Intimate interfaces in action: assessing the usability and subtlety of emg-based motionless gestures

Mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones and networked personal digital assistants (PDAs), allow users to be constantly connected and communicate anywhere and at any time, often resulting in personal and private communication taking place in public spaces. This private -- public contrast can be problematic. As a remedy, we promote intimate interfaces: interfaces that allow subtle and minimal mobile interaction, without disruption of the surrounding environment. In particular, motionless gestures sensed through the electromyographic (EMG) signal have been proposed as a solution to allow subtle input in a mobile context. In this paper we present an expansion of the work on EMG-based motionless gestures including (1) a novel study of their usability in a mobile context for controlling a realistic, multimodal interface and (2) a formal assessment of how noticeable they are to informed observers. Experimental results confirm that subtle gestures can be profitably used within a multimodal interface and that it is difficult for observers to guess when someone is performing a gesture, confirming the hypothesis of subtlety

Automatic error recovery using P3 response verification for a brain-computer interface

A brain-computer interface (BCI) is an augmentative communication mechanism that does not rely on peripheral nerves or muscles. Current BCIs are error prone and slow with error rates of 10 to 30% and transmission rates of 10-25 bits/min, however, error recovery and correction in BCI has largely been neglected. The focus of this thesis is the development of a method to automatically recover errors in BCI using the P3 brain signal for response verification. The existence of the P3 signal in responses to controlled goal items is shown in an evoked potential BCI used to control items in a virtual apartment. A reduced response exists when items are accidentally controlled. Offline experiments were run, and with a theoretical mean improvement in accuracy from 78% to 85%, there was a statistically significant improvement (P \u3c 0.008, Wilcoxon signed rank test) in accuracy of 3% using a correlation algorithm for P3 signal detection on responses. The presence of the P3 signal in responses to goal items indicates it can be used for automatic error recovery without requiring additional time, which will improve the speed and accuracy of brain-computer interfaces

Consistent Kaluza-Klein truncations and two-dimensional gauged supergravity

We consider generalized Scherk-Schwarz reductions of E$_9$ exceptional field theory to D=2 space-time dimensions and in particular construct the resulting scalar potential of all gauged supergravities that can be obtained in this way. This provides the first general expression for a multitude of theories with an interesting structure of vacua, covering potentially many new AdS$_2$ cases. As an application, we prove the consistency of the truncation of eleven-dimensional supergravity on $S^8\times S^1$ to SO(9) gauged maximal supergravity. Fluctuations around its supersymmetric SO(9)-invariant vacuum describe holographically the dynamics of interacting D0-branes

E 9 exceptional field theory. Part II. The complete dynamics

We construct the first complete exceptional field theory that is based on an infinite-dimensional symmetry group. E$_9$ exceptional field theory provides a unified description of eleven-dimensional and type IIB supergravity covariant under the affine Kac-Moody symmetry of two-dimensional maximal supergravity. We present two equivalent formulations of the dynamics, which both rely on a pseudo-Lagrangian supplemented by a twisted self-duality equation. One formulation involves a minimal set of fields and gauge symmetries, which uniquely determine the entire dynamics. The other formulation extends $\mathfrak{e}_9$ by half of the Virasoro algebra and makes direct contact with the integrable structure of two-dimensional supergravity. Our results apply directly to other affine Kac-Moody groups, such as the Geroch group of general relativity

RAPD Analysis, Plasmid Profiles, Antibiotic Resistance and Occurrence of the Van Genes in Enterococcus Species Isolated from Human And Poultry

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the molecular relatedness of the Enterococcus spp. isolated among poultry and clinical samples. A total of 71 poultry isolates and 29 clinical isolates were examined in this study. The poultry samples obtained from market in Sri Serdang, Selangor and Makmal Kesihatan Awam Veterinar. Petaling Jaya, whereas the clinical samples were from Hospital Universiti. Kuala Lumpur. E. faecalis (41 of 71 , 58%) was the dominant species isolated from poultry samples. Besides that, E. faecium (3 of 71, 4%). E. casseliflavus (4 of 71, 6%), E. durans (18 of 71, 25%) and E. hirae (5 of 71, 7%) were also detected. Twenty-nine isolates from clinical samples were identified as E. faeca/is (19 isolates, 66%), E. faecium (8 isolates, 28%), E. mundtii (1 isolate, 3%) and E. raffinosus (1 isolate, 3%). All isolates were resistant against ceftazidime, erythromycin. kanamycin, nalidixic acid and streptomycin (100%). Clinical isolates also demonstrated high resistance to cephalothin, gentamicin and norf\oxacin (100%). Sixty-four of 71 poultry isolates, and 26 of 29 clinical isolates were resistant to vancomycin and this indicated high prevalence of vancomycin resistant enterococci detected among the isolates. All seventyone isolates from poultry exhibited multiple resistance with Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) indices ranging between 0.53 to 1.0 while for clinical isolates the range were between 0.6 to 0.86. These high MAR index suggests that a\l the isolates originated from high risk sources. According to plasmid profile analysis. 29 plasmid patterns were observed among poultry isolates with the plasmid DNA bands ranging in sizes from 1.1 to 35.8 megadalton. The plasmid analysis among clinical isolates were grouped into 9 plasmid patterns ranging in sizes from 1.85 to 35.8 megadalton. RAPD-PCR has been used to generate polymorphic genomic fingerprints to discriminate the enterococci isolates. Two primers (GEN15008 and GEN15009) were chosen after screening a set of 10 primers. These two primers yield reproducible and typeable results in most isolates examined with the bands ranging in sizes from 0.25 kb to 5.0 kb. From the dendrogram generated to study the interspecific relatedness among the isolates. 2 main clusters were observed and further subdivided into several subclusters defining the genetic heterogeneity among the isolates. The vanA specific (732 bp) fragment was detected in 96 of 100 (96%) of the isolates. 29 (100%) of dinical isolates and 67 of 71 (94%) of poultry isolates were positive for vanA gene. 4 of 71 (6%) of poultry were positive for vanC2IC3 gene (439 bp). Isolates containing the vanS or vanC1 gene were not found

