Video Packet Distribution Scheme for Multimedia Streaming Services in VANETs

By leveraging the development of mobile communication technologies and due to the increased capabilities of mobile devices, mobile multimedia services have gained prominence for supporting high-quality video streaming services. In vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs), high-quality video streaming services are focused on providing safety and infotainment applications to vehicles on the roads. Video streaming data require elastic and continuous video packet distributions to vehicles to present interactive real-time views of meaningful scenarios on the road. However, the high mobility of vehicles is one of the fundamental and important challenging issues for video streaming services in VANETs. Nevertheless, previous studies neither dealt with suitable data caching for supporting the mobility of vehicles nor provided appropriate seamless packet forwarding for ensuring the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) of real-time video streaming services. To address this problem, this paper proposes a video packet distribution scheme named Clone, which integrates vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications to disseminate video packets for video streaming services in VANETs. First, an indicator called current network quality information (CNQI) is defined to measure the feature of data forwarding of each node to its neighbor nodes in terms of data delivery ratio and delay. Based on the CNQI value of each node and the trajectory of the destination vehicle, access points called clones are selected to cache video data packets from data sources. Subsequently, packet distribution optimization is conducted to determine the number of video packets to cache in each clone. Finally, data delivery synchronization is established to support seamless streaming data delivery from a clone to the destination vehicle. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme achieves high-quality video streaming services in terms of QoS and QoE compared with existing schemes.

Interactive Video Acquisition and Learning System for Motor Assessment of Parkinson's Disease

Diagnosis and treatment for Parkinson's disease rely on the evaluation of motor functions, which is expensive and time consuming when performing at clinics. It is also difficult for patients to record correct movements at home without the guidance from experienced physicians. To help patients with Parkinson’s disease get better evaluation from in-home recorded movement videos, we developed an interactive video acquisition and learning system for clinical motor assessments. The system provides real-time guidance with multi-level body keypoint tracking and analysis to patients, which guarantees correct understanding and performing of clinical tasks. We tested its effectiveness on healthy subjects, and the efficiency and usability on patient groups. Experiments showed that our system enabled high quality video recordings following clinical standards, benefiting both patients and physicians. Our system provides a novel learning-based telemedicine approach for the care of patients with Parkinson’s disease.

From Words to Images: The Rise and Treatment of Visual Public Opinion in the Post-epidemic Era

The rise of short videos in the Post-epidemic era have caused the migration of Internet traffic to visual content. This new form of media based on communication technology and algorithm technology can arouse more emotional resonances of audiences, which promotes the formation of a Visual Public opinion field. The emergence of this public opinion field not only increases the risk of public opinion crises such as rumors and extreme views, but also points out the current direction of public opinion governance, and shows the importance of making good use of visual communication methods. Based on this, mainstream media needs to integrate and lead the visual public opinion field by entering the video media platform, producing high-quality video content, and reconstructing the visual public opinion ecology; the competent authority should do a good job in the visual public opinion field from the three aspects of ideology, technology and content. Supervision and governance work will promote a good long-term growth of visual public opinion field.

Fuzzy-Based Quality Adaptation Algorithm for Improving QoE from MPEG-DASH Video

Video clients employ HTTP-based adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithms to optimize users’ quality of experience (QoE). ABR algorithms adopt video quality based on the network conditions during playback. The existing state-of-the-art ABR algorithms ignore the fact that video streaming services deploy segment durations differently in different services, and HTTP clients offer distinct buffer sizes. The existing ABR algorithms use fixed control laws and are designed with predefined client/server settings. As a result, adaptation algorithms fail to achieve optimal performance across a variety of video client settings and QoE objectives. We propose a buffer- and segment-aware fuzzy-based ABR algorithm that selects video rates for future video segments based on segment duration and the client’s buffer size in addition to throughput and playback buffer level. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithm guarantees high QoE across various video player settings and video content characteristics. The proposed algorithm efficiently utilizes bandwidth in order to download high-quality video segments and to guarantee high QoE. The results from our experiments reveal that the proposed adaptation algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms, providing improvements in average video rate, QoE, and bandwidth utilization, respectively, of 5% to 18%, about 13% to 30%, and up to 45%.

Fast CU Partition Decision Based on Texture for H.266/VVC

With the development of multimedia equipment and the increasing demand for high-quality video applications, the traditional video coding standard, H.265/High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), can no longer effectively satisfy the requirements. To promote the development of high-quality video, a new generation video coding standard, H.266/Versatile Video Coding (H.266/VVC), is established, and it is the inheritance and development of H.265/HEVC. It not only retains many mature technologies and methods in HEVC but also adds some new coding tools, such as wide-angle prediction and Multitype Tree (MTT) partition structure. The MTT partition structure brings a more flexible partition method of Coding Unit (CU), but the accompanying increase in computational complexity is unacceptable. In order to ensure an effective balance between coding efficiency and coding quality, a fast CU partition algorithm based on texture is proposed in this paper. First, the texture complexity of the neighboring CU is used as a threshold for evaluating the complexity of the current CU, so as to skip the unpromising depth. Then, the gradient features are extracted to determine whether the Quad-Tree (QT) partition is executed. Finally, the improved Canny operator is used to extract edge features, and the partition mode in the horizontal or vertical direction is excluded. The algorithm was embedded in VTM7.0, and the video sequences with different resolutions were tested under general experimental configuration. Simulation experiment results show that the average time saving of this method reached 50.56% compared with the anchor algorithm. At the same time, the average BDBR is increased by 1.31%.

