Underwater Image Processing: State of the Art of Restoration and Image Enhancement Methods

The underwater image processing area has received considerable attention within the last decades, showing important achievements. In this paper we review some of the most recent methods that have been specifically developed for the underwater environment. These techniques are capable of extending the range of underwater imaging, improving image contrast and resolution. After considering the basic physics of the light propagation in the water medium, we focus on the different algorithms available in the literature. The conditions for which each of them have been originally developed are highlighted as well as the quality assessment methods used to evaluate their performance

Threat, its impacts over survival systems, and related behavioral disorders

Defensive and appetitive motivation systems have evolved to propitiate more sophisticated interactions with environment threats and needs, such as nutrients, water, reproduction, and temperature regulation. In contact with survival-relevant environmental stimuli, organisms change as a whole to maximize fitness to that occasion. In this paper, an overview on defensive systems is described, as well as some relevant aspects of defensive states, including their impacts over appetitive functions. A parallel between these characteristics and what is called threat-related disorders in the present paper is drawn and, finally, these similarities are used as basis for a theoretical proposition that at least part of these disorders can be seen as persistent states of defense.Funções de sobrevivência e sistemas orgânicos relacionados evoluíram para propiciar interações mais sofisticadas com ameaças ambientais e necessidades individuais, tais como nutrientes, água, reprodução e regulação da temperatura. Apesar de o termo “sistema” sugerir ações independentes de circuitos em face de tais estímulos, evidências sugerem que os organismos se alteram como um todo em situações relevantes para a sobrevivência, maximizando sua adequação à ocasião. No presente artigo, é apresentada uma visão global de tais alterações organísmicas em face de ameaças, bem como o impaco dessas alterações sobre funções apetitivas. Traça-se, também, um paralelo entre essas características e os transtornos relativos a ameaças. Por fim, as similaridades apontadas servirão como base para uma proposição teórica segundo a qual ao menos parte desses transtornos pode ser entendida como estados permanentes de defesa

Predicting complexity perception of real world images

The aim of this work is to predict the complexity perception of real world images.We propose a new complexity measure where different image features, based on spatial, frequency and color properties are linearly combined. In order to find the optimal set of weighting coefficients we have applied a Particle Swarm Optimization. The optimal linear combination is the one that best fits the subjective data obtained in an experiment where observers evaluate the complexity of real world scenes on a web-based interface. To test the proposed complexity measure we have performed a second experiment on a different database of real world scenes, where the linear combination previously obtained is correlated with the new subjective data. Our complexity measure outperforms not only each single visual feature but also two visual clutter measures frequently used in the literature to predict image complexity. To analyze the usefulness of our proposal, we have also considered two different sets of stimuli composed of real texture images. Tuning the parameters of our measure for this kind of stimuli, we have obtained a linear combination that still outperforms the single measures. In conclusion our measure, properly tuned, can predict complexity perception of different kind of images

Wave packet evolution approach to ionization of hydrogen molecular ion by fast electrons

The multiply differential cross section of the ionization of hydrogen molecular ion by fast electron impact is calculated by a direct approach, which involves the reduction of the initial 6D Schr\"{o}dinger equation to a 3D evolution problem followed by the modeling of the wave packet dynamics. This approach avoids the use of stationary Coulomb two-centre functions of the continuous spectrum of the ejected electron which demands cumbersome calculations. The results obtained, after verification of the procedure in the case atomic hydrogen, reveal interesting mechanisms in the case of small scattering angles.Comment: 7 pages, 8 Postscript figure

The evolution of AI approaches for motor imagery EEG-based BCIs

The Motor Imagery (MI) electroencephalography (EEG) based Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) allow the direct communication between humans and machines by exploiting the neural pathways connected to motor imagination. Therefore, these systems open the possibility of developing applications that could span from the medical field to the entertainment industry. In this context, Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches become of fundamental importance especially when wanting to provide a correct and coherent feedback to BCI users. Moreover, publicly available datasets in the field of MI EEG-based BCIs have been widely exploited to test new techniques from the AI domain. In this work, AI approaches applied to datasets collected in different years and with different devices but with coherent experimental paradigms are investigated with the aim of providing a concise yet sufficiently comprehensive survey on the evolution and influence of AI techniques on MI EEG-based BCI data.Comment: Submitted to Italian Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Human Machine Interaction (AIxHMI 2022), December 02, 2022, Udine, Ital

Bridging Objective and Subjective Evaluations in Data Visualization: A Crossover Experiment

One of the problems affecting evaluation in the design and adoption of HCI technology is that neither objective nor subjective measures are sufficient when taken alone or individually. This paper proposes a crossover approach, making sense of objective and subjective evaluation methods by hypothesizing them as constitutive of each other’s explanation. Objective image features borrowed from image processing may explain or being explained in terms of validated qualitative items for infographics value-in-use and qualitative labelling from users’ interaction. These methods are all applied to the evaluation of a small set of Data Vizualizations (Data Viz from now on). Image features are computed first, in order to provide a varied-features Data Viz selection from researchers; the subjective part of the evaluation is accomplished by the 98 participants of an experiment, who interacted with pairs of Data Viz by executing a task, then using the validated items of the Infographics-Value (IGV) short scale, and adding free qualitative comments. Crossing over these dimensions shows that: a high feature congestion in a Data Viz can hinder its perceived intuitiveness and clarity; a poorly distributed saliency may impact intuitiveness and clarity too; a high colorfulness may influence the perceived beauty; both saliency and colorfulness may impact on the perceived usefulness, informativity, and beauty. Furthermore, colorfulness can improve or worsen the perceived overall quality of design and quality of interaction when used and combined with feature congestion; and saliency may improve or worsen the perceived beauty when interacting with colorfulness. These results show how objective and subjective evaluations may be exploited as each other’s explanations for improving the evaluation process during both design and user experience with Data Viz. Based on this experiment, the importance of crossing-over quantitative and qualitative Data Viz evaluation is argued, and motivations to the exploitation of a combination of approaches instead of the application of one approach alone are supported. This contribution intends to lead towards a holistic Data Viz quality assessment method, able to provide a virtuous cycle enforcing both quantitative and qualitative approaches during all the phases of a Data Viz evaluation life

Pintando poemas

La comunicación e intercambio de experiencias entre maestros y profesores de E/LE, nos enriquecen y aportan enfoques innovadores en nuestra labor docente. Nosotras queremos compartir una propuesta de trabajo basada en la comunicación oral y escrita a través de la poesía