The recent introduction of 3D shape analysis frameworks able to quantify the deformation of a shape into another in terms of the variation of real functions yields a new interpretation of the 3D ...shape similarity assessment and opens new perspectives. Indeed, while the classical approaches to similarity mainly quantify it as a numerical score, map‐based methods also define (dense) shape correspondences. After presenting in detail the theoretical foundations underlying these approaches, we classify them by looking at their most salient features, including the kind of structure and invariance properties they capture, as well as the distances and the output modalities according to which the similarity between shapes is assessed and returned. We also review the usage of these methods in a number of 3D shape application domains, ranging from matching and retrieval to annotation and segmentation. Finally, the most promising directions for future research developments are discussed.
The recent introduction of 3D shape analysis frameworks able to quantify the deformation of a shape into another in terms of the variation of real functions yields a new interpretation of the 3D shape similarity assessment and opens new perspectives. Indeed, while the classical approaches to similarity mainly quantify it as a numerical score, map‐based methods also define (dense) shape correspondences.
The aim of this study was to determine the association between concentrations of progesterone (P4) during previous the estrous cycle with the intensity of spontaneous or estrogen-induced estrous ...expression and pregnancy per artificial insemination (P/AI). A total of 1,953 AI events from lactating Holstein cows were used, consisting of 1,289 timed AI events from experiment 1 (Exp. 1) and 664 AI events from experiment 2 (Exp. 2). In Exp. 1, cows were bred after a timed AI protocol based on estradiol and P4. In Exp. 2 animals were bred upon spontaneous estrus detection. In both experiments cows were continuously monitored by an automated activity monitor (AAM), in Exp.1 a relative increase of activity was calculated (i.e., percentage of increase activity at estrus compared to cow's baseline activity) and in Exp.2, activity data from each cow were computed into an index value that ranged from 0 to 100. In Exp.2 duration (hours) of estrus were calculated and defined as the total time above the threshold (35 index). The intensity of estrous expression was determined for each event and classified as either high or low intensity using the median of each experiment. Blood samples were collected for P4 analysis in Exp. 1 at -4 d, 0 d, and 7 d relative to timed AI, and in Exp. 2 immediately following estrus (0 d), 7 d, 14 d, and 21 d post-AI. Concentration of P4 was classified as greater or lower according to the median value in each experiment. Cows with lower concentrations of P4 at AI had greater estrous expression in Exp. 1 (363.6 ± 5.2 vs. 275.9 ± 8.0% relative increase) and Exp. 2 (76.7 ± 1.9 vs. 67.4 ± 4.7 index; and 12.5 ± 0.5 vs. 9.3 ± 1.8 hours). Cows with a greater intensity of estrous expression at timed AI had greater concentrations of P4 at -4 d than cows with lower intensity estrus or no estrous expression (4.6 ± 0.2 vs. 3.6 ± 0.2 vs. 3.7 ± 0.2 ng/mL). Cows with greater concentrations of P4 at -4 d had greater P/AI (32.8 ± 4.4 vs. 22.4 ± 4.5%), whereas cows with lesser concentrations of P4 at d0 for either timed AI (35.2 ± 3.4 vs. 19.6 ± 4.6%) or spontaneous estrus (31.8 ± 2.8 vs. 23.4 ± 3.2%) had greater P/AI. Cows with greater concentrations of P4 7 d post-timed AI had greater P/AI compared with cows that had lower concentration of P4 (39.1 ± 2.9 vs. 24.7 ± 2.6%). Similarly, cows that had lower concentrations of P4 at 7 d, 14 d and 21 d post-spontaneous estrus tended to have lower P/AI when compared with cows with greater concentrations of P4. Overall, concentrations of P4 prior to and at AI were associated with greater estrous intensity and P/AI at both spontaneous and timed AI events.
In this paper, we propose a game adaptation technique that seeks to improve the training outcomes of stroke patients during a therapeutic session. This technique involves the generation of customized ...game levels, which difficulty is dynamically adjusted to the patients’ abilities and performance. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of this adaptation strategy on the training outcomes of post-stroke patients during a therapeutic session. We hypothesized that a dynamic difficulty adaptation strategy would have a more positive effect on the training outcomes of patients than two control strategies, incremental difficulty adaptation and random difficulty adaptation. To test these strategies, we developed three versions of PRehab, a serious game for upper-limb rehabilitation. Seven stroke patients and three therapists participated in the experiment, and played all three versions of the game on a graphics tablet. The results of the experiment show that our dynamic adaptation technique increases movement amplitude during a therapeutic session. This finding may serve as a basis to improve patient recovery.
