR). Multiplexers for selecting one of many camera outputs for recording is another problem as it often filters the video signal, and recording is limited to only one of the available cameras connected to the VCR. A way to get around the problem of poor recording is to simultaneously record all camera outputs digitally. It is also very important to build such a system bearing in mind that image processing analysis methods becomes more important as a complement to the human eye. Using one or more cameras gives a large amount of data, and the need for data compression is more than obvious. Crime scenes often involve persons or moving objects, and the available coding techniques are more or less useful. Our goal is to propose a possible system, being the best compromise with respect to what needs to be recorded, movements in the recorded scene, loss of information and resolution etc., to secure the efficient recording of the crime and enable forensic analysis. The preventative effective of having a well functioning surveillance system and well established image analysis methods is not to be neglected. Aspects of this next generation of digital surveillance systems are discussed in this paper.

  9. Introducing video recording in primary care midwifery for research purposes: procedure, dataset, and use.

    PubMed

    Spelten, Evelien R; Martin, Linda; Gitsels, Janneke T; Pereboom, Monique T R; Hutton, Eileen K; van Dulmen, Sandra

    2015-01-01

    video recording studies have been found to be complex; however very few studies describe the actual introduction and enrolment of the study, the resulting dataset and its interpretation. In this paper we describe the introduction and the use of video recordings of health care provider (HCP)-client interactions in primary care midwifery for research purposes. We also report on the process of data management, data coding and the resulting data set. we describe our experience in undertaking a study using video recording to assess the interaction of the midwife and her client in the first antenatal consultation, in a real life clinical practice setting in the Netherlands. Midwives from six practices across the Netherlands were recruited to videotape 15-20 intakes. The introduction, complexity of the study and intrusiveness of the study were discussed within the research group. The number of valid recordings and missing recordings was measured; reasons not to participate, non-response analyses, and the inter-rater reliability of the coded videotapes were assessed. Video recordings were supplemented by questionnaires for midwives and clients. The Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) was used for coding as well as an obstetric topics scale. at the introduction of the study, more initial hesitation in co-operation was found among the midwives than among their clients. The intrusive nature of the recording on the interaction was perceived to be minimal. The complex nature of the study affected recruitment and data collection. Combining the dataset with the questionnaires and medical records proved to be a challenge. The final dataset included videotapes of 20 midwives (7-23 recordings per midwife). Of the 460 eligible clients, 324 gave informed consent. The study resulted in a significant dataset of first antenatal consultations involving recording 269 clients and 194 partners. video recording of midwife-client interaction was both feasible and challenging and resulted in a unique dataset of recordings of midwife-client interaction. Video recording studies will benefit from a tight design, and vigilant monitoring during the data collection to ensure effective data collection. We provide suggestions to promote successful introduction of video recording for research purposes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Getting Inside the Expert's Head: An Analysis of Physician Cognitive Processes During Trauma Resuscitations.

    PubMed

    White, Matthew R; Braund, Heather; Howes, Daniel; Egan, Rylan; Gegenfurtner, Andreas; van Merrienboer, Jeroen J G; Szulewski, Adam

    2018-04-23

    Crisis resource management skills are integral to leading the resuscitation of a critically ill patient. Despite their importance, crisis resource management skills (and their associated cognitive processes) have traditionally been difficult to study in the real world. The objective of this study was to derive key cognitive processes underpinning expert performance in resuscitation medicine, using a new eye-tracking-based video capture method during clinical cases. During an 18-month period, a sample of 10 trauma resuscitations led by 4 expert trauma team leaders was analyzed. The physician team leaders were outfitted with mobile eye-tracking glasses for each case. After each resuscitation, participants were debriefed with a modified cognitive task analysis, based on a cued-recall protocol, augmented by viewing their own first-person perspective eye-tracking video from the clinical encounter. Eye-tracking technology was successfully applied as a tool to aid in the qualitative analysis of expert performance in a clinical setting. All participants stated that using these methods helped uncover previously unconscious aspects of their cognition. Overall, 5 major themes were derived from the interviews: logistic awareness, managing uncertainty, visual fixation behaviors, selective attendance to information, and anticipatory behaviors. The novel approach of cognitive task analysis augmented by eye tracking allowed the derivation of 5 unique cognitive processes underpinning expert performance in leading a resuscitation. An understanding of these cognitive processes has the potential to enhance educational methods and to create new assessment modalities of these previously tacit aspects of expertise in this field. Copyright © 2018 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Consensus coding sequence (CCDS) database: a standardized set of human and mouse protein-coding regions supported by expert curation

    PubMed Central

    Pujar, Shashikant; O’Leary, Nuala A; Farrell, Catherine M; Mudge, Jonathan M; Wallin, Craig; Diekhans, Mark; Barnes, If; Bennett, Ruth; Berry, Andrew E; Cox, Eric; Davidson, Claire; Goldfarb, Tamara; Gonzalez, Jose M; Hunt, Toby; Jackson, John; Joardar, Vinita; Kay, Mike P; Kodali, Vamsi K; McAndrews, Monica; McGarvey, Kelly M; Murphy, Michael; Rajput, Bhanu; Rangwala, Sanjida H; Riddick, Lillian D; Seal, Ruth L; Webb, David; Zhu, Sophia; Aken, Bronwen L; Bult, Carol J; Frankish, Adam; Pruitt, Kim D

    2018-01-01

    Abstract The Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) project provides a dataset of protein-coding regions that are identically annotated on the human and mouse reference genome assembly in genome annotations produced independently by NCBI and the Ensembl group at EMBL-EBI. This dataset is the product of an international collaboration that includes NCBI, Ensembl, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, Mouse Genome Informatics and University of California, Santa Cruz. Identically annotated coding regions, which are generated using an automated pipeline and pass multiple quality assurance checks, are assigned a stable and tracked identifier (CCDS ID). Additionally, coordinated manual review by expert curators from the CCDS collaboration helps in maintaining the integrity and high quality of the dataset. The CCDS data are available through an interactive web page (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CCDS/CcdsBrowse.cgi) and an FTP site (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/CCDS/). In this paper, we outline the ongoing work, growth and stability of the CCDS dataset and provide updates on new collaboration members and new features added to the CCDS user interface. We also present expert curation scenarios, with specific examples highlighting the importance of an accurate reference genome assembly and the crucial role played by input from the research community. PMID:29126148

  12. On-line content creation for photo products: understanding what the user wants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fageth, Reiner

    2015-03-01

    This paper describes how videos can be implemented into printed photo books and greeting cards. We will show that - surprisingly or not- pictures from videos are similarly used such as classical images to tell compelling stories. Videos can be taken with nearly every camera, digital point and shoot cameras, DSLRs as well as smartphones and more and more with so-called action cameras mounted on sports devices. The implementation of videos while generating QR codes and relevant pictures out of the video stream via a software implementation was contents in last years' paper. This year we present first data about what contents is displayed and how the users represent their videos in printed products, e.g. CEWE PHOTOBOOKS and greeting cards. We report the share of the different video formats used.

  13. New Methodology for an Expert-Designed Map From International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ Severity Injury.

    PubMed

    Zonfrillo, Mark R; Weaver, Ashley A; Gillich, Patrick J; Price, Janet P; Stitzel, Joel D

    2015-01-01

    There has been a longstanding desire for a map to convert International Classification of Diseases (ICD) injury codes to Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) codes to reflect the severity of those diagnoses. The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) was tasked by European Union representatives to create a categorical map classifying diagnoses codes as serious injury (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] 3+), minor/moderate injury (AIS 1/2), or indeterminate. This study's objective was to map injury-related ICD-9-CM (clinical modification) and ICD-10-CM codes to these severity categories. Approximately 19,000 ICD codes were mapped, including injuries from the following categories: amputations, blood vessel injury, burns, crushing injury, dislocations/sprains/strains, foreign body, fractures, internal organ, nerve/spinal cord injury, intracranial, laceration, open wounds, and superficial injury/contusion. Two parallel activities were completed to create the maps: (1) An in-person expert panel and (2) an electronic survey. The panel consisted of expert users of AIS and ICD from North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The panel met in person for 5 days, with follow-up virtual meetings to create and revise the maps. Additional qualitative data were documented to resolve potential discrepancies in mapping. The electronic survey was completed by 95 injury coding professionals from North America, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand over 12 weeks. ICD-to-AIS maps were created for: ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM. Both maps indicated whether the corresponding AIS 2005/Update 2008 severity score for each ICD code was AIS 3+, 1/2, or indeterminable. Though some ICD codes could be mapped to multiple AIS codes, the maximum severity of all potentially mapped injuries determined the final severity categorization. The in-person panel consisted of 13 experts, with 11 Certified AIS specialists (CAISS) with a median of 8 years and an average of 15 years of coding experience. Consensus was reached for AIS severity categorization for all injury-related ICD codes. There were 95 survey respondents, with a median of 8 years of injury coding experience. Approximately 15 survey responses were collected per ICD code. Results from the 2 activities were compared, and any discrepancies were resolved using additional qualitative and quantitative data from the in-person panel and survey results, respectively. Robust maps of ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM injury codes to AIS severity categories (3+ versus <3) were successfully created from an in-person panel discussion and electronic survey. These maps provide a link between the common ICD diagnostic lexicons and the AIS severity coding system and are of value to injury researchers, public health scientists, and epidemiologists using large databases without available AIS coding.

  14. Clinical validation of different echocardiographic motion pictures expert group-4 algorythms and compression levels for telemedicine.

    PubMed

    Barbier, Paolo; Alimento, Marina; Berna, Giovanni; Cavoretto, Dario; Celeste, Fabrizio; Muratori, Manuela; Guazzi, Maurizio D

    2004-01-01

    Tele-echocardiography is not widely used because of lengthy transmission times when using standard Motion Pictures Expert Groups (MPEG)-2 lossy compression algorythms, unless expensive high bandwidth lines are used. We sought to validate the newer MPEG-4 algorythms to allow further reduction in echocardiographic motion video file size. Four cardiologists expert in echocardiography read blindly 165 randomized uncompressed and compressed 2D and color Doppler normal and pathologic motion images. One Digital Video and 3 MPEG-4 compression algorythms were tested, the latter at 3 decreasing compression quality levels (100%, 65% and 40%). Mean diagnostic and image quality scores were computed for each file and compared across the 3 compression levels using uncompressed files as controls. File dimensions decreased from a range of uncompressed 12-83 MB to MPEG-4 0.03-2.3 MB. All algorythms showed mean scores that were not significantly different from uncompressed source, except the MPEG-4 DivX algorythm at the highest selected compression (40%, p=.002). These data support the use of MPEG-4 compression to reduce echocardiographic motion image size for transmission purposes, allowing cost reduction through use of low bandwidth lines.

