Interacting Multiple Model-Feedback Particle Filter for Stochastic Hybrid Systems

In this paper, a novel feedback control-based particle filter algorithm for the continuous-time stochastic hybrid system estimation problem is presented. This particle filter is referred to as the interacting multiple model-feedback particle filter (IMM-FPF), and is based on the recently developed feedback particle filter. The IMM-FPF is comprised of a series of parallel FPFs, one for each discrete mode, and an exact filter recursion for the mode association probability. The proposed IMM-FPF represents a generalization of the Kalmanfilter based IMM algorithm to the general nonlinear filtering problem. The remarkable conclusion of this paper is that the IMM-FPF algorithm retains the innovation error-based feedback structure even for the nonlinear problem. The interaction/merging process is also handled via a control-based approach. The theoretical results are illustrated with the aid of a numerical example problem for a maneuvering target tracking application

Bisimulation Relations Between Automata, Stochastic Differential Equations and Petri Nets

Two formal stochastic models are said to be bisimilar if their solutions as a stochastic process are probabilistically equivalent. Bisimilarity between two stochastic model formalisms means that the strengths of one stochastic model formalism can be used by the other stochastic model formalism. The aim of this paper is to explain bisimilarity relations between stochastic hybrid automata, stochastic differential equations on hybrid space and stochastic hybrid Petri nets. These bisimilarity relations make it possible to combine the formal verification power of automata with the analysis power of stochastic differential equations and the compositional specification power of Petri nets. The relations and their combined strengths are illustrated for an air traffic example.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, Workshop on Formal Methods for Aerospace (FMA), EPTCS 20m 201

Human Performance Modelling for Accident Risk Assessment of Active Runway Crossing Operation

A human performance modelling approach is presented for risk assessment of operations with multiple, dynamically interacting agents. The approach is illustrated for a risk model of runway incursion on an active departure runway. This model-based approach can provide detailed, systematically derived results on risk contributions of human operators and technical systems in complex multi-agent environments

Perceiving emotions in visual stimuli: social verbal context facilitates emotion detection of words but not of faces

Building on the notion that processing of emotional stimuli is sensitive to context, in two experimental tasks we explored whether the detection of emotion in emotional words (task 1) and facial expressions (task 2) is facilitated by social verbal context. Three different levels of contextual supporting information were compared, namely (1) no information, (2) the verbal expression of an emotionally matched word pronounced with a neutral intonation, and (3) the verbal expression of an emotionally matched word pronounced with emotionally matched intonation. We found that increasing levels of supporting contextual information enhanced emotion detection for words, but not for facial expressions. We also measured activity of the corrugator and zygomaticus muscle to assess facial simulation, as processing of emotional stimuli can be facilitated by facial simulation. While facial simulation emerged for facial expressions, the level of contextual supporting information did not qualify this effect. All in all, our findings suggest that adding emotional-relevant voice elements positively influence emotion detection.· · · ·info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Non-allergic non-infectious perennial rhinitis. Pathogenesis and treatment

Rhinitis is a very common disorder. Most people suffer from an infectious rhinitis at least once a year. The symptoms usually disappear within a week. The patients with chronic rhinitis pose a much greater problem. At least 10 % of the general population are affected by a chronic allergic or non-allergic non-infectious rhiilltis (l). The impact of the nasal complaints such as in rhinitis is often underestimated. Bousquet and Juniper demonstrated that the impact of the disease on the quality of life is greater in rhinitis than in asthma patients (2-4). There is no generally accepted system for the definition, classification and terminology of rhinitis (5). A distinction can be made between rhinitis of known and unknown etiology. Known causes for rhinitis can be subdivided in mechanical Jactors (e.g. septal deviation, foreign body,), injections (viral, bacterial, fungal), miscellaneous causes (e.g. rhinitis medicarnentosa, pregnancy, cystic fibrosis) and allergy. Syndromes of unknown etiology include non-allergic non-infectious perennial rhinitis (NANIPER), nasal polyposis and nonallergic rhinitis with eosinophilia (NARES). The subject of this thesis is the pathogenesis and treatment of NANIPER. As this teml suggests the disorder is diagnosed through the exclusion of the known causes for rhinitis. Available studies are often difficult to compare. Different authors use different methods to exclude "the known causes". The patients are sometimes presented in a study as NANIPER patients without further specification. The way in which an allergic pathogenesis is excluded varies from skin prick tests, senllu testing for specific IgE, total IgE, nasal provocation tests or a combination of these methods. To exclude infection some authors rely on the history (chronicity of the illness, lack of purulent secretions and or the classic symptoms of acute rhinosinusitis), some rely on laboratory parameters (sedimentation rate, white blood cell count, nasal smears), others use negative radiological findings (noffilal sinus X-ray or CATscan), all with or without the use of a nasal symptom score

Facial emotion detection in Vestibular Schwannoma patients with and without facial paresis

This study investigates whether there exist differences in facial emotion detection accuracy in patients suffering from Vestibular Schwannoma (VS) due to their facial paresis. Forty-four VS patients, half of them with, and half of them without a facial paresis, had to classify pictures of facial expressions as being emotional or non-emotional. The visual information of images was systematically manipulated by adding different levels of visual noise. The study had a mixed design with emotional expression (happy vs. angry) and visual noise level (10% to 80%) as repeated measures and facial paresis (present vs. absent) and degree of facial dysfunction as between subjects' factors. Emotion detection accuracy declined when visual information declined, an effect that was stronger for anger than for happy expressions. Overall, emotion detection accuracy for happy and angry faces did not differ between VS patients with or without a facial paresis, although exploratory analyses suggest that the ability to recognize emotions in angry facial expressions was slightly more impaired in patients with facial paresis. The findings are discussed in the context of the effects of facial paresis on emotion detection, and the role of facial mimicry, in particular, as an important mechanism for facial emotion processing and understanding.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio