Number Of Taps Research Articles

A Novel RNS Hardware Architecture of FRM Filter Banks for Digital Hearing Aids

This paper presents a novel hardware architecture for Frequency Response Masking (FRM) Filter Bank based on Residue Number System (RNS) arithmetic for Digital Hearing Aids (DHA). FRM is a computationally efficient approach for filter bank design that separates different frequencies based on the Audiograms of a patient. However, filter banks are critical power-hungry elements that require high computational resources. Therefore, the proposed architecture aims to provide an efficient implementation of FRM filter banks, which can improve the value and affordability of DHAs. The proposed architecture employs FIR filters in direct form, linear phase, and poly phase using RNS arithmetic. This approach enables the performance of arithmetic operations in parallel and independently. The concepts are further extended for the efficient implementation of FRM filter bank. The results of the proposed architecture show that direct implementation reduces the delay when the number of taps increases in the FIR filter. However, to reduce computational resources and optimize the area requirement, a Folded RNS architecture is also proposed. The Folded RNS architecture offers hardware savings of 23–27% for a 40-tap FIR filter and 29–31% for a 60-tap FIR filter. Additionally, it improves speed by 13–15% for a 40-tap FIR filter and 16–19% for a 60-tap folded RNS FIR filter. The implementation of FRM filter bank using the folded FIR filter shows the same trend in hardware saving and speed improvement as in the case of FIR filters. These results demonstrate that the proposed hardware architecture has the potential to improve the efficiency and affordability of DHAs while enhancing the listening comfort, which can enhance the quality of life for patients with hearing impairments.

Illuminating a Graph

We introduce a two-player game where the goal is to illuminate all edges of a graph. At each step the first player, called Illuminator, taps a vertex. The second player, called Adversary, reveals the edges incident with that vertex (consistent with the edges incident with the already tapped vertices). Illuminator tries to minimize the taps needed, and the value of the game is the number of taps needed with optimal play. We provide bounds on the value in trees and general graphs. In particular, we show that the value for the path on n vertices is 2 3 n + O ( 1 ) , and there is a constant ε > 0 such that for every caterpillar on n vertices, the value is at most ( 1 – ε ) n + 1 .

An Iterative Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Receiver with Sequential Inter-Carrier Interference Canceling Modified Delay and Doppler Profiler for an Underwater Multipath Channel

In 2023, we proposed the modified delay and Doppler profiler (mDDP) as an inter-carrier interference (ICI) countermeasure for underwater acoustic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) mobile communications in a multipath environment. However, the performance improvement in the computer simulation and pool experiments was not significant. In a subsequent study, the accuracy of the channel transfer function (CTF), which is the input for the mDDP channel parameter estimation, was considered insufficient. Then a sequential ICI canceling mDDP was devised. This paper presents simulations of underwater OFDM communications using an iterative one- to three-step mDDP. The non-reflective pool experiment conditions are a two-wave multipath environment where the receiving transducer moves at a speed of 0.25 m/s and is subjected to a Doppler shift in the opposite direction. As NumCOL, the number of taps in the multitap equalizer which removes ICI, was increased, the bit error rate (BER) of 0.0526661 at NumCOL = 1 was significantly reduced by a factor of approximately 45 to a BER of 0.0011655 at NumCOL = 51 for the sequential ICI canceling mDDP.

Design of a Tool Capable of Assessing Environmental Sociocultural Physical Factors Influencing Women's Decisions on When and Where to Toilet Within Real-World Settings: Protocol for the Build and Usability Testing of a Mobile App for Use by Community-Dwelling Women.

