Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network Coverage Optimization Strategy in Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

i Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank Mohammed Hamid for his professional and effective supervision and providing the initial insights of applying particle swarm optimization algorithms to the coverage problem. His comments were important factors that lead to the development of the optimization strategy. Abstract Wireless sensor network is an intelligent network system which has the self-monitoring functionality. It consists of many low-cost, low-power and small-sized sensor nodes that can communicate with each other to perform sensing and data processing. Acting as an important role in the system, network coverage usually has a huge effect on the system's lifetime. In this thesis, particle swarm algorithm was used as a method to optimize the coverage in the coverage of wireless sensor network. A network coverage optimization strategy based on particle swarm optimization was proposed and MATLAB was used as a tool to apply the algorithm. The model used in this thesis is the probability sensing model and the coverage type is area coverage. Effectiveness of the algorithm is proved by simulation. The simulation of the algorithm suggests the optimal deployment can be determined if a certain parameter which in this thesis is the sensing range is given.
Is it ‘more normal’ to enhance than to restore our nature?

Abstract In this paper I give a short overview about the general implications of issues of human nature within the field of human enhancement. The first section of my contribution deals with a certain intertwining of human enhancement and the intrinsic claims of human nature, showing that a non-statistical concept of human nature can play a crucial role in the debate on human enhancement. After that, my aim is to validate that particular enhancements (e.g. neuro-enhancement) fall under the same normative criteria as “normal enhancement”, only requiring a special contextual awareness to co-exist with it ethically. Methodically, my intention is to draw on quasi-naturalist approaches, which argue that our nature as humans is not a “mixed bag”, but seems to be wholly constituted by its species-related characteristics. As a result, we can state that our evaluations of living beings or life forms, which are also evaluations of our methods of medical treatments and of our ethical attitudes, depend on our picture of human nature.
Recent WSRT Results on Two Prototypical Compact AGN

Recent WSRT observations at 21 cm and 85 cm of the radio source BLLac, long known for its rapid variations and strong linear polarization, has revealed a strong increase in its 21 cm polarization. We also detect polarization at 85 cm. The rotation measure (RM) of the source varies with wavelength and may even vary slightly with time. The Galactic foreground contribution to the observed RM is estimated to be about – 200 rad m − 2 , close to the observed values at 21 cm and 85 cm. This implies that the contribution intrinsic to the jet is rather small. We present a simple model with multiple polarized features in the jet to explain the broadband 85 cm Faraday spectra. Low frequency polarimetry using RM synthesis is a very sensitive probe of the magneto-ionic medium close the core of an AGN. The VLBI resolution at these frequencies is insufﬁcient to discern the various structures. The scintillating compact intra hour variable (IHV) quasar J1819 + 3845, discovered in Jan 1999, suddenly stopped scintillating sometime in 2006/2007. We present a 13-year lightcurve, based largely on WSRT multi-frequency data. Following a slow outburst in the period 2000-2006 the source luminosity is now again slowly declining. The source is barely resolved with VLBI arrays and maintains a slightly inverted radio spectrum. An analysis of the linear polarization data in the period 2000-2006 reveals systematic time delays attributed to the separation between a total intensity ’core’ and slowly moving polarized features in the jet. Various independent methods yield a distance of the scattering medium of only 1–2 parsecs. The screen responsible for the scintillation is extremely small ( ≈ 100 AU) and has a sharp ( < 6AU) edge. The plasma density is very high and the screen is highly overpressured relative to the surrounding medium. For an extensive account of the large body
Global Well-posedness of a System of Nonlinearly Coupled KdV equations of Majda and Biello

This paper addresses the problem of global well-posedness of a coupled system of Korteweg-de Vries equations, derived by Majda and Biello in the context of nonlinear resonant interaction of Rossby waves, in a periodic setting in homogeneous Sobolev spaces $\dot H^s$, for $s\geq 0$. Our approach is based on a successive time-averaging method developed by Babin, Ilyin and Titi [1].
Unterschiedliche Reaktion deutscher und polnischer Herkünfte der Buche (Fagus sylvaticaL.) auf Trockenheit

Die Haufung und Verscharfung von Trockenperioden sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil der prognostizierten Klimaanderung (IPPC, 2001; FRICH et al., 2002). Im europaischen Vergleich sagt die SCEN-Klimaprognose fur die Periode 2071–2100 die hochsten Variabilitaten der Sommertemperaturen fur das zentrale und ostliche Mitteleuropa voraus (SCHAR et al., 2004). Diese Region stellt den Kern des Verbreitungsgebiets buchendominierter Walder dar (BOHN und NEUHAUSL, 2000–2003). Die Frage der Sensitivitat der Buche gegenuber Trockenheit steht damit im Brennpunkt der Diskussionen um eine Arealverschiebung von Buchenwaldern und um die zukunftige Baumartenund Herkunftswahl auf trockengefahrdeten Standorten in Mitteleuropa (RENNENBERG et al.; 2004, AMMER et al., 2005; KOLLING et al., 2005). LASCH et al. (2002) prognostizierten schon bei einer Temperaturerhohung von 1,5°C im Laufe einer mehrhundertjahrigen Modellsukzession (Modell FORSKA-M) den weitgehenden Verlust potenzieller naturlicher Buchenund Buchenmischwalder in Brandenburg.
New Model of Teacher Learning in an Online Network

