Performance In Natural Environment Research Articles

Optimization in Visual Motion Estimation.

Sighted animals use visual signals to discern directional motion in their environment. Motion is not directly detected by visual neurons, and it must instead be computed from light signals that vary over space and time. This makes visual motion estimation a near universal neural computation, and decades of research have revealed much about the algorithms and mechanisms that generate directional signals. The idea that sensory systems are optimized for performance in natural environments has deeply impacted this research. In this article, we review the many ways that optimization has been used to quantitatively model visual motion estimation and reveal its underlying principles. We emphasize that no single optimization theory has dominated the literature. Instead, researchers have adeptly incorporated different computational demands and biological constraints that are pertinent to the specific brain system and animal model under study. The successes and failures of the resulting optimization models have thereby provided insights into how computational demands and biological constraints together shape neural computation.

Advancements in Deep-Learning-Based Object Detection in Challenging Environments

This article focuses on object detection in challenging environments, where objects of interest need to be detected in images captured under unconstrained conditions. These environments can include outdoor scenes with varying lighting, weather conditions, and background clutter. Object detection in such scenarios is crucial for applications like autonomous driving, surveillance, and industrial production inspection. The paper explores existing techniques for object detection in challenging environments and proposes novel solutions to enhance its performance. One key aspect emphasized in the paper is the need for relevant datasets to validate models under unconstrained scenarios. While several datasets already exist, the research identifies gaps in specific situations and addresses them by proposing new datasets, such as the Indian Lane Dataset for autonomous vehicles. The proposed object detection framework leverages spatial information to detect objects in challenging environments, and its performance is evaluated against benchmark datasets and the newly proposed datasets. A real-world application demonstrates significant improvements in object detection performance in natural environments.

Accurate fruit localisation using high resolution LiDAR-camera fusion and instance segmentation

Accurate depth-sensing is crucial in securing a high success rate of robotic harvesting in natural orchard environments. The solid-state LiDAR technique, a recently introduced LiDAR sensor, can perceive high-resolution geometric information of the scenes, which can be utilised to receive accurate depth information. Meanwhile, the fusion of the sensory data from LiDAR and the camera can significantly enhance the sensing ability of the harvesting robots. This work first introduces a LiDAR-camera fusion-based visual sensing and perception strategy to perform accurate fruit localisation in the apple orchards. Two SOTA LiDAR-camera extrinsic calibration methods are evaluated to obtain the accurate extrinsic matrix between the LiDAR and camera. After that, the point clouds and colour images are fused to perform fruit localisation using a one-stage instance segmentation network. In addition, comprehensive experiments show that LiDAR-camera achieves better visual sensing performance in natural environments. Meanwhile, introducing the LiDAR-camera fusion can largely improve the accuracy and robustness of the fruit localisation. Specifically, the standard deviations of fruit localisation using LiDAR-camera at 0.5, 1.2, and 1.8 m are 0.253, 0.230, and 0.285 cm, respectively, during the afternoon with intensive sunlight. This measurement error is much smaller compared with that from Realsense D455. Lastly, visualised point cloud22https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16NV0Bb6N-zlvJC0bFyu-8pl4Gbh9lyOE?usp=sharing. of the apple trees have been attached to demonstrate the highly accurate sensing results of the proposed Lidar-camera fusion method.

Domestication of captive-bred masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou masou (Salmonidae) leads to a significant decrease in numbers of lateral line organs

Because captive-bred animals gradually adapt to artificial rearing environments due to evolving life history traits, such individuals sometimes show lessened performance in natural environments. The lateral line system, one of the principal sensory organs of fishes, varies according to habitat environments, sometimes differing even within the same species. A reduction in lateral line elements may also occur in successive generations of captive-bred fish. Such a reduction, involving neuromasts over the entire body, was examined for the first time in captive-bred masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou masou. The total number of neuromasts in captive-bred fish was ca. 10% lower than in wild-caught and F1 fishes, suggesting that the system in captive-bred fish had reduced in number due to domestication. Furthermore, differences in total neuromast numbers between captive-bred and wild fish were greater than between anadromous and fluvial populations of the species. The lower number of neuromasts could be one of the reasons behind the lower survival of captive-bred fish in natural environments.

Gaze Strategies in Driving-An Ecological Approach.

