Visual Format Research Articles

Visual Discrete Format: An Alternative to Likert-Type Formats of Survey Items Sensitive Enough to Measure Small Changes in Stable Constructs Such as Self-Concept in Science

A visual discrete format was developed for use in surveys as an alternative to a Likert-type format to measure changes in a relatively stable construct before and after an intervention. Visitors to a science centre ranging in age from 8 years old upwards were asked to complete surveys that included a seven-item questionnaire scale on self-concept in science using either the Likert-type format (n=446) or the visual discrete format (n=375), before and after their visit. A new set of statements to assess self-concept in science were developed and validated so they could be conducted on either format. Matched responses were used to calculate internal consistency, standard deviation, confidence interval and percentage of missing values; these were all similar for both formats. In the visual discrete format, text labels were replaced by visual labels with a single image of different size for each response option. While a Likert-type format describes a level of agreement/disagreement with a specific item, the visual discrete format relates more to choosing the best reflection of the self in relation to that item. The Likert-type format included a set of emoji in its descriptions to appeal to younger participants. The visual discrete questionnaire scale detected a small increase with medium effect size in self-concept in science after the visit to the science centre while the Likert-type questionnaire scale did not detect any change. This suggests the proposed new format can not only be a viable and useful alternative, but potentially more sensitive under certain conditions.

EyeVolve, a modular PYTHON based model for simulating developmental eye type diversification.

Vision is among the oldest and arguably most important sensory modalities for animals to interact with their external environment. Although many different eye types exist within the animal kingdom, mounting evidence indicates that the genetic networks required for visual system formation and function are relatively well conserved between species. This raises the question as to how common developmental programs are modified in functionally different eye types. Here, we approached this issue through EyeVolve, an open-source PYTHON-based model that recapitulates eye development based on developmental principles originally identified in Drosophila melanogaster. Proof-of-principle experiments showed that this program’s animated timeline successfully simulates early eye tissue expansion, neurogenesis, and pigment cell formation, sequentially transitioning from a disorganized pool of progenitor cells to a highly organized lattice of photoreceptor clusters wrapped with support cells. Further, tweaking just five parameters (precursor pool size, founder cell distance and placement from edge, photoreceptor subtype number, and cell death decisions) predicted a multitude of visual system layouts, reminiscent of the varied eye types found in larval and adult arthropods. This suggests that there are universal underlying mechanisms that can explain much of the existing arthropod eye diversity. Thus, EyeVolve sheds light on common principles of eye development and provides a new computational system for generating specific testable predictions about how development gives rise to diverse visual systems from a commonly specified neuroepithelial ground plan.

Children with strabismus and amblyopia presented abnormal spontaneous brain activities measured through fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF).

PurposeBased on fMRI technology, we explored whether children with strabismus and amblyopia (SA) showed significant change in fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) values in specific brain regions compared with healthy controls and whether this change could point to the clinical manifestations and pathogenesis of children with strabismus to a certain extent.MethodsWe enrolled 23 children with SA and the same number matched healthy controls in the ophthalmology department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, and the whole brain was scanned by rs-fMRI. The fALFF value of each brain area was derived to examine whether there is a statistical difference between the two groups. Meanwhile, the ROC curve was made in a view to evaluate whether this difference proves useful as a diagnostic index. Finally, we analyzed whether changes in the fALFF value of some specific brain regions are related to clinical manifestations.ResultsCompared with HCs, children with SA presented decreased fALFF values in the left temporal pole: the superior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and right supplementary motor area. Meanwhile, they also showed higher fALFF values in specific brain areas, which included the left precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal, and left precuneus.ConclusionChildren with SA showed abnormal fALFF values in different brain regions. Most of these regions were allocated to the visual formation pathway, the eye movement-related pathway, or other visual-related pathways, suggesting the pathological mechanism of the patient.

The relationship between interactive-imagery instructions and association memory.

