FPV: fast protein visualization using Java 3D.

PubMed

Can, Tolga; Wang, Yujun; Wang, Yuan-Fang; Su, Jianwen

2003-05-22

Many tools have been developed to visualize protein structures. Tools that have been based on Java 3D((TM)) are compatible among different systems and they can be run remotely through web browsers. However, using Java 3D for visualization has some performance issues with it. The primary concerns about molecular visualization tools based on Java 3D are in their being slow in terms of interaction speed and in their inability to load large molecules. This behavior is especially apparent when the number of atoms to be displayed is huge, or when several proteins are to be displayed simultaneously for comparison. In this paper we present techniques for organizing a Java 3D scene graph to tackle these problems. We have developed a protein visualization system based on Java 3D and these techniques. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing the visualization component of our system with two other Java 3D based molecular visualization tools. In particular, for van der Waals display mode, with the efficient organization of the scene graph, we could achieve up to eight times improvement in rendering speed and could load molecules three times as large as the previous systems could. EPV is freely available with source code at the following URL: http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~tcan/fpv/

Visual information mining in remote sensing image archives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelizzari, Andrea; Descargues, Vincent; Datcu, Mihai P.

2002-01-01

The present article focuses on the development of interactive exploratory tools for visually mining the image content in large remote sensing archives. Two aspects are treated: the iconic visualization of the global information in the archive and the progressive visualization of the image details. The proposed methods are integrated in the Image Information Mining (I2M) system. The images and image structure in the I2M system are indexed based on a probabilistic approach. The resulting links are managed by a relational data base. Both the intrinsic complexity of the observed images and the diversity of user requests result in a great number of associations in the data base. Thus new tools have been designed to visualize, in iconic representation the relationships created during a query or information mining operation: the visualization of the query results positioned on the geographical map, quick-looks gallery, visualization of the measure of goodness of the query, visualization of the image space for statistical evaluation purposes. Additionally the I2M system is enhanced with progressive detail visualization in order to allow better access for operator inspection. I2M is a three-tier Java architecture and is optimized for the Internet.

A Spot Reminder System for the Visually Impaired Based on a Smartphone Camera

PubMed Central

Takizawa, Hotaka; Orita, Kazunori; Aoyagi, Mayumi; Ezaki, Nobuo; Mizuno, Shinji

2017-01-01

The present paper proposes a smartphone-camera-based system to assist visually impaired users in recalling their memories related to important locations, called spots, that they visited. The memories are recorded as voice memos, which can be played back when the users return to the spots. Spot-to-spot correspondence is determined by image matching based on the scale invariant feature transform. The main contribution of the proposed system is to allow visually impaired users to associate arbitrary voice memos with arbitrary spots. The users do not need any special devices or systems except smartphones and do not need to remember the spots where the voice memos were recorded. In addition, the proposed system can identify spots in environments that are inaccessible to the global positioning system. The proposed system has been evaluated by two experiments: image matching tests and a user study. The experimental results suggested the effectiveness of the system to help visually impaired individuals, including blind individuals, recall information about regularly-visited spots. PMID:28165403

A Spot Reminder System for the Visually Impaired Based on a Smartphone Camera.

PubMed

Takizawa, Hotaka; Orita, Kazunori; Aoyagi, Mayumi; Ezaki, Nobuo; Mizuno, Shinji

2017-02-04

The present paper proposes a smartphone-camera-based system to assist visually impaired users in recalling their memories related to important locations, called spots, that they visited. The memories are recorded as voice memos, which can be played back when the users return to the spots. Spot-to-spot correspondence is determined by image matching based on the scale invariant feature transform. The main contribution of the proposed system is to allow visually impaired users to associate arbitrary voice memos with arbitrary spots. The users do not need any special devices or systems except smartphones and do not need to remember the spots where the voice memos were recorded. In addition, the proposed system can identify spots in environments that are inaccessible to the global positioning system. The proposed system has been evaluated by two experiments: image matching tests and a user study. The experimental results suggested the effectiveness of the system to help visually impaired individuals, including blind individuals, recall information about regularly-visited spots.

Using Visualization in Cockpit Decision Support Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aragon, Cecilia R.

2005-01-01

In order to safely operate their aircraft, pilots must make rapid decisions based on integrating and processing large amounts of heterogeneous information. Visual displays are often the most efficient method of presenting safety-critical data to pilots in real time. However, care must be taken to ensure the pilot is provided with the appropriate amount of information to make effective decisions and not become cognitively overloaded. The results of two usability studies of a prototype airflow hazard visualization cockpit decision support system are summarized. The studies demonstrate that such a system significantly improves the performance of helicopter pilots landing under turbulent conditions. Based on these results, design principles and implications for cockpit decision support systems using visualization are presented.

Web-based Visual Analytics for Extreme Scale Climate Science

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

Steed, Chad A; Evans, Katherine J; Harney, John F

In this paper, we introduce a Web-based visual analytics framework for democratizing advanced visualization and analysis capabilities pertinent to large-scale earth system simulations. We address significant limitations of present climate data analysis tools such as tightly coupled dependencies, ineffi- cient data movements, complex user interfaces, and static visualizations. Our Web-based visual analytics framework removes critical barriers to the widespread accessibility and adoption of advanced scientific techniques. Using distributed connections to back-end diagnostics, we minimize data movements and leverage HPC platforms. We also mitigate system dependency issues by employing a RESTful interface. Our framework embraces the visual analytics paradigm via newmore » visual navigation techniques for hierarchical parameter spaces, multi-scale representations, and interactive spatio-temporal data mining methods that retain details. Although generalizable to other science domains, the current work focuses on improving exploratory analysis of large-scale Community Land Model (CLM) and Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) simulations.« less

A neural-visualization IDS for honeynet data.

PubMed

Herrero, Álvaro; Zurutuza, Urko; Corchado, Emilio

2012-04-01

Neural intelligent systems can provide a visualization of the network traffic for security staff, in order to reduce the widely known high false-positive rate associated with misuse-based Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs). Unlike previous work, this study proposes an unsupervised neural models that generate an intuitive visualization of the captured traffic, rather than network statistics. These snapshots of network events are immensely useful for security personnel that monitor network behavior. The system is based on the use of different neural projection and unsupervised methods for the visual inspection of honeypot data, and may be seen as a complementary network security tool that sheds light on internal data structures through visual inspection of the traffic itself. Furthermore, it is intended to facilitate verification and assessment of Snort performance (a well-known and widely-used misuse-based IDS), through the visualization of attack patterns. Empirical verification and comparison of the proposed projection methods are performed in a real domain, where two different case studies are defined and analyzed.

Towards a visual modeling approach to designing microelectromechanical system transducers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewey, Allen; Srinivasan, Vijay; Icoz, Evrim

1999-12-01

In this paper, we address initial design capture and system conceptualization of microelectromechanical system transducers based on visual modeling and design. Visual modeling frames the task of generating hardware description language (analog and digital) component models in a manner similar to the task of generating software programming language applications. A structured topological design strategy is employed, whereby microelectromechanical foundry cell libraries are utilized to facilitate the design process of exploring candidate cells (topologies), varying key aspects of the transduction for each topology, and determining which topology best satisfies design requirements. Coupled-energy microelectromechanical system characterizations at a circuit level of abstraction are presented that are based on branch constitutive relations and an overall system of simultaneous differential and algebraic equations. The resulting design methodology is called visual integrated-microelectromechanical VHDL-AMS interactive design (VHDL-AMS is visual hardware design language for analog and mixed signal).

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Manyi; Liu, Chaoshun; Gao, Wei

2014-10-01

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

Transformation of an uncertain video search pipeline to a sketch-based visual analytics loop.

PubMed

Legg, Philip A; Chung, David H S; Parry, Matthew L; Bown, Rhodri; Jones, Mark W; Griffiths, Iwan W; Chen, Min

2013-12-01

Traditional sketch-based image or video search systems rely on machine learning concepts as their core technology. However, in many applications, machine learning alone is impractical since videos may not be semantically annotated sufficiently, there may be a lack of suitable training data, and the search requirements of the user may frequently change for different tasks. In this work, we develop a visual analytics systems that overcomes the shortcomings of the traditional approach. We make use of a sketch-based interface to enable users to specify search requirement in a flexible manner without depending on semantic annotation. We employ active machine learning to train different analytical models for different types of search requirements. We use visualization to facilitate knowledge discovery at the different stages of visual analytics. This includes visualizing the parameter space of the trained model, visualizing the search space to support interactive browsing, visualizing candidature search results to support rapid interaction for active learning while minimizing watching videos, and visualizing aggregated information of the search results. We demonstrate the system for searching spatiotemporal attributes from sports video to identify key instances of the team and player performance.

Interactive visualization of numerical simulation results: A tool for mission planning and data analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berchem, J.; Raeder, J.; Walker, R. J.; Ashour-Abdalla, M.

1995-01-01

We report on the development of an interactive system for visualizing and analyzing numerical simulation results. This system is based on visualization modules which use the Application Visualization System (AVS) and the NCAR graphics packages. Examples from recent simulations are presented to illustrate how these modules can be used for displaying and manipulating simulation results to facilitate their comparison with phenomenological model results and observations.

A topology visualization early warning distribution algorithm for large-scale network security incidents.

PubMed

He, Hui; Fan, Guotao; Ye, Jianwei; Zhang, Weizhe

2013-01-01

It is of great significance to research the early warning system for large-scale network security incidents. It can improve the network system's emergency response capabilities, alleviate the cyber attacks' damage, and strengthen the system's counterattack ability. A comprehensive early warning system is presented in this paper, which combines active measurement and anomaly detection. The key visualization algorithm and technology of the system are mainly discussed. The large-scale network system's plane visualization is realized based on the divide and conquer thought. First, the topology of the large-scale network is divided into some small-scale networks by the MLkP/CR algorithm. Second, the sub graph plane visualization algorithm is applied to each small-scale network. Finally, the small-scale networks' topologies are combined into a topology based on the automatic distribution algorithm of force analysis. As the algorithm transforms the large-scale network topology plane visualization problem into a series of small-scale network topology plane visualization and distribution problems, it has higher parallelism and is able to handle the display of ultra-large-scale network topology.

Survey of computer vision technology for UVA navigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Bo; Fan, Xiang; Li, Sijian

2017-11-01

Navigation based on computer version technology, which has the characteristics of strong independence, high precision and is not susceptible to electrical interference, has attracted more and more attention in the filed of UAV navigation research. Early navigation project based on computer version technology mainly applied to autonomous ground robot. In recent years, the visual navigation system is widely applied to unmanned machine, deep space detector and underwater robot. That further stimulate the research of integrated navigation algorithm based on computer version technology. In China, with many types of UAV development and two lunar exploration, the three phase of the project started, there has been significant progress in the study of visual navigation. The paper expounds the development of navigation based on computer version technology in the filed of UAV navigation research and draw a conclusion that visual navigation is mainly applied to three aspects as follows.(1) Acquisition of UAV navigation parameters. The parameters, including UAV attitude, position and velocity information could be got according to the relationship between the images from sensors and carrier's attitude, the relationship between instant matching images and the reference images and the relationship between carrier's velocity and characteristics of sequential images.(2) Autonomous obstacle avoidance. There are many ways to achieve obstacle avoidance in UAV navigation. The methods based on computer version technology ,including feature matching, template matching, image frames and so on, are mainly introduced. (3) The target tracking, positioning. Using the obtained images, UAV position is calculated by using optical flow method, MeanShift algorithm, CamShift algorithm, Kalman filtering and particle filter algotithm. The paper expounds three kinds of mainstream visual system. (1) High speed visual system. It uses parallel structure, with which image detection and processing are carried out at high speed. The system is applied to rapid response system. (2) The visual system of distributed network. There are several discrete image data acquisition sensor in different locations, which transmit image data to the node processor to increase the sampling rate. (3) The visual system combined with observer. The system combines image sensors with the external observers to make up for lack of visual equipment. To some degree, these systems overcome lacks of the early visual system, including low frequency, low processing efficiency and strong noise. In the end, the difficulties of navigation based on computer version technology in practical application are briefly discussed. (1) Due to the huge workload of image operation , the real-time performance of the system is poor. (2) Due to the large environmental impact , the anti-interference ability of the system is poor.(3) Due to the ability to work in a particular environment, the system has poor adaptability.

Market basket analysis visualization on a spherical surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Ming C.; Hsu, Meichun; Dayal, Umeshwar; Wei, Shu F.; Sprenger, Thomas; Holenstein, Thomas

2001-05-01

This paper discusses the visualization of the relationships in e-commerce transactions. To date, many practical research projects have shown the usefulness of a physics-based mass- spring technique to layout data items with close relationships on a graph. We describe a market basket analysis visualization system using this technique. This system is described as the following: (1) integrates a physics-based engine into a visual data mining platform; (2) use a 3D spherical surface to visualize the cluster of related data items; and (3) for large volumes of transactions, uses hidden structures to unclutter the display. Several examples of market basket analysis are also provided.

Web-GIS-based SARS epidemic situation visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xiaolin

2004-03-01

In order to research, perform statistical analysis and broadcast the information of SARS epidemic situation according to the relevant spatial position, this paper proposed a unified global visualization information platform for SARS epidemic situation based on Web-GIS and scientific virtualization technology. To setup the unified global visual information platform, the architecture of Web-GIS based interoperable information system is adopted to enable public report SARS virus information to health cure center visually by using the web visualization technology. A GIS java applet is used to visualize the relationship between spatial graphical data and virus distribution, and other web based graphics figures such as curves, bars, maps and multi-dimensional figures are used to visualize the relationship between SARS virus tendency with time, patient number or locations. The platform is designed to display the SARS information in real time, simulate visually for real epidemic situation and offer an analyzing tools for health department and the policy-making government department to support the decision-making for preventing against the SARS epidemic virus. It could be used to analyze the virus condition through visualized graphics interface, isolate the areas of virus source, and control the virus condition within shortest time. It could be applied to the visualization field of SARS preventing systems for SARS information broadcasting, data management, statistical analysis, and decision supporting.

Combined Feature Based and Shape Based Visual Tracker for Robot Navigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deans, J.; Kunz, C.; Sargent, R.; Park, E.; Pedersen, L.

2005-01-01

We have developed a combined feature based and shape based visual tracking system designed to enable a planetary rover to visually track and servo to specific points chosen by a user with centimeter precision. The feature based tracker uses invariant feature detection and matching across a stereo pair, as well as matching pairs before and after robot movement in order to compute an incremental 6-DOF motion at each tracker update. This tracking method is subject to drift over time, which can be compensated by the shape based method. The shape based tracking method consists of 3D model registration, which recovers 6-DOF motion given sufficient shape and proper initialization. By integrating complementary algorithms, the combined tracker leverages the efficiency and robustness of feature based methods with the precision and accuracy of model registration. In this paper, we present the algorithms and their integration into a combined visual tracking system.

A habituation based approach for detection of visual changes in surveillance camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sha'abani, M. N. A. H.; Adan, N. F.; Sabani, M. S. M.; Abdullah, F.; Nadira, J. H. S.; Yasin, M. S. M.

2017-09-01

This paper investigates a habituation based approach in detecting visual changes using video surveillance systems in a passive environment. Various techniques have been introduced for dynamic environment such as motion detection, object classification and behaviour analysis. However, in a passive environment, most of the scenes recorded by the surveillance system are normal. Therefore, implementing a complex analysis all the time in the passive environment resulting on computationally expensive, especially when using a high video resolution. Thus, a mechanism of attention is required, where the system only responds to an abnormal event. This paper proposed a novelty detection mechanism in detecting visual changes and a habituation based approach to measure the level of novelty. The objective of the paper is to investigate the feasibility of the habituation based approach in detecting visual changes. Experiment results show that the approach are able to accurately detect the presence of novelty as deviations from the learned knowledge.

Real-time unconstrained object recognition: a processing pipeline based on the mammalian visual system.

PubMed

Aguilar, Mario; Peot, Mark A; Zhou, Jiangying; Simons, Stephen; Liao, Yuwei; Metwalli, Nader; Anderson, Mark B

2012-03-01

The mammalian visual system is still the gold standard for recognition accuracy, flexibility, efficiency, and speed. Ongoing advances in our understanding of function and mechanisms in the visual system can now be leveraged to pursue the design of computer vision architectures that will revolutionize the state of the art in computer vision.

A Global System for Transportation Simulation and Visualization in Emergency Evacuation Scenarios

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

Lu, Wei; Liu, Cheng; Thomas, Neil

2015-01-01

Simulation-based studies are frequently used for evacuation planning and decision making processes. Given the transportation systems complexity and data availability, most evacuation simulation models focus on certain geographic areas. With routine improvement of OpenStreetMap road networks and LandScanTM global population distribution data, we present WWEE, a uniform system for world-wide emergency evacuation simulations. WWEE uses unified data structure for simulation inputs. It also integrates a super-node trip distribution model as the default simulation parameter to improve the system computational performance. Two levels of visualization tools are implemented for evacuation performance analysis, including link-based macroscopic visualization and vehicle-based microscopic visualization. Formore » left-hand and right-hand traffic patterns in different countries, the authors propose a mirror technique to experiment with both scenarios without significantly changing traffic simulation models. Ten cities in US, Europe, Middle East, and Asia are modeled for demonstration. With default traffic simulation models for fast and easy-to-use evacuation estimation and visualization, WWEE also retains the capability of interactive operation for users to adopt customized traffic simulation models. For the first time, WWEE provides a unified platform for global evacuation researchers to estimate and visualize their strategies performance of transportation systems under evacuation scenarios.« less

Comparison of L-system applications towards plant modelling, music rendering and score generation using visual language programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Chen Kim; Tan, Kian Lam; Yusran, Hazwanni; Suppramaniam, Vicknesh

2017-10-01

Visual language or visual representation has been used in the past few years in order to express the knowledge in graphic. One of the important graphical elements is fractal and L-Systems is a mathematic-based grammatical model for modelling cell development and plant topology. From the plant model, L-Systems can be interpreted as music sound and score. In this paper, LSound which is a Visual Language Programming (VLP) framework has been developed to model plant to music sound and generate music score and vice versa. The objectives of this research has three folds: (i) To expand the grammar dictionary of L-Systems music based on visual programming, (ii) To design and produce a user-friendly and icon based visual language framework typically for L-Systems musical score generation which helps the basic learners in musical field and (iii) To generate music score from plant models and vice versa using L-Systems method. This research undergoes a four phases methodology where the plant is first modelled, then the music is interpreted, followed by the output of music sound through MIDI and finally score is generated. LSound is technically compared to other existing applications in the aspects of the capability of modelling the plant, rendering the music and generating the sound. It has been found that LSound is a flexible framework in which the plant can be easily altered through arrow-based programming and the music score can be altered through the music symbols and notes. This work encourages non-experts to understand L-Systems and music hand-in-hand.

The Visual Representation and Acquisition of Driving Knowledge for Autonomous Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhaoxia; Jiang, Qing; Li, Ping; Song, LiangTu; Wang, Rujing; Yu, Biao; Mei, Tao

2017-09-01

In this paper, the driving knowledge base of autonomous vehicle is designed. Based on the driving knowledge modeling system, the driving knowledge of autonomous vehicle is visually acquired, managed, stored, and maintenanced, which has vital significance for creating the development platform of intelligent decision-making systems of automatic driving expert systems for autonomous vehicle.

BioMon: A Google Earth Based Continuous Biomass Monitoring System (Demo Paper)

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

Vatsavai, Raju

2009-01-01

We demonstrate a Google Earth based novel visualization system for continuous monitoring of biomass at regional and global scales. This system is integrated with a back-end spatiotemporal data mining system that continuously detects changes using high temporal resolution MODIS images. In addition to the visualization, we demonstrate novel query features of the system that provides insights into the current conditions of the landscape.

Video content parsing based on combined audio and visual information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tong; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

1999-08-01

While previous research on audiovisual data segmentation and indexing primarily focuses on the pictorial part, significant clues contained in the accompanying audio flow are often ignored. A fully functional system for video content parsing can be achieved more successfully through a proper combination of audio and visual information. By investigating the data structure of different video types, we present tools for both audio and visual content analysis and a scheme for video segmentation and annotation in this research. In the proposed system, video data are segmented into audio scenes and visual shots by detecting abrupt changes in audio and visual features, respectively. Then, the audio scene is categorized and indexed as one of the basic audio types while a visual shot is presented by keyframes and associate image features. An index table is then generated automatically for each video clip based on the integration of outputs from audio and visual analysis. It is shown that the proposed system provides satisfying video indexing results.

A web-based 3D geological information visualization system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Renbo; Jiang, Nan

2013-03-01

Construction of 3D geological visualization system has attracted much more concern in GIS, computer modeling, simulation and visualization fields. It not only can effectively help geological interpretation and analysis work, but also can it can help leveling up geosciences professional education. In this paper, an applet-based method was introduced for developing a web-based 3D geological information visualization system. The main aims of this paper are to explore a rapid and low-cost development method for constructing a web-based 3D geological system. First, the borehole data stored in Excel spreadsheets was extracted and then stored in SQLSERVER database of a web server. Second, the JDBC data access component was utilized for providing the capability of access the database. Third, the user interface was implemented with applet component embedded in JSP page and the 3D viewing and querying functions were implemented with PickCanvas of Java3D. Last, the borehole data acquired from geological survey were used for test the system, and the test results has shown that related methods of this paper have a certain application values.

Audio-visual imposture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karam, Walid; Mokbel, Chafic; Greige, Hanna; Chollet, Gerard

2006-05-01

A GMM based audio visual speaker verification system is described and an Active Appearance Model with a linear speaker transformation system is used to evaluate the robustness of the verification. An Active Appearance Model (AAM) is used to automatically locate and track a speaker's face in a video recording. A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based classifier (BECARS) is used for face verification. GMM training and testing is accomplished on DCT based extracted features of the detected faces. On the audio side, speech features are extracted and used for speaker verification with the GMM based classifier. Fusion of both audio and video modalities for audio visual speaker verification is compared with face verification and speaker verification systems. To improve the robustness of the multimodal biometric identity verification system, an audio visual imposture system is envisioned. It consists of an automatic voice transformation technique that an impostor may use to assume the identity of an authorized client. Features of the transformed voice are then combined with the corresponding appearance features and fed into the GMM based system BECARS for training. An attempt is made to increase the acceptance rate of the impostor and to analyzing the robustness of the verification system. Experiments are being conducted on the BANCA database, with a prospect of experimenting on the newly developed PDAtabase developed within the scope of the SecurePhone project.

Research on metallic material defect detection based on bionic sensing of human visual properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Pei Jiang; Cheng, Tao

2018-05-01

Due to the fact that human visual system can quickly lock the areas of interest in complex natural environment and focus on it, this paper proposes an eye-based visual attention mechanism by simulating human visual imaging features based on human visual attention mechanism Bionic Sensing Visual Inspection Model Method to Detect Defects of Metallic Materials in the Mechanical Field. First of all, according to the biologically visually significant low-level features, the mark of defect experience marking is used as the intermediate feature of simulated visual perception. Afterwards, SVM method was used to train the advanced features of visual defects of metal material. According to the weight of each party, the biometrics detection model of metal material defect, which simulates human visual characteristics, is obtained.

A Fuzzy-Based Approach for Sensing, Coding and Transmission Configuration of Visual Sensors in Smart City Applications

PubMed Central

Costa, Daniel G.; Collotta, Mario; Pau, Giovanni; Duran-Faundez, Cristian

2017-01-01

The advance of technologies in several areas has allowed the development of smart city applications, which can improve the way of life in modern cities. When employing visual sensors in that scenario, still images and video streams may be retrieved from monitored areas, potentially providing valuable data for many applications. Actually, visual sensor networks may need to be highly dynamic, reflecting the changing of parameters in smart cities. In this context, characteristics of visual sensors and conditions of the monitored environment, as well as the status of other concurrent monitoring systems, may affect how visual sensors collect, encode and transmit information. This paper proposes a fuzzy-based approach to dynamically configure the way visual sensors will operate concerning sensing, coding and transmission patterns, exploiting different types of reference parameters. This innovative approach can be considered as the basis for multi-systems smart city applications based on visual monitoring, potentially bringing significant results for this research field. PMID:28067777

A Fuzzy-Based Approach for Sensing, Coding and Transmission Configuration of Visual Sensors in Smart City Applications.

PubMed

Costa, Daniel G; Collotta, Mario; Pau, Giovanni; Duran-Faundez, Cristian

2017-01-05

The advance of technologies in several areas has allowed the development of smart city applications, which can improve the way of life in modern cities. When employing visual sensors in that scenario, still images and video streams may be retrieved from monitored areas, potentially providing valuable data for many applications. Actually, visual sensor networks may need to be highly dynamic, reflecting the changing of parameters in smart cities. In this context, characteristics of visual sensors and conditions of the monitored environment, as well as the status of other concurrent monitoring systems, may affect how visual sensors collect, encode and transmit information. This paper proposes a fuzzy-based approach to dynamically configure the way visual sensors will operate concerning sensing, coding and transmission patterns, exploiting different types of reference parameters. This innovative approach can be considered as the basis for multi-systems smart city applications based on visual monitoring, potentially bringing significant results for this research field.

Research and analysis of head-directed area-of-interest visual system concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sinacori, J. B.

1983-01-01

An analysis and survey with conjecture supporting a preliminary data base design is presented. The data base is intended for use in a Computer Image Generator visual subsystem for a rotorcraft flight simulator that is used for rotorcraft systems development, not training. The approach taken was to attempt to identify the visual perception strategies used during terrain flight, survey environmental and image generation factors, and meld these into a preliminary data base design. This design is directed at Data Base developers, and hopefully will stimulate and aid their efforts to evolve such a Base that will support simulation of terrain flight operations.

Novel Web-based Education Platforms for Information Communication utilizing Gamification, Virtual and Immersive Reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2015-12-01

Recent developments in internet technologies make it possible to manage and visualize large data on the web. Novel visualization techniques and interactive user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. This presentation showcase information communication interfaces, games, and virtual and immersive reality applications for supporting teaching and learning of concepts in atmospheric and hydrological sciences. The information communication platforms utilizes latest web technologies and allow accessing and visualizing large scale data on the web. The simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive learning environment for teaching hydrological and atmospheric processes and concepts. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain and weather information, and water simulation. The web-based simulation system provides an environment for students to learn about the earth science processes, and effects of development and human activity on the terrain. Users can access the system in three visualization modes including virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive reality using heads-up display. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of various users.

Research issues of geometry-based visual languages and some solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Thorn G.

This dissertation addresses the problem of how to design visual language systems that are based upon Geometric Algebra, and provide a visual coupling of algebraic expressions and geometric depictions. This coupling of algebraic expressions and geometric depictions provides a new means for expressing both mathematical and geometric relationships present in mathematics, physics, and Computer-Aided Geometric Design (CAGD). Another significant feature of such a system is that the result of changing a parameter (by dragging the mouse) can be seen immediately in the depiction(s) of all expressions that use that parameter. This greatly aides the cognition of the relationships between variables. Systems for representing such a coupling of algebra and geometry have characteristics of both visual language systems, and systems for scientific visualization. Instead of using a parsing or dataflow paradigm for the visual language representation, the systems instead represent equations as manipulatible constrained diagrams for their visualization. This requires that the design of such a system have (but is not limited to) a means for parsing equations entered by the user, a scheme for producing a visual representation of these equations; techniques for maintaining the coupling between the expressions entered and the diagrams displayed; algorithms for maintaining the consistency of the diagrams; and, indexing capabilities that are efficient enough to allow diagrams to be created, and manipulated in a short enough period of time. The author proposes solutions for how such a design can be realized.

[Preliminary construction of three-dimensional visual educational system for clinical dentistry based on world wide web webpage].

PubMed

Hu, Jian; Xu, Xiang-yang; Song, En-min; Tan, Hong-bao; Wang, Yi-ning

2009-09-01

To establish a new visual educational system of virtual reality for clinical dentistry based on world wide web (WWW) webpage in order to provide more three-dimensional multimedia resources to dental students and an online three-dimensional consulting system for patients. Based on computer graphics and three-dimensional webpage technologies, the software of 3Dsmax and Webmax were adopted in the system development. In the Windows environment, the architecture of whole system was established step by step, including three-dimensional model construction, three-dimensional scene setup, transplanting three-dimensional scene into webpage, reediting the virtual scene, realization of interactions within the webpage, initial test, and necessary adjustment. Five cases of three-dimensional interactive webpage for clinical dentistry were completed. The three-dimensional interactive webpage could be accessible through web browser on personal computer, and users could interact with the webpage through rotating, panning and zooming the virtual scene. It is technically feasible to implement the visual educational system of virtual reality for clinical dentistry based on WWW webpage. Information related to clinical dentistry can be transmitted properly, visually and interactively through three-dimensional webpage.

Spatio-Temporal Story Mapping Animation Based On Structured Causal Relationships Of Historical Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inoue, Y.; Tsuruoka, K.; Arikawa, M.

2014-04-01

In this paper, we proposed a user interface that displays visual animations on geographic maps and timelines for depicting historical stories by representing causal relationships among events for time series. We have been developing an experimental software system for the spatial-temporal visualization of historical stories for tablet computers. Our proposed system makes people effectively learn historical stories using visual animations based on hierarchical structures of different scale timelines and maps.

Interactive Particle Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gribble, Christiaan P.

Particle-based simulation methods are used to model a wide range of complex phenomena and to solve time-dependent problems of various scales. Effective visualizations of the resulting state will communicate subtle changes in the three-dimensional structure, spatial organization, and qualitative trends within a simulation as it evolves. This chapter discusses two approaches to interactive particle visualization that satisfy these goals: one targeting desktop systems equipped with programmable graphics hardware, and the other targeting moderately sized multicore systems using packet-based ray tracing.

An annotation system for 3D fluid flow visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loughlin, Maria M.; Hughes, John F.

1995-01-01

Annotation is a key activity of data analysis. However, current systems for data analysis focus almost exclusively on visualization. We propose a system which integrates annotations into a visualization system. Annotations are embedded in 3D data space, using the Post-it metaphor. This embedding allows contextual-based information storage and retrieval, and facilitates information sharing in collaborative environments. We provide a traditional database filter and a Magic Lens filter to create specialized views of the data. The system has been customized for fluid flow applications, with features which allow users to store parameters of visualization tools and sketch 3D volumes.

Interactive Web-based Floodplain Simulation System for Realistic Experiments of Flooding and Flood Damage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2013-12-01

Recent developments in web technologies make it easy to manage and visualize large data sets with general public. Novel visualization techniques and dynamic user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. The floodplain simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive flood simulation environment to create real world flooding scenarios. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain information, and water simulation. Students can create and modify predefined scenarios, control environmental parameters, and evaluate flood mitigation techniques. The web-based simulation system provides an environment to children and adults learn about the flooding, flood damage, and effects of development and human activity in the floodplain. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of the users. This presentation provides an overview of the web-based flood simulation system, and demonstrates the capabilities of the system for various flooding and land use scenarios.

[Retinotopic mapping of the human visual cortex with functional magnetic resonance imaging - basic principles, current developments and ophthalmological perspectives].

PubMed

Hoffmann, M B; Kaule, F; Grzeschik, R; Behrens-Baumann, W; Wolynski, B

2011-07-01

Since its initial introduction in the mid-1990 s, retinotopic mapping of the human visual cortex, based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has contributed greatly to our understanding of the human visual system. Multiple cortical visual field representations have been demonstrated and thus numerous visual areas identified. The organisation of specific areas has been detailed and the impact of pathophysiologies of the visual system on the cortical organisation uncovered. These results are based on investigations at a magnetic field strength of 3 Tesla or less. In a field-strength comparison between 3 and 7 Tesla, it was demonstrated that retinotopic mapping benefits from a magnetic field strength of 7 Tesla. Specifically, the visual areas can be mapped with high spatial resolution for a detailed analysis of the visual field maps. Applications of fMRI-based retinotopic mapping in ophthalmological research hold promise to further our understanding of plasticity in the human visual cortex. This is highlighted by pioneering studies in patients with macular dysfunction or misrouted optic nerves. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Information visualization of the minority game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, W.; Herbert, R. D.; Webber, R.

2008-02-01

Many dynamical systems produce large quantities of data. How can the system be understood from the output data? Often people are simply overwhelmed by the data. Traditional tools such as tables and plots are often not adequate, and new techniques are needed to help people to analyze the system. In this paper, we propose the use of two spacefilling visualization tools to examine the output from a complex agent-based financial model. We measure the effectiveness and performance of these tools through usability experiments. Based on the experimental results, we develop two new visualization techniques that combine the advantages and discard the disadvantages of the information visualization tools. The model we use is an evolutionary version of the Minority Game which simulates a financial market.

Driver Distraction Using Visual-Based Sensors and Algorithms.

PubMed

Fernández, Alberto; Usamentiaga, Rubén; Carús, Juan Luis; Casado, Rubén

2016-10-28

Driver distraction, defined as the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. Additionally, the trend towards increasing the use of in-vehicle information systems is critical because they induce visual, biomechanical and cognitive distraction and may affect driving performance in qualitatively different ways. Non-intrusive methods are strongly preferred for monitoring distraction, and vision-based systems have appeared to be attractive for both drivers and researchers. Biomechanical, visual and cognitive distractions are the most commonly detected types in video-based algorithms. Many distraction detection systems only use a single visual cue and therefore, they may be easily disturbed when occlusion or illumination changes appear. Moreover, the combination of these visual cues is a key and challenging aspect in the development of robust distraction detection systems. These visual cues can be extracted mainly by using face monitoring systems but they should be completed with more visual cues (e.g., hands or body information) or even, distraction detection from specific actions (e.g., phone usage). Additionally, these algorithms should be included in an embedded device or system inside a car. This is not a trivial task and several requirements must be taken into account: reliability, real-time performance, low cost, small size, low power consumption, flexibility and short time-to-market. The key points for the development and implementation of sensors to carry out the detection of distraction will also be reviewed. This paper shows a review of the role of computer vision technology applied to the development of monitoring systems to detect distraction. Some key points considered as both future work and challenges ahead yet to be solved will also be addressed.

Driver Distraction Using Visual-Based Sensors and Algorithms

PubMed Central

Fernández, Alberto; Usamentiaga, Rubén; Carús, Juan Luis; Casado, Rubén

2016-01-01

Driver distraction, defined as the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. Additionally, the trend towards increasing the use of in-vehicle information systems is critical because they induce visual, biomechanical and cognitive distraction and may affect driving performance in qualitatively different ways. Non-intrusive methods are strongly preferred for monitoring distraction, and vision-based systems have appeared to be attractive for both drivers and researchers. Biomechanical, visual and cognitive distractions are the most commonly detected types in video-based algorithms. Many distraction detection systems only use a single visual cue and therefore, they may be easily disturbed when occlusion or illumination changes appear. Moreover, the combination of these visual cues is a key and challenging aspect in the development of robust distraction detection systems. These visual cues can be extracted mainly by using face monitoring systems but they should be completed with more visual cues (e.g., hands or body information) or even, distraction detection from specific actions (e.g., phone usage). Additionally, these algorithms should be included in an embedded device or system inside a car. This is not a trivial task and several requirements must be taken into account: reliability, real-time performance, low cost, small size, low power consumption, flexibility and short time-to-market. The key points for the development and implementation of sensors to carry out the detection of distraction will also be reviewed. This paper shows a review of the role of computer vision technology applied to the development of monitoring systems to detect distraction. Some key points considered as both future work and challenges ahead yet to be solved will also be addressed. PMID:27801822

DIA2: Web-based Cyberinfrastructure for Visual Analysis of Funding Portfolios.

PubMed

Madhavan, Krishna; Elmqvist, Niklas; Vorvoreanu, Mihaela; Chen, Xin; Wong, Yuetling; Xian, Hanjun; Dong, Zhihua; Johri, Aditya

2014-12-01

We present a design study of the Deep Insights Anywhere, Anytime (DIA2) platform, a web-based visual analytics system that allows program managers and academic staff at the U.S. National Science Foundation to search, view, and analyze their research funding portfolio. The goal of this system is to facilitate users' understanding of both past and currently active research awards in order to make more informed decisions of their future funding. This user group is characterized by high domain expertise yet not necessarily high literacy in visualization and visual analytics-they are essentially casual experts-and thus require careful visual and information design, including adhering to user experience standards, providing a self-instructive interface, and progressively refining visualizations to minimize complexity. We discuss the challenges of designing a system for casual experts and highlight how we addressed this issue by modeling the organizational structure and workflows of the NSF within our system. We discuss each stage of the design process, starting with formative interviews, prototypes, and finally live deployments and evaluation with stakeholders.

Virtual Earth System Laboratory (VESL): Effective Visualization of Earth System Data and Process Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, J. D.; Larour, E. Y.; Cheng, D. L. C.; Halkides, D. J.

2016-12-01

The Virtual Earth System Laboratory (VESL) is a Web-based tool, under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and UC Irvine, for the visualization of Earth System data and process simulations. It contains features geared toward a range of applications, spanning research and outreach. It offers an intuitive user interface, in which model inputs are changed using sliders and other interactive components. Current capabilities include simulation of polar ice sheet responses to climate forcing, based on NASA's Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM). We believe that the visualization of data is most effective when tailored to the target audience, and that many of the best practices for modern Web design/development can be applied directly to the visualization of data: use of negative space, color schemes, typography, accessibility standards, tooltips, etc cetera. We present our prototype website, and invite input from potential users, including researchers, educators, and students.

Integrating visual learning within a model-based ATR system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlotto, Mark; Nebrich, Mark

2017-05-01

Automatic target recognition (ATR) systems, like human photo-interpreters, rely on a variety of visual information for detecting, classifying, and identifying manmade objects in aerial imagery. We describe the integration of a visual learning component into the Image Data Conditioner (IDC) for target/clutter and other visual classification tasks. The component is based on an implementation of a model of the visual cortex developed by Serre, Wolf, and Poggio. Visual learning in an ATR context requires the ability to recognize objects independent of location, scale, and rotation. Our method uses IDC to extract, rotate, and scale image chips at candidate target locations. A bootstrap learning method effectively extends the operation of the classifier beyond the training set and provides a measure of confidence. We show how the classifier can be used to learn other features that are difficult to compute from imagery such as target direction, and to assess the performance of the visual learning process itself.

Illustrative visualization of 3D city models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doellner, Juergen; Buchholz, Henrik; Nienhaus, Marc; Kirsch, Florian

2005-03-01

This paper presents an illustrative visualization technique that provides expressive representations of large-scale 3D city models, inspired by the tradition of artistic and cartographic visualizations typically found in bird"s-eye view and panoramic maps. We define a collection of city model components and a real-time multi-pass rendering algorithm that achieves comprehensible, abstract 3D city model depictions based on edge enhancement, color-based and shadow-based depth cues, and procedural facade texturing. Illustrative visualization provides an effective visual interface to urban spatial information and associated thematic information complementing visual interfaces based on the Virtual Reality paradigm, offering a huge potential for graphics design. Primary application areas include city and landscape planning, cartoon worlds in computer games, and tourist information systems.

Asymmetric top-down modulation of ascending visual pathways in pigeons.

PubMed

Freund, Nadja; Valencia-Alfonso, Carlos E; Kirsch, Janina; Brodmann, Katja; Manns, Martina; Güntürkün, Onur

2016-03-01

Cerebral asymmetries are a ubiquitous phenomenon evident in many species, incl. humans, and they display some similarities in their organization across vertebrates. In many species the left hemisphere is associated with the ability to categorize objects based on abstract or experience-based behaviors. Using the asymmetrically organized visual system of pigeons as an animal model, we show that descending forebrain pathways asymmetrically modulate visually evoked responses of single thalamic units. Activity patterns of neurons within the nucleus rotundus, the largest thalamic visual relay structure in birds, were differently modulated by left and right hemispheric descending systems. Thus, visual information ascending towards the left hemisphere was modulated by forebrain top-down systems at thalamic level, while right thalamic units were strikingly less modulated. This asymmetry of top-down control could promote experience-based processes within the left hemisphere, while biasing the right side towards stimulus-bound response patterns. In a subsequent behavioral task we tested the possible functional impact of this asymmetry. Under monocular conditions, pigeons learned to discriminate color pairs, so that each hemisphere was trained on one specific discrimination. Afterwards the animals were presented with stimuli that put the hemispheres in conflict. Response patterns on the conflicting stimuli revealed a clear dominance of the left hemisphere. Transient inactivation of left hemispheric top-down control reduced this dominance while inactivation of right hemispheric top-down control had no effect on response patterns. Functional asymmetries of descending systems that modify visual ascending pathways seem to play an important role in the superiority of the left hemisphere in experience-based visual tasks. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Evidence from Visuomotor Adaptation for Two Partially Independent Visuomotor Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thaler, Lore; Todd, James T.

2010-01-01

Visual information can specify spatial layout with respect to the observer (egocentric) or with respect to an external frame of reference (allocentric). People can use both of these types of visual spatial information to guide their hands. The question arises if movements based on egocentric and movements based on allocentric visual information…

Robot Command Interface Using an Audio-Visual Speech Recognition System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceballos, Alexánder; Gómez, Juan; Prieto, Flavio; Redarce, Tanneguy

In recent years audio-visual speech recognition has emerged as an active field of research thanks to advances in pattern recognition, signal processing and machine vision. Its ultimate goal is to allow human-computer communication using voice, taking into account the visual information contained in the audio-visual speech signal. This document presents a command's automatic recognition system using audio-visual information. The system is expected to control the laparoscopic robot da Vinci. The audio signal is treated using the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients parametrization method. Besides, features based on the points that define the mouth's outer contour according to the MPEG-4 standard are used in order to extract the visual speech information.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samigulina, Galina A.; Shayakhmetova, Assem S.

2016-11-01

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

Satellite Imagery Assisted Road-Based Visual Navigation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volkova, A.; Gibbens, P. W.

2016-06-01

There is a growing demand for unmanned aerial systems as autonomous surveillance, exploration and remote sensing solutions. Among the key concerns for robust operation of these systems is the need to reliably navigate the environment without reliance on global navigation satellite system (GNSS). This is of particular concern in Defence circles, but is also a major safety issue for commercial operations. In these circumstances, the aircraft needs to navigate relying only on information from on-board passive sensors such as digital cameras. An autonomous feature-based visual system presented in this work offers a novel integral approach to the modelling and registration of visual features that responds to the specific needs of the navigation system. It detects visual features from Google Earth* build a feature database. The same algorithm then detects features in an on-board cameras video stream. On one level this serves to localise the vehicle relative to the environment using Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM). On a second level it correlates them with the database to localise the vehicle with respect to the inertial frame. The performance of the presented visual navigation system was compared using the satellite imagery from different years. Based on comparison results, an analysis of the effects of seasonal, structural and qualitative changes of the imagery source on the performance of the navigation algorithm is presented. * The algorithm is independent of the source of satellite imagery and another provider can be used

Audio-Visual Situational Awareness for General Aviation Pilots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly; Lodha, Suresh K.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Weather is one of the major causes of general aviation accidents. Researchers are addressing this problem from various perspectives including improving meteorological forecasting techniques, collecting additional weather data automatically via on-board sensors and "flight" modems, and improving weather data dissemination and presentation. We approach the problem from the improved presentation perspective and propose weather visualization and interaction methods tailored for general aviation pilots. Our system, Aviation Weather Data Visualization Environment (AWE), utilizes information visualization techniques, a direct manipulation graphical interface, and a speech-based interface to improve a pilot's situational awareness of relevant weather data. The system design is based on a user study and feedback from pilots.

Developing Guidelines for Assessing Visual Analytics Environments

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

Scholtz, Jean

2011-07-01

In this paper, we develop guidelines for evaluating visual analytic environments based on a synthesis of reviews for the entries to the 2009 Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST) Symposium Challenge and from a user study with professional intelligence analysts. By analyzing the 2009 VAST Challenge reviews we gained a better understanding of what is important to our reviewers, both visualization researchers and professional analysts. We also report on a small user study with professional analysts to determine the important factors that they use in evaluating visual analysis systems. We then looked at guidelines developed by researchers in various domainsmore » and synthesized these into an initial set for use by others in the community. In a second part of the user study, we looked at guidelines for a new aspect of visual analytic systems – the generation of reports. Future visual analytic systems have been challenged to help analysts generate their reports. In our study we worked with analysts to understand the criteria they used to evaluate the quality of analytic reports. We propose that this knowledge will be useful as researchers look at systems to automate some of the report generation.1 Based on these efforts, we produced some initial guidelines for evaluating visual analytic environment and for evaluation of analytic reports. It is important to understand that these guidelines are initial drafts and are limited in scope because of the type of tasks for which the visual analytic systems used in the studies in this paper were designed. More research and refinement is needed by the Visual Analytics Community to provide additional evaluation guidelines for different types of visual analytic environments.« less

Visualization and Analytics Software Tools for Peregrine System |

Science.gov Websites

R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. Go to the R web site for System Visualization and Analytics Software Tools for Peregrine System Learn about the available visualization for OpenGL-based applications. For more information, please go to the FastX page. ParaView An open

A new system for quantitative evaluation of infant gaze capabilities in a wide visual field.

PubMed

Pratesi, Andrea; Cecchi, Francesca; Beani, Elena; Sgandurra, Giuseppina; Cioni, Giovanni; Laschi, Cecilia; Dario, Paolo

2015-09-07

The visual assessment of infants poses specific challenges: many techniques that are used on adults are based on the patient's response, and are not suitable for infants. Significant advances in the eye-tracking have made this assessment of infant visual capabilities easier, however, eye-tracking still requires the subject's collaboration, in most cases and thus limiting the application in infant research. Moreover, there is a lack of transferability to clinical practice, and thus it emerges the need for a new tool to measure the paradigms and explore the most common visual competences in a wide visual field. This work presents the design, development and preliminary testing of a new system for measuring infant's gaze in the wide visual field called CareToy C: CareToy for Clinics. The system is based on a commercial eye tracker (SmartEye) with six cameras running at 60 Hz, suitable for measuring an infant's gaze. In order to stimulate the infant visually and audibly, a mechanical structure has been designed to support five speakers and five screens at a specific distance (60 cm) and angle: one in the centre, two on the right-hand side and two on the left (at 30° and 60° respectively). Different tasks have been designed in order to evaluate the system capability to assess the infant's gaze movements during different conditions (such as gap, overlap or audio-visual paradigms). Nine healthy infants aged 4-10 months were assessed as they performed the visual tasks at random. We developed a system able to measure infant's gaze in a wide visual field covering a total visual range of ±60° from the centre with an intermediate evaluation at ±30°. Moreover, the same system, thanks to different integrated software, was able to provide different visual paradigms (as gap, overlap and audio-visual) assessing and comparing different visual and multisensory sub-competencies. The proposed system endowed the integration of a commercial eye-tracker into a purposive setup in a smart and innovative way. The proposed system is suitable for measuring and evaluating infant's gaze capabilities in a wide visual field, in order to provide quantitative data that can enrich the clinical assessment.

Identification and Intervention for Students Who Are Visually Impaired and Who Have Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Alicia

2009-01-01

At least 60% of children with disabilities have multiple disabilities including visual impairments (VI). Because the visual system is neurologically based, any problems of the neurological system will also likely affect vision. The estimated number of students with VI and additional disabilities has increased significantly over the years. Since…

Modeling human comprehension of data visualizations

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

Matzen, Laura E.; Haass, Michael Joseph; Divis, Kristin Marie

This project was inspired by two needs. The first is a need for tools to help scientists and engineers to design effective data visualizations for communicating information, whether to the user of a system, an analyst who must make decisions based on complex data, or in the context of a technical report or publication. Most scientists and engineers are not trained in visualization design, and they could benefit from simple metrics to assess how well their visualization's design conveys the intended message. In other words, will the most important information draw the viewer's attention? The second is the need formore » cognition-based metrics for evaluating new types of visualizations created by researchers in the information visualization and visual analytics communities. Evaluating visualizations is difficult even for experts. However, all visualization methods and techniques are intended to exploit the properties of the human visual system to convey information efficiently to a viewer. Thus, developing evaluation methods that are rooted in the scientific knowledge of the human visual system could be a useful approach. In this project, we conducted fundamental research on how humans make sense of abstract data visualizations, and how this process is influenced by their goals and prior experience. We then used that research to develop a new model, the Data Visualization Saliency Model, that can make accurate predictions about which features in an abstract visualization will draw a viewer's attention. The model is an evaluation tool that can address both of the needs described above, supporting both visualization research and Sandia mission needs.« less

Visualization of reservoir simulation data with an immersive virtual reality system

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

Williams, B.K.

1996-10-01

This paper discusses an investigation into the use of an immersive virtual reality (VR) system to visualize reservoir simulation output data. The hardware and software configurations of the test-immersive VR system are described and compared to a nonimmersive VR system and to an existing workstation screen-based visualization system. The structure of 3D reservoir simulation data and the actions to be performed on the data within the VR system are discussed. The subjective results of the investigation are then presented, followed by a discussion of possible future work.

European dental students' opinions about visual and digital tooth colour determination systems.

PubMed

Dozic, Alma; Kharbanda, Aron K; Kamell, Hassib; Brand, Henk S

2011-12-01

The aim of the study was to investigate students' opinion about visual and digital tooth colour determination education at different European dental schools. A cross-sectional web-based survey was created, containing nine dichotomous, multiple choice and 5-point Likert scale questions. The questionnaire was distributed amongst students of 40 European dental schools. Seven hundred and ninety-nine completed questionnaires from students of 15 dental schools were analysed statistically. Vitapan Classical and Vitapan 3D-Master are the most frequently used visual determination systems at European dental schools. Most students responded with "neutral" regarding whether they find it easy to identify the colour of teeth with a visual determination system (range 2.8-3.6). A minority of the dental students had received education in digital imaging systems (2-47%). The Easyshade was the most frequently mentioned digital system. The majority of the students who did not receive education on digital systems would like to see this topic added to the curriculum (77-100%). The dental students who had worked with both methods found it significantly easier to determine tooth colour with a digital system than with a visual system (mean score 3.5 ± 0.8 vs. 3.0 ± 0.8). Tooth colour determination programmes show a considerable variation across European dental schools. Based upon the outcomes of this study, students prefer digital imaging systems over visual systems, and like to have (more) education about digital tooth colour imaging. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

User-centered evaluation of Arizona BioPathway: an information extraction, integration, and visualization system.

PubMed

Quiñones, Karin D; Su, Hua; Marshall, Byron; Eggers, Shauna; Chen, Hsinchun

2007-09-01

Explosive growth in biomedical research has made automated information extraction, knowledge integration, and visualization increasingly important and critically needed. The Arizona BioPathway (ABP) system extracts and displays biological regulatory pathway information from the abstracts of journal articles. This study uses relations extracted from more than 200 PubMed abstracts presented in a tabular and graphical user interface with built-in search and aggregation functionality. This paper presents a task-centered assessment of the usefulness and usability of the ABP system focusing on its relation aggregation and visualization functionalities. Results suggest that our graph-based visualization is more efficient in supporting pathway analysis tasks and is perceived as more useful and easier to use as compared to a text-based literature-viewing method. Relation aggregation significantly contributes to knowledge-acquisition efficiency. Together, the graphic and tabular views in the ABP Visualizer provide a flexible and effective interface for pathway relation browsing and analysis. Our study contributes to pathway-related research and biological information extraction by assessing the value of a multiview, relation-based interface that supports user-controlled exploration of pathway information across multiple granularities.

Cognitive approaches for patterns analysis and security applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogiela, Marek R.; Ogiela, Lidia

2017-08-01

In this paper will be presented new opportunities for developing innovative solutions for semantic pattern classification and visual cryptography, which will base on cognitive and bio-inspired approaches. Such techniques can be used for evaluation of the meaning of analyzed patterns or encrypted information, and allow to involve such meaning into the classification task or encryption process. It also allows using some crypto-biometric solutions to extend personalized cryptography methodologies based on visual pattern analysis. In particular application of cognitive information systems for semantic analysis of different patterns will be presented, and also a novel application of such systems for visual secret sharing will be described. Visual shares for divided information can be created based on threshold procedure, which may be dependent on personal abilities to recognize some image details visible on divided images.

Visual Environment for Rich Data Interpretation (VERDI) program for environmental modeling systems

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

VERDI is a flexible, modular, Java-based program used for visualizing multivariate gridded meteorology, emissions and air quality modeling data created by environmental modeling systems such as the CMAQ model and WRF.

The Shuttle Mission Simulator computer generated imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Henderson, T. H.

1984-01-01

Equipment available in the primary training facility for the Space Transportation System (STS) flight crews includes the Fixed Base Simulator, the Motion Base Simulator, the Spacelab Simulator, and the Guidance and Navigation Simulator. The Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) consists of the Fixed Base Simulator and the Motion Base Simulator. The SMS utilizes four visual Computer Generated Image (CGI) systems. The Motion Base Simulator has a forward crew station with six-degrees of freedom motion simulation. Operation of the Spacelab Simulator is planned for the spring of 1983. The Guidance and Navigation Simulator went into operation in 1982. Aspects of orbital visual simulation are discussed, taking into account the earth scene, payload simulation, the generation and display of 1079 stars, the simulation of sun glare, and Reaction Control System jet firing plumes. Attention is also given to landing site visual simulation, and night launch and landing simulation.

Visual system manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Kusne, Yael; Wolf, Andrew B; Townley, Kate; Conway, Mandi; Peyman, Gholam A

2017-12-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an increasingly common disease with massive personal and economic costs. While it has long been known that AD impacts the visual system, there has recently been an increased focus on understanding both pathophysiological mechanisms that may be shared between the eye and brain and how related biomarkers could be useful for AD diagnosis. Here, were review pertinent cellular and molecular mechanisms of AD pathophysiology, the presence of AD pathology in the visual system, associated functional changes, and potential development of diagnostic tools based on the visual system. Additionally, we discuss links between AD and visual disorders, including possible pathophysiological mechanisms and their relevance for improving our understanding of AD. © 2016 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Ecological Approach to Text Visualization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, James A.

1999-01-01

Presents both theoretical and technical bases on which to build a "science of text visualization." The Spatial Paradigm for Information Retrieval and Exploration (SPIRE) text-visualization system, which images information from free-text documents as natural terrains, serves as an example of the "ecological approach" in its visual metaphor, its…

Comparing the quality of accessing medical literature using content-based visual and textual information retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller, Henning; Kalpathy-Cramer, Jayashree; Kahn, Charles E., Jr.; Hersh, William

2009-02-01

Content-based visual information (or image) retrieval (CBIR) has been an extremely active research domain within medical imaging over the past ten years, with the goal of improving the management of visual medical information. Many technical solutions have been proposed, and application scenarios for image retrieval as well as image classification have been set up. However, in contrast to medical information retrieval using textual methods, visual retrieval has only rarely been applied in clinical practice. This is despite the large amount and variety of visual information produced in hospitals every day. This information overload imposes a significant burden upon clinicians, and CBIR technologies have the potential to help the situation. However, in order for CBIR to become an accepted clinical tool, it must demonstrate a higher level of technical maturity than it has to date. Since 2004, the ImageCLEF benchmark has included a task for the comparison of visual information retrieval algorithms for medical applications. In 2005, a task for medical image classification was introduced and both tasks have been run successfully for the past four years. These benchmarks allow an annual comparison of visual retrieval techniques based on the same data sets and the same query tasks, enabling the meaningful comparison of various retrieval techniques. The datasets used from 2004-2007 contained images and annotations from medical teaching files. In 2008, however, the dataset used was made up of 67,000 images (along with their associated figure captions and the full text of their corresponding articles) from two Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) scientific journals. This article describes the results of the medical image retrieval task of the ImageCLEF 2008 evaluation campaign. We compare the retrieval results of both visual and textual information retrieval systems from 15 research groups on the aforementioned data set. The results show clearly that, currently, visual retrieval alone does not achieve the performance necessary for real-world clinical applications. Most of the common visual retrieval techniques have a MAP (Mean Average Precision) of around 2-3%, which is much lower than that achieved using textual retrieval (MAP=29%). Advanced machine learning techniques, together with good training data, have been shown to improve the performance of visual retrieval systems in the past. Multimodal retrieval (basing retrieval on both visual and textual information) can achieve better results than purely visual, but only when carefully applied. In many cases, multimodal retrieval systems performed even worse than purely textual retrieval systems. On the other hand, some multimodal retrieval systems demonstrated significantly increased early precision, which has been shown to be a desirable behavior in real-world systems.

Designing an End-to-End System for Data Storage, Analysis, and Visualization for an Urban Environmental Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGuire, M. P.; Welty, C.; Gangopadhyay, A.; Karabatis, G.; Chen, Z.

2006-05-01

The urban environment is formed by complex interactions between natural and human dominated systems, the study of which requires the collection and analysis of very large datasets that span many disciplines. Recent advances in sensor technology and automated data collection have improved the ability to monitor urban environmental systems and are making the idea of an urban environmental observatory a reality. This in turn has created a number of potential challenges in data management and analysis. We present the design of an end-to-end system to store, analyze, and visualize data from a prototype urban environmental observatory based at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research site (BES LTER). We first present an object-relational design of an operational database to store high resolution spatial datasets as well as data from sensor networks, archived data from the BES LTER, data from external sources such as USGS NWIS, EPA Storet, and metadata. The second component of the system design includes a spatiotemporal data warehouse consisting of a data staging plan and a multidimensional data model designed for the spatiotemporal analysis of monitoring data. The system design also includes applications for multi-resolution exploratory data analysis, multi-resolution data mining, and spatiotemporal visualization based on the spatiotemporal data warehouse. Also the system design includes interfaces with water quality models such as HSPF, SWMM, and SWAT, and applications for real-time sensor network visualization, data discovery, data download, QA/QC, and backup and recovery, all of which are based on the operational database. The system design includes both internet and workstation-based interfaces. Finally we present the design of a laboratory for spatiotemporal analysis and visualization as well as real-time monitoring of the sensor network.

