Semantic content of motorcycle riders’ eye fixations during lane-splitting

A naturalistic field observation study is presented, exploring the experienced riders’ eye fixations on specific traffic objects and their relative s     

One-stage synthesis of poly[(p-phenylimino)-acenaphthene], a new macromolecular material with interesting electric properties

A new macromolecular material, a derivative of 1,2-bis-(p-aminophenylimino)-acenaphthene, was prepared. The monomer above, belonging to the group of small-molecule semiconductors, presents, as we referred in a previous work (Mhaidat [1]), remarkable photoconductive properties. The polymerization, a polycondensation reaction, was achieved in one-stage, using as starting materials acenaphthenequinone and p-phenylenediamine, in the presence of TiCl₄ and Dabco as catalysts, into o-dichlorobenzene acting as a solvent. The product obtained was fully characterized with mass spectroscopy, ¹H NMR and FTIR techniques. Mass spectrum permitted the calculation of the polymer's molecular weight, being equal to 1633.85, whereas measurements of electric properties confirmed its semiconductive character.     

Fast State-Space Harmonic-Distortion Estimation in Weakly Nonlinear Gm−C Filters

A fast, one-pass harmonic-distortion estimation algorithm for G _m-C filters is introduced. It is derived using state-space modeling and can be applied directly to G_m-C filters, of any order, with MOS transconductors exhibiting any type of weak nonlinearity. The algorithm is formed out of a small number of explicit expressions involving the filter's structural matrices and the transconductors' nonlinearity. It can be easily implemented in MATLAB. For verification of the theoretical development, the algorithm was used to derive the harmonic distortion of a single-ended G_m-C filter with weakly nonlinear transconductors designed on a 0.5-mum technology. The results of the algorithm and CADENCE simulation were found to be in good agreement     

Power-/energy-efficient BIST schemes for processor data paths

Processor core power is primarily consumed in a data path consisting of high-activity functional modules. We propose low-power/energy BIST schemes for data path architectures built around the most common combinations of multipliers, adders, ALUs, and shifters     

Mapping protein-ligand interactions by footprinting, a radical idea

PURPOSE: This study investigated the functional significance of perineal complications after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. METHODS: Review of a prospective registry of 628 patients was undertaken. Bowel function was assessed by detailed functional questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-squared and Fisher's exact probability tests. RESULTS: Of 628 patients, 153 (24.4 percent) had 171 perineal complications. The 277 control patients had no complications. Complications included 66 (10.5 percent) anastomotic strictures, 28 (4.5 percent) anastomotic separations, 36 (5.7 percent) pouch fistulas, 41 (6.5 percent) episodes of pelvic sepsis, and 18 (2.9 percent) patients with multiple complications. After these complications were addressed, the pouch failure rate was low (10 percent); in 90 percent of patients, the pouch could be salvaged. Most pouch failures were the result of pouch fistulas, and most occurred in patients ultimately diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Functional results after cure of these perineal complications revealed no significant functional differences between control patients and those cured of anastomotic separations, anastomotic strictures, and pouch fistulas. Only a few minor differences were demonstrated in function after an episode of pelvic sepsis. The major deterioration in function occurred after treatment for multiple perineal complications. CONCLUSIONS: An appreciable number of perineal complications occur after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. Pouch-perineal fistulas are associated with the highest pouch failure rate. The majority of these fistulas occur in patients ultimately diagnosed with Crohn's disease or indeterminate colitis. Although there is no substitute for good technique and sound clinical judgment in the success of ileal pouch-anal anastomosis, if perineal complications are successfully treated, functional outcome is equivalent to that in patients without perineal complications.     

A periodogram-based method for the detection of steady-statevisually evoked potentials

The task of objective perimetry is to scan the visual field and find an answer about the function of the visual system. Flicker-burst stimulation-a physiological sensible combination of transient and steady-state stimulation-is used to generate deterministic sinusoidal responses or visually evoked potentials (VEPs) at the visual cortex, which are derived from the electroencephalogram by a suitable electrode array. Here, the authors develop a new method for the detection of VEPs. Based on the periodogram of a time-series, they test the data for the presence of hidden periodic components, which correspond to steady-state VEPs. The method is applied successfully to real data     

An EWMA signed ranks control chart with reliable run length performances

During the design phase of a control chart, the determination of its exact run length properties plays a vital role for its optimal operation. Markov chain or integral equation methods have been extensively applied in the design phase of conventional control charts. However, for distribution-free schemes, due to the discrete nature of the statistics being used (such as the sign or the Wilcoxon signed rank statistics, for instance), it is impossible to accurately compute their run length properties. In this work, a modified distribution-free phase II exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA)-type chart based on the Wilcoxon signed rank statistic is considered and its exact run length properties are discussed. A continuous transformation of the Wilcoxon signed rank statistic, combined with the classical Markov chain method, is used for the determination of the average run length in the in- and out-of control cases. Moreover, its exact performance is derived without any knowledge of the distribution of sample observations. Finally, an illustrative example is provided showing the practical implementation of our proposed chart.     

Congestion control in wireless sensor networks based on bird flocking behavior

This paper proposes that the flocking behavior of birds can guide the design of a robust, scalable and self-adaptive congestion control protocol in the context of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The proposed approach adopts a swarm intelligence paradigm inspired by the collective behavior of bird flocks. The main idea is to ‘guide’ packets (birds) to form flocks and flow towards the sink (global attractor), whilst trying to avoid congestion regions (obstacles). The direction of motion of a packet flock is influenced by repulsion and attraction forces between packets, as well as the field of view and the artificial magnetic field in the direction of the artificial magnetic pole (sink). The proposed approach is simple to implement at the individual node, involving minimal information exchange. In addition, it displays global self-1 properties and emergent behavior, achieved collectively without explicitly programming these properties into individual packets. Performance evaluations show the effectiveness of the proposed Flock-based Congestion Control (Flock-CC) mechanism in dynamically balancing the offered load by effectively exploiting available network resources and moving packets to the sink. Furthermore, Flock-CC provides graceful performance degradation in terms of packet delivery ratio, packet loss, delay and energy tax under low, high and extreme traffic loads. In addition, the proposed approach achieves robustness against failing nodes, scalability in different network sizes and outperforms typical conventional approaches.