WorldWideScience

Sample records for single word decoding

  1. Word Decoding Development during Phonics Instruction in Children at Risk for Dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaars, Moniek M H; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2017-05-01

    In the present study, we examined the early word decoding development of 73 children at genetic risk of dyslexia and 73 matched controls. We conducted monthly curriculum-embedded word decoding measures during the first 5 months of phonics-based reading instruction followed by standardized word decoding measures halfway and by the end of first grade. In kindergarten, vocabulary, phonological awareness, lexical retrieval, and verbal and visual short-term memory were assessed. The results showed that the children at risk were less skilled in phonemic awareness in kindergarten. During the first 5 months of reading instruction, children at risk were less efficient in word decoding and the discrepancy increased over the months. In subsequent months, the discrepancy prevailed for simple words but increased for more complex words. Phonemic awareness and lexical retrieval predicted the reading development in children at risk and controls to the same extent. It is concluded that children at risk are behind their typical peers in word decoding development starting from the very beginning. Furthermore, it is concluded that the disadvantage increased during phonics instruction and that the same predictors underlie the development of word decoding in the two groups of children. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  2. Word Processing in Dyslexics: An Automatic Decoding Deficit?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yap, Regina; Van Der Leu, Aryan

    1993-01-01

    Compares dyslexic children with normal readers on measures of phonological decoding and automatic word processing. Finds that dyslexics have a deficit in automatic phonological decoding skills. Discusses results within the framework of the phonological deficit and the automatization deficit hypotheses. (RS)

  3. Role of Gender and Linguistic Diversity in Word Decoding Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhoeven, Ludo; van Leeuwe, Jan

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of gender and linguistic diversity in the growth of Dutch word decoding skills throughout elementary school for a representative sample of children living in the Netherlands. Following a longitudinal design, the children's decoding abilities for (1) regular CVC words, (2) complex…

  4. IQ Predicts Word Decoding Skills in Populations with Intellectual Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy, Yonata

    2011-01-01

    This is a study of word decoding in adolescents with Down syndrome and in adolescents with Intellectual Deficits of unknown etiology. It was designed as a replication of studies of word decoding in English speaking and in Hebrew speaking adolescents with Williams syndrome ([0230] and [0235]). Participants' IQ was matched to IQ in the groups with…

  5. Word-Decoding Skill Interacts with Working Memory Capacity to Influence Inference Generation during Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Stephen; Freed, Erin; Long, Debra L.

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine predictions derived from a proposal about the relation between word-decoding skill and working memory capacity, called verbal efficiency theory. The theory states that poor word representations and slow decoding processes consume resources in working memory that would otherwise be used to execute high-level…

  6. Euclidean Geometry Codes, minimum weight words and decodable error-patterns using bit-flipping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høholdt, Tom; Justesen, Jørn; Jonsson, Bergtor

    2005-01-01

    We determine the number of minimum wigth words in a class of Euclidean Geometry codes and link the performance of the bit-flipping decoding algorithm to the geometry of the error patterns.......We determine the number of minimum wigth words in a class of Euclidean Geometry codes and link the performance of the bit-flipping decoding algorithm to the geometry of the error patterns....

  7. The attentional blink is related to phonemic decoding, but not sight-word recognition, in typically reading adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyson-Parry, Maree M; Sailah, Jessica; Boyes, Mark E; Badcock, Nicholas A

    2015-10-01

    This research investigated the relationship between the attentional blink (AB) and reading in typical adults. The AB is a deficit in the processing of the second of two rapidly presented targets when it occurs in close temporal proximity to the first target. Specifically, this experiment examined whether the AB was related to both phonological and sight-word reading abilities, and whether the relationship was mediated by accuracy on a single-target rapid serial visual processing task (single-target accuracy). Undergraduate university students completed a battery of tests measuring reading ability, non-verbal intelligence, and rapid automatised naming, in addition to rapid serial visual presentation tasks in which they were required to identify either two (AB task) or one (single target task) target/s (outlined shapes: circle, square, diamond, cross, and triangle) in a stream of random-dot distractors. The duration of the AB was related to phonological reading (n=41, β=-0.43): participants who exhibited longer ABs had poorer phonemic decoding skills. The AB was not related to sight-word reading. Single-target accuracy did not mediate the relationship between the AB and reading, but was significantly related to AB depth (non-linear fit, R(2)=.50): depth reflects the maximal cost in T2 reporting accuracy in the AB. The differential relationship between the AB and phonological versus sight-word reading implicates common resources used for phonemic decoding and target consolidation, which may be involved in cognitive control. The relationship between single-target accuracy and the AB is discussed in terms of cognitive preparation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. The Effects of Word Box Instruction on Acquisition, Generalization, and Maintenance of Decoding and Spelling Skills for First Graders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alber-Morgan, Sheila R.; Joseph, Laurice M.; Kanotz, Brittany; Rouse, Christina A.; Sawyer, Mary R.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the effects of implementing word boxes as a supplemental instruction method on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of word identification and spelling. Word box intervention consists of using manipulatives to learn phonological decoding skills. The participants were three African-American urban first graders…

  9. Bounded-Angle Iterative Decoding of LDPC Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolinar, Samuel; Andrews, Kenneth; Pollara, Fabrizio; Divsalar, Dariush

    2009-01-01

    Bounded-angle iterative decoding is a modified version of conventional iterative decoding, conceived as a means of reducing undetected-error rates for short low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. For a given code, bounded-angle iterative decoding can be implemented by means of a simple modification of the decoder algorithm, without redesigning the code. Bounded-angle iterative decoding is based on a representation of received words and code words as vectors in an n-dimensional Euclidean space (where n is an integer).

  10. Iterative List Decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justesen, Jørn; Høholdt, Tom; Hjaltason, Johan

    2005-01-01

    We analyze the relation between iterative decoding and the extended parity check matrix. By considering a modified version of bit flipping, which produces a list of decoded words, we derive several relations between decodable error patterns and the parameters of the code. By developing a tree...... of codewords at minimal distance from the received vector, we also obtain new information about the code....

  11. The effects of video self-modeling on the decoding skills of children at risk for reading disabilities

    OpenAIRE

    Ayala, SM; O'Connor, R

    2013-01-01

    Ten first grade students who had responded poorly to a Tier 2 reading intervention in a response to intervention (RTI) model received an intervention of video self-modeling to improve decoding skills and sight word recognition. Students were video recorded blending and segmenting decodable words and reading sight words. Videos were edited and viewed a minimum of four times per week. Data were collected twice per week using curriculum-based measures. A single subject multiple baseline across p...

  12. Importance of speech production for phonological awareness and word decoding: the case of children with cerebral palsy.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peeters, M.; Verhoeven, L.; Moor, J.M.H. de; Balkom, H. van

    2009-01-01

    The goal of this longitudinal study was to investigate the precursors of early reading development in 52 children with cerebral palsy at kindergarten level in comparison to 65 children without disabilities. Word Decoding was measured to investigate early reading skills, while Phonological Awareness,

  13. Trellises and Trellis-Based Decoding Algorithms for Linear Block Codes. Part 3; The Map and Related Decoding Algirithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Shu; Fossorier, Marc

    1998-01-01

    In a coded communication system with equiprobable signaling, MLD minimizes the word error probability and delivers the most likely codeword associated with the corresponding received sequence. This decoding has two drawbacks. First, minimization of the word error probability is not equivalent to minimization of the bit error probability. Therefore, MLD becomes suboptimum with respect to the bit error probability. Second, MLD delivers a hard-decision estimate of the received sequence, so that information is lost between the input and output of the ML decoder. This information is important in coded schemes where the decoded sequence is further processed, such as concatenated coding schemes, multi-stage and iterative decoding schemes. In this chapter, we first present a decoding algorithm which both minimizes bit error probability, and provides the corresponding soft information at the output of the decoder. This algorithm is referred to as the MAP (maximum aposteriori probability) decoding algorithm.

  14. Importance of Speech Production for Phonological Awareness and Word Decoding: The Case of Children with Cerebral Palsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peeters, Marieke; Verhoeven, Ludo; de Moor, Jan; van Balkom, Hans

    2009-01-01

    The goal of this longitudinal study was to investigate the precursors of early reading development in 52 children with cerebral palsy at kindergarten level in comparison to 65 children without disabilities. Word Decoding was measured to investigate early reading skills, while Phonological Awareness, Phonological Short-term Memory (STM), Speech…

  15. The effect of fine and grapho-motor skill demands on preschoolers' decoding skill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suggate, Sebastian; Pufke, Eva; Stoeger, Heidrun

    2016-01-01

    Previous correlational research has found indications that fine motor skills (FMS) link to early reading development, but the work has not demonstrated causality. We manipulated 51 preschoolers' FMS while children learned to decode letters and nonsense words in a within-participants, randomized, and counterbalanced single-factor design with pre- and posttesting. In two conditions, children wrote with a pencil that had a conical shape fitted to the end filled with either steel (impaired writing condition) or polystyrene (normal writing condition). In a third control condition, children simply pointed at the letters with the light pencil as they learned to read the words (pointing condition). Results indicate that children learned the most decoding skills in the normal writing condition, followed by the pointing and impaired writing conditions. In addition, working memory, phonemic awareness, and grapho-motor skills were generally predictors of decoding skill development. The findings provide experimental evidence that having lower FMS is disadvantageous for reading development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Forced Sequence Sequential Decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Ole Riis; Paaske, Erik

    1998-01-01

    We describe a new concatenated decoding scheme based on iterations between an inner sequentially decoded convolutional code of rate R=1/4 and memory M=23, and block interleaved outer Reed-Solomon (RS) codes with nonuniform profile. With this scheme decoding with good performance is possible as low...... as Eb/N0=0.6 dB, which is about 1.25 dB below the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that marks the cutoff rate for the full system. Accounting for about 0.45 dB due to the outer codes, sequential decoding takes place at about 1.7 dB below the SNR cutoff rate for the convolutional code. This is possible since...... the iteration process provides the sequential decoders with side information that allows a smaller average load and minimizes the probability of computational overflow. Analytical results for the probability that the first RS word is decoded after C computations are presented. These results are supported...

  17. Forced Sequence Sequential Decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Ole Riis

    In this thesis we describe a new concatenated decoding scheme based on iterations between an inner sequentially decoded convolutional code of rate R=1/4 and memory M=23, and block interleaved outer Reed-Solomon codes with non-uniform profile. With this scheme decoding with good performance...... is possible as low as Eb/No=0.6 dB, which is about 1.7 dB below the signal-to-noise ratio that marks the cut-off rate for the convolutional code. This is possible since the iteration process provides the sequential decoders with side information that allows a smaller average load and minimizes the probability...... of computational overflow. Analytical results for the probability that the first Reed-Solomon word is decoded after C computations are presented. This is supported by simulation results that are also extended to other parameters....

  18. The Effects of Video Self-Modeling on the Decoding Skills of Children At Risk for Reading Disabilities

    OpenAIRE

    Ayala, Sandra M

    2010-01-01

    Ten first grade students, participating in a Tier II response to intervention (RTI) reading program received an intervention of video self modeling to improve decoding skills and sight word recognition. The students were video recorded blending and segmenting decodable words, and reading sight words taken directly from their curriculum instruction. Individual videos were recorded and edited to show students successfully and accurately decoding words and practicing sight word recognition. Each...

  19. Fast decoding techniques for extended single-and-double-error-correcting Reed Solomon codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costello, D. J., Jr.; Deng, H.; Lin, S.

    1984-01-01

    A problem in designing semiconductor memories is to provide some measure of error control without requiring excessive coding overhead or decoding time. For example, some 256K-bit dynamic random access memories are organized as 32K x 8 bit-bytes. Byte-oriented codes such as Reed Solomon (RS) codes provide efficient low overhead error control for such memories. However, the standard iterative algorithm for decoding RS codes is too slow for these applications. Some special high speed decoding techniques for extended single and double error correcting RS codes. These techniques are designed to find the error locations and the error values directly from the syndrome without having to form the error locator polynomial and solve for its roots.

  20. Decoding speech perception by native and non-native speakers using single-trial electrophysiological data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Brandmeyer

    Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs are systems that use real-time analysis of neuroimaging data to determine the mental state of their user for purposes such as providing neurofeedback. Here, we investigate the feasibility of a BCI based on speech perception. Multivariate pattern classification methods were applied to single-trial EEG data collected during speech perception by native and non-native speakers. Two principal questions were asked: 1 Can differences in the perceived categories of pairs of phonemes be decoded at the single-trial level? 2 Can these same categorical differences be decoded across participants, within or between native-language groups? Results indicated that classification performance progressively increased with respect to the categorical status (within, boundary or across of the stimulus contrast, and was also influenced by the native language of individual participants. Classifier performance showed strong relationships with traditional event-related potential measures and behavioral responses. The results of the cross-participant analysis indicated an overall increase in average classifier performance when trained on data from all participants (native and non-native. A second cross-participant classifier trained only on data from native speakers led to an overall improvement in performance for native speakers, but a reduction in performance for non-native speakers. We also found that the native language of a given participant could be decoded on the basis of EEG data with accuracy above 80%. These results indicate that electrophysiological responses underlying speech perception can be decoded at the single-trial level, and that decoding performance systematically reflects graded changes in the responses related to the phonological status of the stimuli. This approach could be used in extensions of the BCI paradigm to support perceptual learning during second language acquisition.

  1. LDPC Decoding on GPU for Mobile Device

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yiqin Lu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A flexible software LDPC decoder that exploits data parallelism for simultaneous multicode words decoding on the mobile device is proposed in this paper, supported by multithreading on OpenCL based graphics processing units. By dividing the check matrix into several parts to make full use of both the local memory and private memory on GPU and properly modify the code capacity each time, our implementation on a mobile phone shows throughputs above 100 Mbps and delay is less than 1.6 millisecond in decoding, which make high-speed communication like video calling possible. To realize efficient software LDPC decoding on the mobile device, the LDPC decoding feature on communication baseband chip should be replaced to save the cost and make it easier to upgrade decoder to be compatible with a variety of channel access schemes.

  2. A Few Words about Words | Poster

    Science.gov (United States)

    By Ken Michaels, Guest Writer In Shakepeare’s play “Hamlet,” Polonius inquires of the prince, “What do you read, my lord?” Not at all pleased with what he’s reading, Hamlet replies, “Words, words, words.”1 I have previously described the communication model in which a sender encodes a message and then sends it via some channel (or medium) to a receiver, who decodes the message

  3. Elegant grapheme-phoneme correspondence: a periodic chart and singularity generalization unify decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gates, Louis

    2017-12-11

    The accompanying article introduces highly transparent grapheme-phoneme relationships embodied within a Periodic table of decoding cells, which arguably presents the quintessential transparent decoding elements. The study then folds these cells into one highly transparent but simply stated singularity generalization-this generalization unifies the decoding cells (97% transparency). Deeper, the periodic table and singularity generalization together highlight the connectivity of the periodic cells. Moreover, these interrelated cells, coupled with the singularity generalization, clarify teaching targets and enable efficient learning of the letter-sound code. This singularity generalization, in turn, serves as a model for creating unified but easily stated subordinate generalizations for any one of the transparent cells or groups of cells shown within the tables. The article then expands the periodic cells into two tables of teacher-ready sample word lists-one table includes sample words for the basic and phonogram vowel cells, and the other table embraces word samples for the transparent consonant cells. The paper concludes with suggestions for teaching the cellular transparency embedded within reoccurring isolated words and running text to promote decoding automaticity of the periodic cells.

  4. Decoding sequence learning from single-trial intracranial EEG in humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marzia De Lucia

    Full Text Available We propose and validate a multivariate classification algorithm for characterizing changes in human intracranial electroencephalographic data (iEEG after learning motor sequences. The algorithm is based on a Hidden Markov Model (HMM that captures spatio-temporal properties of the iEEG at the level of single trials. Continuous intracranial iEEG was acquired during two sessions (one before and one after a night of sleep in two patients with depth electrodes implanted in several brain areas. They performed a visuomotor sequence (serial reaction time task, SRTT using the fingers of their non-dominant hand. Our results show that the decoding algorithm correctly classified single iEEG trials from the trained sequence as belonging to either the initial training phase (day 1, before sleep or a later consolidated phase (day 2, after sleep, whereas it failed to do so for trials belonging to a control condition (pseudo-random sequence. Accurate single-trial classification was achieved by taking advantage of the distributed pattern of neural activity. However, across all the contacts the hippocampus contributed most significantly to the classification accuracy for both patients, and one fronto-striatal contact for one patient. Together, these human intracranial findings demonstrate that a multivariate decoding approach can detect learning-related changes at the level of single-trial iEEG. Because it allows an unbiased identification of brain sites contributing to a behavioral effect (or experimental condition at the level of single subject, this approach could be usefully applied to assess the neural correlates of other complex cognitive functions in patients implanted with multiple electrodes.

  5. Decoding Dyslexia, a Common Learning Disability

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... if they continue to struggle. Read More "Dyslexic" Articles In Their Own Words: Dealing with Dyslexia / Decoding Dyslexia, a Common Learning Disability / What is Dyslexia? / Special Education and Research ...

  6. The role of short-term memory impairment in nonword repetition, real word repetition, and nonword decoding: A case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, Beate

    2018-01-01

    In a companion study, adults with dyslexia and adults with a probable history of childhood apraxia of speech showed evidence of difficulty with processing sequential information during nonword repetition, multisyllabic real word repetition and nonword decoding. Results suggested that some errors arose in visual encoding during nonword reading, all levels of processing but especially short-term memory storage/retrieval during nonword repetition, and motor planning and programming during complex real word repetition. To further investigate the role of short-term memory, a participant with short-term memory impairment (MI) was recruited. MI was confirmed with poor performance during a sentence repetition and three nonword repetition tasks, all of which have a high short-term memory load, whereas typical performance was observed during tests of reading, spelling, and static verbal knowledge, all with low short-term memory loads. Experimental results show error-free performance during multisyllabic real word repetition but high counts of sequence errors, especially migrations and assimilations, during nonword repetition, supporting short-term memory as a locus of sequential processing deficit during nonword repetition. Results are also consistent with the hypothesis that during complex real word repetition, short-term memory is bypassed as the word is recognized and retrieved from long-term memory prior to producing the word.

  7. Brain-to-text: Decoding spoken phrases from phone representations in the brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian eHerff

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available It has long been speculated whether communication between humans and machines based on natural speech related cortical activity is possible. Over the past decade, studies have suggested that it is feasible to recognize isolated aspects of speech from neural signals, such as auditory features, phones or one of a few isolated words. However, until now it remained an unsolved challenge to decode continuously spoken speech from the neural substrate associated with speech and language processing. Here, we show for the first time that continuously spoken speech can be decoded into the expressed words from intracranial electrocorticographic (ECoG recordings. Specifically, we implemented a system, which we call Brain-To-Text that models single phones, employs techniques from automatic speech recognition (ASR, and thereby transforms brain activity while speaking into the corresponding textual representation. Our results demonstrate that our system achieved word error rates as low as 25% and phone error rates below 50%. Additionally, our approach contributes to the current understanding of the neural basis of continuous speech production by identifying those cortical regions that hold substantial information about individual phones. In conclusion, the Brain-To-Text system described in this paper represents an important step towards human-machine communication based on imagined speech.

  8. On Decoding Interleaved Chinese Remainder Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Wenhui; Sidorenko, Vladimir; Nielsen, Johan Sebastian Rosenkilde

    2013-01-01

    We model the decoding of Interleaved Chinese Remainder codes as that of finding a short vector in a Z-lattice. Using the LLL algorithm, we obtain an efficient decoding algorithm, correcting errors beyond the unique decoding bound and having nearly linear complexity. The algorithm can fail...... with a probability dependent on the number of errors, and we give an upper bound for this. Simulation results indicate that the bound is close to the truth. We apply the proposed decoding algorithm for decoding a single CR code using the idea of “Power” decoding, suggested for Reed-Solomon codes. A combination...... of these two methods can be used to decode low-rate Interleaved Chinese Remainder codes....

  9. The Multisyllabic Word Dilemma: Helping Students Build Meaning, Spell, and Read "Big" Words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunningham, Patricia M.

    1998-01-01

    Looks at what is known about multisyllabic words, which is a lot more than educators knew when the previous generation of multisyllabic word instruction was created. Reviews the few studies that have carried out instructional approaches to increase students' ability to decode big words. Outlines a program of instruction, based on what is currently…

  10. Fast Reed-Solomon Decoder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, K. Y.

    1986-01-01

    High-speed decoder intended for use with Reed-Solomon (RS) codes of long code length and high error-correcting capability. Design based on algorithm that includes high-radix Fermat transform procedure, which is most efficient for high speeds. RS code in question has code-word length of 256 symbols, of which 224 are information symbols and 32 are redundant.

  11. Learning to Read Words: Theory, Findings, and Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehri, Linnea C.

    2005-01-01

    Reading words may take several forms. Readers may utilize decoding, analogizing, or predicting to read unfamiliar words. Readers read familiar words by accessing them in memory, called sight word reading. With practice, all words come to be read automatically by sight, which is the most efficient, unobtrusive way to read words in text. The process…

  12. Deep generative learning of location-invariant visual word recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Bono, Maria Grazia; Zorzi, Marco

    2013-01-01

    It is widely believed that orthographic processing implies an approximate, flexible coding of letter position, as shown by relative-position and transposition priming effects in visual word recognition. These findings have inspired alternative proposals about the representation of letter position, ranging from noisy coding across the ordinal positions to relative position coding based on open bigrams. This debate can be cast within the broader problem of learning location-invariant representations of written words, that is, a coding scheme abstracting the identity and position of letters (and combinations of letters) from their eye-centered (i.e., retinal) locations. We asked whether location-invariance would emerge from deep unsupervised learning on letter strings and what type of intermediate coding would emerge in the resulting hierarchical generative model. We trained a deep network with three hidden layers on an artificial dataset of letter strings presented at five possible retinal locations. Though word-level information (i.e., word identity) was never provided to the network during training, linear decoding from the activity of the deepest hidden layer yielded near-perfect accuracy in location-invariant word recognition. Conversely, decoding from lower layers yielded a large number of transposition errors. Analyses of emergent internal representations showed that word selectivity and location invariance increased as a function of layer depth. Word-tuning and location-invariance were found at the level of single neurons, but there was no evidence for bigram coding. Finally, the distributed internal representation of words at the deepest layer showed higher similarity to the representation elicited by the two exterior letters than by other combinations of two contiguous letters, in agreement with the hypothesis that word edges have special status. These results reveal that the efficient coding of written words-which was the model's learning objective

  13. Speed and automaticity of word recognition - inseparable twins?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Mads; Asmussen, Vibeke; Elbro, Carsten

    'Speed and automaticity' of word recognition is a standard collocation. However, it is not clear whether speed and automaticity (i.e., effortlessness) make independent contributions to reading comprehension. In theory, both speed and automaticity may save cognitive resources for comprehension...... processes. Hence, the aim of the present study was to assess the unique contributions of word recognition speed and automaticity to reading comprehension while controlling for decoding speed and accuracy. Method: 139 Grade 5 students completed tests of reading comprehension and computer-based tests of speed...... of decoding and word recognition together with a test of effortlessness (automaticity) of word recognition. Effortlessness was measured in a dual task in which participants were presented with a word enclosed in an unrelated figure. The task was to read the word and decide whether the figure was a triangle...

  14. Quantitative evaluation of muscle synergy models: a single-trial task decoding approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delis, Ioannis; Berret, Bastien; Pozzo, Thierry; Panzeri, Stefano

    2013-01-01

    Muscle synergies, i.e., invariant coordinated activations of groups of muscles, have been proposed as building blocks that the central nervous system (CNS) uses to construct the patterns of muscle activity utilized for executing movements. Several efficient dimensionality reduction algorithms that extract putative synergies from electromyographic (EMG) signals have been developed. Typically, the quality of synergy decompositions is assessed by computing the Variance Accounted For (VAF). Yet, little is known about the extent to which the combination of those synergies encodes task-discriminating variations of muscle activity in individual trials. To address this question, here we conceive and develop a novel computational framework to evaluate muscle synergy decompositions in task space. Unlike previous methods considering the total variance of muscle patterns (VAF based metrics), our approach focuses on variance discriminating execution of different tasks. The procedure is based on single-trial task decoding from muscle synergy activation features. The task decoding based metric evaluates quantitatively the mapping between synergy recruitment and task identification and automatically determines the minimal number of synergies that captures all the task-discriminating variability in the synergy activations. In this paper, we first validate the method on plausibly simulated EMG datasets. We then show that it can be applied to different types of muscle synergy decomposition and illustrate its applicability to real data by using it for the analysis of EMG recordings during an arm pointing task. We find that time-varying and synchronous synergies with similar number of parameters are equally efficient in task decoding, suggesting that in this experimental paradigm they are equally valid representations of muscle synergies. Overall, these findings stress the effectiveness of the decoding metric in systematically assessing muscle synergy decompositions in task space.

  15. Deep generative learning of location-invariant visual word recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Bono, Maria Grazia; Zorzi, Marco

    2013-01-01

    It is widely believed that orthographic processing implies an approximate, flexible coding of letter position, as shown by relative-position and transposition priming effects in visual word recognition. These findings have inspired alternative proposals about the representation of letter position, ranging from noisy coding across the ordinal positions to relative position coding based on open bigrams. This debate can be cast within the broader problem of learning location-invariant representations of written words, that is, a coding scheme abstracting the identity and position of letters (and combinations of letters) from their eye-centered (i.e., retinal) locations. We asked whether location-invariance would emerge from deep unsupervised learning on letter strings and what type of intermediate coding would emerge in the resulting hierarchical generative model. We trained a deep network with three hidden layers on an artificial dataset of letter strings presented at five possible retinal locations. Though word-level information (i.e., word identity) was never provided to the network during training, linear decoding from the activity of the deepest hidden layer yielded near-perfect accuracy in location-invariant word recognition. Conversely, decoding from lower layers yielded a large number of transposition errors. Analyses of emergent internal representations showed that word selectivity and location invariance increased as a function of layer depth. Word-tuning and location-invariance were found at the level of single neurons, but there was no evidence for bigram coding. Finally, the distributed internal representation of words at the deepest layer showed higher similarity to the representation elicited by the two exterior letters than by other combinations of two contiguous letters, in agreement with the hypothesis that word edges have special status. These results reveal that the efficient coding of written words—which was the model's learning objective

  16. Optical RAM row access using WDM-enabled all-passive row/column decoders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papaioannou, Sotirios; Alexoudi, Theoni; Kanellos, George T.; Miliou, Amalia; Pleros, Nikos

    2014-03-01

    Towards achieving a functional RAM organization that reaps the advantages offered by optical technology, a complete set of optical peripheral modules, namely the Row (RD) and Column Decoder (CD) units, is required. In this perspective, we demonstrate an all-passive 2×4 optical RAM RD with row access operation and subsequent all-passive column decoding to control the access of WDM-formatted words in optical RAM rows. The 2×4 RD exploits a WDM-formatted 2-bit-long memory WordLine address along with its complementary value, all of them encoded on four different wavelengths and broadcasted to all RAM rows. The RD relies on an all-passive wavelength-selective filtering matrix (λ-matrix) that ensures a logical `0' output only at the selected RAM row. Subsequently, the RD output of each row drives the respective SOA-MZI-based Row Access Gate (AG) to grant/block the entry of the incoming data words to the whole memory row. In case of a selected row, the data word exits the row AG and enters the respective CD that relies on an allpassive wavelength-selective Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) for decoding the word bits into their individual columns. Both RD and CD procedures are carried out without requiring any active devices, assuming that the memory address and data word bits as well as their inverted values will be available in their optical form by the CPU interface. Proof-of-concept experimental verification exploiting cascaded pairs of AWGs as the λ-matrix is demonstrated at 10Gb/s, providing error-free operation with a peak power penalty lower than 0.2dB for all optical word channels.

  17. The Role of Accessibility of Semantic Word Knowledge in Monolingual and Bilingual Fifth-Grade Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremer, M.; Schoonen, R.

    2013-01-01

    The influences of word decoding, availability, and accessibility of semantic word knowledge on reading comprehension were investigated for monolingual "("n = 65) and bilingual children ("n" = 70). Despite equal decoding abilities, monolingual children outperformed bilingual children with regard to reading comprehension and…

  18. Synthetic phonics and decodable instructional reading texts: How far do these support poor readers?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price-Mohr, Ruth Maria; Price, Colin Bernard

    2018-05-01

    This paper presents data from a quasi-experimental trial with paired randomisation that emerged during the development of a reading scheme for children in England. This trial was conducted with a group of 12 children, aged 5-6, and considered to be falling behind their peers in reading ability and a matched control group. There were two intervention conditions (A: using mixed teaching methods and a high percentage of non-phonically decodable vocabulary; P: using mixed teaching methods and low percentage of non-decodable vocabulary); allocation to these was randomised. Children were assessed at pre- and post-test on standardised measures of receptive vocabulary, phoneme awareness, word reading, and comprehension. Two class teachers in the same school each selected 6 children, who they considered to be poor readers, to participate (n = 12). A control group (using synthetic phonics only and phonically decodable vocabulary) was selected from the same 2 classes based on pre-test scores for word reading (n = 16). Results from the study show positive benefits for poor readers from using both additional teaching methods (such as analytic phonics, sight word vocabulary, and oral vocabulary extension) in addition to synthetic phonics, and also non-decodable vocabulary in instructional reading text. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. Illustrative examples in a bilingual decoding dictionary: An (un ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Keywords: Illustrative Examples, Bilingual Decoding Dictionary, Semantic Differences Between Source Language (Sl) And Target Language (Tl), Grammatical Differences Between Sl And Tl, Translation Of Examples, Transposition, Context-Dependent Translation, One-Word Equivalent, Zero Equivalent, Idiomatic ...

  20. Using Serial and Discrete Digit Naming to Unravel Word Reading Processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altani, Angeliki; Protopapas, Athanassios; Georgiou, George K

    2018-01-01

    During reading acquisition, word recognition is assumed to undergo a developmental shift from slow serial/sublexical processing of letter strings to fast parallel processing of whole word forms. This shift has been proposed to be detected by examining the size of the relationship between serial- and discrete-trial versions of word reading and rapid naming tasks. Specifically, a strong association between serial naming of symbols and single word reading suggests that words are processed serially, whereas a strong association between discrete naming of symbols and single word reading suggests that words are processed in parallel as wholes. In this study, 429 Grade 1, 3, and 5 English-speaking Canadian children were tested on serial and discrete digit naming and word reading. Across grades, single word reading was more strongly associated with discrete naming than with serial naming of digits, indicating that short high-frequency words are processed as whole units early in the development of reading ability in English. In contrast, serial naming was not a unique predictor of single word reading across grades, suggesting that within-word sequential processing was not required for the successful recognition for this set of words. Factor mixture analysis revealed that our participants could be clustered into two classes, namely beginning and more advanced readers. Serial naming uniquely predicted single word reading only among the first class of readers, indicating that novice readers rely on a serial strategy to decode words. Yet, a considerable proportion of Grade 1 students were assigned to the second class, evidently being able to process short high-frequency words as unitized symbols. We consider these findings together with those from previous studies to challenge the hypothesis of a binary distinction between serial/sublexical and parallel/lexical processing in word reading. We argue instead that sequential processing in word reading operates on a continuum

  1. Multi-stage decoding of multi-level modulation codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Shu; Kasami, Tadao; Costello, Daniel J., Jr.

    1991-01-01

    Various types of multi-stage decoding for multi-level modulation codes are investigated. It is shown that if the component codes of a multi-level modulation code and types of decoding at various stages are chosen properly, high spectral efficiency and large coding gain can be achieved with reduced decoding complexity. Particularly, it is shown that the difference in performance between the suboptimum multi-stage soft-decision maximum likelihood decoding of a modulation code and the single-stage optimum soft-decision decoding of the code is very small, only a fraction of dB loss in signal to noise ratio at a bit error rate (BER) of 10(exp -6).

  2. Toward a universal decoder of linguistic meaning from brain activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Francisco; Lou, Bin; Pritchett, Brianna; Ritter, Samuel; Gershman, Samuel J; Kanwisher, Nancy; Botvinick, Matthew; Fedorenko, Evelina

    2018-03-06

    Prior work decoding linguistic meaning from imaging data has been largely limited to concrete nouns, using similar stimuli for training and testing, from a relatively small number of semantic categories. Here we present a new approach for building a brain decoding system in which words and sentences are represented as vectors in a semantic space constructed from massive text corpora. By efficiently sampling this space to select training stimuli shown to subjects, we maximize the ability to generalize to new meanings from limited imaging data. To validate this approach, we train the system on imaging data of individual concepts, and show it can decode semantic vector representations from imaging data of sentences about a wide variety of both concrete and abstract topics from two separate datasets. These decoded representations are sufficiently detailed to distinguish even semantically similar sentences, and to capture the similarity structure of meaning relationships between sentences.

  3. Decoding Signal Processing at the Single-Cell Level

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wiley, H. Steven

    2017-12-01

    The ability of cells to detect and decode information about their extracellular environment is critical to generating an appropriate response. In multicellular organisms, cells must decode dozens of signals from their neighbors and extracellular matrix to maintain tissue homeostasis while still responding to environmental stressors. How cells detect and process information from their surroundings through a surprisingly limited number of signal transduction pathways is one of the most important question in biology. Despite many decades of research, many of the fundamental principles that underlie cell signal processing remain obscure. However, in this issue of Cell Systems, Gillies et al present compelling evidence that the early response gene circuit can act as a linear signal integrator, thus providing significant insight into how cells handle fluctuating signals and noise in their environment.

  4. Optimized Min-Sum Decoding Algorithm for Low Density Parity Check Codes

    OpenAIRE

    Mohammad Rakibul Islam; Dewan Siam Shafiullah; Muhammad Mostafa Amir Faisal; Imran Rahman

    2011-01-01

    Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code approaches Shannon–limit performance for binary field and long code lengths. However, performance of binary LDPC code is degraded when the code word length is small. An optimized min-sum algorithm for LDPC code is proposed in this paper. In this algorithm unlike other decoding methods, an optimization factor has been introduced in both check node and bit node of the Min-sum algorithm. The optimization factor is obtained before decoding program, and the sam...

  5. Sum of the Magnitude for Hard Decision Decoding Algorithm Based on Loop Update Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Jiahui; Zhao, Danfeng; Tian, Hai; Zhang, Liang

    2018-01-01

    In order to improve the performance of non-binary low-density parity check codes (LDPC) hard decision decoding algorithm and to reduce the complexity of decoding, a sum of the magnitude for hard decision decoding algorithm based on loop update detection is proposed. This will also ensure the reliability, stability and high transmission rate of 5G mobile communication. The algorithm is based on the hard decision decoding algorithm (HDA) and uses the soft information from the channel to calculate the reliability, while the sum of the variable nodes’ (VN) magnitude is excluded for computing the reliability of the parity checks. At the same time, the reliability information of the variable node is considered and the loop update detection algorithm is introduced. The bit corresponding to the error code word is flipped multiple times, before this is searched in the order of most likely error probability to finally find the correct code word. Simulation results show that the performance of one of the improved schemes is better than the weighted symbol flipping (WSF) algorithm under different hexadecimal numbers by about 2.2 dB and 2.35 dB at the bit error rate (BER) of 10−5 over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, respectively. Furthermore, the average number of decoding iterations is significantly reduced. PMID:29342963

  6. Sum of the Magnitude for Hard Decision Decoding Algorithm Based on Loop Update Detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Jiahui; Zhao, Danfeng; Tian, Hai; Zhang, Liang

    2018-01-15

    In order to improve the performance of non-binary low-density parity check codes (LDPC) hard decision decoding algorithm and to reduce the complexity of decoding, a sum of the magnitude for hard decision decoding algorithm based on loop update detection is proposed. This will also ensure the reliability, stability and high transmission rate of 5G mobile communication. The algorithm is based on the hard decision decoding algorithm (HDA) and uses the soft information from the channel to calculate the reliability, while the sum of the variable nodes' (VN) magnitude is excluded for computing the reliability of the parity checks. At the same time, the reliability information of the variable node is considered and the loop update detection algorithm is introduced. The bit corresponding to the error code word is flipped multiple times, before this is searched in the order of most likely error probability to finally find the correct code word. Simulation results show that the performance of one of the improved schemes is better than the weighted symbol flipping (WSF) algorithm under different hexadecimal numbers by about 2.2 dB and 2.35 dB at the bit error rate (BER) of 10 -5 over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, respectively. Furthermore, the average number of decoding iterations is significantly reduced.

  7. Sum of the Magnitude for Hard Decision Decoding Algorithm Based on Loop Update Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiahui Meng

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to improve the performance of non-binary low-density parity check codes (LDPC hard decision decoding algorithm and to reduce the complexity of decoding, a sum of the magnitude for hard decision decoding algorithm based on loop update detection is proposed. This will also ensure the reliability, stability and high transmission rate of 5G mobile communication. The algorithm is based on the hard decision decoding algorithm (HDA and uses the soft information from the channel to calculate the reliability, while the sum of the variable nodes’ (VN magnitude is excluded for computing the reliability of the parity checks. At the same time, the reliability information of the variable node is considered and the loop update detection algorithm is introduced. The bit corresponding to the error code word is flipped multiple times, before this is searched in the order of most likely error probability to finally find the correct code word. Simulation results show that the performance of one of the improved schemes is better than the weighted symbol flipping (WSF algorithm under different hexadecimal numbers by about 2.2 dB and 2.35 dB at the bit error rate (BER of 10−5 over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN channel, respectively. Furthermore, the average number of decoding iterations is significantly reduced.

  8. Single-Trial Decoding of Bistable Perception Based on Sparse Nonnegative Tensor Decomposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhisong; Maier, Alexander; Logothetis, Nikos K.; Liang, Hualou

    2008-01-01

    The study of the neuronal correlates of the spontaneous alternation in perception elicited by bistable visual stimuli is promising for understanding the mechanism of neural information processing and the neural basis of visual perception and perceptual decision-making. In this paper, we develop a sparse nonnegative tensor factorization-(NTF)-based method to extract features from the local field potential (LFP), collected from the middle temporal (MT) visual cortex in a macaque monkey, for decoding its bistable structure-from-motion (SFM) perception. We apply the feature extraction approach to the multichannel time-frequency representation of the intracortical LFP data. The advantages of the sparse NTF-based feature extraction approach lies in its capability to yield components common across the space, time, and frequency domains yet discriminative across different conditions without prior knowledge of the discriminating frequency bands and temporal windows for a specific subject. We employ the support vector machines (SVMs) classifier based on the features of the NTF components for single-trial decoding the reported perception. Our results suggest that although other bands also have certain discriminability, the gamma band feature carries the most discriminative information for bistable perception, and that imposing the sparseness constraints on the nonnegative tensor factorization improves extraction of this feature. PMID:18528515

  9. Multi-stage decoding for multi-level block modulation codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Shu

    1991-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate various types of multi-stage decoding for multi-level block modulation codes, in which the decoding of a component code at each stage can be either soft-decision or hard-decision, maximum likelihood or bounded-distance. Error performance of codes is analyzed for a memoryless additive channel based on various types of multi-stage decoding, and upper bounds on the probability of an incorrect decoding are derived. Based on our study and computation results, we find that, if component codes of a multi-level modulation code and types of decoding at various stages are chosen properly, high spectral efficiency and large coding gain can be achieved with reduced decoding complexity. In particular, we find that the difference in performance between the suboptimum multi-stage soft-decision maximum likelihood decoding of a modulation code and the single-stage optimum decoding of the overall code is very small: only a fraction of dB loss in SNR at the probability of an incorrect decoding for a block of 10(exp -6). Multi-stage decoding of multi-level modulation codes really offers a way to achieve the best of three worlds, bandwidth efficiency, coding gain, and decoding complexity.

  10. Scaffolding Students’ Independent Decoding of Unfamiliar Text with a Prototype of an eBook-feature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stig T Gissel

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This study was undertaken to design, evaluate and refine an eBook-feature that supports students’ decoding of unfamiliar text. The feature supports students’ independent reading of eBooks with text-to-speech, graded support in the form of syllabification and rhyme analogy, and by dividing the word material into different categories based on the frequency and regularity of the word or its constituent parts. The eBook-feature is based on connectionist models of reading and reading acquisition and the theory of scaffolding. Students are supported in mapping between spelling and sound, in identifying the relevant spelling patterns and in generalizing, in order to strengthen their decoding skills. The prototype was evaluated with Danish students in the second grade to see how and under what circumstances students can use the feature in ways that strengthen their decoding skills and support them in reading unfamiliar text. It was found that most students could interact with the eBook-material in ways that the envisioned learning trajectory in the study predicts are beneficial in strengthening their decoding skills. The study contributes with both principles for designing digital learning material with supportive features for decoding unfamiliar text and with a concrete proposal for a design. The perspectives for making reading acquisition more differentiated and meaningful for second graders in languages with irregular spelling are discussed.

  11. Lexical decoder for continuous speech recognition: sequential neural network approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iooss, Christine

    1991-01-01

    The work presented in this dissertation concerns the study of a connectionist architecture to treat sequential inputs. In this context, the model proposed by J.L. Elman, a recurrent multilayers network, is used. Its abilities and its limits are evaluated. Modifications are done in order to treat erroneous or noisy sequential inputs and to classify patterns. The application context of this study concerns the realisation of a lexical decoder for analytical multi-speakers continuous speech recognition. Lexical decoding is completed from lattices of phonemes which are obtained after an acoustic-phonetic decoding stage relying on a K Nearest Neighbors search technique. Test are done on sentences formed from a lexicon of 20 words. The results are obtained show the ability of the proposed connectionist model to take into account the sequentiality at the input level, to memorize the context and to treat noisy or erroneous inputs. (author) [fr

  12. Decoding intention at sensorimotor timescales.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mathew Salvaris

    Full Text Available The ability to decode an individual's intentions in real time has long been a 'holy grail' of research on human volition. For example, a reliable method could be used to improve scientific study of voluntary action by allowing external probe stimuli to be delivered at different moments during development of intention and action. Several Brain Computer Interface applications have used motor imagery of repetitive actions to achieve this goal. These systems are relatively successful, but only if the intention is sustained over a period of several seconds; much longer than the timescales identified in psychophysiological studies for normal preparation for voluntary action. We have used a combination of sensorimotor rhythms and motor imagery training to decode intentions in a single-trial cued-response paradigm similar to those used in human and non-human primate motor control research. Decoding accuracy of over 0.83 was achieved with twelve participants. With this approach, we could decode intentions to move the left or right hand at sub-second timescales, both for instructed choices instructed by an external stimulus and for free choices generated intentionally by the participant. The implications for volition are considered.

  13. Grasp movement decoding from premotor and parietal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townsend, Benjamin R; Subasi, Erk; Scherberger, Hansjörg

    2011-10-05

    Despite recent advances in harnessing cortical motor-related activity to control computer cursors and robotic devices, the ability to decode and execute different grasping patterns remains a major obstacle. Here we demonstrate a simple Bayesian decoder for real-time classification of grip type and wrist orientation in macaque monkeys that uses higher-order planning signals from anterior intraparietal cortex (AIP) and ventral premotor cortex (area F5). Real-time decoding was based on multiunit signals, which had similar tuning properties to cells in previous single-unit recording studies. Maximum decoding accuracy for two grasp types (power and precision grip) and five wrist orientations was 63% (chance level, 10%). Analysis of decoder performance showed that grip type decoding was highly accurate (90.6%), with most errors occurring during orientation classification. In a subsequent off-line analysis, we found small but significant performance improvements (mean, 6.25 percentage points) when using an optimized spike-sorting method (superparamagnetic clustering). Furthermore, we observed significant differences in the contributions of F5 and AIP for grasp decoding, with F5 being better suited for classification of the grip type and AIP contributing more toward decoding of object orientation. However, optimum decoding performance was maximal when using neural activity simultaneously from both areas. Overall, these results highlight quantitative differences in the functional representation of grasp movements in AIP and F5 and represent a first step toward using these signals for developing functional neural interfaces for hand grasping.

  14. Contributions of Phonological Awareness, Phonological Short-Term Memory, and Rapid Automated Naming, toward Decoding Ability in Students with Mild Intellectual Disability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soltani, Amanallah; Roslan, Samsilah

    2013-01-01

    Reading decoding ability is a fundamental skill to acquire word-specific orthographic information necessary for skilled reading. Decoding ability and its underlying phonological processing skills have been heavily investigated typically among developing students. However, the issue has rarely been noticed among students with intellectual…

  15. Design of FBG En/decoders in Coherent 2-D Time-polarization OCDMA Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Fen-fei; Yang, Ming

    2012-12-01

    A novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based en/decoder for the two-dimensional (2-D) time-spreading and polarization multiplexer optical coding is proposed. Compared with other 2-D en/decoders, the proposed en/decoding for an optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) system uses a single phase-encoded FBG and coherent en/decoding. Furthermore, combined with reconstruction-equivalent-chirp technology, such en/decoders can be realized with a conventional simple fabrication setup. Experimental results of such en/decoders and the corresponding system test at a data rate of 5 Gbit/s demonstrate that this kind of 2-D FBG-based en/decoders could improve the performances of OCDMA systems.

  16. Fast and Flexible Successive-Cancellation List Decoders for Polar Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashemi, Seyyed Ali; Condo, Carlo; Gross, Warren J.

    2017-11-01

    Polar codes have gained significant amount of attention during the past few years and have been selected as a coding scheme for the next generation of mobile broadband standard. Among decoding schemes, successive-cancellation list (SCL) decoding provides a reasonable trade-off between the error-correction performance and hardware implementation complexity when used to decode polar codes, at the cost of limited throughput. The simplified SCL (SSCL) and its extension SSCL-SPC increase the speed of decoding by removing redundant calculations when encountering particular information and frozen bit patterns (rate one and single parity check codes), while keeping the error-correction performance unaltered. In this paper, we improve SSCL and SSCL-SPC by proving that the list size imposes a specific number of bit estimations required to decode rate one and single parity check codes. Thus, the number of estimations can be limited while guaranteeing exactly the same error-correction performance as if all bits of the code were estimated. We call the new decoding algorithms Fast-SSCL and Fast-SSCL-SPC. Moreover, we show that the number of bit estimations in a practical application can be tuned to achieve desirable speed, while keeping the error-correction performance almost unchanged. Hardware architectures implementing both algorithms are then described and implemented: it is shown that our design can achieve 1.86 Gb/s throughput, higher than the best state-of-the-art decoders.

  17. The Effects of Visual Attention Span and Phonological Decoding in Reading Comprehension in Dyslexia: A Path Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chen; Schneps, Matthew H; Masyn, Katherine E; Thomson, Jennifer M

    2016-11-01

    Increasing evidence has shown visual attention span to be a factor, distinct from phonological skills, that explains single-word identification (pseudo-word/word reading) performance in dyslexia. Yet, little is known about how well visual attention span explains text comprehension. Observing reading comprehension in a sample of 105 high school students with dyslexia, we used a pathway analysis to examine the direct and indirect path between visual attention span and reading comprehension while controlling for other factors such as phonological awareness, letter identification, short-term memory, IQ and age. Integrating phonemic decoding efficiency skills in the analytic model, this study aimed to disentangle how visual attention span and phonological skills work together in reading comprehension for readers with dyslexia. We found visual attention span to have a significant direct effect on more difficult reading comprehension but not on an easier level. It also had a significant direct effect on pseudo-word identification but not on word identification. In addition, we found that visual attention span indirectly explains reading comprehension through pseudo-word reading and word reading skills. This study supports the hypothesis that at least part of the dyslexic profile can be explained by visual attention abilities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. Bayesian population decoding of spiking neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerwinn, Sebastian; Macke, Jakob; Bethge, Matthias

    2009-01-01

    The timing of action potentials in spiking neurons depends on the temporal dynamics of their inputs and contains information about temporal fluctuations in the stimulus. Leaky integrate-and-fire neurons constitute a popular class of encoding models, in which spike times depend directly on the temporal structure of the inputs. However, optimal decoding rules for these models have only been studied explicitly in the noiseless case. Here, we study decoding rules for probabilistic inference of a continuous stimulus from the spike times of a population of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons with threshold noise. We derive three algorithms for approximating the posterior distribution over stimuli as a function of the observed spike trains. In addition to a reconstruction of the stimulus we thus obtain an estimate of the uncertainty as well. Furthermore, we derive a 'spike-by-spike' online decoding scheme that recursively updates the posterior with the arrival of each new spike. We use these decoding rules to reconstruct time-varying stimuli represented by a Gaussian process from spike trains of single neurons as well as neural populations.

  19. Bayesian population decoding of spiking neurons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Gerwinn

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available The timing of action potentials in spiking neurons depends on the temporal dynamics of their inputs and contains information about temporal fluctuations in the stimulus. Leaky integrate-and-fire neurons constitute a popular class of encoding models, in which spike times depend directly on the temporal structure of the inputs. However, optimal decoding rules for these models have only been studied explicitly in the noiseless case. Here, we study decoding rules for probabilistic inference of a continuous stimulus from the spike times of a population of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons with threshold noise. We derive three algorithms for approximating the posterior distribution over stimuli as a function of the observed spike trains. In addition to a reconstruction of the stimulus we thus obtain an estimate of the uncertainty as well. Furthermore, we derive a `spike-by-spike' online decoding scheme that recursively updates the posterior with the arrival of each new spike. We use these decoding rules to reconstruct time-varying stimuli represented by a Gaussian process from spike trains of single neurons as well as neural populations.

  20. Video encoder/decoder for encoding/decoding motion compensated images

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    1996-01-01

    Video encoder and decoder, provided with a motion compensator for motion-compensated video coding or decoding in which a picture is coded or decoded in blocks in alternately horizontal and vertical steps. The motion compensator is provided with addressing means (160) and controlled multiplexers

  1. The Fluid Reading Primer: Animated Decoding Support for Emergent Readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zellweger, Polle T.; Mackinlay, Jock D.

    A prototype application called the Fluid Reading Primer was developed to help emergent readers with the process of decoding written words into their spoken forms. The Fluid Reading Primer is part of a larger research project called Fluid Documents, which is exploring the use of interactive animation of typography to show additional information in…

  2. Multiformat decoder for a DSP-based IP set-top box

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pescador, F.; Garrido, M. J.; Sanz, C.; Juárez, E.; Samper, D.; Antoniello, R.

    2007-05-01

    Internet Protocol Set-Top Boxes (IP STBs) based on single-processor architectures have been recently introduced in the market. In this paper, the implementation of an MPEG-4 SP/ASP video decoder for a multi-format IP STB based on a TMS320DM641 DSP is presented. An initial decoder for PC platform was fully tested and ported to the DSP. Using this code an optimization process was started achieving a 90% speedup. This process allows real-time MPEG-4 SP/ASP decoding. The MPEG-4 decoder has been integrated in an IP STB and tested in a real environment using DVD movies and TV channels with excellent results.

  3. Minimum decoding trellis length and truncation depth of wrap-around Viterbi algorithm for TBCC in mobile WiMAX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Yu-Sun

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The performance of the wrap-around Viterbi decoding algorithm with finite truncation depth and fixed decoding trellis length is investigated for tail-biting convolutional codes in the mobile WiMAX standard. Upper bounds on the error probabilities induced by finite truncation depth and the uncertainty of the initial state are derived for the AWGN channel. The truncation depth and the decoding trellis length that yield negligible performance loss are obtained for all transmission rates over the Rayleigh channel using computer simulations. The results show that the circular decoding algorithm with an appropriately chosen truncation depth and a decoding trellis just a fraction longer than the original received code words can achieve almost the same performance as the optimal maximum likelihood decoding algorithm in mobile WiMAX. A rule of thumb for the values of the truncation depth and the trellis tail length is also proposed.

  4. A Fully Parallel VLSI-implementation of the Viterbi Decoding Algorithm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sparsø, Jens; Jørgensen, Henrik Nordtorp; Paaske, Erik

    1989-01-01

    In this paper we describe the implementation of a K = 7, R = 1/2 single-chip Viterbi decoder intended to operate at 10-20 Mbit/sec. We propose a general, regular and area efficient floor-plan that is also suitable for implementation of decoders for codes with different generator polynomials...

  5. On minimizing the maximum broadcast decoding delay for instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.

    2014-09-01

    In this paper, we consider the problem of minimizing the maximum broadcast decoding delay experienced by all the receivers of generalized instantly decodable network coding (IDNC). Unlike the sum decoding delay, the maximum decoding delay as a definition of delay for IDNC allows a more equitable distribution of the delays between the different receivers and thus a better Quality of Service (QoS). In order to solve this problem, we first derive the expressions for the probability distributions of maximum decoding delay increments. Given these expressions, we formulate the problem as a maximum weight clique problem in the IDNC graph. Although this problem is known to be NP-hard, we design a greedy algorithm to perform effective packet selection. Through extensive simulations, we compare the sum decoding delay and the max decoding delay experienced when applying the policies to minimize the sum decoding delay and our policy to reduce the max decoding delay. Simulations results show that our policy gives a good agreement among all the delay aspects in all situations and outperforms the sum decoding delay policy to effectively minimize the sum decoding delay when the channel conditions become harsher. They also show that our definition of delay significantly improve the number of served receivers when they are subject to strict delay constraints.

  6. On minimizing the maximum broadcast decoding delay for instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Ai-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the problem of minimizing the maximum broadcast decoding delay experienced by all the receivers of generalized instantly decodable network coding (IDNC). Unlike the sum decoding delay, the maximum decoding delay as a

  7. Attentional Selection in a Cocktail Party Environment Can Be Decoded from Single-Trial EEG

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Sullivan, James A.; Power, Alan J.; Mesgarani, Nima; Rajaram, Siddharth; Foxe, John J.; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.; Slaney, Malcolm; Shamma, Shihab A.; Lalor, Edmund C.

