Limited View Research Articles

A14Does everyone see it the same? An evaluation of the alignment of perceived benefits of virtual simulation between undergraduate pharmacy students, faculty and stakeholders

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, where access to traditional simulation environments and experiences was necessarily restricted, increasing focus has been placed on the use of technology in simulation. The use of virtual patient simulations has been shown in literature to increase interest as well as provide opportunities to practice clinical reasoning [1]. Opportunities to develop clinical reasoning are of notable importance in undergraduate pharmacy education currently owing to ongoing changes in pharmacy education, where newly qualified pharmacists will be annotated as independent prescribers from 2026 [2]. Evidence on the extent to which views on the perceived uses and benefits of virtual simulation align between different user groups is limited. In a UK university, a programme of virtual simulation has been utilized since 2020 as a part of the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum. A mixed-methods study was run which aimed to evaluate the alignment of views of students, faculty and stakeholders (who were individuals involved in the design or implementation of virtual simulation products) on the potential uses, intended learning outcomes, and perceived benefits and weaknesses of virtual simulation. Following approval by the school research ethics committee, an electronic questionnaire was sent to final-year undergraduate pharmacy students who had experienced a programme of virtual simulation including a mixture of qualitative and quantitative questions relating to student perceptions of the use of virtual simulation in the curriculum. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty members and stakeholders exploring their views on virtual simulation. Quantitative data were analysed by simple descriptive statistics, and a critical review of free-text responses was performed through grounded theory to identify emergent key themes. A total of 25 responses to student questionnaires were received. A total of seven interviews were performed, including three members of academic staff familiar with virtual simulation and four stakeholders responsible for the design or implementation of virtual simulation products. Students most commonly believed that virtual simulation could benefit their development of consultation skills, clinical history taking and physical assessment. Significant alignment between the perceptions of stakeholders and students on the uses and benefits of virtual simulation was demonstrated, but faculty members articulated a more limited list of perceived uses and benefits. The views of final-year undergraduate pharmacy students aligned strongly with stakeholders involved in the design or implementation of virtual simulation. The more limited views of faculty may represent a barrier to the full implementation of virtual simulation. Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.

Towards single-shot, time-resolved tomography using a crystal-based, multi-beam X-ray split-and-delay line

In this work, we describe an X-ray pump/X-ray probe delay line with limited view tomographic capability, called X-ray Tomographic-dElay-Line (XTEL). This optical system is designed for studying pico- to nanosecond dynamics of mesoscale materials processes at existing X-ray light sources. The XTEL was built in a 1-beam configuration and was tested on the Macromolecular Femtosecond Crystallography (MFX) instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The relative intensity of the probe vs. pump beam was measured to be 0.4% ± 0.1% and the instrument pointing was stable to within the rocking curve width of the crystal optics over multiple days. We also show the conceptual design for an XTEL-like optic with delays in the picosecond range, enabling the study of diffusion in the warm dense matter regime.

A novel multi-agent genetic algorithm for limited-view computed tomography

Computed tomography (CT) is a non-invasive testing technique to generate the internal image of any object. It has various applications belonging to medical imaging and other engineering applications. The present article proposes a novel multiagent genetic algorithm based on hill-climbing for limited-view computed tomography (MAGAH-CT). The MAGAH combines a multi-agent system based on a genetic algorithm (MAGA) and a hill-climbing approach. The MAGAH uses multiple operators to refine the agent population during evolution. These operators are neighborhood-based competition, hybrid crossover, adaptive mutation, and self-learning. MAGAH-CT explores better solutions in neighborhood-based competition and cooperation operators. The self-learning operator learns through the agent’s population generated by adaptive mutation and hybrid crossover operator, ensuring the results’ continuity. The proposed algorithm has been tested on a Shepp-Logan head phantom with limited view projection data. The algorithm can accurately reconstruct the low-noise CT image using limited data constraints. Experimental results reveal that the presented MAGAH-CT algorithm is efficient and computationally reasonable. The presented algorithm is suitable for low-noise CT reconstruction and out-performs other limited-view CT reconstruction algorithms.

