Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Mobile Radio Slotted ALOHA Networks

Given a mobile terminal transmitting a message to some receiver, the level at the receiver will be affected by path loss and by fading phenomena. Transmissions from different terminals will suffer different attenuations on their respective ways to the receiver and will therefore yield different levels at the receiver. Thanks to the capture effect, the receiver will now be able to read the message with the strongest signal, provided that it is sufficiently stronger than its contenders. In a mobile radio ALOHA network this means that a packet collision need not necessarily destroy all packets involved. A Markov model is developed for slotted ALOHA networks with capture and it is shown that the throughput in such a network can be markedly greater than the famous1/e. Perhaps even more important is the result that such networks are very stable under overload.
Modeling Neural Activity

This paper provides an overview of different types of models for studying activity of nerve cells and their networks with a special emphasis on neural oscillations. One part describes the neuronal models based on the Hodgkin and Huxley formalism first described in the 1950s. It is discussed how further simplifications of this formalism enable mathematical analysis of the process of neural excitability. The focus of the paper’s second component is on network activity. Understanding network function is one of the important frontiers remaining in neuroscience. At present, experimental techniques can only provide global recordings or samples of the activity of the huge networks that form the nervous system. Models in neuroscience can therefore play a critical role by providing a framework for integration of necessarily incomplete datasets, thereby providing insight into the mechanisms of neural function. Network models can either explicitly contain individual network nodes that model the neurons, or they can be based on representations of compound population activity. The latter approach was pioneered by Wilson and Cowan in the 1970s. Finally I provide an overview and discuss how network models are employed in the study of neuronal network pathology such as epilepsy.
Surface Science Aspects of Etching Reactions

Abstract Basic studies of the surface science aspects of plasma-assisted etching were initiated over 10 years ago in laboratories throughout the world. Several approaches to this experimentally challenging problem have been taken: (1) simulate the reactive gas glow discharge environment with directed beams of energetic positive ions and thermal energy reactive molecules/radicals in a UHV environment; (2) simulate the reactive gas glow discharge by using a beam of reactive ions (reactive ion beam etching); and (3) carry out careful ex-situ analyses of surfaces etched in reactive gas glow discharges without air exposure. This report will be limited to a review of the work reported using the first of these approaches only and summarizes the status of this virtually unexplored field of surface chemistry. The report includes a discussion of the experimental aspects of this field and then focuses on the gas-solid system which has been studied most thoroughly; i.e., silicon-fluorine. A considerable quantity of new unpublished data is presented and a framework is proposed to explain the many observations associated with the spontaneous reaction of fluorine with silicon. The role of energetic ions in this reaction is then discussed in detail. Other materials combinations which are discussed are silicon-chlorine, silicon-bromine, silicon-hydrogen and SiO2-fluorine. The report concludes with a tabulation of the many other gas-solid systems which have been studied and also a discussion of the extent to which these basic studies relate to actual reactive gas processing environments.
Faculty‐librarian collaboration: a Mexican experience

Collaboration between librarians and faculty is a relative new trend in Mexican academic libraries. Therefore, experiences are scarce and not yet documented. University professors and librarians normally have the usual relationship of patron‐information provider. Although librarians have assumed the role of user information educators, their work tends to occur in isolation. Teamwork is needed so that library instruction can become part of the learning process. Mexican information professionals probably face more library instruction challenges than their colleagues from the more advanced economies, because new students come to the library with hardly any library experience. In this article, the outstanding user education experience at Juarez University is described and assessed.
Object-oriented recognition for automatic inspection

This paper describes work being carried out in the area of object recognition. The research is part of a project, at Kingston University (London), to automatically inspect surface-mounted assemblies. The system is designed to use some of the significant properties of the object-oriented paradigm to build a flexible architecture that can be applied to many inspection problems. The recognition system operates on a new information representation constructed from three inter-linked data structures. The application of the proposed object-oriented recognition framework, to inspect surface-mounted assemblies, will be described in this paper.
Information Literacy in Science and Engineering Undergraduate Education: Faculty Attitudes and Pedagogical Practices.