Although surveys and apps are available for women to report urination and bladder symptoms, they do not include their decisions regarding toileting. Real-world factors can interfere with toileting decisions, which may then influence bladder health. This premise lacks data per want of a robust data collection tool. The Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) research consortium engaged a transdisciplinary team to build and test WhereIGo, a mobile data collection app for Android and iOS. The design goal was a comprehensive reporting system for capturing environmental, sociocultural, and physical factors that influence women's decisions for toileting. Aims include having (1) an innovative feature for reporting physiologic urge sensation when "thinking about my bladder" and shortly before "I just peed," (2) real-time reporting along with short look-back opportunities, and (3) ease of use anywhere. The development team included a plain language specialist, a usability specialist, creative designers, programming experts, and PLUS scientific content experts. Both real-time and ecological momentary assessments were used to comprehensively capture influences on toileting decisions including perceived access to toileting, degree of busyness or stress or focus, beverage intake amount, urge degree, or a leakage event. The restriction on the maximal number of taps for any screen was six. PLUS consortium investigators did pilot-testing. Formal usability testing relied on the recruitment of community-dwelling women at four PLUS research sites. Women used the app for 2 consecutive days. Outcome measures were the system usability scale (SUS; 0-100 range) and the functional Mobile Application Rating Scale (1-5 range). These scales were embedded at the end of the app. The estimated a priori sample size needed, considering the SUS cut point score set at ≥74, was 40 women completing the study. Funding was provided by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases since July 2015. The integrity of the build process was documented through multiple 5-minute videos presented to PLUS Consortium and through WhereIGo screenshots of the final product. Participants included 44 women, with 41 (93%) completing data collection. Participants ranged in age from 21 to 85 years, were predominantly non-Hispanic White (n=25, 57%), college-educated (n=25, 57%), and with incomes below US $75,000 (n=27, 62%). The SUS score was 78.0 (SE 1.7), which was higher than 75% of the 500 products tested by the SUS developers. The mean functional Mobile Application Rating Scale score was 4.4 (SE 0.08). The build and informal acceptability testing were completed in 2019, enrollment for formal usability testing completed by June 2020, and analysis was completed in 2022. WhereIGo is a novel app with good usability for women to report toileting decisions, urination, and fluid intake. Future research using the app could test the influence of real-time factors on bladder health. RR1-10.2196/54046.

Digital pre-equalization for performance improvement in coherent PON

As high-speed optical access networks continue to evolve, reducing the computational complexity at the optical network unit (ONU) side remains a significant challenge in coherent passive optical network (PON). This paper presents a pre-equalization scheme that integrates digital pre-distortion (DPD) and pre-emphasis techniques in 200 Gb/s coherent PON. The focus is on three modulation formats: 50 Gbaud polarization multiplexing-quadrature phase shift keying (PM-QPSK), 50 Gbaud Alamouti-coded polarization multiplexing-16 quadrature amplitude modulation (PM-16QAM), and 25 Gbaud PM-16QAM, using intradyne or heterodyne detection schemes. Through comprehensive numerical simulations and experimental evaluations, we demonstrate significant improvements in receiver sensitivity and power budget in 200 Gb/s coherent PON. When the number of digital filtering taps is small, the proposed scheme achieves power budget enhancements of 3 dB for 50 Gbaud PM-QPSK, 7 dB for 50 Gbaud Alamouti-coded PM-16QAM, and 2.1 dB for 25 Gbaud PM-16QAM in the downlink. These findings highlight the potential of pre-equalization techniques in enhancing the performance of next-generation coherent PON with low computational complexity at the ONU side.

Performance Analysis of Microwave Photonic Spectral Filters based on Optical Microcombs

AbstractMicrowave transversal filters, which are implemented based on the transversal filter structure in digital signal processing, offer a high reconfigurability for achieving a variety of signal processing functions without changing hardware. When implemented using microwave photonic (MWP) technologies, also known as MWP transversal filters, they provide competitive advantages over their electrical counterparts, such as large operation bandwidth, strong immunity to electromagnetic interference, and low loss when processing signals at high frequencies. Recent advances in high‐performance optical microcombs provide compact and powerful multi‐wavelength sources for MWP transversal filters that require a larger number of wavelength channels to achieve high performance, allowing for the demonstration of a diverse range of filter functions with improved performance and new features. Here, a comprehensive performance analysis for microcomb‐based MWP spectral filters based on the transversal filter approach is presented. First, the theoretical limitations are investigated in the filter spectral response induced by finite tap numbers. Next, the distortions are analyzed in the filter spectral response resulting from experimental error sources. Finally, the influence of input signal's bandwidth on the filtering errors is assessed. These results provide a valuable guide for the design and optimization of microcomb‐based MWP transversal filters for a variety of applications.

