bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Artist Graduates: Are they ready to do Business?
Authors: Wright Dr Angela
Published: June 2016

Businesses must expose their products and services to customers so as to make sales and be heard.  The world of the artist[1] is no different, and, in the words of the late Luciano Pavarotti, the artist must ‘be heard and be seen’.  The aim of this paper is to examine if there is a need to ensure that our artistic graduates are ‘market ready’.  The paper specifically examines this concept in the context of an Irish Institute of Technology (IT).  Artists generally do not view the world in terms of business & commerce, only as a creative space.  This research study investigates if there is a need for a special purpose award that would allow already qualified or working artists who have missed out on business education to take business modules at any stage in their careers.  The findings in this study are rich and the attitudes to the business world by participating artists are interesting.  Having established that artists need some business education, this paper then proceeds to outline what may be needed now, and in the future. Keywords: Artist, Musicians, Business Education, Business World. [1] For the purpose of this paper, the term ‘artist’ is deemed to refer to both performing and visual artists.
Electrónica enREDada: An experience with a webinar program
Authors: Gimeno Cecilia , Sánchez-Azqueta Carlos , Celma Santiago , Aldea Concepción
Published: June 2016

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are an invaluable tool to facilitate meaningful learning. In this work, a webinar program (‘Electrónica enREDada’) is presented that complements the teaching-learning process in selected courses of electronics in degree and master studies in Physics. These webinars allow an innovative approach to the study of specialized topics, improving the training of the student and promoting his/her scientific knowledge in the field of electronics by means of specific and informative modules. This learning activity is part of a comprehensive strategy towards the implementation of e-learning activities in all courses taught at the Electronics area. This learning activity consists of two webinar modules: one being of a synchronous nature and specialized contents, and the other one of an asynchronous nature and featuring distributed learning, which is intended not only for students of physics but also of other related degrees.
Organization of the Ph-doctoral studies on the chemical specialties
Authors: Sagdat Tazhibayeva , Grigoryi Mun , Galiya Irmukhametova , Yerdos Ongarbayev , Zhannur Myltykbaeva , Altynai Musabekova
Published: June 2016

Problem of globalization of the educational process and integration into the international educational space is one of the most urgent problems for the Kazakh universities. In this regard, generalization of experience in training of PhD students is of particular interest, since training of PhD students is different in different countries. The example of the organization of educational process and scientific research in the PhD studies of chemical specialties at Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology Al-Farabi Kazakh National University shows the peculiarities of the organization and defense of dissertations in Kazakhstan universities. It is shown that the training of specialists - doctoral students at Kazakhstan universities is carried out on the basis of theoretical and practical tests. At the same time currently the state of theoretical training and practical research is 1:1,5 however there is a tendency of decrease of the theoretical training. Conditions for preparation and defense of PhD-dissertations are described. The main requirements for the defense are marked: fulfillment of theoretical training and practical research in amount of 75 credits, the publication of results in journals with non-zero impact factor and approbation of the results in international scientific conferences.
TED-Ed web-based blended learning to support teaching: An action research project
Authors: Russell Douglas
Published: June 2016

The use of video material to support the pedagogical shift to blended learning has begun being utilised in traditional campus based universities. This student centred approach has supported higher education practitioners in adapting their practice to better meet the diverse student populations entering university. An action research project utilizing TED-Ed to introduce out of class, student centred learning was conducted by a Dubai based lecturer. A class of 65 students enrolled in a second year Psychology module completed between one to three online activities and answered a qualitative survey sharing their opinions towards completing the tasks. The results showed that blended learning could be effectively used as a teaching tool to support practice in a ‘traditional’ university with a focus on the lecture/seminar approach. Lecturers seeking to extend their students’ learning into out of class environments should consider the use of TED-Ed as a suitable tool for not only achieving this but also supporting the needs of 21st century tertiary students.
New ways to evaluate learning. Assessing teamwork using TPM and a Poka-Yoke design
Authors: Lopez-Perea Eva Maria , Mariscal Saldaña Miguel Angel , García Herrero Susana
Published: June 2016

In this paper we present a hands-on experiment for measuring learning through teamwork applied to solving a real problem. The experiment is part of the Production Systems course and involves designing a Poka-Yoke, but not theoretically, as is usually the case, rather an actual working mechanism. To this end, a practical problem is proposed for which a physical machine has to be designed to solve the problem. As part of the same exercise, a TPM is developed, also applied to a real case, such as assembling a bicycle. In the case of the Poka-Yoke, two simultaneous objectives are pursued: to avoid a defective product, and to maximize the production per unit time. The final score is assigned based on a measurement of these two parameters. Once the exercise is assigned, the teamwork is verified to be measured efficiently, even when the number of students is high. The physical design of the elements, as well as the simultaneous engagement by all the students in the exercise, served to considerably raise the motivation of the students.
Critical thinking in college students: evaluation of their beliefs in popular psychological myths
Authors: Gonzalez-Cuevas Gustavo , Alonso Rodriguez Marcos , Nogales Cuellar Valeria
Published: June 2016