Human performance in natural environments is deeply impressive, and still much beyond current AI. Experimental techniques, such as eye tracking, may be useful to understand the cognitive basis of this performance, and “the human advantage.” Driving is domain where these techniques may deployed, in tasks ranging from rigorously controlled laboratory settings through high-fidelity simulations to naturalistic experiments in the wild. This research has revealed robust patterns that can be reliably identified and replicated in the field and reproduced in the lab. The purpose of this review is to cover the basics of what is known about these gaze behaviors, and some of their implications for understanding visually guided steering. The phenomena reviewed will be of interest to those working on any domain where visual guidance and control with similar task demands is involved (e.g., many sports). The paper is intended to be accessible to the non-specialist, without oversimplifying the complexity of real-world visual behavior. The literature reviewed will provide an information base useful for researchers working on oculomotor behaviors and physiology in the lab who wish to extend their research into more naturalistic locomotor tasks, or researchers in more applied fields (sports, transportation) who wish to bring aspects of the real-world ecology under experimental scrutiny. Part of a Research Topic on Gaze Strategies in Closed Self-paced tasks, this aspect of the driving task is discussed. It is in particular emphasized why it is important to carefully separate the visual strategies driving (quite closed and self-paced) from visual behaviors relevant to other forms of driver behavior (an open-ended menagerie of behaviors). There is always a balance to strike between ecological complexity and experimental control. One way to reconcile these demands is to look for natural, real-world tasks and behavior that are rich enough to be interesting yet sufficiently constrained and well-understood to be replicated in simulators and the lab. This ecological approach to driving as a model behavior and the way the connection between “lab” and “real world” can be spanned in this research is of interest to anyone keen to develop more ecologically representative designs for studying human gaze behavior.

Neuroergonomic Assessment of Hot Beverage Preparation and Consumption: An EEG and EDA Study.

Neuroergonomics is an emerging field that investigates the human brain about behavioral performance in natural environments and everyday settings. This study investigated the body and brain activity correlates of a typical daily activity, hot beverage preparation, and consumption in a realistic office environment where participants performed natural daily tasks. Using wearable, battery operated and wireless Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Electrodermal activity (EDA) sensors, neural and physiological responses were measured in untethered, freely moving participants who prepared hot beverages using two different machines (a market leader and follower as determined by annual US sales). They later consumed the drinks they had prepared in three blocks. Emotional valence was estimated using frontal asymmetry in EEG alpha band power and emotional arousal was estimated from EDA tonic and phasic activity. Results from 26 participants showed that the market-leading coffee machine was more efficient to use based on self-reports, behavioral performance measures, and there were significant within-subject differences in valence between the two machine use. Moreover, the market leader user interface led to greater self-reported product preference, which was further supported by significant differences in measured arousal and valence (EDA and EEG, respectively) during coffee production and consumption. This is the first study that uses a multimodal and comprehensive assessment of coffee machine use and beverage consumption in a naturalistic work environment. Approaches described in this study can be adapted in the future to other task-specific machine usability and consumer neuroscience studies.

Compliant legs enable lizards to maintain high running speeds on complex terrains

Substrate variations are likely to constrain animal performance in natural environments, as running over complex terrains challenges the dynamic stability of the body differently in each step. Yet, being able to negotiate complex terrains at top speed is a strong advantage for animals that have to deal with predators and evasive prey. Little is known on how animals negotiate such terrain variability at high speed. We investigated this in fast-running Acanthodactylus boskianus lizards, by measuring their 3D kinematics using four synchronised high-speed video cameras (325 Hz) on an adaptable racetrack. This racetrack was covered with four different substrates, representing increasing levels of terrain complexity. We found that the lizards deal with this complexity gradient by gradually adopting more erect parasagittal leg postures. Legs in a more-erect position are more compliant and are therefore highly adjustable on complex terrains. Additionally, the lizards stabilise their head, which facilitates vestibular and visual perception. Together, compliant legs and head stabilisation enable the lizards to minimise movements of the body centre of mass, even when running on highly irregular terrains. This suggests that the head and the centre of mass are the priority targets for running on uneven terrains. As a result, running performance (mean forward speed) decreases only slightly, and only on the most challenging substrate under investigation.

