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This paper assesses existing tools for the use of sustainability concepts in the industrial design field, specially focusing on the needs of developing specific tools for the sustainable design in Additive Manufacturing. A first reflexion about eco-design is shown, following with a deep study of ecodesign methodologies and ending with a comparative assessment of different existing tools and their possibilities of use in the design of parts for 3D printing. The literature shows the great interest in this issue, as there are different studies comparing the environmental impact of some parts obtained by additive manufacturing compared to those produced by conventional technologies, although it has detected a lack in references establishing general considerations for designing more sustainable products by additive manufacturing, as part of the design process itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Now, this is the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, where technological innovation is developing rapidly so that education also demands to change into the era of education 4.0 immediately. The era of education 4.0, was characterized by the use of technology in the learning process. However, in reality, the learning process still facing many obstacles, one of which in terms of the use of instructional media. Learning media still use conventional and limited to Microsoft PowerPoint software which only contains writings for the presentation of dry land use material. This makes it difficult for students to understand the material presented about dry land. The purpose of this article is to develop innovative learning media with Sugiyono's development method in the form of aerial imagery-based 3D dry land maps. In this research, development is still at the product design validation stage. The results of the product design validation of 3D aerial dry land maps based on QGIS were declared to be feasible both materially and media. The results of the validation of the learning material value of 81 and the media readability value of 86. Then the 3D map of dry land-based on aerial imagery with QGIS can be concluded feasible to be used as a learning media in the subject of land resource evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest advances in computational power of small portable devices enables the development of new forms of Augmented Realities, namely Augmented Reality Shared Spaces. In this work, we will explore this technology to improve the collaborative work between people in the same physical space allowing them to share and visualise virtual contents. The idea is to have a 3D scene shared between several people where everyone can see and interact with and explore its use in psychotherapy context. These live interactions can also be used to improve the quality of collaborative work by presenting in real time ideas and thoughts of any participant directly on top of the 3D model. In the case of a psychotherapy session typically patients describe their feelings and fears to the therapist. This may be centred on virtual representations of their phobic elements, supporting interactions with them, being those actions and results observable by both in their shared space. Our main goal is to apply and evaluate this concept, particularly in exposure-based therapies, where it is important for the therapist to control and manipulate the scene that the patient is exposed to in order to obtain the desired emotional activations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an active realization of fraction order Butterworth lowpass filter using a differential voltage current conveyor (DVCC) and two fractance devices (FDs). Initially, the DVCC based fractional order system transfer function is developed. Then, the transfer function of the developed system is equated with the standard fractional order Butterworth equation. By equating this, the generalized condition is obtained for which the developed system behaves like a fractional order Butterworth filter. Further, the effect of current and voltage tracking errors of DVCC, on the system response is investigated using Monte Carlo analysis. Stability of the proposed fractional order Butterworth filter is investigated by pole-zero analysis in complex W -plane. Moreover, the dependency of filter cutoff frequency, on various circuit parameters are investigated using 3D plots. Finally to validate the theoretical results, proposed fractional order Butterworth filter is simulated using R-C ladder network based fractional order capacitor, in PSpice environment using 0.5 μm MIETEC CMOS technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) is generally recognized as three-dimensional (3D) printing or raPID prototyping, which has evolved raPIDly in numerous applications. In recent years, a new term has emerged as four-dimensional (4D) printing, which utilizes additive manufacturing methods to print stimulus-responsive products subjected to specific stimuli. 4D printing is generally regarded as the further evolution of 3D printing. In this review paper, recent major fundamentals and technology development between 3D and 4D printing are reviewed, including its features and latest findings. Comparative analysis and rating level are further compared and analyzed using SWOT analysis method. Moreover, some potential applications between 3D and 4D printing are involved, followed by its typical applications, advance trend, and future perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of image defocusing and distortion occurs in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging of ship target with rotations. Although many literatures have analyzed this problem, it cannot efficiently be solved due to the coherent accumulation time for SAR target imaging, which results from their working principle and mechanism. In this paper, three-dimensional MIMO radar imaging of ship target with rotations is proposed. The real-time advantage of MIMO radar imaging is utilized to achieve high-precision imaging of ship target with rotations. Firstly, the ship rotations characteristics and imaging distortion effects are analyzed in detail. Then, the three-dimensional MIMO radar echo model is built to correct the scattering positions in time, geometrical analysis is carried out to analyze and optimize the target scattering coefficient variation process. Finally, a sparse imaging algorithm based on maximum a posterior (MAP) method is proposed to obtain accurate imaging result. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the three-dimensional imaging of ship target based on MIMO radar has better imaging accuracy and real-time performance compared with SAR, and can effectively solve the problem of image defocusing and distortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology. Social Sciences Edition / Haerbin Gongye Daxue Xuebao. Shehui Kexue Ban is the property of Harbin Institute of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology. Social Sciences Edition / Haerbin Gongye Daxue Xuebao. Shehui Kexue Ban is the property of Harbin Institute of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Occlusal splints are commonly used to position the maxilla during traditional orthognathic surgery. We aimed to quantify the inaccuracy of the maxillary positioning (in three dimensions) in traditional model surgery with the Orthopilot® navigation system. Thirty Le Fort I osteotomies were made using a standard technique. The position of the maxilla was recorded by the navigation system and defined by three values of translation and three of rotation. The recorded data were compared with the planned data. The accuracy of positioning was classified in distinct classes with three major criteria (conformity, non-conformity, and failure) according to the discrepancy. The positioning of the maxilla was in conformity with operative planning in 3/30 of our Le Fort I osteotomies (95% CI 2% to 27%) and in failure in 22/30 (95% CI 54% to 88%). The dispersion of the discrepancy was more important in the sagittal plane, particularly for the sagittal rotation and for the back-front translation, which reflected greater inaccuracy in this plan. The frontal orientation of the maxilla was better controlled. The risk of maxillary malposition was proportional to the planned maxillary advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The universalisation of immersive technologies and digital 3D environments has enabled simulated experiences to be created in various contexts, one of which is education. These environments have immense potential for, for example, generating immersive situations in which students can experience real learning. Although realism, dramatism and challenge have been little explored in the field of education, they are increasingly viewed as interesting conditions to be satisfied when simulations aimed at ensuring meaningful learning in the virtual world are designed. This article reflects on these three qualities in a simulation experience for initial teacher training conducted under the Simul@b project, the main objective of which was to design, implement and evaluate a 3D simulations laboratory for developing teacher digital competence among primary and secondary schoolteachers. The results of this experience show that simulation in 3D environments is a productive strategy with enormous potential. Moreover, these environments enable the creation of realistic scenarios that allow teaching competences to be developed and whose simulation has a positive impact on learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While interest in using 3D scanning technology for crime scene investigation (CSI) has grown in recent years, a number of barriers still remain that prevent its wide adoption in the criminal justice system. One such barrier comes from the lack of tools that can validate a 3D scan and verify that it has not been manipulated. While a great deal of research has gone into the detection of manipulations for 2D images, the detection of manipulations for 3D scenes has yet to be fully realized. This paper introduces a series of techniques to detect if a 3D point cloud generated from a LiDAR scan has been subsequently manipulated. These techniques exploit fundamental structures inherent in the collection and storage of these types of data. While the proposed techniques are able to detect a number of different types of manipulations, their limitations are also discussed. The goal of this work is to provide a foundation for the creation of a validation toolkit that can ensure 3D scan data is valid and unaltered. • Method to detect manipulations in 3D scan data using the gradients of density. • Method to detect manipulations in 3D scan data using a spherical sampling. • Method to detect manipulations in 3D scan data using file structure analysis. • Discussion on limitations of the developed methods. • Discussion on the motivation and implications for these methods in the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The multipotency potential of mesenchymal stem cells, their sources of isolation and their differentiation potential are addressed. • The fabrication of nanofibers, hydrogels and polymeric conduits in regeneration in peripheral nervous tissue regeneration are elaborated. • The combinatorial effect of stem cells and their proliferation on 3D biomaterials impacting their potential to differentiate into neurogenic lineage are presented. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) owing their multipotency are known as progenitors for the regeneration of adult tissues including that of neuronal tissue. The repair and/or regeneration of traumatic nerves is still a challenging task for neurosurgeons. It is also a well-established fact that the microenvironment plays a primary role in determining the fate of stem cells to a specific lineage. In recent years, with the advent of nanotechnology and its positive influence on designing and fabrication of various 3D biomaterials have progressed to a greater extent. The production of 3D biomaterials such as nanofibers, conduits and hydrogels are providing a suitable environment for mimicking physiological niche of stem cells. These 3D biomaterials in combination with MSCs have been successfully analyzed for their potential in the regeneration of degenerative neurological disorders. This review primarily highlights the combinatorial effect of multipotent MSCs seeded on various 3D polymeric scaffolds in repair and regeneration of nervous tissue. The elaboration of MSCs from distinct sources reported so far in literature are summarized to understand their role in regeneration processes. Furthermore, we accentuate the application of 3D biomaterials especially the nanofibers, polymeric conduits, hydrogels infiltrated with MSCs harvested from distinct sources in the field of peripheral nerve regeneration studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shape from Shading and Photometric Stereo are famous approaches to recover the 3D shape from image(s). These approaches can obtain 3D shape from observed gray scale image(s) but it is necessary to estimate reflectance parameters for objects when some specular reflectance components are observed. Specular reflectance is difficult to be handled as diffuse reflectance in general. It is expected to remove specular reflectance component without assuming any kind of reflectance function (reflectance model). This paper proposes a method to remove specular reflection components using 4 observed images taken under 4 different light source directions using relighting approach of diffused reflectance based on image linearization. Results are demonstrated via computer simulation and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With their gradual and continuous properties, functionally graded polymers (FGP) have high potentials to reproduce the regional variation in microstructure/property of the natural intervertebral disc and, therefore, the functional anatomy and biomechanics of the soft tissue. This paper evaluates by finite element analysis the