    2015-01-01

    How humans solve the cocktail party problem remains unknown. However, progress has been made recently thanks to the realization that cortical activity tracks the amplitude envelope of speech. This has led to the development of regression methods for studying the neurophysiology of continuous speech. One such method, known as stimulus-reconstruction, has been successfully utilized with cortical surface recordings and magnetoencephalography (MEG). However, the former is invasive and gives a relatively restricted view of processing along the auditory hierarchy, whereas the latter is expensive and rare. Thus it would be extremely useful for research in many populations if stimulus-reconstruction was effective using electroencephalography (EEG), a widely available and inexpensive technology. Here we show that single-trial (≈60 s) unaveraged EEG data can be decoded to determine attentional selection in a naturalistic multispeaker environment. Furthermore, we show a significant correlation between our EEG-based measure of attention and performance on a high-level attention task. In addition, by attempting to decode attention at individual latencies, we identify neural processing at ∼200 ms as being critical for solving the cocktail party problem. These findings open up new avenues for studying the ongoing dynamics of cognition using EEG and for developing effective and natural brain–computer interfaces. PMID:24429136

  8. A One-Pass Real-Time Decoder Using Memory-Efficient State Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Jian; Li, Ta; Zhang, Qingqing; Zhao, Qingwei; Yan, Yonghong

    This paper presents our developed decoder which adopts the idea of statically optimizing part of the knowledge sources while handling the others dynamically. The lexicon, phonetic contexts and acoustic model are statically integrated to form a memory-efficient state network, while the language model (LM) is dynamically incorporated on the fly by means of extended tokens. The novelties of our approach for constructing the state network are (1) introducing two layers of dummy nodes to cluster the cross-word (CW) context dependent fan-in and fan-out triphones, (2) introducing a so-called “WI layer” to store the word identities and putting the nodes of this layer in the non-shared mid-part of the network, (3) optimizing the network at state level by a sufficient forward and backward node-merge process. The state network is organized as a multi-layer structure for distinct token propagation at each layer. By exploiting the characteristics of the state network, several techniques including LM look-ahead, LM cache and beam pruning are specially designed for search efficiency. Especially in beam pruning, a layer-dependent pruning method is proposed to further reduce the search space. The layer-dependent pruning takes account of the neck-like characteristics of WI layer and the reduced variety of word endings, which enables tighter beam without introducing much search errors. In addition, other techniques including LM compression, lattice-based bookkeeping and lattice garbage collection are also employed to reduce the memory requirements. Experiments are carried out on a Mandarin spontaneous speech recognition task where the decoder involves a trigram LM and CW triphone models. A comparison with HDecode of HTK toolkits shows that, within 1% performance deviation, our decoder can run 5 times faster with half of the memory footprint.

  9. Trellises and Trellis-Based Decoding Algorithms for Linear Block Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Shu

    1998-01-01

    sectionalization of trellises. Chapter 7 discusses trellis decomposition and subtrellises for low-weight codewords. Chapter 8 first presents well known methods for constructing long powerful codes from short component codes or component codes of smaller dimensions, and then provides methods for constructing their trellises which include Shannon and Cartesian product techniques. Chapter 9 deals with convolutional codes, puncturing, zero-tail termination and tail-biting.Chapters 10 through 13 present various trellis-based decoding algorithms, old and new. Chapter 10 first discusses the application of the well known Viterbi decoding algorithm to linear block codes, optimum sectionalization of a code trellis to minimize computation complexity, and design issues for IC (integrated circuit) implementation of a Viterbi decoder. Then it presents a new decoding algorithm for convolutional codes, named Differential Trellis Decoding (DTD) algorithm. Chapter 12 presents a suboptimum reliability-based iterative decoding algorithm with a low-weight trellis search for the most likely codeword. This decoding algorithm provides a good trade-off between error performance and decoding complexity. All the decoding algorithms presented in Chapters 10 through 12 are devised to minimize word error probability. Chapter 13 presents decoding algorithms that minimize bit error probability and provide the corresponding soft (reliability) information at the output of the decoder. Decoding algorithms presented are the MAP (maximum a posteriori probability) decoding algorithm and the Soft-Output Viterbi Algorithm (SOVA) algorithm. Finally, the minimization of bit error probability in trellis-based MLD is discussed.

  10. Decoding of interleaved Reed-Solomon codes using improved power decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Puchinger, Sven; Rosenkilde ne Nielsen, Johan

    2017-01-01

    We propose a new partial decoding algorithm for m-interleaved Reed-Solomon (IRS) codes that can decode, with high probability, a random error of relative weight 1 − Rm/m+1 at all code rates R, in time polynomial in the code length n. For m > 2, this is an asymptotic improvement over the previous...... state-of-the-art for all rates, and the first improvement for R > 1/3 in the last 20 years. The method combines collaborative decoding of IRS codes with power decoding up to the Johnson radius....

  11. Convergent and diagnostic validity of STAVUX, a word and pseudoword spelling test for adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Östberg, Per; Backlund, Charlotte; Lindström, Emma

    2016-10-01

    Few comprehensive spelling tests are available in Swedish, and none have been validated in adults with reading and writing disorders. The recently developed STAVUX test includes word and pseudoword spelling subtests with high internal consistency and adult norms stratified by education. This study evaluated the convergent and diagnostic validity of STAVUX in adults with dyslexia. Forty-six adults, 23 with dyslexia and 23 controls, took STAVUX together with a standard word-decoding test and a self-rated measure of spelling skills. STAVUX subtest scores showed moderate to strong correlations with word-decoding scores and predicted self-rated spelling skills. Word and pseudoword subtest scores both predicted dyslexia status. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed excellent diagnostic discriminability. Sensitivity was 91% and specificity 96%. In conclusion, the results of this study support the convergent and diagnostic validity of STAVUX.

  12. Low-Power Bitstream-Residual Decoder for H.264/AVC Baseline Profile Decoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xu Ke

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We present the design and VLSI implementation of a novel low-power bitstream-residual decoder for H.264/AVC baseline profile. It comprises a syntax parser, a parameter decoder, and an Inverse Quantization Inverse Transform (IQIT decoder. The syntax parser detects and decodes each incoming codeword in the bitstream under the control of a hierarchical Finite State Machine (FSM; the IQIT decoder performs inverse transform and quantization with pipelining and parallelism. Various power reduction techniques, such as data-driven based on statistic results, nonuniform partition, precomputation, guarded evaluation, hierarchical FSM decomposition, TAG method, zero-block skipping, and clock gating , are adopted and integrated throughout the bitstream-residual decoder. With innovative architecture, the proposed design is able to decode QCIF video sequences of 30 fps at a clock rate as low as 1.5 MHz. A prototype H.264/AVC baseline decoding chip utilizing the proposed decoder is fabricated in UMC 0.18  m 1P6M CMOS technology. The proposed design is measured under 1 V 1.8 V supply with 0.1 V step. It dissipates 76  W at 1 V and 253  W at 1.8 V.

  13. Low Power LDPC Code Decoder Architecture Based on Intermediate Message Compression Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Kazunori; Togawa, Nozomu; Ikenaga, Takeshi; Goto, Satoshi

    Reducing the power dissipation for LDPC code decoder is a major challenging task to apply it to the practical digital communication systems. In this paper, we propose a low power LDPC code decoder architecture based on an intermediate message-compression technique which features as follows: (i) An intermediate message compression technique enables the decoder to reduce the required memory capacity and write power dissipation. (ii) A clock gated shift register based intermediate message memory architecture enables the decoder to decompress the compressed messages in a single clock cycle while reducing the read power dissipation. The combination of the above two techniques enables the decoder to reduce the power dissipation while keeping the decoding throughput. The simulation results show that the proposed architecture improves the power efficiency up to 52% and 18% compared to that of the decoder based on the overlapped schedule and the rapid convergence schedule without the proposed techniques respectively.

  14. High-speed architecture for the decoding of trellis-coded modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osborne, William P.

    1992-01-01

    Since 1971, when the Viterbi Algorithm was introduced as the optimal method of decoding convolutional codes, improvements in circuit technology, especially VLSI, have steadily increased its speed and practicality. Trellis-Coded Modulation (TCM) combines convolutional coding with higher level modulation (non-binary source alphabet) to provide forward error correction and spectral efficiency. For binary codes, the current stare-of-the-art is a 64-state Viterbi decoder on a single CMOS chip, operating at a data rate of 25 Mbps. Recently, there has been an interest in increasing the speed of the Viterbi Algorithm by improving the decoder architecture, or by reducing the algorithm itself. Designs employing new architectural techniques are now in existence, however these techniques are currently applied to simpler binary codes, not to TCM. The purpose of this report is to discuss TCM architectural considerations in general, and to present the design, at the logic gate level, or a specific TCM decoder which applies these considerations to achieve high-speed decoding.

  15. Completion time reduction in instantly decodable network coding through decoding delay control

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2014-01-01

    For several years, the completion time and the decoding delay problems in Instantly Decodable Network Coding (IDNC) were considered separately and were thought to completely act against each other. Recently, some works aimed to balance the effects of these two important IDNC metrics but none of them studied a further optimization of one by controlling the other. In this paper, we study the effect of controlling the decoding delay to reduce the completion time below its currently best known solution. We first derive the decoding-delay-dependent expressions of the users' and their overall completion times. Although using such expressions to find the optimal overall completion time is NP-hard, we use a heuristic that minimizes the probability of increasing the maximum of these decoding-delay-dependent completion time expressions after each transmission through a layered control of their decoding delays. Simulation results show that this new algorithm achieves both a lower mean completion time and mean decoding delay compared to the best known heuristic for completion time reduction. The gap in performance becomes significant for harsh erasure scenarios.

  16. Completion time reduction in instantly decodable network coding through decoding delay control

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.

    2014-12-01

    For several years, the completion time and the decoding delay problems in Instantly Decodable Network Coding (IDNC) were considered separately and were thought to completely act against each other. Recently, some works aimed to balance the effects of these two important IDNC metrics but none of them studied a further optimization of one by controlling the other. In this paper, we study the effect of controlling the decoding delay to reduce the completion time below its currently best known solution. We first derive the decoding-delay-dependent expressions of the users\\' and their overall completion times. Although using such expressions to find the optimal overall completion time is NP-hard, we use a heuristic that minimizes the probability of increasing the maximum of these decoding-delay-dependent completion time expressions after each transmission through a layered control of their decoding delays. Simulation results show that this new algorithm achieves both a lower mean completion time and mean decoding delay compared to the best known heuristic for completion time reduction. The gap in performance becomes significant for harsh erasure scenarios.

  17. Orthographic Context Sensitivity in Vowel Decoding by Portuguese Monolingual and Portuguese-English Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vale, Ana Paula

    2011-01-01

    This study examines the pronunciation of the first vowel in decoding disyllabic pseudowords derived from Portuguese words. Participants were 96 Portuguese monolinguals and 52 Portuguese-English bilinguals of equivalent Portuguese reading levels. The results indicate that sensitivity to vowel context emerges early, both in monolinguals and in…

  18. Noise-robust speech recognition through auditory feature detection and spike sequence decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schafer, Phillip B; Jin, Dezhe Z

    2014-03-01

    Speech recognition in noisy conditions is a major challenge for computer systems, but the human brain performs it routinely and accurately. Automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems that are inspired by neuroscience can potentially bridge the performance gap between humans and machines. We present a system for noise-robust isolated word recognition that works by decoding sequences of spikes from a population of simulated auditory feature-detecting neurons. Each neuron is trained to respond selectively to a brief spectrotemporal pattern, or feature, drawn from the simulated auditory nerve response to speech. The neural population conveys the time-dependent structure of a sound by its sequence of spikes. We compare two methods for decoding the spike sequences--one using a hidden Markov model-based recognizer, the other using a novel template-based recognition scheme. In the latter case, words are recognized by comparing their spike sequences to template sequences obtained from clean training data, using a similarity measure based on the length of the longest common sub-sequence. Using isolated spoken digits from the AURORA-2 database, we show that our combined system outperforms a state-of-the-art robust speech recognizer at low signal-to-noise ratios. Both the spike-based encoding scheme and the template-based decoding offer gains in noise robustness over traditional speech recognition methods. Our system highlights potential advantages of spike-based acoustic coding and provides a biologically motivated framework for robust ASR development.

  19. Coding and decoding in a point-to-point communication using the polarization of the light beam.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavehvash, Z; Massoumian, F

    2008-05-10

    A new technique for coding and decoding of optical signals through the use of polarization is described. In this technique the concept of coding is translated to polarization. In other words, coding is done in such a way that each code represents a unique polarization. This is done by implementing a binary pattern on a spatial light modulator in such a way that the reflected light has the required polarization. Decoding is done by the detection of the received beam's polarization. By linking the concept of coding to polarization we can use each of these concepts in measuring the other one, attaining some gains. In this paper the construction of a simple point-to-point communication where coding and decoding is done through polarization will be discussed.

  20. Error Recovery Properties and Soft Decoding of Quasi-Arithmetic Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine Guillemot

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper first introduces a new set of aggregated state models for soft-input decoding of quasi arithmetic (QA codes with a termination constraint. The decoding complexity with these models is linear with the sequence length. The aggregation parameter controls the tradeoff between decoding performance and complexity. It is shown that close-to-optimal decoding performance can be obtained with low values of the aggregation parameter, that is, with a complexity which is significantly reduced with respect to optimal QA bit/symbol models. The choice of the aggregation parameter depends on the synchronization recovery properties of the QA codes. This paper thus describes a method to estimate the probability mass function (PMF of the gain/loss of symbols following a single bit error (i.e., of the difference between the number of encoded and decoded symbols. The entropy of the gain/loss turns out to be the average amount of information conveyed by a length constraint on both the optimal and aggregated state models. This quantity allows us to choose the value of the aggregation parameter that will lead to close-to-optimal decoding performance. It is shown that the optimum position for the length constraint is not the last time instant of the decoding process. This observation leads to the introduction of a new technique for robust decoding of QA codes with redundancy which turns out to outperform techniques based on the concept of forbidden symbol.

  1. Adaptive decoding of convolutional codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hueske, K.; Geldmacher, J.; Götze, J.

    2007-06-01

    Convolutional codes, which are frequently used as error correction codes in digital transmission systems, are generally decoded using the Viterbi Decoder. On the one hand the Viterbi Decoder is an optimum maximum likelihood decoder, i.e. the most probable transmitted code sequence is obtained. On the other hand the mathematical complexity of the algorithm only depends on the used code, not on the number of transmission errors. To reduce the complexity of the decoding process for good transmission conditions, an alternative syndrome based decoder is presented. The reduction of complexity is realized by two different approaches, the syndrome zero sequence deactivation and the path metric equalization. The two approaches enable an easy adaptation of the decoding complexity for different transmission conditions, which results in a trade-off between decoding complexity and error correction performance.

  2. Hybrid EEG-fNIRS-Based Eight-Command Decoding for BCI: Application to Quadcopter Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Muhammad Jawad; Hong, Keum-Shik

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, a hybrid electroencephalography-functional near-infrared spectroscopy (EEG-fNIRS) scheme to decode eight active brain commands from the frontal brain region for brain-computer interface is presented. A total of eight commands are decoded by fNIRS, as positioned on the prefrontal cortex, and by EEG, around the frontal, parietal, and visual cortices. Mental arithmetic, mental counting, mental rotation, and word formation tasks are decoded with fNIRS, in which the selected features for classification and command generation are the peak, minimum, and mean ΔHbO values within a 2-s moving window. In the case of EEG, two eyeblinks, three eyeblinks, and eye movement in the up/down and left/right directions are used for four-command generation. The features in this case are the number of peaks and the mean of the EEG signal during 1 s window. We tested the generated commands on a quadcopter in an open space. An average accuracy of 75.6% was achieved with fNIRS for four-command decoding and 86% with EEG for another four-command decoding. The testing results show the possibility of controlling a quadcopter online and in real-time using eight commands from the prefrontal and frontal cortices via the proposed hybrid EEG-fNIRS interface.

  3. Decoding Xing-Ling codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Rasmus Refslund

    2002-01-01

    This paper describes an efficient decoding method for a recent construction of good linear codes as well as an extension to the construction. Furthermore, asymptotic properties and list decoding of the codes are discussed.......This paper describes an efficient decoding method for a recent construction of good linear codes as well as an extension to the construction. Furthermore, asymptotic properties and list decoding of the codes are discussed....

  4. Adaptive decoding of convolutional codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Hueske

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Convolutional codes, which are frequently used as error correction codes in digital transmission systems, are generally decoded using the Viterbi Decoder. On the one hand the Viterbi Decoder is an optimum maximum likelihood decoder, i.e. the most probable transmitted code sequence is obtained. On the other hand the mathematical complexity of the algorithm only depends on the used code, not on the number of transmission errors. To reduce the complexity of the decoding process for good transmission conditions, an alternative syndrome based decoder is presented. The reduction of complexity is realized by two different approaches, the syndrome zero sequence deactivation and the path metric equalization. The two approaches enable an easy adaptation of the decoding complexity for different transmission conditions, which results in a trade-off between decoding complexity and error correction performance.

  5. Deep generative learning of location-invariant visual word recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Grazia eDi Bono

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available It is widely believed that orthographic processing implies an approximate, flexible coding of letter position, as shown by relative-position and transposition priming effects in visual word recognition. These findings have inspired alternative proposals about the representation of letter position, ranging from noisy coding across the ordinal positions to relative position coding based on open bigrams. This debate can be cast within the broader problem of learning location-invariant representations of written words, that is, a coding scheme abstracting the identity and position of letters (and combinations of letters from their eye-centred (i.e., retinal locations. We asked whether location-invariance would emerge from deep unsupervised learning on letter strings and what type of intermediate coding would emerge in the resulting hierarchical generative model. We trained a deep network with three hidden layers on an artificial dataset of letter strings presented at five possible retinal locations. Though word-level information (i.e., word identity was never provided to the network during training, linear decoding from the activity of the deepest hidden layer yielded near-perfect accuracy in location-invariant word recognition. Conversely, decoding from lower layers yielded a large number of transposition errors. Analyses of emergent internal representations showed that word selectivity and location invariance increased as a function of layer depth. Conversely, there was no evidence for bigram coding. Finally, the distributed internal representation of words at the deepest layer showed higher similarity to the representation elicited by the two exterior letters than by other combinations of two contiguous letters, in agreement with the hypothesis that word edges have special status. These results reveal that the efficient coding of written words – which was the model’s learning objective – is largely based on letter-level information.

  6. Production Variability and Single Word Intelligibility in Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haley, Katarina L.; Martin, Gwenyth

    2011-01-01

    This study was designed to estimate test-retest reliability of orthographic speech intelligibility testing in speakers with aphasia and AOS and to examine its relationship to the consistency of speaker and listener responses. Monosyllabic single word speech samples were recorded from 13 speakers with coexisting aphasia and AOS. These words were…

  7. Visual perception as retrospective Bayesian decoding from high- to low-level features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Stephanie; Cueva, Christopher J; Tsodyks, Misha; Qian, Ning

    2017-10-24

    When a stimulus is presented, its encoding is known to progress from low- to high-level features. How these features are decoded to produce perception is less clear, and most models assume that decoding follows the same low- to high-level hierarchy of encoding. There are also theories arguing for global precedence, reversed hierarchy, or bidirectional processing, but they are descriptive without quantitative comparison with human perception. Moreover, observers often inspect different parts of a scene sequentially to form overall perception, suggesting that perceptual decoding requires working memory, yet few models consider how working-memory properties may affect decoding hierarchy. We probed decoding hierarchy by comparing absolute judgments of single orientations and relative/ordinal judgments between two sequentially presented orientations. We found that lower-level, absolute judgments failed to account for higher-level, relative/ordinal judgments. However, when ordinal judgment was used to retrospectively decode memory representations of absolute orientations, striking aspects of absolute judgments, including the correlation and forward/backward aftereffects between two reported orientations in a trial, were explained. We propose that the brain prioritizes decoding of higher-level features because they are more behaviorally relevant, and more invariant and categorical, and thus easier to specify and maintain in noisy working memory, and that more reliable higher-level decoding constrains less reliable lower-level decoding. Published under the PNAS license.

  8. Decoding Facial Expressions: A New Test with Decoding Norms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leathers, Dale G.; Emigh, Ted H.

    1980-01-01

    Describes the development and testing of a new facial meaning sensitivity test designed to determine how specialized are the meanings that can be decoded from facial expressions. Demonstrates the use of the test to measure a receiver's current level of skill in decoding facial expressions. (JMF)

  9. Effects of an iPad-Supported Phonics Intervention on Decoding Performance and Time On-Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larabee, Kaitlyn M.; Burns, Matthew K.; McComas, Jennifer J.

    2014-01-01

    Despite their recent popularity in schools, there is minimal consensus in the educational literature regarding the use of mobile devices for reading intervention. The word box intervention (Joseph "Read Teach" 52:348-356, 1998) has been consistently associated with improvements in student decoding performance. This early efficacy study…

  10. IV. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): measuring language (vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gershon, Richard C; Slotkin, Jerry; Manly, Jennifer J; Blitz, David L; Beaumont, Jennifer L; Schnipke, Deborah; Wallner-Allen, Kathleen; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Gleason, Jean Berko; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Adams, Marilyn Jager; Weintraub, Sandra

    2013-08-01

    Mastery of language skills is an important predictor of daily functioning and health. Vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding are relatively quick and easy to measure and correlate highly with overall cognitive functioning, as well as with success in school and work. New measures of vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding (in both English and Spanish) were developed for the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB). In the Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Test (TPVT), participants hear a spoken word while viewing four pictures, and then must choose the picture that best represents the word. This approach tests receptive vocabulary knowledge without the need to read or write, removing the literacy load for children who are developing literacy and for adults who struggle with reading and writing. In the Toolbox Oral Reading Recognition Test (TORRT), participants see a letter or word onscreen and must pronounce or identify it. The examiner determines whether it was pronounced correctly by comparing the response to the pronunciation guide on a separate computer screen. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of language during childhood and the relation of language and brain function. We also review the development of the TPVT and TORRT, including information about the item calibration process and results from a validation study. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the measures are discussed. © 2013 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  11. Hybrid EEG–fNIRS-Based Eight-Command Decoding for BCI: Application to Quadcopter Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Muhammad Jawad; Hong, Keum-Shik

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, a hybrid electroencephalography–functional near-infrared spectroscopy (EEG–fNIRS) scheme to decode eight active brain commands from the frontal brain region for brain–computer interface is presented. A total of eight commands are decoded by fNIRS, as positioned on the prefrontal cortex, and by EEG, around the frontal, parietal, and visual cortices. Mental arithmetic, mental counting, mental rotation, and word formation tasks are decoded with fNIRS, in which the selected features for classification and command generation are the peak, minimum, and mean ΔHbO values within a 2-s moving window. In the case of EEG, two eyeblinks, three eyeblinks, and eye movement in the up/down and left/right directions are used for four-command generation. The features in this case are the number of peaks and the mean of the EEG signal during 1 s window. We tested the generated commands on a quadcopter in an open space. An average accuracy of 75.6% was achieved with fNIRS for four-command decoding and 86% with EEG for another four-command decoding. The testing results show the possibility of controlling a quadcopter online and in real-time using eight commands from the prefrontal and frontal cortices via the proposed hybrid EEG–fNIRS interface. PMID:28261084

  12. Real-time inference of word relevance from electroencephalogram and eye gaze

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wenzel, M. A.; Bogojeski, M.; Blankertz, B.

    2017-10-01

    Objective. Brain-computer interfaces can potentially map the subjective relevance of the visual surroundings, based on neural activity and eye movements, in order to infer the interest of a person in real-time. Approach. Readers looked for words belonging to one out of five semantic categories, while a stream of words passed at different locations on the screen. It was estimated in real-time which words and thus which semantic category interested each reader based on the electroencephalogram (EEG) and the eye gaze. Main results. Words that were subjectively relevant could be decoded online from the signals. The estimation resulted in an average rank of 1.62 for the category of interest among the five categories after a hundred words had been read. Significance. It was demonstrated that the interest of a reader can be inferred online from EEG and eye tracking signals, which can potentially be used in novel types of adaptive software, which enrich the interaction by adding implicit information about the interest of the user to the explicit interaction. The study is characterised by the following novelties. Interpretation with respect to the word meaning was necessary in contrast to the usual practice in brain-computer interfacing where stimulus recognition is sufficient. The typical counting task was avoided because it would not be sensible for implicit relevance detection. Several words were displayed at the same time, in contrast to the typical sequences of single stimuli. Neural activity was related with eye tracking to the words, which were scanned without restrictions on the eye movements.

  13. Single-word multiple-bit upsets in static random access devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koga, R.; Pinkerton, S.D.; Lie, T.J.; Crawford, K.B.

    1993-01-01

    Energetic ions and protons can cause single event upsets (SEUs) in static random access memory (SRAM) cells. In some cases multiple bits may be upset as the result of a single event. Space-borne electronics systems incorporating high-density SRAM are vulnerable to single-word multiple-bit upsets (SMUs). The authors review here recent observations of SMU, present the results of a systematic investigation of the physical cell arrangements employed in several currently available SRAM device types, and discuss implications for the occurrence and mitigation of SMU

  14. The Effects of Musical Training on the Decoding Skills of German-Speaking Primary School Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rautenberg, Iris

    2015-01-01

    This paper outlines the results of a long-term study of 159 German-speaking primary school children. The correlations between musical skills (perception and differentiation of rhythmical and tonal/melodic patterns) and decoding skills, and the effects of musical training on word-level reading abilities were investigated. Cognitive skills and…

  15. Decoding Pigeon Behavior Outcomes Using Functional Connections among Local Field Potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yan; Liu, Xinyu; Li, Shan; Wan, Hong

    2018-01-01

    Recent studies indicate that the local field potential (LFP) carries information about an animal's behavior, but issues regarding whether there are any relationships between the LFP functional networks and behavior tasks as well as whether it is possible to employ LFP network features to decode the behavioral outcome in a single trial remain unresolved. In this study, we developed a network-based method to decode the behavioral outcomes in pigeons by using the functional connectivity strength values among LFPs recorded from the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL). In our method, the functional connectivity strengths were first computed based on the synchronization likelihood. Second, the strength values were unwrapped into row vectors and their dimensions were then reduced by principal component analysis. Finally, the behavioral outcomes in single trials were decoded using leave-one-out combined with the k -nearest neighbor method. The results showed that the LFP functional network based on the gamma-band was related to the goal-directed behavior of pigeons. Moreover, the accuracy of the network features (74 ± 8%) was significantly higher than that of the power features (61 ± 12%). The proposed method provides a powerful tool for decoding animal behavior outcomes using a neural functional network.

  16. Discrete versus multiple word displays: A re-analysis of studies comparing dyslexic and typically developing children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierluigi eZoccolotti

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The study examines whether impairments in reading a text can be explained by a deficit in word decoding or an additional deficit in the processes governing the integration of reading subcomponents (including eye movement programming and pronunciation should also be postulated. We report a re-analysis of data from eleven previous experiments conducted in our lab where the reading performance on single, discrete word displays as well multiple displays (texts, and in few cases also word lists was investigated in groups of dyslexic children and typically developing readers. The analysis focuses on measures of time and not accuracy.Across experiments, dyslexic children are slower and more variable than typically developing readers in reading texts as well as vocal RTs to singly presented words; the dis-homogeneity in variability between groups points to the inappropriateness of standard measures of size effect (such as Cohen’s d, and suggests the use of the ratio between groups’ performance. The mean ratio for text reading is 1.95 across experiments. Mean ratio for vocal RTs for singly presented words is considerably smaller (1.52. Furthermore, this latter value is probably an overestimation as considering total reading times (i.e., a measure including also the pronunciation component considerably reduces the group difference in vocal RTs (1.19 according to Martelli et al., 2014. The ratio difference between single and multiple displays does not depend upon the presence of a semantic context in the case of texts as large ratios are also observed with lists of unrelated words (though studies testing this aspect were few.We conclude that, if care is taken in using appropriate comparisons, the deficit in reading texts or lists of words is appreciably greater than that revealed with discrete word presentations. Thus, reading multiple stimuli present a specific, additional challenge to dyslexic children indicating that models of reading should

  17. Visual word learning in adults with dyslexia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa Kit Wan Kwok

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available We investigated word learning in university and college students with a diagnosis of dyslexia and in typically-reading controls. Participants read aloud short (4-letter and longer (7-letter nonwords as quickly as possible. The nonwords were repeated across 10 blocks, using a different random order in each block. Participants returned 7 days later and repeated the experiment. Accuracy was high in both groups. The dyslexics were substantially slower than the controls at reading the nonwords throughout the experiment. They also showed a larger length effect, indicating less effective decoding skills. Learning was demonstrated by faster reading of the nonwords across repeated presentations and by a reduction in the difference in reading speeds between shorter and longer nonwords. The dyslexics required more presentations of the nonwords before the length effect became non-significant, only showing convergence in reaction times between shorter and longer items in the second testing session where controls achieved convergence part-way through the first session. Participants also completed a psychological test battery assessing reading and spelling, vocabulary, phonological awareness, working memory, nonverbal ability and motor speed. The dyslexics performed at a similar level to the controls on nonverbal ability but significantly less well on all the other measures. Regression analyses found that decoding ability, measured as the speed of reading aloud nonwords when they were presented for the first time, was predicted by a composite of word reading and spelling scores (‘literacy’. Word learning was assessed in terms of the improvement in naming speeds over 10 blocks of training. Learning was predicted by vocabulary and working memory scores, but not by literacy, phonological awareness, nonverbal ability or motor speed. The results show that young dyslexic adults have problems both in pronouncing novel words and in learning new written words.

  18. Brain-state classification and a dual-state decoder dramatically improve the control of cursor movement through a brain-machine interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sachs, Nicholas A.; Ruiz-Torres, Ricardo; Perreault, Eric J.; Miller, Lee E.

    2016-02-01

    Objective. It is quite remarkable that brain machine interfaces (BMIs) can be used to control complex movements with fewer than 100 neurons. Success may be due in part to the limited range of dynamical conditions under which most BMIs are tested. Achieving high-quality control that spans these conditions with a single linear mapping will be more challenging. Even for simple reaching movements, existing BMIs must reduce the stochastic noise of neurons by averaging the control signals over time, instead of over the many neurons that normally control movement. This forces a compromise between a decoder with dynamics allowing rapid movement and one that allows postures to be maintained with little jitter. Our current work presents a method for addressing this compromise, which may also generalize to more highly varied dynamical situations, including movements with more greatly varying speed. Approach. We have developed a system that uses two independent Wiener filters as individual components in a single decoder, one optimized for movement, and the other for postural control. We computed an LDA classifier using the same neural inputs. The decoder combined the outputs of the two filters in proportion to the likelihood assigned by the classifier to each state. Main results. We have performed online experiments with two monkeys using this neural-classifier, dual-state decoder, comparing it to a standard, single-state decoder as well as to a dual-state decoder that switched states automatically based on the cursor’s proximity to a target. The performance of both monkeys using the classifier decoder was markedly better than that of the single-state decoder and comparable to the proximity decoder. Significance. We have demonstrated a novel strategy for dealing with the need to make rapid movements while also maintaining precise cursor control when approaching and stabilizing within targets. Further gains can undoubtedly be realized by optimizing the performance of the

  19. Don’t words come easy?A psychophysical exploration of word superiority

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randi eStarrfelt

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Words are made of letters, and yet sometimes it is easier to identify a word than a single letter. This word superiority effect (WSE has been observed when written stimuli are presented very briefly or degraded by visual noise. We compare performance with letters and words in three experiments, to explore the extents and limits of the WSE. Using a carefully controlled list of three letter words, we show that a word superiority effect can be revealed in vocal reaction times even to undegraded stimuli. With a novel combination of psychophysics and mathematical modelling, we further show that the typical WSE is specifically reflected in perceptual processing speed: single words are simply processed faster than single letters. Intriguingly, when multiple stimuli are presented simultaneously, letters are perceived more easily than words, and this is reflected both in perceptual processing speed and visual short term memory capacity. So, even if single words come easy, there is a limit to the word superiority effect.

  20. Decoded fMRI neurofeedback can induce bidirectional confidence changes within single participants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortese, Aurelio; Amano, Kaoru; Koizumi, Ai; Lau, Hakwan; Kawato, Mitsuo

    2017-04-01

    Neurofeedback studies using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) have recently incorporated the multi-voxel pattern decoding approach, allowing for fMRI to serve as a tool to manipulate fine-grained neural activity embedded in voxel patterns. Because of its tremendous potential for clinical applications, certain questions regarding decoded neurofeedback (DecNef) must be addressed. Specifically, can the same participants learn to induce neural patterns in opposite directions in different sessions? If so, how does previous learning affect subsequent induction effectiveness? These questions are critical because neurofeedback effects can last for months, but the short- to mid-term dynamics of such effects are unknown. Here we employed a within-subjects design, where participants underwent two DecNef training sessions to induce behavioural changes of opposing directionality (up or down regulation of perceptual confidence in a visual discrimination task), with the order of training counterbalanced across participants. Behavioral results indicated that the manipulation was strongly influenced by the order and the directionality of neurofeedback training. We applied nonlinear mathematical modeling to parametrize four main consequences of DecNef: main effect of change in confidence, strength of down-regulation of confidence relative to up-regulation, maintenance of learning effects, and anterograde learning interference. Modeling results revealed that DecNef successfully induced bidirectional confidence changes in different sessions within single participants. Furthermore, the effect of up- compared to down-regulation was more prominent, and confidence changes (regardless of the direction) were largely preserved even after a week-long interval. Lastly, the effect of the second session was markedly diminished as compared to the effect of the first session, indicating strong anterograde learning interference. These results are interpreted in the framework

  1. List Decoding of Algebraic Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Johan Sebastian Rosenkilde

    We investigate three paradigms for polynomial-time decoding of Reed–Solomon codes beyond half the minimum distance: the Guruswami–Sudan algorithm, Power decoding and the Wu algorithm. The main results concern shaping the computational core of all three methods to a problem solvable by module...... Hermitian codes using Guruswami–Sudan or Power decoding faster than previously known, and we show how to Wu list decode binary Goppa codes....... to solve such using module minimisation, or using our new Demand–Driven algorithm which is also based on module minimisation. The decoding paradigms are all derived and analysed in a self-contained manner, often in new ways or examined in greater depth than previously. Among a number of new results, we...

  2. Decoding Delay Controlled Completion Time Reduction in Instantly Decodable Network Coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed

    2016-06-27

    For several years, the completion time and the decoding delay problems in Instantly Decodable Network Coding (IDNC) were considered separately and were thought to act completely against each other. Recently, some works aimed to balance the effects of these two important IDNC metrics but none of them studied a further optimization of one by controlling the other. This paper investigates the effect of controlling the decoding delay to reduce the completion time below its currently best-known solution in both perfect and imperfect feedback with persistent erasure channels. To solve the problem, the decodingdelay- dependent expressions of the users’ and overall completion times are derived in the complete feedback scenario. Although using such expressions to find the optimal overall completion time is NP-hard, the paper proposes two novel heuristics that minimizes the probability of increasing the maximum of these decoding-delay-dependent completion time expressions after each transmission through a layered control of their decoding delays. Afterward, the paper extends the study to the imperfect feedback scenario in which uncertainties at the sender affects its ability to anticipate accurately the decoding delay increase at each user. The paper formulates the problem in such environment and derives the expression of the minimum increase in the completion time. Simulation results show the performance of the proposed solutions and suggest that both heuristics achieves a lower mean completion time as compared to the best-known heuristics for the completion time reduction in perfect and imperfect feedback. The gap in performance becomes more significant as the erasure of the channel increases.

  3. Decoding Delay Controlled Completion Time Reduction in Instantly Decodable Network Coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2016-01-01

    For several years, the completion time and the decoding delay problems in Instantly Decodable Network Coding (IDNC) were considered separately and were thought to act completely against each other. Recently, some works aimed to balance the effects of these two important IDNC metrics but none of them studied a further optimization of one by controlling the other. This paper investigates the effect of controlling the decoding delay to reduce the completion time below its currently best-known solution in both perfect and imperfect feedback with persistent erasure channels. To solve the problem, the decodingdelay- dependent expressions of the users’ and overall completion times are derived in the complete feedback scenario. Although using such expressions to find the optimal overall completion time is NP-hard, the paper proposes two novel heuristics that minimizes the probability of increasing the maximum of these decoding-delay-dependent completion time expressions after each transmission through a layered control of their decoding delays. Afterward, the paper extends the study to the imperfect feedback scenario in which uncertainties at the sender affects its ability to anticipate accurately the decoding delay increase at each user. The paper formulates the problem in such environment and derives the expression of the minimum increase in the completion time. Simulation results show the performance of the proposed solutions and suggest that both heuristics achieves a lower mean completion time as compared to the best-known heuristics for the completion time reduction in perfect and imperfect feedback. The gap in performance becomes more significant as the erasure of the channel increases.

  4. Toddlers' sensitivity to within-word coarticulation during spoken word recognition: Developmental differences in lexical competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamuner, Tania S; Moore, Charlotte; Desmeules-Trudel, Félix

    2016-12-01

    To understand speech, listeners need to be able to decode the speech stream into meaningful units. However, coarticulation causes phonemes to differ based on their context. Because coarticulation is an ever-present component of the speech stream, it follows that listeners may exploit this source of information for cues to the identity of the words being spoken. This research investigates the development of listeners' sensitivity to coarticulation cues below the level of the phoneme in spoken word recognition. Using a looking-while-listening paradigm, adults and 2- and 3-year-old children were tested on coarticulation cues that either matched or mismatched the target. Both adults and children predicted upcoming phonemes based on anticipatory coarticulation to make decisions about word identity. The overall results demonstrate that coarticulation cues are a fundamental component of children's spoken word recognition system. However, children did not show the same resolution as adults of the mismatching coarticulation cues and competitor inhibition, indicating that children's processing systems are still developing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Improved decoding for a concatenated coding system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paaske, Erik

    1990-01-01

    The concatenated coding system recommended by CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) uses an outer (255,233) Reed-Solomon (RS) code based on 8-b symbols, followed by the block interleaver and an inner rate 1/2 convolutional code with memory 6. Viterbi decoding is assumed. Two new...... decoding procedures based on repeated decoding trials and exchange of information between the two decoders and the deinterleaver are proposed. In the first one, where the improvement is 0.3-0.4 dB, only the RS decoder performs repeated trials. In the second one, where the improvement is 0.5-0.6 dB, both...... decoders perform repeated decoding trials and decoding information is exchanged between them...

  6. Reading component skills in dyslexia: word recognition, comprehension and processing speed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Oliveira, Darlene G; da Silva, Patrícia B; Dias, Natália M; Seabra, Alessandra G; Macedo, Elizeu C

    2014-01-01

    The cognitive model of reading comprehension (RC) posits that RC is a result of the interaction between decoding and linguistic comprehension. Recently, the notion of decoding skill was expanded to include word recognition. In addition, some studies suggest that other skills could be integrated into this model, like processing speed, and have consistently indicated that this skill influences and is an important predictor of the main components of the model, such as vocabulary for comprehension and phonological awareness of word recognition. The following study evaluated the components of the RC model and predictive skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. 40 children and adolescents (8-13 years) were divided in a Dyslexic Group (DG; 18 children, MA = 10.78, SD = 1.66) and control group (CG 22 children, MA = 10.59, SD = 1.86). All were students from the 2nd to 8th grade of elementary school and groups were equivalent in school grade, age, gender, and IQ. Oral and RC, word recognition, processing speed, picture naming, receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness were assessed. There were no group differences regarding the accuracy in oral and RC, phonological awareness, naming, and vocabulary scores. DG performed worse than the CG in word recognition (general score and orthographic confusion items) and were slower in naming. Results corroborated the literature regarding word recognition and processing speed deficits in dyslexia. However, dyslexics can achieve normal scores on RC test. Data supports the importance of delimitation of different reading strategies embedded in the word recognition component. The role of processing speed in reading problems remain unclear.

  7. Efficient decoding with steady-state Kalman filter in neural interface systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malik, Wasim Q; Truccolo, Wilson; Brown, Emery N; Hochberg, Leigh R

    2011-02-01

    The Kalman filter is commonly used in neural interface systems to decode neural activity and estimate the desired movement kinematics. We analyze a low-complexity Kalman filter implementation in which the filter gain is approximated by its steady-state form, computed offline before real-time decoding commences. We evaluate its performance using human motor cortical spike train data obtained from an intracortical recording array as part of an ongoing pilot clinical trial. We demonstrate that the standard Kalman filter gain converges to within 95% of the steady-state filter gain in 1.5±0.5 s (mean ±s.d.). The difference in the intended movement velocity decoded by the two filters vanishes within 5 s, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 between the two decoded velocities over the session length. We also find that the steady-state Kalman filter reduces the computational load (algorithm execution time) for decoding the firing rates of 25±3 single units by a factor of 7.0±0.9. We expect that the gain in computational efficiency will be much higher in systems with larger neural ensembles. The steady-state filter can thus provide substantial runtime efficiency at little cost in terms of estimation accuracy. This far more efficient neural decoding approach will facilitate the practical implementation of future large-dimensional, multisignal neural interface systems.

  8. Selectivity of N170 for visual words in the right hemisphere: Evidence from single-trial analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Hang; Zhao, Jing; Gaspar, Carl M; Chen, Wei; Tan, Yufei; Weng, Xuchu

    2017-08-01

    Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have identified the involvement of the right posterior region in the processing of visual words. Interestingly, in contrast, ERP studies of the N170 typically demonstrate selectivity for words more strikingly over the left hemisphere. Why is right hemisphere selectivity for words during the N170 epoch typically not observed, despite the clear involvement of this region in word processing? One possibility is that amplitude differences measured on averaged ERPs in previous studies may have been obscured by variation in peak latency across trials. This study examined this possibility by using single-trial analysis. Results show that words evoked greater single-trial N170s than control stimuli in the right hemisphere. Additionally, we observed larger trial-to-trial variability on N170 peak latency for words as compared to control stimuli over the right hemisphere. Results demonstrate that, in contrast to much of the prior literature, the N170 can be selective to words over the right hemisphere. This discrepancy is explained in terms of variability in trial-to-trial peak latency for responses to words over the right hemisphere. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  9. Don't words come easy? A psychophysical exploration of word superiority

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Starrfelt, Randi; Petersen, Anders; Vangkilde, Signe Allerup

    2013-01-01

    Words are made of letters, and yet sometimes it is easier to identify a word than a single letter. This word superiority effect (WSE) has been observed when written stimuli are presented very briefly or degraded by visual noise. We compare performance with letters and words in three experiments, ...... and visual short term memory capacity. So, even if single words come easy, there is a limit to the word superiority effect....

  10. Tracking Perceptual and Memory Decisions by Decoding Brain Activity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Vugt, Marieke; Brandt, Armin; Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas

    2017-01-01

    Decision making is thought to involve a process of evidence accumulation, modelled as a drifting diffusion process. This modeling framework suggests that all single-stage decisions involve a similar evidence accumulation process. In this paper we use decoding by machine learning classifiers on

  11. Design of 10Gbps optical encoder/decoder structure for FE-OCDMA system using SOA and opto-VLSI processors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aljada, Muhsen; Hwang, Seow; Alameh, Kamal

    2008-01-21

    In this paper we propose and experimentally demonstrate a reconfigurable 10Gbps frequency-encoded (1D) encoder/decoder structure for optical code division multiple access (OCDMA). The encoder is constructed using a single semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and 1D reflective Opto-VLSI processor. The SOA generates broadband amplified spontaneous emission that is dynamically sliced using digital phase holograms loaded onto the Opto-VLSI processor to generate 1D codewords. The selected wavelengths are injected back into the same SOA for amplifications. The decoder is constructed using single Opto-VLSI processor only. The encoded signal can successfully be retrieved at the decoder side only when the digital phase holograms of the encoder and the decoder are matched. The system performance is measured in terms of the auto-correlation and cross-correlation functions as well as the eye diagram.

  12. Cross-Lingual Dependency Parsing with Late Decoding for Truly Low-Resource Languages

    OpenAIRE

    Schlichtkrull, Michael Sejr; Søgaard, Anders

    2017-01-01

    In cross-lingual dependency annotation projection, information is often lost during transfer because of early decoding. We present an end-to-end graph-based neural network dependency parser that can be trained to reproduce matrices of edge scores, which can be directly projected across word alignments. We show that our approach to cross-lingual dependency parsing is not only simpler, but also achieves an absolute improvement of 2.25% averaged across 10 languages compared to the previous state...

  13. Fast decoders for qudit topological codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anwar, Hussain; Brown, Benjamin J; Campbell, Earl T; Browne, Dan E

    2014-01-01

    Qudit toric codes are a natural higher-dimensional generalization of the well-studied qubit toric code. However, standard methods for error correction of the qubit toric code are not applicable to them. Novel decoders are needed. In this paper we introduce two renormalization group decoders for qudit codes and analyse their error correction thresholds and efficiency. The first decoder is a generalization of a ‘hard-decisions’ decoder due to Bravyi and Haah (arXiv:1112.3252). We modify this decoder to overcome a percolation effect which limits its threshold performance for many-level quantum systems. The second decoder is a generalization of a ‘soft-decisions’ decoder due to Poulin and Duclos-Cianci (2010 Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 050504), with a small cell size to optimize the efficiency of implementation in the high dimensional case. In each case, we estimate thresholds for the uncorrelated bit-flip error model and provide a comparative analysis of the performance of both these approaches to error correction of qudit toric codes. (paper)

  14. Reading component skills in dyslexia: word recognition, comprehension and processing speed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darlene Godoy Oliveira

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The cognitive model of reading comprehension posits that reading comprehension is a result of the interaction between decoding and linguistic comprehension. Recently, the notion of decoding skill was expanded to include word recognition. In addition, some studies suggest that other skills could be integrated into this model, like processing speed, and have consistently indicated that this skill influences and is an important predictor of the main components of the model, such as vocabulary for comprehension and phonological awareness of word recognition. The following study evaluated the components of the reading comprehension model and predictive skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. 40 children and adolescents (8-13 years were divided in a Dyslexic Group (DG, 18 children, MA = 10.78, SD = 1.66 and Control Group (CG 22 children, MA = 10.59, SD = 1.86. All were students from the 2nd to 8th grade of elementary school and groups were equivalent in school grade, age, gender, and IQ. Oral and reading comprehension, word recognition, processing speed, picture naming, receptive vocabulary and phonological awareness were assessed. There were no group differences regarding the accuracy in oral and reading comprehension, phonological awareness, naming, and vocabulary scores. DG performed worse than the CG in word recognition (general score and orthographic confusion items and were slower in naming. Results corroborated the literature regarding word recognition and processing speed deficits in dyslexia. However, dyslexics can achieve normal scores on reading comprehension test. Data supports the importance of delimitation of different reading strategies embedded in the word recognition component. The role of processing speed in reading problems remain unclear.

  15. Psychometric characteristics of single-word tests of children's speech sound production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flipsen, Peter; Ogiela, Diane A

    2015-04-01

    Our understanding of test construction has improved since the now-classic review by McCauley and Swisher (1984). The current review article examines the psychometric characteristics of current single-word tests of speech sound production in an attempt to determine whether our tests have improved since then. It also provides a resource that clinicians may use to help them make test selection decisions for their particular client populations. Ten tests published since 1990 were reviewed to determine whether they met the 10 criteria set out by McCauley and Swisher (1984), as well as 7 additional criteria. All of the tests reviewed met at least 3 of McCauley and Swisher's (1984) original criteria, and 9 of 10 tests met at least 5 of them. Most of the tests met some of the additional criteria as well. The state of the art for single-word tests of speech sound production in children appears to have improved in the last 30 years. There remains, however, room for improvement.

  16. Toric Codes, Multiplicative Structure and Decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Johan Peder

    2017-01-01

    Long linear codes constructed from toric varieties over finite fields, their multiplicative structure and decoding. The main theme is the inherent multiplicative structure on toric codes. The multiplicative structure allows for \\emph{decoding}, resembling the decoding of Reed-Solomon codes and al...

  17. Fast decoding algorithms for geometric coded apertures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byard, Kevin

    2015-01-01

    Fast decoding algorithms are described for the class of coded aperture designs known as geometric coded apertures which were introduced by Gourlay and Stephen. When compared to the direct decoding method, the algorithms significantly reduce the number of calculations required when performing the decoding for these apertures and hence speed up the decoding process. Experimental tests confirm the efficacy of these fast algorithms, demonstrating a speed up of approximately two to three orders of magnitude over direct decoding.

  18. FPGA implementation of low complexity LDPC iterative decoder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Shivani; Sharma, Sanjay

    2016-07-01

    Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, proposed by Gallager, emerged as a class of codes which can yield very good performance on the additive white Gaussian noise channel as well as on the binary symmetric channel. LDPC codes have gained lots of importance due to their capacity achieving property and excellent performance in the noisy channel. Belief propagation (BP) algorithm and its approximations, most notably min-sum, are popular iterative decoding algorithms used for LDPC and turbo codes. The trade-off between the hardware complexity and the decoding throughput is a critical factor in the implementation of the practical decoder. This article presents introduction to LDPC codes and its various decoding algorithms followed by realisation of LDPC decoder by using simplified message passing algorithm and partially parallel decoder architecture. Simplified message passing algorithm has been proposed for trade-off between low decoding complexity and decoder performance. It greatly reduces the routing and check node complexity of the decoder. Partially parallel decoder architecture possesses high speed and reduced complexity. The improved design of the decoder possesses a maximum symbol throughput of 92.95 Mbps and a maximum of 18 decoding iterations. The article presents implementation of 9216 bits, rate-1/2, (3, 6) LDPC decoder on Xilinx XC3D3400A device from Spartan-3A DSP family.

  19. Decoding of intended saccade direction in an oculomotor brain-computer interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Nan; Brincat, Scott L.; Salazar-Gómez, Andrés F.; Panko, Mikhail; Guenther, Frank H.; Miller, Earl K.

    2017-08-01

    Objective. To date, invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) research has largely focused on replacing lost limb functions using signals from the hand/arm areas of motor cortex. However, the oculomotor system may be better suited to BCI applications involving rapid serial selection from spatial targets, such as choosing from a set of possible words displayed on a computer screen in an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) application. Here we aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of a BCI utilizing the oculomotor system. Approach. We developed a chronic intracortical BCI in monkeys to decode intended saccadic eye movement direction using activity from multiple frontal cortical areas. Main results. Intended saccade direction could be decoded in real time with high accuracy, particularly at contralateral locations. Accurate decoding was evident even at the beginning of the BCI session; no extensive BCI experience was necessary. High-frequency (80-500 Hz) local field potential magnitude provided the best performance, even over spiking activity, thus simplifying future BCI applications. Most of the information came from the frontal and supplementary eye fields, with relatively little contribution from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Significance. Our results support the feasibility of high-accuracy intracortical oculomotor BCIs that require little or no practice to operate and may be ideally suited for ‘point and click’ computer operation as used in most current AAC systems.

  20. Concatenated coding system with iterated sequential inner decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Ole Riis; Paaske, Erik

    1995-01-01

    We describe a concatenated coding system with iterated sequential inner decoding. The system uses convolutional codes of very long constraint length and operates on iterations between an inner Fano decoder and an outer Reed-Solomon decoder......We describe a concatenated coding system with iterated sequential inner decoding. The system uses convolutional codes of very long constraint length and operates on iterations between an inner Fano decoder and an outer Reed-Solomon decoder...

  1. Decoding bipedal locomotion from the rat sensorimotor cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rigosa, J.; Panarese, A.; Dominici, N.; Friedli, L.; van den Brand, R.; Carpaneto, J.; DiGiovanna, J.; Courtine, G.; Micera, S.

    2015-10-01

    Objective. Decoding forelimb movements from the firing activity of cortical neurons has been interfaced with robotic and prosthetic systems to replace lost upper limb functions in humans. Despite the potential of this approach to improve locomotion and facilitate gait rehabilitation, decoding lower limb movement from the motor cortex has received comparatively little attention. Here, we performed experiments to identify the type and amount of information that can be decoded from neuronal ensemble activity in the hindlimb area of the rat motor cortex during bipedal locomotor tasks. Approach. Rats were trained to stand, step on a treadmill, walk overground and climb staircases in a bipedal posture. To impose this gait, the rats were secured in a robotic interface that provided support against the direction of gravity and in the mediolateral direction, but behaved transparently in the forward direction. After completion of training, rats were chronically implanted with a micro-wire array spanning the left hindlimb motor cortex to record single and multi-unit activity, and bipolar electrodes into 10 muscles of the right hindlimb to monitor electromyographic signals. Whole-body kinematics, muscle activity, and neural signals were simultaneously recorded during execution of the trained tasks over multiple days of testing. Hindlimb kinematics, muscle activity, gait phases, and locomotor tasks were decoded using offline classification algorithms. Main results. We found that the stance and swing phases of gait and the locomotor tasks were detected with accuracies as robust as 90% in all rats. Decoded hindlimb kinematics and muscle activity exhibited a larger variability across rats and tasks. Significance. Our study shows that the rodent motor cortex contains useful information for lower limb neuroprosthetic development. However, brain-machine interfaces estimating gait phases or locomotor behaviors, instead of continuous variables such as limb joint positions or speeds

  2. Preliminary validation of FastaReada as a measure of reading fluency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zena eElhassan

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Fluent reading is characterized by speed and accuracy in the decoding and comprehension of connected text. Although a variety of measures are available for the assessment of reading skills most tests do not evaluate rate of text recognition as reflected in fluent reading. Here we evaluate FastaReada, a customized computer-generated task that was developed to address some of the limitations of currently available measures of reading skills. FastaReada provides a rapid assessment of reading fluency quantified as words read per minute for connected, meaningful text. To test the criterion validity of FastaReada, 124 mainstream school children with typical sensory, mental and motor development were assessed. Performance on FastaReada was correlated with the established Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA measures of text reading accuracy, rate and comprehension, and common single word measures of pseudoword (non-word reading, phonetic decoding, phonological awareness and mode of word decoding (i.e., visual or eidetic versus auditory or phonetic. The results demonstrated strong positive correlations between FastaReada performance and NARA reading rate (r = .75, accuracy (r = .83 and comprehension (r = .63 scores providing evidence for criterion-related validity. Additional evidence for criterion validity was demonstrated through strong positive correlations between FastaReada and both single word eidetic (r = .81 and phonetic decoding skills (r = .68. The results also demonstrated FastaReada to be a stronger predictor of eidetic decoding than the NARA rate measure, with FastaReada predicting 14.4% of the variance compared to 2.6% predicted by NARA rate. FastaReada was therefore deemed to be a valid tool for educators, clinicians, and research related assessment of reading accuracy and rate. As expected, analysis with hierarchical regressions also highlighted the closer relationship of fluent reading to rapid visual word recognition than to

  3. Clusterless Decoding of Position From Multiunit Activity Using A Marked Point Process Filter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Xinyi; Liu, Daniel F.; Kay, Kenneth; Frank, Loren M.; Eden, Uri T.