Ray-based approach to integrated 3D visual communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naemura, Takeshi; Harashima, Hiroshi

2001-02-01

For a high sense of reality in the next-generation communications, it is very important to realize three-dimensional (3D) spatial media, instead of existing 2D image media. In order to comprehensively deal with a variety of 3D visual data formats, the authors first introduce the concept of "Integrated 3D Visual Communication," which reflects the necessity of developing a neutral representation method independent of input/output systems. Then, the following discussions are concentrated on the ray-based approach to this concept, in which any visual sensation is considered to be derived from a set of light rays. This approach is a simple and straightforward to the problem of how to represent 3D space, which is an issue shared by various fields including 3D image communications, computer graphics, and virtual reality. This paper mainly presents the several developments in this approach, including some efficient methods of representing ray data, a real-time video-based rendering system, an interactive rendering system based on the integral photography, a concept of virtual object surface for the compression of tremendous amount of data, and a light ray capturing system using a telecentric lens. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

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.

Interactions between Visual Attention and Episodic Retrieval: Dissociable Contributions of Parietal Regions during Gist-Based False Recognition

PubMed Central

Guerin, Scott A.; Robbins, Clifford A.; Gilmore, Adrian W.; Schacter, Daniel L.

2012-01-01

SUMMARY The interaction between episodic retrieval and visual attention is relatively unexplored. Given that systems mediating attention and episodic memory appear to be segregated, and perhaps even in competition, it is unclear how visual attention is recruited during episodic retrieval. We investigated the recruitment of visual attention during the suppression of gist-based false recognition, the tendency to falsely recognize items that are similar to previously encountered items. Recruitment of visual attention was associated with activity in the dorsal attention network. The inferior parietal lobule, often implicated in episodic retrieval, tracked veridical retrieval of perceptual detail and showed reduced activity during the engagement of visual attention, consistent with a competitive relationship with the dorsal attention network. These findings suggest that the contribution of the parietal cortex to interactions between visual attention and episodic retrieval entails distinct systems that contribute to different components of the task while also suppressing each other. PMID:22998879

Molecular Dynamics Visualization (MDV): Stereoscopic 3D Display of Biomolecular Structure and Interactions Using the Unity Game Engine.

PubMed

Wiebrands, Michael; Malajczuk, Chris J; Woods, Andrew J; Rohl, Andrew L; Mancera, Ricardo L

2018-06-21

Molecular graphics systems are visualization tools which, upon integration into a 3D immersive environment, provide a unique virtual reality experience for research and teaching of biomolecular structure, function and interactions. We have developed a molecular structure and dynamics application, the Molecular Dynamics Visualization tool, that uses the Unity game engine combined with large scale, multi-user, stereoscopic visualization systems to deliver an immersive display experience, particularly with a large cylindrical projection display. The application is structured to separate the biomolecular modeling and visualization systems. The biomolecular model loading and analysis system was developed as a stand-alone C# library and provides the foundation for the custom visualization system built in Unity. All visual models displayed within the tool are generated using Unity-based procedural mesh building routines. A 3D user interface was built to allow seamless dynamic interaction with the model while being viewed in 3D space. Biomolecular structure analysis and display capabilities are exemplified with a range of complex systems involving cell membranes, protein folding and lipid droplets.

CPP-TRS(C): On using visual cognitive symbols to enhance communication effectiveness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tonfoni, Graziella

1994-01-01

Communicative Positioning Program/Text Representation Systems (CPP-TRS) is a visual language based on a system of 12 canvasses, 10 signals and 14 symbols. CPP-TRS is based on the fact that every communication action is the result of a set of cognitive processes and the whole system is based on the concept that you can enhance communication by visually perceiving text. With a simple syntax, CPP-TRS is capable of representing meaning and intention as well as communication functions visually. Those are precisely invisible aspects of natural language that are most relevant to getting the global meaning of a text. CPP-TRS reinforces natural language in human machine interaction systems. It complements natural language by adding certain important elements that are not represented by natural language by itself. These include communication intention and function of the text expressed by the sender, as well as the role the reader is supposed to play. The communication intention and function of a text and the reader's role are invisible in natural language because neither specific words nor punctuation conveys them sufficiently and unambiguously; they are therefore non-transparent.

Bionic Vision-Based Intelligent Power Line Inspection System

PubMed Central

Ma, Yunpeng; He, Feijia; Xu, Jinxin

2017-01-01

Detecting the threats of the external obstacles to the power lines can ensure the stability of the power system. Inspired by the attention mechanism and binocular vision of human visual system, an intelligent power line inspection system is presented in this paper. Human visual attention mechanism in this intelligent inspection system is used to detect and track power lines in image sequences according to the shape information of power lines, and the binocular visual model is used to calculate the 3D coordinate information of obstacles and power lines. In order to improve the real time and accuracy of the system, we propose a new matching strategy based on the traditional SURF algorithm. The experimental results show that the system is able to accurately locate the position of the obstacles around power lines automatically, and the designed power line inspection system is effective in complex backgrounds, and there are no missing detection instances under different conditions. PMID:28203269

Probe Scanning Support System by a Parallel Mechanism for Robotic Echography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Yusuke; Kaneko, Kenta; Oyamada, Masami; Takachi, Yuuki; Masuda, Kohji

We propose a probe scanning support system based on force/visual servoing control for robotic echography. First, we have designed and formulated its inverse kinematics the construction of mechanism. Next, we have developed a scanning method of the ultrasound probe on body surface to construct visual servo system based on acquired echogram by the standalone medical robot to move the ultrasound probe on patient abdomen in three-dimension. The visual servo system detects local change of brightness in time series echogram, which is stabilized the position of the probe by conventional force servo system in the robot, to compensate not only periodical respiration motion but also body motion. Then we integrated control method of the visual servo with the force servo as a hybrid control in both of position and force. To confirm the ability to apply for actual abdomen, we experimented the total system to follow the gallbladder as a moving target to keep its position in the echogram by minimizing variation of reaction force on abdomen. As the result, the system has a potential to be applied to automatic detection of human internal organ.

Repetitive element signature-based visualization, distance computation, and classification of 1766 microbial genomes.

PubMed

Lee, Kang-Hoon; Shin, Kyung-Seop; Lim, Debora; Kim, Woo-Chan; Chung, Byung Chang; Han, Gyu-Bum; Roh, Jeongkyu; Cho, Dong-Ho; Cho, Kiho

2015-07-01

The genomes of living organisms are populated with pleomorphic repetitive elements (REs) of varying densities. Our hypothesis that genomic RE landscapes are species/strain/individual-specific was implemented into the Genome Signature Imaging system to visualize and compute the RE-based signatures of any genome. Following the occurrence profiling of 5-nucleotide REs/words, the information from top-50 frequency words was transformed into a genome-specific signature and visualized as Genome Signature Images (GSIs), using a CMYK scheme. An algorithm for computing distances among GSIs was formulated using the GSIs' variables (word identity, frequency, and frequency order). The utility of the GSI-distance computation system was demonstrated with control genomes. GSI-based computation of genome-relatedness among 1766 microbes (117 archaea and 1649 bacteria) identified their clustering patterns; although the majority paralleled the established classification, some did not. The Genome Signature Imaging system, with its visualization and distance computation functions, enables genome-scale evolutionary studies involving numerous genomes with varying sizes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modeling of pilot's visual behavior for low-level flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulte, Axel; Onken, Reiner

1995-06-01

Developers of synthetic vision systems for low-level flight simulators deal with the problem to decide which features to incorporate in order to achieve most realistic training conditions. This paper supports an approach to this problem on the basis of modeling the pilot's visual behavior. This approach is founded upon the basic requirement that the pilot's mechanisms of visual perception should be identical in simulated and real low-level flight. Flight simulator experiments with pilots were conducted for knowledge acquisition. During the experiments video material of a real low-level flight mission containing different situations was displayed to the pilot who was acting under a realistic mission assignment in a laboratory environment. Pilot's eye movements could be measured during the replay. The visual mechanisms were divided into rule based strategies for visual navigation, based on the preflight planning process, as opposed to skill based processes. The paper results in a model of the pilot's planning strategy of a visual fixing routine as part of the navigation task. The model is a knowledge based system based upon the fuzzy evaluation of terrain features in order to determine the landmarks used by pilots. It can be shown that a computer implementation of the model selects those features, which were preferred by trained pilots, too.

VHP - An environment for the remote visualization of heuristic processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crawford, Stuart L.; Leiner, Barry M.

1991-01-01

A software system called VHP is introduced which permits the visualization of heuristic algorithms on both resident and remote hardware platforms. The VHP is based on the DCF tool for interprocess communication and is applicable to remote algorithms which can be on different types of hardware and in languages other than VHP. The VHP system is of particular interest to systems in which the visualization of remote processes is required such as robotics for telescience applications.

Patient-Clinician Encounter Information Modeling Through Web Based Intelligent 3D Visual Interface

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-09-01

system must allow immediate access to the lab data without the need to abort the evaluation process), and (5) must apply visual thinking principles. It... Systems Research, Incorporated For a period of five (5) years after completion of the project from which the data was generated, the Government’s rights...Report 3 Sigma Systems Research, Inc. List of Figures FIGURE 1. THE TWO MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE DEVELOPED MEDICAL DATA VISUALIZATION FRAMEWORK ..... 7

High resolution light-sheet based high-throughput imaging cytometry system enables visualization of intra-cellular organelles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regmi, Raju; Mohan, Kavya; Mondal, Partha Pratim

2014-09-01

Visualization of intracellular organelles is achieved using a newly developed high throughput imaging cytometry system. This system interrogates the microfluidic channel using a sheet of light rather than the existing point-based scanning techniques. The advantages of the developed system are many, including, single-shot scanning of specimens flowing through the microfluidic channel at flow rate ranging from micro- to nano- lit./min. Moreover, this opens-up in-vivo imaging of sub-cellular structures and simultaneous cell counting in an imaging cytometry system. We recorded a maximum count of 2400 cells/min at a flow-rate of 700 nl/min, and simultaneous visualization of fluorescently-labeled mitochondrial network in HeLa cells during flow. The developed imaging cytometry system may find immediate application in biotechnology, fluorescence microscopy and nano-medicine.

Feasibility and performance evaluation of generating and recording visual evoked potentials using ambulatory Bluetooth based system.

PubMed

Ellingson, Roger M; Oken, Barry

2010-01-01

Report contains the design overview and key performance measurements demonstrating the feasibility of generating and recording ambulatory visual stimulus evoked potentials using the previously reported custom Complementary and Alternative Medicine physiologic data collection and monitoring system, CAMAS. The methods used to generate visual stimuli on a PDA device and the design of an optical coupling device to convert the display to an electrical waveform which is recorded by the CAMAS base unit are presented. The optical sensor signal, synchronized to the visual stimulus emulates the brain's synchronized EEG signal input to CAMAS normally reviewed for the evoked potential response. Most importantly, the PDA also sends a marker message over the wireless Bluetooth connection to the CAMAS base unit synchronized to the visual stimulus which is the critical averaging reference component to obtain VEP results. Results show the variance in the latency of the wireless marker messaging link is consistent enough to support the generation and recording of visual evoked potentials. The averaged sensor waveforms at multiple CPU speeds are presented and demonstrate suitability of the Bluetooth interface for portable ambulatory visual evoked potential implementation on our CAMAS platform.

Chandelier: Picturing Potential

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tebbs, Trevor J.

2014-01-01

The author--artist, scientist, educator, and visual-spatial thinker--describes the genesis of, and provides insight into, an innovative, strength-based, visually dynamic computer-aided communication system called Chandelier©. This system is the powerful combination of a sophisticated, user-friendly software program and an organizational…

RGB-D SLAM Combining Visual Odometry and Extended Information Filter

PubMed Central

Zhang, Heng; Liu, Yanli; Tan, Jindong; Xiong, Naixue

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present a novel RGB-D SLAM system based on visual odometry and an extended information filter, which does not require any other sensors or odometry. In contrast to the graph optimization approaches, this is more suitable for online applications. A visual dead reckoning algorithm based on visual residuals is devised, which is used to estimate motion control input. In addition, we use a novel descriptor called binary robust appearance and normals descriptor (BRAND) to extract features from the RGB-D frame and use them as landmarks. Furthermore, considering both the 3D positions and the BRAND descriptors of the landmarks, our observation model avoids explicit data association between the observations and the map by marginalizing the observation likelihood over all possible associations. Experimental validation is provided, which compares the proposed RGB-D SLAM algorithm with just RGB-D visual odometry and a graph-based RGB-D SLAM algorithm using the publicly-available RGB-D dataset. The results of the experiments demonstrate that our system is quicker than the graph-based RGB-D SLAM algorithm. PMID:26263990

Simple Smartphone-Based Guiding System for Visually Impaired People

PubMed Central

Lin, Bor-Shing; Lee, Cheng-Che; Chiang, Pei-Ying

2017-01-01

Visually impaired people are often unaware of dangers in front of them, even in familiar environments. Furthermore, in unfamiliar environments, such people require guidance to reduce the risk of colliding with obstacles. This study proposes a simple smartphone-based guiding system for solving the navigation problems for visually impaired people and achieving obstacle avoidance to enable visually impaired people to travel smoothly from a beginning point to a destination with greater awareness of their surroundings. In this study, a computer image recognition system and smartphone application were integrated to form a simple assisted guiding system. Two operating modes, online mode and offline mode, can be chosen depending on network availability. When the system begins to operate, the smartphone captures the scene in front of the user and sends the captured images to the backend server to be processed. The backend server uses the faster region convolutional neural network algorithm or the you only look once algorithm to recognize multiple obstacles in every image, and it subsequently sends the results back to the smartphone. The results of obstacle recognition in this study reached 60%, which is sufficient for assisting visually impaired people in realizing the types and locations of obstacles around them. PMID:28608811

Simple Smartphone-Based Guiding System for Visually Impaired People.

PubMed

Lin, Bor-Shing; Lee, Cheng-Che; Chiang, Pei-Ying

2017-06-13

Visually impaired people are often unaware of dangers in front of them, even in familiar environments. Furthermore, in unfamiliar environments, such people require guidance to reduce the risk of colliding with obstacles. This study proposes a simple smartphone-based guiding system for solving the navigation problems for visually impaired people and achieving obstacle avoidance to enable visually impaired people to travel smoothly from a beginning point to a destination with greater awareness of their surroundings. In this study, a computer image recognition system and smartphone application were integrated to form a simple assisted guiding system. Two operating modes, online mode and offline mode, can be chosen depending on network availability. When the system begins to operate, the smartphone captures the scene in front of the user and sends the captured images to the backend server to be processed. The backend server uses the faster region convolutional neural network algorithm or the you only look once algorithm to recognize multiple obstacles in every image, and it subsequently sends the results back to the smartphone. The results of obstacle recognition in this study reached 60%, which is sufficient for assisting visually impaired people in realizing the types and locations of obstacles around them.

Fiber-optic-based laser vapor screen flow visualization system for aerodynamic research in larger scale subsonic and transonic wind tunnels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Gary E.; Inenaga, Andrew S.

1994-01-01

Laser vapor screen (LVS) flow visualization systems that are fiber-optic based were developed and installed for aerodynamic research in the Langley 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel and the Langley 7- by 10-Foot High Speed Tunnel. Fiber optics are used to deliver the laser beam through the plenum shell that surrounds the test section of each facility and to the light-sheet-generating optics positioned in the ceiling window of the test section. Water is injected into the wind tunnel diffuser section to increase the relative humidity and promote condensation of the water vapor in the flow field about the model. The condensed water vapor is then illuminated with an intense sheet of laser light to reveal features of the flow field. The plenum shells are optically sealed; therefore, video-based systems are used to observe and document the flow field. Operational experience shows that the fiber-optic-based systems provide safe, reliable, and high-quality off-surface flow visualization in smaller and larger scale subsonic and transonic wind tunnels. The design, the installation, and the application of the Langley Research Center (LaRC) LVS flow visualization systems in larger scale wind tunnels are highlighted. The efficiency of the fiber optic LVS systems and their insensitivity to wind tunnel vibration, the tunnel operating temperature and pressure variations, and the airborne contaminants are discussed.

Cognitive processing in the primary visual cortex: from perception to memory.

PubMed

Supèr, Hans

2002-01-01

The primary visual cortex is the first cortical area of the visual system that receives information from the external visual world. Based on the receptive field characteristics of the neurons in this area, it has been assumed that the primary visual cortex is a pure sensory area extracting basic elements of the visual scene. This information is then subsequently further processed upstream in the higher-order visual areas and provides us with perception and storage of the visual environment. However, recent findings show that such neural implementations are observed in the primary visual cortex. These neural correlates are expressed by the modulated activity of the late response of a neuron to a stimulus, and most likely depend on recurrent interactions between several areas of the visual system. This favors the concept of a distributed nature of visual processing in perceptual organization.

Visual Analysis of Cloud Computing Performance Using Behavioral Lines.

PubMed

Muelder, Chris; Zhu, Biao; Chen, Wei; Zhang, Hongxin; Ma, Kwan-Liu

2016-02-29

Cloud computing is an essential technology to Big Data analytics and services. A cloud computing system is often comprised of a large number of parallel computing and storage devices. Monitoring the usage and performance of such a system is important for efficient operations, maintenance, and security. Tracing every application on a large cloud system is untenable due to scale and privacy issues. But profile data can be collected relatively efficiently by regularly sampling the state of the system, including properties such as CPU load, memory usage, network usage, and others, creating a set of multivariate time series for each system. Adequate tools for studying such large-scale, multidimensional data are lacking. In this paper, we present a visual based analysis approach to understanding and analyzing the performance and behavior of cloud computing systems. Our design is based on similarity measures and a layout method to portray the behavior of each compute node over time. When visualizing a large number of behavioral lines together, distinct patterns often appear suggesting particular types of performance bottleneck. The resulting system provides multiple linked views, which allow the user to interactively explore the data by examining the data or a selected subset at different levels of detail. Our case studies, which use datasets collected from two different cloud systems, show that this visual based approach is effective in identifying trends and anomalies of the systems.

Multi-Mission Simulation and Visualization for Real-Time Telemetry Display, Playback and EDL Event Reconstruction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pomerantz, M. I.; Lim, C.; Myint, S.; Woodward, G.; Balaram, J.; Kuo, C.

2012-01-01

he Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Reconstruction Task has developed a software system that provides mission operations personnel and analysts with a real time telemetry-based live display, playback and post-EDL reconstruction capability that leverages the existing high-fidelity, physics-based simulation framework and modern game engine-derived 3D visualization system developed in the JPL Dynamics and Real Time Simulation (DARTS) Lab. Developed as a multi-mission solution, the EDL Telemetry Visualization (ETV) system has been used for a variety of projects including NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), NASA'S Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) and JPL's MoonRise Lunar sample return proposal.

DVV: a taxonomy for mixed reality visualization in image guided surgery.

PubMed

Kersten-Oertel, Marta; Jannin, Pierre; Collins, D Louis

2012-02-01

Mixed reality visualizations are increasingly studied for use in image guided surgery (IGS) systems, yet few mixed reality systems have been introduced for daily use into the operating room (OR). This may be the result of several factors: the systems are developed from a technical perspective, are rarely evaluated in the field, and/or lack consideration of the end user and the constraints of the OR. We introduce the Data, Visualization processing, View (DVV) taxonomy which defines each of the major components required to implement a mixed reality IGS system. We propose that these components be considered and used as validation criteria for introducing a mixed reality IGS system into the OR. A taxonomy of IGS visualization systems is a step toward developing a common language that will help developers and end users discuss and understand the constituents of a mixed reality visualization system, facilitating a greater presence of future systems in the OR. We evaluate the DVV taxonomy based on its goodness of fit and completeness. We demonstrate the utility of the DVV taxonomy by classifying 17 state-of-the-art research papers in the domain of mixed reality visualization IGS systems. Our classification shows that few IGS visualization systems' components have been validated and even fewer are evaluated.

Five-dimensional ultrasound system for soft tissue visualization.

PubMed

Deshmukh, Nishikant P; Caban, Jesus J; Taylor, Russell H; Hager, Gregory D; Boctor, Emad M

2015-12-01

A five-dimensional ultrasound (US) system is proposed as a real-time pipeline involving fusion of 3D B-mode data with the 3D ultrasound elastography (USE) data as well as visualization of these fused data and a real-time update capability over time for each consecutive scan. 3D B-mode data assist in visualizing the anatomy of the target organ, and 3D elastography data adds strain information. We investigate the feasibility of such a system and show that an end-to-end real-time system, from acquisition to visualization, can be developed. We present a system that consists of (a) a real-time 3D elastography algorithm based on a normalized cross-correlation (NCC) computation on a GPU; (b) real-time 3D B-mode acquisition and network transfer; (c) scan conversion of 3D elastography and B-mode volumes (if acquired by 4D wobbler probe); and (d) visualization software that fuses, visualizes, and updates 3D B-mode and 3D elastography data in real time. We achieved a speed improvement of 4.45-fold for the threaded version of the NCC-based 3D USE versus the non-threaded version. The maximum speed was 79 volumes/s for 3D scan conversion. In a phantom, we validated the dimensions of a 2.2-cm-diameter sphere scan-converted to B-mode volume. Also, we validated the 5D US system visualization transfer function and detected 1- and 2-cm spherical objects (phantom lesion). Finally, we applied the system to a phantom consisting of three lesions to delineate the lesions from the surrounding background regions of the phantom. A 5D US system is achievable with real-time performance. We can distinguish between hard and soft areas in a phantom using the transfer functions.

On the Measurement and Visualization of Analysis Activity: A Study of Successful Strategies for Web-Based Information Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zelik, Daniel J.

2012-01-01

Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) has a history built, in part, on leveraging representational design to improve system performance. Traditionally, however, CSE has focused on visual representation of "monitored" processes--active, ongoing, and interconnected activities occurring in a system of interest and monitored by human…

Visual color matching system based on RGB LED light source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Lei; Huang, Qingmei; Feng, Chen; Li, Wei; Wang, Chaofeng

2018-01-01

In order to study the property and performance of LED as RGB primary color light sources on color mixture in visual psychophysical experiments, and to find out the difference between LED light source and traditional light source, a visual color matching experiment system based on LED light sources as RGB primary colors has been built. By simulating traditional experiment of metameric color matching in CIE 1931 RGB color system, it can be used for visual color matching experiments to obtain a set of the spectral tristimulus values which we often call color-matching functions (CMFs). This system consists of three parts: a monochromatic light part using blazed grating, a light mixing part where the summation of 3 LED illuminations are to be visually matched with a monochromatic illumination, and a visual observation part. The three narrow band LEDs used have dominant wavelengths of 640 nm (red), 522 nm (green) and 458 nm (blue) respectively and their intensities can be controlled independently. After the calibration of wavelength and luminance of LED sources with a spectrophotometer, a series of visual color matching experiments have been carried out by 5 observers. The results are compared with those from CIE 1931 RGB color system, and have been used to compute an average locus for the spectral colors in the color triangle, with white at the center. It has been shown that the use of LED is feasible and has the advantages of easy control, good stability and low cost.

VisFlow - Web-based Visualization Framework for Tabular Data with a Subset Flow Model.

PubMed

Yu, Bowen; Silva, Claudio T

2017-01-01

Data flow systems allow the user to design a flow diagram that specifies the relations between system components which process, filter or visually present the data. Visualization systems may benefit from user-defined data flows as an analysis typically consists of rendering multiple plots on demand and performing different types of interactive queries across coordinated views. In this paper, we propose VisFlow, a web-based visualization framework for tabular data that employs a specific type of data flow model called the subset flow model. VisFlow focuses on interactive queries within the data flow, overcoming the limitation of interactivity from past computational data flow systems. In particular, VisFlow applies embedded visualizations and supports interactive selections, brushing and linking within a visualization-oriented data flow. The model requires all data transmitted by the flow to be a data item subset (i.e. groups of table rows) of some original input table, so that rendering properties can be assigned to the subset unambiguously for tracking and comparison. VisFlow features the analysis flexibility of a flow diagram, and at the same time reduces the diagram complexity and improves usability. We demonstrate the capability of VisFlow on two case studies with domain experts on real-world datasets showing that VisFlow is capable of accomplishing a considerable set of visualization and analysis tasks. The VisFlow system is available as open source on GitHub.

RAVE: Rapid Visualization Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpar, D. M.; Anderson, Kevin; Simoudis, Avangelos

1994-01-01

Visualization is used in the process of analyzing large, multidimensional data sets. However, the selection and creation of visualizations that are appropriate for the characteristics of a particular data set and the satisfaction of the analyst's goals is difficult. The process consists of three tasks that are performed iteratively: generate, test, and refine. The performance of these tasks requires the utilization of several types of domain knowledge that data analysts do not often have. Existing visualization systems and frameworks do not adequately support the performance of these tasks. In this paper we present the RApid Visualization Environment (RAVE), a knowledge-based system that interfaces with commercial visualization frameworks and assists a data analyst in quickly and easily generating, testing, and refining visualizations. RAVE was used for the visualization of in situ measurement data captured by spacecraft.

CLFs-based optimization control for a class of constrained visual servoing systems.

PubMed

Song, Xiulan; Miaomiao, Fu

2017-03-01

In this paper, we use the control Lyapunov function (CLF) technique to present an optimized visual servo control method for constrained eye-in-hand robot visual servoing systems. With the knowledge of camera intrinsic parameters and depth of target changes, visual servo control laws (i.e. translation speed) with adjustable parameters are derived by image point features and some known CLF of the visual servoing system. The Fibonacci method is employed to online compute the optimal value of those adjustable parameters, which yields an optimized control law to satisfy constraints of the visual servoing system. The Lyapunov's theorem and the properties of CLF are used to establish stability of the constrained visual servoing system in the closed-loop with the optimized control law. One merit of the presented method is that there is no requirement of online calculating the pseudo-inverse of the image Jacobian's matrix and the homography matrix. Simulation and experimental results illustrated the effectiveness of the method proposed here. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Approach of Web-based Point Cloud Visualization without Plug-in

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Mengxuan; Wei, Shuangfeng; Zhang, Dongmei

2016-11-01

With the advances in three-dimensional laser scanning technology, the demand for visualization of massive point cloud is increasingly urgent, but a few years ago point cloud visualization was limited to desktop-based solutions until the introduction of WebGL, several web renderers are available. This paper addressed the current issues in web-based point cloud visualization, and proposed a method of web-based point cloud visualization without plug-in. The method combines ASP.NET and WebGL technologies, using the spatial database PostgreSQL to store data and the open web technologies HTML5 and CSS3 to implement the user interface, a visualization system online for 3D point cloud is developed by Javascript with the web interactions. Finally, the method is applied to the real case. Experiment proves that the new model is of great practical value which avoids the shortcoming of the existing WebGIS solutions.

Adaptive optics vision simulation and perceptual learning system based on a 35-element bimorph deformable mirror.

PubMed

Dai, Yun; Zhao, Lina; Xiao, Fei; Zhao, Haoxin; Bao, Hua; Zhou, Hong; Zhou, Yifeng; Zhang, Yudong

2015-02-10

An adaptive optics visual simulation combined with a perceptual learning (PL) system based on a 35-element bimorph deformable mirror (DM) was established. The larger stroke and smaller size of the bimorph DM made the system have larger aberration correction or superposition ability and be more compact. By simply modifying the control matrix or the reference matrix, select correction or superposition of aberrations was realized in real time similar to a conventional adaptive optics closed-loop correction. PL function was first integrated in addition to conventional adaptive optics visual simulation. PL training undertaken with high-order aberrations correction obviously improved the visual function of adult anisometropic amblyopia. The preliminary application of high-order aberrations correction with PL training on amblyopia treatment was being validated with a large scale population, which might have great potential in amblyopia treatment and visual performance maintenance.

Health-Terrain: Visualizing Large Scale Health Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

systems can only be realized if the quality of emerging large medical databases can be characterized and the meaning of the data understood. For this...Designed and tested an evaluation procedure for health data visualization system. This visualization framework offers a real time and web-based solution...rule is shown in the table, with the quality measures of each rule including the support, confidence, Laplace, Gain, p-s, lift and Conviction. We

Visual System Involvement in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Parkinson Disease.

PubMed

Arrigo, Alessandro; Calamuneri, Alessandro; Milardi, Demetrio; Mormina, Enricomaria; Rania, Laura; Postorino, Elisa; Marino, Silvia; Di Lorenzo, Giuseppe; Anastasi, Giuseppe Pio; Ghilardi, Maria Felice; Aragona, Pasquale; Quartarone, Angelo; Gaeta, Michele

2017-12-01

Purpose To assess intracranial visual system changes of newly diagnosed Parkinson disease in drug-naïve patients. Materials and Methods Twenty patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease and 20 age-matched control subjects were recruited. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging) was performed with a 3-T MR imager. White matter changes were assessed by exploring a white matter diffusion profile by means of diffusion-tensor imaging-based parameters and constrained spherical deconvolution-based connectivity analysis and by means of white matter voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Alterations in occipital gray matter were investigated by means of gray matter VBM. Morphologic analysis of the optic chiasm was based on manual measurement of regions of interest. Statistical testing included analysis of variance, t tests, and permutation tests. Results In the patients with Parkinson disease, significant alterations were found in optic radiation connectivity distribution, with decreased lateral geniculate nucleus V2 density (F, -8.28; P < .05), a significant increase in optic radiation mean diffusivity (F, 7.5; P = .014), and a significant reduction in white matter concentration. VBM analysis also showed a significant reduction in visual cortical volumes (P < .05). Moreover, the chiasmatic area and volume were significantly reduced (P < .05). Conclusion The findings show that visual system alterations can be detected in early stages of Parkinson disease and that the entire intracranial visual system can be involved. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Flight simulator with spaced visuals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gilson, Richard D. (Inventor); Thurston, Marlin O. (Inventor); Olson, Karl W. (Inventor); Ventola, Ronald W. (Inventor)

1980-01-01

A flight simulator arrangement wherein a conventional, movable base flight trainer is combined with a visual cue display surface spaced a predetermined distance from an eye position within the trainer. Thus, three degrees of motive freedom (roll, pitch and crab) are provided for a visual proprioceptive, and vestibular cue system by the trainer while the remaining geometric visual cue image alterations are developed by a video system. A geometric approach to computing runway image eliminates a need to electronically compute trigonometric functions, while utilization of a line generator and designated vanishing point at the video system raster permits facile development of the images of the longitudinal edges of the runway.

Design of an Eye Limiting Resolution Visual System Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sweet, Barbara T.; Giovannetti, Dean P.

2008-01-01

A feasibility study was conducted to determine if a flight simulator with an eye-limiting resolution out-the-window (OTW) visual system could be built using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology and used to evaluate the visual performance of Air Force pilots in an operations context. Results of this study demonstrate that an eye limiting OTW visual system can be built using COTS technology. Further, a series of operationally-based tasks linked to clinical vision tests can be used within the synthetic environment to demonstrate a correlation and quantify the level of correlation between vision and operational aviation performance.

Computer systems and methods for the query and visualization multidimensional databases

DOEpatents

Stolte, Chris; Tang, Diane L.; Hanrahan, Patrick

2017-04-25

A method of generating a data visualization is performed at a computer having a display, one or more processors, and memory. The memory stores one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors. The process receives user specification of a plurality of characteristics of a data visualization. The data visualization is based on data from a multidimensional database. The characteristics specify at least x-position and y-position of data marks corresponding to tuples of data retrieved from the database. The process generates a data visualization according to the specified plurality of characteristics. The data visualization has an x-axis defined based on data for one or more first fields from the database that specify x-position of the data marks and the data visualization has a y-axis defined based on data for one or more second fields from the database that specify y-position of the data marks.

Visual attention capacity: a review of TVA-based patient studies.

PubMed

Habekost, Thomas; Starrfelt, Randi

2009-02-01

Psychophysical studies have identified two distinct limitations of visual attention capacity: processing speed and apprehension span. Using a simple test, these cognitive factors can be analyzed by Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention (TVA). The method has strong specificity and sensitivity, and measurements are highly reliable. As the method is theoretically founded, it also has high validity. TVA-based assessment has recently been used to investigate a broad range of neuropsychological and neurological conditions. We present the method, including the experimental paradigm and practical guidelines to patient testing, and review existing TVA-based patient studies organized by lesion anatomy. Lesions in three anatomical regions affect visual capacity: The parietal lobes, frontal cortex and basal ganglia, and extrastriate cortex. Visual capacity thus depends on large, bilaterally distributed anatomical networks that include several regions outside the visual system. The two visual capacity parameters are functionally separable, but seem to rely on largely overlapping brain areas.

VisGets: coordinated visualizations for web-based information exploration and discovery.

PubMed

Dörk, Marian; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Collins, Christopher; Williamson, Carey

2008-01-01

In common Web-based search interfaces, it can be difficult to formulate queries that simultaneously combine temporal, spatial, and topical data filters. We investigate how coordinated visualizations can enhance search and exploration of information on the World Wide Web by easing the formulation of these types of queries. Drawing from visual information seeking and exploratory search, we introduce VisGets--interactive query visualizations of Web-based information that operate with online information within a Web browser. VisGets provide the information seeker with visual overviews of Web resources and offer a way to visually filter the data. Our goal is to facilitate the construction of dynamic search queries that combine filters from more than one data dimension. We present a prototype information exploration system featuring three linked VisGets (temporal, spatial, and topical), and used it to visually explore news items from online RSS feeds.

Power Grid Maintenance Scheduling Intelligence Arrangement Supporting System Based on Power Flow Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Chang; Wen, Jing; Liu, Wenying; Wang, Jiaming

With the development of intelligent dispatching, the intelligence level of network control center full-service urgent need to raise. As an important daily work of network control center, the application of maintenance scheduling intelligent arrangement to achieve high-quality and safety operation of power grid is very important. By analyzing the shortages of the traditional maintenance scheduling software, this paper designs a power grid maintenance scheduling intelligence arrangement supporting system based on power flow forecasting, which uses the advanced technologies in maintenance scheduling, such as artificial intelligence, online security checking, intelligent visualization techniques. It implements the online security checking of maintenance scheduling based on power flow forecasting and power flow adjusting based on visualization, in order to make the maintenance scheduling arrangement moreintelligent and visual.

An optimized web-based approach for collaborative stereoscopic medical visualization

PubMed Central

Kaspar, Mathias; Parsad, Nigel M; Silverstein, Jonathan C

2013-01-01

Objective Medical visualization tools have traditionally been constrained to tethered imaging workstations or proprietary client viewers, typically part of hospital radiology systems. To improve accessibility to real-time, remote, interactive, stereoscopic visualization and to enable collaboration among multiple viewing locations, we developed an open source approach requiring only a standard web browser with no added client-side software. Materials and Methods Our collaborative, web-based, stereoscopic, visualization system, CoWebViz, has been used successfully for the past 2 years at the University of Chicago to teach immersive virtual anatomy classes. It is a server application that streams server-side visualization applications to client front-ends, comprised solely of a standard web browser with no added software. Results We describe optimization considerations, usability, and performance results, which make CoWebViz practical for broad clinical use. We clarify technical advances including: enhanced threaded architecture, optimized visualization distribution algorithms, a wide range of supported stereoscopic presentation technologies, and the salient theoretical and empirical network parameters that affect our web-based visualization approach. Discussion The implementations demonstrate usability and performance benefits of a simple web-based approach for complex clinical visualization scenarios. Using this approach overcomes technical challenges that require third-party web browser plug-ins, resulting in the most lightweight client. Conclusions Compared to special software and hardware deployments, unmodified web browsers enhance remote user accessibility to interactive medical visualization. Whereas local hardware and software deployments may provide better interactivity than remote applications, our implementation demonstrates that a simplified, stable, client approach using standard web browsers is sufficient for high quality three-dimensional, stereoscopic, collaborative and interactive visualization. PMID:23048008

Interaction Junk: User Interaction-Based Evaluation of Visual Analytic Systems

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

Endert, Alexander; North, Chris

2012-10-14

With the growing need for visualization to aid users in understanding large, complex datasets, the ability for users to interact and explore these datasets is critical. As visual analytic systems have advanced to leverage powerful computational models and data analytics capabilities, the modes by which users engage and interact with the information are limited. Often, users are taxed with directly manipulating parameters of these models through traditional GUIs (e.g., using sliders to directly manipulate the value of a parameter). However, the purpose of user interaction in visual analytic systems is to enable visual data exploration – where users can focusmore » on their task, as opposed to the tool or system. As a result, users can engage freely in data exploration and decision-making, for the purpose of gaining insight. In this position paper, we discuss how evaluating visual analytic systems can be approached through user interaction analysis, where the goal is to minimize the cognitive translation between the visual metaphor and the mode of interaction (i.e., reducing the “Interactionjunk”). We motivate this concept through a discussion of traditional GUIs used in visual analytics for direct manipulation of model parameters, and the importance of designing interactions the support visual data exploration.« less

fMRI mapping of the visual system in the mouse brain with interleaved snapshot GE-EPI.

PubMed

Niranjan, Arun; Christie, Isabel N; Solomon, Samuel G; Wells, Jack A; Lythgoe, Mark F

2016-10-01

The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in mice is increasingly prevalent, providing a means to non-invasively characterise functional abnormalities associated with genetic models of human diseases. The predominant stimulus used in task-based fMRI in the mouse is electrical stimulation of the paw. Task-based fMRI in mice using visual stimuli remains underexplored, despite visual stimuli being common in human fMRI studies. In this study, we map the mouse brain visual system with BOLD measurements at 9.4T using flashing light stimuli with medetomidine anaesthesia. BOLD responses were observed in the lateral geniculate nucleus, the superior colliculus and the primary visual area of the cortex, and were modulated by the flashing frequency, diffuse vs focussed light and stimulus context. Negative BOLD responses were measured in the visual cortex at 10Hz flashing frequency; but turned positive below 5Hz. In addition, the use of interleaved snapshot GE-EPI improved fMRI image quality without diminishing the temporal contrast-noise-ratio. Taken together, this work demonstrates a novel methodological protocol in which the mouse brain visual system can be non-invasively investigated using BOLD fMRI. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Complete scanpaths analysis toolbox.

PubMed

Augustyniak, Piotr; Mikrut, Zbigniew

2006-01-01

This paper presents a complete open software environment for control, data processing and assessment of visual experiments. Visual experiments are widely used in research on human perception physiology and the results are applicable to various visual information-based man-machine interfacing, human-emulated automatic visual systems or scanpath-based learning of perceptual habits. The toolbox is designed for Matlab platform and supports infra-red reflection-based eyetracker in calibration and scanpath analysis modes. Toolbox procedures are organized in three layers: the lower one, communicating with the eyetracker output file, the middle detecting scanpath events on a physiological background and the one upper consisting of experiment schedule scripts, statistics and summaries. Several examples of visual experiments carried out with use of the presented toolbox complete the paper.

Using Auditory Cues to Perceptually Extract Visual Data in Collaborative, Immersive Big-Data Display Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Wendy

The advent of multisensory display systems, such as virtual and augmented reality, has fostered a new relationship between humans and space. Not only can these systems mimic real-world environments, they have the ability to create a new space typology made solely of data. In these spaces, two-dimensional information is displayed in three dimensions, requiring human senses to be used to understand virtual, attention-based elements. Studies in the field of big data have predominately focused on visual representations and extractions of information with little focus on sounds. The goal of this research is to evaluate the most efficient methods of perceptually extracting visual data using auditory stimuli in immersive environments. Using Rensselaer's CRAIVE-Lab, a virtual reality space with 360-degree panorama visuals and an array of 128 loudspeakers, participants were asked questions based on complex visual displays using a variety of auditory cues ranging from sine tones to camera shutter sounds. Analysis of the speed and accuracy of participant responses revealed that auditory cues that were more favorable for localization and were positively perceived were best for data extraction and could help create more user-friendly systems in the future.

Semantic extraction and processing of medical records for patient-oriented visual index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Weilin; Dong, Wenjie; Chen, Xiangjiao; Zhang, Jianguo

2012-02-01

To have comprehensive and completed understanding healthcare status of a patient, doctors need to search patient medical records from different healthcare information systems, such as PACS, RIS, HIS, USIS, as a reference of diagnosis and treatment decisions for the patient. However, it is time-consuming and tedious to do these procedures. In order to solve this kind of problems, we developed a patient-oriented visual index system (VIS) to use the visual technology to show health status and to retrieve the patients' examination information stored in each system with a 3D human model. In this presentation, we present a new approach about how to extract the semantic and characteristic information from the medical record systems such as RIS/USIS to create the 3D Visual Index. This approach includes following steps: (1) Building a medical characteristic semantic knowledge base; (2) Developing natural language processing (NLP) engine to perform semantic analysis and logical judgment on text-based medical records; (3) Applying the knowledge base and NLP engine on medical records to extract medical characteristics (e.g., the positive focus information), and then mapping extracted information to related organ/parts of 3D human model to create the visual index. We performed the testing procedures on 559 samples of radiological reports which include 853 focuses, and achieved 828 focuses' information. The successful rate of focus extraction is about 97.1%.

Performance enhancement for audio-visual speaker identification using dynamic facial muscle model.

PubMed

Asadpour, Vahid; Towhidkhah, Farzad; Homayounpour, Mohammad Mehdi

2006-10-01

Science of human identification using physiological characteristics or biometry has been of great concern in security systems. However, robust multimodal identification systems based on audio-visual information has not been thoroughly investigated yet. Therefore, the aim of this work to propose a model-based feature extraction method which employs physiological characteristics of facial muscles producing lip movements. This approach adopts the intrinsic properties of muscles such as viscosity, elasticity, and mass which are extracted from the dynamic lip model. These parameters are exclusively dependent on the neuro-muscular properties of speaker; consequently, imitation of valid speakers could be reduced to a large extent. These parameters are applied to a hidden Markov model (HMM) audio-visual identification system. In this work, a combination of audio and video features has been employed by adopting a multistream pseudo-synchronized HMM training method. Noise robust audio features such as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), spectral subtraction (SS), and relative spectra perceptual linear prediction (J-RASTA-PLP) have been used to evaluate the performance of the multimodal system once efficient audio feature extraction methods have been utilized. The superior performance of the proposed system is demonstrated on a large multispeaker database of continuously spoken digits, along with a sentence that is phonetically rich. To evaluate the robustness of algorithms, some experiments were performed on genetically identical twins. Furthermore, changes in speaker voice were simulated with drug inhalation tests. In 3 dB signal to noise ratio (SNR), the dynamic muscle model improved the identification rate of the audio-visual system from 91 to 98%. Results on identical twins revealed that there was an apparent improvement on the performance for the dynamic muscle model-based system, in which the identification rate of the audio-visual system was enhanced from 87 to 96%.

Widespread correlation patterns of fMRI signal across visual cortex reflect eccentricity organization.

PubMed

Arcaro, Michael J; Honey, Christopher J; Mruczek, Ryan E B; Kastner, Sabine; Hasson, Uri

2015-02-19

The human visual system can be divided into over two-dozen distinct areas, each of which contains a topographic map of the visual field. A fundamental question in vision neuroscience is how the visual system integrates information from the environment across different areas. Using neuroimaging, we investigated the spatial pattern of correlated BOLD signal across eight visual areas on data collected during rest conditions and during naturalistic movie viewing. The correlation pattern between areas reflected the underlying receptive field organization with higher correlations between cortical sites containing overlapping representations of visual space. In addition, the correlation pattern reflected the underlying widespread eccentricity organization of visual cortex, in which the highest correlations were observed for cortical sites with iso-eccentricity representations including regions with non-overlapping representations of visual space. This eccentricity-based correlation pattern appears to be part of an intrinsic functional architecture that supports the integration of information across functionally specialized visual areas.

Development of Visualization of Learning Outcomes Using Curriculum Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ikuta, Takashi; Gotoh, Yasushi

2012-01-01

Niigata University has started to develop the Niigata University Bachelor Assessment System (NBAS). The objective is to have groups of teachers belonging to educational programs discuss whether visualized learning outcomes are comprehensible. Discussions based on teachers' subjective judgments showed in general that visualized learning outcomes…

DataHub knowledge based assistance for science visualization and analysis using large distributed databases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.; Collins, Donald J.; Doyle, Richard J.; Jacobson, Allan S.

1991-01-01

Viewgraphs on DataHub knowledge based assistance for science visualization and analysis using large distributed databases. Topics covered include: DataHub functional architecture; data representation; logical access methods; preliminary software architecture; LinkWinds; data knowledge issues; expert systems; and data management.

A 3D particle visualization system for temperature management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, B.; Rodriguez, N.; Puech, W.; Rey, H.; Vasques, X.

2011-01-01

This paper deals with a 3D visualization technique proposed to analyze and manage energy efficiency from a data center. Data are extracted from sensors located in the IBM Green Data Center in Montpellier France. These sensors measure different information such as hygrometry, pressure and temperature. We want to visualize in real-time the large among of data produced by these sensors. A visualization engine has been designed, based on particles system and a client server paradigm. In order to solve performance problems, a Level Of Detail solution has been developed. These methods are based on the earlier work introduced by J. Clark in 1976. In this paper we introduce a particle method used for this work and subsequently we explain different simplification methods applied to improve our solution.

Lesion classification using clinical and visual data fusion by multiple kernel learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kisilev, Pavel; Hashoul, Sharbell; Walach, Eugene; Tzadok, Asaf

2014-03-01

To overcome operator dependency and to increase diagnosis accuracy in breast ultrasound (US), a lot of effort has been devoted to developing computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems for breast cancer detection and classification. Unfortunately, the efficacy of such CAD systems is limited since they rely on correct automatic lesions detection and localization, and on robustness of features computed based on the detected areas. In this paper we propose a new approach to boost the performance of a Machine Learning based CAD system, by combining visual and clinical data from patient files. We compute a set of visual features from breast ultrasound images, and construct the textual descriptor of patients by extracting relevant keywords from patients' clinical data files. We then use the Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) framework to train SVM based classifier to discriminate between benign and malignant cases. We investigate different types of data fusion methods, namely, early, late, and intermediate (MKL-based) fusion. Our database consists of 408 patient cases, each containing US images, textual description of complaints and symptoms filled by physicians, and confirmed diagnoses. We show experimentally that the proposed MKL-based approach is superior to other classification methods. Even though the clinical data is very sparse and noisy, its MKL-based fusion with visual features yields significant improvement of the classification accuracy, as compared to the image features only based classifier.

Learning semantic and visual similarity for endomicroscopy video retrieval.

PubMed

Andre, Barbara; Vercauteren, Tom; Buchner, Anna M; Wallace, Michael B; Ayache, Nicholas

2012-06-01

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is a valuable computer vision technique which is increasingly being applied in the medical community for diagnosis support. However, traditional CBIR systems only deliver visual outputs, i.e., images having a similar appearance to the query, which is not directly interpretable by the physicians. Our objective is to provide a system for endomicroscopy video retrieval which delivers both visual and semantic outputs that are consistent with each other. In a previous study, we developed an adapted bag-of-visual-words method for endomicroscopy retrieval, called "Dense-Sift," that computes a visual signature for each video. In this paper, we present a novel approach to complement visual similarity learning with semantic knowledge extraction, in the field of in vivo endomicroscopy. We first leverage a semantic ground truth based on eight binary concepts, in order to transform these visual signatures into semantic signatures that reflect how much the presence of each semantic concept is expressed by the visual words describing the videos. Using cross-validation, we demonstrate that, in terms of semantic detection, our intuitive Fisher-based method transforming visual-word histograms into semantic estimations outperforms support vector machine (SVM) methods with statistical significance. In a second step, we propose to improve retrieval relevance by learning an adjusted similarity distance from a perceived similarity ground truth. As a result, our distance learning method allows to statistically improve the correlation with the perceived similarity. We also demonstrate that, in terms of perceived similarity, the recall performance of the semantic signatures is close to that of visual signatures and significantly better than those of several state-of-the-art CBIR methods. The semantic signatures are thus able to communicate high-level medical knowledge while being consistent with the low-level visual signatures and much shorter than them. In our resulting retrieval system, we decide to use visual signatures for perceived similarity learning and retrieval, and semantic signatures for the output of an additional information, expressed in the endoscopist own language, which provides a relevant semantic translation of the visual retrieval outputs.

Cooperative Monocular-Based SLAM for Multi-UAV Systems in GPS-Denied Environments †

PubMed Central

Guerra, Edmundo

2018-01-01

This work presents a cooperative monocular-based SLAM approach for multi-UAV systems that can operate in GPS-denied environments. The main contribution of the work is to show that, using visual information obtained from monocular cameras mounted onboard aerial vehicles flying in formation, the observability properties of the whole system are improved. This fact is especially notorious when compared with other related visual SLAM configurations. In order to improve the observability properties, some measurements of the relative distance between the UAVs are included in the system. These relative distances are also obtained from visual information. The proposed approach is theoretically validated by means of a nonlinear observability analysis. Furthermore, an extensive set of computer simulations is presented in order to validate the proposed approach. The numerical simulation results show that the proposed system is able to provide a good position and orientation estimation of the aerial vehicles flying in formation. PMID:29701722

Hadoop-based implementation of processing medical diagnostic records for visual patient system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yuanyuan; Shi, Liehang; Xie, Zhe; Zhang, Jianguo

2018-03-01

We have innovatively introduced Visual Patient (VP) concept and method visually to represent and index patient imaging diagnostic records (IDR) in last year SPIE Medical Imaging (SPIE MI 2017), which can enable a doctor to review a large amount of IDR of a patient in a limited appointed time slot. In this presentation, we presented a new approach to design data processing architecture of VP system (VPS) to acquire, process and store various kinds of IDR to build VP instance for each patient in hospital environment based on Hadoop distributed processing structure. We designed this system architecture called Medical Information Processing System (MIPS) with a combination of Hadoop batch processing architecture and Storm stream processing architecture. The MIPS implemented parallel processing of various kinds of clinical data with high efficiency, which come from disparate hospital information system such as PACS, RIS LIS and HIS.

Cooperative Monocular-Based SLAM for Multi-UAV Systems in GPS-Denied Environments.

PubMed

Trujillo, Juan-Carlos; Munguia, Rodrigo; Guerra, Edmundo; Grau, Antoni

2018-04-26

This work presents a cooperative monocular-based SLAM approach for multi-UAV systems that can operate in GPS-denied environments. The main contribution of the work is to show that, using visual information obtained from monocular cameras mounted onboard aerial vehicles flying in formation, the observability properties of the whole system are improved. This fact is especially notorious when compared with other related visual SLAM configurations. In order to improve the observability properties, some measurements of the relative distance between the UAVs are included in the system. These relative distances are also obtained from visual information. The proposed approach is theoretically validated by means of a nonlinear observability analysis. Furthermore, an extensive set of computer simulations is presented in order to validate the proposed approach. The numerical simulation results show that the proposed system is able to provide a good position and orientation estimation of the aerial vehicles flying in formation.

Two visual systems in monitoring of dynamic traffic: effects of visual disruption.

PubMed

Zheng, Xianjun Sam; McConkie, George W

2010-05-01

Studies from neurophysiology and neuropsychology provide support for two separate object- and location-based visual systems, ventral and dorsal. In the driving context, a study was conducted using a change detection paradigm to explore drivers' ability to monitor the dynamic traffic flow, and the effects of visual disruption on these two visual systems. While driving, a discrete change, such as vehicle location, color, or identity, was occasionally made in one of the vehicles on the road ahead of the driver. Experiment results show that without visual disruption, all changes were detected very well; yet, these equally perceivable changes were disrupted differently by a brief blank display (150 ms): the detection of location changes was especially reduced. The disruption effects were also bigger for the parked vehicle compared to the moving ones. The findings support the different roles for two visual systems in monitoring the dynamic traffic: the "where", dorsal system, tracks vehicle spatiotemporal information on perceptual level, encoding information in a coarse and transient manner; whereas the "what", ventral system, monitors vehicles' featural information, encoding information more accurately and robustly. Both systems work together contributing to the driver's situation awareness of traffic. Benefits and limitations of using the driving simulation are also discussed. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation of a microprocessor-based visual-evoked cortical potential recording and analysis system.

PubMed

Wilson, A; Fram, D; Sistar, J

1981-06-01

An Imsai 8080 microcomputer is being used to simultaneously generate a color graphics stimulus display and to record visual-evoked cortical potentials. A brief description of the hardware and software developed for this system is presented. Data storage and analysis techniques are also discussed.

Visualization of Earth and Space Science Data at JPL's Science Data Processing Systems Section

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, William B.

1996-01-01

This presentation will provide an overview of systems in use at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for processing data returned by space exploration and earth observations spacecraft. Graphical and visualization techniques used to query and retrieve data from large scientific data bases will be described.

Trifocal Tensor-Based Adaptive Visual Trajectory Tracking Control of Mobile Robots.

PubMed

Chen, Jian; Jia, Bingxi; Zhang, Kaixiang

2017-11-01

In this paper, a trifocal tensor-based approach is proposed for the visual trajectory tracking task of a nonholonomic mobile robot equipped with a roughly installed monocular camera. The desired trajectory is expressed by a set of prerecorded images, and the robot is regulated to track the desired trajectory using visual feedback. Trifocal tensor is exploited to obtain the orientation and scaled position information used in the control system, and it works for general scenes owing to the generality of trifocal tensor. In the previous works, the start, current, and final images are required to share enough visual information to estimate the trifocal tensor. However, this requirement can be easily violated for perspective cameras with limited field of view. In this paper, key frame strategy is proposed to loosen this requirement, extending the workspace of the visual servo system. Considering the unknown depth and extrinsic parameters (installing position of the camera), an adaptive controller is developed based on Lyapunov methods. The proposed control strategy works for almost all practical circumstances, including both trajectory tracking and pose regulation tasks. Simulations are made based on the virtual experimentation platform (V-REP) to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

A geometric method for computing ocular kinematics and classifying gaze events using monocular remote eye tracking in a robotic environment.

PubMed

Singh, Tarkeshwar; Perry, Christopher M; Herter, Troy M

2016-01-26

Robotic and virtual-reality systems offer tremendous potential for improving assessment and rehabilitation of neurological disorders affecting the upper extremity. A key feature of these systems is that visual stimuli are often presented within the same workspace as the hands (i.e., peripersonal space). Integrating video-based remote eye tracking with robotic and virtual-reality systems can provide an additional tool for investigating how cognitive processes influence visuomotor learning and rehabilitation of the upper extremity. However, remote eye tracking systems typically compute ocular kinematics by assuming eye movements are made in a plane with constant depth (e.g. frontal plane). When visual stimuli are presented at variable depths (e.g. transverse plane), eye movements have a vergence component that may influence reliable detection of gaze events (fixations, smooth pursuits and saccades). To our knowledge, there are no available methods to classify gaze events in the transverse plane for monocular remote eye tracking systems. Here we present a geometrical method to compute ocular kinematics from a monocular remote eye tracking system when visual stimuli are presented in the transverse plane. We then use the obtained kinematics to compute velocity-based thresholds that allow us to accurately identify onsets and offsets of fixations, saccades and smooth pursuits. Finally, we validate our algorithm by comparing the gaze events computed by the algorithm with those obtained from the eye-tracking software and manual digitization. Within the transverse plane, our algorithm reliably differentiates saccades from fixations (static visual stimuli) and smooth pursuits from saccades and fixations when visual stimuli are dynamic. The proposed methods provide advancements for examining eye movements in robotic and virtual-reality systems. Our methods can also be used with other video-based or tablet-based systems in which eye movements are performed in a peripersonal plane with variable depth.

A Framework for the Design of Effective Graphics for Scientific Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miceli, Kristina D.

1992-01-01

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

Protein-Protein Interaction Network and Gene Ontology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Yunkyu; Kim, Seok; Yi, Gwan-Su; Park, Jinah

Evolution of computer technologies makes it possible to access a large amount and various kinds of biological data via internet such as DNA sequences, proteomics data and information discovered about them. It is expected that the combination of various data could help researchers find further knowledge about them. Roles of a visualization system are to invoke human abilities to integrate information and to recognize certain patterns in the data. Thus, when the various kinds of data are examined and analyzed manually, an effective visualization system is an essential part. One instance of these integrated visualizations can be combination of protein-protein interaction (PPI) data and Gene Ontology (GO) which could help enhance the analysis of PPI network. We introduce a simple but comprehensive visualization system that integrates GO and PPI data where GO and PPI graphs are visualized side-by-side and supports quick reference functions between them. Furthermore, the proposed system provides several interactive visualization methods for efficiently analyzing the PPI network and GO directedacyclic- graph such as context-based browsing and common ancestors finding.

Visual Exploration of Genetic Association with Voxel-based Imaging Phenotypes in an MCI/AD Study

PubMed Central

Kim, Sungeun; Shen, Li; Saykin, Andrew J.; West, John D.

2010-01-01

Neuroimaging genomics is a new transdisciplinary research field, which aims to examine genetic effects on brain via integrated analyses of high throughput neuroimaging and genomic data. We report our recent work on (1) developing an imaging genomic browsing system that allows for whole genome and entire brain analyses based on visual exploration and (2) applying the system to the imaging genomic analysis of an existing MCI/AD cohort. Voxel-based morphometry is used to define imaging phenotypes. ANCOVA is employed to evaluate the effect of the interaction of genotypes and diagnosis in relation to imaging phenotypes while controlling for relevant covariates. Encouraging experimental results suggest that the proposed system has substantial potential for enabling discovery of imaging genomic associations through visual evaluation and for localizing candidate imaging regions and genomic regions for refined statistical modeling. PMID:19963597

Visualization of 3D CT-based anatomical models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alaytsev, Innokentiy K.; Danilova, Tatyana V.; Manturov, Alexey O.; Mareev, Gleb O.; Mareev, Oleg V.

