Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effective channel estimation and efficient symbol detection for multi-input multi-output underwater acoustic communications

of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy EFFECTIVE CHANNEL ESTIMATION AND EFFICIENT SYMBOL DETECTION FOR MULTI-INPUT MULTI-OUTPUT UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATIONS By Jun Ling August 2011 Chair: Jian Li Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering Achieving reliable underwater acoustic communications (UAC) has long been recognized as a challenging problem owing to the scarce bandwidth available and the reverberant spread in both time and frequency domains. To pursue high data rates, we consider a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) UAC system, and our focus is placed on two main issues regarding a MIMO UAC system: 1) channel estimation, which involves the design of the training sequences and the development of a reliable channel estimation algorithm, and 2) symbol detection, which requires interference cancelation schemes due to simultaneous transmission from multiple transducers. To enhance channel estimation performance, we present a cyclic approach for designing training sequences with good autoand cross-correlation properties, and a channel estimation algorithm called the iterative adaptive approach (IAA). Sparse channel estimates can be obtained by combining IAA with the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Moreover, we present sparse learning via iterative minimization (SLIM) and demonstrate that SLIM gives similar performance to IAA but at a much lower computational cost. Furthermore, an extension of the SLIM algorithm is introduced to estimate the sparse and frequency modulated acoustic channels. The extended algorithm is referred to as generalization of SLIM (GoSLIM). Regarding symbol detection, a linear minimum mean-squared error based detection scheme, called RELAX-BLAST, which is a combination of vertical Bell Labs layered space-time
Review of Package Warning Labels and Their Effect on Consumer Behaviour with Insights to Future Anticounterfeit Strategy of Label and Communication Systems

This paper investigates and reviews literature regarding a range of topics important to the research question – the themes apply across all the topics. The topics include label and package warnings, including tamper‐evident features, to review their effect on the consumer behaviour of changing usage or purchase decisions. This information was then applied to gain insight into anticounterfeit product/package efforts. Based on this research, it appears that there is value for brand marketers to enhance their anticounterfeit efforts and consumer confidence by utilizing warning labels and information labels on their labels or packages. Currently, consumer perception of a domestic counterfeit product threat (promoted as genuine products), even for pharmaceuticals by healthcare professionals, although increasing has still been very low. Generally, the consumers believe and expect that the product purchased from retailers is safe and genuine. The study reviewed many key warning and label communication areas: consumer behaviour review, technical specifications, anticounterfeit, tamper evidence/tamper resistance, over‐the‐counter drugs, alcohol, cigarette, nutrition food and nutrition supplements. To complete the insight on communicating with the consumer, a review of label legibility was included. Before brand marketers consider adding anticounterfeit warning labels, extensive consumer behaviour research should be conducted in areas such as fear appeals and involuntary risk outrage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
What Works in the Classroom? Promoting Literacy Practices in English

Today, learners study and connect with one another across classrooms, community and country borders in new and exciting ways. The growth of global languages, specifically the worldwide spread of the English language in social, workplace and everyday communication demands radical transformation in the classroom. The first part of the paper presents some key findings of English literacy practices. The discussion gives a rather disturbing picture that literacy is still learnt as a set of skills and not as a social practice connected to various domains and communities of practices in the real world. The second part of the paper unveils the recent shifts in thinking about literacy in general and specifically about learning in the English Language. The paper advances the Multiliteracies approach as propounded by the New London Group (1996) as a possible pathway of engaging the real world. This approach is supported by sample activities
Mechanical Instabilities of Soft Materials: Creases, Wrinkles, Folds, and Ridges

Subject to a sufficiently large compression, materials may undergo mechanical instabilities of various types. When the material is homogeneous, creases set in. When the material is a bilayer consisting of a stiff thin film on a thick compliant substrate, wrinkles set in. Creases are localized self-contact regions with large strain deviating from the smooth state, while wrinkles are undulations finite in space with infinitesimal strain deviating from the smooth state. After the formation of wrinkles, if the compression further increases, wrinkles double their period and form localized folds. If the substrate is subject to a sufficiently large pre-tension, wrinkles transit to ridges. This thesis explores different types of mechanical instabilities: creases, wrinkles, folds, and ridges. We start with studying creases in different materials. Soft tissues growing under constraint often form creases. We adopt the model of growth that factors the deformation gradient into a growth tensor and an elastic deformation tensor, and show that the critical conditions for the onset of creases take a remarkably simple form. We then perform simulations to explore creases in strain-stiffening materials. For a solid that stiffens steeply at large strains, as the compression increases, the surface is initially smooth, then forms creases, and finally becomes smooth again. For a solid that stiffens steeply at small strains,
The thermodynamics of risk

