scholarly journals Analysis of Occlusion Effects for Map-Based Self-Localization in Urban Areas

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5196
Author(s):  
Yuki Endo ◽  
Ehsan Javanmardi ◽  
Shunsuke Kamijo
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Average Error ◽  
High Definition ◽  
Geometrical Structures ◽  
Real Environment ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Localization Errors ◽  
Stable Estimation ◽  
High Level

A high-definition (HD) map provides structural information for map-based self-localization, enabling stable estimation in real environments. In urban areas, there are many obstacles, such as buses, that occlude sensor observations, resulting in self-localization errors. However, most of the existing HD map-based self-localization evaluations do not consider sudden significant errors due to obstacles. Instead, they evaluate this in terms of average error over estimated trajectories in an environment with few occlusions. This study evaluated the effects of self-localization estimation on occlusion with synthetically generated obstacles in a real environment. Various patterns of synthetic occlusion enabled the analyses of the effects of self-localization error from various angles. Our experiments showed various characteristics that locations susceptible to obstacles have. For example, we found that occlusion in intersections tends to increase self-localization errors. In addition, we analyzed the geometrical structures of a surrounding environment in high-level error cases and low-level error cases with occlusions. As a result, we suggested the concept that the real environment should have to achieve robust self-localization under occlusion conditions.

Spatiotemporal Changes of Riverbed and Surrounding Environment in Yongding River (Beijing section) in the Past 40 Years

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 40407-1-40407-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Pang ◽  
He Huang ◽  
Tri Dev Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Cropland Area ◽  
The Past ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Spatiotemporal Changes ◽  
Yongding River

Abstract Yongding River is one of the five major river systems in Beijing. It is located to the west of Beijing. It has influenced culture along its basin. The river supports both rural and urban areas. Furthermore, it influences economic development, water conservation, and the natural environment. However, during the past few decades, due to the combined effect of increasing population and economic activities, a series of changes have led to problems such as the reduction in water volume and the exposure of the riverbed. In this study, remote sensing images were used to derive land cover maps and compare spatiotemporal changes during the past 40 years. As a result, the following data were found: forest changed least; cropland area increased to a large extent; bareland area was reduced by a maximum of 63%; surface water area in the study area was lower from 1989 to 1999 because of the excessive use of water in human activities, but it increased by 92% from 2010 to 2018 as awareness about protecting the environment arose; there was a small increase in the built-up area, but this was more planned. These results reveal that water conservancy construction, agroforestry activities, and increasing urbanization have a great impact on the surrounding environment of the Yongding River (Beijing section). This study discusses in detail how the current situation can be attributed to of human activities, policies, economic development, and ecological conservation Furthermore, it suggests improvement by strengthening the governance of the riverbed and the riverside. These results and discussion can be a reference and provide decision support for the management of southwest Beijing or similar river basins in peri-urban areas.

scholarly journals Patterns of Alcohol Consumption in the PURE Poland Cohort Study and Their Relationship with Health Problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4185
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Zatońska ◽  
Piotr Psikus ◽  
Alicja Basiak-Rasała ◽  
Zuzanna Stępnicka ◽  
Maria Wołyniec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Frequent Consumption ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
High Level

(1) Background: Alcohol is a leading risk factor of premature morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate the patterns of alcohol consumption in the PURE Poland cohort study baseline. (2) Methods: A Polish cohort was enrolled in the baseline study in 2007–2010. The study group consisted of 2021 adult participants of urban and rural areas from the Lower Silesia voivodeship in Poland (747 men and 1274 women). (3) Results: In the overall study population, 67.3% were current drinkers, 10.3% were former drinkers, and 22.4% were abstainers. Current use of alcohol products was more prevalent in men (77.2%), people living in urban areas (73.0%), and people with a higher level of education (78.0%). The percentage of current drinkers decreased with increasing age (from 73.4% in 30- to 44-year-olds to 48.8% in participants aged 64 and more). The majority of participants (89.2%) declared a low level of alcohol intake. The chance of high level of intake of alcohol was four times higher in men than in women (OR 4.17; CI 1.64–10.6). The majority of participants (54.6%) declared most frequent consumption of low-alcohol drinks (beer, wine) and 21% declared most frequent consumption of spirits. Current drinkers had almost 1.5-fold higher odds of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than never drinkers (OR 1.49, CI 1.03–2.17; OR 1.66, CI 1.27–2.18, respectively). Former drinkers had higher odds for hypertension and CVD than never drinkers (1.73, CI 1.05–2.85; OR 1.76, CI 1.22–2.53, respectively). (4) Conclusions: In our cohort study, we observed several socio-demographic factors differentiating the patterns of alcohol consumption. The preventive programs should focus predominantly on men, people aged <45 years, and those with a higher level of education.

scholarly journals Illuminance Reconstruction of Road Lighting in Urban Areas for Efficient and Healthy Lighting Performance Evaluation

