The Effects of Multi-channel Visible Spectrum Imaging on Perceived Spatial Image Quality and Color Reproduction Accuracy

Two paired-comparison psychophysical experiments were performed. The stimuli consisted of six image types resultingfrom several multispectral image-capture and reconstruction techniques. A seventh image type, color-managed images from a high-end consumer camera, was also included in thefirst experiment to compare the accuracy of commercial RGB imaging. The images were evaluated under simulated daylight (6800K) and incandescent (2700K) illumination. The first experiment evaluated color reproduction accuracy. Under simulated daylight, the subjects judged all of the images to have the same color accuracy, except the consumer camera image which was significantly worse. Under incandescent illumination, all the images, including the consumer camera, had equivalent performance. The second experiment evaluated image quality. The results of this experiment were highly target dependent. A subsequent image registration experiment showed that the results of the image quality experiment were affected by image registration to some degree. An analysis of the color reproduction accuracy and image quality experiments combined showed that the consumer camera image type was preferred the least over all. The most preferred image types were the thirty-one-channel image type and both six-channel image types created using RGB filters along with a Wratten filter, with eigenvector analysis and pseudo-inverse transformations

Comparative study of spectral reflectance estimation based on broad-band imaging systems

We have been practicing spectral color estimation for museum artwork imaging and spectral estimation. We have had success using both narrow-band imaging based on a liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) and various broad-band imaging approaches using the same monochromatic digital camera system. Details about our spectral color imaging system description, imaging procedures and the performance of spectral estimation methods used can be found in our previous technical reports.1,2 In previous reports we focused in methods of reconstruction from narrow-band images using LCTF, while we only reported preliminary analyses of reconstruction from wide-band images using six glass filtered images and a red-green-blue filter combined with and without a light-blue Wratten filter. There are practical advantages of using commercially available RGB cameras with this method if such a broad-band image acquisition system has sufficient estimation accuracy. We previously captured two sets of six broad-band images obtained by glass filters mounted in a wheel with glass filters, with and without extra absorption filter.1 In this report, we expand the analyses of spectral estimation using wide-band images by switching the red filter with a long-red filter in order to test the concept of using long-red, green and blue channels of the camera combined with and without lightblue absorption filter. The performance of this new configuration is compared to the imaging using all six filters of the filter wheel, as well as the configuration using six channels derived from red-green-blue filters without and with absorption filter

Comparison of the accuracy of various transformations from multi-band images to reflectance spectra

This report provides a comparative study of the spectral and colorimetric accuracy of various transformations from multi-band digital signals to spectral reflectance. The multiband channels were obtained by multi-channel visible-spectral imaging (MVSI) using a monochrome CCD and two different filtering systems. In the first system we used a liquid-crystal tunable filter (LCTF) capturing 31 narrow-band channels. We also used a filter wheel with a set of 6 glass filters imaging with and without an extra Wratten absorption filter giving a total of 12 channels. Four different mathematical methods were tested to derive reflectance spectra from digital signals: pseudo-inverse, eigenvector analysis, modified-discrete sine transformation (MDST) and non-negative least squares (NNLS). We also considered two different approaches to sampling the digital signals; in one approach we averaged the digital counts

Factors Related to the Selection of a Real Estate Agency or Agent

Real estate firms attempting to maintain or increase their market share want to know the characteristics of the firm or individual agents that are important to market participants. A survey of homeowners conducted during August 1987 found the following: 1) the individual agent is more important than the firm itself in the selection of a real estate firm; 2) knowing an agent of the firm was the primary factor considered in the selection of a real estate firm; and 3) agent characteristics of selling ability, competence, integrity, knowledge of the market, and understanding the client's needs and concerns were most important.

The Grizzly, May 5, 1992

Smells Like Summer • Psychology Conference a Success • Whitians Recognize Honor Students • Theatre Workshop Presentations • Lily Redner Speaks: Lessons of The Holocaust • Record Review: Tori Amos • Movie Review: Death Stalker II • Senior Reflection Special: A Look Back on the Last Four Years; Most Memorable Moments at Ursinus • The Knowledge of Experience • Valete Ursini • Medinger Pottery Exhibit Opens • On Government and the People • America the Innocent • Letter: Wismer Abuses • Ursinus Joins All-Sports Conference • Breakdown on NBA \u2792 • Women\u27s LAX Snag MAC Title, End Seasonhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1297/thumbnail.jp

