1,721,102 research outputs found
TUGS – The tactile user guidance system
The Electronic System and Information Technology Research Group at Brunel University has designed a multifaceted navigation system for blind and visually impaired pedestrians. The primary operation of the system mimics the advantages of an informed sighted guide by using Global Positioning Systems and remote (sighted on the user) video cameras as navigational sensors. The information generated is streamed to a central control centre. This allows the system to operate in a fully automatic or operator assisted mode dependent on the users requirements. Initially the system used an audio link to transfer information to the user, however this has proved problematic. Clear unimpeded access to ambient sound is vital for visually impaired and blind pedestrians, both for efficient wayfinding and safety. Any system which has a continuing dialogue with the user, for example, navigational instructions received through an audio link, interferes with the users ability to process ambient sounds. To solve this problem a novel Tactile User Guidance System (TUGS) with vibrating actuators, has been designed and experimentally tested.
In this paper we present the design and experimental verification of TUGS with both visually impaired and sighted users. Although we have taken the visually impaired user as the ‘worst case scenario’ a practical ability to transfer information through the tactile sense has considerable value to other groups who may find themselves in restricted or overloaded visual or audio situations. These groups include; front line responders in the emergency services, railroad workers, pilots and remote vehicle operators
Using Wireless Technology to Develop a Virtual Reality Command and Control Centre
This paper investigates the applicability of wireless communication systems for use in command and control environments. Human positional data is transmitted over a wireless network. This data is then used to update a highly accurately modelled real-time 3D environment of the surroundings, with avatars positioned at the transmitted points. The data is displayed on a stereoscopic 3D screen enabling novel automatic tracking of human movement and allowing for more rapid and informed tactical decision making. The system has applicability in a variety of C4I environments, including the military and emergency services
Perceptual impact of environmental factors in sighted and visually impaired individuals
To a visually impaired individual the physical world presents many challenges. For a person with impaired sight, wayfinding through a complex environment is fraught with dangers, both actual and imagined. The current generation of mobility aids have the possibility of addressing a broad range of physical issues through technological solutions. The perception of difficulty however, can mean that many visually impaired individuals are fearful or uncomfortable about independent mobility or travel. In this context it becomes necessary to discover exactly what environments, environmental factors or items constitute a ‘perception of difficulty’ in the individuals mental landscape and may trigger a negative response before they interact with the physical environment. This paper reports on research, which sought to ascertain what levels of perceptual difficulties specific environments and factors presented to individuals. The research was conducted with both visually impaired and sighted groups and compared differences and similarities in perceptual difficulty between these two groups
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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