Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A multistatic radar array for detecting wild animals during pasture mowing

During pasture mowing in spring time, every year countless animals such as fawns are killed or severely injured. In addition to animal protection laws, this is a big problem for farmers due to botulism of the livestock. Many different strategies have been developed to either scar the fawns away or to detect them, for example by searching with a hunting dog. These methods are either ineffective or very time-consuming and therefore less applicable. In this paper, we present a detecting method which is based on microwave signals. This incoherent radar system uses antennas arranged as a matrix and a signal superposition principle. It detects the reflection signature of covered targets of a certain shape - e.g. metals or objects with high water content. The low computing power needed allows a large area to be scanned within a short time. Since this radar system is almost completely insensitive to vertical movement of the extension arm, it can be mounted on a fast driving vehicle.
Performance in a planning task: The (ir)relevance of interface style and user's cognitive style

This research investigates whether interface style (internalization or externalization) influences performance in a problem solving task. Assistance from a user interface during problem solving is often thought to make interactions easier. Interfaces often display relevant information, making recall unnecessary and relieving working memory, called externalization (e.g. feedback aids such as “graying out” menu-items). By externalizing information, display-based behavior is provoked, which however does not necessarily instigate planning, understanding and knowledge acquisition. When certain task-information is less directly available, it needs to be internalized, stored in memory, provoking plan-based behavior, which may lead to better performance and knowledge. To provoke these behaviors, we manipulated the interface of a conference planning application. We also included the users’ cognitive style, in this case “need for cognition” (NFC), the tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive tasks. High-NFC subjects generally plan more, leading to better performance. Results show that interface style indeed influences problem-solving behavior, but NFC does not. Internalization resulted in more planful behavior, better solution routes and less reconsidered actions. If plan-based behavior is preferred, designers should be careful in giving users too much assistance.
Mining large-scale, sparse GPS traces for map inference: comparison of approaches

We address the problem of inferring road maps from large-scale GPS traces that have relatively low resolution and sampling frequency. Unlike past published work that requires high-resolution traces with dense sampling, we focus on situations with coarse granularity data, such as that obtained from thousands of taxis in Shanghai, which transmit their location as seldom as once per minute. Such data sources can be made available inexpensively as byproducts of existing processes, rather than having to drive every road with high-quality GPS instrumentation just for map building - and having to re-drive roads for periodic updates. Although the challenges in using opportunistic probe data are significant, successful mining algorithms could potentially enable the creation of continuously updated maps at very low cost. In this paper, we compare representative algorithms from two approaches: working with individual reported locations vs. segments between consecutive locations. We assess their trade-offs and effectiveness in both qualitative and quantitative comparisons for regions of Shanghai and Chicago.
The Structure of the β-Propeller Domain and C-terminal Region of the Integrin αM Subunit

The αM subunit of integrin Mac-1 contains several distinct regions in its extracellular segment. The N-terminal region has been predicted to fold into a β-propeller domain composed of seven β-sheets each about 60 amino acid residues long, with the I-domain inserted between β-sheets 2 and 3. The structure of the C-terminal region is unknown. We have used monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) as probes to study the dependence of the structure of different regions of the αM subunit on association with the β2 subunit in the αM/β2 heterodimer. All of the mAbs to the I-domain immunoprecipitated the unassociated αM precursor and reacted with the αM subunit expressed alone on the surface of COS cells. By contrast, four mAbs to the β-propeller domain did not react with the unassociated αM precursor nor with the uncomplexed αM subunit expressed on COS cell surface. The four mAbs were mapped to three subregions in three different β-sheets, making it unlikely that each recognized an interface between the α and β subunits. These results suggest that folding of different β-propeller subregions is coordinate and is dependent on association with the β2 subunit. The segment C-terminal to the β-propeller domain, residues 599–1092, was studied with nine mAbs. A subset of four mAbs that reacted with the αM/β2 complex but not with the unassociated αM subunit were mapped to one subregion, residues 718–759, and five other mAbs that recognized both the unassociated and the complexed αM subunit were localized to three other subregions, residues 599–679, 820–882, and 943–1047. This suggests that much of the region C-terminal to the β-propeller domain folds independently of association with the β2 subunit. Our data provide new insights into how different domains in the integrin α and β subunits may interact.
Does research degree supervisor training work? The impact of a professional development induction workshop on supervision practice

