Is the whole different from the sum of its parts? A proposed procedure for measuring divergence from additivity

ABSTRACT

The behaviour of many small systems, such as a family or a football team, epitomizes the famous Gestalt slogan of a “Whole which is different from the sum of its parts”. However, and in the context of these small cognitive systems, conceptualizing and measuring the extent and the way in which a whole is different from the sum of its parts is a non-trivial challenge. One possible direction for addressing this challenge involves measuring the extent in which the entropy of the whole is non-additive, meaning different from the sum of the entropy of its parts. However, measuring divergence from additivity is far from trivial. In this short paper, we propose a simple procedure for measuring divergence from additivity and illustrate the procedure by analysing the behaviour of a soccer team.     

Brain–computer interfaces for space applications

Recent experiments have shown the possibility to use the brain electrical activity to directly control the movement of robots. Such a kind of brain–computer interface is a natural way to augment human capabilities by providing a new interaction link with the outside world and is particularly relevant as an aid for paralysed humans, although it also opens up new possibilities in human–robot interaction for able-bodied people. One of these new fields of application is the use of brain–computer interfaces in the space environment, where astronauts are subject to extreme conditions and could greatly benefit from direct mental teleoperation of external semi-automatic manipulators—for instance, mental commands could be sent without any output/latency delays, as it is the case for manual control in microgravity conditions. Previous studies show that there is a considerable potential for this technology onboard spacecraft.     

Brain–computer interfaces for human gait restoration

In this review article, we present more than a decade of our work on the development of brain–computer interface (BCI)systems for the restoration of walking following neurological injuries such as spinal cord injury (SCI) or stroke. Most ofthis work has been in the domain of non-invasive electroencephalogram-based BCIs, including interfacing our system witha virtual reality environment and physical prostheses. Real-time online tests are presented to demonstrate the ability ofable-bodied subjects as well as those with SCI to purposefully operate our BCI system. Extensions of this work are alsopresented and include the development of a portable low-cost BCI suitable for at-home use, our ongoing efforts to develop afully implantable BCI for the restoration of walking and leg sensation after SCI, and our novel BCI-based therapy for strokerehabilitation.     

Brain–computer interfaces and dualism: a problem of brain,mind, and body

The brain–computer interface (BCI) has made remarkable progress in the bridging the divide between the brain and the external environment to assist persons with severe disabilities caused by brain impairments. There is also continuing philosophical interest in BCIs which emerges from thoughtful reflection on computers, machines, and artificial intelligence. This article seeks to apply BCI perspectives to examine, challenge, and work towards a possible resolution to a persistent problem in the mind–body relationship, namely dualism. The original humanitarian goals of BCIs and the technological inventiveness result in BCIs being surprisingly useful. We begin from the neurologically impaired person, the problems encountered, and some pioneering responses from computers and machines. Secondly, the interface of mind and brain is explored via two points of clarification: direct and indirect BCIs, and the nature of thoughts. Thirdly, dualism is beset by mind–body interaction difficulties and is further questioned by the phenomena of intentions, interactions, and technology. Fourthly, animal minds and robots are explored in BCI settings again with relevance for dualism. After a brief look at other BCIs, we conclude by outlining a future BCI philosophy of brain and mind, which might appear ominous and could be possible.     

A feasibility study on the use of anthropometric variables to make muscle–computer interface more practical

High classification accuracy has been achieved for muscle–computer interfaces (MCIs) based on surface electromyography (EMG) recognition in many recent works with an increasing number of discriminated movements. However, there are many limitations to use these interfaces in the real-world contexts. One of the major problems is compatibility. Designing and training the classification EMG system for a particular individual user is needed in order to reach high accuracy. If the system can calibrate itself automatically/semi-automatically, the development of standard interfaces that are compatible with almost any user could be possible. Twelve anthropometric variables, a measurement of body dimensions, have been proposed and used to calibrate the system in two different ways: a weighting factor for a classifier and a normalizing value for EMG features. The experimental results showed that a number of relationships between anthropometric variables and EMG time-domain features from upper-limb muscles and movements are statistically strong (average r=0.71?0.80) and significant (p<0.05). In this paper, the feasibility to use anthropometric variables to calibrate the EMG classification system is shown obviously and the proposed calibration technique is suggested to further improve the robustness and practical use of MCIs based on EMG pattern recognition.     

Are heavy users of computer games and social media more computer literate?

Adolescents spend a substantial part of their leisure time with playing games and using social media such as Facebook. The present paper examines the link between adolescents' computer and Internet activities and computer literacy (defined as the ability to work with a computer efficiently). A cross-sectional study with N = 200 adolescents, aged 17 on average, was conducted. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that an increase in time spent playing games on a PC/Mac was related to higher scores on practical and theoretical computer knowledge. Moreover, practical computer knowledge was higher for adolescents who liked playing shooters, fantasy games, or Facebook-games. Frequency of social media use was associated with higher scores in practical computer knowledge. A bootstrap analysis indicated that this relationship was mediated by a decrease in computer anxiety, not by more positive attitudes toward the computer. Gender yielded substantial main effects on the media literacy variables but the associations between the computer and Internet activities and the literacy aspects were similar for boys and girls. This study is expected to encourage future longitudinal research on adolescents' incidental learning during leisure time computer and Internet activities.     