Abstract While many researchers have examined teacher participation and professional development in online networks and communities, few have looked at the factors and contexts that shape how teachers learn in these online spaces. Examining teachers' learning processes within these online spaces can yield important insights for scholars, school leaders, and teacher educators who are interested in designing online networks and communities or supporting teacher professional development within these spaces. This study was designed to shed light on the multifaceted nature of teacher learning within an online network environment. Data were collected through an online survey and in-depth interviews of members in the Edmodo math subject community. A thematic analysis was conducted across the two data sets in order to identify patterns of actions and factors that shaped the participants' learning processes. A new model of teacher learning was developed to display teacher learning as an iterative, multistep process that is socially constructed, distributed, and situated in the contexts in which teachers work. Implications and ideas for further research are discussed.
Confidence-Enhanced Performance

There is ample evidence that emotions affect performance. Positive emotions can improve performance, while negative ones may diminish it. For example, the fears induced by the possibility of failure or of negative evaluations have physiological consequences (shaking, loss of concentration) that may impair performance in sports, on stage or at school. There is also ample evidence that individuals have distorted recollection of past events, and distorted attributions of the causes of successes of failures. Recollection of good events or successes is typically easier than recollection of bad ones or failures. Successes tend to be attributed to intrinsic aptitudes or own effort, while failures are attributed to bad luck. In addition, these attributions are often reversed when judging the performance of others. The objective of this paper is to incorporate the first phenomenon above into an otherwise standard decision theoretic model, and show that in a world where performance depends on emotions, biases in information processing enhance welfare.
La pluralización del verbohaber impersonal en el español yucateco

En el presente trabajo, analizo el fenómeno de la pluralización del verbo haber impersonal en el español yucateco urbano en tiempo aparente. De acuerdo a los cánones de las gramáticas normativas, el verbo haber existencial no debe concordar en número con el sintagma nominal (SN) que lo acompaña, pues este último corresponde sintácticamente a un objeto directo (OD), tal como puede observarse en (1). Sin embargo, en la lengua hablada se tiende a reanalizar el papel de este SN y se le asigna función de sujeto, por lo que entonces concuerda en número con el verbo hab (2).
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BAYESIAN PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION WITH TIME-VARYING FACTOR MODELS By

We develop a modeling framework to simultaneously evaluate various types of predictability in stock returns, including stocks’ sensitivity (“betas”) to systematic risk factors, stocks’ abnormal returns unexplained by risk factors (“alphas”), and returns of risk factors in excess of the risk-free rate (“risk premia”). Both firm-level characteristics and macroeconomic variables are used to predict stocks’ time-varying alphas and betas, and macroeconomic variables are used to predict the risk premia. All of the models are specified in a Bayesian framework to account for estimation risk, and informative prior distributions on both stock returns and model parameters are adopted to reduce estimation error. To gauge the economic significance of the predictability, we apply the models to the U.S. stock market and construct optimal portfolios based on model predictions. Out-of-sample performance of the portfolios is evaluated to compare the models.
E-VOTING SYSTEMS: A TOOL FOR E-DEMOCRACY

Using electronic voting systems is divisive as some countries used such systems and others did not. Electronic voting (e-voting) is relatively a new concept based on its application that aims at reducing errors and improving the convenience and integrity of election process. This paper tried to explore the factors that influence the adoption of such systems in a university environment. The study utilized a sample of 302 bachelor degree students in a public Jordanian university and in relation to students’ council election process. Results indicated that students were keen on the concepts of trust and usefulness of e-voting when adopting such systems. The study supported the findings of TAM in the area of technology acceptance. Conclusions are at the end of this paper.
Aeaeêêìáîî Áåèääååaeììáçae Çç Àááêêêàáááä Aeçîîäìì Ììììçê

