Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Language of Romance: An Open Vocabulary Analysis of the Highest Rated Words Used in Romance Novels

What are the common linguistic features of top-rated romance novels? The open vocabulary method was performed on 703 romance novels to determine what words were commonly used in the highest rated romance novels. Results revealed that the highest rated novels contained words related to arousal, sexual/primal prowess, and sexual communication. Our research team discusses the ability for words to capture psychological underpinnings related to readers and directions for future research.
Design of a Front-End Amplifier for the Maximum Power Delivery and Required Noise by HBMO with Support Vector Microstrip Model

Honey Bee Mating Optimization (HBMO) is a recent swarm-based optimization algorithm to solve highly nonlinear problems, whose based approach combines the powers of simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, and an effective local search heuristic to search for the best possible solution to the problem under investigation within a reasonable computing time. In this work, the HBMO-based design is carried out for a front-end amplifier subject to be a subunit of a radar system in conjunction with a cost effective 3-D SONNET-based Support Vector Regression Machine (SVRM) microstrip model. All the matching microstrip widths, lengths are obtained on a chosen substrate to satisfy the maximum power delivery and the required noise over the required bandwidth of a selected transistor. The proposed HBMO-based design is applied to the design of a typical ultra-wide-band low noise amplifier with NE3512S02 on a substrate of Rogers 4350 for the maximum output power and the noise figure F(f) = 1 dB within the 5-12 GHz using the T-type of microstrip matching circuits. Furthermore, the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed HBMO based design are manifested by comparing it with the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and the simple HBMO based designs.
Robust Plan Execution in Multi-agent Environments

This paper presents a novel multi-agent reactive execution model that keeps track of the execution of an agent to recover from incoming failures. It is a domain-independent execution model, which can be exploited in any planning control application, embedded into a more general multi-agent planning framework. The multi-agent reactive execution model provides a mechanism allowing an agent to respond to failures that prevent completion of a task when another agent is not able to repair the failure by itself. The model exploits the reactive planning capabilities of agents to come up with a solution at runtime, thus preventing agents from having to resort to replanning. We show the application of the proposed model for the control of multiple autonomous space vehicles.
Why are these people there? An analysis based on Twitter

Social mining techniques enable gathering huge amount of data and allows inferring relevant information about Social Network Sites users such as social ties, interests, emotions, habits, etc. However, applying these techniques to tweets entail several difficulties consequence of their own characteristics: short messages written in informal language. In this paper we deal with this issues with the aim of finding out the reason why an unexpected group of people is in the same location at the same time. We show the results of applying our methodology in Madrid City during May Day.
A comparative study of centroid-based, neighborhood-based and statistical approaches for effective document categorization

Associating documents to relevant categories is critical for effective document retrieval. Here, we compare the well-known k-nearest neighborhood (kNN) algorithm, the centroid-based classifier and the highest average similarity over retrieved documents (HASRD) algorithm, for effective document categorization. We use various measures such as the micro and macro F1 values to evaluate their performance on the Reuters-21578 corpus. The empirical results show that kNN performs the best, followed by our adapted HASRD and the centroid-based classifier for common document categories, while the centroid-based classifier and kNN outperform our adapted HASRD for rare document categories. Additionally, our study clearly indicates that each classifier performs optimally only when a suitable term weighting scheme is used All these significant results lead to many exciting directions for future exploration.
On Measuring Anomia

This paper discusses briefly the concept of anomie and how the concept of anomia emerged from it and then continues with a major focus on the empirical examination of a measurement problem of the Srole (1956) anomia scale. Anomie, as originally used by Durkheim (1951), refers to a state of "normlessness" in society. In an anomic society there are no rules to curtail the desires of individuals: "With increased prosperity desires increase. , . the richer prize offered these appetites stimulates them and makes them more exigent and impatient of control" (Durkheim, 1966: 253). The means necessary to fulfill these desires cannot be sufficient because the desires are ever-elevating, always moving out of reach. In fact, a principal desire often becomes having that which is out of reach. The resultant inability to be satisfied is despair and ultimately suicide. Merton (1957) modified Durkheim's definition of anomie and posited slightly different causes. Whereas Durkheim viewed anomie as being caused by unlimited desires which may occur
C-Band Scatterometer Measurements of Multiyear Sea Ice Before Fall Freeze-Up in the Canadian Arctic