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Yao ◽  
Hongbing Wang ◽  
Jim Uttley ◽  
Xiaobo Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Average Error ◽  
Feature Points ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
System Technology ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Road Lighting ◽  
Information System Technology ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Model Approach

Big lighting data are required for evaluation of lighting performance and impacts on human beings, environment, and ecology for smart urban lighting. However, traditional approaches of measuring road lighting cannot achieve this aim. We propose a rule-of-thumb model approach based on some feature points to reconstruct road lighting in urban areas. We validated the reconstructed illuminance with both software simulated and real road lighting scenes, and the average error is between 6 and 19%. This precision is acceptable in practical applications. Using this approach, we reconstructed the illuminance of three real road lighting environments in a block and further estimated the mesopic luminance and melanopic illuminance performance. In the future, by virtue of Geographic Information System technology, the approach may provide big lighting data for evaluation and analysis, and help build smarter urban lighting.

scholarly journals AUTOMATIC COREGISTRATION FOR MULTIVIEW SAR IMAGES IN URBAN AREAS

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W7 ◽  
pp. 651-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Xiang ◽  
W. Kang ◽  
F. Wang ◽  
H. You
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Transformation Model ◽  
Reference Image ◽  
Building Detection ◽  
Phase Congruency ◽  
Sar Images ◽  
Local Variance ◽  
Complex Structural

Due to the high resolution property and the side-looking mechanism of SAR sensors, complex buildings structures make the registration of SAR images in urban areas becomes very hard. In order to solve the problem, an automatic and robust coregistration approach for multiview high resolution SAR images is proposed in the paper, which consists of three main modules. First, both the reference image and the sensed image are segmented into two parts, urban areas and nonurban areas. Urban areas caused by double or multiple scattering in a SAR image have a tendency to show higher local mean and local variance values compared with general homogeneous regions due to the complex structural information. Based on this criterion, building areas are extracted. After obtaining the target regions, L-shape structures are detected using the SAR phase congruency model and Hough transform. The double bounce scatterings formed by wall and ground are shown as strong L- or T-shapes, which are usually taken as the most reliable indicator for building detection. According to the assumption that buildings are rectangular and flat models, planimetric buildings are delineated using the L-shapes, then the reconstructed target areas are obtained. For the orignal areas and the reconstructed target areas, the SAR-SIFT matching algorithm is implemented. Finally, correct corresponding points are extracted by the fast sample consensus (FSC) and the transformation model is also derived. The experimental results on a pair of multiview TerraSAR images with 1-m resolution show that the proposed approach gives a robust and precise registration performance, compared with the orignal SAR-SIFT method.

scholarly journals Assessing the Orange Tree Crown Volumes Using Google Maps as a Low-Cost Photogrammetric Alternative

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Marín-Buzón ◽  
Antonio Pérez-Romero ◽  
Fabio Tucci-Álvarez ◽  
Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Average Error ◽  
Tree Crown ◽  
High Definition ◽  
Google Maps ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Aerial Photogrammetry ◽  
Dimensional Approximation

The accurate assessment of tree crowns is important for agriculture, for example, to adjust spraying rates, to adjust irrigation rates or even to estimate biomass. Among the available methodologies, there are the traditional methods that estimate with a three-dimensional approximation figure, the HDS (High Definition Survey), or TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanning) based on LiDAR technology, the aerial photogrammetry that has re-emerged with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as they are considered low cost. There are situations where either the cost or location does not allow for modern methods and prices such as HDS or the use of UAVs. This study proposes, as an alternative methodology, the evaluation of images extracted from Google Maps (GM) for the calculation of tree crown volume. For this purpose, measurements were taken on orange trees in the south of Spain using the four methods mentioned above to evaluate the suitability, accuracy, and limitations of GM. Using the HDS method as a reference, the photogrammetric method with UAV images has shown an average error of 10%, GM has obtained approximately 50%, while the traditional methods, in our case considering ellipsoids, have obtained 100% error. Therefore, the results with GM are encouraging and open new perspectives for the estimation of tree crown volumes at low cost compared to HDS, and without geographical flight restrictions like those of UAVs.

Stormwater overflow impacts on the sanitary quality of bathing waters

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Soyeux ◽  
F. Blanchet ◽  
B. Tisserand
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Bathing Water ◽  
Bathing Waters ◽  
Management Concept ◽  
On Line ◽  
Bathing Water Quality ◽  
High Level ◽  
Water Quality Deterioration

New European Directive 2006/7/EC concerning the management of bathing water quality introduces the concept of ‘active management of bathing water sanitary quality’ which could lead to a temporary bathing prohibition in case of short term pollution. For the last three bathing seasons, Veolia has carried out in experimental mode this ‘active management’ concept at more than one hundred bathing sites with various characteristics. Results confirm the high level of microbiological pollution observed in sewer overflows during rainy periods, which is the main cause of bathing water quality deterioration. An on-line treatment solution has been successfully tested. This solution may be used in dense urban areas.