Electronic Structure and Vibrational Spectra of C2B10-Based Clusters and Films

The electronic structure, total energy, and vibrational properties of C2B10H12 (carborane)molecules and C2B10 clusters formed when the hydrogen atoms are removed from carborane molecules are studied using density functional methods and a semiempirical model. Computed vibrational spectra for carborane molecules are shown to be in close agreement with previously published measured spectra taken on carborane solids. Semiconducting boron carbide films are prepared by removing hydrogen from the three polytypes of C2B10H12 deposited on various surfaces. Results from x-ray and Raman scattering measurements on these films are reported. Eleven vibrationally stable structures for C2B10 clusters are described and their energies and highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gaps tabulated. Calculated Raman and infrared spectra are reported for the six lowest-energy clusters. Good agreement with the experimental Raman spectra is achieved from theoretical spectra computed using a Boltzmann distribution of the six lowest-energy free clusters. The agreement is further improved if the computed frequencies are scaled by a factor of 0.94, a descrepancy which could easily arise from comparing results of two different systems: zero-temperature free clusters and roomtemperature films. Calculated energies for removal of hydrogen pairs from carborane molecules are reported

Sustainability as corporate culture of a brand for superior performance

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in the Journal of World Business. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Sustainability research highlights new challenges and opportunities for businesses. This paper reviews the literature to understand the ability of sustainable green initiatives when practiced as a corporate culture to individually create new opportunities for operations, management and marketing. According to current research, business opportunities exclusively available to different functions of a firm can drive its performance. The role of marketing in the achievement of superior performance by virtue of sustainability practices is also explained by the existing literature. Branding literature, however, fails to explain the influence of a brand on sustainability-driven opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. The objective of this study is to explore if a brand can strengthen the ability of sustainability-based green initiatives of managers to drive opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. A conceptual framework grounded in the triple bottom line theory is presented based on the assumption that brand as a stimulating factor can accelerate the conversion of opportunities available to a business into superior performance. Academic and managerial perspectives have been used to draw upon the implications of the model. Both practitioners and academic researchers will benefit from future research on this topic

People of the British Isles: preliminary analysis of genotypes and surnames in a UK control population

There is a great deal of interest in fine scale population structure in the UK, both as a signature of historical immigration events and because of the effect population structure may have on disease association studies. Although population structure appears to have a minor impact on the current generation of genome-wide association studies, it is likely to play a significant part in the next generation of studies designed to search for rare variants. A powerful way of detecting such structure is to control and document carefully the provenance of the samples involved. Here we describe the collection of a cohort of rural UK samples (The People of the British Isles), aimed at providing a well-characterised UK control population that can be used as a resource by the research community as well as providing fine scale genetic information on the British population. So far, some 4,000 samples have been collected, the majority of which fit the criteria of coming from a rural area and having all four grandparents from approximately the same area. Analysis of the first 3,865 samples that have been geocoded indicates that 75% have a mean distance between grandparental places of birth of 37.3km, and that about 70% of grandparental places of birth can be classed as rural. Preliminary genotyping of 1,057 samples demonstrates the value of these samples for investigating fine scale population structure within the UK, and shows how this can be enhanced by the use of surnames

Caribbean Corals in Crisis: Record Thermal Stress, Bleaching, and Mortality in 2005

BACKGROUND The rising temperature of the world's oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the timing and location of researchers' field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior efforts in detail and extent, and provided a new standard for documenting the effects of bleaching and for testing nowcast and forecast products. Collaborators from 22 countries undertook the most comprehensive documentation of basin-scale bleaching to date and found that over 80% of corals bleached and over 40% died at many sites. The most severe bleaching coincided with waters nearest a western Atlantic warm pool that was centered off the northern end of the Lesser Antilles. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Thermal stress during the 2005 event exceeded any observed from the Caribbean in the prior 20 years, and regionally-averaged temperatures were the warmest in over 150 years. Comparison of satellite data against field surveys demonstrated a significant predictive relationship between accumulated heat stress (measured using NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Degree Heating Weeks) and bleaching intensity. This severe, widespread bleaching and mortality will undoubtedly have long-term consequences for reef ecosystems and suggests a troubled future for tropical marine ecosystems under a warming climate.This work was partially supported by salaries from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program authors. NOAA provided funding to Caribbean ReefCheck investigators to undertake surveys of bleaching and mortality. Otherwise, no funding from outside authors' institutions was necessary for the undertaking of this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

The decline and rise of neighbourhoods: the importance of neighbourhood governance

There is a substantial literature on the explanation of neighbourhood change. Most of this literature concentrates on identifying factors and developments behind processes of decline. This paper reviews the literature, focusing on the identification of patterns of neighbourhood change, and argues that the concept of neighbourhood governance is a missing link in attempts to explain these patterns. Including neighbourhood governance in the explanations of neighbourhood change and decline will produce better explanatory models and, finally, a better view about what is actually steering neighbourhood change