ABSTRACT Supervisor induction and continued professional development programmes constitute good practice and are enshrined in institutional policies and national codes of practice. However, there is little evidence about whether they have an impact on either supervisors’ learning or day-to-day practice. Set in a discussion of previous literature, this article unpacks the concepts ‘impact’ and ‘evaluation’ and assesses the medium- and longer term impact of the University of South Australia's doctoral supervisor induction programme, Supervising@UniSA. It suggests that the workshop leads to the acquisition of understanding and knowledge and, for the majority of attendees, also has an impact on supervisory practice.
The Dynamic Enterprise Bus

In this paper we present a prototype enterprise information run-time heavily inspired by the fundamental principles of autonomic computing. Through self-configuration, self- optimization, and self-healing techniques, this run-time targets next-generation extreme scale information-access systems. We demonstrate these concepts in a processing cluster that allocates resources dynamically upon demand.
Emotional Framing: How Do Emotions Contribute to Framing Effects?

MARK YACOUB: Emotional Framing: How Do Emotions Contribute to Framing Effects? (Under the direction of Pamela J. Conover.) A great deal of research has shown the ability of issue frames to affect individuals’ opinions on a variety of issues. In explaining these effects, however, researchers have mainly focused on the cognitive processes behind framing, failing to systematically place emotions in the framing process. Frames, though, often rely upon emotional appeals and can be designed to elicit specific emotional reactions. How exactly do these emotions operate to influence framing effects? To address this question, I propose a theory of emotional intensity as a crucial part of the framing process—the intensity of emotional reactions to a frame influence how important beliefs brought up by the frame are viewed, affecting subsequent opinions. I test my specific expectations with an experiment using emotional news articles based on two issues. I conclude with a discussion of my results, the potential drawbacks and limitations of my experimental design, and directions for future research.
Maternal age, birth order and other early-life factors: a family-level approach to exploring exceptional survival

The literature provides increasing empirical support for the idea that early-life experiences can greatly shape someone’s future health and longevity. Besides shared early-life conditions, within-family variation in maternal age at time of childbirth and birth order have been found to be related to later-life survival. In this study, we examine whether there is a persisting effect of maternal age and birth order on survival to age 104 when both variables are considered and adjusted for season of birth and birth spacing. To address potential confounding by unmeasured family-level factors, we apply a case-sibling control analysis. Using data on 273 centenarians born in Quebec in the 1890–1900 period and their siblings, we show that children born to mothers over age 40 are less likely to reach age 104 while third- and fourthborn children are more likely to make this landmark. When examining the effect of maternal age in combination with the effect of birth order, we obtain higher estimates of both maternal age effects and birth order effects, indicating that the measured influence of one is suppressed when the other is not accounted for. We argue that being born early in the sibling row may provide a biological advantage related in part to the quality of the female reproductive system, but this effect may be counterbalanced by the precariousness of the family as a socio-economic unit at the earliest stages of its cycle. No mediation of these effects is seen when including birth spacing and season of birth. However, we find that birth order differences in longevity are most prominent among siblings born to older mothers and in families where the father was a farmer. We discuss other possible social and historical pathways through which maternal age, birth order and season of birth may operate to mould the offspring’s longevity.
Chromosome studies in human sperm nuclei using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH).

The use of chromosome specific DNA probes labelled with fluorochromes and especially the combination of several probes has been used to indirectly study the chromosome constitution of decondensed sperm nuclei by fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH), and has allowed to include this test in the protocol of study of infertile males. Still, if the test is to be valid, several strict conditions must be met, and some specific characteristics have to be taken into account. This becomes evident when comparing earlier results with more recent ones. The basic technical factors to be taken into account are the methods of chromatin decondensation, the number of spermatozoa and of individuals to study, the use of internal controls, the scoring criteria, the specificity of the probes and the possible existence of polymorphisms that may interfere with the detection of fluorescent signals. In the last 7 or 8 years, a large number of papers has been published, describing the incidence of aneuploidies in controls, in individuals in whom a tendency to non-disjunction was suspected and in infertile males. Studies in controls have shown a considerable intra- and inter-individual variability in the frequency of aneuploidies, the tendency of some chromosomes to undergo non-disjunction (chromosome 21 and the sex chromosomes) and the importance of alpha-satellite polymorphisms when using centromere probes. In the control population, the frequency of aneuploidy per haploid set has been estimated at approximately 6%. The incidence of aneuploidies in sperm nuclei for some of the chromosomes more frequently involved in trisomies is considerably higher than the incidence of these trisomies established through epidemiological data using the global incidence of chromosome abnormalities during the peri-implantation stage. In infertile males and in males with sex-chromosome abnormalities (usually with very low numbers of spermatozoa) the results show an increased incidence of sex chromosome aneuploidies and diploid (multi-aneuploid? ) sperm nuclei. The results could be related to the higher incidence of chromosome abnormalities (especially sex-chromosome aneuploidies) observed in children conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Design Hardening of Nanometer SRAMs Through Transistor Width Modulation and Multi-Vt Combination

