Visual Access Research Articles

Is Unilateral Extended Pterional Craniotomy Preferable Over Bicoronal (Bifrontal) Craniotomy in Large or Giant Olfactory Groove Meningiomas?

Bicoronal incision and bifrontal craniotomy are commonly used for resecting large (4-6 cm) or giant ( 6cm) olfactory groove meningiomas (OGMs). Although the bifrontal approach provides good bilateral visual access to the anterior cranial fossa, it is associated with the risk of injury to the frontal bridging veins and superior sagittal sinus, infection, and CSF leakage due to the frontal sinus neighborhood. This was a retrospective review of 16patients (nine men and seven women) with large and giant OGMs operated through unilateral extended pterional craniotomy between 2010 and 2022. The radiological characteristics, clinical features,and surgical outcomes were evaluated. All patients underwent surgical resection via a unilateral extended pterional approach.The mean age of patients was 62.1 years. The most common presenting symptoms were altered consciousness, seizures, headache,and anosmia. Ten (62.5%) and 6 (37.5%) patients had large (4-6 cm) and giant ( 6 cm) OGMs, respectively. The mean tumor diameter was 6.3cm (range:4-9). Simpson grade2 resection was achieved in all 16 patients. Unilateral extended pterional craniotomy offers a safe and effective alternative to the bilateral coronal approach for large and giant OGMs, minimizing risks of frontal lobe retraction, brain edema, and venous infarction. This approach allows for total resection with very low morbidity and mortality rates, making it a viable surgical approach for these complex tumors.

Proactive monitoring and security in cloud infrastructure: leveraging tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and HashiCorp Vault for Robust DevOps Practices

This study investigates proactive monitoring and security within cloud infrastructure, focusing on implementing tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and HashiCorp Vault to enhance operational resilience and data security. As cloud adoption grows, so does the complexity of maintaining secure systems amidst ever-evolving threats and regulatory pressures. By integrating these tools within DevOps workflows, organizations can achieve real-time monitoring, visualization, and secure access management, significantly strengthening their cloud environments. A systematic literature review was conducted, examining each tool's unique capabilities, the limitations they address, and the potential for combined functionality to offer a layered security approach. The findings reveal that while these tools are invaluable for preemptively detecting threats and managing access, they require continuous refinement to meet scalability, compatibility, and compliance demands. This study concludes that a proactive, integrative approach utilizing Prometheus for data collection and alerting, Grafana for visualization, and HashiCorp Vault for secret management fosters robust cloud security practices. Recommended strategies include adopting zero-trust architectures, utilizing automated compliance tools, and integrating sustainability principles in cloud management to ensure both security and operational efficiency. Ultimately, this study emphasizes the need for adaptive security frameworks that evolve alongside technological advancements, positioning organizations to safeguard their digital assets and respond to emerging threats with agility and confidence.

Online level-2 perspective taking for newly learnt symbols.

Humans demonstrate spontaneous sensitivity to other people's perspectives on object identities in online tasks. Evidence shows that this not only involves representing the mere discrepancy between perspectives, but the content of such perspectives as well (level-2 perspective taking/L2PT). However, this evidence comes from studies using culturally grounded symbols which leaves open the possibility that having extensive, easily accessible background knowledge about an object is necessary for the L2PT effect. Experiment 1 tested this by comparing L2PT across two groups: one performing a verification task on Arabic numbers, and one on newly learnt symbol-label pairs. In both groups, half of the visual stimuli was symmetrical, while half was asymmetrical. In both cases, there was a joint condition: participants performed the task in parallel with a partner, observing stimuli from opposite angles, thus having conflicting interpretations for asymmetric characters. Furthermore, they also performed the verification task individually, while their partner had no visual access to the stimuli. We found an interference effect in both groups. However, while the effect was stable in the number group, it diminished over time in the symbol group. Experiments 2a and 2b demonstrated that the complexity of the recently learnt symbols has an influence on spontaneous L2PT: the same procedure with more complex symbols did not elicit any interference effect. Our results show that online L2PT is not limited to objects that participants have proficiency in identifying. Nevertheless, the L2PT effect seems to diminish when participants have to process increasingly complex novel symbols.

