Digital Commons Network^™

Fast And Simple High Resolution Optical Spectrum Analyser, Kai-Uwe Lauterback, Thomas Schneider, Ronny Henker, Max Ammann, Andreas Schwarzbacher

Conference papers

A simple method for fast optical spectroscopy with high resolution is shown. The method is based on the narrowband Brillouin gain process in optical fibers.

Vocal Tremor And Vibrato In The Same Person: Acoustic And Electromyographic Differences, Christopher Dromey, Marshall E. Smith

Faculty Publications

Summary. The goal of this case study was to measure and describe differences between vocal vibrato and essential tremor of the voice in one individual who exhibited both types of modulation. Recordings of spoken and sung vowels produced by the same individual at three effort levels were examined via analysis of acoustic and laryngeal electromyographic (LEMG) signals. Modulation rate, periodicity, and spectral measures of both audio and muscle activation signals revealed generally slower, more prominent, and more regular patterns in sung than in spoken conditions. There was not always a clear correspondence between LEMG and acoustic measures, but both showed …

Word Recognition Materials For Native Speakers Of Taiwan Mandarin, Shawn L. Nissen, Richard W. Harris, Alycia Dukes

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To select, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate word recognition materials that can be used to measure the speech perception abilities of native speakers of Taiwan Mandarin in quiet. Method: Frequently used bisyllabic words produced by male and female talkers of Taiwan Mandarin were digitally recorded and subsequently evaluated using 20 native listeners with normal hearing at 10 intensity levels (–5 to 40 dB HL) in increments of 5 dB. Results: Using logistic regression, 200 words with the steepest psychometric slopes were divided into 4 lists and 8 half-lists that were relatively equivalent in psychometric function slope. To increase …

Acoustic Characteristics Of English Lexical Stress Produced By Native Mandarin Speakers, Shawn L. Nissen, Yanhong Zhang, Alexander L. Francis

Faculty Publications

Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese have difficulty producing native-like English stress contrasts. Acoustically, English lexical stress is multidimensional, involving manipulation of fundamental frequency F0, duration, intensity and vowel quality. Errors in any or all of these correlates could interfere with perception of the stress contrast, but it is unknown which correlates are most problematic for Mandarin speakers. This study compares the use of these correlates in the production of lexical stress contrasts by 10 Mandarin and 10 native English speakers. Results showed that Mandarin speakers produced significantly less native-like stress patterns, although they did use all four acoustic correlates to …

Portfolio Diversification Using Subspace Factorizations, Ruairí De Fréin, Konstantinos Drakakis, Scott Rickard

Conference papers

Successful investment management relies on allocating assets so as to beat the stock market. Asset classes are affected by different market dynamics or latent trends. These interactions are crucial to the successful allocation of monies. The seminal work on portfolio management by Markowitz prompts the adroit investment manager to consider the correlation between the assets in his portfolio and to vary his selection so as to optimize his riskreturn profile. The factor model, a popular model for the return generating process has been used for portfolio construction and assumes that there is a low rank representation of the stocks. In …

The Research And Implementation Of Maintenance Excellence On Clean Utility Systems In The Pharmaceutical Indusry, Padraig Liggan

Dissertations

Maintenance Excellence is the implementation of best maintenance practices within industry; it is the balance of performance, risk, and cost to achieve an optimal solution. This thesis has been structured around the 5 main areas of maintenance excellence; it has documented all the important functions of the maintenance department that contributes towards maintenance excellence. Demonstrating maintenance excellence is a big achievement however demonstrating it on pharmaceutical clean utility systems with strict regulatory controls is a major challenge. Pharmaceutical production is one of the most heavily regulated industries. With such an emphasis on product quality in the pharmaceutical industry, and with …

Margin Trading, Overpricing, And Synchronization Risk, Sanjeev Bhojraj, Robert J. Bloomfield, William B. Tayler

Faculty Publications

We provide experimental evidence that relaxing margin restrictions to allow more short selling can exacerbate overpricing, even though it reduces equilibrium price levels. This is because smart-money traders initially profit more by front-running optimistic investor sentiment than by disciplining prices. When short selling is not possible, competitive pressures among arbitrageurs rapidly drive prices to the equilibrium. However, the risk of margin calls slows the convergence process, because arbitrageurs who sell short too early face substantial losses if they are unable to synchronize their trades with other arbitrageurs (as in Abreu and Brunnermeier. 2002. Journal of Financial Economics 66(2–3):341–60; 2003. Econometrica …

Effects Of Friendship In Transactions In An Emerging Market: Empirical Evidence From Brazil, Wesley Mendes-Da-Silva, Thaís Fernanda Salves De Brito, Rubens Famá, Jonathan T. Liljegren

Faculty Publications

This paper considers the inclusion of human behavioral aspects and implications of cognitive psychology and anthropology in decisions relating to the emerging field of behavioral finance. The formulated hypotheses were tested using 400 questionnaires, answered by students enrolled in MBA programs. The principal results suggest that individuals involved in transactions among friends or among strangers assume different behaviors—friends agree about the price attributed to an asset, while strangers show the propensity to bargain.

