Search results for: expert visual evaluations

Authors: Adrienne Kline, Jaydip Desai

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Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a noninvasive technique that registers signals originating from the firing of neurons in the brain. The Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset is a consumer product comprised of 14 EEG channels and was used to record the reactions of the neurons within the brain to two forms of stimuli in 10 participants. These stimuli consisted of auditory and visual formats that provided directions of ‘right’ or ‘left.’ Participants were instructed to raise their right or left arm in accordance with the instruction given. A scenario in OpenViBE was generated to both stimulate the participants while recording their data. In OpenViBE, the Graz Motor BCI Stimulator algorithm was configured to govern the duration and number of visual stimuli. Utilizing EEGLAB under the cross platform MATLAB®, the electrodes most stimulated during the study were defined. Data outputs from EEGLAB were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics® Version 20. This aided in determining the electrodes to use in the development of a brain-machine interface (BMI) using real-time EEG signals from the Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset. Signal processing and feature extraction were accomplished via the Simulink® signal processing toolbox. An Arduino™ Duemilanove microcontroller was used to link the Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset and the right and left Mecha TE™ Hands.

Keywords: brain-machine interface, EEGLAB, emotiv EEG neuroheadset, OpenViBE, simulink

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Authors: Sadiah Baharom, Che Nidzam Che Ahmad, Saipol Barin Ramli, Asmayati Yahaya, Sopia Md Yassin

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The early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Malaysia aspire to develop children who are intellectually, emotionally, physically and spiritually balanced. This aspiration can only materialise if the early childhood program developed comprehensive and is of high quality comparable to international standards. As such, there is a pressing need to assess the quality of the program in an all-encompassing manner. The overall research project aims at developing a comprehensive and integrated model of high-quality Malaysian ECCE. One of the major objectives of this project is to assess and evaluate the scope and quality of the existing ECCE programs in Malaysia. To this end, a specific aspect of this objective is to develop and validate an instrument to assess and evaluate the ECCE curriculum of the country. Thus this paper describes the development and validation of an instrument to explore the quality of early childhood care and education curriculum currently implemented in the country’s ECCE centres. The generation of the constructs and items were based on a set of criteria mapped against existing ECCE practice, document analyses, expert interviews and panel discussions. The items went through expert validation and were field tested on 597 ECCE teachers. The data obtained went through an exploratory factor analysis to validate the constructs of the instrument followed by reliability studies on internal consistency based on the Cronbach Alpha values. The final set of items for the ECCE curriculum instrument, earmarked for the main study, consists of four constructs namely philosophy and core values, curriculum content, curriculum review and unique features. Each construct consists of between 21 to 3 items with a total of 36 items in all. The reliability coefficients for each construct range from 0.65 to 0.961. These values are within the acceptable limits for a reliable instrument to be used in the main study.

Keywords: early childhood and care education, instrument development, reliability studies, validity studies

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Authors: Mehrdad Abkenari, Orod Zarrinkafsh, Mohsen Ramezan Shirazi

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Construction projects initiate in complicated dynamic environments and, due to the close relationships between project parameters and the unknown outer environment, they are faced with several uncertainties and risks. Success in time, cost and quality in large scale construction projects is uncertain in consequence of technological constraints, large number of stakeholders, too much time required, great capital requirements and poor definition of the extent and scope of the project. Projects that are faced with such environments and uncertainties can be well managed through utilization of the concept of risk management in project’s life cycle. Although the concept of risk is dependent on the opinion and idea of management, it suggests the risks of not achieving the project objectives as well. Furthermore, project’s risk analysis discusses the risks of development of inappropriate reactions. Since evaluation and prioritization of construction projects has been a difficult task, the network structure is considered to be an appropriate approach to analyze complex systems; therefore, we have used this structure for analyzing and modeling the issue. On the other hand, we face inadequacy of data in deterministic circumstances, and additionally the expert’s opinions are usually mathematically vague and are introduced in the form of linguistic variables instead of numerical expression. Owing to the fact that fuzzy logic is used for expressing the vagueness and uncertainty, formulation of expert’s opinion in the form of fuzzy numbers can be an appropriate approach. In other words, the evaluation and prioritization of construction projects on the basis of risk factors in real world is a complicated issue with lots of ambiguous qualitative characteristics. In this study, evaluated and prioritization the risk parameters and factors with fuzzy logy method by combination of three method DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation), ANP (Analytic Network Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order-Preference by Similarity Ideal Solution) on Construction Management.

Keywords: fuzzy logy, risk, prioritization, assessment

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Authors: A. Van Staden, A. Tolmie, E. Vorster

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Research confirms the multifaceted nature of spelling development and underscores the importance of both cognitive and linguistic skills that affect sound spelling development such as working and long-term memory, phonological and orthographic awareness, mental orthographic images, semantic knowledge and morphological awareness. This has clear implications for many South African English second language spellers (L2) who attempt to become proficient spellers. Since English has an opaque orthography, with irregular spelling patterns and insufficient sound/grapheme correspondences, L2 spellers can neither rely, nor draw on the phonological awareness skills of their first language (for example Sesotho and many other African languages), to assist them to spell the majority of English words. Epistemologically, this research is informed by social constructivism. In addition the researchers also hypothesized that the principles of the Overlapping Waves Theory was an appropriate lens through which to investigate whether L2 spellers could significantly improve their spelling skills via the implementation of an alternative route to spelling development, namely the orthographic route, and more specifically via the application of visual imagery. Post-test results confirmed the results of previous research that argues for the interactive nature of different cognitive and linguistic systems such as working memory and its subsystems and long-term memory, as learners were systematically guided to store visual orthographic images of words in their long-term lexicons. Moreover, the results have shown that L2 spellers in the experimental group (n = 9) significantly outperformed L2 spellers (n = 9) in the control group whose intervention involved phonological awareness (and coding) including the teaching of spelling rules. Consequently, L2 learners in the experimental group significantly improved in all the post-test measures included in this investigation, namely the four sub-tests of short-term memory; as well as two spelling measures (i.e. diagnostic and standardized measures). Against this background, the findings of this study look promising and have shown that, within a social-constructivist learning environment, learners can be systematically guided to apply higher-order thinking processes such as visual imagery to successfully store and retrieve mental images of spelling words from their output lexicons. Moreover, results from the present study could play an important role in directing research into this under-researched aspect of L2 literacy development within the South African education context.

