The assessment of visual behaviour and depth perception in surgery

Imperial Users onl

Visualizing the Social Links of Election Monitors with ArcGIS

Spatial analysis of the network of personnel in election monitoring and democratization missions allows users to visualize the impact and interactions these individuals and mission teams have had. This project focuses on the integration of the ArcGIS geographic information system and a private Access database to allow the user to input, edit, and visualize spatial and temporal data during the research of election monitoring networks. These data include the individuals, the missions, the positions held, and the dates of each activity. As these missions and individuals interact through space and time, network analysis will yield nodes of importance. This analysis will assist anthropologists in their study of the spread of democracy and in their study of the individuals supporting election assistance

Affective Computing

This book provides an overview of state of the art research in Affective Computing. It presents new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this increasingly important research field. The book consists of 23 chapters categorized into four sections. Since one of the most important means of human communication is facial expression, the first section of this book (Chapters 1 to 7) presents a research on synthesis and recognition of facial expressions. Given that we not only use the face but also body movements to express ourselves, in the second section (Chapters 8 to 11) we present a research on perception and generation of emotional expressions by using full-body motions. The third section of the book (Chapters 12 to 16) presents computational models on emotion, as well as findings from neuroscience research. In the last section of the book (Chapters 17 to 22) we present applications related to affective computing

Intelligent Circuits and Systems

ICICS-2020 is the third conference initiated by the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Lovely Professional University that explored recent innovations of researchers working for the development of smart and green technologies in the fields of Energy, Electronics, Communications, Computers, and Control. ICICS provides innovators to identify new opportunities for the social and economic benefits of society.　 This conference bridges the gap between academics and R&D institutions, social visionaries, and experts from all strata of society to present their ongoing research activities and foster research relations between them. It provides opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, applications, and experiences in the field of smart technologies and finding global partners for future collaboration. The ICICS-2020 was conducted in two broad categories, Intelligent Circuits & Intelligent Systems and Emerging Technologies in Electrical Engineering

Comparative evaluation of video watermarking techniques in the uncompressed domain

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Electronic watermarking is a method whereby information can be imperceptibly embedded into electronic media, while ideally being robust against common signal manipulations and intentional attacks to remove the embedded watermark. This study evaluates the characteristics of uncompressed video watermarking techniques in terms of visual characteristics, computational complexity and robustness against attacks and signal manipulations. The foundations of video watermarking are reviewed, followed by a survey of existing video watermarking techniques. Representative techniques from different watermarking categories are identified, implemented and evaluated. Existing image quality metrics are reviewed and extended to improve their performance when comparing these video watermarking techniques. A new metric for the evaluation of inter frame flicker in video sequences is then developed. A technique for possibly improving the robustness of the implemented discrete Fourier transform technique against rotation is then proposed. It is also shown that it is possible to reduce the computational complexity of watermarking techniques without affecting the quality of the original content, through a modified watermark embedding method. Possible future studies are then recommended with regards to further improving watermarking techniques against rotation.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ’n Elektroniese watermerk is ’n metode waardeur inligting onmerkbaar in elektroniese media vasgelê kan word, met die doel dat dit bestand is teen algemene manipulasies en doelbewuste pogings om die watermerk te verwyder. In hierdie navorsing word die eienskappe van onsaamgeperste video watermerktegnieke ondersoek in terme van visuele eienskappe, berekeningskompleksiteit en weerstandigheid teen aanslae en seinmanipulasies. Die onderbou van video watermerktegnieke word bestudeer, gevolg deur ’n oorsig van reedsbestaande watermerktegnieke. Verteenwoordigende tegnieke vanuit verskillende watermerkkategorieë word geïdentifiseer, geïmplementeer en geëvalueer. Bestaande metodes vir die evaluering van beeldkwaliteite word bestudeer en uitgebrei om die werkverrigting van die tegnieke te verbeter, spesifiek vir die vergelyking van watermerktegnieke. ’n Nuwe stelsel vir die evaluering van tussenraampie flikkering in video’s word ook ontwikkel. ’n Tegniek vir die moontlike verbetering van die geïmplementeerde diskrete Fourier transform tegniek word voorgestel om die tegniek se bestandheid teen rotasie te verbeter. Daar word ook aangetoon dat dit moontlik is om die berekeningskompleksiteit van watermerktegnieke te verminder, sonder om die kwaliteit van die oorspronklike inhoud te beïnvloed, deur die gebruik van ’n verbeterde watermerkvasleggingsmetode. Laastens word aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing aangaande die verbetering van watermerktegnieke teen rotasie gemaak