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of acceptance of psychological myths in undergraduate students in Health Sciences. Our results showed that first-year Psychology students believed more myths than did the other first-year Health Sciences students (Medicine, Dentistry, and Optics and Optometry). Third-year Psychology students drastically reduced their beliefs in myths in comparison with first-year Psychology students (Cohen’s d=1.7). Overall, we found a gender effect, being women less gullible than men in believing in myths. Age did not account for differences in myth acceptance. All in all, these results suggest that beginning Psychology students seem to accept more myths than other first-year Health Sciences students regarding psychological misconceptions. However, college exposure in Psychology students may favor critical thinking by diminishing myth beliefs.
Using a combined power law and log-normal distribution model to simulate particle formation and growth in a mobile aerosol chamber
Authors: Olin Miska , Anttila Tatu , Dal Maso Miikka
Published: June 2016

Abstract. We present the combined power law and log-normal distribution (PL+LN) model, a computationally efficient model to be used in simulations where the particle size distribution cannot be accurately represented by log-normal distributions, such as in simulations involving the initial steps of aerosol formation, where new particle formation and growth occur simultaneously, or in the case of inverse modeling. The model was evaluated against highly accurate sectional models using input parameter values that reflect conditions typical to particle formation occurring in the atmosphere and in vehicle exhaust. The model was tested in the simulation of a particle formation event performed in a mobile aerosol chamber at Mäkelänkatu street canyon measurement site in Helsinki, Finland. The number, surface area, and mass concentrations in the chamber simulation were conserved with the relative errors lower than 2 % using the PL+LN model, whereas a moment-based log-normal model and sectional models with the same computing time as with the PL+LN model caused relative errors up to 17 and 79 %, respectively.
Vertical profiling of aerosol hygroscopic properties in the planetary boundary layer during the PEGASOS campaigns
Authors: Rosati Bernadette , Gysel Martin , Rubach Florian , Mentel Thomas F. , Goger Brigitta , Poulain Laurent , Schlag Patrick , Miettinen Pasi , Pajunoja Aki , Virtanen Annele , Klein Baltink Henk , Henzing J. S. Bas , Größ Johannes , Gobbi Gian Paolo , Wiedensohler Alfred , Kiendler-Scharr Astrid , Decesari Stefano , Facchini Maria Cristina , Weingartner Ernest , Baltensperger Urs
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Vertical profiles of the aerosol particles hygroscopic properties, their mixing state as well as chemical composition were measured above northern Italy and the Netherlands. An aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS; for chemical composition) and a white-light humidified optical particle spectrometer (WHOPS; for hygroscopic growth) were deployed on a Zeppelin NT airship within the PEGASOS project. This allowed one to investigate the development of the different layers within the planetary boundary layer (PBL), providing a unique in situ data set for airborne aerosol particles properties in the first kilometre of the atmosphere. Profiles measured during the morning hours on 20 June 2012 in the Po Valley, Italy, showed an increased nitrate fraction at  ∼  100 m above ground level (a.g.l.) coupled with enhanced hygroscopic growth compared to  ∼  700 m a. g. l. This result was derived from both measurements of the aerosol composition and direct measurements of the hygroscopicity, yielding hygroscopicity parameters (κ) of 0.34  ±  0.12 and 0.19  ±  0.07 for 500 nm particles, at  ∼  100 and  ∼  700 m a. g. l., respectively. The difference is attributed to the structure of the PBL at this time of day which featured several independent sub-layers with different types of aerosols. Later in the day the vertical structures disappeared due to the mixing of the layers and similar aerosol particle properties were found at all probed altitudes (mean κ ≈ 0.18  ±  0.07). The aerosol properties observed at the lowest flight level (100 m a. g. l.) were consistent with parallel measurements at a ground site, both in the morning and afternoon. Overall, the aerosol particles were found to be externally mixed, with a prevailing hygroscopic fraction. The flights near Cabauw in the Netherlands in the fully mixed PBL did not feature altitude-dependent characteristics. Particles were also externally mixed and had an even larger hygroscopic fraction compared to the results in Italy. The mean κ from direct measurements was 0.28 ±  0.10, thus considerably higher than κ values measured in Italy in the fully mixed PBL.
Performance and results of the high-resolution biogeochemical model PELAGOS025 v1.0 within NEMO v3.4
Authors: Epicoco Italo , Mocavero Silvia , Macchia Francesca , Vichi Marcello , Lovato Tomas , Masina Simona , Aloisio Giovanni
Published: June 2016

