Search for Paradise

Search for Paradise PDF Author: Jens Naumann
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1479709220
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 579

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Book Description
Jens Naumann, a typical energetic young man of 17 had just moved out of his parent’s home in Northern British Columbia, moving into a railway camp as an employee with the British Columbia Railway. All goes well as Jens enjoys his new found freedom, treasuring his driver’s license and its associated freedom of travel. Then on a wintry day in 1981, fate rears its ugly head and strikes him blind in his left eye. Jens quickly rearranges his life to accommodate his new found fear - that of losing his remaining eye now that the true vulnerability of his eyesight is revealed. As his life continues onwards despite the initial readjustment, he finds ultimate happiness in his new marriage to his young wife Lorri, and just when life stands at its threshold of paradise exploring fatherhood along with the beauty of travel and thrill, his worst nightmare becomes reality not once, but twice in the most bizarre series of unforeseen incidents of bad luck; as Jens is totally blinded with no foreseeable chance of seeing again according to the best medical experts. Jens tries his best to adjust to this unwanted situation, exploring conventional methods of rehabilitation to live with blindness, as well as using imaginative, totally unheard - of activities in order to pass his time in a hope of someday being able to see again despite all the odds stacked against him. Close to the turn of the century, Jens unexpectedly receives news of an American Medical Device Engineer, Dr. William H. Dobelle, inviting blind adults as patients for his newly developed artificial vision system designed to provide limited vision via visual cortex stimulation. Dr. Dobelle claims that his system has a good chance in functioning based on previous experimenting with volunteers, at the same time classifying the surgical procedure as minor. The system and its related components is complicated; consisting of not only the implants, but a series of “electrical sockets” protruding from the patients head to which an array of computer boxes and stimulator hardware is connected and worn by the patient. Jens is determined to be one of the patients, regardless of the remoteness of the chance of being one out of literally millions of blind people in the World possibly lining up to have this procedure in hopes of ending their blindness for once and for all. To his absolute surprise, Jens is accepted as the first patient for this procedure and slowly builds a relationship with Dr. Dobelle as Jens overcomes obvious barriers of raising enough money for the very expensive procedure, as well as fighting the challenges of relentless forces working against him for his involvement in the Dobelle vision project. Armed with preconceived ideas of how a research institute should be run, Jens travels overseas for the various stages of the procedure, only to find the most astonishing facts of what goes on in the heart of a renowned medical research institute. Not only is Jens looking at the workings of the Dobelle Institute from the view of a patient, but in short time Jens is hired by the firm as Patient Representative, providing further exploration yet on the inner most details concerning a research company and its treatment of the 15 additional implanted patients. Throughout the book, Jens describes the devastation, exhilaration, disappointment, elation, and confusion that attempts at sight recovery, medical intervention, media propaganda, and ethical boundaries conjure in the most illustrative intensity. The manner in which the book ends is most indescribable; one could view it as the final straw, the beginning of a new era, the curse of the unforgiven, the sadness of a crushing reality, the beginning of a good job left unfinished; or that of the birth of a new expert compelled to unleash the new found knowledge for the whole World to thrive. Just as many questions are answered, many more yet are opened and left so far undiscovered. Search for Paradise is ce

Search for Paradise

Search for Paradise PDF Author: Jens Naumann
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1479709220
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 579