    2016-01-01

    Point process filters have been applied successfully to decode neural signals and track neural dynamics. Traditionally, these methods assume that multiunit spiking activity has already been correctly spike-sorted. As a result, these methods are not appropriate for situations where sorting cannot be performed with high precision such as real-time decoding for brain-computer interfaces. As the unsupervised spike-sorting problem remains unsolved, we took an alternative approach that takes advantage of recent insights about clusterless decoding. Here we present a new point process decoding algorithm that does not require multiunit signals to be sorted into individual units. We use the theory of marked point processes to construct a function that characterizes the relationship between a covariate of interest (in this case, the location of a rat on a track) and features of the spike waveforms. In our example, we use tetrode recordings, and the marks represent a four-dimensional vector of the maximum amplitudes of the spike waveform on each of the four electrodes. In general, the marks may represent any features of the spike waveform. We then use Bayes’ rule to estimate spatial location from hippocampal neural activity. We validate our approach with a simulation study and with experimental data recorded in the hippocampus of a rat moving through a linear environment. Our decoding algorithm accurately reconstructs the rat’s position from unsorted multiunit spiking activity. We then compare the quality of our decoding algorithm to that of a traditional spike-sorting and decoding algorithm. Our analyses show that the proposed decoding algorithm performs equivalently or better than algorithms based on sorted single-unit activity. These results provide a path toward accurate real-time decoding of spiking patterns that could be used to carry out content-specific manipulations of population activity in hippocampus or elsewhere in the brain. PMID:25973549

  4. Soft-decision decoding of RS codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justesen, Jørn

    2005-01-01

    By introducing a few simplifying assumptions we derive a simple condition for successful decoding using the Koetter-Vardy algorithm for soft-decision decoding of RS codes. We show that the algorithm has a significant advantage over hard decision decoding when the code rate is low, when two or more...

  5. Neural Encoding and Decoding with Deep Learning for Dynamic Natural Vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Haiguang; Shi, Junxing; Zhang, Yizhen; Lu, Kun-Han; Cao, Jiayue; Liu, Zhongming

    2017-10-20

    Convolutional neural network (CNN) driven by image recognition has been shown to be able to explain cortical responses to static pictures at ventral-stream areas. Here, we further showed that such CNN could reliably predict and decode functional magnetic resonance imaging data from humans watching natural movies, despite its lack of any mechanism to account for temporal dynamics or feedback processing. Using separate data, encoding and decoding models were developed and evaluated for describing the bi-directional relationships between the CNN and the brain. Through the encoding models, the CNN-predicted areas covered not only the ventral stream, but also the dorsal stream, albeit to a lesser degree; single-voxel response was visualized as the specific pixel pattern that drove the response, revealing the distinct representation of individual cortical location; cortical activation was synthesized from natural images with high-throughput to map category representation, contrast, and selectivity. Through the decoding models, fMRI signals were directly decoded to estimate the feature representations in both visual and semantic spaces, for direct visual reconstruction and semantic categorization, respectively. These results corroborate, generalize, and extend previous findings, and highlight the value of using deep learning, as an all-in-one model of the visual cortex, to understand and decode natural vision. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  6. Decoding ensemble activity from neurophysiological recordings in the temporal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreiman, Gabriel

    2011-01-01

    We study subjects with pharmacologically intractable epilepsy who undergo semi-chronic implantation of electrodes for clinical purposes. We record physiological activity from tens to more than one hundred electrodes implanted in different parts of neocortex. These recordings provide higher spatial and temporal resolution than non-invasive measures of human brain activity. Here we discuss our efforts to develop hardware and algorithms to interact with the human brain by decoding ensemble activity in single trials. We focus our discussion on decoding visual information during a variety of visual object recognition tasks but the same technologies and algorithms can also be directly applied to other cognitive phenomena.

  7. Decoding small surface codes with feedforward neural networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varsamopoulos, Savvas; Criger, Ben; Bertels, Koen

    2018-01-01

    Surface codes reach high error thresholds when decoded with known algorithms, but the decoding time will likely exceed the available time budget, especially for near-term implementations. To decrease the decoding time, we reduce the decoding problem to a classification problem that a feedforward neural network can solve. We investigate quantum error correction and fault tolerance at small code distances using neural network-based decoders, demonstrating that the neural network can generalize to inputs that were not provided during training and that they can reach similar or better decoding performance compared to previous algorithms. We conclude by discussing the time required by a feedforward neural network decoder in hardware.

  8. Feature Selection Methods for Robust Decoding of Finger Movements in a Non-human Primate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padmanaban, Subash; Baker, Justin; Greger, Bradley

    2018-01-01

    Objective: The performance of machine learning algorithms used for neural decoding of dexterous tasks may be impeded due to problems arising when dealing with high-dimensional data. The objective of feature selection algorithms is to choose a near-optimal subset of features from the original feature space to improve the performance of the decoding algorithm. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of four feature selection techniques, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Relative Importance, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Mutual Information Maximization on SVM classification performance for a dexterous decoding task. Approach: A nonhuman primate (NHP) was trained to perform small coordinated movements—similar to typing. An array of microelectrodes was implanted in the hand area of the motor cortex of the NHP and used to record action potentials (AP) during finger movements. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) was used to classify which finger movement the NHP was making based upon AP firing rates. We used the SVM classification to examine the functional parameters of (i) robustness to simulated failure and (ii) longevity of classification. We also compared the effect of using isolated-neuron and multi-unit firing rates as the feature vector supplied to the SVM. Main results: The average decoding accuracy for multi-unit features and single-unit features using Mutual Information Maximization (MIM) across 47 sessions was 96.74 ± 3.5% and 97.65 ± 3.36% respectively. The reduction in decoding accuracy between using 100% of the features and 10% of features based on MIM was 45.56% (from 93.7 to 51.09%) and 4.75% (from 95.32 to 90.79%) for multi-unit and single-unit features respectively. MIM had best performance compared to other feature selection methods. Significance: These results suggest improved decoding performance can be achieved by using optimally selected features. The results based on clinically relevant performance metrics also suggest that the decoding

  9. Video coding for decoding power-constrained embedded devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Ligang; Sheinin, Vadim

    2004-01-01

    Low power dissipation and fast processing time are crucial requirements for embedded multimedia devices. This paper presents a technique in video coding to decrease the power consumption at a standard video decoder. Coupled with a small dedicated video internal memory cache on a decoder, the technique can substantially decrease the amount of data traffic to the external memory at the decoder. A decrease in data traffic to the external memory at decoder will result in multiple benefits: faster real-time processing and power savings. The encoder, given prior knowledge of the decoder"s dedicated video internal memory cache management scheme, regulates its choice of motion compensated predictors to reduce the decoder"s external memory accesses. This technique can be used in any standard or proprietary encoder scheme to generate a compliant output bit stream decodable by standard CPU-based and dedicated hardware-based decoders for power savings with the best quality-power cost trade off. Our simulation results show that with a relatively small amount of dedicated video internal memory cache, the technique may decrease the traffic between CPU and external memory over 50%.

  10. A novel parallel pipeline structure of VP9 decoder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Huabiao; Chen, Wu; Yi, Sijun; Tan, Yunfei; Yi, Huan

    2018-04-01

    To improve the efficiency of VP9 decoder, a novel parallel pipeline structure of VP9 decoder is presented in this paper. According to the decoding workflow, VP9 decoder can be divided into sub-modules which include entropy decoding, inverse quantization, inverse transform, intra prediction, inter prediction, deblocking and pixel adaptive compensation. By analyzing the computing time of each module, hotspot modules are located and the causes of low efficiency of VP9 decoder can be found. Then, a novel pipeline decoder structure is designed by using mixed parallel decoding methods of data division and function division. The experimental results show that this structure can greatly improve the decoding efficiency of VP9.

  11. SYMBOL LEVEL DECODING FOR DUO-BINARY TURBO CODES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yogesh Beeharry

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the performance of three different symbol level decoding algorithms for Duo-Binary Turbo codes. Explicit details of the computations involved in the three decoding techniques, and a computational complexity analysis are given. Simulation results with different couple lengths, code-rates, and QPSK modulation reveal that the symbol level decoding with bit-level information outperforms the symbol level decoding by 0.1 dB on average in the error floor region. Moreover, a complexity analysis reveals that symbol level decoding with bit-level information reduces the decoding complexity by 19.6 % in terms of the total number of computations required for each half-iteration as compared to symbol level decoding.

  12. NP-hardness of decoding quantum error-correction codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsieh, Min-Hsiu; Le Gall, François

    2011-05-01

    Although the theory of quantum error correction is intimately related to classical coding theory and, in particular, one can construct quantum error-correction codes (QECCs) from classical codes with the dual-containing property, this does not necessarily imply that the computational complexity of decoding QECCs is the same as their classical counterparts. Instead, decoding QECCs can be very much different from decoding classical codes due to the degeneracy property. Intuitively, one expects degeneracy would simplify the decoding since two different errors might not and need not be distinguished in order to correct them. However, we show that general quantum decoding problem is NP-hard regardless of the quantum codes being degenerate or nondegenerate. This finding implies that no considerably fast decoding algorithm exists for the general quantum decoding problems and suggests the existence of a quantum cryptosystem based on the hardness of decoding QECCs.

  13. NP-hardness of decoding quantum error-correction codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hsieh, Min-Hsiu; Le Gall, Francois

    2011-01-01

    Although the theory of quantum error correction is intimately related to classical coding theory and, in particular, one can construct quantum error-correction codes (QECCs) from classical codes with the dual-containing property, this does not necessarily imply that the computational complexity of decoding QECCs is the same as their classical counterparts. Instead, decoding QECCs can be very much different from decoding classical codes due to the degeneracy property. Intuitively, one expects degeneracy would simplify the decoding since two different errors might not and need not be distinguished in order to correct them. However, we show that general quantum decoding problem is NP-hard regardless of the quantum codes being degenerate or nondegenerate. This finding implies that no considerably fast decoding algorithm exists for the general quantum decoding problems and suggests the existence of a quantum cryptosystem based on the hardness of decoding QECCs.

  14. Evaluation framework for K-best sphere decoders

    KAUST Repository

    Shen, Chungan; Eltawil, Ahmed M.; Salama, Khaled N.

    2010-01-01

    or receive antennas. Tree-searching type decoder structures such as Sphere decoder and K-best decoder present an interesting trade-off between complexity and performance. Many algorithmic developments and VLSI implementations have been reported in literature

  15. EEG source imaging assists decoding in a face recognition task

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Rasmus S.; Eliasen, Anders U.; Pedersen, Nicolai

    2017-01-01

    of face recognition. This task concerns the differentiation of brain responses to images of faces and scrambled faces and poses a rather difficult decoding problem at the single trial level. We implement the pipeline using spatially focused features and show that this approach is challenged and source...

  16. The Interpretability of the Word “Soxan” in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F Vejdani

    2014-02-01

    Foregrounding the status of this word in the linguistic structure of this work which paves the way for the interpretability of the text and also representing his personal style in using such word which asks the reader to decode its meaning and interprets it himself are other aims of this research which is unprecedented among researches about Shahnameh.

  17. Neural Decoder for Topological Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torlai, Giacomo; Melko, Roger G.

    2017-07-01

    We present an algorithm for error correction in topological codes that exploits modern machine learning techniques. Our decoder is constructed from a stochastic neural network called a Boltzmann machine, of the type extensively used in deep learning. We provide a general prescription for the training of the network and a decoding strategy that is applicable to a wide variety of stabilizer codes with very little specialization. We demonstrate the neural decoder numerically on the well-known two-dimensional toric code with phase-flip errors.

  18. The serial message-passing schedule for LDPC decoding algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mingshan; Liu, Shanshan; Zhou, Yuan; Jiang, Xue

    2015-12-01

    The conventional message-passing schedule for LDPC decoding algorithms is the so-called flooding schedule. It has the disadvantage that the updated messages cannot be used until next iteration, thus reducing the convergence speed . In this case, the Layered Decoding algorithm (LBP) based on serial message-passing schedule is proposed. In this paper the decoding principle of LBP algorithm is briefly introduced, and then proposed its two improved algorithms, the grouped serial decoding algorithm (Grouped LBP) and the semi-serial decoding algorithm .They can improve LBP algorithm's decoding speed while maintaining a good decoding performance.

  19. Improved Power Decoding of One-Point Hermitian Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Puchinger, Sven; Bouw, Irene; Rosenkilde, Johan Sebastian Heesemann

    2017-01-01

    We propose a new partial decoding algorithm for one-point Hermitian codes that can decode up to the same number of errors as the Guruswami–Sudan decoder. Simulations suggest that it has a similar failure probability as the latter one. The algorithm is based on a recent generalization of the power...... decoding algorithm for Reed–Solomon codes and does not require an expensive root-finding step. In addition, it promises improvements for decoding interleaved Hermitian codes....

  20. Decoding communities in networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radicchi, Filippo

    2018-02-01

    According to a recent information-theoretical proposal, the problem of defining and identifying communities in networks can be interpreted as a classical communication task over a noisy channel: memberships of nodes are information bits erased by the channel, edges and nonedges in the network are parity bits introduced by the encoder but degraded through the channel, and a community identification algorithm is a decoder. The interpretation is perfectly equivalent to the one at the basis of well-known statistical inference algorithms for community detection. The only difference in the interpretation is that a noisy channel replaces a stochastic network model. However, the different perspective gives the opportunity to take advantage of the rich set of tools of coding theory to generate novel insights on the problem of community detection. In this paper, we illustrate two main applications of standard coding-theoretical methods to community detection. First, we leverage a state-of-the-art decoding technique to generate a family of quasioptimal community detection algorithms. Second and more important, we show that the Shannon's noisy-channel coding theorem can be invoked to establish a lower bound, here named as decodability bound, for the maximum amount of noise tolerable by an ideal decoder to achieve perfect detection of communities. When computed for well-established synthetic benchmarks, the decodability bound explains accurately the performance achieved by the best community detection algorithms existing on the market, telling us that only little room for their improvement is still potentially left.

  1. Decoding communities in networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radicchi, Filippo

    2018-02-01

    According to a recent information-theoretical proposal, the problem of defining and identifying communities in networks can be interpreted as a classical communication task over a noisy channel: memberships of nodes are information bits erased by the channel, edges and nonedges in the network are parity bits introduced by the encoder but degraded through the channel, and a community identification algorithm is a decoder. The interpretation is perfectly equivalent to the one at the basis of well-known statistical inference algorithms for community detection. The only difference in the interpretation is that a noisy channel replaces a stochastic network model. However, the different perspective gives the opportunity to take advantage of the rich set of tools of coding theory to generate novel insights on the problem of community detection. In this paper, we illustrate two main applications of standard coding-theoretical methods to community detection. First, we leverage a state-of-the-art decoding technique to generate a family of quasioptimal community detection algorithms. Second and more important, we show that the Shannon's noisy-channel coding theorem can be invoked to establish a lower bound, here named as decodability bound, for the maximum amount of noise tolerable by an ideal decoder to achieve perfect detection of communities. When computed for well-established synthetic benchmarks, the decodability bound explains accurately the performance achieved by the best community detection algorithms existing on the market, telling us that only little room for their improvement is still potentially left.

  2. Long-Term Asynchronous Decoding of Arm Motion Using Electrocorticographic Signals in Monkeys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Zenas C.; Nagasaka, Yasuo; Fujii, Naotaka

    2009-01-01

    Brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) employ the electrical activity generated by cortical neurons directly for controlling external devices and have been conceived as a means for restoring human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. The dominant approach in BMI research has been to decode motor variables based on single-unit activity (SUA). Unfortunately, this approach suffers from poor long-term stability and daily recalibration is normally required to maintain reliable performance. A possible alternative is BMIs based on electrocorticograms (ECoGs), which measure population activity and may provide more durable and stable recording. However, the level of long-term stability that ECoG-based decoding can offer remains unclear. Here we propose a novel ECoG-based decoding paradigm and show that we have successfully decoded hand positions and arm joint angles during an asynchronous food-reaching task in monkeys when explicit cues prompting the onset of movement were not required. Performance using our ECoG-based decoder was comparable to existing SUA-based systems while evincing far superior stability and durability. In addition, the same decoder could be used for months without any drift in accuracy or recalibration. These results were achieved by incorporating the spatio-spectro-temporal integration of activity across multiple cortical areas to compensate for the lower fidelity of ECoG signals. These results show the feasibility of high-performance, chronic and versatile ECoG-based neuroprosthetic devices for real-life applications. This new method provides a stable platform for investigating cortical correlates for understanding motor control, sensory perception, and high-level cognitive processes. PMID:20407639

  3. Competition between multiple words for a referent in cross-situational word learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benitez, Viridiana L.; Yurovsky, Daniel; Smith, Linda B.

    2016-01-01

    Three experiments investigated competition between word-object pairings in a cross-situational word-learning paradigm. Adults were presented with One-Word pairings, where a single word labeled a single object, and Two-Word pairings, where two words labeled a single object. In addition to measuring learning of these two pairing types, we measured competition between words that refer to the same object. When the word-object co-occurrences were presented intermixed in training (Experiment 1), we found evidence for direct competition between words that label the same referent. Separating the two words for an object in time eliminated any evidence for this competition (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 demonstrated that adding a linguistic cue to the second label for a referent led to different competition effects between adults who self-reported different language learning histories, suggesting both distinctiveness and language learning history affect competition. Finally, in all experiments, competition effects were unrelated to participants’ explicit judgments of learning, suggesting that competition reflects the operating characteristics of implicit learning processes. Together, these results demonstrate that the role of competition between overlapping associations in statistical word-referent learning depends on time, the distinctiveness of word-object pairings, and language learning history. PMID:27087742

  4. Decoding rule search domain in the left inferior frontal gyrus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babcock, Laura; Vallesi, Antonino

    2018-01-01

    Traditionally, the left hemisphere has been thought to extract mainly verbal patterns of information, but recent evidence has shown that the left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) is active during inductive reasoning in both the verbal and spatial domains. We aimed to understand whether the left IFG supports inductive reasoning in a domain-specific or domain-general fashion. To do this we used Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis to decode the representation of domain during a rule search task. Thirteen participants were asked to extract the rule underlying streams of letters presented in different spatial locations. Each rule was either verbal (letters forming words) or spatial (positions forming geometric figures). Our results show that domain was decodable in the left prefrontal cortex, suggesting that this region represents domain-specific information, rather than processes common to the two domains. A replication study with the same participants tested two years later confirmed these findings, though the individual representations changed, providing evidence for the flexible nature of representations. This study extends our knowledge on the neural basis of goal-directed behaviors and on how information relevant for rule extraction is flexibly mapped in the prefrontal cortex. PMID:29547623

  5. Decoding of finger trajectory from ECoG using deep learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Ziqian; Schwartz, Odelia; Prasad, Abhishek

    2018-06-01

    Objective. Conventional decoding pipeline for brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) consists of chained different stages of feature extraction, time-frequency analysis and statistical learning models. Each of these stages uses a different algorithm trained in a sequential manner, which makes it difficult to make the whole system adaptive. The goal was to create an adaptive online system with a single objective function and a single learning algorithm so that the whole system can be trained in parallel to increase the decoding performance. Here, we used deep neural networks consisting of convolutional neural networks (CNN) and a special kind of recurrent neural network (RNN) called long short term memory (LSTM) to address these needs. Approach. We used electrocorticography (ECoG) data collected by Kubanek et al. The task consisted of individual finger flexions upon a visual cue. Our model combined a hierarchical feature extractor CNN and a RNN that was able to process sequential data and recognize temporal dynamics in the neural data. CNN was used as the feature extractor and LSTM was used as the regression algorithm to capture the temporal dynamics of the signal. Main results. We predicted the finger trajectory using ECoG signals and compared results for the least angle regression (LARS), CNN-LSTM, random forest, LSTM model (LSTM_HC, for using hard-coded features) and a decoding pipeline consisting of band-pass filtering, energy extraction, feature selection and linear regression. The results showed that the deep learning models performed better than the commonly used linear model. The deep learning models not only gave smoother and more realistic trajectories but also learned the transition between movement and rest state. Significance. This study demonstrated a decoding network for BMI that involved a convolutional and recurrent neural network model. It integrated the feature extraction pipeline into the convolution and pooling layer and used LSTM layer to capture the

  6. Investigation of the Functional Neuroanatomy of Single Word Reading and Its Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Erica D.; Brown, Timothy T.; Petersen, Steven E.; Schlaggar, Bradley L.

    2004-01-01

    An understanding of the processing underlying single word reading will provide insight into how skilled reading is achieved, with important implications for reading education and impaired reading. Investigation of the functional neuroanatomy of both the mature and the developing systems will be critical for reaching this understanding. To this…

  7. On Lattice Sequential Decoding for The Unconstrained AWGN Channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid

    2012-10-01

    In this paper, the performance limits and the computational complexity of the lattice sequential decoder are analyzed for the unconstrained additive white Gaussian noise channel. The performance analysis available in the literature for such a channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the lattice decoder. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement, and the search for low complexity receivers for the detection of lattice codes is considered a challenging problem. However, the low computational complexity advantage that sequential decoding promises, makes it an alternative solution to the lattice decoder. In this work, we characterize the performance and complexity tradeoff via the error exponent and the decoding complexity, respectively, of such a decoder as a function of the decoding parameter --- the bias term. For the above channel, we derive the cut-off volume-to-noise ratio that is required to achieve a good error performance with low decoding complexity.

  8. On Lattice Sequential Decoding for The Unconstrained AWGN Channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid

    2013-04-04

    In this paper, the performance limits and the computational complexity of the lattice sequential decoder are analyzed for the unconstrained additive white Gaussian noise channel. The performance analysis available in the literature for such a channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the \\\\textit{lattice decoder}. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement, and the search for low complexity receivers for the detection of lattice codes is considered a challenging problem. However, the low computational complexity advantage that sequential decoding promises, makes it an alternative solution to the lattice decoder. In this work, we characterize the performance and complexity tradeoff via the error exponent and the decoding complexity, respectively, of such a decoder as a function of the decoding parameter --- the bias term. For the above channel, we derive the cut-off volume-to-noise ratio that is required to achieve a good error performance with low decoding complexity.

  9. On Lattice Sequential Decoding for The Unconstrained AWGN Channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, the performance limits and the computational complexity of the lattice sequential decoder are analyzed for the unconstrained additive white Gaussian noise channel. The performance analysis available in the literature for such a channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the lattice decoder. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement, and the search for low complexity receivers for the detection of lattice codes is considered a challenging problem. However, the low computational complexity advantage that sequential decoding promises, makes it an alternative solution to the lattice decoder. In this work, we characterize the performance and complexity tradeoff via the error exponent and the decoding complexity, respectively, of such a decoder as a function of the decoding parameter --- the bias term. For the above channel, we derive the cut-off volume-to-noise ratio that is required to achieve a good error performance with low decoding complexity.

  10. Interior point decoding for linear vector channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wadayama, T

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, a novel decoding algorithm for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on convex optimization is presented. The decoding algorithm, called interior point decoding, is designed for linear vector channels. The linear vector channels include many practically important channels such as inter-symbol interference channels and partial response channels. It is shown that the maximum likelihood decoding (MLD) rule for a linear vector channel can be relaxed to a convex optimization problem, which is called a relaxed MLD problem

  11. Interior point decoding for linear vector channels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wadayama, T [Nagoya Institute of Technology, Gokiso, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8555 (Japan)], E-mail: wadayama@nitech.ac.jp

    2008-01-15

    In this paper, a novel decoding algorithm for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on convex optimization is presented. The decoding algorithm, called interior point decoding, is designed for linear vector channels. The linear vector channels include many practically important channels such as inter-symbol interference channels and partial response channels. It is shown that the maximum likelihood decoding (MLD) rule for a linear vector channel can be relaxed to a convex optimization problem, which is called a relaxed MLD problem.

  12. Symbol synchronization for the TDRSS decoder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costello, D. J., Jr.

    1983-01-01

    Each 8 bits out of the Viterbi decoder correspond to one symbol of the R/S code. Synchronization must be maintained here so that each 8-bit symbol delivered to the R/S decoder corresponds to an 8-bit symbol from the R/S encoder. Lack of synchronization, would cause an error in almost every R/S symbol since even a - 1-bit sync slip shifts every bit in each 8-bit symbol by one position, therby confusing the mapping betweeen 8-bit sequences and symbols. The error correcting capability of the R/S code would be exceeded. Possible ways to correcting this condition include: (1) designing the R/S decoder to recognize the overload and shifting the output sequence of the inner decoder to establish a different sync state; (2) using the characteristics of the inner decoder to establish symbol synchronization for the outer code, with or without a deinterleaver and an interleaver; and (3) modifying the encoder to alternate periodically between two sets of generators.

  13. A class of Sudan-decodable codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Rasmus Refslund

    2000-01-01

    In this article, Sudan's algorithm is modified into an efficient method to list-decode a class of codes which can be seen as a generalization of Reed-Solomon codes. The algorithm is specialized into a very efficient method for unique decoding. The code construction can be generalized based...... on algebraic-geometry codes and the decoding algorithms are generalized accordingly. Comparisons with Reed-Solomon and Hermitian codes are made....

  14. High Frequency rTMS over the Left Parietal Lobule Increases Non-Word Reading Accuracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costanzo, Floriana; Menghini, Deny; Caltagirone, Carlo; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Vicari, Stefano

    2012-01-01

    Increasing evidence in the literature supports the usefulness of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in studying reading processes. Two brain regions are primarily involved in phonological decoding: the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), which is associated with the auditory representation of spoken words, and the left inferior parietal lobe…

  15. On Rational Interpolation-Based List-Decoding and List-Decoding Binary Goppa Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beelen, Peter; Høholdt, Tom; Nielsen, Johan Sebastian Rosenkilde

    2013-01-01

    We derive the Wu list-decoding algorithm for generalized Reed–Solomon (GRS) codes by using Gröbner bases over modules and the Euclidean algorithm as the initial algorithm instead of the Berlekamp–Massey algorithm. We present a novel method for constructing the interpolation polynomial fast. We gi...... and a duality in the choice of parameters needed for decoding, both in the case of GRS codes and in the case of Goppa codes....

  16. Timing, timing, timing: Fast decoding of object information from intracranial field potentials in human visual cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hesheng; Agam, Yigal; Madsen, Joseph R.; Kreiman, Gabriel

    2010-01-01

    Summary The difficulty of visual recognition stems from the need to achieve high selectivity while maintaining robustness to object transformations within hundreds of milliseconds. Theories of visual recognition differ in whether the neuronal circuits invoke recurrent feedback connections or not. The timing of neurophysiological responses in visual cortex plays a key role in distinguishing between bottom-up and top-down theories. Here we quantified at millisecond resolution the amount of visual information conveyed by intracranial field potentials from 912 electrodes in 11 human subjects. We could decode object category information from human visual cortex in single trials as early as 100 ms post-stimulus. Decoding performance was robust to depth rotation and scale changes. The results suggest that physiological activity in the temporal lobe can account for key properties of visual recognition. The fast decoding in single trials is compatible with feed-forward theories and provides strong constraints for computational models of human vision. PMID:19409272

  17. Encoder-decoder optimization for brain-computer interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merel, Josh; Pianto, Donald M; Cunningham, John P; Paninski, Liam

    2015-06-01

    Neuroprosthetic brain-computer interfaces are systems that decode neural activity into useful control signals for effectors, such as a cursor on a computer screen. It has long been recognized that both the user and decoding system can adapt to increase the accuracy of the end effector. Co-adaptation is the process whereby a user learns to control the system in conjunction with the decoder adapting to learn the user's neural patterns. We provide a mathematical framework for co-adaptation and relate co-adaptation to the joint optimization of the user's control scheme ("encoding model") and the decoding algorithm's parameters. When the assumptions of that framework are respected, co-adaptation cannot yield better performance than that obtainable by an optimal initial choice of fixed decoder, coupled with optimal user learning. For a specific case, we provide numerical methods to obtain such an optimized decoder. We demonstrate our approach in a model brain-computer interface system using an online prosthesis simulator, a simple human-in-the-loop pyschophysics setup which provides a non-invasive simulation of the BCI setting. These experiments support two claims: that users can learn encoders matched to fixed, optimal decoders and that, once learned, our approach yields expected performance advantages.

  18. Encoder-decoder optimization for brain-computer interfaces.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josh Merel

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Neuroprosthetic brain-computer interfaces are systems that decode neural activity into useful control signals for effectors, such as a cursor on a computer screen. It has long been recognized that both the user and decoding system can adapt to increase the accuracy of the end effector. Co-adaptation is the process whereby a user learns to control the system in conjunction with the decoder adapting to learn the user's neural patterns. We provide a mathematical framework for co-adaptation and relate co-adaptation to the joint optimization of the user's control scheme ("encoding model" and the decoding algorithm's parameters. When the assumptions of that framework are respected, co-adaptation cannot yield better performance than that obtainable by an optimal initial choice of fixed decoder, coupled with optimal user learning. For a specific case, we provide numerical methods to obtain such an optimized decoder. We demonstrate our approach in a model brain-computer interface system using an online prosthesis simulator, a simple human-in-the-loop pyschophysics setup which provides a non-invasive simulation of the BCI setting. These experiments support two claims: that users can learn encoders matched to fixed, optimal decoders and that, once learned, our approach yields expected performance advantages.

  19. Iterative Decoding of Concatenated Codes: A Tutorial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phillip A. Regalia

    2005-05-01

    Full Text Available The turbo decoding algorithm of a decade ago constituted a milestone in error-correction coding for digital communications, and has inspired extensions to generalized receiver topologies, including turbo equalization, turbo synchronization, and turbo CDMA, among others. Despite an accrued understanding of iterative decoding over the years, the “turbo principle” remains elusive to master analytically, thereby inciting interest from researchers outside the communications domain. In this spirit, we develop a tutorial presentation of iterative decoding for parallel and serial concatenated codes, in terms hopefully accessible to a broader audience. We motivate iterative decoding as a computationally tractable attempt to approach maximum-likelihood decoding, and characterize fixed points in terms of a “consensus” property between constituent decoders. We review how the decoding algorithm for both parallel and serial concatenated codes coincides with an alternating projection algorithm, which allows one to identify conditions under which the algorithm indeed converges to a maximum-likelihood solution, in terms of particular likelihood functions factoring into the product of their marginals. The presentation emphasizes a common framework applicable to both parallel and serial concatenated codes.

  20. Joint Decoding of Concatenated VLEC and STTC System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Huijun

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We consider the decoding of wireless communication systems with both source coding in the application layer and channel coding in the physical layer for high-performance transmission over fading channels. Variable length error correcting codes (VLECs and space time trellis codes (STTCs are used to provide bandwidth efficient data compression as well as coding and diversity gains. At the receiver, an iterative joint source and space time decoding scheme are developed to utilize redundancy in both STTC and VLEC to improve overall decoding performance. Issues such as the inseparable systematic information in the symbol level, the asymmetric trellis structure of VLEC, and information exchange between bit and symbol domains have been considered in the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP decoding algorithm. Simulation results indicate that the developed joint decoding scheme achieves a significant decoding gain over the separate decoding in fading channels, whether or not the channel information is perfectly known at the receiver. Furthermore, how rate allocation between STTC and VLEC affects the performance of the joint source and space-time decoder is investigated. Different systems with a fixed overall information rate are studied. It is shown that for a system with more redundancy dedicated to the source code and a higher order modulation of STTC, the joint decoding yields better performance, though with increased complexity.

  1. Joint Decoding of Concatenated VLEC and STTC System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huijun Chen

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available We consider the decoding of wireless communication systems with both source coding in the application layer and channel coding in the physical layer for high-performance transmission over fading channels. Variable length error correcting codes (VLECs and space time trellis codes (STTCs are used to provide bandwidth efficient data compression as well as coding and diversity gains. At the receiver, an iterative joint source and space time decoding scheme are developed to utilize redundancy in both STTC and VLEC to improve overall decoding performance. Issues such as the inseparable systematic information in the symbol level, the asymmetric trellis structure of VLEC, and information exchange between bit and symbol domains have been considered in the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP decoding algorithm. Simulation results indicate that the developed joint decoding scheme achieves a significant decoding gain over the separate decoding in fading channels, whether or not the channel information is perfectly known at the receiver. Furthermore, how rate allocation between STTC and VLEC affects the performance of the joint source and space-time decoder is investigated. Different systems with a fixed overall information rate are studied. It is shown that for a system with more redundancy dedicated to the source code and a higher order modulation of STTC, the joint decoding yields better performance, though with increased complexity.

  2. FPGA Realization of Memory 10 Viterbi Decoder

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paaske, Erik; Bach, Thomas Bo; Andersen, Jakob Dahl

    1997-01-01

    sequence mode when feedback from the Reed-Solomon decoder is available. The Viterbi decoder is realized using two Altera FLEX 10K50 FPGA's. The overall operating speed is 30 kbit/s, and since up to three iterations are performed for each frame and only one decoder is used, the operating speed...

  3. High Speed Frame Synchronization and Viterbi Decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paaske, Erik; Justesen, Jørn; Larsen, Knud J.

    1996-01-01

    The purpose of Phase 1 of the study is to describe the system structure and algorithms in sufficient detail to allow drawing the high level architecture of units containing frame synchronization and Viterbi decoding. The systems we consider are high data rate space communication systems. Also...... components. Node synchronization performed within a Viterbi decoder is discussed, and algorithms for frame synchronization are described and analyzed. We present a list of system configurations that we find potentially useful. Further, the high level architecture of units that contain frame synchronization...... and various other functions needed in a complete system is presented. Two such units are described, one for placement before the Viterbi decoder and another for placement after the decoder. The high level architectures of three possible implementations of Viterbi decoders are described: The first...

  4. High Speed Frame Synchronization and Viterbi Decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paaske, Erik; Justesen, Jørn; Larsen, Knud J.

    1998-01-01

    The study has been divided into two phases. The purpose of Phase 1 of the study was to describe the system structure and algorithms in sufficient detail to allow drawing the high level architecture of units containing frame synchronization and Viterbi decoding. After selection of which specific...... potentially useful.Algorithms for frame synchronization are described and analyzed. Further, the high level architecture of units that contain frame synchronization and various other functions needed in a complete system is presented. Two such units are described, one for placement before the Viterbi decoder...... towards a realization in an FPGA.Node synchronization performed within a Viterbi decoder is discussed, and the high level architectures of three possible implementations of Viterbi decoders are described: The first implementation uses a number of commercially available decoders while the the two others...

  5. A Scalable Architecture of a Structured LDPC Decoder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jason Kwok-San; Lee, Benjamin; Thorpe, Jeremy; Andrews, Kenneth; Dolinar, Sam; Hamkins, Jon

    2004-01-01

    We present a scalable decoding architecture for a certain class of structured LDPC codes. The codes are designed using a small (n,r) protograph that is replicated Z times to produce a decoding graph for a (Z x n, Z x r) code. Using this architecture, we have implemented a decoder for a (4096,2048) LDPC code on a Xilinx Virtex-II 2000 FPGA, and achieved decoding speeds of 31 Mbps with 10 fixed iterations. The implemented message-passing algorithm uses an optimized 3-bit non-uniform quantizer that operates with 0.2dB implementation loss relative to a floating point decoder.

  6. Evaluation framework for K-best sphere decoders

    KAUST Repository

    Shen, Chungan

    2010-08-01

    While Maximum-Likelihood (ML) is the optimum decoding scheme for most communication scenarios, practical implementation difficulties limit its use, especially for Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems with a large number of transmit or receive antennas. Tree-searching type decoder structures such as Sphere decoder and K-best decoder present an interesting trade-off between complexity and performance. Many algorithmic developments and VLSI implementations have been reported in literature with widely varying performance to area and power metrics. In this semi-tutorial paper we present a holistic view of different Sphere decoding techniques and K-best decoding techniques, identifying the key algorithmic and implementation trade-offs. We establish a consistent benchmark framework to investigate and compare the delay cost, power cost, and power-delay-product cost incurred by each method. Finally, using the framework, we propose and analyze a novel architecture and compare that to other published approaches. Our goal is to explicitly elucidate the overall advantages and disadvantages of each proposed algorithms in one coherent framework. © 2010 World Scientific Publishing Company.

  7. Spatial attention in written word perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronica eMontani

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The role of attention in visual word recognition and reading aloud is a long debated issue. Studies of both developmental and acquired reading disorders provide growing evidence that spatial attention is critically involved in word reading, in particular for the phonological decoding of unfamiliar letter strings. However, studies on healthy participants have produced contrasting results. The aim of this study was to investigate how the allocation of spatial attention may influence the perception of letter strings in skilled readers. High frequency words, low frequency words and pseudowords were briefly and parafoveally presented either in the left or the right visual field. Attentional allocation was modulated by the presentation of a spatial cue before the target string. Accuracy in reporting the target string was modulated by the spatial cue but this effect varied with the type of string. For unfamiliar strings, processing was facilitated when attention was focused on the string location and hindered when it was diverted from the target. This finding is consistent the assumptions of the CDP+ model of reading aloud, as well as with familiarity sensitivity models that argue for a flexible use of attention according with the specific requirements of the string. Moreover, we found that processing of high-frequency words was facilitated by an extra-large focus of attention. The latter result is consistent with the hypothesis that a broad distribution of attention is the default mode during reading of familiar words because it might optimally engage the broad receptive fields of the highest detectors in the hierarchical system for visual word recognition.

  8. Neural signatures of attention: insights from decoding population activity patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sapountzis, Panagiotis; Gregoriou, Georgia G

    2018-01-01

    Understanding brain function and the computations that individual neurons and neuronal ensembles carry out during cognitive functions is one of the biggest challenges in neuroscientific research. To this end, invasive electrophysiological studies have provided important insights by recording the activity of single neurons in behaving animals. To average out noise, responses are typically averaged across repetitions and across neurons that are usually recorded on different days. However, the brain makes decisions on short time scales based on limited exposure to sensory stimulation by interpreting responses of populations of neurons on a moment to moment basis. Recent studies have employed machine-learning algorithms in attention and other cognitive tasks to decode the information content of distributed activity patterns across neuronal ensembles on a single trial basis. Here, we review results from studies that have used pattern-classification decoding approaches to explore the population representation of cognitive functions. These studies have offered significant insights into population coding mechanisms. Moreover, we discuss how such advances can aid the development of cognitive brain-computer interfaces.

  9. Orientation decoding: Sense in spirals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clifford, Colin W G; Mannion, Damien J

    2015-04-15

    The orientation of a visual stimulus can be successfully decoded from the multivariate pattern of fMRI activity in human visual cortex. Whether this capacity requires coarse-scale orientation biases is controversial. We and others have advocated the use of spiral stimuli to eliminate a potential coarse-scale bias-the radial bias toward local orientations that are collinear with the centre of gaze-and hence narrow down the potential coarse-scale biases that could contribute to orientation decoding. The usefulness of this strategy is challenged by the computational simulations of Carlson (2014), who reported the ability to successfully decode spirals of opposite sense (opening clockwise or counter-clockwise) from the pooled output of purportedly unbiased orientation filters. Here, we elaborate the mathematical relationship between spirals of opposite sense to confirm that they cannot be discriminated on the basis of the pooled output of unbiased or radially biased orientation filters. We then demonstrate that Carlson's (2014) reported decoding ability is consistent with the presence of inadvertent biases in the set of orientation filters; biases introduced by their digital implementation and unrelated to the brain's processing of orientation. These analyses demonstrate that spirals must be processed with an orientation bias other than the radial bias for successful decoding of spiral sense. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Comparison of single-word and adjective-noun phrase production using event-related brain potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lange, Violaine Michel

    2015-01-01

    stimuli varying in complexity -black and white line drawings, coloured line drawings, and arrays of drawings-in participants producing single nouns. Whilst naming latencies were similar for single noun production between visual stimuli conditions, ERPs differed between drawing arrays and single drawings...... in a time-window extending beyond early visual analysis. In a second experiment, different participants were asked to produce either single noun or adjective-noun dual-word phrases to black-and-white and coloured line drawings, respectively. Adjective-noun phrase production (2W) resulted in naming latencies...

  11. O2-GIDNC: Beyond instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Aboutorab, Neda

    2013-06-01

    In this paper, we are concerned with extending the graph representation of generalized instantly decodable network coding (GIDNC) to a more general opportunistic network coding (ONC) scenario, referred to as order-2 GIDNC (O2-GIDNC). In the O2-GIDNC scheme, receivers can store non-instantly decodable packets (NIDPs) comprising two of their missing packets, and use them in a systematic way for later decodings. Once this graph representation is found, it can be used to extend the GIDNC graph-based analyses to the proposed O2-GIDNC scheme with a limited increase in complexity. In the proposed O2-GIDNC scheme, the information of the stored NIDPs at the receivers and the decoding opportunities they create can be exploited to improve the broadcast completion time and decoding delay compared to traditional GIDNC scheme. The completion time and decoding delay minimizing algorithms that can operate on the new O2-GIDNC graph are further described. The simulation results show that our proposed O2-GIDNC improves the completion time and decoding delay performance of the traditional GIDNC. © 2013 IEEE.

  12. On decoding of multi-level MPSK modulation codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Shu; Gupta, Alok Kumar

    1990-01-01

    The decoding problem of multi-level block modulation codes is investigated. The hardware design of soft-decision Viterbi decoder for some short length 8-PSK block modulation codes is presented. An effective way to reduce the hardware complexity of the decoder by reducing the branch metric and path metric, using a non-uniform floating-point to integer mapping scheme, is proposed and discussed. The simulation results of the design are presented. The multi-stage decoding (MSD) of multi-level modulation codes is also investigated. The cases of soft-decision and hard-decision MSD are considered and their performance are evaluated for several codes of different lengths and different minimum squared Euclidean distances. It is shown that the soft-decision MSD reduces the decoding complexity drastically and it is suboptimum. The hard-decision MSD further simplifies the decoding while still maintaining a reasonable coding gain over the uncoded system, if the component codes are chosen properly. Finally, some basic 3-level 8-PSK modulation codes using BCH codes as component codes are constructed and their coding gains are found for hard decision multistage decoding.

  13. The Cognitive Correlates of Third-Grade Skill in Arithmetic, Algorithmic Computation, and Arithmetic Word Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, Lynn S.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Powell, Sarah R.; Seethaler, Pamela M.; Capizzi, Andrea M.; Schatschneider, Christopher; Fletcher, Jack M.

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive correlates of RD-grade skill in arithmetic, algorithmic computation, and arithmetic word problems. Third graders (N = 312) were measured on language, nonverbal problem solving, concept formation, processing speed, long-term memory, working memory, phonological decoding, and sight word…

  14. Binary Systematic Network Coding for Progressive Packet Decoding

    OpenAIRE

    Jones, Andrew L.; Chatzigeorgiou, Ioannis; Tassi, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    We consider binary systematic network codes and investigate their capability of decoding a source message either in full or in part. We carry out a probability analysis, derive closed-form expressions for the decoding probability and show that systematic network coding outperforms conventional net- work coding. We also develop an algorithm based on Gaussian elimination that allows progressive decoding of source packets. Simulation results show that the proposed decoding algorithm can achieve ...

  15. Power decoding Reed-Solomon codes up to the Johnson radius

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rosenkilde, Johan Sebastian Heesemann

    2018-01-01

    Power decoding, or "decoding using virtual interleaving" is a technique for decoding Reed-Solomon codes up to the Sudan radius. Since the method's inception, it has been an open question if it is possible to use this approach to decode up to the Johnson radius - the decoding radius of the Guruswami...

  16. Application of Beyond Bound Decoding for High Speed Optical Communications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Bomin; Larsen, Knud J.; Vegas Olmos, Juan José

    2013-01-01

    This paper studies the application of beyond bound decoding method for high speed optical communications. This hard-decision decoding method outperforms traditional minimum distance decoding method, with a total net coding gain of 10.36 dB.......This paper studies the application of beyond bound decoding method for high speed optical communications. This hard-decision decoding method outperforms traditional minimum distance decoding method, with a total net coding gain of 10.36 dB....

  17. Polar Coding with CRC-Aided List Decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-08-01

    TECHNICAL REPORT 2087 August 2015 Polar Coding with CRC-Aided List Decoding David Wasserman Approved...list decoding . RESULTS Our simulation results show that polar coding can produce results very similar to the FEC used in the Digital Video...standard. RECOMMENDATIONS In any application for which the DVB-S2 FEC is considered, polar coding with CRC-aided list decod - ing with N = 65536

  18. Codes on the Klein quartic, ideals, and decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Johan P.

    1987-01-01

    descriptions as left ideals in the group-algebra GF(2^{3})[G]. This description allows for easy decoding. For instance, in the case of the single error correcting code of length21and dimension16with minimal distance3. decoding is obtained by multiplication with an idempotent in the group algebra.......A sequence of codes with particular symmetries and with large rates compared to their minimal distances is constructed over the field GF(2^{3}). In the sequence there is, for instance, a code of length 21 and dimension10with minimal distance9, and a code of length21and dimension16with minimal...... distance3. The codes are constructed from algebraic geometry using the dictionary between coding theory and algebraic curves over finite fields established by Goppa. The curve used in the present work is the Klein quartic. This curve has the maximal number of rational points over GF(2^{3})allowed by Serre...

  19. LDPC decoder with a limited-precision FPGA-based floating-point multiplication coprocessor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moberly, Raymond; O'Sullivan, Michael; Waheed, Khurram

    2007-09-01

    Implementing the sum-product algorithm, in an FPGA with an embedded processor, invites us to consider a tradeoff between computational precision and computational speed. The algorithm, known outside of the signal processing community as Pearl's belief propagation, is used for iterative soft-decision decoding of LDPC codes. We determined the feasibility of a coprocessor that will perform product computations. Our FPGA-based coprocessor (design) performs computer algebra with significantly less precision than the standard (e.g. integer, floating-point) operations of general purpose processors. Using synthesis, targeting a 3,168 LUT Xilinx FPGA, we show that key components of a decoder are feasible and that the full single-precision decoder could be constructed using a larger part. Soft-decision decoding by the iterative belief propagation algorithm is impacted both positively and negatively by a reduction in the precision of the computation. Reducing precision reduces the coding gain, but the limited-precision computation can operate faster. A proposed solution offers custom logic to perform computations with less precision, yet uses the floating-point format to interface with the software. Simulation results show the achievable coding gain. Synthesis results help theorize the the full capacity and performance of an FPGA-based coprocessor.

  20. A Tensor-Product-Kernel Framework for Multiscale Neural Activity Decoding and Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Lin; Brockmeier, Austin J.; Choi, John S.; Francis, Joseph T.; Sanchez, Justin C.; Príncipe, José C.

    2014-01-01

    Brain machine interfaces (BMIs) have attracted intense attention as a promising technology for directly interfacing computers or prostheses with the brain's motor and sensory areas, thereby bypassing the body. The availability of multiscale neural recordings including spike trains and local field potentials (LFPs) brings potential opportunities to enhance computational modeling by enriching the characterization of the neural system state. However, heterogeneity on data type (spike timing versus continuous amplitude signals) and spatiotemporal scale complicates the model integration of multiscale neural activity. In this paper, we propose a tensor-product-kernel-based framework to integrate the multiscale activity and exploit the complementary information available in multiscale neural activity. This provides a common mathematical framework for incorporating signals from different domains. The approach is applied to the problem of neural decoding and control. For neural decoding, the framework is able to identify the nonlinear functional relationship between the multiscale neural responses and the stimuli using general purpose kernel adaptive filtering. In a sensory stimulation experiment, the tensor-product-kernel decoder outperforms decoders that use only a single neural data type. In addition, an adaptive inverse controller for delivering electrical microstimulation patterns that utilizes the tensor-product kernel achieves promising results in emulating the responses to natural stimulation. PMID:24829569

  1. Image Captioning with Word Gate and Adaptive Self-Critical Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinxin Zhu

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Although the policy-gradient methods for reinforcement learning have shown significant improvement in image captioning, how to achieve high performance during the reinforcement optimizing process is still not a simple task. There are at least two difficulties: (1 The large size of vocabulary leads to a large action space, which makes it difficult for the model to accurately predict the current word. (2 The large variance of gradient estimation in reinforcement learning usually causes severe instabilities in the training process. In this paper, we propose two innovations to boost the performance of self-critical sequence training (SCST. First, we modify the standard long short-term memory (LSTMbased decoder by introducing a gate function to reduce the search scope of the vocabulary for any given image, which is termed the word gate decoder. Second, instead of only considering current maximum actions greedily, we propose a stabilized gradient estimation method whose gradient variance is controlled by the difference between the sampling reward from the current model and the expectation of the historical reward. We conducted extensive experiments, and results showed that our method could accelerate the training process and increase the prediction accuracy. Our method was validated on MS COCO datasets and yielded state-of-the-art performance.

  2. Decoding of concatenated codes with interleaved outer codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justesen, Jørn; Høholdt, Tom; Thommesen, Christian

    2004-01-01

    Recently Bleichenbacher et al. proposed a decoding algorithm for interleaved (N, K) Reed-Solomon codes, which allows close to N-K errors to be corrected in many cases. We discuss the application of this decoding algorithm to concatenated codes.......Recently Bleichenbacher et al. proposed a decoding algorithm for interleaved (N, K) Reed-Solomon codes, which allows close to N-K errors to be corrected in many cases. We discuss the application of this decoding algorithm to concatenated codes....

  3. Image transmission system using adaptive joint source and channel decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Weiliang; Daut, David G.

    2005-03-01

    In this paper, an adaptive joint source and channel decoding method is designed to accelerate the convergence of the iterative log-dimain sum-product decoding procedure of LDPC codes as well as to improve the reconstructed image quality. Error resilience modes are used in the JPEG2000 source codec, which makes it possible to provide useful source decoded information to the channel decoder. After each iteration, a tentative decoding is made and the channel decoded bits are then sent to the JPEG2000 decoder. Due to the error resilience modes, some bits are known to be either correct or in error. The positions of these bits are then fed back to the channel decoder. The log-likelihood ratios (LLR) of these bits are then modified by a weighting factor for the next iteration. By observing the statistics of the decoding procedure, the weighting factor is designed as a function of the channel condition. That is, for lower channel SNR, a larger factor is assigned, and vice versa. Results show that the proposed joint decoding methods can greatly reduce the number of iterations, and thereby reduce the decoding delay considerably. At the same time, this method always outperforms the non-source controlled decoding method up to 5dB in terms of PSNR for various reconstructed images.

  4. Iterative channel decoding of FEC-based multiple-description codes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Seok-Ho; Cosman, Pamela C; Milstein, Laurence B

    2012-03-01

    Multiple description coding has been receiving attention as a robust transmission framework for multimedia services. This paper studies the iterative decoding of FEC-based multiple description codes. The proposed decoding algorithms take advantage of the error detection capability of Reed-Solomon (RS) erasure codes. The information of correctly decoded RS codewords is exploited to enhance the error correction capability of the Viterbi algorithm at the next iteration of decoding. In the proposed algorithm, an intradescription interleaver is synergistically combined with the iterative decoder. The interleaver does not affect the performance of noniterative decoding but greatly enhances the performance when the system is iteratively decoded. We also address the optimal allocation of RS parity symbols for unequal error protection. For the optimal allocation in iterative decoding, we derive mathematical equations from which the probability distributions of description erasures can be generated in a simple way. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated over an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system. The results show that the performance of the multiple description codes is significantly enhanced.

  5. Modified Decoding Algorithm of LLR-SPA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongxun Wang

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In wireless sensor networks, the energy consumption is mainly occurred in the stage of information transmission. The Low Density Parity Check code can make full use of the channel information to save energy. Because of the widely used decoding algorithm of the Low Density Parity Check code, this paper proposes a new decoding algorithm which is based on the LLR-SPA (Sum-Product Algorithm in Log-Likelihood-domain to improve the accuracy of the decoding algorithm. In the modified algorithm, a piecewise linear function is used to approximate the complicated Jacobi correction term in LLR-SPA decoding algorithm. Construct the tangent by the tangency point to the function of Jacobi correction term, which is based on the first order Taylor Series. In this way, the proposed piecewise linear approximation offers almost a perfect match to the function of Jacobi correction term. Meanwhile, the proposed piecewise linear approximation could avoid the operation of logarithmic which is more suitable for practical application. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm could improve the decoding accuracy greatly without noticeable variation of the computational complexity.

  6. Real-time minimal-bit-error probability decoding of convolutional codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, L.-N.

    1974-01-01

    A recursive procedure is derived for decoding of rate R = 1/n binary convolutional codes which minimizes the probability of the individual decoding decisions for each information bit, subject to the constraint that the decoding delay be limited to Delta branches. This new decoding algorithm is similar to, but somewhat more complex than, the Viterbi decoding algorithm. A real-time, i.e., fixed decoding delay, version of the Viterbi algorithm is also developed and used for comparison to the new algorithm on simulated channels. It is shown that the new algorithm offers advantages over Viterbi decoding in soft-decision applications, such as in the inner coding system for concatenated coding.

  7. Real-time minimal bit error probability decoding of convolutional codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, L. N.

    1973-01-01

    A recursive procedure is derived for decoding of rate R=1/n binary convolutional codes which minimizes the probability of the individual decoding decisions for each information bit subject to the constraint that the decoding delay be limited to Delta branches. This new decoding algorithm is similar to, but somewhat more complex than, the Viterbi decoding algorithm. A real-time, i.e. fixed decoding delay, version of the Viterbi algorithm is also developed and used for comparison to the new algorithm on simulated channels. It is shown that the new algorithm offers advantages over Viterbi decoding in soft-decision applications such as in the inner coding system for concatenated coding.

  8. Population coding and decoding in a neural field: a computational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Si; Amari, Shun-Ichi; Nakahara, Hiroyuki

    2002-05-01

    This study uses a neural field model to investigate computational aspects of population coding and decoding when the stimulus is a single variable. A general prototype model for the encoding process is proposed, in which neural responses are correlated, with strength specified by a gaussian function of their difference in preferred stimuli. Based on the model, we study the effect of correlation on the Fisher information, compare the performances of three decoding methods that differ in the amount of encoding information being used, and investigate the implementation of the three methods by using a recurrent network. This study not only rediscovers main results in existing literatures in a unified way, but also reveals important new features, especially when the neural correlation is strong. As the neural correlation of firing becomes larger, the Fisher information decreases drastically. We confirm that as the width of correlation increases, the Fisher information saturates and no longer increases in proportion to the number of neurons. However, we prove that as the width increases further--wider than (sqrt)2 times the effective width of the turning function--the Fisher information increases again, and it increases without limit in proportion to the number of neurons. Furthermore, we clarify the asymptotic efficiency of the maximum likelihood inference (MLI) type of decoding methods for correlated neural signals. It shows that when the correlation covers a nonlocal range of population (excepting the uniform correlation and when the noise is extremely small), the MLI type of method, whose decoding error satisfies the Cauchy-type distribution, is not asymptotically efficient. This implies that the variance is no longer adequate to measure decoding accuracy.

