Entity Notation: enabling knowledge representations for resource-constrained sensors

The forthcoming ambient systems will contain a large amount of sensors. Representing the data produced by these sensors in a format suitable for ambient intelligence applications would enable a large number of useful services. However, such formats tend to require processing power and communication bandwidth not available in many sensors utilizing ultra low-power microcontrollers and radio chip solutions. This paper presents a lightweight data representation, Entity Notation, to tackle this problem. Sensors with limited computation and communication capabilities can use Entity Notation to describe the data they produce. Entity Notation can be transformed into knowledge representations in a straightforward manner, and hence, the data produced by sensor nodes can be utilized with ease by any ambient intelligence system compatible with the common knowledge representations. This paper presents the design of Entity Notation, its implementations on embedded sensors and the evaluation of its performance.     

States on semi-divisible residuated lattices

Given a residuated lattice L, we prove that the subset MV(L) of complement elements x ^* of L generates an MV-algebra if, and only if L is semi-divisible. Riečan states on a semi-divisible residuated lattice L, and Riečan states on MV(L) are essentially the very same thing. The same holds for Bosbach states as far as L is divisible. There are semi-divisible residuated lattices that do not have Bosbach states. These results were obtained when the authors visited Academy of Science, Czech Republic, Institute of Comp. Sciences in Autumn 2006.     

Specification-based data reduction in dimensional data warehouses

Many data warehouses contain massive amounts of data, accumulated over long periods of time. In some cases, it is necessary or desirable to either delete “old” data or to maintain the data at an aggregate level. This may be due to privacy concerns, in which case the data are aggregated to levels that ensure anonymity. Another reason is the desire to maintain a balance between the uses of data that change as the data age and the size of the data, thus avoiding overly large data warehouses. This paper presents effective techniques for data reduction that enable the gradual aggregation of detailed data as the data ages. With these techniques, data may be aggregated to higher levels as they age, enabling the maintenance of more compact, consolidated data and the compliance with privacy requirements. Special care is taken to avoid semantic problems in the aggregation process. The paper also describes the querying of the resulting data warehouses and an implementation strategy based on current database technology.     

MORE – a multimodal observation and analysis system for social interaction research

The MORE system is designed for observation and machine-aided analysis of social interaction in real life situations, such as classroom teaching scenarios and business meetings. The system utilizes a multichannel approach to collect data whereby multiple streams of data in a number of different modalities are obtained from each situation. Typically the system collects a 360-degree video and audio feed from multiple microphones set up in the space. The system includes an advanced server backend component that is capable of performing video processing, feature extraction and archiving operations on behalf of the user. The feature extraction services form a key part of the system and rely on advanced signal analysis techniques, such as speech processing, motion activity detection and facial expression recognition in order to speed up the analysis of large data sets. The provided web interface weaves the multiple streams of information together, utilizes the extracted features as metadata on the audio and video data and lets the user dive into analyzing the recorded events. The objective of the system is to facilitate easy navigation of multimodal data and enable the analysis of the recorded situations for the purposes of, for example, behavioral studies, teacher training and business development. A further unique feature of the system is its low setup overhead and high portability as the lightest MORE setup only requires a laptop computer and the selected set of sensors on site.     

Tree cover and height estimation in the Fennoscandian tundra-taiga transition zone using multiangular MISR data

The tundra-taiga transition zone stretches around the northern hemisphere separating boreal forest to the south from treeless tundra to the north. Tree cover and height are important variables to characterize this vegetation transition. Accurate continuous fields of tree cover and height would enable the delineation of the forest extent according to different criterion and provide useful data for change detection of this climatically sensitive ecotone. This study examined if multiangular remote sensing data has potential to improve the accuracy of the tree cover and height estimates in relation to nadir-view data. The satellite data consisted of Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) data at 275 m and 1.1 km resolutions. The study area was located in the Fennoscandian tundra-taiga transition zone, in northernmost Finland. The continuous fields of tree cover and height were estimated using neural networks, which were trained and assessed by high-resolution biotope inventory data. The spectral-angular data together produced lower estimation errors than single band nadir, multispectral nadir or single band multiangular data alone. RMSE of the tree cover estimates reduced from 7.8% (relative RMSE 67.4%) to 6.5% (56.1%) at 275 m resolution, and from 5.4% (49.2%) to 4.1% (36.9%) at 1.1 km resolution, when multispectral nadir data were used together with multiangular data. RMSE of the tree height estimates reduced from 2.3 m (44.3%) to 2.0 m (37.6%) and from 1.8 m (35.4%) to 1.3 m (25.4%), respectively. The largest estimation errors occurred in mires and in areas of dense shrub cover, but the use of multiangular data also reduced estimation errors in these areas. The results suggest that directional information has potential to improve the tree cover and height estimates, and hence the accuracy of the land cover change detection in the tundra-taiga transition zone.     

