A realtime internet based quality control application for hurricane surface wind observations

This thesis chronicles the design and implementation of a Intemet/Intranet and database based application for the quality control of hurricane surface wind observations. A quality control session consists of selecting desired observation types to be viewed and determining a storm track based time window for viewing the data. All observations of the selected types are then plotted in a storm relative view for the chosen time window and geography is positioned for the storm-center time about which an objective analysis can be performed. Users then make decisions about data validity through visual nearestneighbor comparison and inspection. The project employed an Object Oriented iterative development method from beginning to end and its implementation primarily features the Java programming language.

A ROS-based Workspace Control and Trajectory Planner for a seven degrees of freedom Robotic arm

In this Bachelor Thesis I want to provide readers with tools and scripts for the control of a 7DOF manipulator, backed up by some theory of Robotics and Computer Science, in order to better contextualize the work done. In practice, we will see most common software, and developing environments, used to cope with our task: these include ROS, along with visual simulation by VREP and RVIZ, and an almost "stand-alone" ROS extension called MoveIt!, a very complete programming interface for trajectory planning and obstacle avoidance. As we will better appreciate and understand in the introduction chapter, the capability of detecting collision objects through a camera sensor, and re-plan to the desired end-effector pose, are not enough. In fact, this work is implemented in a more complex system, where recognition of particular objects is needed. Through a package of ROS and customized scripts, a detailed procedure will be provided on how to distinguish a particular object, retrieve its reference frame with respect to a known one, and then allow navigation to that target. Together with technical details, the aim is also to report working scripts and a specific appendix (A) you can refer to, if desiring to put things together.

Visual Dependency and Dizziness after Vestibular Neuritis

Symptomatic recovery after acute vestibular neuritis (VN) is variable, with around 50% of patients reporting long term vestibular symptoms; hence, it is essential to identify factors related to poor clinical outcome. Here we investigated whether excessive reliance on visual input for spatial orientation (visual dependence) was associated with long term vestibular symptoms following acute VN. Twenty-eight patients with VN and 25 normal control subjects were included. Patients were enrolled at least 6 months after acute illness. Recovery status was not a criterion for study entry, allowing recruitment of patients with a full range of persistent symptoms. We measured visual dependence with a laptop-based Rod-and-Disk Test and severity of symptoms with the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI). The third of patients showing the worst clinical outcomes (mean DHI score 36–80) had significantly greater visual dependence than normal subjects (6.35° error vs. 3.39° respectively, p = 0.03). Asymptomatic patients and those with minor residual symptoms did not differ from controls. Visual dependence was associated with high levels of persistent vestibular symptoms after acute VN. Over-reliance on visual information for spatial orientation is one characteristic of poorly recovered vestibular neuritis patients. The finding may be clinically useful given that visual dependence may be modified through rehabilitation desensitization techniques.

Intervención cognitivo-conductual para el control de ansiedad ante la biopsia insicional en pacientes con cáncer de mama

Oncological patients are submitted to invasive exams in order to obtain an accurate diagnosis; these procedures may cause maladaptative reactions (fear, anxiety and pain). Particularly in breast cancer, the most common diagnose technique is the incisional biopsy. Most of the patients are unaware about the procedure and for that reason they may focus their thoughts on possible events such as pain, bleeding, the anesthesia, or the later surgical wound care. Anxiety and pain may provoke physiological, behavioral and emotional complications, and because of this reason, the Behavioral Medicine trained psychologist takes an active role before and after the biopsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a cognitive-behavioral program to reduce anxiety in women submitted to incisional biopsy for the first time. There were 10 participants from the Hospital Juárez de México, Oncology service; all of them were treated as external patients. The intervention program focused in psycho-education and passive relaxation training using videos, tape-recorded instructions and pamphlets. Anxiety measures were performed using the IDARE-State inventory, and a visual-analogue scale of anxiety (EEF-A), and the measurement of blood pressure and heart rate). Data were analyzed both intrasubject and intersubject using the Wilcoxon test (p≤0.05). The results show a reduction in anxiety (as in punctuation as in ranges) besides, a reduction in the EEF-A.