biomechanical response and stress distribution of a novel disc prosthesis using FGP. The kinetics of the FGP parameters is designed using experimental data issued from linear ethylene copolymers over a wide crystallinity range. The radial variation in crystallinity index within the disc prosthesis varies gradually and continuously following a special function in the aim to tailor and optimize the FGP parameters. The experimental data of a healthy human cervical spine segment are used to predict the optimal model of the FGP disc prosthesis loaded under different physiological loading conditions, i.e. rotation, lateral bending and flexion/extension. The results suggest that the FGP parameters can be tailored to control the stiffening, the non-linear behavior, the inelastic effects and the stress distribution in the aim to propose the optimal prosthesis model giving the great opportunity of patient-specific FGP prostheses via 3D printing technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper analyzes the governance of innovations as a product of future-making practices in assemblages. • Visions as socio-epistemic practices are introduced to study and assess the governance of innovation processes. • Fab Labs are analyzed as an empirical case for the democratization of future-making. • Changes in assemblages are shown to be the conditions to change future-making in innovation processes. The impacts of socio-technical future-making on the governance of innovation processes are increasingly important in sociological STS research and technology assessment (TA). Through the case of the emergence of FabLabs, a global network of several hundred of organizations that aim to make digital fabrication machines such as 3D printing accessible to diverse audiences, and their transformation from elite to collective Fab Labs this paper sheds light on the constitutive interplay between socio-technical futures in practices and changes of the governance of an innovation process. To grasp the processes of future-making and its governance we apply a practice-based perspective inspired by assemblage theory of Deleuze and Guattari and combine this theoretical model with the analytical concept of visions as socio-epistemic practices, a new approach in TA. With this approach we show how future-making is often unequally distributed and governed. We show that future-making and the governance of socio-technical innovation can be democratized if the means to make and explore futures are themselves democratized. Future-making depends upon assemblages in becoming and if we want to change future-making and innovation processes we need to focus on how we can create conditions that make desirable changes of assemblages more likely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hainan Province has the largest ocean areas in China. After decades of efforts, it has accumulated abundant marine basic data, and has built various types, different topics and large-scale marine databases. The construction of Hainan provincial digital ocean environment parameters 3D visualization system can effectively integrate, utilize and share these marine information resources, and support marine management and marine ecological environment protection. The multi-dimensional dynamic visualization of information can provide scientific and effective tools for comprehensive marine management and macro-decision-making in a timely and accurate manner. This paper introduces a digital ocean environment parameters three-dimensional (3D) visualization system based on digital earth sphere model suitable for marine environment parameters three-dimensional visualization display, studies the key technologies of multi-dimensional marine environment parameters visualization based on basic geographic data and remote sensing images, which integrated high-precision Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and satellite images to realize the three-dimensional integration and visualization of marine environmental parameters in the South China Sea, providing data display, multi-temporal dimension comparison and spatial overlay analysis. The functions of statistics and data management provide interactive information services for integrated marine management and decision-making support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Computer Science & Technology (JCS&T) is the property of Journal of Computer Science & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The work is devoted to the creation of underwater robotic systems. The structure of the robotic complex and the composition of the main subsystems, included in it, are considered. The advantage of dividing the whole complex into three components are shown: central control unit (CCU), well-traversed base-station (BS) with limited mobile opportunity, but connected to the CCU by a cable and highly maneuverable fully autonomous modules (AM) directly performing underwater work. Thus, maximum realization of the advantages of the hardware construction of the complex is possible by using the contactless method of charging the onboard batteries AM directly in the working area, without the need to be back to the surface. The possibility of dividing the AM control channel into cable and hydroacoustic parts, as well as the use of several variants of technical vision for the organization of BS and AM control in the case of sufficient water transparency in the working area, is also shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Recently, the most computer and digital systems are built based on the parallelism to increase their speed of processing. The complications of these systems are increasing proportionally with the complexity of the used parallelism methodologies. According to the growing of this complexity, this research proposes a modification to enhance designing tasks by the concept of the 3-dimensions easily. This research introduces a novel terminology called "Bit-Vector-Matrix". Moreover, this research modifies the standard logic symbols beside reformulates their conventional Boolean algebraic expressions to become more convenient and compatible with the "Bit-Vector-Matrix". We proposed novel logic gate symbols called "Peer-logic-gates". They are useful for representing the intensive concurrent logical operations through intensive parallel digital buses in computer systems. In addition, they will be a promising teaching tool to instruct many computer courses. This paper constructed based on the deterministic algorithm, realized using VHDL codes and evaluated by the reliable simulator "Modelsim". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anatomy is considered one of the foundation studies for all of the health science students especially medical and nursing students. Anatomy of the hand is complicated. It composes of bones, nerves, blood veins, muscles, and tendon. Memorising all the details about all those parts is tedious work and need much imagination. With the advances in computer graphics and humancomputer interaction techniques, understanding how those body parts move is easy to understand in a visual presentation. Augmented Reality (AR) is the technique that allowed the computer-generated objects to overlay on top of the real world. In this study, we concentrate on studying the bones only. We have selected the Leap Motion, which is the device that can detect the hands and fingers, like a tracking device, and marker-based AR technique for displaying the computer generated bones on top of the real hand. Since the Leap Motion detects the hands and shows the bone in real time, so when a user moves the hands such as waving, all the 3D virtual bones move to the new position just like the real hand. Besides using this tool as the educational tool to help the students have better learning about anatomy, it can also be used as an assessment tool for anatomy class as well. Results from testing this tool with volunteer students indicate that it helps them to understand the hand anatomy better and faster than traditional ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a comparative analysis of Time Coherent 3D Animation Reconstruction methods from the RGBD video data. We analyze the existing methods that can reconstruct a time coherent 3D animation, and also present two modified algorithms that extend the earlier work. We show that using all the methods it is possible to reconstruct a timecoherent 3D animation using either only the color data, color and depth data, or only the depth data. We compare all the methods using a number of error measures and analyze the strength and weaknesses of each method in terms of their accuracy and runtime performance. Our analysis demonstrates that given RGB-D video data, it is possible to select the best algorithm for time coherent 3D animation reconstruction under a number of constraints in terms of the required accuracy and runtime performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The usage of Building Automation Systems (BAS) and Energy Management Systems (EMS) is indeed becoming ever more common and sophisticated, and seeking to promote energy savings by integrating new sources of data, such as user preferences, in real-time. This paper reviews the existing systems and proposes an innovation in HVAC systems management: a system that tracks the occupants’ preferences, learns from them, and manages HVAC automatically. Our hypothesis was that by developing a learning system based on feedback acquired through the mobile devices of room occupants to optimize the control of a HVAC system, in order to minimize energy consumption while maximizing average user comfort. A prototype solution is described and evaluated by simulation. We show that ambient intelligent systems can be used to control a building’s EMS, effectively reducing energy consumption while maintaining acceptable comfort levels. Our results indicate that employing a k-means machine learning technique enables the automatic configuration of an HVAC system to reduce energy consumption while keeping the majority of occupants within acceptable comfort levels. The developed prototype provides occupants with feedback on ambient variables on a mobile user interface. © 2017 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities and governments are increasingly interested in refurbishing the existing built environment as a key component in plans to reduce GHG emissions and resource efficiency strategies. In this sense, the building industry started to develop sustainability assessment tools, first to guide new or major renovation building projects, and slowly progressing toward the evaluation of neighborhoods and cities. However, scaling up sustainability is a challenge due to the increased number of parameters and stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. This paper presents a methodology to scale up LEED-ND sustainability assessment from the neighborhood towards the city scale with the support of GIS modeling. This approach was tested for the current Lisbon case study. It resulted in the identification of the priority intervention areas and parameters. The paper further highlights four policy recommendations: reduce water flood risk; increase mixed residential and non-residential developments; reinforce the adoption of energy certifications, and create similar schemes for water consumption. These findings can support decision-makers to develop urban redevelopment strategies and improve the overall city sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Modern, three-dimensional (3D) anatomy software is a promising teaching method, though few studies examine its effectiveness on upper limb and musculoskeletal anatomy learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate which method is associated with a better outcome, as assessed by students’ performance on examinations, when comparing learning with prosections to the use of 3D software. Materials and methods Two groups of undergraduate, first-year medical students without previous knowledge of anatomy were compared. Overall, 72 students attended lectures and cadaveric prosections in the laboratory (n = 40), or lectures and the BioDigital Human software (n = 32). Four hours of lectures and four hours of laboratory work, combining brief demonstration and independent study in small teams, were completed by each group. An anonymous examination, including tag questions from both cadaveric and 3D images, and multiple-choice questions, was held after the end of the educational process. Students’ perceptions were also investigated via an anonymous questionnaire, which comprised 15 questions. Chi-square and student’s t-test were used for comparisons. Results Students using the 3D software showed better performance in examinations, compared to students using prosection (mean: 55.88 ± 19.60 vs. 48 ± 16.11; p = 0.05, Cohen’s d = 0.5). No statistically significant difference was found regarding students’ satisfaction from using each learning method (p = 0.39). Conclusions Although prosection is the most common method of teaching anatomy, recent technologies, such as 3D software, are also considered useful teaching tools. However, further research has to be done before they can be safely used as a part of a multimodal curriculum, since results from this study are limited to the upper limb musculoskeletal anatomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several connective tissue cells are present in the human bladder wall; among them, the myofibroblasts (MyF) and the so-called interstitial cells ( IC ) are a matter of investigation either by basic researchers or clinicians. The interest derives from the possibility that these two cell types could regulate the organ function forming a special sensory system in the bladder mucosa. Whereas attention for the myofibroblasts was mainly focused on understanding their role, the so-called IC are debatable starting from their nomenclature. Indeed, the IC should correspond to the previously called fibroblasts-like cells / interstitial Cajal - like cells ( ICLC )/ interstitial cells of Cajal ( ICC ) or PDGFRα positive cells , or CD34 positive cells . Recently a proper name was proposed to give them an identity, i.e. telocyte (TC). To date, this nomenclature is a better term than IC that is quite vague and can be used for all the cells that reside in the connective tissue. Noteworthy, in the bladder mucosa, TC and MyF form a hetero-cellular 3-D network. The detrusor overactivity/overactive bladder (DO/OAB) are pathological conditions characterized by hypersensitivity to filling. It has been hypothesized that erroneous afferent inputs generated in the mucosa affect the efferent pathways and, consequently, the detrusor response. Presently, we review the literature regarding the presence and the potential role of TC and MyF in control conditions and in DO/OAB. On the possibility that the 3D-network made up by these two cell types might play a major role in the genesis of anomalous afferent stimuli will be given attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives During the physiological ageing process atrophy of the alveolar bone appears in vertical direction. This bone resorption causes pushing the limits of the maxillary sinus at the expense of a degraded bone. The sinus volume increases due to the facial development in children and adolescents or during the ageing process due to the loss of teeth and bone mass. The main aim of this study is to determine the sinus shape and sinus floor morphology related to age. Materials and methods Human adult male and female cadaveric heads (aged 37 to 83 years) with different dental status were used. The three-dimensional CAD/CAM software was used to scan the solid impressions of the maxillary sinus to visualize the real sinus shape and sinus floor. Subsequently, other findings are shown in tables and evaluated graphically. Results The maxillary sinus morphology, its relationship to the nasal cavity, the sub sinus alveolar bone height, displacement of the lowest and highest points of sinus, and the sinus relationship to the roots of the upper teeth were studied and evaluated. Some septa, crests, and the prominent infraorbital canal were also found in the area of the sinus floor. Conclusions This paper provides a unique view on the maxillary sinus and its changes during the ageing process with preserved topographical relations in a representative sample of the Slovak population. The visualization of the maxillary sinus anatomy is necessary in the diagnosis and treatment plans for dental implants and during current surgical procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Generative adversarial networks (GANs) has gained tremendous popularity lately due to an ability to reinforce quality of its predictive model with generated objects and the quality of the generative model with and supervised feedback. GANs allow to synthesize images with a high degree of realism. However, the learning process of such models is a very complicated optimization problem and certain limitation for such models were found. It affects the choice of certain layers and nonlinearities when designing architectures. In particular, it does not allow to train convolutional GAN models with fully-connected hidden layers. In our work, we propose a modification of the previously described set of rules, as well as new approaches to designing architectures that will allow us to train more powerful GAN models. We show the effectiveness of our methods on the problem of synthesizing projections of 3D objects with the possibility of interpolation by class and view point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a newly designed stereoscopic video quality metric. Overall insights towards the creation of mechanisms utilized within the genuine metric are presented herein. Delivery of the core information and motivation be- hind the features implemented, as well as functionality of the Compressed Average Image Intensity (CAII) quality metric are of utmost importance. The mechanisms created might be characterized as an objective, reliable and versatile quality evaluation tool for advanced analysis of the content delivery chain within stereoscopic video services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report a novel strategy for segmenting 3D point clouds using a voxel structure and graph-based clustering with perceptual grouping laws. It provides a completely automatic solution for partitioning point clouds of man-made infrastructure. Two different segmentation methods using voxel and supervoxel structures are presented and evaluated. To increase the efficiency and the robustness of the segmentation process, the voxelization with octree-based structure is introduced, which can suppress effects of noise, outliers, and unevenly distributed point densities as well. The clustering of over-segmented voxels and supervoxels is achieved using graph theory on the basis of the local contextual information, which is commonly conducted merely with pairwise information in conventional clustering algorithms. The graphical model is constructed according to perceptual grouping laws, considering geometric information associated with points. Experiments using both laser scanning and photogrammetric point clouds have demonstrated that the proposed methods can achieve good results, especially complex scenes and nonplanar object surfaces, with F1-measures better than 0.67 for all the testing samples. Quantitative comparisons between the proposed approaches and other representative segmentation methods also confirm the effectiveness and the efficiency of the former. Moreover, a series of experiments is carried out, to investigate the methods' sensitivity with respect to various parameters on the segmentation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An in-depth introduction and analysis of a data structure called 3D focus image stacks (3DFIS). • Improved disparity estimation using texture-based view selection and patch size variation. • SVD-based denoising using robust similarity metrics and depth-guided adaptive window selection. Abstract In this paper, we introduce a novel multi-view image denoising algorithm using 3D focus image stacks (3DFIS) to exploit image redundancy within and across views. Robust disparity map is first estimated using the 3DFIS with texture-based view selection and patch-size variation scheme. Leveraging both 3DFIS and the estimated disparity map, the proposed algorithm effectively denoises the target view from multiple views through a low rank minimization approach that incorporates robust similarity metrics and occlusion handling techniques. The paper combs through a number of existing image denoising methods, including the preliminary results in our earlier research efforts, and then details the ways, means and merits of our proposed algorithm. With extensive experiments, we conclude that this novel algorithm is superior over various existing state-of-the-art approaches in terms of both visual and quantitative performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a legorization framework that produces a LEGO model from user-specified 3D mesh model. Our framework is composed of two stages: voxelization and legorization. In the voxelization, input 3D mesh is converted to a voxel model. To preserve the shape of the 3D mesh, we devise a silhouette fitting process for the initial voxel model. For legorization, we propose three objectives: stability, aesthetics and efficiency. These objectives are expressed in a tiling equation, which builds a LEGO model using layer-by-layer approach. We legorize five models including characters and buildings to prove the excellence of our framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a leading method for capturing 3D urban scene data, laser scanning technology has been increasingly used in feature extraction, object recognition and modeling tasks. This study presents a new strategy that can be used to quickly and accurately extract building facade features based on point clouds, which are captured from laser scanners. The data first need to be pre-processed, including building a Kd-OcTree mixed index and calculating the normal vectors of point clouds using principal component analysis (PCA). On this basis, the initial clusters are obtained via fuzzy clustering, and then the generalized Hough transformation (GHT) is used in each cluster according to the sampling interval to detect the local peak value to obtain the preliminary plane. Next, similar planes are merged together based on the normal vectors and distance thresholds of the pending planes to generate better planeness. Finally, the extraction effects are optimized by the adjunctive judgment of neighborhood points, which is used to classify boundary points into the correct plane. The proposed approach has been tested with three different terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) datasets, and the results show that this mixed approach is able to speed up building facade extraction as well as the recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaining sufficient knowledge of anatomy is an important part of medical education. Factors that influence how well students learn anatomical structures include available sources, learning time and study assistance. This study explores the attitude of medical students with regard to studying anatomy and evaluates possibilities for improvement of training in anatomy. Twenty medical students participated in a focus group meeting. Based on this focus group, an online survey consisting of 27 questions was developed and distributed amongst medical students of Maastricht University, the Netherlands. A total of 495 medical students (both Bachelor and Master level) participated in this survey. Master students found studying anatomy less attractive than Bachelor students (36.8% of the Master students vs. 47.9% of the Bachelor students ( p = .024)). Although most students responded that they thought it is important to study anatomy, 48% of all students studied anatomy less than 10 h per study block of 8 weeks. Only 47.9% of the students rated their knowledge of anatomy as adequate. Students suggested that three-dimensional techniques would help improve their knowledge of anatomy. Therefore investing in three-dimensional tools could prove beneficial in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, various hardware and software companies are developing augmented reality devices, most prominently Microsoft with its Hololens. Besides gaming, such devices can be used for serious pervasive applications, like interactive mobile simulations to support engineers in the field. Interactive simulations have high demands on resources, which the mobile device alone is unable to satisfy. Therefore, we propose a framework to support mobile simulations by distributing the computation between the mobile device and a remote server based on the reduced basis method. Evaluations show that we can speed-up the numerical computation by over 131 times while using 73 times less energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with study of capacity of medieval amphora that are spread over sites of the 8th - 10th centuries in the Northern part of the Black Sea region. Such vessels were manufactured in pottery centers of Byzantine Taurica. The task complexity is related to lack of written sources on regulation of the Black Sea amphorae production in Taurica and on the state control of volumetric standards applied to ceramic containers. 176 intact vessels found at monuments of Crimea, Taman peninsular, the Sea of Azov basin, the Don river basin and the Caucasus served as the material for this study. The method of 3D modeling (with use of Autodesk 3Ds Max computer program) was employed for solution of the task. The results of the study suggest that some amphorae groups can be associated with at least five capacitive standards based on Byzantine volume units of wine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a forcing technique to construct three-dimensional arrays of generic extensions through FS (finite support) iterations of ccc posets, which we refer to as 3D-coherent systems. We use them to produce models of new constellations in Cichoń’s diagram, in particular, a model where the diagram can be separated into 7 different values. Furthermore, we show that this constellation of 7 values is consistent with the existence of a ${\rm{\Delta }}_3^1$ well-order of the reals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting and capturing 3D human structures from the intensity-based image sequences is an inherently arguable problem, which attracted attention of several researchers especially in real-time activity recognition (Real-AR). These Real-AR systems have been significantly enhanced by using depth intensity sensors that gives maximum information, in spite of the fact that conventional Real-AR systems are using RGB video sensors. This study proposed a depth-based routine-logging Real-AR system to identify the daily human activity routines and to make these surroundings an intelligent living space. Our real-time routine-logging Real-AR system is categorized into two categories. The data collection with the use of a depth camera, feature extraction based on joint information and training/recognition of each activity. In-addition, the recognition mechanism locates, and pinpoints the learned activities and induces routine-logs. The evaluation applied on the depth datasets (self-annotated and MSRAction3D datasets) demonstrated that proposed system can achieve better recognition rates and robust as compare to state-of-the-art methods. Our Real-AR should be feasibly accessible and permanently used in behavior monitoring applications, humanoid-robot systems and e-medical therapy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, a new three-dimensional limit equilibrium method was developed. In the proposed method, the slip surface was assumed to be spherical and slices were assumed along the slip surface radius converging to a point. Moreover, force and moment equilibrium equations were used. In order to calculate Factor of Safety (FS) with the proposed method, a code was developed for two- and three-dimensional states. The model