Evidence for on-line visual guidance during saccadic gaze shifts.

Rapid orientating movements of the eyes are believed to be controlled ballistically. The mechanism underlying this control is thought to involve a comparison between the desired displacement of the eye and an estimate of its actual position (obtained from the integration of the eye velocity signal). This study shows, however, that under certain circumstances fast gaze movements may be controlled quite differently and may involve mechanisms which use visual information to guide movements prospectively. Subjects were required to make large gaze shifts in yaw towards a target whose location and motion were unknown prior to movement onset. Six of those tested demonstrated remarkable accuracy when making gaze shifts towards a target that appeared during their ongoing movement. In fact their level of accuracy was not significantly different from that shown when they performed a 'remembered' gaze shift to a known stationary target (F-3,F-15 = 0.15, p > 0.05). The lack of a stereotypical relationship between the skew of the gaze velocity profile and movement duration indicates that on-line modifications were being made. It is suggested that a fast route from the retina to the superior colliculus could account for this behaviour and that models of oculomotor control need to be updated.

On-line Emotion Recognition in a 3-D Activation-Valence-Time Continuum using Acoustic and Linguistic Cues

For many applications of emotion recognition, such as virtual agents, the system must select responses while the user is speaking. This requires reliable on-line recognition of the user’s affect. However most emotion recognition systems are based on turnwise processing. We present a novel approach to on-line emotion recognition from speech using Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Networks. Emotion is recognised frame-wise in a two-dimensional valence-activation continuum. In contrast to current state-of-the-art approaches, recognition is performed on low-level signal frames, similar to those used for speech recognition. No statistical functionals are applied to low-level feature contours. Framing at a higher level is therefore unnecessary and regression outputs can be produced in real-time for every low-level input frame. We also investigate the benefits of including linguistic features on the signal frame level obtained by a keyword spotter.

Enabling Free On-line Access to UK Law Reports: The Copyright Problem

The history of publishing legal decisions (law reporting) in the UK has been that of a privatised system since its inception, and that history has encompassed several hundred years. The privatised nature of this has meant that the product (the law report) has been, except in limited cases, viewed as the property of the publisher, rather than the property of the court or public. BAILII is an open access legal database that came about in part because of the copyrighted, privatised nature of this legal information. In this paper, we will outline the problem of access to pre-2000 judgments in the UK and consider whether there are legal or other remedies which might enable BAILII to both develop a richer historic database and also to work in harmony, rather than in competition, with legal publishers. We argue that public access to case law is an essential requirement in a democratic common law system, and that BAILII should be seen as a potential step towards a National Law Library.

Effect of a pharmacist-led multicomponent intervention focussing on the medication monitoring phase to prevent potential adverse drug events in nursing homes

OBJECTIVES: To determine the extent to which the use of a clinical informatics tool that implements prospective monitoring plans reduces the incidence of potential delirium, falls, hospitalizations potentially due to adverse drug events, and mortality.

DESIGN: Randomized cluster trial.

SETTING: Twenty-five nursing homes serviced by two long-term care pharmacies.

PARTICIPANTS: Residents living in nursing homes during 2003 (1,711 in 12 intervention; 1,491 in 13 usual care) and 2004 (1,769 in 12 intervention; 1,552 in 13 usual care).

INTERVENTION: The pharmacy automatically generated Geriatric Risk Assessment MedGuide (GRAM) reports and automated monitoring plans for falls and delirium within 24 hours of admission or as part of the normal time frame of federally mandated drug regimen review.

MEASUREMENTS: Incidence of potential delirium, falls, hospitalizations potentially due to adverse drug events, and mortality.

RESULTS: GRAM triggered monitoring plans for 491 residents. Newly admitted residents in the intervention homes experienced a lower rate of potential delirium onset than those in usual care homes (adjusted hazard ratio (HR)=0.42, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.35–0.52), overall hospitalization (adjusted HR=0.89, 95% CI=0.72–1.09), and mortality (adjusted HR=0.88, 95% CI=0.66–1.16). In longer stay residents, the effects of the intervention were attenuated, and all estimates included unity.

CONCLUSION: Using health information technology in long-term care pharmacies to identify residents who might benefit from the implementation of prospective medication monitoring care plans when complex medication regimens carry potential risks for falls and delirium may reduce adverse effects associated with appropriate medication use.

