Effects of visualization quality on the sense of presence in a pedestrian simulator

When designing a VR user experience, presence seems to be a powerful factor. Being part of a plausible, interactable virtual environment not only inspires joy, but also allows for meaningful and immersive gameplay. The VR gaming industry is already an established multi-billion dollar business, but how can human-in-the-loop research benefit from this technology? Which visual standards must be met to ensure valid user data and does a gradation of the degree of realism affect criteria such as presence, task completion and simulator sickness and thus the validity of the simulation? The paper presents a pedestrian simulator study with thirty participants who were sequentially exposed to three versions of the same environment, where the degree of realism in visualization was varied. The study outlines the relationship between the level of visualization and the above criteria. The final data analysis allows the conclusion that a higher degree of realism leads to higher presence ratings but does not affect the overall performance of the subjects. Nonetheless the overall performance improved over time, independent of the degree of realism. Furthermore, there was no evidence of an effect of realism on simulator sickness. The rated simulator sickness was generally low and did not change over time

First Study of Combined Blazar Light Curves with FACT and HAWC

For studying variable sources like blazars, it is crucial to achieve unbiased monitoring, either with dedicated telescopes in pointing mode or survey instruments. At TeV energies, the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory monitors approximately two thirds of the sky every day. It uses the water Cherenkov technique, which provides an excellent duty cycle independent of weather and season. The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) monitors a small sample of sources with better sensitivity, using the imaging air Cherenkov technique. Thanks to its camera with silicon-based photosensors, FACT features an excellent detector performance and stability and extends its observations to times with strong moonlight, increasing the duty cycle compared to other imaging air Cherenkov telescopes. As FACT and HAWC have overlapping energy ranges, a joint study can exploit the longer daily coverage given that the observatories' locations are offset by 5.3 hours. Furthermore, the better sensitivity of FACT adds a finer resolution of features on hour-long time scales, while the continuous duty cycle of HAWC ensures evenly sampled long-term coverage. Thus, the two instruments complement each other to provide a more complete picture of blazar variability. In this presentation, the first joint study of light curves from the two instruments will be shown, correlating long-term measurements with daily sampling between air and water Cherenkov telescopes. The presented results focus on the study of the variability of the bright blazars Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 during the last two years featuring various flaring activities.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the 6th International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy (Gamma2016), Heidelberg, Germany. To be published in the AIP Conference Proceeding

Contribución al conocimiento de Porosagrotis gypaetina (Guen.) (Lep.:Noctuidae)

p.15-22Este trabajo tiene por finalidad brindar una descripcion detallada de los diferentes estados de desarrollo, asi como de los estadios larvales, de Porosagrotis gypaetina (Guen.) y estimar sus principales parametros biologicos. Se trata de una oruga conocida vulgarmente como gusano pardo que frecuenta cultivos de alfalfa, trebol bianco, maiz y girasol y determinadas malezas. Los caracteres considerados para su identificacion fueron, en el huevo: numero y distribucion de costas; en la larva: pigmentacion, distribucion de manchas y cerdas corporales; en la pupa: tamaño, forma y color y caracteristicas del cremaster; y en el adulto: ubicacion y coloracion de maculas y nervaduras alares. La emergencia de imagos alcanzo su maximo en abril y mayo. El periodo embrionario se completo en 22 a 26 dias. Aproximadamente la mitad de las larvas cumplieron su ciclo en 6 estadios y las restantes en 7; la duracion total del periodo larval fue de 134 a 141 dias, sin considerar la forma prepupal e independientemente del numero de estadios. Las orugas permanecieron como prepupas durante la temporada estival (aproximadamente 161 dias). El estado pupal duro 40 a 57 dias. Las observaciones realizadas permiten expresar que, inediante los caracteres descriptos, es factible reconocer la especie a traves no solo de los adultos, sino de sus estados inmaduros. Posee una sola generacion anual; transcurre el inviemo como larva; el daño tipico de corte lo produce a partir del cuarto estadio larval

Long-term monitoring of bright blazars in the multi-GeV to TeV range with FACT

Blazars like Markarian 421 or Markarian 501 are active galactic nuclei (AGN), with their jets orientated towards the observer. They are among the brightest objects in the very high energy (VHE) gamma ray regime (>100 GeV). Their emitted gamma-ray fluxes are extremely variable, with changing activity levels on timescales between minutes, months, and even years. Several questions are part of the current research, such as the question of the emission regions or the engine of the AGN and the particle acceleration. A dedicated longterm monitoring program is necessary to investigate the properties of blazars in detail. A densely sampled and unbiased light curve allows for observation of both high and low states of the sources, and the combination with multi-wavelength observation could contribute to the answer of several questions mentioned above. FACT (First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope) is the first operational telescope using silicon photomultiplier (SiPM, also known as Geigermode—Avalanche Photo Diode, G-APD) as photon detectors. SiPM have a very homogenous and stable longterm performance, and allow operation even during full moon without any filter, leading to a maximal duty cycle for an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT). Hence, FACT is an ideal device for such a longterm monitoring of bright blazars. A small set of sources (e.g., Markarian 421, Markarian 501, 1ES 1959+650, and 1ES 2344+51.4) is currently being monitored. In this contribution, the FACT telescope and the concept of longterm monitoring of bright blazars will be introduced. The results of the monitoring program will be shown, and the advantages of densely sampled and unbiased light curves will be discussed