In this work I have examined a new approach for novelty identi cation that was rst presented in [59]. This approach was implemented for the task of detecting novel visual object classes, using a state-of-the-art object detection algorithm. The chosen algorithm, denoted CurMethod throughout this work, was developed by Leibe et al. [32] and proved to be successful in various scenarios. In this algorithm, a generative probabilistic method is used to build an implicit model of the learned object class, along with a top down segmentation. The model uses statistics collected only from instances of the target class, and does not utilize any knowledge of background, clutter, or other classes. A previous implementation of the same approach was recently presented by Zweig in [63]. This implementation, referred as RefMethod later in this work, was based on an essentially di erent object model, created by Bar-Hillel et. al [2]. This model explicitly represents the object class, using a few highly distinctive parts. It is trained by a hybrid of generative and discriminative techniques, using both positive and negative examples. While the basic properties of the proposed novelty detection approach were presented in [63], the focus of my work was twofold: reinforcing the validity of the approach by reproducing similar results, using a di erent object model; and further investigating more subtle aspects of this approach. Note that the choice of the current model and the reference model was done due to their success in classifying a large variety of classes, and their di erent nature. Indeed, one of the appealing features of this approach is that any model can be similarly used. The results of this work strengthen this last claim. Chapter
Parallel Computing for Information Retrieval and Performance Issues

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Factor Analysis with Ordinal Indicators: A Monte Carlo Study Comparing DWLS and ULS Estimation

Factor analysis models with ordinal indicators are often estimated using a 3-stage procedure where the last stage involves obtaining parameter estimates by least squares from the sample polychoric correlations. A simulation study involving 324 conditions (1,000 replications per condition) was performed to compare the performance of diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) and unweighted least squares (ULS) in the procedure's third stage. Overall, both methods provided accurate and similar results. However, ULS was found to provide more accurate and less variable parameter estimates, as well as more precise standard errors and better coverage rates. Nevertheless, convergence rates for DWLS are higher. Our recommendation is therefore to use ULS, and, in the case of nonconvergence, to use DWLS, as this method might converge when ULS does not.
The Riemann-hilbert Mapping for Sl 2 -systems over Genus Two Curves

We prove in two different ways that the monodromy map from the space of irreducible sl2-differential-systems on genus two Riemann surfaces, towards the character variety of SL2-representations of the fundamental group, is a local diffeomorphism. This is motivated by a question raised by Étienne Ghys about Margulis’ problem: existence of curves of negative Euler characteristic in compact quotients of SL2(C).
Ten Years of Measurements of Tropical Upper-Tropospheric Water Vapor by MOZAIC. Part II: Assessing the ECMWF Humidity Analysis

In a recent publication (Part I), the authors introduced a data source—Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapor by Airbus In-Service Aircraft (MOZAIC)—for monitoring and studying upper-tropospheric water vapor (UTWV) and analyzed 10 yr (1994–2004) of MOZAIC measurements of tropical UTWV in its climatology, variability, transport, and relation to deep convection. In this study (Part II), MOZAIC is used to assess the ECMWF humidity analysis over the tropics, taking advantage of the unique nature of the MOZAIC data, namely, the long data record, near-global coverage, and high accuracy. In parallel to Part I, the ECMWF UTWV analysis is assessed against MOZAIC in the following five aspects: 1) annual cycle, 2) vertical structure, 3) probability density functions (PDFs), 4) moisture flux divergence, and 5) interannual variability. The annual cycle of the ECMWF UTWV shows a similar pattern as MOZAIC but has an overall dry bias of about 10%–30% relative humidity with respect to ice (RHi). The dry biases are larger in the deep tropics than the subtropics and larger over the Asian monsoon region than the tropical Atlantic region. The increase in RH with height (from about 300 to 200 hPa) as observed by MOZAIC is largely missing in the ECMWF analysis, which has a roughly constant RH profile. The bimodal distribution of tropical UTWV is well established in MOZAIC, but for ECMWF, the moist mode is abruptly cut off at 100% RHi due to the lack of ice supersaturation (ISS) in the forecast model. Lack of ISS capability is, however, not the only cause for the dry bias in the ECMWF; it also has more occurrences of lower humidity compared to MOZAIC. There is also evidence that ECMWF underestimates the range of uppertropospheric humidity (UTH) variation. A comparison of moisture flux divergence is conducted to assess the ability of ECMWF to capture the divergent transport of water vapor. It is shown that the ECMWF can represent the distribution of this quantity fairly well, although the dry bias leads to some underestimate of the magnitude. Finally, the authors show a comparison of the ECMWF and MOZAIC depictions of the interannual variation of UTWV during the 1997/98 ENSO event as an illustration that UTWV variations are more difficult to capture than those of the UT temperature.
NETWORK STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL

In spite of different definitions of social capital, there is a high level of compliance that social capital, unlike other concepts related to socio-economic development, is unique because it is relational. Resources related to social capital exist inside the network of mutual relations of individuals and groups in a society. Individuals are embedded in the complex network of relations – they are members of immediate and broader family, belong to a certain religious and linguistic group, have ethnic and racial identity and belong to certain locality. Every individual has their own place in a society, and their position in the network of social relations considerably affects access to different resources. Notion of social capital is therefore inextricably linked to social networks and represents a key concept in their analysis. The aim of this paper is to investigate interdependence between social capital and social networks.
Option pricing under fast‐varying long‐memory stochastic volatility