2018-04-01

Biomedical volumetric data visualization techniques for the exploration purposes are well developed. Most of the known methods are inappropriate for surgery simulation systems due to lack of realism. A segmented data visualization is a well-known approach for the visualization of the structured volumetric data. The research is focused on improvement of the segmented data visualization technique by the aliasing problems resolution and the use of material transparency modeling for better semitransparent structures rendering.

Using Embedded Visual Coding to Support Contextualization of Historical Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baron, Christine

2016-01-01

This mixed-method study examines the think-aloud protocols of 48 randomly assigned undergraduate students to understand what effect embedding a visual coding system, based on reliable visual cues for establishing historical time period, would have on novice history students' ability to contextualize historic documents. Results indicate that using…

Learning Visual Design through Hypermedia: Pathways to Visual Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockee, Barbara; Hergert, Tom

The interactive multimedia application described here attempts to provide learners and teachers with a common frame of reference for communicating about visual media. The system is based on a list of concepts related to composition, and illustrates those concepts with photographs, paintings, graphic designs, and motion picture scenes. The ability…

Multimedia Visualizer: An Animated, Object-Based OPAC.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Newton S.

1991-01-01

Describes the Multimedia Visualizer, an online public access catalog (OPAC) that uses animated visualizations to make it more user friendly. Pictures of the system are shown that illustrate the interactive objects that patrons can access, including card catalog drawers, librarian desks, and bookshelves; and access to multimedia items is described.…

Computer vision for general purpose visual inspection: a fuzzy logic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y. H.

In automatic visual industrial inspection, computer vision systems have been widely used. Such systems are often application specific, and therefore require domain knowledge in order to have a successful implementation. Since visual inspection can be viewed as a decision making process, it is argued that the integration of fuzzy logic analysis and computer vision systems provides a practical approach to general purpose visual inspection applications. This paper describes the development of an integrated fuzzy-rule-based automatic visual inspection system. Domain knowledge about a particular application is represented as a set of fuzzy rules. From the status of predefined fuzzy variables, the set of fuzzy rules are defuzzified to give the inspection results. A practical application where IC marks (often in the forms of English characters and a company logo) inspection is demonstrated, which shows a more consistent result as compared to a conventional thresholding method.

Understanding pictorial information in biology: students' cognitive activities and visual reading strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandstetter, Miriam; Sandmann, Angela; Florian, Christine

2017-06-01

In classroom, scientific contents are increasingly communicated through visual forms of representations. Students' learning outcomes rely on their ability to read and understand pictorial information. Understanding pictorial information in biology requires cognitive effort and can be challenging to students. Yet evidence-based knowledge about students' visual reading strategies during the process of understanding pictorial information is pending. Therefore, 42 students at the age of 14-15 were asked to think aloud while trying to understand visual representations of the blood circulatory system and the patellar reflex. A category system was developed differentiating 16 categories of cognitive activities. A Principal Component Analysis revealed two underlying patterns of activities that can be interpreted as visual reading strategies: 1. Inferences predominated by using a problem-solving schema; 2. Inferences predominated by recall of prior content knowledge. Each pattern consists of a specific set of cognitive activities that reflect selection, organisation and integration of pictorial information as well as different levels of expertise. The results give detailed insights into cognitive activities of students who were required to understand the pictorial information of complex organ systems. They provide an evidence-based foundation to derive instructional aids that can promote students pictorial-information-based learning on different levels of expertise.

Calculator Programming Engages Visual and Kinesthetic Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tabor, Catherine

2014-01-01

Inclusion and differentiation--hallmarks of the current educational system--require a paradigm shift in the way that educators run their classrooms. This article enumerates the need for techno-kinesthetic, visually based activities and offers an example of a calculator-based programming activity that addresses that need. After discussing the use…

Choosing Your Poison: Optimizing Simulator Visual System Selection as a Function of Operational Tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sweet, Barbara T.; Kaiser, Mary K.

2013-01-01

Although current technology simulator visual systems can achieve extremely realistic levels they do not completely replicate the experience of a pilot sitting in the cockpit, looking at the outside world. Some differences in experience are due to visual artifacts, or perceptual features that would not be present in a naturally viewed scene. Others are due to features that are missing from the simulated scene. In this paper, these differences will be defined and discussed. The significance of these differences will be examined as a function of several particular operational tasks. A framework to facilitate the choice of visual system characteristics based on operational task requirements will be proposed.

ATS displays: A reasoning visualization tool for expert systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Selig, William John; Johannes, James D.

1990-01-01

Reasoning visualization is a useful tool that can help users better understand the inherently non-sequential logic of an expert system. While this is desirable in most all expert system applications, it is especially so for such critical systems as those destined for space-based operations. A hierarchical view of the expert system reasoning process and some characteristics of these various levels is presented. Also presented are Abstract Time Slice (ATS) displays, a tool to visualize the plethora of interrelated information available at the host inferencing language level of reasoning. The usefulness of this tool is illustrated with some examples from a prototype potable water expert system for possible use aboard Space Station Freedom.

Educating the blind brain: a panorama of neural bases of vision and of training programs in organic neurovisual deficits

PubMed Central

Coubard, Olivier A.; Urbanski, Marika; Bourlon, Clémence; Gaumet, Marie

2014-01-01

Vision is a complex function, which is achieved by movements of the eyes to properly foveate targets at any location in 3D space and to continuously refresh neural information in the different visual pathways. The visual system involves five main routes originating in the retinas but varying in their destination within the brain: the occipital cortex, but also the superior colliculus (SC), the pretectum, the supra-chiasmatic nucleus, the nucleus of the optic tract and terminal dorsal, medial and lateral nuclei. Visual pathway architecture obeys systematization in sagittal and transversal planes so that visual information from left/right and upper/lower hemi-retinas, corresponding respectively to right/left and lower/upper visual fields, is processed ipsilaterally and ipsialtitudinally to hemi-retinas in left/right hemispheres and upper/lower fibers. Organic neurovisual deficits may occur at any level of this circuitry from the optic nerve to subcortical and cortical destinations, resulting in low or high-level visual deficits. In this didactic review article, we provide a panorama of the neural bases of eye movements and visual systems, and of related neurovisual deficits. Additionally, we briefly review the different schools of rehabilitation of organic neurovisual deficits, and show that whatever the emphasis is put on action or perception, benefits may be observed at both motor and perceptual levels. Given the extent of its neural bases in the brain, vision in its motor and perceptual aspects is also a useful tool to assess and modulate central nervous system (CNS) in general. PMID:25538575

The Role of Visual Noise in Influencing Mental Load and Fatigue in a Steady-State Motion Visual Evoked Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface.

PubMed

Xie, Jun; Xu, Guanghua; Luo, Ailing; Li, Min; Zhang, Sicong; Han, Chengcheng; Yan, Wenqiang

2017-08-14

As a spatial selective attention-based brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm, steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) BCI has the advantages of high information transfer rate, high tolerance to artifacts, and robust performance across users. However, its benefits come at the cost of mental load and fatigue occurring in the concentration on the visual stimuli. Noise, as a ubiquitous random perturbation with the power of randomness, may be exploited by the human visual system to enhance higher-level brain functions. In this study, a novel steady-state motion visual evoked potential (SSMVEP, i.e., one kind of SSVEP)-based BCI paradigm with spatiotemporal visual noise was used to investigate the influence of noise on the compensation of mental load and fatigue deterioration during prolonged attention tasks. Changes in α , θ , θ + α powers, θ / α ratio, and electroencephalography (EEG) properties of amplitude, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and online accuracy, were used to evaluate mental load and fatigue. We showed that presenting a moderate visual noise to participants could reliably alleviate the mental load and fatigue during online operation of visual BCI that places demands on the attentional processes. This demonstrated that noise could provide a superior solution to the implementation of visual attention controlling-based BCI applications.

The design of PC/MISI, a PC-based common user interface to remote information storage and retrieval systems. Presentation visuals. M.S. Thesis Final Report, 1 Jul. 1985 - 31 Dec. 1987

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Hall, Philip P.

1985-01-01

This Working Paper Series entry represents a collection of presentation visuals associated with the companion report entitled, The Design of PC/MISI, a PC-Based Common User Interface to Remote Information Storage and Retrieval Systems, USL/DBMS NASA/RECON Working Paper Series report number DBMS.NASA/RECON-15. The paper discusses the following: problem definition; the PC solution; the goals of system design; the design description; future considerations, the research environment; conclusions.

Microcomputer-based artificial vision support system for real-time image processing for camera-driven visual prostheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fink, Wolfgang; You, Cindy X.; Tarbell, Mark A.

2010-01-01

It is difficult to predict exactly what blind subjects with camera-driven visual prostheses (e.g., retinal implants) can perceive. Thus, it is prudent to offer them a wide variety of image processing filters and the capability to engage these filters repeatedly in any user-defined order to enhance their visual perception. To attain true portability, we employ a commercial off-the-shelf battery-powered general purpose Linux microprocessor platform to create the microcomputer-based artificial vision support system (μAVS2) for real-time image processing. Truly standalone, μAVS2 is smaller than a deck of playing cards, lightweight, fast, and equipped with USB, RS-232 and Ethernet interfaces. Image processing filters on μAVS2 operate in a user-defined linear sequential-loop fashion, resulting in vastly reduced memory and CPU requirements during execution. μAVS2 imports raw video frames from a USB or IP camera, performs image processing, and issues the processed data over an outbound Internet TCP/IP or RS-232 connection to the visual prosthesis system. Hence, μAVS2 affords users of current and future visual prostheses independent mobility and the capability to customize the visual perception generated. Additionally, μAVS2 can easily be reconfigured for other prosthetic systems. Testing of μAVS2 with actual retinal implant carriers is envisioned in the near future.

Microcomputer-based artificial vision support system for real-time image processing for camera-driven visual prostheses.

PubMed

Fink, Wolfgang; You, Cindy X; Tarbell, Mark A

2010-01-01

It is difficult to predict exactly what blind subjects with camera-driven visual prostheses (e.g., retinal implants) can perceive. Thus, it is prudent to offer them a wide variety of image processing filters and the capability to engage these filters repeatedly in any user-defined order to enhance their visual perception. To attain true portability, we employ a commercial off-the-shelf battery-powered general purpose Linux microprocessor platform to create the microcomputer-based artificial vision support system (microAVS(2)) for real-time image processing. Truly standalone, microAVS(2) is smaller than a deck of playing cards, lightweight, fast, and equipped with USB, RS-232 and Ethernet interfaces. Image processing filters on microAVS(2) operate in a user-defined linear sequential-loop fashion, resulting in vastly reduced memory and CPU requirements during execution. MiccroAVS(2) imports raw video frames from a USB or IP camera, performs image processing, and issues the processed data over an outbound Internet TCP/IP or RS-232 connection to the visual prosthesis system. Hence, microAVS(2) affords users of current and future visual prostheses independent mobility and the capability to customize the visual perception generated. Additionally, microAVS(2) can easily be reconfigured for other prosthetic systems. Testing of microAVS(2) with actual retinal implant carriers is envisioned in the near future.

Feedback Visualization in a Grammar-Based E-Learning System for German: A Preliminary User Evaluation with the COMPASS System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harbusch, Karin; Hausdörfer, Annette

2016-01-01

COMPASS is an e-learning system that can visualize grammar errors during sentence production in German as a first or second language. Via drag-and-drop dialogues, it allows users to freely select word forms from a lexicon and to combine them into phrases and sentences. The system's core component is a natural-language generator that, for every new…

Vision in two cyprinid fish: implications for collective behavior

PubMed Central

Moore, Bret A.; Tyrrell, Luke P.; Fernández-Juricic, Esteban

2015-01-01

Many species of fish rely on their visual systems to interact with conspecifics and these interactions can lead to collective behavior. Individual-based models have been used to predict collective interactions; however, these models generally make simplistic assumptions about the sensory systems that are applied without proper empirical testing to different species. This could limit our ability to predict (and test empirically) collective behavior in species with very different sensory requirements. In this study, we characterized components of the visual system in two species of cyprinid fish known to engage in visually dependent collective interactions (zebrafish Danio rerio and golden shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas) and derived quantitative predictions about the positioning of individuals within schools. We found that both species had relatively narrow binocular and blind fields and wide visual coverage. However, golden shiners had more visual coverage in the vertical plane (binocular field extending behind the head) and higher visual acuity than zebrafish. The centers of acute vision (areae) of both species projected in the fronto-dorsal region of the visual field, but those of the zebrafish projected more dorsally than those of the golden shiner. Based on this visual sensory information, we predicted that: (a) predator detection time could be increased by >1,000% in zebrafish and >100% in golden shiners with an increase in nearest neighbor distance, (b) zebrafish schools would have a higher roughness value (surface area/volume ratio) than those of golden shiners, (c) and that nearest neighbor distance would vary from 8 to 20 cm to visually resolve conspecific striping patterns in both species. Overall, considering between-species differences in the sensory system of species exhibiting collective behavior could change the predictions about the positioning of individuals in the group as well as the shape of the school, which can have implications for group cohesion. We suggest that more effort should be invested in assessing the role of the sensory system in shaping local interactions driving collective behavior. PMID:26290783

Integrated remote sensing and visualization (IRSV) system for transportation infrastructure operations and management, phase one, volume 3 : use of scanning LiDAR in structural evaluation of bridges.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-01

This volume introduces several applications of remote bridge inspection technologies studied in : this Integrated Remote Sensing and Visualization (IRSV) study using ground-based LiDAR : systems. In particular, the application of terrestrial LiDAR fo...

The Impact of New Electronic Imaging Systems on U.S. Air Force Visual Information Professionals.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-06-01

modernizing the functions left in their control. This process started by converting combat camera assets from 16mm film to Betacam "camcorder’ systems. Combat...upgraded to computer-controlled editing with 1-inch helical machines or component-video Betacam equipment. For the base visual information centers, new

[Image processing system of visual prostheses based on digital signal processor DM642].

PubMed

Xie, Chengcheng; Lu, Yanyu; Gu, Yun; Wang, Jing; Chai, Xinyu

2011-09-01

This paper employed a DSP platform to create the real-time and portable image processing system, and introduced a series of commonly used algorithms for visual prostheses. The results of performance evaluation revealed that this platform could afford image processing algorithms to be executed in real time.

Designing a Visual Factors-Based Screen Display Interface: The New Role of the Graphic Technologist.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faiola, Tony; DeBloois, Michael L.

1988-01-01

Discusses the role of the graphic technologist in preparing computer screen displays for interactive videodisc systems, and suggests screen design guidelines. Topics discussed include the grid system; typography; visual factors research; color; course mobility through branching and software menus; and a model of course integration. (22 references)…

Qualitative Dimensions in Scoring the Rey Visual Memory Test of Malingering.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, G. A. Elmer; And Others

1996-01-01

A new qualitative scoring system for the Rey Visual Memory Test was tested for its ability to distinguish between malingerers and nonmalingerers. The new system, based on the types of errors made, was able to distinguish between 53 psychiatrically disabled and 64 normal nonmalingerers, and between nonmalingerers and 91 possible malingerers. (SLD)

Building conservation base on assessment of facade quality on Basuki Rachmat Street, Malang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurniawan, E. B.; Putri, R. Y. A.; Wardhani, D. K.

2017-06-01

Visual quality covers aspects of imageability which is associated with visual system and the element of distinction. Within a visual system of specific area, the physical quality may lead to a strong image. Here, the physical quality is one of important that make urban aesthetic. Build a discussion toward visual system of urban area, this paper aim is to identify the influencing factors in defining the façade’s visual quality of heritage buildings at Jend. Basuki Rahmat Street, Malang City, East Java-Indonesia. This Street is a main road of Malang city center that was built by Dutch colonial government. It was designed by IR. Thomas Kartsten. It was known as one of Malang area that have good visual quality. In order to idenfity the influencing factors, this paper conducts Multiple linear regression as a tools of analysis. The examined potential factors are resulted from of architecture and urban design expert’s assessment to each building’s segment at Jend. Basuki Rahmat. Finally, this paper reveals that the influencing factors are color, rhythm, and proportion. This is demonstrated by the results model: Visual quality (Y) = 0.304 + 0.21 Colors(X5) + 0.221 rhythm (X6) + 0.304 proportion (X7). Furthermore, the recommendation of the building facade will be made based on this model and study of historical and typology building in Basuki Rachmat Street.

Spatial Paradigm for Information Retrieval and Exploration

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

The SPIRE system consists of software for visual analysis of primarily text based information sources. This technology enables the content analysis of text documents without reading all the documents. It employs several algorithms for text and word proximity analysis. It identifies the key themes within the text documents. From this analysis, it projects the results onto a visual spatial proximity display (Galaxies or Themescape) where items (documents and/or themes) visually close to each other are known to have content which is close to each other. Innovative interaction techniques then allow for dynamic visual analysis of large text based information spaces.

SPIRE1.03. Spatial Paradigm for Information Retrieval and Exploration

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

Adams, K.J.; Bohn, S.; Crow, V.

The SPIRE system consists of software for visual analysis of primarily text based information sources. This technology enables the content analysis of text documents without reading all the documents. It employs several algorithms for text and word proximity analysis. It identifies the key themes within the text documents. From this analysis, it projects the results onto a visual spatial proximity display (Galaxies or Themescape) where items (documents and/or themes) visually close to each other are known to have content which is close to each other. Innovative interaction techniques then allow for dynamic visual analysis of large text based information spaces.

Design and control of active vision based mechanisms for intelligent robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Liwei; Marefat, Michael M.

1994-01-01

In this paper, we propose a design of an active vision system for intelligent robot application purposes. The system has the degrees of freedom of pan, tilt, vergence, camera height adjustment, and baseline adjustment with a hierarchical control system structure. Based on this vision system, we discuss two problems involved in the binocular gaze stabilization process: fixation point selection and vergence disparity extraction. A hierarchical approach to determining point of fixation from potential gaze targets using evaluation function representing human visual behavior to outside stimuli is suggested. We also characterize different visual tasks in two cameras for vergence control purposes, and a phase-based method based on binarized images to extract vergence disparity for vergence control is presented. A control algorithm for vergence control is discussed.

Two-out-of-two color matching based visual cryptography schemes.

PubMed

Machizaud, Jacques; Fournel, Thierry

2012-09-24

Visual cryptography which consists in sharing a secret message between transparencies has been extended to color prints. In this paper, we propose a new visual cryptography scheme based on color matching. The stacked printed media reveal a uniformly colored message decoded by the human visual system. In contrast with the previous color visual cryptography schemes, the proposed one enables to share images without pixel expansion and to detect a forgery as the color of the message is kept secret. In order to correctly print the colors on the media and to increase the security of the scheme, we use spectral models developed for color reproduction describing printed colors from an optical point of view.

Computer-Based Tutoring of Visual Concepts: From Novice to Experts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharples, Mike

1991-01-01

Description of ways in which computers might be used to teach visual concepts discusses hypermedia systems; describes computer-generated tutorials; explains the use of computers to create learning aids such as concept maps, feature spaces, and structural models; and gives examples of visual concept teaching in medical education. (10 references)…

Using Visual Simulation Tools And Learning Outcomes-Based Curriculum To Help Transportation Engineering Students And Practitioners To Better Understand And Design Traffic Signal Control Systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

The use of visual simulation tools to convey complex concepts has become a useful tool in education as well as in research. : This report describes a project that developed curriculum and visualization tools to train transportation engineering studen...

Alerts Analysis and Visualization in Network-based Intrusion Detection Systems

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

Yang, Dr. Li

2010-08-01

The alerts produced by network-based intrusion detection systems, e.g. Snort, can be difficult for network administrators to efficiently review and respond to due to the enormous number of alerts generated in a short time frame. This work describes how the visualization of raw IDS alert data assists network administrators in understanding the current state of a network and quickens the process of reviewing and responding to intrusion attempts. The project presented in this work consists of three primary components. The first component provides a visual mapping of the network topology that allows the end-user to easily browse clustered alerts. Themore » second component is based on the flocking behavior of birds such that birds tend to follow other birds with similar behaviors. This component allows the end-user to see the clustering process and provides an efficient means for reviewing alert data. The third component discovers and visualizes patterns of multistage attacks by profiling the attacker s behaviors.« less

Invariant visual object recognition: a model, with lighting invariance.

PubMed

Rolls, Edmund T; Stringer, Simon M

2006-01-01

How are invariant representations of objects formed in the visual cortex? We describe a neurophysiological and computational approach which focusses on a feature hierarchy model in which invariant representations can be built by self-organizing learning based on the statistics of the visual input. The model can use temporal continuity in an associative synaptic learning rule with a short term memory trace, and/or it can use spatial continuity in Continuous Transformation learning. The model of visual processing in the ventral cortical stream can build representations of objects that are invariant with respect to translation, view, size, and in this paper we show also lighting. The model has been extended to provide an account of invariant representations in the dorsal visual system of the global motion produced by objects such as looming, rotation, and object-based movement. The model has been extended to incorporate top-down feedback connections to model the control of attention by biased competition in for example spatial and object search tasks. The model has also been extended to account for how the visual system can select single objects in complex visual scenes, and how multiple objects can be represented in a scene.

A Web-based Visualization System for Three Dimensional Geological Model using Open GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nemoto, T.; Masumoto, S.; Nonogaki, S.

2017-12-01

A three dimensional geological model is an important information in various fields such as environmental assessment, urban planning, resource development, waste management and disaster mitigation. In this study, we have developed a web-based visualization system for 3D geological model using free and open source software. The system has been successfully implemented by integrating web mapping engine MapServer and geographic information system GRASS. MapServer plays a role of mapping horizontal cross sections of 3D geological model and a topographic map. GRASS provides the core components for management, analysis and image processing of the geological model. Online access to GRASS functions has been enabled using PyWPS that is an implementation of WPS (Web Processing Service) Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard. The system has two main functions. Two dimensional visualization function allows users to generate horizontal and vertical cross sections of 3D geological model. These images are delivered via WMS (Web Map Service) and WPS OGC standards. Horizontal cross sections are overlaid on the topographic map. A vertical cross section is generated by clicking a start point and an end point on the map. Three dimensional visualization function allows users to visualize geological boundary surfaces and a panel diagram. The user can visualize them from various angles by mouse operation. WebGL is utilized for 3D visualization. WebGL is a web technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without installing additional software. The geological boundary surfaces can be downloaded to incorporate the geologic structure in a design on CAD and model for various simulations. This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16K00158.

Architecture of a spatial data service system for statistical analysis and visualization of regional climate changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titov, A. G.; Okladnikov, I. G.; Gordov, E. P.

2017-11-01

The use of large geospatial datasets in climate change studies requires the development of a set of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) elements, including geoprocessing and cartographical visualization web services. This paper presents the architecture of a geospatial OGC web service system as an integral part of a virtual research environment (VRE) general architecture for statistical processing and visualization of meteorological and climatic data. The architecture is a set of interconnected standalone SDI nodes with corresponding data storage systems. Each node runs a specialized software, such as a geoportal, cartographical web services (WMS/WFS), a metadata catalog, and a MySQL database of technical metadata describing geospatial datasets available for the node. It also contains geospatial data processing services (WPS) based on a modular computing backend realizing statistical processing functionality and, thus, providing analysis of large datasets with the results of visualization and export into files of standard formats (XML, binary, etc.). Some cartographical web services have been developed in a system’s prototype to provide capabilities to work with raster and vector geospatial data based on OGC web services. The distributed architecture presented allows easy addition of new nodes, computing and data storage systems, and provides a solid computational infrastructure for regional climate change studies based on modern Web and GIS technologies.

Estimation of bio-signal based on human motion for integrated visualization of daily-life.

PubMed

Umetani, Tomohiro; Matsukawa, Tsuyoshi; Yokoyama, Kiyoko

2007-01-01

This paper describes a method for the estimation of bio-signals based on human motion in daily life for an integrated visualization system. The recent advancement of computers and measurement technology has facilitated the integrated visualization of bio-signals and human motion data. It is desirable to obtain a method to understand the activities of muscles based on human motion data and evaluate the change in physiological parameters according to human motion for visualization applications. We suppose that human motion is generated by the activities of muscles reflected from the brain to bio-signals such as electromyograms. This paper introduces a method for the estimation of bio-signals based on neural networks. This method can estimate the other physiological parameters based on the same procedure. The experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed method.

Comparison of human driver dynamics in simulators with complex and simple visual displays and in an automobile on the road

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcruer, D. T.; Klein, R. H.

1975-01-01

As part of a comprehensive program exploring driver/vehicle system response in lateral steering tasks, driver/vehicle system describing functions and other dynamic data have been gathered in several milieu. These include a simple fixed base simulator with an elementary roadway delineation only display; a fixed base statically operating automobile with a terrain model based, wide angle projection system display; and a full scale moving base automobile operating on the road. Dynamic data with the two fixed base simulators compared favorably, implying that the impoverished visual scene, lack of engine noise, and simplified steering wheel feel characteristics in the simple simulator did not induce significant driver dynamic behavior variations. The fixed base vs. moving base comparisons showed substantially greater crossover frequencies and phase margins on the road course.

Visual Motion Perception and Visual Attentive Processes.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

88-0551 Visual Motion Perception and Visual Attentive Processes George Spering , New YorkUnivesity A -cesson For DTIC TAB rant AFOSR 85-0364... Spering . HIPSt: A Unix-based image processing syslem. Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing, 1984,25. 331-347. ’HIPS is the Human Information...Processing Laboratory’s Image Processing System. 1985 van Santen, Jan P. It, and George Spering . Elaborated Reichardt detectors. Journal of the Optical

Widespread correlation patterns of fMRI signal across visual cortex reflect eccentricity organization

PubMed Central

Arcaro, Michael J; Honey, Christopher J; Mruczek, Ryan EB; Kastner, Sabine; Hasson, Uri

2015-01-01

The human visual system can be divided into over two-dozen distinct areas, each of which contains a topographic map of the visual field. A fundamental question in vision neuroscience is how the visual system integrates information from the environment across different areas. Using neuroimaging, we investigated the spatial pattern of correlated BOLD signal across eight visual areas on data collected during rest conditions and during naturalistic movie viewing. The correlation pattern between areas reflected the underlying receptive field organization with higher correlations between cortical sites containing overlapping representations of visual space. In addition, the correlation pattern reflected the underlying widespread eccentricity organization of visual cortex, in which the highest correlations were observed for cortical sites with iso-eccentricity representations including regions with non-overlapping representations of visual space. This eccentricity-based correlation pattern appears to be part of an intrinsic functional architecture that supports the integration of information across functionally specialized visual areas. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03952.001 PMID:25695154

A comparative psychophysical approach to visual perception in primates.

PubMed

Matsuno, Toyomi; Fujita, Kazuo

2009-04-01

Studies on the visual processing of primates, which have well developed visual systems, provide essential information about the perceptual bases of their higher-order cognitive abilities. Although the mechanisms underlying visual processing are largely shared between human and nonhuman primates, differences have also been reported. In this article, we review psychophysical investigations comparing the basic visual processing that operates in human and nonhuman species, and discuss the future contributions potentially deriving from such comparative psychophysical approaches to primate minds.

Software-Based Visual Loan Calculator For Banking Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isizoh, A. N.; Anazia, A. E.; Okide, S. O. 3; Onyeyili, T. I.; Okwaraoka, C. A. P.

2012-03-01

industry is very necessary in modern day banking system using many design techniques for security reasons. This paper thus presents the software-based design and implementation of a Visual Loan calculator for banking industry using Visual Basic .Net (VB.Net). The fundamental approach to this is to develop a Graphical User Interface (GUI) using VB.Net operating tools, and then developing a working program which calculates the interest of any loan obtained. The VB.Net programming was done, implemented and the software proved satisfactory.

Annotation Graphs: A Graph-Based Visualization for Meta-Analysis of Data Based on User-Authored Annotations.

PubMed

Zhao, Jian; Glueck, Michael; Breslav, Simon; Chevalier, Fanny; Khan, Azam

2017-01-01

User-authored annotations of data can support analysts in the activity of hypothesis generation and sensemaking, where it is not only critical to document key observations, but also to communicate insights between analysts. We present annotation graphs, a dynamic graph visualization that enables meta-analysis of data based on user-authored annotations. The annotation graph topology encodes annotation semantics, which describe the content of and relations between data selections, comments, and tags. We present a mixed-initiative approach to graph layout that integrates an analyst's manual manipulations with an automatic method based on similarity inferred from the annotation semantics. Various visual graph layout styles reveal different perspectives on the annotation semantics. Annotation graphs are implemented within C8, a system that supports authoring annotations during exploratory analysis of a dataset. We apply principles of Exploratory Sequential Data Analysis (ESDA) in designing C8, and further link these to an existing task typology in the visualization literature. We develop and evaluate the system through an iterative user-centered design process with three experts, situated in the domain of analyzing HCI experiment data. The results suggest that annotation graphs are effective as a method of visually extending user-authored annotations to data meta-analysis for discovery and organization of ideas.

Local spatio-temporal analysis in vision systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geisler, Wilson S.; Bovik, Alan; Cormack, Lawrence; Ghosh, Joydeep; Gildeen, David

1994-07-01

The aims of this project are the following: (1) develop a physiologically and psychophysically based model of low-level human visual processing (a key component of which are local frequency coding mechanisms); (2) develop image models and image-processing methods based upon local frequency coding; (3) develop algorithms for performing certain complex visual tasks based upon local frequency representations, (4) develop models of human performance in certain complex tasks based upon our understanding of low-level processing; and (5) develop a computational testbed for implementing, evaluating and visualizing the proposed models and algorithms, using a massively parallel computer. Progress has been substantial on all aims. The highlights include the following: (1) completion of a number of psychophysical and physiological experiments revealing new, systematic and exciting properties of the primate (human and monkey) visual system; (2) further development of image models that can accurately represent the local frequency structure in complex images; (3) near completion in the construction of the Texas Active Vision Testbed; (4) development and testing of several new computer vision algorithms dealing with shape-from-texture, shape-from-stereo, and depth-from-focus; (5) implementation and evaluation of several new models of human visual performance; and (6) evaluation, purchase and installation of a MasPar parallel computer.

Vision sensor and dual MEMS gyroscope integrated system for attitude determination on moving base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Xiaoting; Sun, Changku; Wang, Peng; Huang, Lu

2018-01-01

To determine the relative attitude between the objects on a moving base and the base reference system by a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) gyroscope, the motion information of the base is redundant, which must be removed from the gyroscope. Our strategy is to add an auxiliary gyroscope attached to the reference system. The master gyroscope is to sense the total motion, and the auxiliary gyroscope is to sense the motion of the moving base. By a generalized difference method, relative attitude in a non-inertial frame can be determined by dual gyroscopes. With the vision sensor suppressing accumulative drift of the MEMS gyroscope, the vision and dual MEMS gyroscope integration system is formed. Coordinate system definitions and spatial transform are executed in order to fuse inertial and visual data from different coordinate systems together. And a nonlinear filter algorithm, Cubature Kalman filter, is used to fuse slow visual data and fast inertial data together. A practical experimental setup is built up and used to validate feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed attitude determination system in the non-inertial frame on the moving base.

Flight Deck-Based Delegated Separation: Evaluation of an On-Board Interval Management System with Synthetic and Enhanced Vision Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Shelton, Kevin J.; Kramer, Lynda J.; Arthur, Jarvis J.; Bailey, Randall E.; Norman, Rober M.; Ellis, Kyle K. E.; Barmore, Bryan E.

2011-01-01

An emerging Next Generation Air Transportation System concept - Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) - can be achieved using an electronic means to provide sufficient visibility of the external world and other required flight references on flight deck displays that enable the safety, operational tempos, and visual flight rules (VFR)-like procedures for all weather conditions. Synthetic and enhanced flight vision system technologies are critical enabling technologies to EVO. Current research evaluated concepts for flight deck-based interval management (FIM) operations, integrated with Synthetic Vision and Enhanced Vision flight-deck displays and technologies. One concept involves delegated flight deck-based separation, in which the flight crews were paired with another aircraft and responsible for spacing and maintaining separation from the paired aircraft, termed, "equivalent visual separation." The operation required the flight crews to acquire and maintain an "equivalent visual contact" as well as to conduct manual landings in low-visibility conditions. The paper describes results that evaluated the concept of EVO delegated separation, including an off-nominal scenario in which the lead aircraft was not able to conform to the assigned spacing resulting in a loss of separation.

A multi-mode manipulator display system for controlling remote robotic systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Massimino, Michael J.; Meschler, Michael F.; Rodriguez, Alberto A.

1994-01-01

The objective and contribution of the research presented in this paper is to provide a Multi-Mode Manipulator Display System (MMDS) to assist a human operator with the control of remote manipulator systems. Such systems include space based manipulators such as the space shuttle remote manipulator system (SRMS) and future ground controlled teleoperated and telescience space systems. The MMDS contains a number of display modes and submodes which display position control cues position data in graphical formats, based primarily on manipulator position and joint angle data. Therefore the MMDS is not dependent on visual information for input and can assist the operator especially when visual feedback is inadequate. This paper provides descriptions of the new modes and experiment results to date.

TopicLens: Efficient Multi-Level Visual Topic Exploration of Large-Scale Document Collections.

PubMed

Kim, Minjeong; Kang, Kyeongpil; Park, Deokgun; Choo, Jaegul; Elmqvist, Niklas

2017-01-01

Topic modeling, which reveals underlying topics of a document corpus, has been actively adopted in visual analytics for large-scale document collections. However, due to its significant processing time and non-interactive nature, topic modeling has so far not been tightly integrated into a visual analytics workflow. Instead, most such systems are limited to utilizing a fixed, initial set of topics. Motivated by this gap in the literature, we propose a novel interaction technique called TopicLens that allows a user to dynamically explore data through a lens interface where topic modeling and the corresponding 2D embedding are efficiently computed on the fly. To support this interaction in real time while maintaining view consistency, we propose a novel efficient topic modeling method and a semi-supervised 2D embedding algorithm. Our work is based on improving state-of-the-art methods such as nonnegative matrix factorization and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding. Furthermore, we have built a web-based visual analytics system integrated with TopicLens. We use this system to measure the performance and the visualization quality of our proposed methods. We provide several scenarios showcasing the capability of TopicLens using real-world datasets.

Linked exploratory visualizations for uncertain MR spectroscopy data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, David; Kwock, Lester; Lee, Yueh; Taylor, Russell M., II

2010-01-01

We present a system for visualizing magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data sets. Using MRS, radiologists generate multiple 3D scalar fields of metabolite concentrations within the brain and compare them to anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. By understanding the relationship between metabolic makeup and anatomical structure, radiologists hope to better diagnose and treat tumors and lesions. Our system consists of three linked visualizations: a spatial glyph-based technique we call Scaled Data-Driven Spheres, a parallel coordinates visualization augmented to incorporate uncertainty in the data, and a slice plane for accurate data value extraction. The parallel coordinates visualization uses specialized brush interactions designed to help users identify nontrivial linear relationships between scalar fields. We describe two novel contributions to parallel coordinates visualizations: linear function brushing and new axis construction. Users have discovered significant relationships among metabolites and anatomy by linking interactions between the three visualizations.

Linked Exploratory Visualizations for Uncertain MR Spectroscopy Data

PubMed Central

Feng, David; Kwock, Lester; Lee, Yueh; Taylor, Russell M.

2010-01-01

We present a system for visualizing magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) data sets. Using MRS, radiologists generate multiple 3D scalar fields of metabolite concentrations within the brain and compare them to anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. By understanding the relationship between metabolic makeup and anatomical structure, radiologists hope to better diagnose and treat tumors and lesions. Our system consists of three linked visualizations: a spatial glyph-based technique we call Scaled Data-Driven Spheres, a parallel coordinates visualization augmented to incorporate uncertainty in the data, and a slice plane for accurate data value extraction. The parallel coordinates visualization uses specialized brush interactions designed to help users identify nontrivial linear relationships between scalar fields. We describe two novel contributions to parallel coordinates visualizations: linear function brushing and new axis construction. Users have discovered significant relationships among metabolites and anatomy by linking interactions between the three visualizations. PMID:21152337

A visualization system for CT based pulmonary fissure analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pu, Jiantao; Zheng, Bin; Park, Sang Cheol

2009-02-01

In this study we describe a visualization system of pulmonary fissures depicted on CT images. The purpose is to provide clinicians with an intuitive perception of a patient's lung anatomy through an interactive examination of fissures, enhancing their understanding and accurate diagnosis of lung diseases. This system consists of four key components: (1) region-of-interest segmentation; (2) three-dimensional surface modeling; (3) fissure type classification; and (4) an interactive user interface, by which the extracted fissures are displayed flexibly in different space domains including image space, geometric space, and mixed space using simple toggling "on" and "off" operations. In this system, the different visualization modes allow users not only to examine the fissures themselves but also to analyze the relationship between fissures and their surrounding structures. In addition, the users can adjust thresholds interactively to visualize the fissure surface under different scanning and processing conditions. Such a visualization tool is expected to facilitate investigation of structures near the fissures and provide an efficient "visual aid" for other applications such as treatment planning and assessment of therapeutic efficacy as well as education of medical professionals.

Deep hierarchies in the primate visual cortex: what can we learn for computer vision?

PubMed

Krüger, Norbert; Janssen, Peter; Kalkan, Sinan; Lappe, Markus; Leonardis, Ales; Piater, Justus; Rodríguez-Sánchez, Antonio J; Wiskott, Laurenz

2013-08-01

Computational modeling of the primate visual system yields insights of potential relevance to some of the challenges that computer vision is facing, such as object recognition and categorization, motion detection and activity recognition, or vision-based navigation and manipulation. This paper reviews some functional principles and structures that are generally thought to underlie the primate visual cortex, and attempts to extract biological principles that could further advance computer vision research. Organized for a computer vision audience, we present functional principles of the processing hierarchies present in the primate visual system considering recent discoveries in neurophysiology. The hierarchical processing in the primate visual system is characterized by a sequence of different levels of processing (on the order of 10) that constitute a deep hierarchy in contrast to the flat vision architectures predominantly used in today's mainstream computer vision. We hope that the functional description of the deep hierarchies realized in the primate visual system provides valuable insights for the design of computer vision algorithms, fostering increasingly productive interaction between biological and computer vision research.

Real-time Position Based Population Data Analysis and Visualization Using Heatmap for Hazard Emergency Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, R.; He, T.

2017-12-01

With the increased popularity in mobile applications and services, there has been a growing demand for more advanced mobile technologies that utilize real-time Location Based Services (LBS) data to support natural hazard response efforts. Compared to traditional sources like the census bureau that often can only provide historical and static data, an LBS service can provide more current data to drive a real-time natural hazard response system to more accurately process and assess issues such as population density in areas impacted by a hazard. However, manually preparing or preprocessing the data to suit the needs of the particular application would be time-consuming. This research aims to implement a population heatmap visual analytics system based on real-time data for natural disaster emergency management. System comprised of a three-layered architecture, including data collection, data processing, and visual analysis layers. Real-time, location-based data meeting certain polymerization conditions are collected from multiple sources across the Internet, then processed and stored in a cloud-based data store. Parallel computing is utilized to provide fast and accurate access to the pre-processed population data based on criteria such as the disaster event and to generate a location-based population heatmap as well as other types of visual digital outputs using auxiliary analysis tools. At present, a prototype system, which geographically covers the entire region of China and combines population heat map based on data from the Earthquake Catalogs database has been developed. It Preliminary results indicate that the generation of dynamic population density heatmaps based on the prototype system has effectively supported rapid earthquake emergency rescue and evacuation efforts as well as helping responders and decision makers to evaluate and assess earthquake damage. Correlation analyses that were conducted revealed that the aggregation and movement of people depended on various factors, including earthquake occurrence time and location of epicenter. This research hopes to continue to build upon the success of the prototype system in order to improve and extend the system to support the analysis of earthquakes and other types of natural hazard events.

On the comparison of visual discomfort generated by S3D and 2D content based on eye-tracking features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iatsun, Iana; Larabi, Mohamed-Chaker; Fernandez-Maloigne, Christine

2014-03-01

The changing of TV systems from 2D to 3D mode is the next expected step in the telecommunication world. Some works have already been done to perform this progress technically, but interaction of the third dimension with humans is not yet clear. Previously, it was found that any increased load of visual system can create visual fatigue, like prolonged TV watching, computer work or video gaming. But watching S3D can cause another nature of visual fatigue, since all S3D technologies creates illusion of the third dimension based on characteristics of binocular vision. In this work we propose to evaluate and compare the visual fatigue from watching 2D and S3D content. This work shows the difference in accumulation of visual fatigue and its assessment for two types of content. In order to perform this comparison eye-tracking experiments using six commercially available movies were conducted. Healthy naive participants took part into the test and gave their answers feeling the subjective evaluation. It was found that watching stereo 3D content induce stronger feeling of visual fatigue than conventional 2D, and the nature of video has an important effect on its increase. Visual characteristics obtained by using eye-tracking were investigated regarding their relation with visual fatigue.

Conceptual design study for an advanced cab and visual system, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rue, R. J.; Cyrus, M. L.; Garnett, T. A.; Nachbor, J. W.; Seery, J. A.; Starr, R. L.

1980-01-01

A conceptual design study was conducted to define requirements for an advanced cab and visual system. The rotorcraft system integration simulator is for engineering studies in the area of mission associated vehicle handling qualities. Principally a technology survey and assessment of existing and proposed simulator visual display systems, image generation systems, modular cab designs, and simulator control station designs were performed and are discussed. State of the art survey data were used to synthesize a set of preliminary visual display system concepts of which five candidate display configurations were selected for further evaluation. Basic display concepts incorporated in these configurations included: real image projection, using either periscopes, fiber optic bundles, or scanned laser optics; and virtual imaging with helmet mounted displays. These display concepts were integrated in the study with a simulator cab concept employing a modular base for aircraft controls, crew seating, and instrumentation (or other) displays. A simple concept to induce vibration in the various modules was developed and is described. Results of evaluations and trade offs related to the candidate system concepts are given, along with a suggested weighting scheme for numerically comparing visual system performance characteristics.

Visualization of suspicious lesions in breast MRI based on intelligent neural systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Twellmann, Thorsten; Lange, Oliver; Nattkemper, Tim Wilhelm; Meyer-Bäse, Anke

2006-05-01

Intelligent medical systems based on supervised and unsupervised artificial neural networks are applied to the automatic visualization and classification of suspicious lesions in breast MRI. These systems represent an important component of future sophisticated computer-aided diagnosis systems and enable the extraction of spatial and temporal features of dynamic MRI data stemming from patients with confirmed lesion diagnosis. By taking into account the heterogenity of the cancerous tissue, these techniques reveal the malignant, benign and normal kinetic signals and and provide a regional subclassification of pathological breast tissue. Intelligent medical systems are expected to have substantial implications in healthcare politics by contributing to the diagnosis of indeterminate breast lesions by non-invasive imaging.

Visual traffic jam analysis based on trajectory data.

PubMed

Wang, Zuchao; Lu, Min; Yuan, Xiaoru; Zhang, Junping; van de Wetering, Huub

2013-12-01

In this work, we present an interactive system for visual analysis of urban traffic congestion based on GPS trajectories. For these trajectories we develop strategies to extract and derive traffic jam information. After cleaning the trajectories, they are matched to a road network. Subsequently, traffic speed on each road segment is computed and traffic jam events are automatically detected. Spatially and temporally related events are concatenated in, so-called, traffic jam propagation graphs. These graphs form a high-level description of a traffic jam and its propagation in time and space. Our system provides multiple views for visually exploring and analyzing the traffic condition of a large city as a whole, on the level of propagation graphs, and on road segment level. Case studies with 24 days of taxi GPS trajectories collected in Beijing demonstrate the effectiveness of our system.

Analysis of User Interaction with a Brain-Computer Interface Based on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials: Case Study of a Game

PubMed Central

de Carvalho, Sarah Negreiros; Costa, Thiago Bulhões da Silva; Attux, Romis; Hornung, Heiko Horst; Arantes, Dalton Soares

2018-01-01

This paper presents a systematic analysis of a game controlled by a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) based on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP). The objective is to understand BCI systems from the Human-Computer Interface (HCI) point of view, by observing how the users interact with the game and evaluating how the interface elements influence the system performance. The interactions of 30 volunteers with our computer game, named “Get Coins,” through a BCI based on SSVEP, have generated a database of brain signals and the corresponding responses to a questionnaire about various perceptual parameters, such as visual stimulation, acoustic feedback, background music, visual contrast, and visual fatigue. Each one of the volunteers played one match using the keyboard and four matches using the BCI, for comparison. In all matches using the BCI, the volunteers achieved the goals of the game. Eight of them achieved a perfect score in at least one of the four matches, showing the feasibility of the direct communication between the brain and the computer. Despite this successful experiment, adaptations and improvements should be implemented to make this innovative technology accessible to the end user. PMID:29849549

Analysis of User Interaction with a Brain-Computer Interface Based on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials: Case Study of a Game.

PubMed

Leite, Harlei Miguel de Arruda; de Carvalho, Sarah Negreiros; Costa, Thiago Bulhões da Silva; Attux, Romis; Hornung, Heiko Horst; Arantes, Dalton Soares

2018-01-01

This paper presents a systematic analysis of a game controlled by a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) based on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP). The objective is to understand BCI systems from the Human-Computer Interface (HCI) point of view, by observing how the users interact with the game and evaluating how the interface elements influence the system performance. The interactions of 30 volunteers with our computer game, named "Get Coins," through a BCI based on SSVEP, have generated a database of brain signals and the corresponding responses to a questionnaire about various perceptual parameters, such as visual stimulation, acoustic feedback, background music, visual contrast, and visual fatigue. Each one of the volunteers played one match using the keyboard and four matches using the BCI, for comparison. In all matches using the BCI, the volunteers achieved the goals of the game. Eight of them achieved a perfect score in at least one of the four matches, showing the feasibility of the direct communication between the brain and the computer. Despite this successful experiment, adaptations and improvements should be implemented to make this innovative technology accessible to the end user.

Library Automation Design for Visually Impaired People

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yurtay, Nilufer; Bicil, Yucel; Celebi, Sait; Cit, Guluzar; Dural, Deniz

2011-01-01

Speech synthesis is a technology used in many different areas in computer science. This technology can bring a solution to reading activity of visually impaired people due to its text to speech conversion. Based on this problem, in this study, a system is designed needed for a visually impaired person to make use of all the library facilities in…

Visual agnosia and focal brain injury.

PubMed

Martinaud, O

Visual agnosia encompasses all disorders of visual recognition within a selective visual modality not due to an impairment of elementary visual processing or other cognitive deficit. Based on a sequential dichotomy between the perceptual and memory systems, two different categories of visual object agnosia are usually considered: 'apperceptive agnosia' and 'associative agnosia'. Impaired visual recognition within a single category of stimuli is also reported in: (i) visual object agnosia of the ventral pathway, such as prosopagnosia (for faces), pure alexia (for words), or topographagnosia (for landmarks); (ii) visual spatial agnosia of the dorsal pathway, such as cerebral akinetopsia (for movement), or orientation agnosia (for the placement of objects in space). Focal brain injuries provide a unique opportunity to better understand regional brain function, particularly with the use of effective statistical approaches such as voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM). The aim of the present work was twofold: (i) to review the various agnosia categories according to the traditional visual dual-pathway model; and (ii) to better assess the anatomical network underlying visual recognition through lesion-mapping studies correlating neuroanatomical and clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

[A wireless smart home system based on brain-computer interface of steady state visual evoked potential].

PubMed

Zhao, Li; Xing, Xiao; Guo, Xuhong; Liu, Zehua; He, Yang

2014-10-01

Brain-computer interface (BCI) system is a system that achieves communication and control among humans and computers and other electronic equipment with the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. This paper describes the working theory of the wireless smart home system based on the BCI technology. We started to get the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) using the single chip microcomputer and the visual stimulation which composed by LED lamp to stimulate human eyes. Then, through building the power spectral transformation on the LabVIEW platform, we processed timely those EEG signals under different frequency stimulation so as to transfer them to different instructions. Those instructions could be received by the wireless transceiver equipment to control the household appliances and to achieve the intelligent control towards the specified devices. The experimental results showed that the correct rate for the 10 subjects reached 100%, and the control time of average single device was 4 seconds, thus this design could totally achieve the original purpose of smart home system.

Visual recognition system of cherry picking robot based on Lab color model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qirong; Zuo, Jianjun; Yu, Tingzhong; Wang, Yan

2017-12-01

This paper designs a visual recognition system suitable for cherry picking. First, the system deals with the image using the vector median filter. And then it extracts a channel of Lab color model to divide the cherries and the background. The cherry contour was successfully fitted by the least square method, and the centroid and radius of the cherry were extracted. Finally, the cherry was successfully extracted.

People-oriented Information Visualization Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhiyong; Zhang, Bolun

2018-04-01

In the 21st century with rapid development, in the wake of the continuous progress of science and technology, human society enters the information era and the era of big data, and the lifestyle and aesthetic system also change accordingly, so the emerging field of information visualization is increasingly popular. Information visualization design is the process of visualizing all kinds of tedious information data, so as to quickly accept information and save time-cost. Along with the development of the process of information visualization, information design, also becomes hotter and hotter, and emotional design, people-oriented design is an indispensable part of in the design of information. This paper probes information visualization design through emotional analysis of information design based on the social context of people-oriented experience from the perspective of art design. Based on the three levels of emotional information design: instinct level, behavior level and reflective level research, to explore and discuss information visualization design.

Visual affective classification by combining visual and text features.

PubMed

Liu, Ningning; Wang, Kai; Jin, Xin; Gao, Boyang; Dellandréa, Emmanuel; Chen, Liming

2017-01-01

Affective analysis of images in social networks has drawn much attention, and the texts surrounding images are proven to provide valuable semantic meanings about image content, which can hardly be represented by low-level visual features. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for visual affective classification (VAC) task. This approach combines visual representations along with novel text features through a fusion scheme based on Dempster-Shafer (D-S) Evidence Theory. Specifically, we not only investigate different types of visual features and fusion methods for VAC, but also propose textual features to effectively capture emotional semantics from the short text associated to images based on word similarity. Experiments are conducted on three public available databases: the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), the Artistic Photos and the MirFlickr Affect set. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach combining visual and textual features provides promising results for VAC task.

Visual affective classification by combining visual and text features

PubMed Central

Liu, Ningning; Wang, Kai; Jin, Xin; Gao, Boyang; Dellandréa, Emmanuel; Chen, Liming

2017-01-01

Affective analysis of images in social networks has drawn much attention, and the texts surrounding images are proven to provide valuable semantic meanings about image content, which can hardly be represented by low-level visual features. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for visual affective classification (VAC) task. This approach combines visual representations along with novel text features through a fusion scheme based on Dempster-Shafer (D-S) Evidence Theory. Specifically, we not only investigate different types of visual features and fusion methods for VAC, but also propose textual features to effectively capture emotional semantics from the short text associated to images based on word similarity. Experiments are conducted on three public available databases: the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), the Artistic Photos and the MirFlickr Affect set. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach combining visual and textual features provides promising results for VAC task. PMID:28850566

Research and Construction Lunar Stereoscopic Visualization System Based on Chang'E Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Xingye; Zeng, Xingguo; Zhang, Guihua; Zuo, Wei; Li, ChunLai

2017-04-01

With lunar exploration activities carried by Chang'E-1, Chang'E-2 and Chang'E-3 lunar probe, a large amount of lunar data has been obtained, including topographical and image data covering the whole moon, as well as the panoramic image data of the spot close to the landing point of Chang'E-3. In this paper, we constructed immersive virtual moon system based on acquired lunar exploration data by using advanced stereoscopic visualization technology, which will help scholars to carry out research on lunar topography, assist the further exploration of lunar science, and implement the facilitation of lunar science outreach to the public. In this paper, we focus on the building of lunar stereoscopic visualization system with the combination of software and hardware by using binocular stereoscopic display technology, real-time rendering algorithm for massive terrain data, and building virtual scene technology based on panorama, to achieve an immersive virtual tour of the whole moon and local moonscape of Chang'E-3 landing point.

Vision Systems with the Human in the Loop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauckhage, Christian; Hanheide, Marc; Wrede, Sebastian; Käster, Thomas; Pfeiffer, Michael; Sagerer, Gerhard

2005-12-01

The emerging cognitive vision paradigm deals with vision systems that apply machine learning and automatic reasoning in order to learn from what they perceive. Cognitive vision systems can rate the relevance and consistency of newly acquired knowledge, they can adapt to their environment and thus will exhibit high robustness. This contribution presents vision systems that aim at flexibility and robustness. One is tailored for content-based image retrieval, the others are cognitive vision systems that constitute prototypes of visual active memories which evaluate, gather, and integrate contextual knowledge for visual analysis. All three systems are designed to interact with human users. After we will have discussed adaptive content-based image retrieval and object and action recognition in an office environment, the issue of assessing cognitive systems will be raised. Experiences from psychologically evaluated human-machine interactions will be reported and the promising potential of psychologically-based usability experiments will be stressed.

NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services - Technologies for Visualizing Earth Science Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cechini, M. F.; Boller, R. A.; Baynes, K.; Schmaltz, J. E.; Thompson, C. K.; Roberts, J. T.; Rodriguez, J.; Wong, M. M.; King, B. A.; King, J.; De Luca, A. P.; Pressley, N. N.

2017-12-01

For more than 20 years, the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) has collected earth science data for thousands of scientific parameters now totaling nearly 15 Petabytes of data. In 2013, NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) formed its vision to "transform how end users interact and discover [EOS] data through visualizations." This vision included leveraging scientific and community best practices and standards to provide a scalable, compliant, and authoritative source for EOS earth science data visualizations. Since that time, GIBS has grown quickly and now services millions of daily requests for over 500 imagery layers representing hundreds of earth science parameters to a broad community of users. For many of these parameters, visualizations are available within hours of acquisition from the satellite. For others, visualizations are available for the entire mission of the satellite. The GIBS system is built upon the OnEarth and MRF open source software projects, which are provided by the GIBS team. This software facilitates standards-based access for compliance with existing GIS tools. The GIBS imagery layers are predominantly rasterized images represented in two-dimensional coordinate systems, though multiple projections are supported. The OnEarth software also supports the GIBS ingest pipeline to facilitate low latency updates to new or updated visualizations. This presentation will focus on the following topics: Overview of GIBS visualizations and user community Current benefits and limitations of the OnEarth and MRF software projects and related standards GIBS access methods and their in/compatibilities with existing GIS libraries and applications Considerations for visualization accuracy and understandability Future plans for more advanced visualization concepts including Vertical Profiles and Vector-Based Representations Future plans for Amazon Web Service support and deployments

Visual Attention Model Based on Statistical Properties of Neuron Responses

PubMed Central

Duan, Haibin; Wang, Xiaohua

2015-01-01

Visual attention is a mechanism of the visual system that can select relevant objects from a specific scene. Interactions among neurons in multiple cortical areas are considered to be involved in attentional allocation. However, the characteristics of the encoded features and neuron responses in those attention related cortices are indefinite. Therefore, further investigations carried out in this study aim at demonstrating that unusual regions arousing more attention generally cause particular neuron responses. We suppose that visual saliency is obtained on the basis of neuron responses to contexts in natural scenes. A bottom-up visual attention model is proposed based on the self-information of neuron responses to test and verify the hypothesis. Four different color spaces are adopted and a novel entropy-based combination scheme is designed to make full use of color information. Valuable regions are highlighted while redundant backgrounds are suppressed in the saliency maps obtained by the proposed model. Comparative results reveal that the proposed model outperforms several state-of-the-art models. This study provides insights into the neuron responses based saliency detection and may underlie the neural mechanism of early visual cortices for bottom-up visual attention. PMID:25747859

Automated visual inspection system based on HAVNET architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burkett, K.; Ozbayoglu, Murat A.; Dagli, Cihan H.

1994-10-01

In this study, the HAusdorff-Voronoi NETwork (HAVNET) developed at the UMR Smart Engineering Systems Lab is tested in the recognition of mounted circuit components commonly used in printed circuit board assembly systems. The automated visual inspection system used consists of a CCD camera, a neural network based image processing software and a data acquisition card connected to a PC. The experiments are run in the Smart Engineering Systems Lab in the Engineering Management Dept. of the University of Missouri-Rolla. The performance analysis shows that the vision system is capable of recognizing different components under uncontrolled lighting conditions without being effected by rotation or scale differences. The results obtained are promising and the system can be used in real manufacturing environments. Currently the system is being customized for a specific manufacturing application.

Visual pigments, oil droplets, lens, and cornea characterization in the whooping crane (Grus americana)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Porter, Megan L.; Kingston, Alexandra C. N.; McCready, Robert; Cameron, Evan G.; Hofmann, Christopher M.; Suarez, Lauren; Olsen, Glenn H.; Cronin, Thomas W.; Robinson, Phyllis R.

2014-01-01

Vision has been investigated in many species of birds, but few studies have considered the visual systems of large birds and the particular implications of large eyes and long-life spans on visual system capabilities. To address these issues we investigated the visual system of the whooping crane, Grus americana (Gruiformes: Gruidae). G. americana (an endangered species) is one of only two North American crane species and represents a large, long-lived bird where ultraviolet sensitivity may be degraded by chromatic aberrations and entrance of ultraviolet light into the eye could be detrimental to retinal tissues. To investigate the whooping crane visual system we used microspectrophotometry to determine the absorbance spectra of retinal oil droplets and to investigate if the ocular media (i.e., the lens and cornea) absorbs UV light. In vitro expression and reconstitution was used to determine the absorbance spectra of rod and cone visual pigments. The rod visual pigments had wavelengths of peak absorbance (λmax) at 500 nm, while the cone visual pigments λmax values were determined to be 404 nm (SWS1), 450 nm (SWS2), 499 nm (RH2), and 561 nm (LWS), similar to other characterized bird visual pigment absorbance values. The oil droplet cutoff wavelength (λcut) values similarly fell within ranges recorded from other avian species: 576 nm (R-type), 522 nm (Y-type), 506 nm (P-type), and 448 nm (C-type). We confirm that G. americana has a violet-sensitive visual system, although based on the λmax of the SWS1 visual pigment (404 nm) may also have some ability for UV sensitivity.

