The Impact of an Accurate Vertical Localization with HRTFs on Short Explorations of Immersive Virtual Reality Scenarios

Achieving a full 3D auditory experience with head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) is still one of the main challenges of spatial audio rendering. HRTFs capture the listener's acoustic effects and personal perception, allowing immersion in virtual reality (VR) applications. This paper aims to investigate the connection between listener sensitivity in vertical localization cues and experienced presence, spatial audio quality, and attention. Two VR experiments with head-mounted display (HMD) and animated visual avatar are proposed: (i) a screening test aiming to evaluate the participants' localization performance with HRTFs for a non-visible spatialized audio source, and (ii) a 2 minute free exploration of a VR scene with five audiovisual sources in a both non-spatialized (2D stereo panning) and spatialized (free-field HRTF rendering) listening conditions. The screening test allows a distinction between good and bad localizers. The second one shows that no biases are introduced in the quality of the experience (QoE) due to different audio rendering methods; more interestingly, good localizers perceive a lower audio latency and they are less involved in the visual aspects

Lifestyle and socio-demographic factors associated with high-risk HPV infection in UK women

The world age-standardised prevalence of high-risk HPV (hrHPV) infection among 5038 UK women aged 20–59 years, with a low-grade smear during 1999–2002, assessed for eligibility for TOMBOLA (Trial Of Management of Borderline and Other Low-grade Abnormal smears) was 34.2%. High-risk HPV prevalence decreased with increasing age, from 61% at ages 20–24 years to 14–15% in those over 50 years. The age-standardised prevalence was 15.1, 30.7 and 52.7%, respectively, in women with a current normal, borderline nuclear abnormalities (BNA) and mild smear. In overall multivariate analyses, tertiary education, previous pregnancy and childbirth were associated with reduced hrHPV infection risk. Risk of infection was increased in non-white women, women not married/cohabiting, hormonal contraceptives users and current smokers. In stratified analyses, current smear status and age remained associated with hrHPV infection. Data of this type are relevant to the debate on human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in screening and development of HPV vaccination programmes

Sex- and age-dependent association of SLC11A1 polymorphisms with tuberculosis in Chinese: a case control study

BACKGROUND: Host genetic factors are important determinants in tuberculosis (TB). The SLC11A1 (or NRAMP1) gene has been studied extensively for genetic association with TB, but with inconsistent findings. In addition, no study has yet looked into the effect of sex and age on the relationship between SLC11A1 polymorphisms and TB. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted. In total, 278 pulmonary TB patients and 282 sex- and age-matched controls without TB were recruited. All subjects were ethnic Chinese. On the basis of linkage disequilibrium pattern, three genetic markers from SLC11A1 and one from the nearby IL8RB locus were selected and examined for association with TB susceptibility. These markers were genotyped using single strand conformation polymorphism analysis or fragment analysis of amplified products. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences in allele (P = 0.0165, OR = 1.51) and genotype (P = 0.0163, OR = 1.59) frequencies of the linked markers SLC6a/b (classically called D543N and 3'UTR) of the SLC11A1 locus were found between patients and controls. With stratification by sex, positive associations were identified in the female group for both allele (P = 0.0049, OR = 2.54) and genotype (P = 0.0075, OR = 2.74) frequencies. With stratification by age, positive associations were demonstrated in the young age group (age ≤65 years) for both allele (P = 0.0047, OR = 2.52) and genotype (P = 0.0031, OR = 2.92) frequencies. All positive findings remained significant even after correction for multiple comparisons. No significant differences were noted in either the male group or the older age group. No significant differences were found for the other markers (one SLC11A1 marker and one IL8RB marker) either. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed the association between SLC11A1 and TB susceptibility and demonstrated for the first time that the association was restricted to females and the young age group

Role of fixture forces on distortion in gas tungsten arc welding - an experimental and modelling approach

Simulation and experiments show that the fixture clamping force has a significant influence on the structural integrity of a welded workpiece. This understanding is of great importance for the manufacture of aerospace components with tight tolerances in the specifications. The focus in the present study is on the temperature history during welding and residual deformation; its main contribution is a demonstrator designed for evaluation of the influence of fixture clamping forces and validation of the simulation results. The demonstrator concerns a simplified situation considering gas tungsten arc welding of a nickel-based metal plate fixed by a specially designed fixture, where one side of the plate was clamped with different levels of force. The temperature history was measured during the weld sequence and deformation measurements were performed after cooling and release of the workpiece from the fixture. The results from simulation and experimentation showed good agreement. The proposed strategy is industrially competitive and has shown that the looser the fixture clamps, the smaller the residual deformation. Furthermore, the study provides a knowledge base for selection of active fixture concepts in that the fixture clamping force can be determined in advance and possibly also be subject to force control

