bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Recruiting Post-Doctoral Fellows into Global Health Research: Selecting NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows
Authors: Heimburger Douglas C. , Warner Tokesha L. , Carothers Catherine Lem , Blevins Meridith , Thomas Yolanda , Gardner Pierce , Primack Aron , Vermund Sten H.
Published: May 2014

From 2008 to 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows Program (FICRF) provided 1-year mentored research training at low- and middle-income country sites for American and international post-doctoral health professionals. We examined the FICRF applicant pool, proposed research topics, selection process, and characteristics of enrollees to assess trends in global health research interest and factors associated with applicant competitiveness. The majority (58%) of 67 US and 57 international Fellows were women, and 83% of Fellows had medical degrees. Most applicants were in clinical fellowships (41%) or residencies (24%). More applicants proposing infectious disease projects were supported (59%) than applicants proposing non-communicable disease (NCD) projects (41%), although projects that combined both topic areas were most successful (69%). The numbers of applicants proposing research on NCDs and the numbers of these applicants awarded fellowships rose dramatically over time. Funding provided to the FICRF varied significantly among NIH Institutes and Centers and was strongly associated with the research topics awarded.
Testicular Swelling Due to Lymphatic Filariasis After Brief Travel to Haiti
Authors: Marcos Luis A. , Shapley Nathan P. , Eberhard Mark , Epstein Jonathan I. , Fox LeAnne M. , Magill Alan , Nutman Thomas B.
Published: May 2014

After 6 months of a trip to Haiti, a 25-year-old healthy man presented with a 6-week history of a very slow progressive intermittent bilateral testicular pain and swelling. The biopsies in both testicles revealed the presence of a dead filarial parasite. Polymerase chain reaction products of the DNA from the biopsy were shown to have a 100% identity to Wuchereria bancrofti. Despite being uncommon in travelers, this presentation of W. bancrofti highlights the possibility of acquiring W. bancrofti during short-term trips to highly endemic regions of the world (i.e., Haiti).
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Cuban Immigrants to Texas who Traveled through the Darién Jungle, Panama
Authors: Barry Meagan A. , Koshelev Misha V. , Sun Grace S. , Grekin Sarah J. , Stager Charles E. , Diwan A. Hafeez , Wasko Carina A. , Murray Kristy O. , Woc-Colburn Laila
Published: May 2014

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is rarely seen in the United States. Four Cuban immigrants traveled along the same route at different times from Cuba to Ecuador, then northward, including through the Darién Jungle in Panama. These patients had chronic ulcerative non-healing skin lesions and were given a diagnosis of leishmaniasis.
Wat maakt goed onderwijsbestuur? - De gedragsmatige determinanten van taakuitvoering door raden van toezicht in het voortgezet onderwijs
Authors: Heemskerk Klaas , Heemskerk Eelke , Wats Margrietha
Published: May 2014

What determines good educational governance? Behavioral determinants of supervisory boards’ task performance in secondary education. We investigate how task performance by supervisory boards in secondary education is determined by the social dynamics that play within
a board. We show how the controlling task plays out different from the advising task. The internal, behavioral dynamics about task conflict, the use of expertise, effort norms and social cohesion all determine the task performance. The outcomes of a survey study among all secondary schools
in the Netherlands serves as the empirical underpinning for a process oriented model of good educational governance. As such we contribute to the emerging literature on behavioral governance. Implications of our study includes that anticipating governance that combines both the controlling
and the advising task is best served by diversity of ideas and opinions within a board. Particularly since task conflicts in supervisory boards do not lead to less but rather to more social cohesion.
Een nieuwe levensfase, een nieuwe sport? - Het effect van belangrijke levensgebeurtenissen op starten met sporten
Authors: van Houten Jasper , Hermsen Ralf , Kraaykamp Gerbert , Elling Agnes
Published: May 2014

A novel life stage, a fresh new sport? Life course transitions and their effect on starting a sport In this study we establish the effects of major life course events on the odds to start a sport and on the odds to start a competitive sport. To answer our research question
we employ retrospective life course data from the Dutch SportersMonitor2010 on 3.540 individuals. Event history analyses show that the chance to start a sport decreases at the moment people start living together or get married, and they have a first child. The chance to start a sport increases
when they start working, start living on their own, their children leave the parental home and when they retire. Finally, being active in competitive sport foremost is stimulated by the transition to paid work and leaving the parental home.
Observed and predicted characteristics of equatorial F1 layer during solar minimum
Authors: Lee C.-C.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. This study aims to assess the predictability of IRI-2012 on the equatorial F1 layer during solar minimum. The observed characteristics of F1 layer by the Jicamarca digisonde are compared with the model outputs. The results show that the time range for F1-layer appearance of observation is longer than that of IRI-2012, by at least 1 h in the early morning and later afternoon. In IRI-2012, there are three options for the occurrence probability of F1 layer: IRI-95, Scotto-97 no L, and Scotto-97 with L options. The first option predicts the probability well, but the last two underestimate the probability. The peak density of F1 layer (NmF1) of observation is very close to that of IRI-2012. For the F1 peak height (hmF1), the modeled values are smaller than the observed ones. The observed seasonal variation of hmF1 is not found in the modeled results. Nevertheless, the observed diurnal variation of hmF1 is similar to the modeled results with the B0 choices of Bil-2000 and ABT-2009. Regarding the shape parameter, the values of D1 (the shape parameter of F1 layer in observation) are much greater than the values of C1 (the shape parameter of F1 layer in IRI-2012). The D1 values are 3–6 times the C1 values. The diurnal variation of D1 is similar to that of C1, but the seasonal variation of D1 is not.
The role of ocean acidification in Emiliania huxleyi coccolith thinning in the Mediterranean Sea
Authors: Meier K. J. S. , Beaufort L. , Heussner S. , Ziveri P.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Ocean acidification is a result of the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere into the ocean and has been identified as a major environmental and economic threat. The release of several thousands of petagrams of carbon over a few hundred years will have an overwhelming effect on surface ocean carbon reservoirs. The recorded and anticipated changes in seawater carbonate chemistry will presumably affect global oceanic carbonate production. Coccolithophores as the primary calcifying phytoplankton group, and especially Emiliania huxleyi as the most abundant species have shown a reduction of calcification at increased CO2 concentrations for the majority of strains tested in culture experiments. A reduction of calcification is associated with a decrease in coccolith weight. However, the effect in monoclonal cultures is relatively small compared to the strong variability displayed in natural E. huxleyi communities, as these are a mix of genetically and sometimes morphologically distinct types. Average coccolith weight is likely influenced by the variability in seawater carbonate chemistry in different parts of the world's oceans and on glacial/interglacial time scales due to both physiological effects and morphotype selectivity. An effect of the ongoing ocean acidification on E. huxleyi calcification has so far not been documented in situ. Here, we analyze E. huxleyi coccolith weight from the NW Mediterranean Sea in a 12-year sediment trap series, and surface sediment and sediment core samples using an automated recognition and analyzing software. Our findings clearly show (1) a continuous decrease in the average coccolith weight of E. huxleyi from 1993 to 2005, reaching levels below pre-industrial (Holocene) and industrial (20th century) values recorded in the sedimentary record and (2) seasonal variability in coccolith weight that is linked to the coccolithophore productivity. The observed long-term decrease in coccolith weight is most likely a result of the changes in the surface ocean carbonate system. Our results provide the first indications of an in situ impact of ocean acidification on coccolithophore weight in a natural E. huxleyi population, even in the highly alkaline Mediterranean Sea.
Model reactions and natural occurrence of furans from hypersaline environments
Authors: Krause T. , Tubbesing C. , Benzing K. , Schöler H. F.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Volatile organic compounds like furan and its derivatives are important for atmospheric properties and reactions. In this work the known abiotic formation of furan from catechol under Fenton-like conditions with Fe3+ sulfate was revised by the use of a bispidine Fe2+ complex as a model compound for iron with well-known characteristics. While total yields were comparable to those with the Fe3+ salt, the bispidine Fe2+ complex is a better catalyst as the turnover numbers of the active iron species were higher. Additionally, the role of iron and pH is discussed in relation to furan formation from model compounds and in natural sediment and water samples collected from the Dead Sea and several salt lakes in Western Australia. Various alkylated furans and even traces of halogenated furans (3-chlorofuran and 3-bromofuran) were found in some Australian samples. 3-chlorofuran was found in three sediments and four water samples, whereas 3-bromofuran was detected in three water samples. Further, the emission of furans is compared to the abundance of several possible precursors such as isoprene and aromatic hydrocarbons as well as to the related thiophenes. It is deduced that the emissions of volatile organic compounds such as furans contribute to the formation of ultra-fine particles in the vicinity of salt lakes and are important for the local climate.
