The application of affine projection to the development of a siren noise cancellation system

Emergency vehicles use high-amplitude sirens to warn pedestrians and other road users of their presence. Unfortunately, the siren noise enters the vehicle and corrupts the intelligibility of two-way radio voice com-munications from the emergency vehicle to a control room. Often the siren has to be turned off to enable the control room to hear what is being said which subsequently endangers people's lives. A digital signal processing (DSP) based system for the cancellation of siren noise embedded within speech is presented. The system has been tested with the least mean square (LMS), normalised least mean square (NLMS) and affine projection algorithm (APA) using recordings from three common types of sirens (two-tone, wail and yelp) from actual test vehicles. It was found that the APA with a projection order of 2 gives comparably improved cancellation over the LMS and NLMS with only a moderate increase in algorithm complexity and code size. Therefore, this siren noise cancellation system using the APA offers an improvement in cancellation achieved by previous systems. The removal of the siren noise improves the response time for the emergency vehicle and thus the system can contribute to saving lives. The system also allows voice communication to take place even when the siren is on and as such the vehicle offers less risk of danger when moving at high speeds in heavy traffic.

A new approach for the solution of the optimal set-point tracking problem for nonlinear systems

In this paper, a discrete time dynamic integrated system optimisation and parameter estimation algorithm is applied to the solution of the nonlinear tracking optimal control problem. A version of the algorithm with a linear-quadratic model-based problem is developed and implemented in software. The algorithm implemented is tested with simulation examples.

Reduced complexity set-point following in self-tuning control

An external input signal is incorporated into a self-tuning controller which, although it is based on a CARMA system model, employs a state-space framework for control law calculations. Steady-state set point following can then be accomplished even when only a recursive least squares parameter estimation scheme is used, despite the fact that the disturbance affecting the system may well be coloured.

The roles of feature-specific task set and bottom-up salience in attentional capture: An ERP study

We investigated the roles of top-down task set and bottom-up stimulus salience for feature-specific attentional capture. Spatially nonpredictive cues preceded search arrays that included a color-defined target. For target-color singleton cues, behavioral spatial cueing effects were accompanied by cueinduced N2pc components, indicative of attentional capture. These effects were only minimally attenuated for nonsingleton target-color cues, underlining the dominance of top-down task set over salience in attentional capture. Nontarget-color singleton cues triggered no N2pc, but instead an anterior N2 component indicative of top-down inhibition. In Experiment 2, inverted behavioral cueing effects of these cues were accompanied by a delayed N2pc to targets at cued locations, suggesting that perceptually salient but task-irrelevant visual events trigger location-specific inhibition mechanisms that can delay subsequent target selection.

Democracy, equality and toleration

In this paper I comment on a recent "letter" by Burleigh Wilkins addressed to nascent egalitarian democracies which offers advice on the achievement of religious toleration. I argue that while Wilkins’ advice is sound as far as it goes, it is nevertheless underdeveloped insofar as his letter fails to distinguish two competing conceptions of toleration – liberal-pluralist and republican-secularist – both of which are consistent with the advice he offers, but each of which yields very different policy recommendations (as can be seen by consideration of The United States v. Lee in America and, I’affaire du foulard in France). I argue that a democratic society of equals must be committed to liberal-pluralist rather than republican-secularist toleration

The Extras Regina, 2008

Project includes: a large scale live performance and resulting performance video, at Curtain Razors, Regina Queen’s Square, Regina, 2008 Live Performance, 45 mins, incl. 1 actor, 23 extras, 2 live cameras, live video and sound mixing, stage set, video projection. Video 45 mins Video Trailer 7 mins The Extras is a video performance referencing the form of a large live film shoot. The Extras contextualises contemporary Westerns genres within an experimental live tableau. The live performance and resulting 45 mins video make reference 19th century Western Author German Karl May, the tradition of Eastern European Western, (Red Western), Uranium exploitation and entrepreneurial cultures in the Canadian Prairies. Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Saskatchewan Arts Board and Curtain Razors, the Extras Regina was staged and performed at Central Plaza in Regina, with a crew of 23 extras, 2 live cameras, live video and sound mixing ad video projection. It involved research in Saskatchewan film and photographic archives. The performance was edited live and mixed with video material which was shot on location, with a further group of extras at historical historical ‘Western’ locations, including Fort Qu' Appelle, 
Castle Butte and Big Muddy. It also involved a collaboration with a local theatre production company, which enacted a dramatised historical incident.

