Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A modular attractor associative memory with patchy connectivity and weight pruning

An important research topic in neuroscience is the study of mechanisms underlying memory and the estimation of the information capacity of the biological system. In this report we investigate the performance of a modular attractor network with recurrent connections similar to the cortical long-range connections extending in the horizontal direction. We considered a single learning rule, the BCPNN, which implements a kind of Hebbian learning and we trained the network with sparse random patterns. The storage capacity was measured experimentally for networks of size between 500 and 46 K units with a constant activity level, gradually diluting the connectivity. We show that the storage capacity of the modular network with patchy connectivity is comparable with the theoretical values estimated for simple associative memories and furthermore we introduce a new technique to prune the connectivity, which enhances the storage capacity up to the asymptotic value.
Exploiting Syntactic and Shallow Semantic Kernels for Question Answer Classification

We study the impact of syntactic and shallow semantic information in automatic classification of questions and answers and answer re-ranking. We define (a) new tree structures based on shallow semantics encoded in Predicate Argument Structures (PASs) and (b) new kernel functions to exploit the representational power of such structures with Support Vector Machines. Our experiments suggest that syntactic information helps tasks such as question/answer classification and that shallow semantics gives remarkable contribution when a reliable set of PASs can be extracted, e.g. from answers.
Observations of zonal flow created by potential vorticity mixing in a rotating fluid

We present an experimental and numerical study of a rotating fluid with a zonal flow produced from small‐scale eddies, a common feature of many planetary systems. The apparatus consists of a water‐filled annular tank with a sloped bottom. Flow is forced mechanically at small, non‐axisymmetric scales. Potential vorticity is materially conserved and well‐mixed. This implies the existence of nonzero axisymmetric vorticity and therefore of zonal flow, which has three zones in this case. The strength of zonal flow has an upper bound imposed by complete depletion of the beta‐plane potential vorticity reservoir.
Ultra-broadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier based on aperiodically poled Mg∶LiNbO3 in the mid-infrared

We present an ultra-broadband optical parametric amplification system based on aperiodically poled Mg∶LiNbO<inf>3</inf> providing 800 nm bandwidth around 3.4 µm in a 7.4-mm long medium. It delivers 75 fs pulses with 1.5 µJ pulse energy.
Optimization of a 5-kW Telecom Phase-Shift DC–DC Converter With Magnetically Integrated Current Doubler

The development of new converter systems with higher power density and/or efficiency offers many degrees of freedom for the design parameters as a large number of system component values have to be defined, where all of which are interdependent, to some extent, on another. Therefore, an automated optimization procedure, based on comprehensive analytical models and the resulting optimal design parameters, e.g., switching frequency or transformer design, to achieve the most compact and/or efficient design, is presented in this paper. In addition, the design of a volume-optimized 400/46-56-V phase-shift dc-dc converter with a current doubler rectifier and the underlying analytical models are also introduced. The power density of the converter is increased by integrating the output inductors in the transformer's core. A new lossless magnetic snubber circuit is introduced, which damps the intrinsic voltage ringing of the rectifier diodes and feeds the ringing energy to the output. The experimental results prove the analytical models and the design procedure. The 5-kW dc-dc converter prototype has a power density of 147 W/in3 (9 kW/L) and a maximum efficiency of 94.4% at 54-V output voltage and full load.
A Hybrid Wireless Network Approach to Support QoS Data Transmission

Wireless sensor networks are emerging as a popular research issue and tool for many applications. However, nodes in a sensor network are severely constrained by energy, storage capacity and computing power. In this paper, we propose an integrated network environment (sensor and ad hoc network) with IEEE 802.15. 4a, ultra-wideband (UWB) and two-tier data dissemination (TTDD) routing protocol. We wish that sensor network could support fast dynamic location-tracking, information gathering and response. And base station use theses information to compute an optimal path for ad hoc mobile devices to offer good QoS level and reliable data transmission according to different requests
Montgomery Multiplication Coprocessor for Altera NIOS Embedded Processor

This paper describes scalable Montgomery Multiplication (MM) coprocessor optimized for Altera NIOS embedded processor implemented in reconfigurable hardware. Features of the NIOS soft processor Avalon Bus are used to connect the coprocessor as a memory mapped peripheral so that the overall performance is improved. Implemented coprocessor performs modular MM with large numbers (up to 4096 bits), the NIOS processor controls data preparation and communication with the MM unit and executes the rest of RSA algorithm operations. Various configurations of both units together with timing analysis results and area estimations for Altera devices are presented.
Nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy for second-stage Trypanosoma brucei gambiense sleeping sickness: a randomized clinical trial in Congo.