Constant scale factor, on-line CORDIC algorithm in the circular coordinate system

Real time digital signal processing requires the development of high performance arithmetic algorithms suitable for VLSI design. In this paper, a new online, circular coordinate system CORDIC algorithm is described, which has a constant scale factor. This algorithm was developed using a new Angular Representation (AR) model A radix 2 version of the CORDIC algorithm is presented, along with an architecture suitable for VLSI implementation.

Effect of environmental multipath on line of sight body to body communication at 2.45 GHz

Body to body links are the most scenario dependent form of body centric communications with performance highly dependent on the users' movements, relative positioning and the local operating environment. This paper focuses on line of sight cases which although they should be the most dependent, still have considerable variability depending on local propagation conditions. The results presented in the paper also raise important questions about the statistical characterisation of such links and the effect of different approaches to local mean averaging on fading characteristics. © 2012 IEEE.

International on-line reciprocal peer tutoring to promote modern language development in primary schools

The paper reports data from an on-line peer tutoring project. In the project 78, 9–12-year-old students from Scotland and Catalonia peer tutored each other in English and Spanish via a managed on-line envi- ronment. Significant gains in first language (Catalonian pupils) modern language (Scottish pupils) and attitudes towards modern languages (both Catalonian and Scottish pupils) were reported for the exper- imental group as compared to the control group. Results indicated that pupils tutored each other in using Piagetian techniques of error correction during the project. Error correction provided by tutors to tutees focussed on morph syntaxys, more specifically the correction of verbs. Peer support provided via the on- line environment was predominantly based on the tutor giving the right answer to the tutee. High rates of impact on tutee corrected messages were observed. The implications for peer tutoring initiative taking place via on-line environments are discussed. Implications for policy and practice are explored

On the Condition Number Distribution of Complex Wishart Matrices

This paper investigates the distribution of the condition number of complex Wishart matrices. Two closely related measures are considered: the standard condition number (SCN) and the Demmel condition number (DCN), both of which have important applications in the context of multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) communication systems, as well as in various branches of mathematics. We first present a novel generic framework for the SCN distribution which accounts for both central and non-central Wishart matrices of arbitrary dimension. This result is a simple unified expression which involves only a single scalar integral, and therefore allows for fast and efficient computation. For the case of dual Wishart matrices, we derive new exact polynomial expressions for both the SCN and DCN distributions. We also formulate a new closed-form expression for the tail SCN distribution which applies for correlated central Wishart matrices of arbitrary dimension and demonstrates an interesting connection to the maximum eigenvalue moments of Wishart matrices of smaller dimension. Based on our analytical results, we gain valuable insights into the statistical behavior of the channel conditioning for various MIMO fading scenarios, such as uncorrelated/semi-correlated Rayleigh fading and Ricean fading. © 2010 IEEE.

On-line FTIR spectroscopic investigations of methanol oxidation in a direct methanol fuel cell

A real-time Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS) analysis of the products of methanol oxidation in a prototype direct-methanol fuel cell operating at high temperatures (150 to 185°C) is reported here. The methanol oxidation products on platinum black and platinum-ruthenium catalyst surfaces were determined as a function of the fuel cell operating temperature, current density, and methanol/water mole ratio. Neither formaldehyde nor formic acid was detected in anode exhaust gas at all cell operating conditions. The product distributions of methanol oxidation obtained by on-line FTIRS are consistent with our previous results obtained by on-line mass spectroscopy under similar conditions. With pure methanol in anode feed, methanaldimethylacetal was found to be the main product, methyl formate and CO were also found. However, when water was present in the anode feed, the main product was CO , and the formation of methanaldimethylacetal and methyl formate decreased significantly with increase of the water/methanol mole ratio. Increase of cell operating temperature enhanced the formation of CO and decreased the formation of methanaldimethylacetal and methyl formate. Pt/Ru catalyst is more active for methanol oxidation and has a higher selectivity toward CO formation than Pt-black. Nearly complete methanol oxidation, i.e., the product was almost exclusively CO , was achieved using a Pt/Ru catalyst and a water/methanol mole ratio of 2 or higher in the anode feed at a temperature of 185°C or above.

