Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of RF Electromagnetic Field Absorption in Human Hands and Fingers

The absorption of electromagnetic fields in the hand is investigated over the 900-3700-MHz frequency range. This enables the determination of the envelope of the peak spatial specific absorption rate in the hand. It also provides a basis for deriving measurement procedures for evaluating compliance of wireless devices with specific absorption rate limits in the hands. Both plane waves and dipole antennas are used to investigate the patterns of RF absorption in hand and finger tissue models for far- and near-field exposures. The results demonstrate that absorption enhancements are found in the hand that are not present in a standardized flat phantom. Enhancements of several decibels are observed, depending on the model parameters. A method to conservatively estimate the exposure in the hand based on flat phantom measurements is proposed.
Political activism as a social work strategy in Africa

English Africa faces many social, economic and political problems: unemployment, poverty, inequality, illiteracy, homelessness, diseases, human rights abuses, official corruption and civil conflicts. These are structural problems, created through political processes. To prevent or resolve them, African social workers must participate in the political processes determining the life circumstances of their clients. French L'Afrique est aux prises avec d'innombrables problèmes sociaux, économiques et politiques tels que le chômage, la pauvreté, les inégalités, l'analphabétisme, le manque de logements, la maladie, la corruption officielle et les conflits civils. Il s'agit de problèmes structurels qui découlent de processus politiques. Afin de prévenir, d'alléger ou de résoudre ce genre de problèmes, les travailleurs sociaux africains doivent prendre part aux processus politiques qui déterminent les conditions de vie de leurs clients. Spanish> África se encuentra ante una serie de conflictos: problemas sociales, económicos y políticos, desempleo, pobreza, desigualdad, analfabetismo, falta de vivienda, mala salud, corrupción oficial y conflictos civiles. Estos son problemas estructurales creados a través de procesos políticos. Para prevenir, aliviar o resolver tales problemas, los trabajadores sociales en África deben participar en los procesos políticos que determinan las circunstancias de vida de sus clientes
Shelter from the Global Economic Crisis: New Zealand and Overseas-Born Employees' Concerns and Migration Intentions

This study aimed to explore the personal effect of the global crisis on both New Zealanders and migrants, as well as their intentions and reasons to stay or migrate to another country. Using a mixed method design, we investigated the major concerns of workers in the Wellington region during 2009 and 2010. The main concerns were: salary, workload, job security, disposable income, work budget and job opportunity. New Zealand-born participants were as likely as migrants to express interest in leaving due to the state of the economy. However, overseas-born participants were more likely than New Zealand-born participants to say they would leave if they lost their job.
Reducing Labeling Effort for Structured Prediction Tasks

A common obstacle preventing the rapid deployment of supervised machine learning algorithms is the lack of labeled training data. This is particularly expensive to obtain for structured prediction tasks, where each training instance may have multiple, interacting labels, all of which must be correctly annotated for the instance to be of use to the learner. Traditional active learning addresses this problem by optimizing the order in which the examples are labeled to increase learning efficiency. However, this approach does not consider the difficulty of labeling each example, which can vary widely in structured prediction tasks. For example, the labeling predicted by a partially trained system may be easier to correct for some instances than for others. We propose a new active learning paradigm which reduces not only how many instances the annotator must label, but also how difficult each instance is to annotate. The system also leverages information from partially correct predictions to efficiently solicit annotations from the user. We validate this active learning framework in an interactive information extraction system, reducing the total number of annotation actions by 22%.
Coarse-grained stochastic models for tropical convection and climate

Prototype coarse-grained stochastic parametrizations for the interaction with unresolved features of tropical convection are developed here. These coarse-grained stochastic parametrizations involve systematically derived birth/death processes with low computational overhead that allow for direct interaction of the coarse-grained dynamical variables with the smaller-scale unresolved fluctuations. It is established here for an idealized prototype climate scenario that, in suitable regimes, these coarse-grained stochastic parametrizations can significantly impact the climatology as well as strongly increase the wave fluctuations about an idealized climatology.
Glycomic Characterization of Respiratory Tract Tissues of Ferrets

