Omnidirectional video stabilisation on a virtual camera using sensor fusion

This paper presents a method for robustly stabilising omnidirectional video given the presence of significantrotations and translations by creating a virtual camera and using a combination of sensor fusion and scene tracking. Real time rotational movements of the camera are measured by an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which provides an initial estimate of the ego-motion of the camera platform. Image registration is then used to refine these estimates. The calculated ego-motion is then used to adjust an extract of the omnidirectional video, forming a virtual camera that is focused on the scene. Experiments show the technique is effective under challenging ego-motions and overcomes deficiencies that are associated with unimodal approaches making it robust and suitable to be used in many surveillance applications

The association between divergent thinking, personality, and listening to classical music

Divergent thinking (DT) enables flexible thinking and the generation of a wider range of original ideas that form the basis of creativity. Although personality traits and music listening have been found to be positively correlated with DT performance, the association remains inconclusive. Furthermore, there is a debate regarding whether originality should be included as an index to measure DT. The present study examines the association between DT, personality, and classical music listening. There were 162 Malaysian adults who participated in this experiment. Participants were randomly allocated to either happy, sad classical music (i.e., listen to a repeated clip of happy or sad music), or silent conditions (i.e., no music was played). DT and personality were assessed with Figural and Realistic DT Tests and 44-item personality model with five broad factors, respectively. Positive intercorrelations were found between fluency, flexibility, originality, and DT total score. A weak positive correlation was revealed between DT total score and openness trait. However, there was no significant difference between happy, sad music, and silent conditions on DT performance. The findings support the notion that fluency, flexibility, and originality are the essential indices in measuring DT performance. The results suggest that open-minded people have better DT performance

Effects of culture on musical pitch perception.

The strong association between music and speech has been supported by recent research focusing on musicians' superior abilities in second language learning and neural encoding of foreign speech sounds. However, evidence for a double association--the influence of linguistic background on music pitch processing and disorders--remains elusive. Because languages differ in their usage of elements (e.g., pitch) that are also essential for music, a unique opportunity for examining such language-to-music associations comes from a cross-cultural (linguistic) comparison of congenital amusia, a neurogenetic disorder affecting the music (pitch and rhythm) processing of about 5% of the Western population. In the present study, two populations (Hong Kong and Canada) were compared. One spoke a tone language in which differences in voice pitch correspond to differences in word meaning (in Hong Kong Cantonese, /si/ means 'teacher' and 'to try' when spoken in a high and mid pitch pattern, respectively). Using the On-line Identification Test of Congenital Amusia, we found Cantonese speakers as a group tend to show enhanced pitch perception ability compared to speakers of Canadian French and English (non-tone languages). This enhanced ability occurs in the absence of differences in rhythmic perception and persists even after relevant factors such as musical background and age were controlled. Following a common definition of amusia (5% of the population), we found Hong Kong pitch amusics also show enhanced pitch abilities relative to their Canadian counterparts. These findings not only provide critical evidence for a double association of music and speech, but also argue for the reconceptualization of communicative disorders within a cultural framework. Along with recent studies documenting cultural differences in visual perception, our auditory evidence challenges the common assumption of universality of basic mental processes and speaks to the domain generality of culture-to-perception influences.published_or_final_versio

Translation factor eIF5a is essential for IFNγ production and cell cycle regulation in primary CD8 T lymphocytes

Control of mRNA translation adjusts protein production rapidly and facilitates local cellular responses to environmental conditions. Traditionally initiation of translation is considered to be a major translational control point, however, control of peptide elongation is also important. Here we show that the function of the elongation factor, eIF5a, is regulated dynamically in naïve CD8(+) T cells upon activation by post-translational modification, whereupon it facilitates translation of specific subsets of proteins. eIF5a is essential for long-term survival of effector CD8(+) T cells and sequencing of nascent polypeptides indicates that the production of proteins which regulate proliferation and key effector functions, particularly the production of IFNγ and less acutely TNF production and cytotoxicity, is dependent on the presence of functional eIF5a. Control of translation in multiple immune cell lineages is required to co-ordinate immune responses and these data illustrate that translational elongation contributes to post-transcriptional regulons important for the control of inflammation

Forest - Related Culture and Contribution to Sustainable Development in the Northern Mountain Region in Vietnam

The culture of communities living near/in forests indelibly interacts with forest ecosystems, both shaping and adapting to the natural environment. Forest-related cultural dimensions also provide benefits for local economies and social welfare. This study analyses the relationship between local culture and forests of the Tay and the Dao minorities and their contribution to sustainable development in Vo Nhai, a mountainous district in northern Vietnam. The study uses methods of a literature review, participant observation and qualitative interviews with local people. The strong embedded culture with forests that developed over many generations of Tay and Dao people was expressed through their knowledge systems of understanding nature, skills for environmental adaption, health protection and spiritual and recreational activities. The potentials of forest - related culture as a feature of local sustainable development were analysed through contributions in natural resource conservation, economic development and social cohesion. To integrate forest - related culture in sustainable development, some issues need to be better focused on the locality

