Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Battery-Aware Operation Range Estimation for Terrestrial and Aerial Electric Vehicles

The range of operations of electric vehicles (EVs) is a critical aspect that may affect the user's attitude toward them. For manned EVs, range anxiety is still perceived as a major issue and recent surveys have shown that one-third of potential European users are deterred by this problem when considering the move to an EV. A similar consideration applies to aerial EVs for commercial use, where a careful planning of the flying range is essential not only to guarantee the service but also to avoid the loss of the EVs due to charge depletion during the flight. Therefore, route planning for EVs for different purposes (range estimation, route optimization) and/or application scenarios (terrestrial, aerial EVs) is an essential element to foster the acceptance of EVs as a replacement of traditional vehicles. One essential element to enable such accurate planning is an accurate model of the actual power consumption. While very elaborate models for the electrical motors of EVs do exist, the motor power does not perfectly match the power drawn from the battery because of battery non-idealities. In this paper, we propose a general methodology that allows to predict and/or optimize the operation range of EVs, by allowing different accuracy/complexity tradeoffs for the models describing the route, the vehicle, and the battery, and taking into account the decoupling between motor and battery power. We demonstrate our method on two use cases. The first one is a traditional driving range prediction for a terrestrial EV; the second one concerns an unmanned aerial vehicle, for which the methodology will be used to determine the energy-optimal flying speed for a set of parcel delivery tasks.
Limitations and Optimization of Supergain End-Fire Arrays

In this paper, the possibility to optimize supergain end-fire arrays is numerically investigated. Firstly, the optimization problems in terms of directivity and gain are introduced. Then, infinitesimal-dipole based end-fire arrays have been optimized as a function of the number of elements and inter-element spacing. It is shown that, their radiation efficiency can be predicted and, for close inter-element spacing, even optimized to provide a higher gain than the one obtained with the classical directivity optimization methods. The numerical analysis is detailed and validated by full wave simulations in the case of three half-wavelength dipoles.
Design of Wideband Circularly Polarized Crossed-Dipole Antenna Using Parasitic Modified Patches

In this paper, a wideband circularly polarized (CP) crossed-dipole antenna is presented by using parasitic modified patches. Four polygonal metal patches are sequentially rotated around the crossed dipoles. By tuning the electromagnetic coupling characteristic between the patches and the crossed dipoles, the axial-ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of the lower frequency band can be enhanced significantly. Furthermore, four slots are etched on the parasitic patches in a sequential rotation way, modifying the current distribution. Therefore, an extra CP mode produces at the higher band. A wide 3-dB ARBW is realized by combing three CP modes, including the basic CP mode of the cross dipole at the middle frequency band. A prototype of the proposed broadband CP antenna was manufactured and measured to verify the design principle. The measurement results illustrate that the antenna has a wide 10-dB return loss bandwidth of 99.2% (1.24–3.68 GHz) and a broad 3-dB ARBW of 72.7% (1.41–3.02 GHz) for right-hand circular polarization (RHCP). Besides, stable gain and unidirectional radiation patterns are also obtained over the entire band of operation.
P2P-based botnets: structural analysis, monitoring, and mitigation

Botnets, which are networks of compromised machines that are controlled by one or a group of attackers, have emerged as one of the most serious security threats on the Internet. With an army of bots at the scale of tens of thousands of hosts or even as large as 1.5 million PCs, the computational power of botnets can be leveraged to launch large-scale DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, sending spamming emails, stealing identities and financial information, etc. As detection and mitigation techniques against botnets have been stepped up in recent years, attackers are also constantly improving their strategies to operate these botnets. The first generation of botnets typically employ IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels as their command and control (C&C) centers. Though simple and easy to deploy, the centralized C&C mechanism of such botnets has made them prone to being detected and disabled. Against this backdrop, peer-to-peer (P2P) based botnets have emerged as a new generation of botnets which can conceal their C&C communication. Recently, P2P networks have emerged as a covert communication platform for malicious programs known as bots. As popular distributed systems, they allow bots to communicate easily while protecting the botmaster from being discovered. Existing workmore » on P2P-based hotnets mainly focuses on measurement of botnet sizes. In this work, through simulation, we study extensively the structure of P2P networks running Kademlia, one of a few widely used P2P protocols in practice. Our simulation testbed incorporates the actual code of a real Kademlia client software to achieve great realism, and distributed event-driven simulation techniques to achieve high scalability. Using this testbed, we analyze the scaling, reachability, clustering, and centrality properties of P2P-based botnets from a graph-theoretical perspective. We further demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that monitoring bot activities in a P2P network is difficult, suggesting that the P2P mechanism indeed helps botnets hide their communication effectively. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of some potential mitigation techniques, such as content poisoning, Sybil-based and Eclipse-based mitigation. Conclusions drawn from this work shed light on the structure of P2P botnets, how to monitor bot activities in P2P networks, and how to mitigate botnet operations effectively. « less
Sentiment Analysis for Automated Email Response System

