A Multi-scale colour and Keypoint Density-based Approach for Visual Saliency Detection.

In the first seconds of observation of an image, several visual attention processes are involved in the identification of the visual targets that pop-out from the scene to our eyes. Saliency is the quality that makes certain regions of an image stand out from the visual field and grab our attention. Saliency detection models, inspired by visual cortex mechanisms, employ both colour and luminance features. Furthermore, both locations of pixels and presence of objects influence the Visual Attention processes. In this paper, we propose a new saliency method based on the combination of the distribution of interest points in the image with multiscale analysis, a centre bias module and a machine learning approach. We use perceptually uniform colour spaces to study how colour impacts on the extraction of saliency. To investigate eye-movements and assess the performances of saliency methods over object-based images, we conduct experimental sessions on our dataset ETTO (Eye Tracking Through Objects). Experiments show our approach to be accurate in the detection of saliency concerning state-of-the-art methods and accessible eye-movement datasets. The performances over object-based images are excellent and consistent on generic pictures. Besides, our work reveals interesting findings on some relationships between saliency and perceptually uniform colour spaces

Owner and animal factors predict the incidence of, and owner reaction towards, problem behaviors in companion dogs

Unwelcome behaviors in pet dogs may have serious implications for the quality of life of both the animals and their owners. We investigated owners\u2019 perceptions about their dogs\u2019 behavioral issues as well as other factors that might be predictive of potential canine problem behaviors. We distinguished between \u201cundesirable behaviors\u201d (behaviors that were unpleasant to the owners) and \u201cproblematic behaviors\u201d (behaviors that the owners found difficult to overcome). We designed an on-line survey eliciting information about owners, their dogs, their relationship with their dogs and whether the animals exhibited any of 15 potentially problematic behaviors. The largest proportion of respondents (65%) reported that their dogs exhibited undesirable, but not problematic, behaviors and were not interested in their modification. Only 32% of the respondents considered the behavior to be both undesirable and problematic and wished to change it. The owners\u2019 perception of a problem was associated with reports of fear- and anxiety-related behaviors. The owner\u2019s gender, marital status and attitude towards the dog as his/her child as well as the dog\u2019s age, size, age at acquisition and breed emerged as robust predictors. Compared to all other behavioral categories, reported aggressive canine behaviors were three times more likely to elicit an owner\u2019s wish to address them. This study revealed that the behaviors of dogs may be perceived differently by their owners and the type of perception may influence the owner\u2019s actual willingness to change those behaviors. Moreover, we identified the most robust set of factors that, either individually or combined, would help predict a dog\u2019s potential problem behaviors and an owner\u2019s attitude towards them, which will be useful in improving rational prevention and treatment strategies

Image Content Enhancement Through Salient Regions Segmentation for People With Color Vision Deficiencies

Color vision deficiencies affect visual perception of colors and, more generally, color images. Several sciences such as genetics, biology, medicine, and computer vision are involved in studying and analyzing vision deficiencies. As we know from visual saliency findings, human visual system tends to fix some specific points and regions of the image in the first seconds of observation summing up the most important and meaningful parts of the scene. In this article, we provide some studies about human visual system behavior differences between normal and color vision-deficient visual systems. We eye-tracked the human fixations in first 3 seconds of observation of color images to build real fixation point maps. One of our contributions is to detect the main differences between the aforementioned human visual systems related to color vision deficiencies by analyzing real fixation maps among people with and without color vision deficiencies. Another contribution is to provide a method to enhance color regions of the image by using a detailed color mapping of the segmented salient regions of the given image. The segmentation is performed by using the difference between the original input image and the corresponding color blind altered image. A second eye-tracking of color blind people with the images enhanced by using recoloring of segmented salient regions reveals that the real fixation points are then more coherent (up to 10%) with the normal visual system. The eye-tracking data collected during our experiments are in a publicly available dataset called Eye-Tracking of Color Vision Deficiencies

Ultrasound-guided percutaneous antegrade pyelography for suspected ureteral obstruction in 6 pet guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)

Objectives: to describe the feasibility and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous antegrade pyelography in pet guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) with suspected ureteral obstruction.Materials and Methods: six adult pet guinea pigs (4 females and 2 males, all intact) were evaluated for suspected ureteral obstruction. The mean weight of the guinea pigs was 0.8 \ub1 0.25 kg (range: 0.4-1.1 kg), and mean age was 4.07 \ub1 1.63 years (range 2-7 years). All animals were free from comorbid diseases, had clinical signs of urologic disease and were referred based on either strong clinical suspicion of, or diagnostic imaging of ureteral obstruction. Data on signalment and clinical examination findings, response to anaesthesia and imaging findings were recorded.Results: partial ureteral obstruction was confirmed in all guinea pigs but one, in which a complete ureteral obstruction occurred. Uroliths were in both ureters of 5 cases and in both the left renal pelvis and ureters in 1 case. All guinea pigs showed a normal appetite and regular defecation within 2 hours following the procedure. No intraoperative or immediate postoperative complications were encountered after the procedure. The only complication was contrast medium leakages in the subcapsular perinephric, retroperitoneal and, in one case, peritoneal space, which caused no overt clinical consequences afterwards. In one male patient, mobilisation of the ureteral calculus occurred and the urolith was found in the urinary bladder on the radiograph taken after contrast medium injection.Clinical Significance: the ultrasound-guided percutaneous antegrade pyelography technique is a useful, safe and easy-to-perform diagnostic tool in guinea pigs with hydronephrosis and hydroureter