  9. Direct migration motion estimation and mode decision to decoder for a low-complexity decoder Wyner-Ziv video coding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Ted Chih-Wei; Tseng, Fan-Shuo

    2017-07-01

    This paper addresses the problem of high-computational complexity decoding in traditional Wyner-Ziv video coding (WZVC). The key focus is the migration of two traditionally high-computationally complex encoder algorithms, namely motion estimation and mode decision. In order to reduce the computational burden in this process, the proposed architecture adopts the partial boundary matching algorithm and four flexible types of block mode decision at the decoder. This approach does away with the need for motion estimation and mode decision at the encoder. The experimental results show that the proposed padding block-based WZVC not only decreases decoder complexity to approximately one hundredth that of the state-of-the-art DISCOVER decoding but also outperforms DISCOVER codec by up to 3 to 4 dB.

  10. Decoding Speech With Integrated Hybrid Signals Recorded From the Human Ventral Motor Cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenji Ibayashi

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Restoration of speech communication for locked-in patients by means of brain computer interfaces (BCIs is currently an important area of active research. Among the neural signals obtained from intracranial recordings, single/multi-unit activity (SUA/MUA, local field potential (LFP, and electrocorticography (ECoG are good candidates for an input signal for BCIs. However, the question of which signal or which combination of the three signal modalities is best suited for decoding speech production remains unverified. In order to record SUA, LFP, and ECoG simultaneously from a highly localized area of human ventral sensorimotor cortex (vSMC, we fabricated an electrode the size of which was 7 by 13 mm containing sparsely arranged microneedle and conventional macro contacts. We determined which signal modality is the most capable of decoding speech production, and tested if the combination of these signals could improve the decoding accuracy of spoken phonemes. Feature vectors were constructed from spike frequency obtained from SUAs and event-related spectral perturbation derived from ECoG and LFP signals, then input to the decoder. The results showed that the decoding accuracy for five spoken vowels was highest when features from multiple signals were combined and optimized for each subject, and reached 59% when averaged across all six subjects. This result suggests that multi-scale signals convey complementary information for speech articulation. The current study demonstrated that simultaneous recording of multi-scale neuronal activities could raise decoding accuracy even though the recording area is limited to a small portion of cortex, which is advantageous for future implementation of speech-assisting BCIs.

  11. Study of bifurcation behavior of two-dimensional turbo product code decoders

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Yejun; Lau, Francis C.M.; Tse, Chi K.

    2008-01-01

    Turbo codes, low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and turbo product codes (TPCs) are high performance error-correction codes which employ iterative algorithms for decoding. Under different conditions, the behaviors of the decoders are different. While the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of turbo code decoders and LDPC decoders have been reported in the literature, the dynamical behavior of TPC decoders is relatively unexplored. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of the iterative algorithm of a two-dimensional TPC decoder when the input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) varies. The quantity to be measured is the mean square value of the posterior probabilities of the information bits. Unlike turbo decoders or LDPC decoders, TPC decoders do not produce a clear 'waterfall region'. This is mainly because the TPC decoding algorithm does not converge to 'indecisive' fixed points even at very low SNR values

  12. Architecture for time or transform domain decoding of reed-solomon codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Howard M. (Inventor); Truong, Trieu-Kie (Inventor); Hsu, In-Shek (Inventor); Deutsch, Leslie J. (Inventor)

    1989-01-01

    Two pipeline (255,233) RS decoders, one a time domain decoder and the other a transform domain decoder, use the same first part to develop an errata locator polynomial .tau.(x), and an errata evaluator polynominal A(x). Both the time domain decoder and transform domain decoder have a modified GCD that uses an input multiplexer and an output demultiplexer to reduce the number of GCD cells required. The time domain decoder uses a Chien search and polynomial evaluator on the GCD outputs .tau.(x) and A(x), for the final decoding steps, while the transform domain decoder uses a transform error pattern algorithm operating on .tau.(x) and the initial syndrome computation S(x), followed by an inverse transform algorithm in sequence for the final decoding steps prior to adding the received RS coded message to produce a decoded output message.

  13. Distinct neural patterns enable grasp types decoding in monkey dorsal premotor cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Yaoyao; Zhang, Qiaosheng; Controzzi, Marco; Cipriani, Christian; Li, Yue; Li, Juncheng; Zhang, Shaomin; Wang, Yiwen; Chen, Weidong; Chiara Carrozza, Maria; Zheng, Xiaoxiang

    2014-12-01

    Objective. Recent studies have shown that dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), a cortical area in the dorsomedial grasp pathway, is involved in grasp movements. However, the neural ensemble firing property of PMd during grasp movements and the extent to which it can be used for grasp decoding are still unclear. Approach. To address these issues, we used multielectrode arrays to record both spike and local field potential (LFP) signals in PMd in macaque monkeys performing reaching and grasping of one of four differently shaped objects. Main results. Single and population neuronal activity showed distinct patterns during execution of different grip types. Cluster analysis of neural ensemble signals indicated that the grasp related patterns emerged soon (200-300 ms) after the go cue signal, and faded away during the hold period. The timing and duration of the patterns varied depending on the behaviors of individual monkey. Application of support vector machine model to stable activity patterns revealed classification accuracies of 94% and 89% for each of the two monkeys, indicating a robust, decodable grasp pattern encoded in the PMd. Grasp decoding using LFPs, especially the high-frequency bands, also produced high decoding accuracies. Significance. This study is the first to specify the neuronal population encoding of grasp during the time course of grasp. We demonstrate high grasp decoding performance in PMd. These findings, combined with previous evidence for reach related modulation studies, suggest that PMd may play an important role in generation and maintenance of grasp action and may be a suitable locus for brain-machine interface applications.

  14. Spatial attention in written word perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montani, Veronica; Facoetti, Andrea; Zorzi, Marco

    2014-01-01

    The role of attention in visual word recognition and reading aloud is a long debated issue. Studies of both developmental and acquired reading disorders provide growing evidence that spatial attention is critically involved in word reading, in particular for the phonological decoding of unfamiliar letter strings. However, studies on healthy participants have produced contrasting results. The aim of this study was to investigate how the allocation of spatial attention may influence the perception of letter strings in skilled readers. High frequency words (HFWs), low frequency words and pseudowords were briefly and parafoveally presented either in the left or the right visual field. Attentional allocation was modulated by the presentation of a spatial cue before the target string. Accuracy in reporting the target string was modulated by the spatial cue but this effect varied with the type of string. For unfamiliar strings, processing was facilitated when attention was focused on the string location and hindered when it was diverted from the target. This finding is consistent the assumptions of the CDP+ model of reading aloud, as well as with familiarity sensitivity models that argue for a flexible use of attention according with the specific requirements of the string. Moreover, we found that processing of HFWs was facilitated by an extra-large focus of attention. The latter result is consistent with the hypothesis that a broad distribution of attention is the default mode during reading of familiar words because it might optimally engage the broad receptive fields of the highest detectors in the hierarchical system for visual word recognition.

  15. Neural Correlates of Task-Irrelevant First and Second Language Emotion Words — Evidence from the Face-Word Stroop Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Fan

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Emotionally valenced words have thus far not been empirically examined in a bilingual population with the emotional face-word Stroop paradigm. Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to identify the facial expressions of emotion with their first (L1 or second (L2 language task-irrelevant emotion words superimposed on the face pictures. We attempted to examine how the emotional content of words modulates behavioral performance and cerebral functioning in the bilinguals’ two languages. The results indicated that there were significant congruency effects for both L1 and L2 emotion words, and that identifiable differences in the magnitude of Stroop effect between the two languages were also observed, suggesting L1 is more capable of activating the emotional response to word stimuli. For event-related potentials (ERPs data, an N350-550 effect was observed only in L1 task with greater negativity for incongruent than congruent trials. The size of N350-550 effect differed across languages, whereas no identifiable language distinction was observed in the effect of conflict slow potential (conflict SP. Finally, more pronounced negative amplitude at 230-330 ms was observed in L1 than in L2, but only for incongruent trials. This negativity, likened to an orthographic decoding N250, may reflect the extent of attention to emotion word processing at word-form level, while N350-550 reflects a complicated set of processes in the conflict processing. Overall, the face-word congruency effect has reflected identifiable language distinction at 230-330 and 350-550 ms, which provides supporting evidence for the theoretical proposals assuming attenuated emotionality of L2 processing.

  16. Decoding subjective mental states from fMRI activity patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamaki, Masako; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

    2011-01-01

    In recent years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) decoding has emerged as a powerful tool to read out detailed stimulus features from multi-voxel brain activity patterns. Moreover, the method has been extended to perform a primitive form of 'mind-reading,' by applying a decoder 'objectively' trained using stimulus features to more 'subjective' conditions. In this paper, we first introduce basic procedures for fMRI decoding based on machine learning techniques. Second, we discuss the source of information used for decoding, in particular, the possibility of extracting information from subvoxel neural structures. We next introduce two experimental designs for decoding subjective mental states: the 'objective-to-subjective design' and the 'subjective-to-subjective design.' Then, we illustrate recent studies on the decoding of a variety of mental states, such as, attention, awareness, decision making, memory, and mental imagery. Finally, we discuss the challenges and new directions of fMRI decoding. (author)

  17. Study of bifurcation behavior of two-dimensional turbo product code decoders

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    He Yejun [Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Hong Kong (China); Lau, Francis C.M. [Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Hong Kong (China)], E-mail: encmlau@polyu.edu.hk; Tse, Chi K. [Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Hong Kong (China)

    2008-04-15

    Turbo codes, low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and turbo product codes (TPCs) are high performance error-correction codes which employ iterative algorithms for decoding. Under different conditions, the behaviors of the decoders are different. While the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of turbo code decoders and LDPC decoders have been reported in the literature, the dynamical behavior of TPC decoders is relatively unexplored. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of the iterative algorithm of a two-dimensional TPC decoder when the input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) varies. The quantity to be measured is the mean square value of the posterior probabilities of the information bits. Unlike turbo decoders or LDPC decoders, TPC decoders do not produce a clear 'waterfall region'. This is mainly because the TPC decoding algorithm does not converge to 'indecisive' fixed points even at very low SNR values.

  18. Interpolation decoding method with variable parameters for fractal image compression

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Chuanjiang; Li Gaoping; Shen Xiaona

    2007-01-01

    The interpolation fractal decoding method, which is introduced by [He C, Yang SX, Huang X. Progressive decoding method for fractal image compression. IEE Proc Vis Image Signal Process 2004;3:207-13], involves generating progressively the decoded image by means of an interpolation iterative procedure with a constant parameter. It is well-known that the majority of image details are added at the first steps of iterations in the conventional fractal decoding; hence the constant parameter for the interpolation decoding method must be set as a smaller value in order to achieve a better progressive decoding. However, it needs to take an extremely large number of iterations to converge. It is thus reasonable for some applications to slow down the iterative process at the first stages of decoding and then to accelerate it afterwards (e.g., at some iteration as we need). To achieve the goal, this paper proposed an interpolation decoding scheme with variable (iteration-dependent) parameters and proved the convergence of the decoding process mathematically. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme has really achieved the above-mentioned goal

  19. Sub-quadratic decoding of one-point hermitian codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Johan Sebastian Rosenkilde; Beelen, Peter

    2015-01-01

    We present the first two sub-quadratic complexity decoding algorithms for one-point Hermitian codes. The first is based on a fast realization of the Guruswami-Sudan algorithm using state-of-the-art algorithms from computer algebra for polynomial-ring matrix minimization. The second is a power...... decoding algorithm: an extension of classical key equation decoding which gives a probabilistic decoding algorithm up to the Sudan radius. We show how the resulting key equations can be solved by the matrix minimization algorithms from computer algebra, yielding similar asymptotic complexities....

  20. SWIPT in Multiuser MIMO Decode-and-Forward Relay Broadcasting Channel with Energy Harvesting Relays

    KAUST Repository

    Benkhelifa, Fatma; Salem, Ahmed Sultan; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we consider a multiuser multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO) decode-and-forward (DF) relay broadcasting channel (BC) with single source, multiple energy harvesting relays and multiple destinations. Since the end-to-end sum rate

  1. Dynamics of intracellular information decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Tetsuya J; Kamimura, Atsushi

    2011-10-01

    A variety of cellular functions are robust even to substantial intrinsic and extrinsic noise in intracellular reactions and the environment that could be strong enough to impair or limit them. In particular, of substantial importance is cellular decision-making in which a cell chooses a fate or behavior on the basis of information conveyed in noisy external signals. For robust decoding, the crucial step is filtering out the noise inevitably added during information transmission. As a minimal and optimal implementation of such an information decoding process, the autocatalytic phosphorylation and autocatalytic dephosphorylation (aPadP) cycle was recently proposed. Here, we analyze the dynamical properties of the aPadP cycle in detail. We describe the dynamical roles of the stationary and short-term responses in determining the efficiency of information decoding and clarify the optimality of the threshold value of the stationary response and its information-theoretical meaning. Furthermore, we investigate the robustness of the aPadP cycle against the receptor inactivation time and intrinsic noise. Finally, we discuss the relationship among information decoding with information-dependent actions, bet-hedging and network modularity.

  2. Dynamics of intracellular information decoding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Tetsuya J; Kamimura, Atsushi

    2011-01-01

    A variety of cellular functions are robust even to substantial intrinsic and extrinsic noise in intracellular reactions and the environment that could be strong enough to impair or limit them. In particular, of substantial importance is cellular decision-making in which a cell chooses a fate or behavior on the basis of information conveyed in noisy external signals. For robust decoding, the crucial step is filtering out the noise inevitably added during information transmission. As a minimal and optimal implementation of such an information decoding process, the autocatalytic phosphorylation and autocatalytic dephosphorylation (aPadP) cycle was recently proposed. Here, we analyze the dynamical properties of the aPadP cycle in detail. We describe the dynamical roles of the stationary and short-term responses in determining the efficiency of information decoding and clarify the optimality of the threshold value of the stationary response and its information-theoretical meaning. Furthermore, we investigate the robustness of the aPadP cycle against the receptor inactivation time and intrinsic noise. Finally, we discuss the relationship among information decoding with information-dependent actions, bet-hedging and network modularity

  3. Performance breakdown in optimal stimulus decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lubomir Kostal; Lansky, Petr; Pilarski, Stevan

    2015-06-01

    One of the primary goals of neuroscience is to understand how neurons encode and process information about their environment. The problem is often approached indirectly by examining the degree to which the neuronal response reflects the stimulus feature of interest. In this context, the methods of signal estimation and detection theory provide the theoretical limits on the decoding accuracy with which the stimulus can be identified. The Cramér-Rao lower bound on the decoding precision is widely used, since it can be evaluated easily once the mathematical model of the stimulus-response relationship is determined. However, little is known about the behavior of different decoding schemes with respect to the bound if the neuronal population size is limited. We show that under broad conditions the optimal decoding displays a threshold-like shift in performance in dependence on the population size. The onset of the threshold determines a critical range where a small increment in size, signal-to-noise ratio or observation time yields a dramatic gain in the decoding precision. We demonstrate the existence of such threshold regions in early auditory and olfactory information coding. We discuss the origin of the threshold effect and its impact on the design of effective coding approaches in terms of relevant population size.

  4. Auditory comprehension: from the voice up to the single word level

    OpenAIRE

    Jones, Anna Barbara

    2016-01-01

    Auditory comprehension, the ability to understand spoken language, consists of a number of different auditory processing skills. In the five studies presented in this thesis I investigated both intact and impaired auditory comprehension at different levels: voice versus phoneme perception, as well as single word auditory comprehension in terms of phonemic and semantic content. In the first study, using sounds from different continua of ‘male’-/pæ/ to ‘female’-/tæ/ and ‘male’...

  5. Real-time SHVC software decoding with multi-threaded parallel processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gudumasu, Srinivas; He, Yuwen; Ye, Yan; He, Yong; Ryu, Eun-Seok; Dong, Jie; Xiu, Xiaoyu

    2014-09-01

    This paper proposes a parallel decoding framework for scalable HEVC (SHVC). Various optimization technologies are implemented on the basis of SHVC reference software SHM-2.0 to achieve real-time decoding speed for the two layer spatial scalability configuration. SHVC decoder complexity is analyzed with profiling information. The decoding process at each layer and the up-sampling process are designed in parallel and scheduled by a high level application task manager. Within each layer, multi-threaded decoding is applied to accelerate the layer decoding speed. Entropy decoding, reconstruction, and in-loop processing are pipeline designed with multiple threads based on groups of coding tree units (CTU). A group of CTUs is treated as a processing unit in each pipeline stage to achieve a better trade-off between parallelism and synchronization. Motion compensation, inverse quantization, and inverse transform modules are further optimized with SSE4 SIMD instructions. Simulations on a desktop with an Intel i7 processor 2600 running at 3.4 GHz show that the parallel SHVC software decoder is able to decode 1080p spatial 2x at up to 60 fps (frames per second) and 1080p spatial 1.5x at up to 50 fps for those bitstreams generated with SHVC common test conditions in the JCT-VC standardization group. The decoding performance at various bitrates with different optimization technologies and different numbers of threads are compared in terms of decoding speed and resource usage, including processor and memory.

  6. High-throughput GPU-based LDPC decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yang-Lang; Chang, Cheng-Chun; Huang, Min-Yu; Huang, Bormin

    2010-08-01

    Low-density parity-check (LDPC) code is a linear block code known to approach the Shannon limit via the iterative sum-product algorithm. LDPC codes have been adopted in most current communication systems such as DVB-S2, WiMAX, WI-FI and 10GBASE-T. LDPC for the needs of reliable and flexible communication links for a wide variety of communication standards and configurations have inspired the demand for high-performance and flexibility computing. Accordingly, finding a fast and reconfigurable developing platform for designing the high-throughput LDPC decoder has become important especially for rapidly changing communication standards and configurations. In this paper, a new graphic-processing-unit (GPU) LDPC decoding platform with the asynchronous data transfer is proposed to realize this practical implementation. Experimental results showed that the proposed GPU-based decoder achieved 271x speedup compared to its CPU-based counterpart. It can serve as a high-throughput LDPC decoder.

  7. Cortical Decoding of Individual Finger and Wrist Kinematics for an Upper-Limb Neuroprosthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aggarwal, Vikram; Tenore, Francesco; Acharya, Soumyadipta; Schieber, Marc H.; Thakor, Nitish V.

    2010-01-01

    Previous research has shown that neuronal activity can be used to continuously decode the kinematics of gross movements involving arm and hand trajectory. However, decoding the kinematics of fine motor movements, such as the manipulation of individual fingers, has not been demonstrated. In this study, single unit activities were recorded from task-related neurons in M1 of two trained rhesus monkey as they performed individuated movements of the fingers and wrist. The primates’ hand was placed in a manipulandum, and strain gauges at the tips of each finger were used to track the digit’s position. Both linear and non-linear filters were designed to simultaneously predict kinematics of each digit and the wrist, and their performance compared using mean squared error and correlation coefficients. All models had high decoding accuracy, but the feedforward ANN (R=0.76–0.86, MSE=0.04–0.05) and Kalman filter (R=0.68–0.86, MSE=0.04–0.07) performed better than a simple linear regression filter (0.58–0.81, 0.05–0.07). These results suggest that individual finger and wrist kinematics can be decoded with high accuracy, and be used to control a multi-fingered prosthetic hand in real-time. PMID:19964645

  8. Greater pre-stimulus effective connectivity from the left inferior frontal area to other areas is associated with better phonological decoding in dyslexic readers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard E Frye

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Functional neuroimaging studies suggest that neural networks that subserve reading are organized differently in dyslexic readers (DRs and typical readers (TRs, yet the hierarchical structure of these networks has not been well studied. We used Granger Causality (GC to examine the effective connectivity of the preparatory network that occurs prior to viewing a non-word stimulus that requires phonological decoding in 7 DRs and 10 TRs who were young adults. The neuromagnetic activity that occurred 500 ms prior to each rhyme trial was analyzed from sensors overlying the left and right inferior frontal areas (IFA, temporoparietal areas (TPA, and ventral occipitotemporal areas (VOTA within the low, medium, and high beta and gamma sub-bands. A mixed-model analysis determined whether connectivity to or from the left and right IFAs differed across connectivity direction (into vs. out of the IFAs, brain areas, reading group, and/or performance. Results indicated that greater connectivity in the low beta sub-band from the left IFA to other cortical areas was significantly related to better non-word rhyme discrimination in DRs but not TRs. This suggests that the left IFA is an important cortical area involved in compensating for poor phonological function in DRs. We suggest that the left IFA activates a wider-than usual network prior to each trial in the service of supporting otherwise effortful phonological decoding in DRs. The fact that the left IFA provides top-down activation to both posterior left hemispheres areas used by typical readers for phonological decoding and homologous right hemisphere areas is discussed. In contrast, within the high gamma sub-band, better performance was associated with decreased connectivity between the left IFA and other brain areas, in both reading groups. Overly strong gamma connectivity during the pre-stimulus period may interfere with subsequent transient activation and deactivation of sub-networks once the non-word

  9. Neuroprosthetic Decoder Training as Imitation Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merel, Josh; Carlson, David; Paninski, Liam; Cunningham, John P

    2016-05-01

    Neuroprosthetic brain-computer interfaces function via an algorithm which decodes neural activity of the user into movements of an end effector, such as a cursor or robotic arm. In practice, the decoder is often learned by updating its parameters while the user performs a task. When the user's intention is not directly observable, recent methods have demonstrated value in training the decoder against a surrogate for the user's intended movement. Here we show that training a decoder in this way is a novel variant of an imitation learning problem, where an oracle or expert is employed for supervised training in lieu of direct observations, which are not available. Specifically, we describe how a generic imitation learning meta-algorithm, dataset aggregation (DAgger), can be adapted to train a generic brain-computer interface. By deriving existing learning algorithms for brain-computer interfaces in this framework, we provide a novel analysis of regret (an important metric of learning efficacy) for brain-computer interfaces. This analysis allows us to characterize the space of algorithmic variants and bounds on their regret rates. Existing approaches for decoder learning have been performed in the cursor control setting, but the available design principles for these decoders are such that it has been impossible to scale them to naturalistic settings. Leveraging our findings, we then offer an algorithm that combines imitation learning with optimal control, which should allow for training of arbitrary effectors for which optimal control can generate goal-oriented control. We demonstrate this novel and general BCI algorithm with simulated neuroprosthetic control of a 26 degree-of-freedom model of an arm, a sophisticated and realistic end effector.

  10. Neuroprosthetic Decoder Training as Imitation Learning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josh Merel

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Neuroprosthetic brain-computer interfaces function via an algorithm which decodes neural activity of the user into movements of an end effector, such as a cursor or robotic arm. In practice, the decoder is often learned by updating its parameters while the user performs a task. When the user's intention is not directly observable, recent methods have demonstrated value in training the decoder against a surrogate for the user's intended movement. Here we show that training a decoder in this way is a novel variant of an imitation learning problem, where an oracle or expert is employed for supervised training in lieu of direct observations, which are not available. Specifically, we describe how a generic imitation learning meta-algorithm, dataset aggregation (DAgger, can be adapted to train a generic brain-computer interface. By deriving existing learning algorithms for brain-computer interfaces in this framework, we provide a novel analysis of regret (an important metric of learning efficacy for brain-computer interfaces. This analysis allows us to characterize the space of algorithmic variants and bounds on their regret rates. Existing approaches for decoder learning have been performed in the cursor control setting, but the available design principles for these decoders are such that it has been impossible to scale them to naturalistic settings. Leveraging our findings, we then offer an algorithm that combines imitation learning with optimal control, which should allow for training of arbitrary effectors for which optimal control can generate goal-oriented control. We demonstrate this novel and general BCI algorithm with simulated neuroprosthetic control of a 26 degree-of-freedom model of an arm, a sophisticated and realistic end effector.

  11. Iterative List Decoding of Concatenated Source-Channel Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hedayat Ahmadreza

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Whenever variable-length entropy codes are used in the presence of a noisy channel, any channel errors will propagate and cause significant harm. Despite using channel codes, some residual errors always remain, whose effect will get magnified by error propagation. Mitigating this undesirable effect is of great practical interest. One approach is to use the residual redundancy of variable length codes for joint source-channel decoding. In this paper, we improve the performance of residual redundancy source-channel decoding via an iterative list decoder made possible by a nonbinary outer CRC code. We show that the list decoding of VLC's is beneficial for entropy codes that contain redundancy. Such codes are used in state-of-the-art video coders, for example. The proposed list decoder improves the overall performance significantly in AWGN and fully interleaved Rayleigh fading channels.

  12. Decoding face information in time, frequency and space from direct intracranial recordings of the human brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naotsugu Tsuchiya

    Full Text Available Faces are processed by a neural system with distributed anatomical components, but the roles of these components remain unclear. A dominant theory of face perception postulates independent representations of invariant aspects of faces (e.g., identity in ventral temporal cortex including the fusiform gyrus, and changeable aspects of faces (e.g., emotion in lateral temporal cortex including the superior temporal sulcus. Here we recorded neuronal activity directly from the cortical surface in 9 neurosurgical subjects undergoing epilepsy monitoring while they viewed static and dynamic facial expressions. Applying novel decoding analyses to the power spectrogram of electrocorticograms (ECoG from over 100 contacts in ventral and lateral temporal cortex, we found better representation of both invariant and changeable aspects of faces in ventral than lateral temporal cortex. Critical information for discriminating faces from geometric patterns was carried by power modulations between 50 to 150 Hz. For both static and dynamic face stimuli, we obtained a higher decoding performance in ventral than lateral temporal cortex. For discriminating fearful from happy expressions, critical information was carried by power modulation between 60-150 Hz and below 30 Hz, and again better decoded in ventral than lateral temporal cortex. Task-relevant attention improved decoding accuracy more than 10% across a wide frequency range in ventral but not at all in lateral temporal cortex. Spatial searchlight decoding showed that decoding performance was highest around the middle fusiform gyrus. Finally, we found that the right hemisphere, in general, showed superior decoding to the left hemisphere. Taken together, our results challenge the dominant model for independent face representation of invariant and changeable aspects: information about both face attributes was better decoded from a single region in the middle fusiform gyrus.

  13. On Lattice Sequential Decoding for The Unconstrained AWGN Channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2013-01-01

    channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the \\textit{lattice decoder}. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement

  14. Performance-complexity tradeoff in sequential decoding for the unconstrained AWGN channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid

    2013-06-01

    In this paper, the performance limits and the computational complexity of the lattice sequential decoder are analyzed for the unconstrained additive white Gaussian noise channel. The performance analysis available in the literature for such a channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the lattice decoder. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement, and the search for low complexity receivers for the detection of lattice codes is considered a challenging problem. However, the low computational complexity advantage that sequential decoding promises, makes it an alternative solution to the lattice decoder. In this work, we characterize the performance and complexity tradeoff via the error exponent and the decoding complexity, respectively, of such a decoder as a function of the decoding parameter - the bias term. For the above channel, we derive the cut-off volume-to-noise ratio that is required to achieve a good error performance with low decoding complexity. © 2013 IEEE.

  15. Singer product apertures—A coded aperture system with a fast decoding algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byard, Kevin; Shutler, Paul M.E.

    2017-01-01

    A new type of coded aperture configuration that enables fast decoding of the coded aperture shadowgram data is presented. Based on the products of incidence vectors generated from the Singer difference sets, we call these Singer product apertures. For a range of aperture dimensions, we compare experimentally the performance of three decoding methods: standard decoding, induction decoding and direct vector decoding. In all cases the induction and direct vector methods are several orders of magnitude faster than the standard method, with direct vector decoding being significantly faster than induction decoding. For apertures of the same dimensions the increase in speed offered by direct vector decoding over induction decoding is better for lower throughput apertures.

  16. Singer product apertures—A coded aperture system with a fast decoding algorithm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Byard, Kevin, E-mail: kevin.byard@aut.ac.nz [School of Economics, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1142 (New Zealand); Shutler, Paul M.E. [National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616 (Singapore)

    2017-06-01

    A new type of coded aperture configuration that enables fast decoding of the coded aperture shadowgram data is presented. Based on the products of incidence vectors generated from the Singer difference sets, we call these Singer product apertures. For a range of aperture dimensions, we compare experimentally the performance of three decoding methods: standard decoding, induction decoding and direct vector decoding. In all cases the induction and direct vector methods are several orders of magnitude faster than the standard method, with direct vector decoding being significantly faster than induction decoding. For apertures of the same dimensions the increase in speed offered by direct vector decoding over induction decoding is better for lower throughput apertures.

  17. Intra-dance variation among waggle runs and the design of efficient protocols for honey bee dance decoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margaret J. Couvillon

    2012-03-01

    Noise is universal in information transfer. In animal communication, this presents a challenge not only for intended signal receivers, but also to biologists studying the system. In honey bees, a forager communicates to nestmates the location of an important resource via the waggle dance. This vibrational signal is composed of repeating units (waggle runs that are then averaged by nestmates to derive a single vector. Manual dance decoding is a powerful tool for studying bee foraging ecology, although the process is time-consuming: a forager may repeat the waggle run 1- >100 times within a dance. It is impractical to decode all of these to obtain the vector; however, intra-dance waggle runs vary, so it is important to decode enough to obtain a good average. Here we examine the variation among waggle runs made by foraging bees to devise a method of dance decoding. The first and last waggle runs within a dance are significantly more variable than the middle run. There was no trend in variation for the middle waggle runs. We recommend that any four consecutive waggle runs, not including the first and last runs, may be decoded, and we show that this methodology is suitable by demonstrating the goodness-of-fit between the decoded vectors from our subsamples with the vectors from the entire dances.

  18. Fast decoding algorithms for coded aperture systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byard, Kevin

    2014-01-01

    Fast decoding algorithms are described for a number of established coded aperture systems. The fast decoding algorithms for all these systems offer significant reductions in the number of calculations required when reconstructing images formed by a coded aperture system and hence require less computation time to produce the images. The algorithms may therefore be of use in applications that require fast image reconstruction, such as near real-time nuclear medicine and location of hazardous radioactive spillage. Experimental tests confirm the efficacy of the fast decoding techniques

  19. The Influence of Visual Word Form in Reading: Single Case Study of an Arabic Patient with Deep Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boumaraf, Assia; Macoir, Joël

    2016-01-01

    Deep dyslexia is a written language disorder characterized by poor reading of non-words, and advantage for concrete over abstract words with production of semantic, visual and morphological errors. In this single case study of an Arabic patient with input deep dyslexia, we investigated the impact of graphic features of Arabic on manifestations of…

  20. Mapping of MPEG-4 decoding on a flexible architecture platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Tol, Erik B.; Jaspers, Egbert G.

    2001-12-01

    In the field of consumer electronics, the advent of new features such as Internet, games, video conferencing, and mobile communication has triggered the convergence of television and computers technologies. This requires a generic media-processing platform that enables simultaneous execution of very diverse tasks such as high-throughput stream-oriented data processing and highly data-dependent irregular processing with complex control flows. As a representative application, this paper presents the mapping of a Main Visual profile MPEG-4 for High-Definition (HD) video onto a flexible architecture platform. A stepwise approach is taken, going from the decoder application toward an implementation proposal. First, the application is decomposed into separate tasks with self-contained functionality, clear interfaces, and distinct characteristics. Next, a hardware-software partitioning is derived by analyzing the characteristics of each task such as the amount of inherent parallelism, the throughput requirements, the complexity of control processing, and the reuse potential over different applications and different systems. Finally, a feasible implementation is proposed that includes amongst others a very-long-instruction-word (VLIW) media processor, one or more RISC processors, and some dedicated processors. The mapping study of the MPEG-4 decoder proves the flexibility and extensibility of the media-processing platform. This platform enables an effective HW/SW co-design yielding a high performance density.

  1. LDPC-based iterative joint source-channel decoding for JPEG2000.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pu, Lingling; Wu, Zhenyu; Bilgin, Ali; Marcellin, Michael W; Vasic, Bane

    2007-02-01

    A framework is proposed for iterative joint source-channel decoding of JPEG2000 codestreams. At the encoder, JPEG2000 is used to perform source coding with certain error-resilience (ER) modes, and LDPC codes are used to perform channel coding. During decoding, the source decoder uses the ER modes to identify corrupt sections of the codestream and provides this information to the channel decoder. Decoding is carried out jointly in an iterative fashion. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method requires fewer iterations and improves overall system performance.

  2. Advance Planning of Form Properties in the Written Production of Single and Multiple Words

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damian, Markus F.; Stadthagen-Gonzalez, Hans

    2009-01-01

    Three experiments investigated the scope of advance planning in written production. Experiment 1 manipulated phonological factors in single word written production, and Experiments 2 and 3 did the same in the production of adjective-noun utterances. In all three experiments, effects on latencies were found which mirrored those previously…

  3. Deep Learning Methods for Improved Decoding of Linear Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nachmani, Eliya; Marciano, Elad; Lugosch, Loren; Gross, Warren J.; Burshtein, David; Be'ery, Yair

    2018-02-01

    The problem of low complexity, close to optimal, channel decoding of linear codes with short to moderate block length is considered. It is shown that deep learning methods can be used to improve a standard belief propagation decoder, despite the large example space. Similar improvements are obtained for the min-sum algorithm. It is also shown that tying the parameters of the decoders across iterations, so as to form a recurrent neural network architecture, can be implemented with comparable results. The advantage is that significantly less parameters are required. We also introduce a recurrent neural decoder architecture based on the method of successive relaxation. Improvements over standard belief propagation are also observed on sparser Tanner graph representations of the codes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the neural belief propagation decoder can be used to improve the performance, or alternatively reduce the computational complexity, of a close to optimal decoder of short BCH codes.

  4. Three phase full wave dc motor decoder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Studer, P. A. (Inventor)

    1977-01-01

    A three phase decoder for dc motors is disclosed which employs an extremely simple six transistor circuit to derive six properly phased output signals for fullwave operation of dc motors. Six decoding transistors are coupled at their base-emitter junctions across a resistor network arranged in a delta configuration. Each point of the delta configuration is coupled to one of three position sensors which sense the rotational position of the motor. A second embodiment of the invention is disclosed in which photo-optical isolators are used in place of the decoding transistors.

  5. Decoding and Encoding Facial Expressions in Preschool-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuckerman, Miron; Przewuzman, Sylvia J.

    1979-01-01

    Preschool-age children drew, decoded, and encoded facial expressions depicting five different emotions. Accuracy of drawing, decoding and encoding each of the five emotions was consistent across the three tasks; decoding ability was correlated with drawing ability among female subjects, but neither of these abilities was correlated with encoding…

  6. Belief propagation decoding of quantum channels by passing quantum messages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Renes, Joseph M

    2017-01-01

    The belief propagation (BP) algorithm is a powerful tool in a wide range of disciplines from statistical physics to machine learning to computational biology, and is ubiquitous in decoding classical error-correcting codes. The algorithm works by passing messages between nodes of the factor graph associated with the code and enables efficient decoding of the channel, in some cases even up to the Shannon capacity. Here we construct the first BP algorithm which passes quantum messages on the factor graph and is capable of decoding the classical–quantum channel with pure state outputs. This gives explicit decoding circuits whose number of gates is quadratic in the code length. We also show that this decoder can be modified to work with polar codes for the pure state channel and as part of a decoder for transmitting quantum information over the amplitude damping channel. These represent the first explicit capacity-achieving decoders for non-Pauli channels. (fast track communication)

  7. Belief propagation decoding of quantum channels by passing quantum messages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renes, Joseph M.

    2017-07-01

    The belief propagation (BP) algorithm is a powerful tool in a wide range of disciplines from statistical physics to machine learning to computational biology, and is ubiquitous in decoding classical error-correcting codes. The algorithm works by passing messages between nodes of the factor graph associated with the code and enables efficient decoding of the channel, in some cases even up to the Shannon capacity. Here we construct the first BP algorithm which passes quantum messages on the factor graph and is capable of decoding the classical-quantum channel with pure state outputs. This gives explicit decoding circuits whose number of gates is quadratic in the code length. We also show that this decoder can be modified to work with polar codes for the pure state channel and as part of a decoder for transmitting quantum information over the amplitude damping channel. These represent the first explicit capacity-achieving decoders for non-Pauli channels.

  8. Decoding vigilance with NIRS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogler, Carsten; Mehnert, Jan; Steinbrink, Jens; Haynes, John-Dylan

    2014-01-01

    Sustained, long-term cognitive workload is associated with variations and decrements in performance. Such fluctuations in vigilance can be a risk factor especially during dangerous attention demanding activities. Functional MRI studies have shown that attentional performance is correlated with BOLD-signals, especially in parietal and prefrontal cortical regions. An interesting question is whether these BOLD-signals could be measured in real-world scenarios, say to warn in a dangerous workplace whenever a subjects' vigilance is low. Because fMRI lacks the mobility needed for such applications, we tested whether the monitoring of vigilance might be possible using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). NIRS is a highly mobile technique that measures hemodynamics in the surface of the brain. We demonstrate that non-invasive NIRS signals correlate with vigilance. These signals carry enough information to decode subjects' reaction times at a single trial level.

  9. Morphology and Vocabulary Acquisition: Using Visual Cues from Word Parts to Enhance Recall and Decode Newly Encountered Words

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellomo, Tom

    2012-01-01

    An enhanced replication of an original quasi-experiment (Tom Bellomo, 2009b) was conducted to quantify the extent of long term retention of word parts and vocabulary. Such were introduced as part of a vocabulary acquisition strategy in a developmental reading course at one southeast four-year college. Aside from incorporating changes to the test…

  10. BioWord: A sequence manipulation suite for Microsoft Word

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anzaldi Laura J

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The ability to manipulate, edit and process DNA and protein sequences has rapidly become a necessary skill for practicing biologists across a wide swath of disciplines. In spite of this, most everyday sequence manipulation tools are distributed across several programs and web servers, sometimes requiring installation and typically involving frequent switching between applications. To address this problem, here we have developed BioWord, a macro-enabled self-installing template for Microsoft Word documents that integrates an extensive suite of DNA and protein sequence manipulation tools. Results BioWord is distributed as a single macro-enabled template that self-installs with a single click. After installation, BioWord will open as a tab in the Office ribbon. Biologists can then easily manipulate DNA and protein sequences using a familiar interface and minimize the need to switch between applications. Beyond simple sequence manipulation, BioWord integrates functionality ranging from dyad search and consensus logos to motif discovery and pair-wise alignment. Written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA as an open source, object-oriented project, BioWord allows users with varying programming experience to expand and customize the program to better meet their own needs. Conclusions BioWord integrates a powerful set of tools for biological sequence manipulation within a handy, user-friendly tab in a widely used word processing software package. The use of a simple scripting language and an object-oriented scheme facilitates customization by users and provides a very accessible educational platform for introducing students to basic bioinformatics algorithms.

  11. BioWord: A sequence manipulation suite for Microsoft Word

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background The ability to manipulate, edit and process DNA and protein sequences has rapidly become a necessary skill for practicing biologists across a wide swath of disciplines. In spite of this, most everyday sequence manipulation tools are distributed across several programs and web servers, sometimes requiring installation and typically involving frequent switching between applications. To address this problem, here we have developed BioWord, a macro-enabled self-installing template for Microsoft Word documents that integrates an extensive suite of DNA and protein sequence manipulation tools. Results BioWord is distributed as a single macro-enabled template that self-installs with a single click. After installation, BioWord will open as a tab in the Office ribbon. Biologists can then easily manipulate DNA and protein sequences using a familiar interface and minimize the need to switch between applications. Beyond simple sequence manipulation, BioWord integrates functionality ranging from dyad search and consensus logos to motif discovery and pair-wise alignment. Written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as an open source, object-oriented project, BioWord allows users with varying programming experience to expand and customize the program to better meet their own needs. Conclusions BioWord integrates a powerful set of tools for biological sequence manipulation within a handy, user-friendly tab in a widely used word processing software package. The use of a simple scripting language and an object-oriented scheme facilitates customization by users and provides a very accessible educational platform for introducing students to basic bioinformatics algorithms. PMID:22676326

  12. BioWord: a sequence manipulation suite for Microsoft Word.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anzaldi, Laura J; Muñoz-Fernández, Daniel; Erill, Ivan

    2012-06-07

    The ability to manipulate, edit and process DNA and protein sequences has rapidly become a necessary skill for practicing biologists across a wide swath of disciplines. In spite of this, most everyday sequence manipulation tools are distributed across several programs and web servers, sometimes requiring installation and typically involving frequent switching between applications. To address this problem, here we have developed BioWord, a macro-enabled self-installing template for Microsoft Word documents that integrates an extensive suite of DNA and protein sequence manipulation tools. BioWord is distributed as a single macro-enabled template that self-installs with a single click. After installation, BioWord will open as a tab in the Office ribbon. Biologists can then easily manipulate DNA and protein sequences using a familiar interface and minimize the need to switch between applications. Beyond simple sequence manipulation, BioWord integrates functionality ranging from dyad search and consensus logos to motif discovery and pair-wise alignment. Written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as an open source, object-oriented project, BioWord allows users with varying programming experience to expand and customize the program to better meet their own needs. BioWord integrates a powerful set of tools for biological sequence manipulation within a handy, user-friendly tab in a widely used word processing software package. The use of a simple scripting language and an object-oriented scheme facilitates customization by users and provides a very accessible educational platform for introducing students to basic bioinformatics algorithms.

  13. Behavioral and Neural Representations of Spatial Directions across Words, Schemas, and Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weisberg, Steven M; Marchette, Steven A; Chatterjee, Anjan

    2018-05-23

    Modern spatial navigation requires fluency with multiple representational formats, including visual scenes, signs, and words. These formats convey different information. Visual scenes are rich and specific but contain extraneous details. Arrows, as an example of signs, are schematic representations in which the extraneous details are eliminated, but analog spatial properties are preserved. Words eliminate all spatial information and convey spatial directions in a purely abstract form. How does the human brain compute spatial directions within and across these formats? To investigate this question, we conducted two experiments on men and women: a behavioral study that was preregistered and a neuroimaging study using multivoxel pattern analysis of fMRI data to uncover similarities and differences among representational formats. Participants in the behavioral study viewed spatial directions presented as images, schemas, or words (e.g., "left"), and responded to each trial, indicating whether the spatial direction was the same or different as the one viewed previously. They responded more quickly to schemas and words than images, despite the visual complexity of stimuli being matched. Participants in the fMRI study performed the same task but responded only to occasional catch trials. Spatial directions in images were decodable in the intraparietal sulcus bilaterally but were not in schemas and words. Spatial directions were also decodable between all three formats. These results suggest that intraparietal sulcus plays a role in calculating spatial directions in visual scenes, but this neural circuitry may be bypassed when the spatial directions are presented as schemas or words. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Human navigators encounter spatial directions in various formats: words ("turn left"), schematic signs (an arrow showing a left turn), and visual scenes (a road turning left). The brain must transform these spatial directions into a plan for action. Here, we investigate

  14. Decoding Algorithms for Random Linear Network Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heide, Janus; Pedersen, Morten Videbæk; Fitzek, Frank

    2011-01-01

    We consider the problem of efficient decoding of a random linear code over a finite field. In particular we are interested in the case where the code is random, relatively sparse, and use the binary finite field as an example. The goal is to decode the data using fewer operations to potentially...... achieve a high coding throughput, and reduce energy consumption.We use an on-the-fly version of the Gauss-Jordan algorithm as a baseline, and provide several simple improvements to reduce the number of operations needed to perform decoding. Our tests show that the improvements can reduce the number...

  15. Oppositional Decoding as an Act of Resistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steiner, Linda

    1988-01-01

    Argues that contributors to the "No Comment" feature of "Ms." magazine are engaging in oppositional decoding and speculates on why this is a satisfying group process. Also notes such decoding presents another challenge to the idea that mass media has the same effect on all audiences. (SD)

  16. Discrete decoding based ultrafast multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, Zhiliang; Lin, Liangjie; Ye, Qimiao; Li, Jing; Cai, Shuhui; Chen, Zhong

    2015-01-01

    The three-dimensional (3D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy constitutes an important and powerful tool in analyzing chemical and biological systems. However, the abundant 3D information arrives at the expense of long acquisition times lasting hours or even days. Therefore, there has been a continuous interest in developing techniques to accelerate recordings of 3D NMR spectra, among which the ultrafast spatiotemporal encoding technique supplies impressive acquisition speed by compressing a multidimensional spectrum in a single scan. However, it tends to suffer from tradeoffs among spectral widths in different dimensions, which deteriorates in cases of NMR spectroscopy with more dimensions. In this study, the discrete decoding is proposed to liberate the ultrafast technique from tradeoffs among spectral widths in different dimensions by focusing decoding on signal-bearing sites. For verifying its feasibility and effectiveness, we utilized the method to generate two different types of 3D spectra. The proposed method is also applicable to cases with more than three dimensions, which, based on the experimental results, may widen applications of the ultrafast technique

  17. Discrete decoding based ultrafast multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Zhiliang; Lin, Liangjie; Ye, Qimiao; Li, Jing; Cai, Shuhui; Chen, Zhong

    2015-07-01

    The three-dimensional (3D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy constitutes an important and powerful tool in analyzing chemical and biological systems. However, the abundant 3D information arrives at the expense of long acquisition times lasting hours or even days. Therefore, there has been a continuous interest in developing techniques to accelerate recordings of 3D NMR spectra, among which the ultrafast spatiotemporal encoding technique supplies impressive acquisition speed by compressing a multidimensional spectrum in a single scan. However, it tends to suffer from tradeoffs among spectral widths in different dimensions, which deteriorates in cases of NMR spectroscopy with more dimensions. In this study, the discrete decoding is proposed to liberate the ultrafast technique from tradeoffs among spectral widths in different dimensions by focusing decoding on signal-bearing sites. For verifying its feasibility and effectiveness, we utilized the method to generate two different types of 3D spectra. The proposed method is also applicable to cases with more than three dimensions, which, based on the experimental results, may widen applications of the ultrafast technique.

  18. Generalized Sudan's List Decoding for Order Domain Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geil, Hans Olav; Matsumoto, Ryutaroh

    2007-01-01

    We generalize Sudan's list decoding algorithm without multiplicity to evaluation codes coming from arbitrary order domains. The number of correctable errors by the proposed method is larger than the original list decoding without multiplicity....

  19. Decoding vigilance with NIRS.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carsten Bogler

    Full Text Available Sustained, long-term cognitive workload is associated with variations and decrements in performance. Such fluctuations in vigilance can be a risk factor especially during dangerous attention demanding activities. Functional MRI studies have shown that attentional performance is correlated with BOLD-signals, especially in parietal and prefrontal cortical regions. An interesting question is whether these BOLD-signals could be measured in real-world scenarios, say to warn in a dangerous workplace whenever a subjects' vigilance is low. Because fMRI lacks the mobility needed for such applications, we tested whether the monitoring of vigilance might be possible using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS. NIRS is a highly mobile technique that measures hemodynamics in the surface of the brain. We demonstrate that non-invasive NIRS signals correlate with vigilance. These signals carry enough information to decode subjects' reaction times at a single trial level.

  20. Locally decodable codes and private information retrieval schemes

    CERN Document Server

    Yekhanin, Sergey

    2010-01-01

    Locally decodable codes (LDCs) are codes that simultaneously provide efficient random access retrieval and high noise resilience by allowing reliable reconstruction of an arbitrary bit of a message by looking at only a small number of randomly chosen codeword bits. Local decodability comes with a certain loss in terms of efficiency - specifically, locally decodable codes require longer codeword lengths than their classical counterparts. Private information retrieval (PIR) schemes are cryptographic protocols designed to safeguard the privacy of database users. They allow clients to retrieve rec

  1. Turbo decoder architecture for beyond-4G applications

    CERN Document Server

    Wong, Cheng-Chi

    2013-01-01

    This book describes the most recent techniques for turbo decoder implementation, especially for 4G and beyond 4G applications. The authors reveal techniques for the design of high-throughput decoders for future telecommunication systems, enabling designers to reduce hardware cost and shorten processing time. Coverage includes an explanation of VLSI implementation of the turbo decoder, from basic functional units to advanced parallel architecture. The authors discuss both hardware architecture techniques and experimental results, showing the variations in area/throughput/performance with respec

  2. Mapping visual stimuli to perceptual decisions via sparse decoding of mesoscopic neural activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sajda, Paul

    2010-01-01

    In this talk I will describe our work investigating sparse decoding of neural activity, given a realistic mapping of the visual scene to neuronal spike trains generated by a model of primary visual cortex (V1). We use a linear decoder which imposes sparsity via an L1 norm. The decoder can be viewed as a decoding neuron (linear summation followed by a sigmoidal nonlinearity) in which there are relatively few non-zero synaptic weights. We find: (1) the best decoding performance is for a representation that is sparse in both space and time, (2) decoding of a temporal code results in better performance than a rate code and is also a better fit to the psychophysical data, (3) the number of neurons required for decoding increases monotonically as signal-to-noise in the stimulus decreases, with as little as 1% of the neurons required for decoding at the highest signal-to-noise levels, and (4) sparse decoding results in a more accurate decoding of the stimulus and is a better fit to psychophysical performance than a distributed decoding, for example one imposed by an L2 norm. We conclude that sparse coding is well-justified from a decoding perspective in that it results in a minimum number of neurons and maximum accuracy when sparse representations can be decoded from the neural dynamics.

  3. The Differential Contributions of Auditory-Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory on Decoding Skills in Children Who Are Poor Decoders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Squires, Katie Ellen

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the differential contribution of auditory-verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) on decoding skills in second- and fifth-grade children identified with poor decoding. Thirty-two second-grade students and 22 fifth-grade students completed measures that assessed simple and complex auditory-verbal and visuospatial memory,…

  4. Decoding using back-project algorithm from coded image in ICF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang shaoen; Liu Zhongli; Zheng Zhijian; Tang Daoyuan

    1999-01-01

    The principle of the coded imaging and its decoding in inertial confinement fusion is described simply. The authors take ring aperture microscope for example and use back-project (BP) algorithm to decode the coded image. The decoding program has been performed for numerical simulation. Simulations of two models are made, and the results show that the accuracy of BP algorithm is high and effect of reconstruction is good. Thus, it indicates that BP algorithm is applicable to decoding for coded image in ICF experiments

  5. A real-time MPEG software decoder using a portable message-passing library

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kwong, Man Kam; Tang, P.T. Peter; Lin, Biquan

    1995-12-31

    We present a real-time MPEG software decoder that uses message-passing libraries such as MPL, p4 and MPI. The parallel MPEG decoder currently runs on the IBM SP system but can be easil ported to other parallel machines. This paper discusses our parallel MPEG decoding algorithm as well as the parallel programming environment under which it uses. Several technical issues are discussed, including balancing of decoding speed, memory limitation, 1/0 capacities, and optimization of MPEG decoding components. This project shows that a real-time portable software MPEG decoder is feasible in a general-purpose parallel machine.

  6. Efficient universal computing architectures for decoding neural activity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin I Rapoport

    Full Text Available The ability to decode neural activity into meaningful control signals for prosthetic devices is critical to the development of clinically useful brain- machine interfaces (BMIs. Such systems require input from tens to hundreds of brain-implanted recording electrodes in order to deliver robust and accurate performance; in serving that primary function they should also minimize power dissipation in order to avoid damaging neural tissue; and they should transmit data wirelessly in order to minimize the risk of infection associated with chronic, transcutaneous implants. Electronic architectures for brain- machine interfaces must therefore minimize size and power consumption, while maximizing the ability to compress data to be transmitted over limited-bandwidth wireless channels. Here we present a system of extremely low computational complexity, designed for real-time decoding of neural signals, and suited for highly scalable implantable systems. Our programmable architecture is an explicit implementation of a universal computing machine emulating the dynamics of a network of integrate-and-fire neurons; it requires no arithmetic operations except for counting, and decodes neural signals using only computationally inexpensive logic operations. The simplicity of this architecture does not compromise its ability to compress raw neural data by factors greater than [Formula: see text]. We describe a set of decoding algorithms based on this computational architecture, one designed to operate within an implanted system, minimizing its power consumption and data transmission bandwidth; and a complementary set of algorithms for learning, programming the decoder, and postprocessing the decoded output, designed to operate in an external, nonimplanted unit. The implementation of the implantable portion is estimated to require fewer than 5000 operations per second. A proof-of-concept, 32-channel field-programmable gate array (FPGA implementation of this portion

  7. Robust pattern decoding in shape-coded structured light

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Suming; Zhang, Xu; Song, Zhan; Song, Lifang; Zeng, Hai

    2017-09-01

    Decoding is a challenging and complex problem in a coded structured light system. In this paper, a robust pattern decoding method is proposed for the shape-coded structured light in which the pattern is designed as grid shape with embedded geometrical shapes. In our decoding method, advancements are made at three steps. First, a multi-template feature detection algorithm is introduced to detect the feature point which is the intersection of each two orthogonal grid-lines. Second, pattern element identification is modelled as a supervised classification problem and the deep neural network technique is applied for the accurate classification of pattern elements. Before that, a training dataset is established, which contains a mass of pattern elements with various blurring and distortions. Third, an error correction mechanism based on epipolar constraint, coplanarity constraint and topological constraint is presented to reduce the false matches. In the experiments, several complex objects including human hand are chosen to test the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method. The experimental results show that our decoding method not only has high decoding accuracy, but also owns strong robustness to surface color and complex textures.