Technical Note: Maximising accuracy and minimising cost of a potentiometrically regulated ocean acidification simulation system
Authors: MacLeod C. D. , Doyle H. L. , Currie K. I.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. This article describes a potentiometric ocean acidification simulation system which automatically regulates pH through the injection of 100% CO2 gas into temperature-controlled seawater. The system is ideally suited to long-term experimental studies of the effect of acidification on biological processes involving small-bodied (10–20 mm) calcifying or non-calcifying organisms. Using hobbyist grade equipment, the system was constructed for approximately USD 1200 per treatment unit (tank, pH regulation apparatus, chiller, pump/filter unit). An overall accuracy of ±0.05 pHT units (SD) was achieved over 90 days in two acidified treatments (7.60 and 7.40) at 12 °C using glass electrodes calibrated with salt water buffers, thereby preventing liquid junction error. The accuracy of the system was validated through the independent calculation of pHT (12 °C) using dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (AT) data taken from discrete acidified seawater samples. The system was used to compare the shell growth of the marine gastropod Zeacumantus subcarinatus infected with the trematode parasite Maritrema novaezealandensis with that of uninfected snails, at pH levels of 7.4, 7.6, and 8.1.
Modeling of severe persistent droughts over eastern China during the last millennium
Authors: Peng Y. , Shen C. , Cheng H. , Xu Y.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. We use proxy data and modeled data from 1000 year model simulations with a variety of climate forcings to examine the occurrence of severe event of persistent drought over eastern China during the last millennium and diagnose the mechanisms. Results show that the model was able to roughly simulate most of these droughts over the study area during the last millennium such as those that occurred during the periods of 1123–1152, 1197–1223, 1353–1363, 1428–1449, 1479–1513, and 1632–1645. Our analyses suggest that these six well-captured droughts may caused by the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) weakening. Study on the wavelet transform and spectral analysis reveals these events occurred all at the statistically significant 15–35-year timescale. A modeled data intercomparison suggests the possibility that solar activity may be the primary driver in the occurrence of the 1129–1144, 1354–1365, 1466–1491 and 1631–1648 droughts as identified by the model. However another possibility that these events may be related to internal variability cannot be excluded. Although the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) plays an important role in monsoon variability, a temporally consistent relationship between the droughts and SST pattern in the Pacific Ocean could not be found either in the modeled or proxy data. Our analyses also indicate that large volcanic eruptions play a role as an amplifier in the drought of 1631–1648 and caused the droughts of 1830–1853 and 1958–1976, which was identified by the model.
Tracing the boundaries of Cenozoic volcanic edifices from Sardinia (Italy): a geomorphometric contribution
Authors: Melis M. T. , Mundula F. , Dessì F. , Cioni R. , Funedda A.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Unequivocal delimitation of landforms is an important issue for different purposes, from science-driven morphometric analysis to legal issues related to land conservation. This study is aimed at giving a new contribution to the morphometric approach for the delineation of the boundaries of volcanic edifices, applied to 13 monogenetic volcanoes (scoria cones) related to the Pliocene–Pleistocene volcanic cycle in Sardinia (Italy). External boundary delimitation of the edifices is discussed based on an integrated methodology using automatic elaboration of digital elevation models together with geomorphological and geological observations. Different elaborations of surface slope and profile curvature have been proposed and discussed; among them, two algorithms based on simple mathematical functions combining slope and profile curvature well fit the requirements of this study. One of theses algorithms is a modification of a function already discussed by Grosse et al. (2011), which better perform for recognizing and tracing the boundary between the volcanic scoria cone and its basement. Although the geological constraints still drive the final decision, the proposed method improves the existing tools for a semi-automatic tracing of the boundaries.
An evaluation of ambient ammonia concentrations over southern Ontario simulated with different dry deposition schemes within STILT-Chem v0.8
Authors: Wen D. , Zhang L. , Lin J. C. , Vet R. , Moran M. D.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. A bidirectional air–surface exchange scheme for atmospheric ammonia was incorporated into the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport air quality model (STILT-Chem v0.8). STILT-Chem v0.8 was then applied to simulate atmospheric ammonia concentrations at 53 measurement sites in the province of Ontario, Canada for a six-month period from 1 June to 30 November 2006. In addition to the bidirectional scheme, two unidirectional dry deposition schemes were tested. Comparisons of modeled ammonia concentrations against observations show that all three schemes can reasonably predict observations. For sites with low observed ammonia concentrations, the bidirectional scheme clearly overestimated ammonia concentrations during crop-growing season. Although all three schemes tended to underestimate ammonia concentrations after mid-October and for sites with elevated observed concentrations, mainly due to underestimated NH3 emission inventory after mid-October and/or underestimated emission potentials for those sites, the bidirectional scheme performed better because of its introduction of compensation points into the flux calculation parameterization. In addition to uncertainties in the emission inventory, the results of additional sensitivity tests suggest that uncertainties in the input values of emission potentials in the bidirectional scheme greatly affect the accuracy of modeled ammonia concentrations. The use of much larger emission potentials in the bidirectional scheme and larger anthropogenic NH3 emission after mid-October than provided in the model emissions files is needed for accurate prediction of elevated ammonia concentrations at intensive agricultural locations.