  15. Novice to Expert Practice via Postprofessional Athletic Training Education: A Grounded Theory

    PubMed Central

    Neibert, Peter J

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To discover the theoretic constructs that confirm, disconfirm, or extend the principles and their applications appropriate for National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA)–accredited postprofessional athletic training education programs. Design: Interviews at the 2003 NATA Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposia. Setting: Qualitative study using grounded theory procedures. Patients and Other Participants: Thirteen interviews were conducted with postprofessional graduates. Participants were purposefully selected based on theoretic sampling and availability. Data Collection and Analysis: The transcribed interviews were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding procedures. Member checks, reflective journaling, and triangulation were used to ensure trustworthiness. Results: The participants' comments confirmed and extended the current principles of postprofessional athletic training education programs and offered additional suggestions for more effective practical applications. Conclusions: The emergence of this central category of novice to expert practice is a paramount finding. The tightly woven fabric of the 10 processes, when interlaced with one another, provides a strong tapestry supporting novice to expert practice via postprofessional athletic training education. The emergence of this theoretic position pushes postprofessional graduate athletic training education forward to the future for further investigation into the theoretic constructs of novice to expert practice. PMID:19593420

  16. Temporal Coding of Volumetric Imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Llull, Patrick Ryan

    'Image volumes' refer to realizations of images in other dimensions such as time, spectrum, and focus. Recent advances in scientific, medical, and consumer applications demand improvements in image volume capture. Though image volume acquisition continues to advance, it maintains the same sampling mechanisms that have been used for decades; every voxel must be scanned and is presumed independent of its neighbors. Under these conditions, improving performance comes at the cost of increased system complexity, data rates, and power consumption. This dissertation explores systems and methods capable of efficiently improving sensitivity and performance for image volume cameras, and specifically proposes several sampling strategies that utilize temporal coding to improve imaging system performance and enhance our awareness for a variety of dynamic applications. Video cameras and camcorders sample the video volume (x,y,t) at fixed intervals to gain understanding of the volume's temporal evolution. Conventionally, one must reduce the spatial resolution to increase the framerate of such cameras. Using temporal coding via physical translation of an optical element known as a coded aperture, the compressive temporal imaging (CACTI) camera emonstrates a method which which to embed the temporal dimension of the video volume into spatial (x,y) measurements, thereby greatly improving temporal resolution with minimal loss of spatial resolution. This technique, which is among a family of compressive sampling strategies developed at Duke University, temporally codes the exposure readout functions at the pixel level. Since video cameras nominally integrate the remaining image volume dimensions (e.g. spectrum and focus) at capture time, spectral (x,y,t,lambda) and focal (x,y,t,z) image volumes are traditionally captured via sequential changes to the spectral and focal state of the system, respectively. The CACTI camera's ability to embed video volumes into images leads to exploration of other information within that video; namely, focal and spectral information. The next part of the thesis demonstrates derivative works of CACTI: compressive extended depth of field and compressive spectral-temporal imaging. These works successfully show the technique's extension of temporal coding to improve sensing performance in these other dimensions. Geometrical optics-related tradeoffs, such as the classic challenges of wide-field-of-view and high resolution photography, have motivated the development of mulitscale camera arrays. The advent of such designs less than a decade ago heralds a new era of research- and engineering-related challenges. One significant challenge is that of managing the focal volume (x,y,z ) over wide fields of view and resolutions. The fourth chapter shows advances on focus and image quality assessment for a class of multiscale gigapixel cameras developed at Duke. Along the same line of work, we have explored methods for dynamic and adaptive addressing of focus via point spread function engineering. We demonstrate another form of temporal coding in the form of physical translation of the image plane from its nominal focal position. We demonstrate this technique's capability to generate arbitrary point spread functions.

  17. Augmenting communication and decision making in the intensive care unit with a cardiopulmonary resuscitation video decision support tool: a temporal intervention study.

    PubMed

    McCannon, Jessica B; O'Donnell, Walter J; Thompson, B Taylor; El-Jawahri, Areej; Chang, Yuchiao; Ananian, Lillian; Bajwa, Ednan K; Currier, Paul F; Parikh, Mihir; Temel, Jennifer S; Cooper, Zara; Wiener, Renda Soylemez; Volandes, Angelo E

    2012-12-01

    Effective communication between intensive care unit (ICU) providers and families is crucial given the complexity of decisions made regarding goals of therapy. Using video images to supplement medical discussions is an innovative process to standardize and improve communication. In this six-month, quasi-experimental, pre-post intervention study we investigated the impact of a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) video decision support tool upon knowledge about CPR among surrogate decision makers for critically ill adults. We interviewed surrogate decision makers for patients aged 50 and over, using a structured questionnaire that included a four-question CPR knowledge assessment similar to those used in previous studies. Surrogates in the post-intervention arm viewed a three-minute video decision support tool about CPR before completing the knowledge assessment and completed questions about perceived value of the video. We recruited 23 surrogates during the first three months (pre-intervention arm) and 27 surrogates during the latter three months of the study (post-intervention arm). Surrogates viewing the video had more knowledge about CPR (p=0.008); average scores were 2.0 (SD 1.1) and 2.9 (SD 1.2) (out of a total of 4) in pre-intervention and post-intervention arms. Surrogates who viewed the video were comfortable with its content (81% very) and 81% would recommend the video. CPR preferences for patients at the time of ICU discharge/death were distributed as follows: pre-intervention: full code 78%, DNR 22%; post-intervention: full code 59%, DNR 41% (p=0.23).

  18. Joint Machine Learning and Game Theory for Rate Control in High Efficiency Video Coding.

    PubMed

    Gao, Wei; Kwong, Sam; Jia, Yuheng

    2017-08-25

    In this paper, a joint machine learning and game theory modeling (MLGT) framework is proposed for inter frame coding tree unit (CTU) level bit allocation and rate control (RC) optimization in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). First, a support vector machine (SVM) based multi-classification scheme is proposed to improve the prediction accuracy of CTU-level Rate-Distortion (R-D) model. The legacy "chicken-and-egg" dilemma in video coding is proposed to be overcome by the learning-based R-D model. Second, a mixed R-D model based cooperative bargaining game theory is proposed for bit allocation optimization, where the convexity of the mixed R-D model based utility function is proved, and Nash bargaining solution (NBS) is achieved by the proposed iterative solution search method. The minimum utility is adjusted by the reference coding distortion and frame-level Quantization parameter (QP) change. Lastly, intra frame QP and inter frame adaptive bit ratios are adjusted to make inter frames have more bit resources to maintain smooth quality and bit consumption in the bargaining game optimization. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MLGT based RC method can achieve much better R-D performances, quality smoothness, bit rate accuracy, buffer control results and subjective visual quality than the other state-of-the-art one-pass RC methods, and the achieved R-D performances are very close to the performance limits from the FixedQP method.

  19. Abstinence

    MedlinePlus

    ... Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Abstinence KidsHealth / For Teens / Abstinence Print en español La abstinencia sexual What Is It? Abstinence is not having sex. A person who decides to practice abstinence has ...

  20. AphasiaBank: a resource for clinicians.

    PubMed

    Forbes, Margaret M; Fromm, Davida; Macwhinney, Brian

    2012-08-01

    AphasiaBank is a shared, multimedia database containing videos and transcriptions of ~180 aphasic individuals and 140 nonaphasic controls performing a uniform set of discourse tasks. The language in the videos is transcribed in Codes for the Human Analysis of Transcripts (CHAT) format and coded for analysis with Computerized Language ANalysis (CLAN) programs, which can perform a wide variety of language analyses. The database and the CLAN programs are freely available to aphasia researchers and clinicians for educational, clinical, and scholarly uses. This article describes the database, suggests some ways in which clinicians and clinician researchers might find these materials useful, and introduces a new language analysis program, EVAL, designed to streamline the transcription and coding processes, while still producing an extensive and useful language profile. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  1. Deep Learning Localizes and Identifies Polyps in Real Time with 96% Accuracy in Screening Colonoscopy.

    PubMed

    Urban, Gregor; Tripathi, Priyam; Alkayali, Talal; Mittal, Mohit; Jalali, Farid; Karnes, William; Baldi, Pierre

    2018-06-18

    The benefit of colonoscopy for colorectal cancer prevention depends on the adenoma detection rate (ADR). The ADR should reflect adenoma prevalence rate, estimated to be greater than 50% among the screening-age population. Yet the rate of adenoma detection by colonoscopists varies from 7% to 53%. It is estimated that every 1% increase in ADR reduces the risk of interval colorectal cancers by 3-6%. New strategies are needed to increase the ADR during colonoscopy. We tested the ability of computer-assisted image analysis, with convolutional neural networks (a deep learning model for image analysis), to improve polyp detection, a surrogate of ADR. We designed and trained deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) to detect polyps using a diverse and representative set of 8641 hand labeled images from screening colonoscopies collected from over 2000 patients. We tested the models on 20 colonoscopy videos with a total duration of 5 hours. Expert colonoscopists were asked to identify all polyps in 9 de-identified colonoscopy videos, selected from archived video studies, either with or without benefit of the CNN overlay. Their findings were compared with those of the CNN, using CNN-assisted expert review as the reference. When tested on manually labeled images, the CNN identified polyps with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.991 and an accuracy of 96.4%. In the analysis of colonoscopy videos in which 28 polyps were removed, 4 expert reviewers identified 8 additional polyps without CNN assistance that had not been removed and identified an additional 17 polyps with CNN assistance (45 in total). All polyps removed and identified by expert review were detected by the CNN. The CNN had a false-positive rate of 7%. In a set of 8641 colonoscopy images containing 4088 unique polyps the CNN identified polyps with a cross-validation accuracy of 96.4% and ROC-AUC value of 0.991. The CNN system can detect and localize polyps well within real-time constraints using an ordinary desktop machine with a contemporary graphics processing unit. This system could increase ADR and reduce interval colorectal cancers but requires validation in large multicenter trials. Copyright © 2018 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Applications of just-noticeable depth difference model in joint multiview video plus depth coding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Chao; An, Ping; Zuo, Yifan; Zhang, Zhaoyang

    2014-10-01

    A new multiview just-noticeable-depth-difference(MJNDD) Model is presented and applied to compress the joint multiview video plus depth. Many video coding algorithms remove spatial and temporal redundancies and statistical redundancies but they are not capable of removing the perceptual redundancies. Since the final receptor of video is the human eyes, we can remove the perception redundancy to gain higher compression efficiency according to the properties of human visual system (HVS). Traditional just-noticeable-distortion (JND) model in pixel domain contains luminance contrast and spatial-temporal masking effects, which describes the perception redundancy quantitatively. Whereas HVS is very sensitive to depth information, a new multiview-just-noticeable-depth-difference(MJNDD) model is proposed by combining traditional JND model with just-noticeable-depth-difference (JNDD) model. The texture video is divided into background and foreground areas using depth information. Then different JND threshold values are assigned to these two parts. Later the MJNDD model is utilized to encode the texture video on JMVC. When encoding the depth video, JNDD model is applied to remove the block artifacts and protect the edges. Then we use VSRS3.5 (View Synthesis Reference Software) to generate the intermediate views. Experimental results show that our model can endure more noise and the compression efficiency is improved by 25.29 percent at average and by 54.06 percent at most compared to JMVC while maintaining the subject quality. Hence it can gain high compress ratio and low bit rate.

