Virtual Hand Illusion Induced by Visuomotor Correlations

Background: Our body schema gives the subjective impression of being highly stable. However, a number of easily-evoked illusions illustrate its remarkable malleability. In the rubber-hand illusion, illusory ownership of a rubber-hand is evoked by synchronous visual and tactile stimulation on a visible rubber arm and on the hidden real arm. Ownership is concurrent with a proprioceptive illusion of displacement of the arm position towards the fake arm. We have previously shown that this illusion of ownership plus the proprioceptive displacement also occurs towards a virtual 3D projection of an arm when the appropriate synchronous visuotactile stimulation is provided. Our objective here was to explore whether these illusions (ownership and proprioceptive displacement) can be induced by only synchronous visuomotor stimulation, in the absence of tactile stimulation.Methodology/Principal Findings: To achieve this we used a data-glove that uses sensors transmitting the positions of fingers to a virtually projected hand in the synchronous but not in the asynchronous condition. The illusion of ownership was measured by means of questionnaires. Questions related to ownership gave significantly larger values for the synchronous than for the asynchronous condition. Proprioceptive displacement provided an objective measure of the illusion and had a median value of 3.5 cm difference between the synchronous and asynchronous conditions. In addition, the correlation between the feeling of ownership of the virtual arm and the size of the drift was significant.Conclusions/Significance: We conclude that synchrony between visual and proprioceptive information along with motor activity is able to induce an illusion of ownership over a virtual arm. This has implications regarding the brain mechanisms underlying body ownership as well as the use of virtual bodies in therapies and rehabilitation

Spatially distributed sea wave measurements

In recent years, there has been growing interest in remote and proximal observation of sea surface waves. This has been partially driven by new technologies allowing the characterization of wave fields in both their spatial and temporal aspects. Typical examples are radar systems and stereo-imaging that permit remote monitoring of oceanic waves (from satellites, platforms, or vessels) with remarkable accuracy and range of use. These new exciting possibilities usually come at the price of being relatively harder to master with respect to traditional “point-like” approaches providing measurements limited to a temporal perspective. This difficulty is not restricted to the technology itself (see, for example, the delicate camera-calibration process required in stereo-imaging) but also on how to properly process, analyze, and assimilate spatio-temporal data. Therefore, in this Special Issue, we decided to embrace a wide range of topics that have led a multitude of multi-disciplinary works in the recent past, including: Wave mechanics and sea surface dynamics; Analysis of the wave climate and its extremes; Data fusion and signal processing; Statistical and probabilistic methods; Assessment of wave models. We did our best to propose recent advancements, not only on the technological aspect of spatially distributed sea waves acquisition but also on the characterization of wave statistics from measured and assimilated data. For the former aspect, we included the work of Vieira et al. [1], proposing the first cheap and simple stereo-based technique to estimate the 3D sea surface elevation from inexpensive smartphones. For the latter, the paper of Serebryany et al. [2] investigates internal waves on a narrow steep shelf of the northeastern coast of the Black Sea using the spatial antenna of line temperature sensors. We also included a discussion on space-time wave extremes in the paper of Benetazzo et al. [3] and a comparison of assimilated coastal wave data by Yukiharu Hisaki [4]. Finally, the work of Ciurana and Aguilar [5] provides an overview of how an ensemble of meteorological buoys and citizen science data can help economic activities to achieve optimal performances (in a case study, to predict optimal surfing days in the Iberian Peninsula). We hope that these works will be interesting both for researchers already working on this topic and for those who want to embrace the new possibilities offered by modern sea wave acquisition techniques

Cylinders extraction in non-oriented point clouds as a clustering problem

Finding geometric primitives in 3D point clouds is a fundamental task in many engineering applications such as robotics, autonomous-vehicles and automated industrial inspection. Among all solid shapes, cylinders are frequently found in a variety of scenes, comprising natural or man-made objects. Despite their ubiquitous presence, automated extraction and fitting can become challenging if performed ”in-the-wild”, when the number of primitives is unknown or the point cloud is noisy and not oriented. In this paper we pose the problem of extracting multiple cylinders in a scene by means of a Game-Theoretic inlier selection process exploiting the geometrical relations between pairs of axis candidates. First, we formulate the similarity between two possible cylinders considering the rigid motion aligning the two axes to the same line. This motion is represented with a unitary dual-quaternion so that the distance between two cylinders is induced by the length of the shortest geodesic path in SE(3). Then, a Game-Theoretical process exploits such similarity function to extract sets of primitives maximizing their inner mutual consensus. The outcome of the evolutionary process consists in a probability distribution over the sets of candidates (ie axes), which in turn is used to directly estimate the final cylinder parameters. An extensive experimental section shows that the proposed algorithm offers a high resilience to noise, since the process inherently discards inconsistent data. Compared to other methods, it does not need point normals and does not require a fine tuning of multiple parameters