Iterative Methods for Equality-Constrained Least Squares Problems

We consider the linear equality-constrained least squares problem (LSE) of minimizing ${\|c - Gx\|}_2 $, subject to the constraint $Ex = p$. A preconditioned conjugate gradient method is applied to the Kuhn–Tucker equations associated with the LSE problem. We show that our method is well suited for structural optimization problems in reliability analysis and optimal design. Numerical tests are performed on an Alliant FX/8 multiprocessor and a Cray-X-MP using some practical structural analysis data.

Effect of elevated CO2 and high temperature on seed-set and grain quality of rice

Hybrid vigour may help overcome the negative effects of climate change in rice. A popular rice hybrid (IR75217H), a heat-tolerant check (N22), and a mega-variety (IR64) were tested for tolerance of seed-set and grain quality to high-temperature stress at anthesis at ambient and elevated [CO2]. Under an ambient air temperature of 29 °C (tissue temperature 28.3 °C), elevated [CO2] increased vegetative and reproductive growth, including seed yield in all three genotypes. Seed-set was reduced by high temperature in all three genotypes, with the hybrid and IR64 equally affected and twice as sensitive as the tolerant cultivar N22. No interaction occurred between temperature and [CO2] for seed-set. The hybrid had significantly more anthesed spikelets at all temperatures than IR64 and at 29 °C this resulted in a large yield advantage. At 35 °C (tissue temperature 32.9 °C) the hybrid had a higher seed yield than IR64 due to the higher spikelet number, but at 38 °C (tissue temperature 34–35 °C) there was no yield advantage. Grain gel consistency in the hybrid and IR64 was reduced by high temperatures only at elevated [CO2], while the percentage of broken grains increased from 10% at 29 °C to 35% at 38 °C in the hybrid. It is concluded that seed-set of hybrids is susceptible to short episodes of high temperature during anthesis, but that at intermediate tissue temperatures of 32.9 °C higher spikelet number (yield potential) of the hybrid can compensate to some extent. If the heat tolerance from N22 or other tolerant donors could be transferred into hybrids, yield could be maintained under the higher temperatures predicted with climate change.

Thermodynamic derivation of the fluctuation theorem and Jarzynski equality

A thermodynamic expression for the analog of the canonical ensemble for nonequilibrium systems is described based on a purely information theoretical interpretation of entropy. It is shown that this nonequilibrium canonical distribution implies some important results from nonequilibrium thermodynamics, specifically, the fluctuation theorem and the Jarzynski equality. Those results are therefore expected to be more widely applicable, for example, to macroscopic systems.

Nonlinear set-membership estimation: a support vector machine approach

In this paper a support vector machine (SVM) approach for characterizing the feasible parameter set (FPS) in non-linear set-membership estimation problems is presented. It iteratively solves a regression problem from which an approximation of the boundary of the FPS can be determined. To guarantee convergence to the boundary the procedure includes a no-derivative line search and for an appropriate coverage of points on the FPS boundary it is suggested to start with a sequential box pavement procedure. The SVM approach is illustrated on a simple sine and exponential model with two parameters and an agro-forestry simulation model.

Deviant disabilities: the exclusion of drug and alcohol addiction from the Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010, in keeping with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, excludes those identified as drug and alcohol ‘addicted’ from the scope of provisions prohibiting discrimination against disabled people. This article addresses the significance of, and justification for, this exclusion. It begins with a legislative background to the relevant limitation and subsequently examines its rationale according to prevailing legal, medical and sociological discourses. The article then considers the relevance of the discussion for disability rights. Although ‘addiction’, or the preferred term, ‘substance dependence’, is classified as a disability for international systems of disease classification, the relevance of substance dependence for discussion on disability rights, and of disability for discussion on substance dependence, has largely escaped critical comment.