Robot Evolutionary Localization Based on Attentive Visual Short-Term Memory

PubMed Central

Vega, Julio; Perdices, Eduardo; Cañas, José M.

2013-01-01

Cameras are one of the most relevant sensors in autonomous robots. However, two of their challenges are to extract useful information from captured images, and to manage the small field of view of regular cameras. This paper proposes implementing a dynamic visual memory to store the information gathered from a moving camera on board a robot, followed by an attention system to choose where to look with this mobile camera, and a visual localization algorithm that incorporates this visual memory. The visual memory is a collection of relevant task-oriented objects and 3D segments, and its scope is wider than the current camera field of view. The attention module takes into account the need to reobserve objects in the visual memory and the need to explore new areas. The visual memory is useful also in localization tasks, as it provides more information about robot surroundings than the current instantaneous image. This visual system is intended as underlying technology for service robot applications in real people's homes. Several experiments have been carried out, both with simulated and real Pioneer and Nao robots, to validate the system and each of its components in office scenarios. PMID:23337333

Fuzzy Logic-based expert system for evaluating cake quality of freeze-dried formulations.

PubMed

Trnka, Hjalte; Wu, Jian X; Van De Weert, Marco; Grohganz, Holger; Rantanen, Jukka

2013-12-01

Freeze-drying of peptide and protein-based pharmaceuticals is an increasingly important field of research. The diverse nature of these compounds, limited understanding of excipient functionality, and difficult-to-analyze quality attributes together with the increasing importance of the biosimilarity concept complicate the development phase of safe and cost-effective drug products. To streamline the development phase and to make high-throughput formulation screening possible, efficient solutions for analyzing critical quality attributes such as cake quality with minimal material consumption are needed. The aim of this study was to develop a fuzzy logic system based on image analysis (IA) for analyzing cake quality. Freeze-dried samples with different visual quality attributes were prepared in well plates. Imaging solutions together with image analytical routines were developed for extracting critical visual features such as the degree of cake collapse, glassiness, and color uniformity. On the basis of the IA outputs, a fuzzy logic system for analysis of these freeze-dried cakes was constructed. After this development phase, the system was tested with a new screening well plate. The developed fuzzy logic-based system was found to give comparable quality scores with visual evaluation, making high-throughput classification of cake quality possible. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

Eye evolution at high resolution: the neuron as a unit of homology.

PubMed

Erclik, Ted; Hartenstein, Volker; McInnes, Roderick R; Lipshitz, Howard D

2009-08-01

Based on differences in morphology, photoreceptor-type usage and lens composition it has been proposed that complex eyes have evolved independently many times. The remarkable observation that different eye types rely on a conserved network of genes (including Pax6/eyeless) for their formation has led to the revised proposal that disparate complex eye types have evolved from a shared and simpler prototype. Did this ancestral eye already contain the neural circuitry required for image processing? And what were the evolutionary events that led to the formation of complex visual systems, such as those found in vertebrates and insects? The recent identification of unexpected cell-type homologies between neurons in the vertebrate and Drosophila visual systems has led to two proposed models for the evolution of complex visual systems from a simple prototype. The first, as an extension of the finding that the neurons of the vertebrate retina share homologies with both insect (rhabdomeric) and vertebrate (ciliary) photoreceptor cell types, suggests that the vertebrate retina is a composite structure, made up of neurons that have evolved from two spatially separate ancestral photoreceptor populations. The second model, based largely on the conserved role for the Vsx homeobox genes in photoreceptor-target neuron development, suggests that the last common ancestor of vertebrates and flies already possessed a relatively sophisticated visual system that contained a mixture of rhabdomeric and ciliary photoreceptors as well as their first- and second-order target neurons. The vertebrate retina and fly visual system would have subsequently evolved by elaborating on this ancestral neural circuit. Here we present evidence for these two cell-type homology-based models and discuss their implications.

A web platform for integrated surface water - groundwater modeling and data management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fatkhutdinov, Aybulat; Stefan, Catalin; Junghanns, Ralf

2016-04-01

Model-based decision support systems are considered to be reliable and time-efficient tools for resources management in various hydrology related fields. However, searching and acquisition of the required data, preparation of the data sets for simulations as well as post-processing, visualization and publishing of the simulations results often requires significantly more work and time than performing the modeling itself. The purpose of the developed software is to combine data storage facilities, data processing instruments and modeling tools in a single platform which potentially can reduce time required for performing simulations, hence decision making. The system is developed within the INOWAS (Innovative Web Based Decision Support System for Water Sustainability under a Changing Climate) project. The platform integrates spatially distributed catchment scale rainfall - runoff, infiltration and groundwater flow models with data storage, processing and visualization tools. The concept is implemented in a form of a web-GIS application and is build based on free and open source components, including the PostgreSQL database management system, Python programming language for modeling purposes, Mapserver for visualization and publishing the data, Openlayers for building the user interface and others. Configuration of the system allows performing data input, storage, pre- and post-processing and visualization in a single not disturbed workflow. In addition, realization of the decision support system in the form of a web service provides an opportunity to easily retrieve and share data sets as well as results of simulations over the internet, which gives significant advantages for collaborative work on the projects and is able to significantly increase usability of the decision support system.

Orientation-modulated attention effect on visual evoked potential: Application for PIN system using brain-computer interface.

PubMed

Wilaiprasitporn, Theerawit; Yagi, Tohru

2015-01-01

This research demonstrates the orientation-modulated attention effect on visual evoked potential. We combined this finding with our previous findings about the motion-modulated attention effect and used the result to develop novel visual stimuli for a personal identification number (PIN) application based on a brain-computer interface (BCI) framework. An electroencephalography amplifier with a single electrode channel was sufficient for our application. A computationally inexpensive algorithm and small datasets were used in processing. Seven healthy volunteers participated in experiments to measure offline performance. Mean accuracy was 83.3% at 13.9 bits/min. Encouraged by these results, we plan to continue developing the BCI-based personal identification application toward real-time systems.

A review of visual memory capacity: Beyond individual items and towards structured representations

PubMed Central

Brady, Timothy F.; Konkle, Talia; Alvarez, George A.

2012-01-01

Traditional memory research has focused on identifying separate memory systems and exploring different stages of memory processing. This approach has been valuable for establishing a taxonomy of memory systems and characterizing their function, but has been less informative about the nature of stored memory representations. Recent research on visual memory has shifted towards a representation-based emphasis, focusing on the contents of memory, and attempting to determine the format and structure of remembered information. The main thesis of this review will be that one cannot fully understand memory systems or memory processes without also determining the nature of memory representations. Nowhere is this connection more obvious than in research that attempts to measure the capacity of visual memory. We will review research on the capacity of visual working memory and visual long-term memory, highlighting recent work that emphasizes the contents of memory. This focus impacts not only how we estimate the capacity of the system - going beyond quantifying how many items can be remembered, and moving towards structured representations - but how we model memory systems and memory processes. PMID:21617025

Distributed visualization framework architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishchenko, Oleg; Raman, Sundaresan; Crawfis, Roger

2010-01-01

An architecture for distributed and collaborative visualization is presented. The design goals of the system are to create a lightweight, easy to use and extensible framework for reasearch in scientific visualization. The system provides both single user and collaborative distributed environment. System architecture employs a client-server model. Visualization projects can be synchronously accessed and modified from different client machines. We present a set of visualization use cases that illustrate the flexibility of our system. The framework provides a rich set of reusable components for creating new applications. These components make heavy use of leading design patterns. All components are based on the functionality of a small set of interfaces. This allows new components to be integrated seamlessly with little to no effort. All user input and higher-level control functionality interface with proxy objects supporting a concrete implementation of these interfaces. These light-weight objects can be easily streamed across the web and even integrated with smart clients running on a user's cell phone. The back-end is supported by concrete implementations wherever needed (for instance for rendering). A middle-tier manages any communication and synchronization with the proxy objects. In addition to the data components, we have developed several first-class GUI components for visualization. These include a layer compositor editor, a programmable shader editor, a material editor and various drawable editors. These GUI components interact strictly with the interfaces. Access to the various entities in the system is provided by an AssetManager. The asset manager keeps track of all of the registered proxies and responds to queries on the overall system. This allows all user components to be populated automatically. Hence if a new component is added that supports the IMaterial interface, any instances of this can be used in the various GUI components that work with this interface. One of the main features is an interactive shader designer. This allows rapid prototyping of new visualization renderings that are shader-based and greatly accelerates the development and debug cycle.

A component-based software environment for visualizing large macromolecular assemblies.

PubMed

Sanner, Michel F

2005-03-01

The interactive visualization of large biological assemblies poses a number of challenging problems, including the development of multiresolution representations and new interaction methods for navigating and analyzing these complex systems. An additional challenge is the development of flexible software environments that will facilitate the integration and interoperation of computational models and techniques from a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In this paper, we present a component-based software development strategy centered on the high-level, object-oriented, interpretive programming language: Python. We present several software components, discuss their integration, and describe some of their features that are relevant to the visualization of large molecular assemblies. Several examples are given to illustrate the interoperation of these software components and the integration of structural data from a variety of experimental sources. These examples illustrate how combining visual programming with component-based software development facilitates the rapid prototyping of novel visualization tools.

Automatic classification of visual evoked potentials based on wavelet decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stasiakiewicz, Paweł; Dobrowolski, Andrzej P.; Tomczykiewicz, Kazimierz

2017-04-01

Diagnosis of part of the visual system, that is responsible for conducting compound action potential, is generally based on visual evoked potentials generated as a result of stimulation of the eye by external light source. The condition of patient's visual path is assessed by set of parameters that describe the time domain characteristic extremes called waves. The decision process is compound therefore diagnosis significantly depends on experience of a doctor. The authors developed a procedure - based on wavelet decomposition and linear discriminant analysis - that ensures automatic classification of visual evoked potentials. The algorithm enables to assign individual case to normal or pathological class. The proposed classifier has a 96,4% sensitivity at 10,4% probability of false alarm in a group of 220 cases and area under curve ROC equals to 0,96 which, from the medical point of view, is a very good result.

An emergency call system for patients in locked-in state using an SSVEP-based brain switch.

PubMed

Lim, Jeong-Hwan; Kim, Yong-Wook; Lee, Jun-Hak; An, Kwang-Ok; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Cha, Ho-Seung; Han, Chang-Hee; Im, Chang-Hwan

2017-11-01

Patients in a locked-in state (LIS) due to severe neurological disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) require seamless emergency care by their caregivers or guardians. However, it is a difficult job for the guardians to continuously monitor the patients' state, especially when direct communication is not possible. In the present study, we developed an emergency call system for such patients using a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain switch. Although there have been previous studies to implement SSVEP-based brain switch system, they have not been applied to patients in LIS, and thus their clinical value has not been validated. In this study, we verified whether the SSVEP-based brain switch system can be practically used as an emergency call system for patients in LIS. The brain switch used for our system adopted a chromatic visual stimulus, which proved to be visually less stimulating than conventional checkerboard-type stimuli but could generate SSVEP responses strong enough to be used for brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. To verify the feasibility of our emergency call system, 14 healthy participants and 3 patients with severe ALS took part in online experiments. All three ALS patients successfully called their guardians to their bedsides in about 6.56 seconds. Furthermore, additional experiments with one of these patients demonstrated that our emergency call system maintains fairly good performance even up to 4 weeks after the first experiment without renewing initial calibration data. Our results suggest that our SSVEP-based emergency call system might be successfully used in practical scenarios. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

A framework for interactive visual analysis of heterogeneous marine data in an integrated problem solving environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shuai; Chen, Ge; Yao, Shifeng; Tian, Fenglin; Liu, Wei

2017-07-01

This paper presents a novel integrated marine visualization framework which focuses on processing, analyzing the multi-dimension spatiotemporal marine data in one workflow. Effective marine data visualization is needed in terms of extracting useful patterns, recognizing changes, and understanding physical processes in oceanography researches. However, the multi-source, multi-format, multi-dimension characteristics of marine data pose a challenge for interactive and feasible (timely) marine data analysis and visualization in one workflow. And, global multi-resolution virtual terrain environment is also needed to give oceanographers and the public a real geographic background reference and to help them to identify the geographical variation of ocean phenomena. This paper introduces a data integration and processing method to efficiently visualize and analyze the heterogeneous marine data. Based on the data we processed, several GPU-based visualization methods are explored to interactively demonstrate marine data. GPU-tessellated global terrain rendering using ETOPO1 data is realized and the video memory usage is controlled to ensure high efficiency. A modified ray-casting algorithm for the uneven multi-section Argo volume data is also presented and the transfer function is designed to analyze the 3D structure of ocean phenomena. Based on the framework we designed, an integrated visualization system is realized. The effectiveness and efficiency of the framework is demonstrated. This system is expected to make a significant contribution to the demonstration and understanding of marine physical process in a virtual global environment.

A Grammar-based Approach for Modeling User Interactions and Generating Suggestions During the Data Exploration Process.

PubMed

Dabek, Filip; Caban, Jesus J

2017-01-01

Despite the recent popularity of visual analytics focusing on big data, little is known about how to support users that use visualization techniques to explore multi-dimensional datasets and accomplish specific tasks. Our lack of models that can assist end-users during the data exploration process has made it challenging to learn from the user's interactive and analytical process. The ability to model how a user interacts with a specific visualization technique and what difficulties they face are paramount in supporting individuals with discovering new patterns within their complex datasets. This paper introduces the notion of visualization systems understanding and modeling user interactions with the intent of guiding a user through a task thereby enhancing visual data exploration. The challenges faced and the necessary future steps to take are discussed; and to provide a working example, a grammar-based model is presented that can learn from user interactions, determine the common patterns among a number of subjects using a K-Reversible algorithm, build a set of rules, and apply those rules in the form of suggestions to new users with the goal of guiding them along their visual analytic process. A formal evaluation study with 300 subjects was performed showing that our grammar-based model is effective at capturing the interactive process followed by users and that further research in this area has the potential to positively impact how users interact with a visualization system.

Continued use of an interactive computer game-based visual perception learning system in children with developmental delay.

PubMed

Lin, Hsien-Cheng; Chiu, Yu-Hsien; Chen, Yenming J; Wuang, Yee-Pay; Chen, Chiu-Ping; Wang, Chih-Chung; Huang, Chien-Ling; Wu, Tang-Meng; Ho, Wen-Hsien

2017-11-01

This study developed an interactive computer game-based visual perception learning system for special education children with developmental delay. To investigate whether perceived interactivity affects continued use of the system, this study developed a theoretical model of the process in which learners decide whether to continue using an interactive computer game-based visual perception learning system. The technology acceptance model, which considers perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived playfulness, was extended by integrating perceived interaction (i.e., learner-instructor interaction and learner-system interaction) and then analyzing the effects of these perceptions on satisfaction and continued use. Data were collected from 150 participants (rehabilitation therapists, medical paraprofessionals, and parents of children with developmental delay) recruited from a single medical center in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling and partial-least-squares techniques were used to evaluate relationships within the model. The modeling results indicated that both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were positively associated with both learner-instructor interaction and learner-system interaction. However, perceived playfulness only had a positive association with learner-system interaction and not with learner-instructor interaction. Moreover, satisfaction was positively affected by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived playfulness. Thus, satisfaction positively affects continued use of the system. The data obtained by this study can be applied by researchers, designers of computer game-based learning systems, special education workers, and medical professionals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nebhydro: Sharing Geospatial Data to Supportwater Management in Nebraska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamble, B.; Irmak, A.; Hubbard, K.; Deogun, J.; Dvorak, B.

2012-12-01

Recent advances in web-enabled geographical technologies have the potential to make a dramatic impact on development of highly interactive spatial applications on the web for visualization of large-scale geospatial data by water resources and irrigation scientists. Spatial and point scale water resources data visualization are an emerging and challenging application domain. Query based visual explorations of geospatial hydrological data can play an important role in stimulating scientific hypotheses and seeking causal relationships among hydro variables. The Nebraska Hydrological Information System (NebHydro) utilizes ESRI's ArcGIS server technology to increase technological awareness among farmers, irrigation managers and policy makers. Web-based geospatial applications are an effective way to expose scientific hydrological datasets to the research community and the public. NebHydro uses Adobe Flex technology to offer an online visualization and data analysis system for presentation of social and economic data. Internet mapping services is an integrated product of GIS and Internet technologies; it is a favored solution to achieve the interoperability of GIS. The development of Internet based GIS services in the state of Nebraska showcases the benefits of sharing geospatial hydrological data among agencies, resource managers and policy makers. Geospatial hydrological Information (Evapotranspiration from Remote Sensing, vegetation indices (NDVI), USGS Stream gauge data, Climatic data etc.) is generally generated through model simulation (METRIC, SWAP, Linux, Python based scripting etc). Information is compiled into and stored within object oriented relational spatial databases using a geodatabase information model that supports the key data types needed by applications including features, relationships, networks, imagery, terrains, maps and layers. The system provides online access, querying, visualization, and analysis of the hydrological data from several sources at one place. The study indicates that internet GIS, developed using advanced technologies, provides valuable education potential to users in hydrology and irrigation engineering and suggests that such a system can support advanced hydrological data access and analysis tools to improve utility of data in operations. Keywords: Hydrological Information System, NebHydro, Water Management, data sharing, data visualization, ArcGIS server.

Ionospheric Simulation System for Satellite Observations and Global Assimilative Modeling Experiments (ISOGAME)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pi, Xiaoqing; Mannucci, Anthony J.; Verkhoglyadova, Olga P.; Stephens, Philip; Wilson, Brian D.; Akopian, Vardan; Komjathy, Attila; Lijima, Byron A.

2013-01-01

ISOGAME is designed and developed to assess quantitatively the impact of new observation systems on the capability of imaging and modeling the ionosphere. With ISOGAME, one can perform observation system simulation experiments (OSSEs). A typical OSSE using ISOGAME would involve: (1) simulating various ionospheric conditions on global scales; (2) simulating ionospheric measurements made from a constellation of low-Earth-orbiters (LEOs), particularly Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation data, and from ground-based global GNSS networks; (3) conducting ionospheric data assimilation experiments with the Global Assimilative Ionospheric Model (GAIM); and (4) analyzing modeling results with visualization tools. ISOGAME can provide quantitative assessment of the accuracy of assimilative modeling with the interested observation system. Other observation systems besides those based on GNSS are also possible to analyze. The system is composed of a suite of software that combines the GAIM, including a 4D first-principles ionospheric model and data assimilation modules, an Internal Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model that has been developed by international ionospheric research communities, observation simulator, visualization software, and orbit design, simulation, and optimization software. The core GAIM model used in ISOGAME is based on the GAIM++ code (written in C++) that includes a new high-fidelity geomagnetic field representation (multi-dipole). New visualization tools and analysis algorithms for the OSSEs are now part of ISOGAME.

[Automated anesthesia record system].

PubMed

Zhu, Tao; Liu, Jin

2005-12-01

Based on Client/Server architecture, a software of automated anesthesia record system running under Windows operation system and networks has been developed and programmed with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, Visual Basic 6.0 and SQL Server. The system can deal with patient's information throughout the anesthesia. It can collect and integrate the data from several kinds of medical equipment such as monitor, infusion pump and anesthesia machine automatically and real-time. After that, the system presents the anesthesia sheets automatically. The record system makes the anesthesia record more accurate and integral and can raise the anesthesiologist's working efficiency.

A prototype system based on visual interactive SDM called VGC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Zelu; Liu, Yaolin; Liu, Yanfang

2009-10-01

In many application domains, data is collected and referenced by its geo-spatial location. Spatial data mining, or the discovery of interesting patterns in such databases, is an important capability in the development of database systems. Spatial data mining recently emerges from a number of real applications, such as real-estate marketing, urban planning, weather forecasting, medical image analysis, road traffic accident analysis, etc. It demands for efficient solutions for many new, expensive, and complicated problems. For spatial data mining of large data sets to be effective, it is also important to include humans in the data exploration process and combine their flexibility, creativity, and general knowledge with the enormous storage capacity and computational power of today's computers. Visual spatial data mining applies human visual perception to the exploration of large data sets. Presenting data in an interactive, graphical form often fosters new insights, encouraging the information and validation of new hypotheses to the end of better problem-solving and gaining deeper domain knowledge. In this paper a visual interactive spatial data mining prototype system (visual geo-classify) based on VC++6.0 and MapObject2.0 are designed and developed, the basic algorithms of the spatial data mining is used decision tree and Bayesian networks, and data classify are used training and learning and the integration of the two to realize. The result indicates it's a practical and extensible visual interactive spatial data mining tool.

Design and implementation of information visualization system on science and technology industry based on GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiaofang; Jiang, Liushi

2011-02-01

Usually in the traditional science and technology information system, the only text and table form are used to manage the data, and the mathematic statistics method is applied to analyze the data. It lacks for the spatial analysis and management of data. Therefore, GIS technology is introduced to visualize and analyze the information data on science and technology industry. Firstly, by using the developed platform-microsoft visual studio 2005 and ArcGIS Engine, the information visualization system on science and technology industry based on GIS is built up, which implements various functions, such as data storage and management, inquiry, statistics, chart analysis, thematic map representation. It can show the change of science and technology information from the space and time axis intuitively. Then, the data of science and technology in Guangdong province are taken as experimental data and are applied to the system. And by considering the factors of humanities, geography and economics so on, the situation and change tendency of science and technology information of different regions are analyzed and researched, and the corresponding suggestion and method are brought forward in order to provide the auxiliary support for development of science and technology industry in Guangdong province.

VisIRR: A Visual Analytics System for Information Retrieval and Recommendation for Large-Scale Document Data

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

Choo, Jaegul; Kim, Hannah; Clarkson, Edward

In this paper, we present an interactive visual information retrieval and recommendation system, called VisIRR, for large-scale document discovery. VisIRR effectively combines the paradigms of (1) a passive pull through query processes for retrieval and (2) an active push that recommends items of potential interest to users based on their preferences. Equipped with an efficient dynamic query interface against a large-scale corpus, VisIRR organizes the retrieved documents into high-level topics and visualizes them in a 2D space, representing the relationships among the topics along with their keyword summary. In addition, based on interactive personalized preference feedback with regard to documents,more » VisIRR provides document recommendations from the entire corpus, which are beyond the retrieved sets. Such recommended documents are visualized in the same space as the retrieved documents, so that users can seamlessly analyze both existing and newly recommended ones. This article presents novel computational methods, which make these integrated representations and fast interactions possible for a large-scale document corpus. We illustrate how the system works by providing detailed usage scenarios. Finally, we present preliminary user study results for evaluating the effectiveness of the system.« less

VisIRR: A Visual Analytics System for Information Retrieval and Recommendation for Large-Scale Document Data

DOE PAGES

Choo, Jaegul; Kim, Hannah; Clarkson, Edward; ...

2018-01-31

In this paper, we present an interactive visual information retrieval and recommendation system, called VisIRR, for large-scale document discovery. VisIRR effectively combines the paradigms of (1) a passive pull through query processes for retrieval and (2) an active push that recommends items of potential interest to users based on their preferences. Equipped with an efficient dynamic query interface against a large-scale corpus, VisIRR organizes the retrieved documents into high-level topics and visualizes them in a 2D space, representing the relationships among the topics along with their keyword summary. In addition, based on interactive personalized preference feedback with regard to documents,more » VisIRR provides document recommendations from the entire corpus, which are beyond the retrieved sets. Such recommended documents are visualized in the same space as the retrieved documents, so that users can seamlessly analyze both existing and newly recommended ones. This article presents novel computational methods, which make these integrated representations and fast interactions possible for a large-scale document corpus. We illustrate how the system works by providing detailed usage scenarios. Finally, we present preliminary user study results for evaluating the effectiveness of the system.« less

Aligning Where to See and What to Tell: Image Captioning with Region-Based Attention and Scene-Specific Contexts.

PubMed

Fu, Kun; Jin, Junqi; Cui, Runpeng; Sha, Fei; Zhang, Changshui

2017-12-01

Recent progress on automatic generation of image captions has shown that it is possible to describe the most salient information conveyed by images with accurate and meaningful sentences. In this paper, we propose an image captioning system that exploits the parallel structures between images and sentences. In our model, the process of generating the next word, given the previously generated ones, is aligned with the visual perception experience where the attention shifts among the visual regions-such transitions impose a thread of ordering in visual perception. This alignment characterizes the flow of latent meaning, which encodes what is semantically shared by both the visual scene and the text description. Our system also makes another novel modeling contribution by introducing scene-specific contexts that capture higher-level semantic information encoded in an image. The contexts adapt language models for word generation to specific scene types. We benchmark our system and contrast to published results on several popular datasets, using both automatic evaluation metrics and human evaluation. We show that either region-based attention or scene-specific contexts improves systems without those components. Furthermore, combining these two modeling ingredients attains the state-of-the-art performance.

Dynamic wake prediction and visualization with uncertainty analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holforty, Wendy L. (Inventor); Powell, J. David (Inventor)

2005-01-01

A dynamic wake avoidance system utilizes aircraft and atmospheric parameters readily available in flight to model and predict airborne wake vortices in real time. A novel combination of algorithms allows for a relatively simple yet robust wake model to be constructed based on information extracted from a broadcast. The system predicts the location and movement of the wake based on the nominal wake model and correspondingly performs an uncertainty analysis on the wake model to determine a wake hazard zone (no fly zone), which comprises a plurality of wake planes, each moving independently from another. The system selectively adjusts dimensions of each wake plane to minimize spatial and temporal uncertainty, thereby ensuring that the actual wake is within the wake hazard zone. The predicted wake hazard zone is communicated in real time directly to a user via a realistic visual representation. In an example, the wake hazard zone is visualized on a 3-D flight deck display to enable a pilot to visualize or see a neighboring aircraft as well as its wake. The system substantially enhances the pilot's situational awareness and allows for a further safe decrease in spacing, which could alleviate airport and airspace congestion.

Simple and powerful visual stimulus generator.

PubMed

Kremlácek, J; Kuba, M; Kubová, Z; Vít, F

1999-02-01

We describe a cheap, simple, portable and efficient approach to visual stimulation for neurophysiology which does not need any special hardware equipment. The method based on an animation technique uses the FLI autodesk animator format. This form of the animation is replayed by a special program ('player') providing synchronisation pulses toward recording system via parallel port. The 'player is running on an IBM compatible personal computer under MS-DOS operation system and stimulus is displayed on a VGA computer monitor. Various stimuli created with this technique for visual evoked potentials (VEPs) are presented.

Implications of Sustained and Transient Channels for Theories of Visual Pattern Masking, Saccadic Suppression, and Information Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breitmeyer, Bruno G.; Ganz, Leo

1976-01-01

This paper reviewed briefly the major types of masking effects obtained with various methods and the major theories or models that have been proposed to account for these effects, and outlined a three-mechanism model of visual pattern masking based on psychophysical and neurophysiological properties of the visual system. (Author/RK)

An Updated Account of the WISELAV Project: A Visual Construction of the English Verb System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pablos, Andrés Palacios

2016-01-01

This article presents the state of the art in WISELAV, an on-going research project based on the metaphor Languages Are (like) Visuals (LAV) and its mapping Words-In-Shapes Exchange (WISE). First, the cognitive premises that motivate the proposal are recalled: the power of images, students' increasingly visual cognitive learning style, and the…

New Hypervelocity Terminal Intercept Guidance Systems for Deflecting/Disrupting Hazardous Asteroids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyzhoft, Joshua Richard

Computational modeling and simulations of visual and infrared (IR) sensors are investigated for a new hypervelocity terminal guidance system of intercepting small asteroids (50 to 150 meters in diameter). Computational software tools for signal-to-noise ratio estimation of visual and IR sensors, estimation of minimum and maximum ranges of target detection, and GPU (Graphics Processing Units)-accelerated simulations of the IR-based terminal intercept guidance systems are developed. Scaled polyhedron models of known objects, such as the Rosetta mission's Comet 67P/C-G, NASA's OSIRIS-REx Bennu, and asteroid 433 Eros, are utilized in developing a GPU-based simulation tool for the IR-based terminal intercept guidance systems. A parallelized-ray tracing algorithm for simulating realistic surface-to-surface shadowing of irregular-shaped asteroids or comets is developed. Polyhedron solid-angle approximation is also considered. Using these computational models, digital image processing is investigated to determine single or multiple impact locations to assess the technical feasibility of new planetary defense mission concepts of utilizing a Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle (HAIV) or a Multiple Kinetic-energy Interceptor Vehicle (MKIV). Study results indicate that the IR-based guidance system outperforms the visual-based system in asteroid detection and tracking. When using an IR sensor, predicting impact locations from filtered images resulted in less jittery spacecraft control accelerations than conducting missions with a visual sensor. Infrared sensors have also the possibility to detect asteroids at greater distances, and if properly used, can aid in terminal phase guidance for proper impact location determination for the MKIV system. Emerging new topics of the Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) estimation and the Full-Two-Body Problem (F2BP) formulation are also investigated to assess a potential near-Earth object collision risk and the proximity gravity effects of an irregular-shaped binary-asteroid target on a standoff nuclear explosion mission.

Design and Development of a Linked Open Data-Based Health Information Representation and Visualization System: Potentials and Preliminary Evaluation

PubMed Central

Kauppinen, Tomi; Keßler, Carsten; Fritz, Fleur

2014-01-01

Background Healthcare organizations around the world are challenged by pressures to reduce cost, improve coordination and outcome, and provide more with less. This requires effective planning and evidence-based practice by generating important information from available data. Thus, flexible and user-friendly ways to represent, query, and visualize health data becomes increasingly important. International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) regularly publish vital data on priority health topics that can be utilized for public health policy and health service development. However, the data in most portals is displayed in either Excel or PDF formats, which makes information discovery and reuse difficult. Linked Open Data (LOD)—a new Semantic Web set of best practice of standards to publish and link heterogeneous data—can be applied to the representation and management of public level health data to alleviate such challenges. However, the technologies behind building LOD systems and their effectiveness for health data are yet to be assessed. Objective The objective of this study is to evaluate whether Linked Data technologies are potential options for health information representation, visualization, and retrieval systems development and to identify the available tools and methodologies to build Linked Data-based health information systems. Methods We used the Resource Description Framework (RDF) for data representation, Fuseki triple store for data storage, and Sgvizler for information visualization. Additionally, we integrated SPARQL query interface for interacting with the data. We primarily use the WHO health observatory dataset to test the system. All the data were represented using RDF and interlinked with other related datasets on the Web of Data using Silk—a link discovery framework for Web of Data. A preliminary usability assessment was conducted following the System Usability Scale (SUS) method. Results We developed an LOD-based health information representation, querying, and visualization system by using Linked Data tools. We imported more than 20,000 HIV-related data elements on mortality, prevalence, incidence, and related variables, which are freely available from the WHO global health observatory database. Additionally, we automatically linked 5312 data elements from DBpedia, Bio2RDF, and LinkedCT using the Silk framework. The system users can retrieve and visualize health information according to their interests. For users who are not familiar with SPARQL queries, we integrated a Linked Data search engine interface to search and browse the data. We used the system to represent and store the data, facilitating flexible queries and different kinds of visualizations. The preliminary user evaluation score by public health data managers and users was 82 on the SUS usability measurement scale. The need to write queries in the interface was the main reported difficulty of LOD-based systems to the end user. Conclusions The system introduced in this article shows that current LOD technologies are a promising alternative to represent heterogeneous health data in a flexible and reusable manner so that they can serve intelligent queries, and ultimately support decision-making. However, the development of advanced text-based search engines is necessary to increase its usability especially for nontechnical users. Further research with large datasets is recommended in the future to unfold the potential of Linked Data and Semantic Web for future health information systems development. PMID:25601195

Design and development of a linked open data-based health information representation and visualization system: potentials and preliminary evaluation.

PubMed

Tilahun, Binyam; Kauppinen, Tomi; Keßler, Carsten; Fritz, Fleur

2014-10-25

Healthcare organizations around the world are challenged by pressures to reduce cost, improve coordination and outcome, and provide more with less. This requires effective planning and evidence-based practice by generating important information from available data. Thus, flexible and user-friendly ways to represent, query, and visualize health data becomes increasingly important. International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) regularly publish vital data on priority health topics that can be utilized for public health policy and health service development. However, the data in most portals is displayed in either Excel or PDF formats, which makes information discovery and reuse difficult. Linked Open Data (LOD)-a new Semantic Web set of best practice of standards to publish and link heterogeneous data-can be applied to the representation and management of public level health data to alleviate such challenges. However, the technologies behind building LOD systems and their effectiveness for health data are yet to be assessed. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether Linked Data technologies are potential options for health information representation, visualization, and retrieval systems development and to identify the available tools and methodologies to build Linked Data-based health information systems. We used the Resource Description Framework (RDF) for data representation, Fuseki triple store for data storage, and Sgvizler for information visualization. Additionally, we integrated SPARQL query interface for interacting with the data. We primarily use the WHO health observatory dataset to test the system. All the data were represented using RDF and interlinked with other related datasets on the Web of Data using Silk-a link discovery framework for Web of Data. A preliminary usability assessment was conducted following the System Usability Scale (SUS) method. We developed an LOD-based health information representation, querying, and visualization system by using Linked Data tools. We imported more than 20,000 HIV-related data elements on mortality, prevalence, incidence, and related variables, which are freely available from the WHO global health observatory database. Additionally, we automatically linked 5312 data elements from DBpedia, Bio2RDF, and LinkedCT using the Silk framework. The system users can retrieve and visualize health information according to their interests. For users who are not familiar with SPARQL queries, we integrated a Linked Data search engine interface to search and browse the data. We used the system to represent and store the data, facilitating flexible queries and different kinds of visualizations. The preliminary user evaluation score by public health data managers and users was 82 on the SUS usability measurement scale. The need to write queries in the interface was the main reported difficulty of LOD-based systems to the end user. The system introduced in this article shows that current LOD technologies are a promising alternative to represent heterogeneous health data in a flexible and reusable manner so that they can serve intelligent queries, and ultimately support decision-making. However, the development of advanced text-based search engines is necessary to increase its usability especially for nontechnical users. Further research with large datasets is recommended in the future to unfold the potential of Linked Data and Semantic Web for future health information systems development.

On Assisting a Visual-Facial Affect Recognition System with Keyboard-Stroke Pattern Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stathopoulou, I.-O.; Alepis, E.; Tsihrintzis, G. A.; Virvou, M.

Towards realizing a multimodal affect recognition system, we are considering the advantages of assisting a visual-facial expression recognition system with keyboard-stroke pattern information. Our work is based on the assumption that the visual-facial and keyboard modalities are complementary to each other and that their combination can significantly improve the accuracy in affective user models. Specifically, we present and discuss the development and evaluation process of two corresponding affect recognition subsystems, with emphasis on the recognition of 6 basic emotional states, namely happiness, sadness, surprise, anger and disgust as well as the emotion-less state which we refer to as neutral. We find that emotion recognition by the visual-facial modality can be aided greatly by keyboard-stroke pattern information and the combination of the two modalities can lead to better results towards building a multimodal affect recognition system.

Neural network based visualization of collaborations in a citizen science project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, Alessandra M. M.; Santos, Rafael D. C.; Raddick, M. Jordan

2014-05-01

Citizen science projects are those in which volunteers are asked to collaborate in scientific projects, usually by volunteering idle computer time for distributed data processing efforts or by actively labeling or classifying information - shapes of galaxies, whale sounds, historical records are all examples of citizen science projects in which users access a data collecting system to label or classify images and sounds. In order to be successful, a citizen science project must captivate users and keep them interested on the project and on the science behind it, increasing therefore the time the users spend collaborating with the project. Understanding behavior of citizen scientists and their interaction with the data collection systems may help increase the involvement of the users, categorize them accordingly to different parameters, facilitate their collaboration with the systems, design better user interfaces, and allow better planning and deployment of similar projects and systems. Users behavior can be actively monitored or derived from their interaction with the data collection systems. Records of the interactions can be analyzed using visualization techniques to identify patterns and outliers. In this paper we present some results on the visualization of more than 80 million interactions of almost 150 thousand users with the Galaxy Zoo I citizen science project. Visualization of the attributes extracted from their behaviors was done with a clustering neural network (the Self-Organizing Map) and a selection of icon- and pixel-based techniques. These techniques allows the visual identification of groups of similar behavior in several different ways.

Complex scenes and situations visualization in hierarchical learning algorithm with dynamic 3D NeoAxis engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, James; Ternovskiy, Igor V.

2013-06-01

We applied a two stage unsupervised hierarchical learning system to model complex dynamic surveillance and cyber space monitoring systems using a non-commercial version of the NeoAxis visualization software. The hierarchical scene learning and recognition approach is based on hierarchical expectation maximization, and was linked to a 3D graphics engine for validation of learning and classification results and understanding the human - autonomous system relationship. Scene recognition is performed by taking synthetically generated data and feeding it to a dynamic logic algorithm. The algorithm performs hierarchical recognition of the scene by first examining the features of the objects to determine which objects are present, and then determines the scene based on the objects present. This paper presents a framework within which low level data linked to higher-level visualization can provide support to a human operator and be evaluated in a detailed and systematic way.

Human visual system-based color image steganography using the contourlet transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdul, W.; Carré, P.; Gaborit, P.

2010-01-01

We present a steganographic scheme based on the contourlet transform which uses the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) to control the force of insertion of the hidden information in a perceptually uniform color space. The CIELAB color space is used as it is well suited for steganographic applications because any change in the CIELAB color space has a corresponding effect on the human visual system as is very important for steganographic schemes to be undetectable by the human visual system (HVS). The perceptual decomposition of the contourlet transform gives it a natural advantage over other decompositions as it can be molded with respect to the human perception of different frequencies in an image. The evaluation of the imperceptibility of the steganographic scheme with respect to the color perception of the HVS is done using standard methods such as the structural similarity (SSIM) and CIEDE2000. The robustness of the inserted watermark is tested against JPEG compression.

A dual-channel fusion system of visual and infrared images based on color transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pei, Chuang; Jiang, Xiao-yu; Zhang, Peng-wei; Liang, Hao-cong

2013-09-01

A dual-channel fusion system of visual and infrared images based on color transfer The increasing availability and deployment of imaging sensors operating in multiple spectrums has led to a large research effort in image fusion, resulting in a plethora of pixel-level image fusion algorithms. However, most of these algorithms have gray or false color fusion results which are not adapt to human vision. Transfer color from a day-time reference image to get natural color fusion result is an effective way to solve this problem, but the computation cost of color transfer is expensive and can't meet the request of real-time image processing. We developed a dual-channel infrared and visual images fusion system based on TMS320DM642 digital signal processing chip. The system is divided into image acquisition and registration unit, image fusion processing unit, system control unit and image fusion result out-put unit. The image registration of dual-channel images is realized by combining hardware and software methods in the system. False color image fusion algorithm in RGB color space is used to get R-G fused image, then the system chooses a reference image to transfer color to the fusion result. A color lookup table based on statistical properties of images is proposed to solve the complexity computation problem in color transfer. The mapping calculation between the standard lookup table and the improved color lookup table is simple and only once for a fixed scene. The real-time fusion and natural colorization of infrared and visual images are realized by this system. The experimental result shows that the color-transferred images have a natural color perception to human eyes, and can highlight the targets effectively with clear background details. Human observers with this system will be able to interpret the image better and faster, thereby improving situational awareness and reducing target detection time.

Man-systems evaluation of moving base vehicle simulation motion cues. [human acceleration perception involving visual feedback

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirkpatrick, M.; Brye, R. G.

1974-01-01

A motion cue investigation program is reported that deals with human factor aspects of high fidelity vehicle simulation. General data on non-visual motion thresholds and specific threshold values are established for use as washout parameters in vehicle simulation. A general purpose similator is used to test the contradictory cue hypothesis that acceleration sensitivity is reduced during a vehicle control task involving visual feedback. The simulator provides varying acceleration levels. The method of forced choice is based on the theory of signal detect ability.

Visual search for object categories is predicted by the representational architecture of high-level visual cortex

PubMed Central

Alvarez, George A.; Nakayama, Ken; Konkle, Talia

2016-01-01

Visual search is a ubiquitous visual behavior, and efficient search is essential for survival. Different cognitive models have explained the speed and accuracy of search based either on the dynamics of attention or on similarity of item representations. Here, we examined the extent to which performance on a visual search task can be predicted from the stable representational architecture of the visual system, independent of attentional dynamics. Participants performed a visual search task with 28 conditions reflecting different pairs of categories (e.g., searching for a face among cars, body among hammers, etc.). The time it took participants to find the target item varied as a function of category combination. In a separate group of participants, we measured the neural responses to these object categories when items were presented in isolation. Using representational similarity analysis, we then examined whether the similarity of neural responses across different subdivisions of the visual system had the requisite structure needed to predict visual search performance. Overall, we found strong brain/behavior correlations across most of the higher-level visual system, including both the ventral and dorsal pathways when considering both macroscale sectors as well as smaller mesoscale regions. These results suggest that visual search for real-world object categories is well predicted by the stable, task-independent architecture of the visual system. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here, we ask which neural regions have neural response patterns that correlate with behavioral performance in a visual processing task. We found that the representational structure across all of high-level visual cortex has the requisite structure to predict behavior. Furthermore, when directly comparing different neural regions, we found that they all had highly similar category-level representational structures. These results point to a ubiquitous and uniform representational structure in high-level visual cortex underlying visual object processing. PMID:27832600

Conceptual design study of a visual system for a rotorcraft simulator and some advances in platform motion utilization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sinacori, J. B.

1980-01-01

A conceptual design of a visual system for a rotorcraft flight simulator is presented. Also, drive logic elements for a coupled motion base for such a simulator are given. The design is the result of an assessment of many potential arrangements of electro-optical elements and is a concept considered feasible for the application. The motion drive elements represent an example logic for a coupled motion base and is essentially an appeal to the designers of such logic to combine their washout and braking functions.

Supramolecular latching system based on ultrastable synthetic binding pairs as versatile tools for protein imaging.

PubMed

Kim, Kyung Lock; Sung, Gihyun; Sim, Jaehwan; Murray, James; Li, Meng; Lee, Ara; Shrinidhi, Annadka; Park, Kyeng Min; Kim, Kimoon

2018-04-27

Here we report ultrastable synthetic binding pairs between cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) and adamantyl- (AdA) or ferrocenyl-ammonium (FcA) as a supramolecular latching system for protein imaging, overcoming the limitations of protein-based binding pairs. Cyanine 3-conjugated CB[7] (Cy3-CB[7]) can visualize AdA- or FcA-labeled proteins to provide clear fluorescence images for accurate and precise analysis of proteins. Furthermore, controllability of the system is demonstrated by treating with a stronger competitor guest. At low temperature, this allows us to selectively detach Cy3-CB[7] from guest-labeled proteins on the cell surface, while leaving Cy3-CB[7] latched to the cytosolic proteins for spatially conditional visualization of target proteins. This work represents a non-protein-based bioimaging tool which has inherent advantages over the widely used protein-based techniques, thereby demonstrating the great potential of this synthetic system.

Content-based Music Search and Recommendation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takegawa, Kazuki; Hijikata, Yoshinori; Nishida, Shogo

Recently, the turn volume of music data on the Internet has increased rapidly. This has increased the user's cost to find music data suiting their preference from such a large data set. We propose a content-based music search and recommendation system. This system has an interface for searching and finding music data and an interface for editing a user profile which is necessary for music recommendation. By exploiting the visualization of the feature space of music and the visualization of the user profile, the user can search music data and edit the user profile. Furthermore, by exploiting the infomation which can be acquired from each visualized object in a mutually complementary manner, we make it easier for the user to search music data and edit the user profile. Concretely, the system gives to the user an information obtained from the user profile when searching music data and an information obtained from the feature space of music when editing the user profile.

Observability Analysis of a Matrix Kalman Filter-Based Navigation System Using Visual/Inertial/Magnetic Sensors

PubMed Central

Feng, Guohu; Wu, Wenqi; Wang, Jinling

2012-01-01

A matrix Kalman filter (MKF) has been implemented for an integrated navigation system using visual/inertial/magnetic sensors. The MKF rearranges the original nonlinear process model in a pseudo-linear process model. We employ the observability rank criterion based on Lie derivatives to verify the conditions under which the nonlinear system is observable. It has been proved that such observability conditions are: (a) at least one degree of rotational freedom is excited, and (b) at least two linearly independent horizontal lines and one vertical line are observed. Experimental results have validated the correctness of these observability conditions. PMID:23012523

Development of the updated system of city underground pipelines based on Visual Studio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jianxiong; Zhu, Yun; Li, Xiangdong

2009-10-01

Our city has owned the integrated pipeline network management system with ArcGIS Engine 9.1 as the bottom development platform and with Oracle9i as basic database for storaging data. In this system, ArcGIS SDE9.1 is applied as the spatial data engine, and the system was a synthetic management software developed with Visual Studio visualization procedures development tools. As the pipeline update function of the system has the phenomenon of slower update and even sometimes the data lost, to ensure the underground pipeline data can real-time be updated conveniently and frequently, and the actuality and integrity of the underground pipeline data, we have increased a new update module in the system developed and researched by ourselves. The module has the powerful data update function, and can realize the function of inputting and outputting and rapid update volume of data. The new developed module adopts Visual Studio visualization procedures development tools, and uses access as the basic database to storage data. We can edit the graphics in AutoCAD software, and realize the database update using link between the graphics and the system. Practice shows that the update module has good compatibility with the original system, reliable and high update efficient of the database.

A Low-Cost Audio Prescription Labeling System Using RFID for Thai Visually-Impaired People.

PubMed

Lertwiriyaprapa, Titipong; Fakkheow, Pirapong

2015-01-01

This research aims to develop a low-cost audio prescription labeling (APL) system for visually-impaired people by using the RFID system. The developed APL system includes the APL machine and APL software. The APL machine is for visually-impaired people while APL software allows caregivers to record all important information into the APL machine. The main objective of the development of the APL machine is to reduce costs and size by designing all of the electronic devices to fit into one print circuit board. Also, it is designed so that it is easy to use and can become an electronic aid for daily living. The developed APL software is based on Java and MySQL, both of which can operate on various operating platforms and are easy to develop as commercial software. The developed APL system was first evaluated by 5 experts. The APL system was also evaluated by 50 actual visually-impaired people (30 elders and 20 blind individuals) and 20 caregivers, pharmacists and nurses. After using the APL system, evaluations were carried out, and it can be concluded from the evaluation results that this proposed APL system can be effectively used for helping visually-impaired people in terms of self-medication.

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

Eric A. Wernert; William R. Sherman; Patrick O'Leary

Immersive visualization makes use of the medium of virtual reality (VR) - it is a subset of virtual reality focused on the application of VR technologies to scientific and information visualization. As the name implies, there is a particular focus on the physically immersive aspect of VR that more fully engages the perceptual and kinesthetic capabilities of the scientist with the goal of producing greater insight. The immersive visualization community is uniquely positioned to address the analysis needs of the wide spectrum of domain scientists who are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by data. The outputs of computational science simulations and high-resolutionmore » sensors are creating a data deluge. Data is coming in faster than it can be analyzed, and there are countless opportunities for discovery that are missed as the data speeds by. By more fully utilizing the scientists visual and other sensory systems, and by offering a more natural user interface with which to interact with computer-generated representations, immersive visualization offers great promise in taming this data torrent. However, increasing the adoption of immersive visualization in scientific research communities can only happen by simultaneously lowering the engagement threshold while raising the measurable benefits of adoption. Scientists time spent immersed with their data will thus be rewarded with higher productivity, deeper insight, and improved creativity. Immersive visualization ties together technologies and methodologies from a variety of related but frequently disjoint areas, including hardware, software and human-computer interaction (HCI) disciplines. In many ways, hardware is a solved problem. There are well established technologies including large walk-in systems such as the CAVE{trademark} and head-based systems such as the Wide-5{trademark}. The advent of new consumer-level technologies now enable an entirely new generation of immersive displays, with smaller footprints and costs, widening the potential consumer base. While one would be hard-pressed to call software a solved problem, we now understand considerably more about best practices for designing and developing sustainable, scalable software systems, and we have useful software examples that illuminate the way to even better implementations. As with any research endeavour, HCI will always be exploring new topics in interface design, but we now have a sizable knowledge base of the strengths and weaknesses of the human perceptual systems and we know how to design effective interfaces for immersive systems. So, in a research landscape with a clear need for better visualization and analysis tools, a methodology in immersive visualization that has been shown to effectively address some of those needs, and vastly improved supporting technologies and knowledge of hardware, software, and HCI, why hasn't immersive visualization 'caught on' more with scientists? What can we do as a community of immersive visualization researchers and practitioners to facilitate greater adoption by scientific communities so as to make the transition from 'the promise of virtual reality' to 'the reality of virtual reality'.« less

Real-time distortion correction for visual inspection systems based on FPGA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Danhua; Zhang, Zhaoxia; Chen, Xiaodong; Yu, Daoyin

2008-03-01

Visual inspection is a kind of new technology based on the research of computer vision, which focuses on the measurement of the object's geometry and location. It can be widely used in online measurement, and other real-time measurement process. Because of the defects of the traditional visual inspection, a new visual detection mode -all-digital intelligent acquisition and transmission is presented. The image processing, including filtering, image compression, binarization, edge detection and distortion correction, can be completed in the programmable devices -FPGA. As the wide-field angle lens is adopted in the system, the output images have serious distortion. Limited by the calculating speed of computer, software can only correct the distortion of static images but not the distortion of dynamic images. To reach the real-time need, we design a distortion correction system based on FPGA. The method of hardware distortion correction is that the spatial correction data are calculated first under software circumstance, then converted into the address of hardware storage and stored in the hardware look-up table, through which data can be read out to correct gray level. The major benefit using FPGA is that the same circuit can be used for other circularly symmetric wide-angle lenses without being modified.

Intraoperative adaptation and visualization of preoperative risk analyses for oncologic liver surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Christian; Schlichting, Stefan; Zidowitz, Stephan; Köhn, Alexander; Hindennach, Milo; Kleemann, Markus; Peitgen, Heinz-Otto

2008-03-01

Tumor resections from the liver are complex surgical interventions. With recent planning software, risk analyses based on individual liver anatomy can be carried out preoperatively. However, additional tumors within the liver are frequently detected during oncological interventions using intraoperative ultrasound. These tumors are not visible in preoperative data and their existence may require changes to the resection strategy. We propose a novel method that allows an intraoperative risk analysis adaptation by merging newly detected tumors with a preoperative risk analysis. To determine the exact positions and sizes of these tumors we make use of a navigated ultrasound-system. A fast communication protocol enables our application to exchange crucial data with this navigation system during an intervention. A further motivation for our work is to improve the visual presentation of a moving ultrasound plane within a complex 3D planning model including vascular systems, tumors, and organ surfaces. In case the ultrasound plane is located inside the liver, occlusion of the ultrasound plane by the planning model is an inevitable problem for the applied visualization technique. Our system allows the surgeon to focus on the ultrasound image while perceiving context-relevant planning information. To improve orientation ability and distance perception, we include additional depth cues by applying new illustrative visualization algorithms. Preliminary evaluations confirm that in case of intraoperatively detected tumors a risk analysis adaptation is beneficial for precise liver surgery. Our new GPU-based visualization approach provides the surgeon with a simultaneous visualization of planning models and navigated 2D ultrasound data while minimizing occlusion problems.

Mental Imagery and Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

Keogh, Rebecca; Pearson, Joel

2011-01-01

Visual working memory provides an essential link between past and future events. Despite recent efforts, capacity limits, their genesis and the underlying neural structures of visual working memory remain unclear. Here we show that performance in visual working memory - but not iconic visual memory - can be predicted by the strength of mental imagery as assessed with binocular rivalry in a given individual. In addition, for individuals with strong imagery, modulating the background luminance diminished performance on visual working memory and imagery tasks, but not working memory for number strings. This suggests that luminance signals were disrupting sensory-based imagery mechanisms and not a general working memory system. Individuals with poor imagery still performed above chance in the visual working memory task, but their performance was not affected by the background luminance, suggesting a dichotomy in strategies for visual working memory: individuals with strong mental imagery rely on sensory-based imagery to support mnemonic performance, while those with poor imagery rely on different strategies. These findings could help reconcile current controversy regarding the mechanism and location of visual mnemonic storage. PMID:22195024

Mental imagery and visual working memory.

PubMed

Keogh, Rebecca; Pearson, Joel

2011-01-01

Visual working memory provides an essential link between past and future events. Despite recent efforts, capacity limits, their genesis and the underlying neural structures of visual working memory remain unclear. Here we show that performance in visual working memory--but not iconic visual memory--can be predicted by the strength of mental imagery as assessed with binocular rivalry in a given individual. In addition, for individuals with strong imagery, modulating the background luminance diminished performance on visual working memory and imagery tasks, but not working memory for number strings. This suggests that luminance signals were disrupting sensory-based imagery mechanisms and not a general working memory system. Individuals with poor imagery still performed above chance in the visual working memory task, but their performance was not affected by the background luminance, suggesting a dichotomy in strategies for visual working memory: individuals with strong mental imagery rely on sensory-based imagery to support mnemonic performance, while those with poor imagery rely on different strategies. These findings could help reconcile current controversy regarding the mechanism and location of visual mnemonic storage.

Computer systems and methods for the query and visualization of multidimensional databases

DOEpatents

Stolte, Chris; Tang, Diane L; Hanrahan, Patrick

2015-03-03

A computer displays a graphical user interface on its display. The graphical user interface includes a schema information region and a data visualization region. The schema information region includes multiple operand names, each operand corresponding to one or more fields of a multi-dimensional database that includes at least one data hierarchy. The data visualization region includes a columns shelf and a rows shelf. The computer detects user actions to associate one or more first operands with the columns shelf and to associate one or more second operands with the rows shelf. The computer generates a visual table in the data visualization region in accordance with the user actions. The visual table includes one or more panes. Each pane has an x-axis defined based on data for the one or more first operands, and each pane has a y-axis defined based on data for the one or more second operands.

Computer systems and methods for the query and visualization of multidimensional databases

DOEpatents

Stolte, Chris; Tang, Diane L.; Hanrahan, Patrick

2015-11-10

A computer displays a graphical user interface on its display. The graphical user interface includes a schema information region and a data visualization region. The schema information region includes a plurality of fields of a multi-dimensional database that includes at least one data hierarchy. The data visualization region includes a columns shelf and a rows shelf. The computer detects user actions to associate one or more first fields with the columns shelf and to associate one or more second fields with the rows shelf. The computer generates a visual table in the data visualization region in accordance with the user actions. The visual table includes one or more panes. Each pane has an x-axis defined based on data for the one or more first fields, and each pane has a y-axis defined based on data for the one or more second fields.

Visual Form Perception Can Be a Cognitive Correlate of Lower Level Math Categories for Teenagers.

PubMed

Cui, Jiaxin; Zhang, Yiyun; Cheng, Dazhi; Li, Dawei; Zhou, Xinlin

2017-01-01

Numerous studies have assessed the cognitive correlates of performance in mathematics, but little research has been conducted to systematically examine the relations between visual perception as the starting point of visuospatial processing and typical mathematical performance. In the current study, we recruited 223 seventh graders to perform a visual form perception task (figure matching), numerosity comparison, digit comparison, exact computation, approximate computation, and curriculum-based mathematical achievement tests. Results showed that, after controlling for gender, age, and five general cognitive processes (choice reaction time, visual tracing, mental rotation, spatial working memory, and non-verbal matrices reasoning), visual form perception had unique contributions to numerosity comparison, digit comparison, and exact computation, but had no significant relation with approximate computation or curriculum-based mathematical achievement. These results suggest that visual form perception is an important independent cognitive correlate of lower level math categories, including the approximate number system, digit comparison, and exact computation.

NoSQL Based 3D City Model Management System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, B.; Harrie, L.; Cao, J.; Wu, Z.; Shen, J.

2014-04-01

To manage increasingly complicated 3D city models, a framework based on NoSQL database is proposed in this paper. The framework supports import and export of 3D city model according to international standards such as CityGML, KML/COLLADA and X3D. We also suggest and implement 3D model analysis and visualization in the framework. For city model analysis, 3D geometry data and semantic information (such as name, height, area, price and so on) are stored and processed separately. We use a Map-Reduce method to deal with the 3D geometry data since it is more complex, while the semantic analysis is mainly based on database query operation. For visualization, a multiple 3D city representation structure CityTree is implemented within the framework to support dynamic LODs based on user viewpoint. Also, the proposed framework is easily extensible and supports geoindexes to speed up the querying. Our experimental results show that the proposed 3D city management system can efficiently fulfil the analysis and visualization requirements.

OCT-based angiography in real time with hand-held probe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gelikonov, Grigory V.; Moiseev, Alexander A.; Ksenofontov, Sergey Y.; Terpelov, Dmitry A.; Gelikonov, Valentine M.

2018-03-01

This work is dedicated to development of the OCT system capable to visualize blood vessel network for everyday clinical use. Following problems were solved during the development: compensation of specific natural tissue displacements, induced by contact scanning mode and physiological motion of patients (e.g. respiratory and cardiac motions) and on-line visualization of vessel net to provide the feedback for system operator.