Virtual reality exploration with different head-related transfer functions

One of the main challenges of spatial audio rendering in headphones is the crucial work behind the personalization of the so-called head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). HRTFs capture the listener's acoustic effects allowing a personal perception of immersion in virtual reality context. This paper aims to investigate the possible benefits of personalized HRTFs that were individually selected based on anthropometric data (pinnae shapes). Personalized audio rendering was compared to a generic HRTF and a stereo sound condition. Two studies were performed; the first study consisted of a screening test aiming to evaluate the participants' localization performance with HRTFs for a non-visible spatialized audio source. The second experiment allowed the participants to freely explore a VR scene with five audiovisual sources for two minutes each, with both HRTF and stereo conditions. A questionnaire with items for spatial audio quality, presence and attention was used for the evaluation. Results indicate that audio rendering methods made no difference on responses to the questionnaire in the two minutes of a free exploration

Vision and spectroscopic sensing for joint tracing in narrow gap laser butt welding

The automated laser beam butt welding process is sensitive to positioning the laser beam with respect to the joint because a small offset may result in detrimental lack of sidewall fusion. This problem is even more pronounced in case of narrow gap butt welding, where most of the commercial automatic joint tracing systems fail to detect the exact position and size of the gap. In this work, a dual vision and spectroscopic sensing approach is proposed to trace narrow gap butt joints during laser welding. The system consists of a camera with suitable illumination and matched optical filters and a fast miniature spectrometer. An image processing algorithm of the camera recordings has been developed in order to estimate the laser spot position relative to the joint position. The spectral emissions from the laser induced plasma plume have been acquired by the spectrometer, and based on the measurements of the intensities of selected lines of the spectrum, the electron temperature signal has been calculated and correlated to variations of process conditions. The individual performances of these two systems have been experimentally investigated and evaluated offline by data from several welding experiments, where artificial abrupt as well as gradual deviations of the laser beam out of the joint were produced. Results indicate that a combination of the information provided by the vision and spectroscopic systems is beneficial for development of a hybrid sensing system for joint tracing

Vision based beam offset detection in laser stake welding of T-joints using a neural network

This paper presents an experimental study where a vision camera integrates coaxially into a laser beam welding tool to monitor beam deviations (beam offset) in laser stake welding of T-joints. The aim is to obtain an early detection of deviations from the joint centreline in this type of welding where the joint is not visible from the top side. A polynomial surface fitting method is applied to extract features that can describe the behaviour of the melt pool. A nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous inputs neural network model is trained to relate eight image features to the laser beam offset. The performance of the presented model is evaluated offline by different welding samples. The results show that the proposed method can be used to guide post weld inspection and has the potential for on-line adaptive control

Spectroscopic monitoring of laser blown powder directed energy deposition of Alloy 718

Experimental explorations of a spectrometer system used for in-process monitoring of the laser blown powder directed energy deposition of Alloy 718 is presented. Additive manufacturing of metals using this laser process experiences repeated heating and cooling cycles which will influence the final microstructure and chemical composition at every given point in the built. The spectrometer system disclosed, under certain process conditions, spectral lines that indicate vaporisation of chromium. Post process scanning electron microscope energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis of the deposited beads confirmed a reduction of chromium. Since the chromium concentration in Alloy 718 is correlated to corrosion resistance, this result encourages to further investigations including corrosion tests

In-process Monitoring and Control of Robotized Laser Beam Welding of Closed Square Butt Joints

In robotized laser welding of technical zero gap closed square butt joints it is critical to position the laser beam correct with regards to the joint. Welding with an offset from the joint may cause lack of sidewall fusion, a serious defect that is hard to detect and gives a weak weld. When using machined parts with gap and misalignment between the parts that is close to zero, existing joint tracking systems will probably fail to track the joint. A camera based system using LED illumination and matching optical filters is proposed in this paper to address this issue. A high dynamic range CMOS camera and the LED illumination is integrated into the laser tool. The camera captures images of the area in front of the melt pool where the joint is visible and an algorithm based on the Hough transform and a Kalman filter estimates the offset between the laser spot and the joint position. Welding experiments, using a 6 kW fiber laser, have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the system. Promising results are obtained that can be used in the further development of a closed loop controlled joint tracking system

Robust vision-based joint tracking for laser welding of curved closed-square-butt joints

Robotized laser beam welding of closed-square-butt joints is sensitive to how the focused laser beam is positioned in relation to the joint, and existing joint tracking systems tend to fail in detecting the joint when the gap and misalignment between the work pieces are close to zero. A camera-based system is presented based on a high dynamic range camera operating with LED illumination at a specific wavelength and a matching optical filter. An image processing algorithm based on the Hough transform extracts the joint position from the camera images, and the joint position is then estimated using a Kalman filter. The filter handles situations, when the joint is not detectable in the image, e.g., when tack welds cover the joint. Surface scratches, which can be misinterpreted as being the joint, are handled by a joint curve prediction model based on known information about the nominal path defined by the robot program. The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated off line with image data obtained during several welding experiments