Cross-Platform Presentation of Interactive Volumetric Imagery

Volume data is useful across many disciplines, not just medicine. Thus, it is very important that researchers have a simple and lightweight method of sharing and reproducing such volumetric data. In this paper, we explore some of the challenges associated with volume rendering, both from a classical sense and from the context of Web3D technologies. We describe and evaluate the pro- posed X3D Volume Rendering Component and its associated styles for their suitability in the visualization of several types of image data. Additionally, we examine the ability for a minimal X3D node set to capture provenance and semantic information from outside ontologies in metadata and integrate it with the scene graph

An Ethical Basis for Relationship Marketing: A Virtue Ethics Perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an ethical foundation for relationship marketing using a virtue ethics approach. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is a conceptual one providing a background on relationship marketing from both American and European perspectives. Earlier studies published in EJM on relationship marketing are featured in a table. Findings – The proposed ethical relationship marketing approach has three stages (establishing, sustaining and reinforcing) that are paired with specific virtues (trust, commitment and diligence). These and other facilitating virtues are shown in a figure. Research limitations/implications – The model and its components have yet to be tested empirically. Some strategies for undertaking such research are discussed. Practical implications – Several European and American companies that currently practice ethical relationship marketing are discussed. Originality/value – Although relationship marketing has been studied for a number of years by many scholars, the ethical basis of it has not been thoroughly examined in any previous work

Coupling of sedimentation and liquid structure: influence on hard sphere nucleation

The discrepancy in nucleation rate densities between simulated and experimental hard spheres remains staggering and unexplained. Suggestively, more strongly sedimenting colloidal suspensions of hard spheres nucleate much faster than weakly sedimenting systems. In this work we consider firstly the effect of sedimentation on the structure of colloidal hard spheres, by tuning the density mismatch between solvent and colloidal particles. In particular we investigate the effect on the degree of five fold symmetry present. Secondly we study the size of density fluctuations in these experimental systems in comparison to simulations. The density fluctuations are measured by assigning each particle a local density, which is related to the number of particles within a distance of 3.25 particle diameters. The standard deviation of these local densities gives an indication of the fluctuations present in the system. Five fold symmetry is suppressed by a factor of two when sedimentation is induced in our system. Density fluctuations are also increased by a factor of two in experiments compared to simulations. The change in five fold symmetry makes a difference to the expected nucleation rates, but we demonstrate that it is ultimately too small to resolve the discrepancy between experiment and simulation, while the fluctuations are shown to be an artefact of 3d particle tracking.Comment: 8 page

Enabling self, intimacy and a sense of home in dementia

Design and digital technologies to support a sense of self and human relationships for people living with dementia are both urgently needed. We present an enquiry into design for dementia facilitated by a public art commission for an adult mental health unit in a hospital in the UK. The interactive art piece was informed by the notion of personhood in dementia that foregrounds the person's social being and interpersonal relationships as sites where self is maintained and constructed. How clients, clients' family members and staff used the piece is reported and insights related to the notions of home, intimacy, possessions and self are presented. The art piece served as window on both dementia and the institution leading to a number of insights and implications for design

Assessing societal vulnerability of U.S. Pacific Northwest communities to storm induced coastal change

Progressive increases in storm intensities and extreme wave heights have been documented along the U.S. West Coast. Paired with global sea level rise and the potential for an increase in El Niño occurrences, these trends have substantial implications for the vulnerability of coastal communities to natural coastal hazards. Community vulnerability to hazards is characterized by the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of human-environmental systems that influence potential impacts. To demonstrate how societal vulnerability to coastal hazards varies with both physical and social factors, we compared community exposure and sensitivity to storm-induced coastal change scenarios in Tillamook (Oregon) and Pacific (Washington) Counties. While both are backed by low-lying coastal dunes, communities in these two counties have experienced different shoreline change histories and have chosen to use the adjacent land in different ways. Therefore, community vulnerability varies significantly between the two counties. Identifying the reasons for this variability can help land-use managers make decisions to increase community resilience and reduce vulnerability in spite of a changing climate. (PDF contains 4 pages