Intuitive Evaluation Research Articles

Experimental validation of a general energy storage modelling approach (Part III)

Abstract Current challenges in the electric grid progression demand energy storages to cope with any imbalances between supply and demand side. Application possibilities of energy storages are numerous, but the requirements vary from case to case. However, not every storage technology operates equally to be useful in any situation. In fact, the feasibility of energy storages depend on their technical characteristics, i.e., for example efficiency, response times, power rating and capacity for a selected application. Comparing and assessing different storage options is imperative for decision-making, which requires an in-depth understanding of the technology and its dynamics. Hence, a general model approach of energy storages as equivalent circuit models has been proposed to unify and analyze storages of different physical backgrounds. This allows a more direct and intuitive evaluation of energy storages tested in a specific application. This paper focuses on the experimental validation of energy storages (ultra-capacitor, li-ion battery, lead-acid battery and flywheel) to be uniformly described in one general model. A simple and budget friendly experimental setup to test the storages is designed.

A quality-facilitated socialization model of social commerce decisions

Many businesses are faced with the challenge of understanding how to facilitate an individual consumer’s purchasing decision in the new era of social media. Without effectively addressing this problem, businesses will not be able to seize valuable opportunities to enlarge their customers’ base or optimize their social commerce decisions. This study argues that one way to deal with this important issue is through viewing social commerce as a series of engagement events facilitated by quality-augmented socialization process. More specifically, it proposes and empirically examines a new model that connects social commerce quality (perceptive and unperceptive) and social support quality to four interaction events of social commerce, namely initial attention, interaction experience, intuitive evaluation, and intention to buy. The findings of a PLS-SEM modeling of responses collected from a sample of active social media users reveal at least three worth noting findings. First, the present study confirmed that the social commerce process followed a causal path linking an individual consumer’s initial attention to interaction experience to intuitive evaluation to intention to buy a product/service. Second, Social support quality was found to significantly influence only a consumer’s initial attention, intuitive evaluation, and intention to buy. Third, social commerce quality (both unperceptive and perceptive) was found to significantly influence only a consumer’s interaction experience and intention to buy. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Intuition and mood of investors in financial markets

PropósitoEste artigo estuda o comportamento de investidores relacionado ao momento da venda de ativos financeiros com base em uma avaliação intuitiva da tendência atual do mercado e da expectativa de crescimento.Desenho/metodologia/abordagemNosso experimento envolveu 1,052 participantes voluntários que tomaram decisões sobre a venda de ações em um ambiente que simulava uma plataforma de corretagem para negociação. Foram utilizados modelos de regressão inflacionados de zeros.ResultadosOs resultados mostram que as atitudes ou crenças dos investidores determinam se eles comprarão ou manterão ativos de risco em suas carteiras de investimento; eles podem decidir vender esses ativos, mesmo que o mercado mostre uma tendência ascendente. Tais resultados constituem uma nova contribuição para o campo das finanças comportamentais, dentro do contexto da teoria do prospecto e do efeito disposição.Originalidade/valorA originalidade deste artigo reside no uso de técnicas novas e inovadoras (modelos de regressão Poisson e binomial negativo inflacionados de zeros) aplicadas a dados reais obtidos experimentalmente.

A quantitative method to the analysis of MLC leaf position and speed based on EPID and EBT3 film for dynamic IMRT treatment with different types of MLC.