Development of a large-sample watershed-scale hydrometeorological dataset for the contiguous USA: dataset characteristics and assessment of regional variability in hydrologic model performance
Authors: Newman A. J. , Clark M. P. , Sampson K. , Wood A. , Hay L. E. , Bock A. , Viger R. , Blodgett D. , Brekke L. , Arnold J. R. , Hopson T. , Duan Q.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. We present a community dataset of daily forcing and hydrologic response data for 671 small- to medium-sized basins across the contiguous United States (median basin size of 336 km2) that spans a very wide range of hydroclimatic conditions. Areally averaged forcing data for the period 1980–2010 was generated for three basin delineations – basin mean, Hydrologic Response Units (HRUs) and elevation bands – by mapping the daily, 1 km gridded Daymet meteorological dataset to the sub-basin and basin polygons. Daily streamflow data was compiled from the United States Geological Survey National Water Information System. The focus of this paper is to (1) present the dataset for community use; and (2) provide a model performance benchmark using the coupled Snow-17 snow model and the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting conceptual hydrologic model, calibrated using the Shuffled Complex Evolution global optimization routine. After optimization minimizing daily root mean squared error, 90% of the basins have Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency scores > 0.55 for the calibration period. This benchmark provides a reference level of hydrologic model performance for a commonly used model and calibration system, and highlights some regional variations in model performance. For example, basins with a more pronounced seasonal cycle generally have a negative low flow bias, while basins with a smaller seasonal cycle have a positive low flow bias. Finally, we find that data points with extreme error (defined as individual days with a high fraction of total error) are more common in arid basins with limited snow, and, for a given aridity, fewer extreme error days are present as basin snow water equivalent increases.
Establishing an Appropriate Level of Detail (LoD) for a Building Information Model (BIM) – West Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada
Authors: Fai S. , Rafeiro J.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. In 2011, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) embarked on a comprehensive rehabilitation of the historically significant West Block of Canada’s Parliament Hill. With over 17 thousand square meters of floor space, the West Block is one of the largest projects of its kind in the world. As part of the rehabilitation, PWGSC is working with the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) to develop a building information model (BIM) that can serve as maintenance and life-cycle management tool once construction is completed. The scale and complexity of the model have presented many challenges. One of these challenges is determining appropriate levels of detail (LoD). While still a matter of debate in the development of international BIM standards, LoD is further complicated in the context of heritage buildings because we must reconcile the LoD of the BIM with that used in the documentation process (terrestrial laser scan and photogrammetric survey data). In this paper, we will discuss our work to date on establishing appropriate LoD within the West Block BIM that will best serve the end use. To facilitate this, we have developed a single parametric model for gothic pointed arches that can be used for over seventy-five unique window types present in the West Block. Using the AEC (CAN) BIM as a reference, we have developed a workflow to test each of these window types at three distinct levels of detail. We have found that the parametric Gothic arch significantly reduces the amount of time necessary to develop scenarios to test appropriate LoD.
Augmented reality system using lidar point cloud data for displaying dimensional information of objects on mobile phones
Authors: Gupta S. , Lohani B.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Mobile augmented reality system is the next generation technology to visualise 3D real world intelligently. The technology is expanding at a fast pace to upgrade the status of a smart phone to an intelligent device. The research problem identified and presented in the current work is to view actual dimensions of various objects that are captured by a smart phone in real time. The methodology proposed first establishes correspondence between LiDAR point cloud, that are stored in a server, and the image t hat is captured by a mobile. This correspondence is established using the exterior and interior orientation parameters of the mobile camera and the coordinates of LiDAR data points which lie in the viewshed of the mobile camera. A pseudo intensity image is generated using LiDAR points and their intensity. Mobile image and pseudo intensity image are then registered using image registration method SIFT thereby generating a pipeline to locate a point in point cloud corresponding to a point (pixel) on the mobile image. The second part of the method uses point cloud data for computing dimensional information corresponding to the pairs of points selected on mobile image and fetch the dimensions on top of the image. This paper describes all steps of the proposed method. The paper uses an experimental setup to mimic the mobile phone and server system and presents some initial but encouraging results
Integration Of Three Dimensional Data From Unkown Origin On the Example Of A Traditional Residential Building In Al-Balad, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Authors: Herbig U. , Mayer I. , Mortada H. , Rasztovits S.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. 3D Laser scanning technology gained more and more importance for the recording and documentation of architectural heritage. Especially for the survey of heterogeneous surfaces and complex structures it is a fast and reliable option for survey and so appreciated sources for research in architecture. Therefore the integration of laser scanning as a part of the building survey became a kind of standard procedure for objects of different scale, shape, age and origin. In some cases more than one team records an object with different devices using altering approaches. For example a client provides existing data from a part of the object that can't be accessed anymore, but is important to be integrated into the overall survey. The merging of the datasets may become challenging, especially if one survey is not documented in detail, in particular when it comes to the quality of the result. For a research about the traditional architecture of Saudi Arabia a building in the historic part of Jeddah has been surveyed in detail by a team of researchers of the Vienna University of Technology. Within this frame a workshop for students of the King Abdul Aziz about building archaeological research has been conducted. As part of the results consists of two sets of laserscan data, recorded with different laser scanners. Using these data a possible approach for the registration of scan data from different and/or unknown provenance has been developed which will be outlined in this paper.