Email is the most widely used form of written communication, especially for teacher-student communication. Most routine email responses are repetitive in nature but consume a lot of academic time. An automated email response system can save much of this time. This research is focused on detection and classification of sentiment in student-teacher email conversations. This study aims to find out markers of politeness and impoliteness within email. This will ultimately help in generating more human-like response. Taking into account Ekman’s basic emotions, we have proposed a method to find out these emotions using deep learning. Limiting our research to student-teacher conversations, gives us a close domain for finding sentiment and its intensity.
Synthesizable Heterogeneous FPGA Fabrics

We present an automated framework for the generation of synthesizable FPGAs with heterogeneous functional blocks and carry chains, as modelled with the open-source Verilog-to-Routing (VTR) FPGA architecture evaluation framework. VTR's modelling of hardened blocks, such as DSPs and BRAMs, is leveraged to generate synthesizeable FPGAs mappable via VTR's Verilog frontend. The generated Verilog source for the FPGA can be synthesized to target any conventional semiconductor process via an industry-standard ASIC toolflows with minimal implementation effort. We model a Stratix IV-style FPGA architecture, complete with carry chains, DSPs and BRAMs, and compare area/performance with the commercial Stratix IV FPGA. The area and performance gap between the fully synthesizable and commercial fabrics for a set of benchmarks using the heterogeneous blocks is 3.2x and 2.3x, respectively. Optimizations to reduce the gap are discussed.
ATPG and Test Compression for Probabilistic Circuits

Unlike testing deterministic circuits, where each test pattern is applied only once, testing probabilistic circuits requires multiple pattern repetitions for each test pattern. In this paper, we propose an ATPG algorithm for probabilistic circuits. We use specialized activation and propagation methods to reduce pattern repetitions. Also, we propose to accumulate contribution among different test patterns to further reduce pattern repetitions. Experiments on ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits show the total test length of our proposed method is 24% shorter than a previous greedy method [4].
Analysis of Transient Electromagnetic Field Propagation in Well-Logging Environments via an Efficient Mode-Matching Technique

In this paper, we present a study on the response of well-logging sensors exploiting transient electromagnetic sources in complex subsurface formations by using a combined frequency-domain mode-matching technique with a numerical inverse Fourier transform in a computationally efficient manner. We present five representative examples to validate and explore the time evolution of the received waves in view of it velocity and attenuation. Preliminary conclusions are presented and the potential of this approach for the study of the time-domain response of logging-while-drilling sensors in realistic problems with radial and axial stratifications is then summarized.
A single image dehazing method based on sky recognition and average saturation prior

Images captured in bad weather are often degraded due to the existence of atmospheric suspended particles, which is a fatal problem for both consumer photographs and computer vision applications. In this paper, a single image dehazing method based on sky recognition and average saturation prior is proposed. First, we put forward a novel sky region features prior, which is a statistics prior based on thousands of images. Based on this prior, we clip sky region from images and set it as the basis of global atmospheric light estimation. Next, the transmission is estimated within sky region and non-sky region independently, and further refined via the guided total variation model. Finally, a high-quality haze-free image can be achieved based on the atmospheric scattering model. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms several state-of-the-arts with respect to the visual effects and robustness.
Introducing Senior Undergraduate Students to the Open-Circuit Time-Constant Method for Circuit Analysis

Open-circuit time-constant (OCTC) method is an approximate analytical method to estimate the 3 dB bandwidth of baseband circuits. Considerable saving in computational effort is achieved since a full analysis of the circuit is not required. The paper focuses on teaching and illustrating OCTC to senior undergraduate students. Two examples are presented to highlight the benefits gained by the approximate analysis technique and the perception of the students on the subject.
Design of a Compact Four-Way Dual Polarization Orthomode Power Divider for Multiport Radiating Elements

The concept and design of a novel compact power divider exhibiting dual-polarization and its use as a feeder for a Fabry-Perot cavity antenna comprising 4 input ports is presented. The dual and in-phase polarization on each of the four circular waveguides is achieved by using 4 five-port turnstile junctions accompanied by two 8-by-1 power division structures. The power divider ends up to two ports (each for one polarization) so that it can be used as a feeding network for an antenna array. The design is fully metallic, a feature that makes this feeder an ideal candidate for satellite applications. The design band is 3.65 to 3.95 GHz, presenting a Return Loss better than 20 dB and an input-output isolation (orthogonal modes) better than 30 dB. The exciter is further connected to Fabry-Perot cavity antenna and the simulation results of the total feed are presented.
Improving the Dense Trajectories Approach Towards Efficient Recognition of Simple Human Activities