The impact of the visual design of public spaces In the Arabic city

A good design of public urban spaces considers all the visual and aesthetic determinants dedicated to its formation. In a design of public urban spaces in European cities, it is a studying perception of form in the townscape. In addition, most design focuses on the details of constituent elements to suit the overall consideration to aesthetic form. It has a lack of design study in the Arab cities, where all the considerations are not fully applied. The design neglects the study of the visual dimensions and the cultural identity of the Arab city. Therefore, this research is to fill the knowledge gaps and deficiencies about the formation of the urban spaces in Arab cities. The Methodology of this research is descriptive and analytic. It discusses the design determinants of visual and aesthetic composition of public spaces in the Arab cities. It is also a study on the determinants of visual reading of its components by analyzing their forms and their relationship with the surrounding elements (building masses, street furniture elements) and by using the space syntax assessment technique to identify the foundations and visual access to a graphic and aesthetic design reflecting the Arabic identity.

The effect of oral cavity condition on expression of saliva biomarkers in patients with oral mucosa pathology

Introduction. Despite visual accessibility of the elements of tumor lesions in the oral mucosa, patients with this pathology rarely seek medical help. Regeneration of the mucosa is a long process taking varying time depending on the location of the lesions. Asymptomatic tumor process leads to its diagnosis at late stages.Aim. To develop clinical and proteomic approach to diagnosis of malignancies of the oral mucosa at the stage of out-patient dentist appointment.Clinical observations. Examples of extended clinical, dental and immunoenzymatic monitoring in patients with elements of tumor lesions of the oral mucosa with long-term course are presented.Conclusion. The use of extended clinical, dental and immunoenzymatic analysis of oral fluid in patients with elements of tumor lesions of the oral mucosa allows to diagnose this pathology early.

Development of the Children's Wellbeing Continuum: Fostering Conversation in Child Mental Health

Objective: The growing focus on child mental health presents opportunities for prevention and early intervention. A shared, accessible language to describe child mental health that is understood by both parents and professionals across diverse settings is crucial. This study aimed to design and test a novel Children's Wellbeing Continuum tool as a shared communication resource to help adults discuss and reflect on a child's mental health.Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted with Australian educators, health professionals, and parents/caregivers. A Delphi consensus study (n = 261) was used to establish consensus on the language for a four-point continuum model. Subsequently, focus groups (n = 69) gathered qualitative feedback on the language, visual elements and utility of the continuum tool across diverse contexts (e.g., schools, primary health care, First Nations Communities).Findings: The terms “good, coping, struggling, overwhelmed” emerged as the preferred terms for the anchor points along the continuum tool. A traffic-light colour system and accompanying emoticons were supported for visual accessibility. Descriptors of functioning/symptoms were deemed too confusing and excluded from the final version. Inductive content analysis revealed that participants valued the continuum as a tool to facilitate discussions about a child's mental health among stakeholders in the ‘team’ supporting the child.Conclusions: The Children's Wellbeing Continuum, developed through extensive stakeholder consultation, is designed as a universal early intervention and prevention tool to start a conversation and encourage dialogue about a child's mental health. It has the potential to improve early help-seeking, reduce stigma, and strengthen support systems for children.

Heliconius butterflies use wide-field landscape features, but not individual local landmarks, during spatial learning.

Spatial learning is vital in foraging ecology. Many hymenopteran insects are adept spatial foragers that rely on visual cues contained within broader wide-field scenes for central place foraging from a central nest. By contrast, for butterflies, which lack central nest sites, visual cue use during spatial foraging is less understood. Heliconius butterflies, however, exhibit stable nocturnal roosts, strong site fidelity and a sophisticated capacity for spatial navigation. This study furthers our understanding of Heliconius spatial learning by testing whether H. erato can associate a spatially informative visual cue with artificial feeders. We explored the relative importance of a visual local landmark compared with broader, wide-field visual cues, through experiments with (i) a fixed rewarded feeder with a local landmark; (ii) a mobile rewarded feeder with the landmark as the sole reliable cue; (iii) the same setup while blocking visual access to external landscape features. Our data suggest that Heliconius butterflies learn static feeder locations without relying on a local individual landmark. Instead, we suggest they integrate broader landscape and celestial cues. This suggests that Heliconius butterflies and central place foraging hymenopterans likely share similar visual navigation strategies, using wide-field, low-resolution views rather than focusing on specific individual landmarks.