  3. Complexity reduction in the H.264/AVC using highly adaptive fast mode decision based on macroblock motion activity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abdellah, Skoudarli; Mokhtar, Nibouche; Amina, Serir

    2015-11-01

    The H.264/AVC video coding standard is used in a wide range of applications from video conferencing to high-definition television according to its high compression efficiency. This efficiency is mainly acquired from the newly allowed prediction schemes including variable block modes. However, these schemes require a high complexity to select the optimal mode. Consequently, complexity reduction in the H.264/AVC encoder has recently become a very challenging task in the video compression domain, especially when implementing the encoder in real-time applications. Fast mode decision algorithms play an important role in reducing the overall complexity of the encoder. In this paper, we propose an adaptive fast intermode algorithm based on motion activity, temporal stationarity, and spatial homogeneity. This algorithm predicts the motion activity of the current macroblock from its neighboring blocks and identifies temporal stationary regions and spatially homogeneous regions using adaptive threshold values based on content video features. Extensive experimental work has been done in high profile, and results show that the proposed source-coding algorithm effectively reduces the computational complexity by 53.18% on average compared with the reference software encoder, while maintaining the high-coding efficiency of H.264/AVC by incurring only 0.097 dB in total peak signal-to-noise ratio and 0.228% increment on the total bit rate.

  4. The Use of Smart Glasses for Surgical Video Streaming.

    PubMed

    Hiranaka, Takafumi; Nakanishi, Yuta; Fujishiro, Takaaki; Hida, Yuichi; Tsubosaka, Masanori; Shibata, Yosaku; Okimura, Kenjiro; Uemoto, Harunobu

    2017-04-01

    Observation of surgical procedures performed by experts is extremely important for acquisition and improvement of surgical skills. Smart glasses are small computers, which comprise a head-mounted monitor and video camera, and can be connected to the internet. They can be used for remote observation of surgeries by video streaming. Although Google Glass is the most commonly used smart glasses for medical purposes, it is still unavailable commercially and has some limitations. This article reports the use of a different type of smart glasses, InfoLinker, for surgical video streaming. InfoLinker has been commercially available in Japan for industrial purposes for more than 2 years. It is connected to a video server via wireless internet directly, and streaming video can be seen anywhere an internet connection is available. We have attempted live video streaming of knee arthroplasty operations that were viewed at several different locations, including foreign countries, on a common web browser. Although the quality of video images depended on the resolution and dynamic range of the video camera, speed of internet connection, and the wearer's attention to minimize image shaking, video streaming could be easily performed throughout the procedure. The wearer could confirm the quality of the video as the video was being shot by the head-mounted display. The time and cost for observation of surgical procedures can be reduced by InfoLinker, and further improvement of hardware as well as the wearer's video shooting technique is expected. We believe that this can be used in other medical settings.

  5. A Rocket Engine Design Expert System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidian, Kenneth J.

    1989-01-01

    The overall structure and capabilities of an expert system designed to evaluate rocket engine performance are described. The expert system incorporates a JANNAF standard reference computer code to determine rocket engine performance and a state of the art finite element computer code to calculate the interactions between propellant injection, energy release in the combustion chamber, and regenerative cooling heat transfer. Rule-of-thumb heuristics were incorporated for the H2-O2 coaxial injector design, including a minimum gap size constraint on the total number of injector elements. One dimensional equilibrium chemistry was used in the energy release analysis of the combustion chamber. A 3-D conduction and/or 1-D advection analysis is used to predict heat transfer and coolant channel wall temperature distributions, in addition to coolant temperature and pressure drop. Inputting values to describe the geometry and state properties of the entire system is done directly from the computer keyboard. Graphical display of all output results from the computer code analyses is facilitated by menu selection of up to five dependent variables per plot.

  6. A rocket engine design expert system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidian, Kenneth J.

    1989-01-01

    The overall structure and capabilities of an expert system designed to evaluate rocket engine performance are described. The expert system incorporates a JANNAF standard reference computer code to determine rocket engine performance and a state-of-the-art finite element computer code to calculate the interactions between propellant injection, energy release in the combustion chamber, and regenerative cooling heat transfer. Rule-of-thumb heuristics were incorporated for the hydrogen-oxygen coaxial injector design, including a minimum gap size constraint on the total number of injector elements. One-dimensional equilibrium chemistry was employed in the energy release analysis of the combustion chamber and three-dimensional finite-difference analysis of the regenerative cooling channels was used to calculate the pressure drop along the channels and the coolant temperature as it exits the coolant circuit. Inputting values to describe the geometry and state properties of the entire system is done directly from the computer keyboard. Graphical display of all output results from the computer code analyses is facilitated by menu selection of up to five dependent variables per plot.

  7. Audiovisual signal compression: the 64/P codecs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jayant, Nikil S.

    1996-02-01

    Video codecs operating at integral multiples of 64 kbps are well-known in visual communications technology as p * 64 systems (p equals 1 to 24). Originally developed as a class of ITU standards, these codecs have served as core technology for videoconferencing, and they have also influenced the MPEG standards for addressable video. Video compression in the above systems is provided by motion compensation followed by discrete cosine transform -- quantization of the residual signal. Notwithstanding the promise of higher bit rates in emerging generations of networks and storage devices, there is a continuing need for facile audiovisual communications over voice band and wireless modems. Consequently, video compression at bit rates lower than 64 kbps is a widely-sought capability. In particular, video codecs operating at rates in the neighborhood of 64, 32, 16, and 8 kbps seem to have great practical value, being matched respectively to the transmission capacities of basic rate ISDN (64 kbps), and voiceband modems that represent high (32 kbps), medium (16 kbps) and low- end (8 kbps) grades in current modem technology. The purpose of this talk is to describe the state of video technology at these transmission rates, without getting too literal about the specific speeds mentioned above. In other words, we expect codecs designed for non- submultiples of 64 kbps, such as 56 kbps or 19.2 kbps, as well as for sub-multiples of 64 kbps, depending on varying constraints on modem rate and the transmission rate needed for the voice-coding part of the audiovisual communications link. The MPEG-4 video standards process is a natural platform on which to examine current capabilities in sub-ISDN rate video coding, and we shall draw appropriately from this process in describing video codec performance. Inherent in this summary is a reinforcement of motion compensation and DCT as viable building blocks of video compression systems, although there is a need for improving signal quality even in the very best of these systems. In a related part of our talk, we discuss the role of preprocessing and postprocessing subsystems which serve to enhance the performance of an otherwise standard codec. Examples of these (sometimes proprietary) subsystems are automatic face-tracking prior to the coding of a head-and-shoulders scene, and adaptive postfiltering after conventional decoding, to reduce generic classes of artifacts in low bit rate video. The talk concludes with a summary of technology targets and research directions. We discuss targets in terms of four fundamental parameters of coder performance: quality, bit rate, delay and complexity; and we emphasize the need for measuring and maximizing the composite quality of the audiovisual signal. In discussing research directions, we examine progress and opportunities in two fundamental approaches for bit rate reduction: removal of statistical redundancy and reduction of perceptual irrelevancy; we speculate on the value of techniques such as analysis-by-synthesis that have proved to be quite valuable in speech coding, and we examine the prospect of integrating speech and image processing for developing next-generation technology for audiovisual communications.

  8. Reference View Selection in DIBR-Based Multiview Coding.

    PubMed

    Maugey, Thomas; Petrazzuoli, Giovanni; Frossard, Pascal; Cagnazzo, Marco; Pesquet-Popescu, Beatrice

    2016-04-01

    Augmented reality, interactive navigation in 3D scenes, multiview video, and other emerging multimedia applications require large sets of images, hence larger data volumes and increased resources compared with traditional video services. The significant increase in the number of images in multiview systems leads to new challenging problems in data representation and data transmission to provide high quality of experience on resource-constrained environments. In order to reduce the size of the data, different multiview video compression strategies have been proposed recently. Most of them use the concept of reference or key views that are used to estimate other images when there is high correlation in the data set. In such coding schemes, the two following questions become fundamental: 1) how many reference views have to be chosen for keeping a good reconstruction quality under coding cost constraints? And 2) where to place these key views in the multiview data set? As these questions are largely overlooked in the literature, we study the reference view selection problem and propose an algorithm for the optimal selection of reference views in multiview coding systems. Based on a novel metric that measures the similarity between the views, we formulate an optimization problem for the positioning of the reference views, such that both the distortion of the view reconstruction and the coding rate cost are minimized. We solve this new problem with a shortest path algorithm that determines both the optimal number of reference views and their positions in the image set. We experimentally validate our solution in a practical multiview distributed coding system and in the standardized 3D-HEVC multiview coding scheme. We show that considering the 3D scene geometry in the reference view, positioning problem brings significant rate-distortion improvements and outperforms the traditional coding strategy that simply selects key frames based on the distance between cameras.

  9. "It's Totally Okay to Be Sad, but Never Lose Hope": Content Analysis of Infertility-Related Videos on YouTube in Relation to Viewer Preferences.