BACKGROUND Human African trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense is a fatal disease. Current treatment options for patients with second-stage disease are either highly toxic or impracticable in field conditions. We compared the efficacy and safety of the nifurtimox-eflornithine drug combination with the standard eflornithine regimen for the treatment of second-stage disease. METHODS A randomized, open-label, active-control, phase III clinical trial comparing 2 arms was conducted at the Sleeping Sickness Treatment Center, which was run by Medecins Sans Frontieres, in Nkayi, Bouenza Province, Republic of Congo. Patients were screened for inclusion and randomly assigned to receive eflornithine alone (400 mg/kg per day given intravenously every 6 h for 14 days) or eflornithine (400 mg/kg per day given intravenously every 12 h for 7 days) plus nifurtimox (15 mg/kg per day given orally every 8 h for 10 days). Patients were observed for 18 months. The study's outcomes were cure and adverse events attributable to treatment. RESULTS A total of 103 patients with second-stage disease were enrolled. Cure rates were 94.1% for the eflornithine group and 96.2% for the nifurtimox-eflornithine group. Drug reactions were frequent in both arms, and severe reactions affected 25.5% of patients in the eflornithine group and 9.6% of those in the nifurtimox-eflornithine group, resulting in 2 and 1 treatment suspensions, respectively. There was 1 death in the eflornithine arm and no deaths in the nifurtimox-eflornithine arm. CONCLUSIONS The nifurtimox-eflornithine combination appears to be a promising first-line therapy for second-stage sleeping sickness. If our findings are corroborated by ongoing findings from additional sites (a multicenter extension of this study), the new nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy will mark a major and multifaceted advance over current therapies.
Stable Image Registration for People Tracking from the Sky

We propose a novel method for stabilizing videos taken by a low altitude aerial vehicle, for the purpose of monitoring activities on the ground. A popular choice for aerial video stabilization is the use of homography-based methods, which assume that the scene consists mostly of planar regions. When videos are recorded in low altitude flight, the regions with buildings, trees and hills are non-planar areas (with relatively big changes in height), and making the planar assumption would decrease the accuracy of stabilization with respect to the ground. The idea presented in this paper is to stabilize aerial images, where height changes exist, by explicitly estimating a planar area in the scene. For the estimation of planar region, a relative pose between two images is estimated by taking advantages of the homography-based method and the essential matrix-based method. Positions in the 3D space are reconstructed from feature points on the images, which are used for the pose estimation, and points on the plane are estimated based on RANSAC. The points on the flat area are used for stabilization of images with high accuracy. The experimental results with simulated aerial images illustrate the proposed method can estimate relative pose with higher accuracy compared with previous approaches, even when noise is present. The proposed method is also applied to real aerial images, in people tracking. Experimental results show that tracking using the proposed method has better performance than tracking using the homography-based method.
Annual Change Detection by ASTER TIR Data and an Estimation of the Annual Coal Loss and CO2 Emission from Coal Seams Spontaneous Combustion

Abstract: Coal fires, including both underground and coal waste pile fires, result in large losses of coal resources and emit considerable amounts of greenhouse gases. To estimate the annual intensity of greenhouse gas emissions and the loss of coal resources, estimating the annual loss from fire-influenced coal seams is a feasible approach. This study assumes that the primary cause of coal volume loss is subsurface coal seam fires. The main calculation process is divided into three modules: (1) Coal fire quantity calculations, which use change detection to determine the areas of the different coal fire stages (increase/growth, maintenance/stability and decrease/shrinkage). During every change detections, the amount of coal influenced by fires for these three stages was calculated by multiplying the coal mining residual rate, combustion efficiency, average thickness and average coal intensity. (2) The life cycle estimate is based on remote sensing long-term coal fires monitoring. OPEN ACCESS
Female Muslim subjectivity in the secular public sphere: Hijab and ritual prayer as ‘technologies of the self’

This article analyses the formation of multiple subjectivities during the self-cultivation process of Muslim women living in the secular public sphere of Turkey. Through interviews with highly educated, professional Muslim women who aim to build and maintain piety (a deep connection with the divine), it asks to what extent the practices of hijab (i.e. wearing the headscarf) and ritual prayer (salat, or namaz) can be considered as technologies of self-cultivation rather than mere markers and symbols of identity. The article aims to offer new ways to think about the religious-secular divide by providing an empirically grounded contribution to the complex interactions between religious identity and women’s agency in a Muslim-majority country with a secularist state establishment.
Hybrid cascaded multilevel converter for ac motor applications with minimum number of power transformers