Is compensation a myth? Modelling the use of public and private urban green spaces in relation to the geographical context

The compensation hypothesis postulates that the absence of green spaces in residential areas leads to a greater use of public green spaces and nature in general. This paper tests this hypothesis by focusing on the use of public and private urban green spaces. A holistic approach is adopted that considers the complexity of residential context and the use of urban, peripheral and private green spaces. A survey was conducted in two medium-sized French cities (Dijon and Besançon) to identify how their green spaces were used and perceived. The residential context was described through multiple spatial and environmental metrics (physical and visual access to nature, noise level, private green space area) that were GIS-referenced to postal addresses. On the basis of that data, the compensation hypothesis was explored using a PLS path model. The results show the absence of compensatory behaviour when considering just the overall relationships between the use of different types of green spaces. However, conditional compensatory behaviours can be detected when allowance is made for other variables (physical and visual accessibility to nature, type of housing, dwelling floor area, noise level). These results remain dependent on the geographical context of the city, with a higher compensation effect where natural areas are less accessible.

Landmark knowledge overrides optic flow in honeybee waggle dance distance estimation.

Honeybees encode in their waggle dances the vector (distance and direction) of an outbound flight to a food source or a new nest site. Optic flow has been identified as the major source of information in the distance estimation. Additional components of distance estimation were also identified, e.g. the sequence of experienced landmarks. Here, we address the question of whether bees also use the landscape memory developed during exploratory orientation flights to estimate distance. We took advantage of the fact that flights in a narrow tunnel lead to further distance measures as a result of higher optic flow. We found that this effect was lost when bees had explored the area in which the tunnel was located and when they had somewhat restricted visual access to the surrounding environment through the mesh on top of the tunnel. These data are interpreted in the context of other findings about the structure of navigational memory in bees that develops during exploratory orientation flights. In particular, the data suggest that bees embed distance measures into a representation of navigational space that stores previously experienced landscape features.

Measuring Street Quality: A Human-Centered Exploration Based on Multi-Sourced Data and Classical Urban Design Theories

Advancements in analytical tools have facilitated numerous studies on perceived street quality. However, most have focused on limited aspects of street quality, failing to capture a comprehensive perception. This study introduces a quantitative approach to holistically measure street quality by integrating three key dimensions: visual perception, network accessibility, and functional diversity. Using Beijing and Shanghai as case studies, we employed artificial neural networks to analyze street view images and quantify the visual characteristics of streets. Additionally, street network accessibility was assessed through spatial design network analysis, and functional diversity was evaluated using the entropy of points of interest (POIs) data. The evaluation results were combined using the analytic hierarchy process. The reliability and accuracy of this method were validated through further testing. Our approach offers a human-centered, large-scale measurement framework, providing valuable insights for urban street renewal and design.

Energy saving potential of passive radiative cool coating in high-rise data center with neighboring infrastructure

To coordinate with the evolution of I&T, it is indicated to enhance the number of data center (DC) worldwide, which involves enormous cooling demand that may lead to energy wastage if the facility is not constructed energy-efficiently, impeding decarbonization. Passive radiative cooler (PRC) have exhibited their energy-saving capability in many studies. Being a windowless building, DC has extensive coverage area for PRC comparing to other buildings that require outdoor visual access. The power-saving potential of a dual-layer daytime radiative cooling paint (DDRCC) in a high-rise DC was investigated at multi-building scale using a self-created site model under Hong Kong's humid subtropical climate. Besides the roof, which has been the target PRC-employed surface in previous studies, this work deployed DDRCC on roof and vertical façade of the DC, attaining optimal saving of 652–821 kW and cooling power of 23.4–29.5 W/m2, demonstrating its practicability in high-rise building. DDRCC accomplished cooling power of 2.5–48.0 W/m2 in scenarios with various configuration of PRC-utilized envelope. Additionally, for the site studied, the cooling power of DDRCC enhanced with aspect ratio when the height of adjacent buildings was comparable to the DC. DDRCC was competent to achieve power-saving with walls of different thermal resistances.