Assessing the factors affecting maple syrup yield in the US and predicting production potential in Kentucky

Maple syrup is an important part of the economy in various regions of the United States. Studies on maple syrup production potential mostly use climatic factors as determinants and, therefore, fail to account for non-climatic factors. In this study, we applied a stochastic production function framework to establish a relationship between maple syrup yield and a set of climatic (temperature and tapping season length) and non-climatic determining factors, such as the number of maple trees and utilization rate of the potential number of taps. Tree characteristics, climatic, and other factors had mixed effects on syrup yield. The number of maple trees, the number of taps, and the minimum temperature had marginal negative effects on average syrup yield, while the length of the season and the maximum temperature had positive effects. A predictive model was developed and used to estimate the potential production of maple syrup under low, medium and high utilization levels in Kentucky, a likely region for maple syrup production. This model could be useful for maple syrup research, education, and extension in maple-producing states.

Ant-colony optimization-based multi-input multi-output (ACO-MIMO) equalization for low-complexity mode-division multiplexing (MDM) processing

In mode-division multiplexing (MDM) systems, the computational complexity of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) equalization module is a critical obstacle to practical development. The step size μ and the number of taps K are key parameters in the equalization algorithm, influencing the performance of finite impulse response (FIR) equalizers, including convergence speed and output signal quality. To alleviate the computational burden of locating the optimal μ-K combination, we propose two ant colony optimization (ACO) -based MIMO equalization schemes: the fixed ACO-MIMO and the random ACO-MIMO, corresponding to two optimization strategies. These schemes expedite the initialization process of both parameters. Subsequently, we conduct experiments to evaluate their performance in a 3-mode recirculating-loop transmission system. Our findings demonstrate that, compared to conventional schemes, such as genetic algorithm (GA) and steepest descent algorithm (SDA), the proposed ACO-MIMO schemes significantly reduce the number of calls to the equalization algorithm for locating optimal μ-K combination by up to 42.74% and 80.63%, reducing the complexity of the whole MIMO equalization for MDM systems. And the resulting hit-rate Phit for the optimal μ-K combination reaches up to 99.34%. Moreover, the ACO-MIMO schemes exhibit stable performance across different data collected from various round-trips, confirming the robust operation for the long-haul MDM transmission. Finally, we investigate the performance disparity between the two proposed ACO-MIMO schemes through bit-error-rate (BER) distribution, concluding that under a large dataset with various BER distributions, the performance of both schemes is essentially equivalent.

Advancing LWIR FSO communication through high-speed multilevel signals and directly modulated quantum cascade lasers

This study investigates the potential of long-wave infrared (LWIR) free-space optical (FSO) transmission using multilevel signals to achieve high spectral efficiency. The FSO transmission system includes a directly modulated-quantum cascade laser (DM-QCL) operating at 9.1 µm and a mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector. The laser operated at the temperature settings of 15°C and 20°C. The experiment was conducted over a distance of 1 m and in a lab as a controlled environment. We conduct small-signal characterization of the system, including the DM-QCL chip and MCT detector, evaluating the end-to-end response of both components and all associated electrical elements. For large-signal characterization, we employ a range of modulation formats, including non-return-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK), 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4), and 6-level PAM (PAM6), with the objective of optimizing both the bit rate and spectral efficiency of the FSO transmission by applying pre- and post-processing equalization. At 15°C, the studied LWIR FSO system achieves net bitrates of 15 Gbps with an NRZ-OOK signal and 16.9 Gbps with PAM4, both below the 6.25% overhead hard decision-forward error correction (6.25%-OH HD-FEC) limit, and 10 Gbps NRZ-OOK below the 2.7% overhead Reed-Solomon RS(528,514) pre-FEC (KR-FEC limit). At 20°C, we obtained net bitrates of 14.1 Gbps with NRZ-OOK, 16.9 Gbps with PAM4, and 16.4 Gbps with PAM6. Furthermore, we evaluate the BER performance as a function of the decision feedback equalization (DFE) tap number to explore the role of equalization in enhancing signal fidelity and reducing errors in FSO transmission. Our findings accentuate the competitive potential of DM-QCL and MCT detector-based FSO transceivers with digital equalization for the next generation of FSO communication systems.