Abstract. The present work aims at evaluating the scalability performance of a high-resolution global ocean biogeochemistry model (PELAGOS025) on massive parallel architectures and the benefits in terms of the time-to-solution reduction. PELAGOS025 is an on-line coupling between the Nucleus for the European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) physical ocean model and the Biogeochemical Flux Model (BFM) biogeochemical model. Both the models use a parallel domain decomposition along the horizontal dimension. The parallelisation is based on the message passing paradigm. The performance analysis has been done on two parallel architectures, an IBM BlueGene/Q at ALCF (Argonne Leadership Computing Facilities) and an IBM iDataPlex with Sandy Bridge processors at the CMCC (Euro Mediterranean Center on Climate Change). The outcome of the analysis demonstrated that the lack of scalability is due to several factors such as the I/O operations, the memory contention, the load unbalancing due to the memory structure of the BFM component and, for the BlueGene/Q, the absence of a hybrid parallelisation approach.
AUTOMATIC 3D BUILDING RECONSTRUCTION FROM A DENSE IMAGE MATCHING DATASET
Authors: McClune Andrew P. , Mills Jon P. , Miller Pauline E. , Holland David A.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Over the last 20 years the demand for three dimensional (3D) building models has resulted in a vast amount of research being conducted in attempts to automate the extraction and reconstruction of models from airborne sensors. Recent results have shown that current methods tend to favour planar fitting procedures from lidar data, which are able to successfully reconstruct simple roof structures automatically but fail to reconstruct more complex structures or roofs with small artefacts. Current methods have also not fully explored the potential of recent developments in digital photogrammetry. Large format digital aerial cameras can now capture imagery with increased overlap and a higher spatial resolution, increasing the number of pixel correspondences between images. Every pixel in each stereo pair can also now be matched using per-pixel algorithms, which has given rise to the approach known as dense image matching. This paper presents an approach to 3D building reconstruction to try and overcome some of the limitations of planar fitting procedures. Roof vertices, extracted from true-orthophotos using edge detection, are refined and converted to roof corner points. By determining the connection between extracted corner points, a roof plane can be defined as a closed-cycle of points. Presented results demonstrate the potential of this method for the reconstruction of complex 3D building models at CityGML LoD2 specification.
AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF BUILDING MODELS WITH LEVELS OF DETAIL 1-3
Authors: Nguatem W. , Drauschke M. , Mayer H.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. We present a workflow for the automatic generation of building models with levels of detail (LOD) 1 to 3 according to the CityGML standard (Gröger et al., 2012). We start with orienting unsorted image sets employing (Mayer et al., 2012), we compute depth maps using semi-global matching (SGM) (Hirschmüller, 2008), and fuse these depth maps to reconstruct dense 3D point clouds (Kuhn et al., 2014). Based on planes segmented from these point clouds, we have developed a stochastic method for roof model selection (Nguatem et al., 2013) and window model selection (Nguatem et al., 2014). We demonstrate our workflow up to the export into CityGML.
EVALUATION OF COLOR SETTINGS IN AERIAL IMAGES WITH THE USE OF EYE-TRACKING USER STUDY
Authors: Mirijovsky J. , Popelka S.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. The main aim of presented paper is to find the most realistic and preferred color settings for four different types of surfaces on the aerial images. This will be achieved through user study with the use of eye-movement recording. Aerial images taken by the unmanned aerial system were used as stimuli. From each image, squared crop area containing one of the studied types of surfaces (asphalt, concrete, water, soil, and grass) was selected. For each type of surface, the real value of reflectance was found with the use of precise spectroradiometer ASD HandHeld 2 which measures the reflectance. The device was used at the same time as aerial images were captured, so lighting conditions and state of vegetation were equal. The spectral resolution of the ASD device is better than 3.0 nm. For defining the RGB values of selected type of surface, the spectral reflectance values recorded by the device were merged into wider groups. Finally, we get three groups corresponding to RGB color system. Captured images were edited with the graphic editor Photoshop CS6. Contrast, clarity, and brightness were edited for all surface types on images. Finally, we get a set of 12 images of the same area with different color settings. These images were put into the grid and used as stimuli for the eye-tracking experiment. Eye-tracking is one of the methods of usability studies and it is considered as relatively objective. Eye-tracker SMI RED 250 with the sampling frequency 250 Hz was used in the study. As respondents, a group of 24 students of Geoinformatics and Geography was used. Their task was to select which image in the grid has the best color settings. The next task was to select which color settings they prefer. Respondents’ answers were evaluated and the most realistic and most preferable color settings were found. The advantage of the eye-tracking evaluation was that also the process of the selection of the answers was analyzed. Areas of Interest were marked around each image in the grid and the sequences of gaze movements were analyzed. Sequence chart was used for visualization and eye-tracking metrics were statistically tested. The presented paper shows the differences in the perception and preferences of aerial images with different color settings.
Line Matching Algorithm for Aerial Image Combining image and object space similarity constraints
Authors: Wang Jingxue , Wang Weixi , Li Xiaoming , Cao Zhenyu , Zhu Hong , Li Miao , He Biao , Zhao Zhigang
Published: June 2016