Social effects of the speed of hummed sounds on human–computer interaction

Our research focuses on the nature of voice interaction and activation of psychological tendencies in humans by the power of prosody sounds. This study examines whether people's impressions and behaviours are affected by variations in the speed of hummed sounds. The sounds consist of just prosodic components similar to continuous humming on the open vowel /a/ or /o/ without any language information. In interaction between individuals as well as among animals, temporal structures including voice speed or duration contribute rhythmic interaction and are closely connected to the participants’ dynamics of mental or emotional states. We think that this phenomenon can be applied to human–computer interaction, even through the variation in temporal structures of hummed sounds used to reduce the influence of content or meaning in language. Our interactive system mimics the prosodic features of the human voice by using humming-only sounds under three different voice speed conditions: (a) faster, (b) normal, and (c) slower than the original speaker. We examine whether the variation in the sound's speed gives rise to both psychological and behavioural influences in the relationship between the computer and the subject through interaction. Subjects tend to prefer a computer with a normal or faster speaking rate to that with a slower rate on both usefulness and familiarity. Moreover, the speech rate of the subjects changed inversely to the variation in a computer's hummed sounds. This study demonstrates the importance of temporal structure and emphasizes the need for an investigation of the fundamentals at work in interaction.     

Bibliography of computer applications in the Earth Sciences, 1948–1970

A bibliography of computer applications in the earth sciences from 1948 to 1970 is presented along with an index by method, geologic subject, geographic area, geologic age, programming language, and language.     

System-initiated digressive proposals in automated human–computer telephone dialogues: the use of contrasting politeness strategies

System-initiated digressive proposals may be used to introduce new and unexpected information into automated telephone services. These digressions may be viewed as particularly pronounced forms of unsolicited interruptions as they contain information not directly related to the caller's intended activity. In human–human conversation, interruptions are considered to be speech acts which intrinsically threaten both the positive and negative face wants of the addressee and conversants adopt specific verbal strategies to mitigate the negative impact of their interruptions. A question therefore arises whether the introduction of face-redressive expressions, based on human–human conversational strategies, into the design of system-initiated proposals in automated services can mitigate the negative impact of the interruptions. A usability experiment was conducted to examine the effectiveness of three contrasting politeness strategies for system-initiated digressions in a mass-market telephone banking dialogue using speech recognition technology. Participants (N=111) experienced these proposals while using the automated service to perform banking tasks. Results indicated that all these system-initiated digressions—irrespective of politeness strategy employed—had a negative impact on the user attitudes towards the service. This paper reports these results and explores participants’ perceptions of the politeness styles and registers employed in the system-initiated proposals.     

Input–Output Map of Uncertainty of the Economy of Ukraine and its Application

The methodology for calculating the inter-industry map of uncertainty of the Ukrainian economy and the results of the calculations are considered. A historical assessment of a fragment of fiscal risks associated with tax revenue from taxes on products and other production taxes is carried out. The sectors of Ukraine’s economy are classified through the prism of the uncertainty map. It is proposed to use the production portfolio of economic activities as a tool to mitigate fiscal risks.

     

The development of a comprehensive computer program for the study of solid–solid atomic interfaces

This paper describes the construction of a comprehensive computer program to model the structure of the silicon–silicon dioxide (Si–SiO₂) boundary layer of semiconductor devices by combining experimental data from an X-ray storage ring with graphical simulations on a multiprocessor distributed net (or a multiprocessor supercomputer). The term ‘comprehensive’ refers to the program's planned ability to incorporate all stages necessary to translate 2D X-ray spectra to the final 3D atomic image with little or no human intervention. If successful, our efforts will provide materials scientists, engineers, and manufacturers of integrated circuits with an additional tool for understanding interfacial chemistry and thereby suggest new ways to improve the chemical and electronic behavior of their devices.     

Effects of “gender” of the computer on informational social influence: the moderating role of task type

The present experiment examined if and how “gender” of the computer, manifested in character representation, would affect its informational influence on individuals’ decisions on masculine (sports) or feminine (fashion) topics. In a 2 (participant's gender) ×2 (character gender) ×2 (nature of topic: masculine vs. feminine) between-subjects experiment, participants played a trivia quiz game with the computer. During the game, they were given a chance to change their initial answer after seeing the computer's answer, which they knew was not necessarily correct. Results supported the match-up hypothesis such that while the male computer elicited greater conformity on the masculine topic than on the feminine topic, the opposite was true for the female counterpart. In addition, men were less likely to yield to the computer's suggestion than women on the masculine topic whereas women were less likely to succumb to the computer's influence on the feminine topic. These findings are discussed in terms of the robustness of gender-stereotyping in human–computer interaction and the implications for Computers Are Social Actors paradigm.     