A Fast GPU Schedule For À-Trous Wavelet-Based Denoisers

Given limitations of contemporary graphics hardware, real-time ray-traced global illumination is only estimated using a few samples per pixel. This consequently causes stochastic noise in the resulting frame sequences which requires wide filter support during denoising for temporally stable estimates. The edge avoiding à-trous wavelet transform amortizes runtime cost by hierarchical filtering using a constant number of increasingly dilated taps in each iteration. While the number of taps stays constant, the runtime of each iteration increases in these usually memory-throughput bound shaders with increasing dilation, because the increasing non-locality negatively impacts cache hit rates. We present a scheduling approach that optimizes usage of the memory subsystem by permutating global invocation indices in such a way that each wavelet filter iteration is applied through undilated taps. In contrast to prior approaches, our method has identical performance characteristics in each iteration, effectively decreasing maintenance cost and improving performance predictability. Furthermore, we are able to leverage on-chip memory and hardware texture interpolation. Our permutation strategy is trivial to integrate into existing wavelet filters as a permutation before and after each level of the wavelet filter. We achieve speedups between 1.3 and 3.8 for usual wavelet configurations in Monte Carlo denoising and computational photography.

The sound of Parkinson's disease: A model of audible bradykinesia

IntroductionEvaluation of bradykinesia is based on five motor tasks from the MDS-UPDRS. Visually scoring these motor tasks is subjective, resulting in significant interrater variability. Recent observations suggest that it may be easier to hear the characteristic features of bradykinesia, such as the decrement in sound intensity or force of repetitive movements. The objective is to evaluate whether audio signals derived during four MDS-UPDRS tasks can be used to detect and grade bradykinesia, using two machine learning models. Methods54 patients with Parkinson's disease and 28 healthy controls were filmed while executing the bradykinesia motor tasks. Several features were extracted from the audio signal, including number of taps, speed, sound intensity, decrement and freezes. For each motor task, two supervised machine learning models were trained, Logistic Regression (LR) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). ResultsBoth classifiers were able to separate patients from controls reasonably well for the leg agility task, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC): 0.92 (95%CI: 0.78–0.99) for LR and 0.93 (0.81–1.00) for SVM. Also, models were able to differentiate less severe bradykinesia from severe bradykinesia, particularly for the pronation-supination motor task, with AUC: 0.90 (0.62–1.00) for LR and 0.82 (0.45–0.97) for SVM. ConclusionThis audio-based approach discriminates PD from healthy controls with moderate-high accuracy and separated individuals with less severe bradykinesia from those with severe bradykinesia. Sound analysis may contribute to the identification and monitoring of bradykinesia.

A Novel Adaptive ANC Algorithm for Removal of Background Noise in Speech Applications