It is now routine to consider the full probability distribution of downturns in many sectors. In the financial services sector regulators (both internal and external) require corporations not only to measure their risk, but also to hold a sufficient amount of capital to cover potential losses given that risk. Another example is in emergency service vehicle routing, where one needs to be able to reliably get to a destination within a fixed limit of time, rather than taking a route which may have a shorter expected travel time but could, under certain travel conditions, take significantly longer [Samaranayake et al., 2012]. Further examples can be found in food hygiene [Pouillot et al., 2007] and technology infrastructure [Buyya et al., 2009]. In the first part of the thesis we consider the implications of risk in portfolio optimisation. We construct an algorithm which allows for the efficient optimisation of a portfolio at various risk points. During this work we assume that the value at risk can only be estimated via sampling; this is because it would be near impossible to analytically capture the probability distribution of a large portfolio. We focus initially on optimising a single risk point but later expand the work to the optimisation of multiple risk points. We study the ensemble defined by the algorithm, and also various approximations of it are then used to both improve the algorithm but also to question exactly what we should be optimising when we wish to minimise risk. The key challenge in constructing such an algorithm is to consider how much the optimisation method biases the samples used to estimate the value at risk. We wish to select genuinely better solutions; not just solutions which were somehow lucky, and hence treated more favourably, during the optimisation process. In the second part of the thesis we switch our focus to considering how we can understand when large losses will occur. In the financial services sector this translates to asking the question: under what market conditions will I make a (very) significant loss, or even go bankrupt? We consider various methods of answering this question. The initial algorithm relies heavily on an understanding of how our portfolio is modelled but we work to extend this algorithm so that no prior knowledge of the system is required. In the final chapter we discuss some further implications and possible future directions of this work.
Modeling of quasi-ballistic transport in nanowire metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

We developed a semi-analytical quasi-ballistic transport model for the nanowire metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, dealing with finite lengths of source, channel, and drain. For the modeling, we used a combination of one-flux scattering matrices and analytical solutions of Boltzmann transport equations. The developed model was in quantitatively good agreement with numerical results, and well represented intermediate-scaled devices. In addition, we illustrated that the finite source seriously affect the distribution function of the carriers injected from the source, and the finite drain does for the backscattering into the channel from the drain. Finally, our model and results would help to understand physical aspects regarding quasi-ballistic transport in nanoscale devices.
The Cause of Panic at the Outbreak of COVID-19 in South Africa - A Comparative Analysis with Similar Outbreak in China and New York

Lack of proper messaging at an outbreak of a novel disease causes panic with more serious damaging impacts on livelihoods, social-fabric of communities, economic landscapes, and political stability. There have been notable high levels of panic in South Africa and the globe with regard to the outbreak of COVID-19. The current lack of knowledge and poor communication has been attributed as a precursor to the skyrocketing global panic (Freimuth, Linnan, Potter, 2000). Fuelling this panic is the rate at which the incidence of new infections is increasing in countries outside of China, with Italy and Iran leading on a number of new infections and death cases.A Content Analysis method was used to analyze articles, media clips and social network reactions to the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Africa on the 6th of March 2020. The key to the investigation was to understand how authorities are communicating with the public on matters of national concern – regarding how they are prepared to deal and handle the outbreak. This study further compares the South African response to China at the outbreak of SARS in 2003. Codes were generated in targeted media and scientific sources and themes were generated and presented.Findings indicate that the general public does not have faith in government authorities, due to a lack of communication. It is perceived that lack of communication is indicative of a lack of preparedness. Contrary to evident panic in South Africa, scientific data indicates that there is no need to panic as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19. Further, a study from the French Institute for Health and Medical Research in 2020 on the preparedness of African countries to handle COVID-19 indicates that South Africa is one of the better-equipped countries in Africa to detect and handle any incidence of COVID-19. The study recommends that authorities and policy-makers use communications to educate the public far earlier at the onset of epidemic outbreaks, regardless of where it happens as the air-traffic connects global countries, resulting in the potential for disease importation.
Improving the validation of turbulent jet breakup models