Abstract. A new straight line matching method for aerial images is proposed in this paper. Compared to previous works, similarity constraints combining radiometric information in image and geometry attributes in object plane are employed in these methods. Firstly, initial candidate lines and the elevation values of lines projection plane are determined by corresponding points in neighborhoods of reference lines. Secondly, project reference line and candidate lines back forward onto the plane, and then similarity measure constraints are enforced to reduce the number of candidates and to determine the finial corresponding lines in a hierarchical way. Thirdly, "one-to-many" and "many-to-one" matching results are transformed into "one-to-one" by merging many lines into the new one, and the errors are eliminated simultaneously. Finally, endpoints of corresponding lines are detected by line expansion process combing with "image-object-image" mapping mode. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can be able to obtain reliable line matching results for aerial images.
SHAPELEARNER: TOWARDS SHAPE-BASED VISUAL KNOWLEDGE HARVESTING
Authors: Wang Zheng , Liang Ti
Published: June 2016

Abstract. The explosion of images on the Web has led to a number of efforts to organize images semantically and compile collections of visual knowledge. While there has been enormous progress on categorizing entire images or bounding boxes, only few studies have targeted fine-grained image understanding at the level of specific shape contours. For example, given an image of a cat, we would like a system to not merely recognize the existence of a cat, but also to distinguish between the cat’s legs, head, tail, and so on. In this paper, we present ShapeLearner, a system that acquires such visual knowledge about object shapes and their parts. ShapeLearner jointly learns this knowledge from sets of segmented images. The space of label and segmentation hypotheses is pruned and then evaluated using Integer Linear Programming. ShapeLearner places the resulting knowledge in a semantic taxonomy based on WordNet and is able to exploit this hierarchy in order to analyze new kinds of objects that it has not observed before. We conduct experiments using a variety of shape classes from several representative categories and demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of our method.
OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING IMAGE OPTIMIZED DEHAZING ALGORITHM BASED ON HOT
Authors: Yang Zhou , Qing Xu , Jiwei Xu , Guowang Jin
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Due to the significantly effect of clouds in the near-earth space environment to remote sensing satellite images, some satellite images can not be utilized normally, resulting in large limitation of their application fields. For the background suppressed haze thickness index (BSHTI) and improvement background suppressed haze thickness index (IBSHTI) have the characteristics of thoroughly cloud correction and badly deficiency of the tone and texture information, we propose to first adopt IBSHTI to calculate the cloud thickness image of different bands, then the dark-pixel images are obtained by down sampling, and the texture is eliminated by introducing Texture and edge information (TEI). Experiment results show that our method can well retain the ground tone and texture information while removing the effect of clouds, especially in urban areas.
HYBRID MODELS FOR TRAJECTORY ERROR MODELLING IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
Authors: Angelatsa E. , Parés M. E. , Colomina I.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. This paper tackles the first step of any strategy aiming to improve the trajectory of terrestrial mobile mapping systems in urban environments. We present an approach to model the error of terrestrial mobile mapping trajectories, combining deterministic and stochastic models. Due to urban specific environment, the deterministic component will be modelled with non-continuous functions composed by linear shifts, drifts or polynomial functions. In addition, we will introduce a stochastic error component for modelling residual noise of the trajectory error function. First step for error modelling requires to know the actual trajectory error values for several representative environments. In order to determine as accurately as possible the trajectories error, (almost) error less trajectories should be estimated using extracted nonsemantic features from a sequence of images collected with the terrestrial mobile mapping system and from a full set of ground control points. Once the references are estimated, they will be used to determine the actual errors in terrestrial mobile mapping trajectory. The rigorous analysis of these data sets will allow us to characterize the errors of a terrestrial mobile mapping system for a wide range of environments. This information will be of great use in future campaigns to improve the results of the 3D points cloud generation. The proposed approach has been evaluated using real data. The data originate from a mobile mapping campaign over an urban and controlled area of Dortmund (Germany), with harmful GNSS conditions. The mobile mapping system, that includes two laser scanner and two cameras, was mounted on a van and it was driven over a controlled area around three hours. The results show the suitability to decompose trajectory error with non-continuous deterministic and stochastic components.
KNOWLEDGE BASED 3D BUILDING MODEL RECOGNITION USING CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS FROM LIDAR AND AERIAL IMAGERIES
Authors: Alidoost F. , Arefi H.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. In recent years, with the development of the high resolution data acquisition technologies, many different approaches and algorithms have been presented to extract the accurate and timely updated 3D models of buildings as a key element of city structures for numerous applications in urban mapping. In this paper, a novel and model-based approach is proposed for automatic recognition of buildings’ roof models such as flat, gable, hip, and pyramid hip roof models based on deep structures for hierarchical learning of features that are extracted from both LiDAR and aerial ortho-photos. The main steps of this approach include building segmentation, feature extraction and learning, and finally building roof labeling in a supervised pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) framework to have an automatic recognition system for various types of buildings over an urban area. In this framework, the height information provides invariant geometric features for convolutional neural network to localize the boundary of each individual roofs. CNN is a kind of feed-forward neural network with the multilayer perceptron concept which consists of a number of convolutional and subsampling layers in an adaptable structure and it is widely used in pattern recognition and object detection application. Since the training dataset is a small library of labeled models for different shapes of roofs, the computation time of learning can be decreased significantly using the pre-trained models. The experimental results highlight the effectiveness of the deep learning approach to detect and extract the pattern of buildings’ roofs automatically considering the complementary nature of height and RGB information.
