An experiential account of phantom vibration syndrome

A small handful of recent studies have addressed a phenomenon known as “phantom vibration syndrome”. This refers to when phone users perceive their device to vibrate, indicating that a call or text is incoming, when in fact the phone did not vibrate at all. Though these studies show that most users do not find phantom vibration hallucinations to be very bothersome, they also find that a large majority of users experience this phenomenon. This paper explores what the striking prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome means for our contemporary relationships with technology. I begin with a review of the theories purporting to explain these data, which largely rely on particular understandings of the brain. Next I develop an alternative theory of phantom vibration syndrome based on insights from the philosophical tradition of phenomenology. This account considers the ways users develop bodily and perceptual habits regarding how the phone is understood and used. By critically contrasting these different theories, we can refine our questions about what the high prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome implies about our contemporary technological situation.     

Utilizing sensor data to model students’ creativity in a digital environment

While creativity is essential for developing students’ broad expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, many students struggle with various aspects of being creative. Digital technologies have the unique opportunity to support the creative process by (1) recognizing elements of students’ creativity, such as when creativity is lacking (modeling step), and (2) providing tailored scaffolding based on that information (intervention step). However, to date little work exists on either of these aspects. Here, we focus on the modeling step. Specifically, we explore the utility of various sensing devices, including an eye tracker, a skin conductance bracelet, and an EEG sensor, for modeling creativity during an educational activity, namely geometry proof generation. We found reliable differences in sensor features characterizing low vs. high creativity students. We then applied machine learning to build classifiers that achieved good accuracy in distinguishing these two student groups, providing evidence that sensor features are valuable for modeling creativity.     

Learning fuzzy controllers in mobile robotics with embedded preprocessing

The automatic design of controllers for mobile robots usually requires two stages. In the first stage, sensorial data are preprocessed or transformed into high level and meaningful values of variables which are usually defined from expert knowledge. In the second stage, a machine learning technique is applied to obtain a controller that maps these high level variables to the control commands that are actually sent to the robot. This paper describes an algorithm that is able to embed the preprocessing stage into the learning stage in order to get controllers directly starting from sensorial raw data with no expert knowledge involved. Due to the high dimensionality of the sensorial data, this approach uses Quantified Fuzzy Rules (QFRs), that are able to transform low-level input variables into high-level input variables, reducing the dimensionality through summarization. The proposed learning algorithm, called Iterative Quantified Fuzzy Rule Learning (IQFRL), is based on genetic programming. IQFRL is able to learn rules with different structures, and can manage linguistic variables with multiple granularities. The algorithm has been tested with the implementation of the wall-following behavior both in several realistic simulated environments with different complexity and on a Pioneer 3-AT robot in two real environments. Results have been compared with several well-known learning algorithms combined with different data preprocessing techniques, showing that IQFRL exhibits a better and statistically significant performance. Moreover, three real world applications for which IQFRL plays a central role are also presented: path and object tracking with static and moving obstacles avoidance.     

一种基于三次样条函数求离子浓度的自动算法

本文提出了一种用三次样条函数模拟双次标准加入法测量方程，直接求解离子浓度的自动算法。比较了三咱不同边界条件下用要池数计算离子浓度的结果。造出节点区间两极端点的二阶导数为零时的三次样条函数为最佳模拟函数。并讨论了该方法在实际分析中误差的来源及消除办法。经对一系列文献数据的验算对比，表明本法完全可代替传统的迭代法和查图法，且能方便地设置在智能化的电位分析系统中。     

IPv6与欧洲

在推进IPv6的问题上,亚洲表现的最为积极,这是因为亚洲各国承受着巨大的IP地址方面的压力。欧洲虽然在这方面没有这样大的压力,但在互联网方面一直落后于美国,这是欧洲所不甘心的。因此,欧洲在推进IPv6方面也做了许多工作。欧洲推进IPv6的基本策略是先移动,后固定,并实施了一系列的行动计划和项目。欧洲面临的挑战主要是已经部署了数量巨大的网元、操作系统与软件应用必须予以更新、互通或取代,需要仔细规划和大量投资。     

移动IP综述

论述了移动IP的概念和发展过程，分析了国内外对移动IP研究的重点问题及其方法，对移动IP的发展方向进行了归纳和总结，并提出了有关用的问题。     

一种新颖的导弹起竖机构

一种新颖的导弹起竖机构，起竖油缸的上支点可以移动，能缩短起竖油缸的长度，改善起竖机构的受力，为快速起竖大型导弹探索了一条新途径。     

Adaptive user modelling in intelligent telephone and email assistants

With the burgeoning complexity and capabilities of modern information appliances and services, user modelling is becoming an increasingly important research area. Simple user profiles already personalise many software products and consumer goods such as digital TV recorders and mobile phones. A user model should be easy to initialise, and it must adapt in the light of interaction with the user. In many cases, a large amount of training data is needed to generate a user model, and adaptation is equivalent to retraining the system. This paper briefly outlines the user modelling problem and work done at BTexact on an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) which incorporates a user profile. We go on to describe FILUM, a more flexible method of user modelling, and show its application to the telephone assistant and email assistant components of the IPA, with tests to illustrate its usefulness.     

Terminal velocity of non-spherical particles falling through a Carreau model liquid

A procedure has been proposed for the estimation of the terminal falling velocity of non-spherical particles moving in a Carreau model fluid in the transition flow region. The procedure is based on a modification of the relationship formerly developed for the fall of spherical particles including the particle dynamic shape factor. The suitability of the proposed procedure has been confirmed by good agreement between experimental and calculated terminal falling velocity data. In the experiments, the terminal falling velocity of short cylinders and rectangular prisms in polymer solutions of different measure of shear thinning and elasticity has been measured.