Keywords: English second language spellers, phonological and orthographic coding, social constructivism, visual imagery as spelling strategy

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Authors: Chi-Ying Yu

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Fashion design is, in fact, an aesthetic inquiry of fabric, style and human body. In recent years, close cooperation between the artistic circles and the fashion world has even brought fashion into the arena of contemporary art. This study offers a case study on the avant-garde fashion designer Alexander McQueen, investigating how he and his brand translate fashion into contemporary art at various levels. Firstly, in terms of his designs themselves, McQueen demonstrates through fashions his declarations on political and gender issues, demonstrating his unique barbarian aesthetics and creating an enchanting sublimity. Secondly, McQueen extends his fashion aesthetics into a cross-disciplinary performing method, and raises catwalk shows to the level of complete artistic experience. Finally, and also most importantly, the brand has been producing fashion movies for its seasonal design series. By means of an abstract, non-narrative visual language, these films essentially transform people’s experience of clothing – from the senses to the pure visual. This is not simply a cross-media artistic practice, but much more fundamentally a discourse on contemporary perceptual experience. From the case of Alexander McQueen, it can be argued that avant-garde fashion has broken through the boundary between design and art, issuing its own art manifesto through the field of art or non-art.

Keywords: Alexander McQueen, avant-garde fashion, contemporary art, fashion film

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Authors: Chul Hyun Park

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Background:Repair using the Achillon deviceis a representative mini-open repair technique;however, the limitations of this technique includethe need for special instruments and decreasedrepair strength.A modifiedmini-open repair using ring forcepsmight overcome these limitations. Purpose:This study was performed to compare the Achillon device with ring forceps in mini-open repairsof acute Achilles tendon rupture. Study Design:This was a retrospective cohort study, and the level of evidence was3. Methods:Fifty patients (41 men and 9 women), withacute Achilles tendon rupture on one foot, were consecutively treated using mini-open repair techniques. The first 20 patients were treated using the Achillon device (Achillon group) and the subsequent 30 patients were treated using a ring forceps (Forcep group). Clinical, functional, and isokinetic results,and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups at the last follow-up. Clinical evaluations wereperformed using the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score, Achilles tendon Total Rupture Score (ATRS), length of incision, and operation time. Functional evaluationsincludedactive range of motion (ROM) of the ankle joint, maximum calf circumference (MCC), hopping test, and single limb heel-rise (SLHR) test. Isokinetic evaluations were performed using the isokinetic test for ankle plantar flexion. Results:The AOFAS score (p=0.669), ATRS (p=0.753), and length of incision (p=0.305) were not significantly different between the groups. Operative times in the Achillon group were significantly shorter than that in the Forcep group (p<0.001).The maximum height of SLHR (p=0.023) and number of SLHRs (p=0.045) in the Forcep group were significantly greater than that in the Achillon group. No significant differences in the mean peak torques for plantar flexion at angular speeds of 30°/s (p=0.219) and 120°/s (p=0.656) were detected between the groups. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of postoperative complications between the groups (p=0.093). Conclusion:The ring forceps technique is comparable with the Achillon technique with respect to clinical, functional, and isokinetic results and the postoperative complications. Given that no special instrument is required, the ring forceps technique could be a better option for acute Achilles tendon rupture repair.

Keywords: achilles tendon, acute rupture, repair, mini-open

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Authors: Xiaozhou Liu, Guangyu Zhu, Yu Zhang, Hongwei Wu

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The wind-box is one of the important components of a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler. The uniformity of air flow in the wind-box of is very important for highly efficient operation of the CFB boiler. Non-uniform air flow distribution within the wind-box can reduce the boiler's thermal efficiency, leading to higher energy consumptions. An effective measure to solve this problem is to install an air flow distributing device in the wind-box. In order to validate the effectiveness of the air flow distributing device, visual and velocity distribution uniformity experiments have been carried out under five different test conditions by using a 1:64 scale model of a 220t/hr CFB boiler. It has been shown that the z component of flow velocity remains almost the same at control cross-sections of the wind-box, with a maximum variation of less than 10%. Moreover, the same methodology has been carried out to a full-scale 220t/hr CFB boiler. The hot test results depict that the thermal efficiency of the boiler has increased from 85.71% to 88.34% when tested with an air flow distributing device in place, which is equivalent to a saving of 5,000 tons of coal per year. The economic benefits of this energy-saving technology have been shown to be very significant, which clearly demonstrates that the technology is worth applying and popularizing.