Memory design in the nanometer regime imposes specific restrictions to the cell layout structure requiring regular disposition of transistors to minimize the impact of process parameter variations. These layout restrictions invalidate many of the traditional design techniques oriented to improve cell immunity to radiation-induced events that, in turn, get worsened with technology scaling. We analyze two design alternatives to improve cell hardening compatible with regular cell layouts providing an extensive analysis to illustrate the benefits of each technique. One of the proposed solutions is based on transistor width modulation that provides an immunity enhancement at the cost of a moderate cell-size increase. The other solution is based on multithreshold voltage selection showing a moderate immunity improvement at the cost of no impact on the cell area. The combination of both techniques is shown to be optimum when considering other design metrics like static noise margin, read/write stability, access time, and leakage. Results are demonstrated on 90- and 65-nm commercial technologies.
Distributed Transmit Beamforming Algorithms for Unsynchronized OFDM Systems With Timing Offset

Transmit beamforming is a promising technique to enhance the coverage and signal quality for the edge user. However, the synchronization between the collaborative transmission points (TPs) is crucial for the beamforming, e.g., the timing offset (TO) and the different travel distances between TPs limit the achievable gain. In this letter, we design and implement the distributed beamforming by considering the unsynchronized multi-carrier system under frequency selective fading. The proposed distributed beamforming with K-subcarrier feedback scheme feedbacks the indicator of the gain from the user equipment to the TPs for the phase adjustment. In the proposed distributed beamforming with timing estimation feedback, the transmission of TP is enabled sequentially, where the TO is estimated between the newly enabled TP and the existing TPs. Implementation using the software-defined radio platform validates that the proposed algorithms approach the coherent beamforming gain.
Deep neural network based feature extraction using convex-nonnegative matrix factorization for low-resource speech recognition

Bottleneck feature (BNF), together with Gaussian mixture models, has achieved great success compared with acoustic features in low-resource speech recognition. However, the existing of BN layer decreases classification accuracy of deep neural networks (DNN). In this paper, we investigate a better way of extracting DNN based low-dimensional features using convex-nonnegative matrix factorization (CNMF). Firstly a DNN is trained without setting the BN layer. Secondly CNMF is applied on the weights matrix of a hidden layer to form a low-dimensional feature extraction layer. Finally a new type of high-level feature is extracted by forward passing input acoustic feature. Experiments show that the new feature produces 1.6-4.6% gain over BNF baseline system in English and Cżech low-resource tasks. When dropout and maxout are introduced, 3.1-5.6% additional gain over BNF baseline system is observed while the training time reduces.
Stan De Spiegelaere, Guy Van Gyes, Hans De Witte, Geert Van Hootegem * Job design, work engagement and innovative work behavior: A multi-level study on Karasek's learning hypothesis **

As employees’ behaviour is a crucial factor for organizational success, the question on how to promote the engagement of employees in their work and boost their implication in the innovation process is central for companies. In this article we study this question building on the Karasek model suggesting that employees in jobs with high autonomy and time pressure will be more engaged and more innovative. The results of the multi-level regression analyses confirm that such a combination is associated with high employee innovation. For work engagement, the job autonomy helps in buffering the negative effects of time pressure.
CUDA-Accelerated Continuous 2 D Scatterplots

In this poster, we present how our previously published method of computing continuous 2D scatterplots can be performed with hardware acceleration on a GPU. By doing this, we exploit the parallel processing ability of current graphics hardware to improve the performance of continuous scatterplots by up to two orders of magnitude. For medium-sized tetrahedral data sets, we achieve interactive computation times.
Effects of Tootling on Classwide and Individual Disruptive and Academically Engaged Behavior of Lower‐Elementary Students

