Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accurate BER Analysis of Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes with MMSE Channel Estimation

In this paper, we investigate the effect of imperfect channel estimation on the bit error rate (BER) performance of orthogonal space-time block codes (OSTBCs). The multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) propagation channel is assumed to be affected by uncorrelated flat Rayleigh block fading. We consider a mismatched maximum-likelihood (ML) receiver, which estimates the channel matrix from known pilot symbols according to a minimum mean-square error (MMSE) criterion, and uses the channel estimate in the symbol-by-symbol detection algorithm as if it were the true channel matrix. For both PAM and QAM constellations and OSTBCs satisfying a proposed criterion, we present simple exact closed-form expressions for the BER of the mismatched receiver and the corresponding BER degradation as compared to a receiver that knows the true channel matrix. For OSTBCs that do not satisfy this criterion, a simple approximation of the BER and the associated BER degradation is derived, assuming PAM and QAM constellations. By means of computer simulations, this approximation is shown to be very accurate.
On accurate floating-point summation

cumulation of floating-point sums is considered on a computer which performs <italic>t</italic>-digit base <italic>β</italic> floating-point addition with exponents in the range —<italic>m</italic> to <italic>M</italic>. An algorithm is given for accurately summing <italic>n t</italic>-digit floating-point numbers. Each of these <italic>n</italic> numbers is split into <italic>q</italic> parts, forming <italic>q</italic>·<italic>n t</italic>-digit floating-point numbers. Each of these is then added to the appropriate one of <italic>&eegr;</italic> auxiliary <italic>t</italic>-digit accumulators. Finally, the accumulators are added together to yield the computed sum. In all, <italic>q</italic>·<italic>n</italic> + <italic>&eegr;</italic> - 1 <italic>t</italic>-digit floating-point additions are performed. Let <italic>&ngr;</italic> = ⌈(<italic>M</italic> + <italic>m</italic> + 1)/(<italic>&eegr;</italic> + 1)⌉. If <italic>n</italic> ≤ (1/<italic>q</italic>)<italic>β</italic><supscrpt>⌈((<italic>q</italic>-1)/<italic>q</italic>)<italic>t</italic>⌈-<italic>&ngr;</italic>+1</supscrpt> (*), then the relative error in the computed sum is at most ⌈(<italic>t</italic> + 1)/<italic>&ngr;</italic>⌉<italic>β</italic><supscrpt>1-<italic>t</italic></supscrpt>. Further, with an additional <italic>q</italic> + <italic>&eegr;</italic> - 1 <italic>t</italic>-digit additions, the computed sum can be corrected to full <italic>t</italic>-digit accuracy. For example, for the IBM/360 (<italic>β</italic> = 16, <italic>t</italic> = 14, <italic>M</italic> = 63, <italic>m</italic> = 64), typical values for <italic>q</italic> and <italic>&eegr;</italic> are <italic>q</italic> = 2 and <italic>&eegr;</italic> = 32. In this case, (*) becomes <italic>n</italic> ≤ 1/2 × 16<supscrpt>4</supscrpt> = 32,768, and we have ⌈(<italic>t</italic> + 1)/<italic>&ngr;</italic>⌉<italic>β</italic><supscrpt>1-<italic>t</italic></supscrpt> = 4 × 16<supscrpt>-13</supscrpt>.
High-level dynamic memory management for object-oriented real-time systems

Dynamic memory management in real-time systems is difficult because most traditional allocation and deallocation algorithms are unpredictable in terms of their worst-case memory utilization and execution times. This paper describes recent work on a new memory management system designed specifically to support hard-real-time allocation, automatic garbage collection, and defragmentation of the free pool. The memory management system consists of special hardware circuits placed between the CPU's level-two caches and its memory subsystem. Benefits include worst-case allocation delays of two microseconds and typical memory utilizations that exceed binary-buddy allocators by over 30%. A commercial implementation of this technology is currently under development.
The Motivators of Students' Behavioral Intention Towards Online Discussion Forum Participation