Cognitive load reducing in destination decision system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Chunhua; Wang, Cong; Jiang, Qien; Wang, Jian; Chen, Hong

2007-12-01

With limited cognitive resource, the quantity of information can be processed by a person is limited. If the limitation is broken, the whole cognitive process would be affected, so did the final decision. The research of effective ways to reduce the cognitive load is launched from two aspects: cutting down the number of alternatives and directing the user to allocate his limited attention resource based on the selective visual attention theory. Decision-making is such a complex process that people usually have difficulties to express their requirements completely. An effective method to get user's hidden requirements is put forward in this paper. With more requirements be caught, the destination decision system can filtering more quantity of inappropriate alternatives. Different information piece has different utility, if the information with high utility would get attention easily, the decision might be made more easily. After analyzing the current selective visual attention theory, a new presentation style based on user's visual attention also put forward in this paper. This model arranges information presentation according to the movement of sightline. Through visual attention, the user can put their limited attention resource on the important information. Hidden requirements catching and presenting information based on the selective visual attention are effective ways to reducing the cognitive load.

A report documenting the completion of the Los Alamos National Laboratory portion of the ASC level II milestone ""Visualization on the supercomputing platform

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

Ahrens, James P; Patchett, John M; Lo, Li - Ta

2011-01-24

This report provides documentation for the completion of the Los Alamos portion of the ASC Level II 'Visualization on the Supercomputing Platform' milestone. This ASC Level II milestone is a joint milestone between Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The milestone text is shown in Figure 1 with the Los Alamos portions highlighted in boldfaced text. Visualization and analysis of petascale data is limited by several factors which must be addressed as ACES delivers the Cielo platform. Two primary difficulties are: (1) Performance of interactive rendering, which is the most computationally intensive portion of the visualization process. Formore » terascale platforms, commodity clusters with graphics processors (GPUs) have been used for interactive rendering. For petascale platforms, visualization and rendering may be able to run efficiently on the supercomputer platform itself. (2) I/O bandwidth, which limits how much information can be written to disk. If we simply analyze the sparse information that is saved to disk we miss the opportunity to analyze the rich information produced every timestep by the simulation. For the first issue, we are pursuing in-situ analysis, in which simulations are coupled directly with analysis libraries at runtime. This milestone will evaluate the visualization and rendering performance of current and next generation supercomputers in contrast to GPU-based visualization clusters, and evaluate the perfromance of common analysis libraries coupled with the simulation that analyze and write data to disk during a running simulation. This milestone will explore, evaluate and advance the maturity level of these technologies and their applicability to problems of interest to the ASC program. In conclusion, we improved CPU-based rendering performance by a a factor of 2-10 times on our tests. In addition, we evaluated CPU and CPU-based rendering performance. We encourage production visualization experts to consider using CPU-based rendering solutions when it is appropriate. For example, on remote supercomputers CPU-based rendering can offer a means of viewing data without having to offload the data or geometry onto a CPU-based visualization system. In terms of comparative performance of the CPU and CPU we believe that further optimizations of the performance of both CPU or CPU-based rendering are possible. The simulation community is currently confronting this reality as they work to port their simulations to different hardware architectures. What is interesting about CPU rendering of massive datasets is that for part two decades CPU performance has significantly outperformed CPU-based systems. Based on our advancements, evaluations and explorations we believe that CPU-based rendering has returned as one viable option for the visualization of massive datasets.« less

Inheriting the Learner's View: A Google Glass-Based Wearable Computing Platform for Improving Surgical Trainee Performance.

PubMed

Brewer, Zachary E; Fann, Hutchinson C; Ogden, W David; Burdon, Thomas A; Sheikh, Ahmad Y

2016-01-01

It is speculated that, in operative environments, real-time visualization of the trainee's viewpoint by the instructor may improve performance and teaching efficacy. We hypothesized that introduction of a wearable surgical visualization system allowing the instructor to visualize otherwise "blind" areas in the operative field could improve trainee performance in a simulated operative setting. A total of 11 surgery residents (4 in general surgery training and 7 in an integrated 6-year cardiothoracic surgery program) participated in the study. Google (Mountain View, CA) Glass hardware running proprietary software from CrowdOptic (San Francisco, CA) was utilized for creation of the wearable surgical visualization system. Both the learner and trainer wore the system, and video was streamed from the learner's system in real time to the trainer, who directed the learner to place needles in a simulated operative field. Subjects placed a total of 5 needles in each of 4 quadrants. A composite error score was calculated based on the accuracy of needle placement in relation to the intended needle trajectories as described by the trainer. Time to task completion (TTC) was also measured and participants completed an exit questionnaire. All residents completed the protocol tasks and the survey. Introduction of the wearable surgical visualization system did not affect mean time to task completion (278 ± 50 vs. 282 ± 69 seconds, p = NS). However, mean composite error score fell significantly once the wearable system was deployed (18 ± 5 vs. 15 ± 4, p < 0.05), demonstrating improved accuracy of needle placement. Most of the participants deemed the device unobtrusive, easy to operate, and useful for communication and instruction. This study suggests that wearable surgical visualization systems allowing for adoption of the learner's perspective may be a useful educational adjunct in the training of surgeons. Further evaluations of the efficacy of wearable technology in the operating room environment are warranted. Copyright © 2016 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Active System for Visually-Guided Reaching in 3D across Binocular Fixations

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Based on the importance of relative disparity between objects for accurate hand-eye coordination, this paper presents a biological approach inspired by the cortical neural architecture. So, the motor information is coded in egocentric coordinates obtained from the allocentric representation of the space (in terms of disparity) generated from the egocentric representation of the visual information (image coordinates). In that way, the different aspects of the visuomotor coordination are integrated: an active vision system, composed of two vergent cameras; a module for the 2D binocular disparity estimation based on a local estimation of phase differences performed through a bank of Gabor filters; and a robotic actuator to perform the corresponding tasks (visually-guided reaching). The approach's performance is evaluated through experiments on both simulated and real data. PMID:24672295

Research on the framework and key technologies of panoramic visualization for smart distribution network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Jian; Sheng, Wanxing; Lin, Tao; Lv, Guangxian

2018-05-01

Nowadays, the smart distribution network has made tremendous progress, and the business visualization becomes even more significant and indispensable. Based on the summarization of traditional visualization technologies and demands of smart distribution network, a panoramic visualization application is proposed in this paper. The overall architecture, integrated architecture and service architecture of panoramic visualization application is firstly presented. Then, the architecture design and main functions of panoramic visualization system are elaborated in depth. In addition, the key technologies related to the application is discussed briefly. At last, two typical visualization scenarios in smart distribution network, which are risk warning and fault self-healing, proves that the panoramic visualization application is valuable for the operation and maintenance of the distribution network.

A 3-D terrain visualization database for highway information management

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-07-26

A Multimedia based Highway Information System (MMHIS) is described in the paper to improve the existing photologging system for various operation and management needs. The full digital, computer based MMHIS uses technologies of video, multimedia data...

High Performance Real-Time Visualization of Voluminous Scientific Data Through the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, J.; Hackathorn, E. J.; Joyce, J.; Smith, J. S.

2014-12-01

Within our community data volume is rapidly expanding. These data have limited value if one cannot interact or visualize the data in a timely manner. The scientific community needs the ability to dynamically visualize, analyze, and interact with these data along with other environmental data in real-time regardless of the physical location or data format. Within the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's), the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is actively developing the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS). Previously, the NEIS team investigated methods of data discovery and interoperability. The recent focus shifted to high performance real-time visualization allowing NEIS to bring massive amounts of 4-D data, including output from weather forecast models as well as data from different observations (surface obs, upper air, etc...) in one place. Our server side architecture provides a real-time stream processing system which utilizes server based NVIDIA Graphical Processing Units (GPU's) for data processing, wavelet based compression, and other preparation techniques for visualization, allows NEIS to minimize the bandwidth and latency for data delivery to end-users. Client side, users interact with NEIS services through the visualization application developed at ESRL called TerraViz. Terraviz is developed using the Unity game engine and takes advantage of the GPU's allowing a user to interact with large data sets in real time that might not have been possible before. Through these technologies, the NEIS team has improved accessibility to 'Big Data' along with providing tools allowing novel visualization and seamless integration of data across time and space regardless of data size, physical location, or data format. These capabilities provide the ability to see the global interactions and their importance for weather prediction. Additionally, they allow greater access than currently exists helping to foster scientific collaboration and new ideas. This presentation will provide an update of the recent enhancements of the NEIS architecture and visualization capabilities, challenges faced, as well as ongoing research activities related to this project.

The implementation of thermal image visualization by HDL based on pseudo-color

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yong; Zhang, JiangLing

2004-11-01

The pseudo-color method which maps the sampled data to intuitive perception colors is a kind of powerful visualization way. And the all-around system of pseudo-color visualization, which includes the primary principle, model and HDL (Hardware Description Language) implementation for the thermal images, is expatiated on in the paper. The thermal images whose signal is modulated as video reflect the temperature distribution of measured object, so they have the speciality of mass and real-time. The solution to the intractable problem is as follows: First, the reasonable system, i.e. the combining of global pseudo-color visualization and local special area accurate measure, muse be adopted. Then, the HDL pseudo-color algorithms in SoC (System on Chip) carry out the system to ensure the real-time. Finally, the key HDL algorithms for direct gray levels connection coding, proportional gray levels map coding and enhanced gray levels map coding are presented, and its simulation results are showed. The pseudo-color visualization of thermal images implemented by HDL in the paper has effective application in the aspect of electric power equipment test and medical health diagnosis.

Classification of binary intentions for individuals with impaired oculomotor function: ‘eyes-closed’ SSVEP-based brain-computer interface (BCI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Jeong-Hwan; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Han, Chang-Hee; Jung, Ki-Young; Im, Chang-Hwan

2013-04-01

Objective. Some patients suffering from severe neuromuscular diseases have difficulty controlling not only their bodies but also their eyes. Since these patients have difficulty gazing at specific visual stimuli or keeping their eyes open for a long time, they are unable to use the typical steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. In this study, we introduce a new paradigm for SSVEP-based BCI, which can be potentially suitable for disabled individuals with impaired oculomotor function. Approach. The proposed electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI system allows users to express their binary intentions without needing to open their eyes. A pair of glasses with two light emitting diodes flickering at different frequencies was used to present visual stimuli to participants with their eyes closed, and we classified the recorded EEG patterns in the online experiments conducted with five healthy participants and one patient with severe amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Main results. Through offline experiments performed with 11 participants, we confirmed that human SSVEP could be modulated by visual selective attention to a specific light stimulus penetrating through the eyelids. Furthermore, the recorded EEG patterns could be classified with accuracy high enough for use in a practical BCI system. After customizing the parameters of the proposed SSVEP-based BCI paradigm based on the offline analysis results, binary intentions of five healthy participants were classified in real time. The average information transfer rate of our online experiments reached 10.83 bits min-1. A preliminary online experiment conducted with an ALS patient showed a classification accuracy of 80%. Significance. The results of our offline and online experiments demonstrated the feasibility of our proposed SSVEP-based BCI paradigm. It is expected that our ‘eyes-closed’ SSVEP-based BCI system can be potentially used for communication of disabled individuals with impaired oculomotor function.

Classification of binary intentions for individuals with impaired oculomotor function: 'eyes-closed' SSVEP-based brain-computer interface (BCI).

PubMed

Lim, Jeong-Hwan; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Han, Chang-Hee; Jung, Ki-Young; Im, Chang-Hwan

2013-04-01

Some patients suffering from severe neuromuscular diseases have difficulty controlling not only their bodies but also their eyes. Since these patients have difficulty gazing at specific visual stimuli or keeping their eyes open for a long time, they are unable to use the typical steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. In this study, we introduce a new paradigm for SSVEP-based BCI, which can be potentially suitable for disabled individuals with impaired oculomotor function. The proposed electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI system allows users to express their binary intentions without needing to open their eyes. A pair of glasses with two light emitting diodes flickering at different frequencies was used to present visual stimuli to participants with their eyes closed, and we classified the recorded EEG patterns in the online experiments conducted with five healthy participants and one patient with severe amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Through offline experiments performed with 11 participants, we confirmed that human SSVEP could be modulated by visual selective attention to a specific light stimulus penetrating through the eyelids. Furthermore, the recorded EEG patterns could be classified with accuracy high enough for use in a practical BCI system. After customizing the parameters of the proposed SSVEP-based BCI paradigm based on the offline analysis results, binary intentions of five healthy participants were classified in real time. The average information transfer rate of our online experiments reached 10.83 bits min(-1). A preliminary online experiment conducted with an ALS patient showed a classification accuracy of 80%. The results of our offline and online experiments demonstrated the feasibility of our proposed SSVEP-based BCI paradigm. It is expected that our 'eyes-closed' SSVEP-based BCI system can be potentially used for communication of disabled individuals with impaired oculomotor function.

Image/video understanding systems based on network-symbolic models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuvich, Gary

2004-03-01

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

Visualization-based decision support for value-driven system design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tibor, Elliott

In the past 50 years, the military, communication, and transportation systems that permeate our world, have grown exponentially in size and complexity. The development and production of these systems has seen ballooning costs and increased risk. This is particularly critical for the aerospace industry. The inability to deal with growing system complexity is a crippling force in the advancement of engineered systems. Value-Driven Design represents a paradigm shift in the field of design engineering that has potential to help counteract this trend. The philosophy of Value-Driven Design places the desires of the stakeholder at the forefront of the design process to capture true preferences and reveal system alternatives that were never previously thought possible. Modern aerospace engineering design problems are large, complex, and involve multiple levels of decision-making. To find the best design, the decision-maker is often required to analyze hundreds or thousands of combinations of design variables and attributes. Visualization can be used to support these decisions, by communicating large amounts of data in a meaningful way. Understanding the design space, the subsystem relationships, and the design uncertainties is vital to the advancement of Value-Driven Design as an accepted process for the development of more effective, efficient, robust, and elegant aerospace systems. This research investigates the use of multi-dimensional data visualization tools to support decision-making under uncertainty during the Value-Driven Design process. A satellite design system comprising a satellite, ground station, and launch vehicle is used to demonstrate effectiveness of new visualization methods to aid in decision support during complex aerospace system design. These methods are used to facilitate the exploration of the feasible design space by representing the value impact of system attribute changes and comparing the results of multi-objective optimization formulations with a Value-Driven Design formulation. The visualization methods are also used to assist in the decomposition of a value function, by representing attribute sensitivities to aid with trade-off studies. Lastly, visualization is used to enable greater understanding of the subsystem relationships, by displaying derivative-based couplings, and the design uncertainties, through implementation of utility theory. The use of these visualization methods is shown to enhance the decision-making capabilities of the designer by granting them a more holistic view of the complex design space.

Invariant Visual Object and Face Recognition: Neural and Computational Bases, and a Model, VisNet

PubMed Central

Rolls, Edmund T.

2012-01-01

Neurophysiological evidence for invariant representations of objects and faces in the primate inferior temporal visual cortex is described. Then a computational approach to how invariant representations are formed in the brain is described that builds on the neurophysiology. A feature hierarchy model in which invariant representations can be built by self-organizing learning based on the temporal and spatial statistics of the visual input produced by objects as they transform in the world is described. VisNet can use temporal continuity in an associative synaptic learning rule with a short-term memory trace, and/or it can use spatial continuity in continuous spatial transformation learning which does not require a temporal trace. The model of visual processing in the ventral cortical stream can build representations of objects that are invariant with respect to translation, view, size, and also lighting. The model has been extended to provide an account of invariant representations in the dorsal visual system of the global motion produced by objects such as looming, rotation, and object-based movement. The model has been extended to incorporate top-down feedback connections to model the control of attention by biased competition in, for example, spatial and object search tasks. The approach has also been extended to account for how the visual system can select single objects in complex visual scenes, and how multiple objects can be represented in a scene. The approach has also been extended to provide, with an additional layer, for the development of representations of spatial scenes of the type found in the hippocampus. PMID:22723777

Invariant Visual Object and Face Recognition: Neural and Computational Bases, and a Model, VisNet.

PubMed

Rolls, Edmund T

2012-01-01

Neurophysiological evidence for invariant representations of objects and faces in the primate inferior temporal visual cortex is described. Then a computational approach to how invariant representations are formed in the brain is described that builds on the neurophysiology. A feature hierarchy model in which invariant representations can be built by self-organizing learning based on the temporal and spatial statistics of the visual input produced by objects as they transform in the world is described. VisNet can use temporal continuity in an associative synaptic learning rule with a short-term memory trace, and/or it can use spatial continuity in continuous spatial transformation learning which does not require a temporal trace. The model of visual processing in the ventral cortical stream can build representations of objects that are invariant with respect to translation, view, size, and also lighting. The model has been extended to provide an account of invariant representations in the dorsal visual system of the global motion produced by objects such as looming, rotation, and object-based movement. The model has been extended to incorporate top-down feedback connections to model the control of attention by biased competition in, for example, spatial and object search tasks. The approach has also been extended to account for how the visual system can select single objects in complex visual scenes, and how multiple objects can be represented in a scene. The approach has also been extended to provide, with an additional layer, for the development of representations of spatial scenes of the type found in the hippocampus.

Assisting the visually impaired: obstacle detection and warning system by acoustic feedback.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Alberto; Yebes, J Javier; Alcantarilla, Pablo F; Bergasa, Luis M; Almazán, Javier; Cela, Andrés

2012-12-17

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system.

Sensor-Based Assistive Devices for Visually-Impaired People: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Elmannai, Wafa; Elleithy, Khaled

2017-01-01

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there are 285 million visually-impaired people worldwide. Among these individuals, there are 39 million who are totally blind. There have been several systems designed to support visually-impaired people and to improve the quality of their lives. Unfortunately, most of these systems are limited in their capabilities. In this paper, we present a comparative survey of the wearable and portable assistive devices for visually-impaired people in order to show the progress in assistive technology for this group of people. Thus, the contribution of this literature survey is to discuss in detail the most significant devices that are presented in the literature to assist this population and highlight the improvements, advantages, disadvantages, and accuracy. Our aim is to address and present most of the issues of these systems to pave the way for other researchers to design devices that ensure safety and independent mobility to visually-impaired people. PMID:28287451

What is adapted in face adaptation? The neural representations of expression in the human visual system.

PubMed

Fox, Christopher J; Barton, Jason J S

2007-01-05

The neural representation of facial expression within the human visual system is not well defined. Using an adaptation paradigm, we examined aftereffects on expression perception produced by various stimuli. Adapting to a face, which was used to create morphs between two expressions, substantially biased expression perception within the morphed faces away from the adapting expression. This adaptation was not based on low-level image properties, as a different image of the same person displaying that expression produced equally robust aftereffects. Smaller but significant aftereffects were generated by images of different individuals, irrespective of gender. Non-face visual, auditory, or verbal representations of emotion did not generate significant aftereffects. These results suggest that adaptation affects at least two neural representations of expression: one specific to the individual (not the image), and one that represents expression across different facial identities. The identity-independent aftereffect suggests the existence of a 'visual semantic' for facial expression in the human visual system.

Assisting the Visually Impaired: Obstacle Detection and Warning System by Acoustic Feedback

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Alberto; Yebes, J. Javier; Alcantarilla, Pablo F.; Bergasa, Luis M.; Almazán, Javier; Cela, Andrés

2012-01-01

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system. PMID:23247413

Visual Hybrid Development Learning System (VHDLS) framework for children with autism.

PubMed

Banire, Bilikis; Jomhari, Nazean; Ahmad, Rodina

2015-10-01

The effect of education on children with autism serves as a relative cure for their deficits. As a result of this, they require special techniques to gain their attention and interest in learning as compared to typical children. Several studies have shown that these children are visual learners. In this study, we proposed a Visual Hybrid Development Learning System (VHDLS) framework that is based on an instructional design model, multimedia cognitive learning theory, and learning style in order to guide software developers in developing learning systems for children with autism. The results from this study showed that the attention of children with autism increased more with the proposed VHDLS framework.

Knowledge Visualizations: A Tool to Achieve Optimized Operational Decision Making and Data Integration

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) without any integration with Accumulo-based Knowledge Stores based on OWL/RDF. 4. Cloud Based The Apache Software...BTW, 7(12), pp. 227–241. Godin, A. & Akins, D. (2014). Extending DCGS-N naval tactical clouds from in-storage to in-memory for the integrated fires...VISUALIZATIONS: A TOOL TO ACHIEVE OPTIMIZED OPERATIONAL DECISION MAKING AND DATA INTEGRATION by Paul C. Hudson Jeffrey A. Rzasa June 2015 Thesis

A Rules-Based Service for Suggesting Visualizations to Analyze Earth Science Phenomena.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prabhu, A.; Zednik, S.; Fox, P. A.; Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.; Shie, C. L.; Shen, S.

2016-12-01

Current Earth Science Information Systems lack support for new or interdisciplinary researchers, who may be unfamiliar with the domain vocabulary or the breadth of relevant data available. We need to evolve the current information systems, to reduce the time required for data preparation, processing and analysis. This can be done by effectively salvaging the "dark" resources in Earth Science. We assert that Earth science metadata assets are dark resources, information resources that organizations collect, process, and store for regular business or operational activities but fail to utilize for other purposes. In order to effectively use these dark resources, especially for data processing and visualization, we need a combination of domain, data product and processing knowledge, i.e. a knowledge base from which specific data operations can be performed. In this presentation, we describe a semantic, rules based approach to provide i.e. a service to visualize Earth Science phenomena, based on the data variables extracted using the "dark" metadata resources. We use Jena rules to make assertions about compatibility between a phenomena and various visualizations based on multiple factors. We created separate orthogonal rulesets to map each of these factors to the various phenomena. Some of the factors we have considered include measurements, spatial resolution and time intervals. This approach enables easy additions and deletions based on newly obtained domain knowledge or phenomena related information and thus improving the accuracy of the rules service overall.

ProteoLens: a visual analytic tool for multi-scale database-driven biological network data mining.

PubMed

Huan, Tianxiao; Sivachenko, Andrey Y; Harrison, Scott H; Chen, Jake Y

2008-08-12

New systems biology studies require researchers to understand how interplay among myriads of biomolecular entities is orchestrated in order to achieve high-level cellular and physiological functions. Many software tools have been developed in the past decade to help researchers visually navigate large networks of biomolecular interactions with built-in template-based query capabilities. To further advance researchers' ability to interrogate global physiological states of cells through multi-scale visual network explorations, new visualization software tools still need to be developed to empower the analysis. A robust visual data analysis platform driven by database management systems to perform bi-directional data processing-to-visualizations with declarative querying capabilities is needed. We developed ProteoLens as a JAVA-based visual analytic software tool for creating, annotating and exploring multi-scale biological networks. It supports direct database connectivity to either Oracle or PostgreSQL database tables/views, on which SQL statements using both Data Definition Languages (DDL) and Data Manipulation languages (DML) may be specified. The robust query languages embedded directly within the visualization software help users to bring their network data into a visualization context for annotation and exploration. ProteoLens supports graph/network represented data in standard Graph Modeling Language (GML) formats, and this enables interoperation with a wide range of other visual layout tools. The architectural design of ProteoLens enables the de-coupling of complex network data visualization tasks into two distinct phases: 1) creating network data association rules, which are mapping rules between network node IDs or edge IDs and data attributes such as functional annotations, expression levels, scores, synonyms, descriptions etc; 2) applying network data association rules to build the network and perform the visual annotation of graph nodes and edges according to associated data values. We demonstrated the advantages of these new capabilities through three biological network visualization case studies: human disease association network, drug-target interaction network and protein-peptide mapping network. The architectural design of ProteoLens makes it suitable for bioinformatics expert data analysts who are experienced with relational database management to perform large-scale integrated network visual explorations. ProteoLens is a promising visual analytic platform that will facilitate knowledge discoveries in future network and systems biology studies.

Analysis, Mining and Visualization Service at NCSA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilhelmson, R.; Cox, D.; Welge, M.

2004-12-01

NCSA's goal is to create a balanced system that fully supports high-end computing as well as: 1) high-end data management and analysis; 2) visualization of massive, highly complex data collections; 3) large databases; 4) geographically distributed Grid computing; and 5) collaboratories, all based on a secure computational environment and driven with workflow-based services. To this end NCSA has defined a new technology path that includes the integration and provision of cyberservices in support of data analysis, mining, and visualization. NCSA has begun to develop and apply a data mining system-NCSA Data-to-Knowledge (D2K)-in conjunction with both the application and research communities. NCSA D2K will enable the formation of model-based application workflows and visual programming interfaces for rapid data analysis. The Java-based D2K framework, which integrates analytical data mining methods with data management, data transformation, and information visualization tools, will be configurable from the cyberservices (web and grid services, tools, ..) viewpoint to solve a wide range of important data mining problems. This effort will use modules, such as a new classification methods for the detection of high-risk geoscience events, and existing D2K data management, machine learning, and information visualization modules. A D2K cyberservices interface will be developed to seamlessly connect client applications with remote back-end D2K servers, providing computational resources for data mining and integration with local or remote data stores. This work is being coordinated with SDSC's data and services efforts. The new NCSA Visualization embedded workflow environment (NVIEW) will be integrated with D2K functionality to tightly couple informatics and scientific visualization with the data analysis and management services. Visualization services will access and filter disparate data sources, simplifying tasks such as fusing related data from distinct sources into a coherent visual representation. This approach enables collaboration among geographically dispersed researchers via portals and front-end clients, and the coupling with data management services enables recording associations among datasets and building annotation systems into visualization tools and portals, giving scientists a persistent, shareable, virtual lab notebook. To facilitate provision of these cyberservices to the national community, NCSA will be providing a computational environment for large-scale data assimilation, analysis, mining, and visualization. This will be initially implemented on the new 512 processor shared memory SGI's recently purchased by NCSA. In addition to standard batch capabilities, NCSA will provide on-demand capabilities for those projects requiring rapid response (e.g., development of severe weather, earthquake events) for decision makers. It will also be used for non-sequential interactive analysis of data sets where it is important have access to large data volumes over space and time.

Neural attractor network for application in visual field data classification.

PubMed

Fink, Wolfgang

2004-07-07

The purpose was to introduce a novel method for computer-based classification of visual field data derived from perimetric examination, that may act as a 'counsellor', providing an independent 'second opinion' to the diagnosing physician. The classification system consists of a Hopfield-type neural attractor network that obtains its input data from perimetric examination results. An iterative relaxation process determines the states of the neurons dynamically. Therefore, even 'noisy' perimetric output, e.g., early stages of a disease, may eventually be classified correctly according to the predefined idealized visual field defect (scotoma) patterns, stored as attractors of the network, that are found with diseases of the eye, optic nerve and the central nervous system. Preliminary tests of the classification system on real visual field data derived from perimetric examinations have shown a classification success of over 80%. Some of the main advantages of the Hopfield-attractor-network-based approach over feed-forward type neural networks are: (1) network architecture is defined by the classification problem; (2) no training is required to determine the neural coupling strengths; (3) assignment of an auto-diagnosis confidence level is possible by means of an overlap parameter and the Hamming distance. In conclusion, the novel method for computer-based classification of visual field data, presented here, furnishes a valuable first overview and an independent 'second opinion' in judging perimetric examination results, pointing towards a final diagnosis by a physician. It should not be considered a substitute for the diagnosing physician. Thanks to the worldwide accessibility of the Internet, the classification system offers a promising perspective towards modern computer-assisted diagnosis in both medicine and tele-medicine, for example and in particular, with respect to non-ophthalmic clinics or in communities where perimetric expertise is not readily available.

Active confocal imaging for visual prostheses

PubMed Central

Jung, Jae-Hyun; Aloni, Doron; Yitzhaky, Yitzhak; Peli, Eli

2014-01-01

There are encouraging advances in prosthetic vision for the blind, including retinal and cortical implants, and other “sensory substitution devices” that use tactile or electrical stimulation. However, they all have low resolution, limited visual field, and can display only few gray levels (limited dynamic range), severely restricting their utility. To overcome these limitations, image processing or the imaging system could emphasize objects of interest and suppress the background clutter. We propose an active confocal imaging system based on light-field technology that will enable a blind user of any visual prosthesis to efficiently scan, focus on, and “see” only an object of interest while suppressing interference from background clutter. The system captures three-dimensional scene information using a light-field sensor and displays only an in-focused plane with objects in it. After capturing a confocal image, a de-cluttering process removes the clutter based on blur difference. In preliminary experiments we verified the positive impact of confocal-based background clutter removal on recognition of objects in low resolution and limited dynamic range simulated phosphene images. Using a custom-made multiple-camera system, we confirmed that the concept of a confocal de-cluttered image can be realized effectively using light field imaging. PMID:25448710

Using Prosopagnosia to Test and Modify Visual Recognition Theory.

PubMed

O'Brien, Alexander M

2018-02-01

Biederman's contemporary theory of basic visual object recognition (Recognition-by-Components) is based on structural descriptions of objects and presumes 36 visual primitives (geons) people can discriminate, but there has been no empirical test of the actual use of these 36 geons to visually distinguish objects. In this study, we tested for the actual use of these geons in basic visual discrimination by comparing object discrimination performance patterns (when distinguishing varied stimuli) of an acquired prosopagnosia patient (LB) and healthy control participants. LB's prosopagnosia left her heavily reliant on structural descriptions or categorical object differences in visual discrimination tasks versus the control participants' additional ability to use face recognition or coordinate systems (Coordinate Relations Hypothesis). Thus, when LB performed comparably to control participants with a given stimulus, her restricted reliance on basic or categorical discriminations meant that the stimuli must be distinguishable on the basis of a geon feature. By varying stimuli in eight separate experiments and presenting all 36 geons, we discerned that LB coded only 12 (vs. 36) distinct visual primitives (geons), apparently reflective of human visual systems generally.

A New Definition for Ground Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

LandForm(R) VisualFlight(R) blends the power of a geographic information system with the speed of a flight simulator to transform a user's desktop computer into a "virtual cockpit." The software product, which is fully compatible with all Microsoft(R) Windows(R) operating systems, provides distributed, real-time three-dimensional flight visualization over a host of networks. From a desktop, a user can immediately obtain a cockpit view, a chase-plane view, or an airborne tracker view. A customizable display also allows the user to overlay various flight parameters, including latitude, longitude, altitude, pitch, roll, and heading information. Rapid Imaging Software sought assistance from NASA, and the VisualFlight technology came to fruition under a Phase II SBIR contract with Johnson Space Center in 1998. Three years later, on December 13, 2001, Ken Ham successfully flew NASA's X-38 spacecraft from a remote, ground-based cockpit using LandForm VisualFlight as part of his primary situation awareness display in a flight test at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Glyph-based generic network visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erbacher, Robert F.

2002-03-01

Network managers and system administrators have an enormous task set before them in this day of growing network usage. This is particularly true of e-commerce companies and others dependent on a computer network for their livelihood. Network managers and system administrators must monitor activity for intrusions and misuse while at the same time monitoring performance of the network. In this paper, we describe our visualization techniques for assisting in the monitoring of networks for both of these tasks. The goal of these visualization techniques is to integrate the visual representation of both network performance/usage as well as data relevant to intrusion detection. The main difficulties arise from the difference in the intrinsic data and layout needs of each of these tasks. Glyph based techniques are additionally used to indicate the representative values of the necessary data parameters over time. Additionally, our techniques are geared towards providing an environment that can be used continuously for constant real-time monitoring of the network environment.

[Computer-assisted operational planning for pediatric abdominal surgery. 3D-visualized MRI with volume rendering].

PubMed

Günther, P; Tröger, J; Holland-Cunz, S; Waag, K L; Schenk, J P

2006-08-01

Exact surgical planning is necessary for complex operations of pathological changes in anatomical structures of the pediatric abdomen. 3D visualization and computer-assisted operational planning based on CT data are being increasingly used for difficult operations in adults. To minimize radiation exposure and for better soft tissue contrast, sonography and MRI are the preferred diagnostic methods in pediatric patients. Because of manifold difficulties 3D visualization of these MRI data has not been realized so far, even though the field of embryonal malformations and tumors could benefit from this.A newly developed and modified raycasting-based powerful 3D volume rendering software (VG Studio Max 1.2) for the planning of pediatric abdominal surgery is presented. With the help of specifically developed algorithms, a useful surgical planning system is demonstrated. Thanks to the easy handling and high-quality visualization with enormous gain of information, the presented system is now an established part of routine surgical planning.

Image Fusion Algorithms Using Human Visual System in Transform Domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vadhi, Radhika; Swamy Kilari, Veera; Samayamantula, Srinivas Kumar

2017-08-01

The endeavor of digital image fusion is to combine the important visual parts from various sources to advance the visibility eminence of the image. The fused image has a more visual quality than any source images. In this paper, the Human Visual System (HVS) weights are used in the transform domain to select appropriate information from various source images and then to attain a fused image. In this process, mainly two steps are involved. First, apply the DWT to the registered source images. Later, identify qualitative sub-bands using HVS weights. Hence, qualitative sub-bands are selected from different sources to form high quality HVS based fused image. The quality of the HVS based fused image is evaluated with general fusion metrics. The results show the superiority among the state-of-the art resolution Transforms (MRT) such as Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT), Contourlet Transform (CT), and Non Sub Sampled Contourlet Transform (NSCT) using maximum selection fusion rule.

A virtual reality-based method of decreasing transmission time of visual feedback for a tele-operative robotic catheter operating system.

PubMed

Guo, Jin; Guo, Shuxiang; Tamiya, Takashi; Hirata, Hideyuki; Ishihara, Hidenori

2016-03-01

An Internet-based tele-operative robotic catheter operating system was designed for vascular interventional surgery, to afford unskilled surgeons the opportunity to learn basic catheter/guidewire skills, while allowing experienced physicians to perform surgeries cooperatively. Remote surgical procedures, limited by variable transmission times for visual feedback, have been associated with deterioration in operability and vascular wall damage during surgery. At the patient's location, the catheter shape/position was detected in real time and converted into three-dimensional coordinates in a world coordinate system. At the operation location, the catheter shape was reconstructed in a virtual-reality environment, based on the coordinates received. The data volume reduction significantly reduced visual feedback transmission times. Remote transmission experiments, conducted over inter-country distances, demonstrated the improved performance of the proposed prototype. The maximum error for the catheter shape reconstruction was 0.93 mm and the transmission time was reduced considerably. The results were positive and demonstrate the feasibility of remote surgery using conventional network infrastructures. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Geoscience after ITPart G. Familiarization with spatial analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pundt, Hardy; Brinkkötter-Runde, Klaus

2000-04-01

Field based and GPS supported GIS are increasingly applied in various spatial disciplines. Such systems represent more sophisticated, time and cost effective tools than traditional field forms for data acquisition. Meanwhile, various systems are on the market. These mostly enable the user to define geo-objects by means of GPS information, supported by functionalities to collect and analyze geometric information. The digital acquisition of application specific attributes is often underrepresented within such systems. This is surprising because pen computer based GIS can be used to collect attributes in a profitable manner, thus adequately supporting the requirements of the user. Visualization and graphic displays of spatial data are helpful means to improve such a data collection process. In section one and two basic aspects of visualization and current uses of visualization techniques for field based GIS are described. Section three mentions new developments within the framework of wearable computing and augmented reality. Section four describes current activities aimed at the realization of real time online field based GIS. This includes efforts to realize an online GIS data link to improve the efficiency and the quality of fieldwork. A brief discussion in section five leads to conclusions and some key issues for future research.

Visual servoing of a laser ablation based cochleostomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kahrs, Lüder A.; Raczkowsky, Jörg; Werner, Martin; Knapp, Felix B.; Mehrwald, Markus; Hering, Peter; Schipper, Jörg; Klenzner, Thomas; Wörn, Heinz

2008-03-01

The aim of this study is a defined, visually based and camera controlled bone removal by a navigated CO II laser on the promontory of the inner ear. A precise and minimally traumatic opening procedure of the cochlea for the implantation of a cochlear implant electrode (so-called cochleostomy) is intended. Harming the membrane linings of the inner ear can result in damage of remaining organ functions (e.g. complete deafness or vertigo). A precise tissue removal by a laser-based bone ablation system is investigated. Inside the borehole the pulsed laser beam is guided automatically over the bone by using a two mirror galvanometric scanner. The ablation process is controlled by visual servoing. For the detection of the boundary layers of the inner ear the ablation area is monitored by a color camera. The acquired pictures are analyzed by image processing. The results of this analysis are used to control the process of laser ablation. This publication describes the complete system including image processing algorithms and the concept for the resulting distribution of single laser pulses. The system has been tested on human cochleae in ex-vivo studies. Further developments could lead to safe intraoperative openings of the cochlea by a robot based surgical laser instrument.

Hypothesis exploration with visualization of variance

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics (CNP) at UCLA was an investigation into the biological bases of traits such as memory and response inhibition phenotypes—to explore whether they are linked to syndromes including ADHD, Bipolar disorder, and Schizophrenia. An aim of the consortium was in moving from traditional categorical approaches for psychiatric syndromes towards more quantitative approaches based on large-scale analysis of the space of human variation. It represented an application of phenomics—wide-scale, systematic study of phenotypes—to neuropsychiatry research. Results This paper reports on a system for exploration of hypotheses in data obtained from the LA2K, LA3C, and LA5C studies in CNP. ViVA is a system for exploratory data analysis using novel mathematical models and methods for visualization of variance. An example of these methods is called VISOVA, a combination of visualization and analysis of variance, with the flavor of exploration associated with ANOVA in biomedical hypothesis generation. It permits visual identification of phenotype profiles—patterns of values across phenotypes—that characterize groups. Visualization enables screening and refinement of hypotheses about variance structure of sets of phenotypes. Conclusions The ViVA system was designed for exploration of neuropsychiatric hypotheses by interdisciplinary teams. Automated visualization in ViVA supports ‘natural selection’ on a pool of hypotheses, and permits deeper understanding of the statistical architecture of the data. Large-scale perspective of this kind could lead to better neuropsychiatric diagnostics. PMID:25097666

Mobile Monitoring Stations and Web Visualization of Biotelemetric System - Guardian II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krejcar, Ondrej; Janckulik, Dalibor; Motalova, Leona; Kufel, Jan

The main area of interest of our project is to provide solution which can be used in different areas of health care and which will be available through PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), web browsers or desktop clients. The realized system deals with an ECG sensor connected to mobile equipment, such as PDA/Embedded, based on Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system. The whole system is based on the architecture of .NET Compact Framework, and Microsoft SQL Server. Visualization possibilities of web interface and ECG data are also discussed and final suggestion is made to Microsoft Silverlight solution along with current screenshot representation of implemented solution. The project was successfully tested in real environment in cryogenic room (-136OC).

a Web-Based Platform for Visualizing Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Big Taxi Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, H.; Chen, L.; Gui, Z.

2017-09-01

With more and more vehicles equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS), access to large-scale taxi trajectory data has become increasingly easy. Taxis are valuable sensors and information associated with taxi trajectory can provide unprecedented insight into many aspects of city life. But analysing these data presents many challenges. Visualization of taxi data is an efficient way to represent its distributions and structures and reveal hidden patterns in the data. However, Most of the existing visualization systems have some shortcomings. On the one hand, the passenger loading status and speed information cannot be expressed. On the other hand, mono-visualization form limits the information presentation. In view of these problems, this paper designs and implements a visualization system in which we use colour and shape to indicate passenger loading status and speed information and integrate various forms of taxi visualization. The main work as follows: 1. Pre-processing and storing the taxi data into MongoDB database. 2. Visualization of hotspots for taxi pickup points. Through DBSCAN clustering algorithm, we cluster the extracted taxi passenger's pickup locations to produce passenger hotspots. 3. Visualizing the dynamic of taxi moving trajectory using interactive animation. We use a thinning algorithm to reduce the amount of data and design a preloading strategyto load the data smoothly. Colour and shape are used to visualize the taxi trajectory data.

Adaptive Monocular Visual-Inertial SLAM for Real-Time Augmented Reality Applications in Mobile Devices.

PubMed

Piao, Jin-Chun; Kim, Shin-Dug

2017-11-07

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is emerging as a prominent issue in computer vision and next-generation core technology for robots, autonomous navigation and augmented reality. In augmented reality applications, fast camera pose estimation and true scale are important. In this paper, we present an adaptive monocular visual-inertial SLAM method for real-time augmented reality applications in mobile devices. First, the SLAM system is implemented based on the visual-inertial odometry method that combines data from a mobile device camera and inertial measurement unit sensor. Second, we present an optical-flow-based fast visual odometry method for real-time camera pose estimation. Finally, an adaptive monocular visual-inertial SLAM is implemented by presenting an adaptive execution module that dynamically selects visual-inertial odometry or optical-flow-based fast visual odometry. Experimental results show that the average translation root-mean-square error of keyframe trajectory is approximately 0.0617 m with the EuRoC dataset. The average tracking time is reduced by 7.8%, 12.9%, and 18.8% when different level-set adaptive policies are applied. Moreover, we conducted experiments with real mobile device sensors, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of performance improvement using the proposed method.

The impact of precise robotic lesion length measurement on stent length selection: ramifications for stent savings.

PubMed

Campbell, Paul T; Kruse, Kevin R; Kroll, Christopher R; Patterson, Janet Y; Esposito, Michele J

2015-09-01

Coronary stent deployment outcomes can be negatively impacted by inaccurate lesion measurement and inappropriate stent length selection (SLS). We compared visual estimate of these parameters to those provided by the CorPath 200® Robotic PCI System. Sixty consecutive patients who underwent coronary stent placement utilizing the CorPath System were evaluated. The treating physician assessed orthogonal images and provided visual estimates of lesion length and SLS. The robotic system was then used for the same measures. SLS was considered to be accurate when visual estimate and robotic measures were in agreement. Visual estimate SLSs were considered to be "short" or "long" if they were below or above the robotic-selected stents, respectively. Only 35% (21/60) of visually estimated lesions resulted in accurate SLS, whereas 33% (20/60) and 32% (19/60) of the visually estimated SLSs were long and short, respectively. In 5 cases (8.3%), 1 less stent was placed based on the robotic lesion measurement being shorter than the visual estimate. Visual estimate assessment of lesion length and SLS is highly variable with 65% of the cases being inaccurately measured when compared to objective measures obtained from the robotic system. The 32% of the cases where lesions were visually estimated to be short represents cases that often require the use of extra stents after the full lesion is not covered by 1 stent [longitudinal geographic miss (LGM)]. Further, these data showed that the use of the robotic system prevented the use of extra stents in 8.3% of the cases. Measurement of lesions with robotic PCI may reduce measurement errors, need for extra stents, and LGM. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distributed visualization of gridded geophysical data: the Carbon Data Explorer, version 0.2.3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endsley, K. A.; Billmire, M. G.

2016-01-01

Due to the proliferation of geophysical models, particularly climate models, the increasing resolution of their spatiotemporal estimates of Earth system processes, and the desire to easily share results with collaborators, there is a genuine need for tools to manage, aggregate, visualize, and share data sets. We present a new, web-based software tool - the Carbon Data Explorer - that provides these capabilities for gridded geophysical data sets. While originally developed for visualizing carbon flux, this tool can accommodate any time-varying, spatially explicit scientific data set, particularly NASA Earth system science level III products. In addition, the tool's open-source licensing and web presence facilitate distributed scientific visualization, comparison with other data sets and uncertainty estimates, and data publishing and distribution.

An Avatar-Based Italian Sign Language Visualization System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falletto, Andrea; Prinetto, Paolo; Tiotto, Gabriele

In this paper, we present an experimental system that supports the translation from Italian to Italian Sign Language (ISL) of the deaf and its visualization through a virtual character. Our objective is to develop a complete platform useful for any application and reusable on several platforms including Web, Digital Television and offline text translation. The system relies on a database that stores both a corpus of Italian words and words coded in the ISL notation system. An interface for the insertion of data is implemented, that allows future extensions and integrations.

Computer-based visual communication in aphasia.

PubMed

Steele, R D; Weinrich, M; Wertz, R T; Kleczewska, M K; Carlson, G S

1989-01-01

The authors describe their recently developed Computer-aided VIsual Communication (C-VIC) system, and report results of single-subject experimental designs probing its use with five chronic, severely impaired aphasic individuals. Studies replicate earlier results obtained with a non-computerized system, demonstrate patient competence with the computer implementation, extend the system's utility, and identify promising areas of application. Results of the single-subject experimental designs clarify patients' learning, generalization, and retention patterns, and highlight areas of performance difficulties. Future directions for the project are indicated.

An interactive visualization tool for mobile objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Tetsuo

Recent advancements in mobile devices---such as Global Positioning System (GPS), cellular phones, car navigation system, and radio-frequency identification (RFID)---have greatly influenced the nature and volume of data about individual-based movement in space and time. Due to the prevalence of mobile devices, vast amounts of mobile objects data are being produced and stored in databases, overwhelming the capacity of traditional spatial analytical methods. There is a growing need for discovering unexpected patterns, trends, and relationships that are hidden in the massive mobile objects data. Geographic visualization (GVis) and knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) are two major research fields that are associated with knowledge discovery and construction. Their major research challenges are the integration of GVis and KDD, enhancing the ability to handle large volume mobile objects data, and high interactivity between the computer and users of GVis and KDD tools. This dissertation proposes a visualization toolkit to enable highly interactive visual data exploration for mobile objects datasets. Vector algebraic representation and online analytical processing (OLAP) are utilized for managing and querying the mobile object data to accomplish high interactivity of the visualization tool. In addition, reconstructing trajectories at user-defined levels of temporal granularity with time aggregation methods allows exploration of the individual objects at different levels of movement generality. At a given level of generality, individual paths can be combined into synthetic summary paths based on three similarity measures, namely, locational similarity, directional similarity, and geometric similarity functions. A visualization toolkit based on the space-time cube concept exploits these functionalities to create a user-interactive environment for exploring mobile objects data. Furthermore, the characteristics of visualized trajectories are exported to be utilized for data mining, which leads to the integration of GVis and KDD. Case studies using three movement datasets (personal travel data survey in Lexington, Kentucky, wild chicken movement data in Thailand, and self-tracking data in Utah) demonstrate the potential of the system to extract meaningful patterns from the otherwise difficult to comprehend collections of space-time trajectories.

Neuromorphic audio-visual sensor fusion on a sound-localizing robot.

PubMed

Chan, Vincent Yue-Sek; Jin, Craig T; van Schaik, André

2012-01-01

This paper presents the first robotic system featuring audio-visual (AV) sensor fusion with neuromorphic sensors. We combine a pair of silicon cochleae and a silicon retina on a robotic platform to allow the robot to learn sound localization through self motion and visual feedback, using an adaptive ITD-based sound localization algorithm. After training, the robot can localize sound sources (white or pink noise) in a reverberant environment with an RMS error of 4-5° in azimuth. We also investigate the AV source binding problem and an experiment is conducted to test the effectiveness of matching an audio event with a corresponding visual event based on their onset time. Despite the simplicity of this method and a large number of false visual events in the background, a correct match can be made 75% of the time during the experiment.

[Hybrid 3-D rendering of the thorax and surface-based virtual bronchoscopy in surgical and interventional therapy control].

PubMed

Seemann, M D; Gebicke, K; Luboldt, W; Albes, J M; Vollmar, J; Schäfer, J F; Beinert, T; Englmeier, K H; Bitzer, M; Claussen, C D

2001-07-01

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the possibilities of a hybrid rendering method, the combination of a color-coded surface and volume rendering method, with the feasibility of performing surface-based virtual endoscopy with different representation models in the operative and interventional therapy control of the chest. In 6 consecutive patients with partial lung resection (n = 2) and lung transplantation (n = 4) a thin-section spiral computed tomography of the chest was performed. The tracheobronchial system and the introduced metallic stents were visualized using a color-coded surface rendering method. The remaining thoracic structures were visualized using a volume rendering method. For virtual bronchoscopy, the tracheobronchial system was visualized using a triangle surface model, a shaded-surface model and a transparent shaded-surface model. The hybrid 3D visualization uses the advantages of both the color-coded surface and volume rendering methods and facilitates a clear representation of the tracheobronchial system and the complex topographical relationship of morphological and pathological changes without loss of diagnostic information. Performing virtual bronchoscopy with the transparent shaded-surface model facilitates a reasonable to optimal, simultaneous visualization and assessment of the surface structure of the tracheobronchial system and the surrounding mediastinal structures and lesions. Hybrid rendering relieve the morphological assessment of anatomical and pathological changes without the need for time-consuming detailed analysis and presentation of source images. Performing virtual bronchoscopy with a transparent shaded-surface model offers a promising alternative to flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy.

Toward the development of a cortically based visual neuroprosthesis.

PubMed

Normann, Richard A; Greger, Bradley; Greger, Bradley A; House, Paul; Romero, Samuel F; Pelayo, Francisco; Fernandez, Eduardo

2009-06-01

Motivated by the success of cochlear implants for deaf patients, we are now facing the goal of creating a visual neuroprosthesis designed to interface with the occipital cortex as a means through which a limited but useful sense of vision could be restored in profoundly blind patients. We review the most important challenges regarding this neuroprosthetic approach and emphasize the need for basic human psychophysical research on the best way of presenting complex stimulating patterns through multiple microelectrodes. Continued research will hopefully lead to the development of and design specifications for the first generation of a cortically based visual prosthesis system.

PERSPECTIVE: Toward the development of a cortically based visual neuroprosthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Normann, Richard A.; Greger, Bradley A.; House, Paul; Romero, Samuel F.; Pelayo, Francisco; Fernandez, Eduardo

2009-06-01

Motivated by the success of cochlear implants for deaf patients, we are now facing the goal of creating a visual neuroprosthesis designed to interface with the occipital cortex as a means through which a limited but useful sense of vision could be restored in profoundly blind patients. We review the most important challenges regarding this neuroprosthetic approach and emphasize the need for basic human psychophysical research on the best way of presenting complex stimulating patterns through multiple microelectrodes. Continued research will hopefully lead to the development of and design specifications for the first generation of a cortically based visual prosthesis system.

Early and Late Inhibitions Elicited by a Peripheral Visual Cue on Manual Response to a Visual Target: Are They Based on Cartesian Coordinates?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gawryszewski, Luiz G.; Carreiro, Luiz Renato R.; Magalhaes, Fabio V.

2005-01-01

A non-informative cue (C) elicits an inhibition of manual reaction time (MRT) to a visual target (T). We report an experiment to examine if the spatial distribution of this inhibitory effect follows Polar or Cartesian coordinate systems. C appeared at one out of 8 isoeccentric (7[degrees]) positions, the C-T angular distances (in polar…

Evaluation of Barrier Skin Cream Effectiveness Against JP-8 Jet Fuel Absorption and Irritation

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

quantify the colorimeter measurements. This system uses spectral chromaticity coordinates and corresponding color- matching functions based on...in the caudal thigh or lumbar muscles and the rabbit was monitored throughout the procedure. Once anesthetized, a baseline visual and colorimeter ...Visual Scoring Technique All barrier creams were scored in 3 ways; by visual scoring described in the Draize method, by colorimeter , and by

OmicsNet: a web-based tool for creation and visual analysis of biological networks in 3D space.

PubMed

Zhou, Guangyan; Xia, Jianguo

2018-06-07

Biological networks play increasingly important roles in omics data integration and systems biology. Over the past decade, many excellent tools have been developed to support creation, analysis and visualization of biological networks. However, important limitations remain: most tools are standalone programs, the majority of them focus on protein-protein interaction (PPI) or metabolic networks, and visualizations often suffer from 'hairball' effects when networks become large. To help address these limitations, we developed OmicsNet - a novel web-based tool that allows users to easily create different types of molecular interaction networks and visually explore them in a three-dimensional (3D) space. Users can upload one or multiple lists of molecules of interest (genes/proteins, microRNAs, transcription factors or metabolites) to create and merge different types of biological networks. The 3D network visualization system was implemented using the powerful Web Graphics Library (WebGL) technology that works natively in most major browsers. OmicsNet supports force-directed layout, multi-layered perspective layout, as well as spherical layout to help visualize and navigate complex networks. A rich set of functions have been implemented to allow users to perform coloring, shading, topology analysis, and enrichment analysis. OmicsNet is freely available at http://www.omicsnet.ca.

Energetically optimal travel across terrain: visualizations and a new metric of geographic distance with anthropological applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Brian M.; Wood, Zoë J.

2006-01-01

We present a visualization and computation tool for modeling the caloric cost of pedestrian travel across three dimensional terrains. This tool is being used in ongoing archaeological research that analyzes how costs of locomotion affect the spatial distribution of trails and artifacts across archaeological landscapes. Throughout human history, traveling by foot has been the most common form of transportation, and therefore analyses of pedestrian travel costs are important for understanding prehistoric patterns of resource acquisition, migration, trade, and political interaction. Traditionally, archaeologists have measured geographic proximity based on "as the crow flies" distance. We propose new methods for terrain visualization and analysis based on measuring paths of least caloric expense, calculated using well established metabolic equations. Our approach provides a human centered metric of geographic closeness, and overcomes significant limitations of available Geographic Information System (GIS) software. We demonstrate such path computations and visualizations applied to archaeological research questions. Our system includes tools to visualize: energetic cost surfaces, comparisons of the elevation profiles of shortest paths versus least cost paths, and the display of paths of least caloric effort on Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). These analysis tools can be applied to calculate and visualize 1) likely locations of prehistoric trails and 2) expected ratios of raw material types to be recovered at archaeological sites.

Unconscious analyses of visual scenes based on feature conjunctions.

PubMed

Tachibana, Ryosuke; Noguchi, Yasuki

2015-06-01

To efficiently process a cluttered scene, the visual system analyzes statistical properties or regularities of visual elements embedded in the scene. It is controversial, however, whether those scene analyses could also work for stimuli unconsciously perceived. Here we show that our brain performs the unconscious scene analyses not only using a single featural cue (e.g., orientation) but also based on conjunctions of multiple visual features (e.g., combinations of color and orientation information). Subjects foveally viewed a stimulus array (duration: 50 ms) where 4 types of bars (red-horizontal, red-vertical, green-horizontal, and green-vertical) were intermixed. Although a conscious perception of those bars was inhibited by a subsequent mask stimulus, the brain correctly analyzed the information about color, orientation, and color-orientation conjunctions of those invisible bars. The information of those features was then used for the unconscious configuration analysis (statistical processing) of the central bars, which induced a perceptual bias and illusory feature binding in visible stimuli at peripheral locations. While statistical analyses and feature binding are normally 2 key functions of the visual system to construct coherent percepts of visual scenes, our results show that a high-level analysis combining those 2 functions is correctly performed by unconscious computations in the brain. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Retinotopic Maps, Spatial Tuning, and Locations of Human Visual Areas in Surface Coordinates Characterized with Multifocal and Blocked fMRI Designs

PubMed Central

Henriksson, Linda; Karvonen, Juha; Salminen-Vaparanta, Niina; Railo, Henry; Vanni, Simo

2012-01-01

The localization of visual areas in the human cortex is typically based on mapping the retinotopic organization with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The most common approach is to encode the response phase for a slowly moving visual stimulus and to present the result on an individual's reconstructed cortical surface. The main aims of this study were to develop complementary general linear model (GLM)-based retinotopic mapping methods and to characterize the inter-individual variability of the visual area positions on the cortical surface. We studied 15 subjects with two methods: a 24-region multifocal checkerboard stimulus and a blocked presentation of object stimuli at different visual field locations. The retinotopic maps were based on weighted averaging of the GLM parameter estimates for the stimulus regions. In addition to localizing visual areas, both methods could be used to localize multiple retinotopic regions-of-interest. The two methods yielded consistent retinotopic maps in the visual areas V1, V2, V3, hV4, and V3AB. In the higher-level areas IPS0, VO1, LO1, LO2, TO1, and TO2, retinotopy could only be mapped with the blocked stimulus presentation. The gradual widening of spatial tuning and an increase in the responses to stimuli in the ipsilateral visual field along the hierarchy of visual areas likely reflected the increase in the average receptive field size. Finally, after registration to Freesurfer's surface-based atlas of the human cerebral cortex, we calculated the mean and variability of the visual area positions in the spherical surface-based coordinate system and generated probability maps of the visual areas on the average cortical surface. The inter-individual variability in the area locations decreased when the midpoints were calculated along the spherical cortical surface compared with volumetric coordinates. These results can facilitate both analysis of individual functional anatomy and comparisons of visual cortex topology across studies. PMID:22590626

Design and evaluation of an Internet based data repository and visualization system for science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalphond, James M.

In modern classrooms, scientific probes are often used in science labs to engage students in inquiry-based learning. Many of these probes will never leave the classroom, closing the door on real world experimentation that may engage students. Also, these tools do not encourage students to share data across classrooms or schools. To address these limitations, we have developed a web-based system for collecting, storing, and visualizing sensor data, as well as a hardware package to interface existing classroom probes. This system, The Internet System for Networked Sensor Experimentation (iSENSE), was created to address these limitations. Development of the system began in 2007 and has proceeded through four phases: proof-of-concept prototype, technology demonstration, initial classroom deployment, and classroom testing. User testing and feedback during these phases guided development of the system. This thesis includes lessons learned during development and evaluation of the system in the hands of teachers and students. We developed three evaluations of this practical use. The first evaluation involved working closely with teachers to encourage them to integrate activities using the iSENSE system into their existing curriculum. We were looking for strengths of the approach and ease of integration. Second, we developed three "Activity Labs," which teachers used as embedded assessments. In these activities, students were asked to answer questions based on experiments or visualizations already entered into the iSENSE website. Lastly, teachers were interviewed after using the system to determine what they found valuable. This thesis makes contributions in two areas. It shows how an iterative design process was used to develop a system used in a science classroom, and it presents an analysis of the educational impact of the system on teachers and students.