Action recognition has been highlighted by its implications on issues of security and integrity. However, although the dense trajectory method has achieved outstanding results, its implementation is associated with a high computational cost, creating the need for faster methods if we want to use these methods to protect our safety and integrity in real-time systems.In this work, we explore the subject keypoints estimation to create what we call action recognition by key trajectories, which is a faster version of the dense trajectories approach. We tested our proposal on the KTH and UCF11 datasets and got as a result that our proposal recognizes subject actions in videos eight times faster with comparable results to the dense trajectories approach. i.e., 94.20% for the Key Trajectories compared to 95.65% of the dense trajectories in the KTH dataset and 80.66% for the Key Trajectories compared to 84.08% of the dense trajectories in the UCF11.
User- Friendly Compact Model of Magnetic Tunnel Junctions for Circuit Simulation Based on Switching Probability

We propose a new compact MTJ model for circuit simulation which is implemented by Verilog-A and can be easily built in de-facto standard SPICE. The model is based on switching probability of an MTJ with time-varying input current. The transition between the adiabatic precessional model and the thermal activation model is made smooth by using an interpolation function with a technique to predict a switching time from an input current. Simulation results validate that the model is consistent with physical model and effective for MTJ/CMOS hybrid circuit simulation.
Prescribing the electric power at wind power systems, based on variable weather conditions

The present paper determines the electric power for a wind power system, according to the time varying wind speed, v. The wind power system (WPS) consists of a wind turbine, WT and a synchronous generator with permanent magnets, SGPM. The electrical power becomes a prescribed value, P*, of the control system, ensuring stable operation and maximum captured wind power. Operation at the maximum power point (MPP) at the optimal mechanical angular speed (MAS), ωOPTIM, in the conditions in those the wind speed decreases over time causes transition to an unstable area, MAS decreasing over time. For this reason, in present, at stable operation of the wind power system, the MAS values are higher than ωOPTIM. The prescribed power values, P*, are calculated in such a way that the WPS should operate stable and the captured wind power is as high as possible. To determine the prescribed power value, an algorithm is proposed that considers rapid wind speed variations. Measuring the basic functional sizes, MAS and the electric debt energy by the SGPM, we determine the dependence of optimal MAS to the wind speed and bring the WPS in the optimal operation area by modifying the generators load.
SPARC – 1: A New, Improved Modular 6U Spacecraft

SPARC-1 (Space Plug-and-play Architecture Research Cubesat-1) is the first joint US/Sweden military research nanosatellite (6U cubesat), representing culmination of a research activity spanning more than a decade. The spacecraft design encompasses a blending of technologies and components developed by both countries, with primary payloads of direct interest to each nation. The US payload, referred to as an Agile Space Radio (ASR) is an on-orbit reconfigurable transceiver, intended to support live experimentation with different waveforms and protocols useful to communications missions. The Swedish payload is a visible camera optimized for the study of space situational awareness (SSA) concepts. At the time of this writing, the spacecraft development, assembly, integration, and testing has been successfully completed, and SPARC-1 is expected to launch in 2019.
End-User Searching: Program Review and Future Prospects.

The impending implementation of a local area network at Hofstra University's Axinn Library provides an opportu nity for the Reference Department to evaluate the library's current end-user services and the effectiveness of the ongo ing end-user training program. A survey was conducted to determine how well end-user services satisfy information needs and the extent to which end-users apply the concepts and techniques emphasized in the training program. Find ings suggest that: 1. There is a high degree of user satisfaction with the end user services. 2. End-users do not differentiate between keyword and descriptor searching despite the emphasis placed on these concepts in the formal training program. 3. The emphasis in training on thesaurus use seems out of proportion to its contribution to effective or satisfactory end-user searches, and repeat searchers of end-user ser vices make significantly less use of the thesaurus than do first-time searchers of end-user services. 4. Students do not, to any significant degree, use the ad vanced searching techniques emphasized in training. The study concludes that modifications of the formal training program are needed, and the implementation of the local area network requires the development of better instructional materials, particularly point-of-use guides.
Limitations of the ITU-R P.838-3 model for rain specific attenuation

