Effects of surface reflectance and 3D shape on perceived rotation axis

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Surface specularity distorts the optic flow generated by a moving object in a way that provides important cues for identifying surface material properties (Doerschner, Fleming et al., 2011). Here we show that specular flow can also affect the perceived rotation axis of objects. In three experiments, we investigate how threedimensional shape and surface material interact to affect the perceived rotation axis of unfamiliar irregularly shaped and isotropic objects. We analyze observers' patterns of errors in a rotation axis estimation task under four surface material conditions: shiny, matte textured, matte untextured, and silhouette. In addition to the expected large perceptual errors in the silhouette condition, we find that the patterns of errors for the other three material conditions differ from each other and across shape category, yielding the largest differences in error magnitude between shiny and matte, textured isotropic objects. Rotation axis estimation is a crucial implicit computational step to perceive structure from motion; therefore, we test whether a structure from a motion-based model can predict the perceived rotation axis for shiny and matte, textured objects. Our model's predictions closely follow observers' data, even yielding the same reflectance-specific perceptual errors. Unlike previous work (Caudek & Domini, 1998), our model does not rely on the assumption of affine image transformations; however, a limitation of our approach is its reliance on projected correspondence, thus having difficulty in accounting for the perceived rotation axis of smooth shaded objects and silhouettes. In general, our findings are in line with earlier research that demonstrated that shape from motion can be extracted based on several different types of optical deformation (Koenderink & Van Doorn, 1976; Norman & Todd, 1994; Norman, Todd, & Orban, 2004; Pollick, Nishida, Koike, & Kawato, 1994; Todd, 1985). © 2013 Arvo

Effects of surface reflectance and 3D shape on perceived rotation axis

Surface specularity distorts the optic flow generated by a moving object in a way that provides important cues for identifying surface material properties (Doerschner, Fleming et al., 2011). Here we show that specular flow can also affect the perceived rotation axis of objects. In three experiments, we investigate how threedimensional shape and surface material interact to affect the perceived rotation axis of unfamiliar irregularly shaped and isotropic objects. We analyze observers' patterns of errors in a rotation axis estimation task under four surface material conditions: shiny, matte textured, matte untextured, and silhouette. In addition to the expected large perceptual errors in the silhouette condition, we find that the patterns of errors for the other three material conditions differ from each other and across shape category, yielding the largest differences in error magnitude between shiny and matte, textured isotropic objects. Rotation axis estimation is a crucial implicit computational step to perceive structure from motion; therefore, we test whether a structure from a motion-based model can predict the perceived rotation axis for shiny and matte, textured objects. Our model's predictions closely follow observers' data, even yielding the same reflectance-specific perceptual errors. Unlike previous work (Caudek & Domini, 1998), our model does not rely on the assumption of affine image transformations; however, a limitation of our approach is its reliance on projected correspondence, thus having difficulty in accounting for the perceived rotation axis of smooth shaded objects and silhouettes. In general, our findings are in line with earlier research that demonstrated that shape from motion can be extracted based on several different types of optical deformation (Koenderink & Van Doorn, 1976; Norman & Todd, 1994; Norman, Todd, & Orban, 2004; Pollick, Nishida, Koike, & Kawato, 1994; Todd, 1985). © 2013 Arvo

Thrombosis in vasculitis: from pathogenesis to treatment

In recent years, the relationship between inflammation and thrombosis has been deeply investigated and it is now clear that immune and coagulation systems are functionally interconnected. Inflammation-induced thrombosis is by now considered a feature not only of autoimmune rheumatic diseases, but also of systemic vasculitides such as Behçet’s syndrome, ANCA-associated vasculitis or giant cells arteritis, especially during active disease. These findings have important consequences in terms of management and treatment. Indeed, Behçet’syndrome requires immunosuppressive agents for vascular involvement rather than anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapy, and it is conceivable that also in ANCA-associated vasculitis or large vessel-vasculitis an aggressive anti-inflammatory treatment during active disease could reduce the risk of thrombotic events in early stages. In this review we discuss thrombosis in vasculitides, especially in Behçet’s syndrome, ANCA-associated vasculitis and large-vessel vasculitis, and provide pathogenetic and clinical clues for the different specialists involved in the care of these patients