Keywords: circulating fluidized bed, CFB, wind-box, air flow distributing device, visual experiment, velocity distribution uniformity experiment, hot test

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Authors: Nashwa Elyamany

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In visual cultures, namely that of the United States, media representations are such influential and pervasive reflections of societal norms and expectations to the extent that they impact the manner in which both genders view themselves. Health and fitness magazines fall within the realm of visual culture. Since the main goal of communication is to ensure proper dissemination of information in order for the target audience to grasp the intended messages, it becomes imperative that magazine publishers, editors, advertisers and image producers use different modes of communication within their reach to convey messages to their readers and viewers. A rapid waxing flow of multimodality floods popular discourse, particularly health and fitness magazine cover pages. The use of well-crafted cover lines and visual images is imbued with agendas, consumerist ideologies and properties capable of effectively conveying implicit and explicit meaning to potential readers and viewers. In essence, the primary goal of this thesis is to interrogate the multi-semiotic operations and manifestations of hegemonic masculinity and femininity in male and female body culture, particularly on the cover pages of the twin American magazines Men's Health and Women's Health using corpora that spanned from 2011 to the mid of 2016. The researcher explores the semiotic resources that contribute to shaping and legitimizing a new form of postmodern, consumerist, gendered discourse that positions the reader-viewer ideologically. Methodologically, the researcher carries out analysis on the macro and micro levels. On the macro level, the researcher takes on a critical stance to illuminate the ideological nature of the multimodal ensemble of the cover pages, and, on the micro level, seeks to put forward new theoretical and methodological routes through which the semiotic choices well invested on the media texts can be more objectively scrutinized. On the macro level, a 'themes' analysis is initially conducted to isolate the overarching themes that dominate the fitness discourse on the cover pages under study. It is argued that variation in terms of frequencies of such themes is indicative, broadly speaking, of which facets of hegemonic masculinity and femininity are infused in the fitness discourse on the cover pages. On the micro level, this research work encompasses three sub-levels of analysis. The researcher follows an SF-MMDA approach, drawing on a trio of analytical frameworks: Halliday's SFG for the verbal analysis; Kress & van Leeuween's VG for the visual analysis; and CMT in relation to Sperber & Wilson's RT for the pragma-cognitive analysis of multimodal metaphors and metonymies. The data is presented in terms of detailed descriptions in conjunction with frequency tables, ANOVA with alpha=0.05 and MANOVA in the multiple phases of analysis. Insights and findings from this multi-faceted, social-semiotic analysis are interpreted in light of Cultivation Theory, Self-objectification Theory and the literature to date. Implications for future research include the implementation of a multi-dimensional approach whereby linguistic and visual analytical models are deployed with special regards to cultural variation.

Keywords: gender, hegemony, magazine cover page, multimodal discourse analysis, multimodal metaphor, multimodal metonymy, systemic functional grammar, visual grammar

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Authors: Kumari Sweta, Ajanta Goswami, Abhilasha Dixit

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Landslide is a geomorphic process that plays an essential role in the evolution of the hill-slope and long-term landscape evolution. But its abrupt nature and the associated catastrophic forces of the process can have undesirable socio-economic impacts, like substantial economic losses, fatalities, ecosystem, geomorphologic and infrastructure disturbances. The estimated fatality rate is approximately 1person /100 sq. Km and the average economic loss is more than 550 crores/year in the Himalayan belt due to landslides. This study presents a comparative performance of a statistical bivariate method and a machine learning technique for landslide susceptibility mapping in and around Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. The final produced landslide susceptibility maps (LSMs) with better accuracy could be used for land-use planning to prevent future losses. Dharamshala, a part of North-western Himalaya, is one of the fastest-growing tourism hubs with a total population of 30,764 according to the 2011 census and is amongst one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM’s Smart Cities Mission. A total of 209 landslide locations were identified in using high-resolution linear imaging self-scanning (LISS IV) data. The thematic maps of parameters influencing landslide occurrence were generated using remote sensing and other ancillary data in the GIS environment. The landslide causative parameters used in the study are slope angle, slope aspect, elevation, curvature, topographic wetness index, relative relief, distance from lineaments, land use land cover, and geology. LSMs were prepared using information value (Info Val), and Fuzzy Expert System (FES) models. Info Val is a statistical bivariate method, in which information values were calculated as the ratio of the landslide pixels per factor class (Si/Ni) to the total landslide pixel per parameter (S/N). Using this information values all parameters were reclassified and then summed in GIS to obtain the landslide susceptibility index (LSI) map. The FES method is a machine learning technique based on ‘mean and neighbour’ strategy for the construction of fuzzifier (input) and defuzzifier (output) membership function (MF) structure, and the FR method is used for formulating if-then rules. Two types of membership structures were utilized for membership function Bell-Gaussian (BG) and Trapezoidal-Triangular (TT). LSI for BG and TT were obtained applying membership function and if-then rules in MATLAB. The final LSMs were spatially and statistically validated. The validation results showed that in terms of accuracy, Info Val (83.4%) is better than BG (83.0%) and TT (82.6%), whereas, in terms of spatial distribution, BG is best. Hence, considering both statistical and spatial accuracy, BG is the most accurate one.

Keywords: bivariate statistical techniques, BG and TT membership structure, fuzzy expert system, information value method, machine learning technique

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Authors: Wann-Ming Wey

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In recent years, in addition to face the external threats such as energy shortages and climate change, traffic congestion and environmental pollution have become anxious problems for many cities. Considering private automobile-oriented urban development had produced many negative environmental and social impacts, the transit-oriented development (TOD) has been considered as a sustainable urban model. TOD encourages public transport combined with friendly walking and cycling environment designs, however, non-motorized modes help improving human health, energy saving, and reducing carbon emissions. Due to environmental changes often affect the planners’ decision-making; this research applies dynamic network process (DNP) which includes the time dependent concept to promoting friendly walking and cycling environmental designs as an advanced planning support system for environment improvements. This research aims to discuss what kinds of design strategies can improve a friendly walking and cycling environment under TOD. First of all, we collate and analyze environment designing factors by reviewing the relevant literatures as well as divide into three aspects of “safety”, “convenience”, and “amenity” from fifteen environment designing factors. Furthermore, we utilize fuzzy Delphi Technique (FDT) expert questionnaire to filter out the more important designing criteria for the study case. Finally, we utilized DNP expert questionnaire to obtain the weights changes at different time points for each design criterion. Based on the changing trends of each criterion weight, we are able to develop appropriate designing strategies as the reference for planners to allocate resources in a dynamic environment. In order to illustrate the approach we propose in this research, Taipei city as one example has been used as an empirical study, and the results are in depth analyzed to explain the application of our proposed approach.