Second Opinion System for Intraoral Lesions

In this paper we present the prototype of a teledentistry system to perform the remote diagnosis of oral diseases. It makes use of a particular device called intra-oral (or dental) camera properly designed to shoot video and take pictures of the inner part of the mouth. The intra-oral cameras can be connected via USB to a common PC and they are very cheap, unlike the intra-oral photography kit for DSLR cameras. Usually this kind of devices are used in dentistry studies for local visualization by means of specialized software. The novelty of our system is that the real-time video produced by this device is canalized into a video streming by means of VideoLan client/server (VLC) and pictures can be sent by a current File Tranfer Protocol (FTP) service to realize a Second Opinion Syste

A Teledentistry System for the Second Opinion

In this paper we present a teledentistry system aimed to the Second Opinion task. It make use of a particular camera called intra-oral camera, also called dental camera, in order to perform the photo shooting and real-time video of the inner part of the mouth. The pictures acquired by the Operator with such a device are sent to the Oral Medicine Expert (OME) by means of a current File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service and the real-time video is channeled into a video streaming thanks to the VideoLan client/server (VLC) application. It is composed by a HTML5 web-pages generated by PHP and allows to perform the Second Opinion both when Operator and OME are logged and when one of them is offline

Image Content Enhancement Through Salient Regions Segmentation for People With Color Vision Deficiencies.

Color vision deficiencies affect visual perception of colors and, more generally, color images. Several sciences such as genetics, biology, medicine, and computer vision are involved in studying and analyzing vision deficiencies. As we know from visual saliency findings, human visual system tends to fix some specific points and regions of the image in the first seconds of observation summing up the most important and meaningful parts of the scene. In this article, we provide some studies about human visual system behavior differences between normal and color vision-deficient visual systems. We eye-tracked the human fixations in first 3 seconds of observation of color images to build real fixation point maps. One of our contributions is to detect the main differences between the aforementioned human visual systems related to color vision deficiencies by analyzing real fixation maps among people with and without color vision deficiencies. Another contribution is to provide a method to enhance color regions of the image by using a detailed color mapping of the segmented salient regions of the given image. The segmentation is performed by using the difference between the original input image and the corresponding color blind altered image. A second eye-tracking of color blind people with the images enhanced by using recoloring of segmented salient regions reveals that the real fixation points are then more coherent (up to 10%) with the normal visual system. The eye-tracking data collected during our experiments are in a publicly available dataset called Eye-Tracking of Color Vision Deficiencies

The Latin Owner: profiles, perceptions and attitudes of Italian cat and dog owners towards their pet

Introduction Nowadays animal companionship is an integral aspect of life in Europe, with approximately 81 million registered dogs and 99.2 million cats (1). This research aims to identify characteristics of dog and cat-owning households from a large cross-sectional web-based survey in Italy. Material and Methods Owners over 18 years old were asked information about themselves, their dogs, cats and their relationship with their pets. Data was analysed using Pearson\u2019s \u3c72 tests and logistic regressions (SPSS). Results 3,298 owners completed the survey, 31.8% and 40.3% of whom owned dogs and cats respectively, and 72.8% both. People aged 18 to 30 years were more likely to own a dog than older respondents. Compared to cat owners, dog owners were more likely to believe that their pets considered them to be conspecific group members, rather than \u201conly humans\u201d. Dogs were more likely to be purebreds adopted for companionship. Cats were significantly more likely to be mixed breeds adopted because they needed a home. Dog owners were significantly more likely to rate other owners as an important source of information regarding handling and training than cat owners. Despite a similarly high prevalence of reported intraspecific aggression and noise reactivity among dogs and cats, dog ownership significantly increased the likelihood of the owner\u2019s actual willingness to change a pet\u2019s behavior. Cat ownership increased the likelihood that owners would consider surgical sterilisation as an option to correct behaviour. Conclusion These results may be useful in helping behaviour practitioners address population changes in terms of human-pet bonds and plan prevention and treatment strategies. Reference: Statista 2015. Available a

A Styrene-alt-Maleic Acid Copolymer Is an Effective Inhibitor of R5 and X4 Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection

An alternating copolymer of styrene and maleic acid (alt-PSMA) differs from other polyanionic antiviral agents in that the negative charges of alt-PSMA are provided by carboxylic acid groups instead of sulfate or sulfonate moieties. We hypothesized that alt-PSMA would have activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) comparable to other polyanions, such as the related compound, poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSS). In assays using cell lines and primary immune cells, alt-PSMA was characterized by low cytotoxicity and effective inhibition of infection by HIV-1 BaL and IIIB as well as clinical isolates of subtypes A, B, and C. In mechanism of action assays, in which each compound was added to cells and subsequently removed prior to HIV-1 infection (“washout” assay), alt-PSMA caused no enhancement of infection, while PSS washout increased infection 70% above control levels. These studies demonstrate that alt-PSMA is an effective HIV-1 inhibitor with properties that warrant further investigation