Integration of a vision-based tracking platform, visual instruction, and error analysis models for an efficient billiard training system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shih, Chihhsiong; Hsiung, Pao-Ann; Wan, Chieh-Hao; Koong, Chorng-Shiuh; Liu, Tang-Kun; Yang, Yuanfan; Lin, Chu-Hsing; Chu, William Cheng-Chung

2009-02-01

A billiard ball tracking system is designed to combine with a visual guide interface to instruct users for a reliable strike. The integrated system runs on a PC platform. The system makes use of a vision system for cue ball, object ball and cue stick tracking. A least-squares error calibration process correlates the real-world and the virtual-world pool ball coordinates for a precise guidance line calculation. Users are able to adjust the cue stick on the pool table according to a visual guidance line instruction displayed on a PC monitor. The ideal visual guidance line extended from the cue ball is calculated based on a collision motion analysis. In addition to calculating the ideal visual guide, the factors influencing selection of the best shot among different object balls and pockets are explored. It is found that a tolerance angle around the ideal line for the object ball to roll into a pocket determines the difficulty of a strike. This angle depends in turn on the distance from the pocket to the object, the distance from the object to the cue ball, and the angle between these two vectors. Simulation results for tolerance angles as a function of these quantities are given. A selected object ball was tested extensively with respect to various geometrical parameters with and without using our integrated system. Players with different proficiency levels were selected for the experiment. The results indicate that all players benefit from our proposed visual guidance system in enhancing their skills, while low-skill players show the maximum enhancement in skill with the help of our system. All exhibit enhanced maximum and average hit-in rates. Experimental results on hit-in rates have shown a pattern consistent with that of the analysis. The hit-in rate is thus tightly connected with the analyzed tolerance angles for sinking object balls into a target pocket. These results prove the efficiency of our system, and the analysis results can be used to attain an efficient game-playing strategy.

Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: An Embodied Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Koning, Bjorn B.; Tabbers, Huib K.

2011-01-01

Learners studying mechanical or technical processes via dynamic visualizations often fail to build an accurate mental representation of the system's movements. Based on embodied theories of cognition assuming that action, perception, and cognition are closely intertwined, this paper proposes that the learning effectiveness of dynamic…

The biodigital human: a web-based 3D platform for medical visualization and education.

PubMed

Qualter, John; Sculli, Frank; Oliker, Aaron; Napier, Zachary; Lee, Sabrina; Garcia, Julio; Frenkel, Sally; Harnik, Victoria; Triola, Marc

2012-01-01

NYU School of Medicine's Division of Educational Informatics in collaboration with BioDigital Systems LLC (New York, NY) has created a virtual human body dataset that is being used for visualization, education and training and is accessible over modern web browsers.

Spectrally-balanced chromatic approach-lighting system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chase, W. D.

1977-01-01

Approach lighting system employing combinations of red and blue lights reduces problem of color-based optical illusions. System exploits inherent chromatic aberration of eye to create three-dimensional effect, giving pilot visual clues of position.

Interaction of magnetite-based receptors in the beak with the visual system underlying 'fixed direction' responses in birds

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background European robins, Erithacus rubecula, show two types of directional responses to the magnetic field: (1) compass orientation that is based on radical pair processes and lateralized in favor of the right eye and (2) so-called 'fixed direction' responses that originate in the magnetite-based receptors in the upper beak. Both responses are light-dependent. Lateralization of the 'fixed direction' responses would suggest an interaction between the two magnetoreception systems. Results Robins were tested with either the right or the left eye covered or with both eyes uncovered for their orientation under different light conditions. With 502 nm turquoise light, the birds showed normal compass orientation, whereas they displayed an easterly 'fixed direction' response under a combination of 502 nm turquoise with 590 nm yellow light. Monocularly right-eyed birds with their left eye covered were oriented just as they were binocularly as controls: under turquoise in their northerly migratory direction, under turquoise-and-yellow towards east. The response of monocularly left-eyed birds differed: under turquoise light, they were disoriented, reflecting a lateralization of the magnetic compass system in favor of the right eye, whereas they continued to head eastward under turquoise-and-yellow light. Conclusion 'Fixed direction' responses are not lateralized. Hence the interactions between the magnetite-receptors in the beak and the visual system do not seem to involve the magnetoreception system based on radical pair processes, but rather other, non-lateralized components of the visual system. PMID:20707905

Biographer: web-based editing and rendering of SBGN compliant biochemical networks.

PubMed

Krause, Falko; Schulz, Marvin; Ripkens, Ben; Flöttmann, Max; Krantz, Marcus; Klipp, Edda; Handorf, Thomas

2013-06-01

The rapid accumulation of knowledge in the field of Systems Biology during the past years requires advanced, but simple-to-use, methods for the visualization of information in a structured and easily comprehensible manner. We have developed biographer, a web-based renderer and editor for reaction networks, which can be integrated as a library into tools dealing with network-related information. Our software enables visualizations based on the emerging standard Systems Biology Graphical Notation. It is able to import networks encoded in various formats such as SBML, SBGN-ML and jSBGN, a custom lightweight exchange format. The core package is implemented in HTML5, CSS and JavaScript and can be used within any kind of web-based project. It features interactive graph-editing tools and automatic graph layout algorithms. In addition, we provide a standalone graph editor and a web server, which contains enhanced features like web services for the import and export of models and visualizations in different formats. The biographer tool can be used at and downloaded from the web page http://biographer.biologie.hu-berlin.de/. The different software packages, including a server-independent version as well as a web server for Windows and Linux based systems, are available at http://code.google.com/p/biographer/ under the open-source license LGPL

COMPUTERIZED EXPERT SYSTEM FOR EVALUATION OF AUTOMATED VISUAL FIELDS FROM THE ISCHEMIC OPTIC NEUROPATHY DECOMPRESSION TRIAL: METHODS, BASELINE FIELDS, AND SIX-MONTH LONGITUDINAL FOLLOW-UP

PubMed Central

Feldon, Steven E

2004-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose To validate a computerized expert system evaluating visual fields in a prospective clinical trial, the Ischemic Optic Neuropathy Decompression Trial (IONDT). To identify the pattern and within-pattern severity of field defects for study eyes at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Design Humphrey visual field (HVF) change was used as the outcome measure for a prospective, randomized, multi-center trial to test the null hypothesis that optic nerve sheath decompression was ineffective in treating nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy and to ascertain the natural history of the disease. Methods An expert panel established criteria for the type and severity of visual field defects. Using these criteria, a rule-based computerized expert system interpreted HVF from baseline and 6-month visits for patients randomized to surgery or careful follow-up and for patients who were not randomized. Results A computerized expert system was devised and validated. The system was then used to analyze HVFs. The pattern of defects found at baseline for patients randomized to surgery did not differ from that of patients randomized to careful follow-up. The most common pattern of defect was a superior and inferior arcuate with central scotoma for randomized eyes (19.2%) and a superior and inferior arcuate for nonrandomized eyes (30.6%). Field patterns at 6 months and baseline were not different. For randomized study eyes, the superior altitudinal defects improved (P = .03), as did the inferior altitudinal defects (P = .01). For nonrandomized study eyes, only the inferior altitudinal defects improved (P = .02). No treatment effect was noted. Conclusions A novel rule-based expert system successfully interpreted visual field defects at baseline of eyes enrolled in the IONDT. PMID:15747764

Enhanced Vision for All-Weather Operations Under NextGen

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, Randall E.; Kramer, Lynda J.; Williams, Steven P.; Bailey, Randall E.; Kramer, Lynda J.; Williams, Steven P.

2010-01-01

Recent research in Synthetic/Enhanced Vision technology is analyzed with respect to existing Category II/III performance and certification guidance. The goal is to start the development of performance-based vision systems technology requirements to support future all-weather operations and the NextGen goal of Equivalent Visual Operations. This work shows that existing criteria to operate in Category III weather and visibility are not directly applicable since, unlike today, the primary reference for maneuvering the airplane is based on what the pilot sees visually through the "vision system." New criteria are consequently needed. Several possible criteria are discussed, but more importantly, the factors associated with landing system performance using automatic and manual landings are delineated.

Knowledge based systems: A critical survey of major concepts, issues and techniques. Visuals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Kavi, Srinu

1984-01-01

This Working Paper Series entry represents a collection of presentation visuals associated with the companion report entitled, Knowledge Based Systems: A Critical Survey of Major Concepts, Issues, and Techniques, USL/DBMS NASA/RECON Working Paper Series report number DBMS.NASA/RECON-9. The objectives of the report are to: examine various techniques used to build the KBS; to examine at least one KBS in detail, i.e., a case study; to list and identify limitations and problems with the KBS; to suggest future areas of research; and to provide extensive reference materials.

MEMS-based system and image processing strategy for epiretinal prosthesis.

PubMed

Xia, Peng; Hu, Jie; Qi, Jin; Gu, Chaochen; Peng, Yinghong

2015-01-01

Retinal prostheses have the potential to restore some level of visual function to the patients suffering from retinal degeneration. In this paper, an epiretinal approach with active stimulation devices is presented. The MEMS-based processing system consists of an external micro-camera, an information processor, an implanted electrical stimulator and a microelectrode array. The image processing strategy combining image clustering and enhancement techniques was proposed and evaluated by psychophysical experiments. The results indicated that the image processing strategy improved the visual performance compared with direct merging pixels to low resolution. The image processing methods assist epiretinal prosthesis for vision restoration.

Supervised pixel classification using a feature space derived from an artificial visual system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baxter, Lisa C.; Coggins, James M.

1991-01-01

Image segmentation involves labelling pixels according to their membership in image regions. This requires the understanding of what a region is. Using supervised pixel classification, the paper investigates how groups of pixels labelled manually according to perceived image semantics map onto the feature space created by an Artificial Visual System. Multiscale structure of regions are investigated and it is shown that pixels form clusters based on their geometric roles in the image intensity function, not by image semantics. A tentative abstract definition of a 'region' is proposed based on this behavior.

Brain-computer interface on the basis of EEG system Encephalan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maksimenko, Vladimir; Badarin, Artem; Nedaivozov, Vladimir; Kirsanov, Daniil; Hramov, Alexander

2018-04-01

We have proposed brain-computer interface (BCI) for the estimation of the brain response on the presented visual tasks. Proposed BCI is based on the EEG recorder Encephalan-EEGR-19/26 (Medicom MTD, Russia) supplemented by a special home-made developed acquisition software. BCI is tested during experimental session while subject is perceiving the bistable visual stimuli and classifying them according to the interpretation. We have subjected the participant to the different external conditions and observed the significant decrease in the response, associated with the perceiving the bistable visual stimuli, during the presence of distraction. Based on the obtained results we have proposed possibility to use of BCI for estimation of the human alertness during solving the tasks required substantial visual attention.

SoundView: an auditory guidance system based on environment understanding for the visually impaired people.

PubMed

Nie, Min; Ren, Jie; Li, Zhengjun; Niu, Jinhai; Qiu, Yihong; Zhu, Yisheng; Tong, Shanbao

2009-01-01

Without visual information, the blind people live in various hardships with shopping, reading, finding objects and etc. Therefore, we developed a portable auditory guide system, called SoundView, for visually impaired people. This prototype system consists of a mini-CCD camera, a digital signal processing unit and an earphone, working with built-in customizable auditory coding algorithms. Employing environment understanding techniques, SoundView processes the images from a camera and detects objects tagged with barcodes. The recognized objects in the environment are then encoded into stereo speech signals for the blind though an earphone. The user would be able to recognize the type, motion state and location of the interested objects with the help of SoundView. Compared with other visual assistant techniques, SoundView is object-oriented and has the advantages of cheap cost, smaller size, light weight, low power consumption and easy customization.

Selecting and perceiving multiple visual objects

PubMed Central

Xu, Yaoda; Chun, Marvin M.

2010-01-01

To explain how multiple visual objects are attended and perceived, we propose that our visual system first selects a fixed number of about four objects from a crowded scene based on their spatial information (object individuation) and then encode their details (object identification). We describe the involvement of the inferior intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) in object individuation and the superior IPS and higher visual areas in object identification. Our neural object-file theory synthesizes and extends existing ideas in visual cognition and is supported by behavioral and neuroimaging results. It provides a better understanding of the role of the different parietal areas in encoding visual objects and can explain various forms of capacity-limited processing in visual cognition such as working memory. PMID:19269882

What Can Pictures Tell Us About Web Pages? Improving Document Search Using Images.

PubMed

Rodriguez-Vaamonde, Sergio; Torresani, Lorenzo; Fitzgibbon, Andrew W

2015-06-01

Traditional Web search engines do not use the images in the HTML pages to find relevant documents for a given query. Instead, they typically operate by computing a measure of agreement between the keywords provided by the user and only the text portion of each page. In this paper we study whether the content of the pictures appearing in a Web page can be used to enrich the semantic description of an HTML document and consequently boost the performance of a keyword-based search engine. We present a Web-scalable system that exploits a pure text-based search engine to find an initial set of candidate documents for a given query. Then, the candidate set is reranked using visual information extracted from the images contained in the pages. The resulting system retains the computational efficiency of traditional text-based search engines with only a small additional storage cost needed to encode the visual information. We test our approach on one of the TREC Million Query Track benchmarks where we show that the exploitation of visual content yields improvement in accuracies for two distinct text-based search engines, including the system with the best reported performance on this benchmark. We further validate our approach by collecting document relevance judgements on our search results using Amazon Mechanical Turk. The results of this experiment confirm the improvement in accuracy produced by our image-based reranker over a pure text-based system.

Equalizer: a scalable parallel rendering framework.

PubMed

Eilemann, Stefan; Makhinya, Maxim; Pajarola, Renato

2009-01-01

Continuing improvements in CPU and GPU performances as well as increasing multi-core processor and cluster-based parallelism demand for flexible and scalable parallel rendering solutions that can exploit multipipe hardware accelerated graphics. In fact, to achieve interactive visualization, scalable rendering systems are essential to cope with the rapid growth of data sets. However, parallel rendering systems are non-trivial to develop and often only application specific implementations have been proposed. The task of developing a scalable parallel rendering framework is even more difficult if it should be generic to support various types of data and visualization applications, and at the same time work efficiently on a cluster with distributed graphics cards. In this paper we introduce a novel system called Equalizer, a toolkit for scalable parallel rendering based on OpenGL which provides an application programming interface (API) to develop scalable graphics applications for a wide range of systems ranging from large distributed visualization clusters and multi-processor multipipe graphics systems to single-processor single-pipe desktop machines. We describe the system architecture, the basic API, discuss its advantages over previous approaches, present example configurations and usage scenarios as well as scalability results.

The Visual Geophysical Exploration Environment: A Multi-dimensional Scientific Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandya, R. E.; Domenico, B.; Murray, D.; Marlino, M. R.

2003-12-01

The Visual Geophysical Exploration Environment (VGEE) is an online learning environment designed to help undergraduate students understand fundamental Earth system science concepts. The guiding principle of the VGEE is the importance of hands-on interaction with scientific visualization and data. The VGEE consists of four elements: 1) an online, inquiry-based curriculum for guiding student exploration; 2) a suite of El Nino-related data sets adapted for student use; 3) a learner-centered interface to a scientific visualization tool; and 4) a set of concept models (interactive tools that help students understand fundamental scientific concepts). There are two key innovations featured in this interactive poster session. One is the integration of concept models and the visualization tool. Concept models are simple, interactive, Java-based illustrations of fundamental physical principles. We developed eight concept models and integrated them into the visualization tool to enable students to probe data. The ability to probe data using a concept model addresses the common problem of transfer: the difficulty students have in applying theoretical knowledge to everyday phenomenon. The other innovation is a visualization environment and data that are discoverable in digital libraries, and installed, configured, and used for investigations over the web. By collaborating with the Integrated Data Viewer developers, we were able to embed a web-launchable visualization tool and access to distributed data sets into the online curricula. The Thematic Real-time Environmental Data Distributed Services (THREDDS) project is working to provide catalogs of datasets that can be used in new VGEE curricula under development. By cataloging this curricula in the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), learners and educators can discover the data and visualization tool within a framework that guides their use.

Navigation system for a mobile robot with a visual sensor using a fish-eye lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurata, Junichi; Grattan, Kenneth T. V.; Uchiyama, Hironobu

1998-02-01

Various position sensing and navigation systems have been proposed for the autonomous control of mobile robots. Some of these systems have been installed with an omnidirectional visual sensor system that proved very useful in obtaining information on the environment around the mobile robot for position reckoning. In this article, this type of navigation system is discussed. The sensor is composed of one TV camera with a fish-eye lens, using a reference target on a ceiling and hybrid image processing circuits. The position of the robot, with respect to the floor, is calculated by integrating the information obtained from a visual sensor and a gyroscope mounted in the mobile robot, and the use of a simple algorithm based on PTP control for guidance is discussed. An experimental trial showed that the proposed system was both valid and useful for the navigation of an indoor vehicle.

Multisensory guidance of orienting behavior.

PubMed

Maier, Joost X; Groh, Jennifer M

2009-12-01

We use both vision and audition when localizing objects and events in our environment. However, these sensory systems receive spatial information in different coordinate systems: sounds are localized using inter-aural and spectral cues, yielding a head-centered representation of space, whereas the visual system uses an eye-centered representation of space, based on the site of activation on the retina. In addition, the visual system employs a place-coded, retinotopic map of space, whereas the auditory system's representational format is characterized by broad spatial tuning and a lack of topographical organization. A common view is that the brain needs to reconcile these differences in order to control behavior, such as orienting gaze to the location of a sound source. To accomplish this, it seems that either auditory spatial information must be transformed from a head-centered rate code to an eye-centered map to match the frame of reference used by the visual system, or vice versa. Here, we review a number of studies that have focused on the neural basis underlying such transformations in the primate auditory system. Although, these studies have found some evidence for such transformations, many differences in the way the auditory and visual system encode space exist throughout the auditory pathway. We will review these differences at the neural level, and will discuss them in relation to differences in the way auditory and visual information is used in guiding orienting movements.

Visual feature extraction and establishment of visual tags in the intelligent visual internet of things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yiqun; Wang, Zhihui

2015-12-01

The Internet of things (IOT) is a kind of intelligent networks which can be used to locate, track, identify and supervise people and objects. One of important core technologies of intelligent visual internet of things ( IVIOT) is the intelligent visual tag system. In this paper, a research is done into visual feature extraction and establishment of visual tags of the human face based on ORL face database. Firstly, we use the principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm for face feature extraction, then adopt the support vector machine (SVM) for classifying and face recognition, finally establish a visual tag for face which is already classified. We conducted a experiment focused on a group of people face images, the result show that the proposed algorithm have good performance, and can show the visual tag of objects conveniently.

A Space and Atmospheric Visualization Science System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szuszczewicz, E. P.; Blanchard, P.; Mankofsky, A.; Goodrich, C.; Kamins, D.; Kulkarni, R.; Mcnabb, D.; Moroh, M.

1994-01-01

SAVS (a Space and Atmospheric Visualization Science system) is an integrated system with user-friendly functionality that employs a 'push-button' software environment that mimics the logical scientific processes in data acquisition, reduction, analysis, and visualization. All of this is accomplished without requiring a detailed understanding of the methods, networks, and modules that link the tools and effectively execute the functions. This report describes SAVS and its components, followed by several applications based on generic research interests in interplanetary and magnetospheric physics (IMP/ISTP), active experiments in space (CRRES), and mission planning focused on the earth's thermospheric, ionospheric, and mesospheric domains (TIMED). The final chapters provide a user-oriented description of interface functionalities, hands-on operations, and customized modules, with details of the primary modules presented in the appendices. The overall intent of the report is to reflect the accomplishments of the three-year development effort and to introduce potential users to the power and utility of the integrated data acquisition, analysis, and visualization system.

BioCichlid: central dogma-based 3D visualization system of time-course microarray data on a hierarchical biological network.

PubMed

Ishiwata, Ryosuke R; Morioka, Masaki S; Ogishima, Soichi; Tanaka, Hiroshi

2009-02-15

BioCichlid is a 3D visualization system of time-course microarray data on molecular networks, aiming at interpretation of gene expression data by transcriptional relationships based on the central dogma with physical and genetic interactions. BioCichlid visualizes both physical (protein) and genetic (regulatory) network layers, and provides animation of time-course gene expression data on the genetic network layer. Transcriptional regulations are represented to bridge the physical network (transcription factors) and genetic network (regulated genes) layers, thus integrating promoter analysis into the pathway mapping. BioCichlid enhances the interpretation of microarray data and allows for revealing the underlying mechanisms causing differential gene expressions. BioCichlid is freely available and can be accessed at http://newton.tmd.ac.jp/. Source codes for both biocichlid server and client are also available.

Attention affects visual perceptual processing near the hand.

PubMed

Cosman, Joshua D; Vecera, Shaun P

2010-09-01

Specialized, bimodal neural systems integrate visual and tactile information in the space near the hand. Here, we show that visuo-tactile representations allow attention to influence early perceptual processing, namely, figure-ground assignment. Regions that were reached toward were more likely than other regions to be assigned as foreground figures, and hand position competed with image-based information to bias figure-ground assignment. Our findings suggest that hand position allows attention to influence visual perceptual processing and that visual processes typically viewed as unimodal can be influenced by bimodal visuo-tactile representations.

Analysis of Visual Illusions Using Multiresolution Wavelet Decomposition Based Models

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

1962). 22. Hubel , David H. "The Visual Cortex of The Brain," Scientific American, 209(5):54-62 (November 1963). 23. Hubel , David H. and Torsten N...model the visual system. In 1990, Oberndorf, a masters student at the Air Force Institrt, of Technology, tested the Gabor theo y on visual illusion...represento d by x2 + y2 = r 2 in Cartesian space is now more easily expressed by p = r in polar space. The coordinates x and y or p and 0 provide alternate

MotionFlow: Visual Abstraction and Aggregation of Sequential Patterns in Human Motion Tracking Data.

PubMed

Jang, Sujin; Elmqvist, Niklas; Ramani, Karthik

2016-01-01

Pattern analysis of human motions, which is useful in many research areas, requires understanding and comparison of different styles of motion patterns. However, working with human motion tracking data to support such analysis poses great challenges. In this paper, we propose MotionFlow, a visual analytics system that provides an effective overview of various motion patterns based on an interactive flow visualization. This visualization formulates a motion sequence as transitions between static poses, and aggregates these sequences into a tree diagram to construct a set of motion patterns. The system also allows the users to directly reflect the context of data and their perception of pose similarities in generating representative pose states. We provide local and global controls over the partition-based clustering process. To support the users in organizing unstructured motion data into pattern groups, we designed a set of interactions that enables searching for similar motion sequences from the data, detailed exploration of data subsets, and creating and modifying the group of motion patterns. To evaluate the usability of MotionFlow, we conducted a user study with six researchers with expertise in gesture-based interaction design. They used MotionFlow to explore and organize unstructured motion tracking data. Results show that the researchers were able to easily learn how to use MotionFlow, and the system effectively supported their pattern analysis activities, including leveraging their perception and domain knowledge.

Alerts Visualization and Clustering in Network-based Intrusion Detection

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

Yang, Dr. Li; Gasior, Wade C; Dasireddy, Swetha

2010-04-01

Today's Intrusion detection systems when deployed on a busy network overload the network with huge number of alerts. This behavior of producing too much raw information makes it less effective. We propose a system which takes both raw data and Snort alerts to visualize and analyze possible intrusions in a network. Then we present with two models for the visualization of clustered alerts. Our first model gives the network administrator with the logical topology of the network and detailed information of each node that involves its associated alerts and connections. In the second model, flocking model, presents the network administratormore » with the visual representation of IDS data in which each alert is represented in different color and the alerts with maximum similarity move together. This gives network administrator with the idea of detecting various of intrusions through visualizing the alert patterns.« less

Dysfunctional visual word form processing in progressive alexia

PubMed Central

Rising, Kindle; Stib, Matthew T.; Rapcsak, Steven Z.; Beeson, Pélagie M.

2013-01-01

Progressive alexia is an acquired reading deficit caused by degeneration of brain regions that are essential for written word processing. Functional imaging studies have shown that early processing of the visual word form depends on a hierarchical posterior-to-anterior processing stream in occipito-temporal cortex, whereby successive areas code increasingly larger and more complex perceptual attributes of the letter string. A region located in the left lateral occipito-temporal sulcus and adjacent fusiform gyrus shows maximal selectivity for words and has been dubbed the ‘visual word form area’. We studied two patients with progressive alexia in order to determine whether their reading deficits were associated with structural and/or functional abnormalities in this visual word form system. Voxel-based morphometry showed left-lateralized occipito-temporal atrophy in both patients, very mild in one, but moderate to severe in the other. The two patients, along with 10 control subjects, were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging as they viewed rapidly presented words, false font strings, or a fixation crosshair. This paradigm was optimized to reliably map brain regions involved in orthographic processing in individual subjects. All 10 control subjects showed a posterior-to-anterior gradient of selectivity for words, and all 10 showed a functionally defined visual word form area in the left hemisphere that was activated for words relative to false font strings. In contrast, neither of the two patients with progressive alexia showed any evidence for a selectivity gradient or for word-specific activation of the visual word form area. The patient with mild atrophy showed normal responses to both words and false font strings in the posterior part of the visual word form system, but a failure to develop selectivity for words in the more anterior part of the system. In contrast, the patient with moderate to severe atrophy showed minimal activation of any part of the visual word form system for either words or false font strings. Our results suggest that progressive alexia is associated with a dysfunctional visual word form system, with or without substantial cortical atrophy. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that functional MRI has the potential to reveal the neural bases of cognitive deficits in neurodegenerative patients at very early stages, in some cases before the development of extensive atrophy. PMID:23471694

Dysfunctional visual word form processing in progressive alexia.

PubMed

Wilson, Stephen M; Rising, Kindle; Stib, Matthew T; Rapcsak, Steven Z; Beeson, Pélagie M

2013-04-01

Progressive alexia is an acquired reading deficit caused by degeneration of brain regions that are essential for written word processing. Functional imaging studies have shown that early processing of the visual word form depends on a hierarchical posterior-to-anterior processing stream in occipito-temporal cortex, whereby successive areas code increasingly larger and more complex perceptual attributes of the letter string. A region located in the left lateral occipito-temporal sulcus and adjacent fusiform gyrus shows maximal selectivity for words and has been dubbed the 'visual word form area'. We studied two patients with progressive alexia in order to determine whether their reading deficits were associated with structural and/or functional abnormalities in this visual word form system. Voxel-based morphometry showed left-lateralized occipito-temporal atrophy in both patients, very mild in one, but moderate to severe in the other. The two patients, along with 10 control subjects, were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging as they viewed rapidly presented words, false font strings, or a fixation crosshair. This paradigm was optimized to reliably map brain regions involved in orthographic processing in individual subjects. All 10 control subjects showed a posterior-to-anterior gradient of selectivity for words, and all 10 showed a functionally defined visual word form area in the left hemisphere that was activated for words relative to false font strings. In contrast, neither of the two patients with progressive alexia showed any evidence for a selectivity gradient or for word-specific activation of the visual word form area. The patient with mild atrophy showed normal responses to both words and false font strings in the posterior part of the visual word form system, but a failure to develop selectivity for words in the more anterior part of the system. In contrast, the patient with moderate to severe atrophy showed minimal activation of any part of the visual word form system for either words or false font strings. Our results suggest that progressive alexia is associated with a dysfunctional visual word form system, with or without substantial cortical atrophy. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that functional MRI has the potential to reveal the neural bases of cognitive deficits in neurodegenerative patients at very early stages, in some cases before the development of extensive atrophy.

A Visual Analytics Paradigm Enabling Trillion-Edge Graph Exploration

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

Wong, Pak C.; Haglin, David J.; Gillen, David S.

We present a visual analytics paradigm and a system prototype for exploring web-scale graphs. A web-scale graph is described as a graph with ~one trillion edges and ~50 billion vertices. While there is an aggressive R&D effort in processing and exploring web-scale graphs among internet vendors such as Facebook and Google, visualizing a graph of that scale still remains an underexplored R&D area. The paper describes a nontraditional peek-and-filter strategy that facilitates the exploration of a graph database of unprecedented size for visualization and analytics. We demonstrate that our system prototype can 1) preprocess a graph with ~25 billion edgesmore » in less than two hours and 2) support database query and visualization on the processed graph database afterward. Based on our computational performance results, we argue that we most likely will achieve the one trillion edge mark (a computational performance improvement of 40 times) for graph visual analytics in the near future.« less

Visualizing Chemistry with Infrared Imaging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xie, Charles

2011-01-01

Almost all chemical processes release or absorb heat. The heat flow in a chemical system reflects the process it is undergoing. By showing the temperature distribution dynamically, infrared (IR) imaging provides a salient visualization of the process. This paper presents a set of simple experiments based on IR imaging to demonstrate its enormous…

Cloud Based Resource for Data Hosting, Visualization and Analysis Using UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser | Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR)

Cancer.gov

The Cancer Analysis Virtual Machine (CAVM) project will leverage cloud technology, the UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser, and the Galaxy analysis workflow system to provide investigators with a flexible, scalable platform for hosting, visualizing and analyzing their own genomic data.

Visual resources and the public: an empirical approach

Treesearch

Rachel Kaplan

1979-01-01

Visual resource management systems incorporate many assumptions about how people see the landscape. While these assumptions are not articulated, they nonetheless affect the decision process. Problems inherent in some of these assumptions are examined. Extensive research based on people's preference ratings of different settings provides insight into people's...

Non-Invasive Visualization and Quantitation of Cardiovascular Structure and Function.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritman, E. L.; And Others

1979-01-01

Described is a new approach to investigative physiology based on computerized transaxial tomography, in which visualization and measurement of the internal structure of the cardiopulmonary system is possible without postmortem, biopsy, or vivisection procedures. Examples are given for application of the Dynamic Spatial Reconstructor (DSR). (CS)

Indication for cataract surgery. Do we have evidence of who will benefit from surgery? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kessel, Line; Andresen, Jens; Erngaard, Ditte; Flesner, Per; Tendal, Britta; Hjortdal, Jesper

2016-02-01

The need for cataract surgery is expected to rise dramatically in the future due to the increasing proportion of elderly citizens and increasing demands for optimum visual function. The aim of this study was to provide an evidence-based recommendation for the indication of cataract surgery based on which group of patients are most likely to benefit from surgery. A systematic literature search was performed in the MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE and COCHRANE LIBRARY databases. Studies evaluating the outcome after cataract surgery according to preoperative visual acuity and visual complaints were included in a meta-analysis. We identified eight observational studies comparing outcome after cataract surgery in patients with poor (<20/40) and fair (>20/40) preoperative visual acuity. We could not find any studies that compared outcome after cataract surgery in patients with few or many preoperative visual complaints. A meta-analysis showed that the outcome of cataract surgery, evaluated as objective and subjective visual improvement, was independent on preoperative visual acuity. There is a lack of scientific evidence to guide the clinician in deciding which patients are most likely to benefit from surgery. To overcome this shortage of evidence, many systems have been developed internationally to prioritize patients on waiting lists for cataract surgery, but the Swedish NIKE (Nationell Indikationsmodell för Katarakt Ekstraktion) is the only system where an association to the preoperative scoring of a patient has been related to outcome of cataract surgery. We advise that clinicians are inspired by the NIKE system when they decide which patients to operate to ensure that surgery is only offered to patients who are expected to benefit from cataract surgery. © 2015 The Authors. Acta Ophthalmologica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation.

A case for spiking neural network simulation based on configurable multiple-FPGA systems.

PubMed

Yang, Shufan; Wu, Qiang; Li, Renfa

2011-09-01

Recent neuropsychological research has begun to reveal that neurons encode information in the timing of spikes. Spiking neural network simulations are a flexible and powerful method for investigating the behaviour of neuronal systems. Simulation of the spiking neural networks in software is unable to rapidly generate output spikes in large-scale of neural network. An alternative approach, hardware implementation of such system, provides the possibility to generate independent spikes precisely and simultaneously output spike waves in real time, under the premise that spiking neural network can take full advantage of hardware inherent parallelism. We introduce a configurable FPGA-oriented hardware platform for spiking neural network simulation in this work. We aim to use this platform to combine the speed of dedicated hardware with the programmability of software so that it might allow neuroscientists to put together sophisticated computation experiments of their own model. A feed-forward hierarchy network is developed as a case study to describe the operation of biological neural systems (such as orientation selectivity of visual cortex) and computational models of such systems. This model demonstrates how a feed-forward neural network constructs the circuitry required for orientation selectivity and provides platform for reaching a deeper understanding of the primate visual system. In the future, larger scale models based on this framework can be used to replicate the actual architecture in visual cortex, leading to more detailed predictions and insights into visual perception phenomenon.

Virtual reality training and assessment in laparoscopic rectum surgery.

PubMed

Pan, Jun J; Chang, Jian; Yang, Xiaosong; Liang, Hui; Zhang, Jian J; Qureshi, Tahseen; Howell, Robert; Hickish, Tamas

2015-06-01

Virtual-reality (VR) based simulation techniques offer an efficient and low cost alternative to conventional surgery training. This article describes a VR training and assessment system in laparoscopic rectum surgery. To give a realistic visual performance of interaction between membrane tissue and surgery tools, a generalized cylinder based collision detection and a multi-layer mass-spring model are presented. A dynamic assessment model is also designed for hierarchy training evaluation. With this simulator, trainees can operate on the virtual rectum with both visual and haptic sensation feedback simultaneously. The system also offers surgeons instructions in real time when improper manipulation happens. The simulator has been tested and evaluated by ten subjects. This prototype system has been verified by colorectal surgeons through a pilot study. They believe the visual performance and the tactile feedback are realistic. It exhibits the potential to effectively improve the surgical skills of trainee surgeons and significantly shorten their learning curve. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Weighted integration of short-term memory and sensory signals in the oculomotor system.

PubMed

Deravet, Nicolas; Blohm, Gunnar; de Xivry, Jean-Jacques Orban; Lefèvre, Philippe

2018-05-01

Oculomotor behaviors integrate sensory and prior information to overcome sensory-motor delays and noise. After much debate about this process, reliability-based integration has recently been proposed and several models of smooth pursuit now include recurrent Bayesian integration or Kalman filtering. However, there is a lack of behavioral evidence in humans supporting these theoretical predictions. Here, we independently manipulated the reliability of visual and prior information in a smooth pursuit task. Our results show that both smooth pursuit eye velocity and catch-up saccade amplitude were modulated by visual and prior information reliability. We interpret these findings as the continuous reliability-based integration of a short-term memory of target motion with visual information, which support modeling work. Furthermore, we suggest that saccadic and pursuit systems share this short-term memory. We propose that this short-term memory of target motion is quickly built and continuously updated, and constitutes a general building block present in all sensorimotor systems.

Neural network system for purposeful behavior based on foveal visual preprocessor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golovan, Alexander V.; Shevtsova, Natalia A.; Klepatch, Arkadi A.

1996-10-01

Biologically plausible model of the system with an adaptive behavior in a priori environment and resistant to impairment has been developed. The system consists of input, learning, and output subsystems. The first subsystems classifies input patterns presented as n-dimensional vectors in accordance with some associative rule. The second one being a neural network determines adaptive responses of the system to input patterns. Arranged neural groups coding possible input patterns and appropriate output responses are formed during learning by means of negative reinforcement. Output subsystem maps a neural network activity into the system behavior in the environment. The system developed has been studied by computer simulation imitating a collision-free motion of a mobile robot. After some learning period the system 'moves' along a road without collisions. It is shown that in spite of impairment of some neural network elements the system functions reliably after relearning. Foveal visual preprocessor model developed earlier has been tested to form a kind of visual input to the system.

A concept-based interactive biomedical image retrieval approach using visualness and spatial information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Md M.; Antani, Sameer K.; Demner-Fushman, Dina; Thoma, George R.

2015-03-01

This paper presents a novel approach to biomedical image retrieval by mapping image regions to local concepts and represent images in a weighted entropy-based concept feature space. The term concept refers to perceptually distinguishable visual patches that are identified locally in image regions and can be mapped to a glossary of imaging terms. Further, the visual significance (e.g., visualness) of concepts is measured as Shannon entropy of pixel values in image patches and is used to refine the feature vector. Moreover, the system can assist user in interactively select a Region-Of-Interest (ROI) and search for similar image ROIs. Further, a spatial verification step is used as a post-processing step to improve retrieval results based on location information. The hypothesis that such approaches would improve biomedical image retrieval, is validated through experiments on a data set of 450 lung CT images extracted from journal articles from four different collections.

Automatic transfer function design for medical visualization using visibility distributions and projective color mapping.

PubMed

Cai, Lile; Tay, Wei-Liang; Nguyen, Binh P; Chui, Chee-Kong; Ong, Sim-Heng

2013-01-01

Transfer functions play a key role in volume rendering of medical data, but transfer function manipulation is unintuitive and can be time-consuming; achieving an optimal visualization of patient anatomy or pathology is difficult. To overcome this problem, we present a system for automatic transfer function design based on visibility distribution and projective color mapping. Instead of assigning opacity directly based on voxel intensity and gradient magnitude, the opacity transfer function is automatically derived by matching the observed visibility distribution to a target visibility distribution. An automatic color assignment scheme based on projective mapping is proposed to assign colors that allow for the visual discrimination of different structures, while also reflecting the degree of similarity between them. When our method was tested on several medical volumetric datasets, the key structures within the volume were clearly visualized with minimal user intervention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Benchmarking Spike-Based Visual Recognition: A Dataset and Evaluation

PubMed Central

Liu, Qian; Pineda-García, Garibaldi; Stromatias, Evangelos; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Furber, Steve B.

2016-01-01

Today, increasing attention is being paid to research into spike-based neural computation both to gain a better understanding of the brain and to explore biologically-inspired computation. Within this field, the primate visual pathway and its hierarchical organization have been extensively studied. Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), inspired by the understanding of observed biological structure and function, have been successfully applied to visual recognition and classification tasks. In addition, implementations on neuromorphic hardware have enabled large-scale networks to run in (or even faster than) real time, making spike-based neural vision processing accessible on mobile robots. Neuromorphic sensors such as silicon retinas are able to feed such mobile systems with real-time visual stimuli. A new set of vision benchmarks for spike-based neural processing are now needed to measure progress quantitatively within this rapidly advancing field. We propose that a large dataset of spike-based visual stimuli is needed to provide meaningful comparisons between different systems, and a corresponding evaluation methodology is also required to measure the performance of SNN models and their hardware implementations. In this paper we first propose an initial NE (Neuromorphic Engineering) dataset based on standard computer vision benchmarksand that uses digits from the MNIST database. This dataset is compatible with the state of current research on spike-based image recognition. The corresponding spike trains are produced using a range of techniques: rate-based Poisson spike generation, rank order encoding, and recorded output from a silicon retina with both flashing and oscillating input stimuli. In addition, a complementary evaluation methodology is presented to assess both model-level and hardware-level performance. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the dataset and the evaluation methodology using two SNN models to validate the performance of the models and their hardware implementations. With this dataset we hope to (1) promote meaningful comparison between algorithms in the field of neural computation, (2) allow comparison with conventional image recognition methods, (3) provide an assessment of the state of the art in spike-based visual recognition, and (4) help researchers identify future directions and advance the field. PMID:27853419

Benchmarking Spike-Based Visual Recognition: A Dataset and Evaluation.

PubMed

Liu, Qian; Pineda-García, Garibaldi; Stromatias, Evangelos; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Furber, Steve B

2016-01-01

Today, increasing attention is being paid to research into spike-based neural computation both to gain a better understanding of the brain and to explore biologically-inspired computation. Within this field, the primate visual pathway and its hierarchical organization have been extensively studied. Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), inspired by the understanding of observed biological structure and function, have been successfully applied to visual recognition and classification tasks. In addition, implementations on neuromorphic hardware have enabled large-scale networks to run in (or even faster than) real time, making spike-based neural vision processing accessible on mobile robots. Neuromorphic sensors such as silicon retinas are able to feed such mobile systems with real-time visual stimuli. A new set of vision benchmarks for spike-based neural processing are now needed to measure progress quantitatively within this rapidly advancing field. We propose that a large dataset of spike-based visual stimuli is needed to provide meaningful comparisons between different systems, and a corresponding evaluation methodology is also required to measure the performance of SNN models and their hardware implementations. In this paper we first propose an initial NE (Neuromorphic Engineering) dataset based on standard computer vision benchmarksand that uses digits from the MNIST database. This dataset is compatible with the state of current research on spike-based image recognition. The corresponding spike trains are produced using a range of techniques: rate-based Poisson spike generation, rank order encoding, and recorded output from a silicon retina with both flashing and oscillating input stimuli. In addition, a complementary evaluation methodology is presented to assess both model-level and hardware-level performance. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the dataset and the evaluation methodology using two SNN models to validate the performance of the models and their hardware implementations. With this dataset we hope to (1) promote meaningful comparison between algorithms in the field of neural computation, (2) allow comparison with conventional image recognition methods, (3) provide an assessment of the state of the art in spike-based visual recognition, and (4) help researchers identify future directions and advance the field.

Bandwidth Optimization On Design Of Visual Display Information System Based Networking At Politeknik Negeri Bali

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudiartha, IKG; Catur Bawa, IGNB

2018-01-01

Information can not be separated from the social life of the community, especially in the world of education. One of the information fields is academic calendar information, activity agenda, announcement and campus activity news. In line with technological developments, text-based information is becoming obsolete. For that need creativity to present information more quickly, accurately and interesting by exploiting the development of digital technology and internet. In this paper will be developed applications for the provision of information in the form of visual display, applied to computer network system with multimedia applications. Network-based applications provide ease in updating data through internet services, attractive presentations with multimedia support. The application “Networking Visual Display Information Unit” can be used as a medium that provides information services for students and academic employee more interesting and ease in updating information than the bulletin board. The information presented in the form of Running Text, Latest Information, Agenda, Academic Calendar and Video provide an interesting presentation and in line with technological developments at the Politeknik Negeri Bali. Through this research is expected to create software “Networking Visual Display Information Unit” with optimal bandwidth usage by combining local data sources and data through the network. This research produces visual display design with optimal bandwidth usage and application in the form of supporting software.

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

PubMed

Fahmy, Gamal; Black, John; Panchanathan, Sethuraman

2006-06-01

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

Visual tree grading systems for estimating lumber yields in young and mature southern pine

Treesearch

Alexander Clark; Robert H. McAlister

1998-01-01

New visual tree grading systems for mature southern pine ? 35 years old and young pine ? 35 years old based on number and size of branches in the lower bole are described. A series of lumber grade yield studies was conducted to test the new grading rules. A total of 214 natural loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata Mill) trees 9 to 20 inches...

Urban Space Explorer: A Visual Analytics System for Urban Planning.

PubMed

Karduni, Alireza; Cho, Isaac; Wessel, Ginette; Ribarsky, William; Sauda, Eric; Dou, Wenwen

2017-01-01

Understanding people's behavior is fundamental to many planning professions (including transportation, community development, economic development, and urban design) that rely on data about frequently traveled routes, places, and social and cultural practices. Based on the results of a practitioner survey, the authors designed Urban Space Explorer, a visual analytics system that utilizes mobile social media to enable interactive exploration of public-space-related activity along spatial, temporal, and semantic dimensions.

Visual guidance of mobile platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blissett, Rodney J.

1993-12-01

Two systems are described and results presented demonstrating aspects of real-time visual guidance of autonomous mobile platforms. The first approach incorporates prior knowledge in the form of rigid geometrical models linking visual references within the environment. The second approach is based on a continuous synthesis of information extracted from image tokens to generate a coarse-grained world model, from which potential obstacles are inferred. The use of these techniques in workplace applications is discussed.

Integrating a Motion Base into a CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment: Phase 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-07-01

this, a CAVE system must perform well in the following motion-related areas: visual gaze stability, simulator sickness, realism (or face validity...and performance validity. Visual Gaze Stability Visual gaze stability, the ability to maintain eye fixation on a particular target, depends upon human...reflexes such as the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and the optokinetic nystagmus (OKN). VOR is a reflex that counter-rotates the eye relative to the

Finding and recognizing objects in natural scenes: complementary computations in the dorsal and ventral visual systems

PubMed Central

Rolls, Edmund T.; Webb, Tristan J.

2014-01-01

Searching for and recognizing objects in complex natural scenes is implemented by multiple saccades until the eyes reach within the reduced receptive field sizes of inferior temporal cortex (IT) neurons. We analyze and model how the dorsal and ventral visual streams both contribute to this. Saliency detection in the dorsal visual system including area LIP is modeled by graph-based visual saliency, and allows the eyes to fixate potential objects within several degrees. Visual information at the fixated location subtending approximately 9° corresponding to the receptive fields of IT neurons is then passed through a four layer hierarchical model of the ventral cortical visual system, VisNet. We show that VisNet can be trained using a synaptic modification rule with a short-term memory trace of recent neuronal activity to capture both the required view and translation invariances to allow in the model approximately 90% correct object recognition for 4 objects shown in any view across a range of 135° anywhere in a scene. The model was able to generalize correctly within the four trained views and the 25 trained translations. This approach analyses the principles by which complementary computations in the dorsal and ventral visual cortical streams enable objects to be located and recognized in complex natural scenes. PMID:25161619

Computer-aided diagnosis for classifying benign versus malignant thyroid nodules based on ultrasound images: A comparison with radiologist-based assessments.

PubMed

Chang, Yongjun; Paul, Anjan Kumar; Kim, Namkug; Baek, Jung Hwan; Choi, Young Jun; Ha, Eun Ju; Lee, Kang Dae; Lee, Hyoung Shin; Shin, DaeSeock; Kim, Nakyoung

2016-01-01

To develop a semiautomated computer-aided diagnosis (cad) system for thyroid cancer using two-dimensional ultrasound images that can be used to yield a second opinion in the clinic to differentiate malignant and benign lesions. A total of 118 ultrasound images that included axial and longitudinal images from patients with biopsy-confirmed malignant (n = 30) and benign (n = 29) nodules were collected. Thyroid cad software was developed to extract quantitative features from these images based on thyroid nodule segmentation in which adaptive diffusion flow for active contours was used. Various features, including histogram, intensity differences, elliptical fit, gray-level co-occurrence matrixes, and gray-level run-length matrixes, were evaluated for each region imaged. Based on these imaging features, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used to differentiate benign and malignant nodules. Leave-one-out cross-validation with sequential forward feature selection was performed to evaluate the overall accuracy of this method. Additionally, analyses with contingency tables and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to compare the performance of cad with visual inspection by expert radiologists based on established gold standards. Most univariate features for this proposed cad system attained accuracies that ranged from 78.0% to 83.1%. When optimal SVM parameters that were established using a grid search method with features that radiologists use for visual inspection were employed, the authors could attain rates of accuracy that ranged from 72.9% to 84.7%. Using leave-one-out cross-validation results in a multivariate analysis of various features, the highest accuracy achieved using the proposed cad system was 98.3%, whereas visual inspection by radiologists reached 94.9% accuracy. To obtain the highest accuracies, "axial ratio" and "max probability" in axial images were most frequently included in the optimal feature sets for the authors' proposed cad system, while "shape" and "calcification" in longitudinal images were most frequently included in the optimal feature sets for visual inspection by radiologists. The computed areas under curves in the ROC analysis were 0.986 and 0.979 for the proposed cad system and visual inspection by radiologists, respectively; no significant difference was detected between these groups. The use of thyroid cad to differentiate malignant from benign lesions shows accuracy similar to that obtained via visual inspection by radiologists. Thyroid cad might be considered a viable way to generate a second opinion for radiologists in clinical practice.

Computer-aided diagnosis for classifying benign versus malignant thyroid nodules based on ultrasound images: A comparison with radiologist-based assessments

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

Chang, Yongjun; Paul, Anjan Kumar; Kim, Namkug, E-mail: namkugkim@gmail.com

Purpose: To develop a semiautomated computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for thyroid cancer using two-dimensional ultrasound images that can be used to yield a second opinion in the clinic to differentiate malignant and benign lesions. Methods: A total of 118 ultrasound images that included axial and longitudinal images from patients with biopsy-confirmed malignant (n = 30) and benign (n = 29) nodules were collected. Thyroid CAD software was developed to extract quantitative features from these images based on thyroid nodule segmentation in which adaptive diffusion flow for active contours was used. Various features, including histogram, intensity differences, elliptical fit, gray-level co-occurrencemore » matrixes, and gray-level run-length matrixes, were evaluated for each region imaged. Based on these imaging features, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used to differentiate benign and malignant nodules. Leave-one-out cross-validation with sequential forward feature selection was performed to evaluate the overall accuracy of this method. Additionally, analyses with contingency tables and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to compare the performance of CAD with visual inspection by expert radiologists based on established gold standards. Results: Most univariate features for this proposed CAD system attained accuracies that ranged from 78.0% to 83.1%. When optimal SVM parameters that were established using a grid search method with features that radiologists use for visual inspection were employed, the authors could attain rates of accuracy that ranged from 72.9% to 84.7%. Using leave-one-out cross-validation results in a multivariate analysis of various features, the highest accuracy achieved using the proposed CAD system was 98.3%, whereas visual inspection by radiologists reached 94.9% accuracy. To obtain the highest accuracies, “axial ratio” and “max probability” in axial images were most frequently included in the optimal feature sets for the authors’ proposed CAD system, while “shape” and “calcification” in longitudinal images were most frequently included in the optimal feature sets for visual inspection by radiologists. The computed areas under curves in the ROC analysis were 0.986 and 0.979 for the proposed CAD system and visual inspection by radiologists, respectively; no significant difference was detected between these groups. Conclusions: The use of thyroid CAD to differentiate malignant from benign lesions shows accuracy similar to that obtained via visual inspection by radiologists. Thyroid CAD might be considered a viable way to generate a second opinion for radiologists in clinical practice.« less

Is More Better? - Night Vision Enhancement System's Pedestrian Warning Modes and Older Drivers.

PubMed

Brown, Timothy; He, Yefei; Roe, Cheryl; Schnell, Thomas

2010-01-01

Pedestrian fatalities as a result of vehicle collisions are much more likely to happen at night than during day time. Poor visibility due to darkness is believed to be one of the causes for the higher vehicle collision rate at night. Existing studies have shown that night vision enhancement systems (NVES) may improve recognition distance, but may increase drivers' workload. The use of automatic warnings (AW) may help minimize workload, improve performance, and increase safety. In this study, we used a driving simulator to examine performance differences of a NVES with six different configurations of warning cues, including: visual, auditory, tactile, auditory and visual, tactile and visual, and no warning. Older drivers between the ages of 65 and 74 participated in the study. An analysis based on the distance to pedestrian threat at the onset of braking response revealed that tactile and auditory warnings performed the best, while visual warnings performed the worst. When tactile or auditory warnings were presented in combination with visual warning, their effectiveness decreased. This result demonstrated that, contrary to general sense regarding warning systems, multi-modal warnings involving visual cues degraded the effectiveness of NVES for older drivers.

Dynamic visualization of data streams

DOEpatents

Wong, Pak Chung [Richalnd, WA; Foote, Harlan P [Richland, WA; Adams, Daniel R [Kennewick, WA; Cowley, Wendy E [Richland, WA; Thomas, James J [Richland, WA

2009-07-07

One embodiment of the present invention includes a data communication subsystem to receive a data stream, and a data processing subsystem responsive to the data communication subsystem to generate a visualization output based on a group of data vectors corresponding to a first portion of the data stream. The processing subsystem is further responsive to a change in rate of receipt of the data to modify the visualization output with one or more other data vectors corresponding to a second portion of the data stream as a function of eigenspace defined with the group of data vectors. The system further includes a display device responsive to the visualization output to provide a corresponding visualization.

Learning invariance from natural images inspired by observations in the primary visual cortex.

PubMed

Teichmann, Michael; Wiltschut, Jan; Hamker, Fred

2012-05-01

The human visual system has the remarkable ability to largely recognize objects invariant of their position, rotation, and scale. A good interpretation of neurobiological findings involves a computational model that simulates signal processing of the visual cortex. In part, this is likely achieved step by step from early to late areas of visual perception. While several algorithms have been proposed for learning feature detectors, only few studies at hand cover the issue of biologically plausible learning of such invariance. In this study, a set of Hebbian learning rules based on calcium dynamics and homeostatic regulations of single neurons is proposed. Their performance is verified within a simple model of the primary visual cortex to learn so-called complex cells, based on a sequence of static images. As a result, the learned complex-cell responses are largely invariant to phase and position.

A novel brain-computer interface based on the rapid serial visual presentation paradigm.

PubMed

Acqualagna, Laura; Treder, Matthias Sebastian; Schreuder, Martijn; Blankertz, Benjamin

2010-01-01

Most present-day visual brain computer interfaces (BCIs) suffer from the fact that they rely on eye movements, are slow-paced, or feature a small vocabulary. As a potential remedy, we explored a novel BCI paradigm consisting of a central rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of the stimuli. It has a large vocabulary and realizes a BCI system based on covert non-spatial selective visual attention. In an offline study, eight participants were presented sequences of rapid bursts of symbols. Two different speeds and two different color conditions were investigated. Robust early visual and P300 components were elicited time-locked to the presentation of the target. Offline classification revealed a mean accuracy of up to 90% for selecting the correct symbol out of 30 possibilities. The results suggest that RSVP-BCI is a promising new paradigm, also for patients with oculomotor impairments.

Visual Form Perception Can Be a Cognitive Correlate of Lower Level Math Categories for Teenagers

PubMed Central

Cui, Jiaxin; Zhang, Yiyun; Cheng, Dazhi; Li, Dawei; Zhou, Xinlin

2017-01-01

Numerous studies have assessed the cognitive correlates of performance in mathematics, but little research has been conducted to systematically examine the relations between visual perception as the starting point of visuospatial processing and typical mathematical performance. In the current study, we recruited 223 seventh graders to perform a visual form perception task (figure matching), numerosity comparison, digit comparison, exact computation, approximate computation, and curriculum-based mathematical achievement tests. Results showed that, after controlling for gender, age, and five general cognitive processes (choice reaction time, visual tracing, mental rotation, spatial working memory, and non-verbal matrices reasoning), visual form perception had unique contributions to numerosity comparison, digit comparison, and exact computation, but had no significant relation with approximate computation or curriculum-based mathematical achievement. These results suggest that visual form perception is an important independent cognitive correlate of lower level math categories, including the approximate number system, digit comparison, and exact computation. PMID:28824513

Auditory presentation and synchronization in Adobe Flash and HTML5/JavaScript Web experiments.

PubMed

Reimers, Stian; Stewart, Neil

2016-09-01

Substantial recent research has examined the accuracy of presentation durations and response time measurements for visually presented stimuli in Web-based experiments, with a general conclusion that accuracy is acceptable for most kinds of experiments. However, many areas of behavioral research use auditory stimuli instead of, or in addition to, visual stimuli. Much less is known about auditory accuracy using standard Web-based testing procedures. We used a millisecond-accurate Black Box Toolkit to measure the actual durations of auditory stimuli and the synchronization of auditory and visual presentation onsets. We examined the distribution of timings for 100 presentations of auditory and visual stimuli across two computers with difference specs, three commonly used browsers, and code written in either Adobe Flash or JavaScript. We also examined different coding options for attempting to synchronize the auditory and visual onsets. Overall, we found that auditory durations were very consistent, but that the lags between visual and auditory onsets varied substantially across browsers and computer systems.

Component-Based Visualization System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delgado, Francisco

2005-01-01

A software system has been developed that gives engineers and operations personnel with no "formal" programming expertise, but who are familiar with the Microsoft Windows operating system, the ability to create visualization displays to monitor the health and performance of aircraft/spacecraft. This software system is currently supporting the X38 V201 spacecraft component/system testing and is intended to give users the ability to create, test, deploy, and certify their subsystem displays in a fraction of the time that it would take to do so using previous software and programming methods. Within the visualization system there are three major components: the developer, the deployer, and the widget set. The developer is a blank canvas with widget menu items that give users the ability to easily create displays. The deployer is an application that allows for the deployment of the displays created using the developer application. The deployer has additional functionality that the developer does not have, such as printing of displays, screen captures to files, windowing of displays, and also serves as the interface into the documentation archive and help system. The third major component is the widget set. The widgets are the visual representation of the items that will make up the display (i.e., meters, dials, buttons, numerical indicators, string indicators, and the like). This software was developed using Visual C++ and uses COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) software where possible.

How Can Visual Analytics Assist Investigative Analysis? Design Implications from an Evaluation.

PubMed

Youn-Ah Kang; Görg, Carsten; Stasko, John

2011-05-01

Despite the growing number of systems providing visual analytic support for investigative analysis, few empirical studies of the potential benefits of such systems have been conducted, particularly controlled, comparative evaluations. Determining how such systems foster insight and sensemaking is important for their continued growth and study, however. Furthermore, studies that identify how people use such systems and why they benefit (or not) can help inform the design of new systems in this area. We conducted an evaluation of the visual analytics system Jigsaw employed in a small investigative sensemaking exercise, and compared its use to three other more traditional methods of analysis. Sixteen participants performed a simulated intelligence analysis task under one of the four conditions. Experimental results suggest that Jigsaw assisted participants to analyze the data and identify an embedded threat. We describe different analysis strategies used by study participants and how computational support (or the lack thereof) influenced the strategies. We then illustrate several characteristics of the sensemaking process identified in the study and provide design implications for investigative analysis tools based thereon. We conclude with recommendations on metrics and techniques for evaluating visual analytics systems for investigative analysis.

