VALENCE: affective visualisation using EEG

VALENCE is an interactive visualisation controlled by live brainwave monitoring. We used a wireless EEG headset to monitor the player's alpha waves (an indicator of relaxation) and valence (an indicator of emotion or arousal). The game world is an emergent system of attractive and repulsive forces responding to EEG input.     

Discipline-based instruction to promote interdisciplinary design of wearable and pervasive computing products

This paper reports on a design experience for undergraduates in computer engineering, industrial design, and marketing that focuses on pervasive computing devices. Across a broad range of targeted application areas and user groups, many of the student designs have been wearable computers. Consequently, our course will be of interest to the wearable computing community, particularly in terms of our aim of bridging the gap between design and engineering. For the two most recent offerings of the course, we have utilized external observers and surveyed the students in order to validate the impact of aspects of our process and changes to it. This paper is based upon 5 years of experience and 2 years of analysis of our course, and it presents an overview of our process with both qualitative and quantitative results from these two most recent offerings.     

Explaining IS continuance in environments where usage is mandatory

Several research efforts over the last decade have attempted to explain user acceptance in mandated environments. This research is an attempt in the same direction. It addresses users’ satisfaction in mandated environments to further contribute to our understanding of how we can manage mandated use of information systems (IS) effectively beyond initial adoption. To better explain users’ IS continuance a revised post-acceptance model is proposed and empirically tested using the structural equation modelling technique. The results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the proposed measurement model and further demonstrate that confirmed expectations and ease of use perceptions explain 61% of the users’ satisfaction in this setting. Our findings have important implications for the management of users in mandated environments as well as for further research in the area of mandated use. To that end, we offer directions for future research.     

我的随身电脑——华硕Eee PC 1000HE上网本使用体会

瘦客户机 瘦客户机对于目前的医疗保健、金融、教育及其它行业来说．是一项良好的解决方案。不但经济实惠,也更便于IT管理人员进行管理。我们评测的是实达WT-8040瘦客户机。     

Immunoglobulin 1 (IgG1) Fc-glycosylation profiling of anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies from human serum

In several autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), autoantibodies are thought to be the driving force of pathogenicity. Glycosylation of the Fc-part of human Igs is known to modulate biological activity. Hitherto, glycosylation of human IgG-Fc has been analyzed predominantly at the level of total serum IgG, revealing reduced galactosylation in RA. Given the pathogenic relevance of autoantibodies in RA, we wished, in the present study, to address the question whether distinct Fc-glycosylation features are observable at the level of antigen-specific IgG subpopulations. For this purpose, we have developed a method for the microscale purification and Fc-glycosylation analysis of anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA). ACPA represent a group of autoantibodies that occur with unique specificity in RA patients. Their presence is associated with increased inflammatory disease activity and rapid joint destruction. Results indicate that ACPA of the IgG1 subclass vary considerably from total serum IgG1 with respect to Fc-galactosylation, with galactosylation being higher on ACPA than on serum IgG1 for some patients, while other patients show higher galactosylation on serum IgG1 than on ACPA. Using this method, studies can be performed on the biological and clinical relevance of ACPA glycosylation within RA patient cohorts.     

Motion estimation of skeletonized angiographic images using elastic registration

An approach for estimating the motion of arteries in digital angiographic image sequences is proposed. Binary skeleton images are registered using an elastic registration algorithm in order to estimate the motion of the corresponding arteries. This algorithm operates recursively on the skeleton images by considering an autoregressive (AR) model of the deformation in conjunction with a dynamic programming (DP) algorithm. The AR model is used at the pixel level and provides a suitable cost function to DP through the innovation process. In addition, a moving average (MA) model for the motion of the entire skeleton is used in combination with the local AR model for improved registration results. The performance of this motion estimation method is demonstrated on simulated and real digital angiographic image sequences. It is shown that motion estimation using elastic registration of skeletons is very successful especially with low contrast and noisy angiographic images.     

Developments in proton MR spectroscopic imaging of prostate cancer

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - In this paper, we review the developments of 1H-MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) methods designed to investigate prostate cancer,...     

Taxonomy,technology and applications of smart objects

Deployment of embedded technologies is increasingly being examined in industrial supply chains as a means for improving efficiency through greater control over purchase orders, inventory and product related information. Central to this development has been the advent of technologies such as bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, and wireless sensors which when attached to a product, form part of the product’s embedded systems infrastructure. The increasing integration of these technologies dramatically contributes to the evolving notion of a “smart product”, a product which is capable of incorporating itself into both physical and information environments. The future of this revolution in objects equipped with smart embedded technologies is one in which objects can not only identify themselves, but can also sense and store their condition, communicate with other objects and distributed infrastructures, and take decisions related to managing their life cycle. The object can essentially “plug” itself into a compatible systems infrastructure owned by different partners in a supply chain. However, as in any development process that will involve more than one end user, the establishment of a common foundation and understanding is essential for interoperability, efficient communication among involved parties and for developing novel applications. In this paper, we contribute to creating that common ground by providing a characterization to aid the specification and construction of “smart objects” and their underlying technologies. Furthermore, our work provides an extensive set of examples and potential applications of different categories of smart objects.