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommendation P.838-3 provides a method to calculate the specific attenuation due to rain. Although the model nature is twofold, to hold a physical basis and to maximize the accordance with experimental data, its current implementation comes with some limitations and inaccuracies. In this contribution we highlight some differences observed when a physically based attenuation model is built and used for comparison. Some nonphysical behaviors of the ITU model are spotted with the variation of rain rate, polarization and elevation angle in a significant frequency range for satellite communication links.
The Formation Stability of a Multi-Robotic Formation Control System

The recent trend in the design of a robot system towards to increase the capibility of a single robot for the increasing demand in different applications at home, industry or military(Murry 2007). However, it greatly increases not only the unit production cost but also the design complexity. One of the best solution for this problem is certainly identified as using many of the low cost robots in terms of the cooperative manner. Accordingly, the formation system may constitute a more effective achievement than a single robot in regard to the union of the different functions in the different Wheeled Mobile Robots(WMRs) of a team such that the cooperative system tends to the better signal resolution and the higher performance of the information system etc. Sometimes we could also suffer the task which is very diffcult to be achieved with a single robot, i.e., move a large size object from one place to another one or deal with the highly flexible tasks. The Multi-Robot Formation System (MRFS) is generally defined as a system contains a collection of the robotic subsystems which is able to be cooperation/competition with each other. The interconnected structure of the MRFS represents the physical or nonphysical interconnected relationship between any robots based on the specific robot in the formation team. Usually, the interconnected structure of the MRFS can be regarded as a topological structure with the communication system(Fax and Murray 2004; Olfati-Saber and Murray 2004). In other words, the topological structure is the foundation of the information system of the MRFS that is used to exchange their state information for the centralized coordinator(Matinez, Cortes et al. 2007). From geometrical persepective, the topological structure governs the shape stability or equivalently the graph rigidity(Lin, Francis et al. 2005) of the MRFS. Reviewing with the information aspect, the interconnected structure is naturally constructed with respect to the physical limitation of the sensors or the communication power of the WMRs, i.e., the resolution of the range sensor or the communication range etc. Sometimes, the interconnected structure may be assigned autonomously by the task manager who receives the global information of the systems and manages the performance of the task. The MRFS could surely be explained through the hierarchical system, ref. (Singh 1977). We emphasize that the MRFS is topologically constructed by the two hierarchy with low(subsystem) and high(interconnected system) level in this research. In most of the 15
Modern factor analysis

This thoroughly revised third edition of Harry H. Harman's authoritative text incorporates the many new advances made in computer science and technology over the last ten years. The author gives full coverage to both theoretical and applied aspects of factor analysis from its foundations through the most advanced techniques. This highly readable text will be welcomed by researchers and students working in psychology, statistics, economics, and related disciplines.
Task complexity, uptake of recasts, and second language development

One claim of Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis predicts that more cognitively complex tasks will promote greater uptake and retention of linguistic forms enhanced by interactional feedback such as recasts. The present study tested this claim by examining whether the task design variable +/- visual support affected the amount of uptake produced by learners in response to recasts and the relationship between uptake and L2 development. The study employed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design, with three treatment sessions. The participants were 54 adult EFL learners, randomly assigned to two experimental and a control group. Both experimental groups performed picture description tasks and received recasts targeting the past progressive. In the complex task condition, participants could view the pictures while describing them, whereas, in the simple condition, they could not do so. The pre- and post-tests included two oral production tasks designed to assess any changes in the learners’ ability to use the past progressive. Multiple regression analyses revealed that although task complexity did not affect the rate of learners’ uptake, it did modulate the relationship between uptake and L2 development. Uptake was a strong positive predictor of development when learners carried out less complex tasks, but was negatively associated with development when learners carried out more complex tasks.
The asymptotic input-output weight distribution of convolutional codes

Stop arrangement for drill turbines in which the fixed disks and the mobile disks are made of steel, their friction surfaces being processed by conventional methods in order to impart thereto a suitable hardness, the mobile disks being installed so as to be movable elastically in the axial direction in order to distribute the efforts among the various elements and in order to damp the shocks between the rigid friction surfaces of the said elements.
Sharing Words: Theory and Practice of Dialogic Learning

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction: Priciples of Dialogic Learning Chapter 3 1. Manuel: A Life Spent Struggling against Cultural Inequalities Chapter 4 2. Lola: From "Illiterate" to Creator of a Literary Circle Chapter 5 3. Chelo: Subject of Her Own Transformation Chapter 6 4. Rocio: Overcoming Agism Chapter 7 5. Juan: Decolonizing Everyday Life Chapter 8 6. Rosalia: Dialogic Investigation Chapter 9 7. Antonio: Gypsy Contribution to the Dialogue Chapter 10 Index Chapter 11 About the Author