Imaging the Black Hole Silhouette of M87: Implications for Jet Formation and Black Hole Spin

The silhouette cast by the horizon of the supermassive black hole in M87 can now be resolved with the emerging millimeter very-long baseline interferometry (VLBI) capability. Despite being ~2000 times farther away than SgrA* (the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky-Way and the primary target for horizon-scale imaging), M87's much larger black hole mass results in a horizon angular scale roughly half that of SgrA*'s, providing another practical target for direct imaging. However, unlike SgrA*, M87 exhibits a powerful radio jet, providing an opportunity to study jet formation physics on horizon scales. We employ a simple, qualitatively correct force-free jet model to explore the expected high-resolution images of M87 at wavelengths of 1.3mm and 0.87mm (230GHz and 345GHz), for a variety of jet parameters. We show that future VLBI data will be able to constrain the size of the jet footprint, the jet collimation rate, and the black hole spin. Polarization will further probe the structure of the jet's magnetic field and its effect on the emitting gas. Horizon-scale imaging of M87 and SgrA* will enable for the first time the empirical exploration of the relationship between the mass and spin of a black hole and the characteristics of the gas inflow/outflow around it.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Ap

Treatment of insomnia in myasthenia gravis-A prospective study on non-benzodiazepine hypnotics in the treatment of myasthenia gravis patients with insomnia

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of non-benzodiazepine hypnotics in the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients with insomnia. Methods: This is a prospective longitudinal study. Outpatients who met the criteria for stable MG and insomnia diagnosis according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (third edition) were included in the study. They took a regular dose of non-benzodiazepine hypnotics (zolpidem 10 mg per night or zopiclone 7.5 mg per night) based on their own preferences. Patients received psychotherapy (including sleep health education) and were followed up for 4–5 weeks. Cases with lung diseases, respiratory disorders, or inappropriate use of hypnotic medications were excluded. The primary outcome is the difference in total Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score between baseline and the end of follow-up period. Secondary outcomes include the difference in Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living (MG-ADL) score, 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) between baseline and the end of follow-up period and the safety of medication. Results: A total of 75 MG patients with insomnia were included in this study. After 4–5 weeks of treatment, the total PSQI score and MG-ADL score were lower than baseline (p < 0.01). No patients had an increased MG-ADL score. The incidence rate of adverse events was 16.0% (12 cases), including dizziness (6 cases, 8.0%), drowsiness (3 cases, 4.0%), fatigue (2 cases, 2.7%), and nausea (1 case, 1.3%), all of which were mild. No patients had new onset breathing disorders. Conclusion: Non-benzodiazepine hypnotics are safe and effective for stable MG patients who need insomnia treatment

Outage and bit error probability analysis in energy harvesting wireless cooperative networks

This study focuses on a wireless powered cooperative communication network (WPCCN), which includes a hybrid access point (HAP), a source and a relay. The considered source and relay are installed without embedded energy supply (EES), thus are dependent on energy harvested from signals from the HAP to power their cooperative information transmission (IT). Taking inspiration from this, the author group investigates into a harvest-then-cooperate (HTC) protocol, whereas the source and the relay first harvest the energy from the AP in a downlink (DL) and then collaboratively work in uplink (UL) for IT of the source. For careful evaluation of the system performance, derivations of the approximate closed-form expression of the outage probability (OP) and an average bit error probability ( ABER) for the HTC protocol over Rayleigh fading channels are done. Lastly, the author group performs Monte-Carlo simulations to reassure the numerical results they obtained.Web of Science255746

A Multistage System for Automatic Detection of Epileptic Spikes

A multistage automatic detection system for epileptic spikes is introduced as an assistant tool for epileptic analysis and diagnosis based on electroencephalogram (EEG). The system consists of four stages: preprocessing, feature extraction, classifier and expert system. Multiple state-of-the-art signal processing and machine learning techniques including wavelet transform, spectral filtering, artificial neural network are utilized in order to improve the ability of the overall system stage by stage. Compared to other works, our contributions are three-fold: peaks in the EEG recording are categorized into two groups of non-epileptic spikes and possible epileptic spikes by a committee of three perceptrons; appropriate mother wavelet and wavelet scales are selected for the best system performance; and, based on the neurological fact that an epileptic spike is usually followed by a slow wave, a simple expert system is presented to eliminate pseudo-spikes which are closely analogous to true epileptic spikes. Experimental results show that the proposed system is capable of detecting epileptic spikes efficiently