This paper present a novel multilevel inverter working as Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) that avoids the use of the main bulky power transformer commonly used in the cascade multilevel inverter topology. Besides, the proposed topology maintains the regenerative capability in order to get a full performance as ASD. The model of the power converter is presented including voltage level expressions. Simulations are included in order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed ASD.
The spatial scan statistic: A new method for spatial aggregation of categorical raster maps

Multiple-scale and broad-scale assessments often require rescaling the original data to a consistent grain size for analysis. Rescaling categorical raster data by spatial aggregation is common in large area ecological assessments. However, distortion and loss of information are associated with aggregation. Using a majority rule generally results in dominant classes becoming more pronounced and rare classes becoming less pronounced. Using nearest neighbor techniques generally maintains the global proportion of each category in the original map but can lead to disaggregation. In this paper we implement the spatial scan statistic for spatial aggregation of categorical raster maps and describe the behavior of the technique at the local level (aggregation unit) and global level (map). We also contrast the spatial scan statistic technique with the majority rule and nearest neighbor approaches. In general, the scan statistic technique behaved inverse the majority rule approach in that rare classes rather than abundant classes were preserved. We suggest the scan statistic techniques should be used for spatial aggregation of categorical maps when preserving heterogeneity and information from rare classes are important goals of the study or assessment.
Tagging Domain Ontologies with WordNet Domains An Approach for Fostering Ontology Classification, Engineering and Matching

The use of WordNet Domains is confined in the present days to Text Mining field. This paper introduces an innovative approach exploiting WordNet Domains for automatically tagging both ontologies and their concepts with domains labels as a way to assign to conceptual models their intended topic. Making linguistic domain knowledge explicitly available as a lexico-semantic layer for ontologies and concepts may prove useful in many scenarios where a scaffolding mechanism for managing ontological content is necessary. Topic-related and hierachical classification in search tools, linguistic analysis of ontology concepts for ontology engineering and evolution tasks as well as ontology matching methodologies, able to detect sets of matching candidates, all could gain benefits from our approach. The prototype design and implementation of a domain disambiguation methodology upon which experiments have been conducted and promising results have been obtained are presented. Suggestions on application scenarios for our approach are then envisioned.
Soft Decision Iterative V-BLAST with Detection of All Symbols at the Last Stage by Changing Detection Order in Hybrid STBC

In this paper, we propose soft decision iterative Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) with detection of all symbols at the last stage by changing detection order in hybrid space time block code (STBC). Hybrid STBC transmits both STBC symbols and spatial division multiplexing (SDM) symbols at a time. In hybrid STBC, the conventional V-BLAST can't achieve good BER performance of STBC symbol, since it detects STBC symbol with large interference from other symbols. The proposed scheme detects all symbols with less interference from other symbols by changing detection order. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can improve BER performance compared with the conventional V-BLAST and iterative V-BLAST. Especially, BER performance of STBC symbol is improved.
Understanding Post Adoption Switching Behavior for Mobile Instant Messaging Application in China: Based on Migration Theory

Post adoptive IT use is a hot research stream in information systems field, including continuance behaviours and switching behaviours. While there are a great number of studies on users’ intentions or behaviors for diversified information systems, previous post adoptive IT studies pay relatively less attention on users’ switching behaviors. Hence, we know little about this phenomenon and triggers on users’ switching behaviors. This research identifies the features of users IT switching behaviors and examines what trigger their switching intentions and actual behaviors in the context of mobile instant messaging (MIM) application in China. A model of MIM switching behaviors is developed based on Curran and Saguy’s (2001) research on how networks of obligation, trust and relative deprivation affect human’s migration decision and process. Besides these three triggers, we also introduce dissatisfaction and curiosity into our model according to prior IS studies on switching behaviors. A survey research method will be adopted to test this model. Overall, our study may theoretically contribute to further understand users’ IT switching behaviors and yield some practical implications for designers and managers in MIM providers and their products propaganda.
Solar PV-battery based hybrid water pumping system using BLDC motor drive

This paper deals with a brushless DC (BLDC) motor driven water pump powered by a solar photovoltaic (SPV) array and a battery storage. The SPV-battery based hybrid generation is used as a power source in order to achieve a continuous full volume water delivery regardless of the climate condition. The SPV array is used as a primary source while the battery as a backup. Therefore; the battery is discharged only under bad climate condition or at night when the PV array is insufficient to feed the water pump. Additionally; it is charged by the SPV array when the water delivery is not required. Thus; no external supply is used for the battery charging. A bidirectional charging control enables to switch the mode of operation of the battery automatically through a buck-boost DC-DC converter. The BLDC motor is consistently operated at its rated speed and load. No current sensing is required for the speed control and the power devices of voltage source inverter (VSI) are switched at fundamental frequency. The various performance analysis of the proposed water pumping are carried out in MATLAB/ SIMULINK platform.
CapStudio: an interactive screencast for visual application development