Background: The ferret is a key animal model to study the transmission characteristics of influenza viruses. Results: Characterization of ferret respiratory tract tissues identified influenza virus glycan receptors. Conclusion: Species-specific influenza virus glycan receptors were identified. Significance: Our findings provide new insights into the usefulness of ferrets in the study of influenza virus infection. The initial recognition between influenza virus and the host cell is mediated by interactions between the viral surface protein hemagglutinin and sialic acid-terminated glycoconjugates on the host cell surface. The sialic acid residues can be linked to the adjacent monosaccharide by α2–3- or α2–6-type glycosidic bonds. It is this linkage difference that primarily defines the species barrier of the influenza virus infection with α2–3 binding being associated with avian influenza viruses and α2–6 binding being associated with human strains. The ferret has been extensively used as an animal model to study the transmission of influenza. To better understand the validity of this model system, we undertook glycomic characterization of respiratory tissues of ferret, which allows a comparison of potential viral receptors to be made between humans and ferrets. To complement the structural analysis, lectin staining experiments were performed to characterize the regional distributions of glycans along the respiratory tract of ferrets. Finally, the binding between the glycans identified and the hemagglutinins of different strains of influenza viruses was assessed by glycan array experiments. Our data indicated that the respiratory tissues of ferret heterogeneously express both α2–3- and α2–6-linked sialic acids. However, the respiratory tissues of ferret also expressed the Sda epitope (NeuAcα2-3(GalNAcβ1–4)Galβ1–4GlcNAc) and sialylated N,N′-diacetyllactosamine (NeuAcα2–6GalNAcβ1–4GlcNAc), which have not been observed in the human respiratory tract surface epithelium. The presence of the Sda epitope reduces potential binding sites for avian viruses and thus may have implications for the usefulness of the ferret in the study of influenza virus infection.
Pilot-Assisted DFT Window Timing/ Frequency Offset Synchronization and Subcarrier Recovery

Synchronization, which is composed of estimation and control, is one of the most important functionalities of the receiver. It must be first performed by the receiver when receiving information data. In an OFDM system, synchronization can be divided into three different parts—carrier frequency offset synchronization, DFT window timing synchronization, and subcarrier recovery. As shown in Section 4.8, an OFDM system is very sensitive to frequency offset, which may be introduced in the radio channel, so accurate frequency offset synchronization is essential. Especially for burst mode data transmission in wireless LAN applications, we must keep the overhead, namely, the number of pilot symbols required for the synchronization, as low as possible. DFT window timing synchronization corresponds to symbol timing synchronization in single carrier transmission. However, it is much more difficult, because there is always an ‘‘eye opening’’ in each single carrier modulated symbol, whereas there are many ‘‘zero crossings’’ in each OFDM symbol. Therefore, normal synchronization algorithms such as zero-forcing cannot be adopted. Furthermore, subcarrier recovery means simultaneous regeneration of reference signals at all subcarriers used.
The influence of red tape on bureaucratic behavior: An experimental simulation

Understanding how certain organizational and individual attributes shape responses to red tape is an area that has received little research attention. This study uses an experimental simulation to address these questions. It examines the effect of red tape upon the propensity to provide assistance to clients in a simulated public assistance agency. The findings showed that increasing levels of red tape produce in a corresponding reduction in benefits provided to clients, but that this relationship is strongly moderated by the respondent's perceptions of clients. Clients perceived as more sympathetic consistently received higher levels of benefits than those perceived as less sympathetic. Education and professional training also played a role in influencing award decisions. © 2000 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
Dynamically Consistent Nonlinear Evaluations and Expectations

How an economic agent (a firm, an investor or a financial market) evaluates a contingent claim, say a European type of derivatives X, with maturity t? In this paper we study a mechanism of dynamic expectations and evaluations. We give the axiomatic conditions of the time consistency. We prove that, under a domination condition, a time consistent nonlinear evaluation is in fact a g-expectation, i.e., it is completely determined a BSDE in which the generator is a given function g.
Comparative Genomics of Campylobacter iguaniorum to Unravel Genetic Regions Associated with Reptilian Hosts

Abstract Campylobacter iguaniorum is most closely related to the species C. fetus, C. hyointestinalis, and C. lanienae. Reptiles, chelonians and lizards in particular, appear to be a primary reservoir of this Campylobacter species. Here we report the genome comparison of C. iguaniorum strain 1485E, isolated from a bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), and strain 2463D, isolated from a green iguana (Iguana iguana), with the genomes of closely related taxa, in particular with reptile-associated C. fetus subsp. testudinum. In contrast to C. fetus, C. iguaniorum is lacking an S-layer encoding region. Furthermore, a defined lipooligosaccharide biosynthesis locus, encoding multiple glycosyltransferases and bounded by waa genes, is absent from C. iguaniorum. Instead, multiple predicted glycosylation regions were identified in C. iguaniorum. One of these regions is > 50 kb with deviant G + C content, suggesting acquisition via lateral transfer. These similar, but non-homologous glycosylation regions were located at the same position on the genome in both strains. Multiple genes encoding respiratory enzymes not identified to date within the C. fetus clade were present. C. iguaniorum shared highest homology with C. hyointestinalis and C. fetus. As in reptile-associated C. fetus subsp. testudinum, a putative tricarballylate catabolism locus was identified. However, despite colonizing a shared host, no recent recombination between both taxa was detected. This genomic study provides a better understanding of host adaptation, virulence, phylogeny, and evolution of C. iguaniorum and related Campylobacter taxa.
Continuous Graphical Models for Static and Dynamic Distributions: Application to Structural Biology