Impact of natural views on mental health during COVID-19 quarantine: A natural experiment

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the daily lives of people, and countries worldwide have implemented public health measures that restricted social contact and interactions. Individuals in isolation displayed increased mental health issues, for whom windows are a crucial means of connecting with the outside world. However, few studies have discussed the effect of having a window view on the mental health of individuals in quarantine. This study uses a natural experiment to address this knowledge gap. Between January 27, 2022 and June 19, 2022, individuals in Taiwan who were assigned to quarantine hotel room with various window views were recruited through Facebook groups. Participants completed a baseline assessment at the beginning of their quarantine period that included room and window conditions and mental health conditions, followed by a posttest assessment of the same mental health measures. Questions related to window conditions included the proportions of natural and urban landscapes viewable from their hotel windows, human activities they could observe (flow of people), and their viewshed broadness. Subsequently, this study investigated how visual access to greenness influenced the positive mental health, depression, and stress of the participants before and during quarantine. In total, 81 participants participated. The results of this study indicated that viewing vegetation and the ratio of windows to walls were associated with improved mental health, reduced symptoms of depression, and reduced stress. Specifically, an open view in the room was associated with lower levels of depression (p < 0.001) and stress (p < 0.000). Additionally, viewing people through windows was associated with reduced depressive symptoms (p < 0.006). The results of this study can inform policies for pandemic containment, but also broadly for health care, hospitals, and other related fields.

A Study on the Effect of Urban Form on the Street Interface Rhythm Based on Multisource Data and Waveform Classification

Good-quality urban street space is crucial for improving walkability. Frequency and amplitude are the main spatial characteristics of the street interface rhythm, known as a “virtual–real” relation. Exploring the mechanism influencing the urban street interface rhythm can help grasp the movement trend. In this study, the correlation between frequency and urban form is explored through a Pearson correlation analysis with multisource data, and the factors influencing the urban street interface rhythm are presented. The results indicate that frequency has a moderate negative correlation with the block scale and a moderate positive correlation with the number of pedestrian access entrances (PAE-n); the PAE-n also has a strong negative correlation with the block scale. Some spatial characteristics of outstanding streets from different countries are analyzed and discussed based on waveform classification. The regularities of interface rhythm that exist within multiple streets are found: multiple gaps on the street interface exist, acting as a “beat”, which regularly integrates or separates the street interface rhythm. The frequency and amplitude of the “beat” significantly affect streets’ walkability, and the amplitude is generally low and uniform, with good visual accessibility in all directions. A “Small Block and Dense Grid” becomes a key factor in improving walkability. Basic knowledge of the street interface rhythm in urban walking space research is supplemented by this study. Furthermore, theoretical guidance and parametric evidence are provided to improve walkability and promote the continuation of the traditional context.

Greenness visibility in urban living environments as pathway to promote health and well-being: Mapping spatial differentiation in Flanders (Belgium) based on viewshed analysis