Backscatter signatures of multiyear sea ice (MYI) during the late summer and early fall season before the fall freeze-up in the Canadian Arctic archipelago (CAA) have been obtained through the use of a ship-based polarimetric scatterometer. The device operates in C-band, and measurements were conducted in swaths from incidence angles of 20 deg-60deg. Three characteristic sites on MYI floes were investigated in the high Arctic and the central Arctic regions. In situ snow and sea-ice thermophysical data were collected at each site in conjunction with local scatterometer measurements. The thermophysical data were subsequently analyzed using dielectric modeling techniques and coupled with the backscattering measurements (sigmadeg). Observed backscatter values and ratios were found to be in agreement with literature data, with volumetric scattering as the dominant scattering mechanism.
Strong rightward lateralization of the dorsal attentional network in left‐handers with right sighting‐eye: An evolutionary advantage

Hemispheric lateralization for spatial attention and its relationships with manual preference strength and eye preference were studied in a sample of 293 healthy individuals balanced for manual preference. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to map this large sample while performing visually guided saccadic eye movements. This activated a bilateral distributed cortico‐subcortical network in which dorsal and ventral attentional/saccadic pathways elicited rightward asymmetrical activation depending on manual preference strength and sighting eye. While the ventral pathway showed a strong rightward asymmetry irrespective of both manual preference strength and eye preference, the dorsal frontoparietal network showed a robust rightward asymmetry in strongly left‐handers, even more pronounced in left‐handed subjects with a right sighting‐eye. Our findings brings support to the hypothesis that the origin of the rightward hemispheric dominance for spatial attention may have a manipulo‐spatial origin neither perceptual nor motor per se but rather reflecting a mechanism by which a spatial context is mapped onto the perceptual and motor activities, including the exploration of the spatial environment with eyes and hands. Within this context, strongly left‐handers with a right sighting‐eye may benefit from the advantage of having the same right hemispheric control of their dominant hand and visuospatial attention processing. We suggest that this phenomenon explains why left‐handed right sighting‐eye athletes can outperform their competitors in sporting duels and that the prehistoric and historical constancy of the left‐handers ratio over the general population may relate in part on the hemispheric specialization of spatial attention. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1151–1164, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Parallel Motion Planning Using Poisson-Disk Sampling

We present a rapidly exploring-random-tree-based parallel motion planning algorithm that uses the maximal Poisson-disk sampling scheme. Our approach exploits the free-disk property of the maximal Poisson-disk samples to generate nodes and perform tree expansion. Furthermore, we use an adaptive scheme to generate more samples in challenging regions of the configuration space. The Poisson-disk sampling results in improved parallel performance and we highlight the performance benefits on multicore central processing units as well as manycore graphics processing units on different benchmarks.
Watersheds in Digital Spaces: An Efficient Algorithm Based on Immersion Simulations

A fast and flexible algorithm for computing watersheds in digital gray-scale images is introduced. A review of watersheds and related motion is first presented, and the major methods to determine watersheds are discussed. The algorithm is based on an immersion process analogy, in which the flooding of the water in the picture is efficiently simulated using of queue of pixel. It is described in detail provided in a pseudo C language. The accuracy of this algorithm is proven to be superior to that of the existing implementations, and it is shown that its adaptation to any kind of digital grid and its generalization to n-dimensional images (and even to graphs) are straightforward. The algorithm is reported to be faster than any other watershed algorithm. Applications of this algorithm with regard to picture segmentation are presented for magnetic resonance (MR) imagery and for digital elevation models. An example of 3-D watershed is also provided. >
Extending the Domain Name System (DNS) to provide geographical addressing towards vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs)

Geographical addressing is a key communication paradigm in emerging Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In this paper, we address the issue of how to direct messages to roadside units (RSUs) in order to have them forwarded by the RSUs to the on-board units (OBUs) of vehicles in a certain specified destination area. For that purpose, we have extended the Domain Name System (DNS) to support geographically scoped queries. A query with specified geographical coordinates will be resolved by the extended DNS system to the IPv6 addresses of those RSUs that cover the area described by the geographical coordinates. In this paper, we further extend the proposal by introducing delegation of geographical queries to DNS servers lower in the hierarchy. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of the proposal by implementing and experimenting with a prototype.
Particle Accumulation in a Microchannel and Its Reduction by a Standing Surface Acoustic Wave (SSAW)