Usage of the Educational Video by Students-Veterinarians Who are Studying Operative Surgery

The training of veterinary surgeons, in conditions that do not allow for surgical intervention, requires the use of modern interactive teaching aids. These include educational surgical video. Providing auditory and visual perception of information, it has high informative character. Surgical video gives the opportunity to communicate to each student all the intricacies of the operation, without requiring its presence on it, allows you to demonstrate all stages of the process, being in the most comfortable point of perception. Watching a high-quality video that reproduces the dangerous work of a surgeon without risk completely helps to master the necessary material. Another important advantage of the educational video is that the student can view it on his own, in order to acquaint or repeat the material, as well as to store it on disk media. In the course of research, an analysis of scientific sources on the use of educational videos in higher education was conducted. In order to obtain data on the use of surgical video, by the students studying operative surgery, were used such sociological methods as surveys, observations, questionnaires. According to the data obtained in the study of operative surgery, all students use the abstract of classroom lessons and surgical video. 75% of them use the textbook and 25% of the surgical sites. However, among those who take information on surgical sites, 70% are looking for text materials and 30% are browsing photos and pictures. In preparation for a real operation, all students prefer a video showing the entire operation from beginning to end. With the educational purpose of such a movie would be to view ¾ of the students surveyed, and for others it is short enough. 50% of the students after the first review of the video tutorial on the topic in the lecture room at home look for similar materials and revisit them as well as download their media. The work opens the prospect of further research on the use of surgical video in the preparation of veterinary surgeons.

Text-Based Video: The Effectiveness of Learning Math in Higher Education Through Videos and Texts

The Text-Based Video (TBV) model is a particular case of the more general Video-Based Learning (VBL) model in which an instructor’s curriculum is fully covered by high-quality videos and texts. The aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of the TBV model by examining and comparing its two main components: Videos and texts. The model is based on the creation of high-quality texts which form the basis for high-quality video clips. It is designed to improve learning in quantitative courses in higher education. The research was based on a sample of students  who enrolled in the course Mathematics for Business Administration at the Neri Bloomfield School of Design and Education, Haifa, Israel that was based on the TBV model. The course was given during the five academic years 2016-2021 using different teaching formats: face-to-face learning, distance learning and blended learning. Learners were asked to answer an online questionnaire that assessed the characteristics and advantages/disadvantages of TBV. The findings show that although students preferred watching videos based on texts over reading those texts alone, students opined that the combination of video and text was by far the most effective instructional method. All results were identical regardless of whether face-to-face, distance or blended learning was used.

Why Face-to-Face Still Matters

Face-to-Face: The Persistent Power of Cities In a Post-Pandemic Era, is about the way that people and firms are adapting to the world of always-on and everywhere digital access, and what that means for cities and regions. Twenty years after The Death of Distance—and in the midst of a pandemic that has led some to question the future of cities—many people still think that we are on track for ‘business anywhere’. The book shows why that's not the case, and provides a structure for thinking about the next twenty years of social and economic upheaval. It shows how the changing fortunes of cities are tied to the ongoing importance of face-to-face contact to our most valuable industries, and thus why the ‘human touch’ will continue to be crucial in the cities of tomorrow. Drawing on interviews with artists and advertisers, bankers and bakers, software devs and property developers, across some forty interviews we home in on what people actually do and why. ‘Contact’, in all its forms, is shown to still matter hugely to companies and individuals, even in a world with high-quality video conferencing and free online calling. And when the pandemic hit, a further digital survey explored interviewees’ experiences of an ‘e-only’ world, gaining ‘front-line’ insights into the short- and long-terms. The book seeks to provide guidance for city leaders, businesses, policymakers and students of urban and regional planning on how to think about 21st Century urban change.

Prospects for Improving Court Resolution Questions about the Parole of a Convicted Person from Serving a Sentence

The procedural order of consideration by the courts of petitions and representations for conditional early release from serving a sentence needs to be improved, since these issues affect the most important constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. Current legislation does not set a specific time frame for consideration of such requests. The author comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to consider issues of early release within 30 days from the date of receipt of the request to the court in compliance with the deadline for notifying interested persons no later than 14 days before the start of the court session. At the stage of preparation for the court session to consider the issue of early release, the court examines the received materials and performs preparatory actions. Since the activities of the court in execution of the sentence is seen as justice, all the participants of the court session (the court, Prosecutor, convict, victim, defender) should be able to use the procedural powers granted to them in consideration of the criminal case on the merits and in this stage of the process, taking into account its specificity. Participation of the convicted person in the consideration of issues of early release as a general rule should be mandatory. Consideration of the case in the absence of this person is possible only in cases when it independently and unambiguously refused to participate in the court session. The implementation of the right to protection by a convicted person during the execution of a sentence has certain features. The content of the right to protection takes on a somewhat different meaning. There is no need to defend yourself against the accusation, and the presumption of innocence provision has ceased to apply. Under such conditions, the content of the right to protection is centered around the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of this person, including his ability to obtain the necessary information, personal participation in the consideration of issues related to him, obtaining qualified legal assistance, etc. The participation of the defender in this stage must be carried out according to the general rules of criminal proceedings and must be mandatory, except in cases where the person refused to help the defender independently and voluntarily. Objective circumstances of the development of modern society put on the agenda the need to change the form of consideration of materials on early release and move to the consideration of most of these materials online. Extensive use of modern messengers with high-quality video communication will optimize the process of participation of the Prosecutor, defender and victim in the court session.