The visual representation of the “indignados”. A visual analysis about the characterization of the participants of the 15-M movement.

The aim of this work is to show the type of media coverage done by the newspapers La Razón, El País and Público about the 15-M social movement during the time that the camping at Sol took place. Specifically, in terms of how the characterization of the “indignados” (outraged) got made. Based on our previous descriptive observations, we approached a visual analysis of the photographs published on the paper editions of those mainstream media from May 15-June 12 of the 2011. we started from a total sample of 379 items, developing:1) A content analysis of La Razón, El País, and Público; the most frequents words of each media, articles classifications from the reviews found on them (expositive, positive-evaluation, negative-evaluation).2) An analysis of the 408 images obtained from the total sample, which establishes a clear evolution of the “indignados” profile and how differently each media took the movement as such. That’s, when they stop naming them “indignados”, and recognize its nature as social movement by calling it: “Movimiento 15-M"...

Exploring eye movement analysis as a measure of selective visual attention in brain injured individuals

Primary Objective: To investigate the utility of using a new method of assessment for deficits in selective visual attention (SVA). Methods and Procedures: An independent groups design compared six participants with brain injuries with six participants from a non-brain injured control group. The Sensomotoric Instruments Eye Movement system with remote eye-tracking device (eye camera), and 2 sets of eight stimuli were employed to determine if the camera would be a sensitive discriminator of SVA in these groups. Main Outcomes and Results: The attention profile displayed by the brain injured group showed that they were slower, made more errors, were less accurate, and more indecisive than the control group. Conclusions: The utility of eye movement analysis as an assessment method was established, with implications for rehabilitation requiring further development. Key words: selective visual attention, eye movement analysis, brain injury

Detection of visual-field deterioration by Glaucoma Progression Analysis and Threshold Noiseless Trend programs

BACKGROUND: To compare the ability of Glaucoma Progression Analysis (GPA) and Threshold Noiseless Trend (TNT) programs to detect visual-field deterioration.

METHODS: Patients with open-angle glaucoma followed for a minimum of 2 years and a minimum of seven reliable visual fields were included. Progression was assessed subjectively by four masked glaucoma experts, and compared with GPA and TNT results. Each case was judged to be stable, deteriorated or suspicious of deterioration

RESULTS: A total of 56 eyes of 42 patients were followed with a mean of 7.8 (SD 1.0) tests over an average of 5.5 (1.04) years. Interobserver agreement to detect progression was good (mean kappa = 0.57). Progression was detected in 10-19 eyes by the experts, in six by GPA and in 24 by TNT. Using the consensus expert opinion as the gold standard (four clinicians detected progression), the GPA sensitivity and specificity were 75% and 83%, respectively, while the TNT sensitivity and specificity was 100% and 77%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: TNT showed greater concordance with the experts than GPA in the detection of visual-field deterioration. GPA showed a high specificity but lower sensitivity, mainly detecting cases of high focality and pronounced mean defect slopes.

Exploration of the visual system : Part 2. In vivo analysis methods : virtual-reality optomotor system, fundus examination and fluorescent angiography

The mouse has emerged as an animal model for many diseases. At IRO, we have used this animal to understand the development of many eye diseases and treatment of some of them. Precise evaluation of vision is a prerequisite for both these approaches. In this unit we describe three ways to measure vision: testing the optokinetic response, and evaluating the fundus by direct observation and by fluorescent angiography.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comparison of Hierarchical Linear Modelling and Visual Analysis

Behavioral researchers commonly use single subject designs to evaluate the effects of a given treatment. Several different methods of data analysis are used, each with their own set of methodological strengths and limitations. Visual inspection is commonly used as a method of analyzing data which assesses the variability, level, and trend both within and between conditions (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). In an attempt to quantify treatment outcomes, researchers developed two methods for analysing data called Percentage of Non-overlapping Data Points (PND) and Percentage of Data Points Exceeding the Median (PEM). The purpose of the present study is to compare and contrast the use of Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM), PND and PEM in single subject research. The present study used 39 behaviours, across 17 participants to compare treatment outcomes of a group cognitive behavioural therapy program, using PND, PEM, and HLM on three response classes of Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Findings suggest that PEM and HLM complement each other and both add invaluable information to the overall treatment results. Future research should consider using both PEM and HLM when analysing single subject designs, specifically grouped data with variability.