Understanding the physics of the breakup of turbulent liquid jets is important for a variety of applications including engine sprays, fire suppression systems, and water jet cutting. Models of turbulent jet breakup allow predictions of quantities of interest like the droplet size distribution and breakup length of the jet. These models are compared against experimental data in a process called validation. If the model predictions are within the experimental uncertainty, then the model is "validated" and believed to be accurate, and possibly can explain the physics. Uncertainty quantification is necessary for model validation. While unfortunately relatively few experimental studies quantify uncertainty, that is not the most pressing validation issue in turbulent jet breakup. I detail 3 additional problems that can make the apparent validation of a model actually an illusion, regardless of how well the model appears to match the data. These problems include: 1. important variables being omitted or guessed in experiments and models, 2. confounding between independent variables, that is, two variables changing simultaneously, making determining cause and effect impossible, and 3. testing only combinations of submodels and not each submodel in isolation. To avoid these problems and others, I developed validation guidelines that are detailed in this work. Following these guidelines, I compiled a large experimental database. Only 28 out of 47 experimental studies considered met my data quality guidelines. Only 18 studies had quantified uncertainty, and only 3 studies had substantial variation in the turbulence intensity.
Non-interfering multiport brine diffusers in shallow coastal waters

Multiport brine diffusers are capable of handling large brine flow rates and producing relatively high dilution ratios, and thus are gaining popularity nowadays. A key design issue of the multiport brine diffuser is the selection of the proper discharge port diameter (D) and number of ports (N), i.e. the D–N combination, to meet the design objectives. In the present study, semianalytical solutions for the optimal D–N combination of non-interfering multiport brine diffusers are derived, including both the full submergence scenario as well as scenarios in shallow coastal waters whereby surface contact is permitted. The semianalytical solutions illustrate how the challenges of a wide operation flow range with a low Qmin/Qmax ratio, a high species protection level and a shallow cover water depth impose on the diffuser design. The influence of these dominant factors can be quantified using the equations obtained, and case studies are provided as practical examples. Additionally, the results also show that the 30° inclination and surface contact scenarios are recommended for shallow receiving waters, since they lead to a significant reduction of the number of ports and/or the length of the outfall pipe, which can in turn reduce the capital cost of the desalination plant. The D–N diagrams for this configuration are provided which can be used to estimate the optimal D–N combination.
Measurement location for state estimation of distribution networks with generation

State estimation is important for the automatic management and control of complex distribution networks with significant distributed generation. State estimation has been used extensively on transmission systems where, generally, measurements of busbar voltages and line power flows exist. However, distribution systems normally have only a limited number of measurements. In such systems additional measurements are expensive and careful selection of location becomes important. The paper presents a heuristic approach to identify potential points for location of voltage measurements for state estimation as part of a proposed distribution management system controller. The developed technique identifies measurement locations to reduce the voltage standard deviation of the busbars which do not have a measurement. It addresses the problems of classical transmission meter placement methods, which are not directly applicable to distribution systems due to limited measurements, and unobservability of the network.
Dairy Buffalo Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Affected by a Management Choice: The Production of Wheat Crop

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed in dairy buffalo farms representative of Southern Italian farming systems, similar due to several characteristics, with the exception of wheat production. This work evaluated the impacts derived from this management choice, comparing farms with wheat crop (WWC) or not (NWC). In agreement with the literature, economic allocation was chosen as a useful strategy to attribute equivalents to by-products, i.e., culled animals; the same criterion was also adopted to assign pollutants to wheat grain, limited to WWC farms. Environmental impacts in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP, kg CO2 eq), Acidification Potential (AC, g SO2 eq), Eutrophication Potential (EU, g PO43-eq), Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO, m2y) and Water Depletion (WD, m3) were estimated. The production of wheat crop significantly affected (p < 0.05) the Agricultural Land Occupation (ALO) category as WWC farms need adequate land. WWC farms could allow a significant reduction in eutrophication (EU) compared to NWC farms (p < 0.05).
Product Choice and Anthropomorphic Designs: Do Consumption Goals Shape Innate Preferences for Human-like Forms?

ABSTRACT Some product forms such as designs mimicking human shapes are supposed to trigger innate preferences in consumers. In design and marketing literature, there is some evidence supporting such a preference bias toward anthropomorphic forms. However, it is still an open question whether preferences for anthropomorphically designed products can be attenuated by contextual factors. Assuming that consumers are sensitive to the value (e.g. functional or emotional benefits from usage) product design communicates, we postulated that consumers should prefer anthropomorphic designs mainly when future consumption serves emotional, but not functional, goals. In an experiment, where participants were exposed to different kinds of consumption scenarios, we found that participants' preferences for anthropomorphic designs varied with the scenarios. Further, we found tentative evidence for product-related emotional responses, elicited at the moment of purchase. Our results show the limits of biologically determined preferences, and emphasize the impact of anticipating future interactions on present design preferences.
Flooding Probability Constrained Optimal Design of Trapezoidal Channels

