Development and evaluation of an intervention to reduce rip current related beach drowning

The objective of this research was to evaluate a campaign to improve beachgoer recognition of calm-looking rip currents, known to contribute to surf drowning. Posters, postcards, and brochures conveying the message “Don’t get sucked in by the rip” were distributed in an intervention area. Beachgoers were interviewed in this and a similar control area one year before and immediately after the intervention (respective response rates: 69.9% and 82.3%), Consenting respondents were sent follow-up questionnaires after approximately 6 months and 55% responded. In the intervention area, 28.8% of post-intervention, and 57.2% of follow-up respondents, had seen our campaign. At post-intervention, intervention respondents demonstrated improvement (relative to baseline) in intentions to swim away from a calm-looking rip, ability and confidence in identifying a rip, intention never to swim at unpatrolled beaches, and responses to being caught in a rip, compared to the control respondents. Similar improvements were observed post-intervention for respondents in the intervention area who had seen our campaign (relative to those who had not), and at 6 month follow-up for intervention respondents (relative to control respondents). The relatively brief print-based campaign was effective in warning beachgoers about calm-looking rips.     

Accurate Junction Detection and Characterization in Natural Images

Accurate junction detection and characterization are of primary importance for several aspects of scene analysis, including depth recovery and motion analysis. In this work, we introduce a generic junction analysis scheme. The first asset of the proposed procedure is an automatic criterion for the detection of junctions, permitting to deal with textured parts in which no detection is expected. Second, the method yields a characterization of L-, Y- and X- junctions, including a precise computation of their type, localization and scale. Contrary to classical approaches, scale characterization does not rely on the linear scale-space. First, an a contrario approach is used to compute the meaningfulness of a junction. This approach relies on a statistical modeling of suitably normalized gray level gradients. Then, exclusion principles between junctions permit their precise characterization. We give implementation details for this procedure and evaluate its efficiency through various experiments.     

An automated technique for real-time production of lifelike animations of American Sign Language

Generating sentences from a library of signs implemented through a sparse set of key frames derived from the segmental structure of a phonetic model of ASL has the advantage of flexibility and efficiency, but lacks the lifelike detail of motion capture. These difficulties are compounded when faced with real-time generation and display. This paper describes a technique for automatically adding realism without the expense of manually animating the requisite detail. The new technique layers transparently over and modifies the primary motions dictated by the segmental model and does so with very little computational cost, enabling real-time production and display. The paper also discusses avatar optimizations that can lower the rendering overhead in real-time displays.     

Identification of the Primary Factors Determining the Specificity of Human VKORC1 Recognition by Thioredoxin-Fold Proteins

Redox (reduction–oxidation) reactions control many important biological processes in all organisms, both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This reaction is usually accomplished by canonical disulphide-based pathways involving a donor enzyme that reduces the oxidised cysteine residues of a target protein, resulting in the cleavage of its disulphide bonds. Focusing on human vitamin K epoxide reductase (hVKORC1) as a target and on four redoxins (protein disulphide isomerase (PDI), endoplasmic reticulum oxidoreductase (ERp18), thioredoxin-related transmembrane protein 1 (Tmx1) and thioredoxin-related transmembrane protein 4 (Tmx4)) as the most probable reducers of VKORC1, a comparative in-silico analysis that concentrates on the similarity and divergence of redoxins in their sequence, secondary and tertiary structure, dynamics, intraprotein interactions and composition of the surface exposed to the target is provided. Similarly, hVKORC1 is analysed in its native state, where two pairs of cysteine residues are covalently linked, forming two disulphide bridges, as a target for Trx-fold proteins. Such analysis is used to derive the putative recognition/binding sites on each isolated protein, and PDI is suggested as the most probable hVKORC1 partner. By probing the alternative orientation of PDI with respect to hVKORC1, the functionally related noncovalent complex formed by hVKORC1 and PDI was found, which is proposed to be a first precursor to probe thiol–disulphide exchange reactions between PDI and hVKORC1.     

Determining optimum flash patterns for emergency service vehicles: An experimental investigation using high definition film

An investigation of how emergency vehicle lighting (EVL) can be improved is reported with reference to an analysis of police vehicle road traffic accidents (Study 1). In Study 2, 37 regular drivers were shown film clips of a marked police vehicle, in which flash rate (1 Hz, 4 Hz) and pattern (single, triple pulse) were varied on the blue Light Emitting Diode (LED) roofbar. Results indicate a 4 Hz flash rate conveys greater urgency than a 1 Hz rate, while a 1 Hz, single flash combination was ranked the least urgent of all combinations. Participants claimed they would leave significantly more space before pulling out in front of an approaching police car (gap acceptance) in the 4 Hz single pulse condition in comparison to other EVL combinations. The preliminary implications for which flash characteristics could prove most optimal for emergency service use are discussed with regard to effects on driver perception and expected driving behaviour.     

Spark Plasma Sintering of Nanostructured Aluminum: Influence of Tooling Material on Microstructure

The influence of tooling material, i.e., graphite and WC-Co, on the microstructure of a spark plasma sintering (SPS) consolidated, nanostructured aluminum alloy is studied in this paper. The results show that tooling selection influences microstructure evolution, independent of process parameters. The influence of tooling on microstructure is rationalized on the basis of the following factors: heating rate, electrical current density, localized heating, and imposed pressure. A theoretic framework, based on the physical properties of graphite and WC-Co, is formulated to explain the observed behavior.