Length of dominance of the ovulatory follicle and exposure to oestradiol (OE₂) during proestrus can affect fertility. Lactating cows had their oestrous cycle pre-synchronized and were subjected to ...one of the four synchronization treatments. Cows in the oestrus detection (OD) treatment received GnRH on day 6 of the oestrous cycle, PGF₂α 7 days later, and were inseminated at detected oestrus. The remaining cows were subjected to the Ovsynch (OVS) protocol (day 0 GnRH, day 7 PGF₂α, day 9 GnRH, and timed artificial insemination (AI) 12 h later) starting on day 3 (OVS3) or day 6 (OVS6 and OVS6E) of the oestrous cycle. Cows in the OVS6E treatment received an injection of 0.5 mg oestradiol cypionate 36 h before AI. Ovaries were examined by ultrasonography and blood was sampled for progesterone and OE₂ concentrations. Uteri were flushed 6 days after AI and recovered embryos-oocytes evaluated. Diameter of the ovulatory follicle at AI differed (P<0.01) among treatments, and it was the largest for OVS3 cows, which also had extended (P<0.01) length of follicular dominance. During proestrus, OD and OVS6E cows had increased (P<0.01) OE₂ concentrations. Fertilization was not altered by treatments, and maximum fertilization was achieved when the number of accessory spermatozoa was >7. Proportions of viable embryos in relation to embryos and embryos-oocytes recovered were smaller for OVS3 cows (P<0.01) than the other treatments, and embryos from OVS3 cows also had fewer (P<0.01) blastomeres and tended (P=0.09) to have a lower proportion of live blastomeres. Extending the period of follicle dominance did not alter fertilization but reduced (P<0.001) embryo quality. Embryo quality was compromised even when the dominance of the ovulatory follicle was extended by only 1.5 days.
The objective of this series of studies was to investigate the effects of inflammatory diseases occurring before breeding on the developmental biology and reproductive responses in dairy cows. Data ...from 5 studies were used to investigate different questions associating health status before breeding and reproductive responses. Health information for all studies was composed of the incidence of retained fetal membranes, metritis, mastitis, lameness, and respiratory and digestive problems from parturition until the day of breeding. Retained placenta and metritis were grouped as uterine disease (UTD). Mastitis, lameness, digestive and respiratory problems were grouped as nonuterine diseases (NUTD). Study 1 evaluated the effect of disease before artificial insemination (AI), anovulation before synchronization of the estrous cycle, and low body condition score at AI on pregnancy per AI, as well as their potential interactions or additive effects. Study 2 investigated the effect of site of inflammation (UTD vs. NUTD) and time of occurrence relative to preantral or antral stages of ovulatory follicle development, and the effect of UTD and NUTD on fertility responses of cows bred by AI or by embryo transfer. Study 3 evaluated the effect of disease on fertilization and embryonic development to the morula stage. Study 4 evaluated the effect of disease on preimplantation conceptus development as well as secretion of IFN-τ and transcriptome. Study 5 investigated the effect of diseases before AI on the transcript expression of interferon-stimulated genes in peripheral blood leukocytes during peri-implantation stages of conceptus development after first AI postpartum. Altogether, these studies demonstrated that inflammatory disease before breeding reduced fertilization of oocytes and development to morula, and impaired early conceptus development to elongation stages and secretion of IFN-τ in the uterine lumen. Diseases caused inflammation-like changes in transcriptome of conceptus cells, increased risk of pregnancy loss, and reduced pregnancy or calving per breeding. Moreover, the effects on reproduction were independent of cyclic status before synchronization of the estrous cycle and body condition score at breeding, which all had additive negative effects on fertility of dairy cows. Occurrence of disease at preantral or at antral stages of ovulatory follicle development had similar detrimental effects on pregnancy results. The carryover effects of diseases on developmental biology might last longer than 4 mo. Reduced oocyte competence is a likely reason for carryover effects of diseases on developmental biology, but impaired uterine environment was also shown to be involved.
In this paper we target the problem of textured 3D object retrieval. As a first contribution, we show how to include photometric information in the persistence homology setting, also proposing a ...novel theoretical result about multidimensional persistence spaces. As a second contribution, we introduce a generalization of the integral geodesic distance which fuses shape and color properties. Finally, we adopt a purely geometric description based on the selection of geometric functions that are mutually independent. The photometric, hybrid and geometric descriptions are combined into a signature, whose performance is tested on a benchmark dataset.