Lazy-CSeq-SP: Boosting Sequentialization-Based Verification of Multi-threaded C Programs via Symbolic Pruning of Redundant Schedules

Abstract. Sequentialization has been shown to be an effective symbolic verification technique for concurrent C programs using POSIX threads. Lazy-CSeq, a tool that applies a lazy sequentialization scheme, has won the Concurrency division of the last two editions of the Competition on Software Verification. The tool encodes all thread schedules up to a given bound into a single non-deterministic sequential C program and then invokes a C model checker. This paper presents a novel optimized imple-mentation of lazy sequentialization, which integrates symbolic pruning of redundant schedules into the encoding. Experimental evaluation shows that our tool outperforms Lazy-CSeq significantly on many benchmarks

Symbolic Partial-Order Execution for Testing Multi-Threaded Programs

We describe a technique for systematic testing of multi-threaded programs. We combine Quasi-Optimal Partial-Order Reduction, a state-of-the-art technique that tackles path explosion due to interleaving non-determinism, with symbolic execution to handle data non-determinism. Our technique iteratively and exhaustively finds all executions of the program. It represents program executions using partial orders and finds the next execution using an underlying unfolding semantics. We avoid the exploration of redundant program traces using cutoff events. We implemented our technique as an extension of KLEE and evaluated it on a set of large multi-threaded C programs. Our experiments found several previously undiscovered bugs and undefined behaviors in memcached and GNU sort, showing that the new method is capable of finding bugs in industrial-size benchmarks.Comment: Extended version of a paper presented at CAV'2

Tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis in a rare case of tuberculosis of the talus

Aim To assess our personal experience of a case of tuberculosis of the talus, and to provide an overview of the literature about this tuberculosis manifestations, including all its aspects: epidemiology, clinical and imaging presentation, and all the treatments available to the current state of knowledge. Methods We present our experience in a case of a 34-year-old patient, who came to our attention with difficulty in walking and pain due to a talar tuberculosis, with consequent bone disruption and reabsorption, and foot deformities. Results A tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis with retrograde nail and bone graft was performed after antibiotic therapy. Today, almost two years after treatment, the patient can walk independently with no major limitations in everyday life. Conclusion Tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis with bone graft showed good functional results in this case study, with complete graft fusion and good functional and radiological outcomes

Using detergent to enhance detection sensitivity of African trypanosomes in human CSF and blood by Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP)

<p><b>Background:</b> The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, with its advantages of simplicity, rapidity and cost effectiveness, has evolved as one of the most sensitive and specific methods for the detection of a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms including African trypanosomes. While many LAMP-based assays are sufficiently sensitive to detect DNA well below the amount present in a single parasite, the detection limit of the assay is restricted by the number of parasites present in the volume of sample assayed; i.e. 1 per µL or 103 per mL. We hypothesized that clinical sensitivities that mimic analytical limits based on parasite DNA could be approached or even obtained by simply adding detergent to the samples prior to LAMP assay.</p> <p><b>Methodology/Principal Findings:</b> For proof of principle we used two different LAMP assays capable of detecting 0.1 fg genomic DNA (0.001 parasite). The assay was tested on dilution series of intact bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood with or without the addition of the detergent Triton X-100 and 60 min incubation at ambient temperature. With human CSF and in the absence of detergent, the LAMP detection limit for live intact parasites using 1 µL of CSF as the source of template was at best 103 parasites/mL. Remarkably, detergent enhanced LAMP assay reaches sensitivity about 100 to 1000-fold lower; i.e. 10 to 1 parasite/mL. Similar detergent-mediated increases in LAMP assay analytical sensitivity were also found using DNA extracted from filter paper cards containing blood pretreated with detergent before card spotting or blood samples spotted on detergent pretreated cards.</p> <p><b>Conclusions/Significance:</b> This simple procedure for the enhanced detection of live African trypanosomes in biological fluids by LAMP paves the way for the adaptation of LAMP for the economical and sensitive diagnosis of other protozoan parasites and microorganisms that cause diseases that plague the developing world.</p&gt