Accumulation of particles in a high concentration on a microchannel wall is a common phenomenon in a colloidal fluid. Gradual accumulation/deposition of particles can eventually obstruct the fluid flow and lead to clogging, which seriously affects the accuracy and reliability of nozzle-based printing and causes damage to the nozzle. Particle accumulation in a 100 μm microchannel was investigated by light microscopy, and its area growth in an exponential format was used to quantify this phenomenon. The effects of the constriction angle and alginate concentration on particle accumulation were also studied. In order to reduce the clogging problem, an acoustic method was proposed and evaluated here. Numerical simulation was first conducted to predict the acoustic radiation force on the particles in the fluid with different viscosities. Interdigital transducers (IDTs) were fabricated on the LiNbO3 wafer to produce standing surface acoustic waves (SSAW) in the microchannel. It was found that the actuation of SSAW can reduce the accumulation area in the microchannel by 2 to 3.7-fold. In summary, the particle accumulation becomes significant with the increase of the constriction angle and fluid viscosity. The SSAW can effectively reduce the particle accumulation and postpone clogging.
Molecular evidence for host specificity of parasitic nematode microfilariae in some African rainforest birds

Here we describe, determine the prevalence, and examine the host‐specificity of some parasitic nematode microfilariae in selected bird species from West and Central Africa. We used microscopy to determine the prevalence of microfilariae in 969 host individuals representing 121 rainforest bird species from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea. Thirteen (11%) of these potential host species harboured microfilariae, and 35 individuals (3.6%) were infected. From the 35 infected individuals, we identified eight distinct morphological microfilarial forms. Sixteen of the 35 infected individuals were of one host species, the Fire‐crested Alethe (Alethe diademata), at a prevalence rate of 62%. To examine host and geographical specificity, we sequenced a portion of the LSU rDNA gene from representative microfilariae drawn from different hosts and collecting locations. Identical sequences of the nematode LSU rDNA gene were found in A. diademata collected from locations in Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea, locations separated by the Dahomey Gap and associated with different hypothesized refugial areas. In contrast, several other bird species collected at the same sites harboured different microfilaria lineages. We sequenced the mitochondrial ATP synthase genes of the host species A. diademata, and found a 5.4% sequence divergence between the birds sampled in Côte d’Ivoire, and those from Cameroon. Thus, despite this split between the two populations, they harbour microfilariae with identical lineages. These data provide evidence that the microfilariae found in A. diademata may be highly host specific. This apparent specificity may have important implications for the evolutionary and ecological interactions between parasitic nematodes and their avian hosts.
Residential Exposure to Urban Traffic Is Associated with Increased Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Children

Chronic exposure to urban traffic pollution is documented to promote atherosclerosis in adults but little is known about its potential effects in children. Our study examined the association of long-term exposure to traffic with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in 287 healthy children. Residential proximity and distance-weighted traffic density (DWTD) were used as proximity markers for traffic-related air pollution exposure. The multivariable analyses revealed that children residing <100 meters from the nearest heavily trafficked road had cIMT mean and maximum measurements that were increased by 15% and 11% compared to those living ≥ 200 meters away (P = 0.0001). Similar increases in cIMT were identified for children in the highest versus lowest DWTD tertile. Children who resided 100–199 meters from traffic or in the middle DWTD tertile also exhibited increased cIMT but these differences were not statistically significant. No statistically significant differences were identified between residential distance to traffic or DWTD and systemic inflammation indicators (CRP, IL-6). The study results suggest that exposure to urban traffic promotes arterial remodeling in children. This finding is important since even small increases in cIMT over time can potentially lead to earlier progression to atherosclerosis. It is also important because traffic-related pollution is potentially modifiable.
OF BLIND SEPARATION METHODS FOR CONVOLUTIVE MIXTURES USING BLOCK-DIAGONALIZATION

We address in this paper a unified presentation of previous works by A. Belouchrani, K. Abed-Meraim and co-authors about separation of FIR convolutive mixtures using (joint) block-diagonalization. We first present general equations in the stochastic context. Then the implementation of the general method is studied in practice and linked with previous works for stationary and non-stationary sources. The nonstationary case is especially studied within a time-frequency framework: we introduce Spatial Wigner-Ville Spectrum and propose a criterion based on single block auto-terms identification to select efficiently, in practice, the matrices to be joint block-diagonalized.
The diversity-multiplexing-delay tradeoff in MIMO ARQ channels