Self-calibration of terrestrial laser scanners: selection of the best geometric additional parameters
Authors: Lerma J.  L. , García-San-Miguel D.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Systematic errors are present in laser scanning system observations due to manufacturer imperfections, wearing over time, vibrations, changing environmental conditions and, last but not least, involuntary hits. To achieve maximum quality and rigorous measurements from terrestrial laser scanners, a least squares estimation of additional calibration parameters can be used to model the a priori unknown systematic errors and therefore improve output observations. The selection of the right set of additional parameters is not trivial and requires laborious statistical analysis. Based on this requirement, this article presents an approach to determine the best set of additional parameters which provides the best mathematical solution based on a dimensionless quality index. The best set of additional parameters is the one which provides the maximum quality index (i.e. minimum value) for the group of observables, exterior orientation parameters and reference points. Calibration performance is tested using both a phase shift continuous wave scanner, FARO PHOTON 880, and a pulse-based time-of-flight system, Leica HDS3000. The improvement achieved after the geometric calibration is 30% for the former and 70% for the latter.
Effect of Lossy JPEG Compression of an Image with Chromatic Aberrations on Target Measurement Accuracy
Authors: Matsuoka R.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. This paper reports an experiment conducted to investigate the effect of lossy JPEG compression of an image with chromatic aberrations on the measurement accuracy of target center by the intensity-weighted centroid method. I utilized six images shooting a white sheet with 30 by 20 black filled circles in the experiment. The images were acquired by a digital camera Canon EOS 20D. The image data were compressed by using two compression parameter sets of a downsampling ratio, a quantization table and a Huffman code table utilized in EOS 20D. The experiment results clearly indicate that lossy JPEG compression of an image with chromatic aberrations would produce a significant effect on measurement accuracy of target center by the intensity-weighted centroid method. The maximum displacements of red, green and blue components caused by lossy JPEG compression were 0.20, 0.09, and 0.20 pixels respectively. The results also suggest that the downsampling of the chrominance components Cb and Cr in lossy JPEG compression would produce displacements between uncompressed image data and compressed image data. In conclusion, since the author consider that it would be unable to correct displacements caused by lossy JPEG compression, the author would recommend that lossy JPEG compression before recording an image in a digital camera should not be executed in case of highly precise image measurement by using color images acquired by a non-metric digital camera.
UAV archaeological reconstruction: The study case of Chamartin Hillfort (Avila, Spain)
Authors: Muñoz-Nieto A. L. , Rodriguez-Gonzalvez P. , Gonzales-Aguilera D. , Fernandez-Hernandez J. , Gomez-Lahoz J. , Picon-Cabrera I. , Herrero-Pascual J. S. , Hernandez-Lopez D.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Photogrammetry from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is a common technique for 3D modelling in a low-cost way. This technique is becoming essential to analyse the cultural heritage, e.g. historical buildings, monuments and archaeological remains in order not only to preserve them, but for disseminate accurate graphic information. The study case of Chamartin hillfort (Ávila, Spain) provided us the opportunity to apply automation techniques to generate geomatic products with high metric quality. A novel photogrammetric software tool was used with the aim to achieve high resolution orthophoto and 3D models of complex sites. This tool allows a flexible way for heritage documentation, since it incorporates robust algorithms to cope with a wide range of studies cases and shooting configurations.