Floating aerial 3D display based on the freeform-mirror and the improved integral imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xunbo; Sang, Xinzhu; Gao, Xin; Yang, Shenwu; Liu, Boyang; Chen, Duo; Yan, Binbin; Yu, Chongxiu

2018-09-01

A floating aerial three-dimensional (3D) display based on the freeform-mirror and the improved integral imaging system is demonstrated. In the traditional integral imaging (II), the distortion originating from lens aberration warps elemental images and degrades the visual effect severely. To correct the distortion of the observed pixels and to improve the image quality, a directional diffuser screen (DDS) is introduced. However, the improved integral imaging system can hardly present realistic images with the large off-screen depth, which limits floating aerial visual experience. To display the 3D image in the free space, the off-axis reflection system with the freeform-mirror is designed. By combining the improved II and the designed freeform optical element, the floating aerial 3D image is presented.

Pixel-wise deblurring imaging system based on active vision for structural health monitoring at a speed of 100 km/h

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayakawa, Tomohiko; Moko, Yushi; Morishita, Kenta; Ishikawa, Masatoshi

2018-04-01

In this paper, we propose a pixel-wise deblurring imaging (PDI) system based on active vision for compensation of the blur caused by high-speed one-dimensional motion between a camera and a target. The optical axis is controlled by back-and-forth motion of a galvanometer mirror to compensate the motion. High-spatial-resolution image captured by our system in high-speed motion is useful for efficient and precise visual inspection, such as visually judging abnormal parts of a tunnel surface to prevent accidents; hence, we applied the PDI system for structural health monitoring. By mounting the system onto a vehicle in a tunnel, we confirmed significant improvement in image quality for submillimeter black-and-white stripes and real tunnel-surface cracks at a speed of 100 km/h.

Serial grouping of 2D-image regions with object-based attention in humans.

PubMed

Jeurissen, Danique; Self, Matthew W; Roelfsema, Pieter R

2016-06-13

After an initial stage of local analysis within the retina and early visual pathways, the human visual system creates a structured representation of the visual scene by co-selecting image elements that are part of behaviorally relevant objects. The mechanisms underlying this perceptual organization process are only partially understood. We here investigate the time-course of perceptual grouping of two-dimensional image-regions by measuring the reaction times of human participants and report that it is associated with the gradual spread of object-based attention. Attention spreads fastest over large and homogeneous areas and is slowed down at locations that require small-scale processing. We find that the time-course of the object-based selection process is well explained by a 'growth-cone' model, which selects surface elements in an incremental, scale-dependent manner. We discuss how the visual cortical hierarchy can implement this scale-dependent spread of object-based attention, leveraging the different receptive field sizes in distinct cortical areas.

Multimodal visualization interface for data management, self-learning and data presentation.

PubMed

Van Sint Jan, S; Demondion, X; Clapworthy, G; Louryan, S; Rooze, M; Cotten, A; Viceconti, M

2006-10-01

A multimodal visualization software, called the Data Manager (DM), has been developed to increase interdisciplinary communication around the topic of visualization and modeling of various aspects of the human anatomy. Numerous tools used in Radiology are integrated in the interface that runs on standard personal computers. The available tools, combined to hierarchical data management and custom layouts, allow analyzing of medical imaging data using advanced features outside radiological premises (for example, for patient review, conference presentation or tutorial preparation). The system is free, and based on an open-source software development architecture, and therefore updates of the system for custom applications are possible.

Aircrew laser eye protection: visual consequences and mission performance.

PubMed

Thomas, S R

1994-05-01

Battlefield laser proliferation poses a mounting risk to aircrew and ground personnel. Laser eye protection (LEP) based on current mature, mass-producible technologies absorbs visible light and can impact visual performance and color identification. These visual consequences account for many of the mission incompatibilities associated with LEP. Laboratory experiments and field investigations that examined the effects of LEP on visual performance and mission compatibility are reviewed. Laboratory experiments assessed the ability of subjects to correctly read and identify the color of head-down display symbology and tactical pilotage charts (TPC's) with three prototype LEP visors. Field investigations included Weapons Systems Trainer (WST), ground, and flight tests of the LEP visors. Recommendations for modifying aviation lighting systems to improve LEP compatibility are proposed. Issues concerning flight safety when using LEP during air operation are discussed.

Visual Sensor Based Abnormal Event Detection with Moving Shadow Removal in Home Healthcare Applications

PubMed Central

Lee, Young-Sook; Chung, Wan-Young

2012-01-01

Vision-based abnormal event detection for home healthcare systems can be greatly improved using visual sensor-based techniques able to detect, track and recognize objects in the scene. However, in moving object detection and tracking processes, moving cast shadows can be misclassified as part of objects or moving objects. Shadow removal is an essential step for developing video surveillance systems. The goal of the primary is to design novel computer vision techniques that can extract objects more accurately and discriminate between abnormal and normal activities. To improve the accuracy of object detection and tracking, our proposed shadow removal algorithm is employed. Abnormal event detection based on visual sensor by using shape features variation and 3-D trajectory is presented to overcome the low fall detection rate. The experimental results showed that the success rate of detecting abnormal events was 97% with a false positive rate of 2%. Our proposed algorithm can allow distinguishing diverse fall activities such as forward falls, backward falls, and falling asides from normal activities. PMID:22368486

Luminance gradient at object borders communicates object location to the human oculomotor system.

PubMed

Kilpeläinen, Markku; Georgeson, Mark A

2018-01-25

The locations of objects in our environment constitute arguably the most important piece of information our visual system must convey to facilitate successful visually guided behaviour. However, the relevant objects are usually not point-like and do not have one unique location attribute. Relatively little is known about how the visual system represents the location of such large objects as visual processing is, both on neural and perceptual level, highly edge dominated. In this study, human observers made saccades to the centres of luminance defined squares (width 4 deg), which appeared at random locations (8 deg eccentricity). The phase structure of the square was manipulated such that the points of maximum luminance gradient at the square's edges shifted from trial to trial. The average saccade endpoints of all subjects followed those shifts in remarkable quantitative agreement. Further experiments showed that the shifts were caused by the edge manipulations, not by changes in luminance structure near the centre of the square or outside the square. We conclude that the human visual system programs saccades to large luminance defined square objects based on edge locations derived from the points of maximum luminance gradients at the square's edges.

Space-Based Telescopes for the Actionable Refinement of Ephemeris Systems and Test Engineering

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

Space Surveillance Network STARE Space-based Telescopes for the Actionable Refinement of Ephemeris STK Satellite Toolkit SV Space Vehicle TAMU...vacuum bake out and visual inspection. Additionally, it is prescribed that these tests be performed in accordance with GSFC-STD-7000, more commonly...environment that a FV will see in orbit. Tools such as Solid Works and NX-Ideas can be used to build CAD models to visually validate engineering

Visual function, driving safety, and the elderly.

PubMed

Keltner, J L; Johnson, C A

1987-09-01

The authors have conducted a survey of the Departments of Motor Vehicles in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico requesting information about the visual standards, accidents, and conviction rates for different age groups. In addition, we have reviewed the literature on visual function and traffic safety. Elderly drivers have a greater number of vision problems that affect visual acuity and/or peripheral visual fields. Although the elderly are responsible for a small percentage of the total number of traffic accidents, the types of accidents they are involved in (e.g., failure to yield the right-of-way, intersection collisions, left turns onto crossing streets) may be related to peripheral and central visual field problems. Because age-related changes in performance occur at different rates for various individuals, licensing of the elderly driver should be based on functional abilities rather than age. Based on information currently available, we can make the following recommendations: (1) periodic evaluations of visual acuity and visual fields should be performed every 1 to 2 years in the population over age 65; (2) drivers of any age with multiple accidents or moving violations should have visual acuity and visual fields evaluated; and (3) a system should be developed for physicians to report patients with potentially unsafe visual function. The authors believe that these recommendations may help to reduce the number of traffic accidents that result from peripheral visual field deficits.

System Sketch: A Visualization Tool to Improve Community Decision Making

EPA Science Inventory

Making decisions in coastal and estuarine management requires a comprehensive understanding of the linkages between environmental, social, and economic systems. SystemSketch is a web-based scoping tool designed to assist resource managers in characterizing their systems, explorin...

On detection and visualization techniques for cyber security situation awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Wei; Wei, Shixiao; Shen, Dan; Blowers, Misty; Blasch, Erik P.; Pham, Khanh D.; Chen, Genshe; Zhang, Hanlin; Lu, Chao

2013-05-01

Networking technologies are exponentially increasing to meet worldwide communication requirements. The rapid growth of network technologies and perversity of communications pose serious security issues. In this paper, we aim to developing an integrated network defense system with situation awareness capabilities to present the useful information for human analysts. In particular, we implement a prototypical system that includes both the distributed passive and active network sensors and traffic visualization features, such as 1D, 2D and 3D based network traffic displays. To effectively detect attacks, we also implement algorithms to transform real-world data of IP addresses into images and study the pattern of attacks and use both the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) based scheme and the statistical based scheme to detect attacks. Through an extensive simulation study, our data validate the effectiveness of our implemented defense system.

Distinct neural markers of TVA-based visual processing speed and short-term storage capacity parameters.

PubMed

Wiegand, Iris; Töllner, Thomas; Habekost, Thomas; Dyrholm, Mads; Müller, Hermann J; Finke, Kathrin

2014-08-01

An individual's visual attentional capacity is characterized by 2 central processing resources, visual perceptual processing speed and visual short-term memory (vSTM) storage capacity. Based on Bundesen's theory of visual attention (TVA), independent estimates of these parameters can be obtained from mathematical modeling of performance in a whole report task. The framework's neural interpretation (NTVA) further suggests distinct brain mechanisms underlying these 2 functions. Using an interindividual difference approach, the present study was designed to establish the respective ERP correlates of both parameters. Participants with higher compared to participants with lower processing speed were found to show significantly reduced visual N1 responses, indicative of higher efficiency in early visual processing. By contrast, for participants with higher relative to lower vSTM storage capacity, contralateral delay activity over visual areas was enhanced while overall nonlateralized delay activity was reduced, indicating that holding (the maximum number of) items in vSTM relies on topographically specific sustained activation within the visual system. Taken together, our findings show that the 2 main aspects of visual attentional capacity are reflected in separable neurophysiological markers, validating a central assumption of NTVA. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Augmented reality-based electrode guidance system for reliable electroencephalography.

PubMed

Song, Chanho; Jeon, Sangseo; Lee, Seongpung; Ha, Ho-Gun; Kim, Jonghyun; Hong, Jaesung

2018-05-24

In longitudinal electroencephalography (EEG) studies, repeatable electrode positioning is essential for reliable EEG assessment. Conventional methods use anatomical landmarks as fiducial locations for the electrode placement. Since the landmarks are manually identified, the EEG assessment is inevitably unreliable because of individual variations among the subjects and the examiners. To overcome this unreliability, an augmented reality (AR) visualization-based electrode guidance system was proposed. The proposed electrode guidance system is based on AR visualization to replace the manual electrode positioning. After scanning and registration of the facial surface of a subject by an RGB-D camera, the AR of the initial electrode positions as reference positions is overlapped with the current electrode positions in real time. Thus, it can guide the position of the subsequently placed electrodes with high repeatability. The experimental results with the phantom show that the repeatability of the electrode positioning was improved compared to that of the conventional 10-20 positioning system. The proposed AR guidance system improves the electrode positioning performance with a cost-effective system, which uses only RGB-D camera. This system can be used as an alternative to the international 10-20 system.

Flight Simulator Visual-Display Delay Compensation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crane, D. Francis

1981-01-01

A piloted aircraft can be viewed as a closed-loop man-machine control system. When a simulator pilot is performing a precision maneuver, a delay in the visual display of aircraft response to pilot-control input decreases the stability of the pilot-aircraft system. The less stable system is more difficult to control precisely. Pilot dynamic response and performance change as the pilot attempts to compensate for the decrease in system stability. The changes in pilot dynamic response and performance bias the simulation results by influencing the pilot's rating of the handling qualities of the simulated aircraft. The study reported here evaluated an approach to visual-display delay compensation. The objective of the compensation was to minimize delay-induced change in pilot performance and workload, The compensation was effective. Because the compensation design approach is based on well-established control-system design principles, prospects are favorable for successful application of the approach in other simulations.

Method for the reduction of image content redundancy in large image databases

DOEpatents

Tobin, Kenneth William; Karnowski, Thomas P.

2010-03-02

A method of increasing information content for content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems includes the steps of providing a CBIR database, the database having an index for a plurality of stored digital images using a plurality of feature vectors, the feature vectors corresponding to distinct descriptive characteristics of the images. A visual similarity parameter value is calculated based on a degree of visual similarity between features vectors of an incoming image being considered for entry into the database and feature vectors associated with a most similar of the stored images. Based on said visual similarity parameter value it is determined whether to store or how long to store the feature vectors associated with the incoming image in the database.

Contingency Analysis Post-Processing With Advanced Computing and Visualization

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

Chen, Yousu; Glaesemann, Kurt; Fitzhenry, Erin

Contingency analysis is a critical function widely used in energy management systems to assess the impact of power system component failures. Its outputs are important for power system operation for improved situational awareness, power system planning studies, and power market operations. With the increased complexity of power system modeling and simulation caused by increased energy production and demand, the penetration of renewable energy and fast deployment of smart grid devices, and the trend of operating grids closer to their capacity for better efficiency, more and more contingencies must be executed and analyzed quickly in order to ensure grid reliability andmore » accuracy for the power market. Currently, many researchers have proposed different techniques to accelerate the computational speed of contingency analysis, but not much work has been published on how to post-process the large amount of contingency outputs quickly. This paper proposes a parallel post-processing function that can analyze contingency analysis outputs faster and display them in a web-based visualization tool to help power engineers improve their work efficiency by fast information digestion. Case studies using an ESCA-60 bus system and a WECC planning system are presented to demonstrate the functionality of the parallel post-processing technique and the web-based visualization tool.« less

Image processing and applications based on visualizing navigation service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hwang, Chyi-Wen

2015-07-01

When facing the "overabundant" of semantic web information, in this paper, the researcher proposes the hierarchical classification and visualizing RIA (Rich Internet Application) navigation system: Concept Map (CM) + Semantic Structure (SS) + the Knowledge on Demand (KOD) service. The aim of the Multimedia processing and empirical applications testing, was to investigating the utility and usability of this visualizing navigation strategy in web communication design, into whether it enables the user to retrieve and construct their personal knowledge or not. Furthermore, based on the segment markets theory in the Marketing model, to propose a User Interface (UI) classification strategy and formulate a set of hypermedia design principles for further UI strategy and e-learning resources in semantic web communication. These research findings: (1) Irrespective of whether the simple declarative knowledge or the complex declarative knowledge model is used, the "CM + SS + KOD navigation system" has a better cognition effect than the "Non CM + SS + KOD navigation system". However, for the" No web design experience user", the navigation system does not have an obvious cognition effect. (2) The essential of classification in semantic web communication design: Different groups of user have a diversity of preference needs and different cognitive styles in the CM + SS + KOD navigation system.

Multivariate spatiotemporal visualizations for mobile devices in Flyover Country

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loeffler, S.; Thorn, R.; Myrbo, A.; Roth, R.; Goring, S. J.; Williams, J.

2017-12-01

Visualizing and interacting with complex multivariate and spatiotemporal datasets on mobile devices is challenging due to their smaller screens, reduced processing power, and limited data connectivity. Pollen data require visualizing pollen assemblages spatially, temporally, and across multiple taxa to understand plant community dynamics through time. Drawing from cartography, information visualization, and paleoecology, we have created new mobile-first visualization techniques that represent multiple taxa across many sites and enable user interaction. Using pollen datasets from the Neotoma Paleoecology Database as a case study, the visualization techniques allow ecological patterns and trends to be quickly understood on a mobile device compared to traditional pollen diagrams and maps. This flexible visualization system can be used for datasets beyond pollen, with the only requirements being point-based localities and multiple variables changing through time or depth.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuvychko, Igor

2001-10-01

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

Clinical feasibility of brain-computer interface based on steady-state visual evoked potential in patients with locked-in syndrome: Case studies.

PubMed

Hwang, Han-Jeong; Han, Chang-Hee; Lim, Jeong-Hwan; Kim, Yong-Wook; Choi, Soo-In; An, Kwang-Ok; Lee, Jun-Hak; Cha, Ho-Seung; Hyun Kim, Seung; Im, Chang-Hwan

2017-03-01

Although the feasibility of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems based on steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) has been extensively investigated, only a few studies have evaluated its clinical feasibility in patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS), who are the main targets of BCI technology. The main objective of this case report was to share our experiences of SSVEP-based BCI experiments involving five patients with LIS, thereby providing researchers with useful information that can potentially help them to design BCI experiments for patients with LIS. In our experiments, a four-class online SSVEP-based BCI system was implemented and applied to four of five patients repeatedly on multiple days to investigate its test-retest reliability. In the last experiments with two of the four patients, the practical usability of our BCI system was tested using a questionnaire survey. All five patients showed clear and distinct SSVEP responses at all four fundamental stimulation frequencies (6, 6.66, 7.5, 10 Hz), and responses at harmonic frequencies were also observed in three patients. Mean classification accuracy was 76.99% (chance level = 25%). The test-retest reliability experiments demonstrated stable performance of our BCI system over different days even when the initial experimental settings (e.g., electrode configuration, fixation time, visual angle) used in the first experiment were used without significant modifications. Our results suggest that SSVEP-based BCI paradigms might be successfully used to implement clinically feasible BCI systems for severely paralyzed patients. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

STAR: an integrated solution to management and visualization of sequencing data.

PubMed

Wang, Tao; Liu, Jie; Shen, Li; Tonti-Filippini, Julian; Zhu, Yun; Jia, Haiyang; Lister, Ryan; Whitaker, John W; Ecker, Joseph R; Millar, A Harvey; Ren, Bing; Wang, Wei

2013-12-15

Easily visualization of complex data features is a necessary step to conduct studies on next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. We developed STAR, an integrated web application that enables online management, visualization and track-based analysis of NGS data. STAR is a multilayer web service system. On the client side, STAR leverages JavaScript, HTML5 Canvas and asynchronous communications to deliver a smoothly scrolling desktop-like graphical user interface with a suite of in-browser analysis tools that range from providing simple track configuration controls to sophisticated feature detection within datasets. On the server side, STAR supports private session state retention via an account management system and provides data management modules that enable collection, visualization and analysis of third-party sequencing data from the public domain with over thousands of tracks hosted to date. Overall, STAR represents a next-generation data exploration solution to match the requirements of NGS data, enabling both intuitive visualization and dynamic analysis of data. STAR browser system is freely available on the web at http://wanglab.ucsd.edu/star/browser and https://github.com/angell1117/STAR-genome-browser.

AWE: Aviation Weather Data Visualization Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly; Lodha, Suresh K.; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Weather is one of the major causes of aviation accidents. General aviation (GA) flights account for 92% of all the aviation accidents, In spite of all the official and unofficial sources of weather visualization tools available to pilots, there is an urgent need for visualizing several weather related data tailored for general aviation pilots. Our system, Aviation Weather Data Visualization Environment AWE), presents graphical displays of meteorological observations, terminal area forecasts, and winds aloft forecasts onto a cartographic grid specific to the pilot's area of interest. Decisions regarding the graphical display and design are made based on careful consideration of user needs. Integral visual display of these elements of weather reports is designed for the use of GA pilots as a weather briefing and route selection tool. AWE provides linking of the weather information to the flight's path and schedule. The pilot can interact with the system to obtain aviation-specific weather for the entire area or for his specific route to explore what-if scenarios and make "go/no-go" decisions. The system, as evaluated by some pilots at NASA Ames Research Center, was found to be useful.

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

Rizzi, Silvio; Hereld, Mark; Insley, Joseph

In this work we perform in-situ visualization of molecular dynamics simulations, which can help scientists to visualize simulation output on-the-fly, without incurring storage overheads. We present a case study to couple LAMMPS, the large-scale molecular dynamics simulation code with vl3, our parallel framework for large-scale visualization and analysis. Our motivation is to identify effective approaches for covisualization and exploration of large-scale atomistic simulations at interactive frame rates.We propose a system of coupled libraries and describe its architecture, with an implementation that runs on GPU-based clusters. We present the results of strong and weak scalability experiments, as well as future researchmore » avenues based on our results.« less

An Evaluation of PC-Based Optical Character Recognition Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schreier, E. M.; Uslan, M. M.

1991-01-01

The review examines six personal computer-based optical character recognition (OCR) systems designed for use by blind and visually impaired people. Considered are OCR components and terms, documentation, scanning and reading, command structure, conversion, unique features, accuracy of recognition, scanning time, speed, and cost. (DB)

A 3D Model Based Imdoor Navigation System for Hubei Provincial Museum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, W.; Kruminaite, M.; Onrust, B.; Liu, H.; Xiong, Q.; Zlatanova, S.

2013-11-01

3D models are more powerful than 2D maps for indoor navigation in a complicate space like Hubei Provincial Museum because they can provide accurate descriptions of locations of indoor objects (e.g., doors, windows, tables) and context information of these objects. In addition, the 3D model is the preferred navigation environment by the user according to the survey. Therefore a 3D model based indoor navigation system is developed for Hubei Provincial Museum to guide the visitors of museum. The system consists of three layers: application, web service and navigation, which is built to support localization, navigation and visualization functions of the system. There are three main strengths of this system: it stores all data needed in one database and processes most calculations on the webserver which make the mobile client very lightweight, the network used for navigation is extracted semi-automatically and renewable, the graphic user interface (GUI), which is based on a game engine, has high performance of visualizing 3D model on a mobile display.

Visual interaction: models, systems, prototypes. The Pictorial Computing Laboratory at the University of Rome La Sapienza.

PubMed

Bottoni, Paolo; Cinque, Luigi; De Marsico, Maria; Levialdi, Stefano; Panizzi, Emanuele

2006-06-01

This paper reports on the research activities performed by the Pictorial Computing Laboratory at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, during the last 5 years. Such work, essentially is based on the study of humancomputer interaction, spans from metamodels of interaction down to prototypes of interactive systems for both synchronous multimedia communication and groupwork, annotation systems for web pages, also encompassing theoretical and practical issues of visual languages and environments also including pattern recognition algorithms. Some applications are also considered like e-learning and collaborative work.

Ocelli contribute to the encoding of celestial compass information in the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti.

PubMed

Schwarz, Sebastian; Albert, Laurence; Wystrach, Antoine; Cheng, Ken

2011-03-15

Many animal species, including some social hymenoptera, use the visual system for navigation. Although the insect compound eyes have been well studied, less is known about the second visual system in some insects, the ocelli. Here we demonstrate navigational functions of the ocelli in the visually guided Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti. These ants are known to rely on both visual landmark learning and path integration. We conducted experiments to reveal the role of ocelli in the perception and use of celestial compass information and landmark guidance. Ants with directional information from their path integration system were tested with covered compound eyes and open ocelli on an unfamiliar test field where only celestial compass cues were available for homing. These full-vector ants, using only their ocelli for visual information, oriented significantly towards the fictive nest on the test field, indicating the use of celestial compass information that is presumably based on polarised skylight, the sun's position or the colour gradient of the sky. Ants without any directional information from their path-integration system (zero-vector) were tested, also with covered compound eyes and open ocelli, on a familiar training field where they have to use the surrounding panorama to home. These ants failed to orient significantly in the homeward direction. Together, our results demonstrated that M. bagoti could perceive and process celestial compass information for directional orientation with their ocelli. In contrast, the ocelli do not seem to contribute to terrestrial landmark-based navigation in M. bagoti.

The performance & flow visualization studies of three-dimensional (3-D) wind turbine blade models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutrisno, Prajitno, Purnomo, W., Setyawan B.

2016-06-01

Recently, studies on the design of 3-D wind turbine blades have a less attention even though 3-D blade products are widely sold. In contrary, advanced studies in 3-D helicopter blade tip have been studied rigorously. Studies in wind turbine blade modeling are mostly assumed that blade spanwise sections behave as independent two-dimensional airfoils, implying that there is no exchange of momentum in the spanwise direction. Moreover, flow visualization experiments are infrequently conducted. Therefore, a modeling study of wind turbine blade with visualization experiment is needed to be improved to obtain a better understanding. The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of 3-D wind turbine blade models with backward-forward swept and verify the flow patterns using flow visualization. In this research, the blade models are constructed based on the twist and chord distributions following Schmitz's formula. Forward and backward swept are added to the rotating blades. Based on this, the additional swept would enhance or diminish outward flow disturbance or stall development propagation on the spanwise blade surfaces to give better blade design. Some combinations, i. e., b lades with backward swept, provide a better 3-D favorable rotational force of the rotor system. The performance of the 3-D wind turbine system model is measured by a torque meter, employing Prony's braking system. Furthermore, the 3-D flow patterns around the rotating blade models are investigated by applying "tuft-visualization technique", to study the appearance of laminar, separated, and boundary layer flow patterns surrounding the 3-dimentional blade system.

Developing Visualization Techniques for Semantics-based Information Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, Richard M.; Hall, David R.

2003-01-01

Information systems incorporating complex network structured information spaces with a semantic underpinning - such as hypermedia networks, semantic networks, topic maps, and concept maps - are being deployed to solve some of NASA s critical information management problems. This paper describes some of the human interaction and navigation problems associated with complex semantic information spaces and describes a set of new visual interface approaches to address these problems. A key strategy is to leverage semantic knowledge represented within these information spaces to construct abstractions and views that will be meaningful to the human user. Human-computer interaction methodologies will guide the development and evaluation of these approaches, which will benefit deployed NASA systems and also apply to information systems based on the emerging Semantic Web.

A web-based spatial decision support system for spatial planning and governance in the Guangdong Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qitao; Zhang, Hong-ou; Chen, Fengui; Dou, Jie

2008-10-01

After three decades' rapid economic development, Guangdong province faces to thorny problems related to pollution, resource shortage and environmental deterioration. What is worse, the future accelerated development, urbanization and industrialization also comes at the cost of regional imbalance with economic gaps growing and the quality of life in different regions degrading. Development and Reform Commission of Guangdong Province (GDDRC) started a spatial planning project under the national frame in 2007. The prospective project is expected to enhance the equality of different regions and balance the economic development with environmental protection and improved sustainability. This manuscript presents the results of scientific research aiming to develop a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) for this spatial planning project. The system composes four modules include the User interface module (UIM), Spatial Analyze module (SAM), Database management module (DMM) and Help module (HM) base on ArcInfo, JSP/Servlet, JavaScript, MapServer, Visual C++ and Visual Basic technologies. The web-based SDSS provides a user-friendly tool for local decision makers, regional planners and other stakeholders in understanding and visualizing the different territorial dimensions of economic development against sustainable environmental and exhausted resources, and in defining, comparing and prioritizing specific territorially-based actions in order to prevent non-sustainable development and implement relevant politics.

Pilot-based parametric channel estimation algorithm for DCO-OFDM-based visual light communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Xuewen; Deng, Honggui; He, Hailang

2017-10-01

Due to wide modulation bandwidth in optical communication, multipath channels may be non-sparse and deteriorate communication performance heavily. Traditional compressive sensing-based channel estimation algorithm cannot be employed in this kind of situation. In this paper, we propose a practical parametric channel estimation algorithm for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based visual light communication (VLC) systems based on modified zero correlation code (ZCC) pair that has the impulse-like correlation property. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better performances than existing least squares (LS)-based algorithm in both bit error ratio (BER) and frequency response estimation.

Automatic segmentation of the lateral geniculate nucleus: Application to control and glaucoma patients.

PubMed

Wang, Jieqiong; Miao, Wen; Li, Jing; Li, Meng; Zhen, Zonglei; Sabel, Bernhard; Xian, Junfang; He, Huiguang

2015-11-30

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is a key relay center of the visual system. Because the LGN morphology is affected by different diseases, it is of interest to analyze its morphology by segmentation. However, existing LGN segmentation methods are non-automatic, inefficient and prone to experimenters' bias. To address these problems, we proposed an automatic LGN segmentation algorithm based on T1-weighted imaging. First, the prior information of LGN was used to create a prior mask. Then region growing was applied to delineate LGN. We evaluated this automatic LGN segmentation method by (1) comparison with manually segmented LGN, (2) anatomically locating LGN in the visual system via LGN-based tractography, (3) application to control and glaucoma patients. The similarity coefficients of automatic segmented LGN and manually segmented one are 0.72 (0.06) for the left LGN and 0.77 (0.07) for the right LGN. LGN-based tractography shows the subcortical pathway seeding from LGN passes the optic tract and also reaches V1 through the optic radiation, which is consistent with the LGN location in the visual system. In addition, LGN asymmetry as well as LGN atrophy along with age is observed in normal controls. The investigation of glaucoma effects on LGN volumes demonstrates that the bilateral LGN volumes shrink in patients. The automatic LGN segmentation is objective, efficient, valid and applicable. Experiment results proved the validity and applicability of the algorithm. Our method will speed up the research on visual system and greatly enhance studies of different vision-related diseases. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Practical life log video indexing based on content and context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tancharoen, Datchakorn; Yamasaki, Toshihiko; Aizawa, Kiyoharu

2006-01-01

Today, multimedia information has gained an important role in daily life and people can use imaging devices to capture their visual experiences. In this paper, we present our personal Life Log system to record personal experiences in form of wearable video and environmental data; in addition, an efficient retrieval system is demonstrated to recall the desirable media. We summarize the practical video indexing techniques based on Life Log content and context to detect talking scenes by using audio/visual cues and semantic key frames from GPS data. Voice annotation is also demonstrated as a practical indexing method. Moreover, we apply body media sensors to record continuous life style and use body media data to index the semantic key frames. In the experiments, we demonstrated various video indexing results which provided their semantic contents and showed Life Log visualizations to examine personal life effectively.

Single-camera visual odometry to track a surgical X-ray C-arm base.

PubMed

Esfandiari, Hooman; Lichti, Derek; Anglin, Carolyn

2017-12-01

This study provides a framework for a single-camera odometry system for localizing a surgical C-arm base. An application-specific monocular visual odometry system (a downward-looking consumer-grade camera rigidly attached to the C-arm base) is proposed in this research. The cumulative dead-reckoning estimation of the base is extracted based on frame-to-frame homography estimation. Optical-flow results are utilized to feed the odometry. Online positional and orientation parameters are then reported. Positional accuracy of better than 2% (of the total traveled distance) for most of the cases and 4% for all the cases studied and angular accuracy of better than 2% (of absolute cumulative changes in orientation) were achieved with this method. This study provides a robust and accurate tracking framework that not only can be integrated with the current C-arm joint-tracking system (i.e. TC-arm) but also is capable of being employed for similar applications in other fields (e.g. robotics).

Computer systems and methods for visualizing data

DOEpatents

Stolte, Chris; Hanrahan, Patrick

2010-07-13

A method for forming a visual plot using a hierarchical structure of a dataset. The dataset comprises a measure and a dimension. The dimension consists of a plurality of levels. The plurality of levels form a dimension hierarchy. The visual plot is constructed based on a specification. A first level from the plurality of levels is represented by a first component of the visual plot. A second level from the plurality of levels is represented by a second component of the visual plot. The dataset is queried to retrieve data in accordance with the specification. The data includes all or a portion of the dimension and all or a portion of the measure. The visual plot is populated with the retrieved data in accordance with the specification.

Computer systems and methods for visualizing data

DOEpatents

Stolte, Chris; Hanrahan, Patrick

2013-01-29

A method for forming a visual plot using a hierarchical structure of a dataset. The dataset comprises a measure and a dimension. The dimension consists of a plurality of levels. The plurality of levels form a dimension hierarchy. The visual plot is constructed based on a specification. A first level from the plurality of levels is represented by a first component of the visual plot. A second level from the plurality of levels is represented by a second component of the visual plot. The dataset is queried to retrieve data in accordance with the specification. The data includes all or a portion of the dimension and all or a portion of the measure. The visual plot is populated with the retrieved data in accordance with the specification.

Estimating the relative weights of visual and auditory tau versus heuristic-based cues for time-to-contact judgments in realistic, familiar scenes by older and younger adults.

PubMed

Keshavarz, Behrang; Campos, Jennifer L; DeLucia, Patricia R; Oberfeld, Daniel

2017-04-01

Estimating time to contact (TTC) involves multiple sensory systems, including vision and audition. Previous findings suggested that the ratio of an object's instantaneous optical size/sound intensity to its instantaneous rate of change in optical size/sound intensity (τ) drives TTC judgments. Other evidence has shown that heuristic-based cues are used, including final optical size or final sound pressure level. Most previous studies have used decontextualized and unfamiliar stimuli (e.g., geometric shapes on a blank background). Here we evaluated TTC estimates by using a traffic scene with an approaching vehicle to evaluate the weights of visual and auditory TTC cues under more realistic conditions. Younger (18-39 years) and older (65+ years) participants made TTC estimates in three sensory conditions: visual-only, auditory-only, and audio-visual. Stimuli were presented within an immersive virtual-reality environment, and cue weights were calculated for both visual cues (e.g., visual τ, final optical size) and auditory cues (e.g., auditory τ, final sound pressure level). The results demonstrated the use of visual τ as well as heuristic cues in the visual-only condition. TTC estimates in the auditory-only condition, however, were primarily based on an auditory heuristic cue (final sound pressure level), rather than on auditory τ. In the audio-visual condition, the visual cues dominated overall, with the highest weight being assigned to visual τ by younger adults, and a more equal weighting of visual τ and heuristic cues in older adults. Overall, better characterizing the effects of combined sensory inputs, stimulus characteristics, and age on the cues used to estimate TTC will provide important insights into how these factors may affect everyday behavior.

Visual cognition

PubMed Central

Cavanagh, Patrick

2011-01-01

Visual cognition, high-level vision, mid-level vision and top-down processing all refer to decision-based scene analyses that combine prior knowledge with retinal input to generate representations. The label “visual cognition” is little used at present, but research and experiments on mid- and high-level, inference-based vision have flourished, becoming in the 21st century a significant, if often understated part, of current vision research. How does visual cognition work? What are its moving parts? This paper reviews the origins and architecture of visual cognition and briefly describes some work in the areas of routines, attention, surfaces, objects, and events (motion, causality, and agency). Most vision scientists avoid being too explicit when presenting concepts about visual cognition, having learned that explicit models invite easy criticism. What we see in the literature is ample evidence for visual cognition, but few or only cautious attempts to detail how it might work. This is the great unfinished business of vision research: at some point we will be done with characterizing how the visual system measures the world and we will have to return to the question of how vision constructs models of objects, surfaces, scenes, and events. PMID:21329719

Neural mechanisms of limb position estimation in the primate brain.

PubMed

Shi, Ying; Buneo, Christopher A

2011-01-01

Understanding the neural mechanisms of limb position estimation is important both for comprehending the neural control of goal directed arm movements and for developing neuroprosthetic systems designed to replace lost limb function. Here we examined the role of area 5 of the posterior parietal cortex in estimating limb position based on visual and somatic (proprioceptive, efference copy) signals. Single unit recordings were obtained as monkeys reached to visual targets presented in a semi-immersive virtual reality environment. On half of the trials animals were required to maintain their limb position at these targets while receiving both visual and non-visual feedback of their arm position, while on the other trials visual feedback was withheld. When examined individually, many area 5 neurons were tuned to the position of the limb in the workspace but very few neurons modulated their firing rates based on the presence/absence of visual feedback. At the population level however decoding of limb position was somewhat more accurate when visual feedback was provided. These findings support a role for area 5 in limb position estimation but also suggest that visual signals regarding limb position are only weakly represented in this area, and only at the population level.

PCSYS: The optimal design integration system picture drawing system with hidden line algorithm capability for aerospace vehicle configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hague, D. S.; Vanderburg, J. D.

1977-01-01

A vehicle geometric definition based upon quadrilateral surface elements to produce realistic pictures of an aerospace vehicle. The PCSYS programs can be used to visually check geometric data input, monitor geometric perturbations, and to visualize the complex spatial inter-relationships between the internal and external vehicle components. PCSYS has two major component programs. The between program, IMAGE, draws a complex aerospace vehicle pictorial representation based on either an approximate but rapid hidden line algorithm or without any hidden line algorithm. The second program, HIDDEN, draws a vehicle representation using an accurate but time consuming hidden line algorithm.

Edge-Assignment and Figure-Ground Segmentation in Short-Term Visual Matching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Driver, Jon; Baylis, Gordon

1996-01-01

Eight experiments involving 99 college students examined the role of edge-assignment in a contour matching task. Edge-matching performance was not based solely on a raw description of the edges themselves. Results suggest a pervasive tendency within the visual system to go beyond the edges toward figural shapes. (SLD)

Visual Performing Arts. Program Review.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

State Univ. System of Florida, Tallahassee. Board of Regents.

This is the third review of higher education visual and performing arts programs in the state of Florida. The report is based on descriptive and self-evaluative reports and videotapes provided by each of the nine universities in the state system (the University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida A & M University, University of South…

Real-time Author Co-citation Mapping for Online Searching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Xia; White, Howard D.; Buzydlowski, Jan

2003-01-01

Describes the design and implementation of a prototype visualization system, AuthorLink, to enhance author searching. AuthorLink is based on author co-citation analysis and visualization mapping algorithms. AuthorLink produces interactive author maps in real time from a database of 1.26 million records supplied by the Institute for Scientific…

Advanced biologically plausible algorithms for low-level image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gusakova, Valentina I.; Podladchikova, Lubov N.; Shaposhnikov, Dmitry G.; Markin, Sergey N.; Golovan, Alexander V.; Lee, Seong-Whan

1999-08-01

At present, in computer vision, the approach based on modeling the biological vision mechanisms is extensively developed. However, up to now, real world image processing has no effective solution in frameworks of both biologically inspired and conventional approaches. Evidently, new algorithms and system architectures based on advanced biological motivation should be developed for solution of computational problems related to this visual task. Basic problems that should be solved for creation of effective artificial visual system to process real world imags are a search for new algorithms of low-level image processing that, in a great extent, determine system performance. In the present paper, the result of psychophysical experiments and several advanced biologically motivated algorithms for low-level processing are presented. These algorithms are based on local space-variant filter, context encoding visual information presented in the center of input window, and automatic detection of perceptually important image fragments. The core of latter algorithm are using local feature conjunctions such as noncolinear oriented segment and composite feature map formation. Developed algorithms were integrated into foveal active vision model, the MARR. It is supposed that proposed algorithms may significantly improve model performance while real world image processing during memorizing, search, and recognition.

Eye guidance during real-world scene search: The role color plays in central and peripheral vision.

PubMed

Nuthmann, Antje; Malcolm, George L

2016-01-01

The visual system utilizes environmental features to direct gaze efficiently when locating objects. While previous research has isolated various features' contributions to gaze guidance, these studies generally used sparse displays and did not investigate how features facilitated search as a function of their location on the visual field. The current study investigated how features across the visual field--particularly color--facilitate gaze guidance during real-world search. A gaze-contingent window followed participants' eye movements, restricting color information to specified regions. Scene images were presented in full color, with color in the periphery and gray in central vision or gray in the periphery and color in central vision, or in grayscale. Color conditions were crossed with a search cue manipulation, with the target cued either with a word label or an exact picture. Search times increased as color information in the scene decreased. A gaze-data based decomposition of search time revealed color-mediated effects on specific subprocesses of search. Color in peripheral vision facilitated target localization, whereas color in central vision facilitated target verification. Picture cues facilitated search, with the effects of cue specificity and scene color combining additively. When available, the visual system utilizes the environment's color information to facilitate different real-world visual search behaviors based on the location within the visual field.

Real-Time Agent-Based Modeling Simulation with in-situ Visualization of Complex Biological Systems: A Case Study on Vocal Fold Inflammation and Healing.

PubMed

Seekhao, Nuttiiya; Shung, Caroline; JaJa, Joseph; Mongeau, Luc; Li-Jessen, Nicole Y K

2016-05-01

We present an efficient and scalable scheme for implementing agent-based modeling (ABM) simulation with In Situ visualization of large complex systems on heterogeneous computing platforms. The scheme is designed to make optimal use of the resources available on a heterogeneous platform consisting of a multicore CPU and a GPU, resulting in minimal to no resource idle time. Furthermore, the scheme was implemented under a client-server paradigm that enables remote users to visualize and analyze simulation data as it is being generated at each time step of the model. Performance of a simulation case study of vocal fold inflammation and wound healing with 3.8 million agents shows 35× and 7× speedup in execution time over single-core and multi-core CPU respectively. Each iteration of the model took less than 200 ms to simulate, visualize and send the results to the client. This enables users to monitor the simulation in real-time and modify its course as needed.

SensorDB: a virtual laboratory for the integration, visualization and analysis of varied biological sensor data.

PubMed

Salehi, Ali; Jimenez-Berni, Jose; Deery, David M; Palmer, Doug; Holland, Edward; Rozas-Larraondo, Pablo; Chapman, Scott C; Georgakopoulos, Dimitrios; Furbank, Robert T

2015-01-01

To our knowledge, there is no software or database solution that supports large volumes of biological time series sensor data efficiently and enables data visualization and analysis in real time. Existing solutions for managing data typically use unstructured file systems or relational databases. These systems are not designed to provide instantaneous response to user queries. Furthermore, they do not support rapid data analysis and visualization to enable interactive experiments. In large scale experiments, this behaviour slows research discovery, discourages the widespread sharing and reuse of data that could otherwise inform critical decisions in a timely manner and encourage effective collaboration between groups. In this paper we present SensorDB, a web based virtual laboratory that can manage large volumes of biological time series sensor data while supporting rapid data queries and real-time user interaction. SensorDB is sensor agnostic and uses web-based, state-of-the-art cloud and storage technologies to efficiently gather, analyse and visualize data. Collaboration and data sharing between different agencies and groups is thereby facilitated. SensorDB is available online at http://sensordb.csiro.au.

Multi-focused geospatial analysis using probes.

PubMed

Butkiewicz, Thomas; Dou, Wenwen; Wartell, Zachary; Ribarsky, William; Chang, Remco

2008-01-01

Traditional geospatial information visualizations often present views that restrict the user to a single perspective. When zoomed out, local trends and anomalies become suppressed and lost; when zoomed in for local inspection, spatial awareness and comparison between regions become limited. In our model, coordinated visualizations are integrated within individual probe interfaces, which depict the local data in user-defined regions-of-interest. Our probe concept can be incorporated into a variety of geospatial visualizations to empower users with the ability to observe, coordinate, and compare data across multiple local regions. It is especially useful when dealing with complex simulations or analyses where behavior in various localities differs from other localities and from the system as a whole. We illustrate the effectiveness of our technique over traditional interfaces by incorporating it within three existing geospatial visualization systems: an agent-based social simulation, a census data exploration tool, and an 3D GIS environment for analyzing urban change over time. In each case, the probe-based interaction enhances spatial awareness, improves inspection and comparison capabilities, expands the range of scopes, and facilitates collaboration among multiple users.

Monocular Visual Odometry Based on Trifocal Tensor Constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y. J.; Yang, G. L.; Jiang, Y. X.; Liu, X. Y.

2018-02-01

For the problem of real-time precise localization in the urban street, a monocular visual odometry based on Extend Kalman fusion of optical-flow tracking and trifocal tensor constraint is proposed. To diminish the influence of moving object, such as pedestrian, we estimate the motion of the camera by extracting the features on the ground, which improves the robustness of the system. The observation equation based on trifocal tensor constraint is derived, which can form the Kalman filter alone with the state transition equation. An Extend Kalman filter is employed to cope with the nonlinear system. Experimental results demonstrate that, compares with Yu’s 2-step EKF method, the algorithm is more accurate which meets the needs of real-time accurate localization in cities.

A Novel Distributed Privacy Paradigm for Visual Sensor Networks Based on Sharing Dynamical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luh, William; Kundur, Deepa; Zourntos, Takis

2006-12-01

Visual sensor networks (VSNs) provide surveillance images/video which must be protected from eavesdropping and tampering en route to the base station. In the spirit of sensor networks, we propose a novel paradigm for securing privacy and confidentiality in a distributed manner. Our paradigm is based on the control of dynamical systems, which we show is well suited for VSNs due to its low complexity in terms of processing and communication, while achieving robustness to both unintentional noise and intentional attacks as long as a small subset of nodes are affected. We also present a low complexity algorithm called TANGRAM to demonstrate the feasibility of applying our novel paradigm to VSNs. We present and discuss simulation results of TANGRAM.

Information Processing in Cognition Process and New Artificial Intelligent Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Nanning; Xue, Jianru

In this chapter, we discuss, in depth, visual information processing and a new artificial intelligent (AI) system that is based upon cognitive mechanisms. The relationship between a general model of intelligent systems and cognitive mechanisms is described, and in particular we explore visual information processing with selective attention. We also discuss a methodology for studying the new AI system and propose some important basic research issues that have emerged in the intersecting fields of cognitive science and information science. To this end, a new scheme for associative memory and a new architecture for an AI system with attractors of chaos are addressed.

Elderly Healthcare Monitoring Using an Avatar-Based 3D Virtual Environment

PubMed Central

Pouke, Matti; Häkkilä, Jonna

2013-01-01

Homecare systems for elderly people are becoming increasingly important due to both economic reasons as well as patients’ preferences. Sensor-based surveillance technologies are an expected future trend, but research so far has devoted little attention to the User Interface (UI) design of such systems and the user-centric design approach. In this paper, we explore the possibilities of an avatar-based 3D visualization system, which exploits wearable sensors and human activity simulations. We present a technical prototype and the evaluation of alternative concept designs for UIs based on a 3D virtual world. The evaluation was conducted with homecare providers through focus groups and an online survey. Our results show firstly that systems taking advantage of 3D virtual world visualization techniques have potential especially due to the privacy preserving and simplified information presentation style, and secondly that simple representations and glancability should be emphasized in the design. The identified key use cases highlight that avatar-based 3D presentations can be helpful if they provide an overview as well as details on demand. PMID:24351747

Integrating automated support for a software management cycle into the TAME system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sunazuka, Toshihiko; Basili, Victor R.

1989-01-01

Software managers are interested in the quantitative management of software quality, cost and progress. An integrated software management methodology, which can be applied throughout the software life cycle for any number purposes, is required. The TAME (Tailoring A Measurement Environment) methodology is based on the improvement paradigm and the goal/question/metric (GQM) paradigm. This methodology helps generate a software engineering process and measurement environment based on the project characteristics. The SQMAR (software quality measurement and assurance technology) is a software quality metric system and methodology applied to the development processes. It is based on the feed forward control principle. Quality target setting is carried out before the plan-do-check-action activities are performed. These methodologies are integrated to realize goal oriented measurement, process control and visual management. A metric setting procedure based on the GQM paradigm, a management system called the software management cycle (SMC), and its application to a case study based on NASA/SEL data are discussed. The expected effects of SMC are quality improvement, managerial cost reduction, accumulation and reuse of experience, and a highly visual management reporting system.

Fast instantaneous center of rotation estimation algorithm for a skied-steered robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kniaz, V. V.

2015-05-01

Skid-steered robots are widely used as mobile platforms for machine vision systems. However it is hard to achieve a stable motion of such robots along desired trajectory due to an unpredictable wheel slip. It is possible to compensate the unpredictable wheel slip and stabilize the motion of the robot using visual odometry. This paper presents a fast optical flow based algorithm for estimation of instantaneous center of rotation, angular and longitudinal speed of the robot. The proposed algorithm is based on Horn-Schunck variational optical flow estimation method. The instantaneous center of rotation and motion of the robot is estimated by back projection of optical flow field to the ground surface. The developed algorithm was tested using skid-steered mobile robot. The robot is based on a mobile platform that includes two pairs of differential driven motors and a motor controller. Monocular visual odometry system consisting of a singleboard computer and a low cost webcam is mounted on the mobile platform. A state-space model of the robot was derived using standard black-box system identification. The input (commands) and the output (motion) were recorded using a dedicated external motion capture system. The obtained model was used to control the robot without visual odometry data. The paper is concluded with the algorithm quality estimation by comparison of the trajectories estimated by the algorithm with the data from motion capture system.

Teaching AI Search Algorithms in a Web-Based Educational System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grivokostopoulou, Foteini; Hatzilygeroudis, Ioannis

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present a way of teaching AI search algorithms in a web-based adaptive educational system. Teaching is based on interactive examples and exercises. Interactive examples, which use visualized animations to present AI search algorithms in a step-by-step way with explanations, are used to make learning more attractive. Practice…

A Vision-Based Self-Calibration Method for Robotic Visual Inspection Systems

PubMed Central

Yin, Shibin; Ren, Yongjie; Zhu, Jigui; Yang, Shourui; Ye, Shenghua

2013-01-01

A vision-based robot self-calibration method is proposed in this paper to evaluate the kinematic parameter errors of a robot using a visual sensor mounted on its end-effector. This approach could be performed in the industrial field without external, expensive apparatus or an elaborate setup. A robot Tool Center Point (TCP) is defined in the structural model of a line-structured laser sensor, and aligned to a reference point fixed in the robot workspace. A mathematical model is established to formulate the misalignment errors with kinematic parameter errors and TCP position errors. Based on the fixed point constraints, the kinematic parameter errors and TCP position errors are identified with an iterative algorithm. Compared to the conventional methods, this proposed method eliminates the need for a robot-based-frame and hand-to-eye calibrations, shortens the error propagation chain, and makes the calibration process more accurate and convenient. A validation experiment is performed on an ABB IRB2400 robot. An optimal configuration on the number and distribution of fixed points in the robot workspace is obtained based on the experimental results. Comparative experiments reveal that there is a significant improvement of the measuring accuracy of the robotic visual inspection system. PMID:24300597

Semantic-based surveillance video retrieval.

PubMed

Hu, Weiming; Xie, Dan; Fu, Zhouyu; Zeng, Wenrong; Maybank, Steve

2007-04-01

Visual surveillance produces large amounts of video data. Effective indexing and retrieval from surveillance video databases are very important. Although there are many ways to represent the content of video clips in current video retrieval algorithms, there still exists a semantic gap between users and retrieval systems. Visual surveillance systems supply a platform for investigating semantic-based video retrieval. In this paper, a semantic-based video retrieval framework for visual surveillance is proposed. A cluster-based tracking algorithm is developed to acquire motion trajectories. The trajectories are then clustered hierarchically using the spatial and temporal information, to learn activity models. A hierarchical structure of semantic indexing and retrieval of object activities, where each individual activity automatically inherits all the semantic descriptions of the activity model to which it belongs, is proposed for accessing video clips and individual objects at the semantic level. The proposed retrieval framework supports various queries including queries by keywords, multiple object queries, and queries by sketch. For multiple object queries, succession and simultaneity restrictions, together with depth and breadth first orders, are considered. For sketch-based queries, a method for matching trajectories drawn by users to spatial trajectories is proposed. The effectiveness and efficiency of our framework are tested in a crowded traffic scene.

MotionExplorer: exploratory search in human motion capture data based on hierarchical aggregation.

PubMed

Bernard, Jürgen; Wilhelm, Nils; Krüger, Björn; May, Thorsten; Schreck, Tobias; Kohlhammer, Jörn

2013-12-01

We present MotionExplorer, an exploratory search and analysis system for sequences of human motion in large motion capture data collections. This special type of multivariate time series data is relevant in many research fields including medicine, sports and animation. Key tasks in working with motion data include analysis of motion states and transitions, and synthesis of motion vectors by interpolation and combination. In the practice of research and application of human motion data, challenges exist in providing visual summaries and drill-down functionality for handling large motion data collections. We find that this domain can benefit from appropriate visual retrieval and analysis support to handle these tasks in presence of large motion data. To address this need, we developed MotionExplorer together with domain experts as an exploratory search system based on interactive aggregation and visualization of motion states as a basis for data navigation, exploration, and search. Based on an overview-first type visualization, users are able to search for interesting sub-sequences of motion based on a query-by-example metaphor, and explore search results by details on demand. We developed MotionExplorer in close collaboration with the targeted users who are researchers working on human motion synthesis and analysis, including a summative field study. Additionally, we conducted a laboratory design study to substantially improve MotionExplorer towards an intuitive, usable and robust design. MotionExplorer enables the search in human motion capture data with only a few mouse clicks. The researchers unanimously confirm that the system can efficiently support their work.

MPEG-7 audio-visual indexing test-bed for video retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gagnon, Langis; Foucher, Samuel; Gouaillier, Valerie; Brun, Christelle; Brousseau, Julie; Boulianne, Gilles; Osterrath, Frederic; Chapdelaine, Claude; Dutrisac, Julie; St-Onge, Francis; Champagne, Benoit; Lu, Xiaojian

2003-12-01

This paper reports on the development status of a Multimedia Asset Management (MAM) test-bed for content-based indexing and retrieval of audio-visual documents within the MPEG-7 standard. The project, called "MPEG-7 Audio-Visual Document Indexing System" (MADIS), specifically targets the indexing and retrieval of video shots and key frames from documentary film archives, based on audio-visual content like face recognition, motion activity, speech recognition and semantic clustering. The MPEG-7/XML encoding of the film database is done off-line. The description decomposition is based on a temporal decomposition into visual segments (shots), key frames and audio/speech sub-segments. The visible outcome will be a web site that allows video retrieval using a proprietary XQuery-based search engine and accessible to members at the Canadian National Film Board (NFB) Cineroute site. For example, end-user will be able to ask to point on movie shots in the database that have been produced in a specific year, that contain the face of a specific actor who tells a specific word and in which there is no motion activity. Video streaming is performed over the high bandwidth CA*net network deployed by CANARIE, a public Canadian Internet development organization.

Effects of body lean and visual information on the equilibrium maintenance during stance.

PubMed

Duarte, Marcos; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M

2002-09-01

Maintenance of equilibrium was tested in conditions when humans assume different leaning postures during upright standing. Subjects ( n=11) stood in 13 different body postures specified by visual center of pressure (COP) targets within their base of support (BOS). Different types of visual information were tested: continuous presentation of visual target, no vision after target presentation, and with simultaneous visual feedback of the COP. The following variables were used to describe the equilibrium maintenance: the mean of the COP position, the area of the ellipse covering the COP sway, and the resultant median frequency of the power spectral density of the COP displacement. The variability of the COP displacement, quantified by the COP area variable, increased when subjects occupied leaning postures, irrespective of the kind of visual information provided. This variability also increased when vision was removed in relation to when vision was present. Without vision, drifts in the COP data were observed which were larger for COP targets farther away from the neutral position. When COP feedback was given in addition to the visual target, the postural control system did not control stance better than in the condition with only visual information. These results indicate that the visual information is used by the postural control system at both short and long time scales.

A versatile stereoscopic visual display system for vestibular and oculomotor research.

PubMed

Kramer, P D; Roberts, D C; Shelhamer, M; Zee, D S

1998-01-01

Testing of the vestibular system requires a vestibular stimulus (motion) and/or a visual stimulus. We have developed a versatile, low cost, stereoscopic visual display system, using "virtual reality" (VR) technology. The display system can produce images for each eye that correspond to targets at any virtual distance relative to the subject, and so require the appropriate ocular vergence. We elicited smooth pursuit, "stare" optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and after-nystagmus (OKAN), vergence for targets at various distances, and short-term adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), using both conventional methods and the stereoscopic display. Pursuit, OKN, and OKAN were comparable with both methods. When used with a vestibular stimulus, VR induced appropriate adaptive changes of the phase and gain of the angular VOR. In addition, using the VR display system and a human linear acceleration sled, we adapted the phase of the linear VOR. The VR-based stimulus system not only offers an alternative to more cumbersome means of stimulating the visual system in vestibular experiments, it also can produce visual stimuli that would otherwise be impractical or impossible. Our techniques provide images without the latencies encountered in most VR systems. Its inherent versatility allows it to be useful in several different types of experiments, and because it is software driven it can be quickly adapted to provide a new stimulus. These two factors allow VR to provide considerable savings in time and money, as well as flexibility in developing experimental paradigms.

Effects of VR system fidelity on analyzing isosurface visualization of volume datasets.

PubMed

Laha, Bireswar; Bowman, Doug A; Socha, John J

2014-04-01

Volume visualization is an important technique for analyzing datasets from a variety of different scientific domains. Volume data analysis is inherently difficult because volumes are three-dimensional, dense, and unfamiliar, requiring scientists to precisely control the viewpoint and to make precise spatial judgments. Researchers have proposed that more immersive (higher fidelity) VR systems might improve task performance with volume datasets, and significant results tied to different components of display fidelity have been reported. However, more information is needed to generalize these results to different task types, domains, and rendering styles. We visualized isosurfaces extracted from synchrotron microscopic computed tomography (SR-μCT) scans of beetles, in a CAVE-like display. We ran a controlled experiment evaluating the effects of three components of system fidelity (field of regard, stereoscopy, and head tracking) on a variety of abstract task categories that are applicable to various scientific domains, and also compared our results with those from our prior experiment using 3D texture-based rendering. We report many significant findings. For example, for search and spatial judgment tasks with isosurface visualization, a stereoscopic display provides better performance, but for tasks with 3D texture-based rendering, displays with higher field of regard were more effective, independent of the levels of the other display components. We also found that systems with high field of regard and head tracking improve performance in spatial judgment tasks. Our results extend existing knowledge and produce new guidelines for designing VR systems to improve the effectiveness of volume data analysis.

The GLOBAL Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Data Visualization and Retrieval System. Building a robust system for scientists and students.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Overoye, D.; Lewis, C.; Butler, D. M.; Andersen, T. J.

2016-12-01

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program founded on Earth Day 1995. Implemented in 117 countries, GLOBE promotes the teaching and learning of science, supporting students, teachers and scientists worldwide to collaborate with each other on inquiry-based investigations of the Earth system. The GLOBE Data Information System (DIS) currently supports users with the ability to enter data from over 50 different science protocols. GLOBE's Data Access and Visualization tools have been developed to accommodate the need to display and retrieve data from this large number of protocols. The community of users is also diverse, including NASA scientists, citizen scientists and grade school students. The challenge for GLOBE is to meet the needs from this diverse set of users with protocol specific displays that are simple enough for a GLOBE school to use, but also provide enough features for a NASA Scientist to retrieve data sets they are interested in. During the last 3 years, the GLOBE visualization system has evolved to meet the needs of these various users, leveraging user feedback and technological advances. Further refinements and enhancements continue. In this session we review the design and capabilities of the GLOBE visualization and data retrieval tool set, discuss the evolution of these tools, and discuss coming directions.