“Why am I here?”: A phenomenological exploration of first‐generation college student experiences in STEM majors within a predominantly white institution

AbstractFirst‐generation college students (FGCSs) are a growing population in undergraduate education. Research on FGCS primarily focuses on the challenges and barriers they encounter in college. While important, this literature offers a limited view of FGCS as learners. Moreover, minimal literature has examined these students' lived experiences within sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study explores the learning experiences of FGCS (N = 17) in undergraduate STEM programs at a mid‐sized, private, predominantly white institution. Guided by the frameworks of intersectionality and social cognitive career theory, the researchers utilized a qualitative, phenomenological research methodology to hear the perspectives of FGCS to and to identify problematic higher educational structures in STEM. Findings point to an elitist stance underlying STEM programs based in general disciplinary norms that restricted FGCS access to STEM majors and careers across social, academic, and professional elements of the academic experience. FGCS who were multiply minoritized based upon race, gender, and social class experienced the compounding of marginalization, and academic success and persistence came at a personal cost. Students also reported relying predominantly on personal strengths and motivations to overcome elitism in STEM rather than on institutional supports. Findings also highlight the variation in the first‐generation experience and identify the unique barriers FGCS encounter within STEM fields. Implications for dismantling inequitable structures for higher education in STEM attending to the social, academic, and professional inclusion of FGCS.

MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN: POSTHUMANISM IN LITERARY DISCOURSE

“What makes us human?” Throughout time, people have been preoccupied with this question, believing that humans are at the pinnacle of the world. Today, technology blurs the boundaries of what is considered “natural” versus “enhanced,” leading to a fallout with the limited views of humanism and modernity. This paper explores the many views on posthumanism that have been established by several thinkers to attempt to understand the concept. An illustrative text is then used to elucidate the implication of the posthumanist thought in literature. Posthumanist themes are prevalent in science fiction, embodying people’s collective anxiety toward the looming future of humanity, such as in the works of Philip K. Dick. The story “The Electric Ant” poses existential questions on the nature of reality and our place in it, with highly posthumanist themes such as the presence or assimilation of robots in human societies. Posthumanism is as yet a complex and broad field of study, challenging our notions of what it means to be human and alive, and making us ask questions about how the present and future of technology could shape our human existence.

Applications of navigation in full-endoscopic spine surgery.

Advancement in all surgery continues to progress towards more minimally invasive surgical (MIS) approaches. One of the platform technologies which has helped drive this trend within spine surgery is the development of endoscopy; however, the limited anatomic view experienced when performing endoscopic spine surgery requires a significant learning curve. The use of intraoperative navigation has been adapted for endoscopic spine surgery, as this provides computer-reconstructed visual data presented in three dimensions, which can increase feasibility of this technique to more surgeons. This paper will describe the principles, technical considerations, and applications of stereotactic navigation-guided endoscopic spine surgery. Full-endoscopic spine surgery has advanced in recent years such that it can be utilized in both decompressive and fusion surgeries. One of the major pitfalls to any minimally invasive surgery (including endoscopic) is that the limited surgical view can often complicate the surgery or confuse the surgeon, leading to longer operative times, higher risks, among others. This is the real utility to using navigation in conjunction with the endoscope-when registered correctly and utilized appropriately, navigated endoscopic spine surgery can take some of the guesswork out of the minimally invasive approach. Using navigation with endoscopy in spine surgery can potentially expand this technique to surgeons who have yet to master endoscopy as the assistance provided by the navigation can alleviate some of the complexities with anatomic understanding and surgical planning.