Programmers write and edit their source code in a text editor. However, when they design the look-and-feel of a game application such as an image of a game character and an arrangement of a button, it would be more intuitive to edit the application by directly interacting with these objects on a game window. Although modern game engines realize this facility, they use a highly structured framework and limit what the programmer can edit. In this paper, we present CapStudio, a development environment for a visual application with an interactive screencast. A screencast is a movie player-like output window with code editing functionality. The screencast works with a traditional text editor. Modifications of source code in the text editor and visual elements on the screencast will be immediately reflected on each other. We created an example application and confirmed the feasibility of our approach.
The Role of Vertex Consistency in Sampling-based Algorithms for Optimal Motion Planning

Motion planning problems have been studied by both the robotics and the controls research communities for a long time, and many algorithms have been developed for their solution. Among them, incremental sampling-based motion planning algorithms, such as the Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRTs), and the Probabilistic Road Maps (PRMs) have become very popular recently, owing to their implementation simplicity and their advantages in handling high-dimensional problems. Although these algorithms work very well in practice, the quality of the computed solution is often not good, i.e., the solution can be far from the optimal one. A recent variation of RRT, namely the RRT* algorithm, bypasses this drawback of the traditional RRT algorithm, by ensuring asymptotic optimality as the number of samples tends to infinity. Nonetheless, the convergence rate to the optimal solution may still be slow. This paper presents a new incremental sampling-based motion planning algorithm based on Rapidly-exploring Random Graphs (RRG), denoted RRT# (RRT "sharp") which also guarantees asymptotic optimality but, in addition, it also ensures that the constructed spanning tree of the geometric graph is consistent after each iteration. In consistent trees, the vertices which have the potential to be part of the optimal solution have the minimum cost-come-value. This implies that the best possible solution is readily computed if there are some vertices in the current graph that are already in the goal region. Numerical results compare with the RRT* algorithm.
Bars, Pies, Doughnuts & Tables - Visualization of Proportions

Visualization of proportions is one of the most common visualization types encountered in the media. Stacked bar charts, doughnut and pie charts -- the most common visualizations of proportions -- have all keen advocates and critics, and there are conflicting results about their performance. This study presents an experiment with a basic but ecologically valid task to evaluate the performance of these techniques. The result shows that the stacked bar chart is superior to doughnut and pie charts in task performance. However, 75% of the participants regarded pie charts as the most pleasing or second-pleasing to use, and almost half of the participants (44%) perceived the pie or doughnut chart to be the fastest visualization to understand. Only six participants recognized the bar chart as the fastest technique, and half of them still preferred the pie chart over them. This subjective preference at the expense of performance may explain why pie charts are so widely used in spite of being criticized.
Cueing and the encoding specificity principle in motor short-term memory.

The present experiment examined motor short-term memory for active and passive movement extents as a function of cueing and as a function of the interaction Between encoding and retrieval conditions. Twenty-four right-handed female subjects were required to retrieve information by reproducing the extent of an encoded criterion movement either in the same mode of execution as the criterion movement (Active-Active; PassivePassive) or in a different mode of execution (ActivePassive; Passive-Active) in a linear positioning task. The subjects were divided equally into three groups according to the point at which information about the reproduction movement mode of execution was made available (cueing): (a) before the criterion movement, (b) immed­ iately after the criterion movement but before a 15 sec retention interval, and (c) after the retention interval, immediately prior to the reproduction movement. The results showed that there was no facilitory effect of the point of cueing on retrieval performance. However, when the criterion movement and the reproduction movement modes of execution were the same performance
Image Segmentation based on Improved Gradient Vector Flow

This paper presents a novel gradient vector flow calculation method and introduces the center position of initial contour line to segment target exactly. The method utilizes the center position of initial contour line and image features to calculate external energy; the contour line can search for and estimate the real edge no matter where the center position of initial contour line is. Experimental results show the method proposed can weaken influence from the center position of initial contour line, enhance the stability of iterative process and exactly segment interested target.
Semantic Text Segmentation and Sub-topic Extraction

Semantic Text segmentation and sub-topic extraction divides the input text into coherent paragraphs and extracts topics out of them. This enables applications to extract relevant meaningful data that could be useful in many text analysis tasks like information retrieval and summarization. In this project we have combined the techniques of text tiling and latent semantic analysis and have come up with a standalone tool that segments documents and presents the sub-topics. The advantage of using these techniques is that we are not dependent upon any knowledge base. We have tested our tool on various combined articles from google news, stories and long articles and it gave us good results.