In this paper, we explore the fundamental performance tradeoff of the delay-limited multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) automatic retransmission request (ARQ) channel. In particular, we extend the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff investigated by Zheng and Tse in standard delay-limited MIMO channels with coherent detection to the ARQ scenario. We establish the three-dimensional tradeoff between reliability (i.e. diversity), throughput (i.e., multiplexing gain), and delay (i.e., maximum number of retransmissions). This tradeoff quantifies the ARQ diversity gain obtained by leveraging the retransmission delay to enhance the reliability for a given multiplexing gain. Interestingly, ARQ diversity appears even in long-term static channels where all the retransmissions take place in the same channel state. Furthermore, by relaxing the input power constraint allowing variable power levels in different retransmissions, we show that power control can be used to dramatically increase the diversity advantage. Our analysis reveals some important insights on the benefits of ARQ in slow fading MIMO channels. In particular, we show that: 1) allowing for a sufficiently large retransmission delay results in an almost flat diversity-multiplexing tradeoff, and hence, renders operating at high multiplexing gain more advantageous; 2) MIMO ARQ channels quickly approach the ergodic limit when power control is employed
Get Ready for Agile Methods, with Care

Although many of their advocates consider the agile and plan-driven software development methods polar opposites, synthesizing the two can provide developers with a comprehensive spectrum of tools and options. Real-world examples argue for and against agile methods. Responding to change has been cited as the critical technical success factor in the Internet browser battle between Microsoft and Netscape. But overresponding to change has been cited as the source of many software disasters, such as the $3 billion overrun of the US Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Automation System for national air traffic control. The author believes that both agile and plan-driven approaches have a responsible center and overinterpreting radical fringes. Agile and plan-driven methods both form part of the planning spectrum. Thus, while each approach has a home ground within which it performs very well, and much better than the other, a combined approach is feasible and preferable in some circumstances.
Magnetic Field Analysis of Halbach Permanent Magnetic Synchronous Machine

A numerical study of PMSM based on finite element method for estimating the airgap magnetic field distribution considering stator slots effect is presented both for traditional radial magnet structure and Halbach magnet array topology. Magnetic field, flux, torque and the induction in the air gap are presented. The two machines structures performances were compared which put in view the modifications brought by these structures. According to numerical calculations, and harmonic analysis, the PMSM with Halbach magnet array provides a higher torque and better performance than the classical radial PMSM.
A synthetic traffic model for Half-Life

This paper presents our development of a synthetic traffic model for the interactive online computer game Half-Life. The goal is a traffic model that can be used by researchers and Internet Service Provider engineers to estimate the potential future impact of Half-Life traffic over IP networks. We developed our ns2 simulation model for Half-Life's IP traffic by running live network experiments and characterising the observed packet length, packet inter-arrival times, and data rates (in packetsand bitsper second). Our observations are documented in this paper, and we expect our traffic model will assist network planners who wish to better support real-time game traffic.
Wireless local positioning - existing solutions and novel system concepts

We extend the conventional FMCW radar concept for primary radar systems to secondary radar systems. In the first setup we show how two radar devices are synchronized to each other in order to measure their 1D-distance to each other. We then present two methods to extend the system to multiple units thereby enabling the estimation of a 2D-position. Finally, we present a novel system configuration incorporating multiple receiving antennas to measure both the 1D-distance between the radar units and the angle of arrival of the radar signals. By measuring the distance and the angle of arrival the number of radar units required for 2D-positioning can be reduced significantly, thus enabling new applications.
Enhancing software DSM for compiler-parallelized applications

Current parallelizing compilers for message-passing machines only support a limited class of data-parallel applications. One method for eliminating this restriction is to combine powerful shared-memory parallelizing compilers with software distributed shared-memory (DSM) systems. We demonstrate such a system by combining the SUIF parallelizing compiler and the CVM software DSM. Innovations of the system include compiler-directed techniques that: (1) combine synchronization and parallelism information communication on parallel task invocation, (2) employ customized routines for evaluating reduction operations, and (3) select a hybrid update protocol that pre-sends data by flushing updates at barriers. For applications with sufficient granularity of parallelism, these optimizations yield very good eight processor speedups on an IBM SP-2 and DEC Alpha cluster usually matching or exceeding the speedup of equivalent HPF and message-passing versions of each program. Flushing updates, in particular, eliminates almost all nonlocal memory misses and improves performance by 13% on average.