Mean Orientation Research Articles

Spherical data validation of rock discontinuities orientation from Drone-derived 3D Point Clouds

This work presents a methodology for the statistical validation of discontinuity surfaces obtained from point clouds using digital photogrammetry from drones. Our methodology allows you to review the quality of the data obtained with photogrammetry and decide whether these measurements are representative of the discontinuity surfaces that they analyze. It consists of three steps, the first one being a shape analysis that allows defining which statistical model should be used: Fisher for circularly symmetric clusters or Bingham fits better for axially symmetric clusters. This step also makes the most significant difference to other works since our methodology starts from the premise that not all discontinuity surfaces are flat. Therefore, Fisher parameters do not allow validating data that do not correspond to a plane.
 In the second step of the methodology, we calculate the consistency parameters that depend on the statistical model defined in step 1. The parameters are similar for both models; both estimate κ which indicates how much the sample is concentrated around the mean orientation and validates the existence of this and which is the value of the generating angle of a cone with a 95 % confidence limit that it contains within the mean orientation.
 Finally, step 3 is used when there are control measurements to compare the point cloud data and define if both samples characterize the same discontinuity surface in the rock mass.
 The results obtained on a rock outcrop allowed us to observe that the measurements obtained from the drone faithfully represent the discontinuity surface analyzed when these were compared with the measurements made manually with the compass. Furthermore, the dispersion parameters (

Parent beta grain reconstruction of globularized Ti-6Al-4V alloy

In this study, a denoising method of smoothing spline is proposed to reconstruct parent β grain of titanium alloys as a supplement to the past literatures. The β mean orientation of the sample with bimodal microstructure can be well reconstructed with similar grain size and negligible misorientation (<1°) compared with traditional reconstruction result. The second test case deals with globularized α grains after multi-axial hot compression. Obvious β recrystallization happens inside the large prior β grain during deformation, which can facilitate the homogeneous globularization process. The mean orientation reconstruction of recrystallized β grain by smoothing spline is performed and further compared with the orientation calculated from one α colony by orientation-trace method. The maximum 20° misorientation exists due to the local orientation deviation inside both α and β grains during globularization processing. In addition, the globularization mechanism under multi-axial hot compression is analyzed. Despite the appearance of local heterogeneity between different α colonies, high globularized efficiency around 71.2% can be easily achieved by the multi-directional deformation.

Determination of horizontal stress orientation in the areas of the Tomsk region

Introduction. The World Stress Map project proves that horizontal stress orientation determination is a global task essential for the majority of geomechanical calculations. However, there is scant data on stress orientations in the territory of Russia at the moment. The task is therefore highly relevant. Research objective is to determine the orientations of maximum and minimum horizontal stresses by separate areas of the Tomsk region and build a map of horizontal stresses. Method of research. The basis for determining the orientations of horizontal stresses is the theory of drilling-induced fracture and borehole breakouts occurrence. The maximum stress orientation coincides with the drilling-induced fracture orientation, whereas the minimum stress orientation coincides with the borehole breakouts orientation or is perpendicular to the maximum stresses. Results. Research results are compiled in a summary table containing mean orientations of horizontal stresses by areas and a map of horizontal stress orientations. Conclusions. A summary map of maximum horizontal stress strike azimuths has been constructed. The stresses are of similar orientation in every well under consideration, except for a well in the North-Shingin area. The average value of maximum horizontal stress orientation has made up 337° northwest and 157° southeast.

Neural representations of ensemble coding in the occipital and parietal cortices

The human visual system is able to extract summary statistics from sets of similar items, but the underlying neural mechanism remains poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and an encoding model, we examined how the neural representation of ensemble coding is constructed by manipulating the task-relevance of ensemble features. We found a gradual increase in orientation-selective responses to the mean orientation of multiple stimuli along the visual hierarchy only when these orientations were task-relevant. Such responses to the ensemble orientation were present in the extrastriate area, V3, even when the mean orientation was not task-relevant, indicating that the ensemble representation can co-exist with the task-relevant individual feature representation. Ensemble orientations were also represented in frontal regions, but those representations were robust only when each mean orientation was linked to a motor response dimension. Together, our findings suggest that the neural representation of the ensemble percept is formed by pooling signals at multiple levels of the visual processing stream.

