Subject-to-subject adaptation to reduce calibration time in motor imagery-based brain-computer interface

In order to enhance the usability of a motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (BCI), it is highly desirable to reduce the calibration time. Due to inter-subject variability, typically a new subject has to undergo a 20-30 minutes calibration session to collect sufficient data for training a BCI model based on his/her brain patterns. This paper proposes a new subject-to-subject adaptation algorithm to reliably reduce the calibration time of a new subject to only 3-4 minutes. To reduce the calibration time, unlike several past studies, the proposed algorithm does not require a large pool of historic sessions. In the proposed algorithm, using only a few trials from the new subject, first, the new subject's data is adapted to each available historic session separately. This is done by a linear transformation minimizing the distribution difference between the two groups of EEG data. Thereafter, among the available historic sessions, the one matched the most to the new subject's adapted data is selected as the calibration session. Consequently, the previously trained model based on the selected historic session is entirely used for the classification of the new subject's data after adaptation. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on a publicly available dataset with 9 subjects. For each subject, the calibration session is selected only from the calibration sessions of the eight other subjects. The experimental results showed that our proposed algorithm not only reduced the calibration time by 85%, but also performed on average only 1.7% less accurate than the subject-dependent calibration results

One-Up On L1: Can X-rays Provide Longer Advanced Warning of Solar Wind Flux Enhancements Than Upstream Monitors?

Observations of strong solar wind proton flux correlations with ROSAT X-ray rates along with high spectral resolution Chandra observations of X-rays from the dark Moon show that soft X-ray emission mirrors the behavior of the solar wind. In this paper, based on an analysis of an X-ray event observed by XMM-Newton resulting from charge exchange of high charge state solar wind ions and contemporaneous neutral solar wind data, we argue that X-ray observations may be able to provide reliable advance warning, perhaps by as much as half a day, of dramatic increases in solar wind flux at Earth. Like neutral atom imaging, this provides the capability to monitor the solar wind remotely rather than in-situ.Comment: in press in Adv. Space Research, 7 pages, 6 eps figures, resolution reduced for Astro-ph submission, see http://lena.gsfc.nasa.gov for full versio

Effects of Feedback latency on P300-based Brain-computer Interface

Feedback has been shown to affect performance when using a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) based on sensorimotor rhythms. In contrast, little is known about the influence of feedback on P300-based BCIs. There is still an open question whether feedback affects the regulation of P300 and consequently the operation of P300-based BCIs. In this paper, for the first time, the influence of feedback on the P300-based BCI speller task is systematically assessed. For this purpose, 24 healthy participants performed the classic P300-based BCI speller task, while only half of them received feedback. Importantly, the number of flashes per letter was reduced on a regular basis in order to increase the frequency of providing feedback. Experimental results showed that feedback could significantly improve the P300-based BCI speller performance, if it was provided in short time intervals (e.g. in sequences as short as 4 to 6 flashes per row/column). Moreover, our offline analysis showed that providing feedback remarkably enhanced the relevant ERP patterns and attenuated the irrelevant ERP patterns, such that the discrimination between target and non-target EEG trials increased

Improving memory performance using a wearable BCI

Human ability to encode and memorize information fluctuates from moment to moment. Several studies have reported differences in electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded during memorization of items that were forgotten at a later point of time compared to those that were remembered. Given these observations the question then arises whether or not a wearable BCI system can be designed to identify poorly encoded items. Such a device could be used to provide feedback to the user so as to improve the memory encoding process. This paper reports on an experimental study designed to assess this possibility

Towards More Effective Techniques for Automatic Query Expansion

Techniques for automatic query expansion from top retrieved documents have recently shown promise for improving retrieval effectiveness on large collections but there is still a lack of systematic evaluation and comparative studies. In this paper we focus on term-scoring methods based on the differences between the distribution of terms in (pseudo-)relevant documents and the distribution of terms in all documents, seen as a complement or an alternative to more conventional techniques. We show that when such distributional methods are used to select expansion terms within Rocchio's classical reweighting scheme, the overall performance is not likely to improve. However, we also show that when the same distributional methods are used to both select and weight expansion terms the retrieval effectiveness may considerably improve. We then argue, based on their variation in performance on individual queries, that the set of ranked terms suggested by individual distributional methods can be combined to further improve mean performance, by analogy with ensembling classifiers, and present experimental evidence supporting this view. Taken together, our experiments show that with automatic query expansion it is possible to achieve performance gains as high as 21.34% over non-expanded query (for non-interpolated average precision). We also discuss the effect that the main parameters involved in automatic query expansion, such as query difficulty, number of selected documents, and number of selected terms, have on retrieval effectiveness

Recent Experimental Tests of Special Relativity

We review our recent Michelson-Morley (MM) and Kennedy-Thorndike (KT) experiment, which tests Lorentz invariance in the photon sector, and report first results of our ongoing atomic clock test of Lorentz invariance in the matter sector. The MM-KT experiment compares a cryogenic microwave resonator to a hydrogen maser, and has set the most stringent limit on a number of parameters in alternative theories to special relativity. We also report first results of a test of Lorentz invariance in the SME (Standard Model Extension) matter sector, using Zeeman transitions in a laser cooled Cs atomic fountain clock. We describe the experiment together with the theoretical model and analysis. Recent experimental results are presented and we give a first estimate of components of the $\tilde{c}^p$ parameters of the SME matter sector. A full analysis of systematic effects is still in progress, and will be the subject of a future publication together with our final results. If confirmed, the present limits would correspond to first ever measurements of some $\tilde{c}^p$ components, and improvements by 11 and 14 orders of magnitude on others.Comment: 29 pages. Contribution to Springer Lecture Notes, "Special Relativity - Will it survive the next 100 years ?", Proceedings, Potsdam, 200

Revising the Local Bubble Model due to Solar Wind Charge Exchange X-ray Emission

The hot Local Bubble surrounding the solar neighborhood has been primarily studied through observations of its soft X-ray emission. The measurements were obtained by attributing all of the observed local soft X-rays to the bubble. However, mounting evidence shows that the heliosphere also produces diffuse X-rays. The source is solar wind ions that have received an electron from another atom. The presence of this alternate explanation for locally produced diffuse X-rays calls into question the existence and character of the Local Bubble. This article addresses these questions. It reviews the literature on solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) X-ray production, finding that SWCX accounts for roughly half of the observed local 1/4 keV X-rays found at low latitudes. This article also makes predictions for the heliospheric O VI column density and intensity, finding them to be smaller than the observational error bars. Evidence for the continued belief that the Local Bubble contains hot gas includes the remaining local 1/4 keV intensity, the observed local O VI column density, and the need to fill the local region with some sort of plasma. If the true Local Bubble is half as bright as previously thought, then its electron density and thermal pressure are 1/square-root(2) as great as previously thought, and its energy requirements and emission measure are 1/2 as great as previously thought. These adjustments can be accommodated easily, and, in fact, bring the Local Bubble's pressure more in line with that of the adjacent material. Suggestions for future work are made.Comment: 9 pages, refereed, accepted for publication in the proceedings of the "From the Outer Heliosphere to the Local Bubble: Comparisons of New Observations with Theory" conference and in Space Science Review

Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider

This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)