Computer Analysis of Visual Properties of Curved Objects

A method is presented for the visual analysis of objects by computer. It is particularly well suited for opaque objects with smoothly curved surfaces. The method extracts information about the object's surface properties, including measures of its specularity, texture, and regularity. It also aids in determining the object's shape. The application of this method to a simple recognition task ??e recognition of fruit ?? discussed. The results on a more complex smoothly curved object, a human face, are also considered.

CoDaPack. An Excel and Visual Basic based software of compositional data analysis. Current version and discussion form upcoming versions

In the eighties, John Aitchison (1986) developed a new methodological approach for the statistical analysis of compositional data. This new methodology was implemented in Basic routines grouped under the name CODA and later NEWCODA inMatlab (Aitchison, 1997). After that, several other authors have published extensions to this methodology: Marín-Fernández and others (2000), Barceló-Vidal and others (2001), Pawlowsky-Glahn and Egozcue (2001, 2002) and Egozcue and others (2003). (...)

Visual research and visual analysis

Understand representation and basic semiotic theory i.e. signs, meaning and myth Use visual analysis to decode an image

A proposal to estimate the motion of an underwater vehicle through visual mosaicking

This thesis proposes a solution to the problem of estimating the motion of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV). Our approach is based on the integration of the incremental measurements which are provided by a vision system. When the vehicle is close to the underwater terrain, it constructs a visual map (so called "mosaic") of the area where the mission takes place while, at the same time, it localizes itself on this map, following the Concurrent Mapping and Localization strategy. The proposed methodology to achieve this goal is based on a feature-based mosaicking algorithm. A down-looking camera is attached to the underwater vehicle. As the vehicle moves, a sequence of images of the sea-floor is acquired by the camera. For every image of the sequence, a set of characteristic features is detected by means of a corner detector. Then, their correspondences are found in the next image of the sequence. Solving the correspondence problem in an accurate and reliable way is a difficult task in computer vision. We consider different alternatives to solve this problem by introducing a detailed analysis of the textural characteristics of the image. This is done in two phases: first comparing different texture operators individually, and next selecting those that best characterize the point/matching pair and using them together to obtain a more robust characterization. Various alternatives are also studied to merge the information provided by the individual texture operators. Finally, the best approach in terms of robustness and efficiency is proposed. After the correspondences have been solved, for every pair of consecutive images we obtain a list of image features in the first image and their matchings in the next frame. Our aim is now to recover the apparent motion of the camera from these features. Although an accurate texture analysis is devoted to the matching pro-cedure, some false matches (known as outliers) could still appear among the right correspon-dences. For this reason, a robust estimation technique is used to estimate the planar transformation (homography) which explains the dominant motion of the image. Next, this homography is used to warp the processed image to the common mosaic frame, constructing a composite image formed by every frame of the sequence. With the aim of estimating the position of the vehicle as the mosaic is being constructed, the 3D motion of the vehicle can be computed from the measurements obtained by a sonar altimeter and the incremental motion computed from the homography. Unfortunately, as the mosaic increases in size, image local alignment errors increase the inaccuracies associated to the position of the vehicle. Occasionally, the trajectory described by the vehicle may cross over itself. In this situation new information is available, and the system can readjust the position estimates. Our proposal consists not only in localizing the vehicle, but also in readjusting the trajectory described by the vehicle when crossover information is obtained. This is achieved by implementing an Augmented State Kalman Filter (ASKF). Kalman filtering appears as an adequate framework to deal with position estimates and their associated covariances. Finally, some experimental results are shown. A laboratory setup has been used to analyze and evaluate the accuracy of the mosaicking system. This setup enables a quantitative measurement of the accumulated errors of the mosaics created in the lab. Then, the results obtained from real sea trials using the URIS underwater vehicle are shown.

On the variability of the surface environment response to synoptic forcing over complex terrain: a multivariate data analysis approach

Synoptic climatology relates the atmospheric circulation with the surface environment. The aim of this study is to examine the variability of the surface meteorological patterns, which are developing under different synoptic scale categories over a suburban area with complex topography. Multivariate Data Analysis techniques were performed to a data set with surface meteorological elements. Three principal components related to the thermodynamic status of the surface environment and the two components of the wind speed were found. The variability of the surface flows was related with atmospheric circulation categories by applying Correspondence Analysis. Similar surface thermodynamic fields develop under cyclonic categories, which are contrasted with the anti-cyclonic category. A strong, steady wind flow characterized by high shear values develops under the cyclonic Closed Low and the anticyclonic H–L categories, in contrast to the variable weak flow under the anticyclonic Open Anticyclone category.