Online discussion forum (ODF) has been touted to enrich the process of acquiring, sharing and exchanging knowledge among students and has increasingly being utilized to complement the conventional ways of teaching. Despite the widespread recognition of the benefits brought about by ODF, antecedent evidence indicates that the forum may not be utilized to its full potential due to lower than expected student participation. Drawing on the literature in social psychology and technology adoption and applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research seeks to identify the motivational behavioral factors influencing the student’ s intention to participate in ODF. A two-phase research process was adopted: first of which involved the usage of qualitative survey data and extensive literature review to build the conceptual model of ODF participation intention. Subsequently, a cross-sectiona l survey was conducted to empirically test the model. Results were analyzed and implications were discussed.
The boss online submission and assessment system

Computer programming lends itself to automated assessment. With appropriate software tools, program correctness can be measured, along with an indication of quality according to a set of metrics. Furthermore, the regularity of program code allows plagiarism detection to be an integral part of the tools that support assessment. In this paper, we describe a submission and assessment system, called BOSS, that supports coursework assessment through collecting submissions, performing automatic tests for correctness and quality, checking for plagiarism, and providing an interface for marking and delivering feedback. We describe how automated assessment is incorporated into BOSS such that it supports, rather than constrains, assessment. The pedagogic and administrative issues that are affected by the assessment process are also discussed.
Good or bad money?: debasement, society and the state in the late Middle Ages

This paper revisits the question of debasement by analysing a newly compiled dataset with a novel approach, as well as employing conventional methods. It finds that mercantile influence on monetary policies favoured relative stability, and wage-payers did not typically gain from silver debasement. Excess demand for bullion was not a major cause of debasement. Yet monetary issues were important. Warfare made the debasement of silver but not of gold more likely. Regime types had an importance comparable to that of warfare: Princes debased silver more often than monetary unions and especially city-states. It is likely that fiscal debasements were more frequent in principalities, not least because princes debased for fiscal reasons also in the absence exceptional needs. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings.
Employment and productivity in Finnish manufacturing : Longitudinal study using synthetic units

This study uses a newly constructed longitudinal data set of manufacturing ’enterprises’ (service sectors of the enterprises are not included). This data set is expected to give more reliable demographic rates than the data set constructed from standard cross-sectional censuses directly as usually has done before. We present two types of job creation, destruction and net rates and compare these in some specific groups, some of these being mergers and takeovers during the data period 1990-94. We also make attempts by modeling techniques to evaluate the effects of mergers and takeovers on employment and labor productivity. The time period considered is of particular interest because it covers the recession which was followed from the overheating economy in late 1980s. Our results show that the productivity level of enterprises increased about 68% from 1990 to 1994 (low in some cases in the beginning of the period). Most often this growth was achieved by the reduction in employment. The average wages were also increased, perhaps surprisingly. There are differences between enterprises, for example large enterprises, export enterprises, takeovers and R&D expenditure enterprises differ considerably from the each others, achieving usually the better productivity growth even if the original level was high.
Income contingent loans : theory, practice and prospects

