title: The impact of background and context on car distance estimation

authors: Zhang, Fan

subjects: Distance Estimation

abstract: It is well established that people underestimate the distance to objects depicted in virtual environments and two-dimensional (2D) displays. The reasons for the underestimation are still not fully understood. It is becoming more common to use virtual environment displays for driver training and testing and so understanding the distortion of perceived space that occurs in these displays is vital. We need to know what aspects of the display cause the observer to misperceive the distance to objects in the simulated environments. The research reported in this thesis investigated how people estimate distance between themselves and a car in front of them, within a number of differing environmental contexts.  Four experiments were run using virtual environment displays of various kinds and a fifth experiment was run in a real-world setting.
It was found that distance underestimation when viewing 2D displays is very common, even when familiar objects such as cars are used as the targets. The experiments also verified that people have a greater underestimation of distance in a virtual environment compared to a real-world setting. A surprising and somewhat counterintuitive result was that people underestimate distance more when the scene depicts forward motion of the observer compared to a static view.  The research also identified a number of visual features in the display (e.g., texture information) and aspects of the display (e.g., field of view) that affected the perception of distance or that had no effect. The findings should help the designers of driver-training simulators and testing equipment to better understand the types of errors that can potentially occur when humans view two-dimensional virtual environment displays.

text: The impact of background and context on car distance estimation It is well established that people underestimate the distance to objects depicted in virtual environments and two-dimensional (2D) displays. The reasons for the underestimation are still not fully understood. It is becoming more common to use virtual environment displays for driver training and testing and so understanding the distortion of perceived space that occurs in these displays is vital. We need to know what aspects of the display cause the observer to misperceive the distance to objects in the simulated environments. The research reported in this thesis investigated how people estimate distance between themselves and a car in front of them, within a number of differing environmental contexts.  Four experiments were run using virtual environment displays of various kinds and a fifth experiment was run in a real-world setting.
It was found that distance underestimation when viewing 2D displays is very common, even when familiar objects such as cars are used as the targets. The experiments also verified that people have a greater underestimation of distance in a virtual environment compared to a real-world setting. A surprising and somewhat counterintuitive result was that people underestimate distance more when the scene depicts forward motion of the observer compared to a static view.  The research also identified a number of visual features in the display (e.g., texture information) and aspects of the display (e.g., field of view) that affected the perception of distance or that had no effect. The findings should help the designers of driver-training simulators and testing equipment to better understand the types of errors that can potentially occur when humans view two-dimensional virtual environment displays.

year: 2014

title: A comparison of methods for estimating prediction intervals in NIR spectroscopy: Size matters

authors: Bouckaert, Remco R.

subjects: NIR

abstract: In this article we demonstrate that, when evaluating a method for determining prediction intervals, interval size matters more than coverage because the latter can be fixed at a chosen confidence level with good reliability. To achieve the desired coverage, we employ a simple non-parametric method to compute prediction intervals by calibrating estimated prediction errors, and we extend the basic method with a continuum correction to deal with small data sets. In our experiments on a collection of several NIR data sets, we evaluate several existing methods of computing prediction intervals for partial least-squares (PLS) regression. Our results show that, when coverage is fixed at a chosen confidence level, and the number of PLS components is selected to minimize squared error of point estimates, interval estimation based on the classic ordinary least-squares method produces the narrowest intervals, outperforming the U-deviation method and linearization, regardless of the confidence level that is chosen.

text: A comparison of methods for estimating prediction intervals in NIR spectroscopy: Size matters In this article we demonstrate that, when evaluating a method for determining prediction intervals, interval size matters more than coverage because the latter can be fixed at a chosen confidence level with good reliability. To achieve the desired coverage, we employ a simple non-parametric method to compute prediction intervals by calibrating estimated prediction errors, and we extend the basic method with a continuum correction to deal with small data sets. In our experiments on a collection of several NIR data sets, we evaluate several existing methods of computing prediction intervals for partial least-squares (PLS) regression. Our results show that, when coverage is fixed at a chosen confidence level, and the number of PLS components is selected to minimize squared error of point estimates, interval estimation based on the classic ordinary least-squares method produces the narrowest intervals, outperforming the U-deviation method and linearization, regardless of the confidence level that is chosen.

year: 2011

title: Restorative Practices in Schools: Far-Reaching Implications

authors: Drewery, Wendy

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: In 1999, the New Zealand Ministry of Education contracted a team from the University of Waikato to develop a process for conferencing in schools. The brief was to utilise restorative justice principles to develop a conferencing process for use in schools. The purpose was to test whether such an approach to wrongdoing could reduce the exponential increase of suspensions, particularly of Maori boys, who were, and still are, disproportionately represented in reported numbers of suspensions, stand-downs and exclusions.

text: Restorative Practices in Schools: Far-Reaching Implications In 1999, the New Zealand Ministry of Education contracted a team from the University of Waikato to develop a process for conferencing in schools. The brief was to utilise restorative justice principles to develop a conferencing process for use in schools. The purpose was to test whether such an approach to wrongdoing could reduce the exponential increase of suspensions, particularly of Maori boys, who were, and still are, disproportionately represented in reported numbers of suspensions, stand-downs and exclusions.

year: 2007