Multi-Objective Optimal Experimental Designs for ER-fMRI Using MATLAB

Designs for event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (ER-fMRI) that help to efficiently achieve the statistical goals while taking into account the psychological constraints and customized requirements are in great demand. This is not only because of the popularity of ER-fMRI but also because of the high cost of ER-fMRI experiments; being able to collect highly informative data is crucial. In this paper, we develop a MATLAB program which can accommodate many user-specified experimental conditions to efficiently find ER-fMRI optimal designs.

A Real-Time Mobile Vehicle License Plate Detection and Recognition

100學年度研究獎補助論文[[abstract]]In this paper we present a instant and real-time mobile vehicle license plate recognition system in an open environment. Using a nonfixed video camera installed in the car, the system tries to capture the image of the car in front and to process instant vehicle license plate detection and recognition. We utilize the color characteristics of the barking lights to carry out license plate detection. We first detect the location of the two barking lights in the captured image. Then set license plate detection region using the probability distribution of the license plate between the two lights. This method can eliminate any environmental interference during the license plate detection and improve the rate of accuracy of license plate detection and recognition. Moreover, we use the morphology method Black Top-Hat to enhance the level of separation of the license plate characters. Experiments show that the system can effectively and quickly capture the vehicle image, detect and recognize the license plate whether it is in daytime, nighttime, clear day, raining day or under complicated environment.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]紙

Social and educational inclusion in Taiwan in relation to elementary Schooling with reference to the UK, particularly Scotland

Inclusive education, a relatively new education system, provides an environment for both non-disabled and disabled children to interact and to understand each other. The purpose of this study was to investigate relevant key stakeholders’ voices and opinions by means of interviews, observations, focus groups and parental surveys. It started from providing a general background of Taiwan’s history and education to the investigating of current implementation of social policies and primary inclusive education in Taiwan. In conducting the study, an investigation into inclusive education in Taiwan was undertaken, specifically the implementation of inclusive education in primary schools in Tainan region. This study obtained a great deal of information from a wide range of stakeholders: perspectives on inclusive policies were obtained by means of interviews. Non-disabled and disabled children’s daily school life and interactions among other children and teachers were recorded via observations and focus groups whilst data gathered through parental questionnaires provided parents’ opinions, reactions and responses. Starting from the pursuit of human rights in Western societies, the focus then shifted to the context of Taiwanese society. More and more attention on the issue of human rights and disadvantaged groups’ rights are paid and in general, the notion of all human beings are equal is rooted and sprouted in Taiwanese culture. The results showed that, in general, professionals believed that inclusive education was basically positive for both non-disabled and disabled children. Inclusive settings provide an environment for both non-disabled and disabled children to share their experiences so that when children grow up, they would have positive attitudes towards each other. However, some professionals were concerned about the consequences of locating disabled pupils, especially pupils with behavioural disorders, in mainstream schools. In most cases, pupils with physical impairments are more easily accepted than those with behavioural disorder ones. It is still not easy to break the barriers, such as people’s inherent notions towards disadvantaged groups, the reality that some behavioural disorder pupils are aggressive and teachers’ time might be spent more on special need pupils, in such a complicated social system. With regard to learning in inclusive settings; both non-disabled and disabled pupils, in general, felt comfortable or did not feel too much difference in the inclusive classroom. The study highlighted that, in most inclusive classrooms, both non-disabled and disabled pupils could be accepted by each other; and in some cases, non-disabled and disabled pupils liked to be located in the inclusive classroom. Parents, however, had more diverse opinions than in any other stakeholders. Inclusive education, though less than half of total respondents had heard before, was deemed basically good to both non-disabled and disabled pupils and in general, it will become future mainstream. Still, some parents, especially those whose children had been located in an inclusive classroom and had bad experiences, were strongly anti-inclusion. Their primary concern was to protect their own children. Quality of education was also their concern because some parents deeply believed that teachers’ time and attention are sometimes drawn to pupils with special educational needs. In conclusion, key stakeholders viewed inclusive education as a means of providing an environment for both non-disabled and disabled pupils to study and to share their experiences. There may however, be a need to re-think the real role of inclusive classroom because many people merely think of locating both non-disabled and disabled pupils in the same environment as inclusion instead of thinking the moral issue or equality for all when they hear about the term inclusion. This study investigated what key stakeholders’ opinions and responses were when discussing about inclusion. This study also concluded by suggesting and offering some of the main issues needing further consideration: issues related to the resources, shifting people’s impression towards disadvantaged groups and the paramount aim of inclusion. All of which are considered to be important for future implementation of inclusive education. The study concludes by a reflection on the findings in a broader context of Chinese thinking and addresses current Taiwanese education system with reference to Taiwanese culture