Landslide monitoring by fixed-base terrestrial stereo-photogrammetry
Authors: Roncella R. , Forlani G. , Fornari M. , Diotri F.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Photogrammetry has been used since long to periodically control the evolution of landslides; however, true monitoring is reserved to robotic total stations and ground based InSAR systems, capable of high frequency, high accurate 24h/day response. This paper presents the first results of a fixed terrestrial stereo photogrammetric system developed to monitor shape changes of the scene. The system is made of two reflex cameras, each contained in a sealed box with a control computer that periodically acquires an image and send it to a host computer; once an image pair is received from the two cameras, the DSM of the scene is generated by image correlation and made available for archiving or analysis. The system has been installed and is being tested on the Mont de la Saxe landslide, where several monitoring system are active. Some instability of the camera attitude has been noticed and is corrected with an automated procedure. First comparisons with InSAR data show a good agreement.
Automated Target-Free Network Orienation and Camera Calibration
Authors: Stamatopoulos C. , Fraser C. S.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Automated close-range photogrammetric network orientation and camera calibration has traditionally been associated with the use of coded targets in the object space to allow for an initial relative orientation (RO) and subsequent spatial resection of the images. However, over the last decade, advances coming mainly from the computer vision (CV) community have allowed for fully automated orientation via feature-based matching techniques. There are a number of advantages in such methodologies for various types of applications, as well as for cases where the use of artificial targets might be not possible or preferable, for example when attempting calibration from low-level aerial imagery, as with UAVs, or when calibrating long-focal length lenses where small image scales call for inconveniently large coded targets. While there are now a number of CV-based algorithms for multi-image orientation within narrow-baseline networks, with accompanying open-source software, from a photogrammetric standpoint the results are typically disappointing as the metric integrity of the resulting models is generally poor, or even unknown. The objective addressed in this paper is target-free automatic multi-image orientation, maintaining metric integrity, within networks that incorporate wide-baseline imagery. The focus is on both the development of a methodology that overcomes the shortcomings that can be present in current CV algorithms, and on the photogrammetric priorities and requirements that exist in current processing pipelines. This paper also reports on the application of the proposed methodology to automated target-free camera self-calibration and discusses the process via practical examples.
Inheriting texture maps between different complexity 3D meshes
Authors: Symeonidis A. , Koutsoudis A. , Ioannakis G. , Chamzas C.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. 3D digitisation has been applied in different application domains. Due to the continuous growing interest, commercial and experimental 3D acquisition systems have evolved. Nevertheless, there isn't an all-in-one solution, thus there is a need for combining different technologies in order to exploit the advantages of each approach. In this paper, we present a solution to a specific problem related to the combination of 3D data resulted from a non-colour laser triangulation scanner and a shape-fromsilhouette system. Our approach combines the data of these two 3D acquisition systems in order to produce a hybrid 3D mesh model with the geometric accuracy and detail captured by the laser scanner and the high resolution textural information of the shape-fromsilhouette system. We propose an algorithm that is based on virtual photo shooting and an inverse texture map projection phase. We present an example of our algorithm’s operation on exchanging the texture maps of a replica artefact which has been digitised by both systems.
Automatic drawing for traffic marking with MMS LIDAR intensity
Authors: Takahashi G. , Takeda H. , Shimano Y.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Upgrading the database of CYBER JAPAN has been strategically promoted because the "Basic Act on Promotion of Utilization of Geographical Information", was enacted in May 2007. In particular, there is a high demand for road information that comprises a framework in this database. Therefore, road inventory mapping work has to be accurate and eliminate variation caused by individual human operators. Further, the large number of traffic markings that are periodically maintained and possibly changed require an efficient method for updating spatial data. Currently, we apply manual photogrammetry drawing for mapping traffic markings. However, this method is not sufficiently efficient in terms of the required productivity, and data variation can arise from individual operators. In contrast, Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS) and high-density Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) scanners are rapidly gaining popularity. The aim in this study is to build an efficient method for automatically drawing traffic markings using MMS LIDAR data. The key idea in this method is extracting lines using a Hough transform strategically focused on changes in local reflection intensity along scan lines. However, also note that this method processes every traffic marking. In this paper, we discuss a highly accurate and non-human-operator-dependent method that applies the following steps: (1) Binarizing LIDAR points by intensity and extracting higher intensity points; (2) Generating a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) from higher intensity points; (3) Deleting arcs by length and generating outline polygons on the TIN; (4) Generating buffers from the outline polygons; (5) Extracting points from the buffers using the original LIDAR points; (6) Extracting local-intensity-changing points along scan lines using the extracted points; (7) Extracting lines from intensity-changing points through a Hough transform; and (8) Connecting lines to generate automated traffic marking mapping data.
