Toward construction of an inexpensive brain computer interface for goal oriented applications

The paper describes the implementation of an offline, low-cost Brain Computer Interface (BCI) alternative to more expensive commercial models. Using inexpensive general purpose clinical EEG acquisition hardware (Truscan32, Deymed Diagnostic) as the base unit, a synchronisation module was constructed to allow the EEG hardware to be operated precisely in time to allow for recording of automatically time stamped EEG signals. The synchronising module allows the EEG recordings to be aligned in stimulus time locked fashion for further processing by the classifier to establish the class of the stimulus, sample by sample. This allows for the acquisition of signals from the subject’s brain for the goal oriented BCI application based on the oddball paradigm. An appropriate graphical user interface (GUI) was constructed and implemented as the method to elicit the required responses (in this case Event Related Potentials or ERPs) from the subject.

Generic control interface for networked haptic virtual environments

As Virtual Reality pushes the boundaries of the human computer interface new ways of interaction are emerging. One such technology is the integration of haptic interfaces (force-feedback devices) into virtual environments. This modality offers an improved sense of immersion to that achieved when relying only on audio and visual modalities. The paper introduces some of the technical obstacles such as latency and network traffic that need to be overcome for maintaining a high degree of immersion during haptic tasks. The paper describes the advantages of integrating haptic feedback into systems, and presents some of the technical issues inherent in a networked haptic virtual environment. A generic control interface has been developed to seamlessly mesh with existing networked VR development libraries.

A web 2.0 user interface for wide-area resource monitoring

Resource monitoring in distributed systems is required to understand the 'health' of the overall system and to help identify particular problems, such as dysfunctional hardware or faulty system or application software. Monitoring systems such as GridRM provide the ability to connect to any number of different types of monitoring agents and provide different views of the system, based on a client's particular preferences. Web 2.0 technologies, and in particular 'mashups', are emerging as a promising technique for rapidly constructing rich user interfaces, that combine and present data in intuitive ways. This paper describes a Web 2.0 user interface that was created to expose resource data harvested by the GridRM resource monitoring system.

A novel haptic interface for navigation in large volume environments

Haptic interfaces can provide highly realistic interaction with objects within their workspace, but the task of interacting with objects over large areas or volumes is made difficult by the limits of interface travel. This paper details the development of a custom haptic interface - for navigating a large virtual environment (a simulated supermarket), and investigation into different control methods which allow for haptic interaction over extremely large workspaces.

MPJ express meets gadget: towards a java code for cosmological simulations

Gadget-2 is a massively parallel structure formation code for cosmological simulations. In this paper, we present a Java version of Gadget-2. We evaluated the performance of the Java version by running colliding galaxies simulation and found that it can achieve around 70% of C Gadget-2's performance.

Designing Hospital Bedside Systems for use by Patients with Visual Impairments

This paper describes the development of an interface to a hospital portal system for information, communication and entertainment such that it can be used easily and effectively by all patients regardless of their age, disability, computer experience or native language. Specifically, this paper reports on the work conducted to ensure that the interface design took into account the needs of visually impaired users.

Experimental comparison of the comprehensibility of a Z specification and its implementation in Java

Comprehensibility is often raised as a problem with formal notations, yet formal methods practitioners dispute this. In a survey, one interviewee said 'formal specifications are no more difficult to understand than code'. Measurement of comprehension is necessarily comparative and a useful comparison for a specification is against its implementation. Practitioners have an intuitive feel for the comprehension of code. A quantified comparison will transfer this feeling to formal specifications. We performed an experiment to compare the comprehension of a Z specification with that of its implementation in Java. The results indicate there is little difference in comprehensibility between the two. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Practical interface experiments with implant technology

In this paper results are shown to indicate the efficacy of a direct connection between the human nervous system and a computer network. Experimental results obtained thus far from a study lasting for over 3 months are presented, with particular emphasis placed on the direct interaction between the human nervous system and a piece of wearable technology. An overview of the present state of neural implants is given, as well as a range of application areas considered thus far. A view is also taken as to what may be possible with implant technology as a general purpose human-computer interface for the future.

Trapping of palindromic ligands within native transthyretin prevents amyloid formation

Transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis is a fatal disease for which new therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. We have designed two palindromic ligands, 2,2’-(4,4’-(heptane 1,7-diylbis(oxy))bis(3,5-dichloro-4,1-phenylene)) bis(azanediyl)dibenzoic acid (mds84) and 2,2’-(4,4’-(undecane-1,11-diylbis(oxy))bis(3,5-dichloro-4,1-phenylene)) bis(azanediyl)dibenzoic acid (4ajm15), that are rapidly bound by native wild-type TTR in whole serum and even more avidly by amyloidogenic TTR variants. One to one stoichiometry, demonstrable in solution and by MS, was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis showing simultaneous occupation of both T4 binding sites in each tetrameric TTR molecule by the pair of ligand head groups. Ligand binding by native TTR was irreversible under physiological conditions, and it stabilized the tetrameric assembly and inhibited amyloidogenic aggregation more potently than other known ligands. These superstabilizers are orally bioavailable and exhibit low inhibitory activity against cyclooxygenase (COX). They offer a promising platform for development of drugs to treat and prevent TTR amyloidosis.