Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance analysis of a P300 BCI speller through single channel ICA

In this work we test a technique based on independent component analysis (ICA), applied to single channel brain signals recorded through the electroencephalogram. Standard (or ensemble) ICA (enICA) requires multiple channel recordings to work, however when single of few channels are required enICA cannot be readily applied. Single channel ICA (scICA) can be performed by using the method of delays we have previously proposed. Traditional source selection for scICA is to subjectively select related components based on prior knowledge. Here we trial an automatic source extraction method, which can increase the selection process speed and form an automatic robust system. These techniques are demonstrated on the P300 evoked potentials of a brain-computer interfacing (BCI) word speller dataset. Due to the poor SNR, as well as the presence of other artifacts, it is difficult to detect the P300 pattern on raw signal data. The results show that proposed algorithms are able to accurately and repeatedly extract the relevant information buried within noisy signals. These advantages are paramount for building a more reliable and robust system for use in real-world BCI - i.e. for use outside of the clinical laboratory.
Successive cyclicity in the grammar and the parser

Abstract Four experiments studied the comprehension of sentences with relations between empty positions and phrases displaced from these positions (“gaps” and 'fillers). Evidence from self-paced reading and end-of-sentence acceptability judgement tasks confirms previous research indicating that the parser prefers to assign an identified filler as the argument of a verb immediately, rather than waiting to check the input for a lexical item of the expected category. We propose that the parser follows an “active filler strategy” which ranks the option of a gap above other options in the domain of an identified filler. The preference for gap over lexical item was evidenced even when a clause boundary separated filler and gap, but the need in this case to carry a filler across a clause boundary created substantial processing difficulty. We propose that, in processing a “long” movement (across more than one clause), the parser must assign the filler to a special “non-argument” position in a successive cylic fas.
Voice over IP service and performance in satellite networks

Voice over IP services have emerged as a low-cost alternative to PSTN voice service, and an attractive solution for voice/data integration in public and private networks. Satellite systems, as an integral part of the global communications infrastructure, already have an increasing portion of their capacities used to carry data packets, and with their global coverage and reach to remote areas are well positioned to enable growth of VoIP services. For VoIP over satellite, several issues need to be addressed. These include transmission and quality of service issues, as well as service-related issues such as service creation and customization, support of IN and supplementary services, and seamless integration with the PSTN. While the service-related aspects of VoIP are common to both terrestrial and satellite networks, transport-related issues are different. This article reports performance results of laboratory experiments for evaluating VoIP over satellite under different link and traffic conditions.
Flow Optimization on Traffic Networks

This work has been motivated by the work of [1]. Here in traffic models for networks based on PDE's are considered. A simplified algebraic model is derived from PDE‐based model. Optimization problem is to minimize cost functional measuring properties of network flows. We use a new approach to solve the minization problem for the reformulated algebraic model. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
A 2.5 V CMOS delay-locked loop for 18 Mbit, 500 megabyte/s DRAM

This paper describes clock recovery circuits specifically designed for the hostile noise environment found aboard dynamic RAM chips. Instead of a phase-locked loop having a voltage-controlled oscillator, these circuits implement a delay-locked loop, thereby achieving low jitter and reduced sensitivity to noise on the substrate and the power supply rails. Differential signals are employed both in signal paths and in control paths, further decreasing noise sensitivity and simultaneously allowing operation from low voltage supplies. An unorthodox voltage controlled phase shifter, operating on the principle of quadrature mixing, yields a circuit with unlimited delay range (modulo 2/spl pi/ radians). Minor loops, enclosed within the overall loop feedback path, perform active duty cycle correction. Measured results show peak-to-peak jitter of 140 ps on the internal clock signal, and 250 ps on the external data pins, sufficiently small to allow 500 Megabyte/s transfer rates at the I/O interface. >
Task options for redundancy resolution using configuration control

New goals for redundancy resolution are established based on manipulator dynamics and end-effector characteristics. These goals can be accomplished by employing the configuration control approach. Redundancy resolution is achieved by controlling the joint inertia matrix or the end-effector mass matrix that affect the inertial torques, or by reducing the joint torques due to gravity loading and payload. The manipulator mechanical advantage and velocity ratio and the end-effector sensitivity are also used as performance measures to be improved by proper utilization of redundancy. The goals for redundancy resolution presented allow a more efficient utilization of the redundant joints based on the desired task requirements. <<ETX>>
An adaptive coding scheme with code combining for mobile radio systems