What are science and engineering faculty doing with respect to the development of information literacy in their undergraduate students? To explore this question, science and engineering faculty at two large Canadian universities were surveyed and interviewed regarding their perceptions of their students’ information literacy skills and their own pedagogical practices related to such skills. Faculty awareness of, and support for, a variety of bibliographic instruction methods and the perceived role of science and engineering librarians in information literacy instruction also were investigated. Based on the survey results, suggestions for the design of library instruction for science and engineering undergraduates are made.
Measuring Link-Resolver Success: Comparing 360 Link With a Local Implementation of Webbridge

This study reviewed link resolver success comparing 360 Link and a local implementation of WebBridge. Two methods were used: (1) comparing article-level access and (2) examining technical issues for 384 randomly sampled OpenURLs. Google Analytics was used to collect user-generated OpenURLs. For both methods, 360 Link out-performed the local implementation of WebBridge. 360 Link provided more direct article access and demonstrated fewer technical issues for theOpenURLs tested. 360 Link also provided management of target syntaxes, which created time savings. The assessment outcome for a local instance of WebBridge may not translate to other WebBridge implementations. The methods employed could be used to compare any link resolvers.
On the New Design of a 4‐Port TEM Waveguide with a Higher Cutoff Frequency and Wider Test Volume

A new miniaturized 4‐port waveguide generating a transverse electromagnetic wave is proposed. The waveguide presents enhanced performance of higher field uniformity in extended test volume up to an increased test frequency limit compared to that of the conventional 2‐port waveguide. The advantageous features of the proposed waveguide have been obtained through a new design scheme based on effective miniaturization maintaining good impedance matching. Consequently, we can provide a more accurate electromagnetic compatibility test method, covering larger devices operating in higher frequencies, which is a marked improvement upon the conventional approaches.
Basic Considerations for Loudness-Based Analysis of Room Impulse Responses

Room impulse responses (RIRs) are used to characterise the acoustical conditions inside sound-critical rooms such as auditoria. The analysis of RIRs typically involves octave-band filtering, with parameters such as reverberation time, early decay time, temporal energy ratios and spatial parameters derived from this. This paper explores the potential for applying auditory models for the analysis of RIRs – incorporating auditory temporal integration (and masking), auditory filterbank analysis, and loudness calculation. The purpose of this is to produce analysis results that are closely related to the sound experienced by listeners. A preliminary step for such analysis is to filter RIRs so that their power spectrum is similar to that of typical material that would be listened to in the rooms (e.g. music or speech), and this paper proposes a music filter suitable for orchestral music, derived from long term power spectra of anechoic music recordings. Dynamic loudness analysis of RIRs yields loudness decay functions that are approximately exponential, which should provide a useful analogy with conventional analysis methods applied to RIRs.
Feature extraction for image quality prediction

A method is presented for detecting blurred edges in images and for estimating the following edge parameters: position, orientation, amplitude, mean value and edge slope. The method is based on a local image-decomposition technique called a polynomia.1 transform. The information that is made explicit by the polynomial transform is well suited for detecting image features such as edges and for estimating feature parameters. By using the relationship between the polynomial coefficients of a blurred feature and those of the a priori assumed (unblurred) feature in the scene, the parameters of the blurred feature can be estimated. The performance of the proposed edge-parameter estimation method in the presence of image noise has been ana.lysed. An a.lgorithm is presented for estimating the spread of a position-invariant Gaussian blurring kemel, using estimates at different edge locations over the image. First a single-scale algorithm is developed where one polynomial transform is used. A critica! parameter of the single-scale algorithm is the window size, which has to be chosen a priori. Since the reliability of the estimate for the spread of the blurring kemel depends on the ratio of this spread to the window size, it is difficult to choose a window of appropriate size a priori. The problem is overcome by a multiscale blur-estimation algorithm where several polynomial transforms at 1 A substantial part of this chapter has been published in a paper in CVGIP Graphical Models and Image Processing (Kayargadde & Martens, 1994a) 2 Some results of the blur estimation algorithm were presented at the International Workshop on Image Processing, Budapest (Kayargadde & Martens, 1994b}, and the results of a comparison with psychophysical data were reported at ECVP-94 (Kayargadde & Martens, 1994c) 12 Chapter 2 Image Blur Estimation different scales are applied, and the appropriate scale for analysis is chosen a posteriori. By applying the blur estimation algorithm to natural and synthetic images with different amounts of blur and noise, it is shown that the algorithm gives reliable estimates for the spread of the blurring kernel even at low signal-to-noise ratios.
Adapting Distance Education for Indonesians: Problems with Learner Heteronomy and a Strong Oral Tradition.