The objective of this study was to determine risk-factors affecting increase in physical activity during estrus and pregnancy per artificial insemination (P/AI) in lactating dairy cows. Cows were ...monitored continuously by 2 automated activity monitors a collar-mounted accelerometer (HT; Heatime, SCR Engineers, Netanya, Israel) and a leg-mounted pedometer (BO; Boumatic Heat-seeker-TX, Boumatic Dairy Equipment, Madison, WI). When an increase in activity was detected, body condition score (BCS) and blood samples were collected, ovaries were scanned by ultrasonography, and, if the cow was eligible for breeding, artificial insemination was performed. Milk production and health-related data were recorded throughout the experimental period. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed at 42±7 d of gestation. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, ANOVA, and logistic regression. A total of 1,099 true events of estrus from 318 lactating Holstein cows were recorded, averaging 3.46±1.1 events per cow. Positive predictive value for estrus episodes detected by the HT and BO systems were 89.6 and 85.5%, respectively. Mean peak activity at estrus (PA) recorded by the HT system was 71.6±20.7 index-value, and 334.3±155.7% relative increase by the BO system. Compared with primiparous, multiparous cows expressed estrus with lower PA (69.3±0.8 vs. 75.9±1.1 index for HT; 323.9±6.0 vs. 354.8±8.48% for BO) and shorter duration (DU; 10.7±0.2 vs. 12.0±0.3 h); DU was measured by HT only. Lower BCS was associated with decreased PA measured by both systems, estrus DU, and P/AI. Peak activity was weakly correlated with milk production on the day of artificial insemination (r=−0.20); however, when categorized into quartiles, the highest-yield cows had lower PA and DU. Follicle diameter was not correlated with PA or DU, but cows with greater concentrations of estradiol had higher PA. Cows with greater PA in both systems had greater P/AI than those with lower PA (36.5 vs. 24.6% for HT, 33.5 vs. 21.4% for BO). In conclusion, measurements of estrus events captured by automated activity monitors are correlated with BCS, parity, and secondary behavior signs related to estrus. Surprisingly, estrus intensity and duration were only weakly correlated with milk production, preovulatory follicle diameter, and concentrations of estradiol at estrus. Cows that had measurements of high-intensity estrus were significantly more fertile than low-intensity estrus.
This paper presents a comparative study of six methods for the retrieval and classification of textured 3D models, which have been selected as representative of the state of the art. To better ...analyse and control how methods deal with specific classes of geometric and texture deformations, we built a collection of 572 synthetic textured mesh models, in which each class includes multiple texture and geometric modifications of a small set of null models. Results show a challenging, yet lively, scenario and also reveal interesting insights into how to deal with texture information according to different approaches, possibly working in the CIELab as well as in modifications of the RGB colour space.
This study aimed to determine changes in rumen-reticular temperature (RRT) at estrus or ovulation and determine if these changes are associated with the intensity of estrous expression. Cows were ...equipped with an automated activity monitor (AAM) and a rumen-reticular bolus thermometer. A total of 190 estrus episodes were used where physical activity data was recorded using the AAM and ovulation was determined via ultrasonography of the ovaries at alert and twice daily, for a maximum of 60 h. Estrous expression was assessed using the maximum activity and duration in which activity remained above the AAM threshold; both characteristics were categorized using the median. Temperature data was collected for the duration of estrus, as well as for the interval of time where ovulation was determined to occur. Three measures of temperature were calculated: (1) positive area under the curve (AUC), (2) maximum positive temperature change (PTC), (3) maximum negative temperature change (NTC) at estrus (AUC
/ PTC
/ NTC
) and around ovulation (AUC
/PTC
/ NTC
). Both AUC and PTC were greater during estrus than around ovulation (2.7 ± 0.2 and 1.1 ± 0.3°C
for AUC
and AUC
; 0.55 ± 0.03 and 0.26 ± 0.04°C for PTC
and PTC
, respectively). In contrast, NTC was lower around ovulation than estrus (-0.28 ± 0.05 and -0.60 ± 0.06°C for NTC
and NTC
). Cows with greater estrous expression had greater AUC and PTC during estrus than around ovulation, but cows with lesser estrous expression had similar AUC and PTC. Increases in AUC High THI (Temperature Humidity Index): High activity: 4.7 ± 0.5, Low activity: 1.5 ± 0.4; Low THI: High activity: 3.1 ± 0.2, Low activity: 1.4 ± 0.2 °C
and PTC (High THI: High activity: 0.79 ± 0.08, Low activity: 0.36 ± 0.07; Low THI: High activity: 0.60 ± 0.04, Low activity: 0.47 ± 0.04°C) associated with estrous expression were found to be greater on days with higher THI. Alerts created using standard deviations from the mean were unable to detect estrus or ovulation with acceptable precision. Further research is required to determine how changes in RRT can be used successfully to predict estrus and ovulation.
Collective learning has been advocated to be at the source for innovation, particularly as serendipity seems historically to have been the driving force not only behind innovation, but also behind ...scientific discovery and artistic creation. Informal learning is well known to represent the most significant learning effects in humans, far better than its complement: formal learning with predefined objectives. We have designed an approach—ViewpointS—based on a digital medium—the ViewpointS Web Application—that enables and enhances the processes for sharing knowledge within a group and is equipped with metrics aimed at assessing collective and informal learning. In this article, we introduce by giving a brief state of the art about collective and informal learning, then outline our approach and medium, and finally, present and exploit a real-life experiment aimed at evaluating the ViewpointS approach and metrics.
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