Virtual embodiment for enhancing sense of presence in virtual reality

The technical evolution of digital graphic technologies have allowed the photorealistic virtual representation of the physical world. This allows people to experience an enhanced sense of presence in virtual environments such as virtual reality (VR). It is a common conception that vision is the primary sense in virtual environments, and evaluations are performed by assuming that the virtual body was a default entity that solves the issue of improving sense of presence. There is no evidence presenting a comparison between how the same environment/stimulant in the VR space is evaluated when there is a virtual body versus no virtual body. How can we bridge the gap between the real world and the unreal world if we don’t look into it? The present study aimed to gain an experimental understanding of how virtual embodiment affects the individuals’ perception of body control and interaction with the objects in VR environment with a focus on visual perception. The findings of the study suggest that the sense of body ownership is more powerful factor than the sense of agency in regards to virtual embodiment in VR environment

A Study on Evaluation of a Sense of Being Alive by Motion Graphic

Seimeikan, the sense of being alive might enhances motion graphics, makes it an effective communication tool, and affects human emotions. However, there is a lack of studies in terms of expressing a sense of being alive that focuses on human decision. The present study aimed to investigate the motion factors and find how motion affects the evaluation of sense of being alive. Two sets of motion graphics, artifacts and natural creature were used in the evaluation. The artifact set was composed of three levels of displacement (Linear), sine curve, and noise factors. The natural creature set was composed of data from fish locomotion. The findings of the study presented that (1) motion graphics based on natural creature were rated more positively than those that are based on artifact, (2) the motion graphics based on artifact showed the importance of noise factors, which highly correlated with expressing the sense of being alive compared to other factors. Moreover, it was found that high and low noise factors positively influenced the evaluation of the sense of being alive more than those without noise

Influence of multimodal integration on spatial perception

To design affective spaces that promote stabilized living experience and user well-being, it is necessary to consider and be aware of how multiple perceptual information interact and influence the way we perceive space i.e. multimodal perception. This study aims to gain an understanding of how sensory cues influence the emotional evaluation of the spatial design. We analyzed how the change in levels of spatial elements was emotionally perceived in the presence and absence of scent and color. The results from the study presented that both scent and color significantly affected the emotional response to change in levels of spatial elements in different ways. The findings suggest that (1) in the absence of both color and scent, the spatial elements interacted to affect the participants’ moods related to being confused and feeling strained and tensed, (2) in the presence of a cool color (purple) and relaxing scent (lavender), spatial elements interacted to affect the participants’ mood related to feeling strained and tensed, (3) in the presence of a warm color (orange) and stimulating scent (orange), spatial elements interacted to affect the participants’ mood related to being unhappy. The findings of the study are worthy as they provide an insight into the influence of multimodality in spatial perception. They will help establish guidelines for incorporating perceptual information in spatial designs that provide stabilized living experience and enhanced individual well-being

Online trajectory replan for gliding vehicle considering terminal velocity constraint

Controlling the terminal velocity can improve the effectiveness of guided missiles. In particular, a ballistic missile propelled by solid rocket motors can successfully accomplish its mission when it hits the target at an appropriate speed. In this study, a method for modifying the trajectory of gliding vehicle, i.e., gliding ballistic missiles is proposed to meet the terminal velocity constraint by reflecting the effects of the environment during a flight. The proposed framework consisting of trajectory generation and dynamic propagation compensates for errors due to uncertainties in real time. The trajectory generation step provides various trajectories that satisfy the given constraints based on information about the current state. The dynamic propagation step efficiently predicts the terminal velocity for each of the generated trajectories and finds the trajectory with the lowest terminal speed error. A numerical simulation is performed considering various conditions to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method

Chemical Changes in Soil and Soil Solution after Calcium Silicate Addition to a Northern Hardwood Forest

Liming has been used to mitigate effects of acidic deposition in forest ecosystems. This study was designed to examine the effects of calcium (Ca) supply on the spatial patterns and the relations between soil and soil solution chemistry in a base-poor forest watershed. Watershed 1 at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA was experimentally treated with wollastonite (CaSiO3) in October, 1999. Exchangeable Ca (Ex-Ca), soil pHs (in 0.01 M CaCl2), effective cation exchange capacity (CECe), and effective base saturation (BSe) increased, while exchangeable acidity (Ex-Acid) decreased in organic soil horizons in 2000 and 2002. Mineral soils experienced either small increases in Ex-Ca, pHs, CECe, BSe, small decreases in Ex-Acid or no changes. Thus, most of the added Ca remained in the forest floor during the study period. Prior to the treatment the BSe decreased with increasing elevation in organic and mineral soil horizons. This spatial pattern changed significantly in the forest floor after the treatment, suggesting that soils at higher elevations were more responsive to the chemical addition than at lower elevations. Soil solutions draining the forest floor responded to the treatment by increases in concentrations of Ca, dissolved silica, pH, and acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), and a decrease in inorganic monomeric Al (Ali). Treatment effects diminished with increasing soil depth and decreasing elevation. Positive correlations between Ca/total monomeric Al (Alm) in soil solution and Ex-Ca/Ex-Al ratios in soil indicated that changes in the chemistry of soils significantly influenced the chemistry of soil water, and that Ca derived from the dissolution of wollastonite mitigated the mobilization of Al within the experimental watershed