Automatic and accurate needle detection in 2D ultrasound during robot-assisted needle insertion process.

Robot-assisted needle insertion guided by 2D ultrasound (US) can effectively improve the accuracy and success rate of clinical puncture. To this end, automatic and accurate needle-tracking methods are important for monitoring puncture processes, avoiding the needle deviating from the intended path, and reducing the risk of injury to surrounding tissues. This work aims to develop a framework for automatic and accurate detection of an inserted needle in 2D US image during the insertion process. We propose a novel convolutional neural network architecture comprising of a two-channel encoder and single-channel decoder for needle segmentation using needle motion information extracted from two adjacent US image frames. Based on the novel network, we further propose an automatic needle detection framework. According to the prediction result of the previous frame, a region of interest of the needle in the US image was extracted and fed into the proposed network to achieve finer and faster continuous needle localization. The performance of our method was evaluated based on 1000 pairs of US images extracted from robot-assisted needle insertions on freshly excised bovine and porcine tissues. The needle segmentation network achieved 99.7% accuracy, 86.2% precision, 89.1% recall, and an F1-score of 0.87. The needle detection framework successfully localized the needle with a mean tip error of 0.45 ± 0.33mm and a mean orientation error of 0.42° ± 0.34° and achieved a total processing time of 50ms per image. The proposed framework demonstrated the capability to realize robust, accurate, and real-time needle localization during robot-assisted needle insertion processes. It has a promising application in tracking the needle and ensuring the safety of robotic-assisted automatic puncture during challenging US-guided minimally invasive procedures.

Relationship of personal projects and meaningful orientations in youth and adolescence

The problem of personal projects is brought to the forefront of scientific research by the very process of renewing a modern transitive society, which requires young people to be independent and responsible for their decisions and life choices. In this connection, the purpose of the research presented in the paper is to study the differences in the connections between the indicators of personal projects and the life-meaning orientations of the individual at the stages of adolescence and youth. The sample consisted of 148 people (64 boys and 84 girls aged 16 to 30). In use were used: the methodology Analysis of personal projects (B.R. Little in the adaptation of E.Yu. Ryazantseva), as well as the test of life-meaning orientations. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS (version 22) using the Mann Whitney U test (for metric variables). The identification of links between metric indicators was carried out using correlation analysis (Spearmans coefficient). It was shown that a relationship was found between the indicators of personal projects (difficulty, visibility, control, responsibility, values, time adequacy, autonomy) and life-meaning orientations. At the age of 1617, young people are oriented towards outside support. For young people aged 18-25, the search for their identity becomes significant, where both the support of relatives and friends and their inner resources are important. At an older age (2630 years), the degree of individual independence in the implementation of their projects increases, the dependence on socio-cultural resources decreases, the number of connections between personal projects and indicators increases: goals in life, locus of control life.

Brief communication: Weak control of snow avalanche deposit volumes by avalanche path morphology

Abstract. Snow avalanches are a major component of the mountain cryosphere, but little is known about the factors controlling the variability of their deposit volumes. This study investigates the influence of avalanche path morphology on ca. 1500 deposit volumes recorded between 2003 and 2018 in 77 snow avalanche paths of the French Alps. Different statistical techniques show a slight but significant link between deposit volumes and path mean elevation and orientation, with contrasted patterns between winter and spring seasons. The limited and partially non-linear nature of this control may result from the combined influence on the genesis of deposit volumes of mean path activity, climate conditions, and mechanical thresholds determining avalanche release.

Factors determining the level of high qualification and sports achievements in long-term training of female tennis players (diagnostic aspect)

Table tennis is a complex analytical sport with versatile technique, various specific solutions, which has long outgrown a period of mass enthusiasm. For athletes to achieve sports results, general physical, special and psychological training is now necessary. Modern requirements to the level of special, technical, tactical and physical training of female athletes, to the entire system of their training are extremely high. In this regard, the importance of specialized factors in the sports training of female tennis players increases significantly. In the long-term training of the highly qualified female tennis players, a number of important stages is provided for, which in their structure have specific tasks and a meaningful orientation of their implementation. The task of implementing classification standards of the competitive activity of female tennis players is a complex training process that should be carried out not only taking into account general psychological and pedagogical laws, but also specific scientifically based methods and techniques of pedagogical influence, the organization of this type of activity and an individual approach.