On-line cone beam CT image guidance for vocal cord tumor targeting

Background and purpose: We are developing a technique for highly focused vocal cord irradiation in early glottic carcinoma to optimally treat a target volume confined to a single cord. This technique, in contrast with the conventional methods, aims at sparing the healthy vocal cord. As such a technique requires sub-mm daily targeting accuracy to be effective, we investigate the accuracy achievable with on-line kV-cone beam CT (CBCT) corrections. Materials and methods: CBCT scans were obtained in 10 early glottic cancer patients in each treatment fraction. The grey value registration available in X-ray volume imaging (XVI) software (Elekta, Synergy) was applied to a volume of interest encompassing the thyroid cartilage. After application of the thus derived corrections, residue displacements with respect to the planning CT scan were measured at clearly identifiable relevant landmarks. The intra- and inter-observer variations were also measured. Results: While before correction the systematic displacements of the vocal cords were as large as 2.4 ± 3.3 mm (cranial-caudal population mean ± SD Σ), daily CBCT registration and correction reduced these values to less than 0.2 ± 0.5 mm in all directions. Random positioning errors (SD σ) were reduced to less than 1 mm. Correcting only for translations and not for rotations did not appreciably affect this accuracy. The residue random displacements partly stem from intra-observer variations (SD = 0.2-0.6 mm). Conclusion: The use of CBCT for daily image guidance in combination with standard mask fixation reduced systematic and random set-up errors of the vocal cords to <1 mm prior to the delivery of each fraction dose. Thus, this facilitates the high targeting precision required for a single vocal cord irradiation. © 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

E-assessment em ensino a distância on-line: estudo exploratório no curso de licenciatura em gestão de negócios da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

A evolução acelerada da tecnologia, com um grande impacto em quase todos os segmentos da humanidade, coloca o homem perante novos desafios, com vários graus de complexidade. Cada dia que passa, estes desafios exigem novas competências e estratégias que devem ser adequadas a cada contexto. A dinâmica das tecnologias de comunicação e informação impulsionaram a evolução do ensino a distância (EaD), o que de certo modo tem exigido grandemente às instituições provedoras do EaD em geral e, em particular, às provedoras do EaD on-line novas formas de gestão, e novas formas de ensinar, fazer aprender os seus estudantes e avaliar as suas aprendizagens. No sentido de contribuir para a evolução e melhoramento do processo de avaliação das aprendizagens on-line, desenvolveu-se um estudo sobre o tema avaliação das aprendizagens on-line como elemento potenciador da interação em EaD. O desenvolvimento do tema foi orientado por um referencial teórico e contextual e concretizou-se, na sua vertente empírica, num estudo de caso exploratório. Este estudo desenvolveu-se em duas fases. Fase I: de caracterização de conceções e “práticas” vigentes de avaliação das aprendizagens on-line no Curso de licenciatura de Gestão de Negócios (LGN) da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) de Moçambique; Fase II: de conceção, implementação e avaliação de uma proposta alternativa de avaliação das aprendizagens on-line no Curso de LGN. Para a consecução do estudo empírico concorreram um conjunto de procedimentos metodológicos que envolveu diversas técnicas e instrumentos de recolha de dados. Na fase I recorreu-se à entrevista a seis atores do Curso de LGN (3 professores, 3 assessores pedagógicos e 3 estudantes) e à análise documental (documentos relativos à conceção do Curso e outros relativos à sua implementação). Na fase II recorreu-se à observação participante, a um questionário respondido pelos estudantes participantes, a um relatório elaborado pelo professor colaborador na implementação da proposta por nós concebido, e a documentos retirados da plataforma usada no Curso de LGN, a plataforma Aulanet, nomeadamente quanto às interações dos estudantes em fóruns e chats. Os dados recolhidos foram sujeitos a análises quantitativas e qualitativas.Dos resultados obtidos na Fase I realça-se a necessidade sentida pelos entrevistados de se mudarem práticas de avaliação on-line, nomeadamente de forma a potenciar a interação e interatividade e permitir que a classificação nos módulos não fosse apenas resultado de um exame final. Dos resultados obtidos na Fase II enfatiza-se a apreciação globalmente positiva da nova metodologia de avaliação das aprendizagens on-line, quer pelos estudantes, quer pelo professor participante. Foram identificados como pontos fortes: o aumento das interações na plataforma, em particular nos fóruns e chats; as interações geraram uma dinâmica na evolução dos estudantes no que diz respeito ao desenvolvimento das suas competências no seu sucesso académico; a avaliação, por explicitar os critérios e indicadores, tornou-se mais transparente e orientadora do trabalho dos estudantes e do professor. Porém foram identificados alguns pontos menos fortes, nomeadamente: a sobrecarga de trabalho do professor e a não adesão total dos estudantes à metodologia proposta. Dada a natureza exploratória do estudo sugere-se a sua continuidade, através do envolvimento de outros professores e estudantes.