Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of route information initialization on two on-demand routing algorithms for wireless ad hoc networks

The wireless ad hoc network is attracting more and more research attentions because of its infrastructureless character. A number of routing algorithms are proposed for multi-hop ad hoc networks. There is a debate in the literature that a period of route information initialization, which is defined as the initial determination of necessary route information before the transmission of real data packets, should help to improve the performance of pure on-demand routing algorithms for ad hoc networks. In this paper, we study how route information initialization affects the performance of two on-demand routing algorithms for ad hoc networks, DSR and AODV. We examined the effects of various durations of initialization time upon performance, and the effects of fixed-duration of initialization with various mobility patterns upon performance. Through simulations as well as analysis, we find that under a certain network condition, there is an optimal value of initialization duration to get the best end-to-end delay without degradation of packet delivery rate and increase of the message overhead for DSR routing protocol, while the best value does not exist for AODV. In addition, we also find that the route information initialization does help to improve DSR's end-to-end delay almost without degradation of its delivery rate for low mobility networks, however, it does not bring benefits to AODV under most circumstances.
An Egalitarian Regime Breeds Generosity: The Effect of Endowment Allocation Procedures on Social Preferences

We experimentally investigate the effect of endowment allocation procedures on social preferences using a two-stage dictator game. In the first stage, participants who were randomly selected as allocators had to perform a task in order to earn money. Better performance on the task resulted in higher earnings. In our baseline meritocratic treatment, the allocators' initial endowment was set equal to their individual earnings. We compared this with an egalitarian treatment whereby the allocators' initial endowment was set equal to the average earnings of all allocators. Essentially, high performers were taxed and under performers were subsidized by the high performers. In the second stage, the allocators had to divide their endowment with the recipients. We show that the allocators were more generous in the egalitarian treatment than in the meritocratic treatment. Interestingly, being taxed did not reduce the high performers' generosity but being subsidized did significantly increase the under performers' generosity. Thus, being treated kindly induced the under performers to reciprocate forward to other people.
The ARMA(k) Gaussian feedback capacity

Using Kim's variational formulation [1] (with a slight yet important modification), we derive the ARMA(fc) Gaussian feedback capacity, i.e., the feedback capacity of an additive channel where the noise is a fc-th order autoregressive moving average Gaussian process. More specifically, the ARMA(fc) Gaussian feedback capacity is expressed as a simple function evaluated at a solution to a system of polynomial equations, which proves to have only finitely many solutions for the cases k = 1,2 and possibly beyond.
Intercomparison of rain gauge, radar, and satellite-based precipitation estimates with emphasis on hydrologic forecasting

Abstract This study compares mean areal precipitation (MAP) estimates derived from three sources: an operational rain gauge network (MAPG), a radar/gauge multisensor product (MAPX), and the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN) satellite-based system (MAPS) for the time period from March 2000 to November 2003. The study area includes seven operational basins of varying size and location in the southeastern United States. The analysis indicates that agreements between the datasets vary considerably from basin to basin and also temporally within the basins. The analysis also includes evaluation of MAPS in comparison with MAPG for use in flow forecasting with a lumped hydrologic model [Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting Model (SAC-SMA)]. The latter evaluation investigates two different parameter sets, the first obtained using manual calibration on historical MAPG, and the second obtained using automatic calibration on both MAPS and MAPG, but ov.
Data Mining for Cancer Management in Egypt Case Study: Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

— Data Mining aims at discovering knowledge out of data and presenting it in a form that is easily comprehensible to humans. One of the useful applications in Egypt is the Cancer management, especially the management of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL, which is the most common type of cancer in children. This paper discusses the process of designing a prototype that can help in the management of childhood ALL, which has a great significance in the health care field. Besides, it has a social impact on decreasing the rate of infection in children in Egypt. It also provides valubale information about the distribution and segmentation of ALL in Egypt, which may be linked to the possible risk factors. Undirected Knowledge Discovery is used since, in the case of this research project, there is no target field as the data provided is mainly subjective. This is done in order to quantify the subjective variables. Therefore, the computer will be asked to identify significant patterns in the provided medical data about ALL. This may be achieved through collecting the data necessary for the system, determimng the data mining technique to be used for the system, and choosing the most suitable implementation tool for the domain. The research makes use of a data mining tool, Clementine, so as to apply Decision Trees technique. We feed it with data extracted from real-life cases taken from specialized Cancer Institutes. Relevant medical cases details such as patient medical history and diagnosis are analyzed, classified, and clustered in order to improve the disease management.
R-Flow: An Extensible XML Based Multimodal Dialog System Architecture