scholarly journals Knowledge and attitude of South-Indian smokers towards smoking associated health risk

2017 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 024-030
Author(s):  
Ananya Madiyal ◽  
Vidya Ajila ◽  
G. Subhas Babu ◽  
Shruthi Hegde
Keyword(s):  
Oral Cavity ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
South Indian ◽  
Intentions To Quit ◽  
Knowledge And Attitude ◽  
High Level

Abstract Aim: To assess the knowledge and attitude of South-Indian smokers towards health effects of smoking and their intentions to quit. Study design: A cross sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted among 550 smokers hailing from South India who reported to the out-patient department of the dental hospital. Results: Highest incidence of smoking in men was seen in those who received moderate level of education and those residing in rural areas. In female smokers, the highest incidence was seen in those residing in urban areas (53.8%) with a high level of education (38.4%). We found that males continued their habit mainly to destress while females used it to socialize. Majority of the participants were aware that smoking causes a host of problems in the oral cavity and 68.18% were aware that passive smoking was injurious to the body. Most of the responders admitted to having observed warnings on tobacco products and were willing to quit the habit with help from their dentists. Conclusion: Smokers are at risk for various diseases that include the cardiovascular, respiratory and reproductive systems as well as the oral cavity. This study sheds light on the level of awareness among current tobacco users and the areas of deficiency in patient education which should be addressed by clinicians.

Generating Navigational Audio Instructions Using Fuzzy Logic

2015 ◽  
Vol 220-221 ◽  
pp. 435-438
Author(s):  
Jan Hrbacek ◽  
Vladislav Singule
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Obstacle Avoidance ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Information Unit ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Fuzzy Techniques ◽  
And Robotics

The paper presents the application of fuzzy logic principles to generation of audio instructions. The described subsystem forms a part of an information unit for the visually impaired, which is developed at the Institute of Production Machines, Systems and Robotics at Brno University of Technology. The unit will provide visually impaired users with the localization, navigation and obstacle avoidance functionality as well as enable them to independently traverse through previously unvisited (primarily urban) areas. The majority of sightless persons are able to traverse such areas only with human accompaniment that compensates their missing knowledge of the surrounding environment. The utilization of fuzzy techniques brings the human-like behaviour of the navigational interface and a scalable mechanism for generating navigational instructions.

scholarly journals Risk factors for domestic infestation by the Chagas disease vector, Triatoma dimidiata in Chiquimula, Guatemala

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (6) ◽  
pp. 634-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. N. I. Weeks ◽  
C. Cordón-Rosales ◽  
C. Davies ◽  
S. Gezan ◽  
M. Yeo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Chagas Disease ◽  
Current Method ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Subsequent Treatment ◽  
Disease Vector ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
High Level ◽  
House Infestation

AbstractIn Guatemala prior to control initiatives, the main vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, were Rhodnius prolixus and Triatoma dimidiata. This study conducted in 2006 in the department of Chiquimula recorded a high level of T. dimidiata infestation and an absence of R. prolixus in all surveyed communities. In Guatemala, the presence of T. dimidiata as domestic, peridomestic and sylvatic populations results in control difficulties as houses are re-infested from the surrounding environment. Entomological surveys, the current method used to select houses in need of control efforts, are labour intensive and time consuming. A time- and cost-effective way to prioritize houses for evaluation and subsequent treatment is the stratification of houses based on the risk of triatomine infestation. In the present study, 17 anthropogenic risk factors were evaluated for associations with house infestation of T. dimidiata including: wall, floor and roof type. There was an increased likelihood of domestic infestation with T. dimidiata associated with the presence of dirt floors (18/29; OR 8.075, 95% CI 2.13–30.6), uncoated bajareque walls (12/17; OR 4.80, 95% CI 1.35–17.1) and triatomine-like faeces on walls (16/26; OR 3.89, 95% CI 1.19–12.7). These factors could be used to target control of T. dimidiata to communities with an increased risk of being infested.

scholarly journals Metrological Analysis Of Microsoft Kinect In The Context Of Object Localization

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Skalski ◽  
Bartosz Machura
Keyword(s):  
Accuracy Assessment ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Microsoft Kinect ◽  
Object Localization ◽  
Average Error ◽  
Motion Sensor ◽  
Metrological Analysis ◽  
Depth Maps ◽  
Localization Errors ◽  
Maximum Average Error

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive metrological analysis of the Microsoft Kinect motion sensor performed using a proprietary flat marker. The designed marker was used to estimate its position in the external coordinate system associated with the sensor. The study includes calibration of the RGB and IR cameras, parameter identification and image registration. The metrological analysis is based on the data corrected for sensor optical distortions. From the metrological point of view, localization errors are related to the distance of an object from the sensor. Therefore, the rotation angles were determined and an accuracy assessment of the depth maps was performed. The analysis was carried out for the distances from the marker in the range of 0.8−1.65 m. The maximum average error was equal to 23 mm for the distance of 1.6 m.

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