A quantitative method based on the electronic portal imaging system (EPID) and film was developed for MLC position and speed testing; this method was used for three MLC types (Millennium, MLCi, and Agility MLC). To determine the leaf position, a picket fence designed by the dynamic (DMLC) model was used. The full‐width half‐maximum (FWHM) values of each gap measured by EPID and EBT3 were converted to the gap width using the FWHM versus nominal gap width relationship. The algorithm developed for the picket fence analysis was able to quantify the gap width, the distance between gaps, and each individual leaf position. To determine the leaf speed, a 0.5 × 20 cm2 MLC‐defined sliding gap was applied across a 14 × 20 cm2 symmetry field. The linacs ran at a fixed‐dose rate. The use of different monitor units (MUs) for this test led to different leaf speeds. The effect of leaf transmission was considered in a speed accuracy analysis. The difference between the EPID and film results for the MLC position is less than 0.1 mm. For the three MLC types, twice the standard deviation (2 SD) is provided; 0.2, 0.4, and 0.4 mm for gap widths of three MLC types, and 0.1, 0.2, and 0.2 mm for distances between gaps. The individual leaf positions deviate from the preset positions within 0.1 mm. The variations in the speed profiles for the EPID and EBT3 results are consistent, but the EPID results are slightly better than the film results. Different speeds were measured for each MLC type. For all three MLC types, speed errors increase with increasing speed. The analysis speeds deviate from the preset speeds within approximately 0.01 cm s−1. This quantitative analysis of MLC position and speed provides an intuitive evaluation for MLC quality assurance (QA).

중정형 공동주택(아파트)의 조망계획에 관한 연구

This is a phased study of the development of the quantification technique of right of view which is the basis of the view plan. The quantification technique is verified through the courtyard apartment and to derive the basic basis of optimal layout and view plan. Based on the self-developed evaluation method, the quantification was evaluated by calculating the measurement point by the quantification technique. As a result of the calculation, the lower floor is more advantageous for the view than the high floor due to the difference of the view distance and the view angle. It is also necessary to set the reference by weight. The quantification technique method enables intuitive evaluation of meaningful view objects. Considering the view only, it is advantageous to arrange a living room facing the courtyard where the view is planned. On the other hand, sunshine is much affected by the self-shadowing. Therefore, in the case of an unfavorable household, it is necessary to plan the windows and the space to bring sunshine from outside.

Identifying Multisensory Dendritic Stimulus Processors

Functional identification is a key methodology for uncovering the logic of neuroinformation processing of brain circuits. For neural circuits modeling sensory systems as dynamical systems, the complexity of the identification algorithm largely depends on the number of stimuli used. Neurons in these circuits consist of dendritic stimulus processors modeling the signal processing in the dendritric tree and biological spike generators modeling the spiking mechanism at the axon hillock. Here, we review the identification of multi-sensory spatio-temporal dendritic stimulus processors that arise in the encoding of auditory scenes, color visual fields, and the mixing of auditory scenes and natural visual fields. We demonstrate the fundamental duality between the identification of the dendritic stimulus processor of a single neuron and the decoding of stimuli encoded by a population of neurons with a bank of dendritic stimulus processors. The duality enables us to reconstruct the originally encoded stimuli from all the generated spikes by using the identified neural circuit. The reconstruction leads to a simple and intuitive evaluation of the identified dendritic stimulus processors in the space of stimuli.

Screening Explorer-An Interactive Tool for the Analysis of Screening Results.

Screening Explorer is a web-based application that allows for an intuitive evaluation of the results of screening experiments using complementary metrics in the field. The usual evaluation of screening results implies the separate generation and apprehension of the ROC, predictiveness, and enrichment curves and their global metrics. Similarly, partial metrics need to be calculated repeatedly for different fractions of a data set and there exists no handy tool that allows reading partial metrics simultaneously on different charts. For a deeper understanding of the results of screening experiments, we rendered their analysis straightforward by linking these metrics interactively in an interactive usable web-based application. We also implemented simple consensus scoring methods based on scores normalization, standardization (z-scores), and compounds ranking to evaluate the enrichments that can be expected through methods combination. Two demonstration data sets allow the users to easily apprehend the functions of this tool that can be applied to the analysis of virtual and experimental screening results. Screening Explorer is freely accessible at http://stats.drugdesign.fr .