Classifying Mental Tasks Based On Features Of Higher-Order Statistics From Eeg Signals In Brain–Computer Interface, Shang Ming Zhou, John Q. Gan, Francisco Sepulveda

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Gender Inequality On Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study, Quentin Brummet '08

The Park Place Economist

Many papers investigating this topic have been subject to problems of multicollinearity. This paper seeks to avoid this problem by reformulating gender inequality as a ratio instead of simply examining female and male education as separate factors. The results indicate that, controlling for multicollinearity, high levels of gender inequality have a damping effect on growth. Furthermore, these results are robust to not only changes in included variables but changes in the specification of gender inequality.

Real-Time Signal Processing For Flying Height Measurement And Control In Hard Drives Subject To Shock And Vibration, Amei Li

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Three readback signal detection methods are investigated for real-time flying height or head disk spacing variation measurement under vibration conditions. This is carried out by theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental study. The first method (amplitude detection) provides a simple way to study the head disk spacing change. The second method ( PW50 parameter estimation) can be used effectively for real-time spacing variation measurement in normally operated hard disk drives, primarily in low frequency spacing variation conditions. The third method (thermal signal detection), on the other hand, is more effective and suitable for high frequency spacing variation measurement. By combining …

Digital Watermark Technology In Security Applications, Xin Xu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

With the rising emphasis on security and the number of fraud related crimes around the world, authorities are looking for new technologies to tighten security of identity. Among many modern electronic technologies, digital watermarking has unique advantages to enhance the document authenticity. At the current status of the development, digital watermarking technologies are not as matured as other competing technologies to support identity authentication systems. This work presents improvements in performance of two classes of digital watermarking techniques and investigates the issue of watermark synchronisation. Optimal performance can be obtained if the spreading sequences are designed to be orthogonal to …

Volatility Spillovers Between Equity And Currency Markets: Evidence From Major Latin American Countries, Lucia Morales

Articles

This paper investigates the nature of volatility spillovers between stock returns and a number of exchange rates in six Latin American countries and one European economy in the 1998-2006 period. We divide our sample into sub periods, prior to and after the introduction of the Euro and we apply the EGARCH methodology to model volatility. Our results show that the volatility of stock returns affects the volatility of exchange rates; however, we do not find evidence of volatility transmission in the opposite direction.

In Situ Measurements Of Building Materials Using A Thermal Probe, Brian Pilkington

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This work concerns the in situ measurement of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of building materials, so as to provide improved data for the estimation and prediction of energy efficiency in buildings. Thermal data sources and measurement methods currently used by industry to inform building design were found to give flawed values for the thermal properties of materials as found in situ. A transient measurement technique, carried out by means of a thermal probe, and used in various other industries, was investigated as an alternative, relatively non-destructive, rapid and economic means of obtaining representative results. An analysis of the literature …

Equalisation Techniques For Multi-Level Digital Magnetic Recording, Purav Shah

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

A large amount of research has been put into areas of signal processing, medium design, head and servo-mechanism design and coding for conventional longitudinal as well as perpendicular magnetic recording. This work presents some further investigation in the signal processing and coding aspects of longitudinal and perpendicular digital magnetic recording. The work presented in this thesis is based upon numerical analysis using various simulation methods. The environment used for implementation of simulation models is C/C + + programming. Important results based upon bit error rate calculations have been documented in this thesis. This work presents the new designed Asymmetric Decoder …

Enhancement Of Perceived Quality Of Service For Voice Over Internet Protocol Systems, Zizhi Qiao

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Voice over Internet Protocol (WIP) applications are becoming more and more popular in the telecommunication market. Packet switched V61P systems have many technical advantages over conventional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), including its efficient and flexible use of the bandwidth, lower cost and enhanced security. However, due to the IP network's "Best Effort" nature, voice quality are not naturally guaranteed in the VoIP services. In fact, most current Vol]P services can not provide as good a voice quality as PSTN. IP Network impairments such as packet loss, delay and jitter affect perceived speech quality as do application layer impairment factors, …

Multi-Modal Task Instructions To Robots By Naive Users, Joerg Christian Wolf

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents a theoretical framework for the design of user-programmable robots. The objective of the work is to investigate multi-modal unconstrained natural instructions given to robots in order to design a learning robot. A corpus-centred approach is used to design an agent that can reason, learn and interact with a human in a natural unconstrained way. The corpus-centred design approach is formalised and developed in detail. It requires the developer to record a human during interaction and analyse the recordings to find instruction primitives. These are then implemented into a robot. The focus of this work has been on …

Engineering: An Inherently Philosophical Enterprise, William Grimson

Level 3

This chapter first sets out the arguments for considering engineering from a philosophical point of view with specific reference to the main branches of Philosophy. Additionally within the single branch of Epistemology, the relevance of Empiricism, Rationalism, Existentialism, Logical Positivist, and Post-Modernism to engineering is briefly outlined. The general proposition advanced is that Engineering is itself fundamentally philosophical in nature, attempting in its own way to make sense of the world in which we live.

