Immersive Virtual Reality for Cultural Heritage Exploration

Virtual Reality can provide an immersive experience that allows cultural heritage to be experienced in a more realistic and immersive way than traditional showcasing techniques. The objective of this paper is to provide a software pipeline that can be adopted for the realization of immersive experiences in cultural heritage sites. This work has been realized within the 3DLab-Sicilia project, which includes the realization of immersive virtual tours of UNESCO World Heritage sites located in the Sicily area (Italy)

Incidence of temporomandibular joint clicking in adolescents with and without unilateral posterior cross-bite: a 10-year follow-up study

Among different malocclusions, posterior cross-bite is thought to have a strong impact on the correct functioning of the masticatory system. The association between unilateral posterior cross-bite (UPCB) and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) clicking, however, remains still controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of UCPB during early adolescence increases the risk of reporting TMJ clicking after a long-term follow-up. A longitudinal survey design was carried out in a group of 12-year-old young adolescents, who were examined at baseline for TMJ clicking sounds and unilateral posterior cross-bite. After 10 years, 519 subjects could be reached by a telephone survey. Standardised questions were used to collect self-reported TMJ sounds and to determine whether participants had received an orthodontic treatment. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between unilateral posterior cross-bite and subjectively reported TMJ clicking (odds ratio = 6·0; 95% confidence limits = 3·4-10·8; P < 0·0001). The incidence of TMJ clicking was 12%. At a ten-year follow-up, self-reports of TMJ clicking were significantly associated with the presence of UPCB at baseline, but not with the report of having received an orthodontic treatment. Within the limitation of this study, the presence of unilateral posterior cross-bite in young adolescents may increase the risk of reporting TMJ sounds at a 10-year follow-up. The provision of an orthodontic treatment, however, does not appear to reduce the risk of reporting TMJ sounds

Indoor/Outdoor Air Quality Assessment at School near the Steel Plant in Taranto (Italy)

This study aims to investigate the air quality in primary school placed in district of Taranto (south of Italy), an area of high environmental risk because of closeness between large industrial complex and urban settlement. The chemical characterization of PM2.5 was performed to identify origin of pollutants detected inside school and the comparison between indoor and outdoor levels of PAHs and metals allowed evaluating intrusion of outdoor pollutants or the existence of specific indoor sources. The results showed that the indoor and outdoor levels of PM2.5, BaP, Cd, Ni, As, and Pb never exceeded the target values issued by World Health Organization (WHO). Nevertheless, high metals and PAHs concentrations were detected especially when school were downwind to the steel plant. TheI/Oratio showed the impact of outdoor pollutants, especially of industrial markers as Fe, Mn, Zn, and Pb, on indoor air quality. This result was confirmed by values of diagnostic ratio as B(a)P/B(g)P, IP/(IP + BgP), BaP/Chry, and BaP/(BaP + Chry), which showed range characteristics of coke and coal combustion. However, Ni and As showedI/Oratio of 2.5 and 1.4, respectively, suggesting the presence of indoor sources

Nerf for heritage 3d reconstruction

Conventional or learning-based 3D reconstruction methods from images have clearly shown their potential for 3D heritage documentation. Nevertheless, Neural Radiance Field (NeRF) approaches are recently revolutionising the way a scene can be rendered or reconstructed in 3D from a set of oriented images. Therefore the paper wants to review some of the last NeRF methods applied to various cultural heritage datasets collected with smartphone videos, touristic approaches or reflex cameras. Firstly several NeRF methods are evaluated. It turned out that Instant-NGP and Nerfacto methods achieved the best outcomes, outperforming all other methods significantly. Successively qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed on various datasets, revealing the good performances of NeRF methods, in particular for areas with uniform texture or shining surfaces, as well as for small datasets of lost artefacts. This is for sure opening new frontiers for 3D documentation, visualization and communication purposes of digital heritage

Comparison of Chinese medicine higher education programs in China and five Western countries

Object: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been taught widely in the both Eastern and Western world countries. This study compared the origin, student source, duration, and curriculum design of TCM higher education programs in China and five Western countries. Method: We searched the Internet and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database to gather relevant information. Result: All the six countries offer acupuncture and/or Chinese herbal medicine programs at universities and/or private schools. However, there are great large differences among them in the education of curriculum and TCM students enrollment and curriculum policies of TCM courses. Conclusions: There are large differences among their curriculum and enrollment policies. This comparison should provide information about the further development of international standards in TCM education

NERFBK: A HOLISTIC DATASET FOR BENCHMARKING NERF-BASED 3D RECONSTRUCTION

Neural Radiance Field methods are innovative solutions to derive 3D data from a set of oriented images. This paper introduces new real and synthetic image datasets - called NeRFBK - specifically designed for testing and comparing NeRF-based 3D reconstruction algorithms. More and more reconstruction algorithms and techniques are available nowadays, raising the need to evaluate and compare the quality of derived 3D products currently used in various domains and applications. However, gathering diverse data with precise ground truth is challenging and may not encompass all relevant applications. The NeRFBK dataset addresses this issue by providing multi-scale, indoor and outdoor datasets with high-resolution images and videos and camera parameters for testing and comparing NeRF-based algorithms. This paper presents the design and creation of the NeRFBK set of data, various examples and application scenarios, and highlights its potential for advancing the field of 3D reconstruction