The journey and destination need to be intentional: Perceptions of success in community-academic research partnerships

Research partnerships between community members and academics are dynamic microsystems that aim to increase community wellbeing within complex environments. Efforts to improve health and social outcomes in communities are challenging in their own right, but even the most experienced researchers or engaged community members can have difficulty navigating the collaborative terrain of community-academic research partnerships. Proponents of participatory research models that engage community members as co-researchers are still examining how the collaborative process interacts with, and impacts, both short- and long-term outcomes. As a result, there has been a call for additional studies that employ qualitative and quantitative methods to contribute to a holistic understanding of this approach to research. This pilot study utilized the participatory tenets of co-researcher models to explore how members of community-academic research partnerships think about partnership processes and outcomes, including how they delineate between the two. Web-based concept mapping methodology was combined with individual interviews in an innovative mixed methods research study to further the field’s understanding of how community and academic members define partnership success and evaluate the impact of their work. Our findings suggest that in the early stages of a partnership members rely on informal and intuitive evaluation of success based on how the partnership is functioning. These partnership processes, which serve as intermediate outcomes, largely influence member engagement in the work, but partnerships are ultimately deemed successful if intended community-based research outcomes are achieved.Keywords: community-academic research partnerships, participatory research, concept mapping methodology, mixed methods, partnership process, outcomes

WE‐H‐BRC‐05: Catastrophic Error Metrics for Radiation Therapy

Purpose:Intuitive evaluation of complex radiotherapy treatments is impractical, while data transfer anomalies create the potential for catastrophic treatment delivery errors. Contrary to prevailing wisdom, logical scrutiny can be applied to patient‐specific machine settings. Such tests can be automated, applied at the point of treatment delivery and can be dissociated from prior states of the treatment plan, potentially revealing errors introduced early in the process.Methods:Analytical metrics were formulated for conventional and intensity modulated RT (IMRT) treatments. These were designed to assess consistency between monitor unit settings, wedge values, prescription dose and leaf positioning (IMRT). Institutional metric averages for 218 clinical plans were stratified over multiple anatomical sites. Treatment delivery errors were simulated using a commercial treatment planning system and metric behavior assessed via receiver‐operator‐characteristic (ROC) analysis. A positive result was returned if the erred plan metric value exceeded a given number of standard deviations, e.g. 2. The finding was declared true positive if the dosimetric impact exceeded 25%. ROC curves were generated over a range of metric standard deviations.Results:Data for the conventional treatment metric indicated standard deviations of 3%, 12%, 11%, 8%, and 5 % for brain, pelvis, abdomen, lung and breast sites, respectively. Optimum error declaration thresholds yielded true positive rates (TPR) between 0.7 and 1, and false positive rates (FPR) between 0 and 0.2. Two proposed IMRT metrics possessed standard deviations of 23% and 37%. The superior metric returned TPR and FPR of 0.7 and 0.2, respectively, when both leaf position and MUs were modelled. Isolation to only leaf position errors yielded TPR and FPR values of 0.9 and 0.1.Conclusion:Logical tests can reveal treatment delivery errors and prevent large, catastrophic errors. Analytical metrics are able to identify errors in monitor units, wedging and leaf positions with favorable sensitivity and specificity.In part by Varian

Spatial augmented reality for product appearance design evaluation

AbstractAugmented reality based on projection, called “Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR)”, is a new technology that can produce immersive contents by overlapping virtuality and real-world environment. It has been paid attention as the next generation digital contents in media art and human–computer interaction (HCI). In this paper, we present a new methodology to evaluate the product appearance design more intuitively by means of SAR technique. The proposed method first projects the high-quality rendered image considering the optical property of materials onto the mock-up of a product. We also conduct a projector-camera calibration to compensate a color distortion according to a projector, a projection surface and environment lighting. The design evaluation methodology we propose offers more flexible and intuitive evaluation environment to a designer and user (evaluator) than previous methods that are performed via a digital display. At the end of this research, we have conducted a case study for designing and evaluating appearance design of an automobile.

