An empirical investigation into the difficulties experienced by visually impaired Internet users

In this paper, an empirical based study is described which has been conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the visually impaired community when accessing the Web. The study, involving 30 blind and partially sighted computer users, has identified navigation strategies, perceptions of page layout and graphics using assistive devices such as screen readers. Analysis of the data has revealed that current assistive technologies impose navigational constraints and provide limited information on web page layout. Conveying additional spatial information could enhance the exploration process for visually impaired Internet users. It could also assist the process of collaboration between blind and sighted users when performing web-based tasks. The findings from the survey have informed the development of a non-visual interface, which uses the benefits of multimodal technologies to present spatial and navigational cues to the user.     

A coupling of multi‐zone curved Galerkin BEM with finite elements for independently modelled sub‐domains with non‐matching nodes in elasticity

When the different parts of a structure are modelled independently by BEM or FEM methods, it is sometimes necessary to put the parts together without remeshing of the nodes along the part interfaces. Frequently the nodes do not match along the interface. In this work, the symmetric Galerkin multi‐zone curved boundary element is a fully symmetric formulation and is the method used for the boundary element part. For BEM–FEM coupling it is then necessary to interpolate the tractions in‐between the non‐matching nodes for the FEM part. Finally, the coupling is achieved by transforming the finite element domains to equivalent boundary element domains in a block symmetric formulation. This system is then coupled with a boundary element domain with non‐matching nodes in‐between. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Staged Coagulation for Treatment of Refractory Organics

Seasonal periods of high rainfall have been shown to cause elevated natural organic matter (NOM) loadings at treatment works. These high levels lead to difficulties in removing sufficient NOM to meet trihalomethane standards, and hence better alternative treatments are required. Here the removal of NOM was investigated by conventional coagulation treatment using both bulk and fractionated NOM. Initial experiments showed that over 70% removal of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic acid fractions was achieved at the works, while only 16% of the hydrophilic nonacid fraction was being removed. Bench scale jar testing of the isolated NOM fractions demonstrated that high removals of the hydrophobic fractions were achieved and that optimized conditions increased removal of the hydrophilic fractions, indicating that staged coagulation could be of benefit in the removal of the recalcitrant fractions. Experiments using optimized staged coagulation indicated that a small increase in the removal of the total NOM of this water was possible when compared to conventional treatment.     

Do Dogs (Canis familiaris) Understand Invisible Displacement?

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) perform above chance on invisible displacement tasks despite showing few other signs of possessing the necessary representational abilities. Four experiments investigated how dogs find an object that has been hidden in 1 of 3 opaque boxes. Dogs passed the task under a variety of control conditions, but only if the device used to displace the object ended up adjacent to the target box after the displacement. These results suggest that the search behavior of dogs was guided by simple associative rules rather than mental representation of the object's past trajectory. In contrast, Experiment 5 found that on the same task, 18- and 24-month-old children showed no disparity between trials in which the displacement device was adjacent or nonadjacent to the target box. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A preliminary design and structural analysis of the lifting tools for 40° sector sub-assembly and handling ITER components

The purpose-built, ITER tokamak assembly tools, which are to be provided by Korea, should be designed to meet: the assembly plan, space reservations, safety standards, simple operations, efficient maintenance, and so on. It is very important that the ITER assembly tools are able to lift and transfer ITER components or their sub-assemblies to their assembled position safely. Furthermore, the lifting tools will lift and handle very heavy loads that can be more than 1200 tonnes sometimes. Therefore, the ITER lifting tools must be designed to endure these heavy load conditions with regard to their structural integrity. Also, these designs should be verified through an appropriate method. The preliminary design of the sector lifting tool and associated lifting attachments are introduced in this paper. The sector lifting tool was designed especially to lift and handle various ITER components by adjusting the lifting centre. The structural analysis results using ANSYS are described considering the heaviest load condition. The results of the analysis show that; all stresses applied on the lifting tool are lower than the allowable stress of the applied material.     

Real-time estimation of slowest heating point temperature and residual cooking time by coupling multipoint temperature measurement and mathematical modelling: Application to meat cooking automation

In this work, an innovative procedure for real-time heat transfer modelling and dimensional change estimation during meat cooking was presented. By using a multipoint temperature probe, a punctual calculation of slowest heating point (SHP) temperature was obtained at each time from the radial temperature distribution inside the product. Experimental temperature data from the multipoint probe was combined with a mathematical algorithm previously validated to perform a real-time estimation of SHP temperature and residual cooking time on the basis of the data stored at each instant. The developed procedure and algorithm were validated by cooking pork loin and roast beef samples at 180 and 200 °C both under natural and forced convection regimes. Real-time predicted cooking time and SHP endpoint temperature values were very close to those experimentally obtained: at the 85% of the cooking process, the maximum percentage errors for SHP endpoint temperature and cooking time prediction were 1.72 and 1.67%, respectively. In addition, SHP location inside the meat samples was also obtained at each time instant and used to estimate dimensional changes during cooking: calculated final characteristic dimensions were very similar to those experimentally obtained for all cooking trials. The developed approach could be useful for the automatic cooking operations planning in food-service with microbial safety assurance.     

Renting with pets: a pathway to housing insecurity?

Companion animals are rarely considered in rental policy or research. This absence belies their prevalence and growing centrality within practices of family and home, and persists despite evidence of links between companion animals and rental insecurity. This paper begins to address this gap. Through an online survey and in-depth interviews with people who rented with companion animals in Sydney, Australia, over the 10 years to 2013, the paper identifies connections between pet ownership and rental insecurity, including perceptions about the low availability and poor quality of advertised ‘pet-friendly’ properties. The paper argues that pet ownership can trigger feelings of rental insecurity, and advocates for inclusion of pet ownership as a variable impacting secure occupancy. It suggests companion animals are an escalating rental risk, their significance to their owners causing some to accept accelerating levels of rental insecurity by keeping pets without landlord knowledge. These experience impact on the ability of renters to feel ‘at home’ in rental properties.     

Focal Flow: Velocity and Depth from Differential Defocus Through Motion

We present the focal flow sensor. It is an unactuated, monocular camera that simultaneously exploits defocus and differential motion to measure a depth map and a 3D scene velocity field. It does this using an optical-flow-like, per-pixel linear constraint that relates image derivatives to depth and velocity. We derive this constraint, prove its invariance to scene texture, and prove that it is exactly satisfied only when the sensor’s blur kernels are Gaussian. We analyze the inherent sensitivity of the focal flow cue, and we build and test a prototype. Experiments produce useful depth and velocity information for a broader set of aperture configurations, including a simple lens with a pillbox aperture.