Keywords: environment planning support systems, walking and cycling, transit-oriented development (TOD), dynamic network process (DNP)

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Authors: Banu Baybars Hawks

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To date, academic attention in social sciences remains inadequate with regard to research and analysis of public opinion in Turkey. Most of the existing research has assessed the public opinion during political election periods. Therefore, it is of great interest to find out what the public thinks about current issues in Turkey, and how to interpret the results to be able to reveal whether they may have any reflections on social, political, and cultural structure of the country. Accordingly, the current study seeks to fill the gap in the social sciences literature in English regarding Turkey’s social and political stand which may be perceived to be very different by other nations. Without timely feedback from public surveys, various programs for improving different services and institutions functioning in the country might not achieve their expected goal, nor can decisions about which programs to implement be made rationally. Additionally, the information gathered may not only yield important insights into public’s opinion regarding current agenda in Turkey, but also into the correlates shaping public policies. Agenda-setting studies including agenda-building, agenda melding, reversed agenda-setting and information diffusion studies will be used to explain the roles of factors and actors in the formation of public opinion in Turkey. Knowing the importance of public agenda in the agenda setting and building process, this paper aims to reveal the social and political tendencies of the Turkish public. For that purpose, a survey will be carried out in December of 2014 to determine the social and political trends in Turkey for that same year. The subjects for the study, which utilize a questionairre in one-on-one interviews, will include 1,000 individuals aged 18 years and older from 26 cities representing general population. A stratified random sampling frame will be used. The topics covered by the survey include: The most important current problem in Turkey; the Economy; Terror; Approaches to the Kurdish Issue; Evaluations of the Government and Opposition Parties; Evaluations of Institutional Efficiency; Foreign Policy; the Judicial System/Constitution; Democracy and the Media; and, Social Relations/Life in Turkey. Since the beginning of the 21st century, Turkey has been undergoing a rapid transformation. The reflections of the changes can be seen in all areas from economics to politics. It is my hope that findings of this study may shed light on the important aspects of institutions, variables setting the agenda, and formation process of public opinion in Turkey.

Keywords: public opinion, media, agenda setting, information diffusion, government, freedom, Turkey

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Authors: Dilusha Rajapakse

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The main reason for printing coloured imageries, pattern or motif onto textiles is to enhance the visual appearance of the surface so that the final textile product would get the required attention from potential customers. Such colours and patterns are permanently applied onto the textiles using conventional static colourants, and we expect such decorations to be last for the entire lifecycle of the textile product. The focus of this research presentation is to discuss the ability to integrate multicolour and pattern changing aesthetics onto textiles with the application of water based photochromic colourants. By adopting a research through design approach, a number of iterative flatbed screen printing experiments were conducted to explore the process of printing water based photochromic colours on textile surfaces. The research resulted in several technical parameters that have to be considered during the process of screen printing. Moreover, a modified printing technique that could be used to apply decorative photographic imagery onto textile with multicolour changing effects was also identified. A number of product applications for such dynamic printed textiles were revealed, and appropriate visual evidence was referred to justify the finding.

Keywords: dynamic aesthetics, multicolour changing textiles, non-emissive colours, printed textile design

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Authors: Michal Wolk, Bat-Sheva Hadad, Orly Rubinsten

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Objective: The visuospatial perception system process that allows us to decompose and recompose small quantities into a whole is often called “groupitizing.” Previous studies have been found that adults use groupitizing processes in quantity estimation tasks and link this ability of subgroups recognition to arithmetic proficiency. This pilot study examined if adults with math difficulties benefit from visuospatial grouping cues when asked to estimate the quantity of a given set. It also compared the tipping point in which a significant improvement occurs in adults with typical development compared to adults with math difficulties. Method: In this pilot research, we recruited adults with low arithmetic abilities and matched controls. Participants were asked to estimate the quantity of a given set. Different grouping cues were displayed (space, color, or none) with different visual configurations (different quantities-different shapes, same quantities- different shapes, same quantities- same shapes). Results: Both groups showed significant performance improvement when grouping cues appeared. However, adults with low arithmetic abilities benefited from the grouping cues already in very small quantities as four. Conclusion: impaired perceptual groupitizing abilities may be a characteristic of low arithmetic abilities.

Keywords: groupitizing, math learning disability, quantity estimation, visual perception system