  8. Optimal and efficient decoding of concatenated quantum block codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poulin, David

    2006-01-01

    We consider the problem of optimally decoding a quantum error correction code--that is, to find the optimal recovery procedure given the outcomes of partial ''check'' measurements on the system. In general, this problem is NP hard. However, we demonstrate that for concatenated block codes, the optimal decoding can be efficiently computed using a message-passing algorithm. We compare the performance of the message-passing algorithm to that of the widespread blockwise hard decoding technique. Our Monte Carlo results using the five-qubit and Steane's code on a depolarizing channel demonstrate significant advantages of the message-passing algorithms in two respects: (i) Optimal decoding increases by as much as 94% the error threshold below which the error correction procedure can be used to reliably send information over a noisy channel; and (ii) for noise levels below these thresholds, the probability of error after optimal decoding is suppressed at a significantly higher rate, leading to a substantial reduction of the error correction overhead

  9. On the decoding process in ternary error-correcting output codes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escalera, Sergio; Pujol, Oriol; Radeva, Petia

    2010-01-01

    A common way to model multiclass classification problems is to design a set of binary classifiers and to combine them. Error-Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) represent a successful framework to deal with these type of problems. Recent works in the ECOC framework showed significant performance improvements by means of new problem-dependent designs based on the ternary ECOC framework. The ternary framework contains a larger set of binary problems because of the use of a "do not care" symbol that allows us to ignore some classes by a given classifier. However, there are no proper studies that analyze the effect of the new symbol at the decoding step. In this paper, we present a taxonomy that embeds all binary and ternary ECOC decoding strategies into four groups. We show that the zero symbol introduces two kinds of biases that require redefinition of the decoding design. A new type of decoding measure is proposed, and two novel decoding strategies are defined. We evaluate the state-of-the-art coding and decoding strategies over a set of UCI Machine Learning Repository data sets and into a real traffic sign categorization problem. The experimental results show that, following the new decoding strategies, the performance of the ECOC design is significantly improved.

  10. Progressive Image Transmission Based on Joint Source-Channel Decoding Using Adaptive Sum-Product Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David G. Daut

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available A joint source-channel decoding method is designed to accelerate the iterative log-domain sum-product decoding procedure of LDPC codes as well as to improve the reconstructed image quality. Error resilience modes are used in the JPEG2000 source codec making it possible to provide useful source decoded information to the channel decoder. After each iteration, a tentative decoding is made and the channel decoded bits are then sent to the JPEG2000 decoder. The positions of bits belonging to error-free coding passes are then fed back to the channel decoder. The log-likelihood ratios (LLRs of these bits are then modified by a weighting factor for the next iteration. By observing the statistics of the decoding procedure, the weighting factor is designed as a function of the channel condition. Results show that the proposed joint decoding methods can greatly reduce the number of iterations, and thereby reduce the decoding delay considerably. At the same time, this method always outperforms the nonsource controlled decoding method by up to 3 dB in terms of PSNR.

  11. Progressive Image Transmission Based on Joint Source-Channel Decoding Using Adaptive Sum-Product Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Weiliang

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available A joint source-channel decoding method is designed to accelerate the iterative log-domain sum-product decoding procedure of LDPC codes as well as to improve the reconstructed image quality. Error resilience modes are used in the JPEG2000 source codec making it possible to provide useful source decoded information to the channel decoder. After each iteration, a tentative decoding is made and the channel decoded bits are then sent to the JPEG2000 decoder. The positions of bits belonging to error-free coding passes are then fed back to the channel decoder. The log-likelihood ratios (LLRs of these bits are then modified by a weighting factor for the next iteration. By observing the statistics of the decoding procedure, the weighting factor is designed as a function of the channel condition. Results show that the proposed joint decoding methods can greatly reduce the number of iterations, and thereby reduce the decoding delay considerably. At the same time, this method always outperforms the nonsource controlled decoding method by up to 3 dB in terms of PSNR.

  12. LDPC Codes--Structural Analysis and Decoding Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaojie

    2012-01-01

    Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been the focus of much research over the past decade thanks to their near Shannon limit performance and to their efficient message-passing (MP) decoding algorithms. However, the error floor phenomenon observed in MP decoding, which manifests itself as an abrupt change in the slope of the error-rate curve,…

  13. Construction and decoding of matrix-product codes from nested codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernando, Fernando; Lally, Kristine; Ruano, Diego

    2009-01-01

    We consider matrix-product codes [C1 ... Cs] · A, where C1, ..., Cs  are nested linear codes and matrix A has full rank. We compute their minimum distance and provide a decoding algorithm when A is a non-singular by columns matrix. The decoding algorithm decodes up to half of the minimum distance....

  14. Low Complexity List Decoding for Polar Codes with Multiple CRC Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jong-Hwan Kim

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Polar codes are the first family of error correcting codes that provably achieve the capacity of symmetric binary-input discrete memoryless channels with low complexity. Since the development of polar codes, there have been many studies to improve their finite-length performance. As a result, polar codes are now adopted as a channel code for the control channel of 5G new radio of the 3rd generation partnership project. However, the decoder implementation is one of the big practical problems and low complexity decoding has been studied. This paper addresses a low complexity successive cancellation list decoding for polar codes utilizing multiple cyclic redundancy check (CRC codes. While some research uses multiple CRC codes to reduce memory and time complexity, we consider the operational complexity of decoding, and reduce it by optimizing CRC positions in combination with a modified decoding operation. Resultingly, the proposed scheme obtains not only complexity reduction from early stopping of decoding, but also additional reduction from the reduced number of decoding paths.

  15. Decoding bipedal locomotion from the rat sensorimotor cortex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rigosa, J.; Panarese, A.; Dominici, N.; Friedli, L.; van den Brand, R.; Carpaneto, J.; DiGiovanna, J.; Courtine, G.; Micera, S.

    2015-01-01

    Objective. Decoding forelimb movements from the firing activity of cortical neurons has been interfaced with robotic and prosthetic systems to replace lost upper limb functions in humans. Despite the potential of this approach to improve locomotion and facilitate gait rehabilitation, decoding lower

  16. An FPGA Implementation of (3,6-Regular Low-Density Parity-Check Code Decoder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tong Zhang

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Because of their excellent error-correcting performance, low-density parity-check (LDPC codes have recently attracted a lot of attention. In this paper, we are interested in the practical LDPC code decoder hardware implementations. The direct fully parallel decoder implementation usually incurs too high hardware complexity for many real applications, thus partly parallel decoder design approaches that can achieve appropriate trade-offs between hardware complexity and decoding throughput are highly desirable. Applying a joint code and decoder design methodology, we develop a high-speed (3,k-regular LDPC code partly parallel decoder architecture based on which we implement a 9216-bit, rate-1/2(3,6-regular LDPC code decoder on Xilinx FPGA device. This partly parallel decoder supports a maximum symbol throughput of 54 Mbps and achieves BER 10−6 at 2 dB over AWGN channel while performing maximum 18 decoding iterations.

  17. General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit Based High-Rate Rice Decompression and Reed-Solomon Decoding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loughry, Thomas A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-02-01

    As the volume of data acquired by space-based sensors increases, mission data compression/decompression and forward error correction code processing performance must likewise scale. This competency development effort was explored using the General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) to accomplish high-rate Rice Decompression and high-rate Reed-Solomon (RS) decoding at the satellite mission ground station. Each algorithm was implemented and benchmarked on a single GPGPU. Distributed processing across one to four GPGPUs was also investigated. The results show that the GPGPU has considerable potential for performing satellite communication Data Signal Processing, with three times or better performance improvements and up to ten times reduction in cost over custom hardware, at least in the case of Rice Decompression and Reed-Solomon Decoding.

  18. Word Translation Entropy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schaeffer, Moritz; Dragsted, Barbara; Hvelplund, Kristian Tangsgaard

    This study reports on an investigation into the relationship between the number of translation alternatives for a single word and eye movements on the source text. In addition, the effect of word order differences between source and target text on eye movements on the source text is studied. In p...

  19. Performance-complexity tradeoff in sequential decoding for the unconstrained AWGN channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2013-01-01

    channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the lattice decoder. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement

  20. Neural network decoder for quantum error correcting codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krastanov, Stefan; Jiang, Liang

    Artificial neural networks form a family of extremely powerful - albeit still poorly understood - tools used in anything from image and sound recognition through text generation to, in our case, decoding. We present a straightforward Recurrent Neural Network architecture capable of deducing the correcting procedure for a quantum error-correcting code from a set of repeated stabilizer measurements. We discuss the fault-tolerance of our scheme and the cost of training the neural network for a system of a realistic size. Such decoders are especially interesting when applied to codes, like the quantum LDPC codes, that lack known efficient decoding schemes.

  1. Distributed coding/decoding complexity in video sensor networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordeiro, Paulo J; Assunção, Pedro

    2012-01-01

    Video Sensor Networks (VSNs) are recent communication infrastructures used to capture and transmit dense visual information from an application context. In such large scale environments which include video coding, transmission and display/storage, there are several open problems to overcome in practical implementations. This paper addresses the most relevant challenges posed by VSNs, namely stringent bandwidth usage and processing time/power constraints. In particular, the paper proposes a novel VSN architecture where large sets of visual sensors with embedded processors are used for compression and transmission of coded streams to gateways, which in turn transrate the incoming streams and adapt them to the variable complexity requirements of both the sensor encoders and end-user decoder terminals. Such gateways provide real-time transcoding functionalities for bandwidth adaptation and coding/decoding complexity distribution by transferring the most complex video encoding/decoding tasks to the transcoding gateway at the expense of a limited increase in bit rate. Then, a method to reduce the decoding complexity, suitable for system-on-chip implementation, is proposed to operate at the transcoding gateway whenever decoders with constrained resources are targeted. The results show that the proposed method achieves good performance and its inclusion into the VSN infrastructure provides an additional level of complexity control functionality.

  2. Best linear decoding of random mask images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woods, J.W.; Ekstrom, M.P.; Palmieri, T.M.; Twogood, R.E.

    1975-01-01

    In 1968 Dicke proposed coded imaging of x and γ rays via random pinholes. Since then, many authors have agreed with him that this technique can offer significant image improvement. A best linear decoding of the coded image is presented, and its superiority over the conventional matched filter decoding is shown. Experimental results in the visible light region are presented. (U.S.)

  3. Observations on Polar Coding with CRC-Aided List Decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    TECHNICAL REPORT 3041 September 2016 Observations on Polar Coding with CRC-Aided List Decoding David Wasserman Approved for public release. SSC...described in [2, 3]. In FY15 and FY16 we used cyclic redundancy check (CRC)-aided polar list decoding [4]. Section 2 describes the basics of polar coding ...and gives details of the encoders and decoders we used. In the course of our research, we performed simulations of polar codes in hundreds of cases

  4. Optimization of MPEG decoding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martins, Bo; Forchhammer, Søren

    1999-01-01

    MPEG-2 video decoding is examined. A unified approach to quality improvement, chrominance upsampling, de-interlacing and superresolution is presented. The information over several frames is combined as part of the processing....

  5. Emotion Decoding and Incidental Processing Fluency as Antecedents of Attitude Certainty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrocelli, John V; Whitmire, Melanie B

    2017-07-01

    Previous research demonstrates that attitude certainty influences the degree to which an attitude changes in response to persuasive appeals. In the current research, decoding emotions from facial expressions and incidental processing fluency, during attitude formation, are examined as antecedents of both attitude certainty and attitude change. In Experiment 1, participants who decoded anger or happiness during attitude formation expressed their greater attitude certainty, and showed more resistance to persuasion than participants who decoded sadness. By manipulating the emotion decoded, the diagnosticity of processing fluency experienced during emotion decoding, and the gaze direction of the social targets, Experiment 2 suggests that the link between emotion decoding and attitude certainty results from incidental processing fluency. Experiment 3 demonstrated that fluency in processing irrelevant stimuli influences attitude certainty, which in turn influences resistance to persuasion. Implications for appraisal-based accounts of attitude formation and attitude change are discussed.

  6. Word Recognition in Auditory Cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWitt, Iain D. J.

    2013-01-01

    Although spoken word recognition is more fundamental to human communication than text recognition, knowledge of word-processing in auditory cortex is comparatively impoverished. This dissertation synthesizes current models of auditory cortex, models of cortical pattern recognition, models of single-word reading, results in phonetics and results in…

  7. On Lattice Sequential Decoding for Large MIMO Systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ali, Konpal S.

    2014-04-01

    Due to their ability to provide high data rates, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless communication systems have become increasingly popular. Decoding of these systems with acceptable error performance is computationally very demanding. In the case of large overdetermined MIMO systems, we employ the Sequential Decoder using the Fano Algorithm. A parameter called the bias is varied to attain different performance-complexity trade-offs. Low values of the bias result in excellent performance but at the expense of high complexity and vice versa for higher bias values. We attempt to bound the error by bounding the bias, using the minimum distance of a lattice. Also, a particular trend is observed with increasing SNR: a region of low complexity and high error, followed by a region of high complexity and error falling, and finally a region of low complexity and low error. For lower bias values, the stages of the trend are incurred at lower SNR than for higher bias values. This has the important implication that a low enough bias value, at low to moderate SNR, can result in low error and low complexity even for large MIMO systems. Our work is compared against Lattice Reduction (LR) aided Linear Decoders (LDs). Another impressive observation for low bias values that satisfy the error bound is that the Sequential Decoder\\'s error is seen to fall with increasing system size, while it grows for the LR-aided LDs. For the case of large underdetermined MIMO systems, Sequential Decoding with two preprocessing schemes is proposed – 1) Minimum Mean Square Error Generalized Decision Feedback Equalization (MMSE-GDFE) preprocessing 2) MMSE-GDFE preprocessing, followed by Lattice Reduction and Greedy Ordering. Our work is compared against previous work which employs Sphere Decoding preprocessed using MMSE-GDFE, Lattice Reduction and Greedy Ordering. For the case of large systems, this results in high complexity and difficulty in choosing the sphere radius. Our schemes

  8. Narrative-Based Intervention for Word-Finding Difficulties: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Ian; Stokes, Stephanie F.

    2010-01-01

    Background: Children with word-finding difficulties manifest a high frequency of word-finding characteristics in narrative, yet word-finding interventions have concentrated on single-word treatments and outcome measures. Aims: This study measured the effectiveness of a narrative-based intervention in improving single-word picture-naming and…

  9. Model-based decoding, information estimation, and change-point detection techniques for multineuron spike trains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pillow, Jonathan W; Ahmadian, Yashar; Paninski, Liam

    2011-01-01

    One of the central problems in systems neuroscience is to understand how neural spike trains convey sensory information. Decoding methods, which provide an explicit means for reading out the information contained in neural spike responses, offer a powerful set of tools for studying the neural coding problem. Here we develop several decoding methods based on point-process neural encoding models, or forward models that predict spike responses to stimuli. These models have concave log-likelihood functions, which allow efficient maximum-likelihood model fitting and stimulus decoding. We present several applications of the encoding model framework to the problem of decoding stimulus information from population spike responses: (1) a tractable algorithm for computing the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate of the stimulus, the most probable stimulus to have generated an observed single- or multiple-neuron spike train response, given some prior distribution over the stimulus; (2) a gaussian approximation to the posterior stimulus distribution that can be used to quantify the fidelity with which various stimulus features are encoded; (3) an efficient method for estimating the mutual information between the stimulus and the spike trains emitted by a neural population; and (4) a framework for the detection of change-point times (the time at which the stimulus undergoes a change in mean or variance) by marginalizing over the posterior stimulus distribution. We provide several examples illustrating the performance of these estimators with simulated and real neural data.

  10. Sequential decoders for large MIMO systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ali, Konpal S.

    2014-05-01

    Due to their ability to provide high data rates, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have become increasingly popular. Decoding of these systems with acceptable error performance is computationally very demanding. In this paper, we employ the Sequential Decoder using the Fano Algorithm for large MIMO systems. A parameter called the bias is varied to attain different performance-complexity trade-offs. Low values of the bias result in excellent performance but at the expense of high complexity and vice versa for higher bias values. Numerical results are done that show moderate bias values result in a decent performance-complexity trade-off. We also attempt to bound the error by bounding the bias, using the minimum distance of a lattice. The variations in complexity with SNR have an interesting trend that shows room for considerable improvement. Our work is compared against linear decoders (LDs) aided with Element-based Lattice Reduction (ELR) and Complex Lenstra-Lenstra-Lovasz (CLLL) reduction. © 2014 IFIP.

  11. Adaptive decoding of MPEG-4 sprites for memory-constrained embedded systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pastrnak, M.; Farin, D.S.; With, de P.H.N.; Cardinal, J.; Cerf, N.; Delgrnage, O.

    2005-01-01

    Background sprite decoding is an essential part of object-based video coding.The composition and rendering of a final scene involves the placing of individual video objects in a predefined way superimposed on the decoded background image. The MPEG-4 standard includes the decoding algorithm for

  12. Construction and decoding of a class of algebraic geometry codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justesen, Jørn; Larsen, Knud J.; Jensen, Helge Elbrønd

    1989-01-01

    A class of codes derived from algebraic plane curves is constructed. The concepts and results from algebraic geometry that were used are explained in detail; no further knowledge of algebraic geometry is needed. Parameters, generator and parity-check matrices are given. The main result is a decod...... is a decoding algorithm which turns out to be a generalization of the Peterson algorithm for decoding BCH decoder codes......A class of codes derived from algebraic plane curves is constructed. The concepts and results from algebraic geometry that were used are explained in detail; no further knowledge of algebraic geometry is needed. Parameters, generator and parity-check matrices are given. The main result...

  13. STACK DECODING OF LINEAR BLOCK CODES FOR DISCRETE MEMORYLESS CHANNEL USING TREE DIAGRAM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Prashantha Kumar

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The boundaries between block and convolutional codes have become diffused after recent advances in the understanding of the trellis structure of block codes and the tail-biting structure of some convolutional codes. Therefore, decoding algorithms traditionally proposed for decoding convolutional codes have been applied for decoding certain classes of block codes. This paper presents the decoding of block codes using tree structure. Many good block codes are presently known. Several of them have been used in applications ranging from deep space communication to error control in storage systems. But the primary difficulty with applying Viterbi or BCJR algorithms to decode of block codes is that, even though they are optimum decoding methods, the promised bit error rates are not achieved in practice at data rates close to capacity. This is because the decoding effort is fixed and grows with block length, and thus only short block length codes can be used. Therefore, an important practical question is whether a suboptimal realizable soft decision decoding method can be found for block codes. A noteworthy result which provides a partial answer to this question is described in the following sections. This result of near optimum decoding will be used as motivation for the investigation of different soft decision decoding methods for linear block codes which can lead to the development of efficient decoding algorithms. The code tree can be treated as an expanded version of the trellis, where every path is totally distinct from every other path. We have derived the tree structure for (8, 4 and (16, 11 extended Hamming codes and have succeeded in implementing the soft decision stack algorithm to decode them. For the discrete memoryless channel, gains in excess of 1.5dB at a bit error rate of 10-5 with respect to conventional hard decision decoding are demonstrated for these codes.

  14. Effects of orthographic consistency on eye movement behavior: German and English children and adults process the same words differently.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rau, Anne K; Moll, Kristina; Snowling, Margaret J; Landerl, Karin

    2015-02-01

    The current study investigated the time course of cross-linguistic differences in word recognition. We recorded eye movements of German and English children and adults while reading closely matched sentences, each including a target word manipulated for length and frequency. Results showed differential word recognition processes for both developing and skilled readers. Children of the two orthographies did not differ in terms of total word processing time, but this equal outcome was achieved quite differently. Whereas German children relied on small-unit processing early in word recognition, English children applied small-unit decoding only upon rereading-possibly when experiencing difficulties in integrating an unfamiliar word into the sentence context. Rather unexpectedly, cross-linguistic differences were also found in adults in that English adults showed longer processing times than German adults for nonwords. Thus, although orthographic consistency does play a major role in reading development, cross-linguistic differences are detectable even in skilled adult readers. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. An Improved Unscented Kalman Filter Based Decoder for Cortical Brain-Machine Interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Simin; Li, Jie; Li, Zheng

    2016-01-01

    Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) seek to connect brains with machines or computers directly, for application in areas such as prosthesis control. For this application, the accuracy of the decoding of movement intentions is crucial. We aim to improve accuracy by designing a better encoding model of primary motor cortical activity during hand movements and combining this with decoder engineering refinements, resulting in a new unscented Kalman filter based decoder, UKF2, which improves upon our previous unscented Kalman filter decoder, UKF1. The new encoding model includes novel acceleration magnitude, position-velocity interaction, and target-cursor-distance features (the decoder does not require target position as input, it is decoded). We add a novel probabilistic velocity threshold to better determine the user's intent to move. We combine these improvements with several other refinements suggested by others in the field. Data from two Rhesus monkeys indicate that the UKF2 generates offline reconstructions of hand movements (mean CC 0.851) significantly more accurately than the UKF1 (0.833) and the popular position-velocity Kalman filter (0.812). The encoding model of the UKF2 could predict the instantaneous firing rate of neurons (mean CC 0.210), given kinematic variables and past spiking, better than the encoding models of these two decoders (UKF1: 0.138, p-v Kalman: 0.098). In closed-loop experiments where each monkey controlled a computer cursor with each decoder in turn, the UKF2 facilitated faster task completion (mean 1.56 s vs. 2.05 s) and higher Fitts's Law bit rate (mean 0.738 bit/s vs. 0.584 bit/s) than the UKF1. These results suggest that the modeling and decoder engineering refinements of the UKF2 improve decoding performance. We believe they can be used to enhance other decoders as well.

  16. EXIT Chart Analysis of Binary Message-Passing Decoders

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lechner, Gottfried; Pedersen, Troels; Kramer, Gerhard

    2007-01-01

    Binary message-passing decoders for LDPC codes are analyzed using EXIT charts. For the analysis, the variable node decoder performs all computations in the L-value domain. For the special case of a hard decision channel, this leads to the well know Gallager B algorithm, while the analysis can...... be extended to channels with larger output alphabets. By increasing the output alphabet from hard decisions to four symbols, a gain of more than 1.0 dB is achieved using optimized codes. For this code optimization, the mixing property of EXIT functions has to be modified to the case of binary message......-passing decoders....

  17. Locating and decoding barcodes in fuzzy images captured by smart phones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Wupeng; Hu, Jiwei; Liu, Quan; Lou, Ping

    2017-07-01

    With the development of barcodes for commercial use, people's requirements for detecting barcodes by smart phone become increasingly pressing. The low quality of barcode image captured by mobile phone always affects the decoding and recognition rates. This paper focuses on locating and decoding EAN-13 barcodes in fuzzy images. We present a more accurate locating algorithm based on segment length and high fault-tolerant rate algorithm for decoding barcodes. Unlike existing approaches, location algorithm is based on the edge segment length of EAN -13 barcodes, while our decoding algorithm allows the appearance of fuzzy region in barcode image. Experimental results are performed on damaged, contaminated and scratched digital images, and provide a quite promising result for EAN -13 barcode location and decoding.

  18. Decoding Hermitian Codes with Sudan's Algorithm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høholdt, Tom; Nielsen, Rasmus Refslund

    1999-01-01

    We present an efficient implementation of Sudan's algorithm for list decoding Hermitian codes beyond half the minimum distance. The main ingredients are an explicit method to calculate so-called increasing zero bases, an efficient interpolation algorithm for finding the Q-polynomial, and a reduct......We present an efficient implementation of Sudan's algorithm for list decoding Hermitian codes beyond half the minimum distance. The main ingredients are an explicit method to calculate so-called increasing zero bases, an efficient interpolation algorithm for finding the Q...

  19. Decoding algorithm for vortex communications receiver

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kupferman, Judy; Arnon, Shlomi

    2018-01-01

    Vortex light beams can provide a tremendous alphabet for encoding information. We derive a symbol decoding algorithm for a direct detection matrix detector vortex beam receiver using Laguerre Gauss (LG) modes, and develop a mathematical model of symbol error rate (SER) for this receiver. We compare SER as a function of signal to noise ratio (SNR) for our algorithm and for the Pearson correlation algorithm. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive treatment of a decoding algorithm of a matrix detector for an LG receiver.

  20. Hard decoding algorithm for optimizing thresholds under general Markovian noise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamberland, Christopher; Wallman, Joel; Beale, Stefanie; Laflamme, Raymond

    2017-04-01

    Quantum error correction is instrumental in protecting quantum systems from noise in quantum computing and communication settings. Pauli channels can be efficiently simulated and threshold values for Pauli error rates under a variety of error-correcting codes have been obtained. However, realistic quantum systems can undergo noise processes that differ significantly from Pauli noise. In this paper, we present an efficient hard decoding algorithm for optimizing thresholds and lowering failure rates of an error-correcting code under general completely positive and trace-preserving (i.e., Markovian) noise. We use our hard decoding algorithm to study the performance of several error-correcting codes under various non-Pauli noise models by computing threshold values and failure rates for these codes. We compare the performance of our hard decoding algorithm to decoders optimized for depolarizing noise and show improvements in thresholds and reductions in failure rates by several orders of magnitude. Our hard decoding algorithm can also be adapted to take advantage of a code's non-Pauli transversal gates to further suppress noise. For example, we show that using the transversal gates of the 5-qubit code allows arbitrary rotations around certain axes to be perfectly corrected. Furthermore, we show that Pauli twirling can increase or decrease the threshold depending upon the code properties. Lastly, we show that even if the physical noise model differs slightly from the hypothesized noise model used to determine an optimized decoder, failure rates can still be reduced by applying our hard decoding algorithm.

  1. Nurturing a lexical legacy: reading experience is critical for the development of word reading skill

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nation, Kate

    2017-12-01

    The scientific study of reading has taught us much about the beginnings of reading in childhood, with clear evidence that the gateway to reading opens when children are able to decode, or `sound out' written words. Similarly, there is a large evidence base charting the cognitive processes that characterise skilled word recognition in adults. Less understood is how children develop word reading expertise. Once basic reading skills are in place, what factors are critical for children to move from novice to expert? This paper outlines the role of reading experience in this transition. Encountering individual words in text provides opportunities for children to refine their knowledge about how spelling represents spoken language. Alongside this, however, reading experience provides much more than repeated exposure to individual words in isolation. According to the lexical legacy perspective, outlined in this paper, experiencing words in diverse and meaningful language environments is critical for the development of word reading skill. At its heart is the idea that reading provides exposure to words in many different contexts, episodes and experiences which, over time, sum to a rich and nuanced database about their lexical history within an individual's experience. These rich and diverse encounters bring about local variation at the word level: a lexical legacy that is measurable during word reading behaviour, even in skilled adults.

  2. Low Complexity Approach for High Throughput Belief-Propagation based Decoding of LDPC Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    BOT, A.

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper proposes a low complexity belief propagation (BP based decoding algorithm for LDPC codes. In spite of the iterative nature of the decoding process, the proposed algorithm provides both reduced complexity and increased BER performances as compared with the classic min-sum (MS algorithm, generally used for hardware implementations. Linear approximations of check-nodes update function are used in order to reduce the complexity of the BP algorithm. Considering this decoding approach, an FPGA based hardware architecture is proposed for implementing the decoding algorithm, aiming to increase the decoder throughput. FPGA technology was chosen for the LDPC decoder implementation, due to its parallel computation and reconfiguration capabilities. The obtained results show improvements regarding decoding throughput and BER performances compared with state-of-the-art approaches.

  3. Exploring the word superiority effect using TVA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Starrfelt, Randi

    Words are made of letters, and yet sometimes it is easier to identify a word than a single letter. This word superiority effect (WSE) has been observed when written stimuli are presented very briefly or degraded by visual noise. It is unclear, however, if this is due to a lower threshold for perc...... simultaneously we find a different pattern: In a whole report experiment with six stimuli (letters or words), letters are perceived more easily than words, and this is reflected both in perceptual processing speed and short term memory capacity....... for perception of words, or a higher speed of processing for words than letters. We have investigated the WSE using methods based on a Theory of Visual Attention. In an experiment using single stimuli (words or letters) presented centrally, we show that the classical WSE is specifically reflected in perceptual...

  4. Firing rate estimation using infinite mixture models and its application to neural decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shibue, Ryohei; Komaki, Fumiyasu

    2017-11-01

    Neural decoding is a framework for reconstructing external stimuli from spike trains recorded by various neural recordings. Kloosterman et al. proposed a new decoding method using marked point processes (Kloosterman F, Layton SP, Chen Z, Wilson MA. J Neurophysiol 111: 217-227, 2014). This method does not require spike sorting and thereby improves decoding accuracy dramatically. In this method, they used kernel density estimation to estimate intensity functions of marked point processes. However, the use of kernel density estimation causes problems such as low decoding accuracy and high computational costs. To overcome these problems, we propose a new decoding method using infinite mixture models to estimate intensity. The proposed method improves decoding performance in terms of accuracy and computational speed. We apply the proposed method to simulation and experimental data to verify its performance. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We propose a new neural decoding method using infinite mixture models and nonparametric Bayesian statistics. The proposed method improves decoding performance in terms of accuracy and computation speed. We have successfully applied the proposed method to position decoding from spike trains recorded in a rat hippocampus. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  5. Behavioral decoding of working memory items inside and outside the focus of attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mallett, Remington; Lewis-Peacock, Jarrod A

    2018-03-31

    How we attend to our thoughts affects how we attend to our environment. Holding information in working memory can automatically bias visual attention toward matching information. By observing attentional biases on reaction times to visual search during a memory delay, it is possible to reconstruct the source of that bias using machine learning techniques and thereby behaviorally decode the content of working memory. Can this be done when more than one item is held in working memory? There is some evidence that multiple items can simultaneously bias attention, but the effects have been inconsistent. One explanation may be that items are stored in different states depending on the current task demands. Recent models propose functionally distinct states of representation for items inside versus outside the focus of attention. Here, we use behavioral decoding to evaluate whether multiple memory items-including temporarily irrelevant items outside the focus of attention-exert biases on visual attention. Only the single item in the focus of attention was decodable. The other item showed a brief attentional bias that dissipated until it returned to the focus of attention. These results support the idea of dynamic, flexible states of working memory across time and priority. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

  6. Clinical Strategies for Sampling Word Recognition Performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlauch, Robert S; Carney, Edward

    2018-04-17

    Computer simulation was used to estimate the statistical properties of searches for maximum word recognition ability (PB max). These involve presenting multiple lists and discarding all scores but that of the 1 list that produced the highest score. The simulations, which model limitations inherent in the precision of word recognition scores, were done to inform clinical protocols. A secondary consideration was a derivation of 95% confidence intervals for significant changes in score from phonemic scoring of a 50-word list. The PB max simulations were conducted on a "client" with flat performance intensity functions. The client's performance was assumed to be 60% initially and 40% for a second assessment. Thousands of estimates were obtained to examine the precision of (a) single lists and (b) multiple lists using a PB max procedure. This method permitted summarizing the precision for assessing a 20% drop in performance. A single 25-word list could identify only 58.4% of the cases in which performance fell from 60% to 40%. A single 125-word list identified 99.8% of the declines correctly. Presenting 3 or 5 lists to find PB max produced an undesirable finding: an increase in the word recognition score. A 25-word list produces unacceptably low precision for making clinical decisions. This finding holds in both single and multiple 25-word lists, as in a search for PB max. A table is provided, giving estimates of 95% critical ranges for successive presentations of a 50-word list analyzed by the number of phonemes correctly identified.

  7. Electrophysiological difference between mental state decoding and mental state reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Bihua; Li, Yiyuan; Li, Fuhong; Li, Hong

    2012-06-29

    Previous studies have explored the neural mechanism of Theory of Mind (ToM), but the neural correlates of its two components, mental state decoding and mental state reasoning, remain unclear. In the present study, participants were presented with various photographs, showing an actor looking at 1 of 2 objects, either with a happy or an unhappy expression. They were asked to either decode the emotion of the actor (mental state decoding task), predict which object would be chosen by the actor (mental state reasoning task), or judge at which object the actor was gazing (physical task), while scalp potentials were recorded. Results showed that (1) the reasoning task elicited an earlier N2 peak than the decoding task did over the prefrontal scalp sites; and (2) during the late positive component (240-440 ms), the reasoning task elicited a more positive deflection than the other two tasks did at the prefrontal scalp sites. In addition, neither the decoding task nor the reasoning task has no left/right hemisphere difference. These findings imply that mental state reasoning differs from mental state decoding early (210 ms) after stimulus onset, and that the prefrontal lobe is the neural basis of mental state reasoning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Partially blind instantly decodable network codes for lossy feedback environment

    KAUST Repository

    Sorour, Sameh

    2014-09-01

    In this paper, we study the multicast completion and decoding delay minimization problems for instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) in the case of lossy feedback. When feedback loss events occur, the sender falls into uncertainties about packet reception at the different receivers, which forces it to perform partially blind selections of packet combinations in subsequent transmissions. To determine efficient selection policies that reduce the completion and decoding delays of IDNC in such an environment, we first extend the perfect feedback formulation in our previous works to the lossy feedback environment, by incorporating the uncertainties resulting from unheard feedback events in these formulations. For the completion delay problem, we use this formulation to identify the maximum likelihood state of the network in events of unheard feedback and employ it to design a partially blind graph update extension to the multicast IDNC algorithm in our earlier work. For the decoding delay problem, we derive an expression for the expected decoding delay increment for any arbitrary transmission. This expression is then used to find the optimal policy that reduces the decoding delay in such lossy feedback environment. Results show that our proposed solutions both outperform previously proposed approaches and achieve tolerable degradation even at relatively high feedback loss rates.

  9. Vocabulary knowledge mediates the link between socioeconomic status and word learning in grade school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maguire, Mandy J; Schneider, Julie M; Middleton, Anna E; Ralph, Yvonne; Lopez, Michael; Ackerman, Robert A; Abel, Alyson D

    2018-02-01

    The relationship between children's slow vocabulary growth and the family's low socioeconomic status (SES) has been well documented. However, previous studies have often focused on infants or preschoolers and primarily used static measures of vocabulary at multiple time points. To date, there is no research investigating whether SES predicts a child's word learning abilities in grade school and, if so, what mediates this relationship. In this study, 68 children aged 8-15 years performed a written word learning from context task that required using the surrounding text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Results revealed that vocabulary knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between SES (as measured by maternal education) and word learning. This was true despite the fact that the words in the linguistic context surrounding the target word are typically acquired well before 8 years of age. When controlling for vocabulary, word learning from written context was not predicted by differences in reading comprehension, decoding, or working memory. These findings reveal that differences in vocabulary growth between grade school children from low and higher SES homes are likely related to differences in the process of word learning more than knowledge of surrounding words or reading skills. Specifically, children from lower SES homes are not as effective at using known vocabulary to build a robust semantic representation of incoming text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Neuroimaging of decoding and language comprehension in young very low birth weight (VLBW) adolescents: Indications for compensatory mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Ettinger-Veenstra, Helene; Widén, Carin; Engström, Maria; Karlsson, Thomas; Leijon, Ingemar; Nelson, Nina

    2017-01-01

    In preterm children with very low birth weight (VLBW ≤ 1500 g), reading problems are often observed. Reading comprehension is dependent on word decoding and language comprehension. We investigated neural activation-within brain regions important for reading-related to components of reading comprehension in young VLBW adolescents in direct comparison to normal birth weight (NBW) term-born peers, with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We hypothesized that the decoding mechanisms will be affected by VLBW, and expect to see increased neural activity for VLBW which may be modulated by task performance and cognitive ability. The study investigated 13 (11 included in fMRI) young adolescents (ages 12 to 14 years) born preterm with VLBW and in 13 NBW controls (ages 12-14 years) for performance on the Block Design and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; and for semantic, orthographic, and phonological processing during an fMRI paradigm. The VLBW group showed increased phonological activation in left inferior frontal gyrus, decreased orthographic activation in right supramarginal gyrus, and decreased semantic activation in left inferior frontal gyrus. Block Design was related to altered right-hemispheric activation, and VLBW showed lower WISC Block Design scores. Left angular gyrus showed activation increase specific for VLBW with high accuracy on the semantic test. Young VLBW adolescents showed no accuracy and reaction time performance differences on our fMRI language tasks, but they did exhibit altered neural activation during these tasks. This altered activation for VLBW was observed as increased activation during phonological decoding, and as mainly decreased activation during orthographic and semantic processing. Correlations of neural activation with accuracy on the semantic fMRI task and with decreased WISC Block Design performance were specific for the VLBW group. Together, results suggest compensatory

  11. Complexity Analysis of Reed-Solomon Decoding over GF without Using Syndromes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Ning

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract There has been renewed interest in decoding Reed-Solomon (RS codes without using syndromes recently. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of syndromeless decoding, and compare it to that of syndrome-based decoding. Aiming to provide guidelines to practical applications, our complexity analysis focuses on RS codes over characteristic-2 fields, for which some multiplicative FFT techniques are not applicable. Due to moderate block lengths of RS codes in practice, our analysis is complete, without big notation. In addition to fast implementation using additive FFT techniques, we also consider direct implementation, which is still relevant for RS codes with moderate lengths. For high-rate RS codes, when compared to syndrome-based decoding algorithms, not only syndromeless decoding algorithms require more field operations regardless of implementation, but also decoder architectures based on their direct implementations have higher hardware costs and lower throughput. We also derive tighter bounds on the complexities of fast polynomial multiplications based on Cantor's approach and the fast extended Euclidean algorithm.

  12. Decoding subtle forearm flexions using fractal features of surface electromyogram from single and multiple sensors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjunan, Sridhar Poosapadi; Kumar, Dinesh Kant

    2010-10-21

    Identifying finger and wrist flexion based actions using a single channel surface electromyogram (sEMG) can lead to a number of applications such as sEMG based controllers for near elbow amputees, human computer interface (HCI) devices for elderly and for defence personnel. These are currently infeasible because classification of sEMG is unreliable when the level of muscle contraction is low and there are multiple active muscles. The presence of noise and cross-talk from closely located and simultaneously active muscles is exaggerated when muscles are weakly active such as during sustained wrist and finger flexion. This paper reports the use of fractal properties of sEMG to reliably identify individual wrist and finger flexion, overcoming the earlier shortcomings. SEMG signal was recorded when the participant maintained pre-specified wrist and finger flexion movements for a period of time. Various established sEMG signal parameters such as root mean square (RMS), Mean absolute value (MAV), Variance (VAR) and Waveform length (WL) and the proposed fractal features: fractal dimension (FD) and maximum fractal length (MFL) were computed. Multi-variant analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine the p value, indicative of the significance of the relationships between each of these parameters with the wrist and finger flexions. Classification accuracy was also computed using the trained artificial neural network (ANN) classifier to decode the desired subtle movements. The results indicate that the p value for the proposed feature set consisting of FD and MFL of single channel sEMG was 0.0001 while that of various combinations of the five established features ranged between 0.009 - 0.0172. From the accuracy of classification by the ANN, the average accuracy in identifying the wrist and finger flexions using the proposed feature set of single channel sEMG was 90%, while the average accuracy when using a combination of other features ranged between 58% and 73

  13. Decoding subtle forearm flexions using fractal features of surface electromyogram from single and multiple sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kumar Dinesh

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Identifying finger and wrist flexion based actions using a single channel surface electromyogram (sEMG can lead to a number of applications such as sEMG based controllers for near elbow amputees, human computer interface (HCI devices for elderly and for defence personnel. These are currently infeasible because classification of sEMG is unreliable when the level of muscle contraction is low and there are multiple active muscles. The presence of noise and cross-talk from closely located and simultaneously active muscles is exaggerated when muscles are weakly active such as during sustained wrist and finger flexion. This paper reports the use of fractal properties of sEMG to reliably identify individual wrist and finger flexion, overcoming the earlier shortcomings. Methods SEMG signal was recorded when the participant maintained pre-specified wrist and finger flexion movements for a period of time. Various established sEMG signal parameters such as root mean square (RMS, Mean absolute value (MAV, Variance (VAR and Waveform length (WL and the proposed fractal features: fractal dimension (FD and maximum fractal length (MFL were computed. Multi-variant analysis of variance (MANOVA was conducted to determine the p value, indicative of the significance of the relationships between each of these parameters with the wrist and finger flexions. Classification accuracy was also computed using the trained artificial neural network (ANN classifier to decode the desired subtle movements. Results The results indicate that the p value for the proposed feature set consisting of FD and MFL of single channel sEMG was 0.0001 while that of various combinations of the five established features ranged between 0.009 - 0.0172. From the accuracy of classification by the ANN, the average accuracy in identifying the wrist and finger flexions using the proposed feature set of single channel sEMG was 90%, while the average accuracy when using a combination

  14. A quantum algorithm for Viterbi decoding of classical convolutional codes

    OpenAIRE

    Grice, Jon R.; Meyer, David A.

    2014-01-01

    We present a quantum Viterbi algorithm (QVA) with better than classical performance under certain conditions. In this paper the proposed algorithm is applied to decoding classical convolutional codes, for instance; large constraint length $Q$ and short decode frames $N$. Other applications of the classical Viterbi algorithm where $Q$ is large (e.g. speech processing) could experience significant speedup with the QVA. The QVA exploits the fact that the decoding trellis is similar to the butter...

  15. Design of a VLSI Decoder for Partially Structured LDPC Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabrizio Vacca

    2008-01-01

    of their parity matrix can be partitioned into two disjoint sets, namely, the structured and the random ones. For the proposed class of codes a constructive design method is provided. To assess the value of this method the constructed codes performance are presented. From these results, a novel decoding method called split decoding is introduced. Finally, to prove the effectiveness of the proposed approach a whole VLSI decoder is designed and characterized.

  16. Multiuser Random Coding Techniques for Mismatched Decoding

    OpenAIRE

    Scarlett, Jonathan; Martinez, Alfonso; Guillén i Fàbregas, Albert

    2016-01-01

    This paper studies multiuser random coding techniques for channel coding with a given (possibly suboptimal) decoding rule. For the mismatched discrete memoryless multiple-access channel, an error exponent is obtained that is tight with respect to the ensemble average, and positive within the interior of Lapidoth's achievable rate region. This exponent proves the ensemble tightness of the exponent of Liu and Hughes in the case of maximum-likelihood decoding. An equivalent dual form of Lapidoth...

  17. Stress Judgment and Production in English Derivation, and Word Reading in Adult Mandarin-Speaking English Learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda

    2017-08-01

    For monolingual English-speaking children, judgment and production of stress in derived words, including words with phonologically neutral (e.g., -ness) and non-neutral suffixes (e.g., -ity), is important to both academic vocabulary growth and to word reading. For Mandarin-speaking adult English learners (AELs) the challenge of learning the English stress system might be complicated by cross-linguistic differences in prosodic function and features. As Mandarin-speakers become more proficient in English, patterns similar to those seen in monolingual children could emerge in which awareness and use of stress and suffix cues benefit word reading. A correlational design was used to examine the contributions of English stress in derivation with neutral and non-neutral suffixes to English word and nonword reading. Stress judgment in non-neutral derivation predicted word reading after controlling for working memory and English vocabulary; whereas stress production in neutral derivation contributed to word reading and pseudoword decoding, independent of working memory and English vocabulary. Although AELs could use stress and suffix cues for word reading, AELs were different from native English speakers in awareness of non-neutral suffix cues conditioning lexical stress placement. AELs may need to rely on lexical storage of primary stress in derivations with non-neutral suffixes.

  18. Kernel Temporal Differences for Neural Decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bae, Jihye; Sanchez Giraldo, Luis G.; Pohlmeyer, Eric A.; Francis, Joseph T.; Sanchez, Justin C.; Príncipe, José C.

    2015-01-01

    We study the feasibility and capability of the kernel temporal difference (KTD)(λ) algorithm for neural decoding. KTD(λ) is an online, kernel-based learning algorithm, which has been introduced to estimate value functions in reinforcement learning. This algorithm combines kernel-based representations with the temporal difference approach to learning. One of our key observations is that by using strictly positive definite kernels, algorithm's convergence can be guaranteed for policy evaluation. The algorithm's nonlinear functional approximation capabilities are shown in both simulations of policy evaluation and neural decoding problems (policy improvement). KTD can handle high-dimensional neural states containing spatial-temporal information at a reasonable computational complexity allowing real-time applications. When the algorithm seeks a proper mapping between a monkey's neural states and desired positions of a computer cursor or a robot arm, in both open-loop and closed-loop experiments, it can effectively learn the neural state to action mapping. Finally, a visualization of the coadaptation process between the decoder and the subject shows the algorithm's capabilities in reinforcement learning brain machine interfaces. PMID:25866504

  19. Row Reduction Applied to Decoding of Rank Metric and Subspace Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Puchinger, Sven; Nielsen, Johan Sebastian Rosenkilde; Li, Wenhui

    2017-01-01

    We show that decoding of ℓ-Interleaved Gabidulin codes, as well as list-ℓ decoding of Mahdavifar–Vardy (MV) codes can be performed by row reducing skew polynomial matrices. Inspired by row reduction of F[x] matrices, we develop a general and flexible approach of transforming matrices over skew...... polynomial rings into a certain reduced form. We apply this to solve generalised shift register problems over skew polynomial rings which occur in decoding ℓ-Interleaved Gabidulin codes. We obtain an algorithm with complexity O(ℓμ2) where μ measures the size of the input problem and is proportional...... to the code length n in the case of decoding. Further, we show how to perform the interpolation step of list-ℓ-decoding MV codes in complexity O(ℓn2), where n is the number of interpolation constraints....

  20. Nine Words - Nine Columns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trempe Jr., Robert B.; Buthke, Jan

    2016-01-01

    of computational and mechanical processes towards an anesthetic. Each team received a single word, translating and evolving that word first into a double-curved computational surface, next a ruled computational surface, and then a physically shaped foam mold via a 6-axis robot. The foam molds then operated...

  1. Knowledge inhibition and N400: a study with words that look like common words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Debruille, J B

    1998-04-01

    In addition to their own representations, low frequency words, such as BRIBE, can covertly activate the representations of higher frequency words they look like (e.g., BRIDE). Hence, look-alike words can activate knowledge that is incompatible with the knowledge corresponding to accurate representations. Comparatively, eccentric words, that is, low frequency words that do not look as much like higher frequency words, are less likely to activate incompatible knowledge. This study focuses on the hypothesis that the N400 component of the event-related potential reflects the inhibition of incompatible knowledge. This hypothesis predicts that look-alike words elicit N400s of greater amplitudes than eccentric words in conditions where incompatible knowledge is inhibited. Results from a single item lexical decision experiment are reported which support the inhibition hypothesis. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

  2. Coding/decoding two-dimensional images with orbital angular momentum of light.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Jiaqi; Li, Xuefeng; Smithwick, Quinn; Chu, Daping

    2016-04-01

    We investigate encoding and decoding of two-dimensional information using the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light. Spiral phase plates and phase-only spatial light modulators are used in encoding and decoding of OAM states, respectively. We show that off-axis points and spatial variables encoded with a given OAM state can be recovered through decoding with the corresponding complimentary OAM state.

  3. ESVD: An Integrated Energy Scalable Framework for Low-Power Video Decoding Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen Ji

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Video applications using mobile wireless devices are a challenging task due to the limited capacity of batteries. The higher complex functionality of video decoding needs high resource requirements. Thus, power efficient control has become more critical design with devices integrating complex video processing techniques. Previous works on power efficient control in video decoding systems often aim at the low complexity design and not explicitly consider the scalable impact of subfunctions in decoding process, and seldom consider the relationship with the features of compressed video date. This paper is dedicated to developing an energy-scalable video decoding (ESVD strategy for energy-limited mobile terminals. First, ESVE can dynamically adapt the variable energy resources due to the device aware technique. Second, ESVD combines the decoder control with decoded data, through classifying the data into different partition profiles according to its characteristics. Third, it introduces utility theoretical analysis during the resource allocation process, so as to maximize the resource utilization. Finally, it adapts the energy resource as different energy budget and generates the scalable video decoding output under energy-limited systems. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.

  4. Cellular automaton decoders of topological quantum memories in the fault tolerant setting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herold, Michael; Eisert, Jens; Kastoryano, Michael J; Campbell, Earl T

    2017-01-01

    Active error decoding and correction of topological quantum codes—in particular the toric code—remains one of the most viable routes to large scale quantum information processing. In contrast, passive error correction relies on the natural physical dynamics of a system to protect encoded quantum information. However, the search is ongoing for a completely satisfactory passive scheme applicable to locally interacting two-dimensional systems. Here, we investigate dynamical decoders that provide passive error correction by embedding the decoding process into local dynamics. We propose a specific discrete time cellular-automaton decoder in the fault tolerant setting and provide numerical evidence showing that the logical qubit has a survival time extended by several orders of magnitude over that of a bare unencoded qubit. We stress that (asynchronous) dynamical decoding gives rise to a Markovian dissipative process. We hence equate cellular-automaton decoding to a fully dissipative topological quantum memory, which removes errors continuously. In this sense, uncontrolled and unwanted local noise can be corrected for by a controlled local dissipative process. We analyze the required resources, commenting on additional polylogarithmic factors beyond those incurred by an ideal constant resource dynamical decoder. (paper)

  5. Delay reduction in lossy intermittent feedback for generalized instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.

    2013-10-01

    In this paper, we study the effect of lossy intermittent feedback loss events on the multicast decoding delay performance of generalized instantly decodable network coding. These feedback loss events create uncertainty at the sender about the reception statues of different receivers and thus uncertainty to accurately determine subsequent instantly decodable coded packets. To solve this problem, we first identify the different possibilities of uncertain packets at the sender and their probabilities. We then derive the expression of the mean decoding delay. We formulate the Generalized Instantly Decodable Network Coding (G-IDNC) minimum decoding delay problem as a maximum weight clique problem. Since finding the optimal solution is NP-hard, we design a variant of the algorithm employed in [1]. Our algorithm is compared to the two blind graph update proposed in [2] through extensive simulations. Results show that our algorithm outperforms the blind approaches in all the situations and achieves a tolerable degradation, against the perfect feedback, for large feedback loss period. © 2013 IEEE.

  6. Delay reduction in lossy intermittent feedback for generalized instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Ai-Naffouri, Tareq Y.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we study the effect of lossy intermittent feedback loss events on the multicast decoding delay performance of generalized instantly decodable network coding. These feedback loss events create uncertainty at the sender about the reception statues of different receivers and thus uncertainty to accurately determine subsequent instantly decodable coded packets. To solve this problem, we first identify the different possibilities of uncertain packets at the sender and their probabilities. We then derive the expression of the mean decoding delay. We formulate the Generalized Instantly Decodable Network Coding (G-IDNC) minimum decoding delay problem as a maximum weight clique problem. Since finding the optimal solution is NP-hard, we design a variant of the algorithm employed in [1]. Our algorithm is compared to the two blind graph update proposed in [2] through extensive simulations. Results show that our algorithm outperforms the blind approaches in all the situations and achieves a tolerable degradation, against the perfect feedback, for large feedback loss period. © 2013 IEEE.

  7. Utilizing Cross-Layer Information to Improve Performance in JPEG2000 Decoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannes Persson

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available We focus on wireless multimedia communication and investigate how cross-layer information can be used to improve performance at the application layer, using JPEG2000 as an example. The cross-layer information is in the form of soft information from the physical layer. The soft information, which is supplied by a soft decision demodulator, yields reliability measures for the received bits and is fed into two soft input iterative JPEG2000 image decoders. When errors are detected with the error detecting mechanisms in JPEG2000, the decoders utilize the soft information to point out likely transmission errors. Hence, the decoders can correct errors and increase the image quality without making time-consuming retransmissions. We believe that the proposed decoding method utilizing soft information is suitable for a general IP-based network and that it keeps the principles of a layered structure of the protocol stack intact. Further, experimental results with images transmitted over a simulated wireless channel show that a simple decoding algorithm that utilizes soft information can give high gains in image quality compared to the standard hard-decision decoding.

  8. Efficient Dual Domain Decoding of Linear Block Codes Using Genetic Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed Azouaoui

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A computationally efficient algorithm for decoding block codes is developed using a genetic algorithm (GA. The proposed algorithm uses the dual code in contrast to the existing genetic decoders in the literature that use the code itself. Hence, this new approach reduces the complexity of decoding the codes of high rates. We simulated our algorithm in various transmission channels. The performance of this algorithm is investigated and compared with competitor decoding algorithms including Maini and Shakeel ones. The results show that the proposed algorithm gives large gains over the Chase-2 decoding algorithm and reach the performance of the OSD-3 for some quadratic residue (QR codes. Further, we define a new crossover operator that exploits the domain specific information and compare it with uniform and two point crossover. The complexity of this algorithm is also discussed and compared to other algorithms.

  9. An online brain-machine interface using decoding of movement direction from the human electrocorticogram

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milekovic, Tomislav; Fischer, Jörg; Pistohl, Tobias; Ruescher, Johanna; Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas; Aertsen, Ad; Rickert, Jörn; Ball, Tonio; Mehring, Carsten

    2012-08-01

    A brain-machine interface (BMI) can be used to control movements of an artificial effector, e.g. movements of an arm prosthesis, by motor cortical signals that control the equivalent movements of the corresponding body part, e.g. arm movements. This approach has been successfully applied in monkeys and humans by accurately extracting parameters of movements from the spiking activity of multiple single neurons. We show that the same approach can be realized using brain activity measured directly from the surface of the human cortex using electrocorticography (ECoG). Five subjects, implanted with ECoG implants for the purpose of epilepsy assessment, took part in our study. Subjects used directionally dependent ECoG signals, recorded during active movements of a single arm, to control a computer cursor in one out of two directions. Significant BMI control was achieved in four out of five subjects with correct directional decoding in 69%-86% of the trials (75% on average). Our results demonstrate the feasibility of an online BMI using decoding of movement direction from human ECoG signals. Thus, to achieve such BMIs, ECoG signals might be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to intracortical neural signals.

  10. Optimal coding-decoding for systems controlled via a communication channel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yi-wei, Feng; Guo, Ge

    2013-12-01

    In this article, we study the problem of controlling plants over a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) constrained communication channel. Different from previous research, this article emphasises the importance of the actual channel model and coder/decoder in the study of network performance. Our major objectives include coder/decoder design for an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel with both standard network configuration and Youla parameter network architecture. We find that the optimal coder and decoder can be realised for different network configuration. The results are useful in determining the minimum channel capacity needed in order to stabilise plants over communication channels. The coder/decoder obtained can be used to analyse the effect of uncertainty on the channel capacity. An illustrative example is provided to show the effectiveness of the results.