USING MORPHLET-BASED IMAGE REPRESENTATION FOR OBJECT DETECTION
Authors: Gorbatsevich V. S. , Vizilter Yu. V.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. In this paper, we propose an original method for objects detection based on a special tree-structured image representation – the trees of morphlets. The method provides robust detection of various types of objects in an image without employing a machine learning procedure. Along with a bounding box creation on a detection step, the method makes pre-segmentation, which can be further used for recognition purposes. Another important feature of the proposed approach is that there are no needs to use a running window as well as a features pyramid in order to detect the objects of different sizes.
SEARCHING REMOTELY SENSED IMAGES FOR MEANINGFUL NESTED GESTALTEN
Authors: Michaelsen E. , Muench D. , Arens M.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Even non-expert human observers sometimes still outperform automatic extraction of man-made objects from remotely sensed data. We conjecture that some of this remarkable capability can be explained by Gestalt mechanisms. Gestalt algebra gives a mathematical structure capturing such part-aggregate relations and the laws to form an aggregate called Gestalt. Primitive Gestalten are obtained from an input image and the space of all possible Gestalt algebra terms is searched for well-assessed instances. This can be a very challenging combinatorial effort. The contribution at hand gives some tools and structures unfolding a finite and comparably small subset of the possible combinations. Yet, the intended Gestalten still are contained and found with high probability and moderate efforts. Experiments are made with images obtained from a virtual globe system, and use the SIFT method for extraction of the primitive Gestalten. Comparison is made with manually extracted ground-truth Gestalten salient to human observers.
A FULLY AUTOMATED PIPELINE FOR CLASSIFICATION TASKS WITH AN APPLICATION TO REMOTE SENSING
Authors: Suzuki K. , Claesen M. , Takeda H. , De Moor B.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Nowadays deep learning has been intensively in spotlight owing to its great victories at major competitions, which undeservedly pushed ‘shallow’ machine learning methods, relatively naive/handy algorithms commonly used by industrial engineers, to the background in spite of their facilities such as small requisite amount of time/dataset for training. We, with a practical point of view, utilized shallow learning algorithms to construct a learning pipeline such that operators can utilize machine learning without any special knowledge, expensive computation environment, and a large amount of labelled data. The proposed pipeline automates a whole classification process, namely feature-selection, weighting features and the selection of the most suitable classifier with optimized hyperparameters. The configuration facilitates particle swarm optimization, one of well-known metaheuristic algorithms for the sake of generally fast and fine optimization, which enables us not only to optimize (hyper)parameters but also to determine appropriate features/classifier to the problem, which has conventionally been a priori based on domain knowledge and remained untouched or dealt with naïve algorithms such as grid search. Through experiments with the MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets, common datasets in computer vision field for character recognition and object recognition problems respectively, our automated learning approach provides high performance considering its simple setting (i.e. non-specialized setting depending on dataset), small amount of training data, and practical learning time. Moreover, compared to deep learning the performance stays robust without almost any modification even with a remote sensing object recognition problem, which in turn indicates that there is a high possibility that our approach contributes to general classification problems.
FAST DRAWING OF TRAFFIC SIGN USING MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEM
Authors: Yao Q. , Tan B. , Huang Y.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Traffic sign provides road users with the specified instruction and information to enhance traffic safety. Automatic detection of traffic sign is important for navigation, autonomous driving, transportation asset management, etc. With the advance of laser and imaging sensors, Mobile Mapping System (MMS) becomes widely used in transportation agencies to map the transportation infrastructure. Although many algorithms of traffic sign detection are developed in the literature, they are still a tradeoff between the detection speed and accuracy, especially for the large-scale mobile mapping of both the rural and urban roads. This paper is motivated to efficiently survey traffic signs while mapping the road network and the roadside landscape. Inspired by the manual delineation of traffic sign, a drawing strategy is proposed to quickly approximate the boundary of traffic sign. Both the shape and color prior of the traffic sign are simultaneously involved during the drawing process. The most common speed-limit sign circle and the statistic color model of traffic sign are studied in this paper. Anchor points of traffic sign edge are located with the local maxima of color and gradient difference. Starting with the anchor points, contour of traffic sign is drawn smartly along the most significant direction of color and intensity consistency. The drawing process is also constrained by the curvature feature of the traffic sign circle. The drawing of linear growth is discarded immediately if it fails to form an arc over some steps. The Kalman filter principle is adopted to predict the temporal context of traffic sign. Based on the estimated point,we can predict and double check the traffic sign in consecutive frames.The event probability of having a traffic sign over the consecutive observations is compared with the null hypothesis of no perceptible traffic sign. The temporally salient traffic sign is then detected statistically and automatically as the rare event of having a traffic sign.The proposed algorithm is tested with a diverse set of images that are taken inWuhan, China with theMMS ofWuhan University. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can detect traffic signs at the rate of over 80% in around 10 milliseconds. It is promising for the large-scale traffic sign survey and change detection using the mobile mapping system.
HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE KERNEL SPARSE SUBSPACE CLUSTERING WITH SPATIAL MAX POOLING OPERATION
Authors: Zhang Hongyan , Zhai Han , Liao Wenzhi , Cao Liqin , Zhang Liangpei , Pižurica Aleksandra
Published: June 2016