Northern Adriatic general circulation behaviour induced by heat fluxes variations due to possible climatic changes

The thermohaline circulation of the central-north Adriatic basin is investigated by means of a 3D hydrodynamic numerical model. Three different runs — where the surface heat fluxes annual average is respectively negative, slightly positive and slightly negative — are performed; the general circulation patterns are then discussed and depicted, also with the aid of the trajectories of numerical particles released during the integrations. Results confirm that surface heat fluxes can start and trigger the general circulation in the basin (both vertically and horizontally), even without prescribing other forcings. Particularly, when the annual budget of the heat fluxes is negative (i.e. the basin loses heat to the atmosphere)a horizontal cyclonic surface circulation is generated, characterized by a northward flow along the eastern coast and a southward return current system along the western one. From the vertical point of view, an antiestuarine circulation is established. A similar circulation pattern is depicted when the surface fluxes have a slightly negative annual budget. On the other hand, when the annual fluxes balance is positive the vertical circulation switches to estuarine and, as expected, the integrated circulation becomes anticyclonic. A modification in the heat fluxes budget is strictly related to a change in the water column turnover time of the Jabuka pit, the deepest meso-Adriatic depression: when the annual heat fluxes balance is negative but close to zero, the dense-water residence time in the pit becomes minimum and the water has a shorter turnover time, denoting a faster renewal compared to those exhibited in the other experiments

Levantamento de modelos matemáticos aplicados à cana-de-açúcar.

Objetivos da construção de modelos matemáticos para cana-de-açúcar. Modelo, definição e classificaçào. Metodologia da modelagem matemática. Modelos matemáticos e software de simulação descritos para a cana-de açúcar.bitstream/CNPTIA/9209/1/DOCUMENTO1int.pdfAcesso em: 29 maio 2008

One-Shot HDR Imaging via Stereo PFA Cameras

High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging techniques aim to increase the range of luminance values captured from a scene. The literature counts many approaches to get HDR images out of low-range camera sensors, however most of them rely on multiple acquisitions producing ghosting effects when moving objects are present. In this paper we propose a novel HDR reconstruction method exploiting stereo Polarimetric Filter Array (PFA) cameras to simultaneously capture the scene with different polarized filters, producing intensity attenuations that can be related to the light polarization state. An additional linear polarizer is mounted in front of one of the two cameras, raising the degree of polarization of rays captured by the sensor. This leads to a larger attenuation range between channels regardless the scene lighting condition. By merging the data acquired by the two cameras, we can compute the actual light attenuation observed by a pixel at each channel and derive an equivalent exposure time, producing a HDR picture from a single polarimetric shot. The proposed technique results comparable to classic HDR approaches using multiple exposures, with the advantage of being a one-shot method

A stable graph-based representation for object recognition through high-order matching

Many Object recognition techniques perform some flavour of point pattern matching between a model and a scene. Such points are usually selected through a feature detection algorithm that is robust to a class of image transformations and a suitable descriptor is computed over them in order to get a reliable matching. Moreover, some approaches take an additional step by casting the correspondence problem into a matching between graphs defined over feature points. The motivation is that the relational model would add more discriminative power, however the overall effectiveness strongly depends on the ability to build a graph that is stable with respect to both changes in the object appearance and spatial distribution of interest points. In fact, widely used graph-based representations, have shown to suffer some limitations, especially with respect to changes in the Euclidean organization of the feature points. In this paper we introduce a technique to build relational structures over corner points that does not depend on the spatial distribution of the features

Effects of the physical properties of water masses on microbial activity during an Ice Shelf Water overflow in the central Ross Sea