The experience of enchantment in human–computer interaction

Improving user experience is becoming something of a rallying call in human–computer interaction but experience is not a unitary thing. There are varieties of experiences, good and bad, and we need to characterise these varieties if we are to improve user experience. In this paper we argue that enchantment is a useful concept to facilitate closer relationships between people and technology. But enchantment is a complex concept in need of some clarification. So we explore how enchantment has been used in the discussions of technology and examine experiences of film and cell phones to see how enchantment with technology is possible. Based on these cases, we identify the sensibilities that help designers design for enchantment, including the specific sensuousness of a thing, senses of play, paradox and openness, and the potential for transformation. We use these to analyse digital jewellery in order to suggest how it can be made more enchanting. We conclude by relating enchantment to varieties of experience.An earlier version of this paper was presented at Chi’2004 Fringe.     

Classification of primitive shapes using brain–computer interfaces

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) are recent developments in alternative technologies of user interaction. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of BCIs as user interfaces for CAD systems. The paper describes experiments and algorithms that use the BCI to distinguish between primitive shapes that are imagined by a user. Users wear an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset and imagine the shape of a cube, sphere, cylinder, pyramid or a cone. The EEG headset collects brain activity from 14 locations on the scalp. The data is analyzed with independent component analysis (ICA) and the Hilbert–Huang Transform (HHT). The features of interest are the marginal spectra of different frequency bands (theta, alpha, beta and gamma bands) calculated from the Hilbert spectrum of each independent component. The Mann–Whitney U-test is then applied to rank the EEG electrode channels by relevance in five pair-wise classifications. The features from the highest ranking independent components form the final feature vector which is then used to train a linear discriminant classifier. Results show that this classifier can discriminate between the five basic primitive objects with an average accuracy of about 44.6% (compared to naïve classification rate of 20%) over ten subjects (accuracy range of 36%–54%). The accuracy classification changes to 39.9% when both visual and verbal cues are used. The repeatability of the feature extraction and classification was checked by conducting the experiment on 10 different days with the same participants. This shows that the BCI holds promise in creating geometric shapes in CAD systems and could be used as a novel means of user interaction.     

Thermodynamic assessment of the Ni–Co–Cr system and Diffusion Study of its fcc phase

In the present work, the liquidus and solidus for a series of Ni_xCo_1-2xCr_x alloys were measured by means of differential scanning calorimetry, and the first-principles calculations were performed to obtain total energies for all solid solutions and end-members of the intermediate phases in the Ni–Co–Cr ternary system. Various types of data from the present work and the literature were used in the assessments of the Ni–Co–Cr ternary system and sub-binary systems by the CALPHAD method, and were well reproduced by the present thermodynamic database. In addition, diffusion couples of fcc Co–Cr and Ni–Co–Cr alloys were assembled and annealed at different temperatures to extract interdiffusion coefficients. Experimental diffusion data from the present work and the literature, in conjunction with thermodynamic parameters, were adopted to assess the atomic mobilities of the fcc phase in the Ni–Co–Cr system. The calculated and experimental diffusion coefficients reach a satisfactory agreement. The diffusional kinetic database developed was further validated by appropriate predictions of composition profiles and diffusion paths.     

Getting closer: tailored human–computer speech dialog

This paper presents an advanced call center, which adapts presentation and interaction strategy to properties of the caller such as age, gender, and emotional state. User studies on interactive voice response (IVR) systems have shown that these properties can be used effectively to “tailor” services to users or user groups who do not maintain personal preferences, e.g., because they do not use the service on a regular basis. The adopted approach to achieve individualization of services, without being able to personalize them, is based on the analysis of a caller’s voice. This paper shows how this approach benefits service providers by being able to target entertainment and recommendation options. It also shows how this analysis at the same time benefits the customer, as it can increase accessibility of IVR systems to user segments which have particular expectations or which do not cope well with a “one size fits all” system. The paper summarizes the authors’ current work on component technologies, such as emotion detection, age and gender recognition on telephony speech, and presents results of usability and acceptability tests as well as an architecture to integrate these technologies in future multi-modal contact centers. It is envisioned that these will eventually serve customers with an avatar representation of an agent and tailored interaction strategies, matching powerful output capabilities with advanced analysis of the user’s input.

Thermodynamic assessment of the Co–Cr–Fe system and atomic mobility study of its fcc phase

In the present work, the Co–Cr–Fe system was thermodynamically assessed by using the CALPHAD approach coupled with first-principles calculations and experimental data from the literature. Subsequently, the fcc Co–Cr–Fe ternary diffusion couples annealed at 1273 and 1473K were scanned by using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) to obtain the composition profiles, from which the interdiffusion coefficients were extracted by the Whittle-Green method. Based on these interdiffusion coefficients and present thermodynamic parameters, the atomic mobilities of Co, Cr, and Fe in the fcc Co–Cr–Fe alloys were assessed by means of DICTRA software. The calculated interdiffusion coefficients, composition profiles and diffusion paths of the fcc Co–Cr–Fe alloys were consistent with the experimental data, which verifies the accuracy of the assessed atomic mobilities.