Factors Predicting Middle School Pupils’ Learning Orientations: A Multilevel Analysis

Investigating on what school- and student-level factors are related to pupils’ learning orientations was the main purpose of this study. The study used a sample of 2917 middle school pupils across Turkey. The Test of Science Related Attitude, Learning Approach Questionnaire and the Achievement Motivation Questionnaire were utilised as data collection tools. Analysis revealed that there were significant differences in pupils’ learning orientations with respect to both meaningful learning orientation and rote learning orientation. When learning and motivational factors were examined it was found that performance goal orientation and learning goal orientation positively contributed to both meaningful learning and rote learning orientations. Upon examination of sub-dimensions of attitudes toward science, it was determined that the adaptation of scientific attitudes and leisure interest in science made positive and significant contributions to meaningful learning orientation while enjoyment of science lessons contributed to students’ meaningful learning orientation negatively. With respect to rote learning orientation, both adaptation of scientific attitudes and enjoyment of science lessons negatively contributed.

The state of psychological resources in patients with chronic dorsalgia

Basic personality parameters include introversion-extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. When chronic pain occurs, a change in the psychoemotional state of patients is noted. Quite often this occurs in the case of chronic nonspecific back pain — in chronic dorsalgia. There are different aspects of the impact on human life. The emerging neurological manifestations, motor and sensory, are accompanied by a disorder in the ability to perform daily and professional skills. At the same time, the phenomena of sensory modality (pain, paresthesia, synestopathy), caused by organic and functional reasons, significantly deteriorate the prognosis, disrupt emotional and adaptive functioning, and affect the quality of sleep. The ability to assess different aspects of the clinical «consequences» of chronic pain phenomena in dorsalgia improves their diagnosis and treatment. Purpose of the study — to evaluate psychological resources (personality traits, goals and meaningfulness, life guidelines, attitude to pain) in patients with chronic dorsalgia. Materials and methods. In a prospective controlled study in patients with chronic pain of the lumbosacral localization, the test data on the state of psychological resources were analyzed. The results of the examination of 66 patients aged 23–56 years were studied. In the presented sample, the following were used: LSS Methodology — the test of meaningful life orientations; the Big Five test by R. McCrae and P. Costa [1]; McGill questionnaire — a method for determining the level of pain syndrome; theTampa Scale — a method for measuring kinesiophobia [2]. Results. Based on the results of the use of the tests that assess personality parameters and psychological resources, the features of manifestation in chronic dorsalgia were established. When assessing the scales of meaning-to-life orientation, an emotionally rich emotional and personal sphere was found in both women and men. Gender differences on the «Life Performance» scale in the section on satisfaction with self-realization, the assessment of the period of life passed was higher in men (25.46 ± 4.30). At the same time, the general indicator of the meaningfulness of life was 28.6 points for men and 45.6 — for women. The assessment of test results using the Big Five questionnaire sets comparable parameters for men and women in the section of emotional stability (21.6 and 22.17, respectively) with a significant difference from the generally accepted assessment results in the population — 28 points. In the block for assessing the level of extraversion, similar values were also observed: significantly higher scores for men (30.0) and 27.64 — for women, which in comparison with the norm had a lower value (31 points). When analyzing the McGill pain assessment questionnaire, significantly higher scores for the sensory component were found in women than in men in the sample (16.8 and 12.1 points, respectively). The methodology for assessing the level of kinesiophobia by the Tampa scale established high values for testing according to the total index of kinesiophobia — more than 40 points: 43.7 points for women and 37.8 points for men. Conclusion. The features of personality parameters in patients with chronic dorsalgia indicate that high parameters of meaningfulness of life are diagnosed (there are not high parameters in the block «goals in life», the level of control «life process» — emotional and psychological satisfaction will remain quite significant). Locus of control «I» allows to express an opinion on a sufficient level of assessment of the idea of personality traits and the ability to control the state of one's disease. Control capabilities in the «Locus of Control — Life» testing block indicate the ability to make decisions and influence life processes. The emerging manifestations of chronic dorsalgia have certain characteristics of the course and personal resources in women and men with a more significant criterion «Emotionality» among women. Despite the long-standing component of the existing pain as the leading aspect of the disease, there is a significantly predominant sensory component in both men and women.

