Query: Mechanical design of humanoid robot platform KHR-3 (KAIST Humanoid Robot 3: HUBO)

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Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics and Control <=SEP=> How can you change your mind to be more open? There many sources that can help you to improve your thoughts. It can be from the other experiences and also story from some people. Book is one of the trusted sources to get. You can find so many books that we share here in this website. And now, we show you one of the best, the introduction to robotics mechanics and control john j craig solution manual.

Development of humanoid robot platform KHR-2 (KAIST humanoid robot-2) <=SEP=> We are presenting the mechanical and electrical system design and system integration of controllers including sensory devices of the humanoid, KHR-2 in this paper. The concept and the objective of the design will be described. We have developed KHR-2 since 2003 which has 41 DOF (degree of freedom). Each arm including a hand and a wrist has 11 DOF (5+2 DOF/hand (finger + wrist), 4 DOF/arm) and each leg has 6 DOF. Head and trunk have 6 DOF (2 DOF/eye and 2 DOF/neck) and 1 DOF respectively. The mechanical part of the robot is designed to have human friendly appearance and wide movable angle range. Joint actuators are designed to have negligible uncertainties such as backlash. To control all axes, distributed control architecture is adopted to reduce the computation burden of the main controller (PC) and to expand the devices easily. We developed a sub-controller which is a servo motor controller and sensor interfacing devices using microprocessor. The main controller (PC) attached on the back of the robot communicates with sub-controllers in real-time by using CAN (controller area network). Windows XP is used for OS (operating system) for fast development of main control program. RTX (real time extension) HAL extension software is used to realize the real-time control in Windows XP environment. KHR-2 has several sensor types, which are 3-axis F/T (force/torque) sensors at foot and wrist, inertia sensor system (accelerometer and rate gyro) and CCD camera. The F/T sensor at the foot is the most fundamental sensor for stable walking. The inertia sensor system is essential for determining the inclination between the ground and the robot. Finally, we used the CCD camera for navigation and stabilization of the robot in the future. We described the details of the KHR-2 in this paper.

Development of a biped walking robot compensating for three-axis moment by trunk motion <=SEP=> The authors have been using the ZMP (@ro Mfoment&oint) as a criterion to distinguish the stability of walking for a biped walking robot which has a trunk. T6 the authors introduce a control method of dynamic biped walking for a biped walking robot to compensate for the three-axis (pitch, roll and yaw-axis) moment on an arbitraryplanned ZMP by trunk motion. The authors developed a biped walking robot and performed a walking experiment with the robot using the control method. The result was a fast dynamic biped walking a t the walking speed of 0.54 slstep with a 0.3 m step on a flat floor. This walking speed is about 50 percent faster than that with the robot which compensates for only the twoaxis (pitch and roll-axis) moment by t runk motion. -z In 1986, the authors developed a biped walking robot WL12 (Waseda Leg No. 12) which has a trunk for the stabilization of walking. At the same time the authors proposed a control method of dynamic biped walking for a biped walking robot to compensate for the two-axis (pitch and roll-axis) moment on an arbitrary planned ZMP by the trunk[l]-[3). In 1990, by using this walking control method, the authors achieved dynamic biped walking at the fastest walking speed of 0.8 s/step with 0.3 m step length on a flat floor[5]. The method was based on the assumption that the contact point between robot foot and the floor would not slide. That is to say, only the pitch-axis and roll-axis moments were compensated for by trunk motion, and the yaw-axis moment was not taken into account in the stabilization of walking. In the walking experiment, however, as the robot walked faster, the yaw-axis moment began to give the robot a spin on the yaw-axis, which became a considerable problem that affected the stability of walking. In contrast, i r was considered that human beings compensate not only for the pitch and roll-axis moment but also for the yaw-axis moment by swinging both arms and rotating the waist to maintain the total stability of walking. 0-7803-0823-9p33/$3.00 (C) 1993 IEEE __ _I------" I -__-.*-Fig. 1 Biped walking robot WL-12RV Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a biped walking robot which has an ability to compensate for the three-axis moment by trunk motion, to work out a control method of dynamic biped walking for the robot and to realize faster walking than before.