    PubMed

    Kelly-Hedrick, Margot; Grunberg, Paul H; Brochu, Felicia; Zelkowitz, Phyllis

    2018-05-23

    Infertility patients frequently use the internet to find fertility-related information and support from people in similar circumstances. YouTube is increasingly used as a source of health-related information and may influence health decision making. There have been no studies examining the content of infertility-related videos on YouTube. The purpose of this study was to (1) describe the content of highly viewed videos on YouTube related to infertility and (2) identify video characteristics that relate to viewer preference. Using the search term "infertility," the 80 top-viewed YouTube videos and their viewing statistics (eg, views, likes, and comments) were collected. Videos that were non-English, unrelated to infertility, or had age restrictions were excluded. Content analysis was used to examine videos, employing a coding rubric that measured the presence or absence of video codes related to purpose, tone, and demographic and fertility characteristics (eg, sex, parity, stage of fertility treatment). A total of 59 videos, with a median of 156,103 views, met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into 35 personal videos (35/59, 59%) and 24 informational-educational videos (24/59, 41%). Personal videos did not differ significantly from informational-educational videos on number of views, dislikes, subscriptions driven, or shares. However, personal videos had significantly more likes (P<.001) and comments (P<.001) than informational-educational videos. The purposes of the videos were treatment outcomes (33/59, 56%), sharing information (30/59, 51%), emotional aspects of infertility (20/59, 34%), and advice to others (6/59, 10%). The tones of the videos were positive (26/59, 44%), neutral (25/59, 42%), and mixed (8/59, 14%); there were no videos with negative tone. No videos contained only male posters. Videos with a positive tone did not differ from neutral videos in number of views, dislikes, subscriptions driven, or shares; however, positive videos had significantly more likes (P<.001) and comments (P<.001) than neutral videos. A majority (21/35, 60%) of posters of personal videos shared a pregnancy announcement. YouTube is a source of both technical and personal experience-based information about infertility. However, videos that include personal experiences may elicit greater viewer engagement. Positive videos and stories of treatment success may provide hope to viewers but could also create and perpetuate unrealistic expectations about the success rates of fertility treatment. ©Margot Kelly-Hedrick, Paul H Grunberg, Felicia Brochu, Phyllis Zelkowitz. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 23.05.2018.

  10. A Snapshot of the Depiction of Electronic Cigarettes in YouTube Videos.

    PubMed

    Romito, Laura M; Hurwich, Risa A; Eckert, George J

    2015-11-01

    To assess the depiction of e-cigarettes in YouTube videos. The sample (N = 63) was selected from the top 20 search results for "electronic cigarette," and "e-cig" with each term searched twice by the filters "Relevance" and "View Count." Data collected included title, length, number of views, "likes," "dislikes," comments, and inferred demographics of individuals appearing in the videos. Seventy-six percent of videos included at least one man, 62% included a Caucasian, and 50% included at least one young individual. Video content connotation was coded as positive (76%), neutral (18%), or negative (6%). Videos were categorized as advertisement (33%), instructional (17%), news clip (19%), product review (13%), entertainment (11%), public health (3%), and personal testimonial (3%). Most e-cigarette YouTube videos are non-traditional or covert advertisements featuring young Caucasian men.

  11. Multimedia and Understanding: Expert and Novice Responses To Different Representations of Chemical Phenomena.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kozma, Robert B.; Russell, Joel

    1997-01-01

    Examines how professional chemists and undergraduate chemistry students respond to chemistry-related video segments, graphs, animations, and equations. Discusses the role that surface features of representations play in the understanding of chemistry. Contains 36 references. (DDR)

  12. Physical Therapy (For Parents)

    MedlinePlus

    ... Teens Teens site Sitio para adolescentes Body Mind Sexual Health Food & Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Physical Therapy KidsHealth / For Parents / Physical Therapy Print en ...

  13. Virtual interactive presence for real-time, long-distance surgical collaboration during complex microsurgical procedures.

    PubMed

    Shenai, Mahesh B; Tubbs, R Shane; Guthrie, Barton L; Cohen-Gadol, Aaron A

    2014-08-01

    The shortage of surgeons compels the development of novel technologies that geographically extend the capabilities of individual surgeons and enhance surgical skills. The authors have developed "Virtual Interactive Presence" (VIP), a platform that allows remote participants to simultaneously view each other's visual field, creating a shared field of view for real-time surgical telecollaboration. The authors demonstrate the capability of VIP to facilitate long-distance telecollaboration during cadaveric dissection. Virtual Interactive Presence consists of local and remote workstations with integrated video capture devices and video displays. Each workstation mutually connects via commercial teleconferencing devices, allowing worldwide point-to-point communication. Software composites the local and remote video feeds, displaying a hybrid perspective to each participant. For demonstration, local and remote VIP stations were situated in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Birmingham, Alabama, respectively. A suboccipital craniotomy and microsurgical dissection of the pineal region was performed in a cadaveric specimen using VIP. Task and system performance were subjectively evaluated, while additional video analysis was used for objective assessment of delay and resolution. Participants at both stations were able to visually and verbally interact while identifying anatomical structures, guiding surgical maneuvers, and discussing overall surgical strategy. Video analysis of 3 separate video clips yielded a mean compositing delay of 760 ± 606 msec (when compared with the audio signal). Image resolution was adequate to visualize complex intracranial anatomy and provide interactive guidance. Virtual Interactive Presence is a feasible paradigm for real-time, long-distance surgical telecollaboration. Delay, resolution, scaling, and registration are parameters that require further optimization, but are within the realm of current technology. The paradigm potentially enables remotely located experts to mentor less experienced personnel located at the surgical site with applications in surgical training programs, remote proctoring for proficiency, and expert support for rural settings and across different counties.

  14. Optimal UAV Path Planning for Tracking a Moving Ground Vehicle with a Gimbaled Camera

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-03-27

    micro SD card slot to record all video taken at 1080P resolution. This feature allows the team to record the high definition video taken by the...Inequality constraints 64 h=[]; %Equality constraints 104 Bibliography 1. “ DIY Drones: Official ArduPlane Repository”, 2013. URL https://code

  15. 77 FR 64514 - Sunshine Act Meeting; Open Commission Meeting; Wednesday, October 17, 2012

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-22

    .../Video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live with open captioning over the Internet from the FCC... format and alternative media, including large print/ type; digital disk; and audio and video tape. Best.... 2012-26060 Filed 10-18-12; 4:15 pm] BILLING CODE 6712-01-P ...

  16. Differences in Fidelity of Implementation Measures: What Videos and Surveys Reveal about Algebra Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Durkin, Kelley; Pollack, Courtney; Star, Jon R.; Rittle-Johnson, Bethany

    2012-01-01

    The current paper investigated the following research questions regarding measures of fidelity: (1) Is there a significant relationship between two different measures of fidelity of implementation: a survey of instructional practices and coded videos of classroom lessons? Does the strength of this relationship differ between treatment and control…

  17. ISO-IEC MPEG-2 software video codec

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eckart, Stefan; Fogg, Chad E.

    1995-04-01

    Part 5 of the International Standard ISO/IEC 13818 `Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio' (MPEG-2) is a Technical Report, a sample software implementation of the procedures in parts 1, 2 and 3 of the standard (systems, video, and audio). This paper focuses on the video software, which gives an example of a fully compliant implementation of the standard and of a good video quality encoder, and serves as a tool for compliance testing. The implementation and some of the development aspects of the codec are described. The encoder is based on Test Model 5 (TM5), one of the best, published, non-proprietary coding models, which was used during MPEG-2 collaborative stage to evaluate proposed algorithms and to verify the syntax. The most important part of the Test Model is controlling the quantization parameter based on the image content and bit rate constraints under both signal-to-noise and psycho-optical aspects. The decoder has been successfully tested for compliance with the MPEG-2 standard, using the ISO/IEC MPEG verification and compliance bitstream test suites as stimuli.

  18. Huffman coding in advanced audio coding standard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brzuchalski, Grzegorz

    2012-05-01

    This article presents several hardware architectures of Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) Huffman noiseless encoder, its optimisations and working implementation. Much attention has been paid to optimise the demand of hardware resources especially memory size. The aim of design was to get as short binary stream as possible in this standard. The Huffman encoder with whole audio-video system has been implemented in FPGA devices.

  19. Educational Quality of YouTube Videos in Thumb Exercises for Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis: A Search on Current Practice.

    PubMed

    Villafañe, Jorge Hugo; Cantero-Tellez, Raquel; Valdes, Kristin; Usuelli, Federico Giuseppe; Berjano, Pedro

    2017-09-01

    Conservative treatments are commonly performed therapeutic interventions for the management of carpometacarpal (CMC) joint osteoarthritis (OA). Physical and occupational therapies are starting to use video-based online content as both a patient teaching tool and a source for treatment techniques. YouTube is a popular video-sharing website that can be accessed easily. The purpose of this study was to analyze the quality of content and potential sources of bias in videos available on YouTube pertaining to thumb exercises for CMC OA. The YouTube video database was systematically searched using the search term thumb osteoarthritis and exercises from its inception to March 10, 2017. Authors independently selected videos, conducted quality assessment, and extracted results. A total of 832 videos were found using the keywords. Of these, 10 videos clearly demonstrated therapeutic exercise for the management of CMC OA. In addition, the top-ranked video found by performing a search of "views" was a video with more than 121 863 views uploaded in 2015 that lasted 12.33 minutes and scored only 2 points on the Global Score for Educational Value rating scale. Most of the videos viewed that described conservative interventions for CMC OA management have a low level of evidence to support their use. Although patients and novice hand therapists are using YouTube and other online resources, videos that are produced by expert hand therapists are scarce.

  20. Enhancing Mother Infant Interactions through Video Feedback Enabled Interventions in Women with Schizophrenia: A Single Subject Research Design Study.

    PubMed

    Reddy, Pashapu Dharma; Desai, Geehta; Hamza, Ameer; Karthik, Sheshachala; Ananthanpillai, Supraja Thirumalai; Chandra, Prabha S

    2014-10-01

    It has been shown that mother infant interactions are often impaired in mothers with schizophrenia. Contributory factors include psychotic symptoms, negative symptoms and surrogate parenting by others. This study describes the effectiveness of video feedback in enhancing mother-infant interaction in mothers with schizophrenia who have impaired interaction with their infant. Two women with schizophrenia who were admitted for persistent psychotic symptoms and poor mothering skills, participated in the intervention. Pre intervention parenting assessment was done using video recording of mother infant interaction. Six sessions of mothering intervention were provided using video feedback and a repeat recording was done. Pre-and post-intervention videos were subsequently rated in a blind fashion by an independent expert in perinatal psychiatry using the pediatric infant parent exam (PIPE) scale. Pre and post intervention comparison of PIPE scores indicating significant improvement in several areas of mothering. Video feedback is a simple and inexpensive tool which can be used for improving mothering skills among mothers with postpartum psychosis or schizophrenia even in low resource settings.

  1. Capturing and displaying microscopic images used in medical diagnostics and forensic science using 4K video resolution - an application in higher education.