Some edaphic factors related to the distribution of flora (including soil fungi) along the bank of the hiver wear at Shincliffe, county Durham

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A study of self-similar traffic generation for ATM networks

This thesis discusses the efficient and accurate generation of self-similar traffic for ATM networks. ATM networks have been developed to carry multiple service categories. Since the traffic on a number of existing networks is bursty, much research focuses on how to capture the characteristics of traffic to reduce the impact of burstiness. Conventional traffic models do not represent the characteristics of burstiness well, but self-similar traffic models provide a closer approximation. Self-similar traffic models have two fundamental properties, long-range dependence and infinite variance, which have been found in a large number of measurements of real traffic. Therefore, generation of self-similar traffic is vital for the accurate simulation of ATM networks. The main starting point for self-similar traffic generation is the production of fractional Brownian motion (FBM) or fractional Gaussian noise (FGN). In this thesis six algorithms are brought together so that their efficiency and accuracy can be assessed. It is shown that the discrete FGN (dPGN) algorithm and the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot (WM) function are the best in terms of accuracy while the random midpoint displacement (RMD) algorithm, successive random addition (SRA) algorithm, and the WM function are superior in terms of efficiency. Three hybrid approaches are suggested to overcome the inefficiency or inaccuracy of the six algorithms. The combination of the dFGN and RMD algorithm was found to be the best in that it can generate accurate samples efficiently and on-the-fly. After generating FBM sample traces, a further transformation needs to be conducted with either the marginal distribution model or the storage model to produce self-similar traffic. The storage model is a better transformation because it provides a more rigorous mathematical derivation and interpretation of physical meaning. The suitability of using selected Hurst estimators, the rescaled adjusted range (R/S) statistic, the variance-time (VT) plot, and Whittle's approximate maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), is also covered. Whittle's MLE is the better estimator, the R/S statistic can only be used as a reference, and the VT plot might misrepresent the actual Hurst value. An improved method for the generation of self-similar traces and their conversion to traffic has been proposed. This, combined with the identification of reliable methods for the estimators of the Hurst parameter, significantly advances the use of self-similar traffic models in ATM network simulation

Fiscal Decentralization and Public Sector Employment: A Cross-Country Analysis

This dissertation seeks to investigate the relationship between public sector employment and fiscal decentralization. We develop a theoretical model that helps us understand the interaction of the central executive\u27s and subnational governor\u27s decisions on the level of public employees at the central and subnational levels. Our empirical work shows that fiscal decentralization policy shifts central government employees to the subnational government level and that the increase in public employees at the subnational government level overwhelms the decrease in public employees at the central level. As a result, the level of total public sector employees increases with the degree of fiscal decentralization of a country. We also find that the levels of total public sector employees as a percentage of population are higher in unitary country systems than those in federal countries. The level of public employment also increases with the degree of urbanization and with the exposure to risk of a country. This is a somewhat surprising result. Typically, more public employment is associated with an excessive number of public sector employees, and, therefore, with unproductive spending. On the other hand, fiscal decentralization policy has been generally thought to result in an increase in allocative efficiency, since a decision on public expenditures made by a level of government that is closer and more responsive to a local constituency is more likely to reflect the demand for local services than a decision made by a remote central government. In addition, decentralization has been thought of as having the potential of improving competition among governments and of facilitating technical innovations. Therefore, one might expect that fiscal decentralization should help to retrench the public sector employment. However, from our empirical result, we find that subnational governors without taking full responsibility for subnational public finance tend to bloat the levels of subnational government employees and ask the central government to pay the bill. As a result, the level of total public sector employees increases with fiscal decentralization policy. These findings are much in line with Oates\u27 and Wallis\u27 anticipated results, but they are based on different explanations. Employing the two most commonly used spatial dependency tests, Moran\u27s I and Getis and Ord\u27s G statistics, we also find evidence of spatial dependency in terms of the level of public sector employees as a percentage of population among the countries in our dataset. This finding suggests that while using a country\u27s own domestic variables to explain the level of public sector employment, we should not ignore that the neighboring countries\u27 policies also play an important role in determining it