Hybrid-Supervised Deep Learning for Proton-Acoustic Reconstruction for 3D In Vivo Proton Dose Verification

Proton-acoustic (PA) image has shown great potential to provide real-time 3D dose verification of proton therapy. However, the PA image quality suffers from severe limited view artifacts, which significantly impairs its accuracy for dose verification. In this study, we developed a hybrid-supervised deep learning method for PA reconstruction to address the limited-view issues. Our method consists of two stages. In the first stage, a transformer-based network was proposed to reconstruct initial pressure maps from protoacoustic signals. The network was first trained using supervision by the iteratively reconstructed pressure map and then fine-tuned using transfer learning and self-supervision based on the data fidelity constraint. In the second stage, the PA image was further enhanced by a 3D U-net. The final PA images were converted to dose maps using conversion coefficients derived from CT images. Data from 126 prostate cancer patients treated by proton therapy were collected under an IRB protocol and were split into 86 and 40 patients for model training and testing, respectively. Data of each patient contains the planning CT scan, the corresponding clinical treatment plan, and the dose map calculated by commercial software. The radiofrequency signals were generated by performing proton acoustic simulation based on CT images and the ground truth pressure map derived from the treatment plan. An ultrasound detector matrix with 64 × 64 size and 500kHz central frequency was simulated under the perineum to acquire the signals in the prostate area. In the testing results, the method's accuracy was evaluated using Root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) and structural-similarity-index-measure (SSIM) between the reconstructed and ground truth pressure map and dose distribution. Testing results showed that the reconstructed pressure map achieved an average RMSE/SSIM of 0.0292/0.96, demonstrating excellent 3D information with details. Dose maps derived from the pressure map achieved an average RMSE/SSIM of 0.018/0.99 with a gamma index of 94.7% and 95.7% for 1%/3 mm and 1%/5 mm criteria compared to the ground truth dose maps. The reconstruction time was 6s, which can be further reduced using GPU. Our study achieves start-of-the-art performance in the challenging task of direct reconstruction from limited-view radiofrequency signals, demonstrating the great promise of PA imaging as a highly efficient and accurate tool for in-vivo 3D proton dose verification. Such high-precision 3D online dose verification can substantially reduce the range uncertainties of proton therapy to significantly improve its precision and outcomes.

Collaborative obstacle avoidance algorithm and simulation of swarm robots with limited viewing angle

In this paper, the problem of collaborative obstacle avoidance of swarm robots with limited view angles is studied. In the case of limited view angles, the control model of swarm robots system is designed. The swarm robots can safely avoid a single static obstacle when the obstacle is within the robot’s visual angle. The main research result of this paper is to design a collaborative obstacle avoidance control algorithm for swarm robots, and subdivide the overall control algorithm into three sub algorithms: formation, obstacle avoidance and navigation. The condition of limited view angle is added to the collaborative obstacle avoidance control algorithm of swarm robots, and a control model of collaborative obstacle avoidance of swarm robots with limited view angle is constructed. Then based on the Simulink platform, the simulation is carried out in the case of static obstacle to verify the correctness and stability of the algorithm.

History, Filmerian Patriarchalism and Exclusion Royalism

There is an assumption in scholarship focused on seventeenth-century English political thought that the political ideology constructed by royalists writing during the Exclusion Crisis was similar to Robert Filmer's patriarchalism. This paper contests this assumption by focusing on the inconsistencies between Filmer's view of history and that of the Exclusion royalists. Filmer's Adamic history necessitated a static conception of sovereignty that placed virtually no limits on the monarch. Exclusion royalists, however, adopted a fluid and changing view of sovereignty that placed limitations on monarchical power and was motivated by histories grounded in the ancient constitution or the conquest of 1066.

Role of Diagnostic Rigid Nasal Endoscopy in the evaluation of bleeding points and management of Epistaxis