The Age of Neuroergonomics: Towards Ubiquitous and Continuous Measurement of Brain Function with fNIRS

AbstractNeuroergonomics is an emerging field that investigates the human brain in relation to behavioral performance in natural environments and everyday settings. Functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a noninvasive brain‐monitoring technology that relies on optical techniques to detect changes of cortical hemodynamic responses to human perceptual, cognitive, and motor functioning, is an ideal candidate tool. Ultraportable wearable and wireless fNIRS sensors are already breaking the limitations of traditional neuroimaging approaches that have imposed limitations on experimental protocols, data‐collection settings, and task conditions at the expense of ecological validity. This review summarizes emerging trends for fNIRS applications, from aerospace to medicine, with diverse populations and towards clinical solutions. We will review recent studies, such as mental workload assessment of specialized operators performing standardized and complex cognitive tasks and development of expertise during practice of complex cognitive and visuomotor tasks (ranging from aircraft piloting and robot control). Various recent synergistic fNIRS applications for human–human and human–machine interaction, including synthetic speech perception, interpersonal neural synchronization, and brain computer interfaces, highlight the potential use and are ushering the dawn of a new age in applied neuroscience and neuroengineering.

A novel protocol for studying bee cognition in the wild

Abstract Understanding how animals perceive, learn and remember stimuli is critical for understanding both how cognition is shaped by natural selection, and how ecological factors impact behaviour. However, the majority of studies on cognition involve captive animals in laboratory settings. While controlled settings are required to accurately measure aspects of cognition, they may not yield realistic estimates of learning performance in natural environments. Wild bees offer a useful system in which to study cognitive ecology and comparative cognition more broadly: they encompass around 20,000 species globally, varying in characteristics such as life‐history strategy, degree of sociality and dietary specialization. Yet, the limited number of protocols currently available for studying insect cognition has restricted research to a few commercially available bee species, in almost exclusively laboratory settings. We present a protocol (Free‐Moving Proboscis Extension Response [FMPER]) to measure wild bees’ colour preferences, learning performance and memory. We first used laboratory‐reared bumblebees Bombus impatiens to establish that FMPER yielded results consistent with learning theory. We then successfully tested wild honeybees Apis mellifera in the laboratory and Bombus vosnesenskii at field sites. Free‐Moving Proboscis Extension Response is straightforward to implement, is low cost, and may be readily adapted to other flower‐visiting insects. We believe it will be useful to a broad range of evolutionary biologists, behavioural ecologists and pollination ecologists interested in measuring cognitive performance in the wild and across a broader range of species.

Fast learning in free-foraging bumble bees is negatively correlated with lifetime resource collection

Despite widespread interest in the potential adaptive value of individual differences in cognition, few studies have attempted to address the question of how variation in learning and memory impacts their performance in natural environments. Using a novel split-colony experimental design we evaluated visual learning performance of foraging naïve bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) in an ecologically relevant associative learning task under controlled laboratory conditions, before monitoring the lifetime foraging performance of the same individual bees in the field. We found appreciable variation among the 85 workers tested in both their learning and foraging performance, which was not predicted by colony membership. However, rather than finding that foragers benefited from enhanced learning performance, we found that fast and slow learners collected food at comparable rates and completed a similar number of foraging bouts per day in the field. Furthermore, bees with better learning abilities foraged for fewer days; suggesting a cost of enhanced learning performance in the wild. As a result, slower learning individuals collected more resources for their colony over the course of their foraging career. These results demonstrate that enhanced cognitive traits are not necessarily beneficial to the foraging performance of individuals or colonies in all environments.

An exploration of the ecological validity of the Virtual Action Planning–Supermarket (VAP-S) with people with schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia often have functional limitations that affect their daily activities due to executive function deficits. One way to assess these deficits is through the use of virtual reality programmes that reproduce real-life instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). One such programme is the Virtual Action Planning–Supermarket (VAP-S). This exploratory study aimed to examine the ecological validity of this programme, specifically, how task performance in both virtual and natural environments compares. Case studies were used and involved five participants with schizophrenia, who were familiar with grocery shopping. They were assessed during both the VAP-S shopping task and a real-life grocery shopping task using an observational assessment tool, the Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform (PRPP) System of Task Analysis. The results show that when difficulties were present in the virtual task, difficulties were also observed in the real-life task. For some participants, greater difficulties were observed in the virtual task. These difficulties could be explained by the presence of perceptual deficits and problems remembering the required sequenced actions in the virtual task. In conclusion, performance on the VAP-S by these five participants was generally comparable to the performance in a natural environment.