This paper discusses the difficulties being experienced by the Indonesian Open University identified in a joint UNESCO/ICDE analysis. It proposes that a fundamental cause of distance education failure in Indonesia has been the adoption of western models without adaptation to suit the acculturised behaviours of Indonesian teachers and learners. Western distance education assumes that learners will become autonomous and can cope with a teacher relationship mediated through text. The paper describes the heteronomous nature of Indonesian social and learning behaviour, and the strong oral tradition of Indonesian education. Various suggestions are advanced for adapting western models to suit local conditions.
An Empirical Study of Usability Testing: Heuristic Evaluation Vs. User Testing

In this study, two different usability-testing methods (Heuristic Evaluation and User Testing) were selected to test the usability of a pre-release version of software searching for Science, Mathematics and Engineering education materials. Our major goal is to compare Heuristic Evaluation and User Testing in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and cost/benefit analysis. We found that Heuristic Evaluation was more efficient than User Testing in finding usability problems (41 vs. 10), while User Testing was more effective than Heuristic Evaluation in finding major problems (70% vs.12%). in general, Heuristic Evaluation appears to be more economic in finding a wide range of usability problems by incurring a low cost in comparison to User Testing. However, User Testing can provide more insightful data from real users such as user's performance and satisfaction.
Information Illiterate or Lazy: How College Students Use the Web for Research

This article reviews several studies of student usage of the Internet to determine how they use the Web for research. Preliminary data suggest that the majority of students begin a research assignment with the Internet, most often with a commercial search engine. What is not known is whether students have adequate information literacy skills to find authoritative information and then to evaluate the information for use in their research. Evidence indicates that there is yet room for improvement in how students conduct research, as well as how library instruction is designed.
Response to Commentaries: Gesture, Language, and Directionality

We are grateful to the commentators for their thoughtful replies. We had two goals in writing the target article: (i) to bring the issue of sign language directionality to the attention of a wider audience of linguists; and (ii) to move f orward the debate regarding the nature of this phenomenon by changing the focus somewhat, specifically by distinguishing between person-marking and agreement. We are pleased that the commentaries indicate that we have achieved these goals to some extent. In our response to the commentaries, we organize our reactions according to four questions aimed towards the second goal listed above. The various commentaries address these four questions to different degrees, and we feel that organizing our response in this way will allow us to integrate the different a pproaches taken by the commentators and also to emphasize our take-home message. The four questions ask:
Scale, Complexity and the Representation of Theories of Change

Because of the global scale and diversity of their work, international aid agencies face major problems when attempting to represent their plans and evaluate their achievements. In this second of two articles looking at types of change processes, the focus is on complex processes of change that include mutual influence, parallel processes and feedback loops. Four practically oriented arguments are put forward for using a network perspective to represent these processes: the broad applicability of a network framework, its scalability, the range of measurement and descriptive tools available and the multidisciplinary body of theory and research available to inform agencies’ theories of change. Networks are then contrasted with hierarchies as background metaphors, and implications are identified for the monitoring and evaluation of development projects. In this article relevant examples have been drawn from the author’s consultancy experience with development aid programmes in Bangladesh and Ghana.
Feasibility of optical detection of land mine trip wires

Research to assess the feasibility of developing a standoff active or passive optical tripwire detector is discussed. Reflectives of typical tripwires and background materials were measured for UV, VNIR and SWIR wavelengths. A breadboard testbed was developed to obtain images of tripwires against various backgrounds for various geometries and a wide range of VU and VNIR wavelengths. Sample images of simulated and real tripwires in uncluttered environments and against typical cluttered backgrounds were acquired and analyzed. Line detection algorithms were applied to the images to detect tripwires. Although detection was not attempted in real-time, analysis showed that available, cost-effective DSPs could potentially execute those algorithms on the images in real-time. The algorithms successfully detected tripwires in a heavily cluttered background and even have the capability to detect partially obscured wires. To complement the measurements, a spreadsheet model was developed to evaluate the merits of different detectors, sources of illumination, wavebands and geometries for different scenarios. Acceptable signal-to- clutter ratios were found for a number of reasonable passive and active illumination scenarios. The study demonstrated that an optical tripwire detector is feasible in principle.
Change Readiness among Teaching Staff at Anadolu University, Turkey

Turkey’s Anadolu University is one of the world’s largest mega‐universities. It is engaged in strategic planning in response to changes in the expectations of the Turkish Higher Education Council and the community at large. In re‐examining its vision and strategic directions, Anadolu University needs to be informed on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of its teaching staff, and the systems and support needed to assure their change readiness. This article examines the literature of organizational and educational change and its implications for the university. It reports on a study based on the relevant constructs from the literature and is designed to gauge the extent and nature of teaching staff knowledge, skills, practice, and research in educational and technological change, motivating and de‐motivating factors, change adopter types, and perceptions of the organizational climate for change. It considers the implications of these findings and draws conclusions about what would be needed to improve staff readiness for change.
Data communications and management of a distributed network of automated data acquisition and analysis systems