Introduction: Epistaxis is one of the most common ENT emergencies. Causes of epistaxis can be idiopathic, local, or associated with systematic conditions. Anterior rhinoscopy gives a limited view of the nasal cavity. Difficulty in the localization of bleeding points on anterior rhinoscopy is commonly encountered. We often face difficulty in the localization of bleeding points, especially the hidden areas. Nasal endoscopy helps to identify the hidden bleeding points and specifically control the bleeding.
 Objective: The main aim of our study was to visualize bleeding points and demonstrate the efficacy of nasal endoscopy in identifying the bleeding site and controlling epistaxis without nasal packing.
 Methodology This is a cross-sectional study done on patients who presented to the ENT Outpatient Department with complaints of nasal bleeding. They were evaluated by rigid nasal endoscopy for localization of bleeding points as well as control of epistaxis.
 Results: Highest number of cases were seen in the 26-35 years of age group. 69.7% (n=53) patients presented with anterior epistaxis and 28.9% (n=22) had posterior epistaxis. Most of the patients i.e.,57.9 %(n=44) had no obvious abnormality associated with epistaxis, followed by Deviated Nasal Septum with septal spur i.e.,34.2%(n=26). On localizing the bleeding points, 77.6% (n=59) of bleeding points were seen on the septum. 57.9% (n=44) of patients developed epistaxis on the right side. 58% (n=52) of patients were managed with endoscope-assisted chemical cauterization followed by endoscope-associated electro-cauterization using bipolar cautery.
 Conclusion: Rigid nasal endoscopy not only helps in localizing bleeding points but also in managing the cases and is gradually replacing conventional techniques like anterior and posterior nasal packing.

The impact of exposure to nature on consumers’ willingness to wait

One ubiquitous phenomenon in retail settings is that consumers do not have immediate access to the products or services they choose. In this research, we explore when and why exposure to nature affects consumers’ willingness to wait when their initially chosen alternative is temporarily unavailable. Using different consumption scenarios and manipulations, the results from four empirical studies, including one field study, consistently show that exposure to nature could increase consumers’ willingness to wait (Studies 1a & 1b), which is sequentially mediated by relaxation and the estimated speed of waiting time passage (Study 2). In addition, this effect would be attenuated for consumers with a limited future time view (Study 3). These findings contribute to the literature on exposure to nature and willingness to wait and provide meaningful managerial implications.

Deep Learning Enhanced Volumetric Photoacoustic Imaging of Vasculature in Human.

The development of high-performance imaging processing algorithms is a core area of photoacoustic tomography. While various deep learning based image processing techniques have been developed in the area, their applications in 3D imaging are still limited due to challenges in computational cost and memory allocation. To address those limitations, this work implements a 3D fully-dense (3DFD) U-net to linear array based photoacoustic tomography and utilizes volumetric simulation and mixed precision training to increase efficiency and training size. Through numerical simulation, phantom imaging, and in vivo experiments, this work demonstrates that the trained network restores the true object size, reduces the noise level and artifacts, improves the contrast at deep regions, and reveals vessels subject to limited view distortion. With these enhancements, 3DFD U-net successfully produces clear 3D vascular images of the palm, arms, breasts, and feet of human subjects. These enhanced vascular images offer improved capabilities for biometric identification, foot ulcer evaluation, and breast cancer imaging. These results indicate that the new algorithm will have a significant impact on preclinical and clinical photoacoustic tomography.

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN TIMBER PORTAL FRAME DESIGN WITH SEMI-RIGID KNEE JOINTS

Timber portal frames assembled on the construction site are the most suitable solution from the point of view of limitations of transportation options. However, the connections of the rafters and columns assembled at the construction site in the knee joints, using bolts, show a certain tendency to show plastic deformations under load. In addition, the transmitted shear forces at the knee joint form different angles with the fiber direction in the rafter and column elements. Service experience of timber portal frames shows that the vertical displacement of the apex point increases, also cracks appear in the rafter elements near the knee joints over time. Unfortunately, code design formats do not present specifications for timber structures incorporating L-shape joints with mechanical fasteners. This article presents the results of studies that confirm the need to supplement the design rules for wooden portal frames. It is recommended to implement the rotational spring constant when define rigidity of L-shape joints for RFEM model of structure. The Hoffman failure criterion has been chosen as the most appropriate of the known ones for evaluating the crack resistance of structural wooden elements, because this criterion includes more important specific properties affecting the development of plastic deformations and the formation of cracks in wood.