The Development of Honda Humanoid Robot <=SEP=> I n this paper. we present the mechanism, system cor$guration, basic control algorithm and integrated ,functions of the Nonda humanoid robot. Like its human counterpart, this robot lzas the ability to move forward and backward, sideways to the right or the left, as well as diagonally. I n addition, the robot can turn in any direction, walk up and down stairs continuously. Furthermore, due to its unique posture stability control, the robot is able to maintain its balance despite unexpected complications such as uneven ground su faces As a part of its integrated functions, this robot is able to inove on a planned path autonomously and to perform simple operations via wireless tele-operation.

Design of prototype humanoid robotics platform for HRP <=SEP=> This paper presents a prototype humanoid robotics platform developed for HRP-2. HRP-2 is a new humanoid robotics platform, which we have been developing in phase two of HRP. HRP is a humanoid robotics project, which has been lunched by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan from 1998FY to 2002FY for five years. The ability of the biped locomotion of HRP-2 is improved so that HRP-2 can cope with rough terrain in the open air and can prevent the possible damages to a humanoid robot’s own self in the event of tipping over. The ability of whole body motion of HRP-2 is also improved so that HRP-2 can get up by a humanoid robot’s own self even tough HRP-2 tips over. In this paper, the mechanisms and specifications of developed prototype humanoid robotics platform, and its electrical system are introduced.

Un-Crafting: De-Constructive Engagements with Interactive Artifacts <=SEP=> Crafting interactive artifacts is typically associated with synthesizing, making, constructing, putting things together. In this paper, we discuss how these activities can be contrasted with de-synthesizing activities that revolve around decomposition, dissection, and taking things apart. Based on framings that emphasize how related practices are valuable in engineering processes, we aim to unlock the potential of de-constructive engagements with interactive technologies as a material driven (design) practice. We propose un-crafting as a framework of four modes of taking interactive artifacts apart (i.e., un-crafting for material exposition, material inspiration, material inquiry, and material exploration) aiming to pinpoint de-constructive episodes inherent to design processes, as well as to encourage the refinement of respective techniques and methods.

Heart rate variability and autonomic activity at rest and during exercise in various physiological conditions <=SEP=> The rhythmic components of heart rate variability (HRV) can be separated and quantitatively assessed by means of power spectral analysis. The powers of high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) components of HRV have been shown to estimate cardiac vagal and sympathetic activities. The reliability of these spectral indices, as well as that of LF/HF ratio as a marker of autonomic interaction at rest and during exercise, is briefly reviewed. Modifications in autonomic activities induced by different physiological conditions, e.g. hypoxia exposure, training, and water immersion, have been found in HRV power spectra at rest. The changes in HF and LF powers and in LF/HF ratio observed during exercise have been shown not to reflect the decrease in vagal activity and the activation of sympathetic system occurring at increasing loads. HF peak was recognised in power spectra in the entire range of relative intensity, being responsible for the most part of HR variability at maximal load. LF power did not change during low intensity exercise and decreased to negligible values at medium–high intensity, where sympathetic activity was enhanced. There was no influence from factors such as fitness level, age, hypoxia, and blood distribution. In contrast, a dramatic effect of body position has been suggested by the observation that LF power increased at medium–high intensities when exercising in the supine position. The increased respiratory activity due to exercise would be responsible of HF modulation of HR via a direct mechanical effect. The changes in LF power observed at medium–high intensity might be the expression of the modifications in arterial pressure control mechanisms occurring with exercise. The finding of opposite trends for LF rhythm in supine and sitting exercises suggests that different readjustments might have occurred in relation to different muscular inputs in the two positions.

Signal compensation and extraction of high resolution position for sinusoidal magnetic encoders <=SEP=> MEs (magnetic encoders) are widely used in industrial control systems because of its significant advantages, such as high resolution, high speed, operation in harsh environments, and low cost. This paper describes a method to extract the position information with high resolution for sinusoidal MEs. A code compensator based on optimization theories is applied to correct non-ideal signals of the encoder outputs. This algorithm can effectively eliminate the DC offset, phase-shift, amplitude difference and sinusoidal deformation from these outputs. Then, a size-reduced look-up table is built-up off-line to generate the high resolution quadrature pulses suitable for standard incremental encoder signals. These LUTs (Look-up tables) rely on the approximate linear property of the amplitude of sinusoids in section [-sin(pi/4) ; sin(pi/4)] and is decreased by converting the values of LUTs into binary values (0 and 1). The firmware is implemented on a 16-bit DSP (digital signal processor) TMS320F2812 hardware platform with minimum computation. The experimental results are also presented in this paper.