How to benefit from small samples of web queries?

The basic goal of this article is to demonstrate the process of detecting useful ideas from small web query samples by combining different software tools. Our sample contained web queries made by users of the Special Library of the Ministry of the Interior (hereinafter SLOMI). The process of extracting useful ideas from our sample was partially guided by statistical analysis, partially by rather intuitive and collective descriptive evaluation methods. Several rich visualisation techniques were used to stimulate creative data interpretation. The collected data on the queried persons and their areas of professional interest in our sample were implemented into a customised thesaurus and a mind map in order to extract useful ideas.

Use of Event-Based Traffic Data in Generating Time–Space Diagrams for Evaluation of Signal Coordination

The time–space (TS) diagram is a popular visualization tool in evaluating progression quality for signalized arterials, and most signal optimization software products (such as Synchro) can generate TS diagrams as part of the optimization output. During the signal retiming process, TS diagrams generated by optimization software need to be validated by field observations, and minor changes will be made to signal control parameters if a discrepancy is observed. The validation process is time-consuming and costly. Through the use of high-resolution event-based traffic data collected from existing traffic signal controllers, a practical procedure for constructing TS diagrams for signalized arterials is proposed. The diagrams can be used as a convenient visualization tool in evaluating the performance of traffic signals and in identifying opportunities for fine-tuning in a timely manner. Reasonable agreement was found between the TS diagram and vehicle trajectory data collected from the field. A field experiment was carried out to illustrate how signal parameter changes could be made by intuitive evaluation of the TS diagram. Recommendations and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed.

Application of Wavelet Parameters for Impact Damage Detection in Plates

This study proposes a new nondestructive evaluation methodology named laser lock-in thermography (LLT) for fatigue crack detection. LLT utilizes a high power continuous wave (CW) laser as a heat generation source for lock-in thermography instead of commonly used flash and halogen lamps. The advantages of the proposed LLT method are that (1) the laser heat source can be positioned at an extended distance from a target structure thank to the directionality and low energy loss of the laser source, (2) thermal image degradation due to surrounding temperature disturbances can be minimized because of high temperature gradient generated by the laser source and (3) a large target surface can be inspected using a scanning laser heat source. The developed LLT system is composed of a modulated high power CW laser, galvanometer and infrared camera. Then, a holder exponent-based data processing algorithm is proposed for intuitive damage evaluation. The developed LLT is employed to detect a micro fatigue crack in a metal plate. The test result confirms that 5 μm (or smaller) fatigue crack in a dog-bone shape aluminum plate with a dimension of 400 x 140 x 3 mm3 can be detected.

Intuitive Operability Evaluation of Robotic Surgery Using Brain Activity Measurements to Clarify Immersive Reality

Surgical robots have undergone considerable improvement in recent years. But intuitive operability, which represents user interoperability, has not been quantitatively evaluated. With the aim of designing a robot with intuitive operability, we thus propose a method for measuring brain activity to determine intuitive operability. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the master configuration against the position of the monitor that best allows user to perceive the manipulator as part of his own body. We assume that the master configuration provides immersive reality to user as if he puts own arm into the monitor. In our experiments, subjects controlled the hand controller to position the tip of the virtual slave manipulator on a target in the surgical simulator and we measured brain activity using brain imaging devices. We carried out experiments a number of times with themastermanipulator configured in a variety of ways and the position of the monitor fixed. We found that the brain was significantly activated in all subjects when the master manipulator was located behind the monitor. We concluded that the master configuration produces immersive reality through body images related to visual and somatic sensory feedback.

The Study on the Learning of Walking Gaits for Biped Robots

This paper presents a study on biped walking and balance control by reinforcement learning. The robot learns how to walk without prior knowledge of explicit dynamics model by a reinforcement learning approach. The Q-learning sharpens up the robot's walking gaits so as that improve the stability of each gait and reduce the number of the posture patterns in a gait cycle. In this paper, the learning agent employs an intuitive evaluation knowledge to help the biped robot with a basic walking skill learn to improve its behavior in terms of restricting ZMP to a certain region on each foot.