Technology overrule: pre-literate Akan orality and the musket

AbstractThe history of the human–technology relation points to binary (positive and negative) evaluations of technology’s role. One reason for this binary is the limited view of technology in terms of physical and tangible devices. Another is an extreme global view of the relationship, which neglects global diversity. However, technology includes non-physical devices such as speech. Moreover, people hold different intellectual, historical and philological assumptions as the bases for their rule over technology. This article emphasizes the importance of language and global diversity as crucial dimensions of the human–technology relation. It is through language that humans are able to rule over technology, rather than being dominated by it. Taking language as a focal point, I expose the neglect of pre-literate orality as a way of engaging with technology and I espouse an orality perspective on our rule over technology. This perspective foregrounds human mindfulness as a basis for oral engagement with technology. It is developed based on analysis of historical data on oral language use by pre-literate Akan people of Ghana to rule over the musket. The article characterizes technology overrule according to a four-stage process: image recognition, technology reduction, technology reposition and image reproduction.

Approximate Evaluation of the Resolution in Near Field Remote Sensing

In linear inverse scattering, the performance of the imaging system is sometimes evaluated in terms of its resolution, i.e., its capability to reconstruct a point-like scatterer. However, there is still a lack of analytical studies on the achievable resolution. To address this, we consider the point spread function (PSF) evaluation of the scattered near field for the single frequency and multi-view/multi-static case in homogeneous medium. Instead of numerically computing the PSF, we propose and discuss an approximate closed form under series expansions according to the angular ranges of both source and receiver location. In order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approximation, we consider two cases including both full and limited view angles for the incident field and observation ranges. In addition, we provide a localization application to show the usefulness of the theoretical discussion. Numerical results confirmed the analytical investigations.

An occupant-centric approach for spatio-temporal visual comfort assessment and optimization in daylit sports spaces

Most visual comfort analysis is based on glare detections in limited fixed view scenes, but sports spaces present challenges given occupants’ spatial and view directional variations in sports-related visual tasks. This paper proposes an occupant-centric approach for spatio-temporal visual comfort assessment and optimization (ST-VCAO) in daylit sports spaces by better considering the occupants’ movement behaviour. It introduces the movable view scenes (MVS) in glare simulations and further accelerates the ST-VCAO process using the GPU-based parallel simulation combining response surface methodology. The proposed approach was applied to a real case building in Harbin, China. Annual daylight and glare simulations in two tennis courts with a total of 500 MVS were performed using Perez all-weather sky model with Chinese standard weather data. Results indicate that the proposed approach could sufficiently clarify the spatial variance and temporal variation of visual comfort across all MVS, which is appropriate for sports spaces. Meanwhile, using the developed workflow, the total computational time could be saved by 27.08% (Case 1) or 71.25% (Case 2). Amongst all Pareto solutions, the optimum alternative upon the worst one observed 200% (Case 1) or 50.7% (Case 2) higher visual comfort.

Paper 65: Novel CT-Derived 3D Modeling Assessing Dysplastic Hips Versus Controls Demonstrates Decreased 2D Lateral Center Edge Angle, but not Tönnis Angle, Predicts Decreased 3D Anterolateral Coverage

Paper 65: Novel CT-Derived 3D Modeling Assessing Dysplastic Hips Versus Controls Demonstrates Decreased 2D Lateral Center Edge Angle, but not Tönnis Angle, Predicts Decreased 3D Anterolateral Coverage

Modern-Day Globalization: its Murky Underpinnings and its Even More Unsavory Future