  11. Achievable Information Rates for Coded Modulation With Hard Decision Decoding for Coherent Fiber-Optic Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheikh, Alireza; Amat, Alexandre Graell i.; Liva, Gianluigi

    2017-12-01

    We analyze the achievable information rates (AIRs) for coded modulation schemes with QAM constellations with both bit-wise and symbol-wise decoders, corresponding to the case where a binary code is used in combination with a higher-order modulation using the bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) paradigm and to the case where a nonbinary code over a field matched to the constellation size is used, respectively. In particular, we consider hard decision decoding, which is the preferable option for fiber-optic communication systems where decoding complexity is a concern. Recently, Liga \\emph{et al.} analyzed the AIRs for bit-wise and symbol-wise decoders considering what the authors called \\emph{hard decision decoder} which, however, exploits \\emph{soft information} of the transition probabilities of discrete-input discrete-output channel resulting from the hard detection. As such, the complexity of the decoder is essentially the same as the complexity of a soft decision decoder. In this paper, we analyze instead the AIRs for the standard hard decision decoder, commonly used in practice, where the decoding is based on the Hamming distance metric. We show that if standard hard decision decoding is used, bit-wise decoders yield significantly higher AIRs than symbol-wise decoders. As a result, contrary to the conclusion by Liga \\emph{et al.}, binary decoders together with the BICM paradigm are preferable for spectrally-efficient fiber-optic systems. We also design binary and nonbinary staircase codes and show that, in agreement with the AIRs, binary codes yield better performance.

  12. Decoding error-correcting codes with Gröbner bases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bulygin, S.; Pellikaan, G.R.; Veldhuis, R.; Cronie, H.; Hoeksema, H.

    2007-01-01

    The decoding of arbitrary linear block codes is accomplished by solving a system of quadratic equations by means of Buchberger’s algorithm for finding a Gröbner basis. This generalizes the algorithm of Berlekamp-Massey for decoding Reed Solomon, Goppa and cyclic codes up to half the true minimum

  13. Decoding Individual Finger Movements from One Hand Using Human EEG Signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Jania; Ding, Lei

    2014-01-01

    Brain computer interface (BCI) is an assistive technology, which decodes neurophysiological signals generated by the human brain and translates them into control signals to control external devices, e.g., wheelchairs. One problem challenging noninvasive BCI technologies is the limited control dimensions from decoding movements of, mainly, large body parts, e.g., upper and lower limbs. It has been reported that complicated dexterous functions, i.e., finger movements, can be decoded in electrocorticography (ECoG) signals, while it remains unclear whether noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG) signals also have sufficient information to decode the same type of movements. Phenomena of broadband power increase and low-frequency-band power decrease were observed in EEG in the present study, when EEG power spectra were decomposed by a principal component analysis (PCA). These movement-related spectral structures and their changes caused by finger movements in EEG are consistent with observations in previous ECoG study, as well as the results from ECoG data in the present study. The average decoding accuracy of 77.11% over all subjects was obtained in classifying each pair of fingers from one hand using movement-related spectral changes as features to be decoded using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The average decoding accuracy in three epilepsy patients using ECoG data was 91.28% with the similarly obtained features and same classifier. Both decoding accuracies of EEG and ECoG are significantly higher than the empirical guessing level (51.26%) in all subjects (pEEG as in ECoG, and demonstrates the feasibility of discriminating finger movements from one hand using EEG. These findings are promising to facilitate the development of BCIs with rich control signals using noninvasive technologies. PMID:24416360

  14. Emotion Words Affect Eye Fixations during Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Graham G.; O'Donnell, Patrick J.; Sereno, Sara C.

    2012-01-01

    Emotion words are generally characterized as possessing high arousal and extreme valence and have typically been investigated in paradigms in which they are presented and measured as single words. This study examined whether a word's emotional qualities influenced the time spent viewing that word in the context of normal reading. Eye movements…

  15. Application of source biasing technique for energy efficient DECODER circuit design: memory array application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Neha; Parihar, Priyanka; Neema, Vaibhav

    2018-04-01

    Researchers have proposed many circuit techniques to reduce leakage power dissipation in memory cells. If we want to reduce the overall power in the memory system, we have to work on the input circuitry of memory architecture i.e. row and column decoder. In this research work, low leakage power with a high speed row and column decoder for memory array application is designed and four new techniques are proposed. In this work, the comparison of cluster DECODER, body bias DECODER, source bias DECODER, and source coupling DECODER are designed and analyzed for memory array application. Simulation is performed for the comparative analysis of different DECODER design parameters at 180 nm GPDK technology file using the CADENCE tool. Simulation results show that the proposed source bias DECODER circuit technique decreases the leakage current by 99.92% and static energy by 99.92% at a supply voltage of 1.2 V. The proposed circuit also improves dynamic power dissipation by 5.69%, dynamic PDP/EDP 65.03% and delay 57.25% at 1.2 V supply voltage.

  16. Systolic array processing of the sequential decoding algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, C. Y.; Yao, K.

    1989-01-01

    A systolic array processing technique is applied to implementing the stack algorithm form of the sequential decoding algorithm. It is shown that sorting, a key function in the stack algorithm, can be efficiently realized by a special type of systolic arrays known as systolic priority queues. Compared to the stack-bucket algorithm, this approach is shown to have the advantages that the decoding always moves along the optimal path, that it has a fast and constant decoding speed and that its simple and regular hardware architecture is suitable for VLSI implementation. Three types of systolic priority queues are discussed: random access scheme, shift register scheme and ripple register scheme. The property of the entries stored in the systolic priority queue is also investigated. The results are applicable to many other basic sorting type problems.

  17. Techniques and Architectures for Hazard-Free Semi-Parallel Decoding of LDPC Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rovini Massimo

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The layered decoding algorithm has recently been proposed as an efficient means for the decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC codes, thanks to the remarkable improvement in the convergence speed (2x of the decoding process. However, pipelined semi-parallel decoders suffer from violations or "hazards" between consecutive updates, which not only violate the layered principle but also enforce the loops in the code, thus spoiling the error correction performance. This paper describes three different techniques to properly reschedule the decoding updates, based on the careful insertion of "idle" cycles, to prevent the hazards of the pipeline mechanism. Also, different semi-parallel architectures of a layered LDPC decoder suitable for use with such techniques are analyzed. Then, taking the LDPC codes for the wireless local area network (IEEE 802.11n as a case study, a detailed analysis of the performance attained with the proposed techniques and architectures is reported, and results of the logic synthesis on a 65 nm low-power CMOS technology are shown.

  18. Online decoding of object-based attention using real-time fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niazi, Adnan M; van den Broek, Philip L C; Klanke, Stefan; Barth, Markus; Poel, Mannes; Desain, Peter; van Gerven, Marcel A J

    2014-01-01

    Visual attention is used to selectively filter relevant information depending on current task demands and goals. Visual attention is called object-based attention when it is directed to coherent forms or objects in the visual field. This study used real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging for moment-to-moment decoding of attention to spatially overlapped objects belonging to two different object categories. First, a whole-brain classifier was trained on pictures of faces and places. Subjects then saw transparently overlapped pictures of a face and a place, and attended to only one of them while ignoring the other. The category of the attended object, face or place, was decoded on a scan-by-scan basis using the previously trained decoder. The decoder performed at 77.6% accuracy indicating that despite competing bottom-up sensory input, object-based visual attention biased neural patterns towards that of the attended object. Furthermore, a comparison between different classification approaches indicated that the representation of faces and places is distributed rather than focal. This implies that real-time decoding of object-based attention requires a multivariate decoding approach that can detect these distributed patterns of cortical activity. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Multiple LDPC decoding for distributed source coding and video coding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Forchhammer, Søren; Luong, Huynh Van; Huang, Xin

    2011-01-01

    Distributed source coding (DSC) is a coding paradigm for systems which fully or partly exploit the source statistics at the decoder to reduce the computational burden at the encoder. Distributed video coding (DVC) is one example. This paper considers the use of Low Density Parity Check Accumulate...... (LDPCA) codes in a DSC scheme with feed-back. To improve the LDPC coding performance in the context of DSC and DVC, while retaining short encoder blocks, this paper proposes multiple parallel LDPC decoding. The proposed scheme passes soft information between decoders to enhance performance. Experimental...

  20. Partially blind instantly decodable network codes for lossy feedback environment

    KAUST Repository

    Sorour, Sameh; Douik, Ahmed S.; Valaee, Shahrokh; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    an expression for the expected decoding delay increment for any arbitrary transmission. This expression is then used to find the optimal policy that reduces the decoding delay in such lossy feedback environment. Results show that our proposed solutions both

  1. New decoding methods of interleaved burst error-correcting codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakano, Y.; Kasahara, M.; Namekawa, T.

    1983-04-01

    A probabilistic method of single burst error correction, using the syndrome correlation of subcodes which constitute the interleaved code, is presented. This method makes it possible to realize a high capability of burst error correction with less decoding delay. By generalizing this method it is possible to obtain probabilistic method of multiple (m-fold) burst error correction. After estimating the burst error positions using syndrome correlation of subcodes which are interleaved m-fold burst error detecting codes, this second method corrects erasure errors in each subcode and m-fold burst errors. The performance of these two methods is analyzed via computer simulation, and their effectiveness is demonstrated.

  2. VLSI Architectures for Sliding-Window-Based Space-Time Turbo Trellis Code Decoders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georgios Passas

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The VLSI implementation of SISO-MAP decoders used for traditional iterative turbo coding has been investigated in the literature. In this paper, a complete architectural model of a space-time turbo code receiver that includes elementary decoders is presented. These architectures are based on newly proposed building blocks such as a recursive add-compare-select-offset (ACSO unit, A-, B-, Γ-, and LLR output calculation modules. Measurements of complexity and decoding delay of several sliding-window-technique-based MAP decoder architectures and a proposed parameter set lead to defining equations and comparison between those architectures.

  3. Words Do Come Easy (Sometimes)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Starrfelt, Randi; Petersen, Anders; Vangkilde, Signe Allerup

    multiple stimuli are presented simultaneously: Are words treated as units or wholes in visual short term memory? Using methods based on a Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), we measured perceptual threshold, visual processing speed and visual short term memory capacity for words and letters, in two simple...... a different pattern: Letters are perceived more easily than words, and this is reflected both in perceptual processing speed and short term memory capacity. So even if single words do come easy, they seem to enjoy no advantage in visual short term memory....

  4. Decoding English Alphabet Letters Using EEG Phase Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YiYan Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Increasing evidence indicates that the phase pattern and power of the low frequency oscillations of brain electroencephalograms (EEG contain significant information during the human cognition of sensory signals such as auditory and visual stimuli. Here, we investigate whether and how the letters of the alphabet can be directly decoded from EEG phase and power data. In addition, we investigate how different band oscillations contribute to the classification and determine the critical time periods. An English letter recognition task was assigned, and statistical analyses were conducted to decode the EEG signal corresponding to each letter visualized on a computer screen. We applied support vector machine (SVM with gradient descent method to learn the potential features for classification. It was observed that the EEG phase signals have a higher decoding accuracy than the oscillation power information. Low-frequency theta and alpha oscillations have phase information with higher accuracy than do other bands. The decoding performance was best when the analysis period began from 180 to 380 ms after stimulus presentation, especially in the lateral occipital and posterior temporal scalp regions (PO7 and PO8. These results may provide a new approach for brain-computer interface techniques (BCI and may deepen our understanding of EEG oscillations in cognition.

  5. Multi-Trial Guruswami–Sudan Decoding for Generalised Reed–Solomon Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Johan Sebastian Rosenkilde; Zeh, Alexander

    2013-01-01

    An iterated refinement procedure for the Guruswami–Sudan list decoding algorithm for Generalised Reed–Solomon codes based on Alekhnovich’s module minimisation is proposed. The method is parametrisable and allows variants of the usual list decoding approach. In particular, finding the list...

  6. Multiple-Symbol Decision-Feedback Space-Time Differential Decoding in Fading Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Xiaodong

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Space-time differential coding (STDC is an effective technique for exploiting transmitter diversity while it does not require the channel state information at the receiver. However, like conventional differential modulation schemes, it exhibits an error floor in fading channels. In this paper, we develop an STDC decoding technique based on multiple-symbol detection and decision-feedback, which makes use of the second-order statistic of the fading processes and has a very low computational complexity. This decoding method can significantly lower the error floor of the conventional STDC decoding algorithm, especially in fast fading channels. The application of the proposed multiple-symbol decision-feedback STDC decoding technique in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM system is also discussed.

  7. Decoding Interleaved Gabidulin Codes using Alekhnovich's Algorithm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Puchinger, Sven; Müelich, Sven; Mödinger, David

    2017-01-01

    We prove that Alekhnovich's algorithm can be used for row reduction of skew polynomial matrices. This yields an O(ℓ3n(ω+1)/2log⁡(n)) decoding algorithm for ℓ-Interleaved Gabidulin codes of length n, where ω is the matrix multiplication exponent.......We prove that Alekhnovich's algorithm can be used for row reduction of skew polynomial matrices. This yields an O(ℓ3n(ω+1)/2log⁡(n)) decoding algorithm for ℓ-Interleaved Gabidulin codes of length n, where ω is the matrix multiplication exponent....

  8. Decoding LDPC Convolutional Codes on Markov Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kashyap Manohar

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper describes a pipelined iterative technique for joint decoding and channel state estimation of LDPC convolutional codes over Markov channels. Example designs are presented for the Gilbert-Elliott discrete channel model. We also compare the performance and complexity of our algorithm against joint decoding and state estimation of conventional LDPC block codes. Complexity analysis reveals that our pipelined algorithm reduces the number of operations per time step compared to LDPC block codes, at the expense of increased memory and latency. This tradeoff is favorable for low-power applications.

  9. Decoding LDPC Convolutional Codes on Markov Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris Winstead

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a pipelined iterative technique for joint decoding and channel state estimation of LDPC convolutional codes over Markov channels. Example designs are presented for the Gilbert-Elliott discrete channel model. We also compare the performance and complexity of our algorithm against joint decoding and state estimation of conventional LDPC block codes. Complexity analysis reveals that our pipelined algorithm reduces the number of operations per time step compared to LDPC block codes, at the expense of increased memory and latency. This tradeoff is favorable for low-power applications.

  10. A Parallel Decoding Algorithm for Short Polar Codes Based on Error Checking and Correcting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Xiaofei; Pan, Kegang; Ye, Zhan; Gong, Chao

    2014-01-01

    We propose a parallel decoding algorithm based on error checking and correcting to improve the performance of the short polar codes. In order to enhance the error-correcting capacity of the decoding algorithm, we first derive the error-checking equations generated on the basis of the frozen nodes, and then we introduce the method to check the errors in the input nodes of the decoder by the solutions of these equations. In order to further correct those checked errors, we adopt the method of modifying the probability messages of the error nodes with constant values according to the maximization principle. Due to the existence of multiple solutions of the error-checking equations, we formulate a CRC-aided optimization problem of finding the optimal solution with three different target functions, so as to improve the accuracy of error checking. Besides, in order to increase the throughput of decoding, we use a parallel method based on the decoding tree to calculate probability messages of all the nodes in the decoder. Numerical results show that the proposed decoding algorithm achieves better performance than that of some existing decoding algorithms with the same code length. PMID:25540813

  11. Analysis and Design of Binary Message-Passing Decoders

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lechner, Gottfried; Pedersen, Troels; Kramer, Gerhard

    2012-01-01

    Binary message-passing decoders for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are studied by using extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts. The channel delivers hard or soft decisions and the variable node decoder performs all computations in the L-value domain. A hard decision channel results...... message-passing decoders. Finally, it is shown that errors on cycles consisting only of degree two and three variable nodes cannot be corrected and a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a cycle-free subgraph is derived....... in the well-know Gallager B algorithm, and increasing the output alphabet from hard decisions to two bits yields a gain of more than 1.0 dB in the required signal to noise ratio when using optimized codes. The code optimization requires adapting the mixing property of EXIT functions to the case of binary...

  12. An overview of turbo decoding on fading channels

    OpenAIRE

    ATILGAN, Doğan

    2009-01-01

    A review of turbo coding and decoding has been presented in the literature [1]. In that paper, turbo coding and decoding on AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) channels has been elaborated. In wireless communications, a phenomennon called multipath fading is frequently encountered. Therefore, investigation of efficient techniques to tackle with the destructive effects of fading is essential. Turbo coding has been proven as an efficient channel coding technique for AWGN channels. Some of the ...

  13. Activation of extrastriate and frontal cortical areas by visual words and word-like stimuli

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petersen, S.E.; Fox, P.T.; Snyder, A.Z.; Raichle, M.E.

    1990-01-01

    Visual presentation of words activates extrastriate regions of the occipital lobes of the brain. When analyzed by positron emission tomography (PET), certain areas in the left, medial extrastriate visual cortex were activated by visually presented pseudowords that obey English spelling rules, as well as by actual words. These areas were not activated by nonsense strings of letters or letter-like forms. Thus visual word form computations are based on learned distinctions between words and nonwords. In addition, during passive presentation of words, but not pseudowords, activation occurred in a left frontal area that is related to semantic processing. These findings support distinctions made in cognitive psychology and computational modeling between high-level visual and semantic computations on single words and describe the anatomy that may underlie these distinctions

  14. Design and Analysis of Adaptive Message Coding on LDPC Decoder with Faulty Storage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guangjun Ge

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Unreliable message storage severely degrades the performance of LDPC decoders. This paper discusses the impacts of message errors on LDPC decoders and schemes improving the robustness. Firstly, we develop a discrete density evolution analysis for faulty LDPC decoders, which indicates that protecting the sign bits of messages is effective enough for finite-precision LDPC decoders. Secondly, we analyze the effects of quantization precision loss for static sign bit protection and propose an embedded dynamic coding scheme by adaptively employing the least significant bits (LSBs to protect the sign bits. Thirdly, we give a construction of Hamming product code for the adaptive coding and present low complexity decoding algorithms. Theoretic analysis indicates that the proposed scheme outperforms traditional triple modular redundancy (TMR scheme in decoding both threshold and residual errors, while Monte Carlo simulations show that the performance loss is less than 0.2 dB when the storage error probability varies from 10-3 to 10-4.

  15. Vectorization of Reed Solomon decoding and mapping on the EVP

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kumar, A.; Berkel, van C.H.

    2008-01-01

    Reed Solomon (RS) codes are used in a variety of (wireless) communication systems. Although commonly implemented in dedicated hardware, this paper explores the mapping of high-throughput RS decoding on vector DSPs. The four modules of such a decoder, viz. Syndrome Computation, Key Equation Solver,

  16. Assessing neglect dyslexia with compound words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinhart, Stefan; Schunck, Alexander; Schaadt, Anna Katharina; Adams, Michaela; Simon, Alexandra; Kerkhoff, Georg

    2016-10-01

    The neglect syndrome is frequently associated with neglect dyslexia (ND), which is characterized by omissions or misread initial letters of single words. ND is usually assessed with standardized reading texts in clinical settings. However, particularly in the chronic phase of ND, patients often report reading deficits in everyday situations but show (nearly) normal performances in test situations that are commonly well-structured. To date, sensitive and standardized tests to assess the severity and characteristics of ND are lacking, although reading is of high relevance for daily life and vocational settings. Several studies found modulating effects of different word features on ND. We combined those features in a novel test to enhance test sensitivity in the assessment of ND. Low-frequency words of different length that contain residual pronounceable words when the initial letter strings are neglected were selected. We compared these words in a group of 12 ND-patients suffering from right-hemispheric first-ever stroke with word stimuli containing no existing residual words. Finally, we tested whether the serially presented words are more sensitive for the diagnosis of ND than text reading. The severity of ND was modulated strongly by the ND-test words and error frequencies in single word reading of ND words were on average more than 10 times higher than in a standardized text reading test (19.8% vs. 1.8%). The novel ND-test maximizes the frequency of specific ND-errors and is therefore more sensitive for the assessment of ND than conventional text reading tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. Effect of video decoder errors on video interpretability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Darrell L.

    2014-06-01

    The advancement in video compression technology can result in more sensitivity to bit errors. Bit errors can propagate causing sustained loss of interpretability. In the worst case, the decoder "freezes" until it can re-synchronize with the stream. Detection of artifacts enables downstream processes to avoid corrupted frames. A simple template approach to detect block stripes and a more advanced cascade approach to detect compression artifacts was shown to correlate to the presence of artifacts and decoder messages.

  18. Parallel iterative decoding of transform domain Wyner-Ziv video using cross bitplane correlation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Luong, Huynh Van; Huang, Xin; Forchhammer, Søren

    2011-01-01

    decoding scheme is proposed to improve the coding efficiency of TDWZ video codecs. The proposed parallel iterative LDPC decoding scheme is able to utilize cross bitplane correlation during decoding, by iteratively refining the soft-input, updating a modeled noise distribution and thereafter enhancing......In recent years, Transform Domain Wyner-Ziv (TDWZ) video coding has been proposed as an efficient Distributed Video Coding (DVC) solution, which fully or partly exploits the source statistics at the decoder to reduce the computational burden at the encoder. In this paper, a parallel iterative LDPC...

  19. Decoding Humor Experiences from Brain Activity of People Viewing Comedy Movies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawahata, Yasuhito; Komine, Kazuteru; Morita, Toshiya; Hiruma, Nobuyuki

    2013-01-01

    Humans naturally have a sense of humor. Experiencing humor not only encourages social interactions, but also produces positive physiological effects on the human body, such as lowering blood pressure. Recent neuro-imaging studies have shown evidence for distinct mental state changes at work in people experiencing humor. However, the temporal characteristics of these changes remain elusive. In this paper, we objectively measured humor-related mental states from single-trial functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained while subjects viewed comedy TV programs. Measured fMRI data were labeled on the basis of the lag before or after the viewer’s perception of humor (humor onset) determined by the viewer-reported humor experiences during the fMRI scans. We trained multiple binary classifiers, or decoders, to distinguish between fMRI data obtained at each lag from ones obtained during a neutral state in which subjects were not experiencing humor. As a result, in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right temporal area, the decoders showed significant classification accuracies even at two seconds ahead of the humor onsets. Furthermore, given a time series of fMRI data obtained during movie viewing, we found that the decoders with significant performance were also able to predict the upcoming humor events on a volume-by-volume basis. Taking into account the hemodynamic delay, our results suggest that the upcoming humor events are encoded in specific brain areas up to about five seconds before the awareness of experiencing humor. Our results provide evidence that there exists a mental state lasting for a few seconds before actual humor perception, as if a viewer is expecting the future humorous events. PMID:24324656

  20. Neuroimaging of decoding and language comprehension in young very low birth weight (VLBW adolescents: Indications for compensatory mechanisms.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helene van Ettinger-Veenstra

    Full Text Available In preterm children with very low birth weight (VLBW ≤ 1500 g, reading problems are often observed. Reading comprehension is dependent on word decoding and language comprehension. We investigated neural activation-within brain regions important for reading-related to components of reading comprehension in young VLBW adolescents in direct comparison to normal birth weight (NBW term-born peers, with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. We hypothesized that the decoding mechanisms will be affected by VLBW, and expect to see increased neural activity for VLBW which may be modulated by task performance and cognitive ability. The study investigated 13 (11 included in fMRI young adolescents (ages 12 to 14 years born preterm with VLBW and in 13 NBW controls (ages 12-14 years for performance on the Block Design and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; and for semantic, orthographic, and phonological processing during an fMRI paradigm. The VLBW group showed increased phonological activation in left inferior frontal gyrus, decreased orthographic activation in right supramarginal gyrus, and decreased semantic activation in left inferior frontal gyrus. Block Design was related to altered right-hemispheric activation, and VLBW showed lower WISC Block Design scores. Left angular gyrus showed activation increase specific for VLBW with high accuracy on the semantic test. Young VLBW adolescents showed no accuracy and reaction time performance differences on our fMRI language tasks, but they did exhibit altered neural activation during these tasks. This altered activation for VLBW was observed as increased activation during phonological decoding, and as mainly decreased activation during orthographic and semantic processing. Correlations of neural activation with accuracy on the semantic fMRI task and with decreased WISC Block Design performance were specific for the VLBW group. Together, results suggest

  1. The fast decoding of Reed-Solomon codes using Fermat theoretic transforms and continued fractions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, I. S.; Scholtz, R. A.; Welch, L. R.; Truong, T. K.

    1978-01-01

    It is shown that Reed-Solomon (RS) codes can be decoded by using a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm over finite fields GF(F sub n), where F sub n is a Fermat prime, and continued fractions. This new transform decoding method is simpler than the standard method for RS codes. The computing time of this new decoding algorithm in software can be faster than the standard decoding method for RS codes.

  2. Reading Disabilities and PASS Reading Enhancement Programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahapatra, Shamita

    2016-01-01

    Children experience difficulties in reading either because they fail to decode the words and thus are unable to comprehend the text or simply fail to comprehend the text even if they are able to decode the words and read them out. Failure in word decoding results from a failure in phonological coding of written information, whereas reading…

  3. Cognitive Training and Reading Remediation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahapatra, Shamita

    2015-01-01

    Reading difficulties are experienced by children either because they fail to decode the words and thus are unable to comprehend the text or simply fail to comprehend the text even if they are able to decode the words and read them out. Failure in word decoding results from a failure in phonological coding of written information, whereas, reading…

  4. Complexity Analysis of Reed-Solomon Decoding over GF(2m without Using Syndromes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiyuan Yan

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available There has been renewed interest in decoding Reed-Solomon (RS codes without using syndromes recently. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of syndromeless decoding, and compare it to that of syndrome-based decoding. Aiming to provide guidelines to practical applications, our complexity analysis focuses on RS codes over characteristic-2 fields, for which some multiplicative FFT techniques are not applicable. Due to moderate block lengths of RS codes in practice, our analysis is complete, without big O notation. In addition to fast implementation using additive FFT techniques, we also consider direct implementation, which is still relevant for RS codes with moderate lengths. For high-rate RS codes, when compared to syndrome-based decoding algorithms, not only syndromeless decoding algorithms require more field operations regardless of implementation, but also decoder architectures based on their direct implementations have higher hardware costs and lower throughput. We also derive tighter bounds on the complexities of fast polynomial multiplications based on Cantor's approach and the fast extended Euclidean algorithm.

  5. A lossy graph model for delay reduction in generalized instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.

    2014-06-01

    The problem of minimizing the decoding delay in Generalized instantly decodable network coding (G-IDNC) for both perfect and lossy feedback scenarios is formulated as a maximum weight clique problem over the G-IDNC graph in. In this letter, we introduce a new lossy G-IDNC graph (LG-IDNC) model to further minimize the decoding delay in lossy feedback scenarios. Whereas the G-IDNC graph represents only doubtless combinable packets, the LG-IDNC graph represents also uncertain packet combinations, arising from lossy feedback events, when the expected decoding delay of XORing them among themselves or with other certain packets is lower than that expected when sending these packets separately. We compare the decoding delay performance of LG-IDNC and G-IDNC graphs through extensive simulations. Numerical results show that our new LG-IDNC graph formulation outperforms the G-IDNC graph formulation in all lossy feedback situations and achieves significant improvement in the decoding delay especially when the feedback erasure probability is higher than the packet erasure probability. © 2012 IEEE.

  6. Recent results in the decoding of Algebraic geometry codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høholdt, Tom; Jensen, Helge Elbrønd; Nielsen, Rasmus Refslund

    1998-01-01

    We analyse the known decoding algorithms for algebraic geometry codes in the case where the number of errors is [(dFR-1)/2]+1, where dFR is the Feng-Rao distance......We analyse the known decoding algorithms for algebraic geometry codes in the case where the number of errors is [(dFR-1)/2]+1, where dFR is the Feng-Rao distance...

  7. Min-Max decoding for non binary LDPC codes

    OpenAIRE

    Savin, Valentin

    2008-01-01

    Iterative decoding of non-binary LDPC codes is currently performed using either the Sum-Product or the Min-Sum algorithms or slightly different versions of them. In this paper, several low-complexity quasi-optimal iterative algorithms are proposed for decoding non-binary codes. The Min-Max algorithm is one of them and it has the benefit of two possible LLR domain implementations: a standard implementation, whose complexity scales as the square of the Galois field's cardinality and a reduced c...

  8. Pre-coding method and apparatus for multiple source or time-shifted single source data and corresponding inverse post-decoding method and apparatus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Pen-Shu (Inventor)

    1998-01-01

    A pre-coding method and device for improving data compression performance by removing correlation between a first original data set and a second original data set, each having M members, respectively. The pre-coding method produces a compression-efficiency-enhancing double-difference data set. The method and device produce a double-difference data set, i.e., an adjacent-delta calculation performed on a cross-delta data set or a cross-delta calculation performed on two adjacent-delta data sets, from either one of (1) two adjacent spectral bands coming from two discrete sources, respectively, or (2) two time-shifted data sets coming from a single source. The resulting double-difference data set is then coded using either a distortionless data encoding scheme (entropy encoding) or a lossy data compression scheme. Also, a post-decoding method and device for recovering a second original data set having been represented by such a double-difference data set.

  9. Decoding Codes on Graphs

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Shannon limit of the channel. Among the earliest discovered codes that approach the. Shannon limit were the low density parity check (LDPC) codes. The term low density arises from the property of the parity check matrix defining the code. We will now define this matrix and the role that it plays in decoding. 2. Linear Codes.

  10. Prior Knowledge Improves Decoding of Finger Flexion from Electrocorticographic (ECoG Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zuoguan eWang

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs use brain signals to convey a user's intent. Some BCI approaches begin by decoding kinematic parameters of movements from brain signals, and then proceed to using these signals, in absence of movements, to allow a user to control an output. Recent results have shown that electrocorticographic (ECoG recordings from the surface of the brain in humans can give information about kinematic parameters (eg{} hand velocity or finger flexion. The decoding approaches in these studies usually employed classical classification/regression algorithms that derive a linear mapping between brain signals and outputs. However, they typically only incorporate little prior information about the target movement parameter. In this paper, we incorporate prior knowledge using a Bayesian decoding method, and use it to decode finger flexion from ECoG signals. Specifically, we exploit the anatomic constraints and dynamic constraints that govern finger flexion and incorporate these constraints in the construction, structure, and the probabilistic functions of the prior model of a switched non-parametric dynamic system (SNDS. Given a measurement model resulting from a traditional linear regression method, we decoded finger flexion using posterior estimation that combined the prior and measurement models. Our results show that the application of the Bayesian decoding model, which incorporates prior knowledge, improves decoding performance compared to the application of a linear regression model, which does not incorporate prior knowledge. Thus, the results presented in this paper may ultimately lead to neurally controlled hand prostheses with full fine-grained finger articulation.

  11. Improving throughput of single-relay DF channel using linear constellation precoding

    KAUST Repository

    Fareed, Muhammad Mehboob

    2014-08-01

    In this letter, we propose a transmission scheme to improve the overall throughput of a cooperative communication system with single decode-and-forward relay. Symbol error rate and throughput analysis of the new scheme are presented to facilitate the performance comparison with the existing decode-and-forward relaying schemes. Simulation results are further provided to corroborate the analytical results. © 2012 IEEE.

  12. Improving throughput of single-relay DF channel using linear constellation precoding

    KAUST Repository

    Fareed, Muhammad Mehboob; Yang, Hongchuan; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    In this letter, we propose a transmission scheme to improve the overall throughput of a cooperative communication system with single decode-and-forward relay. Symbol error rate and throughput analysis of the new scheme are presented to facilitate the performance comparison with the existing decode-and-forward relaying schemes. Simulation results are further provided to corroborate the analytical results. © 2012 IEEE.

  13. A bidirectional brain-machine interface featuring a neuromorphic hardware decoder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Boi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Bidirectional brain-machine interfaces (BMIs establish a two-way direct communication link4 between the brain and the external world. A decoder translates recorded neural activity into motor5 commands and an encoder delivers sensory information collected from the environment directly6 to the brain creating a closed-loop system. These two modules are typically integrated in bulky7 external devices. However, the clinical support of patients with severe motor and sensory deficits8 requires compact, low-power, and fully implantable systems that can decode neural signals to9 control external devices. As a first step toward this goal, we developed a modular bidirectional BMI10 setup that uses a compact neuromorphic processor as a decoder. On this chip we implemented11 a network of spiking neurons built using its ultra-low-power mixed-signal analog/digital circuits.12 On-chip on-line spike-timing-dependent plasticity synapse circuits enabled the network to learn13 to decode neural signals recorded from the brain into motor outputs controlling the movements14 of an external device. The modularity of the BMI allowed us to tune the individual components15 of the setup without modifying the whole system. In this paper we present the features of16 this modular BMI, and describe how we configured the network of spiking neuron circuits to17 implement the decoder and to coordinate it with the encoder in an experimental BMI paradigm18 that connects bidirectionally the brain of an anesthetized rat with an external object. We show that19 the chip learned the decoding task correctly, allowing the interfaced brain to control the object’s20 trajectories robustly. Based on our demonstration, we propose that neuromorphic technology is21 mature enough for the development of BMI modules that are sufficiently low-power and compact,22 while being highly computationally powerful and adaptive.

  14. A Bidirectional Brain-Machine Interface Featuring a Neuromorphic Hardware Decoder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boi, Fabio; Moraitis, Timoleon; De Feo, Vito; Diotalevi, Francesco; Bartolozzi, Chiara; Indiveri, Giacomo; Vato, Alessandro

    2016-01-01

    Bidirectional brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) establish a two-way direct communication link between the brain and the external world. A decoder translates recorded neural activity into motor commands and an encoder delivers sensory information collected from the environment directly to the brain creating a closed-loop system. These two modules are typically integrated in bulky external devices. However, the clinical support of patients with severe motor and sensory deficits requires compact, low-power, and fully implantable systems that can decode neural signals to control external devices. As a first step toward this goal, we developed a modular bidirectional BMI setup that uses a compact neuromorphic processor as a decoder. On this chip we implemented a network of spiking neurons built using its ultra-low-power mixed-signal analog/digital circuits. On-chip on-line spike-timing-dependent plasticity synapse circuits enabled the network to learn to decode neural signals recorded from the brain into motor outputs controlling the movements of an external device. The modularity of the BMI allowed us to tune the individual components of the setup without modifying the whole system. In this paper, we present the features of this modular BMI and describe how we configured the network of spiking neuron circuits to implement the decoder and to coordinate it with the encoder in an experimental BMI paradigm that connects bidirectionally the brain of an anesthetized rat with an external object. We show that the chip learned the decoding task correctly, allowing the interfaced brain to control the object's trajectories robustly. Based on our demonstration, we propose that neuromorphic technology is mature enough for the development of BMI modules that are sufficiently low-power and compact, while being highly computationally powerful and adaptive.

  15. Peeling Decoding of LDPC Codes with Applications in Compressed Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weijun Zeng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a new approach for the analysis of iterative peeling decoding recovery algorithms in the context of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC codes and compressed sensing. The iterative recovery algorithm is particularly interesting for its low measurement cost and low computational complexity. The asymptotic analysis can track the evolution of the fraction of unrecovered signal elements in each iteration, which is similar to the well-known density evolution analysis in the context of LDPC decoding algorithm. Our analysis shows that there exists a threshold on the density factor; if under this threshold, the recovery algorithm is successful; otherwise it will fail. Simulation results are also provided for verifying the agreement between the proposed asymptotic analysis and recovery algorithm. Compared with existing works of peeling decoding algorithm, focusing on the failure probability of the recovery algorithm, our proposed approach gives accurate evolution of performance with different parameters of measurement matrices and is easy to implement. We also show that the peeling decoding algorithm performs better than other schemes based on LDPC codes.

  16. Markov source model for printed music decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopec, Gary E.; Chou, Philip A.; Maltz, David A.

    1995-03-01

    This paper describes a Markov source model for a simple subset of printed music notation. The model is based on the Adobe Sonata music symbol set and a message language of our own design. Chord imaging is the most complex part of the model. Much of the complexity follows from a rule of music typography that requires the noteheads for adjacent pitches to be placed on opposite sides of the chord stem. This rule leads to a proliferation of cases for other typographic details such as dot placement. We describe the language of message strings accepted by the model and discuss some of the imaging issues associated with various aspects of the message language. We also point out some aspects of music notation that appear problematic for a finite-state representation. Development of the model was greatly facilitated by the duality between image synthesis and image decoding. Although our ultimate objective was a music image model for use in decoding, most of the development proceeded by using the evolving model for image synthesis, since it is computationally far less costly to image a message than to decode an image.

  17. DS-OCDMA Encoder/Decoder Performance Analysis Using Optical Low-Coherence Reflectometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fsaifes, Ihsan; Lepers, Catherine; Obaton, Anne-Francoise; Gallion, Philippe

    2006-08-01

    Direct-sequence optical code-division multiple-access (DS-OCDMA) encoder/decoder based on sampled fiber Bragg gratings (S-FBGs) is characterized using phase-sensitive optical low-coherence reflectometry (OLCR). The OLCR technique allows localized measurements of FBG wavelength and physical length inside one S-FBG. This paper shows how the discrepancies between specifications and measurements of the different FBGs have some impact on spectral and temporal pulse responses of the OCDMA encoder/decoder. The FBG physical lengths lower than the specified ones are shown to affect the mean optical power reflected by the OCDMA encoder/decoder. The FBG wavelengths that are detuned from each other induce some modulations of S-FBG reflectivity resulting in encoder/decoder sensitivity to laser wavelength drift of the OCDMA system. Finally, highlighted by this OLCR study, some solutions to overcome limitations in performance with the S-FBG technology are suggested.

  18. Coder and decoder of fractal signals of comb-type structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Politanskyi R. L.

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The article presents a coder and decoder of fractal signals of comb-type structure (FSCS based on microcontrollers (MC. The coder and decoder consist of identical control modules, while their managed modules have different schematic constructions. The control module performs forming or recognition of signals, and also carries out the function of information exchange with a computer. The basic element of the control module is a PIC18F2550 microcontroller from MicroChip. The coder of the system forms fractal signals of a given order according to the information bits coming from the computer. Samples of the calculated values of the amplitudes of elementary rectangular pulses that constitute the structure of fractal pulses are stored in the memory of the microcontroller as a table. Minimum bit capacity of the DAC necessary for the generation of FSCS of fourth order is four bits. The operation algorithm, "wired" into the controller of the program, provides for encoding of the transmitted information by two-bit symbols. Recognition of the start of transmission of each byte in communication channel is performed by the transmission of the timing signal. In a decoder the microcontroller carries out reception and decoding of the received fractal signals which are then transmitted to the computer. The developed algorithm of the program for the microcontroller of the decoder is carried out by determination of order of fractal impulse after the value of sum of amplitudes of elementary impulses, constituents fractal signal. The programs for coder and decoder are written in "C". In the most critical places of the program influencing on the fast-acting of chart “assembler” insertions are done. The blocks of the coder and decoder were connected with a coaxial 10 meters long cable with an impendance of 75 Ohm. The signals generated by the developed coder of FSCS, were studied using a digital oscillograph. On the basis of the obtained spectrums, it is possible

  19. Decoding DNA labels by melting curve analysis using real-time PCR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balog, József A; Fehér, Liliána Z; Puskás, László G

    2017-12-01

    Synthetic DNA has been used as an authentication code for a diverse number of applications. However, existing decoding approaches are based on either DNA sequencing or the determination of DNA length variations. Here, we present a simple alternative protocol for labeling different objects using a small number of short DNA sequences that differ in their melting points. Code amplification and decoding can be done in two steps using quantitative PCR (qPCR). To obtain a DNA barcode with high complexity, we defined 8 template groups, each having 4 different DNA templates, yielding 158 (>2.5 billion) combinations of different individual melting temperature (Tm) values and corresponding ID codes. The reproducibility and specificity of the decoding was confirmed by using the most complex template mixture, which had 32 different products in 8 groups with different Tm values. The industrial applicability of our protocol was also demonstrated by labeling a drone with an oil-based paint containing a predefined DNA code, which was then successfully decoded. The method presented here consists of a simple code system based on a small number of synthetic DNA sequences and a cost-effective, rapid decoding protocol using a few qPCR reactions, enabling a wide range of authentication applications.

  20. Decoding the attended speech stream with multi-channel EEG: implications for online, daily-life applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirkovic, Bojana; Debener, Stefan; Jaeger, Manuela; De Vos, Maarten

    2015-08-01

    Objective. Recent studies have provided evidence that temporal envelope driven speech decoding from high-density electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography recordings can identify the attended speech stream in a multi-speaker scenario. The present work replicated the previous high density EEG study and investigated the necessary technical requirements for practical attended speech decoding with EEG. Approach. Twelve normal hearing participants attended to one out of two simultaneously presented audiobook stories, while high density EEG was recorded. An offline iterative procedure eliminating those channels contributing the least to decoding provided insight into the necessary channel number and optimal cross-subject channel configuration. Aiming towards the future goal of near real-time classification with an individually trained decoder, the minimum duration of training data necessary for successful classification was determined by using a chronological cross-validation approach. Main results. Close replication of the previously reported results confirmed the method robustness. Decoder performance remained stable from 96 channels down to 25. Furthermore, for less than 15 min of training data, the subject-independent (pre-trained) decoder performed better than an individually trained decoder did. Significance. Our study complements previous research and provides information suggesting that efficient low-density EEG online decoding is within reach.

  1. The basis of orientation decoding in human primary visual cortex: fine- or coarse-scale biases?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maloney, Ryan T

    2015-01-01

    Orientation signals in human primary visual cortex (V1) can be reliably decoded from the multivariate pattern of activity as measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The precise underlying source of these decoded signals (whether by orientation biases at a fine or coarse scale in cortex) remains a matter of some controversy, however. Freeman and colleagues (J Neurosci 33: 19695-19703, 2013) recently showed that the accuracy of decoding of spiral patterns in V1 can be predicted by a voxel's preferred spatial position (the population receptive field) and its coarse orientation preference, suggesting that coarse-scale biases are sufficient for orientation decoding. Whether they are also necessary for decoding remains an open question, and one with implications for the broader interpretation of multivariate decoding results in fMRI studies. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  2. tRNA's wobble decoding of the genome: 40 years of modification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agris, Paul F; Vendeix, Franck A P; Graham, William D

    2007-02-09

    The genetic code is degenerate, in that 20 amino acids are encoded by 61 triplet codes. In 1966, Francis Crick hypothesized that the cell's limited number of tRNAs decoded the genome by recognizing more than one codon. The ambiguity of that recognition resided in the third base-pair, giving rise to the Wobble Hypothesis. Post-transcriptional modifications at tRNA's wobble position 34, especially modifications of uridine 34, enable wobble to occur. The Modified Wobble Hypothesis proposed in 1991 that specific modifications of a tRNA wobble nucleoside shape the anticodon architecture in such a manner that interactions were restricted to the complementary base plus a single wobble pairing for amino acids with twofold degenerate codons. However, chemically different modifications at position 34 would expand the ability of a tRNA to read three or even four of the fourfold degenerate codons. One foundation of Crick's Wobble Hypothesis was that a near-constant geometry of canonical base-pairing be maintained in forming all three base-pairs between the tRNA anticodon and mRNA codon on the ribosome. In accepting an aminoacyl-tRNA, the ribosome requires maintenance of a specific geometry for the anticodon-codon base-pairing. However, it is the post-transcriptional modifications at tRNA wobble position 34 and purine 37, 3'-adjacent to the anticodon, that pre-structure the anticodon domain to ensure the correct codon binding. The modifications create both the architecture and the stability needed for decoding through restraints on anticodon stereochemistry and conformational space, and through selective hydrogen bonding. A physicochemical understanding of modified nucleoside contributions to the tRNA anticodon domain architecture and its decoding of the genome has advanced RNA world evolutionary theory, the principles of RNA chemistry, and the application of this knowledge to the introduction of new amino acids to proteins.

  3. Analysis of Iterated Hard Decision Decoding of Product Codes with Reed-Solomon Component Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justesen, Jørn; Høholdt, Tom

    2007-01-01

    Products of Reed-Solomon codes are important in applications because they offer a combination of large blocks, low decoding complexity, and good performance. A recent result on random graphs can be used to show that with high probability a large number of errors can be corrected by iterating...... minimum distance decoding. We present an analysis related to density evolution which gives the exact asymptotic value of the decoding threshold and also provides a closed form approximation to the distribution of errors in each step of the decoding of finite length codes....

  4. A new LDPC decoding scheme for PDM-8QAM BICM coherent optical communication system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yi; Zhang, Wen-bo; Xi, Li-xia; Tang, Xian-feng; Zhang, Xiao-guang

    2015-11-01

    A new log-likelihood ratio (LLR) message estimation method is proposed for polarization-division multiplexing eight quadrature amplitude modulation (PDM-8QAM) bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) optical communication system. The formulation of the posterior probability is theoretically analyzed, and the way to reduce the pre-decoding bit error rate ( BER) of the low density parity check (LDPC) decoder for PDM-8QAM constellations is presented. Simulation results show that it outperforms the traditional scheme, i.e., the new post-decoding BER is decreased down to 50% of that of the traditional post-decoding algorithm.

  5. Video coding and decoding devices and methods preserving ppg relevant information

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    2013-01-01

    The present invention relates to a video encoding device (10) for encoding video data and a corresponding video decoding device, wherein during decoding PPG relevant information shall be preserved. For this purpose the video coding device (10) comprises a first encoder (20) for encoding input video

  6. Priming effect on word reading and recall

    OpenAIRE

    Faria, Isabel Hub; Luegi, Paula

    2008-01-01

    This study focuses on priming as a function of exposure to bimodal stimuli of European Portuguese screen centred single words and isolated pictures inserted at the screen’s right upper corner, with four kinds of word-picture relation. The eye movements of 18 Portuguese native university students were registered while reading four sets of ten word-picture pairs, and their respective oral recall lists of words or pictures were kept. The results reveal a higher phonological primin...

  7. Human Genome Research: Decoding DNA

    Science.gov (United States)

    dropdown arrow Site Map A-Z Index Menu Synopsis Human Genome Research: Decoding DNA Resources with of the DNA double helix during April 2003. James D. Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were company Celera announced the completion of a "working draft" reference DNA sequence of the human

  8. Decoder calibration with ultra small current sample set for intracortical brain-machine interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Peng; Ma, Xuan; Chen, Luyao; Zhou, Jin; Wang, Changyong; Li, Wei; He, Jiping

    2018-04-01

    Objective. Intracortical brain-machine interfaces (iBMIs) aim to restore efficient communication and movement ability for paralyzed patients. However, frequent recalibration is required for consistency and reliability, and every recalibration will require relatively large most current sample set. The aim in this study is to develop an effective decoder calibration method that can achieve good performance while minimizing recalibration time. Approach. Two rhesus macaques implanted with intracortical microelectrode arrays were trained separately on movement and sensory paradigm. Neural signals were recorded to decode reaching positions or grasping postures. A novel principal component analysis-based domain adaptation (PDA) method was proposed to recalibrate the decoder with only ultra small current sample set by taking advantage of large historical data, and the decoding performance was compared with other three calibration methods for evaluation. Main results. The PDA method closed the gap between historical and current data effectively, and made it possible to take advantage of large historical data for decoder recalibration in current data decoding. Using only ultra small current sample set (five trials of each category), the decoder calibrated using the PDA method could achieve much better and more robust performance in all sessions than using other three calibration methods in both monkeys. Significance. (1) By this study, transfer learning theory was brought into iBMIs decoder calibration for the first time. (2) Different from most transfer learning studies, the target data in this study were ultra small sample set and were transferred to the source data. (3) By taking advantage of historical data, the PDA method was demonstrated to be effective in reducing recalibration time for both movement paradigm and sensory paradigm, indicating a viable generalization. By reducing the demand for large current training data, this new method may facilitate the application

  9. Evidence for similar patterns of neural activity elicited by picture- and word-based representations of natural scenes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Manoj; Federmeier, Kara D; Fei-Fei, Li; Beck, Diane M

    2017-07-15

    A long-standing core question in cognitive science is whether different modalities and representation types (pictures, words, sounds, etc.) access a common store of semantic information. Although different input types have been shown to activate a shared network of brain regions, this does not necessitate that there is a common representation, as the neurons in these regions could still differentially process the different modalities. However, multi-voxel pattern analysis can be used to assess whether, e.g., pictures and words evoke a similar pattern of activity, such that the patterns that separate categories in one modality transfer to the other. Prior work using this method has found support for a common code, but has two limitations: they have either only examined disparate categories (e.g. animals vs. tools) that are known to activate different brain regions, raising the possibility that the pattern separation and inferred similarity reflects only large scale differences between the categories or they have been limited to individual object representations. By using natural scene categories, we not only extend the current literature on cross-modal representations beyond objects, but also, because natural scene categories activate a common set of brain regions, we identify a more fine-grained (i.e. higher spatial resolution) common representation. Specifically, we studied picture- and word-based representations of natural scene stimuli from four different categories: beaches, cities, highways, and mountains. Participants passively viewed blocks of either phrases (e.g. "sandy beach") describing scenes or photographs from those same scene categories. To determine whether the phrases and pictures evoke a common code, we asked whether a classifier trained on one stimulus type (e.g. phrase stimuli) would transfer (i.e. cross-decode) to the other stimulus type (e.g. picture stimuli). The analysis revealed cross-decoding in the occipitotemporal, posterior parietal and

  10. Words, Words, Words: English, Vocabulary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamb, Barbara

    The Quinmester course on words gives the student the opportunity to increase his proficiency by investigating word origins, word histories, morphology, and phonology. The course includes the following: dictionary skills and familiarity with the "Oxford,""Webster's Third," and "American Heritage" dictionaries; word…

  11. Decoding the human genome

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva. Audiovisual Unit; Antonerakis, S E

    2002-01-01

    Decoding the Human genome is a very up-to-date topic, raising several questions besides purely scientific, in view of the two competing teams (public and private), the ethics of using the results, and the fact that the project went apparently faster and easier than expected. The lecture series will address the following chapters: Scientific basis and challenges. Ethical and social aspects of genomics.

  12. Biological 2-Input Decoder Circuit in Human Cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Decoders are combinational circuits that convert information from n inputs to a maximum of 2n outputs. This operation is of major importance in computing systems yet it is vastly underexplored in synthetic biology. Here, we present a synthetic gene network architecture that operates as a biological decoder in human cells, converting 2 inputs to 4 outputs. As a proof-of-principle, we use small molecules to emulate the two inputs and fluorescent reporters as the corresponding four outputs. The experiments are performed using transient transfections in human kidney embryonic cells and the characterization by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. We show a clear separation between the ON and OFF mean fluorescent intensity states. Additionally, we adopt the integrated mean fluorescence intensity for the characterization of the circuit and show that this metric is more robust to transfection conditions when compared to the mean fluorescent intensity. To conclude, we present the first implementation of a genetic decoder. This combinational system can be valuable toward engineering higher-order circuits as well as accommodate a multiplexed interface with endogenous cellular functions. PMID:24694115

  13. Biological 2-input decoder circuit in human cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guinn, Michael; Bleris, Leonidas

    2014-08-15

    Decoders are combinational circuits that convert information from n inputs to a maximum of 2(n) outputs. This operation is of major importance in computing systems yet it is vastly underexplored in synthetic biology. Here, we present a synthetic gene network architecture that operates as a biological decoder in human cells, converting 2 inputs to 4 outputs. As a proof-of-principle, we use small molecules to emulate the two inputs and fluorescent reporters as the corresponding four outputs. The experiments are performed using transient transfections in human kidney embryonic cells and the characterization by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. We show a clear separation between the ON and OFF mean fluorescent intensity states. Additionally, we adopt the integrated mean fluorescence intensity for the characterization of the circuit and show that this metric is more robust to transfection conditions when compared to the mean fluorescent intensity. To conclude, we present the first implementation of a genetic decoder. This combinational system can be valuable toward engineering higher-order circuits as well as accommodate a multiplexed interface with endogenous cellular functions.

  14. How Major Depressive Disorder affects the ability to decode multimodal dynamic emotional stimuli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FILOMENA SCIBELLI

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Most studies investigating the processing of emotions in depressed patients reported impairments in the decoding of negative emotions. However, these studies adopted static stimuli (mostly stereotypical facial expressions corresponding to basic emotions which do not reflect the way people experience emotions in everyday life. For this reason, this work proposes to investigate the decoding of emotional expressions in patients affected by Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (RMDDs using dynamic audio/video stimuli. RMDDs’ performance is compared with the performance of patients with Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood (ADs and healthy (HCs subjects. The experiments involve 27 RMDDs (16 with acute depression - RMDD-A, and 11 in a compensation phase - RMDD-C, 16 ADs and 16 HCs. The ability to decode emotional expressions is assessed through an emotion recognition task based on short audio (without video, video (without audio and audio/video clips. The results show that AD patients are significantly less accurate than HCs in decoding fear, anger, happiness, surprise and sadness. RMDD-As with acute depression are significantly less accurate than HCs in decoding happiness, sadness and surprise. Finally, no significant differences were found between HCs and RMDD-Cs in a compensation phase. The different communication channels and the types of emotion play a significant role in limiting the decoding accuracy.

  15. A quantum algorithm for Viterbi decoding of classical convolutional codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grice, Jon R.; Meyer, David A.

    2015-07-01

    We present a quantum Viterbi algorithm (QVA) with better than classical performance under certain conditions. In this paper, the proposed algorithm is applied to decoding classical convolutional codes, for instance, large constraint length and short decode frames . Other applications of the classical Viterbi algorithm where is large (e.g., speech processing) could experience significant speedup with the QVA. The QVA exploits the fact that the decoding trellis is similar to the butterfly diagram of the fast Fourier transform, with its corresponding fast quantum algorithm. The tensor-product structure of the butterfly diagram corresponds to a quantum superposition that we show can be efficiently prepared. The quantum speedup is possible because the performance of the QVA depends on the fanout (number of possible transitions from any given state in the hidden Markov model) which is in general much less than . The QVA constructs a superposition of states which correspond to all legal paths through the decoding lattice, with phase as a function of the probability of the path being taken given received data. A specialized amplitude amplification procedure is applied one or more times to recover a superposition where the most probable path has a high probability of being measured.

  16. Using Social Scientific Criteria to Evaluate Cultural Theories: Encoding/Decoding Evaluated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evan L. Kropp

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This article transcends the issue of conflicting theoretical schools of thought to formulate a method of social scientific style theory evaluation for cultural studies. It is suggested that positivist social scientific models of theory critique can be used to assess cultural models of communication to determine if they should be classified as theories. A set of evaluation criteria is formulated as a guide and applied to Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding to determine if it is a theory. Conclusions find the sharing of criteria between schools of thought is judicious, Encoding/Decoding fits the established criteria, and Encoding/Decoding should be referred to as a theory.

  17. Reading in Developmental Prosopagnosia: Evidence for a Dissociation Between Word and Face Recognition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Starrfelt, Randi; Klargaard, Solja; Petersen, Anders

    2018-01-01

    exposure durations (targeting the word superiority effect), and d) text reading. Results: Participants with developmental prosopagnosia performed strikingly similar to controls across the four reading tasks. Formal analysis revealed a significant dissociation between word and face recognition......, that is, impaired reading in developmental prosopagnosia. Method: We tested 10 adults with developmental prosopagnosia and 20 matched controls. All participants completed the Cambridge Face Memory Test, the Cambridge Face Perception test and a Face recognition questionnaire used to quantify everyday face...... recognition experience. Reading was measured in four experimental tasks, testing different levels of letter, word, and text reading: a) single word reading with words of varying length, b) vocal response times in single letter and short word naming, c) recognition of single letters and short words at brief...