Trapezoidal open channels are designed for specified slope, specific lining materials, and for a specified design flow. These input design parameters are prone to uncertainties. The freeboard is used to confine the flow within the limits of the channel cross section and to accommodate the uncertainty effects. Because of the size of uncertainty, the flow can overtop the freeboard with a “flooding probability. ” To design an optimum channel cross section for safety against overtopping, the flooding probability constrained optimum channel design concept is introduced. An optimization model was developed which has two objective functions of minimizing the total cost of the channel and minimizing the flooding probabilities subject to uniform flow equation as constraint. The constraint method of multiobjective optimization is used in which the objective of minimizing the flooding probability is converted to a constraint, and the resulting single objective optimization problem is solved. The flooding probability .
Transmission of the Translational Trunk Vibration to the Head-Neck Complex

The flexion-extension motion of the head-neck complex (HNC) in the trunk horizontal (fore-and-aft) vibration was investigated. It was assumed that the motion of the HNC only occurs in mid-sagittal plane. An electro-hydraulic vibrator was used as a source of vibration. The input acceleration and HNC angular velocity were measured whereas the trunk of the seated subject was fixed to the seatback. Accordingly, the acceleration of the vibrator was considered to be equal to that of the trunk. Six subjects took part in the experiment. They were exposed to the random motion at a magnitude of 1.60ms-2rms (root-mean-square) for 50 seconds. The coherence and frequency response function between the HNC angular velocity and the trunk horizontal acceleration were then obtained on 0.5Hz to 10Hz. Averaging the obtained transmissibilities allowed to represent an optimized frequency response corresponding to each of the subjects. It was found that the HNC behavior above 0.8Hz was quasi-linear with a dominant resonance frequency between 0.8Hz and 1.6Hz. The variabilities of the results within and between subjects were investigated. It was further concluded that linear models could describe the HNC so that their orders should be selected in accordance with the frequency response function of the system as well as the objectives of modeling.
A high performance BiCMOS technology using 0.25 mu m CMOS and double poly 47 GHz bipolar

In this technology, first the CMOS is defined and a major part of the heat cycle is carried out. Then, the bipolar is fabricated by the rest of the CMOS. Patterned subcollector definition and epitaxial silicon growth are followed by the deep and shallow trench isolation processes. Next are the npn collector reach-through and anneal, CMOS well and threshold implants, gate oxidation and poly deposition. CMOS gate definition, reoxidation, and nMOS n/sup +/ implant. Electron-beam lithography is used to pattern the gate level in order to achieve a minimum gate poly width of 0.3 mu m. Next, the CMOS region is protected, while fabricating the bipolar. The annealing cycles for base and emitter during the process are compatible with the CMOS requirements. The minimum final emitter size is 0.5 mu m. CMOS ring oscillators with 50-ps delay per stage at 2.5-V supply, ECL ring oscillator delays of 48 ps at 1.2 mA, and fast loaded BiNMOS gate delays have been achieved. <<ETX>>
Characterization of the harvesting capabilities of an ionic polymer metal composite device

Harvesting systems capable of transforming dusty environmental energy into electrical energy have aroused considerable interest in the last two decades. Several research works have focused on the transformation of mechanical environmental vibrations into electrical energy. Most of the research activity refers to classic piezoelectric ceramic materials, but more recently piezoelectric polymer materials have been considered. In this paper, a novel point of view regarding harvesting systems is proposed: using ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) as generating materials. The goal of this paper is the development of a model able to predict the energy harvesting capabilities of an IPMC material working in air. The model is developed by using the vibration transmission theory of an Euler–Bernoulli cantilever IPMC beam. The IPMC is considered to work in its linear elastic region with a viscous damping contribution ranging from 0.1 to 100 Hz. An identification process based on experimental measurements performed on a Nafion® 117 membrane is used to estimate the material parameters. The model validation shows a good agreement between simulated and experimental results. The model is used to predict the optimal working region and the optimal geometrical parameters for the maximum power generation capacity of a specific membrane. The model takes into account two restrictions. The first is due to the beam theory, which imposes a maximum ratio of 0.5 between the cantilever width and length. The second restriction is to force the cantilever to oscillate with a specific strain; in this paper a 0.3% strain is considered. By considering these two assumptions as constraints on the model, it is seen that IPMC materials could be used as low-power generators in a low-frequency region. The optimal dimensions for the Nafion® 117 membrane are length = 12 cm and width = 6.2 cm, and the electric power generation is 3 nW at a vibrating frequency of 7.09 rad s−1. IPMC materials can sustain big yield strains, so by increasing the strain allowed on the material the power will increase dramatically, the expected values being up to a few microwatts.