The authors propose and study an adaptive error-control coding scheme for binary digital FM (BFM) mobile radio transmission. The scheme employs code combining through packet retransmissions. The number of transmissions of a packet is in proportion to the channel fading/noise levels, which is in contrast to time diversity techniques where a fixed number of repetitions of a data packet is performed even in the absence of channel errors. Furthermore, the receiver uses received signal envelopes as channel state information, which significantly improves the throughput and bit error rate (BER) performance. Performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed for frequency-flat Rayleigh fading channels with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), co-channel interference and random FM noise. >
Possible strong symmetric hydrogen bonding in disodium tri­hydrogen bis(2,2′‐oxydi­acetate) nitrate

In the title compound, 2Na+·C8H11O10−·NO3−, the NaI atom is heptacoordinate with an approximately pentagonal–bipyramidal geometry. A possible strong symmetric hydrogen bond, with the H atom located at an inversion centre and an O⋯O distance of 2.450 (2) A, is observed in the crystal structure.
Issues, challenges and needs of student science teachers in using the Internet as a tool for teaching

In recent years there has been a strong emphasis on the value of various applications of information and communication technology as tools to support teaching and learning. One tool that has been given prominence is the Internet and in order to attain Qualified Teacher Status in England, student teachers are required to demonstrate an ability to use remote databases, such as those provided through the Internet, to support their teaching. However, the experience of the collaborating researchers, working with student teachers in five different higher education institutions, suggests that use of the Internet remains limited. This research project sought to examine current attitudes and practice amongst student secondary science teachers. In particular, factors promoting or hindering the use of the Internet in the classroom were investigated, alongside views concerning what might constitute good pedagogy. The results indicate that most student teachers are making at least some use of the Internet and see its value in promoting learning. However, many issues arose in addition to those which were simply related to lack of resources or technical difficulties. Thus the disparate nature of the material on the Internet and a perception of limited information about effective pedagogy, coupled with a shortage of role models to demonstrate successful use, were also identified as important barriers to their development of effective use of the Internet. The implications of this for initial teacher education programmes are discussed and suggestions for development and further research outlined.
Unsupervised hyperspectral imagery classification via sparse multi-way models and image fusion

Inspired by the recent rapid progress of l1-norm minimization techniques and the great success of sparse dictionary learning in image modeling, this paper proposes a sparse multi-way models clustering fusion technique to improve the classification performance in hyperspectral imagery. Multi-way models consider hyperspectral imagery data as a whole entity to treat jointly spatial and spectral modes. The whole clustering fusion method is composed three steps. Firstly, the complete hyperspectral data is grouped into several independent sub-band data sources. Then, sparse multi-way model is used to feature extraction in every band set, and divide the scene into a series of homomorphic regions. At last, we propose a fusion method to combine the information provided by each band set, it can acquire approximate supervised classification performance (such as K-nearest Neighbor classifier). The experimental results on the HYDICE imagery demonstrate the efficiency and superiority of the proposed clustering method to the classical K-means clustering method.
Design of an efficient Receiver based Packet Loss Concealment technique for Voice over Internet Protocol Using Speech Property-Based Marking Scheme

Packet loss is a common challenge to provide efficient Quality of Service support in VoIP. Present VoIP architecture does not guaran- tee a minimum amount of packet loss and a mini- mum delay of packet transmission required for voice communication. The recent work has shown that in voice transmission of all the packets are not of same importance or priority. Some seg- ments of the signal are essential to the speech quality while others are not so much essential and this gives the concept of prioritizing the informa- tive packets of the voiced stream which provides good voice quality and also ensures the efficient use of the network resources. To provide efficient QoS support selective packet marking procedure is better than using "best effort" principle. We have proposed to use SPB-MARK scheme for prioritization of voiced packets. Again using packet loss concealment algorithm (PLC), the quality of service for voice over IP can be im- proved but the PLC techniques described in the standards ANSI TI.521 and ITU-T Rec. G.711 fail to reconstruct the lost packet if it is the first packet in the voiced stream as no previous pack- ets are available for reconstruction of that packet. For this, we propose a special buffer to store the information of first three voiced packets for the reconstruction of the lost packets. Tests on recon- structed packets those are lost have proved that the proposed method improves the reconstructed speech quality significantly.
Research on the Key Technology of Massive Vector Graphic Displaying

The paper introduces a new method which can load TOPO elements more quickly. After analyzing the problem of the old TOPO component, this paper gives the solution containing method of data loading management and display control. The realization is presented at the end of the paper. Keywords-TOPO component; GIS; data load management; mesh;
Rock 'n' Scroll Is Here to Stay