  18. A Low-Complexity Joint Detection-Decoding Algorithm for Nonbinary LDPC-Coded Modulation Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Xuepeng; Bai, Baoming; Ma, Xiao

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we present a low-complexity joint detection-decoding algorithm for nonbinary LDPC codedmodulation systems. The algorithm combines hard-decision decoding using the message-passing strategy with the signal detector in an iterative manner. It requires low computational complexity, offers good system performance and has a fast rate of decoding convergence. Compared to the q-ary sum-product algorithm (QSPA), it provides an attractive candidate for practical applications of q-ary LDP...

  19. Decoding sound level in the marmoset primary auditory cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wensheng; Marongelli, Ellisha N; Watkins, Paul V; Barbour, Dennis L

    2017-10-01

    Neurons that respond favorably to a particular sound level have been observed throughout the central auditory system, becoming steadily more common at higher processing areas. One theory about the role of these level-tuned or nonmonotonic neurons is the level-invariant encoding of sounds. To investigate this theory, we simulated various subpopulations of neurons by drawing from real primary auditory cortex (A1) neuron responses and surveyed their performance in forming different sound level representations. Pure nonmonotonic subpopulations did not provide the best level-invariant decoding; instead, mixtures of monotonic and nonmonotonic neurons provided the most accurate decoding. For level-fidelity decoding, the inclusion of nonmonotonic neurons slightly improved or did not change decoding accuracy until they constituted a high proportion. These results indicate that nonmonotonic neurons fill an encoding role complementary to, rather than alternate to, monotonic neurons. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Neurons with nonmonotonic rate-level functions are unique to the central auditory system. These level-tuned neurons have been proposed to account for invariant sound perception across sound levels. Through systematic simulations based on real neuron responses, this study shows that neuron populations perform sound encoding optimally when containing both monotonic and nonmonotonic neurons. The results indicate that instead of working independently, nonmonotonic neurons complement the function of monotonic neurons in different sound-encoding contexts. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  20. Jointly-check iterative decoding algorithm for quantum sparse graph codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jun-Hu, Shao; Bao-Ming, Bai; Wei, Lin; Lin, Zhou

    2010-01-01

    For quantum sparse graph codes with stabilizer formalism, the unavoidable girth-four cycles in their Tanner graphs greatly degrade the iterative decoding performance with a standard belief-propagation (BP) algorithm. In this paper, we present a jointly-check iterative algorithm suitable for decoding quantum sparse graph codes efficiently. Numerical simulations show that this modified method outperforms the standard BP algorithm with an obvious performance improvement. (general)

  1. The brain's silent messenger: using selective attention to decode human thought for brain-based communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naci, Lorina; Cusack, Rhodri; Jia, Vivian Z; Owen, Adrian M

    2013-05-29

    The interpretation of human thought from brain activity, without recourse to speech or action, is one of the most provoking and challenging frontiers of modern neuroscience. In particular, patients who are fully conscious and awake, yet, due to brain damage, are unable to show any behavioral responsivity, expose the limits of the neuromuscular system and the necessity for alternate forms of communication. Although it is well established that selective attention can significantly enhance the neural representation of attended sounds, it remains, thus far, untested as a response modality for brain-based communication. We asked whether its effect could be reliably used to decode answers to binary (yes/no) questions. Fifteen healthy volunteers answered questions (e.g., "Do you have brothers or sisters?") in the fMRI scanner, by selectively attending to the appropriate word ("yes" or "no"). Ninety percent of the answers were decoded correctly based on activity changes within the attention network. The majority of volunteers conveyed their answers with less than 3 min of scanning, suggesting that this technique is suited for communication in a reasonable amount of time. Formal comparison with the current best-established fMRI technique for binary communication revealed improved individual success rates and scanning times required to detect responses. This novel fMRI technique is intuitive, easy to use in untrained participants, and reliably robust within brief scanning times. Possible applications include communication with behaviorally nonresponsive patients.

  2. High-Speed Soft-Decision Decoding of Two Reed-Muller Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Shu; Uehara, Gregory T.

    1996-01-01

    In his research, we have proposed the (64, 40, 8) subcode of the third-order Reed-Muller (RM) code to NASA for high-speed satellite communications. This RM subcode can be used either alone or as an inner code of a concatenated coding system with the NASA standard (255, 233, 33) Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the outer code to achieve high performance (or low bit-error rate) with reduced decoding complexity. It can also be used as a component code in a multilevel bandwidth efficient coded modulation system to achieve reliable bandwidth efficient data transmission. This report will summarize the key progress we have made toward achieving our eventual goal of implementing a decoder system based upon this code. In the first phase of study, we investigated the complexities of various sectionalized trellis diagrams for the proposed (64, 40, 8) RNI subcode. We found a specific 8-trellis diagram for this code which requires the least decoding complexity with a high possibility of achieving a decoding speed of 600 M bits per second (Mbps). The combination of a large number of states and a hi ch data rate will be made possible due to the utilization of a high degree of parallelism throughout the architecture. This trellis diagram will be presented and briefly described. In the second phase of study which was carried out through the past year, we investigated circuit architectures to determine the feasibility of VLSI implementation of a high-speed Viterbi decoder based on this 8-section trellis diagram. We began to examine specific design and implementation approaches to implement a fully custom integrated circuit (IC) which will be a key building block for a decoder system implementation. The key results will be presented in this report. This report will be divided into three primary sections. First, we will briefly describe the system block diagram in which the proposed decoder is assumed to be operating and present some of the key architectural approaches being used to

  3. Encoding and Decoding Models in Cognitive Electrophysiology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher R. Holdgraf

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive neuroscience has seen rapid growth in the size and complexity of data recorded from the human brain as well as in the computational tools available to analyze this data. This data explosion has resulted in an increased use of multivariate, model-based methods for asking neuroscience questions, allowing scientists to investigate multiple hypotheses with a single dataset, to use complex, time-varying stimuli, and to study the human brain under more naturalistic conditions. These tools come in the form of “Encoding” models, in which stimulus features are used to model brain activity, and “Decoding” models, in which neural features are used to generated a stimulus output. Here we review the current state of encoding and decoding models in cognitive electrophysiology and provide a practical guide toward conducting experiments and analyses in this emerging field. Our examples focus on using linear models in the study of human language and audition. We show how to calculate auditory receptive fields from natural sounds as well as how to decode neural recordings to predict speech. The paper aims to be a useful tutorial to these approaches, and a practical introduction to using machine learning and applied statistics to build models of neural activity. The data analytic approaches we discuss may also be applied to other sensory modalities, motor systems, and cognitive systems, and we cover some examples in these areas. In addition, a collection of Jupyter notebooks is publicly available as a complement to the material covered in this paper, providing code examples and tutorials for predictive modeling in python. The aim is to provide a practical understanding of predictive modeling of human brain data and to propose best-practices in conducting these analyses.

  4. Efficient decoding of random errors for quantum expander codes

    OpenAIRE

    Fawzi , Omar; Grospellier , Antoine; Leverrier , Anthony

    2017-01-01

    We show that quantum expander codes, a constant-rate family of quantum LDPC codes, with the quasi-linear time decoding algorithm of Leverrier, Tillich and Z\\'emor can correct a constant fraction of random errors with very high probability. This is the first construction of a constant-rate quantum LDPC code with an efficient decoding algorithm that can correct a linear number of random errors with a negligible failure probability. Finding codes with these properties is also motivated by Gottes...

  5. Multi-level trellis coded modulation and multi-stage decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costello, Daniel J., Jr.; Wu, Jiantian; Lin, Shu

    1990-01-01

    Several constructions for multi-level trellis codes are presented and many codes with better performance than previously known codes are found. These codes provide a flexible trade-off between coding gain, decoding complexity, and decoding delay. New multi-level trellis coded modulation schemes using generalized set partitioning methods are developed for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and Phase Shift Keying (PSK) signal sets. New rotationally invariant multi-level trellis codes which can be combined with differential encoding to resolve phase ambiguity are presented.

  6. Time-varying block codes for synchronisation errors: maximum a posteriori decoder and practical issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johann A. Briffa

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the authors consider time-varying block (TVB codes, which generalise a number of previous synchronisation error-correcting codes. They also consider various practical issues related to maximum a posteriori (MAP decoding of these codes. Specifically, they give an expression for the expected distribution of drift between transmitter and receiver because of synchronisation errors. They determine an appropriate choice for state space limits based on the drift probability distribution. In turn, they obtain an expression for the decoder complexity under given channel conditions in terms of the state space limits used. For a given state space, they also give a number of optimisations that reduce the algorithm complexity with no further loss of decoder performance. They also show how the MAP decoder can be used in the absence of known frame boundaries, and demonstrate that an appropriate choice of decoder parameters allows the decoder to approach the performance when frame boundaries are known, at the expense of some increase in complexity. Finally, they express some existing constructions as TVB codes, comparing performance with published results and showing that improved performance is possible by taking advantage of the flexibility of TVB codes.

  7. Sequential decoders for large MIMO systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ali, Konpal S.; Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    the Sequential Decoder using the Fano Algorithm for large MIMO systems. A parameter called the bias is varied to attain different performance-complexity trade-offs. Low values of the bias result in excellent performance but at the expense of high complexity

  8. Deep learning with convolutional neural networks for EEG decoding and visualization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schirrmeister, Robin Tibor; Springenberg, Jost Tobias; Fiederer, Lukas Dominique Josef; Glasstetter, Martin; Eggensperger, Katharina; Tangermann, Michael; Hutter, Frank; Burgard, Wolfram; Ball, Tonio

    2017-11-01

    Deep learning with convolutional neural networks (deep ConvNets) has revolutionized computer vision through end-to-end learning, that is, learning from the raw data. There is increasing interest in using deep ConvNets for end-to-end EEG analysis, but a better understanding of how to design and train ConvNets for end-to-end EEG decoding and how to visualize the informative EEG features the ConvNets learn is still needed. Here, we studied deep ConvNets with a range of different architectures, designed for decoding imagined or executed tasks from raw EEG. Our results show that recent advances from the machine learning field, including batch normalization and exponential linear units, together with a cropped training strategy, boosted the deep ConvNets decoding performance, reaching at least as good performance as the widely used filter bank common spatial patterns (FBCSP) algorithm (mean decoding accuracies 82.1% FBCSP, 84.0% deep ConvNets). While FBCSP is designed to use spectral power modulations, the features used by ConvNets are not fixed a priori. Our novel methods for visualizing the learned features demonstrated that ConvNets indeed learned to use spectral power modulations in the alpha, beta, and high gamma frequencies, and proved useful for spatially mapping the learned features by revealing the topography of the causal contributions of features in different frequency bands to the decoding decision. Our study thus shows how to design and train ConvNets to decode task-related information from the raw EEG without handcrafted features and highlights the potential of deep ConvNets combined with advanced visualization techniques for EEG-based brain mapping. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5391-5420, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Deep learning with convolutional neural networks for EEG decoding and visualization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Springenberg, Jost Tobias; Fiederer, Lukas Dominique Josef; Glasstetter, Martin; Eggensperger, Katharina; Tangermann, Michael; Hutter, Frank; Burgard, Wolfram; Ball, Tonio

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Deep learning with convolutional neural networks (deep ConvNets) has revolutionized computer vision through end‐to‐end learning, that is, learning from the raw data. There is increasing interest in using deep ConvNets for end‐to‐end EEG analysis, but a better understanding of how to design and train ConvNets for end‐to‐end EEG decoding and how to visualize the informative EEG features the ConvNets learn is still needed. Here, we studied deep ConvNets with a range of different architectures, designed for decoding imagined or executed tasks from raw EEG. Our results show that recent advances from the machine learning field, including batch normalization and exponential linear units, together with a cropped training strategy, boosted the deep ConvNets decoding performance, reaching at least as good performance as the widely used filter bank common spatial patterns (FBCSP) algorithm (mean decoding accuracies 82.1% FBCSP, 84.0% deep ConvNets). While FBCSP is designed to use spectral power modulations, the features used by ConvNets are not fixed a priori. Our novel methods for visualizing the learned features demonstrated that ConvNets indeed learned to use spectral power modulations in the alpha, beta, and high gamma frequencies, and proved useful for spatially mapping the learned features by revealing the topography of the causal contributions of features in different frequency bands to the decoding decision. Our study thus shows how to design and train ConvNets to decode task‐related information from the raw EEG without handcrafted features and highlights the potential of deep ConvNets combined with advanced visualization techniques for EEG‐based brain mapping. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5391–5420, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:28782865

  10. Delay Reduction for Instantly Decodable Network Coding in Persistent Channels With Feedback Imperfections

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.

    2015-11-05

    This paper considers the multicast decoding delay reduction problem for generalized instantly decodable network coding (G-IDNC) over persistent erasure channels with feedback imperfections. The feedback scenario discussed is the most general situation in which the sender does not always receive acknowledgments from the receivers after each transmission and the feedback communications are subject to loss. The decoding delay increment expressions are derived and employed to express the decoding delay reduction problem as a maximum weight clique problem in the G-IDNC graph. This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the expected decoding delay increase at each time instant. Problem formulations in simpler channel and feedback models are shown to be special cases of the proposed generalized formulation. Since finding the optimal solution to the problem is known to be NP-hard, a suboptimal greedy algorithm is designed and compared with blind approaches proposed in the literature. Through extensive simulations, the proposed algorithm is shown to outperform the blind methods in all situations and to achieve significant improvement, particularly for high time-correlated channels.

  11. Analysis of error floor of LDPC codes under LP decoding over the BSC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chertkov, Michael [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Chilappagari, Shashi [UNIV OF AZ; Vasic, Bane [UNIV OF AZ; Stepanov, Mikhail [UNIV OF AZ

    2009-01-01

    We consider linear programming (LP) decoding of a fixed low-density parity-check (LDPC) code over the binary symmetric channel (BSC). The LP decoder fails when it outputs a pseudo-codeword which is not a codeword. We propose an efficient algorithm termed the instanton search algorithm (ISA) which, given a random input, generates a set of flips called the BSC-instanton and prove that: (a) the LP decoder fails for any set of flips with support vector including an instanton; (b) for any input, the algorithm outputs an instanton in the number of steps upper-bounded by twice the number of flips in the input. We obtain the number of unique instantons of different sizes by running the ISA sufficient number of times. We then use the instanton statistics to predict the performance of the LP decoding over the BSC in the error floor region. We also propose an efficient semi-analytical method to predict the performance of LP decoding over a large range of transition probabilities of the BSC.

  12. Delay Reduction for Instantly Decodable Network Coding in Persistent Channels With Feedback Imperfections

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2015-01-01

    This paper considers the multicast decoding delay reduction problem for generalized instantly decodable network coding (G-IDNC) over persistent erasure channels with feedback imperfections. The feedback scenario discussed is the most general situation in which the sender does not always receive acknowledgments from the receivers after each transmission and the feedback communications are subject to loss. The decoding delay increment expressions are derived and employed to express the decoding delay reduction problem as a maximum weight clique problem in the G-IDNC graph. This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the expected decoding delay increase at each time instant. Problem formulations in simpler channel and feedback models are shown to be special cases of the proposed generalized formulation. Since finding the optimal solution to the problem is known to be NP-hard, a suboptimal greedy algorithm is designed and compared with blind approaches proposed in the literature. Through extensive simulations, the proposed algorithm is shown to outperform the blind methods in all situations and to achieve significant improvement, particularly for high time-correlated channels.

  13. Hierarchical Neural Representation of Dreamed Objects Revealed by Brain Decoding with Deep Neural Network Features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horikawa, Tomoyasu; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

    2017-01-01

    Dreaming is generally thought to be generated by spontaneous brain activity during sleep with patterns common to waking experience. This view is supported by a recent study demonstrating that dreamed objects can be predicted from brain activity during sleep using statistical decoders trained with stimulus-induced brain activity. However, it remains unclear whether and how visual image features associated with dreamed objects are represented in the brain. In this study, we used a deep neural network (DNN) model for object recognition as a proxy for hierarchical visual feature representation, and DNN features for dreamed objects were analyzed with brain decoding of fMRI data collected during dreaming. The decoders were first trained with stimulus-induced brain activity labeled with the feature values of the stimulus image from multiple DNN layers. The decoders were then used to decode DNN features from the dream fMRI data, and the decoded features were compared with the averaged features of each object category calculated from a large-scale image database. We found that the feature values decoded from the dream fMRI data positively correlated with those associated with dreamed object categories at mid- to high-level DNN layers. Using the decoded features, the dreamed object category could be identified at above-chance levels by matching them to the averaged features for candidate categories. The results suggest that dreaming recruits hierarchical visual feature representations associated with objects, which may support phenomenal aspects of dream experience.

  14. Distributed-phase OCDMA encoder-decoders based on fiber Bragg gratings

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Zhaowei; Tian, C.; Petropoulos, P.; Richardson, D.J.; Ibsen, M.

    2007-01-01

    We propose and demonstrate new optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) encoder-decoders having a continuous phase-distribution. With the same spatial refractive index distribution as the reconfigurable optical phase encoder-decoders, they are inherently suitable for the application in reconfigurable OCDMA systems. Furthermore, compared with conventional discrete-phase devices, they also have additional advantages of being more tolerant to input pulse width and, therefore, have the poten...

  15. Compact disk error measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, D.; Harriman, K.; Tehranchi, B.

    1993-01-01

    The objectives of this project are as follows: provide hardware and software that will perform simple, real-time, high resolution (single-byte) measurement of the error burst and good data gap statistics seen by a photoCD player read channel when recorded CD write-once discs of variable quality (i.e., condition) are being read; extend the above system to enable measurement of the hard decision (i.e., 1-bit error flags) and soft decision (i.e., 2-bit error flags) decoding information that is produced/used by the Cross Interleaved - Reed - Solomon - Code (CIRC) block decoder employed in the photoCD player read channel; construct a model that uses data obtained via the systems described above to produce meaningful estimates of output error rates (due to both uncorrected ECC words and misdecoded ECC words) when a CD disc having specific (measured) error statistics is read (completion date to be determined); and check the hypothesis that current adaptive CIRC block decoders are optimized for pressed (DAD/ROM) CD discs. If warranted, do a conceptual design of an adaptive CIRC decoder that is optimized for write-once CD discs.

  16. The influence of talker and foreign-accent variability on spoken word identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bent, Tessa; Holt, Rachael Frush

    2013-03-01

    In spoken word identification and memory tasks, stimulus variability from numerous sources impairs performance. In the current study, the influence of foreign-accent variability on spoken word identification was evaluated in two experiments. Experiment 1 used a between-subjects design to test word identification in noise in single-talker and two multiple-talker conditions: multiple talkers with the same accent and multiple talkers with different accents. Identification performance was highest in the single-talker condition, but there was no difference between the single-accent and multiple-accent conditions. Experiment 2 further explored word recognition for multiple talkers in single-accent versus multiple-accent conditions using a mixed design. A detriment to word recognition was observed in the multiple-accent condition compared to the single-accent condition, but the effect differed across the language backgrounds tested. These results demonstrate that the processing of foreign-accent variation may influence word recognition in ways similar to other sources of variability (e.g., speaking rate or style) in that the inclusion of multiple foreign accents can result in a small but significant performance decrement beyond the multiple-talker effect.

  17. Neural decoding of visual imagery during sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horikawa, T; Tamaki, M; Miyawaki, Y; Kamitani, Y

    2013-05-03

    Visual imagery during sleep has long been a topic of persistent speculation, but its private nature has hampered objective analysis. Here we present a neural decoding approach in which machine-learning models predict the contents of visual imagery during the sleep-onset period, given measured brain activity, by discovering links between human functional magnetic resonance imaging patterns and verbal reports with the assistance of lexical and image databases. Decoding models trained on stimulus-induced brain activity in visual cortical areas showed accurate classification, detection, and identification of contents. Our findings demonstrate that specific visual experience during sleep is represented by brain activity patterns shared by stimulus perception, providing a means to uncover subjective contents of dreaming using objective neural measurement.

  18. Linear-time general decoding algorithm for the surface code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darmawan, Andrew S.; Poulin, David

    2018-05-01

    A quantum error correcting protocol can be substantially improved by taking into account features of the physical noise process. We present an efficient decoder for the surface code which can account for general noise features, including coherences and correlations. We demonstrate that the decoder significantly outperforms the conventional matching algorithm on a variety of noise models, including non-Pauli noise and spatially correlated noise. The algorithm is based on an approximate calculation of the logical channel using a tensor-network description of the noisy state.

  19. Real-time fMRI pattern decoding and neurofeedback using FRIEND: an FSL-integrated BCI toolbox.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, João R; Basilio, Rodrigo; Paiva, Fernando F; Garrido, Griselda J; Bramati, Ivanei E; Bado, Patricia; Tovar-Moll, Fernanda; Zahn, Roland; Moll, Jorge

    2013-01-01

    The demonstration that humans can learn to modulate their own brain activity based on feedback of neurophysiological signals opened up exciting opportunities for fundamental and applied neuroscience. Although EEG-based neurofeedback has been long employed both in experimental and clinical investigation, functional MRI (fMRI)-based neurofeedback emerged as a promising method, given its superior spatial resolution and ability to gauge deep cortical and subcortical brain regions. In combination with improved computational approaches, such as pattern recognition analysis (e.g., Support Vector Machines, SVM), fMRI neurofeedback and brain decoding represent key innovations in the field of neuromodulation and functional plasticity. Expansion in this field and its applications critically depend on the existence of freely available, integrated and user-friendly tools for the neuroimaging research community. Here, we introduce FRIEND, a graphic-oriented user-friendly interface package for fMRI neurofeedback and real-time multivoxel pattern decoding. The package integrates routines for image preprocessing in real-time, ROI-based feedback (single-ROI BOLD level and functional connectivity) and brain decoding-based feedback using SVM. FRIEND delivers an intuitive graphic interface with flexible processing pipelines involving optimized procedures embedding widely validated packages, such as FSL and libSVM. In addition, a user-defined visual neurofeedback module allows users to easily design and run fMRI neurofeedback experiments using ROI-based or multivariate classification approaches. FRIEND is open-source and free for non-commercial use. Processing tutorials and extensive documentation are available.

  20. Real-time fMRI pattern decoding and neurofeedback using FRIEND: an FSL-integrated BCI toolbox.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João R Sato

    Full Text Available The demonstration that humans can learn to modulate their own brain activity based on feedback of neurophysiological signals opened up exciting opportunities for fundamental and applied neuroscience. Although EEG-based neurofeedback has been long employed both in experimental and clinical investigation, functional MRI (fMRI-based neurofeedback emerged as a promising method, given its superior spatial resolution and ability to gauge deep cortical and subcortical brain regions. In combination with improved computational approaches, such as pattern recognition analysis (e.g., Support Vector Machines, SVM, fMRI neurofeedback and brain decoding represent key innovations in the field of neuromodulation and functional plasticity. Expansion in this field and its applications critically depend on the existence of freely available, integrated and user-friendly tools for the neuroimaging research community. Here, we introduce FRIEND, a graphic-oriented user-friendly interface package for fMRI neurofeedback and real-time multivoxel pattern decoding. The package integrates routines for image preprocessing in real-time, ROI-based feedback (single-ROI BOLD level and functional connectivity and brain decoding-based feedback using SVM. FRIEND delivers an intuitive graphic interface with flexible processing pipelines involving optimized procedures embedding widely validated packages, such as FSL and libSVM. In addition, a user-defined visual neurofeedback module allows users to easily design and run fMRI neurofeedback experiments using ROI-based or multivariate classification approaches. FRIEND is open-source and free for non-commercial use. Processing tutorials and extensive documentation are available.

  1. Real-Time fMRI Pattern Decoding and Neurofeedback Using FRIEND: An FSL-Integrated BCI Toolbox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, João R.; Basilio, Rodrigo; Paiva, Fernando F.; Garrido, Griselda J.; Bramati, Ivanei E.; Bado, Patricia; Tovar-Moll, Fernanda; Zahn, Roland; Moll, Jorge

    2013-01-01

    The demonstration that humans can learn to modulate their own brain activity based on feedback of neurophysiological signals opened up exciting opportunities for fundamental and applied neuroscience. Although EEG-based neurofeedback has been long employed both in experimental and clinical investigation, functional MRI (fMRI)-based neurofeedback emerged as a promising method, given its superior spatial resolution and ability to gauge deep cortical and subcortical brain regions. In combination with improved computational approaches, such as pattern recognition analysis (e.g., Support Vector Machines, SVM), fMRI neurofeedback and brain decoding represent key innovations in the field of neuromodulation and functional plasticity. Expansion in this field and its applications critically depend on the existence of freely available, integrated and user-friendly tools for the neuroimaging research community. Here, we introduce FRIEND, a graphic-oriented user-friendly interface package for fMRI neurofeedback and real-time multivoxel pattern decoding. The package integrates routines for image preprocessing in real-time, ROI-based feedback (single-ROI BOLD level and functional connectivity) and brain decoding-based feedback using SVM. FRIEND delivers an intuitive graphic interface with flexible processing pipelines involving optimized procedures embedding widely validated packages, such as FSL and libSVM. In addition, a user-defined visual neurofeedback module allows users to easily design and run fMRI neurofeedback experiments using ROI-based or multivariate classification approaches. FRIEND is open-source and free for non-commercial use. Processing tutorials and extensive documentation are available. PMID:24312569

  2. Decoding visual object categories from temporal correlations of ECoG signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majima, Kei; Matsuo, Takeshi; Kawasaki, Keisuke; Kawai, Kensuke; Saito, Nobuhito; Hasegawa, Isao; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

    2014-04-15

    How visual object categories are represented in the brain is one of the key questions in neuroscience. Studies on low-level visual features have shown that relative timings or phases of neural activity between multiple brain locations encode information. However, whether such temporal patterns of neural activity are used in the representation of visual objects is unknown. Here, we examined whether and how visual object categories could be predicted (or decoded) from temporal patterns of electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals from the temporal cortex in five patients with epilepsy. We used temporal correlations between electrodes as input features, and compared the decoding performance with features defined by spectral power and phase from individual electrodes. While using power or phase alone, the decoding accuracy was significantly better than chance, correlations alone or those combined with power outperformed other features. Decoding performance with correlations was degraded by shuffling the order of trials of the same category in each electrode, indicating that the relative time series between electrodes in each trial is critical. Analysis using a sliding time window revealed that decoding performance with correlations began to rise earlier than that with power. This earlier increase in performance was replicated by a model using phase differences to encode categories. These results suggest that activity patterns arising from interactions between multiple neuronal units carry additional information on visual object categories. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. An Optimized Three-Level Design of Decoder Based on Nanoscale Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seyedi, Saeid; Navimipour, Nima Jafari

    2018-03-01

    Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) has been potentially considered as a supersede to Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) because of its inherent advantages. Many QCA-based logic circuits with smaller feature size, improved operating frequency, and lower power consumption than CMOS have been offered. This technology works based on electron relations inside quantum-dots. Due to the importance of designing an optimized decoder in any digital circuit, in this paper, we design, implement and simulate a new 2-to-4 decoder based on QCA with low delay, area, and complexity. The logic functionality of the 2-to-4 decoder is verified using the QCADesigner tool. The results have shown that the proposed QCA-based decoder has high performance in terms of a number of cells, covered area, and time delay. Due to the lower clock pulse frequency, the proposed 2-to-4 decoder is helpful for building QCA-based sequential digital circuits with high performance.

  4. Analysis of Minimal LDPC Decoder System on a Chip Implementation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Palenik

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a practical method of potential replacement of several different Quasi-Cyclic Low-Density Parity-Check (QC-LDPC codes with one, with the intention of saving as much memory as required to implement the LDPC encoder and decoder in a memory-constrained System on a Chip (SoC. The presented method requires only a very small modification of the existing encoder and decoder, making it suitable for utilization in a Software Defined Radio (SDR platform. Besides the analysis of the effects of necessary variable-node value fixation during the Belief Propagation (BP decoding algorithm, practical standard-defined code parameters are scrutinized in order to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed LDPC setup simplification. Finally, the error performance of the modified system structure is evaluated and compared with the original system structure by means of simulation.

  5. Identifying musical pieces from fMRI data using encoding and decoding models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoefle, Sebastian; Engel, Annerose; Basilio, Rodrigo; Alluri, Vinoo; Toiviainen, Petri; Cagy, Maurício; Moll, Jorge

    2018-02-02

    Encoding models can reveal and decode neural representations in the visual and semantic domains. However, a thorough understanding of how distributed information in auditory cortices and temporal evolution of music contribute to model performance is still lacking in the musical domain. We measured fMRI responses during naturalistic music listening and constructed a two-stage approach that first mapped musical features in auditory cortices and then decoded novel musical pieces. We then probed the influence of stimuli duration (number of time points) and spatial extent (number of voxels) on decoding accuracy. Our approach revealed a linear increase in accuracy with duration and a point of optimal model performance for the spatial extent. We further showed that Shannon entropy is a driving factor, boosting accuracy up to 95% for music with highest information content. These findings provide key insights for future decoding and reconstruction algorithms and open new venues for possible clinical applications.

  6. Performance Analysis of a Decoding Algorithm for Algebraic Geometry Codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Helge Elbrønd; Nielsen, Rasmus Refslund; Høholdt, Tom

    1998-01-01

    We analyse the known decoding algorithms for algebraic geometry codes in the case where the number of errors is greater than or equal to [(dFR-1)/2]+1, where dFR is the Feng-Rao distance......We analyse the known decoding algorithms for algebraic geometry codes in the case where the number of errors is greater than or equal to [(dFR-1)/2]+1, where dFR is the Feng-Rao distance...

  7. A novel beat-noise-reducing en/decoding technology for a coherent 2-D OCDMA system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Jilin; Wang, Rong; Pu, Tao; Lu, Lin; Fang, Tao; Cheng, Yun; Chen, Xiangfei

    2009-10-12

    A novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based en/decoder for a coherent two-dimensional (2-D) wavelength-time (WT) optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) system is proposed to suppress the beat noise (BN). The feasibility of en/decoding function and the effectiveness of BN suppression are demonstrated by the simulation comparison between the conventional and proposed scheme, which are also further validated by en/decoding experiments with two users at a data rate of 2.5, 5 and 10 Gb/s respectively. The further numerical performance analysis of the proposed en/decoding method reveals the BER improvement compared with the conventional system.

  8. Temporal Response Properties of Accessory Olfactory Bulb Neurons: Limitations and Opportunities for Decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoles-Frenkel, Michal; Kahan, Anat; Ben-Shaul, Yoram

    2018-05-23

    The vomeronasal system (VNS) is a major vertebrate chemosensory system that functions in parallel to the main olfactory system (MOS). Despite many similarities, the two systems dramatically differ in the temporal domain. While MOS responses are governed by breathing and follow a subsecond temporal scale, VNS responses are uncoupled from breathing and evolve over seconds. This suggests that the contribution of response dynamics to stimulus information will differ between these systems. While temporal dynamics in the MOS are widely investigated, similar analyses in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) are lacking. Here, we have addressed this issue using controlled stimulus delivery to the vomeronasal organ of male and female mice. We first analyzed the temporal properties of AOB projection neurons and demonstrated that neurons display prolonged, variable, and neuron-specific characteristics. We then analyzed various decoding schemes using AOB population responses. We showed that compared with the simplest scheme (i.e., integration of spike counts over the entire response period), the division of this period into smaller temporal bins actually yields poorer decoding accuracy. However, optimal classification accuracy can be achieved well before the end of the response period by integrating spike counts within temporally defined windows. Since VNS stimulus uptake is variable, we analyzed decoding using limited information about stimulus uptake time, and showed that with enough neurons, such time-invariant decoding is feasible. Finally, we conducted simulations that demonstrated that, unlike the main olfactory bulb, the temporal features of AOB neurons disfavor decoding with high temporal accuracy, and, rather, support decoding without precise knowledge of stimulus uptake time. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A key goal in sensory system research is to identify which metrics of neuronal activity are relevant for decoding stimulus features. Here, we describe the first systematic

  9. Word form Encoding in Chinese Word Naming and Word Typing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jenn-Yeu; Li, Cheng-Yi

    2011-01-01

    The process of word form encoding was investigated in primed word naming and word typing with Chinese monosyllabic words. The target words shared or did not share the onset consonants with the prime words. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was 100 ms or 300 ms. Typing required the participants to enter the phonetic letters of the target word,…

  10. Hardware Implementation of A Non-RLL Soft-decoding Beacon-based Visible Light Communication Receiver

    OpenAIRE

    Nguyen, Duc-Phuc; Le, Dinh-Dung; Tran, Thi-Hong; Huynh, Huu-Thuan; Nakashima, Yasuhiko

    2018-01-01

    Visible light communication (VLC)-based beacon systems, which usually transmit identification (ID) information in small-size data frames are applied widely in indoor localization applications. There is one fact that flicker of LED light should be avoid in any VLC systems. Current flicker mitigation solutions based on run-length limited (RLL) codes suffer from reduced code rates, or are limited to hard-decoding forward error correction (FEC) decoders. Recently, soft-decoding techniques of RLL-...

  11. Syllabic Length Effect in Visual Word Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roya Ranjbar Mohammadi

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Studies on visual word recognition have resulted in different and sometimes contradictory proposals as Multi-Trace Memory Model (MTM, Dual-Route Cascaded Model (DRC, and Parallel Distribution Processing Model (PDP. The role of the number of syllables in word recognition was examined by the use of five groups of English words and non-words. The reaction time of the participants to these words was measured using reaction time measuring software. The results indicated that there was syllabic effect on recognition of both high and low frequency words. The pattern was incremental in terms of syllable number. This pattern prevailed in high and low frequency words and non-words except in one syllable words. In general, the results are in line with the PDP model which claims that a single processing mechanism is used in both words and non-words recognition. In other words, the findings suggest that lexical items are mainly processed via a lexical route.  A pedagogical implication of the findings would be that reading in English as a foreign language involves analytical processing of the syllable of the words.

  12. Mutiple LDPC Decoding using Bitplane Correlation for Transform Domain Wyner-Ziv Video Coding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Luong, Huynh Van; Huang, Xin; Forchhammer, Søren

    2011-01-01

    Distributed video coding (DVC) is an emerging video coding paradigm for systems which fully or partly exploit the source statistics at the decoder to reduce the computational burden at the encoder. This paper considers a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) based Transform Domain Wyner-Ziv (TDWZ) video...... codec. To improve the LDPC coding performance in the context of TDWZ, this paper proposes a Wyner-Ziv video codec using bitplane correlation through multiple parallel LDPC decoding. The proposed scheme utilizes inter bitplane correlation to enhance the bitplane decoding performance. Experimental results...

  13. Decoding spikes in a spiking neuronal network

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feng Jianfeng [Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Ding, Mingzhou [Department of Mathematics, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431 (United States)

    2004-06-04

    We investigate how to reliably decode the input information from the output of a spiking neuronal network. A maximum likelihood estimator of the input signal, together with its Fisher information, is rigorously calculated. The advantage of the maximum likelihood estimation over the 'brute-force rate coding' estimate is clearly demonstrated. It is pointed out that the ergodic assumption in neuroscience, i.e. a temporal average is equivalent to an ensemble average, is in general not true. Averaging over an ensemble of neurons usually gives a biased estimate of the input information. A method on how to compensate for the bias is proposed. Reconstruction of dynamical input signals with a group of spiking neurons is extensively studied and our results show that less than a spike is sufficient to accurately decode dynamical inputs.

  14. Decoding spikes in a spiking neuronal network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Jianfeng; Ding, Mingzhou

    2004-01-01

    We investigate how to reliably decode the input information from the output of a spiking neuronal network. A maximum likelihood estimator of the input signal, together with its Fisher information, is rigorously calculated. The advantage of the maximum likelihood estimation over the 'brute-force rate coding' estimate is clearly demonstrated. It is pointed out that the ergodic assumption in neuroscience, i.e. a temporal average is equivalent to an ensemble average, is in general not true. Averaging over an ensemble of neurons usually gives a biased estimate of the input information. A method on how to compensate for the bias is proposed. Reconstruction of dynamical input signals with a group of spiking neurons is extensively studied and our results show that less than a spike is sufficient to accurately decode dynamical inputs

  15. 47 CFR 11.33 - EAS Decoder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ..., satellite, public switched telephone network, or any other source that uses the EAS protocol. (2) Valid..., analog radio and television broadcast stations, analog cable systems and wireless cable systems may... program data must be retained even with power removed. (7) Outputs. Decoders shall have the following...

  16. A lossy graph model for delay reduction in generalized instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    , arising from lossy feedback events, when the expected decoding delay of XORing them among themselves or with other certain packets is lower than that expected when sending these packets separately. We compare the decoding delay performance of LG-IDNC and G

  17. An Area-Efficient Reconfigurable LDPC Decoder with Conflict Resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Changsheng; Huang, Yuebin; Huang, Shuangqu; Chen, Yun; Zeng, Xiaoyang

    Based on Turbo-Decoding Message-Passing (TDMP) and Normalized Min-Sum (NMS) algorithm, an area efficient LDPC decoder that supports both structured and unstructured LDPC codes is proposed in this paper. We introduce a solution to solve the memory access conflict problem caused by TDMP algorithm. We also arrange the main timing schedule carefully to handle the operations of our solution while avoiding much additional hardware consumption. To reduce the memory bits needed, the extrinsic message storing strategy is also optimized. Besides the extrinsic message recover and the accumulate operation are merged together. To verify our architecture, a LDPC decoder that supports both China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) and Digital Terrestrial/ Television Multimedia Broadcasting (DTMB) standards is developed using SMIC 0.13µm standard CMOS process. The core area is 4.75mm2 and the maximum operating clock frequency is 200MHz. The estimated power consumption is 48.4mW at 25MHz for CMMB and 130.9mW at 50MHz for DTMB with 5 iterations and 1.2V supply.

  18. Effectiveness of an Integrated Phonological Awareness Approach for Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNeill, Brigid C.; Gillon, Gail T.; Dodd, Barbara

    2009-01-01

    This study investigated the effectiveness of an integrated phonological awareness approach for children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Change in speech, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, word decoding, and spelling skills were examined. A controlled multiple single-subject design was employed. Twelve children aged 4-7 years with…

  19. Cascading Oscillators in Decoding Speech: Reflection of a Cortical Computation Principle

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-06

    purely) auditory or articulatory model can explain this behavior. The insertion of gaps was interpreted as the act of providing extra decoding time...The windows are generated by a segmentation process, implemented by an array of cascaded oscillators. Correct segmentation is a critical...prerequisite for correct decoding, and segmentation is correct as long as the oscillators successfully track the input rhythms. Syllabic segmentation utilizes

  20. State-Dependent Decoding Algorithms Improve the Performance of a Bidirectional BMI in Anesthetized Rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vito De Feo

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs promise to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from sensory and motor disabilities by creating a direct communication channel between the brain and the external world. Yet, their performance is currently limited by the relatively small amount of information that can be decoded from neural activity recorded form the brain. We have recently proposed that such decoding performance may be improved when using state-dependent decoding algorithms that predict and discount the large component of the trial-to-trial variability of neural activity which is due to the dependence of neural responses on the network's current internal state. Here we tested this idea by using a bidirectional BMI to investigate the gain in performance arising from using a state-dependent decoding algorithm. This BMI, implemented in anesthetized rats, controlled the movement of a dynamical system using neural activity decoded from motor cortex and fed back to the brain the dynamical system's position by electrically microstimulating somatosensory cortex. We found that using state-dependent algorithms that tracked the dynamics of ongoing activity led to an increase in the amount of information extracted form neural activity by 22%, with a consequently increase in all of the indices measuring the BMI's performance in controlling the dynamical system. This suggests that state-dependent decoding algorithms may be used to enhance BMIs at moderate computational cost.

  1. State-Dependent Decoding Algorithms Improve the Performance of a Bidirectional BMI in Anesthetized Rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Feo, Vito; Boi, Fabio; Safaai, Houman; Onken, Arno; Panzeri, Stefano; Vato, Alessandro

    2017-01-01

    Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) promise to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from sensory and motor disabilities by creating a direct communication channel between the brain and the external world. Yet, their performance is currently limited by the relatively small amount of information that can be decoded from neural activity recorded form the brain. We have recently proposed that such decoding performance may be improved when using state-dependent decoding algorithms that predict and discount the large component of the trial-to-trial variability of neural activity which is due to the dependence of neural responses on the network's current internal state. Here we tested this idea by using a bidirectional BMI to investigate the gain in performance arising from using a state-dependent decoding algorithm. This BMI, implemented in anesthetized rats, controlled the movement of a dynamical system using neural activity decoded from motor cortex and fed back to the brain the dynamical system's position by electrically microstimulating somatosensory cortex. We found that using state-dependent algorithms that tracked the dynamics of ongoing activity led to an increase in the amount of information extracted form neural activity by 22%, with a consequently increase in all of the indices measuring the BMI's performance in controlling the dynamical system. This suggests that state-dependent decoding algorithms may be used to enhance BMIs at moderate computational cost.

  2. Joint Source-Channel Decoding of Variable-Length Codes with Soft Information: A Survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre Siohan

    2005-05-01

    Full Text Available Multimedia transmission over time-varying wireless channels presents a number of challenges beyond existing capabilities conceived so far for third-generation networks. Efficient quality-of-service (QoS provisioning for multimedia on these channels may in particular require a loosening and a rethinking of the layer separation principle. In that context, joint source-channel decoding (JSCD strategies have gained attention as viable alternatives to separate decoding of source and channel codes. A statistical framework based on hidden Markov models (HMM capturing dependencies between the source and channel coding components sets the foundation for optimal design of techniques of joint decoding of source and channel codes. The problem has been largely addressed in the research community, by considering both fixed-length codes (FLC and variable-length source codes (VLC widely used in compression standards. Joint source-channel decoding of VLC raises specific difficulties due to the fact that the segmentation of the received bitstream into source symbols is random. This paper makes a survey of recent theoretical and practical advances in the area of JSCD with soft information of VLC-encoded sources. It first describes the main paths followed for designing efficient estimators for VLC-encoded sources, the key component of the JSCD iterative structure. It then presents the main issues involved in the application of the turbo principle to JSCD of VLC-encoded sources as well as the main approaches to source-controlled channel decoding. This survey terminates by performance illustrations with real image and video decoding systems.

  3. Joint Source-Channel Decoding of Variable-Length Codes with Soft Information: A Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guillemot, Christine; Siohan, Pierre

    2005-12-01

    Multimedia transmission over time-varying wireless channels presents a number of challenges beyond existing capabilities conceived so far for third-generation networks. Efficient quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning for multimedia on these channels may in particular require a loosening and a rethinking of the layer separation principle. In that context, joint source-channel decoding (JSCD) strategies have gained attention as viable alternatives to separate decoding of source and channel codes. A statistical framework based on hidden Markov models (HMM) capturing dependencies between the source and channel coding components sets the foundation for optimal design of techniques of joint decoding of source and channel codes. The problem has been largely addressed in the research community, by considering both fixed-length codes (FLC) and variable-length source codes (VLC) widely used in compression standards. Joint source-channel decoding of VLC raises specific difficulties due to the fact that the segmentation of the received bitstream into source symbols is random. This paper makes a survey of recent theoretical and practical advances in the area of JSCD with soft information of VLC-encoded sources. It first describes the main paths followed for designing efficient estimators for VLC-encoded sources, the key component of the JSCD iterative structure. It then presents the main issues involved in the application of the turbo principle to JSCD of VLC-encoded sources as well as the main approaches to source-controlled channel decoding. This survey terminates by performance illustrations with real image and video decoding systems.

  4. On the average complexity of sphere decoding in lattice space-time coded multiple-input multiple-output channel

    KAUST Repository

    Abediseid, Walid

    2012-12-21

    The exact average complexity analysis of the basic sphere decoder for general space-time codes applied to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless channel is known to be difficult. In this work, we shed the light on the computational complexity of sphere decoding for the quasi- static, lattice space-time (LAST) coded MIMO channel. Specifically, we drive an upper bound of the tail distribution of the decoder\\'s computational complexity. We show that when the computational complexity exceeds a certain limit, this upper bound becomes dominated by the outage probability achieved by LAST coding and sphere decoding schemes. We then calculate the minimum average computational complexity that is required by the decoder to achieve near optimal performance in terms of the system parameters. Our results indicate that there exists a cut-off rate (multiplexing gain) for which the average complexity remains bounded. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Early language development in children with profound hearing loss fitted with a device at a young age: part I--the time period taken to acquire first words and first word combinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nott, Pauline; Cowan, Robert; Brown, P Margaret; Wigglesworth, Gillian

    2009-10-01

    Increasing numbers of infants and young children are now presenting to implantation centers and early intervention programs as the impact of universal newborn hearing screening programs is felt worldwide. Although results of a number of studies have highlighted the benefit of early identification and early fitting of hearing devices, there is relatively little research on the impact of early fitting of these devices on first language milestones. The aim of this study was to investigate the early spoken language milestones of young children with hearing loss (HL) from two perspectives: first, the acquisition of the first lexicon (i.e., the first 100 words) and second, the emergence of the first word combinations. Two groups of participants, one comprising 24 participants with profound HL and a second comprising 16 participants with normal hearing, were compared. Twenty-three participants in the HL group were fitted with a cochlear implant and one with bilateral hearing aids. All of these were "switched-on" or fitted before 30 months of age and half at words and any word combinations produced while reaching this single-word target. Acquisition of single words was compared by using the time period (in days) taken to reach several single-word targets (e.g., 50 words, 100 words) from the date of production of the first word. The emergence of word combinations was analyzed from two perspectives: first, the time (in days) from the date of production of the first word to the emergence of the first word combinations and second, the size of the single-word lexicon when word combinations emerged. The normal-hearing group required a significantly shorter time period to acquire the first 50 (mean words than the HL group. Although both groups demonstrated acceleration in lexical acquisition, the hearing group took significantly fewer days to reach the second 50 words relative to the first 50 words than did the HL group. Finally, the hearing group produced word combinations

  6. Delay reduction in persistent erasure channels for generalized instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Sorour, Sameh

    2013-06-01

    In this paper, we consider the problem of minimizing the decoding delay of generalized instantly decodable network coding (G-IDNC) in persistent erasure channels (PECs). By persistent erasure channels, we mean erasure channels with memory, which are modeled as a Gilbert-Elliott two-state Markov model with good and bad channel states. In this scenario, the channel erasure dependence, represented by the transition probabilities of this channel model, is an important factor that could be exploited to reduce the decoding delay. We first formulate the G-IDNC minimum decoding delay problem in PECs as a maximum weight clique problem over the G-IDNC graph. Since finding the optimal solution of this formulation is NP-hard, we propose two heuristic algorithms to solve it and compare them using extensive simulations. Simulation results show that each of these heuristics outperforms the other in certain ranges of channel memory levels. They also show that the proposed heuristics significantly outperform both the optimal strict IDNC in the literature and the channel-unaware G-IDNC algorithms. © 2013 IEEE.

  7. Delay reduction in persistent erasure channels for generalized instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Sorour, Sameh; Aboutorab, Neda; Sadeghi, Parastoo; Karim, Mohammad Shahriar; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the problem of minimizing the decoding delay of generalized instantly decodable network coding (G-IDNC) in persistent erasure channels (PECs). By persistent erasure channels, we mean erasure channels with memory, which are modeled as a Gilbert-Elliott two-state Markov model with good and bad channel states. In this scenario, the channel erasure dependence, represented by the transition probabilities of this channel model, is an important factor that could be exploited to reduce the decoding delay. We first formulate the G-IDNC minimum decoding delay problem in PECs as a maximum weight clique problem over the G-IDNC graph. Since finding the optimal solution of this formulation is NP-hard, we propose two heuristic algorithms to solve it and compare them using extensive simulations. Simulation results show that each of these heuristics outperforms the other in certain ranges of channel memory levels. They also show that the proposed heuristics significantly outperform both the optimal strict IDNC in the literature and the channel-unaware G-IDNC algorithms. © 2013 IEEE.

  8. The Contribution of Attentional Control and Working Memory to Reading Comprehension and Decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arrington, C. Nikki; Kulesz, Paulina A.; Francis, David J.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Barnes, Marcia A.

    2014-01-01

    Little is known about how specific components of working memory, namely, attentional processes including response inhibition, sustained attention, and cognitive inhibition, are related to reading decoding and comprehension. The current study evaluated the relations of reading comprehension, decoding, working memory, and attentional control in…

  9. A Novel Entropy-Based Decoding Algorithm for a Generalized High-Order Discrete Hidden Markov Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason Chin-Tiong Chan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The optimal state sequence of a generalized High-Order Hidden Markov Model (HHMM is tracked from a given observational sequence using the classical Viterbi algorithm. This classical algorithm is based on maximum likelihood criterion. We introduce an entropy-based Viterbi algorithm for tracking the optimal state sequence of a HHMM. The entropy of a state sequence is a useful quantity, providing a measure of the uncertainty of a HHMM. There will be no uncertainty if there is only one possible optimal state sequence for HHMM. This entropy-based decoding algorithm can be formulated in an extended or a reduction approach. We extend the entropy-based algorithm for computing the optimal state sequence that was developed from a first-order to a generalized HHMM with a single observational sequence. This extended algorithm performs the computation exponentially with respect to the order of HMM. The computational complexity of this extended algorithm is due to the growth of the model parameters. We introduce an efficient entropy-based decoding algorithm that used reduction approach, namely, entropy-based order-transformation forward algorithm (EOTFA to compute the optimal state sequence of any generalized HHMM. This EOTFA algorithm involves a transformation of a generalized high-order HMM into an equivalent first-order HMM and an entropy-based decoding algorithm is developed based on the equivalent first-order HMM. This algorithm performs the computation based on the observational sequence and it requires OTN~2 calculations, where N~ is the number of states in an equivalent first-order model and T is the length of observational sequence.

  10. Coding and decoding with dendrites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papoutsi, Athanasia; Kastellakis, George; Psarrou, Maria; Anastasakis, Stelios; Poirazi, Panayiota

    2014-02-01

    Since the discovery of complex, voltage dependent mechanisms in the dendrites of multiple neuron types, great effort has been devoted in search of a direct link between dendritic properties and specific neuronal functions. Over the last few years, new experimental techniques have allowed the visualization and probing of dendritic anatomy, plasticity and integrative schemes with unprecedented detail. This vast amount of information has caused a paradigm shift in the study of memory, one of the most important pursuits in Neuroscience, and calls for the development of novel theories and models that will unify the available data according to some basic principles. Traditional models of memory considered neural cells as the fundamental processing units in the brain. Recent studies however are proposing new theories in which memory is not only formed by modifying the synaptic connections between neurons, but also by modifications of intrinsic and anatomical dendritic properties as well as fine tuning of the wiring diagram. In this review paper we present previous studies along with recent findings from our group that support a key role of dendrites in information processing, including the encoding and decoding of new memories, both at the single cell and the network level. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Neural decoding of attentional selection in multi-speaker environments without access to clean sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Sullivan, James; Chen, Zhuo; Herrero, Jose; McKhann, Guy M.; Sheth, Sameer A.; Mehta, Ashesh D.; Mesgarani, Nima

    2017-10-01

    Objective. People who suffer from hearing impairments can find it difficult to follow a conversation in a multi-speaker environment. Current hearing aids can suppress background noise; however, there is little that can be done to help a user attend to a single conversation amongst many without knowing which speaker the user is attending to. Cognitively controlled hearing aids that use auditory attention decoding (AAD) methods are the next step in offering help. Translating the successes in AAD research to real-world applications poses a number of challenges, including the lack of access to the clean sound sources in the environment with which to compare with the neural signals. We propose a novel framework that combines single-channel speech separation algorithms with AAD. Approach. We present an end-to-end system that (1) receives a single audio channel containing a mixture of speakers that is heard by a listener along with the listener’s neural signals, (2) automatically separates the individual speakers in the mixture, (3) determines the attended speaker, and (4) amplifies the attended speaker’s voice to assist the listener. Main results. Using invasive electrophysiology recordings, we identified the regions of the auditory cortex that contribute to AAD. Given appropriate electrode locations, our system is able to decode the attention of subjects and amplify the attended speaker using only the mixed audio. Our quality assessment of the modified audio demonstrates a significant improvement in both subjective and objective speech quality measures. Significance. Our novel framework for AAD bridges the gap between the most recent advancements in speech processing technologies and speech prosthesis research and moves us closer to the development of cognitively controlled hearable devices for the hearing impaired.

  12. Reading Fluency and Speech Perception Speed of Beginning Readers with Persistent Reading Problems: The Perception of Initial Stop Consonants and Consonant Clusters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snellings, Patrick; van der Leij, Aryan; Blok, Henk; de Jong, Peter F.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated the role of speech perception accuracy and speed in fluent word decoding of reading disabled (RD) children. A same-different phoneme discrimination task with natural speech tested the perception of single consonants and consonant clusters by young but persistent RD children. RD children were slower than chronological age…

  13. "ON ALGEBRAIC DECODING OF Q-ARY REED-MULLER AND PRODUCT REED-SOLOMON CODES"

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    SANTHI, NANDAKISHORE [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2007-01-22

    We consider a list decoding algorithm recently proposed by Pellikaan-Wu for q-ary Reed-Muller codes RM{sub q}({ell}, m, n) of length n {le} q{sup m} when {ell} {le} q. A simple and easily accessible correctness proof is given which shows that this algorithm achieves a relative error-correction radius of {tau} {le} (1-{radical}{ell}q{sup m-1}/n). This is an improvement over the proof using one-point Algebraic-Geometric decoding method given in. The described algorithm can be adapted to decode product Reed-Solomon codes. We then propose a new low complexity recursive aJgebraic decoding algorithm for product Reed-Solomon codes and Reed-Muller codes. This algorithm achieves a relative error correction radius of {tau} {le} {Pi}{sub i=1}{sup m} (1 - {radical}k{sub i}/q). This algorithm is then proved to outperform the Pellikaan-Wu algorithm in both complexity and error correction radius over a wide range of code rates.