Quantitative evaluation of visual function 12 months after bilateral implantation of a diffractive trifocal IOL

PURPOSE: To quantitatively evaluate visual function 12 months after bilateral implantation of the Physiol FineVision® trifocal intraocular lens (IOL) and to compare these results with those obtained in the first postoperative month. METHODS: In this prospective case series, 20 eyes of 10 consecutive patients were included. Monocular and binocular, uncorrected and corrected visual acuities (distance, near, and intermediate) were measured. Metrovision® was used to test contrast sensitivity under static and dynamic conditions, both in photopic and low-mesopic settings. The same software was used for pupillometry and glare evaluation. Motion, achromatic, and chromatic contrast discrimination were tested using 2 innovative psychophysical tests. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Psychophysical tests were performed 1 month after surgery and repeated 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Final distance uncorrected visual acuity (VA) was 0.00 ± 0.08 and distance corrected VA was 0.00 ± 0.05 logMAR. Distance corrected near VA was 0.00 ± 0.09 and distance corrected intermediate VA was 0.00 ± 0.06 logMAR. Glare testing, pupillometry, contrast sensitivity, motion, and chromatic and achromatic contrast discrimination did not differ significantly between the first and last visit (p>0.05) or when compared to an age-matched control group (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The Physiol FineVision® trifocal IOL provided satisfactory full range of vision and quality of vision parameters 12 months after surgery. Visual acuity and psychophysical tests did not vary significantly between the first and last visit.

Assessing Potential Laser Strike Protection Engineering Control for United States Coast Guard Aircraft

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Rendimiento escolar e tipos de errores en la lectura en los niños con alteraciones de la función visual

Se desarrolló un estudio descriptivo con el objetivo de evaluar el rendimiento escolar así como tipos de errores en la lectura en niños con alteraciones de la función visual. En el estudio participaron 672 niños del Municipio de Lisboa (7.69±1.19 años): grupo de control (función visual normal=562) y grupo experimental (alteraciones da función visual=110). Se cuestionaron 34 profesores acerca del rendimiento escolar y lectura a través de un cuestionario validado. Para la evaluación en la lectura se empleó la prueba de lectura de 34 palabras sueltas. Los niños con la función visual alterada mostraron niveles más bajos de rendimiento escolar. Estaban en el nivel "negativo" del 10,9% de los niños con la función visual alterada y sólo del 5,3% de los niños con la función visual normal. Estos niños comenten más errores en la lectura (p<0,001) con un mayor número de no palabras (3,09±5,20) en comparación con los niños con la función visual normal (1,44±3,09). Comenten también más omisiones y adiciones de letras y confusiones de grafema, teniendo dificultades en el análisis global de la palabra. Se propone un modelo de orientación para los profesores.

Comparación de analgesia y efectos secundarios entre morfina y morfina más diclofenac sódico, como alternativa para control del dolor posoperatorio agudo en pacientes que han sido sometidos a cirugía (protatectomía, histerectomía) bajo anestesia conductiva, Cuenca 2004

Con el objetivo de comparar la analgesia y efectos secundarios entre morfina y morfina + diclofenac sódico, como alternativa para el control del dolor portoperatorio agudo en pacientes sometidos a prostatectomía e histerectomía, bajo anestesia raquídea, administramos estos dos esquemas analgésicos a 100 pacientes en el hospital José Carrasco y en la Clínica Santa Ana. No hubieron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre las variables, edad, sexo, ocupación, intervención, tiempo quirúrgico y hemodinamia. Los requerimientos analgésicos en las primeras ocho horas de postoperatorio, medidos con el uso de una Escala Análoga Visual, fueron más morfina (p=0.0007). La incidencia de náusea fue mayor para el grupo que recibió morfina únicamente (p=0.026) y aunque la incidencia de vomito también fue mayor para el mismo grupo la diferencia no fue significativa (p=0.277). La asociación morfina + diclofenaro sódigo debe ser considerada de utilidad para el tratamiento del dolor postoperatorio agudo najo la consideración de que disminuye los requerimientos analgésicos y la incidencia de náusea y v omito, proporcionando a la vez un mejor control del dolor

Quantitative evaluation of visual function 12 months after bilateral implantation of a diffractive trifocal IOL