    PubMed

    Maier, Hans; de Heer, Gert; Ortac, Ajda; Kuijten, Jan

    2015-11-01

    To analyze, interpret and evaluate microscopic images, used in medical diagnostics and forensic science, video images for educational purposes were made with a very high resolution of 4096 × 2160 pixels (4K), which is four times as many pixels as High-Definition Video (1920 × 1080 pixels). The unprecedented high resolution makes it possible to see details that remain invisible to any other video format. The images of the specimens (blood cells, tissue sections, hair, fibre, etc.) are recorded using a 4K video camera which is attached to a light microscope. After processing, this resulted in very sharp and highly detailed images. This material was then used in education for classroom discussion. Spoken explanation by experts in the field of medical diagnostics and forensic science was also added to the high-resolution video images to make it suitable for self-study. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Microscopy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Microscopical Society.

  2. The Biology and Space Exploration Video Series

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    William, Jacqueline M.; Murthy, Gita; Rapa, Steve; Hargens, Alan R.

    1995-01-01

    The Biology and Space Exploration video series illustrates NASA's commitment to increasing the public awareness and understanding of life sciences in space. The video series collection, which was initiated by Dr. Joan Vernikos at NASA headquarters and Dr. Alan Hargens at NASA Ames Research Center, will be distributed to universities and other institutions around the United States. The video series parallels the "Biology and Space Exploration" course taught by NASA Ames scientists at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. In the past, students have shown considerable enthusiasm for this course and have gained a much better appreciation and understanding of space life sciences and exploration. However, due to the unique nature of the topics and the scarcity of available educational materials, most students in other universities around the country are unable to benefit from this educational experience. Therefore, with the assistance of Ames experts, we are producing a video series on selected aspects of life sciences in space to expose undergraduate students to the effects of gravity on living systems. Additionally, the video series collection contains space flight footage, graphics, charts, pictures, and interviews to make the materials interesting and intelligible to viewers.

  3. Perceptual learning during action video game playing.

    PubMed

    Green, C Shawn; Li, Renjie; Bavelier, Daphne

    2010-04-01

    Action video games have been shown to enhance behavioral performance on a wide variety of perceptual tasks, from those that require effective allocation of attentional resources across the visual scene, to those that demand the successful identification of fleetingly presented stimuli. Importantly, these effects have not only been shown in expert action video game players, but a causative link has been established between action video game play and enhanced processing through training studies. Although an account based solely on attention fails to capture the variety of enhancements observed after action game playing, a number of models of perceptual learning are consistent with the observed results, with behavioral modeling favoring the hypothesis that avid video game players are better able to form templates for, or extract the relevant statistics of, the task at hand. This may suggest that the neural site of learning is in areas where information is integrated and actions are selected; yet changes in low-level sensory areas cannot be ruled out. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  4. Visual skills involved in decision making by expert referees.

    PubMed

    Ghasemi, Abdollah; Momeni, Maryam; Jafarzadehpur, Ebrahim; Rezaee, Meysam; Taheri, Hamid

    2011-02-01

    Previous studies have compared visual skills of expert and novice athletes; referees' performance has not been addressed. Visual skills of two groups of expert referees, successful and unsuccessful in decision making, were compared. Using video clips of soccer matches to assess decision-making success of 41 national and international referees from 31 to 42 years of age, 10 top referees were selected as the Successful group and 10 as the Unsuccessful group. Visual tests included visual memory, visual reaction time, peripheral vision, recognition speed, saccadic eye movement, and facility of accommodation. The Successful group had better visual skills than the Unsuccessful group. Such visual skills enhance soccer referees' performance and may be recommended for young referees.

  5. Binary video codec for data reduction in wireless visual sensor networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khursheed, Khursheed; Ahmad, Naeem; Imran, Muhammad; O'Nils, Mattias

    2013-02-01

    Wireless Visual Sensor Networks (WVSN) is formed by deploying many Visual Sensor Nodes (VSNs) in the field. Typical applications of WVSN include environmental monitoring, health care, industrial process monitoring, stadium/airports monitoring for security reasons and many more. The energy budget in the outdoor applications of WVSN is limited to the batteries and the frequent replacement of batteries is usually not desirable. So the processing as well as the communication energy consumption of the VSN needs to be optimized in such a way that the network remains functional for longer duration. The images captured by VSN contain huge amount of data and require efficient computational resources for processing the images and wide communication bandwidth for the transmission of the results. Image processing algorithms must be designed and developed in such a way that they are computationally less complex and must provide high compression rate. For some applications of WVSN, the captured images can be segmented into bi-level images and hence bi-level image coding methods will efficiently reduce the information amount in these segmented images. But the compression rate of the bi-level image coding methods is limited by the underlined compression algorithm. Hence there is a need for designing other intelligent and efficient algorithms which are computationally less complex and provide better compression rate than that of bi-level image coding methods. Change coding is one such algorithm which is computationally less complex (require only exclusive OR operations) and provide better compression efficiency compared to image coding but it is effective for applications having slight changes between adjacent frames of the video. The detection and coding of the Region of Interest (ROIs) in the change frame efficiently reduce the information amount in the change frame. But, if the number of objects in the change frames is higher than a certain level then the compression efficiency of both the change coding and ROI coding becomes worse than that of image coding. This paper explores the compression efficiency of the Binary Video Codec (BVC) for the data reduction in WVSN. We proposed to implement all the three compression techniques i.e. image coding, change coding and ROI coding at the VSN and then select the smallest bit stream among the results of the three compression techniques. In this way the compression performance of the BVC will never become worse than that of image coding. We concluded that the compression efficiency of BVC is always better than that of change coding and is always better than or equal that of ROI coding and image coding.

  6. Phys FilmMakers: teaching science students how to make YouTube-style videos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coates, Rebecca L.; Kuhai, Alvina; Turlej, Laurence Z. J.; Rivlin, Tom; McKemmish, Laura K.

    2018-01-01

    Phys FilmMakers (PFM) is a new type of course in which a science expert and science communicator partner teach physics students how to make YouTube-style videos on cutting-edge scientific research within the university department. Here, we describe this new course, outline its key components and provide recommendations for others considering implementing a similar FilmMakers-style course using feedback from course tutors and students. We discuss successful and less successful teaching techniques as well as use our experience to identify areas that science students in particular often have difficulties: finding an interesting ‘hook’ for the video, imagining creative B-roll and making a succinct video by removing extraneous (though usually correct and often interesting) material. The course has two major components: workshop sessions in which students learn the key elements of film-making and independent video production where PFM students partner with senior PhD or post-doc researchers to produce a video on their research. This partnership with the department means that the videos produced serve not only as interesting ‘edutainment’ to encourage teenagers and young adults into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects, but also provide valuable outreach for the academic department.

  7. Video Game Rehabilitation of Velopharyngeal Dysfunction: A Case Series.

    PubMed

    Cler, Gabriel J; Mittelman, Talia; Braden, Maia N; Woodnorth, Geralyn Harvey; Stepp, Cara E

    2017-06-22

    Video games provide a promising platform for rehabilitation of speech disorders. Although video games have been used to train speech perception in foreign language learners and have been proposed for aural rehabilitation, their use in speech therapy has been limited thus far. We present feasibility results from at-home use in a case series of children with velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) using an interactive video game that provided real-time biofeedback to facilitate appropriate nasalization. Five participants were recruited across a range of ages, VPD severities, and VPD etiologies. Participants completed multiple weeks of individual game play with a video game that provides feedback on nasalization measured via nasal accelerometry. Nasalization was assessed before and after training by using nasometry, aerodynamic measures, and expert perceptual judgments. Four participants used the game at home or school, with the remaining participant unwilling to have the nasal accelerometer secured to his nasal skin, perhaps due to his young age. The remaining participants showed a tendency toward decreased nasalization after training, particularly for the words explicitly trained in the video game. Results suggest that video game-based systems may provide a useful rehabilitation platform for providing real-time feedback of speech nasalization in VPD. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5116828.

  8. WCE video segmentation using textons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gallo, Giovanni; Granata, Eliana

    2010-03-01

    Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) integrates wireless transmission with image and video technology. It has been used to examine the small intestine non invasively. Medical specialists look for signicative events in the WCE video by direct visual inspection manually labelling, in tiring and up to one hour long sessions, clinical relevant frames. This limits the WCE usage. To automatically discriminate digestive organs such as esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon is of great advantage. In this paper we propose to use textons for the automatic discrimination of abrupt changes within a video. In particular, we consider, as features, for each frame hue, saturation, value, high-frequency energy content and the responses to a bank of Gabor filters. The experiments have been conducted on ten video segments extracted from WCE videos, in which the signicative events have been previously labelled by experts. Results have shown that the proposed method may eliminate up to 70% of the frames from further investigations. The direct analysis of the doctors may hence be concentrated only on eventful frames. A graphical tool showing sudden changes in the textons frequencies for each frame is also proposed as a visual aid to find clinically relevant segments of the video.

  9. AVC/H.264 patent portfolio license

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horn, Lawrence A.

    2004-11-01

    MPEG LA, LLC recently announced terms of a joint patent license for the AVC (a/k/a H.264) Standard (ISO/IEC IS 14496-10: Information technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects -- Part 10: Advanced Video Coding | ITU-T Rec. H.264: Series H: Audiovisual and Multimedia Systems: Infrastructure of audiovisual services -- Coding of moving video: Advanced video coding for generic audiovisual services). Like MPEG LA"s other licenses, the AVC Patent Portfolio License is offered for the convenience of the marketplace as an alternative enabling users to access essential intellectual property owned by many patent holders under a single license rather than negotiating licenses with each of them individually. The AVC Patent Portfolio License includes essential patents owned by Columbia Innovation Enterprises; Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI); France Télécom, société anonyme; Fujitsu Limited; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Microsoft Corporation; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Robert Bosch GmbH; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha; Sony Corporation; Toshiba Corporation; and Victor Company of Japan, Limited. MPEG LA"s objective is to provide worldwide access to as much AVC essential intellectual property as possible for the benefit of AVC users. Therefore, any party that believes it has essential patents is welcome to submit them for evaluation of their essentiality and inclusion in the License if found essential.

  10. Consensus coding sequence (CCDS) database: a standardized set of human and mouse protein-coding regions supported by expert curation.