This paper presents an approach for an extensible multimodal interaction dialogue system, R-Flow, based on a recursive application of Model-View-C'ontroller (MVC) design patterns to derive system components and interfaces. This approach leads to a clear separation of three self-contained functional layers in a multimodal dialogue system: modality independent dialog control, synchronization of logical modalities, and physical presentation. These layers are codified and weaved together through standard based XML languages. In particular, it utilizes the standard State-Chart XML (SCXML) for dialog control, SMIL and EMMA based XM-Flow for modality synchronization and interpretation, and a generic XML based binding mechanism to map logical modalities to physical presentations. A prototype system has been implemented for multimodal (e.g. speech, text, and mouse) manipulation of Google map. Our experimental results indicated that such layered and component-based XML MMI system is feasible and the performance of such MMI system is studied and measured.
Controlled passive dynamic running experiments with the ARL-monopod II

This paper presents the expansion and implementation of the controlled passive dynamic running (CPDR) strategy for legged robots, previously presented by the authors. The CPDR exploits the underlying passive dynamic operation of the robot's mechanical systems to reduce the energy spent for locomotion. Meanwhile, it ensures the stability of the vertical and forward motions as the robot speed varies. An "adaptive energy controller" stabilizes the hopping height accurately over a range of operating conditions. The passive dynamic derivations for the Monopod, together with the foot-placement algorithm and model-based joint controllers, are used to control the forward speed about the passive operation trajectories. New locomotion variables are used for robust synchronization between the hip-body and the leg oscillations. ARL-Monopod II achieved a speed of 1.25 m/s with specific resistance (a measure for energy cost of locomotion) of 30% of the earlier robot ARL-Monopod I, its predecessor, due to the newer hip and leg design and application of the CPDR control strategy
Real-Time Segmentation and Recognition of Surgical Tasks in Cataract Surgery Videos

In ophthalmology, it is now common practice to record every surgical procedure and to archive the resulting videos for documentation purposes. In this paper, we present a solution to automatically segment and categorize surgical tasks in real-time during the surgery, using the video recording. The goal would be to communicate information to the surgeon in due time, such as recommendations to the less experienced surgeons. The proposed solution relies on the content-based video retrieval paradigm: it reuses previously archived videos to automatically analyze the current surgery, by analogy reasoning. Each video is segmented, in real-time, into an alternating sequence of idle phases, during which no clinically-relevant motions are visible, and action phases. As soon as an idle phase is detected, the previous action phase is categorized and the next action phase is predicted. A conditional random field is used for categorization and prediction. The proposed system was applied to the automatic segmentation and categorization of cataract surgery tasks. A dataset of 186 surgeries, performed by ten different surgeons, was manually annotated: ten possibly overlapping surgical tasks were delimited in each surgery. Using the content of action phases and the duration of idle phases as sources of evidence, an average recognition performance of Az = 0.832 ±0.070 was achieved.
Multi-pitch trajectory estimation of concurrent speech based on harmonic GMM and nonlinear kalman filtering

Abstract This paper describes a multi-pitch tracking algorithmof 1-channel simultaneous multiple speech. The algo-rithm selectively carries out the two alternative processesat each frame: frame-independent-process and frame-dependent-process. The former is the one we have previ-ously proposed[6], that gives good estimates of the num-ber of speakers and F 0 s with a single-frame-processing.The latter corresponds to the topic mainly described inthis paper, that recursively tracks F 0 s using nonlinearKalman ﬁltering. We tested our algorithm on simulta-neous speech signal data and showed higher performancethan when the frame-independent-process was only used. 1. Introduction 1-channel multi-pitch estimation technique may con-tribute to various applications, such as spontaneous dia-logue speech recognition, that allows competitive speech,noise robust speech recognition, especially where noiseis a harmonic signal(e.g., telephone ring, back groundmusic, etc.), and also many music applications. How-ever, multi-pitch estimation of non-stationary signalsis hardly simple due to the complex factors such asspectral overlap, poor frequency resolution and spec-tral widening in short-time analysis, etc. Various ap-proaches concerning to this problem have convention-ally been attempted [1, 2, 3], while two important taskshave been left unsolved. Firstly, there has been no ro-bust way of estimating the number of speakers, andmost of the methods were obliged to assume for sim-plicity that the number is known a priori. Secondly, thedouble/half(harmonics/subharmonics) pitch error has stillbeen one of the most critical problem where convinc-ing solutions are not yet proposed. One may say bothproblems share the same difﬁculty of deﬁning physicallyor mathematically proper criteria. Until now, we haveproposed a GMM(Gaussian mixture model)-based multi-pitch estimation algorithm that works as a single-frame-processing and gives solutions to the two tasks statedabove according to the information criterion[6]. This al-gorithm has not yet taken into account any time depen-dency property, that would ensure the improvements in
Lectures on orientifolds and duality

These lecture notes are intended as a pedagogical introduction to orientifolds. Aspects of orbifolds and F-theory are also discussed in brief to provide the necessary background. The emphasis is on the applications of these constructions to duality. The approach is based on simple examples that can be easily worked out in detail but which, at the same time, illustrate the main ingredients of the general procedure.
Fuzzy Hidden Markov Models and fuzzy NN Models in Speaker Recognition

The fuzzy HMM algorithm is regarded as an application of the fuzzy expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to the Baum-Welch algorithm in the HMM. The Texas Instruments p4 used speech and speaker recognition experiments and show better results for fuzzy HMMs compared with conventional HMMs. Equation and how estimation of discrete and continuous HMM parameters on based this two algorithm is explained and performance of two speech recognition method for one hundred is surveyed. This paper show better results for the fuzzy HMM, compared with the conventional HMM. After of that work we use fuzzy-neural network system was proposed for Farsi speech recognition. Instead of using the fuzzy membership input with class membership desired-output during training procedure as proposed by several researches, we used the fuzzy membership input with fundamental binary desired-output. This can reduce the misunderstood training, decrease the training time and also improve the recognition ability
System fusion for improving performance in information retrieval systems

The fusion of various retrieval strategies has long been suggested as a means of improving retrieval effectiveness. To date, testing of fusion has been done by combining result sets from widely disparate approaches that include an uncontrolled mixture of retrieval strategies and utilities. To isolate the effect of fusion on individual retrieval models, we have implemented probabilistic, vector-space and weighted Boolean models and tested the effect of fusion on these strategies in a systematic fashion. We also tested the effect of fusion on various query representations and have shown up to a 12% improvement in the average precision.
Adaptors, Junction Dynamics, and Spermatogenesis1

Abstract Adaptors are component proteins of junctional complexes in all epithelia, including the seminiferous epithelium of the mammalian testis. They recruit other regulatory and structural proteins to the site of both anchoring junctions (such as cell-cell actin-based adherens junctions [AJs], e.g., ectoplasmic specialization [ES] and tubulobulbar complex, which are both testis-specific cell-cell actin-based AJ types, and cell-cell intermediate filament-based desmosome-like junctions) and tight junctions (TJ). Furthermore, adaptors per se can be substrates and/or activators of kinases or phosphatases. As such, the integrity of cell junctions and the regulation of junction dynamics during spermatogenesis rely on adaptors for their ability to recruit and link different junctional components to the same site and to tether transmembrane proteins at both anchoring and TJ sites to the underlying cytoskeletons, such as the actin filaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules. These protein-protein interactions are possible because adaptors are composed of conserved protein binding domains, which allow them to link to more than one structural or signaling protein, recruiting multi-protein complexes to the same site. Herein, we provide a timely review of adaptors recently found at the sites of AJ (e.g., ES) and TJ. In addition, several in vivo models that can be used to delineate the function of adaptors in the testis are described, and the role of adaptors in regulating junction dynamics pertinent to spermatogenesis is discussed.
Practicing JUDO: Java under dynamic optimizations

A high-performance implementation of a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) consists of efficient implementation of Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation, exception handling, synchronization mechanism, and garbage collection (GC). These components are tightly coupled to achieve high performance. In this paper, we present some static anddynamic techniques implemented in the JIT compilation and exception handling of the Microprocessor Research Lab Virtual Machine (MRL VM), i.e., lazy exceptions, lazy GC mapping, dynamic patching, and bounds checking elimination. Our experiments used IA-32 as the hardware platform, but the optimizations can be generalized to other architectures.
THE ABSOLUTE FLUX DISTRIBUTION OF LDS749B

