O jogo e os jogos: o jogo da leitura, o jogo de xadrez e a sanidade mental em A defesa Lujin, de Vladimir Nabokov

No romance A defesa Lujin, de Vladimir Nabokov, publicado em russo em 1930, o texto procura levar o leitor a adotar processos mentais similares ao de um jogador de xadrez e de um esquizofrênico, características do personagem-título do romance. Delineiam-se as expectativas e circunstâncias de um ser de papel que se vê jogando um xadrez em que também é peça e traçam-se paralelos com as expectativas e circunstâncias do leitor perante esse texto literário. O prefácio de Nabokov à edição em inglês de 1964 é tomado como indício de um leitor e um autor implícitos que ele procura moldar. Para análise dos elementos textuais e níveis de abstração mental envolvidos, recorre-se à estética da recepção de Wolfgang Iser e a diversas ideias do psiquiatra e etnólogo Gregory Bateson, entre elas o conceito de duplo vínculo, com atenção às distinções entre mapa/território e play/game. Um duplo duplo vínculo é perpetrado na interação leitor-texto: 1) o leitor é convidado a sentir empatia pela situação do personagem Lujin e a considerá-lo lúcido e louco ao mesmo tempo; e 2) o leitor é colocado como uma instância pseudo-transcendental incapaz de comunicação com a instância inferior (Lujin), gerando uma angústia diretamente relacionável ao seu envolvimento com a ficção, replicando de certa forma a loucura de Lujin. A sinestesia do personagem Lujin é identificada como um dos elementos do texto capaz de recriar a experiência de jogar xadrez até para quem não aprecia o jogo. Analisa-se a conexão entre a esquizofrenia ficcional do personagem Lujin e a visão batesoniana do alcoolismo

Nonautonomous elementary net systems and their application to programmable logic control

In this paper, a novel approach to Petri net modeling of programmable logic controller (PLC) programs is presented. The modeling approach is a simple extension of elementary net systems, and a graphical design tool that supports the use of this modeling approach is provided. A key characteristic of the model is that the binary sensory inputs and binary actuation outputs of the PLC are explicitly represented. This leads to the following two improvements: outputs are unambiguous, and interaction patterns are more clearly represented in the graphical form. The use of this modeling approach produces programs that are simple, lightweight, and portable. The approach is demonstrated by applying it to the development of a control module for a MonTech Positioning Station. © 2008 IEEE.

Some biocybernetic aspects in gene expression and regulatory control

In eucaryotes, gene expression and control is a complex nonlinear process, where there are many control mechanisms and ways, both physic, chemical and informational control. By the exploration from the angle of biocybernetics, the authors suggest that gene expression is a co-control process. In this process, physic, chemical and informational feedback controls are associated and influential each other, and are cross and co-functional. The physic, chemical and informational control ways composed an order non-linear feedback control system in eucaryotes.

The computer simulation of primate (Macaca mulatta) spatial visual delayed response and cerebral prefrontal control function

Cerebral prefrontal function is one of the important aspects in neurobiology. Based on the experimental results of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, behavioral sciences, and the principles of cybernetics and information theory after constructed a simple model simulating prefrontal control function, this paper simulated the behavior of Macaca mulatta completing delayed tasks both before and after its cerebral prefrontal cortex being damaged. The results indicated that there is an obvious difference in the capacity of completing delayed response tasks for the normal monkeys and those of prefrontal cortex cut away. The results are agreement with experiments. The authors suggest that the factors of affecting complete delayed response tasks might be in information keeping and extracting of memory including information storing, keeping and extracting procedures rather than in information storing process.

Bias-free identification of a linear model-predictive steering controller from measured driver steering behavior

Recent developments in modeling driver steering control with preview are reviewed. While some validation with experimental data has been presented, the rigorous application of formal system identification methods has not yet been attempted. This paper describes a steering controller based on linear model-predictive control. An indirect identification method that minimizes steering angle prediction error is developed. Special attention is given to filtering the prediction error so as to avoid identification bias that arises from the closed-loop operation of the driver-vehicle system. The identification procedure is applied to data collected from 14 test drivers performing double lane change maneuvers in an instrumented vehicle. It is found that the identification procedure successfully finds parameter values for the model that give small prediction errors. The procedure is also able to distinguish between the different steering strategies adopted by the test drivers. © 2006 IEEE.

Continuous speech recognition based on ICA and geometrical learning

We investigate the use of independent component analysis (ICA) for speech feature extraction in digits speech recognition systems. We observe that this may be true for recognition tasks based on Geometrical Learning with little training data. In contrast to image processing, phase information is not essential for digits speech recognition. We therefore propose a new scheme that shows how the phase sensitivity can be removed by using an analytical description of the ICA-adapted basis functions. Furthermore, since the basis functions are not shift invariant, we extend the method to include a frequency-based ICA stage that removes redundant time shift information. The digits speech recognition results show promising accuracy. Experiments show that the method based on ICA and Geometrical Learning outperforms HMM in a different number of training samples.

Continuous speech recognition based on ICA and geometrical learning

We investigate the use of independent component analysis (ICA) for speech feature extraction in digits speech recognition systems. We observe that this may be true for recognition tasks based on Geometrical Learning with little training data. In contrast to image processing, phase information is not essential for digits speech recognition. We therefore propose a new scheme that shows how the phase sensitivity can be removed by using an analytical description of the ICA-adapted basis functions. Furthermore, since the basis functions are not shift invariant, we extend the method to include a frequency-based ICA stage that removes redundant time shift information. The digits speech recognition results show promising accuracy. Experiments show that the method based on ICA and Geometrical Learning outperforms HMM in a different number of training samples.

Silicon: the promising material for phontonic integrated circuits platform

The development of optical network demands integrated arid multiple functionality modules to lowing cost and acquire highly reliability. Among the various contender materials to be photonic integrated circuits platform, silicon exhibits dominant characteristics and is the most promising platform materials. The paper compares the characteristics of some candidate materials with silicon and reviews recent progress in silicon based photonic integration technology. Tile challenges to silicon for optical integration for optical networking application arc also indicated.