    PubMed

    Pujar, Shashikant; O'Leary, Nuala A; Farrell, Catherine M; Loveland, Jane E; Mudge, Jonathan M; Wallin, Craig; Girón, Carlos G; Diekhans, Mark; Barnes, If; Bennett, Ruth; Berry, Andrew E; Cox, Eric; Davidson, Claire; Goldfarb, Tamara; Gonzalez, Jose M; Hunt, Toby; Jackson, John; Joardar, Vinita; Kay, Mike P; Kodali, Vamsi K; Martin, Fergal J; McAndrews, Monica; McGarvey, Kelly M; Murphy, Michael; Rajput, Bhanu; Rangwala, Sanjida H; Riddick, Lillian D; Seal, Ruth L; Suner, Marie-Marthe; Webb, David; Zhu, Sophia; Aken, Bronwen L; Bruford, Elspeth A; Bult, Carol J; Frankish, Adam; Murphy, Terence; Pruitt, Kim D

    2018-01-04

    The Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) project provides a dataset of protein-coding regions that are identically annotated on the human and mouse reference genome assembly in genome annotations produced independently by NCBI and the Ensembl group at EMBL-EBI. This dataset is the product of an international collaboration that includes NCBI, Ensembl, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, Mouse Genome Informatics and University of California, Santa Cruz. Identically annotated coding regions, which are generated using an automated pipeline and pass multiple quality assurance checks, are assigned a stable and tracked identifier (CCDS ID). Additionally, coordinated manual review by expert curators from the CCDS collaboration helps in maintaining the integrity and high quality of the dataset. The CCDS data are available through an interactive web page (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CCDS/CcdsBrowse.cgi) and an FTP site (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/CCDS/). In this paper, we outline the ongoing work, growth and stability of the CCDS dataset and provide updates on new collaboration members and new features added to the CCDS user interface. We also present expert curation scenarios, with specific examples highlighting the importance of an accurate reference genome assembly and the crucial role played by input from the research community. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research 2017.

  11. Processes involved in solving mathematical problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shahrill, Masitah; Putri, Ratu Ilma Indra; Zulkardi, Prahmana, Rully Charitas Indra

    2018-04-01

    This study examines one of the instructional practices features utilized within the Year 8 mathematics lessons in Brunei Darussalam. The codes from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study were applied and strictly followed, and from the 183 mathematics problems recorded, there were 95 problems with a solution presented during the public segments of the video-recorded lesson sequences of the four sampled teachers. The analyses involved firstly, identifying the processes related to mathematical problem statements, and secondly, examining the different processes used in solving the mathematical problems for each problem publicly completed during the lessons. The findings revealed that for three of the teachers, their problem statements coded as `using procedures' ranged from 64% to 83%, while the remaining teacher had 40% of his problem statements coded as `making connections.' The processes used when solving the problems were mainly `using procedures', and none of the problems were coded as `giving results only'. Furthermore, all four teachers made use of making the relevant connections in solving the problems given to their respective students.

  12. Time synchronized video systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burnett, Ron

    1994-01-01

    The idea of synchronizing multiple video recordings to some type of 'range' time has been tried to varying degrees of success in the past. Combining this requirement with existing time code standards (SMPTE) and the new innovations in desktop multimedia however, have afforded an opportunity to increase the flexibility and usefulness of such efforts without adding costs over the traditional data recording and reduction systems. The concept described can use IRIG, GPS or a battery backed internal clock as the master time source. By converting that time source to Vertical Interval Time Code or Longitudinal Time Code, both in accordance with the SMPTE standards, the user will obtain a tape that contains machine/computer readable time code suitable for use with editing equipment that is available off-the-shelf. Accuracy on playback is then determined by the playback system chosen by the user. Accuracies of +/- 2 frames are common among inexpensive systems and complete frame accuracy is more a matter of the users' budget than the capability of the recording system.

  13. Deriving video content type from HEVC bitstream semantics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nightingale, James; Wang, Qi; Grecos, Christos; Goma, Sergio R.

    2014-05-01

    As network service providers seek to improve customer satisfaction and retention levels, they are increasingly moving from traditional quality of service (QoS) driven delivery models to customer-centred quality of experience (QoE) delivery models. QoS models only consider metrics derived from the network however, QoE models also consider metrics derived from within the video sequence itself. Various spatial and temporal characteristics of a video sequence have been proposed, both individually and in combination, to derive methods of classifying video content either on a continuous scale or as a set of discrete classes. QoE models can be divided into three broad categories, full reference, reduced reference and no-reference models. Due to the need to have the original video available at the client for comparison, full reference metrics are of limited practical value in adaptive real-time video applications. Reduced reference metrics often require metadata to be transmitted with the bitstream, while no-reference metrics typically operate in the decompressed domain at the client side and require significant processing to extract spatial and temporal features. This paper proposes a heuristic, no-reference approach to video content classification which is specific to HEVC encoded bitstreams. The HEVC encoder already makes use of spatial characteristics to determine partitioning of coding units and temporal characteristics to determine the splitting of prediction units. We derive a function which approximates the spatio-temporal characteristics of the video sequence by using the weighted averages of the depth at which the coding unit quadtree is split and the prediction mode decision made by the encoder to estimate spatial and temporal characteristics respectively. Since the video content type of a sequence is determined by using high level information parsed from the video stream, spatio-temporal characteristics are identified without the need for full decoding and can be used in a timely manner to aid decision making in QoE oriented adaptive real time streaming.

  14. GLOBECOM '88 - IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference and Exhibition, Hollywood, FL, Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1988, Conference Record. Volumes 1, 2, & 3

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Various papers on communications for the information age are presented. Among the general topics considered are: telematic services and terminals, satellite communications, telecommunications mangaement network, control of integrated broadband networks, advances in digital radio systems, the intelligent network, broadband networks and services deployment, future switch architectures, performance analysis of computer networks, advances in spread spectrum, optical high-speed LANs, and broadband switching and networks. Also addressed are: multiple access protocols, video coding techniques, modulation and coding, photonic switching, SONET terminals and applications, standards for video coding, digital switching, progress in MANs, mobile and portable radio, software design for improved maintainability, multipath propagation and advanced countermeasure, data communication, network control and management, fiber in the loop, network algorithm and protocols, and advances in computer communications.

  15. Games for Training: Leveraging Commercial Off the Shelf Multiplayer Gaming Software for Infantry Squad Collective Training

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    squad training, team training, dismounted training, video games , computer games, multiplayer games. 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF...Multiplayer - mode of play for computer and video games in which multiple people can play the same game at the same time (Wikipedia, 2005) D...that “improvements in 3-D image generation on the PC and the speed of the internet” have increased the military’s interest in the use of video games as

  16. An Analysis of a Video Game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Allain, Rhett; Williams, Richard

    2009-02-01

    Suppose we had a brand new world to study—a world that possibly works with a different set of principles, a non-Newtonian world. Maybe this world is Newtonian, maybe it isn't. This world exists in video games, and it is open for exploration. Most video games try to incorporate realistic physics, but sometimes this does not happen. The obvious approach is to look at the source code for the game, but this would not allow students to apply analysis techniques.

  17. Method and System for Temporal Filtering in Video Compression Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lu, Ligang; He, Drake; Jagmohan, Ashish; Sheinin, Vadim

    2011-01-01

    Three related innovations combine improved non-linear motion estimation, video coding, and video compression. The first system comprises a method in which side information is generated using an adaptive, non-linear motion model. This method enables extrapolating and interpolating a visual signal, including determining the first motion vector between the first pixel position in a first image to a second pixel position in a second image; determining a second motion vector between the second pixel position in the second image and a third pixel position in a third image; determining a third motion vector between the first pixel position in the first image and the second pixel position in the second image, the second pixel position in the second image, and the third pixel position in the third image using a non-linear model; and determining a position of the fourth pixel in a fourth image based upon the third motion vector. For the video compression element, the video encoder has low computational complexity and high compression efficiency. The disclosed system comprises a video encoder and a decoder. The encoder converts the source frame into a space-frequency representation, estimates the conditional statistics of at least one vector of space-frequency coefficients with similar frequencies, and is conditioned on previously encoded data. It estimates an encoding rate based on the conditional statistics and applies a Slepian-Wolf code with the computed encoding rate. The method for decoding includes generating a side-information vector of frequency coefficients based on previously decoded source data and encoder statistics and previous reconstructions of the source frequency vector. It also performs Slepian-Wolf decoding of a source frequency vector based on the generated side-information and the Slepian-Wolf code bits. The video coding element includes receiving a first reference frame having a first pixel value at a first pixel position, a second reference frame having a second pixel value at a second pixel position, and a third reference frame having a third pixel value at a third pixel position. It determines a first motion vector between the first pixel position and the second pixel position, a second motion vector between the second pixel position and the third pixel position, and a fourth pixel value for a fourth frame based upon a linear or nonlinear combination of the first pixel value, the second pixel value, and the third pixel value. A stationary filtering process determines the estimated pixel values. The parameters of the filter may be predetermined constants.

  18. Therapy and Weight Management (For Teens)

    MedlinePlus

    ... site Sitio para adolescentes Body Mind Sexual Health Food & Fitness Diseases & Conditions Infections Drugs & Alcohol School & Jobs Sports Expert Answers (Q&A) Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Therapy and Weight Management KidsHealth / For Teens / Therapy and Weight Management What's ...

  19. Tay-Sachs Disease: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    MedlinePlus

    ... Genetics See, Play and Learn Videos and Tutorials Research Clinical Trials Journal Articles Resources Find an Expert For You Patient Handouts Summary Tay-Sachs disease is a rare, inherited disease. It is a type of lipid metabolism disorder . It causes too much of a ...

  20. Video data compression using artificial neural network differential vector quantization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Krishnamurthy, Ashok K.; Bibyk, Steven B.; Ahalt, Stanley C.

    1991-01-01

    An artificial neural network vector quantizer is developed for use in data compression applications such as Digital Video. Differential Vector Quantization is used to preserve edge features, and a new adaptive algorithm, known as Frequency-Sensitive Competitive Learning, is used to develop the vector quantizer codebook. To develop real time performance, a custom Very Large Scale Integration Application Specific Integrated Circuit (VLSI ASIC) is being developed to realize the associative memory functions needed in the vector quantization algorithm. By using vector quantization, the need for Huffman coding can be eliminated, resulting in superior performance against channel bit errors than methods that use variable length codes.