1 Income Contingent Loans as Risk Management: Background Bruce Chapman PART I TOWARDS A THEORY FOR INCOME CONTINGENT LOANS 2 Remarks on Income Contingent Loans: How Effective Can They be Mitigating Risk? Joseph Stiglitz 3 Income Contingent Loans as a Risk Management Device John Quiggin 4 Income Contingent Loans: Toward a Piecewise Linear Scheme Ngo Van Long PART II PRACTICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION 5 Income Contingent Loans and Higher Education Financing: Theory and Practice Nicholas Barr 6 The Challenge of Sustaining Student Loans Systems: Lessons from Chile and Colombia Jamil Salmi 7 The Implications of Graduate Labor Market Performance in Designing a Student Loan Scheme for Malaysia Lim Hock-Eam, Russayani Ismail and Yusnidah Ibrahim 8 Modeling Aggregate Loans Recovery of the Student Loans Fund in Thailand Kiatanantha Lounkaew 9 Why don't we just give them the Money? Financing Living Expenses of Students in Germany Barbara Grave and Mathias Sinning PART III PROSPECTS BEYOND HIGHER EDUCATION 10 Improving Paid Parental Leave through Income Contingent Loans Timothy Higgins 11 Internationalisation of ICLs to Deal with Human Capital Trade Imbalances Philip Clarke and Bruce Chapman 12 The Role of Contingent Loans in Providing Equitable Access to Legal Aid Richard Denniss 13 Income Contingent Loans for Business Innovation Glenn Withers and Nitin Gupta 14 Using Income Contingent Loans to Pay for Health Care Rhema Vaithianathan 15 Elderly Support Policies as Resource Contingent Loans Rafal Chomik and John Piggott 16 Income Contingent Loans for the Unemployed: A Prelude to a General Theory of the Efficient Provision of Social Insurance Joseph Stiglitz and Jungyoll Yun PART IV COMMENTARY 17 Overemphasized Costs and Underemphasized Benefits of Income Contingent Financing Miguel Palacios 18 Aid Programs for Higher Education Jungyoll Yun 19 Income Contingent Loans for Higher Education and Beyond Maria Racionero 20 Why don't we see more use of Income Contingent Loans? John Quiggin 21 Future Directions for Income Contingent Loan Theory Glenn Withers 22 Utilising the Low Transaction Costs of Contingent Loans - A General Framework for Policy Application Richard Denniss
Techniques for Fault Reduction in Out-of-Order Microprocessors

Several embodiments of hold-down spring arrangements for sliding caliper type disk brake assemblies. In each embodiment, the hold-down includes a plate that is adapted to be affixed to the torque taking member of the brake and a cooperating formed spring that is retained by the plate and which engages the sliding caliper. The spring permits sliding movement of the caliper but holds the caliper against vibration and rattling. In one embodiment the spring is of the leaf type and in the other embodiments the spring is constructed from a formed wire element and functions as a torsional type spring.
Analytical Investigation of Resonant Frequency of a Microstrip Antenna with Meshed Ground Plane

In this letter, we propose an approximate calculation formula for the resonant frequency of a microstrip antenna with meshed ground plane, which is derived by perturbational technique and is expressed by a simple closed form. The calculated results are in good agreement with FDTD-calculated and measured ones. Therefore, it is confirmed that the proposed formula is valid for approximate evaluation of the resonant frequency of microstrip antenna with meshed ground plane. key words: microstrip antenna, resonant frequency, meshed
SPATIO-TEMPORAL AVAILABLE BANDWIDTH ESTIMATION FOR HIGH-SPEED NETWORKS

We present a new packet dispersion based active probing scheme for available bandwidth estimation that (1) overcomes system I/O bandwidth limitations on high-speed (>1Gbps) networks and (2) determines the location of a path’s tight link. The scheme is based on the packet-tailgating technique earlier used for link capacity estimation and topology identification. Available bandwidth estimation and tight link localization benefits network-aware applications like high-speed grid computing, overlay network routing and server selection. Tight link localization also provides insight into the causes of network congestion and ways to circumvent it.
Multi-agent Intrusion Detection and Prevention System for Cloud Environment

computing is a type of distributed computing approach for IT Sector that leverages in efficient pooling of on-demand, self-managed virtual Infrastructures consuming them as a service by applications/organizations which would save thousands of dollars on CapEx and OpEx. To adopt this new cloud technology main concern for the consumers is the cloud computing security and it is the responsibility for the service providers to secure the cloud make it available at all time without interruption. In cloud computing all resources are virtualized by Hypervisor by creating Virtual machines, but its vulnerabilities raises many questions relating to security due to intrusion of malwares which allows security breaches. In this paper we propose Multi-Agent Intrusion Detection and Prevention System(MA-IDPS) by using Agents which will prevent security breach in Cloud due to attacks from intruder malware programs. Our system will be deployed at every instance of VM as well as at the client node end to detect and prevent intrusions due to malicious programs by an IDPS agents. This MA-IDPS model not only protects the cloud environment but also secures its agents and encrypts data tables that are part of IDPS by placing them in secure environment like Agent Runtime Environment (ARE) and Root VM respectively.MA-IDPS agent reports or prevents any abnormal behavior to Cloud administrator for further action. The proposed model secures the cloud from outside attacks either from client side or by a malware programs created in VM"s
The Problem of Induction and Machine Learning

