Optimal display conditions for quantitative analysis of stereoscopic cerebral angiograms

For several years the authors have been using a stereoscopic display as a tool in the planning of stereotactic neurosurgical techniques. This PC-based workstation allows the surgeon to interact with and view vascular images in three dimensions, as well as to perform quantitative analysis of the three-dimensional (3-D) space. Some of the perceptual issues relevant to the presentation of medical images on this stereoscopic display were addressed in five experiments. The authors show that a number of parameters-namely the shape, color, and depth cue, associated with a cursor-as well as the image filtering and observer position, have a role in improving the observer's perception of a 3-D image and his ability to localize points within the stereoscopically presented 3-D image. However, an analysis of the results indicates that while varying these parameters can lead to an effect on the performance of individual observers, the effects are not consistent across observers, and the mean accuracy remains relatively constant under the different experimental conditions.     

The role of topology in engineering design research

Aspects of the mathematical specialty of topology appear within several seemingly distinct areas of engineering design and engineering design theory. Indeed, the expression topology of a design is often used informally. In this article a primary intent is to demonstrate the diversity of applications of topology within engineering design. A complementary goal is to introduce the engineering design community to topology as a rich, formal, well-established mathematical discipline that may be of value for wider study. Upon reviewing some of these topological applications, it appears that topology holds promise as a basis for formalizing engineering design theory. This article considers topology as a basis for unifying design abstractions. The potential benefit may be the realization of commonalities between design aspects previously considered separately, where each now has its own attendant specialized, expensive analyses.     

Psychosexual development of women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) (N = 31) and their unaffected sisters or female cousins (N = 15) participated in a study of psychosexual development. All participants were > or = 18 years of age (mean age, 25 years; range, 18-40). Comparisons were also made between the CAH women with the salt-wasting (SW) form of the disorder and those with simple virilization (SV). A psychosexual assessment protocol examined six variables: (1) sex assignment at birth (probands only); (2) recalled sex-typed behavior during childhood; (3) gender identity and gender role identification in adulthood; (4) relationship status; (5) sexual orientation in fantasy; and (6) sexual orientation in behavior. Salt-wasting status and sex assignment at birth were also ascertained for the CAH women who either refused to participate in the study (N = 10) or could not be traced (N = 13). Compared to the controls, the women with CAH recalled more cross-gender role behavior and less comfort with their sense of "femininity" during childhood. The two groups did not differ in degree of gender dysphoria in adulthood, although the probands showed more cross-gender role identification. Three of the nonparticipant probands were living, as adults, in the male social role (2 reared from birth as boys and 1 who changed from the female to the male social role during adolescence). The CAH women and the controls did not differ in relationship status (married/cohabiting vs. single). The CAH women had lower rates of exclusive heterosexual fantasy and fewer sexual experiences with men than the controls; however, the CAH women did not have more sexual experiences with women than the controls. Comparisons between the SW and SV revealed several differences: the SW were less likely to be assigned to the female sex at birth, recalled more cross-gender role behavior during childhood, were less likely to be married or cohabiting, and had lower rates of sexual experiences with men. The results were discussed in relation to the effects of prenatal androgens on psychosexual differentiation.     

Evaluation of artery visualizations for heart disease diagnosis

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and finding indicators of the disease at an early stage is critical for treatment and prevention. In this paper we evaluate visualization techniques that enable the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. A key physical quantity of medical interest is endothelial shear stress (ESS). Low ESS has been associated with sites of lesion formation and rapid progression of disease in the coronary arteries. Having effective visualizations of a patient's ESS data is vital for the quick and thorough non-invasive evaluation by a cardiologist. We present a task taxonomy for hemodynamics based on a formative user study with domain experts. Based on the results of this study we developed HemoVis, an interactive visualization application for heart disease diagnosis that uses a novel 2D tree diagram representation of coronary artery trees. We present the results of a formal quantitative user study with domain experts that evaluates the effect of 2D versus 3D artery representations and of color maps on identifying regions of low ESS. We show statistically significant results demonstrating that our 2D visualizations are more accurate and efficient than 3D representations, and that a perceptually appropriate color map leads to fewer diagnostic mistakes than a rainbow color map.     

A survey of problems,solution techniques,and future challenges in scheduling semiconductor manufacturing operations

In this paper, we discuss scheduling problems in semiconductor manufacturing. Starting from describing the manufacturing process, we identify typical scheduling problems found in semiconductor manufacturing systems. We describe batch scheduling problems, parallel machine scheduling problems, job shop scheduling problems, scheduling problems with auxiliary resources, multiple orders per job scheduling problems, and scheduling problems related to cluster tools. We also present important solution techniques that are used to solve these scheduling problems by means of specific examples, and report on known implementations. Finally, we summarize some of the challenges in scheduling semiconductor manufacturing operations.     

