Subjective and Objective Quality Assessment of Swimming Pool Images

As the research basis of image processing and computer vision research, image quality evaluation (IQA) has been widely used in different visual task fields. As far as we know, limited efforts have been made to date to gather swimming pool image databases and benchmark reliable objective quality models, so far. To filled this gap, in this paper we reported a new database of underwater swimming pool images for the first time, which is composed of 1500 images and associated subjective ratings recorded by 16 inexperienced observers. In addition, we proposed a main target area extraction and multi-feature fusion image quality assessment (MM-IQA) for a swimming pool environment, which performs pixel-level fusion for multiple features of the image on the premise of highlighting important detection objects. Meanwhile, a variety of well-established full-reference (FR) quality evaluation methods and partial no-reference (NR) quality evaluation algorithms are selected to verify the database we created. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is superior to the most advanced image quality models in performance evaluation and the outcomes of subjective and objective quality assessment of most methods involved in the comparison have good correlation and consistency, which further indicating indicates that the establishment of a large-scale pool image quality assessment database is of wide applicability and importance.

Subjective and Objective Quality-of-Life Assessment of Outcome Measures in Cervical Spine Surgery for Degenerative Changes

Cervical spine diskectomy is a commonly used procedure in degenerative disease of cervical spine surgery. However, it is difficult to assess the quality of life after this widely applied and variously modified procedure. This literature review presents cervical diskectomy results, according to various scales and measures in multidirectional surgical strategies. Using relevant databases, we tried to find the best treatment options for degenerative disk disease and the best method of quality-of-life assessment, searching for modalities that may influence the outcome.

Effectiveness and Feasibility of Internet-Based Interventions for Grief After Bereavement: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Although grief and its symptoms constitute a normal reaction to experiences of loss, some of those affected still report elevated levels of distress after an extended period, often termed complicated grief. Beneficial treatment effects of face-to-face therapies, for example, grief counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy against complicated grief, have been reported. Evaluations of internet- and mobile-based interventions targeting symptoms of grief in bereaved individuals with regard to objective quality criteria are currently lacking. Objective We aim to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness and feasibility of internet- and mobile-based interventions against symptoms of grief after bereavement. Methods We conducted systematic literature searches of randomized controlled trials or feasibility studies published before January 9, 2020, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, in PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, and the Cochrane Library. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations system. We further assessed aspects of feasibility and rated quality of interventions using criteria suggested by an expert panel on mental health care (German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics). A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to assess between-group effect sizes. Results In total, 9 trials (N=1349) were included. Of these, 7 studies were analyzed meta-analytically. Significant effects were found for symptoms of grief (g=0.54, 95% CI 0.32-0.77), depression (g=0.44, 95% CI 0.20-0.68), and posttraumatic stress (g=0.82, 95% CI 0.63-1.01). Heterogeneity was moderate for grief and depression (I2=48.75% and 55.19%, respectively) and low for posttraumatic stress symptoms (I2=0%). The overall quality of evidence was graded low (grief and depression) to moderate (posttraumatic stress). User satisfaction with the interventions was high, as was the quality of the interventions assessed using objective quality criteria. Conclusions Internet- or mobile-based interventions might constitute an effective treatment approach against symptoms of grief in bereaved adults. However, the small sample sizes and limited number of studies included in the review warrant further investigation. Trial Registration International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) CRD42012002100; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=131428

A Case for Higher Public Spending

Studies by psychologists, sociologists, and economists indicate that increases in incomes beyond a moderate level are not related to happiness nor significantly with the objective quality-of-life indicators (which increase with scientific and technological breakthroughs at the global level). Yet everyone wants more money. This may be explained by environmental disruption, relative-income effects, inadequate recognition of adaptation effects, and the materialistic bias due to our accumulation instinct and advertising. These factors cause a bias towards private consumption, making public spending, especially on research and environmental protection (with their long-term and global public-good nature) well below optimal. This is made worse by economists’ emphasis on the excess burden of taxation, ignoring the negative excess burden on the spending side. As Kaplow argues, if taxes are raised in accordance to the benefits of the funded public goods at the respective income levels, no disincentive effects are involved.

Entropy-Based Combined Metric for Automatic Objective Quality Assessment of Stitched Panoramic Images

Quality assessment of stitched images is an important element of many virtual reality and remote sensing applications where the panoramic images may be used as a background as well as for navigation purposes. The quality of stitched images may be decreased by several factors, including geometric distortions, ghosting, blurring, and color distortions. Nevertheless, the specificity of such distortions is different than those typical for general-purpose image quality assessment. Therefore, the necessity of the development of new objective image quality metrics for such type of emerging applications becomes obvious. The method proposed in the paper is based on the combination of features used in some recently proposed metrics with the results of the local and global image entropy analysis. The results obtained applying the proposed combined metric have been verified using the ISIQA database, containing 264 stitched images of 26 scenes together with the respective subjective Mean Opinion Scores, leading to a significant increase of its correlation with subjective evaluation results.

