Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term memory motion-compensated prediction for robust video transmission

Long-term memory prediction extends the spatial displacement vector utilized in hybrid video coding by a variable time delay permitting the use of more than one reference frame for motion compensation. This extension provides improved rate-distortion performance. However, motion compensation in combination with transmission errors leads to temporal error propagation that occurs when the reference frames at encoder and decoder differ. In this paper, we present a framework that incorporates an error estimate into rate-constrained motion estimation and mode decision. Experimental results with a Rayleigh fading channel show that long-term memory motion compensation significantly outperforms single-frame prediction.
Design of high charging power supply for Electric Vehicle based on BUCK circuit

For the limitations of big volume, high energy consumption and low efficiency of current high power battery, developed the 16KW intelligent charger supply based on BUCK circuit by using single IGBT module. This design is efficient at low costs for charging strong Lithium-Ion batteries for Electric Vehicles. Analyzing the working status of preferred BUCK converter, this research showed designs of main parameters and main waveforms of prototype testing.
Frequency and Time Hopping PPM UWB Multiple Access Communication Scheme

In this paper we propose frequency and time hopping pulse position modulation (FTH-PPM) ultra wideband (UWB) for multiple access communications. We have derived and investigated the bit error probability for the multi-user synchronous transmitter case in multipath channels with Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). Simulation results show that bit error probability performance of FTH-PPM UWB out performs the time hopping pulse position modulated (TH-PPM) UWB system. It also show that multiuser capacity of FTH-PPM UWB system is much better than TH-PPM UWB system.
Frequent Users of Hospital Emergency Departments in Korea Characterized by Claims Data from the National Health Insurance: A Cross Sectional Study

The Korean National Health Insurance, which provides universal coverage for the entire Korean population, is now facing financial instability. Frequent emergency department (ED) users may represent a medically vulnerable population who could benefit from interventions that both improve care and lower costs. To understand the nature of frequent ED users in Korea, we analyzed claims data from a population-based national representative sample. We performed both bivariate and multivariable analyses to investigate the association between patient characteristics and frequent ED use (4+ ED visits in a year) using claims data of a 1% random sample of the Korean population, collected in 2009. Among 156,246 total ED users, 4,835 (3.1%) were frequent ED users. These patients accounted for 14% of 209,326 total ED visits and 17.2% of $76,253,784 total medical expenses generated from all ED visits in the 1% data sample. Frequent ED users tended to be older, male, and of lower socio-economic status compared with occasional ED users (p < 0.001 for each). Moreover, frequent ED users had longer stays in the hospital when admitted, higher probability of undergoing an operative procedure, and increased mortality. Among 8,425 primary diagnoses, alcohol-related complaints and schizophrenia showed the strongest positive correlation with the number of ED visits. Among the frequent ED users, mortality and annual outpatient department visits were significantly lower in the alcohol-related patient subgroup compared with other frequent ED users; furthermore, the rate was even lower than that for non-frequent ED users. Our findings suggest that expanding mental health and alcohol treatment programs may be a reasonable strategy to decrease the dependence of these patients on the ED.
A Quality Measure for Compliant Grasps and Fixtures Based on the Principal Stiffness Parameters

This paper presents a systematic approach to quantifying the effectiveness of compliant grasps and fixtures of an object. The approach is physically motivated and applies to the grasping of 2D and 3D objects by any number of fingers. We characterize the frame-invariant features of a grasp or fixture stiffness matrix. Then we define frame-invariant characteristic stiffness parameters, and provide physical and geometric interpretation for these parameters. Using a physically meaningful scheme to make the stiffness parameters comparable, we define a frame-invariant quality measure called the stiffness quality measure. The quality measure is then applied to the optimal grasping of polygonal objects by three and four fingers. We develop practical methods for computing the globally optimal three and four-finger arrangement, and provide examples which show that the resulting optimal grasps are intuitively
The (Un)Clear Effects of Invalid Retro-Cues

Studies with the retro-cue paradigm have shown that validly cueing objects in visual working memory long after encoding can still benefit performance on subsequent change detection tasks. With regard to the effects of invalid cues, the literature is less clear. Some studies reported costs, others did not. We here revisit two recent studies that made interesting suggestions concerning invalid retro-cues: One study suggested that costs only occur for larger set sizes, and another study suggested that inclusion of invalid retro-cues diminishes the retro-cue benefit. New data from one experiment and a reanalysis of published data are provided to address these conclusions. The new data clearly show costs (and benefits) that were independent of set size, and the reanalysis suggests no influence of the inclusion of invalid retro-cues on the retro-cue benefit. Thus, previous interpretations may be taken with some caution at present.
Characterization of Material Parameters