Love, hate, arousal and engagement: exploring audience responses to performing arts <=SEP=> Understanding audience responses to art and performance is a challenge. New sensors are promising for measurement of implicit and explicit audience engagement. However, the meaning of biometric data, and its relationship to engagement, is unclear. We conceptually explore the audience engagement domain to uncover opportunities and challenges in the assessment and interpretation of audience engagement data. We developed a display that linked performance videos with audience biometric data and presented it to 7 performing arts experts, to explore the measurement, interpretation and application of biometric data. Experts were intrigued by the response data and reflective in interpreting it. We deepened our inquiry with an empirical study with 49 participants who watched a video of a dance performance. We related temporal galvanic skin response (GSR) data to two self-report scales, which provided insights on interpreting this measure. Our findings, which include strong correlations, support the interpretation of GSR as a valid representation of audience engagement.

Micro-Doppler effect in radar: phenomenon, model, and simulation study <=SEP=> When, in addition to the constant Doppler frequency shift induced by the bulk motion of a radar target, the target or any structure on the target undergoes micro-motion dynamics, such as mechanical vibrations or rotations, the micro-motion dynamics induce Doppler modulations on the returned signal, referred to as the micro-Doppler effect. We introduce the micro-Doppler phenomenon in radar, develop a model of Doppler modulations, derive formulas of micro-Doppler induced by targets with vibration, rotation, tumbling and coning motions, and verify them by simulation studies, analyze time-varying micro-Doppler features using high-resolution time-frequency transforms, and demonstrate the micro-Doppler effect observed in real radar data.

A Wideband Sequential-Phase Fed Circularly Polarized Patch Array <=SEP=> This communication presents a wideband circularly polarized (CP) 2 × 2 patch array using a sequential-phase feeding network. By combining three operating modes, both axial ratio (AR) and impedance bandwidths are enhanced and wider than those of previous published sequential-fed single-layer patch arrays. These three CP operating modes are tuned and matched by optimizing the truncated corners of patch elements and the sequential-phase feeding network. A prototype of the proposed patch array is built to validate the design experimentally. The measured -10-dB impedance bandwidth is 1.03 GHz (5.20-6.23 GHz), and the measured 3-dB AR bandwidth is 0.7 GHz (5.25-5.95 GHz), or 12.7% corresponding to the center frequency of 5.5 GHz. The measured peak gain is about 12 dBic and the gain variation is less than 3 dB within the AR bandwidth.

The effects of feedback on energy conservation: A meta-analysis. <=SEP=> Feedback has been studied as a strategy for promoting energy conservation for more than 30 years, with studies reporting widely varying results. Literature reviews have suggested that the effectiveness of feedback depends on both how and to whom it is provided; yet variations in both the type of feedback provided and the study methodology have made it difficult for conclusions to be drawn. The current article analyzes past theoretical and empirical research on both feedback and proenvironmental behavior to identify unresolved issues, and utilizes a meta-analysis of 42 feedback studies published between 1976 and 2010 to test a set of hypotheses about when and how feedback about energy usage is most effective. Results indicate that feedback is effective overall, r = .071, p < .001, but with significant variation in effects (r varied from -.080 to .480). Several treatment variables were found to moderate this relationship, including frequency, medium, comparison message, duration, and combination with other interventions (e.g., goal, incentive). Overall, results provide further evidence of feedback as a promising strategy to promote energy conservation and suggest areas in which future research should focus to explore how and for whom feedback is most effective.