NERFBK: A HOLISTIC DATASET FOR BENCHMARKING NERF-BASED 3D RECONSTRUCTION

Neural Radiance Field methods are innovative solutions to derive 3D data from a set of oriented images. This paper introduces new real and synthetic image datasets - called NeRFBK - specifically designed for testing and comparing NeRF-based 3D reconstruction algorithms. More and more reconstruction algorithms and techniques are available nowadays, raising the need to evaluate and compare the quality of derived 3D products currently used in various domains and applications. However, gathering diverse data with precise ground truth is challenging and may not encompass all relevant applications. The NeRFBK dataset addresses this issue by providing multi-scale, indoor and outdoor datasets with high-resolution images and videos and camera parameters for testing and comparing NeRF-based algorithms. This paper presents the design and creation of the NeRFBK set of data, various examples and application scenarios, and highlights its potential for advancing the field of 3D reconstruction

Ultrasound Evaluation of Tendinopathy in Hemophiliac Patients for the Purpose of Rehabilitation Indications

Background: Hemophilia is a inherited bleeding disorder that is characterized by intra-articular bleeding (hemarthrosis). The aim of the study was to evaluate the state of the satellite tendons of the target joints in the patient with hemophilic arthropathy and propose rehabilitation treatment with eccentric exercises. Methods: The tendons of the joints mainly affected by hemophilic arthropathy were evaluated by ultrasound. The ultrasound evaluation is associated with the use of evaluation clinical scales, such as the Hemophilia Joint Health Score (HJHS), the Functional Independence Score in Hemophilia (FISH), the Hemophilia Activity List (HAL), the DASH, the VISA-A, the VISA-P, and the VAS scale. Results: In 20 patients with hemophilic arthropathy, the thickness of the tendons that were examined was normal. In six subjects with severe joint damage, echostructural alterations were present, and signs of hyperemia and neo-vascularization were detected on color Doppler, as well as the presence of intratendinous calcifications. Conclusions: The tendons of the target joints in patients with hemophilic arthropathy are compromised by the indirect biomechanical damage caused by the joint disease, and rehabilitation treatment with eccentric exercises can be considered safe and effective in improving the tenso-elastic properties of the tendons

Measuring close proximity interactions in summer camps during the COVID-19 pandemic

Policy makers have implemented multiple non-pharmaceutical strategies to mitigate the COVID-19 worldwide crisis. Interventions had the aim of reducing close proximity interactions, which drive the spread of the disease. A deeper knowledge of human physical interactions has revealed necessary, especially in all settings involving children, whose education and gathering activities should be preserved. Despite their relevance, almost no data are available on close proximity contacts among children in schools or other educational settings during the pandemic. Contact data are usually gathered via Bluetooth, which nonetheless offers a low temporal and spatial resolution. Recently, ultra-wideband (UWB) radios emerged as a more accurate alternative that nonetheless exhibits a significantly higher energy consumption, limiting in-field studies. In this paper, we leverage a novel approach, embodied by the Janus system that combines these radios by exploiting their complementary benefits. The very accurate proximity data gathered in-field by Janus, once augmented with several metadata, unlocks unprecedented levels of information, enabling the development of novel multi-level risk analyses. By means of this technology, we have collected real contact data of children and educators in three summer camps during summer 2020 in the province of Trento, Italy. The wide variety of performed daily activities induced multiple individual behaviors, allowing a rich investigation of social environments from the contagion risk perspective. We consider risk based on duration and proximity of contacts and classify interactions according to different risk levels. We can then evaluate the summer camps’ organization, observe the effect of partition in small groups, or social bubbles, and identify the organized activities that mitigate the riskier behaviors. Overall, we offer an insight into the educator-child and child-child social interactions during the pandemic, thus providing a valuable tool for schools, summer camps, and policy makers to (re)structure educational activities safely

Efficient Low-Frequency SSVEP Detection with Wearable EEG Using Normalized Canonical Correlation Analysis

Recent studies show that the integrity of core perceptual and cognitive functions may be tested in a short time with Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) with low stimulation frequencies, between 1 and 10 Hz. Wearable EEG systems provide unique opportunities to test these brain functions on diverse populations in out-of-the-lab conditions. However, they also pose significant challenges as the number of EEG channels is typically limited, and the recording conditions might induce high noise levels, particularly for low frequencies. Here we tested the performance of Normalized Canonical Correlation Analysis (NCCA), a frequency-normalized version of CCA, to quantify SSVEP from wearable EEG data with stimulation frequencies ranging from 1 to 10 Hz. We validated NCCA on data collected with an 8-channel wearable wireless EEG system based on BioWolf, a compact, ultra-light, ultra-low-power recording platform. The results show that NCCA correctly and rapidly detects SSVEP at the stimulation frequency within a few cycles of stimulation, even at the lowest frequency (4 s recordings are sufficient for a stimulation frequency of 1 Hz), outperforming a state-of-the-art normalized power spectral measure. Importantly, no preliminary artifact correction or channel selection was required. Potential applications of these results to research and clinical studies are discussed