Generative models of protein structure enable researchers to predict the behavior of proteins under different conditions. Continuous graphical models are powerful and efficient tools for modeling static and dynamic distributions, which can be used for learning generative models of molecular dynamics. In this thesis, we develop new and improved continuous graphical models, to be used in modeling of protein structure. We first present von Mises graphical models, and develop consistent and efficient algorithms for sparse structure learning and parameter estimation, and inference. We compare our model to sparse Gaussian graphical model and show it outperforms GGMs on synthetic and Engrailed protein molecular dynamics datasets. Next, we develop algorithms to estimate Mixture of von Mises graphical models using Expectation Maximization, and show that these models outperform Von Mises, Gaussian and mixture of Gaussian graphical models in terms of accuracy of prediction in imputation test of non-redundant protein structure datasets. We then use non-paranormal and nonparametric graphical models, which have extensive representation power, and compare several state of the art structure learning methods that can be used prior to nonparametric inference in reproducing kernel Hilbert space embedded graphical models. To be able to take advantage of the nonparametric models, we also propose feature space embedded belief propagation, and use random Fourier based feature approximation in our proposed feature belief propagation, to scale the inference algorithm to larger datasets. To improve the scalability further, we also show the integration of Coreset selection algorithm with the nonparametric inference, and show that the combined model scales to large datasets with very small adverse effect on the quality of predictions. Finally, we present time varying sparse Gaussian graphical models, to learn smoothly varying graphical models of molecular dynamics simulation data, and present results on CypA protein.
Enhancing Incremental Influence: A Focused Approach To Leadership Development

In an effort to construct a framework for understanding leadership development (LD), this paper examines the available evidence regarding exactly what organizations attempt to develop under the rubric of LD, and how they attempt to develop it. After considering the conceptual and practical implications associated with various LD perspectives, the paper builds on the notion of leadership as "incremental " influence (Katz & Kahn, 1978) to propose a more precise approach to LD. This more precise approach argues that LD is the process of acquiring particular personal qualities and skills that create influence independent of the individual's positional influence. The paper then suggests how this more precise view provides a useful lens for organizations interested in assessing their LD undertakings.
Anxious and Depressive Avoidance and Symptoms of Prolonged Grief, Depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Following loss, people can develop symptoms of depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or Complicated Grief (CG) – also termed Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). A recent cognitive-behavioural model has proposed that avoiding confrontation with the reality of the loss (called “anxious avoidance” [AA]) and refraining from activities that could foster adjustment (called “depressive avoidance” [DA]) both play a critical role in CG/PGD. The present study examined this assumption, using self-reported data from 161 mourners. Findings showed that items constituting AA and DA represented two distinct factors. Both factors were strongly correlated with other measures of bereavement-related avoidance and both accounted for a unique part of the explained variance in CG/PGD severity, beyond relevant background variables, negative cognitions, and concomitant symptom-levels of depression and PTSD. DA also explained unique variance in depression beyond these variables. Moreover, AA and DA mediated the linkages of neuroticism, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance with symptom-levels of CG/PGD.
The Neurotic Dimension of Vocational Indecision: Gender Comparability?

This study examines the relationship between neuroticism and career indecision in separate samples of men and women. College students (151 men, 183 women) constituted the samples. Career indecision was measured by the Career Decision Profile (CDP; Jones, 1989). Constructs used in the study that assess neuroticism included perceived stress, positive and negative affectivity, and state-trait anxiety. In addition, five life history factors predictive of vocational decision-making were also included. Separate cluster analyses were performed for each sample, resulting in two 2-cluster solutions. The first, the maladaptive clusters (high in stress, anxiety, and negative affectivity), emerged for both genders. The second clusters did not replicate across gender. Women in the second cluster, who were well-adapted, exhibited strong academic and scientific interests. The second cluster for men, although exhibiting low stress and anxiety, did not have high scores on any career decision-making variables. The results are discussed in the context of gender differences and the neurotic dimension of career indecision.
Design considerations for M&S software

The development of M&S products often seems to be driven by need: people start coding because they are interested in either a concrete simulation study, or they are interested in a (single) research subject of M&S methodology. We claim that discussing, designing, developing, and comparing M&S products should be based on software engineering concepts. We shortly introduce some of these engineering concepts and discuss how these relate to the M&S domain. By describing two examples, OSA and JAMES II, we illustrate that reuse might play an important role in the development of high quality M&S products as the examples allow reuse on the level of models and scenarios, on the level of ¿simulation studies¿, of algorithms (e.g., reuse of event queues, random number generators), across hardware architectures/operating systems, and of analysis tools.
Perception of Intonation