Biographer: web-based editing and rendering of SBGN compliant biochemical networks

PubMed Central

Krause, Falko; Schulz, Marvin; Ripkens, Ben; Flöttmann, Max; Krantz, Marcus; Klipp, Edda; Handorf, Thomas

2013-01-01

Motivation: The rapid accumulation of knowledge in the field of Systems Biology during the past years requires advanced, but simple-to-use, methods for the visualization of information in a structured and easily comprehensible manner. Results: We have developed biographer, a web-based renderer and editor for reaction networks, which can be integrated as a library into tools dealing with network-related information. Our software enables visualizations based on the emerging standard Systems Biology Graphical Notation. It is able to import networks encoded in various formats such as SBML, SBGN-ML and jSBGN, a custom lightweight exchange format. The core package is implemented in HTML5, CSS and JavaScript and can be used within any kind of web-based project. It features interactive graph-editing tools and automatic graph layout algorithms. In addition, we provide a standalone graph editor and a web server, which contains enhanced features like web services for the import and export of models and visualizations in different formats. Availability: The biographer tool can be used at and downloaded from the web page http://biographer.biologie.hu-berlin.de/. The different software packages, including a server-indepenent version as well as a web server for Windows and Linux based systems, are available at http://code.google.com/p/biographer/ under the open-source license LGPL. Contact: edda.klipp@biologie.hu-berlin.de or handorf@physik.hu-berlin.de PMID:23574737

Realistic terrain visualization based on 3D virtual world technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Fengru; Lin, Hui; Chen, Bin; Xiao, Cai

2009-09-01

The rapid advances in information technologies, e.g., network, graphics processing, and virtual world, have provided challenges and opportunities for new capabilities in information systems, Internet applications, and virtual geographic environments, especially geographic visualization and collaboration. In order to achieve meaningful geographic capabilities, we need to explore and understand how these technologies can be used to construct virtual geographic environments to help to engage geographic research. The generation of three-dimensional (3D) terrain plays an important part in geographical visualization, computer simulation, and virtual geographic environment applications. The paper introduces concepts and technologies of virtual worlds and virtual geographic environments, explores integration of realistic terrain and other geographic objects and phenomena of natural geographic environment based on SL/OpenSim virtual world technologies. Realistic 3D terrain visualization is a foundation of construction of a mirror world or a sand box model of the earth landscape and geographic environment. The capabilities of interaction and collaboration on geographic information are discussed as well. Further virtual geographic applications can be developed based on the foundation work of realistic terrain visualization in virtual environments.

Realistic terrain visualization based on 3D virtual world technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Fengru; Lin, Hui; Chen, Bin; Xiao, Cai

2010-11-01

The rapid advances in information technologies, e.g., network, graphics processing, and virtual world, have provided challenges and opportunities for new capabilities in information systems, Internet applications, and virtual geographic environments, especially geographic visualization and collaboration. In order to achieve meaningful geographic capabilities, we need to explore and understand how these technologies can be used to construct virtual geographic environments to help to engage geographic research. The generation of three-dimensional (3D) terrain plays an important part in geographical visualization, computer simulation, and virtual geographic environment applications. The paper introduces concepts and technologies of virtual worlds and virtual geographic environments, explores integration of realistic terrain and other geographic objects and phenomena of natural geographic environment based on SL/OpenSim virtual world technologies. Realistic 3D terrain visualization is a foundation of construction of a mirror world or a sand box model of the earth landscape and geographic environment. The capabilities of interaction and collaboration on geographic information are discussed as well. Further virtual geographic applications can be developed based on the foundation work of realistic terrain visualization in virtual environments.

Effect of higher frequency on the classification of steady-state visual evoked potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Won, Dong-Ok; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Dähne, Sven; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Lee, Seong-Whan

2016-02-01

Objective. Most existing brain-computer interface (BCI) designs based on steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) primarily use low frequency visual stimuli (e.g., <20 Hz) to elicit relatively high SSVEP amplitudes. While low frequency stimuli could evoke photosensitivity-based epileptic seizures, high frequency stimuli generally show less visual fatigue and no stimulus-related seizures. The fundamental objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stimulation frequency and duty-cycle on the usability of an SSVEP-based BCI system. Approach. We developed an SSVEP-based BCI speller using multiple LEDs flickering with low frequencies (6-14.9 Hz) with a duty-cycle of 50%, or higher frequencies (26-34.7 Hz) with duty-cycles of 50%, 60%, and 70%. The four different experimental conditions were tested with 26 subjects in order to investigate the impact of stimulation frequency and duty-cycle on performance and visual fatigue, and evaluated with a questionnaire survey. Resting state alpha powers were utilized to interpret our results from the neurophysiological point of view. Main results. The stimulation method employing higher frequencies not only showed less visual fatigue, but it also showed higher and more stable classification performance compared to that employing relatively lower frequencies. Different duty-cycles in the higher frequency stimulation conditions did not significantly affect visual fatigue, but a duty-cycle of 50% was a better choice with respect to performance. The performance of the higher frequency stimulation method was also less susceptible to resting state alpha powers, while that of the lower frequency stimulation method was negatively correlated with alpha powers. Significance. These results suggest that the use of higher frequency visual stimuli is more beneficial for performance improvement and stability as time passes when developing practical SSVEP-based BCI applications.

Effect of higher frequency on the classification of steady-state visual evoked potentials.

PubMed

Won, Dong-Ok; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Dähne, Sven; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Lee, Seong-Whan

2016-02-01

Most existing brain-computer interface (BCI) designs based on steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) primarily use low frequency visual stimuli (e.g., <20 Hz) to elicit relatively high SSVEP amplitudes. While low frequency stimuli could evoke photosensitivity-based epileptic seizures, high frequency stimuli generally show less visual fatigue and no stimulus-related seizures. The fundamental objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stimulation frequency and duty-cycle on the usability of an SSVEP-based BCI system. We developed an SSVEP-based BCI speller using multiple LEDs flickering with low frequencies (6-14.9 Hz) with a duty-cycle of 50%, or higher frequencies (26-34.7 Hz) with duty-cycles of 50%, 60%, and 70%. The four different experimental conditions were tested with 26 subjects in order to investigate the impact of stimulation frequency and duty-cycle on performance and visual fatigue, and evaluated with a questionnaire survey. Resting state alpha powers were utilized to interpret our results from the neurophysiological point of view. The stimulation method employing higher frequencies not only showed less visual fatigue, but it also showed higher and more stable classification performance compared to that employing relatively lower frequencies. Different duty-cycles in the higher frequency stimulation conditions did not significantly affect visual fatigue, but a duty-cycle of 50% was a better choice with respect to performance. The performance of the higher frequency stimulation method was also less susceptible to resting state alpha powers, while that of the lower frequency stimulation method was negatively correlated with alpha powers. These results suggest that the use of higher frequency visual stimuli is more beneficial for performance improvement and stability as time passes when developing practical SSVEP-based BCI applications.

Visual Based Retrieval Systems and Web Mining--Introduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iyengar, S. S.

2001-01-01

Briefly discusses Web mining and image retrieval techniques, and then presents a summary of articles in this special issue. Articles focus on Web content mining, artificial neural networks as tools for image retrieval, content-based image retrieval systems, and personalizing the Web browsing experience using media agents. (AEF)

Visualizing complex (hydrological) systems with correlation matrices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haas, J. C.

2016-12-01

When trying to understand or visualize the connections of different aspects of a complex system, this often requires deeper understanding to start with, or - in the case of geo data - complicated GIS software. To our knowledge, correlation matrices have rarely been used in hydrology (e.g. Stoll et al., 2011; van Loon and Laaha, 2015), yet they do provide an interesting option for data visualization and analysis. We present a simple, python based way - using a river catchment as an example - to visualize correlations and similarities in an easy and colorful way. We apply existing and easy to use python packages from various disciplines not necessarily linked to the Earth sciences and can thus quickly show how different aquifers work or react, and identify outliers, enabling this system to also be used for quality control of large datasets. Going beyond earlier work, we add a temporal and spatial element, enabling us to visualize how a system reacts to local phenomena such as for example a river, or changes over time, by visualizing the passing of time in an animated movie. References: van Loon, A.F., Laaha, G.: Hydrological drought severity explained by climate and catchment characteristics, Journal of Hydrology 526, 3-14, 2015, Drought processes, modeling, and mitigation Stoll, S., Hendricks Franssen, H. J., Barthel, R., Kinzelbach, W.: What can we learn from long-term groundwater data to improve climate change impact studies?, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 15(12), 3861-3875, 2011

Cross-sectoral optimization and visualization of transformation processes in urban water infrastructures in rural areas.

PubMed

Baron, S; Kaufmann Alves, I; Schmitt, T G; Schöffel, S; Schwank, J

2015-01-01

Predicted demographic, climatic and socio-economic changes will require adaptations of existing water supply and wastewater disposal systems. Especially in rural areas, these new challenges will affect the functionality of the present systems. This paper presents a joint interdisciplinary research project with the objective of developing an innovative software-based optimization and decision support system for the implementation of long-term transformations of existing infrastructures of water supply, wastewater and energy. The concept of the decision support and optimization tool is described and visualization methods for the presentation of results are illustrated. The model is tested in a rural case study region in the Southwest of Germany. A transformation strategy for a decentralized wastewater treatment concept and its visualization are presented for a model village.

Perceptually lossless fractal image compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Huawu; Venetsanopoulos, Anastasios N.

1996-02-01

According to the collage theorem, the encoding distortion for fractal image compression is directly related to the metric used in the encoding process. In this paper, we introduce a perceptually meaningful distortion measure based on the human visual system's nonlinear response to luminance and the visual masking effects. Blackwell's psychophysical raw data on contrast threshold are first interpolated as a function of background luminance and visual angle, and are then used as an error upper bound for perceptually lossless image compression. For a variety of images, experimental results show that the algorithm produces a compression ratio of 8:1 to 10:1 without introducing visual artifacts.

Server-based Approach to Web Visualization of Integrated Three-dimensional Brain Imaging Data

PubMed Central

Poliakov, Andrew V.; Albright, Evan; Hinshaw, Kevin P.; Corina, David P.; Ojemann, George; Martin, Richard F.; Brinkley, James F.

2005-01-01

The authors describe a client-server approach to three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of neuroimaging data, which enables researchers to visualize, manipulate, and analyze large brain imaging datasets over the Internet. All computationally intensive tasks are done by a graphics server that loads and processes image volumes and 3-D models, renders 3-D scenes, and sends the renderings back to the client. The authors discuss the system architecture and implementation and give several examples of client applications that allow visualization and analysis of integrated language map data from single and multiple patients. PMID:15561787

A Model-Driven Visualization Tool for Use with Model-Based Systems Engineering Projects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trase, Kathryn; Fink, Eric

2014-01-01

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) promotes increased consistency between a system's design and its design documentation through the use of an object-oriented system model. The creation of this system model facilitates data presentation by providing a mechanism from which information can be extracted by automated manipulation of model content. Existing MBSE tools enable model creation, but are often too complex for the unfamiliar model viewer to easily use. These tools do not yet provide many opportunities for easing into the development and use of a system model when system design documentation already exists. This study creates a Systems Modeling Language (SysML) Document Traceability Framework (SDTF) for integrating design documentation with a system model, and develops an Interactive Visualization Engine for SysML Tools (InVEST), that exports consistent, clear, and concise views of SysML model data. These exported views are each meaningful to a variety of project stakeholders with differing subjects of concern and depth of technical involvement. InVEST allows a model user to generate multiple views and reports from a MBSE model, including wiki pages and interactive visualizations of data. System data can also be filtered to present only the information relevant to the particular stakeholder, resulting in a view that is both consistent with the larger system model and other model views. Viewing the relationships between system artifacts and documentation, and filtering through data to see specialized views improves the value of the system as a whole, as data becomes information

Practical Guide for the Selection of Audio Visual Media. General Criteria System and Evaluation Procedure for Educational Media Decisions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klepzig, H. J.; Weiss, M.

Designed to aid in making concrete decisions on the acquisition and use of media, the criteria system and evaluation procedure described is a multiphase, objective-based decision making process. This report includes guidelines for setting up goal systems and developing criteria for the evaluation of media based on a goal system; an outline of…

3D interactive surgical visualization system using mobile spatial information acquisition and autostereoscopic display.

PubMed

Fan, Zhencheng; Weng, Yitong; Chen, Guowen; Liao, Hongen

2017-07-01

Three-dimensional (3D) visualization of preoperative and intraoperative medical information becomes more and more important in minimally invasive surgery. We develop a 3D interactive surgical visualization system using mobile spatial information acquisition and autostereoscopic display for surgeons to observe surgical target intuitively. The spatial information of regions of interest (ROIs) is captured by the mobile device and transferred to a server for further image processing. Triangular patches of intraoperative data with texture are calculated with a dimension-reduced triangulation algorithm and a projection-weighted mapping algorithm. A point cloud selection-based warm-start iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm is also developed for fusion of the reconstructed 3D intraoperative image and the preoperative image. The fusion images are rendered for 3D autostereoscopic display using integral videography (IV) technology. Moreover, 3D visualization of medical image corresponding to observer's viewing direction is updated automatically using mutual information registration method. Experimental results show that the spatial position error between the IV-based 3D autostereoscopic fusion image and the actual object was 0.38±0.92mm (n=5). The system can be utilized in telemedicine, operating education, surgical planning, navigation, etc. to acquire spatial information conveniently and display surgical information intuitively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Laboratory-Based Nonlinear Dynamics Course for Science and Engineering Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sungar, N.; Sharpe, J. P.; Moelter, M. J.; Fleishon, N.; Morrison, K.; McDill, J.; Schoonover, R.

2001-01-01

Describes the implementation of a new laboratory-based, interdisciplinary undergraduate course on linear dynamical systems. Focuses on geometrical methods and data visualization techniques. (Contains 20 references.) (Author/YDS)

An interactive web-based system using cloud for large-scale visual analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaseb, Ahmed S.; Berry, Everett; Rozolis, Erik; McNulty, Kyle; Bontrager, Seth; Koh, Youngsol; Lu, Yung-Hsiang; Delp, Edward J.

2015-03-01

Network cameras have been growing rapidly in recent years. Thousands of public network cameras provide tremendous amount of visual information about the environment. There is a need to analyze this valuable information for a better understanding of the world around us. This paper presents an interactive web-based system that enables users to execute image analysis and computer vision techniques on a large scale to analyze the data from more than 65,000 worldwide cameras. This paper focuses on how to use both the system's website and Application Programming Interface (API). Given a computer program that analyzes a single frame, the user needs to make only slight changes to the existing program and choose the cameras to analyze. The system handles the heterogeneity of the geographically distributed cameras, e.g. different brands, resolutions. The system allocates and manages Amazon EC2 and Windows Azure cloud resources to meet the analysis requirements.

Method and system for providing autonomous control of a platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seelinger, Michael J. (Inventor); Yoder, John-David (Inventor)

2012-01-01

The present application provides a system for enabling instrument placement from distances on the order of five meters, for example, and increases accuracy of the instrument placement relative to visually-specified targets. The system provides precision control of a mobile base of a rover and onboard manipulators (e.g., robotic arms) relative to a visually-specified target using one or more sets of cameras. The system automatically compensates for wheel slippage and kinematic inaccuracy ensuring accurate placement (on the order of 2 mm, for example) of the instrument relative to the target. The system provides the ability for autonomous instrument placement by controlling both the base of the rover and the onboard manipulator using a single set of cameras. To extend the distance from which the placement can be completed to nearly five meters, target information may be transferred from navigation cameras (used for long-range) to front hazard cameras (used for positioning the manipulator).

Brain plasticity in the adult: modulation of function in amblyopia with rTMS.

PubMed

Thompson, Benjamin; Mansouri, Behzad; Koski, Lisa; Hess, Robert F

2008-07-22

Amblyopia is a cortically based visual disorder caused by disruption of vision during a critical early developmental period. It is often thought to be a largely intractable problem in adult patients because of a lack of neuronal plasticity after this critical period [1]; however, recent advances have suggested that plasticity is still present in the adult amblyopic visual cortex [2-6]. Here, we present data showing that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the visual cortex can temporarily improve contrast sensitivity in the amblyopic visual cortex. The results indicate continued plasticity of the amblyopic visual system in adulthood and open the way for a potential new therapeutic approach to the treatment of amblyopia.

TargetVue: Visual Analysis of Anomalous User Behaviors in Online Communication Systems.

PubMed

Cao, Nan; Shi, Conglei; Lin, Sabrina; Lu, Jie; Lin, Yu-Ru; Lin, Ching-Yung

2016-01-01

Users with anomalous behaviors in online communication systems (e.g. email and social medial platforms) are potential threats to society. Automated anomaly detection based on advanced machine learning techniques has been developed to combat this issue; challenges remain, though, due to the difficulty of obtaining proper ground truth for model training and evaluation. Therefore, substantial human judgment on the automated analysis results is often required to better adjust the performance of anomaly detection. Unfortunately, techniques that allow users to understand the analysis results more efficiently, to make a confident judgment about anomalies, and to explore data in their context, are still lacking. In this paper, we propose a novel visual analysis system, TargetVue, which detects anomalous users via an unsupervised learning model and visualizes the behaviors of suspicious users in behavior-rich context through novel visualization designs and multiple coordinated contextual views. Particularly, TargetVue incorporates three new ego-centric glyphs to visually summarize a user's behaviors which effectively present the user's communication activities, features, and social interactions. An efficient layout method is proposed to place these glyphs on a triangle grid, which captures similarities among users and facilitates comparisons of behaviors of different users. We demonstrate the power of TargetVue through its application in a social bot detection challenge using Twitter data, a case study based on email records, and an interview with expert users. Our evaluation shows that TargetVue is beneficial to the detection of users with anomalous communication behaviors.

A Closed-Loop Model of Operator Visual Attention, Situation Awareness, and Performance Across Automation Mode Transitions.

PubMed

Johnson, Aaron W; Duda, Kevin R; Sheridan, Thomas B; Oman, Charles M

2017-03-01

This article describes a closed-loop, integrated human-vehicle model designed to help understand the underlying cognitive processes that influenced changes in subject visual attention, mental workload, and situation awareness across control mode transitions in a simulated human-in-the-loop lunar landing experiment. Control mode transitions from autopilot to manual flight may cause total attentional demands to exceed operator capacity. Attentional resources must be reallocated and reprioritized, which can increase the average uncertainty in the operator's estimates of low-priority system states. We define this increase in uncertainty as a reduction in situation awareness. We present a model built upon the optimal control model for state estimation, the crossover model for manual control, and the SEEV (salience, effort, expectancy, value) model for visual attention. We modify the SEEV attention executive to direct visual attention based, in part, on the uncertainty in the operator's estimates of system states. The model was validated using the simulated lunar landing experimental data, demonstrating an average difference in the percentage of attention ≤3.6% for all simulator instruments. The model's predictions of mental workload and situation awareness, measured by task performance and system state uncertainty, also mimicked the experimental data. Our model supports the hypothesis that visual attention is influenced by the uncertainty in system state estimates. Conceptualizing situation awareness around the metric of system state uncertainty is a valuable way for system designers to understand and predict how reallocations in the operator's visual attention during control mode transitions can produce reallocations in situation awareness of certain states.

Mixed Initiative Visual Analytics Using Task-Driven Recommendations

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

Cook, Kristin A.; Cramer, Nicholas O.; Israel, David

2015-12-07

Visual data analysis is composed of a collection of cognitive actions and tasks to decompose, internalize, and recombine data to produce knowledge and insight. Visual analytic tools provide interactive visual interfaces to data to support tasks involved in discovery and sensemaking, including forming hypotheses, asking questions, and evaluating and organizing evidence. Myriad analytic models can be incorporated into visual analytic systems, at the cost of increasing complexity in the analytic discourse between user and system. Techniques exist to increase the usability of interacting with such analytic models, such as inferring data models from user interactions to steer the underlying modelsmore » of the system via semantic interaction, shielding users from having to do so explicitly. Such approaches are often also referred to as mixed-initiative systems. Researchers studying the sensemaking process have called for development of tools that facilitate analytic sensemaking through a combination of human and automated activities. However, design guidelines do not exist for mixed-initiative visual analytic systems to support iterative sensemaking. In this paper, we present a candidate set of design guidelines and introduce the Active Data Environment (ADE) prototype, a spatial workspace supporting the analytic process via task recommendations invoked by inferences on user interactions within the workspace. ADE recommends data and relationships based on a task model, enabling users to co-reason with the system about their data in a single, spatial workspace. This paper provides an illustrative use case, a technical description of ADE, and a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the approach.« less

A novel visual-inertial monocular SLAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Wenjuan; Xu, Li; Liu, JiangGuo

2018-02-01

With the development of sensors and computer vision research community, cameras, which are accurate, compact, wellunderstood and most importantly cheap and ubiquitous today, have gradually been at the center of robot location. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using visual features, which is a system getting motion information from image acquisition equipment and rebuild the structure in unknown environment. We provide an analysis of bioinspired flights in insects, employing a novel technique based on SLAM. Then combining visual and inertial measurements to get high accuracy and robustness. we present a novel tightly-coupled Visual-Inertial Simultaneous Localization and Mapping system which get a new attempt to address two challenges which are the initialization problem and the calibration problem. experimental results and analysis show the proposed approach has a more accurate quantitative simulation of insect navigation, which can reach the positioning accuracy of centimeter level.

In Internet-Based Visualization System Study about Breakthrough Applet Security Restrictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jie; Huang, Yan

In the process of realization Internet-based visualization system of the protein molecules, system needs to allow users to use the system to observe the molecular structure of the local computer, that is, customers can generate the three-dimensional graphics from PDB file on the client computer. This requires Applet access to local file, related to the Applet security restrictions question. In this paper include two realization methods: 1.Use such as signature tools, key management tools and Policy Editor tools provided by the JDK to digital signature and authentication for Java Applet, breakthrough certain security restrictions in the browser. 2. Through the use of Servlet agent implement indirect access data methods, breakthrough the traditional Java Virtual Machine sandbox model restriction of Applet ability. The two ways can break through the Applet's security restrictions, but each has its own strengths.

SAVS: A Space and Atmospheric Visualization Science system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szuszczewicz, E. P.; Mankofsky, A.; Blanchard, P.; Goodrich, C.; McNabb, D.; Kamins, D.

1995-01-01

The research environment faced by space and atmospheric scientists in the 1990s is characterized by unprecedented volumes of new data, by ever-increasing repositories of unexploited mission files, and by the widespread use of empirical and large-scale computational models needed for the synthesis of understanding across data sets and discipline boundaries. The effective analysis and interpretation of such massive amounts of information have become the subjects of legitimate concern. With SAVS (a Space and Atmospheric Visualization Science System), we address these issues by creating a 'push-button' software environment that mimics the logical scientific processes in data acquisition, reduction, and analysis without requiring a detailed understanding of the methods, networks, and modules that link the tools and effectively execute the functions. SAVS provides (1) a customizable framework for accessing a powerful set of visualization tools based on the popular AVS visualization software with hooks to PV-Wave and access to Khoros modules, (2) a set of mathematical and statistical tools, (3) an extensible library of discipline-specific functions and models (e.g., MSIS, IRI, Feldstein Oval, IGRF, satellite tracking with CADRE-3, etc.), and (4) capabilities for local and remote data base access. The system treats scalar, vector, and image data, and runs on most common Unix workstations. We present a description of SAVS and its components, followed by several applications based on generic research interests in interplanetary and magnetospheric physics (IMP/ISTP), active experiments in space (CRRES), and mission planning focused on the Earth's thermospheric, ionospheric, and mesospheric domains (TIMED).

Development of a Web-Based Visualization Platform for Climate Research Using Google Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sun, Xiaojuan; Shen, Suhung; Leptoukh, Gregory G.; Wang, Panxing; Di, Liping; Lu, Mingyue

2011-01-01

Recently, it has become easier to access climate data from satellites, ground measurements, and models from various data centers, However, searching. accessing, and prc(essing heterogeneous data from different sources are very tim -consuming tasks. There is lack of a comprehensive visual platform to acquire distributed and heterogeneous scientific data and to render processed images from a single accessing point for climate studies. This paper. documents the design and implementation of a Web-based visual, interoperable, and scalable platform that is able to access climatological fields from models, satellites, and ground stations from a number of data sources using Google Earth (GE) as a common graphical interface. The development is based on the TCP/IP protocol and various data sharing open sources, such as OPeNDAP, GDS, Web Processing Service (WPS), and Web Mapping Service (WMS). The visualization capability of integrating various measurements into cE extends dramatically the awareness and visibility of scientific results. Using embedded geographic information in the GE, the designed system improves our understanding of the relationships of different elements in a four dimensional domain. The system enables easy and convenient synergistic research on a virtual platform for professionals and the general public, gr$tly advancing global data sharing and scientific research collaboration.

A computer graphics system for visualizing spacecraft in orbit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eyles, Don E.

1989-01-01

To carry out unanticipated operations with resources already in space is part of the rationale for a permanently manned space station in Earth orbit. The astronauts aboard a space station will require an on-board, spatial display tool to assist the planning and rehearsal of upcoming operations. Such a tool can also help astronauts to monitor and control such operations as they occur, especially in cases where first-hand visibility is not possible. A computer graphics visualization system designed for such an application and currently implemented as part of a ground-based simulation is described. The visualization system presents to the user the spatial information available in the spacecraft's computers by drawing a dynamic picture containing the planet Earth, the Sun, a star field, and up to two spacecraft. The point of view within the picture can be controlled by the user to obtain a number of specific visualization functions. The elements of the display, the methods used to control the display's point of view, and some of the ways in which the system can be used are described.

On the use of Augmented Reality techniques in learning and interpretation of cardiologic data.

PubMed

Lamounier, Edgard; Bucioli, Arthur; Cardoso, Alexandre; Andrade, Adriano; Soares, Alcimar

2010-01-01

Augmented Reality is a technology which provides people with more intuitive ways of interaction and visualization, close to those in real world. The amount of applications using Augmented Reality is growing every day, and results can be already seen in several fields such as Education, Training, Entertainment and Medicine. The system proposed in this article intends to provide a friendly and intuitive interface based on Augmented Reality for heart beating evaluation and visualization. Cardiologic data is loaded from several distinct sources: simple standards of heart beating frequencies (for example situations like running or sleeping), files of heart beating signals, scanned electrocardiographs and real time data acquisition of patient's heart beating. All this data is processed to produce visualization within Augmented Reality environments. The results obtained in this research have shown that the developed system is able to simplify the understanding of concepts about heart beating and its functioning. Furthermore, the system can help health professionals in the task of retrieving, processing and converting data from all the sources handled by the system, with the support of an edition and visualization mode.

Comparative case study between D3 and highcharts on lustre data visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

ElTayeby, Omar; John, Dwayne; Patel, Pragnesh; Simmerman, Scott

2013-12-01

One of the challenging tasks in visual analytics is to target clustered time-series data sets, since it is important for data analysts to discover patterns changing over time while keeping their focus on particular subsets. In order to leverage the humans ability to quickly visually perceive these patterns, multivariate features should be implemented according to the attributes available. However, a comparative case study has been done using JavaScript libraries to demonstrate the differences in capabilities of using them. A web-based application to monitor the Lustre file system for the systems administrators and the operation teams has been developed using D3 and Highcharts. Lustre file systems are responsible of managing Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) which include input output (I/O) requests between clients and Object Storage Targets (OSTs). The objective of this application is to provide time-series visuals of these calls and storage patterns of users on Kraken, a University of Tennessee High Performance Computing (HPC) resource in Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Indoor Navigation by People with Visual Impairment Using a Digital Sign System

PubMed Central

Legge, Gordon E.; Beckmann, Paul J.; Tjan, Bosco S.; Havey, Gary; Kramer, Kevin; Rolkosky, David; Gage, Rachel; Chen, Muzi; Puchakayala, Sravan; Rangarajan, Aravindhan

2013-01-01

There is a need for adaptive technology to enhance indoor wayfinding by visually-impaired people. To address this need, we have developed and tested a Digital Sign System. The hardware and software consist of digitally-encoded signs widely distributed throughout a building, a handheld sign-reader based on an infrared camera, image-processing software, and a talking digital map running on a mobile device. Four groups of subjects—blind, low vision, blindfolded sighted, and normally sighted controls—were evaluated on three navigation tasks. The results demonstrate that the technology can be used reliably in retrieving information from the signs during active mobility, in finding nearby points of interest, and following routes in a building from a starting location to a destination. The visually impaired subjects accurately and independently completed the navigation tasks, but took substantially longer than normally sighted controls. This fully functional prototype system demonstrates the feasibility of technology enabling independent indoor navigation by people with visual impairment. PMID:24116156

Image-Based Visual Servoing for Robotic Systems: A Nonlinear Lyapunov-Based Control Approach

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

Dixon, Warren

2004-06-01

There is significant motivation to provide robotic systems with improved autonomy as a means to significantly accelerate deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) operations while also reducing the associated costs, removing human operators from hazardous environments, and reducing the required burden and skill of human operators. To achieve improved autonomy, this project focused on the basic science challenges leading to the development of visual servo controllers. The challenge in developing these controllers is that a camera provides 2-dimensional image information about the 3-dimensional Euclidean-space through a perspective (range dependent) projection that can be corrupted by uncertainty in the camera calibration matrix andmore » by disturbances such as nonlinear radial distortion. Disturbances in this relationship (i.e., corruption in the sensor information) propagate erroneous information to the feedback controller of the robot, leading to potentially unpredictable task execution. This research project focused on the development of a visual servo control methodology that targets compensating for disturbances in the camera model (i.e., camera calibration and the recovery of range information) as a means to achieve predictable response by the robotic system operating in unstructured environments. The fundamental idea is to use nonlinear Lyapunov-based techniques along with photogrammetry methods to overcome the complex control issues and alleviate many of the restrictive assumptions that impact current robotic applications. The outcome of this control methodology is a plug-and-play visual servoing control module that can be utilized in conjunction with current technology such as feature recognition and extraction to enable robotic systems with the capabilities of increased accuracy, autonomy, and robustness, with a larger field of view (and hence a larger workspace). The developed methodology has been reported in numerous peer-reviewed publications and the performance and enabling capabilities of the resulting visual servo control modules have been demonstrated on mobile robot and robot manipulator platforms.« less

Space-based infrared near-Earth asteroid survey simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tedesco, Edward F.; Muinonen, Karri; Price, Stephan D.

2000-08-01

We demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of using a satellite-based sensor with visual and infrared focal plane arrays to search for that subclass of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) with orbits largely interior to the Earth's orbit. A space-based visual-infrared system could detect approximately 97% of the Atens and 64% of the IEOs (the, as yet hypothetical, objects with orbits entirely Interior to Earth's Orbit) with diameters greater than 1 km in a 5-year mission and obtain orbits, albedos and diameters for all of them; the respective percentages with diameters greater than 500 m are 90% and 60%. Incidental to the search for Atens and IEOs, we found that 70% of all Earth-Crossing Asteroids (ECAs) with diameters greater than 1 km, and 50% of those with diameters greater than 500 m, would also be detected. These are the results of a feasibility study; optimizing the concept presented would result in greater levels of completion. The cost of such a space-based system is estimated to be within a factor of two of the cost of a ground-based system capable of about 21st magnitude, which would provide only orbits and absolute magnitudes and require decades to reach these completeness levels. In addition to obtaining albedos and diameters for the asteroids discovered in the space-based survey, a space-based visual-infrared system would obtain the same information on virtually all NEOs of interest. A combined space-based and ground-based survey would be highly synergistic in that each can concentrate on what it does best and each complements the strengths of the other. The ground-based system would discover the majority of Amors and Apollos and provide long-term follow-up on all the NEOs discovered in both surveys. The space-based system would discover the majority of Atens and IEOs and provide albedos and diameters on all the NEOs discovered in both surveys and most previously discovered NEOs as well. Thus, an integrated ground- and space-based system could accomplish the Spaceguard goal in less time than the ground-based system alone. In addition, the result would be a catalog containing well-determined orbits, diameters, and albedos for the majority of ECAs with diameters greater than 500 m.

An electrocorticographic BCI using code-based VEP for control in video applications: a single-subject study

PubMed Central

Kapeller, Christoph; Kamada, Kyousuke; Ogawa, Hiroshi; Prueckl, Robert; Scharinger, Josef; Guger, Christoph

2014-01-01

A brain-computer-interface (BCI) allows the user to control a device or software with brain activity. Many BCIs rely on visual stimuli with constant stimulation cycles that elicit steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) in the electroencephalogram (EEG). This EEG response can be generated with a LED or a computer screen flashing at a constant frequency, and similar EEG activity can be elicited with pseudo-random stimulation sequences on a screen (code-based BCI). Using electrocorticography (ECoG) instead of EEG promises higher spatial and temporal resolution and leads to more dominant evoked potentials due to visual stimulation. This work is focused on BCIs based on visual evoked potentials (VEP) and its capability as a continuous control interface for augmentation of video applications. One 35 year old female subject with implanted subdural grids participated in the study. The task was to select one out of four visual targets, while each was flickering with a code sequence. After a calibration run including 200 code sequences, a linear classifier was used during an evaluation run to identify the selected visual target based on the generated code-based VEPs over 20 trials. Multiple ECoG buffer lengths were tested and the subject reached a mean online classification accuracy of 99.21% for a window length of 3.15 s. Finally, the subject performed an unsupervised free run in combination with visual feedback of the current selection. Additionally, an algorithm was implemented that allowed to suppress false positive selections and this allowed the subject to start and stop the BCI at any time. The code-based BCI system attained very high online accuracy, which makes this approach very promising for control applications where a continuous control signal is needed. PMID:25147509

Studying the lower limit of human vision with a single-photon source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, Rebecca; Christensen, Bradley; Street, Whitney; Wang, Ranxiao; Kwiat, Paul

2015-05-01

Humans can detect a visual stimulus of just a few photons. Exactly how few is not known--psychological and physiological research have suggested that the detection threshold may be as low as one photon, but the question has never been directly tested. Using a source of heralded single photons based on spontaneous parametric downconversion, we can directly characterize the lower limit of vision. This system can also be used to study temporal and spatial integration in the visual system, and to study visual attention with EEG. We may eventually even be able to investigate how human observers perceive quantum effects such as superposition and entanglement. Our progress and some preliminary results will be discussed.

Displays. [three dimensional analog visual system for aiding pilot space perception

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

An experimental investigation made to determine the depth cue of a head movement perspective and image intensity as a function of depth is summarized. The experiment was based on the use of a hybrid computer generated contact analog visual display in which various perceptual depth cues are included on a two dimensional CRT screen. The system's purpose was to impart information, in an integrated and visually compelling fashion, about the vehicle's position and orientation in space. Results show head movement gives a 40% improvement in depth discrimination when the display is between 40 and 100 cm from the subject; intensity variation resulted in as much improvement as head movement.

Patient-specific port placement for laparoscopic surgery using atlas-based registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enquobahrie, Andinet; Shivaprabhu, Vikas; Aylward, Stephen; Finet, Julien; Cleary, Kevin; Alterovitz, Ron

2013-03-01

Laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive surgical approach, in which abdominal surgical procedures are performed through trocars via small incisions. Patients benefit by reduced postoperative pain, shortened hospital stays, improved cosmetic results, and faster recovery times. Optimal port placement can improve surgeon dexterity and avoid the need to move the trocars, which would cause unnecessary trauma to the patient. We are building an intuitive open source visualization system to help surgeons identify ports. Our methodology is based on an intuitive port placement visualization module and atlas-based registration algorithm to transfer port locations to individual patients. The methodology follows three steps:1) Use a port placement visualization module to manually place ports in an abdominal organ atlas. This step generates port-augmented abdominal atlas. This is done only once for a given patient population. 2) Register the atlas data with the patient CT data, to transfer the prescribed ports to the individual patient 3) Review and adjust the transferred port locations using the port placement visualization module. Tool maneuverability and target reachability can be tested using the visualization system. Our methodology would decrease the amount of physician input necessary to optimize port placement for each patient case. In a follow up work, we plan to use the transferred ports as starting point for further optimization of the port locations by formulating a cost function that will take into account factors such as tool dexterity and likelihood of collision between instruments.

Assessment of a visually guided autonomous exploration robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, C.; Evans, R.; Tidey, E.

2008-10-01

A system has been developed to enable a robot vehicle to autonomously explore and map an indoor environment using only visual sensors. The vehicle is equipped with a single camera, whose output is wirelessly transmitted to an off-board standard PC for processing. Visual features within the camera imagery are extracted and tracked, and their 3D positions are calculated using a Structure from Motion algorithm. As the vehicle travels, obstacles in its surroundings are identified and a map of the explored region is generated. This paper discusses suitable criteria for assessing the performance of the system by computer-based simulation and practical experiments with a real vehicle. Performance measures identified include the positional accuracy of the 3D map and the vehicle's location, the efficiency and completeness of the exploration and the system reliability. Selected results are presented and the effect of key system parameters and algorithms on performance is assessed. This work was funded by the Systems Engineering for Autonomous Systems (SEAS) Defence Technology Centre established by the UK Ministry of Defence.

The evaluative imaging of mental models - Visual representations of complexity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dede, Christopher

1989-01-01

The paper deals with some design issues involved in building a system that could visually represent the semantic structures of training materials and their underlying mental models. In particular, hypermedia-based semantic networks that instantiate classification problem solving strategies are thought to be a useful formalism for such representations; the complexity of these web structures can be best managed through visual depictions. It is also noted that a useful approach to implement in these hypermedia models would be some metrics of conceptual distance.

CyberPetri at CDX 2016: Real-time Network Situation Awareness

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

Arendt, Dustin L.; Best, Daniel M.; Burtner, Edwin R.

CyberPetri is a novel visualization technique that provides a flexible map of the network based on available characteristics, such as IP address, operating system, or service. Previous work introduced CyberPetri as a visualization feature in Ocelot, a network defense tool that helped security analysts understand and respond to an active defense scenario. In this paper we present a case study in which we use the CyberPetri visualization technique to support real-time situation awareness during the 2016 Cyber Defense Exercise.

A risk-based coverage model for video surveillance camera control optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hongzhou; Du, Zhiguo; Zhao, Xingtao; Li, Peiyue; Li, Dehua

2015-12-01

Visual surveillance system for law enforcement or police case investigation is different from traditional application, for it is designed to monitor pedestrians, vehicles or potential accidents. Visual surveillance risk is defined as uncertainty of visual information of targets and events monitored in present work and risk entropy is introduced to modeling the requirement of police surveillance task on quality and quantity of vide information. the prosed coverage model is applied to calculate the preset FoV position of PTZ camera.

Does the choice of display system influence perception and visibility of clinically relevant features in digital pathology images?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kimpe, Tom; Rostang, Johan; Avanaki, Ali; Espig, Kathryn; Xthona, Albert; Cocuranu, Ioan; Parwani, Anil V.; Pantanowitz, Liron

2014-03-01

Digital pathology systems typically consist of a slide scanner, processing software, visualization software, and finally a workstation with display for visualization of the digital slide images. This paper studies whether digital pathology images can look different when presenting them on different display systems, and whether these visual differences can result in different perceived contrast of clinically relevant features. By analyzing a set of four digital pathology images of different subspecialties on three different display systems, it was concluded that pathology images look different when visualized on different display systems. The importance of these visual differences is elucidated when they are located in areas of the digital slide that contain clinically relevant features. Based on a calculation of dE2000 differences between background and clinically relevant features, it was clear that perceived contrast of clinically relevant features is influenced by the choice of display system. Furthermore, it seems that the specific calibration target chosen for the display system has an important effect on the perceived contrast of clinically relevant features. Preliminary results suggest that calibrating to DICOM GSDF calibration performed slightly worse than sRGB, while a new experimental calibration target CSDF performed better than both DICOM GSDF and sRGB. This result is promising as it suggests that further research work could lead to better definition of an optimized calibration target for digital pathology images resulting in a positive effect on clinical performance.

Summarizing Audiovisual Contents of a Video Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Yihong

2003-12-01

In this paper, we focus on video programs that are intended to disseminate information and knowledge such as news, documentaries, seminars, etc, and present an audiovisual summarization system that summarizes the audio and visual contents of the given video separately, and then integrating the two summaries with a partial alignment. The audio summary is created by selecting spoken sentences that best present the main content of the audio speech while the visual summary is created by eliminating duplicates/redundancies and preserving visually rich contents in the image stream. The alignment operation aims to synchronize each spoken sentence in the audio summary with its corresponding speaker's face and to preserve the rich content in the visual summary. A Bipartite Graph-based audiovisual alignment algorithm is developed to efficiently find the best alignment solution that satisfies these alignment requirements. With the proposed system, we strive to produce a video summary that: (1) provides a natural visual and audio content overview, and (2) maximizes the coverage for both audio and visual contents of the original video without having to sacrifice either of them.

3D visualization of optical ray aberration and its broadcasting to smartphones by ray aberration generator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hellman, Brandon; Bosset, Erica; Ender, Luke; Jafari, Naveed; McCann, Phillip; Nguyen, Chris; Summitt, Chris; Wang, Sunglin; Takashima, Yuzuru

2017-11-01

The ray formalism is critical to understanding light propagation, yet current pedagogy relies on inadequate 2D representations. We present a system in which real light rays are visualized through an optical system by using a collimated laser bundle of light and a fog chamber. Implementation for remote and immersive access is enabled by leveraging a commercially available 3D viewer and gesture-based remote controlling of the tool via bi-directional communication over the Internet.

Learning receptor positions from imperfectly known motions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahumada, Albert J., Jr.; Mulligan, Jeffrey B.

1990-01-01

An algorithm is described for learning image interpolation functions for sensor arrays whose sensor positions are somewhat disordered. The learning is based on failures of translation invariance, so it does not require knowledge of the images being presented to the visual system. Previously reported implementations of the method assumed the visual system to have precise knowledge of the translations. It is demonstrated that translation estimates computed from the imperfectly interpolated images can have enough accuracy to allow the learning process to converge to a correct interpolation.

Occam's razor: supporting visual query expression for content-based image queries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venters, Colin C.; Hartley, Richard J.; Hewitt, William T.

2005-01-01

This paper reports the results of a usability experiment that investigated visual query formulation on three dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. Twenty eight evaluation sessions were conducted in order to assess the extent to which query by visual example supports visual query formulation in a content-based image retrieval environment. In order to provide a context and focus for the investigation, the study was segmented by image type, user group, and use function. The image type consisted of a set of abstract geometric device marks supplied by the UK Trademark Registry. Users were selected from the 14 UK Patent Information Network offices. The use function was limited to the retrieval of images by shape similarity. Two client interfaces were developed for comparison purposes: Trademark Image Browser Engine (TRIBE) and Shape Query Image Retrieval Systems Engine (SQUIRE).

Occam"s razor: supporting visual query expression for content-based image queries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venters, Colin C.; Hartley, Richard J.; Hewitt, William T.

2004-12-01

This paper reports the results of a usability experiment that investigated visual query formulation on three dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. Twenty eight evaluation sessions were conducted in order to assess the extent to which query by visual example supports visual query formulation in a content-based image retrieval environment. In order to provide a context and focus for the investigation, the study was segmented by image type, user group, and use function. The image type consisted of a set of abstract geometric device marks supplied by the UK Trademark Registry. Users were selected from the 14 UK Patent Information Network offices. The use function was limited to the retrieval of images by shape similarity. Two client interfaces were developed for comparison purposes: Trademark Image Browser Engine (TRIBE) and Shape Query Image Retrieval Systems Engine (SQUIRE).

Telerobotic Haptic Exploration in Art Galleries and Museums for Individuals with Visual Impairments.

PubMed

Park, Chung Hyuk; Ryu, Eun-Seok; Howard, Ayanna M

2015-01-01

This paper presents a haptic telepresence system that enables visually impaired users to explore locations with rich visual observation such as art galleries and museums by using a telepresence robot, a RGB-D sensor (color and depth camera), and a haptic interface. The recent improvement on RGB-D sensors has enabled real-time access to 3D spatial information in the form of point clouds. However, the real-time representation of this data in the form of tangible haptic experience has not been challenged enough, especially in the case of telepresence for individuals with visual impairments. Thus, the proposed system addresses the real-time haptic exploration of remote 3D information through video encoding and real-time 3D haptic rendering of the remote real-world environment. This paper investigates two scenarios in haptic telepresence, i.e., mobile navigation and object exploration in a remote environment. Participants with and without visual impairments participated in our experiments based on the two scenarios, and the system performance was validated. In conclusion, the proposed framework provides a new methodology of haptic telepresence for individuals with visual impairments by providing an enhanced interactive experience where they can remotely access public places (art galleries and museums) with the aid of haptic modality and robotic telepresence.

Behavior analysis for elderly care using a network of low-resolution visual sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eldib, Mohamed; Deboeverie, Francis; Philips, Wilfried; Aghajan, Hamid

2016-07-01

Recent advancements in visual sensor technologies have made behavior analysis practical for in-home monitoring systems. The current in-home monitoring systems face several challenges: (1) visual sensor calibration is a difficult task and not practical in real-life because of the need for recalibration when the visual sensors are moved accidentally by a caregiver or the senior citizen, (2) privacy concerns, and (3) the high hardware installation cost. We propose to use a network of cheap low-resolution visual sensors (30×30 pixels) for long-term behavior analysis. The behavior analysis starts by visual feature selection based on foreground/background detection to track the motion level in each visual sensor. Then a hidden Markov model (HMM) is used to estimate the user's locations without calibration. Finally, an activity discovery approach is proposed using spatial and temporal contexts. We performed experiments on 10 months of real-life data. We show that the HMM approach outperforms the k-nearest neighbor classifier against ground truth for 30 days. Our framework is able to discover 13 activities of daily livings (ADL parameters). More specifically, we analyze mobility patterns and some of the key ADL parameters to detect increasing or decreasing health conditions.

Nonretinotopic visual processing in the brain.

PubMed

Melcher, David; Morrone, Maria Concetta

2015-01-01

A basic principle in visual neuroscience is the retinotopic organization of neural receptive fields. Here, we review behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging evidence for nonretinotopic processing of visual stimuli. A number of behavioral studies have shown perception depending on object or external-space coordinate systems, in addition to retinal coordinates. Both single-cell neurophysiology and neuroimaging have provided evidence for the modulation of neural firing by gaze position and processing of visual information based on craniotopic or spatiotopic coordinates. Transient remapping of the spatial and temporal properties of neurons contingent on saccadic eye movements has been demonstrated in visual cortex, as well as frontal and parietal areas involved in saliency/priority maps, and is a good candidate to mediate some of the spatial invariance demonstrated by perception. Recent studies suggest that spatiotopic selectivity depends on a low spatial resolution system of maps that operates over a longer time frame than retinotopic processing and is strongly modulated by high-level cognitive factors such as attention. The interaction of an initial and rapid retinotopic processing stage, tied to new fixations, and a longer lasting but less precise nonretinotopic level of visual representation could underlie the perception of both a detailed and a stable visual world across saccadic eye movements.

Design and implementation of visualization methods for the CHANGES Spatial Decision Support System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cristal, Irina; van Westen, Cees; Bakker, Wim; Greiving, Stefan

2014-05-01

The CHANGES Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) is a web-based system aimed for risk assessment and the evaluation of optimal risk reduction alternatives at local level as a decision support tool in long-term natural risk management. The SDSS use multidimensional information, integrating thematic, spatial, temporal and documentary data. The role of visualization in this context becomes of vital importance for efficiently representing each dimension. This multidimensional aspect of the required for the system risk information, combined with the diversity of the end-users imposes the use of sophisticated visualization methods and tools. The key goal of the present work is to exploit efficiently the large amount of data in relation to the needs of the end-user, utilizing proper visualization techniques. Three main tasks have been accomplished for this purpose: categorization of the end-users, the definition of system's modules and the data definition. The graphical representation of the data and the visualization tools were designed to be relevant to the data type and the purpose of the analysis. Depending on the end-users category, each user should have access to different modules of the system and thus, to the proper visualization environment. The technologies used for the development of the visualization component combine the latest and most innovative open source JavaScript frameworks, such as OpenLayers 2.13.1, ExtJS 4 and GeoExt 2. Moreover, the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern is used in order to ensure flexibility of the system at the implementation level. Using the above technologies, the visualization techniques implemented so far offer interactive map navigation, querying and comparison tools. The map comparison tools are of great importance within the SDSS and include the following: swiping tool for comparison of different data of the same location; raster subtraction for comparison of the same phenomena varying in time; linked views for comparison of data from different locations and a time slider tool for monitoring changes in spatio-temporal data. All these techniques are part of the interactive interface of the system and make use of spatial and spatio-temporal data. Further significant aspects of the visualization component include conventional cartographic techniques and visualization of non-spatial data. The main expectation from the present work is to offer efficient visualization of risk-related data in order to facilitate the decision making process, which is the final purpose of the CHANGES SDSS. This work is part of the "CHANGES" project, funded by the European Community's 7th Framework Programme.

A Nonlinear Model for Interactive Data Analysis and Visualization and an Implementation Using Progressive Computation for Massive Remote Climate Data Ensembles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christensen, C.; Liu, S.; Scorzelli, G.; Lee, J. W.; Bremer, P. T.; Summa, B.; Pascucci, V.

2017-12-01

The creation, distribution, analysis, and visualization of large spatiotemporal datasets is a growing challenge for the study of climate and weather phenomena in which increasingly massive domains are utilized to resolve finer features, resulting in datasets that are simply too large to be effectively shared. Existing workflows typically consist of pipelines of independent processes that preclude many possible optimizations. As data sizes increase, these pipelines are difficult or impossible to execute interactively and instead simply run as large offline batch processes. Rather than limiting our conceptualization of such systems to pipelines (or dataflows), we propose a new model for interactive data analysis and visualization systems in which we comprehensively consider the processes involved from data inception through analysis and visualization in order to describe systems composed of these processes in a manner that facilitates interactive implementations of the entire system rather than of only a particular component. We demonstrate the application of this new model with the implementation of an interactive system that supports progressive execution of arbitrary user scripts for the analysis and visualization of massive, disparately located climate data ensembles. It is currently in operation as part of the Earth System Grid Federation server running at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and accessible through both web-based and desktop clients. Our system facilitates interactive analysis and visualization of massive remote datasets up to petabytes in size, such as the 3.5 PB 7km NASA GEOS-5 Nature Run simulation, previously only possible offline or at reduced resolution. To support the community, we have enabled general distribution of our application using public frameworks including Docker and Anaconda.

Modelling Subjectivity in Visual Perception of Orientation for Image Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, D.; Chamorro-Martinez, J.; Vila, M. A.

2003-01-01

Discussion of multimedia libraries and the need for storage, indexing, and retrieval techniques focuses on the combination of computer vision and data mining techniques to model high-level concepts for image retrieval based on perceptual features of the human visual system. Uses fuzzy set theory to measure users' assessments and to capture users'…

Effects of Visual Cues and Self-Explanation Prompts: Empirical Evidence in a Multimedia Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Lijia; Atkinson, Robert K.; Savenye, Wilhelmina C.; Nelson, Brian C.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of visual cues and different types of self-explanation prompts on learning, cognitive load, and intrinsic motivation in an interactive multimedia environment that was designed to deliver a computer-based lesson about the human cardiovascular system. A total of 126 college students were…

Performance Measurement and Accommodation: Students with Visual Impairments on Pennsylvania's Alternate Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zebehazy, Kim T.; Zigmond, Naomi; Zimmerman, George J.

2012-01-01

Introduction: This study investigated the use of accommodations and the performance of students with visual impairments and severe cognitive disabilities on the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA)yCoan alternate performance-based assessment. Methods: Differences in test scores on the most basic level (level A) of the PASA of 286…

A Visual Tool for Computer Supported Learning: The Robot Motion Planning Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elnagar, Ashraf; Lulu, Leena

2007-01-01

We introduce an effective computer aided learning visual tool (CALVT) to teach graph-based applications. We present the robot motion planning problem as an example of such applications. The proposed tool can be used to simulate and/or further to implement practical systems in different areas of computer science such as graphics, computational…

The Impact of a Semiotic Analysis Theory-Based Writing Activity on Students' Writing Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sarar Kuzu, Tulay

2016-01-01

Problem Statement: In entering the world intellectually and affectively equipped, humans develop in a systemic way that encompasses both thought and art education and in which written, oral, and visual texts are important tools. In particular, visual literacy, which refers to the interpretation of elements other than written text, including…

People can understand descriptions of motion without activating visual motion brain regions

PubMed Central

Dravida, Swethasri; Saxe, Rebecca; Bedny, Marina

2013-01-01

What is the relationship between our perceptual and linguistic neural representations of the same event? We approached this question by asking whether visual perception of motion and understanding linguistic depictions of motion rely on the same neural architecture. The same group of participants took part in two language tasks and one visual task. In task 1, participants made semantic similarity judgments with high motion (e.g., “to bounce”) and low motion (e.g., “to look”) words. In task 2, participants made plausibility judgments for passages describing movement (“A centaur hurled a spear … ”) or cognitive events (“A gentleman loved cheese …”). Task 3 was a visual motion localizer in which participants viewed animations of point-light walkers, randomly moving dots, and stationary dots changing in luminance. Based on the visual motion localizer we identified classic visual motion areas of the temporal (MT/MST and STS) and parietal cortex (inferior and superior parietal lobules). We find that these visual cortical areas are largely distinct from neural responses to linguistic depictions of motion. Motion words did not activate any part of the visual motion system. Motion passages produced a small response in the right superior parietal lobule, but none of the temporal motion regions. These results suggest that (1) as compared to words, rich language stimuli such as passages are more likely to evoke mental imagery and more likely to affect perceptual circuits and (2) effects of language on the visual system are more likely in secondary perceptual areas as compared to early sensory areas. We conclude that language and visual perception constitute distinct but interacting systems. PMID:24009592

Application of advanced computing techniques to the analysis and display of space science measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpar, D. M.; Lapolla, M. V.; Horblit, B.

1995-01-01

A prototype system has been developed to aid the experimental space scientist in the display and analysis of spaceborne data acquired from direct measurement sensors in orbit. We explored the implementation of a rule-based environment for semi-automatic generation of visualizations that assist the domain scientist in exploring one's data. The goal has been to enable rapid generation of visualizations which enhance the scientist's ability to thoroughly mine his data. Transferring the task of visualization generation from the human programmer to the computer produced a rapid prototyping environment for visualizations. The visualization and analysis environment has been tested against a set of data obtained from the Hot Plasma Composition Experiment on the AMPTE/CCE satellite creating new visualizations which provided new insight into the data.

Program Helps Generate And Manage Graphics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truong, L. V.

1994-01-01

Living Color Frame Maker (LCFM) computer program generates computer-graphics frames. Graphical frames saved as text files, in readable and disclosed format, easily retrieved and manipulated by user programs for wide range of real-time visual information applications. LCFM implemented in frame-based expert system for visual aids in management of systems. Monitoring, diagnosis, and/or control, diagrams of circuits or systems brought to "life" by use of designated video colors and intensities to symbolize status of hardware components (via real-time feedback from sensors). Status of systems can be displayed. Written in C++ using Borland C++ 2.0 compiler for IBM PC-series computers and compatible computers running MS-DOS.

The nocturnal bottleneck and the evolution of activity patterns in mammals.

PubMed

Gerkema, Menno P; Davies, Wayne I L; Foster, Russell G; Menaker, Michael; Hut, Roelof A

2013-08-22

In 1942, Walls described the concept of a 'nocturnal bottleneck' in placental mammals, where these species could survive only by avoiding daytime activity during times in which dinosaurs were the dominant taxon. Walls based this concept of a longer episode of nocturnality in early eutherian mammals by comparing the visual systems of reptiles, birds and all three extant taxa of the mammalian lineage, namely the monotremes, marsupials (now included in the metatherians) and placentals (included in the eutherians). This review describes the status of what has become known as the nocturnal bottleneck hypothesis, giving an overview of the chronobiological patterns of activity. We review the ecological plausibility that the activity patterns of (early) eutherian mammals were restricted to the night, based on arguments relating to endothermia, energy balance, foraging and predation, taking into account recent palaeontological information. We also assess genes, relating to light detection (visual and non-visual systems) and the photolyase DNA protection system that were lost in the eutherian mammalian lineage. Our conclusion presently is that arguments in favour of the nocturnal bottleneck hypothesis in eutherians prevail.

Web-based visualization of very large scientific astronomy imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertin, E.; Pillay, R.; Marmo, C.

2015-04-01

Visualizing and navigating through large astronomy images from a remote location with current astronomy display tools can be a frustrating experience in terms of speed and ergonomics, especially on mobile devices. In this paper, we present a high performance, versatile and robust client-server system for remote visualization and analysis of extremely large scientific images. Applications of this work include survey image quality control, interactive data query and exploration, citizen science, as well as public outreach. The proposed software is entirely open source and is designed to be generic and applicable to a variety of datasets. It provides access to floating point data at terabyte scales, with the ability to precisely adjust image settings in real-time. The proposed clients are light-weight, platform-independent web applications built on standard HTML5 web technologies and compatible with both touch and mouse-based devices. We put the system to the test and assess the performance of the system and show that a single server can comfortably handle more than a hundred simultaneous users accessing full precision 32 bit astronomy data.