Modeling Cellular-to-UAV Path-Loss for Suburban Environments <=SEP=> Operating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over cellular networks would open the barriers of remote navigation and far-flung flying by combining the benefits of UAVs and the ubiquitous availability of cellular networks. In this letter, we provide an initial insight on the radio propagation characteristics of cellular-to-UAV (CtU) channel. In particular, we model the statistical behavior of the path-loss from a cellular base station toward a flying UAV. Where we report the value of the path-loss as a function of the depression angle and the terrestrial coverage beneath the UAV. The provided model is derived based on extensive experimental data measurements conducted in a typical suburban environment for both terrestrial (by drive test) and aerial coverage (using a UAV). The model provides simple and accurate prediction of CtU path-loss that can be useful for both researchers and network operators alike.

Behavioral Game Theory on Online Social Networks : Colonel Blotto is on Facebook <=SEP=> We show how online social networks such as Facebook can be used in Behavioral Game Theory research. We report the deployment of a Facebook application ‘Project Waterloo’ that allows users to play the Colonel Blotto game against their friends and strangers. Unlike conventional studies performed in the laboratory environment, which rely on monetary incentives to attract human subjects to play games, our framework does not use money and instead relies on reputation and entertainment incentives. We describe the Facebook application we created for conducting this experiment, and perform a preliminary analysis of the data collected in the game. We conclude by discussing the advantages of our approach and list some ideas for future work.

Historical vignettes of the thyroid gland. <=SEP=> Although "glands" in the neck corresponding to the thyroid were known for thousands of years, they were mainly considered pathological when encountered. Recognition of the thyroid gland as an anatomical and physiological entity required human dissection, which began in earnest in the 16th century. Leonardo Da Vinci is generally credited as the first to draw the thyroid gland as an anatomical organ. The drawings were subsequently "lost" to medicine for nearly 260 years. The drawings were probably of a nonhuman specimen. Da Vinci vowed to produce an anatomical atlas, but it was never completed. Michelangelo Buonarroti promised to complete drawings for the anatomical work of Realdus Columbus, De Re Anatomica, but these were also never completed. Andreas Vesalius established the thyroid gland as an anatomical organ with his description and drawings in the Fabrica. The thyroid was still depicted in a nonhuman form during this time. The copper etchings of Bartholomew Eustachius made in the 1560s were obviously of humans, but were not actually published until 1714 with a description by Johannes Maria Lancisius. These etchings also depicted some interesting anatomy, which we describe. The Adenographia by Thomas Wharton in 1656 named the thyroid gland for the first time and more fully described it. The book also attempted to assign a function to the gland. The thyroid gland's interesting history thus touches a number of famous men from diverse backgrounds.

Database updating through user feedback in fingerprint-based Wi-Fi location systems <=SEP=> Wi-Fi fingerprinting is a technique which can provide location in GPS-denied environments, relying exclusively on Wi-Fi signals. It first requires the construction of a database of “fingerprints”, i.e. signal strengths from different access points (APs) at different reference points in the desired coverage area. The location of the device is then obtained by measuring the signal strengths at its location, and comparing it with the different reference fingerprints in the database. The main disadvantage of this technique is the labour required to build and maintain the fingerprints database, which has to be rebuilt every time a significant change in the wireless environment occurs, such as installation or removal of new APs, changes in the layout of a building, etc. This paper investigates a new method to utilise user feedback as a way of monitoring changes in the wireless environment. It is based on a system of “points” given to each AP in the database. When an AP is switched off, the number of points associated with that AP will gradually reduce as the users give feedback, until it is eventually deleted from the database. If a new AP is installed, the system will detect it and update the database with new fingerprints. Our proposed system has two main advantages. First it can be used as a tool to monitor the wireless environment in a given place, detecting faulty APs or unauthorised installation of new ones. Second, it regulates the size of the database, unlike other systems where feedback is only used to insert new fingerprints in the database.

Interleaved-Boost Converter With High Voltage Gain <=SEP=> This paper presents an interleaved-boost converter, magnetically coupled to a voltage-doubler circuit, which provides a voltage gain far higher than that of the conventional boost topology. Besides, this converter has low-voltage stress across the switches, natural-voltage balancing between output capacitors, low-input current ripple, and magnetic components operating with the double of switching frequency. These features make this converter suitable to applications where a large voltage step-up is demanded, such as grid-connected systems based on battery storage, renewable energies, and uninterruptible power system applications. Operation principle, main equations, theoretical waveforms, control strategy, dynamic modeling, and digital implementation are provided. Experimental results are also presented validating the proposed topology.

