Evaluation of Child-Computer Interaction Using Fitts' Law: A Comparison between a Standard Computer Mouse and a Head Mouse.

This study evaluates and compares the suitability for child-computer interaction (CCI, the branch within human-computer interaction focused on interactive computer systems for children) of two devices: a standard computer mouse and the ENLAZA interface, a head mouse that measures the user's head posture using an inertial sensor. A multidirectional pointing task was used to assess the motor performance and the users' ability to learn such a task. The evaluation was based on the interpretation of the metrics derived from Fitts' law.

Deepint.net: A Rapid Deployment Platform for Smart Territories.

This paper presents an efficient cyberphysical platform for the smart management of smart territories. It is efficient because it facilitates the implementation of data acquisition and data management methods, as well as data representation and dashboard configuration. The platform allows for the use of any type of data source, ranging from the measurements of a multi-functional IoT sensing devices to relational and non-relational databases.

Segregating the true perturbation position from ghost energy points region in ϕ-OTDR systems.

ϕ-OTDR perturbation detection applications demand optimal precision of the perturbation location. Strategies for improving both signal-to-noise (SNR) and precision of the perturbation location in a laboratory environment may fail when applying to a very long fiber under test (FUT) in real-field environments. With this deployment, meaningful energy points representing the response of a certain perturbation can be located at random locations of the fiber other than the original location of the perturbation.

Multiple Physiological Signals Fusion Techniques for Improving Heartbeat Detection: A Review.

This paper presents a review of the techniques found in the literature that aim to achieve a robust heartbeat detection from fusing multi-modal physiological signals (e.g., electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure (BP), artificial blood pressure (ABP), stroke volume (SV), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), and electrooculogram (EOG), among others).

Positive and Negative Evidence Accumulation Clustering for Sensor Fusion: An Application to Heartbeat Clustering.

In this work, a new clustering algorithm especially geared towards merging data arising from multiple sensors is presented. The algorithm, called PN-EAC, is based on the ensemble clustering paradigm and it introduces the novel concept of negative evidence. PN-EAC combines both positive evidence, to gather information about the elements that should be grouped together in the final partition, and negative evidence, which has information about the elements that should not be grouped together.

A Novel Fiber Optic Based Surveillance System for Prevention of Pipeline Integrity Threats.

This paper presents a novel surveillance system aimed at the detection and classification of threats in the vicinity of a long gas pipeline. The sensing system is based on phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry (-OTDR) technology for signal acquisition and pattern recognition strategies for threat identification. The proposal incorporates contextual information at the feature level and applies a system combination strategy for pattern classification.

Segregation of nitrogen use between ammonium and nitrate of ectomycorrhizas and beech trees.

Here, we characterized nitrogen (N) uptake of beech (Fagus sylvatica) and their associated ectomycorrhizal (EM) communities from NH and NO . We hypothesized that a proportional fraction of ectomycorrhizal N uptake is transferred to the host, thereby resulting in the same uptake patterns of plants and their associated mycorrhizal communities. N uptake was studied under various field conditions after short-term and long-term exposure to a pulse of equimolar NH and NO concentrations, where one compound was replaced by N.

Climate Change Impairs Nitrogen Cycling in European Beech Forests.

European beech forests growing on marginal calcareous soils have been proposed to be vulnerable to decreased soil water availability. This could result in a large-scale loss of ecological services and economical value in a changing climate. In order to evaluate the potential consequences of this drought-sensitivity, we investigated potential species range shifts for European beech forests on calcareous soil in the 21st century by statistical species range distribution modelling for present day and projected future climate conditions.

Climate change induces shifts in abundance and activity pattern of bacteria and archaea catalyzing major transformation steps in nitrogen turnover in a soil from a mid-European beech forest.

Ongoing climate change will lead to more extreme weather events, including severe drought periods and intense drying rewetting cycles. This will directly influence microbial nitrogen (N) turnover rates in soil by changing the water content and the oxygen partial pressure. Therefore, a space for time climate change experiment was conducted by transferring intact beech seedling-soil mesocosms from a northwest (NW) exposed site, representing today's climatic conditions, to a southwest (SW) exposed site, providing a model climate for future conditions with naturally occurring increased soil temperature (+0.

Interspecific temporal and spatial differences in the acquisition of litter-derived nitrogen by ectomycorrhizal fungal assemblages.

The spatiotemporal dynamics of, and interspecific differences in, the acquisition of litter-derived nitrogen (N) by natural assemblages of ectomycorrhizal root tips are poorly understood. Small cylindrical mesh bags containing (15)N-labelled beech (Fagus sylvatica) leaf litter that permit hyphal but not root ingrowth were inserted vertically into the top soil layer of an old-growth beech forest. The lateral transfer of (15)N into the circumjacent soil, roots, microbes and ectomycorrhizas was measured during an 18-month exposure period.