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Authors: Simon Winberg

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The landscape of professional postgraduate education is changing: the focus of these programmes is moving from preparing candidates for a life in academia towards a focus of training in expert knowledge and skills to support industry. This is especially pronounced in engineering disciplines where increasingly more complex products are drawing on a depth of knowledge from multiple fields. This connects strongly with the broader notion of Industry 4.0 – where technology and society are being brought together to achieve more powerful and desirable products, but products whose inner workings also are more complex than before. The changes in what we do, and how we do it, has a profound impact on what industry would like universities to provide. One such change is the increased demand for taught doctoral and Masters programmes. These programmes aim to provide skills and training for professionals, to expand their knowledge of state-of-the-art tools and technologies. This paper investigates one such course, namely a Software Defined Radio (SDR) Master’s degree course. The teaching support for this course had to be drawn from an existing pool of academics, none of who were specialists in this field. The paper focuses on the kind of educator, a ‘hybrid academic’, assembled from available academic staff and bolstered by research. The conceptual framework for this paper combines Activity Theory and Genre Ecology. Activity Theory is used to reason about learning and interactions during the course, and Genre Ecology is used to model building and sharing of technical knowledge related to using tools and artifacts. Data were obtained from meetings with students and lecturers, logs, project reports, and course evaluations. The findings show how the course, which was initially academically-oriented, metamorphosed into a tool-dominant peer-learning structure, largely supported by the sharing of technical tool-based knowledge. While the academic staff could address gaps in the participants’ fundamental knowledge of radio systems, the participants brought with them extensive specialized knowledge and tool experience which they shared with the class. This created a complicated dynamic in the class, which centered largely on engagements with technology artifacts, such as simulators, from which knowledge was built. The course was characterized by a richness of ‘epistemic objects’, which is to say objects that had knowledge-generating qualities. A significant portion of the course curriculum had to be adapted, and the learning methods changed to accommodate the dynamic interactions that occurred during classes. This paper explains the SDR Masters course in terms of conflicts and innovations in its activity system, as well as the continually hybridizing genre ecology to show how the structuring and resource-dependence of the course transformed from its initial ‘traditional’ academic structure to a more entangled arrangement over time. It is hoped that insights from this paper would benefit other educators involved in the design and teaching of similar types of specialized professional postgraduate taught programmes.

Keywords: professional postgraduate education, taught masters, engineering education, software defined radio

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Authors: Fatemeh Nikpay, Rodina Binti Ahmad, Babak Darvish Rouhani

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Enterprise Architecture (EA) is employed by enterprises for providing integrated Information Systems (ISs) in order to support alignment of their business and Information Technology (IT). Evaluation of EA implementation can support enterprise to reach intended goals. There are some problems in current evaluation methods of EA implementation that lead to ineffectiveness implementation of EA. This paper represents current issues on evaluation of EA implementation. In this regard, we set the framework in order to represent evaluation’s issues based on their functionality and structure. The results of this research not only increase the knowledge of evaluation, but also could be useful for both academics and practitioners in order to realize the current situation of evaluations.

Keywords: current issues on EA implementation evaluation, evaluation, enterprise architecture, evaluation of enterprise architecture implementation

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Authors: Stephanie Ducrot, Marie Vernet, Eve Meiss, Yves Chaix

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Learning to read is a key topic of debate today, both in terms of its implications on school failure and illiteracy and regarding what are the best teaching methods to develop. It is estimated today that four to six percent of school-age children suffer from specific developmental disorders that impair learning. The findings from people with dyslexia and typically developing readers suggest that the problems children experience in learning to read are related to the preliteracy skills that they bring with them from kindergarten. Most tools available to professionals are designed for the evaluation of child language problems. In comparison, there are very few tools for assessing the relations between visual skills and the process of learning to read. Recent literature reports that visual-motor skills and visual-spatial attention in preschoolers are important predictors of reading development — the main goal of this study aimed at improving screening for future reading difficulties in preschool children. We used a prospective, longitudinal approach where oculomotor processes (assessed with the DiagLECT test) were measured in pre-readers, and the impact of these skills on future reading development was explored. The dialect test specifically measures the online time taken to name numbers arranged irregularly in horizontal rows (horizontal time, HT), and the time taken to name numbers arranged in vertical columns (vertical time, VT). A total of 131 preschoolers took part in this study. At Time 0 (kindergarten), the mean VT, HT, errors were recorded. One year later, at Time 1, the reading level of the same children was evaluated. Firstly, this study allowed us to provide normative data for a standardized evaluation of the oculomotor skills in 5- and 6-year-old children. The data also revealed that 25% of our sample of preschoolers showed oculomotor impairments (without any clinical complaints). Finally, the results of this study assessed the validity of the DiagLECT test for predicting reading outcomes; the better a child's oculomotor skills are, the better his/her reading abilities will be.

Keywords: vision, attention, oculomotor processes, reading, preschoolers

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Authors: Ja-Keoung Koo, Kensuke Nakamura, Hyohun Kim, Dongwha Shin, Yeonseok Kim, Ji-Su Ahn, Byung-Woo Hong

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The machine learning techniques based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) have been actively developed and successfully applied to a variety of image analysis tasks including reconstruction, noise reduction, resolution enhancement, segmentation, motion estimation, object recognition. The classical visual information processing that ranges from low level tasks to high level ones has been widely developed in the deep learning framework. It is generally considered as a challenging problem to derive visual interpretation from high dimensional imagery data. A CNN is a class of feed-forward artificial neural network that usually consists of deep layers the connections of which are established by a series of non-linear operations. The CNN architecture is known to be shift invariant due to its shared weights and translation invariance characteristics. However, it is often computationally intractable to optimize the network in particular with a large number of convolution layers due to a large number of unknowns to be optimized with respect to the training set that is generally required to be large enough to effectively generalize the model under consideration. It is also necessary to limit the size of convolution kernels due to the computational expense despite of the recent development of effective parallel processing machinery, which leads to the use of the constantly small size of the convolution kernels throughout the deep CNN architecture. However, it is often desired to consider different scales in the analysis of visual features at different layers in the network. Thus, we propose a CNN model where different sizes of the convolution kernels are applied at each layer based on the random projection. We apply random filters with varying sizes and associate the filter responses with scalar weights that correspond to the standard deviation of the random filters. We are allowed to use large number of random filters with the cost of one scalar unknown for each filter. The computational cost in the back-propagation procedure does not increase with the larger size of the filters even though the additional computational cost is required in the computation of convolution in the feed-forward procedure. The use of random kernels with varying sizes allows to effectively analyze image features at multiple scales leading to a better generalization. The robustness and effectiveness of the proposed CNN based on random kernels are demonstrated by numerical experiments where the quantitative comparison of the well-known CNN architectures and our models that simply replace the convolution kernels with the random filters is performed. The experimental results indicate that our model achieves better performance with less number of unknown weights. The proposed algorithm has a high potential in the application of a variety of visual tasks based on the CNN framework. Acknowledgement—This work was supported by the MISP (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the National Program for Excellence in SW (20170001000011001) supervised by IITP, and NRF-2014R1A2A1A11051941, NRF2017R1A2B4006023.