Noise is an unsafe mechanical toxin that causes serious hearing misfortune in the working environment of every nation. The working people in the military, mining, development, printing, and saw factories tend to lose their hearing performance due to the adverse effects of noise generated by the machines. They undergo elevated levels of noise, with various machinery producing greater levels of noise measured in decibels. These sounds may cause major health problems that may not allow the person to work in such conditions. Algorithms like Least Mean Square (LMS), Normalized Least Mean Squared (NLMS), Filtered-x Least Mean Squared (FxLMS) and Filtered-x Normalized Least Mean Squared (FxNLMS) are frequently being used for noise cancellation. Moreover, these filters have instability and poor noise reduction; slow convergence also requires a greater number of filter taps and less performance to identify the unknown system in the Active Noise Canceller (ANC). In this paper, a Précised FxNLMS (P-FxNLMS) algorithm is introduced for an ANC. This algorithm consists of dual adaptive filters, an updated Variable Step Size (VSS), a delay in the primary path, a slight improvement in the on-line secondary path, and a modified filter step size when compared to an existing ANC system, with the purpose of minimizing the demerits of existing algorithms. Initially, the P-FxNLMS algorithm was tested with Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and later tested with real noises from the NOISEUS dataset to check the noise reduction performance. The increase in Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) segmentation for P-FxNLMS is around 1.45 dB to 4.07 dB and 38.46 % to 73.68 % of the Mean Square Error (MSE) as compared to the algorithms available for different sounds with different SNR input levels. From the performance results of MSE and SNR improvement (SNRi), we found improvements compared with existing algorithms

Algorithm for determining the minimum number of time-domain taps in space–time adaptive processing for satellite navigation to meet a desired anti-jamming index

Algorithm for determining the minimum number of time-domain taps in space–time adaptive processing for satellite navigation to meet a desired anti-jamming index

고령 운전자의 안전운전행동과 인지 능력 간의 상관 연구: 시공간적 작업기억 능력과 운동 제어 능력을 중심으로

Objective : This study aimed to investigate the correlation between subjective and objective evaluations of visuo-spatial working memory and motor control abilities for safe driving among elderly drivers.
 Methods : This study evaluated safe driving behavior among Korean elderly drivers aged 60 and above using the Korean safe driving behavior measure (K-SDBM), Spatial Span Test(SST), and Finger Tapping Test(FTT), and conducted a pearson correlation analysis. 
 Results : The results showed that visuo-spatial working memory span in spatial span test was negatively correlated with the score of the ‘driving situations that require concentration’ factor in the K-SDBM. In addition, the finger tapping test showed a positive correlation between the total number of right hand taps and the ‘general driving skills’ factor in the K-SDBM. This indicates a discrepancy between the subjective cognitive abilities perceived by elder drivers and their objective cognitive abilities.
 Conclusion : This study suggests that both subjective driving behavior measures and objective cognitive tests should be used together to assess the safety of elder drivers.

Nonlinear active noise control with tap-decomposed robust volterra filter

The Volterra filter is proven to be a structurally simple method for nonlinear active noise control (NLANC). However, its wide application is deeply constrained by computational complexity. This paper proposes a tap-decomposed Volterra filter, in which a long-tap Volterra filter is approximated as multiple short-tap filters by the nearest Kronecker decomposition. Since the number of taps of decomposed filters is much less than that of the original counterpart, the proposed method greatly reduces the implementation cost of the Volterra filter. Moreover, for impulsive noise sources in NLANC, decomposed filters are updated using the maximum correntropy criterion derived from information theory. Simulation experiments with different noise source types highlight the noise control performance of the proposed approach.