Self-organizing map based quality assessment for resistance spot welding with featured electrode displacement signals

To classify the quality of the resistance spot welding process, a relationship between the welder electrode displacement curve characteristics and the weld shear force has been explored. Eleven statistical features of the displacement signals are extracted to represent the welding quality. Self-organizing map (SOM) neural networks have been employed to discover their quantitative relationship. In order to identify the influence of various displacement curve features, all of the available combinations have been used as inputs for SOM neural networks. Further we analyze the impact of each feature on the classification results, yielding the best quality-indicative combination of characteristics. There is no determinant relationship between the welding quality and the level of expulsion rate. The quality of welding is most impacted by the maximum electrode displacement, the span of welding process and the centroid of the electrode displacement curve. The experiments show that SOM is feasible to assess the welding quality and can render the visualized intuitive evaluation results.

Of Nanochips and Persons: Toward an Ethics of Diagnostic Technology in Personalized Medicine

This paper proposes an ethical reflection on personalized medicine and more precisely on the diagnostic technology underlying it, including nanochips. Our approach is inspired by a combination of two philosophical frames of reference: first, John Dewey’s distinction between intuitive valuation and reflexive evaluation, second, John Rawls’ reflective equilibrium. We aim at what we call a ‘reflexive equilibrium’, a mutual adjustment between on the one hand, the intuitive beliefs scientists have about the ethics of the technologies they work on (‘valuations’ in Dewey’s vocabulary) and, on the other hand, the reflexive ethical assessment of these technologies (‘evaluations’). Our goal, in this paper, is to provide the first step of this process through a philosophical analysis of some valuations on individualized medicine. In order to apprehend the ethical values shaping the development of biochips, we present and analyze qualitative interviews with scientists involved in the conception and the development of biochips involving nanotechnologies. We then propose a critical assessment of the role of ethics in these scientific practices. Last, we suggest two distinct and complementary ways to solve some of the issues brought to light by the interviews, without aiming at any dogmatic or “ready-made” answer. The first of these perspectives gives a central role to the capability individuals could achieve through personalized medicine; the second approach analyses the ethical disruptions entailed by personalized medicine with a special focus on care.

Brazilian Portuguese intonation: A comparison between automatic and perceptual analyses

The present work aims to determine the most appropriated automatic analysis of phrasal intonation patterns in Brazilian Portuguese, understood as the variation of F0. In order to evaluate the automatic analysis done by the software ExProsodia a perceptual analysis was carried out and its results were compared to the ones given by the software. The corpus consisted of one sentence produced three times by 11 female subjects. In the perceptual analysis an intuitive evaluation was done considering the syllabic nuclei as intonation units (control group). The data from the automatic analysis were analyzed in three different ways: i) the cumulative mean of all points of intonation curve; ii) the cumulative mean of points higher than 0Hz; iii) and the cumulative mean of the points selected by ExProsodia. The acoustic parameters considered for the automatic analysis were: F0- from 50Hz to 700Hz; duration- from 20ms to 600ms; intensity- higher than 10% of RMS mean of intonation curve. A Dunnett's test compared the control group with other groups from the automatic analysis (α = 95%, n = 33). In the comparison between the control group and i & ii, it was obtained p < 0.05. It was verified that the units established by the interval given by ExProsodia (iii) were the only ones that showed no significant differences when compared to the control group. The results indicate a similarity between the automatic and perceptual analyses. The automatic analysis done by ExProsodia seems thus trustworthy.