 Abstract—The present work is concerned with the characterization of hardening parameters for an elasto-plastic continuum model, taking into account the memory effect of plastic strain amplitude, in order to predict the hysteretic responses of 429EM steel. This elasto-plastic three-dimensional model is based on the internal thermodynamic variables which composed of the nonlinear kinematic hardening and isotropic hardening with the plastic strain memorization. The emphasis is put on the determination of strain memory parameters along with other material parameters of the proposed model in order to better simulate the behavior of the material at different strain range. The material parameters are calibrated with the experimental stabilized loops of stress-strain curves available in the literature. The predicted stabilized loops from the simulation with the determined parameters show good agreement with the experimental results signifying the validity of the considered model.
Comparison of advanced monaural and binaural noise reduction algorithms for hearing aids

Coming generations of digital hearing aids will allow the implementation of advanced noise reduction techniques. Moreover, the future availability of wireless technology to link left and right hearing instrument will facilitate the application of binaural noise reduction strategies. Therefore, efficient signal processing algorithms converting this technological progress into substantial benefit for the hearing impaired have to be identified and developed now. In this paper the performance of two advanced monaural and binaural spectral subtraction approaches is investigated and benchmarked with a conventional directional microphone. The evaluation is based on computer simulations with signals recorded in everyday-life listening conditions with two hearing aids mounted on a dummy head. In a second step, suitable combinations of the different approaches are investigated.
Joint Association of Sitting Time and Physical Activity with Metabolic Risk Factors among Middle-Aged Malays in a Developing Country: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Prolonged sitting is associated with increased weight and higher risks for abdominal obesity, dyslipidaemia, hyperglycaemia and hypertension among the adult population. This has been well documented in the West, but studies on these associations are lacking in developing countries, including Malaysia. Objective This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the joint association of sitting time and physical activity with metabolic risk factors among middle-aged working adults. Methodology A total of 686 Malay men and women participated (mean age 45.9±6.5 years). Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed from the modified NCEP ATP III criteria. Self-reported sitting time was obtained with the validated Malay version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Participants were asked about their time spent sitting during travel in a motor vehicle, e.g., car, motorcycle or bus, over the preceding 7 days. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio with the confidence interval for the combined effects of sitting quartiles and physical activity categories with metabolic risk factors. Results/Significance The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among our participants was 31.9%. Their average total sitting time (including transportation) was 7.6±2.4 h/day. After we adjusted for gender and educational level, higher sitting quartiles and physically inactive groups were associated with higher odds for metabolic syndrome compared with the referent group (sitting <6 h/day and physically active). In the physically active stratum, the odds for metabolic syndrome in participants who sat ≥9.3 h/day was 3.8 times that of participants who sat <6 h/day. Both higher sitting quartiles and insufficient physical activity were associated with adverse effects on abdominal obesity, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycaemia. Conclusion In joint analyses of sitting time and physical activity, higher sitting time and insufficient physical activity were deleteriously associated with odds for metabolic risk factors in middle-aged Malay men and women.
On Developing a Financial Prediction System : Pitfalls and Possibilities

A successful financial prediction system presents many challenges. Some are encountered over again, and though an individual solution might be system-specific, general principles still apply. Using them as a guideline might save time, effort, boost results, as such promoting project’s success. This paper remarks on a prediction system development stemming from author’s experiences and published results. The presentation follows stages in a prediction system development: data preprocessing, prediction algorithm selection and boosting, system evaluation – with some commonly successful solutions highlighted.
Fast Maximum Power Point Tracker for photovoltaic arrays

A Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm with only one current sensor is presented. The output current provided by the photovoltaic (PV) panel is used as the signal controlling the duty cycle of the PWM converter that regulates PV panel power output. Very rapid tracking, acute oscillations around MPP and low implementation cost makes it a very good candidate for PV system controller. The validity and performance is verified by simulation.
Accumulation-Mode MOS Varactors for RF CMOS Low-Noise Amplifiers

