Ehud Bar-On

Automatic classification of visual evoked responses.

An automatic method performing selective averaging of visual evoked potentials depending on the state of the EEG background activity is described. The method is based on adaptive segmentation of the EEG signal and on fuzzy clustering. A simulation example, extracting two different square pulses from the background activity, is given, as well as an example averaging two types of visual evoked potentials from the background EEG signal.

Programming mathematics: a new approach in introducing probability to less able pupils

This article presents an instructional model for teaching formal mathematical concepts and operations to the less able high‐school students. Computer programming is used to express, in a formal way, experiments in probability and statistics. The instructional model has been constructed by considering both the learners cognitive, affective and instrumental faulty patterns of thinking and the requirements of the mathematical subject matter. The programming approach provides a method of abstraction, generalization and formalization of concepts which are manifested in experimental processes and results. This approach, which is more concrete and procedural, can assist in assimilating probabilistic concepts into the existing cognitive schemes of the learner. The concrete and procedural schemata could be replaced later by a more formal schemata. Examples of the programming approach as well as examples of detection, identification and treatment of faulty patterns are presented. The suggested instructional model ...

A system supporting design, implementation and maintenance of object oriented programs

The graphical object-oriented development system (GOODS) was designed to support the design, implementation, and maintenance of object-oriented programs. The goal was to minimize the cognitive load on the user by providing graphical views containing only the information needed. It uses novel graphical language designed to describe the structure of object-oriented programs. The system can display GOODS diagrams showing the structure of any part of the program as it is seen from different points of view, i.e., showing different kinds of properties. This is a dual presentation of diagrams and code that allows the programmer to switch between the two. Any change in one of them will cause the corresponding change of the other. GOODS was implemented in C++ using X-Windows. Users found the diagrams useful for understanding the structure of the programs, and as a development tool.<<ETX>>

Rate of change over an interval as a property of functions: an algebraic and numerical approach

Teaching the rate of change over an interval as a property of various functions separates it from the study of the limit. It is suggested that the rate of change be taught in high school as part of the study of functions during pre‐calculus studies. Whenever a new function is introduced, its rate of change over a given interval will be computed and interpreted. Introduction of the rate of change into the pre‐calculus curriculum paves the way for proving theorems about the derivatives of the sum and product of two functions. An algebraic and a numerical approach to the computation of the rate of change are presented. The numerical approach is simple and easy to implement on a microcomputer. A computer program in BASIC which plots any given function, its rate of change function over an interval, and the rate of change at any given point, is provided.

Processing and Pattern Analysis of Handwriting Movements

A new model for hand movement during writing that assumes three dimensional movement “of the hand”, (as opposed to two dimensional x-y pentip movement) has been proposed. Based upon this model, BarOn technologies has constructed a pen that includes built in motion sensors that provide accurate measurements of the three orthogonal accelerations of hand movement during writing. An approach to pattern recognition and identification problem solutions based on hierarchical similarity method is proposed. The results of an experiment in which the aforementioned pattern recognition and identification approach was examined using data collected with the “acceleration” pen are described.

A graphical interactive object-oriented development system

One of the major obstacles in the construction of large software systems is in the difficulties humans have in understanding the interactions between it’s many different parts. Behavioral studies show that humans can only cope with a relatively small amount of elements and relationships at a time. A program development environment should therefore, ideally, only show to the designer the required details and hide all other irrelevant and therefore distracting items. At different stages of the design process different parts of the program and different kinds of relationships between the programs elements are considered. To meet these needs the GOODS (Graphical Object-Oriented Development System) system was developed. GOODS enables the user to get a graphical description (a GOODS diagram) of the the part of the programs that is in her Focus Of Attention (FOA) and from the Point Of View (POV) that interests her. The POV concept, introduced in this paper, is a specification of the kind of details and relationships that interest the user. Relationships of kinds that are not members of the selected POV will not be shown in the diagram.