During the 1997-98 Italian Expedition to Antarctica a five-day mesoscale experiment was carried out on the continental shelf-break in the central Ross Sea. This area is oceanographically characterized by shelf/slope interactions, through intense mixing processes, between the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) and the Ice Shelf Water (ISW), coming from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf and spilling over the shelf edge. The export of dense shelf waters is of crucial importance not only for the mass balance of the basin, but also for carbon export from the upper layers into the abyssal ones. The study investigated how the ISW interactions with the CDW may influence bacterial metabolism during an ISW downslope event. In particular, what effect does this have on the bacterial activities related to the utilization and transformation of the organic carbon substrate (ectoenzymatic activities, carbon production, growth rate) within the ISW and the CDW cores? Our data show that in the CDW the metabolic response was to increase the biomass and enzymes were less active due to a higher nutritional value for the substrate. In the ISW the bacterial metabolic activity shifted towards degradative processes. These results suggest differences in the quality of the organic carbon pool with a greater concentration of labile organic matter in the CDW and of low-degradable compounds in the ISW. The use of microbial parameters seems to be very promising in the evaluation of the carbon export during mixing processes, when the refractory fraction of the organic carbon pool might play a key role

Adaptive mechanisms in dogs adopted from shelters: A behavioral assessment of the use of a synthetic analogue of the canine appeasing pheromone

Adaptation to a new socio-environment might represent a very hard step for sheltered dogs, because of a higher level of difficulty in coping with unfamiliar conditions. The adaptation process can be logically and scientifically related to the concept of stress and welfare, limiting the success rate of rehoming. A synthetic analogue of the Dog Appeasing Pheromone (Dog Appeasing Pheromone, DAP) is reported to have a reassuring effect in puppies and adult dogs in a wide variety of stressful situations. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of DAP (Adaptil® Ceva Vetem S.p.A.) in dogs re-homed from rescue shelters. The study was designed as a prospective open-label clinical trial. Significant decreases were observed in adult dogs for wandering in the house restlessly (p=0.022) and hiding fearfully in protected corners (p=0.033), whereas in puppies treatment with DAP significantly (p<0.05) improved the reaction towards unfamiliar dogs (p=0.048) and wandering in the house restlessly (p=0.022). In both adults and puppies a significant improvement in interaction with owners was observed. In particular, "looking continuously for the owners" and "following the owners everywhere like a shadow" were significantly improved (p=0.0012 and 0.0016 respectively) in adult dogs. Separation reactions revealed a significant decrease (p<0.05) and in puppies the tendency to vocalize in absence of the owner was also significantly reduced (p=0.0029). Both adults and puppies showed a decreased tendency to wake suddenly in the night (p=0.024 and p=0.026 respectively) and wander around the home (p=0.012 and p=0.026 respectively). In contrast, for house-training no significant difference was reported in adults, whereas for puppies there was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the mean scores for urination and/or defecation wherever in the house and after coming home. Data regarding the overall assessment suggested a significant improvement in all the efficacy variables considered in the study. The analysis of owners' degree of satisfaction at the final visit showed that DAP treatment was considered successful by 84.4 % of owners. Results suggest that DAP might improve dogs' adaptability throughout the first weeks following adoption and can be considered a useful tool for reducing stress in re-homed dogs

Cryosphere-hydrosphere interactions: Numerical modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) at different scales

Conveyor belt circulation controls global climate through heat and water fluxes with atmosphere and from tropicalto polar regions and vice versa. This circulation, commonly referred to as thermohaline circulation (THC), seems to have millennium time scale and nowadays—a non-glacial period—appears to be as rather stable. However, concern is raised by the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (IPCC, Third assessment report: Climate Change 2001. A contribution of working group I, II and III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK) 2001, http://www.ipcc.ch) as these may affect the THC conveyor paths. Since it is widely recognized that dense-water formation sites act as primary sources in strengthening quasi-stable THC paths (Stommel H., Tellus, 13 (1961) 224), in order to simulate properly the consequences of such scenarios a better understanding of these oceanic processes is needed. To successfully model these processes, airsea-ice–integrated modelling approaches are often required. Here we focus on two polar regions using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In the first region investigated, the North Atlantic-Arctic, where open-ocean deep convection and open-sea ice formation and dispersion under the intense air-sea interactions are the major engines, we use a new version of the coupled hydrodynamic-ice ROMS model. The second area belongs to the Antarctica region inside the Southern Ocean, where brine rejections during ice formation inside shelf seas origin dense water that, flowing along the continental slope, overflow becoming eventually abyssal waters. Results show how nowadays integrated-modelling tasks have become more and more feasible and effective; numerical simulations dealing with large computational domains or challenging different climate scenarios can be run on multi-processors platforms and on systems like LINUX clusters, made of the same hardware as PCs, and codes have been accordingly modified. This relevant numerical help coming from the computer science can now allow scientists to devote larger attention in the efforts of understanding the deep mechanisms of such complex processes