Abstract. In this paper, we present a kernel sparse subspace clustering with spatial max pooling operation (KSSC-SMP) algorithm for hyperspectral remote sensing imagery. Firstly, the feature points are mapped from the original space into a higher dimensional space with a kernel strategy. In particular, the sparse subspace clustering (SSC) model is extended to nonlinear manifolds, which can better explore the complex nonlinear structure of hyperspectral images (HSIs) and obtain a much more accurate representation coefficient matrix. Secondly, through the spatial max pooling operation, the spatial contextual information is integrated to obtain a smoother clustering result. Through experiments, it is verified that the KSSC-SMP algorithm is a competitive clustering method for HSIs and outperforms the state-of-the-art clustering methods.
ANALYSIS OF INFLUENCE OF TERRAIN RELIEF ROUGHNESS ON DEM ACCURACY GENERATED FROM LIDAR IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC TERRITORY
Authors: Hubacek M. , Kovarik V. , Kratochvil V.
Published: June 2016

Abstract. Digital elevation models are today a common part of geographic information systems and derived applications. The way of their creation is varied. It depends on the extent of area, required accuracy, delivery time, financial resources and technologies available. The first model covering the whole territory of the Czech Republic was created already in the early 1980's. Currently, the 5th DEM generation is being finished. Data collection for this model was realized using the airborne laser scanning which allowed creating the DEM of a new generation having the precision up to a decimetre. Model of such a precision expands the possibilities of employing the DEM and it also offers new opportunities for the use of elevation data especially in a domain of modelling the phenomena dependent on highly accurate data. The examples are precise modelling of hydrological phenomena, studying micro-relief objects, modelling the vehicle movement, detecting and describing historical changes of a landscape, designing constructions etc. Due to a nature of the technology used for collecting data and generating DEM, it is assumed that the resulting model achieves lower accuracy in areas covered by vegetation and in built-up areas. Therefore the verification of model accuracy was carried out in five selected areas in Moravia. The network of check points was established using a total station in each area. To determine the reference heights of check points, the known geodetic points whose heights were defined using levelling were used. Up to several thousands of points were surveyed in each area. Individual points were selected according to a different configuration of relief, different surface types, and different vegetation coverage. The sets of deviations were obtained by comparing the DEM 5G heights with reference heights which was followed by verification of tested elevation model. Results of the analysis showed that the model reaches generally higher precision than the declared one in majority of areas. This applies in particular to areas covered by vegetation. By contrast, the larger deviations occurred in relation to the slope of the terrain, in particular in the micro-relief objects. The results are presented in this article.
Relating optical and microwave grain metrics of snow: The relevance of grain shape
Authors: Krol Quirine , Löwe Henning
Published: June 2016

Abstract. While optical properties of snow are predominantly determined by the specific surface area (SSA), microwave measurements are often analyzed in terms of the exponential correlation length ξ. A statistical relation between both is commonly employed to facilitate forcing of microwave models by optical measurements. To improve the understanding of ξ and establish a link between optical and microwave grain metrics we analyzed the third order term in the expansion of the correlation function that can be regarded as a shape parameter related to mean and Gaussian curvature. We show that the statistical prediction of the correlation length via SSA is considerably improved by including the shape metric. In a second step we address the chord-length distribution as a key quantity for geometrical optics. We show that the second moment of the distribution can be accurately related to density, SSA and the shape parameter. This empirical finding is supported by a theoretical relation between the chord length distribution and the correlation function as suggested by small angle scattering methods. As a practical implication, we compute the optical shape factor $B$ from tomography data. Our results indicate a possibility of estimating ξ by a careful analysis of shape corrections in geometrical optics.
Ockham, Suárez y Descartes: transición de las noéticas tardomedievales a la filosofía moderna
Authors: Prieto Leopoldo
Published: June 2016

El artículo estudia algunas ideas de importancia de las teorías del conocimiento del siglo XIV que se estima tienen un papel relevante en el origen de la filosofía moderna, particularmente en la filosofía de Descartes. Tales ideas, entre otras, son: a) la noción escotista de notitia abstractiva y su correlato en la noción de conceptus objectivus de procedencia aviceniana; b) la tendencia presente en un buen número de autores franciscanos, que en el proceso del conocimiento otorga más relevancia al sujeto cognoscente que a la cosa conocida; c) la idea teológica de la omnipotencia divina que, de potentia absoluta, aplicada al conocimiento humano, cree posible un concepto sin objeto; d) una difusa tendencia al escepticismo, que se alimenta de dos fuentes: la teoría agustiniana de la iluminación y el giro que en el siglo XIV experimenta la lógica hacia la dialéctica. En torno a estas ideas se descubre una línea de pensamiento común a Ockham, Suárez (y los conimbricenses) y Descartes, en cuyas filosofías la intencionalidad y la certeza del conocimiento quedan comprometidas.
El derecho internacional del medio ambiente y el principio de precaución: una atención a los organismos vivos modificados (OVM)
Authors: González Arruti Carlos Ignacio
Published: June 2016