A novel user input method for digital appliances is introduced using the example of an electronic photo album. Based on tilting and gesturing with the device, the Rock 'n' Scroll input method handles scrolling, selection, and commanding an application without resorting to buttons, touch screens, spoken commands, or other input methods. User experiments with a prototype system showed that users could quickly learn how to operate such devices. The experiments also offered some insight into user expectations. These positive results, combined with improvements in the sensor technology, encouraged us to incorporate this input method into an experimental handheld system.
Public libraries in Canada: an overview

Purpose – This overview aims to compile information pertaining to Canadian public libraries in the areas of legislation, structure, governance, and funding models, and briefly describes issues common to public libraries across the country.Design/methodology/approach – Information was gathered by consulting the most recent versions of provincial and territorial legislation that govern public libraries, as well as by referring to various web sites at the provincial, territorial, and national level. After a general overview of public libraries in Canada, this paper provides individual examination of each province and territory.Findings – Many commonalities and some differences exist across most provinces and territories in Canada with regard to public libraries in terms of legislation, structure, governance, and funding models.Originality/value – This paper brings together in one document comparable information about how public libraries are structured, governed, and funded across Canada.
Data Mining Approaches for Predicting Demand for Healthcare Services in Abu Dhabi

The application of data mining techniques provides a powerful approach to manipulate and extract useful information from existing data. It allows the learning of information from hidden data that could be used for future predictions. Accurate demand forecasting of any service has been a challenging research problem. Data mining has different techniques that could support demand prediction. Estimating the demand for healthcare services as a result of rapid population growth becomes essential for the strategic planning of Abu Dhabi Emirate. Future plans should be focused on districts that have needs, either for shortor long-term plans. The objective of this paper is to develop a data mining model that allows healthcare services demand planning. We use different data mining techniques in order to build four models to assist decision makers in predicting the demand for healthcare services in Abu Dhabi Emirate. Keywords—Data mining; healthcare services demand; service’s supply; K-Nearest-Neighbor; sequential minimal optimization (SMO).
A method for semantic-based image retrieval

The most existed content-based image retrieval systems use traditional low-level features such as color, texture and shape to describe the image content, which are usually represented by statistic data. Actually, there are big differences between these statistic data and the image content which people understand. Therefore, how to describe image and to make it coincide with people's understanding become the key point of improving retrieval accuracy. In the point of cognition, people's understanding and description of image content is on semantic level. How to reduce 'semantic gap', how to accurately represent content semantic of image and retrieval intention of people becomes important and critical. One effective ways has been proposed to solve the problem: semantic image retrieval based on ontology. In this paper a new image retrieval system based on ontology and relevant feedback was presented. The ontology was used to describe the semantic features of images and then retrieve the images.
Self-adaptive software for hard real-time environments

Researchers in the Automated Reasoning group at the Honeywell Technology Center and at the University of Michigan are developing adaptive intelligent software for high-risk situations. We are building a system called Self-Adaptive CIRCA (based on our cooperative intelligent real-time control architecture model) that combines the assurance of hard real-time systems with the self-modeling, self-monitoring, and self-modifying capabilities of self-adaptive software. The article describes elements of the system that are working now, as well as new components that we are still in the process of designing and building.
Image analysis of papillary thyroid carcinoma fine‐needle aspirates

Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common thyroid malignancy in the U.S. As many as half of patients with papillary carcinoma present with cervical lymph node metastases at the time of diagnosis. Metastatic disease involving cervical lymph node tissue has not historically been proven to correlate with a more aggressive course; however, distant metastases worsen prognosis.
QMotor 2.0-a real-time PC based control environment

This paper describes QMotor 2.0, a QNX based single-processor software environment that allows the implementation of real-time control programs on standard Intel processor based personal computers (PCs). The control program, as well as the development tools and graphical user interface, can all execute simultaneously on the PC due to the deterministic response of the operating system. This architecture replaces the traditional multiprocessor Host/DSP board architecture used in control applications. Advantages of a single-processor system include reduced cost and complexity, as well as increased flexibility and upgradability. Since its development, QMotor 2.0 has been used successfully in all of the control experiments, including motor and robot control, active magnetic bearing experiments, web handling, and vibration control in flexible structures.
Contribution of Primary Afferent Input to Trigeminal Astroglial Hyperactivity, Cytokine Induction and NMDA Receptor Phosphorylation