Internal Coupled-Fed Dual-Loop Antenna Integrated With a USB Connector for WWAN/LTE Mobile Handset <=SEP=> A coupled-fed dual-loop antenna capable of providing eight-band WWAN/LTE operation and suitable to integrate with a USB connector in the mobile handset is presented. The antenna integrates with a protruded ground, which is extended from the main ground plane of the mobile handset to accommodate a USB connector functioning as a data port of the handset. To consider the presence of the integrated protruded ground, the antenna uses two separate shorted strips and a T-shape monopole encircled therein as a coupling feed and a radiator as well. The shorted strips are short-circuited through a common shorting strip to the protruded ground and coupled-fed by the T-shape monopole to generate two separate quarter-wavelength loop resonant modes to form a wide lower band to cover the LTE700/GSM850/900 operation (704-960 MHz). An additional higher-order loop resonant mode is also generated to combine with two wideband resonant modes contributed by the T-shape monopole to form a very wide upper band of larger than 1 GHz to cover the GSM1800/1900/UMTS/LTE2300/2500 operation (1710-2690 MHz). Details of the proposed antenna are presented. For the SAR (specific absorption rate) requirement in practical mobile handsets to meet the limit of 1.6 W/kg for 1-g human tissue, the SAR values of the antenna are also analyzed.

Optimal spatial filtering of single trial EEG during imagined hand movement. <=SEP=> The development of an electroencephalograph (EEG)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) requires rapid and reliable discrimination of EEG patterns, e.g., associated with imaginary movement. One-sided hand movement imagination results in EEG changes located at contra- and ipsilateral central areas. We demonstrate that spatial filters for multichannel EEG effectively extract discriminatory information from two populations of single-trial EEG, recorded during left- and right-hand movement imagery. The best classification results for three subjects are 90.8%, 92.7%, and 99.7%. The spatial filters are estimated from a set of data by the method of common spatial patterns and reflect the specific activation of cortical areas. The method performs a weighting of the electrodes according to their importance for the classification task. The high recognition rates and computational simplicity make it a promising method for an EEG-based brain-computer interface.

A Semantic Web Methodology for Situation-Aware Curative Food Service Recommendation System <=SEP=> Recently curative food is becoming more popular, as more people realize its benefits. Based on the theory of Chinese medicine, food itself is medicine. The Curative food which is an ideal nutritious food can help to loss weight, increase immunity and is also good for curative effects in patients. In this paper, we propose a new curative food service (CFS) recommendation system, the designed Situation-aware Curative Food Service Recommendation System (SCFSRS), which provides the cooperation web-based platform for all related mobile users (MUs) and curative food service providers (CFSPs), could strengthen the ability of CFS suggestion. SCFSRS is a five-tier system composed of the MUs, UDDI registries (UDDIRs), CFSPs, curative food services server (CFSS), and database server (DS).

Pattern-based synonym and antonym extraction <=SEP=> Many research studies adopt manually selected patterns for semantic relation extraction. However, manually identifying and discovering patterns is time consuming and it is difficult to discover all potential candidates. Instead, we propose an automatic pattern construction approach to extract verb synonyms and antonyms from English newspapers. Instead of relying on a single pattern, we combine results indicated by multiple patterns to maximize the recall.

Improving Back-Propagation by Adding an Adversarial Gradient <=SEP=> The back-propagation algorithm is widely used for learning in artificial neural networks. A challenge in machine learning is to create models that generalize to new data samples not seen in the training data. Recently, a common flaw in several machine learning algorithms was discovered: small perturbations added to the input data lead to consistent misclassification of data samples. Samples that easily mislead the model are called adversarial examples. Training a ”maxout” network on adversarial examples has shown to decrease this vulnerability, but also increase classification performance. This paper shows that adversarial training has a regularizing effect also in networks with logistic, hyperbolic tangent and rectified linear units. A simple extension to the back-propagation method is proposed, that adds an adversarial gradient to the training. The extension requires an additional forward and backward pass to calculate a modified input sample, or mini batch, used as input for standard back-propagation learning. The first experimental results on MNIST show that the ”adversarial back-propagation” method increases the resistance to adversarial examples and boosts the classification performance. The extension reduces the classification error on the permutation invariant MNIST from 1.60% to 0.95% in a logistic network, and from 1.40% to 0.78% in a network with rectified linear units. Based on these promising results, adversarial back-propagation is proposed as a stand-alone regularizing method that should be further investigated.