How to decide which oblique image has the highest mapping potential for monoplotting method: a case studies on river erosion and floods
Authors: Triglav-Čekada M. , Bric V. , Zorn M.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. When studying the development of different geomorphic processes, floods, glaciers or even cultural heritage through time, one cannot rely only on regular photogrammetrical procedures and metrical images. In a majority of cases the only available images are the archive images with unknown parameters of interior orientation showing the object of interest in oblique view. With the help of modern high resolution digital elevation models derived from aerial or terrestrial laser scanning (lidar) or from photogrammetric stereo-images by automatic image-matching techniques even single nonmetric high or low oblique image from the past can be applied in the monoplotting procedure to enable 3D-data extraction of changes through time. The first step of the monoplotting procedure is the orientation of an image in the space by the help of digital elevation model (DEM). When using oblique images tie points between an image and DEM are usually too sparse to enable automatic exterior orientation, still the manual interactive orientation using common features can resolve such shortages. The manual interactive orientation can be very time consuming. Therefore, before the start of the manual interactive orientation one should be certain if one can expect useful results from the chosen image. But how to decide which image has the highest mapping potential before we introduce a certain oblique image in orientation procedure? The test examples presented in this paper enable guidance for the use of monoplotting method for different geoscience applications. The most important factors are the resolution of digital elevation model (the best are the lidar derived ones), the presence of appropriate common features and the incidence angle of the oblique images (low oblique images or almost vertical aerial images are better). First the very oblique example of riverbank erosion on Dragonja river, Slovenija, is presented. Than the test example of September 2010 floods on Ljubljana moor is discussed. Finally, case study from November 2012 floods is presented. During November 2012 floods an initiative was launched to gather as much non-metrical images of floods as possible from casual observers (volunteered image gathering). From all gathered images the guidelines presented before helped to pick out 21% images which were used for monoplotting.
Geometric road runoff estimation from laser mobile mapping data
Authors: Wang J. , Gonzalez-Jorge H. , Lindenbergh R. , Arias-Sanchez P. , Menenti M.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Mountain roads are the lifelines of remote areas but are often situated in complicated settings and prone to landslides, rock fall, avalanches and damages due to surface water runoff. The impact and likelihood of these types of hazards can be partly assessed by a detailed geometric analysis of the road environment. Field measurements in remote areas are expensive however. A possible solution is the use of a Laser Mobile Mapping System (LMMS) which, at high measuring rate, captures dense and accurate point clouds. This paper presents an automatic approach for the delineation of both the direct environment of a road and the road itself into local catchments starting from a LMMS point cloud. The results enable a user to assess where on the road most water from the surroundings will assemble, and how water will flow over the road after e.g. heavy snow melt or rainfall. To arrive at these results the following steps are performed. First outliers are removed and point cloud data is gridded at a uniform width. Local surface normal and gradient of each grid point are determined. The relative smoothness of the road is used as a criterion to identify the road’s outlines. The local gradients are input for running the so-called D8 method, which simply exploits that surface water follows the direction of steepest descent. This method first enables the identification of sinks on the roadside, i.e. the locations where water flow accumulates and potentially enters the road. Moreover, the method divides the road’s direct neighbourhood into catchments, each consisting of all grid cells having runoff to the same sink. In addition the method is used to analyse the surface flow over the road’s surface. The new method is demonstrated on a piece of 153 meters long Galician mountain road as sampled by LMMS data.
Reassembling 3D Thin Fragments of Unknown Geometry in Cultural Heritage
Authors: Zheng S. Y. , Huang R. Y. , Li J. , Wang Z.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Many fragile antiques had already been broken upon being discovered at archaeology sites. The fragments of these objects cannot be effectively interpreted and studied unless they are successfully reassembled. However, there still exists many problems in the reassembly procedure in existing methods, such as the numerical instabilities of curvature and torsion based methods, the limitation of geometric assumption, and the error accumulation of the pairwise matching approach, etc. Regarding these problems, this paper proposed an approach to match the fragments to each other for their original 3D reconstruction. Instead of the curvatures and torsions, the approach is based on establishing a local Cartesian coordinate at every point of the 3D contour curves. First of all, the 3D meshes of the fragments are acquired by a structure-light based method, with the corresponding 3D contour curves extracted from the outer boundaries. Then, the contour curves are matched and aligned to each other by estimating all the possible 3D rigid transformations of the curve pairs with our defined local Cartesian coordinates, and then the maximum likelihood rigid transformations are selected. Finally, a global refinement is introduced to adjust the alignment errors and improve the final reassembling accuracy. In addition, experiments with two groups of fragments suggest that this approach cannot only match and align fragments effectively, but also improve the accuracy significantly. Comparing with the original 3D model acquired before being broken, the final reassembling accuracy reaches 0.47 mm.