Interactive imagery, one of the most effective strategies for remembering pairs of words, involves asking participants to form mental images during study. We tested the hypothesis that the visual image is, in fact, responsible for its memory benefit. Neither subjectively reported vividness (all experiments) nor objective imagery skill (experiments 1 and 3) could explain the benefit of interactive imagery for cued recall. Aphantasic participants, who self-identified little to no mental imagery, benefited from interactive-imagery instructions as much as controls (experiment 3). Imagery instructions did not improve memory for the constituent order of associations (AB versus BA), even when participants were told how to incorporate order within their images (experiments 1 and 2). Taken together, our results suggest that the visual format of images may not be responsible for the effectiveness of the interactive-imagery instruction and moreover, interactive imagery may not result in qualitatively different associative memories.

PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING HUMAN ANATOMY FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS MAJORING IN 228 "PEDIATRICS"

The work is devoted to the methodological features of the study of human anatomy by pediatric students. The experience of the department in teaching human anatomy in the light of the "Strategy for the development of medical education", taking into account the content of educational programs and current trends in digitalization of higher education in general and medicine in particular. The experience of application of interdisciplinary integration of curricula, accompanied by increasing the effectiveness of training of future pediatricians by giving practical lectures together with leading experts in propaedeutics of pediatrics, which allows as close as possible to modern requirements of the educational environment. And the use of computer testing has a training section that helps to master the material passed, and through the use of graphical tests, contributes to the visual formation of chains of interconnected processes. The issue of optimization of the educational process in medical educational institutions is relevant for the training of highly qualified personnel. In view of the above, classes with pediatric students require special attention of teachers of the department to ensure optimal conditions for the educational process using educational materials, visual aids, computer teaching aids, which allows to structure the student's cognitive activity to acquire the necessary in further knowledge and skills.

The Future of Visual Documentation? Assessing the Use of Videography in Facial Plastic Surgery.

Recent technological advancements in the field of portable electronics have facilitated the use of videography as a form of visual documentation in facial plastic surgery. Currently, the degree of video adoption and perceptions relating to its use in plastic surgery are not known. This study aimed to evaluate the current use, perceptions, and barriers regarding the adoption of video in the clinical practice of facial plastic surgery. A cross-sectional study of all American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery members was conducted through an e-mail-disseminated 24-item online survey. A total of 164 surgeons responded to the survey. Nearly all surgeons reported routinely employing photography for the documentation and marketing of surgical results. Fewer than 25% of respondents acknowledged using video to document surgical outcomes. Younger surgeons (<10 years in practice) and those in academic practices were significantly more likely to adopt videography (32 vs. 17%, p = 0.042 and 38 vs. 18%, p = 0.027, respectively). Most surgeons regarded video as the superior visual documentation format for dynamic facial expression and as being more difficult to deceptively manipulate. Most frequently cited barriers to adoption included time-consuming capture, file editing/storage requirements, and lack of clear standards. Videography holds favorable potential as the future format of visual documentation in facial plastic surgery due to its ability to capture the full range of dynamic facial expression. Establishing standards and setup guidelines for video capture will be essential in increasing its adoption.

Vision-based method for semantic information extraction in construction by integrating deep learning object detection and image captioning

Recently, vision-based monitoring has been widely adopted in construction management to improve crew productivity, reduce safety risks, and facilitate site planning. However, automated retrieval of semantic information (e.g., objects, activities, and interactions between objects) from construction images remains challenging due to the complex nature of construction sites. This paper proposes a novel semantic information extraction method by integrating deep learning object detection and image captioning, which aims to explore salient information from construction images or videos. In the proposed method, object detection has been employed as an encoder to extract the feature maps of construction object zones and the holistic image. The image captioning has been selected as the decoder to extract the semantic information. A post-processing method has been proposed to parse the semantic information into a graph format for better accessibility and visualization. In experiments, the proposed method has achieved the Consensus-based Image Description Evaluation (CIDEr) of 1.84. By adopting the proposed method, semantic information behind construction images can be presented to construction managers to assist their decision-making.

Effect of lithium chloride on food intake, cloacal temperature, voluntary activity, and crop-emptying rate in chicks

Infections frequently accompany with non-specific symptoms such as anorexia and hyperthermia. In addition, there may be unpleasant sensations such as visceral discomfort during infection. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a Gram-negative bacteria cell wall component, is known to induce the unpleasant sensation of conditioned taste aversion in mammals. However, the relationship between unpleasant sensations and changes in behavior and physiological conditions has not been investigated extensively in birds. Lithium chloride (LiCl) is a compound that induces unpleasant sensations, including visceral discomfort, although its effects on behavior and physiological conditions have also not been investigated extensively in birds. Thus, the present study was aimed to investigate the effect of an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of LiCl on conditioned visual aversion, food intake, cloacal temperature, voluntary activity, crop-emptying rate, and blood constituents in chicks (Gallus gallus). We also examined the effect of IP injections of LPS and zymosan, a cell wall component of fungus, on conditioned visual aversion formation. First, IP injection of LiCl was confirmed to induce conditioned visual aversion in chicks. An IP injection of LiCl significantly decreased food intake, voluntary activity, and crop-emptying rate but did not affect the temperature. In addition, the injection of LiCl significantly increased plasma corticosterone concentration, indicating that LiCl serves as a stressor in chicks. Finally, IP injections of LPS and zymosan were found to induce conditioned visual aversion in chicks. Collectively, these results suggest that LiCl induces conditioned aversion, anorexia, hypoactivity, and inhibition of crop-emptying in chicks. In addition, LPS and zymosan would induce unpleasant sensations in chicks.

Luxotonic signals in human prefrontal cortex as a possible substrate for effects of light on mood and cognition

Studies with experimental animals have revealed a mood-regulating neural pathway linking intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC), involved in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Since humans also have light-intensity-encoding ipRGCs, we asked whether a similar pathway exists in humans. Here, functional MRI was used to identify PFC regions and other areas exhibiting light-intensity-dependent signals. We report 26 human brain regions having activation that either monotonically decreases or monotonically increases with light intensity. Luxotonic-related activation occurred across the cerebral cortex, in diverse subcortical structures, and in the cerebellum, encompassing regions with functions related to visual image formation, motor control, cognition, and emotion. Light suppressed PFC activation, which monotonically decreased with increasing light intensity. The sustained time course of light-evoked PFC responses and their susceptibility to prior light exposure resembled those of ipRGCs. These findings offer a functional link between light exposure and PFC-mediated cognitive and affective phenomena.

CONTEMPORARY INDIAN ART FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA: TAKING CHARGE OF A DYING PLANET

This paper analyses how contemporary Indian art responds to the Anthropocene, an era marked by heightened impact of human actions on earth. It seeks to re-establish the role of humanities and arts in the face of an impending disaster by using the theoretical framework of Critical Posthumanism and Anthropocene Studies. Eco art engages with the current critical and philosophical debates on the Anthropocene, catering to the emotion of people and making them sensitive towards the concerns of the Anthropocene, at the same time paving the path for a more sustainable future. The first section of the paper analyses the sculptures and exhibits installed at India International Centre in January 2020 under the title “We are still Alive: Strategies in Surviving the Anthropocene”. A careful analysis of these installations shows that they speak volumes of meaning directly striking a chord with the observers. The second section analyses another form of visual arts which is comics. Rohan Chakravarty’s Green Humor for a Greying Planet is the perfect example of how humor and visual arts can combine to entertain, educate and initiate a big change. Along with Visual arts other formats like Music can also prove to be an essential medium of dealing with the Anthropocene. The third section analyses the Music of a Delhi-based artist Rafoo and how it responds to the Anthropocene. The aim of this research article is to provide critical observations on how artists can take charge to protect a dying planet.

ViViD++ : Vision for Visibility Dataset

In this letter, we present a dataset capturing diverse visual data formats that target varying luminance conditions. While RGB cameras provide nourishing and intuitive information, changes in lighting conditions potentially result in catastrophic failure for robotic applications based on vision sensors. Approaches overcoming illumination problems have included developing more robust algorithms or other types of visual sensors, such as thermal and event cameras. Despite the alternative sensors’ potential, there still are few datasets with alternative vision sensors. Thus, we provided a dataset recorded from alternative vision sensors, by handheld or mounted on a car, repeatedly in the same space but in different conditions. We aim to acquire visible information from co-aligned alternative vision sensors. Our sensor system collects data more independently from visible light intensity by measuring the amount of infrared dissipation, depth by structured reflection, and instantaneous temporal changes in luminance. We provide these measurements along with inertial sensors and ground-truth for developing robust visual SLAM under poor illumination.

Helping Patients Understand Pancreatic Cancer Using Animated Pancreas Patient Education With Visual Formats of Learning.

Patient education and resources that address barriers to health literacy to improve understanding in pancreatic cancer are limited. We evaluated the impact and outcomes benefits of Animated Pancreas Patient (APP) cancer educational modules (APP website and YouTube). A retrospective study of APP metrics and utilization data from September 2013 to February 2021 was conducted. We evaluated audience reach and calculated top views by media type (animation/expert video/patient video/slideshow) and top retention videos from the modules. During the study period, APP had 4,551,079 views worldwide of which 2,757,064 unique visitors or 60% were from the United States. Of these, 54% were patients, 17% were family members or caregivers, 16% were health care providers, and 13% were other. The most popular topic viewed among the animations was "Understanding Clinical Trials" (n = 182,217), and the most common expert video viewed was "What are the different stages of pancreatic cancer?" (n = 15,357). Pancreatic cancer patient education using APP's visual formats of learning demonstrated a wide reach and had a significant impact on improved understanding among patients, families, and caregivers. Continued efforts should be made to provide patient resources that address health literacy, better quality of life and improved health outcomes in pancreatic cancer.

Interactive intraoperative annotation of surgical landmarks in student education to support learning efficiency and motivation

HintergrundDurch die Entwicklung technologischer Innovationen haben sich nicht nur das gesellschaftliche Leben und das Gesundheitssystem verändert, sondern auch die Anforderungen an die Lehre. Ziel dieser Pilotstudie war es zu evaluieren, ob Studierende bei der Observation eines mikrochirurgischen Eingriffs am Schläfenbein mit Annotation chirurgischer Landmarken ein zusätzliches Verständnis anatomischer Strukturen erlangen, wenn eine Visualisierung verwendet wird, die für Chirurg und Betrachter gleiche 3‑D-Ansichten bietet.Material und MethodenWährend regulärer Anwesenheitspraktika wurden Studierende drei Gruppen randomisiert zugewiesen: Kontroll‑, 2‑D‑ oder 3‑D-Gruppe. Mithilfe von Evaluationsbögen/intraoperativer Annotation chirurgischer Landmarken des Operationssitus erfolgte die Beurteilung des subjektiv didaktischen Werts verschiedener Visualisierungsformate und daraus resultierender Lernerfahrungen.Ergebnisse47 Studierende konnten in die Studie einbezogen werden. Die Mehrheit der Studierenden gab einen sehr hohen Mehrwert der 3‑D-Visualisierung bezüglich der Methode (70 %) und der Anschaulichkeit (80 %) im Vergleich zur 2‑D‑ und Kontrollgruppe an. 69 % der Studierenden stimmten der Aussage voll und ganz zu, dass die 2‑D- und 3‑D-Visualisierung die Lernmotivation erhöht und sehr gut geeignet ist, Topographie/und Strukturen besser zu erkennen.SchlussfolgerungDie Verwendung interaktiver Visualisierungsmöglichkeiten in der Lehre unterstützt die Lerneffizienz und ‑motivation der Studierenden. Besonders die 3‑D-Visualisierung und die intraoperative Annotation des Operationssitus ist ein nützliches Werkzeug in der Lehre und erhöht die Qualität dieser. Sie unterstützt die Wahrnehmung der anatomischen Topographie und ermöglicht eine gezieltere chirurgische Ausbildung.

Simple Interventions Can Greatly Improve Clinical Documentation: A Quality Improvement Project of Record Keeping on the Legal Aspect of Dementia at Memory Service

Aims1. To ensure there is documented evidence of discussion about legal aspect of dementia with patients and relatives. 2. To Improve documentation of Financial management by 100% at the end of 3 months. 3.To Improve documentation of LPA and other related legal areas by 70% at the end of 3 monthsMethodsIn Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Memory services, we are seeing patients with cognitive impairment which can be due to dementia. So, it is really important to discuss and help a person and/or relative with making decision about client's health, welfare or finances. Though each team member discusses about what they did for the same, we identified that it was not reflected in the documentation.After finalising data collection form, we then performed a retrospective collection of number of documented assessment/discharge report/progress notes within an identified 3-month time period from March to May 2021. Our intervention was Email and MDT remainders, developing patient information video, and structured format to document about legal aspect of dementia like, financial management, Lasting power of Attorney, Court of protection, Advance will, etc. We run PDSA cycles and collected a data at the end of each month to see whether change ideas are helping to improve documentation and whether any modification will require with the plan.ResultsOut of 67 patients record which were reviewed as a baseline data, 39% of them has diagnosis of dementia or Mild Cognitive impairment. Discussion about LPA was recorded in only 16% of the documents. There is no mention of how a person is managing their finances in 30.7 percent of documents. After implementing change ideas, 29 patients who were seen during the month of December were reviewed using the same data collection form. Documentation of discussion about financial management was improved to 93.1%. Documentation of Discussion about how to set up LPA, if a person doesn't have one has been approved from 10.4% to 55.2%. The cycles will continue for month of January and February and data will be assessed and compared at the end February 2022.ConclusionBasis on the data available till date, a general improvement in the record keeping of notes was seen. Simple intervention like email reminders, reminder in MDT, structured format for documentation and patient information in visual format can improve the documentation of work. More detailed conclusion will be drawn at the end of 3 months.

Translation and adaptation of the sleep apnea quality of life index (SAQLI) to Brazilian Portuguese.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is characterized by episodes of upper airway obstruction during sleep, with a risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. There is no tool in Brazil to measure the impact of treatment on patients with OSAS. To translate and culturally adapt the Sleep Apnea Quality of Life Index (SAQLI) into Brazilian Portuguese. The translation and cultural adaptation were carried out in five steps: translation, synthesis of the translations, back translation, review committee and pretesting. A version of a culturally compatible SAQLI was constructed after lexical changes, along with changes to the sentence structures, visual format, instructions and cards. The essence of the questionnaire and its social, emotional, and disease impact in treatment measures was maintained, with 80% understanding. The questionnaire was translated and adapted culturally to Brazilian Portuguese, and presented good comprehension in the study population.

Improving understanding of pancreatic cancer among patients using an animated patient’s guide to benefit informed decisions and health outcomes.

e16282 Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) outcomes continue to be dismal in the United States with an estimated 48,220 deaths in 2022. Patients have limited knowledge regarding their management options making informed decisions difficult. Health literacy (HL) is a major barrier confronting patient understanding and visual formats of learning have been shown to help overcome HL barriers to enable informed patient understanding. Effective PC learning resources can mitigate poor disease understanding, and reduce HL impediments essential to patient decisions and best outcomes. In this study, we evaluated patient knowledge improvement, engagement, and participation in decisions with their oncology providers using National Pancreas Foundation’s (NPF) ‘An Animated Patient’s Guide to Pancreatic Diseases (APG)’ . Methods: NPF introduced APG in 2013, as an educational resource to address patient needs, informed decisions, barriers to HL and gaps in understanding. Using visual formats of learning (animations, videos, slide shows), we monitored metrics and learner feedback from September, 2013 to September 2021 (8 years). We evaluated learner activity, number of views with highest retention in the US and globally. Results: We gathered learner data on APG from 4,551,079 learners from over 100 countries. Most learners (60%) were from the US with 54% being patients, 17% family/caregivers, 16% healthcare providers and 13% other. The top 3 animations “ Understanding Clinical Trials”, “ Pancreatic Cancer: Treatment and Outcomes”, and “ Pancreatic Cancer: Signs, Symptoms and Risk Factors” had 182,217; 82,585; and 64,970 viewings respectively. Top 3 expert videos viewed most were “ What are the different stages of pancreatic cancer?”, “ What are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer?”, and “ What is a “Placebo” in a clinical trial and is it always used?" with 15,357; 12,475; and 5,282 views respectively. Conclusions: Our study shows that visual formats of education provided by APG were effective in improving patient understanding, enabling informed decisions, and addressing needs of PC patients with poor understanding and HL. Pancreatic cancer education utilizing visual formats has great potential to provide effective learning for patients. Continued efforts should be made to address HL barriers, inform patients, and provide resources that address needs in PC to achieve best healthcare outcomes.

Towards More Equitable Classrooms: A Review of The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research

This is a book review of The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research: Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry (Dana &amp; Yendol-Hoppey, 2020), a non-fiction book written to inform and guide in-service and pre-service teachers from development of teaching inquiries through to publication and presentation of findings. The authors also address the role of inquiry in the creation of more equitable classrooms. The book is easy to read and goes right to the heart of the information that busy teachers need to engage in organized and reflective inquiry. The authors summarize and organize key information in visual formats for quick reference. The book is sequentially organized, with reflective exercises at the end of each chapter. Teachers move forward in their inquiry with step-by-step instructions and real teacher inquiry examples, many of which are qualitative inquiries.

Comic Spin: A Comic Creation Tool Enabling Self-expression for People with Aphasia

Comics, with their highly visual format, offer a promising opportunity for people who experience challenges with language to express humour and emotion. However, comic creation tools are not designed to be accessible to people with language impairments such as aphasia. We report the design and exploration of Comic Spin , an app for people with aphasia that supports the creation of comic strips by constraining the creative space. We explored the use of Comic Spin in two studies involving creative workshops. Findings showed that people were able to use Comic Spin successfully to create a range of narrative, humorous, and subversive comic strips, and that these enabled people to self-express in ways that went beyond the content of the comic strips themselves.

Creating Effective Infographics and Visual Abstracts to Disseminate Research and Facilitate Medical Education on Social Media.

Presenting information in a visual format helps viewers digest complex concepts in an efficient, effective manner. Recently, infographics have been used on social media and other digital platforms to educate health professionals, trainees, and patients about medical and public health topics. In addition, visual abstracts, visual representations of a research article's written abstract, have been increasingly used to disseminate new research findings to other health professionals. In this review article, we will define infographics and visual abstracts, describe why they are useful, outline how to create them, and explain how researchers, educators, and clinicians can use them effectively. We share resources and a stepwise approach that allows readers to create their own infographics and visual abstracts for research dissemination, medical education, and patient communication.

MODERN TECHNIQUES OF DIGITAL VISUAL DIDACTIC CONTENT OF MATHEMATICAL, INFORMATIC AND NATURAL EDUCATIONAL BRANCHES IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The article clarifies the concept and features of the visual thinking development of primary school students. The effectiveness of visualization of didactic content in the primary school educational space is theoretically substantiated. Modern techniques of digital visualization of educational material in mathematics, computer science, and natural sciences are characterized. They are the following: scribing, infographics, intelligence cards, comics, crosswords, memes, book trailers, word clouds, etc. The basic principles of creation and presentation of didactic content in the format of digital visualization are singled out, in particular, principles of system quantization and cognitive visualization.