Development of separation technology for the removal of radium-223 from decayed thorium-227 in drug formulations. Material screening and method development

Targeted thorium conjugates are currently being investigated as a new class of alpha-radiopharmaceuticals. The natural decay of thorium-227 (²²⁷Th) results in the ingrowth of radium-223 (²²³Ra). Consideration must, therefore, be given to define acceptable limits of ²²³Ra in the drug product at the time of dose administration. By effective sequestration of ²²³Ra, we aim to improve the radiochemical purity and extend the effective user window of drug products containing ²²⁷Th. ²²³Ra is the first progeny of ²²⁷Th and the only one with a long half-life (days). We have, therefore, focused on the removal of this specific species since the progenies of ²²³Ra will have a very limited lifetime in the formulation once ²²³Ra is removed. In this study, we investigated a multitude of materials for their ability to reduce the ²²³Ra level by: (1) passive diffusion or (2) by cartridge filtration on gravity columns. In addition, we probe the compatibility of these materials in the presence of antibody trastuzumab to assess the level of protein binding and estimate the quenching of radiolysis by binding of radionuclides. A screening matrix of organic and inorganic materials was established, i.e. strontium and calcium alginate gel beads, distearoyl phosphatidylglycerol (DSPG) liposomes, ceramic hydroxyapatite, Zeolite UOP type 4A and cation exchange resins AG50W-X8 and SOURCE 30S. First, passive diffusional uptake of ²²³Ra by suspended materials present in the formulation was measured as a decrease in sample radioactivity after separation. Second, selected materials were packed on gravity columns in order to evaluate the efficiency of column separation versus diffusional adsorption. The retention of ²²³Ra and ²²⁷Th were characterized by measuring the radioactivity in the eluate and on the columns. Finally, the compatibility between trastuzumab, as a selected model antibody, and suspensions of the binding materials was analyzed during storage of the drug product in the presence of adsorbent. The formation of H₂O₂ was evaluated to measure the influence of radionuclide binding material on radiolysis in the formulation. All the materials bound ²²³Ra by passive diffusional uptake ranging from 31% to 95% with DSPG liposomes demonstrating superiority at 95% efficiency. All materials suitable for assessment by gravity column filtration bound ²²³Ra almost quantitatively (～100%) and with minimal variation (relative standard deviation <1%). The uptake was significantly higher compared to passive diffusional uptake. Alginate gel beads, ceramic hydroxyapatite and SOURCE 30S reduced the antibody concentration in solution to 40–50% while the Zeolite UOP type 4A, AG50W-X8 resin and DSPG liposomes showed?≤10% reduction of antibody concentration. Ceramic hydroxyapatite significantly reduced H₂O₂ formed by radionuclide initiated radiolysis.     

A new convexity measure based on a probabilistic interpretation of images

In this paper, we present a novel convexity measure for object shape analysis. The proposed method is based on the idea of generating pairs of points from a set and measuring the probability that a point dividing the corresponding line segments belongs to the same set. The measure is directly applicable to image functions representing shapes and also to gray-scale images which approximate image binarizations. The approach introduced gives rise to a variety of convexity measures which make it possible to obtain more information about the object shape. The proposed measure turns out to be easy to implement using the fast Fourier transform and we would consider this in detail. Finally, we illustrate the behavior of our measure in different situations and compare it to other similar ones.     

A probabilistic approach to pronunciation by analogy

The relationship between written and spoken words is convoluted in languages with a deep orthography such as English and therefore it is difficult to devise explicit rules for generating the pronunciations for unseen words. Pronunciation by analogy (PbA) is a data-driven method of constructing pronunciations for novel words from concatenated segments of known words and their pronunciations. PbA performs relatively well with English and outperforms several other proposed methods. However, the method inherently generates several candidate pronunciations and its performance depends critically on a good scoring function to choose the best one of them.Previous PbA algorithms have used several different scoring heuristics such as the product of the frequencies of the component pronunciations of the segments, or the number of different segmentations that yield the same pronunciation, and different combinations of these methods, to evaluate the candidate pronunciations. In this article, we instead propose to use a probabilistically justified scoring rule. We show that this principled approach alone yields better accuracy than any previously published PbA algorithm. Furthermore, combined with certain ad hoc modifications motivated by earlier algorithms, the performance can in some cases be further increased.     

An ontology for videogame interoperability

During the last 20 years, video games have become very popular and widely adopted in our society. However, despite the growth on video game industry, there is a lack of interoperability that allow developers to interchange their information freely and to form stronger partnerships. In this paper we present the Video Game Ontology (VGO), a model for enabling interoperability among video games and enhancing data analysis of gameplay information. We describe the creation process of the ontology, the ontology conceptualization and its evaluation. In addition, we demonstrate the applicability of the Video Game Ontology in action with three example games that take advantage of the created ontology. Also, we demonstrate the use of the VGO in enabling interoperability among the example games.