Jeddah Historical Building Information Modelling "JHBIM" – Object Library
Authors: Baik A. , Alitany A. , Boehm J. , Robson S.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. The theory of using Building Information Modelling "BIM" has been used in several Heritage places in the worldwide, in the case of conserving, documenting, managing, and creating full engineering drawings and information. However, one of the most serious issues that facing many experts in order to use the Historical Building Information Modelling "HBIM", is creating the complicated architectural elements of these Historical buildings. In fact, many of these outstanding architectural elements have been designed and created in the site to fit the exact location. Similarly, this issue has been faced the experts in Old Jeddah in order to use the BIM method for Old Jeddah historical Building. Moreover, The Saudi Arabian City has a long history as it contains large number of historic houses and buildings that were built since the 16th century. Furthermore, the BIM model of the historical building in Old Jeddah always take a lot of time, due to the unique of Hijazi architectural elements and no such elements library, which have been took a lot of time to be modelled. This paper will focus on building the Hijazi architectural elements library based on laser scanner and image survey data. This solution will reduce the time to complete the HBIM model and offering in depth and rich digital architectural elements library to be used in any heritage projects in Al-Balad district, Jeddah City.
A LiDAR application for the study of taxiway surface evenness and slope
Authors: Barbarella M. , De Blasiis M. R. , Fiani M. , Santoni M.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Pavement roughness evaluation of airport runways/taxiways and scheduling of maintenance operations should be done according to well-defined procedures. Survey of geometric features of airport pavements is performed to verify the flow of water from the surface and to assure a level of roughness that allows the airplane to maneuver in the safest and most comfortable conditions. In particular the evaluation of longitudinal and transversal evenness of the runway and taxiway is carried out through topographic survey. The tachymetric survey has been carried out according to traditional topographic technique, which allows the evaluation of geometric position of isolated points with very high accuracy, but it is not very productive. Moreover it returns the pavement surface model through only few measured points. An alternative survey method, characterized by a good accuracy, high speed of acquisition and very high surveyed point density, is Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), in static mode. In this paper we describe our experience aimed to validate the use of time-of-flight (TOF) TLS, based on a survey on a 200 m length segment of an international airport taxiway. From the acquired data we extracted the parameters of interest, especially the slope, and compared them with the values obtained from the traditional topographic survey. We also developed a proprietary software package to evaluate the slope and to analyze the statistical data. The software allows users to manage the flow of a semi-automatic calculation.
Visibility analysis of point cloud in close range photogrammetry
Authors: Alsadik B. , Gerke M. , Vosselman G.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. The ongoing development of advanced techniques in photogrammetry, computer vision (CV), robotics and laser scanning to efficiently acquire three dimensional geometric data offer new possibilities for many applications. The output of these techniques in the digital form is often a sparse or dense point cloud describing the 3D shape of an object. Viewing these point clouds in a computerized digital environment holds a difficulty in displaying the visible points of the object from a given viewpoint rather than the hidden points. This visibility problem is a major computer graphics topic and has been solved previously by using different mathematical techniques. However, to our knowledge, there is no study of presenting the different visibility analysis methods of point clouds from a photogrammetric viewpoint. The visibility approaches, which are surface based or voxel based, and the hidden point removal (HPR) will be presented. Three different problems in close range photogrammetry are presented: camera network design, guidance with synthetic images and the gap detection in a point cloud. The latter one introduces also a new concept of gap classification. Every problem utilizes a different visibility technique to show the valuable effect of visibility analysis on the final solution.
3D modelling of trompe l'oeil decorated vaults using dense matching techniques
Authors: Chiabrando F. , Lingua A. , Noardo F. , Spano A.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. Dense matching techniques, implemented in many commercial and open source software, are useful instruments for carrying out a rapid and detailed analysis of complex objects, including various types of details and surfaces. For this reason these tools were tested in the metric survey of a frescoed ceiling in the hall of honour of a baroque building. The surfaces are covered with trompe-l’oeil paintings which theoretically can give a very good texture to automatic matching algorithms but in this case problems arise when attempting to reconstruct the correct geometry: in fact, in correspondence with the main architectonic painted details, the models present some irregularities, unexpectedly coherent with the painted drawing. The photogrammetric models have been compared with data deriving from a LIDAR survey of the same object, to evaluate the entity of this blunder: some profiles of selected sections have been extracted, verifying the different behaviours of the software tools.