Are we justified in inferring a general rule from observations that frequently confirm it? This is the usual statement of the problem of induction. The present paper argues that this question is relevant for the understanding of Machine Learning, but insufficient. Research in Machine Learning has prompted another, more fundamental question: the number of possible rules grows exponentially with the size of the examples, and many of them are somehow confirmed by the data - how are we to choose effectively some rules that have good chances of being predictive? We analyze if and how this problem is approached in standard accounts of induction and show the difficulties that are present. Finally, we suggest that the Explanation-based Learning approach and related methods of knowledge intensive induction could be a partial solution to some of these problems, and help understanding the question of valid induction from a new perspective.
The parallel complexities of the k-medians related problems

K-medians is a well-known clustering algorithm in data mining literature. This paper describes three decision problems related to k-medians. These problems are called medians replacement in k-medians, median determination, and T iterations k-medians problems. We show that these problems are in NC, each has a (logn)O(1) parallel time algorithm on an EREW PRAM model using nO(1) processors, and the result in each case is the strongest possible.
Identity-Based/Attribute-Based cryptosystem using threshold value without Shamir's Secret Sharing

As we know many proposed cryptographic techniques which use Identities or Attributes for encryption and decryption of message. These techniques apply Shamir Secret Sharing (SSS) on given threshold value of attributes to decrypt the message. In this paper, we developed a new cryptographic scheme which is based on attributes and having a threshold value but there is no need of secret sharing scheme to decrypt the message. This paper includes both Identity-Based Encryption (IBE) as well as Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) together to perform encryption and decryption on secure plain text.
Analog optical rock dust meter

The US Bureau of Mines previously constructed a portable meter based on optical reflectivity for measuring the concentration of rock dust in rock dust-coal dust mixtures. This early design was accurate to within +or-2 wt. % rock dust for mixtures whose rock dust concentration was between 30 wt. % and 100 wt. %. Below 30 wt. % rock dust, the meter exhibited poor accuracy. The Bureau researchers have redesigned the meter based on a theory for optical reflectivity of binary dust mixtures. This new meter was tested against both laboratory-prepared coal-dust-rock-dust mixtures and samples taken from various coal mines and found to be accurate to +or-2-wt. % rock dust from 0 wt. % to 100 wt. %. The meter also has a lower power consumption than the previous model (which translates into longer battery life between charges), has fewer internal and external adjustments, is lighter in weight and can be held comfortably in one hand. It can be readily field calibrated. <<ETX>>
Values of Risk Reduction Implied by Motorist Use of Protection Equipment New Evidence from Different Populations

This study derives the implied values of reducing the risks of fatal and non-fatal injuries for different road user populations. Values are obtained for "typical" adults, children (as implied by their parents' actions) and adults who ride motorcycles. Also considered is whether individuals evaluate small time increments consistently with larger time allocations.
Neurotransmitter systems and neurotrophic factors in autism: association study of 37 genes suggests involvement of DDC

Abstract Objectives. Neurotransmitter systems and neurotrophic factors can be considered strong candidates for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The serotoninergic and dopaminergic systems are involved in neurotransmission, brain maturation and cortical organization, while neurotrophic factors (NTFs) participate in neurodevelopment, neuronal survival and synapses formation. We aimed to test the contribution of these candidate pathways to autism through a case–control association study of genes selected both for their role in central nervous system functions and for pathophysiological evidences. Methods. The study sample consisted of 326 unrelated autistic patients and 350 gender-matched controls from Spain. We genotyped 369 tagSNPs to perform a case-control association study of 37 candidate genes. Results. A significant association was obtained between the DDC gene and autism in the single-marker analysis (rs6592961, P = 0.00047). Haplotype-based analysis pinpointed a four-marker combination in this gene associated with the disorder (rs2329340C–rs2044859T–rs6592961A–rs11761683T, P = 4.988e-05). No significant results were obtained for the remaining genes after applying multiple testing corrections. However, the rs167771 marker in DRD3, associated with ASD in a previous study, displayed a nominal association in our analysis (P = 0.023). Conclusions. Our data suggest that common allelic variants in the DDC gene may be involved in autism susceptibility.
RICCATI EQUATION IN QUADRATIC OPTIMAL CONTROL PROBLEM OF DAMPED SECOND ORDER SYSTEM