Encyclopaedic Fiction, Cultural Value, and the Discourse of the Great Divide

<p>Recent postmodern work on cultural evaluation, such as Barbara Smith's Contingencies of Value (1989), argues that cultural value cannot be treated as an inherent or objective quality of cultural products. Instead, cultural value must be understood as "value for": relative, that is, to the identities and interests of particular cultural consumers and producers. Theorists (for instance, John Frow in his 1995 study Cultural Studies and Cultural Value) have employed similar relativist logic in their analyses of the putative "structures" or institutions that supposedly give shape to Western culture-as-a-whole: "high" culture, "popular" culture, "mass" culture and so on. This "postaxiological" strain of cultural theory undermines the real-world integrity of those categories by suggesting that they (the categories) are merely contingent effects of critical / evaluative discourse. Other archetypically "postmodern" arguments in literary and cultural studies have focused on charting or advocating both the demise of the modernist "great divide" between "high" and "low" culture, and its replacement, in cultural production and criticism, with more permissive and socially egalitarian modes of interplay between "high" and "low" culture. Some critics and critically aware cultural producers have treated these two projects as though they are complementary facets of a general "postmodern" turn. Yet contesting or reversing obsolete hierarchies of cultural value does not necessarily lead critics to contemplate the status of "high"/"low" categories themselves. A meaningful refusal of the logic of the modernist "great divide" would obligate critics and producers to reflect on the contingency of those categories and their own interests with respect to those categories. Juxtaposing an "encyclopaedic" modernist text renowned for its interspersion of "high" and "low" cultural elements (James Joyce's Ulysses) with a postmodern text that seems knowingly to do the same (David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest), two case studies illustrate the inseparability of readings or narratives that are couched in "high"/"low" terms from the particular interests of cultural producers and consumers.</p>

Encyclopaedic Fiction, Cultural Value, and the Discourse of the Great Divide

<p>Recent postmodern work on cultural evaluation, such as Barbara Smith's Contingencies of Value (1989), argues that cultural value cannot be treated as an inherent or objective quality of cultural products. Instead, cultural value must be understood as "value for": relative, that is, to the identities and interests of particular cultural consumers and producers. Theorists (for instance, John Frow in his 1995 study Cultural Studies and Cultural Value) have employed similar relativist logic in their analyses of the putative "structures" or institutions that supposedly give shape to Western culture-as-a-whole: "high" culture, "popular" culture, "mass" culture and so on. This "postaxiological" strain of cultural theory undermines the real-world integrity of those categories by suggesting that they (the categories) are merely contingent effects of critical / evaluative discourse. Other archetypically "postmodern" arguments in literary and cultural studies have focused on charting or advocating both the demise of the modernist "great divide" between "high" and "low" culture, and its replacement, in cultural production and criticism, with more permissive and socially egalitarian modes of interplay between "high" and "low" culture. Some critics and critically aware cultural producers have treated these two projects as though they are complementary facets of a general "postmodern" turn. Yet contesting or reversing obsolete hierarchies of cultural value does not necessarily lead critics to contemplate the status of "high"/"low" categories themselves. A meaningful refusal of the logic of the modernist "great divide" would obligate critics and producers to reflect on the contingency of those categories and their own interests with respect to those categories. Juxtaposing an "encyclopaedic" modernist text renowned for its interspersion of "high" and "low" cultural elements (James Joyce's Ulysses) with a postmodern text that seems knowingly to do the same (David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest), two case studies illustrate the inseparability of readings or narratives that are couched in "high"/"low" terms from the particular interests of cultural producers and consumers.</p>

HEVC Information Hiding Algorithm Based on Intra Prediction and Matrix Coding

Aiming at the problem that the data hiding algorithm of high efficiency video coding (HEVC) has great influence on the video bit rate and visual quality, an information hiding algorithm based on intra prediction mode and matrix coding is proposed. Firstly, 8 prediction modes are selected from 4×4 luminance blocks in I frame to embed the hidden information. Then, the Least Significant Bit (LSB) algorithm is used to modulate the LSB of the last prediction mode. Finally, the modulated luminance block is re-encoded to embed 4 bits secret information. Experimental results show that the algorithm improves the embedding capacity, guarantees the subjective and objective quality of the video, and the bit rate increases by 1.14% on average.

HEVC Information-Hiding Algorithm Based on Intra-Prediction and Matrix Coding

Aiming at the problem that the data hiding algorithm of high efficiency video coding (HEVC) has great influence on the video bit rate and visual quality, an information hiding algorithm based on intra prediction mode and matrix coding is proposed. Firstly, 8 prediction modes are selected from 4×4 luminance blocks in I frame to embed the hidden information. Then, the Least Significant Bit (LSB) algorithm is used to modulate the LSB of the last prediction mode. Finally, the modulated luminance block is re-encoded to embed 4 bits secret information. Experimental results show that the algorithm improves the embedding capacity, guarantees the subjective and objective quality of the video, and the bit rate increases by 1.14% on average.