  1. The Roles of Intuition and Informants' Expertise in Children's Epistemic Trust.

    PubMed

    Lane, Jonathan D; Harris, Paul L

    2015-01-01

    This study examined how children's intuitions and informants' expertise influence children's trust in informants' claims. Three- to 8-year-olds (N = 192) watched videos in which experts (animal/biology experts or artifact/physics experts) made either intuitively plausible or counterintuitive claims about obscure animals or artifacts. Claims fell either within or beyond experts' domains of expertise. Children of all ages were more trusting of claims made by informants with relevant, as opposed to irrelevant, expertise. Children also showed greater acceptance of intuitive rather than counterintuitive claims, a differentiation that increased with age as they developed firmer intuitions about what can ordinarily happen. In summary, children's trust in testimony depends on whether informants have the relevant expertise as well as on children's own developing intuitions. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  2. Astronomy4Kids: A new, online, STEM-focused, video education outreach program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pearson, Richard L.; Pearson, Sarah R.

    2017-06-01

    Recent research indicates significant benefits of early childhood introductions to language, mathematics, and general science concepts. Specifically, a child that is introduced to a concept at a young age is more prepared to receive it in its entirety later. Astronomy4Kids was created to bring science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts to the youngest learners (those under the age of eight, or those from pre-school to about second-grade). The videos are presented in a succinct, one-on-one manner, and provide a creative learning environment for the viewers. Following the preschool education video principles established by Fred Rogers, we hope to give young children access to an expert astronomer who can explain things simply and sincerely. We believe presenting the material in this manner will make it engaging for even the youngest scholar and available to any interested party. The videos can be freely accessed at www.astronomy4kids.net.

  3. Creation of a Collaborative Disaster Preparedness Video for Daycare Providers: Use of the Delphi Model for the Creation of a Comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Video for Daycare Providers.

    PubMed

    Mar, Pamela; Spears, Robert; Reeb, Jeffrey; Thompson, Sarah B; Myers, Paul; Burke, Rita V

    2018-02-22

    Eight million American children under the age of 5 attend daycare and more than another 50 million American children are in school or daycare settings. Emergency planning requirements for daycare licensing vary by state. Expert opinions were used to create a disaster preparedness video designed for daycare providers to cover a broad spectrum of scenarios. Various stakeholders (17) devised the outline for an educational pre-disaster video for child daycare providers using the Delphi technique. Fleiss κ values were obtained for consensus data. A 20-minute video was created, addressing the physical, psychological, and legal needs of children during and after a disaster. Viewers completed an anonymous survey to evaluate topic comprehension. A consensus was attempted on all topics, ranging from elements for inclusion to presentation format. The Fleiss κ value of 0.07 was obtained. Fifty-seven of the total 168 video viewers completed the 10-question survey, with comprehension scores ranging from 72% to 100%. Evaluation of caregivers that viewed our video supports understanding of video contents. Ultimately, the technique used to create and disseminate the resources may serve as a template for others providing pre-disaster planning education. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 5).

  4. Exploring the explaining quality of physics online explanatory videos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kulgemeyer, Christoph; Peters, Cord H.

    2016-11-01

    Explaining skills are among the most important skills educators possess. Those skills have also been researched in recent years. During the same period, another medium has additionally emerged and become a popular source of information for learners: online explanatory videos, chiefly from the online video sharing website YouTube. Their content and explaining quality remain to this day mostly unmonitored, as well is their educational impact in formal contexts such as schools or universities. In this study, a framework for explaining quality, which has emerged from surveying explaining skills in expert-novice face-to-face dialogues, was used to explore the explaining quality of such videos (36 YouTube explanatory videos on Kepler’s laws and 15 videos on Newton’s third law). The framework consists of 45 categories derived from physics education research that deal with explanation techniques. YouTube provides its own ‘quality measures’ based on surface features including ‘likes’, views, and comments for each video. The question is whether or not these measures provide valid information for educators and students if they have to decide which video to use. We compared the explaining quality with those measures. Our results suggest that there is a correlation between explaining quality and only one of these measures: the number of content-related comments.

  5. Two-dimensional thermal video analysis of offshore bird and bat flight

    DOE PAGES

    Matzner, Shari; Cullinan, Valerie I.; Duberstein, Corey A.

    2015-09-11

    Thermal infrared video can provide essential information about bird and bat presence and activity for risk assessment studies, but the analysis of recorded video can be time-consuming and may not extract all of the available information. Automated processing makes continuous monitoring over extended periods of time feasible, and maximizes the information provided by video. This is especially important for collecting data in remote locations that are difficult for human observers to access, such as proposed offshore wind turbine sites. We present guidelines for selecting an appropriate thermal camera based on environmental conditions and the physical characteristics of the target animals.more » We developed new video image processing algorithms that automate the extraction of bird and bat flight tracks from thermal video, and that characterize the extracted tracks to support animal identification and behavior inference. The algorithms use a video peak store process followed by background masking and perceptual grouping to extract flight tracks. The extracted tracks are automatically quantified in terms that could then be used to infer animal type and possibly behavior. The developed automated processing generates results that are reproducible and verifiable, and reduces the total amount of video data that must be retained and reviewed by human experts. Finally, we suggest models for interpreting thermal imaging information.« less

  6. Two-dimensional thermal video analysis of offshore bird and bat flight

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

    Matzner, Shari; Cullinan, Valerie I.; Duberstein, Corey A.

    Thermal infrared video can provide essential information about bird and bat presence and activity for risk assessment studies, but the analysis of recorded video can be time-consuming and may not extract all of the available information. Automated processing makes continuous monitoring over extended periods of time feasible, and maximizes the information provided by video. This is especially important for collecting data in remote locations that are difficult for human observers to access, such as proposed offshore wind turbine sites. We present guidelines for selecting an appropriate thermal camera based on environmental conditions and the physical characteristics of the target animals.more » We developed new video image processing algorithms that automate the extraction of bird and bat flight tracks from thermal video, and that characterize the extracted tracks to support animal identification and behavior inference. The algorithms use a video peak store process followed by background masking and perceptual grouping to extract flight tracks. The extracted tracks are automatically quantified in terms that could then be used to infer animal type and possibly behavior. The developed automated processing generates results that are reproducible and verifiable, and reduces the total amount of video data that must be retained and reviewed by human experts. Finally, we suggest models for interpreting thermal imaging information.« less

  7. Performance comparison of leading image codecs: H.264/AVC Intra, JPEG2000, and Microsoft HD Photo

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tran, Trac D.; Liu, Lijie; Topiwala, Pankaj

    2007-09-01

    This paper provides a detailed rate-distortion performance comparison between JPEG2000, Microsoft HD Photo, and H.264/AVC High Profile 4:4:4 I-frame coding for high-resolution still images and high-definition (HD) 1080p video sequences. This work is an extension to our previous comparative study published in previous SPIE conferences [1, 2]. Here we further optimize all three codecs for compression performance. Coding simulations are performed on a set of large-format color images captured from mainstream digital cameras and 1080p HD video sequences commonly used for H.264/AVC standardization work. Overall, our experimental results show that all three codecs offer very similar coding performances at the high-quality, high-resolution setting. Differences tend to be data-dependent: JPEG2000 with the wavelet technology tends to be the best performer with smooth spatial data; H.264/AVC High-Profile with advanced spatial prediction modes tends to cope best with more complex visual content; Microsoft HD Photo tends to be the most consistent across the board. For the still-image data sets, JPEG2000 offers the best R-D performance gains (around 0.2 to 1 dB in peak signal-to-noise ratio) over H.264/AVC High-Profile intra coding and Microsoft HD Photo. For the 1080p video data set, all three codecs offer very similar coding performance. As in [1, 2], neither do we consider scalability nor complexity in this study (JPEG2000 is operating in non-scalable, but optimal performance mode).

  8. How Is Marijuana Vaping Portrayed on YouTube? Content, Features, Popularity and Retransmission of Vaping Marijuana YouTube Videos.

    PubMed

    Yang, Qinghua; Sangalang, Angeline; Rooney, Molly; Maloney, Erin; Emery, Sherry; Cappella, Joseph N

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of the study is to investigate how vaping marijuana, a novel but emerging risky health behavior, is portrayed on YouTube, and how the content and features of these YouTube videos influence their popularity and retransmission. A content analysis of vaping marijuana YouTube videos published between July 2014 to June 2015 (n = 214) was conducted. Video genre, valence, promotional and warning arguments, emotional appeals, message sensation value, presence of misinformation and misleading information, and user-generated statistics, including number of views, comments, shares, likes and dislikes, were coded. The results showed that these videos were predominantly pro-marijuana-vaping, with the most frequent videos being user-sharing. The genre and message features influenced the popularity, evaluations, and retransmission of vaping marijuana YouTube videos. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

  9. Strategies for Improved Interpretation of Computer-Aided Detections for CT Colonography Utilizing Distributed Human Intelligence

    PubMed Central

    McKenna, Matthew T.; Wang, Shijun; Nguyen, Tan B.; Burns, Joseph E.; Petrick, Nicholas; Summers, Ronald M.

    2012-01-01

    Computer-aided detection (CAD) systems have been shown to improve the diagnostic performance of CT colonography (CTC) in the detection of premalignant colorectal polyps. Despite the improvement, the overall system is not optimal. CAD annotations on true lesions are incorrectly dismissed, and false positives are misinterpreted as true polyps. Here, we conduct an observer performance study utilizing distributed human intelligence in the form of anonymous knowledge workers (KWs) to investigate human performance in classifying polyp candidates under different presentation strategies. We evaluated 600 polyp candidates from 50 patients, each case having at least one polyp • 6 mm, from a large database of CTC studies. Each polyp candidate was labeled independently as a true or false polyp by 20 KWs and an expert radiologist. We asked each labeler to determine whether the candidate was a true polyp after looking at a single 3D-rendered image of the candidate and after watching a video fly-around of the candidate. We found that distributed human intelligence improved significantly when presented with the additional information in the video fly-around. We noted that performance degraded with increasing interpretation time and increasing difficulty, but distributed human intelligence performed better than our CAD classifier for “easy” and “moderate” polyp candidates. Further, we observed numerous parallels between the expert radiologist and the KWs. Both showed similar improvement in classification moving from single-image to video interpretation. Additionally, difficulty estimates obtained from the KWs using an expectation maximization algorithm correlated well with the difficulty rating assigned by the expert radiologist. Our results suggest that distributed human intelligence is a powerful tool that will aid in the development of CAD for CTC. PMID:22705287

  10. Strategies for improved interpretation of computer-aided detections for CT colonography utilizing distributed human intelligence.