EVOLUTION OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA <=SEP=> This paper seeks to examine the policy evolution of solid waste management in Malaysia and to determine its challenges and opportunities by assessing policy gaps, trends and stakeholders perception of solid waste management in Malaysia. Malaysian solid waste generation has been increasing drastically where solid waste generation was projected to increase from about 9.0 million tonnes in 2000 to about 10.9 million tonnes in 2010, to about 12.8 million tonnes in 2015 and finally to about 15.6 million tonnes in 2020 though national recycling rate is only about 3-5 %. This projected increasing rate of solid waste generation is expected to burden the country’s resources and environment in managing these wastes in a sustainable manner. Solid waste management policies in Malaysia has evolved from simple informal policies to supplementary provision in legislation such as the Local Government Act, 1976 and the Environmental Quality Act, 1974 to formal policies such as the National Strategic Plan for Solid Waste Management (NSP) 2005, Master Plan on National Waste Minimization (MWM) in 2006, National Solid Waste Management Policy 2006 and the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act (SWMA) 2007. Policy gap analysis indicates challenges in the area of policy implementation potentially due to lack of political will, weak stakeholder acceptance and policy impracticality due to direct adoption of policy practices from developed countries while potential opportunities are in the area of legislation for mandatory recycling and source separation as well as government green procurement initiatives. In conclusion, policy evolution of solid waste management in Malaysia may be shifting from a focus on basic solid waste management issues of proper collection, disposal and infrastructure requirements towards sustainable waste management.

The SWISS-PROT protein sequence database and its supplement TrEMBL in 2000 <=SEP=> SWISS-PROT is a curated protein sequence database which strives to provide a high level of annotation (such as the description of the function of a protein, its domains structure, post-translational modifications, variants, etc.), a minimal level of redundancy and high level of integration with other databases. Recent developments of the database include format and content enhancements, cross-references to additional databases, new documentation files and improvements to TrEMBL, a computer-annotated supplement to SWISS-PROT. TrEMBL consists of entries in SWISS-PROT-like format derived from the translation of all coding sequences (CDSs) in the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database, except the CDSs already included in SWISS-PROT. We also describe the Human Proteomics Initiative (HPI), a major project to annotate all known human sequences according to the quality standards of SWISS-PROT. SWISS-PROT is available at: http://www.expasy.ch/sprot/ and http://www.ebi.ac.uk/swissprot/

MAFFT: a novel method for rapid multiple sequence alignment based on fast Fourier transform. <=SEP=> A multiple sequence alignment program, MAFFT, has been developed. The CPU time is drastically reduced as compared with existing methods. MAFFT includes two novel techniques. (i) Homo logous regions are rapidly identified by the fast Fourier transform (FFT), in which an amino acid sequence is converted to a sequence composed of volume and polarity values of each amino acid residue. (ii) We propose a simplified scoring system that performs well for reducing CPU time and increasing the accuracy of alignments even for sequences having large insertions or extensions as well as distantly related sequences of similar length. Two different heuristics, the progressive method (FFT-NS-2) and the iterative refinement method (FFT-NS-i), are implemented in MAFFT. The performances of FFT-NS-2 and FFT-NS-i were compared with other methods by computer simulations and benchmark tests; the CPU time of FFT-NS-2 is drastically reduced as compared with CLUSTALW with comparable accuracy. FFT-NS-i is over 100 times faster than T-COFFEE, when the number of input sequences exceeds 60, without sacrificing the accuracy.