Keywords: deep learning, convolutional neural network, random kernel, random projection, dimensionality reduction, object recognition

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Authors: Parya Tabei, Maryam Habibifar

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Decision-making is an important cognitive function that can be defined as the process of choosing an option among available options to achieve a specific goal. Consumer ‘need’ is the main reason for purchasing decisions. Human decision-making while buying products online is subject to various factors, one of which is the quality and effect of advertising photos. Advertising photo editing can have a significant impact on people's virtual purchase decisions. This technique helps improve the quality and overall appearance of photos by adjusting various aspects such as brightness, contrast, colors, cropping, resizing, and adding filters. This study, by examining the effect of editing advertising photos on the virtual purchase decision using EEG data, tries to investigate the effect of edited images on the decision-making of customers. A group of 30 participants were asked to react to 24 edited and unedited images while their EEG was recorded. Analysis of the EEG data revealed increased alpha wave activity in the occipital regions (O1, O2) for both edited and unedited images, which is related to visual processing and attention. Additionally, there was an increase in beta wave activity in the frontal regions (FP1, FP2, F4, F8) when participants viewed edited images, suggesting involvement in cognitive processes such as decision-making and evaluating advertising content. Gamma wave activity also increased in various regions, especially the frontal and parietal regions, which are associated with higher cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, and perception, when viewing the edited images. While the visual processing reflected by alpha waves remained consistent across different visual conditions, editing advertising photos appeared to boost neural activity in frontal and parietal regions associated with decision-making processes. These Findings suggest that photo editing could potentially influence consumer perceptions during virtual shopping experiences by modulating brain activity related to product assessment and purchase decisions.

Keywords: virtual purchase decision, advertising photo, EEG parameters, decision Making

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Authors: Supatchalee Sirichokworrakit, Pannin Intasen, Chansuda Angkawut

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Hom Nin rice (Oryza Sativa L.) was processed into flour and used to substitute wheat flour in donuts. The donuts were prepared with 0, 20, 40, 60, and 80% Hom Nin rice flour (HNF). The donuts were subjected to proximate, texture, color and sensory evaluations. The results of the study revealed that the ash, moisture, crude fiber contents increased while crude fat and protein contents decreased as the level of HNF increased. The hardness and chewiness of donut increased as the HNF increased but the cohesiveness, springiness, and specific volume decreased. Color of donut (L*, a*, and b* values) decreased with the addition of HNF. Overall acceptability for the 20-40% HNF additions did not differ significantly from the score of the 100% wheat flour.

Keywords: Hom Nin rice, donut, texture evaluation, sensory evaluation

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Authors: Amal. N. Al-Kuraieef

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Smoli bread was made by supplementation sunflower flour which was prepared from sunflower (Dahr-EL-Haea) gray after hilling and milling, flour was irradiated by two doses (5 and 10 kGy). After that, the ratios of irradiated sunflower flour were 5 and 10%. All samples of samoli bread were examined for organoleptic and biological evaluation. Biological assay (PER, NPU, FE, DC and BV) was carried out on rats fed 5 and 10% irradiated and non-irradiated sunflower Samoli bread. Results obtained showed that, total lipids, cholesterol and triglycerides were reduced comparable, to that of casein. Also, figures of the biological evaluations were higher than those of the control samoli bread and improved its nutritive values.

Keywords: gamma rays, sunflower, samoli bread, cholesterol, lipids, triglycerides

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Authors: Mei-Chun Chang

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Due to digital transformation and social media development in recent years, various real-time interactive digital tools have been developed to meet the design demands for virtual reality avatars, which also promote digital content learners' active participation in the creation process. As a result, new social media design tools have the characteristics of intuitive operation with a simplified interface for fast production, from which works can be simply created. This study carried out observations, records, questionnaire surveys, and interviews on the creation and learning of visual avatars made by students of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) with the VRoid Studio 3D modeling tool so as to explore their learning effectiveness on the design of visual avatars. According to the results of this study, the VRoid Studio 3D character modeling tool has a positive impact on the learners and helps to improve their learning effectiveness. Students with low academic achievements said that they could complete the conceived modeling with their own thinking by using the design tool, which increased their sense of accomplishment. Conclusions are drawn according to the results, and relevant future suggestions are put forward.

Keywords: virtual avatar, character design, social media, vroid studio, creation, digital learning

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Authors: Muriel Canas-Walker

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Polygamy is a sensitive issue yet a surprisingly popular topic on television. In China, among other palace intrigues dramas, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" stands out in its harsh portrayal of sequestered concubines in the Forbidden City. In the United States the critically acclaimed "Big Love", set in the Mormon community, generated much discussion and controversy, both accademically and on social media. More recently "The Handmaid’s Tale", adapted from the famous novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, also contributed to the topic. All three dramas feature the plight of women caught in a polygamy system and are particularly popular with female audiences. Using Foucault’s theory of power, visual anthropology, and feminist perspective this paper aims at analyzing the treatment of this sensitive topic in the media and its reception. From the seemingly happy sister wives in "Big Love", to the fiercely competitive concubines in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and the tragically coerced handmaids in "The Handmaid’s Tale", the lives of women in a polygamy system are inspiring to modern audiences. This paper’s objective is to understand how the treatment of polygamy is relevant to these audiences.