Recent empirical studies suggest that the volatility of an underlying price process may have correlations that decay slowly under certain market conditions. In this paper, the volatility is modeled as a stationary process with long‐range correlation properties in order to capture such a situation, and we consider European option pricing. This means that the volatility process is neither a Markov process nor a martingale. However, by exploiting the fact that the price process is still a semimartingale and accordingly using the martingale method, we can obtain an analytical expression for the option price in the regime where the volatility process is fast mean reverting. The volatility process is modeled as a smooth and bounded function of a fractional Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. We give the expression for the implied volatility, which has a fractional term structure.
Distributed reconfiguration of hexagonal metamorphic robots in two dimensions

The problem addressed in the distributed reconfiguration of a metamorphic robotic system composed of any number of two dimensional hexagonal modules from specific initial to specific goal configurations. The initial configuration considered is a straight chain of modules, while the goal configurations considered satisfy a more general admissibility condition. A centralized algorithm is described for determining whether an arbitrary goal configuration is admissible. The main result of the paper is a distributed algorithm for reconfiguring a straight chain into an admissible goal configuration. Different heuristics are proposed to improve the performance of the reconfiguration algorithm and simulation results demonstrate the use of these heuristics.
Information Advantage and Institutional Investors’ Performance in Foreign Markets

Traditional portfolio theory predicts that investors’ portfolios should be diversified across international markets. In contrast, empirical studies document that investors are more likely to invest in their home country and in familiar foreign markets. These findings imply that investors do not take advantage of international diversification opportunities. This study focuses specifically on foreign market asset allocations and examines empirically whether the familiarity driven foreign portfolio investment is a rational choice attributed to information advantage. Using a sample of over 46,000 institutional investors from 46 countries, we show that investors overweight foreign markets that are familiar but also earn higher risk-adjusted returns in those markets. Furthermore, we document that more skilled investors benefit the most from familiarity based allocations.
Employing C Omputer Technology to Assess Visual Attention in Young C Hildren and Adolescents with Severe Mental Retardation

The intent of this investigation was to establish a valid and sensitive computer measurement technique for educational assessment applications. An integral part of the investigation was to establish the similarities and differences in how prior reinforcement histories of individual stimuli affect attention to compound visual cues for young children of normal development versus adolescents with severe mental retardation, both groups having comparable mental age. A series of identical conflict compound discrimination tasks was presented to the two groups. In addition, generalization effects were investigated for both groups by presenting compounds containing some or all novel cues. The similarities and differences in performance for young children of normal development and adolescents with severe mental retardation were analyzed using multiple testing procedures. In addition to assessing stimulus control by presenting stimulus components separately following acquisition of compound discrimina-tions, response topographies of the compound stimuli were recorded with a touch screen attached to a computer monitor screen. This study demonstrated that overselec-tive attention did not occur only for students with severe mental retardation but also for young children of normal development if multiple tests were employed. A difference was found, however, between the two populations in the efficiency with which they shifted attention among elements of complex stimuli depending on prior conditioning histories. Presentation of compounds whose components had conflicting reinforcement histories was found to be a more sensitive assessment technique than presentation of compounds containing some or all novel components for distinguishing between the two groups. The use of multiple testing procedures was critical in preventing false conclusions from altered test performances arising from reinforcement contingencies in effect during the test. ï¿¿ 1997 Academic Press The purpose of this study was to establish a valid and sensitive computer measurement technique for educational assessment applications. Computer The author thanks the children's families and the educational staff of the Bi-County Collabora-tive for their cooperation and to acknowledge the technical assistance of Manuel Cuevas and Robert Huguenin. Address reprint requests to
A Population Study of Skylarks Alauda Arvensis

INTRODUCTION In the summer of 1958 I colour-ringed a number of Skylarks Alauda arvensis to aid observation of their behaviour (Delius 1963 and in prep.). In the following years however, it became apparent that without much additional work the ringing could be extended and other data gathered to yield information on the dynamics of the population. The study area chosen was in the Drigg Dunes and Gulleries Nature Reserve, commonly referred to as Ravenglass Gullery, in northwest England (54° 21' N., 3° 25' W., Fig. 1). It consisted of a 30 ha. strip of coastal dunes (only 10 ha. used in 1958) in a peninsula which projects off the Cumberland coast into the Irish Sea. The study area is isolated to some extent from neighbouring areas by high bare dunes and an estuary. It overlapped to only a very small extent the Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus colony (Marchant 1952). The vegetation consists mainly of marram grass (Ammophila sp.) and is scarce. The Skylarks occupied mainly the lower valleys which have slightly more varied vegetation.