An overview of the self-organizing map algorithm, on which the papers in this issue are based, is presented in this article.

The Self-Organizing Map

An algorithm based on wavelet transforms (WT's) has been developed for detecting ECG characteristic points. With the multiscale feature of WT's, the QRS complex can be distinguished from high P or T waves, noise, baseline drift, and artifacts. The relation between the characteristic points of ECG signal and those of modulus maximum pairs of its WT's is illustrated. By using this method, the detection rate of QRS complexes is above 99.8% for the MIT/BIH database and the P and T waves can also be detected, even with serious base line drift and noise. >

Detection of ECG characteristic points using wavelet transforms

The QRS complex is the most striking waveform within the electrocardiogram (ECG). Since it reflects the electrical activity within the heart during the ventricular contraction, the time of its occurrence as well as its shape provide much information about the current state of the heart. Due to its characteristic shape it serves as the basis for the automated determination of the heart rate, as an entry point for classification schemes of the cardiac cycle, and often it is also used in ECG data compression algorithms. In that sense, QRS detection provides the fundamentals for almost all automated ECG analysis algorithms. Software QRS detection has been a research topic for more than 30 years. The evolution of these algorithms clearly reflects the great advances in computer technology. Within the last decade many new approaches to QRS detection have been proposed; for example, algorithms from the field of artificial neural networks genetic algorithms wavelet transforms, filter banks as well as heuristic methods mostly based on nonlinear transforms. The authors provide an overview of these recent developments as well as of formerly proposed algorithms.

/pdf/the-principles-of-software-qrs-detection-1vgts9f7g6.pdf

The principles of software QRS detection

Premises of creation of Internet portal designed to provide access to participants of educational and scientific process for the joint creation, consolidation, concentration and rapid spreading of educational and scientific information resources in its own depository are considered. CMS-based portal content management systems’ potentiality is investigated. Architecture for Internet portal of MES of Ukraine’s information resources is offered.

Створення порталу інформаційно-довідкових ресурсів міністерства освіти і науки україни

A review of smart homes-Present state and future challenges

The SENARIO project is develoing a sensor-aided intelligent navigation system that provides high-level navigational aid to users of powered wheelchairs. The authors discuss new and improved technologies developed within SENARIO concerning task/path planning, sensing and positioning for indoor mobile robots as well as user interface issues. The autonomous mobile robot SENARIO, supports semi- or fully autonomous navigation. In semi-autonomous mode the system accepts typical motion commands through a voice-activated or standard joystick interface and supports robot motion with obstacle/collision avoidance features. Fully autonomous mode is a superset of semi-autonomous mode with the additional ability to execute autonomously high-level go-to-goal commands. At its current stage, the project has succeeded in fully supporting semi-autonomous navigation, while experiments on the fully autonomous mode are very encouraging.

The autonomous mobile robot SENARIO: a sensor aided intelligent navigation system for powered wheelchairs

Detection of the P and T waves in an ECG

The most important issue in sequential program parallelisation is the efficient assignment of computations into different processing elements. In the past, too many approaches were devoted in efficient program parallelization considering various models for the parallel programs and the target architectures. The most widely used parallelism description model is the task graph model with precedence constraints. Nevertheless, as far as physical mapping of tasks onto parallel architectures is concerned little research has given practical results. It is well known that the physical mapping problem is NP-hard in the strong sense, thus allowing only for heuristic approaches. Most researchers or tool programmers use exhaustive algorithms, or the classical method of simulated annealing. This paper presents an alternative approach onto the mapping problem. Given the graph of clustered tasks, and the graph of the target distributed architecture, our heuristic finds a mapping by first placing the highly communicative tasks on adjacent nodes of the processor network. Once these "backbone" tasks are mapped there is no backtracking, thus achieving low complexity. Therefore, the remaining tasks are placed beginning from those close to the "backbone" tasks. The paper concludes with performance and comparison results which reveal the method's efficiency.

/pdf/an-efficient-algorithm-for-the-physical-mapping-of-clustered-fv31yi4kdd.pdf

An efficient algorithm for the physical mapping of clustered task graphs onto multiprocessor architectures

This paper presents a framework for plot control in interactive story systems. In this framework, the user takes the place of the main character of the story, the protagonist. The rest of the cast consists of discrete characters, each playing a specific role in the story. A separate module in this system, the plot manager, controls the behavior of the cast and specifies what the protagonist can do. The story plot is dynamically shaped by the interference between cast members and their social interactions. The system accepts as input a story map which provides the main metaphor for organizing the plot and localizes the interaction of the protagonist with the rest of the cast. We are implementing this framework in PEGASUS, an interactive travel story environment for Greek mythology.

George K. Papakonstantinou

Papers

The autonomous mobile robot SENARIO: a sensor aided intelligent navigation system for powered wheelchairs

Detection of the P and T waves in an ECG

An efficient algorithm for the physical mapping of clustered task graphs onto multiprocessor architectures

A framework for plot control in interactive story systems

An attribute grammar for QRS detection