Does ensemble priming survive masking?

In everyday life, we feel that our perception of the world is detailed, while our reports of it are poor (Simons & Chabris, 1999, Simons & Levin, 1997). Cohen, Dennett, and Kanwisher (2016) proposed that our rich perceptual experience can be explained by the ability of our visual system to extract ensemble statistics from groups of objects. Ensemble statistics computation overcomes many limits of perception - for instance, it is robust to inattention (Alvarez & Oliva, 2008). However, it is unknown whether ensemble statistics can be computed without awareness. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that masked ensemble statistics can prime individual stimuli. The participants (n = 45) were presented with an ensemble of oriented gratings and asked to report whether a subsequently presented test grating was tilted to the right or to the left. The test grating had either the mean ensemble orientation, one of the members’ orientations, or an explicit non-member orientation. The ensemble was backward and forward masked and we manipulated the stimulus-onset asynchrony between the masks and the ensemble. In the aware condition, there was a 160 ms blank between the masks and the ensemble. In the unaware condition, there was no blank. Additionally, the participants completed two control tasks to assess whether the awareness manipulation was successful. The results show a main effect of the test orientation: the reaction times were lowest for the mean orientation, higher for member orientation, and highest for non-member orientation. The control tasks revealed that the ensemble was harder to detect in the 0 ms SOA condition, but it was not completely invisible. These results show that priming by masked ensembles is possible, yet it is unclear whether the priming effects stem from unconscious processing.

Estimating Lower Body Kinematics Using a Lie Group Constrained Extended Kalman Filter and Reduced IMU Count

Goal: Gait monitoring is useful for diagnosing movement disorders or assessing surgical outcomes. This paper presents an algorithm for estimating pelvis, thigh, shank, and foot kinematics during walking using only two or three wearable inertial sensors. Methods: The algorithm makes novel use of a Lie-group-based extended Kalman filter. The algorithm iterates through the prediction (kinematic equation), measurement (pelvis position pseudo-measurements, zero-velocity update, and flat-floor assumption), and constraint update (hinged knee and ankle joints, constant leg lengths). Results: The inertial motion capture algorithm was extensively evaluated on two datasets showing its performance against two standard benchmark approaches in optical motion capture (i.e., plug-in gait (commonly used in gait analysis) and a kinematic fit (commonly used in animation, robotics, and musculoskeleton simulation)), giving insight into the similarity and differences between the said approaches used in different application areas. The overall mean body segment position (relative to mid-pelvis origin) and orientation error magnitude of our algorithm ( n=14 participants) for free walking was 5.93 ± 1.33 cm and 13.43 ±1.89 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> when using three IMUs placed on the feet and pelvis, and 6.35 ± 1.20 cm and 12.71 ±1.60 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> when using only two IMUs placed on the feet. Conclusion: The algorithm was able to track the joint angles in the sagittal plane for straight walking well, but requires improvement for unscripted movements (e.g., turning around, side steps), especially for dynamic movements or when considering clinical applications. Significance: This work has brought us closer to comprehensive remote gait monitoring using IMUs on the shoes. The low computational cost also suggests that it can be used in real-time with gait assistive devices.

A Robot Mimicking Heart Motions: An Ex-Vivo Test Approach for Cardiac Devices

PurposeThe pre-clinical testing of cardiovascular implants gains increasing attention due to the complexity of novel implants and new medical device regulations. It often relies on large animal experiments that are afflicted with ethical and methodical challenges. Thus, a method for simulating physiological heart motions is desired but lacking so far.MethodsWe developed a robotic platform that allows simulating the trajectory of any point of the heart (one at a time) in six degrees of freedom. It uses heart motion trajectories acquired from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging or accelero-meter data. The rotations of the six motors are calculated based on the input trajectory. A closed-loop controller drives the platform and a graphical user interface monitors the functioning and accuracy of the robot using encoder data.ResultsThe robotic platform can mimic physiological heart motions from large animals and humans. It offers a spherical work envelope with a radius of 29 mm, maximum acceleration of 20 m/s2 and maximum deflection of ±19° along all axes. The absolute mean positioning error in x-, y- and z-direction is 0.21 ±0.06, 0.31 ±0.11 and 0.17 ±0.12 mm, respectively. The absolute mean orientation error around x-, y- and z-axis (roll, pitch and yaw) is 0.24 ±0.18°, 0.23 ±0.13° and 0.18 ±0.18°, respectively.ConclusionThe novel robotic approach allows reproducing heart motions with high accuracy and repeatability. This may benefit the device development process and allows re-using previously acquired heart motion data repeatedly, thus avoiding animal trials.