56 Predictors of Finger Tapping Variability in Older Adults Evaluated for a Neurodegenerative Memory Disorder

Objective:Patients with early Alzheimer Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment of the Amnestic type (MCI-A) have been reported to show large variability of tapping scores. Factors that contribute to that variability remain undetermined. This preliminary study aimed to identify predictors of finger tapping variability in older adults evaluated for a neurodegenerative memory disorder. Based on earlier research with normally functioning adults, we predicted that the number of “invalid” tapping responses (i.e. failure of the index finger to adequately lift off the tapping key once it is depressed to produce the next number on a mechanical counter) and the female gender would predict finger tapping variability, but age and educational level would not predict variability.Participants and Methods:This preliminary study included 4 groups of participants, comprised of 8 healthy controls (HC, 3 males; 73±7years); 12 persons with subjective memory complaints (SMC, 3 males; 69±5 years); 12 with MCI-A (7 males; 76±5 years) and 7 early AD (5 males; 75±6years). All participants were administered a modified version of the Halstead Finger Tapping Test (HFTT). Mean, range of tapping score (i.e. a measure of variability), and number of invalid taps across 7 trials in each hand were calculated. ANOVA was performed for the HFTT metrics with the main effect of group. Tukey HSD tests were used for post hoc comparisons between groups. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the degree to which the number of invalid tapping responses, sex, age, and educational level predicted finger tapping variability using all 4 groups.Results:Mean tapping score did not vary significantly across groups in the dominant [F (3, 35) = 0.633, p = 0.599] or non-dominant [F (3, 35) = 2.345, p = 0.090] hand. Range score approached a significant difference between groups in the dominant hand [F (3, 35) = 2.745, p = 0.058], with a clear significant effect of group on range score in the non-dominant hand [F (3, 35) = 4.078, p = 0.014]. Range score in the nondominant hand was significantly higher in the AD compared to SMC (p = 0.018) and HC (p = 0.024). Regression analysis revealed statistically significant findings for the dominant hand (R2 = 0.327, F (4, 34) = 4.130, p = 0.008) and for the non-dominant hand (R2 = 0.330, F (4, 34) = 4.180, p = 0.007). For both the dominant and non-dominant hands, number of invalid taps significantly predicted range score (ß = 0.453, p = 0.044, and ß = 0.498, p = 0.012, respectively). Sex, age, and education years did not predict range scores.Conclusions:Variability of finger tapping in patients evaluated for neurodegenerative memory disorders and aged matched controls is predicted by the number of invalid tapping responses (comprising over 30% of the variance), but not by demographic variables in this clinical sample. Neurodegenerative disorders may eliminate a sex effect.

Quantifying the Accuracy of Microcomb-Based Photonic RF Transversal Signal Processors

Photonic RF transversal signal processors, which are equivalent to reconfigurable electrical digital signal processors but implemented with photonic technologies, have been widely used for modern high-speed information processing. With the capability of generating large numbers of wavelength channels with compact micro-resonators, optical microcombs bring new opportunities for realizing photonic RF transversal signal processors that have greatly reduced size, power consumption, and complexity. Recently, a variety of signal processing functions have been demonstrated using microcomb-based photonic RF transversal signal processors. Here, we provide detailed analysis for quantifying the processing accuracy of microcomb-based photonic RF transversal signal processors. First, we investigate the theoretical limitations of the processing accuracy determined by tap number, signal bandwidth, and pulse waveform. Next, we discuss the practical error sources from different components of the signal processors. Finally, we analyze the contributions of the theoretical limitations and the experimental factors to the overall processing inaccuracy both theoretically and experimentally. These results provide a useful guide for designing microcomb-based photonic RF transversal signal processors to optimize their accuracy.

Дослідження сенсомоторних реакцій каратистів 10-13 років

Purpose: to determine the level of sensorimotor reactions of karateka of 10-13 years old. Material and methods. The following research methods were used in the present research: theoretical analysis and generalization of scientific and methodical literature; pedagogical supervision; psychophysiological measurements; mathematical and statistical methods of the research. The research was attended by karate juniors of the sports club «Centurion», Kharkiv, in the amount of 26 sportsmen who were divided into 2 groups of 13 people according to the age criterion. The first group of karateka is 10-11 years old, the second one is 12-13 years old. To determine the level of manifestation of sensorimotor reactions a complex of special programs for tablet computers under the control of iOS was used. The results of sensorimotor reactions of the athletes studied by the following tests were obtained: TestSTMemory (short-term visual memory); Visuomotor Choice Reaction (choice reactions); Reaction RMO (reactions to a moving object); TappingPro (number and duration of taps during the 1st minute). Results: the duration of a sensorimotor reaction is one of the neurophysiological indicators. It is the simplest, most accessible and at the same time very accurate neurophysiological indicator. It reflects the speed of neural processes and their switching, motor coordination, overall performance, and the dynamics of the central nervous system. The analysis of the study results showed that karateka aged 10-11 have 13 % less perceptual capacity than karateka aged 12-13. Older karateka were better at memorizing and passing tests faster because this cognitive activity is associated with memorizing the opponent's positions and differentiating hidden signals before motor actions. The choice reaction of older athletes is 26 % higher, which indicates that karateka aged 12-13 years have a more perfect control of the mechanism of movement. The reaction to a moving object in older athletes is 52 % more accurate. In the tapping test, older karateka made 11 % more taps due to their higher qualifications and physiological development. Statistically significant results were obtained in the Wilcoxon test – «Choice Reaction», «Short-term Visual Memory» and «Reaction to a Moving Object». The results of older athletes in the «Tepping Test» are better, but not statistically significant (p>0,05). The better results of older sportsmen in other tests are connected with the growth of the volume of special exercises, namely exercises with elements of martial arts. Conclusions. The above tests can be used in the training process of karateka for the definition of psychophysiological features, because according to the analysis and comparison of the received data in tests «Reaction of a choice», «Short-term visual memory» and «Reaction to a moving object» the senior karateka have statistically reliably better indicators than younger sportsmen (p<0,05). It is connected with the growth of the volume of special exercises in sportsmen of the senior group, namely exercises with elements of martial arts.