We tested the hypothesis that primary afferent inputs play a role in astroglial hyperactivity after tissue injury. We first injected complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA, 0.05 ml, 1:1 oil/saline) into the masseter muscle, which upregulated glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker of astrocytes, interleukin (IL)-1β an inflammatory cytokine, and phosphorylation of serine896 of the NR1 subunit (P-NR1) of the NMDA receptor in the subnuclei interpolaris/caudalis (Vi/Vc) transition zone, an important structure for processing trigeminal nociceptive input. Local anesthetic block with lidocaine (2%) of the masseter muscle at 10 min prior to injection of CFA into the same site significantly reduced the CFA-induced increase in GFAP, IL-1β and P-NR1 (p<0.05, n=4/group). We then tested the effect of peripheral electrical stimulation (ES). The ES protocol was burst stimulation consisting of trains of 4 square pulses (10–100 Hz, 0.1–3 mA, 0.5 ms pulse width). Under pentobarbital anesthesia, an ES was delivered every 0.2 s for a total of 30 min. The Vi/Vc tissues were processed for immunohistochemistry or western blot analysis at 10–120 min after ES. Compared to naive and SHAM-treated rats, there was increased immunoreactivity against GFAP, IL-1β and P-NR1 in the Vi/Vc in rats receiving ES. Double staining showed that IL-1β was selectively localized in GFAP-positive astroglia, and P-NR1-immunoreactivity was localized to neurons. These findings indicate that primary afferent inputs are necessary and sufficient to induce astroglial hyperactivity and upregulation of IL-1β, as well as neuronal NMDA receptor phosphorylation.
Optimizing Fault Tolerance for Real-Time Systems

For the vast majority of computer systems correct operation is defined as producing the correct result within a time constraint (deadline). We refer to such computer systems as real-time systems (RTSs). RTSs manufactured in recent semiconductor technologies are increasingly susceptible to soft errors, which enforces the use of fault tolerance to detect and recover from eventual errors. However, fault tolerance usually introduces a time overhead, which may cause an RTS to violate the time constraints. Depending on the consequences of violating the deadlines, RTSs are divided into hard RTSs, where the consequences are severe, and soft RTSs, otherwise. Traditionally, worst case execution time (WCET) analyses are used for hard RTSs to ensure that the deadlines are not violated, and average execution time (AET) analyses are used for soft RTSs. However, at design time a designer of an RTS copes with the challenging task of deciding whether the system should be a hard or a soft RTS. In such case, focusing only on WCET analyses may result in an over-designed system, while on the other hand focusing only on AET analyses may result in a system that allows eventual deadline violations. To overcome this problem, we introduce Level of Confidence (LoC) as a metric to evaluate to what extent a deadline is met in presence of soft errors. The advantage is that the same metric can be used for both soft and hard RTSs, thus a system designer can precisely specify to what extent a deadline is to be met. In this thesis, we address optimization of Roll-back Recovery with Checkpointing (RRC) which is a good representative for fault tolerance due to that it enables detection and recovery of soft errors at the cost of introducing a time overhead which impacts the execution time of tasks. The time overhead depends on the number of checkpoints that are used. Therefore, we provide mathematical expressions for finding the optimal number of checkpoints which leads to: 1) minimal AET and 2) maximal LoC. To obtain these expressions we assume that error probability is given. However, error probability is not known in advance and it can even vary over runtime. Therefore, we propose two error probability estimation techniques: Periodic Probability Estimation and Aperiodic Probability Estimation that estimate error probability during runtime and adjust the RRC scheme with the goal to reduce the AET. By conducting experiments, we show that both techniques provide near-optimal performance of RRC. (Less)
ON THE MULTICHANNEL CHARACTERISTICS OF A 1.8 GHZ SMART ANTENNA WIRELESS SCENARIOS* SYSTEM USING A CIRCULAR ARRAY IN REALISTIC NON-STATIONARY

In mobile communications, smart antenna systems that utilize an antenna array and perform advanced signal processing techniques can achieve greater channel capacity and improve link quality by selective reception/transmission at the base station. However, development of adaptive signal processing algorithms for smart antenna system applications require the accurate knowledge about the multichannel propagation characteristics. A few experimental results on the spatial signature variation of a uniform linear array (ULA) at 900 MHz have been reported. This paper presents the experimental results on the channel propagation characteristic variations of a 1.8 GHz smart antenna system using a uniform circular array (UCA) in moving mobile scenarios. The results indicate that the stability of direction-of-arrivals (DOAs) of multipath components in all scenarios, and the unstability of the spatial signatures in scenarios with strong multipaths.
Enhancing the cellular downlink capacity via co-processing at the transmitting end

A linear pre-processing plus encoding scheme is proposed, which significantly enhances cellular downlink performance, while putting the complexity burden on the transmitting end. The approach is based on LQ factorization of the channel transfer matrix combined with the "writing on dirty paper" approach (Caire, G. and Shamai, S., Proc. 38th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control and Computing, 2000) for eliminating the effect of uncorrelated interference, which is fully known at the transmitter but unknown at the receiver. The attainable average rates with the proposed scheme approach those of optimum joint processing at the high SNR region.