Estimating particle velocity from dual-camera mixed reality video images using 3D particle tracking velocimetry

Mixed reality (MR) systems integrate diverse sensors, allowing users to better visualize and quantify surrounding environmental processes. Some existing mixed reality headsets include synchronized front-facing cameras that, among other things, can be used to track naturally occurring tracer particles (such as dust or snowflakes) to estimate particle velocity field in real time. The current work presents a 3D particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) method for use with MR systems, which combines various monocular cues to match particles between corresponding stereo images. Binocular disparity is used to estimate particle distance from an observer. Individual particles are tracked through time and used to construct the vector field of a scene. A digital display of velocity vectors can be broadcasted into a user’s surrounding environment with the MR headset to be used as a flow visualization tool. The mixed reality particle tracking velocimetry (MR-PTV) approach was optimized to perform in natural conditions where particle size, particle color, and lighting are non-uniform. The approach was first tested using synthetic particle image data obtained by discrete element method simulations then experimentally validated for particles transported by a flume flow using the Microsoft HoloLens 2 MR headset. Uniform flow and flow around a body were considered experimentally. Experimental velocity measurements are compared to computational fluid dynamics results. The resulting MR-PTV system can be used for a variety of industry, scientific and recreational purposes for field-based measurement of particle velocities in real time

What is the public value of public service broadcasting? Exploring challenges and opportunities in evolving media contexts

This discussion paper elaborates the concept of ‘public value’ to inform an evaluative framework for examining public service broadcasting (PSB) in the UK, particularly with respect to emerging debates on the future of policy-making in rapidly evolving media contexts. We begin with a case study of the implementation of public value tests at the BBC from 2004 to the present day, analysing how this strategic concept has encapsulated a varying set of principles, regulatory objectives, political challenges and economic pressures facing the UK’s largest public service broadcaster. Following this, we offer a prospective typology of six values — social, cultural, economic, industrial, representational and civic value — for defining and assessing the public benefits of PSB within a new media ecology. In so doing, we discern various tensions warranting greater attention in forthcoming discussions regarding a renewed policy settlement for the UK’s PSB model

Review of the broadcasting powers and responsibilities in selected countries Report for the expert panel on a shadow broadcasting and communications authority for Wales

This report provides a review of the broadcasting powers and responsibilities in the Basque Country, Canada, Denmark, the Republic of Ireland and Estonia. The research is based on analysis of official policy documents, industry data and academic literature published over the last 15 years from these countries and across European and international media policy domains. Through five profiles the report presents a factual summary of each country’s media system,supported by in-depth case studies of contemporary debates within that country on public media governance, regulation, funding and content provision. The report examines specific issues relating to serving the needs and interests of distinct linguistic and cultural communities, as well as exploring the countries’ strategies for adapting policy and public service organisations to the digital media landscape. The report also offers a summary of our findings and general observations on the structure of these various media systems, their distinct approaches to policymaking, and the implications of different models or methods for governing and regulating public media. We hope the cases presented are interesting, informative and useful for the Expert Panel’s deliberations on the prospects for the devolution of broadcasting powers to Wales

Spatio-temporal variation in European starling reproductive success at multiple small spatial scales

Funding Information This work received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust and the Royal Society. Acknowledgments We thank Jessica Walkup, Jeroen Minderman, and many volunteers for help with data collection; Deryk and Hollie Shaw and Fair Isle Bird Observatory staff for help and support; Xavier Lambin and Justin Travis for comments on the manuscript and NERC (DB); and Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust (DB) and the Royal Society (JMR) for funding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Sexual Attraction to Others: A Comparison of Two Models of Alloerotic Responding in Men

The penile response profiles of homosexual and heterosexual pedophiles, hebephiles, and teleiophiles to laboratory stimuli depicting male and female children and adults may be conceptualized as a series of overlapping stimulus generalization gradients. This study used such profile data to compare two models of alloerotic responding (sexual responding to other people) in men. The first model was based on the notion that men respond to a potential sexual object as a compound stimulus made up of an age component and a gender component. The second model was based on the notion that men respond to a potential sexual object as a gestalt, which they evaluate in terms of global similarity to other potential sexual objects. The analytic strategy was to compare the accuracy of these models in predicting a man’s penile response to each of his less arousing (nonpreferred) stimulus categories from his response to his most arousing (preferred) stimulus category. Both models based their predictions on the degree of dissimilarity between the preferred stimulus category and a given nonpreferred stimulus category, but each model used its own measure of dissimilarity. According to the first model (“summation model”), penile response should vary inversely as the sum of stimulus differences on separate dimensions of age and gender. According to the second model (“bipolar model”), penile response should vary inversely as the distance between stimulus categories on a single, bipolar dimension of morphological similarity—a dimension on which children are located near the middle, and adult men and women are located at opposite ends. The subjects were 2,278 male patients referred to a specialty clinic for phallometric assessment of their erotic preferences. Comparisons of goodness of fit to the observed data favored the unidimensional bipolar model

Herbaceous native seed policies for restoration

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Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Are Hylobates lar Extirpated from China?

The Nangunhe Nature Reserve in Southwest Yunnan (PRC) has long been presumed to be the last stronghold of lar (or white-handed) gibbons (Hylobates lar) in China and the likely last place of occurrence of Hylobates lar yunnanensis. We conducted a comprehensive survey to assess the status of lar gibbons at Nangunhe. We found no visual or auditory evidence of them still residing at the reserve and therefore tentatively conclude that lar gibbons have become extinct in China. It appears that large-scale destruction of primary forests in the 1960s and 1970s brought about an initial decline in their numbers, and subsequent uncontrolled hunting has resulted in their extirpation. The situation for the six Chinese ape taxa is nothing less than disastrous, with 1 taxon assumed to have become extinct during the last few years, 1 taxon not having been confirmed since the 1980s, and 2 species at the very brink of extinction with only tens of individuals remaining in China

Protein disulphide isomerase-assisted functionalization of proteinaceous substrates

Protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) is an enzyme that catalyzes thiol-disulphide exchange reactions among a broad spectrum of substrates, including proteins and low-molecular thiols and disulphides. As the first protein-folding catalyst reported, the study of PDI has mainly involved the correct folding of several cysteine-containing proteins. Its application on the functionalization of protein-based materials has not been extensively reported. Herein, we review the applications of PDI on the modification of proteinaceous substrates and discuss its future potential. The mechanism involved in PDI functionalization of fibrous protein substrates is discussed in detail. These approaches allow innovative applications in textile dyeing and finishing, medical textiles, controlled drug delivery systems and hair or skin care products.We thank to FCT 'Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia' (scholarship SFRH/BD/38363/2007) for providing Margarida Fernandes the grant for PhD studies