PURPOSE: To quantitatively evaluate visual function 12 months after bilateral implantation of the Physiol FineVision® trifocal intraocular lens (IOL) and to compare these results with those obtained in the first postoperative month. METHODS: In this prospective case series, 20 eyes of 10 consecutive patients were included. Monocular and binocular, uncorrected and corrected visual acuities (distance, near, and intermediate) were measured. Metrovision® was used to test contrast sensitivity under static and dynamic conditions, both in photopic and low-mesopic settings. The same software was used for pupillometry and glare evaluation. Motion, achromatic, and chromatic contrast discrimination were tested using 2 innovative psychophysical tests. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Psychophysical tests were performed 1 month after surgery and repeated 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Final distance uncorrected visual acuity (VA) was 0.00 ± 0.08 and distance corrected VA was 0.00 ± 0.05 logMAR. Distance corrected near VA was 0.00 ± 0.09 and distance corrected intermediate VA was 0.00 ± 0.06 logMAR. Glare testing, pupillometry, contrast sensitivity, motion, and chromatic and achromatic contrast discrimination did not differ significantly between the first and last visit (p>0.05) or when compared to an age-matched control group (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The Physiol FineVision® trifocal IOL provided satisfactory full range of vision and quality of vision parameters 12 months after surgery. Visual acuity and psychophysical tests did not vary significantly between the first and last visit.

Desarrollo de arquitecturas para procesamiento de control de la mirada en sistemas de visión activa con resolución espacial variable

En esta tesis se aborda la implementación de un sistema completo de visión activa, en el que se capturan y generan imágenes de resolución espacial variable. Todo el sistema se integra en un sólo dispositivo del tipo AP SoC (All Programmable System on Chip), lo que nos permite llevar a cabo el codiseño hardware-software del mismo, implementando en la parte lógica los bloques de preprocesado intensivo, y en la parte software los algoritmos de procesado de control más complejo. El objetivo es que, trabajando con un campo visual del orden de Megapíxeles, se pueda procesar una tasa moderada de imágenes por segundo. Las imágenes multiresolución se generan a partir de sensores de resolución uniforme con una latencia nula, lo que permite tener preparada la imagen de resolución variable en el mismo instante en que se ha terminado de capturar la imagen original. Como innovación con respecto a las primeras contribuciones relacionadas con esta Tesis, se procesan imágenes con toda la información de color. Esto implica la necesidad de diseñar conversores entre espacios de color distintos, para adecuar la información al tipo de procesado que se va a realizar con ella. Estos bloques se integran sin alterar la latencia de entrega de los sucesivos fotogramas. El procesamiento de estas imágenes multirresolución genera un mapa de saliencia que permite mover la fóvea hacía la región considerada como más relevante en la escena. El contenido de la imagen se estructura en una jerarquía de niveles de abstracción. A diferencia de otras arquitecturas de este tipo, como son la pirámide regular y el polígono foveal, en las que se trabaja con imágenes de resolución uniforme en los distintos niveles de la jerarquía, la pirámide irregular foveal que se propone en esta tesis combina las ideas de trabajar con una imagen realmente multirresolución, que incluya el campo de visión completo que abarcan sensor y óptica, con el procesamiento jerárquico propio de las pirámides irregulares. Para ello en esta tesis se propone la implementación de un algoritmo de diezmado irregular que, tomando como base la imagen multirresolución, dará como resultado una estructura piramidal donde los distintos niveles no son imágenes sino grafos orientados a la resolución del problema de segmentación y estimación de saliencia. Todo el sistema se integra en torno a la arquitectura de bus AXI, que permite conectar entre si todos los cores desarrollados en la parte lógica, así como el acceso a la memoria compartida con los algoritmos implementados en la parte software. Esto es posible gracias a los bloques de acceso directo a memoria AXI-VDMA, en una propuesta de configuración que permite tanto la integración perfectamente coordinada de la transferencia de la imagen multirresolución generada a la zona de trabajo del algoritmo de segmentación como su recuperación para la posterior visualización del resultado del proceso, y todo ello con una tasa de trabajo que mejora los resultados de plataformas similares.

Impaired Mesopic Visual Acuity in Eyes with Early Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose.: To determine photopic and mesopic distance high-contrast visual acuity (HC-VA) and low-contrast visual acuity (LC-VA) in eyes with early age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods.: Measurements were made in 22 subjects with early AMD and 28 healthy control subjects. Inclusion criteria included a photopic HC-VA of 20/25 or better. Distance VA was measured using HC (96%) and LC (10%) Bailey-Lovie logMAR letter charts under photopic (85 cd/m2) and mesopic (0.1–0.2 cd/m2) luminance conditions. Results.: Mean mesopic distance HC-VA and LC-VA were significantly worse (0.1 logMAR and 0.28 logMAR, respectively) in the early AMD group than in the control group. Under mesopic conditions, the mean difference between LC-VA and HC-VA was significantly greater in the early AMD (0.45 logMAR) than the control group (0.27 logMAR). Mean differences between mesopic versus photopic HC-VA and mesopic versus photopic LC-VA were significantly greater in the early AMD than the control group (0.13 and 0.32 logMAR of difference between the means, respectively). Sensitivity and specificity were significantly greater for mesopic LC-VA than for mesopic HC-VA (Receiver Operating Characteristics, area under the curve [AUC], 0.94 ± 0.030 and 0.76 ± 0.067, respectively). AUC values for photopic HC-VA and LC-VA were below 0.70. Conclusions.: Visual acuity testing under low luminance conditions emerged as an optimal quantitative measure of retinal function in early AMD.