Several research applications require the deployment of a distributed network of automated data acquisition and analysis systems. These systems must provide a reliable and robust method of transferring acquired data to an appropriate data center. The data center must be capable of forwarding the acquired data to a potentially large group of researchers. The network's system operators need robust tools that allow them to easily manage and verify the state of health of the individual systems within the data acquisition and analysis network. Research at PNNL on automated radionuclide systems for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has shown that existing Internet protocols and software applications can be leveraged in the deployment of a functioning network of automated data acquisition and analysis systems. Specifically e-mail, FTP, and network news can be used to transmit data, while SNMP based management tools can be used to manage the systems within the network.
Roll-forward recovery: the bidirectional cache approach

A split-cache memory architecture is presented which provides efficient architectural support for checkpointing and roll-forward recovery mechanisms in distributed systems. Unlike existing techniques, the approach does not require the use of a discrete stable storage unit or explicit synchronization among the processors. A nonscheduled checkpointing mechanism is presented based on a cache-line replacement policy, instead of the conventionally used periodic checkpoint establishment protocols.
SAS® Partial Least Squares Regression for Analysis of Spectroscopic Data

The objective was to investigate the potential of SAS® partial least squares (PLS) to perform chemometric analysis of spectroscopic data. As implemented, SAS® (Version 8) can perform PLS regression (PLSR, Type II only), principal components and reduced rank regression. While possessing several algorithms for PLSR, various cross-validation options, the ability to mean centre and variance scale data prior to PLSR analysis or for each cross-validation and various options for determining the number of factors to use, SAS® does not possess any other spectral pre-treatments routinely used in spectroscopy. A program was written using SAS® macro language to implement 1st and 2nd gap derivatives, Savitzky–Golay derivatives and smoothing, the ability to skip or average spectral data points, to correct spectra for scatter correction by either multiplicative scatter correction or standard normal variate correction with or without detrend and, finally, to mean centre all data prior to regression analysis. In addition, an F-test method for factor selection was added. These macros can be implemented alone or in differing combinations or order, and result in a summary report containing results for hundreds or thousands of different data pre-treatments. A second program implements the macros in a fixed order. Results using a set of 67 forage samples, scanned in the near infrared, demonstrated that the same results can be achieved as with commercial chemometrics packages. In conclusion, SAS® PLS, while not possessing all the data pre-treatments of standard chemometric programs, can quickly and conveniently test many different data pre-treatments resulting in a single summary results file.
Effectiveness of Technology in Precollege Mathematics and Science Teaching

The first major applications of scientific technology to education were made by psychologist B. F. Skinner three decades ago. In the years since, the emphasis in instructional technology has shifted from programmed instruction to individualized systems of teaching to computer-based instruction. These three approaches show different degrees of promise as aids in precollege mathematics and science classrooms. Programmed instruction and individualized instruction have had only limited success in raising student achievement or improving student attitudes in precollege education. Computer-based instruction, on the other hand, has raised student achievement significantly in numerous studies, dramatically affected the amount of time needed for teaching and learning, and greatly altered student attitudes toward the computer.
A Novel CAD Tool and Concept Compatible with the Requirements of Multilayer GaAs MMIC Technology

An efficient field-theoretical tool applicable to a broad class of passive circuit structures has been developed as a CAD kernel component for multilayer GaAs MMIC design. It is based on a new, enhanced spectral domain technique (ESDT) which results in a reduction of CPU-times by one or two orders of magnitude compared to the conventional spectral domain approach. The field-theoretical package can be used, therefore, to generate multidimensional lookup tables in the frame of a general purpose linear CAD program. Together with the associated CAD concept and interpolation technique, the new tool constitutes a shift away from analytical models obtaining improvements with respect to generality, reliability of prediction, accuracy and even efficiency.
Girls, Boys, And Language

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Gender and language use 3. Girls' and boys' talk in the classroom 4. Oracy issues 5. Equal representation? x 6. The literate female 7. Literacy issues 8. Monitoring language experience 9. Introducing equality Further reading References Index.
Solving open benchmark instances for the job‐shop problem by parallel head–tail adjustments

A fast and efficient head–tail adjustment algorithm is presented for the job-shop scheduling problem. The main feature of this algorithm is to do the adjustments on different machines in parallel and simultaneously to propagate the results between the machines. In connection with a branching scheme this algorithm is used to improve lower and upper bounds, and to prove the optimality of solutions for benchmark problems which have been open for some time. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.