An introduction to the fractional continuous-time linear systems

A brief introduction to the fractional continuous-time linear systems is presented. It will be done without needing a deep study of the fractional derivatives. We will show that the computation of the impulse and step responses is very similar to the classic. The main difference lies in the substitution of the exponential by the Mittag-Leffler function. We will present also the main formulae defining the fractional derivatives.

An introduction to the fractional continuous- time linear systems: the 21st century systems

IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE, Third Quarter

An introduction to model-independent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.

ABSTRACT: q-Space-based techniques such as diffusion spectrum imaging, q-ball imaging, and their variations have been used extensively in research for their desired capability to delineate complex neuronal architectures such as multiple fiber crossings in each of the image voxels. The purpose of this article was to provide an introduction to the q-space formalism and the principles of basic q-space techniques together with the discussion on the advantages as well as challenges in translating these techniques into the clinical environment. A review of the currently used q-space-based protocols in clinical research is also provided.

Introduction to University and the ICT Sector

The innovative subject “Introduction to ICT” combines a general Introductory Course to the University with elements around the Information and Communication Technologies sector (including the ICT engineer competence profile, market aspects, etc.)This new course has been developed and implemented in three degree programmes offered by the Polytechnic School at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. The course team consists of thirteen teachers,including business professionals, librarians, computer technicians, institutional representatives as well as an educationalist responsible for advising on methodology and study techniques. The subject was designed for a high number of students (260). At the end of the course, we collected quantitative and qualitativeinformation about the students’ satisfaction. The findings show the positive vision that they had about the topics worked during the subject. This paper describes the course, its implementation and evaluation and, of course, the details of the findings that we collected about students' satisfaction.

Calceology : an introduction to North Western European archaeological leather footwear (Neolithic period to c. AD 1600)

Calceology is the study of recovered archaeological leather footwear and is comprised of conservation, documentation and identification of leather shoe components and shoe styles. Recovered leather shoes are complex artefacts that present technical, stylistic and personal information about the culture and people that used them. The current method in calceological research for typology and chronology is by comparison with parallel examples, though its use poses problems by an absence of basic definitions and the lack of a taxonomic hierarchy. The research findings of the primary cutting patterns, used for making all leather footwear, are integrated with the named style method and the Goubitz notation, resulting in a combined methodology as a basis for typological organisation for recovered footwear and a chronology for named shoe styles. The history of calceological research is examined in chapter two and is accompanied by a review of methodological problems as seen in the literature. Through the examination of various documentation and research techniques used during the history of calceological studies, the reasons why a standard typology and methodology failed to develop are investigated. The variety and continual invention of a new research method for each publication of a recovered leather assemblage hindered the development of a single standard methodology. Chapter three covers the initial research with the database through which the primary cutting patterns were identified and the named styles were defined. The chronological span of each named style was established through iterative cross-site sedation and named style comparisons. The technical interpretation of the primary cutting patterns' consistent use is due to constraints imposed by the leather and the forms needed to cover the foot. Basic parts of the shoe patterns and the foot are defined, plus terms provided for identifying the key points for pattern making. Chapter four presents the seventeen primary cutting patterns and their sub-types, these are divided into three main groups: six integral soled patterns, four hybrid soled patterns and seven separately soled patterns. Descriptions of the letter codes, pattern layout, construction principle, closing seam placement and list of sub-types are included in the descriptions of each primary cutting pattern. The named shoe styles and their relative chronology are presented in chapter five. Nomenclature for the named styles is based on the find location of the first published example plus the primary cutting pattern code letter. The named styles are presented in chronological order from Prehistory through to the late 16th century. Short descriptions of the named styles are given and illustrated with examples of recovered archaeological leather footwear, reconstructions of archaeological shoes and iconographical sources. Chapter six presents documentation of recovered archaeological leather using the Goubitz notation, an inventory and description of style elements and fastening methods used for defining named shoe styles, technical information about sole/upper constructions and the consequences created by the use of lasts and sewing forms for style identification and fastening placement in relation to the instep point. The chapter concludes with further technical information about the implications for researchers about shoemaking, pattern making and reconstructive archaeology. The conclusion restates the original research question of why a group of primary cutting patterns appear to have been used consistently throughout the European archaeological record. The quantitative and qualitative results from the database show the use of these patterns but it is the properties of the leather that imposes the use of the primary cutting patterns. The combined methodology of primary pattern identification, named style and artefact registration provides a framework for calceological research.

An introduction to Mediterranean deep-sea biology

This chapter presents the state of the art concerning the deep-sea Mediterranean environment: geology, hydrology, biology and fisheries. These are the fields of study dealt with in the scientific papers of this volume. The authors are specialists who have addressed their research to the Mediterranean deep-sea environment during the last years. This introduction is an overview but not an exhaustive review.

Strategy selection: An introduction to the modeling challenge

Modeling the mechanisms that determine how humans and other agents choose among different behavioral and cognitive processes-be they strategies, routines, actions, or operators-represents a paramount theoretical stumbling block across disciplines, ranging from the cognitive and decision sciences to economics, biology, and machine learning. By using the cognitive and decision sciences as a case study, we provide an introduction to what is also known as the strategy selection problem. First, we explain why many researchers assume humans and other animals to come equipped with a repertoire of behavioral and cognitive processes. Second, we expose three descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive challenges that are common to all disciplines which aim to model the choice among these processes. Third, we give an overview of different approaches to strategy selection. These include cost‐benefit, ecological, learning, memory, unified, connectionist, sequential sampling, and maximization approaches. We conclude by pointing to opportunities for future research and by stressing that the selection problem is far from being resolved.

Steroid hormones interrelationships in the metabolic syndrome: an introduction to the ponderostat hypothesis

Sexual dimorphism in the metabolic syndrome. The clairvoyant early implication of sex hormones in the characterization of the metabolic syndrome (MS) was detected early, and in accordance with the well-known sex-related main patterns of fat deposition in obesity: gynoid and android. The differences point to a direct implication of androgens and estrogens in the development, properties and maintenance of obesity and, by extension, to the cumulus of diseases grouped in the MS. For a long time, the key issue of the MS, i.e. the metabolic event explaining (and justifying) most of the derangements of the MS, has been considered to be insulin resistance (...)

Measuring individuals' response quality in self-administered psychological tests : an introduction to Gendre's functional method

The functional method is a new test theory using a new scoring method that assumes complexity in test structure, and thus takes into account every correlation between factors and items. The main specificity of the functional method is to model test scores by multiple regression instead of estimating them by using simplistic sums of points. In order to proceed, the functional method requires the creation of hyperspherical measurement space, in which item responses are expressed by their correlation with orthogonal factors. This method has three main qualities. First, measures are expressed in the absolute metric of correlations; therefore, items, scales and persons are expressed in the same measurement space using the same single metric. Second, factors are systematically orthogonal and without errors, which is optimal in order to predict other outcomes. Such predictions can be performed to estimate how one would answer to other tests, or even to model one's response strategy if it was perfectly coherent. Third, the functional method provides measures of individuals' response validity (i.e., control indices). Herein, we propose a standard procedure in order to identify whether test results are interpretable and to exclude invalid results caused by various response biases based on control indices.