This paper studies the properties of solutions of the Riccati equation arising from the quadratic optimal control problem of the general damped second order system. Using the semigroup theory, we establish the weak differential characterization of the Riccati equation for a gen- eral class of the second order distributed systems with arbitrary damping terms. It is well understood that the feedback control law of the linear quadratic optimal control problem can be determined by the solution of a proper Riccati equation. The studies of Riccati equations for parabolic and hyperbolic control systems has been developed in full extent (cf. (5), (8), (19), (20)). In this paper we consider the second order damped evolution equation system described by
ScalScheduling: A Scalable Scheduling Architecture for MPI-based interactive analysis programs

In today's large scale clusters, running tasks with high degrees of parallelism allows interactive data visualization/analysis to complete in seconds. However, conventional, centralized scheduling poses significant challenges for these interactive applications. As the amount of data to be processed grows, it becomes too heavy to move across the network. Thus, data processing tasks should be scheduled such that the amount of transferred data is minimized, i.e., realizing data locality computation. To implement this, a scheduler process should collect and analyze data distribution metadata prior to making scheduling decisions, which usually causes milliseconds or seconds of latency. Such scheduling delay is unacceptable for interactive data applications. In this paper, we present a Scalable Scheduling Architecture for conventional interactive data programs and refer to it as ScalScheduling. ScalScheduling is proposed to reduce task scheduling latency, while ensuring the worker processes achieve a high degree of data locality computation and load balance in heterogeneous environments. In our proposed architecture, each worker process uses a novel Modulo-based priority method to schedule its local tasks independently. Multiple scheduler processes are employed according to the number of worker processes to resolve the issue of concurrent requests and assign remote tasks with respect to load balance. We perform experiments using thousands of parallel processes, and the experimental results show the benefits of our proposed scheduling architecture as well as its potential for future oversize task scheduling problems on large-scale clusters.
Coupling in the middle atmosphere related to the 2013 major sudden stratospheric warming

Abstract. The previously reported observation of anomalous eastward gravity wave forcing at mesopause heights around the onset of the January 2013 major sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) over Trondheim, Norway (63° N, 10° E), is placed in a global perspective using Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) temperature observations from the Aura satellite. It is shown that this anomalous forcing results in a clear cooling over Trondheim about 10 km below mesopause heights. Conversely, near the mesopause itself, where the gravity wave forcing was measured, observations with meteor radar, OH airglow and MLS show no distinct cooling. Polar cap zonal mean temperatures show a similar vertical profile. Longitudinal variability in the high northern-latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) is characterized by a quasi-stationary wave-1 structure, which reverses phase at altitudes below ~ 0.1 hPa. This wave-1 develops prior to the SSW onset, and starts to propagate westward at the SSW onset. The latitudinal pole-to-pole temperature structure associated with the major SSW shows a warming (cooling) in the winter stratosphere (mesosphere) which extends to about 40° N. In the stratosphere, a cooling extending over the equator and far into the summer hemisphere is observed, whereas in the mesosphere an equatorial warming is noted. In the Southern Hemisphere mesosphere, a warm anomaly overlaying a cold anomaly is present, which is shown to propagate downward in time. This observed structure is in accordance with the temperature perturbations predicted by the proposed interhemispheric coupling mechanism for cases of increased winter stratospheric planetary wave activity, of which major SSWs are an extreme case. These results provide observational evidence for the interhemispheric coupling mechanism, and for the wave-mean flow interaction believed to be responsible for the establishment of the anomalies in the summer hemisphere.