By spelling out the link between Transhumanism, the 4th Industrial Revolution, and globalism, which together form the economic thrust of mankind’s projected future, this paper invites a rethink about the direction envisaged by modern-day society. The underlying linking factor of these enterprises is the Humanist movement that, like Transhumanism, shares a Utopian view of the world and supplies the relative ethical underpinning for these ‘so-called’ new advances. Three Manifestos lay out the objectives of the Humanist Association, describing it as a religion that is supposed to replace other older deity-based religions. Its progressive philosophy of life without theism or other supernational beliefs leads to a break with the past and affirms humans’ “ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good.” Nevertheless, can we live ethical lives where the accent is on fulfilling only our personal desires, which include the right to unrestricted contraception, abortion and divorce and death with dignity eg. Euthanasia and suicide? Ethical relativism is taken to a new extreme by Transhumanism, which rests on the idea that humans should embrace self-directed human evolution using technology to transcend their current natural state and limitations, ie disease, ageing, and even death. According to this author, it is time we moved beyond the limited materialist view, not through global movements like Humanism and Transhumanism, but through exploring and discovering our spiritual nature and the spiritual underpinning of reality. Through this endeavor, we can learn to live in harmony with each other and nature, where the accent is on service to others. Based on experience, we soon realize that our happiness depends on others being happy and includes looking after the weak, the aged, and the infirm. Ethical relativism and lack of clear values will not get us there; on the contrary, they will probably lead to hell on earth.

Conformity to institutional logics and organizational strength of voluntary sport clubs

ABSTRACT Research question The aim of this study was to examine if and under what conditions voluntary sport clubs (VSCs) conformed to the institutional logics of professionalism, consumerism and instrumentalism and whether conformity to these logics increases the organizational strength and resources of VSCs. Research methods Cross-sectional (n = 549) and longitudinal (n = 158) panel data of Dutch VSCs between 2007 and 2021 were used. Paired samples t-tests show the extent of conformity. Logistic regressions indicate the relationship between three conformity measures (level of professionalism, consumerism and instrumentalism), institutional conditions and self-perceived organizational strength and resources. Results and Findings Results suggest that VSCs did not strongly conform to the three institutional logics between 2007 and 2021. Results do provide evidence for the relationship between institutional conditions (cooperation with other VSCs, size, experienced competition, degree of competitiveness, own facilities) and the likelihood of conformity. No relationship was found between conformity and self-perceived organizational strength and resources. Implications Results of this study indicate that conforming to collective beliefs about what constitutes desirable, proper, or appropriate behavior alone -as the neo-institutional view implies- is a limited view for explaining VSCs’ survivability. Furthermore results imply that change into the directions pursued by policy makers does not seem to improve the organizational strength of VSCs. More research is needed to investigate survival mechanisms based on other theoretical concepts in order to understand, monitor and improve the survivability of VSCs.

An embarrassingly simple approach for visual navigation of forest environments.

Navigation in forest environments is a challenging and open problem in the area of field robotics. Rovers in forest environments are required to infer the traversability of a priori unknown terrains, comprising a number of different types of compliant and rigid obstacles, under varying lighting and weather conditions. The challenges are further compounded for inexpensive small-sized (portable) rovers. While such rovers may be useful for collaboratively monitoring large tracts of forests as a swarm, with low environmental impact, their small-size affords them only a low viewpoint of their proximal terrain. Moreover, their limited view may frequently be partially occluded by compliant obstacles in close proximity such as shrubs and tall grass. Perhaps, consequently, most studies on off-road navigation typically use large-sized rovers equipped with expensive exteroceptive navigation sensors. We design a low-cost navigation system tailored for small-sized forest rovers. For navigation, a light-weight convolution neural network is used to predict depth images from RGB input images from a low-viewpoint monocular camera. Subsequently, a simple coarse-grained navigation algorithm aggregates the predicted depth information to steer our mobile platform towards open traversable areas in the forest while avoiding obstacles. In this study, the steering commands output from our navigation algorithm direct an operator pushing the mobile platform. Our navigation algorithm has been extensively tested in high-fidelity forest simulations and in field trials. Using no more than a 16 × 16 pixel depth prediction image from a 32 × 32 pixel RGB image, our algorithm running on a Raspberry Pi was able to successfully navigate a total of over 750 m of real-world forest terrain comprising shrubs, dense bushes, tall grass, fallen branches, fallen tree trunks, small ditches and mounds, and standing trees, under five different weather conditions and four different times of day. Furthermore, our algorithm exhibits robustness to changes in the mobile platform's camera pitch angle, motion blur, low lighting at dusk, and high-contrast lighting conditions.