The Impact of QoE Factors on the Perception of Constructs Comprising Information Quality, Usability, and Aesthetics in Mobile Web Browsing

Quality of Experience (QoE) for mobile Web browsing is a complex and multidimensional concept. So far, the research community has addressed the influence of QoE perceptual dimensions on QoE and the impact of various influence factors on QoE perceptual dimensions for mobile Web browsing. In this study, we recognize the gap and need to analyze and gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between multiple influence factors and specific constructs of QoE perceptual dimensions. Utilizing a previously collected dataset, our goal is to fill the research gap in terms of investigating the impact of specific influence factors (loading time, aesthetics, number of taps, information quality) on various constructs comprising the user perception of usability, aesthetics, and information quality in the context of mobile Web browsing. A total of 14 research questions are raised: 7 addressing constructs comprising perceived usability (simplicity, effectiveness, quickness, efficiency, comfort, ease of use, organization), 3 addressing constructs comprising perceived aesthetics (perception of mobile Web site aesthetics, pleasance, clarity, systematicness), and 4 addressing constructs comprising perceived information quality (timeliness, clarity, conciseness, structuralism/completeness/spelling-correctness). Results of posed research questions provide indications on the strength and direction of the impact of considered QoE influence factors on the perception of studied constructs. This study contributes to the research community by being the first to address the impact of chosen QoE influence factors on individual constructs comprising QoE perceptual dimensions in the domain of mobile Web browsing, thus extending the knowledge on interplays and relations in this area. Furthermore, it contributes by revealing numerous new paradigms in the context of usability, aesthetics, and quality of information, such as: (i) beautiful and easy to reach is more simple, effective, efficient, and comfortable, (ii) easy to reach is more pleasant and clear, (iii) informative is more pleasant and clear, (iv) beautifully presented information has higher perceived quality, etc. Reported findings can be utilized by various stakeholders (mobile Web site designers, content providers, device designers, network providers) for indirect management of QoE.

Comparison of Microcomb-Based Radio-Frequency Photonic Transversal Signal Processors Implemented with Discrete Components Versus Integrated Chips.

RF photonic transversal signal processors, which combine reconfigurable electrical digital signal processing and high-bandwidth photonic processing, provide a powerful solution for achieving adaptive high-speed information processing. Recent progress in optical microcomb technology provides compelling multi-wavelength sources with a compact footprint, yielding a variety of microcomb-based RF photonic transversal signal processors with either discrete or integrated components. Although they operate based on the same principle, the processors in these two forms exhibit distinct performances. This paper presents a comparative investigation of their performances. First, we compare the performances of state-of-the-art processors, focusing on the processing accuracy. Next, we analyze various factors that contribute to the performance differences, including the tap number and imperfect response of experimental components. Finally, we discuss the potential for future improvement. These results provide a comprehensive comparison of microcomb-based RF photonic transversal signal processors implemented using discrete and integrated components and provide insights for their future development.