Photosynthesis in variable environments.

Photosynthesis is one of the most important biochemical processes, underlying almost all life. It is also one of the most vulnerable to environmental stress. Irradiance changes over the diurnal cycle is broadly predictable but, superimposed on that cycle, changes in cloud cover can cause order-of-magnitude variations in irradiance from second to second. The extent of cloud cover will change with the season and, depending on the shorter term weather patterns, giving periods of days to weeks of higher or lower irradiance. For example, the low crop yields in the UK in 2012 have been attributed to low levels of sunshine during the summer of that year. Rapid changes in irradiance can also arise due to sunflecks caused by the movement of leaves and the position of the sun relative to gaps in the canopy. Variation in shading will also affect the spectral quality of absorbed light. Changes in light absorption will have direct effects on the ability of plants to generate ATP and NADPH. At the same time, changes in temperature will affect the ability of plants to use those products of electron transport. The lowering of temperatures will result in a lowering of the rate of enzyme-catalysed reactions. At higher temperatures, changes in the solubility of CO2 and O2 and in the specificity of Rubisco will alter the extent of photorespiration. Temperatures fluctuate diurnally, but also depend on weather patterns over days to months. Fluctuations in water supply, even over short time periods, can lead to variation in stomatal conductance causing the CO2 supply to fluctuate. All of the above factors can lead to imbalances between light capture and light use by the photosynthetic apparatus. When light absorption exceeds the capacity for the energy to be fixed, damage is likely to occur, either directly to the photosynthetic apparatus (especially Photosystem II) or more widespread damage caused by the generation of reactive oxygen species, such as singlet oxygen, superoxide, and hydrogen peroxide. In view of this, it might be thought that plants are in constant danger of bleaching themselves to death. The fact that this does not occur, that most plants are able to tolerate and even thrive in a wide range of continually fluctuating environments, is explained by an array of regulatory mechanisms that optimize the photosynthetic apparatus to the conditions experienced. These mechanisms operate on time-scales ranging from minutes to weeks, with rapid responses involving the regulation of metabolic processes being followed by reengineering of metabolism through changing gene expression and protein concentrations. Most work in plant biology focuses on plants at a steady state. At the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Experimental Biology, there was a session specifically focusing on how plants respond to fluctuations in the environment, in particular, in relation to the effects of dynamic conditions on photosynthesis. Papers included in this focus section present an excellent overview of the state of research in this emerging field, with a range of different approaches being covered. Schottler et al. focus on how different environments alter the composition of the thylakoid membrane, describing work in particular that uses spectroscopic approaches to understand the importance of different responses. The review by Dietz looks at work using a systems biology approach in order to understand the early events in the response of plants to changes in light, examining sensing and signalling pathways. Kaiser et al. examine functional responses to fluctuations while Allahverdiyeva et al. look at processes involved in preventing damage to the photosynthetic apparatus during stress. In addition, the review by Retake et al. adopt a modelling approach to understand what the optimal solution is for plants to acclimate photosynthesis to different fluctuating conditions. Together, these papers provide a good cross-section of the range of different experimental approaches being adopted to understand how plants can improve their photosynthetic performance in natural environments. If we are to increase crop yields to meet growing demands, improving performance under natural conditions will be an essential step, which current strategies are poor at targeting. Defining the important types of fluctuation that affect plant productivity and identifying strategies that allow plants to cope with those will be an important step in meeting productivity goals.

A Study on Effects of Outer Shape of Mobile Robot on Locomotive Performance in Grass Field

Locomotive performance is one of the most important issues for land-based mobile robots, which is designed to be used in natural environment, such as grass fields or forests. We propose a novel method to change outer shape of the robot to increase locomotive performance in natural environment. The robots, which are designed using this method, does not require additional actuators, while conventional mobile robots obtain higher locomotive performance in natural environment using multiple actuators. The objective of this study is to propose a novel design method of outer shape of mobile robots, which is inspired from "icebreakers". Through experiments, we confirmed that locomotive performance is greatly affected by outer shape of mobile robots.