This paper provides an overview of the role of intonation (prosody) in speech communication, with special focus on the perception of intonation contours. Why there is no complete theory? why is it complex? Syntactical, information, modal, attitudinal, emotional, indexical aspects of ntonation are reviewed. A tentative psychophonetic code is proposed.
Exploiting code-modulating, Visually-Evoked Potentials for fast and flexible control via Brain-Computer Interfaces

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) promise to provide a communication channel for patients who have lost motor control. By directly measuring the activity of the user’s brain, all traditional neuromuscular communication paths are circumvented. This provides a method of communication to patients who are unable to communicate by other means and hands-free communication for healthy users. But after two decades of intensive research, these devices are still quite slow for practical applications and the complexity of the applications is limited. Currently, the most popular technique to measure the brain activity is the electroencephalogram (EEG), which is also used in this work. Ideally a brain-computer interface is reliable, i.e. correctly detects the user’s intention, fast, i.e. transmits enough information for fluent interaction and flexible, i. e. offers enough different commands to control the application conveniently. Constructing such a BCI is hard because the human brain is far from being understood and the activity of the brain can only be measured partially and indirectly with a low signal-to-noise ratio. This dissertation presents a new BCI design for the control of robotic devices. Specifically, I show the first use of a code-modulating, Visually-Evoked Potential (cVEP) for a navigation and control task. The few studies, which have been done so far using cVEP, show high information-transfer rates and low latencies in spelling systems compared to other EEG-based BCIs. Still, there is no previous work on transferring the cVEP to applications beyond spelling, such as control of robotic devices. This work, first, presents three exploratory experiments where I investigated stability of the cVEP potential in different conditions. Afterwards, I used the findings of these experiments to build a complete EEG-based BCI using cVEP for the control of a devices. For the evaluation subjects had to control a virtual agent in a kitchen task using the cVEP-BCI system. The evaluation shows that the system achieves an average accuracy above 80% and an average latency of about 2 s per command. All but one subjects were able to control the agent and complete the task. Thus, this work shows for the first time that the cVEP potentials is indeed very flexible without loosing much speed or reliability. Although this system has only been evaluated in the lab it opens a new research track towards fast and flexible BCIs for diverse applications.
Mobile animal tracking systems using light sensor for efficient power and cost saving motion detection

This paper proposes an open architecture for animal tracking systems using an easy-to-access Arduino board equipped with various sensors built into a compact prototype, easily attached to an animal collar. With GPS and public Google Map API functionalities, global location and sensor information are sent over SMS-GSM networks to an Android OS phone embedded with a simplified RF technology used to track animals when closing by with an adaptive alert sound and bar sign for mobile monitoring and searching. In addition, to efficiently save the battery power and cost of the tracking system, a practical usage of a simple analog light sensor with motion logic is investigated, and then implemented resulting in feasibility and efficiency of battery power and data transmission.
Phonological and morphological domains in Kyirong Tibetan

Abstract A number of phonological generalizations in the Kyirong dialect of Tibetan are argued to require reference to rules or constraints referring to the syllable or the phonological word (pword). The latter domain is significant because it requires three distinct representations for suffix-stem combinations, depending on the particular suffix involved: (a) the stem and suffix form one pword, (b) the suffix lies outside of the pword of the stem and is attached to a higher prosodic constituent, and (c) the stem and suffix are separate pwords. In addition, one phonological process will be argued to operate at the left edge of a morphological domain, i.e., the ‘stem’. While the parsings in (a)–(c) above are attested in many other the languages of the world, Kyirong Tibetan is unusual typologically because all but one of the stem plus suffix combinations is either (b) or (c). By contrast, in many other languages stem plus suffix sequences are typically represented as in (a). Kyirong Tibetan will also be argued to be unusual typologically because it treats both parts of compounds as single pwords and not as two separate pwords, which is probably the crosslinguistic default option.
1 Object-Based Audio for Interactive Football Broadcast

An end-to-end AV broadcast system providing an immersive, interactive experience for live events is the development aim for the EU FP7 funded project, FascinatE. The project has developed real time audio object event detection and localisation, scene modelling and processing methods for multimedia data including 3D audio, which will allow users to navigate the event by creating their own unique user-defined scene. As part of the first implementation of the system a test shoot was carried out capturing a live Premier League football game and methods have been developed to detect, analyse, extract and localise salient audio events from a range of sensors and represent them within an audio scene in order to allow free navigation within the scene.