Untersuchung zur Integration unbemannter Luftfrachttransportflugzeuge in den Luftraum

The purpose of this thesis is to identify operational difficulties, which hamper the integration of RPAS into the airspace, and point out potential solutions. A fictitious scenario of a RPA carrying urgently needed spare parts from the hub Frankfurt/Main to the small regional airport Rostock-Laage is used to highlight the prerequisites for the integration provided by the different airspace classes in Germany. The design and performance characteristics of the RPA are based on a manned turboprop aircraft, hence it must comply with the procedures currently used in manned aviation

Density- and correlation-based table extension

With thousands of data sources available on the Web as well as within organizations, data scientists increasingly spend more time searching for data than analyzing it. In order to ease the task of finding relevant data for data mining projects, this paper presents two data discovery and data integration methods that have been developed in a joint research project by RapidMiner Research and the University of Mannheim. Given a corpus of relational tables, the methods extend a query table with additional attributes and automatically fill these new attributes with data values from the corpus. The first method, densitybased table extension, extends the query table with all attributes that can be filled with data values so that a user-specified density threshold is reached. The second method, correlation-based table extension, extends the query table with all attributes that correlate with a specific attribute of the query table. Both methods are integrated as operators into RapidMiner Studio, a popular data mining environment. This enables data scientists to search for data and apply a wide range of different mining methods to the discovered data within the same environment

Density- and correlation-based table extension

With thousands of data sources available on the Web as well as within organizations, data scientists increasingly spend more time searching for data than analyzing it. In order to ease the task of finding relevant data for data mining projects, this paper presents two data discovery and data integration methods that have been developed in a joint research project by RapidMiner Research and the University of Mannheim. Given a corpus of relational tables, the methods extend a query table with additional attributes and automatically fill these new attributes with data values from the corpus. The first method, densitybased table extension, extends the query table with all attributes that can be filled with data values so that a user-specified density threshold is reached. The second method, correlation-based table extension, extends the query table with all attributes that correlate with a specific attribute of the query table. Both methods are integrated as operators into RapidMiner Studio, a popular data mining environment. This enables data scientists to search for data and apply a wide range of different mining methods to the discovered data within the same environment

Phagocytosis of a PFOB-Nanoemulsion for ¹⁹F Magnetic Resonance Imaging: First Results in Monocytes of Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease and ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Fluorine-19 magnetic resonance imaging (19F MRI) with intravenously applied perfluorooctyl bromide-nanoemulsions (PFOB-NE) has proven its feasibility to visualize inflammatory processes in experimental disease models. This approach is based on the properties of monocytes/macrophages to ingest PFOB-NE particles enabling specific cell tracking in vivo. However, information on safety (cellular function and viability), mechanism of ingestion and impact of specific disease environment on PFOB-NE uptake is lacking. This information is, however, crucial for the interpretation of 19F MRI signals and a possible translation to clinical application. To address these issues, whole blood samples were collected from patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) and healthy volunteers. Samples were exposed to fluorescently-labeled PFOB-NE and particle uptake, cell viability and migration activity was evaluated by flow cytometry and MRI. We were able to show that PFOB-NE is ingested by human monocytes in a time- and subset-dependent manner via active phagocytosis. Monocyte function (migration, phagocytosis) and viability was maintained after PFOB-NE uptake. Monocytes of STEMI and SCAD patients did not differ in their maximal PFOB-NE uptake compared to healthy controls. In sum, our study provides further evidence for a safe translation of PFOB-NE for imaging purposes in humans

Comparing Proving Ground and Simulation Testing for Autonomous Car Functionality

Safety and reliability are the most critical attributes of vehicles when it comes to licensing. To ensure this two attributes, every vehicle has to undergo testing processes to ensure the driver's safety and the driving system's reliability. A significant factor in testing a driving system is the amount of kilometres a specific component has been tested on. These test drives can be automated, theoretically. This paper shows methodical approaches to investigate which aspects of a simulation are already feasible enough to be used in automated testing. Furthermore, it discusses how systems under test have to be designed to fit into an automated testing pipeline. It also analyses how validation by simulation performs economically in comparison to manual test drives

Evaluation of Vehicle-in-the-Loop Tests for Wireless V2X Communication

The performance of wireless communication systems is fundamentally determined by the properties of the underlying wireless communication channel. Vehicular communication channels exhibit time-variant multi-path propagation with non-stationary channel statistics. Thus, channel emulation tools for the reproducible test of wireless communication systems are urgently needed to enable the development of ultra-reliable low-latency communication links. In this paper we validate the vehicle-in-the-loop (ViL) test of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication links by means of time-variant channel emulation. The validation is performed by comparing the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and packet error rate (PER) of measurements on a proving ground with the RSSI and PER obtained from ViL tests. For the ViL tests, the wireless communication channel is emulated using a geometry-based stochastic channel model, which is updated in real-time, dependent on the position and velocity of the vehicles. We collect results of different scenarios on the proving ground and from ViL tests. The results show an qualitative match between ViL test and measurement on the proving ground. An exact quantitative match can be obtained with the calibration parameters from the measurements