used the iteration (trial and error) method to simultaneously satisfy force and moment equilibrium equations. In order to ensure convergence of the numerical model developed in the three-dimensional state, the under-relaxation method was used in the trial and error operations. In examples, the value of FS obtained by the proposed method was 2.5 to 12 percent higher than those obtained by the other methods. In order to validate the proposed method and assess the functionality of the three-dimensional numerical model, a few examples were solved under different circumstances; the results were properly compliant with the results of other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a method for three-dimensional (3D) localization and tracking of multiple targets by using images from multiple cameras with overlapping views. Most recent methods make an assumption on a flat ground plane and determine the 3D grounding location of each target based on this assumption. In contrast, we aim to find 3D locations of multiple head trajectories, regardless of their standing or sitting status without the flat ground plane assumption. For this purpose, we suggest a unified optimization formulation, which solves two coupled problems simultaneously: the spatio-temporal data association problem and the 3D trajectory estimation problem. To handle a large solution space, we develop an efficient optimization scheme that alternates the solving procedures between two coupled problems with a reasonable computational load. In the unified optimization formulation, we design a new cost function that describes 3D physical properties of each target. The experiments illustrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in 3D localization and tracking performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than a decade ago, the point pair features (PPFs) were introduced, showing a great potential for 3D object detection and pose estimation under very different conditions. Many modifications have been made to the original PPF, in each case showing varying degrees of improvement for specific datasets. However, to the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive evaluation of these features has been made. In this work, we evaluate PPFs on a large set of 3D scenes. We not only compare PPFs to local point cloud descriptors, but also investigate the internal variations of PPFs (different types of relations between two points). Our comparison is made on 7 publicly available datasets, showing variations on a number of parameters, e.g. acquisition technique, the number of objects/scenes and the amount of occlusion and clutter. We evaluate feature performance both at a point-wise object-scene correspondence level and for overall object detection and pose estimation in a RANSAC pipeline. Additionally, we also present object detection and pose estimation results for the original, voting based, PPF algorithm. Our results show that in general PPF is the top performer, however, there are datasets, which have low resolution data, where local histogram features show a higher performance than PPFs. We also found that PPFs compared to most local histogram features degrade faster under disturbances such as occlusion and clutter, however, PPFs still remain more descriptive on an absolute scale. The main contribution of this paper is a detailed analysis of PPFs, which highlights under which conditions PPFs perform particularly well as well as its main weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a query that specifies partial 3D shape, a Part-based 3D Model Retrieval (P3DMR) system finds 3D shapes whose part or parts matches the query. An approach to P3DMR is to partition or segment whole models into sub-parts and performs query-part-to-target-parts matching. Whatever the definition of part, e.g., a rectangular volume in Euclidean space or a part segmented on a mesh manifold, the computation will be very costly. The part-whole matching must account for, for each 3D whole shape in a database, varying position, scale and orientation of the segmented sub parts. Another approach, in an attempt to make part-whole matching efficient, tries to approximate part-whole inclusion test with a single comparison between a pair of features, one representing the part-based query and the other representing the whole shape. Aggregation of local geometrical features of parts into a feature per whole 3D shape, e.g., via Bag-of-Features approach, is an example. This approach so far suffered from inaccuracy as the aggregation is not optimized for part-whole inclusion test of 3D shapes. This paper proposes a novel P3DMR algorithm called Part-Whole Relation Embedding network ( PWRE-net ) that effectively and efficiently performs part-whole inclusion test via learned embedding into a common feature space. Using deep neural network, the PWRE-net learns, from a large number of part-whole shape pairs, a common embedding of partial shapes and their associated whole shapes. For the training, training datasets containing part-whole shape pairs are created automatically from unlabeled 3D models. Experimental evaluation shows that PWRE-net outperforms existing algorithms both in terms of retrieval accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely context awareness is key to improving operation efficiency and safety in human-robot collaboration (HRC) for intelligent manufacturing. Visual observation of human workers’ motion provides informative clues about the specific tasks to be performed, thus can be explored for establishing accurate and reliable context awareness. Towards this goal, this paper investigates deep learning as a data driven technique for continuous human motion analysis and future HRC needs prediction, leading to improved robot planning and control in accomplishing a shared task. A case study in engine assembly is carried out to validate the feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When designing production lines, a series of complex, interdependent phases need to be considered. These phases include the facility layout design, the allocation of tasks to available resources, the workload balancing as well as the validation of the proposed design against demand. This paper addresses all these phases in an integrated way, with the aim of reducing the overall time required to finalise the layout and production line design, while improving the overall performance of the manufacturing system under process and demand uncertainty, utilising a sophisticated, simulation-based software framework. The proposed approach is demonstrated using a realistic case scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a generic workflow of semi-automated and optimized process planning in mechanical assembly. It supports the production engineer throughout the entire planning process, departing from part analysis via task sequencing up to the generation of detailed work instructions. Main stages such as part analysis, macro planning and various aspects of micro planning are presented along with a feedback mechanism which warrants executability of plans using the available technological and human resources. Emphasis is set on the essential role of geometric reasoning and its combined use with constrained optimization. The workflow is demonstrated on industrial case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prognostics and health management (PHM) is crucial in the lifecycle monitoring of a product, especially for complex equipment working in a harsh environment. In order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of PHM, digital twin (DT), an emerging technology to achieve physical–virtual convergence, is proposed for complex equipment. A general DT for complex equipment is first constructed, then a new method using DT driven PHM is proposed, making effective use of the interaction mechanism and fused data of DT. A case study of a wind turbine is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant modeling based on point cloud is more difficult than others because of the noise-edge bonding. We present a method called the limited detail multi-density plants modeling to address these problems mentioned above. The core of the proposed method is a point-tosurface approach, which constantly refines the density of points with original RGB information to generate the fuzzy surface. Compared to conventional plants mesh models, the primary advantage of our approach is that it does not compute the steps of texture and illumination, and saves rendering time and storage space. We validate our method with both leaves and simple plants, and demonstrate that the limited detail multi-density point reconstruction is feasible, and it can generate good results with fast speed while using less storage space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to assess the opinion of online consumers about the possibility of making custom apparel using 3D body scanning technology in an online environment and to investigate the shopping experience of consumers who purchase in the online apparel market. In order to be able to propose solutions to improve the online shopping experience, we also investigated aspects influencing non-purchasing in an online environment. Methods: An online questionnaire on shopping experience, influences on the purchase, and the process of online apparel shopping using advanced technology was prepared and distributed via several online channels to the consumers who purchase apparel online. The questionnaire was completed by 76 respondents from different European countries, the United States and Australia. In order to analyze individual aspects influencing non-purchasing in an online environment, an exploratory factor analysis was performed. Results: The factor analysis revealed that the two broad dimensions of reasons why consumers have never bought any ready-to-wear apparel online despite browsing are a misperception of product integrity and time-consuming searching. The results show that the proposed solutions to improve the online apparel experience, such as making custom apparel using advanced technologies, have a positive impact on the decision of the consumers to purchase on the online apparel market. It turned out that a high proportion of potential consumers are willing to share their body dimensions through 3D body scanning technology in order to improve the fit of the apparel. Conclusion: According to the results, we expect that the advanced 3D body scanning technology would provide substantial progress regarding fit, visualization, and manufacturing of custom-made apparel when purchasing in online stores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a framework for modeling architectural structure of indoor scene given unorganized 3D point clouds collected from an indoor mobile laser scanning system. The proposed pipeline employs a decomposition-and-reconstruction strategy to create the indoor structural elements on the floor plan. In contrast with existing methods, our method can deal with both inner and outer wall reconstruction through solving the optimization energy problem using graph cuts. In addition, our approach does not rely on timestamp information encoding line-of-sight information from each point to the laser scanner. It allows our algorithm to process most of the data sets. In particular, the proposed alpha-shape based door reconstruction and a hierarchical clustering technique is able to identify each room without prior information regarding the total number of rooms. Our experiments on real and synthetic point cloud scenes show that our approach is robust and accurate for modeling indoor spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we describe the formulation of a morphogenetically active bio-ink consisting of amorphous microparticles (MP) prepared from Ca 2+ and the physiological inorganic polymer, polyphosphate (polyP). Those MP had been fortified by mixing with poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) to allow 3D-bioprinting. The resulting granular PCL/Ca-polyP-MP hybrid material, liquefied by short-time heating to 100 °C, was used for the 3D-printing of tissue-like scaffolds formed by strands with a thickness of 400 µm and a stacked architecture leaving ≈0.5 mm 2 -sized open holes enabling cell migration. The printed composite scaffold turned out to combine suitable biomechanical properties (Young’s modulus of 1.60 ± 0.1 GPa; Martens hardness of 153 ± 28 MPa), matching those of cortical and trabecular bone, with morphogenetic activity. This scaffold was capable of attracting and promoting the growth of human bone-related SaOS-2 cells as demonstrated by staining for cell viability (Calcein AM), cell density (DRAQ5) and SEM studies. Furthermore, the hybrid material was demonstrated to upregulate the steady-state-expression of the cell migration-inducing chemokine SDF-1α. EDX analysis and FTIR measurements revealed the presence of hydroxyapatite in the mineral deposits formed on the scaffold surface. Based on the results we conclude that granular PCL/Ca-polyP-MP hybrid material is suitable for the fabrication of bioprintable scaffold which comprises not only biomechanical stability but also morphogenetic potential. Statement of Significance In present-day regenerative engineering efforts, biomaterial- and cell-based strategies are proposed that meet the required functional and spatial characteristics and variations, especially in the transition regions between soft (cartilage, tendon or ligament) and hard (bone) tissues. In a biomimetic approach we succeeded to fabricate amorphous Ca-polyP nanoparticles/microparticles which are highly biocompatible. Together with polycaprolactone (PCL), polyP can be bio-printed. This hybrid material attracts the cells, as documented optically as well as by a gene-expression studies. Since PCL is already a FDA-approved organic and inert polymer and polyP a physiological biologically active component this new bio-hybrid material has the potential to restore physiological functions, including bone remodelling and regeneration if used as implant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]