Competitive effects between rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon in natural and artificial streams

AbstractCompetition with non‐native species may impede the restoration of native species, but differences in competitive abilities among intraspecific native populations may make some populations more suitable for reintroduction than others. Here, juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from two allopatric populations (LaHave and Sebago) being used for reintroduction into Lake Ontario were placed into two natural stream sites differing in the presence of ecologically similar rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). We assessed the effects of competition in the natural streams on fitness‐related traits and habitat use of the Atlantic salmon. We then compared these effects to those observed in artificial streams from a previous study. Atlantic salmon in natural streams had reduced fitness‐related traits that were associated with suboptimal microhabitats in the presence of rainbow trout, but utilised optimal microhabitats in their absence. In the presence of rainbow trout, the two Atlantic salmon populations exhibited comparable recapture proportions to each other, but the individuals from the Sebago population had better performance (body size and condition) than those from the LaHave population. Responses of both Atlantic salmon populations to competition with rainbow trout were generally similar in both direction and magnitude when compared to results from the artificial stream study. The combined results suggest that native species restoration efforts should be focused on candidate populations that are ecologically suitable to reintroduction environments, as well as on suitable habitats that do not contain exotic competitors. Moreover, this study highlights the value of controlled experiments in artificial environments for predicting fitness‐related performance in natural environments.

Changes in photosynthesis, pigment composition and glutathione contents in two Antarctic lichens during a light stress and recovery

Over last decades, several studies have been focused on short-term high light stress in lichens under laboratory conditions. Such studies reported a strong photoinhibition of photosynthesis accompanied by a partial photodestruction of PSII, involvement of photoprotective mechanisms, and resynthetic processes into gradual recovery. In our paper, we applied medium [800 μmol(photon) m-2 s-1] light stress to induce negative changes in PSII funcioning as well as pigment and glutathione (GSH) content in two Antarctic fruticose lichen species. Chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence parameters, such as potential and effective quantum yield of photosynthetic processes and fast transients (OJIP) recorded during high light exposition and recovery, revealed that Usnea antarctica was less susceptible to photoinhibition than U. aurantiaco-atra. This might be supported by a more pronounced high light-induced reduction in Chl a and b contents in U. aurantiaco-atra compared with U. antarctica. In both experimental species, total GSH showed an initial increase during the first 30-40 min of high light treatment followed by a decrease (60 min) and an increase during dark recovery. Full GSH recovery, however, was not finished in U. aurantiaco-atra even after 5 h indicating lower capacity of photoprotective mechanisms in the species. OJIP curves showed high light-induced decrease in both species, however, the recovery of the OJIPs shape to pre-photoinhibitory values was faster and more apparent in U. antarctica than in U. aurantiaco-atra. The results are discussed in terms of sensitivity of the two species to photoinhibition and their photosynthetic performance in natural environment.

EXAMINATION AND TO FORM HARMFUL INFLUENCE ON NATURAL ENVIRONMENT FROM EFFECT UNDERGROUND EXPLOATION COAL

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On the Improvement of Walking Performance in Natural Environments by a Compliant Adaptive Gait

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> It is a widespread idea that animal-legged locomotion is better than wheeled locomotion on natural rough terrain. However, the use of legs as a locomotion system for vehicles and robots still has a long way to go before it can compete with wheels and trucks, even on natural ground. This paper aims to solve two main disadvantages plaguing walking robots: their inability to react to external disturbances (which is also a drawback of wheeled robots); and their extreme slowness. Both problems are reduced here by combining: 1) a gait-parameter-adaptation method that maximizes a dynamic energy stability margin and 2) an active-compliance controller with a new term that compensates for stability variations, thus helping the robot react stably in the face of disturbances. As a result, the combined gait-adaptation approach helps the robot achieve faster, more stable compliant motions than conventional controllers. Experiments performed with the SILO4 quadruped robot show a relevant improvement in the walking gait. </para>

Carbon Gain by Plants in Natural Environments

P hysiological ecologists have long been concerned with photosynthesis, which incorporates carbon to provide plants with all their energy and structural building blocks. This carbon gain is an important aspect of plant performance in natural environments. The acquisition and use of other resources, such as nitrogen and water, are tightly linked to photosynthetic performance. For example, energy from photosynthesis is employed for nitrogen acquisition and reduction, and photosynthetic capacity is strongly coupled to leaf nitrogen content (Chapin et al., p. 49, this issue). Photosynthesis is also closely related to water movement in a plant. To facilitate absorption of carbon dioxide for use in photosynthesis, a leaf must have wet cell surfaces. As a consequence, transpiration uses nearly all of the water taken up