Activity Systems Within Blended Problem-Based Learning In Academic Professional Development, Roisin Donnelly

Journal Articles

Blending face-to-face and online problem-based learning environments presents opportunities for both learners and lecturers to take part in collaborative knowledge construction. Activity theory is a suitable framework to investigate such environments and the learning processes that both sets of participants experience when engaging in these complementary environments. This paper attempts to map out the potential for activity systems using a blended problem-based learning approach through the exploration of an accredited academic staff development programme in Ireland. Firstly, an analysis of tool use and the discourse that participants and tutors engage in is presented. Secondly, tutor reflections about the evolution of …

Encouraging Student Creativity In Higher Education, Roisin Donnelly, Terry Barrett

Journal Articles

This chapter focuses on how teachers encourage the development of creative states of flow in their students and in themselves. The chapter aims to stimulate educators in higher education to think freshly about creativity and to widen their range of strategies for encouraging student creativity.

Communication Of Medical Information Using Agents, John Mcgrory, Jane Grimson, Frank Clarke, Peter Gaffney

Conference Papers

Agents are self-contained software entities which act faithfully and autonomously on behalf of a body of knowledge. They can operate in a standalone capacity, or as part of a social group collaborating and

coordinating activities with other software agents. To access their knowledge, agents are interfaced with

using message passing communication. The principle behind medical communications is to provide a means

for exchanging information and knowledge from one computerised location to another, whilst preserving its

true meaning and understanding between the listener and sender. Agent communication is similar to medical

communications, but must provide an additional framework element to allow …

Optimisation Of Steamer Jet-Injection To Extend The Shelf Life Of Fresh-Cut Lettuce, Daniel Rico, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Gary Henehan, J. Barat, Jesus Maria Frias

Articles

Optimisation of short time blanching (steaming) was investigated using response surface methodology by analysing quality and microbial and nutritional markers over the shelflife of packaged fresh-cut lettuce. Steamer treatment time (5–10 s) and storage (1–10 days) were used as independent factors in order to optimise the process. Longer treatments (>10 s) were not feasible because of extensive damage caused to lettuce tissue. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher values of luminosity (L*), greenness (−a*) and sensory panel scores (fresh appearance, general acceptability and absence of browning) were obtained with samples treated for longer times with the steamer. Activity of browning-related enzymes present in photosynthetic tissue decreased in all the cases, however, longer treatment time (7.5–10 s) was needed with vascular tissues to reduce to similar activity values. These differences could be explained by the variation in tissue thickness. The longest steam treatment (10 s) reduced and maintained significantly (p < 0.05) lower mesophilic load than shorter treatments (5–8.5 s). However, significant (p < 0.05) decreases in vitamin C and carotenoids were observed in samples treated with longer treatments. Steamer treatment of 10 s could be considered the optimum time for maintaining the shelflife (mainly texture and browning) of fresh-cut lettuce for 7–10 days in optimum conditions.

Use Of Neutral Electrolysed Water (Ew) For Quality Maintenance And Shelf-Life Extension Of Minimally Processed Lettuce, Daniel Rico, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Jesus Maria Frias, Gary Henehan, José Barat

Articles

Experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of different treatments based on the use of neutral electrolysed water (EW) on fresh-cut lettuce. EW was diluted to obtain different free chlorine concentrations (120, 60 and 12 ppm) and compared with standard washing treatment of 120 ppm chlorine solution. Shelf-life quality and safety markers were studied at the beginning and at the end of the 7-day storage at 4 ºC. The use of EW decreased the respiration rate of the samples which might be related with the observed reduction in microbial spoilage. The use of EW also increased the activity of a …

Revenue Maximisation; An Examination Of The Influences Of Heuristics And Biases On The Yield Management Decision Process In Dublin Hotels, Tony Kiely

Conference papers

Yield management in hotels has been described as a method of profitably managing fixed room capacity. A critical element of yield management is the decision strategy employed, as this determines the degree to which optimum financial solutions are generated. Recent research has indicated that the use of technology assisted decision optimising models, specifically the management science model of decision making, would greatly improve decision optimisation, by minimising the need to employ guesswork in achieving financial goals. However, despite this assurance, yield management remains couched in uncertainty through being inextricably associated with forecasting future demand for a perishable product in an …