Ideal‐observer detectability in photon‐counting differential phase‐contrast imaging using a linear‐systems approach

To provide a cascaded-systems framework based on the noise-power spectrum (NPS), modulation transfer function (MTF), and noise-equivalent number of quanta (NEQ) for quantitative evaluation of differential phase-contrast imaging (Talbot interferometry) in relation to conventional absorption contrast under equal-dose, equal-geometry, and, to some extent, equal-photon-economy constraints. The focus is a geometry for photon-counting mammography. Phase-contrast imaging is a promising technology that may emerge as an alternative or adjunct to conventional absorption contrast. In particular, phase contrast may increase the signal-difference-to-noise ratio compared to absorption contrast because the difference in phase shift between soft-tissue structures is often substantially larger than the absorption difference. We have developed a comprehensive cascaded-systems framework to investigate Talbot interferometry, which is a technique for differential phase-contrast imaging. Analytical expressions for the MTF and NPS were derived to calculate the NEQ and a task-specific ideal-observer detectability index under assumptions of linearity and shift invariance. Talbot interferometry was compared to absorption contrast at equal dose, and using either a plane wave or a spherical wave in a conceivable mammography geometry. The impact of source size and spectrum bandwidth was included in the framework, and the trade-off with photon economy was investigated in some detail. Wave-propagation simulations were used to verify the analytical expressions and to generate example images. Talbot interferometry inherently detects the differential of the phase, which led to a maximum in NEQ at high spatial frequencies, whereas the absorption-contrast NEQ decreased monotonically with frequency. Further, phase contrast detects differences in density rather than atomic number, and the optimal imaging energy was found to be a factor of 1.7 higher than for absorption contrast. Talbot interferometry with a plane wave increased detectability for 0.1-mm tumor and glandular structures by a factor of 3-4 at equal dose, whereas absorption contrast was the preferred method for structures larger than ∼0.5 mm. Microcalcifications are small, but differ from soft tissue in atomic number more than density, which is favored by absorption contrast, and Talbot interferometry was barely beneficial at all within the resolution limit of the system. Further, Talbot interferometry favored detection of "sharp" as opposed to "smooth" structures, and discrimination tasks by about 50% compared to detection tasks. The technique was relatively insensitive to spectrum bandwidth, whereas the projected source size was more important. If equal photon economy was added as a restriction, phase-contrast efficiency was reduced so that the benefit for detection tasks almost vanished compared to absorption contrast, but discrimination tasks were still improved close to a factor of 2 at the resolution limit. Cascaded-systems analysis enables comprehensive and intuitive evaluation of phase-contrast efficiency in relation to absorption contrast under requirements of equal dose, equal geometry, and equal photon economy. The benefit of Talbot interferometry was highly dependent on task, in particular detection versus discrimination tasks, and target size, shape, and material. Requiring equal photon economy weakened the benefit of Talbot interferometry in mammography.

Psychological experiment on the evaluation system of creativity

Creativity can be understood to mean many different things, and researchers study creativity from widely varying points of view. One target for the present research is the process of creative thinking. The focus is on the subjective evaluation that such thinking is beautiful, excellent, amazing, and creative. The hypothesis: that which is creative is attractive. To investigate this hypothesis, subjects’ assessment of creativeness of their ideas were examined in three types of creative thinking tasks. Subjects undertook these tasks and evaluated attractiveness and creativeness of their own and others’ efforts intuitively. Their intuitive and subjective evaluation is largely a matter of emotion, and their measures of the evaluation are subconscious functions. There are high correlations between attractiveness and creativeness that is rated as novel and appropriate. In particular, there are very high correlations in one of the three tasks, named the new product test. The absence of correlation between novelty and appropriateness suggests that novelty and appropriateness are independent of each other. In all creative thinking tasks, answers can be obtained in sufficient quantity and with an adequate range of scores. The new product test in particular yields a range of responses from the highest score to the lowest. The results of this experiment support the hypothesis that what is creative is attractive. Furthermore, the considered thinking tasks should be valid for assessing the influence of the physical environment on creative performance.