Automatic teat detection for rotary milking system based on deep learning algorithms

In dairy farming, the milking process is the most labor-intensive activity. In order to automate the milking process, we acquire cows’ udder images in the working conditions of the rotary milking system to establish the udder image dataset. According to the characteristics of the dataset, rotated bounding boxes are used to label the teats. An arbitrary-oriented object detection framework R2Faster R-CNN is used to develop the teat detection model. The AP of the model is 80.41%, the mean orientation error is 2.29°, and the detection time is 0.19 s per image. In addition, R2Faster R-CNN algorithm can detect overlapped or partially occluded teats, and has high stability under actual rotary milking system environment. Finally, an automatic milking device is built to perform teat cup attachment experiments in the laboratory environment. Among the 20 groups experiments, all teats are detected correctly, the average refresh time is 0.39 s. The success rate of teat cup attachment is 100%, namely the detection error of the sensing system is within 5 mm. The results prove the feasibility and accuracy of the teat sensing system.

The Joyful Life: An Existential-Humanistic Approach to Positive Psychology in the Time of a Pandemic.

In the midst of a global pandemic, psychology has a duty to identify dispositional or character traits that can be cultivated in citizens in order to create resiliency in the face of profound losses, suffering and distress. Dispositional joy holds some promise as such a trait that could be especially important for well-being during the current pandemic and its consequences. The concept of the Joyful Life may operate as bridge between positive psychology and humanistic, existential, and spiritual views of the good life, by integrating hedonic, prudential, eudaimonic and chaironic visions of the good life. Previous phenomenological research on state joy suggests that momentary states of joy may have features that overlap with happiness but go beyond mere hedonic interests, and point to the experience of a life oriented toward virtue and a sense of the transcendent or the sacred. However, qualitative research on the Joyful Life, or dispositional joy, is sorely lacking. This study utilized a dialogical phenomenological analysis to conduct a group-based analysis of 17 volunteer students, who produced 51 autobiographical narrative descriptions of the joyful life. The dialogical analyses were assisted by integration of the Imagery in Movement Method, which incorporated expressive drawing and psychodrama as an aid to explicate implicit themes in the experiences of the participants. The analyses yielded ten invariant themes found across the autobiographical narrative descriptions: Being broken, being grounded, being centered, breaking open, being uplifted, being supertemporal, being open to the mystery, being grateful, opening up and out, and being together. The descriptions of a Joyful Life were consistent with a meaning orientation to happiness, due to their emphasis on the cultivation of virtue in the service of a higher calling, the realization of which was felt to be a gift or blessing. The discussion examines implications for future research, including the current relevance of a joyful disposition during a global pandemic. Due to the joyful disposition’s tendency to transform suffering and tragedy into meaning, and its theme of an orientation to prosocial motivations, the Joyful Life may occupy a central place in the study of resiliency and personal growth in response to personal and collective trauma such as COVID-19.

INFLUENCE OF ERRORS OF TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY AND ORIENTATION OF RADIO- TECHNICAL MEANS OF AIRSPACE CONTROL ON ESTIMATES OF COORDINATE INFORMATION ISSUED BY THEM

