Computer-Based Assessment: Dual-Task Outperforms Large-Screen Cancellation Task in Detecting Contralesional Omissions

Objective: Traditionally, asymmetric spatial processing (i.e., hemispatial neglect) has been assessed with paper-and-pencil tasks, but growing evidence indicates that computer-based methods are a more sensitive assessment modality. It is not known, however, whether simply converting well-established paper-and-pencil methods into a digital format is the best option. The aim of the present study was to compare sensitivity in detecting contralesional omissions of two different computer-based methods: a “digitally converted” cancellation task was compared with a computer-based Visual and Auditory dual-tasking approach, which has already proved to be very sensitive.Methods: Participants included 40 patients with chronic unilateral stroke in either the right hemisphere (RH patients, N = 20) or the left hemisphere (LH patients, N = 20) and 20 age-matched healthy controls. The cancellation task was implemented on a very large format (173 cm × 277 cm) or in a smaller (A4) paper-and-pencil version. The computer-based dual-tasks were implemented on a 15′′ monitor and required the detection of unilateral and bilateral briefly presented lateralized targets.Results: Neither version of the cancellation task was able to show spatial bias in RH patients. In contrast, in the Visual dual-task RH patients missed significantly more left-sided targets than controls in both unilateral and bilateral trials. They also missed significantly more left-sided than right-sided targets only in the bilateral trials of the Auditory dual-task.Conclusion: The dual-task setting outperforms the cancellation task approach even when the latter is implemented on a (large) screen. Attentionally demanding methods are useful for revealing mild forms of contralesional visuospatial deficits.

The use of digital magnification to reduce radiation dose in the cardiac catheter laboratory

Objectives: To audit whether using magnification of images by use of a large viewing screen using digital matrix magnification which enlarges the image by 33% without using the X-ray machine zoom magnification protocols on a Siemens Artis Zee X-ray machine in a cardiac catheter laboratory results in a reduction of kerma–area product (KAP) for both diagnostic and interventional procedures. This reduction was predicted in an in vitro study in our laboratory, which has previously shown a 20.4% reduction in KAP. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of the radiation exposure to compare the measured KAP recorded during the period when conventional magnification with automatic brightness and dose control was used on a Siemens Artis Zee X-ray machine with a flat panel detector and when magnification settings were avoided by using a large screen to enlarge and project a non-magnified image by digital magnification. The analysis was carried out for patients having a diagnostic coronary angiogram and those having an interventional coronary procedure. Results: For diagnostic coronary angiograms the median KAP per procedure in the period using conventional magnification was 2124.5 µGy.m2 compared to 1401 µGy.m2 when image matrix magnification was used, a 34% reduction (p < 0.0001). For interventional coronary procedures, the median KAP per procedure in the period using conventional magnification was 3791 µGy.m2 compared to 2568.5 µGy.m2 when image matrix magnification was used, a 32% reduction (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Avoiding using conventional magnification in the cardiac catheter laboratory and using a large screen to magnify images was associated with a statistically significant greater than 30% reduction in KAP. Advances in knowledge: This paper is the proof in clinical practice of a theoretical conclusion that radiation dose (KAP) is reduced by use of Image matrix magnification using a large viewing screen without the need to use X-ray tube magnification without significant loss of image resolution in interventional cardiology. The same approach will be useful in interventional radiology.

Abel Gance po trzykroć oskarża: metafizyka i apokaliptyczna wyobraźnia w służbie pacyfizmu

This text is inspired by monumental and editorially perfect BluRay/DVD box set J’accuse (Gaumont, Paris 2017). It includes BluRay and DVD editions of all three J’accuse films (1919, 1937, 1956), two other Gance’s films, specifying the context of „trilogy” (Les Gaz mortels, 1916 and La Fin du monde, 1931) and the large director’s monography by Laurent Véray. From this revelatory archive emerges the image of Abel Gance as an artist who for 40 years of his filmmaker’s career was incessantly reworking deep trauma caused by World War One. It resulted in three J’accuse films, two other finished films and some other never realized screenplays and projects which made up particular work-in-progress whose mission is a message of peace. The text analyzes all three versions of J’accuse, concentrating on their allegorical style, metaphysical concept of ressurrection of fallen soldiers and apocalyptic vision of resurrected dead men’s processions which by its horror should persuade the mankind to stop all wars. In the last J’accuse (1956) – in fact, strongly shortened and reedited film from 1937 – Gance used the technique of triptych in which the picture was projected by three parallelly set projectors on the large screen with proportions 4:1. This version, immersing perceptually and sensorically spectator in the wide-format picture full of war horrors, today seems to be much more effective medium for message of peace than undecided between pacifism and patriotism, impressionistic in its style film from 1919, or laden with full of pathos verbal rhetorics J’accuse 1937.

A Comparative Study on Single-handed Keyboards on Large-screen Mobile Devices

<div>Many questions regarding single-hand text entry on modern smartphones (in particular, large-screen smartphones) remain under-explored, such as, (i) will the existing prevailing single-handed keyboards fit for large-screen smartphone users? and (ii) will individual-customization improve single-handed keyboard performance? In this paper we study single-handed typing behaviors on several representative keyboards on large-screen mobile devices. We found that, (i) the user-adaptive-shape curved keyboard performs best among all the studied keyboards; (ii) users' familiarity with the Qwerty layout plays a significant role at the beginning, but after several sessions of training, the user-adaptive curved keyboard can have the best learning curve and performs best; (iii) generally the statistical decoding algorithms via spatial and language models can well handle the input noise from single-handed typing.</div>

A Comparative Study on Single-handed Keyboards on Large-screen Mobile Devices

<div>Many questions regarding single-hand text entry on modern smartphones (in particular, large-screen smartphones) remain under-explored, such as, (i) will the existing prevailing single-handed keyboards fit for large-screen smartphone users? and (ii) will individual-customization improve single-handed keyboard performance? In this paper we study single-handed typing behaviors on several representative keyboards on large-screen mobile devices. We found that, (i) the user-adaptive-shape curved keyboard performs best among all the studied keyboards; (ii) users' familiarity with the Qwerty layout plays a significant role at the beginning, but after several sessions of training, the user-adaptive curved keyboard can have the best learning curve and performs best; (iii) generally the statistical decoding algorithms via spatial and language models can well handle the input noise from single-handed typing.</div>

Bluetooth Based Large Screen Display System

Notice board is ideally useful tool for organizing and displaying information, these are used in multitude of businesses such as schools, colleges, railway station etc. In this project, we proposed an advanced wireless notice board in which at any time we can add or remove or alter the message according to our requirement. The main aim of this proposed project is to drastically reduce the cost involved, consume smaller amount of power and help in achieving quality of service. Wireless electronic notice boards are a faster alternative to conventional pin-up type notice boards. In this Project we are going to use a 32x16 LED dot Matrix display module which is also known as P10 LED Display Module to display a Scrolling text by using Arduino UNO.