A high speed Tri-Vision system for automotive applications

Purpose: Cameras are excellent ways of non-invasively monitoring the interior and exterior of vehicles. In particular, high speed stereovision and multivision systems are important for transport applications such as driver eye tracking or collision avoidance. This paper addresses the synchronisation problem which arises when multivision camera systems are used to capture the high speed motion common in such applications. Methods: An experimental, high-speed tri-vision camera system intended for real-time driver eye-blink and saccade measurement was designed, developed, implemented and tested using prototype, ultra-high dynamic range, automotive-grade image sensors specifically developed by E2V (formerly Atmel) Grenoble SA as part of the European FP6 project – sensation (advanced sensor development for attention stress, vigilance and sleep/wakefulness monitoring). Results : The developed system can sustain frame rates of 59.8 Hz at the full stereovision resolution of 1280 × 480 but this can reach 750 Hz when a 10 k pixel Region of Interest (ROI) is used, with a maximum global shutter speed of 1/48000 s and a shutter efficiency of 99.7%. The data can be reliably transmitted uncompressed over standard copper Camera-Link® cables over 5 metres. The synchronisation error between the left and right stereo images is less than 100 ps and this has been verified both electrically and optically. Synchronisation is automatically established at boot-up and maintained during resolution changes. A third camera in the set can be configured independently. The dynamic range of the 10bit sensors exceeds 123 dB with a spectral sensitivity extending well into the infra-red range. Conclusion: The system was subjected to a comprehensive testing protocol, which confirms that the salient requirements for the driver monitoring application are adequately met and in some respects, exceeded. The synchronisation technique presented may also benefit several other automotive stereovision applications including near and far-field obstacle detection and collision avoidance, road condition monitoring and others.Partially funded by the EU FP6 through the IST-507231 SENSATION project.peer-reviewe

Coherent forward stimulated Brillouin scattering of a spatially incoherent laser beam in a plasma and its effect on beam spray

A statistical model for forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (FSBS) is developed for a spatially incoherent, monochromatic, laser beam propagating in a plasma. A threshold for the average power in a speckle is found, well below the self-focusing one, above which the laser beam spatial incoherence can not prevent the coherent growth of FSBS. Three-dimensional simulations confirm its existence and reveal the onset of beam spray above it. From these results, we propose a new figure of merit for the control of the propagation through a plasma of a spatially incoherent laser beam.Comment: submitted to PR

Investigating cluster stability when analyzing transaction logs

© 2016 ACM.Data-driven approaches have become increasingly popular as a means for analyzing transaction logs from web search engines and digital libraries, for example using cluster analysis to identify common patterns of search and navigation behavior. However, steps must be taken to ensure that results are reliable and repeatable. Although clustering patterns of user interaction behavior has been previously explored, one aspect that has received less attention is cluster stability that can be used to aid cluster validation. In this paper we compute stability based on the Jaccard coefficient to investigate the cluster stability when using different subsets of transaction log data from WorldCat.org. Results provide insights into different types of search behaviors and highlight that clusters of varying degrees of stability will result from the clustering process. However, we show that additional investigation beyond the results of cluster stability is required to fully validate the resulting clusters

Fractal Markets Hypothesis and the Global Financial Crisis: Scaling, Investment Horizons and Liquidity

We investigate whether fractal markets hypothesis and its focus on liquidity and invest- ment horizons give reasonable predictions about dynamics of the financial markets during the turbulences such as the Global Financial Crisis of late 2000s. Compared to the mainstream efficient markets hypothesis, fractal markets hypothesis considers financial markets as com- plex systems consisting of many heterogenous agents, which are distinguishable mainly with respect to their investment horizon. In the paper, several novel measures of trading activity at different investment horizons are introduced through scaling of variance of the underlying processes. On the three most liquid US indices - DJI, NASDAQ and S&P500 - we show that predictions of fractal markets hypothesis actually fit the observed behavior quite well.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

The potential of low-intensity and online interventions for depression in low- and middle-income countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are confronted with a serious ‘mental health gap’, indicating an enormous disparity between the number of individuals in need of mental health care and the availability of professionals to provide such care (WHO in 2010). Traditional forms of mental health services (i.e. face-to-face, individualised assessments and interventions) are therefore not feasible. We propose three strategies for addressing this mental health gap: delivery of evidence-based, low-intensity interventions by non-specialists, the use of transdiagnostic treatment protocols, and strategic deployment of technology to facilitate access and uptake. We urge researchers from all over the world to conduct feasibility studies and randomised controlled studies on the effect of low-intensity interventions and technology supported (e.g. online) interventions in LMICs, preferably using an active control condition as comparison, to ensure we disseminate effective treatments in LMICs

E. E. C. economic policy towards the Mediterranean : the special case of Malta

At a meeting of the Association Committee in Luxembourg on April 25th 1972, the Maltese delegation expressed their dissatisfaction with the functioning and results of the EEC/Malta Association Agreement which commenced in April 1971. The delegation stated that although Malta had obtained substantial tariff concessions in the industrial sector, she was 'unable to take advantage of them'. The raison d'etre of the Agreement was to cosolidate and extend the economic and commercial relations, between the EEC and Malta, by the harmonious development of trade. This was made possible under the terms of Article 238 of the Treaty of Rome. 1 It was hoped that the Agreement would result in an extension of Malta's home market for industrial exports which would absorb the existing spare capacity within the industrial sector. It was also seen as a natural extension of European integration, consolidating the political and economic interests involved.peer-reviewe

On the Zipf strategy for short-term investments in WIG20 futures

We apply the Zipf power law to financial time series of WIG20 index daily changes (open-close). Thanks to the mapping of time series signal into the sequence of 2k+1 'spin-like' states, where k=0, 1/2, 1, 3/2, ..., we are able to describe any time series increments, with almost arbitrary accuracy, as the one of such 'spin-like' states. This procedure leads in the simplest non-trivial case (k = 1/2) to the binary data projection. More sophisticated projections are also possible and mentioned in the article. The introduced formalism allows then to use Zipf power law to describe the intrinsic structure of time series. The fast algorithm for this implementation was constructed by us within Matlab^{TM} software. The method, called Zipf strategy, is then applied in the simplest case k = 1/2 to WIG 20 open and close daily data to make short-term predictions for forthcoming index changes. The results of forecast effectiveness are presented with respect to different time window sizes and partition divisions (word lengths in Zipf language). Finally, the various investment strategies improving ROI (return of investment) for WIG20 futures are proposed. We show that the Zipf strategy is the appropriate and very effective tool to make short-term predictions and therefore, to evaluate short-term investments on the basis of historical stock index data. Our findings support also the existence of long memory in financial data, exceeding the known in literature 3 days span limit.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, presented at the 5-th FENS symposium on Physics in Economic and Social Systems, Warsaw 201

Random matrix approach in search for weak signals immersed in background noise

We present new, original and alternative method for searching signals coded in noisy data. The method is based on the properties of random matrix eigenvalue spectra. First, we describe general ideas and support them with results of numerical simulations for basic periodic signals immersed in artificial stochastic noise. Then, the main effort is put to examine the strength of a new method in investigation of data content taken from the real astrophysical NAUTILUS detector, searching for the presence of gravitational waves. Our method discovers some previously unknown problems with data aggregation in this experiment. We provide also the results of new method applied to the entire respond signal from ground based detectors in future experimental activities with reduced background noise level. We indicate good performance of our method what makes it a positive predictor for further applications in many areas.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figure