Patterns of behavior in lodgings exposed to traffic noise

Threshold values for public services interferent on the attenuation to noise nuisance were defined. Daily life at home was described and collected on the use of residences, the effects of noise on health and sleep, and the incidence of running away from home. A correlation was made with the equipment and noise insulation of homes. It is shown that there are behavior patterns in the modification of considerable manner in the way of life for people who live in apartments and in individual houses, above 66 dB during daytime

Implicit search trails for video recommendation

In this demo paper we demonstrate our approach and system for using implicit actions involved in video search to provide recommendations to users. The goal of this system is to improve the quality of the results that users find, and in doing so, help users to explore a large and difficult information space and help them consider search options that they may not have considered otherwise. Results of a user evaluation show that this approach achieves all of these goals

Search trails using user feedback to improve video search

In this paper we present an innovative approach for aiding users in the difficult task of video search. We use community based feedback mined from the interactions of previous users of our video search system to aid users in their search tasks. This feedback is the basis for providing recommendations to users of our video retrieval system. The ultimate goal of this system is to improve the quality of the results that users find, and in doing so, help users to explore a large and difficult information space and help them consider search options that they may not have considered otherwise. In particular we wish to make the difficult task of search for video much easier for users. The results of a user evaluation indicate that we achieved our goals, the performance of the users in retrieving relevant videos improved, and users were able to explore the collection to a greater extent

Collaborative search trails for video search

In this paper we present an approach for supporting users in the difficult task of searching for video. We use collaborative feedback mined from the interactions of earlier users of a video search system to help users in their current search tasks. Our objective is to improve the quality of the results that users find, and in doing so also assist users to explore a large and complex information space. It is hoped that this will lead to them considering search options that they may not have considered otherwise. We performed a user centred evaluation. The results of our evaluation indicate that we achieved our goals, the performance of the users in finding relevant video clips was enhanced with our system; users were able to explore the collection of video clips more and users demonstrated a preference for our system that provided recommendations

Mode-locking of incommensurate phase by quantum zero point energy in the Frenkel-Kontorova model

In this paper, it is shown that a configuration modulated system described by the Frenkel-Kontorova model can be locked at an incommensurate phase when the quantum zero point energy is taken into account. It is also found that the specific heat for an incommensurate phase shows different parameter-dependence in sliding phase and pinning phase. These findings provide a possible way for experimentalists to verify the phase transition by breaking of analyticity.Comment: 6 pages in Europhys style, 3 eps figure

Using score differences for search result diversification

We investigate the application of a light-weight approach to result list clustering for the purposes of diversifying search results. We introduce a novel post-retrieval approach, which is independent of external information or even the full-text content of retrieved documents; only the retrieval score of a document is used. Our experiments show that this novel approach is bene cial to e ectiveness, albeit only on certain baseline systems. The fact that the method works indicates that the retrieval score is potentially exploitable in diversity

Renormalization and Quantum Scaling of Frenkel-Kontorova Models

We generalise the classical Transition by Breaking of Analyticity for the class of Frenkel-Kontorova models studied by Aubry and others to non-zero Planck's constant and temperature. This analysis is based on the study of a renormalization operator for the case of irrational mean spacing using Feynman's functional integral approach. We show how existing classical results extend to the quantum regime. In particular we extend MacKay's renormalization approach for the classical statistical mechanics to deduce scaling of low frequency effects and quantum effects. Our approach extends the phenomenon of hierarchical melting studied by Vallet, Schilling and Aubry to the quantum regime.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, submitted to J.Stat.Phy

Ground state wavefunction of the quantum Frenkel-Kontorova model

The wavefunction of an incommensurate ground state for a one-dimensional discrete sine-Gordon model -- the Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model -- at zero temperature is calculated by the quantum Monte Carlo method. It is found that the ground state wavefunction crosses over from an extended state to a localized state when the coupling constant exceeds a certain critical value. So, although the quantum fluctuation has smeared out the breaking of analyticity transition as observed in the classical case, the remnant of this transition is still discernible in the quantum regime.Comment: 5 Europhys pages, 3 EPS figures, accepted for publication in Europhys. Letter

Silica Materials for Medical Applications

The two main applications of silica-based materials in medicine and biotechnology, i.e. for bone-repairing devices and for drug delivery systems, are presented and discussed. The influence of the structure and chemical composition in the final characteristics and properties of every silica-based material is also shown as a function of the both applications presented. The adequate combination of the synthesis techniques, template systems and additives leads to the development of materials that merge the bioactive behavior with the drug carrier ability. These systems could be excellent candidates as materials for the development of devices for tissue engineering

Training a perceptron in a discrete weight space

On-line and batch learning of a perceptron in a discrete weight space, where each weight can take $2 L+1$ different values, are examined analytically and numerically. The learning algorithm is based on the training of the continuous perceptron and prediction following the clipped weights. The learning is described by a new set of order parameters, composed of the overlaps between the teacher and the continuous/clipped students. Different scenarios are examined among them on-line learning with discrete/continuous transfer functions and off-line Hebb learning. The generalization error of the clipped weights decays asymptotically as $exp(-K \alpha^2)$/$exp(-e^{|\lambda| \alpha})$ in the case of on-line learning with binary/continuous activation functions, respectively, where $\alpha$ is the number of examples divided by N, the size of the input vector and $K$ is a positive constant that decays linearly with 1/L. For finite $N$ and $L$, a perfect agreement between the discrete student and the teacher is obtained for $\alpha \propto \sqrt{L \ln(NL)}$. A crossover to the generalization error $\propto 1/\alpha$, characterized continuous weights with binary output, is obtained for synaptic depth $L > O(\sqrt{N})$.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figs., submitted to PR