WorkerRank: Using Employer Implicit Judgements to Infer Worker Reputation <=SEP=> In online labor marketplaces two parties are involved; employers and workers. An employer posts a job in the marketplace to receive applications from interested workers. After evaluating the match to the job, the employer hires one (or more workers) to accomplish the job via an online contract. At the end of the contract, the employer can provide his worker with some rating that becomes visible in the worker online profile. This form of explicit feedback guides future hiring decisions, since it is indicative of worker true ability. In this paper, first we discuss some of the shortcomings of the existing reputation systems that are based on the end-of-contract ratings. Then we propose a new reputation mechanism that uses Bayesian updates to combine employer implicit feedback signals in a link-analysis approach. The new system addresses the shortcomings of existing approaches, while yielding better signal for the worker quality towards hiring decision.

Implementing deep neural networks for financial market prediction on the Intel Xeon Phi <=SEP=> Deep neural networks (DNNs) are powerful types of artificial neural networks (ANNs) that use several hidden layers. They have recently gained considerable attention in the speech transcription and image recognition community (Krizhevsky et al., 2012) for their superior predictive properties including robustness to overfitting. However their application to financial market prediction has not been previously researched, partly because of their computational complexity. This paper describes the application of DNNs to predicting financial market movement directions. A critical step in the viability of the approach in practice is the ability to effectively deploy the algorithm on general purpose high performance computing infrastructure. Using an Intel Xeon Phi co-processor with 61 cores, we describe the process for efficient implementation of the batched stochastic gradient descent algorithm and demonstrate a 11.4x speedup on the Intel Xeon Phi over a serial implementation on the Intel Xeon.

Twitter Geolocation and Regional Classification via Sparse Coding <=SEP=> Experimental Methodology ! Three types of embedding schemes (binary bagof-words, word-counts, word-sequence) ! For a fair comparison, we follow the identical experimental methodology as Eisenstein et al. (2010) ! Twitter’s location service enables users to add location information to their Tweets ! Location information of message is useful (e.g., consumer marketing) Ø However, < 3% of messages are geotagged† ! Machine learning can geolocate based on message content Ø Best results are from supervised modelbased approaches ! We focus on unsupervised data-driven approach, namely sparse coding, to take advantage of abundance of unlabeled messages to geolocate Twitter

The Golden Beauty: Brain Response to Classical and Renaissance Sculptures <=SEP=> Is there an objective, biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? Using fMRI technique, we addressed this question by presenting viewers, naïve to art criticism, with images of masterpieces of Classical and Renaissance sculpture. Employing proportion as the independent variable, we produced two sets of stimuli: one composed of images of original sculptures; the other of a modified version of the same images. The stimuli were presented in three conditions: observation, aesthetic judgment, and proportion judgment. In the observation condition, the viewers were required to observe the images with the same mind-set as if they were in a museum. In the other two conditions they were required to give an aesthetic or proportion judgment on the same images. Two types of analyses were carried out: one which contrasted brain response to the canonical and the modified sculptures, and one which contrasted beautiful vs. ugly sculptures as judged by each volunteer. The most striking result was that the observation of original sculptures, relative to the modified ones, produced activation of the right insula as well as of some lateral and medial cortical areas (lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus and prefrontal areas). The activation of the insula was particularly strong during the observation condition. Most interestingly, when volunteers were required to give an overt aesthetic judgment, the images judged as beautiful selectively activated the right amygdala, relative to those judged as ugly. We conclude that, in observers naïve to art criticism, the sense of beauty is mediated by two non-mutually exclusive processes: one based on a joint activation of sets of cortical neurons, triggered by parameters intrinsic to the stimuli, and the insula (objective beauty); the other based on the activation of the amygdala, driven by one's own emotional experiences (subjective beauty).

Fine Grained Classification of Named Entities <=SEP=> While Named Entity extraction is useful in many natural language applications, the coarse categories that most NE extractors work with prove insufficient for complex applications such as Question Answering and Ontology generation. We examine one coarse category of named entities, persons, and describe a method for automatically classifying person instances into eight finergrained subcategories. We present a supervised learning method that considers the local context surrounding the entity as well as more global semantic information derived from topic signatures and WordNet. We reinforce this method with an algorithm that takes advantage of the presence of entities in multiple contexts.