Keywords: polygamy, michel foucault, feminism, visual anthropology

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Authors: Wenwen Liu, Robert Burton, Simon McKeown

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Climate change is seriously threatening human security and development, leading to global warming and economic, political, and social chaos. Many artists have created visual responses that challenge perceptions on climate change, actively guiding people to think about the climate issues and potential crises after urban industrialization and explore positive solutions. This project is an interdisciplinary and intertextual study where art practice is informed by culture, philosophy, psychology, ecology, and science. By correlating theory and artistic practice, it studies how art practice creates a new way of understanding climate issues and uses art as a way of exploring speculative futures. In the context of practical-based research, arts-based practice as research and creative practice as interdisciplinary research are applied alternately to seek the original solution and new knowledge. Through creative art practice, this project has established new visual ways of looking at climate change and has developed it into a new model to generate more possibilities, an alternative social imagination. It not only encourages people to think and find a sustainable speculative future conducive to all species but also proves that people have the ability to realize positive futures.

Keywords: climate change, creative practice as interdisciplinary research, arts-based practice as research, creative art practice, speculative future

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Authors: Pedro Barros, Ana Breda, Eugenio Rocha, M. Isabel Santos

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As visual and spatial awareness develops, children apprehension of the concept of direction, (relative) distance and (relative) location materializes. Here we present the educational inclusive digital game ORIESPA, under development by the Thematic Line Geometrix, for children aged between 6 and 10 years old, aiming the improvement of their visual and spatial awareness. Visual-spatial abilities are of crucial importance to succeed in many everyday life tasks. Unavoidable in the technological age we are living in, they are essential in many fields of study as, for instance, mathematics.The game, set on a 2D/3D environment, focusses in tasks/challenges on the following categories (1) static orientation of the subject and object, requiring an understanding of the notions of up–down, left–right, front–back, higher-lower or nearer-farther; (2) interpretation of perspectives of three-dimensional objects, requiring the understanding of 2D and 3D representations of three-dimensional objects; and (3) orientation of the subject in real space, requiring the reading and interpreting of itineraries. In ORIESPA, simpler tasks are based on a quadrangular grid, where the front-back and left-right directions and the rotations of 90º, 180º and 270º play the main requirements. The more complex ones are produced on a cubic grid adding the up and down movements. In the first levels, the game's mechanics regarding the reading and interpreting maps (from point A to point B) is based on map routes, following a given set of instructions. In higher levels, the player must produce a list of instructions taking the game character to the desired destination, avoiding obstacles. Being an inclusive game the user has the possibility to interact through the mouse (point and click with a single button), the keyboard (small set of well recognized keys) or a Kinect device (using simple gesture moves). The character control requires the action on buttons corresponding to movements in 2D and 3D environments. Buttons and instructions are also complemented with text, sound and sign language.

Keywords: digital game, inclusion, itinerary, spatial ability

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Authors: Mohd Radzi Hilmi, Mohd Zulfaezal Che Azemin, Khairidzan Mohd Kamal, Azrin Esmady Ariffin, Mohd Izzuddin Mohd Tamrin, Norfazrina Abdul Gaffur, Tengku Mohd Tengku Sembok

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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to predict optical quality changes after pterygium surgery using tissue redness grading. Methods: Sixty-eight primary pterygium participants were selected from patients who visited an ophthalmology clinic. We developed a semi-automated computer program to measure the pterygium fibrovascular redness from digital pterygium images. The outcome of this software is a continuous scale grading of 1 (minimum redness) to 3 (maximum redness). The region of interest (ROI) was selected manually using the software. Reliability was determined by repeat grading of all 68 images and its association with contrast sensitivity function (CSF) and visual acuity (VA) was examined. Results: The mean and standard deviation of redness of the pterygium fibrovascular images was 1.88 ± 0.55. Intra- and inter-grader reliability estimates were high with intraclass correlation ranging from 0.97 to 0.98. The new grading was positively associated with CSF (p<0.01) and VA (p<0.01). The redness grading was able to predict 25% and 23% of the variance in the CSF and the VA respectively. Conclusions: The new grading of pterygium fibrovascular redness can be reliably measured from digital images and show a good correlation with CSF and VA. The redness grading can be used in addition to the existing pterygium grading.

Keywords: contrast sensitivity, pterygium, redness, visual acuity

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Authors: Massimo Imparato

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The study aims to identify the background of the contemporary trends in the design of commercial outdoors, and the reasons for the radical change in the traditional relationship between architecture and interior design, where the latter is taking over the construction of the visual narrative framing the users’ experience, which was ruled in the past by the architectural discourse. The design of commercial interiors, in fact, influences the way in which their outdoor spaces are organized and used more than ever before, and reflects the multi-faceted changes in the consumers’ behaviors and their interaction with the built environment. The study starts with the analysis of the evolution of sheltered outdoor spaces to achieve a broader understanding of the shift of meaning of subjects such as private and public domains, and to consider the varied ways of interaction/integration between the building and its exterior space. The study identifies the major social, physical and cultural aspects influencing the design of contemporary commercial outdoor spaces, suggests a new framework for their understanding and draws the methodological guidelines for the development of a structured approach to the design of commercial outdoors. The purpose of the paper is to stress the influence of the design of interiors into the public realm, to indicate new directions in this field of research, and to provide new methodological tools for interior design professionals.