A substantial body of evidence links green space to positive health outcomes. Beyond the availability of dedicated green spaces such as parks and the overall presence of vegetation and trees, visual exposure to greenery has also been shown to be important for well-being. Enhancing visual access to greenery may thus represent a pathway to promoting health and well-being. However, at regional or national scales, insights into disparities in visual access to greenery remain scarce. Most research and policy efforts rely on two-dimensional (top-down) data, which often fails to accurately capture the amount of greenery visible from individual perspectives, such as from within homes.This study builds on the work of Labib et al. [20], who developed a high-resolution (5 m grid) Viewshed Greenness Visibility Index (VGVI) for the Greater Manchester area (UK). By introducing technical improvements that significantly increased computational efficiency, we extended this approach to create a comprehensive VGVI map for Flanders, the northern region of Belgium. The resulting map enabled a broad assessment of VGVI disparities across Flanders. Our findings reveal evidence of distributive environmental injustice, as demonstrated by a strong negative correlation (Spearman's Rho = -0.48) between neighbourhood deprivation levels and VGVI scores. In Flanders, residents of more deprived neighbourhoods are exposed to significantly lower levels of visible greenery.We further explored the differences and similarities between traditional top-down greenness mapping and VGVI, which provides an eye-level perspective. Although a strong positive correlation was observed at the regional scale (Pearson's r = 0.80), this relationship weakens at the local level. Our findings suggest that VGVI analysis is particularly valuable at smaller geographic scales, making it especially relevant for research or spatial policies that address disparities in individual living conditions or target specific locations, such as schools, nurseries, hospitals, retirement homes, and community centres.

Differences in need for and access to eye health services between older people with and without disability: A cross-sectional survey in four districts of northern Uganda.

Eye health and disability are both common among older people, and it is important to understand how disability relates to visual health status and access to services. While people with disabilities face barriers to accessing health services, few studies have measured participants' functional status in domains other than vision and little evidence exists on how disability impacts eye health services access. This paper describes how visual impairment and access to eye health services differ between people aged 50 years and above with and without disability in Karamoja, Uganda, and explores the factors driving that difference. This was a cross-sectional survey among individuals aged 50 years and above. A standardised eye health survey was conducted, with additional questions on personal and health characteristics. Ophthalmologists conducted a vision examination, and recorded participants' self-reported functional difficulties using the Washington Group Short Set Enhanced. Descriptive analyses were conducted using Stata, and multivariate models constructed to explore relationships. 21.7% of respondents self-reported some sort of functional difficulty. Twenty-five percent of individuals with a non-visual functional difficulty are also blind, and a further 29% experience a lower level of VI. In a multivariate model, blindness was associated with self-reported difficulties seeing, but not any other type of difficulty. Blindness was also associated with age, not being married, and living in a smaller household. Access to cataract surgery was associated with non-visual functional difficulties, male gender, and having a regular household income. This study confirms that in the study area, disability and visual impairment are common among people aged 50 years and above, access to eye health services is low, and self-reported functional difficulties are not associated with lower access to services.

Verifying Welding Processes Selection for a Case Study Using an Analytic Hierarchical Process

This paper aims to develop a framework for differentiating the selection of welding processes using specialized knowledge-based expert systems, which are particularly useful in dealing with issues that require complex decision-making. A program was created and programmed using the process information maps (PRIMAs) matrix in Visual Basic Access for selecting welding processes in a study. The program is in two stages. In the first stage, it excludes non-candidate operations according to several criteria, the most important of which is the type of metal and its thickness. The second stage is arranging operations using multi-criteria methods for decision-making through research to resolve complicated problems involving multiple factors. The hierarchical analysis process (AHP) was used. It is considered one of the most frequently used multi-criteria decision-making methods. The selection of analytic hierarchical process. AHP criteria depend on experience and knowledge rather than specific data for selecting alternatives and determining weights. The methodology is straightforward, easy to comprehend, and applicable to various domains needing intricate decision-making. The program results are compared with those of a previously published case to choose the best welding processes for a study case, which is a home radiator, and results matching the candidate processes were discovered.

Is vision necessary for the timely acquisition of language-specific patterns in co-speech gesture and their lack in silent gesture?