The current study was designed to replicate and extend the literature on the effectiveness of a classroom intervention known as Tootling, a strategy that encourages and prompts students to report instances of their peers' positive behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of the Tootling intervention on decreasing classwide and individual target students' disruptive behavior as well as increasing classwide and individual target students' academic engagement in lower elementary, general education classrooms using a criterion number of tootles that could reasonably be attained daily, thus potentially allowing more immediate and frequent access to reinforcement. Participants included second and third graders and their teachers in three classrooms in two Southeastern elementary schools. An ABAB withdrawal design was used in the three classrooms, along with a multiple baseline element across two of the classrooms, to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. Results demonstrated decreases in disruptive behaviors and increases in academically engaged behaviors during intervention phases as compared to baseline and withdrawal phases in all classrooms. Effect sizes were moderate to large for all comparisons. Limitations of the present study, directions for future research, and implications for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sleep and the generalization of fear learning

Fear conditioning is an important survival mechanism, as is the ability to generalize learned fear responses to stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus. Overgeneralization of fear learning, prominent in many anxiety disorders, is however highly maladaptive. Because sleep is involved in the consolidation of fear learning, and in active processing of information, the present study explored the effect of sleep on generalization of fear learning. Participants watched a random sequence of pictures of a small and a big circle, one of them coupled with an aversive sound. Then, after a delay period containing either a nap or wake, generalization was examined as participants watched the two circles again, together with eight novel circles that gradually varied in size between the former two. Results showed that the fear response increased as a function of similarity to the conditioned response. However, there was no difference in the degree of generalization between the sleep and the wake group.
Switching quantum dynamics for fast preparation of pure states

We propose, study and compare control strategies for preparing pure quantum states by switching dissipative dynamics. We show that with a suitable joint linear transformation the quantum (affine) dynamical generators can be transformed into linear ones, and classical results can be applied. In particular we describe and compare stabilize time-based and state-based switching rules, showing that the latter can be designed in order to outperform the former, as well as a non-switching strategy. In addition, state-based switching retains robustness with respect to initialization when the target is a pure state.
Widely Programmable High-Frequency Active RC Filters in CMOS Technology

We propose a circuit technique that enables the realization of widely programmable high-frequency active RC filters in CMOS technology. A fifth-order Chebyshev ladder filter having a digitally programmable 3-dB bandwidth (from 44 to 300 MHz) is used as a vehicle to validate our ideas. The opamp uses feedforward compensation for achieving high dc gain and wide bandwidth. The integrating resistors are realized as a series combination of a triode-operated MOSFET and a fixed polysilicon resistor. A charge-pump-based servo loop servoes the integrating resistor to a stable off-chip resistor. The principle of ldquoconstant capacitance scalingrdquo is applied to the opamp and the integrating resistors so that the shape of the frequency response is maintained when the bandwidth is scaled over a 7 times range. The filter core, designed in a 0.18-mum CMOS process, consumes 54 mW from 1.8-V supply and has a dynamic range of 56.6 dB.
Dictionary based code compression for variable length instruction encodings

Most of the work done in the field of machine code compression is for fixed length instruction encodings. In this work we apply code compression on variable length instruction set processors whose encodings are already optimized to a certain extent with respect to their usages. We develop a dictionary based algorithm which utilizes unused encoding space of an instruction set architecture to encode code-words, and addresses issues arising out of variable length instructions. We test the algorithm with a RISC processor and include results for compression and performance in terms of cycle-counts and memory accesses respectively. We also present an efficient scheme for searching relocated branch addresses and analyze its performance.
Establishment of cell suspension cultures and plant regeneration in halophytic Leymus chinensis (Trin.)

The establishment of cell suspension culture from the callus of the halophytic Leymus chinensis (Trin.) LcWT07 line and plant regeneration from suspension-derived callus are described in this study for the first time. Solid medium containing Murashige and Shoog (MS) basic salt, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D, 2.0 mg l−1), and L-glumatic acid (5.0 mg l−1) induced the highest rate of cell division among various solid media with various concentrations of 2,4-D, with good distribution of different mature seeds derived-callus types. Liquid medium with the same hormone distribution was therefore, used for cell suspension culture of L. chinensis. A slight increase in relative water contents was observed in suspension-derived callus than Type 1 callus, but not Type 2 to 4 calli. Over a 30 d-suspension culture, high growth rates were observed, and great amounts of biomass were accumulated, with 71.07% average daily increment and 22.32-fold total fresh weight increment. The potential of plant regeneration was induced on solid medium containing MS basic salt, 0.2 mg l−1 α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 2.0 mg l−1 kinetin (Kn), and 2.0 g l−1 casamino acid, with faster somatic embryogenesis than that using Type 1 callus. Rooting of all regenerated shoots was successfully performed on half-strength MS medium. This procedure provide basis for morphological, biochemical and molecular studies of the nature of somatic embryogenesis from single cell to whole plant, and shorten the process of somatic embryogenesis.