Augmented reality-based remote family visits in nursing homes

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many nursing homes had to restrict visitations. This had a major negative impact on the wellbeing of residents and their family members. In response, residents and family members increasingly resorted to mediated communication to maintain social contact. To facilitate high-quality mediated social contact between residents in nursing homes and remote family members, we developed an augmented reality (AR)-based communication tool. In this study, we compared the user experience (UX) of AR-communication with that of video calling, for 10 pairs of residents and family members. We measured enjoyment, spatial presence and social presence, attitudes, behavior and conversation duration. In the AR-communication condition, residents perceived a 3D projection of their remote family member onto a chair placed in front of them. In the video calling condition, the family member was shown using 2D video. In both conditions, the family member perceived the resident in the video calling mode on a 2D screen. While residents reported no differences in their UX between both conditions, family members reported higher spatial presence for the AR-communication condition compared to video-calling. Conversation durations were significantly longer during AR-communication than during video calling. We tentatively suggest that there may be (unconscious) differences in UX during AR-based communication compared to video calling

34. HIGH-RESOLUTION ELECTRICAL IMAGING IN THE NEW HEBRIDES ISLAND ARC: STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS AND STRESS STUDIES

ABSTRACT Electrical images recorded with the Formation MicroScanner in three of seven holes drilled during Leg 134 were analyzed to study the effect of the collision of the d'Entrecasteaux Ridge with the central New Hebrides Island Arc. Structural features such as bedding, faults, fractures, folds, and shear zones, automatically detected and interactively mapped from the images, were interpreted to document the deformation processes caused by the collision. At Site 829 the images show the imbricated structure of the thrust sheets in the accretionary complex. At Sites 832 and 833 the structural features observed and the compressional-stress information inferred from breakout analyses and hydraulic fractures indicate that the intra-arc North Aoba Basin is still subject to a east-northeast-west-southwest compression. This compression, which is associated with the uplift of the eastern part of the basin, is not older than latest Pliocene

Comprehensive Brain MRI Segmentation in High Risk Preterm Newborns

Most extremely preterm newborns exhibit cerebral atrophy/growth disturbances and white matter signal abnormalities on MRI at term-equivalent age. MRI brain volumes could serve as biomarkers for evaluating the effects of neonatal intensive care and predicting neurodevelopmental outcomes. This requires detailed, accurate, and reliable brain MRI segmentation methods. We describe our efforts to develop such methods in high risk newborns using a combination of manual and automated segmentation tools. After intensive efforts to accurately define structural boundaries, two trained raters independently performed manual segmentation of nine subcortical structures using axial T2-weighted MRI scans from 20 randomly selected extremely preterm infants. All scans were re-segmented by both raters to assess reliability. High intra-rater reliability was achieved, as assessed by repeatability and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC range: 0.97 to 0.99) for all manually segmented regions. Inter-rater reliability was slightly lower (ICC range: 0.93 to 0.99). A semi-automated segmentation approach was developed that combined the parametric strengths of the Hidden Markov Random Field Expectation Maximization algorithm with non-parametric Parzen window classifier resulting in accurate white matter, gray matter, and CSF segmentation. Final manual correction of misclassification errors improved accuracy (similarity index range: 0.87 to 0.89) and facilitated objective quantification of white matter signal abnormalities. The semi-automated and manual methods were seamlessly integrated to generate full brain segmentation within two hours. This comprehensive approach can facilitate the evaluation of large cohorts to rigorously evaluate the utility of regional brain volumes as biomarkers of neonatal care and surrogate endpoints for neurodevelopmental outcomes

Feedback providing improvement strategies and reflection on feedback use: Effects on students' writing motivation, process, and performance

This study investigated the effects of feedback providing improvement strategies and a reflection assignment on students’ writing motivation, process, and performance. Students in the experimental feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback including improvement strategies, whereas students in the control feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback without improvement strategies. Within each feedback condition, half of the students received a reflection assignment on feedback use and the revision (experimental reflection condition), while the other half received a reflection assignment on feedback perception (control reflection condition). Results indicated that in the experimental feedback condition writing performance gained from the control reflection assignment, while in the control feedback condition it gained from the experimental reflection assignment. Improvement strategies negatively predicted self-efficacy beliefs, especially when initial self-efficacy beliefs were low, and positively predicted planning/revising. Reflections on feedback use and the revision positively predicted mastery goal when mastery goal initially was low or moderate