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jens Naumann, a typical energetic young man of 17 had just moved out of his parent’s home in Northern British Columbia, moving into a railway camp as an employee with the British Columbia Railway. All goes well as Jens enjoys his new found freedom, treasuring his driver’s license and its associated freedom of travel. Then on a wintry day in 1981, fate rears its ugly head and strikes him blind in his left eye. Jens quickly rearranges his life to accommodate his new found fear - that of losing his remaining eye now that the true vulnerability of his eyesight is revealed. As his life continues onwards despite the initial readjustment, he finds ultimate happiness in his new marriage to his young wife Lorri, and just when life stands at its threshold of paradise exploring fatherhood along with the beauty of travel and thrill, his worst nightmare becomes reality not once, but twice in the most bizarre series of unforeseen incidents of bad luck; as Jens is totally blinded with no foreseeable chance of seeing again according to the best medical experts. Jens tries his best to adjust to this unwanted situation, exploring conventional methods of rehabilitation to live with blindness, as well as using imaginative, totally unheard - of activities in order to pass his time in a hope of someday being able to see again despite all the odds stacked against him. Close to the turn of the century, Jens unexpectedly receives news of an American Medical Device Engineer, Dr. William H. Dobelle, inviting blind adults as patients for his newly developed artificial vision system designed to provide limited vision via visual cortex stimulation. Dr. Dobelle claims that his system has a good chance in functioning based on previous experimenting with volunteers, at the same time classifying the surgical procedure as minor. The system and its related components is complicated; consisting of not only the implants, but a series of “electrical sockets” protruding from the patients head to which an array of computer boxes and stimulator hardware is connected and worn by the patient. Jens is determined to be one of the patients, regardless of the remoteness of the chance of being one out of literally millions of blind people in the World possibly lining up to have this procedure in hopes of ending their blindness for once and for all. To his absolute surprise, Jens is accepted as the first patient for this procedure and slowly builds a relationship with Dr. Dobelle as Jens overcomes obvious barriers of raising enough money for the very expensive procedure, as well as fighting the challenges of relentless forces working against him for his involvement in the Dobelle vision project. Armed with preconceived ideas of how a research institute should be run, Jens travels overseas for the various stages of the procedure, only to find the most astonishing facts of what goes on in the heart of a renowned medical research institute. Not only is Jens looking at the workings of the Dobelle Institute from the view of a patient, but in short time Jens is hired by the firm as Patient Representative, providing further exploration yet on the inner most details concerning a research company and its treatment of the 15 additional implanted patients. Throughout the book, Jens describes the devastation, exhilaration, disappointment, elation, and confusion that attempts at sight recovery, medical intervention, media propaganda, and ethical boundaries conjure in the most illustrative intensity. The manner in which the book ends is most indescribable; one could view it as the final straw, the beginning of a new era, the curse of the unforgiven, the sadness of a crushing reality, the beginning of a good job left unfinished; or that of the birth of a new expert compelled to unleash the new found knowledge for the whole World to thrive. Just as many questions are answered, many more yet are opened and left so far undiscovered. Search for Paradise is ce

Understanding Vision

Understanding Vision PDF Author: Li Zhaoping
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199564663
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
Vision science has grown hugely in the past decades, but there have been few books showing readers how to adopt a computional approach to understanding visual perception, along with the underlying mechanisms in the brain. This book explains the computational principles and models of biological visual processing, and in particular, primate vision.

Experimental Environments for Computer Vision and Image Processing

Experimental Environments for Computer Vision and Image Processing PDF Author: Henrik I. Christensen
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9789810215101
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
To fully appreciate new methods developed in the area of machine vision it is necessary to have facilities which allow experimental verification of such methods. Experimental research is typically a very expensive task in terms of manpower, and consequently it is desirable to adopt standard facilities/methods which allow more efficient experimental investigations. In this volume a range of different experimental environments which facilitate construction and integration of machine vision systems is described. The environments presented cover areas such as robotics, research in individual machine vision methods, system integration, knowledge representation, and distributed computing. The set of environments covered include commercial systems, public domain software and laboratory prototype, showing the diversity of the problem of experimental research in machine vision and providing the reader with an overview of the area.

An Experimental Study of Aperture as a Factor in Microscopic Vision

An Experimental Study of Aperture as a Factor in Microscopic Vision PDF Author: A. Clifford Mercer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Microscopy
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description


The Experimental Darkroom

The Experimental Darkroom PDF Author: Christina Anderson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000689476
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The Experimental Darkroom is a book focused on traditional black & white photographic materials—darkroom chemistry and silver gelatin paper—now used in many non-traditional ways. The book starts with a comprehensive digital negatives chapter. Topics are divided into five sections: cameraless experimentation, camera experimentation, printing experimentation, finished print experimentation, and a section highlighting contemporary photographers who use these approaches today. Each process under discussion is accompanied by photographic examples and a step-by-step method written in a “Just the facts, ma’am” style. Topics included are: Photograms and clichés verre Lumen prints Chemigrams Pinhole and zoneplate Holgas Chromo Liquid emulsion and modern tintype Lith printing Sabattier Mordançage Bleaching and bleachout Toning, traditional to experimental Applied color and abrasion tone Encaustic, photomontage, and collage Bromoil The Experimental Darkroom encourages taking risks and having fun. Over 400 images and 71 artists are included in its 276 pages. The outcome will be an expansion of creative options for the silver gelatin print. The options are engaging and now more accessible with digital negatives. Images are no longer solely captured in camera or on analog film. The darkroom is no longer always dark. The print is no longer a pristine and accurate rendition of what the camera sees. Photographers are pushing the boundaries of black & white photographic practice. It is an exciting time to get into the darkroom and play!

Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative

Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309439981
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
The ability to see deeply affects how human beings perceive and interpret the world around them. For most people, eyesight is part of everyday communication, social activities, educational and professional pursuits, the care of others, and the maintenance of personal health, independence, and mobility. Functioning eyes and vision system can reduce an adult's risk of chronic health conditions, death, falls and injuries, social isolation, depression, and other psychological problems. In children, properly maintained eye and vision health contributes to a child's social development, academic achievement, and better health across the lifespan. The public generally recognizes its reliance on sight and fears its loss, but emphasis on eye and vision health, in general, has not been integrated into daily life to the same extent as other health promotion activities, such as teeth brushing; hand washing; physical and mental exercise; and various injury prevention behaviors. A larger population health approach is needed to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coordinated efforts that can sustain the scope of behavior change. The shaping of socioeconomic environments can eventually lead to new social norms that promote eye and vision health. Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. Building on the momentum of previous public health efforts, this report also introduces a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.

Cognitive Vision

Cognitive Vision PDF Author: Brian H. Ross
Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
ISBN: 9780125433426
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Use of visual information is used to augment our knowledge, decide on our actions, and keep track of our environment. Even with eyes closed, people can remember visual and spatial representations, manipulate them, and make decisions about them. The chapters in Volume 42 of Psychology of Learning and Motivation discuss the ways cognition interacts with visual processes and visual representations, with coverage of figure-ground assignment, spatial and visual working memory, object identification and visual search, spatial navigation, and visual attention.

Purkinje's Vision

Purkinje's Vision PDF Author: Nicholas J. Wade
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 113565641X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
The life of Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787-1869) has fascinated students from many disciplines. Histologists marvel at his early descriptions of cells; physiologists admire his attempts to relate structure to function; pharmacologists view in awe his heroic experiments on self-administered drugs; forensic scientists acknowledge his role in the use of fingerprints for identification; and Czech patriots salute his awakening of pride in their nation. Yet all these achievements followed his initial enquiries into vision. It is this psychological dimension that fostered this collaboration. As the title suggests, the present volume is bifocal. In the narrow sense it refers to Purkinje's studies of vision, but in its broader view it concerns Purkinje's anticipation of neuroscience. Purkinje provided evidence to support both its cellular and its conceptual base. At the cellular level his acute vision is immortalized within our bodies. At the conceptual level, he sought to relate subjective phenomena to their objective underpinnings--to link psychology to physiology. Vision provides a bond that unites psychology and physiology, and it is this bond that was strengthened by Purkinje's enquiries. The authors have tried to provide a context in which Purkinje's descriptions of visual phenomena can be placed. In some cases this exposes clear precursors of research for which Purkinje has been credited. In others, there was nothing to suggest the phenomena that he exposed. The book translates Purkinje's initial masterpiece on subjective vision and places it in the context of emerging views of neuroscience.

Feedforward and Feedback Processes in Vision

Feedforward and Feedback Processes in Vision PDF Author: Hulusi Kafaligonul
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889195945
Category : Feedback
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
The visual system consists of hierarchically organized distinct anatomical areas functionally specialized for processing different aspects of a visual object (Felleman & Van Essen, 1991). These visual areas are interconnected through ascending feedforward projections, descending feedback projections, and projections from neural structures at the same hierarchical level (Lamme et al., 1998). Accumulating evidence from anatomical, functional and theoretical studies suggests that these three projections play fundamentally different roles in perception. However, their distinct functional roles in visual processing are still subject to debate (Lamme & Roelfsema, 2000). The focus of this Research Topic is the roles of feedforward and feedback projections in vision. Even though the notions of feedforward, feedback, and reentrant processing are widely accepted, it has been found difficult to distinguish their individual roles on the basis of a single criterion. We welcome empirical contributions, theoretical contributions and reviews that fit into any one (or a combination) of the following domains: 1) their functional roles for perception of specific features of a visual object 2) their contributions to the distinct modes of visual processing (e.g., pre-attentive vs. attentive, conscious vs. unconscious) 3) recent techniques/methodologies to identify distinct functional roles of feedforward and feedback projections and corresponding neural signatures. We believe that the current Research Topic will not only provide recent information about feedforward/feedback processes in vision but also contribute to the understanding fundamental principles of cortical processing in general.

Vision in Cephalopods, Volume II

Vision in Cephalopods, Volume II PDF Author: Daniel Osorio
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889714071
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description