Whole-body cortisol increases after direct and visual contact with a predator in zebrafish, Danio rerio

Ornamental fish may be severely affected by a stressful environment. Stressors impair the immune response, reproduction and growth rate; thus, the identification of possible stressors will aid to improve the overall quality of ornamental fish. The aim of this study was to determine whole-body cortisol of adult zebrafish, Danio rerio, following visual or direct contact with a predator species. Zebrafish were distributed in three groups: the first group, which consisted of zebrafish reared completely isolated of the predator, was considered the negative control; the second group, in which the predator, Parachromis managuensis was stocked together with zebrafish, was considered the positive control; the third group consisted of zebrafish stocked in a glass aquarium, with direct visual contact with the predator. The mean whole-body cortisol concentration in zebrafish from the negative control was 6.78 +/- 1.12 ng g(-1), a concentration statistically lower than that found in zebrafish having visual contact with the predator (9.26 +/- 0.88 ng g(-1)) which, in turn, was statistically lower than the mean whole-body cortisol of the positive control group (12.35 +/- 1.59 ng g(-1)). The higher whole-body cortisol concentration found in fish from the positive control can be attributed to the detection, by the zebrafish, of relevant risk situations that may involve a combination of chemical, olfactory and visual cues. One of the functions of elevated cortisol is to mobilize energy from body resources to cope with stress. The elevation of whole-body cortisol in fish subjected to visual contact with the predator involves only the visual cue in the recognition of predation risk. We hypothesized that the zebrafish could recognize predator characteristics in P managuensis, such as length, shape, color and behavior. Nonetheless, the elevation of whole-body cortisol in zebrafish suggested that the visual contact of the predator may elicit a stress response in prey fish. This assertion has a strong practical application concerning the species distribution in ornamental fish markets in which prey species should not be allowed to see predator species. Minimizing visual contact between prey and predator fish may improve the quality, viability and welfare of small fish in ornamental fish markets. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sistema de visión por computador para control de calidad en Huevos

69 p.

Cognitive and Visual Speech Contributions to Speech Perception in Challenging Listening Conditions

Speech perception routinely takes place in noisy or degraded listening environments, leading to ambiguity in the identity of the speech token. Here, I present one review paper and two experimental papers that highlight cognitive and visual speech contributions to the listening process, particularly in challenging listening environments. First, I survey the literature linking audiometric age-related hearing loss and cognitive decline and review the four proposed causal mechanisms underlying this link. I argue that future research in this area requires greater consideration of the functional overlap between hearing and cognition. I also present an alternative framework for understanding causal relationships between age-related declines in hearing and cognition, with emphasis on the interconnected nature of hearing and cognition and likely contributions from multiple causal mechanisms. I also provide a number of testable hypotheses to examine how impairments in one domain may affect the other. In my first experimental study, I examine the direct contribution of working memory (through a cognitive training manipulation) on speech in noise comprehension in older adults. My results challenge the efficacy of cognitive training more generally, and also provide support for the contribution of sentence context in reducing working memory load. My findings also challenge the ubiquitous use of the Reading Span test as a pure test of working memory. In a second experimental (fMRI) study, I examine the role of attention in audiovisual speech integration, particularly when the acoustic signal is degraded. I demonstrate that attentional processes support audiovisual speech integration in the middle and superior temporal gyri, as well as the fusiform gyrus. My results also suggest that the superior temporal sulcus is sensitive to intelligibility enhancement, regardless of how this benefit is obtained (i.e., whether it is obtained through visual speech information or speech clarity). In addition, I also demonstrate that both the cingulo-opercular network and motor speech areas are recruited in difficult listening conditions. Taken together, these findings augment our understanding of cognitive contributions to the listening process and demonstrate that memory, working memory, and executive control networks may flexibly be recruited in order to meet listening demands in challenging environments.

Avaliação do equilíbrio em indivíduos com défice visual e normovisuais

Projeto de Graduação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciado em Fisioterapia