9. CRACK-SEAL VEINS IN UPPER LAYER 2 IN HOLE 896A 1

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present a detailed description of the morphology and microstructure of fibrous and nonfibrous veins crosscutting basaltic cores recovered from Hole 896A. The nonfibrous veins consisting of spheroidal smectite aggregates and blocky carbonate crystals indicate that minerals crystallized in open spaces during single-stage crack opening. Fibrous veins (mainly smectite + carbonate-bearing) indicate that fibers crystallized by a crack-seal mechanism, involving repeated increments of microcrack openings, followed by displacement-controlled crystal growth. We report descriptions of diagnostic features of the crack-seal veins studied. Finally, composite veins consisting of both nonfibrous and fibrous mineral infill are interpreted to result from recrystallization of fibrous minerals into blocky minerals, or to indicate a decreasing crystallization rate with respect to the fracture opening rate

The explication of quality standards in self-evaluation

Education aiming at students’ competence development asks for new assessment methods. The quality of these methods needs to be assured using adapted quality criteria and accompanying standards. As such standards are not widely available, this study sets out to examine what level of compliance with quality criteria stakeholders consider satisfactory. Two professional education programmes specified the implicit standards they applied in a self-evaluation procedure designed to evaluate the quality of their Competence Assessment Programs (CAPs). They specified similar cut-off scores, but different descriptive standards. Analysis revealed that this was due to theIR experience with competence-based education and the quality of their own CAP, but influences of the selected method and the understanding of the quality criteria were also found. As such, the specified standards are local, but meaningful for the programmes’ quality assurance. Implications for self-evaluation and standard-setting procedures are discussed

Social Backup and Sharing of Video using HTTP Adaptive Streaming

This paper is on social backup, sharing and remote access of video using HTTP Adaptive Streaming. A social backup is a backup at the location, and thus on the equipment, of (close) friends and family. Backups are created at friends’ locations, matching the hosting user’s interest with the content and taking into account the available bandwidth between the respective locations. A backup of high-quality video content can be done in segments. These segments allow, once distributed across various locations, remote access in a streaming fashion. This allows the bundling of upload speeds of various locations, making available enough bandwidth for streaming the content. Even then, bandwidth bottlenecks may still exist. Our prototype implementation shows two ways of dealing with this limitation. One is to request additional bandwidth from your friends, assuming they are willing to give you priority over other bandwidth usage. The other is to stream in lower quality, making use of the adaptive part of HTTP adaptive streaming

2. DOWNHOLE VARIATIONS IN GRAIN SIZE AT HOLE 504B: IMPLICATIONS FOR RIFTING EPISODES AT MID-OCEAN RIDGES

ABSTRACT The maximum grain sizes of plagioclase and magnetite in the groundmass of the sheeted dike complex drilled at Hole 504B have been measured. Downhole variations through a 440-m-long section show a crude zig-zag pattern consisting of a gradual decrease or increase followed by an abrupt jump. The gradual decrease or increase in grain size extends over many lithologic units, and hence, does not reflect variations in grain size within a single dike. Such a zig-zag pattern is well explained by grain-size variations through multiple dikes. By using the observed inclination of sheeted dikes of 81° ± 2.5°, thickness of the multiple dikes varies from 0.7 to 8.5 m and averages to 4 ± 1 m. The average thickness of individual dikes forming multiple dikes is 0.8 m. We expect such multiple dikes to be formed during rifting events beneath mid-oceanic spreading ridges. If the average expansion at rifting episodes is twice as wide as the average width of the multiple dike units, the full spreading rate of 7.2 cm/yr of Cocos Ridge gives 112 ± 33 yr for a time interval of the rifting. A simple one-dimensional conductive cooling model is applied to solidification of multiple dikes. Numerical simulations show that the grain-size variations observed through the drill hole are more consistent with a model where a new injection of a dike occurs periodically with a constant time interval rather than one where the next dike intrudes just after the solidification of the previous one. Grain-size variations within simple dikes from Iritono, Japan, and those for Makaopuhi lava lake, Hawaii, show that square root of crystallization time is linearly correlated with the logarithm of plagioclase size. By using an empirically derived relationship between these two variables, the variations of plagioclase size through Hole 504B are directly compared with the calculated times for crystallization. Each rifting episode at the Costa Rica Rift lasts for several years, and periodic injection of a new dike occurs into the center of a previously solidified multiple dike at time intervals varying from 1 to 12 months