Observations from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) define the flux of the DBQ4 star LDS749B from 0.12 to 1.0 μm with an uncertainty of ∼1% relative to the three pure hydrogen white dwarf primary Hubble Space Telescope standards. With Teff = 13,575 K, log g = 8.05, and a trace of carbon at 1 × 10−6 of solar, a He model atmosphere fits the measured STIS fluxes within the observational noise, except in a few spectral lines with uncertain physics of the line-broadening theory. The upper limit to the atmospheric hydrogen and oxygen fractions by number are 1 × 10−7 and 7 × 10−10, respectively. The excellent agreement of the model flux distribution with the observations lends confidence to the accuracy of the modeled IR fluxes beyond the limits of the STIS spectrophotometry. The estimated precision of ∼1% in the predicted IR absolute fluxes at 30 μm should be better than the model predictions for Vega and should be comparable to the absolute accuracy of the three primary WD models.
Relations entre acheteur et vendeur : les catalyseurs d’une confiance durable

Le rôle de la confiance dans le maintien et la continuité des relations en B to B a été établi ; en revanche, la compréhension de son évolution au cours de la relation acheteur/vendeur reste problématique pour les industriels. Tenant compte des principales phases de la relation acheteur/vendeur, cette étude qualitative, réalisée auprès d’acheteurs dans plusieurs secteurs industriels, met au jour la métamorphose de la nature et des déterminants de la confiance. Elle suggère une meilleure organisation de la force de vente, une adaptation du profil des vendeurs aux différentes étapes de la relation et des actions ciblées pour maintenir durablement un niveau de confiance élevé .
Analysis and Design of a Voltage–Current Transformer Feedback Neutralization Network With an Arbitrarily Chosen Coupling-Factor

One of the transformer neutralization conditions derived theoretically in previous publications is to make the coupling factor, k, of the transformer as close to one as possible, which is not easy to realize over millimeter-wave frequency range. To seek a method for neutralizing the transistor gate-drain capacitance to cope with the imperfect reverse isolation with the transformer coupling factor not necessarily being close to one, a voltage-current transformer feedback network is adopted in this paper. A phase noninverting transformer is added between gate and drain nodes of a transistor to form a voltage-current feedback. The neutralization condition of this network is derived. The effect of this network on the gain is predicted theoretically. The noise behavior of this network is also analyzed and compared theoretically with other transformer feedback structures reported in the millimeter-wave amplifier design. A Q-band three-stage amplifier using this network is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of this network. This amplifier is implemented in 90-nm low-power bulk CMOS technology. Measurement results show that this amplifier has the peak gain of 18.3 dB at 46 GHz and the reverse isolation better than 40 dB over the operation frequency range while consuming 20 mW at a supply voltage of 1.2 V, which verifies the unilateralization effect by using this network.
Joint WMT 2012 Submission of the QUAERO Project

This paper describes the joint QUAERO submission to the WMT 2012 machine translation evaluation. Four groups (RWTH Aachen University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, LIMSI-CNRS, and SYSTRAN) of the QUAERO project submitted a joint translation for the WMT German→English task. Each group translated the data sets with their own systems and finally the RWTH system combination combined these translations in our final submission. Experimental results show improvements of up to 1.7 points in Bleu and 3.4 points in Ter compared to the best single system.
The Management of Decumulation Risks in a Defined Contribution Pension Plan

Abstract The aim of the paper is to lay the theoretical foundations for the construction of a flexible tool that can be used by pensioners to find optimal investment and consumption choices in the distribution phase of a defined contribution pension plan. The investment/consumption plan is adopted until the time of compulsory annuitization, taking into account the possibility of earlier death. The effect of the bequest motive and the desire to buy a higher annuity than the one purchasable at retirement are included in the objective function. The mathematical tools provided by dynamic programming techniques are applied to find closed-form solutions: numerical examples are also presented. In the model, the tradeoff between the different desires of the individual regarding consumption and final annuity can be dealt with by choosing appropriate weights for these factors in the setting of the problem. Conclusions are twofold. First, we find that there is a natural time-varying target for the size of the fund, which acts as a sort of safety level for the needs of the pensioner. Second, the personal preferences of the pensioner can be translated into optimal choices, which in turn affect the distribution of the consumption path and of the final annuity.
Policies to change attitudes to people with disabilities

ABSTRACTNegative attitudes are a major barrier to the equality of people with disabilities. Governments and other organizations have implemented numerous programmes to change attitudes towards people with disabilities. We analyse published evidence about the effectiveness of such programmes using a framework of the interrelationship among three levels of policy intervention to change attitudes: personal level – directed at changing the attitudes of individuals; organizational level – concerning attitudinal barriers in domains such as employment, education and health; and government level – legally mandating behaviour change. The analysis finds that the following policy types can be effective if used together: policies that involve direct contact with people with disability; information and awareness campaigns; education and training about disability; and antidiscrimination enforcement. Policy characteristics that contribute to effectiveness include a positive programme experience for participants; multifa.