A Translation Mechanism For Recommendations, Pierpaolo Dondio, Luca Longo, Stephen Barrett

Conference papers

An important class of distributed Trust-based solutions is based on the information sharing. A basic requirement of such systems is the ability of participating agents to effectively communicate, receiving and sending messages that can be interpreted correctly. Unfortunately, in open systems it is not possible to postulate a common agreement about the representation of a rating, its semantic meaning and cognitive and computational mechanisms behind a trust-rating formation. Social scientists agree to consider unqualified trust values not transferable, but a more pragmatic approach would conclude that qualified trust judgments are worth being transferred as far as decisions taken considering others’ …

Building Organisationally Sensitive Technological Solutions For Knowledge Management In It Support Services, David Tonade

Dissertations

With the advent of the internet, information and communications technology has changed the way organisations operate and do business. There now exist an extremely dynamic and competitive business landscape, where information and knowledge are continuously created, used and distributed across business units. People have become more involved with the use of technology to aid them in their business tasks. In the course of generating and transmitting information comes the realization that knowledge is a vital asset of the company. Thus, most firms embark on various initiatives to enable Knowledge Management (KM). This study revolves around the IT tools involved in …

Searching For Chefs, Waiters And Restaurateurs In Edwardian Dublin: A Culinary Historian's Experience Of The 1911 Dublin Census Online, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

No abstract provided.

Composition And Decomposition In Bimanual Dynamic Learning, Ian S. Howard, James N. Ingram, Daniel M. Wolpert

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Development And Validation Of A Movement And Activity In Physical Space (Maps) Score As A Functional Outcome Measure, Stephen Duane Herrmann

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Assessing function is an important outcome measure in establishing evidence based practice. Currently, there are no well-accepted functional measures that encompass both physical activity and environment interaction. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a quantifiable functional measure that incorporates physical activity and environmental factors. Sixteen volunteer participants (age [mean± SD] = 28.9 ± 12.0 years; height= 171.9 ± 8.4 cm; weight= 80.9 ± 16.6 kg} were assigned to two groups; post-surgical knee (n = 8; < 7 days after surgery= 4.1 ± 2.8 days} and control (n = 8). Two physical activity measures, step count (volume} and activity count (intensity}, were obtained using minute-by-minute accelerometry. Participants' locations and travel were recorded using GPS. Participants, under free living conditions, wore the accelerometers and GPS receivers on their waist for three days one week after surgery and 2 months later. The step count and GPS data were combined to produce a MAPSv (volume} score and the activity count and GPS data were combined to produce a MAPSi (intensity} score. The reliability for MAPSv and MAPSi scores over three days was acceptable (ICC[l, 1] = .84 - .89). Validity evidence was demonstrated by a significant correlation with a self-report functional knee scale. MAPSv was correlated with all of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales. MAPSi was correlated with all of the KOOS subscales except pain (r = .484; p = 0.058). There were significant differences between the post-surgical and control groups for both MAPSv (t,9.9 = -3.60; p = .007; post-surgical= 14.16 ± 9.71, control= 57.34 ± 32.48) and MAPSi (t10.B = -3.22; p = .013; post-surgical = 480.58 ± 344.01, control= 2143.30 ± 1419.66) immediately following surgery. The ANOVA results for MAPSv indicated that there was a significant time-group interaction, F (1, 12) = 4.60, p = .05. However, for MAPSi there was not a statistically significant time-group interaction, F (1, 12) = 3.42, p = .09. The results provide known-group difference and convergent validity evidence for the use of MAPSv as a functional outcome measure. It also shows evidence that MAPSv is sensitive to the changes in function over time.

Composition Dependence Of The In-Plane Cu-O Bond-Stretching Lo Phonon Mode In Y⁢Ba2⁢Cu3⁢O6+X, Ferenc Stercel, Takeshi Egami, Herbert A. Mook, Mohana Yethiraj, J-H Chung, M. Arai, C. Frost, Fatih Dogan

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An inelastic pulsed neutron scattering study was performed on the dependence of the dispersion and spectral intensity of the in-plane Cu-O bond-stretching LO phonon mode on doped charge density. The measurements were made in the time-of-flight mode with the multiangle position sensitive spectrometer of the ISIS facility on single crystals of Y⁢Ba₂⁢Cu₃⁢O_6+x (x=0.15, 0.35, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.95). The focus of the study is the in-plane Cu-O bond-stretching LO phonon mode, which is known for strong electron-phonon coupling and unusual dependence on composition and temperature. It is shown that the dispersions for the samples with …