A new RF model for an AMOS varactor is presented for 0.18mum CMOS. This model is the first reported for frequencies above 20 GHz in a standard CMOS technology. It does not rely on boundary conditions for different modes of operation and all component values in the model are calculated using clearly defined physical equations, making it easily adaptable to any varactor layout or even other CMOS technology nodes. The presented varactors are then implemented as neutralizing capacitances in a 23 GHz, two-stage, differential low-noise amplifier (LNA) design. Measured results of the fabricated LNA include a peak gain of 7.7 dB and a minimum noise figure of 4.5 dB at a frequency of approximately 23 GHz
Electric field mapping inside metallized film capacitors

Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is an important step in the reliability assessment process of electric components. It provides knowledge of the physics of failure of a component that has been subjected to a given stress profile. This knowledge enables improvement of the component robustness and durability and serves as verification that failure- and degradation mechanisms remain the same at different stress levels during accelerated testing. In this work we have used Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) to analyze metallized film capacitors with the purpose of determining the degradation mechanism(s) they suffered from accelerated testing. We have prepared film capacitors for analysis by micro-sectioning and verified the quality of the preparation procedure using optical and atomic force microscopy. The potential distribution in the layer structure (alternating 7 μm thick dielectric and 50-100 nm thick metal) of a new capacitor was used as reference. KPFM measurements on the degraded capacitors showed a change in contact potential difference from -0.61V on the reference cap acitor to 3.2V on the degraded ones, indicating that corrosion of the metallization had happened. Studies also sho wed that some of the metallization stripes had lost contact to the end-spray. In conclusion we have shown that the surface electric potential distributions on micro-sectioned film capacitors can be obtained through KPFM analysis. We have, from KPFM measurements, shown that the degraded capacitors under investigation had suffered from metallization corrosion and some degree of end-spray detachment. The results obtained in this work, along with results from the literature, demonstrate the usefulness of KPFM as a tool for FMEA.
Real-time reconstruction of orange tree model based on obstacle avoidance

Based on obstacle avoidance of orange fruit harvesting robot, the real-time fruit tree model reconstruction is studied. Modular modeling method is adopted for the reconstruction, which extracts a standard module from the orange fruit tree by configuration study and then gets the fruit tree model after combining the module. Through the comparison between truncated cone module and cylinder module, step cylinder section is chose as the standard module. In order to supply the tree model in time, polygonal approximation is used in the standard module construction for the data reduction. The experiment for middle complexity tree model proved, that this method can realize real-time reconstruction of orange tree model, and the model is precise enough for obstacle avoidance.
Automatic Building Detection Using Airborne LIDAR Data

A method automatically extracting buildings from LIDAR data is presented. LIDAR point clouds are re-sampled into regular grid DSM, and a filtering processing which filters out non-ground points on the DSM surface is carried out simultaneously, acquiring a DEM with only ground points. An nDSM is obtained by subtracting DEM from DSM, and the building candidate regions are identified by using some thresholds to the nDSM. For these building candidates, we extract texture features in each candidate region, that is image texture based on Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). Unsupervised clustering method is used with these features to separate building candidates from trees and vegetations. The workflow is presented in this paper and an example for a test site in Glenville approves it.
Poverty and exclusion in the Western Balkans : new directions in measurement and policy

1. Poverty and exclusion in the Western Balkans: new directions in policy and analysis. - 2. The European context: measuring social inclusion in the European Union. - 3. Recent trends in measurement of poverty and exclusion in Western Balkans. - 4. Qualitative research to support the analysis of social inclusion in the Western Balkans. - 5. Further Updating Poverty Mapping: the case of Albania. - 6. Insights from material deprivation indicators in Bosnia Herzegovina. - 7. Measuring Social Inclusion in Serbia and in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. - 8. Measuring Subjective Well-Being of Social Assistance Recipients in Serbia. - 9. Exclusion from formal jobs in the Western Balkans - the role of labor taxes and social benefits. - 10. Not Just Education: Gender Wage Gap in the Albanian Labor Market Through Occupational Segregation, Work Experience, and Child Care. - 11. How has internal migration in Albania affected the receipt of transfers from family and friends? - 12. Together or Apart: Exploring Attitudes Towards Ethnic Cohabitation in Post-Independence Kosovo. - 13. Social Safety Nets in the Western Balkans: Design, Implementation and Performance. - 14. The Political Economy of Welfare Reform in the Western Balkans. - 15. Simulating distributional and poverty outcomes of the new law on social welfare in Serbia. - 16. Improving the Targeting of Social Assistance in Albania: evidence from micro-simulations.
Assessing LEDBAT's Delay Impact