The last decade is characterized by a number of military conflicts, in most episodes of which the achievement of the goal (reconnaissance and (or) defeat of certain targets) by the warring parties is mostly achieved through the use of aircraft, including small and (or) unmanned. The main difference is to obtain the desired results without a direct collision with the enemy ground component of troops (forces).&#x0D; Most of the recommended measures to combat aircraft in modern conditions can be reduced to: the rational construction of battle order (using the air defense separation), the widespread use of covert communications, radio reconnaissance and electronic warfare, the creation of erroneous and camouflage combat (reserve) positions of air defense means , automation of transmission and processing of information about the air situation with the use of modern technologies and increase the accuracy of coordinate information provided to combat (or fire) means.&#x0D; Improving the accuracy of coordinate information causes: the possibility of searchless detection and (or) capture of air targets by fire, increasing the survivability of air defense systems by reducing working hours (including time for "radiation") and rapid change of their positions after the task. Modern algorithms for processing coordinate information provided by air defense systems take into account the errors of measurement of primary coordinates by radio engineering, the delay time of information in communication channels and its possible distortion. At the same time, they do not explicitly take into account the influence of topographic errors and orientation errors of radio equipment.&#x0D; In the work, with the use of methods of mathematical statistics and mathematical modeling, the analysis of influence of topographic errors and orientation of radio-technical means of airspace control on estimations of the coordinate information issued by them is carried out. The obtained ratios allow to make an appropriate assessment and provide recommendations for further research.&#x0D; In the work with the use of methods of mathematical statistics and mathematical modeling, the analysis of the influence of topographic errors and orientation of radio engineering means of airspace control on the estimates of coordinate information issued by them is carried out. The obtained ratios allow to make an appropriate assessment and provide recommendations for further research.&#x0D; The obtained results can be used in tests of radio-technical means of information support, in information processing algorithms and automated control systems.

The Orientation of Ancient Monuments in Sweden - A Critique of Archaeoastronorny and an Alternative Interpretation

The results of three archaeoastronomical studies of Scandinavian ancient monuments are discussed and dismissed as unconvincing. The necessity of a broader approach to the problem of orientation is emphasised. The mean orientations of several groups of ancient monuments in Sweden are presented. It is suggested that graves, as well as other ancient monuments, are roughly oriented according to the four cardinal points, although the conception of the cardinal points was not the same as it is now. Two different ancient conceptions are suggested, the B- and C-systems. Possible social and religious background and astronomical principles are discussed.

Pleasure, meaning or spirituality: Cross-cultural differences in orientations to happiness across 12 countries

Firms and institutions are increasingly embracing well-being initiatives as a critical way to retain and engage with their employees, customers and citizens all over the world. However, cross-cultural research on the paths to happiness remains scarce and fragmented, typically conceptualizing happiness as an individualistic pleasure-based construct without considering its collectivistic meaning-based dimension. This research investigates simultaneously how hedonic (pleasure) and eudaimonic (meaning and spirituality) orientations to happiness (life satisfaction) vary across 12 countries and among 2615 individuals representing different regions of the world (six continents) and different cultural contexts (individualism or collectivism). Findings reveal no significant difference in terms of the structure of happiness across countries, and that meaning emerges as a stronger predictor of life satisfaction compared to pleasure and spirituality. Accordingly, we inform human resource and marketing managers, policy makers and individuals about common routes to well-being in an international context.

THE ANALYSES OF PROPER NAMES IN ENGLISH FAIRY-TALE DISCOURSE

The article studies proper names, which are obligatory in fairy-tale discourse and are cognitively, semantically and communicatively charged. Cognitive way of studying functional and pragmatic features of proper names in English fairy-tale discourse reveals semantic meaning and pragmatic orientation of proper names as transferring units of cognitive information.

DYNAMICS OF ADOLESCENT’S FROM INFORMAL UNIONS MEANING SPHERE INDICATORS IN THE TRAINING PROCESS

The article analyzes the features of value-meaning sphere development program participants meaning sphere dynamics indicators. The role of subcultures in modern society, directions of scientific research in the field of adolescents meaning sphere formation in informal associations current scientific research are presented.&#x0D; The adolescent’s from informal unions value-meaning consciousness in the context of their communicative experience in subcultures integration development program purpose and content are described. The meaning orientations, meaning sphere structural and content characteristics and the severity of the meaning crisis of adolescents who took part in the approbation of the program dynamics indicators are analyzed.&#x0D; The program approbation results proved its effectiveness by increasing the meaningfulness of adolescent’s from informal unions life, their reflexivity, quantitative characteristics of the meanings system while reducing the meaning of life crisis and negativism manifestations.