Keywords: interior design, landscape design, visual narrative, outdoor design

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Authors: Rahah Hasan, Faridah Sahari

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This paper describes the development of modern art in Borneo, particularly in Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei, after the Second World War until the 1970s. This was the period when the British Colonial government dictated the education system, which consequentially inculcated visual art through art and craft subjects imposed on all vernacular schools in Borneo. British influence within the state governance, social, and education system designed with Western ideology created not only a westernized society and mindset but at the same time generated artistic opportunities for emerging local painters to be involved in the initiation of Modern Art in Borneo. Through the historical method and analysis of primary and secondary data, it was obvious that the existence of colonial government departments and institutions such as museums and teaching colleges, and other social organizations in Borneo at that time contributed significantly to the artistic movement. The similar structure and motivation of development in other areas of Borneo confirmed that artistic affirmation of modern art advanced homogenously. Their understanding of easel painting as well as a unique interpretation of culture once distanced from traditional art, resulting in a new visual image that transcended their ethnicity and identity through new mediums and tools. These meticulous interventions modestly visualized in each painting, as discussed in this paper, hopefully, will give a deeper understanding and appreciation of the history of modern art in Borneo.

Keywords: art history, Borneo art, fine art, modern art

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Authors: Fatma Sümer

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Introduction: This case report aims to report myopic anisometropia with copy-image in monozygotic twins. Methods: In February 2021, a 6-year-old identical twin was seen, who was referred to us with the diagnosis of amblyopia in their left eye from an external center. Both twins had a full ophthalmic examination, which included visual acuity testing, ocular motility testing, cycloplegic refraction, and fundus examination. Results: On examination, “copy image” myopic anisometropia was discovered. Twin 1 had anisometropia with myopic astigmatism in the left eye. His cycloplegic refraction was +1.00 (-0.75x 75) in the right eye and -8.0 (-1.50x175) in the left eye. Similarly, twin 2 had anisometropia with myopic astigmatism in the left eye. His cycloplegic refraction was -7.75 (-1.50x180) in the left eye and +1.25 (-0.75x90 ) in the right eye. The best-corrected visual acuity was 20/60 in the amblyopic eyes and 20/20 in the unaffected eyes. There was no ocular deviation. In either patient, a slit-lamp microscopic examination revealed no abnormalities in the anterior parts of either eye. Fundoscopic examination revealed no abnormalities. No abnormal ocular movements were demonstrated. Conclusion: As far as we have reviewed in the literature, previous studies with twins were mostly concerned with mirror-effect myopic anisometropia and myopic anisometropia, whereas ipsilateral amblyopia and anisometropia were not reported in monozygotic twins. This case underscores the possible genetic basis of myopic anisometropia.

Keywords: amblyopia, anisometropia, myopia, twins

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Authors: Rami Al-Sadi

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The assignment of lexical stress in English to its correct syllable is an enormous challenge to EFL learners, especially if their first language (L1) phonology is very different from English phonology. Arabic-speaking EFL learners not only stumble very frequently when it comes to placing the lexical stress in a given word, but they also seem to relegate the role of lexical stress as unimportant, mainly because in Arabic, unlike in English, lexical stress is not phonemic. This study aims at exploring the possible benefits of utilizing spectrographic representations of English words correctly pronounced, for the purpose of finding out how these spectrograms can provide a visual aid to the learners and help them rectify their stress placement errors as they see in real time spectrograms of the correct pronunciations juxtaposed on a computer screen with spectrograms of their own pronunciations for easy comparison. The study involved 120 students from the English Department at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia. 60 participants were taught the English lexical stress rules and also received spectrographic guidance on pronunciation; the other 60 received only verbal instruction on the stress rules and verbal feedback on their pronunciations. Statistical results showed that when the learners had the opportunity to ‘see’ their pronunciation mistakes, they were three times more likely to rectify their placement of lexical stress.

Keywords: Arabic-speaking EFL learners, lexical stress, pronunciation, spectrographic representation, stress placement

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Authors: S. Srinivas Rao, Pallavi Chitnis, Himanshu Prajapati

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The green building movement in India commenced in 2003. Since then, more than 4,300 projects have adopted green building concepts. For last 15 years, the green building movement has grown strong across the country and has resulted in immense tangible and intangible benefits to the stakeholders. Several success stories have demonstrated the tangible benefit experienced in green buildings. However, extensive data interpretation and qualitative analysis are required to report the intangible benefits in green buildings. The emphasis is now shifting to the concept of people-centric design and productivity, health and wellbeing of occupants are gaining importance. This research was part of World Green Building Council’s initiative on 'Better Places for People' which aims to create a world where buildings support healthier and happier lives. The overarching objective of this study was to understand the perception of users living and working in green buildings. The study was conducted in twenty-five IGBC certified green buildings across India, and a comprehensive questionnaire was designed to capture occupant’s perception and experience in the built environment. The entire research focussed on the eight attributes of healthy buildings. The factors considered for the study include thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, ergonomics, greenery, fitness, green transit and sanitation and hygiene. The occupant’s perception and experience were analysed to understand their satisfaction level. The macro level findings of the study indicate that green buildings have addressed attributes of healthy buildings to a larger extent. Few important findings of the study focussed on the parameters such as visual comfort, fitness, greenery, etc. The study indicated that occupants give tremendous importance to the attributes such as visual comfort, daylight, fitness, greenery, etc. 89% occupants were comfortable with the visual environment, on account of various lighting element incorporated as part of the design. Tremendous importance to fitness related activities is highlighted by the study. 84% occupants had actively utilised sports and meditation facilities provided in their facility. Further, 88% occupants had access to the ample greenery and felt connected to the natural biodiversity. This study aims to focus on the immense advantages gained by users occupying green buildings. This will empower green building movement to achieve new avenues to design and construct healthy buildings. The study will also support towards implementing human-centric measures and in turn, will go a long way in addressing people welfare and wellbeing in the built environment.

Keywords: health and wellbeing, green buildings, Indian green building council, occupant’s satisfaction

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