Designing novel applications for emerging multimedia technology

Current R&D in media technologies such as Multimedia, Semantic Web and Sensor Web technologies are advancing in a fierce rate and will sure to become part of our important regular items in a 'conventional' technology inventory in near future. While the R&D nature of these technologies means their accuracy, reliability and robustness are not sufficient enough to be used in real world yet, we want to envision now the near-future where these technologies will have matured and used in real applications in order to explore and start shaping many possible new ways these novel technologies could be utilised. In this talk, some of this effort in designing novel applications that incorporate various media technologies as their backend will be presented. Examples include novel scenarios of LifeLogging application that incorporate automatic structuring of millions of photos passively captured from a SenseCam (wearable digital camera that automatically takes photos triggered by environmental sensors) and an interactive TV application incorporating a number of multimedia tools yet extremely simple and easy to use with a remote control in a lean-back position. The talk will conclude with remarks on how the design of novel applications that have no precedence or existing user base should require somewhat different approach from those suggested and practiced in conventional usability engineering methodology

Modes of Neuronal Calcium Entry and Homeostasis following Cerebral Ischemia

One of the major instigators leading to neuronal cell death and brain damage following cerebral ischemia is calcium dysregulation. The neuron's inability to maintain calcium homeostasis is believed to be a result of increased calcium influx and impaired calcium extrusion across the plasma membrane. The need to better understand the cellular and biochemical mechanisms of calcium dysregulation contributing to neuronal loss following stroke/cerebral ischemia is essential for the development of new treatments in order to reduce ischemic brain injury. The aim of this paper is to provide a concise overview of the various calcium influx pathways in response to ischemia and how neuronal cells attempts to overcome this calcium overload

Influence of the Dufour effect on convection in binary gas mixtures

Linear and nonlinear properties of convection in binary fluid layers heated from below are investigated, in particular for gas parameters. A Galerkin approximation for realistic boundary conditions that describes stationary and oscillatory convection in the form of straight parallel rolls is used to determine the influence of the Dufour effect on the bifurcation behaviour of convective flow intensity, vertical heat current, and concentration mixing. The Dufour--induced changes in the bifurcation topology and the existence regimes of stationary and traveling wave convection are elucidated. To check the validity of the Galerkin results we compare with finite--difference numerical simulations of the full hydrodynamical field equations. Furthermore, we report on the scaling behaviour of linear properties of the stationary instability.Comment: 14 pages and 10 figures as uuencoded Postscript file (using uufiles

Exciton spectroscopy of hexagonal boron nitride using non-resonant x-ray Raman scattering

We report non-resonant x-ray Raman scattering (XRS) measurements from hexagonal boron nitride for transferred momentum from 2 to 9 $\mathrm{\AA}^{-1}$ along directions both in and out of the basal plane. A symmetry-based argument, together with real-space full multiple scattering calculations of the projected density of states in the spherical harmonics basis, reveals that a strong pre-edge feature is a dominantly $Y_{10}$-type Frenkel exciton with no other \textit{s}-, \textit{p}-, or \textit{d}- components. This conclusion is supported by a second, independent calculation of the \textbf{q}-dependent XRS cross-section based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation

Dynamics and Selection of Giant Spirals in Rayleigh-Benard Convection

For Rayleigh-Benard convection of a fluid with Prandtl number \sigma \approx 1, we report experimental and theoretical results on a pattern selection mechanism for cell-filling, giant, rotating spirals. We show that the pattern selection in a certain limit can be explained quantitatively by a phase-diffusion mechanism. This mechanism for pattern selection is very different from that for spirals in excitable media

Effect of randomness and anisotropy on Turing patterns in reaction-diffusion systems

We study the effect of randomness and anisotropy on Turing patterns in reaction-diffusion systems. For this purpose, the Gierer-Meinhardt model of pattern formation is considered. The cases we study are: (i)randomness in the underlying lattice structure, (ii)the case in which there is a probablity p that at a lattice site both reaction and diffusion occur, otherwise there is only diffusion and lastly, the effect of (iii) anisotropic and (iv) random diffusion coefficients on the formation of Turing patterns. The general conclusion is that the Turing mechanism of pattern formation is fairly robust in the presence of randomness and anisotropy.Comment: 11 pages LaTeX, 14 postscript figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Super-lattice, rhombus, square, and hexagonal standing waves in magnetically driven ferrofluid surface

Standing wave patterns that arise on the surface of ferrofluids by (single frequency) parametric forcing with an ac magnetic field are investigated experimentally. Depending on the frequency and amplitude of the forcing, the system exhibits various patterns including a superlattice and subharmonic rhombuses as well as conventional harmonic hexagons and subharmonic squares. The superlattice arises in a bicritical situation where harmonic and subharmonic modes collide. The rhombic pattern arises due to the non-monotonic dispersion relation of a ferrofluid

A Decision-Support Tool for the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Based upon Fuzzy ARTMAP

This paper presents research into the application of the fuzzy ARTMAP neural network model to the diagnosis of cancer from fine-needle aspirates of the breast. Trained fuzzy ARTMAP networks are differently pruned so as to maximise accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The differently pruned networks are then employed in a "cascade" of networks intended to separate cases into "certain" and "suspicious" classes. This mimics the predictive behaviour of a human pathologist. The fuzzy ARTMAP model also provides symbolic rule extraction facilities and the validity of the derived rules for this domain is discussed. Additionally, results are provided showing the effects upon network performance of different input features and different observers. The implications of the findings are discussed

Resonances, instabilities, and structure selection of driven Josephson lattice in layered superconductors

We investigate dynamics of Josephson vortex lattice in layered high T$_{c}$ superconductors at high magnetic fields. It is shown that the average electric current depends on the lattice structure and is resonantly enhanced when the Josephson frequency matches the frequency of the plasma mode. We find the stability regions of moving lattice. It is shown that a specific lattice structure at given velocity is uniquely selected by the boundary conditions: at small velocities periodic triangular lattice is stable and looses its stability at some critical velocity. At even higher velocities a structure close to a rectangular lattice is restored.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Controlling domain patterns far from equilibrium

A high degree of control over the structure and dynamics of domain patterns in nonequilibrium systems can be achieved by applying nonuniform external fields near parity breaking front bifurcations. An external field with a linear spatial profile stabilizes a propagating front at a fixed position or induces oscillations with frequency that scales like the square root of the field gradient. Nonmonotonic profiles produce a variety of patterns with controllable wavelengths, domain sizes, and frequencies and phases of oscillations.Comment: Published version, 4 pages, RevTeX. More at http://t7.lanl.gov/People/Aric