Overlay-Netze als Innovationsmotor im Internet Spontane virtuelle Netze: auf dem Weg zum Internet der Zukunft

Das Internet ist heute eine globale Infrastruktur, deren st?ndige Verfügbarkeit mehr oder weniger als gegeben angenommen wird. Die Einführung neuer Technologien (z. B. Multicast, IPv6) in diese Infrastruktur erweist sich aus unterschiedlichen Gründen als schwierig. Vielmehr haben sich Overlay-Netze in diesem Kontext als Innovationsmotor etabliert. Diese werden von Endger?ten am Netzrand aufgespannt, ben?tigen somit keine neuen Komponenten in der Netzinfrastruktur und lassen sich selbstorganisierend sowie skalierbar einsetzen. Interessant sind diese Eigenschaften auch für den Overlay-basierten Aufbau und Betrieb von Kommunikationsnetzen an sich, mit dem Ziel, unbeeinflusst von Mobilit?t, Multi-Homing und Heterogenit?t der Protokolle und Zugangsnetze nahtlose Konnektivit?t zwischen Endger?ten herzustellen. Dieser Artikel zeigt anhand von Beispielen auf, wie Overlays die Entwicklung neuer Dienste im Internet vorantreiben k?nnen. Als Beispiel für eine Overlay-basierte Netzarchitektur, welche die Realisierung neuer Dienste und Anwendungen erm?glicht, wird die Architektur zur Realisierung von Spontanen Virtuellen Netzen (SpoVNet) und deren Netzabstraktionsschicht ariba detailliert vorgestellt.     

Color invariant chroma keying and color spill neutralization for dynamic scenes and cameras

In this article we show how temporal backdrops that alternately change their color rapidly at recording rate can aid chroma keying by transforming color spill into a neutral background illumination. Since the chosen colors sum up to white, the chromatic (color) spill component is neutralized when integrating over both backdrop states. The ability to separate both states additionally allows to compute high-quality alpha mattes. Besides the neutralization of color spill, our method is invariant to foreground colors and supports applications with real-time demands. In this article, we explain different realizations of temporal backdrops and describe how keying and color spill neutralization are carried out, how artifacts resulting from rapid motion can be reduced, and how our approach can be implemented to be compatible with common real-time post-production pipelines.     

An investigation of student practices in asynchronous computer conferencing courses

This study investigated the online practices of students enrolled in graduate-level distance education courses. Using interviews and a questionnaire as data sources, the study sought to: (a) identify common practices that students adopt in asynchronous discussions, and (b) gain an understanding of why students adopt them. An analysis of the data suggests that many of the practices are coping mechanisms developed to help students more easily meet course participation requirements. Some of these are time saving strategies designed to reduce information overload (e.g., skimming messages rather than reading them carefully). Other strategies are designed to help students project an image of themselves as knowledgeable and collaborative course participants. It is argued that although these practices provide students with a level of efficiency in terms of meeting course requirements, they may inadvertently undermine learning.     

Exploring creative thinking in graphically mediated synchronous dialogues

This paper reports on an aspect of the EC funded Argunaut project which researched and developed awareness tools for moderators of online dialogues. In this study we report on an investigation into the nature of creative thinking in online dialogues and whether or not this creative thinking can be coded for and recognized automatically such that moderators can be alerted when creative thinking is occurring or when it has not occurred after a period of time. We outline a dialogic theory of creativity, as the emergence of new perspectives from the interplay of voices, and the testing of this theory using a range of methods including a coding scheme which combined coding for creative thinking with more established codes for critical thinking, artificial intelligence pattern-matching techniques to see if our codes could be read automatically from maps and ‘key event recall’ interviews to explore the experience of participants. Our findings are that: (1) the emergence of new perspectives in a graphical dialogue map can be recognized by our coding scheme supported by a machine pattern-matching algorithm in a way that can be used to provide awareness indicators for moderators; (2) that the trigger events leading to the emergence of new perspectives in the online dialogues studied were most commonly disagreements and (3) the spatial representation of messages in a graphically mediated synchronous dialogue environment such as Digalo may offer more affordance for creativity than the much more common scrolling text chat environments. All these findings support the usefulness of our new account of creativity in online dialogues based on dialogic theory and demonstrate that this account can be operationalised through machine coding in a way that can be turned into alerts for moderators.