TRECVID: Evaluating the effectiveness of information retrieval tasks on digital video

TRECVID is an annual exercise which encourages research in information retrieval from digital video by providing a large video test collection, uniform scoring procedures, and a forum for organizations interested in comparing their results. TRECVID benchmarking covers both interactive and manual searching by end users, as well as the...

A Dependence between Average Call Duration and Voice Transmission Quality: Measurement and applications

This contribution deals with the estimation of the relation between speech transmission quality and average call duration for a given network and portfolio of customers. It uses non-intrusive speech quality measurements on live speech calls. The basic idea behind this analysis is an expectation that the average call duration is higher for calls...

ANAM vs. NAM: Is the difference significant?

The Navy Aerosol Model (NAM, available in MODTRAN) is widely used as a tool to assess the aerosol extinction in the marine atmospheric surface layer. NAM was built as a regression model in the 1980s to represent the aerosol extinction at deck height as a function of the meteorological conditions. The recently developed Advanced Navy Aerosol...

The Dedicated Aerosol Retrieval Experiment (DARE): scientific requirements for a dedicated satellite instrument to measure atmospheric aerosols

DARE (Dedicated Aerosol Retrieval Experiment) is a study to design an instrument for accurate remote sensing of aerosol properties from space. DARE combines useful properties of several existing instruments like TOMS, GOME, ATSR and POLDER. It has a large wavelength range, 330 to 1000 nm, to discriminate between aerosol types. The wide swath...

Worldwide distribution of soil dielectric and thermal properties

Ground penetrating radar and thermal sensors hold much promise for the detection of non-metallic land mines. In previous work we have shown that the performance of ground penetrating radar strongly depends on field soil conditions such as texture, water content, and soil-water salinity since these soil parameters determine the dielectric soil...

A new algorithm to retrieve AOD with ATSR-2 data

A new algorithm to retrieve aerosol optical depth with Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) data was presented. The generalization of algorithms for application over some areas is reported. An automated cloud detection scheme was included in the algorithms in order to generalize them. Inclusion of other aerosol types was also carried out.

Ergonomic ship brigde design supports minimum manning

The Royal Netherlands Navy is planning to design a hydrographic survey vessel to replace the currently used vessels in order to extend the tasks of an Officer by reducing require manning. The design includes the arrangements of workspace and the detailed design of workplaces. Digital human models are used to check the anthropometric qualities of...

Image dataset for testing search and detection models

The TNO Human Factors Searchû2 image dataset consists of: a set of 44 high-resolution digital color images of different complex natural scenes, the ground truth corresponding to each of these scenes, and the results of psychophysical experiments on each of these images. The images in the Searchû2 dataset are a subset of a larger set that has...

Comparative evaluation of the performance of online databases in answering toxicology queries

An evaluation of toxicology information resources is reported, comparing commercial online databases specialized in-house database. A mixed qualitative/quantitative approach, using 10 test queries and detailed failure analysis was used. The main conclusions are: the in-house database is superior to any `general' database in recall and precision;...

Structuring automated vehicle guidance knowledge in The Netherlands

This paper describes the set-up of a AVG knowledge database from the AVV Transport Research Centre from the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. The database provides a categorised overview of all research performed in The Netherlands in the area of Automatic Vehicle Guidance (AVG). Two analyses are performed on the...

Computer-assisted ergonomic analysis for vehicle interior design

TNO Human Factors is involved in the process of designing and testing a new concept for driver workplaces in passenger cars, i.e. with a horizontally fixed driver seat and adjustable pedals, steering wheel and instrument panel. This new concept is intended to achieve an interior space and arrangement of instruments that supports the driver task...

Report on the geo-environmental inquiry project, central and eastern Europe

The Commission on Geological Sciences for Environmental Planning (COGEOENVIRONMENT) of IUGS and UNESCO have initiated a joint project to develop a worldwide data base on earthscience-related environmental problems and to assess which geoscientific information is available locally for prevention, prediction or mitigation of such problems. As a...

Modeling driver behaviour with different degrees of automation: a hierarchical decision framework of interacting mental models

Routine multiple imputation in statistical databases

This paper deals with problems concerning missing data in statistical databases. Multiple imputation is a statistically sound technique for handling incomplete data. Two problems should be addressed before the routine application of the technique becomes feasible. First, if imputations are to be appropriate for more than one statistical analysis...

Predictive exposure modelling for pesticide registration purposes

The health risk to the agricultural worker using pesticides is important for registration procedures since during mixing, loading and application he or she handles undiluted as well as diluted pesticide formulations. Furthermore, exposure may occur during daily activities in the crop (e.g. harvesting). Possible exposure may reach levels that...