Uno de los mayores retos que afronta la humanidad en este siglo es el de lograr un crecimiento económico mundial sostenido que garantice la protección y conservación del medio ambiente y la seguridad alimentaria para las generaciones futuras. Los problemas ambientales han dejado de ser un campo de construcción teórico, para convertirse en un referente de fenómeno real perceptible por sectores que resultan afectados en diversos intereses. El comercio de alimentos seguros y saludables es esencial tanto para empresarios como para autoridades y consumidores en todo el mundo. En la elaboración de las políticas alimentarias los Estados deben asegurar un nivel de protección de la salud y vida de las personas, además de los intereses sociales y económicos, ya sea a nivel internacional o nacional. En este artículo se analiza la función del principio de precaución en el ámbito de la diversidad biológica, poniendo especial énfasis en la regulación de los organismos vivos modificados.
Maternidad subrogada. Una mirada a su regulación en México
Authors: Martínez Martínez Verónica Lidia
Published: June 2016

El presente trabajo aborda el tema de la maternidad subrogada en México, a partir de sus antecedentes, marco conceptual y modalidades, pues estos constituyen las herramientas que nos permitirán comprender la heterogénea regulación expedida para legislar esta técnica de reproducción asistida, cuya problemática se expone en estas líneas.
Teoría del bienestar y el óptimo de Pareto como problemas microeconómicos
Authors: Reyes-Blanco Otilio , Franklin-Sam Oslund Rains
Published: June 2016

El presente artículo intenta dar una visión general de la problemática que plantea la aplicación del bienestar y el óptimo de Pareto como problemas microeconómicos y que constituye un reto permanente para los estudiosos de las ciencias sociales, porque el concepto de bienestar es un concepto difícil de conceptuar, debido a aspectos subjetivos que afectan al bienestar individual y colectivo, porque siendo un concepto multidimensional, es casi imposible de abarcar a partir de datos empíricos. De modo que el objetivo de este artículo consiste en fundamentar teóricamente las dificultades en aplicación, definición y medición del bienestar y el óptimo de Pareto. La investigación, es documental, porque se centra en la revisión, análisis teórico y conceptual de diferentes bibliografías. Entre los principales resultados de la investigación figuran: El concepto de bienestar y el óptimo de Pareto son conceptos difíciles de precisar, debido a aspectos subjetivos que afectan al bienestar individual y colectivo; la aplicación de la teoría del bienestar y el óptimo de Pareto en formar racional conduce a minimizar la desigualdad social y establece una justa medida de distribución de los escasos recursos y por último el concepto de utilidad, visto a la luz del bienestar es un concepto relativo, por cuanto depende de la valoración que cada individuo le asigne.La Calera, Vol.14 No.22, Mayo 2014, pp.50-56
Feasibility and efficacy of a mass switch from ranibizumab (Lucentis) to bevacizumab (Avastin) for treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Andreoli Michael T. , Pinnolis Michael , Kieser Troy , Sun Jennifer , Andreoli Christopher M.
Published: June 2016

ObjectiveTo assess the feasibility and potential obstacles of a departmental switch from ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA) to bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech) for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

MethodsA total of 154 eyes treated for wet AMD with ranibizumab or bevacizumab were examined over a 10-month period. The treatment protocol was monthly induction therapy followed by injections as needed for macular edema or subretinal fluid on optical coherence tomography, new hemorrhage or edema on examination, worsening vision, or leakage on fluorescein angiography. Central subfield thickness and pinhole vision were the main treatment outcomes. Study windows were compared using t tests and Mann-Whitney U tests. Statistical significance was defined as a P value of <0.05.

ResultsThe majority of patients (88%) were willing to accept a bevacizumab injection. There was no difference in frequency of injection, central subfield thickness, visual outcome, or endophthalmitis rate between the ranibizumab and bevacizumab groups. A small subset of patients (4.5%) appeared to respond more favorably to ranibizumab than bevacizumab.