    PubMed

    McKenna, Matthew T; Wang, Shijun; Nguyen, Tan B; Burns, Joseph E; Petrick, Nicholas; Summers, Ronald M

    2012-08-01

    Computer-aided detection (CAD) systems have been shown to improve the diagnostic performance of CT colonography (CTC) in the detection of premalignant colorectal polyps. Despite the improvement, the overall system is not optimal. CAD annotations on true lesions are incorrectly dismissed, and false positives are misinterpreted as true polyps. Here, we conduct an observer performance study utilizing distributed human intelligence in the form of anonymous knowledge workers (KWs) to investigate human performance in classifying polyp candidates under different presentation strategies. We evaluated 600 polyp candidates from 50 patients, each case having at least one polyp ≥6 mm, from a large database of CTC studies. Each polyp candidate was labeled independently as a true or false polyp by 20 KWs and an expert radiologist. We asked each labeler to determine whether the candidate was a true polyp after looking at a single 3D-rendered image of the candidate and after watching a video fly-around of the candidate. We found that distributed human intelligence improved significantly when presented with the additional information in the video fly-around. We noted that performance degraded with increasing interpretation time and increasing difficulty, but distributed human intelligence performed better than our CAD classifier for "easy" and "moderate" polyp candidates. Further, we observed numerous parallels between the expert radiologist and the KWs. Both showed similar improvement in classification moving from single-image to video interpretation. Additionally, difficulty estimates obtained from the KWs using an expectation maximization algorithm correlated well with the difficulty rating assigned by the expert radiologist. Our results suggest that distributed human intelligence is a powerful tool that will aid in the development of CAD for CTC. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. Preliminary Classification of Army and Navy Entry-Level Occupations by the Holland Coding System.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-12-01

    Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (DOHC; see Gottfredson , Holland, & Ogawa, 1982) either directly or through expert judgment. Results...publications: The Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (DHOC; Gottfredson , Holland, & Ogawa, 192) and The Occupations Finder (Holland, 1978). The...occupational categories ( Gottfredson et al., 1982). The agreement between the first letters codes obtained from the 1977 Occupations Finder and the

  12. 5 CFR 532.267 - Special wage schedules for aircraft, electronic, and optical instrument overhaul and repair...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes: 2007 NAICS codes 2007 NAICS industry titles 3341 Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing. 33422 Radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. 33429 Other communications equipment manufacturing. 3343 Audio and video equipment...

  13. 5 CFR 532.267 - Special wage schedules for aircraft, electronic, and optical instrument overhaul and repair...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes: 2007 NAICS codes 2007 NAICS industry titles 3341 Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing. 33422 Radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. 33429 Other communications equipment manufacturing. 3343 Audio and video equipment...

  14. 5 CFR 532.267 - Special wage schedules for aircraft, electronic, and optical instrument overhaul and repair...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes: 2007 NAICS codes 2007 NAICS industry titles 3341 Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing. 33422 Radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. 33429 Other communications equipment manufacturing. 3343 Audio and video equipment...

  15. Embedded DCT and wavelet methods for fine granular scalable video: analysis and comparison

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van der Schaar-Mitrea, Mihaela; Chen, Yingwei; Radha, Hayder

    2000-04-01

    Video transmission over bandwidth-varying networks is becoming increasingly important due to emerging applications such as streaming of video over the Internet. The fundamental obstacle in designing such systems resides in the varying characteristics of the Internet (i.e. bandwidth variations and packet-loss patterns). In MPEG-4, a new SNR scalability scheme, called Fine-Granular-Scalability (FGS), is currently under standardization, which is able to adapt in real-time (i.e. at transmission time) to Internet bandwidth variations. The FGS framework consists of a non-scalable motion-predicted base-layer and an intra-coded fine-granular scalable enhancement layer. For example, the base layer can be coded using a DCT-based MPEG-4 compliant, highly efficient video compression scheme. Subsequently, the difference between the original and decoded base-layer is computed, and the resulting FGS-residual signal is intra-frame coded with an embedded scalable coder. In order to achieve high coding efficiency when compressing the FGS enhancement layer, it is crucial to analyze the nature and characteristics of residual signals common to the SNR scalability framework (including FGS). In this paper, we present a thorough analysis of SNR residual signals by evaluating its statistical properties, compaction efficiency and frequency characteristics. The signal analysis revealed that the energy compaction of the DCT and wavelet transforms is limited and the frequency characteristic of SNR residual signals decay rather slowly. Moreover, the blockiness artifacts of the low bit-rate coded base-layer result in artificial high frequencies in the residual signal. Subsequently, a variety of wavelet and embedded DCT coding techniques applicable to the FGS framework are evaluated and their results are interpreted based on the identified signal properties. As expected from the theoretical signal analysis, the rate-distortion performances of the embedded wavelet and DCT-based coders are very similar. However, improved results can be obtained for the wavelet coder by deblocking the base- layer prior to the FGS residual computation. Based on the theoretical analysis and our measurements, we can conclude that for an optimal complexity versus coding-efficiency trade- off, only limited wavelet decomposition (e.g. 2 stages) needs to be performed for the FGS-residual signal. Also, it was observed that the good rate-distortion performance of a coding technique for a certain image type (e.g. natural still-images) does not necessarily translate into similarly good performance for signals with different visual characteristics and statistical properties.

  16. 2D-pattern matching image and video compression: theory, algorithms, and experiments.

    PubMed

    Alzina, Marc; Szpankowski, Wojciech; Grama, Ananth

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a lossy data compression framework based on an approximate two-dimensional (2D) pattern matching (2D-PMC) extension of the Lempel-Ziv (1977, 1978) lossless scheme. This framework forms the basis upon which higher level schemes relying on differential coding, frequency domain techniques, prediction, and other methods can be built. We apply our pattern matching framework to image and video compression and report on theoretical and experimental results. Theoretically, we show that the fixed database model used for video compression leads to suboptimal but computationally efficient performance. The compression ratio of this model is shown to tend to the generalized entropy. For image compression, we use a growing database model for which we provide an approximate analysis. The implementation of 2D-PMC is a challenging problem from the algorithmic point of view. We use a range of techniques and data structures such as k-d trees, generalized run length coding, adaptive arithmetic coding, and variable and adaptive maximum distortion level to achieve good compression ratios at high compression speeds. We demonstrate bit rates in the range of 0.25-0.5 bpp for high-quality images and data rates in the range of 0.15-0.5 Mbps for a baseline video compression scheme that does not use any prediction or interpolation. We also demonstrate that this asymmetric compression scheme is capable of extremely fast decompression making it particularly suitable for networked multimedia applications.

  17. Analyzing communication skills of Pediatric Postgraduate Residents in Clinical Encounter by using video recordings

    PubMed Central

    Bari, Attia; Khan, Rehan Ahmed; Jabeen, Uzma; Rathore, Ahsan Waheed

    2017-01-01

    Objective: To analyze communication skills of pediatric postgraduate residents in clinical encounter by using video recordings. Methods: This qualitative exploratory research was conducted through video recording at The Children’s Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Residents who had attended the mandatory communication skills workshop offered by CPSP were included. The video recording of clinical encounter was done by a trained audiovisual person while the resident was interacting with the patient in the clinical encounter. Data was analyzed by thematic analysis. Results: Initially on open coding 36 codes emerged and then through axial and selective coding these were condensed to 17 subthemes. Out of these four main themes emerged: (1) Courteous and polite attitude, (2) Marginal nonverbal communication skills, (3) Power game/Ignoring child participation and (4) Patient as medical object/Instrumental behaviour. All residents treated the patient as a medical object to reach a right diagnosis and ignored them as a human being. There was dominant role of doctors and marginal nonverbal communication skills were displayed by the residents in the form of lack of social touch, and appropriate eye contact due to documenting notes. A brief non-medical interaction for rapport building at the beginning of interaction was missing and there was lack of child involvement. Conclusion: Paediatric postgraduate residents were polite while communicating with parents and child but lacking in good nonverbal communication skills. Communication pattern in our study was mostly one-way showing doctor’s instrumental behaviour and ignoring the child participation. PMID:29492050

  18. The Use of Video Feedback in Teaching Process-Approach EFL Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Özkul, Sertaç; Ortaçtepe, Deniz

    2017-01-01

    This experimental study investigated the use of video feedback as an alternative to feedback with correction codes at an institution where the latter was commonly used for teaching process-approach English as a foreign language (EFL) writing. Over a 5-week period, the control and the experimental groups were provided with feedback based on…

  19. The Influence of Video Reflection on Preservice Music Teachers' Concerns in Peer- and Field-Teaching Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powell, Sean R.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice music teacher concerns as stated in written reflections before and after video feedback. Nineteen preservice music teachers enrolled in instrumental methods courses wrote free-response reflections of peer- and field-teaching episodes. Statements were coded utilizing the Fuller and Bown…

  20. Is Contrast Enhanced Ultrasonography a useful tool in a beginner's hand? How much can a Computer Assisted Diagnosis prototype help in characterizing the malignancy of focal liver lesions?

    PubMed

    Moga, Tudor Voicu; Popescu, Alina; Sporea, Ioan; Danila, Mirela; David, Ciprian; Gui, Vasile; Iacob, Nicoleta; Miclaus, Gratian; Sirli, Roxana

    2017-08-23

    Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) improved the characterization of focal liver lesions (FLLs), but is an operatordependent method. The goal of this paper was to test a computer assisted diagnosis (CAD) prototype and to see its benefit in assisting a beginner in the evaluation of FLLs. Our cohort included 97 good quality CEUS videos[34% hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), 12.3% hypervascular metastases (HiperM), 11.3% hypovascular metastases (HipoM), 24.7% hemangiomas (HMG), 17.5% focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH)] that were used to develop a CAD prototype based on an algorithm that tested a binary decision based classifier. Two young medical doctors (1 year CEUS experience), two experts and the CAD prototype, reevaluated 50 FLLs CEUS videos (diagnosis of benign vs. malignant) first blinded to clinical data, in order to evaluate the diagnostic gap beginner vs. expert. The CAD classifier managed a 75.2% overall (benign vs. malignant) correct classification rate. The overall classification rates for the evaluators, before and after clinical data were: first beginner-78%; 94%; second beginner-82%; 96%; first expert-94%; 100%; second expert-96%; 98%. For both beginners, the malignant vs. benign diagnosis significantly improved after knowing the clinical data (p=0.005; p=0,008). The expert was better than the beginner (p=0.04) and better than the CAD (p=0.001). CAD in addition to the beginner can reach the expert diagnosis. The most frequent lesions misdiagnosed at CEUS were FNH and HCC. The CAD prototype is a good comparing tool for a beginner operator that can be developed to assist the diagnosis. In order to increase the classification rate, the CAD system for FLL in CEUS must integrate the clinical data.

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