Computer-based sketching and the productivity of the conceptual stage of design

Many designers find computer-based tools are not as effective during the early stages of design as manual sketching. However, to abandon the computer in these conceptual stages denies designers the computer‟s capability to translate and supplement imaginative design thinking. Recent design studies address conceptual design. What is the impact of computer-based drawing and sketching on designers‟ cognition and productive reasoning? This research focuses on the relationship between the characteristics of sketching using the drawing environment of the computer and the productivity of the conceptual design phase. I provide a theoretical framework that identifies and clarifies both sketching and productivity. Previous specialized studies are selective and sometimes only descriptive in defining this relationship. A review of these studies reveals a gap in our understanding of those aspects of sketching that relate to visualization, imagination and the generation of design ideas. The thesis addresses three objectives: (i) to build a comprehensive theoretical framework that on one hand defines the characteristics of sketching that might affect the generation of design ideas, and on the other hand defines the productivity of conceptual design and its indicators; (ii) to apply this framework in a practical study; and (iii) to extract implications for the relationship. To address the problem of computer-based sketching, I indentify the continuity within the dynamic field of images usually generated while designers sketch as the most effective characteristic of the computer sketching process. I establish a measure of continuity defined by (i) the degree of ease in projecting design images, (ii) the degree of continuity of displaying images due to changing the status of the design objects and due to navigation around the objects, (iii) the degree of provision of a holistic view (i.e., the total view of the design objects on the computer screen). Then I define productivity within this framework in terms of the cognitive operations of dialogical reinterpretation. When sketching, designers seem to perform key operations such as interpreting, reframing and restructuring. I present the case that a process rich with these cognitive operations is productive. The study makes use of the fields of free hand sketching, literature, cognitive psychology and Gestalt theory. Four indicators emerge from this study: the occurrence of pattern discovery, conceptual reinterpretation, alternation of thinking, and restructuring. I identify key variables that define the degree of continuity of the dynamic field of images which relate to designer‟s performance to verify their relationship with productivity. I study ten design participants who are given a design task that involves sketching with various CAD systems. The study involves 21 hours of recorded video analyzed using a method adapted from Goldschmidt's “linkography” tool for representing design protocols. I identify where patterns of relationships between variables exist, and where they do not apply. Not all the selected variables of continuity of the dynamic field of images, nor all the indicators of productivity in the conceptual design phase, support these patterns of relationships. This indicates that there is a special group of characteristics of sketching that maintain the pace of continuity within the dynamic field of images can improve the productivity in the conceptual phase

Shadow Play: How is a concern with the uncanny made manifest in the artistic practice of Brass Art?

This thesis and the portfolio of supporting work, uses an expanded interpretation of the uncanny to reveal how through shadow play, a concern with the uncanny is made manifest in the artistic practice of Brass Art. In doing so it makes a claim for originality through the public presentation of six artworks created between 2008 and 2016 by the artistic trio Brass Art, of which I am a contributing member. Brass Art is Chara Lewis, Kristin Mojsiewicz and Anneké Pettican, a trio of women artists. For the purposes of this PhD by publication my original contribution to knowledge is an exploration of the emergence of the uncanny in our practice and in the artworks and associated exhibitions presented. Brass Art use light-based technologies to record our individual and collective presence in a range of situations; from writer’s rooms, to natural history collections, airports, hotels and hot air balloons. These performances are captured by eclectic tools including cameras, watercolour paints, 3D bodyscanners, 4D biomedical facial scanning apparatus, and the Kinect motion sensing device. Each process creates a very different ‘material’ render of our activities: on paper, in code, as data, through match-moving and rapid prototyping. The tools, methods and processes Brass Art use are iteratively tested in order for us to harness their particular qualities and unforeseen flaws in an attempt to capture the elusive uncanny. Our discoveries are presented in my portfolio of supporting work, and in my thesis and footnotes. In my reflections upon the unexpected and original discoveries our active participation proffers, this thesis develops my individual appreciation of the uncanny as a vital, ambivalent concept in my investigation of Brass Art. Adopting hybrid performative strategies, material transformations and engagement with technical processes, I assert Brass Art seek to explore a fundamental instability akin to an expanded view of the uncanny