  14. Decoding facial expressions based on face-selective and motion-sensitive areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Yin; Liu, Baolin; Xu, Junhai; Zhang, Gaoyan; Li, Xianglin; Wang, Peiyuan; Wang, Bin

    2017-06-01

    Humans can easily recognize others' facial expressions. Among the brain substrates that enable this ability, considerable attention has been paid to face-selective areas; in contrast, whether motion-sensitive areas, which clearly exhibit sensitivity to facial movements, are involved in facial expression recognition remained unclear. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study used multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to explore facial expression decoding in both face-selective and motion-sensitive areas. In a block design experiment, participants viewed facial expressions of six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise) in images, videos, and eyes-obscured videos. Due to the use of multiple stimulus types, the impacts of facial motion and eye-related information on facial expression decoding were also examined. It was found that motion-sensitive areas showed significant responses to emotional expressions and that dynamic expressions could be successfully decoded in both face-selective and motion-sensitive areas. Compared with static stimuli, dynamic expressions elicited consistently higher neural responses and decoding performance in all regions. A significant decrease in both activation and decoding accuracy due to the absence of eye-related information was also observed. Overall, the findings showed that emotional expressions are represented in motion-sensitive areas in addition to conventional face-selective areas, suggesting that motion-sensitive regions may also effectively contribute to facial expression recognition. The results also suggested that facial motion and eye-related information played important roles by carrying considerable expression information that could facilitate facial expression recognition. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3113-3125, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. What Could Replace the Phonics Screening Check during the Early Years of Reading Development?

    OpenAIRE

    Glazzard, J

    2017-01-01

    This article argues that the phonics screening check, introduced in England in 2012, is not fit for purpose. It is a test of children’s ability to decode words rather than an assessment of their reading skills. Whilst this assessment may, to some extent, support the needs of children who rely on phonemic decoding as a route to word recognition, it does not support the needs of more advanced readers who have automatic word recognition. In addition, for children who struggle with phonemic decod...

  16. Code-modulated visual evoked potentials using fast stimulus presentation and spatiotemporal beamformer decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wittevrongel, Benjamin; Van Wolputte, Elia; Van Hulle, Marc M

    2017-11-08

    When encoding visual targets using various lagged versions of a pseudorandom binary sequence of luminance changes, the EEG signal recorded over the viewer's occipital pole exhibits so-called code-modulated visual evoked potentials (cVEPs), the phase lags of which can be tied to these targets. The cVEP paradigm has enjoyed interest in the brain-computer interfacing (BCI) community for the reported high information transfer rates (ITR, in bits/min). In this study, we introduce a novel decoding algorithm based on spatiotemporal beamforming, and show that this algorithm is able to accurately identify the gazed target. Especially for a small number of repetitions of the coding sequence, our beamforming approach significantly outperforms an optimised support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier, which is considered state-of-the-art in cVEP-based BCI. In addition to the traditional 60 Hz stimulus presentation rate for the coding sequence, we also explore the 120 Hz rate, and show that the latter enables faster communication, with a maximal median ITR of 172.87 bits/min. Finally, we also report on a transition effect in the EEG signal following the onset of the stimulus sequence, and recommend to exclude the first 150 ms of the trials from decoding when relying on a single presentation of the stimulus sequence.

  17. High-dimensional structured light coding/decoding for free-space optical communications free of obstructions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Jing; Wang, Jian

    2015-11-01

    Bessel beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) with helical phase fronts exp(ilφ)(l=0;±1;±2;…), where φ is the azimuthal angle and l corresponds to the topological number, are orthogonal with each other. This feature of Bessel beams provides a new dimension to code/decode data information on the OAM state of light, and the theoretical infinity of topological number enables possible high-dimensional structured light coding/decoding for free-space optical communications. Moreover, Bessel beams are nondiffracting beams having the ability to recover by themselves in the face of obstructions, which is important for free-space optical communications relying on line-of-sight operation. By utilizing the OAM and nondiffracting characteristics of Bessel beams, we experimentally demonstrate 12 m distance obstruction-free optical m-ary coding/decoding using visible Bessel beams in a free-space optical communication system. We also study the bit error rate (BER) performance of hexadecimal and 32-ary coding/decoding based on Bessel beams with different topological numbers. After receiving 500 symbols at the receiver side, a zero BER of hexadecimal coding/decoding is observed when the obstruction is placed along the propagation path of light.

  18. Real Time Decoding of Color Symbol for Optical Positioning System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Waheed Malik

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the design and real-time decoding of a color symbol that can be used as a reference marker for optical navigation. The designed symbol has a circular shape and is printed on paper using two distinct colors. This pair of colors is selected based on the highest achievable signal to noise ratio. The symbol is designed to carry eight bit information. Real time decoding of this symbol is performed using a heterogeneous combination of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA and a microcontroller. An image sensor having a resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels is used to capture images of symbols in complex backgrounds. Dynamic image segmentation, component labeling and feature extraction was performed on the FPGA. The region of interest was further computed from the extracted features. Feature data belonging to the symbol was sent from the FPGA to the microcontroller. Image processing tasks are partitioned between the FPGA and microcontroller based on data intensity. Experiments were performed to verify the rotational independence of the symbols. The maximum distance between camera and symbol allowing for correct detection and decoding was analyzed. Experiments were also performed to analyze the number of generated image components and sub-pixel precision versus different light sources and intensities. The proposed hardware architecture can process up to 55 frames per second for accurate detection and decoding of symbols at two Megapixels resolution. The power consumption of the complete system is 342mw.

  19. Performance Analysis of Iterative Decoding Algorithms for PEG LDPC Codes in Nakagami Fading Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Al Rasheed

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we give a comparative analysis of decoding algorithms of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC codes in a channel with the Nakagami distribution of the fading envelope. We consider the Progressive Edge-Growth (PEG method and Improved PEG method for the parity check matrix construction, which can be used to avoid short girths, small trapping sets and a high level of error floor. A comparative analysis of several classes of LDPC codes in various propagation conditions and decoded using different decoding algorithms is also presented.

  20. On the reduced-complexity of LDPC decoders for ultra-high-speed optical transmission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Djordjevic, Ivan B; Xu, Lei; Wang, Ting

    2010-10-25

    We propose two reduced-complexity (RC) LDPC decoders, which can be used in combination with large-girth LDPC codes to enable ultra-high-speed serial optical transmission. We show that optimally attenuated RC min-sum sum algorithm performs only 0.46 dB (at BER of 10(-9)) worse than conventional sum-product algorithm, while having lower storage memory requirements and much lower latency. We further study the use of RC LDPC decoding algorithms in multilevel coded modulation with coherent detection and show that with RC decoding algorithms we can achieve the net coding gain larger than 11 dB at BERs below 10(-9).

  1. Joint Estimation and Decoding of Space-Time Trellis Codes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Jianqiu

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available We explore the possibility of using an emerging tool in statistical signal processing, sequential importance sampling (SIS, for joint estimation and decoding of space-time trellis codes (STTC. First, we provide background on SIS, and then we discuss its application to space-time trellis code (STTC systems. It is shown through simulations that SIS is suitable for joint estimation and decoding of STTC with time-varying flat-fading channels when phase ambiguity is avoided. We used a design criterion for STTCs and temporally correlated channels that combats phase ambiguity without pilot signaling. We have shown by simulations that the design is valid.

  2. Soft decoding a self-dual (48, 24; 12) code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, G.

    1993-01-01

    A self-dual (48,24;12) code comes from restricting a binary cyclic (63,18;36) code to a 6 x 7 matrix, adding an eighth all-zero column, and then adjoining six dimensions to this extended 6 x 8 matrix. These six dimensions are generated by linear combinations of row permutations of a 6 x 8 matrix of weight 12, whose sums of rows and columns add to one. A soft decoding using these properties and approximating maximum likelihood is presented here. This is preliminary to a possible soft decoding of the box (72,36;15) code that promises a 7.7-dB theoretical coding under maximum likelihood.

  3. Bounded distance decoding of linear error-correcting codes with Gröbner bases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bulygin, S.; Pellikaan, G.R.

    2009-01-01

    The problem of bounded distance decoding of arbitrary linear codes using Gröbner bases is addressed. A new method is proposed, which is based on reducing an initial decoding problem to solving a certain system of polynomial equations over a finite field. The peculiarity of this system is that, when

  4. A best-first soft/hard decision tree searching MIMO decoder for a 4 × 4 64-QAM system

    KAUST Repository

    Shen, Chungan

    2012-08-01

    This paper presents the algorithm and VLSI architecture of a configurable tree-searching approach that combines the features of classical depth-first and breadth-first methods. Based on this approach, techniques to reduce complexity while providing both hard and soft outputs decoding are presented. Furthermore, a single programmable parameter allows the user to tradeoff throughput versus BER performance. The proposed multiple-input-multiple-output decoder supports a 4 × 4 64-QAM system and was synthesized with 65-nm CMOS technology at 333 MHz clock frequency. For the hard output scheme the design can achieve an average throughput of 257.8 Mbps at 24 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with area equivalent to 54.2 Kgates and a power consumption of 7.26 mW. For the soft output scheme it achieves an average throughput of 83.3 Mbps across the SNR range of interest with an area equivalent to 64 Kgates and a power consumption of 11.5 mW. © 2011 IEEE.

  5. A best-first soft/hard decision tree searching MIMO decoder for a 4 × 4 64-QAM system

    KAUST Repository

    Shen, Chungan; Eltawil, Ahmed M.; Salama, Khaled N.; Mondal, Sudip

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents the algorithm and VLSI architecture of a configurable tree-searching approach that combines the features of classical depth-first and breadth-first methods. Based on this approach, techniques to reduce complexity while providing both hard and soft outputs decoding are presented. Furthermore, a single programmable parameter allows the user to tradeoff throughput versus BER performance. The proposed multiple-input-multiple-output decoder supports a 4 × 4 64-QAM system and was synthesized with 65-nm CMOS technology at 333 MHz clock frequency. For the hard output scheme the design can achieve an average throughput of 257.8 Mbps at 24 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with area equivalent to 54.2 Kgates and a power consumption of 7.26 mW. For the soft output scheme it achieves an average throughput of 83.3 Mbps across the SNR range of interest with an area equivalent to 64 Kgates and a power consumption of 11.5 mW. © 2011 IEEE.

  6. Dissociable roles of internal feelings and face recognition ability in facial expression decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lin; Song, Yiying; Liu, Ling; Liu, Jia

    2016-05-15

    The problem of emotion recognition has been tackled by researchers in both affective computing and cognitive neuroscience. While affective computing relies on analyzing visual features from facial expressions, it has been proposed that humans recognize emotions by internally simulating the emotional states conveyed by others' expressions, in addition to perceptual analysis of facial features. Here we investigated whether and how our internal feelings contributed to the ability to decode facial expressions. In two independent large samples of participants, we observed that individuals who generally experienced richer internal feelings exhibited a higher ability to decode facial expressions, and the contribution of internal feelings was independent of face recognition ability. Further, using voxel-based morphometry, we found that the gray matter volume (GMV) of bilateral superior temporal sulcus (STS) and the right inferior parietal lobule was associated with facial expression decoding through the mediating effect of internal feelings, while the GMV of bilateral STS, precuneus, and the right central opercular cortex contributed to facial expression decoding through the mediating effect of face recognition ability. In addition, the clusters in bilateral STS involved in the two components were neighboring yet separate. Our results may provide clues about the mechanism by which internal feelings, in addition to face recognition ability, serve as an important instrument for humans in facial expression decoding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Detailed vocalic information in Danish 20-month-olds' novel words

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højen, Anders; Nazzi, Thierry

    2010-01-01

    results were found at 16 months with a simplified word-learning task (Havy & Nazzi, 2009). This indicated that vocalic information is given less weight than consonantal information when learning novel words. On the other hand, English 14- or 18-month-olds were sensitive to vowel mispronunciations of three......  Infants are endowed with an amazing capacity to perceive speech sounds. However, when learning new words, infants appear to not always use their perceptual capacities to their fullest. Recent research has provided conflicting evidence regarding the extent to which infants form new lexical...... representations with fully specified vowels. In a recent study, French 20-month-olds were able to learn two new words that differed by a single consonant but not words that differed by a single vowel, even when changing two or more phonetic features, in a name-based categorization task (Nazzi, 2005); similar...

  8. Differences in the predictors of reading comprehension in first graders from low socio-economic status families with either good or poor decoding skills.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edouard Gentaz

    Full Text Available Based on the assumption that good decoding skills constitute a bootstrapping mechanism for reading comprehension, the present study investigated the relative contribution of the former skill to the latter compared to that of three other predictors of reading comprehension (listening comprehension, vocabulary and phonemic awareness in 392 French-speaking first graders from low SES families. This large sample was split into three groups according to their level of decoding skills assessed by pseudoword reading. Using a cutoff of 1 SD above or below the mean of the entire population, there were 63 good decoders, 267 average decoders and 62 poor decoders. 58% of the variance in reading comprehension was explained by our four predictors, with decoding skills proving to be the best predictor (12.1%, 7.3% for listening comprehension, 4.6% for vocabulary and 3.3% for phonemic awareness. Interaction between group versus decoding skills, listening comprehension and phonemic awareness accounted for significant additional variance (3.6%, 1.1% and 1.0%, respectively. The effects on reading comprehension of decoding skills and phonemic awareness were higher in poor and average decoders than in good decoders whereas listening comprehension accounted for more variance in good and average decoders than in poor decoders. Furthermore, the percentage of children with impaired reading comprehension skills was higher in the group of poor decoders (55% than in the two other groups (average decoders: 7%; good decoders: 0% and only 6 children (1.5% had impaired reading comprehension skills with unimpaired decoding skills, listening comprehension or vocabulary. These results challenge the outcomes of studies on "poor comprehenders" by showing that, at least in first grade, poor reading comprehension is strongly linked to the level of decoding skills.

  9. Faster 2-regular information-set decoding

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bernstein, D.J.; Lange, T.; Peters, C.P.; Schwabe, P.; Chee, Y.M.

    2011-01-01

    Fix positive integers B and w. Let C be a linear code over F 2 of length Bw. The 2-regular-decoding problem is to find a nonzero codeword consisting of w length-B blocks, each of which has Hamming weight 0 or 2. This problem appears in attacks on the FSB (fast syndrome-based) hash function and

  10. List Decoding of Matrix-Product Codes from nested codes: an application to Quasi-Cyclic codes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernando, Fernando; Høholdt, Tom; Ruano, Diego

    2012-01-01

    A list decoding algorithm for matrix-product codes is provided when $C_1,..., C_s$ are nested linear codes and $A$ is a non-singular by columns matrix. We estimate the probability of getting more than one codeword as output when the constituent codes are Reed-Solomon codes. We extend this list...... decoding algorithm for matrix-product codes with polynomial units, which are quasi-cyclic codes. Furthermore, it allows us to consider unique decoding for matrix-product codes with polynomial units....

  11. Modified Dynamic Decode-and-Forward Relaying Protocol for Type II Relay in LTE-Advanced and Beyond.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nam, Sung Sik; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Choi, Seyeong

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a modified dynamic decode-and-forward (MoDDF) relaying protocol to meet the critical requirements for user equipment (UE) relays in next-generation cellular systems (e.g., LTE-Advanced and beyond). The proposed MoDDF realizes the fast jump-in relaying and the sequential decoding with an application of random codeset to encoding and re-encoding process at the source and the multiple UE relays, respectively. A subframe-by-subframe decoding based on the accumulated (or buffered) messages is employed to achieve energy, information, or mixed combining. Finally, possible early termination of decoding at the end user can lead to the higher spectral efficiency and more energy saving by reducing the frequency of redundant subframe transmission and decoding. These attractive features eliminate the need of directly exchanging control messages between multiple UE relays and the end user, which is an important prerequisite for the practical UE relay deployment.

  12. Encoding and decoding of digital spiral imaging based on bidirectional transformation of light's spatial eigenmodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wuhong; Chen, Lixiang

    2016-06-15

    Digital spiral imaging has been demonstrated as an effective optical tool to encode optical information and retrieve topographic information of an object. Here we develop a conceptually new and concise scheme for optical image encoding and decoding toward free-space digital spiral imaging. We experimentally demonstrate that the optical lattices with ℓ=±50 orbital angular momentum superpositions and a clover image with nearly 200 Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes can be well encoded and successfully decoded. It is found that an image encoded/decoded with a two-index LG spectrum (considering both azimuthal and radial indices, ℓ and p) possesses much higher fidelity than that with a one-index LG spectrum (only considering the ℓ index). Our work provides an alternative tool for the image encoding/decoding scheme toward free-space optical communications.

  13. The Treeterbi and Parallel Treeterbi algorithms: efficient, optimal decoding for ordinary, generalized and pair HMMs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keibler, Evan; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Brent, Michael R

    2007-01-01

    MOTIVATION: Hidden Markov models (HMMs) and generalized HMMs been successfully applied to many problems, but the standard Viterbi algorithm for computing the most probable interpretation of an input sequence (known as decoding) requires memory proportional to the length of the sequence, which can...... be prohibitive. Existing approaches to reducing memory usage either sacrifice optimality or trade increased running time for reduced memory. RESULTS: We developed two novel decoding algorithms, Treeterbi and Parallel Treeterbi, and implemented them in the TWINSCAN/N-SCAN gene-prediction system. The worst case...... asymptotic space and time are the same as for standard Viterbi, but in practice, Treeterbi optimally decodes arbitrarily long sequences with generalized HMMs in bounded memory without increasing running time. Parallel Treeterbi uses the same ideas to split optimal decoding across processors, dividing latency...

  14. The Effect of Known-and-Unknown Word Combinations on Intentional Vocabulary Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasahara, Kiwamu

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine whether learning a known-and-unknown word combination is superior in terms of retention and retrieval of meaning to learning a single unknown word. The term "combination" in this study means a two-word collocation of a familiar word and a word that is new to the participants. Following the results of…

  15. The Effectiveness of Dictionary Examples in Decoding: The Case of Kuwaiti Learners of English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hashan Al-Ajmi

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available

    Abstract: This study tries to shed light on the role of dictionary examples in the comprehension of word meanings. An experimental procedure has been devised whereby two groups of students with English as major subject at Kuwait University were asked to provide the Arabic equivalents for ten English headwords. The first group was given a list of entries for these words copied from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD while the second group had to read the same list but without illustrative examples. Results indicate that the students' decoding performance was negatively affected by the presence of illustrative examples in the dictionary entry.

    Keywords: ARABIC, BILINGUAL DICTIONARY, COMPREHENSION, EFL DICTIONARY,ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE, MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARY, TRANSLATION

    Opsomming: Die doeltreffendheid van woordeboekvoorbeelde by dekodering:Die geval van Koeweiti-aanleerders van Engels. Hierdie studie probeer ligwerp op die rol van woordeboekvoorbeelde by die verstaan van woordbetekenisse. 'n Eksperimentelemetode is ontwerp waarby twee groepe studente met Engels as hoofvak by die Universiteit vanKoeweit gevra is om Arabiese ekwivalente vir tien Engelse trefwoorde te verskaf. Aan die eerstegroep is 'n lys inskrywings van hierdie woorde oorgeneem uit die Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary(OALD gegee, terwyl die tweede groep dieselfde lys moes lees, maar sonder verduidelikendevoorbeelde. Resultate het aangedui dat die studente se dekoderende prestasie negatiefbeïnvloed is deur die teenwoordigheid van verduidelikende voorbeelde in die woordeboekinskrywing.

    Sleutelwoorde: ARABIES, TWEETALIGE WOORDEBOEK, BEGRIP, EVT-WOORDEBOEK,VERDUIDELIKENDE VOORBEELD, EENTALIGE WOORDEBOEK, VERTALING

  16. Continuous Force Decoding from Local Field Potentials of the Primary Motor Cortex in Freely Moving Rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khorasani, Abed; Heydari Beni, Nargess; Shalchyan, Vahid; Daliri, Mohammad Reza

    2016-10-21

    Local field potential (LFP) signals recorded by intracortical microelectrodes implanted in primary motor cortex can be used as a high informative input for decoding of motor functions. Recent studies show that different kinematic parameters such as position and velocity can be inferred from multiple LFP signals as precisely as spiking activities, however, continuous decoding of the force magnitude from the LFP signals in freely moving animals has remained an open problem. Here, we trained three rats to press a force sensor for getting a drop of water as a reward. A 16-channel micro-wire array was implanted in the primary motor cortex of each trained rat, and obtained LFP signals were used for decoding of the continuous values recorded by the force sensor. Average coefficient of correlation and the coefficient of determination between decoded and actual force signals were r = 0.66 and R 2  = 0.42, respectively. We found that LFP signal on gamma frequency bands (30-120 Hz) had the most contribution in the trained decoding model. This study suggests the feasibility of using low number of LFP channels for the continuous force decoding in freely moving animals resembling BMI systems in real life applications.

  17. Possible words and fixed stress in the segmentation of Slovak speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanulíková, Adriana; McQueen, James M; Mitterer, Holger

    2010-03-01

    The possible-word constraint (PWC; Norris, McQueen, Cutler, & Butterfield, 1997) has been proposed as a language-universal segmentation principle: Lexical candidates are disfavoured if the resulting segmentation of continuous speech leads to vowelless residues in the input-for example, single consonants. Three word-spotting experiments investigated segmentation in Slovak, a language with single-consonant words and fixed stress. In Experiment 1, Slovak listeners detected real words such as ruka "hand" embedded in prepositional-consonant contexts (e.g., /gruka/) faster than those in nonprepositional-consonant contexts (e.g., /truka/) and slowest in syllable contexts (e.g., /dugruka/). The second experiment controlled for effects of stress. Responses were still fastest in prepositional-consonant contexts, but were now slowest in nonprepositional-consonant contexts. In Experiment 3, the lexical and syllabic status of the contexts was manipulated. Responses were again slowest in nonprepositional-consonant contexts but equally fast in prepositional-consonant, prepositional-vowel, and nonprepositional-vowel contexts. These results suggest that Slovak listeners use fixed stress and the PWC to segment speech, but that single consonants that can be words have a special status in Slovak segmentation. Knowledge about what constitutes a phonologically acceptable word in a given language therefore determines whether vowelless stretches of speech are or are not treated as acceptable parts of the lexical parse.

  18. Unsupervised learning of facial emotion decoding skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huelle, Jan O; Sack, Benjamin; Broer, Katja; Komlewa, Irina; Anders, Silke

    2014-01-01

    Research on the mechanisms underlying human facial emotion recognition has long focussed on genetically determined neural algorithms and often neglected the question of how these algorithms might be tuned by social learning. Here we show that facial emotion decoding skills can be significantly and sustainably improved by practice without an external teaching signal. Participants saw video clips of dynamic facial expressions of five different women and were asked to decide which of four possible emotions (anger, disgust, fear, and sadness) was shown in each clip. Although no external information about the correctness of the participant's response or the sender's true affective state was provided, participants showed a significant increase of facial emotion recognition accuracy both within and across two training sessions two days to several weeks apart. We discuss several similarities and differences between the unsupervised improvement of facial decoding skills observed in the current study, unsupervised perceptual learning of simple stimuli described in previous studies and practice effects often observed in cognitive tasks.

  19. The Relationship between Reading Comprehension, Decoding, and Fluency in Greek: A Cross-Sectional Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padeliadu, Susana; Antoniou, Faye

    2014-01-01

    Experts widely consider decoding and fluency as the basis of reading comprehension, while at the same time consistently documenting problems in these areas as major characteristics of students with learning disabilities. However, scholars have developed most of the relevant research within phonologically deep languages, wherein decoding problems…

  20. Applying the Decoding the Disciplines Process to Teaching Structural Mechanics: An Autoethnographic Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tingerthal, John Steven

    2013-01-01

    Using case study methodology and autoethnographic methods, this study examines a process of curricular development known as "Decoding the Disciplines" (Decoding) by documenting the experience of its application in a construction engineering mechanics course. Motivated by the call to integrate what is known about teaching and learning…

  1. Feature reconstruction of LFP signals based on PLSR in the neural information decoding study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yonghui Dong; Zhigang Shang; Mengmeng Li; Xinyu Liu; Hong Wan

    2017-07-01

    To solve the problems of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and multicollinearity when the Local Field Potential (LFP) signals is used for the decoding of animal motion intention, a feature reconstruction of LFP signals based on partial least squares regression (PLSR) in the neural information decoding study is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the feature information of LFP coding band is extracted based on wavelet transform. Then the PLSR model is constructed by the extracted LFP coding features. According to the multicollinearity characteristics among the coding features, several latent variables which contribute greatly to the steering behavior are obtained, and the new LFP coding features are reconstructed. Finally, the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) method is used to classify the reconstructed coding features to verify the decoding performance. The results show that the proposed method can achieve the highest accuracy compared to the other three methods and the decoding effect of the proposed method is robust.

  2. Maximum-Likelihood Sequence Detection of Multiple Antenna Systems over Dispersive Channels via Sphere Decoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hassibi Babak

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Multiple antenna systems are capable of providing high data rate transmissions over wireless channels. When the channels are dispersive, the signal at each receive antenna is a combination of both the current and past symbols sent from all transmit antennas corrupted by noise. The optimal receiver is a maximum-likelihood sequence detector and is often considered to be practically infeasible due to high computational complexity (exponential in number of antennas and channel memory. Therefore, in practice, one often settles for a less complex suboptimal receiver structure, typically with an equalizer meant to suppress both the intersymbol and interuser interference, followed by the decoder. We propose a sphere decoding for the sequence detection in multiple antenna communication systems over dispersive channels. The sphere decoding provides the maximum-likelihood estimate with computational complexity comparable to the standard space-time decision-feedback equalizing (DFE algorithms. The performance and complexity of the sphere decoding are compared with the DFE algorithm by means of simulations.

  3. Jointly Decoded Raptor Codes: Analysis and Design for the BIAWGN Channel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venkiah Auguste

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We are interested in the analysis and optimization of Raptor codes under a joint decoding framework, that is, when the precode and the fountain code exchange soft information iteratively. We develop an analytical asymptotic convergence analysis of the joint decoder, derive an optimization method for the design of efficient output degree distributions, and show that the new optimized distributions outperform the existing ones, both at long and moderate lengths. We also show that jointly decoded Raptor codes are robust to channel variation: they perform reasonably well over a wide range of channel capacities. This robustness property was already known for the erasure channel but not for the Gaussian channel. Finally, we discuss some finite length code design issues. Contrary to what is commonly believed, we show by simulations that using a relatively low rate for the precode , we can improve greatly the error floor performance of the Raptor code.

  4. The Treeterbi and Parallel Treeterbi algorithms: efficient, optimal decoding for ordinary, generalized and pair HMMs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keibler, Evan; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Brent, Michael R

    2007-03-01

    Hidden Markov models (HMMs) and generalized HMMs been successfully applied to many problems, but the standard Viterbi algorithm for computing the most probable interpretation of an input sequence (known as decoding) requires memory proportional to the length of the sequence, which can be prohibitive. Existing approaches to reducing memory usage either sacrifice optimality or trade increased running time for reduced memory. We developed two novel decoding algorithms, Treeterbi and Parallel Treeterbi, and implemented them in the TWINSCAN/N-SCAN gene-prediction system. The worst case asymptotic space and time are the same as for standard Viterbi, but in practice, Treeterbi optimally decodes arbitrarily long sequences with generalized HMMs in bounded memory without increasing running time. Parallel Treeterbi uses the same ideas to split optimal decoding across processors, dividing latency to completion by approximately the number of available processors with constant average overhead per processor. Using these algorithms, we were able to optimally decode all human chromosomes with N-SCAN, which increased its accuracy relative to heuristic solutions. We also implemented Treeterbi for Pairagon, our pair HMM based cDNA-to-genome aligner. The TWINSCAN/N-SCAN/PAIRAGON open source software package is available from http://genes.cse.wustl.edu.

  5. 3. Crossing Boundaries: Cosmopolitanism, Secularism and Words in the Age of Revolutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erica Joy Mannucci

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This study is focused on a cosmopolitan group of both famous and less famous radical intellectuals from both sides of the Atlantic—some of them of popular origin and self-educated—all linked by relations of personal friendship or at least col- laboration or contiguity: Thomas Paine, Joel Barlow, Nicolas de Bonneville, John Oswald, Joseph Ritson. The analysis of the language strategies they used to attempt a democratization of the universal communication that had been until then kept among the educated members of the Republic of letters—in particular insofar as the high tradition of the critique of revealed religion was concerned, considered here as an absolutely crucial point—centers on the themes of political etymology and of confidence in the performative energy of decoded words.

  6. Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping With Hard Decision Decoding and Staircase Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheikh, Alireza; Amat, Alexandre Graell i.; Liva, Gianluigi; Steiner, Fabian

    2018-05-01

    We consider probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) as a means of increasing the spectral efficiency of fiber-optic communication systems. In contrast to previous works in the literature, we consider probabilistic shaping with hard decision decoding (HDD). In particular, we apply the PAS recently introduced by B\\"ocherer \\emph{et al.} to a coded modulation (CM) scheme with bit-wise HDD that uses a staircase code as the forward error correction code. We show that the CM scheme with PAS and staircase codes yields significant gains in spectral efficiency with respect to the baseline scheme using a staircase code and a standard constellation with uniformly distributed signal points. Using a single staircase code, the proposed scheme achieves performance within $0.57$--$1.44$ dB of the corresponding achievable information rate for a wide range of spectral efficiencies.

  7. English Word-Level Decoding and Oral Language Factors as Predictors of Third and Fifth Grade English Language Learners' Reading Comprehension Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landon, Laura L.

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the application of the Simple View of Reading (SVR), a reading comprehension theory focusing on word recognition and linguistic comprehension, to English Language Learners' (ELLs') English reading development. This study examines the concurrent and predictive validity of two components of the SVR, oral language and word-level…

  8. Fast N-Gram Language Model Look-Ahead for Decoders With Static Pronunciation Prefix Trees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huijbregts, M.A.H.; Ordelman, Roeland J.F.; de Jong, Franciska M.G.

    2008-01-01

    Decoders that make use of token-passing restrict their search space by various types of token pruning. With use of the Language Model Look-Ahead (LMLA) technique it is possible to increase the number of tokens that can be pruned without loss of decoding precision. Unfortunately, for token passing

  9. The inadequacy of Individual Educational Program (IEP) goals for high school students with word-level reading difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catone, William V; Brady, Susan A

    2005-06-01

    This investigation analyzed goals from the Individual Educational Programs (IEPs) of 54 high school students with diagnosed reading disabilities in basic skills (decoding and/or word identification). Results showed that for 73% of the students, the IEPs written when they were in high school failed to specify any objectives regarding their acute difficulties with basic skills. IEPs from earlier points in the students' educations were also reviewed, as available. For 23 of the students, IEPs were present in the students' files for three time points: elementary school (ES), middle school (MS), and high school (HS). Another 20 students from the sample of 54 had IEPs available for two time points (HS and either MS or ES). Comparisons with the IEPs from younger years showed a pattern of decline from ES to MS to HS in the percentage of IEPs that commented on or set goals pertaining to weaknesses in decoding. These findings suggest that basic skills deficits that persist into the upper grade levels are not being sufficiently targeted for remediation, and help explain why older students frequently fail to resolve their reading problems.

  10. Reading in developmental prosopagnosia: Evidence for a dissociation between word and face recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starrfelt, Randi; Klargaard, Solja K; Petersen, Anders; Gerlach, Christian

    2018-02-01

    Recent models suggest that face and word recognition may rely on overlapping cognitive processes and neural regions. In support of this notion, face recognition deficits have been demonstrated in developmental dyslexia. Here we test whether the opposite association can also be found, that is, impaired reading in developmental prosopagnosia. We tested 10 adults with developmental prosopagnosia and 20 matched controls. All participants completed the Cambridge Face Memory Test, the Cambridge Face Perception test and a Face recognition questionnaire used to quantify everyday face recognition experience. Reading was measured in four experimental tasks, testing different levels of letter, word, and text reading: (a) single word reading with words of varying length,(b) vocal response times in single letter and short word naming, (c) recognition of single letters and short words at brief exposure durations (targeting the word superiority effect), and d) text reading. Participants with developmental prosopagnosia performed strikingly similar to controls across the four reading tasks. Formal analysis revealed a significant dissociation between word and face recognition, as the difference in performance with faces and words was significantly greater for participants with developmental prosopagnosia than for controls. Adult developmental prosopagnosics read as quickly and fluently as controls, while they are seemingly unable to learn efficient strategies for recognizing faces. We suggest that this is due to the differing demands that face and word recognition put on the perceptual system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. APPLIED MECHANICS REVIEWS, WADEX WORD AND AUTHOR INDEX, VOLUME XVI, 1963,

    Science.gov (United States)

    Author inDEX ) an IBM 1401 prepared mechanical index, extension of KWIC. WADEX usable for browsing and searching. This second WADEX is based on 8,000 titles of APPLIED MECHANICS REVIEWS (AMR), Vol. 16, 1963, an international critical review magazine. In WADEX, titles printed fully with author names, and as many lines used as necessary (60 characters per line). WADEX entry: word in title (except forbidden word) or author’s name. Alphabetically sequenced entries printed out of context. Words are single words or hypenated word pairs or ’Tagged Words’ (TW).

  12. Using convolutional decoding to improve time delay and phase estimation in digital communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ormesher, Richard C [Albuquerque, NM; Mason, John J [Albuquerque, NM

    2010-01-26

    The time delay and/or phase of a communication signal received by a digital communication receiver can be estimated based on a convolutional decoding operation that the communication receiver performs on the received communication signal. If the original transmitted communication signal has been spread according to a spreading operation, a corresponding despreading operation can be integrated into the convolutional decoding operation.

  13. Sequence-to-Sequence Prediction of Vehicle Trajectory via LSTM Encoder-Decoder Architecture

    OpenAIRE

    Park, Seong Hyeon; Kim, ByeongDo; Kang, Chang Mook; Chung, Chung Choo; Choi, Jun Won

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a deep learning based vehicle trajectory prediction technique which can generate the future trajectory sequence of surrounding vehicles in real time. We employ the encoder-decoder architecture which analyzes the pattern underlying in the past trajectory using the long short-term memory (LSTM) based encoder and generates the future trajectory sequence using the LSTM based decoder. This structure produces the $K$ most likely trajectory candidates over occupancy grid ma...

  14. Modality dependency of familiarity ratings of Japanese words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amano, S; Kondo, T; Kakehi, K

    1995-07-01

    Familiarity ratings for a large number of aurally and visually presented Japanese words wer measured for 11 subjects, in order to investigate the modality dependency of familiarity. The correlation coefficient between auditory and visual ratings was .808, which is lower than that observed for English words, suggesting that a substantial portion of the mental lexicon is modality dependent. It was shown that the modality dependency is greater for low-familiarity words than it is for medium- or high-familiarity words. This difference between the low- and the medium- or high-familiarity words has a relationship to orthography. That is, the dependency is larger in words consisting only of kanji, which may have multiple pronunciations and usually represent meaning, than it is in words consisting only of hiragana or katakana, which have a single pronunciation and usually do not represent meaning. These results indicate that the idiosyncratic characteristics of Japanese orthography contribute to the modality dependency.

  15. Learning a common dictionary for subject-transfer decoding with resting calibration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morioka, Hiroshi; Kanemura, Atsunori; Hirayama, Jun-ichiro; Shikauchi, Manabu; Ogawa, Takeshi; Ikeda, Shigeyuki; Kawanabe, Motoaki; Ishii, Shin

    2015-05-01

    Brain signals measured over a series of experiments have inherent variability because of different physical and mental conditions among multiple subjects and sessions. Such variability complicates the analysis of data from multiple subjects and sessions in a consistent way, and degrades the performance of subject-transfer decoding in a brain-machine interface (BMI). To accommodate the variability in brain signals, we propose 1) a method for extracting spatial bases (or a dictionary) shared by multiple subjects, by employing a signal-processing technique of dictionary learning modified to compensate for variations between subjects and sessions, and 2) an approach to subject-transfer decoding that uses the resting-state activity of a previously unseen target subject as calibration data for compensating for variations, eliminating the need for a standard calibration based on task sessions. Applying our methodology to a dataset of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during a selective visual-spatial attention task from multiple subjects and sessions, where the variability compensation was essential for reducing the redundancy of the dictionary, we found that the extracted common brain activities were reasonable in the light of neuroscience knowledge. The applicability to subject-transfer decoding was confirmed by improved performance over existing decoding methods. These results suggest that analyzing multisubject brain activities on common bases by the proposed method enables information sharing across subjects with low-burden resting calibration, and is effective for practical use of BMI in variable environments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. FPGA implementation of high-performance QC-LDPC decoder for optical communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Ding; Djordjevic, Ivan B.

    2015-01-01

    Forward error correction is as one of the key technologies enabling the next-generation high-speed fiber optical communications. Quasi-cyclic (QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been considered as one of the promising candidates due to their large coding gain performance and low implementation complexity. In this paper, we present our designed QC-LDPC code with girth 10 and 25% overhead based on pairwise balanced design. By FPGAbased emulation, we demonstrate that the 5-bit soft-decision LDPC decoder can achieve 11.8dB net coding gain with no error floor at BER of 10-15 avoiding using any outer code or post-processing method. We believe that the proposed single QC-LDPC code is a promising solution for 400Gb/s optical communication systems and beyond.

  17. Reprogrammable read only variable threshold transistor memory with isolated addressing buffer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lodi, Robert J.

    1976-01-01

    A monolithic integrated circuit, fully decoded memory comprises a rectangular array of variable threshold field effect transistors organized into a plurality of multi-bit words. Binary address inputs to the memory are decoded by a field effect transistor decoder into a plurality of word selection lines each of which activates an address buffer circuit. Each address buffer circuit, in turn, drives a word line of the memory array. In accordance with the word line selected by the decoder the activated buffer circuit directs reading or writing voltages to the transistors comprising the memory words. All of the buffer circuits additionally are connected to a common terminal for clearing all of the memory transistors to a predetermined state by the application to the common terminal of a large magnitude voltage of a predetermined polarity. The address decoder, the buffer and the memory array, as well as control and input/output control and buffer field effect transistor circuits, are fabricated on a common substrate with means provided to isolate the substrate of the address buffer transistors from the remainder of the substrate so that the bulk clearing function of simultaneously placing all of the memory transistors into a predetermined state can be performed.

  18. Prosody and Spoken Word Recognition in Early and Late Spanish-English Bilingual Individuals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boutsen, Frank R.; Dvorak, Justin D.; Deweber, Derick D.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This study was conducted to compare the influence of word properties on gated single-word recognition in monolingual and bilingual individuals under conditions of native and nonnative accent and to determine whether word-form prosody facilitates recognition in bilingual individuals. Method: Word recognition was assessed in monolingual and…

  19. Combinatorics on words Christoffel words and repetitions in words

    CERN Document Server

    Berstel, Jean; Reutenauer, Christophe; Saliola, Franco V

    2008-01-01

    The two parts of this text are based on two series of lectures delivered by Jean Berstel and Christophe Reutenauer in March 2007 at the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, Montréal, Canada. Part I represents the first modern and comprehensive exposition of the theory of Christoffel words. Part II presents numerous combinatorial and algorithmic aspects of repetition-free words stemming from the work of Axel Thue-a pioneer in the theory of combinatorics on words. A beginner to the theory of combinatorics on words will be motivated by the numerous examples, and the large variety of exercises, which make the book unique at this level of exposition. The clean and streamlined exposition and the extensive bibliography will also be appreciated. After reading this book, beginners should be ready to read modern research papers in this rapidly growing field and contribute their own research to its development. Experienced readers will be interested in the finitary approach to Sturmian words that Christoffel words offe...

  20. D-DSC: Decoding Delay-based Distributed Source Coding for Internet of Sensing Things.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aktas, Metin; Kuscu, Murat; Dinc, Ergin; Akan, Ozgur B

    2018-01-01

    Spatial correlation between densely deployed sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network (WSN) can be exploited to reduce the power consumption through a proper source coding mechanism such as distributed source coding (DSC). In this paper, we propose the Decoding Delay-based Distributed Source Coding (D-DSC) to improve the energy efficiency of the classical DSC by employing the decoding delay concept which enables the use of the maximum correlated portion of sensor samples during the event estimation. In D-DSC, network is partitioned into clusters, where the clusterheads communicate their uncompressed samples carrying the side information, and the cluster members send their compressed samples. Sink performs joint decoding of the compressed and uncompressed samples and then reconstructs the event signal using the decoded sensor readings. Based on the observed degree of the correlation among sensor samples, the sink dynamically updates and broadcasts the varying compression rates back to the sensor nodes. Simulation results for the performance evaluation reveal that D-DSC can achieve reliable and energy-efficient event communication and estimation for practical signal detection/estimation applications having massive number of sensors towards the realization of Internet of Sensing Things (IoST).

  1. The Three Stages of Coding and Decoding in Listening Courses of College Japanese Specialty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Fang

    2008-01-01

    The main focus of research papers on listening teaching published in recent years is the theoretical meanings of decoding on the training of listening comprehension ability. Although in many research papers the bottom-up approach and top-down approach, information processing mode theory, are applied to illustrate decoding and to emphasize the…

  2. Scalable printed electronics: an organic decoder addressing ferroelectric non-volatile memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Tse Nga; Schwartz, David E.; Lavery, Leah L.; Whiting, Gregory L.; Russo, Beverly; Krusor, Brent; Veres, Janos; Bröms, Per; Herlogsson, Lars; Alam, Naveed; Hagel, Olle; Nilsson, Jakob; Karlsson, Christer

    2012-01-01

    Scalable circuits of organic logic and memory are realized using all-additive printing processes. A 3-bit organic complementary decoder is fabricated and used to read and write non-volatile, rewritable ferroelectric memory. The decoder-memory array is patterned by inkjet and gravure printing on flexible plastics. Simulation models for the organic transistors are developed, enabling circuit designs tolerant of the variations in printed devices. We explain the key design rules in fabrication of complex printed circuits and elucidate the performance requirements of materials and devices for reliable organic digital logic. PMID:22900143

  3. Efficient algorithms for maximum likelihood decoding in the surface code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bravyi, Sergey; Suchara, Martin; Vargo, Alexander

    2014-09-01

    We describe two implementations of the optimal error correction algorithm known as the maximum likelihood decoder (MLD) for the two-dimensional surface code with a noiseless syndrome extraction. First, we show how to implement MLD exactly in time O (n2), where n is the number of code qubits. Our implementation uses a reduction from MLD to simulation of matchgate quantum circuits. This reduction however requires a special noise model with independent bit-flip and phase-flip errors. Secondly, we show how to implement MLD approximately for more general noise models using matrix product states (MPS). Our implementation has running time O (nχ3), where χ is a parameter that controls the approximation precision. The key step of our algorithm, borrowed from the density matrix renormalization-group method, is a subroutine for contracting a tensor network on the two-dimensional grid. The subroutine uses MPS with a bond dimension χ to approximate the sequence of tensors arising in the course of contraction. We benchmark the MPS-based decoder against the standard minimum weight matching decoder observing a significant reduction of the logical error probability for χ ≥4.

  4. Contribution of correlated noise and selective decoding to choice probability measurements in extrastriate visual cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Yong; Angelaki, Dora E; DeAngelis, Gregory C

    2014-07-01

    Trial by trial covariations between neural activity and perceptual decisions (quantified by choice Probability, CP) have been used to probe the contribution of sensory neurons to perceptual decisions. CPs are thought to be determined by both selective decoding of neural activity and by the structure of correlated noise among neurons, but the respective roles of these factors in creating CPs have been controversial. We used biologically-constrained simulations to explore this issue, taking advantage of a peculiar pattern of CPs exhibited by multisensory neurons in area MSTd that represent self-motion. Although models that relied on correlated noise or selective decoding could both account for the peculiar pattern of CPs, predictions of the selective decoding model were substantially more consistent with various features of the neural and behavioral data. While correlated noise is essential to observe CPs, our findings suggest that selective decoding of neuronal signals also plays important roles.

  5. O2-GIDNC: Beyond instantly decodable network coding

    KAUST Repository

    Aboutorab, Neda; Sorour, Sameh; Sadeghi, Parastoo

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we are concerned with extending the graph representation of generalized instantly decodable network coding (GIDNC) to a more general opportunistic network coding (ONC) scenario, referred to as order-2 GIDNC (O2-GIDNC). In the O2-GIDNC

  6. Fast decoder for local quantum codes using Groebner basis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haah, Jeongwan

    2013-03-01

    Based on arXiv:1204.1063. A local translation-invariant quantum code has a description in terms of Laurent polynomials. As an application of this observation, we present a fast decoding algorithm for translation-invariant local quantum codes in any spatial dimensions using the straightforward division algorithm for multivariate polynomials. The running time is O (n log n) on average, or O (n2 log n) on worst cases, where n is the number of physical qubits. The algorithm improves a subroutine of the renormalization-group decoder by Bravyi and Haah (arXiv:1112.3252) in the translation-invariant case. This work is supported in part by the Insitute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontier Center, and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies.

  7. Translation Ambiguity but Not Word Class Predicts Translation Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prior, Anat; Kroll, Judith F.; Macwhinney, Brian

    2013-01-01

    We investigated the influence of word class and translation ambiguity on cross-linguistic representation and processing. Bilingual speakers of English and Spanish performed translation production and translation recognition tasks on nouns and verbs in both languages. Words either had a single translation or more than one translation. Translation…

  8. Selection combining for noncoherent decode-and-forward relay networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen Ha

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper studies a new decode-and-forward relaying scheme for a cooperative wireless network composed of one source, K relays, and one destination and with binary frequency-shift keying modulation. A single threshold is employed to select retransmitting relays as follows: a relay retransmits to the destination if its decision variable is larger than the threshold; otherwise, it remains silent. The destination then performs selection combining for the detection of transmitted information. The average end-to-end bit-error-rate (BER is analytically determined in a closed-form expression. Based on the derived BER, the problem of choosing an optimal threshold or jointly optimal threshold and power allocation to minimize the end-to-end BER is also investigated. Both analytical and simulation results reveal that the obtained optimal threshold scheme or jointly optimal threshold and power-allocation scheme can significantly improve the BER performance compared to a previously proposed scheme.

  9. Generalized instantly decodable network coding for relay-assisted networks

    KAUST Repository

    Elmahdy, Adel M.

    2013-09-01

    In this paper, we investigate the problem of minimizing the frame completion delay for Instantly Decodable Network Coding (IDNC) in relay-assisted wireless multicast networks. We first propose a packet recovery algorithm in the single relay topology which employs generalized IDNC instead of strict IDNC previously proposed in the literature for the same relay-assisted topology. This use of generalized IDNC is supported by showing that it is a super-set of the strict IDNC scheme, and thus can generate coding combinations that are at least as efficient as strict IDNC in reducing the average completion delay. We then extend our study to the multiple relay topology and propose a joint generalized IDNC and relay selection algorithm. This proposed algorithm benefits from the reception diversity of the multiple relays to further reduce the average completion delay in the network. Simulation results show that our proposed solutions achieve much better performance compared to previous solutions in the literature. © 2013 IEEE.

  10. Comparison of classifiers for decoding sensory and cognitive information from prefrontal neuronal populations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elaine Astrand

    Full Text Available Decoding neuronal information is important in neuroscience, both as a basic means to understand how neuronal activity is related to cerebral function and as a processing stage in driving neuroprosthetic effectors. Here, we compare the readout performance of six commonly used classifiers at decoding two different variables encoded by the spiking activity of the non-human primate frontal eye fields (FEF: the spatial position of a visual cue, and the instructed orientation of the animal's attention. While the first variable is exogenously driven by the environment, the second variable corresponds to the interpretation of the instruction conveyed by the cue; it is endogenously driven and corresponds to the output of internal cognitive operations performed on the visual attributes of the cue. These two variables were decoded using either a regularized optimal linear estimator in its explicit formulation, an optimal linear artificial neural network estimator, a non-linear artificial neural network estimator, a non-linear naïve Bayesian estimator, a non-linear Reservoir recurrent network classifier or a non-linear Support Vector Machine classifier. Our results suggest that endogenous information such as the orientation of attention can be decoded from the FEF with the same accuracy as exogenous visual information. All classifiers did not behave equally in the face of population size and heterogeneity, the available training and testing trials, the subject's behavior and the temporal structure of the variable of interest. In most situations, the regularized optimal linear estimator and the non-linear Support Vector Machine classifiers outperformed the other tested decoders.

  11. Multi- and Unisensory Decoding of Words and Nonwords Result in Differential Brain Responses in Dyslexic and Nondyslexic Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kast, Monika; Bezzola, Ladina; Jancke, Lutz; Meyer, Martin

    2011-01-01

    The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was designed, in order to investigate the neural substrates involved in the audiovisual processing of disyllabic German words and pseudowords. Twelve dyslexic and 13 nondyslexic adults performed a lexical decision task while stimuli were presented unimodally (either aurally or…

  12. Non-tables look-up search algorithm for efficient H.264/AVC context-based adaptive variable length coding decoding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Yishi; Luo, Zhixiao; Wang, Jianhua; Min, Zhixuan; Qin, Xinyu; Sun, Yunlong

    2014-09-01

    In general, context-based adaptive variable length coding (CAVLC) decoding in H.264/AVC standard requires frequent access to the unstructured variable length coding tables (VLCTs) and significant memory accesses are consumed. Heavy memory accesses will cause high power consumption and time delays, which are serious problems for applications in portable multimedia devices. We propose a method for high-efficiency CAVLC decoding by using a program instead of all the VLCTs. The decoded codeword from VLCTs can be obtained without any table look-up and memory access. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves 100% memory access saving and 40% decoding time saving without degrading video quality. Additionally, the proposed algorithm shows a better performance compared with conventional CAVLC decoding, such as table look-up by sequential search, table look-up by binary search, Moon's method, and Kim's method.

  13. LDPC code decoding adapted to the precoded partial response magnetic recording channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jun; Kim, Kyuyong; Lee, Jaejin; Yang, Gijoo

    2004-01-01

    We propose a signal processing technique using LDPC (low-density parity-check) code instead of PRML (partial response maximum likelihood) system for the longitudinal magnetic recording channel. The scheme is designed by the precoder admitting level detection at the receiver-end and modifying the likelihood function for LDPC code decoding. The scheme can be collaborated with other decoder for turbo-like systems. The proposed algorithm can contribute to improve the performance of the conventional turbo-like systems

  14. LDPC code decoding adapted to the precoded partial response magnetic recording channels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Jun E-mail: leejun28@sait.samsung.co.kr; Kim, Kyuyong; Lee, Jaejin; Yang, Gijoo

    2004-05-01

    We propose a signal processing technique using LDPC (low-density parity-check) code instead of PRML (partial response maximum likelihood) system for the longitudinal magnetic recording channel. The scheme is designed by the precoder admitting level detection at the receiver-end and modifying the likelihood function for LDPC code decoding. The scheme can be collaborated with other decoder for turbo-like systems. The proposed algorithm can contribute to improve the performance of the conventional turbo-like systems.

  15. The Relationships among Cognitive Correlates and Irregular Word, Non-Word, and Word Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu-Hamour, Bashir; University, Mu'tah; Urso, Annmarie; Mather, Nancy

    2012-01-01

    This study explored four hypotheses: (a) the relationships among rapid automatized naming (RAN) and processing speed (PS) to irregular word, non-word, and word reading; (b) the predictive power of various RAN and PS measures, (c) the cognitive correlates that best predicted irregular word, non-word, and word reading, and (d) reading performance of…

  16. Decoding of Human Movements Based on Deep Brain Local Field Potentials Using Ensemble Neural Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad S. Islam

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Decoding neural activities related to voluntary and involuntary movements is fundamental to understanding human brain motor circuits and neuromotor disorders and can lead to the development of neuromotor prosthetic devices for neurorehabilitation. This study explores using recorded deep brain local field potentials (LFPs for robust movement decoding of Parkinson’s disease (PD and Dystonia patients. The LFP data from voluntary movement activities such as left and right hand index finger clicking were recorded from patients who underwent surgeries for implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes. Movement-related LFP signal features were extracted by computing instantaneous power related to motor response in different neural frequency bands. An innovative neural network ensemble classifier has been proposed and developed for accurate prediction of finger movement and its forthcoming laterality. The ensemble classifier contains three base neural network classifiers, namely, feedforward, radial basis, and probabilistic neural networks. The majority voting rule is used to fuse the decisions of the three base classifiers to generate the final decision of the ensemble classifier. The overall decoding performance reaches a level of agreement (kappa value at about 0.729±0.16 for decoding movement from the resting state and about 0.671±0.14 for decoding left and right visually cued movements.

  17. Using Constant Time Delay to Teach Braille Word Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hooper, Jonathan; Ivy, Sarah; Hatton, Deborah

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: Constant time delay has been identified as an evidence-based practice to teach print sight words and picture recognition (Browder, Ahlbrim-Delzell, Spooner, Mims, & Baker, 2009). For the study presented here, we tested the effectiveness of constant time delay to teach new braille words. Methods: A single-subject multiple baseline…

  18. Word Domain Disambiguation via Word Sense Disambiguation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanfilippo, Antonio P.; Tratz, Stephen C.; Gregory, Michelle L.

    2006-06-04

    Word subject domains have been widely used to improve the perform-ance of word sense disambiguation al-gorithms. However, comparatively little effort has been devoted so far to the disambiguation of word subject do-mains. The few existing approaches have focused on the development of al-gorithms specific to word domain dis-ambiguation. In this paper we explore an alternative approach where word domain disambiguation is achieved via word sense disambiguation. Our study shows that this approach yields very strong results, suggesting that word domain disambiguation can be ad-dressed in terms of word sense disam-biguation with no need for special purpose algorithms.

  19. Decoding and finding the minimum distance with Gröbner bases : history and new insights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bulygin, S.; Pellikaan, G.R.; Woungang, I.; Misra, S.; Misra, S.C.

    2010-01-01

    In this chapter, we discuss decoding techniques and finding the minimum distance of linear codes with the use of Grobner bases. First, we give a historical overview of decoding cyclic codes via solving systems polynominal equations over finite fields. In particular, we mention papers of Cooper,.

  20. Older Adults Have Difficulty in Decoding Sarcasm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Louise H.; Allen, Roy; Bull, Rebecca; Hering, Alexandra; Kliegel, Matthias; Channon, Shelley

    2015-01-01

    Younger and older adults differ in performance on a range of social-cognitive skills, with older adults having difficulties in decoding nonverbal cues to emotion and intentions. Such skills are likely to be important when deciding whether someone is being sarcastic. In the current study we investigated in a life span sample whether there are…