Are visual threats prioritized without awareness? A critical review and meta analysis involving 3 behavioral paradigms and 2696 observers

Given capacity limits, only a subset of stimuli 1 give rise to a conscious percept. Neurocognitive models suggest that humans have evolved mechanisms that operate without awareness and prioritize threatening stimuli over neutral stimuli in subsequent perception. In this meta analysis, we review evidence for this ‘standard hypothesis’ emanating from three widely used, but rather different experimental paradigms that have been used to manipulate awareness. We found a small pooled threat-bias effect in the masked visual probe paradigm, a medium effect in the binocular rivalry paradigm and highly inconsistent effects in the breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm. Substantial heterogeneity was explained by the stimulus type: the only threat stimuli that were robustly prioritized across all three paradigms were fearful faces. Meta regression revealed that anxiety may modulate threat biases, but only under specific presentation conditions. We also found that insufficiently rigorous awareness measures, inadequate control of response biases and low level confounds may undermine claims of genuine unconscious threat processing. Considering the data together, we suggest that uncritical acceptance of the standard hypothesis is premature: current behavioral evidence for threat-sensitive visual processing that operates without awareness is weak.

Analysis of total visual and CCD V-broadband observations of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): 1995-2001

We developed a general method for determination of water production rates from groundbased visual observations and applied it to Comet Hale-Bopp. Our main objective is to extend the method to include total visual magnitude observations obtained with CCD detector and V filter in the analysis of total visual magnitudes. We compare the CCD V-broadband careful observations of Liller [Liller, W. Pre-perihelion CCD photometry of Comet 1995 01 (Hale-Bopp). Planet. Space Sci. 45, 1505-1513, 1997; Liller, W. CCD photometry of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): 1995-2000. Int. Comet Quart. 23(3), 93-97, 2001] with the total visual magnitude observations from experienced international observers found in the International Comet Quarterly (ICQ) archive. A data set of similar to 400 CCD observations covering about the same 6 years time span of the similar to 12,000 ICQ selected total visual magnitude observations were used in the analysis. A least-square method applied to the water production rates, yields power laws as a function of the heliocentric distances for the pre- and post-perihelion phases. The average dimension of the nucleus as well as its effective active area is determined and compared with values published in the literature. (C) 2009 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual analysis of image collections

Multidimensional Visualization techniques are invaluable tools for analysis of structured and unstructured data with variable dimensionality. This paper introduces PEx-Image-Projection Explorer for Images-a tool aimed at supporting analysis of image collections. The tool supports a methodology that employs interactive visualizations to aid user-driven feature detection and classification tasks, thus offering improved analysis and exploration capabilities. The visual mappings employ similarity-based multidimensional projections and point placement to layout the data on a plane for visual exploration. In addition to its application to image databases, we also illustrate how the proposed approach can be successfully employed in simultaneous analysis of different data types, such as text and images, offering a common visual representation for data expressed in different modalities.

Groundwater favorability map using GIS multicriteria data analysis on crystalline terrain, Sao Paulo State, Brazil

This paper presents the groundwater favorability mapping on a fractured terrain in the eastern portion of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Remote sensing, airborne geophysical data, photogeologic interpretation, geologic and geomorphologic maps and geographic information system (GIS) techniques have been used. The results of cross-tabulation between these maps and well yield data allowed groundwater prospective parameters in a fractured-bedrock aquifer. These prospective parameters are the base for the favorability analysis whose principle is based on the knowledge-driven method. The mutticriteria analysis (weighted linear combination) was carried out to give a groundwater favorabitity map, because the prospective parameters have different weights of importance and different classes of each parameter. The groundwater favorability map was tested by cross-tabulation with new well yield data and spring occurrence. The wells with the highest values of productivity, as well as all the springs occurrence are situated in the excellent and good favorabitity mapped areas. It shows good coherence between the prospective parameters and the well yield and the importance of GIS techniques for definition of target areas for detail study and wells location. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.