ConclusionBevacizumab appears to be a cost-effective alternative to ranibizumab for the treatment of neovascular AMD. Patients previously treated with ranibizumab are typically willing to switch to bevacizumab. In the overwhelming majority of patients, there is no major decline in clinical status. However, select patients may respond better to ranibizumab injections.
Combined phacoemulsification with ExPRESS shunt in angle closure glaucoma
Authors: Rao Aparno
Published: June 2016

A 60-year-old woman diagnosed with primary angle closure glaucoma with extensive peripheral anterior synechiae (PAS) and advanced glaucomatous optic neuropathy unresponsive to maximal medical treatment, underwent clear corneal phacoemulsification and ExPRESS (Alcon Inc, Fort Worth, TX) shunt surgery in the right eye with intraoperative placement tailored to avoid areas of PAS. Postoperatively her visual acuity in the right eye was 20/20 and intraocular pressure was 13 mm Hg with the shunt in place and functioning bleb at final follow-up. The ExPRESS shunt can be used in angle closure eyes with good outcomes after proper placement of the shunt.
Urrets-Zavalia syndrome after implantable Collamer lens placement
Authors: Al Habash Ahmed , Al Arfaj Khallid , Al Abdulsalam Omar
Published: June 2016

We describe the case of a healthy 28-year-old woman who underwent implantation of a posterior chamber, phakic, toric, implantable Collamer lens (ICL) in both eyes for correction of bilateral high myopia with astigmatism. On the first postoperative day the patient developed increased intraocular pressure (IOP) and a fixed, mid-dilated pupil in her left eye. The elevated IOP was corrected within 3 days by medical treatment. However, the pupil remained mid-dilated and nonreactive to both light and accommodative effort during 2 months of follow-up; there was no reaction to pilocarpine (0.125% or 4%) eyedrops. The patient was diagnosed with Urrets-Zavalia syndrome (UZS), which has been reported in association with ICL implantation only once previously.
A 5-year-old girl with decreased vision in the left eye
Authors: Yap Joel , Sharp Dianne , Dai Shuan
Published: June 2016

A 5-year-old girl was referred to Greenlane Clinical Centre, Auckland, after community-based vision screening revealed decreased vision in her left eye. She was born at full term by normal vaginal delivery weighing 2.9 kg. Past ocular, medical, and family histories were unremarkable. Her parents reported no previous ocular trauma. She was not taking any medications regularly, and her immunizations were up to date.
Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy of Peripheral Pulmonary Lesions under Real-time Sonographic Guidance
Authors: Khan G Q , Tanvir M , Iftikhar M , Bhat M Y , Mohiuddin G , Ashraf M
Published: June 2016

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/30-1-16283The utility of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) guided by real-time ultrasonography was studied in 25 patients referred with peripheral lung opacities on chest x-ray examination and in whom fiberoptic bronchoscopy was negative. The lesion, as seen on a chest x-ray, was visualized sonographically in 22 (88%) patients, and aspiration biopsy was performed in 20 of these 22 patients, two patients being excluded due to sonographic evidence of a hydatid cyst. Aspiration biopsy was diagnostic in 17 (85%) of the 20 patients studied including 12 patients with malignancy and five patients with benign lesion. One patient developed a small asymptomatic pneumothorax, detected on routine postprocedure chest x-ray examination. Thus fine needle aspiration biopsy underultrasonographic guidance is a safe, economical method with a high diagnosticyield in the evaluation of peripheral lung opacities, especially in developing countries where computed tomography scan facilities are limited and costly.
High Risk Pregnancy: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Fadhil Ibtihal M
Published: June 2016

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/30-1-16284The records of 408 pregnant women were reviewed to measure staff performance and work efficiency in four maternal and child health centers in Southern Iraq. Under-recording was evident as only 18% of the women were identifed as high risk by the health staff; whereas, the author identified two thirds of the pregnant women (66%) as high risk because of having one or more of the risk factors. The results of the study show the inability of staff to recognize the importance of risk identification and antenatal care continuity. No correlation was found between antenatal care and the place of delivery. The performance of some of the necessary screening tests was poor. Discussion will include further staff training and a new risk scoring system as a means to improve the efficiency of health workers and improve the effectiveness of the risk strategy in antenatal care in that setting.
The Principles of Faith (Arkan al-Iman) and Their Correlation with Medical and Scientific Verses (Ayat) in al-Qur'an al-Karim
Authors: Al-Habbal Mohammed Jamil A , Al-Juwarey Mekdad RA
Published: June 2016

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/30-1-16287In the Glorious Qur'an, there are about 1153 out of a total 6236 (18.5%) Ayat (verses) that deal with different medical/scientific themes. We believe that the rationale behind those scientific references in the Glorious Qur'an is mainly to support the cause of faith especially in Allah All-Mighty and in the hereafter as there is a strong correlation(> 92%) between the principles of faith and these Ayat. Actually in 86% of these Ayat there is one or more principle of faith in the same Ayah (verse) which has the scientific reference while in the remaining 14% of these Ayat, a principle of faith is stated in the Ayah that precedes and/or that follows. These principles of Iman (faith) are: Iman inAllah, the angels, the revealed books, the messengers, the hereafter, and destiny.This study demonstrated that the Qur'an is mainly a Book of Iman and Hidayah (guidance), but it is also a Book that encourages science and research.Presented at the 30th annual convention of the Islamic Medical Association of North America, July 26-August 1, 1997. Amman, Jordan