The major goal of the LEDBAT congestion control mechanism is to limit the amount of queuing delay that it causes. Using simulations, we show two aspects of the mechanism that may sometimes make LEDBAT's delay impact quite significant: first, it updates its "base delay" every 10 minutes, but may measure its own induced delay in doing so, even in the presence of significant transmission jitter. This may lead to a continuous growth of the fixed delay that a LEDBAT flow produces if it runs for long enough. Second, it requires competing traffic to be long-lived and greedy for it to reduce its rate accordingly, however, such traffic is in general not latency-critical.
Coalescence and genetic diversity in sexual populations under selection

Significance Many populations are genetically diverse, and genomes of individuals can differ at millions of loci, some of which affect the fitness of the organism. Although recombination will separate distant loci rapidly, nearby loci are inherited together and stay linked for long times. Selected alleles at linked loci influence each other’s dynamics in complex ways that are poorly understood. We present an analysis of the coupled histories of linked loci subject to selection and recombination and make predictions for the resulting genetic diversity. We show that simple patterns emerge from the collective effect of many loci and that these patterns can be used to infer evolutionary parameters from sequence data. In sexual populations, selection operates neither on the whole genome, which is repeatedly taken apart and reassembled by recombination, nor on individual alleles that are tightly linked to the chromosomal neighborhood. The resulting interference between linked alleles reduces the efficiency of selection and distorts patterns of genetic diversity. Inference of evolutionary history from diversity shaped by linked selection requires an understanding of these patterns. Here, we present a simple but powerful scaling analysis identifying the unit of selection as the genomic “linkage block” with a characteristic length, , determined in a self-consistent manner by the condition that the rate of recombination within the block is comparable to the fitness differences between different alleles of the block. We find that an asexual model with the strength of selection tuned to that of the linkage block provides an excellent description of genetic diversity and the site frequency spectra compared with computer simulations. This linkage block approximation is accurate for the entire spectrum of strength of selection and is particularly powerful in scenarios with many weakly selected loci. The latter limit allows us to characterize coalescence, genetic diversity, and the speed of adaptation in the infinitesimal model of quantitative genetics.
Ant Colony Optimization for the Single Vehicle Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Window

The single vehicle pickup and delivery problem with time window (1-PDPTW) is an important class of vehicle routing problem. This problem aims to find a shortest route for a single vehicle to deliver objects from origin to destination, subject to load limit and time window of delivery. This study develops an ant colony optimization (ACO) method for the 1-PDPTW. Specifically, the constraints of time window and capacity are both considered in the transition probability of ants. Furthermore, we proposed a repair operator to deal with infeasible routes. Experimental results show that the proposed ACO can outperform genetic algorithm and tabu search in terms of solution quality. The results also validate the effectiveness of the repair operator in improving the feasibility and length of routes.
Biased Competition during Long-term Memory Formation

A key task for the brain is to determine which pieces of information are worth storing in memory. To build a more complete representation of the environment, memory systems may prioritize new information that has not already been stored. Here, we propose a mechanism that supports this preferential encoding of new information, whereby prior experience attenuates neural activity for old information that is competing for processing. We evaluated this hypothesis with fMRI by presenting a series of novel stimuli concurrently with repeated stimuli at different spatial locations in Experiment 1 and from different visual categories (i.e., faces and scenes) in Experiment 2. Subsequent memory for the novel stimuli could be predicted from the reduction in activity in ventral temporal cortex for the accompanying repeated stimuli. This relationship was eliminated in control conditions where the competition during encoding came from another novel stimulus. These findings reveal how prior experience adaptively guides learning toward new aspects of the environment.
The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations

Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. What explains this oil curse? And can it be fixed? In this groundbreaking analysis, Michael L. Ross looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth--and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing. Ross traces the oil curse to the upheaval of the 1970s, when oil prices soared and governments across the developing world seized control of their countries' oil industries. Before nationalization, the oil-rich countries looked much like the rest of the world; today, they are 50 percent more likely to be ruled by autocrats--and twice as likely to descend into civil war--than countries without oil. The Oil Curse shows why oil wealth typically creates less economic growth than it should; why it produces jobs for men but not women; and why it creates more problems in poor states than in rich ones. It also warns that the global thirst for petroleum is causing companies to drill in increasingly poor nations, which could further spread the oil curse.