Blind adults display language-specificity in their packaging and ordering of events in speech. These differences affect the representation of events in co-speech gesture-gesturing with speech-but not in silent gesture-gesturing without speech. Here we examine when in development blind children begin to show adult-like patterns in co-speech and silent gesture. We studied speech and gestures produced by 30 blind and 30 sighted children learning Turkish, equally divided into 3 age groups: 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 years. The children were asked to describe three-dimensional spatial event scenes (e.g., running out of a house) first with speech, and then without speech using only their hands. We focused on physical motion events, which, in blind adults, elicit cross-linguistic differences in speech and co-speech gesture, but cross-linguistic similarities in silent gesture. Our results showed an effect of language on gesture when it was accompanied by speech (co-speech gesture), but not when it was used without speech (silent gesture) across both blind and sighted learners. The language-specific co-speech gesture pattern for both packaging and ordering semantic elements was present at the earliest ages we tested the blind and sighted children. The silent gesture pattern appeared later for blind children than sighted children for both packaging and ordering. Our findings highlight gesture as a robust and integral aspect of the language acquisition process at the early ages and provide insight into when language does and does not have an effect on gesture, even in blind children who lack visual access to gesture. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Gestures, when produced with speech (i.e., co-speech gesture), follow language-specific patterns in event representation in both blind and sighted children. Gestures, when produced without speech (i.e., silent gesture), do not follow the language-specific patterns in event representation in both blind and sighted children. Language-specific patterns in speech and co-speech gestures are observable at the same time in blind and sighted children. The cross-linguistic similarities in silent gestures begin slightly later in blind children than in sighted children.

The Use of Augmented Reality as an Educational Tool in Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion.

One of the major challenges in training neurosurgical and orthopedic residents the technique for minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) is the lack of visualization of surgical landmarks (pedicle, pars, lamina). This is due to the limited access to the bony spine through a tubular retractor, in addition to a smaller working corridor or patient-specific factors such as bony overgrowth, disk space collapse, and listhesis. These factors increase the possibility for surgical error and prolonged surgery time. With augmented reality (AR), relevant surgical anatomy can be projected directly into the user's field of view through the microscope. The purpose of this study was to assess the utility, accuracy, efficiency, and precision of AR-guided MIS-TLIF and to determine its impact in spine surgery training. At 2 centers, 12 neurosurgical residents performed a one-level MIS-TLIF on a high-fidelity lumbar spine simulation model with and without AR projection into the microscope. For the MIS-TLIF procedures with AR, surgical landmarks were highlighted in different colors on preoperative image data. These landmarks were visualized in the spinal navigation application on the navigation monitor and in the microscope to confirm the relevant anatomy. Postprocedural surveys (National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index) were given to the residents. Twelve residents were included in this trial. AR-guided procedures had a consistent impact on resident anatomical orientation and workload experience. Procedures performed without AR had a significantly higher mental demand (P = .003) than with AR. Residents reported to a significantly higher rate that it was harder work for them to accomplish their level of performance without AR (P = .019). AR can bring a meaningful value in MIS teaching and training to confirm relevant anatomy in situations where the surgeon will have less direct visual access. AR used in surgical simulation can also speed the learning curve.

Visually communicating pathological changes: A case study on the effectiveness of phong versus outline shading

In this paper, we investigate the suitability of different visual representations of pathological growth and shrinkage using surface models of intracranial aneurysms and liver tumors. By presenting complex medical information in a visually accessible manner, audiences can better understand and comprehend the progression of pathological structures. Previous work in medical visualization provides an extensive design space for visualizing medical image data. However, determining which visualization techniques are appropriate for a general audience has not been thoroughly investigated.We conducted a user study (n = 40) to evaluate different visual representations in terms of their suitability for solving tasks and their aesthetics. We created surface models representing the evolution of pathological structures over multiple discrete time steps and visualized them using illumination-based and illustrative techniques. Our results indicate that users’ aesthetic preferences largely coincide with their preferred visualization technique for task-solving purposes. In general, the illumination-based technique has been preferred to the illustrative technique, but the latter offers great potential for increasing the accessibility of visualizations to users with color vision deficiencies.

Breaking Barriers to Visual Care: Ophthalmology Nights at a Free Clinic

Summary: This report from the field provides an overview of Ophthalmology Nights at the Free Clinic at Lubbock Impact, highlighting its challenges and its usefulness in combating disparities in visual care accessibility for our high-risk population.