Watershed-Level Responses to Calcium Silicate Treatment in a Northern Hardwood Forest

Watershed 1 (W1) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, with chronically low pH and acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) in surface water, was experimentally treated with calcium silicate (CaSiO3; wollastonite) in October 1999 to assess the role of calcium (Ca) supply in the structure and function of base-poor forest ecosystems. Wollastonite addition significantly increased the concentrations and fluxes of Ca, dissolved silica (Si), and ANC and decreased the concentrations and fluxes of inorganic monomeric Al (Ali) and hydrogen ion (H+) in both soil solution and stream water in all sub-watersheds of W1. Mass balances indicate that 54% of the added Ca remained undissolved or was retained by vegetation during the first 6 years after treatment. Of the remaining added Ca, 44% was retained on O horizon cation exchange sites. The Ca:Si ratio in the dissolution products was greater than 2.0, more than twice the molar ratio in the applied wollastonite. This suggests that Ca was preferentially leached from the applied wollastonite and/or Si was immobilized by secondary mineral formation. Approximately 2% of the added Ca and 7% of the added Si were exported from W1 in streamwater in the first 6 years after treatment. Watershed-scale Ca amendment with wollastonite appears to be an effective approach to mitigating effects of acidic deposition. Not only does it appear to alleviate acidification stress to forest vegetation, but it also provides for the long-term supply of ANC to acid-impacted rivers and lakes downstream

ITDetect: a method to detect internal tandem duplication of FMS-like tyrosine kinase (FLT3) from next-generation sequencing data with high sensitivity and clinical application

Abstract Internal tandem duplication (ITD) of the FMS-like tyrosine kinase (FLT3) gene is associated with poor clinical outcomes in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Although recent methods for detecting FLT3-ITD from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data have replaced traditional ITD detection approaches such as conventional PCR or fragment analysis, their use in the clinical field is still limited and requires further information. Here, we introduce ITDetect, an efficient FLT3-ITD detection approach that uses NGS data. Our proposed method allows for more precise detection and provides more detailed information than existing in silico methods. Further, it enables FLT3-ITD detection from exome sequencing or targeted panel sequencing data, thereby improving its clinical application. We validated the performance of ITDetect using NGS-based and experimental ITD detection methods and successfully demonstrated that ITDetect provides the highest concordance with the experimental methods. The program and data underlying this study are available in a public repository

Early metabolic response using FDG PET/CT and molecular phenotypes of breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Background: This study was aimed 1) to investigate the predictive value of FDG PET/CT (fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography) for histopathologic response and 2) to explore the results of FDG PET/CT by molecular phenotypes of breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Seventy-eight stage II or III breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. FDG PET/CTs were acquired before chemotherapy and after the first cycle of chemotherapy for evaluating early metabolic response. Results: The mean pre- and post-chemotherapy standard uptake value (SUV) were 7.5 and 3.9, respectively. The early metabolic response provided by FDG PET/CT after one cycle of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was correlated with the histopathologic response after completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.002). Sensitivity and negative predictive value were 85.7% and 95.1%, respectively. The estrogen receptor negative phenotype had a higher pre-chemotherapy SUV (8.6 vs. 6.4, P = 0.047) and percent change in SUV (48% vs. 30%, P = 0.038). In triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the pre-chemotherapy SUV was higher than in non-TNBC (9.8 vs. 6.4, P = 0.008). Conclusions: The early metabolic response using FDG PET/CT could have a predictive value for the assessment of histopathologic non-response of stage II/III breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Our findings suggest that the initial SUV and the decline in SUV differed based on the molecular phenotype

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in root s(NN)=2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as nu(ch)(2) (jet). Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k(T) algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero nu(ch)(2) (jet) is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50% centrality) for 20 <p(T)(ch) (jet) <90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the nu(2) of single charged particles at high p(T). Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe